The airport was bustling with new arrivals and departures. Couples, families and friends waited for their loved ones to step eagerly through the arrival gates. Four girls stood off to one side waiting anxiously for one of their precious friends and leader to arrive. It had already been 2 years they hadn't seen Usagi Tsukino, and now they stood anxiously waiting for her arrival. They weren't sure what would meet them as their communication with her had been brief over the years and limited to email updates. As a result, they were both excited and apprehensiveness of her imminent arrival.
Usagi found herself walking through the airport slowly with her luggage in tow, as nerves began to mount. She was finally returning to her hometown and she wasn't sure if she was ready to do so yet. She had been travelling overseas and attending a university in the US to escape not only her life but her duties as the crime fighting leader of the Sailor Senshi: Sailor Moon.
Usagi had only been 14 years old when she found out she was the young heroine along with her friends Ami, Rei, Minako and Makoto. They had spent the better part of their nights fighting the Dark Kingdom and sacrificing other friendships, their families and grades to keep the world safe. It had been, and still was, a lot of pressure for the group. Usagi, in particular, had difficulties coping with the amount of pressure that came along with being their leader, and ever since their last fateful battle two years ago, she had not been the same. Now, it seemed like everything was starting again and she was forced to leave her blissful, and most importantly normal life, to come back to Juuban for fear of another evil mounting.
She found herself stopping at the washroom before the arrival gates to take a moment to collect her thoughts and to put on a brave face. As she did, she looked back at her reflection in the mirror. She still looked like the same Usagi but older. After all, she was now 20 years old (a young woman by any definition) and her features reflected this change. Anything that might have been lacking in her teen years was now fully present, although her height never caught up. Her blue cerulean eyes stared back at her with ennui and she tried to force a smile. If she didn't cheer up, her friends would see right through her masked smile. She reapplied some pink lip gloss and passed a hand through her pale golden locks which were still in their signature, pigtails and buns style. 'Pull yourself together,' she thought to herself as she straightened out her tank top and cardigan.
As she gave herself a mental pep talk she couldn't help but let her mind wander to the reason she was here. It had been almost 2 years since the last major attack from the Dark Kingdom and everyone had been living in relatively peaceful times. Recently, low grade yoma attacks had begun to increase and the rest of the Senshi urged Usagi to come back, for fear that a greater evil was building. The attacks were becoming more frequent and there was a sense of unrest in the city. Twice the Senshi had attempted to destroy a yoma but without Sailor Moon's additional powers they were struggling. Reluctantly, Usagi had agreed to return to Juuban District and to resume her life, as she once knew it. She had temporarily forgotten the troubles of being a Senshi or having to manage all of the pain and hurt that came with being the leader.
She recalled their last battle with Queen Beryl and Metalia, as she absentmindedly reapplied mascara, and shuddered at the thought of it. Nothing had gone right on that tragic day. She had witnessed the Senshi die before her eyes, as she tried to fight off the darkness. She wholeheartedly believed she was going to die, and honestly, she thought that she did. She could only remember snippets of the whole event and it still bothered her that she couldn't put all of the pieces together. She remembered standing in front of Metalia and arguing with her, as extreme pain began to course through her body, forcing her to crumble to the ground. She had gotten up countless times from the repeated attacks and tried to use her Moon Wand until she could no longer muster any energy. Lying on the cold ground, after the last fatal blow, she had recalled Tuxedo Mask running towards her to help her in her broken state but he never made it to her.
She recalled hearing herself scream as she was blasted across the terrain and then her heavy eyelids closed before she could fully comprehend the flash of light that engulfed him and the accompanying agonizing screams. As she listened to his screams lessen, she had felt a warm aura wash over her and a blinding light made her eyes flutter but she never awoke to see what created such a blissful feeling. Whatever had happened and whoever had saved them, managed to seal away Metalia and resurrect the Senshi. Her last thoughts before she lost complete consciousness was a gentle kiss being laid on her forehead and a woman whispering to her that she could now live in peace. After that moment everything went blank.
Usagi had woken up a week later in the hospital surrounded by her friends, who were all alive again. When questioned as to how everyone had survived they were unable to explain what happened, other than, a pure blinding white light had covered the sky and reawakened them. They indicated that they had found Usagi lying motionless in the debris of the aftershock, and when they couldn't wake her up; they panicked and faked a car accident to ensure that the cops wouldn't think there was foul play involved in the young girls injuries. When they arrived at the hospital, the doctors indicated she had suffered a blow to the head and multiple internal injuries, and would require several weeks to recuperate. They explained to her that she had been in and out of consciousness for a week.
Usagi remembered nodding groggily to all of the explanations but her biggest concern was what happened to Tuxedo Mask. She remembered the way she heard him scream and needed to know that he was safe. When she questioned her friends they simply lowered their heads and solemnly stated they had no clue what came of him in the battle and hadn't seen him since. While she didn't know his true identity, a part of Usagi's heart broke that day at the thought of having lost their Masked allie for her ineptitude as their leader. To this day, she still cursed herself for not having the strength to protect him, and for him meeting his ultimate demise because of her failings.
She put her mascara away and began to pack up the cosmetics she had laid out on the counter. They had been so close to finding their Moon Princess and fulfilling their ultimate mission but when the situation with Metalia reached its peak, she never appeared. Three years later, no 6 years into the search, and they still had no clue where their elusive Princess was.
While Usagi was overseas the Senshi had continued their search but they never located the Princess, and any clues they previously had where no longer viable. She was still just as hidden as day 1 of their search. She vowed silently to have a harsh discussion with the Princess when she would finally show herself and ask her what took so long for her to materialise. Usagi had so much resentment towards the Princess and partially blamed her for Tuxedo Mask's supposed death.
She decided that she would stop her self-loathing and Princess-hating woes before she removed all the progress on the fake smile she had plastered across her features. She was happy to see her friends, but terribly disturbed about the circumstances. She grabbed her luggage and looked at herself one last time, and whispered, "It's show time…"
Making her way out of the washroom she walked towards the arrival exit and let the electronic doors open before her. It took her a moment to take in, what appeared to be 100s of people in front of her, and searched for her friends. It didn't take her very long to realise they were standing and squealing in the far right corner waving at her behind the corded off arrival section. She smiled and waved at them as true excitement started to course through her body. It turned out that she was excited to see them and ran into the crowd to find them behind the corded section. She was met and practically tackled to the ground by the four screaming, excited girls.
"It's been so long… don't you dare EVER leave us like that again," Makoto said as she wrapped her arms around the petite blondes shoulders and pulled her in for a signature Kino-style bear hug. Usagi couldn't help but smile and threw her arms around the taller girl. The other girls joined in as the group of 5 spoke about missing each other and cried happily at the return of Usagi.
Usagi finally pulled away from the warm embraces and wiped her face from the tears that had mercilessly left mascara stains running down her cheeks. She should have known not to put any makeup before seeing the group. "Guys… I've missed you so much," she blurted out as the tears continued to fall down her cheeks. She hadn't quite expected to be so emotional but seeing the girls in front of her reminded her of all the good and bad times they had. While she had made several friends overseas and she had enjoyed her time, she realised that she belonged with this core group of friends.
"Still a crybaby I see meatball head, huh?" Rei said arching an eyebrow teasingly as she wiped a few tears from her own face.
Usagi made to protest but Ami interrupted and gave Rei a stern look. "Now Rei… she's only been back for 5 minutes please don't start with the teasing."
Rei rolled her eyes still smiling and changed her gaze from Ami to Usagi. "I'm really happy you're back… It hasn't been the same without you. I really mean that. Turns out we need the 5 of us to really make things work, you know?" she said with a small smile. Rei had always been the most sceptical about Usagi's leadership skills and her combative style, or lack thereof. For her to be admitting that they needed her was unheard of.
Usagi forced a smile realising the implications of Rei's comment. "Thanks Rei... " she said reluctantly. "I'm really happy to be back too. I wish it was under different circumstances but I'm happy to be back. I can't promise I'll be great though. It has been two years since I fought anything," she said lowering her voice.
Ami, the voice of reason spoke up indicating that perhaps they should take this conversation to somewhere more private. All the girls nodded and agreed that they should head back to the temple in order to debrief Usagi on all the happenings of the past few weeks and to catch up. They grabbed Usagi's bags and headed to the parking lot, piling into two cars and heading to the temple.
Usagi looked out of the car window as she saw her former life flash before her eyes. So many landmarks reminded her of the hurt and pain, while so many others reminded her of the good times. She averted her gaze from Tokyo Tower, which she saw in the distance, and momentarily closed her eyes. It was one thing thinking about that fateful night when they all fought to their deaths but it was another seeing the building still being reconstructed. She sighed deeply and for the rest of the drive to the temple remained silent.
An hour later the girls found themselves munching on pizza and talking about their lives over the past two years. It turned out that Ami and Rei both had boyfriends who they were madly in love with. They had met them over a year ago. Usagi couldn't help but smile at the revelation that they had found happiness. Makoto and Minako both sighed in exasperation noting that they were still on the prowl to find the right guys for them. Usagi couldn't help but laugh that her two lovestruck friends were still mercilessly trying to find love. She recalled countless, failed attempts to find boyfriends back in high school, and couldn't help but grin. They had been a sad bunch back then. Shaken out of her thoughts she noticed four pairs of eyes resting solely on hers.
"And what about you Usagi? Any hot american boyfriends?" Minako stated as she pressed for information.
Usagi felt the blush in her cheeks rise and shook her head. "No one in particular... I went on a few dates and the guys were nice but there wasn't really anyone that caught my attention. I was more focused on traveling at first and then when I got into University over there I really wanted to make sure that my grades were good. I guess you can say I studied a lot so I didn't have that much time for dating…" she said taking a small sip of her soda.
"OK wait… did you just say you were studying so you didn't have time for boyfriends?" Rei said standing up and stepping forward. She grabbed Usagi by the shoulders dramatically and shook her slightly. "Who are YOU and what have you done with our irresponsible, non-studying, boycrazy Meatball head?" she said with a little laugh. "You have to admit this all sounds crazy, right guys?" She said turning around and throwing them a glance, as the others erupted into laughter.
Usagi stared back at her friends and knew they would have a hard time believing her but it had been 2 years. A lot could have changed in that amount of time, and at the comments, Usagi felt extremely defensive, even though she knew they were meant to be taken in stride. Nonetheless, she snapped. "Well Rei… Sorry to disappoint you but I've grown up. I guess dying or nearly dying will change a girls perspective…" She got up from her place on the floor, "I'm sorry but I need some air…" she said stepping out of the room as she fought back the tears and made her way outside.
The other girls were left staring blankly at Usagi's empty spot. Makoto was the first to speak, "Is it just me or has she been a little off since she's come back?"
Ami smiled at her sadly and corrected Makoto's statement. "Mako… she's been different far before that. Ever since we had the battle with Metalia she's been different. She still won't tell us what happened to Tuxedo Mask and his death… She must have seen something, and she's never been able to bounce back." She paused lowering her eyes, "I had hoped that by traveling overseas and putting this all behind her, she would be ok but it doesn't seem to have worked that way."
"Well someone needs to talk to her. Not that I'm opposed to her taking life a little more seriously, but it's the fact that she still seems so hurt about everything that happened," Mako said getting up. "I'll go talk to her and see if I can get anything out of her," she said walking towards the door. She turned her head back to the girls, "I know our Usagi is under there, we just need to coax her into coming out." With that she closed the door behind her and walked around the temple in an attempt to find Usagi. After a few minutes she finally found her looking over the edge of the wall that surrounded the temple. She approached her slowly as she appeared to be deep in thought.
Usagi looked out blankly on to the city below her, and watched the twinkling lights and bustling people below her. She sighed loudly cursing herself for her outburst. She felt like everything she had tried so hard to suppress including the guilt over their last battle, having left the Senshi and enjoying being away, was coming back to the surface. Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard the oncoming steps. She turned her head and saw Makoto smiling sweetly back at her.
"Are you ok Usagi? We can't help but notice that ever since you've been back you've been… quiet."
Usagi faked a smile and tried to shrug off Makoto. "I'm fine really… I think I'm just in shock to be back here, you know. And I've probably got some jet lag… I'm sure that after a few days I'll be better."
Makoto put a reassuring hand on her friends shoulder and gently turned her to face her. "If you want to blame it on that, I'm ok with it but know that if ever you need to talk about anything we're here for you, ok? We always have been and always will be. And no matter what happened in the past or the future we'll always stand by you," she stated softly and brought her friend into a warm hug. "So whenever you feel like opening up… just let me know ok?"
Usagi nodded into her friends shoulder as she hugged her back. She was extremely grateful that Mako didn't press the issue any further. She didn't want to explain any of the emotions that were going through her at this moment or her doubts in her Senshi skills. She let go of the hug reluctantly and looked up at her friend. "Thanks Mako. I'll definitely take you up on that offer, when I'm good and ready. I just need to ease back into our old lives and once I do I'm sure I'll feel less anxious about everything."
Makoto nodded and put an arm around her shoulder. "Makes sense to me. Now how about we go back to the others and have some yummy dessert. It's your favourite: chocolate cake."
At the mention of chocolate Usagi's eyes lit up. "Did you make it?"
"Of course I did. So how about we go cut you a big piece and get on with the evening?" she said winking at her as she guided her back to the others. Usagi happily followed even though she was still trying to work through her emotions.
Thankfully when Usagi and Makoto returned, the girls didn't mention Usagi's outburst and pretended that nothing happened. The rest of the evening was spent talking about everyone's lives and what had transpired over the past two years. The evening eventually took a more serious turn as Luna and Ami explained the surge of yoma attacks across the district. They explained that the attacks had started 3 weeks ago, and that they were intensifying in frequency. They also admitted the yomas were harder to destroy. Luna and Ami had been trying to find the source behind the attacks but the origin of the attacks and the powers behind them always fluctuated. As a result, they couldn't pinpoint their source.
Even Rei had tried to summon the great fire to help locate the evil and there were no clues given. While she was aware that there was an evil lurking, it was well hidden. They were constantly shooting in the dark trying to figure out when the next attack would come and most importantly from where. They had determined there was no choice but to call Usagi back home as they needed all Senshi present with the unease spreading.
At the end of the evening, Usagi found herself lying in her makeshift bed along with her friends sprawled out across the Temple training room. They had decided to all sleepover over at Rei's, and while most of the girls slept (or so it seemed they were) Usagi lay awake staring at the ceiling. She recalled the evening's events and now had a better understanding of why she needed to return. That being said, she couldn't help the unease growing in the pit of her stomach at the mounting attacks. Everything felt the same as last time, and she was unsure whether she was ready to face those demons again especially without Tuxedo Masks help. She knew she had to rid herself of her aversion to fighting and finally deal with the fact that Tuxedo Mask wouldn't be a part of her life anymore.
She turned to her side and closed her eyes trying to force herself to sleep. Eventually, her eyelids grew heavy and she drifted off to sleep.
Soon, she found herself standing in darkness with a flickering red light in the distance. Instinctively, she started walking towards the light, and as it grew brighter her eyes focused on the scene before her. As she approached the scene, she realized that she was witnessing the battle with Metalia from the sidelines. She couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh at the fact that her subconscious was making her dream of such things. She was also hyper aware of the fact that she was dreaming, which was unsettling to her. She slowly crept up to the scene and wondered what would happen if she just walked through. Before she could move forward a hand reached out to her shoulder and gently pulled her back.
"Just watch," she heard the voice whisper and turned around to see who was holding her back. The minute she turned around the figure disappeared leaving her standing by herself. She took the strangers advice and stayed back watching herself being blasted repeatedly by Metalia. She listened intently as her final words were replayed.
"You…" she heard herself strain as she got up one last time. "You can hit me as many times as you want… but you won't break my spirit," she hissed. "Evil will never win over good…" She saw herself clutching her arm and dropping to her knees. Tears were falling down her cheeks and mixing with the dirt and blood on her face. "You'll never win…"
Metalia's figure manifested itself in front of Sailor Moon tormenting her. "Little girl, you think that you can defeat me without your friends? I took care of them in one shot and they were much stronger than you."
She watched Sailor Moon glare back at Metalia as she fought back the tears. Sailor Moon lifted her wand and through gritted teeth stated, "You may have taken them away from me but I will make you pay," she said shoving the wand into Metalia's chest and focusing her power. An impressive surge of power blasted through Metalia but she retaliated quickly with a sardonic laugh and sent an incredible amount of dark energy towards Sailor Moon. The wand was knocked out of her hands as she was flung backwards, skidding across the cold floor, until she finally lay unmoving on her side.
Usagi couldn't help but wince as she saw herself violently hit the ground and unconsciously clutched her chest, remembering the pain that had coursed through her body. Her eyes darted to the left in hopes to finally find out what happened to Tuxedo Mask. She could see him starting to run towards her fallen body screaming for her to wake up and cursing Metalia.
A flash of light wrapped around his body and it looked like he… transformed. 'Wait, what?' she thought to herself as she saw him wearing what appeared to be armour but she couldn't see his face. She tried to step forward to get a better look and see his identity. Unfortunately, she was distracted by a flash of light coming from where her body lay. She saw a woman standing over her wearing a white gown and holding a staff before her. She tried to make out any distinctive features but everything seemed blurred in front of her. She tried to force herself to focus but she was unable to make any sense of it. The more she focused on what was happening before her, the more she lost sight of the battle, and the more she heard her name being called. Who was calling her? The scene finally faded from in front of her, and her eyes flew open revealing four worried faces staring back at her.
"Usagi..." Minako asked cautiously. "Are you ok? You were thrashing and screaming in your sleep… we couldn't wake you up."
Usagi blinked several times and placed a hand to her forehead (she was sweating). "Um…" she said hesitantly trying to piece everything together. "I'm not sure what happened…" she said truthfully. She explained to the girls what she had seen and Ami simply stated that it was her mind trying to tell her what really happened that night. Usagi reluctantly accepted the explanation and wondered if she would continue to be plagued by such memories haunting her dreams. She felt like there was a reason she was told to relive that moment. There had been a voice telling her to watch what happened. Tuxedo Mask had definitely transformed. Did he die afterwards? What happened to him after the woman with the staff manifested herself? All of these questions plagued Usagi as she attempted to fall back asleep. Even though she finally succumbed to her fatigue she fell into a dreamless non-restful sleep.
Mamoru's eyes flew open after having one of the most vivid dreams he had, had in months. Sitting up in his bed clutching his head, he realized that he was starting to relive that day all over again. Swinging his legs over the side of his bed he placed his head in-between his knees trying to calm his nerves and avoid a panic attack. It had taken him months to accept that he was unable to save Sailor Moon and that her untimely demise had been due to his failures. He still couldn't live with himself knowing that he couldn't save her. Reliving that day was just cruel and he hated his mind for forcing him to see her suffer once again.
In the days following the battle, he thought that she was ok but he quickly realised that he couldn't feel or sense her anymore. She never called on him and no matter what he did to reach out to her, he was met with nothing. He had hoped for another attack just to see if she would transform and call to him but it never happened. He had even tried to transform into his alter ego to call to her, but he found that he could no longer transform. To him, this was the final nail in the proverbial coffin. His transformations had always been linked to Sailor Moon, and if he could no longer transform, it only meant 2 things: 1) she lost her powers or 2) she had perished in the fight against Metalia. Having witnessed the extent of her injuries during the battle he assumed that it was the latter.
To fuel his thoughts more, in recent weeks, he had witnessed the Senshi fighting without Sailor Moon which only confirmed to him that she was gone. He hated himself for that blasted night and having been knocked unconscious in the most important fight of his life. Flopping back onto the bed he stared at the ceiling and closed his eyes. He focused on his breathing rather than his jumbled thoughts about the past and vowed to redeem himself somehow. He wasn't sure how but he knew there would come a time when he would be called upon to protect the Senshi, and he would gladly do it to honour their fallen leader.
He exhaled deeply trying to keep his emotions in check and focused on the positive from that ordeal instead of the negative. After the battle, he regained some of his memories about his previous life, and was finally able to determine who he was. It was revealed to him that in his former life he was the Prince of Earth, Prince Endymion, and that he was destined to protect this planet.
While most of his memories had been revealed to him, he still could not remember, one of the most important pieces of his previous life: The Moon Princess. She had been his great love and he died protecting her, but in this lifetime he had yet to find her or remember who she was. It pained him that these memories were still trapped under lock and key in his mind. Even his four loyal Kings (Nephrite, Jadeite, Kunzite and Zoisite), which had been reborn along with him, could not recall who she was. He was convinced that she had presented herself that fateful night, however, no one was there to witness it other than him and he couldn't recall most of the night.
Frustrated, he sighed deeply closing his eyes wondering when life would get easier. The Kings and him, had been searching relentlessly for the past two years for the Princess but they couldn't locate her. There were no clues about who she was, where the Silver Crystal was or whether she was even reborn in this world. The Senshi had been searching for the same thing and all of their searches came up empty handed as well. He wasn't sure how the Kings were keeping tabs on the Senshi but they were, in order to make sure that all of their searches were streamlined.
"Ughhh…." he said to no one in particular. "Stop thinking about all of this," he complained. "No good EVER comes from thinking about all of this," he said as he rearranged himself in his bed and flopped his head onto his pillow. 'Think about something else...' he thought and his thoughts slowly drifted away from the woes of his Princess and Sailor Moon, to another worry that plagued his mind from time to time: Usagi Tsukino.
Even though she was annoying and immature, he missed his Odango. It seemed that everything in his life crumpled at the same time and he wondered how she was faring overseas. When he learned from his best friend Motoki that Usagi was taking a trip overseas, he had nearly spit out his coffee. He couldn't believe that his Odango was leaving. He was also quite alarmed at the reaction he had regarding the girl and how much it hurt to have her leave. He often thought about her and missed his little encounters with the trainwreck.
He had heard from Zoisite that she was studying abroad and that she was doing quite well for herself. He wondered if she still had a knack for videogames, still liked chocolate milkshakes or was still klutzy. He missed bumping into her and teasing her. He knew that at 24 years old he should be over his silly (and wrong) attraction to the girl but he couldn't help it. She had such a joie de vivre and she made him smile, which was a difficult feat. He hoped that he'd be able to bump into her again one day, and that they could restart their rivalry. He needed a cute blonde to pick on, no he needed his cute little blonde to pick on. With a small smile on his face he drifted off into sleep thinking about all the failed women in his life not realising they were the same person.
