"Are we in this together?"
Those were the last words she heard from the man she loved- five simple words that would ring in her years for an eternity, or at least it felt like that. When she was just a girl, her mother had told her that some of the simplest phrases and questions would stick in her mind for the longest time, depending on who said them. He was the one to have said them and he was the one who had looked deeply into her eyes for the last time only a moment ago; or had it really been a moment? The moment seemed to last longer now that she thought about it, maybe she had been sitting there for years, holding onto her staff, tears pouring onto the dirt beneath her bent legs.
"Sailor Moon, we've got to go!" There was hand on her shoulder, grabbing it tightly, fingers digging into her flesh through the torn sailor uniform she always wore so proudly. The uniform that described her as a hero- though now she felt like anything but a hero. "Sailor Moon!" Venus was shouting at her, shaking her harshly. "Moon, we have to run! They'll be back! They'll be back!" The words didn't seem to enter her mind, however, rather the sound of Tuxedo Mask's last words were screaming in her brain, deafening out all other noise.
Before she knew it, she was being lifted from the ground, carried away from where she had entered a sort of catatonic shock, fingers still clasping her staff. The golden moon at the top of the ivory stick seemed to be dull despite the bright sunlight that poured down on them. Today looked happy, but yet it was the day her heart was ripped in two. The weather was trying to betray her, trying to make her think that everything was all right. "No!" She screamed, a sound leaving her throat for the first time in nearly ten minutes. "No! We've got to go back! We can't leave!" Her voice was already horse from the screaming of attacks and orders she had been giving a half an hour before. "No!" She fought the arms around her but it was no use- all of the soldiers who protected her so well were holding onto her, forcing her away from the spot of her love's death.
"He needs me!" She said, her fingers reaching out for Tuxedo Mask, her vision blurred with tears and dirt, the small soldier not recognizing that her hands were covered in blood, her feet were cramped and aching, and a deep gash was bleeding all across her clavicle. "No, you need us! We need to get you out of here!" Mars. Mars should understand what was going on, she should know that the Moon Princess needed to protect her Earth Prince. "NO!" Sailor Moon wriggled and writhed but it was no use, the strong arms that held her were not going to buckle.
They just didn't understand- they didn't know what was going on, they didn't know that however much they thought they were protecting her, it was she that always protected them. She was the one to save their lives so many times, to restore earth back to its normal state- she was to be Queen of the Silver Millennium, not any of them. She had a duty to protect and serve her earth, her friends, and most of all: her love. These were the last thoughts that filled her mind as the loss of blood and exhaustion consumed her, causing the brave sailor soldier to pass out into the arms of her friends, Jupiter being the one to run her away from the danger of a new enemy and the death of her beloved King.