Title: The Endless Circle
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Yuri, Character Death
Pairing: Makoto/Minako
Summary: Their life in the Silver Millennium wasn't their first. Their life in Crystal Tokyo wouldn't be their last. They would die. And they would be reborn. And the one thing they knew for sure was that it would never, ever end.
Notes: Curse you, Gaia, for releasing your Sailor Moon cosplaying items and renewing my obsession with it, which had peacefully laid dormant for over a decade until you launched that little grenade into my psyche. Thank you very much. By the way, the end notes are crack-tastic. I think my subconscious was trying to balance out the angsty hopelessness of the fic. Apparently, my muse is named Carl. (I think I have a multiple personality disorder – like, bad.)
Just a small reminder: the characters are more or less immortal due to exposure to the Silver Crystal. I have no idea what the enemy they're fighting is, but I figure that if you live long enough, eventually something's going to be stronger than you.
The world was ending around them. They could feel it; the life in the planet slipping away, ever so slowly.
"I wish we could remember. Just once, you know?" She murmured softly. As the end grew nearer, it was nearly silent. The loudness, the chaos, the explosions were over. All that was left was for the last remaining life to quietly fade out of existence. Then, their once beautiful, thriving planet would be nothing but a barren rock, floating in space for the better part of eternity; a fate it would share with their last kingdom.
"Remember what?"
"Death. The end. This. I think it'd be easier if we did."
"Why's that?"
She could feel her shoulders weakly heave in a shrug. "Everyone fears the unknown. If we knew what happened, we wouldn't spend our whole lives dreading it."
The other Senshi were already gone. Rei lay on the castle steps that had been permanently stained a deep red, with a gaping hole in her chest. They had lost track of Ami in the last, pathetic struggle to defend their home and hadn't seen her demise. They had only felt it; a deep chill that pierced them to their bones and the lost of a warm connection centered in their chests that they had grown so accustomed to, it hadn't been noticeable for centuries. Chibiusa and the Outer Senshi had decided to attempt an escape from the doomed city when the attacks had first started; but, due to the desolate wasteland that the enemy had turned everything but the castle into, they had felt the loss of four vital connections in quick succession only hours after they had said their goodbyes. It was after they had gathered together to mourn the loss and had felt the last remnants of their connection to Chibiusa fade away that Usagi and Mamoru had joined hands and walked silently to their deaths. They had fallen side by side, as always. That had been less than a day before, and the world had put up its last hopeless stand.
They knew; they were the last, lying in growing pools of their own blood in the center of their ruined throne room. All that was left was them and Saturn, waiting for them to pass so she could allow her Glaive to fall.
"It never ends." She muttered.
"I know."
Her lips – dry, split, and coated with sticky blood – cracked in a humorless smile. "As they say, no rest for the virtuous."
She felt her lips twist into a deformed smile of their own, acting on impulse in reaction to the typical misstep. "No one's said that."
She got a weak chuckle in response, a sound that twisted her stomach painfully. Despite the fact that they lay dying, the sound was weaker than it would have been only a few seconds ago. Her eyes would fill with tears, but her body had long run out of strength to produce them.
It started with a light touch on her hand, but soon, their hands were clasped tightly as they held on to each other as hard as they could.
"Promise you'll find me?" She pleaded, her voice barely audible. She was beginning to fade.
"Of course."
Then, the hand holding hers slowly went slack and she felt the flame of their connection flare briefly before it slowly died out, leaving behind an ache that she had never known and a desperate, burning loneliness. And Minako was gone.
On some level, she decided, Rei was lucky. She had died from a hole in her heart. Makato would wait to die with one.
It was several horribly silent, empty minutes before she felt the very last of her strength drain from her body. Her eyes slid closed and she sighed heavily with the last of her breath.
"Goodbye."
And the Silence Glaive fell, ending the empty world.
She wasn't sure why she was running.
Pure instinct guided her, directed by a whisper of an old promise dancing in the very bottom of her subconscious.
All she knew was she needed to be somewhere, and she needed to be there immediately.
Her shoes skid in the water pooling on the sidewalk as she turned around the edge to the tall bushes that formed a privacy fence for the yard they surrounded. Standing in front of her, twisting around in surprise, was an angel. An angel with long, golden hair, bright blue eyes, and pale smooth skin; her adorable pink dress protected from the rain by a pure white umbrella. She wished she had thought to grab one, if only so her sweater and jeans hadn't been soaked.
"Hi," She started breathlessly. "I'm Makato." She couldn't do anything but stare at the heavenly creature in awe. It, after all, was what had made her feet start slamming against the pavement for no reason known to her conscious mind.
She saw her expression reflected on the girl's face. "I'm Minako."
They stood on opposite ends of the short sidewalk for several minutes, staring at each other until she felt her face split with a grin as pure, unadulterated giddiness bloomed in her stomach, making her feel closer to ten than sixteen. "Guess what."
Minako tilted her head to the side, obviously perplexed. "What?"
"I found you."
Minako's smile lit up her whole face as she took the dozen steps required to close the space between them.
"Thank you. I've been waiting."
For those who can't follow the dialogue (ex- everyone who can't read my mind): Minako starts off with "I wish we could remember…", it trades off every paragraph after that until "It never ends…" which is also Minako; then it starts to trade off again. The rest is (hopefully) easy to follow. Sorry for any confusion, but my muse threatened to beat me with a frying pan until my face was suitably deformed if I mentioned their names before Minako died. He's an insane, picky little bugger at times – kept muttering something about artistic style (in between the times he was screaming at me due to my lack of it)
VOC: Oh, do I have a friend here in this wasted, empty rent-space you call a brain?
Mint: Looks like – he popped up about two minutes ago. He's looks like a small cupid, for whatever reason, with facial hair and a smoker's cough. I'd be careful what you say around him, though; he's my muse, which means he likes what I write.
Muse (AKA Carl): Don't bet on it, sweet cheeks. I give you the perfect recipe, guide you through it, and you somehow still manage to add too much salt.
Mint: …Oh no.
Carl: Hey, you; Ms. Fancy-Pants, off screen. Hand over the cigar. Is this chick stocked with moonshine?
VOC: I think I like you.
(Mint: Why does my muse have a Brooklyn accent?)
Review, please!!