AN: Thank you everyone for your support! It means a lot to hear feedback and ideas and gives me the drive to write more. I already have all the chapters drafted out and two more of them written and just needing some editing and tweaking before they're posted. Please enjoy this update and let me know your thoughts!
Athazagoraphobia: The fear of forgetting or being forgotten
Blue eyes watched closely. Though there were no tears threatening to spill beyond the edges, it would be wrong to state that sadness wasn't clearly etched into those irises.
She watched in silence as they moved on the streets, surveying them so that she might be able to deduce the proper time to make herself known. As the leader, it was her burden to put tactical advantage over her own wants and desires.
Slowly, it was starting to kill her inside.
There they were, only a few feet in the distance and yet so impossibly far away. She knew better than to approach them, she knew that no matter how excited she was to see them, they had no idea who she was. It was a stab to her heart that her fellow soldiers didn't remember her, but knowing that her princess didn't think of her at all was what really drove that metaphorical blade to run her through.
A partition rested between them. It was invisible, but with each passing second it became more palpable. The flavor was more bitter than she had ever imagined.
Despite all odds, the others had found each other and they had been awakened each in their own time. But what about her? She had been the last senshi to fall and the first to taste the breath of new life. The deep desire to protect her princess couldn't be suppressed long, that must have been a fact that Queen Serenity had counted upon when she sent them to live a new life.
Venus would tear the universe asunder if it meant knowing her beloved princess was happy and safe.
It was always to be that she would awaken, even before any youma emerged, even before Tokyo was in danger, and even if no danger was born at all. The soul of a mighty general couldn't be trapped.
"You'll never leave me, right?" Slender fingers are tangled between her own as a radiant girl spoils her with her smile. "I don't think I could manage all these awful meetings with you, Venus."
"Seren, I'd never even dream of leaving." A coy smile pulls over her glossy lips. "If I didn't go to these meetings then I'd have nothing to laugh at in my idle time. These ambassadors are idiots."
The petite princess playfully shoves her, laughing brightly and shaking her head.
With a bittersweet smile, she watched the four girls hug and say their goodbyes. Though she knew their new names, their faces still pulled older names to her lips. Mercury had been her tactical genius and a source of tranquility. Mars was the fierce and passionate one who never hesitated to keep them all in line, even Venus herself. Jupiter stood at the front lines, protecting them all with her sheer strength and will. Serenity was a vision of love and purity, so soft and sweet but with a wild heart that couldn't be reeled in.
Venus didn't need to be ordered to love and protect these women. She wanted to.
Serenity- No, Usagi was the last girl standing in an empty park, still waving boisterously to the others as they faded from her view. Even now, without even looking at her, this princess could make a smile find her Senshi's lips.
If only that smile could survive what came next.
A man rounded the corner, a man whose face she'd hated to look at for an entire life she'd already lost. It wasn't Endymion's fault she disliked him, or at least, not entirely his fault.
"I love her, Venus. You have to understand. I would give my life if it meant making her happy."
"No. I love her. I clearly love her much more than you if you're so blind that you can't see the impact of those words." Livid, the golden haired guardian glares with a might incomprehensible. "If you were to die, it would ruin her. Don't you ever stop to think of the consequences of your actions? It's more than your life you're gambling. It's more than your kingdom you're gambling. You could ruin everything."
Endymion regards her slowly and then offers a smile that freezes the goddess of love where she stands.
"I'm not asking for your forgiveness, Venus. But I'm not asking for your permission either."
Every part of her screamed everytime Chiba Mamoru wrapped his arms around Tsukino Usagi, a relationship had formed between the two, one that was hidden away like a secret from the other Senshi, one that Minako feared would cause a repeat in history.
This doesn't end well and her mind demands that she intervene, but she knows it won't do anything. No matter how she thrashes against it and no matter how so silently prays to the moon, she isn't foolish enough to think that their affections for each other are going to fade.
It's envy that makes her this way.
Not a single memory of the past drifts through Usagi's mind and yet she finds herself back in the arms of the prince who failed her while her general stands beside a tree and is forgotten entirely. Perhaps it's more than Usagi's lost memories that eat at her.
"Queen Serenity is a wise woman to put such a fierce warrior at her daughter's side. You're an admirable force, Venus." His voice is deep and rich like some kind of dessert she knows better than to indulge in.
"You're offering me that compliment as if I'm not doing what any other would do in my situation." Unimpressed, the woman rolled her eyes. This snow haired general wasn't going to dazzle her that easily. "I don't think your prince will share the same appreciation for me when I tell him, with my sword unsheathed if necessary, that he needs to keep his distance from my princess."
His laugh was hearty and much to the woman's shock, his gloved hand rose to brush some golden strands from her cheek.
"I offer you praise because you're here to do exactly what I would. In all the galaxy, I've never seen a demotion quite like yours. It's the most radiant thing about you."
She had let her bias get the best of her, let her own love cloud her tactical reasoning. The cruel irony wasn't lost on her that even he didn't remember her. She'd yet to meet him on the battlefield once more, but she didn't want to entertain how much it would hurt when she did.
Her skin crawled and she shrunk back, turning sharply on her heels away from the sight of her princess and the prince she hadn't successfully chased away. Maybe they all were better off without the memories of those times. It terrified Minako to think of how happy they were without her.
Perhaps this rift between them was her punishment for failing her in their last life.
"The time will come, Minako. It's sooner approaching than you might think." Artemis's voice rose from beside her and cut off her thoughts before they could drift too far.
"I know…"
Memories were a weight she didn't want to hold any longer, but deep down, she knew she'd never escape them. Her only wish was that when these memories came flooding back to her friends that the emptiness she'd been fighting for months would finally be gone.
She wanted to be remembered at last and she begged the universe with all her might that she might never be forgotten again.