Forget-Me-Not (revised)

By: stefani teee a.k.a. Koneko ^Å^

Koneko-chan says!

Hi again, again I apologize on why Forget-Me-Not is coming along so slowly. Well, when it's squashed between eight other fics I'm working on (overload I know), things tend to continue slowly… sorry.

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(Chapter Two)

"Hurry, the movie's about to start!" Any passerby would see a pigtailed goddess dragging her boyfriend by the arm towards the theatre, already lined with other such scenes of happily coupled… couples.

"You bastard! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?! And with some floozy you picked up off the street? You told me you were sick!"

"I am… SICK OF YOU, BITCH!"

"WHY YOU…!"

"HEY! Get your hands OFF him!"

"Shut up BITCH!"

Commencing post-breakup brawl. Er… what was that about happy couples?

Anyway, this past-tense couple decided to bring their fight right into our leading stars. That is to say, Chiba Mamoru and Tsukino Usagi. The redhead girl collided with Mamoru, and managed to kick Usagi in the face while going down. She obviously wasn't hurt, Mamoru apparently a very nice mattress, and leapt back up without an apology to attempt to smack the guy's face. For the fifth time.

Usagi dragged her boyfriend up, cast a withering glance of scorn at the two who had DARED to face the wrath of the pink bunny rabbit, turned her nose upwards and led her boyfriend into the theatre, ignoring the rest of the assembled audience completely.

"Don't you want any popcorn for yourself?" when there was no answer, Usagi turned to stare at her boyfriend's face, "Mamo-chan? Hellooo, anyone home?" she asked, reaching up and tapping him on gently on the temple with her forefinger.

"Hmm?" was all he said. She frowned, "You haven't heard a word I've said, have you?"

"Uh, miss? Your order?" Usagi made a shushing sound at him, dismissing him rather quickly as her attentions were focused on the tall raven-haired man. "Come on, what's wrong?"

"Nothing really…"

"No, it's something really. Tell me what's wrong." She seemed to be ignoring the yells of "hurry up!" and "get moving!" quickly effectively. The guy at the counter was continuing to ask her, "Excuse me miss?"

"I SAID hold ON!" she bellowed (yes bellowed, it was that loud), shocking everyone into silence. Not many people can do this I tell you, but she the worshipful Sailor Moon and she can (usually) do whatever the hell she wants. However, when it came to her boyfriend, his moodiness dampened her spirits just the slightest bit.

Nonetheless, she enjoyed the movie and the popcorn (as well as the soda, the chips, the nachos, the candy…) despite it all and they left the theatre, with her chattering happily again.

Mamoru reentered his home later that evening, rather worn out by his young girlfriend's enthusiasms, falling down on the couch, and throwing his keys in the direction of the bureau where he usually placed them. He half sat, half lay there, thinking to himself, wondering about that fight last night.

It had been different last night, than all the battles put together. Not many of the youma, nor their masters had ever tried to dispense with the senshi so quickly, nor so efficiently it seemed. That man, that man with the axe had been so ready to kill his princess if he hadn't himself thrown one of his roses, destroying it. He'd hadn't slept a wink last night thinking about it, how the love of his life had almost been killed right before his eyes in such a barbaric way. In such a human way.

And the man's armor! That had been what struck him from the first moment, as memories of himself, in his own previous life washed over him. It was the same exact design of his own, when he chose to become the Prince of Earth. Could it be that these new soldiers, these new forces were not only from the past… but the demons of his own people that had long ago been turned over to the Dark Kingdom as mere pawns? Another wave of guilt fell on him as he recalled the hopelessness, the selfishness! of not being able to save his own planet, his own world, and had risked everything only to save the princess of an enemy world. They could call him Prince Charming if they liked, but inside, he still wished things could have been different. And he would have done anything to know the truth… what Queen Serenity told them had been all but a mixed blur, telling bits and pieces of their history only when it suited her or Pluto to tell them.

And then there was the anger. He leapt up from his couch, all other thoughts gone as he remembered that hot, liquid anger. He remembered Beryl actually, remembered her as the sweet, innocent countess from Earth that she'd been. And he'd actually liked her, perhaps even loved her once with a soft sweetness, none of the passion he felt whenever he was around his princess. He was destined only for her. Perhaps he understood, in a strange twisted way, why she had done it. But he could still not forgive her for it.

He growled softly beneath his breath. None of this… he needed to get to sleep or else his classes would be hell the next day. Memories of a painful life in the past should be left in the past. Usako was his, she was with him, and she always would, no matter what. Changing out of his normal attire, he fell into his bed, hair rumpling, falling into his eyes. Despite his prior musings, he soon went to sleep. As he slept, he dreamed.

He saw his princess. Usagi, Serenity, whoever. It was she. But she couldn't see him, no matter how hard he willed his astral body to go to her, hold her, talk to her. As he watched, he saw… himself. No, not himself, he was taller, and had silver highlights in his hair, when he himself had changed from green to blue. He also looked older. Who was he then? Judging from the armor, he was from Earth as well. But who was he? An imposter?

He continued to watch the scene, powerless to do anything but watch. As the sweet gestures of a couple in love made his blood boil, he found, with only slight horror, that he found that other… 'him' being pulled into a dark vortex, ripped from the shrieking Serenity's arms. He knew without saying that it was a doorway into the Dark Kingdom, changed forever. He could see Serenity's face, and body crumple in grief, falling to her knees, keening for the man.

Suddenly, somehow freed from his frozen state, he moved towards her, standing in front of her, being the one who received her kisses, her embraces, her love… instead of the other man. What was he? A replacement?

He woke up with a start, wondering what in the world that had been about. What had that dream meant? Was someone trying to tell him something? That he'd been a soldier for the Dark Kingdom before, in his past life?

He got up, brushing his hair out of his eyes, going for the bathroom, splashing himself with the cold water from the tap into his face, and then looking up into the mirror. For a moment, he stared at his reflection, then gasped. There was that face again, that older face, with the hardened expression and the silver highlights in his hair. His eyes were ice-cold, and the cruel smile he had on his lips ruined his handsome face with the unattractive leer.

"What the—! Who the hell are you?" he yelled, shocked and surprised, not to mention slightly jealous. He was a man, and all men were made to be territorial about their women. The man on the other side of the mirror did nothing more than sneer at him, before the reflective surface beneath the glass seemed to shiver, twisting itself into a swirl before reform into his real reflection showing just how worried he looked.

Extremely stressed from his night of restless dreaming, he got dressed, pulling on the customary jogging ensemble and, after grabbing his keys exited his apartment. He'd barely made five blocks, when a whirlwind of blonde hair and school uniform that was shrieking, "I am SOOOOOO late! Haruna-sensei is gonna KILL me!!" came colliding directly into him. He groaned… by now, he should have anticipated her movements. How long had he known her? How many times had she done this exact same thing?

As it happened, she could barely manage the few words of apology and the exchange of a short, sweet kiss before she was off again. She slid into her seat just a moment before the bell had rung, and Miss Haruna who had just turned towards the board looked back, slightly startled at the sight of a coughing and wheezing Usagi, looking completely disheveled, hair, uniform and all. She sighed, turning back. That girl would never change…

While the schoolgirls were whiling away the hours of sunshine in the school buildings, the King had arrived on Earth, appearing with all utmost dignity… Until he found that he'd appeared in the middle of the girls' change room in a high school not too far away from where his princess was sleeping in the middle of math class.

He was able to escape that place soon enough, his ears still ringing with the shrill cries of "PERVERT" from the surrounding females. He'd also been smacked multiple times by several shoes that were on hand and he'd barely restrained himself from throwing a fireball at them all and decimating them. After all, he wanted to be rather unobserved by the ordinary mortals that walked the earth.

Even as he walked through the streets, he found himself earning several strange stairs, and he soon recognized them to be staring pointedly at his armor. After studying the male pedestrians for a few moments, he ducked into an alleyway, whispering several spell words beneath his breath, allowing his armor to warp itself into a very believable facsimile of what most of the others were wearing. A white polo shirt and jeans, as well as running shoes appeared on him and he stepped out, imitating a casual stride as he fell into the role of 'normal'. However much he felt personally that the entire charade was completely mundane, he forced himself to play by the rules. He had come this far, trying to keep himself from becoming engulfed by the darkness for so long, just for the sake of his princess. He would not back down, not when he was so close…

Usagi leaned back against the trunk of tree, yawning, a hand lying flat on her belly. "Mmm… yummy food…" she moaned happily in her own little state of bliss as Ami and Makoto watched her, barely able to keep from laughing at the sight of their 'princess'. They had started this memorable tradition since the meeting of Usagi with both Ami and Makoto, of eating outside beneath that familiar tree.

The resident 'King of Evil' (or so we shall call him for now… for lack of a better name) was working himself into a fine temper. He had not known how used he had been to having just what he wanted when he wanted. Firstly, because his people were such dimwits to be defeated so easily, he had undertook the task himself. And despite his best efforts, he could not find her. His tracking device was supposed to have led him straight to her, but either the gadget was not working, or all these people was causing too much interference to get a straight reading.

But she was here… somewhere amongst all this hustle and bustle that was Tokyo city, his princess waited. And he would find her no matter what… but did there have to be so many blasted people in this city?! The time had strayed from the early hours of the morning to noon before he finally came across a less crowded area, enough to get a clearer reading. She was closer than ever before, and he was studying the watch-sized screen with suspense-filled eyes, his heart pounding. Could he find her? Would it all come back seamlessly as if they had never been apart at all?

He broke off into a run as the device began beeping, leading him straight for a school, whose name was written across in large letters. Juuban.

Walking into the school grounds casually, he almost immediately wished he didn't. All manner of schoolgirls and schoolboys looked up at his appearance. The boys wouldn't have taken much more notice of him, had the girls not begun to whisper, point, discuss, and then squeal, with hearts dancing in their eyes as they stampeded towards him, then they just turned to stare.

He staunchly tried to ignore the crowd that was surrounding him, keeping at least that much shred of dignity having so many females around him, begging for him to share their lunch with him. In the middle of the all the squealing, he could almost have missed a voice saying, "Hey, isn't that Usagi-chan's boyfriend?"

But he didn't. He immediately headed in the direction of that girl, and voiced a question, making eye contact with no one, but still looking in that general direction, hoping for an answer. "Have you seen Usagi?"

"Usagi?" The crowd that had gathered immediately backed off, no one wanting to face the wrath of the pigtailed goddess. Whispers of that same name passed through the crowd as an auburn-haired girl nodded, arm holding a gossip-hungry boyfriend back from pouncing and extracting information.

"She's out by the oak tree eating lunch… like she always does."

Murmurs around her could be heard, "Eating is too tame a word for that meatball head, gorging down her lunch sounds so much more realistic." More murmurs, this time of agreement. Naru shrugged, doing her best to defend her friend, but it was still a lost cause. Usagi was Usagi. Nothing could be said to dissuade that fact.

He had always thought himself too idealistic for his own good, and he realized it around now when he was being informed about his princess. She had always been perfect, gentle, polite, poised and graceful when he'd met her. She had been killed, he remembered, killed by the same darkness that had surrounded him, dragging him into their world. And she'd been reborn, brought back by the love and high magic of the Queen to live again on Earth. And finally, he had found her…

Distancing himself from the female crowd, he followed the trail from his tracker, keeping his eyes wary of any large oak trees.

He found her.

Sitting in a halo of sunlight that had broken through the tree's canopy, she looked more angelic than ever before, the middle school's uniform adding a touch of innocence to her charm. He was literally stopped in his tracks as he drunk in her appearance, her nearness. His memories and what he was seeing crashed into his head, becoming one, the golden-haired goddess in front of him.

He stumbled forward, all of a sudden, all poise left him, robbing the King of his dignity as he slowly closed the distance between him and the girl. Would she remember anything about him? The Queen had wiped her memory before, to make her forget about him until time arose. Was this that aforementioned time? Would he have his princess in his arms again, be-damning any other who stood in his way?

"Mamoru-san?" it was that blue-haired girl that had looked up that spoke, intelligent blue eyes peering at him from behind a pair of reading glasses. The pigtailed girl immediately looked up, and then, with a squeal ran for him. "MAMO-CHAN!"

Now, our King did not have the experience in Usagi-based tackling, and did not know when to take the ready position when she came flying towards him. Ever before, he had remembered only when she fell into his arms, allowing him to hug her against his chest.

So, when she flew at him in a flying tackle… well, the ending result was that the two of them ended on the ground. The King was immediately rather dazed after smacking the back of his head against the ground, although Usagi was quite all right having landed on top of him.

Usagi was off him in a second, shocked and surprised. "Wait a minute… you're not my Mamo-chan… oh dear, I'm so sorry! Here—" she held out her hand to help him up which he grasped, noting with internal surprise how her once smooth hands were now roughened with calluses just the slightest bit. A princess… who engaged in the tasks of servants? It was hard to imagine.

"Are you okay? I'm really, really, sorry you know, you just look like my boyfriend and I thought you were him and I'm really, really sorry…" she said this all so incredibly fast that he could only blink before saying, with difficulty, "You do not recognize me, Princess?"

"Princess…?" A sudden flicker came in her face as her hand came up to squeeze the broach pinned to the red bow on her uniform as if with a nervous reaction. "What do you mean by 'princess'?"

He sighed, backing away slightly. "You do not remember me. You only know the Endymion that Queen Serenity allowed you to remember…"

She grasped his arm, keeping him from walking away. "Now hold on just a second! You can't just come here, spout all this stuff about me not remembering something, even adding in my mother whom nobody is supposed to know about, and then just walk away!"

He looked at her then; his eyes filled with some raw emotion… it could have been anger. "Mightn't we talk in… privacy?" he managed to ask and she nodded, confused, letting go of his arm and leading him away from the middle school set.

"Now what?"

"First a question… you are… princess Serenity?" she looked him over with searching eyes, then nodded slowly. "So what if I am?" Again, there was that grasping motion at her broach.

"Princess… I…" he trailed off, then tried again, "I cannot believe I can finally see you again…"

"You knew me? Like, when I was still a… you know, princess?"

"Knew you? I more than just knew you… I…" he shook his head, "It is not the time to tell you, I think. The queen told me that when the time came, you would remember… and even when I'm here, right in front of you…" he shook his head, turning around, allowing his hair to fall, hiding his eyes.

"I loved you…" this was said in almost a whisper from the girl behind him. He whirled, eyes wide, dark blue meeting ocean, as she stared, open-mouthed back at him. "Little bits and pieces of it… the lake… the…" she looked up, her eyes filled with that old, old pain. "You left me… you went away and disappeared…"

"Princess, I would never leave you by choice… but, the way I am now…" he looked down, down at the hands that had slain more than a million people over the years, "If only you could purify me, princess, like you have done so with my brother. I have been covered with the deaths of my own people, filled with the darkness that created the Dark Kingdom. I could not escape it… not even your mother could help me, even at the peak of her power. So she made you forget me, forget I even existed to keep you from joining me…" he gave a deep shuddering sigh, slowly sliding down the trunk of the tree so that he was sitting, nestled between two of its roots. "I did not have the will to keep you away from me, love. So she made you forget, until perhaps the day I might be freed of this curse." He looked up at her, "I left you in my brother's care, asking him to protect you in my stead. But Queen Serenity…" he grit his teeth, filled with momentary anger which passed quickly, "She wanted only your happiness. She made it so the two of you fell in love, you and my brother. Then, the war took place and your mother sealed us all away and you forgot… completely…" he stood, suddenly gruff.

Usagi was silent, astonished really, at what she was hearing. A Dark Kingdom drone was telling her this story about how her mother had fooled her into thinking that someone else had been her love since the beginning of time? And she believed him?

"What is your… name?" she asked him suddenly, surprised that she did not know. If she had loved him, why couldn't she remember even his name?

"You never knew it, Princess. You always called me Endymion… a name both my brother and I share, so it was not surprising that you…" he paused, "that you forgot entirely about me."

"You mean… you didn't forget about me?" she asked, horrified that he should knowingly have watched her fall for his brother. Why hadn't her mother helped him forget too?

"What else could I do? I did not want to kill my brother at that time, and Queen Serenity wanted only for you to be happy. Even away from me…"

"So… your name?"

Her bluntness and the sudden switch of topic struck him off-guard and he stared at her wide-eyed for a moment before saying slowly, "Erik."

"Erik…" she rolled the name around her tongue, as if tasting some new sweet and he watched her with curiosity. This girl was nothing like the angelic princess he had known, that flowed through life like moonlight. She was so… bubbly and… spontaneous.

"Well Erik… uh, I'm sorry if this sounds stupid to you, but I've got class and Haruna-sensei will kill me if I don't get to class on time… I'll have detention for a week and then Rei-chan will be so steamed at me…" she trailed off, "I'm not blowing you off or anything okay? But the lunch period's over and I need to get back to class… if you're hanging around town before you go back to doing whatever you… evil Dark Kingdom drones do, as long as you don't kill anyone, and then… maybe later after school… I can try and help you…" Then she was gone, after saying all this, apparently all in one breath. She took one immediately after before rushing off in the opposite direction yelling, "JA NE!" back at him, before tripping over what looked like a stick and falling flat on her face.

He watched, surprised as she picked herself up, and with a glance at her watch, was off with a wail. "I'm gonna be laaaaaaate!"

He shook his head. Yes, he was too idealistic. But she would always be his princes… wouldn't she? He bit his lip, snapping his fingers, and he disappeared, leaving behind only a cloud of blue smoke and a smell of something that'd been scorched. He needed to think this over. Very, very well.

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End of Chapter. Finally! Do you know how hard it was to finish this chapter? I never could believe it, especially when I finished the chapters of all my other chapters in one night and this took three! Oh well, it'd better be worth it is all I've got to say. Review me! Please!!!!!!!