Disclaimer: I don't own any characters or anything in here.

Carpe Chance: Chapter 3: The Conversation

Actually, it wasn't straight to the party. The wedding party had to have the formal pictures taken. During that time, guests had to amuse themselves until the reception started. The day for taking the pictures was, of course, gorgeous. The landscape was immaculate and the sun was warm and bright, but not so bad where the males where sweating in their suits. I felt like I was witnessing a magical moment when they were posing together for their first pictures as husband and wife. It was that special.

I talked to the camera man, he promised the pictures in one month, with a review within two weeks to decide on the finals. Pretty generic stuff, but I wanted to make sure it got done, as Minako said before, I am in charge of today for a reason. Mainly, Usagi is a bit distracted, and with good cause.

The reception started off without a hitch. It was lively and everyone enjoyed the food. Well, I hope everyone did. The second it was mentioned that I made it, all I got was compliments from everybody, but honestly, who would criticize the food today, unless it was absolutely horrendous. I have a feeling even passable food would have been praise so not to bring down the mood. I personally thought the salmon steaks were a bit too spicy and the pasta's cream sauce wasn't thick enough. I kept my opinions to myself.

After dinner is the cutting of the cake. I think I am most excited about this part. I am so proud of my cake, and to have it in such a special setting, just makes me burst with joy. However, I can't really reveal my odd pride at contributing to this event.

The saying you can't have your cake and eat it, too, applies here. Some part of me wanted the cake to stay around forever. It was a symbol of all the time and effort I put into designing and making the thing. The whipped pink frosting, the layers of chocolate, cherry, and strawberry, the flowered tiers, and the bunny motifs that took me three days to make, and more than a couple of trials.

I think I have taken about 100 pictures already of the cake. That and them cutting it and feeding each other the pieces. It was my mark on the wedding, this most special wedding, and therefore, had the most meaning to me. I flip through the pictures on my camera as everyone else goes over to get their piece of cake. In the back of one of the images, I see that long-braid on the fascinating foreigner that was sitting next to Setsuna.

Instantly, I become alert, checking all parts of the room. I should have known he would be here as well, but it never crossed my mind. I have a fierce urge to talk to him, even though I wasn't sure I could talk to him. What if he doesn't speak Japanese? My language skills don't go beyond "hello" in any other language, despite my high school studies.

I do not see him, but I do remember that I wanted to speak to Setsuna anyway, so if I just head over towards her, maybe I can find him as well as answer my questions.

Setsuna is easier to spot, and I weave my way over to her, leaving my precious slice of cake, I retrieved after I put my camera away, alone at my seat.

"Setsuna, Haruka, Michiru, Hotaru, hi, how are all of you?" I ask politely, inwardly trying to figure out how to talk to Setsuna privately without looking suspicious.

Setsuna answers my internal dilemma for me. "Makoto, it is great to see you. I actually have been wanting to talk to you. Would you mind coming over here for a moment?" She gestures away from the group with a graceful arch of her hand. It strikes me as how easy that was, and how worried I had been over nothing.

"Sure thing. I'll talk to you all later." I say to the rest.

"You better, Mako. And you also have to save me a dance." Haruka winks at me. Her absurd grin lets on to how much she is enjoying herself. Setsuna pauses for a second.

"Haruka, I am going to be taking up a lot of Makoto's time." I don't think that was a pun. But you never know; Setsuna might have a weird sense of humor favoring puns. "You might want to dance with her now, so you'll guarantee you have a chance."

Haruka gives a meaningful look at Michiru, my guess is asking for permission to not have the first dance with her. Michiru nods and I swept away in Haruka's arms.

I remember hearing once from Usagi that Haruka is a magnificent dancer, and I am not disappointed. She can lead with me barely noticing I am being led. Her adjustments are subtle but there. She can probably dance with anyone and make it look like they have been dancing together for years.

I feel my pink dress twirl and lift as she spins me around. While dancing is definitely not my favorite activity, especially considering the important conversation with Setsuna I want to have in the back of my mind, it is enjoyable, and I can pretend I am dancing with the man of my dreams, even if it is only Haruka in reality.

"Tell me, Mako, what are you going to talk to Setsuna about?" There is that devil smirk again, I wonder if she already knows.

"Well, if you recall, Setsuna wanted to talk with me. I don't know what it will be about." I conveniently don't mentioning my own issues to discuss. It might end up being a very long conversation.

"Come on, I know you know something. Setsuna has been so closed lipped, especially about that guy she brought. You have to tell me something." She was practically begging, and that is something Haruka never does. Who would have thought that Haruka is just being a gossip? Perhaps everybody has been taken over with alien personas and by default has made them love gossip. Although, I am probably not much better, I just take it all in and don't relay as much. "Michiru promised me we could get an Aston Martin if I figure out the mystery before it is revealed." Ah, that explains her intense interest. Sounds like a interesting challenge between those two. I wonder if it happens often.

"I'm sorry; you won't get anything from me."

"Oh well. I guess this dance is not a complete lost. I still get a chance to dance with a pretty girl." She winks at me and I blush. After all this time, she still makes comments to make me blush.

We finish the dance in pretty quickly after that, the light banter continues between us. She leads me back to their table where everyone is still waiting, including Setsuna, I notice she is tapping her foot, and not to the music. Setsuna nods at me and we quickly head off towards the side of the hall.

Setsuna and I find a secluded corner away from others and the speakers because those impeded talking, I had found out earlier. Setsuna jumps right in with no preamble. It sounded like she had been practicing what she was going to say for a while. "Makoto, I have been watching the time flow recently, and something has happened. I am not sure what it is, but you seem to be at the center of it. Do you have any idea what is going on?"

I feel a ripple of surprise go through me. This is a little more extreme than my uneasy feelings I was getting earlier. "I, Crystal Tokyo, I mean…" I stumble as I try to form coherent sentences. "I can't describe it, but recently I have been having feelings, intuitions, that maybe the future isn't Crystal Tokyo. Nothing I can say for sure, though. I haven't done anything." I added with my hands up. I am innocent.

Setsuna gives a look between a smile and exasperation. Like I didn't help her at all, but she appreciates my antics. Then a strong sigh follows. "Well, I don't know why, but you seem to have picked up on some… feelings about the time flow." All I can do is nod; maybe pretend that I understand her. "You saw my date here, right?"

This complete 180 completely throws me through a loop. Can Setsuna read minds? How did she broach both subjects I wanted to talk to her about without any prompting from me?

"Of course you saw him. I should have figured." I don't know exactly how she came to that conclusion or what she means, but I feel like I was just insulted. "He is the result of the time flow… disturbance." That doesn't sound good.

She launches back into explain time. "Time isn't a line, with point a to point z. Time isn't a circle. Time isn't dimensional with different pasts making different futures. Time isn't an hour glass. Time is all of that and more. Time is impossible to explain or imagine, and I don't know everything about it, but I was given guardianship of our Solar System's time."

"Wait, what? Our Solar System's time? What does that mean?" This was turning into something a lot more confusing than I originally imagined.

"Of course, our Solar System. You think there is only one guardian of time and it just happens to be in our Solar System? We are not that special, however, mine is one of the… oldest… of times and I have more power than your typical time guardian. Being a senshi helps."

She shakes her head as if to clear it. "That's not what is important. What is important is this… instance. Think of our time as a never-ending malleable river-noodle flowing in a river, with many other river-noodles in this huge river. We change, intermingle, loop back around, and merge all the time but always come out as our own noodle.

"Well, our noodle, Crystal Tokyo's noodle, merged with another noodle and won't separate. Two times became one, and has completely destroyed both futures. And now I have to try to fix it, but whatever I try hasn't been working. There is a power holding me back. I think you are the source of that power."

"Wha…? Me? How am I doing anything? I swear, I haven't touched anything that would be time-related, or that powerful." Again, the hands go up in a defenseless gesture. I pause for a second to think over the rest of it. "Noodle? Time is a noodle? That is one weird analogy, Setsuna."

"While a little strange, still seems work rather well, and I just ate a pasta dish." She then smiles calmly at me. That alone relieved me as much as anything else could. She wouldn't be smiling like that if she was pissed or planning on disemboweling me. "No, it isn't your fault, and it is at the subconscious level at best. But every time I "trace" the merge, I arrive upon two people, one from each time, you and my companion here tonight."

I am shaking my head, refusing to believe that it is possible my doubts were actually causing it to happen. I have heard of mind over matter, but this is beyond comprehension.

"I brought him to this time to try to fix what has been going on but haven't had much success. I am hoping you two will meet each other and the problem will resolve itself." Well, I can't argue with that logic, can I?

"So who is this date I am supposed to meet?"

"Duo Maxwell, at your service."

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Author's Notes: Hello Everyone. Hope you all had a great New Year. First, I hope you like the crossover character. If you don't recognize him or where he is from, don't worry about it, since that is necessary for the story.

Second, I am writing this story with the idea that Makoto's POV would be in Japanese and that it is being "translated" into English for English speakers. Therefore, I dropped all references to Japanese words or phrases that are common with anime/manga fanfiction, such as -chan, -san, etc.

Third, please review, I really want to know if this is love/hated/ok/whatever. Thank You.