A/N: Thank you to all who have taken the time to review, favorite, follow, etc. And a special shout out to asdfghjklalala for reminding me that I made Mamoru an artist.
Chapter 3 – Truth
Mamoru slipped into his normal stool. It was dangerous to make an appearance at the arcade, but he really needed to see a friendly face. And Motoki would never let him down. His friend made an appearance quickly with his usual steaming cup of black coffee.
"Thanks Motoki-kun," he said taking a large gulp of the dark liquid.
"Mamoru-kun, it's good to see you out and about," Motoki said with an encouraging smile. "It's been awhile since you've swung by. I've missed you."
Mamoru didn't comment. Motoki knew why Mamoru had stopped frequenting the arcade and had nothing to do with his friend.
"You'll warn me, if you see her coming?" Mamoru asked softly.
Motoki scowled clearly unhappy with the request, but he nodded stiffly anyway.
"So what's going on with you?" Mamoru asked. "And please, tell me something good!"
"Well…" Motoki began, wiping out a mug. "Reika and I were thinking of moving in together," he announced casually not making eye contact.
Mamoru sprayed his friend with coffee,completely startled. Motoki carefully wiped his face clean without comment.
"Motoki-kun! That's excellent news!" Mamoru exclaimed slapping his friend's shoulder in commiseration. "How did I not know about this sooner?"
Motoki shrugged. "I've actually been meaning to bring it up for awhile. We could really use your help with some of the heavy lifting. But…"
"…I've been going through a lot and then stopped showing up altogether," Mamoru filled in for him. "Motoki-kun, I'm sorry! I know I've been so completely absorbed in myself lately. You should have said something!"
Motoki shrugged again, "It's not that big of a deal. It just seemed to make sense to both of us. She spends half the year out of the country anyway and during that time she either has to put her stuff in storage or pay six months worth of rent for an apartment that she's not using."
"Oh, come on Motoki! You and I both know this is way more than a financial arrangement."
Motoki grinned, slipping a hand into his pocket. Mamoru noticed the movement.
"So when are you going to propose?" he asked.
Motoki blushed, "How did you know?"
Mamoru gestured to his friend's hand – hidden away. "What's in your pocket Motoki-kun?"
His friend snatched his hand away from his pocket as if burned.
"Yeah," Mamoru said, genuinely smiling for the first time in weeks, "that's what I thought. I take it you won't show it to me?" he asked.
"Normally, I would Mamoru-kun, but… I want her to be the first to see it," Motoki admitted.
Mamoru nodded, not at all offended. "Well, I'd wish you luck, but I don't think you're going to need it. When it's time to move, just let me know and, rain or shine, I will be there."
"Thanks, Mamoru-kun. I will hold you to that."
Mamoru gulped down the rest of his coffee and enjoyed the bustle of noise of the arcade for a moment. He really had missed this place. Surely he knew Usagi's schedule well enough to be able to visit from time to time without running into her.
"So how's business? Any new faces?" Mamoru asked as casually as possible. "Who's this new Kou Seiya kid that's been hanging around?"
Motoki considered him for a moment.
"Mamoru-kun, you can't have it both ways," Motoki said flatly.
Mamoru's good mood evaporated. He hadn't mentioned Usagi, but the fact that Motoki was scolding him suggested that even he had already linked the two names in his head. Which was all the answer he needed really.
"I know…it's just…" Mamoru tried to cut in, but Motoki wasn't finished.
"If you want to push her away, you have to let her move on. And I will not be your spy into her personal life," he said firmly.
"I wouldn't want you to be," Mamoru said with a sigh. He just wanted to be part of her life in some small way. "Just… tell me that she's okay."
"She's not," Motoki said bluntly.
"Motoki-kun," Mamoru began defensively, recognizing the comment for the attack that it was.
"Look, you don't have to justify yourself to me," Motoki said with forced patience. "Trust me. I get it. I can't imagine being in your position, and I have no idea if I'd do anything differently. But… it's hard Mamoru-kun. I love that girl like a sister. It's hard to watch her in such pain and not be able to do anything to fix it. I wish I could tell her what was happening."
"Motoki-kun," Mamoru growled warningly.
"I haven't told her anything!" he assured rapidly. "Not even about knowing her identity. And if I've been giving her a few extra shakes on the house, I'm sure she's attributed that to her current depression."
"And I won't!" Motoki promised at Mamoru's continued death glare. "But I still think you should."
Mamoru chose not to comment. He didn't really want to argue with one of the only friendly faces left in his life.
"Well, thanks for the coffee Motoki-kun," Mamoru said as he rose to his feet. "And for the good news! First thing I've had to smile about in a long while."
"I'll let you know how it goes," Motoki said with a smile.
"I look forward to it," Mamoru waved a farewell. "Let me know when you need my help."
He left through the automatic doors. The second the cold winter air struck his face, his momentary emotional high disappeared. He was so happy for his friend. Motoki and Reika were fabulous together – they always had been.
But Mamoru couldn't help the envy that rose up within him. He wanted the same thing for himself, but the dream of a happily married Mamoru and Usagi had never seemed further away.
He glanced down at his watch. He was late to his lunch with Setsuna. He had never felt less like going, but he had nothing else to fill his day with.
When he arrived, Setsuna had her nose buried in a notebook filled with what looked like physics equations.
"Sorry I'm late," he said taking the seat opposite her in the outdoor café.
"Don't worry about it Mamoru-kun," she said absently not sparing him a glance. "I need to finish up this problem set anyway."
Then she continued to ignore him as she faced the notebook with intense concentration. She scribbled out unfamiliar equations on another piece of paper and occasionally flipped back through her notes. He didn't feel compelled to ask what she was working on.
"Do you have an extra pencil I could borrow?" he asked instead.
She handed him the requested tool, again without looking up from her work. Had they actually been dating, he had a feeling that her lack of attention would have irritated him immensely. As it was, it was a relief not to have to engage her in the level of intellectual conversation they normally enjoyed.
Instead, he took the pencil and began tracing out an elaborate water fountain on the plain white napkin. And once the fountain was in place, he surrounded it with a small dirt pathway, surrounded by rosebushes. When he finished the outlines, he began adding details.
Their food had long since arrived, but they both ignored it. She, intent on her studying, and he, focused on his latest rendition of the rose garden.
"Sorry about that Mamoru-kun," Setsuna said, putting away her notebook and turning toward the bowl of miso soup. "Working on my relativity class always takes away all my concentration. Einstein had a very… unique perspective on the fabric of space-time that just doesn't quite line up with my own understanding of the subject. Of course, my professors don't think much of my own theories on the topic. I suppose that's why I'm working on the degree."
"Uh huh," he said absently as he used his fingers to smudge the interior of his fountain, giving it a smoother look.
"Not that I am arrogant enough to think I know more about the topic than Einstein," she continued. "He made some huge breakthroughs in our understanding of the universe. It's unfortunate that he died such an unhappy man."
"What made him so unhappy?" he asked only half aware of their conversation. There was something missing from the drawing. He tapped the end of the pencil on the table in frustration.
"He made so many breakthroughs in the first half of his career, but towards the end he made very little progress on any of the projects he was working on."
"How frustrating," he commented not sure if he was referring to himself or the physics professor. He had drawn the picture from Serenity's perspective he realized. Her hand needed to be reaching for the rose in the foreground. He began tracing the outline.
"He kept using the same methods. He assumed that because his methods had always worked so well in the past, that the same would always hold true. He didn't realize that the whole landscape of his field had changed."
He glanced up from his drawing. "Why do I get the feeling that you're not just talking about Einstein anymore?"
"I don't know Mamoru-kun," she said innocently. "Are you seeing…"
She cut off abruptly. Mamoru glanced at her in concern.
"What is it?" he followed her gaze toward the staircase that rose out of the ground from the subway station.
His visual search landed on a set of familiar crystal blue eyes framed by the golden waterfalls of her trademark odangos. All the air left his lungs as he lost himself in her eyes for the first time in weeks.
"Mamo-chan," Usagi said with a small voice, breaking the moment by looking down. He wanted nothing more than to leap from his seat in that moment, gently urge her head back up so that he could kiss her breath away, and never let her go.
He held himself rigidly in his seat.
Usagi glanced toward Setsuna. "I mean, Mamoru-san," she corrected hastily. "I… I didn't expect to run into you. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt your date."
"It's fine Usagi-chan!" Setsuna reassured instantly. "You've interrupted nothing! Why don't you join us?" Setsuna invited warmly, kicking out an unused seat from under the table.
Mamoru glanced sharply at his dark haired date even as he carefully flipped over his sketch. Setsuna wouldn't recognize the significance of the rose garden, but he knew Usagi had a similar drawing taped to her own vanity.
Usagi shook her head, suddenly tears evident in her eyes. "I can't," she managed. "I have to go… study." And she retreated back down the stairs into the subway station.
Setsuna turned an accusatory glance his way, as if his presence alone had scared the young blond away. As if she wanted his ex-girlfriend sitting at the table with them.
It did not make any sense. But then, Setsuna's behavior in their 'relationship' had baffled him since the beginning. He had never felt motivated enough to figure it out.
"Why did you hide your drawing?" she demanded and snatched the napkin from him before he could pull it away.
She took in the rendition and gasped.
"Mamoru-kun… I didn't know you were an artist."
The shock on her face made him decidedly uncomfortable. He snatched the sketch back from her hands.
"It's beautiful. A place out of a dream," she said eerily. It was like she could see through him and he hated the feeling.
"It's just a sketch," he said defensively.
"A sketch of something fundamentally important to you," she said lightly.
He fidgeted under her gaze.
"Setsuna-chan, I have to go," he said abruptly, no longer able to stand her presence. He stood leaving the napkin conspicuously behind. Taking it with him would have exposed his dismissal of its significance for the lie that it was. He could always make another one.
She nodded gracefully. "Fine. Next time we meet… we really need to talk."
He had no allusions about what they needed to discuss. He had been amazed that she had stayed with him this long.
"'Til then," he said with a small wave. He couldn't even bring himself to smile at her. Not after seeing Usagi.
…
Motoki pulled on the apron and walked from the kitchen to start his shift.
Usagi was the only customer sitting at the counter. She sat on her stool with her head hidden in her arms.
"Usagi-chan?"
"She's so nice Motoki-oniisan!" she cried lifting her head up just enough to rest her chin on her forearms.
"Who?"
"Mamoru's new girlfriend!" she exploded. "Setsuna? I think her name is?"
"He's dating Setsuna-chan?"
How on earth had Mamoru convinced Setsuna to go along with the hairbrained scheme? Goodness knew Setsuna held absolutely no romantic interest for their friend. He had actually attempted to set them up once years ago before either of them had met Usagi. She had laughed hysterically in his face. She had told him quite confidently that she was simply not his type.
"You know her?" Usagi asked wistfully. "Then you must know that she's so pretty and intelligent… just like Mamoru. Graceful and sophisticated in a way that I can never be."
"Usagi-chan, that is simply not true," he objected.
"I understand why now," she continued as if she hadn't heard him.
"Usagi-chan, I've watched the two of them interact for years. There's nothing between them. They feel nothing for each other. Mamoru loves you," Motoki assured, wondering if he was overstepping himself and saying too much.
"I wish that were true!" she wailed shoving her head back into her arms.
"What's got you down Odango Atama?" a voice asked.
Motoki scowled at the dark haired young man that had just entered. But Kou Seiya was not intimidated by him at all… unfortunately.
"Seiya-san," Usagi groaned. "I don't have the energy to fend you off today."
"So don't," he said with a cocky grin taking Mamoru's regular seat.
She sighed.
"Usagi-chan, is this man bothering you?" Motoki interjected smoothly.
She eyed him sharply.
"No Motoki-oniisan. Seiya-san is just trying to cheer me up. He doesn't know that it's a lost cause," she said darkly.
…
Mamoru had considered avoiding Setsuna for a few days after her declaration of wanting to talk. But in the end he saw no reason to avoid their eventual 'break up'. It had been a long time coming. He and Setsuna had somehow been 'dating' for nine weeks. The longest most miserable nine weeks of his life.
Not that that was her fault. He certainly didn't feel any animosity toward his long time friend. In fact, he felt grateful for her unknowing aid. He truly hoped he had not ruined their friendship with this whole fiasco, though he couldn't see how that was possible.
So here he was sitting in a restaurant that was unfortunately too nice for paper napkins. The food was probably delectable – Setsuna had particular tastes when it came to food – but Mamoru wouldn't know. His chopsticks had mostly just stirred the food around – pushing the course off to side giving the illusion that he had eaten more of it than he had.
Surprisingly, Setsuna hadn't even held up any pretense of eating. Her plate sat untouched.
"Food not to your liking?" he asked.
"I'm sure it's exquisite… Mamo-chan."
He stiffened.
"Setsuna," he said tightly. "That is a name I'd rather you did not use."
"But why not Mamo-chan?" she said with false giddiness, ignoring his objection. "It's rather endearing."
He glared at her. "Setsuna," he began.
"It's obvious that she's still completely head over heels in love with you," she interrupted flatly.
Mamoru said nothing.
"Why did you leave her?" she asked, her violet eyes pierced through him.
"That's not really any of your business," he said coldly, pushing his food to a different corner of the plate.
"Isn't it though? You have never felt anything for me. We both know that."
"You don't seem too broken up about it," he commented.
"So why not stop this farce?" she asked. "You're making a total mess of things Endy. It's so unlike you."
He froze and stared at her. She smiled at him mockingly.
"What did you just call me?"
"Endymion. That's your name isn't it? One of them, anyway. Not that you're doing a very good job of living up to it. The Endymion I remember never let anything stand in the way of his forbidden love."
"And look at how that turned out!" he snapped angrily.
"Ah," she said serenely. "So you do recognize the name, which means you remember."
He said nothing, embarrassed that she had pushed him into the admission especially when he had no idea who she was that she would have come across that particular information.
"Who are you?" he demanded softly.
"I'm Meioh Setsuna. Your friend and classmate, same as I've always been for the last three years."
"But how do you know of my past?"
She smiled. "Let's just say I remember my past life a lot more clearly than you remember yours because I never actually died. And I remember your love affair bringing two cultures that were long shrouded in misunderstanding and predjudice, out of the darkness into a long era of peace and prosperity."
He laughed cynically. "That's not how I remember it, at all."
"That's because the story is not finished yet," she said smoothly.
"You think you know how the story ends?" he challenged.
"I am Sailor Pluto, the Guardian of Time and Space. My role is to protect the timeline – past, present, and future."
"So you get to decide what the future is supposed to be for everyone?"
"Such indignation, Endymion!" she said with dancing eyes. "You haven't changed at all."
"I prefer Mamoru," he corrected coldly. "And you didn't answer my question."
"Time doesn't work the way most people think it does. It's not a straight line. And despite what you always seem to assume in every lifetime, I do not direct it's flow. I simply have more awareness than most of the direction it is going. But I don't actually know the future. It's not set. I just see glimpses of possibilities," she explained.
"And you think I'm making a mess of things," he commented hoping for some elaboration.
"I do."
"Why?"
"You must be with Serenity."
"Serenity is dead," he said icily.
"She lives on in Usagi," she said gently.
"I will not be a slave to some past life," he insisted like a broken record. There was no feeling behind the words.
"Nor should you. But you have never been a slave to it Mamoru-kun. Being with her, it's what you want. So tell me the real reason you've decided to hurt that lovely girl."
Mamoru regarded her suspiciously. She was a senshi – that meant her first loyalty was to her princess. Anything he confided in her could make it back to Usagi.
On the other hand, Usagi didn't really even know Setsuna except in passing through him. And as the Guardian of Time and Space she probably had some expertise with prophecy even if she didn't know exactly how the future would turn out. If anyone could help him interpret the dream warnings, it was probably her.
"She dies if I stay with her," he finally admitted.
"The world dies if you don't," she countered.
"The world be damned," he said bitterly. The world wasn't worth anything to him if Usagi wasn't in it.
"Do you think she would agree with that sentiment?" Setsuna challenged.
He said nothing. It was hardly a fair question. Usagi's duty was to the world. His was to her.
"Have you ever considered what her life would be like without you?" she continued her interrogation. "How's yours going right now, without her?"
Pretty miserably… but he was not about to admit this out loud though Setsuna didn't need to hear the answer. She knew the answer. She had spent more time with him in the last nine weeks than anyone – put up with his sullen moods and quiet fits of self-pity with patience and understanding. How long had she known what was going on, he wondered.
"Have you forgotten Mamoru-san? She killed herself when she lost you the last time. Even if she doesn't take that route you will never be able to call this life living."
The words whirled in his head. He said nothing and she did not seem to be at all uncomfortable in the silence that ensued. She just kept regarding him with her own dark eyes.
"I can't do it Setsuna," he finally admitted raking both hands through his hair. "I can't even look at her – let alone touch her – without seeing her dead eyes staring through me. I can't face seeing her everyday with that vision echoing every action she takes, every word she speaks, every touch…" he cut off as his throat suddenly closed up.
She did take his hand then, the most physical affection she had ever shown him. But it was as a friend comforting another. He closed his eyes and squeezed her hand gratefully.
"How do you even know this will happen?" she asked gently.
"The dreams…"
"Dreams?" she repeated incredulously. "You're basing your decisions on your dreams? How do you know that these aren't just your fears manifesting?"
"They've never been wrong. Even when I didn't understand them, they were still always true…"
"And what if an enemy knew that? And sent you false visions to destroy you?"
He had never considered it, but it hardly mattered. Since he had stopped seeing Usagi, she had yet to be attacked.
"I don't think that's it. Breaking it off seems to be working," he explained.
"You mean the dream stopped?"
He shook his head. "No, the attacks stopped."
"Since you stopped seeing her?" she asked. He nodded.
"Interesting. That does suggest a connection between the two. It could still be an enemy that is using classical conditioning against you. We should test this."
"I can't take the risk," he insisted. "I cannot let her die."
"We all die eventually Mamoru-kun. The point in life is not how or when we die. But how we live."
Mamoru remained silent.
"Consider what I have said Mamoru-kun. You are wrong to trust in prophecy more than your own heart. Time does not flow in the way most expect. Trust me," she rose to her feet and left him contemplating her words.
…
Two days had passed since his meeting with Setsuna and Mamoru still felt uncertain. He must have picked up his phone half a dozen times. Once he even made it half way through Usagi's number before he slammed the phone receiver back into its base. He wanted to see her – hear her voice if only for a second.
But what if Setsuna was wrong and the dream was a true prophecy? He couldn't call her or initiate any contact. If he did, he'd never be able to convince her that he didn't want to be with her. That would put him back to square one in convincing Usagi to stay away. The thought filled him with dread.
He stumbled into the little table that held the phone as his chest tightened in warning. Usagi was under attack.
The warning was so unexpected that he stood frozen in disbelief. He hadn't seen Usagi at all. He felt betrayed. He hated the dream, but it had promised that he could save her if only he stayed away. But if staying away wasn't enough…
He pushed himself into motion. She couldn't be far. She had left his apartment only moments earlier. Her found her three blocks away almost to the park opposite what he could only describe as a serpentlike dragon.
She stood facing the impossible long coiled creature with her eyes closed, complete acceptance on her face.
"Sailor Moon!" he screamed furiously. The creature poised to strike. She did not move and she wasn't going to, he realized. He surged forward and shoved her aside, taking the blow himself.
"Tuxedo Kamen!" she screamed shrilly.
Strangely, the spirit's fangs passed straight through him. He did not question it. Instead he scooped the young herorine into his arms and leapt to safety.
"Why did you just stand there?" the masked man demanded as he released her back to her feet.
Sailor Moon looked up at him defiantly.
"I don't have to explain myself to you, Tuxedo Kamen!" she bit back.
"I can't keep you safe if you throw yourself at them!" he shouted.
"No one asked you to keep me safe!"
"Hey bakas!" Sailor Mars interrupted as she shoved them both aside as the dragon beast struck again. "It's time to fight now. You can have your lovers' spat later!"
"It was not a lovers' spat!" Sailor Moon insisted childishly, dodging the beast's next strike expertly.
Tuxedo Kamen suppressed a grin. As angry as he was with the lunarian senshi, he always enjoyed watching her fight. It was when she was the least self-conscious and the most graceful.
Sailor Mars let loose a stream of fire, but the creature vanished before it got there.
"Yeah, that's right!" she screamed at the empty air. "Run away scared!"
Sailor Moon began to march away from them both without another word.
"Sailor Moon!" he shouted after her. She ignored him completely.
"She doesn't have to speak to you, Tuxedo Kamen!" Mars chastised. He turned toward her in hope.
"Sailor Mars, listen to me," he said seriously, ignoring her blatant hostility.
"No! I…"
"Sailor Mars! Don't leave hear alone," he hissed. "She was going to let that monster just take her."
"What do you mean?" she asked harshly.
"She just stood there. She was going to let it strike her."
"I wonder why that is!" she shouted at him, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
He looked down.
"Sailor Mars, please. Just keep her safe," he begged.
She didn't say anything for a long time.
"We'll take care of it, Tuxedo Kamen," she said genuinely. "Never fear."
"Thank you," he said softly.
"We don't do it for you," she said coldly before stalking off after her friend.
He watched them leave until they were out of sight.
"So you see, you are a regular Einstein."
Tuxedo Kamen jumped at the unexpected familiar voice in his ear. He whirled to face Setsuna outfitted in a black and maroon sailor fuku.
"What do you want?" he demanded.
"Just to point out that she is in more danger now, than she ever was being attacked every single day, firm in the belief that you would always stand by her side."
"If I didn't know better, I'd say that you planted this idea in her head to force my hand," he said angrily.
"Ah, but you do know better. I would never put her highness in danger to make a point. But the point does remain. Your methods aren't working. It's time to reconsider your strategy."
"Go away," he ordered harshly.
"Very well, your highness," she said formally. She bowed and then just vanished.
…
Sailor Pluto cursed the timing of the latest attack. She had been certain that she had gotten through to her thick-skulled prince at dinner, but she was also certain that the attack had thrown him right back to panicked reaction instead of reasoned thought.
Multitudes of timelines were collapsing together and the possibilities remained cloudy to her inner vision. She knew that meant that she was too involved in the events that were unfolding. If she removed herself from the situation then the flow of time would reveal itself to her again. But she wouldn't be able to impact events any longer.
Which was a tradeoff she could not afford, not when Mamoru refused to include the other Senshi in all that he knew. Setsuna cursed in ten different dead languages. She hated flying blind.
She needed more options and more information. She needed to see his dream. She had avoided the possibility for so long – such exercises always felt like an invasion of privacy even when she had permission, which she most certainly didn't now.
Well, there was no point in stalling. It was definitely late enough for him to be asleep. Before she could change her mind, she teleported into the familiar living room where she had spent time with both Motoki and Mamoru mostly, preparing for midterms and finals in her latest attempt to earn a degree – an exercise she forced herself through every twenty years or so when she was looking too young to pass herself off as an expert in a field.
She had intended to move directly toward her target, but pulsing lights to her left called for her attention. She turned toward his bookshelf, the source of the light. One of the shelves had been cleared of books and held four beautifully cut and polished stones.
The first two appeared to be different types of jade. The third was a multicolored mineral. The rose interior was surrounded by deeper green swirls. It reminded her of a rose. The last piece was an almost translucent crystal of a pink violet hue.
The stones had been there for years. She had always assumed that they were just ordinary stones left out for decoration. The pulsing light suggested the pieces were far more. Their rhythm felt familiar and she picked up the closest one – the crystal.
Jumbled visions assaulted her and she almost dropped the pale pink stone. The guardian spirit communicated to her through the rock from Elysian. Which meant she held the remains of one of the Shittenou.
"Kunzite?" she whispered feeling the presence. She smiled when the stone brightened. "You're still protecting him?"
The stone pulsed again.
She found herself in a Japanese garden. A small footbridge arched over a babbling brook. Smooth round rocks covered in green moss banked both sides of the happy stream of water. Cherry blossoms drifted down from the cerulean blue sky completing the atmosphere of peace and absolute serenity.
'Sailor Pluto,' the white haired general greeted. 'It's been a long time.'
She turned and found herself faced with the four Terran guardians.
'Too long,' she agreed with a warm smile.
'Welcome to Elysian,' they chorused.
'To what do I owe the pleasure?'
'We have been unable to communicate with Endymion.' Jadeite informed her.
'The nightmare that he is experiencing walls him off from anything other guidance,' Nephrite added.
'So we are delivering our message to you Guardian of all of time," Zoisite said formally. 'The spirits that are attacking are not your enemy.'
'They're not? What is it then?' she asked. The creatures seemed strangely bent on the princess' destruction.
'The earth,' Kunzite stated simply.
'I don't understand.'
'Endymion is alone as he was never meant to be. He's completely untrained. He doesn't know what he's doing,' he elaborated.
'What is he doing?' she asked.
But before they could answer, she was back in Mamoru's apartment and the stones had grown cold and dark. She placed the crystal back on its setting.
"Thank you Shittenou. You continue to serve your prince well," she whispered. Knowing that there was not a malicious force behind the attacks was reassuring. The Terran prince was at the center of all this – the key to figuring out what was going on. She turned her attention back to her original purpose.
She stepped into his bedroom and stood over his sleeping form. She used her abilities to keep him unconscious. Using her staff she channeled her power to create some light. She would not skulk around like an assassin.
The light revealed the full sized and colored version of Mamoru's drawing of the rose garden. Princess Serenity stood over the fragrant flowers breathing in their essence. The portrait filled her with nostalgia and she fought back tears. How she missed the millennium when her role and responsibilities were public knowledge. She was so tired of being alone. She didn't want to wait for humanity to grow spiritually enough to be ready for that.
But she had to. Her unfortunate exile was not going to end any time soon.
That future will come, she promised herself. That's why she was here.
She turned back to the Terran Prince. Was she really about to do this? Eavesdrop on her prince's dreams? She still felt like she was betraying her oath and invading his privacy.
And if he had been an ordinary guy she would have left well enough alone. But his personal life affected far more than his own health. He needed aid – training the Shittenou had said. She wasn't exactly sure how, but he was putting the whole world at risk. If he couldn't recognize that fact, she had to force his hand.
She placed a hand on his forehead and mentally searched his aura for the implanted vision. It wasn't particularly hard to find – it had taken over his being, woven too deep for her to remove without destroying what made him, him.
"Forgive me," she whispered before triggering the nightmare.
She watched as her friend violently struggled against the vision in his sleep, but she kept him asleep even when he would have torn awake in fear. She needed to see the entire scene playout.
She would have smiled at seeing Usagi in her wedding dress if she hadn't known what had to be coming. And when the silence struck, she stood stoically and watched as her princess fell to her death.
She did start in surprise when it was Mamoru himself that held the groom back. He had sent the warning to himself? It certainly appeared that way. Though with a dream it was easy to take on the form of whomever you wished. But it could prove important. He had failed to mention this detail to her.
She watched as he cradled the dead princess in his arms shamelessly weeping.
Once it was over, she urged him back to a fitful sleep, wishing him at least some small amount of peaceful rest. Her blessing wouldn't last more than a few hours. The vision would attack again before the night was over. She could not protect him from it. But she could grant him this short respite.
She looked down like a protective mother for a moment before she transported herself to another bedroom. This one different from the one she had left in every way possible. Where Mamoru's apartment remained almost Spartan, Usagi filled every inch with plush animals – mostly bunnies – volumes of various mangas, and pictures of a certain stoic black haired stubborn prince.
Sailor Pluto caressed the bangs from her princess's face gently. The girl dreamed longingly for her prince. Her spirits were low – far too low for the senshi's liking. Did she really want to give the girl this nightmare?
But then maybe the truth was exactly what the princess needed to bolster her determination to never give up.
The blond girl reacted even more violently to the nightmare than Mamoru had. The guardian forced Usagi to stay asleep for the entire vision, which she would have experienced from Mamoru's perspective – not her own.
Sailor Pluto faded into the shadows and carefully made sure all the other residents were asleep before releasing Usagi from her compulsion to sleep.
Usagi immediately bolted upright in tears, clutching at a picture by her bed. She suddenly tossed the portrait on the nightstand, threw on some shoes, and ran out the door.
Sailor Pluto smiled. Perhaps Mamoru wouldn't have to suffer through a rerun of his nightmare tonight afterall.
…
The erratic drumming woke Mamoru. It took him a second to realize that there were no drums. Someone was attempting to break down his door. Last time it had been Motoki. He glanced at the clock – it was three in the morning. He doubted it was Motoki this time.
"Mamo-chan!" the familiar voice screamed as she pounded on the door. "Let me in!"
"Usako?" he asked sleepily, making his way toward the door. He quickly shook himself into a more alert state. She couldn't hear him call her that.
"Usagi? What are you doing here?" he said as he opened the door a crack. She pushed it the rest of the way open. His heart broke at the sight of her. She was tear-stained and panic-stricken in her pajamas no less. He longed to wipe away her tears.
He kept his hands carefully folded behind his back.
"Mamo-chan, have you been having nightmares?" she asked.
He felt every muscle in his body tense.
"You have!" she accused. "Why didn't you tell me? This is why you broke up with me! Why you've been so distant. But you still care… I know you do! You did this to save me! But it's stupid Mamo-chan!"
"Usako," he said, finally letting his emotions show. "He said you would die…"
"I don't care!"
"Well, I do!" he snapped. She stared at him in silence. He tore himself from her gaze. "You can't be here," he insisted, pushing her out the door.
"Mamo-chan!" she objected. "It's my life! It should be my choice!"
"I won't let you kill yourself!" he said harshly.
And she was silent again.
"But… this is so much worse than dying…" she said so softly he almost didn't hear her.
"Usako…"
"I risk my life everyday to protect this world. Why can't I risk my life for love? Isn't love more important than anything, Mamo-chan? Isn't it worth dying for?"
"Usako… you have to leave. Go home. Forget about me."
"I'll do that if you can say you honestly don't love me anymore," she challenged from the other side of the threshold. He closed the door in her face.
"Usako…" he pleaded hitting his head against the closed door.
"I love you Mamo-chan. It's silly for us to be apart," she called through the barrier.
"Go home Usako!" he ordered. When it became silent he assumed that she had done so. He moved back into his living room, his heart fractured into a new set of pieces. How would he keep her away now?
"She's right, you know," Setsuna's voice drifted out of the darkness.
Mamoru turned to her in a rage. She was there dressed in her Sailor fuku.
"You did this! You showed her the dream!" he accused.
"She had a right to know. What you were doing to her was killing her… literally. At least now, she knows why."
"You had no right to interfere!"
"She is my princess! And I owe my first loyalty to her! Not to you!"
Mamoru trembled. Her loyalty to the princess was going to get the girl, his girl killed.
"Get out!" he screamed. She didn't bother with the formal bow this time.
No sooner had Sailor Pluto disappeared then his chest knotted itself into the usual warning signs that Usagi needed him. Why did none of them understand? This was the reason he had tried so hard to keep her away.
…
He arrived seemingly too late. There was no beast or creature anywhere within site. Sailor Moon lay collapsed, unmoving on the ground.
"Usako!" he cried, running to her side. If all this had been for nothing, he'd never forgive himself.
He turned her over gently and found her still breathing, but there was a disturbing amount of blood oozing from her head. He quickly channeled the energy he needed to heal the head wound. Her skin rapidly knit back together and he wiped the blood off her face with a handkerchief. She showed know signs of waking.
"Usako, please," he begged softly. "I cannot lose you now. Not after all this torture I've put us through."
"I knew you still loved her," a cold voice accused from behind.
He whirled to find Sailor Venus her eyes piercing through him with accusation, the other three Senshi right behind her. Sailor Mercury already had her mini super computer out.
"Why isn't she waking?" Tuxedo Kamen asked after a moment, ignoring Venus' first comment.
"She's trapped in some sort of nightmare," Mercury reported. "I think the thing went into her. Her heart rate is dropping and her aura is fading. She's dying, but I don't know why."
"There has to be something we can do," Tuxedo Kamen insisted.
Mercury's attention never left the screen. She shook her head, "That's not good."
"Sailor Mercury, I swear you could give lessons to a spy about not letting the important things slip," Venus said in resignation.
"What's not good?" Tuxedo Kamen asked at the same time.
"She's not fighting," the bluenette reported.
"Why isn't she fighting?" Jupiter demanded. "She never gives up!"
"She has no reason to fight," Mars said cynically shooting sparks at a certain prince.
"Mars, you're a genius!" Venus declared.
"Not that a mind the label, but what am I genius for exactly?"
Venus ignored her fiery friend and instead turned toward him. "You can bring her back. You can give her a reason to fight."
"She can't hear me Venus," he said regretfully.
"No," she said with an evil curl of her lips. "I don't suppose she can. I guess you'll have to come up with some other way to express your affections."
The masked man regarded the head senshi for a moment, knowing exactly what she was asking him to do. He nodded.
"Would you give us some space?"
She signaled her senshi to back off. "We won't be far Tuxedo Kamen," she said warningly.
He paid the girls no mind as they moved away. Instead, he leaned over the young heroine, the princess of his dreams. He caressed her cheek through his gloved hands before he gently pressed his lips to her own.
Then the world exploded in sound and heat. The ground ripped itself apart.
He did not pull away when the vision struck. If this didn't work, it wouldn't matter anyway.
She stirred, but she still did not wake up. So he kissed her again.
She began to fall into the chasm seemingly in slow motion. Mamoru attempted to dive forward, but something held him back.
"Mamo-chan?" she whispered, clutching at his lapels.
"Usako," he whispered with relief holding her against him. "You scared me."
"I must be dreaming," she concluded, smiling happily. He couldn't help but return the expression.
"Does… this mean that we're back together?" she asked carefully.
The question brought him back to reality and his smile faded.
"Usako, do you know what just happened?"
She nodded. "I was attacked again."
"You almost died."
"But I didn't," she argued fiercely.
"And I want to keep it that way. Do you finally understand now?"
She looked at him for a long moment thoughtfully.
"They only attack after I've seen you," she realized.
He nodded. There had been one exception, but he would not point this out to her.
"So all of this…" she waved her hand between the two of them.
He nodded once not really wanting her to finish the sentence.
"You lied," she said softly. "You said you didn't love me."
"I never once said I didn't love you Usako," he whispered back fiercely. He had told her that he couldn't see her and that he didn't want to date. He had said he would not be ruled by his former life. He had not ever said to anyone that he didn't love her.
"But you implied it," she countered. "Made me believe that you didn't. All to keep me safe from these… whatever they are?" she whispered incredulously.
"I'm sorry Usako. I don't know what else to do. We haven't been able to fight them."
She stared up at him with her beautiful blue eyes and he looked away.
"So that's a no," she said sadly.
"A no to what?" he asked still not looking up.
"We're not back together…"
That forced his attention up. Did she still not understand?
"We can't… You'll die," he insisted.
She almost died that evening simply because she had believed he didn't love her. He shoved that thought aside.
"I'm not giving up," she said her eyes flashing angrily as she rose to her feet.
"Usako," he pleaded. "Please, you have to stay away from me. It's the only way."
She shook her head, "It can't be."
Her senshi suddenly flanked her on all sides. Together they cut quite the imposing figure, but he only had eyes for her. She had never looked so certain about anything. Maybe… just maybe she could be right. If there was one thing he still had faith in – it was her.
…
Sailor Pluto opened a small portal into the inter-dimensional fabric of space-time. She had done all she could to alert the princess and her senshi of the current events, so now she was free to follow the dream warning back to its source. The dream had been sent to Mamoru through time, from the future. She had to determine if the vision had been sent by friend or foe. She followed the energy residue like a guiding string through in a storm.
The path finally came to a stable resonance point that would lead back to the physical plane at one time or another, she had no way of telling exactly when from her current vantage point. Before she could enter the passageway, the event horizon fluctuated and a tall elegant woman stepped out.
Pluto was taken aback. She could count on one hand the number of times in over six thousand years that she found herself face to face with herself.
"You're too early," her older version said calmly.
"You sent the dream?" Setsuna asked shocked. She would never expect herself to be involved in anything as unreliable as dreams and prophecies.
"It was necessary."
"Necessary to drive a wedge between Serenity and Endymion?" she accused. "Everything that I have learned says that their split would lead to the end of humanity altogether."
Her older self nodded, "Exactly."
Setsuna considered this new information. She understood that her older self would not tell her anything of the future. The consequences of foreknowledge were too great a risk. But she was implying that this dream was necessary to prevent catastrophe.
"They cannot make contact now," the older woman told her. "If they do, they risk manifesting the vision. You have to wait."
"They?" she repeated.
The other woman smiled. "Yes, they."
"Wait for what?"
"Fears start small, but if they go unresolved they have a way of expanding until they become all consuming – until there's no room for anything else. Not life. Not a future. Not love."
Setsuna didn't bother asking what that meant. It was a riddle. It always was. She trusted that the message was exactly what she needed to figure this out. She had been on both ends of similar conversations in the past.
"They are off to a good start. We believe that it is now only a matter of time," the older woman confided.
"How will I know when the time is right?" Setsuna asked.
Her future self smiled again, "Trust me, you'll know."
…
A/N: The stuff about Einstein is true at least in terms of his professional life – I have no idea about his personal life. The history is based on a documentary that I had the pleasure of watching with some of my former students. Unfortunately I don't remember the name…
Just one more chapter and an epilogue! Stay tuned!