"Does history guide you, or do you seek to change it?" - The Agonist, "Business Suits and Combat Boots"
Guidance from History: Aino Minako
"Having your life decided by others... it's wrong, Reiko." She'd turned away from me, but the set of her shoulders let me know I had her attention. I closed my eyes and took a step toward her, hoping I could bring back the memories. "Wasn't it you who once told me to stop faking appearances and hiding behind masks?" At my final word, I rested my hand on her shoulder, and then...
War. War was everywhere. I looked down, and realized my jeans were gone, replaced with a short, orange skirt. Sailor Venus. I'd become Sailor Venus. I looked up, meeting Mars' dark eyes. We'd transformed, and we were in suddenly in a battle.
"Venus, Mars, RUN!" My communicator had flared to life with a panicked Jupiter on the other end, but she sounded...strange. Mars shoved me aside as a large, black shadow passed through her, knocking her a ways away.
"Reiko!" My own scream sounded foreign to my ears, and I couldn't fathom what was going on. "Hold on, Reiko!" I charged toward the enemy and caught it with my chain, pinning it in place. A bolt of lighting slashed the sky in two, and the enemy disintigrated before me.
"Venus, get her out of here!" I scooped up Rei and began hobbling toward a nearby outcropping of rock, still not sure why we sounded so different from ourselves. We were our gods reincarnated, after all.
Lunarian. We were speaking Lunarian, but for some reason, I could still understand everything.
"Mina, it's a flashback." I skidded to a stop and deposited her in shadows. The blood on her arm didn't escape my notice, either.
A brief flash of fire ripped the air past our shelter, and I felt my breath hitch as long, jet black hair flowed behind it. I was watching Mars, the Mars from this time, as a large youma punched through her defenses and into her stomach. Deep, violet eyes locked with mine, and she nodded, before the enemy was wrenched from her personal space, suddenly.
Venus.
I'd just watched my past self save my past lover.
"Why are they doing this, Reiko?"
Mars refused to move her hand from her stomach, but she responded steadily enough. "Kunzite," she spat. Venus moved toward her. I could feel her, I was almost controlling her. Maybe she was controlling me; I couldn't be sure at this point. I sat stone still next to Rei, but I felt as if everything on that battle field was happing to me.
"We have to retreat!"
"Martians never give up."
"Reiko..."
"Never, Minako. I owe them for this," she said as she gestured toward the large red stain on her stomach.
And again, I couldn't help myself. "I love you, you idiot!"
Rei looked away as Mars cupped Venus' cheek and gave her a crooked grin. "I know."
"Then don't finish this fight."
I heard her whisper along with her past self. "Reality is a traitor; it's easy to misjudge things. We weren't born to live like this..."
I felt bad for landing on top of her, but it wasn't a conscious choice. I sat up and immediately checked her arm. A small scar had somehow appeared where she'd gotten swiped as the flashback started. "Minako... how did you do that?" I locked eyes with her; they were brown instead of violet. A quick glance around told me we were back at the shrine, in her bedroom. Unfortunately, we'd landed on the floor instead of the bed.
"I... I don't know," I admitted.
"Reality is a traitor," she murmured quietly. I nodded.
"We weren't born to live like this, Reiko." I finished. She nodded back as she stood, and cautiously extended a hand to me.
"Where... when..."
"I don't know," I admitted again.
"I thought you had all your memories." I sighed and settled on her bed; she sat beside me. "I keep hiding from mine," she grumbled quietly. "The women they were have nothing to do with the women we are."
"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." She cut her eyes at me, but didn't reply. "I, uh, may have had the last part of that flashback before I came over here," I mumbled with my head down. She stood and moved toward the window.
"I keep having little scraps of a larger puzzle falling into my lap as I sit at the fire." She turned to me; her eyes felt as though they were burning through mine. "Zoicite didn't trust Kunzite." I cocked my head, waiting for her to continue. "He and I, we thought Kunzite had some sort of ulterior motive." She looked away and blushed. "He... He was in love with Endymion."
"Much like this life, I suppose." She nodded slowly, almost imperceptibly. I wanted to go to her, to scoop her into my arms, but I resisted the impulse.
"A lot is like this life," she grumbled, scowling at the floor as her eyes dropped from mine.
"Serenity and Endymion for one, us for two..." I said carefully. She seemed to be thinking. "I wonder if we can do that again, and pinpoint a specific time."
"No," she growled, more than said. It was time to push my Martian's buttons.
"Does history guide you, or do you seek to change it?" Her head snapped up; the fire had been lit in her eyes again.
"Get out, Minako-chan."
"No, Reiko. I came over here to talk to you. We're damn well going to talk."
"You're pissing me off!"
"Good! Pissing you off is the only way I can get you to react to me! What happened to Martians never retreat? Aren't you retreating by following these ridiculous orders from a cat?" She deflated almost instantly; her eyes turned back to the ground.
It was quiet, but I heard it. "It seems we can't escape hiding it, in this life or the last." I sat in stunned silence for a moment. She turned back toward her window; one of the ravens was watching us intently as it sat on a branch. "What do we do, Mina?"
"I... don't know," I admitted.