AN: A little bit on the reunited couples.

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Neil was glad to come home. While he knew that he did not know what to expect at home, he knew that he was willing to do whatever it took to make amends for his previous transgressions. There was no price too high, that his lovely Makoto could require of him, though he would admit that he could do without the occasional screaming response to kisses.

He sighed as he entered the house, "Makoto? Are you home, Lightning?"

Makoto had her own place, but Neil knew that she was planning on coming to his house after work, though she had turned down his offer of a ride, saying that Usagi was going to come to the shop after closing to try a cake sample. Neil knew Makoto, and he knew Usagi. He fully expected that Usagi would be going home with a fully cake rather than just trying a piece.

Not getting a response, Neil shrugged and put his briefcase down by the door. Noticing a blinking light on his answering machine, he checked his messages.

"Neil. Hi, hun. Listen, I'm running a bit late. I should be there by 6:15. Don't you dare have more than a small snack waiting on me! I'll be bringing dinner home. Lo..later. I'll see you later."

Neil closed his eyes and sighed. Even before his soul was made whole, his Makoto could not admit that she loved him. He believed that she did, but Neil had to admit that he would give almost anything to hear those words from her lips. "Though, to be honest," he shrugged as he went to get a small snack to tide him over, "on the answering machine is not really how I'd want to hear it for the first time."

The financier had barely sat down to enjoy his chips and salsa when the door opened, and his beautiful Senshi entered the house. He quickly put them down on the coffee table and ran to help her, her hands full with – what he assumed was dinner. "Hey, love. Here, let me help with that."

"Kays." She smiled to him, and passed him the tray she had in her right hand, "Careful, its hot."

Moving to the table, she started setting out the food that she brought: roasted vegetables with garlic and rosemary, freshly made and still warm bread, a salad made with fresh spring greens, mixed berries, candied pecans, and blue cheese crumbles. "Just put the steak on the table. I'm going to put desert in the refrigerator. Do you have a red wine that would compliment this?"

Neil chuckled as he put the tray down and went to the wine rack to select an appropriate red. "What's the occasion, Lightning? This is quite a dinner for a quiet weeknight."

Makoto smiled innocently at him as she brought plates and glasses out from the kitchen with her. "Um… well… I was kind of hoping that we could talk and stuff tonight."

Neil dropped a peck of a kiss on her cheek as he went to get the napkins and the silverware. "Makoto, you did not have to soften me up. I kind of figured that you'd eventually want more answers."

She shrugged as she set the table, waiting for him to finish it. "I know. I… I think I did this more for me than you." She smiled sheepishly. "I needed a distraction, and well, the more complicated a meal I made, the less time for thinking. I hope you don't mind?"

After he put the silver down, he grabbed her in his arms and kissed her soundly, relaxing when he felt her responding to the kiss by wrapping her arms around him rather than screaming. When they broke apart, he smiled down to her, "I don't mind at all, Makoto. You should know better than that. I'm just glad you want to share your distraction with me."

She smiled and grinned, "Pour that wine, and let's enjoy dinner. We can talk afterwards."

"As Your Highness commands."

Makoto blinked, "What did you just say?"

Neil frowned, "Yeah, that was kind of weird, wasn't it. I think it must have been a memory. Sorry."

Makoto shook her head, "No, its fine. I just tend to forget that we were princesses. Just caught me off guard. Though, I was really hoping to have dinner with the present you rather than the past you."

Neil nodded, "It won't happen again. At least not for now."

"Ami, you don't have to be so nervous." Zack gently took her by the shoulder and turned her to face him. "I'm not bringing you here to pressure you. I promise. I just have a surprise for you, and honestly, its not something I could have brought to the park."

She sighed softly and nodded, "I'm sorry. I just… I don't usually go to men's apartments alone with them."

Zack smirked, "Good. I'd hate to have to go hurt anyone."

Ami rolled her eyes as she entered his apartment, "You know, there's only one of us who had a reputation in Med School. And, I'm pretty sure that wasn't me."

"No, dear. You did have a reputation. Ice. And I'm ashamed to admit that I'm the one who coined that."

Ami's eyes narrowed, "You didn't!"

He held up his hands, "Eh, lets just say that I've had my eyes on for longer than two years. And I was kind of a selfish jerk who got mad when the only time I could get your attention was when we were paired up in labs."

"Idiot."

"I deserve that. Forgive me?"

Ami snorted slightly, "I've forgiven you for killing me. I've forgiven you for trying to kill all of us again. I think I can manage to forgive you for sticking me with that horrible nickname. Especially since I graduated at the top of the class."

Zack laughed, "Thank you." He grinned as he took her hand, "I'd hate for this to be ruined by any anger. Close your eyes."

"Zack, is this really necessary?"

He laughed, "Very much so, Ami. Close your eyes."

"Fine." She sighed and closed her eyes. "There. Happy?"

"Very much so." He leaned down and kissed her softly, eliciting a little squeal from the quiet woman. "Now for the surprise."

He gently lead her by the hand into the living room and then moved to stand behind her. Leaning down, he whispered into her ear, "You can open your eyes now."

Ami did so and blinked, speechless. Not believing what she saw. Zack had stopped her just feet in front of a beautifully gilded harp with a blue bow tied around it. For a moment, they stood there, Zack positively beaming at his Nymph's reaction to the instrument.

Zack watched as she began to move, almost as if in a trance, letting her fingers glide along the strings, smiling at the sound that she elicited from them.

After few minutes she shook her head, breaking free from the spell and turned to look at him, "Zack." She really did not know what say. She had a harp, but it was no where near as magnificent as this one, and she knew how expensive such an instrument would be. "You shouldn't have. This is… too much."

He smiled and moved over to her, gently cupping her chin in his slender hand and tilting her head to look up at him, "Ami. Shh. Its not. Besides, I have to admit, its slightly selfish of me."

Ami blinked, looking confused, "Selfish of you? How is it selfish of you?"

He grinned and gestured beside the harp. "I… I was hoping you'd consent to keeping it here. I'd like to be able to play with you."

She looked to where he gestured, and smiled seeing the baby grand. The look she turned back to him was one of regret though, causing him to frown slightly, "I can't, Zack. I'm no where near good enough to play with you."

Zack smirked, "How do you know I'm any good. Please?"

She sighed and, seeing the pleading look in his eyes, gave in. "All right. Just one song though, ok? And you promise not to laugh if I'm horrible."

Zack smiled, "You won't be." He kissed her softly again, eliciting a small sigh of pleasure this time from her, and was not at all surprised to see that she her cheeks were flushed.

"I'll start. Trust yourself, and join me when you're ready." He moved from her to take his seat at the piano, while she moved to sit and pull the harp to her.

At first she listened to what he was playing with her to analyze it, trying to catch the line of the melody, understand the harmony, to know where to come in and how to compliment what he was playing. However, after only a few measures, she began to listen with her heart, and it was not long before the familiar music washed over her and her hands began to move of their own accord over the strings of the harp, as if they already knew what to play and had thousands of time before.

After a pleasant dinner, in which Neil noticed that Makoto was willing to talk about anything other than the fact that he was one of the Shitennou, she helped him clean up. He had reminded her that since she cooked, he should clean up, but he enjoyed the time in the kitchen with her, in her realm, even if it was just cleaning.

When the last plate was put away, Neil smiled over to Makoto and gently pulled her to him again. "Dinner was wonderful. Thank you, Lightning."

Makoto laughed, "I could microwave something, and you would tell me that dinner was wonderful, Neil."

"Oh! Give me more credit than that. I know the difference between cuisine made by one of the best chefs in the world, and something that comes out of the freezer at the grocery store." He chuckled, "And I'm not just saying that because we're together."

"Mmm… true. You should be able to." She smiled up to him warmly.

Neil leaned into kiss her, but as his lips touched hers, she remembered.

"Well done, Lightning."

Leida looked up hearing his voice, smiling. She had just won a despite, fighting through the enemy which attacked her. She knew she would not have a long time before she needed to be back at the thick of it, but how could she not be happy that he made it back. "Nephrite! I'm so glad to see you."

He came up to her and smiled, "Just who I was looking for, though it looks like you can take care of yourself."

She sighed, "I can, but Beryl's forces are too many. Every bit of extra help is needed."

He nodded and pulled her to himself.

"Nephrite! We're in a battle. There's no time for this right now."

"There's always time for a quick kiss."

She rolled her eyes, "Just quick."

When Nephrite kissed her, she allowed herself to relax, to respond by wrapping her arms around her. However, it was in that moment that she felt a sharp pain in her stomach. Taking a step back, she saw the dagger in her gut, and his hand holding it.

Before she could do anything, he twisted his wrist, so that the dagger pierced her heart, killing her quickly.

Makoto pushed back from him quickly, screaming.

Neil sighed softly, but he understood. She could not know how close he came to hating himself because of the memory he knew haunted her. "Makoto, it's ok."

She blinked and realized where she was and sighed. "Neil. I'm sorry."

"Lightning, there is nothing for you to be sorry about. I'm the one who should be apologizing. And I will. For the rest of my life." As much as he wanted to take her into his arms and comfort her, he knew better right now. "Do you want me to take you home?"

Makoto shook her head. "No. No, I still want to talk. Can you just give me a moment? By myself?"

Neil nodded, "I'll wait in the living room. Mako, we don't have to do this right now, not if you're not ready."

"No, I am. Its ok. Just give me a moment."

The music swept over Ami as she and Zack played together, as if they had always been playing together. She found herself closing her eyes, letting her fingers play over their well known strings.

"Do you mind if I join you?" Zoisite gestured towards the grand piano sharing the practice area with the harp.

Ami's hand paused and she looked up. "Um… no. Of course not. Is there anything in particular you'd like to play?"

He smiled, "Princess, do you realize that this is the first time that you've spoken to me without blushing or blinking?"

"I… is it? I … um…"

"Well, it was." He chuckled softly, before handing her some paper.

"Um… what is this?" She looked to the paper, before noticing that it was a score, hand written.

"Ode for a Nymph." His voice was rather hesitant in a way that she had never heard before. They'd spent some time together, but he'd always been confident. However, this was the first time that she thought that his flirting was actually sincere.

"Did you… compose this?"

He nodded, "I did. For you."

She smiled, "I'd love to play it."

Suddenly they were playing the piece flawlessly for the entire court. As they finished, Zoisite and she shared a moment, smiling at each other, before standing together. The moved to the center of the stage, joined hands, and bowed to the applause.

After a minute or two applause, Ami led him off the stage, blushing furiously.

Zoisite smiled, "I've never seen you so happy at a ball before. I think everyone's seeing the real Ami now, not just Princess Amelia of Mercury, Guardian of Princess Serenity, and arguably smartest person ever."

Ami laughed, "A bit over the top on that last part, don't you think?"

He shook his head, "Not at all. Come, dance with me."

Then there was splashing as the scene changed again. She was swimming, cutting gracefully in the water, and Zoisite was trying to keep up, trying to catch her actually, but water was her natural element, and the poor boy did not stand a chance.

She giggled as she surfaced from the water. "I'm over here, Peacock!" She could not help but giggle harder as he spluttered, turning around.

"I give up. You're right. I'm no match for you in water." He held up his hands in surrender.

With a laugh she swam over to him, and gently wrapped her arms around him. "Mmm. I'm glad you finally realized that. So… I think I get to claim my forfeit now…" She kissed him.

Neil was sitting on the couch when Makoto came over to join him. He had to admit that he was pleasantly surprised when she came to sit with him, cuddling into him. "Feeling better, Lightning?"

She nodded, "Yeah. I am. So, I need to know what happened, Neil. I've been putting it off, but I need to know."

He nodded slightly, "What exactly do you want to know?"

"What did she do to you? I know… I know how she used Ami against Za… Zoisite. I need to know if she used me too."

Neil sighed, "She tried. Well, she did, but not the same way that she did with Ami. Not because I don't love you, or because Zoi was less sure. We're just all different." He took a deep breath, "She cut me off from the stars. And then she… somehow… she tricked me into thinking that I was connected to them again, but everything they said was what she wanted me to hear. How the Alliance scorned Earth. How the Senshi were using us to eventually take over Earth. How you were just using me."

He stopped for a moment, remembering. "I think I could have kept resisting that. The voices of the stars just weren't right. It was like, they were sick. And I knew that the things they were telling me were wrong. But she was doing so much more than that."

He closed his eyes. "She tortured all of us physically. All of us. But, for me." He sighed, "for me… Beryl would electrify me. I'm not really sure how I survived, but she would electrify me over and over. After Zoi came up with his idea, and Jed and I figured out how to do it, the part of me that she controlled really believed that you had been the one electrifying me all those times. But that still doesn't excuse anything that happened. And I'm sorry."

Tears were rolling down her eyes, and she held tightly to him. "I didn't know. I had no idea. When we heard how badly the war was going… we assumed you all were dead, but we barely had time to mourn because the Moon was attacked. And then when I saw you. I… thought you had escaped. I thought maybe, maybe we stood a chance, and everything would be ok."

Neil held closely to himself. "Shh. Makoto. You did nothing wrong."

She laughed a bit, "I know! I just… if we had known you'd been captured. I think we would have been prepared. I think it wouldn't have hurt as much."

"I know, Lightning. I know."

The music ended and Ami blinked. "Ode for a Nymph. You wrote that piece." She eased the harp up and looked at him, her eyes unreadable.

He nodded, "I wrote that piece for you." Zack stood and walked over to her, "I wish I was more creative in this lifetime. I'd write another piece for you. I don't want you to think that I'm trying to get to know Princess Amelie. I want to you know, Ami."

She blushed and stood, "I think I'm the one in more danger of that suspicion than you, Zack. I'm the one who kept pushing you away until…"

"Until I was made whole. But I don't think that, Ami. I just… I wanted you to remember that there were good memories too. I promise. This wasn't meant to be an ambush. I just wanted you to remember the good too."

Ami chuckled, wrapping her arms around him, "Zack. You talk too much." For the first time, Ami was the one to initiate the kiss.

It took Zack a moment to realize that the shy little doctor was kissing him, and less than a moment after that to kiss her back.

When they broke apart, Zack blinked at her. "Ami?"

She giggled, "I don't usually act like that. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. I liked it, Nymph. But that's not what I was talking about." He gently grabbed her hand and pulled over to a mirror. "Look at yourself, Ami. Look closely."

At first, Ami did not see what he was talking about. "I see me, Zack. I don't quite understand what it is that you're seeing. What?"

"Look at your eyes, Ami. Take a moment and look at your eyes. Really look at them."

"Oook…" Ami shook her head for a moment and then did what Zack asked. It took her a moment before she realized that her eyes did look different. They were lighter, with flecks in them. "That's… that's weird. Blue eyes don't get gold flecks. My eyes have never had gold flecks before… Zack, what's wrong with your mirror?"

"Nymph, its not my mirror. Its your eyes."

She shook her head, "That's not possible. It doesn't make sense."

He raised an eyebrow, "Ami, you're… I can't believe that I'm about to say this… you're not thinking logically. Think for just a moment."

"You… when your soul was made whole, you remembered everything. And you looked different, just enough…" She blinked. "Do you think…"

He grinned, "I think that we probably need someone a little more sensitive to the soul than us, but I think it's a working hypothesis. Mmm… how much did you used to remember about the Silver Millennium?"

She shook her head, "Snatches. Impressions. Feelings. A few concrete memories."

"So… you would probably not remember the Duke from Mars?"

"Lord Itak? The idiot who thought that we were destined to be together. Actually thought that he was smarter than me. If I remember, he challenged you to a duel to prove that he was better for me than you were. You soundly defeated him, and then spared his life."

Zack raised an eyebrow at her.

Ami blinked, "Why do I remember that?"

"I'm not the soul expert, Ami. But I think you know the answer to that question."