Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow
The heroes were able to stop the planet from plummeting to Earth. Serenity turned back into Sailor Moon, but she wasn't alive anymore.
Sailor Mars was trying to revive her. "Wake up," she sobbed. "Wake up, Sailor Moon! You and Emily did it! You girls stopped the planet!"
Now Sailor Celeste understood why Sailor Moon stopped her. "The Moon Crystal used all of her strength," she told her friends. "She didn't want me to meet the same fate, so she saved me by stopping me. No, she saved all of us."
"No," Sailor Mars cried. "You said everything would be all right!"
"Can't you help her?" the Masked Eagle asked Sailor Celeste.
She shakes her head. "There's nothing I can do. She's gone."
"The Tears of Life can't help us this time either," said the Masked Dragon, remembering how this happened before with Emily. "Pokémon and Duel Monsters don't exist here."
"Wake up," Sailor Jupiter cried. "You can't leave us alone like this."
Sailor Venus whimpered and pleaded, "Don't go, Sailor Moon. You're the glue that holds all of us together."
As everyone continued to mourn for their fallen comrade, Fiore came before Sailor Night and Tuxedo Mask. "My friends, you saved me. You delivered me from Xenian and helped me remember everything." He faces Max directly and tells her, "Max, I think I understand now why the Dark Lord chose me and sent me to this world. It was because of you. He did it to bring us back together. I thought I had to defeat the Heroes of Millennia too, but I realized I needed their help too; to help me realize how special you are and to teach me what true friendship is all about. Max, I thought I was lucky to have a friend like you and I think your friends are too and now I realize how important you are to them."
Max nods in agreement. "They can be your friends too. We can be together. Come back with us to our world. Come with me."
He shakes his head. "I'm sorry, Max. As wonderful as it sounds, I can't. But there is one thing I can do." He takes the Cobalt Star shard from around his neck and places it in her hand. "Take this. Now a part of me will always be with you no matter how far apart we are."
Max stifled a sob. "No, Fiore, I just got you back. I can't lose you again."
"This is the way it has to be," he said sadly. "I can make up for what I've done by doing these last selfless acts for those who matter most to me." He turns to Darien and decides it's time to finally fulfill his promise. "It's time for me to give you the perfect flower, Darien, my life." He holds out a white blossom and explains, "This is the friendship flower. It holds my life energy. Give its nectar to Sailor Moon."
Fiore was returning Serena's gesture from long ago by giving a gift from one friend to another. Inside his gift to Darien was the gift he could give to Serena; restoring her life. Max realized this and mixed feelings of happiness and sadness began to build up inside of her.
With Fiore's selfless act of friendship and Darien's love for his princess, his kiss restored the Silver Crystal and brought Sailor Moon back to life. She opened her eyes and saw her friends looking at her with smiles and tears. "We saved Earth?"
"Yes," Tuxedo Masked answered.
"Thank you," Sailor Moon said gratefully. "Without you, I never could have held the Crystal until the very end. So from now on, when I say it'll be all right, you'll believe me?"
The Sailor Scouts nod and hug her with laughs and sobs.
Sailor Celeste approached her. "Thank you, Sailor Moon. You saved my life. If I had held on to the Millennium Star until the end, I don't think I would have been able to come back."
"Sailor Celeste, I am just as thankful to you for sharing your Millennium Power with me," she returned. When the girls stood up and faced each other, the found themselves standing in front of the palace of the Moon Kingdom and they were princesses again.
"The stories of your days in the Silver Millennium are inspiring to me," Emily said sincerely. "And you, Princess Serena, are one of my biggest inspirations."
"And I have admired the stories of the Children of Millennia as well," Princess Serena returned.
"It's an honor to finally meet you," Emily said respectfully and held out her hand.
"I am just as honored that you and I are friends." And the princesses shook hands and found themselves standing before their friends again. "I'm sure Queen Serenity and Queen Mystery would have been good friends too."
Emily agreed and figured that maybe there's no reason they can't be now. They may be from two different worlds, but perhaps there's another world beyond where people from past generations and different worlds can meet and become friends.
Speaking of friends, everyone noticed that Fiore wasn't present anymore. The Masked Phoenix looked around. "Hey, guys, what happened to Fiore?"
"He's gone," Max muttered.
"Say what?" Joey asked. "I thought he was coming home with us."
"I wanted him to, but…" she was saying, but she stopped herself, remembering his last words. "This is the way it has to be." This made Max wonder, why does fate have to be so cruel? But she agreed that it was time to go home. After pulling herself together, she joined the heroes and everyone began pooling their energy together.
The heroes teleported off the planet's core and found themselves back in front of the Juban District where they left Rini and the cats. Also, now that the task was complete and Earth was saved, the heroes were back in their original forms.
The next morning, everyone got together to say goodbye. "I guess now that you've got the Cobalt Star shard, you'll be going back to your world," Amy assumed.
Yugi nodded. "That's right."
"Well, it was great meeting all of you," said Raye. She blushes and wonders, "Do you think we'll ever meet again?"
Kaiba smiles and promises her, "Yes, but hopefully when we do, the fate of the world won't be on the line."
Lita agreed. "You said it. Maybe we could come to your world someday."
"That'd be cool," said Joey.
"Well, one thing's for sure," Emily was saying, "the bonds we made on this adventure are going to last the tests of time."
"No distance will be able to break them either," Mina added.
"And like we discussed," Yugi was saying, "while we may come from different worlds, we're still part of the same planet. That means we won't be so far apart from each other."
Many people who part from each other try their hardest to stand by that vow. That's why goodbyes can be hard. But it's all part of being strong and keeping the faith that one day, those who part will meet again.
Mina wanted to tell Joey how she felt about him, but she remembered how he felt about Max and ended up babbling. "Joey, I… I wanted to… I mean, I hoped… well, umm, I…"
But Joey understood. He smiled and told her, "Mina, I'm looking for someone too. And I think you're pretty swell and you deserve a good guy. But with you and I being from two different worlds, I don't think it would work out. So I hope you can be happy with us just being friends. I'll try to be."
Mina knew as much and that was what made her sad. But she didn't want to let that sadness torment her. It was true that she hoped for love, but she knew she couldn't be selfish, so she agreed that she and Joey could be friends. "Oh, Joey, you really are the hero of friendship."
He smiles and leans closer to her so he can whisper. "However, I will admit to this, Sailor Venus is my favorite Sailor Scout."
Mina softly gasps and whispers back, "And you're my favorite duelist," and kisses his cheek.
Even Kaiba and Raye felt something between them. They looked at each other in silence for a moment, then Raye looked up and smiled sadly. She hugs Kaiba and tells him, "Goodbye, Kaiba. I'll never forget you," and reaches up to kiss him.
He chuckles and says, "You take care, Raye, and I'll see you later."
"Will you guys be all right going home?" Serena asked.
"We will," Emily promised. "We know the way to get back."
"You take care of each other now," said Darien.
Yugi nods and says, "You too, Darien. Serena's special to you, so keep her close."
Darien nods, then looks at Max and wonders, "Will Max be okay?"
"I honestly don't know," Emily answered. "I've never seen her so broken up like this before." She faces Darien and asks him, "What about you? Are you going to be all right?"
Even he was unsure. He was going to miss Fiore, but he wasn't going to let his last selfless act be a sad memory. He smiles and assures her, "Time heals all wounds, Emily. I'm sure Max will feel better once she takes all the time she needs."
Kaiba sighs and says, "Maybe, but she still owes us some answers."
"Can't it wait?" Emily asked. "She's hurt badly enough as it is. We shouldn't pressure her more."
Yugi agrees. "Let's get her home. Maybe that'll help her."
"Okay, but first," Emily says, reaching into her backpack. She takes out her camera and asks, "Would it be all right if I took everybody's picture? I like taking pictures of new friends for my photo album."
Everyone smiles and gives her permission. So Emily took pictures of Serena, Darien, Raye, Amy, Lita, Mina, Rini, and Luna and Artemis. After the photos developed from the camera, Emily took out a pen and wrote everyone's names on their pictures. When she finished, she taped the pictures on one of the pages.
After the heroes said their goodbyes, Yugi and his friends walked through an alley in the district and found themselves back in the Secret Garden.