Standard disclaimer - I don't own Sailor Moon, or its characters. All OCs are mine.
Quick AN to start: None of this is essential reading, but it gives a little setup for Act 2.
The man known as Wrath walked slowly through the ruined observation deck of the Tokyo Skytree, inspecting the site of Terror's demise. He wore casual clothes; a sweater and jeans, under a long coat. He preferred to keep his old appearance whenever possible, only donning his armour for battle. Terror was his opposite; he had rejected his former life, even his own face. The armour of the Shadow-Knight had been a welcome mask for him to hide behind.
"Ah, brother…" he sighed wistfully. "I warned you not to underestimate Justice, but your arrogance proved to be your undoing, just as I said it would."
He felt nothing for his fellow Shadow-Knight's passing; his heart had grown numb to the pain of loss a long time ago. His 'brother' had been doomed from the moment he allowed Sailor Moon to destroy Lord Revenant's projection. If the Sailor Senshi hadn't finished him off, Terror would have found Wrath waiting for him in his sanctuary, weapon drawn; their master was not known for its forgiving nature.
He stared out at the city of Tokyo beneath him; he found this city far too bright and busy for his liking, but would reluctantly admit to a certain fascination with its inhabitants. After a thousand years of isolation, he found he missed the day-to-day events of everyday life, and he'd found himself walking amongst Tokyo's citizens frequently, seeing the world as they did.
The sound of footsteps behind him roused him from his thoughts.
"Greetings, Sir Wrath…we have arrived."
"Our apologies for our late arrival...our last assignment was quite some distance away."
A cold smile spread across his face, as he turned to face the new arrivals. "Think nothing of it. But now that you're here...we have much work to do, my friends."
"Do we know who the targets are?"
"Only one of them; the former Guardian Knight of Justice. I will know his face when I see it. As for the others…he will lead us to them, in time."
"What about the primary target? Did she really take down Lord Revenant's projection?"
"She did...not that it matters," Wrath chuckled. "Anyone can die...no matter how powerful they are." He spun to look back out over the city. "Get yourselves settled. We will begin operations in three days. I trust you all understand the consequences if we should fail?"
"Of course. The Revenant Knight will destroy us all."
Wrath nodded slowly. "Indeed."
One of his visitors stepped forward, into the light; she wore a black leotard and knee-high boots with shin guards; a familiar sailor flap and skirt in red completed the uniform. A single grey pauldron sat on her right shoulder, shielding her neck with a high collar, extending down into an elbow-guard and clawed gauntlet.
"It matters not...the Sailor Marauders never fail!"
"So…" Corey asked quietly. "How's your hot chocolate?"
"Oh…pretty good." Minako sounded about as excited as he did. "What about your coffee?"
He nodded idly, taking a sip. "Could be better, could be worse."
They lapsed into an awkward silence, each avoiding eye contact with the other. Corey forced himself not to groan aloud. This was the worst first date he'd ever been on. Minako looked like she just wanted to run away, and he couldn't blame her. Their typical free-flowing back and forth conversation was absent. Neither of them had any confidence. This was horrible...it just wasn't working out.
"Minako…I think we need to face facts. This is…it's not going so well."
"Oh, thank god it's not just me who thinks that! This is the worst first date in the history of first dates!"
He sighed, and nodded solemnly. "I think there's only one logical course of action. I mean…clearly neither of us is happy here."
She sighed too, bowing her head. "I agree. There's no other choice. It has to be said."
"Well…I guess we should just get it over with, then."
She nodded mutely in agreement
He turned an angry glare to the two cats sitting on the table. "You two need to get the hell out of here!"
"I agree!" Minako hissed. "Go home, Artemis!"
"What?" Artemis sputtered. "But…why?"
"Indeed!" Titus protested. "We're simply doing our duty and watching over you. If it helps, think of us as chaperones!"
"Yes!" Artemis agreed quickly. "We're chaperoning you!"
Minako let her head fall forward to bang softly against the table. "Of course you are…"
"We don't need chaperones!" Corey groaned. "Look, we've been looking forward to this for pretty much the entire time we were recovering…and now that we're finally here, on our date, you're ruining it!"
"I don't see how we're ruining anything," Titus sniffed, insulted. "We aren't preventing you from doing anything you wouldn't normally do!"
Artemis nodded. "Exactly!"
"When I reached out to hold Corey's hand, you slapped me on the arm and said 'bad Mina'," the blonde said icily, glaring daggers at the him.
"Well…this is only your first date, after all! There's no need for that kind of thing!"
"It's just…holding…hands, Artemis!" Minako growled, her eyes flashing with anger.
"Really, I don't see what your problem with our presence is at all," Titus muttered. He looked up at Corey suspiciously. "Unless the two of you were planning some kind of…physical impropriety?"
Corey choked on his coffee. "What?!"
Minako blushed bright red. "Titus! This is just our first date! I'm not that kind of girl!"
"Well, then…" Titus winked to Artemis, "In that case, I suppose we can give you a few minutes alone."
"We can?" Artemis frowned, glancing warily at Corey.
"Yes, you can!" the blonde snapped. "Or you can find somewhere else to sleep tonight, mister!"
"Okay, okay, jeez!" He followed Titus down the street, glancing back at her mournfully one last time.
"God, I thought they'd never leave." Minako sounded annoyed, but a small smile remained on her face. "Still…it is kinda sweet that Arty's looking out for me like he always does." She glanced apologetically across the table at Corey. "Sorry…he's always been a little overprotective, especially when it comes to me and guys."
"It must be nice," he said quietly. "Being able to trust him to have your back like that."
Minako reached across the table, taking his hand in hers. "You still haven't told Titus you remember your past, have you?"
"No…I just don't know how to approach it. Whenever I do, whatever I say…that's the moment he finds out I know about his lies. And that…" He sighed deeply. "That's a conversation I don't really know how to have right now." He forced a smile back onto his face. "Anyway…let's not waste our time together worrying about stuff like that." He took a moment to admire her beauty; even with her arm still in a sling, she was practically radiant. It was physically impossible for him to be gloomy with her around.
"Alright," she agreed, a mischievous smirk on her face. "Let's talk about this new nickname you decided to give me the other day..."
"New nickname?" he asked, confused. Oh, no. He knew where this was going.
"Now…I wasn't sure how to feel about it at the time, but after careful consideration, I've decided that I actually like it."
"That's too bad, 'cause I'm not calling you 'my goddess' all the time."
"Aww…" She turned what had to be the world's sexiest pout on him. "But I really, really like it…"
"That…that's cheating!" he protested, feeling his internal temperature rise a couple of degrees.
"Maybe…but I'll bet it's working!" she teased.
He just shook his head "Oh, you know full well it is." He squeezed her hand and winked at her. "Man, that pout is dangerous!"
She giggled again. "I'll have to remember that for the next time I want something from you…"
They lapsed into another silence - a comfortable one this time - as they stared at each other across the table.
She toyed with his hand idly. "Hey…Corey?"
"Yeah, Minako?"
"You remember when I told you kinda sorta liked you?"
He chuckled. Did he remember? It was the high point of his time in Japan! "I do seem to recall that, yes."
A faint blush coloured her cheeks, and she smiled happily at him. "Well…I just wanted to tell you that…I've upgraded you to 'like' like."
He couldn't help the grin that appeared on his face. God, he was a lucky man. "I 'like' like you too, Minako. A whole lot."
AN: That's all, folks! Act 1 of Last Guardian Knight is officially over. There were some laughs, some tears, some awkward silences…and now we're done. I hope you enjoyed it!
This epilogue wasn't really essential, but I wanted to do something to set up Act 2. That, and I've had this scene in mind for Minako and Corey's date for AGES, but I hadn't been able to squeeze it into the story yet. Therefore…epilogue – hopefully it wasn't too fluffy for your liking :D Thanks for reading!
For those of you who are interested, Act 2 is still in the planning stages…I've got my characters designed, and the basic plot is worked out, but there's still quite a bit of work to do before I start putting it together in a readable form.
I'm also toying with the idea of a prequel/companion fic featuring Corey and Titus, set during the last days of the Moon Kingdom. The idea is to follow them through the events leading up to this story; how did Faith fall so far, what did he mean when he told Usagi that Queen Serenity had failed her people, etc? All those questions and more. It won't be essential reading, as anything important will be explained in Act 2 via flashback, but I'm wondering if anyone would actually be interested in reading something like that? Let me know what you think! Leave a review or feel free to shoot me a PM on the subject.