She's The King

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon. If I did then I wouldn't be writing this. Naoko Takeuchi owns Sailor Moon.

A/N: I'm catching a cold so I figured I should get this chapter out now before I get too sick to do so. Happy Grand Theft Auto V release week everyone!

Chapter 21- Explanations

After a few more seconds of pondering, Minako finally thought about where to start. "Okay, how about the burning rose? What's up with that?" She had a feeling that the burning rose would be the easiest thing to explain.

"If you want to know a fun fact, it was Rei who originally produced roses from her hand, as taught by her mother in her past life. The Prince actually taught Prince Endymion that trick, though he could never get the fire part down," Artemis mentioned.

"Gee, I wonder why?" Minako sarcastically asked herself. Considering that Rei was the senshi of fire, it made perfect sense that Mamoru couldn't dress his rose in flames. She decided to move onto a more important topic. "Now the "monster" they were talking about…something tells me it's not the kind with sharp claws and a screeching voice."

"To understand "the monster within", you must understand Martians. In the dream, one of the guards said that Martians are no joke, and he was correct. Martians were the most dangerous warriors in our Solar System back then. They trained to hunt out invaders night and day. They did everything possible to protect Mars. What separated Martian warriors from other warriors in our Solar System was their mindset. You see, Martians didn't see war as a "necessary evil". Martians loved war, and when they captured invaders, they were slow to execute them. Martians tortured and murdered with enjoyment. The Prince unleashed the monster within when she her first execution that night…at only six years old. After that, she went on to become the embodiment of a Martian warrior."

Minako took a look the sleeping Rei and pointed a finger at her. "That Rei?"

"Yes."

"Her?"

"Yes," Artemis said again. "Rei was a cold-blooded killer in her past life."

The thought of the Prince carrying a dagger and an ice pick with a scarf over her face became even more frightening with the information Artemis just told her. However, she began to put to pieces together concerning Luna's involvement. "So that's why Luna was not fond on her."

"Correct. Luna hated the Prince because she knew what the Prince was to become as a Martian, and that's why she did not want Serenity to be around her. As you can tell, Luna was very happy when the Prince left."

"How did Serenity take it after she left?"

"Poor Serenity, she would try to stay up late at night. When I would tell her to get some rest, she would say "No Artemis, the Gods have to keep me awake so I can wait for my prince to return." Sadly, no matter how hard she fought to stay up, she would eventually fall asleep. This went on for years. There was even one particular time when she asked me, "Artemis, when is my Prince coming back?" and she started to cry. I tried to comfort her but there was only so much I could do. After she fell asleep, I cried a little myself."

"Aww Artemis, I know that couldn't have been easy to deal with."

"It wasn't, and Luna didn't make it any easier for me. She would constantly tell Serenity that she shouldn't want her back. Serenity started to get discouraged and questioned if the Prince would ever come back."

Minako interrupted Artemis. "But let me guess, she came back right when Serenity started to doubt, and then they fell in love with each other?"

"Exactly," Artemis confirmed. "And much to Luna's chagrin."

"And that's why Luna went as far as to make their love forbidden using underhanded tactics?"

"Now you're starting to catch on, Mina."

Minako became more interested in figuring out what happened in the past. "So how exactly did Luna manipulate Queen Serenity into making their love forbidden?"

Artemis however, ceased anymore explanations. "You will find that out eventually. I have told you enough for now and you have already seen more than what the other senshi have seen."

"Wait, just one more question. Why did the king place his hand on the Prince's stomach?"

Artemis took a deep breath and shook his head. His eyes showed a gloomy expression that made Minako rethink asking that question.

"What? Was it something I said?"

Artemis raised his head and finally spoke. "Be glad you were never a Martian. The things they do to their own people, in the name of battle and tradition, would make anyone cringe."

After Artemis's last statement, Minako did not even want to know the answer, but was briefly startled after hearing Rei groan, toss and turn in her sleep.

Artemis replied before Minako had a chance to ask what was wrong with her. "She's having a nightmare about not saving Usagi in time from Trinity's attack."

"And how do you know that?"

The stare Artemis gave in a response to that question made Minako regret even asking. "Well, I'm going to wake her up," she said.

When Minako attempted to walk towards her, Artemis stretched his arm, blocking her path. "No, Usagi needs to be the one do to that. This is your chance to see their soul-eternalization bond come into action." Artemis guided Minako into the darkest corner of the hospital room in order to remain undetected. However, Minako took it a step further by frantically hiding behind the curtain, much to Artemis's annoyance. They watched on as Rei continued to toss and mumble. Minako noticed that Usagi was starting to tense up. The moon princess opened her eyes only to see Rei struggling in her sleep. She walked over to her and enclosed Rei's hand inside of hers.

"It's okay, Rei. I'm here and I'm safe because of you. I don't think I've ever told you this, but you're my hero."

The tossing and turning slowly died down from Rei, and Usagi was greeted with a soft caressing around one of her delicate hands. Rei woke up propped herself up on her pillow. "Usa, you're freezing."

Minako was a little surprised to hear that be the first thing to come out of Rei's mouth. However, she started to realize that the room was a bit drafty. She was just too distracted to notice at first. As Minako continued to watch, Rei was now gripping one of Usagi's wrists. Rei took her other hand and rubbed the blonde's arm. Minako listened in closer to hear the conversation.

"How does that feel?"

"It feels good," Usagi whispered. "Do the other arm, please."

Rei fulfilled her princess's wish and switched over to the other arm. "You're still cold."

It finally dawned on Minako that Rei was using her element of fire to a lesser extent to warm up Usagi. Minako thought it was a nice gesture, but found it was even more surprising when Rei pulled back the covers. She wondered what Rei was going to do next.

"Usa, share the bed with me tonight."

"But Rei, you're not feeling well."

"I'll be fine. You don't need to sleep on that couch anymore. You're freezing, and that couch is giving you back problems."

Usagi gave Rei a smile, excited that the soul-eternalization bond they took in their past life was still in effect. "You knew…"

Minako stared at Artemis, to which he just nodded. The soul-eternalization bond was certainly powerful! Curious to see more, she eagerly continued to watch.

"Please, Usa."

Usagi was still reluctant about the idea, but trusted Rei's judgment that she would be okay. Rei took Usagi's hands as she carefully climbed onto Rei."

"Ow!"

"Oh no! I'm so sorry, Rei! I didn't mean to!"

The bed-ridden senshi chuckled. "Just kidding." She thought it was real cute seeing her princess freak out. Usagi didn't find it quite so funny however, and shoved Rei gently before pulling the covers over them and resting upon her love's bosom. Sleeping on Rei felt a thousand times better than sleeping on that couch, but if there was ever a time she really felt heavy, it was tonight. She was still worried that she was hurting her.

Rei however, picked up on her feelings. "You're fine," she assured. "You're not too heavy."

"You know me so well, Rei," Usagi said quietly. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling okay. Why do you ask?"

Rei was soon embraced with a tender kiss on the lips that seemed to last for a long time. She didn't resist though. Usagi lifted Rei's hand up to her cheek and rubbed against it, just as she did in her past life. She enjoyed feeling the warmth her love had to offer. Rei moved her hands under Usagi's shirt, and on her back.

Usagi took a slow, deep breath. "You're like a life-sized heating pad."

It was at this point when Minako realized Rei was trying to help Usagi's back problem. "You have to give her credit," she thought. "That girl had a chunk of her head taken out, and a hole blown into her stomach, yet she's still taking care of Usagi. No one can question her dedication to our princess."

By the time Minako was finished admiring her friend's dedication, Rei and Usagi had already fallen back asleep. Artemis signaled that it was safe for them to come out of hiding.

"Well that was quick," Minako said. She was a little sad that Usagi and Rei fell asleep so fast. "I wanted to see more."

"It is pretty late, Mina. You should be asleep yourself. I'll walk you back home."

Minako slightly hesitated. "Um, I don't want to go home. I'd rather stay here."

"Wait, why?"

"Because there isn''t anyone to share a bed with at home. Usually I have you, but you have been so busy with Rei and Usagi lately. When I laid down, I realized I had no one. Makoto has Ami. Rei finally has Usagi. Haruka has Michiru. Mamoru appears to still have his future daughter, even though I'm not sure how that exactly worked out, and you have Luna. You don't know how it feels to be truly alone. It hurts so much, Artemis. I would rather sleep on that uncomfortable couch and be near someone, than to sleep alone in my comfortable bed. Pathetic, isn't it? And to think I am the Goddess of love. I'm hurting, Artemis. I really am."

Minako didn't feel the need to say anything else. She dragged her feet over to the stiff couch that gave Usagi back problems, and laid on it. Meanwhile, Artemis felt terrible. He had been so busy with Setsuna lately, that he hasn't been able to fully be there for Minako, like a guardian should. He always knew Minako to be a strong person, and that it took a lot to break her. Artemis realized that things were going to be hectic for a while, but he was going to do what he could to ease Minako's pain. He glanced at her folding her arms together in response to the draft in the room. When he saw this, he took the cover off of Usagi and Rei and walked over to Minako."

"Artemis, what are you doing? You just can't take away their blanket!"

"I just did." Artemis stretched the blanket across Minako. "Believe me, it's not the blanket keeping them warm anyway. Minako, I'm sorry for neglecting you."

"It's okay, Artemis. I know you have a job to do."

"No, it's not okay, but I will do whatever I can to make it up to you."

Within a few seconds, Artemis was now back into his cat form. He hopped onto Minako's stomach and curled on top of her.

Minako smiled at how caring Artemis was and rubbed him behind the ears. Eventually, they fell asleep together, just as Usagi and Rei did. However, somewhere in the desert, two brothers were not as fortunate to get some rest.