"Time's not a line. It's a circle or a figure eight or a goddamn Slinky. If you can believe that, I don't know why you can't believe that someone might be able to glimpse something farther along the Slinky." ― Maggie Stiefvater, The Dream Thieves
Rulers of a Burning World: Aino Minako
She remembered so much more than I did. For years, I'd been the only one to truly remember anything... but whatever happened that night in the fire room for Mars Rei, whatever was causing the shifting timelines to tangle, had caused Hino Rei to remember far more of the past life than I did.
I'd always known of the evil in the Moon Kingdom, but it seems Aphrodite had withheld more of the darkness than I'd ever imagined possible. My darker memories had been consumed by the evil done to the senshi, but Rei... the darkness she felt was the pain of the Lunarian people. I had always known, I kept thinking to myself.
When I remembered before, I always saw certain scraps. I was connected to the senshi in a way that no other soul would be; I had many of their painful memories because Venus had always tried to take their pain into herself, tried to help heal them. I could remember a brutal attack that left Ami―Mercury?―as a quiet, fearful woman. She was the Mercury most of us would remember because of that childhood assault. I could still recall drawing that pain from her, I felt slightly nauseated as the sense of betrayal washed over me. Her attacker had been a relative. Makoto had killed her own brother as he attempted regicide. Sure, it had been self defense, but against her own brother? The impact had been profound. Her wariness, her distrust, had come from that incident. A cold shiver shot through me at the memory. Rei's life-the pain that came with her memories-brought bile to my mouth. I shook my head, not caring to recall those moments. What bothered me the most, though, was that I'd forgotten, or perhaps, been protected from the suffering of the people. Rei had somehow unlocked all of this.
I felt my own betrayal. Heat consumed me and I began shaking when I felt Rei's pain at a specific memory snake through my soul. Confusion passed between us; it was like she was only remembering this moment herself. "How long has this affair been going on?" My voice sounded strange, even to me. I recognized the lilt to the Venusian, but I understood the language perfectly. "It made me so fucking sick that I had to leave."
She'd betrayed me. I felt myself pull away from her in this life, but the heat burned through my head so hotly that my very soul was on fire.
Rei would never betray me. There had to be another explanation.
That bile continued to threaten me as so many memories flashed through my mind. I felt the fear of the Queen as I watched Makoto's clash with the would-be Venusian assassin that I had already recalled. She'd felt sheer terror, not only for her own life, but also for Makoto's. The sickening crunch of my comrade's arm as the man got the better of her caused me to flinch, but I was bothered the most by the calmness in her eyes as she pinned him down and slit his throat. A long moment passed, and then she stood and bowed with an apology for staining the carpet.
I had recalled the time Rei had prevented a group of children from being sold as sex slaves, but darker memories began to surface... memories from the points of view of the children. Pain, beatings, rapes... I felt myself groan in pain as my senses became completely overwhelmed. The fact that someone could do these things to mere children...
Rei's strong arms tightened around me, and I felt a forceful pull from the memories I'd been sucked into. My universe shrank from the expanse of the stars to the arms of this woman, this woman that whispered soft words to me. "Minako, shh..." I jerked suddenly, not realizing I'd been crying. Her fingers threaded themselves in my hair, and she smiled as I wiped away tears. "It's alright. You're back with me. You're here. Welcome home, my darling."
As if it were my cue, I supplied the next words for her with a shaky smile. "Did you miss me?"
Aphrodite may have protected me, but I never asked to be protected. I'm strong enough to sort out the past for myself, and Rei and I would do that together, just as we always did. I took a deep breath.
"Reiko. I need to know... did you ever cheat on me?" She blinked in surprise.
"No. You accused me, once..." She trailed off, shook her head and sighed. "I can't remember what happened, to be honest. It's like someone's cutting out certain memories and gluing in new ones." I could remember Artemis and Luna pressing Mars on the matter, and I vaguely remembered Venus stepping in and telling them an affair was impossible. I felt like the memory was dimmer than it had been a few days ago.
Then again, I didn't have this new memory of betrayal a few days ago.
"Rei," I said carefully, taking a moment to really look at her. "Help me. I feel like I'm buried alive." She laced her fingers through mine.
"I don't know that I can, Minako." She was quiet as she said it. "I think the interaction of the timelines is causing events in the past life to change." She squeezed my hand gently and sucked in a deep breath. "We're going to put a stop to it, but I don't know that we can change anything to what it's supposed to be."
I kissed her gently and wound my arm around her shoulders, nudging her backward gently with my other hand. "Remind me what we're supposed to be, Reiko." The words were soft and low as I whispered against her lips. "Let me know that despite all of this, we are what we have always been."