Chapter 29: Usagi's Dilemma
Tuxedo Mask felt as if he was going to keep spinning uncontrollably forever until his traveling was through, and he found himself on the balcony of a dark crystal palace. It took him a few moments to orient himself with his surroundings once the dizziness stopped. He looked around and saw other balconies such as the one he was on along the side of the palace. They must be different rooms…but if I go to the wrong one, then I could be caught, he mused. So which one? He sighed and closed his eyes. Please, Serenity, let me find you.
Please, Serenity, let me find you.
Usagi had been lying in bed when she heard the voice. Is it talking to me, she wondered. She looked down at her crystal. It was not glowing, however, which meant it was not communicating with her this time. Curious, Usagi crawled out of bed and went to the window. It felt as if something was pulling her to the outside. She walked to the edge of the room and opened the sliding crystal door. Nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary. Still, she kept walking until she reached the balcony's edge.
Suddenly, something in black jumped towards her and landed on her balcony. It startled her, and she almost screamed….until she realized the newcomer looked very familiar. "Tuxedo Mask?" He was the last person she expected to see here.
Tuxedo Mask was in quite awe for a moment. He did not just find Usagi, he found Serenity. She was truly beautiful in the white dress she was wearing, and her blonde hair was long and gorgeous. It was the same princess that had been in his dreams for so very long. She looked…very goddess-like. "Serenity…I have come to see you."
*Flash*
"Serenity," said Prince Endymion, bowing in his black armor, "I have come to see you."
"How very generous of you," the Moon Princess replied. "I have missed you so much."
"And I have as well. I have come from very far to see you." Endymion came closer to her. "I know what lies ahead of us will be a dark and difficult journey, but I feel if we face it together, then our love will conquer any adversaries in our way."
Princess Serenity smiled. "I believe the same as well. We may be from different worlds, but I feel as if we were destined to be together."
"Destiny…is certainly a strange thing. Fate is what binds us to our destiny—and yet, despite however else I may have felt before, everything has changed, now that I have found you. You are the only reason for my future, the truth in my past. Serenity…" Endymion bent to one knee, pulling out a diamond ring in the shape of the crescent moon. "Will you marry me?"
*Flash*
Usagi and Tuxedo Mask gasped. They had both seen the memory at the same time. Usagi's brooch was glowing, and upon her forehead, the symbol of the moon had appeared again. Tuxedo Mask asked, "Was that…?"
Usagi nodded. "Yes. It's not the first time it's happened to me."
"We were…"
"In love." Usagi shook her head. "But that was such a long time ago."
"But what he…I…said, it was true. I did come from very far to see you. Don't you even feel that we were destined to be together?"
"Destiny…" Usagi murmured. Aloud, she said, "But destiny has changed. I no longer choose the path that was laid out for me. I want to be able to choose my own future, not have fate control me every day of my life."
"That is certainly different than the Princess I knew," remarked Tuxedo Mask. "Serenity, please come back home with me. You have no idea what our future was like…and how it is changing now."
"I do too," she said. "We were going to be miserably married together, stuck simply because we had a planet to rule."
"That's not true," Tuxedo Mask argued. "We were happy together…we even have a daughter. Now that you've chosen to be here, her destiny is changing."
"But she will still be born, yes?"
"Yes."
"Then her life will still occur."
"But…"
"But what? I have chosen to be here."
"You didn't choose to be kidnapped," he pointed out.
"No, but I have grown accustomed to this place."
"In only a month?"
"Yes. Besides, if you were so concerned," she snapped, "you would have come earlier."
"I couldn't. Because of this change, there was a time rift and we couldn't return to the same time as we left," he stated.
"We?"
"All of the senshi, Chibiusa, and me."
Usagi asked, "Why did Chibiusa come? Oh, that's right, her mother was from the future…"
Tuxedo Mask chuckled. "You are her mother."
"What? No way! That little pink-haired devil?" Usagi shrieked.
"Yeah, and we thought Rei was her mother…until King Endymion explained that she wasn't Sailor Moon."
"Heh, I would have loved to see that…Wait a minute—so you went to the future and saw…yourself?" she asked. "I'm sorry, but it's rather confusing."
"I can explain everything once we go home. I'll show you everything I am talking about." He reached out for her hand.
Usagi pulled her hand back. "I'm sorry, I just can't do that. I wouldn't leave Demando without at least a goodbye…" she said. "I promised to be here so that they would stop attacking our world."
"Do you honestly think you can trust these people?" Tuxedo Mask asked angrily. "They kidnapped you!"
"But I want to believe in the best of people, and they really are not so bad," Usagi pointed out.
"You can't be serious. Perhaps they've brainwashed you as well…"
"I am not brainwashed!" she shouted. "I am perfectly sane and know what I am doing."
"I came all this way to come save you, Serenity. You are the princess I was looking for all this time, even if everyone else tried to tell me differently. Please, just come home or else our future will be ruined."
"Your future," she corrected. "You never loved me anyway."
Tuxedo Mask took a deep breath and took off his mask so that Usagi/Serenity could look into his eyes. "I do love you," he said slowly. "I always have…and I always will."
Is it really true, she wondered. There was no denying it in his eyes—they stared at her the same way Demando stares at me, she observed. This is…love? But what if it's just because I'm royalty? "Do you say you love me only because I am the Princess?"
"I have always been in love with the Princess of my dreams. At night, I could see her, but never saw her face. My feelings were always for you, even when I was with Rei. I tried to give her a chance, but something kept telling me I was making the wrong choice. It was you—your princess persona—that spoke to me at night and kept me going," Tuxedo Mask asserted.
"What about Rei?"
"What about her? I am here for you…and besides that, she's disappeared."
"Disappeared?" How strange, Usagi thought.
Tuxedo Mask nodded. "Yeah, she didn't seem too happy about not being the Princess or the real Sailor Moon. Turns out she was Sailor Mars."
"Oh." Usagi sighed. "She never liked me…she always told me what a failure I was…and yelled at me for admitting that I cared about you…"
"I'm sure she cared about you. She was a good leader, in her own way, but she took things too seriously. Serenity," Tuxedo Mask pleaded, "please, don't give up. Don't leave the Earth like this…we will still need your help in the future. And…I need you." He put his hand on her cheek. "Serenity…please come back with me. Let me show you the real future."
Usagi caught her breath. This moment…is was almost too perfect. The person she had cared about for so long finally had come to his senses…the truth had been revealed about the Princess…but at the same time, there was Demando to consider. Surely, it would be wrong to leave him like this, after all that he has done, Usagi told herself. But, if he lied about my future…then what do I do? Whom do I trust?
