When Serena awoke she was alone. Sweat had dried and the sheets stuck to her, peeling off awkwardly as she sat up and looked down at her naked body. She cupped her breasts in her hands and wondered what she had done, giving herself to someone who so obviously didn't, couldn't, love her at all. She curled up, bringing her knees to her chest, and let herself cry.
***
Ami looked at the readings of her scanner. No, that couldn't be right. Why were dark-energy shuttles landing on Mercury? Why was no one firing at them? Had her worst fears finally come true?
She quickly sent off a query to Sam. Hopefully she would know something. On accident she opened up her asteroid tracking map. She had set up the deflector. The courses plotted automatically. All she had to do was click on a button and an asteroid would send Mercury hurtling into the sun.
Her heart sank. Had it come to this? She thought of Sam, sitting on a rock in the sunlight, the stylus in her hand and the quick sketch of Ami studying popping up on her screen. She had never even kissed her.
***
Even with a transport ball infiltrating the Dark Kingdom's planet-sized space ship shouldn't have been this easy, and Haruka and Michiru didn't have a transport ball. They weren't planning on getting out of this alive, but no guards came to check the refurbished dark-energy shuttle they had recovered from Neptune. The hallways were oddly empty. Was it deserted, or had someone predicted them coming?
***
Queen Serenity found Setsuna in a darkened room, sitting at a table, her head in her hands.
"What are you doing in here? You never came to bed."
Setsuna looked up at her, the tracks of tears on her face obvious even in the dim light. "I think it's time for me to go to Saturn."
Serenity paled. "We're that close?"
Setsuna stood and wrapped Serenity in her arms, pulling her small frame close. "I don't want to say goodbye. The only thing I wish for myself is that I could have had a longer time with you."
Serenity touched her face and looked steadily into her eyes. "Don't let the memory of me blight your life. You deserve another chance at love. You all do. If I know you're not afraid of being happy again, I won't be so afraid of what's to come."
Setsuna kissed her gently. "I'll try. But there will never be anyone like you. Not in eight million years."
"That's all I can ask." Serenity ran her thumb over Setsuna's lower lip, then kissed the corner of her mouth, teasingly. They held each other for a moment more.
"I'll get the shuttle ready." Setsuna left the room, and Serenity sank into the chair, unable to stop the tears that welled up in her eyes. She had said goodbye with a smile, hadn't she? That was the one thing she had wanted to do.
***
Minako awoke feeling warm, feeling good for the first time in weeks. Rei's body was pressed up against hers, back to her chest, and Minako smiled and buried her face in Rei's hair. She slid her hand up Rei's muscled stomach, over her breasts and chest and up to cup her cheek. Rei's tongue snaked out and licked her fingers and Minako pulled her hand away with a yelp. The arrangement of their bodies changed and somehow Minako was hovering over Rei, looking down at the girl below, who was looking back, with a certain pride on her face that Minako never wanted to wipe away. Then she looked more closely. Her lip was completely healed, she hadn't noticed that before, and the sand sores that had marred her body last night were also gone. Then she realized that holding herself up on her hands wasn't causing any pain in her side. That wound too was gone, only a thin white scar remained. Something had healed them last night. She couldn't worry about it though, not with a Barbarian Princess under her, just waiting to be ravished. She dropped down and nipped at Rei's shoulder where it met her neck. Rei's hands slid around her back and pulled her down completely. They kissed properly, achingly, and Minako wondered if it were possible that she could ever want to stop.