The Eternal Winter of Discontent
All the reports of the temperatures of Earth rising up ended up going against what truly happened. A new ice age that victimized millions by the year, either through illnesses facilitated by the harsh climate, by outright freezing, or by famines thought to be on the way to eradication by the time the temperature dropped. Crops and cattle were suffering and dwindling, with food rationing becoming prevalent even in the most plentiful of countries.
By that time, the sight of Sailor Moon and her reliable Guardians saving the world had become so prevalent, that humanity accepted her slow rise as the de facto leader of the planet without too many problems. If she could save them from frosty deaths, she was to firm herself as Neo-Queen Serenity. A fate she knew was bound to happen sooner or later. This was the Everstorm, one final "parting gift" that the evil witch Beryl had left in case she couldn't take over the planet.
But still, there was turmoil inside the heroines' minds. And it came from within their own hearts and memories.
"Something disturbs your mind, my liege," Hotaru spoke out as she approached the apartment Usagi shared with Mamoru.
"Indeed... I have been thinking of sisters-in-arms. How they are dealing with being... Eternal."
Hotaru knew well what she meant. Due to the effect of their Sailor Crystals, the Inner Guardians still preserved their youth and their nominal good looks, despite being ostensibly into their seventies already. The Guardian of Death herself had no family to speak of, since her father passed away of natural causes not too long ago, while she was still the same perky girl everyone knew. Everyone simply dismissed her waifish appearance as a reminder from her mother's side. She and the others knew well it was not true. To spare herself the pain of further losses, she followed the advice of Sailor Pluto and took no love of her own, and kept it to herself so as to not form significant bonds of friendship. A lonely existence that she already was accustomed anyway, but still hurt her from the inside.
The same attitude, however, was not followed by the Inner Guardians. Each lived their lives and accomplish their personal accolades, but always with the burden of immortality looming over their shoulders, and the time to seek peace with the last living remnants of their old lives was now at hand.
(xx)
From the files she managed to retrieve of his tenure as a teacher in the highly-sought Keio University, Ami was able to see what happened to the one boy that shook her heart when she was still "young".
A retirement home for the old that had nobody else to take care of them, or whose families did not bother themselves to care for their forebears. If the clues she got were right, he was living his last days there, with the company only of nursing staff and others like him, ready to die at any given moment. Just the thought of it pressed her bosom like a vice-grip, but still... She felt she needed to see him again.
"Excuse me," Ami asked the receptionist. "Is Mr. Urawa here? Can he receive visits?"
"Ryo Urawa, right?" She kindly asked back. "Yes, I believe he is in the central garden for a sunbath session. It's in the final door in the corridor to your left."
There he was. Wizened by the passage of time, his face and hands were completely wrinkled, and both his hair and eyebrows were white, but still in the same shape as they were when he was a boy of fourteen years.
"Hello there, Ami," he warmly greeted, smiling even with his eyes.
"Hello, Ryo." She retributed with a small smile of her own. "So, did you foresee my visit?"
"Of course," he answered. "As well as everything else."
As they took a walk across the gardens, Ami couldn't help but ogle at Ryo, at every single wrinkle etched upon his skin, at how his ears and nose naturally seemed larger, at how his steps were now tentative due to his condition, and how his legs were about to give in after stepping out of the garden's curb.
"Ah, crud," the old man lamented. "You'll have to excuse how I look. Age never makes anybody look easy in the eyes."
"Let me help you." Ami wrapped her arm with his. She never admitted it openly how she wished to walk like that with a man she liked. And when she finally got to do it, it was like walking a grandparent she never got to meet. And if he was a bit younger, Ryo would have let his male pride lash out in his own milquetoast way about how he did not need help to walk, but at that point in his life, it was pointless to even feign outrage.
"Do you hold it against me that... I never reached out to you?" Ami coyly asked.
"Oh, ho! Not at all," he answered. "See, I knew you'd be too attached to your destiny, so I didn't want to be a bother."
"You'd never be a bother in my life," Ami spoke with a pained tone.
Ryo shook his head ever so briefly. "We both know it's not true."
A short silence followed. Ryo was completely right. Ami would go on with her duty as Sailor Mercury, while Ryo would grow old and meet the fate of normal human beings. Even if he was the reincarnation of one of the Great Youma of the Dark Kingdom, the healing powers of Sailor Moon turned him back into a perfectly normal man, with a perfectly normal life cycle.
"It's not like I lived a boring life with lots of regrets, mind you," he spoke as they sat on a bench in front of a frumptous fountain in the back of the retirement home. "I'll spare you the details, but I can say... I got to work with what I liked, see sights that I never thought I would see... I had my share of romance, too. But nothing lasted, mostly because I did not want to compromise. Call me selfish all you want, I don't mind."
"I guess I'm in no position to call you like that," she said as she stared at the grass beneath her feet.
"I know I'm not the most amazing character ever, and it's not the most interesting life ever, but still... it's what I had, and I wanted to share this to someone. And I'm glad it was you. All my efforts were worth it in the end."
In the end. The way he spoke struck a chord in her heart. "I'm so sorry, Ryo... I'm... So very sorry..."
"It's okay, child. None of this is your fault."
As much as Ryo had a point, she couldn't help but feel guilty over following her duty and her destiny over her heart.
"I'm very grateful of being honored with the love of a Sailor Guardian at a period of my life," the old man continued, "and this is a joy that my soul will carry on even after it leaves my tired flesh."
"And I... I thank you too..." Ami could no longer hide how the situation shook her to the core as well.
"I don't expect you to visit me again. I'm afraid I won't have that long."
Ami let tears freely flow down her face as they got up. "I already had to see my parents die of old age. I thought it would be easier... But it's not. Seeing the people I care about withering like this, even if I expected it..."
"It's only natural to feel this way."
"But still... Seeing you, and how we could have been..."
"Don't think of the could-have-beens. Just go forward, keep your eyes in the present, seek for the future, and cherish the good parts of the past."
They shared one last look of love for each other. Ami then leaned forward, and kissed his forehead. For the first time in perhaps decades, Ryo felt a flush creeping and warming his skin and his heart. It was all worth it.
"Thank you very much for this, Ryo. As you know, I have one last mission, so I can't stay for long. But be assured... You'll be in my heart and in my mind forever."
"Goodbye... Miss Mizuno."
As she parted and walked away from the retirement home, Ami looked up to the sky, so that her tears welled up on her eyes. They still ran over and crossed her cheeks.
Only as she left in heavy steps did Ryo cough out the fluids that were nearly drowning his lungs. Blood came out of his throat as well. His time was about to come, he knew... So he filled his organism with as much medication he could find, to endure the pain that his extended existence had brought upon him, for enough time for his final encounter with the love of his life, fated to live for much longer.
He would not undignify Ami by dying on her presence, so he did not mind the pain and the fact the last people he'd see while freeing himself of his mortal coil were medical staffers performing nothing more than duty. On the very least, he got to see Ami again. And for that, his parting visage had a smile printed on his face.
(xx)
A two-hour train trip was all that separated Tokyo from the Japanese Alps. With the help of pure solar energy, the trip took half the time it was from the first and only time Rei had visited the region.
The town she visited wasn't very big, and it was quite easy to find the Kumada household - After all, it was the largest winter chalet in the locale.
Upon ringing the doorbell, a teenager no older than eighteen quickly answered. He was packed in tight winter clothes with long tousled hair and bright blue eyes that could shine even behind his shaggy fringe.
The sight left Rei completely awestruck. "Yuu... Yuuichirou!?"
"Oh... Do you know grandpa too?" the youngster answered.
Hearing that made her blood run so cold, it could have frozen then and there. If he had a grandson, it meant he managed to find somebody else, and... Rather than think of it further, she shook her head and answered him.
"Well... My grandmother did." Rei was finding a proper excuse to explain the young man's question. "She and your grandfather worked together in the old Hikawa Temple, before it became one of the Crystal Points. She... Passed away recently, but he always spoke fondly of him too."
The young man's expression lightened. "You mean, you are the granddaughter of Rei Hino?"
Rei simply nodded, playing along with her tall tale. Of course, he would speak well of her to his children and grandchildren. If only...
"Oh my, our grandfather always cherished his time in the Hikawa Temple. He always stated how it changed his life for the better. Please, come in!"
The manse was almost the way she saw it when she and the other Guardians came to visit. Other than a few modern commodities, it retained the classic and rustic mix of decoration from those days.
"You seem somehow acquainted with... My late grandmother," Rei said, retaking from where the youngster left.
"I sure do," he answered. "I mean, it's not like he didn't love our nan, or didn't treat any of his family well, much on the contrary. It's just... It seems she made a mark on his mind that he just couldn't forget, you see. She must have been the one that got away, so to speak. His regrets are catching up to him, now that his end is near."
"Regrets, you say?"
"Yes, I mean... It's clear he was in love with her at one point. But they could never be together for one reason or another. He even named my mother Rei, after her."
Indeed, the pictures hung on the walls of the corridors they passed by all showed him as happy as he could be, with a beautiful woman by his side, and a large family of his own descendency. He succeeded in his own path after all. He made the best use of his privileged background and made a good name of himself, and Rei couldn't help but feel an ounce of pride at how Yuuichirou turned out to be after they somehow parted ways.
"I'm all that he has left, I'm afraid. My grandmother passed away a couple of years ago, and my parents and uncles just can't be bothered to take care of him. And I'm afraid he won't last much longer, either. Ever since my grandmother's death, it's like he lost the will to live altogether, just barely holding on for some reason. I like to imagine the reason was to see Rei Hino once more, but... Knowing she's gone too would be too much for him to bear."
"I guess so," the girl added with an ounce of pain. The irony of the situation only made her feel worse.
"Anyways, here he is. He spends most of his time sitting by the porch. You can take off your jacket now, this room has solar-powered heating."
When Rei finally entered and saw Yuuichirou, she couldn't help but release a gasp, covering her mouth and fighting back some tears. Age caught up to him so badly, he could no longer be mobile, spending his days slumped over a wheelchair with a serum IV injected into the joint of his left arm. His trademark long locks were mostly gone, save for a few grizzled strands of hair that still fell down all the way to his burdened back. He was so full of life, strength and mirth, not afraid to make a fool of himself in his chores and attempts to win her over. But now, the nature of life itself turned him into a diminutive husk, counting his hours as if they were his last.
"Who... Who's there?" the old man asked with a lisp.
"It's me. Rei."
His eyes opened ever so slightly, showing that his bright blue eyes gave way to milky-white eyeballs that denoted his blindness.
"I'm with you now... My love."
"Miss... Rei..." His semblant managed to open up a timid smile. "How was your life?"
In an instinctive move, Rei embraced the old man. He smiled, and his blind eyes filled with moisture.
"It's been... Hard. But I could manage to see you... One last time. For old time's sake. How about your own life?"
"I wish I could tell you how it went... But I'm afraid none of us have the time for it. For different reasons, that is..." After a pause to catch on breath, Yuuichirou continued. "But I'm so glad... So glad you came one last time, Miss Rei. I knew there was a reason to hold on."
It was at that moment that Rei realized what the grandson meant: it was like Yuuichirou was holding back his own death just for that moment. To be with her again for a few sparse parcels of time. Fate had it that he'd lose his sight, but he could hear that strong but sweet voice, and in the back of his mind, riddled with the troubles of old age, he could recognize it and feel the peace and closure that his heart yearned for.
"Your touch... It hasn't changed. The few times you touched me... I remember them all. Your voice, it still sounds... Young. It's like... You never changed."
The hold reminded Rei of her late grandfather, her true father figure and caretaker in the absence of her real parents. And just like him, despite his own shortcomings and tendencies, he cared for her deeply without expecting anything in return. Perhaps a chance to be her lover. But that could not happen, especially at that moment.
"Tell my grandson... I'm ready to go now. He will know what this means."
Hearing this from a man ready to die was too much for Rei's heart to bear.
"Goodbye, Miss Rei."
"Good... Night."
"So, finished already?" the grandson asked Rei as she left the room.
"Yes, don't worry," Rei said, having quickly recomposed herself. "Thank you very much, sir... Umm, what is your name again?"
"Shuichi," he answered. "And yours?"
"Risa," she quickly answered, coming up only with the name of her late mother.
"Pleased to meet you, Miss Risa. Say, are you gonna stay longer? If so, I'd love it if we could go out together one of these days..."
"I... Oh, my, this is so sudden..."
"Uh, sorry, Miss Risa. I guess... This wasn't the right time?"
That demeanor... The way Shuichi fumbled for words and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment... It reminded her of how Yuuichirou usually acted around her, and that only made her feel worse.
"It definitely wasn't," Rei said with a bit of anger in her voice. "I have to go now. Excuse me."
Rei darted out of the Kumada mansion without saying much else. The tears on her face could have congealed in the harsh climate of the Japanese Alps, but her natural heat kept them running down her face against her will. It would be better off for young Shuichi to be temporarily rattled over a missed chance with a woman that just passed by, rather than bearing the regret of a broken heart forever as his grandfather had. All provoked by the same woman.
As the Guardian of Fire boarded the train back home and locked herself in her personal cabin, she thought how it was amazing that in the very end, she was the one who yearned for Yuuichirou's company, his body pressed against hers... All the while he moved on without a single thought. And when she finally got to see him again, he was ready to forego whatever was left of his days, happy enough to be with her for a few more fleeting moments.
"Stupid Yuuichirou... No... Stupid me. Stupid fucking me!"
(xx)
How many was it that died even since the Everstorm started? And how many of those were buried in the vast Aoyama Cemetery that got victimized by it, unable to see the Utopia that Usagi and the rest were about to bring forth? Such were the questions Makoto was asking herself as she rode along her long-time friend Tomoko Takase in her personal driver's car. She had become a wealthy and successful novelist, thanks mostly to Makoto's support, but as expected, the passage of time would wrack her body to the point she would need the constant assistance of nurses and helpers of all kind. For that day, however, only Makoto would suffice. She felt the cold touch of death closer by the day, and she wanted to take a look at her final resting place.
"I have quite a walk all over the cemetery," Makoto told her old friend. "Lots of people I wish to visit, you see."
"Do not worry," Tomoko said with a sly smile. "I'll be here in this very plot. Come back when you're finished."
In tentative steps, the green-eyed girl went on her way, always looking back to see how her old friend stared at the old stones that carried the names of her forebears.
The first plot Makoto visited read the names Masaru and Hitomi Kino, her parents who died in an untimely airplane accident on their way to visit their extended family in Osaka, in front of which she spent the better part of fifteen minutes. "You left me too soon," she complained to herself. "But I know that somehow, you are still watching me from afar. I do wonder if we'll ever see each other again..."
All the men she could have possibly called as her own now laid dead, reduced to ashes as the Japanese funerary tradition dictated. All of them buried at Aoyama, their names imprinted in the stone tiles but mostly forgotten to all... But not to Makoto herself.
Asanuma Ittou, a classmate of the future King Endymion when he was simply Mamoru. He never hid his admiration for her, and in the few interactions they had together, few went by that didn't notice a bit of chemistry between both. He died of undisclosed causes at the tender age of 32. If only I was there for you in your time of need...
Kenji Shinozaki, her lifelong best friend. There were times she wished he could call her to go out, and maybe work out something from there. Alas, nothing happened - And Makoto couldn't help but feel guilty over it. Perhaps I should have been the one that called him for a night out.
Motoki Furuhata. The one that truly shook her heart. Once simply the clerk from Game Center Crown, he became a renowned neurosurgeon, famed throughout the world for never letting a patient die or survive with complications of any order. And he, too, suffered the effects of a worldwide ice age, dying at age 78 of pneumonia. On the very least... He married the love of his own life, Reika Nishimura, whose name painted in red indicates she still lived and intended her ashes to be buried in that very same plot, next to her husband of a lifetime. Three children, seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild... That could have been hers, if she had been more assertive. How she wished for a large family, to carry children of her own inside her womb, to feel fulfilled with the touch of a man she knew that loved her back?
It's been a full hour since Makoto had left Tomoko by herself, and by the time she met with her once more, she was falling in and out of conscience, a few droplets of tears forming in the crinkled corners of her eyes.
"Have I... Already apologized to you?" Makoto spoke softly as she ran a smooth finger across Tomoko's eyes.
"Huh? But why?" The elderly woman asked.
"For not telling you about who I truly am before..."
Tomoko gave a short chuckle within what her compromised pulmonary condition let her. "That's nothing... Nothing to apologize for. Sounds to me like, I don't know, apologizing over Unit 731 or Nanjing. It makes no sense in... being sorry over things beyond your reach."
"I take it you're not afraid of dying, then."
The old lady smiled and nodded. "My own funeral arrangements are done already. This body of mine will be gone... But the memories and works will still be there, won't they? Proof that this one named Tomoko Takase once walked this Earth and made herself known. When it's time... It's time. If I can make my peace with my eventual demise... So can you, with your lack of end."
Such a good point that Makoto couldn't bear herself retorting, so she only nodded in agreement. As Makoto helped push Tomoko on her wheelchair to conserve its battery, both passed by a single but very well-decorated grave, which stated only one name: Minako Aino. Filled with flowers and sotoba tablets, which denoted the enduring popularity that her name and legacy somehow attained.
And the Guardian of Thunder couldn't help but draw a smile and a short snicker at the sight.
(xx)
Minako Aino lived her life the way she wanted, and went to her grave with a bang. At least that's what the world at large thought.
After all, how else would she explain she was ninety-four and still looking as good as she was when she was ninenteen? The only plan she had in mind was to fake her death after growing tired of the jet-set life, and upon feeling her duty was inevitable.
As often happens, it came with a price. In order to ascend to stardom, she had to exchange her body and her soul for her fame and her fortune. The memories seared on her mind only hurt her to the extent her own free will made her do it. What wrong would it be, was the thought that passed through her head inmediatly before engaging in a one-night stand, or filling her head with narcotics of all kinds. Half-a-day with shame and a hangover would pass quick, and her divine body could take it just fine. By the end of the day, she was ready for it once again.
But there would reach a day where the thrill would be gone, and her body could no longer find satisfaction in such surges of dopamine. It would also coincide with her ascension as a deity. More human than human, beyond the allures of fame and fortune.
So one day, Minako Aino, an idol to her people, acing singing, songwriting and acting, died at age 45 of an ignonimous speedball overdose. Being found nigh-naked and with a strange substance foaming on her mouth would not seem like the best way to go, but at the time, she did not put much thought about how her life as Minako would end - Only that it would have to end, period.
"How's that for a life well-lived?" the jovial voice of Minako broke out the silence.
"Fitting," Makoto answered, knowing well how she spent the better part of her dead years. "This is perhaps the cleverest thing you've ever done."
"You can say that again."
"Now come on. Usagi, Mamoru and the others are waiting. It's time to put the Ice Age back in the history books once more."
"Ugh, the others..." She was obviously disappointed in how things would turn out to be from then on, but nothing she did not expect already. "Don't you just hate the fact we need them, of all people?"
"I think I made my peace with that long ago without noticing," she simply answered. "I thought you had made your own peace as well?"
"Not with the fact I have an assigned man, no sir," Minako whined a little bit. "You know what? At this point, there is no use in complaining. We can't just ask them to go back to Hell or whatever. I'm just gonna hold my nose and go on with it."
"Good luck, girls," was all Tomoko could wish for them as the Guardian of Thunder wheeled her back to his personal car.
(xx)
Upon returning to the shared apartment of Mamoru and Usagi, the Sailor Guardians reached for the terrace, where four men in military clothes stood tightly. Neither seemed to wish to be there either, but they knew they had as much say in the matter as the women they were consorted to.
"Finished already?" Jadeite asked Rei, who simply nodded.
"We all came from the realm of the dead against our will," explained Nephrite to Makoto. "We are as much at a loss as you."
"We cannot ask you to understand the reasoning over our returns," Zoisite pleaded with Ami. "This is all part of the plan, after all."
"Come now, for the time has come to stop the Everstorm." Kunzite spoke out to Minako.
All of them kneeled, and all of them held back the tears of regret. Neither asked for their fates, and yet they had to follow it, for the pretense sake of humankind. The heroines then extended their hands to their men, helped them get back on their feet, and sealed the deal with quick, heatless kisses. If all they were going to have was each other, they reasoned, they may as well follow it with no more thought. This, too, was part of their fate and duty, and the part where they complained and shed tears of regret was already past.
As the four couples leaped the balcony towards the eye of the storm, Mamoru approached and embraced his own beloved from behind her. "Something the matter, Usako?"
"I feel... cold," she answered.
"Let me help you with this," the man said while opening a rare but welcome smile. Usagi retributed it and snuggled further into her beloved's arms.
"I hope things will go well in the end..."
How could Mamoru explain once more that this will not be over with this battle? In fact, it was the beginning of everything. A new age of flourishing humanity under their effigy.
"They will," he resigned himself to say. "Don't worry."
The future Queen couldn't help but look above. She never got to know in which direction Planet Kinmoku was located, so she simply looked up in a vain attempt to guess where in the vast Universe it could be. She then looked down below, as the Sailor Guardians and the Heavenly Kings transformed into their battle forms and flew straight towards the source of icy sorrow. If only I could...
"We can't stay here much longer," Usagi spoke out with a shake of her head. "Let's go down and help them."
Mamoru agreed, and with a wave of his own hand, turned into Tuxedo Mask to aid the Guardians and his newly-reborn companions.
To live forever, to keep the flame of youth, and to serve the Galaxy forevermore. Such was their mission, their blessing and their curse... To see their loved ones grow old, wither and die. And to go ahead, undaunted and firm, into the promised Queendom they swore to protect. If there was any way to change the course of history, it would be far too late, and it would make no lick of difference by then. The World needed Serenity, Endymion, the Sailor Guardians and the Heavenly Kings, and they would play their part as things should be.
Whether they would truly accept it or not, it could not matter less.