Welcome back!

This story is an accidental companion piece to my 2021 UsaMamo story "Home".
(You don't have to read that one to read this one, but I do recommend it)

It was supposed to be a fun play on today's prompt "But why me?"
We just don't always get what we want, do we?
But we do get what we need.

And I, apparently, really needed to write this story.

I feel like Schmendrick the Magician from "The Last Unicorn":
"The [words] chose the [story], not I! I am a bearer, I am a dwelling, I am a messenger."

But I suppose it was time. Since I started writing Sailor Moon fanfiction last year, I wanted to explore what life would be like for Mamoru and Usagi immediately following the events at the Galaxy Cauldron, and I guess The Words decided this initially silly story was the perfect vehicle to go on that journey.

Also, as an FYI, while not explicit, this one is a little... spicier ... than the other two.

Please let me know what you think!

And please come visit me on Tumblr! Same name, minus the 9

UsaMamo Week 2022
Day 1: Pearl/"Here, it reminded me of you."
Day 2: Lost & Found/Book

Day 3: Emotion/"But why me?"
I unintentionally used both

Title: The Burdens We Bear
Summary: "Conflict and suffering will keep on going!" Sailor Chibi Chibi cried. "And it will be your burden to bear, Sailor Moon."

An innocent question, asked at a Christmas charity event, forces Mamoru and Usagi to confront their post-Stars demons.
Manga canon.

Mamoru stood on the edge of the room and people watched.

He never knew what to do at these kinds of parties but was grateful for the invite nevertheless, especially because it came from Usagi's father of all people, and he wanted to make a good impression.

But he really didn't do crowds.

Even if a majority of the guests were children.

This was a charity event, meant to bring Christmas joy to children who otherwise went without, who had no families of their own.

Children who were growing up just as he did.

He appreciated the spirit of the event but struggled to understand his place. Was he allowed to interact with the kids? Was he just supposed to stay on the sidelines and watch? No one explained what was expected of him nor what was considered an appropriate level of participation.

Usagi, however, was in her element.

An "act now, ask for permission later" kind of girl, she jumped into the fray as soon as she arrived, and the children loved her, trailing behind wherever she went, cries of "Usagi!" or "Onee-san!" mingling with their giggles and shouts.

Dressed in a high waisted, knee-length burgundy velvet dress, red bows adorning each bun, red and green striped tights, and an off-center Santa hat, Usagi was a sight to behold. Mamoru couldn't keep his eyes off her as she flitted around the room, her brightest smile stretching from ear to ear as she played with the kids, really getting down to their level.

He was a little jealous, if he were honest, wishing he felt comfortable enough to participate with the same level of engagement. Maybe not so loud and boisterous, but Usagi had that covered anyway, and he knew she was bringing these children the same kind of light and joy she brought him.

So, he settled for watching his girlfriend chase, dance, and play from afar, living for the moments her eyes found his, and, just for a moment, her smile changed into the special one meant only for him.

But if she needed help with something, usually to reach a thrown toy stuck out of reach, he was there in a flash to assist. The rewards were more than worth his efforts: from Usagi, a blinding smile and the brush her fingers against his when she retrieved the toy from his hand, and the chorus of thank yous from the children.

Eventually, that itself became the game, to see who could pull him off the wall the most or the quickest.

"Are you Onee-chan's boyfriend?" a little girl asked, her hands folded behind her back, the last time he retrieved a wayward toy.

"I am," he said, his smile shy but very fond.

The little girl's eyes were sparkling when she turned to Usagi. "Onee-chan, are you going to marry him?"

It was an innocent enough question, asked in that disarming way young kids have, but it still twisted a tiny knife into his heart.

Because Mamoru already tried to ask Usagi to marry him once. Slid the ring onto her finger, told her he loved her with his words and through his kiss.

It was perfect.

Right up until Sailor Galaxia arrived and ripped his Golden Crystal from his chest, killing him before he could actually ask Usagi to marry him.

Not only was the forceful extraction of his crystal one of the most painful experiences of his young life, he was helpless to do anything about the confused horror dawning on Usagi's face as she watched his body crumble away.

At the time, he had no idea who killed him, and he wouldn't learn it was a Sailor Senshi from the far reaches of the Milky Way Galaxy until the girls and cats quietly filled him afterwards, after Usagi had already saved them all. But they didn't know much more than he did because they, too, died early on in the war.

Like him, most of the girls died without ever seeing Galaxia's face.

And none of them, not even Luna and Artemis, who were the last to perish, could tell him how the war was won.

Usagi was the only one with all the answers, but she refused to talk about it, shutting down if anyone even attempted to broach the subject.

"What does it matter?" she whispered once. "You're all OK now."

Though they all shared a worried glance at the time, everyone finally let it go with the hope she will talk about it when she was ready.

Over a year later, they were still waiting.

Over a year later, the scars carved into her soul hadn't even begun to heal. In the beginning, her nightmares woke him up, had him flying to her home in the middle of the night to hold her close, to comfort her as best he could with his touches and his words.

But he was suffering too. From his traumatic death, from his guilt of having left her to fight yet another war without him by her side.

But try as he might, Mamoru couldn't place all the blame for his absence on Galaxia because, if she hadn't killed him, he would have left Usagi anyway; would have departed on that plane bound for Boston Logan International Airport in America and left her behind.

He had applied for Harvard's study abroad program without telling her, convincing himself he wouldn't get in but wanted to try anyway to satisfy his curiosity. But his acceptance suddenly had him facing the prospect of leaving Usagi for a year or more, of putting almost eleven thousand kilometers of land and ocean between them.

Usagi let him go, of course, sending him off with a smile saturated with her tears.

His proposal was supposed to temper the pain of separation; to assure her of his commitment and devotion; to be something they could both look forward to during their significant time apart.

Instead, it marked the start of the most devastatingly soul-crushing war Usagi ever fought.

And then, after the war was over and everyone returned home, he left her again.

Why Harvard offered him a second chance, he'll never know. Before he could finish wrapping his head around it, Usagi was already telling him to go.

"If you don't, you'll regret it," she told him.

So he did.
But only because she wouldn't let up until he agreed.

Maxing out his allowed credit hours per semester because he had no intention of staying in America any longer than absolutely necessary, his school work was a very welcome distraction from his heartache and homesickness.

But he struggled every time he allowed himself a break. Going out to eat alone or with classmates made him think of Usagi's love of food and how overjoyed she would be to try everything culinary-related America had to offer. While it was nice to explore the city which had become his second home at a reasonable pace, his hand ached to hold hers, to be dragged down the street and through the parks as she babbled on from her excitement.

Home for winter break now, he only had a couple short weeks left before the new semester started and was already dreading it, not just because it meant leaving Usagi again, but his program was supposed to end after this spring semester, and his advisor was already trying to talk him into finishing his undergrad at Harvard.

Staying made sense on a professional level. Not only would a full undergrad degree from Harvard look great on his transcripts for med school, it would help him stand out from the other applicants choosing their hospitals for residency and eventual employment.

But the thought of even more time away…

Before dwelling on this further, he knew he should talk to Usagi, but he was terrified she'd once again goad him into accepting without really hearing his side.

Which was another problem. While the two spoke on the phone, e-mailed, and instant messaged each other nearly every day he was away, Mamoru didn't feel like they really communicated.

Too many things were being left unsaid.

But he wasn't blameless in this.

During their frequent conversations, Usagi was often telling him how much she loved the ring he gifted her, that she wore it every day.

But it wasn't supposed to be a gift.
It was supposed to be an engagement ring.

But he never corrected her.
And though he had ample opportunities during his numerous trips home to see her, he never gathered up the courage to ask her to marry him again.

"Onee-chan?"

The sound of her voice brought him back to the present, back to the precocious little girl and her heart-wrenching question Usagi had yet to answer.

When he finally turned to Usagi, she lit up like a Christmas tree, her eyes sparkling with joy, her face flushed both from her exertions and the personal nature of the question, and she intertwined her fingers with his.

The metal of her ring was a cool mockery against his skin.

"I am," she breathed, staring up into his eyes.

There was a chorus of excited "oohs" and "aahs", but Mamoru tuned them out as he stared back. Those blue eyes spoke volumes of her love yet never asked from him anything more than he was able to give.

Did she not already know?
He wanted to give her everything.

As they stood there staring at each other, their fingers interlaced, Mamoru could feel a growing tug on his soul, a yearning, as if she had actually answered his yet unvoiced question for real. Suddenly, there was nothing he wanted more than to place his free hand against her pink blush and kiss her until she was melting and sighing beneath him.

But the call of Usagi's name broke the spell. With one last smile and squeeze of his hand, she was off on another chase.

So, Mamoru returned to his wall alone, but the feel of her warm hand in his and that adoring blush kept him in good company and was as a balm for his still tender heart and soul.

"Are you here with someone?"

Pulled from his thoughts of Usagi, Mamoru turned to address the smiling young woman standing beside him, her back against their now shared wall. She was holding a soft drink in one hand (no alcohol for a children's charity event) and twirling a few strands of her dark brown hair around the finger of the other.

"Yes, I'm with- '' sweeping his gaze out over the crowd of children, he frowned when he failed to find Usagi's odangoed head. "Well, it seems my girlfriend has stepped away. Her father is the head photographer for this event."

"Well, since she's not around-" the girl's lips pulled up into a suggestive smile as her eyes gave him a once-over, "-I'd be willing to keep you compan-"

"Mamo-chan!"

Her timing impeccable as always, an out of breath Usagi came barreling up beside them, but without any acknowledgement to the now glaring woman, she grabbed his hand and began pulling him away.

"Usako, what's-?"

"Come with me!" she ordered, leading him to one of the side doors off the main ballroom. "It's an emergency!"

"Usa-"

"Come on!" she interrupted with an impatient tug.

She all but dragged him into the hallway, but he didn't actually start to resist until she tried to lead him into one of the empty conference rooms.

"Usako, this isn't a good idea," he said. "I'm trying to make a good impression on your father, and our disappearance into a dark, empty room isn't going to help."

"Trust me, Mamo-chan," she grunted, trying and failing to push his heavier body across the threshold. "It will. Now get inside!"

With one last, forceful push, Mamoru was finally in the room, and Usagi quickly looked around the empty hallway before hopping in herself and slamming the door shut behind her.

"OK, Usako," Mamoru asked, his hand to his forehead. "What's going on?"

"Mamo-chan…" Her fingers curled into the labels of his suit jacket, her gaze pleading. "We need you to play Santa."

His facial features slackened as his usually very quick mind struggled to process her words. "I'm sorry, you what?"

"Please, Mamo-chan! The real Santa was supposed to be here 20 minutes ago but never showed! The organizers tried to call him, but he didn't answer, so they called the agency instead but were told he went to the hospital because of some kind of medical emergency!"

Panic set in.

Sure, most of the time he was leaning against that wall was spent wishing he could do more, but this? "But why me? Surely there is someone else, someone older, who could do it?"

Usagi shook her head. "No! Everyone else has to either work the event, is here specifically to chaperone the kids, or is one of the bigwigs who has to be in the photographs! There's no one else!"

A hand lifted to the back of his neck. "What about your dad?"

Usagi shot Mamoru an incredulous look and stemmed her hands on her hips. "Who do you think will be taking the pictures?"

"You're right, sorry," he sighed. "Are you sure there isn't anyone else? I'm just not comfortable-"

"Mamo-chan," she deadpanned, "you once entered a battle riding a float pulled by inflatable reindeer while dressed as Santa. What, you can dress up as Santa for Snow Dancers but can't do it to bring presents and Christmas joy to children?"

His entire face turned bright red. "Usa," he glowered.

"Please!" she begged. "When I told Papa I'd ask you, he looked so relieved. It would really mean a lot to him-" her hands returned to his chest, one wrapping itself into his tie while the other slid beneath his jacket as she pressed herself closer, her volume lowering, "-and to me."

It wasn't fair when she did that, and she knew it. She knew he struggled to say no to her on a good day, but when she overwhelmed his senses with the warmth of her body, her scent, or the softness of her hair, it was impossible.

It was because of this very thing he instigated a rule stating she wasn't allowed to ask for important things when naked or in his bed.

Yet, he relented anyway, just as he knew he would. At his resigned sigh, Usagi squealed in delight before yanking him down to her by his tie, and he all but fell against her mouth. Making the most of the privacy afforded by this room, one hand lifted to her cheek to finally caress that beautiful blush as he deepened their kiss, relishing in her soft moans and sighs as his other hand moved to the small of her back, fanning out over the soft fabric of her dress to guide her even closer.

After managing the buttons on his jacket, her free hand raked across his toned stomach over the shirt, traveling to his back to grasp at the fabric.

Usagi may still be clumsy, but her fingers were incredibly deft.

"Thank you, Mamo-chan," she whispered when their kiss eventually ended, though tugged him back down for one last quick, chaste kiss before finally stepping out of his embrace and readjusting her dress.

"So," he began, his smile lopsided from his fluttering heart, "where's the suit?"

But it dropped into a frown when Usagi's smile turned mischievous. "Oh, there isn't one. The original Santa was supposed to arrive wearing a suit."

Mamoru blinked a couple times as the lovestruck fog cleared from his brain. "If there's no suit, then how-"

"Ta-da!" Usagi flashed her disguise pen, her eyes twinkling with delight.

"Oh no." Mamoru stepped back and waved his hands. "I'm not using magic in front of your father and all those people. How would we even explain it?"

"If anyone asks, I'll make something up," Usagi grinned. Pushing the pen into Mamoru's hand, she closed his fingers around it and lifted both their hands as high into the air as she could reach. "Now, repeat after me…"

o0o0o

Kenji was positively overjoyed when Usagi dragged a now Santa-clad Mamoru to the group of organizers still scrambling for solutions. Fortunately, they were all so relieved, no one thought to ask where the two found a suit on such short notice.

But most importantly, the children went crazy when he arrived in the ballroom with all the grandeur and flair he normally reserved for Tuxedo Kamen.

Usagi was an amazing elf to his Santa, whispering each child's name as they came up (because of course she already had them all committed to memory) so he could personally greet each one. Their gasps and giggles of delight, heightened by the sense of magical wonder Santa brings, made him wonder why he even hesitated to do this in the first place.

Mamoru was further encouraged by that persistent twinkle in Usagi's eyes and the discreet fall of her hand to his back when she took her place beside him after escorting each child.

Afterwards, after Santa departed for the North Pole, the magical suit was dispelled, and Usagi tugged him down by his tie for another deep kiss or three (making their return to the party far later than what was considered proper), Kenji gave Mamoru's hand a vigorous shake before enveloping him into a hug.

Mamoru's stunned eyes swept over to Usagi, who beamed her brightest smile at the display. Ikuko dabbed at her eyes with a tissue before wrapping an arm around Usagi and giving her shoulder a squeeze.

Released by her father only when he was called away, Mamoru finally rejoined Usagi, and her hand immediately found its way into his.

"Usagi, why don't you and Mamoru-kun head out," her mother said. "Just be sure to be home tomorrow in time for dinner, OK? Both of you," she added with a lift of her eyes to Mamoru.

"But what about Papa?" Usagi's gaze slid to her father.

"Oh, don't worry about him." Ikuko said, smiling. "After what Mamoru-kun did for everyone today, I don't think he'll be giving either of you a hard time for quite awhile."

She gave Usagi a short hug before addressing Mamoru. "See you two tomorrow?"

Mamoru barely managed to finish his nod before Usagi was pulling his hand towards the exit and calling out a loud, "Bye, Mama!"

Ikuko's laugh followed them out the door.

o0o0o

The moment they were out of sight, Usagi tugged Mamoru down for another kiss by his tie. His hands were in her hair immediately and he pushed her up against the wall, spurred on by the adrenaline from his Santa performance and the possessive clutch of her hands.

"Mamo-chan," she gasped, tangling her hands into his hair when his lips sucked on the pulse point of her neck after trailing a warm path of opened-mouthed kisses from her lips.

That needy whisper of his name had him rushing over to Coat Check for their coats.

In record time, he had her in her coat, out the door, and into the nearest alley, where he gave her one last deep, lingering kiss before transforming into Tuxedo Kamen and sweeping her into his arms to fly across the rooftops to his apartment.

And when he finally landed on his balcony, after enduring her suggestive whispers and straying hands on the run over, he devoured her mouth, his tongue pushing inside and sliding against hers the instant she granted him access. Sliding open the door was a struggle, eliciting a giggle from Usagi when he shifted her weight and pressed her into the building to free his hand, but his lips didn't leave her body until after he lowered her onto his bed and began peeling off her clothes as if he was unwrapping her like the gift she was.

"Hmmm," she hummed later, nuzzling her face against his bare chest and curling her body around his taller form.

His hand fell to her back, his fingers brushing against her skin and through the silky soft strands of her loose hair.

"You were wonderful today, Mamo-chan," Usagi murmured against his chest.

"Not as much as you," he replied, smiling. "Those kids adored you."

"Come on," she protested with an affectionate roll of her eyes, "they loved you too. They kept getting their toys stuck on purpose just so you'd come get them. Besides, I'll never be able to top Santa. Did you see their faces? There was magic in that room tonight, Mamo-chan, and it wasn't your suit."

Just as he was humming in agreement, that little girl's unbidden voice echoed within his mind.

Onee-chan, are you going to marry him?

His hand twitched against her back, but Usagi just sighed and nuzzled even closer.

Onee-chan, are you going to marry him?

That tug, the yearning of his soul was back, growing stronger and harder to resist. If he had been able to finish his proposal that day, while they still wouldn't yet be married now, Usagi would know…

Onee-chan, are you going to marry him?

As far as Mamoru was concerned, he and Usagi spent the past year of their relationship on two very different wavelengths. Yes, he hasn't brought up the topic of marriage in that time, but neither has she. Marriage was something he wanted more than anything else in this world, but did-

I am…

"Usako?"

"Hmmm?" Almost asleep, she instinctively shifted towards the sound of his voice.

"Marry me."

Despite startling awake, Usagi's rise to face him was agonizingly slow. "Mamo-chan?" Her wary blue eyes searched his, flitting back and forth between the two.

That wariness punched him right in the gut.

"Usa." Less confident than a second ago, his fingers were at her face and tangling into her hair as the regret from his impulsiveness started seeping in. "Will you marry me?"

"Are you asking because…" She bit her lip as uncertainty came to the forefront of her swirling emotions. "... of Mari-chan's question? Because if you are-"

Mamoru vehemently shook his head. "No! I should have asked when I left for Harvard the second time, or any of those other times I left after a trip home."

Then he frowned and shook his head again. "What am I saying? I should have asked before I left the first time, or during any of the other days I've been home since, not waiting until the actual day I leave…" Voice breaking, he closed his eyes and lowered his head in shame. "Not again," he whispered to himself.

"Again?"

Her voice was a ghost of a whisper, scarcely audible, and when his eyes flew back open, Mamoru found hers lost and far, far away, shimmering with unfallen tears.

"Mamo-chan…" Those lost eyes washed over his nervous pallor before falling to the ring on her now trembling left hand. "Are you saying…That day in the airport, when Galaxia…" Horror crept onto her face as the realization set in. "You were… then this ring was supposed to be…" Heavy tears slipped down her cheeks. "Oh no… no, no…"

Hands flying to her temples, Usagi's eyes clamped shut over the rush of her tears.

Now distraught, but also filled to the brim with regret and self-loathing for his carelessness, Mamoru tried to comfort her, but she shrugged him off, her cries turning into sobs.

"I can't!" she cried, her voice cracking. "If I do, that will keep happening, and I can't… I can't keep watching you and everyone else I love die! I can't!"

"Usako…" he murmured, frowning.

"I'm so sorry, Mamo-chan." Wiping away this many tears was futile, but she couldn't stop. Her hands were the only barrier between her and Mamoru and his heartbreak. "You weren't there! I saw my future at Sagittarius Zero-Star, and it was nothing but loneliness, war, and death."

"What do you mean?" Mamoru's hands fell to her shoulders, squeezing a little too tight and shaking a little too hard as the turmoil roiling his insides threatened to rip him apart from the inside out. "Usa, what are you saying?"

"Chaos will return," she whispered, her eyes harrowed and dark, "and when it does, wars will become endless, and I will be the only one left to fight after everyone else is gone."

"Why?" he whispered. "Why you?"

Her humorless smile made his blood run cold. "Because I'm the Messiah."

"How long?" His panicked voice sounded so far away from his own ears. "How long do we have?"

Usagi shrugged. "I don't know. Centuries. Tomorrow. But before Chaos returns, there will probably be someone or something else coming after me and the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou. So you see, Mamo-chan?" Framing his head with her hands, she stared those harrowed eyes into his. "Binding you to me will only bring you more suffering and death."

"Why haven't you talked to me about this before now? Why wait until I asked you to marry me?" he asked, his voice cracking. "Earlier, when that little girl asked if you were going to marry me, did you…" He failed to swallow down the lump in his throat. "Was that a lie?"

Usagi sat back on her heels and looked away.

"No," she admitted. "Mamo-chan, I want to marry you. I want to be the family you lost. I want to wake up next to you every morning and fall asleep in your arms every night. When Mari-chan asked, I was so swept up in the magic of the day, I allowed myself to indulge in the fantasy that is my most selfish wish."

"Fantasy?" he whimpered.

She lifted a finger to wipe away another tear, but Mamoru brushed it away first with the pad of his trembling thumb, and her eyes finally returned to his. The amount of anguish he found deep inside sent his heart crashing into his stomach.

"I love you more than anything else in this world, but I can't do this to you. Not again. Why do you think I begged you to give Harvard another try? You've already given up and sacrificed so much to be with me, I can't allow you to give up anything more, especially not when it is something I can actually control."

For the second time that day, Usagi pressed something into his hand and closed his fingers around it.

"Do you know what it's like to feel the last of your kind die off? To be the last of something in existence?" she whispered, her eyes haunted. "I do. In her quest to find the strongest Sailor Crystal, Galaxia killed every other Sailor Senshi in the Milky Way Galaxy to steal theirs, and she destroyed so many of their planets. That's why she came here, to challenge me. She only killed you all to make me angry, to fully awaken my power."

Mamoru whispered her name, but her mind was too far away to hear.

"In the end, I was alone." A single tear burned its way down her cheek. "That pull we have to each other, right here?" She pressed a hand to the center of her chest, where the power of a Sailor Crystal dwells. "It was gone. You were gone. The girls were gone. Every other sailor senshi who protected this galaxy was gone, all melted into the Cauldron…"

Her long hair draped over her naked body when Usagi hugged herself, her body swaying ever so slightly on her knees. "I should have let you go after we returned home instead of stringing you along, but I couldn't handle being on my own, not after what happened. I'm so sorry I was too selfish to do this sooner."

Burning eyes fell to her ring she pressed into his palm, and Mamoru's broken heart experienced an influx of conflicting emotions - disgust at the ring for reminding him of his death, gut wrenching pain from Usagi's dismissal and her words, rage at the universe for once again telling him he wasn't allowed to be with the woman he loved.

He chose rage.
Rage was safer.

"No."

Usagi frowned. "Mamo-ch-"

"Do you really think breaking up with me will stop me from protecting you? From throwing myself in front of an attack if it's the only way to guarantee your safety?"

"Didn't you hear a word I said?" she screamed. "I don't want you to do that! I'm releasing you so you can live your life, so you can be safe!"

"That isn't how this works!" he yelled back. "I am a soldier! Maybe not in this life, but those instincts run deep. When I become a doctor, I will heal as many people as I can, but when war comes calling, I will answer it, regardless if that call comes tomorrow, or centuries from now!"

Mamoru joined Usagi on the edge of the bed and placed a finger under her chin to force her gaze back to his face. "The Fates have been trying to tear us apart since the Silver Millennium, but you and I always fought against them together, and we always came back stronger for it," he whispered. "After everything you and I have suffered, we finally have a chance at the future Serenity and Endymion could only dream about, and you just want to throw it all away? Usa, if another war comes, we'll face it together. Please," he begged, "please don't give up on us or our future."

When her only response was the fall of her tears, Mamoru frowned against the burn in his throat and placed his hands against her face. "Oh, Usako," he whispered sadly.

A single tear slipped down his cheek as closed his eyes and lowered his forehead to hers.

I won't give up! Time and time again, my friends have taught me at the end of the battle is hope for the future. I will build that future with all of them in it, so please, Eternal Sailor Moon pleaded a small sailor senshi whose red hair was pulled up into twin heart-shaped buns, the two feathered wings on her back fluttering to keep her feet hovering just above the ground, don't you give up either! Don't lose your hope! For as long as stars keep on shining, we will be OK! We won't ever lose!

"Usa," Mamoru gasped, "what…"

In his vision, triggered the moment his forehead touched hers, he saw Usagi as Eternal Sailor Moon kneeling before a small senshi on the edge of a giant precipice, surrounded by hundreds of thousands of glittering stars. Something from below cast up a brilliant white light, a light full of potential, full of life.

The only time he's ever seen this light was after he awoke with Usagi and her senshi within the Galaxy Cauldron at the end of everything, after she had already saved them all.

His eyes widened.

That means, the vision was-

Usagi's hands on his face brought him back to the present, from Sagittarius Zero-Star back to her.

But she was smiling, her mouth pulled up into the exact same smile she offered the little senshi in the heart of the galaxy, a smile full of undying hope and love.

"Forgive me, Mamo-chan," she said, caressing his cheek, "I understand now how she lost her courage and her hope. Being reminded of that nightmare night after night, sending you away when I needed you most…" Turning towards the window, her eyes found the moon hanging low in the sky. "If she can return to her future," Usagi whispered to herself, "then I can face mine."

"'She'?"

Her shining eyes returned to his. "My future self."

"Usa, I don't…" His brow furrowed. "I don't understand."

"Chaos will return one day," she continued, her arms wrapping around Mamoru's neck as she settled into his lap. Her ring clattered to the floor when his fingers dug into her hips to keep her close. "Mamo-chan, when it does, will you help me protect this planet?"

Her head fell back when his lips brushed the junction of her neck and shoulder. "You know I will," he whispered against her skin.

"Even if it means giving up everything?" she gasped, arching into him when his hands kneaded her bottom and his mouth sucked a bruise into her neck, marking her.

His fingertips glided up her body, eliciting goosebumps in their wake, until his hands were back on her face. "Usako, if there is one thing you should never, ever doubt, it is the extent of my devotion to you. I will gladly follow you into the bowels of hell if it means I can spend every single moment of the rest of my life with you."

"Mamo-chan," she sighed against his moan when she ground her hips into his, "ask me again."

"Usako." Her name came out as a prayer as his hands returned to her hips to steady her rhythm. "Marry me."

"I will," she moaned, her pleasure building from the slide of her hips and the press of his fingers, "Oh, god, Mamo-chan, I wi-"

Guiding her mouth to his, he tasted that "I will'' right off her lips and tongue, taking his time to savor the sweetness of her words before turning her back onto his mattress. He made love to her slowly, his eyes drinking every flutter of her lashes, every pleasurable contortion of her face, each gasp and sigh.

If what she said will come to pass, then he had to make every single moment count, so when they do eventually find themselves up against the end of the world, he could look back on their time together without a single ounce of regret.

o0o0o

Basking in the afterglow with Usagi in his arms where she rightfully belonged, he was almost asleep when she suddenly bolted upright.

"Usako, what's wrong?" he asked, sitting up.

"My ring, Mamo-chan!" she exclaimed as she slid her palms over the sheets. "We dropped it!"

Grabbing her hands, he brought them to his lips one at a time to place a kiss against her knuckles. "Forget it," he said. "I'll buy you a new one; one that we pick out together."

A slow smile stretched across her face before she leaned over to give him a soft kiss. "OK," she whispered against his lips.

And she continued to kiss him, her kisses chaste but so, so sweet, until she was overcome with a fit of giggles and had to pull away.

Smiling, he ran his fingers through her hair. "What's so funny?"

"Mamo-chan," she laughed, "I only just now realized! We broke your naked rule."

"My what- oh," he chuckled, pulling her back down with him and settling her against his chest. "Then I'll just have to ask you to marry me again tomorrow."

Usagi's smile was bright. "You promise?"

He brushed a tender finger against her cheek. "I promise."

"OK."

But she was up again immediately. "Mamo-chan, how about you ask me again right now?"

His chuckle came from deep in his throat. "But we're still naked. The rule is still in effect."

"Please?" she begged, her eyes sparkling.

Mamoru sat up and cradled her face with his hands, taking a good long look into those sparkling blue eyes before lowering his head to claim her lips in a deep, heartfelt kiss.

A faint blush was painting her cheeks a pretty pink when he finally broke away, and he caressed it with his thumb.

"Marry me, Usa."

End Notes:
I know Usa never gave up/replaced the ring, but I think I would have trouble keeping it, considering all the trauma which surrounds it.
But, hey, Usagi will always be a stronger person than me.

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I am totes counting the Santa/Tuxedo Mask thing as Manga Canon because the movie in which that experience happens (because it is!) is based on the short story SM Naoko wrote entitled "Princess Kaguya's Lover." Yes, yes, he doesn't do the Santa thing in the manga version, but we'll just pretend.
Isn't that the point of fanfiction, after all?

Eternal Sailor Moon's words to Sailor Chibi Chibi in Mamoru's vision/Usagi's memory were mashed together by me after I reviewed the three different English translations at my disposal.

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This concludes my contributions to UsaMamo Week 2022 (unless I happen to get last minute inspiration like I did for Day 1
I didn't mean for Days 2 and 3 to hit so many similar themes, but here we are!

Thank you all so much for stopping by!
Please check out all the other amazing contributions!

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Shout out to A_Reptile_Dysfunction, Dinky Charlie (tumblr), and Silver_Fairy for hosting!