Standard CT Disclaimer: Don't own anyone in this particular chapter!
Author's Notes: Hey minna-chan! I haven't completely forgotten about Unexpected Destiny though ironically, several unexpected things did happen over the holidays. I'm still having difficulty adjusting to working full-time hours, and I don't want to bore you with all that stuff. Anyway, for those who were wondering about Heero/Usagi moments, I've written a bit of one this chapter, so it's something to look forward to! And before I forget, thank you EVERYONE for making Unexpected Destiny such a popular fic, and special thanks to all my wonderful, amazing, awesome reviewers up there! *Chibi Tenshi sucks up to get more reviews LOL* I do have some requests to make of my readers but I'll do that at the bottom of the fic! Again, italics indicate thoughts… and without further delay, Chapter 12!
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Chapter 12
Heero lay on his bed with his arms tucked behind his head, staring blankly at the ceiling above him. It was strange how quickly he became accustomed to Usagi's presence in his life. Now, it seemed so lonely, so empty. He had spent the past little while honing his skills as a fighter. The energy still bubbled in him, though for some odd reason, it wasn't as reactive as it was before. Unlike when Usagi was around. He let out a gasp as he sat up quickly. Could that be it? When we are together, by each other's side, could our powers be stronger somehow? Shaking his head and snorting derisively, he got up and began wandering restlessly around his bedroom. God, I miss her so much. I wish she were here with me right now.
"Your wish is my command," Usagi whispered softly, suddenly appearing behind him.
Startled, Heero fell backwards, landing rather painfully on his rear. She giggled at the sight, though her eyes were soft with love.
"You remind me of who I used to be, an odango atama, who didn't have the slightest balance or grace."
"And look at you now, my tenshi…"
Usagi blushed, turning away from him. He stood up quickly and made his way over to her. Putting his hand on her shoulder, he gently turned her around to face him. With his other hand, he tilted her face upwards so he could look into the blue eyes he loved to look at so much. Her eyes were like windows to her soul, so pure, so warm and so full of life. In a move that astounded her (AN: And us too!), he began waltzing with her to a silent melody heard so long ago. Ignoring her soft gasp, he tightened his grip around her tiny waist, and allowed himself to enjoy the feel of her skin underneath his fingertips. He noted with a sudden start that her hair was now an ethereal shade of silvery white.
"When did your hair change?"
She laughed gently, and as always her laughter always sounded like the tinkling of little bells to his ears, spreading delight through him. A part of him still resisted the meltdown of his heart, but the stronger part of him urged him on.
"When I disappeared, I ended up in this void, and poof! My hair was simply this colour." She stumbled, bringing them both to a halt. "I met my father there. And my half brother too." Her eyes darkened wistfully, a hint of sadness in them. Heero felt his heart wrench at the sight. "Everything I've ever known… nothing is as it seems any more. I remembered, Heero, when I disappeared. Including our past together." A small loving smile curved her lips. "I remembered how happy we were when we could somehow spend time together, when no one was trying to keep us apart. I remembered how happy you made me." Her voice faltered as she took a step backwards, the pain in her eyes was unbearable at the moment. "My… my mother lied to me, Heero. She misled me, gave me false memories, and kept us apart. She deliberately gave me false memories so I would be tied up with Mamoru. The whole entire time, I thought I was going crazy. I mean, everything I knew up to that point told me that Mamoru and I were destined to be together. We were going to rule Crystal Tokyo for God's sake. We even … we even were supposed to have a daughter together. Chibi-Usa… what will happen to her?" Usagi whispered as tears welled up in her eyes.
Heero looked on at the woman he loved, wishing that he could do anything to erase her pain. He moved forward, and enveloped her in his arms. Her head was cradled against his chest, his chin propped on top of her head, murmuring comforting sounds to her.
"All I ever wanted in life was to be a normal girl, and now…" She laughed cynically. "Now I find out that my past life wasn't even what I had been told." Loud, harsh sobs emerged from her throat. "When will it end? When will this end? I only wanted a simple life and I can't even get that." She whimpered with heart-wrenching cries that ripped through his soul. He simply held her, offering her comfort, silently wishing that he had the answers to what she wanted to hear. Eventually, her sobs began to subside and he began speaking.
"I honestly don't know what to tell you, Usagi but all I know is that after this, we need a vacation. Badly."
A giggled escaped from her, and she raised her head up to give him a teary smile.
"It's… it's funny that you should say that," she hiccuped. "I was thinking the same thing when I was in my father's dimension."
Suddenly, something about him caught her eye. Pulling back, she quickly wiped back the remainder of her tears. Still sniffling slightly, her blue eyes narrowed to assess his ki.
"You're different. What happened to you?" She asked suspiciously.
"I … uhh… you never knew this but I was an orphan. I just found out today that Ares is my father."
"As in the god of War?" She screeched in astonishment. Catching herself, she burst into laughter.
"Oh gomen nasai, Heero." She tried to stifle her giggles but was somewhat unsuccessful. "I don't mean to laugh here. You'd think I of all people would understand." Then, she stopped herself and stared at him in wonderment. "You're the son of the god of War," she whispered to herself. The missing pieces of the puzzle fell into place. "That's why the other gods took me to our hill top. They were jealous of you, that a demi-god could possess such skill and power. They were frightened," she exclaimed with startling insight. "So they used me… to get to you." She placed her hands over her mouth in realisation. "I… it was all my fault you died!" Her voice ended with a shriek. Her strickened expression tore at him.
"IIE!" He almost screamed out, the emotions running through him so strongly that he couldn't control himself. He grasped her shoulders, as crystalline tears trickled down her cheeks. He could see the guilt and the blame she heaped upon her shoulders. For one so young, she bore a burden that would've caused most people to collapse under its weight. As he got a hold of himself, he began speaking more softly. "Usagi, you are not to blame for what the others did. You weren't the one who killed me."
"But, if I hadn't allowed myself to get captured…"
"Listen for a moment. If the situation had been reversed, would you have risked your life to save mine?"
"Yes," she replied without a moment's hesitation.
"That's how I felt like. I received the message. You were waiting for me up on our hill top. You had found out some upsetting news involving Prince Endymion, or so the note said. I was scared out of my wits. I thought that maybe he would've tried to move up the wedding date, or taken you away from me before we had had a chance to elope. I ran up to our gazebo, and when I saw you… you were just lying there. You looked dead, Usagi… you looked so lifeless. I felt as if I would die at that moment, when suddenly, my wish came true. Someone, probably one of the gods who took you captive, stabbed me from behind."
"And when I woke up, you were almost dead…" Usagi whispered, the memories filling her with agony. "I held you in my arms… oh kami-sama, there was so much blood. Blood everywhere." She stared down blankly, almost as if she still could envision the dark, thick liquid that was Heero's blood staining her hands.
********************* FLASHBACK *********************
"I'm sorry, tenshi. I know I promised you forever afters, but now…" Heero coughed, as he felt himself getting weaker.
Princess Serenity felt like the tears would not stop rolling down her face. She held on to him, looking at his beloved face. "Oh God, oh God… I love you so much Heero. Don't leave me, please…" She begged, pain lacing each and every word.
"We'll be together again somehow. That's one promise I intend to keep."
The cry that emerged from her soul was one that would haunt Selenity forever.
Her mother had shown up not too long after, watching her daughter cradle Heero's now lifeless body in her arms. She was inconsolable. With an angry glare, she silently damned them all for causing Serenity all this anguish.
"You have what you came for. I hope you're happy now. My daughter can now be spared. Without him, the prophecy can never come true."
The other gods nodded as Selenity took her broken-hearted daughter away.
********************* END FLASHBACK *********************
Both Heero and Usagi gasped in simultaneous realisation.
"The prophecy?!"
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The Inner Senshi looked at each other strangely, not quite knowing what to say. Like Ami, they had no memories of what had occurred the past two days. Each girl longed to ask the others if they saw what she had seen. Rei looked over to an empty spot and sighed in exasperation.
"Is Usagi going to be late for this meeting?" She asked wearily.
"I was the one who called the meeting," Ami began. "Usagi will not be attending because she no longer exists in our timeline." Ignoring the gasps that came from the other senshi, she continued. "I woke up earlier today with no memories, and the only thing I saw was the blood on my hands." Startled eyes flew towards Ami as they silently confirmed her suspicions. "It's as I thought. None of us can remember what happened. But… I ran a test on the blood." Her blue eyes clouded over with pain. "It was Usagi's."
The girls jumped to their feet, disbelief clearly etched on their faces.
"Masaka!" Makoto exclaimed.
"How could it be?" Minako whispered.
The haunted look on Rei's face stopped them all. For all that Usagi and Rei bickered, their relationship had been a close one.
"I never got a chance to tell you any of this but just right before our memories blanked out, I had this strange feeling. I consulted the fires, and there is an ominous entity present. There are forces that we've never encountered before in our lives. It's something I've never felt before in my life. I was going to wait till our next meeting to tell you all, but… and now, Usagi…" Her deep purple eyes shone brightly with tears.
Ami held up her hand, causing the Senshi to look at her.
"The best thing for us to do at the moment is not to jump to any conclusions. I will tell you what I found out. I went over to the Tsukino residence earlier today and found out that nobody remembers who she is, or Chibi Usa is for that matter. They both appeared to have simply vanished. For her parents and brother not to recall her identity, it is safe to say that Usagi's disappearance is voluntary." For once, the girls had no difficulty following Ami's speech. "The only thing I can't figure out is why," she finished softly.
Silence greeted the room as countless memories flooded through their minds. Usagi was truly the one who kept them together. Her patience, her silliness that always made them laugh, her kind-hearted nature… Ami thought of how she used to be submerged in her books. It was Usagi who taught her a life outside of school, and taught her how to live. Makoto never really had a friend until Usagi came along and showed others that there was more to her than the bully they saw. Minako, the weary burden of being Sailor V always rested on her shoulders until Usagi became Sailor Moon. She lost sight of how the responsibility of being leader had fallen on Usagi somehow. Whenever something went wrong, she always jumped in on the bandwagon, heaping the blame on Usagi. And she always took it… Minako thought sadly. Rei missed her friend so much. It was true that they always fought like cats and dogs, though behind it all lay a strong friendship. She knew that Usagi would never take anything she said to heart. But now, in hindsight, she thought about how cruel and thoughtless some of her comments were.
Usagi… they all thought simultaneously.
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Usagi's head reeled back suddenly, causing Heero to look at her with concern. They had just realised that there was still much about their past that they did not know when she had let a loud gasp. It was getting late at night. Maybe I'm just tired, she thought as she closed her eyes wearily. Senshi…
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Through multiple dimensions, a bond was formed. A silver light bathed the four Senshi sitting at Rei's temple and in a flash, they disappeared.
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AN: I honestly thought about ending it here, but hey, since you all have been so patient… a little more to keep you going!
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A light beamed forth suddenly, though with none of the intensity that Heero and Usagi were used to seeing.
"Oh for the love of God…" They groaned in exasperation.
To their utter astonishment, four girls appeared, looking just as shocked as they were. Usagi stared with her mouth open as she understood what had happened earlier. She had heard the Senshi thinking of her and somehow, she had been able to drag them to this time. She would've laughed if she had realised that the girls' expression were identical to hers.
"Usagi?" Ami called out hesitantly, the first to get back her voice. She could not take her eyes off Usagi. She looked so different now. She radiated confidence, and something else she could not quite put her finger on. Her hair… Kami-sama, what had happened to her hair? And who was that strange man beside her??
Usagi nodded in her direction almost imperiously. The man moved forward and stood protectively in front of her. His deep blue eyes shone a fire that promised dire retribution if they should even think about harming her. Usagi gently touched his arm, and his face seemed to soften.
"They are from my world, Heero. Their ki appears harmless for the moment. If they should try anything this time, I think I'm more than ready to take care of them."
Four pairs of eyes widened, looking at her in dismay.
"What do you mean try anything this time?" Makoto asked, trying to adjust herself to this new Usagi who stood in front of her. In fact, all the girls were having difficulty placing the klutzy, crybaby friend who was their leader to the confident woman who looked at them so coldly.
"You mean you don't remember, my friends?" She sneered, the expression so at odds to her normally sunny and cheerful disposition.
"I swear to you we don't remember a thing," Minako whispered.
Usagi appeared to give the remark great consideration. Her eyes flashing with pain, she snarled out, "Was that before you told me what a worthless person I was, or after you had attacked me, leaving me to die?" Heero's expression became ominous and his battle aura shone with a cold fire.
"Nani?!" They screamed.
"We couldn't have… we couldn't have…" Ami repeated, unable to believe what she just heard.
"Oh God, oh God, oh God…" Minako kept chanting, as Makoto was stunned into silence.
"I swear to you, we don't know what happened the past two days… I… wait! I remember… I remember now… we were fighting a youma in the park. It was beating us pretty badly. We paged you repeatedly, Usagi but you never came. We somehow managed to beat it, but we were hurt pretty badly." Rei whispered, as she began to remember. "I remember feeling really angry that you never showed up, and then all of a sudden, it was as if the rage became unbearable. The more we thought about it, the more the flame was fed."
"And then you heard me…" Usagi whispered.
"Something in me burst when I saw you. It was like this giant explosion in me," Ami's eyes had a faraway look, lost in her memories. "I just had to get revenge. I wanted to hurt you. Then suddenly, words weren't enough. I wanted to make you feel the pain I felt when that youma hurt me, hurt all of us. You weren't there, and we got hurt and… oh Kami-sama, what have we done?" She cried out brokenly.
Usagi's eyes widened in sudden realisation. "The mist… it was there when I arrived. I remembered thinking it was weird but I was going through too much at the time to really think straight…"
Without warning, the door burst open. Heero cursed silently as he made a mental note to install a steel door as he heard his door splinter.
"We know they're in there!!" Haruka yelled out.
"Baka onna! Let me through!"
Usagi giggled. "I was going to give them another half hour, but I guess Haruka's pretty efficient like that."
Heero merely lifted a brow before muttering, "And look who else is leading the charge?"
The scene that ensued was so funny that even the Inner senshi, who should've been fearing for their lives with an angry Haruka after them, laughed heartily. The group, in their haste to get to Usagi, entered the bedroom simultaneously. What resulted was a traffic jam, if you will, right at the doorway. Usagi giggled, unable to help herself as Heero rolled his eyes.
"Take your hands off me, you weak onna!"
"You damned loser! I'll kick your…Oh, right, Hota-chan." Haruka said sheepishly as Michiru glared at her.
"Hey!! Who's touching my…" Duo yelled out, as he elbowed Quatre in the stomach in his haste to get away. There was a tangled mess, as Hotaru crawled through.
She got to her feet, and stared at them, head tilted to one side. She giggled, a sound so full of joy that her "parents" (and everyone really) stared at her in shock. A Hotaru making weird and cryptic remarks was one they were used to. A Hotaru acting as a child was a whole other story altogether. Then, she slowly walked up to the Inner Senshi.
"It wasn't your fault," she said simply.
Haruka sent a death glare towards the four girls before reverting her gaze back to Hotaru. "What do you mean? For all the pain that they and Mamoru have caused Usagi, they must pay." She threatened.
Usagi held her hand up. To the Gundam pilots' surprise, Haruka immediately fell silent.
"She is the princess, I suppose. They have to obey her." Quatre mumbled absently.
"Wow, imagine having all that power, I would just make girls around me… " An evil grin crossed Duo's face.
Hotaru turned around and looked at him strangely. "I am still a child, you know." Duo blushed as everyone burst into laughter. When the laughter had finally subsided, Usagi began speaking again.
"There is so much to tell all of you. The evil force is very smart. It knew that the best way to get to me is to separate me from the rest of the Senshi. But it hadn't counted on the ginzuishou interfering… or destiny." Her eyes held Heero's lovingly. The group immediately grew silent as Usagi began telling the tale of what truly happened a thousand years ago, and the developments within the past 48 hours. They were all in shock, the Inner Senshi more so than the others were.
"You mean… you have different powers now?" Minako asked. Usagi laughed at the note of incredulity in her voice.
"Hai, Mina-chan. Ask Wufei-baka. He'll confirm it."
The pilots laughed as they remembered Wufei's reaction to Usagi's powers first emerging.
"The blood of the Lunarian and the Saiyajin integrating, creating a new power never before seen. Queen Serenity's false memories must have somehow prevented that from coming out when you were reborn." Ami theorized.
Usagi smiled fondly at her friend. "Ami, as usual, your intelligence astounds me."
"But what of this prophecy?" Haruka asked suddenly.
"Usagi and Heero's aura seem to shine more brightly when they're around each other." Michiru observed. "It could have something to do with that."
Eyes flew around to look at Hotaru expectantly.
"What? I don't have all the answers you know," she remarked somewhat indignantly.
"Surely you can tell us what you think at least," Heero prompted.
"The gods were terribly insecure creatures, and the only thing they truly feared was their ending. The prophecy must have told them that Usagi and Heero would be the ones to cause their downfall."
Gasps escaped everyone's mouth. They just stared at the child in shock before looking at her parents. Michiru and Haruka merely shrugged.
"Don't look at us. We just raise her," Michiru said wryly.
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Well minna-chan? What did you think of the new developments? *grins* Like I said, don't believe everything you read. I wasn't planning on writing the usual Senshi betrayal of Usagi and when I first had the villain in mind, I already determined that it was going to cause the Senshi to attack her. Bit of an unusual chapter, and *laughs* I don't know why, but I just find I use Haruka and gang as comic relief almost. Something about their interactions that strike me as funny, and I thought I'd share. And yeah, if you're wondering why Heero is a bit out of character, I figured that 11 chapters was long enough for him to get used to the idea of being in love, and falling OUT of character ;)
Also, I NEED your help readers! I need a suitable conclusion to the fic. As we speak, I'm working on the ending and I'm almost done my battle scene. Warning: It will *stink* since battle scenes are never my fortes. So any ideas, suggestions, please please please do not hesitate to contact me at chibi_tenshi24@yahoo.com ! Like I said, working 9-5 every day is really draining and I'm still getting used to it. I'm trying to have some semblance of a personal life this semester too, plus my second job will kick in soon! Believe me when I say I'm *super* tired, and when I'm tired, creative ideas and writings are TOUGH to come by. I would greatly appreciate any help I can get, and of course, I will always credit ideas where they come from!
Again, don't forget, reviews are what keeps us fan fic authors going! I apologize for not getting this chapter up earlier, but it's been a tough week! I'll try and get the next chapter out by next weekend but no promises! And just to let you know, the conclusion is probably about 2 chapters (or so) away! So things are going to be happening pretty quickly. Keep your eyes open and fingers crossed for me! Ja ne!