In a parallel universe, Pyrope sat around with her 4 sisters, absolutely bored out of her mind.

"Come on," she whined, "We need to do something. It's been forever since we've had a good fight and I'm getting antsy."

"Oh, don't worry your pretty head about it," Serpentine said, flipping her dark sea green hair over on shoulder.

"Yeah Pyrope, our time for action will come," Rubellite said.

"But," Axinite, the leader, said, "I think the time has come to face those annoying Sailor Scouts and defeat them once and for all."

"What do you suggest, Axinite?" Lazulite said, her eyes shining with curiosity. Axinite only chuckled evilly as a plan began forming in her head.

***
Two days later, on a Sunday, Mina was walking through the park by herself, dragging her feet on the ground before her. Andrew had left to go back to Tokyo that morning, leaving Mina by herself, and Cye wasn't talking to her. She had called him earlier that day and he was rude to her on the phone before promptly hanging up on her.

Mina frowned. She just didn't get it. Why was Cye ignoring her? Was it something she did? Mina really needed to know. The guy she was in love with was ignoring her and it hurt more than anything. She picked up her head to look in front of her and, wonder of all wonders, she saw Cye sitting on a park bench with an absolutely miserable look on his face.

As much as she wanted to go over to him, she hesitated, examining him closely before making her move. He looks...depressed. Like he's lost everything. I wonder what's wrong with him? Did someone close to him die or something? Mina thought as she looked at him. Gathering up her courage, she slowly made her way over to him. She stopped by the park bench and just continued to stare at him before announcing herself.

"Hey Cye," she said softly, catching his attention. Cye jumped in surprise before looking up at Mina. The moment he did so, Mina knew he had been crying.

"What's wrong Cye? Talk to me. I thought we were friends."

"There's nothing wrong with me," Cye said bitterly as he stood up and began walking away from Mina.

Mina had had enough. First he hung up on her over the phone and now he blew her off. Well, Mina Aino wasn't going to take it anymore.

"Stop Cye. Why are you ignoring me? What did I do to you? Just tell me! I thought we were getting somewhere in our relationship, to a point where you could trust me with anything. What have I done to hurt that?" Cye turned around and glared at her.

Mina took a few steps back, scared of the disappointed look in his eyes. He looked really troubled about something.

"Why don't you go off with your little boyfriend and leave me alone. I don't want to talk about it with you."

"Boyfriend?" Mina asked.

"Yeah, you know, the guy I saw you with on Friday." Mina's eyes widened in understanding and realization.

"Oh, Cye, you don't understand..." Mina said in a voice no higher than a whisper, looking away from him.

"What don't I understand?" Mina took a step towards Cye and was about to speak when a female voice called out to Mina.

"Well, well. I finally found you." Mina and Cye both turned to look at where the source of the noise came from and froze. In front them was Lazulite, grinning evilly and triumphantly.

"No," Mina whispered, backing away from the monster and the memories it brought back.

She remembered where she had seen that monster before. She battled it the day she got her memories of the Silver Millennium back. Cye, who had heard Mina whisper, turned towards Mina and said,

"Do you...do you know her?" Mina didn't answer; she only stared at Lazulite.

"It was hard tracking down your power source, but I finally found you. I recognize your power signature from when we fought all those months ago and you defeated me. Well, now it's your turn to get a taste of defeat!" Lazulite spat out as she shot out a beam of energy that hit Mina in the stomach, sending her flying back several feet.

Cye watched wordlessly as Lazulite hurt the girl he loved. He looked at the form of Mina, struggling to pull herself to her feet and he felt his anger rising; he knew what he had to do. Facing the monster, who was advancing Mina, he stepped in between Mina and Lazulite.

"You lay a finger on her and I'll tear you to pieces."

"And who do you think you are threatening me like that, boy?" Lazulite said in a mocking tone of voice.

Cye felt his blood boil in his veins as he made a final decision. He wasn't going to sit around and watch Mina get hurt. He was going to protect her, even if he couldn't have her. Deciding that he could trust Mina enough to guard his most precious secret, Cye pulled out his kanji ball and cried out, "ARMOR OF TORRENT!" Mina's eyes widened as she watched Cye transform into his sub-armor.

"No," she whispered to herself, but she wished Cye could hear. "Don't do it. You're only going to get yourself hurt."

But there was nothing she could do to stop him because before she could say anything, Cye had called out the words that would activate his armor.

"ARMOR OF TORRENT, DAO SHI!" With a bright flash of light, Cye appeared in his Torrent armor, his weapon in hand, ready to fight. Mina looked on with tears in her eyes as Cye and Lazulite began fighting and it was obvious that Cye wasn't getting anywhere.

"I don't know why you bother, boy," Lazulite said as she threw a bolt of power at Cye, knocking him off his feet and sending him to the ground.

Cye gasped for air as it was knocked out of him. He had landed on the ground on his back hard. He closed his eyes. He knew the end was coming. I'm so sorry...Mina.

"No one challenges the great Lazulite and lives!" She was about to move in for the final kill when Mina found her strength and stood up, crying out, "NO!" Both Lazulite and Cye turned to look at Mina, who was standing on her feet, albeit a little shakily.

Lifting her head to look at Lazulite, Mina said, "I won't let you hurt him anymore. You're battle isn't with him. It's with me. If you want a fight, you'll get it."

"Mina," Cye whispered, not believing the words out coming out of her mouth. Just how did she expect to fight? What happened next, Cye wasn't prepared for.

He saw Mina reach behind her back to pull out a small object, an object he recognized, but couldn't place where he had seen it before. He then saw her raise it above her head and call out, "VENUS STAR POWER!" The moment those words left her mouth, Cye was blessed with an epiphany. Suddenly, everything made sense. The coincidence that the Sailor Scouts and the 5 girls arrived in Toyama on the same day was no longer a coincidence: they were the same people.

Mina stared at Lazulite, who stared back. It was like they were trying to psych each other out. Wordlessly, Mina made her move.

"VENUS LOVE CHAIN ENCIRCLE!" As her attack made its way for Lazulite, the blue-skinned girl struck back with her own attack and the two attacks met head on, each one vying for dominance over the other. Each girl poured as much energy into their attacks and Cye watched in total amazement as the amount of power increased by the second.

Before Cye could intercede and help Mina out, a bright ball of orange colored light surrounded her, temporarily blinding both Lazulite and Cye. When the light faded, both Lazulite and Cye opened their eyes to see Mina standing in front of them, wearing her princess dress. Cye suddenly realized how stupid he had been to not see it earlier. Mina, Sailor Venus, and the girl he met on the night of the Winter Ball were all the same person. Why hadn't he seen it before?

Lazulite screamed in rage and launched another attack on Mina, which Mina counteracted with a blast of pure power. Now the two equaled each other and Cye decided that it was time to shift the balance. Stepping up so that he was standing besides Mina, he cried out, "SUPER WAVE SMASHER!" Mina, who was temporarily surprised to see Cye standing next to her, gave him a warm, grateful smile before turning back to face their enemy.

Lazulite only responded with an increase in her power, one that equaled the force Cye and Mina were sending at her. But, it was the maximum amount of power that she could send at the two and she knew it. But, it was still an overwhelming force for Cye and Mina. Mina was throwing as much power as she could at Lazulite, but Cye still hadn't reached his maximum. As the amount of power Cye threw at Lazulite grew, so did his rage at her.

Eventually, the amount of power he was using was too much for his Ronin Warrior form to handle. In a matter much the same as Mina's previous experience, a bright blue light surrounded Cye and when it faded, he stood in his uniform from the Silver Millennium. It resembled the outfit that Prince Darien wore during the Silver Millennium, but with a few changes.

Instead of a bright red lining in Cye's cape, it was a dark blue (AN: yes, I know that sounds like Rowen, but just wait until I get there) and when light shone on his chest armor at exactly the right point, the color of the armor was not black, but actually a dark blue as well. Mina glanced as Cye as she tried to focus her power on Lazulite.

The moment she looked at him, she suddenly remembered who it was she watched die in the Silver Millennium. It was Cye! Cye was her lover from the Silver Millennium. The shock nearly broke her concentration, but she managed to keep focused on Lazulite. I can't believe it. It's Cye. And he's alive! I didn't lose him forever after all! One last glance at Cye told her that he too was remembering what happened to him during the Silver Millennium.

The experience ended and Cye's eyes cleared and focused once more on the scene in front of him. He and Mina shared a knowing look, a million thoughts being passed with one gaze, before sending one last burst of power at Lazulite. The sudden power surge was too much for Lazulite to handle and she succumbed to the might of the combined power and with a final scream, she let the power tear her apart, too weak to resist it.

As the power disintegrated Lazulite, Mina and Cye shut off the flow of power coming from the two of them after they felt no resistance, the both of them exhausted from the battle. And then they stood there, staring at each other with wide eyes, not sure how to react around each other after the knowledge they both just received. They were both looking at each other with new eyes, like they were seeing each other for the first time.

They stood there motionless until Mina's eyes filled with tears and she launched herself at Cye, wrapping her arms around him as she started to cry. Cye was temporarily taken aback by the action, but he soon responded in kind, taking Mina into her arms and cradling her against his chest as she cried. He shut his eyes and rested his cheek against top of her head, a smile on his face. He had finally found what he was looking for in his life and he wasn't about to let her go.

"I thought I lost you. I thought I would never see you again," Mina said as she sobbed in relief, incredibly overjoyed to have her true love back.

"And I'm never leaving you again, Mina. I promise." Mina smiled as her tears began to subside. She felt so safe and warm inside Cye's arms, like she never wanted to leave.

Once Cye sensed that Mina had calmed down, he pulled away from her slightly to look her in the eyes.

"There's just one question that I have for you, Mina."

"What is it, Cye?" Mina asked, wanting to know what it was.

"Who was that guy that was with you on Friday?" Mina smiled and shook her head slightly, all the while looking up into Cye's eyes.

"Do you really want to know who that was?" she asked with a teasing tone of voice.

"Yeah, I do."

Mina smiled even broader and said, "That was Andrew. Serena and Darien had brought him down to surprise me. You saw me with my best guy friend." Cye was shocked.

"You mean he's not your boyfriend?" Cye asked. He was sure that that guy was her boyfriend. He thought that he had lost her.

"No! Of course he's not. I mean, yeah, sure, I had a crush on him when I first met him. But, once I found out that he had a girlfriend and I actually got to know him better, I considered him nothing more than a friend. And then I met you."

"What about me?" Cye was curious to know. He needed to know. Mina gazed up at him.

"When I first met you, that day that you saw me as Sailor Venus for the first time, before you met me as Mina, I knew there was something special about you because I immediately fell in love with you.

"But I didn't know if you loved me back or not so as our friendship grew, I stayed silent because I didn't want to ruin our friendship in case you didn't love me back."

"Not love you back?" Cye squawked, "How could I not love you back? You came into my life like an angel from above and I fell in love with you on the spot. I couldn't believe that someone like you could have any interest in me at all. I love you so much Mina, it's unbelievable."

"Really?" Mina said with tears of joy in her eyes. She had finally found her true love and it made her so happy.

"Really. I couldn't love anyone else but you. I never have and never will love anyone else but you." Cye's hand came up to gently cup Mina's face as he used his thumb to wipe away some of the tears that she had shed.

"No more tears, princess," Cye whispered as he lowered his face to hers, "I'll never give you cause for tears again." Mina smiled at him before she raised her face to hers, meeting him halfway as their lips met in their first kiss in over a thousand years. Cye pulled her closer to him with no objections on Mina's behalf. Their souls had been waiting for this for over a thousand years and now that it had come, neither of them wanted the bliss to end.