Mission to the Past
Chapter Eleven: Mission Complete
"Is everyone ready?" Sailor Pluto asked the group gathered in McKenna Park.
Everyone nodded. Yes, they were all ready. The girls were all packed; each had brought enough to last her a few days. Hopefully, that was all it would take. The boys, having brought nothing, didn't need to pack. Sailor Pluto had assured them that she would take care of all the legal affairs regarding the house they had stayed in.
"Good," Sailor Pluto said. She raised her Garnet Rod to the sky. "Chronos, God of Time, open your gate to your loyal servant!"
All of them were lifted off the floor a few inches before vanishing from this dimension completely. They then found themselves in the fourth dimension, the Gate of Time.
"Oh, not this again," Wufei groaned.
Sailor Pluto smiled. "Sorry."
"Hey, where's the other Sailor Pluto?" Serena wondered.
"I am both forms combined," the guardian of time responded. "Now, you'll have to go through the Time Warp to After Colony 197. You know the drill. I'll meet you there soon. Off you go!" The immense doors opened. Grabbing each other's hands, the group stepped through.
Their passage was terrifying, dangerous, and rather loud. Needless to say, they were all very relieved to say, they were all very relieved to see the doors leading to the girls' future, the boys' home.
"Glad to see you made it safely," Setsuna greeted them.
"Why can't we just zap instantly to our destination?" Serena whined.
Setsuna smiled. "Because you're not the guardian of time."
They had arrived in a town, maybe a suburb to some major city. The girls looked around eagerly and warily at once. Some things hadn't changed: adults in suits still rushed back and forth, kids still played happily and noisily, teenagers still flirted shamelessly. The signs in the store windows and on street corners were in Japanese. The shops boasted of better technology than the girls had seen in their time: smaller laptops, faster modems, more useful gadgets, and cooler games on cell phones than people could have dreamed of so many years ago.
"Where did you land us, Setsuna?" Haruka wanted to know.
"A suburb outside of Tokyo," Setsuna answered. "Quatre, I believe you have a summer home near here."
"Do I?" Quatre said. "Oh, that's right, I do."
"Geez, how many summer homes can a person have?" Duo muttered.
"Come on, it's this way." Quatre said, walking off. They followed him. Amy wanted know detailed descriptions of all the new gadgets, which Heero obligingly provided. The other girls were content top "ooh" and "aah" over them without knowing how they worked. Haruka spent a full five minutes drooling over a motorcycle before the combined efforts of Lita, Heero, and Michiru managed to get her away from it. Serena, Raye, Mina, and Lita marveled at the latest fashions. Michiru enjoyed the pleasant surprise of seeing her CDs still in stores.
The house wasn't far. As they were entering, Quatre said, "It's a good thing Kelsey isn't here. She's--"
"My goodness, baby brother Quatre, I can't believe you're really back!"
Quatre groaned as all-too-familiar arms wrapped around him and squeezed. "Oh, hello, Kelsey."
"Oh, are these your new friends?" Kelsey asked, releasing him and motioning towards the girls.
"Yes, you could say that," Quatre said.
"Oh, yay!" Kelsey squealed. "I'm sure the others will love to meet them, too! They'll be so happy you're back!"
"Others?" Quatre said, puzzled. But his confusion was quickly cleared as five familiar figures come into view.
"HEERO!" Relena ran into the room and embraced Heero.
"Duo! You're back!" Hilde cried happily.
"It's about time you guys came back," said Sally, giving Wufei a peck on the cheek.
Catherine gave Trowa a hug. "I'm glad you're back, little brother."
"We've all missed you so much," Noin said.
More people entered the room. "Master Quatre!" cried about twenty Maguanacs, including Rashid.
When everyone was finished introducing each other, and telling each other how glad they were to see them, Trowa thought to ask, "But how did you guys know we were coming?"
"Setsuna called us, and we rushed over here as fast as we could," Noin said.
Setsuna looked embarrassed. "I came here several hours before you were destined to arrive," she confessed. "I wanted you guys to have a warm welcome waiting for you."
"Thanks," Duo said honestly. The others also thanked her.
"Think nothing of it," she said.
"We cooked you a lunch," Noin said.
"Oh, goody!" Serena cheered. "I'm starving!"
The Maguanacs brought out the lunch. It was a huge gourmet feast, prepared with utmost care and love. Everyone complimented the chefs.
"We're just a few miles outside of Tokyo, right?" Chibi-Usa said after dinner.
Everyone looked at her in surprise; it was the first time she'd spoken in a long while.
"Yes, we are," Quatre said.
"What's it like now?" Chibi-Usa wanted to know.
Trowa shrugged. "I honestly don't know."
"Neither do I," Noin admitted. No one else did, either.
"We could go there, if you'd like," Quatre offered.
"Okay," Chibi-Usa said. She didn't look sad, but she wasn't excited, either.
"How many cars will we need to take?" Raye wondered.
"Let's see, there are…" Quatre did a quick head count. "Twenty of us, so that's three in each van. "
They headed out into the garage and separated into three groups: Haruka, Michiru, Quatre, Trowa, Wufei, and Noin in the blue van; Duo, Mina, Serena, Hilde, Heero, Lita, and Sally in the red van; and Amy, Chibi-Usa, Setsuna, Hotaru, Raye, and Serena in the black van.
"I'll drive," Haruka volunteered quickly sa her group piled into the van.
"Okay, if you want to ," Quatre agreed.
* * *
"I thought you could drive!" Quatre shouted accusingly.
"I can!" Haruka said.
"Then can you please go three seconds without having someone honk at us because you nearly ran them over?" Wufei cried.
"Please, let me take the wheel," Noin said.
"I'm fine!" Haruka insisted through gritted teeth.
"But what about the rest of us?" Trowa said.
"Where did you get your license?" Wufei asked.
"Er, I, uh, don't remember," she stuttered.
Quatre paled. "Oh, no."
"I've ridden in mobile suits safer than this!" Noin yelled.
"Haruka, maybe you should let Noin take the wheel," Michiru suggested.
"I told you, I'm fine!" Haruka said.
"I knew this was a bad idea," Wufei groaned.
"You drive more recklessly than most pilots I've met," Trowa complained.
"Are you insane?" asked Noin.
"No, I'm fine!" Haruka repeated.
"Haruka, I really don't think this is safe," Trowa interjected.
"Look, it's hard to drive with people screaming in my ear!" Haruka yelled. That shut everyone up quickly enough.
They spent the rest of the ride in silence, interrupted only once, by Trowa saying, "There goes another bush."
Miraculously, they made it to Tokyo in one piece. Everyone was extremely grateful to escape the car. They stepped out.
"Oh, no," breathed Raye. "No way."
The city had been turned into a military storage base. Old or unused mobile suits and dolls lay in the center, where the Crystal Palace had once stood. It was poorly kept. There were houses and shops scattered around the center, owned by people who couldn't afford to live anywhere else. They were ratty, and falling apart. Two types of people roamed the streets: those who were angry, and stole and hurt, mostly teenagers; and those who were fearful, shooting scared glances at the center of town, as if it could explode at any moment.
"Look," Raye said suddenly, pointing. "That's where the temple used to be." Her voice broke on the last few words. What had once been the Cherry Hill Temple was now a shoddy casino and bar.
Raye stared at it for a few seconds in horror and shock. Then strong, bold Raye broke down in sobs.
"Raye," Serena called. Raye looked up. Serena, too, had tears rolling down her face. Together, the two girls cried.
"All those places we knew so well," Lita murmured, fighting back the lump in her throat. "The arcade, the mall, even the school." The lump forced its way out, and she cried.
Amy held out her arms to Lita. They hugged, comforting each other.
Hotaru had collapsed to her knees. Haruka stood next to her, sharing her grief. Michiru cried softly next to Haruka. Mina sobbed on Duo's shoulder.
Chibi-Usa stood apart. She was very still. Her only movement was the wind blowing her hair, and a steady stream of tears falling from her sad eyes. Tokyo was the only home she had ever known. To see it like this, with the Crystal Palace, her home, destroyed, was too much to bear.
"Small Lady," a voice behind her called.
Chibi-Usa turned around. There stood Setsuna, arms open, waiting for Chibi-Usa. Chibi-Usa ran to her. Setsuna knelt down and held her tight. Setsuna had never known Tokyo the way the others had. The tears she shed were not for the loss of her home, but for her friends' grief.
The others watched silently. None of them knew what to say. "I'm sorry" seemed so trivial for something like this.
"Let's go," Sally said quietly. Wordlessly, they went back into the car.
The ride home was silent. Everyone seemed a little shaken. Even Haruka had been strongly affected, though she didn't show it; they could tell by the way her driving was calmer, and she didn't flatten any bushes.
* * *
They all revived a bit after a few minutes. By about a half hour after they reached the house, they seemed to be their old selves, but there was still a lingering sadness in their eyes.
They talked about where the Sailor Senshi of this time could be, and how they would get to them, and things like that. They had a delicious dinner, which Lita, Hilde, Catherine, Noin, and about twelve Maguanacs helped prepare. Before they knew it, it was time to get ready for bed.
"Okay, there are two very large bathrooms in this house," Quatre told everyone. "The girls can use the bathroom to the left, and the boys will be to the right. You can pick whichever room you'd like."
They walked to their separate bathrooms. The girls' bathroom was absolutely gigantic.
"Wow, this place is huge," Raye remarked.
"No kidding," Hilde agreed.
"So, Relena," Serena said. "What's going on between you and Heero?"
"Nothing, unfortunately," she responded. "We talk, and I know he loves me, but we've never done anything romantic, and we've never kissed."
Serena
was horrified. "Never? Why not?"
"I guess we're both afraid
of what the other will think," Relena confessed. "Besides, I can't. He'd
freak out on me."
"So you're just going to wait around for him to make a move?" Lita asked. "Forget it! He's probably way too shy to even consider it."
"Heero? Shy?" Relena said skeptically.
Raye nodded. "He may be fearless on the battlefield, but he's probably a nervous wreck around girls. He's not used to us." She made a face. "Yuck, I sound like a teen magazine."
"Maybe you've got a point," Relena admitted.
Hilde
sighed. "This is what we've been trying
to tell you for ages now. Can all of us
be wrong?"
"Probably not," Relena
said. "Maybe I will do something."
"Go for it!" Lita said enthusiastically.
"Thank you," Relena said.
"Hey, Hotaru?" Chibi-Usa said to her friend quietly.
"What is it, Chibi-Usa?" Hotaru said.
"Ho do you feel about Heero and Relena?" Chibi-Usa asked.
Hotaru reminded herself that she shouldn't be surprised; after all, Chibi-Usa was her best friend, and they could see each other's feelings sometimes. Naturally, Chibi-Usa would now about her crush. "I'm glad he has someone to care about him like she does," she said truthfully.
Chibi-Usa smiled. "Good. You're not unhappy."
* * *
"Oh, wow, look at that moon," Mina said, looking out the window at the full moon in the starry night sky.
"It sure is beautiful," Catherine agreed.
"Yeah," Noin said.
Amy stared at the moon. She felt a sense of...something. There was something nagging at the back of her mind. Then it hit her. "Oh, my gosh!" she cried, pulling out her mini-supercomputer and VR goggles. She did a quick scan on the moon. Sure enough, there it was. "Guys," she said excitedly. "The Sailor Senshi of this time are sealed within the moon!"
"What?" Raye cried.
"Amy, are you sure?" Serena said.
"Yes, I am," Amy said.
Haruka nodded. "It makes sense. Where else to seal the queen of the moon but the moon itself?"
"So tomorrow, we'll start our journey," Michiru said. "To the moon."
* * *
"You guys be careful, okay?" Noin said.
"We will," Quatre promised. They were in Quatre's private shuttle, ready to take off for the moon. Quatre was driving.
"Trowa, if you get hurt, I'll never forgive you," Catherine warned.
Trowa smiled. "Okay, Cathy."
"Say, where's Heero?" Wufei wondered.
"Probably saying good-bye to Relena," Duo mused.
He was right. Heero was, in fact, in the house, saying good-bye to Relena.
"Heero," she said. "What are you going to do after all this?"
He shrugged. "Probably just go home."
"I see," she said quietly. She remembered Lita and Raye's words the previous night. Taking a deep breath, she said, "I have something that I've wanted to do for a long time."
She kissed him.
Heero felt shock, excitement, confusion, and a thrill, all at once. He kissed her back.
"Well, are you still going to go home?" Relena asked.
"On second thought, maybe I'll stick around for a while," he said.
She smiled. "Good. And good luck on your mission."
He smiled. "Thanks." He joined his friends in the shuttle.
"Okay, everybody ready?" Quatre called.
"Yes," they all chorused.
"Then away we go!" Quatre said. The shuttle took off.
The Sailor Senshi, having never been in a shuttle before, found it a fascinating experience. They talked excitedly, about riding in a shuttle, about the mission, and about everything else.
Ironically, only Mina and Duo stayed silent. They were savoring their last few precious hours together.
At one point, Amy said, "You know, it's interesting. The lifespan of people during the second Silver Millennium was a thousand years, and once Neo-Queen Serenity comes back to power, that's how it will be again. However, the members of the imperial court had an even longer lifespan. So within weeks, you guys and our future selves will have about the same life left."
Mina felt her heart skip a beat. She and Duo could be together! "Duo," she said. "Promise me something."
"Anything," he said.
"Promise me," she said, "that when the time is right, you'll come and find me. Do you promise?"
"Yeah," Duo said, confused. "But what do you mean?"
He had no time to find out, for they had landed on the moon.
* * *
"So, you're sure this is the place?" Wufei asked Sailor Mercury.
Mercury nodded. She had located a spot on her computer from where they could teleport to the moon's core. The Sailor Senshi had transformed and were ready to go.
"Do you really think we can teleport with five extra people?" Mars wondered.
"Normally, we couldn't," Mercury said. "However, being so close to our selves increases our energy."
"Okay,"
Sailor Moon said. "Everyone hold
hands!"
They obeyed. The Sailor Senshi closed their eyes and
concentrated.
"SAILOR PLANET TELEPORT!"
Instantly, they found themselves in very different surroundings. The Sailor Senshi were a bit out of breath, but it had worked.
"Where are we?" Heero wondered.
The space was dimly lit. How it was lit at all was a mystery, as there were no lights. It was chilly and damp. All around them were huge crystal formations. Looking closer, they could see that within the crystals were the sleeping Sailor Senshi of A. C. 197.
"Oh, man," Trowa murmured.
"How do we wake them up?" Jupiter wondered.
"I don't know," Mercury admitted.
Sailor Moon peered at Neo-Queen Serenity, thinking how strange it was to see her future self. Suddenly, the Imperium Silver Crystal began to glow.
"Hey, guys," Sailor Moon said. "Stand over your future self."
They obeyed. The jewels in their tiaras glowed, brighter and brighter, until it became a blinding light. Everyone in the room shielded their eyes. When the light subsided, they opened their eyes to see the adult Sailor Senshi standing.
Everyone was rendered temporarily speechless. Neo-Queen Serenity walked to the last remaining crystal formation and awakened its inhabitants, the three guardian cats. Then she turned to the Senshi of the past and spoke.
"Thank you for freeing us, Sailor Senshi of the past. Sailor Pluto, thank you for bringing them here. And ex-Gundam pilots, thank you for everything.
"We have been kept informed of the world's status while in our cryogenic sleep by seeing it in our dreams. We know the entire story.
"We must be going. The past and future selves must not exist in the same place for very long. Thank you again, and good-bye for now."
The adult Senshi formed a circle, as well as the queen, and the princess, who had grown up and now looked fifteen or so. Before they teleported, Sailor Moon cried, "Wait! What about Endymion?"
Neo-Queen Serenity smiled. "He was sealed inside the Earth. Don't worry; I shall awaken him soon." And with that, the adult Senshi teleported.
There was a silence. It was broken by Haruka saying, "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go already!"
They formed a circle and prepared to leave. "SAILOR PLANET TELEPORT!"
* * *
Within hours, they were back on Earth, and the Sailor Senshi were packed and ready to go. Relena had thanked them heartily for their romantic advice. The boys had thanked them for helping, and they had thanked the boys. Now all that was left was saying good-bye.
"Duo?" Mina said as they walked down a path in Quatre's garden.
"Yeah?"
"You won't forget your
promise, right?" Mina said.
Duo shook his head. "Of course not. I won't forget a single word you said to me."
"I feel the same way," Mina said. They reached a bench and sat down. The trees were bare, and the flowers were long gone. A bird sang in the distance. It was serene, peaceful.
"I don't want to leave," Mina said, looking at the ground. The outlines of things blurred. A tear fell to the ground, followed by many more. "But I know I have to."
"I don't want to say good-bye," Duo said.
"It's so weird," she said. "Our destinies are so different, but I feel as if we're meant to be together just the same."
"We are," Duo told her.
"Oh, Duo," she sighed. They leaned closer and embraced. The kissed, clinging tightly together. Their tears mixed on their cheeks.
"Mina," he whispered. "I love you so much, it hurts."
"I love you just as much, if not more," she said.
"It's impossible for you to love me more," Duo said.
"I feel like I'm saying good-bye to a part of me," she said.
"Oh, Mina," he whispered, holding her tightly.
They stayed like that for some time, listening to the wind rocking the bare branches, and the songbirds in the distsnce.
When they finally let go, it was with much reluctance. They walked to where their friends were waiting.
"You ready?" Sailor Pluto asked her.
Mina nodded. "Yeah." Secretly, she took something out of her pocket and let it fall to the ground.
"Okay," Sailor Pluto said. She held up her Garnet Rod. "Chronos, God of Time, open your gates to your loyal servant!"
The Sailor Senshi vanished, saying good-bye to the very last moment.
Once they were gone, the others headed back into Quatre's house. Quatre stopped to pick something up. "Hey, what's this?" she said. "Looks like Mina dropped this by mistake." He handed it to Duo.
It was a photo, in a golden oval frame. It showed Mina in her school uniform. Her hair was windblown, and her skirt billowed to one side. She was smiling softly. It captured her perfectly.
Duo smiled. "No," he said. "It wasn't by mistake."
* * *
"Hey, Mina, what's that?" Artemis asked her that night as she opened her bag to unpack.
"I don't know," Mina said, taking the object out of her bag. She studied it. It was a picture in a square black frame of Duo. His big blue eyes were laughing, but serious, too. His grin was bright, and his braid was askew. He was wearing his usual minister's outfit.
Smiling, Mina placed it on her night table, facing her bed. She would see his warm smile every night before she fell asleep, and his beautiful eyes would follow her into her dreams.
* * * * * * *
Notes: *Sniff* It's so sad! I can't bear it! I MUST SEE WHAT HAPPENS TO DUO'S AND MINA'S RELATIONSHIP! That's why there's an epilogue. That was the last chapter, but it's not over yet! Don't worry, the epilogue's short, so if you've read this far, don't stop yet. As always, e-mail me, but no flames!
FYI: About the lifespan thing...in the manga, it's true that, in the first Silver Millennium, the people of the moon had a lifespan of about a thousand years, and in the second Silver Millennium, the whole world had a lifespan of about one thousand years, but I'm not sure if the Imperial Court was longer. For the sake of the fic, it's true.:)
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or Sailor Moon, I'm not making any money from this, and I don't have any money, anyway, so don't sue me! I own Kelsey. She is mine, and you can't use her unless I give you permission.