" I don't get it!" Duo shouted slamming his hand down on the table, " Why are the girls avoiding us?!"
" Maybe they just need some time to settle in." Trowa mused form his seat at the round table.
" What can be possibly wrong?!" Wufei demanded, " They were gone for two years, leaving us with no clue of their location but we knew that! We're not mad at them for it though, so why are they avoiding us for Chrono's sake!"
Quatre leaned back onto the windowsill and gave a frustrated sigh. {What's going on Ami-chan? Why won't you to me what's wrong?}
{Was it something I did? What could it be?} Wufei clench his fists and glared at the table, for all his power, he could come up with no explanation.
{Luna…did I lose you again before I even have you again?} Trowa leaned back to the wall and bowed his head, trying with not much luck to fight his demons.
{Am I destined to never have you?} Duo's thoughts were dark as he lost himself to the silence, {won't I ever get the chance to say I love you Hotaru?}
No more words were exchanged as the four began to get lost in their own thoughts.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Elsewhere, Heero cracked open the door of Serenity's room, he found it empty of her presence as he had found the girls' apartment empty of them. He looked around the room of dimmed light colors that graced the decorations and found himself in front of her desk, staring at an open book, her dairy.
He knew he shouldn't read it and invade her privacy but as he started to close it, the last entry caught his eye and he froze, in fright and horror. His heart pounded in his ribs hard and fast as he read it again and again.
He gritted his together to contain his rage as he teleported out of there, leaving no trace of he had left as the same how he had coming in. {The guys won't like this…}
The dairy laid looking untouched open to the last page of the last entry.
Dear Diary,
The girls and I have talked it over and we have decided what has to be done. We are going to swipe the guys' memory of us clean; they are never going to know us. It is the only way.
We had a chance at normal life but we lost it due to our scout duties having to save the Earth in the twenty first century, but they need not lose theirs'. They had a perfectly, normal, good life set out before them before we came and they could have that again.
If trouble arises we will fight it off, they need not be awakened like we had. I know the girls feel the same pain I. To separate ourselves willingly from the ones we love, but it can't be helped. At least afterwards, if it was safe, we could watch them from the shadows, looking after them and their loved ones to keep them safe, it is the only thing we can do.
All I need is something that was touched by them, or of them, a brush, a picture or anything, and I have them. The girls had each contributed something that either was touched by the guys or some picture of them.
I have all the necessary things; I will perform the spell tonight. Alone. No need to have the girls watch and bring more pain to them then needed, I myself shall carry the pain of being the one that erased us from their lives, there is no other choice.
Signed,
Usagi
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Mercury stood staring into the Dimensional Gate's open doors, staring at all the what ifs.
Pluto guarded the Time Gate that kept up with the real happenings and looked after all the possible futures.
She looked after all that could have been. Each dimension was a different timeline of different happenings, what ifs that turn into what is in each. There is the one where Usagi had never found Luna and had never became Sailormoon, there was the one where they had won in the fight against Chaos as Cosmos had come from a barren future t help Eternal Sailormoon and they now al lived together in happiness in Crystal Tokyo.
She sighed, but it was no use in staring at what ifs when you had to deal with what is. Cosmos had not come from the future to help them in their fight against Chaos, Chibi Chibi had been sent back into the future before the final battle with Chaos, but Chaos, somehow sensing that if he didn't, Chibi Chibi would be the end of him.
She waved her wand and the doors closed, shutting out the what ifs so she could start to deal with the what is. She heard hurried footsteps coming down the open space; closing in on the place she was and gave a sigh. She leaned onto one of the beams that kept the Dimensional Gate up and closed her eyes. Probably it was Pluto or Saturn, coming to help her over the ordeal, which was going to be preformed in some short time. Kami-sama, they all needed some comfort.
Serenity refused to tell them when she was going to do the spell, so they could not go and take her place in it. She wanted to save them the pain and the blame, protecting them as much as she could. If they changed their minds, they could reach her telepathically.
Tears pricked her eyes and she took a wavering breath, as the footsteps stop not two feet in front of her.
" Hey." She said softly, not wanting to have the other girl think she was being ignored but did not want to open her eyes yet. The next thing she knew she was pulled up against hard armor, strong arms keeping her in place and lips covered her own.
Her eyes snapped open to stare up into angry cerulean orbs. She gulped as she recognized, not Quatre but Solaris as he was, in his armor. He used his weight and pinned her to the beam.
" Tell me one good reason, why I should let you go through with the spell." his voice blazing.
She open and closed her mouth several times but nothing came out, her throat felt parched and lips dry. She licked her lips to wet them and looked up to see Solaris staring intensely at her glittering mouth. Her eyes widened as she saw the desire in the half hooded eyes and her eyes fluttered closed as he bent and kissed her once more.
" Life's not worth living without you in it." He whispered into her ears once he pulled back, and all the walls that she put up around her heart, crumbled.
Her arms flew around his neck and held her to him as she cried. Her whole body shook and she didn't even realize when her staff, her reasoning and symbol of her duty, fell from her hands as she gave herself up to pure emotions as they shared their third kiss together.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Close to another Gate, another, different, approach to the situation was being held.
Pluto stood looking out to the mist with her fingers clenched white against her Time Staff as she forced herself not to turn around. Wufei, the Dragon Lord, drilled a hole into her back with his unwavering gaze as he leaned back upon a beam. A heavy silence hung in the air; until one of them decided it need to be broken.
" So you're going to go through with this." Wufei's voice rang loud and true in the empty plane.
Silence.
" Fine." He barked out and pushed himself off the beam, turning to leave he left a few words before he disappeared. " But remember," his voice soft and low, caressing, " what you promised me upon my death for the Silver Millennium."
With that he teleported out of the Time Gate's plane, leaving Pluto to remember.
***Flashback***
Pluto kneeled onto the ground and pulled her beloved onto her lap. She stared down at his pale face on her thighs and knew that he had not much time left. Tears fell from her eyes and dripped own her chin, onto his face.
" Shh…" his voice was croaked a bit, " don't weep, I don't ever want to be the cause of your tears."
She blinked and was able to hold the tears back, if only for a short while.
" That's my girl." He rasped and she choked back a sob. " Remember me okay?" his tone soft.
" Always. From now until eternity." Her voice cracked at the end but she didn't care.
" And if I ever come back to this plane, if I'm ever reborn," he could barely get the words out, " I want to remember you okay? Knock me over the head, send me flowers, I don't care how we meet, just make sure I'll remember it and don't forget you." His voice was dying out on him as he was on her.
She gave him a watery smile, " I'll never let you. We'll meet again and you'll remember it."
" Good…" he rasped out and his eyes rolled backwards as he went limp in her grasp in death.
" Nooo!" she cried out and held his dead body to her, " Come back! Come back…" the rest of her words were replaced by tears and choked sobs.
She heard faintly a cry of " Cosmic Moon Power!!" from her Queen before her beloved's form was encased in a golden bubble, lifted from her grasp and onto to the blue star that was Earth.
She picked up her Time Key that lay by her side and pulled herself up, " We'll meet again someday, I promise you beloved." She said softly looking up at the golden specks flying to the Earth, " And you'll remember us and what we had together, even if I have to knock you over the head with my time Key. You will."
***End of Flashback***
Pluto clutched at her Staff harder and stood gazing into the mist, trying to decide a decision before it might be too late.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Luna stared up at the crescent moon up in the sky from her place on the meadow. She sat with her knees pulled up to her chest, curled up in a ball trying to bring comfort, which was not being found. Wind blew at her hair and double-layered skirt. The yellow crescent moon on her forehead flashed in the moonlight as she tried to gain control of her emotions.
She heard faint footsteps coming up the meadow and waited in silence for the person to leave. She heard them stop but did not turn to see them as now her gaze stared out at the ocean.
" So I can teach you how to love but I can't have it, is that it Luna?" a cool static voice drew her attention as she whipped her head around.
She hugged her knees closer and tighter to her as she saw Trowa standing at the edge of the meadow, fist clenched tightly around a photo as his eyes took her in calculatingly.
" I…I…" she couldn't get any words out as her throat closed up on her.
" To deprive me of the memories is to deprive me of love Luna." He said, his voice never once changing.
" You-you love me?" she gasped out.
" I might have." He returned coolly, " but I guess we'll never have the chance to find out now, do we?" with that he turned and left.
Leaving behind a wide-eyed, unseeing, Luna staring at the place where he just was, with tears overflowing her eyes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Hotaru sat in one of the two swings in the empty night park. Her feet swung nonchalantly below her, barely moving the swing at all. A cool crisp wind blew pass, making some leaves fly up, and one of them obscure the view of the empty second swing for a moment. When it blew past, a figure sat there, his long braid betraying who he was.
He slowly kicked his legs back and forth, propelling the swing into motion, the chain giving small quiet squeaks of protests of his weight.
And that was how they stayed, one figure in black sitting a barely moving swing as the other pushed himself up and back with small quiet squeaks to fill up the silence. Soon he stopped pushing himself up and back and the swing decreased its flight, until he and she were at a stand off point.
" Love is the only ting worth dieing for," He said suddenly, " we decided this a long time ago as the bringers of Death."
" Yes." Her voice trailed his, gentle in its pitch.
" But." He continued, " Love is also the only thing worth living for."
She was quiet.
" And we keep the ones we love close to our hearts," he went on, " by remembering the memories we have with them." He stopped talking and they fell into a silence. It was quiet for a long time as they listened to the leaves rustle.
" How will I keep you in my heart Hotaru, if you won't let me?" he finished quietly.
Another wind picked up leaves from the ground and obscured the view once again. When the leaves passed by, both were gone.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Serenity stared out into the boundless night sky from her place at the edge of her balcony. Her silky white summer nightgown did not do much to reduce the chill in the air. It had no sleeves; as it was a drawstring piece, a decent enough v neckline, low back and it reached to a little bit higher then her ankle. She closed her eyes as she put her hands on the railing and leaned forward.
She ignored the evening chill of the cold breeze and tried to clear her thoughts. She opened her eyes and looked down to the garden below, or more specifically, to the round table on the clear field. She gave a small smile to see that the comb of Duo's was now gone from its setting place. The photo of Wufei looked as if someone had picked it up and put it back several times.
She was not surprised when suddenly Solaris and Mercury appeared from thin air next to the table. She watched as Mercury walked up to the table and picked up the violin bow hesitantly and looked back to Solaris unsure. Slowly with the bow clutched in her hands she walked back with small steps at a time to him but he did not hurry her. She watched as finally Mercury reached her brother and as she placed her hand into his, disappear as they came.
She chuckled as the throwing knife flashed in a light of sparkling yellow light and it was teleported out of there.
She gave a sigh and looked up to the moon-less sky. {Wait for me mother, I will see you soon.} She looked down to the handgun held in her hand and slowly traced the bordering edge lines.
" So you're actually planning on going through with it." A familiar flat voice said from behind startling her, she whirled around and her grip on the gun turned knuckle white.
She gulped as she saw Heero, no, Aries, leaning on the wall with his arms crossed. She watched him push himself off the wall and marveled as his muscles strained against the material of the cloth exposed from his armor. She gulped trying to swallow her lust.
" Y-yes, so it s-seems." She said and bit her lip at her shaken words.
" But all the others have pulled out. Are you going to still go through it?" his voice was cool and she blinked a few times before his words sunk in.
She turned to see that the picture of Wufei was gone from the stone table, as if it had never been there in the first place. She tensed as she felt his presence right behind her now and tried to tell her body to relax. She wasn't sure what he had planned, and she wasn't sure if she would like it or not, somehow she felt it leaned more towards the latter.
" So?" he asked, his breath warm on her skin and she suppressed a shiver, barely.
The silence was filled with tension but that she alone didn't answer already told him that she was unsure about her decision now. She just needed some convincing, and he chose to provide it. The least verbal kind.
Serenity took a sharp breath as she felt Aries fleetingly plant a kiss the back of her neck. She moved front a bit to escape his touch but an arm came around her waist and stopped her. Her bare back was pressed on a cold armor chest plate that was quickly warming up. He continued to rain soft kisses onto the back of her neck and she moaned, head dropping back onto his shoulder, the left side of her throat thoroughly exposed. He took that as permission and buried his face there. She shivered pleasantly as he flicked his tongue over her racing pulse. His other hand came to rest on top of her breast, right where her heart was. Her hands covered his as she let them drift up. The hand on her waist squeezed it sensually and she groaned.
" P-p" her breath was rapid and short, making speech hard for her. She swallowed as an attempt to talk better, but was proven unsuccessful as Aries let his tongue drag over her throat and following the movement of her throat. " Perfect Soldiers aren't supposed to feel." Her voice was husky and to her dismay instead of to tell him to stop, the tone made it sound like a teasing invitation for more. And she moaned when he moved his hand up from her waist to cup one of her breasts.
" I'm not the perfect soldier." His tone was equally husky, " I've stop being that the moment you stepped back into my life." He trailed kisses up from her chin to her ear. " I'm Heero Aries. I am a god, not a soldier, and if I want to feel…" he let his voice trail off as his lips dangled in front of hers. He pinched her taunt nipple and she gasp wide eyed her head made to snap up, but her lips were instead captured by his.
She made a whimpering sound in her throat and he deepened the kiss, putting all that he was feeling into it. Serenity had no choice but to respond and the identical eight pointed stars with a crescent moon in the middle with an 'A' on top the moon blazed into life.
Then slowly, and softly, her grip on the gun loosened more and more. Until she could no longer hold onto it and it slide down her chest and off her side to the ground below, making a soft 'thunk' as it hit the ground below. And without further delay, Aries slid an arm down and lifted her up, never once breaking the kiss. Then like a newlywed, he carried her over the threshold.
*** Owari ***
Epilogue to come!