Part XII
The mist seemed to fill every bit of air that surrounded her. The area was dimly lit by a few stray candles. Pluto looked around, it was so different here in the dark. Normally the gates of time were lit by the sweet cool moonlight, but now that it was gone they were dull. She walked farther ahead to the large doors which lead to the time streams and sands.
Pluto took a key from her belt and held it in a clenched fist to the door. With a few phrases of a language long forgotten the doors began to glow with a burgundy aura but did not open. "This can't be."
"Oh yes, it can." A voice came through the doors. It was Pluto, the future Pluto. Was she blocking the door so that her past self could not interfere with her plans?
The Pluto from the past began to bang on the door with her time staff and fist. "What are you doing? You're ruining everything, can't you see that?" Her pleas seemed desperate. "Don't you understand what you're doing to our future?"
"Yes, I know very well what I'm doing to our future." The future Pluto was now touching the inside of the door gently. "I wish I had known in your time what I know now. Why did things have to turn out the way they did?" Pluto thought of Helios' desperate words before he disappeared through the gates before and a revelation came to her. "Things don't have to turn out the way they did, the future is not set in stone and I will help reshape it!"
With a burst of power the gates of time opened to leave the two guardians of time face to face. "We were wrong." The future Pluto stepped closer.
The Pluto from the past was thoroughly confused and said nothing. DEAD SCREAM Rang through the myst as the attack from the future collided with the body of the past.
~@~@~@~
Helios stared at her for a moment, not sure of how to react. It was true that he still felt something for this girl, he couldn't hate her for what she did to him. "What are you doing here?" He asked not making any other attempt to greet her.
Chibi-Usa smiled at him. "What no hug?" She said with a slight laugh and realized that he didn't find it amusing. "I came to bring you back home with me."
"I'm not going there with you, besides, what kind of home do you think you're going to have now?" He said looking up at the sky. "The moon is gone, isn't that enough proof for you?"
Chibi-Usa didn't look up at the sky to examine his statement instead continued to stare at him. "You and I both know it can come back, just as you can."
Helios looked at her as she gave him that loving look. Chibi-Usa took a step towards him and brought her hand up to rest on his cheek. Helios could feel his eyes closing as he felt her touch, so light.
"Do you really want to throw away our future? Do you really want to leave me?" Her hand came down to trace his jawline.
Helios' head came down to look her in the eyes. "You don't love me, why would you want me to be with you?"
"I do love you, and I do want to be with you."
"What about Saturn?" He asked taking her hand by the wrist to prevent it from wandering to his senses again. "Do you love me more than Saturn?"
Chibi-Usa looked down and pulled her arm free from it's captor. "It doesn't matter, you and I are supposed to be together, just as Usagi and Mamoru are. That's the way things are supposed to be and that's the way they will be."
"No you're wrong. They don't have to be this way, you don't have to pretend to be happy with me." Helios argued with her and searched her eyes for any piece of understanding.
"Do you still love me?" Chibi-Usa asked as almost a plea.
Much to her pleasure his face displayed a smile. "I will always love you…" Chibi-Usa's face reflected the joy he had just given her. "… but I'm afraid that I can not love you the way I have. I've found some one else to fill my heart."
Chibi-Usa looked up in his eyes and could see that it was true. Even if he had claimed to be happy with her before she had never truly seen this happiness in his eyes which they contained now. "You know you can't be with her… don't you?" She asked.
Helios looked back up at the townhouse that he had been staying in. His heart ached as he thought of the person he was going to have to leave behind. "I know…"
"So why don't you end this now, why do you continue to torture yourself by falling in love with her more and more everyday? Why don't you just leave and come back to the future with me?" Chibi-Usa took his hands into her own. Helios took his gaze from their windows but before he did he noticed a familiar red haired figure standing in the window. "If you can't have her, why not try to be happy with me?" She asked as she pulled him in for a kiss.
Helios broke the kiss, it was so empty just as their previous ones had been. He looked back up at the window above to see Kakyuu turn away. "I won't live a lie… I'm going to stay here in the past to spend every moment I can with her until my time dies out."
"No." Chibi-Usa looked at him sternly. "I tried to sway you to come on your own free will but no I see that was a waste of my time!"
Helios' eyes focused in on her frame while his brain tried to comprehend her words. Was she going to take him by force? He noticed something gold in her hand and he knew it was her transformational broach, she was going to attack him. "What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to dispose of your distractions in this time, I'm going to get rid of Kakyuu and Odango." She said as she raised her hand over her head.
Helios was surprised to say the least and quickly moved to grab her hand. He didn't know what kind of power Kakyuu had to defend herself and he knew that Odango was sleeping, she didn't stand a chance. "Stop, I'll go with you." He said looking into her eyes. "Just don't hurt them and I'll go back home with you." Chibi-Usa smiled and stopped what she was doing. Together they walked to the outer's house.
~@~@~@~
I got out of bed, unaware of just how much had happened last night, and stumbled into the kitchen where I found Kakyuu reading the paper. "Good morning." I said as I plopped myself down across from her.
She looked up from her paper and gave me an odd look, a look that almost said 'you poor creature' but hey, it was early, what did I know. "Earth's astronomers are trying to figure the disappearance out."
"What are you talking about?" I asked not really sure where this was going. I looked out the window and saw the drizzling rain streaming down upon the city. It didn't look so great so far.
Kakyuu smiled at me as she folded the paper and passed it my way. "We've done it, we've accomplished our mission and brought them together."
I looked down at the paper and saw the headline. 'Moon disappears.' It was an article on how the Earth's moon mysteriously left it's orbit last night and scientists have no idea how or why it happened. "Where is it?" I asked, it was a little too early in the morning for me to be conjuring up scientific ideas.
With a smile on her face, that seemed to broaden with my question, Kakyuu stood. "It has gone to the star Fighter." She walked over and poured me a cup of tea. "Earth is no longer in possession of the moon, therefore it may move freely throughout the universe. This is also true for Usagi's love and life."
"So since Usagi left Mamoru and has now gone to Seiya the moon has done the same?" I looked at Kakyuu dumbfoundedly. "So we're never going to have a moon again?"
"That's not necessarily true." She brought the cup down before me and reclaimed her previous seat. "I have to see my Starlights now."
"You mean it's over, we don't have to hide?" What a relief that would be.
Kakyuu shook her head much to my dismay. "No, I don't have to hide any more, but you on the other hand should."
I felt my brows furrow in contemplation. "Where's Helios?" I asked noticing for the first time that the apartment seemed all too quiet. I noticed Kakyuu look downward and faulter for a moment but quickly regained her normal composure. "What happened? Where is he?" From her reaction I could tell that it wasn't good, had something happened to him?
"Come, we must see the other Starlights."
~@~@~@~
The apartment was quiet and for once he didn't like it this way. Seiya was so incredibly thrilled but at the same time the same situation that caused his joy was chewing at him from the inside out. This was all that he had ever wished for, to be with Usagi, and now that he finally was could he hold onto it?
"I know what you're thinking about." Taiki said coming up next to him, he gracefully took a seat on the couch beside him. "You do realize your place, ne?"
"Hmm…" Seiya grunted in agreeance. He knew he didn't belong here and that he should have an unwavering loyalty to his Princess but what happened to the loyalty that he had to his own heart? "I don't…"
"There's no room for your feelings when it comes to being a senshi, you should already understand that." Taiki was stern, he didn't leave any room for argument.
"Is that how you do it Taiki?" Yaten's voice came from the doorway. "Can you honestly say that you still believe yourself any more?"
Seiya looked up, this new twist to their conversation was just the ammunition that he needed on his side. "What's going on?" He asked naively, but understood well where Yaten was coming from.
"I'm not going to deny my feelings, but I'm also not going to let them control me. I was well aware of my situation when I arrived here, and I have not strayed from my mission!" Taiki's anger rose with his voice. Were they daring to say that he was not loyal to their mission?
Yaten smiled and looked up at the taller man. "You might not have strayed but I can see that your heart and your mind have." Seiya continued to look on in awe, he had never witnessed anyone going against Taiki in a battle of logic, but this was not a battle that Taiki was going to give up on so easily.
"Does it even matter now?" Taiki said sitting back down. "So what if I do cave in and admit it? Where will that get me? Nowhere. We are to go home soon and protect our Princess if we ever find her. I will not give myself a false sense of hope for something that I know can never be."
"Sometimes hope is all we have." The Light's heads shot up to see who this new presence in the room was.
"Princess?" Seiya said with tears coming to his eyes. She was here, their princess had come back to them, but why was she with this girl?
"I'm sorry that I had to do what I did." Kakyuu said coming up in front of her Starlights while Odango stayed in the background. "To protect our future and that of the Moon Princess, I had to lead you to Earth."
"So you did come here only to have us follow you." Yaten said catching up. "But why? What does this have to do with our future? And what is she doing here?" He said pointing to the blond in the background.
"Welcome home my Starlights."
~@~@~@~
Mamoru sat on the porch of the outer's house. It was true he had been spending a lot of time there, but there was just something here that drew him. The rain was falling fast but it didn't put a damper on his mood. Michiru had explained to him the significance of the moon's disappearance but more importantly she had explained to him that the moon couldn't have left if the Earth didn't want it to.
Mamoru knew in his heart that he and Usagi didn't belong together, they just didn't understand one another. Their conversations were nothing more than that which good friends would have. They were on different levels and now they both knew it. Mamoru needed some one wiser, some one with more experience in life and some one who knew just what he needed.
Through the rain his eyes picked up a familiar burgundy light, it soon flickered and was replaced by a female form. Mamoru quickly left the porch and ran to the woman with an umbrella in hand. "You're going to catch a cold if you keep this up." He said as he placed the umbrella protectively above her head.
Setsuna smiled up at him and searched his face. "I've missed you." She said with a gleam in her eye.
Mamoru cracked a smile. "What do you mean? I've just only said good bye to you last night."
Setsuna realized her mistake and thought back upon the unconscious past version of herself that she had left at the gates of time. "I've come to help you get the moon back."
"What do you mean?" Mamoru looked at her suspiciously.
"You do want the moon back, don't you?" Setsuna's eyes were almost pleading as she looked up at him again awaiting her answer.
"Does the Earth truly need the moon?" He said wrapping his arms around her waist. "I know now that I can live without her…" He brought his forehead down to lean against hers, leaving the umbrella and the rain forgotten. "…but I can't live without you." His confession was sealed with a kiss. Two bodies in the rain, in the mist and in love.
Setsuna's job wasn't as hard as she thought it would be! (^_~)
~@~@~@~
"Pu?"
"Small Lady, quickly."
"I've brought Helios, everything will be fine now, ne Pu?"
The mist seemed to fill every bit of air that surrounded her. The area was dimly lit by a few stray candles. Pluto looked around, it was so different here in the dark. Normally the gates of time were lit by the sweet cool moonlight, but now that it was gone they were dull. She walked farther ahead to the large doors which lead to the time streams and sands.
Pluto took a key from her belt and held it in a clenched fist to the door. With a few phrases of a language long forgotten the doors began to glow with a burgundy aura but did not open. "This can't be."
"Oh yes, it can." A voice came through the doors. It was Pluto, the future Pluto. Was she blocking the door so that her past self could not interfere with her plans?
The Pluto from the past began to bang on the door with her time staff and fist. "What are you doing? You're ruining everything, can't you see that?" Her pleas seemed desperate. "Don't you understand what you're doing to our future?"
"Yes, I know very well what I'm doing to our future." The future Pluto was now touching the inside of the door gently. "I wish I had known in your time what I know now. Why did things have to turn out the way they did?" Pluto thought of Helios' desperate words before he disappeared through the gates before and a revelation came to her. "Things don't have to turn out the way they did, the future is not set in stone and I will help reshape it!"
With a burst of power the gates of time opened to leave the two guardians of time face to face. "We were wrong." The future Pluto stepped closer.
The Pluto from the past was thoroughly confused and said nothing. DEAD SCREAM Rang through the myst as the attack from the future collided with the body of the past.
~@~@~@~
Helios stared at her for a moment, not sure of how to react. It was true that he still felt something for this girl, he couldn't hate her for what she did to him. "What are you doing here?" He asked not making any other attempt to greet her.
Chibi-Usa smiled at him. "What no hug?" She said with a slight laugh and realized that he didn't find it amusing. "I came to bring you back home with me."
"I'm not going there with you, besides, what kind of home do you think you're going to have now?" He said looking up at the sky. "The moon is gone, isn't that enough proof for you?"
Chibi-Usa didn't look up at the sky to examine his statement instead continued to stare at him. "You and I both know it can come back, just as you can."
Helios looked at her as she gave him that loving look. Chibi-Usa took a step towards him and brought her hand up to rest on his cheek. Helios could feel his eyes closing as he felt her touch, so light.
"Do you really want to throw away our future? Do you really want to leave me?" Her hand came down to trace his jawline.
Helios' head came down to look her in the eyes. "You don't love me, why would you want me to be with you?"
"I do love you, and I do want to be with you."
"What about Saturn?" He asked taking her hand by the wrist to prevent it from wandering to his senses again. "Do you love me more than Saturn?"
Chibi-Usa looked down and pulled her arm free from it's captor. "It doesn't matter, you and I are supposed to be together, just as Usagi and Mamoru are. That's the way things are supposed to be and that's the way they will be."
"No you're wrong. They don't have to be this way, you don't have to pretend to be happy with me." Helios argued with her and searched her eyes for any piece of understanding.
"Do you still love me?" Chibi-Usa asked as almost a plea.
Much to her pleasure his face displayed a smile. "I will always love you…" Chibi-Usa's face reflected the joy he had just given her. "… but I'm afraid that I can not love you the way I have. I've found some one else to fill my heart."
Chibi-Usa looked up in his eyes and could see that it was true. Even if he had claimed to be happy with her before she had never truly seen this happiness in his eyes which they contained now. "You know you can't be with her… don't you?" She asked.
Helios looked back up at the townhouse that he had been staying in. His heart ached as he thought of the person he was going to have to leave behind. "I know…"
"So why don't you end this now, why do you continue to torture yourself by falling in love with her more and more everyday? Why don't you just leave and come back to the future with me?" Chibi-Usa took his hands into her own. Helios took his gaze from their windows but before he did he noticed a familiar red haired figure standing in the window. "If you can't have her, why not try to be happy with me?" She asked as she pulled him in for a kiss.
Helios broke the kiss, it was so empty just as their previous ones had been. He looked back up at the window above to see Kakyuu turn away. "I won't live a lie… I'm going to stay here in the past to spend every moment I can with her until my time dies out."
"No." Chibi-Usa looked at him sternly. "I tried to sway you to come on your own free will but no I see that was a waste of my time!"
Helios' eyes focused in on her frame while his brain tried to comprehend her words. Was she going to take him by force? He noticed something gold in her hand and he knew it was her transformational broach, she was going to attack him. "What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to dispose of your distractions in this time, I'm going to get rid of Kakyuu and Odango." She said as she raised her hand over her head.
Helios was surprised to say the least and quickly moved to grab her hand. He didn't know what kind of power Kakyuu had to defend herself and he knew that Odango was sleeping, she didn't stand a chance. "Stop, I'll go with you." He said looking into her eyes. "Just don't hurt them and I'll go back home with you." Chibi-Usa smiled and stopped what she was doing. Together they walked to the outer's house.
~@~@~@~
I got out of bed, unaware of just how much had happened last night, and stumbled into the kitchen where I found Kakyuu reading the paper. "Good morning." I said as I plopped myself down across from her.
She looked up from her paper and gave me an odd look, a look that almost said 'you poor creature' but hey, it was early, what did I know. "Earth's astronomers are trying to figure the disappearance out."
"What are you talking about?" I asked not really sure where this was going. I looked out the window and saw the drizzling rain streaming down upon the city. It didn't look so great so far.
Kakyuu smiled at me as she folded the paper and passed it my way. "We've done it, we've accomplished our mission and brought them together."
I looked down at the paper and saw the headline. 'Moon disappears.' It was an article on how the Earth's moon mysteriously left it's orbit last night and scientists have no idea how or why it happened. "Where is it?" I asked, it was a little too early in the morning for me to be conjuring up scientific ideas.
With a smile on her face, that seemed to broaden with my question, Kakyuu stood. "It has gone to the star Fighter." She walked over and poured me a cup of tea. "Earth is no longer in possession of the moon, therefore it may move freely throughout the universe. This is also true for Usagi's love and life."
"So since Usagi left Mamoru and has now gone to Seiya the moon has done the same?" I looked at Kakyuu dumbfoundedly. "So we're never going to have a moon again?"
"That's not necessarily true." She brought the cup down before me and reclaimed her previous seat. "I have to see my Starlights now."
"You mean it's over, we don't have to hide?" What a relief that would be.
Kakyuu shook her head much to my dismay. "No, I don't have to hide any more, but you on the other hand should."
I felt my brows furrow in contemplation. "Where's Helios?" I asked noticing for the first time that the apartment seemed all too quiet. I noticed Kakyuu look downward and faulter for a moment but quickly regained her normal composure. "What happened? Where is he?" From her reaction I could tell that it wasn't good, had something happened to him?
"Come, we must see the other Starlights."
~@~@~@~
The apartment was quiet and for once he didn't like it this way. Seiya was so incredibly thrilled but at the same time the same situation that caused his joy was chewing at him from the inside out. This was all that he had ever wished for, to be with Usagi, and now that he finally was could he hold onto it?
"I know what you're thinking about." Taiki said coming up next to him, he gracefully took a seat on the couch beside him. "You do realize your place, ne?"
"Hmm…" Seiya grunted in agreeance. He knew he didn't belong here and that he should have an unwavering loyalty to his Princess but what happened to the loyalty that he had to his own heart? "I don't…"
"There's no room for your feelings when it comes to being a senshi, you should already understand that." Taiki was stern, he didn't leave any room for argument.
"Is that how you do it Taiki?" Yaten's voice came from the doorway. "Can you honestly say that you still believe yourself any more?"
Seiya looked up, this new twist to their conversation was just the ammunition that he needed on his side. "What's going on?" He asked naively, but understood well where Yaten was coming from.
"I'm not going to deny my feelings, but I'm also not going to let them control me. I was well aware of my situation when I arrived here, and I have not strayed from my mission!" Taiki's anger rose with his voice. Were they daring to say that he was not loyal to their mission?
Yaten smiled and looked up at the taller man. "You might not have strayed but I can see that your heart and your mind have." Seiya continued to look on in awe, he had never witnessed anyone going against Taiki in a battle of logic, but this was not a battle that Taiki was going to give up on so easily.
"Does it even matter now?" Taiki said sitting back down. "So what if I do cave in and admit it? Where will that get me? Nowhere. We are to go home soon and protect our Princess if we ever find her. I will not give myself a false sense of hope for something that I know can never be."
"Sometimes hope is all we have." The Light's heads shot up to see who this new presence in the room was.
"Princess?" Seiya said with tears coming to his eyes. She was here, their princess had come back to them, but why was she with this girl?
"I'm sorry that I had to do what I did." Kakyuu said coming up in front of her Starlights while Odango stayed in the background. "To protect our future and that of the Moon Princess, I had to lead you to Earth."
"So you did come here only to have us follow you." Yaten said catching up. "But why? What does this have to do with our future? And what is she doing here?" He said pointing to the blond in the background.
"Welcome home my Starlights."
~@~@~@~
Mamoru sat on the porch of the outer's house. It was true he had been spending a lot of time there, but there was just something here that drew him. The rain was falling fast but it didn't put a damper on his mood. Michiru had explained to him the significance of the moon's disappearance but more importantly she had explained to him that the moon couldn't have left if the Earth didn't want it to.
Mamoru knew in his heart that he and Usagi didn't belong together, they just didn't understand one another. Their conversations were nothing more than that which good friends would have. They were on different levels and now they both knew it. Mamoru needed some one wiser, some one with more experience in life and some one who knew just what he needed.
Through the rain his eyes picked up a familiar burgundy light, it soon flickered and was replaced by a female form. Mamoru quickly left the porch and ran to the woman with an umbrella in hand. "You're going to catch a cold if you keep this up." He said as he placed the umbrella protectively above her head.
Setsuna smiled up at him and searched his face. "I've missed you." She said with a gleam in her eye.
Mamoru cracked a smile. "What do you mean? I've just only said good bye to you last night."
Setsuna realized her mistake and thought back upon the unconscious past version of herself that she had left at the gates of time. "I've come to help you get the moon back."
"What do you mean?" Mamoru looked at her suspiciously.
"You do want the moon back, don't you?" Setsuna's eyes were almost pleading as she looked up at him again awaiting her answer.
"Does the Earth truly need the moon?" He said wrapping his arms around her waist. "I know now that I can live without her…" He brought his forehead down to lean against hers, leaving the umbrella and the rain forgotten. "…but I can't live without you." His confession was sealed with a kiss. Two bodies in the rain, in the mist and in love.
Setsuna's job wasn't as hard as she thought it would be! (^_~)
~@~@~@~
"Pu?"
"Small Lady, quickly."
"I've brought Helios, everything will be fine now, ne Pu?"