Wow, it's my longest chappie yet! (only by about thirty words, but hey! it's longer!) I said I would get this out, and so it is! Usagi (may) patches things up with the generals, and the senshis (or one of them) actually do something (constructive, for once). Hoorah! Please review, it makes me so happy to see them!
"And about eight years ago, Queen Beryl was defeated, and so were you." Usagi paused at the near-end of her tale. She was carefully considering just what she had to say. "But you were not killed, somehow, not like Beryl was killed. Perhaps it was because you were not the same as from the Silver Millennium.
"In any case, your memories were blanked, and you were set up in traditional, human, lives." She gazed at the men before her, her compassion at the tale clear, even though these men had once been her biggest enemies. Her nature was so full of love, Kunzite noticed, that she couldn't not care for anyone. Not even them, or at least their past selves, who had hurt her closest friends.
"And so, when I met you seven years ago, you had no memory of me, though I knew all about you. I had been keeping up with you over the year since we defeated Beryl and Metallia. I knew where you were, what you did, all that." She smiled to show that she had not been trying to be a crazy stalker type. "And then, when I left Japan, I couldn't think of anywhere else to go," she finished, after nearly an hour.
There was a sort of profound silence, the sort that comes when all in a group are deep in thought. Usagi was sunk in her own memories of the time she'd spent with these men, the crazy mishaps as she adjusted to living as the only female in an apartment with four males, getting a job as she finished her schooling as quickly as possible, setting a false past, and more. She could tell that she wasn't the only one sunk in memory.
Nephrite was smiling slightly, and she could only guess that he was remembering the same things she was. He'd always been the thoughtful one, but she'd managed to tease out his mischievousness. They'd even gone out for a few months, but in the end they'd settled for being simply very good friends. He showed no unhappiness, or discontent, so she assumed that he had not been disturbed by her tale, which led to the fact that he had still been receiving messages from his magic, subconsciously.
Jadeite was glassy eyed, as he probed his memory, seeing –thinking- things that had never made sense play out in his mind. He had a small smile, and so Usagi assumed, once more, that what he was remembering wasn't troubling him as she had feared.
Kunzite and Zoicite had identical expressions, or identical lack of expressions. Their hands were clasped, probably sub-consciously. Usagi could not guess at what they were thinking, but they were the two she had been most worried for. Kunzite had been the highest ranking general for Beryl, and Zoicite his closest in rank. Kunzite had been subjected to horrors at Beryl's hands that Usagi shuddered to remember. His memory had also been the most fragile. Zoicite was the most accepting of the four, but he would be sharing Kunzite's memories, most likely, and Usagi had no idea what would be going on in the blond general's mind.
Finally, Kunzite seemed to pull out of his introspection. "If we were so evil, why were we not killed with Beryl, instead sent to live as humans?" he asked.
If that is the first question he asks, then what else is he thinking? Usagi wondered, knowing this man was far more intelligent then she was, or knew. "Because none of you were truly in your right minds while you served Beryl. You were like passengers in your own body, as Beryl's magic controlled you. Since nothing you did under her was truly your actions, you were allowed to live. And it took some serious string-pulling to get you set up, but I managed." She clasped her hands over her mouth. She hadn't meant to tell them that she was responsible for that!
Jedeite eyed her speculatively. "Is that so?" he asked, but there was humor in his bleu eyes. "Can you prove this?" he asked.
Damn, Usagi swore. She didn't want to use any sort of powers, afraid that it would alert the senshis, but figured, what the hey? "Yes, Jed-chan, I can," she said, her voice slightly hushed. She stood up, slightly off-balance from sitting in one place for an extended period of time, to kneel in front of him. She placed one pale hand on his forehead.
The others watched in silence as Usagi and Jedeaite communed silently for a few minutes. When Usagi pulled her hand away from his forehead, Jedeite grabbed her gently into a hug, whispering something to her that the others could not hear.
Usagi laughed, her voice it's normal silvery brilliance. She laid one hand on Jedeite's arm, and spoke loud enough for all to hear. "Thank-you, but it is enough for me that you all are well." She got off him, showing some reluctance, and moved to stand before Nefrite. "Do you need proof as well?" she asked, but was surprised when he shook his head. "There are too many truths for me to not believe you, though I wish you had told us sooner. I think some of those sealed memories are coming back or something, because there are many things I now remember that I most definitely didn't before." Despite his formal tone, he smiled, and hugged her as well, but silently.
Usagi pulled away, and turned to Zoicite and Kunite, and repeated her question, though a bit more timidly. She truly did not know what to expect from them. The two shared a look, before Kunzite spoke. "No," he said, "We believe you. And we also believe in your wish for our continued good health. I think, though, that it will be easier on all of us now that there are no big secrets hanging over our heads."
Usagi gave them both hugs, but she was thinking If only they knew...
Makoto tugged on Ami's arm, trying in vain to detach the bleu senshi from her furious typing. They were in the palace's main control room, and Ami had been hard at work since they had left Usagi's room, which had been two days ago. She was worried for the small Queen of Mercury, and the other senshis agreed. "Ami," she repeated, after getting no response from any of her earlier queries.
Finally, Ami broke out of the odd trance she'd fallen into, and stood up, pushing the keyboard away. She stumbled, and would've fallen if Makoto had not caught her. She glanced at the Jupiter Queen with glassy bleu eyes, before fainting. Mako sighed. "That's what she gets, I suppose, after neglecting herself for two days." She picked up the too light queen, and carried her back to Ami's rooms.
"So, Ames, what's the deal with this fanatic working?" Minako asked, later that day after Ami had woken from her lack of food and sleep induced faint. They, meaning the inner senshis along with Endymion, were gathered in Ami's rooms, spread out on chairs and couches. Ami had her laptop out, and she was gazing at it, though she was till paying attention to the others.
"Usagi," she said simply.
"Which one?" Mako asked, confused.
"Ours, both, neither. I don't know!" she exclaimed. "I checked the readings for our Usagi's magic, again, and got nothing. But then I searched for this Usagi, and found her." She seemed oddly pleased with herself, and didn't explain how any of this had any significance.
"And?" Rei asked irritably. She had been worried about Ami, but now she just wasn't making any sense. "Why is she so important?"
Ami smiled, not put off by the beautiful senshi's anger. "Because," and she stopped for effect, "They are the same!"
A shocked silence prevailed in the room, as the senshis struggled to understand the concept. "But... how?" Mako asked, looking as bewildered as the rest of them.
"I don't know, but something clicked when we entered Usagi's room. I figured there was no harm in checking up on her, right?" Ami turned her laptop screen so it was facing the others. "Take a look at this," she said, pointing at the statistics. "The top one is our Usagi, and the lower one is the bottom Usagi. I took DNA samples of both of them. Since Usagi left many of her clothes behind when she left two days ago, and I already had a sample of our Usagi from long ago, I compared them."
She had every reason to be triumphant as the other senshis saw the identical match. "But..." Rei started, and faltered.
"Why did she come back and manage to stay unnoticed?" Endymion finished for her, his expression grim.
Ami shrugged. "I don't claim to know my Queen's mind. But, however, I do know where she is."
Okay, so not as long as I thought it would be, but I thought this would be a good place to end it. Aren't I so evil? And it's out less then two days after chapter Six! I promised! Anybody noticed the (subtle) jibe Ami throws at Endymion in the last paragraph? :D