Tides of Darkness

Walks and Talks

The next morning, Rei woke early and crawled over to where Minako was sleeping.  Nudging her shoulder, she leaned in close and whispered her friend's name. One sleepy eye opened and shot Rei a death glare for waking her from her very important beauty sleep.

"Rei, you evil baka, do you know what time it is?"

"Yea, 5:23.  Yea, in the morning.  Get up, we have to talk.  It's important." Minako sat up and groaned. "Oh, and be quiet!"

"Get up?  Where are we talking and what are we talking about?"

"Shhh!!!" Rei gave Minako a fierce glare and beckoned for her friend to come over to the door. "We have to talk somewhere no one can hear us. So I decided we are going on a early morning walk."

"Before breakfast?"

"You can wait."

The girls padded silently into the kitchen, and Rei grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled a message about the sunrise and being back before breakfast. Once they were outside, Rei pointed towards the infamous path that they had walked only a few days earlier and headed in that direction.

"Why me?" Minako groaned, and began to slowly follow Rei. "If I have to do this, I'm gonna take my time."

They had been walking down the path for quite some time, and Rei had explained what happened the night before with Usagi, carefully leaving out the part where she had cried.  Minako was now in the lead, something which usually irritated Rei, but which now she was glad for. She didn't need her friend to see how deeply her conversation with Usagi had hurt her, nor the expressions that would flash across her face.

"So what should we do?" Minako asked, pushing a branch out of her way.  Rei ducked as it swung back into place.

"How should I know?  She won't come back with us." Rei kicked at a stone lying on the path, completely missing it.

"Are you sure?  Maybe I should try… maybe – maybe I could tell her the –"

"NO!  Don't even bother.  Your not gonna get any further than I did. Remember that we don't want to tell Usagi about her past life?  Remember what Setsuna said?  And what are we left with? There is no way to convince her to return."  Minako opened her mouth to protest, but got cut off as the priestess continued.  "And to even think about telling her the truth…. Madness!  What would you tell her to make it seem better than it was?"

"Well, I could tell her that she was a princess… and that she had awesome powers… and a gorgeous boyfriend? How does that sound?"

"What, would you casually forget to tell her the part about her kingdom being destroyed, about how she used hate those powers, about how her boyfriend put her through hell and back? Would you tell her about a wonderful destiny that any girl would die for… But you know, she did die for it! To hell with destiny!"  Rei blinked away the tears that were forming in the corners of her eyes, and shakily whispered, "All is lost. And I don't see a way to get anything back."

"Rei…"

"Do you see a way?" Rei was on the verge of either crying or flying into a rage. "You're supposed to be the leader of the senshi. You're supposed to deal with this type of stuff!  So whats your solution?! Do you see any other way?  Cause if you do I would really love to hear it!" She couldn't keep the tears from coming now, and as they rolled freely down her face she practically collapsed onto the wet grass. "I hate crying!  I hate my reasons for crying! I hate myself for feeling like I need to bring Usagi back to a world that she rejected, for holding her back from a life that she wants.  That she chose.  Minako… I used to be her best friend. Now, she – she – we won't ever be that close again!" Rei buried her face in her hands and began to sob.

Minako sat down next to Rei and latched both arms firmly around her friend. "Shhh… it's ok… I don't know what we are going to do, but we will figure something out, I promise."

***Back at the Gates of Time***

Pluto sighed and shook her head. "Maybe it was a mistake to send them on this journey. It's causing so much heartbreak for them…"

"No, it wasn't a mistake."

Pluto whirled and quickly got into an attack stance. "Reveal yourself!" A figure emerged from the mists. "Mamoru! How did you get here without me noticing?  And why are you here at all?"

"So much for the warm welcome."

"You don't deserve to be welcomed here. You don't deserve to be welcomed anywhere," Pluto spat, giving the former prince a look that would have sent any normal mortal running. Mamoru merely winced.

"Please, don't be so harsh on me."

"Why the hell not? I should kill you right here, right now. You are the reason for this whole mess!  What possessed you to do that to Usagi? Everything was going perfectly up until the time that you decided to be an asshole and go cheat on a beautiful girl who was, literally, offering you the world."

"Listen - "

"No, Mamoru, I really don't have time to listen to your excuses. I'm sure they are perfectly pathetic and sappy and I'm sure you rehearsed them for hours in front of the mirror."

"Setsuna, I really can explain." Mamoru held his ground as the guardian of time walked right up to him, practically daring him to back down.  And even though she was shorter, she seemed, at that moment, to be nine feet tall and exceedingly threatening. 

"I could send you to a realm where you would be tortured beyond belief. No one would ever hear from you again, and there would be no escape." Pluto gave her former king the most disgusted look she could muster up. "I doubt anyone would even care or notice that you are missing."

"Let me explain."

"Fine. Go ahead."

"Your right. I didn't know what I was doing. I guess I don't deserve Usagi –"

"You guess," Pluto snorted in derision.

"Let me finish. I don't deserve Usagi, and I'm quite sure you have sent her off somewhere where she can't be hurt by me, right?  Right.  And yes, I did contribute to that, and I'm damn glad I did."

"How dare you!"

"How dare I indeed. I dared to do what no one else would. I set Usagi free."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well…. That's that for this chapter. Yes, it's short, but I promised some people I would finish this. =)

Spirit of Cosmos