Disclaimer: Tokyo and any other locations/brand names I may mention within the text do not belong to me (last I checked). Anyone you've never heard of is someone I've made up. All characters from BSSM are the intellectual property of one Naoko Takeuchi, and then a bunch of other companies and bigwigs, whom I am not in association with. Hey, that almost sounded official.

***Love and Time***

Aino Minako reached out and touched the giant rock. It was enormous; she couldn't see around it. It seemed to take up all of Tokyo.

The air was ripe with the smell of ashes, of burnt flesh, of decaying cadavers, and thousands of other sickening stenches. Minako had no stomach of steel, and had purged herself three times since awakening. All three instances were explosive and painful, but only the first time did she relieve herself of any material. The second and third instances were only dry heaves, spawned mostly by stress. The sheer weight of the situation was too much on the seventeen-year-old's mind.

The rock was cold by now, enormous and imposing. It was like touching a tombstone. "A mass tombstone for a mass grave," Minako whispered softly.

There was a rustle a few feet away, and she looked up expectantly, hopefully. Could it be someone else had survived the impact? But no, it was only Setsuna. It was horrible to say 'only', like her presence was less than desired, and now she was Minako's only companion. The two senshi, unspoken leaders of two factions of senshi, never spoke much. Sailorpluto occupied the Gates most of the time, and in the rest of her time, raised Hotaru whenever she'd expended energy and had resorted to infant form again. Minako was just trying to graduate high school, and had senshi duties, besides.

"Setsuna-san? What did you find?"

The elder senshi smiled sadly. "Please, just Setsuna. I don't want to waste however long we may have left being formal." Minako nodded. "I managed to scrounge up some food. Canned things. Anything fresh has rotted by now."

"I wonder how long we've been down," Minako said. "I wonder if this was global."

"I have no way of knowing," Setsuna admitted.

"We could go to the Gates and find out," the blond senshi said. "We'd be safer there, anyway. Didn't you survive the fall of the Silver Millennium there?"

"You say that like it's some great achievement," the other senshi said, a shadow passing over her eyes as she reflected on her gloomy past. But the expression passed quickly, and she offered the younger woman a brave smile. "I suppose we don't have much of a choice, do we?"

Minako was gazing at the meteor again, her hand grazing the foreboding, unforgiving rock. "Do you suppose this is our fault? Mass casualty because the meteor was aimed at us?"

"It wasn't aimed at us," Setsuna assured. "We tried to stop it, remember? We stepped into its path." She exhaled softly. "Eat some food. You need your strength to henshin later; you haven't eaten in days."

"How long were we down?" Minako wondered again.

The jade-haired senshi said nothing. "I still have to bury the others," she said, more for her benefit than Minako's. The blonde was staring intently at the rock, oblivious to anything but its evil, mysterious seduction. Setsuna chomped into a candy bar she'd found, discarding the wrapper without a second glance. The Earth was already destroyed, at this point litter didn't matter. Her growling stomach somewhat sate, the chocolate having added an element of warmth to her body, the senshi of time and space set off to find her companions and give them the proper burial they deserved.

The only indication of time were the lights on the horizon, indicating sunset. When Setsuna returned, her hands dirty with her friends' blood, the ground surrounding the high schooler was littered with wrappers and remains of Minako's meal. She was sprawled on the ground, pressed against the meteor. Her ear was positioned on the rock, listening intently, as if it intended to tell her why. "Ready?" Setsuna asked, and Minako looked up, as if surprised to see Setsuna.

"I don't think I ever want to henshin again," Minako said. "I think I just want to lie here and die."

Setsuna was stunned. Minako's temperament had changed totally in only a few hours. But she hadn't left the asteroid's side since finding Usagi's body, and now she was depressed and probably on the verge of hysteria. Throughout the course of their casual friendship, Setsuna had always know Minako to be bubbly, if not flighty, living the life of an average high schooler to the best of her ability. She loved video games and shopping and drooling over idol singers. But when push came to shove, Minako was the one to count on. In dire situations, she always kept a level head. She was strong, both mentally and physically. And no situation was more dire than the apocalypse they had just survived.

Setsuna reached for Minako's limp arm and tugged the girl to her feet. "Minako-chan," she said in her gentlest voice, the one she often reserved for conversations with young Chibi-Usa, "we have to get out of here. It's not safe. The Time Gates are forever untouched by anything, and from there we can assess just how great the damage is. All you have to do is henshin. Once we get there, you can rest. Okay?"

Minako stood numbly, finally daring to lift her head and stare at Setsuna, the familiar sparkly long gone from her blue eyes. "All right."

The senshi of time and space smiled and ruffled Minako's matted blond hair, showering ash on the girl's torn and stained school uniform. "Good girl." Setsuna raised her own henshin stick in the air, prayed she still had enough energy for everything to work, and announced grandly, "Pluto Planet power, make up!"

It worked. She felt the rush of her henshin, the flow of energy from places unknown as it vibrated within her being, coursing through her veins, strengthening her muscles, stamina, and resolve. Her fuku formed over her body, pristine and untouched, as if she were wearing it the first time. Her staff appeared in her hands, the familiar weight acting as a beacon for Setsuna's soul. She felt complete. She felt safe for the first time since this ordeal had begun.

Minako looked up at the elder senshi. She was smiling serenely at Minako, and the high schooler felt much younger than her actual age. Moping about wouldn't bring Usagi and the others back. Lying on the ground wouldn't save Tokyo, and it certainly wouldn't save herself. She and Setsuna were the earth's last best hope. Maybe its only survivors. She took a deep breath to steel her resolve, lifted her henshin wand proudly in the air, and yelled to the skies, "Venus Crystal power, make up!"

She stood amidst the rubble, Sailorvenus, short, blond, powerful and strong. She wasn't weepy, and she wasn't afraid. Never show fear was a senshi motto. And if it wasn't before, it certainly was now. "Take us to the Gates, Pluto," Minako said calmly.