Looking around at the faces surrounding her, Serena was flooded by
memories. Each face in this tiny temple held for her several lifetimes
worth of joy and pain, love and loss. Their lives were intertwined so much
with hers that it was hard to separate them. Even when the scouts fought
their Generals all of their lives were woven together in such a rich
tapestry that it was overwhelming to think about. That they had once again
found themselves together again was a miracle, one she planned on thanking
every power in the universe for.
And the two newest faces to her court were just another layer of depth to this group. Her daughter and Helios were standing off to the side, slightly apart from the rest but Serena knew that given time all things could be forgiven. Life was too short, too filled with sorrow and pain to inflict more on oneself by denying forgiveness and love. After all, that was how one fought the true evils of the world, with love and hope and forgiveness. She knew that it sounded naive to say things like that but she had never regretted living her life like that. And it had brought her here, reconciled with the past and reunited with friends that were like a second family to her.
She had just finished telling her part of the battle. Rini and Helios were now telling their side of the story. Serena felt like a heavy weight was descending on her shoulders as she learned more about the war in the future and how her child had become hunted by her enemies. It looked like a peaceful future would be a long way in the future.
She listened as Rini and Helios announced their plan to return to the future. Serena knew what they were risking but she felt proud of the pair. They knew that things were going to be hard but she had fought the pair and knew that they could take care of themselves. But that didn't stop the pang of fear for them that went through her heart. If she could, she would have taken this fight onto her own shoulders and saved these children the burden of it but she couldn't do that any more than Rini could go back to being the little girl she had been before this all started.
As Serena looked around at the others she saw sympathy and respect from the Scouts and Generals. They knew too much about the pain of betrayals and war to blame a mere child for falling into a trap set that they had all fallen into as well. Forgiveness would not come easily or immediately, for there were too many wounds that were still too fresh but it would come eventually and Rini and Helios deserved a second chance.
As the pair's story concluded there was a moment of silence while everyone tried to absorb everything they had heard and begin to consider the implications of it all. Serena stood and walked over, hugging first Rini and then Helios.
"You must take care of each other when you go back." Serena said, stepping back with tears in her eyes, "I am proud of you both."
"Thank you...Mother." Rini said hesitantly, fighting back her own tears.
Rini and Helios left that evening as the sun began to set in the sky, painting it in glorious shades of red and purple. Pluto appeared, summoned by Serena, and personally escorted the pair through the gate to their time and to the ongoing war there.
Little was said. There was little to say. The future parents faced their daughter, a woman they had been fighting for so long and yet barely knew. Rini saw the younger version of parents she had loved all her life and found them to be complete strangers. Helios bowed to a man who would someday be his King and remembered an argument he had with this man on top of a building that he never would have dared have with his King. The rest of the Scouts and Generals and two small cats looked on, witnesses to the family caught outside of their proper time. But there were the beginnings of genuine love and respect there between these four and hopefully, sometime in the future, these four would meet again in their proper time and be able to know each other.
After the gate closed Serena turned to those standing around her, "We have one last thing to do."
Luna and Artemis accepted ten multicolored pens from Serena. Luna took those that belonged to the Scouts and Serena while Artemis took the newly created pens for the Generals and Darien. Each pen held their knowledge of the events that would take place in the future.
The memories had been carefully separated and blocked by Serena and Darien from their courts. Luna and Artemis were the only ones allowed to remember, trusted to hold these memories safe till the time in the future when Rini began her journey. Only the memories of the events in the future had been blocked off and the entire court knew that these memories were now missing. But they had agreed to it knowing that the future could not be changed without risking making things worse than they were now.
But it had been hard to do. An extremely delicate process that had taken days for Serena and Darien to complete. In many ways it would have been easier for them to remove all of the memories of the Scouts rather than little bits and pieces but Serena had been determined to remove as little as was necessary. Another thing she had insisted on was that everyone had to agree to having their memories removed. None had objected.
Now, only knowing that there was something that they had voluntarily forgotten for the time being, the group began to go back to the lives they had left behind. Each had their own set of plans to take care of.
Mina and Malachite were apparently going to be signing several contracts with one another soon. It turned out that Malachite was actually head of the most powerful advertising company in Russia. Mina had recognized the name as they ran through the headquarters and had decided to use her new inside contact to score her own modeling company an exclusive contract with the Russian company.
Of course, the "negotiations" at times to be more part shouting matches and part cautious flirting than anything business related. Mina's partner, Alex, back in London had been stunned by the news of the deal.
"And here I thought you were spending all this vacation time of yours laying on a beach some where. You better be careful, my girl, or people might think that you a responsible businesswoman." Alex had teased her when she called to tell him the news.
Lita and Nephrite returned to Ireland, both worried over their prolonged absences. But Lita's staff had managed to deal without her, fixing the damages from the fight in time to open the bar when she returned and Nephrite's professors were more than willing to give him extra time since he had been called away in an emergency. It turned out that the fight in the college had actually caused quite a few such emergencies so no one was suspicious.
And Lass was overjoyed to have her Mistress home again. Healing wonderfully from her wounds, Lass was even strong enough to chase two cats up a tree when Serena came to check on her. While Lita and Serena were overjoyed by the dog's recovery, Luna and Artemis had other things to say.
Ami and Zoicite also returned to school. Although there were some frantic late night study sessions, they managed to finish the semester with grades intact. But before they had left, the pair had announced their engagement. Darien still claimed that the high pitched squeal of glee Serena had emitted upon hearing the news had actually been worse than Mina's.
Jadeite had been at a little bit of a loss, not having a life to return to like the rest. Speaking to Darien privately he had admitted to being more than a bit worried. He had no home, no money and no place in this world. The solution came from Rei, who simply informed Jadeite that she had a new batch of Kendo classes starting soon and she wanted him to teach the younger children, since she had no time for it. The job came with Chad's old living quarters in the temple.
Though the pair were still awkward around each other, Rei tending to impatient and snappish while Jadeite all too often was quiet and overly polite, Serena had no doubt that they would work something out.
As for Serena, she settled down to look for a new job. Her old one had apparently disliked her recent and frequent absences without warning. But it was hard to get too worked up about it. It was something she had gotten used to as Sailor Moon. Super heroes and steady jobs just did not fit well with one another. But she had enough in her savings to last her for awhile.
And that is where Darien found her, stretched out on her couch a week later, a red pen in her hand as she frowned down at the want ads in the paper, looking for something promising.
"Hey." Darien said, flopping down beside her.
Serena nodded at him, her eyes still glued to the paper till a rumble in her stomach that her new favorite person in the whole world had brought her food. Inhaling the delicious odors coming from the bag in Darien's hand, Serena looked up and smiled.
"Is that for me?" She asked.
"For us. I would like some too." Darien teased, leaning over and kissing her.
"Oh, all right. But only because I love you." Serena retorted, setting the paper off to the side as Darien unloaded takeout boxes onto her coffee table.
As they began to eat, Darien glanced over and asked casually, "Have you talked to your family recently?"
"What?" Serena asked, looking up in surprise.
Setting down his own food for a moment, Darien looked at her, "I think you should."
"But..." Serena looked at him, slightly panicky as she tried to respond.
"They know the truth now. You need to give them a second chance." Darien said, overriding any objections she might have some up with.
"They don't want me." Serena whispered so quietly that if Darien hadn't been listening carefully he would have missed it.
"Give them another chance. It's not easy to be the parents of a mythical super heroine." Darien answered, "And your brother deserves to know his sister, don't you think?"
Serena looked at his miserably, "Will you come with me?"
Darien gathered the slight blonde into his arms, holding her, "Always."
AN:Will wonders never cease. I actually got this out. I was originally going to add some more to it but on my wonderful beta's suggestion I'm just going to post it and write another chapter. So, it's a little shorter than normal but I think you'll forgive me. Right? Right? Quick note. It is not the end till I put "The End" at the bottom. Promise. But it is close. Only a few more chapters before this monster is finished. In the meantime, happy 4th of July to all the United States people out there!
Joou Himeko Dah Thanks! Glad to know you are enjoying this!
angeleyezgurl121 Updating...yea. Working on that sooner rather than latter thing. Really.
SailorRaven1619 Yea, I'm slow. I know. Thanks for the review though. Its nice to know people are reading! ebacusta Hee hee. Hurrying, I swear.
Priestess of Anime Darkness Aw! Not the puppy dog eyes!
Venus Smurf OMG! Your alive! And here I thought your brothers had finally caused you to go insane. Just kidding. Seriously though, you are awesome. I checked my reviews and just had a praise overload. Warm fuzzies all around. It really made my day. I just can't believe how great you are. ::hugs::
bunny angel Yea, I originally wanted to stick the outers in here but that would have made this monster of a story completely uncontrollable. Pluto was lucky she got in as much as she did. Still, I would like to do something with them eventually. We'll see what happens.
Angeleyezgurl121 Nope, not Indian or Paki. And my beta is on ff.net as Mercurial1. Not my daughter but the person who goes through and reads this to check for errors. She's a truly awesome person.
king koopa - Thanks. I will try and get over to read your stories sometime. I'm just horribly slow at things like that. But I look foreward to it!
happygolucky111 - I always like your reviews. Short and to the point. Hee hee. Thanks.
Destiny and Fate 4ever - Yea, well, the spore can't really die. But hopefully she isn't the annoying cottoncandy-for0brains that she is in the real Sailor Moon.
missaw - Yea! Happy dance! Anyways, as a requester of the fluffy and sweet romances let me know if you like or not!
Kimmy Well, thank you. Wow. Love those compliments. Of course, when you find some of the other authors out there like SailorPerfect and Venus Smurf you take back that comment about me being the best but for right now I'll bask in the praise.
Dark Hamadryad - No complaints about shortness this time please. Not with two new chapters put up in one day.
Jabba1 - Have you ever noticed the kitties always tend to disappear during the final battles. They just aren't combatants so they're stuck with the horrid job of waiting and wondering at home.
Moonie - Hee hee. Yea, everyone loves the fluff and stuff. X5-452Star I wanna vacation too! Please? This working 7 days a week thing is just plain silly. Now if only I wasn't poor I could afford to quit. ::sigh::
kalinda - Sorry, not exactly a quick update but I did bring you two chapter. Does that make up for it?
cosmoscat - Thanks! Hope you haven't given up on me.
Lil-PrincessK - Lol. Short and sweet reviews. Gotta love 'em. Faraday Lol! I waste time writing this stuff instead of studying so we're all even.
DarkSov - Cliché? It's Sailor Moon. I just thank my lucky stars everyday that the story isn't !#! pink.
crystalmoon13 - All these previous thanks for a quick update are just making me feel bad about my lateness.
Adyen - Wiseman died early on. You might have missed his death. It was really quick and waaaaay back in the beginning of the story which you probably read months ago so don't feel bad about forgetting about it.
EtrnalRhapsodi - Usually I try and resist the evil urges to leave cliff hangers. Seems cruel. But sometime the dark side wins and I have to write one. Moon's Rose Thanks. Hope all your exams went well!
BenRG - I am always amazed at how well people understand what my story is trying to convey. Thank you. Especially for the comment about liking Rini as a teenager rather than a little girl. I think she has just been through too much to ever be a little girl again but she is not yet an adult, and so her body reflects her mentality.
Kaji1 - Wow. Thanks. Especially for the realism comment. Sailor Moon is defiantly fantasy at its most sugar high but it is nice to know that you liked the everyday details that make the character more believable.
Ocianne - Kunzite take everything calmly, that what makes him so great with Mina. She's needs someone to balance out her slight hyperactiveness. hotohori's empress Not the end, not yet at least.
QueenofMercury - Well, resolutions made and just a few loose ends to tie up before this is all over. Woot!
roswellachick - Hey cool, I'm glad that someone caught the distinctinons between the phrases Rini and Serena used when talking. Sometimes I worry that things that are in my head aren't made clear on paper (or the computer screen)
lazzykane - Not the end, but close. Just a few loose ends to tie up and all should be good.
Kitsune Moonstar - Quick updates...right, I can do those...occasionally.
Mercurial1- I hope I got those sappy love scenes in. At least a few to make you go 'Awww'. I don't know if I told you this before but I loved your idea about Helios and Rini dealing with things. Unfortunatly, that's almost a whole new story. ...I'll think about it.
And the two newest faces to her court were just another layer of depth to this group. Her daughter and Helios were standing off to the side, slightly apart from the rest but Serena knew that given time all things could be forgiven. Life was too short, too filled with sorrow and pain to inflict more on oneself by denying forgiveness and love. After all, that was how one fought the true evils of the world, with love and hope and forgiveness. She knew that it sounded naive to say things like that but she had never regretted living her life like that. And it had brought her here, reconciled with the past and reunited with friends that were like a second family to her.
She had just finished telling her part of the battle. Rini and Helios were now telling their side of the story. Serena felt like a heavy weight was descending on her shoulders as she learned more about the war in the future and how her child had become hunted by her enemies. It looked like a peaceful future would be a long way in the future.
She listened as Rini and Helios announced their plan to return to the future. Serena knew what they were risking but she felt proud of the pair. They knew that things were going to be hard but she had fought the pair and knew that they could take care of themselves. But that didn't stop the pang of fear for them that went through her heart. If she could, she would have taken this fight onto her own shoulders and saved these children the burden of it but she couldn't do that any more than Rini could go back to being the little girl she had been before this all started.
As Serena looked around at the others she saw sympathy and respect from the Scouts and Generals. They knew too much about the pain of betrayals and war to blame a mere child for falling into a trap set that they had all fallen into as well. Forgiveness would not come easily or immediately, for there were too many wounds that were still too fresh but it would come eventually and Rini and Helios deserved a second chance.
As the pair's story concluded there was a moment of silence while everyone tried to absorb everything they had heard and begin to consider the implications of it all. Serena stood and walked over, hugging first Rini and then Helios.
"You must take care of each other when you go back." Serena said, stepping back with tears in her eyes, "I am proud of you both."
"Thank you...Mother." Rini said hesitantly, fighting back her own tears.
Rini and Helios left that evening as the sun began to set in the sky, painting it in glorious shades of red and purple. Pluto appeared, summoned by Serena, and personally escorted the pair through the gate to their time and to the ongoing war there.
Little was said. There was little to say. The future parents faced their daughter, a woman they had been fighting for so long and yet barely knew. Rini saw the younger version of parents she had loved all her life and found them to be complete strangers. Helios bowed to a man who would someday be his King and remembered an argument he had with this man on top of a building that he never would have dared have with his King. The rest of the Scouts and Generals and two small cats looked on, witnesses to the family caught outside of their proper time. But there were the beginnings of genuine love and respect there between these four and hopefully, sometime in the future, these four would meet again in their proper time and be able to know each other.
After the gate closed Serena turned to those standing around her, "We have one last thing to do."
Luna and Artemis accepted ten multicolored pens from Serena. Luna took those that belonged to the Scouts and Serena while Artemis took the newly created pens for the Generals and Darien. Each pen held their knowledge of the events that would take place in the future.
The memories had been carefully separated and blocked by Serena and Darien from their courts. Luna and Artemis were the only ones allowed to remember, trusted to hold these memories safe till the time in the future when Rini began her journey. Only the memories of the events in the future had been blocked off and the entire court knew that these memories were now missing. But they had agreed to it knowing that the future could not be changed without risking making things worse than they were now.
But it had been hard to do. An extremely delicate process that had taken days for Serena and Darien to complete. In many ways it would have been easier for them to remove all of the memories of the Scouts rather than little bits and pieces but Serena had been determined to remove as little as was necessary. Another thing she had insisted on was that everyone had to agree to having their memories removed. None had objected.
Now, only knowing that there was something that they had voluntarily forgotten for the time being, the group began to go back to the lives they had left behind. Each had their own set of plans to take care of.
Mina and Malachite were apparently going to be signing several contracts with one another soon. It turned out that Malachite was actually head of the most powerful advertising company in Russia. Mina had recognized the name as they ran through the headquarters and had decided to use her new inside contact to score her own modeling company an exclusive contract with the Russian company.
Of course, the "negotiations" at times to be more part shouting matches and part cautious flirting than anything business related. Mina's partner, Alex, back in London had been stunned by the news of the deal.
"And here I thought you were spending all this vacation time of yours laying on a beach some where. You better be careful, my girl, or people might think that you a responsible businesswoman." Alex had teased her when she called to tell him the news.
Lita and Nephrite returned to Ireland, both worried over their prolonged absences. But Lita's staff had managed to deal without her, fixing the damages from the fight in time to open the bar when she returned and Nephrite's professors were more than willing to give him extra time since he had been called away in an emergency. It turned out that the fight in the college had actually caused quite a few such emergencies so no one was suspicious.
And Lass was overjoyed to have her Mistress home again. Healing wonderfully from her wounds, Lass was even strong enough to chase two cats up a tree when Serena came to check on her. While Lita and Serena were overjoyed by the dog's recovery, Luna and Artemis had other things to say.
Ami and Zoicite also returned to school. Although there were some frantic late night study sessions, they managed to finish the semester with grades intact. But before they had left, the pair had announced their engagement. Darien still claimed that the high pitched squeal of glee Serena had emitted upon hearing the news had actually been worse than Mina's.
Jadeite had been at a little bit of a loss, not having a life to return to like the rest. Speaking to Darien privately he had admitted to being more than a bit worried. He had no home, no money and no place in this world. The solution came from Rei, who simply informed Jadeite that she had a new batch of Kendo classes starting soon and she wanted him to teach the younger children, since she had no time for it. The job came with Chad's old living quarters in the temple.
Though the pair were still awkward around each other, Rei tending to impatient and snappish while Jadeite all too often was quiet and overly polite, Serena had no doubt that they would work something out.
As for Serena, she settled down to look for a new job. Her old one had apparently disliked her recent and frequent absences without warning. But it was hard to get too worked up about it. It was something she had gotten used to as Sailor Moon. Super heroes and steady jobs just did not fit well with one another. But she had enough in her savings to last her for awhile.
And that is where Darien found her, stretched out on her couch a week later, a red pen in her hand as she frowned down at the want ads in the paper, looking for something promising.
"Hey." Darien said, flopping down beside her.
Serena nodded at him, her eyes still glued to the paper till a rumble in her stomach that her new favorite person in the whole world had brought her food. Inhaling the delicious odors coming from the bag in Darien's hand, Serena looked up and smiled.
"Is that for me?" She asked.
"For us. I would like some too." Darien teased, leaning over and kissing her.
"Oh, all right. But only because I love you." Serena retorted, setting the paper off to the side as Darien unloaded takeout boxes onto her coffee table.
As they began to eat, Darien glanced over and asked casually, "Have you talked to your family recently?"
"What?" Serena asked, looking up in surprise.
Setting down his own food for a moment, Darien looked at her, "I think you should."
"But..." Serena looked at him, slightly panicky as she tried to respond.
"They know the truth now. You need to give them a second chance." Darien said, overriding any objections she might have some up with.
"They don't want me." Serena whispered so quietly that if Darien hadn't been listening carefully he would have missed it.
"Give them another chance. It's not easy to be the parents of a mythical super heroine." Darien answered, "And your brother deserves to know his sister, don't you think?"
Serena looked at his miserably, "Will you come with me?"
Darien gathered the slight blonde into his arms, holding her, "Always."
AN:Will wonders never cease. I actually got this out. I was originally going to add some more to it but on my wonderful beta's suggestion I'm just going to post it and write another chapter. So, it's a little shorter than normal but I think you'll forgive me. Right? Right? Quick note. It is not the end till I put "The End" at the bottom. Promise. But it is close. Only a few more chapters before this monster is finished. In the meantime, happy 4th of July to all the United States people out there!
Joou Himeko Dah Thanks! Glad to know you are enjoying this!
angeleyezgurl121 Updating...yea. Working on that sooner rather than latter thing. Really.
SailorRaven1619 Yea, I'm slow. I know. Thanks for the review though. Its nice to know people are reading! ebacusta Hee hee. Hurrying, I swear.
Priestess of Anime Darkness Aw! Not the puppy dog eyes!
Venus Smurf OMG! Your alive! And here I thought your brothers had finally caused you to go insane. Just kidding. Seriously though, you are awesome. I checked my reviews and just had a praise overload. Warm fuzzies all around. It really made my day. I just can't believe how great you are. ::hugs::
bunny angel Yea, I originally wanted to stick the outers in here but that would have made this monster of a story completely uncontrollable. Pluto was lucky she got in as much as she did. Still, I would like to do something with them eventually. We'll see what happens.
Angeleyezgurl121 Nope, not Indian or Paki. And my beta is on ff.net as Mercurial1. Not my daughter but the person who goes through and reads this to check for errors. She's a truly awesome person.
king koopa - Thanks. I will try and get over to read your stories sometime. I'm just horribly slow at things like that. But I look foreward to it!
happygolucky111 - I always like your reviews. Short and to the point. Hee hee. Thanks.
Destiny and Fate 4ever - Yea, well, the spore can't really die. But hopefully she isn't the annoying cottoncandy-for0brains that she is in the real Sailor Moon.
missaw - Yea! Happy dance! Anyways, as a requester of the fluffy and sweet romances let me know if you like or not!
Kimmy Well, thank you. Wow. Love those compliments. Of course, when you find some of the other authors out there like SailorPerfect and Venus Smurf you take back that comment about me being the best but for right now I'll bask in the praise.
Dark Hamadryad - No complaints about shortness this time please. Not with two new chapters put up in one day.
Jabba1 - Have you ever noticed the kitties always tend to disappear during the final battles. They just aren't combatants so they're stuck with the horrid job of waiting and wondering at home.
Moonie - Hee hee. Yea, everyone loves the fluff and stuff. X5-452Star I wanna vacation too! Please? This working 7 days a week thing is just plain silly. Now if only I wasn't poor I could afford to quit. ::sigh::
kalinda - Sorry, not exactly a quick update but I did bring you two chapter. Does that make up for it?
cosmoscat - Thanks! Hope you haven't given up on me.
Lil-PrincessK - Lol. Short and sweet reviews. Gotta love 'em. Faraday Lol! I waste time writing this stuff instead of studying so we're all even.
DarkSov - Cliché? It's Sailor Moon. I just thank my lucky stars everyday that the story isn't !#! pink.
crystalmoon13 - All these previous thanks for a quick update are just making me feel bad about my lateness.
Adyen - Wiseman died early on. You might have missed his death. It was really quick and waaaaay back in the beginning of the story which you probably read months ago so don't feel bad about forgetting about it.
EtrnalRhapsodi - Usually I try and resist the evil urges to leave cliff hangers. Seems cruel. But sometime the dark side wins and I have to write one. Moon's Rose Thanks. Hope all your exams went well!
BenRG - I am always amazed at how well people understand what my story is trying to convey. Thank you. Especially for the comment about liking Rini as a teenager rather than a little girl. I think she has just been through too much to ever be a little girl again but she is not yet an adult, and so her body reflects her mentality.
Kaji1 - Wow. Thanks. Especially for the realism comment. Sailor Moon is defiantly fantasy at its most sugar high but it is nice to know that you liked the everyday details that make the character more believable.
Ocianne - Kunzite take everything calmly, that what makes him so great with Mina. She's needs someone to balance out her slight hyperactiveness. hotohori's empress Not the end, not yet at least.
QueenofMercury - Well, resolutions made and just a few loose ends to tie up before this is all over. Woot!
roswellachick - Hey cool, I'm glad that someone caught the distinctinons between the phrases Rini and Serena used when talking. Sometimes I worry that things that are in my head aren't made clear on paper (or the computer screen)
lazzykane - Not the end, but close. Just a few loose ends to tie up and all should be good.
Kitsune Moonstar - Quick updates...right, I can do those...occasionally.
Mercurial1- I hope I got those sappy love scenes in. At least a few to make you go 'Awww'. I don't know if I told you this before but I loved your idea about Helios and Rini dealing with things. Unfortunatly, that's almost a whole new story. ...I'll think about it.