Chiba Mamoru had awoken before his alarm clock set off. The color of the sky and the dimness of the light immediately told him it was not yet five AM, and so he lay back down to regain the peacefulness of sleep, but after a quarter of an hour of restless tossing, decided to get out of bed. He slid his feet into dark blue slippers that, every night, were strategically placed to let him put them on in the mornings without him having to look for them. It was an action made to be an unconscious gesture, one of many. He liked to feel prepared at all times, liked the satisfaction it brought when all aspects of his life were squarely in his hands.

His life had gone awry two years back in his junior year of high school when for apparently no reason his dreams were suddenly plagued by a girl calling out a man's name and for him to remember. Mamoru would ask her Remember what? But the girl, whose features he could never make out distinctly, always disappeared into a thick mist, not answering his question, not saying anything else, just fading into nothingness, before he could so much as blink twice. It was always the same dream, down to the last detail. But there was an echo in Mamoru's mind that thrummed painfully, always asking, always pleading, always gently demanding in that sad, soft whisper: Endymion, please remember, please remember… it would go on and on and on, reverberating with such strength that he woke up sweating and gasping, feeling a bit of fear in his heart. Fear, not because this apparition kept plaguing his dreams, but fear for the girl—because he wanted to help but could not. He knew it was crazy, but he thought that he had crossed paths with this girl before… he also knew it was crazy to want to protect her, for the rational part of him argued that he had never met this girl in his life, and the even more rational part of him realized he had never felt the need nor the desire to go even further than a polite greeting to any girl he had ever met before. After waking he would often just lie in bed, mulling over the dream, turning every word and image of it over in his mind, wondering why he thought he knew this girl and disturbed that he cared so much.

And then one star-filled night, he awoke to find himself roaming the great, crowded city of Tokyo in a black tuxedo, complete with a cloak and tall hat. And he remembered that he had done this every night since the dreams began….

He had to put a stop to this.

The next night the dream-girl asked another favor of Endymion, and Mamoru could not remember while dreaming to tell her that his name was Mamoru, not Endymion, so please leave him be, thank you very much. But something about her, the sadness that resonated from her soul to pierce into his heart, stopped him cold, as it had all the nights before. The Silver Imperium Crystal, she said, her gaze even from afar intense enough to hold him where he stood, is close by… you must find it.

The sensation of helplessness, which Mamoru hated with a passion ever since he could remember and had always tried to avoid, increased as the nights rolled by. He still did not know the girl's identity and he had never heard of a silver Imperium crystal in his life.

He thought he would fall into despair for his helplessness when, one night, while snooping into jewelry stores to look for the crystal, he encountered Sailormoon. She was a young girl with two ridiculous odango-styled buns atop her head, making her like some warped version of Mickey Mouse. From the buns trailed long, thick tresses of white-gold hair. At that time it only reached the back of her knees. He had never really stopped to appreciate her hair, unique as it was, because he had been thunderstruck with her Sailor outfit… and the sight of her standing up to a monstrous being—which he knew at once was not from their world. There was pure evilness in the way it moved and eyed the girl in front of it, and he felt strangely protective of her. He clutched a rose tucked neatly in a pocket of his cape, ready to throw it as a distraction of sorts if the girl needed aid.

Mamoru recalled what she had said that night, speaking to the demon in a pissed-off voice (from which, he gathered at hearing her tirade, that the monster had ruined her life as a "normal" girl, whatever that meant). The demon had asked who the hell was it that dared try interfering with the Negaverse and the girl had answered hesitantly at first. Who am I? I… I… The moon from behind her seemed to glow more brilliantly.I am… Sailormoon! Champion of love and justice!

He had reeled at her speech. The title Sailormoon seemed vaguely familiar, like the girl in his dreams. He had watched her, with interest burning quickly in his eyes, his identity disguised by a simple eye mask. Watching her had made him wince in the beginning; at the first sign of danger the girl had started wailing in such a high-pitched voice that all beings nearby with ears had to cover them or risk eternal deafness. Surprise came in spades that night when the girl defeated the demon's magic with a magic of her own. For a long moment neither of them could speak; they had both been surprised at what she had done. He recovered first and took the opportunity to introduce himself to Sailormoon.

A feeling of freefall and rightness charged the air between them. He moved with a cat's grace and a matador's flair. The scent of wild roses permeated their awareness.

It has been a pleasure watching you fight, Sailormoon… I hope we meet again. Until then— he had turned to leave, but she stopped him by calling out, Matte! Anatawa… dade?

Part of him wanted to laugh at himself for parrying her title with one of his own, part of him revolted at the idea, and another part whispered that it was destiny for them to have met. And a name had started swirling in his mind, pushing to be voiced. Surrendering to the impulse, he pinched the brim of his tall hat and looked over his shoulder to her. Blue-gray eyes met crystal-blue eyes. He had smiled, then—his first smile in weeks—and said, I am Tuxedo Kamen. Until next time, sayonara. With a rustle of black fabric and a sudden whoosh of wind through the trees, he had jumped away from her to melt silently into the protective seclusion of the night.

Sailormoon soon became like the girl whispering to him in his dreams. He saw her every night, feeling he had been drawn to her, feeling her need for his help. As she had left an impression on him, he returned the favor and left an impression on her with his crimson red roses, which always seemed to help her out of a scrape and soon became the mark of his truly unique attacks (who else would think to throw a flower—however sharp its thorns were—at a demon?). However he couldn't believe that any girl who threw herself nightly into dangerous situations could act so childish sometimes, as shown when she would wail inconsolably whenever a demon started blasting her. Yet when she found it in herself to fight back, he could not believe the beauty and glory she displayed, as though she became a different person entirely. He saw that as time went by and she fought every evil thrown in her way, this other side of her would appear more and more frequently.

In a matter of days after meeting Sailormoon new details to his dream were constantly added: first a crescent moon in the background, then a glowing crescent moon turned sideways on her forehead. It illuminated the girl's face and hair, and though he still could not see her face clearly he took note of the lush pale goldenness of her long, trailing hair. At this time he knew she was royalty, a goddess, a Princess of other times and other places than modern Earth's second millennia in Tokyo. He did not know what to make of it. As he fought never-ending demons of the Negaverse alongside the mysterious Sailormoon, his dreams became clearer and clearer. As Sailormercury, Sailormars, Sailorjupiter and the legendary Sailorvenus soon joined Sailormoon's side, new revelations came upon Mamoru. His dreams took a new hold on him, so that when the nights came and he fought with the Sailorscout team, he did not know whether he was living in reality or in dream. His dreamstate occasionally did an odd thing to his mind. A few times he thought he felt the essence of his dream-girl overlaid with Sailormoon's, and he thought she was his Princess. He thought this was because the odango-haired Sailor had become inextricably linked, in his mind, with the dream-girl: he had been helping the dream-girl by helping Sailormoon.

When the dreams became focused one night after dozens of battles with the enemy, the girl's face was finally revealed to him. She was far away, but dream-Mamoru ran towards her, his movements made sluggish by morning mist. He said her name gently, worriedly: Serenity-hime. And dream-Mamoru knew this was the first time her name was known to him, and he stored the name deep inside his heart so that when he awoke he would not forget it. The Princess smiled at him as though to tell him that was not necessary; he would remember, now, always. Her pale blue eyes wavered from tears of sorrow and a prophecy of disaster, however, and from her soft blood-drained lips came the full speech. This dream would never be altered again.

If you want to know who you are, you must find the Silver Imperium Crystal. The world would be destroyed soon if you do not. Endymion, please remember me, please remember everything soon. Endymion, please remember, please remember….

He thought that she could not possibly be talking to him, she must have mistaken him for this Endymion fellow—again. A little flare of jealousy erupted, and he had to look away for a moment. When he could bear to bring his eyes back upon her his heart lurched at the despair that filled her eyes. When he said her name questioningly a single tear rolled slowly down her cheek, glittering by the light of the stars and the distant Moon, and that tear seemed to Mamoru to be the signal that she had finally broken from the weight of destiny. Before he knew what he was doing and could stop himself, before he realized that she was a Princess and he an ordinary, common man, his hand had cupped her cheek. His thumb rubbed lightly over the sobbing mouth, and his long fingers bent to wipe away the tear. Unable to stand being so far away from her, he drew her into his arms and lowered his face into her hair. Before his eyes closed, he saw that he recognized the Princess's hairstyle, but he could not place where he had seen it before. It only registered that it was a unique style and that he had seen the type before. He caressed it, running his fingers lovingly through the lengths of it, and felt her whole body tremble. He knew she was about to disappear on him again, but before she could he whispered fiercely to her that he would remember, he would remember everything, and he would save her from whatever threat it was that chained her down.

She was gone the next instant, and he did not know whether she had heard his promise or not, but the intensity of his will to keep that promise would die only with his death, when his body had crumbled to ashes and his soul was left to wander freely, in peace with the universe.

When he awoke from this new dream he knew he was in love with Serenity. He had never been in love before.

He could not believe that the dream-Mamoru, this other side of himself that had never surfaced before, was so gentle. In everyday life his mind and body would freeze at the chance to do anything so sweet, and while he was not a cold person, he certainly wasn't known as the warmest either. This other side of him must have hid deep, deep inside where it could not get out long ago in his childhood, when he and his parents were in a car accident and he had been the only one to survive. The total amnesia that followed had claimed his childhood, and therefore his happiness and his innocence, and a new life as renamed orphan Chiba Mamoru had begun. With it only coldness and reservation seemed to suppress his feelings of loss and abandonment.

Mamoru unwittingly took out some of his frustration with a junior high schoolgirl he always happened to bump into on the street or in The Crown, a neighboring arcade where one of his good friends worked at. The first thing he had noticed about Tsukino Usagi, upon meeting her in front of a jewelry store, the same one where he met Sailormoon—and on the same day, too—was the brilliance of her eyes. Light blue that flashed angrily into his own, he could not help but feel a little admiration for her liveliness and a little pensive at the familiarity with which the air of this girl, like the Princess and Sailormoon, had struck upon him. The next thing he had noticed was her hair: just like Sailormoon's, just like…. He could not remember. For some reason he became befuddled at trying to remember. As a saving grace he called her cowtails.

These are not cowtails, stupid, she had yelled, they're pigtails. Pigtails!

He opened the bunched sheet of paper she had thrown over her head unknowingly at him. He was completely surprised to see a 37 marked in red on some sort of test sheet. He crumpled the paper up and tossed it back to her, saying with contempt, Who's calling who stupid, pigtails. She had walked away fuming and muttering about crazy idiots dressed in tuxedos walking down the street in the middle of the day… he had watched her go, not missing one footstep.

From this unpromising start arose all hell. Mamoru picked on the girl relentlessly. He called her odango-atama (dumpling head); at first just to watch the hilarious reactions that played over her face, later because it would be weird to start calling her Tsukino or Usagi-chan. His nickname for her just seemed so appropriate. And it wasn't as though she truly hated him for this. She just hated him for other reasons (he was sure).

One day as they were arguing he caught himself actually enjoying their heated debates. She was just so lively, and he secretly loved watching her brilliant eyes, which betrayed her every thought and emotion. He started wondering if any other guy could read her so easily, and something akin to anger and jealousy would ripple within. Each time he felt this way, his untenable emotions would turn back on all logic, clamping ever more securely to his heart. He had to hold himself back whenever he saw the odango with his friend Andrew, who worked at The Crown. To keep appearances up he joked playfully with Andrew and teased the odango until she was too steamed up to stand it any longer and stormed out of the arcade. At these times he thought he could imagine smoke wafting out of her flushed ears. Mamoru knew it was immature for him to do this every time, and Andrew would call him on it, but he could only shrug and tell his friend that there was just something about the girl that disturbed him. Which was true, in part. Just disturbed him in ways he would never confess to anyone. But on the day that he realized he really liked Tsukino, he found himself at a loss.

His head ached with the dilemma he found himself in. Attracted to a schoolgirl, falling for a superhero and in love with a Princess who for all he knew did not really exist, what was a guy to do! He had never even liked a girl before in any capacity, and here within a few months he had found himself thinking constantly of these three—all in one fell swoop, no less! He could not understand it; he had thought himself more practical than this; he had thought himself immune when he had never even taken a second look at any girl up until they had come along.

Then again he had never accounted for one thing—the determining factor in his growing attraction to these girls: romance. The meaning of the word had always entered one ear and floated out of the other like the nagging of a flea, and suddenly he was immersed in its very definition. He began thinking of the parries and blows he exchanged daily with Tsukino on the street; he began blushing whenever he came close to Sailormoon (thankfully this was somewhat hidden by the mask); he began daydreaming about his nightly dreams—surely the best indication of madness. He could not imagine himself in said situations with any other girl. He was only glad he was not in such a way with any of them that he was forced to decide to whom his loyalty belonged.

Tsukino Usagi, bishoujo senshi Sailormoon and Serenity-hime were all extremely pretty, as girls went, and perhaps Mamoru could have understood his growing attachment to all had they all been of alike character and temperament—but they were each different as night versus dawn versus day. After fighting with Sailormoon and dreaming of his Princess, all of his pent-up emotions during the night would be unmercifully unleashed on Tsukino the following morning, and she, poor girl, never knew what he was about—for he would hide his feelings for her too. Consequently their arguments became more and more heated throughout the passing of days.

Any other guy… no, any other normal guy would not have been able to handle what Mamoru did during these times. First of all, and perhaps most importantly, there was magic involved. And not just some cheap magician's kind of magic trick, but the kind one could find in a fairytale (he thought of the correlation between light versus dark, the good versus the evil, but the threat of falling over the edges of ridiculousness being as it is, he knew he could never have respected himself again if he dwelt on such black-and-white ideas). He knew he should have freaked out, knew he should not have believed in it. It was like believing in the Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus, for heaven's sake!—And yet he did, and not only willingly, but without any hesitation or second thoughts thereafter of it. It was as though some part of him had always known there was magic in the world. He was living in such a broad range of magic, too. Well, perhaps there had been no magic in his relationship with the odango girl, but certainly it was a miracle that he should find himself talking to her every day and not wanting to give it up for anything… but what then of Sailormoon and Serenity-hime? Surely he was the only guy fighting beside a real-life superhero? Surely he was the only one with nightly dreams of an imagined Princess? Surely he was the only person crazy enough to carry out a task appointed to him by this dream-Princess? Yet, he had to admit, this was how he met Tsukino and Sailormoon. Were it not for his mission to find the Silver Imperium Crystal for Serenity-hime, he would never have met the other two girls. In some way he was thankful… in some, confused. Did his Princess really want him to meet other girls? But—he would rebuke himself angrily—of course. She already had someone—Endymion. She only needed Mamoru to find this all-important crystal.

He was bitter for a while. Perhaps the bitterness would have lasted longer than a week, but then came the day all things were revealed to him, just as Serenity-hime had promised. And that day, everything about Mamoru—his life, his sense of reality, his vision of the future destiny held for him—was changed forever.

The final battle with the first Enemy Tuxedo Kamen and the Sailor Senshi fought was probably one of the hardest to overcome. Although the scouts had fought well and learned much from the first demon onslaught and onwards, the decisive battle between the Negaverse and the Sailors was one filled with terrifying emotional pain.

For these were the very demons who had destroyed their lives a thousand years ago. They had attacked on the dawn of Endymion and Serenity's wedding day—they had destroyed everything on that day.

It all had something to do with the Moon. Something terribly wrong had passed there all those years ago.

Even with the searching of the Silver Imperium Crystal, even with the fighting against countless Negademons by Sailormoon's side and his dreams of the Princess, Mamoru was unprepared for the next step Discovery had planned for him.

They had unveiled Tuxedo Kamen's identity. He did not know how they had found out, but the minute they beckoned for him he had no choice but to answer their challenge to battle. He had been trapped to fight alone with them—without Sailormoon's help, without her powers that could match theirs.

Neither had accounted for a girl to be pulled unknowingly into the fight. Mamoru cursed his luck that he had not noticed Tsukino Usagi following him to the park that day.

The sky had been blood-red that afternoon, the air strangely still. He'd noticed, as he turned Tsukino away to tell her to go home quickly, that all signs of life seemed to have stopped. The seconds passed… and he and Tsukino were sucked into the Enemy's portal.

When he'd awoken, he found the girl lying unconscious beside him. An anger unsurpassed had filled his heart, and hearing an evil cackle, he challenged the enemy with rage barely controlled in his voice. He thought, I should have pushed her away… but I was too late…. No! She'll be safe. I'll protect her now. I won't let the Enemy lay a finger on her!

But without anything like Sailormoon's powers, he was nothing to the Negaverse. Though he fought bravely and with cunning, it was all he could do to just defend himself. He felt himself falling over the brink of disaster… he had thought, as he was quickly weakened by his opponent's attacks, that it was such a sad thing…. He would never know who he really was… and he would never get to know his True Love better. His life had been meaningless….

It was then, as Mamoru lay crumpled on the ground with hope dying in his heart, that hope—and something more—came back to him with triple force. Tsukino Usagi had stood to watch Tuxedo Kamen battling with a strong enemy, and when he fell at last she had run over to him, fear and worry shining through her tears. He'd touched her hand and apologized to her. I'm sorry… I couldn't protect you… odango….

Her eyes widened, but they were both distracted when familiar shouts came from a distance. The Sailor Senshi! Four of them. But where was Sailormoon—

He'd gasped, eyes widening with disbelief and wonder, as Tsukino Usagi pushed herself resolutely up and cried, Moon Prism Power! MAKE UP!

A flood of warmth and light had washed over his tired body and soul, and he'd felt himself healing with yet another one of Sailormoon's incredible powers.

Sailormoon…? someone had whispered, and Mamoru realized the name had been wrenched out of his mouth. But she had already turned to face the enemy.

Tsukino Usagi is Sailormoon…?

There hadn't been much time to wonder at this, though. Somehow the enemy, in a new display of evil magic, had absorbed most of the Senshi's powers. An enormous cackling of energy had spiked the air, and too late everyone saw that the enemy had aimed his next blow at Sailormoon. Such a concentration of power would kill anyone hit by it!

Terrible screams filled the night—piercing painfully, everywhere, into him and through him, into every fibre of his being, passing on and leaving him breathless—and without thinking he'd hurled himself in front of Sailormoon—taking the blast meant for her fully.

His insides had erupted with a white-hot fire, and he'd fallen heavily to the ground. His back arched from the shock, and he knew everything had been seared through with that powerful attack. He felt himself fading… but he was glad he'd taken the hit for her… for her. His eyes searched longingly for her face… but it was hard to see anything. The attack had left him half-blinded.

And then a light had encompassed his sight. For a second he'd thought Heaven's Gates were opening to him, and the shining light that poured on and through him seemed the most miraculous thing on Earth. He closed his eyes to accept his death.

He heard sobbing. Should he hear such miserable sounds coming from Heaven?

Endymion….

The name, sounded aloud, entered him with a pulse—a heartbeat that spread throughout the room, a force without sound—as though it were his heartbeat and more, as though the name belonged to him….

He opened his eyes.

And tears unbidden welled to them.

She was holding his head in her lap. She was crying his name of long ago. She whom his awe-filled eyes beheld was none other than Princess Serenity of the Moon Kingdom.

The Moon Kingdom—?

She was sobbing uncontrollably—oh how beautiful she was, how sad, how wonderful and terrible at the same time—that they should at last realize the other person for who they really were, only to be wrenched away by death at this moment…. With every breath he took, the pain that seared through him seemed to increase tenfold. He didn't have much time….

He'd said, in a voice just below a whisper, in a tone full of happiness and remorse and loving realization, Odango… Sailormoon… Serenity-hime. It was you—all this time, it was you…!

Oh, Endymion…, she had whispered back, her eyes shining so beautifully with her tears, Endymion, Endymion, my dearest Prince… I remember now. I remember everything now! Her sobs wracked her body so hard he was able to feel it, even with his dulling senses.

They both knew he was dying. She smiled courageously for him, though, and said, Whatever it takes… I'll bring you back…. He smiled too and said, Yes… we were meant to be together… you and I….

She was talking to him. But her voice was fading…. He heard her say, Is this truly our fate? Are we doomed to this every time we find each other? Must we die before our dreams are fulfilled?!—Endymion, don't die, please don't die….

The few heartbeats before he lost all consciousness, he saw his third and last miracle of the night. That light again… filling everything… banishing all darkness away. And it was all glittering, gathering towards them… towards her. In slow motion he saw one of her tears drop towards him… he could see it falling, falling, falling ever towards him…. The light shot sparkling with all the colors of the rainbow towards that tear. He had never in his life seen such wonderful, wonderful magic….

Princess Serenity's tear for him had transformed into the long-lost Silver Imperium Crystal.

It had such power within it… thoughts swirled thickly in his mind. He remembered… this Crystal had the power to destroy entire worlds at a time… and it had the power to create a Golden Age like the Silver Millennium, the centuries Selene, then Queen of the Moon Kingdom, had ruled the galaxy. And it had all been hidden as the most precious treasure within the girl whose eyes were now boring deeply into his own…. And then, and then….

Blackness, nothingness… nothingness….

But it was not the end. Since the Silver Imperium Crystal had at last been recovered, the reincarnated Princess of the Silver Millennium had been able to defeat the Negaverse using its powers. She had also been able, with the help of the Crystal, to revive her true love—Prince Endymion of the Earth Kingdom… now known as Chiba Mamoru. They had started their lives anew.

It seemed as though fate would finally grant these two lovers' wishes, and pass them by without causing further trouble.

Mamoru snapped out of his early morning reverie and looked to his kitchen clock for the umpteenth time. Holding a warm cup of coffee, sitting and facing the rising sun, he wondered, with a little smile, why he had been reminiscing so much of late…. Though two years had passed and Mamoru was now a rising freshman in college, that period when he and all the Senshi had gone through their first trials still seemed fresh to him. He didn't know if he would ever get over the feeling of discovering he was former Prince Endymion of the Earth Kingdom, now future King Endymion of Crystal Tokyo (though that would not come to pass for many, many years yet). And finding his Princess again—Usako, he affectionately called her now—also seemed unbelievable. It was like a fairytale—and Mamoru believed in the basic truth of fairytales now—too breathtakingly wonderful to have come true, even if they had gone through many other things together since that time. Like when their nine thousand-year-old daughter Chibiusa from the 30th Century had dropped in on them, supposedly to help them out with the next wave of enemies….

Erghh. He would get a migraine if he kept bringing up these memories. All that was done and over with, so why did he keep thinking back on those times of late?

He looked down and read through his acceptance letter from Harvard once more, and thought to himself, I am definitely not looking forward to telling Usako about this….

Mamoru looked out his window, lapsing again into a daydream state, and his sigh filled the room. The return of silence reclaimed his awareness, and it seemed to him to parallel the sudden emptiness that filled his heart.

That day had dawned cloudless and heavy with a foreboding of passage into doom. There was to be a precarious shift in destiny regarding the trillions of lives strewn over the Earth.

Not one being that breathed the fresh air of the morning, or stared dazedly into the uncommon brilliance of the clear blue sky, could have known that before the year came to its conclusion, the world would end.