Disclaimer: I own nothing! I own nothing! (Sing along!)

"Watch out!"

Screams filled the air as young men and women ran for their lives.

"Oh!"

The charred timber crashed onto the grass, throwing up a cloud of ash and dust.

"I think that used to be my closet," Setsuna noted, sighing. "Hai, that was my favorite black velvet skirt."

"What a mess!" Makoto cried, surveying the remains of the Outer Senshi's house. "What are you guys going to do?"

"Get a new house in a hurry," Haruka muttered, kicking over a pane of broken glass. "Space is getting kind of tight over at Mamoru's."

"The fights for the shower in the morning are reaching homicidal levels," Jadeite added. "I think I found your CD collections."

Michiru and Haruka straightened eagerly. "And?"

"I believe a proper funeral is in order. No good."

"Damn!" Haruka groaned. "We have to start all over!"

"Some of it was limited editions!" Michiru added. "Sonofabitch!"

Several of the other girls giggled, and the hunt for anything salvageable from the ruins continued.

Setsuna made her way carefully down beside Mamoru, wiping her blackened hands against her already filthy jeans. He looked up and gave her a wan smile, which she returned.

"How is she?"

Both looked over at Usagi, standing alone with her hands in her pockets, and her head down. She did not make any moves to join the search party. She hardly seemed to know where she was.

"She's… the same." Mamoru shrugged helplessly. "She had to destroy someone she had grown to love. Even if it was an act of mercy, it is killing her inside."

"And her pain is killing you, as well."

He glanced up at her in surprise, and she grinned. "I know you better than you think, Prince."

"I guess so." He lowered his gaze, shaking his head. "Sometimes I think she is to tenderhearted for her own good. But… she has to be. And it will eat her up inside, all the world's pain. And I can't protect her from that."

Setsuna gently laid her hand on his head, smiling down into his eyes. "No one can. But you can help her carry her burden, and that is more than a lot of people have."

He reached up and took her hand, squeezing her fingers. "You'll have that someday, too, Setsuna. That's an order, from your King."

She laughed, and gave him a playful salute. "Yes, sir!"

"Setsuna-mama! Look what I found!"

"Coming!"

Setsuna hurried over to Hotaru, her smile brilliant with affection. Mamoru watched her go, nodding to himself. Someday she would fall in love with someone who loved her as much as she deserved, and that man would be very, very blessed.

He turned to regard his own blessing, now looking aimlessly up at the clouds. Her blue eyes seemed almost frosted over, as they had been for over a week. The doorway into the Abyss was gone, but a part of the nightmare remained to drive her deeper and deeper into herself.

Like Inanna, as the pain of losing her children grew…Iie! I won't let that happen!

Impulsively, he sprang up, moving quickly to her side. She barely had time to look at him before he leaned down to press a kiss to her surprised lips.

"Mamo-chan?"

"You look so far away," he told her, smoothing back her bangs. "Like a distant star I can't touch."

Usagi smiled slightly. "Iie. I'll never be too far for you to touch."

"Promise?"

The smile grew. "Promise."

Mamoru wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against his chest so he could rest his chin on her head. She snuggled into his embrace, burying her head against his chest and giving a little sigh. He smoothed his hands down her hair, thinking.

"Usako—"

"I miss her." He saw her shoulders move in a shrug, and felt tears soaking through his shirt. "I just miss her, and… she's not coming back, is she? I'll never see her again, or talk to her again, or feel her hold me."

"I know, Usako. But Inanna went to where her children are. She was happy. You saw her face as she went."

"Nani?" She lifted her face from his chest, staring up at him in confusion for a moment. "Oh! You thought... Iie. I mean, it hurts, that hole where Inanna was in my life, even if just for a little while. But I was thinking of my mother."

"Your mother? Queen Serenity?"

"Hai." She smiled, her chin trembling just a tiny bit. He almost wanted to cry himself, seeing how bravely she kept the tears back. "That power, the power to help Inanna, is a power only for the Queen of the Moon."

"I still don't understand."

"It was her final gift to me. Now I have all her powers, and I can take her place as Queen. So she's gone. If I go to the Moon Palace, and I call for her, she won't ever answer me again. She's gone someplace that I can't follow." The tears spilled over, and she lunged back into his arms. "And I need her, Mamo-chan! I need her to help me!"

"Oh, my Usako."

There was nothing that he could say to comfort her, so he said nothing. He rocked her slowly in his arms and let her cry.

"She told me… she told me I would have to let go of something I did not want to! I thought I could do it! I thought I could be brave, because I would always have her! She never told me I would have to let her go!" She hiccupped against his chest. "And I did it! I let her go! How could I do that?"

"Sh," he whispered against her ear. "Remember, it is what she wanted you to do. It is what you needed to do. How could you be Queen if you were always looking to her to make the decisions?"

"I know. My head knows all of it. But my heart, Mamo-chan, my heart is breaking! I feel like I could die!"

"Iie, Usako. You are too brave, and too strong."

"I'm not! I'm weak! I'm so afraid to go on without her!"

"Is she really gone?" He looked down into the face he loved more than life, and kissed her brow. "She gave you all her power, all her strength. Every time you use your powers, she is right beside you, holding your hand. Every time you hold our daughter, you'll see all her love for you reflected in your love for our Small Lady. So what if we can't see her, or hear her? She's in your heart, and her voice is in every beat."

"But I want to see her, hear her, touch her! I don't want her in my heart! I want her at my side!"

Mamoru looked at her, feeling his lips twitch. Usagi stared at him with trembling mouth, then slowly began to smile herself.

"Usako, you still have a ways to go before you become a Queen."

She giggled, then smiled all out. "I know. But I have you, and the girls, and Luna, and Artemis, and even the Shitennou now! And I have my other Mama, who loves me just as much, and can still hold my hand. At least, for now."

Sighing again, she stepped back. "So, when should we expect you guys back?"

"NANI?"

Both Usagi and Mamoru jumped, then looked around in alarm. All their friends stood nearby, apparently enthralled by the drama the pair had been unknowingly enacting for their entertainment. Only Usagi's last words had awoken a response for four outraged Inner Senshi.

"Ah-ha-ha," Jadeite began, giving Rei a nervous look. "Mamoru, you said we would tell them all at the same time."

"He didn't tell me. I figured it out," Usagi explained simply. At everyone's raised eyebrows she gave an annoyed huff. "I can figure things out!"

"Hai, of course," Kunzite muttered. "Well, the thing is, now that all the excitement has died down…"

"We, well, we thought perhaps we should," Zoisite stuttered, looking uncertainly at Ami, "goforatriptoletusallcatchourbreathsandthinkaboutwhatallthismeans!"

"Gomen?" She stared at him, wide eyed.

"We just need to all step back and, well, get our heads together," Nephrite took over. "You have to understand, there are all these memories and things we haven't had time to deal with."

"But…" Rei looked at Jadeite, her expression bordering on panic. "For how long?"

"Just a few months or so!" Mamoru assured her. "We'll be back soon, we promise."

"A few months!" Minako cried. "We just got you all back!"

"And maybe you should think about what that means, too," Kunzite told her. "There are things that we just haven't had time to deal with. Now that we can think these things through, and get our memories straight… We just all need time to think!"

"Where will you go?" Ami asked, clinging to Zoisite's arm suddenly.

"Europe," Mamoru told her. "We'll just take time to think things through, and make our next move. Everything has changed now."

No one could argue with that. The Inner Senshi looked to one another, faces mirroring one another's fear and pain.

"When will you leave?" Ami asked in a small voice.

"Tomorrow," Nephrite said. "We wanted to leave tomorrow. We've been trying to think how to tell you all this week."

Makoto snuggled into his side. "But not today."

"Iie, my love. Not today."

Haruka threw a piece of wood back onto the pile. "Well, this whole thing is hopeless. There's only one thing to do! Pizza and ice cream. Let's get the hell out of here."

"Love, the swearing," Michiru warned in a hiss. "Your daughter can hear you."

"Oh, I've heard a lot worse from Papa!" Hotaru offered cheerfully.

"Hotaru!" Haruka growled.

Setsuna laughed, grabbing Haruka's arm. "Come on, all of you! Pizza and ice cream it is! Where to?"

"Not the arcade!" Ami shrieked, flaming crimson.

A burst of laughing overtook the group as they began their walk down the road, shadows stretching out with the setting sun, sometimes merging, sometimes alone…