Epilogue: But life without you. I don't know.

It stopped to rain at dawn. Soon the raising sun broke through the dark clouds that had covered the sky for the last days. In the bright light the last raindrops started to sparkle and it looked as if nature were covered with shinning pearls. Fresh wind played with the coloured leaves of the trees. Some leaves danced exitedly in the morning dust and the rushing was almost appeasing. Surely it was going to be one of those days why this month was sometimes called Golden September.

The wheels screamed as the car stopped sharply at the parking space near the hospital. A tall girl jumped out of it and forgot to lock it. Wild wind played with her short blond hair as she ran toward the main entrance. She wore a dark shirt over her blue jeans and she stumbled more than once as she ran upstairs. She lost her car keys and swore as she picked them up in a hurry. She took her sunglasses away with an energetic motion and her dark green eyes looked very concerned as she pushed open the door. With an determined expression her face she went over to the nurse at the reception and almost crashed against the counter.

"Where's Michi-chan!" demanded Haruka and the nurse looked at her in surprise. She was new and so she didn't know her. Nor the handicapped girl who had visited her doctor twice a weak since a year.

"Where's Kaioh Michiru! Your colleague, nurse Oshima-san, called me up and told I should hurry up. That there's an emergency and that something happened..." Haruka shook her head with a wild motion and took a deep breath to calm down her exited nerves.

Everything is all right! Michi-chan's okay! The accident was about one year ago. She had been doing so fine during the last months. There can't be a second bad accident.

Haruka clenched and opened her fists while she waited impatiently as the nurse tipped her girlfriend's name into the computer.

But what if there was a relapse? Her back bone had a very bad damage and...

"No, please!" whispered the young racer and slammed at the counter as the nurse didn't find her lover's name.

"I can't find a Laioh Michiru here." She answered and Haruka rolled her eyes.

"Kaioh Michiru!" she screamed at the new nurse and took another deep breath. "Kaioh and not Laioh! And they told me it's an emergency! I don't have any time to...!" she shook her head, clenched her fists and turned around.

And froze in motion.

She opened her mouth but she couldn't say anything. Her mind started to spin around and a dizziness controlled her thoughts.

"Ruka?" The smaller girl stepped out of the corridor's shadow. She reeled slightly as she walked very slowly over the white underground. Sweat covered a very concentrated face but her deep blue eyes shone happily. Her arms trembled but she held herself tightly at the crutches. It seemed to cost her all her powers to move her legs. One after another and still it looked very clumsy. But Haruka was suddenly sure that Michiru would be able to run again. To swim and to dance. If she only trained hard and worked concentrated with her body.

You have the power to defeat your illness.

Haruka swallowed hard as she finally could escape her trance. It jingled as the car keys crashed unseen on the ground but she didn't even hear them. Hesitantly she stepped over to her girlfriend. Still unsure if this all wasn't just a nice dream and she would wake up the next moment.

You have so much power to make our both lives worthwhile.

"Michi-chan..." whispered Haruka and caught her girlfriend as she simply let go of her crutches and wrapped her arms around her neck. They both didn't have enough strength anymore and so they went down on the ground. Holding each other tight.

You have enough will to live for the both of us...

"Ruka..." sobbed Michiru, but Haruka was certain that those tears weren't tears of sorrow which ran down her girlfriend's cheeks. Those were tears of happiness and endless joy. They looked each other deep into the eyes. Then they shared a long and loving kiss.

An older nurse snort silently into her handkerchief while the doctor stood at the other end of the corridor and smiled a satisfied smile. The word Wonder filled the air like a steady whisper while more and more nurses watched the couple kneeling on the ground. They all knew about the accident and they all knew about the wonder that had happened one year ago. When they all thought that Kaioh Gendo's daughter would die. But she woke from her deep coma and carried on with her life. With a life in a wheelchair. Trapped in a handicapped body for the rest of her time on earth. And now a second wonder had happened. Now she was able to walk again. At the moment with the help of crutches, but they all were sure that she wouldn't need them for long.

Behind the doctor stood another man in a white overall. His white hair were messed and the sun was reflected in his glasses. His right hand laid on his daughter's shoulder. The little girl looked over to the couple and a happy smile appeared on her normally pale face. Her dark eyes shone with all the love a small girl could feel and she knew that everything would be okay. Some day...

Haruka-papa!

Michiru-mama!

"I love you." Whispered Haruka between two kisses and pulled her Michi-chan a little bit closer. Michiru smiled against her girlfriend's lips and deep green eyes looked deep into shinning blue ones.

"I love you, too."

Who ever the strange woman had been. Whatever the three talisman or the messiah of silence meant. Maybe their dreams were a vision? Maybe they both were really those Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune? Maybe the Queen had been right about their destiny?

Those were questions they couldn't really answer. All they could do was to wait and to start a new life. A life together. After Haruka's father, after the deadly accident. They needed one year to recognize that they could overcome everything as long as they were together. They went through hell. More than once. It was alike what would follow. If the Queen's words were true or they had been a vision of a bad nightmare, they would see some day. And whatever would happen after those words they were sure that they would overcome it, too.

The kiss became more passionate. More loving.

It's alike what will happen as long as we're together.

You're my saviour, Michi-chan.

You're the light in my darkness, Ruka.

They had experienced silence for a long time. For more than two years it had determined their lives.

They both knew it's violence. Michiru could remember too well all those nights she laid awake in her bed and heard the rushes of the near sea. Knowing that she would never be able to swim again with her paralysed legs. But she remembered also how her Ruka was there every time she couldn't bare her destiny anymore. Every time she wanted to die her girlfriend was there. She comforted her and step by step she gave her back her will to live. To carry on. No matter what happened.

They knew loud rage and silent pain. Haruka could remember too well each time her father did hit her. Her body hurt almost one week after every attack. And she remembered too well that evening when she broke down at the arena and Rumiko and her teacher brought her home. How her Michi-chan helped her to understand and to love her own body again.

They had experienced a lot during the past year. They went through hell and back. They knew how it was to be sad. To be desperate. To be at the end of one's power. To be comforted. To be needed. To be loved.

But life without the other one, they didn't know.

The End

Written: 31.July 2000 – 26.August 2000

Corrected with the best of my knowledge and belief: September-November 2005