The Senshi have enjoyed six years of peace since Galaxia's defeat. All their battles have been won, and all their enemies undone. All save one… Anime canon. Post-Stars. Written for Jadeite's 30th Anniversary
Rated: T - Suspense/Spiritual - Words: 6,755 - Chibiusa T./Rini/Sailor Chibi (Mini) Moon, Jadeite/Jedite, Mamoru C./Darien S./Tuxedo Kamen, Usagi T./Serena/Bunny/Sailor Moon
A/N: This story is set around six years after Sailor Stars and is a spiritual sequel to an earlier story of mine 'Passés et Passages a.k.a. Growing Pains'.
Many thanks to AReptileDysfunction and disaster_bi_jupiter for beta reading this fic for me. You can check out their work under the names areptiledysfunction1107 on tumblr and A_Reptile_Dysfunction on Ao3 and disaster_bi_jupiter on on Ao3
/works/34769734/chapters/86575063
/users/disaster_bi_jupiter/pseuds/disaster_bi_jupiter/works
Despite his rooftop vantage point, he couldn't yet see his targets.
Beneath the long dark robes, his fingers positively itched with anticipation. Nevertheless, he controlled himself.
Patience, after all, was a virtue that fate had forced him to learn.
Still, he couldn't help but summon up a portion of the dark energy, delighting in the tingle it sent up his arms and into his hands.
He eyed the bell tower atop the adjacent building that concealed his prey.
Its toll was the signal he was waiting for.
Soon.
Soon the doors would open.
Soon he'd fulfill the purpose that had consumed his life these many months.
Soon he'd have his much deserved vengeance.
Slowly, an evil grin spread across Jadeite's face.
Cold.
That was the only thing he could feel.
Eventually, he began to feel wet too. As his brain began to slowly tick back to life, he realized his clothes were damp. Groggily, he tried to get up, his movements making a crunching noise that hurt his ears.
Stumbling, he managed to get onto his feet and keep his balance. The task was not easy as he could barely see his arms in front of his face. Was it night time at D-Point, or had his eyes been somehow damaged by his prolonged sleep?
'Sleep'.
He almost laughed at the word. Queen Beryl's punishment had been inappropriately named. There has been no rest. No dreaming. It hadn't even resembled death; or what he imagined death to be like anyway.
It'd been more like he had been abruptly 'paused'. One moment he was on the receiving end of his Queen's terrible glare, the next he was facedown in the snow.
Despite his disorientation, he reached out with senses enhanced by his dark energy, instinctively seeking the headquarters of the Dark Kingdom.
He found… nothing?
He hadn't expected to sense any of the Youma, not even the elite DD Girls. But Nephrite, Zoisite, Kunzite, even Queen Beryl herself? They'd all vanished without a trace.
For a moment, he wondered if they were somehow beyond the range of his perceptions. However, with the shock now clearing his head, he questioned the wisdom of locating his 'comrades'. After all, it was unlikely they'd be happy to see him given the failure that had prompted his punishment.
Instead he reached out with his dark power again and attempted to teleport back to the Juban district. The effort proved far more challenging than he'd anticipated, the primary portal between D-Point and Tokyo had been somehow diminished. Far worse, he was somehow diminished too. It took almost all of his strength to shut his being through space and back to Tokyo.
Though he succeeded, he landed hard on the floor of a warehouse he'd used in one of his schemes. Impained and exhausted, Jadeite nevertheless made the effort to observe his surroundings by the dim city lights through the windows. The place was in shambles, but it had evidently been abandoned long ago. Concluding he would be safe enough for the time being, Jadeite slipped into a deep (but far from eternal) slumber.
However, his final thoughts before drifting off were filled with seething hatred for his former comrades.
And, of course… for Sailor Moon.
Was that the bell?
Jadeite's eyes snapped towards the tower.
No. Something else was chiming in the distance. Still, it wouldn't be long now.
He lifted his hood then fully removed the heavy, dark robes, exposing the back of his neck to golden sunlight. Jadeite had entertained the idea of using the robes as a disguise to slip away once he'd fired his shots. But he didn't want anything to hold him back. He didn't want anything to potentially jeopardize his chance.
More importantly, he wanted to do this in his Dark Kingdom attire. He knew wearing the uniform was impractical, but he didn't care. Today wasn't about practicality, it was about savage satisfaction.
If he'd wanted to be practical, he could've killed his targets in their beds as they'd slept. But he wanted his victory to be as painful as possible, so he'd waited patiently for this day. Waited for them to be at this place. And now, all he was waiting for was the right ti-
The bell tolled.
He approached the edge of the building and focused his gaze across the street. The doors finally opened.
Awakening in the warehouse, he still felt weak but better than the night before. He attempted to summon up some energy to his hands, just enough to give him a little more light. To his confusion the effort almost made him faint. Then the light in his hands flickered out and died.
He knew he'd been injured and exhausted worse than this. And yet he'd never had such trouble accessing his abilities as he was now. Finally, the horrifying realization set in.
His power had never been entirely innate. It was connected to the evil energy of the Dark Kingdom and Queen Metalia. His diminished power was absolute confirmation that they were both gone for good.
Over the course of that day, he hid in the shadows, scavenging food and testing his new, frustratingly meagre, limits. His illusionary and telekinetic powers were non-existent. Any sway he had over the human mind was now minimal at best. Teleportation had become such a struggle it was impractical to even try. And his ability to generate energy-based attacks would leave him utterly drained. Without his Youma or the resources of the Dark Kingdom he couldn't gather much energy from unsuspecting humans. And whatever he could gain he couldn't metabolize efficiently enough to bolster his abilities indefinitely.
For the next month Jadeite lived an almost vagabond existence. He collected tiny sums of energy from strangers on the street and used it to boost his mental powers just enough to obtain food and other resources.
After several more months, he'd managed to start up a modest con job as a fortune teller. To that end he'd garbed himself in black robes and adopted the moniker of 'the Phantom Fortune Teller'. His act was successful enough to get him more reliable access to money and human energy. It was hardly on the scale of one of his old schemes, but it sufficed. Besides, he was trying to be careful. He wanted to attract as little attention as possible.
Jadeite might've been safe from the Dark Kingdom, but he'd quickly deduced that the Sailor Senshi were still active. Above all else, he didn't want them to learn of his 'second chance'. Surprise, after all, is an invaluable asset.
And with his former 'comrades' gone, his rage was now focused solely upon those so-called guardians of love and justice.
As people began to exit through the doors, Jadeite drew upon a tiny sum of energy to enhance his vision and scan the crowd.
There was a young man with large (and strange) glasses. He was hanging off the arm of a woman about his age with short reddish-brown hair completed by a bow. Jadeite vaguely recognized her from somewhere but pushed the thought aside.
Scanning further he spotted a sandy blonde teenager standing with a decidedly older couple. The woman possessed a bushy blue mane whilst the man had thinning dark hair and (perfectly ordinary) glasses.
They weren't who he was after. His targets weren't among the next group to exit either. The latter however sorely tempted Jadeite to abandon his carefully laid plan altogether.
After another month, he'd started gathering information about the Senshi. To his frustration though, they hadn't been particularly well documented in the news. They were a far cry from urban legends, but the majority of coverage about them wasn't what Jadeite was looking for. More often than not, it revolved around merchandise or fictional media based upon them, not the genuine articles. As such it took Jadeite a while to learn all he could. Often he'd only deduce their involvement by reading between the lines of the various reports and stories about them.
What most surprised him was the sheer number of enemies they'd battled. Perhaps arrogantly, he'd presumed the Dark Kingdom to be the only force in existence to possess any form of dark energy. It took him a day or so to accept that was far from the case.
An apartment building sprouting gigantic tree roots.
The area around an elite academy that had been totally devastated.
An entirely unexpected eclipse, coupled with the abrupt appearance, then disappearance, of several massive circus tents.
A spate of mysterious mirror-related illnesses.
And, most intriguing of all, a gigantic ebony crystal in the middle of the city.
There was no way of knowing how challenging the Senshi had found these threats. But that didn't really matter. What mattered was that the Senshi had clearly beaten them time and again. Jadeite was battle hardened enough to know his enemies must've grown in strength since his last encounter with them.
That was doubly confirmed when he discovered their ranks had swelled. His research might've been sketchy, but it seemed clear that a direct attack was doomed to fail. Doing so would mean dealing with at least five Senshi instead of just the three he already knew and loathed.
Eventually, there came a point where his research could only take him so far. He needed more intel. And he knew exactly how to get it. After all, he knew who the Sailor Senshi really were.
Ami Mizuno: Sailor Mercury.
Rei Hino: Sailor Mars.
Makoto Kino: Sailor Jupiter.
Minako Aino: Sailor Venus.
Jadeite watched all of them step through the doors and join one half of the crowd flanking the exit. Across from them stood a young girl with black hair in a shoulder-length bob. She was accompanied by a woman in a turquoise dress that matched her wavy hair and a man in a navy blue suit with short blonde hair. For a second, Jadeite was distracted by the man, as though something was a little unusual about him.
He pushed the thought aside and focused back upon the Senshi, especially Sailors Mercury and Mars.
He desperately desired to unleash his power upon them both, particularly Sailor Mars. Between foiling his plans at the Hikawa Shrine and making him lose control at the airport, he felt like he owed her dearly.
His fingers tensed and he half lifted his arm, Sailor Mars framed between his index and middle fingers. Then he took a steadying breath.
No.
Not them.
He had a much better plan in mind and just one chance to pull it off, so he'd better stick to it.
His temptation subsided, though it did not vanish completely. After all, it was partially Sailor Mars' fault that his window of opportunity was so slim in the first place. He'd poured a lot of time into his fortune telling scam to gather up the energy he needed for today. Much of that energy was being diverted into masking his aura from her extra sensory powers. That left him with enough to generate bolts of energy and modestly enhance both his senses and reflexes. But he couldn't afford to take needless risks. When he fired his shots, he needed them to be powerful enough to ensure the total annihilation of his targets. Imagining that moment helped him to refocus and he began to tune out everything else around him.
The grey cat staring up from the alleyway.
The bright sun shining behind him.
The oddly shaped bird far off in the distance.
All became the equivalent of visual white noise to Jadeite, his gaze hungrily retraining upon the open doors.
Jadeite recalled how, years ago, he'd arranged the train that had brought the Senshi to that accursed airport. It had been a unique opportunity of course, so he'd had monitoring equipment on the platform and inside the carriage. At the time, he had hoped that, on the off chance he were to fail, Queen Beryl might spare him in exchange for the Senshi's secret identities.
Nevertheless, at the time he still hadn't been completely certain the three girls at the airport were the Sailor Senshi. At least, not until they'd transformed before his eyes. Once they had, though, he'd possessed more than enough information to work with.
Naturally, he'd committed the information to memory. Alongside his humiliating defeat, that information had been among his last experiences before being put to sleep by Beryl. As such he couldn't help ruminating on it almost constantly and always repeated it back to himself before he slept. As such, it was simple to look into public records and learn their names and addresses.
During an earlier scheme he'd spent a lot of time around the Hikawa Shrine, so he knew better than to get too close to her or her grandfather. He even went so far as to suppress his energy as much as possible so as to avoid alerting their psychic abilities. Equally, his research informed him of just how clever the Mizuno girl was, so he kept his distance from her too.
Usagi Tsukino, however, was far easier prey. Jadeite was more careful to avoid her cat than the girl herself, although he still didn't risk alerting her to his presence. Despite monitoring her from afar it only took about a month to learn everything he needed to know.
Where she spent most of her time.
What she typically did there.
Who usually accompanied her.
Armed with that knowledge, it was merely a matter of making some logical deductions. The first was that her lover, Mamoru Chiba, was probably that ever-meddlesome Tuxedo Mask. Jadeite had been especially furious to learn he'd survived their encounter at the airport; his death had been the one and only consolation Jadeite had clung onto since his defeat. He'd been Sailor Moon's first true ally and, from what Jadeite had gathered, that hadn't changed since their last encounter. Furthermore, he confirmed that throughout most of Sailor Moon's career Chiba had been Tsukino's exclusive boyfriend.
He knew women to be fickle creatures at heart, but his observations of the Tsukino girl hadn't painted her as the unfaithful sort. Indeed, to his disgust he'd witnessed her positively simper over Chiba dozens of times. And besides, the idea that two men could find such an annoying girl appealing had smacked him as just farfetched. Thus, he'd felt safe in presuming Chiba to be Tuxedo Mask.
His second major deduction was that Tsukino's tall friend must be the equally Amazonian Sailor Jupiter. By extension, the other blonde in their little gang was probably Sailor Venus. And since neither of them had ever seen him before, he could afford to be a little more direct. Just not too direct. The girls merely knew him as one of those friendly faces you saw every other week on the street, in the mall, in line at the coffee store, etc. Someone who you felt safe enough to have the odd casual conversation with, but then forget five minutes later.
But it was through those conversations that Jadeite eventually struck gold. He found out exactly when and where he needed to be to get the revenge he so craved. And upon learning that, he couldn't resist mailing Chiba and the Tsukino girl a little something, though he was carefully cryptic:
Dear Usagi and Mamoru,
I am dearly looking forward to seeing you both this Saturday. I have no doubt it'll be a day to remember.
Love,
J.
At last, he caught sight of them through the doors, the pair nearly at the threshold.
Chiba in a ridiculous white tuxedo, but with no mask in sight.
The Tsukino girl in the equally white dress, her hair adorned with blue flowers and a tiara.
Jadeite drew the energy to his hands. To his surprise though, the jubilant couple stopped. A photographer set up a camera on the top step, directly in the path leading out from the church doors.
Could he really be this lucky?
He licked his lips again.
Now he was jubilant.
But not nearly as much as he'd be in just a moment.
Over the following week Jadeite staked out the area meticulously, eminently pleased that the church entrance didn't have much of a roof covering. By contrast, he grew concerned about someone spotting him from the rooftop across the road. However, some 'gentle persuasion' of a passerby enabled him to test the visibility options for himself. As he had hoped, he couldn't be spotted from the church; at least not easily.
In the weeks leading up to the wedding, he threw himself into gathering as much energy as possible, striving to not waste an iota of the precious resource. He'd already dwelt incessantly about what to do if the opportunity arose, and so his plan had come naturally to him.
Sailor Moon and her friends had bested his Youma repeatedly; they'd even bested him. Then, apparently, they'd defeated the rest of the Dark Kingdom's upper ranks, including Queen Beryl and Metalia themselves. Since then they'd likely grown stronger, recruiting new members and honing their skills against new, possibly ever escalating, opponents.
So, not only was a direct attack doomed, but even taking them out one by one ran too many risks. Jadeite had lowered his ambitions, seeking the most effective way to avenge himself given his new limitations.
Eventually he'd settled upon Sailor Moon herself. She, after all, had been the one who'd most frequently thwarted him. On top of that, her friends clearly cared for her deeply, as she did for them, especially Tuxedo Mask. Thus he decided to kill several birds with just two stones. Perhaps he couldn't dispatch all of them, but he could still tear out their hearts.
And to do that, all he had to do was kill Sailor Moon. But that wasn't good enough for him. A quick and painless death was too merciful for his hated enemy; she needed to suffer too. So, first he'd kill Tuxedo Mask. That would break her heart. And, in her shock and despair, she'd never see Jadeite's second attack aimed for her. Finally, he'd strike them down on what would be the happiest day of their lives. Even if the Senshi caught him, even if they killed him, he would die knowing he'd had the last laugh. They however, would live the rest of their lives tormented by grief, guilt, and failure.
But for his plan to work, for his savage fantasy to become reality, Jadeite couldn't simply mortally wound. He'd need to utterly vaporize his targets. He'd need to be absolutely certain they couldn't possibly survive or recover. That was why he'd needed to gather so much energy; a conventional human weapon would never cut it.
Every night before he slept he visualized the moment. Then, on the fateful morning, he'd started to make it a reality.
His right arm was extended outwards, the palm open and aimed in front of the church. His left hand meanwhile was wrapped around his right wrist, creating a kind of energy circuit throughout his body. The inside of his body pulsed and vibrated with power. It felt good, but he still restrained himself, careful not to alert Sailor Mars or anyone else to his presence.
Focusing his eyes, he zeroed in on Chiba's head through the gaps in his splayed fingers, the hand beginning to glow as the energy continued to build.
Finally, it was time.
His heart thumped with excitement and a cruel smirk adorned his face.
"So long," he whispered.
"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!"
Jadeite whirled around.
"What!"
The sun blinded him, preventing him from seeing whoever had spoken. However, the silhouette outlined against the golden light was far too familiar.
"Every girl's dream is to be a beautiful bride on her wedding day. Trying to ruin that is totally unforgivable!"
Jadeite's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Impossible! Y-y-you can't be!"
"Oh, but I am!"
The figure raised their hand to the sky and began performing a series of movements Jadeite had seen dozens of times.
"I am the pretty sailor-suited soldier who fights for love and justice! I am Sailor Moon!"
Dimly, Jadeite considered attacking. However, at that moment, he was too shocked to even move.
"And now, in the name of the Moon," the girl crossed her arms in a pose Jadeite knew and loathed, "I will punish you!"
Jadeite snapped back to the church. Sure enough, Chiba and the Tsukino girl were still there.
Could it be a decoy? Sailor Venus might've been able to pass for an imposter, but she was down there too, standing nearby Tsukino.
"Sailor Moon Kick!"
At the last second Jadeite registered the attack, throwing his body to the side, only just avoiding the blow. He used the momentum to roll and managed to stop himself in a crouching position.
Blood thumping in his ears, he refocused upon his opponent. She too was in a crouching position and no longer framed by the sun's light. As such, Jadeite could see her quite clearly. He smirked derisively.
"You're not Sailor Moon!"
"Maybe not the one you know. But I am Sailor Moon!"
"Even if that's true, I'll just dispatch you then finish off the real one."
"Oh yeah?"
'Sailor Moon's' hand flew to her tiara, which swiftly began to glow. In a single fluid motion she removed it from her forehead and threw it, the item transforming into a glowing discus as it spun through the air.
"Moon Tiara Action!"
Jadeite actually exclaimed in fear before leaping into the air, back flipping all the way to the adjacent rooftop. As he flipped he registered the glow of the tiara soar close to where he'd been crouching.
Upon landing he realized 'Sailor Moon' had vanished. Frantically he began to whip his head left and right.
"Was that real enough for you?"
He turned his gaze upwards. 'Sailor Moon' was perched atop the entrance to the stairway that led off the roof. Jadeite clenched his fist and gritted his teeth. To dispense with this pretender it seemed he'd have to expend some of his precious energy.
Quick as a flash, he extended his arm and fired off a blast. 'Sailor Moon' dived off the top of the entrance. As he watched her try to land, Jadeite noticed her right hand making some very odd movements. Without consciously meaning to, he shifted his eyes to her forehead.
He gasped and abruptly extended his other arm. Had he still possessed it, he might've drawn upon his telekinetic powers. But as it was, he resorted to firing off an energy blast, praying the force of it could halt the tiara homing in on him. His prayers paid off. The tiara wasn't destroyed, but the blast had stolen all its momentum and it clattered to the ground.
Jadeite barely had a chance to catch his breath before his attention was drawn to the opposite direction.
"Moon Healing Escalation!"
His eyes registered the pink wand topped off with a gold crescent moon. It was held above his assailant's head and was emitting a strange, sparkling light. Jadeite motioned to attack, but found his body paralyzed.
He felt strange.
The energy he'd stolen abruptly vanished and soon he could feel whatever residual power he'd possessed back at D-Point begin to ebb away. Simultaneously, a strange sensation creeped into his chest; like nothing he'd ever felt before.
It was a gentle warmth.
Internally he tried hard to fight against it, but the sensation was irresistible. He didn't give up though, summoning a variety of memories to the forefront of his mind.
His teeth clenched at the indignity of his groveling sessions with Beryl.
His adrenaline spiked as he recalled every time he'd backstabbed Nephrite, and avoided being backstabbed by Zoisite.
Cold fury flared within him at the memories of the Sailor Senshi foiling his carefully laid schemes.
However, although he remembered each of those memories, he found that the feelings connected to them had… dwindled.
His fury subsided.
His adrenaline drained.
His teeth unclenched.
It was an odd combination of pain and relief, the latter gradually overtaking the former.
Unbidden a word appeared in his mind. It grew steadily louder until finally he couldn't stop himself exclaiming it aloud.
"REFRESH!"
Warm.
That was the first thing he'd felt upon awakening.
The second was the hardness of the concrete roof beneath his body.
He stumbled to his feet, barely able to see his own arms in front of his face. However, his vision soon cleared and he gazed upwards. The first thing he saw was a large crescent moon hanging in the sky.
The second was his opponent. Her head was down slightly and her arms and left foot were resting flat against the wall she was leaning on. Slowly, she lifted her head and locked eyes with him.
She smirked.
"What…What have you done to me?" he asked flatly.
"I healed you. You no longer have any of your powers. You won't be able to use them to hurt anyone ever again."
Jadeite stared down at his hands in disbelief. He tried to summon even the faintest trace of energy, but nothing happened. It was like reaching out with an arm that no longer existed.
"You had no right to do that to me." He was taken aback by the calmness in his own voice. Shouldn't he feel angry?
"Maybe you're right. But you had no right to try and kill them," she inclined her head in the vague direction of the church. "And besides, I figured healing you without your consent was the lesser evil compared to just killing you. I think that's what Sailor Moon, the other Sailor Moon, would've done. She'd have given you a second chance."
Jadeite narrowed his eyes slightly. "Sailor Moon already gave me a second chance. It might've taken awhile, but I woke up because she destroyed the Dark Kingdom."
"And look how you wasted that chance," the Senshi replied. "You spent all this time consumed by hate. You wanted revenge so badly that you didn't even care that the other Senshi would've probably found and killed you. You were prepared to pay the ultimate price to satisfy your spite."
It was odd.
Jadeite knew she was right. And intellectually he remembered exactly how, when and why he'd felt that way. He remembered everything. But it was as though a link had been severed. The memories existed, but the feelings connected to them were gone.
"How do you know I won't 'waste' this third chance?" he asked. "I don't need my old powers to avenge myself on them, you know. You humans have come up with no end of ways to hurt each other."
She scowled and moved off the wall. "They'd stop you from doing that. And even if they didn't, you could never beat her, not even with an army."
He raised an eyebrow as she approached him. Her gaze was unwavering as she stared him dead in the eye. "Sailor Moon is invincible."
With that she broke eye contact and turned away, obviously preparing to leave.
"Wait!" he cried out. "What…what am I supposed to do now?"
She didn't bother to face him as she replied.
"From what I hear you're a pretty resourceful guy, I'm sure you'll be able to make a living for yourself. Just make sure you don't hurt anyone, or else I'll be back."
"That's not what I meant!" He called after her, desperation seeping into his voice. "All I know, all I am, it was wrapped up with the Dark Kingdom and the Sailor Senshi. Without them…if I'm not trying to hurt…What am I supposed to do?"
She came to a halt. This time she looked back at him over her shoulder.
"Make friends. Fall in love. Find a beautiful dream and pursue it. Live," she said simply. "And this time, live for yourself. Not for your masters or for vengeance."
"…I don't know if I can do that." An almost childlike look crossed Jadeite's face, "What if…What if my third chance winds up like my first two?"
Her eyes narrowed.
"Then someone will stop you again. Then you'll be even more pathetic than you were the first time the Sailor Senshi beat you, or this time when I beat you."
They stared each other down for a moment before she turned back and continued walking away, not bothering to look at him anymore.
"But it doesn't have to be that way, Jadeite. Not if you wise up."
With that she departed, leaving him alone on the roof.
The reception hall was utterly abuzz.
Haruka and Michiru bowed after their elegant tour through the dance floor. Shingo and Hotaru happily chatted away about their schools. Yuichiro blushed at something Rei whispered into his ear. Makoto and Ami clinked their glasses together. Motoki and Reika debated just why Usagi and, more confusingly, Minako's cats were allowed to attend both the wedding and reception. The cats in question were curled up near the top table, the white one seemingly comforting the black one, whose eyes were beginning to waver. Unazuki was trying to dissuade Minako from getting on stage to sing. Naru and Umino admired the hall and swapped ideas for their own upcoming nuptials. Ikuko lightly laughed as she patted the back of a blubbering Kenji.
The only people who were seemingly still and silent were the occupants of the middle two seats at the top table. Usagi and Mamoru stared out across the hall, warm smiles adorning their faces.
"Is this a dream?" whispered Usagi.
"I hope not," Mamoru replied quietly, "The last time we got married in my dreams it didn't go too well."
She chuckled and tilted her head towards him. "You're not worried are you?"
He shook his head. "You gave me the courage to face the future long ago." He grasped her hand under the table. "Nothing bad could happen today. And even if it could," he nodded in the vague direction of the Senshi, "they'd never let it."
As one, the couple turned back to the crowd. Their eyes alighted with utter affection each time they spotted one of the seven Senshi.
"Of course, not everyone's here…" There was a note of melancholy in Usagi's tone.
"Setsuna would be here if she could, Usako."
"Huh? Oh, I know. I…I wasn't talking about her."
A quizzical look crossed Mamoru's features. It remained there until he peered more closely at his wife's face. As understanding dawned, he squeezed Usagi's hand.
Less than an hour later the crowd began to gather around the wedding cake.
"Makoto, you've outdone yourself," congratulated Hotaru.
"Thanks, but Mina and Ami helped."
"I know I'll help to eat it."
"Rei, you sound like Usagi," joked Ami.
"You're just saying that because you know I can't say anything mean about her today."
"Do you really want to though?" chimed in Haruka.
"We'll find out tomorrow," muttered Minako.
"Wish the happy couple would hurry up already. We've got to get through another round of photos before they start handing out slices," muttered Artemis.
"Hmpf. Honestly, even on her wedding day, that girl finds a way to be a slowpoke," muttered Luna in turn. "Can you imagine what it'll be like when she's finally Queen?"
"Well," whispered Michiru, "Won't it be your job to make sure she's on time for all her royal engagements?"
At this Luna turned blue and became teary eyed again.
Finally, once everyone was gathered around, Usagi and Mamoru descended from the table and began posing for another round of photos. As they did so, they drank in the cake, the hall and all their loved ones. The smiles they'd put on for the cameras morphed into far more genuine looks of delight.
Slowly however, the delight drained from their faces.
Instead, their features were replaced by confused, and even concerned, expressions. Their eyes darted to one another as if to confirm they were each experiencing what the other was.
Their friends and family hadn't stopped exactly, but they were moving incredibly sedately. In fact, everything in the hall had seemingly slowed to a crawl. Everything sans a tiny blinking bulb towards the back of the assembled crowd.
Usagi and Mamoru didn't move, but their eyes followed it as it bobbed amidst the guests before dropping out of sight. For a moment they both tried to scan the legs of the partygoers. Then their attention was drawn to a faint beeping noise emanating from the back of the hall. Their eyes widened in disbelief.
There, at the back wall, was a fourteen-year-old girl in a pink dress very similar to the bridesmaids'.
Her head was down slightly, and her arms and left foot were resting flat against the wall she was leaning on.
Slowly, she lifted her head and locked eyes with them.
Her serene expression was in stark contrast to the shocked looks on Usagi and Mamoru's faces. Gradually, the serenity gave way to a smile as bright as her pink hair.
The grey cat draped around her shoulders also smiled, the crescent moon bald spot on its forehead wrinkling slightly. The girl's eyes shifted to the ground then gradually rose again in sync with a black spherical object that soon floated into view. The object had cat ears and facial features to match, along with a long antenna topped with a flashing bulb. The bulb beeped a few times before the sphere's eyes lit up and projected out a transparent image. The image displayed a woman with tanned skin, long dark green hair and a tall staff topped with a red orb-like object. The woman gave a respectful smile and bowed before disappearing, the sphere's eyes having dimmed.
Usagi and Mamoru were speechless. Automatically, they motioned forwards, as if they hoped to phase through the table and the cake on top of it. The girl's smile faded and she shook her head.
She pushed off from the wall, the grey cat dismounting from her shoulders. The girl cocked her head towards the black sphere then turned to the side and crossed her arms and pointed in a pose Mamoru, and especially Usagi, knew all too well.
Usagi's face dropped. Seeing this, the girl's face became similarly sad. It was far from the only similarity between her and the bride.
The girl's attention was then drawn to the ground again, specifically to the grey cat looking up at her. Her face lit up at whatever it had said. In one fluid motion, the girl bent down, scooped up the cat, and tossed something over the heads of the crowd, the object flying towards the couple.
Mamoru's arm shot out to catch the item, bringing it down so he and Usagi could see.
Their breaths caught.
Tentatively Usagi brought her hand to the item and opened it.
A beautiful and haunting melody began playing from the star-shaped locket.
Usagi sucked in a breath, striving to control herself. Mamoru retained his composure, although his grip tightened around the gold locket.
In unison they turned back to the girl, who had a somewhat anxious look on her face. Usagi and Mamoru moved closer together, Mamoru placing his arm around her shoulders and Usagi leaning her head on his chest. They positively brimmed with pride and affection. The bright smile returned to the girl's face.
With that she began to head for the door, the grey cat in her arms and the black sphere following her. At first it seemed as though the door opened of its own accord. However, Usagi and Mamoru soon spotted a handsome young man holding the door for the girl. He wore elegant white robes and sported silvery hair with a golden horn crowning his head. As he held the door, he politely bowed his head towards the couple. Their mutual gaze shifted back to the girl. Usagi giggled at the wink thrown her way whilst Mamoru went a little red at the blushing shrug the girl gave him.
The girl smiled once again and waved goodbye as the door began to close. Just before it shut completely a bell seemed to toll, the sound followed by a flash of light and the sound of galloping hooves.
As the sound finally faded away, time returned to normal. The room abruptly erupted into noise and movement, half a dozen cameras flashing all at once.
For a moment, Usagi and Mamoru were blinded, and not entirely due to the photographers…
Jadeite entered the warehouse as if a passenger in his own body.
Earlier, he had returned to the spot he'd staked out. Whilst there, he had visualized killing Tsukino and Chiba, as he'd done for months. He had also attempted to imagine the grisly moment throughout the journey back to the warehouse. Though the images were as clear as crystal within his mind, he no longer drew any satisfaction from them. In fact, the idea mostly repulsed him.
His eye was drawn to the black robes he'd retrieved from the roof, and he began to consider his options.
Would 'Sailor Moon' object to him continuing his fortune telling scam? People might lose some of their money, but otherwise he wasn't really hurting anyone. Surely she'd not return if he continued to do that.
He motioned to put the robes on, then stopped.
His mouth formed into a thin line, then he chuffed out a small laugh.
"Rascally rabbit," he muttered.
Jadeite removed his uniform and changed into more casual attire. Before he headed out the door he burnt the uniform.
The robes, however, he decided to keep…
A/N: To be clear, I don't actually believe that every woman's dream is to get married. I just figured that's something the character in question would say based upon how the show typically portrayed the Senshi.
This story is repurposed from an older, less refined version of the fic I did ages ago. The idea honestly just popped into my head one day when I was musing on what I'd want to see if the anime came back for just one episode to do Usagi and Mamoru's wedding. Although a few other elements, like Jadeite maybe becoming Wiseman was carried over from an old headcanon of mine, same thing for Chibi-Usa being an adult Sailor Moon.
Also just to let you know I am involved in a discord called 'Moonlight Legends' which is dedicated to sharing all sorts of Sailor Moon fanworks, including other fanfics. If you would like to join so you can share your own work, get help with your current projects or just connect to other fan creators shoot me a PM and I'll send you an invite. All are welcome!