Minako went over to Usagi's confused and feeling overwhelmed by the visions. She explained her dream and her theory that perhaps the shitennou hadn't betrayed them after all. Usagi would have kicked her out for waking her up before noon on a Saturday to talk about long dead men if it hadn't been for Mamoru. He overheard their conversation and intervened.
"Maybe I can help", he spoke from their bedroom doorway.
"You can?" Usagi said.
"I'm sorry to have bothered you so early." Minako apologized to him.
"Don't worry about it. Especially if you're here to talk about my shitennou. I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but once I heard you were talking about Kunzite, well I couldn't help it."
"Do you remember them? Before Beryl, I mean."
"Not specifics. I remember more the feeling that they meant a lot to me."
Minako gave him a small smile. "They did. And you meant everything to them." She shook her head again in realization that there was no way they could have betrayed everyone so suddenly.
"I don't need to remember them," he said and it saddened Minako. He must say it out of resentment. She could understand where he was coming from… but what if they were wrong? "Minako, I have something to show you."
She and Usagi gave him curious looks and followed him into the bedroom. Mamoru went into his dresser and brought out a small black box.
"Usako, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about this. I didn't know how you would feel about them after everything."
"What's in the box, Mamo-chan?"
Mamoru looked to Minako and spoke. "My shitennou."
Minako was speechless. Usagi was not. "What do you mean your shitennou? They don't fit in that box? Do you have pictures of them? Where did you get those? Why wouldn't you tell me you had pictures of them? I sincerely hope you don't have pictures of me in there. I was such a clutz back then!"
That broke Minako out of her shock. "Back then?" She teased the girl that would still trip over her own feet.
Usagi stuck her tongue out at her.
"Mamoru?" Minako asked Mamoru to continue.
He opened the box and revealed 4 stones.
"Those are rocks," Usagi said slowly while Minako came closer and reached into touch one.
"They are the souls of the shitennou," Mamoru said and Minako snatched her hand back.
"What?!" The two blondes exclaimed in unison.
"How did you get them? How long have you had them?" Minako demanded.
"Why didn't you tell me you had them? How do you know it's them?" Usagi asked at the same time.
Mamoru closed the box and tried to explain. "They were in my pocket after you defeated Metallia. They've helped me, advised me."
"They talk to you?" Usagi asked, eyeing the box.
"They're alive in there?" Minako didn't know whether to feel amazed or guarded.
"They're trapped in the stones, their punishment I suppose. Though, who inflicted it is beyond me. I certainly did not. I believe in their innocence."
"Why?" Minako's voice was quiet. Her heart filled with hope and almost desperation at the possibility that he had not been the monster she believed him to be.
"Because they helped me remember their deaths in the Silver Millennium. They died before the war began. They couldn't have betrayed us."
"Oh my gosh." Usagi breathed. She turned to Minako and saw that she was crying. "Oh, Mina-chan."
"Are you sure?" Came the broken whisper.
"I witnessed it," voiced Mamoru. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. More than the fact that she trusted Mamoru, Minako felt his words were absolute truth in every bone of her body.
"I've tried repeatedly to bring them back." He continued. "Nothing's worked."
Smack! Usagi swatted Mamoru's arm surprising them.
"Ow! What was that for?!"
"You dummy! Why didn't you ask for my help?! Maybe together we could do something!"
Mamoru rubbed his arm. "After everything that happened, I wasn't sure how you would take it."
"You do realize that she's stayed friends with more than half our enemies, right?" Minako rolled her eyes as she wiped her tears away.
"You should have a little more faith in me than that, Mamo-chan," Usagi pouted.
Mamoru reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. "Of course I have faith in you, Usako. But it wasn't just me. They told me they didn't want to return."
"What?" Minako asked, alarmed. "Why not?"
"They feel that they failed me by dying."
"They can't help that!" Usagi said.
"That's what I told them. And that's why I tried anyway. There came a time when I wanted to go to you, but they begged me not to. They said it was one thing to allow me to help, but a whole nother to ask for your help after their failure to not just us, but the galaxy."
"That wasn't their responsibility," Minako spoke looking away from the couple. That responsibility, that failure, rested solely on her.
"Don't you start again, Mina-chan." Usagi warned. "This is where we were meant to be." MInako knew better than to respond. "Well, I know now and I'm not just gonna sit here while your guard is stuck inside some rocks."
Minako thought about stopping her. If they were wrong then her princess would have just resurrected 4 evil generals that tried to murder them on multiple occassions. But once again she felt the conviction in her heart that Mamoru was right. Kunzite would never have betrayed his prince. How was it that she was just realizing this now?
Mamoru held the box closed despite Usagi's insistence that he open it. He stared at Minako, clearly not wanting to move forward unless she was comfortable with the idea. She wanted to laugh. Here he was having tried countless times to bring them back himself and just because she knew about it now he was hesitant? The man could be thick-headed sometimes, but it was evident he meant well.
She gave him the slightest nod and allowed Usagi to pry his fingers from the box. The stones shimmered in a way they hadn't before and she wondered if that was normal.
Usagi rose her hand until it disappeared into her subspace pocket and shook her arm around a little until she came out with the Silver Crystal.
"You really should clean up in there," Minako joked wondering exactly how many manga she stored in the secret space.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You want me to do this or not?" Minako thought about protesting, but the look in Mamoru's eyes, the yearning there, reflected what she felt. So she stayed quiet and let Usagi do what she needed to.
Usagi closed her eyes and held the crystal in both hands. She remained quiet and solemn for a few seconds before peeking an eye open.
"Nothing?" She asked.
Mamoru shook his head, trying to not look disappointed.
"Maybe you should say it out loud?" He suggested.
"Good idea," Usagi said and closed her eyes again. "I wish," she spoke quietly yet firmly, "that the shitennou were released from their punishment and returned to fulfill their roles by Mamoru's side."
They all waited with bated breath for something to happen. After a few moments of no shining lights, no glitter of magic falling all over them, and no men being manifested in front of them, disappointment filled all three of them.
"I don't know why it's not working," Usagi said shaking her crystal.
Mamoru stopped her shaking the most power weapon in the universe. "It's no use. I've tried so many times. I don't know if they're meant to stay there or if maybe they just don't want to come out."
She could understand that. For all her failures, she wondered if given they chance she'd switch places.
Minako approached the box and examined the stones. They looked like regular rocks, it was a little hard to believe there were souls trapped inside. Minako reached in and passed a finger over two of them. They felt hard, jagged, nothing mystical feeling of evil or otherwise. She went to touch the third stone and it rolled away. Minako froze.
"Well, that was rude," she said trying to not show her shock.
"Kunzite." Mamoru said as if he were admonishing him.
"That was…" Minako couldn't voice his name knowing he was there, Mamoru nodded anyway.
"You do understand he's not rejecting you, right? He's just punishing himself. As if being a piece of stone wasn't enough." The last part he directed at the stone.
"This is a lot."
"We know it is, I'm so sorry Mina-chan. Are you okay?"
"Uh, yeah. I think I should go home." Minako's head was spinning with the overload of information she had received in the last hour. She had a thousand years of false information to process through.
She turned around and left the room. Minako did not stop to say her goodbyes, she left the apartment without so much as a glance back. She pushed the elevator button repeatedly and waited impatiently for its arrival.
"Mina."
She turned to see Mamoru.
"I'm sorry, I just- I just can't right now."
"I understand. Take this. For when you're ready."
Mamoru extended out his hand and held the kunzite stone out for her.
Minako stared at it. "He doesn't want me."
"I told him to stop being an ass. Take it. You can talk when you're both ready."
The elevator dinged opened. Minako stood in between the carriage and the stone being held out to her, unsure of what to do. Before the doors could close, she raised her hand and grabbed the stone. She entered the elevator, pressed for the lobby, and tried to give Mamoru a smile as the doors closed between them.