Chapter 23:

A great deal of growing up had happened over the past month. Some of it had been positive. More of it had been negative. All of it had been necessary. The death of half of the Sailor Senshi had seen to that.

Up until that point, everything had had the semblance of a game. A dramatic, noble, challenging, and terrifying game, but a game nonetheless. If everybody did their best, and if everybody worked together, then they would necessarily succeed. If they failed to, such as that time Mamoru had been lost under Beryl's control and that time Chibi-Usa had been replaced by Black Lady, they would be able to regroup and try again. A second chance. An extra life. They were destined to triumph. Eventually. It was like that Sailor V arcade game which hid the entrance to the control room.

Sailor V. Sailor Venus. Another reminder of what they had lost that day.

In the face of these circumstances, everybody had changed.

Michiru, for example, was much more quiet and introspective than before that day. She also seemed far less concerned about her Jusenkyo curse. Mamoru could only speculate that with the specter of death casting its shadow over everything, the trials of turning male had been put into a very different perspective. Either that, or the trauma of losing Setsuna and the others had numbed her to all other emotions. It was hard for Mamoru to say for certain, being on the outside of her family, as it were. However, one thing Mamoru was sure of was that these recent events had brought Michiru even closer to Haruka, with Michiru depending on Haruka's strength more than ever.

Unlike Michiru, who obviously showed her grief whenever Mamoru saw her, Haruka was much more stoic. She tried to act as the pillar of support for her family, especially now that one of the three cornerstones of Hotaru's life had vanished. Despite that, it was obvious to Mamoru that Haruka had been deeply struck by the loss of Setsuna; she just showed it in different ways. Where Michiru was quiet, Haruka was boisterous. Where Michiru was emotionally open, Haruka was emotionally guarded. Haruka was also slowly moving away from primarily being a playmate of Hotaru's into being more of an educator and disciplinarian, filling much of the gap that Setsuna had left behind.

Hotaru herself seemed to be the least directly affected in their immediate family by the loss of Setsuna and the others. She mourned the loss of one of her adoptive mothers, but didn't seem to be as shocked or as hurt as the other two members of her family were. The one time Mamoru had asked her what she was feeling, the Senshi of Silence's face took on a chilling expression as she said that eventually everybody had to travel through the valley of the dead. Hotaru's expression had disappeared and she had walked away before Mamoru had managed to gather his wits enough to ask what that meant, and he had never managed to find the nerve or the opportunity to ask again. However, that Hotaru seemed to be mostly unaffected wasn't to say that she was completely unaffected, and it didn't stop her from spending increasing amounts of time with her reincarnated sister.

How Akane was taking things was hard for Mamoru to say. When Ranma had disappeared, Mamoru's most direct link to the wife of his reincarnated empathic sibling had disappeared as well. The only information he had of Akane was through the filter of others: from Akane to Hotaru, from Hotaru to Haruka and Michiru, and eventually from Haruka and Michiru to himself. For example, Mamoru didn't even know for certain if Akane had told her or Ranma's family of his death yet. The main things he understood were that Akane was spending more and more time with Hotaru, and that Akane blamed herself for pressuring Ranma into being a Sailor Senshi which had led to his eventual death. It was only a tenuous connection of blame, and everybody else knew that Ranma had known the risks he was taking before he had entered that portal, but none of that mattered to the distraught Akane. She, much like everybody else, including Mamoru himself, wasn't exactly in the most rational state of mind.

Rei seemed to be the person second least affected by the tragedy, only being outdone by Hotaru. She found some measure of solace in her training as a shrine maiden. However, this also meant that the others looked to her for advice when she had no answers to give. Why had this happened? Where had they gone? What would happen now? These material questions were outside of the spiritual framing of the world Rei experienced. She did what she could, but Rei was unable to grant to the others the limited comfort she herself had.

In addition to the emotional growing up she had been forced into, Makoto's life had changed in a material way as well. With the loss of Minako, the pragmatic question of what to do about Artemis had arisen. As much as he would have liked to, moving in with Luna and Usagi was an impossibility. There was no telling how Usagi's family would react to her bringing home a second cat, and that was assuming Usagi would even be able to handle Artemis at the moment, which she wasn't. After much deliberation, it was eventually decided that the best option for now would be for Artemis to move in with Makoto. She didn't have any family so there wouldn't be any problematic questions, and Makoto desperately needed some company in these trying times.

Artemis, on the other hand, was far more affected than any of the girls. He had known Minako long before Sailor Moon had awoken, and the loss of the protege and companion he had had for three years struck him deeply. Rather than sink into quiet sorrow, though, the normally lazy cat went the other way. The slightly irresponsible Artemis was gone. In fact, he had been the one to suggest moving in with Makoto, instead of with Luna and Usagi. He now tried his best to stay engaged and helpful. That there was nothing to actually do didn't matter. If nothing else, his efforts at staying active was at least partly helping Makoto get over her own depression, much like Makoto's melancholic lethargy was providing Artemis with something to do to distract himself.

Mamoru wasn't really in an objective position to judge how he felt, but he placed himself somewhere in the less-affected half of the group. He liked Ami, Minako, and Setsuna well enough, but he had never been as close to them, or any of the other Sailor Senshi, as he was to Usagi. He did regret losing the opportunity to get to know his reincarnated empathic sibling, but given how bad things had been with Ranma before the disappearance, it wasn't like they had any friendship which he was now missing. It would have been interesting to see if their relationship could have thawed over time, but that was something which would now never be known.

By far, the person most affected by events was Usagi. The loss of her friends, especially Ami, who had been the first Sailor Senshi to join her, combined with the belief that she had pressured Ranma to join them, whether that was the truth or not, ate away at the previously vivacious girl. The pernicious guilt was festering in a way which was certainly not healthy. She kept saying that if she had said something differently, done something differently, she could have stopped this tragedy. She should have made them wait until they had learned more about the portal. She should have gone with them. She should have done something. Anything.

Nobody blamed Usagi for their loss except herself.

Rei, Makoto, Michiru, Haruka, Hotaru, Mamoru himself, Luna, Artemis, and now Akane all knew of the danger inherent in being a Sailor Senshi or supporting them. It was a danger they all willingly accepted: for their princess, for Crystal Tokyo, and for the dream that the future could be better than the present.

The only question was how to get Usagi to understand that.

The day the portal had closed had been an emotional roller coaster. They had been so preoccupied with the invading demons that they hadn't even noticed when the portal had closed. At first they had managed to keep up, but as demons started appearing at a faster rate they had been progressively overwhelmed. Suddenly, the last demon had been destroyed, and they noticed the warehouse was clear. It was only then that they realized the portal was gone.

The cheer of relief and exultation quickly turned to one of worry when Rei pointed out that none of the Sailor Senshi who had left had actually returned. Thereafter, a quick search around the room turned into a thorough one, and then a panicked one around the building and the surrounding grounds. None of their searching or calling out revealed anything.

In desperation, Mamoru had tried to use his trick with his Psi-Techs to locate Ranma. He had promised to not do it anymore, but this was an emergency. He'd apologize later. When he had tried, though, Mamoru had felt absolutely nothing from his connection to his empathic sibling. That was when the first touches of despair had started creeping in. Despite this, they had searched for hours before they had given up.

Usagi had wanted to tell Ami's mother everything right then and there. Ami was gone. Her daughter was a genuine hero, who had sacrificed herself keeping them all safe. Ami's mother deserved to know the truth, and Ami deserved the recognition of her selfless sacrifice.

It had taken a great deal of convincing from everybody to persuade Usagi of the foolishness of revealing the fact that Ami, and by extension all of them, were Sailor Senshi.

Ami's mother had called the next day, asking if Usagi knew where her daughter was, and Usagi had done what she had needed to do. She lied. No, she hadn't seen Ami recently. Was something wrong? Of course she would keep an eye out and let her know if she saw anything.

Usagi had then cried on Mamoru's shoulder for hours. She had done a lot of growing up in that one moment.

They had returned to the warehouse later that day, along with Akane and the others, in civilian outfits to conduct another search with the benefit of daylight. Even if Ranma was absent, and Mamoru was absolutely convinced that he was, there was still the chance that all, or even one, of the others had returned. However, their more thorough search revealed nothing.

The long solar eclipse that day, which Mamoru would later find out was the longest one in the millennium, was the perfect backdrop for how they all felt.

Undeterred, they went back to check every day that week, and conducted an equally thorough search each time. Each search came up with nothing. Rei's fire readings and Michiru's Deep Aqua Mirror provided no assistance either. If Ami or Setsuna had been around they might have been able to use the control room to glean more information about what had happened or what could be done, but the limited knowledge Luna and Artemis had of the system failed to yield any meaningful information.

After a week of searching, even Usagi had been forced to give up and admit that the four of them were just gone. That was when Usagi's depression had really hit.

Luna, Makoto, and Rei tried to help comfort Usagi whenever and however they could, but ultimately it fell to Mamoru, as Usagi's boyfriend and future husband, to bear the brunt of the burden. It was a burden he was more than willing to shoulder. He went out of his way to spend as much time as possible with Usagi, even though it meant that both his grades and his wallet were suffering as a result. This was far more important.

The circus was one of the more innovative ideas he had had. At some point, a traveling circus had arrived, and the show was the talk of the town. Mamoru had taken Usagi to it one day. The performance had been very good, especially the four stars of the show. Tightrope walking. Ball balancing. Animal tricks. Trapeze. The four girls did it all with such aplomb. The diversion hadn't been enough to permanently lift the gloom which had latched onto his girlfriend, but it had been partially successful at being playful distraction for the day.

However, despite the proficiency of the four young stars of the show, Mamoru couldn't shake the feeling that it didn't quite fit in correctly and that something was a bit off. Maybe if it had been a few weeks prior, it would have been different. They could have gone there as a family, back before Chibi-Usa had returned to the future. Back before Ami, Minako, Setsuna, and Ranma had died. Back when things had been normal. Back before they had all been forced to grow up. But those days, like Chibi-Usa, like the others, were long gone.

The circus had left town two weeks later. They had not returned to see it a second time.

Mamoru instead spent his time trying to cheer Usagi up with more common activities: going on walks, random presents, romantic dinners.

It was hard to tell how much of an effect his efforts were having. In the past two weeks it seemed like Usagi had improved somewhat. She was no longer always on the verge of tears, and she had stopped calling him on the phone and then just staying silent while listening to his voice. However, she was still far from the energetic, vivacious young girl that she had been just one month ago.

Case in point: the dinner they were having in an upscale restaurant. The Usagi from before the tragedy would have barely been able to sit still for a minute without whining about her latest test score, or enthusing about some new bauble she wanted to buy, or talking about one of any number of inconsequential topics. In contrast, the Usagi in actually front of Mamoru had a somber look on her face and was eating in silence. Truth be told, he would have been hesitant to even bring the Usagi from before to a place like this for fear that her overeager nature would cause some scene of some sort. Now, nothing would have warmed his heart more than if she did have some sort of childish outburst.

Usagi had improved, but there was still a long way to go.

Mamoru was abruptly distracted from his silent inspection of his girlfriend by a familiar feeling. It came on suddenly and strongly, like the opening of a window in a pitch black room which let in a brilliant afternoon sun. It felt distinctly different than he remembered. Obviously it was more defined than he remembered, but it contained many other subtle yet unmistakable differences. Despite that, he was absolutely sure what it was.

"He's back," Mamoru said out loud, wonder filling his voice.

"What?" Usagi asked, breaking her silence.

"He's back," Mamoru said, more confidently. "Saotome-san's back!"

"What?" Usagi shouted out, getting the attention of everybody in the restaurant. Her gloomy look of despair had instantly changed to one of hope and promise. The look suited her. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. He just showed up out of nowhere, over there," Mamoru said, pointing. Everybody was openly staring at him and Usagi. He didn't care.

"What are we waiting for? He might be in trouble!" Usagi shouted. She jumped to her feet and ran out of the restaurant, also unmindful of any scene she might be causing.

Mamoru followed, quickly but in a less frenetic way. Ranma was definitely troubled by something, but he was not in any immediate danger. Usagi would be back soon enough too, as soon as she realized that she had no idea where Ranma actually was. Even so, he was just as excited as Usagi was, if maybe a bit more composed about it.

On the way to the exit of the restaurant, he pulled out his wallet, intercepted the waiter carrying their desserts to their just evacuated table, and handed over a small stack of bills to pay for the meal.

By the time he reached the front door, Usagi was now running back up the street towards him. She panted out, "Which way did you say he was?"

"Come on, Usako. We can take my car," Mamoru replied, wondering how he would manage to keep himself from speeding once he was in it.

"What the..." Minako asked at the abrupt change of scenery. She took a quick glance around.

From the glamorous and spacious palace ballroom, Minako suddenly found herself in a small room with only one door and no windows. Ranma and Ami were standing just behind her. The single opening of the room would make it easy to defend, but that applied both for them as well as against them if they had to try to break out.

Minako swore under her breath about having left her sword at home for the ball as she took a defensive position. She didn't feel in any immediate danger, but as reliable as her intuition was, it wasn't perfect. Behind her, Minako heard Ranma move and assumed that she had taken a position similar to the one Minako herself had. That was until she heard another noise she couldn't place. She chanced another quick look behind her.

Ami had collapsed, and Ranma had caught her.

Minako swore under her breath again and modified her position to better cover her two friends from any threat which might come from the door.

"I used to think that nothing could be sadder than coming home and seeing all those birthday decorations but knowing you were gone," a woman said. The voice was definitely Setsuna's, but it was very different than the voice of the birthday girl they had just seen accepting the mantle of Sailor Pluto. It carried a more somber, more experienced timbre to it which was ineffable yet unmistakable. "Now it's only the second worst day of my life."

That the source of the voice was Setsuna was confirmed moments later when she stepped into the doorway, carrying three bags. However, much like her voice, her appearance was subtly different as well. An obvious difference was the dirty and torn clothing she had on, but that wasn't the most stark difference. Her posture and comportment carried a weight of experience and weariness the 20-year-old Setsuna never had, and the resigned look on her face would have been completely alien on the bubbly young woman they had been watching seconds ago.

"Setsuna-chan? What's going on here?" Ranma asked.

"What just happened is the completion of a bootstrap paradox that I, or rather my predecessor, set up," Setsuna said. She then handed over two of the bags. "Here. Why don't you change while I try to answer any questions you have."

Minako took the bag Setsuna offered to her, while Ranma did the same, and Setsuna approached the comatose Ami with the third one. Minako pulled her bag open and revealed its contents: a shirt and skirt, in just as bad a condition as the clothing Setsuna was wearing, and a jar containing some grayish-brown dirt and dust. The clothing looked vaguely familiar for some reason. After thinking about it for several seconds, Minako was able to figure out why. It was identical, excepting the damage, to the outfit she kept in her closet but never wore as a lingering connection to her home back in Tokyo.

"What is this?" Minako asked.

Setsuna, who was already undoing the straps of the dress Ami was wearing, said, "I'll be happy to explain as much as I can, but you really should keep changing. I expect Mamoru-san, along with whomever else, is probably heading this way as we speak."

Ranma gave a confirming nod and removed her dress with remarkable alacrity, revealing the dark bodysuit she wore underneath. Minako followed suit, doffing her own gown as quickly as she could, albeit at a much slower pace than Ranma had.

"We searched for you for a long time after my birthday. Everybody else gave up after a week or two. Serenity-sama kept looking for a year before she unveiled a monument to you three at the 21st anniversary ball. She said that you three had been travelers and that it must have been time for you to return home. Jadeite-san finally relented after 50 years. I never stopped looking," Setsuna said. "Imagine my surprise when I found out that Serenity-sama had been right, and in fact I had been the cause of your disappearance."

"But what happened?" Ranma asked.

"Before I explain that, I suppose I should tell you that you three were in the past, back at the founding of the original Moon Kingdom," Setsuna said.

Minako stopped changing and turned to Setsuna in surprise. She asked, "Are you telling me that Ami-chan was actually right?"

"She was," Setsuna confirmed.

"But what about the Battle of Toga Falls?" Ranma asked.

"It never happened," Setsuna said. "It's no more true than the myth that Serenity-sama was the goddess Selene, and that she created the people of the Moon Kingdom from the heart Moon itself."

"What?" Ranma asked, stopping her changing in shock.

"In fact, that's what finally convinced me that Ami-chan had actually been right, and that you three really were from the future. Serenity-sama died thinking that Ami-chan was just odd and confused. It was only when we established normal relations with the Terra Kingdom some 350 years after you disappeared and I started hearing about the Skirmish of Toga Falls that I really started to change my mind," Setsuna said.

"If that's true, then how did the Terra Kingdom begin for real?" Ranma asked slowly. She had finished removing her bodysuit and was in the process of donning the red shirt and black pants, both in as poor a condition as Minako's and Setsuna's own clothing, contained within her bag. Minako noticed and pointed to Ranma's earrings, which she quickly pulled off as well

"You were there. You know as much as I do. More than I do, probably. By the time we had established normal relations with the Terra Kingdom, it had been so long that I found their official history to be rather questionable. You should have heard the horrible things they were already saying about Serenity-sama by then. Seeing how much all the stories I've heard changed as the years went by, I'm even less trusting of the official history now than before. My best guess is that it wasn't anything too special. The Confederacy prospered under Endymion's rule, with the Greater Domains no longer there to fight over resources. Slowly, its neighbors saw its prosperity and wanted to join. It wouldn't have been without its problems, of course, but the same could be said for the Moon Kingdom, as you well know," Setsuna said.

"I see," Ranma said. She looked poleaxed by Setsuna's revelation.

"I will say that it's been fascinating watching the founding myths change and grow, with each generation adding a bit more. From a negotiation to a skirmish to an epic battle. From creating a castle to creating a kingdom to creating a people. Even the myths about me have evolved; from my father being a demon to my father being a secretive noble to my father being Chronos, the God of Time. I guess that last one is kind of true, in a sense," Setsuna said.

"Then why didn't you ever tell anybody the truth of what really happened?" Ranma asked.

Minako had finished changing her clothing and was now in the process of smearing dirt over herself. Ranma wasn't too far behind her, and Setsuna had mostly finished changing Ami by this point as well.

"What was I supposed to do? Sailor Pluto didn't even officially exist by that point of time, the position nominally becoming a state secret shortly after the discovery of the Gates of Time, and who would have believed plain, ordinary Setsuna?" Setsuna asked.

"It's much more romantic this way too," Minako said. She paused, and then said, "Wait a second. If you're that same Setsuna-chan, then that means you broke your promise to me. Why'd you do it?"

Age had worn away the fear, and thus most of the emotional impact, of that strange attack Sailor Pluto had conducted and then more strangely abandoned all those years ago. More than anything, Minako was disappointed that the promise that Setsuna had made only hours, or millenniums, earlier had been betrayed.

"No I haven't. Believe me, I definitely remember the last promise I ever made to you on that wretched day, and I've definitely made every one of my successors promise to not attack you," Setsuna said, with a wry smile. "As for why the attack, by telling me about it, especially in such a memorable way, you forced my hand. It's the same reason I avoid looking into the future myself as much as possible. When Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus approach the Gates of Time in the 30th century, Sailor Pluto will be there to attack them. By the way, if you do know anything else about my future that you haven't told me, please don't. I really don't want to know about it."

"None of that explains why we ended up back in the Moon Kingdom's founding in the first place," Ranma said.

"The literal answer to that question is easy. I sent you. Back when that castle in that parallel timeline exploded, I was able to harness the flood of energy it released to pull the three of you out of that spacetime continuum and translocate you to this continuum in the ancient past. If you want to talk about scary, that was scary. The timing was insanely complicated, and one mistake would have caused all of causality to rent itself apart," Setsuna said. She had finished changing Ami and was now smearing the dirt and grime from the jar onto her.

"If you lived through that explosion, then where have you been for all these years? We thought you were dead. Why didn't you get us until now?" Minako asked. She had finished preparing herself and now stood near the doorway, watching for anybody approaching.

Setsuna said, "Remember the different timelines. It may have been years for you, but it's only been a month for us..."

"A month?" Minako interrupted in surprise.

"Yes. A month. I couldn't cut it any shorter. I've spent the time trying to subdue the temporal maelstrom the explosion of the castle created. It disrupted the portal well enough, but the disruption went through the portal and ended up corrupting the spacetime local to here as well. This was the first opportunity in the local spacetime that it's been safe to retrieve you. As for why I waited 20 years to retrieve you relative to your timeline, it's the same reason it was impossible for me to have gone with you in the first place. If I were to interfere with my own timeline, it would have created a paradox with consequences which are entirely impossible to predict," Setsuna explained.

"So this was all your doing?" Ranma asked.

"Kind of, but it's not that easy. My predecessor set the script. I just put things into motion as best I could based on the outline I remembered from the stories you told me. Ironically, if you had told me less, then I'd have had a much more free hand in acting," Setsuna said.

"You keep saying you'll explain, but you're just talking in circles. What exactly were you trying to accomplish with all of this?" Minako asked.

"Just arranging it so I could be born," Setsuna said simply.

"Arranging it so you could be born? Wait a second. If you had to arrange your own birth, then how did you..." Minako trailed off, confused.

"You're correct. Like I said, it's a bootstrap paradox. Don't think too much about it. My best guess is that my predecessor set it all up, and the resulting paradox got resolved by her disappearance from reality and me taking her place in arranging my own birth. That's the only explanation I can think of. I can't see this causality loop spontaneously forming on its own," Setsuna explained.

"So if that's how we ended up in the past, then what brought us back here?" Ranma asked. She had also finished changing and had taken a position on the other side of the door, watching for anybody approaching in a similar way that Minako was.

"I did, using the Gates of Time, and it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do," Setsuna said.

"Then why did you do it? What about Ami-chan and Jadeite-kun? Why did you separate them? Why'd you steal your own mother away?" Minako asked.

"All three of you disappeared on my birthday after I accepted the mantle of Sailor Pluto, so I had to take you away to prevent your presence interfering with the timeline," Setsuna said. She was putting the finishing touches on Ami.

"But we were already there and already doing things. I even had you make that promise. How much more could we have done to interfere with the timeline?" Minako retorted.

"It doesn't work like that. I know it's tempting to think something like if you three had remained in the Moon Kingdom then you would have somehow affected the Knifeline Riots in Crisium, which might have prevented Orthoclase-dono's untimely demise, which might have allowed him to do something, which would have affected something, which would have changed all of history. Yes, certainly that's all true, but that also misses the point. Actions without context aren't that important for maintaining temporal consistency; it's knowledge of past and future events that matters. The key point is that from my perspective, you three disappeared on my 20th birthday. I knew that to be true, so for it to not happen would have caused a paradox," Setsuna explained.

Minako only half paid attention to Setsuna's explanation. The comment about some riots in Crisium had caught much more of her attention and sounded much more interesting and understandable to her than temporal mechanics. She knew that many of the people in Crisium were upset with the trade arrangements they somehow ended up in as the years went by, and they had various ideological differences with several of their neighbors, but she definitely didn't think either was bad enough to cause rioting. Orthoclase would also never support such an open and crude action either, and it was hard to imagine any riots significant enough to be named happening without at least his tacit approval. However, Setsuna had also mentioned that Orthoclase had somehow died as a result of these riots, which raised questions about what his relationship to the events in question actually was.

She was on the verge of asking Setsuna what had actually happened in Crisium when Ranma beat her to it, asking, "What about Jusenkyo? Did you have anything to do with that being locked too?"

That question knocked all political, sociological, and historical thoughts of Crisium out of Minako's head. It'd been so long since she'd thought about Jusenkyo, or the fact that the woman beside her had been born a man, in her most recent incarnation at least. She couldn't remember the last time Ranma had even talked about it.

"Kind of, but not like you think. At first, when you were pregnant, that prevented you from transforming back. After that, on the Moon, it had more to do with Serenity-sama's using the Ginzuishou to slow everybody's aging. Her liberal usage of life energy to bring cellular stability to everybody had the by-product of changing the balance of determinist, chaos, aetheric, and abjective energy necessary for Jusenkyo transformations. Now that you are no longer under the influence of an artifact of such power, you should transform into a man with hot water again," Setsuna explained.

Looking at Ranma, Minako couldn't tell if she was relieved or felt worse. In fact, Minako couldn't tell what Ranma was thinking at all.

"Does that mean that Jusenkyo can be suppressed?" Ranma asked.

"Of course it can, if you have access to an artifact as strong as the Ginzuishou. Then again, there is very little you can't do if you have access to something as strong as the Ginzuishou," Setsuna said. "Seeing how Michiru-chan can transform into Sailor Neptune, even when in her cursed form, it seems like it might take far less energy than that too, if applied correctly."

Michiru. Michiru and a curse. It sounded so familiar to Minako. It felt like that had been important at some point. If Michiru was Sailor Neptune... She vaguely recalled something important having happened to Sailor Neptune. Given what Setsuna was alluding to, presumably this person had gotten a Jusenkyo curse. However, details about who that somebody was, and what curse this was, Minako honestly couldn't remember.

"So, if all of this was to arrange you being born, why did you do it at all?" Ranma asked. "You keep talking about a predecessor. Why couldn't that person have been Sailor Pluto?"

"I don't know. I never knew my predecessor. In fact, I don't even know for certain that I have a predecessor. She, or he, no longer exists. At all. There's absolutely no evidence of that person's existence. That might be for the best, too. Do you know how lonely it is, guarding the Gates of Time for all these years? For all this time, the only bright light in my life was the memory of my childhood with you. I can't imagine how terrible it would have been without those memories. If my predecessor hadn't been as lucky as I had, I could imagine her trying to set up the situation as it currently stands. I don't know if it's true, but that's the best explanation I've been able to come up with after all of these years," Setsuna said.

"So why didn't you tell us this back in the Moon Kingdom? Why didn't you let us choose if we wanted to come back or stay there?" Ranma asked. There was definitely more than a touch of anger in her voice now.

"If I had given you the choice, what would you have done?" Setsuna asked.

"Stayed with my daughter," Ranma said without a pause.

"Stayed there," Minako agreed. It was obvious, especially if Setsuna would have been able to relay a message to the other Sailor Senshi about what had happened. She missed Artemis and the others, but the immediacy of that loss had vanished over the course of 20 years. She had grown to accept it. Most certainly she would miss all the people on the Moon and the life she had created there far more than that.

"And if I told you that you had to leave or reality would be destroyed, would you still stay behind?" Setsuna asked.

That was a much harder question. If she really needed to go or reality would be destroyed, as Ami always warned, then she supposed she would go, but it was a hard decision. She would be saying goodbye to everybody she knew and...

"And you couldn't actually say goodbye to anybody. You just had to disappear without a trace?" Setsuna added a moment later.

Leave without even saying goodbye? That made it even harder. To be clear, if the universe was to be destroyed, then it was obvious what she had to do. But still, to just vanish? People depended on her, and to abandon them without...

"Exactly. That's why I couldn't give you a choice," Setsuna said after a couple of seconds, when neither Minako nor Ranma had answered.

"So instead you just decide on your own to kidnap Minako-chan? Destroy Ami-chan's and Jadeite-kun's marriage? Take away the life I was to have with my daughter. You decide what's right, and then force that decision on everybody else?" Ranma asked, seething. "We were wrong to select you as Sailor Pluto."

"Everybody! You're all alive!" the shout of Usagi from across the room interrupted them.

Mamoru had a hard time keeping his foot off the accelerator as he approached Ranma. He could tell Ranma was becoming increasingly distressed as time went on, and as he approached the feelings he got from Ranma only increased. He tried to absorb some of the negativity to help calm Ranma, but could only do so much, lest he too get washed away in the flood of emotion.

His task was made no easier by Usagi's constant plea, sometimes verbal but always with her emotive eyes, that he go faster.

He had to keep reminding himself that it would do nobody, not Ranma, not Usagi, and especially not himself, any good if he were to be pulled over for speeding, or worse if he were to have an accident. Haruka might be able to get away with driving like a maniac, but there was no way he was going to risk it at this critical time.

Eventually he came to a stop just outside the building he knew Ranma to be in. Appropriately enough, it was the same warehouse in which Ami had discovered that portal a month ago. A lifetime ago. He had been so focused on getting there that he hadn't even realized where he was going, even though he had been there over a dozen times by now.

Usagi was out the door before the car had even come to a complete stop, and Mamoru was right behind her seconds later. He didn't even bother to lock the car door as he ran.

Despite her years of practice dashing to school, Mamoru's longer legs and overall better fitness allowed him to catch up to Usagi despite her head start. He was able to slip into the building through the door that Usagi had opened moments earlier.

"This way," he instructed, taking the lead and running to a small room in the back corner of the huge building.

"Everybody! You're all alive!" Usagi shouted out at the first sight of Minako, Ranma, Setsuna, and Ami. She put on a final burst of speed, surprising Mamoru as much as it had surprised numerous observers in the past as Usagi sprinted through an almost-closed school gate. She surged past him and then grabbed the door frame to bring herself to an abrupt stop.

Mamoru came to a halt at a much less breakneck pace just behind her. Inside the room, Ami was lying on the ground, in front of a sitting Setsuna. Minako and Ranma, on the other hand, were standing by the doorway. Regardless of their specific positions, though, all three looked like they had re-fought the fight at Mugen Academy during the rise of Pharaoh 90 without the benefit of their Sailor Senshi transformations. Whatever they had been through, it had clearly taken its toll. They looked at least a year older.

For briefest of moments, Mamoru thought Setsuna looked as though she was about to cry, but the look passed before he could be sure he saw it.

"Yes. We had a bit of trouble for the past month, but we were finally able to get back," Setsuna said in her normally unflappable way, despite her battered and injured appearance.

"What happened?" Mamoru asked. "Is Ami-chan hurt?"

"She's hurt?" Usagi parroted, the hint of growing panic appearing in her voice.

"No, Ami-chan's fine. She's just exhausted," Minako said.

"She exhausted herself arranging for the circumstances so we could get home. She'll be fine in a day or two," Setsuna added.

"Are you sure?" Usagi asked, panic still in her voice, but now at a steady level.

"Yes, she'll be fine with some rest," Ranma confirmed.

Mamoru could tell there was more to the story, in Ranma's opinion if nothing else, but he couldn't tell what it was, and he certainly wasn't going to try to see if he could find out more.

"I have to let everybody know you're alive. And Akane-san. And Ami's mother. They've all been so sad," Usagi enthused.

"That's a good idea, you should do that," Minako said. "It's probably a good idea to call a meeting so we can tell everybody what happened and answer all of your questions at once; only, can you wait a couple of days so Ami-chan can recover first? There's nothing urgent, and she should be a part of it too."

"Of course, of course," Usagi rapidly agreed as she pulled out her communicator.

Rei was the first to respond. Her work as a shrine maiden lent itself to long periods of being on her own doing tedious and repetitive work, which left her free to respond to any incoming messages. She asked, "What's the problem?"

"They're alive!" Usagi shouted into her communicator.

"Who's alive?" Haruka asked. Most likely that meant Michiru and Hotaru were listening in as well.

"They all are. Ami-chan, Minako-chan, Setsuna-san, and Saotome-san!" Usagi shouted excitedly.

"You found them? Where are they? Are they in trouble?" Rei shouted out of the communicator.

"They're hurt, but Mamo-chan and I are with them right now," Usagi said.

Mamoru winced at Usagi's choice of words. He knew what effect they would have had on him if he weren't here in person. Indeed, right after Usagi's declaration, a cacophony of worried voices asking what had happened, where they were, and promises to get there posthaste came flooding out of Usagi's communicator.

He decided to forestall the inevitable confusion by jumping in and saying, "Everything's under control. We don't need any help. I'll be driving everybody home. We'll be having a group meeting in a couple of days to talk about what happened. We all have a lot of questions, but Ami-chan and the others need a chance to rest and recover first. Can somebody give Ami-chan's mother a call and let her know we found her?"

"Do you want to bring them over here first so Ami-chan can clean up? We don't want to scare her mother too much or have her ask too many questions," Artemis suggested, meaning Makoto was listening in as well, even if she hadn't said anything when she had first joined the conversation.

"No, wait," Ranma interrupted. "It's better to drop Ami-chan off like this. We'll need to tell her mother something about why she's been gone. A kidnapping which she escaped from is as good a story as any, and it'll be better if we looked the part."

Mamoru thought about what Ranma had suggested and had to agree it was a good idea. A very good idea, considering it had been a spur of the moment thought after what they had been through.

"That's a good idea, Saotome-san," Usagi said, agreeing with Mamoru's unspoken opinion. "Let's do this then. We'll schedule a meeting on Sunday after everybody's recovered to talk about what happened, but we leave them alone in the meantime. Rei-chan, you call Ami-chan's mom and let her know we're coming. Hotaru-chan, can you let Akane-san know as well?"

Usagi spoke with the friendly tone of suggestion, but the underlying command was unmistakable to all. The four heretofore dead Sailor Senshi were not to be bothered for the next two days.

"I'm here too. I heard," Akane said on the communicator. "Before you go, can you tell Ranma..." She hesitated. "Can you tell Ranma I'm sorry?"

Ranma responded into Usagi's communicator, with a voice which reflected every bit of emotional weariness that Mamoru could tell Ranma felt, a very formal, "Apology accepted."

The first order of business was to figure out the timeline of events for the supposed kidnapping. It made the most sense for all of the relevant people to be briefed at the same time to avoid conflicting stories. Minor discrepancies would be accepted as stress causing mistaken memories, but major differences were to be avoided if at all possible.

The official story was that Ami and Minako had been out shopping when they had been confronted and kidnapped. They had fought back but had been overpowered, blindfolded, and taken to the warehouse they were later rescued from. Unfortunately, it had happened so quickly that they wouldn't be able recognize their kidnappers if they saw them again, and their captors always wore masks and never spoke where Ami and Minako would be able to hear them.

Several weeks later, while performing some obscure martial arts training, Ranma stumbled across this same warehouse. The strange, masked people had caught Ranma's attention, and further observation had revealed the captive Ami and Minako. At this point, Ranma had staged a valiant rescue of the two girls. While the rescue attempt was ultimately successful, fighting and trying to keep the girls safe had taken so much attention that Ranma would also not be able to identify any of the kidnappers.

Setsuna played no role in the events in question, and wouldn't be present when Ami was delivered to her mother.

Overall, it was a fairly standard, if utterly inexplicable, kidnapping and rescue story which Ranma dealt with on a quasi-regular basis. Usually they really were kidnappings too, and not just a convenient cover story for other less mundane activities.

Ranma just hoped that Ami wouldn't ruin things by saying something she shouldn't when she woke up. She had faith in her friend's perceptiveness and ability to think on her feet, but there was no way to brief her before she would see her mother. A person waiting at her bedside would inevitably lead to the question of why Ami wasn't in a hospital if her condition was serious enough to warrant that level of concern, and a formal hospital examination would be too dangerous. In a worst case, Ami's initial statements could be dismissed as delusions from an exhausted girl, but it would be much better to not risk closer inspection if at all possible.

Once everything was settled, Setsuna made her own way home, presumably using the Gates of Time to travel. This left Mamoru to drive only Usagi, Minako, Ami, and Ranma around, which was a tight enough fit in the car as it was.

The delivery of Ami to her mother had been without issue. Her mother had been so relieved to see Ami as Ranma carried her in that she had accepted the story at face value.

Minako lived nearby so was the next to go home. As Artemis was staying with Makoto, Minako would be able to avoid any hard questions for at least one day. Irrespective of that, Ranma had faith in Minako's ability to handle herself, even once Artemis returned to her home. While not as quick witted as Ami, her practical experience more than made up for it.

Ultimately this left Ranma alone in the car with Usagi and Mamoru. Ranma hadn't been looking forward to that, ironically because of how little she minded. She could feel the waves of curiosity coming from Mamoru and intellectually knew she should be on guard. Despite this, surprisingly, Ranma found that she actually didn't want to keep this all a secret. She knew Mamoru trusted her and would never conceive of betraying her, and that just made the prospect of lying to him, and certainly being caught by him, all the harder. After all these years of subterfuge and subtlety, it was on odd feeling. Still, force of habit prevailed. She knew her judgment was seriously impaired due to recent events, and didn't want to do anything drastic without a good night's sleep and a chance to reflect. Besides, it wouldn't be fair to the others if she said anything without consulting them first.

"So what happened to you four?" Mamoru casually asked as he drove Ranma to the home she could no longer remember. The truth please, she practically heard.

"It's a long story," Ranma answered. Please don't press me for details, especially with Usagi around.

"I'm sure it is," Mamoru said. You've changed a lot. Changed far more than the plain eye can see.

"It was a month, and we all went through a lot," Ranma said. Please don't ask for more. I really can't say at this time, if ever. I need to talk to the others first at the very least.

"Well, I can tell you're tired, so I can wait to hear what happened with everybody else at the meeting," Mamoru said. The version of events that you all decide to tell us, and that I'll accept without question. You are carrying a heavy burden, though, and if you ever feel the need to share it, I promise to do whatever I can do to help you.

"Thank you," Ranma said. For not prying. For being so accepting. For everything. Thank you.

Usagi gave no indication of being disappointed in not learning more about what had happened, although Ranma was sure she was.

The rest of the short car ride proceeded in silence, Ranma basking in Mamoru's presence as much as she was sure he was doing in hers.

At the first sight of Akane, Ranma felt absolutely nothing. She vaguely remembered loving Akane, all those years ago, but for the life of her she couldn't remember why. She also vaguely remembered being angry at Akane for some reason, but had no idea why that was either. Maybe it was related to that strange apology Akane had said earlier. Was it something important? Was it something petty? Did she miss her? Did she want to leave her? Ranma felt absolutely nothing at all. Akane could have just as easily been a random stranger Ranma saw on the street, and given everything that had happened, in many real ways she was.

"Ranma! Ranma, Ranma, Ranma. You're alive. You're really alive," Akane said, running forward the second Ranma emerged from the car. She obviously didn't feel the same confused detachment that Ranma did.

Ranma was at a momentary loss for what to do. If she hadn't been so physically, intellectually, and emotionally exhausted, she probably would have been able to handle the situation much more deftly. She eventually decided that the most appropriate thing for a returning spouse to do would be to accept her wife's hug. Despite everything she had been through and all the time spent away, they were still technically married after all.

When Akane leaned in, it likewise took Ranma a second to realize that Akane was trying to kiss her. She leaned in and shared a kiss with her technically-married wife. She knew she wasn't acting quite right, but with her judgment impaired as it was, she couldn't do very much about it except press on as best she could. She knew she'd feel better in the morning, if she could just get there without causing too much of a fuss.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. For fighting with you, for the Sailor Senshi business, for letting you go on that mission, for everything," Akane said, clinging to Ranma.

"Akane," Ranma said. Was that the right form of address to use? She wasn't sure. "That's okay, I'm just tired. I'm going to go to bed and we can talk about it later."

She felt utterly drained. The anniversary of the official founding of the Moon Kingdom was always a long day. There was always the final preparations for the ball, her normal work, setting up Setsuna's birthday party, playing with Ami at the dance, and everything else. That was just in ordinary years. That wasn't even counting what had happened this year, with Setsuna's bringing them back to Tokyo without a word of warning, and the subsequent explanations.

Setsuna. The last thought brought tears to her eyes.

Ranma felt a surge of concern from Mamoru.

"Crying? What could have happened to make the great Ranma Saotome cry?" Akane asked teasingly, then gasped. "No, no, that came out all wrong. I'm sorry. What's wrong?"

"That's alright. Don't worry about it. I just want to get some sleep," Ranma said, brushing away her tears and walking into what had once been, and was now once again, her home.

Last Updated: December 25, 2012