Well, here it is. The very last ending chapter of Sailor Moon Destiny. I...I just can't believe it's all over! T.T I'm gonna miss this story so much!! *cries hysterically* I just want to thank all the people who read and got this story to over 1,500 views. You're what keeps me writing. *sniffle* Please enjoy the final capter of SMD and R&R if you please. I have to go find some tissues.
~SXS
Starlights Leaving Forever? Usagi's Final Choice
Back in the dungeon, everyone was waiting worried sick about us all. When we came back, they were overjoyed and a frezy of hugs and kisses ensued. I noticed Taiki and Ami hugging shyly and Minako squeezig Yaten who just grinned and let it go.
We explained to Michiru and Hotaru what happened to Pluto. They were upset but said that they would see her again; apparently it wasn't the first time she had used her Time Stop power.
We teleported from the dungeon and hoped to never see it again. Back in Tokyo at last, we were at the Hikawa Shrine when Kakyuu pulled the three boys aside to talk to them.
I watched as the four discussed. The boys raisedtheir arms and waved their hands about. From the looks of it, that conversation wasn't going so well. When finally they came forward, the princess spoke two simple yet terrible somber words.
"We're leaving."
"Nani?!" we all cried at once.
She nodded her head. "My kidnapping on Kinmoku-sei was very dangerous for the people and I had only limited means of protection. If anything like that was ever to happen again, or something worse than that, Heaven forbid, we could all be doomed. I can't afford to allow the Starlights to be so far away from the planet, for the sake of our people."
"B-B-But you'll be back...right?" Rei asked.
Kakyuu shook her head. "Anything can happen in any amount of time."
I could only stare at Seiya in shock as my heart dropped into my stomach. We looked into each other's eyes. I couldn't tell what were reflected in mine. His were full of agony and sorrow and that one thing I usually couldn't idnetify: love. "Odango..." he said, almost in a whisper.
Taiki and Yaten looked to Ami and Minako who were crying. Reluctatnly they turned away without any goodbyes. Seiya followed them slowly and kept casting looks back in my direction. Mamoru was holding my hand but it didn't make me feel any better.
"Seiya..." Tears started to escape my eyes. No words would come to my mouth. I was frozen because I didn't know what to do. My mind wouldn't grasp that I would never see Seiya again. I had to see him again. He was my best friend, he was the one I...the one I loved.
Finally, I snapped into some sense. The feeling of Seiya and I kissing before was still on my lips and I remembered sighing out his voice when we parted. Sailor Cosmos's words rung in my head. Never let this person out of your life. You're going to need him more than you know... I finally knew what I wanted. My choice was clear. I wanted to be free of my destiny, of all the bonds that tied me down. I wanted to go where I wanted, be who I wanted, love who I wanted. I wanted Seiya. I loved Seiya. I needed Seiya.
"Seiya, wait!" I cried out. He turned back to me and I tried to run forward, but something held me back. I turned to see Mamoru holding my arm. "Mamo-chan, let go. I want to talk to Seiya."
"Just let them go, Usako. They can't stay here all day while their planet waits for them." His voice was laced with ice.
"It won't take all day if you let go of my arm." I tugged but I couldn't escape. "Mamoru! What are you doing?"
"It's better if you just let them go. You don't need him. You have me."
"But I don't want you!"
My friends all looked shocked by the statement I had just made. Seiya, Taiki and Yaten's eyes were also wide. Mamoru looked angry. "What did you say?"
"I said...I said I don't want you! Now let me go!" Mamoru's grip loosened from shock and I went to Seiya.
"Seiya, you can't go! I need you!" I latched onto him, to his surprise. "If you go, I'll be all alone. I mean it when I say that you're my best friend but you're also so much more! You can't leave because I can't go on without the one I love!"
Seiya was speechless; probably because he didn't expect that last one. He stammered a bit then found his voice. "O-Odango...Do you mean it?"
I nodded. "Of course I do. I love you and I want you to stay!"
Seiya's face went from shock to excitement to satisfaction and peace to sadness to pleading. "I-I don't know if I can..." He turned to the princess who had a sad expression still on her face.
"Fighter, it is better if you come home. Kinmoku-sei needs a princess and I cannot always defend myself against more powerful foes." Seiya looked back to me, his eyes battling for a dominant emotion; happiness that I finally loved him or sadness that we were being torn apart. I made another decision.
"If Seiya has to go back to his planet then I guess I'm coming with him." This really made everyone else look shocked.
Minako was next to speak. "Well, I don't want to live in a world without Usagi-chan. I'm in! Besides, that means I can be closer to Yaten-kun." She stood next to him and grabbed his arm.
"If Minako-chan and Usagi-chan are going, I'm going too," Ami said. Makoto followed her and finally Rei joined us. The Outer senshi looked to one another and decided to go also, though Haruka was reluctant. Kakyuu smiled. Mamoru looked at me with a strange emotion I didn't recognize on his face.
"Is this what you really want, Usako?" he asked.
I nodded. "It's not you Mamo-chan. Well, I guess I shouldn't call you that anymore."
"I should have known..." He walked over to us and picked up his hand. I flinched, but he was just putting it out to shake hands with Seiya. "I guess you win. You're a very lucky...person."
Seiya looked down at me. "I know I am." Then he shook Mamoru's hand.
Mamoru turned to leave. Kakyuu closed her eyes a moment as if in deep thought. Then she called out to im. "Mamoru-san, maybe you could come back to my planet with me."
"Me? Come back with you?" He pointed to himself.
"Yes. I'm going to need some protection without the Starlights."
"Nani?!" everyone else said in unison.
"I've changed my mind. I made too hasty of a decision and I can see that your lives here are precious. I would not want to make you leave. Your happiness comes first to me and if I made you come back with me your friends would come too and that would alter the future of this planet to an extreme. And so, I shall journey back to Kinmoku-sei and I invite Mamoru-san to join me. Together we can train new Starlight senshi and make the planet a better place. Will you come, Mamrou-san?"
Mamoru looked from us to the princess. We all gave him encouraging looks. Finally he said, "Yes. Perhaps we can start over."
"We'll never see you again?" Taiki asked.
"We shall meet again one day, Maker. Or should I say Taiki?" She giggled. "It will be hard for me without you but I will be alright because I know you are free to do what you choose. Everyone deserves to choose their path." She turned to me and smiled warmly. The three boys nodded.
"We'll miss you so much!" Yaten said as he hugged the princess goodbye.
"Send us a message anytime." Taiki hugged her next.
"We love you," Seiya said as he hugged her and gave her a kiss on the forehead.
"I love you all as well. Be happy and enjoy your new lives on Earth. Farewell, my sweet star senshi!"
"We'll miss you too, Mamoru," everyone said.
"Goodbye, Usako. Be happy. Goodbye everyone!"
Mamoru and Kakyuu backed away from us and shot into the air as a beam of firey light.
"Usagi-chan, are you sure about what you just did?" Ami asked.
"The future will be altered. Chibiusa will not exist. Are you willing to take such risks?" Michiru added.
"Of course. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I let Seiya out of my life. I love him." I smiled up to Seiya who looked down at me like he still couldn't believe what had just happened. He just held me and didn't say anything.
The Outer senshi then said goodbye. Haruka looked a little unsettled by my decision but I figured I could probably smooth her over with time. We all went our respective directions, heading home for a much deserved rest.
--
When I got home, I was greeted by my mom. "Oh, Usagi, I have good news. Guess who's come to stay with us for a while?" That surprised me. No one had said anything about us having a guest.
"Who is it?" I asked.
"Your little cousin, Chibusa-chan." She stepped aside to reveal the cotton candy-haired girl.
"Chi-Chi-Chibiusa!! But-But-But-"
"What's wrong, Usagi? Too surprised to speak? Luna got your tongue?" Chibiusa teased.
"How are you here?!"
"You're acting really strangely, Usagi. Mommy and Daddy dropped me off, silly. Come on! Let's go upstiars." She took my hand and dragged my to my room. I was in absolute shock. I could not uderstand how she even existed anymore without Mamoru. I thought she was gone forever.
When we were both in my room and the door was closed, I turned to her and demanded to know what was going on. "Mamoru's not your father anymore! How are you still alive?"
"Don't you notice anything different about me?" she said. That was when I really looked at her. Her hair was still pink but it was a darker pink than it had been. And her eyes were no longer the red that they once were but a dark shade of blue. Her hair was also longer, though still in the same style it used to be.
"Now that you mention it, yes."
"Now that Seiya's my father I just inherrited his traits instead. I'm still the same person."
"Shinjiranai...." Here I was so distraught about my choice because I would be killing this girl and she was still around. I scooped her up into a tight hug and cried. "I'm so happy! All of my guilt is gone! I'm finally free!"
"I'm happy too. You made a good choice. Now I'm going to go see Hotaru-chan. Bye!" She ran out of the room. I flopped on my bed in my bliss.
Chibiusa was sleeping over with Hotaru. Mom and Dad went out somewhere with Shingo. Even Luna had left to go see Artemis with Diana, who Chibiusa had brought with her from the future. It was just me alone. I was in my room still contemplating everything that had happened in just a few months when the doorbell rang.
I went downstairs and found Seiya at my front door. "Hello, my love. What brings you here?"
"Um...I was just wondering...is this all really happening?" His face was very red as he spoke. "I mean, did you really pick me over Mamoru? Do you really...love me?"
"Of course." I wrapped my arms around him. "I love you and I always will." I looked up and he still looked disbelieving. "Oh, come here!" I pulled his face down to mine and kissed him. The kiss started out innocently but then become more passionate. I moved my arms to go around his neck and he dropped his arms to my waist. The kiss felt like nothing I had ever experienced with Mamoru. It was so different, it even tasted different. But it was the best difference ever. There was so much more feeling than anything I had ever felt before.
Finally we were out of breath and pulled away. "Now do you believe me?"
Seiya smiled bigger than I'd ever seen him smile before. "Yes I do. I love you, Odango! I love you, I love you, I love you!" He picked me up and swung me around. I laughed as he put me down and held me. "This is the best day of my life." He kissed the top of my head.
"Mine too. Everything is as it should be."
My heart soared. I had the man that I loved, the daughter I loved, the future I loved, and with nothing lost. I may have missed Mamoru a little but he was my past now. My future was not set in stone either, but I knew exactly what I wanted it to be, and now I was free to make that choice.
--
The white haired senshi found her way back to the Time Gates and went through to her future. She had a feeling that nothing would change. Though she warned her former self of missing the man she loved, she doubted that she would choose him over the one she had been so head-over-heels for.
The Crystal Palace shone ahead. This was the future she knew. This was the future she would live with forever. But something felt different when she entered. A different presence. It was familiar and it made her feel better than she had in a long time.
Detransforming, she rushed to the throne room where she found her daughter, the princess. When she heard her mother come in, she turned with a great smile on her face. "Mommy!"
"Small Lady? What happened to your eyes and hair, dear?" The princess's hair was longer than she remembered and it was a darker shade of pink. Her eyes were blue, which was the most noticeable of changes.
"What are you talking about, Mommy?"
"Odango?" A new voice came from behind her. She froze and turned slowly back to the door. There in the doorway was the king, but he was not the king she remembered. He had the same sort of blue eyes, but deeper. He had the same sort of hair, but longer and darker. He had the same sort of smile, but sweeter and more loving.
"S-Seiya?"
"Yes...Odango, are you ok?"
It was then that she realized that her younger self must have taken her advice. She had chosen Seiya over Mamoru all those years ago and now history had re-written itself. She had the future she had always desired.
"Oh, Seiya!" She ran forward and kissed him passionately. He was a little suprised at first but returned the kiss, nonetheless.
"Wow. Why are you so happy?"
"Because I have everything I always wanted out of this world. I love you."
"I love you, too," he said, wrapping his arms around her.
"I love you both!" Small Lady joined in the hug.
The royal family had found the happiness they always deserved, a happiness they had only dreamed of before. Always let your heart lead you because it knows exaclty where to go to make you happy.
And that's all she wrote. Well, that's all I wrote. Did you like it? I mean really, really like it? I know that you Seiya/Usagi fans were just waiting for all this good stuff to happen. And sorry to Mamo/Usa lovers but that's not the way I roll in the world of fanfiction. I hope that you liked the story and its ending anyway. So...I guess this is goodbye... JA NE MINNA!!! ARIGATOU!!!! And always remember, destiny is not written in stone.