I'm a douchebag. There! I say it! Want me to say it again?

I am a douchebag and I don't own sailormoon.

The walk back was silent. Neither the commander or Rei broke it, each of their mind was wandering. The commander was more like an empty shell. Her emotion mixed between devastated, regret, yet hoping. The feeling she had over the raven haired girl was confirmed. It was love. A desperate and helpless one. She knew she would never get any payback for her love and Rei would never acknowledge it. Even though it wasn't one sided thing, they will never get together.

Never once in my mind that I will fall in love with someone else. The blonde commander thought. She glanced at Rei who was walking beside her. She saw the glimpse of pain on the raven-haired girl.

"Are you okay?" The commander couldn't help it but worried.

"I can bear it for awhile." Rei replied. She didn't even know the reason of her injuries.

"Lean on me."

"No."

"You are limping!" The commander pulled Rei's arm so she stood closer to her. Then she circled Rei's arm around her neck, supporting Rei's body with her own.

"…You are so stubborn, you know that?"

Rei looked at the blonde. Everytime she did it, her mind remembering another specific blonde in her world.

"Commander. What if I say I met someone in the dream awhile ago?" Rei asked.

"Do I know the person?" The commander responded. She was glad that at least they were talking about something.

"Yes. It was her… the one who looked like me."

The sentence made the blonde halted her steps, "Fire…" The name came out of her lips like it has been very long time.

"Yes. I met her and we had short conversation." Rei watched the changing expression of the woman beside her. She was startled with only by mentioning the name. The Fire woman had to be a very special person for the commander.

Rei felt bitterness on the tip of her tongue. Her stomach knotted, resulting a sick feeling.

"W…What were you two talking about?"

"She asked me to continue the mission. Defeat the black clan. After that, she said I will be granted one wish."

Minako processed everything slower than she used to. After a long one minute, the blonde expression changed again. This time, she was smiling.

"Isn't that good? If you make it, you will be able to go home."

"I thought so…"

"You thought?" The commander frowned. She was sure that Rei's ultimate desire was going back to her original world.

"Never mind." Rei shrugged the topic off. She would never say to Minako about her mind lately. Somehow in this strange world, she became attached to something. Rei wondered herself, what was it.

The first stop they made when they reached the camp was to meet Ami. Even though Rei had insisted that she was okay, the blonde didn't want to take the risk.

"You were dead and that's not okay." The commander said sarcastically as she dragging Rei to the infirmary.

"No…"

The bluenette professor appeared. She watched two struggling women. Her attention shifted to the raven girl, it didn't take time to figure out the girl was in pain.

"What happened again? Get her on the bed." Ami pointed out the only bed in the room. Rei didn't have choice but obey. The bluenette professor was scarier with needles and syringe.

"I leave her to you. I have something to report to the queen." The commander exchanged glances with Ami and then left.

Ami approached Rei who was sitting on the bed.

"I see you are in a lot of pain… where it's hurting?"

"Everywhere."

"… The most?" Ami was trying to know the source of the pain.

"Over here, I think…" Rei touched her chest. Her gaze still lingered on the place where the commander had just left.

"Rei made a contact with Fire?" The information did surprise the gatekeeper, Setsuna. The green haired woman stood stiffly and walk toward the door with her staff ready.

"What are you doing?" The commander noticed the sudden change of atmosphere around the older woman.

"We can delay no longer, commander. Rei must get to the sword as soon as possible. The dimension was in a crack so such thing happen. I don't know if this is good or bad thing… the event also means that the darkness fast approaching. You know what you have to do." Setsuna calmly replied. The conversation wasn't new for both of them. They had ready for anything about the upcoming darkness or at least Setsuna did. The commander, in the other hand wasn't sure with herself. Her determination was set in stone in the second Fire'd left her. However, the arrival of Rei took her by surprise.

"Commander?"

"Count me out, there must be another plan…" The cerulean eyes hesitantly looked up. Setsuna caught what she could decipher from the eyes. It was fear and great one.

"The prophecy…"

"I DON'T CARE!" The blonde commander cut off. Her body shook while her palm turned into fist on her side.

"I will give you time, while doing that… tell Rei we have to set out immediately. I will inform the rest." The older woman's voice went soft. This earned the commander's attention.

"I won't sacrifice her, Setsuna."

Setsuna smiled, that was the first time Minako calling her by first name after long time, "I know you will say that. What do you think I am?"

"Then?"

"Even if I knew, what we can do to the inevitable destiny… Minako? That's out of my capability to reset. If it's that easy… neither this will happen." After that, Setsuna exited the room to give the blonde commander her time.

Unknown for the blonde commander that Setsuna also had someone in her mind. The gatekeeper knew her action afterward will entirely change the prophecy upside down.

Even if she was told to think, she couldn't. Her idea always put off when it came to certain raven haired girl involvement. If what Setsuna said was true then everything won't change. The fate will claim once again her most precious person in her life. The blonde commander let out a deep sigh, unrealized that she was dragging her feet to Ami's camp.

"Commander," The voice greeted her. She turned around only to face a worried queen in front of her.

"Your highness."

"Are you okay? You look pale." Serenity pointed out an area between Minako's eyebrows. The deep frown was too obvious on her pale face.

"… It's okay."

"You are lying… if I were you, I won't be okay at all." The young queen huffed. That time when their gaze met, the two blondes reached an understanding. They both knew what will happen after this. The inevitable future prophecy had mentioned.

"Please… leave me alone." The commander said her plea.

"If I have the power to change everything back… I'm sorry to be so helpless, Minako." Serenity bowed humbly to her bestfriend before retreating back to her tent.

A bitter smile formed on the commander's lips. Those words were always crossing her mind endlessly. Power. If only she had the power, the ability to change the inevitable…

"… nothing is inevitable. What a stupid thinking." Someone said to her. The commander knew the voice, in fact it was the only voice she came to like to hear. Rei was standing outside Ami's tent. The blonde didn't know whether Rei had witnessed the conversation with the queen just now.

"Setsuna told me… everything. This and that future prophecy. You know, in my world the most reliable prophecy was weather prediction." Rei chuckled with her own remark.

"Other than that, we figure out with our strength." Rei walked approaching the stunning blonde. Rei saw the fear, exhaustion, anxiety, and dread crossing the beautiful cerulean before her. That second, the raven haired girl only thinking to ease away the pain inside it.

"Something that hasn't happening yet isn't inevitable, commander. The future isn't set in stone, even if it does it can still change..." The embrace came second later. The commander couldn't utter how comfortable the warmth that suddenly enveloped her body. Rei's always warm and soothing. The words and the hug had magically cured her anxiety and calm her heart in minute. They stayed in each other arm for awhile.

"Defeat the black clan, Fire told me that. So, I must be able do it since it's your Fire telling that." Rei released the blonde commander and grinned. Although Minako felt brief emptiness the moment Rei liberated her, she returned back the smile.

"I don't know if you are idiot or too optimistic sometimes."

"Can't I be both?" The amethyst eyes gleamed with expectation.

"Yes, you are both." The blonde's commander hand moved to touch Rei's face, she cupped Rei's cheek and stared deep into her eyes.

Amethyst and cerulean met. That moment, for both of them the time stopped. Each of them didn't want to be the first who broke the contact. They enjoyed exchanging glances and express unspoken feeling through each other's eyes.

"Let's do this?" Rei finally said. The commander nodded.

"Let's do this."

Sneak peek: Next is retrieval of sword, defeat the black clan and the end of story yada yada… tell you what who will end up with Rei? I know, that's my prerogative right as an author.