A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Hopefully you'll find this chapter marginally happier. Enjoy!

There was a long pause. I kept my eyes trained on my lap, not willing to look up and see their faces, dreading what I might see there. Finally, Seiya said, "Why would you have to leave?"

"Because you guys aren't going to stay here," I said and the weight of saying it out loud made me feel like I was being choked. A hollow pain opened up just underneath my ribs and threatened to swallow me whole and I had to force myself to keep speaking. "I know that there's a good chance Kinmoku can still be saved even without Princess Kakyuu. The three of you are strong enough to re-build it together." My hands were actually shaking. "After all, there was never any expectation that you would stay here once the battle was over. Earth isn't your home so I don't expect you to. I… There's nothing left for you here." I couldn't say anymore. The resulting silence was oppressive and I shut my eyes.

Yaten took a deep breath next to me and then she took the plate off of my knees and set it aside before she took my hand. "Usagi, look at me." Her voice was very serious and offered no arguments. I reluctantly opened my eyes and turned my head, meeting her vivid green gaze. "The reason we came to Earth was to find Princess Kakyuu. You know that. She was the light of our planet, the last royal to walk on the grounds of Kinmoku, and without her, without Sailor Kakyuu, there is no hope of restoring our planet."

"Oh." I hadn't known that Princess Kakyuu was a senshi, but it made sense. "What if I helped?"

"Even with your help, it wouldn't work," said Taiki. In a move that surprised me, she took my other hand and held it in both of hers. "We appreciate the offer, especially because we know you really would do everything you could, but Kinmoku died when it came clear that Princess Kakyuu was not going to return. Trying to re-build without her would be a wasted effort. And besides, you would never be able to leave Earth for that long."

I blinked. "Me? Why would I leave Earth?"

"Well you didn't think we'd just leave you here, did you?" Seiya asked. She was smirking, but it was gentle, and she shifted around until she was on her knees with her hands resting on my thighs, her head tilted teasingly. "Come on, Odango. You belong to us now."

My throat felt like it was swelling shut. "I do?"

"Of course. You're a princess without any senshi and the three of us just so happen to be senshi without a princess. A match made in heaven, don't you think?" Her voice was lighthearted but there was something kind about the way she reached up and cupped my cheek, brushing away a tear before I even realized it was there. "Odango, we would never leave you here alone, even if we knew that you weren't going to be in danger, and even if Princess Kakyuu hadn't given us to you, and even if your own senshi hadn't entrusted you to our care." Her thumb stroked the curve of my cheek and she smiled. "As long as you want us here, we'll stay, and in the meantime you can live with us for as long as you like. Forever, if you want."

I started crying in earnest. I couldn't help myself. Her words were easing a heavy weight that had been taking a toll on me ever since the battle. "I don't want you to go," I said. "I want you stay."

"Then we will," Yaten replied, squeezing my hand tightly. I looked at her and had to wonder how incredibly difficult this had to be for them. Kinmoku was their home and I was sure that what had sustained them for many months was the dream of having their planet restored. Knowing that it would never happen had to be hard to accept. I wished with all my heart that there was something I could do, but a small part of me was just ridiculously relieved that they were going to stay.

I fell asleep there, on the couch between the three of them, and that night I had a dream. Mamoru came to me and held me in his arms while I cried and told him how much I missed him. He kissed my forehead and told me he loved me, and the warmth in his eyes and voice told me exactly what was going to happen next. I was ready for it. We'd never have a wedding, we'd never have a future, we'd never anything else but this, and if it was only in my dreams I'd take what I could get. His hands moved over my skin gently, divesting me of my clothing, and I returned the favor, gladly inviting him into my body the way I would never be able to do in life, and through it all I felt the gentle pulse of the ginzuishou surrounding us. It was everything I had hoped for and it was over all too soon. He slipped out of me and I grabbed him desperately, afraid he would slide away entirely.

"Please," I said desperately. "Don't leave me."

"Usako, I can't control what's already been done."

"But Mamo-chan…"

"Shh, my love. Listen to me carefully. I won't see you again, Usako. My starseed is going to be reborn. I don't want you wait for me to grow up again. I may be a different person." His hand caressed my cheek lovingly, just the way Seiya had done hours earlier. "And it could be years before we meet again. I want you to grab happiness with these hands and hold on." He took my free hand from his arm, brought it up to his mouth and kissed the underside of my wrist, over where my pulse beat.

"How can I without you? I don't want to forget you."

"I didn't say you had to. I'd prefer if you didn't. I'm selfish enough to want to live in your memory." He smiled sadly. "But I love you enough to want you to move on."

The very concept was foreign to me. "I wouldn't - "

"Shh," he murmured again, kissing my lips gently. "You will because you're only human, Usako, and you have the greatest capacity for love of anyone I have ever had the fortune to meet. Don't close your eyes to the love you've already found out of a misguided attempt to remain true to what we had. That's not what I want for you. Grow up, grow old, have a family. Be the queen I always knew you could be, even if it's with someone different at your side. Will you do this for me?"

I closed my eyes and didn't know what to say. The thought of what he was asking me to do hurt a lot. Sometimes I would wake up in the morning and still expect him to be there beside me. I could hardly imagine trying to accept that not only would he not be there, but that he wanted me to be with someone else instead. I heard a choked sob pass through my lips and his thumb rubbed over my cheekbone in response, brushing away a tear that had escaped. He didn't rush me, though; just waited for me to respond with the same gentle patience he had always shown with me.

"I won't go looking for it, but if it finds me I will try to be open to it," I said at last, and my voice was shaking so much that I could barely get the words out.

"You needn't worry. Like I said, you have already found it, and when you're ready you will know that I wholeheartedly approve." He paused and then I felt the air shift. A moment later his lips brushed gently over my forehead, directly between my eyes, and then my nose, and then finally my lips. It was a kiss I had shared with him once before when we were Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion, on the night that Beryl ended the Silver Millennium. It was a kiss good-bye and as sweet as it was, it was painful, burning its way across my lips and into my heart. He pulled away too soon and said, "Listen to me, Usako. In my bedroom in the back of my closet is a box. I want you to look for it as soon as you can, understood?"

"Mamo-chan, please don't leave me," I whispered, keeping my eyes closed.

"I have to. I have no choice. But I will return to you someday, Usako. You have my word on that." He took my hand and slipped my ring off. I hadn't taken it off since he'd given it to me and my finger felt naked without it. "I'll keep this and when I come to you I'll have this as proof, so that you'll know it's me."

I couldn't answer him. I was crying in earnest now, the tears sliding freely down my cheeks. I could feel him fading away beneath my hands and when I looked at him, forcing my eyes to open, he was translucent, no longer naked but now Endymion, my handsome prince. His smile was warm and loving and I knew I'd never forget the expression in his eyes, the look that said 'you are my everything and I can't imagine a day without you'. I tried to reach out to him as he disappeared entirely, flinging my hand out in one last bid for him to stay.

My hand impacted against something hard. The pain was enough to jolt me awake. I sat up, suddenly disoriented, and looked around. I was in the Starlights' apartment - well, our apartment for the time being, I guess - and at some point the four of us had migrated onto a bed. It was a king-sized bed, so it fit four teenaged girls pretty easily. Seiya was on one side of me and my head had been resting on her chest. Yaten was behind me, curled up with her hand across my waist. Taiki was on the other side of Yaten, her head tilted away, one of her hands stretched up across the pillow to tangle in my hair. The room was dark and quiet and they were all asleep; no one had been awakened by my tears.

I shook my hand out, realizing that I'd hit the headboard. Had that just been a dream? Or had Mamoru really come to visit me? I hoped desperately that it was the latter but there was no way for me to tell, at least not right now. I was shaking with the remnants of the dream and needed some space. It took some work to pry myself away from the Starlights but finally I was free. I crawled to the edge of the bed and put my feet down. Seiya had a balcony attached to her room and I pushed the doors back, stepping outside. I left the door open so that I could get back to them immediately if I needed to.

The moon was bright and shining, nearly full. I closed my eyes as a gentle wind blew, ruffling my hair, and clasped my hand to my chest. The ring was gone, which gave me hope that the dream had been real in some way. I'd had it when I went to sleep. Not wearing it felt odd but I knew, hoped, that Mamo-chan would come to find me one day, and when he did I'd know who he was because of that ring. I wondered if he would remember me, or if I'd have to sit him down and tell him all about who we were and what we were supposed to be.

"I miss you, Mamo-chan," I said out loud. I kept my voice soft, a secret shared just between the wind and me. It was the first time I'd spoke his name without crying. Maybe one day I'd actually feel good when I said it, instead of like there was a crushing sadness inside of me. I knew the promise I'd made to him, but I didn't know how to follow through on it. How could I ever move on?

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