A/N: Enjoy!

It was late. I probably should have been in bed, but I wasn't. Yaten and Taiki had fallen asleep not that long ago, after I had finished telling them everything I knew about Crystal Tokyo, the Doom Phantom, and the Black Moon Family. I was tired, but I couldn't sleep and I knew exactly why. Seiya wasn't in bed with us. She was standing out on the balcony, looking up at the night sky. It seemed to be a source of comfort for her. It occurred to me, as I slipped out of the bed, to wonder if she was searching for the planet of Kinmoku, even though I didn't think she'd be able to see it from Earth.

I pushed the balcony doors open and stepped outside. The moon wasn't visible tonight, but there were loads of stars out. I felt their twinkling presence calming something restless inside of me as I moved to stand beside Seiya. She didn't acknowledge me, not at first, but I was okay with that. It was enough to just stand there with her and know that the secrets between us were mostly diminished. The only thing I had held back was my love for her, and that was something I thought I could go my whole life without sharing if I had to as long as I had the opportunity to have Seiya with me.

"It's beautiful," Seiya said unexpectedly, and I jumped. I wasn't expecting her to say anything. I looked at her and realized that she was still gazing at the sky.

"It is," I agreed. She seemed so fascinated. "Didn't you get to see it on Kinmoku?"

"Sometimes," she said hesitantly. "Healer and Maker and I were usually quite busy. We spent most of our time with Princess Kakyuu. We slept when she did, so usually we didn't get the chance to see the night sky. And of course, it looked different. Our sky isn't quite the same color, and the stars don't show up as well."

"I wish I could have seen it," I said. I couldn't even imagine it. Seiya had shown me fleeting glimpses of their world when she explained what had happened with Galaxia, but images of a war torn planet are a far cry from the place she was describing. Kinmoku was the world that had given me these three wonderful people who were so important to me. I yearned to know more about it.

Seiya looked at me. "You still could, if you wanted. Princess Kakyuu said that Galaxia left before she destroyed it entirely."

"Really?" The idea surprised me. I hadn't thought about visiting Kinmoku before, not even when I thought that they would be leaving. But she was right, wasn't she? Kinmoku was still there, though likely it had grown wild in the absence of life. I wondered what the planet would like now, if it would be anything close to what they remembered. I wasn't sure a visit was such a good idea. What if Kakyuu was wrong and Chaos had ruined everything? That would be devastating.

"Yes. It would be up to you, of course," she added quickly. "Maybe not right now, not until Rubeus is dealt with and the baby…" She dropped her eyes to my stomach and then lifted them to my face. I could tell that she was still having a hard time believing that I was pregnant.

"I'd like that," I said after a moment, picturing Chibi-Usa crawling amongst a field of wildly colored flowers. "Would you go with me?"

"Of course." Seiya smiled. "Like I'd let you go anywhere on your own."

"If you weren't with me, I wouldn't want to go anywhere," I said quietly. "But with you, I don't think there is anywhere I wouldn't go."

Seiya didn't say anything for a minute. Finally, she said, "Odango…"

The sound of her voice, the way she said my name, flustered me. I looked away quickly and clasped my hands together. "Well, you know, we'll have plenty of time. Now that Crystal Tokyo isn't possible anymore, who knows what will happen in the future?"

"You don't know that it won't happen," Seiya said after a pause, and I was relieved that she had agreed to let what I had said go for the time being. "After all, you're still here."

"But it was Mamo-chan's and my marriage that brought Crystal Tokyo into being. Without him..." I trailed off and shrugged my shoulders. To be honest, the idea of not having Crystal Tokyo was both thrilling and terrifying. On the one hand, I no longer knew what was going to happen. My comfortable, idealistic future where no one would ever be hurt had been taken away. Now the future was a completely open possibility. But on the other hand, the fact that I didn't have to become Queen was compelling. I could do whatever I wanted, be whoever I liked, and not have to worry that I might be seriously screwing the future up.

"I think you could do it on your own," she said. "But if that's not what you really want, you don't have to do that. As long as you were here to keep protecting the world, that's what really matters."

I smiled up at her. I'd known that the Starlights would not force me to become Queen if I didn't want to, but it was still good to hear. "I really am sorry, you know," I said, watching her fond expression change to one of puzzlement. She cocked her head questioningly and I continued, "I knew that it would be a big shock to tell you about the baby. I shouldn't have blurted it out the way I did, especially not after you just came from saying good-bye to your princess. You've had an emotional day and I probably didn't help."

"It was a shock," Seiya admitted. "But I'm glad you told us. Odango, that's not the sort of thing you should have to worry about on your own." She put her hand over mine, and the pressure was warm and comforting. "We're here for you, you know. You're not alone."

The lump forming in my throat hurt. "I do know that."

"And," she went on, "I feel like I should let you know that at this moment, there is no where I would rather be." I looked up at her in surprise, and she smiled tiredly. "When our princess first returned to us while we were fighting against Galaxia, before all of this happened, I knew what that meant. After Galaxia was defeated, I would've returned to Kinmoku because it's where we belonged, what we had to do. I've always known that my life was to be spent serving Princess Kakyuu and I was okay with that. But… a part of my heart would have remained here on Earth with you. I love this planet. It's a magical place, and it taught me many things. Even though I miss Kinmoku and our princess, I am happy here, Usagi. We all are."

It took me a minute to be able to speak after hearing that. The sincerity in Seiya's words was easing a worry I'd carried around for a long time. I didn't want her, Yaten and Taiki to just settle for Earth. I did want them to be happy here. Even though I knew they would still rather be on Kinmoku, I liked the idea that maybe someday they would come to view Earth as home. "I'm happy to hear that," I replied at last. "There's nothing I want more than for you guys to be happy."

"I know." She squeezed my hand. "And I… I don't want you to think that you are just a replacement for our princess, because you're not. You're much more than that."

God, it was like Seiya could see straight through me into the places that I most wanted to hide. It made me feel lightheaded, the depths of her caring, and I let out a shaky sigh. "The same goes for you guys. I don't want to be here with you just because the senshi are gone. You're my friends."

"I know," she repeated. "I've never doubted that."

I want you to be more. I wondered what she would say if I told her that. I swallowed. I was going to say something else, and I would have had it not been for the sound of an explosion. It was a weird explosion, soundless but so bright, flashing across the sky in arches of multi-colored light. There was a heavy pressure in the air that made it hard to breathe. At the same time a fierce wind picked up, whipping my hair around my face. I reached up, grabbing fistfuls of blonde and yanking it away so that I could see what was going on. My mouth dropped open. It was a familiar sight, but that made it no less bizarre.

It was a spaceship, and it was enormous, spanning the sky so widely that I wouldn't have been able to see the moon even if it had been out. I stared in disbelief and heard a lot of people screaming and gasping in amazement and shock. Behind us, the balcony doors flew open and Yaten, Taiki, Mika, Shingo, Chibi-Chibi, Luna and Artemis all spilled out onto the deck with us, demanding to know what was going on. There wasn't nearly enough room for everyone, and I winced as Luna and Artemis climbed my legs so that they could perch on my shoulders.

"What is that?" Seiya exclaimed.

"It's Rubeus," I said hoarsely, knowing that my worst fears were being confirmed. The last time I'd seen that ship, it had taken the senshi away from me. Chibi-Usa and I had been forced to go onboard to save them. I knew that it had been destroyed… or well, I thought it was. It had been on fire, at least. But Rubeus had survived, and he had either saved his ship or built a perfect replica.

Somewhere in this city, I thought a little hysterically, the Ayakashi sisters were probably looking out their window at that ship and remembering some awful times, and probably hating me for not having taken care of Rubeus by now. I clenched my hands into fists and resolutely did not flinch as a huge hologram of Rubeus's face appeared over the face of the spaceship. The side of the ship was acting like a screen, I realized. It wasn't the real Rubeus at all, which meant that it would be pointless to attack. I already knew from experience that the ship had a ton of defense shields that would make any attack bounce off harmlessly.

"Citizens of Tokyo," Rubeus said. His voice was so loud it made my ears ache. "I know that you are listening. This precious city of yours, I will destroy it if you don't give me Sailor Moon. You may believe that she can save you, but what has she done to protect you against me so far? She was only able to seal me away for a few years, but I have now returned. And unless you are willing to hand her over to me…" His face split into a wicked smile, and a strange shimmer passed over the ship.

"Get down!" I yelled, knowing what was about to happen. I ducked as best I could, shielding my face and head with my hands. I couldn't stop myself from watching, though, as a beam of dark magic leapt from one of the points. What was directly beneath it exploded, leaving behind only rubble and fire where a building had once stood.

"You've been warned. I want Sailor Moon. You've got one week," Rubeus concluded, and then he and the whole miserable ship vanished.

Please review!