Part V: The Coming Together
But you have to have a world you can live in
Not a world where all the hope is gone
And as long as we are here together
We must build a home for the free
Filled with pity, not pain
That's loving and sane
Not divided by hate and living in spite
'Til it's too late
"Usagi-chan..." The young voice called out to her through the darkness, but Usagi only dived deeper into the darkness and away from the voice. "Usagi-chan, wake up..."
"No." Her hands pressed hard against her ears, but the voice seemed to come even louder now.
"Please, wake up." Usagi didn't want to wake up though. She couldn't exactly remember why, but she didn't want to wake up. She just wanted to stay in her comforting darkness. If she woke up then she would have to face the truth, and that truth, she knew in her heart, was too heavy for her to bear. Something sad and heavy weighed down on her. She didn't want to wake up... Not when everything she had ever loved was gone. Vaguely she knew, in the deepest part of her dreams, she had lost so much, and there was nothing she could do to get it back. Not now...
She didn't want to wake up...
"Usagi-chan..." The child-like voice had faded into a sad sigh, and Usagi only squeezed her ears shut tighter as she remained with her legs pulled up to her chest and she lay on her side as the darkness swirled around her.
She didn't want to wake up... ever again...
"Odango..." It was a new voice that called out to her, one that was vaguely familiar, but Usagi couldn't place it.
"Princess..." A third voice spoke into the darkness, but still Usagi paid no attention to them. The weight just pressed down upon her and she let her sorrow consume her. It was so cold now... if she let herself continue to fall into the darkness, perhaps she wouldn't wake up after all.
"Ah..." Usagi let the idea float around in her head a few moments longer. "What a nice thought..." To drift off into the darkness and never return to the even darker world of reality, how Usagi longed to do just that. How could she go on after all of this? She couldn't remember exactly what it was that was weighting her down, but it felt cold and sorrowful, just like that crushing memory from long ago.
"Serenity!"
"Endymion!"
Usagi's hands pressed even more tightly against the side of her head trying to drowned out the memory and let herself fall deeper into the darkness.
"Odango, please wake up..."
"Princess, please..."
She couldn't listen to them. She had lost something important to her. Everything important to her. She couldn't go back.
She didn't want to wake up...
The longer she told herself that, the more she seemed to get her wish. She just wanted to die, and they couldn't stop her. No one could stop her. There was no one who could help her, and they couldn't fight a woman's determination to die.
She had lost the will to live...
To wake up...
To go on...
"Odango, please..."
"Princess..."
The voices continued to beg, but Usagi was already slipping away and she could no longer feel her fingers as they became cold and numb.
She didn't want to wake up...
"Luna! Luna, please wake up!" The voice was panicked and Luna fought to wake up, but it hurt. Her whole body ached, but there was a distant feeling of a soft healing power flowing through her as she slept. "Luna! Please!" Luna's eyes opened slowly and the whole world tried to come into focus. "Thank goodness! Luna!" Luna's mind began to remember exactly what had happened: following Usagi to the park, seeing the attack ensue, and her frantic dash to help when Usagi couldn't transform. Then everything else was a blank. Had the others come to help at the last moment?
"Usagi?" Luna whispered and as she spoke the world came into focus and her blue eyes opened wide in surprise. "Hotaru-chan?!" Hotaru bent forward and she could feel her hands laying on her back, filling her with her healing power. "You-"
"Luna! She keeps slipping deeper and deeper into her sleep. I thought it was just her being weakened from using The Silver Crystal, but she's been getting worse!" Hotaru spoke frantically. "I think she might die! I don't know what to do! I can't have gotten this far only to fail! Luna, we have to do something!" Luna blinked trying to get her brain to begin working. Hotaru kept talking quickly in fear and she seemed to be growing hysterical, but Luna's mind was still to groggy to form a complete thought, but one thing came out of everything.
"You know who I am..." Luna whispered still not sure what Hotaru was saying, but only that she was talking like she knew her, and... her name.
"Luna! I don't know what to do!" Hotaru was crying. "Usagi isn't waking up!" Luna's mind snapped into focus at the mention of Usagi's name.
"What happened? Did Endymion hurt her? Beryl?" Hotaru shook her head.
"She wasn't hurt! We got there just in time. She was just exhausted! But now she won't wake up! She's growing cold and paler! She's dying!" Luna stood up, but instantly her whole body filled with pain and she slumped back down. "What do we do?" Hotaru asked desperately. Luna's mind was spinning, but she had no time to make sense of it now.
"Take me to Usagi-chan." Luna demanded and Hotaru picked her up, but even in her panicked state she was gentle and took care to make sure not to hurt Luna too much. In a few moments Luna found herself in another darkened room where to her surprise, she found two more familiar faces sitting next to Usagi's still figure. "Haruka-san? Michiru-san?" Luna's head was hurting from the confusion and it combined with the pain shooting up her back. The only comfort she had at that moment was that she could still talk: her crescent moon had been spared and most of the attack had struck her chest as she had shielded Usagi.
"The cat can talk!" Haruka said in surprise, but Michiru only sat in silence gripping onto Usagi's hand.
"She's gotten worse." Michiru informed the two new arrivals. "She's colder, and her soul is giving out." She looked back to The Mirror and her hand was wrapped around it so tightly that her knuckles were white and the rest was turning red. "We can't do anything for her..." The two Senshi had dreamed of her for so long, and of her sorrowful eyes that they had only wanted to dry, and now she was there, and they were losing her. "I don't understand. She hadn't used too much of The Silver Crystal's power."
"She shouldn't be dying!" Haruka shouted bitterly.
"Why would she be dying?" Luna asked in confusion. Hotaru put Luna down beside Usagi.
"You didn't see her Luna, when we saved her... She wasn't even struggling anymore. She had given up. She was going to let Mamoru-san kill her." Luna turned away from them and back to Usagi.
"Usagi-chan..." Luna spoke softly. "Usagi-chan, please, wake up..." The cat shook her head sadly. "This is all my fault! If I had just told her everything, she would understand. She wouldn't feel so lost. But... I was too afraid..." The cat said with tears in her eyes. "I'm so sorry Usagi-chan..."
"Usagi-chan..." The new voice purred softly, and it was muffled by Usagi's now completely numbed hands. "Usagi-chan, please, wake up..." The voice continued. "It will be alright." The voice told her. "You can pull through this. You always do..." It was a soft, comforting voice, and Usagi felt like she knew it from somewhere. It belong to someone close to her. Someone she knew... Someone she loved. "Come on, Usagi-chan... you have to wake up."
"No." Usagi whined trying to ignore the voice, but just hearing it had an affect on Usagi's heart that she couldn't explain. It was warming, and the numbness was fading as the warmth spread through her body.
"Please Usagi-chan. We need you. We're here for you..." Usagi vaguely could recall that this voice had wanted her to fix something. Something important, but Usagi couldn't fix it. She never fixed things. She was the cause of everything. She was better off dead, and they were better off without her. "You have to save Mamoru-san. He needs you. He's in danger. The whole of time is in danger!" The voice sounded like it was crying now. "This is all my fault! If I had just told you everything when you had asked!" The voice was sounding more and more familiar, and Usagi let her warming hands relax on her ears as she strained to hear better. The voice was so warm and comforting even through its crying, and the fact that it was crying was beginning to tear at Usagi's heart. "Please, Usagi-chan... we need you."
"Luna..." It was Luna calling out to her. Luna... She had been hurt, and it had been because of Usagi... Usagi's hands went back to her ears and she pressed harder. She only got people hurt. She couldn't help them... They would only be hurt more because of her.
"Odango..."
"Princess..."
"Usagi-chan..."
The other voices joined in with Luna, but Usagi shook her head trying to ignore them. She didn't know them... at least... she didn't think so, but there was a faint familiarity to them.
"Odango..." That was the most familiar of them all after Luna's warming voice. In the beginning it had filled her with caution and regret. It called her by Mamoru's pet name, but it was not his voice. Now though, it was beginning to sound familiar and warming. They all were. Just like Luna's voice. Her fingers around her ears relaxed again.
"Please wake up Usagi-chan..."
"Luna..." Usagi's eyes opened slightly, and several shadowy figures stood around her, and she felt Luna's warm, furry body pressing up against her and she was purring softly. "Luna..." Her eyes drifted shut again and back into the darkness, but Luna was with her again...
She didn't want to wake up...
But...
Luna was here... everything would be alright.
Even with what they had discovered about Luna, there was nothing Usagi could do to shake that feeling: trust. Even... hope...
"She's growing warmer..." Michiru said in quiet disbelief. Luna simply lay beside Usagi as she continued to sleep, but the danger had seemed to pass. They had some how gotten Usagi to fight again.
"Luna," Hotaru leaned towards her, but Luna couldn't acknowledge them. Not yet.
"I left her alone." Luna said sadly. "She had just had the world crash down around her with her awakening, and her revelations about me, and I left her. I keep forgetting... I keep forgetting she's not the same woman I knew. That she doesn't remember. That she is still at the very beginning of all of this." Luna continued. "I left thinking that with me gone they could move forward more easily. That it would be easier without me there causing her more sorrow." Luna's paw placed itself in Usagi's hand and the girl's fingers wrapped around it tightly in her sleep. "I left her alone..." She repeated sadly. "The same girl who took her own life when Endymion..." She stopped. "She is just at the beginning..." Luna repeated as she looked up at Hotaru who stood there watching sadly, and the other two Senshi stood unsure of what to make of everything playing out in front of them. They could only make sense of the relief sweeping through them at knowing Usagi, Serenity, would be alright. "But you aren't. You know me..." Hotaru crouched down beside the bed to stare eye to eye with Luna.
"Of coarse I do." Hotaru said. "You're Luna." She said.
"You shouldn't remember though. You were outside when..." Luna paused. "How can you know me?"
"I wasn't outside." Hotaru told her. "I was at the very edge..." She turned to the other two Senshi. "Can you... leave us?" The two adults glanced at each other, and Michiru stood up first, and she dragged the reluctant Haruka out of the room.
"Odango?" Hotaru heard Michiru ask in a hushed whisper.
"It... just kind of came to me." Haruka admitted. Hotaru smiled slightly, but then turned back to Luna just as desperate as before.
"I haven't told them anything except that time has been distorted. I didn't tell them.. details. I was too afraid too. I didn't know what would happen." Luna nodded.
"I had the same fear." Luna said. "But it only caused problems." Hotaru shook her head.
"Its better to be safe than sorry." Luna looked down at Usagi's face. It was still pale, but the colour was slowly returning.
"But I'm sorry now." Luna reasoned. "I think..." She shook her head. She didn't know what to do anymore. "We need help. We need Pluto. We can't get anything accomplished with both of us to jittery to act." Hotaru nodded.
"She hasn't come though, and we have no way of contacting her." Hotaru complained. Luna shook her head sadly.
"I think we should... tell them." Luna looked up at Hotaru. "How did you get skipped?" Luna asked. "How can you remember?"
"I wasn't affected completely by the paradox. My memories were easier to unlock, but... I think, I hope, the others can remember as well. There seems to be a pattern. A pattern I went through as well, but at a closer interval." Hotaru explained. "First there is the feeling. The things around you feel familiar, and an intense feeling of deja vu all around you. Then there is... the thoughts. They come from nowhere and you just say them like you know what you are talking about. Like you are discussing or thinking about something, but you can't understand it. It doesn't make sense without the memories." Luna nodded. She had experienced that with Usagi and The Guardian Senshi.
"There are also the stray memories." Luna said. "Usagi could remember The Cauldron. At least, some of it." A smile broke out on Hotaru's face. "She also remembered Chibiusa..." Hotaru's smile faded and tears were in her eyes.
"Chibiusa..." Luna watched as Hotaru began to cry again. "I... I saw Chibiusa. After the paradox had taken its toll, I jumped into the dimension. I grabbed hold of her, so she wouldn't be alone, but I must have jumped too early. The paradox acted up again, and took me. And Chibiusa... Chibiusa..." She began to sob, and Luna was too far away to comfort her. "Chibiusa vanished! She was erased!" Hotaru sobbed.
"Oh, Hotaru-chan..." Then what Hotaru had just told her hit Luna at full force. "You... you went out into the dimension?" Her voice broke as she spoke. "H-Hotaru-chan..." Luna could barely breath now.
"...if you had stepped out through that portal just now you would have become a fixed point in time, and then that future would be the permanent."
That was what Pluto had told Luna...
That was what Hotaru had done...
"What is it? What's wrong?" Luna couldn't tell her the truth! How could she?!
"I... I just... I saw it... It was horrible, even without being out in it." Luna lied. Hotaru nodded as she bought the lie.
"I have faith though. Usagi-chan will fix this. Just like she always does. We can pull through it." She looked at Usagi with a small smile, but it disappeared again. "Who was that woman? The one who had Endymion-sama?" Luna's sorrow was too much... So much had happened... She had found hope, and now... how could this have happened?
"She is Queen Beryl." It didn't matter anymore though. They had failed before even starting, but Luna couldn't tell Hotaru that. Not when she was so determined to fix things. And they couldn't just stop fighting. "She was our enemy in the Silver Millennium. The one who helped destroy our kingdom. She used the magic of a powerful aspect of Chaos, and the people of Earth rose up... You know the story." Luna said. She couldn't bring herself to tell Hotaru what she had discovered about the past either. That she wasn't there...
"Then we have a fierce battle in front of us." Hotaru whispered. "I found... I know what had caused the paradox. Who caused the paradox." She corrected herself. "I don't know the details, but... I know enough." Hotaru continued to whisper. "I don't understand how it happened though." Luna couldn't face Hotaru or Usagi anymore. She could only look at the covers. "I can only hope that Usagi-chan will fix it. She always fixes it." Luna looked at Hotaru to see her eyes sparkling with both hope and tears. "She will restore everything. I know it!" A sword plunged through Luna's heart.
"Oh, Hotaru-chan..." Usagi's hand flexed around Luna's paw and the cat stared back at the sleeping Princess. The girl who had gone through so much. Did she feel it? The end of everything? Now, when Luna had been tempted to show her everything, to project her own memories of Crystal Tokyo into Usagi's mind in hopes of unlocking her own... She couldn't now. To simply tell of what she had lost would be hard enough, but for Usagi to actually remember it would be deadly. "We can't tell them any details." Luna said. "We can only tell them of the distortion." Luna was crying again, but she couldn't tell Hotaru why.
"It will be okay, Luna-chan. Usagi will fix it." Luna nodded, but she felt the weight of the lie on her and the tears continued. "Hey..." Hotaru touched her back. "Do you still hurt." Luna nodded. Her whole body still ached, but not as much as her heart. Her whole life, her hope had just crumbled around her. "Usagi-chan will fix it. You'll see..." Luna watched the sleeping girl and with Hotaru's healing power that was beginning to flow through her again there also came a faint glimmer of hope that... maybe... just maybe... Hotaru was right.
"Yeah." Luna said feeling the hope grow. She had seen Usagi overcome difficulties that would have crushed any of them, and she was the so called 'crybaby'. She was their rock, and she would pull them through. Just like in The Cauldron, she would pull off another miracle! She would restore their future, just like she had restored them all from The Cauldron. "Yes. We have to put our hope in Usagi-chan..." Luna agreed. Hotaru smiled, but Luna's hope was still overshadowed by the knowledge she contained. "I think we can call in the other tw-"
"Venus Love-Me-Chain!" The voice came out from the front of the house and Hotaru stood up in a hurry. Luna moved to follow after her, but her whole body was still weak. The sounds of more voices and shouts came from the house and Luna followed slowly after Hotaru... In a weak limp... Hotaru opened the door, and the noises and voices sounded louder, and there was a bit of confusion.
"S-Sailor Senshi?" She heard Jupiter's voice ask in disbelief.
"Where is Sailor Moon?!" Mars demanded.
"Guys, calm down..." Mercury ordered, her voice stern.
"Who are you?" Venus asked.
Luna peeked out of the doorway and threw Hotaru's legs as she tried to decide if her presence would help or hinder the situation. Uranus and Neptune stood together in front of the four other Senshi who had forced their way into the house, and Mercury was typing furiously at her computer.
"She is nearby, and as far as I can tell there are just these three..." Mercury looked up from her computer as she noticed the familiar life signature and she immediately saw Luna. "Four, here." She finished. The others followed her gaze and they stared at the cat in surprise.
"Luna?"
The darkness was warm and the softness of the covers encased her as she continued to waver in between sleep and wakefulness. The soft light floated all around her as her eyes opened for a moment, but she let them close again in an instant. The comfort of the warm bed was too good to leave... And in the back of Usagi's mind she could remember waking up like this before. A long time ago, and yet just like yesterday, but also never at all.
"I wish I could stay like this forever..." To remain just on the outside of wakefulness, not remembering what it was that had brought her to this state, and only feeling the warmth of the bed covers over her. She could barely make out that she had dreamed, but of what she couldn't say. All she knew at that moment was what was going through her head, and that was about how warm and comforting the bed was. "I wish... time would stop right now..." She thought and dreamed as she remained in the moment just before waking, but she knew it wouldn't last for any longer. In an instant her eyes would open and remain open, and then she would have to face the truth she had been running from. "Its just so warm... and it smells familiar... somehow..." The single memory that made no sense came rushing back to her and she found herself no longer surrounded by darkness, but a bright light as her eyes opened to the room. She did not feel like she was waking up, though, but falling back into the memory. "I'm... alive?" She had asked it in the memory, and she asked it now. She could remember... at the last moment... she had fallen into the darkness, and... and... "Everything... disappeared..." Just like that time before...
She was alone again...
The light in the room was soft and golden as the sun shone in at a lower angle as it began its descent in the sky, and it streaked through the shadows that filled the other end of the room. Usagi remained laying in the blankets a moment longer as she allowed her mind to gather itself together, and as it did so, for a moment, she could remember a time fairly similar to the now. A time when she had woken up after a heated battle in a strange bedroom that was not her own...
"Mamo-chan..." The memory fled as her mind woke up even more and she couldn't remember what it was that she had just thought, but she knew... it was something sad and nostalgic.
"Ah, the kitten's awake." Usagi's grip on the covers tightened as fear swept over her, and she saw the shadowy figure by the doorway. "We were begining to get worried." The figure approached her and Usagi's heart began to race as she tried to remember what had happened before all of this.
"Where am I? Who are you?" The figure was now in the golden light and Usagi could see the person better. The person, man or woman Usagi's mind was having trouble figuring out, smiled brightly, and Usagi's fear transformed into despair as the event that had lead her to being asleep began to take shape once more. "Endymion..." Usagi lowered her face into her hands and she began to cry. "Mamo-chan..." She didn't want to remember this... She just wanted to drift back into her sleep where the memories would all collide as one, and merge into a blinding blurr; with her unable to make out the horror of it all.
"Hey, its okay." The woman said, and Usagi could remember accurately that it was indeed a woman; a Sailor Senshi. The woman wrapped her arms around Usagi and held her as she continued to cry. "The others will be here in a few moments. We were all worried sick about you." Usagi couldn't listen to what the woman was saying. She didn't care! Nothing mattered anymore! "Its all gone!" Usagi sobbed. She wasn't just refering to Mamoru though, but she didn't know what else she meant. Something she had dreamed about perhaps?
"What's all gone?" The woman asked. Usagi didn't respond to her and continued to cry.
"Usagi!" Usagi peeked through her hands to see that the door was now open and a large group of people were now standing in the room.
"Everyone..." Usagi sobbed seeing the other girls at the doorway, and with them were two others she didn't exactly recognized, but there was something familiar about them... The other two Senshi that had saved her at the park. They had saved her for nothing. Usagi couldn't see the point in going on. Everything was lost, and Usagi's heart ached without any comfort. "How... how did you get here?" Usagi asked remembering she had taken off her communicator for the sole purpose of keeping them away.
"Are you alright Usagi-chan?" Minako rushed to the bed, and Rei followed closly after her. Usagi shook her head and continued to sob. "We're sorry we couldn't help you!"
"You took off your communicator, and I didn't even notice anything wrong until we bumped into Naru." Ami said quickly in her soft voice. "I had to find you using your power signature, and once I did, you're pulse was so weak..."
"You scared us out of our minds!" Rei complained with tears in her eyes as she and Minako knelt on the bed in front of her and the woman who continued to hold her as she cried. "And you should really make sure your alibi isn't walking around unaware she is being used..." Rei complained trying to make the crying lighter, but it backfired.
"Endymion..." Usagi sobbed. "Its all gone!" Usagi cried out loudly as she began to break apart. "Everything!" She was hysterical now, and she couldn't even tell them what was gone exactly.
"It will be alright Usagi-chan..." Makoto said standing next to the bed with Ami, and the entire group pressed close to the bed. "We just have to work together to fix it. We'll help you."
"No." Usagi cried. "I can't fix it..." Another pair of arms wrapped around her and Usagi gasped in surprise as Minako held onto her and hugged her. Something in the back of Usagi's mind tried to jumpstart, and for a split moment she found herself back in the out-of-place memory. Minako held onto her desperately.
"We will!" Minako told her as she held her. "We will fix this! We will get back whatever was taken from us!" The other woman's arms removed themselves from Usagi's shoulders and both Usagi and Minako turned their faces to watch as the other two joined the blond woman at Usagi's side.
"Princess..." The blue haired woman said and tears continued to stream dowm Usagi's face, but she breathed with quick gasps as she tried to stop them from coming. The three of them together... She knew them...
For the third time in the last few minutes Usagi found herself in the memory and she could see them; no longer in shadows. She could make them out clearly, all of them standing together calling out her name as Minako and the younger one rushed towards her and Minako embraced her. Only one figure still remained shrouded in mystery as she stood to the right of Makoto.
She knew them... and they knew her...
"W-ho are you?" Usagi said through her broken gasps as she continued to stop crying. The two adults bent down onto their knee and the youngest stood in front of them for a moment longer before bending down as well.
"We are the Senshi of The Outer Solar System..." The blond said with her head bent downward. "I am The Soldier of The Sky, carrying the protection of the Planet of Wind; Sailor Uranus." She lifted her head in order to look Usagi in the eyes. "I am Tenoh Haruka..."
"Haruka-san..." Usagi repeated the name in surprise and as she did a sharp pain filled her head and she put her hands at her temples. She should remember them... She knew them...
"And I am Kaiou Michiru." The woman beside her with the beautiful aqua hair said. "I carry the protection of the Planet of The Seas; Sailor Neptune." Usagi watched her as a soft smile formed on her face. "I am pleased to meet you Princess Serenity."
"Usagi-chan..." Usagi's eyes moved to the smallest and youngest in the room, and she smiled brightly at Usagi as the light in her violet eyes danced happily. "I am Hotaru." She said.
"Hotaru?" Usagi repeated and again she felt as if she should remember it. It was important...
"Chibiusa..."
The pain stabbed at Usagi's temples as she remembered it again.
"I am The Soldier of Death and Rebrith, carrying the protection of the Planet of Silence; Sailor Saturn." The girl spoke with her right hand pressed over her heart. "I have been waiting to see you again for so long now, Usagi-chan..." The girl said with a whimsical voice.
"We wanted to be with you." Haruka said standing up with Michiur next to her. "We wanted to come sooner than this, but we couldn't find the strength."
"Thank you for calling us Princess..." Michiru finished, and Usagi found herself completely parallel to the memory. They had said all of those things before...
"You are all here..." Usagi whispered, but that wasn't true... "Someone's missing..." She said changing her mind. "Mamoru and..." There was someone else, and also...
"Chibiusa..."
"Usagi-chan," Hotaru stood up now. "We have so much to tell you..."
"Usagi-chan, we have been here for hours now." Ami said. "Even we don't fully understand whats going on."
"But that is only the begining." Makoto said. "There is someone else you need to see." Usagi frowned not understanding.
"Who?" Minako turned towards Makoto.
"Go get her." She whispered and Makoto turned to leave the room. "Usagi-chan," Minako turned back to Usagi. "We've all been having dreams. All of us the same dream. In it... we see you... Serenity..." Usagi looked down at her hands that clutched tightly to the covers of the bed. "In it you ask us to fix something, and for the longest time we didn't think there was anything to fix..." Minako turned to the others for help.
"But everything is wrong." Hotaru said stepping close to the bed and close to Usagi. "Someone has changed time, someone we thought we had destroyed. Someone from our future and also our past."
"Our future?" Usagi asked. "I don't... I don't understand..."
"I'm sorry, I can't tell you details. I need to wait, just a little bit longer. We don't know what will happen if you know too much. Foreknowledge is always a dangerous thing to have." Hotaru apologized. "And with how unstable time is at the moment, anything could hurt our chances of fixing it."
"Luna said that." Usagi said suddenly. "She said she didn't want to risk the future becoming permanent..."
"You're right, I did." The group turned to the doorway to see Makoto had returned with Luna in her arms, and Artemis entered in after them.
"Luna..." Usagi cried breaking into tears again. "Luna..." Makoto walked to the bed and Usagi's arms lifted in order to hold Luna. The cat lay in her arms content as Usagi cried into her fur. "Luna... I was so worried..."
"Oh, Usagi-chan..." Luna whined. "I'm so sorry. I should have told you all sooner, but you all had just awoken as Sailor Senshi. Even if I told you the truth, you would have never believed me. You weren't ready." Usagi held her tightly and Luna rubbed her head against her. "I'm sorry." She repeated. "I could have prevent so much of the pain affecting you now."
"So, you are from our future? Not our past?" Usagi asked, and Luna's eyes reflected her sorrow.
"I'm from neither now." Luna whispered sadly.
"We can fix this!" Hotaru spoke up. "I don't understand how the past was affected by all of this and maybe we can't fix the past, but the future we can! If this paradox was some how caused by Luna's disappearance, then her being here now can even that out!" Usagi stared at Luna.
"So, you weren't lying? You were in our past, but... something changed it?" Luna nodded. Usagi's tears continued to come and she held Luna more tightly. "Luna..." Usagi sobbed. Everything was still weighing down upon her.
"We can fix it, Usagi-chan." Rei said getting closer to her on the bed. "We will get everything back." Usagi looked up at her and then back down at Luna who sat with her lips pressed together tightly.
"But Mamo-chan, he... he..."
"We will get him back." Luna promised. "You've gone through this before, you can get him back..." There was something in Luna's eyes though that showed her fear, and Usagi couldn't find any hope inside her. "You can fix this! You always do!" Usagi's eyes closed and she shook her head sadly.
"I don't fix anything..." She said. "I... can't..." Usagi began to sob again.
"Can you leave us alone?" Luna asked the others around them. Slowly the others trickled out, and Minako hugged Usagi tightly before making her way off the bed. "Usagi-chan, you have to be strong. You have to believe in yourself. Please, pull yourself together." Usagi shook her head again.
"I can't!" She cried. "I don't even know who I am." She said breathing with increasing difficulty. "Am I Usagi or am I Serenity?" It had been a problem she had been facing since awakening, and since she had to try to let Mamoru go. Just because she was Serenity and he was Endymion didn't mean Usagi and Mamoru had to be, but... who was she? With more time did Usagi loose herself to Serenity?
"Oh Usagi-chan, you are both." Luna said, and Usagi shook her head.
"No." She said. "I don't feel like it. I don't know... I can't find myself." Usagi continued to cry. It was just one more thing crushing down upon her. Endymion, the loss, her identity, they were all pressing upon her.
"You are Serenity." Luna said, and even with her declaration Usagi felt worse for it. But wasn't that what she had wanted to know? "You are the heir to The Silver Millennium, the future ruler, the messiah, the one we all believe in and put our hope in. I promised to never make the same mistake in not believing in your abilities, and I will keep that promise." Luna said. "I will keep believing, even though it seems hopeless, that you will pull us through this. You will restore the future." Luna told her. Usagi shook her head and continued to cry and mourn.
"So Usagi is dead... When I awoke as Serenity... I..." Luna shook her head.
"No, because, yes, you are Serenity, but you are, and will always be, Usagi. Even a thousand years into the future, at heart you are still Usagi just as much as you are Serenity." Luna said. "And I believe in Usagi even more than I believe in Serenity." Luna told her. "You are a friend, our light of hope, the one we love." Luna continued. "And everything you are can be summed up in two words: Sailor Moon." Luna said. "You are Sailor Moon, the perfect blend of Usagi and Serenity. The power of The Silver Millennium and the hope and love of Usagi-chan." Usagi's hand went to the brooch on her chest and she felt The Silver Crystal underneath her blouse.
"I couldn't transform though." Usagi whispered still not convinced, and completely in tears. "My power wouldn't come. I was powerless as Mamo-chan threatened my life." Luna nodded.
"Hotaru-chan and I have a theory about that." Luna said. "And I think everything will become much clearer once we are on The Moon tonight." Usagi looked at her in surprise.
"The Moon? Tonight?" Luna nodded. "But I though... The Full Moon..."
"With the others joining their powers with The Guardian Senshi, we can compensate for the lose of power from The Full Moon, and the absence of Sailor Moon." Luna explained. "The others have already agreed to go tonight. Though, we had a hard time convincing Ami to call in sick to school tomorrow." Usagi laughed despite of herself and Luna smiled at her. "Usagi-chan, everyone believes in you. Please, have faith in yourself, and know we will all be beside you. Even if we can't be physically, we will be there in spirit." Usagi sat there on the bed with her eyes no closed as tears steadily streamed down her face.
"Will we be together again?" Usagi asked opening her eyes. "Will we all become one like in that happy memory?" Luna nodded.
"Yes, I believe in it." Usagi looked at the setting sun through her tears. "You will all come together, and you will save Mamoru-san along with our future! I know you will!" Usagi noticed her word choice. She hadn't said that she believed Usagi could do it, but that she would do it. "You will overcome it all. Even the impossible. I believe..." Usagi looked down at Luna and she hugged her tightly again.
"I missed you..." She whispered. Luna rubbed her head against her gently.
"Please cheer up Usagi-chan, we all hate to see you so despaired. Please, we need to see that smile again." Usagi pulled back and she made a weak attempted at a smile.
"I will try..." Usagi tried to make herself sound confident, but she just couldn't.
"I'm sorry, Usagi-chan..." Luna said again. "I just was afraid. I was afraid of hurting you, and I had to move cautiously. I'm just so sorry." Luna was now the one crying and Usagi hugged her again.
"Its alright." Usagi said crying. "You were right. I wouldn't have believed you. I wouldn't have understood. You did your best. You did more than anyone else could have hoped..." Usagi sobbed. "I'm the one who should be sorry..." Usagi continued. "I didn't trust you, I gave up on you. I let them convince me you were an enemy..." Luna rubbed her head against her as Usagi sobbed uncontrollably again.
"It will be okay." Luna whispered. "It will all be okay. I promise..."
"They have been in there forever." Rei said as she looked down the hallway towards the room where Usagi and Luna remained. "We should go check on them."
"Let them be." Minako whispered drinking the tea Michiru had served them. They were all just watching the time go by as they waited for The Moon to rise high above them. "We had ours to get ourselves level, give Usagi more time." Minako finished and the other Guardians sat back down at the table giving in. If Minako, the one who was the most protective of Usagi, was calm in this, than they would not be outdone. "Sailor Saturn,"
"Please, it's Hotaru." Minako nodded.
"Hotaru-chan, you said you remember everything. Can't we remember it as well? What it is that we are fighting to preserve?" Hotaru shook her head.
"I hope you can, but there is nothing I can do to help you. Luna could, plausibly, but it would be dangerous." She said. "I've already told you why." Minako nodded and her gaze went to the other two Outer Senshi. She was filled with a wide range of emotions she couldn't explain. What Luna and Hotaru had told them, out of all its outrageousness, made sense to her. It... It felt true... As silly as that sounded. It felt right. To think that they were not where they were suppose to be, felt so good to think. It would give her something to fix. Something to change when before she could only watch as Usagi walked around miserable and broken.
Artemis was probably the one taking it the hardest, and her hand stroked his white hair as he lay on her lap as she continued to drink her tea. The fact that Luna may in fact be someone from their past and their future had hit him like a punch in the stomach, but after an hour or two of talking alone with Luna, Minako had watched as he had grown more and more comfortable around Luna, and she had seen a faint gleam in his eye. Luna hadn't said anything, but Minako could tell, and she was, after all, the reincarnation of the goddess of love and beauty. If Luna was indeed from their past, or future, whatever, the two cats were a couple. There was no doubt in Minako's mind. The way Artemis had felt so torn and depressed when they had first met Luna made any doubt disappear in Minako's mind.
But... there was one thing that Minako couldn't get over. What had happened in the past? Luna hadn't been there, but she distinctly remembered it, and there were things she knew that just proved it. And if she was telling the truth it explained how she could enter The Prayer Room and transform. But what had happened to her past self in this version of history?
Haruka frowned at her and Minako realized she had been staring for too long.
"What?" Haruka asked. Out of the other three Senshi, Minako had found herself somewhat at odds with Haruka, but she couldn't quite place her finger on what it was exactly.
"Nothing." Minako said looking back at her tea. Perhaps it was the feeling that the two strong willed people were both pushing for leadership of the situation, but as far as Minako could tell, the Outers had no true leader. They were never suppose to come together, and therefore they did not have an actual leader like The Guardian Senshi did.
Even so, the tension between the two Senshi groups had not diminished entirely since they had both clashed in the hallway when they had come to help Usagi.
"Aren't you a little late for the rescue? We had to do your job for you." Perhaps that was what had set Minako against Haruka. Haruka had hit the pin on the head, and it had stung. Minako had failed to protect her princess and they had. She should feel gratitude, but in her heart she somewhat resented them for it.
The only thing keeping them fully together at that moment was their seemingly mutual love for Serenity, and the need to fix this paradox.
"Usagi hasn't eaten since this morning..." Makoto said finally breaking the silence, and Minako had to suppress a smile. Hotaru was laughing outright.
"Mama, I think you should start reheating everything we have in the fridge." She said. "As well as with everything else you can find." Everyone else was now laughing, and the laughter was contagious even though it hadn't actually been that funny. The more they laughed together, the harder it was to stop. The idea of Usagi not eating for so long seemed outrageous to all of them.
"Why is that so funny?" Haruka asked through her own laughter, and Michiru shook her head as she continued to smile, but she had contained her laughter.
Slowly but surely the ice was breaking, but Minako wondered how long it would actually take for them all to come together as the strong team they supposedly were.
"I'll go ask what she would like." Makoto said standing up. "They have to eat something before our trip." Rei followed after her, and a few moments a loud whisper came from the hallway.
"Guys!" The others stood up and made their way to the room. Peeking into the darkened room they saw Usagi laying on the bed with Luna curled up in her arms comfortingly as they both slept. Usagi's face was still stained red from her tears.
"Oh Usagi-chan..." Ami sighed. "We shouldn't have been so hard." She said and Minako nodded in regret, but she knew she would have never done anything different without the information she had now.
"Lets give them a few more hours." Minako whispered and the others nodded in agreement as they closed the door again and made there way to the living room.