Once again sorry it took me so long to update, I am having some problems to get a grip on the story, I just hope I succeeded. Also, as a build-up to the next one, it is a little bit shorter than the previous ones.
In the car, Haruka and Setsuna took the front seats, while Usagi and Mamoru sat in the back. An uncomfortable silence hung in the air, due to the danger the loomed above them, but also due to Haruka's recent discoveries. While Haruka and Mamoru tried to make sense out of their newly gained knowledge, Usagi spent her time praying to every god she knew to open up a hole underneath her that would end her up far, far away. Buenos Aires, maybe, somewhere where nobody knew her and she would not be found for the next hundred years or so. Or something like that.
It was Haruka who finally broke the silence.
"Setsuna, you're totally sure that Mamoru is the designated king?", she asked, hesitantly.
Setsuna simply nodded firmly as an answer.
"Even if they didn't have sex yet?", she asked once again. Usagi flinched a bit at the bluntness of the question and in fear of the answer.
Setsuna turned to Haruka, a shocked expression on her face. "That's totally impossible! Mamoru has to be the king. Every other guy would need a crystal, and therefore automatically inherit the earth crystal."
"It doesn't have to be the earth crystal, does it?", Usagi asked from the back, her voice uncharacteristically quiet and shaking a little. There were tears shimmering in her eyes. She had not wanted any of this drama. She had only gone to Rei in the hope that she could offer her a little comfort, and it had become so much more than just that. She had been truly happy when she had been with Rei the night before Setsuna had dragged her and Mamoru here. She had never meant to hurt him, but somehow she had. She was not even sure why she had kept it up after the first night with Rei. Or she knew the answer, but honestly she was not ready to admit to herself that she had been in denial. That she had never felt anything more than friendship for Mamoru, that she had felt so much when she had been with Rei that night, perhaps even earlier than that, for a longer time already. It was not Mamoru who was her king.
"That may be true, but there are no other males who have a crystal", Setsuna pointed out, looking rather confused.
"There is no king, just another queen", Usagi mumbled, before turning to Mamoru and exclaiming: "I am so, so sorry. I never wanted to hurt you, I…", she started sobbing and continued in a much more leveled voice, broken by her sobs, "It just, it just kinda happened." She turned away from him, staring out of the window without really seeing anything.
The momentary silence was broken by the sound of Haruka's laughter. "Welcome to the team, Usagi", she finally said when she had calmed down, turning around to the girl to wink at her. When she got no response, she continued to question her.
"So, who? Minako?" At this, she finally got a response, consisting of an undignified snort.
"Minako? I like her, but I really don't want a pervert in my bed", she retorted, scowling at Haruka through tears.
"Then who…", Setsuna trailed off as she quickly skimmed the senshis in her mind. It was none of the outers, as that would leave Usagi pedophile and, in Chibiusa's case, incestuous, she doubted Michiru would cheat on her, or rather she knew she would not, and if it was Setsuna they would have saved themselves the hassle. As for the inner senshis minus Minako there were Ami, Makoto and Rei. The inners were all very close, but the connection between Usagi and Rei had always been special one. And then the pointless little squabbles they always seemed to have, that always seemed more like terms of endearment, maybe even foreplay. And looking back now…
"You've been having your little lovers spats from the beginning", Haruka observed, grinning. "How did you hook up?", she asked, as casually as one would when inquiring about the weather.
Usagi's face took on a painted impression. "Could we", she flicked her eyes over at Mamoru discreetly, who seemed to be something between shocked, sad, and livid, sitting on his seat as stiff as a stick, completely unmoving, "not talk about this now? I would also appreciate it if you would keep an eye on the road while driving", she added, before she turned her eyes back to the window and stared out of it into the open landscape.
Haruka meanwhile was itching to ask once again how this had come about, but decided that she could wait until they had kicked the evil's ass once again and Mamoru was not sitting next to Usagi.
After what seemed ages they finally reached Tokyo. Usagi was mentally drained; all the time she had sat next to the boy she had been dating for quite some time, whom she had not had the guts to admit to that she was not in love with him, that she never had really been, nor had the strength to break up as soon as she realized there was no chance their relationship would ever grow into true love. At the very least, she should have broken up with him the day after she had slept with Rei for the first time, because no matter how distressed she had been that night, it was absolutely clear that if she had really felt anything for Mamoru, she would have thrown herself at him, not Rei.
She had done so much wrong in their relationship, she now realized. In a way, she had played him by making him believe she really loved him. Maybe, at some unconscious level, she had even used him to conceal her attraction towards Rei, which she in retrospect knew had been going for much longer already. She wanted to keep Mamoru's friendship, but it was quite apparent that she had fucked up royally.
Then there was her feelings for Rei she had she recently discovered. She was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that she was falling, already had been falling, for the fierce and gentle, strong and sweet, completely infuriating and enticing girl that was Rei Hino.
'God', Usagi thought, 'I am so whipped.'
And, last but not least, they were headed towards a battle with presumably half of all the threatening life forms the universe harbored and with no clue as to what to do to stop them. It was exactly that that she had been supposed to learn with Setsuna those past few days, just that Setsuna had unintentionally taken the wrong person besides Usagi along for the ride.
She had, basically, just suffered through a guilt trip, and had a suicide mission yet to face. The only upside seemed to be that at least she was able to see Rei again.
Or maybe not even that, considering the fact that when they joined the others in battling what seemed to be an infinite number of youma, Rei was nowhere to be seen. She spotted Michiru fighting two youma at the same time, and only a few moments later Haruka was by her side supporting her. A little bit further to the right, Minako and Makoto were attempting to keep the youma off Ami, who seemed to be trying to find some kind of weakness to the youma whilst occasionally throwing in some of her power, too. Even Chibiusa and Hotaru were there, having come back from the future to support them in such a dire situation. Mamoru was helping them by now, working off all his anger and frustration on the youma. The only one of the senshi that was nowhere in sight was Sailor Mars.
"Where is Rei?", Usagi asked Ami.
"She got lost on the way here. Most likely she was attacked by some other youma. She has not answered my calls, but that was probably just because she was occupied with fighting. We would already have have looked for her, but, as you can see", she made a wide motion with her arm, "we are otherwise occupied."
Icy fear grabbed at Usagi's heart. She had so recently detected how deeply she felt for Rei. Sure they had been good friends in before but nothing compared to what they were now. She did not want to lose that.
Setsuna looked simply horrified. "We cannot win this without Rei. Do you know where she is?"
A few clicks, and a map appeared on the screen. A bright red dot pulsated not too far from the shrine, at least three kilometers from here. Without another word, Setsuna entered Haruka's car once again, this time taking the driver's seat, making a quick movement with her arm to signal Usagi to follow her.
Setsuna was driving way too fast, a determined and slightly frightening frown etched into her face.
She turned to Usagi briefly, a serious look in her eyes. "You will have to unlock your powers immediately to help Rei. Her attackers will have detected the energy radiating off her, and only the most powerful can do so. The two of you will have to face enemies that are much more dangerous than the youma the others were facing. I can support you a bit, but in the end I will not be able to do much. Once we reach there, you will immediately change into your royal appearance, but think about Rei instead of Mamoru this time. All clear?" Usagi nodded. "Good, now I just hope we'll be there in time."