Author's notes:

Well, this chapter wound up a hell of a lot longer than I'd anticipated! I hope that you all enjoy it, and as usual, thanks so much for all of the ongoing support. Your comments are hugely appreciated. On that note, I am interested to know if anyone is actually listening to the music recommendations I've been making—if so, please let me know your thoughts. Over the remainder of the story, I will be making some recommendations that I highly suggest you have a listen to.

And as always, make sure to check out the important notes from the Prologue if you haven't already. Enjoy!

Chapter Fifteen

It was hard to imagine what complete and utter darkness looked like, until he had experienced it for himself.

He stood in a blackened world, eyes wide open to an expanse of sheer nothingness, and wondered if there were no light, or if his sight had been severed and this was what it was to be blind.

He had a sense of where he stood—lush grass beneath his toes and the trickle of a waterfall at his ears. It was his home, but nothing was as it should have been. Dreams did not whisper in the winds, and peace did not fill this land.

Something else did.

"Helios…"

He clenched his jaw and set his stance, feeling a shiver course down his spine as the temperature dropped. He willed his eyes to simply see—to show him the face of their cowardly enemy. The ground rumbled beneath his feet, blades of damp grass turning to hard concrete and the tremor of Rini's pained, haggard breaths suddenly alongside him.

He was being manipulated. Tortured.

Every fibre of his being was screaming at him to go to her, but he knew this was merely a dream. Another crafted nightmare.

"She will die without you, Helios…"

Even though he could not see, he squeezed his eyes closed. My maiden is safe, he thought. There is nothing to fear.

"There is everything to fear."

Pain seared upon his forehead, as though his crimson gem were cutting into him and splitting him in two. The familiar seep of hot blood trailed down the bridge of his nose and onto his fingers as he caressed the throbbing slit, grunting as the pain sent him to his knees. Suddenly a garnet glow flickered from his stone, so bright that his eyes could barely adjust to the slither of light—light that caught something glinting on the ground before him.

He blinked down at the heart-shaped brooch, burnt and covered in black soot with a perfect crack straight up the middle. As he cupped it in his palms, the singed edges peeled and flaked away to reveal shiny onyx underneath, accented with large gold wings and a pink star in the centre of the heart.

It was Rini's locket, but it was different. Strong, heavy like stone, and humming with power that rushed under his touch.

"Give it back to her," the voice said, and he couldn't tell if it were to be trusted. "Give it back to save her life."

Rini let out a tired sigh as she threaded her arms around her knees, allowing the warm morning breeze to brush over her as she sat alone on the steps of Hikawa Shrine. She blinked away the tears that still clung to her lashes after cuddling Usagi close as she cried, before squeezing her back and telling her she simply had to go. Seeing her like that—crying in earnest without the melodrama and whine—caused something to coil inside Rini, and she couldn't hold back the emotion that had washed over her in that moment. It seemed the older she became, the wiser she became, the more she could truly see—and she wasn't so sure she liked what she saw.

There was a shuffle behind her and she glanced back over her shoulder to see Seiya, leaning against the doorway with his arms folded over his chest. "She's gone, Seiya," she said, looking back out over the tranquil grounds and burying her nose against her knees.

"I know," he replied. A few moments of silence went by before he added: "You okay, kid?"

As strong as she wanted to be, it seemed her body had different ideas, and a lump formed squarely in her throat at the compassion in Seiya's voice. When she didn't reply, Seiya let out a long breath and took a seat on the hardwood beside her. "'No' is a perfectly acceptable answer, you know," he told her softly.

Breathe, she coaxed herself, don't cry. She swallowed the knot down painfully. "I know that," she snapped, and then immediately regretted her tone. "Sorry."

Seiya said nothing, moving instead to mirror her stance, wrapping his arms around splayed knees and gazing out at the hazy blue sky. There was something so unnervingly comforting about his presence, and Rini could feel her guard slipping more than it did with anyone else. Out of no where, she wanted to reveal every fear and every secret, or maybe just lean on his shoulder and cry. "They're all right," she said, her voice thin and wavering. "What I did was so stupid. I achieved nothing, could have gotten other people killed, and now Usagi is hurt…"

"What you did was pretty stupid," Seiya told her honestly, "but it was very courageous, Rini."

She frowned at him, suddenly unsure of how he knew what she'd been up to. She had told the others, under duress, but he hadn't been there—he had been with Usagi, the entire time. "Who told you?"

"No one," he said with a chuckle. He gave her a lop-sided smirk. "It was pretty obvious that you were trying to take matters into your own hands."

"Well, I failed miserably—courageous or not," she grumbled. She chewed at her lip. "Hey, Seiya?"

"Hm?"

"Thank you," she said quietly, "for saving my life. I know what you did for me back there."

Seiya shrugged, a strangely modest gesture for the usually cocky senshi. "It was nothing."

"That's not true," Rini insisted, turning to face him. "It weakened you, andyou couldn't go and help Usagi—although you should have—"

"No," he cut in. He took a moment to gather his thoughts, and Rini knew he agreed, at least in part. "You needed me then."

The guilt churned in her gut as the image of Usagi's angry wounds flashed through her mind; her limp form bundled closely in Seiya's arms. She pushed the thought away before it could consume her completely. "Well, if it weren't for that power of yours then I don't think I would have made it out in one piece."

He cocked his head at her. "What power?"

"You know, the one that allows you to transfer your energy to others," she said, looking back at him just as quizzically. "You do know your own powers, right, Seiya?"

Something about her comment seemed to amuse him, and a smile spread over his face and he shook his head. "As far as I know, that's no power of mine," he said, and gently swayed to connect his shoulder with her own. There was a light crackle and spark—nothing like the first time she had touched him, but a shock nonetheless. "That," he said, nodding toward their point of contact, "seems to be the source of this so-called 'power'."

"I just thought…" She began, the memory of the same sensation that was zooming through her body returning to her from the night before—like he'd zapped her with a livewire and was recharging her energy. She thought back to her time on Kinmoku, when she had tried to help move him as he collapsed. Helios had wondered if the surge of power had been some form of defence mechanism, now that she was older, but it seemed unlikely that she could have called upon the power when she was so close to death. "I guess I just thought it was your gift, but maybe it's mine."

He narrowed his eyes at her playfully. "You do know your own powers, right, Rini?"

"I thought I did," she mumbled. "Nothing like that has ever happened to me—not before I met you."

A moment went by, and Rini was surprised when he didn't bombard her with questions—she was waiting for him to ask her why she hadn't transformed into her senshi form; why he'd never seen her transform before—instead, he simply said: "In that case, I think this could be something just between us, kid."

"Great," she said sarcastically, the nickname spurring fire in her. "Just what I need—to share a power with you."

"Oi!" He said, feigning offence. "You should be grateful you get to share a power with such a great guy!"

Rini scoffed and rolled her eyes at him. "Whatever."

He chuckled at her attitude. "You know, it's not just me you should be thanking."

"What do you mean?"

"I gave you the energy you needed to survive, but it drained my power—I couldn't face those things," he told her. "Helios did that."

"Oh," she replied. A memory played at the edges of her mind—his beautiful golden light, her weakly speaking his name. "He really did that?"

Seiya nodded. "That's what someone does, for someone they love."

The word fluttered in the pit of her stomach, and set her cheeks aflame, but she knew it. From the moment she had seen those amber eyes, she had known that they were one another's, no matter what the future brought. She looked away from Seiya, her face hot, stubbornly refusing to give away any more than he already knew. Something itched at her as she contemplated his words—a question she had barely processed, but had seen unfolding, right before her eyes. "Is that why it was so hard for you, when you couldn't go to Usagi?"

He visibly tensed, a muscle in his jaw jumping. For a moment, she thought he was going to lie to her. "Yeah," he murmured. "It was."

It really wasn't any surprise to Rini—the way he looked at her, as if she were the most precious creature in the entire universe, gave it all away. It wasn't his love for her future mother that frightened her—it was the way Usagi looked at him that she was afraid of. But where did that fear stem—from self-preservation? Devotion to her future father? Protection of their Earth's future?

Or was it the fear that she couldn't stand to see Usagi unhappy, even if it meant that she ceased to exist?

The myriad of thoughts made her anxious and oddly defensive. "It's not your responsibility to save her, you know."

"I know that," he said, bristling slightly. "And I also know that she can look after herself."

She hummed. "Either way," she said, "I think Mamo needs to get back to Tokyo. Before things get worse."

He looked at her strangely, his eyebrows furrowing. "Mamo," he repeated, shaking his head. Before she could question him, he let out a sigh and rose to his feet, extending a hand out to her. When she quirked a brow at him, he smirked. "Promise I won't bite—zap, maybe, but I won't bite."

She couldn't help but smile back and take the offer, ignoring the spark as he tugged her upright. Even if he loved Usagi, and even if that meant that maybe she should push him away, she couldn't. That unnerving comfort was weaving in to her stitch by stitch, and it felt too strong to simply break away.

In the days following the attack, Usagi kept mostly to herself.

She would have been lying if she'd said that she truly wanted to be alone. The isolation felt like an evil necessity—one that went against her nature and left her far too secluded in the corners of her own mind. She knew it was for the best—but during those times when she laid in her bed, staring up at her ceiling while the Three Lights' voices hummed in her ear, she wanted for nothing more than a giggle with her girlfriends.

First thing Monday morning, she had told her mother that she was unwell, and while not one to usually grant days off from school, Ikuko took one look at her dark-rimmed eyes and pale complexion and agreed. "Alright, Usagi," she had said, dusting her flour-coated hands on her apron to hover one over Usagi's forehead. "But you have to tell me what's going on with you, young lady."

"Nothing, Mama," she told her as she pulled away to retreat to her room. "I'm fine, I promise."

So, she had huddled in the solitude of her bedroom in the warm summer sun, gathering her thoughts, her memories, and her dreams, and trying to piece together the bizarre mess that was unfolding before her. She thought over the secret that had been kept from her, the whys and what it meant for her as a leader. She worked her way through the memory of the man who had seemed so chilling, and yet so familiar, and wondered if he were the true face of Chaos. She tried to process the claims he had made, those that suggested that she was the threat, and the flickering memories of how utterly lethal she had felt when she had Haruka at her mercy.

By that very evening, she had come to the conclusion that she was a danger to her friends, her family, and everyone else around her. She couldn't trust herself any more than she could trust her enemy—and so she knew her senshi would have to lead a separate fight. She would face this on her own until the end—until their new beginning was upon them, and she could transcend to the woman she was destined to be. Someone who was irrefutably good, even if that wasn't what she felt inside.

She felt far from good.

Her emotions were sharp and rife within her—feelings that she had never experienced before: destruction, frustration, fury. A strange, immense joy that was laced with courage and exhilaration. Arousal.

She could barely process her feelings and the thoughts—the people—attached to them.

Rini's limp, helpless body, sprawled across the concrete.

Chaos' brutal attack, slicing her flesh wide open.

Seiya's fingertips trailing her skin, setting her blood rumbling beneath to surface.

It was as though suddenly everything she felt were in pointed, beautiful definition.

Tuesday came, and she knew she couldn't persuade her mother to allow her another sick day. She begrudgingly went to school, managing expertly to avoid her friends throughout the entire morning. When they waited by her locker, she spun on her heel and walked away. When she saw them under the shade of a tree at lunchtime, she ducked around the main building out of sight. When Seiya had made to follow her, Minako had simply tugged him back down.

Somehow, they knew what she needed, and it was then that she realised: leading a separate fight was one thing—separating from her friends was another entirely.

She found a quiet spot on the grass and tossed her belongings onto the ground unceremoniously. She rested back on her forearms and tipped her head to the scorching sun, wondering idly whether she could navigate this day entirely alone.

"You know, if you're trying to play hide-and-seek, you're doing a pretty terrible job."

She glanced over her shoulder to see Rafu approaching her, unaccompanied. "Hide-and-seek is for babies, Raf," she told him, perhaps a little acidly. "What do you want?"

He chuckled and flopped onto the grass beside her, legs long in front of him. "Well, I thought you might like some company," he said. "But now I'm thinking there's good reason you've put yourself in solitary."

When she didn't reply, he flicked his hair from his eyes and looked at her closely. "You break up with your boyfriend or something?"

"Huh?"

He shrugged. "Well, we all know celebrities can be players…"

"Seiya is not my boyfriend," she said. "And he is not a player."

"Sure he's not."

She glared at him. "Takes one to know one."

"Ouch," he said with a flinch. Usagi immediately felt guilty. "Someone is icy today."

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, kicking at the dirt. "You know I don't think that of you."

"I know."

They were quiet a moment as he leant back on his palms, and Usagi took the opportunity to eye him. She could certainly see why he was considered an attractive boy—well, man—with his broad shoulders, tanned skin, deep voice and flirtatious eyes. It almost gave Usagi pause, but she narrowed her eyes at him instead, a thought nagging at her. "You know I'm dating Mamoru," she said. "You've known that for years."

"Ah, yes," he nodded, a smile tugging at his lips. "The mysterious boyfriend."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I've never seen him," he tutted. "And I've definitely seen the way you flirt with Kou—"

She flushed. "I don't flirt with Seiya—"

"And then there's the way you flirt with me," he said, grinning wolfishly. "Who's the player now, huh?"

"Oh, shut up, Raf."

He laughed and promptly ignored her sarcastic request. "So, where is this boyfriend of yours, then?"

She chewed at her lip, sick of rehashing the same old story. "He's overseas, studying at college."

"Right," he said, nodding slowly. "So, he's not…here."

She cocked a brow at him quizzically. "That's right."

"And you're not with Kou."

"Right again," she said. "What's this about?"

He locked eyes with her, and for a moment, she was caught in the speckled green, brown and gold. "What your boyfriend doesn't know won't hurt him."

"Raf!"

"Or," he said, drawing out the word, "you could just break up with him, to be with me instead."

She blinked at him, bewildered by his sudden audacity. "What has gotten into you?"

He let out a frustrated growl. "It's not what you think," he said, and suddenly he seemed utterly raw as he huffed. "It's like I told you the other day: you know I care about you, and I don't think you should be left alone—someone should be here to look after you."

"I'm not alone," she quipped, annoyance rising within her. "And why does everyone think I need protecting?"

"I never said anything about protecting," he said, and then sighed. "Look, you never know what can happen, when there's so much chaos out there. The world's a crazy place, you know?"

"Yeah, well, I can look after myself—" His words stopped her in her tracks. "Wait, what did you say?"

He shook his head and raked a hand through his hair roughly. "Nothing," he said, trying in vain to mask his vulnerability with a smirk. "I just think we'd be good together, you and I."

Usagi's mind was reeling. "Raf, I—"

The bell rang and he got to his feet, as though it were a welcome interruption. Usagi pushed off the ground and brushed herself off, surprised when Rafu slung her bag onto her shoulder for her. His fingers brushed her shoulder blade as he released the strap, and her scar tingled and prickled hotly. "Just…think about it, okay?"

Everything she wanted to say was stuck in her throat, but by the time she had found her voice, he had walked away.

Setsuna stared down at the telephone cradled in her hands, fingers poised over the buttons to dial. She bit her lip, waiting—just waiting—for something to tell her not to do this.

When she really thought about it, something—well, someone—already had.

She clunked the received back down and sat heavily onto her stool, taking in the mess strewn across her bench—papers and textbooks and petri dishes, a clutter of the little things that made up her life, in this dark laboratory that reminded her, oddly, of Space-Time: dark, quiet, sombre.

Not for the first time, she wondered if Mamoru was as strangely smitten with his own hard work, thousands of miles away and hundreds of medical journals deep.

"Probably," she murmured to herself, recalling the last time they had spoken, briefly, and how he had sounded full of passion and energy. It was as though whatever had happened to him in the hours after the Golden Crystal had gone missing had made him stronger; freed him, somehow.

She found it tremendously difficult to admit to the joy that filled her when she knew he was so happy.

Making the call should have been easy, as a soldier—there shouldn't have been anything hard about it. A few simple words to help protect their future, was all it should have been—but Mamoru didn't know anything about what had gone on in Tokyo since his departure, and under Usagi's direction, she had lied to him, over and over. Not only that, she refused to deceive Usagi, too, by abandoning her order—it wasn't her place.

These were some of the many reasons she didn't want to call Mamoru home. But the ultimate truth was that she didn't want to make the call because she couldn't pull him away from the one fraction of his destiny he wished to fulfil. The one thing about his future that truly made him happy.

She couldn't do it, and so she would leave it in Usagi's hands.

Usagi breathed a sigh of relief as she zoomed out of the school gates, a second day that had gone by unscathed. She felt a little proud of herself for uncovering multiple spots within the school that she hadn't even known existed, and was more on top of her homework than ever, having spent her lunchtimes in the library, pouring over her textbooks.

And it wasn't entirely a lie—she had poured over her textbooks. With her eyes closed. Having a nap.

Sleep had been hard to come by, the past few nights, with hellish nightmares and carnal dreams plaguing her. Hour after hour, she would wake in a cold sweat, shaking and wild, feeling as though she could claw out of her own skin.

She hiked her bag higher on her shoulder and trudged along the footpath toward home, wondering where Seiya, Taiki and Yaten had been that day. They were busy, she knew that, and while she was grateful for three less people to avoid, she did miss the whisper of her nickname as a certain sapphire-eyed idol passed her notes in math.

She missed a lot more than that, actually.

"A lot more," she mumbled to herself.

Out of no where, a hand snatched her wrist and she yelped in surprised as she was tugged away from the direction of her house by a storm of long, raven hair. "What the—"

Dark violet eyes glared at her as she was pulled to a stop, but Rei didn't release her hand. "You either come willingly, or I'll drag you all the way to Crown's."

Usagi blinked at her, adrenaline settling. "Fine," she huffed, unwilling to fight the stubborn young woman.

Rei said nothing more as she led her—in Usagi's opinion, dragged—around the corner, down the street and through the entrance to Crown's Fruit Parlor. Ami, Minako and Makoto waited for them in her usual booth, and it was then that Usagi started to struggle. "Oh no—I've done way too good a job avoiding you for you to just corner me here—"

Minako simply quirked a brow at her. "Enough is enough, Usagi."

"I'll go order," Makoto said, sliding out of her seat and heading for the counter.

"But—hey—"

Rei promptly forced Usagi to sit, slipping in alongside her so she couldn't escape without hurling herself over the table. Ami cleared her throat. "Usagi, we knew you weren't going to speak with us willingly, so we decided this was for the best."

Usagi folded her arms over her chest and pouted. "I don't think kidnapping your leader is for the best—"

Rei scoffed, clearly irritated. "You've hardly been our leader for the past few days—"

"No," Minako interrupted firmly, looking far more serious than Usagi had seen her in some time. "No fighting."

Makoto returned with a tray of drinks and a large plate of donuts, sliding drinks to each of them. "I got your favourite, Usagi."

Usagi eyed the mountain of whipped cream and chocolate shavings and turned up her nose, saying nothing.

"Look, Usagi," Minako said, "we know why you're doing this—"

"No, you don't—"

"Yes, we do," Makoto said, taking a seat next to Rei. "You're angry at us for going along with Haruka's lie."

Usagi ground her teeth and didn't reply.

"You're upset that we couldn't save that man, and blaming yourself because you weren't able to be there to help," Ami continued.

She bit the inside of her cheek, hard.

"You're afraid of your powers," Minako said softly. "Of hurting someone you love, or failing the people of Earth."

She pleaded the glands in her neck to stop aching with tears she was holding back.

"And," Rei added finally, "you're scared of the future."

She looked into her lap as those tears flooded her vision. They knew—of course they knew. And it killed her.

"We don't think you're weak, Usa," Minako told her. "But at the time, when that man died, you were fragile, and we just didn't know how you'd take it. If you could take it."

"I'm not fragile—"

"Yes, you are," Minako replied, and gave her a gentle smile. "It's what makes you the most powerful one of us all—it's what makes you you."

She closed her eyes and breathed, ignoring the wet streak that ran down her cheek. "But I would have been fine—"

"We know that, now," Ami said calmly. "You have to understand—every decision we make is to keep you safe."

"We're sorry, Usagi," Makoto said. "We never meant to hurt you."

"It's not just me that was hurt," she said, shaking her head. She looked around at them all. "All of you have had to carry this—I could have helped you cope, I could have—"

Rei sighed loudly and reached over to lift her chin. She met her eye. "Always worrying about others," she said, shaking her head. "Usagi, we know that we can't save everyone."

"But it's our duty to—"

"People die every day—every moment," Rei continued, sponging a tear with the pad of her palm. She drew her hand away. "Is our duty to save every single person?"

She didn't reply, because Rei was right.

"We have to look after this planet, look after this galaxy—protect it from evil that regular people can't," Minako said. "We look after a greater good, and that is our duty."

I won't let any of you die for our duty, she thought, steeling herself as they sat in a moment of silence. "I want you to leave me to take care of the enemy," she said. "Protect Earth and fight together—but I have to do the rest, alone."

The scouts glanced around at one another and Rei shook her head. "That's not going to happen, Usagi."

"But you know it's my destiny—"

"We don't, actually," Ami cut in. "We're assuming many things about this situation with hardly any facts to back it up."

"You're wrong," Usagi said, though the words felt like a lie, "the time is coming, and soon I'm going to face him, and then—then—"

Her chest constricted at the sheer thought of the desolation, giving way to chilling crystal that pierced a perfect world.

Minako placed a hand over her own, giving it a squeeze. "You can't do this alone," she said. "Let us help you."

She could feel the weight of her brooch sitting against her sternum heavily. Even if she did have deeply seeded powers that were unleashed with great emotion, they were unreliable and she still could not transform into Sailor Moon. Until the moment that it finally counted, she was useless, and she needed their help. "Okay," she murmured.

Makoto grinned and slid the milkshake closer to her. "Alright!"

"On one condition."

The brunette quickly slid the delicious drink away, and Usagi glared at her with a chuckle. "Hey, I'm serious…"

Makoto gave her a look. "What's the condition?"

"No more secrets," she said simply, and then snatched the glass from Makoto's hand. "Now give me that…"

Minako laughed. "No more secrets, got ya."

Ami shuffled in her seat. "Does 'no secrets' apply exclusively to senshi business, or…?"

Usagi sucked the cold liquid up the straw and then narrowed her eyes at her friend. "It means no more secrets, Ami," she said, and then added slyly: "Why? What are you hiding from us?"

"Yeah, Ami, tell us!"

Her cheeks flared pink and she ducked her head. "I have been meaning to tell you all…Taiki and I are, well, we're sort of, um…"

When she struggled to finish, Rei jumped in. "Trying your luck at a thinly veiled relationship?" She grinned. "That's hardly a secret."

Ami looked back at her with wide eyes. "Oh! I thought we kept it quite quiet—"

Minako practically bounced in the seat beside her. "This is so exciting! One of my best friends, dating an idol!" She squealed. "You have to tell us everything."

"Well, um, I don't know—"

Usagi set her shake down with a clunk and joined in, blissfully grateful for the distraction from life's troubles. "Yes! We need details—"

"You guys," Makoto chided, "maybe Ami wants to keep some things private, you know…"

Minako blinked at her across the table, and returned back to pawing at Ami for more information. "No, I'm sure she wants to tell us all about it—"

"Well, actually, I would like to keep some things private—for Taiki's sake, at least." Ami told them. "It's all quite new."

Rei nodded understandingly. "I understand, Ami. It was like that when Yuuichirou and I first started dating."

Usagi snorted. "And now all you do is go around bragging about what a great boyfriend he is—"

"Hey, I do not!"

"—he'd have to be pretty great to put up with you and your bossiness—"

"Usagi…"

"Whatever makes you and Taiki comfortable, Ami," Makoto told her, interrupting Rei and Usagi's bickering. "I'm sure he would appreciate the privacy, too." Her eyes widened, and she looked immeasurably uncomfortable. "Or, she would…"

In all honesty, the thought had hardly crossed Usagi's mind, but her gaze snapped back to Ami, who was blushing madly. "We're still sort of…figuring that out," Ami replied in a small voice. She hesitated before she spoke again. "I told Taiki that it didn't matter to me—I'm attracted to the person, not the gender."

Her words fluttered in Usagi's stomach and tickled at her throat, as though she could have said them herself.

She didn't stop to think about what that meant.

"Oh, that's so cute!" Minako squeaked, and then let out a disappointed sigh. "And I guess we can wait a little longer for details, if we have to…"

Usagi slurped at the last of her drink, feeling a tad queasy after drinking it so quickly. She checked her watch and groaned. "Crap, I have to go—I promised mama I'd be home to babysit Chibi Chibi."

She scrambled over the booth, snatching a couple of donuts for the run. She heard her friends giggling at her. "Just tell your mama we held you up!" Makoto called.

She nodded, one sweet dessert between her teeth while she juggled her bag. Her mother probably wouldn't believe her—she was going to be in so much trouble—

"Usagi!"

She turned back, plucking the donut from her mouth. "What?"

Minako beamed at her. "Thank you, for hearing us out."

Seiya shoved her hands into the pockets of her shorts as she stood in the doorway at the Tsukino residence. She had rung the doorbell and could hear commotion inside—Rini yelling at Chibi Chibi, and Mrs Tsukino scolding both of them. She stifled a laugh and waited patiently in the dim daylight.

When the door opened, she froze.

Mrs Tsukino's dark eyes swept over her with a strange knowing, as though she saw straight through her. She tilted her head and a small smile tugged at her lips. It was the first time in her life Seiya had felt like the shield of her counterpart had been unable to protect her identity, and she found herself unable to speak.

"You must be one of Usagi's friends from school," Mrs Tsukino said, nodding and giving her a kind smile. "I thought I recognised you from somewhere."

"That's right," Seiya said croakily as her breath returned. "Is she home?"

Mrs Tsukino opened the door wide and beckoned her inside. "Yes, yes—come on in." She moved for the stairwell and hollered to her daughter. "Usagi, someone's here to see you!"

As Seiya waited awkwardly in the entry, Chibi Chibi raced in from the lounge, looping around Seiya's legs animatedly. She couldn't help but smile at the tiny girl, with her contagious giggle and unruly curls. She held a finger over her lips, indicating for the little one to be quiet while Mrs Tsukino's back was turned, and Chibi copied her, letting out a loud shush.

Seiya really couldn't help but laugh, then. "Well, aren't you cute," she said.

"Oh, she's a cheeky one," Mrs Tsukino said, scooping up the toddler. "Usagi won't be long, I'm sure." She turned back toward the kitchen. "Rini, you were supposed to be watching Chibi—"

Rini stuck her head out from around the corner, looking annoyed. "I was watching her," she grumbled. She spotted Seiya and cocked a brow at her, mouthing 'what are you doing here?'.

She cocked a brow right back and inclined her head toward the stairs. 'Odango', she mouthed in reply.

Rini rolled her eyes dramatically and disappeared back around the corner, presumably to the rowdy television show she'd been viewing while she was 'watching' Chibi Chibi.

"Coming!" Usagi called, as she bounded down the stairs. She blinked at Seiya as she spotted her. "Thanks mama—we're going upstairs to work on a school project!"

"Alright, dear!"

Seiya snorted as Usagi dragged her up the stairs to her bedroom. "That didn't sound suspicious at all…"

Usagi closed the door and rounded on her. "What am I supposed to call you when you're not, you know—"

"A guy?" Seiya finished. She folded her arms over her chest. "Well, I would just say 'Seiya', but I got the weirdest feeling that your mom knew who I was…"

Usagi waved off the comment. "I'm sure she has no idea," she said. "What are you doing here? You weren't at school today, or yesterday…"

"We had a photo shoot and a couple of interviews," she replied, and then grinned. "Hard life, I know."

Usagi flopped down onto her bed, swinging her legs in front of her. "You said it, not me."

Seiya chuckled. "I'm here to find out if you're still avoiding me."

"This may come as a surprise to you, Seiya, but the world doesn't revolve around you," Usagi teased. "I was avoiding everyone, not just you."

"Was? Did the others talk to you?"

"You knew about that?" She asked, and then shook her head "Of course you did."

Seiya smirked and took the opportunity to look around the bedroom she hadn't been in in almost two years. Still littered with comic books, bed unmade, lingerie tossed haphazardly into open drawers. She didn't linger on that too long. "This hasn't changed much," she remarked. Her eye was drawn to a new addition, a poster stuck to the wall opposite her bed. "But this is new…"

It was an old image of the Three Lights, crinkled and dog-eared like everything else in Usagi's possession. Seiya turned back to Usagi, who was watching her like a hawk. "Opposite your bed, Odango—glad to see I'm never far from your mind—"

A soft toy was tossed in her direction and she laughed, ducking out of the way. "Perv," Usagi mumbled.

Seiya sighed. "I thought you might like to come along with me and the others to soccer training—watch me kick Tenou's ass," she said. "I just wanted to check in on you first."

Usagi hadn't given her a proper response, but leant over the edge of her bed to tug on her shoes, so Seiya assumed that was a yes. "'Check in on me'?"

"I've been worried about you," Seiya said honestly, moving toward Usagi as she stood back up. "I tried to speak to you on Monday, I tried calling…" She stopped in front of her, reaching out a hand toward her shoulder, because she wanted, desperately, to make sure she was okay. "How's your back?"

Usagi let her run her fingers along the outside of her shoulder, and she noticed the goose bumps that appeared under her touch. "It's fine," she said airily, shifting her weight and chewing at her lip. Nervous, Seiya's intuition told her.

"Good." Seiya wanted to do the right thing and keep her distance, but the draw of the Moon princess, her heady scent, rapid breath and flushed cheeks, was magnetising. The sensation went beyond her love and lust for the beautiful young woman—it was like her life force was constantly being reeled in by her. "You know, I'm not breaking your rule by being here," she stated, voice husky as she inched closer—just a tiny bit.

She wasn't quite sure whyshe said it, and the comment seemed to catch Usagi off guard, as her gaze broke away from where it loitered on her sheer singlet, bypassing her neck and lips and coming to rest on her eyes. "No, you're not," she replied slowly.

Seiya watched the cerulean of her eyes wash indigo, something so rare and telling that a smile pulled at her lips daringly. "Then why does it feel like I am?"

The blonde swallowed and narrowed her eyes at her weakly. "Always so sure of yourself, aren't you, Seiya?"

She stepped back—barely able to trust the instincts within her—and let her touch skim the length Usagi's arm to grasp her hand. "Come on, let's go."

"Seiya, shoot!"

She panted heavily as she dashed around the other players, darting between cones on the worn grass and keeping the ball in her possession with ease. She swung a leg out wide and kicked with all of her might toward the goals, groaning in frustration when Haruka intersected the ball inches before it could pass over line.

The play stopped momentarily as a whistle was blown, and she bent forward, resting heavily on her knees as she caught her breath. Her skin was slick with sweat, beading on her arms, her chest, her abdomen, and her ponytail clung to her back. They had been worked like dogs for the past hour, and in spite of her usually endless supply of energy, Seiya was growing exhausted.

"Again!"

She grunted as she pushed to her feet, looking over to the bleachers where her friends were watching on—well, they had been. It seemed the group had grown bored of their practice, occupying themselves instead with chatter and laughter. She spotted Usagi's golden hair swish in her direction, stealing a glance out at the pitch.

It made her ego swell to know the girl was watching her so intently.

She dragged a hand through her knotted hair and broke into a jog, returning to the draining drill Haruka was putting them through. "Let's get this over with, Tenou!"

Haruka didn't look at her. "I would, if you'd just score the damn goal."

Seiya ground her jaw and hurried after her, determined to finish this. It was simply too hot, her legs were beginning to ache, and after the way her energy had been sapped from her after giving it to Rini days earlier, she wasn't recovering as rapidly as she usually would. As the fatigue overtook her, she grew increasingly frustrated at her body for lacking where it usually thrived.

Ultimately, she was just feeling kind of pissed off.

She was right on Haruka's heels, but the guardian weaved around a fellow teammate, clipping the ball with her foot and sweeping it between her legs. Seiya swished a foot inches from Haruka's, trying to reclaim the ball, but Haruka dodged seamlessly. "You missed," she hissed, right by her ear. Seiya growled at her, fully expecting her to tear off toward the goals, but she lingered for a moment longer. "You know, I thought you could do it," she continued, "but I guess I was wrong."

You can do it all right.

The memory leapt at her from out of nowhere, and that was it. Fury crossed her vision and she felt her blood run hot, and before she could stop herself she had the blonde by the scruff of the neck, tugging her in to confront her. "What the fuck is your problem?"

Haruka said nothing, retaliating with a rough thump of her fists in an attempt to push her away—she failed, but continued to struggle. "You're all words, Tenou," she rumbled, feeling all the anger that had been pent up for the past days begin to erupt within her. "All bullshit and lies—"

That did it, and suddenly she felt winded by the shunt that Haruka dealt her in return, breaking the hold she had on her. She stumbled and vaguely registered that their onlookers had gone still in the stands, and all but a couple of members of her team had been ordered away, ready to intersect if the brawl became nasty. She didn't care, launching herself at Haruka and shoving her, hard. "And now you have nothingto say, because you know it's true!"

Haruka instantly pushed back, but the jolt lacked power, as though she were running out of steam. Seiya knew she wasn't. "I may not have saved her," she said lowly, the words burning like acid in her throat, "but I was there when you weren't, again—"

"Shut up—"

She moved in, dangerously close, and somehow willed herself not to punch her so hard that it would break her nose. She didn't need to—she'd hit the spot. "And now it's killing you that you betrayed her, again," she snarled, and Haruka simply fumed at her. She shook her head with a rattled laugh. "You're too weak to fix what you've done wrong—"

Suddenly she was off the ground, Haruka's fist twisted into her t-shirt and eyes dark as she glowered at her. Niko, the same player who had told Seiya of her success getting onto the team, went to step in, but Seiya shook her head. "It's fine," she said. She looked at Haruka, who was shaking. "You know I'm right."

There was a split second where Seiya prepared to face off with the irate senshi, but she was dropped roughly to the ground and Haruka stormed away.

Seiya scowled at her as she walked away, taking Niko's outstretched hand to pull her to her feet. "What the hell was that about?"

Seiya shook her head. "Don't ask."

Haruka seethed and rang her fists so tight that her fingernails bit into her skin. "Damn her…"

Kou was right, and she hated that.

The locker room was empty, and she could hear the farewells of her team as they left for the evening, presumably dismissed by Niko after her altercation. She huffed and grasped her head in her hands, knotting her fingers into her hair painfully. Every damn word she had spoken was true, and it disarmed her like nothing else could.

Before she could reconsider, she flew out of the change rooms and across the field, on a warpath toward the stands. Seiya, who was sitting alongside Usagi, bumping shoulders and flashing her a cocky grin, saw her coming and tensed.

Haruka looked Usagi in the eye. "Usagi, can I speak to you?"

Usagi glanced at Seiya and the others, and then shrugged uncertainly. "Okay…"

When she didn't get to her feet, Haruka added: "Privately."

"Whatever you have to say can be said in front of us—" Seiya started, but Usagi dismissed her and clambered down the steps. Haruka could feel Seiya's eyes on her, and wondered briefly if she knew what she was about to do.

"It's fine, Seiya," she said, and followed Haruka further down the pitch until they reached a nearby bench.

When Haruka didn't take a seat, Usagi floundered. "Sit," Haruka said brashly. She immediately berated herself. "Please."

Usagi did so, watching as she paced in front of her. There was a tension so thick in the air it felt like it was choking her. "Usagi—"

"Haruka—"

She stopped and met her blue eyes. "Let me speak," she said, and without waiting for a reply, continued. "I want to apologise, for lying to you. I never should have hidden what happened, it was wrong of me."

Usagi tucked her hands under her thighs, drawing her narrow shoulders together. "I appreciate that," she said. "You're right—you shouldn't have." Haruka opened her mouth to apologise again, but Usagi interrupted her. "But I know why you did—and in a way, I am grateful that you care so deeply about my wellbeing."

"Of course I do," Haruka burst, sitting down beside her. "I've always known you were our saviour, but after I saw the intensity of your power the other night…" She trailed off, shaking her head in lingering awe. "It reminded me of what we're fighting for."

Usagi looked down into her lap. "Haruka," she said, "I never meant to hurt you, I'm so sorry—"

"Please don't, I deserved it—"

"No," Usagi said, voice catching. She seemed to regroup quickly, rather than breaking into tears as Haruka had seen many times before. She sniffled lightly. "Is this what you were fighting with Seiya about?"

Haruka tipped her head back to the starry sky and sighed loudly. "It may have been…"

"Haruka," Usagi warned, "I'll tell you the same thing I told the other scouts: no more secrets."

"Fine," Haruka agreed. "Then yes, it was."

"I thought so."

Silence fell between them. "There's something…else," Haruka said tightly after a moment. "I asked Setsuna to tell Mamoru to come back to Tokyo."

She expected Usagi to be furious, but instead she let out a long breath. "I know," she said. "The others told me."

Haruka turned to face her. "That was never intended to be a secret—"

"I know that, too," Usagi responded. "Setsuna hasn't made the call—we talked about it, and she thinks it's best if I make that decision."

"And what do you think you should do?"

Usagi was quiet. "I don't know."

Haruka wanted to tell her to order him home—truth be told, she wanted to call the man herself and demand he return immediately. But it wasn't her place, so instead she said: "Maybe having him home will help things fall back into place, as they should be."

There was no point denying it—she was hardly referring to their impending future—she was referring to Seiya. She had seen the way Usagi looked at her, not only nearly two years beforehand, but now, more than ever. It was more than fascination or platonic affection—it was a shadow of the way she'd seen her look at Mamoru, in their early days. It was even the way she'd looked at her, when she had started to realise that she was attracted to both men and women, equally.

It was the way she knew she looked at Michiru, and that scared her more than anything.

"Maybe," Usagi hummed, eye wandering across the field to the exact person Haruka wanted to despise.

No matter how much she tried to convince herself otherwise, she just couldn't.

"Come, kitten," she said, shooting her a smile. "Let's get you home."