Author's notes:
GUYS. IT'S BEEN A LONG-ASS TIME. I am so appreciative of those who have stuck around, patiently waiting and checking in with me…I promise (truly!) that I will never abandon this story. It is fully planned out, just a matter of getting it done. I would really like to aim to have it completed in the next 3 months. I have been having some mental health issues this year that have meant I just haven't been able to get writing done…but back on track now and hoping this gigantic almost 12,000 word long chapter (and it's content!) will sort of make up for it.
As always, make sure to check out the important notes from the Prologue if you haven't already. Enjoy!
Music recs –
Gap by Hans Zimmer for the Dark Phoenix soundtrack
Glitter in the Air by P!nk
Good Enough by Evanescence
Chapter Twenty-Six
"Seiya, come on!"
"If you don't hurry up, we'll never catch the others!"
She was hard on the tail of her cousins and their friends, bare feet pattering on the polished concrete floors as they raced the dim hallways of Kinmoku palace. She chuckled as she ran away from the yells of their parents, telling them to stop running inside; to slow down before someone got hurt.
That had never stopped them before.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!"
She skidded around the corner, narrowly missing a ceramic vase poised at the corner. She willed her little feet to run faster, to catch up to her friends, and she knew that if she told her body to do it, she could. In fact, she could be faster than all of them combined.
But where was the fun in that?
She whipped the long tail of her hair behind her shoulder and took off once more, the hot twilight illuminating her path through the long windows of the western wing. Just a few more turns and the other team would be trapped with nowhere else to go; they would win and be victorious—
"All that is, all that was, or all that ever will be."
The crackle and flicker of light caught her eye and she was stopped in her tracks outside her parents' bedroom. She frowned and peered through the crack of the ajar door, watching as her mother stood in the window, head tipped back to the ceiling so her magenta braid fell long down her back. She watched in wonder as the collection of natural gases caught in the high roofline shifted and bent; the beautiful oil-spill colours of purple, green, gold and pink colliding into spidery webs of light. Her mother raised her hands above her and the energy swirled at her command, spiralling down to meet her open palms. Seiya couldn't help it—she gasped, as the light travelled along her mother's arms and back out into the atmosphere.
Whoa…
"Seiya?"
Her mother looked back over her shoulder toward her, ruby eyes soft and calm. She held out her hand and gave her a smile. "Don't be scared," she said.
She approached her tentatively and took her hand. She could feel the prickle of power, like ants crawling along her skin. "Were they talking to you again, Mama?"
Her mother knelt down to her. "You know they call to me sometimes, sweet one," she said gently. "But now it is you calling to me."
In a flash—so quick and so bright—he was no longer in his mother's room; no longer in the palace on his home planet. Suddenly, he was suspended in a misty time and space, but his mother was still there. Still holding his hand. "Mama, what…?" The haze was thick and suffocating; heavy in his chest where pain radiated. Tremendous pain. He shook his head, struggling to breathe. "What do you mean…?"
"You're calling to me but I cannot guide you," she said gently, the cool of her fingers leaving his to rest on his sternum. "Something is missing." She locked eyes with him, brow furrowed. "Something is incomplete."
Chaos. The Star Seed.
The memory—the pain—came rushing back to him in a panic. "Kakyuu," he whispered, and he looked at her desperately. "How do I stop this, Mama? How do I stop this if I'm going to die?"
A tiny smile tugged at her lips, and she leant in to him, just like she used to when he was small; when she had a secret to tell. "You're not going to die, my child," she whispered, "because the Starseed Chaos has is incomplete. Just like you."
Once again, we go to war.
Princess Kakyuu stood at the edge of their desolate, rocky land, flanked by her new warriors, waiting as the streaming lights dove across the russet sky. The harsh conditions beat down against them, slices of lightning and hot rain and cutting winds, but together, they stood strong.
"Princess!" Her commander called. "Princess, we should move out—"
"Hold on!" She replied, her gaze never breaking from the blue centre of the streaking star. It is Fighter, I know it…
The light coursed past the lapping flames of Proxima, and she felt unease settle in her belly as the star's flames faded before their eyes in an eclipse, their surroundings darkening to a night Kinmoku had only experienced once in its past. Suddenly, she could see the blackness that enveloped the cobalt streak. No…
"Prepare yourselves," she called to her soldiers. "Prepare to protect Kinmoku!"
There was a boom in the distance as the energy struck the desert, splicing veins of loud, angry energy into the sky and across the rock. Dark shadows began to bend and squirm at the horizon, and she could see Chaos' silhouette, holding a glistening cobalt crystal she knew too well.
Seiya…
"You may have won last time, Chaos," she murmured, kneeling to press a hand against their scorching earth, "but not this time."
Crimson light crackled beneath her hand and with all of her strength, she shot her power out to surround them in a dome of sparkling light and butterflies' wings that tore across the dark sky, across their queendom and out to the ocean in a protective arc. Her vision blurred and she fell to her side, hoping desperately that it would be enough to buy them the time they needed.
We need you, Starlights.
"Kakyuu!" Arms looped her waist, a breath on her neck and a voice at her ear—so tender, so familiar. "Come, we must get you back to the palace…"
She stopped the purple-haired warrior, touching her cheek as she had, so many times before, when they were alone. When nothing else mattered. "Lira, you cannot destroy Chaos," she told her. "He has Fighter's Star Seed."
Lira shook her head, eyes wide. "But doesn't that mean—"
"No," Kakyuu said, shaking her head, "I can feel her. She's still alive."
"Seiya, Seiya—please, wake up…I can't lose you…"
"Usagi, do something! Do something or he's going to die!"
"I'm trying, Rini! I'm trying, but it's not working…"
Her sweet voice, her choked cries, ricocheted out to him as though she were thousands of miles away, and he could feel her spindly white gold energy tugging him back from the brink. The glow of her fair skin and golden hair encased her like a halo, as he began to seeonce more. He reached up to touch her jaw—to see if she was real —and he felt the warm droplet of her tear on his cheek.
For a moment, he felt nothing but peace.
Kakyuu.
He winced in pain, gasping as reality thumped him hard in the chest. "Princess…"
"He's awake," Rini burst. "He's awake!"
Usagi gasped for breath like she had been held underwater. He curled a shaking hand into hers as she let out a sob of relief. "Seiya…"
Suddenly a pair of vivid green eyes appeared over him, panicked and angry. "What the fuck were you thinking?" Yaten seethed. "How could you—"
"Yaten!" Taiki ripped the furious senshi away from him, looking over his weakened body urgently. The world around him throbbed, dull and blurry. "How are you alive…?"
He shook his head—he didn't care how he had survived; how he hadn't simply faded away. He tried to sit upright, but Usagi held him firmly against her, and Rini sat forward to stop him. "Seiya don't—you have to rest—"
He ignored her, looking to his cousins as he tried to pull away. There was no time to waste. "We have to get to Kakyuu, now—he's going to use the crystal to get to Kinmoku—"
"What?" Yaten said, and then rounded on Haruka, who was propped against the bleachers. Her hand was pressed firmly against her chest, blood seeping between her fingers as she rasped with every breath. The attack had nearly killed her, he was certain. "You—"
"Yaten—"
She shoved Taiki away and sprang forward to grab Haruka by the scruff of her shirt. "You did this," she spat. "You convinced him—this is your fault, and if anything happens to our princess or our cousin, I will killyou myself—"
"Better to just do it now," Haruka ground out, grimacing as she hung weakly from Yaten's grip. "While you have the chance…"
Rini got to her feet, stepping toward the angry senshi. "Yaten, please don't—"
Yaten glanced at her and then scowled at Haruka. "That's not how I fight," she hissed. She slammed the senshi back against the stairs. "I don't take people down while they're weak."
Seiya forced himself to his feet with Usagi's help. "Yaten—"
She rounded on him. "And you!" She shook her head at him, eyes glassy. "I know what you were trying to do—and now look what has happened, Seiya…"
Look what you have done.
"Haruka!"
Michiru's terrified voice rang out as she raced across the field, her blouse spotted with blood that had soaked through her bandaging. She crashed to Haruka's side, and Setsuna was only a few paces behind her. "Haruka, oh, Haruka…" Michiru whispered, as she cradled her to her chest and started to cry. "You stupid woman…"
Setsuna stared down at them in shock, shaking her head. "I was leaving the lab when I saw the energy…" she stammered. "What happened?"
"Seiya and Haruka lured Chaos here, to let him use Seiya as his new host," Usagi said. She glanced at him, eyes dark with hurt. "He was going to try to destroy him by absorbing his power, but—"
"You stopped me," Seiya finished, staring at Haruka as she wheezed. "Why? We had a plan!"
She looked away, hacking violently until blood stained her lips. Usagi rushed to her side. "No no no, Haruka…"
She knelt down by her side and made to place her hands over her chest, to help heal her, but Haruka pushed her away. "Don't…"
Usagi looked at her sternly, a whitish glimmer radiating down her arms and emanating from her fingertips with control she had never possessed. "I may be angry at you for what you did tonight, but I will not let you die," she said. "I won't lose anyone else."
She fluttered her hands across her breastbone and closed her eyes, and Haruka sucked in a breath as the energy roamed her body in wispy waves, charging across her skin and engulfing her injuries. Haruka flinched as it reached her ribs, growling in pain as a mess of wounds and internal bleeding healed from within. She swore under her breath and threw her head back as her ribcage cracked grotesquely and gashes sewed shut, the symbol of her guardian planet flickering to life on her forehead as she suffered.
Seiya knew the pain of being stitched back together when you were so terribly torn apart.
A hand touched his arm softly; a spark and warmth that coursed through him like a shockwave. Rini's ruby eyes looked back at him, swollen and pink with exhaustion. "I heard Taiki and Yaten—they must have felt something and realised you were gone, and that's when I saw that Usagi was gone, too…" She trailed off, voice shaky. "Seiya, what were you thinking?"
He looked across at Usagi, as she removed her hands from Haruka's torso and rose to her feet. He saw the tiny waver in her body as she moved; the shake of her hands. I was thinking of you, he thought, I was thinking of you and now…
We need you, Starlights…
His vision skewed as he heard Kakyuu's voice and then, so intensely, he felt it: the collision of his energy back on Kinmoku; the fading of his star and the terror of his people.
"Seiya!"
Rini stabilised him as he swayed, but he moved out of her grasp, determined to summon that last glimmering piece of lifehe somehow clung on to. His mother's delicate voice whispered to him. "Incomplete," he murmured, as though somehow saying the words would give him the answer he needed. Usagi appeared in front of him, hands reaching for him. He locked eyes with her. "We have to go," he said. "We have to go to Kinmoku now."
She looked between him and his fellow Starlights. "Not alone," she said. "We're coming with you—all of us."
Yaten shook her head. "There isn't time—"
"Usagi's right," Taiki interrupted. "We can't do this alone—we need the Sol senshi." He looked between his cousins. "Our soldiers will defend Kinmoku until we arrive—that's what they were trained to do."
Usagi nodded quickly. "Setsuna, when is the best time to teleport?" She asked. "How soon can we leave?"
"Dawn," Setsuna replied. "The veil between Space Time and reality is thinnest then—and we need that advantage, given you cannot transform and Seiya is without his Star Seed." She hesitated. "And there is still a chance it may fail…"
"We have to try," Usagi said. She turned to Seiya, stepped in close to him, and her expression shifted—a swirl of exasperation, hurt and fear. Her hand brushed through the tuft of hair falling into his eyes, down the slope of his cheek to sit at the flat of his chest. "I can't heal you without that Star Seed."
She tore away from him, stoic. "We gather the others, and we meet at dawn," she said. "And then we go to Kinmoku."
I could have lost him.
Usagi's chest burned as she raced along the dark streets, adrenaline still thundering through her veins and her body shaking in the aftermath of what was almost another loss.
One she could not have beared.
Suddenly she understood how it must have been for Seiya to have watched her give up her own life for the greater good, time and time again; to endure that fear and to try, hopelessly, at standing in death's path to sacrifice himself for her. To nearly fail at protecting the one he loved. In those moments when she had been able to do nothing, because he had threatened it killing him too, she understood better than she had in her entire life.
She realised she could not live without him.
She ducked her head as she ran, angry, relieved tears hitting her in a wave. She had always opened her heart to pure, unrelenting hope—she had never wondered about the very worst, and as she pictured the bloodshed she had seen, the lives they had lost and the close calls they had experienced, she realised how she had taken so many lives that she loved for granted.
For just for one moment, before they left Earth, she needed to steal a glance at her family as they rested peacefully in their beds. Just one quick glance, in case, this time, she never returned.
She was alone—Rini had gone with Setsuna, on a mission to bring the others together as quickly as they could. She moved quietly to the front door in the darkness of the night, clunking the lock over as she let herself in. The scent of her mother's cooking lingered in the air, like fresh dashi and steamed rice and jasmine tea, but all was quiet. A soft light filtered from the living room and Usagi crept around the corner, surprised to spy her mother's slippered feet. "Mama?"
"Usagi?" Her mother's voice was tired and she was wrapped up in her robe, a mug gripped in her palms and dark rings beneath her eyes. "What are you doing home? I thought you and Rini were having a sleepover with your friends…"
Usagi approached her. "Oh, we are," she lied, "I just…forgot something I promised everyone I would bring, so I came back to get it…"
Ikuku frowned at her. "On your own, at this time of night? Usagi—"
"No," she lied, "Seiya's waiting outside for me…"
Seiya is waiting for me.
Her mother nodded slowly. "Seiya," she repeated. "How is she?"
She.
Usagi tried not to let the surprise play out on her face—if she had more time, she would have asked her how—how did you know? Instead, she softly said: "She's fine…"
Seiya had been right—her mother had known. Somehow.
"That's good to hear," Ikuku said, lips curved up lightly at each corner. She glanced down into her tea, which Usagi was certain was cold, and her expression changed—her brow furrowed; her eyes grew distant.
"Mama," Usagi asked gently, "what is it…?"
Ikuku blinked up at her, shaking her head with a tight smile. "Oh, it's nothing, dear," she said. "It just seems like something is…missing. I keep having these dreams, about a little girl, just like you…" She trailed off. "How silly of me…"
The squeeze in Usagi's chest was nearly unbearable, as she pictured Chibi Chibi's toys dotted across the floor; her giggles and troublesome ways. She knelt in front of her mother and took the cup from her hands to set it aside. "No, Mama," she said, the words thick in her throat. "Nothing is missing. Our family is just perfect, the way it is."
Her mother's weary gaze locked with her own, and she cocked her head. "You're right, Usagi," she agreed. She ran a hand through the length of one pigtail, studying her closely, and then drew her fingertips to her forehead—right over the space her crescent appeared. Her dark eyes flickered for a split second—as though she were remembering something. As though she knew. "You're right…"
"You don't have to worry about me, Mama," she whispered, heart heavy.
Ikuku smiled. "I know," she told her.
"I'd better go," Usagi managed. She kissed her on the cheek and rose to her feet, moving away before she let her see how close she was to falling apart.
"Usagi?"
She turned back to her. "Yeah?"
"Wherever it is that you go…whatever it is that you do," her mother said, "know that this is who you are meant to be."
Mamoru sat on the edge of his bed, watching out over the city lights dotting the night's skyline. His eyes were heavy with fatigue, but sleep would not come to him—he felt weighed down in his shock, his grief, and his guilt.
Helios…
He cradled his head in his hands and swallowed the knot in his throat. Perhaps if he had been stronger; if he had been able to break free of Chaos' grasp, he could have saved him. He could have saved the boy Rini loved so fiercely. He could have saved his son.
My son.
Suddenly so much made sense—the recent times when he had felt his world tilt, the dreams he had experienced; garnet and gold. The near-death moment he had suffered, when his heart had nearly given out only to be revitalised once more—he was certain it was the golden crystal, being returned to him as Helios' new path unfolded.
Somewhere along the line, their trajectories had changed, utterly unbeknownst to them all—playing out in the background; weaving new time, new space. A new future.
I'm sorry.
He wished he could have saved him. He wished he could have saved Rini such pain. He wished he could have saved Usagi from finding out as she had. He wished so many things.
Our end was mutual, wasn't it? Usagi's soft voice echoed out to him as he squeezed his eyes closed. Perhaps, one day, this will bring Helios back to us.
They couldn't help that this was how their future was to unfold; clunky, premature. Before anyone was prepared—and no matter how they felt about what was to be, the sheer reality of knowing was jolting.
I'm so sorry.
There was an urgent knock at his apartment door and he frowned, moving for it quickly. "Setsuna," he said, as he swung the door open to her worried face. Rini stood alongside her, exhausted and red-eyed. "Rini…what's going on…?"
"Chaos has Fighter's Starseed—he's going to destroy Kinmoku," Setsuna said. "We're going to help the Starlights protect their home."
There was a certain eeriness to dawn, when it finally came, as they stood at the grounds of Hikawa Shrine, bathed in magenta light that mottled the indigo sky. The air was warm around them and the world felt oddly heavy somehow, and Rini felt like she had done it all before, standing on the cliff in Kinmoku not so long ago.
It felt oddly cathartic, to be returning to the place where it all began.
"Are you sure about this?" She heard Mamoru say to Usagi quietly. "You might need all the help you can get…"
Usagi nodded, scratching Luna behind the ears as he held her. "Stay, in case Earth needs you," she said. "Your power need to remain here."
He hesitated before nodding in agreement, and as he looked around at them, Rini saw his eye glance to Setsuna. "Be safe."
"Take care on this journey," Artemis said, alongside the Earth guardian. "You can't predict what Space Time could hold—remain focused."
Usagi gave him a smile. "We will." She turned to the group. "Ready?"
"You've never been more ready, Usagi," Luna said gently.
Usagi faltered, for just the tiniest moment, and then nodded certainly. "Thank you, Luna," she said. "Let's go."
The group came together, forming a circle and linking hands. Like she had then, Rini slipped her hand into Seiya's, feeling the hum between them and wondering if maybe it gave the Starlight the strength he needed to survive without his heart's crystal. His lips twitched in a smile. "It's okay," he said, just as he had that day, "you can't hurt me."
Usagi jutted out her chin. "Whatever happens along the way, we will find our way to Kinmoku," she told them. "Without Pluto's powers, and without the Space-Time Key, we have to navigate this realm unguided."
Rini looked across to Setsuna, the warrior's eyes trained on the ground. Setsuna had tried to transform—she had held her crystal change rod to the sky and tried, but nothing had happened. Like Usagi, it seemed she could no longer become her true self, and Rini wondered about the truth in Chaos' words: that she had been lied to. That Pluto was not the ninth planet they believed it to be—instead, perhaps, a guise for something far more powerful that someone hadn't wanted her to see.
It brought her back to thinking of Helios, and the incredible power he wielded. Perhaps Chaos was right about one thing—perhaps power did invite power. Perhaps it bore it.
Oh Helios.
Her throat burned and she swallowed the pain down—she had to be strong. For Helios and Chibi Chibi. For Seiya.
For herself.
On her other side, Hotaru squeezed her hand. "Everything is going to be alright," she said, quiet enough that only she would hear. "Have faith."
Fiery sunlight cracked above the skyline and illuminated the soldiers' auras as they expanded, strong and vivid. Together, they called the teleportation chant, and she closed her eyes as she hoped.
Hope.
With a whoosh the familiar sensation of spiralling through time hit her in the chest, sickening and exhilarating all at once. She felt breathless and stretched, as though her body were being tugged and thrown about. Light flashed behind her eyes, shadowing to dark and then piercing with light. She had learned to keep her eyes firmly shut on the journey through Space Time, until everything stopped once again.
"Rini!" She could hear Seiya calling as they spun, his hand still in her own. "Rini, open your eyes!"
She only squeezed them closed tighter, ignoring him and waiting for the rush to be over. She had been thrust through the twists and bends of time and space so many times that she no longer trusted what she saw—it frightened her, in spite of how brave she was.
"Please, Rini, trust me," she heard him say again, clutching her hand tighter and sending a bolt through her. "Open your eyes."
She peeked through one eye and shielded herself from the gold light that emanated all around them. The brilliant auras of her fellow warriors flecked the endless sky, floating as beacons of colour; separated but still together. Beside Seiya, fingers threaded with his, was Usagi—shimmering in a kaleidoscope of colours, like sunlight refracted through a crystal. She looked nothing short of magical. "Odango…"
She smiled at them, soft and slow, as though she weren't entirely there. "It's alright," she hummed.
Rini frowned, but when she looked to Seiya a spark of panic set in. His cobalt aura barely shone. Perhaps it was her power, and Usagi's, that was holding onto him, and so she instinctively gripped onto him tighter. "Seiya—"
He shook his head with a smile. "Don't worry about me," he said, and then pointed below them. "Look, Rini..."
She glanced down and her breath hitched. There, far from them and yet so close, was a paradise. Flourishing mountains, glistening waters. Blooming flowers and trickling waterfalls and thriving wildlife everywhere. Warmth and radiance and peace. And right there, at the water's edge was a tall, white Pegasus.
"Helios…" She whispered. "Helios—"
Space Time swallowed them up once more, before she could reach him; before she could do anything. It wrenched them away from the land that looked so like Elysion, tumbling them through mist and cold and darkness until her body was thrown against hard stone.
Gentle hands reached out to help her upright. "Are you alright?" Hotaru asked.
Her head throbbed and her body ached, but she nodded. "Elysion…I thought I saw Pegasus…"
Hotaru gave her a soft smile. "Space Time can show us all kinds of thing, in all different times," she said. "It is a mysterious place—you of all people know that, Rini."
She shivered, and suddenly became aware of her surroundings—cool, still and silent; not hot and rugged and alive like Kinmoku. Around her was the stony ruins of a land that once shone pearly against the blackness of the universe, spotted with stars and illuminated by the large blue planet that she knew as her home.
The Moon…
The other scouts were scattered all around her, but Usagi was on her feet, fists tight at her sides as she stared up at the remnants of the palace of the Moon Kingdom, with its rounded marble edges crumbled and chipped. With a laboured breath, Seiya rose to his feet and approached her, stopping a few short steps behind her.
"Why did you bring me here?" Usagi spoke to the ruins, her voice wavering. "Why did you bring us here?"
Her questions were met with silence—deafening silence that Rini had never experienced before. Even the senshi around her said nothing; they didn't move. The emotion in Usagi's voice, in the frozen quiet, was enough to silence them all.
"Why?"
"Because, for you, this is where it all began."
At the broken archway of the palace's entrance, a silhouette appeared, veiled in the shadows, with long pigtails and odango buns, and the grace of someone who had lived many eras before them. The grace of a queen.
Surely it can't be…?
Usagi shook her head vehemently, shaking in something akin to anger. Rini sat upright, ready to go to her future mother—to help calm whatever it was that made her feel so intensely—but Hotaru held her back.
"No," Usagi replied, "for me, it began on Earth, when I was born Usagi Tsukino. When I let go of all of this." She threw her hands open to the pearly rock all around them. Her voice cracked as she spoke again—a blend of regret and relief. "I am not this."
The silhouetted figure shifted, holding out a slender arm to reveal a long staff that caught the light of the Earth's glow. At the very top of the sceptre, sharp wings and a crystal orb glinted—something Rini had never seen before, not once in her journeys through time.
"You are right, Guardian, you are not," the figure told her. "You were shown one glimpse of the woman you have been through time. Your essence and power remain no matter the life you live."
"That's not what you told us—you told us this is who we were, reborn," Usagi said. "That because of this past we had a destiny to fulfil."
Rini thought of everything she had seen in those past months—Usagi, unfurling into a warrior that was stronger than she ever could have fathomed she could be. Mamoru and Setsuna, closing the space between them like it were meant to be—watching their son come to life and die before them. Helios, losing his eternity-long task of being the Golden Crystal's keeper, and instead becoming a boy with dreams. And herself, feeling more like the girl and the senshi she was supposed to be all along.
Maybe that destiny was a lie.
"I did not tell you anything."
Usagi took a step forward, to go after her, perhaps, and instantly the ground beneath them began to shake and crack, opening up to swallow them whole. The other scouts scrambled to form a circle, but Rini watched on as Usagi stood her ground. "Usagi!"
As the stone around them rumbled, the air grew murky with dusk, obscuring the mysterious figure. Hotaru tugged at Rini as she remained, frozen, waiting for Usagi to turn her back on the figure—but it seemed she was not willing to move until she had the answers she wanted.
Haruka called out to them. "We have to go, now!"
"Seiya!" Yaten and Taiki cried, as he stood by Usagi. Waiting for her. "Come on!"
"Rini, please," Hotaru said desperately, dragging her to the circle. Rini fought against her, feeling the hum of power link her with her fellow senshi as Hotaru grasped Rei's hand. The ruins around them disintegrated and turned to dust before their eyes, encasing the clear air in a fine, white mist. Beneath her, the rock began to split open, causing her to stumble, but she still reached out to Usagi and Seiya—leaving the circle open and disabling their power.
"I won't leave them behind—"
"You don't have to," she suddenly heard, and looked up to Setsuna, who had suddenly appeared by her side. She grasped her wrist and with one firm look to Haruka, she linked Rini's hand with the Uranian guardian, completing the circle—without her. "I will help them find their way."
"No, Puu—"
It was no use—the rainbow colours had started swirling around them as they began to fade away from the broken Moon Kingdom. She could see Setsuna's smile. "I will see you soon, Small Lady."
Rini craned her neck back to look at Usagi and Seiya, but the haze was thick and her surroundings had started to fade as their power took hold. "Usagi—!"
The very last thing she saw, before they were launched through time and space once again, was the brilliant shine of an eight-pointed star, bathing the old Moon Kingdom in white gold light.
"I did not tell you anything."
That star…
"Who are you?!"
As the world around them shook and fell apart, as their friends gathered to escape, Seiya only inched closer to the woman alongside him, fixated on the shadowed figure that stood in the crumbling archway. He threaded his fingers through hers—he knew what this meant to her; what these answers could hold.
Usagi took one last look at the mysterious silhouette who had vanished from view, shaking her head angrily. "She is a coward," she breathed. She closed her eyes, and when she reopened them, she was resolute. "There is nothing left for me."
He nodded, and as the stunning aura of the other warriors' energy faded, he felt a twinge of anxiety fire in his gut. He and Usagi were both a fragment of their true selves—could they travel across Space Time without their friends?
"We can do this," Usagi said to him, as if she had read his mind. She drew their linked hands to her sternum and it began to radiate power that encircled them both in a sphere of silver, mixing with the wisps of blue he had left to give. He lost his breath to the intensity of their combined energy, and as Usagi's skin began to glint with crystal, everything around them disappeared.
Setsuna turned her back on the circle of soldiers as their energy flickered away to nothing, looking to her princess and the ruins before her. To the figure whose voice she did not know, and yet somehow, she did.
"I am sorry Setsuna," she could hear suddenly—words she only then recalled. "This is the only way."
Usagi shook as she screamed out to the figure—asking the very same question that Setsuna wished to know. "Who are you?!"
She made to step toward Usagi and Seiya, but came to a stop as they twined their hands together, resting their foreheads against one-another, their fractured power merging. The white gold light of her princess' energy cocooned them, spliced with the tiniest specks of blue, and the star upon her forehead threw brilliant light across the kingdom.
They do not need me, she decided, and so instead I will try to fix what I have done.
For the first time, she believed Chaos' words—she believed that she was more than what she had ever been told. She supposed that now, she had nothing left to lose, and so she closed her eyes, and she felt.
The timeless master of time.
I want to see the whole universe…is that silly?
No, it's perfect.
Their vivid sphere blazed, circling around them in white-hot flames. It lapped at their skin, encasing them in the safest, warmest light he had ever felt, and yet surged with energy so frantic that it vibrated him to the core. Peaceful in its madness.
Beyond them, Space Time bent and fractured, breaking open from its misted, monotonous depths to reveal the entire galaxy—peppered with stars and oil spills of blossoming colour; striking, rocky planets and the swirls of galaxies as they spun toward their stars. They moved in the blink of an eye, as they travelled through what Seiya could only imagine was the depths of the universe.
So beautiful.
But when he looked at her, the universe did not even compare.
What are you, Odango?
The glint of crystal fractured through her fair skin, jagged cracks of shimmering stone that appeared to break light from within her, running down the lengths of her hair; into the cerulean of her eyes. The eight-pointed star beamed, just as she did.
"Odango…"
Her eyes were wide and captivated by the unfathomable sights passing by them, and she reached out a glistening hand as though she could touch everything before her. Seiya wondered if maybe she could.
When she spoke, her voice echoed all around them. "A cauldron of wonders…"
He looked at her strangely, her words twisting in his gut. "Odango?" When she didn't respond, he ran his thumb over one of the fissures of crystal along her cheek, and something about his touch brought her back. Her eyes locked with his, and she smiled so widely that it stole his breath away. "My home," she said to him.
He reached his other hand to join the first, cupping her face—keeping her with him. "No, Odango," he told her. "Earth is your home."
He could feel her power zooming through his veins and giving him the life he lacked. He could feel how she burned with unimaginable strength—terrifyingly, stunningly powerful.
"You have the power to do whatever you want," he told her. "But now I have to go home."
Usagi closed her eyes and a tear slipped over each cheek, and she drew a hand over his. "You are home."
And then light swallowed them once more.
Who are you?
It was silent by the marble doors she knew too well—the same pearly granite that had sculpted the Moon Kingdom. The very same haze and silent stillness. The phases of the moon that she had studied until every fleck was etched into her mind.
The endless realm that had imprisoned her.
Something was telling her to question everything. Suddenly every word Chaos had spoken gnawed at her, and the mysterious woman, who she was sure was neither the queens she had served nor the princess she knew, called out to her again.
I did not tell you anything.
Somehow she had found her way there—somehow, without her powers, she had arrived back to where it had all begun, as just a small child.
The greatest taboo.
She had been a loyal soldier—so much so that she had broken every rule she had been given; in both of the lifetimes she could recall. She had gone against what she had been told to save the lives of others, to protect the future they had been shown. Time and time again, she had rebelled.
Time and time again, it had been worth it.
Soldier of revolution.
Her journey had been brief but hard on her body, and yet as she moved through the greyish clouds, she had never felt lighter. She stepped up to the doorway and reached her hand out to touch it, and as her fingertips connected, the stone shattered beneath them and turned to dust.
Freedom.
When they finally touched down on the hot, red earth of Kinmoku, Usagi knew it was special.
The rush of power that had encircled and protected them faded away as they floated down through the planet's thick atmosphere, and she felt the hum of her power dissipate. Flashes of their journey, explosions of colour and turbulent worlds and the eerie calmness of space, danced through her mind. She recalled feeling electric, but once again, her memories felt fuzzy; as though they weren't entirely her own.
Gently, the came down to rest on the rocky cliff's edge, nearby a sloping, sandstone palace, and Usagi drew in a breath of the air—thick, heady. The way she felt when she was just a beat too close to Seiya.
Seiya.
He collapsed to his knees and she instantly grasped him. "Are you okay?"
Just like he had once before, when she had been trying to protect his life, he gave her a thumbs up and a wink. "Always, Odango…"
"Usagi!"
She looked up to a flurry of pink pigtails—Rini, sprinting from the castle on the peak of the cliff. "They're here, they're safe!"
Usagi slipped an arm around Seiya's waist to help move him forward, but he held up a hand to stop her. "It's alright," he said, straightening up on his own. "I'm alright, I promise…"
"We were so worried about you!" Rini burst as she collided into them and started to cry. "I-I thought you were—I was so scared—"
Usagi smoothed her hair and drew back to reassure the girl. "We're just fine—we were right behind you—"
"No, you weren't," Rini insisted. "We arrived yesterday—it's been nearly twenty-four hours and—" She stopped short, frowning and looking between them. "Where's Puu?"
Dread knotted in Usagi's gut. "She's not with us…"
Oh Setsuna, what have you done?
There was commotion at the palace, and she saw the other senshi emerge, but there was something amiss—Healer and Maker rushed toward them, but the Sol senshi hung back in their civilian forms. What is going on…?
Taiki braced Seiya's weight, in spite of Seiya's protest, and Yaten looked over him warily. Her eye turned to the sky. "We need to get inside."
Usagi followed her gaze to the sky—cherry-red and splotched with blackened clouds, and there, over the ocean and larger than she could have ever imagined, was one of three nearby suns, eclipsed into a slithered ring of burnished light. It was Seiya's star, she could feel it, but she knew it was not their usual sun-kissed land he had told her of. "The sun—"
"Kakyuu," Seiya said, lurching forward to go to her. "Where is she—"
"I am here, Fighter," the Kinmokian princess' soft voice called. "All is well."
Pinkish light fluttered in the air before them, and she appeared—as lovely as Usagi remembered her. Seiya met her eye at a distance, glassy and shaken, and bowed to one knee before her. "Princess," he greeted, and then, almost inaudibly: "Forgive me."
Princess Kakyuu's face fell and she knelt down to him. She lifted his chin with a slender finger. "There is nothing to be forgiven," she told him, and then smiled with a hint of cheek. "I should have known you couldn't leave here without getting yourself into trouble…"
He smiled tightly at her, remorse all over his face. "I should have stopped him—I never should have let this happen—"
"Enough," she told him, kissing his forehead and guiding him to his feet. She looked to Usagi. "Welcome, Sailor Moon," she said kindly. "I wish it were under better circumstances that we were meeting again."
Usagi bowed her head. "Princess," she greeted.
"Come, it isn't safe out here," Taiki said, and they moved swiftly toward the castle.
Usagi lingered, captivated by the obscured, giant star and the red ring it reflected off the ocean's surface. Chaos had poisoned this rugged place, and she knew she couldn't let Seiya's home succumb to the same fate it had once before.
"Odango?"
She looked to Seiya, and her chest clenched. His eyes were dark, his jaw set, and his skin pale. He reached out a hand to her and she took it, hoping it would give him more of the energy he needed, and he led her through the tall glass that framed the palace walls. The space fanned out to reveal polished floors, abstract artwork and soft furnishings, and a collection of musical instruments broader than anything Usagi had ever seen. The space hummed, and suddenly she felt Seiya amongst every inch—suddenly she could see him there; a child caressing a guitar; held in his mother's arms in the ruby armchair; taught to fight by his father at the cliff's edge. This was where he had grown, before their lives had collided.
"Usagi," her senshi greeted warmly, scattered around the room and watching her worriedly. "You're safe…"
Hotaru's face fell as Rini shook her head. "Setsuna isn't with them…"
"She'll be fine," Michiru said to her, running a hand over her hair. There was apprehension in her voice that would not fool Hotaru. "She knows Space Time better than anyone."
Minako rushed to Usagi, tossing her arms around her neck. "We didn't know if you would make it…"
"You didn't," Rei teased, poking her tongue out at Usagi from nearby. She sobered and gave her a smile. "I knew you'd be okay."
Usagi shook her head at the Sol senshi. "Something's wrong, I can tell…what is it?"
"The composition of the air here is different to home on Earth," Ami explained. Taiki took a seat at her side, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Since arriving, we have needed time to adjust—simply breathing was a challenge."
"Can't you feel it, Usa?" Makoto asked her.
She shook her head. "I can—but I can breathe just fine…"
"Small Lady feels the same way," Haruka said, eying the girl with an odd expression on her face. "Don't you?"
Rini nodded. "Yeah," she agreed. "It's strange…"
"It may take time for the Sol senshi to acclimatise," Taiki said.
Haruka turned her back on them, toward the western-facing windows, away from the ocean. "We don't have time…"
Seiya moved to join her. "Chaos," he growled. His glare passed over Haruka, but whatever it was he wanted to say, he swallowed down. He looked to Kakyuu. "Princess, you cannot hold the forcefield alone— even with that, we have a few days, at most."
"Forcefield?" Usagi looked out over the dark desert, noticing the veil of magenta that fell across the queendom in an arc. Beyond the dome, darkness raged—a storm that upheaved the cracked land and burned it. A storm with an eye of cobalt. No…
"We should just go and attack," Yaten said brashly. "Take our soldiers and those who are strong enough and destroy him, now—"
"And risk Seiya's Starseed?" Usagi challenged. She shook her head. "We need a plan—"
"We have one," Seiya interrupted, avoiding Usagi's eye. "We give him what he wants, and I end this."
"Seiya—"
"Usagi," he warned, "you know my mission—let me do this."
You are my mission.
"We will find another way," Kakyuu told him calmly. "You are too important, Fighter."
A muscle twitched in his jaw, and Usagi was certain the stubborn Starlight was still going to try. Alongside him, Haruka's gaze was distracted, and not for the first time, Usagi wondered what she was thinking.
What were you thinking, when you jumped in front of him—when you stopped him from what you had agreed to do, together?
She knew answers wouldn't come easily—Haruka's pride was too strong.
"We haveto rest—all of us," Michiru said. "And then we will prepare ourselves."
Usagi locked her eyes on the stormy horizon, where Chaos wandered and waited—a shadow amongst the minions he had summoned. Without form, and yet no less powerful than before—perhaps, with Seiya's Starseed, more so.
She squeezed her eyes closed as the image of Rafu's limp body, Helios' blood-spotted smile, and Chibi Chibi's guiding words, invaded her mind. Her vision blurred and she felt her knees give way beneath her. "Sailor Moon," she heard, as Princess Kakyuu caught her before she could crash to the floor. For the first time in days, she felt truly weak—through the rage, the panic, the sorrow, she had not stopped. Kakyuu's warmth cushioned her, and she relented to the sweetness of it. "You have suffered great tragedy—you all have…"
"Odango," Seiya murmured, as he knelt by her side. He nodded to Michiru and looked to his cousins. "We recover our strength, and then we fight."
He made to help Usagi to her feet, but Kakyuu shook her head. "Let me take her, Seiya," she said quietly. "She will be just fine. Go, rest."
"Alright." He rose reluctantly and gave Usagi a stern look. "Anything you need—I'm down the hall…"
She laughed, the sound hollow to her. "I think I should be saying that to you…"
Kakyuu drew her to her feet as the group began to go their separate ways for the night. Rini loitered in the doorway, her hand linked with Hotaru's, lip bitten. "I'm fine, Rini—go, I'll see you when I come to bed," Usagi told her.
The young girl nodded and, with Seiya a beat behind her, left the room. Usagi smiled at Kakyuu. "I appreciate you having us stay here—I only hope that we can fix this, once and for all," she said. She looked to the doorway. "I just…I don't understand how you can let Seiya go. You know what he might try to do…"
To her surprise, Kakyuu's lips quirked in a smile. "I learned a long time ago that you cannot stop Seiya doing from what he wants to do," she said. "I found that there were only two options when it came to my cousin—trust him not to do something reckless, or expect to fight by his side when he did."
"I'm still learning about Seiya," Usagi commented distantly, thinking about the times he had broken all the rules, for her. When he had risked his life, over and over—nearly losing it entirely this time, all because of her.
Kakyuu chuckled. "I don't think you are—I think you two know one another on a level that no one could possibly comprehend." She met her eye, and suddenly Usagi felt like she could see into her soul. "Sailor Moon, none of this is your fault."
Her throat knotted painfully, her eyes welling with tears. "If I'd just been strong enough to destroy him—not my friend, not my own planet—I could have stopped this all from happening—"
She couldn't finish her sentence, because the pretty princess leant forward and brushed her lips to her own, as soft as a butterfly kiss, and when she drew back, Usagi's limbs felt feathery light and her mind quiet. "What…?"
"And I thought your daughter's mind was wild," Kakyuu hummed pensively. "Let it rest, Usagi—if you let go, you will have the control you seek."
Whatever spell the Kinmokian princess had placed upon her flooded her nervous system, and when Kakyuu held out her hand, Usagi took it. She let her guide her to rest, and surrendered, so she could finally gain control.
Incomplete.
Seiya turned the corner of the long, dark hallway, parting from the others as they made their way to their rooms. Each long window painted the scarlet light of his eclipsed star along the concrete, illuminating the path to his bedroom eerily. He looked out over the ocean, where the water rolled angrily, and felt his energy dip further—his star, and his Starseed, were both suffocated by the evil Chaos brought, and yet, somehow, there he still was.
"Something is missing, huh, Mama?" He murmured into the darkness, her presence in the castle walls tingling at the base of his spine. "Maybe I've always been incomplete…"
Odango's voice reached out to him then—as ethereal and grand as it had been in the depths of space. You are home.
He steeled his jaw. This was the mission he had waited hundreds of years for. This was the step beyond protecting Kinmoku and his princess, or the throne that could equally become his own. This was his contribution to righting everything Chaos had taken, and was trying to take.
Even if that means I can't be home with you, Odango.
There was no clearer time, no stronger chance, of grasping that chance with Odango then, but none of that mattered. All that mattered was that she was safe, and she was happy.
He reached up to unclasp the latch at the windowsill and cracked it open, one leg over the threshold, ready to escape out into the night, but a quiet voice halted him in his tracks. "Please don't, Seiya…" He sighed and swivelled to sit in the open window, looking back at the pink-haired girl who had caught him. "Pleasedon't go."
"You shouldn't sneak up on people with no Starseed," he said to her with a smirk. "You know I have to do this."
She was silent a moment, chewing her lip, until she spoke again. "I know," she said. "If I could have done it for Helios, I would have." Her eyes grew glassy and she looked away. "Seiya, I can't describe how much you mean to me—how your presence in my weird life has brought me so much happiness and stability. When I saw you lying in Usagi's arms, so close to death, I couldn't—I-I just couldn't—" Her voice cracked and she moved closer to him. "Please don't do this. I can't lose you, too."
There was something about seeing the young girl cry that undid him, and as a lump formed squarely in his throat, he tugged her in to his chest. The heartache he knew she was feeling—that he could almost feel, too—shuddered through her as she cried, and he let her. He knew: the one thing she needed in that moment, was to let out the sadness she had pent up inside. "I know…" He said—because he did. He still felt it, every time he thought of his family.
He held her until she settled slightly, and then patted her hair. "You know," he began jokingly, "you're not giving me a lot of credit here…"
She sniffled and pulled back. "What do you mean?"
"You assume you'll lose me—but I'm pretty confident I've got this." He grinned at her. "I'm pretty awesome, if you didn't already know…"
She was unamused by his joke. "You can be as cocky as you like, it's still not worth the risk."
He let out a long breath and hopped off the windowsill, shutting it behind him. "Okay, how about a deal," he said, hands on his hips, "I won't go tonight, and instead when we meet in the morning I will tell everyone that this is still my plan—but, because Rini said so, I need backup. Deal?"
She eyed him unhappily. "It will do. For now."
"Good." He ruffled her hair until she scowled at him, and he chuckled. "Go to bed, kid."
"Fine," she grumbled, and then narrowed her eyes at him. "It's lucky you are missing a Starseed and have my sympathy, Fighter…"
"Bed," he insisted playfully. She poked her tongue out but did as she was told. "Goodnight, Chibi Odango."
Her mischievous look broke and she gave him a warm smile. "Goodnight, Seiya."
I did not tell you anything.
She was poised at the edge of an icy ledge, jutting out in an endless universe of dotted stars and swirling galaxies. Her legs dangled over the floating precipice, and she gazed into the merging rainbow gases and flares of light that ignited the blackness. Below her, so close she could fall into its depths, was a whirlpool of pearly white, and she could hear them. All of them.
You have the power to do whatever you want.
She felt calm and unafraid in a way that felt nearly dangerous. As though she felt everything, and yet nothing at all.
"Come back—come join us, Guardian."
In the swishes of bright light beneath her, she could see the cheek in Rafu's smile, and the amber of Helios' eyes. They called to her—they were safe, here in this strange, perfect place.
My home.
She shuffled to the edge, and opened her arms wide, a smile on her lips. "My home," she whispered, and leant slowly forward, until she was falling—falling toward the place where it all truly began.
Wake up, Guardian.
She lurched forward in her bed with a start, gasping as the sensation of free-falling continued to pull her down. For a brief moment, the texture of the air circling her lungs and the unfamiliar room sent her into a panic, but as she noticed Rini snoring alongside her, and the ruby light flowing through the drapes, she remembered where she was. Kinmoku.
Seiya.
How many hours had it been since she had fallen asleep? Was he resting, too—could he? Could his weakened body slip away in the night, without his jagged crystal holding him there? Or had he crept out into the night, intent on finishing what he had started?
She peeled back the canopy that surrounded their bed and slipped out, wary of waking Rini. She spotted her reflection in the dresser mirror; odango buns askew and a rosy silk nightgown on her frame—one she only vaguely recalled changing into. She brushed her fingers to her lips and shook her head, wondering what trance Princess Kakyuu had placed upon her. As she made to leave, something caught her eye—an onyx brush, resting on the dresser, and the glint of a magenta hair captured in the light of something above her. She gasped as she looked up to see a whirling, soft cloud of colour above her, the lights crashing together vividly and morphing to brilliant, spindly colour—like a tiny universe, right above her. She couldn't tear her eyes away, and as she watched, captivated, she heard a woman's voice whisper into the night.
"All that is, all that was, or all that ever will be."
Go to Seiya.
She couldn't wonder about what she had seen and what she had heard, as anxiety for Seiya's wellbeing clawed at her. She moved to the tall doors and slipped out into the hall, letting her feet guide her along the warm floors. Candle-lit and arched, the halls of Kinmoku palace spoke of laughter and family, and yet sorrow and fear. It ached in her, that the Starlights and their princess had endured such hardship.
She rounded the corner and arrived at a doorway that she somehow knew was Seiya's. She lightly rapped her knuckles on the door, and when there was no sign of movement after a moment, she let herself in.
Immediately, Seiya's fiery energy hit her in a wave—citrus, flirtation, strength, loyalty. Love.
The room was dark, lit only by the reddened star light that reflected off the ocean and snuck through the sheer drapes. Usagi eyed the little things that caught the light—his guitar, rested by his bed; a cloak, hanging long by the balcony; photo frames, dotted along the walls. The curve of his side, skin bare and sheets wound around his hips. She bit her lip and drifted closer, until she was close enough to see the rise and fall of his chest; the length of his eyelashes; the tangle of his unruly hair. She couldn't help herself—she reached out to brush the hair from his eyes, but her hand had barely touched him when he snatched her wrist, startling awake.
"Odango," he mumbled, voice gravelly with sleep, "what's wrong—?"
"Nothing," she said quickly, her face and neck flushing rapidly as she realised just how close she was to the warrior. "It's nothing..."
He shifted upright, the lean musculature of his frame catching her eye—the slight roundness in his shoulders and chest, and the slope of his abdomen down to the band of his underwear. It didn't go unnoticed to him and he chuckled as he rubbed at his eyes. "We've been over this, Odango," he murmured, "if you want to perv on me you need to learn to be more subtle..."
"Whatever..." She rolled her eyes, her blush continuing its trail down to her chest. She hesitated, before adding: "I was just worried about you..."
His eyes locked with hers. "I'm fine...you don't have to worry about me."
He leant across her and turned on a lamp on his bedside, flooding the room with soft light. On his nightstand was a framed photograph of the two of them, taken in a photo booth at Ichi No Hashi park on their 'date', pulling silly faces and laughing at one another. The image of him limp in her arms suddenly leapt into her mind. "Seiya, what were you thinking?"
He gave her a half-smile. "You know, Odango."
From now on, you want to protect her.
She sighed, exasperated, and moved away to explore his room. Across from his bed was a dresser, scattered with items—his white ribbon, missing from the long tail of his hair, and fragments of his broken Star Yell. Another photo sat proudly, of two people she didn't know but recognised immediately. "Your parents," she said aloud. She picked up the photo and studied it closer—his pama was transformed into her Kinmokian fuku, and was so alike Seiya—sapphire eyes, blue-black hair, a teasing smile—but his mother...she halted Usagi in her tracks. You're familiar to me...why?
She was stunning, with long fuchsia hair tied back in a braid and deep ruby eyes that seemed nothing short of mythical. "Wow..."
Seiya shuffled off the edge of the bed and joined her, gazing down at the picture in her grip. He smiled tightly, a sight that broke her heart, and hummed in agreement.
This is not what they would want.
Usagi placed the photo back on the dresser and turned to him. "Seiya, I'm going to get your Starseed back," she told him firmly. "And then we will find a way to destroy him. But not this way."
He let out a tight breath and turned away from her toward the bed, running a hand through his hair. "Odango—"
"No, listen," she insisted. Her throat grew tight, her voice betraying her strength. "I refuse to lose you—I can't do this without you…"
I can't do this life without you.
"Neither could I," he replied. "I've seen what he's doing to you—the torment he's causing you." He looked conflicted—as though there were something he wanted to say, but couldn't. "I told you I would give my life to save yours. If I can help, stop him from hurting you, and our entire universe, I'm going to take that chance."
She took a moment to gather her thoughts, the space between them tense—something she was unfamiliar with when it came to Seiya. "You were the one who showed me the woman I've become, Fighter," she said, watching his face falter as she used his senshi name. "You helped me see how powerful I can be and how I have to hold onto the hope that makes me who I am—even when everything feels hopeless." She met his eye. "Don't you trust that I can do this?"
"Odango," he laughed, "I have no doubt you could destroy Chaos ten times over, but I'm afraid of what it will do to you in the process." He stared back at her gently. "Let me do this, Usagi. Please, just trust me."
Trust me.
Her breath caught and every hair stood on end.
Do you trust me, Odango?
She could feel her lips against her own, moving with her. She could feel the breath being stolen from her lungs, and the hush that had fallen over her; over her world. The boom that had echoed all around them—soft and powerful. She could remember the way everything had stopped—she could feel herself unravelling all over again.
With everything I have.
Seiya stepped toward her. "Odango…?"
"You kissed me," she whispered, looking back at him as her heart thundered. "You kissed me and everything just stopped…" She moved toward him, to where he was still before her, uncertainty all over his face. "You were the one who stopped me."
His sapphire gaze didn't leave hers, and he swallowed as she came to a stop in front of him—so close. He nodded. "Yeah," he breathed, "I was."
It had felt perfect.
She stepped in to him until she could feel the heat of his skin through her nightgown; the shake of his breath against her face. She stepped in to him knowing he wouldn't step away.
Am I not good enough?
She had always known—always.
"You were so much more than good enough, Seiya," she whispered, and then she pulled him down to her, and she kissed him.
Bliss.
Something unleashed within her.
The passion between them was nearly tangible; instant fire that pulsed like a heartbeat. She wove her hands up along his jaw and into his hair, drawing him in and feeling him fall against her like he was starved for her.
A kiss had never, ever felt like this.
Pure bliss.
She drew back, breathing heavy, and when his eyes met hers, they were searching for an answer—one she didn't have to give as she dragged his lips back down to her own with a sigh of sheer relief. His hands snaked around her waist and followed the curve of her hips, leaving her scorched, and she felt herself drowning in the overwhelming ecstasy of touch and tongue and utter trust.
Hasn't anyone ever made you feel desired, Odango?
She vaguely noted him making contact with the mattress, and as he dropped to sit at the edge she followed without question, straddling his lap without breaking away.
She was certain she would never break away again.
His hands skimmed her thighs and gathered her nightgown at the crease of her hips, fanning to her lower back and stealing her breath as he pulled her closer. For the briefest moment she could feel him hard beneath her and she flushed white-hot—but before she could give thought to it, he snuck his hands under her and flipped her onto her back; hovering above her as he had in her dreams.
"Odango…" he breathed against the pulse at her neck, frayed—unravelled like nothing Usagi had ever heard from that beautiful voice.
She could see it all then—the desire in the darkness of his midnight eyes as they roamed over her; in the bob of his throat as he swallowed, hungry for her; in the hint of cobalt electricity that hummed in his fingertips as they traced the silken edge of her breast. She could see the way he loved her—in the caress of her cheek and the smile she could feel at the sensitive skin behind her ear. In the way he whispered her name again, like the most incredible song he could ever have sung. "Usagi, I…"
I should have told you.
I knew it would stop you.
I couldn't let you walk that future.
She didn't need to hear it, and so she feathered her touch over the faint glow in his sternum that kept him there with her, down the lean plane of his abdomen to hover at the taper of his hipbones. A devilish smirk pulled at his lips and he snatched her hands away, pinioning them instead alongside her head—trapping her beneath him.
There was something thrilling about it, and she didn't mind one bit.
He bent his lips to her ear. "I've always wanted to be the one to make you feel this way—worshipped…" His whisper was cocky and rasped, making her heart race. "And I can't wait to hear you cry my name…" He pulled back, and for the first time since she crept into his bedroom, she noticed how drained he truly was. "But not now…not after everything you have been through."
Perhaps it was the tenderness in his voice, after being so raw, that caused a wave of emotion to hit her, and she sucked in a breath as it caught her. She was safe there with him—an escape from the grief and the pressure and the duty. A place that was theirs, and she wondered how she had lived without him, when she had known it had been him—her—all along
"I'm so sorry, Seiya," she said. "I'm so sorry that I couldn't—"
He silenced her with a kiss. "Don't," he said as he pulled back. "Don't ever apologise for that." He smiled at her, wide and awed and happy. "You are all I've ever wanted, Odango."
How did I pretend for so long?
He drew her upright and rolled to sit alongside her, curved around her still—never losing connection. "I would tell you to stay, but Rini will notice you're gone," he said quietly, and then grinned. "And I don't know that I can keep my hands off you…"
Her cheeks grew hot—she felt so vulnerable underhis unabashed sexuality, and no one had ever made her feel as he did. She narrowed her eyes at him playfully. "Always thinking something erotic…be a gentleman, Seiya…"
"It has nothingto do with being a man, Odango," he teased. "Besides, I think it's you keeping your hands off me that I need to worry about…"
"Oh, come on—"
He cocked a brow at her. "You started it," he hummed. "You're lucky you didn't kill me with that kiss…"
"You may be missing your Starseed, Kou, but that doesn't mean I'll go easy on you," she replied boldly. "That cheeky part of you hasn't gone anywhere…"
He huffed a husky laugh, threading a pigtail over her shoulder. "That's because it belongs with you."
She chewed her lip as she smiled, and then looked to the doorway reluctantly. "I should go…"
"It's usually me saying that to you," he joked, and then nodded. "Go—be with Rini. Rest. I'll be here when you wake."
She leant in to kiss him, just once more, and like every time they touched, it felt like a rush; like release. Like the universe stopped, justfor them.
Seiya…
She broke away, slipping out of his grasp and to the door, and when she looked back to him, she knew she was home. "So much more than good enough."