A/N: Apologies for the lack of updates! Life is busy. I make no promises for future updates, but I should have free time soon, so hopefully it'll be sooner! Should only be Chapter 12 and the epilogue after this...we're coming to a close!

Chapter 11: Even when our worlds collide

The summer sun was setting leaving the sky a fiery kaleidoscope of color. The vermilion torii gates of the Hikawa shrine paid homage to the light as they proudly welcomed all to their sacred home. Just a month ago this would have been a place of peace, not one of war planning and crisis aversion. But now, fate had righted itself and the guardians of the Milky Way had reclaimed the ground as their own, forcing the spirits of their ancestors to share their hallowed grounds. All nine guardians of the Milky way plus the newest members from the planet Kinmoku had gathered within the walls of the prayer room; the same place where Rei had seen the first warnings of what was to come.

In the air, the tension was thick. Usagi finished her retelling of the previous day's events, how she had learned of Endymion and Serenity, of Mamoru's true form, and the way he had been taken from them—careful to leave out the details of their romantic trysts. As far as anyone was aware, she had merely returned the pocket watch, and that was all there was to it. Out of the corner of her eye, Usagi saw Seiya wince ever so slightly at the mention of them together at the cafe.

For a moment there was silence as the collective memories seemed to come rushing back to everyone. Usagi held her breath, waiting for the questions about her and Mamoru's previous relationship—or perhaps she was truly hoping for answers—but neither came. Either everyone was overwhelmed, or they knew that whatever had happened before would be too callous to mention in Seiya's current company.

"It's all so clear now," Rei murmured, breaking the silence. "I can't believe I didn't see it before. We were meant to protect you, and here we were without any idea."

Minako held her friend's shoulder, comforting her. "We all forgot. It's concerning. Why would we forget? What was to be gained by it?"

A contemplative and fearful silence filled the room one more. Something—or someone—powerful had happened to erase their memories.

"But how?!" Makoto's voice filled the room. "How do we know our memories haven't been replaced with something else? How do we know that we're not being set up to change the future?"

Setsuna stepped forward, a jingling of metal accompanying her steps as she revealed a series of keys on a ring. "I checked the time space continuum again. Aside from the warp, no one has crossed through the continuum. Ami was able to help me run an analysis of the discrepancy."

Ami nodded, picking up Setsuna's sentence to report on her findings, "Yes, the warp doesn't appear to be caused by a disruption of time. If there is a malicious force, it's coming from some kind of catalyst in the present, or at least a recent past that we've lived through."

"So whatever is happening is here…" Artemis hemmed and hawed over the news, "I hate to say it, but it sounds like our best bet is to continue on to Sagittarius Zero Star. We're going to have to take this enemy head on but blind. We don't have the luxury of time."

"We must protect the prince," Michiru agreed softly. "If he is here in this time again alongside us, then he must have a great purpose. Whether it be as guardian of this planet or something else, the present—and maybe the future, too—could be greatly impacted in his absence."

Hotaru reached for Michiru's hand, standing beside her, "And if I'm here again, then there can only be the assumption that I am here for a purpose. A destiny has already been set in motion." No one had to be reminded of what Hotaru's words meant—that she was the harbinger of death, yet also beginnings.

There was another overwhelming moment of quiet as the gravity of the situation settled in. The senshi looked over one another as if it were the last time they would see each other, even though they had just been truly reunited. Usagi swallowed the lump in her throat. She needed these people to keep her strong, but she had to be brave to save Mamoru.

"You'd be wise to be careful," Taiki warned abruptly, "there are things in the universe we don't understand." He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, his words cloaked in a thinly veiled threat.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Haruka probed, her fiery distrust showing once more. "We barely even know you or why you're in our galaxy. How do we know you're not the ones who caused all of this?"

"Back off," Yaten growled, stepping toward the blonde. "We wouldn't be here if we weren't looking for answers too. You're always—"

"Stop!" Seiya yelled, suddenly stepping between the two. "Both of you." Yaten and Haruka's gaze shot to Seiya. Haruka's eyes were small, squinting with skepticism and Yaten's with indignation. "We may not know what brought us here initially, but I know that now, in this present, I'm here for Usagi." Seiya looked back to Usagi. They stood far from each other, the previous day's event already putting distance between them. "Even if I'm not from this galaxy, I'm making it my mission to protect her as well. I love her. And I know each of you does as well."

Usagi blushed, all eyes turning from Seiya toward her. It wasn't like they didn't already know. They had been a couple for so long, but now it felt shameful. Like everyone knew that she had committed her sins, and Seiya was just being dragged along like a lost puppy.

"We're in this together," Usagi chimed, the blue of her eyes peeking up through her lashes, "all of us. No matter where we're from. We can do this if we work together and believe in one another."

The tension in Haruka and Yaten loosened, and they stepped back slowly. There was a collective exhale as the group settled in a bit, the looming task at hand keeping anyone from relaxing too much. Usagi reached out for Seiya, and he turned towards her, a distant longing in his eyes. He reached out in kind, his eyes following her outstretched hand up toward her face. Their fingers met as he made his way toward her, closing the distance physically, but under the outward appearance, there was still a disconnect.

"Then it's time," Luna interrupted. "According to what Artemis and I could find, you'll have to teleport there. It will take some time. If we don't start now, it may be too late for Mamoru."

The group shuffled around, preparing to leave to transform and begin the teleport. Everyone moved slowly away from Seiya and Usagi, leaving them in the corner of a room as if they knew that they needed the space and time to discuss their next steps. Everyone talked around them, a low decibel hum of conversation covering the rapid beating of Usagi's heart in her own ears.

The two looked at one another for a long moment before Seiya pulled her into an embrace, Usagi's blonde buns peeking out from over his arms as her face burrowed into his chest. He held her tight around her shoulders and ribs, pulling her against him as if he would lose her if he did not. Her arms were folded between them almost painfully, but her fists found his shirt and crumpled it in her hands as she began to cry softly against him. He had held her many times like this. It was his way of comforting her and bringing her to the present; an invitation to release whatever was going on and be in a familiar space with one another. If everything could be normal like this again, it would be much easier. But nothing would be. There was nothing Usagi could do to undo the confusion that had begun spiraling her.

"Usagi," Seiya whispered into her hair, "I meant what I said. I'm here to help you. If it's to find Mamoru, and it will make you happy, I will do it. If, after, you want me to leave here—your wish is my command." He paused for a moment, his lips still close to her temple and sending shivers down her spine. "I know, Usagi, that I'm no longer what you thought, but I'm still the same person you knew me as." He held her there for a long time. There was almost an unspoken agreement that they would stay like that for just a little while longer before everything had to change again.

Usagi's tear stained face slowly revealed itself from beneath Seiya's embrace, her cheeks pink and eyes puffy. "I meant it, too, Seiya. I love you. I always will." She paused for a moment, careful to pick her words to not further string Seiya along, but confused at what her heart wanted as well. "Before…I thought you were in danger because of me. Now I know you are safe." Her breath caught in her throat, and flitting through her memory was Mamoru's face at the airport those years ago alongside a pang of utter loss in her stomach. Her voice was a whisper tinged with pain, "I just need to know what happened."

Seiya knew what she meant. His attempt at a smile was sad—his eyes wavered with a hint of resolve. Nothing was over, but it felt like he was on the cusp of letting go. His hands cupped her face, and he leaned down slowly, waiting for Usagi's permission to meet her lips once more. Her lashes closed, softly, her pink lips meeting his in the most tender kiss she may have ever had with Seiya Kou. There was longing yet a savoring as if it was a goodbye—and perhaps it was. Perhaps this would be the last kiss she ever would have with the person who was known to many as a singer, song writer, star athlete, heartbreaker, and karaoke king, but most importantly to her as her lover and dearest friend. How many nights had she stared into his eyes and wished for a moment longer? It was bittersweet, and yet she savored it to try and remember it should the future not include him anymore.

There was a short moment where Seiya looked as if he was going to say something else, but all that came out was a confident, "Let's go." He smirked at Usagi before taking her hand into his, and she suddenly felt brave as a warmth grew between their palms.

Luna and Artemis sat at the base of the tall torii gate near the front of Hikawa shrine where the others had already formed a circle. Usagi and Seiya approached the group and a silence fell over everyone.

"It's time," Luna began, the tip of her tail flipping anxiously beside her. "Begin the sailor teleport and make your way to Sagittarius Zero Star. We'll be keeping watch over the time space continuum until your return."

Usagi nodded, her hands reaching out to join the circle before her. "We'll bring Mamoru back and bring peace again." Her words were more confident than she felt, but her fellow senshi smiled and made soft affirming sounds around the circle. Their bond was enough to make Usagi believe in herself, even if she couldn't. She squeezed Seiya's hand beside her, and he smirked. With that last bout of confidence, Usagi looked up into the sky and shouted her transformation phrase, the crescent moon beginning to shimmer on her forehead. In order of the planets, each senshi joined in until suddenly the energy of their planet could be felt up through their toes all the way through the strands of hair on their head.

In a prismatic flash, suddenly there was nothing but the displacement of rocks and leaves where they had once been. Luna turned her head toward Artemis who tilted his head to the side.

"What is it, Luna?" he asked, stepping toward her, his paw reaching out to touch hers.

Luna looked into the sky, a faint streak of white light remained where the senshi had traveled. "I can't quite figure it out," she murmured, "but something isn't right."

Oo . oO

The universe was magnificent. In the absence of light, Eternal Sailor Moon could see a million glittering stars and planets throughout the Milky Way. They sparkled in different hues and shades, but none ever the same as the next, while if she had been on earth they may have only appeared white. They traveled at an unfathomable speed, surely, but it only enhanced the views. As if in a kaleidoscope, colors and shapes and lights became something new as they neared them and nothing seemed to be true to its outward appearance.

If everything was normal and Usagi had never become Sailor Moon, she would have stared at the orange and pink and purple edges of the milky way from a book or perhaps from a beach in the country where there was no light to block out its magnificence, but now she was privileged to be burdened by the truth; a truth that meant she could never see these things again and merely accept them as is. Because she knew the beauty that existed, she would never be able to see the pictures or the muted tones from the earth with the same awe that she had before. And while she almost missed the simplicity of what had been, knowing what actually was would stay with her for the rest of her life. For the first time in what felt like a long time, she felt that everything was starting to fall into place—that she was finally home.

The abruptness of the teleport's end was only amplified by the scenery before them. No longer the blues and greens of earth, but a wasteland adorned by a crumbling yet grand, marble, cathedral-style palace. While the peaks of the palace's towers were somewhat worn, its exterior was more intact than apart. The field before it was empty, brown dirt and dried weeds were all that covered this land that must have been lush and plentiful at one time.

"We're here," Star Maker breathed softly. Her voice seemed flat and short as the sound dissipated into the void of space.

Sailor Moon looked over the scene before them, another tinge of familiarity causing her head to ache. "I've been here," she whispered. "I know it." The soft, sad glances around her were all that she needed to know that no one else remembered this place except for the Starlights.

"Something terrible happened here," Fighter agreed, but she marched on, and the group followed in suit, quiet but focused. Their footsteps did not echo, leaving their march feeling less triumphant and more like the walk of death. Fighter, ahead of the group, stopped suddenly, her arms outstretched to keep anyone from going further.

Before their eyes, the ground filled with haze and the previously cold, crisp air became hot and humid. The once barren, short field before the doors of the palace suddenly turned into miles upon miles of the same brown dust, and the palace was somehow even further in the an avalanche, the fog began to roll toward them, rising and enshrouding their vision as it grew thick around them.

"What's going on?!" Uranus growled, pulling Sailor Moon behind her to protect her. The senshi followed in suit, making a clustered circle, their backs toward her. Sailor Moon struggled to see over her friends' tall frames and a heavy fear found itself at home in the pit of her stomach. Although they were only an arms length away, in the dense fog, she could barely see their shadowed frames in front of her.

Somewhere from behind her, Mercury engaged her visor with a beep and began typing away furiously at her mini computer. A small series of beeps whirs filled the otherwise deafening silence. "There!" She cried, suddenly looking up from the computer and pointing into the haze. Everyone looked into the white, but all that anyone could see was the fog and their shadowed forms behind the veil of damp air. A woman's deep laugh echoed throughout the particles of fog, the sound unlike the flat, dampened sounds of everything else that had been sucked away into the vacuum of space. Mercury gasped as a series of urgent beeps nearly covered her voice, "Wait. It's everywhere! The fog isn't water—it's sand."

Suddenly the mist around them turned thick, a billion little granules like dust filling the space between them and choking them as it filled their lungs and pressed heavily against their chests. Somehow Sailor Moon could now see through it like it was the ocean. The senshi around her grasped at their throats and each other, their eyes wide, darting between one another, but no one could speak as they silently drowned in the dust.

And then, in a second, everything was still. A hooded figure floated in the air above them. Her arm was outstretched, and in her hand was a spindle of red thread. The threads wrapped down her arm like veins, almost pulsating as if they were alive. More threads began to crawl from the spindle, swirling around her body as if to transform her like the ribbons that enveloped Usagi when she became Sailor Moon.

"Don't worry. I'm here to save you," the cloaked figure spoke, the voice matching the deep laughter from before. The thread from her spindle snapped and the pieces fell, glowing red as each section of thread floated down and over the body of each senshi. Suddenly the sandy fog rushed to the ground like a waterfall, a small dust cloud billowing from the ground and each senshi dropped to their knees gasping, except for Pluto.

Pluto coughed and sputtered, willing herself to stand using her garnet rod. Her crimson eyes were wide, her brows furrowed, and she wiped the spit from her chin as she coughed the last bit of sand from her lungs. "You're no senshi." The words were not angry, but surprised.

The figure laughed, still floating in the sky. "We meet again Sailor Pluto, or should I say, Setsuna now? That's the name you've taken in this timeline, isn't it." Her form floated downward, her arm outstretched toward Saturn this time, "and you as well, Sailor Saturn. Who would have known that we'd meet on such terms. I suppose we go hand in hand at times." The figure's face was still cloaked in the darkness of her hood.

Saturn looked up from the ground, her eyes indignant. Her voice was hoarse from coughing. "Ananke," she hissed. "Harbinger of fate."

A/N: Thanks again for hanging in there with me and reading all this time. You all have been absolutely great and are always a reminder to keep pushing on for this story. Thank you a million times over!