"Usako?"

A century had passed, and they had become queen Serenity and King Endymion, but in the solitude of their chambers, he still called her Usako and cherished how she called him Mamo-chan with the same enthusiasm of her teenage years.

"Are you awake, love?"

The pile of blankets and pillows on the spacious bed moved, followed by a subtle murmur from underneath it all. Endymion chuckled and sat on the side of the bed and patted the pile. "What's wrong?"

He didn't understand her muffled response; he pushed the blankets to the side and stared into his wife's beady eyes. They had died and crawled their ways back to life again and again just to be together, and now, after decades of living with one another, one assumed that the fire in the pit of their guts would have become a subtle flame; but Endymion still found it hard to look away from from her.

"Everything is so messed up." Serenity sat, ignorant of her state of half nakedness, and disheveled hair. "I can't sleep, I can't eat," she sighed at Endymion's raised eyebrow, "okay, I can't can't eat, obviously. But seriously, food tastes like shit now." She pushed her hair back. It had been years since she had abandoned her habit of sleeping with her odangos intact, because young Mamoru loved sleeping under the mass of her silky hair, and Endymion loved it even more.

"We'll get through this. You know that." He caressed her knee.

"That's not what I'm worried about." She got up from the bed and paced around the room.

Mid-morning light seeped through the lacy curtains, and casted a beautiful hue on the walls. The room shimmered with the elegance that was worthy of a monarch's chambers and was as messy as Usagi's bedroom when she'd been young; she still garnered a special place in her heart for teddy bears and action figures, and she still stripped in the middle of the room as soon as the door was closed and would leave a pile of clothing on the floor. Endymion hadn't really gotten used to it after these many years, but whenever she was in the room, nothing else mattered.

"I'm worried about their safety. I'm worried that this trial would make the talks for their release harder. And I'm worried that..." She stared out the window.

"What?"

"I'm worried that we wouldn't be able to save them in time." She looked at Endymion. "That lawyer, Madam Tutso, she's right about our laws. We had to push harder to make changes faster. Right?"

Endymion came and stood beside her by the window, and before answering her question, he hugged her close.

They had talked about this many times. In fact, since the beginning of their reign, the issue of the outcasts had been a topic for argument. The laws and regulations had been outdated and old, just like so many rulings from the past. But the council, which had been formed a week into the new era of their monarchy, had been against the simplest changes to this specific side of their laws.

"The issue of the outcasts doesn't just concern the earth, or even the moon. It's an issue that is important for the entire galaxy, and let's not forget that their bloodline has done atrocities beyond imagine on other planets." The member of the council from Mercury had said.

"That's right. You may take pity on them, my Queen, because their ancestors never dared to step a foot on the moon; with all due respect, you don't know what they are capable of." The new member from Uranus had added.

It had been Endymion's suggestion to create the council. "We need an assembly parallel to the Senshi; the Senshi, they are our most trusted advisors, and friends, Usako. We need people who would challenge us as well."

"Mars challenges me enough, thank you very much." Serenity had whined, but finally, had come on board with the decision.

Now, five years had passed, and the topic of the outcasts was still unresolved. Serenity had been adamant to make drastic and major changes to the law. "What their grandparents or parents have done in the past is not their fault. Some of them have never even met them, they were born and raised during peace." She had hissed in one of their meetings with the Inner Senshi.

"Peace on earth, Serenity; let's not forget that. That peace wasn't universal at that time." Sailor Jupiter had argued. "Besides, we have traced evil blood in their systems too. And they have shown a great deal of…how can I phrase this," she had paused.

"bastard-ness—" Venus had shrugged.

"That's not even a word. They have showed wicked behaviour in their trainings too. We have to be careful."

"Well of course they show hostility; imagine being stigmatized for what other people have done in the past. Imagine being punished for someone else's sins. I would be hostile too." Endymion had reasoned.

But then, the war had come, and they didn't have the time to focus on bettering their laws. All of their resources had to go to protecting the planet and saving other planets from the enemy. The war had dragged for a long time, draining them from energy, resources and sanity. At the end, Serenity had to use the Crystal to save the earth from shattering into nothingness; she had almost died; they had almost lost her, yet again.

The outcasts had been on the forefront of the war too, not because they wanted to, but because that's what was expected of them.

"They need to make amends with us." The council member from Mars had said. "They need to prove to us that they are worthy of our trust, and protection."

"By risking their lives every day?" Sailor Pluto hadn't been convinced.

"By showing that they are capable of sacrifices. Isn't this what we all do for our planets? For the entire galaxy?"

So, based on the order of the law, and traditions, the outcast had been put into exclusive trainings to become warriors. They had showed immense strength and cleverness throughout the war; their brigade, which had been consisted of the 10 outcasts, led by Sailor Uranus and Sailor Star Maker from Kinmoku, had liberated the planet of Venus.

"Listen to me." Endymion caressed Serenity's lower back and whispered against her ear. "You know she's right; I know she's right. She hasn't said anything in the trial that we haven't discussed before. This entire lawsuit points at everything that is wrong with our system, we know that already; we need to upgrade our laws, and abandon some of them completely. We had been distracted by the war, and then the soul pandemic that paralyzed half of the nation. This lawsuit," he pulled himself away so he could look at Serenity's eyes, "this lawsuit might have come at the right time. With everything that has happened, the council is still against any changes we ask for; the system prevents us from making decision without the majority vote. Maybe it's time to let the public decide instead."

Serenity nodded in understanding and said that she needed to get dressed for the day. Endymion watched her go and couldn't look away from the nasty slash that bruised her lower back and formed a ring around her stomach. The scar was left on her after the last war, and for the life of him, Endymion couldn't figure out why his healing powers wouldn't work on it. Serenity had joked once, saying that the scar was an omen left on her because of her indecisiveness about the outcasts.

And now, Endymion couldn't help but wonder if she'd been right.

Disclaimer: I don't own the original characters/storyline of Sailor Moon. All rights belong to the great Naoko Takeuchi. I only own the story I tell.