An found herself standing in front of the Makai tree once again. She wasn't sure how long it had been since she and Ail had departed from Earth. They had found themselves a nice, quiet planet to rest and plant the Makai tree sapling on. The world itself was very similar to Earth, but without the presence of any civilizations, merely plants and animals. The Makai tree had thrived in this environment, growing nearly to its full size during their time there. Life was good… so why could she not shake this bad feeling she had?
"Hey, everything alright?" She heard from behind her, turning to see her partner, Ail, approaching.
"I… I don't know." She answered honestly, "These last couple of days something has just felt wrong."
"I'm sure everything's fine." Ail replied, dismissively.
"Y'know, it might be a good idea to listen to your psychic girlfriend every once in a while." She shot back with a smirk.
"Alright, alright." Ail said, putting his hands up defensively, "I'll keep on the lookout. Even though I guess I'm not sure what exactly I should be looking out for."
Almost immediately after Ail finished speaking, the sky above himself and An went dark, and a swirling black vortex landed on the planet's surface roughly a dozen meters away from the Makai tree.
"Well, does that clear things up for you?"
"Yeah, a little bit!" Ail responded as they both got into fighting stances.
The vortex dissipated to reveal a cloaked figure, who began making their way towards them.
The flowing black cloak was open to reveal blue-ish black armor underneath, similar to that of a knight's. Their head was covered by their cloak's hood, but An could see a metal mask covering the figure's face, the same color as the rest of their armor, with a red visor where their eyes presumably were. They also carried a staff, atop of which was a small, glowing black crystal which An didn't recognize.
"Who are you?" An asked defensively to the figure who was now standing directly in front of them, "What do you want?"
"Want?" The cloaked person asked in a dark, distorted voice, "All I want is to help you two. To aid you in getting revenge against those who bested you in battle."
"You mean the Sailor Guardians?" Ail asked, confused.
"There's no bad blood between us and them." An explained.
"Oh, don't worry…" The figure said, raising their staff into the air, "... there will be."
Before An or Ail could react, dark energy exploded out of the crystal on the visitor's staff, enveloping both of them, as well as the Makai tree entirely.
…
"A song?" Minako asked her friend as they made their way through the school hallways.
"Yeah!" Ami replied, "Me and Mako have been together for a while now and I wanna do something really special for her and I thought writing her a song would be nice."
"Didn't you already write a love song about Mako though?" The blonde asked.
"Well… yeah, but that's different. That one was written for me to help me come to terms with my feelings, but I want to write a song for her that tells her how much she means to me." The blue-haired girl explained with a light blush.
"Aw, that's sweet." Mina said with a smile.
"I'm glad you think so because I… kind of need your help." Ami said timidly, "I can write lyrics but writing actual music is a little beyond me, so I was hoping we could maybe work together on this?"
Minako thought for a moment about Ami's idea. While it was true she had some experience with writing music, she was by no means an expert at it. However, the more she thought about it, the more she realized that this could open an opportunity for herself as well…
"Alright, I'll do it." Mina replied, "I'll start writing out ideas tonight, and tomorrow I'll meet you in the library so we can really start hashing it out, so make sure you bring everything you have so far." She instructed.
"Really? Oh, thank you so much!" The bluenette replied in gratitude, making Mina feel almost a little guilty for her ulterior motive… almost.
…
"Thanks for meeting with me." Rei said to Mako as she sat down across from her at the brunette's kitchen table.
"Don't mention it." Mako replied, taking a sip of her tea, "So what's up, you said you wanted to ask me about something?"
"Yeah, so… I guess I'm just wondering… when did you figure out that Ami was in love with you?" Rei asked, before being met with a long pause.
"Uh… when she told me?" The auburn-haired girl answered, confused, "Isn't the fact that I was super oblivious, like, a joke amongst our friend group?"
"I more so meant, like… when did you begin to realize something was off?" The miko clarified.
"Hmm… well it was only a little bit after the whole… Galaxia thing." Makoto said solemnly.
"I see. Well, what would you say was different?"
"Well she was a lot more distant. And any time I would talk to her I could just tell that there was something… off. And from there I think I finally started noticing stuff she'd been doing all along, like staring at me when she thought I wasn't looking, or getting flustered super easily around me." The brunette said before taking another sip of tea.
"And when you eventually found out about how she felt, how did you realize that you felt the same way?"
"Am I being interrogated?" Mako asked jokingly.
"No, I just… please?" Rei asked sincerely.
"Well… it's kinda hard to explain. I think the feelings had always been there, but just buried. And when Ami confessed to me they all just kinda rushed to the surface. And I finally saw… her. Everything about her I took for granted, I realized just how wonderful it all was. How wonderful she was. And all the stuff I did that, at the time I couldn't tell you exactly why I was doing it, finally made sense." Makoto said with a smile.
"You mean like baking lemon cookies for every single one of our study sessions even though literally no one except Ami, including yourself, liked them?" Rei questioned with a smirk.
"Look, I never claimed to be super in touch with my feelings, okay?" The taller girl said, embarrassed, "ANYWAY, now it's your turn. Why do you wanna know all this stuff?"
"Oh, well…" Rei began, while nervously playing with her hair, "... because I think I might be in the same boat as you."
"Huh?"
"I think Mina might have feelings for me." Rei said, before once again being met with a period of silence.
"Oh wow. I'm gonna be honest, I did not see that coming. What makes you think that?" Makoto questioned.
"Well, she's acted differently around me ever since… Galaxia." Rei began, "At first it was almost like she was trying to avoid me but now, since we've been hanging out more over the last few weeks, everything just feels… weird."
"'Weird' how?"
"Well, I asked her if she had feelings for anyone, and you know Mina, she's never shy to talk about that stuff, but she got really flustered out of nowhere. And when I asked if it was a girl she basically shut down completely."
"Well, that's a pretty personal subject, Rei. She might've just not felt comfortable telling you about it." Makoto reasoned.
"That's what I thought too. But then… well… she kinda… kissed me…"
"She WHAT?! And you think she 'might' have feelings for you?" The brunette asked incredulously.
"Wait, no, not on the lips! On the cheek! And I asked Usagi about it but she said it was probably just Mina messing around."
"You went to Usagi for advice?"
"You and Ami were having dinner with her mom!" Rei explained, "But since then she's been flirting with me a lot, and… I don't know! It doesn't feel like she's just 'messing around'! And I don't know what to do!"
"Well, I guess an important question would be… do you even like girls?" Makoto questioned, prompting a blush from Rei.
"Um… a little bit…" The miko replied, turning even redder.
"Wow, four for five, huh?" Makoto said jokingly, "Well, do you have feelings for her?"
"I didn't!" Rei replied, "Or at least I don't think I did! But now I keep noticing how pretty she looks, and how pretty she smells, and how pretty her lips… are…" Rei finished, blushing profusely, earning herself another long silence from Makoto.
"… So yes, then."
"... yeah…"
"So, if she has feelings for you, and you have feelings for her then… What exactly is the problem?" Makoto asked.
"Well what if I'm wrong? What if I just end up embarrassing myself because I misread her signals?"
"Y'know, I seem to remember a certain girl, telling a certain other girl that it was bad to hold in her feelings out of fear." Makoto said with a smirk.
"That was a completely different situation. Also that was for Ami's ears only!"
"Ami and I tell each other everything."
"Look, I'll tell her, I just… I need more time, okay?"
"Alright, alright, but I'm gonna hold you to that."
"I would expect nothing less."
And that brings us to the end of Chapter 2. A lot of set-up I know, but don't worry, we get into some jucier stuff next time.
But please, let me know what you guys think! Reviews are very much appreciated!
And come back next time for Chapter 3: Missing You.
