From the four women, the oldest around the beginning of her thirties, at least physically, the youngest not even eighteen, that were in the luxurious but comfortable arranged vacation home in Kusatsu in the Gunma prefecture right now, three had constantly been on their mobile phones since the morning while the fourth one had been working on her laptop most of the trip so far.
"Setsuna, stop working for a bit, we came here to relax." The teal haired Senshi of the Deep Sea Michiru told to her fellow Outer Senshi, which had her emerald hair in a braid and had been almost constantly typing into her laptop most of the day, yet again.
"I'm almost done here. I'm working on something new, a mixture of Kolto and Bacta and some other ingredients for pinpoint usage on different species with some Healers from the Jedi Order."
The response made Michiru sigh.
"So much for we need to get some rest once in a while, Doctor Meiou."
"I'm sorry Michiru, but this remedy could save up to twenty-two percent more of our wounded." The oldest of the Senshi and Guardian of Space and Time quickly looked up from the laptop and shot her friend a glance. "And it's not like you guys seem to be not really relaxing much since this morning, with everybody waiting beside his phone. I stopped looking into a screen for lunch at least."
"It's because it's important. We have to be there if our friends need us." Another voice came in now and the tall, short blonde haired Haruka entered the room.
"I am pretty sure that SunTzu and Rei would call you directly if they needed a friend and there's no need to wait for second hand information from Minako." Setsuna said in between checking molecular structures of a Bacta compound.
"What's strange is that even AICA didn't answer me yet and she always answers me." The fourth and youngest voice in the house chimed in now as well, belonging to Hotaru Meiou, adoptive daughter of Setsuna, civilian identity of Sailor Saturn and who had lately become a starfigher pilot in the Galactic Alliance's Starfigher Corps just like Michiru and Haruka.
"Maybe they turned her off because they wanted to be undisturbed." Haruka replied before she blushed because she had said that to her foster child.
"Adults sometimes don't want to be disturbed… when they love each other a lot. A-and have to talk about a lot of things." The last sentence followed hastily.
"Talking? Really? Haruka-Papa, I'm almost seventeen, and this is just for my physical age. I know it's not because of talking." Hotaru stated dryly and Haruka blushed even more.
"Oi little one, why you had to grow up at all?" The half British Senshi of Wind remarked.
"Oh Haruka, you'll never get over Hotaru growing up, won't you?" Michiru, half french from her mother's side, said with a giggle.
Suddenly the phone in Hotaru's hand vibrated and all gazes shifted immediately to it, including Setsuna's.
"It's SunTzu." Hotaru stated briefly as she saw on the notification that the message was from her superior and the man that trained her to be a pilot.
The smile on the dark haired, her hair now grown below her shoulders, teenage girl's face vanished when she read the message.
"He brought Rei home and is on the way to the Deep Core."
"Merde." Michiru stated with a fluster.
Next to her Haruka typed something in her phone and then lifted the phone next to her ear.
"I'm calling Minako, I want to know what happened." The tomboy said as she waited for her distant cousin to pick up and find out what had happened, that her best friend and his girlfriend dropped the trip to safe their relationship and why he was heading back to battle now.
"I don't have any idea what happened, nobody told me yet that they are actually back already." Minako Aino, Pop Idol, First of the Senshi and Doctor-to-be said to her cousin and fellow blonde Senshi on her phone. "I really hope they didn't fight."
Suddenly a sound from her phone startled her. Someone else was calling.
"Hold up, someone else is calling."
She checked the caller ID, it was her best friend.
"Haruka, I'll call you back, Rei is on the other line."
It had started to pour heavily in Tokyo and Rei Hino was actually happy about it, at least nobody would see her ruined make-up as the tears had left a mess on her eye shadow.
She had quietly been crying all the way to Earth until they had entered the atmosphere.
SunTzu left her at AICA's hangar, where she had her Porsche 911 parked just a few hours earlier as they had left Earth for their short getaway to get things right again between them.
But after SunTzu had helped her out of the cockpit, pulled out her luggage out of a storage of his modified A-Wing and then hugged her briefly and planted a kiss on her forehead before he got back into the cockpit and lifted off with a last glance at her before AICA, his A-Wing with an AI, shot into the sky the heartache kicked in brutally.
The man with the hard features and the tense gesture in his face, with the brooding anger under his cold demeanor, couldn't have been more different than the man in which bed she had been waking up this morning. The man that had cherished every second he could have spent with her and was always so relaxed and prosperous when he had her around, the man that had won all the Senshi over with his kindness and humor.
Knowing that he was destined to become personified War was one thing, accepting it, was a whole nother thing.
She had just entered the Bridge over to Minato as it was still raining heavily and the bright lights of the city reflected in the rain drops and puddles while her red sportscar made it's way over the almost empty bridge.
Rei had switched the radio on, hoping that it would take her mind a bit off from the failure the rescue effort to their relationship had been but instead the Galaxy had decided to do the complete opposite. When Miley Cyrus's "Nothing breaks like a Heart" began to play all dams finally bursted open and she had to concentrate to not crash the car while the amount of tears falling from her eyes were competing with the downpour over the Tokyo Metropolitan Area.
At the middle of the long bridge she at least had stopped cursing and yelling. But she needed someone around, someone to give her a hug and some warmth as even the heavens couldn't do more than to join in her crying anymore.
She wiped the tears from her eyes and called up Minako.
SunTzu was raging when he arrived at the forward defensive line that had been drawn around Koros Trunk Line and the northern Byss Run.
He had wanted to dance with his beloved Princess in her Palace above the Red Planet that was hers. Had wanted to enjoy the ocean on Tirabim with the Piece of Art that Rei was, marveling at her bronze turning curves in the glistering sun. Wanted to get everything they once were and what they lost back. Who knew, maybe he would have even proposed to her under the palm trees that covered the small island their bungalow would have been on, as the diamond ring was still stored in AICA.
But no, once again the War had caught up with them and apparently people like him were needed to not let the enemy march towards Coruscant.
SunTzu had arrived as a ghost again, AICA in stealth mode and afar from their own ships. And the A-Wing almost immediately jumped on further.
The Pilot and his AI-controlled A-Wing did a micro jump towards the furthest advanced Recon Element of the GA's forces and landed in mid what would become a blood bath soon.
Two Agave-Class Picket Ships were fleeing from a Venator-Class Star Destroyer and squadrons of V-19 Torrents and V-Wings were swarming around the two small recon craft, making it impossible for the ships to escape without being sitting ducks.
That was before a modified black A-Wing with grey stripes fell out of Hyperspace and pounced into the myriads of Clone Wars Era Fighters.
Multi-Lock-Missiles and superior speed and maneuverability shot down enemy snubs in breathtaking velocity while the black starfighter's shields began to glow yellow and the afterburner of the ship exhausted meter long flames, visible even in space.
The crews of the two Agave-Class Ships first thought they were really observing a Ghost, a manifestation of rage and anger, as the unknown pilot reaped havoc among the enemy. This impression was briefly enlarged when the black snub was joined by a huge black triangular shape that suddenly fell out of hyperspace and opened fire on the Venator.
Who would have thought the Black Annie would join my personal little offense here. ..
Within minutes the vintage Star Destroyer and it's starfighter compartment had been destroyed between AICA and SunTzu and the Anakin Solo, the most modern Impstar the Fleet had to offer and Flagship of Colonel Jacen Solo's and the Hapan's Fifth Fleet, as well as the modified ISD-2's snubs.
When the Star Destroyer opened a comm channel to AICA SunTzu expected one half of the Solo Twins to contact him but to his surprise it was the Captain of the Ship, the Quarren Kral Nevil, another veteran of Rogue Squadron.
That at leasts spares me from having to explain my anger to Jacen.
"SunTzu, right? One of the heroes of the Last Battle of the Shadow, right?"
Nevil was referring to the now legendary battle where the Shadow, an old Mon Cal Cruiser held out against overwhelming odds of droid starfighters. His wingwomen and himself had shot down dozens of enemies back then, before the rest of Taskforce Sol, Jaina Solo's Twin Sun Squadron and the Black Annie had come to their help.
"Affirmative, Sir. Glad to be fighting alongside you again."
"The pleasure is ours. I see you still live up to the myths, engaging a Venator and it's space wing on your own."
"I came here by chance and when i arrived I thought I could help."
That was more or less a lie, something had guided him here, probably the Force, but nobody needed to know that even the Force wanted him on the frontlines.
"Good timing then. We'll contact the two Agaves now and see how they are doing." The Captain of the Star Destroyer switched Channels and SunTzu and AICA formed around the equally black ship.
While he put AICA in a position over the Star Destroyer's midship and looked at the advanced flagship, which almost could make itself as invisible to sensors as AICA could, SunTzu got an idea.
AICA and a Star Destroyer with such potential could sow chaos into the enemy ranks when used in Hit-and-Run-Tactics. Probably nobody knew it except him, as he had felt it, but the enemy ships and snubs, which had came out the Core lately, all seemed to be manned by the black Daimons they first had encountered at Phu, which also meant that they probably would react slower to a threat, as the Daimon's mental abilities were less distinct than if they still would be humans or other individuals.
Minako really had tried her best, but she just couldn't cheer Rei up. When Rei had arrived at Minako's house she had finally stopped crying but her inner sorrow and heartbreak were still eating her alive. She had curled herself up next to Minako on the blonde's couch and her head rested on her best friend's lap.
After the first few sentences explaining to Minako what happened the raven haired teared up again and didn't stop until she had cried herself to sleep while Minako stroked her long, dark hair, trying to comfort her. When Rei had finally fallen asleep soundly, Minako carefully had gotten up and had sneaked one floor up to the room with the balcony. She hadn't open the door, it was November after all, and the rain had cooled the night down even more. But she had wanted to see if she might could catch a glimpse on the stars, the moon and the other planets, maybe that would had make her felt better.
By the end of the conversation with Rei, Minako had to fight against her own tears because she had felt so sad for the couple and then, looking into the night sky when she had thought about how she had helped them to come together, how she had felt the love between these two, the times she had helped them grow even more together like giving SunTzu dancing lessons so he could surprise Rei or comforting Rei when SunTzu had been away for particularly dangerous missions, she finally hd begun to cry too.
As teenager Minako had to learn it the hard way, but as First of the Senshi responsibility and duty towards the Crown were the most important things in her life and everything came second, but Minako thought this wasn't fair for the couple. Neither for SunTzu, who had been used as asset of war until he finally would became War's very essence nor for Rei, who after all these years grew tired of fighting and just wanted peace and then had to give up her soulmate for becoming War.
Rei woke up the next morning at Minako's place. She was grateful that Mina had taken care of her but at breakfast next morning the two best friends, and former lovers, got into a quarrel as well. Minako couldn't believe her when Rei said, that she wouldn't become Sailor Mars anymore.
"Rei, you cannot just stop being Sailor Mars. You know that, that's not how it works."
"I can. And I will. I'm tired of constantly fighting since ever I have been fourteen years old. And as I told Usagi, if SunTzu can't stop fighting than I will."
"Rei, you know who you are and which responsibilities come with it."
"I know about my responsibilities very well and I can protect the Neo Queen, Crystal Tokyo and the Stellar System way better as Senator than I ever could have as Sailor Senshi."
"Rei, please, I know the last weeks were too much for you but please come to your senses. Do you have any idea what you're saying?"
Rei snorted and got off the table before she went and packed her stuff.
"Rei?" Minako asked again.
"I'm leaving Minako. Thanks for letting me sleep here."
"Rei." Minako tried to calm her friend down with a gentle voice.
"I think it's better if I go, Minako." The raven haired said as she hastily packed her things.
"Goddamit Rei. If I wouldn't know better I would say it's Yuichiro's fault you're going crazy lately! Just like last time he came back!" Suddenly it all busted out from Minako.
"This is not because Yuichiro!" Rei yelled back at Minako. "What do you know about how I'm feeling? You weren't on Pantolomin and saw SunTzu die."
"Is that so? Than why you're not with SunTzu? Why do you even hang out with Yuichiro and get caught by your boyfriend doing so then?"
Rei shook her head in anger as smoke rose from her and she finished pushing her things into her bag.
Minako positioned herself between the door and Rei but Rei just stormed past her and was out of the door, leaving an angry looking Minako behind.
Goddamit Rei, why you have to break so many hearts for this man? Only so you can end up lonely because of him again ...
SunTzu had landed on the Anakin Solo soon after the battle and proposed his idea to the Captain, as Colonel Solo was not on board, he had learnt.
After the initial defense of their area of responsibility and the following reinforcement through ships of the Hapan Royal Navy and other ships, the vanguard of the Fifth Fleet could be relieved after weeks of fighting. Jacen went to see his wife and daughter, while a part of the crew of the Black Annie decided to volunteer for the Defence of the Deep Core until the main part of the Fifth would form up again. This meant that only half a squadron of starfighters were on board as well as only half of the guns were manned but the ship was still automated and advanced enough to slug it out with everything at least it's own size.
AICA and SunTzu made up what the black Star Destroyer missed in fighters and in the next few days the two ships flew almost two dozen missions all over the northwestern Deep Core.
Sometimes they scouted, sometimes they were part of a larger fleet but most of the time it was SunTzu beginning the engagement as hunter and the Black Annie following as killer.
A lot of the local forces didn't know that the two advanced ships were actually operating in the area and in the near future another paranormal legend about two cursed ghost ships would been born from this.
SunTzu should have been satisfied that he was doing something with purpose, something for a greater good but whenever his mind had time to wander he found himself feeling heartbroken and miserable, asking himself what Rei was doing at the very moment. Time was going slower at the center of the universe and the hours felt like days and the days like weeks for SunTzu.
When the enemy's reinforcements finally ebbed away after dozens of sorties he felt like he hadn't been home since a lifetime, although on Earth just two days had passed when the Black Annie had been ordered back to Hapes to finally stock up on supplies again.
SunTzu visited Captain Nevil on the bridge to say his goodbye, thank the crew for their work and wish them the best for the future.
The ISD-2 used it's position's lights for a last greeting before it jumped into Hyperspace and left SunTzu alone in the void, a few hundred thousand kilometers in front of their own ranks.
The dark and cold loneliness outside gave away what he felt inside.
Another thing which troubled SunTzu was that his anger still hadn't completely died down, even when he tried it with Meditation and Jedi Breathing Techniques.
Maybe it's just the constant adrenaline, the sleep deprivation and the hunger getting to you. You should go home.
When the German Pilot in his Fighter from Fresia finally arrived back at Earth he felt like a stranger.
The day after the night SunTzu got back to Earth had been a Monday and after a wonderful prolonged weekend with Ryo, they had been in two museums and the largest library in the city and also had played chess for hours, Ami Urawa, Head of Royal Intelligence, was back in her office.
Of course not even she could stand away from the drama that involved her two good friends and after hearing that SunTzu had left for somewhere in the Deep Core again, she had decided to find out what he had been up to.
She didn't had to do a lot of research, as the First Knight of Royal Tokyo was now known as Ghost of the Core. At least that was what he had been unofficially dubbed by crewers and other personnel of the GFFA who had seen him in action, often only realizing that he was there, when he was already at the enemy, forcefully pushing his way into the enemy lines.
His and the Anakin Solo's arrival were soon called a good omen for the GA and a curse for the enemy.
That was exactly what we all wanted him to become, the blue haired genius thought, not able to not feel guilty.
But she also had orders and she knew how important the fulfilling of the Prophecy was, if they wanted to save the galaxy.
She decided to call up Ada Wong to talk about it with her.
"Ohayo Ami, my dearest genius. How are you this morning? What is it I can do for you?"
"Good morning Ada, I don't know if it reached you yet, but I guess he is getting to the point you wanted him to be."
"If you mean SunTzu, yes. I'm sifting through the footage. Gotta admit, although I do love some of the social media videos of his performances, we might have to adjust the OPSEC regulations in the Fleet for the better. Anyways, I'm glad he's getting there and hey, he's one hell of a motivation for the troops, maybe we still gotta chance of winning this War. He's really getting there."
Ami furrowed her brows before she answered.
And all he had to do was to slowly loose the one thing he loves the most in the Galaxy because all of us treat him like a tool , like a weapon . And we dare to call ourselves his friends…
When SunTzu arrived back at the base, it was the middle of the night then, his phone rang.
For the first time he had left Phobos and Deimos Castle a small smile appeared on his face as he saw the Caller ID.
"You might be a extinguished fighter ace but that doesn't mean you don't need to sleep, young lady."
"Gods, did mum gave you that one as a blank?" Hotaru giggled.
"Assuming that I would come up with something that your mom would? I'll take that as a compliment." He paused for a moment.
"How's the holiday going, Firefly?"
"We're going home tomorrow morning but it was nice, relaxing." She paused. "Okay, I miss flying, action, Chibiusa and AICA. But it was nice to be with all my parents again. Anyways, what about you? AICA said you just arrived back at Earth."
"We did."
"And the Core?"
"We held the line."
"I can imagine you got a lot of action in. Damn, I'm jelly."
"Yeah, I flew a lot of sorties. Anyways, it's late and you really should get some rest. I'll see that AICA will be ready for your training tomorrow but she needs some rest as well."
"Okay, will do. Hey SunTzu?"
"Hm?"
"I'm sorry it didn't work out with your and Rei's holiday."
"You know that there ar some things that are bigger than one's happiness. And now sleep a bit."
He ended the call and Hotaru looked into her phone's screen for another moment.
He was calm and nice as always with me but I can tell he is hurting inside. I wish he and Rei just would get better again.
After he ended the phone call SunTzu told AICA to make sure ground crew would see her early in the morning and then got out of the cockpit.
He said his goodbye to his starfigher with stroking her frame and laying his head against her.
"Thank you for everything AICA."
"Sure thing Boss, get some rest and I'll see you later." She said and SunTzu heard genuine concern in her electronical voice. At least someone was still caring about him he thought, trying to suppress the pain it caused that Rei hadn't sent him a single message since he had left her back on Earth.
After her fight with Minako an angered Rei had made a detour to the Shrine briefly before she went to her office. It was the weekend and almost nobody was there.
Her plan had been to distract herself with work, proof to everyone how important her work as Senator was. But there was not much for her to do, even if she would have gone to Coruscant.
Because of the possibility of enemy formations breaking through the lines in the Deep Core most Senators had left Coruscant for safer places and right now there were no meetings inside the Senate. Not everybody saw it that way though, there were rumors that behind closed doors the Chief of State had called the fleeing Senators cowards without spine.
Finally Rei gave up and decided to go home again. She felt miserable, and thinking about how she had treated Usagi and Minako on top of her problems with SunTzu didn't make it any better.
She really needed some distraction, something to numb her mind. And maybe something which would just let her sleep until she could at least work properly again.
Fortunately the one guy that had introduced her to something that just did that to her was back in the city.
And of course she just would call him because she needed some pot. Not because she wanted to see him, she was absolutely sure of it.
After leaving AICA in her hangar SunTzu decided to go home and listen to the advice his electronical friend had given him.
But he just couldn't find any rest, the thoughts on his mind didn't let him sleep. It was quarter to three when he left his apartment again and headed to the nearest bar.
Again filling the hole in his soul with alcohol didn't help anything at all and it was early noon the next day when SunTzu finally left the last place, a restaurant that had already open and served alcoholic beverages.
The alcohol in his system had one effect on him though, it made him miss Rei even more.
So, when he left the restaurant, or rather was politely asked to leave, at which he almost made a scene, his drunken mind had him believing that the best thing to do right now, was to head for the Hikawa Shrine and apologize to Rei, tell her that he loved her and in his intoxication he was sure that would be enough. And it totally was a sign, that it had stopped to rain.
To gain extra courage he decided to buy a bottle of Shochu in a nearby store and drank straight from the bottle to be prepared to what was to come.
He didn't care that the people were looking at him in embarrassment.
Rei just had arrived back at the Shrine, and was waiting for Yuichiro, standing under the porch of the main building. Grandpa was taking a nap and the two Koronians were running some errands. Some things never would change and that was also the case for Yuichiro and his infamous weed consume. For the first time in what seemed an eternity she had to smile when she thought back about the first joint the two of them had ever smoked together.
Yuichiro was a bit surprised, not only to hear from her on a Monday noon but also when she told him that she needed something to calm her down and if he still remembered their camping trip in the North. He understood immediately what she meant and told her he would come right over.
Rei just hoped smoking some weed would be enough to calm her enough down to sleep through the next few days.
A few minutes later the handsome but rugged man with the long brown hair arrived at the shrine.
Yuichiro began to smile when he saw Rei waiting under the porch. He had to admit he did like her new buisness woman style more than he actually expected.
He walked up to the building and stopped in front of her.
"I have to admit the Senator suits you, Rei." He told her with a smug grin. "I hope your boyfriend knows to value it."
Rei looked to the side, her smile vanished.
"He knows."
At least he used to…
"And my boyfriend is not a topic I want to talk about right now, if you don't mind. You got what I asked you for?"
Yuichiro put a hand in his jacket and showed a huge plastic bag full of weed.
Rei's eyes widened.
"Holy Shit. I just wanted a bit for the next days. Not half of Jamaica's yearly harvest."
"You sounded like you needed it so I decided to bring some more."
"I don't even know if I have that much of money on me."
"Oh don't worry. It's a gift, I invested some of my money into some weed businesses in California. Now I get good pot and money back out of it." The offspring of a rich buisness mogul family said.
"I won't say no. Hold up, let me just put it away before Grandpa sees it. Wait here for a moment."
Yuichiro handed her the package and Rei disappeared into the building.
A few moments later, Rei just had put the bag into the drawer of her nightstand, but not before taking a good sniff at the bag's content, she was startled by noises from outside. First something that sounded like a bottle bursting and then she heard yelling.
She rushed outside.
SunTzu had emptied half of the bottle when he finally had taken the last step to the shrine. The sky was grey and dark clouds were gathering again. The trees around the shrine had almost completely lost their leaves by now.
He looked around, no sign of the Koronians, Rei or her Grandfather. Maybe she wasn't here at all, which day of the week was it again?
But then he saw him, and he exploded.
SunTzu threw the half full bottle away and it bursted on the stones of the plaza, as he stormed towards the man that in his mind tried to steal Rei from him.
"Hey Arschloch!" He yelled in German.
Yuichiro turned around in surprise and was greeted by a hard right to his face.
The punch wasn't Force-powered but hard enough to knock Yuichiro to the ground.
SunTzu was above him.
"Get up Motherfucker, we'll settle this like men now!" SunTzu yelled.
And in this moment Rei came out of the door.
"SUNTZU! What the yomi are you doing?"
She ran over to Yuichiro, who was bleeding from a bursted up lip.
She kneeled down next to her ex-fiance and put her arm around his back to support him before she looked at SunTzu, her face red in anger.
"What the fuck is wrong with you? Is violence the only thing you know about now?!"
"Rei… why is he here?"
"He was visiting me. Listen, I want you to go."
"Rei…"
"NO! GO! Just go and leave me alone!"
SunTzu's head slumped down but he turned around and walked away.
Behind him Rei checked on Yuichiro in her arms.