Reminder: Usagi was born Astrid, a Scandinavian name since she was born in Sweden. She changed her name a short time later when she fell in love with Japan, taking on a new identity and casting off her old traumatic life.
Astrid stood atop the wall of the castle she was raised in, at the eastern side of the Keep, late in the evening. The harsh wind blew her long hair, whipping it about her face as she choked on tears that couldn't fall.
After she had escaped the Vampire that her father had sold her to, she had run —far. Despite having been twenty at the time of her wedding, death, conversion to a Vampire, and then going on a murderous revenge, she wasn't equipped to handle her circumstances.
She was every bit a sheltered princess who knew deceit but was never trained to cope with or counter it. Her father didn't teach her the ways of power since he wanted to take advantage of her for his own gain. He had always joked to those he knew that "You never train a pawn to be anything other than a pawn."
As she stood overlooking the castle, the truth finally dawned on her. She saw just how weak her father had kept her through his constant manipulation over the decades.
He hadn't kept her unmarried so long to keep her as the "protected virgin princess" that the people adored. He had done that to raise her price. He had raised interest in her, and the price of her virginity went quite high by keeping her unwed for so long. In the end he got a large fortune from that vile vampire. Her now-dead husband had been willing to pay an astronomical amount for her.
It was money her father had used to build a new Keep, the one she was standing on right now.
She had run, and years had passed. That fact was tearing at her heart now.
Having run after killing her husband, she naively still believed that good won and evil died. She had proved that fact, hadn't she?
The brutal truth of how wrong she had been was now staring back at her with clouded, cold, dead eyes. Real good had lost in the end.
Hanging from the gallows below in the courtyard, a scene she could see with perfect clarity due to her supernatural eyes, was her brother's dead and rotting body.
She had heard he had become king after her father was killed, and she rejoiced at the time. Still, she didn't return. In her mind, she saw it as a fact that the evil king was dead, the good king was on his throne, and everyone could shout, "Long live the king." Everyone would prosper along with her brother.
When word that her brother's wife gave birth to a son and heir to the kingdom, she had returned. Astrid only wanted to look at the child and find joy in the new life. She hadn't even been sure she would show herself to her brother. She didn't know how to explain her circumstances. After all, she was a murderer. A fact she hadn't hidden at the time. She was terrified of her beloved brother looking at her with hate and anger. It was very possible he didn't know what a horrible monster that her husband had been.
But that didn't matter now. All her brother could look at her with was dead eyes. She hadn't even understood fully what evil pervaded the kingdom. Her father's former advisor and apparently bastard son had plotted and killed her brother and now took the throne.
She leaped from the Keep to the castle wall, then stepped off that and landed effortlessly on the ground outside the castle.
Astrid then made her way to the one place in town she would risk going to right now. It took her a short time compared to her regular forty-five-minute walk as a human. Once there, she knocked her regular secret knock and waited.
Unlike her, the human inhabitant had to sleep, so her knock went unanswered. It didn't deter her, though. She moved to a dark place in the shadows along the wall that circled the home and hid, waiting for morning to come.
Usagi waited for midnight to come. Mamoru sat on the couch, watching her pace as she tried and failed miserably to wait patiently.
He smirked and said, "She's alive. You can stop working on wearing a hole in the carpet."
She looked at him, startled, and said, "Since when did you start making jokes in tense situations?"
"Since the time that I realized my lover can get angry enough to go nuclear and go on a rampage. I'm trying to cut the tension."
Usagi frowned and looked down at her hands. "She's not the only one with issues," she admitted. "I couldn't save my brother. I wasn't even too late. I didn't know he was in danger until he was dead. I saved his son, Artemis, Rick's ancestor, and many others. I did all of that because I hated that feeling. The feeling of losing something so important and not being able to do anything to make it better. I didn't know Minako was in danger… again."
Mamoru stood, walked over to Usagi, and pulled her into his arms. As he held her tightly, he said, "Death isn't in shades, Usako. You're dead, or you aren't." He didn't address the fact that they were all vampires and technically dead. He knew she would follow the point he was making. "She's not dead. Why dwell on something that didn't happen? If you're going to worry, think about how we'll explain away her supposed broken neck."
Usagi rested her head on his chest and, laughing, said, "Saeko's a phenomenal doctor?"
"True," he admitted, amused. "But the video looked quite bad."
After thinking for a few minutes, Usagi said, "Screw it. It's her problem. I'm sure Yamato, Artemis, and Zoisite will have suggestions, but she can worry about convincing everyone that it wasn't that bad."
Mamoru said, "And people will have to believe her. She's walking around, after all."
"True," she conceded. "It will be hard for people to believe it was really a fatal injury with her as evidence against it."
"What's the plan in the meantime?" Mamoru asked.
"She has to stay hidden. Artemis will tell everyone she was sent to a private hospital facility under guard to heal. We will imply this was another attack against the police."
He rubbed her back and kissed the top of her head. "Brilliant, but it sounds like you have a plan after all."
They both heard the elevator reach the top floor and make a dinging noise. They turned as one to look at the front door and watched Minako and Kunzite enter the front door.
"I'm here," Minako said sheepishly. "Luna said she blacked out the cameras along the way."
Usagi zoomed over to Minako and wrapped her in a tight hug. Her plans to start yelling at her friend immediately went out the window when she saw her.
Minako hugged her friend back, her heart heavy with guilt. "I'm so sorry. I would deserve it if you were angry with me."
"I'm furious," Usagi said, her throat thick with emotion. "You have no idea how mad I am right now," she added, clinging tighter to her friend. "At the moment, though, my joy at you being here outweighs my anger."
"I'm taking her away," Kunzite said, falling into a role as pack leader. One he had given up, but still came naturally to him. "I addressed some things. There is still more to go over."
Mamoru walked over and nodded at his friend. "Nephrite will handle things here."
"It's not fair," Minako dared to whisper. "He didn't do anything to lose his place as your right-hand man."
Mamoru scoffed, "You're missing the point. He chose you over his role as leader. It was a choice we all assumed he would make from the beginning, so we didn't discuss it. I respect him deeply for that."
"He can't have both?" Minako asked saddly.
"He cannot," Usagi replied. "Actions have consequences, and you're damn lucky that your consequences are what they are. You need to see that you could have been dead."
"I am dead," Minako quipped.
Usagi was not amused. She released Minako from their hug and shoved her hard. Minako flew across the room and hit the wall, denting it. "I saw my brother's dead body strung up by his enemies. He'd been dead for two days, rotting in the summer heat by the time I got there. It wasn't until I saw him that I realized he was ever in danger. I had gone home for the first time after hearing about the birth of his son.
"Centuries later, I heard someone comment that 'tragic backstories' are everyone's worst fears brought to life." Usagi took a step forward and said, "You and I, we don't have to fear the possibility of the death of a loved one. We already lived it. We know the reality of how it feels, the crippling pain, everything. I know what it feels like to hear something I want to tell a loved one and then realize I can't because they're dead.
"You know the wretched feeling of their first birthday after they died, just like I do. You know, pain. I know it! Why would you court danger and death? Why would you single-handedly go after someone who killed all of us before!"
Minako stood up and bravely said, "Because I want to protect you!"
"Not with your life!" Usagi screamed back. "We are going to be calculating and careful. I would rather move slowly, plan every move, and ensure we all live. We will win. She will die at our hands, mark my words. That bitch doesn't get the satisfaction of getting to kill a single one of us."
"I didn't plan to die," Minako pointed out. "I didn't die."
Usagi replied, "And now they know you're supernatural. You lost that surprise, an advantage you could have used in battle. And I don't think you were trying to die. I just don't think you value yourself enough. I, however, haven't missed how important you are. I need you, Minako."
Kunzite shook his head and took Minako's hand. To Usagi, he said, "Your last point doesn't help. She knows. She feels needed for the first time in a very long time. That feeling makes her loyal, and her loyalty makes her reckless. She would destroy anything to save you, even her own life."
"I don't want that," Usagi replied.
Kunzite shrugged, "It doesn't matter."
Mamoru sighed and said, "Go. Hide her so people can believe she's off-healing. I'm assuming you got this, Kunzite?"
"I do," Kunzite replied. "I believe I figured out how to get through to her."
"Good, Mamoru responded. "I trust you to handle this."
Usagi was glad she couldn't cry as she watched Minako leave with Kunzite. Her friend's future was out of her hands.
Early morning came with the sound of crying. Astrid heard a baby wailing from inside the cottage, and she flew to the front door and began banging on it.
By the time Astrid was born, her former nanny was too old to bear children, and now, the sound of a child confused her.
With her advanced hearing, Usagi heard the woman whimper and quietly beg the child not to cry. "Shush, love," she had whispered. "No one can know you're here. Please be quiet. We could both die."
Astrid wrenched the door open immediately after that. When she saw her former nanny register who it was, she asked, "Who's baby is that?!"
"Hush!" The woman replied quickly. "Close the door. A lot has happened since you managed to get away from that dreadful man. This baby is in danger."
The veins around Usagi's eyes turned black, and her irises went red. Then her fangs descended. "That baby isn't in any danger. Not anymore." In an instant, she knew she would defend that baby and keep him alive.
"It's your brother's baby. He's now the true King. They killed your brother," the woman replied.
"It doesn't surprise you that I'm a vampire?" Usagi said instead of commenting on her brother's death. If she did, she would break down right now.
Her former nanny said, "It's the only way you could have gotten away from your husband. I knew what he was, but I couldn't do anything but wait. I knew I couldn't help you by getting myself killed. He was too powerful.
All these years, I waited. I waited so faithfully that your brother made me head nanny over his newborn son. I heard the screams when the king's murder was ordered. I was in the nursery, so I grabbed his son, your nephew, and fled before they had even hung your brother."
Usagi hugged the dear woman and kissed her cheek. "You saved him and lived. Thank you for both."
"What should I do next?" The woman asked.
"Pack. I am going to ask you to be his grandmother from now on. Will you flee with us and help raise him? I can't because of what I am."
"Why?" Her former nanny asked.
"I don't have control over my blood lust yet. I want to kill evil men, and the desire gets too hard to resist sometimes. I can't raise him on the run," Usagi said sadly. "One day, I might be able to lead a normal life, but not right now." It hurt her to admit that, but she knew she had to be brutally honest. Her nephew's life and happiness were at stake.
"How much should I bring?" the woman asked, ready to change her whole life to protect the baby.
They left the country, and quickly, she found a young couple willing to take the two in as a family.
Six weeks later, Usagi walked away from her nephew, her former nanny, and their new home, grateful to her nanny for biding her time and surviving. It was the only thing that saved her nephew.