We do not own "Sailor Moon" nor any of the characters.
"SAILOR MOON ETERNAL"
The 6th Season of the Sailor Moon Saga
Chapter 7
"A Night of Promise"
"Where could they be!?" Michelle's quiet voice steams.
"We have been waiting patiently for over an hour. How degrading." She glances around in shame as waiters finish cleaning up the empty tables in the restaurant, kind enough to let them wait inside, as it was well past closing hours.
"I hope they're all right." Susan's gentle voice answers with genuine worry on her face.
"I'm sure they're fine." Michelle says angrily, hurt that Robin must've closed his mind to her since she had been unable to reach him for some time now.
"How dare he shut me out…!" She whispers to herself, though in reality she was the one closing out on him for her own emotionally tormented reasons, just hours before. But people have a funny way of blaming others for their same mistakes. Deep in her mind she was considering that maybe, just maybe, that Amara was right, though she'd never consciously admit to herself.
"I called the hall." Serena returns to the table, the truest kind of friend despite her own pre-wedding jitters for the very next morn. As it was approaching midnight, their dear Moon Princess was the only one of the girls attending this bachelorette party who had not long since abandoned the pair of Outer Scouts. "And I just caught Andrew before he left. He said the Three Lights left the party over an hour ago." Kind-hearted Serena joins Susan's worried expression. "Do you think they're all right?"
"They're fine. Believe me, I would know." Michelle gets that far-off distant look as she tries to contact Robin again, pleased to be able to assure herself of his physical safety, if not his whereabouts, nor mental capacity.
"Well, my Dad should be here any second to come pick me up. If they don't get here by then, we could drive you guys home first." Serena offers sympathetically, along with her sweetest smile. "Let's have a sing-along until then!" The ever bright shining moonbeam makes an attempt to lighten the mood for the quiet older women in the quickly emptying out restaurant.
"I'll go first!" Serena cheerfully says just before breaking out in song.
"This feeling in my heart is everything!
Throbbing inside me as the flowers bloom!
The stars hold the key to this mystery showing
Since that time my tears have always been shining for you!"
Serena's high pitched, shall we say, out of tune singing vocals ring throughout the hushed, classy French restaurant with…a sound…never quite heard in this elegant locale before.
"You and Susan can chime in anytime harmonizing, Michelle! I think a good sing-a-thon with two of my dearest friends on this night before my big day is just the tonic we need!" The vibrant yellow buns in her hair bounce along with her supposed melodic rhythm, Serena encourages the flabbergasted ladies with her shrill voice to join in as she prompts them with mouthed lyrics she no doubt, composed herself.
"I hear only your voice!"
"I see only your face!"
"I feel only your body!"
And though both stunned silent Michelle and Susan were grateful for the love and joy and sunshine their leader was trying to share, neither felt that their night could get any more embarrassing than this.
"Everything about you has attracted me!"
After sitting a little while more, the three friends—two of which were thoroughly mortified and hanging their heads low—watch as the head waiter scurries to their thankfully quieted down table.
"I believe your ride is here, ladies." His French accent was thick.
Susan feels her heart leap, hoping it would be Terry and the boys. Seeing her friend's excitement, Michelle shakes her head sadly.
"Not them." She informs softly, as Susan's expectant face drops.
"Must be Dad." Serena smiles, trying to cheer them up. "C'mon, gang! We're still all foot loose and fancy free—at least for a couple more hours! Let's order 'to go' some of those double devilishly divine choco cookies to go out with a bang! While Rei's not here to nag me about squeezing into my wedding dress! Oh, Pierre!?" Trying to make light of the situation (and get a bite of those luscious treats denied her for weeks on end now) Serena waves her hand to the maitre'd as she gets up from her seat.
"What if they come after we've left?" Susan asks, putting a damper on the ever boisterous yellow spaghetti and meatball headed bride-to-be whose chocolate craving was wordlessly fulfilled in a small 'to-go' doggie baggie whisked into her greedy hands.
"Here," Michelle whips paper and a pen from her purse, "I'll leave them a note." She scribbles something on the piece of paper, handing it to the headwaiter on the way out.
"If three handsome young men finally decide to come looking for us, please, would you give them this?"
The headwaiter nods. "Of course, Mademoiselle Moreau."
"Thank you." Then she says something in French, which makes the waiter laugh.
"Oui, Mademoiselle." Pierre smiles knowingly with a nod and glint in his eye at the young rich debutante he knew of well.
"What did you say to him?" Serena asks curiously, as the three women walk out onto the sidewalk.
"Oh, just that we had a wonderful evening." Michelle passes off nonchalantly, purposely omitting a certain other part of her message in the French language.
Spotting her father's car, Serena waves to him and he pulls to the curb. "Evening, Ladies!" he says to them as Susan and Serena get into the back seat, while Michelle slides into the passenger front seat next to Mr. Hart.
"Thank you so much for going out of your way for us, Mr. Hart." Susan says politely.
"Oh no, trouble at all. It's my responsibility to come to the aid of ladies in distress!" He teases, pushing his glasses high onto the bridge of his nose.
"I wouldn't exactly say we're in 'distress,' sir. More like 'furious' at three 'gentlemen' who were supposed to escort us home." Michelle vents her anger.
"Michelle, I'm sure it couldn't be helped." Susan defends the three of their stay-over guests, even without being aware of the circumstances.
Mr. Hart chuckles as he drives along. "Your friend is right there, Michelle. When you're at a bachelor party, it's easy for a fellow to lose track of the time, believe me, I know. So, I'd cut your dates a little slack, if I were you." He says with a smirk, obviously speaking from personal experience on behalf of the male race as a whole.
"Yes, I suppose…" Michelle concedes amicably, though her haughty sensibilities were still miffed. She smiles to herself when she imagines what waits in store for those 'forgetful' boys, when they finally did reach the restaurant. Especially one in particular.
Smirking, she chuckles with a get-even giggle to herself in the dark car.
Studying her back-seat companion in the passing street lights, Serena considers Susan curiously. How quiet she is tonight. I mean, she's always quiet, but tonight there's something different. I can feel it. How sad she looks. Poor Susan, it's so hard for her to share her secrets with us. But she's my friend, my very good friend. There must be some way I can help her. I have more happiness than I deserve! Her thoughts drift to tomorrow's joyous event. I want to share it with you, Susan. Even though I don't understand what you're going through, I'm here for you.
"I'll always be here for you, Susan." Serena takes Susan's graceful hand, squeezing it reassuringly. Susan turns away from gazing at the night sky to look at Serena's sweet face.
"Thank you, Princess." She smiles at her radiating light gratefully. Her smile is so radiant. She is always here for me, for all of us. She gives us such strength, such courage. She is the light of this world—this beautiful world which I cannot be part of. Looking into Serena's crystal clear eyes, Susan's darker, longer, slender fingers squeeze Serena's plumper hand back, despite the pain in her heart that had known nothing but solitude for the entirety of this Guardian of Time's elongated life.
I must be brave. She holds back her tears. For you, my Princess, I will be brave.
A dark sedan carelessly maneuvers its way through the city at midnight. Drifting from lane to lane, ignoring most signal lights, the driver of this vehicle should count himself lucky that tonight was unusually quiet, traffic nearly nonexistent, causing most of the police force to pass their valuable time in the various local doughnut shops around town. Not that the man in control of the car was in any condition to care, not to mention safely drive.
"Search for your love…" Terry's deep voice melodically sings as he moves the steering wheel in rhythm to the tune. "Where is that restaurant? 'Search for your love…we're never gonna find it. Search for your love…I only want…to find my Susan right now'!" He chuckles at his made up lyrics, the alcohol in his system affecting his usually calm demeanor, as he blinks the headlights on and off in beat.
"Hey, that's pretty good!" Sayer pulls his head in from the open window, his unruly hair even more so after the wind got through with him. "We oughta use that tune for a song." He says dizzily, grabbing hold of the dashboard as the car swerves in rhythm.
"You think so?" Terry smiles, squinting hard at the passing signs on the buildings.
"Sure. That 'babyface' one you had before, too. Hey, what are we looking for anyway?" Sayer's voice comes out in a drawl as he tries to keep his eyelids open, physically holding them up with stretched fingers.
"Looking for? I don't know…Where are we going?" Terry answers with a shrug and a chuckle, the alcohol in his system obviously making him uncharacteristically giddy.
"I don't know. I thought you knew everything!" Sayer answers with his own shrug. "Do you think that he knows?" He jabs his finger towards the rear of the sedan, to the figure sprawled across the backseat, unconscious.
"Hey you, hey you!" Sayer starts shaking his other brother from another mother roughly, "Wake up! Sleeping Beauty!" Sayer smacks his face several times, and Robin finally comes to.
"Sayer, what're you doing? Leave me alone!" He grumbles. "Oh, my head," Robin holds his head, painfully moaning, before lying back down to the bench seat.
"Wait a minute!" Sayer grabs him up again, lifting Robin's slender body back up by the scruff of his neck. "Where're we…where do we…Hey, what was I supposed to ask him, Ter?" Sayer turns his head back towards Terry, confused.
"Where are we supposed to go?" Terry fills in slowly, in between his humming.
"Right..." Sayer turns back to Robin, whose eyes were closed, his head bobbing back and forth sleepily. "Hey." He shakes Robin awake again, his temper getting the better of him. "Where're go supposed to we?" It comes out all in a discombobulated mess.
"Go?" Robin's voice was scratchier than ever as he auto translates the sentence. "I don't care, just leave me alone, my head hurts." He whines.
"But Susan and…Michelle…yes, Michelle is her name!...are waiting for us!" Terry exclaims, anxious to see his lady-love whose name he did not forget, Michelle not so lucky.
"Michelle…?" Robin says, his mind clearing slightly at the thought of her. "Oh. It's the French restaurant on 5th Street. Remember? Oww…" He flips his long silver bangs over his hand as it clutches at his throbbing temples.
"Oh, right!" Terry's quick mind, despite the alcohol, just needed a little push. Destination known, he floors the gas pedal, and Robin rolls to the back seat floor as Sayer smashes against the side door, luckily not being expelled from the wide open window.
Unconcerned, Terry continues to speed along, eager to see Susan and her beautiful eyes…and her rosy cheeks…and her crimson rouge lips…Celebration! That sensual bachelor party jam session ditty he had composed on the fly for her still raging in his head, Terry's intoxicated mind could still vividly recall that kiss he and Susan had shared earlier this evening.
In no time flat, the vehicle comes to a screeching halt in front of the restaurant. Triumphant of the find, Terry dizzily steps out into the road. "Here we are!" He smiles, walking to the door of the restaurant, no idea of how late the hour really was.
"I knew it the whole time." Sayer's bravado kicks in. When they reach the door, Terry yanks on it, finding it locked. "Here, let me try." Sayer grabs the door handle, but when it doesn't budge, he starts banging on the glass that was about to shatter with another star-powered fist strike.
"Hey, let us in! You can't hold our women captive! We're gonna knock down the door if you don't—" Abruptly, the entrance door is whisked open and Sayer plunges forward onto the plush carpet. Getting up, he dusts himself off. "There, that's better." He looks down at the headwaiter. "Where're Susie and 'Chelle?" He demands, ready for a fight as his hands turn into fists.
"Ah, yes. 'Ze the young "gentlemen" Mademoiselle Moreau spoke of." Pierre's French accent was thick and haughty. "Is there not a third, pale haired "gentleman" in your party?" The maitre'd asks using the word 'gentleman' with disdain, just as Robin was gradually making his painful way into the door, slowly taking his time up the sidewalk.
"'Zere you are, sir. Mademoiselle Moreau has a special message for you." He says, handing over the note that Robin unfolds and reads aloud: 'Tired of waiting for you all night. Found another ride home. See if you can remember where that is.'
Robin looks to his brothers worriedly. "Do you think she's mad at me?"
Before they could answer, the waiter taps Robin on the shoulder. "She sent one more message, sir." And with that, the tall Frenchman enjoys emptying a tall glass of cold ice water over Robin's shocked head, its chilled contents cascading down his neck, ice cubes running down his back.
Turning his nose up, the waiter then shoves the three astonished boys out the door, locking it with a bang, rubbing his palms together as if cleaning something dirty from them.
Looking at Robin's dripping head, Sayer smirks. "Yeah, Rob, I think she's mad."
After keeping vigil by the window for over an hour, Susan sighs worriedly. Oh, where could you be? She wonders silently.
"Tara's sound asleep." Michelle returns to her lookout spot next to Susan.
"That's good." Susan says, her mind recalling the cruel words the child had said to her earlier this evening. 'Cold and unfeeling.' Maybe that was true before, but not anymore. Not since he…
Susan blushes at the very thought of him, that kiss they shared—her first kiss, still on her lips. Suddenly she sees the bright flash of headlights then the screech of the brakes and her heart catches in her throat.
"It's them." Michelle nods, saying the words nonchalantly, as if she were not anxious in the slightest as she takes her time walking to the front door. But Susan could not contain herself so calmly. Sprinting graceful as a deer, she was out the door before Michelle arrived in a flash, crashing into an unsteady Terry, who was already at the rural mansion's front entrance. He had apparently raced from the crookedly parked sedan to have arrived at the door so swiftly.
The tall man still manages to keep his balance somehow, catching Susan in his eager arms without skipping a beat.
"Oh!" Susan looks up at him breathlessly. Blushing as she gazes up at his sweet smile, she searches for something to say. "We…were so worried about you!" She says, embarrassed, trying to untangle herself from his arms, but finding his wandering hands unwilling to let her go.
"You were?" Terry's smile widens and his eyelids lower sexily. Susan could smell the alcohol thick on his warm breath as he holds her closely. Just then, Sayer comes sauntering in the doorway, dizzily bumping into Terry, pushing him forward into Susan's dark emerald hair where he stays, nuzzling gently, much to the reserved woman's shock.
"WE'RE HOME! Hey, WE'RE HOME! Where's Ally?" Sayer's loud voice cuts through the silent house, announcing his arrival as he sways back and forth in the front hall.
"Shh! Tara's sleeping!" Michelle snaps at him, but he just smiles at her, before releasing a beer and champagne laced belch. "You're drunk." Turning her nose up in the air in disgust, Michelle looks at the two men disapprovingly.
"Drunk?" Sayer repeats incredulously. "Who, me?" Pointing at his own wiry body form that was wavering where he stood, Sayer had a silly grin plastered to his face.
"I knew it." Michelle shakes her head angrily. "Well, where is he?" She looks around for Robin.
"Who?" Sayer asks in a dizzy daze as he rubs his sunken eyes.
"Your third 'Light,' Robin!" Michelle's livid blue eyes flare at him, having no tolerance for drunken men who stand her up in restaurants.
"Oh, him! I remember him!" Sayer's smile then turns erotically wicked. "Who needs him, 'Chelle, when you got me? Should we try this again without getting interrupted?…'I want to know more about you…'" Sayer, drink seeming to not affect his long-term memory, was referring to that fateful concert night flirtation in Michelle's dressing room some years previous. He leans forward putting his face right in her hair as he whispered seductively just the same.
But this time, Michelle ducks, pushing past his advances into her aqua curls to go in search of her own victim this night.
"He's still in the car, hmm? I suppose he's drunk, too?" Michelle asks, knowing the answer as she strides out to the car, fully prepared to give this last neglectful boy a piece of her mind. Not seeing him in the front seat, she pulls the back door open.
"Robin Starr, I will not—!" She starts her tirade already, but then looking at the soaking wet pile of the sleeping form curled up like a soft kitten caught in a fierce rainstorm in a ball on the floor of the car, his more flattened hair dampened over his sweetly brow furrowed baby face, Michelle's angry heart melts like butter.
Aww...How can I be angry? He's just so cute! Kneeling down she touches Robin's still wet face, brushing the loose, bedraggled hair from his eyes with a tender caress.
And even in his sleep, he smiles at her soft touch.
"Robin." Michelle's voice was oh-so-gentle. "Robin…dear…" She repeats with the fond diminutive.
He stirs. Smiling, she plants a sweet kiss on his lips and the young man with the still wet slicked back silver hair slowly comes to.
"Michelle…" Robin whispers with a smile, her beautiful face a vision to his cloudy eyes. But the painful throbbing in his head soon returns.
"Argh…" He clutches his cold, soggy head as he sits up in that drenched shirt, trailing all the way down to his pants.
"Robin?" This daughter of the water asks, mildly concerned, but a little more than stimulated by his sleek wetness as she lays her hands over his.
"I guess this is my reward for letting Sayer convince me to have a drink. I'm never trusting him again." He smiles up at her from beneath those yet stylish, wet bangs, despite the throbbing pain in his head, obviously having a low tolerance for any liquor since on their home planet now as it was before on Kinmoku, teetotaler Princess Fireball made it a point for her three younger charges to be moral, upstanding and alcohol free citizens to be shining examples for the people.
"Come on inside, dearest. You'll feel better soon." She helps Robin out of the car leading him to the house, as he leans heavily on her shoulder.
Back inside the house, she sees Susan still in Terry's nuzzling embrace, a confused look on her face as what to do with him.
"Michelle, what do I…?" Susan looks to her friend for help. Her own drunken man in her arms, Michelle giggles at the situation, her eyebrows raised.
"I guess you'd better get him into bed. That's what I'm going to do with mine." The now amused aqua-haired head gestures to Robin. How wonderful to touch his body so intimately… I wonder, maybe…The young Frenchwoman thinks, her already riled emotions this night spinning.
"Oh, my…" Susan gasps, unsure of herself there. "All right, I will." Seeing no other option, she tries to lead Terry Star towards the bedroom. Finding the big-boned boy too heavy to move by herself, she says to him quietly, "Terry, please come with me, I'm taking you to bed." Her voice was tender and sweet.
"Oh, Susan…" He whispers. "Yes, Susan, yes." His hot breath in her ear, his fuzzy mind misunderstands her innocent words, perhaps too willingly, turning them into something far from innocent.
"Oh!" Susan stops suddenly in her tracks. Though unaware of Terry's intentions, Susan just then remembered the third member of the drunken party.
"Sayer, are you coming, too?" She asks.
Drunk but not blind, Sayer could clearly see what was on his brother's mind. "Nah, Susie, I'm fine right here. Me and this couch are old buddies." He pats his 'friend' on the back, shooting a knowing smile in her direction. As they disappear, Sayer turns to Michelle.
"Once you asked me to help you undress, 'Chelle. I'm ready now, if you can ditch that wimp brother of mine somewhere. My couch and I could be separated, if offered another softer setting…" Sayer infers amorously, maybe a little jealous of Terry's luck as he motions towards the nearly fainted Robin propped up in her arms.
"Oh no, you and that couch deserve each other." Michelle smiles, used to deflecting unwanted advances from amorous young men all the time. "Besides, I think I'm saving that privilege for someone else now." She smiles her own romantic smile in Robin's direction. Thinking her joking, Robin chuckles, making his head throb even more as he does. "Oh, my head…" He groans, almost passing out from the pain.
"Poor baby. I'll give you something to make it feel all better." Michelle coos at him with sympathy, and maybe a little something more. "Let's go get it." She drags him off to his designated bedroom.
"Goodnight, Sayer." She smiles with a flirtatious wave to the one guest who would be lonely tonight in this house.
"'Night." Sayer feels quite left out as he watches Michelle and Robin disappear down the hall, without even imaging what Terry and Susan were up to already in the guest room he had donated for the time being. "If only Ally were here…" He says to himself dreamily, his distracted mind happily fooling himself into believing that Alex Sokova might actually be interested in him (which, in reality, wasn't that far from the truth, though she'd never admit it) as he plunks down on the couch, asleep before his head hits the pillow, fantasizing of a tall, golden-haired beauty.
Leading Terry inside the guest room, Susan once again tries to extricate herself from his arms, still finding it a fairly impossible task.
"Susan…" His voice was deep and melodic, now not only nuzzling her hair, but kissing it as well, as he gently loosens her tight bun until it falls out. Slowly making his way down, his lips nibble at her ears softly, leaving a blazing trail until his mouth kissed at her neck greedily.
"Terry…" His name escapes her lips in a whisper, his gentle cologne pervading her senses, as Susan realized what was about to happen, her dress falling away from her shoulders by deft hands.
I've waited thousands of years for this moment, a hundred thousand lonely nights I've waited for you. Only for you...
Suddenly, she could hear music begin to play, her eternal song of longing becoming louder, louder, stronger, until it was nearly deafening. My empty life—my empty life…The haunting song's sad, lonely melody grips her soul once again. What am I doing? I can't—I can't do this! My life is not my own, I cannot enjoy this world. I cannot share myself with another. I was born to be alone. I have searched through all of time for you, yet I cannot have you. I cannot be with you, my darling Terry. Please, you cannot love me, I must be cold and unfeeling. The tears run down her cheeks as she breaks the long kiss, the temptation of the night tearing her bound soul asunder.
"I'm sorry, I can't be your lover. Please forgive me!" The tears stream down her face as the timebound soldier named Susan de Venici on this earth in this time, turns and flees, wrapping her disheveled self in his discarded shirt near the door as she runs out.
Practically carrying a dazed Robin Starr to his room by now, Michelle feels his arms draped around her shoulders, unknowingly hanging loosely in places where they should not be over her low-cut dress. Giggling at the arousing feeling, she drags the poor, wet creature to his bed, laying him on it as gently as possible.
Realizing that to put him to bed properly she must undress him first, especially from this cold, damp, wet rat state he had somehow gotten himself into. Michelle proceeds to do so, struggling with his slim, passed out body until Robin was lying there deshabille. She stands back, just staring at his still form for awhile in admiration of his all artistically pleasing lines, rather impressed with his slender, yet muscular frame.
Yes, indeed. She smiles, her eyebrows raised. You certainly have matured these two years. She remembers the scrawny, sylphlike sixteen year old boy she had first met what seemed ages ago.
In all the right places…
Feeling a surge of independence, of rebellion, and of desire, Michelle quickly strips off her dress until she was only in her lacy slip. Well, so have I. She smiles wickedly as she turns out the light. Excitedly climbing into the bed next to Robin, she takes her hair out from the swept up style it was in, her aqua curls cascading onto her bare shoulders, her French heritage showing through.
Sliding down under the covers next to him, Michelle runs her eager hands over his warm chest and around his bare back, attaching herself to his body. Stirring, his eyes still closed, Robin's own hands find their way down Michelle's silky back, thinking himself in a dream until his eyes snap open to find her face so close to his, her warm body wrapped tightly around him.
"Michelle!" Robin jumps up straight out of the bed, shocked to find himself shirtless—and entirely pantless, too. "What're you doing here!?"
"Why, I'm going to sleep with you, Robin Starr. Don't worry, dearest, it's alright. Nobody can tell us what to do anymore." She smiles amorously, sitting up as she throws her curly locks over her shoulder with a giggle.
"But, Michelle, I…we…" Robin finds his sharp wit for once at a loss for words, shock written clearly on his unwilling features. He watches her smiling, expectant face drop.
"You don't want me…" Michelle feels stinging at her eyes. "Nobody ever really wants me." She turns her face from him on the verge of tears.
"No, Michelle." Robin kneels by the bed, grabbing her bare shoulders, surprised at how good it felt. "That's not it," he feels his adrenaline rising. "I do want you…more than you know...more than I know..." He smiles at her gorgeous body, his blood pumping like this for the first time, never having even thought of women like this before. Her face lifts expectantly, waiting for him to make a move.
Oh, how tempting, Robin sighs. "But I don't want it to be like this though, Michelle." He pulls back his arms, moving away from her.
"What do you mean?" She asks, wet tears once again in her eyes.
"You're only doing this to spite her." The intuitive sensitive says succinctly, understanding Michelle more than either knew.
"No, no, I'm not! It's nothing to do with her. I love you!" Michelle pitches her body forward across the bed towards his standing form which pulls on a dashing velvet night robe, even as she clutches at his arm pleadingly.
"I know you do, Michelle. I love you, too," He finds the words so easy to say, cementing his belief in their truth now. "But I know you better than you know yourself. You're just running from her. I won't let you do that. She's an important part of you…and I want to love all of you—I want every bit of you, Michelle. Do you understand?" He surprises himself at the ferocity of his words. Taking her shoulders in his hands again, as her eyes glisten at him, she nods, smiling sweetly.
"Good." He pulls her from the bed so she was standing in front of him. Robin then forcefully wraps his arms around her, planting an intense inferno of a passionate kiss on her lips. After a long moment passes, the star of Healer pulls away, looking at this woman who represented the planet of Neptune lovingly, her eyes still closed in sheer bliss. Picking up her abandoned dress (and her pantyhose and shoes as well) he smirks to himself, then hands them to her as he leads her to the door. "You go on now, go right to sleep, Michelle." He smiles reassuringly, squeezing her hand.
Stopping her in the doorway on her way out, Robin smiles at her dreamy expression.
"And don't go into the living room. I think you've had enough excitement for tonight." Robin smirks, knowing Sayer was out there, no doubt lurking.