We do not own "Sailor Moon" nor any of the characters.
"SAILOR MOON ETERNAL"
The 6th Season of the Sailor Moon Saga
Chapter 30
"For My Friend"
The next day at Chad's mountainside mansion, a filling breakfast was headlined with Lita's famous pancakes, and anything else their healthy young appetites could scarf out of the huge pantry in the large kitchen. Mrs. Jennings, the Levington's cook, was luckily out visiting her grandchildren in the nearby village, or she would have had a heart attack over the chaos wreaked by scavengers on her well-kept kitchen.
After a while, Sayer and Alex had come in from a 'morning run' in the snow to join the gang in eating some, by now, cold pancakes. Alex had even exchanged a few civil words with Darien, who had been speaking with their host, Chad, over Serena's dizzily chewing head. Having been a happily married man for half a year now, with Alex maintaining a certain wolfish rock star's fascination, Darien was glad to keep his past differences with the defiant Sailor of Uranus in the past. He was pleased to have the difficult woman on their team as much as Alex had finally accepted his presence as paired with the Moon leader and his role as future king of the Earth.
As for Alex, there was a time before when she questioned his place on a team full of women. But now, the point was moot with the arrival of three more—ahem—men to fight alongside them, as well.
A leisurely lunch passed with songful fun and then the team of fun-loving Christmas-ing companions were off again for more snow and ice, playing this time in the form of skiing. Suited up and well-insulated from the bitter cold, the seven couples soon take to the mountains' snow-capped slopes.
Terry and Susan stay behind in the warm confines of the mansion's fireplace, but they kept their eyes out the window, watching for Sammy's safety as he sledded on the hills outside the mansion since Susan had promised Mrs. Hart to keep an eye on him. So, Terry made Susan a hot cup of green tea, her favorite, which steamed up the window seat they were perched in, along with other 'warming' activities between the hot couple. Artemis and Luna purposely steered clear of this living room where the newlyweds were enjoying each other's company in the otherwise empty house.
Hitting the slopes had turned into a raucous laugh-fest, with Mina forgetting "how to ski" and falling down on her bottom several times. Ken had laughingly joined her as they both got tangled in the web of ski poles and skis on ice. Greg was doing all right with Amy's 'by the book' instructions, though he'd never been on skis before. That is, until his unfortunate path ran along the same as Mina and Ken. The pair had been trying to get up and just about made it, when poor Greg crashed into them, not knowing how to steer sharply around them at such short notice, sending the entire group all spiraling down the hill.
Darien, who was doing his utmost to keep his ungraceful little wife on her unsteady skis, was just about able to pull Serena to safety towards him in time. He lifts her small frame straight up in the air, skis and all, twirling her about in a suave pit maneuver that left the Moon Princess breathless and dizzy.
"Oh, Darien! You're so romantic!" Serena ditzily proclaims as her Tuxedo hero had once again saved her just in the nick of time.
"I know." Smirking smugly at how cool he had trained himself to be in any dangerous situation, Darien now had the unenviable task of dis-entangling himself and his skis as well as hers from Serena's long spaghetti strands of hair. But at least his giggling wife had that delirious smile etched on her enamored features as she gazed up at her knight in shining blue and white PVC ski outfit armor.
Lita, Amy and Andrew, along with expert skiers Chad and Rei, race past them to their crashed comrades' rescue. Ample curves displayed in her form-fitting, lavender and white ski outfit, Michelle, with a sleek in pale mint bodysuit and sepia chocolate jacket Robin, still stationed at the top of the hill, both sigh at the sight below them. The elegant couple roll their eyes at their juvenile companions below, pushing back their stylishly coiffed bangs behind their goggles in perfect synchronization.
'It's too cold to be playing like that in this snow. If you don't know how to ski you should just stay inside. Dummies look so stupid out there. Robin mentally grumbles and criticizes their companions. 'But even in this horrid weather, at least you look stunning, my Michelle.' Despite being forced out in the cold weather he intrinsically despised himself, Robin Starr's gaze finds his only solace to be trained upon his beautiful ski partner's always elegant, buxom figure in full admiration of the scenic wintry backdrop the gorgeous, cultured female made even more beautiful.
'And you look absolutely tasty, my Robin.' The psychic young woman licks her lips at how much like a mint chocolate delectable treat her handsome model appeared. Michelle lets out a feminine giggle as she prepares to race down the mountain beside her adorable one, about to leave the final 'adult' pair up here with the 'children' as she turns to comment on the others' youthful silliness to Alex, who had been standing beside her, only to find she and Sayer were both gone as well.
"Where did they go?" Michelle asks, sensitively knowing her beloved cousin was just there a moment ago, and was marginally disturbed by her best friend's sudden, silent disappearance.
"It's too cold to care. Who wants them around anyway? Brrr..." The young star who lived on a planet situated in the tropics for a great deal of his life previously, inwardly shivers. In a foul mood, he waves the thought of Sayer and Alex away nastily, the two of them taunting him in the cold and the ice and the snow all morning had put him in a rather rotten mood towards his nemesis duo.
"Oh, so you do want to be alone with me? How seductive you are, dearest. Let me warm you..." Michelle coos, sliding her warm ocean waters gloved hand expertly to slip into his back zipper, going down beneath Robin's insulated brown jacket rear with a familiar squeeze to the cool, refreshing mint below.
"In public, Michelle!?" Robin squeaks a high note at her unexpected, yet extremely warm and enticing touch. Caught rather unawares on the high slope, senses thrown off by her intimate fingers tracing along his tight lines down there and beginning to snake around his pliant pvc stretch bodysuit, Robin's slippery skis take off rapidly down the steep hill. Swiftly righting his descent to not end up like the group who had already crashed, the embarrassed young singer had quickly caught up to where the others had gathered. Luckily, all were unharmed victims from the accident, and though snow covered, were all none the worse for wear.
Michelle sighs again, sensing Robin was still a little timid to be so entirely physical with her. At least not in public, his outward protests could not deny his inner emotions sending her approving signals.
"Oh, well. Soon, but not yet." She chases off after her minty prize, determined to capture his breathtakingly cute and touchably, tight body someday, for Michelle knew his mind and soul were already hers. So, the oceanic siren decides to be patient as she speeds down the slope to reclaim her adorable love.
Another pair, this one not minding to be tactile at all, go off exploring the snowbound wilderness in search of adventure and excitement as well. They go deeper and deeper into the forest, slowly working their way through tall trees which hadn't seen human beings for quite a while. Most of the wild animals just stop in their tracks to stare at the foreign pair of travelers, and did not run away in fear.
The further they went, the quieter it became, almost eerily, when Alex suddenly realized why it was so strange.
"Why are you so quiet? Is anything wrong?" She asks, breaking the silence, as Sayer had not uttered so much as one word since they'd left the others. The tall golden blonde was so engrossed in the exploration of this new, pristine white world, that she didn't even notice him until now.
"No, I'm fine. Just—uhh—taking in the scenery, that's all." Sayer smiles brightly at Alex, as she had obviously just pulled him out of his own reverie.
"Sure you are, Starr. You can't fool me. What are you thinking about so intently?" She starts to pry, curious as to his strange, almost jittery behavior all morning. Alex casually leans against a frosted fir tree and crosses her arms awaiting his reply.
"Look! A house or something!" Sayer suddenly points down the sloping hill through the dense grove of fir trees to a small log cabin that was almost hidden from sight. Both curious, the two wintry figures pull back the veil of leaves and branches which usually concealed it from view, locking it away from the world for most of the year when dense greenery hid it.
~swishh~
"Want to see if anyone's home?" Alex asks, her interest piqued by the mysterious lodging as an uncanny breeze that was a part of her starts toying with her hair to blow in its direction.
"Maybe Big Foot's in there." Whispering in fear, Sayer had watched far too many late night horror movies it seemed. More pragmatic Alex rolls her eyes to the heavens which she had the full command of, to ever worry of imaginary monsters.
"With what room in that tiny little shack, stupid?" Alex mocks him in amused disbelief with a smack to his empty noggin. "C'mon, I'll race you there, my scaredy-cat starman." She takes off without a second thought, as Sayer stops to admire the sheer style of his golden beauty. She was at home in the snowy, winter weather, all a part of her Eastern European make-up.
"You're on, my Russian Ice Princess." The romantic visitor from the stars murmurs to himself, never thinking about uttering such an affectionate thing in front of this tough woman. To himself and to the cool wind she was a part of, he could only whisper it. Shaking off his sentimentality to keep focus on the prize, he checks, for the thousandth time today it seemed, that the pack he was carrying was still securely attached to his back. Then he zips down to where fast-moving Alex was already waiting at the log cabin's front steps.
She knocks on the rustic cabin's door to no answer, and was just about to open it to see what mysteries awaited them inside…
CREAK…!
As an odd wind rustles the trees, spiraling down through the wintry branches from the sky to whip against it, the door eerily unlatches to release of its own accord, it seemed.
Nonplussed, Alex pushes the door wide open the rest of the way, the sound of its rusty hinges showing its age. One look inside the spider-webbed interior, covered with a thick blanket of dust and stale air, was enough to know it had not been used for quite a long time now.
It was that enigmatic air about the chilly old cabin that made Alex want to know more of it. There was something thrilling to her about stepping inside someplace not another soul had seen nor touched in many years. And there was something especially…unsettling…about the quiet manner of its almost otherworldly stillness that felt almost welcoming to her.
But in a good way. Uranus had seen her share of the undesirable type of otherworldly in her time as a Sailor Soldier.
"Wow. Look at this place." The sound of Sayer's awed, silky voice in a whisper added to the mystique for Alex as both step into this forgotten world near the secluded peak of this uncharted mountain.
CRASH!
The cold wind suddenly whips up and snaps the door shut behind them.
"AHHHH!" Sayer was no chicken really, but was prone to impulsive fits of exclamation. Being especially jumpy today—right now—he instinctively flies into the safety of Alex's arms.
My hero…
Holding him close to her, she suddenly feels a strange…enchantment…coming from the cabin itself, it seemed. As if it wanted her to hold him close like this forever, as if it was waiting for them particularly—waiting to keep Alex and Sayer inside of its secret folds, together, safe and warm.
"It's just the wind, Starr." Alex says comfortingly, whispering now for some inexplicable reason as she continues to embrace him tightly, stroking his tense back up and down rhythmically to calm him as she would a child.
"Oh. Silly me." Enjoying her touch greatly for several blind moments, Sayer then pulls back quickly in embarrassment. The young man turns beet red at how cowardly he must've just looked in front of her, the one person in the world he never meant to disappoint.
How stupid I must've just looked! This could've been the perfect place—the perfect moment I've been searching for! But how can I give her this now, when she thinks I'm a stooge? Ally won't take me seriously; she won't know how genuinely I wish to tell her how I really feel about her…
Hammering himself mentally for the perhaps lost chance, Sayer loses himself in the forest of her green eyes.
"You're cute when you blush." Alex smiles at his boyish sweetness and brushes the dark navy curls from his eyes in an almost demonstratively tender manner.
Maybe now is the right time! His frantic mind, seizing the odd gaze she was giving him as encouragement, wonders if this was the moment he'd been waiting for to lay it all on the line to this unique woman he had fallen so desperately in love with, against all odds, now that they were alone...
Why am I worried? I know I'm good. But will she think so?
Fw-Whee! Fw-Whoosh!
There must be a lot of drafts in this place. A delicious shiver runs down her spine, as Alex feels a sudden rush of whining wind push her back from just turning around to leave this chilly abandoned cottage.
"It's no Grand Hotel, but—" Alex's deep voice states, but shockingly hushed Sayer was only trailing her around at a snail's pace. Shrugging laughingly as this was his crazy idea to come here in the first place, intrigued Alex explores the interesting cottage's interior deeper, giving Sayer some space to be with his bag.
First she finds a small nook of a kitchenette with a pair of stools placed at its wooden table/bar, hand-built to fit snugly into the cabin's small A-frame to best utilize its limited space. Then a small bench situated in a window box, the glass of which overlooking the hillside had been apparently etched with multiple enigmatic signatures.
More and more interesting…The Guardian of the Wind strokes her finger over the entwined names romantically entrusted to this age-old windowpane that had seen much in its reflection over the past hundred years or so. Alex sensed an almost palpable…emotion…rising from the earth to the winds at her touch's pre-recognition of the pair by pair of quixotic etchings.
Also curious at the interesting architecture that made the log cabin seem much larger on the inside than the outside belied, Alex's long legs cross into the rest of the almost enchanted place. Like stepping into an old black and white classic movie plot, she spies at the end of the hall what was obviously meant to be the cabin's one and only bedroom. More spacious than any other point in the charming cottage, this remarkable room sported a large bed with an old-fashioned patchwork comforter that was still neatly made in place on it, with matching curtains hanging on the double scenic window frames and throughout which made the entire cabin seem rather welcoming.
And there was something else about it…something indefinable, almost as if indistinguishable voices were quietly murmuring like a chorus through the still air in the background that perceptive Alex could almost—but not quite—make out…
"It's a nice place." Sayer finally answers as he breaks the eerie silence to call out to her nervously, just to have something to say as he takes several steps down the hall and goes into the room Alex had just been nosing around in.
Unceremoniously plopping down onto the big bed while fiddling with the bag's zipper, the boy who often wore his heart on his sleeve braces himself now on how it would be most advantageous to present the message his heart had been demanding he not hold back any longer.
The dark haired man of action's decision was made. He just had to get the blasted zipper open to get the ball rolling!
"This place is ancient, but well built. It must have been refitted since the turn of the century with some archaic central plumbing system and a working shower, no less…" A bathing expert due to demanding Michelle's penchant for a suitable place to get wet and clean, Alex begins to comment idly while checking out the small bathroom that sported a creepy horsehair owl tapestry on its door.
I bet this thing could give you nightmares. She smirks back at the silly boy whose imagination often got away with him. But she need not have worried about Sayer, for he was not paying attention to the century old cabin much, nor her wandering about it, idly exploring. She finds him seated on the bed, more than intent on opening the enormous zipper on his elongated backpack that had been strapped to him all day.
R-RRIPP!
"What's in there, anyway, Starr? You've been lugging that thing around all day." She stops in the doorway as his fumbling fingers lose their temper and finally just rips the zipper open with cosmic powered strength. It reveals that a guitar had been strapped in, along with a messily wrapped Christmas gift that had been stashed inside the torn bag beneath it.
"Uh…well…it's kinda your Christmas present…" Sayer's cheeks deepen to a shade of red that rivaled his button up shirt peeking out beneath his white ski suit.
"My Christmas present is a guitar?" With an incredulous look on her face, Alex walks into the bedroom toward him, holding her tongue from saying that the instrument was more his style than hers. In fact, the closer she approached, the more it appeared to be the rock star's own faithful favorite guitar, or maybe its exact duplicate. "Umm…Thanks?" Either way Alex was suspicious of why the crazy man would bring that outlandish a gift—used or otherwise—all the way up here, but she didn't want to seem that ungrateful.
"N-n-no! Not the guitar! Well, yeah, technically it is part of the whole package…but…This is—uh—umm—for you." Giving his beleaguered guitar a rap on its shiny lacquered red body that he fluidly then situates around his, Sayer stutters the confusing admission. He was a bundle of nervous energy as he nearly drops the poorly wrapped, by now dilapidated flat package while removing it from the backpack to the wood plank floor.
"You're as bad as a little kid, Starr. Couldn't it wait till tomorrow?" Alex chuckles, stooping down to pick up the fallen gift and hand it up to him. But the way his eyes were avoiding hers, as he pretended to tune his trusty guitar, made her wonder what this strangest present could possibly be.
"No! I…need…to give this to you…now, Ally." Almost pouting, Sayer protests at the returning package. With a little prayer, he closes his eyes tightly, as the crumpled box passes from his sweaty palms back into Alex's bemused hands. She shrugs and accepts the crookedly wrapped, yet lightweight flat object and unwraps it with a wry smirk on her amused features as she alights onto the edge of the bed beside him.
"I—I've been planning on it for…for months, waiting for just the right moment when we were—a-a-alone." Beginning to prattle nervously as he jumps to his feet, Sayer bites his lip hard with that last sentence, causing it to go almost as white as the rest of his ghostly pale face. "But I don't think I can wait to—to…show…it to you any longer, without exploding." The generally self-assured young man stumbles over every other word, and swallows hard to regain his composure a bit before ending up with a hopeful smile.
"And I didn't want to give it in front of everybody else, because you might not want me to, you know, in public. It's private…meant for just when we two were alone, because…it's straight from my heart, just for your ears only, U." Sayer's jumbled words made no sense to Alex, though she was now burning with curiosity as to know just what one simple present could cause such consternation on Sayer Starr's usually easy-going, overconfident features.
As he was speaking, Alex had opened the fairly badly dented box that held within it a single long stem red rose that had somehow survived the road trip, still ribboned to a wrinkled sheet of paper in a golden folder.
It was a piece of handwritten sheet music, with the simple dedication in Sayer Starr's bold, signature style at its heading:
'For My Friend, Ally.'
Their eyes meet for a long moment before either could say anything.
"A song…written for…me...?" She breathes up at him in disbelief. No one had ever done something like this—something so personal—for her before. Her frozen hands hover above the red rose tied sheet music's stunning notes as if she were afraid to believe someone cared so much to actually dedicate a song to her. She—a wild, willful, abrasive free spirit who sought no sentimental attachments—and Alex feared the obviously poured over, wrinkled page might shatter like a storybook glass dream if she touched it.
Me? I'm your friend…? She understood that if this serious Star Soldier had written this word of address, it meant a great deal more to this independent, oft unapproachable, aloof woman, because he had poured his whole mind and soul into believing they had bonded so much.
What's more, this Fighter was about to send the Guardian of Uranus his heart's message in true cosmic style, as he had only dedicated this sort of expressively deep music for his beloved Princess before.
Sayer's skilled guitar softly begins to fill the still cabin's bedroom with a sweet composition's gentle, plaintive, soaring notes, full of new discovery, yearning and love, all beautifully permeating the enchanted cottage that had been silent for far too long...
And when golden-throated Sayer Starr starts to sing so sincere and truthful with every lovely tone uttered, Alex's breath catches in her throat for how his dedicated message made her feel so completely special.
"Remembering things we said to each other
Unforgettable day we first met
I should have leaned my head on your shoulder
And searched the depths of your distant eyes for something more."
Lead singer Sayer's strong, pristine voice begins his songwriter's lyric with a bold reference to the first time he had encountered the difficult Soldier of the Wind. And yet, his gorgeous voice was filled with yearnings for what 'should have' been between them, questioning, rather than the confrontation of what was.
As his voice soared, Alex too, vividly recalled the palpable tension between the pair, as her mind races now at how the seasons had shifted that intense emotion of total distrust to respect to romance, and something entirely new and thrilling now.
"The reason why we couldn't get along
I'm clever at finding answers for everyone but myself
Maybe because I've always been an immature guy?"
Taking his share of the blame spelled out so clearly of regret that proved his maturity now, Sayer Starr's lowered eyelids were directed at his shining Alex Sokova as he sang so emotionally that she was utterly captivated.
"No matter how we found each other
Our feelings have changed around now
My chest tightens when I just think of you
Desperate to do anything to hold you tight to me!"
Uranus felt that she could hear not just a pretty voice spewing random words and music, but that it was a secret message on some deeper level longing to be expressed in the best way this otherworldly creature could—through his heart's gentle song.
"I'll keep believing in that star that
Promised a future I won't be alone in!
Whenever you're close beside me
We are 'us' because my heart's right here with you
The things that tie us together
No one can ever unravel our tomorrow
We'll finally meet now as we should've then
And we can truly be real friends."
His soulful message, like a shooting star, reached out to her across the wide blue sky they indeed were both an intrinsic part of, tying the two fighters' hearts together to be true companions, worthy partners, and real friends now, too.
"Those times we can laugh are good, aren't they?
Talking together just felt right
Our memories play just like an old movie
One that I never want to see come to an end!
Something precious and rare these
Emotions I now have for you
So soft and tender, each and every one
Can't be wrong!
Nothing more important to me than you!"
Alex was realizing that this 'starman' from beyond this galaxy had a special emotional rollercoaster quality about him that could make her once believed stable heart run the gamut. Blood boiling in anger one minute, busting out laughing at his insanity the next, then the crazy, beautiful creature could touch her hardened heart enough to make her want to cry sometimes, too, with how important he made her feel.
You're right—this 'us' doesn't feel wrong anymore, does it, Starr? From where she sat on the edge of the bed, in the sunlight streaming through the lone window, Alex considers Sayer's stunning profile that could display a vast array of emotions as he sang.
"I couldn't always see the truth
Was selfish at first, rejecting to learn more
Now I need to embrace your shine
Find the moment to tell you all my throbbing words
I should have said them all before
I wish yesterday
Could be rewritten somehow
This love blowing inside my heart
I'll devote it all now to you…"
'Selfish,' 'embrace,' 'throbbing,' 'love,' 'devotion'—the string of terms play to Alex's soul in a way she never thought possible. This man's melodic voice carried across his honest sincerity and belief that their stormy past could be rewritten by a fantastic promise she was finding herself caught up in more and more...
"I'll keep believing in that star that
Promised a future I won't be alone in!
When you were close beside me
We are 'us' because you are right here with me!"
'''Us,' eh? As he hit that perfect, high C note, down to earth Alex muses the sappy idea of always having this impulsively capricious rock idol in her life. It was a new and novel thought to want anyone—beyond Michelle, of course—to be so close that he could share her heart, on good days and bad of a promised future, to unendingly have him to hold tight to her like his sweet notes were tenderly pledging.
"The things that tie us together
No one can ever unravel our tomorrow
We'll finally meet as we should've then
And we can truly be real friends."
No longer alone…a tomorrow we can be real friends in?...That brand new, startling thought wasn't as undesirable as Alex once dreamed, as saucy Sayer Starr's sleek strains softly serenade her, unashamed now to reveal his new feelings, conveyed in this heart-provoking melody.
Seated close beside him on this enchanted cottage's bed, Alex felt swept up in his song's hopeful, yearning beauty while this blazing hot starlight melded true lyrics of love smoothly with his heartbeat's concentrated music.
In it, time and space seemed to pause with only the two of them in the universe, as Uranus was quietly listening in rapt attention to this one man concert. After all, it was being performed for her single audience alone as her Star Fighter repeats the poignant stanza that summarized the entire song's aspiration.
"We'll finally meet as we should've then
And we can truly be real friends…"
When the dazzling music's stunning sound comes to its moving crescendo on his gorgeous guitar strings, Alex's usually calm eyes felt strangely mesmerized as she gazed upon him. They turn wide and, daresay, teary, in downright pleased surprise at this greatest of all gifts—Sayer Starr's genuine friendship—laid out for her heart and hers alone.
You just wanted us to be friends…Nothing more, nothing less? No pressure to go all the way, like others of your current sex would push right now? For all your innuendo laden bluster, mister, you're really a sweetheart.
The normally tough-as-nails female could feel the significance of the wistful communication that his pretty voice was transferring to her through the airwaves in hopeful lyrics. His soulful song was replete with emotive expressions of their budding relationship in a stunning melody mix of yesterday's regret and tomorrow's endless promise.
And for once in her life, the heart-touched Sailor of Uranus was bowled over in grateful awe for his pure friendship and with it, a love offered, honestly, unabashedly, as limitless as the wide open blue sky.
Just what I thought I saw in you in Paris…I wasn't mistaken...You're serious about this…
The ghost of a musical celestial breeze softly concurs with that sentiment back to her, making Alex not just brush it off as she usually might have done.
This sincere Fighter's romantic sentimentality didn't end with the heartrending song's powerful communication as his skillful instrument closes the tune. Alex turns over the hand scribbled note sheet music he had given her to glimpse one more incredibly personal dedication to her:
'My search is over. I love U, eternal and more.'
"Starr..." She was just about able to whisper his name, feeling Sayer's true emotion for her, his wishing to be her friend, her partner, her companion, her lover, come through each and every tender measure, well timed chord sequence and rhythmically flowing note that reflected true love's declaration.
And moreover, the level of commitment she felt he was promising her with this glorious song written from his heart was now hers to take and hold forever if she wanted it. Pondering the future of their unbelievable relationship seriously for the first time, Alex traces her finger along the words on the paper her Sayer had written so meaningfully for her.
My Sayer? I guess you could equal me—if anyone could—because, at last, I may have found a true friend…a man, no less (well, sort of—hmph!), a fellow Soldier, who understands the way I am.
She watches Sayer in the corner of her eye as he, abnormally quiet, removes his guitar over his dark blue curled head from where it had been slung over his shoulder to place it carefully at the head of the bed. He affectionately pats the single instrument that had been his clear, lovely voice's only accompaniment in serenading his unique new lover. Then the handsome, wiry performer sits back on the bed beside it, still anxious, but less nervous for his music's review. For he had put his entire heart and soul into his music dedicated to this special woman alone as he peeks over to her bashfully.
You know what, Fighter? You can do it.
A memorable phrase from a life-altering time, long ago, echoes yet in Sailor Uranus' mind, her heart, her very soul...
Only a Fighter can challenge me to think like this. Only a Fighter can match me to feel like this. Only a Fighter can thrill me to change like this…
Without a single evocative word more as she lays the rose tied sheet music she had been holding to her lips onto the pillow, Sailor U gives in to her raw emotion and expresses her overwhelming appreciation with a crushing kiss. It lands to Sayer's unsuspecting cute mouth that was hanging open as he was waiting on tenterhooks for her response to his heart that he had just sung wide open for her.
Rising to the occasion, Sayer reciprocates her irresistible passion when Alex's long lanky body pins his back down to the bed. Moving as swift as the wind in on him, she violently knocks his blessedly resilient poor guitar to clatter across the floor as the well-matched fighters wrestle their unleashed, equally matched dynamism into an uncontrollably powerful, full-mouth liplock.
"'This love blowing in my heart, I'll devote to you now.'
Feeling so alive, Alex hears Sayer's silky voice in song reverberate in her head, calming her wild soul he simultaneously excited in some strange contentious manner, as she finally comes up for air to gaze down at the helplessly gasping shooting star trapped beneath her.
A gentle zephyr sent from the stars above seemed to waft a welcome warmth through the frigid cracks of the cold cabin's century old logs…
Let's test if I'm correct…how real your commitment is …Or is it just the whispers of a song?
"What do you see in my eyes now, Starr?" She breathes on his satisfied, heaving cheek, enjoying how Sayer's beyond pleased eyes danced up at her in total content affirmation.
He searches the depths of her green orbs this time, and finds that something more he had been hoping for was there. Relief sweeps over his handsome features that his song which he had poured his whole self into had this positive an effect, though his moist lips were left happily speechless by her vehement review's riposte.
Although, her next two words, as Alex uses her strong arms to prop herself up to tower over Sayer as he was languidly lying on the bed with starry eyes up at her, would evoke a definite reaction, none so calm nor tranquil in nature.
"Marry me." Her dark green eyes were dead serious as they stared him down, in all dared candor as the singing wind builds its deafening, yet silent forte to a sustained note's fermata.
Your brother may be an asshole sometimes, Starr, but maybe he got this right. Alex would never admit it to his face, but she did admire the selfless sacrifice Terry Starr had made in becoming a Guardian of Time for Pluto's sake, and the timeless bond—the closer than close intimacy—that he and Susan now shared through that mystery called marriage.
She seems to be a happy, complete Soldier now, with a partner to fight for our Princess at her side through all time, having her back, in ways unexpected. Maybe this change hasn't been all bad for her, like I once dreaded…
That haunting music continues to whistle hope through the winds of Uranus' inner psyche as she waits for his answer…
"Huh?" Sworn bachelor/sex symbol/rock idol-in-his-prime Sayer Starr gulps down the sudden, shocking proposal from this formidable female who too had supposedly sworn off the ritual custom of marriage long ago. He was floored by this unheard of demand of the powerful woman hovering over his vulnerable, yet very manly form on the bed trapped beneath her.
"Were they just words, then?" In a more even, quiet tone, she asks and dares and almost grieves all in the same breath at his sadly slow to respond, disappointingly male predictable noncommittal as her bright eyes start to dull and shy away.
"Let's do it then, U. Tonight." Sayer whispers seductively, stretching his face up to hers to kiss that little crook of her neck to draw her attention back and prove he was not backing out of this challenge—or any other. But his enigmatic words left Alex pondering in that moment whether he was insinuating something else that both their sinewy, youthful bodies had been aching for, especially in this tense, intimate circumstance of lying here on this bed together.
"You bet I'll marry you, Ally." Without skipping one more heartbeat, Sayer then smiles broadly and agrees wholeheartedly to Alex's outlandish challenge, as if in direct answer to her withdrawn eyes' unspoken query as the wind chimes flare a crescendo over her senses.
"Remember: 'I'll keep believing in that star that promised a future I won't be alone in!'"
His smooth, beautifully crystal clear tones echo an excerpt from his soulful song up to Alex's gratified face again in true testament to her, Sayer kissing at her rigid fingers placed on the mattress beside his cheek meaningfully.
"And I hear that on Christmas Eve, stars are signs that miracles can happen, Mrs. Starr." Riding close to the edge, Sayer couldn't help but toss a snide little tease up in Alex's direction, knowing the conventional taunt would certainly irk her back into their more familiar, good humored cat and mouse game.
"Indeed they can, Mr. Sokova." Exhilarated at his acceptance of her unexpected proposal, Alex's eyes sparkle right back at him, as smug Sayer was again left speechless at this new aspect's unforeseen quandary.
As far as he understood traditional earth culture, and particularly that of Japan, the wife was the one to assume the husband's last name to show she belonged to him. Just like Susan took on 'Starr' for Terry when they had wed, without a problem. But Alex Sokova/Sailor Uranus was a decidedly different kind of woman than her fellow Sailor Soldier, Pluto.
"Me take on your last name? What will my fans think?" Sayer wonders aloud, only mildly entertaining the thought of telling the world at large—namely all his adoring girl fans—of this big step, and in particular his stuffy manager.
Ha! Old Pymmie's gonna murder me when he finds this whole thing out!
"Do you care what other people think so much? I never did." The Sailor of Rebellion in her categorically objected to doing 'everything by the book,' just because the majority demanded it so. "If I can take your name, you can take mine. It's the only fair way to start off this madness." She tosses her golden bangs back over her flashing eyes.
"Is it, Ally?" His eyes darting away from hers, Sayer bites his lip hard so that it would have caused pain if he cared to notice.
"Well, I didn't think you would've had a problem with something as stupid as ownership dominance, like other men." Alex's dissatisfaction was evident in her stiffening voice as she starts to move away, feeling that if she may have had the wrong impression about one thing, then maybe she was wrong about others, too...
"Not that! I'll call myself anything you want, do anything you want me to, be whoever you want me to be—it is only fair to have a perfectly even exchange, in all things, Ally. Names included, I guess. We just didn't have that sort of thing on my home planet. We didn't even have last names, for that matter, either. It's kinda weird." He smiles crookedly after sitting straight up with the loud denial, neither Kinmoku nor Janus' more civilized people doing anything as silly as having surname preordinance.
Sayer was as liberal minded as she on this matter of personal independence and autonomous ownership, he truly of the opinion that nobody should be in possession of another that they should be forced to affix an unwanted moniker to label a person like some bought object.
"Then what?" She was sitting up by now, only tossing him a cool, sideways look of a tiny lifeline before pulling the plug on this whole thing before it got too far.
"I was just wondering if you really think this—this 'us'—is 'madness,' U?" His voice was small again, Sayer fidgeting with his collar in that adorable way when he was feeling low and unsure.
"Oh, that's all." Alex smiles to herself, glad inside that this Fighter from a distant star really did share her values and world view. "Hey?" She lifts his sunken chin to meet her eyes, never wanting to hurt the fragile emotions of this man again. "I love crazy." Alex assures him with one of her dazzling smiles as she physically pulls his mouth into a crooked one with her powerful fingertips. "So let's be crazy in love together. All right, Starr? Sounds like a new song of yours." She teases, the pleased grin overriding his gorgeous face was unsurpassable.
"You said it, 'Sokova!' I knew you loved me." All misunderstanding dissipated between them as Sayer's fervent arms and cocky smiling wide lips teasingly consent to acquire her stylish last name as well as everything else that came with it.
That is, if the award winning race car driver would be willing to let him be in the proverbial driver's seat—ahem—every now and then. He, out of the blue, forcefully flips Alex, who was distractedly glancing at the red rose his song had romantically been tied with, down to be the one pressed to the bed now in his place. Sexual dominance had nothing to do with the passions surging between these two equal warriors. But honestly measured, his osculation quality was every bit just as good as hers was before.
Even if he drove like a maniac.
Seeing the open invitation in her eyes, Sayer kisses Alex fiercely, not wanting to let her go, ever. Not now that she had asked them to do something neither of them would ever have considered in a million years, had they not by chance—no, by destiny, met one another…
Starr…Sayer. This is crazy. You are crazy. But I think I want to be, too. Your song was the commitment I've been waiting for. A thousand times over. I only wanted to know you really do love me. I never imagined you—you of all people—would be the one I want to spend the rest of my life with. And the funny thing is? The real kicker is? I think I can love you. Most of all, probably because you have accepted me for who I am. Never once have you tried to change me, or judge me like everyone else has. Just as I will try to never judge or change you.
I never believed in marriage before, thinking it some silly, archaic ritual where the woman always got the short end of the stick. But now, it's here, and I actually want to marry you. Prove that I want to hold you forever…starting now…
"Right now." Alex whispers in Sayer's ear with a painful nibble after their burning lips finally parted from the passionate kiss.
"What?" Sayer breathes back, not really able to pay attention as he kisses her again like a greedy child.
"We'd better go down to the village and get married, right now." Breaking away again at his growingly insistent kisses she was having a tough time denying anymore, Alex's eyes search deep into Sayer's. "So I can make an honest woman of you." She teases their very interesting sexual identity relationship before it started getting too hot to distinguish.
"Oo-kay." Sayer manages to halt his wild kissing—just—and swallows hard, equally finding it difficult to pull back from the nice, comfortable bedding. "Boy, my performance must've been good." Innocently Sayer refers to his song dedicated to his Ally, given for an early Christmas present just minutes ago. He never imagined this all could happen so soon in a literal whirlwind.
"I'll grade your real performance later, schoolboy. After deeper examination." Alex sexily taunts with a ruffle of his blue-black curls and a pat to his tight abs, before the ferocious female force of nature fast and furiously leaps up from the cozy bed they'd been lounging upon together.
With a long intake of the sweet red rose's scent combined with Sayer's intoxicating gardenia splashed with strawberry cologne, Alex smoothly scoops up her sheet music page from the pillow. Then she picks up his fallen guitar from the floor in one sweeping maneuver before tucking both snugly into the torn red bag she slaps to his chest, just in the time Sayer had to rise to his stunned feet.
"Well, I'm gonna ace that test for sure, Teach." Dared Sayer matches her innuendo-laden words with a flirtatious stroke all along the mussed comforter that ends with his octopus arms wrapping around her tall sleek form.
"You'd better. Wouldn't want you to get left behind in class." With a breezy blow-off in his face, Alex leads Sayer by the scruff of his compliant neck like a puppy out of the bedroom and through the rest of their tiny enchanted cottage where Alex was sure she was hearing a soft chorus of windblown music play from the vicinity of that name etched window.
"Desperate to do anything to hold you tight to me!" With a portion of his gorgeous song on his joyfully melodic lips, Sayer stops them short in the doorway for one last wild kiss before he had to face the forbidding cold ski slopes again.
Alex could tell from his soulful eyes and ardent lip lock that he was more than ready to 'graduate' to maturity in her 'class.' And ASAP.
"Sounds good." She breathes. "Let's race back down." As fumbling Sayer finally catches up in strapping on his skis to match her proficiently professional gear-up on the bench on the porch, Alex closes the door of the log cabin behind them tight.
In doing so she felt a tinge of almost…longing sadness…as they left behind this lonely, secreted cottage where so much was discovered between them. Closing her eyes, Alex turns to immerse herself one last time in the tinkling wind that had been encouraging her all the while to accept Sayer's song of love into her heart.
The grateful, maternal winds were strongly shining a starlit lullaby across endless light years with a protective Fighter's spirit of long, long ago, still watching over the special, sparkling child who never knew her. But she had not ever forsaken his brilliant heart's melody, even after her own fighting star had burned out as the first casualty of the Sailor Wars.
Come hell or high water, I promise to take care of him from now on…Whoever you are, fellow Soldier…Thank you for trusting your precious starlight to me…
Sensing her odd sentimentality, Sayer tenderly grips Alex's hand, not wanting to let go of the strong, firm confidence she gave to him in this special place, either. She squeezes it back, not willing to release his wiry fingers for a few extra moments of shared warmth in an adult mood massage to his incorrectly unbuttoned chest…
That is, until Alex snaps back to the reality of here and now again. She ignores Sayer's sneaky contented sighs and zips up his falsely 'defective' jacket rather roughly, shoving his ski poles in his incorrigibly grabby hands. Then she yanks his stylish red goggles over his enamored, petulant eyes and smacks his tight rear end in preparation to speed back down the mountain to the village.
"W-whoa-oh! MRS. STARR!" Sayer's shrieking voice cries out, loudly pronouncing the soon-to-be name of his sudden attacker, cruel tormentor, and true blue love all the way down the echoing mountainside.
I guess you're ready to shine properly at last, all right…
After sending less experienced skier Sayer screaming and veering down the slope at top speed, Alex Sokova pulls own her goggles down with a wry smirk at always having the upper hand over her man, with one final glance back at the hidden away cabin which she was almost sure possessed some magic of mystical whispers that called she and Sayer Starr to come confess their love and embrace a new sky as real friends.
"I'm coming, I'm coming, Mr. Sokova!' Less vocally ringing over the countryside, Alex sadistically laughs their inside joke tease before professionally traversing the slope at record shattering speed to keep Sayer from falling on his cute face, just in the nick of time.
"These times we can laugh are good, aren't they?"
Just the two matched fighters under the endless clear heavens, the incomparable pair share smiles and laughter all the way back, at last ready to dazzle life and its new exciting promise, starting with implausibly magical Christmas Eve dreams, set to the starlight wind's harmony.
"Oh holy night, the stars were brightly shining!
It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth!"
Hello Sailor Moon Eternal friends!
Thanks for reading this deliciously exciting Christmastime chapter! The song "For My Friend" featured in this chapter was recorded by Sayer Starr/Star Fighter's silky voice singer, Shiho Niiyama, who was special dear friends with Sailor Uranus, Megumi Ogata, in real life; and it fit right into this romantic storyline for our dramatically volatile, fiery warriors of the sky Uranus x Fighter. ^0^ You can sing along with the translated lyrics of Sayer's heart-rendered song dedicated to the powerfully independent Soldier of Rebellion.
Please review this thrilling, unexpectedly reversed proposal entry of our continuing Sailor Moon tale of Starlights x Outers' romances! The third part of this special will be up by Christmas Eve! So, please stay tuned!
God bless you! and yours in this holy day season!
"Hark the herald, angels sing! Glory to the newborn King!"
HarukaKou