Author's Note: So I haven't written anything even vaguely SetsMina in forever. And this is short, to boot. But I like it, so here it goes. Hope you all enjoy! Read and review, please!

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon isn't mine and never will be mine, sadly.

If there's one thing that Setsuna has learned as Sailor Pluto, it's that things are constantly changing. People are born, and people die. Kingdoms and civilizations come into being, and vanish just as easily either with world changing consequences or no record that they ever existed at all. The world is always a new place from day to day.

Things are constantly changing, but one thing has always been the same.

She's always left behind.

It starts when she's young; all good lessons that last do. The blood that runs through her veins ensures her position. She isn't given a choice in the matter. Her mother passes her along to the kingdom on the moon, and she's given the Time Staff when she's still too young to fully support its weight.

Her mother leaves her there, and never looks back. Setsuna doesn't see her again.

It happens again when the Silver Millennium falls.

She wants to fight—God, does she want to. She should be fighting. She's a senshi, one of the warriors that swore her loyalty to Queen Serenity, but she's also an Outer senshi. And even then…

She is Sailor Pluto, the Guardian of Time. She cannot fall here.

So she doesn't fight. She stays at the gates.

Everyone dies. No one is spared.

And once again, she's left behind.

But it's okay. By the time the Silver Millennium falls, she's used to it. Mostly.

Of course, the more things change, the more things stay the same.

This isn't exactly the same, of course. Setsuna knows this. She's never forced someone to leave her behind before, and that's what she's doing now; freezing time like this, buying only a few seconds to save Neptune and Uranus—Michiru and Haruka.

It's saving their lives. They must live. What happens to her ultimately doesn't matter.

This is her choice. For once, she's choosing to be left behind.

It's still the same thing, but she tells herself it isn't so it doesn't hurt.

It's fine.

She's used to it. It's her duty to be left behind, to force others to leave her behind.

She's used to it.

Of course, eventually, everything changes.

Sailor Venus is a blur of gold and orange, sprinting across the bridge, shouting her attack at the top of her lungs, blue eyes blazing, and for a moment Pluto is stunned. A choked "Venus!" is all she can manage.

"Pluto, hurry!" Venus takes her hand, and before Pluto can think, before she can even try, they're running; running across the bridge, Nehellenia's mirrors hot on their trail, and the bridge snaps because of course it does, and then they're falling.

Pluto hates heights.

But Venus never lets go, not even for a moment, and with a shout of "Venus Love Me Chain!" she manages to keep them from falling to their deaths; though hanging from a chain isn't exactly ideal, either.

A nervous laugh bubbles from the younger girl's throat, and if she was capable of it Pluto would strangle her. She says something—something silly and light hearted—but Pluto doesn't even pay any mind to it. "Why did you do such a reckless thing?!" she explodes.

Pluto knows how this is supposed to go. She's supposed to be left behind. Either because she's forced it herself, or because fate has made it so. But the end result is all the same.

No one is supposed to come back for her.

Venus just smiles, utterly delighted with herself. "Did you really think I could run away and leave my friend behind?"

Pluto can't say anything to that.

She can't even think of anything to say to that.

So she says nothing.

And Venus continues, because of course she does. "This is an order from the leader!" she says. "We'll combine our strength to rescue the Princess!"

And it's all so silly. It's silly, and stupid, and reckless, and it's not supposed to go this way—no one ever comes back—but Venus not only says those words, she believes it genuinely. She honestly believes as long as they're together, it'll be fine.

Somehow.

Pluto can't help it. She's laughing before she's realizing it, and then Venus laughs too, and for just a moment everything is perfect.