Chapter 3: Reflections of the Past

The girls had decided to go to Usagi's house for some vegging out. When they walked in the front door, Mrs. Tsukino called out to Usagi, "Some guy named Mamoru called. Said he needed to see you!"

Ami, Makoto, Rei, and Minako stopped in their tracks. Usagi turned around to look at her friends. "Go," Rei urged. "You two need to talk."

"Yeah," Makoto agreed, plopping down on the couch. "We'll still be here when you get back."

Usagi smiled gratefully at her friends. "Thank you. You all are the best." She turned around and headed out the door.

Luna came into the room and hopped on the arm of the chair Makoto occupied. "Well hello girls, what did I miss?" She looked inquisitively at them.

"Oh you know, the usual lovebird drama," giggled Minako. "Hey, who wants to watch some anime?"

...

Usagi ran full speed to Mamoru's apartment, her pigtails waving behind her. She didn't stop until she reached his front door. Panting, she knocked rapidly.

Mamoru opened the door and asked, "Usako, are you okay? Did you run all the way here?"

She nodded. Smiling, he let her in.

On the couch, they sat side by side, with Mamoru holding Usagi's hands in his. "I'm sorry, I realized I didn't give you much time to say goodbye. But I had the feeling you had more to say. What's bothering you?"

Usagi looked into his eyes. They weren't quite like Seiya's, nor was his scent. His arms, his hands—it was all so different. But she knew that Mamoru would be her king someday. Why fight destiny?

"I—It's not important."

"Yes, it is." Mamoru remained persistent, his sapphire eyes gazing into hers. "Tell me, Usako."

Usagi sighed. "Okay, but don't be upset. See, while you were gone, I fell in love with someone else. I still love you, and always did. I wrote to you every day…but when I realized you were not replying, I gave up." Tears gathered in her eyes. "I'm sorry I'm so weak. I should have held on longer."

"No, no it's okay. I understand."

"No…you don't. I…I kissed someone else."

Mamoru was silent for a moment. "Well, there were extenuating circumstances. It's not your fault." He touched her face and wiped away a stray tear. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"It's complicated." You have no idea. "She was one of the Starlights. At first, in her human form, she appeared to be a male. At first I rejected him, but ended up falling for him and him for me. Then when we found out we were both Senshi, well, things got interesting. But Seiya was there at a time when I needed someone. I'm so sorry." Usagi started to cry.

Mamoru wrapped his arms around his girlfriend. "It's okay, little bunny. I understand. Maybe if the same thing had happened to me, something similar would have resulted. The question now is, do you still love Seiya?"

Usagi hesitated. "I...I don't know."

"Well, that's okay too. These things take time."

Oh, Mamoru could be so understanding. Usagi wondered how she ever ended up with a strong man like him.

…..

Kinmoku had been utterly destroyed, except for one block of rock on which the Starlights and Kakyuu stood upon. Seiya bent her head down, remembering all those whom had been lost in battle. She was grateful to Usagi for ending the war, but so much had been lost already.

Oh, Usagi. That moon goddess with the long blonde hair—she seemed to follow Seiya to the far reaches of the universe.

"Healer, do you think you can bring this planet back?" Sailor Star Maker inquired.

"You have a better chance of making a planet than I do of healing this one," Healer replied.

Kakyuu spoke in her eloquent way. "Surely we can do something. This rock cannot be all that we have. We have each other, and through each other we can create a home, a place for us. If not, perhaps the Moon Princess would be willing to accommodate for us."

Excited at the prospect of seeing her again, Fighter spoke up. "Is that possible? Would they really do something for us?"

The other three turned to look at Sailor Star Fighter. They knew of her love for Usagi, and her eagerness to reach Earth again was because of the Moon Princess. "We will see. We will return to Earth if we do not find a suitable home here in this system," Kakyuu spoke wisely.

Seiya could hardly contain her excitement.

…

Usagi and Mamoru were embraced in each other's arms.

"Mamoru?"

"Yes, bunny?"

"Are you sure you're okay?" Usagi asked.

"Yes…I know you love me. I will surely always love you. We both know we will be married one day. If I have to be honest, I just want to know if you will stay faithful to me, should Seiya ever come back," Mamoru stated.

Usagi turned her head to the side and lifted Mamoru's head to meet her eyes. "I will always love you."

Mamoru nodded. "Today will be our last day together for a while. So I was wondering-" Mamoru didn't even get to finish his thought. Usagi had pulled him in for a long lip-lock. As she kissed him, she felt the warmth of his lips that seemed to permeate throughout her body. Mamoru wrapped his arms around her, and held her tight. They stayed in this position for several minutes before Mamoru broke their kiss off. "Do you want to stay the night?"

Stay the night? What kind of girl does he think I am? But this is his last night…Usagi thought about it for a moment, and said, "Yes, but on one condition."

"What's that?"

"Don't stop."

Mamoru smiled and pulled Usagi in close again.

…

"I'm getting impatient. Where is our queen?!" Io shouted.

The four had gathered back at their domain after a failed day of searching. Now Io was in Europa's face with a threatening attitude.

"Answer me!"

"Look, Io, we have been searching the entire day. All of us have. It is not like we have a time limit. No one knows we are here," Europa snapped back.

Io became even angrier. "That does not mean we have time to play around! The sooner we find Jupiter, the sooner this universe will become the perfect one we have all dreamed of."

"We all know why you want her back. In our old incarnation, you loved her, didn't you?" Callisto slyly asked while she brushed through her black hair.

Io stood silent, then spoke slowly, "Even if I had, my feelings for her are beside the point. We are so close to her and getting our kingdom to rule again."

Ganymede spoke in his usual raspy voice, "Maybe we should enlist the other moons to help us."

"Now that is one thing I agreed with Io on. If we are the four that find her, we will be her highest stations in her kingdom. We will be known as the truest and most loyal of her subjects," Europa declared. "After all, we are the most powerful of the moons of Jupiter. It would only be the right thing."

"There is a time for the others, but they are to be called here at a later time. Right now, the mission is to locate Queen Jupiter. Then we can carry out the rest of the plan," Io pronounced.

….

The entire Sailor Senshi team, except for Usagi, was meeting at Rei's shrine in the large fireplace room. Everyone said down in a semicircle facing the fire, while Artemis and Luna laid down facing the girls.

Luna spoke up. "I have called you all here to speak to you about important things. Usagi's absence is my doing; I want her to take a rest from this whole business. She also needs to be with Mamoru at this time. Therefore, she is excused. However, the rest of you need to listen up."

"Are we in trouble?" Ami inquired.

"Yes and no. I needed to speak to you about the last battle. I understand you were all killed in action. You were not able to save Usagi from Galaxia and protect her as well as you could have. The Starlights are from another galaxy, and they were able to the very end, for Pete's sake! Why could you not do so?" Luna demanded.

"It was difficult. Galaxia was a different kind of enemy. The Starlights had faced her before. Of course they could withstand her longer," Makoto replied defensively.

Artemis sat up from his lounging position. "Luna, give it a rest. Serenity saved us all. Do we really need to question this anymore?"

Luna ignored him. "I also would like to know what the hell you think you were doing, Uranus and Neptune! Betraying us all like that—you are fortunate that Usagi asked me to forgive you." Her feline fur stood on end as she glared at the two outer senshi.

Haruka raised her eyebrows. "We did what we thought was the right thing. Distracting the enemy seemed like a good plan," she said coldly.

Michiru ran her fingers through her aquamarine hair. "What we did may have warranted the removal of our posts and disgrace, but we know that we did the right thing. Usagi knows our true intentions."

Luna squinted her eyes at the pair. "And you won't do it again?"

"Can't guarantee anything. If necessary, it may be useful to use the same ruse." Haruka crossed her arms.

Luna sighed and shook her head. "All right then. I guess I can't ask for anything more."

Artemis queried, "Did you call us here for any other reason than to chew out the Senshi?"

"Of course I did, Artemis," Luna snapped. She regained her composure. "I want to talk about Usagi. I am worried about her. I think this last battle affected more than you could possibly know."

"What do you mean?" asked little Hotaru. "What's wrong with her?"

"She has not been sleeping well."

"She never does," remarked Rei, shaking her head.

"Rei! I am serious. Lately she has been calling all of your names in her sleep, begging for you not to leave. I believe it is recollections of the battle itself." Luna decided not to mention that fact that Usagi cried for Seiya in her sleep. That was Usagi's business. "She also cries out, wishing she would stop falling. I get little sleep myself from this. I tried to sleep in this morning, and was worried when I woke up and Usagi was gone. I later learned she went to Mamoru's, but not knowing where she was bothered me. I am her guardian, after all."

"Why did she not see Rei? Rei is our interpreter of dreams," Setsuna quietly stated.

"I can answer that. She probably didn't trust you Rei. I know you pick on her a lot; maybe she was afraid to confide in you," Artemis answered.

Rei stayed silent, but looked rather disappointed.

"In any case, we should find out what's going on. Maybe we can let Usagi know that we will always be there for here," Makoto declared.

Luna purred in agreement. Stretching her feline legs, she stood up and looked at the senshi. "It is our responsibility to look after our Princess. I fear we may become too relaxed and not expect the worst; we must not be caught off-guard as we have been before."

"Well, what can we do in the meantime? It has been almost two weeks since the battle with Galaxia. What are you suggesting, practice by fighting crime or something?" Minako asked skeptically.

"It's a possibility. Heaven knows that the policemen around here could use a hand every once in awhile. Perhaps you can get in touch with your old contacts and see if they need help, Sailor V. You did those sorts of things in your solo career," Luna said.

Minako and Artemis nodded, remembering those early days.

"Well, let's go see Usagi-chan! We can all cheer her up," Hotaru exclaimed happily.

"No good, Hotaru. She's with Mamoru tonight. She called me to cover for her tonight, and to tell her parents she's at my house," Minako remarked with a smirk. "Tomorrow, though, we should all go see Usagi-chan."

"Okay, then, that is settled. But I have the first word. I just wanted to let you girls know how your friend is really doing," Luna said.

….

"Seiya, don't leave me. Thank you, Seiya. Girls, girls, don't go! Don't leave me here alone!"

Mamoru had watched Usagi for a few minutes going through this episode of panic. He was tempted to wake her up, until she spoke Seiya's name. Now he sat at Usagi's side, watching her.

"Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus! Pluto, what is happening to you? Saturn! You can't die! Neptune and Uranus, what have you done? Oh please, Seiya, please tell me they are still my friends!" Usagi cried out.

Mamoru hung his head down. He now knew how horrible it must have been for Eternal Sailor Moon to battle it out with the most demonic Sailor of all, while her friends were dying all around her.

"Mamoru, no! You killed Mamoru? How could you, you evil witch?! Damn you!" She screamed and cried steady streams of tears. "No, I'm falling too! I'm sorry, I wasn't strong enough, everyone…"

Mamoru noticed her twitching and shaking in the bed and shook her himself. "Usako, wake up."

She opened her innocent eyes wide. "Wha-what's wrong?" she mumbled.

"You were having a bad dream, I believe."

"Really? Because I don't remember. I only remember falling…I've been feeling this way for a little while now." Usagi sat up in the bed.

Mamoru whispered, "You should have told me about it." He kissed her sweet little lips.

"I meant to, but then you said you were leaving for America. I did not want to worry you about it."

Mamoru sighed. "Usagi, Usagi, I told you; tell me anything your heart desires."She smiled at him. "But I have to say though, you called out Seiya's name too."

This startled Usagi for a moment, and then she spoke. "Really?" Oops. I wonder what I said, she thought.

"Yes, but I think you were reliving your battle moments. I suppose it would be perfectly natural for you to call out his—her name." Mamoru was apparently still getting used to the idea of his competition.

"Oh." Usagi curled up to Mamoru. "But I love you. I probably missed you too, right? In my dream?"

"Yes, you—you cursed her for killing me."

"Wow. That must have been one heck of a dream. I'm so glad I don't remember it." Usagi hugged Mamoru even tighter.

"I'm glad too." Mamoru stroke Usagi's hair, thinking he never wanted to leave her. It was a shame he had already promised to go, too. He would treasure these last few hours with her.