A/N: Written as part of the Angsty April 2012 challenge over at shitennou_ai. The prompt is "Castle".

"To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time."

Night, Elie Wiesel

Minako stood in front of a ruin, admiring the architecture. Well, that which remained of it. The castle was somewhere off the pony track to Ben Nevis: she'd been meaning to just have a little wander, soak in the view of a landscape so different from Tokyo's, and then meandered over a hill and there it was. She was surprised that it wasn't mentioned in her travel guide; it had a page for every rock and boulder around here.

Fishing her camera out of her backpack, Mina snapped a picture of the ruin and the little lake before it and went on her way. Lots more to see.

"Are you sure?" Sailor Pluto asked the man on the floor. His body was horribly contorted, the legs broken, a necklace of bruises around his neck, blood seeping from the corners of his mouth. His hand was outstretched, as if he was still reaching for Serenity, whose body had been carried away hours ago. Before the Queen called Saturn, her daughter would be buried. The man who had brought all of this was not. He would lay here, under the starry sky, until the glaive fell. This was the end of Endymion the Great.
"I am," Endymion whispered, his strained throat not allowing for more.
"They will be forgotten, forevermore," the senshi replied and bent down, brushing a blood-matted curl from his forehead. He had been such a beautiful man. Endymion managed a teary smile. "So be it."

"You will be reborn without your guardians," Pluto said, her words making it so. Somewhere, four threads of life snapped, falling to the floor of an ancient cave. It was done. "You will be all alone."
Endymion blinked, and blood spurted from a wound in his stomach. Each drop brought him closer to the end but each drop cost him dearly. His currency these days was pain. When death finally came to him, Pluto knew it would be mercy. "Is it bad?" he asked, his voice breaking. He was not asking about dying, Pluto knew, he was asking about being alone. So he loved them still, his men, his traitors, his murderers. He truly was Endymion the Great. Great in his love, great in his foolishness.

Pluto swallowed. She could not tell a broken man that loneliness was the hardest cross to bear. Offering him the only kindness she knew, she lied, forcing a consoling smile on her face. "Not at all."
"Ah, good," he murmured and closed his eyes.
And then he died.

She stayed in a small bed & breakfast, somewhere in the wilderness. There was running water, which Minako counted as a win, but that was all the place had to offer for comfort. No TV, no bar, no distractions. But it was fine, she had gone on her big European journey because she wanted to see something of the world before Crystal Tokyo changed it.

Sitting down at the window, she looked out at the night sky, so beautiful and dark. The stars seemed brighter here somehow. If her mobile phone would have any reception, she'd call Ami to ask her why this was so, call Makoto to tell her about all the strange and new food she'd tried, call Rei to share the silence of the mountains, and Usagi to giggle about the kilts. She missed her friends, but knew they were waiting for her when she got home.

At some point, she would have to pick up a wedding present for her dear Makoto. She wanted to get her something special, but so far, hadn't seen anything that was good enough. Her eyes fell on her camera. Perhaps the picture of the ruin in the sunshine? Blown-up to poster size and nicely framed? Motoki didn't seem like the kind of man who would interfere with his soon-to-be wife's decorating.

Yes, this might be something, Minako thought and focused her attention back on the stars.

"Whose place is this?" Venus whispered in Kunzite's ear, and he chuckled as he let his hands trail down her barely covered back. It sent goosebumps down her spine and Venus slung her arms around his neck. They'd just arrived and already, he had removed her heavy travelling cloak to reveal the thin chiffon gown she wore underneath. He'd just dropped it in a hall, not caring who found it. He was greedy for her, and it made Venus feel light-headed and free.

"Can't you tell?"
Venus glanced around. Heavy stones. Thick rugs. Little comfort. It clicked. "This is Nephrite's palace?"
"It is," he confirmed and rewarded her deduction with a butterfly kiss on her neck. She arched into him. He might seem cold and distant to others, but Venus knew that just like any other man's, Kunzite's blood ran hot, and as she pressed herself against him, she could tell exactly where all this red hot blood was going.
"And he won't mind?" she asked, slightly out of breath. Oh, that talented mouth of his.
"Can't say that I care," Kunzite murmured and finally pushed the door open with one hand while pulling Venus into the room with the other.

The next morning, Minako Aino packed her big backpack, paid for her room, and was on her way.
She didn't follow the pony track all the way, had no desire to really climb a mountain. She just walked in the sunshine, the green grass fluttering in the wind, the beauty all around her.

Life was good.

"Oh, Mina, how lovely!" the blushing bride exclaimed and pulled her new husband over to share in her joy. "Look what Mina got us!"
Minako smiled and watched Makoto examine the present. She knew it was perfect when she saw it. Sometimes you just know. Much better than that boring picture of the castle.
"Where did you get it?"
"Madrid," Minako explained. "It's an antique pepper mill. I figured I'd give you something you could actually use."
"Thanks," Motoki said with his trademark easy smile and bestowed Minako with a kiss on the cheek. Like Makoto, he was kind and friendly. He would make her friend very happy. He'd long since figured out that Mamoru dressed up in a tux to fight crime every once in a while, so to learn that his girlfriend wore a kinky school uniform to do the same hadn't changed a thing for him. Motoki Furuhata loved Makoto Kino, just as she was, Sailor Jupiter or not. Fate was finally on the side of the senshi. Minako's heart fluttered with happiness. "Let me take a picture of the two of you," Minako said suddenly and got up to fetch her camera. This moment was for keeps.

"Say cheese!" she commanded, and bride and groom did.

In the back of the room, Setsuna walked up next to Mamoru who was watching Usagi dance with Motoki's father. Even though the ghost of a smile was on Mamoru's face, he looked sad. "And how are you doing today?"
Startled, Mamoru looked at her. Setsuna, tall and beautiful and imposing, was looking at him like she actually cared. He wasn't used to people asking him about his well-being. Especially not one of the senshi. More often than not, he felt like background noise around Usagi's friends.
"Umm, fine, and you?" Of course, he wasn't, not completely, but there was no way he would tell Setsuna about how Motoki was his only friend and how it stung a little bit that from today onwards, he too belonged more to the girls than to him. He wanted Motoki to be happy, and Makoto too, of course he did. He just wanted not to lose his friend either.

"Is something missing?" Setsuna asked in her typical cryptic fashion, and Mamoru frowned. He looked around. All the people there, he had his car keys in his pocket, his digital camera in his hands, had given Motoki the rings in church- no, everything was alright. "What would be missing?" he asked, trying to find what he'd overlooked. Had the caterers forgotten to deliver some food? Were they out of champagne? "Anything I need to pick up?"
The senshi looked at the floor. Four souls, forgotten forevermore. It was a harsh fate. When she looked back up, her face was smooth as she smiled at the prince. "Nothing, nothing at all."

The Queen walked out onto the battlefield. Her white gown trailing behind her, getting muddied by blood and battle. Serenity the younger was in the marble tomb, locked away, to be reborn in another time, when she had a chance to be happy. While the bodies of the four inner senshi could not be retrieved, they too would find their way into a new life. The magic to bind the girls together had already been woven by the last remaining priests. They had sacrificed their lives to cast the spell, more red blood on white marble.

The Queen came to rest next to Pluto, who was still staring down at Endymion's broken form.
"Is it done?"
"He has been punished," the senshi of time replied, her voice almost not catching. The shitennou had been his to command and by the laws of ancient magic, his to perish. He had done so, his desire wiping their souls from this world, and now they would be gone, never to return again. Soon, they would not even be a memory. Well, not for anyone but her. Sailor Pluto saw everything and knew everything and remembered everything. This was her power, this was her curse. From now until the end of time, she would remember the Earth prince's four guardians and what they had done to the world. But Endymion wouldn't. Loneliness would haunt him, and Pluto and the Queen knew that it was the one thing worse than regret.

"Good," the Moon Queen said with feeling, and then the final glaive fell.

*** The End ***