The End…or is it the Beginning?

By: Honest Beauty

(Note: this fan fiction is meant for people who have read the Sailor Moon manga, or at least the Stars season or read the summaries on the internet.)

Chapter 1: The Theory

Time had frozen when Serenity sealed away Chaos and destroyed her body in the process. When the Cauldron Guardian sent her and her friends back to Earth, they returned to an hour after the Starlights, Princess Kakyuu, Princess Serenity, and Chibi Chibi left for the Galaxy Cauldron. Now Luna, Artemis, and Diana were reborn too (though Diana went back to the future). Luna rejoined Usagi and Artemis moved in with Mamoru (Artemis used to live with Minako but moved in with Mamoru to help him learn to rule his kingdom and advise him):

Mamoru woke up slowly, briefly reliving the battle between Usako and Galaxia, the way he watched his soulless body obey Galaxia's orders, heard Serenity's anguished cries as Galaxia used his body and voice to tear his princess's heart in two, and her screams of denial as his body plunged into the cauldron. He shuddered and forced the memory away and sat up in bed as yet another memory came swimming up out of his mind. His guardians Kunzite, Zoicite, Nephrite and Jadeite, the Shitennou, had sacrificed themselves to save their prince in the battle with Metaria. But he heard them say that they would meet again and continue to protect their prince alongside Priest Helios. Mamoru had a feeling that his generals were out there, alive, waiting for their memories to be returned.

"Hey, Mamoru, you awake all the way? You look a little dazed."

A handsome white tomcat with a crescent moon mark on his forehead jumped up onto Mamoru's lap and started purring.

"I'm awake, Artemis. I was just thinking about my Shitennou and when I'll meet them again." Mamoru replied as he picked the cat up and climbed out of his bed. "If my memories are correct, my generals and Usako's were in love with one another. And I have a feeling that they are here, in Tokyo, searching for their memories." He continued as he gathered up the day's clothing and headed to the shower. Artemis hopped up onto the closed toilet seat as his partner shed his PJs and robe and stepped into the shower.

"How long have you had these feelings, Mamoru?"

"Umm, for about a week. I saw them in a dream where they were in their Shitennou's uniforms. They said that they were living near me and that only love would unlock their memories. Then their uniforms faded away to regular clothes and then they faded away into the fog."

"Hmm, well they said that love would unlock their memories. Do you think it is love for their Prince or love of a different kind?"

"I think that they would regain their memories the same way I regained mine; by being reunited with my love when she was in her princess form." He mused aloud as he prepared breakfast for him and Artemis.

"So do you think Ami, Minako, Rei, and Makoto will have to find their lovers from their past lives (i.e. the Shitennou) and assume their princess forms in front of them?" Artemis inquired as he munched his way through a plate of raw chicken strips.

"That was what I was thinking, but," Mamoru continued wryly as he dug into his breakfast of eggs and toast, "they won't get fatally wounded and kidnapped in the process like I was."

"That would be a good thing . . . and if my ears serve me correctly, Usagi and Luna have just arrived." Artemis chuckled to himself as Mamoru hastily shoved the last bit of toast into his mouth, dumped his dishes in the sink and hurried out to greet his love, as Artemis followed him at a more sedate pace. Usagi and Mamoru were already cuddled up on the love seat as he leaped lightly up to join his love on the lazy boy.

"So, Mamoru, are you going you share your theory?" Artemis asked as he rubbed Luna with his cheek and twinned his tail about her.

"Theory?" Usagi questioned her lover, her long blonde hair rippling like waves of gold as she lifted her head from Mamoru's chest to look into his deep ocean blue eyes. "Theory about what, Mamo-chan?"

"I know that the Shitennou are here in Tokyo, waiting to be awakened, for they have come to me in a dream. They said that only love would unlock their memories. Artemis and I are fairly certain that it's not the love of their prince they were talking about, but the love of their past lovers, your main protectors: Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter."

"Yes, I can see how that would make sense, because it would follow how we regained our memories." She mused, her face thoughtful.

"Exactly, Usako." Mamoru's heart swelled with love as he remembered what Usagi was like when he first met her: silly, immature, carefree, a little lazy, clumsy, uncertain of her abilities, and not aware of her own strength or courage; now there was grace and sureness in her carage, a sense of duty, wisdom, and maturity in those deep and expressive sapphire eyes. But she was still as loving and cheerful as the day he met her. Shifting position slightly, Mamoru pulled her onto his lap, wrapping his arms gently but protectively around her shoulders and delicate waist and kissed the velvety soft skin of her forehead where her crescent moon mark formed, savoring her sweet, velvety skin on his lips.

"So how would Ami, Minako, Rei, and Makoto find them, though?" Usagi asked as she responded to his kiss by wrapping her arms about his trim waist.

"Hmmm," Mamoru mumbled into her silky soft hair, "I think that they would be subconsciously pulled towards their loves, like I was always running into you. So the girls will just need to pay attention to the young men around them and find the one that calls to her heart. That and the Shitennou will look like their past selves and will resemble the four evil generals of the Dark Kingdom that we faced. "

Usagi, gazing at her engagement ring she received from Mamoru just weeks ago, replied, "So then the girls would revert to their princess forms, there by awakening the generals' memories. In private, of course," she giggled, "imagine the heyday the newsies (AN: news reporters) would have if four girls suddenly transformed into senshi, then into princesses!"

"That's a good plan, but what about the outer senshi?" Luna inquired, pausing in her grooming of Artemis' fur. "Don't they have partners/lovers too?

"That's a good point, Luna." Usagi consented, polishing her transformation brooch with her fingers. "Haruka and Michiru are lovers, and by the very nature of their powers, Setsuna and Hotaru are reclusive and solitary. But Hotaru and Setsuna may yet have partners among Mamoru's vassals."

"Maybe, not the Shitennou, but maybe among Helios' under-priests?" Mamoru ventured.

"But I thought the maenads were female."

"Good point Luna. What if their partners were actually their stand-ins or regents, because who is guarding the gate of time if Pluto or Diana is not available? There was always a male about their ages in the past from their planet." Usagi thought out loud.

"Yes! And they were always there to stand in for them when they needed it!" Artemis exclaimed.

"In any case, I know that they are here on Earth, all of them; I can feel them the same way I felt where the senshi were after the battle with Metaria." Mamoru said.

"Okay, should I send the girls out hunting?" Usagi asked.

"Yes, but tell them that they will know him when they see him. For one thing, their lovers will look like the Shitennou from the past. But also tell them that they can be sure they got the right man because they will feel a tugging sensation from their heart, like two magnets." Mamoru told her.

Usagi nodded and pulled out her wrist communicator, relayed the news to everyone, turned it off, put it away and pulled out her homework.