EPILOGUE

The resurrection was slow and painful. It was as if they had all awoken from a night of fitful sleep, plagued by dark and terrifying nightmares. Memories of the great battle trickled back into their waking realities slowly like the crash of a wave leaving fresh life in the sand with each forward reach before retreating again into the vast sea of clouded consciousness. But remembering death was traumatic and each processed her awakening in a different way.

Darien had taken it the hardest. He was recovering in Mount Sinai Hospital. Serena visited him there every day.

"How is he today?" Serena asked Marcy, the plump nurse receptionist, as she arrived at the hospital with a bouquet of red roses and a teddy bear.

"The same," said Marcy. "He's still in a semi-conscious coma. He's scheduled to have a psych evaluation later today."

"Psych?" Serena asked, surprised. "What for?"

"He's been muttering a lot of gibberish in his sleep about the world coming to an end and some witch trying to lay waste to the whole planet."

Serena forced a laugh. "How crazy."

"Yeah, but don't worry. It ends well with a little princess saving the world!"

Who you calling little, lady? "Wow, that's a good one!" said Serena. She nodded to Marcy and proceeded up to the seventh floor. She rapped lightly on Darien's door and just as she predicted, there was no answer. She pushed her way in and saw him lying there, pale and weak, in a deep and undisturbed slumber.

"Good morning, love," Serena said cheerily. She set the bouquet and bear on the nightstand next to him and pulled a chair close to the bed. She gripped his hand in hers and said, "Wake up, Darien. Please, wake up. It's over now. We can build our life together now."

He didn't respond. Serena sighed and stroked his hair. "I went to your apartment today to clean up and get it all ready for when you come home. You know I found a jar of pickles that expired two years ago in the back of your fridge? That's really disgusting, Darien. Oh, and I was thinking of going to this stylist that Mina recommended. Supposedly he's the stylist to the stars. I was thinking of doing something drastic, you know? Like chop off all my hair and do a cute bob. Or maybe even one of those pixie haircuts. Like a new start, you know? Start over. From scratch. What do you think?"

"No way, Meatball Head."

Serena snapped her head up to see Darien looking down at her, smiling.

"I like your hair just the way it is." He reached out and laced his fingers through hers and brought them to his lips. "How's it going?"

Serena laughed and cried at the same time as he kissed each finger on her left hand. When he got to her ring finger he paused and said, "Now this can't be right…"

"Darien, stop it," said Serena, laughing, and she pulled her hand back.

"No, seriously," he said. "What do you think?"

"I think that was supposed to be some kind of proposal, but that can't be right. I don't see a disgustingly large diamond anywhere."

"Hey, cut me some slack. I just came back from the dead. Step one, wiggle toes. Step two, hit Harry Winston."

"Ooh, la la," said Serena, grinning. Finally, she thought.

….

Luna and Artemis were overjoyed to have their girls back and to reassure them that their trauma was not in vain, they revealed the story of the future that could have been. But inevitably, learning that there was some cryptic gatekeeper manipulating all their lives did not sit well with the reborn soldiers. They all wanted answers. Luna and Artemis had no choice but to take them beneath the Waldorf-Astoria.

"Who are you?" Raye demanded to the shadowy figure on the screen.

"I am Sailor Pluto, the watcher. I am the guardian of the Gates of Time."

"Pluto?" said Lita, incredulously. "Exactly how many Sailor Soldiers are there?"

"There is a princess and guardian of every planet in our solar system."

"Technically, Pluto is a dwarf planet," said Amy.

Raye glared. "Really, Amy? Now?" She turned again to the screen. "Answer me, Pluto!" Raye demanded angrily. "I want to know why I was reborn here and forced to suffer through night after night of brutal beatings by my grandfather, forced to pay for the acts of my mother, forced to fight for this world, and then forced to die for it!"

"Raye, please calm down. I know what you must be feeling."

"You don't know," Raye snapped. "Unless you've died and come back, you have no idea what I'm feeling. I want to know why I'm here. I want to know what I was before."

Raye was voicing what the others felt, but they were unable to articulate what it was that made them feel so empty after the resurrection. They understood the gravity of what they had done but could not wrap their heads around its purpose. They wanted to know more.

"Raye," Pluto answered gently, "I know you have many questions. I know you feel as though I've kept important information from you. But trust me when I tell you, it won't help you to learn your past."

"She's right," said Serena, reaching out to touch Raye's shoulder. "Look at what Darien and I went through at first."

"I saw what you went through," Raye replied bitterly, shaking her shoulder away from Serena's touch. "Let's not forget that you're not the only ones to suffer in this life because of events beyond our control in the past."

"It's all about context, you know?" said Amy. "Who was Beryl? And why did she have such a grudge against this world? Why were we chosen to do something about it?"

"What happened at the end of the Silver Millennium? What were our lives like?" Raye prodded.

"Raye," said Pluto, firmness creeping into her voice, "you have no idea. If you think this life was fraught with tragedy, you haven't seen anything yet. Now I'm telling you, you do not want to know what life was like at the end of the Silver Millennium!"

"I'm so sick of having everything decided for me!" Raye shouted. "I have a right to know everything about my own life!"

At this, Mina stood up. "I agree with Raye," she began. "Here we are expected to accept that we're charged with this mission of protecting the world, but we don't even know where we come from. Are we supposed to just forgo our futures to protect Serena without any idea where this responsibility came from?" As an afterthought, Mina glanced quickly at Serena and said, "No offense." Serena shrugged.

Lita added: "All I ever wanted in my life was to grow up, fall in love, and have lots of babies. Now I'm learning that I'm expected to just put my dreams aside so that I might spend my life fighting a war I don't even understand."

Sailor Pluto was quiet for a moment. Finally, she said softly, "If you all feel this way, I suppose I can show you. I'd be breaking all the rules but if you all agreed…"

Lita, Mina, Raye, and Amy all looked expectantly at Serena who was absent-mindedly fiddling with her shoelaces.

"Well?" Raye asked impatiently.

Serena blinked. "Darien and I are about to start a life together!" she protested. "With Beryl gone things can finally get back to normal! Why do we have to go digging up the past?"

Raye moved so quickly toward Serena that they all thought she was about to hit her. But instead Raye took a deep breath and said, "Look, Serena. I didn't want to play this card but don't forget what each one of us sacrificed to keep you safe."

Serena sighed. "I guess—Oh, fine, all right!"

"I strenuously object," Pluto repeated. "Once we do this, there is no going back. These memories will be with you forever, unpleasant as I assure you they are."

"That's it then," said Raye. "We've decided. We want to know who we were in the Silver Millennium and we want to understand what happened to bring us here."

"How exactly are you going to show us?" asked Amy, ever curious.

"There is a way to show you the past without interfering with it. I will have to open the Gates for you and take you down the Channel of Time." Pluto sighed audibly. "It's against protocol, you should know. But I guess if you all agree, I have no choice. I know what the future is without the Guardians protecting the world so I can't take the chance of your refusal."

The girls didn't respond, but waited expectantly.

"All right," said Pluto. "Wait one moment."

They scrambled to their feet and no one spoke. Just then, a bright red light in the shape of a door appeared just off to the right of their line of sight. It turned black and all of a sudden it swung open and a tall, suntanned woman stepped out of it onto the platform. She wore a sailor suit similar to their own, but with jet-black features and a blood-red bow. Her ebony hair had a slight emerald sheen to it and it fell gracefully to her knees. In her hands she gripped a long silver stick in the shape of a key that was anchored on one end by a heart-shaped bow. She made an imposing figure and even Lita felt slightly intimidated.

"It is an honor to meet you all in person," Sailor Pluto said, bowing ever so slightly. "And I want to thank you for the great sacrifice you made to save our world. I promise you it will not be forgotten."

At her praise, the girls felt slightly sheepish by their demands for Pluto to abandon protocol. But they said nothing.

Sailor Pluto tapped the Time Key against the door from which she came and it slowly opened all the way. "Follow me," she commanded as she entered the doorway and disappeared into a cloud of white fog. The girls stepped forward and one by one followed Pluto into the void.

Once inside, Sailor Pluto took Serena's left hand and placed it in Amy's right and gestured for the girls to follow suit until the five of them had all joined hands and stood in a ring, with Sailor Pluto standing along in the center. Serena looked around at the faces of her friends; they looked scared, but determined.

Sailor Pluto gripped the Time Key in both hands, closed her eyes, and held it in the air. "Channels of Time, open your pathways!" she called. She touched the tip of the key to the shapeless floor. A bright white light began in the spot she touched and shot upward. Slowly, the girls ascended into the air. Pluto remained behind as she cried out: "Let the Princesses enter the kingdom!"

THE END