Prologue

Once upon a time there was a Princess of the Moon and a Prince of the Earth, and they were in love. They fell in love, or so the bards tell, the moment each first laid eyes on the other. Some bards, in fact, go further, saying that neither had ever known the meaning of love until they met.

Bards tend to lie a great deal.

She was not his first love. Nor was he hers.

"You have made your decision?" the Princess' lover asked quietly, knowing what the choice must be.

The Princess sighed in response. Why, she asked silently, why must it be this way? Why must one whom I love be hurt? At last, she said aloud, "I will marry the Prince."

"Of course," her lover said quietly, coldly. "You love him."

"As much as I love you," the Princess protested, "but differently. He ... he needs me."

"And I do not?"

The Princess shook her golden hair. "No. You have always been strong enough to make your way alone, if you chose. I envied you that strength, once."

Her lover was silent a moment. "And when they ask you to forsake all others ..."

"I shall keep that oath," the Princess answered the unspoken question, and there was steel in her voice.

"Will you swear an Oath with me?" her lover asked, producing a long, wicked dagger. "The oldest of the Old Oaths?"

There were tears in the Princess' eyes. "I will, beloved."

They clasped their hands around the blade, opening wounds in each palm. As their blood mingled, they spoke the words.

"Blood for blood, bone for bone, life for life, until only we two stride the worlds. My life is in your hands, my blood is in your veins. Hold me well and I will lend you my strength; break your bond and may we both perish. Friendship I swear to you, an Oath of clasped hands and shared hearts."

They removed their hands from the dagger, the force of the Oath having sealed the wounds. The Princess' lover placed the dagger in its sheath.

"Good-bye," they whispered, as they turned and walked their separate ways.

Life is not eternal. Love is not eternal.

The Old Oaths are eternal.

And this is the story of how the oath of the Princess' lover was kept.

Sailor Moon
Celebration

The sun rose early on September 15, 1996. It slowly seeped through my window, lulling me out of my dreamless sleep, and alerting me to the start of another lovely day in Tokyo.

I wished Godzilla would show up.

Today, my best friend in the world would marry the man she'd loved even when she hadn't known who he was, and no matter how much I wanted to, I couldn't be happy for them.

Because today was the day my heart was going to break.

I'd known it, ever since they'd announced their engagement months before, after that ... unpleasantness in Nerima. I'd watched the wedding plans that we had all been enlisted in making as though it were happening to someone else, even attended the "get-to-know-your-daughter's-fiance" dinner Serena had given her parents (wisely delegating the responsibility for cooking to Lita), going through the motions in a kind of daze. I'd even been able to laugh when Darien had given Serena's father the traditional engagement presents and said, "Now, sir, will you stop believing your daughter is twelve years old?"

Poor Mr. Tsukino. He'd been so worried about the fact that Serena was keeping her relationship with Darien a secret from him, when that was really one of the lesser secrets she held.

Thinking about the other people enmeshed in our little romantic comedy let me divert my attention from the fact that in the next twenty-four hours, the one true love of my life would be lost to me forever, and worse, would never know just how deeply I cared.

"Good morning ... Rei-san." The voice came from behind me as I tended the sacred fire.

"Good morning, Chad," I replied calmly. There was a limit to the amount of formality I could endure from him, considering the fact that we'd had sex.

He'd been so startled when I seduced him. I suppose that it had been irresponsible of me, but I'd been a little drunk on my eighteenth birthday, and had decided to do something so completely out-of-character that it would send my friends' jaws to the floor, if they ever found out about it.

At least, I think that's what my reason was. In the morning, during my hangover, I'd decided that it had been a good thing that it hadn't been my first time, or the experience would probably have soured me on the act for life ... and I was going to be around for a long time.

Anyway, Chad had still not gotten used to the reduced level of formality I asked of him. I only rarely called him Kumada any more, much less Chad-san. But to him, I was still Rei-san. He couldn't get used to the idea of calling me Raye, the name I preferred.

Names are such a problem in Jyuban, where half the people have western family names, like Baker, or McGovern, or Koch, and even more have personal names that no Japanese family would ever have come up with thirty years ago. It's an unavoidable consequence of the increasing Americanization of Japan, I guess. I mean, my own parents gave me a normal, heck, ridiculously common Japanese name, and what do I do when I get to adolescence but start westernizing it?

Take Serena for another example. Her "real" name is Usagi, but everyone, even her mom and dad, call her Serena. In her case, though, it's more the result of her mixed ancestry, with her Canadian grandfather's influence on both his daughter and her husband (who had worked with him at the newspaper) showing in a lot of their attitudes.

But I digress.

I turned back to look at Chad. "So ... looking forward to the wedding?" I asked. It seemed the polite thing to do.

"Yeah ... I'm really honored that Chiba asked me to be his best man when his buddy Andrew had to go rushing to Africa like that ..."

I had had a variation of this statement every day for the past month, and I was getting royally sick of it. But it seemed that being asked to sub for Andrew like that had been the biggest thing that had happened to Chad in nearly four years. Which hurt a bit, but ...

"It's strange that Serena didn't ask you to be her maid of honor, though ..."

I was tempted to strangle him. "Not really, Kumada," I said with an admirable degree of restraint. "Molly's been her friend since grade school, after all."

"Yeah, that's true," he said, nodding. "But hey! Maybe you can try to ..."

"No, Chad, I've no intention of trying to catch the fricking bouquet when Serena throws it!"

His mouth hung open for a moment. "How'd you know what ..."

"... you were going to say?" I finished his sentence. "Chad, that's all you've been talking about for the last month! You're gonna be his best man, why aren't you her maid of honor, why not try and catch the bouquet?! I'm SICK of it. SICK SICK SICK!"

He stared at me with a poleaxed look. "Don't you want to marry me?"

I gave him the exact same look. "What are you talking about?"

"Everybody knows that the person who catches the bouquet will be the next one to get ..."

"Baloney! If that superstition had ANY basis in fact, AMY would have gotten married before now, because of that bouquet she caught when we were ... uh ... at that wedding contest four years ago!" I'd almost slipped and said, chasing after Nephrite, but I'd recovered quickly. "And anyway, you haven't asked me to marry you!" I pointed out.

He dropped down into a bow, and began to declaim, "Hino Rei, thou art the mistress of mine affections ..."

"Cut it out!" I said. This was another one of those things that I didn't want to have to deal with.

He ignored me. "... wilt thou accept me as thy ..."

"No!"

He was very silent for a moment. Then he got up off his knees, and brushed his pants off. "I see. So, you slept with me as a joke, then?"

"Chad ..." I hissed, trying very hard to keep a handle on my temper.

"No, I really want to know why you did something like that if you weren't ready to commit to a serious relationship?"

"What is this, some kind of sick farce?" I demanded.

"I've worked and SLAVED in this temple for four years, simply to be around you. I fell in love with you the minute I saw you, and NOTHING I have done has gotten that message through to you! What do I have to do, get water from the moon?"

I tried not to let the odd appropriateness of that question faze me. "Chad ... you're just moving too fast, dammit! I'm not ready to get married! I mean, we haven't even gone out on a date yet!" Instantly, I knew that had been a mistake.

"You're right, we haven't. I've asked you about, oh, three hundred times, and you have always had somewhere else to be, something else to do, and so on, and so forth ..."

I was momentarily tempted to tell him just what I'd gone through on some nights when he'd asked me out and I'd had to go and defend the world from marauding monsters. It was a weak moment.

"And I'm getting tired of it, you hear me? Just tell me, yes or no -- do you want to continue this relationship?"

"Chad ..."

"Yes or no!"

"Yes, but ..."

"But what?" he exploded.

"But I can't marry you. Not now, not ever."

His jaw dropped. "Why, in the name of all the kamis?"

Because I'm Sailor Mars, and I'm going to be alive a thousand years from now, and you aren't. Because I'd be terrified of watching you slowly wither away and die. Because ... because I don't love you as much as I could. "There are a lot of reasons," I said quietly.

"Like what?" he demanded.

"I'll tell you ... tonight. After the wedding. I promise." Just what I was going to tell him, I wasn't sure.

But evidently he decided that my assurance was enough. We went together to breakfast with Grandpa, and listened to him yatter on about how the wedding today was a clear sign of the degeneration of Japanese youth, as it was going to be a semi-Christian/semi-secular ceremony. The Christian elements were mostly for the benefit of some of Serena's visiting cousins from Canada. I didn't bother to point out to Grandpa that he could have just refused the invitation, because that would have meant that he wouldn't be able to enjoy all the free food at the reception.

Plus, as he himself observed, "It might be a good way to recruit some of the young girls attending the wedding to come work as acolytes, by pointing out the inherent lack of true spiritual meaning in the ceremony, yadda yadda yadda, yak yak yak."

I don't know who Grandpa thought he was fooling.

After breakfast, I changed into my street clothes, and walked to the bus stop near the temple. I started remembering how this place had completely changed my life. I wondered what would have happened to me if Jadeite had chosen some other place to work his schemes ... would I have still been drawn into Luna and Serena's orbit?

But I didn't want to think about that.

The bus arrived, and I got on it. Mina was sitting in the back. I sat down beside her after a brief exchange of "hello" gestures. We didn't talk. There wasn't any need, we'd worked out the details of the plan weeks before.

We exited the bus, and found Lita waiting for us at the bus stop near Darien's apartment. I checked my watch. "She's never late ..." I muttered.

Two minutes after she was supposed to have been there, Amy jogged up, silently ignoring the stares we gave her. Why had she been running? She'd gotten a car for her seventeenth birthday that was the sleekest roadster I'd ever seen, and it figured in our plans ...

Still not talking, we marched as one into Darien's apartment complex, and buzzed to have him let us in. "Darien," Lita said calmly, "we'd like to have a word with you."

"Who's we?" his voice buzzed back.

"The four of us, Darien," Mina answered.

A long silence ... "Uh, okay, c'mon up."

We proceeded to the elevator, going up to the fifth floor, and arrived at his door. Amy knocked.

He opened it up, and we realized instantly that he'd only just gotten up. He was wearing a T-shirt and jeans that showed off his muscles quite nicely ... but I yanked my mind from that path, whither lay madness.

"Good morning, Darien-san," I said politely. "May we come in?"

"Uh ..."

Taking that as an agreement, we marched in, sat down on his furniture, and let Mina gesture for him to do the same. With a vaguely panicked expression, he sat down in front of his low table.

"How was your bachelor party, Darien?" Amy inquired.

"Um ... pretty crazy ... what can I do for ..."

"It's not what you can do for us, Darien," Lita interrupted gently, "but what we're GOING to do for you."

"We've been giving this marriage business a great deal of thought," Mina explained. "And it really is a Serious Step in your relationship with Serena."

"Uh ..."

"And you know, you and Serena don't handle Serious Steps very well," she continued. "Consider, if you will, the events of your first date."

"We ... went boating ..."

"Yes, and Reenie showed up for the first time. And then what happened, Darien?" Amy asked. She'd been designated the Inquisitor for this little session.

"Well ... I started having these ... very unpleasant ..."

"Visions," Lita interrupted again. "Visions which prompted you to dump Serena, if I recall correctly. For her own good, of course."

He swallowed, sweat beginning to form on his forehead.

"And then, when all that stuff was over, you would expect that your relationship would be even more cemented," Mina went on, "you kept her on hold, effectively, for nearly three years."

"She ... wasn't an adult," Darien interjected. "If her parents had found out ..."

"You would have had to face up to the fact that you were in the first serious relationship of your life, right?" Amy pressed. I had objected to that question when we'd drawn up our plan of attack, but I'd been overruled.

So it was very uncomfortable to have him suddenly look to me for support, especially since my role in this little production was to give him the silent treatment, and a vaguely menacing glare. That alone should have tipped him off that something was afoot, since I am not inclined to be quiet when I am angry.

"In any event, the history of your relationship is one of many missed chances and sad turns of fate," Mina stated. "We've decided to make sure the fickle finger of fate doesn't interfere with your wedding in eight hours. We're going to make SURE that you get there in one piece."

He swallowed again.

"For the next eight hours," Mina continued, "one of us will be with you at all times, except when you are dressing or ..." She gave a vague sniff, then nodded her head. "... bathing. Lita has the first shift, from nine to eleven, Raye will be taking eleven to one, I will be here from one to three, and Amy ..."

"Uh, there's a small problem, Mina."

Mina slowly turned her face, which was smiling beatifically at Darien, to look at Amy, who was doing her best to shrink into the cushions of the couch. In Mina's eyes was a look of ... well, let's just say that sitting beside Amy, I quietly prayed that nobody ever gave me a look like that.

"Whatever is the matter, Amy?" Mina asked with exaggerated patience.

"Um ... the plan called for me to drive Darien to the wedding. And I can't."

"Plan?" Darien asked, but none of us gave any sign of listening.

"Why not?" Mina asked in a strained tone.

"Well ... I had a bit of trouble ..."

"Engine trouble is not a problem, Amy, we'll have Erica give it a look over and ..."

"I mean with the law, Lita. My license has been revoked. That's why ..."

Mina's left eyebrow began to twitch. This was a very bad sign ... she only had that particular facial tic when she was very peeved. "I see," she said quietly. "Well, Amy, what would you suggest, considering that none of the rest of us has a vehicle?"

"Uh, we could take a cab?" Darien interjected.

"Stay out of this!" Mina snarled.

Darien looked like he was about to faint.

And that's when I knew that the fickle finger of fate had already decided how it was going to screw with today's wedding. "Mina," I said quietly, "I can get him to the church on time."

She turned to me with an expression of equal parts irritation and surprise. "How are you going to pull that off?"

"Chad has a car. He doesn't drive a lot, but I can talk him into driving us to the wedding."

"Uh, yeah, actually that's how I'd planned on going ... but I'm going to shut up now ..." Darien began, but slowly trailed off as Mina gave him a version of the look that she'd given Amy earlier.

"So, I might as well switch shifts with Amy, too," I concluded. "It'll work better ..."

"Good idea, Raye ..." Mina was back to the beatific look. "Well, then, Darien, I guess we'll leave you here with Lita ... don't you think it'd be a good idea for you to cook breakfast for him, Lita? He needs to keep his strength up. Especially today."

"Sure, Mina," Lita said in a subdued, almost strained tone of voice. "But I need to have a few words with Raye, so maybe you should start running your bath, Darien?"

"Right," Darien agreed quickly, eager to get the heck out of the emotionally charged room.

"Don't do anything stupid like trying to climb out the window, okay?"

Darien slumped as he went into the bathroom.

"I think Amy and I will be going now," Mina said in the same light, menace-laden tone she'd used on Darien. She pushed Amy out the door, and before it closed behind them, I could hear her begin to shout, "Amy, how could you DO this to me!"

I listened to the sound of the water running in the bathroom, avoiding looking at Lita, who had fixed me with a stern glare.

"What are you doing, Raye?" she asked finally.

"I'm just trying to help keep the plan running according to schedule, that's all."

"Really?"

"Yes, dammit, really! Do you seriously think that I'd try and screw up Serena and Darien's wedding?"

"I don't know, Raye. I really don't. I've known you for more than four years, and I still don't understand you a bit. Sometimes it seems like you're Serena's best friend ... and other times it's like you want to kill her. And I know that you'd give your life for her -- hell, you have -- but you still keep insulting her every chance you get!"

She was silent for a long time. "And you still love Darien."

I whirled and gave her my most ferocious look. "Don't you EVER learn? I am OVER Darien! It was OVER a long time ago, dammit! Why do you keep living in the past?!"

"Because it's so much more certain than the future," Lita answered calmly. "Pluto taught us that, remember. The future that we've seen, with all of us still together, and them married and ruling the Earth, is just one possibility. It can be much worse ..."

I felt my anger drain out of me like water out of a bathtub. "Lita ... all I can do is promise that I won't try and interfere with the wedding. And I do promise. I just want her to be happy."

Lita sighed, and nodded. "Yeah ... I know. I'm sorry, Raye, I think I'm a little on edge over all the preparations that a certain ever so mildly hyper member of our little coterie has put us through. Sometimes, I think I'm getting as anal as Mina ..."

"How is your end holding up?" I asked.

"Okay. Catering is gonna be taken care of by you-know-who. That's been a little bit of a headache ..."

I frowned. "X'ian was saying something about her recently, but I don't remember what it was."

"If it's that she's getting dictatorial about her catering service, then she's not exaggerating."

"It was ... something else. Oh, hell ... I shouldn't believe anything she says about the other girls in that nutty village, should I?" I asked, rolling my eyes.

"Eh," Lita said with a shrug. "It's a sign that something good did come out of that whole fracas a few months back ..."

Mina wouldn't have agreed with that, I thought, feeling the burden of my depression grow even heavier.

"... I mean, doesn't it feel good to have friends who aren't Sailor Scouts? Did Serena tell you how shocked Molly was when she asked her to be her maid of honor? I think we were beginning to get a little too insular for our own good." Lita paused. "If we're gonna be ruling the world ... we have to learn to work with people, right?"

I nodded, and got up. "Anyway, I've got to get some other things done today. Feed him well, oh Chef of Justice," I said with a straight face.

Lita smiled widely for an instant, then made her face go utterly firm. "Be traffic-smart, oh Substitute Chauffeur of Justice," she replied, and then waved.

As I headed out, I heard Lita say, "Hey, Darien? I think you've been in the shower long enough ... we don't want Serena marrying any prunes, now do we?"

* * *

As Chad hadn't known about the plans that we'd set up, he had already been planning on driving Darien to the chapel. It wasn't hard to talk him into accepting another passenger -- especially when the passenger was me.

I occupied myself in my chores at the temple, cleaning and working in the shop. Grandpa even praised me for my focus.

For ten minutes, I knelt before the sacred fire, and tried to foretell if anything was going to interfere with Darien and Serena's wedding.

Nothing. Not an indication of smooth sailing, not a vague, cryptic warning. Just nothing. I took it as an indication that I wasn't in any state to be trying to see the future.

I changed into the clothes I was intending to wear to the wedding, reminded Chad to be at Darien's apartment at about quarter to five, and headed off.

At the apartment, I was buzzed in without comment. It was Mina that answered the door, wearing a smile that hovered right on the near side of hysteria.

"Raye!" she said. "Good! I'm glad you're here! Now, make sure that mean ol' Darien doesn't do anything crazy like trying to sneak off! That would make Serena so sad ... and when Serena's sad, we're aaaaallllllll sad!" Her voice held a manic note.

"Mina?"

"Yes, Raye?!"

"Go home, Mina. Get some rest. Please." Inspiration struck, and I leaned to her ear to whisper. "If he does run away, I'll need all of you to help me track him down ... and you're not ready for that, are you?"

Mina blinked about thirty times in the next five seconds. "You know, Raye, you're right! I ... I need a rest! I'm gonna go home and sleep the next two hours away! And then ..."

"And then we aaaaallllllll live happily ever after," I deadpanned.

She nodded, and headed down the hallway. I stepped into Darien's apartment.

He was sitting on the couch, staring at his big-screen TV, which was displaying a test pattern, but he looked up as I came in. I waved.

"Does she scare the rest of you sometimes?" he asked.

I nodded. "Her dedication to causes can be a little ... fanatical. She's not normally that bad, though."

Darien sighed. "Well, I have to take some of the blame. I couldn't do anything around the house with her watching, so I talked her into playing the Urusei Yatsura drinking game with some high-caffeine soft drinks I picked up ..."

I winced. "Which version of the Urusei Yatsura drinking game?"

"The one by the `Anti-Shinobu-Society' -- ten sips if Shinobu acts in a basically decent manner? Of course, then we watched the first few episodes ..."

"Oh, God, why do people come up with stuff like that? I mean, they're just characters in an anime, for Pete's sake, it's not worth fighting wars over to discuss their virtues and flaws."

"I could've sworn Mina mentioned something about how the five of you had sat around watching Marmalade Boy and you flipped out everytime Suzu-chan was onscreen, shouting invective?" Darien asked, with a faint smile on his face.

"That's different. Suzu's a rotten, stinking, overly-cute ..."

He held up his hand, his smile getting broader.

"... boyfriend-stealing ..." I trailed off, wishing to whoever was in charge that I hadn't said that.

Darien's smile faded. The tension in the room increased a notch.

I noticed that he was wearing his jogging suit. "Planning on going for a run?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I already went for one ... a few hours ago, during Amy's turn at nursemaiding me. We got back just in time for the changeover to Mina ..." Suddenly, there was a pained expression on his face. "Raye ... do the four of you really think that I'd ..."

"No, not really. It started as a joke that Lita told Serena not long after the two of you set the date, that we'd make certain that you got to the chapel, even if we had to fight through hordes of demons, or tie you up so that you couldn't be kidnapped ... but Serena overreacted. She does that, you may have noticed."

He nodded gravely.

"So, she made us swear to do just that, and Mina was all giddy about the thought -- `how romantic! how dramatic!' -- and here we are."

"Yeah ... so, what do you want to do?"

"Well, why don't we watch some more anime? Unless you've got some other things that you wanna do."

Darien smiled. "Nope. Lita already did all of the housework that I was planning on getting done, so I've really got nothing else to do. I should be working on my thesis, but ..."

"Kinda hard with the distraction?"

"Pinpon," he said, patting a seat next to him on the couch. "What do you wanna see ... I've got some Rayearth ..."

"Darien, I am a magical girl. I don't need to watch magical girls shows for escapism," I replied, sitting down in the chair that was a few feet from the couch. "What else do you got?"

He gave the question some thought. "What do you think about `El-Hazard'?" he asked.

"Oh, wow, I love it! Shayla-shayla is too cool for words ..."

He grinned. "Yeah, I thought you might like her for some obscure reason ..."

"OAVs or TV?"

"I've got a few of the series, and all but the last video ..."

So we settled in to watch `El-Hazard'. Inevitably, Jinnai's laughter brought Mina's hysteria to mind, and we both shared a few laughs talking about how the characters in the series were like the people that we knew.

"Oh, come on," I said, "you seriously think Miz is like Michelle? They couldn't BE anything less alike! Do you see how goofy Miz acts when she's around Fujisawa? Could you even imagine Michelle acting like that towards Erica? Puh-leez!"

"Okay, okay, I'll let it go ... but you will admit that the real reason that you think Shayla-shayla is so cool is ..."

"... that she's a fellow fire priestess? But of course!"

"So who's Serena most like?"

"Ifurita," I said without thinking.

Darien stared at me, shocked.

"All that power ... and ... and she's really the focus of the whole story, just like Serena's the focus of all our lives ..." I tried to explain without mentioning that Ifurita had interrupted Shayla-shayla's prospective romance with Makoto just like ...

"I was actually thinking that she's more like Makoto," Darien said quietly. "His power is pretty incredible, but it's not as big a deal as his ..."

"... compassion," I finished.

"Yeah." We were both silent for a long moment, while the Eye of God was unsealed on the screen before us. "I think Lydia is like Ifurita, actually," Darien said casually.

"Oh yeah, how can I have been so blind, big staff-scythe thing, pale skin ..." I suddenly stopped babbling. "Would you excuse me please, I need to go to the washroom."

Before he could say anything, I was off the chair and in the bathroom. I shut the door behind me, started to fill the sink, and stared at myself in the mirror.

"Stop it," I ordered myself. "He's going to marry her today. If you interfere in any way, you'll just make both of them miserable ... to say nothing of how you'll feel afterwards. We have to get through this. It's ... it's fate."

I clapped my hands together, and rubbed them, in self-mockery.

This was pointless. I couldn't just keep my feelings bottled up like this, I wasn't built for it, so I'd have to let it out. I nodded firmly, and turned off the water. I dried my hands, dabbed at my eyes with the towel, took a deep breath, and walked out of the bathroom.

"Okay," I said, not looking at him, "I have to tell you something. I still have unresolved feelings for you. But it's like I've told you before, they don't matter. What we had ... it was never meant to be, and what the two of you have is meant to be. So I want you to go with her, and never look back, please."

There was a long silence, and I turned to look at Darien.

Erica's face filled my vision. "Raye," she said sadly, "I never knew you felt for me so much."

Gack!

"Shelly," Erica cried, turning to Michelle, who was standing near the door, holding a hand over her face silently, "how can I bring myself to choose between you two! I cannot! I WOULD DATE WITH YOU BOTH!"

Michelle lifted her gaze, and gave the sigh of one who has endured much and will probably wind up enduring even more. "Hello, Raye, how are things?"

"Wha -- what are you two doing here?" I managed to get out.

"Susan wanted to talk over a few things with Darien," Erica said, smiling her wicked grin. "Things that mere mortals such as we are not meant to hear, so they went for a walk while you were in the bathroom. I take it this means you weren't talking about me?" she pressed. "Drat. Shelly, forget what I just said, okay?"

"I liked her better when she was taciturn and obsessed, didn't you?" Michelle asked me.

"Uh-huh," I nodded. "Of course, we all know that this air of gaiety, if you'll pardon the expression, is really just a front."

"Huh?" Erica inquired.

"Oh, yes, certainly," Michelle played along, her smile showing only in her eyes.

"It's a way of coping with her feelings of inadequacy for having such a gorgeous person in love with her," I explained, looking Michelle up and down in a frankly admiring manner. "She can't believe it's true, so she gives you every excuse to dump her. You know, Michelle, that if you decide to do just that, I'm available, right?"

"Actually, Raye, I wasn't aware of that," Michelle said, musingly. She gave me the once over, and it was all I could do to keep my embarassment under control. "But I'll keep it in mind, now ..."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Erica's jaw had been dropping steadily throughout my speech, and that she was now staring at both of us with complete and unmitigated horror. Michelle and I turned to look full at her ... and as one, we stuck our tongues out.

A choking noise escaped Erica's throat.

Michelle giggled. "Oh, Raye ... thank you! I've been waiting for someone to pull her legs out from under her since we met!"

"No problem," I said dismissively.

"Emotional cruelty," Erica babbled. "No jury would ever convict me ... not when they heard ..." she trailed off, then let out a deep breath. "Hooooooo. You, young lady, are dangerous," she said, shaking her finger at me. "You're gonna be a terror when you start looking for the right woman ..."

I flinched. "No, I'm not, I was just kidding. I mean, I'm not ... like that. Really."

Erica and Michelle exchanged a frustrated look. "Same thing as when we were in that forest," Michelle sighed.

"It's terrible to see so much denial in a person, isn't it?" Erica said sadly.

"Hey! I'm in the room!" I reminded them.

"All right, Raye, since you insist ... when you start looking for the right person. Better?" Erica inquired.

I nodded grudgingly. "So where's Lydia?"

"We left her with Serena," Michelle answered. "She's really excited about all this, didn't get a wink of sleep last night."

"Can you blame her?" Erica interjected. "This is one of the big events that leads to Reenie being born, after all. If I was around when my best friend's parents were getting hitched, I'd probably have gotten excited too."

A long sigh came from the doorway. "I just get finished discussing this with him, and I come back and find that the two of you are falling into the same trap ..."

Susan stepped into the appartment, with Darien following close behind. Darien had an almost haunted expression.

"What trap?" Erica asked.

"The trap of assuming that the future has been written, simply because you have met and spoken to an individual from the future. I would have thought that Serenity's account of what happened to Small Lady during our confrontation with Neherenia would have convinced you of this ..."

"But Susan, this isn't the same thing. If Darien and Serena are married today, then there isn't any way that Reenie can be ... not born," Michelle protested.

Susan's eyes went distant. "Not so. Unless certain things are done within the next four years, a cabal of genetic and eugenic researchers will inadvertantly earn the wrath of an advanced extraterrestrial civilization, which will unleash a disaster on Earth in which all of the Sailor Scouts will die, and the defense of humanity will be left in the hands of --" She broke off, suddenly, and shook her head. "That isn't important. Suffice to say that I have explained to Endymion that this ceremony is by no means the end of our vigilance, nor even the beginning of the end. It is a step towards the correct future, nothing more."

Erica and Michelle exchanged a look, then nodded. "What things?" I barked.

"That situation is well in hand, Mars. It does not concern you." She fixed me with a stare, and I realized that it was hard to look into those dark red eyes for any length of time. Something about them ... they screamed, `I have seen things that you would go insane to imagine.'

"In any case, Uranus, Neptune, I believe that it is time that we took our leave. Endymion, I ask that you consider what I have told you. Mars, good day."

Erica gave us a jaunty wave as she and Michelle followed Susan out.

"So ... what all did she tell you?" I asked softly.

"All the ways that things could go wrong without my being able to do anything about it," he murmured as he slumped into the couch. "As a pep talk, it sucked."

I looked at him, concerned. "Are you really that nervous?"

"Of course!" he snapped. "Lita was right ... this is the first real serious relationship that I've ever had, and as if that wasn't bad enough, the fate of the world is resting on it!" He turned to me quickly. "I ... I didn't mean that the way that it sounded."

I nodded, wearily. "I know ... we've talked about it. I don't mind that your memories of our ... dates aren't as complete as they could be." I don't mind. I'm upset, I'm angry, I'm hurt, but I don't mind.

"Was it this bad before?" he wondered. "Back in the Silver Millenium, before everything went to pot ... were we all right with the idea that everything depended on us?"

"Darien ..."

There was a sudden buzzing noise. We both jumped a bit. Darien got up and walked over to the security system. "Yes?" he said into the intercom.

"Yo, Chiba ... I'm here to pick you and Rei-san up, are you ready?" Chad's voice boomed.

Darien stood staring at the intercom for a few moments. I walked over to stand by him. "Well?" I asked softly. "Are you ready?"

Darien looked at me, closed his eyes, let out a deep sigh. Then he smiled. It was a dangerous smile; the smile that Tuxedo Mask sometimes flashed at an adversary when he was in absolute command of the situation and knew it.

"Am I ready?" he asked. "Come on. Let's give 'em hell."

* * *

We got to the chapel without incident, and Darien and Chad were rushed into the men's dressing room where Mr. Tsukino was already getting ready. I proceeded at an easier pace to the women's room.

"All right!" Mina cheered as I arrived. She looked a bit better ... but not much. "Ladies, I declare Operation: Getcha to the Church on Time a complete success!"

"Everything going okay?" Lita asked. For a moment, I tensed up, thinking that she had gone back to thinking that I might yet try to interfere ... then cooled down. Lita was looking a little concerned, that was all.

"Everything's fine. Well? Where's the blushing bride to be?"

"Oh, you're gonna love this," Mina giggled. "Serena! Come out and say hi to Raye!" she called out.

The door in the back of the room opened up, and the vision came into sight.

Serena's wedding dress had been patterned on one that she'd once used as a disguise during our battles with Nephrite. It was a little less ostentatious than the original had been, but still gorgeous.

My heart skipped a beat as she glided into view ...

... and then I saw that someone had pinned up the edge of the huge hoop skirt so that Serena couldn't trip on it, and I groaned. "Anybody wanna set up a betting pool for when she falls on her face during the wedding march?" I asked.

"RAAAAAAYEEE!" Serena whined. "Why are you --"

"-- `always so meeeannn to meeee?'" I finished, in the same nasal tone. "Serena, you've been asking me that for the better part of four years, and in that time I think everyone has figured out exactly why I'm so rough on you!"

"Oh yeah? Why?"

"You DESERVE it!"

"Oh yeah? Well ... well ..." Serena's nostrils flared, and she stuck out her tongue at me, blowing a raspberry.

I prepared to stick my tongue out in response, but paused when I saw Lita and Mina quietly pull out their wallets and start paying Amy a small fortune. Serena stared too, her tongue hanging from her mouth.

"Betting pool on how long it'd take the two of you to start a tongue war," Lita explained quietly. "Amy really cleaned up ..."

I glared in unison with Serena at Amy, who had the decency to look embarrassed for a moment. Then a vague look of mischief shone in her eyes, and she said quietly, "By the way, Raye, I've come up with a more likely motivation ... the reason you're so cruel to Serena sometimes has to do with the fact that you're embarassed by how much you care about her, and so you overcompensate ... am I close?"

I stared at Amy in horror. Behind me, Lita started to giggle. "I said from the very start the two of them acted just like sisters ..."

"We do not!" Serena and I burst out at the same time and in much the same tone.

Suddenly, Mina let out a sigh. "This has been very fun, you two," she said, "but it's time to let it go. Raye, we know that you care about Serena as much as we do. You've proven it time and time again ... from little gestures when you thought nobody was watching, right up to the way you've been willing to give up everything for Serena's life. You're not fooling anyone, anymore ..."

I suddenly felt Serena staring at me, and turned slowly to meet her gaze. "Raye?" she asked in a tiny voice.

"Guess you were wrong about me not fooling anyone," I muttered to Mina as Serena suddenly rushed and grabbed me in a tight hug.

I felt her heart beating so fast against me ... for only a moment I wanted to hug her back as tightly as she was holding me.

But I'd probably break her if I held her as tightly as I wanted to.

I eased her away, gently. "Don't do stuff like that, dummy, you'll wreck your dress," I told her. But I smiled when I said it.

Her answering smile was dazzling.

* * *

Eventually, all the guests had gathered in the chapel. The Sailor Scouts were seated in the front two rows, with Serena's parents, her little brother Sammy, and a handful of Serena's Canadian relatives who had kept in contact with her mother over the years. The other rows were filled with Serena's classmates from Jyuban, and a few guests that the others had invited -- like my Grandpa, or one of Erica's motorcycle buddies ...

I was sitting next to a fellow named Richard McNichol -- a distant cousin of Serena's grandfather, as he'd told me the moment we met. I spent a few moments staring up at him -- Kami-sama, but he was tall -- and figured out that he was on a hunt for girls almost immediately, and resolved to ignore him.

The ceremony began, as the wedding march played. Lydia entered first, pale and demure in her dress, scattering flowers as she went. She was a little old, now, to be a flower girl -- a conservative guess would have had her about fourteen, which was fairly close. But she had insisted on taking the part.

Next, Molly moved slowly down the aisle, her blue dress setting off her red hair beautifully. I heard the sound of someone falling over as she moved past the aisle where Melvin had been seated. Molly didn't miss a step, but I swear that I saw her close her eyes for a moment in an expression of extreme embarassment.

Then Darien and Chad entered, both attired in tuxedos that were only a little inferior to the one that Darien wore normally. Chad walked a step behind, and I couldn't help but notice that he'd been especially careful shaving for this ... normally after he took a razor to his face, it suffered a lot.

I tried to avoid looking at Darien. I succeeded. Barely.

There was a brief pause, and then Serena entered on her father's arm. He was also dressed in a tuxedo, but his face was by turns baffled and stormy when compared to the calm that Darien and Chad had shown. He was still somewhere just past "My little girl has been running around with a man who's five years older than she is ..."

I heard sudden sobbing as Serena and Mr. Tsukino moved down the aisle, and realized at once that Serena's tendency towards excessive tears must be genetic ...

Finally, they were all gathered at the front of the chapel, before the minister. He was a rather well-known Japanese Christian evangelist whose career had begun, strangely enough, not long after we had all become Sailor Scouts. Apparently, Serena and Molly had met him at some point that I wasn't exactly clear about. Lita knew something about it, because she'd grinned broadly on hearing the news, but refused to discuss it with us.

The ceremony proceeded as such things generally do, I guess. I wasn't really paying much attention. All the things the minister was saying seemed to be basically repititions of "this is something for people who love each other only, so if you two want to back out, now's a good time." I think I would have preferred a Shinto wedding, if I'd ever planned on getting married.

Then the minister said something that did grab my attention.

"If there is any present with cause that these two should not be married, let them speak now or forever hold their peace."

I found myself clutching to the seat of the pew, thinking wild thoughts of standing up and saying `They shouldn't be married because I love ...'

And then the doors at the back of the chapel were flung open.

"I SAY THAT THIS MARRIAGE MUST NOT PROCEED!" boomed a voice.

Every head in the place whirled around to stare at the tall man in dark armour who stood there, his sword in hand ...

But only the Sailor Scouts present recognized him.

It was Prince Endymion.

"Who ... who are ..." the minister gasped. I guess this really isn't the sort of thing you expect when you're hired to get two people hitched.

"I am Endymion. Lord of Earth. I have come to take my rightful bride from this pretender!" He sneered as Darien stepped in front of Serena, who was looking from one to the other of him in a confused manner.

"I don't know who you are or who your tailor is, pal, but you've got no right to come barging in ..." Darien shouted.

"Shut up and die, fool!" Endymion bellowed, and leveled his sword at them.

A huge bolt of energy leapt from the blade.

It's strange the way time can slow down in moments like this. Your mind is racing faster than your body can respond, and you watch the universe just grind to a near halt.

The bolt of annihilating energy traveled towards Darien at a blinding rate. I knew with a heart-shattering certainty that I would never be able to interpose myself between it and him in time ... and that I'd probably not even slow it down ...

... and then Chad, eyes filled with utter terror, knocked Darien out of the path of the bolt.

And it slammed into him instead.

He was knocked back nearly three yards, slammed into the back wall of the chapel with a dull thump, and slid to the ground.

His upper chest was a red mash of shattered ribs and battered tissue. I could hear the low sucking noise of a pierced lung.

And then time sped up again. So fast that all I could do was stand and watch as the one who looked like Endymion leapt up into the chapel, coming down at the front, flung something at Darien, grabbed Serena, and twirled his cloak around both of them, vanishing immediately.

For a long moment, the chapel was absolutely still.

Then the minister looked from Darien's still body to Chad's, lifted his head to look at the audience, and said calmly, "Is there by chance a doctor in the house?"

Everything exploded at once. I heard Dr. Mizuno's voice lift above the others. She was shouting for Amy to call the ambulance, and trying to work her way through the suddenly panicked crowd.

I moved slowly to the front. It was strange how the crowd almost seemed to part in front of me, as though there were something odd about me. I saw one of the people in front of me do a double take at my face before he got out of my way but I didn't really pay any attention.

I walked to where Chad was lying, slumped and broken, against the back wall of the chapel. The front of his tuxedo had been burned away, and so had much of his chest. I listened to the sick, queasy sounds of his breathing for a few seconds.

And then I became aware of a very strange noise. It sounded like something very large grinding against something just as big. I realized that there was all the other noises in the chapel had suddenly become quiet.

I suddenly knew that the noise was my teeth grinding together.

Immediately, my transformation wand was in my hand.

Before I could lift my arm, however, I felt a firm but gentle hand on my shoulder. I turned around to look straight into Mina's bright blue eyes.

"Not now, Raye," she whispered. "Not here."

I blinked. I looked back at the chapel. Every eye was on me ... most of them were staring confusedly, others looked like they thought that they understood, and six people in that place had a look in their eyes to match Mina's own.

They were scared and hurt, but most of all, there was anger in those eyes. In some it was a cold fury, in others it was a white hot rage. But all of the other Sailor Scouts were feeling just as angry as I was.

I nodded to Mina and let the transformation wand fade into oblivion. I looked away from Chad's body, so that I could see what had been done to Darien. He was lying on the floor of the chapel, his face a mask of agony, and there was a heavy black rose sticking out of his upper left chest.

Just above the heart.

How cliched, I thought vaguely, first this person posing as Endymion steals Darien's symbolic heart, and then he tries to destroy his actual heart. Such a cliched villain cannot be allowed to live, he will cause other villains to start becoming cliched in their turn ...

Mina gently led me to the back of the chapel. She murmured excuses about my being in shock over Chad to people who were still staring at me. The others gathered around us as we went back. Just as we got to the entrance, the emergency response team that Amy had phoned a few minutes before stomped into the building, and Susan calmly directed them to the victims.

We stepped into the coatroom, and Mina closed the door. She took a deep breath, and turned to look at Susan. "Pluto," she said calmly, every trace of the hyperactivity she'd been laboring under gone, "I will ask you this once and once only. Did you know that this would happen?"

"I did not, Venus," Susan answered. "I had no indications whatsoever that anyone would target Serenity or Endymion for an attack on their wedding day. I am aware of several potential threats which may be behind this situation, but it does not seem very probable that any of them is truly responsible. This is something new."

"A simple `no' would have sufficed," Mina said calmly, "but I thank you for your input. Amy, please get your computer and start running one of the programs that you've designed to keep track of Serena's movements."

"I didn't know you could do that," Lita said quietly.

"Greg made a vague suggestion that it might be a good idea a little while ago," Amy answered, beginning to tap at the keyboard.

"Foresight?"

"Maybe." Amy stared at the screen. "Nothing. She's either out of range or she's being hidden somehow."

"All right," Mina said, sounding edgy. "Now what?"

Nobody had anything to say.

Suddenly it happened. It was like a cat's claw being drawn across a chalk board at a hundred miles an hour, and a sudden terrible sense of foulness in the stomach, as if whatever I'd eaten was suddenly rotten. I almost collapsed.

From the way they were bent over, Amy, Lita and Mina were obviously experiencing it just as I was, but Erica, Michelle, Susan, and Lydia were staring at us, uncomprehendingly.

And then the voice began. "HELLLLLLLLLLPPPPP MEEEEEEEEE!"

It was Serena's voice and she was in agony.

"Serena! She's ..." Mina cried.

"Someone is twisting her, but I can't ... I don't ..." Amy bit out.

"Focus!" Susan cried, her eyes suddenly alight with understanding. "This is a manifestation of your link to the Princess ... you can know what she is feeling, if her feelings are intense enough! Find her by that way!"

I tried. I formed images of peace and security to send to Serena, struggling to understand exactly what was being done to her ...

And then it stopped.

I was drenched in sweat, and tears were running down my face. "I ... couldn't ..." I gasped out.

"Neither could I," Mina whispered agonizedly.

There was only a broken sob from Amy.

"I SAW."

Lita's voice was almost frightening. We all turned to look at her. Her eyes were dark with anger. "I know ... at the very least, I know the path that her taker took to wherever he is. He is ... he's trying to corrupt her somehow ..."

"Where is he?" Erica pressed.

An angry smile twisted Lita's lips. "He's in the sub-basement of a certain video arcade in Jyuban." She looked at the three Inner Scouts. "You all know what I'm talking about, right?"

Amy blinked. "Of course ... the arcade with the portals that led to the Dark Kingdom!"

"But why there?" Mina wondered.

"Does it really matter?" Michelle interjected. "We need to go there, in force, at once."

"Yes," Mina said softly. "We do. The four of you, however ..."

"What?" Erica burst, and Michelle and Lydia also looked shocked. Susan was smiling faintly at Mina.

"Suppose for a moment that this whole thing is a set up to lure us into a trap so that we can be taken out all at once," Mina explained. "We can't go rushing in all at once, then, because we'd be going along with their plan. Whoever they are," she muttered as an afterthought.

And then Mina smiled faintly. "Besides ... the eight of us don't work well together ..."

I realized that Michelle was looking at me, and I returned the look steadily. During our final battle with Neherenia, when I'd been forced by circumstances to work with Neptune, we'd spent half the encounter getting in each other's way, and wound up getting toasted anyway. The only match in that situation that had worked well had been Saturn and Li'l Moon. And since Reenie wasn't here right now ...

"But what if you need our support?" Lydia interjected.

"Then we'll send you a sign, Lydia-chan," Mina said simply.

"I don't like it ..." Erica muttered.

Suddenly, Mina was standing in front of Erica, looking up into her face with an expression that was much more frightening than any she'd given to Darien or Amy, earlier. "You don't have to like it, Uranus," she hissed. "I don't care if you like it or not. But by God, if you dare to do anything without my okay, I'll see you put through whatever the Silver Millenium used to court martial disobedient Senshi. There was a procedure for that, Pluto?" she asked, turning suddenly to look at the eldest Sailor Scout.

Susan nodded gravely. "And the penalty for insubordination towards the designated commander of the Sailor Senshi during a time of Royal Crisis -- when the royal family is imperiled -- was death. Administered by me." Her words were very close to the crack of doom.

Erica swallowed, and took a step back from Mina. "All right ... what will this sign be?"

Mina smiled. "You'll know it when you see it, Uranus. Trust me." She let out a deep breath, and for a few moments the iron control that she was exerting over herself flickered. Then she recovered. "Amy, Raye ... I want both of you to go and tell your families that you've been asked by the police to come give a description of the kidnapper, and then get back here. Lita, I'd appreciate it if you'd check in on Serena's family, make sure that they're not completely irrational, and give them as much hope as you can without revealing the secret. Lydia, you could check on Darien ... make sure that he's all right. Well, ladies ... it would seem that the wedding is off. It's up to us, once more, to make sure things work out." She smiled wanly, and lifted her fingers in the V for victory. "Just like always."

I paused as we marched out of the coatroom, to look back at Mina, who was examining the sleeves of one of the garments. "Aren't you going to go talk to your parents?" I asked.

"I didn't invite mine," she answered without looking at me. "They're too busy for something like this."

I turned to go ... then turned back, and closed the door behind me. She looked up.

"I just wanted to thank you," I said quietly. "For making sure I didn't ... lose control up there."

Mina shrugged. "You'd do the same for me. We pull each other back from the ledge ... that's what friends are for."

"True. But ..." I paused, trying to think of how to put this gently, and failing. "But for a while, after what happened in Nerima ... I thought you hated me ..."

She gazed at me unblinkingly. "I did. But, after a while ... I asked myself something. Which would I rather have -- Aethan hurt badly, or even crippled ... or Aethan dead?" She paused. "I knew what my answer was. And I knew that you only did what you thought was right ..." She shook her head. "I don't hate you, Raye."

Then she smiled, even more wanly than before. "I've probably been driving all of you crazy this last little while, haven't I?"

"Well ..." I temporized.

"I'm sorry. It's just that ... didn't you feel so helpless back then? I did. I hated it. So, like Amy said about you, I overcompensated. I found a mission, and tried to keep it under as much control as I could. And look what happened." Mina sighed, bemusedly. "This is why I didn't want to be the leader ..."

"It's not your fault!" I interjected.

She looked at me oddly. "I never said it was. But I could and should have guessed that something like this might happen. We wouldn't be so flat-footed now if I had." She shrugged. "Nothing for it ..."

Before I could reply to that, the door opened, and Lita and Amy stepped in. "Serena's parents are almost out of their minds," Lita reported glumly. "Susan's watching them, though, so I don't think they'll do anything crazy ..."

"All right, that's probably the best we could hope for under the circumstances. Ideally, this will all be written up as yet another random incident, and no one will start to put things together about the fact that Serena or the rest of us generally tend to be near any manifestations of supernatural activity in Jyuban."

Mina paused then. "Amy, what does the fact that our adversary is using the gate tunnels that lead to where the Dark Kingdom used to be suggest to you?"

"Nothing," Amy said firmly. "It would be a mistake to state that he is certainly or even probably some representative of the Dark Kingdom. While the deaths of two of the Dark Kingdom's generals -- Jadeite and Zoisite, of course -- are not confirmed in my view, it is illogical to assume that they would have survived the collapse after Serena destroyed Queen Beryl and eradicated the Negaforce."

"In other words, assume nothing?" Mina asked.

"Not other words; those will do nicely," Amy said, with just a hint of a smile.

"All right, then. I'm not going to remind you of what's at stake here, we all know that," Mina said calmly. "But needless to say, if you can get Serena back to safety ..."

"It's worth our lives to do that," I interjected.

They all looked at me. "If the only way to get her out of there in one piece is to abandon me to whatever we're fighting," I said slowly, "I want you to promise me that you'll do it."

"Raye ... no," Lita said simply. "She'd never be able to live with herself if she knew that ..."

"Then you make sure that she never does!" I shouted.

"Could you seriously do that to her, Raye?" Lita demanded, her eyes narrowed.

"Yes," I said. "I wouldn't do it to her, I'd do it for her. You're right, she couldn't live with that ... and I'd rather she was alive, frankly. And so should you."

"That's enough," Mina said forcefully. "Nobody is going to sacrifice their lives today, Raye. We're going to go in, get Serena, pound the hell out of the one who took her ... and get out again. In one piece."

"Nobody's going to sacrifice their lives?!" I shouted. "Newsflash, Mina -- someone already --"

Amy slapped me.

Distantly, I heard Amy say, "Raye, Chad is in the care of competent professionals. He's going to be okay. If you think you can somehow pay this false Endymion back by sacrificing your life to avenge Chad, you're mistaken. You're going to have to go on."

I looked at Amy, holding my cheek. She didn't seem ashamed, as she had in the arctic when she had slapped Serena ...

I nodded. "All right. Let's go, then."

* * *

The arcade was closed, which probably wasn't surprising, all things considered. We transformed with a minimum of fuss, and leapt into the portal silently.

The tunnels that lay beyond the gate were dark and misty. Mercury immediately produced her computer and did a scan. Wordlessly, she guided us down one of the passages.

Just like last time, Mina was the first to sense the wave of darkness before it hit us. "Get ready!" she shouted.

But nothing could have gotten us ready for the things that came crawling out of the passages. There must have been hundreds of them -- twisted indescribable creatures out of nightmares.

After only a few minutes, I realized that the worst of them seemed to be ignoring me, focusing on Venus, Jupiter and Mercury. While they were only holding their ground by the narrowest of margins, I was moving forward against the beasts -- slowly, but forward.

I risked a look back at the others. Lita was locked in a hand-to-hand fight with an insect-like thing that had six arms to her two; she was too close to the thing to risk releasing her thunder. Amy was moving with greater grace than I'd ever seen in her before, only just avoiding the monsters. Mina was up to her waste in some kind of sludge creature's embrace, slicing into it with her chain.

I met Mina's eyes. She saw what was happening, and with a nod, gave me permission.

I began to force my way through such monsters as were trying to face me, working my way to the end of the tunnel, which opened up into a chamber.

Suddenly, I heard a low rumble behind me. I turned back just in time to see the passage collapse behind me, throwing up a huge cloud of dust.

For a moment, I stood right where I was, waiting for whatever attack the false Endymion cared to bring against me. He'd clearly gone to a lot of trouble to separate me from my companions -- all I could do for them now was hope that they hadn't been caught ...

I heard the scrape of a boot.

And then the laughter began.

It was the laughter of a woman long past the edge of madness, driven there by pain and outrage, and now seeking only to find satisfaction in the pain and outrage of others.

The most frightening part was realizing that it was also Serena's laughter.

She stepped out of the dust near me, and slammed her fist into my stomach before I knew what hit me. I went flying back, slamming against a cavern wall, and the breath went out of me.

I heard a clicking noise as she drew close to me, and finally managed to get my eyes open as it stopped.

I looked up at Serena. She was wearing a version of her old costume -- but it was black where her costume was blue, a sickly gray where her costume was white ... and the reds of her costume were a dark, thick red colour. Like blood.

And the jewels in her meatballs were skulls.

"Hello, Raye," she said with false sweetness, "I'm so glad you could make it this far. I wanted to see you once more ... right before the end."

"Serena," I gasped.

She swiveled and kicked me in the side. "That's Serenity, Raye," she said in the same sweet tone as I lay on the ground, coughing up blood. "Serena is alllll gone now."

"I don't believe you ..." I managed to get out.

"But why, Raye? You hated Serena. She was weak, and silly, and a burden. Well, I'm not weak ANYMORE!" she finished with a shriek, and moved to bring the stilleto heel of her boot on my back. I managed to roll away just in time, such that she only cut into my shoulder.

"You're ... you're not in control of yourself, Serena," I said, pulling myself to my feet. "He's making you do all this ..."

"He is the one who made me see the truth!" she screamed. "That you've all been coddling me, keeping me from reaching my true power. Well that's not gonna happen ANYMORE!" she hissed, and swung her hand to slap me across the face.

I felt one of her fingernails slice into my left cheek, just under my eye, and realized that if she had been a little higher, she would have been able to gouge at my eye. I darted back, crying "Which is it? Were you a burden, or did we coddle you? Can't have it both ways!"

"Oh yes I can too!" Serena barked, kicking at me. I only barely dodged out of the way. "I can have everything I want! EVERYTHING!"

"Everything you want, or everything he wants you to have?" I sneered.

And stepped back into the cavern wall.

She loomed before me, grinning like a banshee. "It's time to end this, once and for all, Raye. IN THE NAME OF ME ... I'LL PUNISH YOU!" She reached for her tiara.

"Serena, don't ... you don't want to do this."

"Oh I do," she hissed. "I want to kill the one who has hated me so long ..."

And suddenly I knew that there was only one weapon strong enough to defeat what our enemy had done to her. I swallowed. "But Serena ... I don't hate you ..."

"LIAR!" she shrieked, and almost tore the tiara from her forehead. "DARK TIARA ..."

"I love you," I said, and closed my eyes.

"SLAY--

For a long moment, I wondered if the tiara had sliced through me, and I had just blocked the agonized memory ... if this was the eternal moment between life and death.

I cracked open an eye, and realized that I was still alive.

The tiara whirred and twisted, a discus of inky black darkness, less than an inch from my stomach. If I took a step forward, it would plunge into my inards.

I looked at Serena. Her face was twisted in rage, and her hand was held out as if she had just thrown the tiara. Her entire body was stiff and locked.

"Three little words," I said quietly. "You wouldn't think that they could mean so much, would you? But they do. They mean everything, when they're true. And they are."

"Rrrrraaaaaye," she growled.

"You can have anything you want, Serena. That's what he promised, isn't it? Well, I promise it too. You can have anything I can give you, Serena. Do you want my life? It's yours. My life is in your hands, my blood is in your veins. If that's what you want. Because I love you," I finished, wondering where that bit about blood had come from.

Slowly, she began to shake her head. She kept shaking it, faster and faster, and a low moan issued from her lips. "nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnyyyyyyyyyyy aaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAYYYE!" she exploded, and her hand jerked.

The discus flew.

Away from me, smashing into the far wall, and exploding in a puff of foul smoke.

Serena stood, her arm outstretched, for a second, and then she collapsed to her knees. I rushed forward, and caught her.

"Nooooo!" she cried. "Let go of meeee!"

"Never," I murmured, holding her tightly.

I was a bit put out when she started to vomit up something black and oily -- it got smeared all over me -- but I never let go of her, even when she was giving dry heaves, and her eyes were trickling the same stuff, and her nose ... it dried up in moments, though, leaving only a dusty remnant.

"You love me?" she sobbed. "How can you love something like me? I ..." she broke down completely for a moment, then whispered, "I wanted to kill you, Raye ..."

"No you didn't," I whispered, cradling her. "That was just him, using you to ..."

"NO!" she shrieked. "Don't you understand? H-he took all my little hates, my insecurities, my ... oh gods, I'm horrible. How could anyone love something like me?"

"You're not horrible," I said fiercely. "Don't you know that it's because of your flaws that we love you, not despite them? We love you ... I love you because you are you, Serena."

I leaned down to kiss her forehead. She leaned up to look at me.

And somehow in the middle I found myself kissing her lips.

And it was as sweet as I'd dreamed it would be a month before.

I had run from it, fought against it, denied it with all my strength ... and it had all come down to this: that I loved her with all the passion I had.

Then there was a big explosion behind us. I shielded her body from the flying rocks that erupted from the explosion of the rockslide ...

"Well. Well, well, well," said Sailor Uranus.

I turned to look at them -- Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. "I could've sworn that Venus said something about the three of you staying behind until she called for you?" I asked wearily.

"Fortunately for her, we decided to risk a court martial," Neptune said quietly. "The others are okay, they took an awful pounding back there, but Saturn's looking after them, and they'll be all right. Are you ..."

"I'm fine," I lied, "get her out of here." I tried to lift Serena up into Uranus' waiting arms, but couldn't quite manage it. She bent down to take her up, looking at both of us with a worried expresion.

"You are not fine," Pluto said shortly. "You will require medical treatment. Uranus, Neptune, take them back, I will go on alone ... if I don't contact you in half an hour, take whatever actions necessary to destroy these tunnels."

"No."

I stared fixedly at Pluto. Slowly, she turned to look at me. "What was that?" she asked.

"I said, no. You go back with her, and if I don't come back in half an hour, whipe this place off the map."

Pluto stared at me for a second, then drove a finger at my forehead.

I caught it between two of my fingers, when it was more than an inch away. Pluto blinked. I took it to mean that she was flabbergasted.

"I can do what has to be done, Pluto," I said. "He's gone to all this trouble to separate me from the rest of you. I have to know why. Get back up to the surface, and take care of ... the rest," I said finally.

Pluto gazed at me, and for the first time I saw something other than cool evaluation in her eyes. It might have been respect. I don't know. "First Serena, then Mina, then you ..." she whispered. "Perhaps I should have paid more attention to the lot of you while you were ..."

She stopped, shook her head. Pluto turned to look at Neptune and Uranus, the latter cradling Serena, who looked half-way gone already. They had all three been watching our little confrontation. "Take the Princess to the surface, I will join you shortly," she said.

"Right ..." Uranus said unsteadily.

"But what about ..." Neptune suddenly inquired.

"Raye!" Serena cried. "I ..."

"I know, you're sorry you hurt me, I'm sorry you hurt me too, now git!"

"But I ..."

Pluto tapped a point on Serena's forehead, and she dropped into sleep at once, snoring loudly.

"I didn't know she knew pressure point techniques," Uranus murmured.

"She has many skills ..." Neptune said dryly.

"GO," Pluto said firmly.

They went. Pluto turned to look at me. "Why wouldn't you let her say that she ..." she began.

"Because she doesn't, she's just hurt and confused by all the shit that she's just been through, and only a complete crumb would take advantage of that ..."

"I think you underestimate her ... a common error, but ..." Pluto shook her head.

"Take ... take good care of her, please," I said, and I was aware that I was begging, and that tears were running down my face.

"I will. By every holy name, I swear it," she replied. Her eyes seemed moist, but it was hard to tell. "But I have two gifts for you, that may be of some help in your battle." She extended her staff to touch my forehead.

I blinked. "I don't feel any different."

"When the time comes, you will," Pluto said as she began to walk out the hole in the wall that they had made. She turned back to look at me, for just a moment, favoring me with the ghost of a smile. And then she left.

I pulled myself to my feet, and stared down the two passageways that led out of this chamber and further down into the labyrinth. I took the left one.

The mist soon cleared up.

The chamber that the passage opened up into was rather large, and carefully formed. It hadn't been `grown' like the other chambers I'd passed through had been ... this had been deliberately constructed to be like this.

Endymion sat on a throne at the far end of the room, looking back at me expressionlessly. "I was not sure," he said slowly, "that you would do it."

I said nothing, gave him nothing.

"But, since you are here ... and since you are alone ... you clearly must have killed the little fool." He smiled suddenly. "You have finally begun to grow up, Mars ..."

"You can drop the disguise any time," I said quietly.

"Why thank you, I believe that I will." His features flowed like wax for a second, and when they were done, he looked nothing like Endymion at all.

His features were eerily like mine in a way -- they suggested something bird-like, or even raven-like, possibly. But his hair was a cool blond shade.

"Well? Don't you want to know how I survived?" Jadeite asked.

"Not really," I said with a degree of control that would have impressed Mina, or even Susan. "I'm much more curious as to why you've done all this, now? Why wait four years to take your revenge on Serena?"

He laughed madly. "Do you seriously believe that this has anything to do with her? She was just a tool to bring you to me, Mars."

I let out a breath. "Aside from having undone your schemes back then ... why single me out?"

He stared. "You mean you don't know?" Jadeite barked. "You don't remember what we were to each other? You don't recall that we were to be married?!"

I wanted to faint dead away. "No," I murmured. "I don't remember any of ..."

And then my mind made a liar out of me. Pluto's first gift.

"We were engaged from the cradle, until you were eighteen years old and suddenly decided to break the engagement!" he roared. "And you had the GALL to announce in public that it was because you loved another!"

He sat breathing deeply for a moment, his eyes alight with fury. "It could only be one person, of course, the only one who could have stolen your heart from me. Endymion," he spat out the name. "That was when the Dark Kingdom was born, do you know that? Beryl was alone until I joined forces with her. Because you rejected me for him, all the horror that came from Metallia was born ..."

I shook my head. "Oh no. You won't put the blame for that on me. Especially not since you're so wrong ..."

"What?!" he thundered, almost rising off his throne.

"Endymion didn't `steal my heart from you', Jadeite. It was never yours to begin with. I never loved you ..."

"YOU SHOULD HAVE!" he screamed.

Ignoring him, I continued. "And it wasn't Endymion that I rejected you for, idiot." My eyes closed as the greatest secret of my heart revealed itself to me. It was so incredible to realize ...

"Then who?" he snarled.

"None of your business," I replied, smiling.

His face was clenched in hate. "It doesn't matter. You realize, don't you, that you can never go back to your friends, having killed your Princess, even though she was ..."

"Wrong again, bunky," I said cheerfully. "She's all right, and probably very far away from here. And pretty soon, the Outer Scouts will come to turn this place into so much dust ..."

"They're welcome to try," he sneered, opening his hand to let ... something float up. I stared at the tiny crystal ... and recoiled from what I saw. It was a tiny piece of perfect darkness. Looking too closely at it was like staring into the abyss.

"Nephrite fashioned this, somehow," Jadeite said, smiling viciously. "After his death, it passed into Zoisite's hands. After she was killed, it hid itself for awhile, growing in power equal to its opposite number -- the Silver Empyrean Crystal. The Dark Crystal can match anything that they'd care to throw at me, Mars ..."

Before he could say anything else, I fired off a Mars Flame Sniper at him. It dissipated before it got within a foot of him.

"Care to try again?"

I realized something as he sneered at me. I realized that I hated him more than I'd hated any other foe that I'd ever been drawn into conflict with.

I used my hatred and rage as I reached deep within myself and drew out my final, ultimate attack. Susan's second gift.

"MARS." It was hotter than anything I'd ever released before even as it started to build up. "ETERNAL." Part of my mind screamed in terror at what was going to happen to me if I did this. "FLAME!!"

And I felt it explode forth from me, cascading outward in an endless, irresistable wave. It was beautiful ... red and orange and yellow and purple blending together into an almost white light; the delicious scent of burning hair; the exquisite agony in my hands and fingers as it streamed outward. The one sad part was that I knew it would only last ten seconds, and that I'd die at the end.

And that then the pleasure of burning would be no more.

Almost as bad was the fact that it didn't seem to be having any effect on Jadeite's forcefield. He'd been a bit shocked when I unleashed it, but had recovered nicely. "Stop the melodrama, Mars, this won't work," he sneered.

Eight seconds.

"Is this supposed to impress me in some way?"

Six seconds.

"Mars, stop it. Don't throw your life away ..."

Four seconds.

"Why?!! They aren't worth dying for, surely!"

Two seconds.

"STOP!"

One second ... I reined it back in almost all the way, so that I could just feel the heat in my fingers. I felt myself fall over onto my side.

Immediately, Jadeite was there, staring at me with mixed awe and fear. "Oh, Mars, why?" he moaned, as he knelt down, and gathered me up. "You knew! You knew that all along I still loved you, and you thought you could bluff me into making me drop my defenses if your life was in jeopardy. Ever since Beryl was destroyed and I remembered what I truly was, I have always loved you ..."

"YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE," I croaked, and let the flames burst through my fist as I slammed it into his stomach.

For a moment, I felt something holding against the fist ... and then it surged through, and I felt and heard his guts boil as it passed through him, exploding out his back.

Jadeite's face twisted in agony, and he looked at me in horror. I returned his look with every degree of equanamity I had.

"C-c-c-curse yoouuuughhhh," he managed to grunt, just before he began to disintegrate into a dark dust. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him start to lift his left hand, but I figured that he wouldn't be able to get off an attack before the end ...

I guess he figured that too, which was why he drove his left hand towards my face as fast as he could ...

His finger slammed into my left eye, my world exploded, and I knew nothing.

* * *

And then I woke up, in agony. Doctors were shouting, but I couldn't understand anything that they said. I closed my eyes -- the one that opened at any rate.

And then I woke up. Grandpa was standing by my bedside, muttering something. I was surprised to see that my father was standing beside him, silently. They realized that I was awake, and my father leaned over to say something to me, but the roaring in my ears was too loud to hear it. I closed my eye.

And then I woke up. Amy was leaning against the window of my hospital room, staring out. Her face was tired. She looked over at me, and saw that I was awake.

"Chd?" I managed to grunt.

Amy closed her eyes. Tears rolling down her face, she shook her head. "He never woke up ..." she murmured.

I closed my eye.

And then I woke up. Serena was holding my burnt hand to her cheek, and crying quietly, as Darien held her tightly. She was pale and wan, while his left arm was in a cast. I closed my eye before they realized I was awake.

I dreamed of them.

And then I woke up. Michelle and Susan were arguing softly but forcefully not too far away. Erica was standing, cradling Lydia gently. The little one looked exhausted.

Susan realized that I was awake at once. "She's awake. Let her decide, if you insist on this madness."

"Raye?" Michelle asked. "Can you hear me?" I nodded, I was too weak to speak. "We want to let Lydia try and heal you, Raye. Serena is too weak to use the Silver ..."

"Nuh."

"Raye, if you don't get magical healing, you may never recover. Your wounds are very grave ..." Michelle continued.

Lydia lifted her weary head, and looked at me. "I want to do it, Raye," she said quietly. "I can handle it ..."

"No, she can't," Susan said angrily.

"I have to," Lydia insisted. "She gave everything for us. How can I not give all that I have for her?"

"Nuh!"

"Please, Raye," Lydia begged, tears running down her face. "Let me help you."

I stared into that teary face, and felt my resolve fade like a light. I nodded, and Erica moved to lay Lydia down in bed next to me. The little girl placed one hand over the mass of bandages that covered the left side of my face and the other over my heart. And then she pressed.

It was like being held in the arms of a phoenix ... like being sent through flames that purified without hurting. It was like ... like any time I watched Serena draw forth the Silver Crystal.

When I came to myself the others had left us alone. Lydia was fast asleep in my arms.

All the cuts and bruises and wounds were gone -- but one.

My left eye was gone.

I leaned back, and closed my eye, and tried to sleep.

"Raye?" Serena's voice asked.

I opened my eye and saw that she was standing in the doorway. "Hi," I said quietly, indicating Lydia's condition.

Serena nodded, and stepped into the room. "I just ... I wanted to say ... oh, God, Raye, I'm so sorry ..." She was almost crying.

"It wasn't your fault ..."

"Yes it was! If it wasn't for me ... if you hadn't known me, Chad wouldn't have been k-killed like that, and you'd still have your eye, and ..."

"... and I'd be a lonely, bitter woman, Serena," I said quietly. "I don't regret anything ..."

"Of course you don't! That's the worst part!" Serena cried. "You love me so much you'd march into hell if I asked you! You'd ..."

"But you'd never ask. Because you love us," I interrupted.

Serena looked away, then turned back to look directly at me. I could tell from her posture, her voice, and a hundred other cues that she was terrified but doing her best to be brave. "Raye ..." she said faintly, "you said ... down there ... that you love me. I need to know ..."

"Of course I wasn't lying, what sort of a person ..." I cried to try and throw her off track.

"No, Raye, I need to know if you love me ... like Erica loves Michelle."

The fifteen seconds that we spent staring at each other were the longest in my life.

"Serena ... you idiot," I said with heavy scorn. "This is about that kiss, isn't it? It was just a mix up. I didn't intend to kiss you like that! Cheeeeeee ... you've been spending too much time around those Westerner cousins of yours! You're starting to get as sex-obsessed as they are!"

Serena stared at me ... then blinked. Then blushed heavily. "Oh, Raye, I'm sorry, I'm such a twit ..."

"No, we need a new word to describe what you are," I said heavily.

"Well, I'm glad we got that cleared up," Serena said suddenly. "I mean, I'd hate to see two people I loved fighting over me ... wouldn't you?" Her voice sounded so small.

"Yeah," I said shakily, "whatever you say ..."

She nodded, waved, and walked out of the hospital room.

I closed my eye, and sighed deeply.

"Why?" The small voice was anguished.

I looked down at Lydia's face. Her eyes were brimming with tears.

"How much did you hear?" I asked.

"Why didn't you tell her how much you love her?" Lydia asked, almost angrily.

"Because ..."

"It's not fair! You went through all that to save her, you suffered for her ... and you're giving her up?!"

"Lydia ... the only reward I want is her happiness."

"Why don't you think she could be happy with you?!"

"She could be. But ..."

"But nothing! You'd be happy, she'd be happy, what else matters?"

"What about Darien?"

Lydia was silent.

"Doesn't he deserve happiness, too? And ... I need his happiness as much as I need hers, Lydia-chan."

"It's not fair," Lydia repeated, tears starting to run down her face.

"And what about Reenie?" I asked quietly.

"Ch-cheap shot," she sobbed.

I gently kissed her forehead. I was surprised to realise that I was crying myself. "Of course it's not fair, Lydia ..." I whispered. "It's love."

* * *

Two weeks later, after I had been discharged from the hospital, after the ... funeral had been held, the Tsukino-Chiba wedding party gathered again in the chapel. Most of the McNichols had gone home, but Serena's tall cousin, Richard, was still present, and kept trying to flirt with all of us -- well, for some reason, he kept his distance from me ...

Just as the wedding was about to begin, Susan came out of the foyer where Serena was waiting, and asked for Melvin, Sammy, and Mrs. Tsukino to join Molly, Serena's father, and the lady herself for a brief discussion. Susan shut the doors after they went in, and faced the room with a faint smile.

A few minutes later, a shrieked "NANI?" came from behind the doors, and everyone twisted around to stare.

Darien had stiffened almost imperceptably at the front of the chapel just before the shriek, and there was a faint glistening about him for a moment. At once, I guessed what had happened, and shared a quick grin with the others.

Just a little while later, the doors opened again, and Sammy led his mother out of the foyer. They both looked like they'd just learned something that was completely beyond their understanding ... but Sammy seemed to be taking it worse. He kept muttering "Serena's ..." over and over again. Melvin wasn't in much better shape, but he looked at least a bit pleased. As the wedding procession began, I was a bit surprised to see the calm expression that Molly was wearing ... it was almost like she'd been expecting this, and was pleased to have been right. But that was ridiculous of course. And when Serena guided her father up the aisle, his face was beyond shock ...

The ceremony was a bit quick this time, as if everyone was trying to ensure that there wasn't a repeat of the previous disaster. Serena and Darien exchanged rings, pledged their eternal love, and everyone held their breath when the minister asked the fateful question about "just cause".

Nobody showed up though, and the ceremony continued.

"Then, by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife." A short pause. "You may kiss the bride."

And I looked up, and prepared for my heart to break.

Their lips pressed together.

And my heart didn't break.

It sang.

* * *

After everything that had happened, I was expecting a quiet reception. I shouldn't have, but I did.

The four of us sat together, watching as Serena accepted halting congratulations on her wedding from each and every one of the Canadians who'd come. She was the picture of politeness, even as they mangled the language terribly.

"Hey, Raye," Mina said suddenly. "It's strange, but you look ... kinda neat with that eyepatch."

"Mina!" Lita hissed.

"Well, she does!"

"It's okay, Lita ... I didn't like the looks of any of the false eyes that they had available, so ..."

"Ah, just give them a few years," Mina said confidently. "It won't be much longer before they're coming up with bionic eyes. Now that'll be just too ..." She suddenly looked up at the karaoke machine that was being set up. " 'Scuse me. I sense stardom beckoning." She was off like a rocket.

Lita and Amy exchanged weary looks, while I just smiled distantly.

I watched Lita's friend busily working at the buffet table. Her okonomiyaki was a smash hit, as was the attractive young waitress that she had brought with her ... I wondered why a vaguely evil grin spread across Ms. Kuonji's face whenever any of the men approached the young lady.

Suddenly, everyone began to clear away from the center of the reception hall. I remembered, suddenly, that it was a tradition at wedding receptions that the first dance always belonged to the newlyweds and that I'd wanted to sing a song for their dance. I began to stand up ...

... then sat down. I still wasn't at a hundred percent, and my voice was not quite my best feature at the moment. It wasn't a rasp, exactly, but I wasn't going to be singing anything tonight.

Just one more disappointment ...

I watched Mina speaking to Serena rapidly, saw Serena nod decisively, then lean over to whisper in Mina's ear. I wondered what was going on. Then Mina headed over to the karaoke machine, picked up the mike, and began to speak.

"Good evening, everyone, and a special `Hello' to our visitors from Canada! I've been asked to sing the first song for our dear friends' nuptial dance." Her smile faltered a bit, then resurged. "It's a song I heard earlier this year, when I visited Canada and a ... a friend of mine who lives there. Anyway, I hope I can do justice to Ms. Celine Dion's `Because You Loved Me'".

The music was easy and gentle, perfect for the slow dance that Serena and Darien began in the center of the room. I watched silently, hardly able to believe that Mina could have been hiding such a lovely voice for so long.

              "For all those times you stood by me,
               For all the truth that you made me see,
               For all the joy you brought to my life
               For all the wrong that you made right
               For every dream you made come true
               For all the love I found in you
               I'll be forever thankful, Baby,
               You're the one who held me up,
               Never let me fall ...
               You're the one who saw me through
               Through it all.  
               You were my strength when I was weak
               You were my voice when I couldn't speak
               You were my eyes when I couldn't see
               You saw the best there was in me
               Lifted me up when I couldn't reach
               You gave me faith 'cause you believed
               I'm everything I am because you loved me

There was another verse, and the chorus repeated, before the music suddenly shot up in intensity. Mina's eyes were shut tightly as she sang the next verse.

 
               You were always there for me
               The tender wind that carried me
               The fire in the dark
               Shining your love into my life
               You've been my inspiration
               Through the lies you were the truth
               My world is a better place
               Because of you ...

My face was wet with tears as I watched them glide across the dance floor, heard the music, and felt the passion in the air. He was the most incredible man I'd ever met; she was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen.

That was why I could never have married Chad. Because ultimately, what I'd loved in Chad were all the things that I loved in Serena and Darien. It wouldn't have been fair to him to have married him as a substitute for either of them.

Would it?

 
               I'm everything I am, because you loved me
               I am everything I am ...
 	       Because you loved me ...

As the song came to its end, I got up from my chair, and made my way to the washroom to get caught up in my crying in private.

When I was done, I reached out to snatch some paper towels from the dispenser ... and someone handed me a handkerchief. I dried my face for a few moments before I realized what had happened, and turned to look at the person who had somehow entered the bathroom without my realizing it.

She was about Serena's height, and looked very much like her ... but her pink hair was done up in an style that was more like rabbit ears than meatballs.

I recognized her at once of course. She smiled, gently.

"Should you be here?" I asked, a bit hoarsely.

"Probably not," she said calmly. "I'll probably get an awful tongue lashing from Pluto when I get back home ... but I had to be here. You told me so."

"I did?"

"A little over a thousand years from now. You told me to tell you some things. Please remember to tell me them ..." She paused. "I hate casuality loops. Anyway, the first is to tell you that the song that Venus sang just now ... she didn't pick it herself. Mama did."

I stared at her, amazed. "S-serena chose the ..."

"And it is about you. She knows how you really feel, and she returns your feelings in full. But ..." Reenie paused, sighed, and shrugged.

"That makes it ... a little easier, I think. Thank you," I said quietly.

She nodded, turned away, and headed for the door. When I stepped out of the bathroom, she was nowhere in sight. I returned to the hall, just as another dance began, too late to find a partner. I watched Lita dancing (awkwardly) with that cousin of Serena's, Amy doing a gentle dance with Greg, Mina in the middle of a circle of admirers, and Erica and Michelle moving gracefully across the floor.

And in the centre of the floor, Serena and Darien moved in the patterns of the dance that they had known millenia ago, on the moon.

And I watched, my heart at peace. She smiled at me, across the dance floor, and I was reminded of the truth of that song she had chosen.

For I am everything I am, because she loves me.

The End.

A short guide to certain characters and references:

• Erica (Ten'ou) = Ten'ou Haruka (Sailor Uranus)
• Michelle (Kaioh) = Kaioh Michiru (Sailor Neptune)
• Susan (Meiou) = Meiou Setsuna (Sailor Pluto)
• Lydia (Tomoe) = Tomoe Hotaru (Sailor Saturn)

Nobody Sue Me Okay?

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