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“Sailor Moon, watch out!”
Sailor Moon heard Sailor Mercury shouting over the fight, but it was too late. The blades were rushing towards her and she could no longer dodge. Her eyes darted over to her fellow Senshi. Maybe she could cast one last protection on them, to help them in their fight. They were risking their lives for her, for the future Silver Millenium. And if anything, at least Sailor Moon would try to save those lives, if not that shining future. They would find another way to make everyone happy, even without her.
“Star Serious Laser!”
The blades vanished, burned away in a blinding light. That voice… Those powers! Sailor Moon’s eyes widened when she remembered them – it had been so many years.
“Now, Sailor Moon!”
She shook herself out of her daze and raised her wand. It had grown with her, ever more powerful, strengthened by the hope of the people and the love of her friends.
“Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss!”
The healing light destroyed the last darkness in the hearts of their attackers and Sailor Moon sank to her knees and Usagi remained. The rest of the Senshi transformed back too. The corruption seemed to spread ever further these days, but Usagi would fight for that shining future she knew she could bring. Everyone would. The universe had seen too much sorrow, too much darkness.
But today, it had brought her a little light too, the brightness of Star Fighter’s power. She stood before Usagi now, and even though she was taller now, Seiya still towered over her after she helped her to her feet.
“Yo, odango.”
“Seiya… is that really you? It’s been so long...”
“Sorry for not visiting earlier. But you’ve been busy too, haven’t you?” Seiya looked around on the aftermath of the battle. Usagi nodded, sadness heavy in her heart.
“Sometimes I wonder if it was all wrong… if I am not strong enough to bring that future,” she said.
“Usagi! Are you alright?” Rei shouted as she ran over with the rest of the Senshi.
“I’m fine! What about everyone of you?”
“We’re alright,” Makoto said and smiled at Seiya. “Thanks to you too. When did you come back?”
“Just now. And you are all in trouble again,” Seiya said and they laughed. Usagi had missed that sound. She had so many by her side who loved her and whom she loved, but it was good to hear one more voice.
“I bet you two have a lot of catching up to do! See you later, Usagi!”
“Ah, wait!”
But the other Senshi were gone and Seiya and Usagi were left alone.
“You are,” Seiya said quietly.
“Huh?”
“You are strong enough. To bring forth the Silver Millenium. To make everyone happy.”
“Seiya...”
The smile Usagi gave her made Seiya weak in the knees, the way no fight ever did, no monster attacking her ever could. She scratched the back of her head and stared off somewhere into the distance.
“But that guy! I told him to protect you, didn’t I? Where did he go off now? Why wasn’t he here?”
“Mamoru has his own duties…”
“He should be at your side! He is going to be your king, isn’t he?”
Seiya’s eyes widened when Usagi looked at the ground for a moment and then slowly shook her head.
“But… weren’t you two fated to be together?”
Usagi smiled at her.
“We are our own people, Mamoru and I. I am not Princess Serenity and he is not Endymion. And Mamoru and Usagi, they… did not work out, in the end.”
There was a sadness in her voice and of course there would be. Seiya knew how much the man had meant to her and although she loved Usagi more than anything in the universe, she had not wanted her to lose that. She remembered the little girl, crying on the roof in the rain, crying for a lost love Seiya thought she had no chance against. Who was she to fight against love crossing entire lives? It hadn’t been fair, in the first place. There had never been a place for her, she thought.
But the girl was a woman now, beautiful and radiant and strong. And no longer bound to fate. No, she was forging her own destiny and Seiya so longed to be at her side when she did it. What would the Crystal Millenium Usagi would build look like? It was foolish to hope, childish to dream, but Seiya wished there was a space for her in it.
“What about your daughter?”
And Usagi smiled at her again.
“I know I will see her again. No matter how,” she said and put her hand over her chest. Seiya looked for a moment and then quickly tore her eyes away, red in the face. She wasn’t a teenager anymore! But Usagi was… Seiya thought that maybe if she was galaxies away, she could get over these feelings she had. Find someone else. That maybe that love she had felt was simply misplaced, a confusion because Usagi reminded her of Kakyuu.
But it was real. And it was still there.
Seiya felt her heart beat faster, so loud in her ears that she thought Usagi might hear it too.
“I… was not kind to you, was I?” Usagi asked as they wandered the dark streets together.
“I never quite knew what you meant. I was… a foolish girl. I suppose I still am,” Usagi continued and Seiya’s breath hitched when she felt the small delicate hand still into her own.
“Selfish, too. I was so absorbed in my own feelings. And I never quite properly thanked you for all you did for me.”
“You did more for us than we could ever do for you.”
“That’s not true!” Usagi shook her head wildly and her long blonde tails swayed gently. “I could never do the things I do without everyone always protecting me and lending me their strength! So you too… if you hadn’t been there… even today, you saved me.”
“Told you I would protect you, odango.”
Usagi raised herself to her tiptoes and kissed Seiya on the cheek and for a moment, time stopped.
“So thank you, Fighter. Thank you, Seiya. I… I would be glad, if you stayed a while.”
It was hard to make out in the dim light of the streetlights, but Usagi was blushing and she was still the most beautiful woman Seiya had ever seen. She could have asked anything of Seiya in this moment and she would have given it to her. All the stars in the world and their destruction, if this future queen so desired.
Seiya had found her true princess long ago. And it had taken her so long to finally accept it, to come back, despite knowing that the place at Usagi’s side was taken. And she would still have been with her, serve her and her vision, no matter if her love was not something Seiya would ever have. But now… Perhaps she should have come back sooner.
“I… I did come back to stay,” Seiya said and squeezed Usagi’s hand in hers. “I asked for leave from Princess Kakyuu and it was granted. To be here.”
Her chest felt tight as she poured her feelings out. She could almost feel the damp, clingy uniform on her skin from back then, that day on the roof.
“If… If I am enough now,” Seiya whispered. A gentle, warm hand settled on her cheek and there was the kindest smile on Usagi’s face.
“You are. You always were.”
Soft lips met each other for but a fleeting moment, both too unsure and both still too bound by the past. But there would be time enough, in the Eternal Silver Millenium.
A Silver Millenium ruled by two queens, bound by destiny no longer.