Ja ne,
Rob(Rivers of truth taste the same. -- Tibetan Saying)
StudioYOGIPIGS@bigfoot.com
Sailor Moon AX: http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Pagoda/2314/sailormoon_ax/
The World of Studio YOGIPIGS: http://www.bigfoot.com/~StudioYOGIPIGS

Studio YOGIPIGS presents:
SAILOR  MOON  AX
Based on Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon by Takuechi Naoko

Written by Studio YOGIPIGS' "Project Muffinhead"
                                                            
LEAD WRITER: ROBERT BARBA
CO-WRITER: ELIZABETH THOMAS
                                                            
SAILOR MOON AX LEGENDS WRITER: AMY ANGEL
SAILOR MOON AX LEGENDS WRITER: EMANUELE BONAMICO
                                                            
Research by Studio YOGIPIGS' "Odango Labs"
                                                            
LEAD SAILOR MOON ANALYST (US VERSION): MARVIN PEACE
LEAD SAILOR MOON ANALYST (JAPANESE VERSION): SAKURA EDWARDS
TECHNOLOGICAL ANALYST: JOHN SHEAREN
WEAPONS AND MILITARY ANALYST: DAVID CLARE
PROJECT EDITOR: SAMUEL LAMBSON

CHAPTER NINE: Marking the Line, Part Two

    "Bu-bu-bu-bu...." Rei was completely incoherent.
    "'But how?'  I wish I could answer that," the girl replied.  "In truth, I've no idea."
    Mamoru then came to the door, asking, "Rei-chan, who is...."  He went slack-jawed, instantly recognizing who it was.
    Usagi couldn't help but giggle at Mamoru's expression.  "I see at least one person recognizes me."  But before she could comment further, she was yanked into the house.


    A minute later, Haruka, Michiru (who'd gotten out of bed for a glass of water), Rei, Makoto, and Mamoru were sitting, listening to the history of the 20-year-old woman who called herself Chiba Usagi.  "...And that's how it went.  One moment, I was in Crystal Tokyo, about to assume my mother's mantle as Sera Muun, the leader of the next generation of Senshi.  There was suddenly a flash of light, and I covered my eyes to shield them.  When I came to, I was standing in a place that was far different from where I grew up."  The look in her eyes told everyone that she would refuse any questions about it.
    "But you're here now, and family," Rei said.
    "Honestly, Rei, I don't know if I am," Usagi replied.  "Technically, I shouldn't exist.  Mamoru's with you now, from what I gather.  Usagi, well, since she's not here, I assume something happened to her.  Since 'my' time seemed to have disappeared in a flash, I can only assume that she died.  So, there's no certainty as to my lineage now."
   "Well," Rei said, her voice taking on a self-surprised tone, "You *could* be the daughter of myself and Mamoru-kun."
   "Ah, but then I wouldn't be Chibi-Usa, would I?  Nor, for that matter, would I be the image of Tsukino Usagi, which is obviously clear."
   "Doesn't matter to me; you're family, as far as I'm concerned," Mamoru said, the look on his face somewhere between astonishment at her presence and a paternal pride at how she turned out.  ((Despite how much I hate Usagi, I can't fault *this* Usagi.  She looks just like her mother, and yet seems more mature and confident than the odangohead.))  "We have room in our apartment for you.  Or, maybe you can move in with Hotaru.  You two were the best of friends, as I remember."
    "I wish I could, but there are other plans at the moment," Usagi replied.  "By the way, where is Hotaru-chan?  I'd have thought she'd be here."
    "College trip in Hakodate," Rei answered diplomatically, deciding not to elaborate further.  "Minako and a friend are there as well."  Rei also chose not to reveal Hikaru and her identity as the new Sera Muun.  "But why can't you stay?  Like we've said, you're family."
    "That's why I came to talk to you," Usagi replied, her voice growing softer, sadder.  "I came to ask you to stay away from me and my forces."
    "Stay away?  From your forces?" Mamoru's tone was questioning, though not astonished.
    "The people you fought with earlier today," Usagi elaborated.  "We're here to stop the future before it starts.  Don't ask me to explain what that means, except that I will say that if I don't, the world will fall into chaos."
    Makoto was surprised, though she managed to keep her voice even.  "Chibi-Usa, they're murderers!  How could you fall in with such a group as that?"
    "Makoto, if you'd seen what I've seen, done what I've done, you'd understand," the younger woman responded.  "I can never explain what's happening, not in a million years.  All I can tell you is that something from the Silver Millennium started this, and that I have to stop it before the entirety of humanity is obliterated!"  Her face and tone grew resolute.  "This is something that *must* be done, and I can't afford to have any of you involved in this, for or against."
    "Oh, we're definitely against," Michiru said, primly.  "I thought we all taught you better than that, Usagi."
    "Yes.  But you also taught me to fight on, no matter the cost.  That's what I'm doing.  And I'll continue on, even if it means I have to come into conflict with any of you.  And if I have to, I will fight you, whether it's you, Mamoru, Hotaru, or Setsuna."  Her words bit off a little too sharp at the end.
    That did not go unnoticed by any of them.  Rei inquired, "Usagi, what about 'Puu'?"  Her eyes rose as the person in question came through the door.
    "Now that's a term I haven't heard in a while," Setsuna said, her arms carrying a pair of Family Mart convenience store bags.  "I see we have company."


    No one was prepared for what happened next.
    In a flash, Usagi yelled, *"SETSUNA!  DIE!"* and leapt on her target.  As she did, her clothing morphed.  One second, she was wearing street clothing.  The next second, it had changed entirely.  Now, Usagi wore a pink form-fitting body suit, covered by white armor, gauntlets, and ankle boots, all with yellow accents.  She wore a pure white belt around her waist, with a golden crescent moon as its buckle.  There was a silver cylinder attached to the belt.  It looked like no uniform they'd seen before, and it was not something a Senshi would wear, as it looked too martial in its design.
    Usagi tackled Setsuna, then leapt back to her feet.  Setsuna got up and looked at the woman in astonishment.  "Small Lady?"
    "Surprised I survived your little handiwork, Setsuna?" Usagi snarled, then threw a vicious left hook at Setsuna's face.  Setsuna, having still been caught off guard by Usagi's appearance, didn't react to the blow in time, and took it across the face.  Smelling blood as sure as a shark does in water, Usagi continued her assault, throwing punch after punch, eventually drawing blood.  *"How does it feel to have destroyed everything, you bitch?" Usagi roared.  "HOW DOES IT FEEL?"*
    Everyone stood, frozen by the shock of what they were witnessing.  It got worse as Usagi reached for the cylinder, and clicked a button on its side.  A shaft of golden light shivered from it as the lightsabre sparked to life.  Bringing it close to Setsuna's neck, she snarled, *"I trusted you!  I loved you!  You were like a second mother to me!  And this is how you returned that love?  YOU DESTROYED MY LIFE!  You and 
that damn Pantheon Project, back in the Silver Millennium!  Billions are dead because of you!  Billions more will die in the future because of you!  I AM A GODDAMN LIVING GHOST BECAUSE OF YOU!"*  Though enraged, tears began to course down Usagi's face.
    Everyone still not moving, Makoto managed to whisper, "Don't do it, Chibi-Usa.  We know you.  Don't.  You'll regret it for the rest of your life."
    Usagi ignored them, still holding that energy blade mere centimeters from Setsuna's neck.  "I loved you so much--" she sobbed as she deactivated the lightsabre, "--that I can't even bring myself to kill you now."  She got off the bleeding, bruised woman, holstering her lightsabre.  "Stay away from me, Setsuna.  I never want to see you again."
    Setsuna got off the floor, painfully wiped the blood from her face, winced, but approached the younger woman.  "Small Lady, I--"
    Usagi's response was colder than the depths of space.  *"You don't listen, do you."*  Not even looking at her target, she pointed a finger at Setsuna and whispered, "Pink Sugar Heart Attack."
    As did the last time the "attack" was used, it was a pyrotechnic annoyance, but nothing else.  "That never hurt anyone, and you know it."
    Usagi spun and turned on Setsuna again, her eyes glowing with incomprehensible hatred.  *"NO, BUT THIS WILL!"*  Punching her hand forward, she snarled, *"Denki Hibana!"*  The white fireball that leapt from her hand slammed into Setsuna, sending her back in a wave of sparks and snarling electricity.  Setsuna crumpled against the wall, unconscious, body twitching from electrical discharge.
    *"SETSUNA!"* Michiru screamed, everyone seeming to react again.  "Usagi, why?" she turned to ask...
...but she was no longer there.  The front door was open, and the rabbit already bolting.
    Mamoru and Rei said nothing, simply racing out the door after her, as Makoto and Haruka moved to assist Michiru, who'd begun CPR on Setsuna.


    Moving at an incredible speed, the three gave chase initially on the rooftops of the Juban district, but had eventually ended up chasing each other on the Nambu JR line, hopping from train-top to train-top, the older pair trying to catch the younger woman.  Neither Rei nor Mamoru had bothered to change into their alter egos, as Usagi had already ditched the armor and was running in her street clothing once more.
    Miles northeast of Tokyo, they finally caught up to her in Tachikawa.  Rei, being slightly faster than Mamoru, tackled Usagi, both falling into a pond near the JR station.  As Mamoru leapt from the train to his wife's side, the look on his face was not one of anger, but one of complete puzzlement.  "Why, Usagi?  Why are you betraying us like this?"
    Usagi's answer was to turn her head and say nothing.
    Rei grabbed the younger girl, and was not as gentle, forcefully pulling her out of the water.  She laid a firm slap across Usagi's face.  Looking her straight in the eyes, she said, "Your father's speaking to you, girl.  You'd best answer."
   The look in Usagi's eyes was just as steely.  "You don't get it, do you, Mamoru.  You're not my father any more than Tsukino Usagi is my mother.  You never married her.  You never will have a child with her.  Therefore, I don't exist.  I'm displaced, out of reality.  But that doesn't mean I don't love you."  She looked at them both, letting down her guard.  "Please, Rei, Mamoru...if you two really love me as much as I love you, stay out of my way.  At best, I'm right, and everything I'm doing will correct time again, fixing what that bitch Setsuna's done."
    "And if you're wrong?" Mamoru asked.  "What then?"
    Usagi stood, shrugged herself out of Rei's grasp.  "Then those are crimes that I will pay for.  But I'm right, I just know it.  I'm not asking for your blessing--I can't ask you for that, and wouldn't want it for this.  I don't even want you to try to understand.  All I'm asking for is for you to stay out of my way."
    "We'll stay out of *your* way, Usagi," Rei conceded, as she willed a small, barely noticeable fire aura around her to dry her clothing, "but not your group's.  We can't do that.  Mark my words: your group and the Senshi will confront each other again."
    "Then I have failed," Usagi said in a mournful tone, "and the bloodshed will continue."  She paused long enough to hug Rei, then kiss Mamoru on the cheek.  "But no matter what, please don't forget that I love you.  All of you, save Setsuna.  And if she comes near me again, I *won't* hold back."  Her clothing shimmered, changing from her soaking wet clothes to that of her armor, now with a flowing white cape.  Levitating herself into the air, she added a final comment.  "For what it's worth, Mamoru, I'm hoping that when I've corrected everything, you won't punish your daughter too much for growing up so willful."  She soared off into the air, disappearing into the night.
    Mamoru didn't quite know how to answer that.


    A few hours later, the pair arrived back at Haruka and Michiru's.  All save Ami--and Setsuna, curiously--were present, the call having gone out to Hotaru, Hikaru, and Minako.  They'd arrived in a flash, and were currently sitting on the couch, still dressed in their Senshi fukus.  All but Hotaru were still awake. 
    "Hotaru's had an incredibly trying day," Minako commented, the teen's head in her lap.  "First her friend dies, then Michiru has a close call herself, and while Hotaru's having to deal with that, Chibi-Usa shows up and electrocutes Setsuna."  Ever the leader, Minako didn't bother to mention her own shocks.
    "Where's Setsuna?" Mamoru asked.
    "We managed to successfully perform CPR on her until Hotaru arrived," Haruka explained.  "Hotaru then wore herself out using her healing powers.  Then Setsuna left, saying something about impossibilities.  She looked...I'm not sure how to describe it."
    "Whatever's happening, it's getting out of control.  We need Ami back," Makoto said in a resolute tone.  "We have no idea what's going on, but I do know we're behind the power curve and losing ground fast."
    "No.  I think we should investigate this new threat and corral them, hard and fast," Hikaru replied.  "Ami's got enough problems on her hands right now.  We don't need to overwhelm her."
    "I think it's a mistake," Haruka said.  "She's a Senshi, and this situation calls for all of us."
    "As true as that may be," Minako countered, "I'm the leader here, and I'm not calling her. She has a chance to improve her own life, one that would be ruined if she were to return.  I'm not prepared to do that to Ami-chan just yet.  If it were any of you, I would do the same thing.  We've been hit hard today, because we were careless and unprepared."
"I agree with Minako," Rei chimed in.  "They have someone strong enough to take down Michiru, but that doesn't mean that the rest of those guys are equal--you saw what Makoto and I did to our opponents."  ((And I'm going to hate myself for it,)) Rei added silently.  Usagi's comment that "the bloodshed would continue" did not sit well with her at all.  ((At best, it means people are already dying.  At worst, it means I've killed with my own hands.))  A shudder absently wracked her body, and she responded by leaning against her husband for support.
    "Minako's right," Mamoru added.  "Ami has the chance to improve things for herself not as a Senshi, but as a person.  I, for one, don't want that taken away from her." 
    "We don't need Ami yet," Minako said, "and the decision's final.  Now, I suggest we all go home and get some sleep.  It's been a long day, and we need to start checking out the activities of that other group first thing in the morning."  She gently woke Hotaru up, telling her it was time to go.  With no further fanfare, the three Senshi teleported back to their hotel, promising they'd be on the first shinkansen back.
    As she left, Makoto said, "I really hope Mina-chan knows what she's doing."
    "So do I," Rei admitted.  "So do I."
       
***

Long Beach:
    The slaps were sharp enough that they echoed, even despite surroundings that didn't lend themselves to such a feat.  In front of her, Ami noticed that both Michelle and Alex went down like trees falling before the hatchet of a great lumberjack.  The two women crumpled into a pile, then looked at the ones who struck them.
    Ami then took a look, herself.  Her first thought was spoken in a whisper that no one, fortunately, paid attention to: "Usagi-chan to Naru-chan to Hotaru-chan!"  Her second thought was, ((Waitaminit.  That can't be Usagi, Hotaru and Naru.))  Her third and final thought was that there was no way that the blonde, the ravenhair, or the redhead in front of her were her friends back home.
    This "Hotaru" looked almost as she did when Ami first met her.  The real Hotaru was older, though still the same size.
    Naru didn't have the sleek earthiness that this one seemed to have.  There was something about this woman that could not be confused with the simple girl back home that was once Usagi's best friend.
    And as for *Usagi*...
...Ami could honestly say there was no way that this woman could ever be mistaken for Usagi, no matter how much the woman looked like her.  
    

    Serena stood over the two, her open palm turning into a fist as she harshly whispered, *"Get out."*  Her blue eyes were harsh and unforgiving, and carried the same bleak intensity in them as they did when she was Sailor Moon.
    Molly, also in the same stance, was no less angry.  "My sister and I came to say goodbye to our best friend, not to hear your stupidity contests.  If you two are willing to behave yourselves, then we'd love to have you with us.  If not, I suggest you clear out of here before Serena and I get *really* mad."
    Heather got in front of the Davenport sisters, looking at Michelle and Alex.  "Look, we're all hurting over Raye's death, and emotions are running a little high on the Richter scale.  Can't we just forget about this and move on?"  Brushing her hair out of her eyes, Heather added, "We're all friends here, and I'm sure you didn't mean it.  Can we all just get along, if at least for Raye's sake?"
    Michelle looked at Alex, her eyes somewhere between embarrassment and apology.  "Call it a draw?"
    Alex was rubbing her cheek, reddened and sore from Molly's slap.  "Well, if I get to avoid another of Molly's vicious right hooks, 'kay?"  
    Molly managed to smile as she pulled Alex back to her feet.  "That's a little better...but you have to work on your sincerity factor."
    Serena said nothing, but merely hauled Michelle back to the upright position.  "I'm really sorry, Serena," the aquahair said to her scowling friend.  "I wish I could put in words...."
    "You can't, Michelle.  That's always been a problem that you and Alex have had.  You can't put things into words, so you two constantly fight instead."  Serena sighed, then looked at both of them.  "Look, as much as I hate to act like a mother around Heather, I'm asking you two to please behave.  She's already had her fill of you two, and I don't want her to pick up any more bad habits than I've already given her.  Now please, cut it out."
    Alex looked like she was about to say something, then glanced over at Ami, then thought better of it.  "Sure, Serena.  Whatever you say."  She then walked back into the residence, using the old "have to use the bathroom" excuse.


    Molly pulled Serena aside.  "Was that really necessary, sis?  You didn't have to belittle her."
    Serena looked back at Alex as she walked inside.  "You know," she admitted to Molly, "she's so tomboyish at times, one tends to forget how gentle she can be.  But, southern belle or redneck, she's gotta learn."
    Molly gave Serena a bemused smile.  "Yes, I know.  But you can't solve all the world's problems, Serena.  No matter how hard you try."
    Serena had to grin rakishly at that.  "Well, isn't that why you're around, sis?  To make sure my head doesn't go over the usual amount of psi?"
    Molly laughed.  "If you insist."
    The momentary crisis over, Serena approached Ami.  "Hi," she said, smiling.  "You must be Ami Mizuno.  I've heard a lot about you from Amy and Mina.  As you may have guessed, I'm Serena.  Serena Davenport."
    Ami tried not to look too confused as she shook Serena's hand.  The blonde had just did a 180 in the personality department, and was seeing a lot more like the Usagi she knew.  "It is nice to meet you, Serena.  I just wish that we could have met under better conditions."
    Serena's face grew wistful.  "Wish we could have as well.  Raye was my best friend, like another sister to me.  Her family have known my parents forever, since my mom and hers went to school together."  Serena blinked her eyes once to void the tears that threatened to pour out; when that didn't work, she reached for the nearest box of Kleenex.  "If you'll excuse me, I have to talk to the others, but I will get back to you shortly.  Maybe when this is all over, we can do lunch or something."  Serena moved off to where the rest of them were.


    Ami watched Serena for a while, in a bit of confusion.  The blonde at times felt like Usagi, and certainly got along with the others, like her friends back home.  Then there were the mannerisms and background that couldn't clearly have been those of Usagi.  According to the others, Serena had been raising Heather--the Hotaru look-alike--since she was 18, and the Usagi she knew still was not ready for much responsibility back then.  Likewise, Molly, who looked like Naru, was a part of this group, naturally fitting in.  The Naru that she'd known had grown estranged from Usagi some time back, after the destruction of the Dark Kingdom.
    That had been so long ago.  And perhaps, maybe that was the crux of it all.  They all thought that Usagi was going to eventually become Serenity, as Endymion and Mamoru would as well one day be one and the same.  
    ((But maybe that's why Usagi left.  Maybe she was afraid of becoming Serenity; maybe she was frightened that her closest friends would suddenly treat her as their queen, as their goddess.  That was not the kind of person Usagi was--but maybe it would have been normal for Serenity.  It would have been interesting, she thought, if Serena and Usagi were to have a conversation.  Serena seems like the leader of this group--))
    Then it dawned on her.
    She already suspected that some of them were the Sailors.  ((If that's the case, then as the report described "Sailors Mercury, Mars, and Saturn," it could be natural for a Sailor Moon to exist.  And if my feelings are right, and everyone matches up perfectly, Raye might have been Sailor Mars.  Which would make Serena, Sailor Moon.))
    Then again, there was that nagging feeling that maybe it was a mistake.  It was clear that nobody here followed the paths of their Japanese counterparts--Michelle and Alex being the most painfully obvious examples.  ((The US has a different set of problems than Japan does.  They need crimefighters here, not demon-killers.  Different circumstances would call for a different set of Senshi--Sailors.  And a different set of Sailors would need a very different Sailor Moon.))
    Ami would still have to confirm everything before she told Minako and Rei.  Once that was done--*if* that was done--she would then have to devise a way of introducing the two groups...assuming that the Sailors would want to meet the Senshi.  Serena really didn't appear to be the kind that bowed to authority easily; she looked more like the type that held it.  Still Rei eventually accepted Usagi as being in charge, so if that could happen, maybe Serena would accept the authority of King Endymion and Queen Rei.


    "Excuse me, Ami, you seem awfully quiet."  Ami turned to see Molly standing next to her.  "Is there something the matter?"
    "No, not really," Ami said, as she tried to think of something to mask her train of thought.  "I just thought that it would be best if I steered clear.  You all knew Raye for a long time, and I had only met her in the last few hours or so."
    "That's understandable," Molly agreed, "but you're with us now.  There's no reason to feel like an outsider.  It was already a very sincere gesture to come here and be with us during our time of grief.  You're amongst friends here, people who will be there for you as you are here, for us."  Molly looked into Ami's blue eyes, then smiled again.  "I won't pressure you, but if you feel a bit shy about it, I understand, since I get that way myself.  But if you need someone to talk to or whatever, just get in touch with me, 'kay?"  Molly turned and headed back for the others, just as they heard Chad, Johnny and the others come in.
    As the assembly moved back into the house, a new problem sank into Amy's mind.  No matter who they were, these were her friends now--of that, she was certain.  Did she have the right to disrupt their lives?  As a Senshi, it was necessary to do whatever it took to ensure that the future would come about.  As Mizuno Ami, it was a little different.  That would be something that would require more thought in the next few days.
    Assuming that she was right about them in the first place.

***

Yokohama:
    "Usagi?" Chiaki asked.  "Are you okay?  I'm going back to my apartment for the night, but I wanted to see that you were doing alright."
    Usagi sat on the edge of the building that they occupied.  Normally, that would have been a sign of suicidal tendencies, but since levitation and flight numbered amongst the woman's skills, there was really nothing to be concerned about.  "Chiaki, I know that you're more than knowledgeable on what it's like to lose a loved one."
    "It didn't go that well, I take it."  Chiaki, a bit nervous, sat down next to her friend.  "That bad?"
    "Worse than you can imagine.  I'm a woman with no past, maybe no future.  In the timespace where I came from, I was about to become Sera Muun, the newest one.  My best friend was Sera Sataan, the only Senshi from the previous team that had stayed on.  We were recreating the Sera Senshi because of the need for heroes.  Now, I'm here in a place where I don't belong, and I'm no hero."
   Chiaki gave Usagi a pat on the back.  "How can you say that?  You're trying to save the world, Usagi, to change it back to the way it was.  To steer it from this course.  What's there not to be heroic about?"
    Usagi gave her friend a helpless look.  "Heroes don't slaughter innocent children, Chiaki.  Heroes don't turn against their families."
    Chiaki's eyes hardened.  "Now don't you give me that lecture, Usagi.  You don't know what I've gone through.  Or Kinsei and Malachite."
    "And that's just the point," she replied in a quiet, withdrawn voice.  "Those don't fit the actions of the Sera Maakyuri or the Sera Biinasu that I knew.  Something went wrong in the past, something that Setsuna did, and caused this whole thing.  Did you know that in the time where I came from, neither you, the twins, nor any of the other Outcasts exist?  Maakyuri married a man named Umino, and had two boys with him.  Biinasu died in a short conflict against the Galactic Destroyers, and my mother chose a woman named Elizabeth Wilson to become the new Senshi of Venus.  This world is very different."
    "I suppose."  Chiaki smiled in a way that said she didn't want to elaborate her situation at the moment.  Thinking for a second, she then asked, "Would you like to stay over my place tonight?  My roommate Hikaru's visiting some relatives up north, and won't be back until tomorrow afternoon or so."  She then added in a dry voice, "Unless you'd rather sleep on that futon again."
    "Tell you what: I'll stay over, and in the morning I'll make breakfast.  Sound okay to you?"  The woman with the indigo hair nodded, and both of them felt slightly better about themselves as they got back to their feet and headed for the entrance back into the building.  For Chiaki, it was a growing sign that she was on the right path, and that her growing friendship with the one-time future princess of Crystal Tokyo signaled that all would be right in the world.  For Usagi, it was simply the need for companionship and the fact that someone was accepting her for what she'd become--as flawed and imperfect as every other person on this planet.  In an ironic touch, she felt that she was now closer to the people of Earth than she was in that time to come that would never come.

***

Somewhere in California:
    In a dark, empty room in the middle of nowhere, Raye stirred, then drifted back into unconsciousness.
    In an adjacent room, a man giggled as he finalized his plans for revenge.

***

Somewhere in Northern Japan:
    The Moonlight Knight walked into a darkened room, her mask off and without weapons.  Seemingly speaking to the darkness, she said, "My love, I am here."  There was no answer, yet she acted as though there had been.  "Yes, I know that I'm not totally ready yet.  But circumstances call for it, and with your tutelage, we can overcome everything."  Another pause, then, "Yes, I am careful.  I know you worry about me, but I will be fine.  Trust me, my love.  We'll get through this, yet."
    More silence, followed by a flash of light.  The Moonlight Knight looked at her lover, and whispered, "Soon enough, all debts will have been paid, my love.  Then we can be together."

***

Somewhere, Everywhere, and Nowhere:
    At the Gates of Time, there was a flash of light, and out of that flash appeared a weary and spent Setsuna.  The look on her face was stoic, unconcerned, until she realized that she was alone, with no chance of anyone being around her for millions of miles.  With that thought in her mind, she sat herself down at a convenient place near the gates of time, and wept.
    Tears rolled down her cheeks as she cried unashamedly.  Her heart of hearts was on the edge of bursting, and there was no sign of abating her sorrow any time soon.  She felt as though she deserved to die, as though for once, she'd betrayed something; not merely in the course of her duties, but an active, deliberate betrayal.
    Today, she lost one of the few people that she was close to, a surrogate daughter.  Chibi-Usa was more than just Serenity's child, she was the little girl that seemed to fill Setsuna's solitary hours with joy, with light.  To see what had once been the warm light of love in those ruby eyes now turned into novas of hatred, scarred Setsuna more than anything she ever imagined.  That girl was the closest thing she had to her own child.  And now her child was lost to her, forever.
    ((And for that,)) Setsuna thought, ((I deserve to wrack in pain and suffering eternal.))  And she would suffer this unbearable burden, without any support, as always.  The sound of her sobbing could be heard in the distance, were anyone there to hear her.
    Alone as always.