The TRUE ending. Enjoy! Long note at the bottom. -Lianne (liannesentar@hotmail.com) http://Lianne_Sentar.tripod.com *Usagi and Mamoru's Love: Epilogue* Series Finale Rated PG for drama and one Japanese curse "Mamoru-san." Mamoru moaned. He tiredly batted away the hand that touched him. "I'm dead," he mumbled. "Leave me alone. I can sleep as much as I want to in heaven, right?" "And who says you made it to heaven?" Mamoru opened his eyes in surprise. A concerned Hotaru and a scowling Haruka looked down at him. "Oh my God." Mamoru covered his face. "Haruka's here. I must be in hell." A fierce smack on the side of the head suddenly made Mamoru think he wasn't dead at all. The second smack all but convinced him of it. The third made him sit up abruptly and grab Haruka's wrist. "Knock it off." He angrily released her. "I'm up, ok?" There was another moan nearby. Mamoru turned to see the inner senshi and Michiru slowly waking up in the sunshine-kissed grass. A little farther away on the grassy hill sat a dizzy-looking Chibi-Chibi and Galaxia. "Minna ..." Mamoru's eyes widened. "You're ok." Makoto muttered something as she held her head. "Guess you could say that," she spat. "What'd that witch do?" Mamoru frowned. "You were frozen in ice, but I don't remember what happened after that. In fact, I don't remember how we even ..." He suddenly stopped and sucked in a breath. He whipped his head around. "Where's Usako?" "She's the last person you need to worry about right now." Mamoru froze. The blood went cold in his veins. That voice. In his dreams, in his nightmares, in his memories ... a thousand feelings suddenly rushed in on him. Fear, pain, hopelessness. But horror more than anything else. Horror because he heard that voice, that voice which he knew he would never hear again. "I ... I *am* dead," he breathed. "Ne, Mamoru-san." Sailor Pluto, behind him, smiled. "You won't even look at me?" Mamoru couldn't feel his heart beat. Something, somehow, allowed him to turn his head. He couldn't breathe. She was there. Not just her voice - she was there. She was *there*. But he had known he'd never see her again. He was dead. Asleep, maybe, dreaming like he did so often of how she hadn't really died that time. How she would wake him up, tell him she was all right, tell him she hadn't sacrificed her life so that he and everyone else might live. He always woke up crying from those dreams. Hotaru's eyes were wide. "S-Setsuna-mama," she whispered. "H-how can you ... are we dead?" She suddenly looked around her dumbly, the expression on her face almost as void as Mamoru's. Setsuna shook her head. "You're all alive. We're in Crystal Tokyo." Ami was jolted out of her shock enough to cover her mouth. "What?" she squeaked. Setsuna held her long Time Staff in her hands. She used it to point to the ruins of a city nearby. "That's what you knew as modern-day Tokyo," she said. "The melting of the freezing spell nearly destroyed anything that wasn't alive. Usagi's crystal has to do with healing life. There wasn't a lot her crystal did for buildings and mortar." Nobody said a thing. They were all still too dumbfounded. "All right." Setsuna smiled, amused. "I can see you're all a little surprised, so let me explain." She indicated the senshi, Chibi-Chibi, and Galaxia with a sweep of her staff. "You all were put in a successful cryogenic freeze. That villain, whoever she was, had remarkably powerful magic. She truly intended to keep you frozen and preserved until the end of time. As such, you and all the citizens of the Earth were unharmed when Usagi unfroze you all." "Unfroze us?" Galaxia asked slowly. "Her crystal blasted away the ice. But, as I said, although the ginzuishou doesn't harm humans, it destroyed much of the Earth that lay under the ice." She pointed to the ruins. "That's what will be Crystal Tokyo. On the remains of Tokyo you have to build the crystal city that you all remember. With the power of the golden crystal and the ginzuishou, it won't take very long." Mamoru was still in shock, so Setsuna added, "Your golden crystal, by the way, is fine. The woman used it, but didn't drain it. In fact, your son used it to help defeat her. You'll still find it inside you." Setsuna rested the end of her staff in the thick grass. "Usagi will need to use the ginzuishou to purify all who would live in Crystal Tokyo, and that's when you all will be granted your immortality. From there, Usagi and Mamoru will rule, and ... well, the rest is history, ne?" For a long moment, no one said anything. Setsuna patiently awaited a reaction, and, after a moment, Chibi-Chibi swallowed and spoke up. "Based on what the senshi told us of Crystal Tokyo," she croaked, "these things don't quite match up with what King Endymion told them." "Of course not. The future is already quite different from what you remember it to be. Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endymion had only Chibi-Usa as their child, remember?" Setsuna let out a breath and smiled. "Although I can't go into details, just trust me and don't worry, all right? The future may be different, but time finds a way; it can shift and fluctuate to accept anything. If this future doesn't match up exactly with the future you remember, time will accommodate. Don't worry about the world ending. "And that's why I'm here," she added, answering the foremost question in everyone's minds. "Time needs a Guardian, so time found a way to bring me back." Again, silence. Hotaru's hands shook as she clasped them, her eyes wide, her breath halted as if she feared Setsuna would vanish if she moved. "Does ... does that ..." The words caught in her throat, and she had to shakily start again. "Does that ... mean you're really ... alive?" Setsuna nodded. "H-honto*?" Setsuna nodded again, smiling. Hotaru slowly, shakily, got to her feet. Her legs were like jelly beneath her, but pure, trembling hope fueled her steps and she was able to stumble to Setsuna. Slowly, shakily, she reached a hand to touch Setsuna's face. Flesh was beneath her fingers. The tears started then, full and warm and unstoppable. Hotaru threw herself into Setsuna's arms with a cry, her fingers clutching the fuku of the adopted mother she had thought was gone forever. She buried her face in Setsuna's chest and sobbed. "Mama," she wailed. "Mama, I can't believe you're back!" Seeing that Setsuna was there - really, truly *there* - the other senshi began to snap out of their shock and one by one ran to embrace Setsuna. By the time they all got to her, she had become the captive of far too many arms, including two that squeezed far too hard for her liking. Setsuna coughed and smiled weakly. "I missed you, too, Haruka." "Kisama**." Haruka squeezed the woman more tightly. "You made us wait years for you!" Mamoru could hardly see them through the haze of tears in his eyes. "S-Setsuna," he mumbled, his voice shaking. "Setsuna ... did you bring Seiya with you?" Setsuna's face fell. She met Mamoru's hopeful gaze, then dropped her eyes. "Time needs a Guardian," she repeated, quietly. "So time found a way to bring me back." Hotaru looked up at Setsuna fearfully. "What?" "Time needs a Guardian." Setsuna closed her eyes. "So time found a way to bring me back." ******************** *="Honto?" translates to "Truly?" **="Kisama" translates roughly to "you" but is a very rude way to address someone. It can be considered a curse. It's like saying "you jerk" only ruder. ^_^ ******************** Yaten's eyelashes fluttered. Tiredly, he opened his eyes, then wondered if he had opened them at all. Seiya looked down at him, a smile on his face. "Ggghhcch," Yaten gurgled. "Yaten." Seiya's gaze softened. "Don't look at me like that. I don't know if you're breathing." Yaten's eyes were wide. "Nope," he whispered. Seiya smiled again. "I've been watching you, you know. This whole time. I'm glad you and Mina finally hooked up. I always knew it'd happen, believe me." Yaten, stunned, didn't answer. Seiya looked over at Taiki, unconscious nearby. "I wish he was awake," Seiya murmured, "but there's nothing I can do. Tell him I love him, ok? I want him to hear it." "Y-you can't s-stay?" Yaten didn't know how he coughed up the words. Seiya shook his head. "Time doesn't require me. But Setsuna's back, at least." He looked sadly down at Yaten. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I'm sorry I wasn't more ... important. Than maybe time would've let me come back to you. I'm nobody, and there's nothing I can do about it." Yaten's heart pounded, and he felt strength pump to his limbs in a sudden blaze. He shot to a sitting position with the blood rushing in his ears. "You're *not* nobody!" he shouted. "You're my brother!" Seiya's eyes grew glassy. "Yaten." Yaten started to cry. His long, musician's fingers buried into his sides as he wrapped slender arms around himself. "Oh God," he sobbed. "I can't believe I'm seeing you. I can't believe you're here." Seiya reached down, as if to touch Yaten, then pulled back. He lowered his gaze. "I can't touch you," he said quietly. "I'm sorry." Yaten turned tear-filled eyes to his brother. "Not a day passes that I don't think of you," he mumbled through sobs. "Not a single day. I still dream about our childhood and see your face when I look up at the stars." Seiya smiled softly. "That's because I'm there." Yaten hiccuped. Seiya began to fade, his gaze never leaving the silver-haired Light. Yaten gasped. "Already?" "I'm sorry, Yaten." Yaten desperately reached out to grab Seiya's arm, but his hand passed right through his disappearing brother. He hiccuped again and pressed his hands into the grass. "Seiya," he sobbed, "I know we always fought a lot and I was really mean to you, but I never meant it. You knew that, right? That I really loved you? Because I always did, and I do now, and I will until I die and even after, ok? Ok, Seiya?" Tears spilled down his cheeks, and he hiccuped again. "You left before I got to tell you that." Seiya smiled. "You never needed to tell me, Yaten." "But you always told me! Not with words, but in everything you did ... like when Mom died, and when we found the princess. You always showed me, Seiya. You always showed me!" Yaten cried harder. "But I *never* did!" Seiya shook his head. "You always did." "No, I didn't!" Dark navy met tear-filled emerald. "I've heard love in every single word you've ever said to me," Seiya said quietly. Yaten choked. Seiya leaned over and closed his eyes. He softly, carefully, pressed his transparent lips against Yaten's forehead. For a brief moment, Yaten knew he felt warmth where Seiya kissed. "I love you, Yaten." Seiya smiled. "Good-bye." Yaten's lips curved barely in a smile despite all his tears. "I love you, Seiya," he whispered back. "Good-bye." Seiya began to turn, then stopped. "Oh, by the way." He turned his head back and grinned. "Mina's pregnant." Yaten froze. "W-what?" As his brother turned away, in the last moment before Seiya vanished from Yaten's life forever, Yaten swore he saw great white wings glittering upon his brother's back. ******************** "It's warm out." Chibi-Usa happily lifted her face to the sun. "Can we stay here, Mama?" Usagi nodded, exhausted. She lay in the soft grass with her face lifted to the bright sun. Sorano and Kazeno lay beside her, each in one of her arms. Aino looked down at his mother's face and grinned. "Forever?" he chirped. Usagi nodded again and smiled. "Forever, baby." Kaze nuzzled closer to Usagi. "Where's Papa?" "He's somewhere around here. I'm sure we'll see him real soon." Sora closed her eyes. "Ok." Usagi let out a breath, slowly. After everything that had happened, after they had been so close to failing and losing *everything*, she could just lie in the sun with her children and let her cares melt away. She had never thought she'd live and be able to return to such peace. It was a miracle - there wasn't a doubt in her mind. Chibi-Usa's gaze fell on the destroyed Tokyo. "You gonna fix that, Mama?" "Yeah, baby." "We gonna live there?" "Yeah, baby." "Is it gonna be pretty?" "Yeah, baby." Kaze turned large ocean eyes up to her. "Is everything ok, Mama?" "Yeah, baby." Sora turned large ocean eyes up to her. "Is everything gonna stay that way?" "Yeah, baby." Ai giggled and looked down at her once more. "Forever?" Usagi smiled. There weren't many things she had ever been positive of in her life, but of this she was. And she wanted to tell her children, her beautiful children who were already altering the future as she had known it, her precious children whom she loved more than anything or herself. Her love for Mamoru. Her life with Mamoru. The two of them, their children, their friends, would all live in the utopia she would create, would live, after so much war, finally, for a time, in peace. Usagi chuckled. "Yeah, baby." Sparkling blue eyes met sparkling blue eyes. "Forever." ******************** And so began the legend of Crystal Tokyo, from the day Usagi saved the world and Setsuna regained her position among the living. They set to work on purifying Tokyo almost immediately, and, indeed, it didn't take long to create the utopia and grant eternal life to all on Earth who would accept it. Nine months later, Minako and Yaten had a healthy baby boy. They named him Seiya. And the rest, of course, is history. Not history for us, but history for the senshi who would one day run through the Time Gate to visit 30th century Crystal Tokyo in an attempt to save Chibi-Usa's mysterious parents. History for the young Sailor Moon who would flush at the concept of having four children with the young man beside her. History for the young man who would, despite his blushing, find the concept of that many children as thrilling as the concept of marrying Sailor Moon and gaining a family at last. History for them. And until they're told, they'll never know things had, at one point, been otherwise. Time is an amazing thing, ne? The End Author's closing note: Now that I look back at the dates I wrote on "Usagi and Mamoru's Love: Blossomings," the first story in this series, I see that it's been more than three years since I began the tale of Usagi and Mamoru's love. More shocking, even, is the realization that I finished the final part of "Warriors" exactly a year before finishing the final part of "Emergence." A year, just to finish "Emergence!" In no way does it feel like it's been that long. Who knew it would've taken so much time to complete everything? And yet here we are, the first day of 2001, the official beginning of the new millennium, and I'm finally finishing off one of the longest projects I've ever worked on in my life. The quality of the series dipped *drastically* at points, yet you all stayed on board. I can't thank you enough for supporting me as I experimented with different writing techniques and, at times, failed *miserably* (insert wincing that goes along with the sick "ellipse happy" phase I was in during "Strike"). Minna, truly you are the best fans I could ever hope for. ^_^ (Oh, and for those curious, no, this isn't the last Sailor Moon fanfic I'll write.) Since I wrote this series over such a long period of time, there are a million people I'd like to thank, some of whom I haven't talked to in years: -Elaine, dear Elaine, who sent me a Hitomi-from-the-Esca-movie keychain for the holidays (which made my head nearly burst, that present is SO WICKED), has been one of my oldest still-remaining fans, though I consider her a friend more than a fan now. She drove many miles to see me, she's written countless beautiful e-mails and letters to me, and she's always given me constant support and shown unending patience. -Fushigi Kismet, whom I haven't talked to in some time because of her insane schedule, I have never, *ever* forgotten, since that fateful day I read one of her fanfics, cried at its beauty, e-mailed her about it, and made one of the best net friends I ever would. -Razzz, who was always too cool. ^_^ We've chatted like friends, we've chatted like advisors, and, of course, I've followed her work while drooling all the way. Razzz, always, I will remember. -Ninx, a fic writer I always admired and always will. It's been years since we talked, but I never stopped thinking about her. -Sue Mei, of course, because we went through so much together and kept up correspondence throughout those blazing days of "Fanfiction every week, the fans are waiting ... fanfiction every week, the fans are waiting ..." ^_^ When fanfiction was our lives, we were always together. -MJ, whom I haven't talked to in years, don't think I've forgotten you, either. Your work ethic is something I *still* admire, and you were always so kind, sweet, and blissfully understanding. -Sailor Antique, I can't even begin to thank you for everything. We've done so much as friends ... you've been truly, truly great. If Ivie's reading this, or if you see her anytime soon, tell her I've always found her wicked cool, too. ^_^ -Sidnei, you've been around since the beginning. When you ordered my first book "Rain" within 30 seconds of when I put the ordering instructions online, I was totally blown away. You've always been so supportive and so, so fab. ^_^ -Sweet Loh Shi Lin, dear Dena, hilarious Sabbie, amazing Jackie Terry - everyone who ever supported me, who support me now, or will support me in the future, you guys are indescribably amazing. Never in a million years would I have guessed I would one day hold such wonderful, dedicated fans. For all your support, for all your encouragement, for all your love, I can't thank you enough. I hope you enjoyed "Usagi and Mamoru's Love." At the very least, I hope I provided you with entertainment in exchange for your incredible support. I love you guys. You are TOTALLY the best. And happy millennium! -Lianne (liannesentar@hotmail.com) *Sailor Moon and all its characters are copyright © Naoko Takeuchi/Kodansha Ltd./Toei Animation, Co., Ltd. and the English adaptation is copyright © 1995 DIC productions, LP. This story part is copyright © Lianne Sentar, January 2001. **DOWN WITH DUB-BASHING!!!