Chapter Three –  It begins

Soon.

Usagi found herself in an extraordinarily bright room. She had to hold a hand above her eyes to be able to look at all. She was wearing her light, semi-transparent night gown, and it made her feel slightly embarrassed, as it didn't hide much of her body in this bright light. She turned around to see whether there was someone else in the room with her.

To her surprise, she was quite aware of the fact that this was a dream, one she had many times in the last year or so. Yet she felt very calm, the warm light was soothing, even though it was blinding her. It resembled the light of her very own silver crystal, only it seemed even stronger, more intense, warmer.

Soon, Serenity. Soon. Soon we shall meet.

“Where are you?” Usagi asked, half-yelling, half-whispering. The voice belonged to a woman, that much was sure. Suddenly Usagi noticed a silhouette appearing in front of her, a silhouette of a woman with long, golden, wavy hair.

“Are you... Galaxia?”

The hairstyle reminded slightly of Usagi's old acquaintance, but somehow Usagi knew this was another person. The aura was different.

Do not worry about me, Serenity. Focus on yourself.

“What does that mean? Who are you? Please, tell me!” there was a touch of desperation in her voice.

Serenity.

“Yes?” Usagi replied, with a hopeful expression on her face.

Make sure to prepare your daughter for what is to come. There is still some time left. For you, at least.

“For me? What does that mean?! Is someone going to die before me? Who?!!” Usagi was desperately begging for information, but the light started fading. This meant she would wake up soon. As usual.

Soon.

Usagi woke up covered in sweat, breathing heavily.

“I had that awful dream again, Mamoru,” she said. “It is going to drive me insane.”

There was no reply. Usually her husband would also wake up and hold her in his arms to comfort her.

“Mamoru?”

She turned a little lamp on her nightstand on, and had to notice that her husband wasn't there. Then she remembered... he never came home last night. He sent her a message, saying he still had something to do in the southern part of the kingdom. That had spoiled her mood a bit during the dinner last night, she was very sensitive about not spending time with him these days. But at least her friends were around her, and she was happy to see that Lady Serenity and Helios finally seemed to have discovered their affection for each other again.

Usagi thought about her daughter. Her baby. She really should have a talk with her. Tomorrow. No, now. The woman in her dream told her she still had some time left, but how much was 'some time'?

She got out of her bed, quickly got dressed, and made her way into Neo Princess Serenity's room.

It was quite chilly in the halls of the Palace, even though it was end of June. She soon wished she had a coat or a cloak of some sort.

“Mom!” a voice came down the hall. Only now did Usagi notice her daughter coming down the hall, with the main advisor by her side. They must have stayed up late.

“Usagi, Helios,” the Queen said, her voice a little husky. “You two are exactly who I was looking for. I need to talk to you.”

“What is wrong, Your Majesty?” Helios seemed worried.

“Let us go somewhere where it is warmer first,” the Queen shivered.

“Oh, you are shivering!” Helios noticed that the Queen was feeling cold. “Please, take this, Your Majesty.”

He took his white jacket off and offered it to the Queen, who accepted it with gratitude. It felt strange wearing the jacket of her daughter's boyfriend, but Lady Serenity at least had her cloak on, unlike her mother. They decided that the Princess' room was the closest, so this was their next destination. Once there, the Queen looked at both of them, and there was something so serious about her look that it scared Lady Serenity.

“For quite some time now, I have been having dreams in which someone tells me that I am going to die soon,” she said. “As much as it scares me, I have to accept this. We all knew the time for me, and for others of my age, to leave this world would come. But this means that it will soon come the time when you, my little Usagi, will have to ascend to the throne.”

Lady Serenity swallowed hard. Was the time that close?

“But, mother...” she shook her head, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. “I am not ready.”

“You are ready, sweetie,” Usagi hugged her daughter. “You have proven your maturity many times before. Even while you were still in the body of a child. You shall be a good queen.”

Helios observed the two women embracing before him, and he felt like he had no right to be here. Sure, he did wish to spend the rest of his life with Lady Serenity, he wanted this from the moment he realized she was the woman from his dreams many years ago, but those were merely wishes. He did not yet know exactly how she felt about such an idea.

“But...” suddenly, Lady Serenity turned to look at him. “But, if mother is going to die soon, as well as father, and their guardians... This entire generation, then... Hotaru, too... and... you...”

Helios realized what was on her mind. The first time they met was in the distant past, so Lady Serenity feared for his life, as well. And he had no answer to give her about how long he would live. He never really thought about it, his life depended on the light of the golden crystal of prince Endymion, and later the silver crystal. He lived in a whole different world before Neo Queen Serenity ascended the throne, but after this, he joined her and the King and has been their advisor, as well as their close friend ever since. So, perhaps he indeed did not have much longer to live, as well.

“Mother!” Lady Serenity stared at Neo Queen Serenity, her eyes filled with tears. “I don't want everyone to leave me! It isn't fair!”

“You... you will not be alone.” Usagi replied, suddenly realizing just how difficult this must be for her daughter. She would lose most of the people who meant the world to her. She also never thought about Helios' life span, or about the fact that Lady Saturn was Neo Princess Serenity's best friend and also a guardian.

“You still have the Asteroid Senshi,” Usagi tried to comfort her daughter. “They were revived in the time when they were needed as your guardians, so they will always stay by your side.”

“But what about everyone else?!” Lady Serenity was now feeling so overwhelmed, she was close to screaming.

“I... I have no answers for you,” Usagi felt like she was about to start crying. Her daughter, her baby, she was so unhappy, she felt so insecure, and she – her mother – could not provide her with the safety she needed. Her heart was breaking.

First Kakyuu, now her daughter... their losses seemed the greatest. And there was nothing she could do about it.

She felt so helpless.

…

Neo Princess Serenity woke up the next day with quite a headache, and her eyes still burned from all the crying. She rubbed them, trying to remove the remains of the dried tears from her eyelashes. Her cheeks were swollen, and her nose was also red from all the wiping. She didn't feel like a princess at all.

She was also still in her pink dress, she hadn't even changed before going to bed last night. She couldn't actually remember going to bed, either, she just remembered crying on Helios' shoulder, no – she wasn't just crying, she was sobbing. She wanted to cry her heart out, then maybe it wouldn't hurt so bad.

Suddenly, she felt something moving on the bed beside her. She turned around quickly, and saw Helios still asleep next to her. She blushed. That was the first time she had spent the night with a man, even though all they did was sleeping. Well, and crying.

She didn't want to lose him. There had to be a way to prevent it. The silver crystal HAD TO provide a solution, it just had to.

For all she knew, she herself might also only have a few decades up to a century to live. She was over nine hundred years old. And maybe Helios still had a few years to live. No one really knew.

She lay back on the bed next to him and observed his chest slowly moving up and down. He wore a light white shirt; her mother must have taken his jacket with her when she went back to her room again last night. Lady Serenity understood very well how her mother must feel now, with her father away. Now that she had Helios next to her, she also never wanted him to leave.

Thinking of her father made her wonder why he didn't come home last night. He was aware of the fact that his wife was not doing good, and that she needed his presence now more than ever. Lady Serenity found it a bit unthoughtful of him to leave her mother alone like that.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

“Usagi! Are you awake?”

It was Juno. Lady Serenity blushed and stared at Helios, who didn't awake even after Juno knocked on the door once again. The Princess jumped off her bed and tip-toed to the door quickly, opening them quietly.

“Ssssssshhhh! Be quiet!” she scolded her friend and guardian.

“Eh?” the green-haired young woman before her was confused. “Why?”

Juno leaned her head to peek through the door, and even though Serenity tried to prevent her from seeing the sleeping Helios on her bed, the expression on Juno's face showed that she noticed him.

“Oh,” she smirked. “I see. So that is why you overslept today.”

“No! It is not what you think!” Serenity tried defending herself.

“Hey, it's okay with me,” Juno shrugged, still smiling. “You are old enough. I just wonder what your father would say if he knew you were sleeping with his advisor.”

“Oh, shut up!” Serenity yelled and laughed, pushing Juno away. The noise, however, was loud enough for Helios to wake up. He sat up, stretched, and turned to look at two young woman before him. That is when his face grew red, and he quickly got up.

“Oh, Lady Juno, I... errr... I was just... comforting the Princess last night and...”

“Oh, I know you were comforting her alright,” Juno could barely stop laughing. “I can't wait to share this with Ceres, Vesta and Pallas!”

“Hey!” Lady Serenity frowned. “It is not ladylike to gossip!”

“And it is also not ladylike to spend your nights with the royal advisor,” Juno replied, now bursting into laughter. “Oh, I am sorry, Usagi. I just had to tease you a bit. Everyone knows you two are a couple, so it really isn't a big deal. And I promise not to say anything.”

“That is... quite kind of you,” Helios commented, trying to get out the creases from his shirt by pulling on it.

“Where is your jacket, Helios?” Juno raised an eyebrow, forgetting formal etiquette.

“My mother has it,” Serenity replied, not paying attention to just how strange that sounded.

“Errr... Okay,” Juno said. “Now that IS weird. But I don't want to know. Anyway, Lady Uranus wants to speak to us. Ceres, Vesta and Pallas are already in the training room. And I heard Queen Kakyuu and her guardians were leaving later today, so we should probably go and say goodbye after Lady Uranus is done kicking our butts.”

“They are leaving today?” Lady Serenity seemed surprised. “Already?”

“Yes,” Juno nodded. “Apparently Kakyuu wants to make sure she is at home when the baby decides to greet the world.”

“That is understandable,” Helios commented. “Especially considering the circumstances.”

“Circumstances?” Serenity looked at him. “What do you mean?”

“Well, Kakyuu is having similar dreams like your mother. Her life is coming to an end, as well. I suppose the same goes for her husband. So she came to ask your mother to take care of her child in case something should happen to both her and her husband. Only, she didn't know our Queen's life span was also approaching its end,” Helios stopped to think. “Your mother very briefly spoke to me about it before the dinner yesterday. She wanted my advice on the matter. But I wasn't quite sure what to tell her.”

This was a lie. He suggested Neo Queen Serenity to ask of her daughter to take this task upon herself. But he did not dare to admit to Lady Serenity that he had suggested such a thing.

“So... she too?” Serenity was saddened. “That is so sad... now that she is expecting her baby. And I suppose that her guardians' stars will also stop glowing soon.”

“It is to be expected,” Helios replied. “The entire first generation of people with long life-spans happens to be of about the same age, and it seems that all will die within next ten years or so. One can't tell exactly.”

This made Lady Serenity's heart ache again. Helios also belonged to this generation. Or did he? He existed in the distant past, when her father was still Prince Endymion of the Golden Kingdom on Earth. But Helios was also here later, after they were all reincarnated in the 20th century. So how old is he, really?

“I am sorry to interrupt, Usagi, but Lady Uranus is waiting for us. She is going to get so mad if we don't get there soon.”

“Okay, okay...” Serenity nodded, trying her best to hide her bad mood. “Just give me a moment to get dressed.”


…


Starfighter stood on the balcony of her room and observed Crystal Tokyo from above. It was a beautiful, blooming city. Usagi was a good queen.

Queen Kakyuu told her guardians this morning that she wanted to leave for Neo Kinmoku later that day. She would stay in contact with Neo Queen Serenity through mail. But she did not want to risk going into labor on Earth, she wanted her husband to be there when their baby is born.

Starfighter understood this. Sometimes she regretted not having a family of her own. She just never met the right person. Well, she did, once. But the person was already taken.

Starmaker and Starhealer were both looking forward to going home. They had someone waiting for them there. Starmaker was in a long relationship with a wonderful, calm woman, and Starhealer was married to the commander of the royal guard of Neo Kinmoku. They both found love. Only she, Starfighter, she remained lonely.

And now? Now her life was coming to an end, and she realized just how much this loneliness hurt her. Until then, she kept convincing herself that it wasn't that bad. But seeing Usagi again, seeing her daughter... it made her wish she had someone like that as well.

No, not someone like that. She wanted her. She wanted Usagi.

But she respected Mamoru, he was a good man. She never would try to take Usagi away from him. Not anymore. She had her chance once, and Usagi chose him over her. Usagi's heart simply could never belong to anyone else but Mamoru.

Still, Starfighter felt happier in her presence. Perhaps happier is not a good word to describe it, as her pain became a lot more obvious in Usagi's presence... but she definitely felt more alive. For this reason, Starfighter's been toying with the idea of asking Usagi and Kakyuu for a permission to stay on Earth. She could join the royal guards, even if that meant Haruka would be her boss. She would take it, only to be close to Usagi.

A knock on the door startled her from her thoughts.

“Come in,” she said, coming into the room from the balcony. The door of her room opened, and a beautiful woman with long, wavy, sea-greenish hair walked in.

“Michiru,” a gentle smile appeared on Starfighter's face. “It is nice to see you.”

“We didn't have a chance to talk much during the dinner last night,” Michiru said, approaching Starfighter slowly. “So I thought I'd pay you a little visit. Besides, lunch will be served soon, so I also wanted to invite you to join us. Normally we don't eat together for lunch, but these are special occasions.”

“I am really glad you came,” Starfighter smiled. “Why don't you have a seat?” She showed at one of the chairs on the small balcony.

“Gladly,” Michiru nodded. “We still have some time.”

Starfighter followed her onto the balcony, having to notice that Michiru's movements were extremely elegant. She was simply gorgeous, as always.

“Seiya...” Michiru allowed herself to call Starfighter by her 'fake' name. “I couldn't help but notice that from the moment you arrived you have been quite... well, depressed, somehow.”

“It's that obvious, huh?” Starfighter smiled sarcastically, moving a strand of her long back hair from her face. “Yeah, I've been a bit down lately.”

“Is there a reason for this?” Michiru asked, and there was something about the sound of her voice that made it seem like she was expecting to hear an answer which she already knew.

“You are a very lucky woman, Michiru,” Seiya said.

“Oh?” this reply seemed to surprise Michiru. “Why do you say that?”

“You have someone who loves you more than anything, who is always there for you, who understands you better than anyone else,” Seiya explained. “I may not like Haruka very much personally, but seeing you two together shows that you are happy with each other. And that is what matters.”

Michiru touched Starfighter's hand, as if trying to comfort her, to reduce the pain which was more and more obvious.

“Seiya... Are you really still in love with Usagi?”

“Lame, huh?” Starfighter smirked, trying to hide just how depressing the thought was.

“Not at all!” Michiru frowned slightly. “Sometimes... Haruka tells me that she feels that our souls were born to love each other. I feel the same way for her. And I really believe that, once we have found the right person, we love them for our entire lives, no matter what happens. So it is not your fault that the person you love does not feel the same.”

“That doesn't make it feel any better, sadly,” Starfighter said.

“I know,” Michiru replied. “But maybe you should at least talk to Usagi about your feelings? She needs friends now. And I am sure you would feel better, too.”

“Do you not feel sad about the fact that both you and Haruka are going to die soon?”

“Of course I do,” Michiru sighed. “But, since it is inevitable, my only wish is that we die together. I don't want to spend a moment longer in this world than she does.”

“Michiru... May I ask you something?” Starfighter swallowed hard, as if afraid of the thoughts in her mind.

“Of course,” Michiru nodded. “I would be happy to help you if I can.”

“I have been thinking about asking for a permission to stay here, on Earth,” Starfighter said. “Do... do you think it is a good idea?”

“I am sure you will always be welcome to stay here for as long as you wish,” Michiru smiled.

Suddenly, a loud, strange sound filled the Palace. Starfighter recognized it as some sort of an alarm.

“An intruder?” she asked.

“No,” Michiru replied with a worried expression on her face. “This means we all need to gather in the Throne Room. It means that a member of the royal family has died.”



… to be continued...