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Diamohns are Forever	By : SailorSol Category: Sailor Moon > General Views: 22490 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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I was asked by a reviewer if I had any original fiction of my own. I posted the information on my other fanfics, but somehow I missed posting it here.

I have published three books, which are available online.

For those of you who are interested, here�s the link to my writing:

Charon: Shaking Hands With the Boatman http://www.lulu.com/content/4358371

Tribal Honor http://www.lulu.com/content/836336

The Price of Peace http://www.lulu.com/content/4966753

Now, on to the next chapter!

HALLOWEEN

Six days after Vincent�s return, Aster looked at everyone over breakfast, and decided to speak what she was certain was in everyone�s mind.

�We don�t know that they�re coming back,� she said. �We might have created an alternate future. We have to face the possibility that Crystal Tokyo will be different.�

�What makes you think that?� Mamoru asked, his face pale.

�ChibiUsa didn�t know anything about the Dark Millennium,� Aster said. �She was as ignorant of it as the rest of us. All she knew was that her mother told her to go along if we had to teleport somewhere.�

�I never told her why,� Usagi said, her face pensive. �I wonder if I knew � � She looked up at aster, her eyes full of tears.

�What do we do?� she asked.

�We muddle along as best we can,� Aster said, her heart breaking with every word. �I think that we should � memorialize them in what way seems best, just in case. We don�t want to have anything left unsaid.�

�Okay,� Usagi said, a single tear trickling down her cheek. �I want to get some flowers. Then, I want Haruka to fly me out over the bay.�

�Okay, Usa-chan,� Aster said. �We�ll do what you want.�

~*~*~*~*~

After breakfast, Lucinda drove Aster and Usagi to a large flower shop, and helped them pick out flowers.

Usagi chose pink tea roses for ChibiUsa, a blue-green orchid for Michiru, some dark red carnations for Setsuna, a single white rose for Takagi, and a dark purple orchid for Hotaru.

Aster spent several minutes wandering the flower shop while Usagi was buying her flowers, and then she came to the counter to place her own order for two dozen red roses, a dozen pink carnations, and a dozen violets.

The three of them rode to Narita Airport in relative silence, broken only by soft sniffling from Usagi, and pensive sighs from the other two.

When they arrived, Haruka was waiting for them with the helicopter ready to go, and a flight plan logged for across the bay to Chiba and back. The Chiba Imports building had a helipad on the top, so no one had thought much of the trip.

Usagi climbed into the helicopter with Haruka. Mamoru and the other Inners were already inside.

Lucinda climbed in with Usagi. She looked down at Aster, standing on the ground with her arms full of flowers.

Finally, Aster turned and walked over to where Sean�s helicopter was sitting with Eduard in the the pilot�s seat. She allowed Sean and Vincent to help her into the helicopter, and then she settled down next to Thomas.

When they got to the middle of the bay, Haruka and Eduard hovered for a few moments, while all of them silently said their farewells and tossed the flowers down into the undulating waves.

~*~*~*~*~

After dinner that evening, by silent agreement, Lucinda opened up the liquor cabinet, and each of them picked their own liquor. They all needed to dull the pain they were feeling.

Usagi and the other four Inner Senshi went into the kitchen and sat themselves down. Aster could see them passing a bottle back and forth.

Haruka drank for a while with the guys, and then her eyes filled with tears and she rushed up the stairs, sobbing.

Worried, Aster headed up the stairs behind her, with Joben following her.

In the attic, Haruka collapsed on the futon they had moved up there, sobs wracking her body.

��Ruka,� Aster said, sitting down next to her. �You shouldn�t do this alone. Sean loves you, and so do I. You can�t shut us out. You�re all we have.�

�I�m sorry, Sun Face,� Haruka sobbed. �You must think I�m so weak. I�ve just never been without Michiru. I don�t know what to do without her.�

�I know how you feel,� Aster said. �I love her, too. I feel like there�s a bleeding hole in my heart that won�t stop bleeding, and a pain that won�t go away. It was like this, before, when I thought Kunzite died. It was like this in the Silver Millennium, when Saturn used their final strike. It doesn�t go away, Speedy, but it gets better if there are people to commiserate with. We won�t think less of you for this, I promise.�

�I just can�t seem to stop,� Haruka sobbed. She buried her face in the pillow and cried, howling her grief into the cushion.

�Let me see what I can do,� Joben said. He moved over to Haruka�s other side and put one hand on her back. While she sobbed, he rubbed her back lightly. He moved up to her neck, stroking gently to loosen the tight muscles.

He ran his hand back down her back, all the way to the base of her spine, rubbing gently in circles. He got down to the small of her back, and then he worked his hand under her shirt and undershirt so that he was touching her bare skin. He shifted around so that he was on his knees, and began massaging her back with both hands. He began moving up, bunching up the shirt and undershirt as he went. He paused briefly to reach for a bottle of massage oil that sat next to the futon.

Aster smiled slightly, seeing where Joben was going. She left the two of them alone, and went back downstairs. She found Sakura on the edge of the drinking group, and she murmured to him where Joben was and what he was doing. Sakura smirked and nodded. He handed his glass to Quentin and rose from his seat.

�Why don�t we take a bath,� he said softly. �That will keep us from losing our heads, and it will give them the time alone that they need.�

�And give us some time alone?� Aster asked, gazing into the green eyes that reminded her of another pair of eyes she might never see again.

�Come on,� Sakura said, taking her hand. �Joben may be the best at massages in bed, but I outdo him in massages in the bath.�

~*~*~*~*~

When Aster and Sakura came out two and a half hours later, arm in arm, it was immediately evident that matters had progressed in their absence. Nathan and Quentin were passed out together on one of the sofas. Robert and Martin were still sitting with Mamoru, passing a bottle around. Sean got up from where he was watching them and sipping from a glass, and walked over to the two of them.

�How are you, Sunny, love?" he asked. Aster smiled weakly at him.

"I'll be alright," she said, her eyes going to Mamoru. "How is he?"

"He'll be out soon," Sean said. "He's got quite a high tolerance, that boy, but he�s no match for all of us. How're things upstairs?"

"She was crying again," Aster said, sighing. "I left her alone with Joben. He knows a lot of ways to make people feel better. I think this will be the last one."

"You look like you could use a drink," Sean said, offering her the highball glass in his hand. She shook her head.

"No thanks, Red," she said. "Someone needs to be the responsible party."

"Oh, Lucinda�s doin' that," he replied with a smile on his face. The Irish brogue of his youth, normally imperceptible, became thicker with every drink.

"She's playing barmaid," he continued. "We ran out o' whiskey about an hour ago. Now we're on bourbon."

"Yuck," Aster said, holding her nose. "You take a bath, boyo, or you're not sleeping with me tonight."

"As you say, ma'am," he said, bowing slightly to her, then turning to rejoin the drinkers. �By the way, Thomas took Usagi upstairs a bit ago. I think he had some consoling of a different kind in mind.�

Aster joined her cousin in the kitchen, and noticed that the girls were quietly talking in the dining room over cups of tea. A half empty bottle of sake was on the table. All of them had puffy, bloodshot eyes, and there were several piles of tissues on the table. Makoto, Minako, Rei, and Ami were sitting silently. As Aster watched, Rei sniffled, Minako's shoulders started shaking, and as if cued, all four of them started quietly crying.

Aster sighed, shook her head, and turned towards the stove, where water was being kept hot. She made two cups of chamomile tea and started searching through the cupboards.

"What are you looking for?" Lucinda asked, tightening the cap on a fresh bottle of bourbon.

"The knockout drops," Aster said. "I want Haruka to sleep all night. She'll only do that if I give her some. She won't notice it in the tea."

"Here," Lucinda said, handing her cousin the dark glass bottle and walking past her to the living room with the liquor.

Aster looked from the bottle in her hand to the bottle in her cousin's hand, then smiled. She meticulously added a few drops of the solution to Haruka's tea, then put the bottle away and carried the tea upstairs.

In the attic, Aster paused enough to take in the two piles of clothing next to the futon, Joben�s arms around his primary�s body, and the sheet tucked around them to cover strategic areas of their anatomy. Aster put down her tea, climbed onto the bed, knelt down and tapped Haruka lightly on the shoulder.

The other woman looked at her bleary eyes from where she was resting in Joben�s arms, silently accepted the hot tea, and downed it as soon as it was cool enough. Aster sat with her, running her fingers though her hair, until she fell asleep. She helped Joben put Haruka into one of her sleepshirts, and get her covered with a light blanket. Joben made room for Aster between them, and settled down with Aster pressed up against him, and a hand on Haruka�s shoulder.

When Sean came in, toweling his wet hair, he climbed into the bed without comment, settled in next to Haruka, and went to sleep.

***** *****

The next morning, Aster slithered out of bed with Joben. The two of them dressed and padded downstairs. Lucinda was fixing strong coffee and the two of them readied fairly bland breakfast fare and aspirin.

One by one, as the Senshi and Kishi woke, they dispensed the provisions and painkillers and then sent them someplace to pull themselves together.

Aster sent Minako, Martin, and Mamoru out into the backyard with instructions to sit on the ground under a tree. She sent Ami, Kojiro, and Quentin to the solarium with instructions to dangle their legs in the pool. Lucinda sent Vincent to stand in the full light, while she told Thomas to sit in the indirect sunlight. Usagi spent the first part of the morning throwing up, then she allowed Aster to lead her out to the solarium, and sit her next to Thomas, ChibiUsa's rabbit backpack clutched to her, crying softly.

Aster went over to stand next to Vincent, soaking in the revitalizing energy of the sun herself, and leaning against her planetary partner. After a moment, he put an arm around her waist, pulling her close to him. In the pool, Ami and Kojiro were huddled one on either side of Quentin. Aster could see Minako and Martin leaning against one of the trees, Minako's head pillowed on Martin's shoulder. Lucinda and Mamoru had moved to a patch of bared earth where they had been planning a vegetable garden, and they were sitting on the rich brown dirt, heads together.

"Each to their element, it seems," Vincent said. "We also seem to be drawing to our opposites."

"I'm worried about Sean and Quentin," Aster murmured. "They don't have their planet partners anymore."

"Sean and Quentin are the most stable guys I know," Vincent argued. "They'll be fine."

"That's part of the problem," Aster argued. "They're such stable guys, and everyone depends on them to be such stable guys. They'll break eventually, Apollo." She gestured in the direction of the pool, where Quentin had one arm around Ami, and one around Kojiro.

"Then again," Vincent mused, sounding somewhat surprised. "Maybe they were so stable because of their opposites. Michiru was the calmest woman I ever knew, and I never saw Hotaru upset. She was like a lake on a still day."

"I still can't believe it," Aster said, her voice cracking. Vincent's arm tightened around her and she felt him willing her to be calm.

Movement to the side attracted both her and Vincent's attention, and they watched as Nathan and Haruka met at the back door, and then headed for an ancient cherry tree that grew near the wall. While they watched, Aster holding her breath, Nathan started to climb the tree, and Haruka followed him.

"Time heals all wounds, Sunshine," he said. She rolled her eyes and gritted her teeth at the ancient platitude, then she thought of something.

"What?" he asked, sensing her sudden change of mood.

"Apollo," she said. "Did you ever see Pluto do anything. . . weird?"

"Well," he said. "One time, we were too close to an explosion. I will swear we couldn't have outrun it. Somehow, we did."

"What do you mean?"

"It was the strangest thing," he said, remembering. "The explosion actually slowed down. I was running and looking back, and I swear it slowed down."

"How do you slow down an explosion?" Aster asked, her eyes still resting on Haruka and Nathan, with their heads showing in the foliage high in the cherry tree.

"The Plutos are the guardians of time," Vincent responded. "Maybe he threw glue in its path to slow it down."

"Slow it down. . . " Aster mused. "Slow down time. . . ." She broke away from Vincent and went running down the short corridor that led to the living room.

In the living room, Rei and Eduard, were in front of a roaring fire in the living room fireplace, leaning against one another. Aster dropped to her hands and knees next to Rei.

"Hey, Hotstuff," she said. "When you guys were at that final confrontation with the heart snatchers, when Hotaru was Mistress Nine, did you see anything strange?"

"Strange?" Rei asked, staring into the fire. "I don't know. . ." She stared into the fire a while longer, then jumped a bit when something popped in the fire.

"An explosion!" she said. "There was an explosion over the building and the force field!"

"What was strange about the explosion, Rei?" Aster asked. "Think, it could be important."

"It sat there for a minute," she said. "It was a helicopter flying towards the force field. All of a sudden, it exploded, or it started to explode. It stopped just as it started, and then it disappeared. I don't remember anything else, we had to concentrate."

"I understand," Aster said. "You may have given me the clue I needed." She jumped up and ran back to the solarium. She bent over Usagi and shook her.

"Usagi!: she said. "Usagi, listen to me! ChibiUsa came from the future! From the time after now! You wouldn't have sent her here if you knew she was going to die!"

"But I didn't know!" Usagi wailed. Small wet sounds told Aster that other people were hearing what she was saying.

"Her mother does!" Aster insisted. "From her viewpoint, it's already happened! She already knew what was going to happen! ChibiUsa can't be dead, or you wouldn't have sent her!"

"Do you really think there's any validity to that?" Ami asked from behind them. Aster turned to face her.

"Neo Queen Serenity and King Endymion would not send their only child to her death, not even to save themselves," Aster stated firmly. "Somewhere, they're alive." She walked to the solarium's outside door and entered the back yard.

Everyone looked at her, since her determined stride and her straight path spoke volumes of her sense of purpose. She went straight to the cherry tree and looked up from the base to where Haruka and Nathan sat in some of the higher branches.

"Speedy, will you come down, please?" she asked plaintively. She heard a low chuckle, but couldn't tell if it came from Haruka or Nathan.

"Coming, Sunshine," Haruka said, carefully choosing her route down to the ground, followed closely by Nathan.

Aster breathed easier when they arrived safely, but she did not forget what had brought her out there.

"Haruka," she said. "During the final confrontation with the heart snatchers, you and Michiru were in a helicopter. What happened to it?"

"It exploded," Haruka said, as if the answer should be apparent to anyone.

"How did you two get out?" she asked. Haruka opened her mouth to reply, then closed it, then opened it again. Abruptly, she clutched her head in both hands, giving a cry of pain and discovery at the same time.

"Pluto!" she said."Pluto did it! She stopped everything! She said it was against the rules, she said she'd be punished! She did it anyway, to give us a chance!"

"What is this all about?" Mamoru's strong voice penetrated from the back of the group as he and Usagi came to the front.

"The Plutos," Aster answered. "Vince told me about an explosion that slowed down. Rei remembered seeing the helicopter explode, and seeing it hang in the air for a minute before it disintegrated. The Plutos are the guardians of time. Setsuna stopped time before, to get Haruka and Michiru out of the helicopter. I'll bet Takagi slowed it to give the guys time to escape. The two of them together stopped time to give us a chance to get away from the other explosion."

"Then where are they?" Usagi demanded. "Where's ChibiUsa? And Hotaru? And Michiru?"

"I don't know," Aster said. "This time, the explosion wasn't an ordinary bomb going off. There was power in it; the life energy stolen from those people, and maybe the life energies of those sorcerors. They may have only meant to buy us time, but what they did was what happened. The Plutos would have survived because they could keep time stopped until they could get away. We were already gone, or most of us."

"Why are the others different?" Haruka asked. "What was the difference?"

"ChibiUsa!" Mamoru said. "She was hanging onto Setsuna! And Hotaru hangs onto ChibiUsa!"

"And Hotaru also hangs onto Michiru," Haruka finished the thought. "But when are they?"

"There's no way of knowing," Ami spoke up. "The longest intreval between arrivals was six days. That passed yesterday. They could be a year or more ahead of us."

"A year," Haruka said, gazing at Aster. "Or more. Or never."

"It is all speculation," Ami admitted. "Just because they could stop time and get away is no guarantee that the others could. I would like to think so, though."

"We already know it's going to happen," Minako said. "The Plutos have to be there before we go into suspended animation. That can't be too far off."

"Two to fifteen years," Ami said. "That's just a calculated guess. They have to arrive for that. We never did ask when that happened."

"We should have," Makoto whined, striking her forehead with the heel of her hand. "We would know then."

***** *****

Two weeks passed with endless debate about why the scattering had occurred, when the missing people would show up, and, secretly, whether they would at all. None of them could shake the idea that the five of them were gone forever. Only a few spoke their fears aloud, and then only to their bedpartner.

In the attic, Aster and Haruka spoke of it often and openly with Sean, Joben, and Sakura. They came to the conclusion that trying to analyze anything was pointless, and that any other conclusion would be self-deceptive. Joben and Sakura only left the complex long enough to close their apartments and to move their belongings into the House of the Sun, along with the rest of what Aster called the Senshi House Nine.

On the last day of October, the transplanted holiday of Halloween turned the normally reserved people of Tokyo into giggling and howling creatures. Trick or treating started right after children were released from school, with businesses being just as popular as residences. Usagi, Rei, Ami, Minako, and Makoto all dressed up and went out to get their share of the goodies being handed out.

Everything kind of edible treat imaginable that could be securely wrapped was available, as well as small toys and imprinted pens from some of the businesses. The younger Senshi and had fun, but it was all touched with a sense of sadness still. Usagi saw a little girl dressed as a Sailor Senshi and ran all the way home, sobbing her heart out.

Well after dark, a steady stream of moochers kept the older Senshi and Kishi hopping to answer the door. They took it in turns, so not to fatigue anyone unduly.

When a knock sounded on the antique door, Aster climbed out of her chair to answer it, wondering why this batch of costumed visitors had not used the bell. She picked up the plastic bucket of treats and swung the door open, smiling.

Her smile faded at the sight that met her eyes. The bucket fell from her suddenly numb fingers and her brain refused to accept the people before her and she slid bonelessly to the floor in a dead faint.

The sound of the bucket falling and then Aster's body hitting the floor alerted the others, and they came in a pack to find out what was wrong.

There were several seconds of stunned silence as they stared at Sailor and Kishi Pluto, Sailor Saturn, Sailor Mini Moon, and Sailor Neptune, still in their uniforms and covered with dust and abrasions as if they had just escaped an exploding building.

Neptune moved first, transforming into her civilian identity and kneeling down to lift Aster from the floor.

"What's wrong?" Hotaru asked, studying Aster with a worried look. "Is she sick?"

"No," Michiru said softly. "She just fainted." She concentrated on reviving Aster while Hotaru was pulled into Thomas� ardent embrace as he cried into her hair.

Aster opened her eyes to see Michiru kneeling over her. She reached up and touched her gently, running a finger down her cheek.

�I thought I�d never see you again,� she murmured. �I thought you were dead.�

�What do you mean?� Michiru asked. �It�s only been a few minutes.�

�It�s October,� Haruka said from next to them. �To be precise, it�s Halloween.�

�Halloween?� Michiru asked, looking up at her long-time lover. �We�ve been gone for over a month?�

�Long enough that we thought we�d changed the future,� Haruka said. �It was giving us all nightmares.�

�Well, now we�re back,� Michiru said. �You don�t have to worry about the future.�

She would have said more, but Takagi pulled Aster out of her lap, and Sean pulled Michiru to her feet and wrapped his arms around her.

Aster hugged Takagi, happier than she had been since the whole rotten affair had begun. She raised her eyes to see that she was being watched with longing and confusion, by Setsuna.

TBC
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Diamohns are Forever