The Celestial Warrior

Part nine: The Curtain\'s Closed. Say Goodbye.


Raven came up to door and raised her hand to knock. But then she stopped. Fear gripped her heart, then wonder. I\'ve faced demons and evil men, she thought to herself, why am I stopping here? What is it that frightens me about Motoki? Am I afraid to know what\'s going on? Probably. Ever since I realized I was Celestia, things haven\'t been the same. Everything has changed so quickly; I don\'t want any more. I want some stability before I go on with my life, not this constant change.

Raven smiled to herself. Gotta look up that rule book for us senshi, she joked. Steeling herself up, she forced her hand to knock on the door. She thought she heard a small voice telling her to enter, so she tried the handle and it opened easily. Taking a deep breath, she entered the room.

The lights were out, except for some of the smaller lamps that didn\'t brighten the room as much. There were too many shadows dancing on the walls for her to pay attention to. Well, this is definitely like Tsukiyomi, she thought. He was always afraid of bright lights. Sunlight hurt his eyes. A typical Moon God he was. And I had to fall in love with him. I could never stand being in this darkness. It\'s too much like being in a tomb.

Raven heard some movement and averted her eyes from the shadows. Motoki was walking out from the separate bedroom, still wearing the same clothes as when he was abducted from the demon. There was something different about him. The way he stood, or walked, or smiled. This was all different than the Motoki she once knew back when they were dating. I don\'t know if that\'s an improvement or what, she added to her thoughts.

\"Celestia,\" he spoke softly, \"come to me.\" Then he stopped for a moment. He snickered. \"You know, it feels very informal to be in these hosts. We should be the way we were meant to be.\" Motoki, or what was Motoki, changed into the white-haired and armored form of Tsukiyomi, with the silver crown and crescent moon in their places on his head. Those pale gray eyes still get to me. \"Please, turn into your true self for me?\"

She sighed. \"This is my true form now. That red-haired goddess is from my past, and even that is distorted. Bitterness and anger has warped me. It\'s become that I actually enjoy this new human side to me.\"

\"But you are not one of them,\" he countered. \"You are senshi, like your friends and myself. Please, I want to see the red fire again.\"

Raven smiled. \"You know I could never turn you down.\" She willed herself into the fiery goddess she was, but when she tried to reclaim the gown she used to wear it wouldn\'t appear. \"Guess I\'m stuck being senshi for now.\"

\"You willed yourself to being that way,\" he said. \"With your anger you willed yourself to always battle and kill. I don\'t know when you\'ll change back to the lady you once were.\"

\"When I reach our Paradise again, then I will be a goddess again. But not now.\" Celestia walked over with a cat\'s grace over to the table he was standing next to. \"I suppose you know about the pledge I committed quite a few years back.\"

Tsukiyomi nodded. \"That you would go through many incarnations so that you would protect the daughter of a goddess you\'re not even related to? Yes, I know of that now. When the news reached me when I returned Home, I\'m sure you could\'ve imagined my surprise. It was rather reckless of you to do so. You know that her real sister is out there.\"

\"Yes, but she confided in me that she didn\'t know what happened to her. Serenity was slowly falling apart after that upheaval in her own court. And who knows where her real sister is. If she had cared, she would be here too.\"

\"And doesn\'t that princess have guardians of her own?\"

She thought for a moment. \"Pretty much most of us had our guardians. I don\'t know where hers is. I haven\'t seen them.\"

\"So someone had to pick up the slack?\"

Celestia felt like she was on the spot. \"Why are you questioning me like this? This is what feels right to me. I chose to do this. My question is why are you here now? Why did you come after me?\"

The moon prince turned away so that he could pour himself a glass of wine. Then he poured a second to give to her. With his back turned, he sighed and told her his side of the story. \"Sometimes love transcends many boundaries. I was basically dead to you, and you gave up on finding my spirit just so you could find someone who\'s only your sister in title. It did hurt me, but I knew the justice side of your being was the one that took over that day. So I left and waited for you in our Home. That way, we could still be married by the All. But you never came.

\"I followed you as you charged for this solar system, bent on hell and fire to kill Metallia. And with good reason, I know this. She killed your galaxy, your people, your guardians, and the one you loved. You lost everything, so you were going to make her pay. But you missed her there when she sealed up her and her new found minions. You found her dead, everything lost around you, yet Serenity was able to create a glimmer of hope for this world. You joined this glimmer, and I never got to see you again until now.

\"I felt you reemerge out of your human existence, and I wanted to join you. There was no time for me to be born again and hide myself in the world of mortals. The only thing I could do was to blend myself in with this Motoki fellow. He dealt with you before, and he was very familiar to you.\" Tsukiyomi laughed at himself again. \"He was more familiar to you than I was back in our kingdoms.\" That remark made her blush. He saw the red on her face when he turned arouand and he handed her the wineglass. She was almost tempted to splash it in his face, until she caught the fragrance of the fermented grapes and thought differently about it. It brought back memories of the wines she used to drink as she sat on her golden throne in her quiet moments. She missed those days.

She took a sip, then laid the glass down. \"So, Motoki\'s still in there somewhere, and you\'re just borrowing him for now. Is this it?\"

He nodded. \"That\'s about it. But now, it seems, I\'ve gotten myself stuck.\"

\"Stuck?\"

\"I can\'t leave him. His body, I mean. He wants to be free, yet I can\'t leave.\"

Celestia was a little confused. \"And I take it you want me to take care of this. What if I refuse?\"

\"I know better than to try to tell you what to do. I\'m asking for your help because what I\'ve done was wrong in the first place. I didn\'t want to impose myself on this man, but there wasn\'t much I could do at the time.\"

She sighed and folded her arms around her. \"So you\'re telling me you\'re going to leave me again. Will you be coming back, or is this the end between us?\"

\"You almost make it sound like I have a choice,\" he teased her. \"Truthfully, I don\'t know. I will have to go back and face whatever consequences are waiting for me. Possibly I can put in a plea for myself, why I did this. But I don\'t know if I can come back.\"

She sighed. \"I\'m sorry. I never wanted to sound that cruel to you. I did lose track of what was important to me, but only because I thought I could never get it back. So I devoted myself to the aid of another instead of myself. I thought I could n hav have you back. You returning was a big surprise, and if I had known that you could I wouldn\'t have taken this oath. But I\'m committed now, possibly for a very long time.

\"I don\'t want you to go against the All\'s will. As much as I don\'t want to see you go, I won\'t force you to stay either. You do know that I don\'t want to lose you again, right?\"

He smiled softly and walked over to her. Laying a hand on her cheek, he held her face in place as he kissed her tenderly on her lips. As he parted, he smiled, \"Feels warmer than I last remember.\"

\"It could be my new found power. I\'m much more powerful than I was those centuries ago.\"

\"True. I\'m going to ask something very difficult of you. You are free to choose what you want to do.\" He wrapped her up in his arms and held her tightly. \"Celestia, now that we have physical forms again, I want to love you the way I\'ve always wanted to, but your guards wouldn\'t let me. We have a small chance now, and maybe I can help you break out of this existence. I want you to return to me badly.\"

\"What do you mean?\"

\"I want you to be free of this curse you put yourself under.\"\" He held her away, his hands on her shoulders. \"I want you to join me back in Valhalla. And I know the only way is to have a child and raise her in your footsteps. Then you can join me again.\"

She sighed. \"It\'s not that simple, Tsukiyomi. I, Raven, was raised by my mother. She didn\'t even know who my father was, damn that free love bit. I grew to resent her and what she represents. I don\'t want to be anything like her. She wanted me to be a free actress, doing who knows what in the name of \'free love.\' I said I was going to Broadway and have my name in lights. She wanted me to learn life in the streets and frequent the poor houses, and I went to a real college and stayed there until my confidence was real to me. If I\'m going to have a child, I want to be married and deeply in love with that man.\"

He looked so sad. It almost seemed that his gray eyes turned deeper. \"I can\'t do that right now. I don\'t even know if I can later on. But my heart aches to know this love that this Motoki knew from you. I want to experience this human body and yours. You were so prim and proper back then, too worried over the wars and Chaos getting out of control. I offered myself so many times to you, and you turned me down, saying we can wait till after the marriage. It never came. I have to return and cast my fate, but I want to make love to you, and I need your help freeing me from him. Please do this for me.\"

Celestia tried to hold back her tears as she relived those days through his words. Seems that every time someone speaks more of the memories come flowing out. She looked back into his eyes, and saw the sincerity in them. She sighed again. \"You know I could never say no to you. If I did, it was with a lot of difficulty. I\'m just going to have trouble dealing with this because of who you\'re in. But I love you terribly, and being apart was torture. I carried that pain to fuel my anger, to make it a shield and strengthen my powers. It may have been a mistake, because I know I\'m paying for it now.\"

\"No, you\'re getting a break from your punishment. I\'m setting you out on bail.\" He drew her close again for a longer kiss, and she fell into his embrace. She did follow him into the bedroom and they made the honeymoon they never had a chance to have.

*****************************

Mamoru was busy in the kitchen, cooking up leftovers into a full meal. The battle was hard and taxed a lot of their strength, and the joy of being alive was a cause for a celebration. Usagi sat on the countertop munching on a piece of bread and swinging her legs back and forth. The smells coming out of the frying pan made her so hungry that she had to have something to tide her over.

\"I thought there was some of the sandwiches still left over,\" he asked.

\"No, I checked. But these rolls are good. Want a piece?\" She ripped off the end of hers and popped it into his mouth. \"So, what are you making?\"

\"I don\'t know yet. It\'s just a handful of everything right now.\" He continued to stir, then stopped. \"I\'m so glad we survived all of this. You don\'t know how scared I was that I would lose you.\"

She leapt off the counter and wrapped her arms around him, pressing her face into his back. \"I was so terrified through it all. But I think we learned that we can overcome everything that happens to us. No matter what, we will always be together.\"

He turned off the heat on the stove and placed the pan on a cool spot. He turned around and held her closely. \"Tomorrow, we leave for Tokyo. The others are going to notice the change in us. I don\'t think they\'ll understand our relationship right now.\"

\"It may be hard on some of them,\" she whispered, thinking of the time that he dated Rei. She probably still hasn\'t gotten over it.

\"We\'ll have to keep it a secret for now.\"

\"But, Mamo-chan, will we get a chance to do this again?\"

He looked to the stove then back at her. \"Before or after we eat?\"

\"After, I\'m starving.\"

Celestia laid in the dark, nestled in the arms of Tsukiyomi, who was starting to fall asleep. She couldn\'t sleep. She was too afraid that she would wake up and find out all that happened was a dream and she would have to live through the heartache again. Couldn\'t be possible, the pain was too real. She looked up into his face, knowing that this could be the last time she\'ll ever see him again. She fought back her tears. No matter what, she would leave this in bravery, not like a spoiled princess. Then regretted that thought.

Tsukiyomi managed to wake himself up. \"I didn\'t know it was that energy draining. If I knew that back then, I would have doubled my efforts of attracting you.\"

She laughed lightly. \"Not that I would give in to you. You know me better than that.\"

\"Then why were you intimate with this character, who wasn\'t really interested in you, instead of me?\"

Her eyebrows knotted up as she sat up. \"What? Motoki was interested in me.\"

\"I\'m in his mind, remember. No, you were \'gaijin\' to him, a foreigner. The American mystique, if you want to call it that. He even told your friend Endy- sorry, Mamoru. This is probably why Mamoru kept away. Didn\'t want to upset his friend, and didn\'t want to think the same way he did. I probably shouldn\'t have told you this, but I think you had the right to know.\"

\"My god, I was played for a fool.\" Her face was a stone blank.

\"It wasn\'t all that. He did care for you, and he left you knowing he made a mistake. That\'s why he never wrote back. And he wanted to correct his mistake, so he came back here.\"

\"But he was carrying on like our fights never happened. That he was still in love with me, if you want to call it that.\"

\"He didn\'t know how to approach you.\" He shook his head, his matted hair still sticking to his back. \"It seems ironic, but maybe it was a good thing I inv his his space. He couldn\'t tell you, couldn\'t find the words. Yet you needed to know the truth.\"

\"I can\'t believe this. Now I definitely don\'t want to see him ever again.\"

\"At least I know not to use this body again.\" He got a slight smile out of her, but she was stone silent. \"I know you\'re hurting inside. But I know you. You are strong, as you are beautiful. You will survive this.\"

\"I\'ll be hurting for a while, but I\'ll make it.\" She turned to him and tossed herself on top of him. \"I wish you could stay, but I understand you have to leave.\"\"

\"Maybe I can come back.\"

\"You\'re not sure though. And I can\'t live with a false hope. You understand that.\"

He nodded. \"I\'m not ready to leave you, but I have to. Besides, maybe the sooner I go, the sooner I can return.\"

Celestia choked down her tears. \"You do that.\"

He pulled her down and kissed her one last time. \"I love you, My Que I p I promise, I will return to you.\"

He let her go and laid back into the bed. Sniffling, she changed back into her uniform and stood up out of bed. Wiping the tears out of her eyes, she prepared to help him leave. She placed her hands on his temples and let her powers flow through her arms. She could feel Tsukiyomi\'s grip loosening and slipping free. Looking down, the body was starting to revert back to Motoki, someone she was resenting at that moment. Finally, he was gone, and only the mortal was left.

Motoki was sleeping the deep sleep of content children. She shook her head, knowing that everything that happened since he came to the States would be gone. He would return to Japan, return to his girlfriend, and she would be a memory again. \"I didn\'t make love to you,\" she whispered in anger, \"I used you as you used me.\"

Celestia left the room, walking in a pace a vindicated cat would walk. She picked up her purse and returned to being Raven. Opening the door, she took one last look at the man she thought she knew, sighed, and left silently.


Raven returned an hour later. Mamoru and Usagi were coming out of the bathroom, and she could recognize that glow on their faces. She wondered if hers was still on her face, or was it covered with the tears she shed through the long trip.

Usagi could see the hurt on her face. \"Raven-chan, what wrong?\" She dashed up to her and grabbed her hands, then pulled her to the nearest comfy chair.

Raven shook her head. \"It\'s so hard to explain. Too many things just dropped on me tonight. But I think it\'s a price I\'m paying for living such a normal life for so long.\"

Mamoru hung his head, \"He told you, didn\'t he?\"

\"Tsukiyomi told me everything. You are a sweeter man than I made you out to be. You were right in what you did. I just wish you had confided in me at that time.\"

\"I couldn\'t. As much as I didn\'t want you hurt should you find out, I couldn\'t betray his trust. I\'m so sorry.\"

\"Not your fault, Mamoru. I don\'t blame you for what he did.\"

Usagi looked at her, at him, then back at her. \"Fill me in,\" she begged of her.

\"Si put put, I was an interest for Motoki because I was American. That\'s all we had. Tsukiyomi told me everything. Then he had to leave.\"

\"Leave? To where?\"

\"Back home, to our real home. I don\'t know if I\'ll ever see him again.\"

Usagi climbed into the chair next to Raven and wrapped her arms around her. She started to cry again, and she held her tighter. Mamoru sat on the other side of her and held both of them. \"We could stay a little longer. I hate to leave you like this,\" he whispered.

\"No, you need to go home, see your friends again. I\'ll be okay.\" She didn\'t believe that, but she wasn\'t going to tell them.

The next day, they grabbed the luggage and stuffed them any which way into her car. Usagi bought so many gifts during the trip, making sure she got everyone something. Even mean Rei-chan, she added. Somehow, they managed to stuff everything and were on their way. They didn\'t talk too much on the way to the airport, knowing that someone was going to say the wrong word and ruin what happy mood they had.

After being tied up in traffic, they just made it to check in their bags and dash for the gate.

\"Mamoru, Usagi, it was wonderful having you over. I hoe cae can do it again real soon.\" Raven hugged them both and then slipped a note to Usagi. \"Here is my phone number. Call me collect, I don\'t mind. You need help, you call me. I\'ll be there in a heartbeat.\"

\"Arigato,\" she whispered. She took the note and slipped it into her jean panockeocket.

\"Are you all set?\"

Mamoru nodded, \"As long as we keep her away from more gift shops, we\'re all set.\" Usagi poked him in the shoulder. \"Oh, right.\" He pulled a wrapped box out of his carry on bag and handed it to Raven. \"We got this for you a couple of days back. A thank you for putting up with us.\"

\"That\'s sweet, thank you.\" She took the package and gave them both kisses on the cheek. Just then the announcement was called for their flight. \"Guess this is it,\" she sighed. She pointed at him, \"You\'re going to call me and let me know you arrived safely, right?\"

\"I will. You take care of yourself.\"

She put on the bravest smile she could. \"Don\'t I always? Now, go on before you\'re stuck here.\"

Mamoru picked up their bags, grabbed Usagi\'s hand and dashed for the gate. She waited to see them disappear over the stairs. A few second later she saw Motoki dash for the stairs after them,orinoring Raven as he blew past her. She stared at the back with him, feeling no emotions.

She went to the window to watch the plane take off, so she could at least know they were airborne. It took off without any delay, and as it taxied down the runway, she waved goodbye to them. They probably couldn\'t see her, but she felt better doing so.

Raven returned to her car and started to drive home. She felt so dead inside. She didn\'t want her friends to leave, but they have a life somewhere else. They had to live out theirs, and she had to reclaim hers. She knew she shouldn\'t have been and atd at Motoki, because he tried to spare her feelings. But she could handle the truth better than hiding things to save her heart. It ends up broken anyway.

The trip took longer because of the traffic jam from the rush hour. There was something else she had to do, and took the nearest exit to head for a drug shop.

Hours later, Usagi MamoMamoru arrived in Tokyo. They stumbled out of the plane, and were greeted by the girls and the cats. Usagi perked up and rnto nto the group, hugs being given everywhere. And then the questions began.

\"How was America?\" Makoto started.

\"Did you get to see any movie stars?\" Minako added.

\"How were the schools you were going to visit, Usagi?\" Ami inquired.

\"You didn\'t embarrass all of Japan with your clumsiness, did you?\" Rei started.

\"Girls! Girls!\" Luna rruprrupted them. \"She just got home. Let\'s go home and we\'ll talk from there.\"

Makoto tapped Luna on the head. \"But we wanna know what happened over there!\"

Usagi smiled her all-knowing smile, looked at Mamoru, then back to the others. \"Minna, it\'s a long story.\"


Raven left her bathroom relieved. The test came out negative. She wouldn\'t turn out to be like her mother. As much as she would love to have a child, this was not the time to do it.

She resigned herself to the chore of cleaning up her apartment and returned it to its mundane style. She started with the cots, stripping them of the sheets and heaping them up in a pile of laundry. Mamoru\'s cot still smelled of his cologne, and she threw those farthest away from her. The smell brought back the memories of them, and she was still recovering from their departure.

\"I\'m feeling way too lonely right now,\" she muttered to herself. \"I got spoiled with having those two around. I miss them so much.\"

As she was about to fold the beds away, her phone rang. She was rather surprised, knowing that they wouldn\'t have arrived in Tokyo this soon. She picked the receiver up. \"Hello? Hey! How are you? Recovered from that freaky shoot up? I know, scared the shit out of me too. Lunch? Sure, but I don\'t have any spare money right now. Oh, thanks! I owe you one! I\'ll be there in a half-hour. Thanks again. Bye.\" RaveRaven felt a little better then. Then she remembered the gift still waiting for her on her table. She went over anntlyntly opened the package. Inside was a poem written in katakana and a music box. She laid the poem aside and picked up the ornate wooden box. Opening the lid, she could hear a haunting little tune, something she could remember from her past. She wondered how they found that song now. She let the box play on as she picked up the note and slowly read it.

are are distances apart,
As far as time began.
We were friends back then
Battling demons and hate,
And we still have that common bond.

We have lived many lives
And were lucky to meet again
After so many centuries kept us apart.

We will still remain friends
Into our next lives
And the lives after that.
We love you dearly
And thank you for all you have done.

We love you, Celestia

From Serenity and Endymion

Raven wiped her tears away as she placed the note in the box and closed the lid. She carried the box back into her room and placed it under her lamp near her bed. She wished they were there right now so that she could hold them once again and have a good cry. But that couldn\'t happen right now. She was happy that her eternal loneliness was over now. She did keep out her end of the promise, but it wasn\'t over yet. She was still needed on Earth, and they needed her too. She never felt more confident than before, and offered thanks to them that the wind would carry to them.

Taking a deep breath, she went to the bathroom, washed her face and put on a light coating of makeup. She still had the right touch, even though it was years since she wore any. A sprits of perfume and she was ready.

But before she left, she remembered the photo she also picked up. Raven took out the frame she bought and placed the enlargement in it. There was an empty nail stillher her wall, and she hung it there.

In the center of her living room was a picture of her, Mamoru, and Usagi. Smiling like they were one big happy family. Her new, real family. She smiled to the face, grabbed her purse, and was out the door to meet her friend at the nearest Japanese restaurant.


The End.