Ripples
The surface of the moon was still, deathly quiet, and smoldering. The
palace and surrounding grounds lay in ruins. In the end, Queen Serenity
had stopped Beryl, but at the cost of her own life. As smoke continued
to slowly rise from one of the crumpled ruins, the time gate appeared,
and Pluto stepped out.
She said nothing, her footsteps the only sound that disturbed the dead
silence of the once thriving Moon Kingdom. The Silver Millennia was now
over, and Pluto was alone as she surveyed her surroundings. She slumped
her head uncharacteristically as she wiped away a tear. Taking a deep
breath, she opened the time gate once more and disappeared into it.
A few seconds later, she appeared on the icy, pockmarked surface of
Oberon, one of the moons circling around Uranus. Turning to her left,
she saw a solitary figure sitting on the edge of a crater. Walking over
to her, Pluto noticed the blonde was staring out in the direction of the
third planet from the sun and its moon. Her fuku was torn in several
places, and her right hand was covering a nasty-looking wound in her
left arm. At the sound of Pluto approaching, she turned, and their gazes
met. The Time Senshi very nearly stopped in her tracks at the look in
Uranus' face, one of despair and anger she'd never before seen in her
old friend. Undaunted though, she pressed forward, sitting down next to
the Air Senshi as she held firmly onto her time staff.
Uranus stared silently at her for a few seconds longer before turning
away once again to stare off in the direction of the once great Moon
Kingdom. They stayed that way, sitting silently side by side for several
minutes, before Uranus swallowed hard and opened her mouth.
"She's gone."
The words were barely above a whisper, yet the pain expressed in them
was enough to cause Pluto to wince.
"We were separated," Uranus sighed as she now looked down at her hands,
her right one covered in blood from the wound in her arm, "She was
alone, cut off against Beryl and her forces. I..." her voice drifted off
as she dropped her hands impotently into her lap and let out a low groan
of pain.
Pluto didn't respond. She didn't know what words she could possibly
offer that would be of any comfort.
"I loved her," Uranus whispered, "Neptune was everything, and now she's
gone. Why?" she asked as she turned back to Pluto, "Why did this have to
happen? You're the Time Senshi, tell me. Are pain and loss and regret
part of some great cosmic plan, or are we all supposed to suffer and
feel pain for nothing?"
Pluto took a deep breath and put a hand tentatively on Uranus' shoulder,
"I'm not sure I'm capable of answering your questions," she admitted,
"I'm not a philosopher. But I can't believe that such things as pain and
suffering are meaningless, not even in the cosmic scheme of things. In
the fullness of time, these things will matter Uranus. Far too many have
suffered far too much today for it to all be insignificant in the end."
Uranus turned to Pluto, her eyes red from crying, "And love?"
"Love?" Pluto asked.
"What is the great meaning of love? What's the point of falling in love
with someone, of giving yourself to them and of having them open their
heart to you, if in the end love is taken away? All lovers die
eventually, or love grows cold, or is betrayed. Why? Why does an emotion
that begins so wonderfully always have to end tragically? Why?"
Pluto looked silently at Uranus once again for several seconds. She
started to open her mouth to speak, but stopped. Looking downward into
the dark abyss of the crater whose rim they were sitting on, she once
again wiped a tear from her eye. Taking a deep breath, she looked back
over to the blonde sitting next to her.
"Uranus," she began, "Before... Before the fall of the Kingdom, were you
and Neptune happy?"
Uranus didn't turn to face Pluto. Instead, she simply nodded her head in
reply.
"If... If you'd known," Pluto continued, "What was going to happen, and
knew how the Silver Millennia and the Moon Kingdom were going to end,
and knew that Neptune was going to die, would you have stopped yourself
from declaring your love for her, or have tried to erase the years you
two had together?"
Uranus looked at Pluto now, "No," she whispered.
Pluto took Uranus hands in hers as she looked into her friend's intense
green eyes, "Uranus, I'm not the one who should be talking about love.
As the Time Senshi, I've never known love, nor do I know if I'm ever
destined to be loved. The Moon Kingdom is over. All our friends are
dead. There's nothing left. Nothing except this; Uranus, you were loved.
Neptune loved you; with all her heart and soul she loved you. And you
loved her just as intensely. And no one, not Queen Beryl or all the
demons of hell can ever take that away from you."
Uranus stared blankly back at Pluto before she turned away, looking once
more silently in the direction of the now obliterated moon kingdom.
Pluto sat with Uranus several more minutes before finally letting go of
her friend's hands and standing up. She opened the time gate once again
and disappeared into it, leaving the Senshi of the Air alone once more.
The scenes from the battle replayed in her mind, as did finding
Neptune's limp body among the dead. She closed her eyes, and Pluto's
words once again came back to her.
"You were loved." "No one... can ever take that away from you."
Uranus buried her face in her hands, and wept.
Back to Sailor Moon Shoujo-Ai Fanfiction