Yet again, the two cousins were smoking. They lounged in a far corner of the smashed palace. Who else would be around here? Sailormoon didn’t give a shit about them and they didn’t give a shit about her.

"You got cloves?" Samhain asked, snorting out a cloud of smoke.

"Yeah…" Beltaine answered, puffing as delicately—as delicately as was possible for her at least.

"Cloves like fucking suck."

"Cloves rock, man. Fuck you."

"Fuck you, too," Samhain muttered, but continued right on smoking.

"Those things are gonna kill you."

They turned around. The last person they wanted hanging around and telling them what to do had showed up and should have been smart enough not to.

"The fuck are you doin’ here, Hitomi?" Beltaine asked, lighting a new cigarette between her teeth before snuffing her stub.

Cuchlaine was less articulate. "Piss off. Or else."

"Or fucking else what?" Hitomi said, coming closer. Despite their threats, they didn’t move save for Beltaine taking her cigarette from her mouth to blow an unthreatening cloud of smoke into the air. "All you’ve got are the powers of the Zodiacs, and you dipshits don’t even know how to use them."

"Hey, I can out supershit you any day, motherfucker," Beltaine yelled, pointing at her cousin.

Both Hitomi and Samhain rolled their eyes.

"Why’re you fucking here, anyway?" Samhain asked.

"I’m here to fix you’re damn problem shitheads!" Hitomi yelled.

"Isn’t the fucking thing your fucking fault?" Samhain asked; both she and Hitomi were glad that Beltaine had decided to give the silent treatment and glare instead of try to talk.

"Yes, it is," Hitomi stopped just in front of the two. Usually that made most people who knew her try hard not to wet their pants. Her cousins seemed less than impressed. "That’s why I want them back."

"Fuck, take it, bitch," Samhain muttered, sarcastically. Just as she had said the words, one bright jeweled bracelet appeared before her, glowing and floating in mid-air. Hitomi carefully reached out and took it.

And screamed.

"Shit!" Samhain said, standing up as Hitomi fell to the floor, an arrow in her back, just under her shoulder.

Beltaine was speechless.

"You think I’d let you go so easily?" Deimos said, literally appearing out of thin air. "You are going to pay. You hear me! You’re going to pay for every second you cost her!"

Hitomi winced against the pain, and tried to get up, all the while glaring at her cousin. Her family tree definitely had branches that shouldn’t go any further.

"Andarta," Samhain said to her partner, nodding towards Deimos.

"Hey bitch!" Beltaine shouted, standing up and throwing her cigarette away.

Samhain knelt by Hitomi.

"You know what you’re doing?" Hitomi asked.

"Fuck no," Samhain said. She put her hand down near Hitomi’s wound, getting blood al over it up to her wrist. Something inside her told her this was what she should be doing since there were no ambulances on the moon.

"Fuck you!" Beltaine yelled, holding her hand out at Deimos. Nothing happened, save for a light breeze. "Damnit! Work!

Beltaine glanced down to see Samhain’s hand on Hitomi’s back glowing. She slowly pulled the arrow out and the wound sealed itself closed when it as extracted.

"I want that shit. You can have the fucker," Beltaine said.

Hitomi looked up at her and smiled. "Thanks," she said, and the second Shinka appeared in the air, as had the second.

"Fine, ass-kicking time!" Beltaine said and gestured at Deimos. A bright white blast of blinding light shot from her hand and she couldn’t see much but stars afterwards.

"Brilliant, genius," Samhain said.

"Fine, you do better. This is shit, anyway."

Samhain tested her powers at Deimos, who was just getting to her feet and clutching her chest and panting. "No." She dropped her hand. "My powers are darkness and cold, withering, Dan regeneration. My seasons are autumn and winter—"

"There a fucking point?"

Hitomi got to her feet and took the two Shinka.

"Panic!" Deimos yelled, firing an arrow at Hitomi.

"Hey!" Beltaine yelled, showing everyone away.

"You guys try not to kill yourselves," Hitomi said, Dan ran off through a hole in the wall which was bigger than the standing remains.

Deimos vanished.

Beltaine and Samhain stared out at the outside. A golden flash lit up the sky for less than a second, but it was enough.

The four former senate that had traveled all the way from star were upstairs, asleep with everyone’s fathers and the newborn and it’s parents.

There was no giving the power back, they had already tried.

They were doomed to their power. They’d be damned if it meant they had a princess to protect.

"We are so boned," Cuchlaine said.

"Yeah," Andarta said. "But you wanna bone ‘em back?"

…………………..

"Tod ist Schönheit

Zeichenkette Meine Nippel sind jetzt Blau"

Tommy sang as she wandered through the dark and battered garden.

She smiled to herself. ‘Everything is over now,’ she thought. Al she had to do was choose. She didn’t want to, no one was going to make her. Let someone take over the moon—earth—universe. She didn’t care as long as she and her sisters were happy.

"I have dreamed the dream."

Ein Begräbnis ist Liebe"

Tommy smirked. All around, despite the destruction, there was still life. A smashed statue hadn’t destroyed all the crickets. There were plants, smashed or not, growing around footprints from the monsters. Frogs were out and about with frog business, whatever exactly that would be on the moon. Sometimes she thought she heard a bird in a tree. She had even kept herself from stepping on a slug after noticing it’s glowing trail in the darkness.

"The mother sits in the stars

Der Geliebtwürfel mit Freude"

It was her favorite song. It wasn’t her song. Uptake called it ‘Three Stück.’ Uptake had been writing songs since she was twelve. Tommy just wanted to sign them. Uptake had let her.

She trekked her way out of the darkness and spied two familiar colors. As she came close, the colors showed they still matched their respective owners: her sisters.

"Playtime’s over you two," she said, approaching them.

The two sisters still held each other in their embrace. They smiled, seeing Tommy.

"What was that flash?" Mercury asked.

"Beats me," Tommy said. "Come on, we gotta find a way to go home." Tommy bent down to hug both her sisters. Uptake had been right. All Tommy really cared about was that Aya was safe.

There was a rustling in the bushes and the three tore themselves away form each other.

"Who’s there?" Tommy asked.

A figure strode out of the shrubbery. Her dress was tattered and she appeared completely indifferent to battle. She wore her hair in a net of purple flowers, but her face wore a resigned, slightly sad expression.

"Gran’ma Makoto?" Aya asked, she wanted to run up to her then and there, but Tommy put her hand out it front of her to stop her.

"My babies…" Makoto muttered.

"Who are you?" Tommy asked.

"I…" she said, stopping in her tracks.

"Well, shit. So much for going home in one piece," Uptake muttered. She waved her wand and the blue fuku appeared. Aya did the same, clutching the sword in her hand desperately. She didn’t want to use it. Not on Makoto.

Makoto was meant to be there to watch her dance someday, and to swing axes or swords in a joust.

She was there for Tommy’s concerts, congratulating both her and Tommy.

She shouldn’t have to be…

If this fight had to be, Aya wouldn’t raise a finger in her defense.

"…I… was…I am Urania now," she said. "I am Urania." She walked over to the three. She reached for Tommy, who was stunned stone still as Urania put her hands up and cupped her face, kissing her on the cheek. "This is fate. I’m sorry. I want you to protect your sisters, please."

Tommy slowly nodded, coming out of her daze.

"Gran’ma?" Aya asked.

Makoto reached for her. No, not her, the sword.

"If one of us is meant to survive…" Makoto smiled. "I want to save your life."

She tore the sword from Aya’s and the three watched, their hearts beating in unison in anticipation.

This was all some nightmare. They’d all been hit on the head and were in comas and this was what they dreamed. They were already dead and this was how they paid for their sins… something, anything as long as this wasn’t real.

Makoto plunged the sword into her chest, unflinching. Her tears were over never seeing her grandchildren again.

She reached toward Tommy with her hand. "Promise me… You’ll always protect them."

Tommy she reciprocal tears as her grandmother fell to the ground, dropping the sword. Her hand fell away, leaving blood trailing form her fingers along Tommy’s neck.

They all just stared at the body, at the only person who had shown real love in the whole battle the whole night.

After a long while, Aya bent down and took the sword.

There was no blood on the magic blade. There was only blood on the dress and the grass and her sister’s neck.

They stood in overwhelming silence, as the blade faded away t nothing but a jewel. Aya pocketed it and wandered off.

"Where--?" Tommy asked.

"I have a promise to keep too."

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