Chapter Text
Usagi ignored the pain coursing through her knees and tried her absolute hardest to focus on the sound of the priest’s chanting. But so many more thoughts flowed through her. Thoughts that numbed and chilled her, thoughts that made her shake. She tried to think about the good. She tried so hard to think about the good, but there was no light. There was no joy.
All of that had left the day their princess died.
As the priest continued the chanting, Usagi let her mind drift back to the day that she had met the girl - the four awakened senshi, fighting off the combined might of Kunzite and Zoisite, the latter who had been dressed as Sailor Moon likely in an effort to draw out the senshi’s ally, Tuxedo Kamen. When that failed, Kunzite used his cunning and strategic mind to corral the four senshi and erected an impenetrable barrier around the group. Tuxedo Kamen had shown at that point. Usagi would have watched the battle between the man and Queen Beryl’s third general, but the barrier that Kunzite had created was closing in on the four of them.
Until there was a bright flash of light that shattered the General’s concentration and the barrier that he had created. Usagi, who was barely standing up, looked to the direction the attack had come from. And there, illuminated by the full moon was the Princess. Dressed in the garb of a golden senshi with a crimson mask held between her index and middle finger, she declared herself to the Generals and the senshi in a voice that inspired the other three senshi to stand, to rise and support her.
That same girl was lying in a box at the front of the room with a voice that would never call her senshi to order.
As the sutra finished, Usagi got her first real look at the girl. Dressed in her white kimono, her blonde hair fanning out beneath her, her makeup applied just so someone might assume that she was merely sleeping, Aino Minako looked every bit the Princess she had declared herself to be. Usagi gave a sniff before clutching onto Makoto who sat beside her. Makoto stroked Usagi’s head, trying to give Usagi just a bit of comfort.
But Usagi’s thoughts had wandered to their first conversation with Minako, how they had asked if she was the Princess, the one they were searching for. And when Minako blushingly affirmed their question, the senshi rejoiced at the fulfillment of their goal. They could protect her. They could build a new, safe future on Earth. And with her, they could stop Queen Beryl and her generals.
Usagi remembered meeting up with Minako the next day, witnessing the Princess’s infectious smile and happiness as the pair shopped around, and Minako explained Usagi’s role as the strongest of the senshi and leader of the four. Usagi was unsure about the responsibility, after all she was just a teenage girl, which Minako pointed out that they were all teenage girls. Minako assured her that once they united the Nijizuishou, the memories of her previous life would return and Usagi would remember being the leader of the group.
The five of them had only had two weeks together before the battle that had ended Minako’s life and put Rei and Ami in the hospital, but Usagi and Minako had become close in that time, talking every night on the phone and even spending the night at each other’s place. Usagi had so many questions for the Princess, and Minako was happy to answer as many as she could, being honest with Usagi when there were parts she couldn’t recall.
But Minako didn’t just talk about the past. She visited with Usagi about the present, about boys she liked and classes she hated. She talked about taking down the Dark Kingdom and how she knew that together they could do it. And they would protect and save everyone. They way her princess spoke that last part, Usagi couldn’t help but wonder if Minako was speaking about someone specific.
“What are we going to do Mako-chan?” Usagi asked, her voice at a whisper. “How do we continue without our Princess?”
“We’ll have to try,” Makoto said as she scratched her left arm.