Sailor Moon Silver Legacy

Act IV: Choices (Part 3)

Artemis stared at his old partner as she slept, concern etched across his white face. He didn't know what to do about her anymore. Minako woke up early each day, did enough investigative work to pay the bills, then spent her evenings and most of her nights patrolling the city. She rarely visited her apartment, except to sleep—and she didn't get much of that—and eat. If it weren't for the occasional drop-offs by Makoto, she would probably live on junk food alone.

He had tried to tell Minako that it wasn't a healthy way to live—if it could be considered living at all—but she no longer listened to his advice. He had tried to accept her decision and move on, but with things in the city changing of late, he was more worried than ever.

As he had feared, Minako had finally pushed herself too far. At first, he had thought the worst when she didn't come home. When he and Luna heard about Minako's condition the next day from Ami, he could hardly say that he was relieved. He wanted to yell at Minako when she had shown up at her apartment after abruptly leaving Ami's care, but then he had seen her wounds, the rawness of her skin, and the fatigue in her eyes, and thought better of it.

He had watched in silence as Minako crawled into bed and fell right to sleep in her clothes. Now, a day later, still watching over her, he found himself cursing his feline body. He couldn't bring the girl a glass of water; he couldn't even lay a cool washcloth on her forehead as she recovered. What good was he?

Artemis had always taken pride in being one of the immortal Moon Cats in service of Queen Serenity and the Moon Kingdom. With their ability to recall memories from their past lives, he and Luna had been trusted with the sacred mission to locate and guide the reincarnations of the Sailor Soldiers and the princess whom they were sworn to protect. With Usagi now gone, their mission failed, and the bright future they were all once assured of ruined, Artemis felt lost.

This was in part due to his lack of purpose, but he could have handled that if the girls were all still together. The problem was, Usagi wasn't the only one they had lost that day. Her death had affected all of them so severely and so differently. Minako had become heartless, Ami had become cold, Makoto had lost her fighting spirit, and Rei, it seemed, had lost her mind. Then there were the outer planet guardians....

"Artemis?"

"Luna!" he responded to his mate as she made her way down from the window ledge. "What are you doing here?"

"I was worried about you," she said softly, wary of disturbing the sleeping girl.

"Of course. I'm sorry, I should have come home, but I didn't want to leave her."

"I understand. I just missed you."

Luna climbed up onto the bedroom armchair with Artemis and snuggled up to him. The white cat sighed. "What are we going to do, Luna?" he asked.

After a few seconds, she responded simply, "I don't know."

"This wasn't supposed to happen. None of this was supposed to happen," Artemis said, screwing up his face in frustration. "We saw the future. We saved the future! When I think of everything that we were promised that has been lost now—Usagi becoming Neo Queen Serenity, Mamoru her king, Chibiusa, and Diana—it just makes me so angry!"

"I know," Luna replied gently. "It's not fair. I miss Usagi so much, but I feel like I can't even grieve for her because of what's happened to the others. I know that she would never forgive me if I gave up on them. They need us, Artemis, whether they act like it or not. We're still their guides, we have to keep them on the right path."

"What path, though? Their destiny as guardians is over."

"I don't believe that," Luna said reassuringly. "I know that the girls still have a destiny to fulfill, even without Sailor Moon, especially after today."