hieroglyphics | | psl — dark kingdom arc redux, electric boogaloo.

That nagging sense of familiarity had followed him all night like a shadow, anchored to him yet out of reach all once, mocking him with its presence. With the knowledge that it possessed that it refused to let him gleam. The light of that obscured truth burned brighter when he got closer to her; to Sailor Moon — to Tsukino Usagi. He'd seen through the veil of her disguise, even though he couldn't seem to pierce through that shadow looming in his wake.

It wasn't until they were falling, toppling over the railing. Like a piece of cloth caught on a hook, something deep in the recess of his mind grabbed hold of that moment and memories that had been locked tightly away surged to life.

But they weren't the memories of his forgotten childhood. They were memories of a world blanketed in stars. Of walking through marble arches that glistened as if they were carved from diamonds. Of laughing as he twirled an effervescent presence around while ethereal music filled the air. Of running from the dance floor and pressing himself back against a wall to hide himself from the prying eyes of an orange-suited senshi whose knowing gaze flickered to where he stood—

His feet touch the ground and he takes a dazed step back. Sailor Moon, still donning her masquerade dress, is saying something to him, but he can't make out her words as her pink dress becomes white in his mind's eye. A missing piece of the puzzle that's been plaguing his dreams for weeks clicks into place, the fuzziness of the silhouette of the girl in his dreams fading to give way to her.

All along, it's been her.

Sailor Mars shoves him aside as she yells at Sailor Moon to transform, and it's all he can do to scramble to his feet and dash up the stairs. He lingers, watching as the girls take on their enemy, still caught up in the tidal wave of remembrance.

He wanted to remember. All his life, all he's wanted was to remember.

Mamoru didn't realize that he would be remembering this.

"Serenity."

Luna (who can very much talk, he remembers that now and idly wonders why she's chosen to remain in her cat form) casts a sharp look in his direction as he speaks, then bounds outside to join the victorious senshi. All while Mamoru leans back against the nearest wall and lets himself slide down it, remembering that time he and Serenity had tried to sneak out of her palace and had slipped while climbing over the railing. How they'd both landed in heap on the grass below her balcony and they'd laughed at their mutual clumsiness.

There's no time to think about what just happened -- she has a duty and she has to protect the people at this party. She can't think about how warm his hands felt, or how much she liked dancing with him. She needs to --

Her tiara. She doesn't have her tiara. Her body is flushed and warm, like when they had been dancing and she feels something awaken in her -- a new tiara?? Luna shouts at her and she finds a new power inside of herself, one that seems emboldened by the encounter she just had. She doesn't know where Tuxedo Mask went, but she hopes he's okay.

"Moon Twilight Flash!"

There's a bright flash of light and Princess D seems to be purified and returned to normal. The crystal...is not the one they're looking for, to say the least. But Usagi is thirsty and can't help but grab some punch, not realizing that it was spiked and would only make her sleepier.

Of course it's not the silver crystal. They should've known better than to assume that gaudy family heirloom Princess D's family carted around was the same jewel that Queen Serenity once wielded.

...but would they have known better? Until a few minutes ago, Mamoru himself had no idea what the silver crystal looked like. He only knew of it by name and had assumed that it was a descriptive one, breaking into jewelry stores and sneaking through museum galleries after hours in a bid to find something a gem matched it.

Recalling the past doesn't help him find it, though. The last he saw of the crystal, it was with the queen and she was using it to combat the forces that were threatening to overthrow her kingdom. Something had to have happened to it, but he met his untimely end before he could find out.

Eventually, he pushes himself up and begins to move through the halls again. Normally adept at navigating buildings he's looked at blueprints for, he ends up heading to floors that are off-limits to the public and gets completely lost in a maze of adjoining rooms on the fourth floor. It's when he ends up coming down a stairway that leads to an open balcony does he realize that he was trying to navigate the Moon Palace and not this mansion.

Yet somehow, even with getting turned around and twisted up in his memories of long, long ago, he still manages to find her.

"Whoa," he shouts inelegantly, darting forward to catch Sailor Moon as she sways. "Careful."

"You're still here," She says with a smile, her face flushed for reasons that don't entirely lie with the alcohol she has unknowingly imbibed. He had disappeared during the battle and she had been disappointed when she couldn't find him.

She's glad he's here now. His touch is warm, like the warmth she felt envelope her when her new tiara appeared. She wonders why that is. Why he always makes her feel this way.

(Little does she know that part of it is his power helping to awaken hers. There's so much she doesn't realize, yet. She just knows she feels drawn to him, time and time again).

Mamoru doesn't know he possesses such power; the knowledge of his own crystal is locked away somewhere, buried beneath the mountain of things he's still in the process of recalling. What he does remember is coming back to him in flashes of images and snippets of information that had once been common to him.

Like his name. He knows his name now.

"Where else would I go when you're still here?" Pops out before he can think better of speaking to her as Endymion would Serenity. "You're not well, Sailor Moon. Were you hurt?"

If she was, he would never forgive himself for fleeing as he had. For failing her, however minute, a second time.

Where else would I go when you're still here?

The words feel familiar to her, though she can't explain why. Except that it always feels that way when she's around him. Familiar. Safe. Even though they're practically strangers.

Before she can try to give a good answer she hiccups a little. "I'm fine," She assures him with a wave of her hand. "I think someone might have put something in the punch, is all."

And she's always been a lightweight, no matter what version of her she is.

That hiccup and her the words that follow her dismissal of his concerns have him shifting her into his left arm so that he can snatch the champagne glass from her with his right hand. He had (wrongly) assumed that because she was drinking it, that it was some sort of sparkling grape juice concoction and not actual one, but one sniff of the glass's contents tells him that he was wrong.

"It wasn't punch to begin with," he tells her, stretching out his arm so that he can set the glass on the railing of the balcony. "You're drunk."

It wasn't punch?

Well, that explains a few things. She thinks. She's not sure. She can't think very straight at the moment. It's like everything is swimming. She's never been drunk before in her life (this one, anyways).

She should try to pull away from him arm, put he always feels so warm, it's hard not be drawn to it.

"Oh. That's never happened to me before."

Yes, it has, he almost says, momentary taken aback by a memory of her drinking wine that Zoicite had offered her. Wine that was apparently stronger than what was brewed in the Moon Kingdom. She'd been an adorable, handsy drunk then... Kind of like now.

"Come on, let's get you some water."

Discreetly as possible, though not without once again catching the notice of her feline companion, Mamoru steers her back into the ballroom and to the refreshments table. There, he gets her a bottle of water and opens it for her, holding it out encouragingly.

"You're going to hate yourself in the morning if you don't stay hydrated."

She's still half leaning on him as they walk, much bolder than she would be normally, than she would be if she were sober. She doesn't question why it feels so natural to be close to him like this, she just allows herself to enjoy it.

She lets go of him reluctantly so she can take the water bottle. She doesn't know why but she trusts him. And that's enough to get her to drink from the water. It's cool and refreshing; she hadn't even realized how thirsty she still was until she started drinking.

"You should get home," he suggests, venturing: "Do you live anywhere nearby?"

He's not prying. If he wanted to pry, he could break into her school's database and obtain her address. He just wants her to get home safe without passing out anywhere or being taken advantage of. As it is, she's yet to drop out of her henshin and people are starting to notice, which has him stepping away from her to shrug out of his jacket and set it on her shoulders.

"Not too far." Normally, she would have transformed back by now, but in her inebriated state she's being a little more careless than usual. She smiles and hugs his jacket close to her. It's warm and smells like him.

Why is that smell so familiar? Like she would know it anywhere.

"Usagi."

It's said as he tugs her into an alcove near the exit, some sort of temporary storage space that wasn't being used for this event.

"You're still Sailor Moon. You need to transform back before we leave. Can you do that?"

She frowns in confusion. He shouldn't know who she really is. But -- he's not wrong and she's not sober enough to be too upset about him figuring things out. Instead she just nods a little, touching her brooch so that she transforms back into the dress she had been wearing before --

At least that transformation hadn't warn off yet otherwise if her dad was still around here somewhere things might get real awkward real fast.

Had he known her father was here, he might have insisted that she go home with him. But how would he explain away his daughter's presence here when the guest list was so exclusive, Usagi had to sneak in? Nevermind her drunken state or the way she'd been clinging to him, a boy her father didn't know.

"There better. Let's go."

Falling back on old (very old) habits, Mamoru takes her hand and tucks it into the crook of her arm, leading her out of the alcove and the event altogether. Thanks to the glamour of her disguise, they look like nothing more than a pair of distinguished guests who had a little too much fun and were on their way out.

"Is this the right way?"

She had tried to talk to her dad earlier, to see if he'd realize it was her, but the glamour worked well and not even her own father recognized her. No one except the other senshi and Luna --

And him, somehow. Tuxedo Mask. He seems to know so much about her than she does him -- she has no idea how true that is now. But usually he's gone so quickly after a battle -- is it bad if she basks in his prolonged presence a little longer.

"I think so. Luna would know better than me."

Usually she doesn't slip about Luna so easily but...she's not exactly in the right state of mind right now. Nor does she realize the cat is trailing behind them to keep an eye on them (mostly him).

Perhaps if he hadn't regained the memories of their past life, he would've already fled and left tending to her to someone else, but he feels responsible. Unaware of Sailor Venus having already awakened, Mamoru assumes that he's the only one who remembers their past lives. Mercury and Mars don't seem to have a clue, and neither does Luna, who ought to have recognized him. She caught him sneaking around with Serenity as often as Venus and Kunzite did.

Luna at least seems to clue in to Usagi's bad drunken directions and bounds ahead, meowing at them in attempt to get him to steer her in the right direction. It works, and Mamoru prides himself on not blurting out that he knows Luna can talk and instead just playing around with her faux meowing. And while the Mautian (Mauling??) walks to the front door and sits on the mat, waiting for him to follow, he instead sweeps Usagi into his arms and leaps up to her window in a single bound.

How he knew her room was on the second story is beyond him, but he knows, somehow, this is her room. And that she always forgets to latch her window, so it will slide open easily. Enough for him to step inside with her still in his arms.

"I didn't want you to get in trouble for coming home drunk," he explains, setting her back on her feet.

In all honesty, it would serve Usagi right if he did blurt out her knew about Luna -- they weren't exactly subtle about communicating in public. She had talked to her cat on the bus in front of him before. Not that she realizes that the Tuxedo Mask who is escorting her home is the Mamoru Chiba who had overheard her and her cat but still.

The point is, the ability to keep a low profile was clearly locked out of their memories too.

But soon she's not thinking of Luna or anything other than the way it feels to be swept up in his arms. He feels warm, again, and she can feel her heart beating wildly in her chest.

"That's probably good, Mama gets on my case enough as it is." And it's a sign she's sobering up a little that she can string together a coherent and relevant sentence.

"Thank you."

Her sobering up is also a sign that he should leave. There are too many things on the tip of his tongue that shouldn't be said until he's had time to analyze whether they should be said at all, and her feline companion is now perched on the bed, glaring at him disapprovingly in a manner he's certain she doesn't know is reminiscent of before.

Of long, long ago.

"Drink more water and sleep," he tells her, patting her awkwardly on the arm as he takes a step back and climbs back up onto the windowsill. "And watch out for the punch."

And then he's gone, darting off in the direction of his apartment so he can discard the rented tuxedo he stuffed himself into (since he didn't attend the ball as Tuxedo Kamen, not technically) and stand in the shower with cold water beating down on him as he tries to get his thoughts to properly realign. Remembering his past life is a revelation like no other, and when he gives his name as 'Endymion' at Starbucks the next morning, he decides that going out right now isn't the best of ideas.

So he feigns being sick for the first time in his life and skips a week's worth of classes. He does the work from home, turning in assignments virtually so he doesn't fall behind, taking time to adjust to his new reality.

By the time he finally leaves his apartment and heads to the game center to ~~see if the princess is there~~ see Motoki, he knows why he's never been sick. He knows why he's always been able to sense lingering danger. Why he had those dreams of Princess Serenity, but not why he was reincarnated alongside the girl he was forbidden to see and her court.

She watches with a mixture of amazement and disappointment as he races off. Vaguely, in the background, she can make out Luna's warnings. That she needs to be careful. That they don't know if Tuxedo Mask is an enemy or not. They don't know if they can trust him. And yet, why would he make sure she got home safely if he was an enemy?

Never mind that he seems to know she's Sailor Moon.

But she goes to sleep, and things get busy as there's a new transfer student in the school, Makoto, and a new scout as well, Sailor Jupiter. Luna says she has to be their leader now, to lead them to find the princess and the crystal and it just seems like...such a heavy burden. She doesn't know how to be any sort of leader. She can barely keep her grades up.

The meeting with the others is over by now but she doesn't want to head home just yet -- so she's engrossed in playing the Sailor V game, thinking about how drawn she feels to the other hero. Is she one of them too? Luna said they could look into it. Needless to say she's so lost in her own thoughts (and her game) that she doesn't realize who's just walked in.

He almost calls her Serenity. Almost.

But he has a better handle on himself now, doesn't feel the iron grip on his head that threatens to send him tumbling thousands of years back. It's now more like a cold ache somewhere in the back of his subconsciousness. A sad reminder of what was and the threats that they're having to face all over again.

Memories that keep him awake at night wondering if the Dark Kingdom would've gained a foothold on Earth and attacked the Moon regardless of if he fell for Serenity. Surely he didn't start a war because he fell in love with a girl, right?

"Odango," he greets, looking up from the Pac-Man game he's playing nearby. As if nothing has changed. (Everything has changed.) "Looks like you're on your way to beating the high score."

Edited 2022-06-21 03:56 (UTC)

"You."

Except it's not said with venom so much as surprise. She and Mamoru weren't exactly friends or anything but she had noticed his disappearance all the same -- had found herself wondering if he was okay.

(She's noticed Tuxedo Mask's absence since the night of the masquerade too, but she hasn't put the two and two together.)

She's distracted long enough that the enemy in the game gets the best of her and "GAME OVER" flashes across her screen.

"I was so close!" She's pouting and sticking her tongue out but she's never been able to beat the high score, she probably wouldn't have this time either.

"Here, let me try."

Without warning, he moves from his game and sits down on the bench beside her in front of the old school style Sailor V game.

Having never taken a good look at this game before, he freezes with his hands upon the controls when his eyes land on the sprite he'll be manipulating. Sailor Venus. He'd recognize her anywhere, even in a fuku that wasn't the orange one she donned while leader of Princess Serenity's guard thousands of years ago. (Perhaps he wasn't meant to look too closely at this game, perhaps no one was. Maybe that was inherent in it's design, as he can feel power flowing through this machine that's almost alive. An aura that wasn't bad, but not something that should be associated with an arcade game.)

"This is jump, right?" He taps his fingers lightly over the button, feigning getting used to the controls before making his attempt at beating one of the levels.

She's still teasing him for ruining her run when he suddenly offers to take a chance himself -- sitting down next to her. He's not usually so friendly with her -- he's not rude necessarily, but she wouldn't call them friends. And yet she finds herself not minding so much.

(She's glad the others left, Makoto would tease her endlessly if she found them playing together like this).

"It is. And then the other one is the attack button." Her finger brush briefly against his as she shows him, a familiar warmth accompanying the touch.

A jolt of electricity sits through him when she touches him, and it's all he can do to keep himself from flinching in response to how powerful it is. Memories of the princess showing him how to use the communications system in her rooms so he could contact Elysion flash through his mind. Her melodic voice like a bell as she laughed as he punched in the wrong patterns.

"Okay," he says, clearing his throat. "Let's see if this is as hard as it looks."

...it's not, actually. It's quite easy. Mamoru finds himself blowing through the first few sets of levels with ease, and it's only the later ones that give him any sort of challenge. When he hits the end, it asks for him to enter his name into the high score panel. Instead of typing in his own, he puts hers.

"For ruining your run," he says.

the au nobody asked for: mamoru remembers first!

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