He wants to believe that's possible. Having his men back would be a (selfish) comfort like no other, but mostly he wants them free of Beryl's grasp. It's cruel and unfair that they're doomed to have their minds warped by her lies and deceptions in this life as much as their previous one. Did they even know who he was? Had Jadeite and Nephrite known before they perished? To think that only two of his generals were left standing, that two of them had already fallen while being used as pawns for the Dark Kingdom.
"First, we need to figure out how to uh..." He gestures to himself, with the gilded armor and sword hanging at his hip.
Try as he might, he can't get this princely visage to fade. He can step into and out of his masked superhero guise with relative ease; he'd only remained in that form out of a need to reassure her that she was safe when she awoke, otherwise he would have dropped the henshin and gone back to being Mamoru.
But he can't do that right now. Endymion can't go back to being Mamoru or Tuxedo Kamen. Almost like his past life has been suppressed for so long it's enjoying the freedom to be out and refuses to go back in again.
With a reluctant sigh, he gives up on trying and beings to unhook the sword belt from his waist. It's set aside as the cap is unclasped from his shoulders and pieces of armor are removed to leave him in just the dark tunic he wore beneath. There were many things he wore in his previous life, but he supposes the reappearing in what he'd been wearing when he died makes sense.
It's about this time that she looks down and notices....how much more hair she has, suddenly. It's pooling all around her feet. Her eyes almost widen in panic at the realization.
"How am I supposed to explain this to my parents?"
Because as much as she might remember being Serenity now...she's still Usagi too. And Sailor Moon. It was hard enough hiding one secret from her parents...and now she has one more. But her mom is going to notice if she suddenly has more hair.
"I think you're going to have a harder time explaining this."
Endymion reaches out, brushing his fingers against the smooth surface of the golden crescent moon embedded in her forehead. Something that would likely look like some sort of crazed mashup of tattooing and body modification to those who didn't know that it was a natural feature of those born into (and sometimes in service of, as was the case with Luna and Artemis) the royal family of the Moon Kingdom.
Her eyes somehow become even wider at that. "I didn't even think of that! They already think Luna has a weird bald spot!"
To be fair, she had also thought that when she first met Luna but you know, details. But it brings her back to earth a little. As much as she had a past life...she has a present one. She may be the princess of the moon, but she's also Usagi.
She's been thrown completely off-kilter by the revelation that she's the fabled Moon Princess they've been searching for, her life disrupted for a second time. He knows this, he can tell that it's getting to her, that in spite of all that she's glad to remember โ him, the girls, the queen โ that this is the last thing she wanted. That this life has suited her, and she's been allowed to live the freedom of normalcy and anonymity instead of standing in the spotlighted shadow of the throne she had been destined to inherit.
It's not the same for him.
For the first time in his life, he feels whole. He actually recognizes the sound of his own name and isn't questioning the merit of his existence. He may not understand why he was reborn alongside her and her court and still mourns the loss of the memories he's still missing, but he knows who is now. And after years of wondering who he was and feeling like Mamoru was the name of some stranger he was poor masquerading about as, it's a great comfort to finally feel at home in his own shoes.
Maybe Serenity was a completely different person in comparison to Usagi, but Mamoru and Endymion are one in the same.
He's always been Endymion.
"Bandage, maybe? Would they believe you if you told them you fell and hit your head?"
He feels whole and she feels like she's made up of two halves that don't quite fit together. And she hates the idea of the danger her identity could put her family in. Her parents, as much of parents to her as Queen Serenity, and her brother -- something she never had in her first life, a sibling.
Usagi and Serenity aren't completely the same but nor are they completely different either. Maybe it'd be easier if she could see none of herself in her past self. But she can. She remembers being lazy when it came to meetings with the senshi, sneaking off to see him, trying to encourage the girls to have fun when they had important things to do. She remembers feeling and loving intensely, not just for Endymion but for the queen, for the soldiers, for Luna her trusted advisor.
She makes a face at his suggestion, sticking her tongue out a little. "Maybe for a while but they don't think I'm that clumsy, that I'd keep on hitting it!" And besides -- "We'll draw the enemies attention too much if we're like this all the time. They're still looking for this --"
She indicates to where they had set her crystal aside and it was like it heard her -- and a bright light washes over them, transforming them back into their more modern clothes and selves. Her brooch transforms as well, creating a compact to put the crystal inside.
With awakening as his true self comes the outfit he pulled on manually to masquerade as Tuxedo Kamen becoming a true henshin, as he's left in the jeans and hoodie he'd been wearing prior to shedding those garments to pull on the tuxedo when the silver crystal's power washes over him.
It confuses him for a moment as he glances back and forth between his bare feet and the chair that his cape, hat, and mask had been sitting on.
It never for a moment occurred to her not to tell the girls -- besides they may have woken up themselves. Any moment now she might get a call from Luna or Ami asking where she is, is she okay, what happened, etc.
Not to mention said parents. Hopefully Makoto will let her say she fell asleep at her place....
Now that she's mentions it, it is considerably odd that her most loyal guardian is nowhere to be found. Nobody was devoted to Serenity like Venus was, up to the point that she begrudgingly kept their taboo rendezvous secret in spite of her obvious disapproval. She hadn't liked him โ none of them had. Not her senshi or her feline advisors. The queen had been cordial to him out of practiced royal necessity as the heir to the Golden Kingdom of Elysion, but the Earth had been distant from the moon at best.
Enemies at worst.
It was his own people that invited in the darkness that overtook them, that allowed it to storm the moon.
Which brings him toโ
"What about me?"
They hadn't liked Tuxedo Kamen, either. What would they say if they knew the vigilante ally they didn't trust was the prince they hadn't approved of?
She takes his hands into her own as he asks that -- reaching for him somehow feels more natural even if her heart beats wildly as she does so all the same. She knows Luna hadn't been sure they could trust Tuxedo Kamen but that's because she didn't know -- she'll make it work.
She's not going to lose him again.
"I'll talk to them, I'll explain it all to them, including you. That you're not any enemy of ours."
None of them knew. All he knew was that he had to protect her at all costs, that he had to find the crystal and the princess in his dreams in order to answer the questions that have plagued him since childhood. He had no way of knowing until now it was because he'd fallen in love with her in a past life; couldn't have predicted that they would meet again in this one and he'd become infatuated with her all over again.
They hadn't known they were the ill-fated heirs of ancient, fallen kingdoms when they crossed paths. Or even that they were both superhero vigilantes, originally. And she'd still managed to captivate him without trying.
"I was never your enemy, Usako," he tells her, squeezing her hands. "I'm sorry if I ever made it seem that way."
"I never thought you were. I could never convince myself of the possibility, even as much as Luna warned me that you could be....I knew you weren't, Mamo-chan. I knew somehow, deep inside of me that you were on our side."
On her side. She had just been a normal girl, thrust into being a soldier of justice and yet she kept being drawn to him as both Mamoru and Tuxedo Kamen. She couldn't help herself.
No matter how many times they are reborn she will always be drawn to him.
Part of him wishes that they were nothing more than normal students, that their love story was that of a boy from a prestigious high school who'd fallen the girl who slept through class and barely passed her exams. Maybe he would still feel hollow inside without something to fill that amnesiac void, but they wouldn't be in danger. As joyous as it is to know who he is and remember his time with her in the Silver Millennium, being awake, aware, and in possession of the crystal puts a big target on their backs.
Especially hers.
He fears they'll never be safe again.
Mamoru presses a kiss to her forehead. "I was always on your side. Now and back then."
Her face flushes a little as he presses a kiss against her forehead. They had been affectionate (and then some) in their past lives but there still had been some boundaries in this one. Still, it doesn't feel uncomfortable. Just like everything it feels so normal and natural.
"I know you are. And we'll find a way to defeat the enemy together."
Their story has to have a happier ending this time. And because...simply because she can and she wants to she pushes herself up on her tip toes so she can press her lips against his, so they can finally properly kiss in this lifetime.
Far more affectionate than was considered appropriate for heirs to powerful kingdoms. Such conduct was especially scandalous for him, as his parents aimed to marry him off for political gain and had already been looking at potential matches for him, girls that would make a proper consort for him one day, when he first met Serenity.
Mamoru's never been kissed before in this life. This ought to be a first kiss (and it is, in some ways), but instead it burns with vivid familiarity and he wastes no time in bringing his hands up to cradle her face, sinking into the kiss. Whatever timidness ought to be present and perhaps would be had they kissed prior to awakening simply isn't there.
Serenity had always been a romantic, had always hoped she would fall in love instead of marrying for political gain or anything like that. It didn't help that before she even met Endymion, she had watched him from the moon, very quickly growing attracted to him. She had snuck down that first time not just to meet him but to see the beauty of the Earth first hand herself.
In this life, Usagi has not been kissed either. She's thought about it, had mild, harmless crushes before meeting him, but she's never kissed anyone. And in this moment, she's glad for it. It's less tentative or awkward as it probably should be for two teenagers who have never kissed before. It just feels right and she lets herself sink into it, her hands curling around the soft material of his shirt.
There's a lot of things that feel right that ought to be wrong. Like kissing an underclassman girl in the privacy of his bedroom, yet he pays those details no mind as his hands slip down from her face so he can wrap his arms around her and pull her tighter against him.
The kiss gains heat and momentum, Mamoru overcome by a myriad of emotions โ joy, relief, and desire, to name a few โ as he allows the kiss to progress. Like the last time he held her in his arms like this was just yesterday instead of thousands of years ago.
If any of her friends knew she was kissing an older boy in his bedroom of all places they would probably be a little scandalized; Usagi doesn't care though. It feels right, having him pull her so close like that.
There's a flood of emotion. Joy. Love. Relief. Desire. Longing. And a lot more. The last time they held one another things all ended in tragedy, but in this moment it feels like it could be different. She only pulls away enough to catch her breath, resting her forehead against his.
Not just kissing an older boy, but kissing an older boy like she's kissed him dozens of times before. Like characters on a late night romantic drama instead of teenagers.
But they're not normal teenagers, which is why he asks, "Does this mean we're picking up where we left off?" in regards to their connect instead of asking her to be his girlfriend.
It's true. It doesn't match the first kiss she's heard her friends talk about -- all awkwardness and clashed teeth. In some ways she's almost sad they didn't get that. But they've had it before, with the weight of we shouldn't be doing this on top of everything else.
His question surprises her, she's been so swept up in her feelings she hasn't considered the specifics.
"I don't know." She confesses. "Do you want to?" This should be a decision they make together, trying to figure out what they are now.
As content as he was to keep his distance when she didn't remember him as Endymion, it would be difficult to stay away from her now. He wants to explore this second chance with her, to discover what they could have had in a world where they'd lived through that battle. To see what having a relationship they didn't have to hide would be like.
"Do you? If you'd rather notโ If you don't want to have a boyfriend with your responsibilities and everything else going on in your life, I would understand."
"I do!" She responds, squeezing his hand with intensity, scared for a moment that maybe she had given him the wrong impression by asking. "I just wanted to be sure that's what you want too! But of course I want that. I can't think of anything I would want more."
There will be struggles of course -- her dad is going to be pissed for one thing -- but nothing compared to what they had to hide in the past. She wants this second chance with him, to love in the light and not just the dark.
As that sudden jolt of worry bleeds out of him, he dips his head to kiss her again. Chaster, this time, mindful of the fact that as much as he would like to, he cannot keep her here. She needs to head home now that she's awake before her parents and/or Luna go in search of her.
He jerks back from herโ Not out of any aversion to her so much as he's just now remembering that he left his bag at the arcade. He'd been thoroughly distracted by her then to the point that he was both late to class and forgot his bag. Thankfully, he had studied enough for the exam he'd taken that day and spent his free periods reading the library's copies of the books he'd needed, but in his desperation to save her after class when that youma made its appearance, he'd neglected to go back to the arcade and see if it was there.
"My bag." A sigh. "I've never missed turning in an assignment. Guess there's a first time for everything."
At least his peers would probably brush it off as him being distracted by his first relationship and not that he was contending with memories of a past life.
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hieroglyphics2022-06-18 08:52 pm
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"First, we need to figure out how to uh..." He gestures to himself, with the gilded armor and sword hanging at his hip.
Try as he might, he can't get this princely visage to fade. He can step into and out of his masked superhero guise with relative ease; he'd only remained in that form out of a need to reassure her that she was safe when she awoke, otherwise he would have dropped the henshin and gone back to being Mamoru.
But he can't do that right now. Endymion can't go back to being Mamoru or Tuxedo Kamen. Almost like his past life has been suppressed for so long it's enjoying the freedom to be out and refuses to go back in again.
With a reluctant sigh, he gives up on trying and beings to unhook the sword belt from his waist. It's set aside as the cap is unclasped from his shoulders and pieces of armor are removed to leave him in just the dark tunic he wore beneath. There were many things he wore in his previous life, but he supposes the reappearing in what he'd been wearing when he died makes sense.
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"Right."
It's about this time that she looks down and notices....how much more hair she has, suddenly. It's pooling all around her feet. Her eyes almost widen in panic at the realization.
"How am I supposed to explain this to my parents?"
Because as much as she might remember being Serenity now...she's still Usagi too. And Sailor Moon. It was hard enough hiding one secret from her parents...and now she has one more. But her mom is going to notice if she suddenly has more hair.
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Endymion reaches out, brushing his fingers against the smooth surface of the golden crescent moon embedded in her forehead. Something that would likely look like some sort of crazed mashup of tattooing and body modification to those who didn't know that it was a natural feature of those born into (and sometimes in service of, as was the case with Luna and Artemis) the royal family of the Moon Kingdom.
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Her eyes somehow become even wider at that. "I didn't even think of that! They already think Luna has a weird bald spot!"
To be fair, she had also thought that when she first met Luna but you know, details. But it brings her back to earth a little. As much as she had a past life...she has a present one. She may be the princess of the moon, but she's also Usagi.
And Sailor Moon.
Man and juggling two identities had been hard.
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It's not the same for him.
For the first time in his life, he feels whole. He actually recognizes the sound of his own name and isn't questioning the merit of his existence. He may not understand why he was reborn alongside her and her court and still mourns the loss of the memories he's still missing, but he knows who is now. And after years of wondering who he was and feeling like Mamoru was the name of some stranger he was poor masquerading about as, it's a great comfort to finally feel at home in his own shoes.
Maybe Serenity was a completely different person in comparison to Usagi, but Mamoru and Endymion are one in the same.
He's always been Endymion.
"Bandage, maybe? Would they believe you if you told them you fell and hit your head?"
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He feels whole and she feels like she's made up of two halves that don't quite fit together. And she hates the idea of the danger her identity could put her family in. Her parents, as much of parents to her as Queen Serenity, and her brother -- something she never had in her first life, a sibling.
Usagi and Serenity aren't completely the same but nor are they completely different either. Maybe it'd be easier if she could see none of herself in her past self. But she can. She remembers being lazy when it came to meetings with the senshi, sneaking off to see him, trying to encourage the girls to have fun when they had important things to do. She remembers feeling and loving intensely, not just for Endymion but for the queen, for the soldiers, for Luna her trusted advisor.
She makes a face at his suggestion, sticking her tongue out a little. "Maybe for a while but they don't think I'm that clumsy, that I'd keep on hitting it!" And besides -- "We'll draw the enemies attention too much if we're like this all the time. They're still looking for this --"
She indicates to where they had set her crystal aside and it was like it heard her -- and a bright light washes over them, transforming them back into their more modern clothes and selves. Her brooch transforms as well, creating a compact to put the crystal inside.
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It confuses him for a moment as he glances back and forth between his bare feet and the chair that his cape, hat, and mask had been sitting on.
"Are you going to tell them that you have it?"
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"I have to."
It never for a moment occurred to her not to tell the girls -- besides they may have woken up themselves. Any moment now she might get a call from Luna or Ami asking where she is, is she okay, what happened, etc.
Not to mention said parents. Hopefully Makoto will let her say she fell asleep at her place....
"We still need to find Venus too."
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Enemies at worst.
It was his own people that invited in the darkness that overtook them, that allowed it to storm the moon.
Which brings him toโ
"What about me?"
They hadn't liked Tuxedo Kamen, either. What would they say if they knew the vigilante ally they didn't trust was the prince they hadn't approved of?
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She takes his hands into her own as he asks that -- reaching for him somehow feels more natural even if her heart beats wildly as she does so all the same. She knows Luna hadn't been sure they could trust Tuxedo Kamen but that's because she didn't know -- she'll make it work.
She's not going to lose him again.
"I'll talk to them, I'll explain it all to them, including you. That you're not any enemy of ours."
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They hadn't known they were the ill-fated heirs of ancient, fallen kingdoms when they crossed paths. Or even that they were both superhero vigilantes, originally. And she'd still managed to captivate him without trying.
"I was never your enemy, Usako," he tells her, squeezing her hands. "I'm sorry if I ever made it seem that way."
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"I never thought you were. I could never convince myself of the possibility, even as much as Luna warned me that you could be....I knew you weren't, Mamo-chan. I knew somehow, deep inside of me that you were on our side."
On her side. She had just been a normal girl, thrust into being a soldier of justice and yet she kept being drawn to him as both Mamoru and Tuxedo Kamen. She couldn't help herself.
No matter how many times they are reborn she will always be drawn to him.
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Especially hers.
He fears they'll never be safe again.
Mamoru presses a kiss to her forehead. "I was always on your side. Now and back then."
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Her face flushes a little as he presses a kiss against her forehead. They had been affectionate (and then some) in their past lives but there still had been some boundaries in this one. Still, it doesn't feel uncomfortable. Just like everything it feels so normal and natural.
"I know you are. And we'll find a way to defeat the enemy together."
Their story has to have a happier ending this time. And because...simply because she can and she wants to she pushes herself up on her tip toes so she can press her lips against his, so they can finally properly kiss in this lifetime.
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Mamoru's never been kissed before in this life. This ought to be a first kiss (and it is, in some ways), but instead it burns with vivid familiarity and he wastes no time in bringing his hands up to cradle her face, sinking into the kiss. Whatever timidness ought to be present and perhaps would be had they kissed prior to awakening simply isn't there.
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Serenity had always been a romantic, had always hoped she would fall in love instead of marrying for political gain or anything like that. It didn't help that before she even met Endymion, she had watched him from the moon, very quickly growing attracted to him. She had snuck down that first time not just to meet him but to see the beauty of the Earth first hand herself.
In this life, Usagi has not been kissed either. She's thought about it, had mild, harmless crushes before meeting him, but she's never kissed anyone. And in this moment, she's glad for it. It's less tentative or awkward as it probably should be for two teenagers who have never kissed before. It just feels right and she lets herself sink into it, her hands curling around the soft material of his shirt.
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The kiss gains heat and momentum, Mamoru overcome by a myriad of emotions โ joy, relief, and desire, to name a few โ as he allows the kiss to progress. Like the last time he held her in his arms like this was just yesterday instead of thousands of years ago.
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If any of her friends knew she was kissing an older boy in his bedroom of all places they would probably be a little scandalized; Usagi doesn't care though. It feels right, having him pull her so close like that.
There's a flood of emotion. Joy. Love. Relief. Desire. Longing. And a lot more. The last time they held one another things all ended in tragedy, but in this moment it feels like it could be different. She only pulls away enough to catch her breath, resting her forehead against his.
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But they're not normal teenagers, which is why he asks, "Does this mean we're picking up where we left off?" in regards to their connect instead of asking her to be his girlfriend.
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It's true. It doesn't match the first kiss she's heard her friends talk about -- all awkwardness and clashed teeth. In some ways she's almost sad they didn't get that. But they've had it before, with the weight of we shouldn't be doing this on top of everything else.
His question surprises her, she's been so swept up in her feelings she hasn't considered the specifics.
"I don't know." She confesses. "Do you want to?" This should be a decision they make together, trying to figure out what they are now.
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As content as he was to keep his distance when she didn't remember him as Endymion, it would be difficult to stay away from her now. He wants to explore this second chance with her, to discover what they could have had in a world where they'd lived through that battle. To see what having a relationship they didn't have to hide would be like.
"Do you? If you'd rather notโ If you don't want to have a boyfriend with your responsibilities and everything else going on in your life, I would understand."
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"I do!" She responds, squeezing his hand with intensity, scared for a moment that maybe she had given him the wrong impression by asking. "I just wanted to be sure that's what you want too! But of course I want that. I can't think of anything I would want more."
There will be struggles of course -- her dad is going to be pissed for one thing -- but nothing compared to what they had to hide in the past. She wants this second chance with him, to love in the light and not just the dark.
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"I love you, my princess."
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She knows she has to go. She has to head home. She smiles brightly at his words, hugging their hands to her chest.
"I love you too, my prince."
She pulls away with a sad smile on her lips, letting go of their hands reluncantly.
"Meet me after school?"
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He jerks back from herโ Not out of any aversion to her so much as he's just now remembering that he left his bag at the arcade. He'd been thoroughly distracted by her then to the point that he was both late to class and forgot his bag. Thankfully, he had studied enough for the exam he'd taken that day and spent his free periods reading the library's copies of the books he'd needed, but in his desperation to save her after class when that youma made its appearance, he'd neglected to go back to the arcade and see if it was there.
"My bag." A sigh. "I've never missed turning in an assignment. Guess there's a first time for everything."
At least his peers would probably brush it off as him being distracted by his first relationship and not that he was contending with memories of a past life.
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i haven't written a real tag in like 2 months, this is gonna be ROUGH
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