Waiting Endless and Ending (Luna)

Waiting Endless and Ending (Luna)
Date of Cutscene:	17 December 2023
Location:	Tsukino-Osaka Dorm
Synopsis:	During and after the assault on Soryuu Shrine, Luna is left to wait. But all things end, especially waiting. At long last, her princess is found.
Cast of Characters:	Usagi Tsukino
Tinyplot:	Silver Crystal

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On a dim December afternoon, the sun already set, Luna watched as Usagi and Naru set off from Radiant Heart Academy with a horde of friends and allies, intending to invade an ancient territory, distract the enemy, and foil a plot that would endanger the world.

There was nothing Luna could do to help her, not this time. All the information had been collected, the enemy scouted, the plan concocted - by her own Sailor Moon, no less - and now it had to be carried out. For all that Luna had been able to help in the lead up, with scouring information sources, with working alongside Naru to analyze data, with scouring on her own for information - now?

Now she could only watch them leave and wait for their return.

And wait.

And wait.

It was a terrible thing, to wait, with her only saving grace that the communicators were on, bites of sound and conversation making their way through to her. It was a terrifying thing, for this to be her saving grace - the cried out names of attacks and sharply drawn breaths, gasps of pain and gritted out cries and defiant snark, snippets of desperate denial from Mamoru Chiba's familiar voice -

It was like stepping back into the worst moments of her life all over again. Unable to defend her home, her loved ones, with no choice but to wait and watch - this time, without even Artemis at her side.

And then.

That scream of anguish, that cry of despair, enough to bring tears to Luna's eyes, because she knows that sound, knows that despair, has heard it in a voice that still rings with haunting familiarity in her ears, the voice of her princess, her queen's only child, her greatest joy, and there's a strain in her mind, as realization butts against the protection of the veil, the protection of her queen -

And then light pours over the city, spread in an instant that turns night to day, as though a second sun had rocketed through the sky to rest at noon-day lights -

And Luna remembers the truth.

"Usagi!" She cries through the communicator, a voice that will go unheard in the commotion of the moment, "Serenity!"

After that, the waiting is unbearable. She cannot remain in the dorm, and she doesn't. She slinks through the building, sprints across the grounds, sneaks aboard a bus and makes her way to the Forgotten District, makes her way to her princess.

It had been too important to risk letting slip, and she had let her memory be sealed, because Artemis was going to find Venus - to find the Princess' closest guard - but Luna was to find the Princess herself, guide her to her guardians, train and guide her through the access of her power, until she could remember safely, until she would be strong enough to protect the Silver Crystal.

It was a task so important that Luna had not trusted herself to hide the truth. She had allowed her memories to be distorted, allowed herself to forget, because Serenity was of the greatest importance, and could not be put at risk. The lie of Sailor Moon - the lie of the fifth Inner Guardian - had needed to be belived so deeply it would become truth. And it had.

But now -

By the time Luna reached Soryuu Shrine, it was too late. She was too late.

The grounds she raced through were grounds were brilliant - the mists and the fog were still there, the air of somber loss, mournful silence still present, but there was life now, new growth, grass and shrubs and mushrooms and delicate new leaves sprouted from once-dead trees, the tentative song of birds as they landed atop branches - but at their apex, at the ancient shrine, still unharmed, she found no princess. Only a slowly dissipating crowd of youth, magical warriors all too explicably healed and fresh, including the Senshi, her Inner Senshi, at least.

They told her what happened, as they left, Luna perched on Makoto's shoulder, listening, somber. Hematite, mortally wounded. Sailor Moon, awakened to power in grief and determination. The dual revelation - that Sailor Moon was Princess Serenity, and Hematite, Prince Endymion. Their location, now - gone to the Gates of Time, shepherded by Sailor Pluto, defended by Sailor Uranus and Kunzite.

Nothing to do but wait for their return.

Oh, Luna could grow to despise waiting.

It was two days of waiting, in the end. The first day Luna spent largely with Makoto, curled up on her bed or under it, ignoring her roommate and her roommate's tiny flying horse, fretting, worrying, resisting the urge to try her communicator and pull her princess' attention away from where she was.

At the end of the first night and day, Naru returned, and so did Luna, prowling around her ankles, nestling at her side, expressing her relief with words as well as actions. But still, there was the waiting.

It was two nights and days before Luna saw her princess - and it was truly her princess, for her skin glowed with the pale light of the moon even in the day and her hair shown as like silk of spun starlight, and she was dressed in that dress, and the golden crescent moon shown on her forehead, and Luna -

Luna forgot herself. Forgot decorum, forgot restraint, forgot courtly manners and graces, and leapt for her, for her princess, her Usagi, her friend and her mission and her queen's greatest treasure.

Serenity shrieked with laughter and caught her. Held her close. Sailor Pluto and Sailor Uranus were at her side. Luna paid them absolutely no mind, purring like an engine, claws prickling at Serenity's delicate gown in spite of herself, clinging as closely as she possibly could.

"Serenity," she rasped, voice hoarse, "Serenity!"

"I'm here, Luna," Serenity said, and she truly was Serenity, in that moment, refined and elegant and achingly sorrowful. "Thank you for finding me. Thank you for everything. My mother - my mother would be so proud of you."