Endymion barely notices the differences in appearance between the princess' alternates anymore. They are each her, and they each add up to a whole picture of her. That's why her alternates who've been driven to some of the terrible acts he knows of, worry him. It's also why he refuses to condemn the others. He knows her pure and good heart; he also knows what she is capable of when she despairs.
For the Usagi in front of him, he has a somewhat fond smile. It always starts that way, with each one.
"Happy Birthday," he tells her, to make her happy that he's remembered.
Even if he's an alternate of Elysea, the energy differs a bit, probably because Elysea has the kinzuishou outside of her or active even when she's not using it. So Usagi takes a moment to realize who is there... Wishing her a happy birthday.
"Birthday?" She repeats, confused, as if it wasn't her birthday. But it is, she realizes it's June 30th, she smiles; "Ah, that's right. Today is my birthday, thank you for remember, I hadn't."
She doesn't feel like having reasons to celebrate her birthday after all, and so far no one else has remembered it. Or maybe they did but upon seeing her expression decided to not say a word. Maybe they just decided to not say anything because they were busier with other things.
Definitely not like the princess. She'd be pestering him for a gift already, and probably trying to wheedle him into telling her what it will be. He has that queer things-are-not-right-here sensation that he's coming to find familiar when he talks with her alternates.
With her reaction, he feels like mentioning it was something wrong, but apologizing seems awkward, too. He glances away.
"That's not it," he says, more to comfort her than from honesty. If she is not the princess he knows, not the cheerful and loving girl whose light he believes in... Is she the demon? The destroyer? Which? What?
She looks at him and smiles sadly, his words... They are obviously not honest; "You should be more honest, saying things out of pity or just to comfort others doesn't look good in you. It works better when you're honest, even if what you say is not nice."
"I don't expect every alternate to be like my princess," Endymion says. His face is closed-off, unreadable; it says nothing of the horrible day he found the face of his beloved princess expressionless while she burned a forest and headed towards a town.
"Well, you make a cute girl. But not my type, neither I am hers;" is the cold reply he gets. "Thought if you're aware that falling in love with the Moon princess is a bad thing, why don't you do something to change that? You're one of the parts involved in the matter, aren't you?"
"I don't believe love is wrong. I don't believe it can bring evil. What brings evil is jealousy and hate." For once, the prince sounds serious. And isn't it true?
"But more importantly, I won't forsake and abandon her because of what happened in another world. We're our own world and we'll make our own future."
He's had a lot of time to come to that decision. He's even very seriously considered leaving the princess after all, if it would truly save the planet and be better for it. But no. He will not betray her feelings.
She nods, calmly. "I'm not surprised, Elysea hasn't abandoned me even when everyone else did, neither despite all the pain I've caused her... You have a great capacity of love;" it's really unfortunate that such a love is directed to a bad choice. But she's not going to fight with another one of him about if the princess he knows is good or not. She's tired of that.
"I believe we can still prevent the destruction," Endymion says. He is flying in the face of all evidence, when his world has already begun to experience the natural disasters that signaled the beginning of its end; but he has faith. Somehow, somewhere along the way, he found faith.
Maybe it's because he has nothing else to have faith in anymore. It has to be the princess.
Hope is also something Masako has in great doses. Even hope when everything is yelling at her that her hope won't turn out right. Even when Usagi is standing right in front of her, the blood of queen Selene in her hands... She still had and has hope that the other will return and them all will be friends again.
So hearing him saying that doesn't surprise her, but it doesn't bring ease to her either. He would say it even if the whole world was collapsing over him. She's sure of that.
"Being both girls didn't help to stop any tragedy from happening, so maybe you are right and your love and hope are enough to prevent it;" she says. She doubts it, but she will allow herself to have a small seed of hope too. Even if it will probably be stomped on as soon as it grows even a bit.
He's seen the princess destroy. He's seen a demon in her form. He's seen his world start to crumble and he's the one who has to know how to stop it from going any further. He's seen the shitennou attack each other and even be prepared to kill each other, even in his own name, even when it went directly against his orders.
How he has any faith in anything is a miracle. For a long time, he hadn't. He shut himself off from the shitennou, considered breaking off his relationship with the moon princess, and was even seriously considering seeking out the woman called Beryl because he needed something to halt the planet's destruction and he was lost for what to do.
"It's not just love and hope," he says finally. "We're working to stop it. All of us together."
First he said prevent, now he says stop. There's a difference between these terms in Usagi's mind, unless he means 'stop it from happening', for which he should have just used 'prevent' again. She says nothing about it thought, miracles do happen, supposedly.
"I wish you luck then, it would be the only thing missing for your success;" a great deal of luck. So much luck that it would create a miracle, but if they are truly all working together, that's really all they would need.
It's a wonder to whom he's referring to by 'all' thought. Senshi and shitennou? Both kingdoms? It can't just be him and her alternate, he would have said 'both'.
For the Usagi in front of him, he has a somewhat fond smile. It always starts that way, with each one.
"Happy Birthday," he tells her, to make her happy that he's remembered.
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"Birthday?" She repeats, confused, as if it wasn't her birthday. But it is, she realizes it's June 30th, she smiles; "Ah, that's right. Today is my birthday, thank you for remember, I hadn't."
She doesn't feel like having reasons to celebrate her birthday after all, and so far no one else has remembered it. Or maybe they did but upon seeing her expression decided to not say a word. Maybe they just decided to not say anything because they were busier with other things.
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With her reaction, he feels like mentioning it was something wrong, but apologizing seems awkward, too. He glances away.
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"I'm going to set a record, right? Just one exchange of words and you already are uncomfortable with me;" she comments, more to herself than to him.
Well, she guesses she'll get used. She should get used to it. It would make things easier.
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"But more importantly, I won't forsake and abandon her because of what happened in another world. We're our own world and we'll make our own future."
He's had a lot of time to come to that decision. He's even very seriously considered leaving the princess after all, if it would truly save the planet and be better for it. But no. He will not betray her feelings.
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Maybe it's because he has nothing else to have faith in anymore. It has to be the princess.
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So hearing him saying that doesn't surprise her, but it doesn't bring ease to her either. He would say it even if the whole world was collapsing over him. She's sure of that.
"Being both girls didn't help to stop any tragedy from happening, so maybe you are right and your love and hope are enough to prevent it;" she says. She doubts it, but she will allow herself to have a small seed of hope too. Even if it will probably be stomped on as soon as it grows even a bit.
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How he has any faith in anything is a miracle. For a long time, he hadn't. He shut himself off from the shitennou, considered breaking off his relationship with the moon princess, and was even seriously considering seeking out the woman called Beryl because he needed something to halt the planet's destruction and he was lost for what to do.
"It's not just love and hope," he says finally. "We're working to stop it. All of us together."
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"I wish you luck then, it would be the only thing missing for your success;" a great deal of luck. So much luck that it would create a miracle, but if they are truly all working together, that's really all they would need.
It's a wonder to whom he's referring to by 'all' thought. Senshi and shitennou? Both kingdoms? It can't just be him and her alternate, he would have said 'both'.
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