[013 ☿] Even if the two of us are ever torn apart, I swear that I will change the world.

[waterfell]

The forest is quiet, and green. A cloaked man heads towards an altar in a clearing, already laid out with candles and, crosswise, his sword in its sheath. He takes a deep, cleansing breath, and picks it up

Comments

[bishonenbunny]

[Barnaby knows better than to interrupt, than to barge in when someone is tending to a grave. Instead, he simply stands behind her in silence, the way he wants her--and others--to do for him when he's tending to his parents' grave.]

[waterfell]

[There's no reason for her to stay here once she's finished, and yet she does; as if she half expects him to come for her even here, even now. But he does not. There is no answer, no man lazily leaning against one of the nearby trees, deriding her for being foolish enough to think he's gone.

Then she senses eyes on her. It couldn't be...! Her head turns at once.

It isn't. It's a near-stranger. She's guarded, though she doesn't turn him away.]

Why are you here?

GODDAMMIT LJ WHY'D YOU EAT MY COMMENT

[bishonenbunny]

I don't really know.

[It's an honest answer, and he can provide nothing else besides that and sympathy, which is evident in his expression as he glances at the headstone, then at Mercury. He knows the pain of losing someone important to him, of the grief that overwhelms someone in the first few days.

It gets better with time, of course, even if sometimes it never fully heals, and she clearly has him trumped in that category. It's only now that he's managed to move forward, to actually live.]

...I'm sorry if I intruded on anything. If you want, I'll leave.

/kicks lj

[waterfell]

[She'd say she doesn't want sympathy. Doesn't need it. Doesn't have any use for it.

She does.]

This is a sacred place. As long as you remember that, you don't need to leave.

/punches LJ

[bishonenbunny]

Thank you.

[That's all he says, before falling silent again. Somehow, it doesn't feel so uncomfortable.]

[waterfell]

[Even she has respect for certain things which are sacred. This will be no battleground, even though Sailor Moon herself arrives.

Finally, she speaks more personal and private words.]

You also know what it is to be the one expected to live.

[bishonenbunny]

[He nods, still quiet. She has him beat there, having been able to live a little since the death of her loved one.]

It was hard, the first few years. [When he didn't know anything about his parents' murder. When he didn't know what that tattoo stood for. When it haunted his dreams every night.]

[waterfell]

And then?

[For once it's not a challenge, it's a question. When does it stop being on your mind? What comes afterward?]

[bishonenbunny]

I spent the better part of my life looking for the murderer. [This is as blunt and honest as possible.]

Now that he's gone, I feel...better. Happier.

[waterfell]

[That's different. That's vengeance. It's something she knows just as well, though - and something she knows it can be difficult to move away from.]

What will you do now?

[bishonenbunny]

[And he's spent twenty years of his life on it. Of course that question would catch him off-guard.]

...I don't quite know.

[waterfell]

[In some ways, of course, she's moved on. She hasn't fought in quite some time; they've brought their world at least a temporary peace. She pursued her career as a doctor instead of putting on it eternal hold for the Dark Kingdom's sake and the sake of her vengeance. She sees her mother regularly.

But each time that girl appears before her, in any form at any time, she's back at the beginning all over again as everything hits her all over again.

She finds herself using it to plant doubts in Barbaby's mind.]

And if I told you he isn't gone?

[bishonenbunny]

I wouldn't believe you.

[He saw it himself, after all. There's no way he'd be able to come back, right? Death by helicopter is rather hard to avoid, even for someone who can read minds and use barriers.

He has no idea that the murderer of his parents isn't truly gone. That the one who died was merely a scapegoat.]

[waterfell]

[She doesn't mean that at all. She means something different, more unbelievable, and far worse.]

I've seen my enemy die four times. [Beryl.] Each time, there will still be infinite worlds in which she exists.

And there will be dreams.

[bishonenbunny]

But what matters is that he's gone in my world.

[...right?]

[waterfell]

If you want to be that short-sighted.

If you're here, your world has already become open to other worlds as well.