The days passed ever so slowly, slithering along like an obese snail that doesn't exercise whatsoever. I kept up my communication with Mamoru, but only so those that were in the dark about our marriage situation weren't asking too many awkward questions. At this point only Minako, Makoto, Chibi-Usa knew the whole situation with Seiya - Hotaru because she was told by Chibi-Usa, who I felt shouldn't be left in the dark, and Minako because she'd managed to tease it out of me. Mamoru still didn't have a clue what was going on with me, even though he should have gotten the entire narrative from the letter that I had sent to Seiya. The stupid man had read that letter about a few hundred times over and still didn't understand why I wanted her and what made her so desirable. I was getting more desperate to see Seiya with each minute that passed when I was fully alone. After all, I never really had the time otherwise.

"Mama?" Chibi-Usa whispered and looked up at me with a small, sad expression.

"Yeah, Chibi-Usa?" I responded with a soft expression, feeling inquisitive.

"Are you and Papa getting a divorce? You know, because of Seiya?" She asked.

"I don't know about that yet, Bunny," I whispered and stroked her hair with a quivering left hand.

"But... Minako said that when a Mama and a Papa move on from each other, they divorce..." She glanced upward at me with soft red eyes that had seemingly lost their sparkle.

"Minako Aino has no clue what she is talking about," I hissed to her in a harsh tone. "As far as I myself know, Minako is yearning for young Yaten Kō and hasn't even married anybody yet, little Miss Venus, goddess of love. And she is cursed to never get her love, so how is she the love guru all of a sudden?"

"She's Princess Venus, Goddess of love, of course she knows what she's talking about," Chibi-Usa replied, playfully sticking out her tongue. "But, I do understand what you're saying, Mama. If she's not married, how should she know about the d word? I don't think..."

"I know, Chibi-Usa," I smiled and stroked her little pigtails, tucking a stray strand of light pink hair behind her right ear. "She shouldn't even be bringing up that word around you. But we might end up doing just that. Not being married anymore. Nobody else can know a word of this,'kay? They all think we're the perfect couple..."

"Why did they force you together if you didn't want to be?" Chibi-Usa had an inquisitive expression on her face, and her eyes gleamed with interest.

"We wanted to be. It was fate. He was Endymion, I was Serenity. Two destined souls. It was always told and expected that we'd have a beautiful and happy marriage and have you. And that's what the future had in store for us, at least until Galaxia collected Sailor Crystals to rid her of Chaos, which resulted in the Starlights arriving to help. That was when Seiya fell for me and I, in turn, fell for her. I didn't realise that her loving me meant Mamoru - or, I should say, Endymion - and I were forced. We weren't to be." I sighed sadly, pausing to let my pink haired daughter digest the explanation. I smiled a forlorn smile at my daughter before continuing, "I had a choice. I could choose Seiya. Have a completely new future, Chibi-Chibi as my second kid and a different version of you as my first. A different marriage, a different kind of birth. Or I could choose Mamoru, keep you, have the same future and feel guilty about not choosing Seiya." I smiled at her before continuing. "And... I chose Mamoru, just so I could keep you as my daughter - I don't know what I would have done without you, to be honest. You made me stronger, and I really appreciate that. I wasn't the weak crybaby that I was before, and I kept you. But I had my regrets, as those were kind of part of the deal. I regretted not choosing Seoya for the longest of times. It was hard for me."

"Mama, can I tell you something?" Chibi-Usa asked me after I had finished telling her my story.

"Sure, honey. What do you want to talk to me about? I'm all ears." I smiled at her and gave her a warm hug to convince her that I'd love her no matter what.

"I'm... I'm in love with Hotaru-chan. I thought, I genuinely thought that a prince was what I needed. All this time, I had denied my feelings for her because of Helios and thinking that a prince was what I needed. I know that I'm too young for this but... I love her. She and I were destined, but in the RIGHT way."

"You're only a young girl, Chibi-Usa. How can you possibly know what and who you want at this time of your life?" I whispered to her as I sifted through her hair.

"Didn't your Mama and Papa say the same thing when you told them about Mamo?" Chibi-Usa queried, with an air of discomfort around what my probable answer would be.

"No. I told them somewhat upfront about it. Especially the Silver Millenium." I held her hand to warm it. "Although, the thing is, my Papa told me that Mamoru himself was too old for me!" I chuckled.

We parted ways as we each walked to our destinations, not knowing exactly what was going on. But, what I did know, was that I was almost going to see the love of my life, Seiya. As long as the other Outer Senshi didn't find out about the fact that I wasn't going to continue being with Mamo, I'd be all good and wouldn't need to worry about a single thing. I went back to my room and smiled to myself.

I heard whirring noises, which were an illusion created by the Lights. Everyone was chanting their names, Ami, Rei, Minako and Mako being in the front row of the people waiting for a greeting. All were happy and seemed to be buzzing with excitement, both Hotaru and Chibi-Usa stunning towards a newly arrived Galaxia. All except for Michiru and Haruka, who seemed to be cold towards the new comers. In fact, they both looked down at the Lights as if they were scum. Haruka spoke up.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF ALL THIS?!"

Everyone froze and looked at the heiress of the planet Uranus. But Haruka was glaring at me.