The lone guardian

Summary: Small Lady asks Sailor Pluto why she can't ever come to the Crystal Palace.

"Puu! Where are you, Puu?" Small Lady called out in the mists surrounding the door of space/time. Puu was always somewhere near the door, but she could barely see the plate held in her own small hands, so she probably could have passed the person she was looking for without even noticing.

"I'm here, Small Lady," the familiar, soft voice called back, and soon the mists vanished, revealing an empty landscape with the door and its guardian – Sailor Pluto - as its only inhabitants.

"Puu!" Small Lady ran over to Pluto, a bright smile on her face. "Here!" she said, holding out the plate. "I brought cake for you."

Pluto was surprised at first, then smiled, knelt down and took the plate, balancing her staff against her arm. "Is today your birthday?" she asked before picking up the spoon and taking a bite. "It's delicious."

Small Lady smiled even brighter for a moment before shaking her head. "No, it was yesterday. I wanted to ask you to come to my birthday party, Puu, but mama said I can't. But...she didn't tell me why. Why can't you come to the palace, Puu?"

"That's because..."

'That's because...As long as this world exists, I must protect this door. I can't leave, nor is the world allowed to know of my existence. Because I'm of Chronos' blood, the guardian of the last taboo of time travel.'

"Because...?" Small Lady asked, watching with puzzlement as Pluto's hand had stopped halfway between the plate and her mouth.

Pluto was shaken away from her own sad thoughts by the question. "Because it is my duty to protect the door of space/time. I can't leave this place." Then she smiled. "But as a member of the Silver Millennium, you can come to visit anytime, Small Lady."

Brotherly concern

Summary: Safir's upset over Esmeraude's death and prince Demand's actions.

'Why, brother?' Safir couldn't keep his thoughts focused on his work after the events that had taken place only a few hours ago. 'Why won't you listen to me at all?'

With a faint sound hardly audible over the constant humming of the Black Crystal a crack appeared on the surface of the miniature statue of a woman hanging in midair. Nonetheless, it was enough to pull Safir's attention back to what he was doing. With a mere look the statuette floated to the alchemist's outstretched hand.

Broken. Ruined. With a bitter smile Safir let the tiny image of now dead woman fall to the ground and shatter to thousands of pieces. Why was he doing this anyway? Esmeraude was gone. There was no need to make any more Dark Henges. But working at his forge was the only thing that calmed him at least somewhat. If he only could actually do something...

Prince Demand had changed. When they were younger, he would have never been so uncaring about the death of a member of their Clan. And he definitely wouldn't have attacked his younger brother. 'Blinded by Neo-Queen Serenity and deaf to everything but Wiseman's words,' Safir thought with growing anger. But that anger was not directed at his brother.

'Just you wait, Wiseman. I'll find a way to make everyone see through your lies.'

I Miss You

Summary: With Chibiusa gone back to the future, Usagi realizes she misses her. A lot.

'I'm terribly selfish, aren't I?' Usagi thought with some small amount of bitterness, folding the last of Chibiusa's clothes and placing them into the drawer. 'We saved the future and Chibiusa can now be happy with her mama and papa, but still I'd want her to come back.'

A tear fell on the folded fabric before she closed the drawer. They'd had such a bad start, but she had still come to love her future daughter dearly. And now she was gone. Nobody else in the family really remembered her and even the photos created with Luna-P's magic had disappeared from their family album. If it weren't for her memories – and those of her four friends and Mamo-chan – Chibiusa might as well never have existed.

Just one more time. Even if it were only for a tiny moment, she wanted to see Chibiusa one more time. But that was impossible, wasn't it? Ten centuries separated them, and Chibiusa herself was the only one who could travel the corridor of time. And she really had no reason to come back. None at all.