A moment of doubt

Summary: When Usagi is targeted for her pure heart, Uranus's determination to find the talismans no matter what wavers for a moment.

Sailor Uranus bit her lip all the way she and Sailor Neptune followed Tsukino Usagi in hiding. Stupid girl, running straight to her own death. She was practically offering her pure heart to the enemy by going to the place that enemy had decided on. But Uranus and Neptune would not let them have it. Not to protect her, though. No, they would keep it.

Could she really do it? Not give her pure heart back? Not save her?

Neptune had asked her earlier if she was all right with Dumpling Head dying, and her mind kept screaming what she had wanted to say to her. Of course she wasn't all right with it! But what else could they do? They had to find the talismans and in doing so find the Grail. And save the world from Silence.

'Why? Why does it have to be her?!' It would have been easier to be killed herself than watch that girl die. They just kept bumping to each other and didn't even really know each other, but still Uranus found herself liking her. But there was no mistaking that her heart crystal shone much more brilliantly than any other they had encountered this far. It had to be a talisman.

'I'm sorry, Dumpling Head. But to save the world, you have to be sacrificed.'

No going back

Summary: Haruka's thoughts after receiving the phone call where Eudial tells she has found the holder of a talisman.

We made a promise, didn't we? That we'd find the talismans and stop the Silence. No matter what we had to do – or who we had to sacrifice. And still, even knowing that the time is limited, I've been dreading this day. The day when the holder of a talisman is finally found. Because once the crystal of their pure heart is taken, that person can no longer continue living.

Today...someone dies. Today my hands will be stained forever. I keep telling myself that if we can just save the world by doing this, there will be no regrets, and that even if we didn't do anything, the enemy would still kill those people. But even now...I don't want to do it. Nobody wants to sacrifice others. Yet I know I have to.

After today...there is no going back anymore. Or then again, maybe there never was. After all, I was born to be a soldier.

The scent of grass

Summary: After countless centuries of guarding the door of space/time, even small things can feel like miracles.

Cherry blossoms fell all around them as Setsuna – or as she was also known, Sailor Pluto, the soldier of time and underworld – followed young Hotaru, who was playing in the yard of the house the two lived in with Haruka and Michiru. Cherry blossoms, the reminder of inevitably passing time and the shortness of human life.

They were beautiful. The spring grass was soft under her feet, its scent sweet. Leaning her head back, Setsuna noted in passing how blue the sky was, how bright and warm the sunlight. Such small things most people paid no attention to. But compared to the mists and emptiness surrounding the door of space/time – the place she had stayed in for centuries – it was like another world filled with small miracles.