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"Puu?"
The solitary guardian smiled down at the little princess. She had grown so much, and yet she still used the nickname. It warmed her. "Yes, Small Lady?"
"You love me, right?"
Pluto tilted her head in askance, but smiled nonetheless. "Of course I do, Small Lady."
The pink-haired girl frowned. "Then why are you in love with Usagi?"
Setsuna's smile fell as horror twisted her gut. "W-what? I don't know what you mean."
The small princess's frown deepened. "You're lying. I can tell. You look at her the way Mamo-chan does."
Setsuna seemed to have forgotten to breathe, but the girl didn't give her a chance to recover. "If you really loved me, then you wouldn't love her."
"No! That's not true!" Pluto gasped, withering under the hurt look on the princess's face.
"Don't you want me to be born?! I thought you liked me! I hate you!"
"I would nev-"
"Don't you want her to be happy? She's always wanted her happily ever after. How could you do this to her? To me?! Why do you want to ruin the future? Leave Mama alone!"
"Small Lady, please!"
"I wish I never met you! I HATE YOU!"
"-suna! Setsuna!"
She woke up screaming.
The guardian of time glanced around the room, her watery ruby eyes landing on Michiru and Haruka. The violinist was perched on the bed beside her, concern etched into the knit of her brows, while her girlfriend leaned against the wall.
"That was one hell of a nightmare," Haruka noted as Setsuna rubbed away her tears.
She made a noncommittal noise as she tried to steady her breathing.
"Want to talk about it?" Michiru offered, one hand placed over Setsuna's free hand.
She was about to decline, when images of the nightmare flashed through her head and she fought back tears again.
"I'm a failure of a Sailor Senshi," Setsuna muttered bitterly. "If I told you, you would be furious with me."
Haruka pushed herself off the wall, taking a seat on Setsuna's other side. "I don't think so. I understand exactly how you feel." Setsuna looked away. She clenched her firsts in the burgundy sheets. Haruka noticed the way Setsuna's jaw was locked, and tried to lighten the mood. "And here I thought I had the biggest crush on our princess."
Setsuna felt more tears streaming down her cheeks as she let out a hollow chuckle. "It's not just a crush." She felt so ashamed. Her grief was embarrassingly near the level it has been when she stopped time.
"What you're feeling is natural, Setsuna," Michiru consoled, pulling out her mirror. "We are all born to love her. Sometimes to the point where it hurts." She gave a morose smile. "In a different story, in a different world, each of us could have been her lover. Everything depended on her choices. It just happens that her choice was made 1,000 years ago." Michiru picked at some non-existent lint on her sweater. "Our devotion to her makes us stronger, but also more vulnerable."
Haruka continued gloomily, "As much as we may love her, we cannot act on it so long as it is not what she wants. No matter how incomplete we feel, we can never be whole unless she makes us so." Haruka studied her calloused hands for a moment. "But if she wanted us, she could easily have us all."
Michiru nodded at her lover's words. "Setsuna, you really mustn't torment yourself like this. Believe me, it will do you nothing but harm."
Setsuna's heart clenched, and her eyes still stung. "I know. I know. It's just that the two people whom I Iove the most are together, and they don't need me." Michiru gave her a stern look. "And even if they did, Small Lady is my dearest friend. I could never bring myself to do anything to endanger her existence."
Michiru squeezed her hand sympathetically.
"At least you two have each other," Setsuna smiled sadly as she looked at the two guardians.
"So, there are no futures where Chibi-chan exists and you get to be with the prince and princess?" Haruka asked.
"Haruka!" Michiru snapped. "Of course there aren't. Don't you think Setsuna would have looked before? I-"
Setsuna stopped the Neptunian princess with a raised hand. "No, wait. She might be on to something."
Both of her housemates looked at her in surprise. "Huh?"
"It has been some time since I stood at the Gate, but in my experience, every decision the princess makes creates a multitude of possible futures." The gears in Setsuna's mind began turning. Her heart fluttered, but she tried to remain cautious. This may change nothing. "The future that Small Lady visits from is not the only future I have seen, just the most probable as of when I left."
Haruka and Michiru glanced at each other in surprise. "So Crystal Tokyo is not set in stone?"
Setsuna shook her head, the gears in her head beginning to turn faster. "No. You see, there was one future where she was the Queen of Nemesis. Another where she died before you two awakened. A third where she married Rei after the prince died in the battle against the Dark Kingdom. There was even one where the princess renounced the crown and became a housewife while she and the prince had second daughter together."
Michiru sat in stunned silence, trying to fathom such different paths.
"Was the little girl's name Chibi-Chibiusa?" Haruka joked, but part of her was genuinely curious.
Setsuna and Michiru giggled. "No. Her name was Kousagi."
"What happened to that future?" Michiru wondered.
Setsuna's smile faded. "It disappeared the first time Eternal Sailor Moon transformed."
The three women remained silent for a minute.
"Setsuna," Michiru began, "I'm sure there is a future out there where you are happy. You just have to find it, and then we can make it happen together."
"But what if Small Lady really does hate me?"
Haruka patted the top of Setsuna's head. "Chibi-chan could never hate you. You're her best friend too. She would never begrudge your happiness, right?"
Setsuna nodded hesitantly.
Haruka grinned. "Besides, maybe in one of these futures, you get to be her mom too."