Artemis stared at his old partner as she slept, concern etched across his white face. He didn’t know what to do about her anymore. Minako woke up early each day, did enough investigative work to pay the bills, then spent her evenings and most of her nights patrolling the city. She rarely visited her apartment, except to sleep—and she didn’t get much of that—and eat. If it weren’t for the occasional drop-offs by Makoto, she would probably live on junk food alone.

He had tried to tell Minako that it wasn’t a healthy way to live—if it could be considered living at all—but she no longer listened to his advice. He had tried to accept her decision and move on, but with things in the city changing of late, he was more worried than ever.

As he had feared, Minako had finally pushed herself too far. At first, he had thought the worst when she didn’t come home. When he and Luna heard about Minako’s condition the next day from Ami, he could hardly say that he was relieved. He wanted to yell at Minako when she had shown up at her apartment after abruptly leaving Ami’s care, but then he had seen her wounds, the rawness of her skin, and the fatigue in her eyes, and thought better of it.

He had watched in silence as Minako crawled into bed and fell right to sleep in her clothes. Now, a day later, still watching over her, he found himself cursing his feline body. He couldn’t bring the girl a glass of water; he couldn’t even lay a cool washcloth on her forehead as she recovered. What good was he?

Artemis had always taken pride in being one of the immortal Moon Cats in service of Queen Serenity and the Moon Kingdom. With their ability to recall memories from their past lives, he and Luna had been trusted with the sacred mission to locate and guide the reincarnations of the Sailor Soldiers and the princess whom they were sworn to protect. With Usagi now gone, their mission failed, and the bright future they were all once assured of ruined, Artemis felt lost.

This was in part due to his lack of purpose, but he could have handled that if the girls were all still together. The problem was, Usagi wasn’t the only one they had lost that day. Her death had affected all of them so severely and so differently. Minako had become heartless, Ami had become cold, Makoto had lost her fighting spirit, and Rei, it seemed, had lost her mind. Then there were the outer planet guardians….

“Artemis?”

“Luna!” he responded to his mate as she made her way down from the window ledge. “What are you doing here?”

“I was worried about you,” she said softly, wary of disturbing the sleeping girl.

“Of course. I’m sorry, I should have come home, but I didn’t want to leave her.”

“I understand. I just missed you.”

Luna climbed up onto the bedroom armchair with Artemis and snuggled up to him. The white cat sighed. “What are we going to do, Luna?” he asked.

After a few seconds, she responded simply, “I don’t know.”

“This wasn’t supposed to happen. None of this was supposed to happen,” Artemis said, screwing up his face in frustration. “We saw the future. We saved the future! When I think of everything that we were promised that has been lost now—Usagi becoming Neo Queen Serenity, Mamoru her king, Chibiusa, and Diana—it just makes me so angry!”

“I know,” Luna replied gently. “It’s not fair. I miss Usagi so much, but I feel like I can’t even grieve for her because of what’s happened to the others. I know that she would never forgive me if I gave up on them. They need us, Artemis, whether they act like it or not. We’re still their guides, we have to keep them on the right path.”

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“What path, though? Their destiny as guardians is over.”

“I don’t believe that,” Luna said reassuringly. “I know that the girls still have a destiny to fulfill, even without Sailor Moon, especially after today.”

“Why? What happened today?”

Luna proceeded to explain what Makoto had told her about the attack on her school.

Artemis looked horrified. “We can’t tell Minako,” he insisted.

“We have to,” Luna urged him.

“But she’s still recovering from using that crazy power of hers,” he explained. “If there’s really new enemies out there targeting children, Minako will run right out to fight them and risk getting herself hurt again.”

“What other choice do we have?” Luna quizzed him. “Rei and Makoto are out of action, Ami always seems to be busy or else nowhere to be found, and we haven’t heard from Setsuna and the others in months.”

“It shouldn’t all fall on Minako’s shoulders!” Artemis snapped.

“You’re right, but that’s what she chose. Whether to satisfy her need for revenge or as penance for what she did to that alien race, Minako was the one who told the others she would take responsibility for protecting the city.”

“That was before we realized that her new powers were going to fade away with continued use, or else kill her!”

Just then, the Moon Cats were interrupted by a thumping on the apartment door.

“How rude!” Luna commented. “Who could that be?”

“I don’t know but they’re going to wake Minako up!” Artemis hissed.

Sadly, he was correct. The incessant banging was too loud for someone to ignore, even someone in as deep a sleep as Minako was. She grunted into her pillow before rolling over and climbing out of bed, clutching her ribs as she rose.

“Minako, just leave it, I’m sure they will go away, and you need your rest!” Artemis pleaded.

“I’m already up,” she said, flattening her bangs over her stitches, and throwing on a sweater to conceal her other injuries. She then made her way out of the bedroom and down the hall, using the walls for support. The cats followed and watched her open the front door. All three were surprised to find Makoto on the other side of the door, looking stern.

“I’ve just come from the hospital,” she announced indignantly, ignoring the pleasantries.

“Is that supposed to mean something to me?” Minako replied.

“Apparently not,” Makoto snapped.

“Makoto, she doesn’t know,” Luna interjected.

“I’m sure she doesn’t. Just get up from a nice nap, did you?” she said, noticing Minako’s disheveled appearance.

“Either explain what you’re talking about or leave,” Minako said. “I have work to do.”

“What, taking pictures of some cheating husband in the act? Or finding the lost pet of some rich lady? Some work!”

Minako frowned, “It pays the bills, but I was talking about my other job!”

“If you were doing your other job right, I wouldn’t be here! The hospital is filled with patients suffering from energy sickness, Minako!”

“I have to choose my battles, Makoto,” she offered as an excuse, unwilling to share the truth about her recent activity, or lack thereof.

“Oh? So, you chose to ignore a monster attacking my school in broad daylight?”

“Your school was attacked?” Minako asked, her expression softening.

“Makoto, please—” Artemis started, but Minako raised her hand to cut him off.

“Go on, Makoto, you were telling me about the school attack,” Minako began. “How did you beat the monster? Was it a quick fight? I hope you made it suffer?”

Makoto looked taken aback and bit her lip. “Y-you know I didn’t,” she replied, “but that’s beside the point!”

"No, it’s exactly the point! You made a choice of your own—one that put innocent kids in harm's way—and you’re looking for someone to blame. Well, take a good look in the mirror, Mako. I'm not the one you're mad at, and I won't be lectured by the likes of you!"

Minako slammed the door on the shocked-looking girl, and slid slowly down the wall, gripping her burned shoulder as the cats fussed over her.