Swirl of Petals

K M Valentine

“For your actions during life, you are to be condemned to eternal punishment. You may ask me one question, and then you will face the fate you have chosen.”

“Why do the bad guys always have to lose?” I asked her.

The girl with green hair was clearly unprepared for this question.

“I was about to ask the same thing,” an unfamiliar voice noted from the darkness behind me. A young man with blue hair and eyes, who uncannily resembled Endymion, walked up and stood beside me, frowning at Sailor Pluto indignantly. “I never injured a soul in my life, and I died honorably. Why do I deserve to suffer?”

“They have a valid point, Time Guardian,” my Kunzaito-sama and a white haired man in a white suit came forth as well, trailed by Nephrite.

“What is the meaning of this?” she demanded. “You all died at different times, how come you all here at once?”

“Righteous rage,” I replied. “Your fellow Senshi killed us, each one of us, and we demand to know why we were not healed or saved, as the Four Sisters were.”

“It is not because of your sex,” a green lady joined us, growling. “I, too, was vaporized by the Sailor twits, as was Beryl. Why?”

Sailor Pluto narrowed her eyes and brandished the time key. I laughed in her face.

“We’re dead, you idiot! You have no power over us!” I shouted, stomping my foot. “Now, all we ask of you is why? Why us?”

“I served my first life as Shogun of Imperial Earth,” my Kunzaito-sama told her. “I proved my worth and loyalty a hundred thousand times. Why did the moon princess not find me worthy of healing?”

“I was a prince of Earth. My contributions to science helped keep the Silver Millennium prosperous and the people from being treated as slaves. Why was I not spared?” I asked, shedding another tear.

“I died protecting my beloved from evil. Why was I not spared?” Nephrite asked, openly weeping.

“I died to protect my brother,” the blue youth intoned.

“I died to protect Sailor Moon,” his brother echoed hollowly, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“I died to serve my lord,” the green lady pronounced, grim.

“And none of us…” I began, looking to Kunzite for assurance. He nodded, so I continued. “None of us had any choice in what evil we did. We were possessed, brainwashed, enslaved, used, manipulated, and then, as your beloved princess puts it, moon dusted. No hope of salvation, no chance for a new life, and no offer of any type of forgiveness from those we hurt while we were bound. All we ask you, Princess Pluto, is why?”

Her voice shook as she recited the answers the vengeful queen of the moon had told her to give to the girls who slew us. “You killed us, Zoisite, Kunzite, Jadeite. You killed us and you betrayed your Emperor and gave your souls to Metallia. And those of you from the Dark Moon, you attempted to kill our subjects. Murderers do not deserve a second chance.”

I stepped forward, slowly, not even turning to see Kunzite’s face. My eyes shone with tears, I could barely see her. But I found her, and I caressed her cheek after I removed my glove.

“Now, now, Setsuna… You know that isn’t so.” I told her softly. “The only one who gave up her soul was Beryl, and you know why we were turned. You were there, old friend. I have all my memories now, you see, and you can not tell me those lies. And the children of the Dark Moon were simply exiles, trying to come home, the Wise Man and the Doom Phantom were the threats to Crystal Tokyo. So… why were we struck down and marked among the damned?”

The princess of time dropped her garnet staff to the floor with a clatter and wept on my shoulder.

“I don’t know, Zoi-chan. I just… don’t… know.”