William's Story The Guardsman Chronicles, Chapter Three by Rick Federle Mina buried her nose in the warmth in front of her face, half awake. She felt the gentle shifting of weight in front of her as the warmth moved closer to her, enfolding her. She snuggled up closer against whoever it was and then as the realization sunk into her half awake brain, her right eye shot open. She was snuggled up against William, her arms around his neck and his arms around her waist. Mina tried to stretch her legs to take some of the kinks out of them, but they were tangled up with his, too. She opened her other eye to try to look down, but ended up having to choose whether or not to lift her head. She decided to leave her face where it was for a moment and closed her eyes, giving a small sound of contentment as he tightened his grip slightly on her. There had been no bad dreams to plague her sleep last night, no nightmare visions, no feeling of emptiness that seemed to be her ever present companion. Mina decided that she'd stay right here and luxuriate in the feeling as long as she could. She was content, she decided, and more than that, for the first time she could remember, she felt secure. There was no hesitancy, no tentativeness about it, feelings that had plagued her relationships for so long. And more importantly, she was no longer alone. That aching feeling was gone, that had been a part of her for so long. The feeling that an important part of herself was missing. She'd know it all along, and had done her best to push it to the side, but after Galaxia, it had become almost unbearable. Now she felt complete and whole, that hollow part of her had been filled now that William was back in her life again. "Mina!" An angry voice cut through her train of thought. "Get up!" When she didn't immediately stir, the voice cracked out again, even more angry. "MINA!" Mina opened her eyes and turned her head toward the speaker. "I'm awake." She disentangled herself from William carefully so as not to disturb him. She rolled over and landed on her feet. She stood up and looked at the speaker. A very angry Artemis was glaring at her from just inside the doorway. Luna and Serena stood rather hesitantly on the other side, finding something very interesting on the floor under their feet. "I knew if I left you two alone something would happen." Artemis began. "Nothing happened." Mina glared back. "He was thrashing in his sleep and when I went to tuck him back in, he stopped thrashing when I touched him. So, I thought if I laid on the covers with him until he went back to sleep it would help." "A likely story. You two were sleeping together." "We were not." Mina shook her head slightly, her eyes locked with Artemis'. "Yes, you were." Artemis continued. "The instant my back is turned you go off and do something like this." "We weren't doing anything!" "Well, I don't believe you!" "I'm telling the truth!" Mina insisted. "What's all the yelling about?" William's voice interrupted as he sat up to look at them. "What's so important that you have to interrupt the best sleep I've had in I don't remember how long?" "You and Mina were in bed together." Artemis stated. William blinked in surprise. "I have no idea what you're talking about. The last time I saw her, she was on the couch." "When I came in, the two of you were all cozy." Artemis declared. "Well, she wasn't here when I went to sleep or when I woke up." "You were all snuggled up together like you'd been doing something. Mina says otherwise, but I don't believe her." Artemis gave a gasp of pain as William's fingers tightened around his ribcage. He'd been a blur as his feet hit the floor and as he grabbed Artemis, lifting him up to eye level. "We weren't doing anything." William repeated angrily. "If you hadn't been there for her when I couldn't be, I'd throw you out of here right now. I will not listen to anyone, even you accuse her of something like that." He dropped the cat to the floor and stormed out of the room. Mina looked worriedly at Artemis and walked out after William. Artemis didn't notice. He was too busy coughing from the sudden tension and expansion of his ribcage. "Now you've gone and done it." Luna said after a moment. "You should know better than to upset a Guardsman like that." Luna and Serena had looked up at Artemis' gasp of pain. "Just lay off, Luna." Artemis wheezed. "I told you that you could trust them, but you didn't believe me." "Well, I guess I was wrong." Artemis admitted after a moment, his breathing finally returning to normal. "I guess you were." Luna agreed. "But I'm not the one you need to be telling that to." Artemis gave a heavy sigh, dropping his gaze to the floor. "All right, Luna." Resolutely, he turned and walked out of the bedroom with Luna and Serena following him. They finally located the two in the kitchen. William was leaning over the kitchen counter next to the sink, his shoulders still squared slightly in anger. Mina stood a step away from him, her hands clasped together in front of her at shoulder level, the worry visible even to Serena in her eyes when she glanced over at them. Artemis hesitantly drew to a stop at the entrance to the kitchen with Luna and Serena standing behind him. "Mina. William. I'm sorry." Artemis said quietly. Mina's head turned slightly toward him, but William didn't give any visible reaction. "I guess I saw something where nothing had happened." "I'm very sensitive about Mina." William told him as he turned to Mina and gathered her in his arms. Mina buried her face in his chest, her hands pressed in his back as she put her arms around him, as he went on. "She was the only thing I had left to cling to the whole time I was imprisoned by the Negaverse." He buried his face in her hair for a moment. "The Negaverse put me through every kind of torture they could think of to break me, but I wouldn't give in. I clung to the love I shared with Mina, it was all I had left. When they realized how I was resisting them, they tried to turn that against me, too. I saw her killed a thousand different ways, some of them by my own hand." Tears began to roll down his cheeks and he pressed his face back into her hair. "When that didn't work, they finally beat me nearly to death and threw me into that temporal cell, whether I lived or died they didn't care." His grip on Mina tightened as he clung to her. "And the agony of being alone for so long nearly drove me out of my mind. If it hadn't been for the love we shared, it would have destroyed me." His voice was filled with sobs, and they could hear Mina's crying as well as she shared in his pain. "She's all I have left." Artemis gazed at the floor as he thought it over, his ears filled with the sound of the couple's weeping. "I'm sorry." He apologized again, sounding rather lame to his own ears. "I guess I overreacted." "It's okay, Artemis." Mina said, her voice muffled, as the sounds of weeping faded away. "You were her guardian before and you were supposed to watch over her." William raised his tear-stained face to look at Artemis. "But now that I'm here, I can do that. Like I'm supposed to." "But . . . " Artemis began. "I don't expect you to stop doing it overnight or anything." William admitted. "But she means everything to me and I'm not going to let anyone stand between us." "I won't let anyone." Serena vowed, causing everyone to look at her. "You two belong together. And I'll do everything I can to see that it happens." "Thank you, Serena." Mina murmured. William nodded, his eyes distant. "Yes, thank you." "After you two gain your composure, you can join us in the living room." Luna said. "Come along, Serena, Artemis." The trio drifted out of the view of the couple. William buried his face back in Mina's hair. "I've missed the smell of your hair." William commented. "I've always loved it." "Really?" Mina looked up at him, causing him to raise his head. "You never told me before." William's eyes met hers. "That's because I had too many other things to say. Things that were unimportant." "Well, we're together now." Mina told him. "We'll have all the time we need to say everything." She stretched up on her tiptoes and kissed him. "I love you." William said, his eyes searching hers. "I never want to be separated from you ever again." "I never want to be separated from you, either." Mina pressed her face back into his chest. "And I love you, too." William kissed her on the top of her head, causing Mina to giggle. "What was that for?" "Just because." "Just because, huh?" Mina lifted her head to look at him again. He smiled at her and she stretched back up to kiss him again, this time wrapping her arms around his neck. "Are we feeling composed enough to go talk to the others?" William asked after she pulled her lips away from his a few minutes later. "Almost." Mina kissed him again, just as passionately. "Now I'm ready." They let go of each other and William took her hand in his. Mina smiled back at him, and the two walked out of the kitchen. They found the others waiting in the living room. Serena was sitting, fidging really, in one of the armchairs with Luna curled up in her lap. Artemis was laying in a circle with his head resting on his paws at one end of the couch. He looked intently at them but said nothing. Mina and William settled down on the other end of the couch and Mina wormed her way into the circle of William's arms, and interlaced his fingers with hers. "There's a couple of things that I've been wondering." Luna broke the silence after a moment. "What?" William asked. "Like how come you still had your sword and armor with you. How come the Negaverse didn't take them away from you?" "They tried, but every time they did, it just reappeared back on me, like it was part of me or something." "That sounds strange." Serena said. "I know." William frowned. "No matter what they did to try to keep it from me, I always had it back. They must have given up eventually." He looked inquiringly at Luna. "What else?" "How come you aren't speaking in Lunarian? How do you know exactly what to say?" Luna asked hesitantly. "Yeah." Artemis looked up. "That's a good question." William shrugged. "I just do. It's always been that way. Whenever I've need to know something in a hurry, it just kind of pops into my head like someone or something put it there." "Sounds weird." Serena commented. "Cool, but weird." William shrugged again. "I stopped paying attention to it years ago." "Well, Amy brought your dress by last night on her way home." Luna said. "It's over on the foyer table." "I forgot all about it." Mina admitted. "I had other things on my mind." "Things?" William asked. "Yes." Mina elbowed him gently in the stomach. "This thing right here." "Now I'm a thing, huh?" "Yes." Mina confirmed. "And you're all mine." "Whatever you say, Highness." "Quit that." Mina giggled. "Not a chance." William disagreed, putting his other arm around her. "If I'm yours then you're mine." "Works for me." Mina agreed, snuggling back up against him. She began tracing a pattern on the back of his right hand and he smiled slightly. "Uh, Mina." Artemis said carefully. "You should probably get home, now." "Already?" Mina asked. "Yes. You don't want your parents asking too many questions." Artemis reminded her. "Besides, you do have homework." "All right." Mina sat up. "Let me kiss William then we'll go." "No tongues." Artemis said. "Spoilsport." Came the simultaneous reply. * * * "You sent for me, Great Negaforce?" Azmaria asked as she entered the chamber which was dominated by the presence of the Negaforce. "Why didn't you collect the energy I required?" The Negaforce asked. Azmaria stopped, her eyes wary. "The Sailor Scouts, master." "And what else?" The voice was impatient. "The Guardsman." Azmaria said hesitantly after a moment. "He must have slipped out when we weren't looking." "Well, find him and capture him." The Negaforce commanded. "I want him enslaved and broken. No matter what the cost. I will have him as a slave, as a sign of my power for all to see. Bring him to me in chains, Azmaria, and destroy the Sailor Scouts as well." Azmaria bowed. "As you wish, my master." * * * "So, there's no sign of Negaverse activity?" Serena asked as the five girls sat in Raye's room a couple of days later. They had all stopped by home after school to change out of their uniforms and into casual clothes. Amy shook her head. "None." "Any idea what they're after?" Lita asked. "I'd say they're trying to collect more energy." Amy commented. "Based on what happened at the mall the other day, anyway." Lita frowned but said nothing. Mina emptied her tea cup and lowered it back on the saucer. "Well, if we're finished, I want to go make sure William is doing okay. I haven't seen him since he moved into Darien's apartment." "Yeah, sure Mina." Serena sounded hesitant. "Go ahead." "Thanks." Mina got to her feet and disappeared out the door with a wave. Raye shook her head after a moment of silence. "Talk about weird." "What was that, Raye?" Serena asked. "I was referring to William's uncanny ability to pick up information just like that." Raye raised her hand from her tea cup long enough to snap her fingers once. "Yeah, really weird." Lita agreed. "I don't think he's from the Negaverse or anything." Amy put in. "I did a scan of him that first day." Three sets of eyes fastened onto the blue-haired girl. "And?" Serena asked. "There's definitely some strange energy patterns about him, almost as if he's got some immense power he's not aware of, but even then, I can't find anything negative about it." Amy told them. Raye tilted her head. "I got the same general feeling, almost as if something was hidden there. Whatever it is doesn't seem to be evil, though." "Then you don't think he presents any threat to us, then?" Serena asked. "Us, no." Lita put in. "Mina, yes." "And why?" Serena asked. "It's just too convenient." Lita explained. "He shows up just in the nick of time to save Mina from a very painful experience. And if he's not really who he seems to be, it will kill her. There's something strange about him, and I don't like it." "If he was really trapped in the Negaverse . . . " Amy began. "Like he says." Lita interrupted. "Yes, like he says." Amy continued. "Then the only way he could have gotten out was if the Negaverse opened a portal to our universe. The only time that's happened since we fought Beryl was a couple of days ago." "And he didn't show up before then, so he probably just escaped recently." Raye added. Lita crossed her arms. "Well, I think he needs to be watched closely." "I don't." Serena disagreed. "He seems to be who he says he is and Mina trusts him. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt, okay?" Lita didn't look convinced. "Oh, I'm giving him the benefit of a doubt, but the instant he does anything to hurt Mina, he's toast." "Somehow, I doubt that will happen." A new voice said from the doorway. The four girls turned their heads to see Susan standing in the doorway. "You really should be sure to close the door, I could hear you outside." Raye waved her in and Susan closed the door after stepping into the room. She sat down in the space Mina had vacated earlier. "Did you find out anything new?" Serena asked her. Susan shook her head. "The disturbance in the time stream seems to have stabilized." Amy took on a look of interest. "But," Susan continued. "I still don't know what caused it." "Could William's appearance have anything to do with it?" Amy asked. "It could, yes." Susan tilted her head thoughtfully for a moment. "If it isn't, it's an awful big coincidence." "What do you mean?" Serena asked around her tea cup. Susan paused as if struggling to put a concept in words. "There was a disturbance in the time stream that started just before William showed up. The effects of the disturbance didn't smooth out right away, which suggests that it's long term." "Long term?" Raye asked. Susan nodded. "Yes, as if they go far into the future." "Which suggests what?" Lita asked. "Which suggests whatever caused the disturbance in the first place will have a profound impact on the future." "Oh." Serena settled her tea cup back on its saucer, her eyes examining the design on the cup to cover her obvious lack of understanding. "If William is the cause of the disturbance, then what?" Amy asked. "Then whatever he does will cause changes which cover a long time." Susan concluded. "Possibly far into the future."