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Sailor Pluto clenched the Time Staff tightly in her hand. Her knees shook, her arms shook, her whole body shook. It had been so long since she had seen him, seen the one person in the universe that could make her feel truly fulfilled. She stared at the tiny gold key that lay in her palm. A wry laugh escaped her lips. The miniature golden key, his own special calling card. It was shaped like one of days gone by, a swirly, fancy top and notched bottom. The design of the top was the shape of a phoenix, the eternal phoenix. Another laugh echoed into the still mists surrounding the Time Gates and its guardian in mystery. She knew what this little golden key meant. He would return. Princess Setsuna did not want to be Sailor Pluto. No, she did not. At age eleven she already detested the job that she had no experience in at all. The constant lessons on time and how one must always mend the rips of time and not to reveal the past or future to anyone, no matter what the circumstances...Setsuna hated time with a vengeance. She even went so far as to forbid clocks or watches of any kind to appear in her bedroom. Yet her destiny required that she be the guardian of the Time Gates, Sailor Pluto. She envied the other princesses who were so happy and carefree. True, they were also Sailor Senshi, but they did not have the responsibilities of being the guardian of time. Yet she did. It rankled the usually patient princess. It was not her choice to be the stupid guardian of a stupid gate. But she knew that it was useless to fight destiny. And so, Princess Setsuna of the royal house of Pluto went about her lessons and listened intently when they told her of her future duties and responsibilities. She had been attending these lessons as long as she could remember, since she was but a baby. Everyone had known that she was to be Sailor Pluto the day that she was born, the sign of Pluto appearing on her forehead the minute she entered the world. And so, her life of time began. And then, one day, he appeared in court. To take her to the Time Gates, to train her in the ways of guarding them. He came out of nowhere, and within a day Setsuna had left all that was dear to her at the tender age of seventeen. The man who had taken her away, Prince Kronos of Saturn, had been alive for an immeasurable amount of years, but in appearance he was only twenty or so. He was tall and thin, yet still strong. His always-mussed violet hair hid his gray eyes from sight. He was sweet and kind and patient. And all too soon the shy, naive little princess from the royal house of Pluto fell in love. She hid it well, for he seemed not to notice. She listened dutifully as he taught her of all they mysteries and horrendous nightmares of the time stream. She was taught how to perform the many tricks to deal with those nightmares. She learned how to use the forbidden stopping of time and she learned how to mend rips in the time line. She was a wonderful student, and on her twentieth birthday, three years after being taken from home, she was given Kronos's treasured Time Staff. "But, why?" she had asked. Kronos sighed. "I have spent most of my life guarding these gates. Yet I do not know what it is to truly live my life. That is part of the reason I brought you here to train you. I am leaving you in charge of the gates, and you can only control them with that key. I am disappearing somewhere within the time stream so that I may learn what it is to live." "But when shall you return? Will you return?" He nodded, relieving her. "Yes, I shall return. When a golden key with the emblem of a phoenix finds its way into your hands I will be back soon. I must go now. Make me proud, Setsuna," he whispered as he disappeared through the gates and into the mists beyond. Setsuna had shed many a bitter tear over his leaving. He had been such a constant in her life, always there, always helping her, and now he was gone. And so was a part of her heart. But she dutifully remained at the gates, guarding time and occasionally entering the time stream to help out her fellow senshi. She never tried to search for him, for she knew that he would always elude her grasp. So she stood at the gates for thousands of years. It was a lonely, and quite depressing job. She had watched her old friends die at the battle with Queen Beryl, twice over. She looked on as each was reborn and began to live their lives. She laughed with them at their mistakes of every day life. She cried with them when the hurts came. They never knew it, but they had a guardian angel watching over them since they were born. But watching them, seeing them live and love and make life's occasional mistake made her feel sad and lonely. She wished that she could be like them. She wanted her childhood back, her innocence and her naivete. She knew that she would never regain that. But the other side of her felt, no, knew, that she would not be fulfilled, ever, if she were to reenter the time stream as a baby with no memories whatsoever. And so, the depression would come, but it would always fade away. And then one day she found it. A bit of gold glinting on the ground, its brightness winking slyly up at her. Bending over to pick it up, she saw it for what it was. Slowly reaching down to grasp it, she noticed that her hand quavered slightly. The cold heaviness of the gold key brought her back to her senses. Kronos, the one and only person who could fully understand what she felt, was coming back. He would be back soon. She didn't have to wait long. Within six hours of finding the key she noted the dark form that was silhouetted through the mists. Even though she was sure enough that it was him, she readied herself for anything. "Halt! Only those who are worty of admittance may pass through here!" she called out to the dark form. An all too familiar chuckle graced her ears. "Setsuna, let down the staff. 'Tis only me, your old friend Kronos." And with these words he appeared, his form solidly outlined and every one of his features revealed. "You got your hair cut," was the first thing that Setsuna managed to say. Kronos laughed. "Aye, that I did, Setsuna. And yours has grown so much longer," he observed. She nodded. "Many years of life," she shrugged, laughing along with Kronos. Both knew the curse of immortality, the wretched curse that left them to watch their friends die and their loves grow old. The wretched curse that neither of them would ever leave behind, no matter how fast they ran. "I've come back, Setsuna," Kronos said after a pause. She nodded once. "That you have." "I've been running from my destiny, Setsuna." She nodded again. "That you have." "You've been brave enough to stick it out, I see." "I have." He hesitated, then plowed forward. "Have you ever felt like running from it, Setsuna? Running from this curse that binds us to these wretched gates and gives us our immortal lives?" Setsuna hesitated, then nodded. "Many times, Kronos. Many times." "I wasn't just running from my destiny," he said after a moment of silence. "Is that true?" she said dryly, her reply more of a statement than an inquiry. "'Tis quite true, Setsuna. I was running from you. From the feelings that I had for you. I didn't want to love you, Setsuna, but I did. And I still do," he confessed, lowering his head and biting on his bottom lip. A tiny smile graced Setsuna's feature. "I never ran from my feelings for you, Kronos. It's true that I did not want to love you after you left, but I did. And I still do." And so, Prince Kronos of the royal house of Saturn, eldest child to King Titan and Queen Enid, elder brother to Princess Hotaru, and Princess Setsuna of the royal house of Pluto, only child to King Hades and Queen Persephone guard the Gates of Time to this very day. Above the gates hangs a small golden key with the emblem of a phoenix carved within the swirls and curls of the key. And like the eternal phoenix, their love shall last for all time. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
