Though the Fig Trees Have No Blossoms

Maiko peeked out from under the pillow she'd pulled over her head. "You're leaving?!" she asked.

"I have to," Chikako told her, busying herself with pulling a travel bag out of her closet and not even looking at the girl on her bed.

Maiko rubbed her eyes, smearing even more dark makeup across her tearstained face. "Do you have to leave right now?"

"We were actually supposed to go before the funeral, but we waited a few hours. So yes, we have to leave now."

"Can I come with you?"

"No."

"Where are you going?"

"I can't tell you."

"You used to tell me everything," Maiko muttered, regretting the sentence as soon as the words left her mouth. She pulled the pillow back over her head immediately, waiting for the turnaround comeback she deserved. The accusation certainly went both ways.

Chikako indulged her. "I also used to trust you," she said listlessly, and soon regretted her own hurtful words.

The door slid open and Yukiko entered the bedroom. "Priire's ready to go," she told Chikako. "Do you need help packing?"

"Sure," she said, and handed the empty travel bag to Yuki and began pulling things out of her dresser to fill it with. Yuki looked sadly for a moment at the trembling blanket covered lump on the bed, then began her own collection of things she thought Chikako would need on Yavin IV.

Chikako squeezed Aiko's hand before boarding the Black Fire Dreamer. "Are you sure you don't need me?" the little girl asked.

Chikako nodded. "I'm sure there will be plenty to do here for a senshi-in-training," she assured her.

She wasn't satisfied. "But I wanna go! Please, can I come? Please please please, Mommy?"

"No!"

Aiko's brown eyes filled with tears. "But I wanna become a good Sailor Jedi like yooooouuuuu!"

Chikako looked around nervously as the little girl wailed. No one present seemed interested in coming to her rescue. "Aiko-hime, you can come next time, okay?" she said hastily.

The tears slowed, and Aiko's ragged breathing calmed somewhat. "You... promise?" she asked, gasping for air after expending so much on her miniature temper tantrum.

Chikako closed her eyes and groaned, realizing she would definitely be held to this commitment. "Yeah. I promise."

"Okay," Aiko said reluctantly. She waved her hand as Chikako backed up the ramp onto the Black Fire Dreamer. "Be good," she said.

"You too, Aiko-hime," Chikako said, unable to keep from smiling at her future-daughter's admonition. "And... take care of Mai-Mai, okay?"

Once the ship was in the air, she settled herself into a corner and curled up to do what she'd been doing far too much of lately: contemplating things like love, life, and death. When Maiko had arrived, she'd suddenly become strong in the presence of someone weaker; but after only a few minutes alone, she was back in the same desperate place she'd been before. That is, until Pikapika Koumi flipped her long, dark hair over her shoulder and walked purposely over to Chikako's corner.

When are you going to stop telling yourself these lies?

"What?!" Chikako cried out loud, whipping her head around to face the blue-eyed mind reader who'd spoken the question through the Force.

You know what I'm talking about, she mouthed. Death, pain, hurt, despair, passion, emotion, death, death, death...

Chikako blinked as tears stung her eyes. "Koumi!"

You know better, Chikako.

"And you know that I just got back from my fiance's funeral, found out my best friend had his baby, and earlier this week I killed the guy my future daughter thinks is her father! What do you expect from me?"

There is no emotion; there is Peace. There is no ignorance; there is Knowledge. There is no passion; there is Serenity...

Chikako stared silently at Koumi. "There is no death; there is the Force," she finally sighed. She readjusted her gaze and fixed her eyes on Koumi's shoes. "It just doesn't feel like that's true right now, Koumi," she said softly.

What you feel doesn't change what is true, Koumi said in a much gentler tone. But maybe you wouldn't be having such a hard time if you would actually open yourself up to the Force.

Chikako didn't answer or break her gaze with Koumi's boot till the quiet Jedi turned slowly and walked back to where she'd been sitting. "There is no death; there is the Force," she muttered to herself, turning away from the passengers and drawing her knees up to her chin, leaning her head against the wall. "There is no passion; there is Serenity..."

A few hours later, her blue eyes blinked open again to the same bland sight of the ship's inside wall. She blushed, embarrassed at how right Koumi had been. It was amazing how the Force had worked in her in such a short time period, even after she'd slipped into a light sleep. She had a long ways to go before she was fully healed emotionally, but at least she'd finally let the process begin. As wonderful as this new serenity was, the difficulty she'd had in accessing it made her wonder how far she really was from becoming a real Jedi. She hadn't had such thoughts before; and realizing that made her feel even worse about the situation, as if that proved her lack of interest in and commitment to her training.

This matter spawned still another, more tangible concern. Chikako immediately reached for her travel bag and pulled it into her lap. "Please tell me I remembered my lightsaber," she pleaded under her breath as she quickly went through her belongings, cursing herself for not putting it on her belt that morning for the unforgivable excuse that it did not go with her outfit.

Her hand finally closed around a cool, metal cylinder in the bottom of the bag, and Chikako exhaled. She glanced over her shoulder to thank Yukiko, but found the blue-haired warrior who'd helped her pack peacefully sleeping in a chair. When she turned back to her bag, she saw its contents for the first time for what they actually were, rather than simply lightsaber and non-lightsaber. "Whoa," she muttered, quirking her eyebrow as she pulled out things like a souvenir keychain from "Sunny Tatooine" and a striped sock she'd lost the match to two weeks after moving into the Jedi Temple. "I must have been really dazed if I packed stuff like this even with Yuki helping me!" She frowned as she removed from her bag the green stick she'd found under Kalei's bed. "Good thing I used half my packing space for this," she said, rolling her eyes. "I'm sure it will be loads of use."

The senshi landed the Dreamer using only the Force to guide them to the right location on Yavin IV. Priire touched down on the floor of an open air Massassi ruin that looked like it had been some kind of coliseum. The round floor of the ruin was bordered by decaying stone slabs shaped like three dimensional obtuse triangles, with the longest ends facing the center of the stadium and the Dreamer. They looked like they may have once held up a slope of spectator seating. The senshi stepped out of the ship, rubbing their eyes from travel weariness and groaning as the heat hit their faces. It was sunset on this part of the planet, and as the sun went down in the west, the gas giant Yavin was brightening the horizon in the east as it rose.

"Maybe we should have a look around," Kairiku said once everyone was out of the ship.

Chikako glanced at the thick jungle foliage encroaching upon the ruins in every direction. "You think we should just... start looking? Like, pick a random direction and go?"

"The Force is our guide," Yuki said.

"Yeah, and I saw another ruin or something over there," Kairiku said, pointing in the direction of the sunset. "It was even bigger than this once."

"I saw it too," Minae said. "It was like twice as big, I think!"

"There's obviously nothing here," Mika said, coming around the other side of the Dreamer after taking a brief circle tour. She'd already managed to skin both knees.

"Then let's go!" Ippin said.

"You think we should just leave the ship here by itself?" Priire asked when everyone else had started west.

"There are twelve of us," Kirana said. "A few of us could probably stay back."

"I'd feel better if we all stayed together," Annika said. She winked at Priire and nodded towards the Dreamer. "She'll be fine!"

Priire rolled her eyes and made a noise that indicated her dislike of the arrangement, but joined the others.

Wait, Koumi said through the Force before they'd passed the huge stone triangles circling the stadium. Maybe we should transform now, just in case.

"Good idea," Yuki agreed. "Hoth Force Power Make-Up!" The others followed her example, and soon a dozen Sailor Jedi entered the steamy jungle. The twilight had brought out all manners of insects, and the thick forests were not a quiet place this time of day.

Sailor Dathomir, leading the way with Chibi Naboo just behind, didn't spare any stray branches or vines that happened to cross her intended path. "Hey, Dathomir!" Sailor Yavin IV called from behind Chibi Naboo, "be nice to my planet of senshi-ship!"

"It will recover," the warrior woman grunted, harshly whapping a rather stubborn branch out of her way.

"Ehh, that was a snake!" Sailor Chibi Naboo cried, jumping back and inching nervously past the abused serpent. Yavin IV shrieked and tried to jump over it but ended up flat on her face. "Help!" she squealed, spitting rotten leaves from the jungle floor out of her mouth. "It could be poisonous! Don't let it bite me!"

"Relax," Sailor Hoth said, pulling her to her feet. "The snake's gone."

"It practically vanished as soon as it saw you were about to fall on top of it," Sailor Bakura added, giggling. Her sister stuck her tongue out.

"Look at these fig trees," Sailor Myrkr said, a few senshi back. She ran a hand through the glossy green leaves as she passed. "There's not a single blossom! How weird! Normally they'd be bearing fruit in a week or two."

"Hmm," Sailor Yavin said, having tuned out her friend's botanical observations some time ago.

"Maybe Yavinian figs are different," Sailor Omwat suggested.

"No, I'm sure they're not. My dad even has a Yavinian fig tree in his garden, though his never blooms because it never gets quite warm enough where we live. But I know they should be in bloom now. Oh, watch out for that touch-not shrub, Chibi Dantooine. Ah! Wow, guys, look at these nebula orchids! Aren't they beautiful? I'm so getting some of these for my garden at the Temple."

I like the grenade fungi myself, Sailor Kessel grinned as a nearby tree suffered a sudden explosion at its base.

"Me too!" Sailor Asteroid agreed wholeheartedly.

"Aaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiihhhhhhhh!" Sailor Chibi Dantooine suddenly screamed as she frantically batted crepuscular flying insects away from her face. "How can there be so many BUGS here?"

"I'll help you, Little Butterfly," Sailor Asteroid said sweetly, then pulled out a blaster and shot a few of the larger mosquitoes.

"Put that blaster away!" Sailor Bakura yelled back, after nearly jumping out of her skin at the sudden gunshots.

"Way to give our location away, Aster," Sailor Yavin said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh please, like the perpetual shrieking didn't do that already," Asteroid said, reluctantly holstering her weapon.

Sailor Dathomir unholstered one of hers, knowing that would be a more efficient way to get through the jungle, and started slicing vines and thick undergrowth through with the lightsaber she'd picked up after Sailor Myrkr's last meeting with Cyrus. It was a deep, bright gold, shining more vibrantly than ever.

Now that they had a much more navigable path, the senshi reached the next clearing in only a few minutes. "Whoa," Sailor Myrkr said as she stepped out of the jungle to survey the decrepit remains of three large pyramids. The largest structure, though, was still mostly intact. From her vantage point, it looked like another pyramid, but turned over onto its point.

"It's one of the Massassi temples," Sailor Yavin IV said. "The Massassi were created by Sith," she added.

"Huh?" Sailor Chibi Dantooine said.

"Not only that," Sailor Omwat said, "but later, a dark Jedi enslaved them and forced them to build temples to his greatness, and as concentration points for sith power."

"Nice," Sailor Asteroid said. "If there's some kind of power still here, I'm sure Cyrus will have no qualms about taking advantage of it."

"So you think he's here?" Sailor Yavin asked. "Or at another Massassi temple?"

Asteroid shrugged. "It makes sense to me," Sailor Hoth said. "What about you, Sailor Myrkr? He's your cousin."

"Yeah," Sailor Myrkr said. "Umm... I don't know where he is."

The Force, Chikako, Sailor Kessel said.

"Right," Myrkr sighed. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. "Yeah, he's here," she announced almost immediately, opening her eyes again before she'd even filled her lungs with the heavy, fragrant jungle air. "Right inside that upside down pyramid thing."

The senshi walked around looking for some way to enter the main part of the temple, but found none. "How did he get in there?" Sailor Honoghr wondered.

Sailor Hoth climbed up one of the three crumbling pyramids that stood around the center one. "If we use the Force, we could jump up in there," she said.

"There's got to be another way," Sailor Bakura mumbled.

"Look at this!" Sailor Chibi Naboo called from atop another heap of decaying rubble. She held up a tiny pyramid shaped object, and as she dusted it off, they saw it was made out of glittering Corusca gem. "It's attached to the top of the big pyramid," she said.

Sailor Hoth kicked some stones out of her way and found a similar object near the top of her rubble-pile. "I bet these were the tips of the pyramids when they stood," she said, examining the sparkling item in her hand.

"What do you mean they're connected, Chibi Naboo?" Sailor Chibi Dantooine asked.

"You can't really see it unless it catches the light right," she answered.

Sailor Hoth moved her hand slowly through the empty air between the small pyramid in her hand and the large one that still stood. "Oh," she said, closing her fingers around something invisible. "It's like a single hair."

"How's that gonna help us?" Sailor Asteroid wondered.

"On Earth, there are fairytales where the hero crosses a 'Bridge of One Hair,'" Sailor Yavin IV said.

"First of all, this isn't even an actual bridge," Sailor Bakura said. "Second of all, one hair?"

"Wait," Sailor Hoth said. The others watched her slide her hand along the hair till she had to drop the tiny Corusca gem pyramid in her hand to keep going up. "Look!" she said, gazing towards the top of the temple.

The Sailor Jedi on the ground looked up, and when the fading light hit right, they saw an intricate network made of "single hairs" surrounding the top of the temple. The network touched the ground in three places – where each of the pyramids had been. It was still attached to the Corusca gem pyramid-tips. Sailor Chibi Naboo moved hers around to make the net above her hit the light so she could see it.

"It's like a spider web," Sailor Yavin said. Sailor Hoth jumped and took hold of a few translucent strands, then found footholds. She began climbing towards the temple where Cyrus was. Sailor Dathomir was next to leap into the air and grab the net and begin making her way to the top, and soon all of them were finding their way up at various paces.

"I thought I saw your ship go over here," Cyrus said in a thinly-veiled friendly voice as Sailor Jedi appeared one by one at the top of the Temple. He stood in the very bottom of the upside-down pyramid, right where the altar was, with hundreds of steps ascending away from him in all directions. The senshi, at the very top of the steps, began cautiously descending. He looked at each girl carefully as she came over the edge and joined her friends coming slowly down the stairs. When Sailor Myrkr, who was one of the last to reach the top, appeared, he grinned. "I've got something you want, little cousin," he said teasingly.

"The flower petal," Sailor Honoghr mumbled to Sailor Chibi Dantooine. She nodded.

"What's that?" Sailor Myrkr responded in the same sarcastically sweet tone of voice he'd used.

Cyrus held up the purple petal, not surprising anyone much. "If you'd like to come down here and get it, I'll let your friends leave in peace."

"No you won't," Sailor Myrkr said.

He tilted his head and just stared at her. She didn't make a move, and neither did he. "What, are we just going to stand here all night?" he asked.

"Not likely," Sailor Asteroid snickered. "Asteroid Shower Power!" The dark-colored attack shot down the pyramid, straight towards Cyrus. Before it hit him, though, he squeezed his light eyes shut and suddenly, a silver-black globe appeared around him.

As soon as Asteroid's attack hit Cyrus's new shield, it changed direction and flew right back towards its source. The Dark Sailor cried out in surprise and tried to jump out of the way, but hadn't had the chance to gain enough momentum. The brunt of her rocky attack missed her, but her left leg was hit full force with the outer shell of asteroids as she tried to dodge at the last second.

"Sailor Asteroid!" Yavin cried.

"I'm okay," she assured them, clutching her leg and barely able to speak through the pain. "A little dizzy," she admitted. Sailor Hoth sprinted across the ruins to the injured Sailor and began using her skill in the Force to heal the wounds and keep Sailor Asteroid conscious.

Sailor Myrkr turned her gaze back to Cyrus, who was standing smugly within his silvery black globe. "How did he do that?" she muttered.

"Super Slice!" Sailor Omwat cried, experimenting. The attack immediately returned to her; expecting that, she easily cleared it.

"It is not an ordinary shield," Sailor Dathomir concluded.

"It's more like a mirror," Sailor Chibi Naboo said. "It returns whatever you throw at it."

"And it consists almost entirely of dark energy," Sailor Hoth said coldly, narrowing her icy blue eyes as she looked up from tending to Sailor Asteroid, who didn't much care for being tended to. Hoth sighed. "With some help from the magic in your flower petal, Myrkr. So even if you used your Force Shield, his little bubble probably still wouldn't go away."

"So you've figured out you can't do anything to me now," Cyrus said. "Like I said: Sailor Myrkr comes with me; the rest of you can leave - more or less unharmed by your own magic spells."

"We are not leaving," Sailor Dathomir informed him.

"And I will not hand over this petal," Cyrus said.

"I wonder what would happen if I did this," Sailor Myrkr said, producing her lightsaber. She turned, becoming a profile against the reddish light of the rising gas giant, and lifted the weapon to the sky, keeping her eyes fixed on Cyrus.

"Be careful, Sailor Myrkr," Sailor Chibi Dantooine warned.

Sailor Myrkr turned and winked at her, then ignited the lightsaber, a vibrant purple beam against the crimson sky. "I will," she said. "Besides, what's a purification attack going to do against one of us? I don't need to be redeemed." She looked at Cyrus from the corner of her eye. "Myrkr... Jedi..."

The reddening sky became obscured as the ruins filled with a shimmering purple mist. "Dear, if you think you're going to turn me into a drooling idiot again..." Cyrus said from behind his shield, barely visible through the thickening violet fog.

"Revolution!" Sailor Myrkr finished, pivoting to face him and drawing a swift circle of silver in the glittery haze. As before, she brought the lightsaber around and pointed it straight at her cousin. The silver ring followed its direction and tumbled elegantly through the clouds of magic between them, stopping when it encircled Cyrus himself. It immediately began pulling the fog into itself, and as the air cleared, all of the Sailor Jedi present watched intensely, including Sailor Asteroid, who was still obviously in pain, as the process completed.

As the last of the purple poured into the silver ring, it grew thicker and glowed with more intensity. Cyrus, within his shield, within the silver ring, watched with detached curiosity as it pulsated and sparked, till suddenly, it erupted in a brilliant flash and shot straight at Sailor Myrkr, like fire finding a generously drenched trail of gasoline.

The only movement she had time for was the alarmed widening of her eyes as the dazzling silver hurled towards her. Her lightsaber deactivated when it was thrown onto the temple steps by the force of her own attack returning.

Sailor Myrkr screamed as the silver poured into her, falling onto the cool pavement. The attack felt like molten silver on her skin, and the glitter was like glass shards in her veins. "What do we do?" Sailor Bakura cried, tears filling her eyes as her friend's screams grew more pain-filled.

"It's hurting her!" Sailor Yavin IV gasped. "It's killing her!"

Sailor Hoth made a move toward the tortured senshi, then stepped back again, not knowing what to do. Sailor Myrkr's crumpled body rocked with spasms as the torment grew worse. "Please, stop!" she panted between shrieks. Sailor Hoth stepped forward again and put her hand on Myrkr's trembling shoulder.

"It's fun, isn't it, Sailor Myrkr?" Cyrus called.

Sailor Yavin's face darkened with anger and she started powering up an attack. "Corusca Gem Dag-"

"Yavin, stop!" Sailor Dathomir commanded, grabbing her elbow. "It is useless."

"And also acting in anger and using the Dark Side," Sailor Yavin added, lowering her hands and trying to calm herself. She stared at Cyrus and bit her lip, nearly drawing blood.

"We're here," Sailor Hoth said into Sailor Myrkr's ear, hoping she could hear through her own tortured cries. Sailor Bakura ran over and once again followed Hoth's example.

"Sailor Myrkr... Hanako," she said, stroking Myrkr's sweat-dampened hair away from her forehead. "You'll be okay!"

Sailor Chibi Naboo took one hand and Sailor Yavin IV took the other. Chibi Dantooine lightly tapped a knee. "Um... don't die!" she advised.

"Whoa," Sailor Hoth breathed, and stood up. She slowly backed away from Sailor Myrkr. Chibi Naboo traced her gaze to the locket on Myrkr's sailor fuku, and then also stepped cautiously away, letting go of Myrkr's hand. The others who'd come to support their fallen friend soon did likewise.

Sailor Bakura was the last to notice what was happening to Myrkr's locket. "Oh my goodness, her locket's glowing!" she squealed, scooting backwards on her behind rather than standing up and walking away. "It looks like it's gonna explode or something!"

As soon as she uttered those words, it happened. A huge ball of silver fire grew in a split second and engulfed Sailor Myrkr where she lay; the other senshi turned and shielded their eyes, and when they lowered their raised forearms are peeked between their gloved fingers, they beheld a very different sight.

A beautiful bride with cinnamon-colored hair in two short ponytails and eyes like the sky stood where Chikako had been; the look on her face was both pure innocence, as if she had just begun to exist, and deep wisdom, as if she always had. Her face was framed by flower chains extending from a soft veil over her hair, dangling over her low neckline. Another flowery garland was around her neck, holding Sailor Myrkr's silver locket at the dress's high waistline. A cool night breeze blew through the jungle trees, lifting the girl's full, white wedding gown in a ruffling circle around and behind her. Her train was long, and dropped over the edge of the ancient temple ruins they stood on.

She bent her bare arms, bringing a rainbow bouquet of flowers up to her breast. The flowers were small and delicate, except for one large pink bud that had yet to open. Trails of thin white ribbons followed the bouquet as she lifted it near to her heart.

Sailor Bakura, who was physically closest to her, spoke first. "Chi- Chikako?"

The girl turned slowly and looked at her, giving the other senshi full view of the Symbol of Myrkr imprinted on her forehead. "Annika," she said, smiling.

"What are you?" Sailor Yavin IV whispered.

Pink blushed over her cheeks. "I'm a Bride," she said, turning again to face forward.

"Whose bride?" Sailor Omwat asked.

The Bride didn't answer, and raised her clear azure eyes to the man on the altar of the ancient temple, shielding himself with a dangerous wall of dark energy. He watched her with a new wariness. "Who are you?" he asked.

"I am the daughter of your father's bastard brother," she said. "I am the rightful Guardian of Myrkr, and a Pretty Soldier defending Justice and Peace in this Galaxy. Together with my friends, we fight for Love," Sailor Bakura came forward, "Justice," Sailor Dathomir did likewise. "Friendship," Sailor Chibi Dantooine joined the growing arc of Sailor Jedi, "Innocence, Youth, Daydreams, Truth, Silence, Redemption, Wisdom, Cats," Sailor Yavin IV carefully stepped forward and completed the semi-circle that had formed just behind the Bride.

Cyrus surveyed the battle formation. "Haven't you ladies learned you can't do anything to me? You'll just get hurt," he said, sounding somewhat less confident.

"You have been living in hate for too long," the Bride said loudly, her voice somehow cooler and sweeter than Chikako's was normally. "You sacrificed our Prince and your own Xanthus to your obsession with my destruction. I even gave you a chance to change; for a few days, you saw good for good and evil for evil. Even then, you again chose evil. You may truly believe you are seeking justice by obtaining the inheritance you say I stole, but you have done only more injustice." She looked around at her friends. "We cannot allow that."

All at once, each Sailor Jedi lifted her hands and powered up her favorite attack. With her left hand, the Bride took hold of her skirt, lifting it slightly off the ground in front of her, and ran forward toward Cyrus. "In the name of the King who chose me for Myrkr's Guardian, and chose me for his own son's Bride," she shouted, thrusting her right hand and her bouquet towards the sky just as each senshi released her attack, "you will be overcome!"

Instead of targeting Cyrus, the attacks flew straight to the bouquet in the Bride's uplifted hand, in a colorful barrage of fire, ice, stone, and light. As soon as it hit the flowers, they were pulverized, except for the large pink bud, which graced the end of a thick, rough green stem. The flower-bud scepter condensed the huge array of power to a single, searingly bright beam of silver light. The Bride directed the intense shaft of energy right at Cyrus.

Even pure dark energy could not withstand the pure light of love and justice, and the beam easily pierced the dark Jedi's shield. After only a moment, there was a golden explosion, and every trace of Cyrus was gone.

The Bride dropped to her knees where she stood, her dress settling in an airy halo around her. There was some initial hesitation, then the Sailor Jedi rushed forward and surrounded her, looking very much like bridesmaids. "We did it!" Sailor Honoghr said.

"Is he really gone?" Sailor Chibi Naboo said. Sailor Dathomir, hanging back, brought out her lightsaber and ignited it.

Sailor Hoth couldn't suppress a wide grin when the weapon's blade extended, a shimmering silvery white. "He is gone!" she sighed.

"You put this in my bag, didn't you?" the Bride said, looking down at the scepter in her hand. "How did you know I would need it?"

"I don't know," Sailor Hoth admitted. "When you told me you'd found it in a box under Kalei's bed – the same box as the ribbon with your betrothal rings – I knew it was important." As the ice senshi said this, the Bride's hand went unconsciously to the rings still on the delicate silver chain wrapped twice around her neck.

"It's the Flower-Bud Scepter," Sailor Bakura said. Whether she knew that already somehow or spontaneously named it then and there, she didn't say; but the title stuck. "And you're a bride!" she squealed.

"Chikako," Sailor Chibi Dantooine said, jumping to her feet; she'd lowered herself to one knee on the thin carpet of the Bride's dress. "What about the last petal?" Sailor Yavin gasped and raced her to where Cyrus had been. They returned smiling, Sailor Yavin holding up a glimmering purple flower petal.

"Thank the Force that wasn't destroyed along with everything else!" Sailor Omwat exclaimed as the Bride opened the locket draped around her neck with an intricate flower chain. There was one last empty space in the seven-petal flower inside the locket. Sailor Yavin placed the petal carefully in the Bride's hand, and she, glancing up at her friends for just a moment and smiling, pressed it into the locket. With a blink of silver light, the flower was completed.

The senshi stood still and sat silently, looking from the full locket to the Bride's face and then back, waiting for something to happen. Several moments passed quietly. The Bride finally looked up, straight into Sailor Kessel's deep blue eyes. "I guess that's it," she said.

"Identify yourself!" Sailor Dathomir, still standing slightly apart from the group, suddenly shouted. The Bride and the other senshi looked up at her, startled, then followed her vigilant gaze to a shape coming slowly towards them from the other side of the temple.

The visitor didn't answer. The light of Yavin rising in the sky was not enough to make out his face, only the way he moved. "It can't be," the Bride gasped, patting Sailor Chibi Dantooine's knee to warn her that she wanted to stand up and the teenaged chibi would have to get off her dress. She finally made it to her feet with the help of Sailors Kessel, Hoth, and Honoghr, ignoring the fact that she had almost no energy left to walk.

"Kalei!" she called, walking unstably away from her circle of friends towards the approaching silhouette. The "bridesmaids" followed at first.

"Chikako!" he shouted, breaking into a run. The other senshi relaxed when they heard his voice and allowed the Bride to continue, shakily but determinedly, on her own, lending her what energy they could through the Force. Kalei stopped running when he stepped into the light, and looked incredulously at Chikako. In his brown eyes, the senshi could see a million things he wanted to say, but not one made it to his lips.

Chikako, all laced up in an incredible bridal gown, adorned with flowers, the product of her own powerful purification attack, looked even more incredulously at Kalei than he did at her. She stopped several steps away from her betrothed, who was dressed in the same white t-shirt and khaki pants he'd been wearing the night she killed him. The Flower-Bud Scepter she held loosely in one hand slipped away from her fingers and rolled gently down the folds of her gown, resting on her train. "Are you... real?" she asked timidly. "I mean, are you a... spirit?"

He crossed the gap left between them and took both of her hands into his, drawing them to his heart. "No, Chikako," he said softly. "I am real, and I'm quite alive."

"But I killed you," she whispered. "Didn't I?"

Kalei nodded, gently letting go of her hands. Hesitating slightly, a blush shining over his cheeks for a moment, he pulled up his t-shirt, showing her the neat scar her lightsaber had given him, right over his heart. He pulled his shirt down after she'd seen, his eyebrows raised slightly behind messy wisps of blondish hair as he anticipated her next reaction.

"How did you come back?" she breathed, getting quieter with every question.

He glanced down at his feet and smiled, then reached up and lightly moved the tips of his fingers over her cheek. "Millennia of separation and enchanted sleep couldn't keep me from you, Love. Tribulation you'll never dream of didn't keep me from you. Death certainly isn't going to."

Chikako, her mouth open in utter amazement, could do little else but stare at him.

"My father somehow knew this was going to happen; he put the magic to bring me back into your flower. As soon as you completed it..." he said, trailing off as he realized how little of this was actually registering at the moment. "Really, it was merely a flesh wound," he added, reviving his grin a little. The Bride was far too stunned to return his smile; and even had she not been, probably wouldn't have had the energy. As it was, she stood for only another second before collapsing, right into Kalei's ready arms.

"Chika-Yamka," he whispered as he caught her and carefully lowered her to the ground. "You'll be okay."

"What did you say to her?" Sailor Asteroid asked curiously as the senshi approached shyly a second later.

"What?" Kalei asked, not looking up from the Bride's peaceful face.

"Chika-Yamka."

"Oh," he said, finally looking at the girl addressing him. "Yamka means 'budding flower,'" he said, looking back down at Chikako. He reached over and picked up her Flower-Bud Scepter. "She is like just this. Everything is already inside, but closed up tight. Though she's starting to open up, I think."

"She's going to bloom," Sailor Bakura said. Kalei smiled at her and nodded. He picked up Sailor Myrkr's locket and removed it from the garland around the Bride's neck, then leaned over and kissed her forehead where the Symbol of Myrkr shone.

When he pulled away, the Bride had disappeared, leaving ordinary Chikako in the hiking boots, plaid skirt, and blue hooded sweatshirt she'd changed into on the way to Yavin IV. She stirred and sighed, then finally opened her blue eyes. "Wow," she breathed as her most recent memories returned.

"Are you okay?" Sailor Hoth asked, pushing loose strands of brown hair off Chikako's forehead.

"Yeah," she said, looking at her and her other smiling friends. It was just starting to sink in that they'd beat Cyrus. Her eyes moved to Kalei, who was absentmindedly playing with the hem on the sleeve of her sweatshirt, which hung a few inches longer than her hand. Suddenly, he stopped and blinked at the garment between his fingers. "Eh... hehe," Chikako laughed nervously, crossing her arms tightly across her chest in a vein attempt to hide the sweatshirt. "I, uh, found this... um..."

"In my dresser?" he finished, raising an eyebrow.

"Heh... uh, maybe."

Kalei laughed, giving the rest of the company license to laugh also, roll their eyes, tease Chikako, and bring up other missing items. "Okay, okay!" Chikako finally said through her own giggles. "I'll give it all back as soon as we get home!"

"What are we waiting for?" Priire said, powering down. "The Dreamer is this way!"

"All right," Ippin said, "I finally get that beaded necklace back!"

"I don't have your beaded necklace," Chikako claimed as Kalei helped her to her feet.

"What? You wore it last week."

"Oh, that beaded necklace," she said. "I thought it was Mika's."

"No, the beaded ankle bracelet is mine," Mika said.

"Oh, I thought that was Minae's."

"No, the red cardigan is mine," Minae said. "And the short gray skirt."

Kalei shook his head. "Why do you guys even lend her your stuff?"

"Lend?" Annika said.

Priire nodded and looked at Kalei. "You mean, like you 'lent' her your sweatshirt?"

"I'm sorry!" Chikako nearly wailed. Her sudden dramatic apology was enough to spark some more giggles, and conversation quickly, inexplicably turned to the topic of peach-scented body products.

Chikako dropped back a little, watching with amusement as Kalei's ignorance on the subject caused him to be the center of attention. As they walked, she looked around at their surroundings, the foliage strangely lit by the huge gas lamp in the sky, Yavin. She noticed that they were walking by more fig trees. None of them had blossoms, but one of them in particular was in worse condition than the rest. Chikako stopped. Even though she didn't have much energy to spare at the moment, she put her hand on the bark and lent some to the struggling tree.

When she skipped away a moment later to catch up with her friends, the tree's leaves were no longer wilting. Instead of looking only towards the ground, they'd begun turning towards the east where the sun would come up the next day. And though Chikako didn't see it when she hastily walked away, one branch had brought forth a tiny bud through Chikako's energy; and even as the Black Fire Dreamer streaked through the moon's sky and out into space, that miniature bud was growing into a blossom.