Naru lay awake in bed, smiling up at the ceiling of the luxurious hotel room. Beside her, Nephrite was sound asleep. She should be asleep too. She was exhausted from the wedding and the reception, not to mention what had come afterwards.... Naru felt herself blush and go all tingly again, remembering. She didn't want to sleep. She wanted to cherish every last moment of this day that she had longed for.

The Sleep was coming soon. "This winter," Setsuna kept saying, though she didn't seem to know exactly when. Indeed, the cold weather had settled in unusually early this year, leading to a rash of weddings among Mamoru and Usagi's inner circle, with Nephrite and Naru leading the way. "If we're going to sleep for a thousand years," Nephrite had said to Naru, "I want you in my bed with me." That meant, of course, that they had to get married. Nephrite wouldn't hear otherwise, despite the affair they had had a thousand years before, in their other lives. He remembered their previous relationship, though the memory had not yet come back to Naru. Maybe it would after the Awakening, she speculated.

A glimmer of light caught Naru's eye. She looked towards it, to see Sailor Moon shimmer into view. "Usagi!" she whispered loudly, and sat up, clutching the bedsheet against her chest, embarrassed. "What are you doing here?"

Sailor Moon pulled a chair from the desk over to the bedside. "I wanted you to have a little more time before you have to make this decision. But now, it's time. Pluto says we can't wait any longer."

"What are you talking about?"

Sailor Moon sighed. "Naru, knowing what you know about the future, do you think you could keep yourself from doing anything to stop the bad things that are going to happen?"

"I -" Naru started to say, but Sailor Moon interrupted her.

"I mean, you could try to stop what's going to happen, but that might lead to something even worse happening. Do you really think you could keep from changing anything?"

"I don't know," Naru said slowly.

"What you need to decide, is whether you can keep yourself from changing anything, or if you'd rather have me take away your memories of what happened."

Naru thought about it. It was a strange thing, to know her future, and every day she found herself thinking about what was to come, and questioning her own actions, wondering if they would bring about the future she knew or if they would change things. It was a heavy responsibility, and one she thought she could do without. She looked at Nephrite; she had him, and even without the knowledge of what was to come she knew she would have faith in their future together. "I - you can take the memories, Usagi. I don't need them now, and I'd rather not be worrying all the time about whether I've done what I was supposed to."

Sailor Moon smiled. "That's what the rest of us decided, too. Personally, I already know more than I really want to about the future, without all of this."

She raised her heart-shaped brooch, with the disguised Silver Crystal mounted in it, in both hands.

"Will I ever get the memories back?" Naru asked before Sailor Moon could do whatever it was she was about to do.

"When the time comes, you'll get them back," Sailor Moon said. "Ready?"

Naru brought each of the children's faces into her mind one last time, saying a temporary farewell to them. Then she nodded. "I'm ready."

There was a flash of light, then the world spun...

Naru shook her head, awakening from the light doze she had fallen into. A weird dream - why would she be dreaming that Usagi, in her Sailor Moon disguise, had been in the room? And how did she know that Usagi was Sailor Moon, anyway?

Oh well. Strange dreams, brought on by all the excitement, no doubt. She lay down again, snuggled close against Nephrite. As she fell asleep again, she found herself wondering if they would have any children. She hoped so....