Slowly, the world came back to life. Power supplies and lines of communication were quickly re-established, but that was only the beginning of everything that needed to be done. Usagi was content to let those who knew what they were doing take care of their business, but, a few at a time, then in increasing numbers, people began coming to her, seeking her help in settling disputes, working out agreements and treaties, and solving other problems. Usagi consulted with Mamoru, Naru, the Senshi, the Guardians, and just about everyone else she could think of, doing her best to handle the matters that were brought before her.

Usagi and Naru sat at Naru's kitchen table late one night three weeks after the Thaw, studying a huge pile of papers. The papers dealt with the problem of who was going to pay for repairs to the international power lines, and how much, and when, and with what kind of money. Anything having to do with money was Naru's department, since she had married a man with a great deal of it and had been training to help him acquire even more.

Naru shook her head. A year and a half of majoring in economics at Juuban University hadn't prepared her for this. "I think what they're proposing will work, Usagi," she said. "But I'm just not sure..." She thought of Nephrite's dead-certain, ruthless instinct for when a deal was good. They couldn't teach that at University. Nephrite, she thought, as she did at least twenty times a day, I need you. Why aren't you here?

"At least you know something about it," Usagi said. "I don't know why anyone expects me to know anything."

"Maybe it's because you saved the world," Naru answered dryly.

Usagi sighed. "I wouldn't have if I'd known it was going to be this confusing."

* * * * * * * *

Conditions were actually more primitive when Rei went into labor a month after the Thaw. Most of Tokyo's buildings were crumbling; the long freeze and quick thaw had stressed and broken both concrete and metal. The city was gradually being razed, and tents and other temporary shelters were being put up until more permanent construction could begin. The hospital was an interconnected series of tents.

Naru, Usagi, and the Senshi sat in a makeshift waiting room, along with Monique and Mamoru, listening to Rei yell at Yuuichirou. Painkillers were in precariously short supply, as were most medications, and would not be used to ease routine labor pain. Rei was coping with her unmedicated labor by swearing like a sailor at Yuui for getting her into this predicament.

"Sounds like it's going to be separate bedrooms for the Kumadas after this," Makoto said after a particularly protracted and colorful outburst.

"Sure does," Minako agreed.

Usagi looked pale and scared. She had wanted to be with Rei and Yuui during the birth, but Mamoru had convinced her it might be better if she weren't. Her baby was due in two months, and seeing a birth right before then might make her nervous and fearful, he said. Just sitting in the waiting room and listening to Rei seemed to be almost more than she could handle.

Naru wasn't thinking about how she would deal with the pain when her turn came, in four more months. She was envying Rei and Usagi, who had their husbands with them to help them through the births. Nephrite, you promised, she thought, turning her rings around on her finger. You promised you'd be with me when our baby was born. Vega, he promised, why can't he keep his promise?

Usagi must have sensed her mood. She put an arm around Naru's shoulders and held her close for a few minutes. "You won't be alone when your time comes, Naru," she whispered. "I'll be there, and so will Rei. We'll help you."

Naru forced a smile at her friend. At the moment, Usagi didn't look capable of helping anyone.

The unmistakable wail of a newborn pierced the air. The waiting women all looked at each other, anticipation and worry in their faces. "Oh, I hope everything's all right," Usagi said.

"I'm sure it is," Ami said. "That sounds like a healthy cry."

A long moment later, Yuuichirou appeared in the door of the waiting room tent. His perpetually whiskery face shone like that of a small boy who had just been given a longed-for present. "It's a boy," he said, beaming. "He looks fine. Rei wants to call him Taji. She's fine too. It's all... wow... awesome." With that, he disappeared back into the labor and delivery tent.

"I'm surprised he can be so cheerful, after the way Rei was yelling at him," Monique commented.

"Oh, Yuuichirou's used to it," Ami told her. "Rei-chan's always been like that. And I suppose that having the baby arrive safely makes up for everything they both went through."

"Of course. I'm sure you're right, Ami," Monique said.

Usagi looked perilously close to fainting.

* * * * * * * *

Two months later, when Usagi's turn came, the hospital still consisted of tents, though ground was being broken for a new building. Naru decided that she would do better if she knew what was in store for her, and insisted, with Mamoru's reluctant permission, on staying with her friend. Usagi's labor was mercifully short, and she was easily delivered of a little girl with a head of hair that could only be described as a highly unusual shade of strawberry blonde.

"Little Usa," Usagi said tenderly, cradling her newborn daughter at her breast. "She really isn't such a spore, is she, Mamo-chan?"

"She's just fine, Dumpling Head. You did fine."

Naru looked at the little family huddled together around the delivery bed that had been salvaged from the old hospital. The constant dull ache which she always carried inside her heart briefly sharpened to a more acute pain. She rested her hand on her stomach, feeling her own baby sliding about within, and the pain ebbed and dulled again. She had lost the father, but at least she would have the child. Please, Vega, please let my baby be okay. If you're never able to do anything else for Nephrite and me, please do that. Let our baby be okay.

She looked at Usagi and Mamoru, so wrapped up in each other and their daughter. "I'll go tell the others," she said.

Mamoru glanced up. "Thanks, Naru."

Naru went into the waiting tent. "It's Little Usa," she told the group that was gathered there. "She and Usagi are fine."

"Oh, good," Makoto said. "Would you believe there are a bunch of reporters outside, waiting to find out if Usagi - I mean Serenity's had her baby yet?"

"She saved the world," Minako pointed out. "She's practically queen of the world now, even if no one's crowned her yet. Of course people want to know about the baby."

"I'll handle it," Haruka said. She went outside, and the others could hear her poised, confident voice as she briefed the reporters on the birth of Serenity's baby.

* * * * * * * *

Nephrite's mansion was one of the few sound buildings remaining from old Tokyo, because of the spells and guards he had set on it. Naru's mother had moved into the mansion with her, and it was also serving as headquarters for Serenity, Endymion, and their court. Naru had even resigned herself to allowing the Guardians on the premises, as long as she didn't have to be in the same room with them.

Naru had offered the use of her home for the births of Rei's and Usagi's babies, but Yuui and Mamoru had insisted that their wives give birth closer to what medical facilities were available at the makeshift hospital. Despite everyone's attempts to dissuade her, Naru was determined to have her baby at home. If Nephrite couldn't be with her when their baby was born, she could at least give birth in the home they had shared, in the bed where the baby had been conceived. Naru asked around until she found an obstetrician willing to attend the home birth, then settled in to wait out the last month.

She occupied herself with helping the new mothers and learning as much as she could from them, advising Serenity as well as she could, preparing for the birth of her child, and trying not to think about where Nephrite was now. She had failed him, he was trapped in Hell with Metallia, and she was just going to have to live with that forever. She held the knowledge of Nephrite's fate in a cold, hard place inside her heart, and sometimes she felt as though that coldness and hardness was spreading out to entirely fill her.

One evening, the Royal Court of Crystal Tokyo, such as it was, was meeting at the mansion, trying to figure out how to untangle and reassign responsibilities for building and repairing public roads. Progress was slow; the Guardians and the Senshi in the same room was still a tricky proposition, and Usagi and Mamoru had to use every ounce of their authority as Serenity and Endymion to keep war from breaking out.

Naru, as usual, sat on the top stair of the curving staircase, where she could listen without having to look at the Guardians. She had a lot of ideas on the subject at hand, which she would express to Usagi and Mamoru later, after the others left. She preferred not to speak in front of the Guardians. So she sat in silence, listening to the argument go on late into the night, and rubbing her stomach. She had been having contractions all day, but they were painless and irregular, nothing to get excited about.

She was thirsty. Electric power had been restored during the first month after the Thaw, so refrigeration was now possible, and the dairy farms had resumed production, and a few roads had been sufficiently repaired for trucks to bring goods to market, so now there was milk to drink. Naru decided she wanted a glass of milk, and stood to go downstairs to the kitchen.

She felt a bit of cramping pain, and a curious popping sensation, then a sudden gush of warm fluid flowed down her legs. Another cramp, hard and painful, made her double over and grab at the banister for support. "Mama!" she gasped. "Usagi!"

Usagi looked up at her, and quickly handed Little Usa over to Minako. "Mamoru, call Naru's doctor, please. The number is by the phone." She and Makoto hurried up the stairs to where Naru had collapsed, while Mrs. Osaka hurried over from the den on the other end of the second floor. The three of them helped Naru up the top few stairs and to the bedroom.

Downstairs, while Mamoru was phoning the doctor, Rei looked at Kunzite, Zoisite, and Jadeite coldly. "I think you three had better leave. I don't think you're welcome here right now."

Jadeite took a deep breath. The bruise where Rei had slapped him the day of the Thaw had taken a month to fade. He wasn't a coward, but he was smart enough to be cautious around the fiery-tempered Senshi. "I'd like to stay. I know she was carrying Nephrite's child, before. I want to make sure his wife and child are safe this time." He looked at Zoisite and Kunzite. "I think we owe them at least that much."

Kunzite turned to leave, but Zoisite hesitated. "He's right, Kunzite-sama."

"Zoisite, come," Kunzite said.

"No," Zoisite said more firmly. "Kunzite, don't you think it's time we stopped trying to pretend we did the right thing? We made a horrible mistake, for all the wrong reasons. It didn't have anything to do with the greater glory of the Realm of Earth, or anything like that. It had to do with impressing the king so he would make you Commander of the Guardians, and with covering up our relationship. That's what we betrayed them for, that's what she died for."

"Zoisite, I forbid you to say one more word on the subject."

The tawny-haired Guardian fell silent a moment. He and his lover stared at each other, then Zoisite turned his face away. "I can't live with the lies and guilt any more. Go if you want. I'm staying."

Kunzite battled silently with himself. If he was going to be the leader he wanted to be, if he was going to have the power and position and status he had always craved, he couldn't afford to admit to making mistakes... could he? He reminded himself again that it was Nephrite who had been disobedient to the King, it was Nephrite who had willingly joined Beryl and betrayed the rest of them to her.

But inside his mind, refusing to be silenced this time, was the tiny voice that cried, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it to happen that way! He remembered how smug he had felt about having the courage to pursue his forbidden love. But he had condemned Nephrite for doing exactly the same thing, and an innocent young woman had paid the price for his hypocrisy. What sort of leader did that make him?

"I miscalculated what the King's reaction would be," he finally said. "I acted out of motivations that were partly self-serving. I... I regret what happened."

Zoisite came to him and embraced him. "Thank you, Kunzite-sama," he whispered.

"Well, that's very nice of you," Rei said sarcastically. "You regret what happened."

"Rei," Mamoru said, gently but firmly. "I believe Lord Kunzite is trying to apologize."

"Hmpf," Rei replied.

On the second floor, the bedroom door opened, allowing a drawn-out cry of pain to float downstairs. "Mamo!" Usagi leaned out over the balcony. "Did you call that doctor?"

"Yes. He's on his way."

"Good. She's moving along awfully fast. I sure hope he gets here in time..." she disappeared back into the bedroom.

"Stay or go, whatever you choose," Mamoru said to Zoisite and Kunzite. "It doesn't matter now, and I don't want any more arguing."

Zoisite and Kunzite looked at each other. "We'll stay," the silver-haired guardian said.

"I just hope Naru doesn't find out you were here," Rei said. Mamoru shot her a sharp look. She sat down without another word and took Taji back from her husband.

From behind the closed door upstairs came another long, low moan. Kunzite held Zoisite closer. "I'm glad you're not a woman," he said.

"So am I," Zoisite said, looking rather pale around the edges.

* * * * * * * *

The numbness with which Naru had cloaked herself was torn away by the pain. The agony of her longing for Nephrite was as immediate and acute as the pain of her contractions. He was supposed to be here; if he were, it wouldn't hurt so much... Another wave of pain carried her away. "Nephrite," she cried. She wished it were his hands she was squeezing as she tried to endure the pain, she wished it was him gently sponging her face with a wet cloth and whispering to her that she was doing fine and that everything would be all right. Nephrite, I want you, why can't you be with me?

* * * * * * * *

Darkness, despair, remorse... A weight that would have been unbearable if he had to face bearing it forever... No, there was no way out, he would be here forever, there was no hope...

There was hope, Nephrite sternly reminded himself during one of the increasingly rare periods when he had control over his own thoughts. He had been promised the chance to destroy Metallia. He would only be imprisoned here forever if he faced her and failed. He had become a good man, he had earned a chance to redeem himself, and he would get it. He had to believe that.

...But there was no way out. No lifeline had come to him since that last faint cry of Naru's, an eternity ago. Had she died, after all? If she was dead, what hope was there for him?

No, somehow he would get his chance.

Nephrite...

At first the cry was so faint he thought it was only his memory.

Nephrite, why can't you be with me?

He knew he wasn't just remembering those words, or imagining them. Naru was crying out to him. She remembered him, she wanted him. She needed him. He focused all his attention, ready to catch her next cry and let it guide him out of this place of misery.

Papa!

That voice was much closer. Who are you? he asked, startled.

Papa, let me help you. You're too far away for Mama to reach.

Nephrite concentrated and sensed... light. A presence. Powerful love that wouldn't let him stay here forever, that could help him find the way out.

Naru's cry came to him again. Nephrite, you promised you'd be with me....

Papa, come. I can't stay here much longer.

He fixed his awareness on the presence outside the edge of the darkness. He could feel it with his mind, solid and real and strong. It was something he could hold on to, it could guide him out of the Dark. Fighting his way through the tormented souls that grabbed at him, trying to drag him back down, pouring all their hopelessness and despair into him, trying to make him give in, was so hard, he didn't think he could do it. But with each bit of progress he made, the pull of the loving presence and of Naru's longing grew stronger, drawing him along.

"No!" Metallia shrieked. "It isn't possible!" He felt her try to grasp him, to keep him in the Darkness with her. But he had Naru's love, and the love of the presence that was holding onto him. He had the stars' promise that the Darkness could only hold him if he allowed it. He pulled free of Metallia, hearing her cry of rage fade quickly into the distance behind him.

Suddenly, in front of him, the darkness thickened and solidified, blocking his sense of Naru and the other one. He knew that the being who had called to him was still there, on the other side of that black barrier. All he had to do was break through it.

He shrank back from the thought of trying to go through the barrier. Panic briefly confused his thoughts. He could be trapped there forever, in a darkness even more profound than the one he'd been in for who knew how long.

Papa! Don't stop! You must go on. Please!

He wouldn't let it stop him. He would get out, and he would come back and destroy Metallia. He would be free.

He would be free... Holding that thought firmly in his mind, he plunged into the thick, cold barrier. But as soon as he was in it, he had passed through it. Stars shone before him, spread like jewels through the vastness of space.

The being who had brought him out stood before him, a glowing figure. When Nephrite adjusted to the light, he saw within the glow the form and image of a young woman. Papa, I can't stay. It's time for me to go. I love you, Papa. Then she was gone in a streak of light.

His daughter, he realized belatedly. On her way to being born. Naru's cry came again, strong and clear. Nephrite, I need you. Why can't you be with me?

Nephrite shot off in the direction the spirit of his daughter had gone.

* * * * * * * *

In the dawn light, he could see how much Tokyo and its surroundings had changed. Buildings were crumbling or had been torn down, there were tents everywhere, countless new lakes and rivers had formed. Obviously, the Earth had gone through its change, and Naru had survived.

His house was one of the few buildings still standing. He went in, passing right through the wall into the bedroom. Naru was on the bed, sitting halfway up, supported from behind by her mother, while Usagi and Makoto held her knees apart and a doctor waited at the foot of the bed. Her petite body now seemed to be all swollen stomach. Nephrite filled himself with the sight of her, wishing he had been able to see her throughout her pregnancy, as she grew rounder and riper, full of life. She wore his chain, with his crest and wedding ring on it, around her neck.

At the moment her face was scrunched up and red as she made a tremendous effort. "Two, three, four, five..." the other three women and the doctor counted together. Naru suddenly sagged back against her mother, breathing hard.

"I can't do it again, Mama," she wept.

"You're doing just fine, Mrs. Sanjouin," the doctor said. "We're almost there. The baby's head came out a little further this time."

"I can't," Naru said again, but then she seemed to be overwhelmed by some powerful force within her body. She squeezed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth as she raised herself up, supported by her mother.

"One, two, three, four..." the women counted as the doctor said, "Try to make it to eight this time, okay?"

"Five, six..."

Naru collapsed back. "I can't do it. I'm so tired, and it hurts so much."

"Naru-chan, you can do it," Usagi said. "If I could do it, so can you."

Naru was crying and didn't respond.

"Mrs. Sanjouin, you need to keep trying," the doctor said. "I don't want to try to move you to the hospital, and I'd rather not do a c-section here."

From the look on the doctor's face and the tone of his voice, Nephrite realized that the situation was serious. Naru and the baby could be in danger. He moved towards Naru and rested a translucent, faintly glowing hand on her head, gently stroking her hair, hoping that somehow this would give her the strength to continue.

Naru gasped and looked around. "Mama, did you touch my hair?" she asked, her voice ragged from long hours of pain.

"No - No, dear, I didn't."

"It wasn't you guys?"

Usagi and Makoto shook their heads. Another pain came over Naru, but she wasn't able to sustain her effort to push beyond a count of six.

Nephrite stroked Naru's hair again. She looked around again, looked right at him, but gave no sign that she saw him. He lowered his hand, caressing her cheek. Naru, be strong. You can do it.

"Nephrite," she whispered harshly. "Mama, he's here. Somehow..." Her voice gave way as another pain overcame her. "Come on, push!" all four of her attendants coaxed her.

She bore down for a count of ten, until her face went red, then fell back. "Mama, Nephrite's here, just like he promised, he's - oh..." She sat up and pushed again.

"Come on, come on, come on," the doctor cheered her on. Curious, Nephrite peered over Naru's stomach and thigh, in time to see a small head covered with thick, dark, wet hair emerge from Naru's body. "Here's the head!" the doctor said triumphantly.

This time Naru didn't sit back. She caught her breath, then bore down while the doctor maneuvered the rest of the baby's grayish, blood-smeared form out of the birth passage. Then she collapsed into her mother's arms, laughing and crying at the same time, while the doctor said, "It's a girl, Mrs. Sanjouin. Good work." He tilted the baby upside down; she coughed and gasped, then let out a high wail. Her small body went from gray to pink to red.

It's time to leave now, Nephrite, Setsuna's voice said in his mind. I had to pull a lot of strings to get permission for you to be there. But you were able to keep your promise. Be grateful for that.

I am. He didn't want to leave, but somehow, miraculously, he had been rescued from the darkness and allowed to witness the birth of his child. He had been able to keep his promise to Naru. It was more than he had any right to expect.

The doctor had already cut the cord and handed the baby to Naru. Nephrite bent over the two of them. He met his daughter's eyes, and knew, somehow, that she saw him and knew him. Thank you, he whispered to her.

I love you, Papa.

He brushed his lips against the baby's cheek in a ghostly kiss, then kissed Naru's cheek and the top of her head. After one last look at them, he left, shooting through the wall and back up to the stars.

* * * * * * * *

Naru raised a hand to her cheek, feeling the soft brush of - something. A kiss. Then the comforting presence that had been in the room, that had given her the strength to deliver her baby, was gone. "Nephrite," she whispered. Somehow, he had been there. He had kept his promise.

He was free.

* * * * * * * *