(no subject)
Her delicate touches across the surface of the Silver Imperium Crystal speak about love... respect... awe. But the cruelty in her gaze reflects lust and hunger.
When she took the Silver Imperium Crystal, the awakening and power surge transformed the Vessel. It grew. Its hair grew, metres in minutes. That is still growing.
These horrible dark strands, flowing endlessly behind her, are only one of the bothers with a human body.
They are also tight; stifling. The skin is just a thin membrane, and it insists on picking up every minor discomfort, itch, and tickle in the world around her and registering its discoveries to her relentlessly.
It's infuriating. If she had to live a lifetime in one of these coats, she'd go crazy.
------------------------------------------------
"Where am I?
"......I recognize this feeling."
She floats, through a space worse than nothingness.
She feels her body, still, but all of her sensations threaten to be lost to the void. She is not certain if her eyes are open or closed. If she hears anything. If she can breathe.
If she could turn over and bury her head in a pillow, she would. She feels like crying, bitterly.
"Why... why am I here again?"
She lets her fuzzy memories drift in, filling her mind with images of the past.
"How could I be in this purgatory? When did this happen?"
The first time she visited this realm, was when she died.
"Papa brought me back, though..." She shakes her head a few times. She begins to struggle to separate her mind from the encompassing nothing, to bring herself back to awareness of her surroundings. "Someone is trying to bring me back again?
"...Or, I'm not fully dead yet, for some other reason."
Before her, but distantly, is a fuzzy patch of substance - almost like light piercing the horizon.
"There."
------------------------------------------------
"ChibiUsa?!?" Usagi clings to the small, ashen girl. "ChibiUsa -- come back to me!!"
The tall stranger behind her lays a coarse, weathered hand on her shoulder, after flipping through some pages. "I'm afraid... we've lost her."
Usagi's stare goes blank. Brusquely, Mamoru turns to the doctor, directing, "Could you leave us alone for a moment?" The door clicks behind the doctor, leaving Mamoru and Usagi -- the alternately-known Sailor Moon -- alone in the hospital room with the other four Scouts. All are in civilian clothing.
"Hotaru..." Usagi mouths. "Hotaru... killed her? ...W--why?..."
A heavy silence, as no one speaks. Finally, Mamoru moves to the bed and picks ChibiUsa up in his arms, cradling her. "If we leave her as she is, her blood will stop circulating, and she really will die," his face lined with concern, he turns to leave. "Let's go."
ChibiUsa is placed gently upon Mamoru's bed at his apartment, and he gingerly edges next to her. He takes her hand, concentrating. A pure golden glow glimmers around their hands.
"Mamoru!..." One of the Scouts protests, "Are you sure, your body...?"
"It'll be fine supporting this one life," Mamoru interrupts, in a soothing voice, "Right now our bodies are completely one. It's no effort for me to keep us alive."
"ChibiUsa..." Usagi kneels by the bedside, holding the girl's other hand to her own ear. It's like she can hear ChibiUsa's heartbeat, but she knows it's actually Mamoru's. The moments that pass are breaking her heart.
The apartment door opens, and three familiar figures walk through.
"So, the prince is keeping her alive--"
"Her Hoste has been stolen," Setsuna cuts Haruka off before she can offend the bereaved younger Scouts.
"Her Hoste?!" Usagi replaces ChibiUsa's hand by her side and stands, bewildered and upset.
"Death Busters have been stealing the Hoste - the soul - from their targets," Michiru explains simply. "They then turn the soulless bodies into slaves.
"You know the connection between yourself and your crystal, Princess. When she stole ChibiUsa's crystal, the soul within it was stolen, too."
Usagi frantically returns to the bedside. "So ChibiUsa?!?--"
Setsuna shakes her head, "Hotaru is the Vessel."
Ami, aka Sailor Mercury, postures softly, "So, she is possessed? We have really been fighting humans possessed by the enemy..."
Rei - Sailor Mars - queries, "...When they transformed into monsters?..."
"You were witnessing the successful completion of the Vessel transformation from a human body to a Daimon body," Haruka says. "Once they change into that, there's no hope for them."
Usagi speaks slowly, making sense out of the situation for herself, "So, they used ChibiUsa's soul, her crystal, to awaken a Daimon possessing Hotaru..." She stops to think.
"We have to go save Hotaru and ChibiUsa, by getting ChibiUsa's crystal back!!" she finally concludes.
With that, the Inner Scouts all jump to leave for the outside. The Outer Scouts all stand unmoving, eyeing each other or the floor.
"Princess," Setsuna says, "there is something we know, that you should know as well..."
"We must tell you about our mission--" Michiru continues.
The Inner Scouts look at each other. Rei speaks up for them, confused, "About the Goddess of Destruction?"
The Outer Scouts exchange silent looks between themselves. And then they explain everything.
------------------------------------------------
"I... I was... so foolish."
She watches herself offer light from ChibiUsa's pendant upwards, above her head. She looks older. She is taller. Her hair is so long that it runs to the floor and off beyond where she can see. ...In the center of her forehead, is a solid black five-pointed star.
And she can't believe what else has changed. Her arms are bare -- and they are plain, human flesh.
From the wall in front of her, huge hands of swirling dark, murky energy appear. They come close to the pendant being held on high and begin absorbing all the light that falls from it.
"ChibiUsa's pendant? ...No!..."
Her body whips around, looking for something or someone. Finding nothing, she turns back to the murky hands. She watches herself force power somehow from ChibiUsa's pendant, or rather, the shining crystal within. The cavern they are in rumbles fiercely.
"ChibiUsa... I'm so sorry... Mistress Nine took my body. And your soul."
Mistress Nine snaps her head around again. "Who's there?!?"
Her voice reverberates deep into the darkness behind her.
"WHAT IS IT, MISTRESS NINE?"
"A trick of the cave, I'm sure," she says, dismissingly. "This is not a Hoste. This is a Silver Imperium Crystal.
"It holds a limitless power within."
"OOOHHH, MY BODY FEELS CRAZED!"
"Master Pharaoh 90," Mistress Nine withdraws the pendant, "please wait. I will unlock its infinite power for you!"
"YEESSS, FILL ME WITH POWER AGAIN FOR MY VESSEL TRANSFORMATION - I WILL TRANSFORM THIS PLANET FOR OUR SECOND HOME!!"
They laugh, triumphantly together.
Hotaru watches, silently.
------------------------------------------------
"SAILOR SATURN?!?"
Haruka pushes on, "Sailor Saturn's awakening is near."
Setsuna says, "The invader from outside can no longer be stopped. That's what we felt."
"So, the Talismans are calling to each other," Haruka says.
Rei mutters, "The Talismans..."
"When the Talismans are brought together, and aligned, they become the Key to awaken Sailor Saturn. We three are the guardians of that Key," Michiru says.
"We never imagined this could happen," Setsuna looks away. "For Saturn to be reborn on this planet must mean the gears of fate have been thrown off somehow. But we will keep her awakening from starting."
Sailor Venus - Mina - is startled, "How?"
Haruka answers her without a moment's stop, "We'll kill her. And that will seal away Saturn forever."
"No!" Usagi shouts, "You can't!"
Frowning, Michiru says, "Even without our help, she doesn't have much longer. Before she was taken over, she was on the verge of death. Her father made her both human and machine after she was critically injured in a laboratory fire as a little girl. He ignored her afterwards, and her young body is already falling apart."
"She would only die in agony anyway," Haruka shrugs, "now that she has been taken over by the enemy, that is more true than ever. We'll just put her out of her misery."
Usagi clenches her fists, starting to cry, "You can't!! You can't!! You can't kill her!!"
"Even if Saturn doesn't awaken, the world will be destroyed!! She has ChibiUsa's Silver Imperium Crystal, and if we don't kill her, she will kill us!!
"You have to make a choice, and if you want to save ChibiUsa, you have to fight Hotaru and take her soul back."
Usagi cries. "We know there is a future. Saturn may not awaken! We can save everyone... There must be a way. You can't... kill her...!"
The Outer Soldiers look sadly at each other.
"...We thought you would say that.
"That's why we can't work together," Michiru states.
"You can hate us. You can even think of us as enemies.
"This is the only way," they turn to go. "We will perform our duty, and save the world."
Usagi's knees buckle, and she kneels beside the bed.
What should I do... What should I do...? she thinks over and over to herself.
ChibiUsa...!
I don't want to see you or Hotaru, or any of this planet's people die!...
Her hands clasp around ChibiUsa again.
What should I do...? I can't choose.
What should I...
Mamoru embraces her, mid-thought. They hold each other for a moment.
"Go get them back. ChibiUsa's soul and her Silver Imperium Crystal.
"We can't give up hope. We have to do what we can right now."
Rei, Mina, Ami, and Makoto agree in unison. "Don't give up hope! We can get ChibiUsa's soul back. Let's go!"
"Guys..." Usagi looks up with surprise. Then she nods, firmly. "Let's go."
Hope...
When she took the Silver Imperium Crystal, the awakening and power surge transformed the Vessel. It grew. Its hair grew, metres in minutes. That is still growing.
These horrible dark strands, flowing endlessly behind her, are only one of the bothers with a human body.
They are also tight; stifling. The skin is just a thin membrane, and it insists on picking up every minor discomfort, itch, and tickle in the world around her and registering its discoveries to her relentlessly.
It's infuriating. If she had to live a lifetime in one of these coats, she'd go crazy.
------------------------------------------------
"Where am I?
"......I recognize this feeling."
She floats, through a space worse than nothingness.
She feels her body, still, but all of her sensations threaten to be lost to the void. She is not certain if her eyes are open or closed. If she hears anything. If she can breathe.
If she could turn over and bury her head in a pillow, she would. She feels like crying, bitterly.
"Why... why am I here again?"
She lets her fuzzy memories drift in, filling her mind with images of the past.
"How could I be in this purgatory? When did this happen?"
The first time she visited this realm, was when she died.
"Papa brought me back, though..." She shakes her head a few times. She begins to struggle to separate her mind from the encompassing nothing, to bring herself back to awareness of her surroundings. "Someone is trying to bring me back again?
"...Or, I'm not fully dead yet, for some other reason."
Before her, but distantly, is a fuzzy patch of substance - almost like light piercing the horizon.
"There."
------------------------------------------------
"ChibiUsa?!?" Usagi clings to the small, ashen girl. "ChibiUsa -- come back to me!!"
The tall stranger behind her lays a coarse, weathered hand on her shoulder, after flipping through some pages. "I'm afraid... we've lost her."
Usagi's stare goes blank. Brusquely, Mamoru turns to the doctor, directing, "Could you leave us alone for a moment?" The door clicks behind the doctor, leaving Mamoru and Usagi -- the alternately-known Sailor Moon -- alone in the hospital room with the other four Scouts. All are in civilian clothing.
"Hotaru..." Usagi mouths. "Hotaru... killed her? ...W--why?..."
A heavy silence, as no one speaks. Finally, Mamoru moves to the bed and picks ChibiUsa up in his arms, cradling her. "If we leave her as she is, her blood will stop circulating, and she really will die," his face lined with concern, he turns to leave. "Let's go."
ChibiUsa is placed gently upon Mamoru's bed at his apartment, and he gingerly edges next to her. He takes her hand, concentrating. A pure golden glow glimmers around their hands.
"Mamoru!..." One of the Scouts protests, "Are you sure, your body...?"
"It'll be fine supporting this one life," Mamoru interrupts, in a soothing voice, "Right now our bodies are completely one. It's no effort for me to keep us alive."
"ChibiUsa..." Usagi kneels by the bedside, holding the girl's other hand to her own ear. It's like she can hear ChibiUsa's heartbeat, but she knows it's actually Mamoru's. The moments that pass are breaking her heart.
The apartment door opens, and three familiar figures walk through.
"So, the prince is keeping her alive--"
"Her Hoste has been stolen," Setsuna cuts Haruka off before she can offend the bereaved younger Scouts.
"Her Hoste?!" Usagi replaces ChibiUsa's hand by her side and stands, bewildered and upset.
"Death Busters have been stealing the Hoste - the soul - from their targets," Michiru explains simply. "They then turn the soulless bodies into slaves.
"You know the connection between yourself and your crystal, Princess. When she stole ChibiUsa's crystal, the soul within it was stolen, too."
Usagi frantically returns to the bedside. "So ChibiUsa?!?--"
Setsuna shakes her head, "Hotaru is the Vessel."
Ami, aka Sailor Mercury, postures softly, "So, she is possessed? We have really been fighting humans possessed by the enemy..."
Rei - Sailor Mars - queries, "...When they transformed into monsters?..."
"You were witnessing the successful completion of the Vessel transformation from a human body to a Daimon body," Haruka says. "Once they change into that, there's no hope for them."
Usagi speaks slowly, making sense out of the situation for herself, "So, they used ChibiUsa's soul, her crystal, to awaken a Daimon possessing Hotaru..." She stops to think.
"We have to go save Hotaru and ChibiUsa, by getting ChibiUsa's crystal back!!" she finally concludes.
With that, the Inner Scouts all jump to leave for the outside. The Outer Scouts all stand unmoving, eyeing each other or the floor.
"Princess," Setsuna says, "there is something we know, that you should know as well..."
"We must tell you about our mission--" Michiru continues.
The Inner Scouts look at each other. Rei speaks up for them, confused, "About the Goddess of Destruction?"
The Outer Scouts exchange silent looks between themselves. And then they explain everything.
------------------------------------------------
"I... I was... so foolish."
She watches herself offer light from ChibiUsa's pendant upwards, above her head. She looks older. She is taller. Her hair is so long that it runs to the floor and off beyond where she can see. ...In the center of her forehead, is a solid black five-pointed star.
And she can't believe what else has changed. Her arms are bare -- and they are plain, human flesh.
From the wall in front of her, huge hands of swirling dark, murky energy appear. They come close to the pendant being held on high and begin absorbing all the light that falls from it.
"ChibiUsa's pendant? ...No!..."
Her body whips around, looking for something or someone. Finding nothing, she turns back to the murky hands. She watches herself force power somehow from ChibiUsa's pendant, or rather, the shining crystal within. The cavern they are in rumbles fiercely.
"ChibiUsa... I'm so sorry... Mistress Nine took my body. And your soul."
Mistress Nine snaps her head around again. "Who's there?!?"
Her voice reverberates deep into the darkness behind her.
"WHAT IS IT, MISTRESS NINE?"
"A trick of the cave, I'm sure," she says, dismissingly. "This is not a Hoste. This is a Silver Imperium Crystal.
"It holds a limitless power within."
"OOOHHH, MY BODY FEELS CRAZED!"
"Master Pharaoh 90," Mistress Nine withdraws the pendant, "please wait. I will unlock its infinite power for you!"
"YEESSS, FILL ME WITH POWER AGAIN FOR MY VESSEL TRANSFORMATION - I WILL TRANSFORM THIS PLANET FOR OUR SECOND HOME!!"
They laugh, triumphantly together.
Hotaru watches, silently.
------------------------------------------------
"SAILOR SATURN?!?"
Haruka pushes on, "Sailor Saturn's awakening is near."
Setsuna says, "The invader from outside can no longer be stopped. That's what we felt."
"So, the Talismans are calling to each other," Haruka says.
Rei mutters, "The Talismans..."
"When the Talismans are brought together, and aligned, they become the Key to awaken Sailor Saturn. We three are the guardians of that Key," Michiru says.
"We never imagined this could happen," Setsuna looks away. "For Saturn to be reborn on this planet must mean the gears of fate have been thrown off somehow. But we will keep her awakening from starting."
Sailor Venus - Mina - is startled, "How?"
Haruka answers her without a moment's stop, "We'll kill her. And that will seal away Saturn forever."
"No!" Usagi shouts, "You can't!"
Frowning, Michiru says, "Even without our help, she doesn't have much longer. Before she was taken over, she was on the verge of death. Her father made her both human and machine after she was critically injured in a laboratory fire as a little girl. He ignored her afterwards, and her young body is already falling apart."
"She would only die in agony anyway," Haruka shrugs, "now that she has been taken over by the enemy, that is more true than ever. We'll just put her out of her misery."
Usagi clenches her fists, starting to cry, "You can't!! You can't!! You can't kill her!!"
"Even if Saturn doesn't awaken, the world will be destroyed!! She has ChibiUsa's Silver Imperium Crystal, and if we don't kill her, she will kill us!!
"You have to make a choice, and if you want to save ChibiUsa, you have to fight Hotaru and take her soul back."
Usagi cries. "We know there is a future. Saturn may not awaken! We can save everyone... There must be a way. You can't... kill her...!"
The Outer Soldiers look sadly at each other.
"...We thought you would say that.
"That's why we can't work together," Michiru states.
"You can hate us. You can even think of us as enemies.
"This is the only way," they turn to go. "We will perform our duty, and save the world."
Usagi's knees buckle, and she kneels beside the bed.
What should I do... What should I do...? she thinks over and over to herself.
ChibiUsa...!
I don't want to see you or Hotaru, or any of this planet's people die!...
Her hands clasp around ChibiUsa again.
What should I do...? I can't choose.
What should I...
Mamoru embraces her, mid-thought. They hold each other for a moment.
"Go get them back. ChibiUsa's soul and her Silver Imperium Crystal.
"We can't give up hope. We have to do what we can right now."
Rei, Mina, Ami, and Makoto agree in unison. "Don't give up hope! We can get ChibiUsa's soul back. Let's go!"
"Guys..." Usagi looks up with surprise. Then she nods, firmly. "Let's go."
Hope...