Author's Note on April 9, 2008:
This is a set of seven ficlets, which were originally part of a project I was doing for the 7crystals livejournal community. 7crystals was a lovely community with great members, but it's now defunct.
Each ficlet is inspired by a prompt, which is listed just before each story begins. I wrote these with a time limit of about 30-45 minutes. That entails thinking up the story, writing in down, and drawing it to a close within that time limit. I try to do them in 30, but sometimes I get a little more attached to a particular story, or it's harder to write. I do give them a quick proof-read before they get thrown up here. The one exception on this time limit is the last ficlet, Dawn, which took me a couple of days to finish. Hey, I figure I can bend the rules to suit my schedule.
Most of these are rated G (or K), though there is one with a higher rating, and the overall rating of Facet reflects this. Relevant warnings are posted before each story begins.
Without further ado, I give you Facet. I hope you enjoy it!
Ghost
prompt: Corner
Every time Makoto began to transform into Sailor Jupiter, she thought she caught a glimpse of the Moon Kingdom out of the corner of her eye.
It always disappeared as the transformation whirled her away, but its afterimage burned into her brain, begging her to remember that what power she had now was nothing compared to the might of what had come before.
She never brought this up with the others. She thought that they probably always sensed that distant kingdom in their own ways - Rei in her seer's fires, Ami in the alien algorithms of her computer, Minako in the eyes of Artemis, and Usagi with the beat of her heart.
Although Makoto wasn't particularly religious - tangible subjects were more her style - she knew that this particular past echoed within her whenever thunder rolled overhead, and she imagined that she could see that ancient kingdom between bright flashes of lightening. She smiled a thin, sad smile when she felt the Sailor Jupiter of old stir in her a little when these crackling storms darkened the sky, inviting her to dance in the rain.
It was a very primitive urge, and one that she could not have explained even if she cared to. But she obeyed it always, and storms over Tokyo always found her on the roof of her apartment building, her shouts drowned by the thunder and her skin wet and fizzling. When the winds moved on, Makoto would curl in on herself, spent and miserable.
In her mind, Sailor Jupiter - the power of the Old, and of the Yet To Come - would smile at her, eyes full of earnest reassurance, and Makoto would flinch.
Makoto knew, in those storm-quiet moments, that Sailor Jupiter would consume her one day, and that everyone would consider the power of the Soldier as her birthright. Makoto feared the day when lightening would surge through her veins instead of blood, and wondered what would then become of all that she was now.
Then she would slowly go downstairs, take a shower, and bake cookies for her friends, grateful to be Kino Makoto for just a little while longer.