Note: Another story written using RPG characters. Think of them as the Neo versions of the original Senshi… that is, Neo Mercury, Neo Saturn, etc… I'm sure you've heard of those before. ;) This story takes place on the moon, before the Senshi have really become Senshi… I don't know, maybe it won't be so confusing once you read it. And yes, they have American (for the most part) names. :p
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See this scar here, on my knuckle?
I got that when I was ten. I hit Jeremy in the face. He had glasses. The frame bent right in the middle, sorta like this, and went - shuu - right across my knuckle.
What? The thing about "never hitting a guy with glasses" - that's an Earth saying. We didn't have it on the Moon... at least not where I was from. Heh heh.
Jeremy... umm, I think he was 12. Maybe 11. He asked for it, really. Probably didn't believe girls could hit all that hard. So I showed him.
The next day we walked to school together, and the day after that we had lunch together.
Aah, I know, that sounds so sweet and all that. I guess it was at the time... but eventually we got older and had to go our separate ways.
Let's see. Oh, this one here? On my forearm? Yeah, you can barely see it. Come a bit closer... it's that white mark there. Ha-ha. That was fire! Yep. I got too close to a bonfire. I was just standin' there. ... Oh, all right. I was actually jumping through it. My feet were okay. So were my legs. Even my hair. But my left arm! Of all things! Oh, those were the days!
I had a lot of fun when I was younger. Me and my friends, I'm sure all the oldtimers thought we were a crazy bunch. But we never caused any trouble. I think we were good kids...
Especially Saira. She was my best friend. It was funny, 'cause I guess most people wouldn't think we'd get along. We were opposites. I was loud, she was quiet. I was brash, she was polite. I cut my hair and wore boys' clothes... her hair was knee-length and I don't think I ever saw her in pants, except for that one time when we were playing at my house; we overflowed the kitchen sink and got drenched. The only thing she had to change into was one of my outfits.
But yeah. I don't actually think we were opposites, not in the sense that other people did. It was more like - we were two halves of one person. What I lacked, she made up for. And vice versa.
When we were young teenagers, I guess about thirteen or fourteen, Saira went on this real hippie like thing. It was some kind of Earth custom she picked up. All day long, she'd float around talkin' about peace and love and flowers and grooves and stuff. It was kinda funny at first, but it seemed to suit her.
One day we were sitting outside, not doing anything special, when suddenly Saira turned to me and said, "I love you, Trisha."
I laughed. "Yeah, if you say so."
She was persistent. "No, really. I love you from the deepest part of my heart. I can't remember one day when I didn't feel this way. You're my best friend in the whole world."
That was nice. I smiled. "Thanks. You're my best friend, too."
And that was all we said about that, at least for that afternoon. For the next while, I just laid in the shade of a tree, listening to Saira hum. As the sun was setting, and I was falling asleep, Saira knelt down in the grass in front of me. The sun behind her glowed like a golden halo around her chestnut brown hair, and I remember thinking, "Fire." She was just there to tell me we should be getting home, but all the time after that, I thought, "Fire."
Which is probably why I tried to jump through the bonfire that other night.
Not a good idea, for a Senshi of Ice.
Of course, I didn't think about any o' that Senshi-of-Ice stuff back then. That came later.
*************************
My days were pretty routine back then. Go to school, come home, run around with Saira for awhile. I really didn't have anything to worry about. And I had plenty of free time to play sports and work out and do all the things I wanted to.
After finishing my homework for the day, I would climb up Luminescent Hill, a kind of a steep incline, but it had a great view at the top. Saira waited for me at the top, sitting in the grass, her billowy skirts flowing about her legs like wildflowers. I dropped down ungracefully beside her, sending up dandelion fluff.
"Oh, you!" Saira laughed, playfully bonking me on the arm with her fist.
"What's up, Chicken Stuff?"
"Trisha, I've been thinking..."
I settled back on the grass, lying down with my arms folded behind my head. Inwardly, I thought, again? But I just smiled. Usually this comment was followed by some little piece of wisdom Saira had somehow snatched from the fuzzy little hands of a passing dandelion fluffball, or unfolded from the seed of a clover.
"Do you ever think about the day we first met?"
I paused. "Honestly? ...Not really. Why?"
"Well, do you remember it?" Something about her tone of voice made me roll over to my side and look up at her. She was looking off to the horizon, but when she felt my eyes on her she turned and regarded me firmly.
"Try, Trisha. Just try."
"How did you know I couldn't?"
Her expression didn't falter. "Because I can't remember, either."
**********************
That night, I laid in bed for a long time. I couldn't sleep, so I got up, creapt out the house, and ran around the block a few times. When I got back, I started towards my bedroom window, but detoured and headed for the garage instead, where my punching bag was kept. I put on my gloves and worked out for a while, pounding the hard sand bag relentlessly, and then I took off the gloves and continued. I wasn't really thinking anything. I didn't even really hear the sound of my breath or my fists hitting the leather, echoing through the darkened garage. Maybe an hour or so later, I finally dragged myself back to bed, fists throbbing.
I didn't feel tired at all, but for some reason, I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I don't know how long I was asleep before I woke up; it was still dark out, so probably not that long. But I had an uneasy feeling. I knew something had woken me up.
Trisha.
A whispered voice, a girl's. I rubbed my eyes and squinted through the darkness, lit only by a sliver of moon through my window. "Saira?" I whispered back.
"Trisha." A little louder this time.
"'Zat you, Saira? Where are ya?"
Something moving at the foot of my bed. I started to sit up, but felt I couldn't move - it was as if there was a great weight on my shoulders, holding me down. Saira moved so that her back was to the window. I couldn't see her face, but her silhouette was familiar - that long dress, the long hair.
She seemed different somehow. Her hair was shorter. "Did you cut your--" I started to say, but my voice suddenly caught in my throat. I couldn't speak.
Saira... she began to glow. That's the only way I can explain it. It was a white light, but not a bright light... more greyish. It seemed to come from... nowhere; if anywhere, it was inside her. She glowed brighter, but she was still dark; she was covered in white light, but there were no shadows. I couldn't do anything but stare at this girl who I realized wasn't exactly Saira.
She looked the same. Almost. She wore Saira's clothes, but she was smaller. Her hair was black, not brown, and it was straight, not wavy. She had Saira's eyes. But not Saira's face. I was too confused. I felt the Earth tip below me, slanting abruptly to the side, and then my consciousness slipped away into darkness.
*******************
Here. Let me show you... it's kind of underneath my hair. See that? Yep, another scar - I must've cut myself on something when I fell out of bed. Yeah, I was never known to be much of a neatnik, not like that Celes.
******************
I awoke the next morning, half in my bed, half out. My head was on the floor, and my legs were tangled up in the covers, as if I'd been thrashing about and flung myself out of bed. Must've been a bad dream. But it wasn't bad. I saw Saira. Or... somebody who looked like Saira. Nothing happened. So it wasn't bad.
Saira wasn't at school that day. I asked the teacher about it, and she said she had called in sick. The flu or something. There was a virus going around, after all. I decided to cut class after lunch hour. Walking away from the school, I grabbed a few tulips out of a neighbour's garden.
****************
"You know, I had the funniest dream last night," I told Saira, who was sitting up in bed with a thermometer in her mouth.
"Oh? What about?"
"I don't know, really. You appeared, at the foot of my bed."
Saira's eyes lit up. "What did I do?"
I frowned. "Well... not much. Just kinda stood there. Glowed a bit."
"I glowed, eh? What color?"
"What color..? Oh, ummm... white, I think. Or grey."
"White? Not blue?"
"No, I'm pretty sure it was white. Why blue?"
Saira sat back on her pillow. She shifted the thermometer to the other side of her mouth. "No reason. Just curious."
**************
Left, right. Left, right. Huff, huff, huff.
I was in one of my after-school clubs, a mixed-martial arts club. Actually, this was the only club I stayed in, besides soccer (however, those meets were in the morning). I eventually dropped out of wrestling, basketball, track, and boxing. I told myself I needed more time to study.
Of course, my grades didn't improve after that. They didn't even change.
But anyway. Left, right. Left, right. Snap out, pull in. We were lined up, each person with a partner, one partner holding a hand-sized target. My partner was a girl about my height, and she watched me from behind the target as I tried to aim all my punches precisely in the center.
Trisha.
Someone was calling me, but I couldn't turn around. I was deep in concentration. All I could see was the center of the target; the world seemed hazy around the edges.
Tweet! The coach blew his whistle. "All right, change sides!" he called, and my partner handed the target to me.
As we rearranged ourselves and got into position, I looked over my shoulder, towards the door, to see who had called me. No one was there, so I figured they'd gotten tired of waiting and left. I shrugged it off and raised the target just above chest-level.
Beat, beat. Beat, beat. My partner's punches were strong, and I could feel the target threatening to bend my hand backwards. I planted my feet and held it with two hands. Punch, punch. Left, right.
Trisha.
I looked up, thinking my partner said something. But she was looking at the target, not at me, and even when I stared at her for a few seconds, she didn't return my gaze.
Trisha, listen.
"Trisha!" My partner hissed between her teeth. I shook my head out of a fog that I hadn't even realized I was in, and noticed I'd been lowering my arm.
"Sorry," I murmured, raising it again. She re-composed herself, and soon seemed to have that trance-like stare everyone gets when doing the same repetitive motions over and over. Even the sound of everyone hitting the targets at the same time was getting to me. I felt my head become cloudy...
Trisha, listen. I've come to tell you... the planets are aligned... our powers will combine... two years from--
CRUNCH. My arm jerked to the side, and my partner barely had a chance to gasp before her fist skimmed past it and slammed into my nose.
***********************
...Two years from now, we will be together.
Saira?
But we're already together.
The real Saira, the real me, we'll be together.
...
...Will you remember me?
************************
"Oh gosh, Trisha, I can't believe I did that," a voice said, to my left.
"Errnngghhhfff," I grunted, struggling to open my eyes. A sharp pain ran up my spine; I was lying on a really hard surface.
"Easy does it, here, hold this over your nose." Coach's voice. An ice pack, placed on the bridge of my nose.
I opened my eyes, wincing at the bright lights. I was in the gym, lying on the floor, with the class gathered around me, looking worried.
"Okay, okay, I'm all right," I said, brushing off somebody's hand and sitting up. I held the ice pack to my nose, and when I lowered it, the white cloth wrapped around plastic baggie of ice cubes was clean. No blood. I gingerly felt my nose with my fingertips. Didn't feel broken... maybe just a bit sore.
"I'm really, really sorry," my partner repeated.
I looked at her, as if she was out of focus. "It's okay. Really."
*************************
I decided to leave then, even though there was about half an hour left to training. I walked home with my bag slung over my shoulder, feeling sheepish.
She hadn't even really hit me that hard. It shouldn't have knocked me off my feet like that. It shouldn't have knocked me out, period.
I headed up to Luminescent Hill, even though Saira was still sick at home with the flu. We never went up there alone; it just didn't seem right.
Today it did.
I climbed to the top of the hill, and sat in my usual spot, under the tree. Someone was already there, a girl dressed in white, sitting right at the peak. She was hazy, as if I was viewing her through a mist. I just stared at her.
Two years from now, Trisha. I promise. I shouldn't have done things this way, but... it's too late to change that now.
You'll see me, the real me. And I'll see the real you.
"I won't call you Saira, will I?" I said in a low voice, watching the wind blow her hair over her face. The locks of black hair twisted in the wind, then fluttered like ribbons.
No. And I will call you Mercury.
**********************
The end.