Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Sailor Moon, they belong to Naoko Takeuchi. Other characters belong to their respective creators. What is mine is the story; please ask before posting it elsewhere.
The Truth
about Makoto by Lioconvoy
Chapter One: That Woman
Makoto woke up breathing heavily. In her dream she was swimming with her father and she was carrying a heavy pack upon her back. They had been swimming for a long while and she was getting tired, the pack seemed to get heavier, and she was pulled under the water. That was when she woke up. She felt as if she died during that swim, but it was just a nightmare after all, right? She never did any swimming with her father, not that she could remember.
For the last several nights she had been having dreams that seemed like forgotten memories, but they didn't make any sense: A forgotten best friend; spending so much time with her father; the item she lost when falling into that pool. The fact that she could remember these dreams even when awake disturbed her more than a little.
It all started when she saw that woman with the others while shopping. The woman with brown eyes who looked so much like herself. In the dream that woman was her mother, but that couldn't be, her mother was dead, she had died with her father. Why was there this feeling of familiarity with a woman she had only seen once?
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"Mako is something wrong?"
Makoto looked up from her lunch and saw Minako looking down at her. "I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?" Minako sat down next to her taller friend. Today during class Makoto just seemed out of it, and she intended to find out why. It was odd Usagi wasn't already bugging her about it; the scatterbrained princess was normally the first to notice these kinds of things.
"I've just been feeling different lately. I've been having dreams that seem like they're from my past, but I didn't remember any of it before, and the other day Usagi and I went to the airport to see her father off and I didn't even flinch at the sounds of the planes. I've feared them ever since my parents died in a crash. Usagi thinks it's great I've overcome my fear, I just don't see how I did." Jupiter's Senshi sighed. Usagi didn't seem to understand what was going on at all. Then again she didn't herself.
"You went to the airport and weren't scared, I've seen you react to planes before, that's amazing"
"I know it's like I remembered I'm not afraid of them, but that's not the same as overcoming a fear is it? I've been having a little trouble with Artemis and Luna though." Trading one fear with another, at least with cats she had forgotten her fear for so long that it wasn't as bad as her fear of planes was. Still she didn't yet know why she feared felines yet.
Mina looked at her friend quirking her face a little. "You're afraid of the moon cats now?"
"Not just the moon cats, all cats sort of make me jumpy when ever they're around." Unfortunately the Juban district was full of stray cats too. Makoto hoped that this memory of fear got weaker instead of stronger. How could she be a senshi if she couldn't work with Luna or Artemis?
"Weird. Maybe it stuff from your past life?"
"Maybe, I guess I should bother Luna after school today." Makoto said finishing her lunch.
"After Ami meets her date, I want to see who this mysterious guy is." At their last Senshi meeting the shy senshi had blurted out she was seeing someone. Mina couldn't help but wonder who.
"Sure." Mako said as she got up. She wouldn't mind putting aside her trouble to view her friend's happiness. Now though, it was time to get back to class.
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The Moon Princess didn't know where she was, but it wasn't school. This wasn't the first time she had been here either. The creepy male voice had been dragging her here a lot lately. "You know I don't like class and all, but I'd rather be there than here."
"I've told you before child, your body is still in class, only your mind is here."
Again it was only a voice. Usagi pouted, would she ever know who it was she was talking to. "Um, why am I here again?"
"Setsuna is still unaware of what I have had you do. I am quite grateful."
"Hmp, I can keep a secret you know. How come Pluto made Makato forget her Mother? Why did she make her think she was dead?" It was sort of fun withholding information from Time's Guardian. She didn't need to be a know-it-all all the time. Still if Chibi-usa hadn't told Usagi to trust this guy she'd think he was a bad guy. Afterall, he never showed himself and he didn't seem really nice either.
"You ask that question every time we meet. The answer is still the same. I cannot tell you, if I did it would possibly turn Zeus' senshi against even you. I cannot have that."
"Zeus' Senshi?" They were talking about Makoto weren't they, wasn't she Jupiter's senshi?
"Do not worry about that Princess, please continue to heal Makoto. Help her to overcome both the fear that isn't and the fear that is. Help her to meet her mother as well. Do not let on what I have told you to Setsuna, she cannot know or she will stop you and hurt Makoto more.
"Okay, I won't." After saying those words Usagi found herself back in class with the same question fresh on her mind that she always had after talking to the voice. Why did Pluto want to hurt Makoto? Pluto did a lot of things for the sake of the future, but how could Makoto not knowing her mother help the future. It just seemed mean.
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Rei sat in front the sacred flame with her grandfather. He had made her skip school today to watch a prophecy he had seen recently. Channeling her spirit energies into the fire she saw a boy who looked much like Makoto in the center of chaos. Monsters were all around him tearing Tokyo to shreds. Then the boy let out a dark purple energy and everything was destroyed. The vision ended there. "Grandfather, what does this mean?"
"I am not sure. I understand that the boy is in turmoil, but nothing more. Normally when monsters threaten the city the Senshi are there, but nowhere in the vision did I see them."
"Could the monsters have killed them first and the boy is the only hope?" Thinking on that, Saturn came to Rei's mind. Was the boy like her, when something couldn't be saved he destroyed it? Then again it didn't seem like he was trying to destroy everything there was a great deal of depression that she could feel from him. He had failed at something maybe?
"I do not know. That technique though, I've seen it before. A Young man who travels about aimlessly uses it. It is called the Shishi Höködan. It takes one's depression and turns it into a destructive force. For it to be so powerful something terrible must have happened to the boy."
That fit into what she was thinking, but what could have depressed the boy so much he was able to destroy Toyko, monsters and all. Maybe after the others got out of school she'd call a meeting.
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This shouldn't be. Sailor Chaos was to be the last enemy the Senshi were to face until the birth of the Neo Silver Millennium. Looking through the gates of time Pluto's Senshi now saw a new enemy. Monsters she had never seen before. They were not the result of Sailor Chaos' influence either. They were something entirely different.
"Surprised my dear?"
That voice, it couldn't possibly be. He was sealed away long ago by the Queen. Slowly she turned around. What Setsuna saw was a thin, pale skinned male with solid black eyes and equally black hair that grew down to his chin. "Severus!"
"Oh, how do love it when you say my name."
"You were sealed away by Queen Serenity, there is no way you can be free?" In Setsuna's mind that wasn't as important, so she decided to ask another question. "These monsters, are they your doing?"
"Yes well, as you can see the seal has been broken. I see you've been abusing my realm quite bit since you've taken it over. The monsters you see, they are not my doing but your own. You tampered with the natural order of things and this is only part of the price you must pay." Severus smiled wickedly.
"You lie! I've already paid the price for my tampering. The Senshi were not to encounter the Dark Moon Kingdom. Pharaoh 90, the Dead Moon Circus, and Sailor Chaos were all battles that should not have been fought yet!"
"You fool! Don't you know the difference between a penalty and a reaction? Because you chose to awaken Jupiter instead of Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus, Souichi Tomoe had that accident. If not for that he would have never fallen prey to Mistress 9 and it would have taken her time to find another host and patsy. Because you brought about Pharaoh 90 too soon the other events followed more quickly then they should have. These were just reactions to your tampering, not the punishment. The monsters you see are the punishment sent by my former masters." Severus turned from the Senshi of Hades and frowned. After all this time she still had no understanding of how things worked, and because of that her masters had forced him to set things right. A job he was not pleased with at all.
"Former masters? You expect me to believe you are on the side of Order now?" Yes Order had those who were less then perfect among their ranks, even Sailor Chaos was a servant of Order despite her name and actions, but still Severus was a true servant of Chaos. It was unlikely he would change sides.
"Yes I am, much to my own disgust. What you did disturbed the balance; you know the whole chaos within order, and order within chaos thing. These creatures are pure chaos. They are to prevent the future of Pure Order you so diligently planned out."
"Why is it I didn't see them through the gates until now?" Depending on his answer Setsuna might give her predecessor the benefit of the doubt.
"Order and Chaos are not limited by our definitions of time. Only when they enter into it can we see them. For this reason your future self will have no knowledge of them, you cannot cheat this victory."
Setsuna looked at the creatures that would soon attack Tokyo, she then looked at Severus. His words were not to be trusted. "Leave here, now. I may not have the power to seal you away as did my queen, but we both know I can kill you."
"And you would, wouldn't you, because you see me as a threat to the future. I am not the threat, you are. I shall take my leave, but hear this and remember the only way for your design for the future to have a chance of existence is for the chaos within Zeus' Senshi to be restored."
The guardian of time watched as time's former protector left its realm. She would have to keep an eye on Makoto to make sure he didn't corrupt her. Now what to do about this problem that was surely his doing.
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Ami sighed, he was late again. She wondered if this was truly the best idea. Sure, the others all urged her to date boys, but she really rather be with her books. They never disappointed her.
"Ami! I'm sorry I'm late, I got lost."
The senshi of Mercury blushed. Maybe a having a guy this cute as her boyfriend was worth a little disappointment. Following Mina and Mako's advice she calmed herself down and played it cool. "Honestly, Ryoga, you're always getting lost."
"Sorry, it runs in the family. I guess it's also contagious, too, since my mom didn't start getting lost all the time till she married my dad. Or at least that's what my aunt always says." The lost boy rubbed his head. For the last four years of his life he'd lived only for the fight, he never found an equal and he had probably been half way around the world with his sense of direction. Then he met Ami, she was cute and intelligent and she somehow served as his compass. Whenever it was to meet her, he always found his way.
"Well I have a pretty good immune system, maybe I can cure you." As in get Usagi to heal him she thought to herself.
"Maybe, shall we go? I think we can still make it to the movie in time." A movie and then dinner was the plan and Ryoga was happy he didn't ruin things for Ami. The two walked to the theater arm in arm despite the looks from those around them.
From behind the corner a nearby building Mina and Mako watched as their shy friend blushed in the arms of the stranger. The Senshi of Love smiled. "I don't think he's noticed how red her face is."
Mako giggled in return. "I don't think she's noticed how red his is."
"Now that we got the important stuff taken care of let's visit Usagi and Luna." Hopefully Luna could shed some light on what ever was bothering their normally love struck friend. It was odd Makoto didn't even try comparing the guy to her long lost sempai.
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Usagi made her way up the steps of the Hikawa shrine, she wondered what Rei would think of her planned conversation. It wasn't going to be something she normally talked with shrine maiden about, but after her last few conversations with the voice, she figured Ami or Rei wound have some understanding of how what she learned may affect Makoto. Since Ami was on a date with a mysterious boy, she had to have this conversation with Rei.
"Usagi! I'm glad you're here! Grandpa showed me a vision; we may have a new enemy."
"What! But Setsuna said we were done with fighting!" Sailor Chaos was supposed to be the last major bad guy according to time's guardian. Well the reason she was here was because Pluto was lying to Mako, maybe she lied about the end to the fighting too. Usagi's eyes started to water. "This is completely unfair."
"Come inside and I'll tell you everything." Rei wasn't surprised at the princess's reaction. Usagi was always whiny and this was bad news after all.
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Lio's Corner:
-This story takes place a few months after Stars.
-Thanks to J.St.C. Partick for pointing out my grammar shortcomings.
