Author's note: Alright, umm, this is a one shot that I made a long time ago. The idea behind this, is that there are multiple "universes". Each universe has it's own world and it's own rules. The gates of time and space has a door into each one. The one shot has a chance to be expanded upon. As I worked with it, I realized that it has great potential as a multi-chapter fiction. I may actually do that, however I wanted to see how many people actually found interest in this. I'm putting it out there for you guys to see. If this is something you'd like to see expanded upon, let me know. If not, it will remain the one shot it was originally intended to be.
Summary: How does the world come back after Hotaru's destroyed it? Rebuilding the world is a harsh and grueling task, and seemingly, it never ends. Hotaru may be of light and dark, but she is also equality for those who no longer have a choice in the matter.
I do not own Sailor Moon.
Possible Prologue?
The creaking of a door resonated through the sounds of utter silence. There had been no noise for days, and for several weeks, each door Setsuna opened showed her nothing short of a derelict. She closed the door and opened the next one. This hall a never ending corridor filled with rooms. Some into the past, others into the future. A few doors, one's that had no meaning served to drive her insane. She grumbled as this next one did just that. The door opened, just like every other door, however, unlike every other door, this one had quite the bizarre destination, and she found herself sighing indignantly.
"Just the last thing I had wished to find, my rear end." She pulled her head from the door, slamming it quite hard in frustration. The next door she opened with care. She didn't want to invite any more trouble than she already had on her plate. "Not here either." Again, she closed the door. It was a disheartening and repetitive process. A few more doors would yield little in the way of advancement. yet again, Setsuna felt her body sag with tension. The tasks in front of her seemingly never ending. "Where are you, Hotaru?"
The question was laced with anguish. Her mind was weak, and her crimson eyes that normally held beauty, told of a tale glazed thickly with misfortune. These last few years both lonely and bothersome. She knew it was part of her job, she was a woman sworn by oath. With little progress and a multitude of failures she ended her search for the day. It seemed as if she would spend another night in the solitude of the gates. It was something she hated, if she were honest about the matter. She had no sooner leaned upon the wall for support that a nearby door creaked open.
"Who goes?" Setsuna asked, her body already already transformed as instantly as the winds, her staff gripped tightly in her hands. "If you are not my foe, speak now." Her order was calm, but very deadly spoken. The creature didn't speak, and as chains rattled in the distance, Setsuna could barely make out the creatures form. Slowly, she crept closer. "Your name?" Setsuna queried, looking onward at the showy figure. It growled at her, and she tensed up, seeing a green glow emit from the dark shroud that veiled them. "Ah, a fellow Senshi!"
"My honored guest, it is a pleasure. I am Sailor Pluto, and welcome, to my rather dreary abode." Joy slipped into her voice. even though the creature before her kept growling. "Yes, surely this opulence is quite the obscurity for one such as you. I am more than willing to take the time and teach you all that you've missed in these last many years." She held out her hand for a small child she could now see as she approached him. "You too, are a figure of darkness. One seeking to bring light for those who have sinned, are you not?" The air was thick, a fog covering the ground. This place was Setsuna's territory, her station in all Senshi related matters.
"Yes." Another voice spoke quietly. "He is." The person also came into view, watching as the child before them looked on with fascination. On all fours, deep eyes of darkened green gazed with hate, the small male sniffing the air. "Do not startle him, he is still a creature of feral nature. There will be no end to his curiosity, or trouble if he gets loose." It seemed as the boy lacked any sophistication. He was dirty and unkempt.
"He listens for your command?" Pluto asked, her eyes still on the boy that was easily considered a beast.
"Hardly." Hotaru scoffed. "He is the lost soul of a child. One who will take Jupiter's name. This one belongs only to Makoto."
"I find this entire situation boggling." Pluto sighed. Surely, she was not a daft woman, she knew well that with great power, some manner of depravity had to be met. "He seems no more than a crazed child. Are these beings really children who can be saved?"
"I was not the only child to receive dark power within my body, nor am I the only human to have been manipulated as a child. A time when nightmares are still fierce." Hotaru reminder her mother coolly. They were not related by blood, but the story of their lives gave little solace. It was the duty of a Sailor Senshi. Hotaru's story one well known, and told by all who knew of them. "When they reach the light, that is, when someone teaches them what love means, they will no longer be such twisted creatures."
"We have our own out there someplace, don't we?" Sailor Pluto replied, her voice soft with pain. "Children that will become our pupils through such means?"
"I don't know." Hotaru sighed, looking on at the boy before her. Thin and frail, there was no way a boy like him could ever become worthy in this state. "The powers of the Senshi are very obscure things. There is no possible way to know who will receive the power. It could in fact be a child, but that is not always such the case." He was not very old, naked, and with a collar around his neck, he was no more than a mongrel. "Jupiter is a very strong power, laced with deeply seeded wishes, and even darker desires. It will take time before we can cultivate him into a boy to be sent into the past."
"Why must fate be so cruel." Setsuna, although she had seen a great many things, could not forget the pain within his eyes. She reach out to bet him, but he merely snarled and tried to attack her, choking himself as he fought the restraint Hotaru had on him.
"Cruel?" That was comical, almost to much so. "No, it isn't. It would be a sad day, even hell for him, had we not found him. Fate, for this child at least, is a gift from the heavens."
"Talking from experience?" It was the only thing Setsuna could assume.
"Indeed, I am." Hotaru nodded.
.
…...
…...
Time, is like that of a clock, ticking away slowly.
Tick...
Tock...
Tick...
Tock...
It never stops. The flow of time never obscured, nor halted. There is nothing we can do to change that. As such, there will come a day when Usagi's lineage will fall again. It is the line of fate to do so. In her bloodline, happiness can only go on for so long, and life will begin anew. There will come a time though, when no matter what we do, all will fall. As Sailor Senshi, there will be nothing we can do, and the world will die out, completely.
Tick...
Tock...
Tick...
Tock...
No matter how we may try, there will be no stopping what must end. However, the ending can be prolonged, as long as someone greater than ourselves permits such a thing. That is to say, a power stronger than ourselves. Although, I do not know if I believe in such a thing...
Regardless...
For those who can not die, they will never see a happy world. Fated to be alone, they are souls left behind, forgotten, in a world that has already been taken. It is my job, as Sailor Saturn to bring mercy for these souls. I am darkness, but, I am also light. When a soul is found, they are tainted creatures who understand very little. They are dark, spiteful little things. Evil that should have died. However, since they haven't, clearly, the being must have something deep within.
Something merciful...
It takes a few years to rid them of the evil darkness that lurks within them. Whatever troubles them, I try my best to heal the wounds. When I can do no more, and I feel a better teacher can take my place, I leave the soul in the past, where I know a Sailor Senshi will find them. Then, for several years, the child stays there. Learning from the person that can pull forth only the best and purest power. Then, I take the soul away again, after they have learned their job. I place these young men and women on their own, and sooner or later, a new world is born.
After that, the choices they make are up to them...
Tick...
Sometimes, I must destroy them nearly immediately, for they still have weakness, and they fail to cooperate.
Tock...
Other times, life goes onward without me for many, many generations...
Tick...
The choice is theirs.
Tock...
That has been my calling, since I fist learned the meaning of my very breath.
.
..
…
….
…..
…...
…...
"Life is such a fleeting thing." Hotaru sighed. Time was a wonderful thing, and by manipulating it, there were many things, both good and bad that could come of it. "There is no more I can do for him now." The boy had grown older, although for Hotaru and Setsuna, it seemed a very short time.
"It's been four years Hotaru, have you not found anyone else in this carnage?" Setsuna looked at the world in front of her. The loss of a kingdom so great, it still shook her to the very core. "There must be someone. Anyone else would be a step in the right direction."
"All hope of life is gone from this place. We will have to search the the other failures, for there are still many we haven't checked." Hotaru's mind was occupied with her task, but still, there was one thing left undone. "We must leave him in a place Jupiter will find him. A Jupiter that shares his burdens, and can comfort him, raise him into a proper Sailor Warrior."
"There have been many to take on that task Hotaru. For as many rebirths that the world has had, there have been an equal number of reincarnated Sailor Senshi." Setsuna's eyes hadn't left their mark, a fallen castle, a dilapidated hope that had been crushed into pieces. "The question is a matter of preference. However, even I don't know who would be able enough to understand this boy."
"There are many who could." Hotaru followed a strict code, knowing better than anyone the importance of picking the right person. "However, it is as I stated when we found the child. He will belong to Kino Makoto."
"Why her, of all people?" The question was one carried upon the wind, and Hotaru merely laughed at the absurdity of it.
"A better question would be, why their time, of all places..." Hotaru pointed at a door that had been sealed off long ago, those days for her nothing but a mere memory. "Send him there, during a period of calm." She had been a happy teen, just like all of the Sailor Senshi. "Allow Makoto's childlike innocence to end like a crushing wave, so that she will take him in. Through that, there is no doubt in my mind she will raise this cationic child to become something far greater than ever before." Back in those days, Usagi was still just a teen herself, not yet the great queen hailed upon for eons.
"It will change fate..."
"It will do very little, Pluto." Hotaru placed her hand on the door that Setsuna was gazing through, closing it, and in doing so, shutting off a current reality. "These doors open many portals. It is my duty to direct that of death and rebirth. In a way, you could call me fate in and of itself. After all, I do dictate when a world no longer has the capacity to make proper choices."
"That's sacrilege." Sailor Pluto gasped. "You know better than to make such firm declarations, no matter how possible the idea may be."
"This is true." Hotaru nodded. "But, I also know better than to assume that this gate tells no lies. All living creatures make errors, miscalculations that can never be undone. It is that very truth that solidifies the fact that I'm not a god, and never will be." again, Hotaru pointed at the far away door. "Some things will indeed change, however everything must one day end. The door you choose now changes that truth very little. That is why there are paradoxes, so that a new beginning can always occur."
Sailor Pluto didn't like the order, but she followed it, taking the boy by the hand, and wordlessly leading him out the door. She arrived in her bedroom, this reality hadn't ever really ended for her, in fact none of them did. As long as time was a fluid thing, Setsuna would always break the rules. Fate, in some cases, such as this, not only permitted it, the very hope of universal stability depended on it. Here, in a place that never seemingly ended, she would live out the same reality over and over, there were only a few changes, and those didn't matter for her.
The boy merely stood there, mindlessly looking out the window. His eyes were void of anything emotional, only deep green pools of lost hope. His reflection in the glass like a doll, both uncaring and unmoving. An eerie child that soon would find interest in this reality. When that happened, Setsuna would abandon him, and simply watch events fold out. She had done this many times, a seasoned veteran at the art. "I never was a good mother." She told the boy. "However, I did try my best."
Picture frames filled the room giving light to the often dark space. The walls were wine colored, the drapery keeping the sun far and away from dreamland. It was a simple little room. Dusted and polished, all of the furniture was well cared for. "Not that she was ever my real child mind you, but we still liked to live as best as we could." Setsuna chuckled in fondness. "We had a family here, makeshift though it was. I was different, more naive back then."
She felt as if she was dangling a piece of steak in front of him, yet his eyes never left the window. "This place is...different...than anything you've ever known before." She smiled at him. "Four years really does make all of the difference." She sat on her bed, the truth was, for her, it seemed far longer. "I'll be honest, I didn't think I would be coming back ever again, however, I guess that Hotaru preferred this particular world. Even though it was filled with grief, it held some of our happiest memories."
The relic filled past made her want to cry a bit, and with that she stood, wishing an escape. "Sailor Pluto is as fluid as time in and of itself. There is a younger version of me here. One who lived in this world many thousands of years ago, before it was ended." How long had it been? She honestly hadn't a clue. "This version of myself...she knows all of the past, and all of the future. She will know what her task is. As soon as she takes one look at you, fate will take action. So please, child, find your voice for her."
Tick...
Tock...
Tick...
And just like that, when Setsuna walked through the door again, Hotaru was alone, standing in the misty gates. "I hate doing that, it never gets any easier."
"It was something you had to do." Hotaru sighed. "We are the condemned ones, after all."
"How many endings have occurred?" Setsuna asked as she looked at her gloved hand. "How many of me, of us, are there?"
"I have traveled just as many places as you have, and I do not have an answer for you." There was one thing Hotaru knew though, one thing she held dearly close to her heart. "We are beings that are meant to exist under circumstance. As many as needed will be there, and one day, if we aren't needed, we will vanish. If you still wish to amuse how many worlds have died and been reborn, I can only tell you this; you'll never have an answer."
"Why not?"
"Because we are the dark ones, we were never meant to do anything but bring death. The worlds that live happily ever after, we will never visit them, because we are never needed."
"Then...why do you always send me to that one spot?"
Hotaru smiled softly, a gentleness on her face that Setsuna hadn't ever seen on her grim features. "That time, that world, is the only one where I have ever been given mercy. It is a place that I have never had to restart, because the crystal did it, all because of a pure wish Usagi made deep within her heart. It is the only place that lives happily. No matter how many times I check, and wait to bring death, there is always happiness." Hotaru smiled as she looked through the door. She saw herself, playing with her family. something treasured back then. "I, well a different me anyway, is still alive. She is pure, more than I could ever be."
To be continued?
Ending Note: So, yeah guys, like I said, was meant to be a slightly open ended one shot. If you'd like to see it expanded upon, let me know. I'm still considering doing so, but just not sure if I want to yet or not. I kinda like the unsettled atmosphere that this one shot is.