The Mark in the Lace
Prologue
So shall the dancer of the flames burn her enternal mark into the lace of the ages...
Author Unknown
The darkness surrounded her in seclusion. Her mother was on the other side of the world at the moment, most likely griping to herself. Either that or having one of her usual fits, about something or another.
She concentrated, her eyes closed, upon the energy which lay within her. She was in complete darkness , trying to make herself fall into a state of thoughtlessness. Her goal was coming closer. Her concentration, near perfect. That state of perfection which only greeted her in that state of complete calm came upon her.
Blazing with brilliance and power, her yellow-gold aura enveloped her. It blazed solidly around her, making her seem encased in a oval of light. The light reflected off the floor, revealing the true shade of grey stone-like ground. Her only weapon to ward off the dark of her frightening world enshrouded her in luminescence.
She had finally grasped how to ward off the darkness on her own. Her mother had been teaching her for as long as she could remember, raising her skill, strength and mental capacity.
It was funny. Her mother had watched her grow for only sixteen years and now she was almost five inches taller than the immortal woman. Perhaps it was more ironic than funny. The shorter red-head sure complained about it often.
"Mom!" she shouted, glanced to her left across the world. There was quite a distance between them but both of them were easily able to see the other. Their eyes had grown accustomed to the dark. Plus, Ranma had the book open. She was probably half a kilometer away but they could always hear each other perfectly in here. There was no other noise so that made it easy to hear for long distances.
The world wasn't too big anyways. It was only about a twenty minute walk from one side to the other. Completely spherical, the outer wall enclosed them in the world. And Keika knew, even through all of her mother's fantastic stories, that this was all that existed.
Ranma's head turned immediately as she looked at her daughter. "Hnn… yeah, Keika?" She murmured. Her morbid tone did not go unnoticed by her daughter. Keika could lie better than she could. Ranma knew keeping her emotions hidden was impossible. The young girl knew and read Ranma like a book. Fortunately, Ranma could do the same with Keika.
"Mom, what's wrong?" Keika asked warily. Her mother didn't get… what was a good word for it? depressed like this very often.
Ranma sighed; no answer was good enough to give. She couldn't tell her daughter that this was the anniversary of her mother's death. Especially since the girl could never understand that, as Ranma was her mother.
"Nothing Keika. I'm… just remembering." Ranma replied. She looked at her daughter as she said the last words, to find the girl mouthing them.
"I say it that often?" Ranma asked, more cheerfully. Her daughter was making fun of her.
"Yes." Keika replied firmly.
Ranma smiled. She loved her daughter more than anything in the world. Everything that Keika was, made Ranma happy. She kept Ranma's insanity at bay. The insanity of the gut wrenching screams that would rise in her throat, born from memories of the day Machin Shin became a terror. The memories of centuries and millennia of nothing but darkness and nightmares… Millennia of thinking of anything to make herself go on. Figures in darkness. Forgetting everyone she knew and not being able to do anything about it… Akane… dying in her arms… Yes… Keika kept her alive. It was possible that the girl, her daughter, made her forget all these horrible things.
But that didn't matter anymore. She could move on now… She gave Ranma hope and let her know that there was still something to stay alive for.
"Lamenting an old boyfriend, Mama?" Keika joked cheerily, in a way that was meant to lighten the mood.
Ranma chuckled half-heartedly at her daughter and replied, "No. Just thinking about a tomboy I knew once."
But on this day, Ranma couldn't forget. She didn't think she ever would.
Keika looked curious. She stared at her mother, wanting more of this story. Her mother had millions of them.
"Who mom?" She asked. Her bright eyes glowed with the childlike curiosity that always crossed them when hearing some of her mother's fairy tales in the world of the book.
Ranma smiled, and as soon as she did, Keika frowned. Keika knew that smile as well as she knew her every story that Ranma told her was just a fairy tale. This smile of Ranma's meant that this story was for another day.
"Fine fine. I'll ask some other day." Keika said before Ranma could say a word.
Ranma's smile grew. Her daughter knew her too well.
"Sorry, Keika." Ranma replied.
Keika shook her head. "It's ok. I know how you hate storytelling."
It was a joke. Ranma loved story telling. Keika was just sick of listening to stories. Well, no that wasn't true. She wasn't sick of the stories. Matter of fact, she loved the stories. But she dreamed of… more. She wanted to see these things, feel these places, and breathe the lightened air which her mother spoke of, and the book showed her
But, in the end, fantasy was fantasy. She was born here. She would live here, and Keika could only assume that one day, she would die here. It was all she had ever known.
"So what are we doing today?" Keika asked.
"I'm gonna teach you something new today." Ranma stated offhandedly. She discarded her morbid tone and began to look upward… more lighthearted.
Keika nodded. Her mother was close to back to normal. While… not as good as she could hope, it wasn't the worst. This was a well known phrase from her mother. She taught Keika something new almost everyday. Nine times out of ten it was related to martial arts. Today was no different.
As they both fell into a ready position to begin the spar that always followed this comment, something different happened.
Ranma lashed out at the uncharacteristically sloppy guard put up by her daughter, spinning in the air to slam her right foot directly into her daughter's solar plexus.
Keika saw the kick coming and moved to dodge. Without warning, a surge of pain washed through her body. It grinded through her bones causing her a torment she had never experienced before. Her arms locked in place as if some unknown force had taken her blood vessels and began twisting them furiously around every bone she owned. The unimaginable pain stole all her years of training in an instant, and she was powerless to avoid Ranma's kick. When it came, she didn't even feel it, so great was her other pain. But she did not scream. She couldn't. Her jaw hurt too much.
Keika flew back and banged her back into the edge of the world. She bounced off the wall like a rag doll and slumped to the ground. She lay there with her face pressed into the frozen floor, against the wall that signified the end of the world, trying to scream. Her long hair lay covering her. Had she been "normal" she would have been grateful for the warmth it provided her body with.
Meanwhile, Ranma knew something was wrong the instant her foot touched her daughter. That couldn't happen. Her daughter couldn't be so weak! Sixteen years and that was what she had to show for it? Ranma turned, hoping to find that her daughter had taken the hit purposely to prepare a great counter. Ranma was disappointed. When she looked around, she found her daughter laying in shame and defeat against the edge of the world.
For a moment, Ranma couldn't help appraise her, physically. The girl was the epitome of beauty. Keika looked much like Ranma herself, and at the same time, was as tall as Akane had been. Her hair was down to her calves, covering her like a blanket when she wished it to, in a way that was reminiscent of some purple haired girl Ranma was on the verge of remembering. Her blue-tinted eyes accentuated the red hair just as Ranma's did.
She was naked, though. Ranma herself still had the same traveling cloak, sword, pack, and several other sets of clothing. While they fit Keika now, she never wore them. When she had been younger there had been no way for her to wear clothing that big so she had gone naked. It's what she had always done. No reason to change it just because she could.
Something was wrong. She knew her daughter was worth more skill than that. She rushed to her side and picked her up, wrapping her arm around the girl only to find that Keika's muscles were locked, tightly.
"Keika? What's wrong?" She asked. Keika looked up into her mother's concern ridden eyes. For a moment, the scalding pain eased Keika let her muscles relax for just a moment. Abruptly, the torture returned twice as strong mere seconds later.
"What's going on?" Keika thought, desperately. Never had she felt pain like this before. Beneath her beautiful skin, fire burned through her blood. It tore through her. Her heart and brain and lungs seethed with searing sharp agony. It tormented her with the feel of twisting a gnawing her insides. Finally she could stand it no longer. Through the tremors clenching her throat she screamed out her pain, doing nothing but causing more still. Her shrill scream was cut short by the now intolerable gut churning knives stabbing and twisting her insides. She knew injury. She knew everything there was to know about injury. But this made death seem appealing.
"Mama… I'm s-scared." She whispered hoarsely. Fear clutched her bones in a death grip.
Suddenly, the pain coalesced, focusing all on one point. Her chest, directly between her breasts. She gasped for a moment of respite as the pain left her throat and brain, allowing her to breathe. Her muscles unlocked getting her out of her board like state. Desperately, she grabbed at her solar plexus, pressing on her rib cage, trying desperately to quell the hurt which dwelled just beneath her skin.
"Keika?" Ranma repeated, more worried. She didn't know what to do! A heart attack? Seizure? Light! What could she do? "Keika! Keika!" She cried. Ranma held Keika with one arm behind her back raising her upper body and the rest sitting on the hard floor.
"Stooooop!" She wailed piteously. She began clawing at the center of her chest. Scratching it like a feral cat. Her nails carved her skin open like a knife through butter. Blood spewed out.
"Keika! Stop! Stop!" Ranma screamed to no avail. She used her other arm and latched on to Keika's hands ferociously, holding both the flailing limbs at the wrist with her left hand.
Instantly, the situation changed. In a tremendous display of strength Keika's hands shot down to her bloody chest, but she didn't claw at it. Light erupted from under he hands. So bright that a blinded Ranma had no choice but to look away, the pure and holy form of this white light seemed to ease the pain of Keika somewhat.
"What's happening t-to me? M-Momma? P-Please…! Help Me!" A terrified Keika screamed. "P-please, make it stop! Momma!" Her tear ridden eyes sought the comfort of normalcy. Staring at her mother longingly, the pain decreased, ever so slowly. Even so, Keika's hands remained glued to her chest.
"I… I'm trying, girl!" Ranma replied, frustrated. Every time she looked at her daughter, the light beneath Keika's hands blinded her.
Abruptly as it had come, the pain ceased all together, though the light did not. "Gah!" Keika sighed, relieved as the pain finally washed away from her tired and now sweating body.
And in her hand, Keika felt something. From her skin, within her, it bubbled out. Like when ki would bubble up from her hand and into her open palm. Or when someone would burst forth from the water as shown in the book whenever Setuma went swimming. Or that commercial he watched where the Visene water droplet soaked into the eye. Only… backwards and on her chest.
It was soft at first, gushing out of her own, somehow malleable skin, in her soft hand. She looked down between her breasts and was blinded by the light she was producing. She threw her head back and looked away from the sun impersonation on her chest, trying to save her eyes from the blindness that it induced.
And then, the light too, was gone. She moved her hand from her chest, ever so slowly, flinching in expectation of the pain to return.
"A pen." Her mind told her.
Words. Words entered her mind. They wracked her brain, filling her with a numbness and lack of comprehension. These words. She had to say them! To utter them! Get them out! Anything!
"Pluto, Planet Power, Make Up!"
The light engulfed all, and the last thing Keika heard before she fainted was her mother screaming her name…
"My… my.. Little girl. How could… how could you do this to my… little girl?" Minako's mother, Kareko, screamed.
Usagi's head faced downward. "She died defending me and the people of this planet. I… I don't know how I can ever apologize enough for this… I'm… so sorry, Mrs. Aino."
Her senshi behind her held solemn faces. Though they weren't masked, it had become obvious who they were. With the announcement of Sailor Moon being Usagi, their identities had become easily discernable. All of her closest friends. And that meant… her little girl. Her… "sniff" her…
"Minako!" Kareko wailed. She dived onto the girl's stiff, electrified body. Kareko hugged the dead girl like a lifesaver, refusing to let go. She wailed with abandon, not caring who or what saw her. Her daughter. The light of her world. Love made human. Not only, physically but literally even as the Senshi of Love itself! How could this have happened? How…? How could… her daughter… die? "No… no, no, no…" She murmured over and over again.
Usagi could do nothing. She had to be cool. She had to be hard if she wanted to be strong enough to do what was right.
But what was "right" here? A hard exterior? A loving attitude? How did she deal with the death of a loved one? How had her mother dealt? She couldn't remember… But… her mind… her heart told her… that this didn't require a hard exterior she had become so used to. What was required here was comfort. What was best here… was the Bunny of the Moon. And not Neo Queen Serenity.
"Mrs. Aino" Was all Usagi could say.
Kareko left Minako's body and embraced Usagi tightly in a death grip. "My daughter… my… Minako… why… why couldn't you protect her? Why…? Why…" The distraught woman wept.
"I… I did my best… ma'am. I'm n-not perfect. But I tried the hardest and… we won… the… entire world was saved." Usagi panned. Her voice weakened with every word and her words were not consoling. They only drove the woman to anger.
"W-we did… we did everything we could! We did-"
"This is what you call victory?" The woman snapped suddenly, pulling the shocked Usagi away from her. "Get out of my house." She said coldly. "Leave me alone. Leave me alone! You pathetic… excuse for a defender of anything!"
Usagi gulped with guilt and self hatred. Her eyes watered and she nodded. "I… l-loved her like a sister… Mrs. Aino." Usagi whispered. She walked past the others of the group and through the door slowly. They followed behind without a word, leaving several tears to adorn the hardwood floor. Once they were outside Usagi slumped to the ground against the door.
"Usagi…?" Hotaru questioned.
Usagi looked up with tear-strained eyes and said, "A-am I… that bad? I did my best… I did… my best didn't I? I'm… sorry, I'm… It's… It's all my fau-"
"Usagi!" Rei exclaimed, interrupting the blond princess. "Usagi, you are not at fault here! Minako knew what could happen! We all did! Setsuna had to be stopped or the world as we know it, could have come to an end! You had no choice! Don't you dare go blaming yourself for this!"
After it was all said and done, all of them felt horrible.
Hotaru limped about clutching her staff even in her un-transformed stated, for support. While not physically damaged much, all the healing she had gone through after the battle was over had brought her almost to her knees itself.
Rei felt weak in the legs as well. A deep scar lay about her left eye slanting she thought the mark might never heal fully. Other cuts lay around her, such as the long gash in her side. It had been a possibly fatal wound, and thereby was one of the first healed by Hotaru.
Makoto's arm was still twisted out of place, hanging limply at her side. Hotaru couldn't heal what was not broken, so Jupiter had no choice but to wait till she could pop it back into place. She had sustained the least physical damage, save for Hotaru. But she was so exhausted from healing that it appeared Hotaru might had endured the worst!
Ami was in an entirely different league. None of her injuries had been fatal, but all had been to the worst places. She sported two black eyes from viscous fists. Her hair had been yanked from her scalp in no less than three places, causing the un-natural and impossibly close to ugly look she now wore. Her leg had been broken, and thus healed by Hotaru. Her lips were fat and bloodied as well.
As the person of the team to analyze weaknesses of opponents, Setsuna had seen fit to deal with her the fastest. The second after Akane had been… disposed of… Setsuna had turned Ami into a human punching bag.
And this wasn't the worst of it. The injuries, Ami could deal with. Her hair would heal in time… Her black and blue eyes would fade, and her lips would return to their original beauty… but one thing that she could never get back… was the Mercury computer. Her most valuable possession, the thing which gave her the ability to aid the team the most, had been destroyed.
At the end of it, after Pluto was gone and it was all said and done, though, Usagi had been in the most pain by far. She hadn't even noticed. Her wings being physically removed had hurt more than she could believe. So much that the slight pain of having her left arm removed from her body hadn't been even noticed! And still she had, had the power to stop Pluto!
They all stood their in their normal clothes. Usagi had bruises everywhere that could not be healed by the worn out Senshi of Saturn. Her eyes drooped and glistened with the substance of unshed tears. Her arms were covered in scars and there were two long marks down her back, where the healing for her wings had occurred.
"I-I should have tried harder!" Usagi shouted back, looking up at Rei. "Because I was weak, we lost Ranma, Akane, and the little baby! Because I was weak, Neptune and Sailor V…" Makoto stepped forward and shook the princess up by grabbing her collar harshly. "Are in a better place. Because you tried your best, the rest of us aren't dead, and Pluto is no longer around to destroy everything we've fought for!" She finished.
"What? Crystal Tokyo?" Usagi replied bitterly.
"Love, Justice, and Peace," Ami provided, "Are all upheld." Usagi turned to the blue haired girl angrily and glared. "But! My own daughter is gone! Faded away into nothing right in front of my own eyes! What… what am I going to do now? Go on like I have been?"
"Your daughter was from the future. The one who brought her here died. That could mean any number of things, Usagi! The future is not something to be planned! She shouldn't have been here anyway! You did the right thing! Pluto had to be stopped! She had to be!" Hotaru piped in. "I… I'm gonna miss… Usa-chan but… but that can't be helped! She'll be here someday. And… as long as you remember that, there's nothing to worry about!"
Usagi sniffed. "I'm… not sure… if I can keep on… doing this." Usagi said plainly.
"Usagi. I believe in you. You're our princess. I'd give my life for you. As would have Venus as she proved. And Michiru. I believe in you." Ami said.
"Me too!" Hotaru exclaimed.
"Same here!" Makoto stated.
"I know you'll do the right thing, no matter what… Usagi. You've got no right to be all downhearted like this. It's just not you! So wake up! How do you want to honor their sacrifice? Self-hatred and doubt, or with confidence like you used to have?" Rei exclaimed, stepping up to Usagi as Jupiter backed off.
"Rei-chan…?" Usagi questioned. She was floored not only by Rei's question, but the emotion she put into it. So much so that simple responses became unutterable.
"You're our princess, Usagi. And one day, you'll be queen. I know that scares you." Rei said, confusing the rest of the Senshi. "But don't worry. We'll always be here for you. And we'll always remember who you are now. So lets make this little while we have, something worth remembering, ok?"
Usagi's wet and glistening eyes let lose more of the tears held within them.
"Mmm… Mmhmm." Usagi replied, stuttering through her tears. "Y-you're right. I… I"
The
Senshi looked at Usagi. Even though she wasn't perfect, she was their
princess. All of them knew they would follow her to whatever end
awaited them. They just hoped that that end was one of simple old age.
"W-we still gotta find… find Michiru's family…" Moon stuttered through her tears. "A… And Akane's…"
Hotaru was uncertain. Had Michiru had family other than herself and Haruka?
Hotaru was surprised at her own strength. She had cried at Michiru's death. Her surrogate mother loved her more than any other ever had. But… she was strong. She could go on. She had known the possible consequences of fighting Setsuna-ma-, Setsuna. But what the woman had been doing was wrong. So she had to move on. She had to for her princess's sake.
Perhaps she was getting a little older… She'd lost all three of her parents in one day and… still managed to fight evil.
"Where am I, gonna stay… Usagi?" Hotaru asked the still teary-eyed girl in a strong tone, weakened only by the lack of energy in her small body.
For once, Usagi's answer was firm and definite. "With me. I'll… I'll take care of you… Hotaru."
The rest of the Senshi gulped. Usagi truly had changed. It was as if… as if she were a mother. She probably would end up being one to Hotaru.
It was incredible. How everything had changed. Their simple, easy life of regular monster killing and youma slaying, had drastically transformed into a tangled web of lies and betrayal. But the battle was over and the war was won… and now everything was different.
It was only
the inners now. The outers… were no more save for Hotaru. Now they were
lost until the pool of life granted them another soul with the power of
their respective planets. Battles with Youma and demons in the future
would be difficult…
They had prevailed though. In the end, as
always, the right had beaten the wrong. The traitor was gone for good
it seemed. Peace was restored and hopefully could be maintained for
quite some time…
Usagi knew better though. Setsuna was out there. But next time, when the demented soul that infested the green-haired woman's body returned, She would be ready.
This time, no one would be lost.
This time… good would suffer no casualties.
End Prologue
A Prologue to fit the continuation of "So Be It" if I do say so myself.
I"m BACK!
As always special thanks to anyone who reviews me and an even specialer thanks to Silence-Darkness for prereading again. (Thanks Silence!)
Heh, Love you Chels! Now n' fr'ever.
Heh heh... you people want more don't ya? Reviews make me write faster u know!