Once Upon a Savage Earth

by: akikos-wok

DISCLAIMER:

Almost all of the lovely characters featured in this story, and the general premise for it, are copyright of the brilliant Naoko Takeuchi. I simply borrow them for the amusement and fulfillment of my own imagination.

chapter one- crash

It was all her fault. She was certain of it. How couldn't it have been? After all, she was the one piloting the shuttle that now lay in wreckage on the soil of who knows where. She suspected, no hoped, prayed with every fiber of her being that it was Earth, but she did not know for sure. Not while she lay with her head, skin broken at the forehead, bleeding onto the cracked, defunct control panel beside the ship's helm. All she was sure of was her splitting headache and the fact that she may have accidentally caused the deaths of her three dearest friends and comrades. Fearing the worst she finally shifted to stand. She pushed away a mass of blood-soaked black bangs and clapped a hand to her forehead to temporarily stifle the bleeding. She gripped the edge of the control board with her free hand and hoisted her body up, shifting the weight in her feet awkwardly against the onset of vertigo. With not a little effort, she managed to straighten her legs and keep from falling. She opened her eyes cautiously, as much afraid of them being dazzled into temporary blindness by the light as she was of what they might see.

Her violet eyes widened in shock at the sight of Ami, still securely strapped into her seat on the bridge, head thrown back, limbs hanging limply. On sheer impulse she rushed towards her and almost instantly found herself face to face with the other girl's blue leather boots. A wave of nausea prompted her to role onto her side lest she should vomit and choke to death. Thankfully it passed, but the immense amount of pain in her body told her that her current range of motion was limited to rolling from her side onto her stomach. She wasn't even sure she could make it onto her back again.

"Rei! My gracious are you alright?" She recognized the voice as that of the girl she had so impetuously rushed to discern the condition of. She was alive, and the least, capable of speech. Very capable, from the unmistakably concerned sound of it.

Rei tried to roll in the other direction to look at her but to no avail. She opened her mouth to speak and found that barely croaking out "No" was much more difficult than she would have anticipated.

Ami came into view crouching down beside her. She grabbed Rei under the arms and in an unexpected feat of strength, the most petite of the Soldiers managed to hoist her comrade up into the seat she herself had formerly occupied. Her already pale face seemed to turn a shade paler with horror and Rei guessed she must look miserable with half-dry blood caking her face and an enormous gash in the middle of her forehead. It was probably bruising pretty badly too and she thought she might have acquired some more bruises from her recent face-plant.

"By the Goddess," Amy began, tentatively reaching out her hand and smoothing some of Rei's hair away from her face, "you're…there's blood everywhere!" She gasped then flushed and shook her head. "I-I'm sorry," she stammered. "I shouldn't have said that."

"It's alright," Rei assured her. I'm sure I'm a hideous sight. No use trying to hide it. But she did admit it may have made her feel more optimistic about their dismal situation if Ami had exercised her usual tact is assessing Rei's injuries.

"We've got to get you to sick bay," Ami insisted then stopped short. "Damn. We can't. This isn't a cruiser…just a personal shuttle…we must have first aid supplies somewhere…"

"Ami calm down-"

"Oh why don't I have healing powers?" Ami asked arbitrarily. She was on her feet and looked as though she was desperately fighting an impulse to pace madly. "Rei," she said finally. "I'm going to find our first aid supplies and tend to your wounds to the best of my ability. Then I'll see if I can get our computer systems back online and contact Queen Serenity. If we can just get back to the Moon she'll be able to heal you-"

"Thank you Ami," Rei interrupted. "But please, find Mako and Minako, make sure they're alright. Don't worry about me. After all it's my fault we got into this mess."

"Don't say that!" Ami cried. She kneeled down before her comrade once more. "Rei I was the one who miscalculated." She turned her head down ashamed. "I was certain we'd have no trouble entering the Earth's atmosphere. No one's ever encountered any problems before, so I over-looked the possibility that atmospheric conditions might have changed since the Moon Kingdom's last Earth mission. I over-estimated the stability of a planet that's only been subject to human regulation for fifty years."

"Ami," Rei said, wishing she could reach a hand out to grasp the blue-haired girl's shoulder for comfort, "it isn't your fault. For all we know there was some kind of magnetic storm or something, and no one could have anticipated that."

Ami looked up at her. "And in that case, even our greatest pilot's skill could not have overcome it." She smiled weakly.

Rei still couldn't help but feel responsible, but she forced a smile back at Ami in agreement. Her body screamed at her to relieve the pain it was in, but finding Makoto and Minako was more important. With any luck they would have fared as well as Ami and come out of the wreck relatively unscathed. Of course they had not been seated securely on the bridge as she had. Ami stood and looked as though she might begin to fuss over Rei again, but then thought better of it. Rei was certain logic had gotten the better of the girl, as it always did, and made her realize that worrying would do them no good. She ran off in the direction of the cabin.

Sitting and waiting for Ami to return with a report on the status of their other two comrades caused Rei much more pain than the wounds that kept her bound to her seat. She was not accustomed to ever taking a back-seat role in anything, particularly not matters pertaining to her own life. Tears of frustration began to well up in the corners of her eyes. Why did she have to have fire powers that were only useful on their field of battle? Why couldn't she have been like the Moon people and possessed healing power? Then she could have healed herself, run and found Minako and Makoto, heal them to if they needed it, and together the four of them, strong and healthy, could have gone to search for some means of repairing their ship. Or at least we could find out where we are. That would be a start.

She heard the frantic shuffling of footsteps and tried to no avail to turn her head and see who it was. Soon both Ami and Makoto stood before her, Mako looking weathered, with a small cut below her rapidly bruising left-eye, but otherwise in good shape. At least she was capable of standing and walking, briskly too, from the sound of it. Makoto fell upon her and embraced her fervently.

"Oh Rei," she cried. "Thank the Goddess you're alive."

Rei's body protested against the pressure of Mako's body. Mako must have felt it for she sat up immediately, her face stricken with horror. "Oh Rei! I'm sorry, so sorry. I was just so happy to see you living I got carried away."

"S'okay," Rei managed, body still stinging with a lingering sensation of being crushed by her comrade's embrace. She was starting to suspect that one or more of her ribs might be cracked or broken. She winced, but tried to pass it off as a smile.

Then a thought occurred to her. Makoto was here and well but Minako was nowhere to be seen. Her heart raced and she quickly forgot about her pain-stricken body as she asked, "Where's Minako? Mako was she with-"

Makoto regarded her sadly and Rei stopped speaking. Oh no. It can't be! She's got to be alive. She's our leader…she couldn't possibly have...died.

"She unconscious," Mako said finally and Rei's pulse came to a screeching halt then resumed a more normal pace. "I tried to wake her, but it was no use. We were in the lounge outside the cabins when we started losing control. We dived under the counter of the kitchenette and braced ourselves. We were fine for a while until the turbulence got really bad. I didn't see it happen, but Minako must have hit her head on the wall or top of the counter or something. She was knocked out instantly, I tried to wake her up, and was careful not to get my head to close to the back wall. That's when one of the drawers burst open and a knife flew out. Lucky for me it was mostly just the grip that got me and not the blade. Those drawers are damn heavy though!"

"But Minako, where is she now? Is she alright?" Rei insisted.

"I laid her out on her bed. Her breathing seems regular and everything. Pulse is steady too. I can't tell if there's been any serious head trauma," Makoto replied.

"I saw her too Rei," Ami said. "She's healthy to look at. She just won't wake up. That blow to the head she took must have been pretty serious."

Rei fidgeted, wishing she could stand and go see her. Minako, Sailor Venus, was the leader of the Sailor Soldiers, the maker of all executive decisions, giver of commands, often the chief formulator of plans. And she, Sailor Mars, was second and, with Sailor Venus out of commission, surrogate chief commander. She though if she could just see her comatose comrade, focus on assessing how best to revive her and the resume their mission, she might be able to ignore the seething pain in her head and torso, and be able to effectively perform her duty. She shifted all her weight into her arms upon the chair's armrests and attempted to push herself up to standing.

Ami and Makoto were quickly beside her, each one taking an arm and lifting her to her feet. They didn't protest nor try to persuade her to stay seated. Instead Makoto said "Lean on us, we'll take you to her," and they did so. Rei managed to move her feet at least a little to aid in the process, but she was mainly dragged between the capable bodies of her two comrades.

They reached the cabin Rei shared with Minako. She lay silently on the bed, face placid, breathing gently as if she were in a very deep and pleasant sleep. In fact, were it not for the fact that she was dressed in a military issue orange uniform, she might look rather majestic with her mass of golden hair falling in fine fountains all over the pristinely white pillows. Makoto helped Rei onto her own bed while Ami felt Minako's head for a fever then attempted in vain to wake her up.

"It's no use," she said disappointedly. "She's out cold."

"Still?" Makoto more stated than asked. She looked to Rei expectantly. "Well, what do you want us to do?"

Rei lay on her side and weighed their options. They could stay here in the ship; Ami was among the most talented technicians in the whole of the Moon Kingdom. She could maybe get the computers back online, then they could contact the queen who could determine their coordinates via the central mainframe and send out a rescue party to retrieve them. But there was no telling whether or not Ami would be able to get the computers working again. And if Minako was seriously injured, the time wasted trying to fix an irreparable machine might be time they didn't have to spare. Not to mention she wasn't doing so well herself.

"Ami, do you think it's safe to say that we are definitely on Earth?" Rei asked, edge of authority creeping into her voice.

"Absolutely," Ami replied with a nod. "We lost control upon entering Earth's atmosphere and unless something really abnormal sent us careening into space, the atmospheric pressure should have driven us down to the planet's surface."

"Well we'll just have to assume we are then," Rei concluded. "Given the unknown state of Minako's health, I say we have no choice but to seek medical assistance. Once she had been taken care of then we can worry about contacting Queen Serenity and returning to the Moon."

"There are many Earth settlements now. Not just the Aethilius's Golden Kingdom. I'm sure there must be some village nearby that can offer us aid, no matter how primitive," Makoto said optimistically.

Rei hoped she was right. Humans had come to Earth only fifty years before lead by her grandfather's brother, Aeolus. He had managed to penetrate the surface of the Earth not long after his arrival and therein established a small stronghold where humans would be sheltered from the Earth's dangers. He was a fiercely independent man; some thought he was trying to establish a planet free from the authority of the Moon Kingdom. His stronghold eventually grew into what was now referred to as "The Golden Kingdom" though very few non-Earthlings had seen it. Not long before his death, it was said that he had successfully established four central colonies on Earth, reigned over by his four most trusted advisers, all of whom were with an age with his son Aethilius. But these were all rumors passed on by the few people who had visited the Earth, mostly bards hungry for new material to sing about. The Earthlings kept very much to themselves, and though they most likely had managed to implement advanced computer communication technology by now, they had never used it to contact anyone outside their planet. That was why the Sailor Soldiers had been sent to the planet: to offer the resources, aid and protection of the Moon Kingdom in the effort to colonize Earth.

Rei sat up and lowered her feet to the ground. Her red leather boot-clad foot hit the ground with a hard "thump" and it took all of her energy just to remain standing, but she did it. "Ami," she said, "do you think you can manage to support me? I can walk a little if you'll help me to keep upright."

"Of course Rei," Ami said dutifully, moving to help her friend.

"Mako I'm counting on you to carry Minako," Rei said. "I'm sorry, I know it's quite the burden."

"Not at all," Makoto assured her, though Rei knew she was saying it to boost morale. She lifted Minako upright, grabbed her by the arms and lifted her onto her back. "Lucky for me Minako watches her figure!"

Rei might have laughed if she didn't think she would break a rib. If one or more of them wasn't already broken. Ami left Rei standing by the bed for a few more minutes while she gathered up whatever supplies she deemed useful; disinfectant and bandages (some of which were used to temporarily patch up Rei's head), standard rations and nutritional supplements, a water-flask, that could boil any liquid gathered in it, so as to kill any possible bacteria, and a couple of kitchen knives. She found a couple of crystal powered laser-pistols, holstered one to her own hip and armed Rei with the other. Should they encounter any danger, in her current state, Rei doubted she would be able to harness her fire.

"You both understand that if we encounter any danger you are to leave Minako with me and focus on defending us?" Rei said as they exited ship the ship.

The two other girls nodded in response. "And furthermore," Rei continued, "if it seems hopeless, you must abandon us and defend yourselves." She prayed it wouldn't come to that, but she didn't know. And it was necessary that at least some of them survive, lest the princess should be left with no guardians.

Makoto grunted her disapproval. "Rei, I really don't think-"

"That it will come to that?" she finished for her. "But no one really knows what state the Earth is in. And if the Earthlings are our enemies and have people or creatures here that might pose a threat to the Moon Kingdom, it is imperative that the princess has guardians to protect her. Preferably living ones."

Makoto gave her a melancholy half-smile. "That's exactly what Minako would say."

They had landed in the middle of forest, not dissimilar in appearance from the forests on Mars that Rei recalled from her childhood, though she thought the trees here seemed taller and more threatening. They blocked out the daylight almost completely, save for a few wayward beams that crept in through cracks between in the lush covering of leaves and painted patterns on the forest floor. The ground was uneven, covered in rocks and twigs, with weeds and other unruly plant-life springing up among them; it would have been difficult to navigate at full health, let alone in her weakened state. Rei had lived so long on the moon that the reality of the untamed world had escaped her: this was going to be no walk in the park. As she stumbled, clinging to Ami, hoping she would be steady enough for the two of them, and swatted at tiny pestering creatures buzzing around her head, Rei had serious doubts about her decision to look for help.

Yet it seemed the further they got from the wrecked ship, the less wild the forest became. Maybe she was just delirious from pain, but she thought that the trees were farther apart and there was less brush to torment her feet. She could see clearly now, as more sunlight was allowed to pour in through the trees and illuminate their path. The strange little buzzing things were gone to. As they continued they came to a point where there were hardly any trees at all, just gnarled, graying stumps and fallen trunks and branches. Makoto set Minako down against one of the tree stumps, sat on a nearby trunk and caught her breath.

"Thank goodness," she breathed. "I could hardly see my nose in front of my face a ways back there. I thought we'd be stuck in that forever. And what were those little buzzing things? They were wretched, I think one of them bit me too!"

Rei felt Ami tense up beneath her arm. "Ami, what's the matter?" she asked. "Don't you want to sit and rest a moment?"

"I don't think we should stay here," Ami declared, eyes surveying the area suspiciously. "Something isn't right."

Rei's body ached from exertion. She couldn't possibly keep going without rest. Her headache, which she thought may have lessened over time seemed to have suddenly gotten worse and she was feeling dizzy. Though she knew to trust Ami's judgment she asked, "What do you mean?"

"The trees…there have been fewer and fewer the further we've walked away from the ship-"

"But isn't that a good sign?" Makoto asked, cutting her off. "I mean, on Jupiter, my mother told that deforestation was a huge part of the colonization process. Sure that was hundreds of years ago, but don't you think the Earthlings would do the same?"

"Yes," Ami agreed, "but these trees have no been carefully cut down by humans. They would have disposed of the trunks, chopped them up for building material for temporary housing or something. And there would have been clean cuts at the tops of the tree stumps."

Rei's heart sank and she noticed that Ami was right. The mangled tops of the tree stumps suggested that they had had their trunks ripped violently from them. And they were not small trees. What could have done such a thing? she wondered in horror. She prayed that, whatever it was, it was far, far away. They had been trained for combat and in theory were cunning, powerful solider, worthy of being called personal guardians to the princess. But the reality of the matter was, they had no combat experience; all the galaxy was at peace and had been ever since their births a mere seventeen years ago. She had never dreamed their first battle might be against some sort of monster capable of demolishing fully-grown trees.

The she head a sound, gently booming, like boulders hitting soft soil at regular intervals, getting closer, closer, louder, sharper. Ami's grip on her tightened and Makoto rushed to gather Minako up onto her back again.

"Run!" Makoto whispered sharply, fixing Rei with a petrified stare.

Rei shook her head fiercely. "No time. You'll never make it with Minako and me slowing you down. Best to hide the two of us and run to find help."

"We're not leaving you!" Ami insisted. "If we run off, we may never be able to find our way back here! We'll all hide together, it's the only way."

But it was too late for that. The thundering footsteps that had been steadily approaching every since they first came into earshot were now more than a disembodied sound. Charging towards them was hulking, monstrous beast, covered with scales, dull and green…or brown? Rei couldn't tell. It ran on all fours, its back hunched to accommodate its severely shorter front legs, its thick, muscled hind legs doing most of the work in propelling it forward. The curved back was adorned with a stiff fin-like structure that ran from the base of the next to where Rei guessed might have been the end of a tail, though she could not see it. It was enormous, maybe twenty-five, thirty feel long, it's narrow head and beak-like snout probably twice her size.

She wanted to yell for Ami to drop her, for Mako to bring Minako to her, and for the two of them to defend themselves. It was the only choice now; she was positive the thing had seen them and it clearly meant them harm. But she could not find the words to tell them this. Frantically, she thought of the pistol holstered to her belt, but her arms would not move to seize it. But this time it was pain that kept her frozen, and not fear.

The aching in her head swelled up again. She felt dizzy and nauseous. Her arm was so stiff. Her whole body…legs…chest…everything. She though her head might split in two, the world was spinning. But she had to act, had to fight back. Somehow.

And then the inevitable happened; her will yielded to the pain and she lost consciousness.

NOTE:

Once upon time, when I was maybe twelve years old and first getting into Sailor Moon fanfiction of this particular variety, I read a Senshi/Shitennou story where Rei and Endymion were cousins. I liked that idea very much, so I've used it. Thanks, whoever you are that wrote that story so long ago…