The Fragile Reality
Chapter 1
Authors Note: This is my first main fanfiction and is therefore experimental, it also takes place after the first main arc of the manga shortly before chibi-usa would have appeared. However, she will not appear in this story. Also this story will not follow the rest of the manga or at least not entirely and will likely focus on its own arc although characters such as the outer senshi will appear.
Location: The transcend, the upper void
Date: day 232, year 878,231,477,694,602 after the formation of the multiverse
The void, as infinitely deep as the multiverse is vast. At its top was the transcend, an assortment of structures floating above the rest of the void. At the center of the transcend was a structure simply called the palace. It served as the home for the king of the void and the headquarters for his agents, the voidwalkers. The duty of the void king was to look through the multiverse and spot universes that were becoming unstable. Most universes became more unstable as they aged or dangerously unstable if their inhabitants attempted time travel. The resulting paradoxes from the attempts left their universes critically damaged if not outright destroyed.
To prevent other universes from becoming collateral damage. Voidwalkers were sent to unstable universes to attempt to repair them or, if all else failed, break down the barriers of that universe and allow it to fall into the void without causing any damage to surrounding universes.
The voidwalkers themselves were chosen from the inhabitants of dead universes who fell into void with everything else. Eventually everything entered the void whether it wanted to or not. It was the final resting place for all things.
Today, one voidwalker in question was summoned before the king of the void to be given an assignment. This voidwalker simply went by the name Orion. He was of normal height and build and had short brown hair and blue eyes. He had been a citizen of the United States of America when, in 2007 of his timeline, his world had perished in nuclear fire. Orion had been 16 when his world died and he entered the void. He had remained 16 for the last fifty thousand years.
In the main throne room, the void king stared expressionlessly as always as Orion kneeled before him.
"What are my orders your majesty," Orion asked as he had thousands of times before. And as always the void king replied in a flat uneven tone.
"Universe SA1104-M006 is showing signs of temporal distortion," The king replied, "Go there and eliminate the source of the distortion. After that, attempt to repair the system. If you are unsuccessful then bring the whole system into the void via the standard method."
"It shall be done," Orion said in a tired tone, "I am quite familiar with the cluster of universes it resides in, the one with the sailor senshi. You've sent me to attempt repairs on a number of its sister universes. If you remember, repairs failed on all of them. It is hard to go there and fight those girls over and over when they try to interfere. Its even harder to see them die over and over again. I have asked you before and I will ask again, please end my contract after this assignment and let me enter non-existence like the rest of my people."
"If I remember correctly," The void king replied in an increasingly irritated tone, "You were the one who begged me to mantle you as a voidwalker even as your own family entered the depths. You were the one who told me you were afraid to die and didn't have the stomach to walk the final path. You know as well as I do that I can't erase you or anyone from existence. You simply fantasize about because you don't have the balls to do the work you agreed to do in the first place. The reason your contract has been extended so many times is because you have continuously decided to disobey orders. Nor do you have the guts to man up and face the consequences of your actions. Your contract will stay the same until have filled your quota of work. Until then you will continue to obey my orders or your quota will be increased as a penalty."
"As you say your majesty," Ryan replied defeated, "Are there any restrictions on this mission."
"None," the void king replied, "For now stick with the psychic based powers I have given you. If you end up needing more help simply call one of your fellow voidwalkers or send me a request for the used of void based powers."
"Understood, I'll take care of the one controlling the time stream first," Orion said blandly before getting up and using his given powers to open a portal to the multiverse above.
"One last detail," The void king added as Orion was about to step through the portal. "From what I have been able to sense from this universe there is something different in it from the others like it that you have visited. It is far from clear but whatever it is, it's far more malevolent than anything else I have sensed before. Take heed."
"I see…" Orion replied raising an eyebrow at the void king's words, "I'll be extra careful this time then. Maybe this change you sense means this world has a chance of being saved after all."
Without another word, Orion stepped through the portal and was warped to the multiverse above.
"I would hope so," The void king said to himself even though there was no one there to hear him. What he had not told the voidwalker was that this was the last unchecked universe of its kind. Since voidwalkers were forbidden entry to universes that were stable, this would be the last chance for Orion to save the girl he loved and had failed to save countless times before. The void king knew Orion's previous failures were part of the reason he had wanted his contract terminated. However, if he succeeded this time, the void king was willing to let Orion stay with his love interest for a while.
Setsuna Meiou, as she always did, stood before the gates of time. As she always was, she was watchful and attentive. As always, as it had for as long as she could remember, nothing happened. Until today.
With crack like a gunshot and swirling wind, a massive black spherical object tore itself into existence 30 yards in front of her. Aside from a slight jump of surprise, Sailor Pluto stood her ground, raising her garnet rod slightly in preparation. The object moved forward, halving the distance in between itself and her. Before she could do anything to attempt to destroy the encroaching object it started to dissolve, melting away in sheets of black mist that quickly disappeared. Where the strange object was before, nothing but a foreign teenager remained. He was dressed in khaki pants, running shoes and a plain white buttoned shirt.
"I'm not sure how you got here, but I have a sworn duty to protect this gate," Pluto warned, "If you do not leave now, I will have not choice but to force you to leave."
The boy simply let out a long sigh. Setsuna started to get a bad feeling in her stomach. She somehow knew that this boy, whoever he was, was more than he appeared. Then again he was a foreigner, maybe he couldn't understand her. She was about to say the same thing again in English when he spoke to her in perfect albeit accented Japanese.
"I can't do that, you have your order and I have mine," He replied while he conjured what appeared to be a sphere of bright blue plasma in his right hand. "Since we both know what is about to happen we might as well get it over with."
He then hurled the ball of plasma at Pluto. Instinct took over as Pluto positioned herself between the ball of plasma and the time gates. She knew the gates couldn't be destroyed but she did want to take a chance at them being forced open.
"Garnet Bell!" She shouted as she formed a shield with her garnet orb to protect herself and the gates behind her. However, this was less effective than she thought it would be.
The plasma ball slammed into the shield and hurled Sailor Pluto backwards in an arc that ended with her smacking into the gate and then falling to the floor. Pluto quickly raised herself up despite the pain in her ribs, at least one was broken.
"Dead scream!" She shouted hurling a ball of violet energy at the intruder.
However, the intruder didn't even try to dodge the attack. He simply let it hit him. When it did, the attack decayed into tendrils of energy and were then absorbed by the boy's skin. Pluto simply stared at him.
"Energy based attacks aren't very effective against me," He stated as the last of the energy absorbed into his skin.
"Fine then, I'll just…" Pluto began, but before she could say anything further, the intruder let out a series of attacks
With several flicks of his hands, the boy released a series of concussive shockwaves that smacked into Sailor Pluto and bashed her repeatedly against the gates behind her. By the time she could gain her bearings again the boy was right in front of her.
"Immobilization," The intruder said upon which Sailor Pluto entered a partially paralyzed state in which she could move only her eyes, mouth, and breathe. She crumpled to the ground.
She thought the intruder was going to kill her. He didn't. Instead he moved her to the side with telekinesis. He was about to do something else when he and Sailor Pluto heard a soft knocking on the other sides of the gate.
"Release me," Pluto demanded, "It is my duty to serve Queen Serenity and her family. You must let me open the gate for the girl on the other side of that door."
"I admire your devotion but that is the last thing I plan to do," the intruder replied, "In order to save this dimension I must prevent these gates from ever being used again. Once I am done, no one will ever be able travel through time ever again in this universe."
"That's absurd!" Sailor Pluto snapped back at him from the floor, "Those gates cannot be destroyed, nor can you stop any of the royal family from traveling through time if they wish."
The boy stared at her for a few second with a trace of contempt in his expression. Then he spoke.
"Watch me," He stated, and without waiting for a reply he raised his right hand and spoke, "I call out to the void. His majesty commands it and his servant obeys. Come forth."
Even though she understood the words he spoke, Pluto did not understand his meaning. However, her confusion ended as she saw it happen. A thick black liquid like crude oil burst forth from a micro portal that appeared on the boy's hand and spurted forward onto the ground near the gate. Then, either of its own will or via the boy's powers, the fluid flowed forward and began to climb up and completely cover the gates of time. Pluto could do nothing but watch as the gates were encased and the knocking on the other side of the gate grew fainter. Finally, the fluid stopped spurting forth and with a few quick hand gestures from the boy it began to harden and crystalize. When it was done, the gates were completely entombed in black crystal.
"Those gates might be indestructible but so is the void energy I just encased them in," The boy stated when he turned back to Sailor Pluto. "You're welcome to try and remove it but it wont work. I'm the only one who can remove that and I don't plan on doing that."
"Bastard!" Sailor Pluto snarled, "I will make you pay for this."
"You will fail," The boy replied without much emotion. "In a few minutes you will regain control of your limbs. I will give this warning once. Do not try to interfere with my work in Tokyo or try to make me undo my work here. If you try even once, then I will defeat again and then put you into cold sleep until my work in this universe is done."
Sailor Pluto would have said more to him but before she could say much the boy opened a portal into the air before him and walked through it. Briefly before it closed Pluto could see noon sunlight of a Tokyo park. The he was gone.
True to his words, the paralysis wore off a few minutes later and Pluto was able to move again. She immediately untransformed into her civilian outfit and warped out of time into a downtown Tokyo alley where no one would see her appear. She then started walking. If she couldn't defeat this new threat than she would at least warn the other sailor scouts before she fought him again. As she walked though, there was lingering sense of evil around the city. To her surprise, when she focused on it further, it was nothing like the intruder who had just sealed away the gates of time. No, this was different.
Hino Rei jumped back away from her shrine fire drenched in sweat that had nothing to do with the day's heat.
"By my ancestors above!" She exclaimed. She had never felt such an evil omen. Something, no, several somethings of unrivaled malevolence were beginning to stake a claim on the world. All of them were converging on Tokyo and all of them would be here soon.
Rei did a double take as she sensed something else as well. Something much different. This new thing she sensed had no evil in its heart whatever it was. No, what she could sense in it was hidden pain, hidden grief, love that had been denied many times before, and power more different than anything she had ever felt before. It was black and dark, like a massive empty void.
A/N: I apologize for any spelling or grammar errors. I proofread this chapter before I published it but I still might have missed something.