Disclaimer: The characters of Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z are not mine!
Story Summary: When a sinister hand changes the course of many different futures, the Outer Soldiers and the Saiyans are determined to set it right. However, if saving the future means to sacrifice someone that you love, could you do it?
A/N: I really should be doing an English paper right now, but instead I'm writing a story! *procrastinator* Anyway, I hope you enjoy the first chapter of 'Ripple Effect', it's been a project I've had been working on in bits and pieces for a while. Constructive criticism and comments are always appreciated!
Ripple Effect
Chapter I: The Stone's Throw
What surrounded her was a city that was in devastating ruin, its appearances faring no better than if a bomb had been dropped upon it. Skyscrapers, one time standing proudly within the metropolis as they reached towards the heavens, were now nothing more than piles of smoldering rubble with little of the scaffolding remaining in its place. Vehicles stood motionless and abandoned within the once bustling streets, their doors hanging open due to the abrupt desertion of their occupants. Glass littered the sidewalks and streets all over, and as the wind gusted, various bits of paper garbage flew by her in the air.
This was a dream. More specifically, it was a nightmare that had been on constant replay in her mind over the past several weeks. In the beginning, this dream started vaguely enough that it was easy to dismiss it as just a regular nightmare brought about the stresses of daily life. However, as time drew onward, the nightmare became much more vivid and real, and the bleak emotions derived from having to witness this terrible scene night after night was beginning to run a toll on her emotional wellbeing.
In tonight's nightmare, she could smell the death in the air. Tonight, her lungs burned as she inhaled the smoky air, causing her dream-self's lungs to constrict and send her into a coughing fit. In this nightmare, she could smell the blood of the dead and the dying, pungent and fresh.
Hotaru Tomoe was known to have premonitions in the past, but usually they were symbolic; a white moon, a dark moon, and always vague clues as to what may happen in the passage of time. Never before had they been this real, this vivid, and cause her so much stress in her waking world. Every part of her being believed that this was a premonition, but it always left her with so many more questions than answers.
When would this happen?
Why was this going to happen?
What could she do to stop it?
"I just don't understand," Hotaru Tomoe murmured in a confused voice, glancing around her destroyed surroundings in a vain attempt to find some sort of definitive clue to answer some of her questions. The televisions in the display windows of the stores that had not been completely destroyed were completely black, and she saw no newspapers around that would offer her specifics as to the timeline to when this may occur.
If this was being showed to her for some reason, she wanted to know what she could to stop it. The anxiety caused from this dream was causing her to stay awake until terrible hours of the night, and when she did fall asleep, this was all that was in her sleeping mind. She spent her days feeling tired and exhausted, and her usually impeccable grades in school were gradually beginning to slip. Before long, her family would take notice that something was troubling her, and Hotaru would much rather take care of the situation herself without bothering the Outer Soldiers about it.
"What is it that I'm supposed to do to stop this?" Hotaru yelled out into the destroyed city, her voice echoing throughout. She did not expect an answer, and was for the most part releasing the frustration she felt from having been in this position every night.
Yet, an answer she did receive.
"You have to die," a childlike voice responded to her in a whisper. The voice had been so quiet that, at first, Hotaru was not certain that she had even heard it. However, after a few brief moments of silence, the voice smoke once more, "This is what will happen to your world in the near future should the current course remained unchanged."
"This is the future?" Hotaru was certain that the confusion was showing on her face as she cast another observational look at the surroundings that had haunted her nightly. Most of the distinguishing landmarks had been destroyed, but there was an air of familiarity about the city around her. Perhaps it was Tokyo, but she was extremely confused as to how the future had derailed so much in what seemed like a brief time. After the fight with Chaos six years ago, when she was twelve years old, everyone had been certain that the last threat had been taken care of. What had obstructed the road to Crystal Tokyo so much that this was the future that awaited Earth?
"Whether by your will or not, you are the catalyst which will bring about the ruin of this world, Sailor Saturn," the voice informed her in a flat voice that was void of all emotion. "As long as you are alive, this will certainly be the world's future. It will perish in violent cataclysm, and it will be absolute."
Hotaru felt angry—angry that this voice was continually on insisting that it was she that was going to cause the end of the world. "The only way I can destroy a world is with the Silence Glaive, and that weapon was lost with my transformation six years ago. I am no more a threat to this world as anyone else."
"You do not believe?" the voice was curious now.
"No, I don't," Hotaru spat vehemently. This was utterly ridiculous, that she would the facilitator to the end of the world when that particular power was something she no longer had access to. Furthermore, this was a world that she love that her family and friends called home, and there was no possible way that she would ever destroy this world.
"In time you will see the truth, and in time you will believe my words as well as this vision. Soon, a choice will be given to you; to sacrifice your life for the sake of many, or to live a selfish existence where many shall perish. There is time yet to set the course right and you are the only one who can do it."
The ruins around Hotaru began to suddenly disappear behind a quick moving blanket of darkness, soon leaving the eighteen year old to stand in a black void with her violet gaze glued to the ebony ground beneath her feet. Even if this was the future that was currently on the horizon, there was no possible way that anything that this voice was saying had any validity to it. She was a good person who fought for life, light and justice, and it was inconceivable to her to even think that she would turn the world into a wasteland.
There was just no way she would ever do such a thing.
x
With a yawn, Hotaru stretched her arms up into the air above her head. School had never been a comfortable setting for her, and she found it even less tolerable when it came to her lack of sleep. Due to the emotional scars incurred from when she was a child, Hotaru had found it difficult to ever open up and get close enough to form bonds of friendships with any of her peers. Too often she was plagued by the memories of the past, being called a freak, a witch, and various other degrading names that her classmates had reserved for her when she was a little girl. At the time, her alienation from the rest of her classmates had been due to the uncontrollable nature of her powers. Even now, when her powers were not an issue, with the exception of still being able to heal minor wounds, Hotaru didn't want to risk opening her heart up again to only be hurt just like before.
It was unfortunate that she felt this way, but Hotaru found herself thankful for her distrustful tendencies since her teenager years had gone a great deal more smoothly than her childhood. There were of course other variables which Hotaru could commend for an easier life, especially now that she understood that even though she could heal wounds that it was not necessarily the best idea to always do. Her adopted mother and father-figure, Michiru Kaiou and Haruka Tenou, as well as her aunt-slash-sister figure, Setsuna Meiou, also had a direct influence in Hotaru having a better home life during her teenage years. They were always present, had always set aside time for Hotaru whenever she needed them. It was a far cry from the often-absent father that she had for the first twelve years of her life.
Still, Hotaru's mind wandered. While she felt safer not having any friends, that didn't make her feel any less lonely. Often she wondered what it would be like to be able to go out after school and watch a movie with a group of friends. She also imagined what it would be like going to school dances and maybe even having a boyfriend that she would talk on the phone to late into the night without her family knowing. However, all of these things were something of a fantasy for her; things to want, but things to never have.
Now that she was done with school for the day and had a weekend to look forward to, Hotaru hoped that she could try to catch up on the sleep that she was lacking. Her fantasies moved from having friends to something more realistic, such as heading right up to her room after arriving at home, changing out of her school uniform and into her pajamas, and then passing out on her bed until further notice. The simple desire of wanting the feeling of her blankets covering her body was enough to cause the corner of her pink lips to tug into the slightest hint of a smile.
As realistic as this desire seemed to be, it would never come to pass.
When Hotaru entered her neighborhood, she began a half-run towards the direction of her house, a mild excitement of nearly being home building up in her chest. She ignored the temptation to cross through her neighbors' yards in order to shorten the trip, continuing on along her way home on the sidewalk with each step quick and careful. It was when she turned the corner to go down the block which she lived on that her heels immediately dug into the pavement and Hotaru came to a dead halt, her heart stilling within her chest.
Setsuna's car was sitting in the driveway.
For two years Setsuna had taken up residence with Hotaru, Haruka and Michiru before she decided to move out on her own to pursue a career in fashion. Setsuna had only moved to an apartment in downtown Tokyo, but it was far away enough from the suburbs and her life far too hectic that she rarely made it out to the house for casual visits. Between trying to make a name for herself and her everlasting duties as the Guardian of the Time-Space Door, it was a much easier task to pick up the phone and give them a call than physical come to their house. For the most part, Setsuna left Guardian duties up to the projection of herself which she left at the Door; a means which allowed her to live a normal life in the mortal world, yet it left the Time-Space Door with very little protection. It would perhaps have been more responsible for Setsuna to remain at the Door herself, but as the eight other Soldiers had been entitled to a normal and human life on Earth, it would not have been fair to expect Setsuna to be any different.
Knowing Setsuna's overly busy schedule, it filled Hotaru with a sense of foreboding dread that made her want to avoid entering her own home entirely. Perhaps due to the reoccurring dreams she was having she felt more paranoid than she should, and perhaps this was nothing more than one of the rare casual visits that Setsuna was able to make, but the rational part of Hotaru's mind seriously doubted such a scenario. The words of what the voice had spoken to her replayed in her mind over and over, causing her knees to become weaker for each moment she stood still.
In time you will see the truth, and in time you will believe my words as well as this vision.
There was little sense in avoiding what waited for her inside, so Hotaru summoned up what inner strength lingered inside of her and took a deep breath. With hesitant steps she neared the front door of her home, reaching her hand forward and grabbing on to the doorknob. She paused for a moment before she gave the knob a twist and pushed the door open.
"I'm home," Hotaru called out, grimacing at how weak and scared the sound of her own voice sounded. As she kicked her shoes off just inside of the entryway, Michiru appeared and stood before her, and Hotaru could not ignore the grim look that lingered within the Soldier of the Sea's eyes.
"Welcome home," Michiru said, the smile appearing on her lips appearing somewhat forced. She motioned her hand towards the doorway which led to the living room. "Setsuna is here, and she has something important to discuss with all of us."
"Oh, okay," Hotaru quietly acknowledged, letting her backpack slide out of her grasp and on to the floor near to where she discarded her shoes. She followed Michiru into the living room where the atmosphere gave merit to Hotaru's fears, thick with tension that made her breathing seem difficult. Her gaze fell upon the emerald-haired Setsuna, who stood with her back towards Hotaru and Michiru with her arms folded over her chest as she stared at the collection of photographs that sat upon the mantle of the fireplace. Haruka, meanwhile, was leaning forward as she sat on the sofa with her elbows propped upon her knees and her head resting in her hands.
"What's going on?" Hotaru questioned suddenly, letting the anxiety that she felt be heard in her words.
"There was a breach at the Time-Space door," Setsuna explained in a flat voice without turning to face her family. "The instant that this breach occurred, the future completely disappeared."
Hotaru could almost hear her heart drop down to her stomach. The voice, the visions…could everything that had happened in her dreams possibly come true? "Breached by whom?"
"I am uncertain," Setsuna answered in frustration. Finally, she turned around so that she could face her family but her crimson eyes were hidden behind her bangs. "It all happened so quickly. As much as I don't want to think it coincidence, the breach occurred while I was in flight from America back to Japan, so there was no possibility in me returning to the Door the instant that this happened. There are few things which I am certain of at this moment, but this intruder has messed up quite a bit of things which aren't merely limited to our world. Everything is in such a mess right now…"
It was obvious by looking at Setsuna that she was shouldering the blame for this intrusion, and Hotaru didn't know what she could say to lift that burden from her conscience. Setsuna was an intelligent woman, and perhaps this intrusion could have been prevented had she not been enjoying the luxuries of a human life away from her duties at the Door. However, there was no saying that such a thing wouldn't have happened anyway.
After all, it seemed that at least someone out there believed that Hotaru was more of the villain in this than anyone.
"So, what's our plan of action?" Haruka inquired, steeling her voice to sound very much like the leader of the Outer Soldiers that she was. "What do we need to do to return things back to the way they were?"
"We have to follow it," Setsuna replied. "I've tracked its movements through the Doors it traveled through while in the Continuum and have pinpointed the window of where and when it may be. I'm certain that if we defeat it or drag it back to this Universe that it will mend some things, but I'm still not exactly sure how much damage has been done or if all of it can be fixed."
Haruka shook her blonde head and leaned back against the sofa. "There is a problem with that plan of yours. While you can still tap into some of your powers, the rest of us have been rendered to a state little better than the average human being since Chaos was defeated. How in the hell are we supposed to deal with it if it's something more than human?"
"There is no problem with my plan," Setsuna explained in a firm voice, her eyes narrowing at the Soldier of the Sky. "Within each Universe, there are certain laws in place that keep the balance of things. As of this moment, our powers are not needed here so they have been sealed away until they are needed again. However, in the Universe which this intruder traveled to, I have discovered that the limits placed upon our powers are not in place there. In fact, our powers there may even be magnified in strength somewhat."
Haruka sat silently upon the sofa for a few moments, stealing a glance back to Michiru and Hotaru before looking back at the Soldier of Time once again. "So you're saying that I'll be able to use my powers again?"
"Not only will you be able to use them, but you shall be able to do so without the need of a transformation."
Setsuna's words seem to bring a look of relief and elation to Haruka, but to Hotaru they had the opposite result. As far as Hotaru was concerned, the limits bestowed upon them were in place for a reason. Haruka and Michiru would not have to fret about such things, but for someone like Hotaru who was the personification of a person whose powers existed not in shades of black and white—evil or good—but in grey, the thought of being able to use her destructive powers without limit caused her to feel more nervous than anything.
The fact that her powers may be magnified was even more horrifying.
"Well, that'll certainly be handy," Michiru stated with a true smile appearing on her lips. "So, what kind of place are we heading to in this other Universe?"
"Oddly enough, it's Earth," Setsuna informed, and after receiving three very confused looks from the other women within the room, the Soldier of Time couldn't help but find herself slightly smiling. "I suppose it may be difficult for you to understand, but there are many Universes which exist that are near-mirrors to others and some which are vastly different from anything you can possibly imagine. This other-Earth is almost exactly like our own in geological makeup and that it is primarily inhabited by humans, but it seems that certain events which occurred in the shaping of our current world did not ever occur there."
"Such as?" Michiru asked, arching an aqua-colored eyebrow.
"The mass extinction event, for instance," Setsuna answered. "Dinosaurs roam the country sides and forests as freely as deer do in our world. Also, the age of humanity is much younger than our own, yet their advances in technology have us completely blown out of the water. It's incredible how much things can fracture when you take out certain events that made our Earth what it is."
It all sounded very interesting, but Hotaru was having a difficult time to be at all enthusiastic with this trip to another Universe, to another Earth that closely resembled their own. The images of the nightmares she had were constantly replaying in her mind, and the words which the voice spoke to her were thundering loudly within her ears.
Whether by your will or not, you are the catalyst which will bring about the ruin of this world, Sailor Saturn.
She hoped that the voice was wrong.
A/N: Please review! I know not a lot happened in this chapter but the next chapter the ball will be rolling a little bit, including the introduction of the Saiyans into the story. Until next time!
Kusari-chan