The only hope- reflections of a soul
10/21/04
Summary: The prince and all of the senshi of earth have died. Except Chiba Usagi. Disillusioned, angered and alone with a child, she must find a way to survive.
AN2010: Erg, ok, so... this story has been on my hard-drive since 2004 and I always wanted to upload at least the first chapter to see what you guys have been thinking... So I've finally done it! And I know, this is story 1 million and ten, but guess what, I make no apologies. The only thing I apologize for is that I doubt this will be the last story I upload from awhile back... haha! (or by that standard, completely new stories, as I continue to read and get inspired... pain...)
Chapter 1: On the road.
Summary: every person at one time must do what they never thought they would.
A young woman, barely considered an adult, and not yet twenty clambered down the streets. Her bare feet, cut and bruised, clapped the ground she was eating up. The silence around her echoed the noise back, growing louder with each contact to the ground, before it stopped. The movement didn't. She was nearing the edge of the city, beyond that was only the black river, which was at a current standstill.
Her clothes were ragged and torn, remains of an old pair of jeans and a soft worn sweater that had once been yellow. Now her clothing was caked with mud, as was her pale skin. The only thing she had was a small bundle wrapped and held tightly to her chest. The only time her grip changed was to replace the bundle in another spot of her quickly moving chest.
As she neared the solid river she kept to the sides of the road. Careful to stay out of the way but not allowing her feet to be pushed off the only thing concrete to her. She paused only once to gather her bearings and look down the vast reaching road.
She knew it was too good to believe she wold survive just following this out of the city. She'd soon reach the suburbs and from there she'd have to reevaluate her plan. She would be out in the open without a clear road to travel, unless by highway, which on foot, she would be spotted instantly. Her best chance wold be to find some place to hide in the crowded city, but she couldn't risk it. She had to leave and the only way at the moment was to do so by foot.
The desperation was starting to cloud over her again, tearing away at her rational. She cold feel the impersonal cold slipping into her skin, blocking out even the desperation, hoping to block everything from her, to make her numb, to not even let her feel the pain as her feet pounded against the ground even now. A soft sound distracted her and with that, she trudged on. The road was flat and firm beneath her feet, keeping her grounded in her fear, but she knew at any moment something could shatter.
Like her heart.
Her heart wasn't the only thing she feared would break, her commitment to the others, to herself and the world, her courage. Anything that would allow her to keep moving, she had to hang onto with the remaining strength in her body. She held onto her fragile bundle in her arms. It was the only thing that stopped her from turning around and breaking the promise she had made to everyone, and walking into her own suicide.
As the sun started to peak out again along the horizon, Chiba Usagi knew she had only a few hours to reach her destination. She started to run as fast as she could without making a single sound. Any other person would tire shortly and slow to at least a walk, if not to rest. Usagi wouldn't, she had too much training and years practice to someday do something like this.
Nearing the edges of oblivion, she slowed to a jog as she went through a smaller city. The sun was nearing midway through the sky and beating down a blinding light. Usagi realized she had to get out of the sun, so she slipped into the nearest twenty-four hour store. A huge store where the title pronounced its name in obnoxiously large letters 'Walmart', and she briefly wondered what it meant. Slipping pass all store personnel, she found herself amongst rows of appliances.
People either ignored her or gave her pitying looks as they continued on with their shopping. One little girl kept staring at her arms, wondering, perhaps what was within them, if not curious about the long lines or red on the browned-yellow. Usagi tightened her grip and moved quickly as she darted away from the inquiring eyes. With luck she found the furniture section of the store, one that hardly anyone visited and went into the back to where she couldn't be seen from any regular passersby. She sagged down onto the striped mattress of a small futon, bone weary and still on high alert, drifted off into a light sleep, holding her precious bundle close to her.
Enough time had passed for Usagi to regain some of her energy and she woke to hear voices several feet from her. "I don't get it, I saw her come over here two hours ago." A male voice said.
"I know, I saw her on the tapes, she looks really pitiful doesn't she?" The other man agreed. "I wonder what was in her arms."
"Probably her spare clothes." A third man chuckled. "I wonder if she stole those too."
Where she was probably couldn't be seen on the monitors and so they still didn't know exactly where she was, which bought her a small window of time. She laid on the futon for a second, daring not to breath or make even a small twitch. Slowly she slid off of the couch and she pushed herself backwards with only the use of her legs and scotted her butt into an aisle on the way to the door. She closed her eyes tightly and hoped she could conjure up an image to fool the three men.
"Hey! Hold it!" Usagi jerked slightly and her eyes popped open at the shout, and when the solses of the feet hitting the ground moved away from her, she allowed herself to breath. Releasing her breath, she carefully stood. With the copy running around the store, she'd be able to sneak out without being noticed. She stopped in mid-step to just abandon the store as the contents of the aisle caught her attention.
She was in the baby section. Using her accident to her advantage she pulled off the shelves several supplies she needed and placed them in her subspace pocket. She spun on her toe and headed into the food section, a lump building in her throat as she thought about what she was doing and a plan of action developed in her head. "Look at me now, Mamo-chan." Her voice cut off as she whispered more to herself than anybody else that could possibly be near her. "Look at the ease in which I destroy everything we ever stood for. Look how easy it is to become a thief."
Her double would go any place she wasn't and allow the men to be near enough to see her but not to catch her. Usagi pulled at random several bottles of water, catching a few flavored ones as well in her haste, and any food that wouldn't spoil. She snagged a box of matches as well to add to her collection. If she was going to steal, she might as well steal all that she could need.
She almost ran into a woman coming down an aisle and Usagi moved to the otherside to avoid her, more than adequate space between them. Usagi hustled off toward the clothing, she was not sure how long she could hold all of this together. She pulled everything from black to bright to fatigues. She put in baby clothes and the warmest blankets they had and several hats and gloves and even a coat. Not knowing what else to take, Usagi decided to leave and exited the building without any trouble through the back.
She took off with a sprint, and as she neared the closest housing development, she called off her double. Leaving the three men to gape in shock as the woman they were chasing disappeared into thin air.
The sky darkened and was turning into night. She settled back into the shadows to stay ot of view. In the daylight she was like any other tourist or bum but at night, she had to follow their procedures. She saw a sign saying 'welcome to...' she knew she was in the next suburb and decided to go down the neighborhood streets.
Usagi rubbed a hand over the bundle as it stirred in her arms and then dropped her hand to her waist. Her eyes were like a hawk's and she could see light was coming from a pole in the ground to give late-night-strollers guidance. A car sat outside of one of the houses in the neighborhood she wandered down. The house was darkened and the only light displayed was in the far reaches of the house and several floors up.
With a gulp, Usagi strolled up to the car and tried the handle, the door was unlocked.
It was with a sad heart that Usagi slid into the driver seat, having to break the rare occasion of having such a trusting neighborhood, albeit in a suburb, but so near a city. She hated to break the innocence that this home owner had and its extension to the rest of the cities. However it was only a clear reminder that the horrors she faced had not yet reached the real world, the world that had depended so heavily upon her and her friends.
Choking back the sob that wanted to take over her form, she positioned her bundle safely in the passenger seat, trying to vainly hope that nothing would happen to the small object while she wasn't holding it or looking at it as she ducked under the steering wheel and easily found the correct wires, changing them around and reconnecting them again.
The sweetest sound that Usagi could possibly hope for at the moment came to her ears. The engine purred smoothly and wasn't loud enough to be of concern for either anger at the noise so late at night, nor cause the owner alarm over their car. Usagi adjusted the mirrors and pulled the bundle back to her chest, holding it tightly to her before she backed down the driveway. Completing the ninety-degree back out, she threw the switch into drive and tore off down the road, they wouldn't even notice until morning.
Usagi drove for several hours on the freeway, getting as much distance between her and Tokyo as she could, until she found the most off beaten path. From there she kept driving, making random turns and straightaways. From there she kept driving until exhaustion took her over again. She pulled underneath a tree, picked up her bundle, crawled into the back seat and pulled out a blanket. She pulled it over them and drifted off to sleep.
Usagi woke with dawn and continued on her path. She turned on the radio and through the static heard the soft ballad of one of the most over-played songs in Japan. It gave Usagi grounding, the fact that nobody else had been affected by the disaster she had lived through, gave her a sense of relief, nobody would know to be looking for her, to place her with her counter-part, or make the connection. By the time they figured out the only way to connect her to the senshi, that connection would be severed, she would be far away from the scene and they wouldn't know her to be one in the same. The danger would never reach her or find her.
It was almost a delirious feeling overwhelming her now, breaking the bonds of the reality she had known for so long. Not recognizing the other feelings within her, the ones that would have to come to terms with all that she lost. At the moment, she could only think of what she had gained. A freedom she had never known, not even before her life became so entangled.
However her body kept one more foot on the ground than her mind, and kept her going, knowing she wasn't yet safe. Wasn't yet out of danger's path, and that she wasn't alone in this mission. If she had been, then there wouldn't have been a mission like this, but since she wasn't, it was the only thing that kept her going.
Not seeing a gas station since she left the highway with a full tank of gas, she entered a standstill as her car spluttered to a stop. She was in the middle of nowhere with nothing for defense and she had nowhere to go. Usagi sighed and leaned against her seat, picking her precious bundle up, and got out of the car.
She used the resources she had around her, using her weakened state to push the car against a tree, away from first sight. She threw branches and twigs over it, hoping to help disguise it. Exhausted from the task, she sank against the tree and breathed heavily, holding the small object wrapped in rags and peering down into the small face of the newly born child. She did not fuss, too much like her father. Any fussing she did do, Usagi tried to soothe, and hid the noise from all others, so only she could hear. It wasn't only to keep people from looking at them, criticizing, but also to keep them hidden, unaware. Had she cried in numerous occasions thus far, the location would have been blown and they wouldn't have made it this far.
Usagi fed the child, before standing and dredging onwards. She had no destination, but when she got there, she'd know where it was.