Fear of Flying
by Joshua Falken

Thanks to BenRG for beta-read this chapter :-)


Chapter 1

A five year-old girl looked through the window of terminal 7 of Tokyo International Airport at the gigantic blue, red and silver Boeing 747, biting her lip in fear. As a bright fork of lightning in the distance over the Pacific Ocean illuminated the aircraft, she hid her face against her mother's chest in instinctive fear.

"Come on, Lita! You're too old now for that," Kaoru Maxwell whispered to her daughter.

"Okay," the little girl answered in a sad murmur.

"Attention! Last call for the Air Orient Flight 68 for Los Angeles! Attention! Last call..."

"Well, it's about time," commented Youta Maxwell. He hugged his little girl "Now, be a good girl and don't make trouble for your uncle Kenshin," he told her, lowering her to the ground.

"Don't worry, Youta. Lita was always an angel."

Another distant flash of lightning illuminated the aircraft. "Don't go," little Lita murmured.

"Don't worry, dear! We will be back soon!" Youta smiled at his only child before embarking, together with his wife. A short time later, Lita watched as the blue, red and silver jetliner rose into to the stormy sky. The little girl saw as the airplane was touched by a blue and white finger of lightning... and exploded in a fireball...

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"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Lita Maxwell, also known as Sailor Jupiter, screamed as she awoke. It took a few seconds for her to realise that this was the same nightmare that had plagued her since her childhood. She hadn't really seen the destruction of her parents' airliner. However her subconscious had filled in the blanks. With a groan, Lita buried her face into her pillow, hoping that her exhaustion would allow her to sleep again. She was wrong.

======

One week later, the Sailor Senshi were holding a private party, one so private that not even their boyfriends and Artemis the guardian cat were invited. Even the two most reclusive members of their sisterhood, Hotaru Fermi (aka Sailor Saturn) and Christina Wells (aka Sailor Pluto) were in attendance.

Lita lifted a Coke glass and announced: "A toast to Japan's newest, and, I think I can safely predict, best movie idol: Mina Love!"

The nine women burst into applause, making Mina blush brightly and stutter as she tried to thank her friends. Serena Moonlight grinned at the sight of the most theatrical and outgoing of her Senshi acting shy. They were celebrating Mina's most recent acting role: as the holographic interface of Multivac, the supercomputer that controlled the entire World in the movie "All the Troubles of the World". The movie, based in a short story by Isaac Asimov, was scheduled for release in Japan in two weeks. It had been Mina's first Hollywood-funded picture and she had worked at the side of actors like Samuel L. Jackson and Haley Joel Osment.

Serena noticed that Michelle Waters and Alex Tempest were still a little embarrassed at the situation. She knew the reason: the two outspoken Outer Senshi had insisted that, as leader of the Inner Senshi, Mina's first priority had to be the protection of her princess. They argued that Serena was wrong to allow Mina to pursue her career as actress, spending months away from her liege lady. Serena had told them (in a cold voice that made even tough-natured Alex take a step back in fear) that she would not allow her friends to sacrifice their dreams out of a sense of duty to her.

"So, Mina," Serena said with a wink, "did you bring autographs for us?"

Raye Schelle gave her blond-haired princess a thump upside of her head. "Stop behaving like a kid, Ondango!"

"I'm a child?" Serena shot back to her with a superior expression. "And this is the girl who spent weeks getting enough coupons to get the autographs of those voice actors when we visited that animé studio?"

The only answer that Raye managed to think of - besides to going beet red in embarrassment – was to begin a tongue-poking war with Serena.

While Christina Wells and Amy Anderson - the peacemakers of the group - tried to negotiate a truce, Luna went over to the owner of the apartment and murmured a question into her ears. After hearing the answer, Luna left the room with her usual feline grace. After ensuring that the girls hadn't seen her, she ran as a laser beam to the bathroom. After completing her business, she found that she couldn't quite remember the way back to the lounge. "Did I turn to the left or the right?" she wondered. Making a decision, Luna turned to the left. She nudged open a wooden door and she entered in a dark room. The Moon Princess' feline guardian looked around her in confusion. She was shocked when she realised where she was.

Later, a silent Luna sat down at Serena's side. The girls were discussing Mina's next project, a TV mini-series based on "The Fountains of Paradise" by Arthur C. Clarke. The technically-minded Amy was especially interested in the concept of the story: after all the idea of a elevator going to the geoestationary orbit really excited Amy's scientific mind....

Serena noticed her mentor's silence. "What's up, Luna?" she asked, curious.

"Nothing at all, Serena," Luna replied.

======

Later, Serena and Luna were in Serena's bedroom in the Moonlight family's home. Suddenly, the small black cat was struck with a pink, lace-edged pillow. "Huh?" Luna screeched. "Serena, why you did that?"

"Because I want to know why you have been acting so strange since we left Lita's house!" Serena looked straight at her guardian. "You can tell me! Or don't you trust me?" Serena, ever the actress, made tears appear in the corner of her large blue eyes and made her lips tremble pathetically.

Luna rolled her eyes at Serena's performance. Of course, she trusted her princess. Serena had earned that over the years, but Luna wondered if she had the right to tell the girl about what she saw in Lita's spare room. Finally, the cat came to a decision and explained what she had seen to Serena. She quickly had the girl's full attention.

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Next day, Serena and Lita entered the brunette girl's apartment, loaded down with bags of groceries. "Thanks for your help, Serena," Lita said, much out of breath.

"It is a pleasure, Lita," Serena said with a sunny smile. She paused and noted the significant look that Luna shot at her. She paused before continuing. "Er, Lita, can I use your bathroom?"

"Sure!"

While Lita arranged her purchases in the kitchen, Serena entered her friend's spare room. She had only asked to go to the bathroom as an excuse. The blond girl was shocked with what she saw. The bed, the walls, the furniture were totally covered with notes, documents, blueprints and news articles on two specific subjects: thunderstorms and jetliners - the only things that Lita was afraid of. It was not just a hobby: that had the look like... an obsession...

"Serena! What are you doing in here?" a familiar rage-filled voice shouted.

Serena practically jumped out of her skin and she span to look into the fury-filled green eyes of Lita Maxwell. The girl who would one day be Neo-Queen Serenity found herself wondering if she would live long enough to reach her destiny. Serena said the first thing that came into her head. "Um I was I was looking for the bathroom..." she said. As excuses went, it wasn't one of her best.

Lita scowled and Serena was sure she could feel electricity in the air. "Serena, you had no right to..."

"Lita, it was my fault!" Luna cried, jumping in between the two girls. 'Me and my big mouth!' the cat thought. "I told to Serena about your 'interest' on... this." she nodded towards the documents about airplanes.

In the face of Serena's compassionate gaze and the sudden revelation of her secret 'project', Lita's anger quickly drained away. "Why are you surprised that I'm interested in these things?" Lita asked in a murmur. "Since I was five years old I have read everything about electric storms and passengers jets." She laughed coldly. "I think that I know the Boeing 747 better than the engineers that designed it!"

"But, Lita, why are you...?"

"Because I want to live up to my responsibility..." Lita announced.

Serena blinked in confusion. "Huh?" she asked in a display of brilliance that made Luna groan in near-physical pain.

"Don't you understand, Serena?" Lita asked, the tone of her voice rising in distress. "I caused my parents' death!"

Shaken to the foundations by that absurd declaration, Serena tried to reason with Lita. She spoke slowly: "Lita, your parents died in an plane crash when you were a girl. You cannot believe that it is your fault..."

"Of course I can!" Lita was screaming now. Her eyes were wild. "Because I am Sailor Jupiter! The Champion of Life and Lightning! If I was in the airplane, with my parents, I could have absorbed the lightning that destroyed their plane, or or done something! Anything! I could have saved them!" Lita, barely aware of what she was doing, threw herself at Serena and began to pound her fists on her friend's chest in a display of anguish the like of which that Serena could barely believe was coming from her tough-willed friend. Serena grabbed Lita's hands, the boosted strength that she enjoyed as Sailor Moon allowing her to immobilise her distraught friend. Suddenly, all the strength drained out of Lita's body and she collapsed at Serena's feet, covering her head with her hands. "I could have saved them..." Lita murmured, tears streaming down her face.

"Lita, I... I feel so badly." Serena fell to her knees beside Lita and hugged the weeping young woman to her breast. 'Gods, why I didn't notice your pain, Lita? What kind of friend I am that I didn't notice your suffering until now? How long have you had that locked it inside of you...?' Serena thought. 'I want to help you, Lita... but how?'

Later, Serena said good-bye to Lita. The Senshi of Life and Lightning had regained her composure, although she was very embarrassed for her behaviour before her leader. "Serena, I want to apologise for..."

"It's all right, Lita. Listen, if I can do any thing, tell me, okay?"

"Okay," the other girl said sadly before closing the door.

======

Serena arrived at her home, quiet and thoughtful. Her parents noticed that something was wrong. Their daughter was usually a hurricane of energy and now she was quiet as a worn-out battery.

"Dear, what's wrong?" Ilene asked.

Serena looked at them for one moment. She wondered how she would feel if they died suddenly... If they had died when she was small, would she be able stand it? She had already lost her first mother, Queen Serenity of the Moon, in the destruction of the Silver Millennium. She had nearly lost her friends and her true love so many times On an impulse, she hugged Ilene and Ken with all her strength. "Serena, what's going on?" Ken asked, concerned.

"Nothing, Daddy." she whispered. Serena looked at for them and smiled affectionately. "I only wanted to hug you two. Just that."

Later, the Moonlight family calmly ate their dinner. Ken and Ilene once in a while shot a curious glance for their older daughter, who was eating quietly. Even Serena's little brother, Sammy, had picked up on the strange atmosphere and was refraining from taunting his sister.

"Serena, is everything all right?" Ken Moonlight asked, taking his eyes from today's edition of Tokyo Daily News.

She lifted her head and answered. "Yes, Daddy. Everything is..." Then, she stopped speaking, got up of a leap and seized the newspaper from her father's hands.

"Serena!" Ilene exclaimed, appalled at her daughter's sudden bad manners. But Serena didn't hear her: she read the page that had attracted her attention. Now she knew how to help Lita! Her father was about to scold Serena for her completely inappropriate behaviour, when suddenly she hugged him hard. "Thank you, daddy! Oh, I love you so much!" she cried out joyfully.

"Huh... but...?" Ken stammered as Serena ran from the room, snatching up a surprised Luna in her arms on the way.

Ken and Ilene had not idea what had happened. Sammy blinked. "I didn't think that she could get any crazier, but she proves me wrong," he murmured, only to receive a thump from his mother for his pains.

What had caused Serena's reaction had been an advertisement on the bottom of one page. 'Are you afraid of flying?' it asked. 'CrossPacific Airlines, Japan's number-one airline is pleased to announce that it offers a special course to help anyone overcome that fear! Take advantage of this offer today!'

To be continued


What do you think? Read and review! :-)

Author's Note: This is my first Sailor Moon fic where I had the chance to mix up two of my favourite subjects: stories about big passagers jets and stories about people overcoming their own limits. Will Lita defeat her fear of airplanes? Read to find out! :-D