Chapter 2: I Want To Believe
'"I wish we could have had someone else as Sailor Venus."
"Yea! Minako is just too incompetent. Too…immature."
"Yes I agree. Hey Luna do you think you can find someone else to be Sailor Venus?"
I'm afraid not. I have absolutely no control over who does and does not become a Senshi Warrior. But I do agree I wish we could have found someone better."'
"Why? Why are they saying these things? I thought they were my friends." The young girl, Minako, who was listening to her friends, sat crying on the floor of her room as the strange white mist that surrounded her faded away. "This just can't be real." She sat quietly for a little while longer then looking at her clock she got up. "I have to leave now if I'm going to get to school on time."
Walking on the sidewalk feeling slightly sick to her stomach Minako looked up just in time to see one of her friends walking on the other side of the street. Thinking fast she speed up her movement and ducked into an ally as Usagi crossed the road. "I hope she doesn't see me." Minako thought to herself as she peeked out to see if Usagi was far enough ahead that she would not see her. "Ok just act normal." She stepped out of the ally walking slower than before to avoid catching up with her friend.
Later…
"sigh I made it through the day without being seen by the others." Minako walked through the door of her house and went straight to her room. Staring at the small blue orb in her hands she sat quietly crying.
"My, don't we look sad today."
Minako froze. Then turned her head a little to see who was talking. "Nephrite!" She turned around quickly to face her foe, "what do you want?"
Nephrite smiled and entered the room with a laugh, "I see you've been using the Orb of Truth." He paused to step closer to Minako, "you seem sad about what you have seen in its depths." He knelt down beside Minako and placed his arm gently on her shoulder.
"I have been using it, but I cannot believe that what I have seen is true." Minako shoved her seemingly consoling enemy a way and stood up.
"Now, now you don't have to worry. I'm not here to fight." He bowed slightly, "I am only here to offer to you a chance to join me and fight against the Sailor Senshi." He straightened up, "Because they are your enemy not me. Let me help you. And I will make sure that you are never again sad."
With the orb in her hand she stared into Nephrite's eyes thinking carefully and then finally stepping closer to Nephrite she spoke, "Alright. I go with you but I don't believe that all of it to be true." She took a one last look at herself in her mirror and then moved to the window were her new comrade stood waiting.
Nephrite took hold of her around the waist, then picking her up gently he said, "Hold on tight Minako." Then he jumped from the window and they both disappeared before they reached the ground.
The Next Day…
Knock Knock "Minako are you there?" Rei turned at friends, Usagi, Ami and Makoto, and then back at the closed door of her of her other friend. "I wonder where she is," she said then pulled out a piece of paper and a pen from her bag and wrote a quick note that she put in the mail box. "I guess we have to have our meeting without her." Rei turned away from the door and her friends followed.
After arriving at Rei's house the girls decided to try calling Minako's cell phone but there was no answer, so they started their meeting, when Luna showed up.
"Where is Minako," she asked the black cat sitting on the table in front of the others.
Usagi looked at Luna and shook her head, "I don't. She wasn't home when we went to see her and she didn't answer her cell when we called."
Luna paced up and down the table, then looked around the room one more time, "Does anyone know were Artemis is?"
The girls looked at each other they hadn't seen him since the sleepover. They all shook their heads and Rei stood up. "You know I haven't seen either Minako or Artemis for a while. I hope they're ok." She walked over to a small table on the other side of the room. Picking up the phone Rei quickly dialed Minako's number and waited. After a moment of silence Rei put down the phone and looked with a frown at her friends. "There was no answer," she said with a shake of her head.
"This is serious," said Makoto. "What if something bad has happened to her?"
"I say we go back to her house and see what's going on," Rei said calmly, and the others agreed. Once they all made their way back to Minako's house Usagi and Rei boosted Luna through the open window on the second floor.
Looking around the room she was in Luna could see nothing out of the ordinary, and quickly moved downstairs to the front door. Luna looked up at the lock and immediately noticed, "Oh my! It's unlocked." She moved away from the door a little and then shouted out to the waiting Senshi, "Girls listen. The door is unlocked and Minako is nowhere in sight." In a flash the front door burst open and the girls stormed into the little house. Being the last one in Rei closed the door behind her.
"I wonder where Minako could have gone and why…would, she leave the door unlocked," questioned Makoto looking around, "I mean she couldn't have just disappeared. Could she?" The four girls moved cautiously from the down stairs area two the upstairs landing. Makoto then moved quickly down the hall to her friend, Minako's room and calmly opened the door. The group moved inside. Makoto moved to the open window and turned to face her fellow Senshi, "Well if she's not here. Where could she be?" The others merely shook their heads; they could not imagine what might have happened to their beloved Minako, or why she would not have told them all she was leaving.
"Let's split up and look for anything that might give us a clue," suggested Rei after a moment's silence. The others agreed, and then scattered through the house. Rei, Makoto, and Usagi quickly spread out through the downstairs area while Ami and Luna moved quietly around the upstairs.
Ami stayed to look in Minako's room, while the black cat moved on to the rooms at the end of the hall. "Let's see. There doesn't appear to be any sign of a struggle," the Senshi of water noted as she entered the room. "And the bed is even made." She walked across the room and over to the bed and laid her hand on the soft blanket. Looking around Ami moved on to the desk sitting just a few feet from the head of the bed. "Test. Monday. Science. Minako has a science test coming up. Maybe she's at the library studying." But the clever child put that out of her head at once know it was not true.
She walked across the room now and began examining the dresser opposite the desk. Picking up one of the many perfume bottles she sniffed lightly, "Not bad. I'll have to ask Minako where she got it later." Ami put the bottle down suddenly noting a small sparkle of light in the mirror hanging over the dresser.
Turning around she looked at the bed where she was sure the sparkle had come from. Dropping to her knees the curious child moved the blanket out of the way looked under the bed. At first she thought nothing was there, then seeing another twinkle Ami grabbed for it and pulled from out of the darkness a small blue orb with a swirling white mist inside. 'I wonder what this is?' Staring at the orb a moment longer Ami placed it carefully on Minako's bed before moving to the door to alert the others to her find.
With everyone now seated in the front room of Minako's home the black cat, Luna, began her analysis of the strange blue orb that was found in the bedroom. "Well," Luna began after a few brief minutes, "this looks to be similar to what is known as the "Orb of Truth". But something doesn't seem right." The cat's tail twitched lightly as she continued to stare at the sphere.
Then Ami reached forward taking it from the table to get a better look. Then she turned to Luna and asked, "Well how would the "Orb of Truth" work exactly."
Everyone turned now to face Luna as she took a moment to think. "The "Orb of Truth" works by giving the exact truth about any question that is asked. To use you simply need to be holding it while you think about such question."
Looking at it a moment more Ami thought hard. "Ok," she said, "I think I have a question that to think about that I will be able to tell if the answer is true or not." Then holding out the orb she concentrated on her question, 'Did I pass my math test?' Within seconds the strange blue orb began to glow and the area around the girls became surrounded in a thick white mist. Then from the mist images began to appear. They showed a young girl standing alone in the front of a class room. In front of her was her teacher and classmates. Then the teacher spoke to the girl, '"Well Ami I am very disappointed. I expected better from you, my best student."' The teacher held out a piece of paper for the girl to see, and with everyone looking at it they gasped. Then the mist cleared and Ami put the orb back down on the table.
"What was that?" Asked Makoto, "What question were you thinking about?"
Ami looked up. "I asked whether or not I passed my last math test. And according to this," she pointed at the orb, "I got an F. Which I know to be completely untrue. Because my teacher told me that I received a perfect score."
"So that means that this orb is a fake," commented Rei.
"Yea," piped up Usagi, "a sort of "Orb of Deceit". Made only to show lies." This comment puzzled everyone as they left Minako's house in silence. Saying good bye to each other everyone went off in their own direction headed for home under the late afternoon sun promising to meet at Rei's house early tomorrow to further examine the strange new orb of deceit.
Meanwhile in another dimension…
"I can't. I just can't. I just can't believe that they've forgotten me already. They haven't even noticed I'm gone."
"There, there, little one. I'm here. And I will take care of you I promise…Believe me."
"But I still want to believe they are my friends…I want to believe…believe…"
Poor Minako. She has no idea of the lies that have entered her mind. Can her friends help find the truth. Or will she forever be lost within the web of deceit that is now in place. Keep reading to find out.