Divinity: Fates and the Afterlife
Chapter 2
A/N: I do not own Sailor Moon, just this plot and some of the characters.
Thoughts are written mostly in a separate sentence and in italics unless it is specified otherwise.
She turned at the blonde with humongous breasts standing next to her while waiting for the assistant near the curtains that would lead her to the stage call for her. With high spirits and a soft squeal, Minako quickly made her way to the stage the moment she heard her name.
With small steps and giant determination she finally stood in front of a vintage styled microphone, happy and nervous at the same time as she began to prepare to take character, she opened her perfectly painted lips but just before she could say the first word a big spotlight was turned on her direction making her feel the pressure and more like a bug under a microscope.
"Your name?" Minako heard a male voice asked, one she imagined it would be the famous Broadway director.
"Aino Minako." the blonde greeted and narrowed her blue eyes, hoping to see more than a few dark spots in the distance "Your age?" the male voice asked again, not giving her time to start any conversation.
"Twenty-four years old," Minako replied and bit her lip.
"And which role you are casting for?" another voice, this time a female asked less brusquely than the man before.
"Madame Castille," Minako said as confident as ever and cast a smile; she was determinant to go for it and chase the dream she always had since she was a teenager. "–Oh?" she heard the same woman ask curious and cleared her throat while looked at Minako's file and closed it "Madame Castille's role is very demanding."
Minako nodded "I can do it."
A moment of silence followed their verbal interaction, Minako was beginning to feel slightly anxious since she was very aware the role she wanted, was the bigger and more important one in her pursuit for success in her acting career.
"I see you have quite a history in theater—but nothing as big as this production." The woman said again in a monotone, and waved her hand "Perform scene four, paragraph two."
Minako pressed her lips together and took a deep breath before stepping away from the microphone and began preparing to get into character. She raised her hand and frowned "I cannot believe…" she trailed off and opened her eyes "You? On their side?"
A man who played the part of Francis, the lover walked close to the blonde, startling her "What you saw... it is a lie," he moved closer to her and held her hand while looking into her eyes and frowned in an exaggerated gesture "Celina, it is a lie!"
Minako snapped her hand away from the brown haired man and turned on her heel "And what about the papers, huh? The gun? You killed those people—you killed her," she widened her eyes with forced horror and pointed at the man in front of her "You are a murderer!"
"Cut!" Minako turned to the light and blinked in startlement "W-What?" she mumbled, surprised by the sudden interruption. "Thank you." she heard the woman say in the dark "Next person in line—please."
Minako frowned and shook her head "What?!"
"That's all, thank you for coming."
The blonde shook her head more effusively "But I barely did a thing here! I didn't even finish the scene,"
"We don't need much, thank you."
Minako arched her brow "You don't need much for what, exactly?"
"Look—we'll call you ok? Thank you. Next in line please, we are delaying here!" the woman said to the casting assistant but to everyone's surprise Minako was still standing behind the microphone and being blinded by that same spotlight she was now insulting under her breath for beginning to ruin her makeup and probably her reputation.
"I said thank you." there was an evident tone of annoyance in the woman's voice but Minako didn't move from her stand behind the microphone "I am not going anywhere," she cleared her throat and frowned "I was doing the scene and you just cut me off, the person before me had the opportunity to finish her scene, why can't I have the same opportunity?"
"Can someone please escort this girl to the exit? It's getting late."
"No," Minako said and closed her eyes. She could not take a no for an answer, she could not just be ignored this way. Aino Minako had been waiting to have a break in the artistic world for several years now; she had gone to many acting and dancing seminars to improve her skills, spent most of her money on trying to find an agent who could manage and promote her career but the closest she could get to show business was to work at the local t.v. station as the assistant to the producer and director of the nightly news and she was tired of being rejected time after time, this was her break and she was tired of not being given the opportunity to star in a big play like this one. The casting woman was right, she had a history in theater since she graduated high school she began her journey as a young actress starring in several roles from small to bigger ones but true, it was nothing too big or high budget productions.
"Wow," Minako shook her head " This is just—wow," she looked up and pointed at the light "I really can't believe the nerve you have to treat actors like this; if this is how you manage your crew and rehearsals, then—I don't want to be part of it." The blonde turned and stared at the men waiting for her at the other side of the stage, their tight black t-shirts gave away they were part of the security team, waiting to escort her out, "Miss…" one of them said and walked over to her; Minako raised her hand and waved her head disillusioned, "I can walk myself out." she began walking out the stage, slamming the doors behind her and cursing under her breath.
At the table, the director watched her storm out and turned to take the file with her resume and pictures and studied them in silence for a minute "I like her."
The woman sitting next to him widened her eyes and opened her mouth in surprise "H-Her? but the role is already taken, also—didn't you see the tantrum she just made?"
The director smiled while watching Minako's picture again "She seems," he chuckled "Different."
Outside the theater, Minako snorted, ignoring the people staring at her while sighing and cursing under her breath. "Stupid casting people." she bit her lip and closed her eyes for a few seconds, containing the wave of emotions that were beginning to flow inside her.
After a couple of minutes, she raised her head and stared at the huge clock at the top of the building across the street and widened her eyes "Oh my god, it's past noon already?!" she looked at her wristwatch to make sure her brain was not deceiving her and gasped a very loud "Oh my god, I'm gonna be so late…" she gritted her teeth in regret "Usagi-chan is gonna kill…oh wait, it's Usagi-chan we are talking about," she sighed heavily and continued walking "I'm so on time."
Rei walked with a wooden tray in her hands down the hallway all the way up to her grandfather's bedroom. The Miko kneeled outside the richly crafted paper and wooden doors and put the tray carefully on the floor and slid the door with most delicacy so she wouldn't wake the old man in case he was sleeping. Her amethyst eyes looked around the room and found him sitting on the bed, reading a book. His face lit up the moment he saw her on the door "And there she is, my beautiful Miko."
Rei smiled softly and tilted her head to the side "Can I come in?" she asked lightly and stood up, taking the tray with her; she didn't wait for her grandfather to say anything when she took the liberty to come in and kneel again, this time next to his bed. "I brought you some tea."
"Oh dear, thank you."
"Would you like me to pour you a cup?"
"That would be perfect, yes."
Rei took the handmade ceramic cup and poured some hot water on it, then sprinkled some green leaves over the cup and waited a minute for the leaves to simmer and release their unique fragrance "Mmm…I smell jasmine."
The Miko smiled and nodded, she handed the cup to the old man, "Careful, it's very hot."
The high priest took the cup with care and closed his eyes for a moment while he murmured what it seemed a little prayer to the gods and then proceeded to take a loud sip "Ah, perfect," he smiled "Just how I like it."
Rei walked to the windows and slid the curtains aside "You need to let the sun come in, you need fresh air." she turned to look at him and raised a brow "And you also need to eat. Maki-san just told me you didn't eat any breakfast this morning, why?" her motherly persona took over quickly, making the old man chuckle softly "Just like your mother." there was an evident hint of longing in his words Rei caught up right away, "Ojisan, you need to eat so you can be healthy."
"Healthy, Oh dear," the old man took another sip of his tea and stayed thoughtful for a couple of minutes "I won't be the man I was five years ago, I am not getting any younger,"
"Ojisan,"
"My health and vitality isn't the same as it was,"
"Ojisan,"
"My time is coming..."
"Stop it." Rei cut his words, her voice flat and weak, "I can't stand when you start talking like that." she closed her eyes and stood there, feet away from her grandfather's bed. Her trembling hands gave away the mortification she was trying to cover with all her might. Her stern face could not be held any longer but it was always like that, when in front of her grandfather Rei was like a leaf in the middle of an ocean, exposed and unprotected.
"I cannot see my life without you in it," Rei took a deep breath "I just," she sighed "I can't."
"Rei, come sit here with me." the priest patted his thin mattress and waited for her granddaughter to sit in silence "It's alright, you don't need to worry about what might happen, I am okay." he sighed and held her hand "We all have our life traced, our destiny. We come here to accomplish our mission and then part free," he smiled sadly "We've been together for a long, long time now child and it is time for you to move on."
Rei closed her eyes and fought the tears that threatened to come out "I don't want to move on without you."
"You are a great Miko, I trained you well. You are magnificent at what you do and I am the luckiest grandfather of all times for having you in my life." the priest wiped a tear rolling down his granddaughter's cheek and smiled "It's all right. We all are on the same boat dear, it just happens that mine has begun its journey some years back and it's finding its course to its end."
Rei looked up at him and frowned "The doctor said you were better, but you need to eat, sailed or not your boat, you need to eat." the mood in the room instantly lit up, her motherly tone came back in charge and everything came back to its usual routine. It was too hard for both to talk about what would happen if he was gone. They loved each other too much and Rei was doing her best at taking care of him to be saying their goodbyes. No, she was not going to let that happen.
After Rei graduated high school she continued with her duties as her grandfather's apprentice at the shrine and soon perfected her skills as Shinto priestess but things soon began to turn complicated when her grandfather fell ill and had a stroke, making it impossible to continue handling all the responsibilities he had to fulfill as the head priest. Since then, Rei followed her grandfather's wishes and took his place as the Hikawa Shrine Miko.
The old man chuckled and nodded in defeat "All right, all right," he sighed "I just don't like bland food."
"Ojisan, don't be melodramatic, it's for your own good."
The priest put his empty cup aside and sighed "I wonder what will happen with Yuuichiro."
Rei frowned and moved her hand away from her grandfather's "W-Why do you say that?" she stood up again and went to take the old man's medicines; she tried to open the lids for each container, but it was nearly impossible task to control her shaky hands from exposing her slight anxiety, "What does Yuuichiro has to do with you eating?" she asked softly, trying to diverse the conversation back to the main point.
"You are not an easy cookie, dear. You have a very strong character." the old man chuckled and noticed she was taking just too long to bring him the pills "Rei?"
"Yes, yes?"
"Are you alright?"
"Perfect. It's just that—these lids," Rei murmured and turned to place the mint colored pills on his wrinkled hand "Sometimes there are hard to take off."
The old man took the glass of water he had next to his bed and swallowed the pills "That man—I never thought he could win a special place in our hearts. He's a nice fine man," He pointed at his granddaughter "But he is lucky to have you."
Rei pressed her lips together for a moment and cleared her throat "Ojisan," she whispered and sat on his bed again and looked into his brown eyes while contemplating whether she confessed the truth that has been torturing her for the last four months. When she thought about Yuuichiro, the memory of the kind loyal man resurfaced from the ashes like a phoenix but the reality of things soon brought her back to her state of solitude and abandon. Rei wanted to tell her grandfather what she was feeling, but his heart was too weak to stand another deception. It took him a long time to finally convince her grandfather that his intentions were honest and real and that one day he wanted to take her hand in marriage, start a family, live a new life, despite the priest's first wish of her becoming a respectable Shinto priestess. Maybe it was the history between them that made her take the decision of not telling him anything that was happening between Yuuichiro and her. The priest loved the man and most of all, he trusted him.
"Rei?"
Rei snapped out of her deep thought and looked at her grandfather "Oh—I um—I wanted to let you know I was going out with the girls tonight, nothing fancy just coffee," she bit her lip and continued the lie "More than letting you know, I wanted to ask you if it was okay," she turned to the door and hesitated "I asked Mika-san to prepare you your favorite dish for dinner and made all the arrangements necessary,"
"Rei."
"So you don't have to worry about anything, Yuuichiro will be taking care of everything,"
"Rei-chan"
"While I'm gone but if there is anything else you..."
"Rei-chan."
"Yes?" Rei widened her deep purple haze. The priest smiled warmly, "You don't have to worry about anything. You haven't seen them in a while; it's not healthy for you to stay at home taking care of this old man all the time."
"You are not an old man," Rei warned him.
"Go." The priest said "Go and have fun, come home late, go out dancing—go have a drink," he made a pause "Just don't come home drunk."
"Ojisan, it's just coffee."
"Bah!" the old man waved his hand and smiled "What are you girls planning this time eh?"
Rei smiled at her grandfather's light sense of humor "We are just going to talk about some details about the wedding."
"Oh right," the old man frowned slightly "Who's marrying again?"
"Usagi," Rei said softly.
"Oh right, right." The priest's eyes lit up "The petite girl with the hair of moonlight strings, eh?"
"That's her." Rei chuckled.
"She is a very funny lady, adorable is the right word to describe her."
"She's…one of a kind."
"She's marrying the very tall young man, right?"
"Correct." Rei smiled "Her long, long, long, time boyfriend."
The old priest chuckled "Very nice couple."
"You are invited."
"You know it depends on this old heart of mine dear, but Yuuichiro is going with you to the reception, I imagine?"
"Um," Rei sighed softly "I guess."
The priest nodded "Well, I can tell it is going to be a beautiful wedding." He patted her granddaughter's hand "Go have fun tonight and say hi to the girls."
Rei smiled "I will." she turned her head to look at the windows and their blowing curtains "Are you cold? Want me to shut the windows?"
The priest shook his head "They're alright. I'll ask Yuuichiro to close them if it gets cold."
"Alright." Rei leaned and kissed her grandfather on the forehead and stood up "I love you."
"I love you too."
Rei smiled and turned to leave, sliding the door closed again. She sighed and took a few steps down the corridor and stopped, with her hand covering her mouth, she took a deep breath again and leaned on one of the pillars unaware that she was not alone.
"Are you okay?" she heard a male voice cut deep into her thoughts. Rei widened her eyes and turned to find Yuuichiro standing just two feet away from her "What are you doing here all by yourself?"
"I'm fine." she said coldly and turned to look away "Do you need anything?"
"Yes. Talk to you." Yuuichiro said softly "Rei—we can't go on like this. I can't go on like this," the man lowered his gaze "And I don't want to."
"There is nothing for me left to say to you," her voice was calm, but sounded tired "We have nothing to talk about. You are here because you wanted to be my grandfather's apprentice, stick to your plan and leave me alone."
"This is not what my Master wanted, he gave us his blessing."
"A blessing you surely forgot about months ago."
"Rei, how long are you going to continue lying to him? He doesn't have a clue that we are not doing okay," Yuuichiro sighed "And I want us to be okay, I want us to be like before—Rei, this distance is breaking us apart."
Rei turned to look at him, there was anger and hurt in her amethyst eyes, "Unbelievable." she turned on her heel and continued walking until she was far away from her grandfather's bedroom not really paying attention to the man she was aware, was still following her.
"What do you want me to do?!" Yuuichiro raised his hands in frustration, "Hmm?" he frowned "I've been trying to have a conversation with you and you just walk out on me! Tell me how this is not breaking us apart."
This was the drop that fell from her glass of patience, with fisted hands and rage firing on her chest she turned to look at him and raised a finger in his direction "You broke us! You. Broke. Us. You."
"Rei,"
"You broke what we had that night. You broke my trust—my heart."
"Rei," Yuuichiro breathed her name.
"How can I tell my grandfather that?!" she raised her trembling hands "How can I tell him what you did without causing him pain? Without hurting him?"
"Rei—I'm sorry," Yuuichiro took a step closer to her, one she took back and away from him "If you said you loved me so much, why did you break my heart that way? You know how I felt towards men, you know I didn't want anything and still, you tried to convince me. You made me trust."
"I was drunk. I didn't know what I was doing."
"A treason is a treason—no matter in what state you are in." Rei said dryly "And I cannot stand deceivers." she turned on her heel and walked back to the shrine, brushing her pristine kimono sleeve against his skin while she passed him "Don't you dare tell him anything, I will find the way to talk to him and make this less painful for all of us."
"Rei."
"Be the man you claim to be and don't say a word."
With a loud sigh, she walked inside the shrine and went straight to the prayer room and slid the door closed behind her. She leaned on the wall and closed her eyes thinking about how this situation with Yuiichiro was starting to go out of control; she tried to keep things calm and as normal as she could but her grandfather was starting to give her more obvious hints that he was expecting her to settle with him soon, even when she was supposed to be a Miko for the rest of her life.
The constant lying and pretending for the sake of the old man was starting to take a toll on her. The more she smiled to Yuiichiro while having dinner together the more she felt sick by his betrayal. With a heavy sigh, she decided to take one final glance at the fire and one final meditation session before starting to get things done before her night out with the girls.
There were only a few things that could make her feel secure and in control, one of them was the sound of the fire crackling in the middle of the room. Rei lit the candles around the hearth and sat on her knees in respect to the gods and mostly the power blazing in front of her.
Her amethyst eyes watched the intense dance in front of her and with a loud and long exhale, the raven-haired priestess closed her eyes and chanted her usual prayers allowing a familiar feeling starting to take over her and opening her mind to the calling.
"It's been so long…so long since we showed ourselves to the world."
The priestess looked down at her wiggling hands "It's been a long time since I showed my true nature," she whispered "My true nature." she said more convinced to herself.
Her thoughts were correct, it felt like it had been a long time since they stop fighting for love and justice. The amazing feeling of fire burning inside her and through her veins felt like it happened a long time ago. Rei smiled sadly and turned her palms up while still looking at them. It was undeniable; she still felt that spark inside of her waiting to come out like in the old days while wondering if she really missed the countless nights she had to sneak out of her room to go and fight the enemies with her friends. It had been months since she started wondering if she missed her days as a soldier.
Rei closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Is it that being a soldier was the only exciting thing in my life? Was it being a Sailor Senshi the only purpose of my existence?" she asked the fire in front of her "Am I the only one that ever wonders if I am going to be as strong as my secret alter ego?"
Rei opened her eyes and sighed in defeat "No Rei, don't be silly," she mumbled and shook her head "I should not blame my side as Sailor Senshi for my lack of conviction and my failure with love. Those are two different things."
As soon as those last words came out of her mouth a strange feeling of doubt and uneasiness possessed her already troubled spirit making her stare at the fire moving violently like a whirlpool of angst and madness.
The Miko shook her head and brought her hands close to her chest "Why is my mind so clouded? Why am I feeling like this? What is this heavy energy I am feeling inside of me?" she exhaled heavily, "What is it?" she whispered as she looked into the fire and frowned "Tell me!" the priestess stood up and threw a handful of blessed salts to the blazing fire, hoping that would release the negativity that was evidently trapped within the dancing flames.
To her surprise, the fire grew bigger and turned even more violent "W-What?" Rei's eyes widened in shock and stepped back when she knew this was something that if not treated with extreme care it could cause a disgrace. It was just when she was about to scream for help when her purple eyes caught the shape of a silhouette appearing in the middle of the fire.
Rei widened her eyes in shock "What…is that?"
She turned to the sacred mirror on the other side of the room and noticed how it slowly turned pitch black. She turned frantic, the fire was trying to tell her something, it was warning her about something she could not even describe. The figure became clearer as the fire kept moving, she could not tell if it was a man or a woman but it was clearly something with a weapon and ready to attack.
A strong, very strong smell of charcoal and sulfur began invading the room, almost choking the priestess to death. Desperate, she turned to scream for help but her voice never found its way out; Rei came closer to the raging fire and put her hands together "This cannot be," she murmured "It's like the fire is battling against something," she closed her eyes and brought her hands together and began chanting several prayers when a voice suddenly echoed from the fireside.
"Totum est meum est"
Rei's brows knitted together and tried to decipher the words coming from the fire. She could clearly hear a deep dangerous voice repeating the same words over and over again.
"Totum est meum est"
''Omne quod est in me"
Rei moved closer to the flames, ignoring their anger and frowned "Whoever you are, I command you to leave this sacred place!" she closed her eyes and moved her hands forming different symbols "Rin,"
"Pyou,"
"Tou,"
"Sha,"
"Kai,"
"Jin,"
"Retsu,"
"Zai,"
"Zen,"
The priestess raised her arms and threw a sacred piece of paper to the struggling flames, her amethyst eyes never leaving the dark entity that was reflecting in front of her, challenging her.
"Akuryo Taisan!"
As soon as the flames ripped and burned the paper, the dark figure began to fade away and the once raging flames were now returning to their tranquil natural state. Her body was shaking thinking that for a moment she barely could control and stop the rage and whatever it was trying to come out of the flames.
The priestess walked towards the windows and opened them wide to let the suffocating smell of sulfur leave the shrine for good. With troubled eyes she looked at Phobos and Deimos fly in circles around the dark smoke "What did just happen?" she asked confused and turned to the calm fire again "What was that?"