Aphelion
…Second Night…
+Echoes+
All characters belong to their respective owners.
+Usagi+
The morning of her first day had passed in a haze. Mr. Cross, the Academy's chairman, had escorted and introduced her jovially to the class. But despite their vocal welcome and the instructor's kindly smile, Usagi felt just about everything but comfortable.
She did her best to focus on the lecture, mentally reaffirming her goal to get the best grades possible, but she couldn't shake the distractions swarming all around her. It seemed as if every pencil scrape or sharp inhale of breath was like a screaming siren in her ears. When she braved a glance toward those unfamiliar faces surrounding her, she couldn't recall a time when she had felt more alone. And there was that chilling and ominous feeling from the night before, it had returned with a vengeance. Turning her sapphire gaze toward the sunlit window, she felt queasy upon spying nothing but the empty rooftop. She could have sworn she'd felt the presence of someone watching her…
Crack
The smack of a wooden pointer against the chalkboard made Usagi jump, and she quickly focused toward the front of the room.
"The point in orbit where the Earth is nearest to the sun is called, what?" The teacher nodded toward the diagram. A delicate girl seated next to her raised her hand.
"Perihelion, sir." She answered gently.
"Very good, and do you know the term for the point when it is the farthest?"
"That would be, Aphelion, sir."
"Correct again, Miss Wakaba."
Though the instructor continued his lecturing, Usagi's thoughts drifted to her memories of the previous night. Never before could she remember a time she had been in so much danger, and the feeling was only partially fulfilled by the presence of Zero's pistol. Something about this school just wasn't right. The students in the classroom seemed normal enough, most of them trying their best not to doze off during the professor's boring astronomy lecture.
But there was an oddity clouding this place like an evening fog. Thick and chilling, the sensation was almost tangible. Like there was a cold, wet sheen lining her skin she couldn't keep from shivering. Even seated amongst a room filled with people she could feel it at the back of her neck, a chilled and lingering breath whispering a language foreign to her ears. Usagi had long ago stopped believing in the bogeyman, but this feeling was beginning to make her second guess the dismissal of her childhood fears.
Swallowing thickly as she studied the pricked bumps of skin on her forearms, the blonde shook her head and released a slow, unsettled breath. She really missed home and perhaps her emotions were truly getting the better of her. Allowing her crystalline orbs to gloss over the scribbles of chalk beyond her, she was beginning to sympathize with the Earth. Like the planet, she too knew the pain of Aphelion. Or rather, feeling the deafening distance from the comforting warmth of everything and everyone she knew. The world without her friends and loved ones was cold, dark and for some flustering reason, extremely threatening.
"For tomorrow, read pages two hundred and thirty through three hundred and expect a quiz. Class dismissed!" The voice of the teacher broke Usagi's attention. Gathering her books in her arms, she turned to leave the stadium tiered seating and froze in her steps. Seated at the very top of the room was the owner of a pair of emotionless lilac eyes, the same ones that were burrowing past her own and into her soul. Her heart began to throb in her neck when that chilling feeling returned, only this time drowning her within the heartless intensity of his gaze.
Usagi's lips fell into a frown as she narrowed her eyes toward the school's prefect, ignorant to why his eyes continually fell on her distrustfully. Zero needed to get over it. She'd made one mistake and wasn't going to make the same one again, beside the fact that it hadn't been her fault in the first place. Tempestuously snapping her gaze away from him, she marched through the doorway and mentally added the silver-haired teen to her list of things she hated about this place.
…
Sitting alone with her filled tray in the mess hall, the normally hungry girl stared at the foreign food forlornly. There was absolutely nothing happy or worth looking forward to in this school and her appetite was suffering poorly because of it.
"I know it doesn't look that great," a soft spoken voice earned her attention. "But cottage pie is actually one of the chef specialties." The girl who had been seated next to Usagi in class earlier beamed hopefully.
"Wakaba?" Usagi asked, wincing when she realized she didn't yet know the girl's first name.
"Call me Yori," she laughed gently before setting her tray down across from Usagi.
After a few minutes of conversing with the kind girl, Usagi was feeling better. Along with her better mood came hunger and the pigtailed blonde had scarfed her meal in a matter of minutes. Yori had been right. Cottage pie actually was pretty good.
After Yori had "braved" talking to the new girl, the other teenage girls in their class flocked to Usagi's table, asking her multitudes of questions and prodding her on how many attractive guys had attended her old school. Suddenly, Usagi had forgotten her fears and sadness, displacing them with being wholly overwhelmed by new and interesting people. Maybe this place wouldn't be so terrible after all.
"There's no way there is any guy cuter than Wild!" A dark haired girl exclaimed dreamily.
"Oh please, he doesn't even hold a candle to the Idol!" Her friend blushed and fanned her face as she spoke.
"Don't start. We are so not arguing about this again!"
"What are you guys talking about?" Usagi laughed as she spooned a bite of pudding into her mouth. "Wild? The Idol?" She asked with a chuckle but quickly stopped laughing when the girls deadpanned upon her. The new student blinked when she noticed Yori shifting uncomfortably in her seat.
"No one told you about the Night Class?" One of the girls asked in astonishment. As soon as the question rang in her ears, the memory of her strange encounter during her first night permeated her thoughts.
"Surely your little girly friends already told you about me." He paused to vainly rest two fingers on his collar and flash a wink. "I'm the one they refer to as the Idol."
Awaking from her stupor, Usagi lowered her eyes in order to avoid their horrified expressions.
"Yeah, I heard." She responded, appearing to look extremely interested in pushing the chocolate pudding around in her dish.
"Oh, hearing isn't enough. You don't even know." The girl emphasized just before erupting into giggles along with the other girls with the exception of Yori. "Come with us and find out, it'll be like kind of an initiation!" Leaving her seat, Usagi turned to follow the girls from the dining hall as instructed when she noticed that Yori remained at the table.
"Hey, are you coming Yori?" She asked with a smile. Yori returned it, but something about her expression looked…sad.
"No," she shook her head. "All that reading assigned in class, I had better head back to my dorm early and get started on it. Good night, Usagi." She bid her before taking her leave.
Traveling alongside the giggling girls outside of the Academy's main building, Usagi blinked confoundedly when they veered right at the fork in the path rather than toward their dorms.
"Is this a short cut?" She asked, looking ahead toward an elaborate gate that looked nearly identical to the one separating the student residences from the school.
"This is the gate to the Moon dorms, where the Night Class students live," the girl to her right explained. Tossing her vision to the West, Usagi noticed the sun had already begun to set.
"Hey, when exactly does curfew start? Don't want to get in trouble on my first day!" She laughed, rubbing the back of her head.
Too late for that. The exchange student inwardly reminded herself.
"We don't have to be back to the Sun dorms until twilight and we have plenty of time, don't you worry about that!" One of the girls beamed.
"We have exactly ten minutes and twenty-two seconds until twilight," another exclaimed. Before Usagi could respond to the other's odd comment, her mouth dropped open upon seeing nearly every girl in the school crowding around the gate. Joining the crowd that was parted on either side of the walkway, she fought off a shiver upon spying Zero standing stiffly by the closed black bars. He was glowering fiercely toward the schoolgirls, daring them to cross the over into the forbidden space. Her focus on the peculiar teen was broken, when the gates creaked open and the shrill sound of squealing girls erupted into the air.
Usagi's eyes glazed over hazily, her mouth hanging slightly open as a parade of beautiful people dressed in white uniforms traveled by. She watched in wonder as they passed, acting nonchalant and oblivious to the sounds of their names being called by the girls in the crowd. For a sliver of a moment, she noticed one of the night class females pause in her steps before her. Her gray eyes snapped to Usagi, and by the time she had blinked the stranger had continued moving toward the school.
She might have dismissed the incident as nothing more than an odd encounter if the other night class students weren't looking upon her in the same way. They glanced toward her briefly, with a millisecond of interest before moving on.
It was almost as if they could sense she was new…sense that she was different.
Suddenly feeling self-conscious, the blonde pulled her arms around herself. Her skin pricked to attention when a looming figure stopped before her. Catching a glimpse of his ice-blue eyes, she attempted to take a step backward.
"The Idol…" The girls beside her whispered, their eyes dilating in horror when the beautiful man wrapped his arms around Usagi.
"Usagi-chan," he purposely dragged the Japanese suffix, as if being trapped in his arms wasn't enough to command her attention. "I'm so glad to see you again!" Aidou spoke loudly, but paused to smirk beside her ear.
"Every girl here is so jealous of you right now," he whispered hotly, "and now, they're all going to hate you."
"Wha-what?" Usagi stuttered but was immediately liberated from the schoolboy's arms when he was yanked backward.
"Hanabusa…" Akatsuki scolded, his eyes clouding over darkly as he squeezed the other's shoulder hard.
"Wild…" Usagi heard the girls murmur from behind her. She gaped at the pair, taking in the taller of the two's casual wear of his uniform and understood immediately how he had earned the name. The auburn tint in his hair was much more apparent in the fading sunlight and perfectly complimented the shade of his reddish brown eyes. They were stuck to her for a moment, conveying a storm of unreadable emotions before he continued walking to the class building, ensuring that Aidou went along with him.
"Come out here to try and visit with your friends again?" A harsh voice came from Usagi's right. Zero glared down at the petite girl, anger hot in his gaze.
"No-" She began but was interrupted with a growl.
"Are you an idiot?" He asked sharply, "How can you completely not remember what I told you yesterday?" Taking a step backward, Usagi's eyes clouded with moisture. Bumping into someone, she turned to be greeted with the faces of four very unhappy girls.
"You told us you didn't know anyone from the night class," one of them accused, "we were nice to you and now you're holding out on us? You can't date them all!"
"Maybe she's some kind of slut?" Another supplied. Whipping her head away she gripped the strap of her messenger bag and ran from them, squinting away the tears from her eyes. Akatsuki and Aidou paused in their steps when they observed Usagi cross their path as she bolted toward the Chairman's building.
"That was really cruel Hanabusa, even for you," Akatsuki remarked disapprovingly, "now I wish the prefect would have spotted you touching her. He would have definitely punched you, at the very least." The fair-haired vampire snorted.
"The girls will get over it, by tomorrow she'll probably be the most popular person in the day class," he yawned. "And as for Zero, his attention was distracted." Both of the teens shifted their eyes toward the petite class president, who maintained an even expression despite having just been stared down by her estranged love interest and friend. "All this business with Kaname and Ruka…" he spoke lowly, "We must protect Yuuki, I don't trust Zero for an instant."
"Relax, Hanabusa," Akatsuki urged, "As long as Yuuki is here, they both will return." But the taller vampire frowned as if he didn't believe his own words.
…
Bursting into her room, Usagi's stray tears quickly became uncontrolled sobs. After just a day in this place she already had more enemies than she could count on her fingers. What had she done to deserve this? All she had wanted was to just get her grades up, so she could attend a good University along with her best friends. A whole year away from everyone she loved was awful enough and to no fault of her own, everyone now hated her. Crashing on to her bed, she wrapped her arms around a pillow and cried into it.
"I'm so pathetic," she mumbled into the dampened fabric. It seemed ridiculous for an eighteen year old to be crying over being called names, but taking into account everything, she couldn't help but feel hopeless.
After a few hours of sulking, Usagi thought better of calling one of her friends, she could use the cheering up but she really didn't want anyone to worry about her. With a heavy sigh she approached her desk next to the window and collected her text books. She had a lot of reading to do, and she imagined her teacher wouldn't consider depression a good enough reason for not completing the assignment.
Just as she opened the cover, she heard a tap on the window. A chill spread across her skin as she looked through the fogged glass, unable to make out anything but the blurry shapes of trees swaying in the night air. Dismissing the sound to the wind, she jolted when there was again another tap.
"Usagi!" She heard a hushed voice call from outside. Approaching the window, the blonde lifted the sash and poked her head outside. A figure in a dark cloak stood on the ground below.
"Usagi, its Yori," She spoke just loud enough to be heard as she pulled down the hood of the cloak.
"Hey," She spoke back. "What are you doing out here? Its past curfew, I don't want you to get in trouble!"
"I heard some of the girls when they returned to the dorms…I wanted to make sure you're ok. The other girls go crazy about the night class students, I'm so sorry I should have warned you!" Usagi felt a small smile form on her lips, she had at least retained one friend.
"Hey," She called. "There's a back door to this building, go around there and I'll let you in!" Yori nodded and Usagi shut the window and quickly grabbed her coat and bag before exiting her room.
The headmaster hadn't said anything about wandering the building at night, and she wasn't sure what the rules in the main dorm building were, so she snuck around, stifling giggles as she imagined herself being a ninja or some kind of cat burglar. Looking both ways down the empty hallway, Usagi reached for the doorknob just as she heard a high pitched scream.
"Yori!" She exclaimed and without a moment's hesitation she ripped the door open and bolted outside. Her pupils dilated when she spotted the girl kneeling upon a thin layer of snow. She cradled her right arm against her, where streams of red were trickling down her forearm. A shadowy and snarling figure loomed before her, and both whipped their attention toward Usagi when she exited the building.
"Usagi," Yori managed to gasp, "run!"
Though fear stabbed Usagi's heart when the stranger's red eyes emblazoned upon her, her survival instincts were suddenly overpowered. The girl who would routinely be startled by the sight of her own shadow or the sound of thunder in a brewing storm felt a surge of purpose course through her veins. Dropping into a defensive stance that seemed familiar despite having never been trained in martial arts, Usagi narrowed her eyes.
"Hey! Leave her alone!" She shouted toward the dark haired stranger who paid her with a deranged cackle.
"Oh what luck," he spoke crazed into the thin, freezing air, "to think I thought I had cornered just one meal tonight and now I have two!" The blue-eyed girl gaped upon spotting the dangerously long fangs decorating the wild man's grin. "And I think I'll eat you first," he purred seductively, "you smell especially delicious!"
"Usagi!" Yori wailed and before Usagi could process the man's words he had lunged. Her body moved without her mind's accord, and by some miracle she had just missed his grasp as she went rolling across the snow-covered ground. In the heat of the madness of snarls and Yori's screams in the distance, Usagi's pale blues widened on a dagger like rock and she grabbed it.
Rolling onto her back she heaved it upward and struck her assailant just as he was crashing down toward her. He voiced a sickening screech and fell away, clutching his right eye socket but Usagi didn't hesitate to assess the damage. Within seconds she was on her feet and rushing toward Yori, the cold air burned in her lungs but she grabbed onto the girl's uninjured arm and helped her to her feet.
"Usagi-"
"We have to go, we have to hurry!" The shorter blonde urged, and without another word the two rushed away from the howling man and into the thick of the trees. Usagi began to panic when she felt Yori become wobbly on her arm. Looking up from the snowflakes falling damp on her bangs, she noticed a utility house near the lake and thanked her lucky stars that the door was unlocked.
The building was cold, but they were at least shielded from the wind. Helping Yori to be seated, she frowned upon noticing her pale face and half-lidded eyes. She needed to get her classmate help, but she chewed her lip upon remembering their attacker. Injuring his eye had bought them time, but he would hardly be out for the count when it came to still being dangerous.
"Usagi," Yori spoke groggily with little energy due to her blood loss.
"Just relax Yori," She ordered, "I'm going to go find help," she explained as she dropped her bag to remove her coat and drape it over the injured girl.
"No!" Yori protested, her brown eyes opening wide. "You must not go back out there! We can't win against them, not without weapons!"
"Them?" Usagi asked, remembering the attacker who seemed more like a beast than a man, "Who are they?" Yori's eyelids once again became heavy as she began quickly losing her fight in remaining conscious.
"All of them…the night class…" she trailed, "vampires…"
Her skin tightened and crawled upon hearing the name. Vampires? Was she in some kind of horror movie? Her sound doubts were challenged by the man's eerie appearance and his declaration of desire to eat her. Grabbing onto the sides of her pigtails she shook her head rapidly. It couldn't be true, Yori was injured and delirious and if she didn't do something…
She would die.
Breathing in deep, Usagi reached for her bag and noticed the gift from her mother - the small white first aid kit had slid onto the floor. Falling to kneel near Yori's side, Usagi snatched the kit and pried open the metal latch. She huffed frustratingly when within was yet another box with the same note that had been written across the first lid.
OPEN ONLY IN AN EMERGENCY
This was definitely an emergency.
Opening the second container rapidly, she squinted when there were no contents within except for a golden crescent-shaped symbol printed across the bottom.
"What?" She voiced confoundedly and gasped when a bright light erupted from the parcel and filled the entire room. It hit her all at once, like an on-coming train, a life-time's worth of memories, adventures, and terrors.
All those gaps and holes in her memory became filled and overflowed with what had actually occurred. Every bump and scar she had attributed to her clumsiness – had actually been inflicted by the demons and monsters she had battled in order to protect the defenseless. Her cloudy and confused blues suddenly became clear and damp, as they filled with sights of both great happiness and unbearable pain. Whipping her hand to grasp the brooch at her heart, she felt its power pulsing beneath – a reminder that she had the strength to protect the weak from the wicked. She was no mere girl, but a warrior with years of experience.
A thunderous crash sounded at the door, and in the midst of shattering and splintered wood the shadowy man with streams of red traveling down his face burst into the building.
"You ruined my eye, girl," The vampire announced with uneven tones of voice. "Help me heal…with your blood!" He roared gutturally. But he paused, and turned confoundedly when neither of the girls could be seen within the shed.
"Do you think you can just attack innocent girls and get away with it?" A bold and feminine voice sounded from just outside the door. Shifting to look out beyond the wrecked frame, the vampire's rabid glowing eye dulled upon the figure standing alone in the falling snow.
Though her short skirt and thin clothing did little to shield the cold, the winged girl didn't shiver as her long, blonde streamers of hair blew in the wind. Her brilliant sapphire eyes were fierce and alive as she focused them on the injured man. Behind her, nestled in coats against a tree was the unconscious Yori.
After a moment of stunned silence, the aggressor began to cackle, showing his teeth gleefully as saliva ran down the corners of his mouth.
"You smell even better than that other girl," the vampire laughed, "and as for your question, yes I devour little girls like you all the time! I'm so very hungry…" he loomed forward, "give yourself up to me and I'll be gentle!"
"Not tonight!" She roared, planting her white boots firmly in place between the creature and Yori, "I am Sailor Moon," she pointed accusingly forward. "And in the name of the Moon, I will punish you for what you've done to Yori and all those others!"
The vampire lunged, but Eternal Sailor Moon was faster. There were echoes in her soul existing as a jumble of thoughts and memories, but she narrowed her resolve on the situation at hand. Her limbs vibrated with power when she launched a powerful kick into the creature, sending him backward and off his feet.
How long had she lost her memories? Was this Luna's doing, like she had done so many years ago? Sailor Moon regained her battle conscious when the man again came to his feet, and with another brutal kick, she sent him back to the night's winter floor.
Mentally calling upon her most powerful weapon, she reached her hand up and caught the Eternal Tiare. Slinging it forward, the staff elongated and she planted it into the ground before her. The vampire was back on his feet but halted when blasted with a bright stream of light.
If you're truly evil this will destroy you…if you're not… Sailor Moon spoke inwardly as the light from the Tiare engulfed the vampire.
"What the…!" A startled voice from behind caught her off guard and Sailor Moon quickly grabbed her weapon and sprang away. Standing defensively with Yori at her back, she gaped upon seeing two people she recognized. Aidou's jaw was practically touching the ground as he looked in awe toward the Sailor warrior. Beside him was the taller Akatsuki, there were flames at the tips of his fingers as he looked skeptically toward the Moon warrior and then toward the attacker crumpled on the ground. Standing between them with a staff in her hands, was the short brown haired girl.
"Yori!" The petite girl spoke, with worry plastered across her features. Feeling another presence behind her, Sailor Moon turned to see Zero with the unconscious girl in his arms. His eyes were cold and accusing, but he spoke no words. A groan from the ground caught everyone's attention and without a second's hesitation, the silver-haired prefect whipped out his gun with one free hand and pointed it bitterly toward the attacker who was now seated and holding his head.
"Where…where am I?" He spoke confoundedly sounding completely coherent. Zero cocked his pistol.
"Don't!" Yuuki yelled, putting herself between the fallen and the line of Zero's gun. "He is not a Level E!"
"He attacked Yori, stand aside, Yuuki." Zero ordered coldly.
"That light you used," Yuuki turned her large brown eyes imploringly upon the golden-blonde, causing Sailor Moon to take a step backward. This wasn't the usual Sailor Soldier protocol, after defeating the enemy she was supposed to split. But, Yori was injured, and something about this group was making her feel uneasy.
"You were able to stabilize his madness, who are you? How did you do it?" Yuuki asked. Standing guardedly on her feet, Sailor Moon whipped her head toward Zero. He appeared protective over the girl, enough so that she felt confident he'd take her to safety. So without answering the girl's inquiry, she leapt into a tree branch, and made her escape quickly beneath the cover of leaves.
She dropped her transformation just before reaching the Chairman's building, and was confident no one saw her reenter through the opened back door. Moving silently, she reached her room and looked upon her belongings with a new pair of eyes. Sliding to the floor with her back to the door, she attempted to reign in the whirlwind of thoughts and images swirling in her head. When they finally calmed, there was one at the forefront at her mind and it pierced her heart so forcefully that she grabbed her chest.
"Mamo…Mamo-chan?"
He was the destined to be the love of her life, but without her memories they were…nothing.
She grit her teeth as tears rolled silently down her cheeks.
She had to contact Luna…there had to be an explanation.
…
THANK YOU TO: Crystal, Princess Moonie, Zerosfangirl, Sakura Waldorf, andyB, JoWashington, Infinite, Saris Yui, Cosmic-lover, Guest, Guest, Eclipsian Maiden, EnuNR-Zero, tsukinoyume11, Glitter Poisoned My Blood, OceanTide, Selene088, DragonFire Princess, EclipsePheniox, Kisa, ladybug, and Tory-ja for reviewing last time!
Sorry this took so long, it probably wasn't as satisfying "romantically" (there was a little flirting and fluff, tension…right? ^^) but as with stories with a plot…I still hope it was interesting. I think some of you may be surprised that she regained her memories so quickly, but that was the way I had originally conceptualized it! I had gotten a message requesting that Usagi not become Sailor Moon and I agree that her power and presence (at least from the anime) doesn't seem "dark" enough to fit in this story. So I really tried to present her in a more serious way without rainbows and sparkles and even without some of her more "corny" attack names. Usagi at this point still has some of her loveable qualities but will be a more serious (and hopefully, badass!) character in this story.
Please review if you read this, and feel free to leave comments, criticisms, and praise (if you feel its worthy)! ^^
Just out of curiosity…in your review what character at this point do you think will be Usagi's romantic interest?! (if you want, ^^)
1) Mamoru
2) Zero
3) Aidou
4) Akatsuki
5) Other
6) ALL! XD
Thanks for reading!
-El3
