Act I, Chapter II

To Go Crazy

"Are you sure?" Uranus asked as I stared in at the rather slow day at this jewelry store.

"I was pretty sure. I mean this is where Mico sent me…" I trailed off staring through the front window through rose-colored glasses. Well only literally was I doing so.

"Mico?" Mars wasn't being very friendly as she said this.

"Short for mini computer, plus he's pretty smart," I kept scanning over the place with my eyes. Then I realized my folly. Mico was so much better at this stuff than I was! So I put him to work.

I started with some simple generic scans. Which of course didn't come up with anything; I could see Mercury working over to my side with similar scans I guessed. So I figured I could leave that kind of stuff to her. In fact I was pretty sure that if I left everything to her we'd get done faster. But I ran Mico through some more scans, life, evil 'vibes'. But somehow he didn't come up with anything, nothing at all.

I ran through every test twenty, thirty times. I don't know. I'm probably exaggerating. Then I figured it out. I should be scanning for my shadow. I did.

Mico started beeping like crazy; he drew the eyes of all the other scouts. But he quieted down after some reassuring. He is a bit like a very smart, very cute dog. I kept that in mind.

"It is here. But most scans can't get a lock. Mico only got it in the first place because I had a sketch on my tablet, well I drew it in a sketchbook first, but it got scanned in, and now it's in my tablet," I said as the scouts watched me warily. I started whispering commands into the microphone over my lip. Mico responded quickly. It drew up a holographic picture of my sketch, it looked really solid. I really love Mico.

"What is that?" Venus sounded a bit disgusted.

"I…well to tell the truth, I don't really know. I was sitting at my desk, completely bored one day, and the image popped into my head. So I drew it. This must have been at least a year ago. I think the shadows were because it's hiding I don't know what it's hiding from, but it's hiding," I told them quietly, "I think it's-" And of course I didn't get to finish saying I thought it was hiding in Naru-chan's jewelry store, because it decided to stop hiding.

Or maybe that grotesque ball of green vine looking things was just one of it's minions. I kind of didn't want to know which one was true. I kind of wanted to run away, and hide. Because you know running away and hiding is usually a very safe choice. But I didn't get to choose. Mico chose for me.

Mico ran words across my visor, which, while it sounds cool, isn't. Because you see I suddenly couldn't see. But I read the words quickly, hoping they'd go away.

It said Rose Thorn As if a rose thorn was gonna beat something that looked like it was hiding some rose thorns to hit us with But I whispered it into my mic and suddenly I had an overwhelming urge to spin in twirl like an idiot I mean how stupid is that? But I figured that Mico knew better than I did what to do, so I did what he told me to do.

Which meant I spun and twirled around like an idiot. But I didn't feel like an idiot doing it? I think I actually liked it. And of course per the whole magical girl thing I called out loudly "Rose Thorn!" That weird transformation rod came into my hand. And I found myself in a ridiculously cool dress I didn't feel like pondering it.

Also per magical girl formula the bad guy disappeared, well it turned into dust, but really close enough. I felt weak, and I collapsed. I also noticed I was in my fuku once more. I think I was living a rerun.

I'm not sure why. But the next day Usagi introduced me to Naru. I mean I'd been in this school for a bit over a month, and I'm just now meeting this girl? Isn't that strange? It was then that I realized that the scouts had doubted me even more than I had. They had kept me isolated from anyone but them. I bet they thought I was an enemy. Now that I think about it, going up to them and telling them that I knew who they were (and everything about them) on the first day I was in the school probably wasn't the best idea. Mico was laughing at me from my pocket. He had stuck around after I transformed back. But Mico was a little paranoid, so he was posing as a cell phone with a full keyboard.

I pulled the laughing (possibly mind reading) cell phone out of my pocket and sent it a command to shut up. He did, but I figure he was probably still laughing on the inside. But back to meeting Naru-chan. This is how it went:

"Hello, I'm Mami Kell,"

"Oh! Are you foreign then?"

"Yes, I just moved here from Germany,"

"I wish I could go see places. But I've lived here all my life,"

"I'd count that as a blessing if I were you. Moving to a foreign country is a pain. A complete and utter pain, I would prefer to be without,"

"I still think it would be fun,"

Then she spent the rest of the day grilling me about who I was, where I was from and such. I didn't really expect it. The anime and the manga both portrayed Naru-chan as a gentle and shyer person than she really was I kind of wondered why. But at the time I figured that the scouts were considered more important, and Naru-chan was sort of just lost in the mix. The same was true for Umino-kun, who I met the next day. But the way he acted (the grilling me about everything) was a little bit more in character than Naru-chan doing the same thing I figured by tomorrow the whole school would know everything I told Umino, so I was careful not to tell him too much.

"Usagi-chan, your friends are very tiring," I said as I let Usagi into my house. Usagi took her shoes off at the door, even though I didn't.

"Yes, but they really are very nice people," Usagi answered as I let Harry out of his crate, where he was exiled all day while everyone was busy. Harry promptly jumped up on Usagi, and covered her in slobber.

"Sorry about that," I said as I pulled Harry down. The two of us (with Harry close behind) went up to my room, where I fed Nesquik, and tossed a small pack of gummis to Usagi.

"What about your friends?" Usagi asked looking at the photos I had framed and lined my long dresser with, well I really crowded it to death.

"They're just as exhausting, but in a different way," I picked up a picture of a girl with really short semi-curly hair, "Like Michaele here, she's forever switching crushes, and boyfriends. Plus she never stops playing DDR," I picked up the picture of a girl with hair that went just past her shoulders, "or Corey, she insists that her hair is brown, when it's not really brown. It's really more of a reddish color," I picked up the picture of Matt with his downy brown hair, and clear ice blue eyes. I set that one down with a sigh.

"What about him?" Usagi asked picking up the picture I had just set down,.

"Matt? Well Creighton Matthew Whitmire is as blind as they come. He never did figure out that I liked him more than he liked me," I was sighing and getting depressed again. So I picked up the picture of Dominic, Rhett, and Jordan on the bars out back of Würzburg Middle School, "These three. Well these three were the most exhausting of all. You see I also liked Dominic," I said pointing to the boy with short curly blond hair, "But Jordan and Rhett were his best friends, and wouldn't leave us alone, even when the two of us were going out," Rhett was smiling out with his too small shirt showing his stomach, and Jordan was about a foot off the ground, he was very short.

"Oh," Usagi set down the picture softly, "Tell me about some of these other people?" Usagi requested her hand flinging out to encompass all the pictures on my dresser. So I did.

I told her about Marie, Livi, Megan, Ashley, Kristy, Josef, Michelle, Devon, Hannah, and everyone else. All those people I had known from sixth grade, to eleventh (which is what I was in now. Can't believe I forgot to tell you that…). I even told her little stories about everyone Like how Hannah was the one to get me to start writing, and how Kelsey had torn apart all my characters, because they were too perfect. I loved it when she did though. Because my characters were all me in a sense. One was a princess, one was a mage, one was a dragon trainer, and another was a ghost who had died. But my favorite was always the first one, her name was Princess Rose Emma-Ann Macay II, heir to the throne of Meapation. She was such a simple, pure character. She was so different from any of my later ideas, which came when I gained more knowledge.

By the time my little brother came home I felt a lot closer to the kind blond girl. But I didn't know anything more about her. But I had found out that I trusted her with my screwed up love life, and my dislike for dating. In fact I was pretty sure that I trusted her with my life, if that makes any sense since I barely knew her.

"Mami-chan!" Naru-chan was the one to call out to me after school today. I was a little surprised. She was nice, but she was really just an acquaintance, not a friend or anything.

"Oh, Hi Naru-chan. Is Usagi coming then?" I asked looking around behind Naru-chan to see if I could see one of the other scouts coming. I couldn't.

"No, I wanted to walk with you. Did you know that you lived pretty close to me? I figured you might like someone to walk with," Naru-chan explained softly. Now she was acting all shy and quiet.

"Oh, okay then," I said as I started off towards my house if hers was close by she'd be able to find it from my house, or somewhere close to it. Naru-chan kept pace with me quietly. Seriously, why was she so quiet now?

We didn't say a word to each other the whole way to my house It turns out she lived a few houses away from mine, just down the street really.

When I got inside I flipped open poor neglected Mico and asked for any messages. As I was flipping through random notes from my mom, and dad during the day I found one that made my eyes tear up. I had a note from my sister My sister I hadn't heard from in months. I missed her, even though I knew she was glad to be rid of her pathetic excuse for a younger sister. All Lauren said was 'Hey, how r u n japan? I'm good. I have a really busy schedule, sorry for not talking.' It was then that I realized how much I missed my big sister, how I could always talk her into driving me to the book store, or the library, how I could usually make her smile. How she teased me about how much I ate, and about how my laugh sounded faintly like a zebra. How she'd call me Stripes, how I'd call her Thumper.

I broke down and cried.

"Hey, you're in a bad mood today," Haruka commented as I drifted to the library during lunch break.

"Yeah, I got a text from my sister last night," It was barely better than a whisper. It was also the first thing I had said all day. My bad moods tended to last awhile.

"So isn't that a good thing? Unless something's wrong," Haruka said keeping pace with me. This if it had been anyone but Haruka, would have surprised me. I tended to walk like I was hurrying, even when I wasn't.

"I guess, but it makes me miss her. She's off in Florida with my older brother, and my grandparents, and Aunt Ann, and Uncle Robert, and Aunt Dawn, and Uncle Tony and…" That was when I started crying. I really shouldn't have. It was really stupid, and babyish. It break down crying in the middle of the hallway with Haruka, the most distant of the scouts the only person around me. But I did.

And if I hadn't been crying I probably would have felt that slight increase of power on that throbbing feeling. I might not have been as vulnerable. I might not have found myself sobbing in an alley miles away from the school a few hours later. I wouldn't have let my senses get the better of me.

When I found myself sobbing in an alley I stopped. It was mostly just shock of finding myself where I was that made me stop. But whatever it was it did the trick. And of course as soon as I stopped I could feel it.

The throbbing wasn't like I was too close to the speaker anymore, but rather like I was the speaker. At least I think that's a good way to describe it, I mean I've never been a speaker. I mean, I'm even a rather quite person (most of the time). But that's beside the point.

And of course because you don't think that the stupid pounding (because at this point pounding is a much better adjective than throbbing) can't get any worse, it goes ahead and does so. I think I might have screamed at some point. I'm not really sure. It was a little distracting having the world pounding around away from me…or whatever it was doing.

But I think I might have gotten used to it after a few minutes. Well, whatever, at some point I was able to transform. As soon as I did I could pinpoint the source. Which of course went ahead and dropped off my radar. Stupid intelligent pounding.

Of course I ran the feel of the pounding it was beeping about a few minutes ago (I couldn't hear. I'm pretty sure I did scream, or else that throbbing/pounding was really distracting, in a painful way). I really do love Mico. He was able to find a source of the weird pounding thing. Notice I said a source. Apparently it's coming from other places that Mico couldn't find at the time.

So of course me being, well me, I went off to try and kill whatever it was by myself. Can you say stupid or what?

The source of the throbbing was the center of a really peaceful looking park. Of course evil had to be in such a pretty place. Wasn't that how it always worked?

Well I had another one of those corny magical girl moments. I guess you know what I mean. That sense that everything has slowed down to an unbearable pace. And in that instant the bad guy attacks. Yeah, that's really what happened (I know how stupid huh?).

Well of course I did the magical girl thing and attacked the stupid thing. And also in touch with the whole magical girl thing, I missed. The problem is I wasn't watching this on my old desktop while snacking on Easter candy (as is a rather embarrassing habit of mine), I was living this. And that's about why I found my butt getting whipped as I basically stood there like a stump.

Now if I really was some awesome magical girl from an anime, I probably wouldn't have passed out. And I probably wouldn't have found myself drifting through my nightmares. But since this wasn't an anime, I did find myself drifting through nightmares.

I was standing with my dad, and my older brother. We were waiting in line to get on some ride. It looked overly peaceful. So I wasn't really worried. But I seemed to be excited to ride this candy coated ride. I think I might have been five. We got on the ride (which turned out to be a flume ride) and rode it through without any worries. When we got off there was another part of the ride. We took that one too. This one was a little darker, and much more ominous. As we got on the ride I started to wonder where my mom and my older sister were.

The second part of the ride was like an airplane. We seemed to soar above clouds, and through them. But it was dark, and there were scary sounds in the background I really didn't like it. The whole time I was worried where the other girls of my family were.

At the end we spiraled down into a pavilion type place At this point there was a clown who came to entertain us. To start he juggled multicolored balls. But then he dropped the balls into his pocket and instead pulled off his nose and started juggling that. I don't just mean his fake clown nose, I mean his real nose too. Then it was his eyes, and his mouth, then his ears. Eventually he was juggling every feature on his head, including clumps of rainbow colored hair.

I got off the ride, and went off looking for my family, because while I was occupied with the gruesome clown my dad and my older brother had walked off. There was one doorway, which was flooded with pure white light. I went through it, only to find myself in complete blackness. There was nothing, anywhere. Well until I could see the mirrors. They appeared one at a time, and each reflected me. But some showed a young girl, some me as I was sure I really was. Some showed who I could only guess was me, because they looked older than me, ranging from twenty or so, to a decimated corpse. Then one, right in front of me showed a young woman with blunt cut chin length hair the same color as me, and eyes with the same light brown. But these eyes stared at me with a burning hatred, and that sneering evil looking expression could never be me. She looked like a bad guy. I really hoped I never looked like her.

Behind me was a girl with slightly longer hair than mine. She had on a rose visor, and a pink and gold microphone and earpiece. She was wearing a fuku, and she was reaching out to me with a look of terror on her face. I reached back for her.

I found myself ensnared in the villain-looking-me's hands. But fighting off the villain was a girl in a light blue and silver dress. She pulled at the constraining arms with a look of pain on her face.

I knew this girl. She was a character I had made for one of my stories. She was Rose, the self-same Princess Rose I had created to be me.

The worst part was I had, had this dream before. But it had been a shadowy figure who restrained me, and no one had come to save me. Maybe I was a little crazier than I had originally thought

I screamed in terror and heard a voice which slithered in my mind, "I am you, you are me. And we are entwined."

Another voice called out for help. She sounded lonely and fragile.

Then that opened it up for all the other voices. They ranged from a baby's wail to an old woman's crackling voice. The loudest were the fragile voice, and the slithery snakelike voice.

Then there was another dream.

I was sitting in a room with my older sister. She was watching me. Today was her last day of having to deal with me, all day everyday. Today was the last day of my best summer. I was moving in a week or two, and Lauren was too. The difference was that Lauren would be by herself, and I wouldn't.

"So, Ma Sere. You're not going to get in trouble are you? Without me here to stop you?" Lauren asked as she pulled on her orange, blue, and white knit cap over her hanging hair.

"Of course I will. Because then you'll have to come home and visit us sooner," I told her. There were tears in my eyes.

"I'm not coming to visit," Lauren said quietly. I really hoped I hadn't really heard her say it.

"Of course you will! You and Sean will both come and visit. You'll come for Christmas, and for the summer. Of course you will," I said a catch in my throat.

"No, I won't. I'm not ever coming. I'm going to college, and staying there. I'll stay with Uncle Dom, or someone. I'm not ever coming to Japan. I've been dragged too many places. I'm not going to follow like my collar is still leading me," Lauren said sternly. I knew I was going to cry, and she wasn't. Lauren would never cry in front of me, I've never seen her cry. Lauren was strong, and I was weak. But I knew I had Lauren to protect me, so I didn't have to be strong. But now I did.

When I woke up I found several people standing around me, and I heard crashes in the background. I was crying, I was in too much pain not to be crying. I could bottle emotions for a long time, but when they got to be too much the happy cheerful mask I wore broke, and it wouldn't fix itself.

I knew I was crying, my mask was broken, so I was crying.

"Rose? Are you alright now?" I didn't turn to look. I didn't know the voice, but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered all that much at that moment.

"I think she's having an emotional breakdown. But I don't know what could have caused it. I'm not getting any negative readings now. But maybe something about that monster briefly invaded her mind?" I didn't know that voice either. But the words seemed familiar, like de ja vous.

"No, I think she's okay," Another unfamiliar voice But this one was…well I guess it was a little deeper than the others, or maybe it was just a little husky, I don't really know.

Of course Mico started running my ringtone. So I reached over and raised it to my face.

"Hello?"

"Megan? Hey what have you been up to?" It was Katja I shot up quickly.

"Katja! Mein Freundin! Du bist ein Engel!" I cried happily in German. (Translation: Katja! My Friend! You are an angel!)

"Megan? What's wrong? You sound really stressed," Katja commented.

"I'm just missing Lauren,"

"I really never thought I would hear you say you missed her. I mean you learned how to say 'evil' in German so that you could say that Lauren was evil. It was your favorite phrase for two full years," Katja said laughing.

"Ja, Mein alter Swester ist sehr böse, aber ich liebe sie," I said switching to German. I really missed being able to speak German with someone else. (Translation: Yes, my older sister is very evil, but I love her)

"Yeah, I know. You told me about how you two started getting along after the tornado in Alabama. I really can't believe you got hit by that thing! I mean I lived there for eight years, and never once was I hit by a tornado. And you lived in Kansas and no one in your area even was hit. But no you go to Alabama and you get hit by a tornado," Katja sounded really annoyed that I had had such a traumatic experience when I lived in her favorite state in the union.

"Yeah, well no one can control the fact that I bring the weather. You remember how both times we moved to Germany it got really warm for a couple of weeks before it returned to normal frigid temperatures. Plus when we moved to Florida it was in a draught, then it started to rain. When we moved to Alabama the weather had all been really tame, but then there was a tornado," I told her joking.

"Yes, well I'm sure Bob has something to do with it. Couldn't you have left him here when you moved to Alabama? God I really miss you Megan-Bacon," Katja said sighing.

"Yes, the invisible ghost is going to control the weather? Katja-chan, I don't think that's how it works," I was laughing, "But I miss you too," I told her in a much more serious voice.

"Well we should get off. We're wracking up major money with this conversation,"

"Yeah I know Well talk to you later, or maybe I'll just email you," I was solemn.

"Not if I email you first," Katja laughed. It sounded a bit sad, "bye."

"Bye," I hung up first. But that's because I could feel the tears again, and I didn't feel like letting Katja hear me.

"I guess you're better huh?" A voice asked me from close behind. I swung around as fast as I could. It was Sailor Uranus.

"Yeah, there wasn't anything wrong with me," I said a little overly loud.

"Yeah, and that's why we found a giant ball of vines about to kill you," Uranus was sounding very sarcastic.

"Well, it hit me, I passed out and…" I trailed off. Those were very private feelings, private dreams.

"And?" It was Jupiter who pushed for information. I looked around seeing all ten scouts, and a rather handsome, and tall man in a tuxedo and a mask.

"And that's private," I whispered so quietly I was sure they couldn't hear me.

"That's okay, we just wanted to know if it was anything that could be important, but if it's painful, well that's okay," It was Sailor Chibi Moon who spoke up for me. I felt like hugging her. In fact I did. The pink haired girl looked uncomfortable, but lived with the hugging.

"We should get you home," Mercury said closing her visor. It was only then that I realized she had it on, and that she had been scanning me with her mini-computer.

"Okay," I was very quiet, so Venus took it as an 'I'm injured' sound and carried me all the way to my house, where she left me sitting on the ledge. I stayed there for awhile after the other scouts had left. I should call Lauren, talk to her. Maybe it wouldn't hurt as much then.

The next two months were so devoid of action that I felt sure that nothing had actually happened. So as I helped my mom cook for our party we were having that evening, in honor of Thanksgiving I had not one single thought for monsters, and magic. I mean why should I worry myself? Nothing had happened, so they must be isolated incidents.

I had invited the whole sailor gang to join us, plus Naru, and Umino, but only Usagi and Chibi-Usa were coming. It was kind of nice to have someone my age there, even if the extent of their knowledge in English was 'hello', 'goodbye', and 'thank you'. So I just spoke Japanese, and dealt with the fact that they couldn't understand English, and I couldn't speak English on an American holiday. It was a little saddening, but not so much to take from the joy of having someone to talk to.

My little brother, Brian, followed Chibi-Usa around like a love-sick puppy-dog. And love-sick he seemed to be. I had to laugh when Brian told me that Chibi-Usa was only a year above him, and he saw her walking around the school all the time. Of course it might just be the Brian, like me, wanted someone to talk to, even I it was in Japanese. But Brian was really good with languages. He spoke a little German, a little French, and some Japanese. Not to mention his native English.

Usagi and I found a little corner of the house where we sat before and after dinner. At dinner we sat next to each other. Chibi-Usa and Brian were across the table from us, and the adults (my parents and all their American-military-station-in-Japan friends) were at the other side of the table from us.

When setting the table I took out all the stops. We used our nice china (which we only used once, or maybe twice a year), the real silver, and the crystal glasses (which is a little contradictory, because they aren't glass at all). I was actually a little proud o myself for getting the napkins folded properly (that was usually Lauren's job). My dad and my younger brother weren't allowed to do anything this year. So they watched football, and the Thanksgiving day parade.

Brian would have set the table, and my dad would have helped cook, but they weren't allowed to. All either of them did was my dad carved the turkey (my mom and I just don't have the muscle). Plus we sent Brian down to the base on his bike He was sent for the sparkling grape juice, and the sparkling cider. That was another thing of my family's we had sparkling juice for the kids, and wine for the adults, we did this three times a year (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years).

"Mami? Do you feel that?" Usagi asked quietly into my ear as we ate apple pie with whipped cream (me), and a very small slice of pumpkin pie (Usagi).

"What…Yes, I feel it" And I did. It felt like the earth was moving But there was nothing around us moving, and no one noticed Not even Chibi-Usa, who was looking bored as my little brother talked at her.

"What is it?" Usagi asked her voice barely carrying to my ear.

"I think it may be…it may be our enemy, whoever it is," I answered as I pulled Mico from my front right pocket. He was posing as an ipod today, I don't even know why, I don't own an ipod. I scrolled through it like I was looking for a song I wanted to show Usagi. I put an earbud into my ear, and cleaned the other on my shirt before placing into Usagi's ear.

I had learned that Mico knew how to talk. He had a very cute voice, like a very serious seven or eight year old. So a little boy a little younger than my brother.

"Enemy was first actively detected today at the Juuban Shopping District approximately four minutes, 12 seconds, and 14 milliseconds ago," It sounded so cute in Mico's little voice, so I had to suppress a giggle that was welling up inside my throat.

"I think we have some monster hunting to do," I said standing up. We were in my room (even though I wasn't supposed to eat in my room), so I was sitting at my desk with my computer playing the Sailor Moon anime, I thought Usagi would want to see it.

"I'll go find Chibi-Usa and meet you in Juuban," Usagi said leaving most of her pie still sitting there. I picked up the last of mine after I transformed and pulled my way through my window. I was thinking of convincing my dad to set it up so I had a balcony, it would make my life much easier.

I was surprised to find all the scouts silently searching the Juuban distract when I got there. Most people wouldn't have noticed them, I mean Pluto was on top of a building, partially hidden in the shadow of the building next to her, Venus was skulking through the deepest shadows, Jupiter was jumping lithely between buildings, Mars seemed to be meditating from her perch on the fifth floor balcony of someone's home.

The only scout who wasn't in shadows, or in some barely noticeable place (like far above people's heads) was Ami, she wasn't transformed She was just walking around typing into her mini-computer as if it were a cell phone with a full keyboard, instead of the highly complex piece of equipment that it really was.

I quickly moved into the shadows and lifted Mico's screen so I could read it. I knew that I could have it displayed on my visor, but it made it very hard to see I was much better at doing it this way ( from years of reading as I walked or rode my scooter, it's harder to read while riding a bike because a bike moves faster than a scooter).

"Rose?" The voice came whispering behind me. I turned to find a tall girl with reddish-brown hair. It was worn short, not even to her shoulders. Her eyes were a gray-blue color. I knew the dress as soon as I saw her. That dress had been drawn by one of my best friends as I sketched Princess Hannah. That girl had been drawn by Corey as I designed the perfect tiara for Princess Rose. Because you see, this was Princess Elle, Rose's half sister. What a time for me to go crazy.