Act I, chapter III
Princesses
"We couldn't find anything all night," Usagi complained the next day as we sat in homeroom.
"Yes we did," I pointed out gently.
"Yes a person who you say knows you, as a princess, and was thought up by you and one of your friends, is convinced that she's your sister, and disappeared before anyone else could see her last night. Yes ever so definitive," I turned in shock at the voice.
"What are you doing here?" I asked in complete shock. I looked her over. It was Rei of course, who else could be quite so condescending.
"I transferred here, if you're going to say you're a scout you need to be watched until we can find out if you're lying to us or not," Rei said primly in her brand new Juuban High School uniform
"You do realize that I have six scouts who are all usually within a few feet of me. Close enough to defeat me if I were an enemy," I said looking at the raven-haired priestess. She really got on my nerves.
"Of course, but if you have a sixth then there is no way you can catch us when a) Usagi is asleep, b) Ami's studying, c) Makoto's at cooking club, d) Minako is drooling over the newest idol, going to auditions, or playing volley ball, and e) when Haruka and Michiru are out doing whatever it is they do during the day. Because I will drag you with me to the temple if I must go there. That way you are never out of my sight and you cannot harm the princess," Rei seemed very serious. I had a very strange urge to laugh. But I figured she would frown upon me laughing at her.
"Yes, but you see if I really am the Rose who is associated with Elle, then I'm a princess in the need of my own protection from this evil. In case you've forgotten I have Mico, and that's it. I wish I knew for sure if I really was Rose…the nightmare said I was, but the nightmare also said I was evil," That was sentence was muttered so no one could hear, brought my headache to the forefront, and tears to my eyes. As soon as I saw Rei's face again I knew she had heard me. The mention of evil, but it was just a continuation of a nightmare that I had had for the first time when I was five.
Just then I was saved from all the other questions I was sure were coming because the teacher came in and we had to do start on our math. But I knew that it was only a temporary respite, Rei was suspicious of me. I wasn't safe from her until I could prove that my reasoning for what I did was benevolent, or if not that then it was at least not malevolent.
"What was all that about evil?" Rei asked as soon as lunch hour started. I had known she was saving up the question, I mean who wouldn't when someone they suspected of being the enemy admitted having a 'nightmare' where they were depicted as a princess, and evil. How was she to know they had both been there?
"I was referring to a recurring nightmare I've had since I was very young. It begins very sweet and soft, then things get creepy, and it feels urgent to find my mother and my sister. I've been having the nightmare a lot lately. But it's because even when I'm awake I have this feeling like I need to find my sister. I really miss her, even though she was always so mean to me. But I knew that underneath the cruel demeanor she was kind, and she loved me. And so I always wanted to get grades like her, and have a clear complexion like hers, and I wanted to be able to be so inherently smart. I always wanted to be brave like her. I've never once seen her cry, not once in my life Not even when our little sister died, I didn't see her cry even then. But I cry at the drop of a hat. I'm weak where she's strong, I'm stupid where she's smart, and I'll never be as pretty as her I'll never have her dark eyes, nor will my hair ever be that thick. Lauren was all my aspirations, except she wanted to be an AP US teacher, and I wanted to be a journalist," I trailed off a little at the end. I was ranting, or rather rambling. None of the scouts surrounding me needed to know about my periodic emotional break-downs, they had no reason to suspect why I was always so happy-go-lucky about the world. And I hadn't really meant to give them a clue.
"What are you talking about?" Makoto didn't seem happy with me.
"My older sister Lauren," I walked away at that point I didn't really want to talk about it.
"Megan?" Brain asked looking at me with his head cocked to the side. He kind of reminded me of Harry.
"Yeah, Monster?" I replied as I continued to type. I didn't even feel like yelling at him for barging into my room.
"What's up? I haven't seen much of you. Sean's on the phone," Brian told me quietly.
"I've got a ton of homework, and I have to join a club, and they don't have a journalism club. So I have to find some other club to join, I've been researching it. But tell Sean I'm busy. And ask him if he can convince Lauren to call?" I could hear the pleading in my voice at the last part, but Brian was too oblivious to hear it. It sort of saddened me.
"But you haven't talked to Sean since we moved here, I'm sure he wants to hear from you,"
"You talk enough for three of me. I don't need to talk," I told him and got up. I shut the door In Brian's face and locked it. Then I sat back down and started typing again.
If Brian had taken the time to look he would have seen that I had been typing on the desktop, because I needed that sheer white distance from my keyboard to my screen. Even if I was only writing out the conjugations of verbs in English, German, and French. I was considering adding Japanese, but I had yet to decide if I should.
The next day I was on my MySpace (isn't that redundant?) and checking my comments and messages. I had the usual crop of messages from Livi, Katja, Michaele, and Matt (nothing from Dominic as normal). But there was a friend request from ~*~LARK~*~. It was Lauren (this of course was Lauren Roslyn Kell with an 'A' added so that it sounded better).
I accepted and went back to my messages There was one from Sean as well This was unusual I almost never hear from him over MySpace, he usually just talks to me on his weekly calls. The message was short and to the point:
Megan, haven't heard from you. What's up? Nothing much here (since you always ask), but I met a girl. I finally have a girlfriend.
I was surprised at the blunt words My older brother had never had a serious relationship, or for that matter any kind of relationship, and yet here he was with a girlfriend And he didn't even tell me her name. I was a little hurt at this, I mean who wouldn't be hurt hearing that you beloved older brother finally has a girlfriend and he didn't even bother to tell you her name?
So I replied back:
Congrats Sean! What's her name? What's she like? Is she on your friends list? Come on I need info Sean! But nothing much is going on here either. I've got some new friends, they're pretty cool, I like Amy best, she's smart, which sort of reminds me of you, or Lauren. Maybe that's why I like her so much. Of maybe it's just because she's so nice to me. But the nicest of them all is Usagi (it's okay if you can't figure out how to say her name). Her little cousin is a sweetie too, although she's a few years older than Brian. I like her better than The Boot anyway (you know I'm joking). But you have to tell me about Mystery Girl, as I will refer to her until you tell me, of course! :P
"Kell-san! Kell-san! Will you answer the question please?" That was my teacher. She sort of reminded me of Frau Love, my German teacher in my freshman year. In other words she was a bitch and I hated her.
"Hai! The Shogunate was a period of time in which the Shogun was the power behind the throne and the Emperor was little more than a puppet. During this time the Shogunate often took the family of his officials, and other nobles to keep them from rebelling against the government," I answered standing up. We were in my second favorite subject, and least favorite class of the day. English, of course was my favorite. And the teacher loved me, because I grew up speaking American English, but I've been to London, and travelled in Scotland. So I knew slang from all three countries, and slang from the military children group (things like Dodds, no one not in the military would know that that was the school system for military schools. If I hadn't already learned a lot of Japanese I'd be in a Dodds school right now.
"Correct," Sensei seemed a little unsure about this, as if I had been sleeping, and drooling all over my papers and suddenly answered the question perfectly as if I had been listening carefully all along.
"How did you do that? You were a complete space case," Minako asked with a bit of wonder hidden in her voice.
"Can you help us study?" Usagi asked from the other side. Then they nodded twice in unison, it was a very cute movement.
"Yes, of course I can," I told them quietly as I watched the whiteboard in front of me. I had been sketching on it, even I'm not sure exactly what it was I drew. I think it was a wilting rose entwined with dying flames, and gently twinkling sparks, but I really have no clue if I'm right. I do know that when I tried to erase it my hand wouldn't let me. So I had Mico save it. It really was beautiful with whorls and twists, curves and angles. It seemed to contradict itself every few seconds.
Mico, being Mico, analyzed it and came up with this answer: Symbolizes three important powers. Also symbolizes pain. Sketch should be closely analyzed by Ami's scanning power as Mercury. Also should be examined by Luna and Aretmis, advisors to Queen Serenity, currently deceased, in her stead the advisors serve the queen's daughter Princess Serenity, also known as Usagi, Bunny, or Serena.
While I love Mico he can be so vague, but since I couldn't erase it anyway, I figured that I might as well show it to Ami, Luna, Artemis, and Rei for good measure, maybe even Setsuna knows something. I mean she can see the passing of time, both into the past, and into the future.
"…Mi? Mami? Can you hear me? Earth to Mami!" I turned sharply at the voice only to hit my head on something hard. It happened to be an arm. A rather slender pale arm that looked delicate, and not at all solid enough to cause the headache I could feel starting.
"yes?" I said rubbing my head. It wasn't like me to space, I usually catch the question, or the gist of it if nothing else. That was because math class is usually very boring.
"The bell rang. Are you okay? I don't think I've ever seen you quite that spacy before," I quickly found out that the voice was actually Usagi, but the arm belonged to Rei. She had been reaching forward to slap the side of my face. I was pretty sure it wouldn't have been a light slap.
"I'm fine. But the bell rang? So school's over right?" I asked. I still wasn't completely comfortable with how the schedules worked. I didn't have to have a particular number of credits, and they didn't offer extra classes which were electives, but you had to have a club. Plus breaks were longer, so I could walk from one side of the school to the other and back and still have a few minutes to spare, and the school wasn't all that small. It was sort of a foreign feeling for me.
"yes, school's done. We were wondering if you wanted to come with us to Crown's. They have some really good sundaes and stuff," Usagi offered. Rei didn't look happy about this, but I didn't mind that Rei wasn't happy.
"Do they have tea. It's not much inside any of your styles, so I never did find out if they did. But I know they have some froofy drinks," I told them as I put everything but my whiteboard into my messenger bag, I wasn't allowed to carry a backpack here but that was okay because I always had tons of time to get to my locker, unlike the last two years.
"They cost a ton," Makoto mentioned It was then that I turned to see who else was there. I was shocked to see they were all there, even Chibi0Usa, Setsuna, and Hotaru, who generally were in the Junior High.
"I'm guessing it's going to be a scout meeting then?' I asked grabbing my purse from the floor next to me, and grabbing the whiteboard off my desk, "in which case Luna and Artemis are meeting us somewhere. That's good because Mico told me to show everyone this sketch," I said gesturing the white board a little.
"You know far too much to make me comfortable. I'm still convinced that the vision was not peaceful," Rei said glaring at me as we started off. I didn't blame her, I don't think I would trust myself in her place. But with my track record I guess I probably would.
"What is this?" Minako asked trying to touch the board. Her finger slid off it at about and inch above the board; she couldn't touch it at all.
"I really have no clue, but lately none of my sketches have smudged, nor have my paintings dripped. I don't do many paintings, but those I do always end up dripping or messing up some other way. But lately everything has looked remarkably good. I bet that I couldn't even delete the drawings done on my laptop, even if I tried. It's a little scary now that this, which should erase so easily touches nothing," I said looking at the strangely beautiful design on my whiteboard; I wondered if it would ever go away. It looked so sad and depressing.
"But the way your drawings seem to understand things no one else could grasp, well maybe they're like Rei's dreams, or Michiru's paintings? It's possible right?" It was Chibi-Usa who suggested it, "I wonder what happens to Rose, I don't remember her."
"What?" Rei looked over at Chibi-Usa sharply, "What do you mean?"
"I mean I can remember all of you from the future, but I can't remember Rose. Somehow I think that I heard her mentioned once though I think I heard Rose anyway, and I know they were talking about the past, well now, but I had thought they were talking about Papa's roses," Chibi-Usa said quietly.
"You heard about me in the future? Can you by any chance remember who was talking and anything else they said?" I asked eagerly. I wanted to know what was going on. If I was going crazy I might as well do it thoroughly.
"It was Ami-chan and Hotaru-chan, but I think Mama was there as well I also think they were talking about the Silver Millennium and the princesses. The nine of them that is. I know they said princesses. Wait is Mami a princess too? But where is the star she protects? Was she perhaps one of Papa's guardians? But he had the four knights, but no Rose-hime," Chibi-Usa said looking excited at the end as she began to theorize as to who I could have been I was still under the impression that my soul was a young one, and one that had once lived as a noble in the middle ages. It would it. But it would also mean that I had died young in my past life, and I had clung to that life.
"Perhaps the earth always was my home? I think my soul is a young one. All of you have old souls which have lived many times before, and have gained knowledge in every life. But I think it is my fate to die young, again and again. I think perhaps that is why I am who I am. That is why I can't grow up and act my age, because, well because I've lived so many lives, and never once been this old before," I was pretty sure I sounded crazy, but since I seemed to be running scenes through my head which I'm sure I've never lived, well I don't think it matters that I sounded crazy, because at this point I am thoroughly crazy.
"What?" It was Hotaru who said this. I was surprised to hear her quiet haunting voice. She seemed very serious, and rarely spoke in front of me.
"My soul has never grown old, it doesn't know how," I said quietly.
"Her eyes looked so pleading as she said that. I don't think we have any choice but to believe that she's sincere," I heard Rei say this as I came back from the bathroom a bit later. I wondered who they were talking about. Because there was no way they could be talking about me, Rei will most likely never believe my story So matter how many times I tell it, no matter how many times I try to make her understand what I'm saying.
It was then as I stopped to try and figure out what Rei was talking about that I saw her again. So was now wearing a plain gray-blue shirt, and a pair of jeans, but it was the same hair, the same eyes. She was talking with a bland haired girl, and the two of them were laughing and joking. The blond girl had long blond hair that fell to her hips in straight curtains, but somehow never fell into her face, that green eyed stare was familiar. In face even more than Elle's gray stare. Because this was not a girl from my imagination. This was a girl from my past. This was Hannah, one of my best friends. It was then that I realized that the other girl was not Elle, but rather Corey, her freckles seemed to have disappeared, despite the fact that it was summer, and her freckles always stood out in the summer.
I couldn't help but go over to them. As I approached I heard that they were speaking an odd combination of English, German, Japanese, Ancient Osseun (a language that Hannah invented), and Ancient Mean (A language I invented; pronounced may-ee-on). I sat down at a third seat at their table and forced out a simple, "Hey."
"Megan? I heard you had moved to Japan, but I kind of didn't believe it. I mean fondest dreams never come true right?" Corey said I shock staring at me.
"How….how did you know how much I had wanted to come to Japan? When you knew me in Germany I never mentioned it. I hadn't read anything about Japanese culture, or even pop culture," I asked as Corey continued to stare, "What are you doing here? I thought your dad retired."
"He did, I'm here at TA. I transferred here because they have a really good high school and college program What about you, where are you going?" Corey asked. I could have guessed that she went to TA; she was still wearing her uniform. Hannah however wasn't wearing a uniform
"What about you Hannah? What school are you going to?" I asked not bothering to ask the question I knew would be avoided, 'why aren't you in Virginia?'
"I'm transferring into Juuban tomorrow. Looks like you go there," Hannah said calmly gesturing towards my Juuban High School uniform.
"that's cool! You guys should come meet my new friends. They all go to Juuban Well Chibi-Usa and Hotaru go to the middle school, and Setsuna-san is the nurse at the middle school. But they're all at Juuban most of the time," I said pulling Hannah out of her seat. Corey followed me calmly as I pulled a slightly protesting Hannah along behind me.
"Usagi-chan, Minako-chan, Makoto-chan, Ami-chan, Rei-chan, Chibi-Usa-chan, Michiru-chan, Haruka-chan, Hotaru-chan, and Setsuna-san, this is Hannah, and Corey. They're very good friends of mine," I introduced them gesturing to each o the scouts as I said their names. The whole group of us took up two and a half very large tables all pushed together. With Hannah and Corey joining us we took up the whole third table.
"Ah, Bither-san," Rei said with some shock in her voice.
"You can call me Corey I you like," My gray-eyed friend offered as I tucked my whiteboard into my messenger bag and pulled out my laptop. I flipped the screen and pulled out my stylus.
"What's that?" Hannah asked looking over at my laptop as I took a sip o my tea.
"Well It's my customary hot tea it's cherry tea today, which definitely makes me miss Katja, who used to feed me the stuff all the time,' I knew what she was talking about, but I was teasing her after all.
"Rose you idiot! I was talking about the laptop!" The whole table went silent at the word 'Rose'. No one had expected it from Hannah's mouth, well only me and Corey, who hadn't been talking anyways.
"I got it over the summer. Here let me show you one of my sketches," I offered as if I hadn't noticed the table go silent, or noticed the glance that Hannah and Corey exchanged when the table went silent.
"I would love that! Could you show me one of me? I know you couldn't keep you mind off us, you said as much in your e-mails," Corey said leaning in over my shoulder.
I promptly opened 'My Pictures', then 'Sketches', then 'fan fictions', then 'all team from dc'. Then I scanned through pictures quickly till I found the right one. It had been drawn early this summer right when I got my laptop, then I had used a combination of Photoshop and Paint to make it look really good.
It was a picture of three girls in fukus. One was in pink, red, and gold. That was what I had thought that I would look like if I was a sailor scout. Next to her was a girl in orange, yellow, and red. This was Corey as a sailor scout I had imagined to be named 'Sailor Elle'. The third one was in green and purple and had her arm draped playfully around my shoulders. This was Sailor Osseus; she was supposed to be Hannah. The three scouts looked happy and carefree, not at all like the sketch I knew was right behind it. That one was a whole scene. It was when the three scouts met a woman named Black Wolf, who was really their friend Marie, whose power had been corrupted. Rose had blood dripping down from a slash on her cheek, while Hannah's arm hung useless, and Rose supported Elle's weight, off a leg which was obviously broken. Black Wolf floated in the air in front of the trio with a menacing smile on her lips.
I opened the happy picture into my paint, and began modifying the outfits I don't know what led me. But suddenly Sailor Rose had poofed sleeves, triple layered skirts, and a visor. Elle's main colors changed to gray, blue and green, replacing the fiery colors for softer, more gentle ones. Hannah got the purple bow out of her hair, and it got pulled into a lose messing, and a little sloppy ponytail. Suddenly these three girls looked less like my imagination, and more like the girls sitting on either side of me. I saved the picture and flipped to the deadly morbid scene. I think I heard Hannah gasp.
I took it into paint, and once again the outfits changed, but not only that but the capital building in the background changed to Tokyo Tower, and Black Wolf turned into an unearthly beautiful woman with slanted eyes and a deadly gaze. Behind her sickly green vines curled up trying to cover the Tokyo Tower.
"Mami? Mami?" It was Usagi, I hadn't realized that I had been staring blankly at the finished sketch. Because it was done now, I was not going to ever change it again. It was done, now I just had to wait for it to happen.
"Megan? I think we need to talk to you," Corey said quietly, I was pretty sure only I heard it.
"I'm fine Usagi-chan! But I think I'll take Hannah-chan ,and Corey-chan over to my house. I think they'd like to see how my taste has changed since they last saw me," I said saving the picture and flipping my screen back.
"Yeah, I'll see you in school Monday or maybe later this weekend?" Usagi said softly. I hadn't even realized it was Friday.
"Yeah, I'll call you later and we can figure it out," I said meaning I'd use Mico to send a message to her communicator later to see what was up with this enemy, and what my sketches were warning this time.
"yeah,"
"Wow! I can't believe your mom let you paint your room like this!" Corey cried happily upon seeing the vibrantly blue walls, with their silver and white designs.
"yeah, well she wasn't fond of it at first, but I think it's starting to grow on her," I commented as I went over to my desk I turned on my iRiver and flipped to Butterfly by . It was one of my favorite songs.
"So what did you two need to talk to me about?" I asked as I set myself in the blue moon chair I stole from my sister a year ago.
"well, about those drawings you did. Well we've seen one of the girls, and we are the other two. Well see the pale colored one was me, and the purple and green one was Hannah. But we saw the flowery girl, I'm sure we did. Or at least I did. Hannah won't believe that I found Princess Rose, because she's supposed to be you," Corey said bluntly. I love my friends thay rarely beat around the bush. But Corey's words must have driven me over the edge because I promptly began a round of hysterical squeaking laughter. Hannah and Corey seemed unnerved, I hadn't laughed like this when they knew me.
"I…I am Rose…"I gasped out between giggles. I couldn't believe it I had actually seen Elle, I wasn't going crazy after all!
"But, you haven't Changed," Hannah said softly looking at me. I had noticed earlier that Hannah's acne had cleared up, and her hair was blonder, just like the absence of Corey's freckles.
"What do you mean?' I was surprised it came out relatively normal.
"You don't look any more like Rose than a few years would account for. You can't be her," Corey said looking at my not quite perfect complexion, my not quite straight teeth, my too-short-to-be-Rose's-hair. I didn't look like Princess Rose.
"But I am," I said pulling Mico out of my pocket. He looked like himself for once. I typed in for my henshin wand I appeared floating in front of me I took it in my hang and called out, "Ruby Rose Transformation!" There was the shower of roses. But something felt different, so I called out a different phrase, "Princess Rose Transform!" The roses lifted and left a dress in their wake. It was a tall dress with pale blue layered skirt, and a pristine white corset, pale blue gloves adorned my arms, and the sleeves were slit near the top so that they dangled loosely against both my arms and my sides. I could see in the mirror across my room that my hair reached down past my knees, my complexion was cleared, my teeth were strait, and a silver tiara adorned with pearls, and blue sapphires rested atop my head. But the most shocking of all was the fact that there was now a rose tattooed between my breasts, just high enough that most of my shirts would show the whole thing!
"it's not going away!" I wailed at Hannah and Corey as they watched me panic over my long hair, and the tattoo of a rose.
"You know neither of us ever freaked out like this," Corey commented at some point.
"Neither of you have a tattoo on you chest!" I screamed suddenly glad my family had gone to a restaurant for dinner.
"True, true. She's really got a point. Plus the two o us by nature look more like our princess selves," Hannah said touching my shoulder. Why was I such an idiot as to make my princess self have all my good traits and none of my bad? I had too many bad traits.
"What am I going to do?" I sobbed on the bathroom floor. I had somehow managed to transform back, but the hair, teeth, tattoo, and such had all stayed. The only that changed back was the outfit. And Mico couldn't call up the henshin stick, so I was really screwed.
"I…I don't know, neither of us ever had this much trouble," Corey said sighing.
"I know!" I cried happily pulling Mico out. I opened it and called up the scouts, all of them.
"What now?" Rei asked irritated, it looked like she had been trying to sleep.
"Sorry, sorry. It's just that I have an emergency, can we meet at the shrine?" I asked my voice sounding softer to my ears.
"yeah, whatever," Rei said before disconnecting.
"We'll all meet you there," Usagi said and the rest disconnected quickly.
I turned back into a princess and Hannah and Corey did so behind me. I had found out that by concentrating I could switch back and forth between the two forms, but not a scout form, not yet at least.
Princess Hannah had a simple circlet of gold on her forehead, and she wore a light green cotton dress, which was simple and didn't constrict movement like mine. Her cloak was dark green. Princess Elle was in the dress I had seen before, it was light blue, with sliver pleats, and had a silver gauzy part around the neck. Her cloak was an aqua color that had silver embroidery all along the bottom hem, where it reached upward towards higher areas, but none of it reached above her knees. Her tiara was just plain silver with a single blue gem in the center.
By concentrating I brought up a cloak for myself. It was shiny nearly transparent sliver silk, which was nonetheless warm, and soft. It wrapped itself around me as I opened my window and climbed out. I knew from whom Rose was that I could still jump pretty far, and I had really good balance. Why the hell did I make Rose a Mary-Sue?
We made it to the temple quickly, but the scouts got there ahead of us. And they really were the scouts. All of them in their short skirts and heels looked to me a bit comical. Why was I ever so obsessive about these people and their lives anyway? I'm not sure, but I know one thing, I not now, at least for a little while I was one of them.
"Who are you?" Sailor Uranus asked fiercely. In response I let the dress, the entire outfit dissolve into my normal clothing. Which happened to be my school uniform. The rose tattoo still showed above the neckline of the sailor top.
"Mami?" Sailor Moon asked in shock I nodded dumbly.
"I don't know what to do. I transformed into my Princess Self as Princess Rose Emma-Ann Macay II, speaking of which why the hell did I give myself such a long name, huh? It goes well with the whole mar-Sue thing I've got going on, right?" I could feel the tears on my cheeks, I could hear my voice choke on my words. But somehow I couldn't figure out why all this was tragic anymore. The tears seemed a bit too dramatic I mean I could cut my hair, and put make-up on the tattoo, and suddenly I would look like normal. But the tears didn't want to stop. God I'm an idiot right?
