Luminescence
It feels great to be writing again. It's nice to see reviews from old friends, and good to meet new ones as well. Thanks for reading. -rosa
Chapter 3: Gone
Thursday, January 15
Tokyo General,9:13pm
"Gone? What do you mean, gone?!" Ami shook Mamoru again, feeling a chill snake down her spine.
Mamoru was kneeling in the dirt in his suit and labcoat, shaking. A cold sweat dripped down his blanched face, and his breaths came fast and haggard, despite his best efforts to slow them. Shock. Ami recognized it beneath the dread churning her mind.
"Ami... it feels like she's dead. There's nothing. I can't feel her. I can't find her."
She sucked in a breath. All was cold and still for a moment, then she was talking on her phone. "Family emergency," Mamoru heard vaguely, "Chiba-san... leaving immediately." He closed his eyes, plunging both hands into the earth, imploring... but there was nothing.
Ami shook him again. "Mamoru. You must transform. You're going into shock."
He opened his eyes, and the despair stabbed at her. "There's nowhere on Earth I can't find her, Ami."
Ami's face turned grim as she withdrew her henshin pen from her pocket. "Then perhaps she is not on Earth." She pulled Mamoru into a dark alley with surprising strength, and moments later, Sailor Mercury and Tuxedo Kamen were running towards Camille's.
XXX
Thursday, Jan 15
Camille's, 9:20 pm
Sailor Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn arrived to find the restaurant in chaos. The building was still dark, and the people were pouring out of the doors onto the porches where the city lights provided light.
The three Senshi and the two cats stopped running to survey the scene. "I don't see Usagi or Rei," Neptune noted.
"Or Mako," said Hotaru. She gripped the Silence Glaive with both hands, tension radiating from her.
"Fuck it, let's go in." Uranus unsheathed her sword. "It has to be whoever or whatever Setsuna saw. No time to lose."
Before Uranus could barrel in and terrify civilians, a familiar voice rang out inside the restaurant. An orange light accompanied it, pouring from every window and door. "Everyone remain calm and exit the building."
"That's Minako," Artemis said. "She beat us here."
The crowd parted with gasps and shouts for the Sailor Soldiers. Inside, Sailor Venus was glowing, her chain emitting gentle orange light.
"Venus!"
She met their eyes, dread clear on her face. She addressed Uranus. "I can't find any of them. I came straight here when the power surged, and I saw that strange light in the sky. It was chaos, and all I could do was try to clear the building. I didn't see Rei or Usagi or Mako in the crowd."
The restaurant was empty now. "Split up and search the place," Uranus ordered.
Not a minute passed before Saturn shouted, "Here! In the kitchen!"
All converged on the kitchen where Saturn was kneeling beside Makoto's body. A vicious head wound was seeping blood on the floor. A cast iron skillet lay next to her head.
"Quick, Saturn," Neptune urged. "We've no time to lose."
Sailor Saturn placed her hand above Makoto's head, concentrated. A soft purple glow overtook them both as Saturn healed her.
Before she finished, pounding footsteps sounded. Uranus turned towards the kitchen door with her sword drawn, slipping into a fighting stance.
"Who's out there?!" she shouted, and the ground shook.
"It's us!" came a feminine voice. "Stand down!"
Sailor Mercury and Tuxedo Kamen burst through the swinging door as Makoto's eyes opened. Sailor Uranus stepped back from the prince, stunned by the grief behind his mask.
"Oh, God, my head..." Makoto moaned. Then she recognized the warriors around her. "Shit, what happened?" She sat up, accepted Neptune's outstretched arm and pulled herself up, blinking away dizziness.
"We were hoping you could tell us," Neptune said. "Usagi and Rei are gone."
"What?!"
"Makoto, you need to transform first," Mercury interrupted. "It will help finish the healing, and you may remember more after that."
Makoto obeyed. Lightning flashed, thunder boomed, and Sailor Jupiter stood among them. "That's better," she grumbled. "Give me a minute," she said, closing her eyes and rubbing her temple. The healing Sailor Saturn began proceeded much faster now.
Uranus's gaze hadn't left her prince's face; the grief and restrained panic there alarmed her. "Prince," she said. "What can you tell us?"
He heaved a sigh. "Minutes after the power surged, Ami and I ran outside. We saw the lights, and I touched the Earth, trying to find where the disturbance was coming from. It was close. When I first touched the earth, I felt Usagi. She was fine. I kept searching, and then-," he swallowed hard, "- she was gone. She was nowhere, and I felt nothing. Like she was dead."
The Senshi gasped.
"What about now?" Uranus pressed. If she were truly dead, he could not be calming discussing matters, no matter how disturbed he appeared.
"She is alive," he stated without relief. "I can feel her with the Golden Crystal. But she is far away, no longer on earth."
Neptune studied her mirror and frowned. "I cannot get a true fix on either Usagi or Rei. Something is interfering."
"I hope they are still together, at least," Venus muttered, fingering her chain absently.
The lights flickered back on in the kitchen. Jupiter gasped.
"I remember the lights going off. Everyone shouted, stuff fell, and I was trying to get out the door to check on Usagi. That's when I got hit." She closed her eyes. "I think I remember a gold figure...that's it. damn it."
"Well, let's get back to the control room," Artemis suggested. "Mercury and I should be able to get a lock on them there."
"People are going to come back in here," Jupiter muttered. "Let me write a note for Camille."
XXX
Location Unknown
Time Unknown
The first thing Rei felt was cold. She opened her eyes. She blinked. Blinked again. But the soft glow and ancient ruins glowing from miles away did not lie. She was on the moon.
Panic surged through her."Usagi." She got to her feet, tested everything. She seemed unharmed, but she'd been unconscious. Her heart slammed at her ribs. How did she get here, and who was here with her. Where is Usagi?! She fumbled for her pen, sighed with haggard relief when she found it still in her pocket.
"Mars Crystal Power, Make-up!"
When the fire receded, she felt much better. She breathed easier, felt warmer. With a flash of flame, she summoned her bow, set a glowing arrow. There was silence around her. No more silence, she decided.
"USAGI!"
Nothing. She took off running towards the ruined palace.
January 15, 10:09pm
Senshi Control Room
"Electricity is regulating," Makoto noted, eyeing the power grid. "The city is getting back to normal at least."
"Swell," Haruka barked. "Any read on Usagi or Rei?"
Ami and Artemis typed away, both frowning at the displays. "I can't get a lock on either of them. Something is throwing off our systems," Ami observed. "It seems the recent disturbance was magnetic in nature, and the residual effects are throwing off the computer readings."
"Magnetism wouldn't affect my mirror," Michiru said, her elegant lips pursed into a pout. "Any ideas on that?"
"Whatever caused this magnetic disturbance is magical in origin," Ami guessed. "Or whoever."
The energy in the room, urgent yet calm, emanated from and centered around Mamoru. His panic had subsided with the assurance that Usagi was alive. Now he stood near the back of the room, worrying his wedding band, eyes shut in concentration. Like a pair of sentries, Haruka and Hotaru remained at his side while the others fussed with the monitors.
"Can you feel her, Prince?" Hotaru asked.
He did not open his eyes. "Yes. She has not transformed. I can't decide if that is better or worse."
"She does not feel threatened, at least," Haruka ventured. "She would henshin otherwise."
"Else she does not have the Crystal," Mamoru said. "But... I don't think that has happened. The few times she's ever had it out of her possession, she was - panicked. I do not sense any fear from her. If anything, she is feeling powerful...yet...nostalgic. Curious."
"Curious?" Haruka repeated blankly. "Nostalgic?"
Hotaru's eyes lit. "Ami!" she called. The crowd turned back to regard her. "Michiru-mama. Look to the moon. Perhaps she is there."
Intrigued by the idea, Ami and Michiru resumed their separate searches.
Before anything new could be discovered, there was a flash of eerie mauve and green light, and Sailor Pluto stood before them. She met Mamoru's eyes, and the agony there mirrored what she felt in her heart.
"There was a disturbance on Charon," she reported. "I fear I know who is behind this."
Mare Serenitatis
Time Unknown
Before Usagi opened her eyes, she knew. The cold did not touch her, nor did the eerie quiet. She noticed only the hum of power within her, the likes of which she had not felt since she'd last walked the surface of the moon, years ago.
Of course she knew she should be alarmed. Who had brought her here and why? Where was Rei? What had happened on Earth? But she opened her eyes, and she could not be anxious.
"Mare Serenitatis," she murmured, recognizing her surroundings. She got to her feet, gazing around the dark, beautiful plains where her Kingdom had flourished long ago. She turned, and as she knew it would be, the Moon Castle stood in its ruined glory a long ways off, but the white stone caught the sunlight and gave off a soft glow.
Nostalgia overtook her for a moment, and despite the urgency she knew she should sense, she closed her eyes and basked for a moment, longing for her mother.
"I miss her too, Serenity."
Slowly, Usagi turned towards the deep voice behind her, her right hand closing over her henshin brooch. The voice was unfamiliar, and yet the accent, the rhythm, the timbre seemed to echo in her memory.
She faced the figure, a tall man with silver hair, golden eyes, clad in ancient armour, reminiscent of Endymion's, but his was colored in browns and golds. His cape draped black over his shoulders but glowed gold behind him. In the man's face, Usagi recognized her family features. Despite the gold of his eyes, the shape and placement mirrored her own, and the shade of his hair was the same as her mother's.
"Who are you?" she asked. She dropped her gaze to his hands, clasped in front of him. She eyed the hilt of his sword, then looked back into the eerily familiar eyes. "Who is my mother to you?"
He stepped closer to her. She stepped back. "You do not ask how I know your name, I see," the man said.
"Many know my name," Usagi answered simply, waiting.
The answer pleased him. He nodded, lips quirking. "I am Hekatos," he said. "Selene was my twin sister."
In her heart, Usagi could not deny it. Her own eyes confirmed his story. In the moment of silence after his confession, she gazed deep into his eyes, searching. She found ancient pain in them, and betrayal. Her confused heart yearned to trust him, burned with curiosity.
"What do you want from me, Hekatos?"
His clasped hands moved to hover over his heart. "I need your help."
XXX
Thursday, January 15
Control Room, 10:20
"He was banished," Sailor Pluto said, "to an ice volcano on the surface of Charon. I saw it erupt, and he escaped." Her brows knit together in frustration. "My memories are unclear, and I did not have the time to look deeply before I came here. I know not what he did to be banished, but Selene did not allow his name to be spoken because of the pain it caused her."
"Usako's uncle," Mamoru murmured. "Would he harm her?"
Sailor Pluto met his gaze only for a moment. "I know not," she said to floor. "I have no memories of Hekatos; I know only the little I saw before I came to you. I am sorry, Prince."
Though her shame was great, and for much more than her lack of details, he waved it away. "You have done what you could do, thank you, Setsuna. Luna? Artemis?"
It is an interesting thing to see a cat frown. "I do not remember him," said Artemis. "Certainly it makes sense that he might seek her out. She would be his only living family." But Luna's blank expression and piercing red eyes filled with turmoil.
"Luna?" Mamoru prodded urgently.
"I only remember that Selene had a twin brother who was gone, for I was born only shortly before Princess Serenity. I was so young, and his name was stricken from the records. But the Queen did mention him to me once, when Serenity was a child." Luna swallowed hard, her small body quivering with anxiety.
"Serenity was sleeping in her cradle while the Queen watched her one evening. All she said was, 'Luna, my dear Serenity looks so much like my brother, but she has her father's yellow hair. She must never know about them.'"
A stunned silence followed her words.
"Her father?" Mamoru repeated, stunned. "No one ever spoke of him, never. There was only ever the Queen of the Moon, even on Earth when I was a child, no one ever talked about a King. I never even thought to wonder who Usako's father was since she looked so much like Selene. On Earth, myth revolved around the Queen and Princess; some wondered if Serenity had burst from Selene's head like the children of Zeus."
"The King's name was also stricken from the books and must never be spoken, by Selene's order, for it broke her heart to hear it," Luna said softly, glancing at Pluto.
"Surely there is a connection between them, between the pain," Michiru mused, still gazing into her mirror, searching aimlessly.
"Even if there is a connection," Makoto challenged, "who the hell cares?!"
Haruka punched a fist into her palm. "Right. Now that Setsuna is here, we should be able to teleport to the moon. We've wasted too much time."
"We don't know for sure that's where they are," Ami cautioned. "We're going in blind."
"Won't be the first time," Minako said. "Besides, we have Mamoru and the Golden Crystal. In teleport, we follow that, the pull between it and the Silver Crystal, the love between the Prince and Princess. There is none stronger." She smiled wryly. "I would know."
"We will be in contact with Ami," Artemis said, "in case the computers stabilize and we can help in any-"
Mamoru's quick intake of breath startled Artemis into silence. Every face turned to the Prince. He transformed into Tuxedo Kamen before their eyes.
"We must go now," he commanded. "Usako transformed."
Despite everything, Hotaru smiled beatifically. As transformation cries sounded around her, the young soldier of revolution closed her eyes, basking.
"At last," she breathed. "Sailor Moon has returned."
To be continued...
