DISCLAIMERS All Zodiac senshi and Zodiac cats, including families and acquaintances are copyrighted 2005 - 2006 Wild Nature. All BSSM characters, story, and all other relations to the story is copyrighted 1993 - 2006 Naoko Takeuchi. This is a fanfic and thus is NOT a part of the canon storyline but BASED upon both the anime and manga versions (mainly manga).
Chapter Four: Noise
Galena lay in the bed, shifting again and again. She heard Demi go chase off Castor but she wanted Pollux only.
"Why'd I talk like that?" She mumbled. "It was like it was another me.." She sighed as she began to drift into sleep.
Pollux eventually came back in, still upset that his brother had pulled that little trick of his. "Well, if he can do it, so can I!"
He jumped up and studied Galena as she slept peacefully. He moved closer carefully now.
"Polly..." A single word and he stilled, his eyes tearing.
"My Gally.." He whispered, sitting so close, his breath brushed her hair. "I'm sorry... You were made different because of the past and I cannot undo it. I wish.."
He sighed heavily. "Oh I wish you were older, that we could see eye to eye. But that'll never come."
"Why?" Galena whispered, still asleep.
"Talking...in her sleep?"
"Pollux...where are you? I miss you..."
"Gally..."
"Gally? Who is Gally?"
Pollux's eyes spilled. "No, you're not Gally, are you?"
"Will I be?"
"Where are you?"
"I'm scared.. Where are you? Your warmth... I can't feel it.. Please...Don't leave me.."
"I'm right here.. I've never left you.."
He jumped off the bed and sighed heavily. "They are forever separated, even from their true selves... or is it that that self remembers anything?"
He came to a quiet decision. He turned into light and then, melted into the nothingness of air.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Galena was happily dreaming. She was at a beach and she chased itty bitty crabs. She giggled as they walked sideways and she poked at one with a stick.
"You'll make them angry."
Galena blinked. "Polly..." She stilled, facing the tall young man in front. The same eyes stared at her with something a young child shouldn't understand but Galena...
"Pollux... I..."
"I wanted to say I'm sorry.." He bent down on one knee and the scenery changed into that of a dead land.
"No...bring it back!"
"It's gone, Galena. It won't be able to come back until you can remember.."
"I don't want to!" Galena pulled her hand from his own, checking a sob.
Pollux stood up and she stepped back, frightened.
"I may have said things cruelly to you but I would never, ever hurt you.." Pollux rubbed his scalp tiredly.
"Polly.. are you all right?"
"I can do little even as a cat, this could just destroy me but I.. I just wanted us to meet at least once.."
"Pollux..."
It was Galena in front of him but her voice, from her past self, resurfaced.
"I love you Polly... No matter what form"
Pollux's eyes darkened. "I know but..." He moved toward her and tilted her head so gently.
"Forget this. Forget me. I want you to be happy, my Cancer...my beloved..." He did then kiss her and even at the slight age of ten, something blossomed within her and she knew what it was.
...Love. It was different from before, deeper as if they tied by the fate of their lives. They would depend on each other if only... if only she could remember...
"My head..." Galena blinked in surprise. He was gone and she still walked on the dead earth. She was now in her fuku and she stared out at the dried up water banks.
Flashes of images, shadows, voices, angry and sad alike, the stars, and then, a woman. So perfectly clear.
"White hair..." Galena reached out. "Please.. won't you set us free?"
And within that white haired woman was a crystal star. She was crying. "No.. don't.. don't do it!"
"I am a disgrace... I shouldn't have fallen... but I failed now and we all must suffer... May the light of the White Moon answer my last and final plea..."
And with that, the crystal star shattered into a even amount of pieces. Some were bigger and others merely shards.
A small sliver floated to her and presented it to her.
"You wish to remember?" It spoke to her.
"Yes.."
"But you are not ready... The others must be awoken as well..."
"But I need to know!"
"It is best to forget.."
"But we need forgiveness!!" Galena reached out and grasped in her hands. It was hot! So blazing with energy despite it's small size.
"Age does not make a difference, Cancer. By the power of your own heart, you CAN be stronger. Until the day you remember, stand proudly by your warriors and have faith in them. Believe in them because someday, they will look to you with that same faith.."
"I understand... Um.. are you my conscience?"
And a laugh was heard. "I am a lost being now... I am no longer you..."
"But we are the Zodiac.."
"We are the Zodiac... the Zodiac... Zodiac..."
Galena woke up as she fell of bed. She gasped in air, as if she had stopped breathing. And she tried to think of what she dreamt about.
"Polly?" She turned around and saw him with a smile. "Oh... you're here... I had a lot of dreams."
"Really? Can you... remember them?"
"No...not really..."
And Pollux instantly relaxed. "Well, someday you will and they will be very important."
"Polly?"
"Yes?"
"...Never mind."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was only a few weeks later and the small gathering of Zodiac senshi were starting to learn about each other.
"Yea, so my ma and pa are always tryin' to change me, ya know?" Yale told Tategami.
"It would be nice to be accepted. I was not during my stay at Japan. I had many friends but more enemies."
"It is tough to be on the outside of life," Demi sighed. "But we get by..."
"And what kinda prob would you be having? Miss All-Pretty-with-a-Good-Heart-and-Mind?"
"Puleeze!" Demi snorted, taking a swig of her Diet Pepsi.
"You know, water is so much better," Tategami sipped her water carefully.
"I know but this, this is an addiction!" Demi laughed, swinging the one-liter bottle.
"Come on!" Galena stood at them. "I wanna play but I don't wanna be by myself!"
"All right, all right.." Demi sighed.
"She's really cute," Tategami said.
"Yea, and super friendly!" Yale agreed.
"I'd say she's loud," The voice, distinctly soft and feminine, said very quietly.
The girl, a bit shorter than the others but average looking nonetheless, looked back with mahogany eyes. Her skin color was a bit like dark sand and her hair was a brown. But it was uniquely placed up. Even without any headbands.
She had a few jagged bangs, parted at the far right and the hair was tucked out into a ponytail spray.
"And how much gel did you use to do that to ya hair?" Yale asked conversationally.
"Why, none of your business."
"You little..!"
"Yale!" Demi smiled at the new girl. "Can I help you?"
"Aren't you Gemini? Capricorn? And Leo?" She pointed to each respective person as she asked, rather bored.
"Yes, we are and you are?"
"Taurus, at your service."
"And your human name?" Demi asked finally.
"Karna Dume, Ms..."
"Demi.. Demi Helen. This is Yale Angus and uh.."
"Seikano Tategami," Tategami bowed slightly.
"Well, it was nice finding you... or not. See, I have a distinct dislike for you for some reason." She laughed coldly. "And yet, I feel something else entirely..."
"Do you have memories of the past?" Tategami asked quietly.
"No but Libra probably does."
"You know Libra!?"
"How else do you think I've awaken? Didn't she find you?"
"Well, no.. We found our bracelets in strange places and once we touch them..." Demi trailed off.
"We get zapped with the notion that we was the Zodiac," Yale said.
"You must be from down south."
Yale flushed.
"Well, you certainly don't look like a Southern belle. More like a she-he, really."
"You racist bi.."
"Hi!" Galena popped up. "You got a bracelet too! Are you going to join us?"
"Me? Join this crackpot team? I work best alone. Now, little Cancer, stay out of trouble."
And with that, Karna walked off.
"Who the hell does she think she is?!" Yale began.
"Well, we can't expect to all work together," Demi said quietly.
"But if we do not, it will prove a great problem. Not now of course but later," Tategami pointed out.
"We should find out about Libra.." Demi went off after Karna. The other girl had turned a corner and was talking with a white haired girl. The rest of the girls hid behind the wall and hurriedly listened.
"Did you talk to them?" Arin asked quietly.
"Of course but why do we.."
"We are the Zodiac."
"Then why don't you do it?" Karna asked darkly. "I don't know what you're hiding but it's proving to be rather distracting. I wonder, is this the real you?"
Arin's smile faded as her face grew dark. "You should mind your own business. I do things MY way and my way ONLY. You follow MY orders."
"I never agreed..."
"Oh, but didn't you want to find out the truth?" Arin smirked. "I could tell you but you need to... earn my trust, if you will."
"I could just ask the others.."
"They don't remember anything! Those so-called men in feline bodies can't invoke them until they can handle their true powers."
"True powers?"
"Oh yes... we are able to do so much MORE than fight... We could bring such...destruction.."
Karna looked away, worried. "But I thought.."
And then, suddenly, Arin's face tightened and she collapsed into a huddle. "Oh..." She moaned. She looked up at Karna, scared now." Wha...what happened?"
Karna didn't say anything but she did look back and nodded to the girls.
"SHIT!" Yale whispered. "She knows we're here!"
"Oh no, she knew that we followed," Demi pulled away. "Let's go back."
"I don't understand!" Galena began as the group walked to the picnic area. "Aren't they like us?"
"The girl...She's familiar. She must be Libra, don't you think?" Demi asked.
"She...is strange," Tategami said finally.
"Hey!" Galena stopped at the rest moved away from her. "No one listens to me. If I were like them..."
"Age does not make a difference, Cancer. By the power of your own heart, you CAN be stronger. Until the day you remember, stand proudly by your warriors and have faith in them. Believe in them because someday, they will look to you with that same faith.."
Galena heard that and sighed as she shook herself free of dark emotions. "I won't lose faith! I believe in them...even if they don't listen to me." She thought for a moment. "I do know somebody who will! I'll talk to Polly when we get home!"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But they didn't get close to home when again, Karna appeared, walking swiftly toward them.
"What did you want?" She asked, rather crossly.
"We.. wanted to know about Libra," Demi asked quietly.
"I said she probably knew more but that doesn't mean she'll spill," Karna shrugged. "If you couldn't tell, Libra can't quite handle herself as it is."
"What is wrong with her?" Tategami asked gently.
"Hell if I know. All I know was that she's not looking for you and she doesn't want to..."
"But then, why approach us?" Yale asked.
"Because she turns around and says we need to be together. I don't know which side to listen to."
"You friends?" Yale asked suddenly.
"We used to be..." Karna briefly closed her eyes. "I think... when she found her bracelet, something dangerous happened to her. She's...unbalanced to say at the least."
"Do you have memories?" Demi asked quietly.
"You asked me already."
"We all are trying to remember.." Demi continued.
"Why? If we remember, we will only make that same mistake."
"Now that's backwards thinkin' for ya," Yale retorted. "It's if we remember, we can stop the same mistakes from happening."
"Well I don't want to remember!" Karna said, sharply and angrily. "All I know is that when I'm Sailor Taurus, I'm looking at a shell! And then, I look into a mirror and I see me, I wonder, is this also a illusion.." Karna stared at them. "I have no wish to work with you. I don't want to. We were meant to work that way."
"We were meant to work together," Galena protested but Yale grabbed her hand and the others turned away from Karna. Galena struggled as she looked back and the overwhelming sadness on Karna's face answered more than any question could.
"Let me go! Yale!"
"Be quiet rugrat. We going home."
Galena felt it then, the unbolting of rage. She pulled hard, sending Yale flying to the side, scrapping her elbow on the cement. Galena growled. "I AM NOT A CHILD!"
And with that, she turned and ran down back toward Karna.
"What the hell was her prob?" Yale shouted, glaring at Demi. Demi watched her sister.
"I.. I don't think that was Gally..."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"We are a team!" Was the first thing she said to Karna as the older girl walked hurriedly away from the chasing younger girl. "We were meant to fight together and you know it! So are we to Libra! We can't give up on her!"
"I never said I would!" Karna said indignantly.
"But you don't even bother helping her! If we could.."
"Don't you get it? We are all inflicted in some way, be it major or minor in this life. For one, you're not supposed to be the youngest, you're supposed to be the oldest!"
"What?" Galena stopped walking as Karna took a few steps forward, halted, sighed, and turned back.
"Little Cancer was never little. You were the one we looked to. And you were.. the last to fall.."
"I want us to work together.." Galena whispered.
"But once together, the Dark Zodiac will be whole once more."
"The Dark... Zodiac?"
"He calls himself Ophiuchus, the thirteenth Zodiac."
"I thought... you didn't have any memories.." Galena began.
"Oh, I have them... but HE is the one I can make out the most. There is usually another one though... So far away..."
Karna cupped her face in her palms, as if trying to hide her emotions. "She calls to us, that hope, that light but he surrounds us in its barrier.. I can't get out... I'm trapped.. I..."
"Karna.." Galena touched her elbow gently. "But we're right here. We're not trapped."
And a stab with through Galena.
"I am a lost being now... I am no longer you..."
"Lost.. Is that what happened to us? We were.. lost?"
"Exiled. I remember so little but the impressions left behind. I see nothing but a dead star..."
Galena for a moment, saw familiar loving eyes. "But we were reborn. Who saved us?"
"Rather, who saved what was left of us? And why weren't we healed?" Galena bit out, angry again. "I don't understand anything. It feels as I'm split into so many shards. I want to be just me but.."
"We are all plagued somehow," Karna was watching the sun, setting low. "And when night comes and the stars rise, we look toward them for forgiveness." She sighed. "I haven't had a good night's sleep in so long.. I'm just so tired..."
"Karna...can you tell me more about Ophiuchus?"
"Gally!" Demi shouted from the back, deciding now to finally get her.
"Cancer..." Galena started to look up but watched Karna bend down to face her eye to eye. "Remember, you were the last to fall. Find out why and you will find a strength within you that will help us. You were always the one who wanted to protect us..."
"Will I see you again?"
"Yes.. But I'm not so nice, remember that," Karna stood up and gently brushed Galena's bangs from her face.
"My name.. It's Galena.." Galena told her quietly.
"Little Galena... Remember what I said okay?"
"Yes.." She watched Karna leave with a heavy heart.
"I'm scared... I don't want to watch the stars.." Galena told herself. "We only have darkness..."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Polly!" Galena called out and heard nothing. "POLLY!"
She ran inside and saw her mother talking with her father. "Hi mama! We're home!"
"Hi Mom, Dad.." Demi sighed tiredly.
"Ah..honey, we wanted to talk to you..." Mrs. Helen pulled her two daughters. "We've been discussing the recent occurrences of strange snakes and seeing as your ... cats talk, well, did you want to tell us anything else?"
"Like what?" Demi scratched her nose.
"Why do you have TALKING cats?"
Demi and Galena looked at the other one. "Well.. because we're senshi.."
"Come again?" Mr. Helen asked finally.
"We're warriors.."
Mrs. Helen tilted her head. "So, those who saved me.. that was you and your friends?"
"..Yes. We're the Zodiac."
"I don't know why I'm not surprised.." Mrs. Helen smiled. "Demi, you must remember your promise. You said you'd tell me your secrets."
"Ah... but I don't want Dad to have a heart attack."
"What? Nonsense! He's a tough as nails!" She laughed deeply and glanced pointedly at Mr. Helen who gave weak laugh.
"Daddy.. you don't believe us." Galena said accusingly.
"Of course I do.." Mr. Helen began halfheartedly.
"MOMMA!"
"George!"
Mr. Helen sighed. "I... uh, could see these...senshi things?"
Demi and Galena glared at him. "Ah.. Please?"
They both sighed as one as they raised their arms with the bracelets twinkling.
"Gemini Celestial Power, Make Up!"
"Cancer Celestial Power, Make UP!"
And as they reappeared in their Zodiac form, Mr. Helen's eyes rolled to the back of his head and fainted, yet again.
"Mom?"
"He was always on the weak side," Mrs. Helen sighed. "Our strength runs mainly in the female side anyways."
Demi giggled as Galena waved her hand at her father, trying to wake him up.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yale sat on the steps of her home, trying to go inside but she just didn't have the courage. Everyday it got harder and harder.
"Hey, sis," Marcus had pulled up in his beaten up Jeep and sat next to his sister. He was the spitting image of her, save that he was a actual guy.
"I can't keep this charade going.." Yale sighed. She held her head in one hand the other tapping her bent knee. "It's just getting so hard..."
"How about this.. You tell them but if they, well, kick you out, you can stay with me."
"Really?" Yale looked up and Marcus saw the gathering of tears at the sides of her eyes.
"Yes..."
"Here goes nothing.."
Mr. and Mrs. Angus were nice but the thing was, they still carried many prejudices that should have been changed with time. Being a gay or lesbian, to them, was a great sin to God and of course, being overly religious, they thought they instilled this thought into their children.
Thankfully, their children weren't so closed minded.
"Mom, Dad?" Yale nearly whispered. "Okay, they're not home," She told Marcus.
"Nice try. MOM DAD!" Marcus shouted on the top of his lungs.
"Coming!" Came Mrs. Angus's reply. The two appeared from the kitchen, smiling. "What a nice surprise! Marcus!"
"Oh yes, so nice of you to visit! Haven't been too busy for your folks, now have you?" Mr. Angus smiled widely.
"Mom... Dad... I wanted to tell you something..."
"Well, go ahead.." Mr. Angus continued to smile at Marcus, despite the fact that it had been Yale to talk. She knew, even from a young age, that her parents didn't think as highly as Marcus. She only hoped that they loved her.
"Dad.." Yale moved to his front, staring up at him. They weren't close in height but something about Yale got her father's attention.
"What?" He asked, his smile gone.
"I'm gay."
Mrs. Angus burst out laughing. "Oh, please not this again. You're just going through a stage right now..."
"NO I'M NOT!" Yale shouted, angry. "Why don't you ever listen to me! I'm a human being, for crying out loud!"
"Not much of one if you're one of THEM," Mr. Angus turned to Marcus. "Well, what do you have to say?"
Marcus stared at his father. "I hate you."
Mrs. Angus began to talk earnestly. "Now Marcus.."
"NO! You belittled Yale for the last time. I don't know what your problem is but.."
"She's a disgrace to the family!" Mr. Angus growled. "And if you feel the same.."
"I DON'T! She's my sister!"
"Then get out! The both of you! We didn't raise you to be freaks! GET THE HELL OUT!"
"Wai..wait.." Mrs. Angus began tearfully.
"Shut the hell up and get back in the kitchen!" Mr. Angus went forward and visibly shoved the two that he had fathered out of the house. "Until you learn to obey your father," He told Marcus. "And when you learn to be a woman," He told Yale. "Don't even think of coming back!"
And with that, the door slammed shut.
"Um.. does that offer still stand?" Yale tried to say, beginning to cry.
"Come on, let's go home," He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, speaking softly and soothingly. "It'll be all right. Don't worry.."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arin walked down a dirt path, far off the outskirts of town. Her home, a beaten piece of land with a shack, was were she lived with her mother, father, and younger brother.
She hated it though. That small confining place. She could never do well with closed areas. She remembered others used to shove her into closets and she'd scream, again and again. And only hear the hollow laughter of her peers, echoing in the tightened area as it exploded into her head.
She knew it, somehow along the way. She had snapped. As she brushed her hair after unclasping it, she gazed back at the broken mirror's reflection.
The reflection of Sailor Libra. The same hair and eyes but the fuku was different as it was customary now.
She too had the a symbol, that of Libra upon her brow. She had the same choker, the bottom half yellow, the collar a single color of yellow and the fuku was all white, with no parts or waistband. What she did have was a section of overlapping yellow fabric, much like a kimono's waistband. She had gloves that was a v on the inside of her wrist and a on the back of her wrist. The top came to a point on the outside. The glove itself covered three fourths of her arm, revealing the fingers. Her shoes went to her knees and came to a tip at the top. The edge was stylized like a arrow head, the sides elongated to wrapped around the top edge. Her brooch was a heart shaped and yellow with a yellow star and three conjoined round gems at each low side. Her earrings were dangling yellow arrowhead shaped earrings.
"Did you find them?"
"Yes.."
"Good girl. I knew you were good for something..."
"What do I do now?"
"What do you think should happen?"
"I don't want to bother them anymore.." Arin whispered.
Libra's smile grew. "Oh, you know that's not possible. They are our team, our Zodiac," she hissed. "We must finally... be whole again."
"How?" Arin couldn't look up, she knew the answer already.
"Kill them..."