TWO WRONGS
Chapter 4: Vengeance
A Sailor Moon fanfic
By Bill K.
Juno looked and saw a figure sitting against the trunk of a hundred year growth apple tree. Even though she figured the figure was sleeping, Juno headed toward it. If nothing else, she could ask the figure if a tiger with a bad attitude had passed.
But the two Senshi slowed to a stop when they got close enough to see the unnatural angle of the head and the vacant, glassy eyes.
"That's the guy," Juno said softly. "Na I think Pallas called him."
"Is he . . ." Ceres asked uneasily. Juno knelt down next to Na and felt along his neck. Instantly she withdrew her hand because he was cold to the touch.
"Yeah," Juno sighed. "Looks like Vesta beat us to him."
Juno glanced over at Ceres. She found her sister Senshi had her head rolled back, her arms spread and her eyes closed. Perplexed at first, Juno realized that Ceres was communicating with the apple tree. Patiently she waited. Finally Ceres opened her eyes and focused on Juno.
"I asked the apple tree where the other human had gone," Ceres explained. "The tree spirit said there was no other human."
"Maybe Vesta was in animal form," suggested Juno.
"No animals, either," Ceres informed her. "This guy was alone the whole time."
"Then how did he die?" Juno asked, standing up. "I'm no expert, but this doesn't look natural."
Just then, the general send alarm went off on their Senshi communicators.
"It's Saturn!" Juno exclaimed. She engaged the homing tracer and the pair took off at a run in the direction the tracer led. "Now what do you think happened?"
"I don't know, but I guess Vesta is going to have to wait!" Ceres said.
Through some trees, just beyond a clearing, Juno and Ceres came upon some of the guest cabins they had started from. As they approached, each one realized that the cabin they were headed for was the one Sailor Moon was in. A figure appeared at the entrance as if alerted to their approach.
"Pallas!" Juno gasped.
"It's the Princess! She's sick!" wailed Pallas. The Senshi disappeared back into the cabin with Juno and Ceres on her heels.
Inside, they found Saturn kneeling on a bed over Sailor Moon's prone body. The Princess was gasping for air, her face ashen and contorted with pain. Saturn had her hands on Sailor Moon's throat and chest, the hands glowing violet. Her face already showed the strain she was under. It was beaded with sweat and her mouth was drawn thin. Pallas stood fearfully on the left side of the bed while at the foot stood Vesta.
"What happened?" Ceres exclaimed.
"The Princess started choking!" Pallas cried. "She can't breathe! Miss Saturn-Ma'am is afraid she'll die!"
"Probably be dead already if it wasn't for Saturn," Vesta added, fear in her eyes too.
"What's she choking on?" Ceres demanded.
"Miss Saturn-Ma'am doesn't know!" Pallas cried. "Please don't die, Princess!"
"Ceres, what do we do?" Juno asked frantically.
"I-I don't know," Ceres mumbled, wracking her brain. "Do they even have doctors in Elysian?"
Vesta, of course, noticed it first. One moment Pallas was on the verge of blind hysterics. A moment later she grew calm - - serene. A smile bloomed on her face.
"Queen Serenity," she whispered, looking up at nothing.
Everyone looked around. A silver light began to shine in the room. It grew until it seemed to envelope everything. The light swallowed up everything and everyone until all anyone could see was silver light. Then it began to die away. When it was gone, the six Senshi were in the Royal Chambers of the Crystal Palace.
"Whoa," Ceres whispered. She looked around and locked onto King Endymion hovering over Queen Serenity. The Queen was slumped in a rocking chair, unconscious. Endymion looked torn. He wanted to go to his daughter, but wanted just as badly to stay and tend to his wife. Luna noted this immediately.
"Stay with her, Your Majesty," the cat said, bounding off of the table next to the rocker. "I'll tend to the Princess." The black cat looked the situation over as the four Asteroids stood helplessly.
"Choking," Saturn gasped out. "Doctor." Luna instantly leaped up to a desk with a computer station.
"This is Priority Medical Alert," she exclaimed into a receiver. "Emergency medical team to the Royal Chambers at once!" The cat turned to the Asteroids. "What happened?"
"As far as we know, she just started choking," Ceres reported. "Nobody can figure out why."
"Right now Saturn's the only thing keeping her alive," Vesta added. "You gotta do something!"
Luna looked to Endymion.
"I've got my hands full keeping Serenity with us," he shook his head. "What she attempted was way beyond anything she's ever done." As he spoke, his hands were glowing golden and pressed over Serenity's chest.
"Saturn?" Juno inquired anxiously.
"She's," Saturn gasped out through clenched teeth, "slipping..."
Led by Ami Mizuno, the medical team arrived and swarmed over Sailor Moon. While Saturn maintained contact, the team began administering hypo-oxygen to replace the missing oxygen in her system. Ami scanned the Senshi with her hand-held medical scanner.
"No obstructions," she muttered. "There seems to be a malfunction in the neuro-respiratory system. I'm not scanning any neuro-toxins, though."
Just then, Rei Hino burst in. From the frantic look on her face, the priest had sensed Serenity's distress. When she got within five feet of the scene, her eyes grew wide with horror.
"EVERYONE STEP AWAY FROM HER!" the priest demanded.
This drew a puzzled look from everyone, but they complied when Rei drew a ward from her robe and placed it on her forehead. Bereft of Saturn's touch, Sailor Moon started choking and desperately gasping for breath. It took seven seconds to speak the charging chant that infused the sutra with Rei's spirit energy. Once the ritual was done, Rei flung it at Sailor Moon. The sutra struck the girl on the chest. Sailor Moon reared up, hissing like she was being burned. After two seconds, the girl slumped back onto the bed. She was deathly unconscious, but everyone could see she was breathing easily again.
"Thank you," Saturn moaned, then slid to the floor in exhaustion. Two of the emergency medical team began to treat her.
"Was she attacked by something demonic?" Endymion asked. He was still feeding golden energy to Serenity. She was still unconscious, but breathing more easily.
"A snake familiar," Rei replied, emotion making her voice raw. "I recognized it instantly."
"What's that?" Vesta asked anxiously.
"It's a particularly vile form of sorcery," Rei frowned. "The sorcerer makes a bargain with a demon snake. In exchange for a sacrifice, the demon snake will seek out and kill anyone the sorcerer deems his or her enemy. The snake familiar coils around its victim, trapping it and allowing it to inject its venom. The demonic venom causes the victim to choke to death. And the sorcerer can strike at a distance, making it hard for the sorcerer to be traced."
"But we got it in time, didn't we?" Vesta demanded. "She's not dead! She's still breathing!"
"The sutra stopped the demonic poison," Rei exhaled, "as long as it lasts. But Sailor Moon is in a sleep that she can't wake up from. Only the sorcerer who commands the snake familiar can break the spell."
"Can you find her?" Endymion asked Rei.
Rei looked down helplessly. "I can try. It might be easier if I knew who it was."
"Pallas?" Ceres inquired. "Any ideas?" Pallas only shook her head.
"What about the wife?" Juno proposed. Everyone looked at her. "The one who caused the scene at the festival. What was her name, Keika? Didn't Lady Candide say she was a practitioner of dark arts?"
"I don't remember," Ceres said. "I was pretty buzzed."
"Yeah!" Vesta nodded vigorously. "The guy said something to Candide like that. That she was probably watching everything he did with her dark magic."
"And we found Keika's husband dead about a couple hundred yards away from where Sailor Moon was," Juno added. "I can't be sure, but it sure looked like he could have choked to death."
"I'll contact Lady Candide and see if she can locate this Keika," Endymion nodded.
By now Sailor Moon was loaded into an anti-gravity table. Ami looked to Rei for permission to take Sailor Moon to the infirmary. The priest nodded absently and she was whisked away. Another table was brought for Sailor Saturn and she was taken as well.
"How's Serenity doing?" Rei asked, her emotional state in tatters.
"I managed to pull her back," Endymion exhaled, as the strain was beginning to show on him as well.
"What did she do THIS time?"
"She transported us all back from Elysian, Hino-Sensei," Ceres told her. "It was kind of an emergency."
Rei digested this. "Yeah. I suppose she really didn't have a choice. But don't think I won't let her hear about it when she wakes up."
"Hino-Sensei," Vesta began. Rei was startled, because she wasn't used to Vesta being formal, or Vesta being this anxious. "Is - - well, what if we don't find this Keika chick? Is there any other way?"
"No," Rei replied. "Well, I suppose if Serenity combined her silver energy with my spirit energy, there might be a chance - - I guess. I've learned never to say never when she's involved. But I'd much rather find this snake sorceress than depend on that."
"What if we can't wake her up?"
"Then she'll sleep," Rei choked out, on the verge of tears, "until her body wastes away and finally - - dies." She shuddered, stifling a sob. "Call me when you've talked to Lady Candide, Endymion." And the priest hurried out of the room to be with her precious "Muffin". On the way out the door, she passed Minako.
"What did I miss?" Minako asked.
"My deepest apologies for this, Your Majesty," Candide thought. She was in mental contact with Endymion, spanning the distance between Earth and Elysian.
"No one blames you, Lady Candide," Endymion thought back from his seat in the Royal Chambers. The four Asteroid Senshi sat by, waiting impatiently for some news, while Minako sat by Serenity's side and watched for signs either of distress or consciousness.
"It seemed a natural gesture to invite them both to live in Elysian," Candide continued. "They were in a frightfully dire situation and they had performed a great service for the Dreamscape. And they seemed so happy together." There was a pause. "How is the Princess?"
"The toxin has been arrested, but she's," and now Endymion paused to allow a throb of emotion to dissipate, "no closer to being better. We're trying to trace this Keika, to see if she has anything to do with this attack..."
"She does," Candide told him firmly. "With my son in the midst of his reaffirmation ceremony, I am the ranking guardian of this realm. Nothing happens in Elysian without my knowing it. Keika, in a fit of jealous rage, lashed out with her magic at the husband who she felt had wronged her and at your daughter, who she felt had tempted him away from her."
"Is she there now?" Endymion asked.
"Alas, no. Once Keika had performed her insidious revenge, she fled Elysian. And once past its border, I no longer had any means of tracking her." Candide exhaled. "But she will need to sleep sometime and when that happens she will once more fall within my influence. I will find her, Your Majesty. You have my vow."
"Thank you, Lady Candide," Endymion thought. "I'll await your communication. Meanwhile we have resources as well. I'll notify you if there's any change."
Off in a corner of the room, the Asteroids waited for word. They didn't wait idly.
"So you said you found that guy Na dead," Vesta asked Juno.
"Yeah," Juno nodded. "At first we thought you had done it."
"Uh uh," Vesta said. "Not like I didn't want to. But I had other things to do."
"Yeah, where DID you go?" Juno asked.
Vesta's mouth grew thin. "Went back to Sailor Moon's place. Got back into my tiger form and stood guard over her. I figured there was a chance that guy could come back. Saturn must have had the same idea, because she was in there with her. But I figured that between the two of us, he wouldn't get near her. So I sat there outside her door and guarded her. And I waited for Na to show up again. Because if he did, he was going to be so much cat food."
"Vesta," Pallas said with a warning tone.
"So why didn't you tell anybody?" Juno demanded. "You like worrying us?"
"Figured you'd try to talk me out of it or something," Vesta shrugged. "You didn't see the Princess's face when I pulled him off of her. He wasn't going to get another chance at her. I didn't care if it meant I got kicked out of Crystal Tokyo, or even if I got killed and sent to Hell. He wasn't going to get another chance at her."
"We understand, Vesta," Ceres said. Vesta looked at her with some surprise, but was gratified that her sister Amazon was serious.
Suddenly Pallas gestured for quiet. She pointed at King Endymion, who was sagging out of his trance. The King got to his feet.
"What's the word?" Minako inquired nervously.
"Keika is our culprit. Now we have to find her. I'm going to discuss our options with Rei," Endymion said. He turned to the Asteroids. "Stay with the Princess. Be ready to act when we need you."
"You got it," Vesta nodded as she and the others headed for the door. "Um, Your Majesty," she hastily added when Pallas elbowed her hip.
Minako smiled briefly at the gesture, but that smile was quickly muted by the gravity of the situation.
Sailor Saturn woke and found herself in the palace infirmary. Tilting her head back, she took a look at the vital sign scan display over her head. Rolling over onto her side, the Senshi swung her legs down over the side of the bed. Taking a moment to silently curse the fact that her feet once again didn't reach the floor, Saturn prepared to get to her feet.
"Going somewhere?" Ami asked, standing in the door with her arms crossed over her chest and staring at Saturn over the top of her glasses.
"I wanted to check on Sailor Moon," Saturn replied defiantly, but not too defiantly. "My vital signs are nominal."
"Is that your professional opinion?" Ami asked with a cocked eyebrow.
Saturn gulped. "Yes," she replied as her eyes sought the floor. Ami couldn't help but smile.
"All right," the doctor sighed. "But don't use your abilities just yet, particularly your healing ability. You took a lot out of yourself. I don't want you to risk inducing a cardio-pulmonary incident."
"Yes, Sensei," Saturn nodded and scampered past Ami before the doctor could change her mind. The corner's of Ami's mouth turned up again as she watched Saturn go.
Entering the room, Saturn found the Asteroids watching over her. Ceres turned her head and nodded. Juno waved. Pallas gave her a large, grateful smile. Vesta's eyes didn't move from Sailor Moon. Saturn noticed that Vesta's gaze was so intense it was like the Senshi was trying to mentally will their leader to recover.
"How is she?" Saturn asked, noting the vital sign display above her. Sailor Moon's vitals were on the low end of acceptable, but she wasn't choking and she wasn't dying. Right now that was a win in Saturn's judgment. Ceres explained the situation. The more she heard, the more Saturn felt like crying.
"So now we're just waiting to see if Hino-Sensei can come up with some way to banish the snake demon," Ceres continued. "Or whether Lady Candide can find out where Keika went."
"Pallas, have you tried to contact Sailor Moon mentally?" Saturn ventured. "Maybe she can use her pink crystal to banish it."
"Pallas tried," Pallas replied, the memory of the experience etched on her face. "But the snake wouldn't let her. The snake is very mean and scary."
"So what about Queen Serenity?"
"Maybe after she recovers," sighed Juno. "Teleporting us all from Elysian really exhausted her power. Mizuno-Sensei said it's too dangerous for her to try. She even sedated the Queen to keep her from trying anyway, because you know she would. After she gets better, she can try - - if it's not too late."
"Don't even talk like that," Vesta growled.
"All right, don't get into an uproar," Ceres scowled.
Everyone noticed Saturn move forward, toward Sailor Moon. Then they noticed her hands begin to glow violet.
"Hey, should you be doing that?" Juno asked urgently. Saturn ignored her and reached for her friend.
Then Saturn lurched backwards, jerking her hands away. She took two steps back, then lost her balance and toppled backward to the floor. Saturn sat there for a few moments, staring in shock.
"Pallas told you," Pallas said. "Mean and scary."
"Well we have to do something!" Saturn said desperately.
"Wait," Pallas said suddenly, then tilted her head like she was listening to an unheard voice. "The King knows where the Snake Lady is!" And out of the room she scampered, followed by Saturn and the other Asteroids.
"Ploutos?" Endymion thought to Candide through his connection to the Dreamscape.
"It is one of the fantasy realms on the boundary between reality and the Dreamscape, Your Majesty," Candide explained. "Keika could not stay in Elysian and dared not return to Yaban'na, so she has sought refuge there, hoping to lose herself in the teaming population of that realm. If you wish, I will send someone to fetch her."
"No offense, Lady Candide, but I'd rather retrieve her myself," Endymion thought back.
"Then I shall send you the way to Ploutos. Contact me if there is anything more I can do. And good fortune to you."
Coming out of the trance, Endymion found Saturn and the Asteroids waiting in the Royal Chambers, Luna giving them a disdainful eye.
"Yes, I know where Keika has gone," Endymion sighed. "I assume you found out."
"Let us go after her, Your Majesty!" pleaded Saturn. "Sailor Moon's safety is our responsibility! And she's our friend!"
"And she's my daughter," Endymion countered. "I'm sorry."
The Senshi left, dejected. Saturn wanted to argue, but was herded out by Ceres. Once in the hall and safely away from the Royal Chambers, though, Juno tapped Pallas on the shoulder.
"Did you get it?" Juno asked. Pallas nodded smugly. Saturn gave them a puzzled look. "Figured he might say no. I mentally asked Pallas to read his mind and get the location. We can teleport there using Pallas as a guide."
"But we'd better do it now before he or one of the elders catches on," Ceres advised.
"Just let me get my glaive!" Saturn exclaimed and ran off down the corridor.
Continued in Chapter 5