The Beginning Middle- Chapter Five- Side Two
AN: We all know who each of the characters are, so I'm not trying to keep it hidden until the end and have a huge shocker moment for the readers, though the shocker moment for the characters are always that much better without trying to play it up for the audience that they don't know who is under the mask. That said though, I stick with the names of the characters in the form they are, to save from confusion, its the only reason I do that, otherwise I would interweave the names throughout.
AN2: So i got a comment about how the timeline seems skewed, and I have to say, it is, on purpose. The girls are all found, but they didn't know Mamoru was Kamen, and they're still fighting Beryl, (I have a preference to use certain enemies for certain types of stories...) and 1st, 2nd half of 2nd and the final season happen to be my favorites. I just don't know much about the other two and the whole Ali/ann thing was ridiculous as they just added it as filler whereas in the manga it never existed and instead they could have added so much more depth to the characters of the black moon.... tsk.... So yea, more secrets and stories to be unraveled coming up!
TBM-C5-S2
It took a moment for the heroes to recognize that the attempt had been a failure but it was too slow compared to the instant reaction the youma had as it lunged towards the two opposing it, its baser instincts taking over, to attack that which had threatened its existence. Half way through the leap, with Kamen pushing Moon behind him, to shield the girl from the youma in both the physical and the knowledge that her friendship had failed, the youma tore itself apart, and exploded in a shower of crystal sand.
Kamen couldn't believe that Moon had been correct the entire time. He turned to her, that act, had saved them both from injury, because the youma was struggling to regain control over its body and was only fighting itself, thus causing its own death rather than harm its friend. He now believed what Moon believed all along, that with a conscious a youma could separate itself from its creator.
Moon stared in horror as the crystallized sand floated to the ground. "Are you all right? I'm sorry about your friend, Timmy." The name, despite his finally understanding, was hard to say, it was after all a creature unlike any he had ever encountered before, and unlike humans, when dead, it returned to the form from which it was created instantly instead of decaying.
Moon nodded, still staring at the space the youma had been in, before tearing her eyes away to look at Kamen. "I'm only sorry we couldn't bring him home first. He would have preferred that." Then the shock seemed to wear off. "How are we going to get home?" She whispered.
"We'll find a way." Kamen assured. "I haven't found anything yet, but now that we're not lugging around a youma, we can both go together to find a way out, or at least in the meantime, some more food, our supplies will only last so long."
Moon bit her bottom lip, her sharp blue eyes ventured over to the side where the world was far behind, long gone to all but modern day philosophers better known as historians.
"No." Kamen stated firmly, refusing to allow Moon to even think of trying to enter that world, they didn't know what would happen, if anything, they should both go into the future vision, so that way, there was a possibility that they'd have a solution to their problem. "We haven't sufficiently checked out the world that we are in. We will find something."
"Like what? More rock and desert and salt water?" Moon countered, not angry, but truly curious to know what he could possibly think was in a world uninhabited by anyone else.
"Just give it a little while, we haven't seen any people in either of these societies, what if they're all inhabited, what would the benefit be for going into the past?"
"Maybe its because the land hasn't been destroyed by technology."
"Maybe the technology allows you to have healthy food and keeps people from being virus and disease infected like the past societies? Where's all the animals too?"
Moon gave in, they were both right, they were just at a standstill at this point in time, there really wasn't enough known about any of the lands they occupied, they'd just have to wait, at the moment, there was nothing to suggest any danger towards them here. "Whatever it is, we can't stay here, no matter how pretty it is." She sent one last longing towards the sea, it wasn't really swimable, but it had been an encouraging sight, that there could be more than just nothing in this land that they were sent to for whatever reason.
Kamen let out a chuckle. "Pretty, right." But he waited for her to get her fill before they continued along the way he had come earlier, away from the sea.
They walked until the sunset and Moon shivered from the change in temperature. Near the surf, it had been warm, even at night. As they walked and the sun went behind the horizon, even Kamen knew that the temperature was dropping exponentially, but they'd had nowhere else to go but away from the water. The ocean would crush them if they tried crossing whatever boundaries they couldn't see out there. Finding a soft spot in the hard sand to carve out, they settled into the inclave with Kamen under Moon and Kamen settled the cape around them, but tucking it more securely around her and her bare skin, he wrapped his arms around her as well and they slept for the night, hoping that it wouldn't get too cold through the night and they would survive to see the new dawn.
The following day, promised better news for the dampened Moon senshi, first getting stuck away from all she knew, then loosing one of her friends she'd managed to make out of the enemy, followed by a freezing night, though she tried to hide it from her protector, crush, and most importantly best friend. Kamen too wasn't faring much better, but he was used to being alone without stimulation coming from a hundred directions at once. His most stimulating conversation came from a pixie girl that argued with him during the day, but instead of making it worse, she managed to brighten it. That was what he missed most, besides his best friend in his human form, but for some reason, when he was with Moon, he didn't miss his verbal sparing partner, at least as much.
The day was warm, the suns stretched the rays of light across the sky, but every day they were there, the suns moved further apart, the days became longer, and it gave Moon and Kamen a hope. As far as they could figure out, they have been in the fourth dimension for two months. If the days were longer, if fought off the chill of night for longer as well, but the downside was, that the sleep wasn't as good, as it was lighter during the night and they could not find shade unless they ventured off into the unknown.
Another month later, Moon was drowsy and knew her transformation was only taking up more energy, it was a double edge sword, as when hurt or in battle, the suit offered a boost of energy, so it needed a flip side as well, if used unnecessary, it drained the wearer of it slowly to restock the sources it used. The senshi purposely recharged it for a few hours after battle or during training sessions, but they never lasted this long in the suit. The youma being present, helped, for it made it seem like she was in danger, so she didn't waste any energy, but for the last month or so, it was just wearing on her. Seeing Kamen's back turned to her, she took a calculated risk, he would have to find out eventually, and as they were stuck here together for who knows how long, they were going to have to start trusting each other completely and drop those boundaries they had to protect themselves from being hurt. It didn't hurt to start now, she'd rather see his reaction than be passed out and loose her transformation, and give him time to recover and lie to her face about his true thoughts.
She detransformed and with surprise, saw his go away as well, he turned to her in surprise, not realizing quite yet what had just transpired. What she saw made her go numb as his mouth gapped like a fish, looking for words to say and understanding dawned on him as he took in her appearance. She might not be as kept up as the models he dated, but he could at least shut his mouth, as he was in the same boat and should have understood. She shot to her feet in irrational anger. "You? You were behind the mask this entire time?" Her finger shoved its way against his wrinkly but soft green button-up clad chest. Her biggest crush and worse nightmare all wrapped up into one?
"Odango?" He captured her hand against his chest and held it there, looking down at her, the surprise still hadn't cleared, but it could have been worse, it could have been disgust. She'd caught him off guard, but it blew her out of the water as well. "You're Sailor Moon?" He chuckled. "Could be worse, you could have been Rei underneath all that glamor."
Moon's human form, Usagi, huffed and whipped her hand away, anger at the insult against a friend who was a senshi but one she also badly missed, caused her to react badly. "I would have thought it was someone more charming underneath all that get-up!"
"Now wait a minute Odango!" Mamoru stood up straight. "I'm sorry I'm not who you were hoping it would be, but we hadn't agreed on showing our true forms, what were you thinking? What if I was the enemy?"
"I never believed it before, but now, I can see the others' point." Usagi snapped.
"If I had known it was you, I don't think I would have tried so hard, I would have known it was a dead-end effort then." He retaliated.
Usagi stiffened before spinning on her heel and took off running. "Stay away from me you jerk!"
Mamoru was still reeling from the unexpected attack by Usagi, it was completely out of character for her, but he realized as he watched the stumble in her gait that had nothing to do with her usual clumsiness, that it was because she was completely exhausted. Then he realized where she was blindly running and he took off after her. His fingers slid through her hair as she tripped into the past. Then his hand came up against a wall, Usagi was on the other side, looking at him with fear in her deep blue eyes. He pounded against the wall, this is what he feared if they ventured outside their realm.
He wanted to get through, get to her, but he was blocked, he yelled for her. "Usagi!" Nothing mattered, he couldn't reach her. He laid his hands against it as well as his forehead, he looked at her, trying to reassure her, that they'd figure something out.
Usagi took a hesitant step forward and ran her fingers along the glass, it was like moving water, it distorted and the tips of her fingers rested against Mamoru's palm. His hand closed over hers and gave a small yank, she came flying forward into his chest, and he caught her up with a sigh of relief. He held her close, breathing in her scent. Something he'd never told anyone, but between Moon and Usagi's company, he preferred Usagi, Moon was a great leader and soldier, but behind her bravado, he knew there was something softer and sweet, and a short skirt to tease any male's fantasy, yet beyond all of that, it was Usagi's fire as they argued that had made him interested long before he even met Moon.
He took all of Usagi's annoying traits and made them something uniquely Usagi, something special just she had. Even if she grew out of them, he had the memories to dust off and enjoy a chuckle, and he would like Usagi no matter how she turned out in the end.
Usagi sobbed against his chest. "I'm so sorry Mamoru!" She held his shirt against her face, trying to draw him nearer. He tried to shush and calm her, it wasn't real anger between them, he understood. "I didn't mean those things. Then- when you couldn't- I was afraid-"
Her hiccups cut off the words in between and he held her closer, rubbing a hand down her back. "It's all right Usagi-chan, I understand, it's ok. I was afraid too, I thought I couldn't get to you, that we'd be forever separated." He set her back with the tears calmed slightly, he looked her straight in the eyes and made his point very clear. "Never go running off again, do you hear me?"
Usagi nodded. "I wouldn't, not after that-" She shuddered. "I really am sorry Mamoru! I don't hate you. I'm just so tired, you were just an added shock, I was only expecting to have to deal with my transformation fallout. I didn't mean to make you show me your identity."
"Stop apologizing, please." Mamoru pulled her close again. "I'm just glad that you're all right." He sat down in the sand and sat her in front of him and holding her hands. "Truth be told Usagi-chan, I couldn't think of a better person to be stranded with."
"That's because you don't know anyone else." She teased, and he was glad to see her usual spunk back. That had scared both of them, but with him inside, it was a known territory, out there, alone, was frightening.
He'd been more frightened for her than being trapped alone forever inside unknown land. "Only you could say that, Odango." She smiled up at him. "I'm glad that you're Moonie."
"I am glad that you're Kamen, Mamoru, truly. I guess that was just a way to save myself for when the disappointment set in, so I did it first."
"So, what now?" Mamoru baited, it seemed to be their newest slogan.
"I'm thinking." Usagi winked, not loosing that instant rapport that they were so well known for.
Mamoru pulled Usagi down with him and held her close. "It's getting darker."
Usagi snuggled in and looked up at him. "I have to tell you something since we're being honest."
"You had the biggest crush on my alter ego?" Mamoru's eyes slanted down to her, and she could only stare at the deep blue swirls underneath those thick silky eyebrows.
Usagi's lips tilted down at that response. "I thought everyone knew that." She shook her head. "It's worse than that, I had the biggest crush on you. I hid it because you were always giving me a hard time, and I knew there was no way you could possibly like me."
Mamoru broke out into a loud laughter and Usagi buried her face into his chest, since she could hide the red burning across her features anywhere else in this no-where but sand land. He pushed her away when she mumbled it was rude to make fun of her feelings. "I'm not laughing at you, Usagi. I'm laughing because you always seemed so unattainable, so friendly to everyone, that either you liked everyone that well, or you liked no one. I didn't want to be another nameless face that you somehow managed to make your slave without even realizing that they existed. People you've only said hi to, would follow you to the end of the planet and jump for you. I only teased you because it was cute to see a different reaction than that which everyone else got, and that way I got noticed in the process as well. For here's my secret: I had the biggest crush on you as well all this time."
"Not Moon?" Usagi blinked owlishly up at him, hoping to believe what he said to be truth.
"Moon is definitely sexy, but it's you that I have always wanted in my life. I've been trying to tell you that over the last few years, but you always seem to get pulled away, now I realize it's been the youma attacks.
"I think I knew, I started hanging around just to see you, and see if you'd ever finish what you were trying to say the month before we came here. Even arguing all the time, we'd gotten so close over the last few years as both Moon and Kamen as well as Usagi and Mamoru."
"I knew there was only so much bickering you'd put up with."
"So what does this mean for us?" Usagi lifted a blond arch higher waiting for his response, she knew what she wanted, but she confessed first, it was his turn.
"I would say we were dating and seeing only each other, but its kind of redundant while we're here." Mamoru responded and Usagi gave him a look, that clearly spoke that she wasn't laughing on the inside. Mamoru rolled over so he was leaning over her and ran a finger down her cheek. "Tsukino Usagi, would you like to be my girlfriend?"
Usagi laughed. "You didn't need to be so formal about it." Her hand reached up and she ran a finger against his cheekbone beneath his eye. "I used to think your eyes looked like a raging storm over the ocean and you were always struggling to return to shore."
"And what do you think now?"
"That you're perfectly safe wrapped up in a cabin with a fire roaring, watching said storm."
"Hopefully with you by my side."
"That is one storm that I don't think I would ever want to see gone." Usagi gasped when his head ducked down and his lips were inches from her own. "That was a yes to your question, by the way."
Darien chuckled and moved the hand that was supporting his body and slid it underneath her neck and pulled her into him. The other hand wrapped around her as well and he settled in. "I think it's bedtime, we've made remarkable progress in one day."
Usagi pushed against his chest and he let her move back slightly. "Even though I want it?"
"It doesn't matter, we have all the time to get to that point." Usagi laughed wryly at his response, it was usually the opposite roles between a boy and girl.
And yet, she agreed to it. "I suppose all of this is happening so fast."
"Don't doubt for a moment these feelings only exist because of the situation we are in. It is what I have always felt, and we would be here, not this place, but this between us, eventually on our own."
Usagi wrapped her arms around his chest and laid her head upon it. "I know, and apparently so does everyone else, Timmy told me the same thing." She laughed as her eyes drooped, and Mamoru wrapped his arms around her, at least in this version, she was wearing more clothes, so he didn't have to worry about his cape protecting them.
"Good night, Usagi-chan."
"Good night, Baka." Usagi taunted but she closed her eyes and was gone, feeling only the heat her protector and friend offered her. Mamoru chuckled at her jab, and laid there stroking her hair for a few minutes as he thought through the recent events. How was she so much more tired than he? His costume only lasted until his effort to protect her was finished. As soon as she turned back, he would too, but until that time, he had plenty of energy and sleep was only needed as a human attribute. She seemed to be drained, perhaps it was different for the two of them, she only needed it to fight, he needed it no matter what as long as she was in danger.
Mamoru concentrated on his powers, he'd never tried to become Kamen without Moon's need driving him on, and this would be tricky if it didn't work. His clothes faded away as a new garb replaced it. It didn't feel like his tuxedo, but he let that too fade back into his normal wear and held her close as his own eyes closed and he drifted into dreams.
The dreams were strife with maddening images. Usagi shook against his chest, but his dreams were no better, as he rolled side to side, not far enough to pull Usagi under, but enough to disturb her night of unrest. Their dreams were similar but different. Usagi was running with her friends as buildings fell around them, toppling down, threatening to take them all out. When one smashed down onto her friend in orange. "Venus!" Usagi cried out, running to her friend's side, but even with all the help of her friends, they were unable to move the boulder.
Mamoru's dream was similar, it was of death and destruction, but it wasn't his present day friends, only Motoki weighed on his mind in that sense. No, he was a child again, in the backseat of his parents car, they were driving down a highway when bright lights ahead of them suddenly lit up the cabin. He did not understand why his mother turned to him suddenly with anxious eyes and hands flickering over him in a rush, to make sure he was properly buckled. Then there was a horrible crunching noise, followed by a shriek.
Mamoru woke up with a gasp, reaching out automatically for his support, and warm bodied friend, but he could not reach her. He looked around fretfully, but found her a yard away, on her knees with her head tucked between them, gasping and trying to regain her irregular breathing.
"What's wrong?" He crawled over to her and held her shoulders in his hands, forcing her to look up at him, and she did, through a tear streaked face.
"Our world, in crumbles." She shook with the tears still pouring out from her body.
"It's not our world." He slid his hands up her neck to hold her face firmly between his hands. "It's not, Usagi, our world is here, between the two of us, no matter what happens elsewhere, it is us that matters most. Nothing is more real than what we have, we have to believe in something, why can't it be each other?"
Usagi held his dark blue eyes for a long moment, before she slowly nodded. "Yes, I think it has always been that way. The only world that mattered was ours."
"What are you talking about?" Mamoru frowned, she had been his world since she had ran into him, several years ago, but her words sounded almost knowing. Usagi only shook her head, there were some things that didn't matter, and \ it was the two of them, and it would always be that way. "Irregardless, it was only a dream. We'll be back, and nothing will be different or changed, Rei will still be challenging your every move, Makoto will be staring at a random stranger with hearts in her eyes, Minako will be remarking on the most annoying habits we make when it comes to each other and her idioms will be wrong, not learning that all the corrections were in truth that, and Ami will be telling you to study."
"Can't forget, Motoki will be there to bring us our favorite drinks, and telling us that he knew it all along, and it only confirmed matters when we started to become friends." Usagi managed a watery smile.
Mamoru's lips formed an answering one before resting gently on her forehead. "Tomorrow will be a heavy day, I think."
"So get some sleep." Usagi finished, using her best impersonation of Mamoru's deeper voice, but only managing a slight gruff that sounded just slightly male, albeit a feminine male.
Mamoru laughed and pulled Usagi against his chest. "You've taken the words right out of my mouth."
