A/N: First, I'm so sorry for keeping you guys wait this long for a new chapter. Can't help it when life just takes over! Hopefully I can make amends for keeping you wait this long. Hope you like this new chapter. And thank you very much for the prompt reviews. I do depend on them to shape my chapters.
Usagi is acting OOC, but I do need her like this. But the reason will be revealed in a future chapter.
Please comment!
Usagi had been brooding in her room all morning. It had all happened so fast last night that she couldn't even think where even begin. The man called Kita had pulled out a card. The power wasn't familiar to her, yet she had a nagging feeling in the back of her mind that for some bizarre reason, she ought to have recognized it, at least part of the power it exuded. Deciding she had been in her room for far too long that day, she quickly changed and ran out the door yelling to her mother, "Mom, I'm going to the library." Her mother stopped her cooking and stared after the closed door in mild shock.
The girls were gathered in Rei's room and watched Rei read the fire silently. With a frustrated sigh, Rei opened her eyes to look at the girls helplessly. Shaking her head she muttered, "Sorry girls, the fire isn't telling me anything yet. It felt as if...as if I have been denied the permission to read by a higher authority..."
Ami stared at the fire, then looked into Rei's eyes, "But that doesn't make any sense!"
Mina, "What do you mean by it?"
Ami, "Well, a while ago I was doing some research on the legends of the moon and I came across a little information that said, a senshi's power is drawn from their respective planet and without a direct order from the rulers, it can't be withdrawn."
Makoto, "What are you talking about?"
Rei held up her hand, "Ami is trying to say that the power to read fire comes from my link to Mars and it can only be withheld if the King or the Queen gave a direct order to Princess Mars."
Ami nodded at her explanation. The girls looked at one another in silence for another minute.
"But it doesn't make sense, because we have not seen Pluto or the King or the Queen and the princess herself is lying dormant!" Makoto exclaimed.
"Which is why it doesn't make any sense to me," Rei stood up and started pacing.
"Why don't we go back to the park and see if we can pick up any traces of negative energy, and if we do then we might be able to trace it back to its base," Ami said standing, "at least it will be some sort of start."
With a nod of agreement, the girls left the temple for the park.
Usagi was close to tears within 30 minutes of her arrival at the library. The nice lady at the reference desk had showed her how to use the library database to search for a topic on the computer. But Usagi being Usagi managed not to find a single souce on the folklore or legends or the myths of the moon.
"I wish Ami was here now!" she wailed softly under her breath. Realizing that she won't get anying done on a computer, she stood, stretched and started walking down the aisles of books to see if she might spot anything remotely related to the moon. Unfortunately for her, she managed to get herself lost in the huge library.
Not knowing where she was going, she took turn after turn around the corners of the massive bookshelves. After 15 minutes of walking around bookshelves, she saw an unmarked door. Hoping to find some help there, she pushed open the door and walked inside. The door automatically closed behind her, leaving her in a dimly lit hallway lined with several magnificently carved entryways with closed doors. Groaning out loud she turned around to go back, but to her astonishment the door had vanished behind her.
"Hello," she called out loud and was terrified by the eerie echo the corridor gave. As she started walking, the crystal in her brooch gave out a faint light. She blinked in confusion and called out again, "Hello? Anybody here?"
But no answer. Her heart started pounding, as the light grew stronger. At one of the doors, the crystal warmed against her skin. She stopped in her tracks with a gasp. The light was so bright that she had to cover her eyes. Gulping down precious air nervously, she reached out for the doorknob. The knob was so hot that her fingers broke into instant blisters. Crying out in pain, she backed away from the door, without looking where she was going.
Like Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole, Usagi tumbled through a door behind her and found herself on her ass in someone's personal library. She could tell that she wasn't in the public library because the walls were lined with bookshelves from ceiling to floor, completely covered in leather bound books. Gasping softly, she stood slowly and looked around. She quickly turned towards the door and watched in fascinated horror as the door closed on its own accord and simply vanished into thin air.
Whimpering for a few seconds she called out loud, "Hello? Anybody here? I...I am lost and need help to find my way out!"
She got no response. Sighing softly she looked at the bookshelf next to her and touched one of the leather bound volume. Murmuring softly at how well the book was preserved, she started down to see if she could find a door out of this maze of bookshelves. As she made her way across the room, her fingers trailing over the soft leather of the book covers, she heard a heartbeat. Frowning softly and shaking her head thinking she was losing her mind, she continued walking, her fingers still trailing. But on one row of books, her fingers grew warm. Thinking she was definitely losing her mind, she removed her fingers from the books and started across the room again. But this time, she could definitely hear a heartbeat...and it was coming from...she didn't know exactly where. Closing her eyes she concentrated on it, and she could feel it now...the heartbeat surrounded her and compelled her towards a wall of books. With her own heart pounding again, she looked up at the books and gulping nervously, she reached out to the books.
Once the books on a certain shelf were pulled down, she could make out a faint hidden compartment. Knowing she shouldn't be doing this, but unable to stop herself, she opened the panel on the hidden compartment bookshelf. There lay a book covered in ancient black leather and gold print title 'History of the Moon'. The moment her fingers touched the book, she could feel the heartbeat...coming from the book itself. Gasping softly she pulled her fingers back and stared at the book in wonder. Then, in front of her eyes...the book slid to the floor with a loud thud and opened up to a page. The pages were ancient and on the verge of tearing apart. She bent down and with great care picked up the book.
"Who are you and what are you doing in here?" came an authoritative voice behind her.
Usagi froze for a second and without thinking she grabbed the book and started running. She could see a door at the far end of the wall and she could hear the footsteps so close to her. Not wanting to get caught, terribly frightened by that authoritative voice, she ran blindly towards the door, the book in her hand firmly. The door opened up for her and once she ran out of the private library, the door closed behind her.
Yue had come to Eriol's mansion to get some research done. To a person's eye, the library was impressive with its dark wood and comfortable cushioned chairs. But behind a bookshelf lay a door for another most private collection of books. The books in that collection related to the legends and myths of the moon and the planets...but the legends and myths were more than just legends and myths...they were facts and actual recorded history. Particularly one book, which prophesized the events that will occur, regarding the moon princess, her guardians and the clow cards. The book had been protected by the great Clow himself.
"It has been said that, he was gifted with the book by the Queen, so that it may not fall into the wrong hands. Everyone is looking for it. And Clow wove a spell around the book that will only let the Queen herself touch or her descendents," Eriol was saying to Yue as he led him into the library.
"So...nobody but the royals can touch the book?" Yue enquired as they opened the passageway into the inner library.
"No...unless the negative powers create a power mimicking that of the princess or the queen, no one can open the book," Eriol nodded as they entered the inner library.
Yue was about to make another comment whey he felt that something wasn't right in the library. Then he saw her. Bending over the book, several others scattered around the floor.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" he asked angrily.
But instead of a reply, the girl started running and then...she simply vanished into the wall. Yue's persuit came to a halt at the wall and angrily he strode back to the bookshelf.
Eriol, whose calmness can usually not be disturbed, had a frown on his face.
"What is it?" Yue asked looking at the empty row of books and a panel revealing a hidden compartment.
"That was the book of prophesies. And nobody knows of its location but me!"
Yue stared at the compartment for a second and then at the wall were Usagi had disappeared into.
"So...you're saying..."
"You saw how the girl vanished into the wall. I believed she had stumbled into gateway of portals. The gateway consists of portals to every place on this solar system. And by the looks of it, she managed to find one to the library, and grab the book," Eriol sighed picking up the books on the floor carefully.
"So? Are we just going to sit here picking up the books? Shouldn't we do something about it? Can't you open the portal or something?" Yue asked helplessly.
Eriol simply smiled at him. "The gateway can either be opened by the guardian of time and space, or by the descendents of the Queen, unless as I said before the negative forces have managed to discover the gateway by mimicking the princess's powers. So, I believe Yue, the person we saw was mostly likely the princess herself, because she not only found the gateway, but used it and took the book with her."
Yue frowned at this, "But what if as you said it was the dark forces? It might have been the dark forces, because she ran away from us. And we weren't able to get a good look at her. All we know now is that if it was the princess, then she has long golden hair. But all the royal females have long hair...don't they?"
Eriol smiled replacing the books on the shelf, "Sure they do, but the color changes. And it has been rumored that the current princess has golden hair. So I believe we just let our princess slip through our fingers."
Sighing softly, Yue went about looking for books that might help him with the whereabouts of the princess, who had looked vaguely familiar to him, now that he thought about it.
Usagi stumbled through the same doors back into the library. With her heart in her throat, she didn't look where she was going and bumped into what she thought was a wall. Yelping softly, she quickly grabbed the book that fell away from her and her other hand straightened her skirt.
"Well if it isn't the meatball head," came an amused voice.
She looked up and to her humiliation she saw that she had bumped into none other than Touya himself. Groaning softly, she stood up quickly, the book behind her back.
Raising an eyebrow, Touya peered behind her and being taller than her it was easy for him to see that she had a book and she didn't want him to see it. Smirking he said, "Don't want anyone to find out you're actually at the library and reading a book?"
"No. Its not like that. I was just headed back home," she muttered looking around and trying to slip past him.
Immediately suspicious, Touya smirked at her again, "Oh really? I'm headed to home too. Why don't I walk you there?" He groaned inwardly, wondering what had possessed him with such curiosity as to what the book she was carrying.
"That's ok. I can walk by myself," she said out loud, wondering why she was refusing such a handsome guy's offer to walk her home. Then she started checking all the annoying things he does, like call her meatball head, smirk like he knew what she was thinking. 'I'm better off going home alone than with him. What if mom and dad saw me with him? They just might get the wrong idea! Though they'd probably be relieved thinking I'm moving on!' she thought furiously. But what she hadn't noticed was that Touya was leading her out of the library, grabbing her arm.
The little ESP in Touya that usually flickers alive when his sister needed help, had come to full life around Usagi. It wasn't a tiny flicker but a complete roar. He was taken aback by it, but had it in control. Now he was determined to find out what she was carrying and why his ESP reacted the way it did around Usagi.
Nakuru had followed Touya to the library and had 'accidentally' met him where he usually studied. But he had given her the slip saying he had to use the restrooms. After that she hadn't seen him at all. Muttering oaths under her breath she stood up to look for him when she noticed through the windows that he was leading that traitorous Usagi with his had.
'How dare that little hussy lead him on like that!' she thought, never mind that Touya was leading Usagi and not the other way round...literally. Muttering more oaths and swearing softly, she marched out the library and ran after them.
They had just turned around the corner when Nakuru squealed like a little school girl and jumped onto Touya's back. "Hello again Touya. That's so bad of you to leave me at the library all alone like that!" she said giving Usagi a superior look and smile.
Usagi who had been protesting so far was unprepared for the attack from Nakuru like that. With a mischievous smile, she suddenly changed tactics on Touya. Shifting the book to her right hand, she curled her left hand around Touya and leaned into his right side, where he was holding her and almost purred at Touya giving a Nakuru a look, "Why Touya dear, you didn't tell me you were with Nakuru. You didn't have to break your plans like that just for me!"
Nakuru got off his back and went to his other side, grabbing hold of his other hand.
Touya groaned softly, thinking, 'I should have realized this was going to happen when I left Nakuru at the library. But what was I supposed to do! God save me from this mess!!'
They had almost reached their homes, to Touya's relief, because Nakuru and Usagi were bickering like two little girls wanting the same Barbie doll, when Usagi brought her other hand to curl around Touya's arm.
The book touched Touya's skin and the metaphysical connection to the moon flared to life. They all stood frozen in shock for one brief moment when they could see the dark forces at their work. Usagi could see the dark forces hard at work, but to her frustration she couldn't not see who the lord was who was giving these commands. Touya could see that his sister will be placed in danger soon, because she was a little girl and the dark forces gathered children's life energies. As for Nakuru, she could see the Queen in her long white hair, the Queen's eyes sad and her mouth pleading for help.
Completely taken by surprise, Usagi quickly broke the connection by pulling the book away. Everyone quickly said they had things to do and went their respective ways, but what they didn't know was that the other two had visions too, grim visions.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know what you think of it. I do welcome your comments and flames and whatever it is you want to tell me about this chapter. Please do leave a review.
