Chapter 10: Leopards and Their Spots
"NEPTUNE DEEP SUBMERGE!"
"WAIT, MICHELLE!" Darien waved his arms madly trying to ward her off, but he was too late: Sailor Neptune's planet-shaped orb already escaped from her hands. Darien didn't even hesitate...shifting to one side, he just threw himself in her path and was tossed over Charon's head before plummeting to the Temple grounds.
"Darien!" Serena was at his side in an instant. Joining them was my first instinct too - until I noticed Sailor Uranus lay next to Logan's leg. That crash we heard earlier was the sound of Logan throwing her into the pavement...but she'd never let herself be defeated that easily. Sailor Uranus summoned her talisman into her hand before taking a swipe at him with her Space Sword. He dashed away fast, and his gray-and-black Shadow robes materialized around him in a blinding flash...but Uranus' talisman was now glowing. She created a swirling gust around herself that threatened to blow the rest of us backwards, then she raised her sword up high to create a growing orange planet-shaped orb of her own.
"Space Sword Blaster!" With her mini-planet swelling on top of her sword's sharp tip, Uranus pointed it at Charon and let it fly. Her singular sphere multiplied into several, then the rings around them came flying off. A wave of crescents came flying towards him...but Charon just stood there in place. Why wasn't he moving?! He couldn't count on the same magic defense the other Shadows had! And then I realized...he had his back to Raye's temple. He was going to take the blow...
"Venus Love Chain Encircle!" As bad as I felt for Raye, I couldn't be more relieved when Venus' heart-shaped links wrapped Charon's legs together and yanked him to the ground in the nick of time. Uranus' crescents flew right over him and turned the wall he meant to shelter into splinters. Poor Raye...
"What are you doing?!" Serena's snapping left the pair of Outers even more bewildered. A gloved hand covered Neptune's mouth as she watched Darien wincing on the ground. I sure hope he's OK.
"What are WE doing?!" Sailor Uranus still clutched the golden handle of her sword tight as she fixed her eyes on Sailor Venus, the only one of us who had transformed. "Why throw yourselves in front of that traitor?"
"So you know about the Shadows? HE'S our ticket to beating them! AND he's our friend!" Sailor Venus matched Serena's tone. "Didn't you get Serena's memo? You two SERIOUSLY need to check your phones more often!"
"Oh, I...thought you already messaged them." Of course, Serena was totally clueless.
"WHAT?! I haven't seen them in AGES?!" And Venus went at it with her again... "You're supposed to be in charge, remember?"
"But YOU'RE supposed to be running the show while I'm not here! I was halfway across the Pacific! Just saying!" You didn't get back THAT recently, Serena! Wait...the others didn't know that yet, did they?
"Well..." It wasn't that often you heard Charon sigh so loudly. "If any intergalactic Scouts hit us up for rocket fuel after they came all this way just to kill me, I'm not paying them back!"
Hmmm, I just assumed the Starlights used Sailor Teleport to go back and forth. I never asked if they had their own spaceship - oh, right. Another joke.
"We don't need extraterrestrial help returning you to your crypt, Benedict Arnold!" Sailor Uranus flicked strands of hair away from her face and spun with her arms spread apart. "Protected by the planet of wind, I'm Sailor Uranus and I will blow you into the dustbin of history!"
Sailor Neptune mirrored her partner's graceful movements: "protected by the planet of the oceans, I am Sailor Neptune, and I will cast all of you snakes into the sea!"
"It's another misunderstanding!" I cut in front of the pair, thinking they might try to strike at him again. "If he was one of the bad guys, he wouldn't have let you finish your speeches!"
"If that were true, we'd be doing him a favor anyway." Uranus' voice fell to a whisper before she lifted her head to address the other Scouts behind me. Raye, Lita, and Amy had kept quiet throughout the whole thing. "He's a knife just waiting for his pals to sink him in Sailor Moon's back, and some of you realize that. But he's not worth the risk. We've got our own plan...and it's bound to work if you help us."
"So you're letting us in on the plan this time?" Raye leveled a bitter tone towards them...though she seemed more open to what they had to say. As much as they had changed, I knew they'd never go along with offing Logan if THAT was there idea. At least, I hoped so.
Sailor Neptune slipped a peek at the glass of her Deep Aqua Mirror before she took up answering. "We didn't want to believe the Shadows existed, either. The idea that Queen Serenity would permit her spies to use dark magic, let alone enable them...it sounded like the ramblings of a madwoman. But we also knew Queen Serenity never would have done so without...a second failsafe." I caught Neptune's eyes drift towards Charon's bracer before she quickly noticed mine and pulled them back. Was that what the bracer was for? To keep Charon from becoming another Wiseman? But how did it work, then?
Sailor Uranus quickly picked up the rest of the conversation: "Michelle and I found just that. Queen Serenity left us an artifact...a siphon of some kind...that lets us channel our energies THROUGH the Shadows themselves. Their dark magic has some kind of adverse reaction to the Silver Crystal...with the right focus, we could burn them from the inside-out before they could lay a hand on us. Those magic barriers of theirs wouldn't protect them from THIS."
"That doesn't sound like a trap at all!" Without knowing any better, Uranus and Neptune's eyes nearly popped out upon hearing LOGAN - of all people - being the first to 'cheer' on their idea. "I vote we activate the weapon of mass plot convenience your out-of-character Queen had the foresight to leave for us!"
"CHARON?!" Yup, Lita missed it too. "Did you miss the part where it fries YOU from the inside, too?!"
"No, he didn't Lita." Amy got the joke, I could see that the way she buried her hand into her face. But for the others, she added: "He clearly meant that as a joke."
"OH!" Venus nodded thoughtfully while pressing her finger into her chin. "Wait, what was the punchline?"
"UGH!" Sailor Uranus retook hold of the conversation with her grimace. "You can mock us and play mind games all you like, but try weaseling your way out of this!"
Sailor Uranus raised her arm to launch her other attack, but Serena threw herself in front of Charon before she could say a word this time. I heard Darien fumble back to the ground when he tried to stand, still clutching his side and still soaked by the oceans of Neptune. Amy, Lita and Raye all rushed to him...though I got the feeling they were also trying to keep him out of the growing feud...
"There's no way that Queen Serenity played any part in making this Siphon!" With her hand over her heart, Sailor Moon lit into them. "Our way might be harder, but Charon proved that we can beat the Shadows without it! We're not sacrificing him, or anyone else who might not want to fight us!"
Sailor Neptune lowered her head and closed her eyes. "Serena...taking on the Shadows one at a time isn't a strategy. They know far more about us than any enemy we've ever faced before, yet they hate us just as much. We only have one trump card."
"I get it...we can't count on any more of them to switch. But still...this is pretty harsh," Lita wavered.
"Then you have one alternative." Sailor Uranus glared at Charon. "Seal him away, in the farthest reaches of Space-Time. You'll spare him, and he won't be a danger to us."
I couldn't let them do that either...he'd be like Death Phantom Junior, trapped in a state of...nonthingness. I saw what it'd be like when I got lost without my Space-Time Key on me...I couldn't let them do that to him!
"MOON COSMIC POWER!" Taking Serena's place, Sailor Moon took Charon's hand and made a point of the Outers seeing it. "You just don't understand me at all, if you think I would choose either!"
For a second, I thought Serena had gotten through to Michelle, but her face went stiff as a block of ice again. "I always respected your position, Serena. But this time, you're completely out of touch with the situation we face. The others see it too."
"Moon Prism Power!" If Raye, Amy and Lita wouldn't stand next to Charon and Sailor Moon, then I would! "You said you felt bad about what you did to our friends! But you're back to your old selves again!"
"Either you're prolonging his suffering, or you're setting him up to cut our throats later." Uranus directed the rest of her address to Amy, Lita and Raye. "We already lost Queen Serenity. We won't let the same thing happen to her...no matter how much she comes to hate us for this. I know you would do the same."
Venus also jumped to our side when Uranus brandished her Space Sword again. "If you won't take care of Charon, then we will! No warning shots!"
"It doesn't need to go this far..." Raye mumbled from the sidelines...
"We don't do warning shots either!" I was kind of frightened when Venus marked the start of her attack with a small pair of crescent moons appearing in thin air. We were really gonna do this..."Venus Crescent Beam!"
Sailor Uranus dodged Mina's directed beam of light. It was her weakest attack, but it still made her point. "SPACE SWORD BLASTER!" Uranus launched another vicious wave of crescents at the four of us. I saw Sailor Moon tug Charon back towards her after the dust cleared, holding him behind her.
"You're not giving yourself up!" Sailor Moon tussled with him, gripping his wrists.
"We've gotta get in there!" Raye lifted her transformation rod, followed by the others. But whose side was she getting in on? "Mars Crystal Power!"
"Mercury Crystal Power!"
"Jupiter Crystal Power!"
"Don't, Rini..." My Pink Moon Stick faced off with Sailor Neptune's Deep Aqua Mirror. I couldn't tell whether she genuinely didn't want to hurt me or was being condescending...maybe the former, but I didn't care. I used to think she and Amara weren't as bad as they seemed, but not anymore. Just before I defied her and called out my own attack anyway, the skies turned dark overhead and the whiff of fire tickled my nose...
"Supreme Thunder Crash!"
"Mars Fire Blast!"
An arc of electricity and a spiraling cone of fire whizzed right by me...and reached for Sailor Neptune. She barely leaped out of the way in time, leaving an unsuspecting Sailor Uranus wide open...
"Mercury Aqua Mirage!" Sailor Mercury made her side clear too by launching several streams from her globe of water at Sailor Uranus. Without Neptune blocking her way, Uranus was left dodging most of the streams before one caught her. Amara was engulfed in a larger globe of water that burst. Like Darien before her, a soaked and shivering Amara crumpled to the ground.
"AMARA!" Sailor Neptune nearly cast her mirror aside, letting it fumble in her hand before catching it with the edge of her fingertips, running to Sailor Uranus.
"It was still too far..." Sailor Mercury's words were heavy with regret, though they were returned by a pair of venomous stares. "We're sorry."
"Damn you!" Uranus' fit of coughs failed to conceal her own anger. "If Sailor Moon...ordered you to shove her off a cliff...you would do it!"
"That's not what this was about!" Mars cried.
"Charon deserves more of a shot than you're giving him," Jupiter concluded. And to think, I thought they were gonna go with Uranus and Neptune's plan for a minute.
"Leave it, Amara!" Sailor Neptune pushed her defiant companion back to the ground with a single hand, until Amara's complaints reduced themselves to whimpers, then silent acceptance of being carried down Raye's steps. The teal-haired Scout stopped for one last icy stare at Sailor Moon and Charon. "You made your point, Serena. We'll hold off, for now. I hope this chameleon was worth it."
"First impressions really aren't our strong suit," Sailor Moon sighed to Charon after Michelle disappeared with Amara in her arms. At the sound of Darien stumbling again, Mercury and I both lifted him upright on our shoulders.
"Thanks for...back there. My name's Logan, by the way." Logan left me with a wide grin on my face after he shared his secret with the others. The first of many, I hoped, now that we could finally be friends with each other.
Sailor Jupiter, though, marked his long-awaited answer with a raised eyebrow instead of celebrating. "Is it really?"
"Y-yes!" Logan stammered.
"No sarcasm? Cross your heart?" Sailor Mercury was smiling JUST a little bit.
"I don't have my birth certificate on me, but that's what it says!" Ha ha, now Logan was the one who looked a little confused!
"I dunno..." Sailor Moon was also smirking. "Maybe we should play it safe and stick with 'Turtle'."
"Fine! Then I'll call you "Meatball Head!"" Logan triggered a long growl from Sailor Moon. I was the only girl who didn't try to cover up my laughter.
"OK, OK! Logan it is, then!" After mock-waving her arms around, Sailor Moon's face got about as serious as it could possibly get. Which wasn't very much. "Wherever Luna and Artemis now, I hope they found Plan C..."
"I...think we have...some good news!" Panting for breath, Luna came scurrying back with Artemis. "An abandoned...Shadow hideout...in the forest!"
"How do you know it's abandoned?" asked Logan. "They're in the middle of the forest. Maybe they got sick of digging up real worms and went into town for gummy ones. Or they tried calling the pizza guy but couldn't get reception."
"OR, since the last two Shadows were in decent shape, it's probably a trap." Raye sighed. Logan said he'd dial his sarcasm down a notch...but just one.
"This underground cavern...belonged to the head researcher. The Shadows' Spymaster." Luna answered. Spymaster...creepy name. "Their leaders were appointed by Queen Serenity herself, including the first who would have assumed the role when the Shadows turned to dark magic. And only the Spymaster himself would have access to THIS lair."
"So you think I can sneak you and the Sailor Scouts in with me?" Logan asked. Luna assured Artemis with a nod after he turned towards her with hesitation.
"Logan, you said you started having dreams about Silver Millennium the week before you came here. That bracer we gave you...it fit like a glove." Artemis shared. So that's what led Logan to us. "We think somewhere along the line...you were that Spymaster."
Struck by as much disbelief as we were, I could see Logan processing their words behind his closed eyes. "So I dreamed of a woman in silver hair...and someone who looked like Serena in a white dress. How does that prove I was somebody important?"
"Because if those were dreams of your past, they prove you knew our Queen and the Princess personally. Few in the Moon Kingdom...even the Palace...could make that claim," Luna explained. "Hopefully, a jog in the forest will jog your memory."
"Hang on! So he wasn't just some run-of-the-mill Shadow?!" Lita interrupted. "He was their boss?!"
"That could make beating them easier," Logan smirked Lita's way. "I'll climb Tokyo's highest mountain and then, while you fire off bolts of lightning behind me, I'll raise my arms in the air and proclaim: "SHADOW FOOLS! THE GODDESS OF THE MOON HATH CROWNED ME THE KING OF SPIES! KOWTOW BEFORE ME AND BEG FORGIVENESS!""
"Spymasters didn't get crowns, sorry." Oblivious, Luna started correcting him. "Besides, the Shadows wouldn't let you get a word in before - "
"He's not serious, Luna." Amy pinched the bridge of her nose. I heard Amy grumble that sarcasm was the "lowest form of wit" earlier, though she never said it to Logan.
"Logan, I know everything I've told you sounds like pure fantasy, but it's all true! The Moon Kingdom, Queen Serenity - oh." Luna's ears and tail dropped. "Logan, it's good that I didn't have to train you and Serena together. Between her immaturity and your sense of humor, I would have crawled back into my stasis pod!"
"I knew he was being sarcastic!" Serena stuck her tongue out. "Look, we've got a bigger problem..."
"Two other Sailor Scouts came by earlier to describe dark magic as a mini nuke hidden in every Shadows' chest...and they're holding the detonator!" Logan declared.
"Not quite how they put it, but I guess that's how they described their Siphon," Amy sighed.
"Not only that, they think Queen Serenity kept it in her back pocket," Mina added to the explanation. "I already had to suppress my disbelief over dark magic spies, but now this?"
"Close, Mina. So close...but I agree," Luna nodded. "The timing's way too suspicious. Even if I'm still trying to piece together what her EXACT relationship was with them...Queen Serenity would never collar her agents like this. That makes it even more important for us to crack open the Spymaster's vault...it's bound to be a treasure trove of information."
"Yipee! Field trip!" My inner kid danced right back out. "It's been AGES since I visited the forest!"
"Nuh-uh! It's back to your tunnel for you, Grounded Hog!" My glowing red face darted away from Logan's direction...I just KNEW he was staring at me. The others too...sure, they had some hint Mama Ikuko didn't want me out of the house, but they hadn't pushed me for the reason WHY before. You were the whole reason I got grounded, Serena, and THIS is how you thank me for it?!
"That's the best you could come up with? "GROUNDED HOG?!"" I spat back. "No wonder you just parrot "flamingo" and "fungus" and "shrimp" over and over! Your new names are even worse than your grades!"
"Errr, maybe the old Serena," Raye corrected...or at least, she thought she was. Serena hadn't told her the truth...or any of the others, from the looks they were giving me. "Serena worked her butt off to get into American school, right Serena?"
"Serena...I could mention...that..." Logan's voice brought all our stares on him, but it was Serena's glare that shoved him off-topic. He knew... "Nothing."
I felt a warm glow inside, like I always did when Darien rubbed the top of my head...even when it usually came just before "it's time to leave the girls to grownup business, Rini." "Even if the Shadows can turn into dragons, I'm still not convinced they've got anything on Serena's parents. Let me take you home, on the off-chance they haven't caught you out of bed yet."
"Awww..." But I couldn't pout, especially not in front of Logan. I puffed my cheek to keep myself from whining.
"Just a sec?" Logan whispered to Raye, Amy and Lita before they went down the steps. Meanwhile, Darien pulled the opposite way, though Serena and Luna also hung around. A lump grew in my throat when Logan, eyes still cast to the floor, unfurled a crumpled bill from his pocket.
"You remembered my tip! You're the sweetest thing, Logan!" Serena squealed...clamping her mouth when she noticed Darien hanging back from a distance. That proved she hadn't filled him in on her whole situation yet...
"It's, um, for her." I wanted to hear him say my name. Serena went on griping and groaning to herself loudly as Logan held out a crispy dollar bill. "You...dropped this."
"Uhhh...thanks?" HE KNEW I'M THE ONE WHO LEFT IT UNDER THE HEATING LAMP! "So...I guess I'll...see you later?"
Logan mumbled "mm-hmm"...at least, I think he did. I couldn't really tell what sound he made. Why did talking to him seem to come so much easier for Serena and Mina? Then Logan went off the way they came, leaving me with Luna and Serena while Darien waited in the distance.
"Hey, umm...thanks for, not...totally ratting me out earlier," Serena mumbled after a prodding 'ahem' from Luna.
"He doesn't know yet either?" I tilted my head Darien's way. "Just tell them, Serena. Logan's already figured it out, so will they."
"That's because I kinda mentioned it when I met him," Serena confided. "He came in, said he wanted another minute to look at the menu, and I just...opened up, just like Luna suggested."
Luna's ears stiffened. "Serena, I meant to me, or Rini, or Darien...didn't you just meet Logan that night?"
"Yeah."
"He asks you for another minute to look at the menu and you babble half your life's story to him, even though he was a complete stranger in the middle of a crowded restaurant?!" Was it me, or was the corner of Luna's forehead really pulsing?
"Of course it sounds weird when you say it like that! But he wasn't a COMPLETE stranger!" Serena got all defensive. "I...just...didn't know...that...then."
Luna flipped over onto her back with her twitching paws and tail in the air. Maybe that's why Logan didn't want to talk to me, he must think we're ALL nuts! He just had to bump into Serena first!
"Let's leave these two to simmer down before they catch up with the others." Darien tugged me away from Cherry Hill for the ride back home...
This was just the sort of moment I always wanted when I was little...Darien all to myself, holding MY hand, with no eyes for anyone else. But now, all I could think about was Logan, and if he was alright. He was in good hands...Amara and Michelle wouldn't lay another hand on him with the others around, and he proved he could fight as well as we could. Maybe even better than me...at least he wasn't dependent on an obsolete toy. But picturing Serena recount every single boo-boo and uh-oh of mine the first time I came here made my skin crawl. Even just the thought of him hanging out with the other girls, while I was stuck at home missing out on the chance to get to know him better made me a little jealous.
That was it, wasn't it?! I WAS JEALOUS! No, NO NO NO NO! I can't be jealous! Mina's got her paws in him already, and it'd be totally cool if she finally got a boyfriend! And besides, I'm with Helios! Or...not really, but he could always change his mind. Maybe Darien would take a trip to Elysion and have a talk with him...though I'd be kind of terrified for Helios if he did that. Maybe he wasn't coming back...or maybe he would and say he just wanted to be friends...but I still just wanted to be friends with Logan, that was all. At least...I thought that, before I realized it hurt when he didn't call me by name, or say goodbye to me last time.
A tighter squeeze from Darien's hand brought me back to the 21st century Tokyo. I expected to see his car waiting for us on the side of the road, but we were in the park instead. Our own little forest. "Umm...did we take a wrong turn somewhere?"
"I didn't!" Darien laughed. "I took a detour to see if you were paying attention."
"Sorry, Darien." I hung my head low. "I'm such a space case today."
Darien knelt on one knee as if he were a knight. "I've seen that daze from Serena and the others before. Usually over the same thing..."
I clasped my hands together in front of me. "I want to ask you something, but it's kind of private. I understand if you don't want to."
"Give me a chance to answer it, first." Darien gave me that confident smile I imagined him first giving Serena, the one that won her over from day one. "What is it?"
"Have you...ever liked someone other than Serena? While you were still dating her?" Darien's smile did fall a bit after I asked. "I know you wouldn't cheat, I just meant...I shouldn't have asked."
Regaining his composure, Darien took hold of both my shoulders. "Crushes just come out of nowhere sometimes, Rini. At others, you have so much admiration and respect for somebody, you wonder if you might. I...I've been in that place before, Rini. But what makes Serena the most beautiful woman in the world is that she can see what makes everyone special. That's why I love her so much...and you have that gift, too. That's why I loved you before I even knew you were my future daughter."
"Awww, Darien..." I couldn't help gushing.
At least until I saw him smirking. "I never thought about dating you, though."
"Yeah. That...would have been weird," I had to agree with him.
"Where's this coming from, Rini?" Darien answered one uncomfortable question, now I owed him one. "Something tells me this isn't just about Helios."
Hearing Darien say his name again still made my heart hurt, despite it all. "It's mostly about him. I feel like I've been such a bad person lately. Darien...I've been...HAVING AN AFFAIR!"
Darien abruptly huffed and tossed my arm aside as if he suddenly turned into Serena. After chasing him a couple of steps, he turned back to snap at me. "Don't talk to me! You didn't even invite me to your wedding!"
"I didn't get married yet, Darien!" I blurted out. "When I told dad that I wanted to, he - YOU - said I was too young and suggested that I focus on my studies and becoming the next Sailor Moon in the meantime, and - YOU'RE LAUGHING!"
Chuckling through his words, Darien mocked "that was the point, Rini! You and Helios may be close, but "affair" might be stretching it!"
"No wonder you get along with Logan! That's exactly how he'd answer!" I growled.
"Maybe Luna doesn't consider it an improvement, but you really helped him open up, haven't you?" DON'T BLUSH, DON'T BLUSH, DON'T BLUSH, DON'T BLUSH! "Rini, remember when you thought the girls couldn't wait to get rid of you? People show love in different ways. I don't know why Helios went back on his promise, but you were very special to him. If he's keeping away, it's either because he feels it's the best thing for you right now...or something else is going on, and he's just not telling."
"He made it pretty clear to me..." I sniffled. I know Darien wanted more of an answer...so would the others...but I still choked up every time I tried. I just wanted it to be a dream.
Darien wrapped me in a tight hug. Just like my dad would have. "I know you hate being reminded about your but you still have so many others left to meet. Love is hard for any of us to put into words, no matter how much experience we think we have with it. Just trust your heart will tell you when you've found the right person."
I thought it did, when I touched Pegasus for the first time in the Crystal Tokyo. But maybe it'd tell me when the time was right. At least for now, it was OK to wonder about someone else. "Thanks, Darien. I feel better now."
"You have all of us, Rini. Me, Amy, Raye, Mina, Lita...and Serena, even if she hides it sometimes." Maybe one day, Logan would be on that list too. He'd always be on mine, even if he never asked. "OK, enough fresh air. We're really trying our luck with your other mom and dad..."
"PSSST!" Sam surprised both of us when he poked his head out of MY window at the top of our house. "You'd better hurry getting your scrawny butt back in here without mom catching you!"
"Good luck squeezing an explanation from him," Darien smirked. Lucky for me, Sam left the window open AND turned his back. Just like Mina, I jumped inside with one Sailor Scout leap.
"Woah!" Sam jumped when he heard my soles hit the floor seconds after he last called me. "How the heck did you get up here so fast?!"
"Uh...Darien's got quite a throwing arm!" I planted my hands on my hips all Serena-like. "You'd better have a good excuse for being here this time!"
"How about I crawled under your sheets when mom came looking for you?!" OK, that...was a good excuse. "She's still on the warpath over Serena dropping off the face of the Earth! Mom might just be angry enough to mail you home if she catches you sneaking out!"
"I...didn't think you'd go to all that trouble, Sammy."
Sam's face went all vacant, like Serena's. "Just...because...I have nobody else to watch with! All my friends are up to season five, they just complain how bad it is now and how there's a million zombie apocalypse flicks out there!"
"Sam, I think you're just scared to watch by yourself!" I teased.
"Last time was a freebie! You owe me two weeks allowance next time!" OK, that was a ripoff! Sam invited himself to take a seat on my bed with his tablet. Guess I have nothing better to do, anyway...
Maybe Serena was right about Sam being a weirdo, who enjoys watching this kind of stuff?! But I found myself envying the people in the show more and more because they were still baking under the warm sun. Summer in Tokyo just came and went in a matter of hours...
"Hey, Sam? Are you freezing too?" I grabbed my biceps - my girl biceps - and shivered. He was too! Nodding, he reached for my blanket and draped it over himself like a cape. "HEY! LEAVE ME SOME!"
"Don't become like Serena! You don't have to start a fight over everything!" Sam whined after I tugged my sheets back from him...letting go only after my compact's prism flashed. "Did...that thing just glow?"
"No, you were looking at the screen WAY too closely, Sam!" More nervous laughter followed, but then came a light of many colors shining through my window and drawing us both across my back. Pegasus?! No...for all its colors, he never would have brought this kind of cold with him. My window was ice cold to the touch. This felt more like...
"DAD!" Sam and I both raced down the stairs to my room when we saw Papa Ken huddled in the sidewalk below, dragging his feet towards our house like the zombies on Sam's favorite show. Mama Ikuko must have heard us, because she had thrown the door open and was helping Papa Ken into the kitchen by the time we reached the front door.
"Why didn't you just call me to pick you up, dear?!" Mama Ikuko got straight to work on a warm pot for him to drink from. Probably tea or hot cocoa...or coffee. They hid their stash pretty well, I wonder if Mina tipped them off. "And to think, I brought my fan with me shopping this afternoon! What happened to the weather?"
Amara and Michelle. They're what happened, I just knew it! They were boasting about their magic Shadow-ending artifact just a couple of hours ago, they must have gone ahead and flipped the switch anyway -
LOGAN! If the temperature dip WAS one of the side effects, I had to put a stop to it!
I fumbled through my pocket and shoved two crumpled bills into Sam's unsuspecting fist. "You've got a deal, Sam!"
"Wait, what?!" I turned around with a finger over my lips to shush him. Mama Ikuko and Papa Ken were just in the next room! Sam hissed "I only said that to keep you from sneaking out again!"
"Which makes you the best cousin ever! Later, Sam!" I slipped my feet into my shoes, but the arctic weather wrapped its freezing arms around me the moment I stepped outside. I already heard Papa Ken sneezing and he just walked home from work. My Sailor uniform covered even less. But it was the quickest way to get around... "Moon Prism Power!"
"YOU'RE Sailor Chippy Moon?!" Oh no, did Sam see me transform?! Sam came running out the front door looking super-excited to see me. Phew, he didn't know it was me! "Sorry, I forgot your name, but can I please get your autograph?! I swear I'm your biggest fan ever!"
LIAR! You told me getting Sailor Moon's was the coolest thing that ever happened to you! "I'm Sailor MINI Moon! Sorry, but I'm in a rush. You'd better get back inside before you catch a cold and Nurse Venus has to make a house call with her adorable little assistant!"
Hopefully Mina's not so busy if Papa Ken DOES get sick though. I'm sure it'll go more smoothly NEXT time!
"Mind sharing that with my cousin?" Sam murmured while I pushed him towards the front door with a single hand against his shoulder blade. "She's about your height, has pink hair done up just like yours, and...hey, you might even be the same age!"
"Oh yeah, I know her! She's, like...the ULTIMATE insider! You could almost say I'm HER biggest fan!" Don't laugh, then he'll know for sure! He's not as dumb as Serena! Wagging my finger at him, I added "so I need you to do me a favor and keep her out of trouble while I go get her. And then I'll see about getting you that autograph, K?"
"Sure! I'll even do it for free!" I'm gonna hold you to that later, Sam! Even after he closed the door, I could hear him squealing for Mama Ikuko and Papa Ken to guess who he just talked to. That'd keep them occupied for two hours, at least. Then it was off from rooftop to rooftop, chasing that strange glow in the sky, and hoping that I could stop Amara and Michelle if it came down to it...
To Be Continued
A/N: Hey guys, real life's been taking a bite out of my free time lately (seems to be happening to a lot of us). I was accepted to grad school in the fall, which is great. But to catch up, I've gotta finish two online courses by fall and one of them is pretty tough. Some of you know, I started a new job a month ago too so finding the right balance is tricky. But writing's still where I like to put my free time. We're closing in on the end of The Shadows Beckons...the next chapter could be the last one. If you've read SoSM and remember, you may know just what scene to brace for...
If you're new, we are tracing over some pivotal scenes you'll see again in SoSM, just from a different viewpoint. It feels like FOREVER since I wrote Uranus and Neptune's assassination attempt the first time, so I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of what I wrote is fuzzy. It's part of the fun too, because I don't want it to feel like a retread: not only did I want to show it from a new perspective, I saw a chance to renovate a part of SoSM without committing myself to rewrite all 69 chapters. The scene went through a larger revamp than I thought, I just hope it's an improvement!
Of course, I don't want TSB to be a complete retread, whether it's fresh in your heads or not (if you've read SoSM) so I wanted to add some new material even if it was on the fluffier side. It's been fun tossing Ikuko, Ken and Sam in the story - easy to tell where Serena got her flakiness from, huh? I wanted to hearken back to some early anime "OMG it's the Sailor Scouts!" too: knowing this might be the extended Tsukino family's last scene, I wanted to add a little more to Rini and Sam at the end.
Chapter 11 may come slower - I've gotta finish both my online classes by August 5 to guarantee I can register in time for the fall, so that takes priority, plus I have to work extra hours this week. It's not all bleak though: I have 3000 words, including a renovated chunk of SoSM I held off from publishing with this chapter. Thanks for reading, hope to hear from you soon!