Cosmic Apathy

T

After an eternity of living out her days alone, missing her friends and family, Sailor Cosmos refuses to fight for the realms. In an attempt to remind her of her humanity, she is dropped into a needy realm and forced to survive without the Silver Crystal [01xUsagi/Sailor Cosmos; 05xHotaru/Sailor Saturn]

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Chapter Nine

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True to his word, Saturn had no problem entering the camp, even opting for crossing the parameter to announce her presence. It seemed that they had been waiting on her, as the camp was backed and there were two planes waiting to launch into the air across the field—one was holding Wufei's gundam while the other was a smaller transport jet.

There was little conversation during load in. Wufei did not introduce her to any of the other Preventers, as she learned they were called, and he only explained to her that they were going to the main base. He did not seem particularly happy with the idea, but she supposed he was still sore about their previous encounter. To her, he gave off the vibe of a man with pride. It wasn't necessarily egotistical, but more one based around having true incredible skill.

She did not take offense to the way he kept her isolated from the others as much as possible. She understood that she was foreign to him and the others, and he had no idea if he could trust her. Keeping her a safe distance from anyone and everything seemed the best way to ensure no harm came to anyone—even herself.

Saturn buckled into the plane, seated at the end of her row against the side of the plane, while Wufei sat down in the seat directly across from her. Since it was a military plane, it only held about ten passengers, besides the pilot and co pilot. Only the two seats on either of the other far ends were taken, and they shot curious glances as Saturn and their commander.

Their plane ride lasted for a few hours, and not a word was spoken during that time. Wufei seemed intent on keeping his eyes on her, and for a while, she took amusement at staring back at him. She had been told many times that she had a way of unnerving people—that her eyes seemed to suck people into an endless void and make them uncomfortable. Wufei was apparently immune to that affect. Perhaps he simply had very strong willpower.

When she grew bored of her little game, she closed her eyes and set her head back. She allowed herself to snooze, though she cracked an eye at any unusual bump or pause in conversation, just to see what was going on around her. She was still in her transformed state, so she was not threatened by the others around her. If she needed to, she could disappear off the plane, though it would be difficult creating a suitable tear in space-time on a moving vehicle. She couldn't be sure, but she at least hoped that her willingness to close her eyes while surrounded by unknown people showed her trust in them and put them at a bit more ease.

The pilot announced their descent and Saturn immediately sat straight again, knowing that they would be exiting shortly. Unlike the planes of the realm she had been reborn into, these did not need runways or landing strips. They were able to slow to a hover and then land, more like a helicopter. There was a rough thud as the plane touched down, and shortly after, the engines shut off one by one and the back of the plane opened to create a ramp that touched the ground.

The climate was much cooler than the East Asia region they left. When she had last visited the main base, without their knowledge, she had not gone outside at all. She wasn't exactly sure where they were, since her space-time tears connected her to places based upon her desire to be there, rather than her knowledge of the location. She did know that they were in Northern Europe.

Wufei unbuckled first and stood next to her, letting his men exit first before allowing her to stand. When he did, he had her walk in front of him to make sure she exited the plane without tampering with anything, she supposed. It was still daylight out since they had traveled back a few time zones and there were more Preventers waiting for them.

Saturn was understandably surprised to see that Usagi seemed to be willingly standing with them, her arms clasped in front of her and staring off at the mountain side with a look of boredom. When Saturn exited, Usagi looked over at her and nodded.

So she's told them, Saturn thought as her boots touched the grass. And they don't have her locked up for being a mad-woman. That's a good sign, at least.

"What is she wearing?" Duo leaned over to Usagi's ear and whispered.

Usagi could see the way his eyes moved up and down the other senshi, as if he were appraising a piece of fine art (she supposed it was better than being looked at like a piece of meat.) Though all of the senshi had stopped aging at a certain point, Usagi felt that Saturn now looked a bit older than her, though still a bit younger than the wise and mature Pluto.

"That would be our uniform," Usagi sighed.

"I can get on board with that. I wonder if Quatre would be willing to let us make some changes to the standard Preventer wear…" Duo smirked to himself and elbowed Usagi playfully.

She couldn't help but look over at him in surprise. Though Quatre had been nice enough to her, Duo was the first to apparently feel comfortable in her presence. She had really only interacted with him for a few hours, but apparently he had already decided she was safe enough to joke around with.

It was rather… relieving.

Wufei stepped up and turned slightly toward the dark haired woman, "Saturn, this is the main Preventers base and its primary commanders. Everyone, this is… Saturn." Since he was clearly uncomfortable and unsure how to follow through, Wufei stepped back again and allowed Quatre to take over.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Quatre and I am the Preventers' Director. Wufei has briefed us on some of your circumstances, and our friend Miss Usagi here has done her best to fill in some…gaps. I believe you know her?" He asked and swooped his arm out in Usagi's direction.

"In some capacity," Saturn replied with a slight smile, though it did not exactly reach her eyes. "If I am in no danger, I would like to transform—"

"No," Usagi said from her spot a few yards away, "they have a youma—one of the heart snatchers—in a cage. It still has heart crystals."

Saturn glanced about to see that only Wufei looked confused on the matter. The other Preventers did not, apparently, seem to think that Usagi's statement was odd. "I see. Then I will destroy the creature and take the crystals. I spent my morning returning those that I could salvage from Wufei's mess. I do not think I will have the energy to resume until tonight, and that is if I can conserve my strength."

Now there were looks of confusion. Usagi had started to explain the basic concepts of the youma, the crystals, the invading forces… But she could only do so much before she started lecturing and she hardly liked sitting through class, much less giving one. Maybe Saturn could handle that aspect for her…

Usagi turned to look at Heero. "You said one of your friends fell to the heart snatcher, right? Well Saturn can help them. She can absorb the heart crystal and safely transport it to the correct body. It's best to let her take the heart crystals in now—the longer they stay in the heart snatcher or out in the open, the more likely they are to be irreparably damaged."

Fifteen minutes later, after crossing the lawn and entering into the mountainside hangar through a camouflaged door, the group found themselves once again standing in front of the black shadowy creature. This time, however, it seemed to know that there was a senshi among them, and immediately started violently banging against its prison and snarling loudly in an attempt to intimidate its opponent.

"So how do you destroy these things?" Duo asked taking his spot against the metal work bench, "you shine some bright light from your hand, and that's it? It's done? That seemed to work for Usagi, and, well, me to a certain extent…"

Saturn looked at Duo with curiosity, completely ignoring the commotion coming from already injured youma. "It worked for you?"

"Well, yeah. One attacked my friend, I freaked and tried to fight it with my bare hands—didn't go so well—but I managed to do something to it after there as a bright light. Since then, I've been completely exhausted. I mean, it makes sense, right? Not how was able to do it, but that whatever happened worked." Duo said with a shrug, his completely non-chalant attitude catching the two senshi off guard.

"You know," Noin added, "something similar happened to Zechs. I didn't think about it too much at the time because I was more concerned with all of the victims, but he did manage to temporarily subdue this thing long enough for us to get it into the cage. He's in the infirmary now, also exhausted."

Saturn walked over to Duo grabbed his hand. He looked like he was ready to snatch it back, for a moment, but allowed her to continue anyhow. There was a soft purple glow from her gloved hand, and suddenly, his eyes shut with a content sigh. When she released him, he smiled widely.

"Shit, it feels like I'm drunk and hopped up on caffeine at the same time!" He said and ran his other hand over the spot Saturn had touched.

"It's very interesting," Saturn said, placing a finger to her cheek thoughtfully, "it seems your kind may have the ability to tap into your own life forces and utilize its power, if its strong enough. I would be curious to run some tests and see if we're able to somehow focus it so you didn't end up completely drained. Well, that will come later."

She turned and waved her hands about a bit, trying to make the Preventers move back. Not a single one budged, much to her annoyance. She gave them an icy glare and stretched her hand out, summoning her glaive to her. It materialized in her hand and when it did, that weas apparently enough to get them moving. They all took another two steps back—some more—and soon, she had four weapons pointed at her.

"This isn't for harming humans. Usually." She turned her back on the Preventers with their weapons and thrust her blade through the bars with impeccable precision. It sunk in deeply in what was left of the youma's torso. For a brief moment, there was absolutely no sound, only silence. The Preventers could not even hear their own breathing or heartbeats in the intense silence that filled the air, and even though its mouth was open and it was visibly howling, the heart snatcher didn't make a sound as it disintegrated into nothingness. There were another dozen heart crystals littered around the cage and the floor once the beast was gone.

The Preventers were left stunned as some of them rubbed their ears from the strange sensation of complete silence. They had all experienced the silence of space, but even then they still had their own breathing. This was something entirely new.

Saturn turned back to the group and held her arm out in a very 'game show hostess' sort of way. "You see? No damage to the crystals." One by one, the crystals then floated in the air and to her hand, there they were absorbed into her body for safe keeping.

Wufei had not been able to get a look at her weapon up close, due to their precarious situation when they met. Once she was standing still, and the heart crystals from the shelf started floating over to her like they were drawn to her power, he braved a step forward to inspect the weapon.

"This design is entirely impractical," he said, critically eying up the silver weapon. "The blade should be far too top heavy based upon its size, even with the counter weighting." Wufei looked at Saturn from the corner of her eye, and she raised a brow at him.

"No, you cannot hold it," she replied, anticipating his question.

Wufei frowned but reluctantly stepped away. If he had been a lesser person, with poor discipline, he may not have been able to resist the urge to take the beautiful yet impractical weapon.

"Usagi, is it safe for me to return to normal here?" Saturn asked, looking at the blonde woman.

She shrugged and glanced over at the Preventers who had lowered but not holstered their weapons. "Well, they haven't shot me yet." Apparently, that was enough for Saturn because there was a shimmer around her moments later.

When shimmering died down, she stood before the group in a dark plum dress with black leggings and black slipper shoes—far more practical than the silver slip Usagi had been wearing when the appeared before the group.

"That's amazing," Sally said brightly, reflecting most of the others thoughts as well. "You hardly look the same! Well you do, but…"

"It's a disguise tactic," Usagi answered, "it's sort of a dissociation magic. Our appearance does slightly change, but the power of the transformation also influences the way we are perceived. For example, in our transformed state, we look racially ambiguous than we do in our normal forms. Saturn's body takes on more of an Asian appearance when she's out of her realm since she has not gone through a full rebirth since her last. I, on the other hand, have been reborn so many times with my body reforming after horrendous battles, that my form is much closer to my senshi appearance. It's rather difficult to explain without having other examples to show you."

Though he was doing well to hide it, Saturn could see that Wufei was having a hard time grasping the concept, or so it seemed to her. He seemed off put by her change in appearance and his eyes were particularly clouded with trouble.

"It's nice to meet you all," she said and pulled the skirt of her knee length dress out a bit to curtsy, "please called me Hotaru."

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Author's Notes: Now the gang's all together! It took ten short chapters butttt I suppose it could be worse, right? I used the PGSM version of the transformation, sort of. The girls all appeared to be Japanese (with normal colored hair,) but then when they transformed, that's when their unusual characteristics kicked in to make them look more disguised. I imagine that Cosmos doesn't fully die like the others, she just waits for her body to remake itself after damage. Also, I have decided on the 'villain'—it is someone from the GW realm and a familiar face. One I love dearly (and may not have been my second ever cosplay—after Saturn!)

JennyFTBlock: I'm glad you understand where I'm coming from with the Cosmos/Usagi personalities! I've been watching Sailor Moon Crystal, and the way I see the personalities is sort of like this—Cosmos is Cosmos the way I'm making her, Serenity is more like Crystal's version where she's slightly more soft spoken but determined, and then Usagi is the version closest to the original animation. Or something like that. They're just almost completely different people! We'll see how it develops, I suppose! Thank you so much for your review!

Ladybug: Thank you for reviewing! Hmm, I haven't given too much thought to when Usagi will be able to take on her true form again, but I've definitely thought of some ways for her to start utilizing her powers… Heero will be interesting to write when involved with all of that because, well, he's certainly not going to take a Tuxedo Mask role!

Flu: Wow, Trowa and Pluto… I've never actually given that any thought! That is a very interesting concept, I wish I had found a story that involved that pairing! Pluto will certainly be making an appearance, though I haven't decided her full capacity yet. Thank you so much for your review! (For here AND for After Colony: Revelation! I was so surprised to see a reader cross over to that story! Please don't be put off by the first 6 or so chapters, most of the major editing happened after then!)

Guest: Thank you for your review! I will try to keep up the pace with the quick updates, hopefully I can stay creatively inspired!

To all of my readers… a huge thank you! I love seeing that people are reading the story and hopefully it helps spawn some new stories for the fandom as well!

Ever Your Servant,

A.F