Out of Time
Chapter Nine: A Headstrong Charge
AN: Sorry for the wait…school started up, and I was stupid enough to load myself down with classes that keep me busy all the time. Any-hoo…next chapter!
Kinmoku, shortly after the Starlights and Princess Kakyuu Returned
Star Fighter sighed softly as she gazed up at the evening sky. Home at last. And they were safe, thanks to Sailor Moon. The noir-haired woman closed her eyes. She had managed to go almost a full day without thinking of the blonde, and now she'd ruined it. Fighter knew that she was being a tad unfair to the blonde beauty, but thinking of her caused such pain…
The dark-haired beauty turned her thoughts from that direction, and looked with pleasure at her restored home. Oh, they were still a long way away from being completely rebuilt, but the palace and gardens were complete, at least. That was where she stood now, surrounded by flowers completely unique to Kinmoku-sei. She breathed in the scent, willing thoughts of…her…away.
"Fighter!" Maker was calling. Probably making sure she was still sane. The raven-haired Starlight smiled dryly at the thought. Honestly, she had been loads better lately! She had managed to go without moping for four straight hours today! Fighter chuckled bitterly. She didn't blame Serena for her current situation. After all, the blonde was clueless about how she felt, and it wasn't like it mattered anyway. She had—what was his name, again—oh, right…Darien. But it still hurt, and now her friends and Princess were about to mother-hen her to death.
"Fighter!" Maker's voice had increased in volume and urgency. 'Better answer her,' Fighter thought.
"I'm here, Maker!" she replied. Her auburn haired comrade appeared seconds later, panting.
"What are you doing out here? It's late." Maker eyed her with concern.
"I was thinking. And besides, it's only been a few hours since dinner. I just needed some peace and quiet."
"You were brooding," Maker insisted.
Fighter rolled her eyes, and forced a smile. "No, I wasn't, actually, but since you seem to want me to…" She knew it was unkind to do this, but she was so sick of having everyone hover over her like she was suicidal or something.
Maker sighed. "I'm sorry, Fighter…it's just that we're worried about you. It's been three months…"
"I'm fine, really. It hurts less, and I really don't think about her that often." 'Only three times a day,' Fighter mentally added.
Maker raised a skeptical eyebrow, and Fighter put on her best innocent expression, but then ruined it with a snarky grin. They remained like this for a few moments, and Maker sighed, relenting. "Fine, but still, you worked hard today. Get some rest, okay?"
Fighter decided to relent in this. Maybe sleep would provide her some respite. "Sure. I think I'll go on up," she replied, and headed inside to her room. Little did she know that rest would be impossible within the next five minutes.
Meanwhile, Seiya's Room, Kinmoku
Serena wrapped her arms around herself and glanced at her surroundings in confusion. Where was she? She was so tempted to try and find someone to ask, but she knew perfectly well that at this particular moment that was impossible. First, Wolf had told her to stay put and wait for him. Secondly, for all she knew, this place was home to gun-toting lunatics...possibly even Klingons. As far as she knew, walking around completely naked was not socially acceptable anywhere in the universe.
The girl shivered slightly; it was a little chilly. The window to the room she was in was open, and a soft breeze gently caressed her face. Even so, she could not help but feel uneasy, not knowing where she was or what to expect. She hoped that Wolf would show up soon. The blonde turned and glanced out the window, and the scent of osmanthus came to her. She stiffened. The last time she had smelled that scent, it had been during the battle with Chaos, when she fought alongside the Starlights and Kakyuu-hime. Could it be…?
"Oh, gods…" she whispered. If she was on Kinmoku, then it was only a matter of time before she was discovered. Lady of Light…what if Seiya found her? The awkwardness would reach a whole new level, and she had no idea how she could possibly explain herself without possibly putting them all in danger. It would be bad enough to be seen by a total stranger, but at least after her first shift in time, she could handle it. But if it were someone she knew…particularly one of the Starlights, when she had broken Seiya's heart…well, things would become nastily complicated.
As if the universe were cruelly conspiring against her, she heard footsteps coming towards the closed door of the room she was trapped in. Serena moved into the shadows in a futile attempt to avoid being seen. The door was thrown open, and Fighter walked in. The light from the hall poured in, and Serena felt the heat of an intense blush rushing through her skin as Fighter looked upon her, jaw dropping in shock. Tearing her eyes from Fighter's shocked, pale face, she murmured, "Forgive my intrusion…"
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If someone had told Fighter that she would walk into her bedroom to find the Moon Princess blushing and shifting awkwardly by the window ten minutes ago, she would have stared at them oddly and recommended they get professional help. As it was, all she could do was stare at the blonde, trying to reconcile herself with the almost scary reality in front of her.
How many times had she dreamed of this girl at night? How many hours had she spent trying to remember every detail about her? Too many to count. But this…she couldn't have seen this coming, not even in her wildest dreams. The raven-haired woman heard herself gasp.
The girl in question stared at her with no small amount of horror and embarrassment, her skin draining completely of color, then quickly flushing in mortification. But for several minutes, she couldn't seem to take her eyes off of Fighter. Then, she tore her eyes away, lowering them to the floor, and murmured feverishly, "Forgive my intrusion…"
At these words, Fighter regained her ability to think, and quickly closed her door behind her. Silence ensued, and Fighter watched her closely, trying to understand what had brought her here. Serena, for her part, seemed to be determined to look anywhere but at her, and her fair skin was still stained red from her blushing.
"Odango," Fighter finally said, breaking the silence. "What happened? Is everything all right on Earth?"
Serena nodded, still not looking at her. "Everything's fine," she said softly. However, a little tremble in her voice betrayed a deep distress.
Damn…this was not something Fighter knew how to handle. Phage, she could deal with. Chaos, she could fight. But this…she was completely out of her area of experience. None of her Senshi training had prepared her for dealing with the girl who had broken her heart appearing in her room without any explanation. "Are you sure?" she asked.
Serena kept her gaze determinedly focused on the wall, and replied, "Yes," with none of the trembling in her voice from before.
"Odango…look at me."
Serena closed her eyes briefly, and then seemed to force herself to look at her. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
"For what?" Fighter was confused.
"For everything. For this." The blonde was shaking like a leaf. "Lady of Light," she murmured. "I never meant to hurt you."
"Could you be a little more specific? What happened, Odango? Why are you here? Did something happen?"
Serena let out a hysterical giggle that was part shaky laugh, part sob, and part scream. "Oh, something happened, all right! Why am I here? I wouldn't know. As for what, well, let's just say that I'm probably going to lose it by the time all of this is over, that is, if I haven't already!"
She was clearly in shock. Fighter gripped her by the shoulders and gave her a little shake. Serena's eyes focused, and she whispered, "I'm so sorry." Her voice was anguished. "I never should have let you go the way I did."
"Odango, what are you talking about?" Fighter asked. She was getting confused. One minute, her angel was blushing and embarrassed, then acting insane, now she was apologizing for who knew what!
"I knew," The blonde whispered brokenly. "I knew, and I let you go... I'm such a fool…"
Fighter was completely blown away. Had Serena gone 'round the bend? No, she hadn't…she thought not, anyway. But if she wasn't insane, why was she so incoherent? Had Darien done something to hurt her? Her heart clenched painfully. "Odango," she managed. "Why are you here? How did you get here?"
"I don't know why," the blonde whispered. "I was pulled here. Like the other times."
That distracted the Starlight from thoughts of Darien. "Pulled here? What other times?"
Serena curled into herself, and her face became pale and colorless once again. "It doesn't stop…" she murmured. Then she gasped, and her voice became panicked as she asked frantically, "Seiya, what's the date?"
"On Earth, it would be late fall, about a year after we left. Here, it's only been three months. Let's see…it would be about October, I think." Fighter could not follow this conversation at all.
"Oh, gods…" Serena whispered. "That was where it started."
"Odango, for the love of God, start at the beginning. What happened?"
"I was in a car accident…"
"Are you hurt?" Fighter felt her heart miss a beat, and she pulled Serena to her and examined the blonde's face and head for injuries.
"I'm fine," the blonde whispered. "But my mom…I should have died…but I didn't. Something happened, and I traveled back in time or something, then reappeared outside the wreckage…something's screwing up Time, and I have to stop it…" Serena gasped. "Is Kakyuu-hime all right? Has anything happened?"
"It's quiet here," Fighter said soothingly. "Now relax, and tell me what happened, from beginning to end." The raven-haired woman wondered if she shouldn't call Maker. Clearly, something had happened, and whatever it was had Serena shaken up…badly.
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Serena wished that the ground beneath her would open up and swallow her. However, her wish did not come true. For a long time, she could not bring herself to look at Fighter, but when she did, the love in those midnight blue eyes caused her to come almost completely undone. Her emotions were running rampant, and all she could manage to articulate to Seiya were bits and pieces that she was certain that no sane person could possibly make any sense of.
She wished she could stop trembling. So far, things had gone better than her imagined worst-case scenario. However, her fear of what she had to face, as well as her fear of Seiya's hatred for her, left her shaking like a leaf. Where was Wolf? Surely he should have found her by now…
Fighter's voice became soothing, and Serena forced herself to listen. What she heard made her tremble again. Seiya wanted to know the whole story…but how could she tell Fighter about the Void? She had been sent here for a reason, and the Powers had told her that the Void was responsible in part for her time jumping. What if something was about to happen? She couldn't let the Void get Fighter or the others…she had to protect them. But how? Unaware of what she was doing, she let herself sink against Fighter, and rested her head on the raven-haired beauty's shoulder.
"I'm frightened," she murmured.
"It will help if you tell me what's going on," Fighter replied softly over her head. "I won't let anyone hurt you." As if to confirm that, arms circled her waist and held her, and Serena closed her eyes, imagining how different things could have been.
Just as quickly as the temptation arose, reminders of her duty sprang up, and Serena pulled away, trying not to notice the flash of pain that appeared in Fighter's eyes. "Something's gone wrong with the fabric of the universe," Serena said, standing and walking to the window. "There's this…well, force, I guess, that is eating away at the foundations of Time by altering certain events that keep the balance between Dark and Light intact. This force is normally dormant, but every so often It wakes up. As a rule, this isn't a huge deal. Safeguards are set in place to keep the force in line. However, for some reason, the safeguards have failed this time around. If the foundations of Time collapse, the universe will descend into Chaos, and after a while, not even that will remain. There'll just be…well, nothing. "
"But what does that have to do with anything?" Fighter asked. "I mean, if that's true, I guess someone has to fix it, but what does it have to do with you?"
"There's another power that came from the destructive force I mentioned, and it is basically what created the universe. Apparently, I have some connection to it, and I have to fix the problem. To do that, I have to travel through time. The thing is, I have no control over when I go or where I go, and my clothes don't always survive the trip."
"Do the others know about this?"
"No. They don't even know I travel. I'm kind of afraid to tell them, and furthermore, I'd just confuse them if I tried, because they'd never remember that I was gone, even if I disappeared for a year, because when I get back, I end up reappearing a few minutes before I last traveled." Serena sighed. "I might be thirty by the time this is over, and everyone else will still be the same age. I don't know how I'm going to explain that!"
"Well, you could always try a de-aging potion," Wolf suggested from off to the right.
Both Fighter and Serena looked up. Fighter eyed the man warily. Was he going to hurt Serena? He looked dangerous, and the dark-haired woman felt a sense of apprehension. Serena simply glowered at him and said, "You're late."
"Sorry, Princess. It's just that it's hard to travel several light years across the galaxy and pinpoint your exact location and end up in the right time period, and not crash land on this planet." Wolf flashed a grin that seemed…well…wolfish…and Serena continued to glare at him.
"Don't look at me like that. I got here, didn't I?"
` Serena folded her arms across her chest, cocked an eyebrow, and, when she was sure that Fighter wouldn't see, flicked her eyes in the noir-haired woman's direction. Wolf suddenly looked sheepish.
"Oh, right…" He turned to Fighter and said, "Please pardon my intrusion."
"Fighter, this is Wolf. He's supposedly here to help me with my task." Serena's tone was so pointed it was impossible to miss the hint in there. With one last reproachful look at Wolf, she excused herself in order to regain her composure/
Fighter looked the man up and down. She didn't trust him, and the thought of her Odango (where'd that thought come from?) being alone with him made her skin crawl. 'She's too trusting,' she thought worriedly. 'But if he's bad news, how can I protect her? I can't time travel, and I wouldn't know where to look.'
Wolf seemed to know what she was thinking. "Relax. I'm not interested in her the way you think. I'm just making sure she doesn't get killed before she finishes her mission."
"And what about after?" Fighter asked.
"I'll disappear, and she can go on with her life."
The noir haired woman raised a suspicious eyebrow. "Really?"
"I am a man of my word."
Fighter would have loved to ask Serena if this was true, but the blonde had a tendency to be too trusting. Then again, considering the latest developments, that might be a false notion. The Moon Princess had shown flashes of intelligence and intuition tonight, and there was no longer any certainty that she was as clueless as she appeared. Fighter simply had no idea what to think anymore.
Serena reappeared, now in control of herself. The blonde sat down beside Fighter, and Wolf turned his attention to her.
"Did you explain why we barged in so rudely?" he inquired.
"I did." Serena turned to Fighter. "Forgive me for being so vague, but I'm only beginning to understand it myself." This was partially the truth, Serena mused. 'After all,' she thought, 'Any more information could endanger her, and that is something I will not permit.' The "complications" could include assassins sent by the Void or worse.
"Odango, are you telling me everything?" Fighter asked, searching the blonde's face.
Looking her in the eyes, Serena replied, "As much as I am able."
Fighter's eyes narrowed slightly. "That doesn't answer my question."
The blonde smiled sweetly. "Yes it does. I'm telling you everything I know." 'Everything but the nitty-gritty details,' she added mentally. 'And let's face it; it's silly to nitpick or argue semantics. They aren't important.'
Wolf watched the exchange, and thought, 'Careful, Princess. You're not lying outright, but you're getting close. Those half-truths won't stop hold her off forever.'
Fighter searched the blonde's face, and felt a stab of concern when she could read nothing. This wasn't the girl she knew. What was she hiding? Wolf cleared his throat, and both the Moon Princess and the Starlight turned to look at him.
"As much as I enjoy seeing two old friends reunited, we need to talk," Wolf said, face suddenly looking grim…or as grim as his face could be for someone as stoic as he.
"Do you know why I was…er, called here?" Serena asked.
"Yes. It was why I was so late getting to you," Wolf replied. "You both might want to sit down."
Fighter seated herself on her bed, and Serena appeared as though she intended to stand, but a motion from Fighter had the blonde seated beside her. "So, what's going on?" Fighter asked.
"How fast can you evacuate the planet?" Wolf inquired.
"Why do you need to know?" the dark haired Starlight asked.
"Is it that bad, Wolf?" Serena asked worriedly at the same time.
Wolf addressed Serena first. "Yes." He turned his eyes to Fighter's. "I need to know because the sun in your solar system is going to become a red giant in a matter of hours."
Serena gaped at him, speechless with horror, the blood draining from her face. Fighter went pale as well, and managed to get out, "How?"
"It appears that somehow, the stellar evolution has been sped up." Wolf gave Serena a significant look that Fighter, in her numb shock, missed. "The sun here should not have entered this phase for another five millennia, but due to tampering with the structure of Time, well…"
"Is there any way we can prevent it?" Serena asked in a small voice.
"You could stop it if we had enough time to train you how to use your powers, but with things as they are right now, it's impossible. The effort involved would kill you."
"How do you know that for sure, though?" Serena argued. "I mean, I've survived some seriously crazy stuff, and I have trouble walking across a flat, level surface on a daily basis. Just tell me what I have to do, and I'll do it."
"Out of the question," Wolf replied tersely. "You're too young, and you have only barely tapped into the full potential of your powers. This won't be the last battle, and I will not have you dying now, so early in what is going to become a war. The universe needs you."
"You've barely known me for two days, Wolf! Fighter and the rest just got their home back, and I'm not going to let them lose it again! I think I know my limits better than you."
Wolf turned away briefly, resisting the urge to sigh. He had failed to realize how headstrong his charge would be. Couple that with the fact that her love's home was in danger…what an impossible situation! He could not let her die, but if he simply hauled her off to a different time, she would most likely ensure that he did not have another peaceful moment. He glanced over at the two on the bed, to find Fighter whispering to her.
"Serena, if evacuating the planet is the best course of action, we'll do it. I'd never forgive myself if I let you die. If you spoke to my Princess, she would say the same thing," the dark haired girl murmured in the blonde's ear.
Serena shook her head obstinately. "I'll make it work…I always do. You don't need to worry about me." She raised her voice a little. "I'm not a child, and I can take care of myself." Those words were clearly for Wolf's benefit.
Fighter raised her eyebrows. 'Has she always been this stubborn? Oh…what a stupid question…yes!' She tried a different tactic. "Do you have any idea how your friends would react if they were to hear about this and find out that I let you endanger yourself?" 'Maybe that will make her stop and think clearly,' she thought.
Unfortunately, Serena dug her heels in deeper. "We're all the way across the galaxy. They won't find out. Besides, you're currently arguing with me about why I shouldn't do it, so you couldn't possibly have let me endanger myself. You can say that you tried to stop me, but I was simply too headstrong. That way, they know I brought it on myself."
"Serena," Wolf said. "Think carefully. You pretend otherwise, but you are no fool. Your friends would most definitely find out, and they would come here. If anyone made it sound like you brought it on yourself, they would start a war."
"Why are we assuming that I'll die? Honestly…in this time, I am on Earth, and exactly where I'm supposed to be. Since I'm from the future, if I were to die in this time, while my past self is still alive, she…I…would continue to exist, and therefore, no one would find out. Besides, how do we know that I'll die in the attempt?"
Both Wolf and Fighter opened their mouths to argue, but someone knocked on the door, effectively silencing everyone in the room. Healer's voice sounded, "Fighter, you in there?"
"Lady of Light," Serena breathed. "Things just got even more complicated."
To all of my wonderful reviewers who have questions about Wolf…sit tight. It'll take me a while, but I will tell you who he is…when I get started, though, it'll probably take at least five chapters, as I'll give it to you in bits and pieces.