Tragic Rain Part 11
Haze
By
Sailor Janus
Deidera squinted through the darkness as her footsteps echoed behind her. Suddenly a flash of bright light filled the room temporarily blinding her. She threw her hands to her face as she cried out in pain.
Once her eyes adjusted to the harsh light, she glanced around her surroundings and gasped in surprise at the large machine in the middle of what appeared to be a warehouse.
"Hey, Howard. How's my buddy?" A familiar voice called out from the shadows.
An old man wearing a Hawaiian shirt and sunglasses walked up to the machine and scanned it carefully. "Looks like the boys did well on the repairs. It looks good as new if not better."
"Great!" The figure stepped out of the shadows revealing a teenaged boy dressed all in black with a long chestnut brown braid of hair trailing down his back from below a black cap.
Deidera gaped in shock as she recognized the youth. "Duo."
The teen however continued approaching the machine and lifted his cap slightly. "Ready to take on Oz again, Deathscythe?"
Deidera ran around the platform to get a better look at the huge mobile suit. "What the hell is that thing?"
Duo grinned at Howard then hopped into the gundam. "Time to bring Oz their date with Death."
"Death?" The burgundy haired girl stared in bewilderment as the boy powered up the mobile suit and took off. "Duo! Wait!" She tried to catch his attention, but he was already gone. "He pilots that-that thing? Is that his secret? Who or what is he?"
Lost in her thoughts, Deidera stepped outside and stared in a mix of confusion and awe at the raging battle above her head. Various robot-like machines fought to the death, their target appeared to be Duo's Gundam who interestingly enough wielded a scythe, gracefully taking down his enemies with one swipe after another. "What is going on here?"
The girl however never received an answer as the large black mobile suit came crash down towards her. She screamed in terror, frozen from her growing fear and suddenly, everything went white.
Duo scowled at the dark cloudy sky and shook his head. He hated days like this. They always seemed to depress him.
A glow of light from a house in the distance seemed to beckon him closer. Without a second thought he made his descent towards the house.
Duo's blue eyes narrowed at the sight of the door, which sat slightly ajar. Cautiously he pushed it open and took a step inside. "Hello? Anyone here?"
He swallowed thickly and crept further into the house. Suddenly the sound of gunshots rang in his ears. Duo immediately threw himself to the floor and cringed as a few more rounds followed. Frantically he searched the room and found a narrow broom closet. Quickly he ducked inside and softly shut the door, sealing himself in. 'Since when have I turned into a coward?' he angrily thought to him. Nevertheless, he stayed silent as loud footsteps raced past him and his sanctuary.
After what seemed like hours, he quietly slipped out of the tiny closet and rather than leave the house, he headed further into it as if the knowledge of what had happened was the determination of life or death.
Images of bad horror films flashed through Duo's mind as he made his way up the squeaky set of stairs. He swallowed thickly and headed towards the door directly in front of him. He froze for a moment then pushed it open and nearly passed out. The sight before him made him want to be sick and cry at the same time. Lying lifelessly on the floor were the bloody corpses of his fellow Gundam pilots, each of which had been executed and shot repeatedly to death.
"What the hell?" His cobalt blue eyes well with tears of disbelief as he stared down at their mutilated forms. He ground his hands into fists and bit back a scream of anguish. Just as he had turned to leave however, he was met with the sneering cold-hearted gaze of a gunman before he fired.
Hotaru frowned at the sight of Rei's temple. It had seemed like forever since she last saw it and yet, it seemed like it was just yesterday. An ear piercing scream shook her from her contemplative stupor and before she realized it, she was running at a full sprint inside. What she saw next froze her blood cold.
The dead bodies of the other sailor senshi lay crumpled on the floor, hacked to death as formally white gloves now stained red held a glaive firmly in her grasp. Hotaru's own face turned towards her with a malicious smile. "I guess I lost control after all and so will you."
Suddenly the temple began to shake and shudder as a large metallic foot came down just inches from where the doppelganger stood. The temple crashed around them to reveal a large robotic like machine with its rifle aimed towards them.
An eerily familiar voice rang through the air, "I will kill you."
Hotaru's violet eyes widened in alarm as she stared up into the large mechanical device's glowing green eyes. "It… can't be…."
The doppelganger smirked at the stunned sailor senshi and leaned forward on the staff of her glaive. "Gee, now who is the real killer you or Mr. Dark and Deadly up there? He is kind of cute. Too bad I'll have to kill him."
"Killer? I never killed anyone and he…"
"You can destroy worlds with a few simple words. He on the other hand…. is a lot more than he seems. I can't believe how dense you are to have never gotten that. In fact all five of those guys that rescued you are killers."
"That's impossible. They couldn't have-"
"Wake up, Saturn. You have no right to be alive. You should have died with the other senshi."
Hotaru flinched at the coolness of the words that she had previously agreed with. She drew in a breath and lifted her chin. "There is a reason why I survived and I am determined to full it to my last dying breath. Until then I will search for the answer even if I must duel with Death himself."
"Foolish girl-" the doppelganger started to mock when suddenly Hotaru began to glow with energy and summoned her glaive, holding the point to her mirror image's throat.
"I am through with this silly dream. Even if what you said was true about Heero, and the others, that is for me to decide." The senshi lowered her staff and closed her eyes willing herself to escape from the dream.
Heero scowled as he stared at the large building as it began to glow with energy. There was something about it that was drawing him towards it. Armed with only his wits, he stalked closer.
Just then a violet colored light burst to life as the building seemed to explode. Without another though he took off at top speed and raced into the building.
'Is this a school?' Heero thought as he glanced at the rooms surrounding the corridors as he continued running. As he turned a corner, the floor came out from under him as he fell threw a large hole.
Groaning the Perfect Soldier lifted his head and froze at the sight of a woman with extremely long dark hair facing off with a blonde haired teenaged girl. "What's going on?"
Suddenly the dark haired woman screamed as the black star on her forehead shattered as a strange symbol appeared in its place. The scream grew louder as she began to dissolve into nothing. Heero rose to his feet unsure of what to make of what he had just seen. As he glanced around the ruined room he realized a large mass of evil feeling energy from in side a gel like substance was increasing in size. He didn't know what it was but knew it wouldn't be good. The blonde haired girl seemed too upset as she continued crying to be of much help.
Just as Heero was about to test his luck on the thing, a bright light filled the room as a dark haired teenaged girl wearing a white and purple sailor outfit. She looked up as she held up one gloved hand, a glaive suddenly materialized in her grasp. A mysterious smile crossed her lips and suddenly Heero knew exactly who she was. Hotaru.
"Saturn, you can't fight alone. Let me help you," the blonde urged as tears tricked down her cheeks.
Sailor Saturn smiled. "I'm afraid I cannot let you do that. I and I alone must finish this. It is my duty, Sailor Moon."
"But-" Sailor Moon began when suddenly she found herself facing the sharp end of the other girl's glaive.
"Goodbye." Without another word the violet glad Sailor Senshi did and back flip into the gel like vortex which emitted with evil energy. Cries echoed throughout the room and an explosion threw a speculative Heero backwards and into a wall.
"If they go through any more episodes like that, it may kill them."
"How was I to know that she was going to go off the deep end and drag everyone down with her? Hotaru I can understand, but why the two young men?"
"….. I don't know. There must be something that we're not remembering… a lot of things we aren't remembering. Regardless, they can't continue on like this."
"But what about… There's still something I'm really uneasy about. I don't feel as strong as I did before. What if it's because of the change of dimensions?"
"Dimensions should have nothing to do with it. If what's going on is what I suspect it is, those guys better be as strong if not stronger than they look."
"Why do I have a bad feel that the weaker we get the stronger they get? Why do they still even exist? I thought that problem was taken care of, at least in your case."
"Nothing is as simple as it seems. However the sooner they wake up, the better."
"Ready when you are…"
"Ugh, my head is killing me!" Deidera pressed a hand to the side of her head as she sat up groaning in pain.
"Hey! You're awake!" Quatre smiled in relief as he moved towards Deidera. "So, how do you feel?"
"Like I got hit in the head with a brick house. What happened?"
"You don't remember?"
She lowered her hand and blinked in confusion. "No, why? Did something happen?"
"Anyone get the number of that fleet of buses that ran over me?"
"Duo!"
Deidera scrambled to stand up but fell over. She winced as her head continued to pulse then covered her eyes with an arm. "How long have we been out? It feels like a week."
Trowa frowned as Duo struggled to sit up. "Only a few minutes. What happened?"
The braided haired teen opened his mouth to answer when sudden coughing interrupted him. He turned his head and discovered that Hotaru was finally stirring. Her violet eyes opened briefly then squeezed shut as she began coughing again.
"Hotaru? Is that you? Are you okay?"
"Deidera?" The dark girl choked as she pushed herself to a sitting position and shoved her thick hair from her face. "What happened?"
"That's what everyone keeps asking me but I don't know."
Heero groaned a short distance from where Hotaru sat and scowled at the room as though sensing that something wasn't right.
Wufei entered the room and came to a halt. "So you're all awake. Why did exactly did all four of you pass out?"
Quatre exchanged glances with Trowa and Wufei, his blue eyes wide and filled with concern. Something was very wrong. "You don't remember…anything? This isn't good."
"What is going on and WHY WON'T MY HEAD STOP HURTING?" Deidera pounded her fists on the floor as rage and frustration filled her voice.
As everyone looked at her, she flushed and clapped a hand over her mouth.
"Oh God, I think I'm gonna be sick…." She immediately stumbled to her feet and raced out of the room. Duo collapsed on his back, feeling completely drained.
"Did someone drug us or something? I don't feel so good either," he grumbled.
Hotaru stared at her shaky hand and drew in a breath. Something was very wrong.
"Hotaru?"
Her head snapped up and she realized that it was Heero talking to her. "I don't know what's going on but I have a bad feeling about it. And once Deidera is done being sick she as well as you, Duo, and I need to talk."
Silently he nodded in agreement, speculating the same questions racing through her mind.
Author's notes: I apologize for having not updated this as well as some of my other stories. I have been working on them on and off but I guess one of a major problems was that towards the last several chapters that had been written, I was involved with someone and let's just say that things ended up going so badly that I had to end it…. And it took awhile for them to get the idea. But after a recent review I realized how much I really miss Deidera and the others and that I refuse to give up on anything so I do plan on finishing all my stories, I just need to pick up the pieces and get on with it.
The two nameless speakers do have a part to play and you may even have an idea who they might be. It was just something that popped up in my head.
I hope you enjoyed the newest installment.