Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is owned by Naoko Takeuchi and partially by Kodansha and Toei Animation.
"Horror Story, Part III: Soak"
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Words: ~770
Category: Drama, Suspense, Humor
Characters: Inner Senshi, Yuuichirou, Grandpa Hino, Luna, Artemis, Setsuna
Type: conclusion
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Kate-Le-Contrary
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The laws of entropy state that matter ultimately falls into a state of chaos.
What they don't mention is just how rapidly it happens.
Already, an ice-encrusted Mars was slowly melting, the sheets of ice shivering at the edges with melting, hot, supernova-red-gold. First, her hands came through, dripping with water droplets the size of large beads that sizzled at the ends of her fragmented, glowing gloves.
And next to her, Jupiter, retching and coughing, sparks crackling into the open air and back to her like a swarm of zinging electric insects.
Artemis and Mercury and I stared into Jupiter's eyes, mostly because her eyes were still alive, still with us—also, gauging when she would strike. They burnt dimly, twin emerald flames just clinging on to the edge of sanity.
She was a senshi possessed. None of the rest of her was under her control—or it was, just barely. With all her strength, she struggled to stay still—though her body was wracked with spasms. A few hours before, she had lost control of her mouth and couldn't communicate with us anymore. Not that we could have spoken much, with Mars bounding behind us in an inhuman, unnatural motion. And we had only been blessed by the stars by the fact that Mercury had followed close behind Mars' flaming path. In a second, the panting, sweating senshi had her hands in front of her chest in what looked like a defensive, protective gesture. In another, the being once known as Rei Hino was coated in a five-inch-thick layer of solid sub-artic hoarfrost.
We were just as paralyzed as Mars. Jupiter was crashing, crashing down inside her own eyes—and all there was to do was watch and hope against insane hope there was somewhat of herself left in her mind.
By now, Mars had one foot free, and was twisting against the diamond-sharp rime, cutting into it to get loose. Just like an animal caught in a trap—chewing a leg off just to be free. In another second, we would have to run. As soon as Jupiter lost the battle inside her mind, she would attack us as well.
I wanted to think it was almost better that we couldn't hear her now—now that she had no motor control. No more screams, after all. But this was worse. Her eyes were nothing but hollow pain, staring at us…and fading.
We stayed with her until the end, until her eyes became hollow black pits.
Mars had succeeded in carving herself free with her fire.
They both lunged, and as there was nothing else to do, we ran.
I didn't think my muscles had ever hurt so much—not even when they had been aching and atrophied from cryogenic hibernation, not even when I struggled to take my first steps after centuries and centuries, before proper muscle tissue regeneration. Yep, it hurt.
We ran to the temple. There, the old and wise priest that was Mr. Hino sat, waiting with his head in his hands. He looked up dramatically as we approached.
"I didn't want to have to do this," he spoke solidly. "But it must be done! Yuuichirou!" he bellowed, and dust rose up with his hand. A buff young man—an insanely hot young man—ran up to the old sage's feet.
"Yes, master?"
"You must do all I have taught you! In my old age, I have imparted upon you the great secret to save everyone, which you will only accomplish with the help of Sailor Moon!" Thunder crackled in the sky as the handsome Yuuichirou looked towards the west, and the camera panned up…
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Rei snorted her coke out her nose, and Makoto unfortunately was hit with the brunt of the soda attack.
"Hey!" Minako exclaimed, clutching her own soda. "I'm still trying to watch the movie!" and she resumed watching with a glazed, sappy smile and popcorn.
Ami looked at her disbelievingly, and shifted quite suddenly in her seat because her butt had started to cramp.
Usagi just sat there, cackling as tears streamed down her face.
On the screen, the representation of Yuuichirou was fighting Mars in a steamy alleyway, and the scene was starting to turn steamy as well.
"Rei…" the onscreen Yuuichirou panted as he was punched mercilessly. "Don't do this…I love you!" another kick to the guts.
"REI!" he bellowed, and the Rei in the theater, who had just stopped hyperventilating and grunting from the carbonated beverage up her nose, turned her head up in instant reaction.
And bristled.
"They can't show that!" she screeched, standing up and blocking the other girls from seeing the kiss that was happening larger-than-life behind her. Minako peeked out from behind Rei's arms and watched appreciatively. The Jupiter behind Mars watched jealously as the two in the alley smooched away, and got to her feet, a ball of energy in her hand.
"That doesn't even make any sense" Ami observed. "Makoto isn't that crazed for a boyfriend…"
Makoto, always a fast thinker on her feet, stopping wringing her ponytail out and got on her feet.
"Enough is enough. We're leaving," and with that, she pulled everyone sharply to stand and herded them out of the row.
Rei continued to cuss everyone and their poodle out the entire way to the emergency exit.
"Stupid cosplayers," one woman in the audience muttered. "Being loud and distracting and leaving in the middle of a show." Ami heard, and her entire face flushed with embarrassment.
Usagi was clutching onto the stone-faced Makoto's shoulder and hooting with laughter as they stepped into the lobby.
Rei finally stopped swearing long enough to notice something was wrong. "Wait a moment…where's Minako?" she asked.
Makoto snapped. "Ami, go get her!" she said with a twitching eye, and Ami rushed off with a mortified why-me look on her face. But she would rather go back into that theater than face Makoto's wrath.
"Was it good?" Setsuna smirked and looked up from the 'Time' magazine she was reading.
Makoto just gave her an icy glance. "Next time you take us to an alternate universe, make sure it's one where you didn't sell us out to Hollywood."
Usagi had finally, finally stopped laughing enough to answer Setsuna's question. "Well, the special effects were good—"
"—good for 1914, maybe!" Rei interjected angrily, and Usagi ploughed onwards with a straight face.
"And I was just so glad at first that they didn't focus much on me. Luna's constant voice-overs were a bit much, though. It's like the filmmakers couldn't get over the fact they had a talking cat to work with! I mean; what a horror story! It was basically a Godzilla film without Godzilla and a sexy ninja version of Yuuichirrouuuu…" and she burst into peals of laughter again.
Rei looked on the verge of tears.
"Awwww." Minako complained half-miserably as a once-again red-faced Ami lead her out into the lobby. "Sailor Pluto had just appeared and was kissing the brains out of the brainwashed Endymion, whom she secretly loved…they had just gotten engaged!" she said with a dreamy sigh.
"WHAT?" Setsuna's face was suddenly a shade to rival beets. "We need to go now," she spoke hurriedly, and the six of them vanished without a sound.
Well, except for the shriek from Rei as Minako tripped forward during the trans-dimensional teleportation and emptied her soda over Rei's head.
Some soda, a universe away from its cup, soaked into the lobby carpet, and all was again sane.
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So...basically last time I updated it loaded the wrong chapter. One which had never been edited and needed some severe TLC. (And that I didn't think I would post here. Ever. At all.) Sorry 'bout that...
But anyway, here's the conclusion to the 'Horror Story' miniseries. I don't even know where this one was going. It was insane to write and...well...glad it's over. Next, I'm going to write that Western I've been promising in the summary. And if anyone out there is wondering about the title and where the heck that comes in...stay tuned.
As always,
-Kate
