The Distant Days of Uranus
Part 12: Stranger than Fiction
Later the same day…
Sky had no strength to stand; so she knelt beside Haruka's prone form. The wind senshi was breathing and that was it. She hadn't moved since collapsing. Her fever was still going up; despite Ami's medical care.
Ami shook her head, "We need to move her to a hospital."
Sky spoke, "Let me make a call." She pulled out her cell phone and hit speed dial. "Tamori, call Dr. Etaka, let him know I need my suite and the whole team." There was a pause, Sky smiled, "No, it's not for me. Haurka is gravely ill."
No one got the chance to ask questions. Sky stood up and there was a knock on the door. She opened it; a man in a chauffers outfit was there.
"I need you to carry, Tenoh-san to the car. We are taking her to Dr. Etaka."
The man didn't say a word as he walked in; gently picked up the unconscious sky senshi and carried her out into the hall. Sky followed; the others hurried after them.
Haruka was carefully loaded into a gleaming silver Rolls-Royce. Sky stepped in beside her; the driver went to his position behind the wheel.
"Follow us," Sky shut the door and nodded.
"I know what hospital they are going to." Ami rushed down the block to her car. The group filtered to their vehicles and followed the silver luxury car.
The private suite Sky had requested came complete with kitchen, private sitting area and standard medical room. There was enough space for two dozen people in the room. Sky and Makoto and Minako sat on either side of Haruka; who lay on the bed. She was hooked up to machines that beeped and flashed in a rhythmic symphony.
Usagi stood in the kitchen with Rei They were whispering. Sky had no energy to listen to them; she kept stroking Haruka's hair; kept trying to will the woman back to awareness.
"Usagi," Rei whispered fiercely, "We have to try and reach Setsuna; she knows more than we do. Perhaps this has happened before. Maybe she knows how to help Haruka."
"Can't you do something?" Usagi looked at her friend and guardian, "Rei, you're powerful, can't you reach her?"
"If I knew where to start; maybe, yes. But she's a mess, Usagi. Her energy is absolutely horrible; I've never seen anything so chaotic and dark."
"What are you saying? She's evil now?"
Rei shook her head, "No, no. I mean…" The temple maiden paused and tried again, "She's suffered a huge loss recently; a part of her is shattered. In terms of emotional strength. With her being senshi, it's effecting her more so than a normal person. Her body is unable to balance it's self. Her chakras are barely glowing. It's like her body is falling into a stasis. I don't even know why. It's nothing I've ever read or heard about before."
"I'll try to contact Setsuna." Usagi and Ami left the hospital room.
Sky looked up at the mention of chakras. "Did you say her chakras are darkening?"
Rei glanced at the woman, "Yes."
Sky looked at the blonde before her; the lines of Haruka's face. It was a face she knew very well. "If we got them going again; started them spinning, it would hold off whatever is happening. Right?"
Rei considered; logically it could work. Chakras are the source of energy for the body; if they were spinning then the body was still energized. "It won't help her mind."
"But her body wouldn't shut down." Sky had no idea how to reach Haruka's mind; but this, this was something she could do.
Rei crossed to Sky. "Are you saying you can tap her energy in a deep enough level to start her chakras spinning and then maintain it?"
Sky hadn't thought of it that way; it sounded complicated when Rei said it. "I did it a few times; only to myself. But the principle is the same."
The fire senshi stared at the woman before her; she'd never really noticed Sky King before. Never really thought about the woman. But now; as she sat inches from her; there was a dull glow to her aura. A shimmer that was very weak but it was still there. Perhaps she wasn't just a business woman.
"If you link yourself that deeply with Haruka; and something goes wrong…" Rei glanced at the outer senshi, "You'll both die."
Sky nodded, "I am okay with dying; I've done it a few times, actually. But I won't let Haruka die; I just won't."
Rei sighed, "How did you learn to do this?"
Sky shrugged, "Does that really matter?"
"That's how you survived the crash," Rei surmised and Sky stared at Haruka. "That explains the dull glow around you."
Sky frowned, glancing at the woman, "What?"
"You're energy, your aura." Rei waved in the general direction of Sky's body. "It's got a dull glow to it; as if it's completely drained. As if the energy has been sucked out of it."
Rei looked harder at Sky; not with her eyes but with her psychic powers. The woman shimmered with clear light; there was a rim of radiant pure white. Rei knew something about Sky King in that moment. Something that she doubted the other woman knew. Sky King wasn't just an ordinary woman; she was something much more, so much more. There was a flash of color grey inside the crystal outline round Sky's body. The color was steady and remained. Grey was a bad sign. Rei was confused; how could she have a white rim but have this much gray?
Sky arched a brow, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Rei shook her head; she had to help Haruka first, "You've got a crystal aura; that's extremely rare and potentially fatal. People with crystal auras absorb and retain the energy from those around them; like a vacuum. It's dangerous because too much negative energy and you can destroy your psychic body. The being from which your aura emanates; if that dies; your physical self suffers."
Sky wasn't following this at all; but she nodded.
Rei continued, "The good side it allows you to tap into higher levels of awareness; more concentrated energy. That explains why you could design such brilliant things and you could drive so well."
Sky gave her a puzzled expression. "Riiiight…"
Rei smiled to her self. "Never mind; the point is you'll be able to help Haruka."
Sky sat more comfortably beside the bed; settling her hands a few inches from Haruka's head. Sky stared at that peaceful face and realized in a flash of understanding. She didn't care if she died. Some part of her just didn't care. If doing this killed her that was fine; as long as Haruka survived. Another flash hit her and she felt dizzy. She couldn't grasp it.
Rei put a hand on the woman, "Are you okay?"
Sky nodded, "Just having a moment of understanding.
"Yeah, they tend to come at bad times."
Sky smiled, "You said it."
"Just keep your focus on Haruka and her state of being. No matter what happens; just keep focused."
Sky frowned, "You know, when you say stuff like that, it tends to lead to bad things."
Rei smiled gently, "Sorry."
Sky nodded, "Let me start."
Rei stood back as far as she could go in the room; the other two senshi followed her lead. Sky shut her eyes and breathed deeply for a few minutes. The fire senshi could feel the shift in the air; the prickle of higher-energy. It was a gentle brush against the skin like a brush of fingernails up the arm; light but you noticed it.
Sky slid into her inner being. She'd never really thought about anything Rei had said to her. It had never been hard to do this. It was like sweeping a curtain back from one self to the next. It was easy; simple and never required much thought. It had never occurred to her that this was important or special. She'd thought everyone could do this.
There was enough awareness left in her to feel the warmth of Haruka's being. Like low heat from a stove as she held her hands over it; sky reached for the heat, pulling it into her inner self; holding it with her mind.
Haruka's body glowed golden and blue; it reminded Sky of a captured star. So brilliant was the light; so intense was the energy. But it was wrapped in shadows; tangled in the negative feelings Haruka had harbored.
It was in that moment that Sky knew Haruka wasn't normal. There was something extra-ordinary about the woman. Sky had no clue what it was; but it was powerful. Perhaps she would ask about it some day.
Sky reached outward with her psychic self; stretching her hands into Haruka's chakra centers. The vital energy centers weren't moving; there was no color to them. This was a factor of her current state.
Sky touched each one; whispering to it. At each point; she visualized the color she wanted; the color it was supposed to be. Using her focus she pushed the color into the centre and used her hands to start them spinning. It was similar to turning the wheel on a car; using your hands to guide the direction you wanted it to go in.
The hospital door opened; Usagi poked her head in. Rei nodded it was okay. Usagi shut the door as she walked in. She watched Sky and Haruka for a moment.
"So?"
Rei shrugged, "Time will tell on this one."
"What is Sky doing?"
Rei tried her best to give a simplified explanation. Usagi still gave her confused expression. Rei tried again. "Sky is using her own energy to keep Haruka's body alive."
"Oh." Usagi glanced back at the two women. "Won't that effect Sky?"
Rei recalled the gray
and white colors in Sky's aura. "Yes, it will."
Usagi knew
her friend well enough to know something was wrong. "Rei, tell me
what's wrong."
"I saw grey and white in Sky's aura."
"So?" That meant nothing to Usagi.
Rei stared at her future queen. "Grey is a sign of decay; of approaching death. Whatever Sky has done to herself leading up today; it's caused her a tremendous amount of psychic death. Her body is beginning to suffer. Grey, means the body is close to beginning to die."
Usagi's eyes widened, "No!"
Rei sighed, "But the presence of white energy…"
"What does that mean?" Usagi asked; "Can it help her?"
"I don't know. Most times people who have that much grey around them; don't have white as well."
"What is the point of white energy?"
"White aura energy is the sign of an heavenly or cosmic being who is fully aware and using their full capacity. It usually surrounds angels or new born babies. Never adults; unless they are cosmically powerful."
Usagi didn't get it; "So it should be healing her, than, right?"
"Normally, yes, it would." Rei shrugged as she shook her head, "That's what I don't get; the grey shouldn't be there since there is white." Rei wasn't able to figure it out so she let it go. "What did Setsuna say?"
Usagi looked at the door, "She's on her way."
"That's not good." Rei rubbed her hands over her face. "I guess things were too good to last, huh?"
"Don't say that."
"Everything will be okay."
