Me: Blast it, I can't wait any longer!
Bahamut: WTH?
Me: I shall post the next chapter here and now!
Mewtwo: Why?
Me: Because I want to post the chapter after this one.
Bahamut: Why?
Me: Because... I want people to stew.
Muses: (?)
Me: You'll see.
WARNING: Slight OCness. Why? This is an AU-fic thus an alternate change in perspective and personality are bound to occur.
DISCLAIMER: I OWN WHAT IS MY OWN.
Kamen Rider Daikaiju: Epic of the Cosmos
By Corvus no Genmu the Prince of Slumberland
What Came Between
Must run, have to run. They'll find it if it doesn't run. It has to hide to flee from the noise, the noise, the noise! Such endless noise and light and smells! Too many, too many! There's too much to see, to smell, to hear, it cannot stand it! It wants to go back but it can't, it just can't mama. It wants to mama, it really does but it just can't. Help it, mama…!
It doesn't want to stay here.
Run, hide, retreat to the water, where its safe, where its quiet, where nothing can hurt it as it tries to rest… Tries to remember. Who it is, where it is, and why it is… here? No, why it is. It is because it is? No, it is because it has nothing left. No home, no memories, no mama…
It wants to die…
No.
It can't.
He won't let it die.
--
"Hey, look it's the freak!" A snide group of voices sent chills down thirteen-year-old Hotaru's spine. Though she remembered little of her life with her birth father and nothing whatsoever as Saturn, Hotaru still remembered the good and the bad memories of her past life and one of those bad memories was making itself known from that familiar voice. She looked around, silently wishing she hadn't decided on taking a shortcut through the park and was preparing to run towards home if need be despite the weakness it would bring when she suddenly realized it was not her that the group of bullies were referring to.
Walking carefully behind them, Hotaru peered past them, clutching her bookbag tight, to see a young boy, possibly her age, she couldn't tell. What she could tell was that his clothes were in desperate need of a good wash with stains and tears all over as though he had nothing more to wear than what he had on. His hair was cropped hapharzardly, like he had taken a knife at it to cut it, and was colored like an old man's, a wisened gray. His eyes were closed and his arms crossed over his face to block the rain of rocks and sticks being thrown at him by the other kids.
"Go back to the hole you crawled out of!"
"Try and steal some soap next time!"
And other such taunts rained on the boy until, finally, Hotaru had seen enough.
"STOP IT!" Hotaru's explosion of courage was suddenly doused by a bucket of shyness as she immediately became the center of attention in the area. "Please…?"
"Why should we?" asked the ringleader. "Who's gonna stop us? You? As if!"
Hotaru took a deep breath and let it slow, her eyes closed. When she opened them, they were glowing a brilliant shade of purple. That sent the pack running, crying for their parents while their victim lay where he was, still crouched with his arms held up for more blows. Aware of the silence, the boy slowly lowered his arms and Hotaru could finally see for herself what made him a 'freak' to other children.
His eyes were… wrong… Never mind the fact that, from the structure of his face, he was a foreigner, his eyes were opposite of what they should have been. His pupils were black but so were the supposed whites of his eyes and his irises were compareable only to snow in their shining purity. It was an unnerving sight but not so much so to Hotaru, who knelt down beside the boy, despite his smell, and asked, "Are you alright?"
The boy stared at her and swallowed, breathing raggedly as though he couldn't… Hotaru's eyes widened and she quickly placed a hand over his chest. Her palm glowed gently and, for an instant, the boy found himself unable to operate his lungs when, just as suddenly, he could breathe. He could well and truly breathe!
"Que… sera, sera…" The boy placed a hand over his chest, breathing easily for the first time since those other kids had started to attack him. He looked to her and tilted his head in confusion before suddenly nodding. "It… thanks you…"
"You're welcome," Hotaru smiled, choosing to ignore the boy's strange speech. "Are you going to be alright?"
He looked slightly torn, before nodding. "It will be alright…"
"Good!" Hotaru was positively beaming. For once, she was the one helping someone out that hadn't run away in fear, though she did recall a girl… with pink hair? "My name is Hotaru. What's yours?"
The boy looked confused before his eyes widened and he reached into his shirt and pulled out a military-style necklace with a pair of dogtags attached to them. He held one up to his narrowed eyes. "Hud…son…. Hudson! It is called Hudson!" The boy was positively beaming with delight.
"Hudson…" Hotaru tested the name out, smiling slightly. She liked it, it seemed to suit him for whatever reason. She suddenly noticed that his eyes were drawn to her bookbag and, looking down herself, Hotaru saw her newly purchased copy of Moonlight Pegasus was peaking out. Blushing slightly in embarrassment, she shoved the book back into her bag.
"That is book?" Hudson inquired. "It seen many book like that. Why?"
"You've never read it?" asked Hotaru, completely surprised. Even Haruka-papa, the very personification of manliness in women read it and was close to tears. In fact, it was because of Haruka-papa reading it to her one night, before having to retreat and take care of something 'in her eye', that Hotaru was inspired to purchase the book herself.
Hudson blushed and looked down the hill towards the river. "It doesn't know to read…"
Hotaru frowned, not knowing what to say to that. She had an idea as to the boy's homelife by his appearance and the way he spoke but he seemed fine physically aside from some breathing problems, that had to count for something… Right…? Well, let it never be said that Hotaru didn't try to at least add some more to her unwritten list of good-deeds.
"If you want, I can read it to you. My music lessons don't start for another hour or two…" She was no Michiru-mama, but Hotaru had a skill with music that her marine-haired guardian wished she had at Hotaru's age. Hudson looked surprised but smiled and nodded shyly.
"It would like that…"
--
Every day after that, Hotaru made it a special case to go to river bank in the park where she had first met Hudson and spen an hour reading to him. After reading the first two chapters of Moonlight Pegasus with him, Hudson had asked if she would read to him again tomorrow and, not wanting to lose the first friend she could remember, Hotaru agreed.
It took two trips after school and before her lessons for Hotaru to succumb to the desire and began to slowly help Hudson with his speaking skills. It took her three for her to ask him what his home life was like, carefully worded of course lest she offend or sadden her new friend, only to hear a plain response and a request for another chapter before she had to leave.
It was the fourth trip she realized a horrific truth and made a firm resolution.
--
"Hudson…" Hotaru had walked up to the boy sitting in what some could call 'their spot' as it was the same one that the both of them had occupied these past few days. "How long do you wait here for me?"
Hudson blinked and paused to think up the proper words. "It waited… the first two days here, not going to its home… then, when it found out Hotaru would come back, it returned home…"
"You waited here for me for an entire day?" Hotaru asked, completely surprised and a slight bit touched. Was she so needed by this boy? "Weren't your parents worried?"
"Don't have papa or mama… never knew papa but miss mama… miss mama a lot…" Hudson whispered.
Hotaru's concern grew. "Hudson, where do you live?"
Hudson frowned before shaking his head. "Words too hard… it can show Hotaru. Not far from here."
"Alright."
Hudson led her down towards the river and followed alongside it before coming to a large hole carved out beneath one of the riverbank trees. Hudson smiled and got down onto all fours and patted the hole. "This is its home."
Hotaru's face paled and she knelt down beside him and looked inside and felt slightly disgusted. The inside was covered in rotted leaves, serving as some kind of bedding, and was littered with empty cans paper bags that Hotaru instinctively knew were not the proper food for any human being.
She had considered the idea at odd times these past few days, during times when she had nothing better to do than to float amongst her thoughts and daydreams, but here, now, she had firm it into an ironclad belief that she was in the right. So it was with no hesitation that she voiced the question she should have asked in the beginning.
"Would you like to visit my house, Hudson?"
--
It wasn't too hard to sneak Hudson into the house. Setsuna-mama was busy in her office and wouldn't be bothered unless something broke and only if she heard the crash herself. Haruka-papa was out signing up for another race and Michiru-mama was teaching in her art class, so Hotaru had plenty of time to get her plan started. She led Hudson up into Haruka-papa's room and, ahem, borrowed some of her spare clothes. Hotaru instructed Hudson to go and take a long bath while she tried to find some clothes that Haruka-papa wouldn't instantly recognize as her own.
It was then that the first problem occurred.
"It doesn't understand… what is bath?"
After a long and embarrassing conversation between the both of them, a suddenly shy Hudson was all too quick to jump into the room and proceed to drown himself in the hot waters of the shower amidst clouds of bubbly soap. He could have done without the feminine-like scent of the soaps but if it made Hotaru happy it would make him even happier. Once he was clean, dressed, and his old clothes properly dealt with, read tossed into the trash can, Hotaru encountered her second problem.
"How to convince Haruka-papa and Michiru-mama…" Hotaru muttered to herself while Hudson amused himself by gazing around her room with rapt fascination and gushing at how large it was compared to his own. She smiled from time to time at how he would play with something for a few seconds before moving on the to the next thing. He was careful with how he touched her things that it was kind of cute…
Still, she couldn't avoid thinking about how to convince her two most suspicious guardians. Setsuna-mama would know how bad Hudson was, she knew everything even that time when Hotaru had taken the last of Michiru-mama's cookies, and was the most… well, she was the most reasonable out of the three. Michiru-mama wouldn't mind it if Hudson was a girl but seeing as he was a boy… Hotaru knew that Michiru tended to lean slightly towards Haruka's way of thinking when it came to boys and their little girl.
In other words.
No.
Meanwhile, as Hotaru was thinking over what she could say, Hudson had wandered out of her room and was walking through her home with wide eyes. He had seen homes before, in pictures and such, but never knew they were so very big! One could hide an elephant in here if one were so tempted and Hudson was very tempted to try though his mind was otherwise occupied with testing out everything he could find.
After amusing himself himself with the hallway lights and the occasional drawer, Hudson had found himself in the spacious kitchen. He saw the many shiny things there were that decorated the room, mostly utensils and such, but what really had his mismatched eyes was the implements of a strange device he had never seen before.
It had a large door in the front and resting on its top were four strange square shaped… whatevers… Hudson didn't care, they were shiny and that was enough for him. Playing around with one and admiring how well it shined, he noted the nobs lined above the door of the device. Setting down the shiny implement and resting on sleeve-covered hand atop to better balance himself as he turned it.
The was a faint clicking sound before a plume of fire, uncovered and unimpeded by the grill-guard, burst upwards, startling the boy back and away but the lit stove as he stared with wide and unblinking eyes.
He remembered, burning flames scorching the sky, the land, burning everything on a godlike warpath. Towers of glass and steel crumbling away as it searched for a sign, a message that she was there, somewhere, waiting for it to come home.
Only the strange scent of burning fabrics drew Hudson's attention from the fire down to his left arm, where a smaller but no less dangerous flame was alit on the sleeve of his borrowed shirt. If anything, his eyes grew wider than before as he started to stumble back from the sight of his burning limb. He could feel no pain, just a warm sensation, but the sight alone was enough to terrify him nearly beyond comprehension. It was all he could do just to scream and scream he did but not just some random noise but a word. A word that had more power over him than any ever did, even those he couldn't bring himself to remember.
"HOOOOOTAAAAAAARRRRUUUUUU!"
--
What occurred next was a rather like a scene out of an old American cartoon and best left to the imagination. Let us just say that Hotaru had dealt with Hudson's arm, albeit with a similar state of panic, while the stove itself was taken care by someone else.
Haruka.
Needless to say, the older woman was not at all pleased to find an uninvited guest in their house wearing her old clothes which, thanks to the fire, were properly ruined. Michiru was just thankful no one was hurt while Setsuna herself had grown the slightest bit more worried. Ever since the final battle with Pharoah 90, the three Outer Senshi had slowly lost their ability to transform and what small gifts they had. Even Setsuna, Guardian of Time itself had lost her ability to see anything beyond a white mist amidst the Time Gates.
She had been increasingly finding herself surprised with every growing day and it was something that Setsuna did not like in the slightest. It gave her a feeling of helplessness, something which had been glorified with little Hotaru's new friend.
"Okay, just who is this kid and what the he—" Haruka immediately noted the critical eye she was receiving from her partner. "-ck… was he thinking playing with the stove like that?"
Hudson was sitting across from them at the dinner table with Hotaru by his side, his eyes hidden by his gray locks as he looked down in shame.
"It's not his fault," argued Hotaru. "He's just… curious that's all."
"Hotaru-chan," Michiru spoke calmly to the girl. "Curious or not, your friend could have really hurt himself." Apparently, the boy was uninjured though none of the elder three could tell as he only allowed Hotaru near him as he was sitting in the corner, shivering from the cold water that was tossed upon him though it wasn't truly the cold that had bothered him so.
"It sorry… please… don't punish Hotaru… punish it, it will take tests." Hudson spoke for the first time, his eyes still downcast. Setsuna and Michiru traded concerned looks while Haruka quirked an eyebrow in confusion.
"Tests?" she asked. What, did this boy think Hotaru got punished with a math exam?
Hudson nodded before looking up at them, revealing the strange eyes he had. He would have been surprised at their lack of emotion to the sight of his eyes were he not so troubled by the flickering memories the flames had returned. "It can take it… it has had lots of tests…"
Setsuna leaned forward, noting that Hudson flinched back slightly. "What kinds of tests… Hudson?" She looked at Hotaru, who nodded.
"Breakings… and beatings… burnings…" Hudson shivered and held himself tightly. "Burnings… lots of burnings…"
"Hotaru." Haruka suddenly spoke. "Go to your room."
"What? But, Haruka-papa!"
"Don't worry, sweety." Michiru smiled. "We're just going to talk with your friend, neither of you are going to be punished."
"Someone at child services on the other hand…" Haruka faintly growled.
Reluctantly, Hotaru did as she was told and left, leaving Hudson alone to fully tell as best as he could the life that he could remember. It was a difficult discussion made more so by a combination of Hudson's bad speaking skills and Haruka's infamous temper. The talk was long, made longer by the brief moments where it would look as though one of the three, primarily Haruka, was about to go and break something, probably a person's face.
Hudson's tale was as heartbreaking as it could get and all three knew it to be true having a great combination of maternal, and in Haruka's case a bit of paternal, instincts mixed with the eyes of those who knew better to judge a person by how they acted and not what they said. The way Hudson spoke made it obvious that it was as truthful as he could remember despite his severe case of amnesia.
Apparently, his eyes were not the only strange thing about him for, like Hotaru, he possessed a remarkable gift and that gift was a kind of invulnerability. He could be hurt yes but whatever caused him pain was remembered by his body and though the pain would be felt all the same, his body would remember how it was healed and thus heal itself at a faster rate than before. The scientists that gave him his eyes, for he faintly recalled that his eyes were green before 'The Bad Thing". What this "Bad Thing" was, he never said, but it was obvious that the scientists who had done this to him had felt little emotion towards the boy.
They did everything they could do that wouldn't kill him. They broke his limbs, poisoned him, cut him, everything they could get away with, which was only limited by what wouldn't outright kill the boy. When he had grown so used to the pain that his mind could no longer register it, they had tried a deadlier approach.
Fire.
The boy feared it with a passion despite having no sense of pain from it and healing quickly because of it. Whatever they had done had scarred him to the point where even the sight of it would send him into a terrible sea of fear and despair. They never taught him anything, only interested in how his healing could be reproduced amongst them, so he had to resort to learning from what little contact he received from them, thus why he spoke so poorly about himself.
They never called him anything but 'It' and so he saw himself as 'It'.
Those words, albeit spoken differently than as what I had written, were more than enough to guarantee a unanimous discision between the three older girls but Hudson wasn't finished.
He claimed that he once had a mother, for he remembered that the necklace he wore with the dogtags were all he had to remember himself as 'Hudson'. He wasn't allowed anything else beyond that, so it had to have been a gift from his mama. How he had escaped the 'Bad Place' he couldn't remember nor did he ever truly remember anyone ever caring about his well-being save for one person.
Hotaru.
She saved him from a group of bullies for no reason and helped him with his speaking and reading skills despite him never asking for it. She even shared food with him and here, today, she had given him the opportunity to be clean and dressed in clothes he hadn't been forced to dig amongst trash piles to find and wear.
He had heard once, from the safety of the trees, a group of children call Hotaru many bad things and he had been more than angry. He didn't actually recall what he had did, only that they had run screaming from his part of the Juuban Park grounds. Hotaru wasn't anything like what those mean children said she was; she was special, she was kind, she was beautiful…
She was an angel.
His guardian angel.
--
"Hey kiddo," Haruka stuck her head into Hotaru's room and saw the girl in question was sitting atop her bed looking both concerned and anxious. "Mind if I come in?" At Hotaru's nod, Haruka did so and allowed the silence to stretch for a moment before speaking. "Look, I'm not going to beat around the bush with you, Hotaru-chan. You broke a lot of rules today, all for a good cause I'm sure, but you broke them anyway. You should have come to us right from the beginning when you first met that boy. Why didn't you?"
"I…" Hotaru blushed and hugged her pillow tighter. "Hudson, he… he needed me and I… I wanted to be the one to help him and I thought, that if I told you, or Michiru-mama, or Setsuna-mama, that you'd put him in an orphanage…"
Haruka sighed. 'I doubt any of them would take a kid with eyes like that and the way he talks, I doubt he'd be left alone by the bullies.' She shook her head. "I can't deny or agree with you, Hotaru-chan. Truth is, you didn't trust us to do the right thing." That phrase, gods how she hated that phrase… "Still…" Haruka sighed and made an obviously false frown. "I guess we got no choice."
"But—!"
"We'll have to let the kid live here." Haruka smirked at Hotaru's stunned face. "Don't be too shocked. You expected otherwise from us? Oh, and don't be too happy either. He'll be staying in the room next to Setsuna's and neither of you can shut your doors. Ever. Got it?" Kids or not, too young or not, Haruka would NOT be having any hanky-panky with her adopted child thank-you-very-much!
--
The changes in her life were both strange yet… pleasing at the same time to one Setsuna Meioh. It was true that she and her two fellow Outer Senshi could no longer transform into their Scout forms, but the novelty of a normal life didn't seem to end for them what with Hudson added to their family. In the past months, they had a shared duty of raising the two children while also keeping an occasional eye on the Scouts and their new allies the Kamen Riders.
Neither Haruka or Michiru fully trusted the group and Setsuna herself was neutral, as always. Having read how most of their attacks were finished with an assassin's accuracy, it wasn't that surprising really. Still, as the cooperation grew between the Sailor Scouts and the Kamen Riders, the three Outer Senshi found their trust growing to match. Still, being unable to truly offer help, nor completely willing either, the three focused more on the two younglings that had somehow become the main focus of their lives, something none of them would ever trade for anything in the world.
Haruka still remained the playmate and, ironically, the physical education teacher for the two during summer break and, once school started again, weekends. During the summer, neither of the two kids could be separated and Haruka found herself playing more than her fair share of children's games. She managed to convince a game of cards or two once and a while, especially when Michiru wasn't around and Setsuna was out on a date. Once school started up for Hotaru, she made sure that, when he wasn't learning from Setsuna or Michiru, Hudson had his time preoccupied instead of spending it waiting for Hotaru to come home.
Thus far, the points stand 43-40 in Hudson's favor, though Haruka would argue that checkers doesn't count.
Michiru remained the chef of the family, her skills unrivaled as neither of the kids could cook, Setsuna had never really had a need to before and thus never learned, and Haruka… Well, lets just say that was mistake that will NEVER be repeated. EVER. However, now that Hotaru had gained an appreciation for music, Michiru had started to teach her the violin and Hudson the piano. The boy had initially wanted a pair of drums, something that none of them would agree with, though Haruka seemed privy to the idea. Michiru managed to aim him to the piano so as to better compliment Hotaru. No further words were needed and Michiru had to admire how quickly Hudson was learning. She knew it had more to do with making Hotaru proud rather than herself but Michiru felt pride nonetheless, her babies were growing up.
Of course, some awkward moments appeared, especially that time when Hudson asked her where babies came from. She aimed him at Setsuna and made a strategic retreat.
Setsuna herself remained the educator though most of her efforts were aimed at Hudson and improving his speaking and reading skills. Thus far, he had managed to increase his reading level to a few grades below Hotaru, quite the accomplishment considering he could barely read at all. His speech mannerisms were another thing altogether unfortunately. Hudson just couldn't refer to himself outside of third person and Setsuna considered herself lucky that she managed to get him to refer to himself by his name rather than 'It' though he still reverted to the word every now and again. Strangely, it was Setsuna herself that sometimes found herself being the student and Hudson the teacher as one conversation earlier that summer demonstrated…
Flashback
"I honestly think he's starting to stalk me…" muttered Setsuna, staring into her glass of imported English tea with Michiru sitting beside her while Hotaru and Hudson were doing there homework on the otherside of the table. "He's always at the places I like to go to." She explained, heedless of the fact that the two kids were not completely into their work as she and Michiru assumed.
"I'm sure it's not as bad as you make it sound, Setsuna." Michiru smiled. She was actually glad that someone had finally managed to get under the skin of the impenetrable Sailor Pluto.
"Maybe it's not that he's going to places you like to go to…" Hudson suddenly spoke up. "Maybe it's that you're going to places he likes to go to…"
"What?" Setsuna blinked in surprise. She… hadn't thought of it like that…
"Well, it just sounds to Hudson as though he likes the same places as you… so Hudson thinks he and Setsuna are alike." He nodded. "He likes tea, Setsuna likes tea. Setsuna like restaurant, he likes restaurant." He paused for moment, thinking. "He likes Setsuna and… Setsuna likes him?" he asked.
Her eyes widened and, had Michiru not been paying close attention she would have missed the faint tinge of pink on Setsuna's face.
End Flashback
Her relationship with Shiisa was a bit strange. They were mature with each other and never really argued on much. In fact, Setsuna could list the arguments they had on one hand and all but one were arguments based on whether or not she would look good in a certain dress or… bathing suit… However, what was that one argument that wasn't Shiisa's way of saying he liked her for herself as well as her appearance? It can be summed up in three words.
The Kamen Riders.
--
"I just don't know if I could ever trust the Kamen Riders." Setsuna sighed, watching as a pair of children ran past after an errants soccer ball. "They're so violent with how they deal with these… Remless? It makes one wonder just what kind of people they are underneath the mask."
"The kind that have had too much thrust upon them at a young age." Shiisa shrugged. "At least, that's how I see it."
"Yes, why is that?" She suspected for a moment but no, Shiisa was too old, his voice the voice of an adult and though the Riders' voices were disguised, they couldn't hide the fact that they were young, at least in their teen years.
Shiisa had to be careful lest he give too much away but he… if he were to ever gain his abilities back, she'd have to be told the truth and he'd rather have her on his side of this. "The way they fight reminds me a lot of how… a soldier would fight."
"A soldier?" she asked.
He nodded. "Soldiers fighting a war that they've already lost but fighting all the same. They've lost people." He said, looking towards the children playing in the nearby playground. "Too many it seems. They don't want to risk losing anyone else. They might not be friends with the Sailor Scouts but they care about them nonetheless." He turned to look at her and Setsuna found herself drowning in those ruby eyes of his. They were hiding so much that he wanted to say but it wasn't time yet to tell. At least, not everything.
"It's true that they fight brutally but maybe it's because they don't want to give these Remless creatures a chance to press the battle to their advantage. They go in and get the job done not because they want to, but because they have to so the people they care about can live to see another day."
--
Their opinions on the Riders changed as time went on but that wasn't the only to thing to have changed as time went on. With every passing day, their powers were fading and Hudson… whatever sort of superpower that had been forced upon him was fading and his near inhuman invulernability was disappearing more and more. He was succumbing to all the things the mundane dealt with everyday with a ferocity that unnerved his guardians and frightened Hotaru.
He had caught the common cold first and had gotten over it quickly but then it came back, this time accompanied by strep throat. Everytime Hudson became well he'd get sick again a few days later by a deadlier disease than the last until, finally, he succumbed to a bad case of viral pneumonia. His lungs, already damaged by his forgotten past, could barely take the strain.
Hotaru never left his side and Haruka, aangered though she was at being unable to do anything to help the boy, was there as well. Often times, she'd merely wait outside the room, coming in only when Hotaru fell against the grasp of exhaustion, taking over the vigil. Michiru and Setsuna argued over whether or not Hudson's sudden lack of healing had anything to do with the Dead Moon family.
Setsuna argued that not only was it impossible for the Dead Moon to be capable of doing such a thing, they couldn't do anything even if they wanted to. Even if they had the power to become Sailor Scouts… they couldn't get involved in this, not yet. That was the only sure fact Setsuna knew from her last full sight through the Time Gates. The day then came when the Dead Moon made its last strike and the three Outer Senshi could only watch as the city of Juuban from the horizon as, slowly, their family was crumbling apart as the moon blocked out the sun.
Then, a miracle occurred.
To Haruka, it was a pillar of pure demonic power for nothing good could have generated such tremendous force as that beam of energy that pierced the sky and all the dark magic of the Dead Moon. To Michiru, it was something divine for though she could barely feel it, like one would feel a breeze from miles away, she could sense the intent behind the one who delivered the power. To Setsuna, it was a sign that the end had finally come and, whether good or bad, changes were drawing near.
And indeed it seemed as though it was for that very next day, Hudson was up and about with a renewed sense of vigor, over his pneumonia as easily as if it were nothing more than the common cold. However, his immune system aside, his invulnerability was still shot but that wasn't the deepest concern of the three.
No, it was the ever increasing number of children disappearing worldwide with no nation completely left untouched. Though they did their best to remain aloof to it and keep as much of it away from the kids' ears, they heard nonetheless and were affected by it in their own ways.
--
Tired as she was, Haruka was in desperate need of a glass of water despite leaving the comfort of her warm bed and her even warmer lover. Grumbling some choice words, she stumbled into the hallway and turned on the light.
"Gwah!" Haruka bit back the first instinct of attack first, question never, at the sight of seeing Hudson laying down on the floor at the end of the hallway in front of Hotaru's door with naught but a combination of pillow and blanket with the stuffed whale that Setsuna had made for him. He blinked tiredly and looked up at Haruka, rubbing his eyes.
"Uncle Haruka?" He yawned. Haruka suppressed a victorious smirk. She was the first to be called such a thing out of the three despite him being closer to Setsuna. One could argue it was more than likely the boy's sleepiness talking but hey, victory was a victory to Haruka Tenoh. "What you doing?"
"I could ask the same of you, kiddo." Haruka walked over to the boy and looked down at him. "Why are you sleeping in front of Hotaru's room?"
"It—Hudson wanted to… to keep Hotaru safe…"
"Safe from what?"
"The children taker…" Hudson whispered. "Hudson saw on television and heard on radio… 'bout children being taken from home and so Hudson stays here to keep Hotaru-angel safe."
"… How long have you been doing this?" Haruka had an idea already but she wanted to hear for herself.
"Three su—days. Three days, Uncle Haruka." He looked up at her, looking concerned. "Is Hudson in trouble?"
"No, you're not. I like that you care so much about Hotaru but you have to start caring about yourself one of these days." Haruka sighed. The kid's selflessness when it came to Hotaru was beyond admirable but really… if given the chance, he'd die for her and, knowing their lives, such a situation could happen and if it did… Hotaru would never be able to forgive herself.
"Hudson isn't…" he looked down, wrapping his blanket tight around him. "Hudson isn't as important as Hotaru-angel. She is everything to Uncle Haruka, Auntie Michiru, and Auntie Setsuna. If Hudson were to die, he—"
"Stop." Haruka roughly grabbed the boy by his shoulders, making him look into her eyes. "Stop right there, Hudson. Don't you ever think that you don't mean anything to anyone, least of all us. You're a part of our family, Kiddo, and you know what that means right? Family means no one gets left behind or forgotten. Gods, Michiru and Setsuna adore you as much, if not more, than I and I know that Hotaru loves you. She never left your side when you were sick."
"She—She didn't… Hotaru-angel…" Hudson looked convicted with himself. He had been with them for several months now and he considered himself as something which was more than nothing but… to be loved… he had never had such a thing occur in most of his life. Only his mother had ever loved him and look what that cost her… "… really…?"
"Well, don't take my word for it, ask her yourself."
Hudson's eyes widened and he turned around to see the slight crack in the door where a pair of violet eyes were watching him. "Angel?!"
Haruka walked back to her room, her glass of water completely forgotten, as she left the two behind to work out their problems on their own. It had taken a while for her to realize it but Haruka realized that, despite his quirks, Hudson was the best there was for her little girl. Regressed maternal instincts aside, from a soldier's eyes he was the best there could be as though—
Haruka paused halfway to her bed and Michiru.
'As though he was raised and trained as a soldier…'
--
"You are Sailor Pluto."
Setsuna stiffened, her reflection on her computer's screen showing her wide eyes. She turned her chair around, her face once more a mask of neutrality. Hudson was sitting where he had been sitting since Hotaru had left for school and he had decided to study one of Setsuna's books in her office. They were nearly done teaching him everything a boy his age should know and, come the next semester, he would be joing Hotaru at school with a pair of colored contact lenses to hide the strangeness of his eyes. The same eyes that had been staring at Setsuna for some time now.
"Beg your pardon? Why would you say that Hudson?"
The boy pulled slightly at the book in his lap, revealing the magazine hidden there where, much to Setsuna's displeasure, the main article featured the Sailor Scouts. Primarily, herself and the Outer Senshi back during when the Heart Snatchers were still a threat. Hudson placed a gentle hand over the picture of Sailor Pluto and Setsuna thought for just a moment that the disguise field had failed because of Hudson's lack of intelligence but the guilt washed away that thought as quickly as it formed. Hudson had proven time and again that he was smarter than what most would assume as he was about to prove.
"Pluto has long hair like emeralds, just like Auntie Setsuna. She has ruby eyes just like Sailor Pluto. She is of darker skin, like Auntie Setsuna. She fights alongside Uranus and Neptune, like Setsuna does with Uncle Haruka and Auntie Michiru… both who look like Uranus and Neptune and are as close as Uranus and Neptune." He flipped the page and frowned sadly, stroking a picture gently. "They love Tenshi-chan," he whispered his nickname for Hotaru, his 'Cute Angel'. "Just as the Senshi love Sailor Saturn."
He looked up at her, his eyes sad. "You are Sailor Pluto but you are not. Have you forgotten, like Tenshi-chan?"
She would have asked him his reasonings but Setsuna had learned long ago that Hudson had a way of thinking in several odd tangents that, while not too complex for one such as herself, it was better to save time and go with the flow. "I have not, Hudson."
"Then why not stop the child nappings?" he asked. "Why not help the Sailor Scouts and Kamen Riders?" Those two innocent words always sent a brief surge of rage through him and he never could understand why. Still he continued, "They need help if they haven't stopped it."
"Michiru, Haruka, and I, can no longer transform into Sailor Scouts, Hudson. The power to do so is lost to us."
"Lie!" He yelled, pointing an accussing finger at her. "Auntie Setsuna always says the power to change the future is in ourselves, so Aunties and Uncle can change! They just have to want to!"
Setsuna suppressed a sigh. Ah, the innocence of youth. "Hudson, it's not as simple as you make it sound!"
"Yes it is! It's like the little train that could, you gotta believe in yourself, Auntie!" He exclaimed. "Tenshi-chan believes in you, Shiisa believes in you… and I believe in you." He looked so sad it was almost heartbreaking.
"Why don't you believe in you?"
--
The three of them stood together in the darkness atop the roof of their home.
"Doors locked."
"Windows shut and locked."
"So…" Michiru spoke slowly. "Are we really going to do this?"
"Yes." A small part of Setsuna knew that they risked the chance of losing their kids to whatever force was taking the children of earth but another knew that another, also important child had been taken already. "We have to believe in ourselves."
"Alright, enough with the Disney crap." Haruka brandished her fist. "Let's do this."
They raised their hands to the air and began to speak the old words for the transformation to begin but something… changed… in an instant they were suddenly aware of a difference in themselves and what they were as they cried out:
"Uranus Crystal Power!"
"Neptune Crystal Power!"
"Pluto Crystal Power!"
Standing there were no ordinary women but warriors, soldiers of the outer rim of the system, each carrying one of three sacred treasures of the pure heart. They were as they once were but different as well for, like their fellows of the inner rim, they too had grown. They were no longer just Sailor Scouts.
They were Super Senshi.
"I don't know about you two, but I've got just one thing to say." Sailor Uranus brought her Space Sword to the fore. "I make this look good."
--
His eyes opened slowly, their redness shining like glowing pools of blood.
It was finally time.
He had gathered his… soldiers to create an army he never thought he would need but if his plan was too succeed…
No.
First, he'd need to find the Original… and the rest of those accursed humans! Then and only then would he allow whatever pitiful universe that had given them sanctuary to feel the retribution of harboring such fugitives as the Kamen Riders.
First… he'd have to find them…
In the darkness, the eyes of his soldiers watched as he raised his hand and bid forth a single crystal shard to be created out of the nothingness in the Void. The shard pulsed with light like an inorganic heart, before speeding through the fabric of their reality and exiting the Void. The eyes were envious at its depature and were all eager for the same freedom but their master was the only one capable of creating a gate strong enough to allow them to travel out of this hellish universe.
But he wouldn't.
Why?
Two reasons.
First, they, like him, wanted revenge and they too would bide their time until the chance arose as time itself held no meaning here and they could continue to exist until eternity's end. Some would be envious but not they for what was eternity if vengeance would continue on unsatisified? No, they too would wait for the chance of revenge.
Second…
Well, actually… the time is not yet right to reveal such a thing for the eyes watching the soldiers and their master were eyes that not even I would want to find watching me.
--
She was a wreck and she knew it too. Her eyes were baggy and puffy from crying, something she hadn't done in several years mind you, and she hadn't truly eaten anything for the past two days out of the seven spent without any means of communication between herself and Shiisa. She didn't know what or why but he was either A) avoiding her or B) in serious trouble and having used the Time Gates to scan through every hospital in the tri-city area, Setsuna knew it was the first option.
She tried searching for him but for whatever reason, her control of the Time Gates were not up to snuff it seemed since she was completely unable to lock him as well as the Kamen Riders that thought so poorly of her two fellow Senshi. Yet not so of herself but she could care less about that, all she wanted to know was what she had done, or what she had said to have—
Her cell phone rang and though it was across her room, it was in her hand in a sheer instant, the id of the caller blazing like liquid fire.
Shiisa Miyrabi.
She didn't have time to get the first word in. "Setsuna-chan, I'm sorry but… I think, no, I know. It's time, Setsuna…" Her breath caught in her throat; his timing… no, it couldn't be. "Come into my parlor said the Kamen Rider to the Sailor Scout."
--
"Are you sure this isn't a trap?" muttered Haruka, her eyes glancing down towards Hotaru and Hudson. She didn't want them to be involved but seeing as Hudson already knew who they were and Hotaru was Sailor Saturn…
"Shiisa has never lied to me." Setsuna spoke with clear conviction, and more emotion than she normally displayed to the two.
"But isn't he a Kamen Rider?" asked Michiru. "Specifically that golden one we fought with?"
"Caesar and yes he is and, like us, it's only recently that he's gained the ability to do so again."
"And you still don't think he's setting us up for a trap because…?" asked Haruka.
"Let's just say that the others are more intimately involved than what we assumed." Setsuna spoke dryly, despite the small blush on her face. Like she was really one to talk…
--
At Rei's family temple, the two groups of Riders and Scouts, minus three, were sitting and waiting for the Outer Senshi to show up.
"So you've been dating Setsuna?" asked Mina for what was likely the tenth time.
"Is it really so hard to believe?" Shiisa chuckled, actually amused with the blonde. "She's a remarkable woman…" He smiled before suddenly saying, "That and she's got great pair of legs."
The boys groaned in embarrassment while the girls blushed pink though they giggled girlishly.
"Neh, Takuya, what do you like?" asked Mina. Takuya himself looked as though she had asked him to do something illegal with a fish.
"What?" Oh no, he did NOT just squeak.
"What do you like, legs, bum, or—"
"LEGS!" he suddenly exclaimed, much to Morisato's amusement.
"Yes," he nodded sagely. "They are nice though I much prefer Ami's."
Said bluenette resembled a tomato and stuttered inaudibly while the other girls giggled.
"Can we try to keep on track here?" asked Eiji, somewhat wearily. "Some seriousness here people."
"They're here." Shiro suddenly spoke up, his eyes glowing with molten light. His eyes narrowed in confusion. "Strange… that boy looks… familiar…"
"What? The gaijin brat?" snorted Takuya.
The door slid open, revealing the four untransformed Outer Senshi and one foreign boy. Four pairs of eyes widened in shock as fingers suddenly pointed at one another.
"YOU!"
"You're the brat at the arcade!" yelled Haruka, pointing at Takuya who was looking just as irked.
"You're that crossdressing weirdo!"
"You're the boy from the benefit concert," gasped Michiru. "The one who played the guitar…"
"Heh, so glad to be remembered…" Morisato blushed in embarrassment.
Eiji frowned slightly but stood from his seat. "It seems that some of us have already met before but regardless, let us introduce ourselves. I'm Eiji Kusanagi and I—" He stopped himself short as his eyes as well as the eyes of his fellow Riders snapped to the boy standing beside the young girl who, along with the other girls, flinched at the sudden feeling in the air. It was a massive amount of killing intent, too much for a boy to generate, so how could this foreigner accomplish such a feat and why?
I'll tell you.
In that very instant that Eiji introduced himself, he became the key to unlock the door to Hudson's memories and it was those memories that flooded through his suddenly chaotic mind. The experiments, the training, the agony, the death, the destruction… it was as clear as day once more and connected to it all was single name.
"Kusanagi…" Hudson growled low in his throat, his pupils growing until his eyes were like that of a shark's. "He remembers… he remembers you! It's your fault! For everything done to it!"
"Oh?" Eiji's slowly took a subtle fighting stance. "And just what have I done to you?"
"Everything! The Project, the pain, mama… It's your fault!" Hudson roared. "And it will let him kill you, Kusanagi! Execute! Kaiju Spirit Evolution!"
To Be Continued...
Next Time, on Kamen Rider Daikaiju: EoC!
A bastardized version of themselves, none of the Kamen Riders would ever expect to find it here, in this world, years after its supposed destruction. They had been told that it had been destroyed after its sole mission resulted in the destruction of the entire northeastern sector of what was once America and, supposedly, itself. They were wrong.
What Came After