Till Our Lives Burn Out

Chapter 010 – The World They Wish For

(Part 2 –Hotaru's Wave)

Epigraph:

Man's greatest fear is not that the

Apocalypse will happen, but that it won't.

- Walker Percy

The island of Tinuatu was now the calm in the center of a storm so massive it was having catastrophic effects on a great deal of the Pacific Ocean area. At present, it was almost five times the diameter of Typhoon Tip, the largest tropical cyclone ever recorded. Weather satellites had watched its sudden and inexplicable emergence. The first scientists to take a look at it knew instantly that something unusual was happening; it was impossible for a storm of such size to exist, much less to form so suddenly.

And it was getting bigger still.

Numerous airlines had to divert around it. Some were unable to escape it, and were lost. Others, low on fuel for any extended climbing or maneuvering, had to try their luck anywhere they could find to set down. The ocean's currents were being disrupted as super-typhoon force winds buffeted huge swaths of the shipping lanes, and wreaked devastation across every island chain from Hawaii to the The Marshalls, and even the coast of New Guinea. In some cases, close to the center, where the air had been compressed to the density of steel by the forces in play, the winds simply scrapped some islands clean, and in two cases, scooped them down to below sea level, wiping them from the map. The churning of the atmosphere sent massive amounts of water vapor into regions where it was instantly frozen. When the great hailstones achieved sufficient mass, they fell through the winds and pummeled anything beneath them. The bigger the ship, the greater the chances of being hit. One "Ultra-Large Crude Carrier" supertanker disappeared beneath the waves trailing oil all the way down. Many container ships suffered a similar fate, including two older ones that were battered by the hailstones, and then ripped apart by the sharp torsion of colliding water currents, sinking with the loss of all hands. Other tankers and cargo carriers were hit and leaked oil or other cargo as their small crews desperately tried to keep the ships afloat and under control. An American Carrier Battle Group sustained heavy damage, lost one escort vessel and many of its planes in the midst of an exercise. Other countries naval vessels suffered under the barrage as well.

At the Hikawa Shrine in Tokyo, the Inner Planet Senshi had heard about the storm. Mamoru Chiba had linked his desktop on an online news stream. The others gathered around, and watched with increasing worry.

"It's centered over the Pacific Ocean," said Rei, as a satellite image came up, "Exactly as I foresaw."

"That must be where they are," said Ami, sadly.

"Yes," said Chiba, "right in the middle of it."

"The Outer Senshi?" asked Minako.

"Yes," said Ami. "I don't know how, but I know … almost certainly that is where they are."

'And that Kuryakin-san is with them,' she didn't say. She had been thinking a great deal about him since their meeting this morning. When she had first met the man many years ago, she was a deeply introverted person. Today, she understood just how deeply. Why had she not noticed then the very unusual things about the man someone of her intelligence ought to have seen, if not because of that? Yes, by size alone, he was intimidating to a small, young girl whose whole existence had been brought into question by her parents' divorce. Of course, he was kind and took great pains to set her and every other student at ease. He had done is so well, and she was, admittedly, so in awe of him that she was able to flower as an intelligent young girl.

In time, she had realized her mother had hoped he could be something of a surrogate father in her life, if only for a few hours out of the days when she was at his cram school. He had, in a way, but he was not a usurper. He was the kind of person who did not take the place of 'that which should be,' but, by shining example, made you wish all the more that which should be had, in fact, been. Now she realized she had hardly seen the man, at all. This morning, when he and Rei Hino were at her fire altar, was a very strange thing indeed. She'd seen Rei during her pyromancies, and they had never been like that. There again, it was a matter of Kuryakin somehow making "better" what abilities one already had. She asked Rei if the way she'd had seen things this morning was the usual for her. She said no, then remarked "he's a strange man, isn't he?" Ami smiled. 'Why had she not noticed until today?' Kuryakin had mentioned the Magellan Rise, and that "it" must be "underground." That meant they were on or near an island called Tinuatu.

"I know where they are," Ami said. "Do you think we should try to help them?"

"The latest reports indicate the unusual typhoon is increasing in size …" said the announcer.

"It's impossible for a storm this size to exist," said Chiba.

"Yes," said Ami, "by any ordinary meteorological forces. This might be something involving time distortion."

"Yes," Chiba nodded, "that's exactly what I'm thinking. So I wonder if you could even get to them."

"Daijobu, mina (all will be well, everyone)," Usagi suddenly chimed in. Her eyes were closed as though she were seeing a vision, confirming that the Outer Senshi were on the scene. "I know it looks bad, but we should stay close to home, to defend it, if it gets any worse. Let's believe in them, and in their love for this world."

"Yeah," said Makoto winking at her and playing along, "I'm sure they'll take care of it, just to keep us from having any of the fun."

"Well, in that case, let's get back to cleaning up around here," said Rei.

"Rei-chan, I'm not that sure," said Usagi.

"Usagi, I mean it!" she said, shoving a broom into Usagi's hand. "We're wasting time! Back to work."

As always with these ever-closer friends, the subtext was clear: let's not worry our pretty heads too much, at least until we must. If things are about to get very bad, let's make sure we lived every moment of our lives and our friendship.

"I'll keep an eye on this," said Chiba. "If it keeps getting bigger, I'll come get you all."

In the eye of the storm, Sailors Uranus, Neptune and Pluto stood watching as the massive tornadic vortex that dropped through the center circulation gyrated all around the island, trying to touch down. Apparently, without the homing beacon, there was no way to guide the corridor in, and the precise point of contact within the volcanic dome that would complete the dimensional tunnel could be found only by hit or miss. If it came too close to the volcanic dome where the beacon was, they knew they would have to hit it with everything they had to drive it away. So far, it had not gotten too close, though none of them was really sure how close was too close.

Sailor Saturn had gone in a few minutes ago. Sitting in the relative calm of the massive storm's eye, punctuated by the occasional whooshing-by of the tornado, they watched and wondered at what might be happening inside. Then, they realized she and Kuryakin-san must have found each other in there because they heard his voice, clear as glass, say:

"On my life, she will return to you, whole as she was when she came in."

They looked at each other. Sailor Pluto stood close by the others now. A minute later, Sailors Uranus and Neptune, hand in hand, sank to their knees and clasped each other as Hotaru's wave blasted orthogonally like a nuclear detonation from the central axis of the vortex. At its approach, Sailor Pluto slowly closed her eyes, resigned – yet again- to her fate. Then the wave slowed and stopped, contained by the vortex like the air in an expanding balloon. They could see many of the enemy, pressed against the bounding wall like black spiders about to be crushed against glass. Some of Hotaru's wave did pressure its way through the event horizon - and of its most immediate effects, all would learn over the next few weeks. But for the most part, the dimensional boundary held. Sailor Pluto opened her eyes and looked up. The wave was headed up the spinning column, like the spark traveling up a lit fuse, writ incredibly large. Loud sounds almost like growling could be heard as the forces sustaining the vortex and the massive mesocyclone destabilized and dissipated. The storm began to collapse, and the normal meteorological forces began at once to reclaim the skies, but the signs of the phenomenon would be readily visible from space for days afterwards.

Then there was a small but brilliant flash of light in the sky, and the three elder Senshi saw something fall into the water several hundred meters from the island. Uranus ran to the edge of the promontory, shielded her eyes, and then said, "Neptyune!" Sailor Neptune summoned a series of waves that deposited two waterlogged objects onto the shore, and they all began running down the hillside.

In the Andromeda Galaxy, a fleet of starships was approaching a globular cluster on the outer part of the Vandalia galactic arm. The area had first come under suspicion eight weeks ago, when an Automated Stellar Survey Observatory began noticing fluctuations in certain stars on the outer boundaries of the cluster. The anomalies stabilized after two weeks of variable output, though it was noted at the time that the output had ever-so-slightly- but definitely diminished, in contradiction to all stellar fusion burn models.

At first, these were considered simple anomalies, worth future study, but nothing more. A perfunctory report was made to the scientific community, and Fleet Command scheduled a research mission to the area "in due course"- anywhere from two to ten years. Then one of Oyarandra's top physicists and his archeologist wife saw the report, and began making earnest inquiries into when a close-up survey might be made. Fleet Command asked him why, and he explained that his recent researches lead him to believe that globular clusters might be unusually well-suited for their space folding techniques. This was buttressed by his wife's hard won discovery of what amounted to a Rosetta Stone, which enabled her successful interpretation of ancient records suggesting one Oyarandran race in the very, very distant past used globular clusters as their main staging areas for interstellar, and eventually intergalactic, space folding.

Fleet Intelligence also picked up on this, as one of their worst case scenarios involved the Ravagers able to build a ring system of their own. Building even one Stellar Harnessing Ring took an entire interplanetary civilization. At present, it required seven such rings to get an intergalactic tunnel opened. In the early days this worse case scenario seemed nothing more than a theoretical exercise, and one that would never occur now that they had a 'specialist' whose sole purpose in life was to destroy the Ravagers. (Speculation among that community about the hardships of such a life ranged from "boring" to "horrifically harsh." None of them had ever met Kuryakin, but all agreed no one sane would want to take such a job.) Their specialist had been so effective at this that no one could accurately count how many he'd killed, but all agreed the Ravagers pretty much had their backs to the wall by now.

Over the years, Fleet Intel had noticed that there were occasions where the enemy got away, and often took great pains to make sure they got away with certain information, and in some cases, even technologies, or at least plans for them. A slow, piece-by-piece gathering of everything needed for such a system seemed an extremely improbable long shot, and the idea of a crude "fire and forget" system designed for a one-off shot at another galaxy might be on the minds of their enemies simply had not occurred to anyone. Lately though, some intel analysts had noticed what they thought to be an increase in enemy activity. It was vague stuff, and difficult for their "trackers" –people who specialized in seeking out Ravagers for Kuryakin to dispatch, to find out what, exactly, was going on, but there did seem to be an overall movement in the direction of the Vandalia galactic arm. Later, they would discover that this occurred right around the time earth humans had found the Node Point Homing Beacon and made contact with the Ravagers. Until now, it was all speculation, but in the obvious tradition of always putting the burden of uncertainty on the enemy, they also had taken note of the anomalous cluster, and when the two scientists made it clear why they wished for a mission to the cluster as soon as possible, the idea finally dawned on the brain trust at Fleet Intel. Orders were sent for Fleet to investigate in force at once.

When the starships had closed to within scanning range of those outer stars, they began detecting the first signs of a Stellar Harnessing Ring. In the event of such a discovery, the admiral in command had very concise and drastic orders: destroy at once, by any means necessary. He ordered the ships to make for the ring with all possible speed. As they closed to firing range for their longest ranged weapons, they took note that the system was activated. It was very crude, so much so it must be generating catastrophic effects on the surface of whatever world they were trying to reach, but it was functioning well enough. They were minutes away from opening fire, when alarm claxons began sounding. Sensors picked up massive instabilities in the system followed by a "Thanatos" wave coming from the corridor.

"Emergency action, evasive!" ran throughout the ships command and control computers. The great ships heeled over, and sought to get away as fast as they could.

The dimensional boundary of the vortex notwithstanding, it was impossible that such a summary judgement upon the Ravagers could happen in such proximity to the earth without some of Hotaru's wave breaking through. In some places, the effect was as drastic, nasty and conclusive as one would expect from The Senshi of Ruin, but in others the effect was strangely adumbrated, even positive, talking the form of hope-filled dreams and imperatives to greater courage, confession and action. In other cases, it took the form of nightmares that, in the worst cases, drove some to insanity and suicide. Consciences once seared shut, were reborn; others, on the cusp of reprobation, were sent over the edge. Many well-kept secrets were exposed, and many evils were forced into the open, while others, sincerely repented, were covered, never to emerge again. Thus did Hotaru's Wave break over the earth, and begin separating the wheat and the chaff.

In what may have been the most drastic manifestations of Hotaru's Wave, an earthquake of unusual focus and power hit Chiba, Japan, and leveled the supposedly earthquake proof Sea Gate Tower. However, that was only half the story. When the tower fell, there were very few casualties. Though it was a work day, an odd wave of "blue flu" had people calling in sick, and when the earthquake – if that's what it was- hit, the building was largely unoccupied. Others who were in the building wondered at this strange, mass "call in" and some of them "got a very strong feeling" and left the building too. Over time, many stories from all over the world like this one emerged, tales of disasters, but also of strange, even miraculous, escapes within them. So prevalent was this that a running joke emerged in many countries all along the same line: "No, I don't want to hear how you survived disaster x!"

In time, scientific explanations for the Pacific phenomenon emerged. That earth was struck by a "quantum filament" of unusual size and power was probably the most debated and interesting, though this smacked more of science fiction than science, and many were duly amused. Other theories including "an alien invasion" emerged as well, but this did nothing to douse the brushfire of "happenings" Hotaru had unleashed. All over the world people realized that this was the result of "a happening," and that it was connected to the strange phenomenon that occurred over the Pacific ocean. All of this would become known only in the days to come.

Of more immediate concern is what happened after the Senshi of Ruin fell into the sea.

Sailors Neptune, Pluto and Uranus came around a grove of palm trees, and saw the rocky outcropping where the waves had deposited Hotaru and Kuryakin. As they clambered down to them, they saw Hotaru, de-transformed and glowing pink, holding Kuryakin's head in her lap. She was sniffling. He was on his back, gasping from a wound that went clear through his lower chest. There was another through his right leg, and the salt water from the fall into the ocean had made the pain nigh unbearable. Only by Hotaru's healing power was Kuryakin still alive, and conscious.

"Kuryakin-sensei, … I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"What happened in there?" Sailor Uranus asked gently.

"He was … shielding me against them, while I tried to get my footing. I stumbled several times, but he caught me and kept me upright. Then I managed to stand, and bring down the Glaive. I saw it. I saw the wave of destruction –I've never seen it before, only its effects- and the enemies shrieking at its approach, trying to flee as it rolled over them, unmaking them, pulling them to their doom. It was ... beautiful, so beautiful … I couldn't move. I could see the return wave coming, to close the loop and complete the destruction. He called to me, again and again, but … I couldn't move. It was just so … perfect, I couldn't take my eyes off it. He had to drop his guard to pull me out as the counter shock hit."

"On my … life, I said," he coughed. "And … here she is."

"But not as I was before," she said.

"Are you … hurt?" he asked anxiously, despite his own condition.

"I'm soaking wet," she said, gamely trying to add levity to the situation.

"Your weapon … called to avenge … the blood of the innocent," said Kuryakin through the pain. "There was yet … innocent blood on my hands. Some of mine … was forfeit … as well. Perhaps all of it."

"Yet you were able to shield me from the wave."

"Because … I … love you, … and could not bear … to see you die for me."

"I cannot bear to see you die either."

"Then maybe you can keep me alive long enough," he said, but she could tell he wasn't confident of this at all.

"I'll do it. As long as I must, I'll keep you alive."

"Their blades … are poisoned," he said. "You should try to stop … the poison first."

"Can a doctor help you?" Hotaru asked.

"Other than you, the only ones … who can help … me are still two days … away," he said, and then his body contorted.

"You have to live, Kuryakin-sensei," Hotaru mewed. "Please. You have to want to live."

"I do," he said after she drew away some more of the pain, wincing as she did. "Now that I have someone to live for. It's funny. When I lost my wife, I wanted to die. Even after I gave up trying to kill myself by neglect, for a long time, in all my battles, I was still trying to die, but in an acceptable way. So I flung myself into every battle without fear or hesitation. Now that I really want to live, I might … not … I feel so cold … so cold …"

Sailors Uranus and Neptune came closer but Sailor Pluto kept back. She didn't want to, but the same reticence that had characterized her thoughts about the man from the beginning froze her in that spot. She was only able to force herself to take a step closer when she was able to ask herself 'Was I in love with him from the moment I saw him?' Part of her wanted to cry, to say what she felt, to do something, anything to try and help him survive. Perhaps he would find strength to live if she told him that she loved him, that she wanted him to live, that she'd do anything for him, yet something cold inside her would not let her. But why? These might be the man's last moments. He ought to know … how she felt. She had almost told him the previous night, when they were talking quietly outside the guest room … 'his room' she thought. Had she actually liked having him around? And if he did die, Hotaru might be crushed by the weight of the love she so obviously felt for him now. Why couldn't she bring herself to give what help she could? Kuryakin was very pale and still now. He was a full-grown man, but like this, he was more like those little boys that got hurt on the playground at Juuban Elementary. Though part of her fought so hotly against it, tears began forming in her eyes.

Sailor Neptune was surreptitiously watching her.

'What is going on inside her?'

Kuryakin hacked up a bit of blood and then, with new life, bolted to a sitting position.

"They're coming … They're here …" he said with labored breathing, but a bit of a smile on his face. He slowly lay down again. "Just hold on a little longer, Hotaru-chan. They just need a minute to locate me."

Off in the distance there were still heavy banks of clouds left over from the storm. Then, knifing through them, came two vertical beams of light. They were at an odd angle, as if their reference point was a plane outside the terrestrial horizontal. The beams got thicker as they got closer, and now could be seen as cylinders filled with textured, sparkling light, and brimming with energy.

The two beams came in among them, then righted themselves according to terrestrial horizontal, and then coalesced into two very human forms. One was that insanely handsome blond-haired man they had seen in the messages Kuryakin received from Oyarandra. The other was stunning woman with tan skin and beautiful, long, straight silvery hair.

"Hello, Brave and Beautiful Guardians," said the man. "I am Calev."

"And I am Tara," said the woman whose voice was like wind song. "We can talk later, but we must see to the Kure Arkhon, first."

"And here he is, quite the worse for wear, as usual," said Calev.

"Please," said Hotaru, "help him quickly. He's close to death, and in so much pain."

But the man seemed more interested in staring at Hotaru.

"Tara, look here."

The silver-haired woman looked at her, got a knowing and slightly reverent look in her eyes, and then the two of them began speaking in a language none of the Senshi understood.

Calev: It must have been her 'wave' we felt. So, this is where she will come from.

Tara: How blessed we are to have seen her so long before her accession. She seems so sad in this place and time.

Calev: Indeed, if she only knew what awaited her, for in time she will think of this as mere beginning…

Tara: Ah, if only we could meet the other one. The Lady who will be here when she is there, at the coming together of the galaxies …

"Silence!" Kuryakin found the strength to grunt. "Speak in their tongue … or hold your own. You're being rude."

"Yes sir," said Calev.

"How did you get here so quickly?"

"Not sure how that happened. One moment we were two days away, the next we could see the end."

"Would you please help him?" said Hotaru, looking a bit perturbed.

"Yes, My Lady," both of them said, very deferentially.

The two of them knelt on either side of Kuryakin.

"You … know what we need to do, of course?" Calev asked Kuryakin.

Kuryakin winced and nodded. This was never pleasant.

"What will you have to do?" asked Hotaru.

"Well, My Lady," said Calev, "the poison is all through his system, and the only way to save his body …"

"… is to de-cohere him," Tara finished.

"Will it hurt?"

They looked at each other, and then at Hotaru, and both nodded in a way that suggested the answer was 'more than you can possibly imagine.'

"We've had to do this twice before," said Tara gravely to Sailor Saturn.

"If it will hurt so much, then don't," said Sailor Saturn. "I will heal him no matter how long it takes."

"Strong as you are you won't be able to defeat the poison in time. It is best to get it over with quickly. But you can still help. Move behind him … that's it … and hold his head. Be ready to draw off as much of the pain as you can take."

Spheres of light that seemed to be drawn from their very hearts appeared in their hands, and a flash of light began etching a circle in the ground, drawing a perimeter around them all.

"In or out of the circle, you're far too close" said Tara looking around at the Elder Outers. "When he de-coheres you are all likely to … see things, in the way he sees them, so you may as well be inside the circle and see clearly." Then she looked at Hotaru, and smiled so kindly at her, that even in the violence that followed, there was no fear.

"Are you ready?"

Kuryakin was white as a sheet, but nodded, his mouth tightly shut in expectation of what was coming.

"Forgive us, sir."

The two Oyarandran healers pushed their spheres of light together and then drove them down into his body. What followed was horrible, but wonderful, too. With an expression of profound pain on his face, light flooded Kuryakin's body and, in stages, he came apart in the form of spiraling ribbons of pure white light that shot in all directions. They were contained by the cylindrical boundary defined by the circle, which became visible when the spirals of light ricocheted off of it, and began flying ever upward into a vast column of pure white light that lit up the sky. Here and there, tarry, jagged-edged streaks could be seen amongst the ribbons. Hotaru, who clenched her teeth in a determination to bear the agony she was successfully drawing off no matter what, could no longer see his body, but somehow she could still feel his head in her hands. Sailor Uranus, Sailor Neptune and Sailor Pluto were pushed back against the bounding cylinder, their faces shocked, though pleasantly, by the light being released. They could feel its power, and unable to get any further away, they were being drawn into it. Out of the corner of her eye, Pluto noticed that the tarry streaks were slowly being pushed to the boundary, and, as though it were some kind of energy osmotic filter, they passed through. Deprived of their parasitical connection to the light, they imploded. It occurred to her she felt that something similar was happening to her – or trying to.

Three thousand miles away, the Inner Senshi were outside helping Rei Hino sweep up leaves at Hikawa shrine. Mamoru had comes out just a few minute ago and told them that the terrible storm appeared to be breaking up. He had gone back inside and was there for only a few minutes when Usagi suddenly seized up, gasped in apparent pain, arched backwards, and then, as her body began to glow, collapsed.

"Usagi!" shrieked Ami Mizuno, as she ran to catch her.

"What is it?" yelled Minako, as she and Makoto had heard Ami's cry and came running.

They saw Usagi flat on her back, and looking utterly, though not unpleasantly, dazed.

"Mamoru-san!" Rei yelled toward the shrine. "Something's happening to Usagi!"

Chiba came out, took one look and ran to her.

"Usa-ko!"

Lying on her back, Usagi had transformed into Eternal Sailor Moon without intending it. She raised her head, looked toward the south, and said, "It's all right, I'm okay, but do you see it? That light in the south. My light. It is being released somewhere. I can feel it, I can see it. I can see them. The Outer Senshi, they have been in a terrible fight. But they've won."

"Tell us what you see, Sailor Moon," said Ami-chan, fascinated by the implications of what she'd just said.

"I am with them," she said. "And that man is there. He is calling me, somehow."

"We've got to get her out of sight," said Mamoru as he and Makoto picked her up and carried her behind the temple.