THE SECOND STRING
Chapter 9: "The Land Of Nod"
A neo-Sailor Moon fanfic
By Bill K.
"Badiane," Saturn frowned. "Is that the name of the evil queen Pupuran said that Perle betrayed? So she's real?"
"Badiane is real," Candide answered. "But Badiane is not a person."
Quickly the room began to fill with a grey smoke. The Senshi began to back away from it, but the smoke quickly surrounded them and they found it wasn't noxious. As the smoke covered the temple, it began to change from grey to a darker black with pinpoints of white. In the center of the black vista was a circle where there was no light save for a single pinprick. Upon seeing it, Pallas gave a little whimper and clutched Vesta's waist.
"This is Badiane," Candide told them.
"I don't see nothing but space!" Vesta growled. "And that black hole! Who you kidding?"
"Badiane is the black hole," Candide replied calmly. The picture in the smoke began to close in on the black hole. In the center, incongruously, was a medieval European castle sitting on a clear field of what looked like glass. "Badiane is an intelligence within that expanse of space that exists between the dimensions. Over billions of years, Badiane has evolved from something - - I do not know what - - to what exists there today. Badiane is an intelligence without form, without substance. Badiane is pure mental energy."
"Does this Badiane exist on a planet?" Juno asked. "Does it live in that castle?"
"Badiane created the castle from its thoughts. Badiane is its own environment," Candide replied. "It is entirely self-contained. It exists as Elysian exists, or the dimension in which Earth exists, with its own rules and structure. Furthermore, Badiane has conscious thought. It sees through its mental energy. It hears. It observes the different dimensions in search of knowledge and stimulation. It is curious. And, I fear, it has become lonely."
"You're talking like it's human," snorted Vesta.
"Anything with consciousness can get lonely," Saturn remarked. "Is that why it tried to contact Usa?"
"To explain that, I must explain the dream," Candide frowned. "I violate a sacred oath by doing this. A being's dreams are their own and should always remain private. But Badiane's dream threatens the lives of others, particularly my son. My son is more important than my honor."
"Thank you for doing this," Cere said diplomatically.
"Badiane, like all who possess sentient thought, dreams. And, as Guardian of Pleasant Dreams one thousand years ago when this dream occurred, I saw this dream. Badiane had recently observed my Daughter-In-Law when she was on Earth in the Twentieth Century, during the struggle against Queen Nehelenia."
Everyone tensed at the mention of the name.
"Enchanted by her, Badiane dreamed of her. In the dream, Badiane created a negative personality, Pupuran, who tried to abduct her. Badiane also created a positive personality, Perle, to rescue her. Perle's efforts drew my Daughter-in-Law's favor, which Badiane interpreted as a vow of fidelity. Badiane then waited for her to come and fulfill her vow and end the great loneliness it felt."
"But that was a thousand years!" gasped Saturn.
"What is a thousand years to a being who is eternal?" Candide asked. "It was only when Badiane saw my Daughter-In-Law marry my son did the being act. Unable to communicate save through surrogates projected from its consciousness, Badiane sought to claim what it believed was promised to it."
"Wow," Juno said. "It's kind of sad."
Vesta was about to respond, but froze. That alerted the others. She turned and spotted Perle standing on one of the marble benches in the temple, his curlicue pipe raised to his lips.
"You go too far, Dream Guardian," Perle said softly.
A tune came from his pipe. Candide stood defiantly against it. So did the Senshi, their minds all having a thought planted in them by Pallas to resist the song of the pipe.
"Your siren song does not affect me, surrogate of Badiane," Candide said sternly. "Leave now and never bother my son and Daughter-in-Law again and I will forgive this trespass."
An arm came across Candide's neck. Two others wrapped around her torso. Candide strained to see who her attackers were and found them to be Ravonna and Fish Eye, both enthralled by Perle's song. They were attempting to wrestle Candide to the floor.
"Floral Animation!" Ceres shouted, throwing seeds on the floor.
Tendrils from the seeds quickly knit themselves into four plant humanoids. The animates ran over and pulled the enthralled temple maidens off of Candide and held them in place.
Meanwhile, Saturn started toward Perle. Then she stopped, the memory of Pupuran plummeting to his death freezing her in her tracks. Saturn swallowed, her eyes growing wide. She looked at Perle, but couldn't get herself to act.
Vesta and Juno had no hesitation. Juno assembled a water ball the size of a bowling ball between her hands and then launched it at Perle. The elf-man narrowly avoided the shot. But it put him right in the path of the charging Vesta, now in the form of a tiger, just as Juno intended. As her water ball splashed against the wall, Vesta leaped and slammed into Perle. Perle landed on the floor with Vesta on top of him, the great cat's fangs bared and ready to snap.
"That will do, Sailor Vesta," Candide said in a tone meant to be obeyed. Vesta closed her mouth but didn't get up off of Perle. "Explain this attack, Perle. Badiane knows better than to attack Elysian."
"Badiane knows only that you shield Chibi-Usa from us!" Perle exclaimed. "It was you who arranged this marriage! You who keep Chibi-Usa from us! You are no friend of Badiane! Your actions speak for themselves!"
"I did nothing to fan the flames of love between my son and the Earth Princess," Candide replied. "I confess I did nothing to dissuade them, for they are a match made for eternity. If this upsets you, Badiane, I apologize. But Princess Usagi chose my son of her own free will."
"No!" Perle cried. "The second string! It exists! It is there!"
"What second string?" Vesta asked Juno.
"The Japanese legend about two lovers connected by a red string," Juno answered softly.
"It is there only in your own mind, Badiane," Candide told him. "You have never crossed paths with the Princess Usagi except in your dreams. I, more than anyone else, would know this."
"No," Perle grimaced.
"Accept this, for it is reality and not the succor of a pleasant dream born of yearning," Candide said. "Accept this and allow me to give you another pleasant dream as compensation."
"No! I will have her!" Perle shook his head. Then he stopped. His eyes grew wide. "Yes! She is here! I sense her! She is here!"
It was the last thing Perle said. Candide picked up his curlicue pipe and snapped it in two. Perle seized up and began to quake under Vesta. Then his form turned into a bird. Vesta sniffed the bird carcass beneath her, then turned to Candide, the unspoken question on her lips.
"He was never truly alive," Candide told everyone, "save as a conduit for Badiane."
"I ain't mad," Vesta grunted as she resumed her human form.
"He said he sensed her," Juno said. "Does that mean Badiane knows where Usa is? Will it come for her?"
"There is no reason to think otherwise," Candide replied.
"Let us know where she is and we'll guard her," Ceres ventured.
"No. There are others in Elysian who may perform that task," Candide shook her head. "There is another manner in which you may aid your Princess and my son. A way only you five may accomplish. Please travel to Badiane. Defeat it if you are able, but at best occupy its attention until I may act. Will you do this?"
"There's no other way?" Ceres asked.
"Badiane will not be negotiated with," Candide replied. "This, I fear, is the only way to protect those we love from Badiane's acts of desperation."
"Let's go," Vesta told Ceres. Juno nodded.
"Pallas?" Ceres asked.
"Pallas will go if Vesta goes," Pallas frowned anxiously. "But Pallas doesn't like the way she feels when she looks at the big hole."
"Do what you can," Ceres assured her. "Saturn?"
"There's no choice, is there?" Saturn replied. They could all see she was intimidated by the prospect. "We have to protect Usa."
"So how do we get there, Lady Candide?" Ceres asked. Candide approached Pallas and touched the teen on her forehead.
"Sailor Pallas now knows the way," Candide smiled. "Your Sailor Teleport should take you there." They nodded and headed outside the temple. "Sailor Saturn? A moment, please?"
Saturn waited while the others left. Candide approached her.
"Your fears are like a thing alive, my dear," Candide said gently. Saturn looked down in shame. "You need not fear your power. You are, indeed, the Senshi of Death and Destruction. But death and destruction are not things that need be universally feared. Death, at its proper time, may bring an end to suffering. Destruction, properly used, may clear the path for new life to grow. All things have their place in the universe. So, too, do you. When you embrace this, you will succeed. If you continue to shun this, you will continue to fail. Be who you are. Your friends will remain loyal to you, because you have chosen them well."
Saturn continued to study the floor, her brow furrowed.
"Yes, Ma'am," she squeaked. "I'll - - I'll try."
She scampered out of the temple and down the steps, her violet boots softly thumping on the granite. At the bottom, the others were waiting for her. Pallas stared at her and Saturn grew uncomfortable.
"You OK?" Juno asked.
"Yes," Saturn nodded.
"What's your heart monitor say?" Ceres asked.
"It says I'm fine," and she showed the wrist monitor to Ceres. "Usa needs us. Let's do this."
"Best advice I've heard all day," grumped Vesta.
"OK, Saturn, be ready to throw up your silence wall when we arrive . . ." Ceres began.
"Can we just do this, Priss?" growled Vesta.
"We don't know what we're going into!" Ceres fumed. "It's not like we're doing a drive by! How do we know how Badiane will react? How do we know there's even an atmosphere in that area of space?"
"Candide wouldn't send us into a situation where there wasn't an atmosphere," Juno told her. "Sure, we should be ready in case we get attacked coming out of the transport bubble, but Lady Candide believes in us. We need to justify her trust."
"Yeah, this is our shot to prove we're not just The Princess's crew," Vesta added. "That we're first rate on our own."
"But . . ." Ceres began.
"Please," Saturn huffed, her nerves working on her, too. "Let's just do this?"
"All right," sighed Ceres. She joined hands with Juno and Saturn and prayed they couldn't tell how badly her hands were shaking.
"SAILOR TELEPORT!" they shouted as a swirling wind engulfed them. In a moment, they were gone. Candide, watching from the top step of the temple, motioned her temple maidens inside.
The swirl of air came to a stop and the five Senshi looked around. They stood on a surface made of something clear and hard. It could have been glass, plastic, ice or solidified thought for all they knew. Above them was blank, empty blackness. No stars shone inside Badiane. There was nothing as far as the eye could see except vast emptiness save for the light gray castle with the black-topped spires, and the surface that was faintly illuminated from something. Pallas instantly shrank against Vesta.
"Can't say much for the decor," Juno looked around uneasily. "Can you imagine living in this for thousands of years? Maybe millions?"
"Can you sense anything, Pallas?" Ceres asked.
"Pallas hears someone," Pallas said timidly. "She doesn't know who it is. It kind of sounds like the bad elf-men, but different."
"Different how?"
Pallas shrugged. "Just - - different. Bigger? Louder? Pallas isn't sure."
Frowning, Ceres stepped forward. "Hello?" she shouted at nothing. "We are representatives of The Princess - - of Chibi-Usa! We want to negotiate this misunderstanding so that there's peace between us!"
"There is no misunderstanding," came a voice from the darkness. Everyone turned to it. Moments later, Pupuran emerged from the shadows.
"Chibi-Usa is our life and our love," came another voice from a different direction. Moments later, Perle emerged and walked toward them.
"She is promised to me," came a third voice from a different direction. Emerging from the shadows was a tall woman with cold, dark features on pale skin and angry, piercing eyes. Black hair slithered out from under a winged golden crown, a golden veil and a scarlet hood. She wore a golden sleeved vest over a scarlet jacket and a floor-length black gown. A black orb was in her right hand and a five foot staff in her left. Atop the staff was a scarlet sunburst with gold and scarlet skirts. She approached as the others did.
"Are you Badiane?" Ceres asked.
"We are all Badiane," the three figures said in unison, "and Badiane is all. Have you brought Chibi-Usa to us?"
"Chibi-Usa does not wish to come," Ceres replied. "She doesn't love you the way you want her to love you. Please accept that."
"No. She was promised to us," all three figures said in unison. Other figures of other elf-men began to emerge from the darkness. "We fought for her. We rescued her from oblivion. We love her. We need her warmth and her company. Bring her to us. Bring her or we will go to Elysian and take her."
"She isn't coming," Ceres declared. "Your memories are false. She made no promise. You can't hold her to a promise she never made!"
"Bring her to us," all the figures said in unison. Vesta counted twenty.
"We don't want to fight you!" Ceres pleaded. "We sympathized with your plight! But this is not the way to solve it!"
As one, the elf-men raised their curlicue pipes to their mouths.
"FIERY INCANTATION!" Pallas shrieked, jamming her eyes shut.
Instantly the curlicue pipes burst into flame. To a man, all nineteen elf-men dropped the flaming pipes. They were consumed quickly by the fire Pallas made. When the pipes turned to ash, all of the elf-men transformed into birds. The birds flew blindly into the darkness.
"Why do you oppose me?" Badiane asked, in its humanoid form. "Why do you wish me to endure the solitude alone? Why?"
"You can't hold her to a promise she never made," Ceres repeated.
The humanoid incarnation of Badiane twisted her staff around until it pointed at the five Senshi. A burst of dark violet energy shot from the sun talisman atop the staff.
"Silence Wall!" Saturn shouted and the energy deflected off of the invisible shield.
"That's what happens when you try to talk these jokers out of doing what they want!" Vesta sneered. "Fauna Assimilation, Tyrannosaurus Rex!"
As usual, the others had to scurry to one side as Vesta rapidly expanded into the gigantic lizard. Towering twenty feet over the queen figure, Vesta leaned in and let loose with an intimidating roar.
The Badiane surrogate responded by pointing her staff at Vesta and shooting more dark violet energy at her. The energy traveled over her head as Vesta shrunk down to the size of an insect and lifted off of the surface.
"Aqua Initiation!" Juno shouted.
Water gathered from the darkness and coalesced into a gusher that shot at the Badiane surrogate. It impacted with her and the queen figure staggered back several steps.
"There's water here?" Ceres asked.
"I guess!" Juno volleyed back. "I could sense it and I wasn't about to question it!"
"Give these a few drops," Ceres said, throwing a pouch of seeds onto the surface. Juno did so and Ceres shouted, "Floral Animation!"
The seeds sprouted into vines that quickly knit into four plant humanoids. As the water spout died away from the Badiane surrogate, the plant humanoids charged. The surrogate brought her staff to bear and hit one of the humanoids with a blast of dark violet energy. Instantly the humanoid stopped in its tracks, frozen in a cloud of the strange energy. But the other three continued on their mission. They grabbed the Badiane surrogate by both arms and around her neck, holding her as she struggled to get free.
"Saturn," Ceres barked. "Can you take out that staff?"
Saturn gave her a fearful look. After a moment, she forced down her fear and charged forward.
"Pallas, can you sense Badiane and try to put it to sleep?" Ceres asked.
"No, Ceres, the Big Hole is too big!" Pallas cried.
Within ten feet of the surrogate, Saturn watched her point her staff even as the plant humanoid held her arm. Leaping over the blast, Saturn spun in midair and brought her glaive down across the staff even as she gracefully landed on her toes. The glaive severed the staff just above the surrogate's hand. The surrogate reared back in silent agony, then crumpled into dust.
"This isn't necessary!" Ceres yelled. "Please stop this! Candide has vowed to provide for you if you stop this! But you can't have our Princess by force!"
"You five are useless to me," another Queen Badiane figure said as she emerged from the darkness.
And suddenly it wasn't dark anymore. The four Amazons found themselves in a lush green jungle. The sounds of birds were in the trees. The movement of monkeys disturbed the branches. The rush of a mighty river was off in the distance. And they were no longer in their senshi forms.
Cere and the other Amazons turned. The clearing was familiar. So was the ramshackle hut made from scavenged sheet metal, tree trunks and vines.
"The Amazon," Jun said softly, in awe as the others were in awe. "The spot where we lived after the orphanage. How did we get back here?"
Continued in Chapter 10