"This is going to sound a bit strange, but I think I know you from somewhere." The rain came down more heavily and Hotaru quickened her pace. "Are you in my class?"
The young man gave her a nervous smile and tried to match her pace as he did his best to cover both of them with the umbrella. "Yeah, I'm in your class. I sit three seats behind you, but I don't blame you for not recognising me. I'm not exactly the most popular person in the class."
"Oh."
He scratched the back of his head with one hand and steadied the umbrella against the wind with the other. "Like I said, don't worry about it. It's not like I recognised you either at first. Normally, I only see the back of your head so I wasn't really sure it was you."
They crossed the street in a hurry and stopped under the awning in front of a small strip of shops. There was a café there and a bakery as well, and the scent of freshly made food mingled with the damp, earthy smell of the rain. Hotaru heard her stomach rumble and she was suddenly aware of just how hungry she was.
"Tell you what, why I don't I get you a coffee or something." He shifted his weight nervously from foot to the other. "Maybe something to eat too, it sounds like you could use it."
The thought of food was tempting but she should probably get back home and sort things out. "I'm sorry, but I don't…"
"Oh." He looked downcast. "Look, just so you know. I wasn't trying to hit on you or anything, I just thought you might be hungry and…"
Again she felt that curious wave of déjà vu. The niggling sense of unease she felt seemed utterly at odds with how he'd acted so far. He'd been nothing but kind and even now, he looked ready to just leave after her rejection.
He must have taken her silence for condemnation because he winced and smiled ruefully. "I guess you can see why I'm so unpopular."
Then again, she wasn't ready to deal with everything back home just yet. "Don't be so hard on yourself."
"Yeah, yeah, you're right." He nodded at the café. "Still, what do you say? I'll even buy."
"Well…. I guess it wouldn't hurt."
"Great." He smiled, properly this time. "Thanks."
The café was warm and cosy and they managed to snare a table well away from the cold and rain. It was pretty busy as well, with about two dozen other people scattered across the tables. Most of them were in the same position as them, caught out by the rain and none too eager to go back out while it continued to fall so heavily.
"So why were you out there, if you don't mind my asking? I mean you looked pretty sad is all." An awkward silence greeted his question. "That's okay, it's none of my business, I guess."
"No, it's all right." She glanced over at the counter. Their drinks still weren't ready. "I've just had one of those days."
"Yeah? Well, I know how you feel. Still, it can't get worse can it?"
She glared.
"Oh… it's one of 'those' days." He gave another one of those overly self-conscious laughs. "You know, that whole 'life's a bitch and then you die' thing."
She laughed, it was hard not to. "I don't want to sound rude, but I don't even know your name." She smiled sheepishly.
"No worries." He extended his hand across the table. "I'm Shinjiro and it's a pleasure to meet you."
She took his hand. Really he wasn't all that bad, even if he was a little weird. Still, there was something a little overly bright about his smile. No, he was probably just happy about possibly making a friend.
"Likewise. I'm Hotaru."
"Ah, look. Our drinks are here."
The waitress set their drinks on the table along with a few slices of banana bread. Hotaru took a few moments to savour the warmth of her hot chocolate before drinking it. It was warm and smooth, and sweet and altogether better tasting than anything in the world had a right to be. A slice of banana bread followed and she could almost feel her worries melting away.
"Good?"
"Yes, thanks." She shot him a worried look. "I hope this doesn't cost you too much."
"No, it's no biggie." He glanced over his coffee at her conspiratorially. "I used to stop by here a fair bit when I was younger. They're pretty cheap, actually."
They chatted away as they ate and she was forced to concede that her initial impression of him had been wrong. He really was a pretty decent guy, even if he was a little strange. Though truth be told, she could hardly call anyone else strange given her own rather interesting private life.
"So, what did you think?" They'd finished up and he was beckoning the waitress over to pay. "Not bad was it?"
"It was good."
"So I guess, I'll see Monday, huh." He looked nervous again.
"Yes, I'll see you Monday." She should probably go over to his desk at school next time. He was actually pretty easy to talk to.
She was about to stand up when a feeling of icy dread washed over her. Her hands clenched into fists and she bit her lip. Where had she felt this before?
"Are you okay?"
There it was again, a sense of foreboding so strong it made it hard to think of anything else. She forced herself to relax and looked around the café. Just be calm, she thought. See, nothing going on, just some people enjoying a coffee and a chat. Nothing strange going on at all, but still the feeling remained.
The café shifted before her eyes and she had a sudden vision of its interior in ruins. A shiver crawled down her spine. Something was going to happen, something bad. She needed to transform, but where? It was far too crowded and the doors and windows were on the opposite side of the café.
"What's wrong, Hotaru?"
"Get out of here." She batted his hand away. "Go!"
He looked hurt. "If I did something to offend you, I'm sorry."
She softened her voice. "It's not that. It's just… we need to get out of here."
"If you say so." He looked a little doubtful but followed her toward the doors anyway.
They were halfway to the doors when the back wall of the café came apart in a cloud of bricks, wood, and plaster. The lights sputtered crazily then blew in a shower of sparks. The café went dark as panic broke out. The dust cleared and something out of a nightmare stepped through the hole in the wall. She couldn't make out its body, but its eyes were easy enough to see, like a pair of bloody diamonds in the darkness.
"What is that?" Shinjiro murmured.
"Don't look," she replied. "Just run!"
That was easier said than done. People had already begun to try and get out the doors and in their panic they only got in each other's way. Someone fell only to be trampled as still others tried to shove their way through the door. Someone else, too frightened to think straight, threw themselves through one of the windows. They tumbled through in a shower of glass and sprawled onto the pavement covered in blood.
Hotaru tried to get to the doors. She needed to get out of here and find some place to transform. Someone shoved her from behind and she nearly fell but she felt strong hands grab her and looked up to see Shinjiro with one hand on her arm.
"Watch where you're going, buddy!" he shouted.
Somehow they made it out the door, only to be separated as the panic spilled onto the streets. The crowd pushed them apart and swept her one way and Shinjiro the other.
"Hotaru!"
She grimaced. She didn't want to worry him, but it was better this way. With any luck the crowd would keep him out of danger. For a few moments she let the crowd carry her along before she managed to find an alley to duck into.
As she felt the familiar rush of the transformation wash over her she tried to gather her thoughts. Another attack so soon? She needed to get in touch with the others. However she got nothing but static on her communicator and she wondered if maybe someone was jamming it. Now that was a scary thought. Nothing for it then, she'd just have to try and keep the situation under control and hope the others either sensed it or picked it up over the television or radio.
Screams echoed down the street and she leapt off the walls of the alley and onto the roof. From there she had a bird's eye view of the street and what she saw was not good. The creature had broken through the front of the café and was now on the street terrorising anyone within reach.
In the darkness of the café, the creature had seemed quite similar to the one she'd fought earlier but now she could see how different it really was. Its entire body was covered in large jagged scales. Dark viscous ooze wept from the gaps between scales and each movement that it made grated the scales against one another in a grisly, charnel rhythm. Jagged spikes of what looked to be rock or bone protruded from its forearms like claws and its massive legs bent backward at the knees like the hind legs of a goat. Its face was an expressionless black pit, devoid of anything save for a pair of burning red eyes. Even hunched over as it was, the creature was massive. It had to be at least four metres tall.
She summoned the Silence Glaive and contemplated trying to blast it from a distance but there just too many people nearby. The last thing she wanted to do was injure any civilians. It would have to be hand-to-hand combat then, a prospect that she was not looking forward to at all, given what had happened last time. But this time would be different. She would keep control of herself.
Her mind made up, she leapt off the roof. The air rushed past her and she lifted the Glaive over her head in preparation for her strike. Yet at the last moment, the creature seemed to sense her. It jerked to the side and Glaive sliced into the sidewalk. Before she could regain her balance the creature lunged forward and she retreated beneath a storm of blows.
Ducking and dodging around the creature's attacks, she swept the Glaive up and through the creature's shoulder. Its arm came off in a fountain of black gore and she whipped the Glaive around in a follow up strike that cut a deep gash across its stomach. With a howl, the creature slammed its spined arms into the ground. The ground trembled and a water main burst, adding to the water already on the street from the rain.
She darted forward again, only to lose her footing on the slick concrete. The creature surged towards her and she was again on the defensive. There was a part of her that wanted to blow the creature to pieces, to bring her power to bear regardless of the consequences. Ruthlessly, she forced herself to stay calm as she struck back with clinical precision. At last, she was able to drive the Glaive deep into the creature's chest. It gave a guttural groan and she wrenched the weapon to the side. The creature tumbled to the ground and lay still, though just to be sure that it was dead, she drove the Glaive into its chest one more time.
"Impressive."
The words were clearly audible over the rain and the burst water main and she turned to try and find the speaker.
"I doubt that any of your fellow Senshi would have dealt with one of our soldiers quite so easily." The distinctly male voice seemed to come from all around her. "But you'll not find me such easy prey."
The water at her feet began to bubble and she leapt backwards just in time to avoid a geyser of water that ripped up through the concrete. Another water main? No, she thought. It was something else. The water around the geyser began to darken and when the geyser finally subsided in its place was a pool of jet-black liquid. She'd put money on it not being water.
"I hope you're ready." The black liquid bubbled upward, solidified and took on a vaguely humanoid form. "I know I am." At his feet, the water shifted, restless and turbulent and she felt a bead of sweat trickle down her temple as she realised the trouble she was in. If he could control water, then, with the rain and burst water main, she was at a distinct disadvantage.
"Now," he murmured. "Let us begin."
Water shot towards her almost too fast to see. She threw herself to the side as the water pulverised the power pole beside her and hurled it to the ground. Then she was up on her feet and running chased by thick tendrils of water that gouged out thick chunks of the street and sidewalk whenever they hit.
She needed to get in close somehow, and bring the Glaive into play. There were still too many people around – why hadn't they run? – for her to use her other powers safely. In the distance, she heard sirens and she hoped that the others were on their way. Another jet of water streaked towards her and she lashed out with the Glaive. The weapon's edge sliced through the water, but the liquid simply slid past the blade and slammed into her regardless. The impact knocked the breath from her lungs and she stumbled behind a car for cover.
More water smashed into the car and she rolled beneath it as it flew over her and into one of the shops. She sprinted towards him, rolling to the side to dodge another attack, before she thrust the Glaive towards his chest only to have the weapon screech to a halt a few inches short. Her eyes widened in surprise. How had he stopped it? Then she looked down. Tendrils of water had latched onto her arms.
"You have a weapon of such power and yet you don't even know how to use it."
A wave of water lifted her up off her feet and threw her through a shop window. She hurtled through the glass and landed in a display of canned goods. The Glaive slipped from her fingers and she scrambled to get back on her feet. Water rushed into the shop and she was buffeted from shelf to shelf.
"How pathetic."
She looked up. "Who sent you?" she rasped. "Why are you here?"
He said nothing, merely gestured with one arm. Pillars of water rose up behind him and she looked around for the Glaive.
"This ends here."
She leapt for the Glaive as the water roared down towards her.
"Silence Wall!"
The rush of water swallowed her desperate cry as the shop was engulfed by his attack. Unable to move, she could only stand there, the Glaive held in front of her as the water strained against her defence. Wisps of spray washed over the light purple barrier and she felt the wall begin to slip from her control.
"No…" she murmured, trying to keep the wall up. "No…"
The wall shattered with a sound like cracking glass and the water swept her away with a titanic roar. She was thrown from one wall to another, driven into shelves and counters. Her whole world became one mass of pain and she felt conscious begin to slip away.
Get up.
That voice. It was a man's voice and it seemed, so familiar.
The fight is not over yet.
She strained to remember where she'd heard it. But her body hurt too much to focus, too much for her to gather her thoughts.
Pain? Pain is nothing. We are already dead you, and I, and what can pain do to the dead?
Her eyes glazed. Dead? She wasn't dead, not yet anyway. She just needed… she just needed…
X X X
It took three days before someone finally came to the town. Three days that she spent hiding in the ruins of her home and scrounging what food she could from the burnt out shops. And the monsters were always there, sleek shadows with ruby eyes and teeth like daggers.
She did her best to sleep, but whenever she closed her eyes they were there, her family. She'd remember what she'd seen in the town square and wake up wanting to scream so badly that she had to clamp her hands over her mouth to stop herself lest the monsters hear her and come after her as well.
If only she could forget the blood and the smell, that smell. But she didn't cry. Because crying would only get her killed and she needed to live. She needed to live so that one day she could go after those things herself and kill them all. Her hatred kept her warmer than any of the tattered blankets she managed to find.
On the third day, he arrived. He wore black all over and even his eyes, when she saw them, were black, twin pools of shadowed ice. He swept through the town like a killer wind and though she'd thought the monsters deadly, he was deadlier by far.
The monsters fled before him. Some of them fought, but they died and well before dusk came on the third day, the town square was piled high with sleek black corpses. He found her then. She'd watched him from hiding, not sure if she'd survived the monsters only to come across something worse. The way he fought scared her. It wasn't that he killed she could accept that. It was how he did it. He fought with absolute brutality, ripping the monster's limb from limb with his bare-hands or else with the shadows he seemed to command as easily as his own arms and legs. And his face, even as he drove his arm through the chest of a monster it never changed: he was calm. Blood sprayed and still his expression never shifted. He was black ice and deadlier than anything she'd ever known.
He found her crouched behind some rubble and pulled her up to eye level. She met his gaze squarely, though he was covered in blood and gore. She knew that fighting would achieve nothing. If he wanted her dead then she was dead, it really was that simple. But he merely looked at her content it seemed, to take her measure.
"You survived here for three days." His voice was soft though his expression didn't waver in the slightest. "What will you do now?"
"I need to become stronger!" she cried. "I need to kill those things! All of them!"
His eyes narrowed. "Those things come from the Between. It is their nature to kill."
"That doesn't matter! They deserve to die and after I've killed them I'll find the person who brought them from the Between and kill them too!"
"So it is vengeance that you want." His dark eyes swept over the carnage littered across the town square. "What would you do to be strong enough to kill them, to kill the one who called them?"
"Anything!"
He looked at her, his gaze so sharp it seemed to cut right down to her soul. Around them the scent of blood mingled with the scent of ash to make a strange, heady smell. "Do you mean that?"
"Yes!"
"Then come with me. I will make you strong."
She met his gaze, speechless. Was he serious? Should she accept? If she did, then would she become like him, someone who looked dead to the world, someone who killed without hesitation or mercy? No, she was dead already. She'd died three days ago with her family. Slowly, she nodded.
"Yes, I'll go with you."
He took her hand in his and smiled. It was a kind smile, but a sad one too. His voice too was sad when he spoke. "I understand." He looked away, lost in memory. "I died a long time ago too."
X X X
Saturn stood. Water dripped off her and onto the floor of the shop.
Move. The voice was hers, but it was different somehow. It was Saturn's voice, not Hotaru's. Now.
She dove to the side as the water went after her again. She felt different now, faster. The world was clearer to. She was Saturn and everything was simple.
Attack.
She glided forward, dodging another attack. Halfway there, she stooped to pick up the Glaive.
Quickly, go after him.
Her opponent retreated, casting a wave of water at her. She vaulted over the water and brought the Glaive down in a tremendous overhead chop. He tried to stop it like he had before, but the Glaive had too much force behind it. Still, despite he managed to dodge the blow and he let loose a barrage of water.
Throw the Glaive.
She rolled to the side then threw the Glaive. The weapon sailed threw the air and struck him squarely in the stomach. The force of the throw drove him back, and the Glaive pinned him against a wall.
Break him. The words echoed in her mind, all the more disturbing for the utter lack of emotion behind them. Rip and tear.
She felt herself move, only barely aware of what she was doing. A jet of water rushed towards her. She lashed out with one fist and the jet exploded apart.
Kill without doubt. Destroy without hesitation.
Her punch sailed through the wall of water he'd erected and snapped his head back. Unable to move with the Glaive pinning him to the wall, he could only stand there and take the full brunt of her assault. Another punch broke his jaw and she grabbed the Glaive and wrenched it out of his stomach. It came free in a shower of black blood.
"Monster…" he gurgled. "Monster…"
He is the monster. The voice that was hers yet not hers was relentless. Make him suffer.
She drove one of her hands through his chest.
"Argghhhhh!"
Somehow he managed to jerk himself free.
Let him run. It will make no difference.
"You can run," she said, inwardly terrified at how calm her voice was. Blood dripped from her fingertips. "It makes no difference."
He stumbled to his feet. Fear flashed through him. Only moments ago he'd been winning and now, now he could barely stand, let alone run. But if he stayed he was finished.
He ran.
She went after him.
And in the end she was right. Running didn't make a difference.
X X X
"That was… gruesome."
"That?" Shinjiro chuckled and looked down over the edge of the roof. "Oh, you mean that." There was nothing left of the water controller but a bloody smear. "Well, you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, I suppose."
"A few eggs?"
"I can see you don't get the analogy. It's like chess. Sometimes you need to be willing to sacrifice a few pawns to win."
"Pawns?" The other speaker seemed annoyed but Shinjiro didn't bother to turn. "He may have been a pawn, but he was a useful one. Besides, we have too few pieces on the board to be so wasteful."
"Well, it's working isn't it?"
"Yes." A pause. "She is awakening, but there are other ways to achieve that, ways that are not quit so taxing on our own… meagre resources."
"Still, this is the fastest way."
"True."
"And besides, none of those other ways are anywhere near as entertaining to watch as this."
"That is hardly the point, Shinjiro."
"You're no fun." Shinjiro rolled his eyes. "Still, you have to admit I've made quite impressive progress."
"Yes."
"So, what's the problem?"
"Just be careful. You know that I am firmly on your side but there are others just waiting for you to make a mistake. It would be foolish to play so easily into their hands."
"You worry too much." He grinned. "Well, hopefully I'll see her come Monday morning." A sly grin crossed his face. "You really should come to class, you know. I think you'd look quite nice in a school uniform."
Silence.
"Heh. Figures, you always were a bit of a prude."
X X X
Author's Notes
As I've said before, I neither own Sailor Moon, nor am I making any money out of this.
Well… what can I say? It took me a little longer to get this out than I planned, but hopefully it was worth the wait. This chapter's a lot longer than any of the others, and in retrospect, I'm happy with my decision to split it off from the previous chapter. I really wanted to get things moving along a little, and with any luck that's been accomplished.
As always, tell me what you think. If you've got any comments, I'd be happy to hear from you. Reviews are always more than welcome.