Chapter Forty-two: The Art of Restoration
If Usagi and Mamoru had been buried under feet of snow, death looming from suffocation, when they'd first met, even a few days ago, then she'd be all over him, relishing in his presence. Maybe they'd reincarnate so that the Silver Millennium marched onward.
Could they suffocate in sandy snow?
How did avalanches work? If only Ami or Setsuna were nearby to explain, saving Usagi and Mamoru while they were at it.
Her heart hammered against her chest. Oh, she was terrified.
Mamoru glared around the area. "We have to find which way is up." All business like he'd been while he was helping her with the robots, rescuing her from the sandball.
He wiggled the palms of his hands upon the sand and pushed. "Damn. Just like a wall of ice." His frown deepened. "I should be able to blast our way out of here."
"Wait, Mamoru."
Mamoru's eyes widened.
"That's right, I'm using your full name. You're in trouble now, buster."
He blinked.
"J-just kidding. Um, trying to." Maybe the snow-laced sand had cooled her off a little. Maybe time had made the wound less achy. Maybe the prospect of being buried alive caused her to try to escape through humor. Makoto was rubbing off on her.
Mamoru pursed his lips. Again, with the stoicism.
Usagi squared her expression, too. "I mean, while we're down here, we should talk. No one can hear us. Which isn't a good thing, but while no one knows where we are, we should talk."
A smile touched his lips. "You're finally wiling to speak to me. I thought I'd never hear your voice directed toward me again. I was afraid we'd live the rest of our nearly eternal lives angry at each other—or you, justifiably, angry at me, and me trying to make it up to you."
"That'd be an awful way to live." She coughed lightly. With Mamoru's coughing issues, now was the wrong time to cough, but Usagi hadn't been able to suppress it. "I'm trying to be like you and put my feelings aside and at least talk to you. I'm still hurting, but I have to talk to you to hurt less."
The side of Mamoru's mouth lifted. "The silent treatment doesn't work for you, huh?"
"You know I'm not good at staying silent."
Mamoru chuckled. "Yeah, you're too talkative. In a good way," he added quickly. "I'm too quiet, and you talk a lot, so we balance each other out."
Usagi giggled. She was the only one who Mamoru let into his heart. Probably Motoki, too, but he couldn't tell Motoki about his alter ego, and when was the last time he'd spoken to Motoki? Heck, it seemed like eons since Usagi had spoken to Naru. She'd grown distant from her friends and classmates once she found out that she was Sailor Moon, about her past life. How could she tell Naru, much less start the conversation? "Hi, Naru-chan, how was your weekend? Well, on Saturday, I found out I'm reincarnated from a princess and flew to the moon to see my ruined kingdom. What's going on with you?"
She liked to think that she knew Mamoru well, but what if he was hiding other things from her?
"I guess we should get to the point." Usagi hated confrontation. Regardless, no better way to confront than to be tangled in limbs and sand and snow.
"Yeah." Mamoru kept looking her in the eye, like he had since the incident at the treedome, as though he wanted to say something.
Here was his chance.
Usagi said nothing. Waiting for him to speak, take charge through words instead of actions. While Usagi admired and appreciated that he acted quickly, sometimes words were enough.
Mamoru worked his mouth, as if trying to form the right words. "I'm sorry, Usa."
The way he said it, so softly, his eyes like a puppy desperate to gain favor with his owner after breaking expensive china… Usagi's heart defrosted.
He gazed up. "I, I didn't mean… You know that I didn't mean to hurt you. But, while my intentions behind keeping my coughing from you were good, the fact is, I kept a secret from you. You've proven that you're strong, Usa, much stronger than you think you are. That's one of the things I love about you."
Usagi found herself smiling. He wasn't buttering her up. Mamoru didn't play games.
"I meant to protect you. More and more, I'm finding that you don't need to be protected. You can handle yourself. I've had an image stuck in my head for a long time of you as that vulnerable middle schooler I met a year ago. Usa, you've grown so much since then, into a capable, strong young woman. I don't have to protect you anymore. I don't have to keep you from hearing and dealing with difficult things. Not only that, but you can and have helped me with all sorts of problems, even things I didn't recognize as problems, like my aloofness. You've never met a stranger, and I hope to be the same way someday.
"I thought I could solve the coughing issue myself before you found out, so that's another reason why I didn't tell you. Together, we can figure out what's going on and fix it." He took her hands, rubbed his fingers over the back of them. "I love you, Usa. I'm sorry for hurting you. We should be telling each other everything. So from now on, I'll reveal everything to you."
Usagi wrapped her arms around him as best she could in the small space that tightened with every passing second, beginning the treacherous road toward healing. Mamoru may have poured out his soul to her, but it would take a while to regain trust. He had to start showing that he wouldn't keep secrets from her.
"I want to tell you a theory about why I might be coughing blood, Usa, and what I've been dreaming about lately—yeah, I've been keeping my important dreams from you, too, so I wouldn't worry you, and I'm sorry—but this place is starting to cave in on us."
The air thinned. Usagi coughed once more. Was the air choking her? "Is it me, or is it getting harder to breathe?" Her voice had grown hoarse.
"It isn't just you." Mamoru scowled at the sand and snow. "We don't have much time. We have to get out of here before we suffocate. I can't break us out of here without your help." Before, he was willing to break out of the sand on his own. Now, he welcomed her help.
Mamoru rapped his fists on the sand. "It's starting to feel like concrete. If we combine our powers, we can break through. As soon as we do, I promise I'll tell you about my dreams."
Usagi's heart lifted. "Thank you, Mamo. I love you, too." He may not realize it, but he'd matured into a young man who realized that opening up to others strengthened him.
She had to be looking too happy to be stuck in an avalanche, but the sand didn't seem like a problem too big for them to conquer.
Mamoru raised the palm of his hand to the sand. Usagi aimed her Moon Kaleidoscope toward it.
With his free hand, Mamoru took Usagi's hand. Usagi warmed, and she squeezed his hand.
"On the count of three," Mamoru said. Usagi nodded. Felt good for him to be taking the lead again, a relief from Usagi leading as the Moon Princess.
"One. Two. Three."
At the same time, Mamoru and Usagi called their attacks, Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber and Moon Gorgeous Meditation respectively. As quickly as the beams broke the sand, creating a path toward sunlight, sheets of sand showered down, plugging the two inside once more.
Mamoru stopped his beam, and Usagi followed suit. "This won't work."
"Let's use our attacks as propellers, like we're rocket ships. Aim at the ground and use the beams to propel ourselves through."
Another blink. Then, a slow smile. "I get what you're saying." He aimed the palm of his hand at the ground. "Let's try it." He tightened his grip on Usagi's hand.
Usagi and Mamoru simultaneously launched their attacks. Gripping each other's hands, the couple shot out of the sand like missiles, their white auras mixing with each other, doming them in white, shrieking through and splitting the air like a white comet. Coldness enveloped Usagi, and sandy snow popped into her mouth, melting on her tongue in a puddle that she spat out. Couldn't keep her eyes open, thanks to the sand and ice pelting them.
With Mamoru at her side, she had nothing to fear.
Brightness pierced Usagi's eyes. The sand and ice stopped pelting her, and she opened her eyes. She and Mamoru had broken through the avalanche, into the sunlight. They kept shooting through the air, above the mountain. Usagi dared to look down.
Sand Mountain stretched below, a series of peaks, valleys, mounds, fish and robots that looked like ants. Bikini Bottom sprawled, the skyscrapers no larger than pencils.
A smile encompassed Usagi's face, another smile loosening Mamoru.
Bikini Bottom was beautiful.
Ahead, the sky expanded endlessly, the sun brightening the flower-like clouds. The sky, the sea's surface, shimmered.
They were near the surface.
Usagi wanted to go back, to let her mama and papa and Shingo, Naru and Umino, her loved ones back home know that she was safe.
Mamoru cried out. He'd never done that be—
Usagi's head gonged against a barrier, and she yelped, her head ringing. They spiraled down faster than they had risen, probably looking like falling angels, swaddled in each other's fading auras. Clashing against the invisible barrier had shattered their concentration. No way could she or Mamoru concentrate enough to gather their wits and fly again. Her head throbbed as quickly as her heart, and it felt as though water flooded her head.
They crashed into the sand. Mamoru scrambled, righting himself. Usagi poked her head up and rubbed her forehead.
"What, what, what was that?" Crashing into that barrier must have torn out a chunk of Usagi's brain. Could hardly think.
Mamoru looked around, eyes narrow. Always alert for enemies. Must be a side effect of being alone often.
They had landed in the middle of a sandy field teeming with robots, resembling the area in Guppy Mound. Usagi suppressed a groan. Not again.
She climbed onto her feet, and the knocking in her head intensified to a banging. Felt like thick blood muddied her brain, making Usagi want to bury herself in the sand.
Two D1000s stood at their sides, on two cliffs. They had never been able to finish at the bottom of Guppy Mound. Thanks to their stronger relationship, they'd defeat these robots.
Mamoru launched Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber, eradicating a D1000. As soon as the machine had been destroyed, Mamoru stopped the beam, making sure not to cause another avalanche. The destroyed D1000 revealed a button. In front of Usagi, near the door leading to the ski lift, a gate was erect. Usagi and Mamoru could fly over the gate, but beating the robots took precedence.
Usagi began to run but slipped on the ice, wobbling and slapping a hand on the ground to keep from falling. As she staggered, she aimed her Moon Kaleidoscope at the remaining D1000 and launched Moon Gorgeous Meditation. The rainbow, shard-filled light ripped the air. A Chomp-Bot tackled her side, and she fell, sliding and rolling across the ice. The robot tore her uniform with its maw, and its rancid breath burned her sleeve to shreds. Worse, the rotting smell smacked her nose, watering her eyes and quickening the jackhammering in her head.
Usagi kneed the Chomp-Bot into her own face. Another puff of rancid breath exploded in her nose. Her eyes watered faster.
The Chomp-Bot skidded across the ice as Usagi tumbled, head over heels, from the force of the Chomp-Bot smacking her face. Mamoru landed behind her, catching her.
He smiled.
Usagi stuck out her tongue. "I'm clumsier on ice."
"My Usa…" Affection and love made his eyes twinkle. He wanted to kiss her right in the middle of these robots.
He jerked, whipped around, his back facing Usagi, and swept his white beam. Usagi tried clambering onto her feet but ended up slipping in place instead. Managed to jet out her rainbow beam, breaking Fodders, Chomp-Bots, Ham-mers. Beneath the cliff on which the last D1000 stood skidded a Tar-tar Sauce, the robot spurting out bubbling, steaming tartar sauce from its funnel, toward Mamoru. The beam crashed into the cliff below the D1000, and the platform snapped, the D1000 falling. The machine and the cliff's remnants crushed the Tar-tar Sauce.
Pushing, Usagi swiveled around and grabbed Mamoru's legs. She slammed him facedown onto the ice. The tartar sauce shrieked above, the heat threatening to crisp Usagi's and Mamoru's hair, and then plopped onto and melted holes into the ice. Parts of the sauce slid across the ice, trails of water in their wake. A Fodder wheeled away, still in the sauce's path; the sauce chased the Fodder, and the robot wasn't smart enough to wheel in a different direction. The sauce collided with the Fodder, reddening and then dissipating the robot. The sauce disintegrated against the opposing wall.
Wind whistled about. The robots were gone.
Mamoru lifted his head.
"I'm so sorry, Mamo. I, uh, I just meant to get you out of the way, like you helped me."
He cradled his forehead. "That's all right."
"Oh, no, did I make your headache worse?"
Mamoru gave a slight shake of the head. "It's okay. It would've hurt worse if that robot's sauce had scalded me." Taking her hands, he helped her onto her feet. She danced like a puppet on the ice.
"Just relax, Usa." He gripped her shoulders. "Relax."
Usagi deepened her breathing, her shoulders sinking. She regained her balance, standing still.
Mamoru launched thin white beams, pressing each of the buttons that the destroyed D1000s had revealed. Rumbling from overhead. Mamoru's and Usagi's heads whipped up, Usagi's breath growing shallow. She coughed once more. Maybe the adrenaline had made it harder to breathe.
On the cliff above, a snowball rolled off, crushing the gate, clearing the walkway.
Usagi and Mamoru stared at the gate, at the cliff, awaiting another snowball, a group of snowballs, snow cascading off the cliff, but no other snow fell.
Usagi cocked her head. "That's it?"
"You sound almost disappointed that we're not being buried under feet of snow for the second time in one day."
"Oh, no, I'm thrilled. Tired, but thrilled." Still hard to breathe, though. Maybe she'd recover her breath after a few minutes of calm. Her expression brightened. "We did it, Mamo."
"Yeah. We did." He averted his gaze.
"Are you…keeping something from me again?"
He rubbed his shoulder. "Yes. I shouldn't be, though. I was wishing that we'd never fight again, but that's unrealistic."
"The good news is, we came out stronger. So every time we fight, we'll end up a stronger couple. Nothing will be able to tear us apart, and that's not just because of fate."
"That's for sure." He cupped his chin. "I wonder if we could defy fate if we tried."
"Hmm." Usagi bit her lip. Imagined running away from Mamoru, her friends and family, never to be found again, escaping her destiny. The world would crumble because she and Mamoru weren't leading the universe together. "I don't want to try. I don't want to mess anything up." Maybe, after defeating their enemies, the peaceful life would come. Fighting and wars would cease. Better yet, the sea and the earth would be connected, allies.
Being in Bikini Bottom might not be fate. Luna hadn't mentioned anything about the underwater world, and Usagi hadn't seen anything about the underwater world when she'd been exposed to her past life. Michiru, who commanded the deep seas, had said nothing about Bikini Bottom.
Perhaps the Sailor Team was rewriting the future for the better. Creating a new one in which the undersea creatures and the humans collaborated, lived in harmony and peace, combined their talents to build a more advanced thirtieth century with cutting-edge technology, a world full of fun and laughter and love.
They'd connected the two worlds by doing what was right out of a wrong situation, out of fighting the Dead Moon Circus, who had meant their being sent to Bikini Bottom for evil, but had wound up being good in the end. Their adventure wasn't finished yet, but everything would turn out okay.
She held her drumming head. Too much thinking after smashing into an invisible barrier and fighting a small army of robots. "A-anyway, what did we run into? It felt thicker than concrete."
"It did feel like some kind of wall." Mamoru glowered at the sky, like he was expecting the perpetrator to come out and laugh at their misfortune. "I don't think that barrier was always there."
"I wonder who put it there."
"The Dead Moon Circus might have had something to do with it. They must be trying to keep us hemmed in since they know we can fly." He rubbed his chin. "If that were the case… They know that there's no opposition on the surface anymore since all of us are down here. At least one of them should've gone up there and started messing with people. But I don't think they have. There could be something they want down here, something that they need every member of their troupe to search for."
Mamoru's smarts matched Ami's and Setsuna's. People underestimated Mamoru, especially since he didn't have something Herculean about him that people could discern outwardly. Ami obviously had her genius I.Q., Makoto obviously had super strength, Rei obviously had psychic powers. Mamoru seemed plain compared to them, but his heart and will could move mountains.
Mamoru shrugged. "Who knows who put that wall up there and why? Either way, we'd have to stay down here. Now, about my dreams…"
Usagi's breath hitched, and her heart leapt in anticipation. Yet another cough.
Mamoru raised an eyebrow.
Usagi hid the seed of panic behind a smile. "It's the air up here. Keep going."
His eyebrows arched. "Please don't keep anything from me, Usa."
"I wouldn't." A lie. Couldn't worry him. She didn't want to stop him from revealing his dreams, either. "Seriously, I've never been in a mountain before. I'm not used to the air, especially in a place like Bikini Bottom. Besides, I'm not the outdoorsy type of gal, so I'm not used to nature in general."
"When I think about it, that makes sense."
She kept herself from releasing a sigh of relief. "Anyhow, your dreams."
"Right. I've been having them for a few weeks now, and they started a little while after we defeated Mistress 9, when we saw the solar eclipse. That solar eclipse also marked beginning of my coughing blood. Helios appeared to me in a dream, saying that he was sorry about not being able to protect me or Elysion. He needs help finding the Golden Crystal. He didn't say what the Golden Crystal's able to do or why he needs it, but I think he's on our side. He did protect Chibi-Usa in Downtown Bikini Bottom.
"I've been having visions of Elysion, too. It's desolate and gray, and I'm not sure why. I'm not even sure what Elysion is, exactly, but I think it's where Helios came from. I don't know its significance to us or how Helios is related to us."
If only Usagi had a super brain like Ami or Setsuna to make sense of what Mamoru had said. "I can't offer much comfort or help, Mamo, but whatever this Golden Crystal is, I'll do everything I can to help you find it. It must be important if Helios is looking for it." She snapped her fingers. "What if the Dead Moon Circus is searching for it, too, and that's why they're all down here?"
Mamoru tensed. "I wouldn't be surprised if they were. Doesn't change the fact that we have to stop them." He squeezed her hand. "Thanks for always being there for me, Usa. Whether the Golden Crystal is good or bad, we have to find it before our enemies do."
True. With her friends' help, they would.
"There you guys are." Haruka?
Haruka and Makoto, Makoto carrying Sandy, Haruka carrying a blue-haired girl, a member of the Dead Moon Circus, flew over one of the walls, landing in front of Usagi and Mamoru. Makoto's face was red, and her sailor suit was scuffled. Sandy's eyes were swollen. Had the squirrel been crying? On the other hand, Haruka looked unharmed.
Usagi beamed. "You're back. I'm so glad you made it."
"We should be saying the same thing to you," Haruka said. "We heard the avalanche, but by the time we made it down where that big ball of snow was, there was a hole in it, and you and Mamoru weren't inside. Someone told us they saw a shooting star earlier, and we figured that had to be you, so we followed the direction that guy pointed us in, and here we are, Flounder Hill. Looks like you guys already cleared this spot of robots." A grin snaked onto her face. "And it looks like you and Mamoru made up."
Usagi's cheeks heated, but she resisted the urge to plug her head into the sand and instead grinned. Making up was a feat, nothing to be ashamed of. "Yes, we did."
"Phew." Haruka wiped her forehead. "Thank goodness. No more awkwardness."
"It looks like you guys have been through a lot, too." For one, Makoto hadn't said anything, and Makoto wasn't shy. She fought roughly, but no one should have roughed her up that much.
Sandy wasn't shy, either, didn't look like a crier.
"Our enemies came and attacked Sandy and Mrs. Puff," Makoto said.
Usagi lost her breath, coughed. From surprise. "No."
Thankfully, Mamoru didn't give her a look in front of everybody. He balled his hands. "So they've started involving the people down here."
"We barely managed to convince Mrs. Puff to at least let us take her back to the top of Guppy Mound." Haruka rubbed the back of her ear. "That is one stubborn pufferfish. But I'd be, too, if I dreamed about humans making my husband into a lamp all over again."
A shiver rocked Usagi. "That's awful." By the way Sandy looked, the nightmare the Dead Moon Circus had inflicted upon her had been as bad or worse."
"They made me dream that my invention k-killed others," Sandy said, voice quivering. "That dream was too gosh darn real." She shut her eyes. "I can't even tell y'all about it, it's just, it hurts." Her voice cracked.
Makoto drew Sandy close. "I almost killed them."
"What they did to me was terrible, but you don't need to do that."
She dropped her eyes. "Yeah." Usagi barely heard her.
"At least we got this girl out of the whole ordeal." Haruka raised her arms. PallaPalla lay within, eyes shut, red, crescent-shaped marks and blood streaking her neck. "She can tell us what the Dead Moon Circus wants."
Usagi glanced at Mamoru. Mamoru nodded, but before Usagi could say anything, he said, "Actually, I think Usagi figured it out."
Haruka's brow creased, and Makoto raised an eyebrow. Mamoru told them about his dreams of the Golden Crystal, Elysion, Helios.
"Then we need to find this Golden Crystal first." Haruka's expression hardened at PallaPalla. "Once this girl wakes up, we can confirm that the Dead Moon Circus is searching for it."
PallaPalla looked more dead than unconscious. She wouldn't awaken for a while.
Usagi coughed. Kept coughing and couldn't stop.
Oh, no.
Mamoru rushed to her side, eyes wide and shaky. "No. Usa, please." Pleading with her for something uncontrollable. "I couldn't have…"
It couldn't be contagious. Could it?
She couldn't blame her persistent coughing on feelings, on the air. She tried to reassure him that her coughing couldn't be his fault, only the Dead Moon Circus', but choked on the liquid clogging her mouth. Could only bury her head in the crook of her elbow and keep coughing. Her knees buckled, and she sagged, only Mamoru keeping her up.
After an eternity, the supernatural coughs stopped wracking Usagi. She heaved hot, coppery, viscous liquid.
She lifted her head, vision blurry with tears from the coughs, from what was befalling her, from what Mamoru might have given her.
Splattered on her elbow was blood.