III. Bullet train from Elysion
He didn't know how they had done it, but boy had they ever done it.
As planned (okay, not really planned) Elios had been up bright and early, and with a suitcase that contained a few more sets of robes, a toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, and all the other necessities. Oh, yeah, and also the cigarettes and lighter, in case he couldn't find any other bad habits in Tokyo.
Halia and Ino had accompanied him to a train platform which he was sure hadn't previously existed, and waved as he boarded the train which had shown up slightly after six o'clock. It was now ten o'clock, Elios was completely alone on the train, and he was starting to get crabby. If Ino and Halia had invented the train for the specific purpose of forcing him on vacation, then couldn't they at least have made it leave Elysion a little bit later? And was Elysion really so far away from Crystal Tokyo that it took four hours to get there, on a magic train? Or maybe they just wanted him to suffer. That was it. They sent him on this vacation not for stress relief, but because they wanted him dead.
In fact, the more he thought about it, the more sense it made. Halia and Ino only wanted him out of Elysion for a week so that they could make some sort of drastic, life-altering changes. He could see it now—automated Priest Elios, who ran on batteries and who was capable of losing himself in prayer for a good twelve hours, just like he himself had used to be able to do, before he'd realized how senseless it was.
That was the problem, he knew it now. He'd been awakened. Awakened from the senselessness of it all, and that was very very bad. It wasn't a good idea to wake up—no, not in dream-land. And so they were going to replace him.
He was acutely aware of the fact that he was alone now, unless Chibi-usa indeed remembered him, which he very much doubted—she hadn't even tried to contact him, after all. How long had it been since he had last seen her, anyway? How old was she, now? What if she had already fallen in love with or married someone else?
"Well," he said conversationally, and out loud, looking around the car as if there might actually be other people to hear him. "If that's the case, I guess I'll just have to go insane and try to take over the world." He smiled around at the vacant seats again, and then realized what he was saying.
And panicked.
And nearly burst into tears at the thought that maybe, just maybe, the train was bugged, and someone had actually heard him say that and right now, at that very second, reinforcements were being sent to the train station where he would soon be arriving, and the doors would slide open with a hiss, steam rushing into the car, and out he would peer, cautiously, and suddenly the sound of a machine gun would rip through the air, and he… he…
Well, being a priest he was already more or less holy. It was being holey that worried him. A lot.
"Uh… I didn't really mean that, you know!" he called into the car, just in case, and then blinked.
"I'm talking to myself, aren't I? …I must be going mad. I must be mad, since I even agreed to go on this stupid vacation at all. Well it will all be all right, eventually. Ha, yes, I'll show them. Them and their stupid automated Priest Elios. And Chibi-usa, too, for marrying someone else!" He stood up abruptly and clenched his hands into fists. "Yes, I'll show all of them! I'll show the whole da-… da-… DARN world that you can't just walk over Elios and expect him to like and accept it!—oh, no!" He paused for a moment to indulge in a bit of maniacal laughter—a thing which he didn't often allow himself. Of course, the occasion for it had never actually manifested itself in the past, so his maniacal laughter came out sounding a little bit more like a combination between a wracking cough and a duck on stimulants than anything else.
He stopped suddenly, however, to look warily around the car once more. He checked quickly under the seat cushion for microphones, and then sat down again, faced with another problem:
Just how was he going to show all of them?
"Well," he said aloud again. "I could become rich and famous. Or just famous. Yes, that's it, I'll become a famous rock star, and then they'll all be sad that they didn't see the raw talent in me."
…Of course, he realized disappointedly, he had no raw talent for singing or for music in general. That idea wouldn't work.
"Then maybe I'll just fall in love with someone else—someone really pretty and kind, who would never abandon me. And I'll marry her, and we'll have lots of children. …No, that wouldn't spite Ino and Halia enough. Fine, then, I'll organize a crime ring, and— …no. Start a wildly successful business? Hmm… Haven't got the entrepreneurial skills." He sighed, and thought hard for a moment.
…And once again came up devoid of any skills or talents that he might have. He had to blink back tears as the sad truth hit him.
"I really am worthless. No wonder they all want to be rid of me."
He mulled this over for the remainder of the trip, which turned out to be about twenty more minutes.
The train pulled into a station which appeared to be in the heart of the city. It was extraordinarily clean, and so were all the people moving through it.
Clean, well dressed, well groomed, and happy looking.
Oh, and not one of them had a golden horn sticking out of their forehead.
Understandably, Elios attracted some attention, getting off of the train. Yes, he decided, it must have been the horn. Or else it was the long white robes. …Or maybe it was his plaid suitcase?—either way, he was getting odd looks.
So the first thing Elios decided to do was go to the nearest clothing store he could find.
…Which happened to be a lovely little place called Hot Topic.
It was with much trepidation that Elios entered the store at all. The pulsating red lights around inside of the entrance frightened him. …But on the plus side, the girl at the counter had pink hair, and that reminded him of Chibi-usa (even though he was trying very hard to forget her.) So Elios swallowed his fear, picked up his little plaid suitcase, and entered the store.
The girl at the counter turned toward him when he entered, and, taking a good long look from the tip of his horn to the soles of his pristine white boots, and gave a low whistle.
"You must be from Europe," she said.
He nodded hesitantly.
"I, er, I need a little help—"
"Fitting in with the locals?"
He nodded again.
Her eyes glinted wickedly, but Elios didn't notice. Elios was too nice himself, and therefore tended not to notice all but the most obvious signs of malice—you know, like when someone destroys your home land, wraps your naked body up in spider web-like material, suspends you in midair, and then decides to turn you into a horse. That sort of thing.
"Here, sir, let me show you some of the things we just got in," she said, leading him to a nearby clothing rack.
And Elios? Elios never suspected a thing.
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Notes: You don't really get to know Elios all that well in either the manga or the anime. Therefore I don't HAVE to say that this is wildly OOC. Ha.
Also, I'm not really sure if Hot Topic stores exist outside the U.S.A. Therefore, for any international readers I might have, I will explain that they are a clothing chain which carries an interesting variety of punk and goth clothing. The stores tend to be really dark inside. Personally, I think they have some pretty neat stuff, but the idea of Elios even working up the will to go in cracks me up. I would also like to note that the above example of a clerk is waaaay off. All the clerks in Hot Topic that I've ever run into have been almost disturbingly friendly, even though they tend to look like the kind of people that I would run away from, should I happen to meet them in a dark alleyway. …No offense meant. -_-
Disclaimer: Not only do I NOT own Sailor moon, I ALSO do not own Hot Topic, nor do I have any rights to either of these. I'm not profiting off of this little thing here. I hate writing disclaimers. I don't know what else to say. Did I mention that I hate writing disclaimers?