By Yohann DeSabrais
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn
There`s a couple of great writers I`d like to thank for proofreading
my material and pointing out to me the biggest and most glaring
errors that slipped past my attention.
Special thanks to Sonya-chan and Commander Galos for helping me
create new attacks I`ll be more than happy to use.
Thanks to Kenton Cernea, for getting me to write fanfiction in
the first place and showing us all the possibilities of great
drama and wacky silliness.
Thanks to Mark Berger, Sailor Star Love and Sailor Mac for giving
us all some amazing works of Sekkushiaru Roman to make us all
believe in true love and romance.
Thanks to you all for being such good friends.
* * *
Prologue...
In the deep reaches of the outer rings of the solar system, planet
Saturn gloriously spun around the sun in a slow orbit, gracing the
vast emptyness of space with the incomparable beauty of its immense
rings of ice fragments. Millions upon millions of these chunks
floated freely in a large merry-go-round of stellar proportions,
turning around the huge planet in the same way they had been doing
for billions of years.
Amidst these ice pieces were some more recent additions, large
amounts of twisted metal that had been left over from the untimely
explosion of Saturn Station Beta after the fateful confrontation
between the enigmatic Gallagher, the conniving Prime and the
courageous pretty soldier Sailor Moon.
One of those pieces in particular had played a critical part in
the final showdown, a black metal sword so ancient that its history
outdated that of humanity with very little uncertainty. Gallagher`s
pride, the Prime`s ultimate bane, the legendary sword Heresy... now
a mere hunk of space junk, a worthless piece of star trash, vulgar
stellar floatsam...
While the sword followed its stable orbit among the ice fragments,
a lone figure appeared seemingly from nowhere. Its speed was so
great that to a casual observer it might have seemed like
teleportation, although to her it was no such thing, the great
distances she`d crossed had indeed taken some time to span.
The gigantic shadow of the planet kept both her and the sword in
total darkness, but her keen senses guided her easily to what she
sought.
"There you are, little one!" she thought. She would have loved
saying that out loud as she simply adored the sound of her own
voice, but the void of space made it impossible for any sound to
travel.
She picked up the forsaken weapon in her hands and felt its
phenomenal power rushing through her arms. It was so strong that
it was painful to even a hardened warrior like herself.
"I`m glad I found you, boss lady was getting pretty ticked off
about getting her hands on you, and she can get... convincing in
her arguments. You`ll score me some big points on the likability
scale with her, Heresy baby!" thought the woman hidden in shadows
just as her location left the dark side of Saturn to enter the
sunlit side of the ring-clad behemoth.
Had any astronomers been pointing their most powerful telescospes to
the far side of the rings of Saturn for that brief instant, they
might have seen the silhouette of a woman dressed in a tight, dark
red suit whose wild long mane of deep red hair and long furry tail
could only be described as "foxy". How she could stay out there
without any survival equipment would have been a matter of some
debate, but no one was looking in her direction at the time.
In a flash, she was gone. And so was the sword.
* * *
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 43
SEEKINGS
"I was afraid something like this would happen." said Ami to Shingo
while he cooked breakfast for himself and his friend.
"You have more knowledge in psychology than any of us, Ami... any
insight you might have in this situation will be helpful." he said,
wondering what she meant.
"You see, being in contact with the pure evil of Black Baron has
been a great ordeal for both Rei and Laurella, overwhelming their
minds and spirits with more darkness than they could possibly
handle. When they reached their limit, they both reacted
differently. Rei lashed out mindlessly, liberating every ounce
of bottled-up anger she had regardless of whom she hurt doing
that. We can only be glad she loved Chibi Chibi enough to realize
what she was doing."
"And Laurella?"
"Laurella had the opposite reaction- she resisted the onslaught by
refusing to absorb any more, shutting down her empathy and emotions
completely, like the eyes protect themselves from bright flashes by
going temporarily blind." explained Ami.
"And this... blindness... how temporary is it?"
"I really don`t know how long it will last..." answered Ami, looking
away from his eyes so he couldn`t see in them that she wasn`t even
sure if Laurella`s condition would ever revert itself and return her
emotions the way they were before. She wouldn`t keep this
information to herself, of course, but Shingo just wasn`t ready to
hear this yet.
"Hiya guys..." came the stereo voices of Usagi and Usako, both
sporting the same sleepy eyes and wild morning hair. They sat
down at the kitchen table, both hungry and in need of a coffee
to kick start their day.
"I hope you didn`t mind leaving your bed to Rei, Usagi... she
really needed this night sleep to help her get better." said Ami.
"I didn`t mind the sleeping bag, don`t worry, I`m used to that."
said Usagi, a smile on her face. "When I woke up this morning,
she was sleeping cuddled to Chibi Chibi. It`s a miracle this
little angel is here with us... whoever she is."
"I`m not sure wether she is my daughter or not... but if she is,
then I am proud of being her mother." added Usako.
"Who do you think is the father? Could it be... that cute singer
Seiya?!?" asked Usagi, fishing for a reaction from her future
daughter.
"DON`T EVEN SAY THAT! Seiya`s a jerk who doesn`t know what name to
call me!" protested Usako, pouting. Shingo and Ami giggled at this
scene. Quickly diverting the focus of conversation, Usako turned
to her uncle. "So how`s Laurella this morning?"
"She`s... still sleeping." said Shingo, trying hard not to show
his emotions. It was to no avail, however, as all his friends
knew how concerned he was for his girlfriend, having slept all
night besides his bed where she rested peacefully, enjoying the
unexpected emotional silence she was experiencing.
"We all hope she`ll get better soon." said Usagi, her sisterly
love glowing in her eyes.
Shingo smiled back, but suddenly his tears couldn`t be held back.
He just started crying in his hands again, the three girls hugging
him in a show of support.
* * *
The sun was slowly creeping up the winter sky, barely showing itself
through the thin layer of shapeless clouds, announcing once again an
unseasonable warmth that had been so welcome since the fall of
Aebonite and the restoration of the natural balance of energy,
greatly overcompensated in the Japan area that had been hit first
and hardest by the drain.
On this comfortably cool morning, Kino Makoto was making her way to
her friend Usagi`s place, her metal crutches clanking on the
sidewalk as she took quick steps regardless of her current
condition. She was healing rapidly, though, as her ever
accelerating pace was proving. It would only be a matter of time
now until she could put those away and walk on her own again,
although she could already do that in her powered form.
Making her way along the street where Usagi`s house was, she saw a
black cat hop in front of her, bouncing with great agility to land
on her shoulder. The cat had a very familiar gold crescent moon on
her forehead, but it was the only way she could recognize her
because Makoto had never seen Luna looking so much like an alleycat,
her fur totally messed up and covered in dirt and filth.
"Luna?!? Where were you, it`s been days!!!" said Makoto, astonished
to see the cat return after her extended disappearance act.
"Looking for Artemis, with no success." responded Luna with a glum
expression. "It`s like he vanished from the surface of the earth."
"You need a bath, Luna..." replied Makoto, smelling the
undescribable odor coming from her feline friend. It ressembled a
mix of rotting fish, raw sewage, old garbage and other things best
left unidentified.
"Just get me home, please..." pleaded Luna. Makoto quickened her
pace, prefering not to press the matter until she could get the
cat to meet with Usagi who could certainly get the exhausted feline
to open up more.
* * *
Opening her eyes, Chibi Chibi yawned and cuddled herself to Rei who
was still deeply asleep. She had gone through a terrible ordeal,
reexperiencing all the pain she suffered in the past few years in
a single outburst of self-destructive guilt, but the little one
wouldn`t let her suffer.
She had a knack for healing those kinds of wounds, and her presence
alone was helping out the young soul of fire.
"Hungry..." thought Chibi Chibi as her stomach grumbled. She hadn`t
eaten since the evening before, and could sure go for some breakfast
right about now.
"Hello again, my littlest friend." said a voice near her. She
strained her eyes and saw a silhouette hidden in the semidarkness
of the bedroom. It was of average height, although its exact shape
was cleverly conceiled in an intricately woven japanese male kimono.
The features of this being were also hidden, but not from the actual
darkness, rather from its very nature which seemed to not be
entirely capable of interracting with light in a strange way.
Chibi Chibi smiled.
"You came!" she said, giggling.
"Of course. I wish to offer my help if the need arises... will my
assistance be required in the battle to come?" asked the being in a
soft, soothing voice.
"Dunno." replied the toddler.
"Very well... but keep in mind I cannot stay here very long. I will
have to return to my home soon, and it will take time before I can
return."
"Understood." said Chibi Chibi, blowing a kiss to the strange
presence which then vanished.
Chibi Chibi slipped out of Rei`s arms and ran downstairs for breakfast.
* * *
Slipping the key in the lock to her appartment`s door, Cathra
wondered how she could use her knowledge to get ahead in the power
game she found herself trapped into. She entered the place which was
decorated in a very bold style contrasting both a romantic feel with
a nearly heartless efficiency in the positioning of the many pieces
of leather furniture.
In short, it reflected her perfectly.
As she crossed th esurface of the living room, she removed her
clothes and dropped them all over the place in a careless manner.
She didn`t mind they would get wrinkled, her dry cleaner would be
doing the ironing anyhow. Looking at her naked body with perfect
skin in the mirror, she dropped her final piece of "clothing", her
human disguise. Alone in her home, she had no need for it. Her
entire body covered with short auburn fur, her ears grew long and
pointy, a long and agile tail uncurled itself from her coccyx and
her eyes became feline in appearance.
"This is more like it!" she purred, looking at herself. "Thorelia
outdid herself when she made me... I`m a living work of art!!!"
She detached herself from the mirror with great difficulty, going to
her bed and curling up in the red satin sheets she hadn`t even
bothered to pull up before she left the night before. Cathra knew
what two of the senshi looked like even if she ignored their names.
She could recognize them on the street if she saw them... she
witheld that one piece of information from Fenris when she
explained him what she saw at the mall.
"How am I going to play these fools against one another? There`s
got to be a way!" she thought, feeling her eyelids grow heavy. She
fell asleep, hoping she would find a way to get ahead... and soon.
* * *
"I`m glad you came back, Luna, we missed you." said Usagi as she
vigorously rubbed Luna`s fur with a flower smelling shampoo to get
her clean.
"I`m sorry I was gone so long, Usagi... I just got emotional when
Artemis disappeared... it`s just that... I... well..."
"Hush, Luna, no need for words. We`ve known each other for over
three years now, I know how you feel about Artemis. These things I
can feel even without Laurella`s empathy or Rei`s psychic senses."
Luna wanted to protest, try and deny her feelings for this cat she
had so often called a flea ridden alleycat, but she knew all too
well Usagi saw right through her, that she had been putting up
this attitude as a shield to protect herself from her own emotions.
She loved Artemis, she always had.
And now, she might not even get a chance to say it to him as he
might be dead already. This thought made Luna want to cry, but she
fought against this sinister idea and pushed it away. He just HAD
to be SOMEWHERE... she was going to find him.
"While you were gone, it`s been hell on earth for all of us." said
Usagi, her voice turning glum all of a sudden.
"So Makoto told me. This Black Baron, he sounds... familiar somehow.
I know I heard about him somehow, but I`ll be damned if I can
remember under what circumstances."
"Swiss cheese memory acting up again, huh?"
"Like you always say... kitty`s going senile." joked Luna. Usagi
giggled and rubbed Luna`s nose, covering it in soap suds. The black
cat couldn`t help but laugh along, feeling relieved from being with
her best friend and rid of this horrible stench she picked up over
the last few days. "I missed you, Usagi."
"Now Luna... I know that you care for Artemis, but so do we...
promise me you`ll never go away from us without staying in touch,
okay?"
"Okay, Usagi, I promise..." said the cat.
Usagi turned on the shower head dangling down in the tub and turned
on the water, rinsing off the now dignified cat who had been a
counselor of Queen Serenity herself.
"Thank you, I needed that." added Luna.
"My pleasure. Let`s get you dry now, Chibi Chibi wants to pet you
and is waiting for you to be clean again."
Luna shivered in anticipation of the little pink haired girl`s
wonderfully agile fingers. She was too proud to succumb to her
feline urges in most situations, but this girl had a way of
melting off all her defenses.
"I`ll try and endure while she pets me. I have to make her feel
good, you know." said Luna, pretending not to be one to lose
control.
"Uh huh. Self-sacrifice, right. Aren`t you the noble one..."
replied Usagi with a smirk.
"Luna, your meal`s ready. I got you some salmon, I know you love
that!" said Ikuko as she got in the bathroom with a large towel.
"Thank you, Ikuko, you`re so nice... I just love salmon."
"Any particular reason?" wondered Usagi.
"Yes, actually... it reminds me of my grandfather. Only thing he
would eat aside from the nutritive generic designed for feline
health. He said that nothing could provide protein and vitamins
his body required like that cat food, but one whiff of fresh
salmon sent him to heaven. I miss him."
"What happened? Died when Beryl attacked?" asked Usagi.
"No... he was on an orbital station in Jendra`s outer orbit when
it was destroyed. His body was never found." said Luna, a tear
rolling down her cheek.
"We all had losses, I guess... I never realized you suffered just
as much as the rest of us." said Usagi as she dried off her friend.
"He took care of me when my father Horus died..." she said.
"Horus? Like the egyptian god?" wondered Ikuko.
"He was jendrean. The son of Isis and Osiris, two jendrean cats.
They are the ones who left such an impression on the egyptian
people that they deified cats and named their gods after them."
explained Luna.
"So your dad was jendrean... what about your mom?" asked Usagi.
"She was called Diane. A lunar cat, I inherited the golden moon
crescent from her rather than father`s silver ankh. She died when
I was still a little kitten." said Luna.
"This is a side of you I never knew, Luna." said Usagi.
"We still have both a lot to learn about each other." agreed Luna.
* * *
Fenris could feel a great darkness looming above the poldzer
triangle, and despite his getting used to this sort of feeling ever
since he`d first walked into the Dark Kingdom years before. Black
clouds swirled atop the plaza like an ominous omen of apocalypse,
and the manwolf feared that not even Crystallite knew entirely what
she was doing.
"Are you sure this is what you were meant to do, my love?" said
Fenris as he stared outside their top floor penthouse windows at
the dreadful sight.
"Quite sure. This is the way to follow for the Dark Empire, my
wolf. I had yet another vision about it last night in my sleep."
she replied.
"This Black Baron is dangerous, my lady, I don`t trust him."
"So you keep saying, but doesn`t he succeed in bringing us the dark
splinters to rebuild our black crystal?" said Crystallite, showing
the half-complete arrangement of jagged edges.
"And once complete, what does it do?"
"It unleashes the ultimate power of darkness. Mother failed in her
bid to conquer all and bind all in darkness, but I will not!" swore
Crystallite.
As she showed the crystal to her manwolf lover and protector, her
wounded hand resumed bleeding, the deep cuts she inflicted herself
in anger having not closer themselves properly yet. Her blood
trickled down her fingers and stained her long flowing hooded dress.
"This is really bugging me..." she commented, seeing these
injuries as a minor annoyance.
"Here, let me change the bandage." said Fenris, as he removed the
blood soaked piece of fabric he used the night before to stop the
bleeding and replacing it with a thick piece of gauze to make a
much better bandage this time.
"No one ever cared for me the way you do, Fenris. Not my mother, not
my husband." she said with a long sigh.
"I knew your mother was busy with military planning and conquest,
but... your husband? Didn`t he love you at all?" wondered the
manwolf.
"You know I would have always slept alone if it hadn`t been for you.
Of course he cared... but he never really LOVED me, not in the way
you do. I`m not sure if he really loved anyone... except maybe that
Malachite Warlord, he spoke to me of him rather fondly, but I
might be wrong. Hiding his true feelings always was a strong point
of his."
"So if there was no love... why marriage?"
"Ours was a marriage of convenience, to seal a political alliance
between Beryl and her two generals Kunzite and Zoisite. From the
time I was three I was bethroted to him, and I was married to him
at the age of twelve. He always respected me deeply, was concerned
for me in every way, but he never... touched me, honored me in
the way a husband would show his love for his wife." she explained
while the manwolf completed the bandage around her wounded right
hand.
"And because of me, your body is too weak to ever let you experience
that." appologized Fenris.
"Don`t be sad, my wolf, sleeping cuddled to your warm body is all
that I need from you. All I could ever ask..." she said, hugging
him and leaning her head on his chest while she felt the powerful
black crystal slowly building up in strength in her left hand.
"I`ll take this world and put it at your feet, my love." thought
the red haired teenage girl, feeling protected from the emanations
of despair she felt hovering around her, like spectral vultures
awaiting their next meal of disease, death and destruction.
* * *
They all sat down at in the Tsukino home`s living room, the last
remaining senshi who still had their dark splinters and thus use of
their powers: Sailor Moon, Mercury, Terra, Jupiter, Saturn and
Pluto. Along with them were their allies in arms Mamoru, Umino and
Naru, as well as the mysterious little girl who called herself
Chibi Chibi.
"The situation has worsened by leaps and bounds since yesterday
as you all know." began saying Usagi, trying not to show her fear.
"We lost Minako, Laurella and Rei last night, and I`m afraid Black
Baron will strike again soon at one of us."
"So what`s the plan? Do we just sit around waiting like lambs to
the slaughter, or do we take command of the situation and strike
back???" suggested Makoto.
"I have to agree here, I`m not going to wait for my turn to put
my head on the log." added Robin.
"Does anyone have any idea where to even start?" wondered Luna as
she hopped on Usagi`s shoulder.
"Before Laurella was attacked last night, we tracked down the source
of the darkness to the poldzer triangle." mentionned Shingo.
"Is that where Black Baron operates from?" asked Usagi.
"No, she didn`t feel his presence there... residual traces as he
was there, but only for a brief moment at most. It was something
else, something she couldn`t identify." he explained.
"I`ll look into the poldzer triangle recent market activities,
maybe we can find something there." suggested Umino as he fired up
his upgraded laptop.
"Hey, this is new!" observed Naru.
"Yeah, Ami boosted its power yesterday." he replied.
"Good thinking, Umino. I`ll hack into their mainframe to see if
there`s anything interesting about the structure of the buildings
themselves or the internal activities." said Ami as she turned on
her own laptop and hacked her way in the plaza`s main server.
"Until we find a chink on the armor of our enemy... the only thing
we can do is wait." said Setsuna.
"I have an idea..." said Usagi. "How about we go out tonight and
have some fun? Get our minds off all this darkness and recharge our
spirits for the fights to come?"
"I think you`re right, Usagi. You all need to get yourselves a
break, and so do the others who have already been hurt by this
monster." agreed Luna.
"So it`s decided, then... where do we go?" asked Mamoru.
"We`ll just make it up as we go along!" said Naru. Everyone
thought it was a great idea.
* * *
Epilogue...
She walked uneasily, her head spinning and her heart beating so hard
she thought it would burst out of her chest. Everyone who saw her
made a detour or changed sidewalk- she was obviously on drugs.
Sukeko was indeed high on some cheap drug she bought on the street,
she had been a user of chemical substances for quite some time now,
another lost soul desperate for escape from a life she saw as
meaningless and without hope. Her once lively brown eyes were now
dull and dilated in the telltale signs of drug abuse and her hair
was caressly neglected the attention it required to be the
beautiful mane it used to be. Not wearing half as much warm
clothing as she should be in this cold weather, she was perceived
by most as a lost cause not worth the bother.
Staggering into an empty alley, she collapsed into a pile of
freshly dumped snow when her legs refused to carry her any further.
Her whole body ached, her injured mind screamed in pain louder
than her broken heart or her wounded soul. She had nothing to live
for anymore, and she didn`t care either way if she just died right
there. She stayed there, letting the cold winds of the falling
night numb her skin until she felt nothing at all in her legs and
arms.
She just wanted the pain to go away, but things wouldn`t turn out
the way she wanted, just like every other decision she`d ever taken
in her life. And when a choice would be given to her, she`d make
the wrong one as usual.
This choice came in the form of a young woman about her age walking
up to her silently, a white cat sitting on her shoulder. Through
the alley`s increasing darkness, she barely manage to make out the
girl`s long and bright red hair to match her strange red leather
ensemble of jacket, gloves, pants and boots. She also caught a
glimpse of the cat`s forehead which bore a golden crescent moon.
"This one seems to be in need of help, Chesterfield." said the red
haired girl.
"She is, Alice, she is." replied the cat. "Give her the second gem."
Alice kneeled next to Sukeko and held her frozen hands in hers to
try and bring feeling back in them. She smiled to the teenager whose
drug induced high had faded away and left her down in a miserable
condition.
"Do you want my friend to help you out? He can give you the strength
you need to get your life back together!" she whispered in her ear.
"What... what do you... want from... me?" asked Sukeko, only too
aware that most people who offered her help wanted something in
return- usually some sleazy sexual favor. In her downtrodden
condition, she had rarely been in any position to refuse any of
those deals.
"I only want something you take for granted, something you don`t
even care about. But we can negotiate the specifics later, I can
give you a free trial of what I have to offer..." said the white
cat, using the ominous shadow effects of the shadowy alley to
make himself look more powerful and imposing. At these words,
Alice showed her a magnificent blue gem.
"All you have to do is take it." she whispered in her ear.
And take it she did, looking it over in her hand. She liked this
gem, it glowed from within... it even made her numb hand a little
warmer. This was good, she thought. And then the gem began to heat
up seriously, chewing through her palm to carve itself a place in
her hand. Sukeko wanted to scream with all her might, but her
throat seemed paralyzed from the pain. She cried a few tears as
she smelled the pugnant stench of her own charred skin burning
under the searing heat while both her hair and eyes transformed to
take the same color blue as the cooled off gem that was now
imbedded in her right hand.
She looked straight into the red eyes of Alice, wondering what
had just happened.
"Welcome to the club, friend. Chesterfield is going to help
return home through the rabbit`s hole." said Alice, removing her
right glove to show the red gem burned firmly into place in her
palm. Sukeko stared at the talking cat, unsure what the
schizophrenic girl had just meant.
"The girl`s got a few wires crossed, but her loyalty is beyond
reproach." said the cat.
Feeling much better thanks to the energy infusion brought in her
body from the gem, she got up and picked up the cat in her arms,
caressing him softly.
"Thank you, Chesterfield, you`re the only one who ever gave me a
chance to prove myself like that." she said, thanking her
mysterious benefactor.
"As I said, the girl`s not entirely there. My name`s not
Chesterfield." replied the cat.
"What is it then?" wondered his new blue haired acolyte.
"That`s not important for now. I have other a few more details
to work out tonight, and I`ll need your help to finalize them."
said the cat. The trio left the scene discreetly, leaving for an
unknown destination.
To be continued...
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn
There`s a couple of great writers I`d like to thank for proofreading
my material and pointing out to me the biggest and most glaring
errors that slipped past my attention.
Special thanks to Sonya-chan and Commander Galos for helping me
create new attacks I`ll be more than happy to use.
Thanks to Kenton Cernea, for getting me to write fanfiction in
the first place and showing us all the possibilities of great
drama and wacky silliness.
Thanks to Mark Berger, Sailor Star Love and Sailor Mac for giving
us all some amazing works of Sekkushiaru Roman to make us all
believe in true love and romance.
Thanks to you all for being such good friends.
* * *
Prologue...
In the deep reaches of the outer rings of the solar system, planet
Saturn gloriously spun around the sun in a slow orbit, gracing the
vast emptyness of space with the incomparable beauty of its immense
rings of ice fragments. Millions upon millions of these chunks
floated freely in a large merry-go-round of stellar proportions,
turning around the huge planet in the same way they had been doing
for billions of years.
Amidst these ice pieces were some more recent additions, large
amounts of twisted metal that had been left over from the untimely
explosion of Saturn Station Beta after the fateful confrontation
between the enigmatic Gallagher, the conniving Prime and the
courageous pretty soldier Sailor Moon.
One of those pieces in particular had played a critical part in
the final showdown, a black metal sword so ancient that its history
outdated that of humanity with very little uncertainty. Gallagher`s
pride, the Prime`s ultimate bane, the legendary sword Heresy... now
a mere hunk of space junk, a worthless piece of star trash, vulgar
stellar floatsam...
While the sword followed its stable orbit among the ice fragments,
a lone figure appeared seemingly from nowhere. Its speed was so
great that to a casual observer it might have seemed like
teleportation, although to her it was no such thing, the great
distances she`d crossed had indeed taken some time to span.
The gigantic shadow of the planet kept both her and the sword in
total darkness, but her keen senses guided her easily to what she
sought.
"There you are, little one!" she thought. She would have loved
saying that out loud as she simply adored the sound of her own
voice, but the void of space made it impossible for any sound to
travel.
She picked up the forsaken weapon in her hands and felt its
phenomenal power rushing through her arms. It was so strong that
it was painful to even a hardened warrior like herself.
"I`m glad I found you, boss lady was getting pretty ticked off
about getting her hands on you, and she can get... convincing in
her arguments. You`ll score me some big points on the likability
scale with her, Heresy baby!" thought the woman hidden in shadows
just as her location left the dark side of Saturn to enter the
sunlit side of the ring-clad behemoth.
Had any astronomers been pointing their most powerful telescospes to
the far side of the rings of Saturn for that brief instant, they
might have seen the silhouette of a woman dressed in a tight, dark
red suit whose wild long mane of deep red hair and long furry tail
could only be described as "foxy". How she could stay out there
without any survival equipment would have been a matter of some
debate, but no one was looking in her direction at the time.
In a flash, she was gone. And so was the sword.
* * *
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 43
SEEKINGS
"I was afraid something like this would happen." said Ami to Shingo
while he cooked breakfast for himself and his friend.
"You have more knowledge in psychology than any of us, Ami... any
insight you might have in this situation will be helpful." he said,
wondering what she meant.
"You see, being in contact with the pure evil of Black Baron has
been a great ordeal for both Rei and Laurella, overwhelming their
minds and spirits with more darkness than they could possibly
handle. When they reached their limit, they both reacted
differently. Rei lashed out mindlessly, liberating every ounce
of bottled-up anger she had regardless of whom she hurt doing
that. We can only be glad she loved Chibi Chibi enough to realize
what she was doing."
"And Laurella?"
"Laurella had the opposite reaction- she resisted the onslaught by
refusing to absorb any more, shutting down her empathy and emotions
completely, like the eyes protect themselves from bright flashes by
going temporarily blind." explained Ami.
"And this... blindness... how temporary is it?"
"I really don`t know how long it will last..." answered Ami, looking
away from his eyes so he couldn`t see in them that she wasn`t even
sure if Laurella`s condition would ever revert itself and return her
emotions the way they were before. She wouldn`t keep this
information to herself, of course, but Shingo just wasn`t ready to
hear this yet.
"Hiya guys..." came the stereo voices of Usagi and Usako, both
sporting the same sleepy eyes and wild morning hair. They sat
down at the kitchen table, both hungry and in need of a coffee
to kick start their day.
"I hope you didn`t mind leaving your bed to Rei, Usagi... she
really needed this night sleep to help her get better." said Ami.
"I didn`t mind the sleeping bag, don`t worry, I`m used to that."
said Usagi, a smile on her face. "When I woke up this morning,
she was sleeping cuddled to Chibi Chibi. It`s a miracle this
little angel is here with us... whoever she is."
"I`m not sure wether she is my daughter or not... but if she is,
then I am proud of being her mother." added Usako.
"Who do you think is the father? Could it be... that cute singer
Seiya?!?" asked Usagi, fishing for a reaction from her future
daughter.
"DON`T EVEN SAY THAT! Seiya`s a jerk who doesn`t know what name to
call me!" protested Usako, pouting. Shingo and Ami giggled at this
scene. Quickly diverting the focus of conversation, Usako turned
to her uncle. "So how`s Laurella this morning?"
"She`s... still sleeping." said Shingo, trying hard not to show
his emotions. It was to no avail, however, as all his friends
knew how concerned he was for his girlfriend, having slept all
night besides his bed where she rested peacefully, enjoying the
unexpected emotional silence she was experiencing.
"We all hope she`ll get better soon." said Usagi, her sisterly
love glowing in her eyes.
Shingo smiled back, but suddenly his tears couldn`t be held back.
He just started crying in his hands again, the three girls hugging
him in a show of support.
* * *
The sun was slowly creeping up the winter sky, barely showing itself
through the thin layer of shapeless clouds, announcing once again an
unseasonable warmth that had been so welcome since the fall of
Aebonite and the restoration of the natural balance of energy,
greatly overcompensated in the Japan area that had been hit first
and hardest by the drain.
On this comfortably cool morning, Kino Makoto was making her way to
her friend Usagi`s place, her metal crutches clanking on the
sidewalk as she took quick steps regardless of her current
condition. She was healing rapidly, though, as her ever
accelerating pace was proving. It would only be a matter of time
now until she could put those away and walk on her own again,
although she could already do that in her powered form.
Making her way along the street where Usagi`s house was, she saw a
black cat hop in front of her, bouncing with great agility to land
on her shoulder. The cat had a very familiar gold crescent moon on
her forehead, but it was the only way she could recognize her
because Makoto had never seen Luna looking so much like an alleycat,
her fur totally messed up and covered in dirt and filth.
"Luna?!? Where were you, it`s been days!!!" said Makoto, astonished
to see the cat return after her extended disappearance act.
"Looking for Artemis, with no success." responded Luna with a glum
expression. "It`s like he vanished from the surface of the earth."
"You need a bath, Luna..." replied Makoto, smelling the
undescribable odor coming from her feline friend. It ressembled a
mix of rotting fish, raw sewage, old garbage and other things best
left unidentified.
"Just get me home, please..." pleaded Luna. Makoto quickened her
pace, prefering not to press the matter until she could get the
cat to meet with Usagi who could certainly get the exhausted feline
to open up more.
* * *
Opening her eyes, Chibi Chibi yawned and cuddled herself to Rei who
was still deeply asleep. She had gone through a terrible ordeal,
reexperiencing all the pain she suffered in the past few years in
a single outburst of self-destructive guilt, but the little one
wouldn`t let her suffer.
She had a knack for healing those kinds of wounds, and her presence
alone was helping out the young soul of fire.
"Hungry..." thought Chibi Chibi as her stomach grumbled. She hadn`t
eaten since the evening before, and could sure go for some breakfast
right about now.
"Hello again, my littlest friend." said a voice near her. She
strained her eyes and saw a silhouette hidden in the semidarkness
of the bedroom. It was of average height, although its exact shape
was cleverly conceiled in an intricately woven japanese male kimono.
The features of this being were also hidden, but not from the actual
darkness, rather from its very nature which seemed to not be
entirely capable of interracting with light in a strange way.
Chibi Chibi smiled.
"You came!" she said, giggling.
"Of course. I wish to offer my help if the need arises... will my
assistance be required in the battle to come?" asked the being in a
soft, soothing voice.
"Dunno." replied the toddler.
"Very well... but keep in mind I cannot stay here very long. I will
have to return to my home soon, and it will take time before I can
return."
"Understood." said Chibi Chibi, blowing a kiss to the strange
presence which then vanished.
Chibi Chibi slipped out of Rei`s arms and ran downstairs for breakfast.
* * *
Slipping the key in the lock to her appartment`s door, Cathra
wondered how she could use her knowledge to get ahead in the power
game she found herself trapped into. She entered the place which was
decorated in a very bold style contrasting both a romantic feel with
a nearly heartless efficiency in the positioning of the many pieces
of leather furniture.
In short, it reflected her perfectly.
As she crossed th esurface of the living room, she removed her
clothes and dropped them all over the place in a careless manner.
She didn`t mind they would get wrinkled, her dry cleaner would be
doing the ironing anyhow. Looking at her naked body with perfect
skin in the mirror, she dropped her final piece of "clothing", her
human disguise. Alone in her home, she had no need for it. Her
entire body covered with short auburn fur, her ears grew long and
pointy, a long and agile tail uncurled itself from her coccyx and
her eyes became feline in appearance.
"This is more like it!" she purred, looking at herself. "Thorelia
outdid herself when she made me... I`m a living work of art!!!"
She detached herself from the mirror with great difficulty, going to
her bed and curling up in the red satin sheets she hadn`t even
bothered to pull up before she left the night before. Cathra knew
what two of the senshi looked like even if she ignored their names.
She could recognize them on the street if she saw them... she
witheld that one piece of information from Fenris when she
explained him what she saw at the mall.
"How am I going to play these fools against one another? There`s
got to be a way!" she thought, feeling her eyelids grow heavy. She
fell asleep, hoping she would find a way to get ahead... and soon.
* * *
"I`m glad you came back, Luna, we missed you." said Usagi as she
vigorously rubbed Luna`s fur with a flower smelling shampoo to get
her clean.
"I`m sorry I was gone so long, Usagi... I just got emotional when
Artemis disappeared... it`s just that... I... well..."
"Hush, Luna, no need for words. We`ve known each other for over
three years now, I know how you feel about Artemis. These things I
can feel even without Laurella`s empathy or Rei`s psychic senses."
Luna wanted to protest, try and deny her feelings for this cat she
had so often called a flea ridden alleycat, but she knew all too
well Usagi saw right through her, that she had been putting up
this attitude as a shield to protect herself from her own emotions.
She loved Artemis, she always had.
And now, she might not even get a chance to say it to him as he
might be dead already. This thought made Luna want to cry, but she
fought against this sinister idea and pushed it away. He just HAD
to be SOMEWHERE... she was going to find him.
"While you were gone, it`s been hell on earth for all of us." said
Usagi, her voice turning glum all of a sudden.
"So Makoto told me. This Black Baron, he sounds... familiar somehow.
I know I heard about him somehow, but I`ll be damned if I can
remember under what circumstances."
"Swiss cheese memory acting up again, huh?"
"Like you always say... kitty`s going senile." joked Luna. Usagi
giggled and rubbed Luna`s nose, covering it in soap suds. The black
cat couldn`t help but laugh along, feeling relieved from being with
her best friend and rid of this horrible stench she picked up over
the last few days. "I missed you, Usagi."
"Now Luna... I know that you care for Artemis, but so do we...
promise me you`ll never go away from us without staying in touch,
okay?"
"Okay, Usagi, I promise..." said the cat.
Usagi turned on the shower head dangling down in the tub and turned
on the water, rinsing off the now dignified cat who had been a
counselor of Queen Serenity herself.
"Thank you, I needed that." added Luna.
"My pleasure. Let`s get you dry now, Chibi Chibi wants to pet you
and is waiting for you to be clean again."
Luna shivered in anticipation of the little pink haired girl`s
wonderfully agile fingers. She was too proud to succumb to her
feline urges in most situations, but this girl had a way of
melting off all her defenses.
"I`ll try and endure while she pets me. I have to make her feel
good, you know." said Luna, pretending not to be one to lose
control.
"Uh huh. Self-sacrifice, right. Aren`t you the noble one..."
replied Usagi with a smirk.
"Luna, your meal`s ready. I got you some salmon, I know you love
that!" said Ikuko as she got in the bathroom with a large towel.
"Thank you, Ikuko, you`re so nice... I just love salmon."
"Any particular reason?" wondered Usagi.
"Yes, actually... it reminds me of my grandfather. Only thing he
would eat aside from the nutritive generic designed for feline
health. He said that nothing could provide protein and vitamins
his body required like that cat food, but one whiff of fresh
salmon sent him to heaven. I miss him."
"What happened? Died when Beryl attacked?" asked Usagi.
"No... he was on an orbital station in Jendra`s outer orbit when
it was destroyed. His body was never found." said Luna, a tear
rolling down her cheek.
"We all had losses, I guess... I never realized you suffered just
as much as the rest of us." said Usagi as she dried off her friend.
"He took care of me when my father Horus died..." she said.
"Horus? Like the egyptian god?" wondered Ikuko.
"He was jendrean. The son of Isis and Osiris, two jendrean cats.
They are the ones who left such an impression on the egyptian
people that they deified cats and named their gods after them."
explained Luna.
"So your dad was jendrean... what about your mom?" asked Usagi.
"She was called Diane. A lunar cat, I inherited the golden moon
crescent from her rather than father`s silver ankh. She died when
I was still a little kitten." said Luna.
"This is a side of you I never knew, Luna." said Usagi.
"We still have both a lot to learn about each other." agreed Luna.
* * *
Fenris could feel a great darkness looming above the poldzer
triangle, and despite his getting used to this sort of feeling ever
since he`d first walked into the Dark Kingdom years before. Black
clouds swirled atop the plaza like an ominous omen of apocalypse,
and the manwolf feared that not even Crystallite knew entirely what
she was doing.
"Are you sure this is what you were meant to do, my love?" said
Fenris as he stared outside their top floor penthouse windows at
the dreadful sight.
"Quite sure. This is the way to follow for the Dark Empire, my
wolf. I had yet another vision about it last night in my sleep."
she replied.
"This Black Baron is dangerous, my lady, I don`t trust him."
"So you keep saying, but doesn`t he succeed in bringing us the dark
splinters to rebuild our black crystal?" said Crystallite, showing
the half-complete arrangement of jagged edges.
"And once complete, what does it do?"
"It unleashes the ultimate power of darkness. Mother failed in her
bid to conquer all and bind all in darkness, but I will not!" swore
Crystallite.
As she showed the crystal to her manwolf lover and protector, her
wounded hand resumed bleeding, the deep cuts she inflicted herself
in anger having not closer themselves properly yet. Her blood
trickled down her fingers and stained her long flowing hooded dress.
"This is really bugging me..." she commented, seeing these
injuries as a minor annoyance.
"Here, let me change the bandage." said Fenris, as he removed the
blood soaked piece of fabric he used the night before to stop the
bleeding and replacing it with a thick piece of gauze to make a
much better bandage this time.
"No one ever cared for me the way you do, Fenris. Not my mother, not
my husband." she said with a long sigh.
"I knew your mother was busy with military planning and conquest,
but... your husband? Didn`t he love you at all?" wondered the
manwolf.
"You know I would have always slept alone if it hadn`t been for you.
Of course he cared... but he never really LOVED me, not in the way
you do. I`m not sure if he really loved anyone... except maybe that
Malachite Warlord, he spoke to me of him rather fondly, but I
might be wrong. Hiding his true feelings always was a strong point
of his."
"So if there was no love... why marriage?"
"Ours was a marriage of convenience, to seal a political alliance
between Beryl and her two generals Kunzite and Zoisite. From the
time I was three I was bethroted to him, and I was married to him
at the age of twelve. He always respected me deeply, was concerned
for me in every way, but he never... touched me, honored me in
the way a husband would show his love for his wife." she explained
while the manwolf completed the bandage around her wounded right
hand.
"And because of me, your body is too weak to ever let you experience
that." appologized Fenris.
"Don`t be sad, my wolf, sleeping cuddled to your warm body is all
that I need from you. All I could ever ask..." she said, hugging
him and leaning her head on his chest while she felt the powerful
black crystal slowly building up in strength in her left hand.
"I`ll take this world and put it at your feet, my love." thought
the red haired teenage girl, feeling protected from the emanations
of despair she felt hovering around her, like spectral vultures
awaiting their next meal of disease, death and destruction.
* * *
They all sat down at in the Tsukino home`s living room, the last
remaining senshi who still had their dark splinters and thus use of
their powers: Sailor Moon, Mercury, Terra, Jupiter, Saturn and
Pluto. Along with them were their allies in arms Mamoru, Umino and
Naru, as well as the mysterious little girl who called herself
Chibi Chibi.
"The situation has worsened by leaps and bounds since yesterday
as you all know." began saying Usagi, trying not to show her fear.
"We lost Minako, Laurella and Rei last night, and I`m afraid Black
Baron will strike again soon at one of us."
"So what`s the plan? Do we just sit around waiting like lambs to
the slaughter, or do we take command of the situation and strike
back???" suggested Makoto.
"I have to agree here, I`m not going to wait for my turn to put
my head on the log." added Robin.
"Does anyone have any idea where to even start?" wondered Luna as
she hopped on Usagi`s shoulder.
"Before Laurella was attacked last night, we tracked down the source
of the darkness to the poldzer triangle." mentionned Shingo.
"Is that where Black Baron operates from?" asked Usagi.
"No, she didn`t feel his presence there... residual traces as he
was there, but only for a brief moment at most. It was something
else, something she couldn`t identify." he explained.
"I`ll look into the poldzer triangle recent market activities,
maybe we can find something there." suggested Umino as he fired up
his upgraded laptop.
"Hey, this is new!" observed Naru.
"Yeah, Ami boosted its power yesterday." he replied.
"Good thinking, Umino. I`ll hack into their mainframe to see if
there`s anything interesting about the structure of the buildings
themselves or the internal activities." said Ami as she turned on
her own laptop and hacked her way in the plaza`s main server.
"Until we find a chink on the armor of our enemy... the only thing
we can do is wait." said Setsuna.
"I have an idea..." said Usagi. "How about we go out tonight and
have some fun? Get our minds off all this darkness and recharge our
spirits for the fights to come?"
"I think you`re right, Usagi. You all need to get yourselves a
break, and so do the others who have already been hurt by this
monster." agreed Luna.
"So it`s decided, then... where do we go?" asked Mamoru.
"We`ll just make it up as we go along!" said Naru. Everyone
thought it was a great idea.
* * *
Epilogue...
She walked uneasily, her head spinning and her heart beating so hard
she thought it would burst out of her chest. Everyone who saw her
made a detour or changed sidewalk- she was obviously on drugs.
Sukeko was indeed high on some cheap drug she bought on the street,
she had been a user of chemical substances for quite some time now,
another lost soul desperate for escape from a life she saw as
meaningless and without hope. Her once lively brown eyes were now
dull and dilated in the telltale signs of drug abuse and her hair
was caressly neglected the attention it required to be the
beautiful mane it used to be. Not wearing half as much warm
clothing as she should be in this cold weather, she was perceived
by most as a lost cause not worth the bother.
Staggering into an empty alley, she collapsed into a pile of
freshly dumped snow when her legs refused to carry her any further.
Her whole body ached, her injured mind screamed in pain louder
than her broken heart or her wounded soul. She had nothing to live
for anymore, and she didn`t care either way if she just died right
there. She stayed there, letting the cold winds of the falling
night numb her skin until she felt nothing at all in her legs and
arms.
She just wanted the pain to go away, but things wouldn`t turn out
the way she wanted, just like every other decision she`d ever taken
in her life. And when a choice would be given to her, she`d make
the wrong one as usual.
This choice came in the form of a young woman about her age walking
up to her silently, a white cat sitting on her shoulder. Through
the alley`s increasing darkness, she barely manage to make out the
girl`s long and bright red hair to match her strange red leather
ensemble of jacket, gloves, pants and boots. She also caught a
glimpse of the cat`s forehead which bore a golden crescent moon.
"This one seems to be in need of help, Chesterfield." said the red
haired girl.
"She is, Alice, she is." replied the cat. "Give her the second gem."
Alice kneeled next to Sukeko and held her frozen hands in hers to
try and bring feeling back in them. She smiled to the teenager whose
drug induced high had faded away and left her down in a miserable
condition.
"Do you want my friend to help you out? He can give you the strength
you need to get your life back together!" she whispered in her ear.
"What... what do you... want from... me?" asked Sukeko, only too
aware that most people who offered her help wanted something in
return- usually some sleazy sexual favor. In her downtrodden
condition, she had rarely been in any position to refuse any of
those deals.
"I only want something you take for granted, something you don`t
even care about. But we can negotiate the specifics later, I can
give you a free trial of what I have to offer..." said the white
cat, using the ominous shadow effects of the shadowy alley to
make himself look more powerful and imposing. At these words,
Alice showed her a magnificent blue gem.
"All you have to do is take it." she whispered in her ear.
And take it she did, looking it over in her hand. She liked this
gem, it glowed from within... it even made her numb hand a little
warmer. This was good, she thought. And then the gem began to heat
up seriously, chewing through her palm to carve itself a place in
her hand. Sukeko wanted to scream with all her might, but her
throat seemed paralyzed from the pain. She cried a few tears as
she smelled the pugnant stench of her own charred skin burning
under the searing heat while both her hair and eyes transformed to
take the same color blue as the cooled off gem that was now
imbedded in her right hand.
She looked straight into the red eyes of Alice, wondering what
had just happened.
"Welcome to the club, friend. Chesterfield is going to help
return home through the rabbit`s hole." said Alice, removing her
right glove to show the red gem burned firmly into place in her
palm. Sukeko stared at the talking cat, unsure what the
schizophrenic girl had just meant.
"The girl`s got a few wires crossed, but her loyalty is beyond
reproach." said the cat.
Feeling much better thanks to the energy infusion brought in her
body from the gem, she got up and picked up the cat in her arms,
caressing him softly.
"Thank you, Chesterfield, you`re the only one who ever gave me a
chance to prove myself like that." she said, thanking her
mysterious benefactor.
"As I said, the girl`s not entirely there. My name`s not
Chesterfield." replied the cat.
"What is it then?" wondered his new blue haired acolyte.
"That`s not important for now. I have other a few more details
to work out tonight, and I`ll need your help to finalize them."
said the cat. The trio left the scene discreetly, leaving for an
unknown destination.
To be continued...