Chapter 3: A book, a tunnel, and a couple of idiots (revised)
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Usagi woke up in her apartment the next morning feeling heavy and burdened. Her heart had a sinking feeling and her brain throbbed mercilessly. Usagi could feel the blood pulsing through her head harder and harder, the pressure never ending. Gently rubbing her head, she sat up and opened her now empty and lifeless eyes.
Her destiny had changed forever yesterday. How could she possibly go on without Mamoru? Usagi looked out the window, staring blankly at the cheery birds singing outside her house.
"Sighhhhh," Usagi closed her eyelids. What was she to do? He had been her heartbeat, her breath…her…life. In a fit of tears, Usagi thrusted her body back down onto her bed, her head hitting the pillow with great force.
"Usagi?" Luna hopped up onto her bed, and started rubbing up against her. "What's wrong, princess? You and Rei went to bed last night without saying a word to me, and now you're crying."
Usagi didn't respond. Instead, she just looked at her pet, her guardian, with the melancholy stare Mamoru had left her with.
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Usagi left the her and Rei's apartment that morning exceptionally early. Her mother and father would have been impressed; never before had their daughter been up and about so early! But their little girl wasn't heading to college for a day full of classes and learning. Instead, Usagi had her eyes set on the park.
'Screw school,' Usagi thought bitterly as she walked slowly down the busy streets of Tokyo, 'That place never helped me with anything my stupid life's dealt me. I'm failing miserably, everyone thinks I'm an idiot and I never listen in class anyway. What's the point?' Suddenly, a little girl broke Usagi's concentration. Usagi turned her head to see a child wailing a horrible screech with a helpless mother beside her. Feeling needed, Usagi walked over to the little girl and knelt down beside her crying side, looking her in the eyes.
"What's wrong?" Usagi prodded gently, attempting to forget she wasn't the only one with problems.
"Oh, it's no use!" cried the mother. "If she won't listen to me, then why would she listen to you?"
After giving the mother a disgusted look, Usagi focused her attention on the little girl's face.
"Please, Sweetie, tell me what's bothering you?"
The crying girl looked up at Usagi, and momentarily, the tears stopped. The girl's gaze was locked onto Usagi's face, almost like she recognized her. Then, something terrible happened.
"Sailor Moon! Sailor Moon! Look Mummy! It's SAILOR MOON!" The little girl started jumping up and down, laughing uncontrollably.
Usagi's heart skipped a beat as she looked around her frantically. Did they know? Did these people know her secret? Usagi stared at the once pain-stricken child, now jumping up and down, crying out Usagi's secret identity.
"Oh hush!" cried her mother, "You know Sailor Moon isn't real!" The mother grabbed the little girl by the wrist, and dragged her down the street away from Usagi.
"Oh my Lord," thought Usagi in a mental panic, "I hope no one heard that…." Usagi rushed away from the scene, her pigtails flowing behind her.
The park was quiet and empty. 'I've never seen this place so serene before,' Usagi noted to herself. Scanning the park for a place to rest and think, Usagi noticed the legendary Cherry Blossom tree over in the corner of the park. 'Oh,' Usagi whispered inside her head, 'It looks so beautiful this time of year…it's in full bloom.' Without even realizing it, Usagi wandered over to the massive mythical tree, as if it were calling out her name. Slipping in-between the bushes surrounding it, she made her way to the foot of the tree. Its unusually large roots seemed to shoot up around her, encamping her inside it's personal beautiful world. Usagi lay down underneath the shade of its branches, and fell into a fitful sleep, thinking only of Mamoru.
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"Look at this one, Heero!"
Duo and Heero had been in the library for at least a good hour. Heero couldn't help but remember how much he loved books as he weaved in-between the isles, searching the shelves for his favorite classics. They were all there: Maggie: a Girl of the Streets, Punish Me with Kisses, The Boys from Brazil and Macbeth, to name a few. Heero picked one off the shelf and almost started looking through it, until another book caught his eye. 'That cover'…it was unmistakable. How could he forget that deep honey color, those title words on its bind, calligraphed to perfection? 'Relena,' Heero thought silently as he unconsciously dropped the book he was holding and reached out for Love and War, 'Do you remember how you used to try and get me to read this book?' Heero let out a deep mental sigh as he gazed at the novel, now in his hands. 'Maybe if I had listened to you, this never would've—'
"Heero! Look at this one! It's so weird!!" Heero shook his head. 'Whaaa? Oh. Duo.'
Slipping Love and War back into its position on the library's shelf, Heero looked in the direction of his friend. After shuffling his feet for a bit, he slowly meandered his way over to Duo. 'Might as well welcome the distraction,' thought Heero as he gazed back in the region of the book, '…it's probably better to forget about that…'
As Heero walked over to Duo, he noticed a colossal book in Duo's grasp. His friend was leafing through it, absorbed. This got Heero curious….
"Hn?" Heero reached out to Duo, beckoning with his hand to see the large volume Duo possessed.
"Look at this baby!" Duo proclaimed, outstretching his hands, the book held tightly between them. "It must be ancient! It's practically fallin' apart!!"
"Hn," Heero repeated, taking the book away from the grinning idiot. The book felt heavy in his arms…but it also bore with it a strange unfamiliar comfort…
Sitting down at one of library's tables, Heero placed the book down in front of him. Now, he could get a better look at this little treasure. 'Wow,' Heero thought as he ran his finger over the volume's length, 'this book really is amazing. There must be over 700 pages in here. And that cover! That red! It's beautiful…' Heero gawked at the book admirably. Then, Heero noticed the title.
"Nande kuso?! How in the world do you say that?" Heero pointed at the title while looking at Duo, a bit confused.
"Na-sha-te-vuu-mooseh-mee?" Duo said, questioning himself. Heero looked at it more closely.
Duo had said it all right. Maybe a little bit slower and more slurred than it should be, but he had managed to pronounce it. Interesting…
Slowly, Heero started to leaf through the books thick, detailed, supernatural pages. The book was so strange, so mysterious. It had an appeal unlike anything he had ever seen before. Each page spoke saturated with words that were so unrecognizable, unintelligible even. Just looking at them gave him a headache. But for some reason, Heero felt drawn to them, like…they could solve his problems….
But that seemed silly! A book? Solve his problems? But this wasn't even a self-help book! [And if he really needed one of those (which he DIDN'T) he could always go to Quatre – he had a library stacked high with them back at the apartment.] This book didn't even make any sense; he could even read the stupid thing. But Heero could feel this… comforting sensation as he touched and looked upon the text. This book called to him....it was calling him to read these words out loud...to …escape. 'Escape?' Heero echoed in his mind, 'Escape to what?'
"Hey! Look at that! That picture looks like a city on Earth!" Duo pointed at a large picture on the page they were looking at. The city looked like a perfect replication of a metropolis back on Earth.
"That's so strange," Heero muttered, almost inaudibly, "How would this book's authors know what a city looks like? This thing must have been printed more than a thousand years ago. There's no way there were cities this modern around back then..."
"Who knows!" Duo proclaimed cheerfully, peering more closely at the text. "Hey…Look at that phrase next to that gigantic cherry blossom tree! 'Ez-chi-koh da-hech-ku-jo va-moo-tok-swevk'," Duo giggled. "Wasn't that funny, Heero? …Heero?"
Without warning, the earth started to shake. Shelves surrounding the two gundam pilots started to rattle and move, as books flew off the cases, missing their heads by inches. The ground beneath their feet danced, unstable. Heero and Duo looked around the library frantically, searching for an explanation of the sudden earthquake.
"Heero!? WHAT is going on?" Duo cried, clutching Heero's arm like a scared child.
"I don't know..?" Heero never got frightened, but this was cutting it close. 'Of all places to be when an earthquake strikes,' Heero's mind yelled out, 'Why don't you run, eh?' But before Heero could make a brake for it, something majestical happened.
Abruptly, a large, deep, black portal materialized before them. The air became thick and heavy with its presence, and a furious hurricane filled the room.
Heero's eyes widened as he acknowledged this hungry warp before him. He felt the violence in the air rushing past him; it danced with his hair and paraded over his tingling skin. The wind tugged at his clothes, pulling him closer to the warp before him. It then started speaking to him… telling him to come with it, and everything would be better. What in the world is going on?
'Wait a minute!' Heero's perfect soldier mind quickly analyzed the situation. 'This happened right after Maxwell read that strange phrase from that old book! The book? The book!' Heero reached out desperately and grabbed the book off the edge of the clattering table, just barely making it before he and Duo were sucked into the dark endless tunnel.
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authors notes:
Kotori- ::sings:: I rewrote this chapter!! ::Stops singing, and peers at you, smiling:: ISN'T IT SO MUCH BETTER?!?! It's basically the same things, except Usagi's a little bit more…depressed, and there aren't as many blah-ish passive verbs, and I added a scene where---
Heero- Why are you boring these people with your technical descriptions of why the chapters better? Why don't you just say 'Hey! Look! It's better! Gimme a cookie!'? Or is that too easy?
Kotori- Why you little!! ::runs after Heero, pecking skittles at his figure::
Heero- ::running:: Wait a minute? Why am I running away from you? ::he abruptly stops running, turns around, and has Kotori, who is waving a fistful skittles in the empty air, smack right into his chest:: Hmph? ::Heero smiles evilly as he stands tall before Kotori::
Kotori- ::eeeep!:: Looks up at Heero, a weak smile on her face::
Heero- ::looks down on her, smiling wickedly:: So? Think you should be, **ahem** running right about now, Little Kotori-chan?
Kotori- HEHEHEHE!! ::runs away::
Heero- ::turns to face you:: Since Kotori is **ahem** busy at the moment, I'll tell you a few things
about the upcoming chapter[s]. ::Heero sits down in a leather chair that materialized before him, along with a robe and kawaii little bubble pipe:: Now, ::blows bubbles:: Me and Duo should be meeting up with Usagi next chapter. I don't know what Duo's going to be doing when we get to wherever we're going…I see some sort of relationship with Rei? Ne? Who knows. Zero willing, Kotori will have initiative to finish it, given she gets more reviews from you little fanfiction.net types. ::blows more bubbles:: And if you DON'T review her little fic :stands up, and points a figure at you, the pipe dangling from his cute little mouth:: OMAE O KOROSU!! **Death Glare** ::sits back down, calmly, and blows some more bubbles::
Kotori- ::peeks her little head out:: Isn't he cute when he gets pissed?
Heero- ::glares at Kotori:: 1……2……3….
Kotori- UHHhhh….. BYE! ::runs off again::
