Part 6a: The Demon with my Face
Rating: PG-13 to be safe
Quick Blurb: Not much to say here, folks. Once again, this is my story, but not my characters. The last chapter was short, so I hope to make this one a bit longer. It's one in the morning, July 19th- which is my b-day. ^-^ Anyways.... on with the show! Oh, and CyberAngelOne... I would have emailed you, but when I looked at your page, I could not find one. In response, I'll try to make it a bit longer this time.
PS: This chapter may remind you a bit of Miaka's torment on the way to Taiskun's palace, for those of you who are familiar with Fushigi Yuugi.
This week's Jap reference:
Suna: Sand
Yubi: Finger (so yubis should= fingers)
Okubyoomono: Coward
Fu'un: Doom
Kami-sama: God
Miraa: Mirror
Iie: No
Areinai: Impossible
Hai: Yes
Oba-san: Aunt
Yowaii: Weak
Giman: Illusion
Kage: Shadow
Akurei: Demon
Sugata: Image (Used specially in this case for the fact that the image is from the mirror.)
Bishoujo: good looking young girl (that's what the dictionary said, anyway...)
Senshi: Warrior
Ginzuisho: Holy silver crystal (something like that)
WARNING: Usagi torture ahead!
************
Usagi had walked the crazy rainbow river path to its end, and was now looking at the place where the next room would begin. She couldn't see anything through the doorway, but she felt something odd radiating from inside. She knew that she didn't want to go in there. No, she'd much rather stay out here in this strange place where there was at least light and a sense of a pleasant atmosphere. To go to the next place would be to subject herself to the unknown.
A sudden flashback of a sharp voice rang through her mind. "Oh, really Usagi, you can be such a wimp sometimes!" With it came the image of a girl with raven black hair and violet eyes. Usagi reached for the name of the girl, and for a moment she knew it before it slipped away from her like suna through her yubis. (Okay, people. I don't know how to do multiples in Japanese, so I'm just going to add the 's' to the end of it.)
"Oh, dang it," she muttered in disappointment. But still, what the girl had said was true; Usagi was being a wimp, a okubyoomono. She had to go forward. There was no other way. She summoned her courage, and stepped forward through the gateway to the darkness.
This time, she turned around to watch the door melt away as the walls began to drip towards one another. She watched it, feeling as though she had sealed her own fate, and that fu'un was just a step away. She turned around to greet whatever other weirdness, but was shocked at the almost normalness of everything around her.
The room was just a box room, not very large, but large enough. The walls were stark white. All but one... and it was a giant mirror. Usagi timidly walked up to it and touched the glass to see if it might do anything strange, but nothing happened. It was just a plain, normal mirror. Nothing special about it, just... well, odd.
Usagi looked about but saw no way out. "Kami-sama... so this- this was just a trap!? Let me out! There's nothing here! Nothing but a dumb old miraa!"
"That and me," added a cold feminine voice.
Usagi whipped around to see the spitting image of herself leaning lazily against the wall.
"I-iie.... you... you look just like me! How can that be," Usagi demanded in horror and building fear.
"Tut tut now, calm down. I'm just here to talk to you. As for who I am and how this can be... I AM you. Usagi Tsukino, average student, niece to Lady Une."
"Th-that's arienai! You're some kind of a fraud," Usagi cried, backing away from her duplicate.
"No, no. You've got it all wrong. You looked into that mirror, right," the mirror image asked Usagi. Usagi managed a frightened nod, and the image smiled sweetly at her. "Then that's why. That's a magic mirror, so when you look into it, your mirror image comes out."
For a moment there was silence, until Usagi finally asked the question that was bugging her the most. "You said you were here to talk... talk about what?"
The duplicate smiled and walked to the other side of the room, as if to gaze out of some window Usagi could not see. "Oh... about you. About your life."
"What about my life?"
The mirror image turned to face Usagi with a shocked look on her face. "Why, I would have thought that you would know that! Oh, but wait, you're far too silly and stupid to figure that out on your own without somebody having to explain it to you."
"Excuse me," Usagi cried back in outrage.
"Hai. You can't even tell who it is that you love, much less figure out why you're here. You still don't get it, do you? Oh, really, you are not the brightest girl ever."
"You just said that we are the same person! And I do too know who I love," Usagi yelled back.
The mirror image smirked at Usagi. "We are, and we aren't. But don't worry, you're not expected to understand anything like that. It's far too deep for someone so simple minded. And you don't know. You've been leading all of those boys on a string. Poor Duo... flirting with him like that over that ice cream... really, you have no shame, do you?"
" I am not leading anyone on," Usagi insisted, but her denial sounded feeble even to her.
The image jumped at the opportunity of the weakness it held before it. "Oh, yes, you do. Not only that, but you can't even tell the only friends you have how you feel. You'd rather wait till the last minute to say anything of any importance, and almost till it's too late. Like about the fact that you almost got raped. Let's not mention the fact that you still have yet to say anything about that to oba-san."
Usagi fell silent now to the verbal beating that she was being given. She listened and took the full extent of the berating blows being dealt at her.
"Speaking of that... hmph, you really are a fool. Thinking that you could win against three punks? You should have screamed for help. You're yowaii, just like Wufei says you are. Weak and stupid. And you never apologized to Wufei for hurting him, did you? How cruel. And when he was going to try and come to your rescue, too.
"And may I even begin on your habits? You're a total pig! A gluttonous, slothful, forgetful pig! How much does one girl need to eat, hm? And all those assignments that you fail to turn in... you feel guilty about them, but do you ever bother with thinking with it ever again? No, of course not! You're so lazy, it's disgraceful!
"And you have no self-confidence in yourself. You know that you are weak, so you only give a half try for anything. You use a cheerful demeanor and classic blonde ditzy ness to hide your pains from view, but what everyone really thinks about you is that you're a fool. You don't even know why you came here in the first place!
"You're childish and selfish, you can't make up your mind, you daydream all day and become wishy-washy. You're pathetic. How can you expect to hide from everyone else what you can't even hide from yourself- that you're a stupid, silly, weak little brat of a girl!
"So why not give up? We both know that that's what you want to do. You're hurt now, and you don't want to handle the truth because it's too painful. Why not go back home to have a good cry, and then forget about this. It IS just a dream, ya know? That's what you've been thinking this whole time, isn't it? Oh, please. Don't look so surprised. I'm YOU, Usagi. I know all about you.
"There's the door out," her mirror image announced as a door appeared on the left wall, "so go home already. We both know that you've had enough and that you're just too frightened, so go home.
Silence filled the room, and after a moment, Usagi turned towards the door. She prepared to leave when she felt a memory spark out of nowhere.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Usagi, you've always been the strongest of us- but you've always been so easy to scare! When trouble comes up, you're the first one to run. You've got to get over that, Usagi, because we need your help. You can do it," said a blue haired, blue eyed girl. She looked intelligent and sounded intelligent, and for some reason, she demanded your attention when you spoke to her. Ami... is that her name? I think it is...
"Yeah, Usagi! Let's kick some Nega-butt," cheered a tom-boyish girl with sparkling emerald green eyes. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail, and she wore a familiar looking sailor suite.
Sailor suit? What on earth... good lord, those aren't very modest... Makoto... Kino Makoto! Yes, yes, that's her name! it suites her well....
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The memory ended, and Usagi stood still, poised at the door. She had two choices. She could either leave, and give up now, or she could stay, and give it all a shot. Why not? I have nothing to lose. And besides... those girls are right... I can do this.
*************
Trieze growled in frustration. She COULDN'T back out of this now. He had promised her so much on her end of the bargain, and she hadn't seemed like one to give up. If she went out that door, he would see to it personally that she died. He would not allow her to make a fool of him.
"Calm down, you fool. She has not left yet. Let us see what she does," commanded the shadow being.
Trieze gritted his teeth and felt his jaw clench; nobody called him a fool and got away with it. Just you wait, you kage akurei, Treize thought vehemently, because once I have her working for me and under my complete control... I will crush you, as well. You, little one, had better not make a fool of me. Or you WILL regret it.
*************
Usagi turned around, and faced her sugata. She walked back to it slowly, letting her courage to fight back the painful words with ones of virtue. When she was finally ready, she spoke up in a quiet tone.
"It's true. It's true that I eat a lot, and that I'm lazy, and that I can be brainless. And it's true that I'll never probably be a very special person, and that I don't quite know why I'm here in this place or what I'm trying to find out. I'm probably not whoever Trieze-san thinks I am, but I still have to try, because I have all to gain from this and almost nothing to lose.
"And even with all of my faults, you can't break me down, because I know that I accept myself for what I am. And even though I do accept myself, I'll always try to become a better person than what I am. Because I can never give up."
Usagi began to feel a strength building behind her, supporting her, making her words more believable and louder. "And maybe I should have called for help, and I should have apologized, but there are many things that I should have done but didn't. I'm not going to make excuses for myself; I don't need to. I forgive myself for my blunders as I learn how to play the game that people call 'life.' I will look for the right time to tell who what, when I feel that it's the right time, and not somebody else."
***********
The shadow being watched in silence as the sequence of events unfurled before its eyes. Even though she was winning, it still did not mean a lot- this was just the first test. Anyone with a strong heart and knew themselves well could beat it. But it was still a necessary part of the whole grand scheme, even if it was a weak one.
It watched Trieze almost celebrate at the girl's rising courage, but felt nothing of the such. It knew that Trieze could not be trusted, for he was only concerned over himself when it came to his intentions. That was why it had picked it. Seeing as he felt unattached to people and would throw them away if they bothered his ambitions, they were very much alike.
If this human male was indeed right, then this was the legendary bishoujo senshi Sailor Moon. It was still unsure, but there was a definite something to this girl that made it feel interested in testing her.
Well, little bunny... are you really Sailor Moon? The destined one? I'd squash you like a little bug right now, but considering that you managed to escape death the first time and that you have the protection of the Ginzuisho, I will wait. I will wait and see if you are the legendary warrior. If you are not, then I will go on searching, but if you should be her.... then I will allow Trieze to re-teach you your magic and the magic of your friends who you've forgotten and are dead. And then... then, when he has complete control over you, your fate will be sealed.
The shadow being smirked a bit at the thought of finally ridding it of its final and most powerful energy and not even having to touch her. But, until I am sure that you are the one... I will wait... and I will watch.
***********
Usagi felt good, felt whole again. All through out her image's speech, she had recognized all of her doubts and worries, her troubles and sorrows. But now... everything was crystal clear. In one moment, she had figured it all out. Yatta... I did it! I'm going to win this little game of hers, this so-called mirror image, and- Her thoughts were interrupted as her mirror image forced her to come back to reality with her next actions.
The image sneered at her and said, "Well, you may have learned all that... but you still have yet to tell me who it is that is in your heart. Tell me. Tell me here and now who it is that is in your heart the most. Whom is it that you love, hm?"
There was a moment of silence as Usagi stared into her double's crystalline blue eyes before answering. "As my double, my mirror image, you already know the answer to that question." Usagi watched as her double stiffened before going. "But if you must be told, I love..."
Usagi whispered the name, and her double cried out in surprise before staggering back. Her double clutched at her heart and then smiled at Usagi. She flickered silver and then returned to her regular coloring before speaking.
"Very good, Usagi. You won this round. But I'm afraid that things are going to get worse here on out. Just a simple word of parting advice... be wary of the illusions around you. They are everywhere in this place, this little... fun house of magic and deceptions. Be careful of what is real and what is not, or you, too, might become a giman."
The illusion then gave a scream before shattering into many pieces and falling to the floor, to look like regular glass. Usagi knelt to the floor amongst the shards and stared at them in amazement. "You... you were a part of the miraa all along.... so that is what you meant by 'we are the same person, and we are not.'"
Usagi sat there for a few more moments, thinking of the advice that she had been given. What exactly had her mirror meant when she said that she might become an illusion herself if she weren't careful? it was odd.... because her mirror image had been her, had known all the things that she knew... and yet it knew more than Usagi did.
How confusing this all is.... and yet, it makes sense.... or at least it did for a moment there. Things are always so fleeting...
Usagi stood up and looked to see that the mirror had disappeared and it had been replaced by a regular looking door. By now Usagi knew that she had been pulled into some kind of place from hell, and that nothing was as it seemed. For all that she knew, behind that door was a pack of wild, starving demons who were just waiting to eat her alive. Usagi cautiously went over to the door.
She opened it, and when nothing attacked, she opened it fully. When her eyes registered what they were seeing, Usagi screamed in horror. None of the oddities in the rooms before could have prepared her for this.
***************
Trieze smirked at what he saw displayed before him. "She passed the first test," he told the shadow being in almost triumph.
"Hai, I see that, Trieze-san... but that means nothing yet. These next two tests will truly show just who she is," the golden eyed thing whispered. It's eyes shifted to a ruby red color before it continued. "That last test was a test about herself... if she truly knew herself. The next will test her faith in those that she loves and her faith in life."
"And the final? What then?"
The shadow beast turned it's head to look directly into Trieze's eyes as it's eye color shifted to a glacier and electrified blue. "In the final test, we'll see if this 'Usagi' holds the sacred power from beyond all ages."
"And if she does?"
"Human, you ask too many questions for your own good. But I will tell you all the same. If she has the powers, I will help you to train her. And then... this world will be all yours."
Trieze faced that girl on the screen. He watched as she opened the door to the next task before her. One girl... one girl holds that much power.... hai. I know for sure it is her, the one this shadow beast calls the heir to the White Moon Kingdom. I've known it since I first saw her. I will train her, and then use her and her powers. And yet... I still cannot help but wonder what this demon wants out of the bargain...
******************************
Whew.... that felt like that took forever. Well, it took close enough... about two hours. And I'm exhausted. It was very slow going tonight. 10(+) reviews and I update.
Oh, by the way.... please vote on who you want her to be paired up with. The reason I couldn't tell you which name Usagi whispered was because I haven't been able to decide. That's why I need you're help.
Rating: PG-13 to be safe
Quick Blurb: Not much to say here, folks. Once again, this is my story, but not my characters. The last chapter was short, so I hope to make this one a bit longer. It's one in the morning, July 19th- which is my b-day. ^-^ Anyways.... on with the show! Oh, and CyberAngelOne... I would have emailed you, but when I looked at your page, I could not find one. In response, I'll try to make it a bit longer this time.
PS: This chapter may remind you a bit of Miaka's torment on the way to Taiskun's palace, for those of you who are familiar with Fushigi Yuugi.
This week's Jap reference:
Suna: Sand
Yubi: Finger (so yubis should= fingers)
Okubyoomono: Coward
Fu'un: Doom
Kami-sama: God
Miraa: Mirror
Iie: No
Areinai: Impossible
Hai: Yes
Oba-san: Aunt
Yowaii: Weak
Giman: Illusion
Kage: Shadow
Akurei: Demon
Sugata: Image (Used specially in this case for the fact that the image is from the mirror.)
Bishoujo: good looking young girl (that's what the dictionary said, anyway...)
Senshi: Warrior
Ginzuisho: Holy silver crystal (something like that)
WARNING: Usagi torture ahead!
************
Usagi had walked the crazy rainbow river path to its end, and was now looking at the place where the next room would begin. She couldn't see anything through the doorway, but she felt something odd radiating from inside. She knew that she didn't want to go in there. No, she'd much rather stay out here in this strange place where there was at least light and a sense of a pleasant atmosphere. To go to the next place would be to subject herself to the unknown.
A sudden flashback of a sharp voice rang through her mind. "Oh, really Usagi, you can be such a wimp sometimes!" With it came the image of a girl with raven black hair and violet eyes. Usagi reached for the name of the girl, and for a moment she knew it before it slipped away from her like suna through her yubis. (Okay, people. I don't know how to do multiples in Japanese, so I'm just going to add the 's' to the end of it.)
"Oh, dang it," she muttered in disappointment. But still, what the girl had said was true; Usagi was being a wimp, a okubyoomono. She had to go forward. There was no other way. She summoned her courage, and stepped forward through the gateway to the darkness.
This time, she turned around to watch the door melt away as the walls began to drip towards one another. She watched it, feeling as though she had sealed her own fate, and that fu'un was just a step away. She turned around to greet whatever other weirdness, but was shocked at the almost normalness of everything around her.
The room was just a box room, not very large, but large enough. The walls were stark white. All but one... and it was a giant mirror. Usagi timidly walked up to it and touched the glass to see if it might do anything strange, but nothing happened. It was just a plain, normal mirror. Nothing special about it, just... well, odd.
Usagi looked about but saw no way out. "Kami-sama... so this- this was just a trap!? Let me out! There's nothing here! Nothing but a dumb old miraa!"
"That and me," added a cold feminine voice.
Usagi whipped around to see the spitting image of herself leaning lazily against the wall.
"I-iie.... you... you look just like me! How can that be," Usagi demanded in horror and building fear.
"Tut tut now, calm down. I'm just here to talk to you. As for who I am and how this can be... I AM you. Usagi Tsukino, average student, niece to Lady Une."
"Th-that's arienai! You're some kind of a fraud," Usagi cried, backing away from her duplicate.
"No, no. You've got it all wrong. You looked into that mirror, right," the mirror image asked Usagi. Usagi managed a frightened nod, and the image smiled sweetly at her. "Then that's why. That's a magic mirror, so when you look into it, your mirror image comes out."
For a moment there was silence, until Usagi finally asked the question that was bugging her the most. "You said you were here to talk... talk about what?"
The duplicate smiled and walked to the other side of the room, as if to gaze out of some window Usagi could not see. "Oh... about you. About your life."
"What about my life?"
The mirror image turned to face Usagi with a shocked look on her face. "Why, I would have thought that you would know that! Oh, but wait, you're far too silly and stupid to figure that out on your own without somebody having to explain it to you."
"Excuse me," Usagi cried back in outrage.
"Hai. You can't even tell who it is that you love, much less figure out why you're here. You still don't get it, do you? Oh, really, you are not the brightest girl ever."
"You just said that we are the same person! And I do too know who I love," Usagi yelled back.
The mirror image smirked at Usagi. "We are, and we aren't. But don't worry, you're not expected to understand anything like that. It's far too deep for someone so simple minded. And you don't know. You've been leading all of those boys on a string. Poor Duo... flirting with him like that over that ice cream... really, you have no shame, do you?"
" I am not leading anyone on," Usagi insisted, but her denial sounded feeble even to her.
The image jumped at the opportunity of the weakness it held before it. "Oh, yes, you do. Not only that, but you can't even tell the only friends you have how you feel. You'd rather wait till the last minute to say anything of any importance, and almost till it's too late. Like about the fact that you almost got raped. Let's not mention the fact that you still have yet to say anything about that to oba-san."
Usagi fell silent now to the verbal beating that she was being given. She listened and took the full extent of the berating blows being dealt at her.
"Speaking of that... hmph, you really are a fool. Thinking that you could win against three punks? You should have screamed for help. You're yowaii, just like Wufei says you are. Weak and stupid. And you never apologized to Wufei for hurting him, did you? How cruel. And when he was going to try and come to your rescue, too.
"And may I even begin on your habits? You're a total pig! A gluttonous, slothful, forgetful pig! How much does one girl need to eat, hm? And all those assignments that you fail to turn in... you feel guilty about them, but do you ever bother with thinking with it ever again? No, of course not! You're so lazy, it's disgraceful!
"And you have no self-confidence in yourself. You know that you are weak, so you only give a half try for anything. You use a cheerful demeanor and classic blonde ditzy ness to hide your pains from view, but what everyone really thinks about you is that you're a fool. You don't even know why you came here in the first place!
"You're childish and selfish, you can't make up your mind, you daydream all day and become wishy-washy. You're pathetic. How can you expect to hide from everyone else what you can't even hide from yourself- that you're a stupid, silly, weak little brat of a girl!
"So why not give up? We both know that that's what you want to do. You're hurt now, and you don't want to handle the truth because it's too painful. Why not go back home to have a good cry, and then forget about this. It IS just a dream, ya know? That's what you've been thinking this whole time, isn't it? Oh, please. Don't look so surprised. I'm YOU, Usagi. I know all about you.
"There's the door out," her mirror image announced as a door appeared on the left wall, "so go home already. We both know that you've had enough and that you're just too frightened, so go home.
Silence filled the room, and after a moment, Usagi turned towards the door. She prepared to leave when she felt a memory spark out of nowhere.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Usagi, you've always been the strongest of us- but you've always been so easy to scare! When trouble comes up, you're the first one to run. You've got to get over that, Usagi, because we need your help. You can do it," said a blue haired, blue eyed girl. She looked intelligent and sounded intelligent, and for some reason, she demanded your attention when you spoke to her. Ami... is that her name? I think it is...
"Yeah, Usagi! Let's kick some Nega-butt," cheered a tom-boyish girl with sparkling emerald green eyes. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail, and she wore a familiar looking sailor suite.
Sailor suit? What on earth... good lord, those aren't very modest... Makoto... Kino Makoto! Yes, yes, that's her name! it suites her well....
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The memory ended, and Usagi stood still, poised at the door. She had two choices. She could either leave, and give up now, or she could stay, and give it all a shot. Why not? I have nothing to lose. And besides... those girls are right... I can do this.
*************
Trieze growled in frustration. She COULDN'T back out of this now. He had promised her so much on her end of the bargain, and she hadn't seemed like one to give up. If she went out that door, he would see to it personally that she died. He would not allow her to make a fool of him.
"Calm down, you fool. She has not left yet. Let us see what she does," commanded the shadow being.
Trieze gritted his teeth and felt his jaw clench; nobody called him a fool and got away with it. Just you wait, you kage akurei, Treize thought vehemently, because once I have her working for me and under my complete control... I will crush you, as well. You, little one, had better not make a fool of me. Or you WILL regret it.
*************
Usagi turned around, and faced her sugata. She walked back to it slowly, letting her courage to fight back the painful words with ones of virtue. When she was finally ready, she spoke up in a quiet tone.
"It's true. It's true that I eat a lot, and that I'm lazy, and that I can be brainless. And it's true that I'll never probably be a very special person, and that I don't quite know why I'm here in this place or what I'm trying to find out. I'm probably not whoever Trieze-san thinks I am, but I still have to try, because I have all to gain from this and almost nothing to lose.
"And even with all of my faults, you can't break me down, because I know that I accept myself for what I am. And even though I do accept myself, I'll always try to become a better person than what I am. Because I can never give up."
Usagi began to feel a strength building behind her, supporting her, making her words more believable and louder. "And maybe I should have called for help, and I should have apologized, but there are many things that I should have done but didn't. I'm not going to make excuses for myself; I don't need to. I forgive myself for my blunders as I learn how to play the game that people call 'life.' I will look for the right time to tell who what, when I feel that it's the right time, and not somebody else."
***********
The shadow being watched in silence as the sequence of events unfurled before its eyes. Even though she was winning, it still did not mean a lot- this was just the first test. Anyone with a strong heart and knew themselves well could beat it. But it was still a necessary part of the whole grand scheme, even if it was a weak one.
It watched Trieze almost celebrate at the girl's rising courage, but felt nothing of the such. It knew that Trieze could not be trusted, for he was only concerned over himself when it came to his intentions. That was why it had picked it. Seeing as he felt unattached to people and would throw them away if they bothered his ambitions, they were very much alike.
If this human male was indeed right, then this was the legendary bishoujo senshi Sailor Moon. It was still unsure, but there was a definite something to this girl that made it feel interested in testing her.
Well, little bunny... are you really Sailor Moon? The destined one? I'd squash you like a little bug right now, but considering that you managed to escape death the first time and that you have the protection of the Ginzuisho, I will wait. I will wait and see if you are the legendary warrior. If you are not, then I will go on searching, but if you should be her.... then I will allow Trieze to re-teach you your magic and the magic of your friends who you've forgotten and are dead. And then... then, when he has complete control over you, your fate will be sealed.
The shadow being smirked a bit at the thought of finally ridding it of its final and most powerful energy and not even having to touch her. But, until I am sure that you are the one... I will wait... and I will watch.
***********
Usagi felt good, felt whole again. All through out her image's speech, she had recognized all of her doubts and worries, her troubles and sorrows. But now... everything was crystal clear. In one moment, she had figured it all out. Yatta... I did it! I'm going to win this little game of hers, this so-called mirror image, and- Her thoughts were interrupted as her mirror image forced her to come back to reality with her next actions.
The image sneered at her and said, "Well, you may have learned all that... but you still have yet to tell me who it is that is in your heart. Tell me. Tell me here and now who it is that is in your heart the most. Whom is it that you love, hm?"
There was a moment of silence as Usagi stared into her double's crystalline blue eyes before answering. "As my double, my mirror image, you already know the answer to that question." Usagi watched as her double stiffened before going. "But if you must be told, I love..."
Usagi whispered the name, and her double cried out in surprise before staggering back. Her double clutched at her heart and then smiled at Usagi. She flickered silver and then returned to her regular coloring before speaking.
"Very good, Usagi. You won this round. But I'm afraid that things are going to get worse here on out. Just a simple word of parting advice... be wary of the illusions around you. They are everywhere in this place, this little... fun house of magic and deceptions. Be careful of what is real and what is not, or you, too, might become a giman."
The illusion then gave a scream before shattering into many pieces and falling to the floor, to look like regular glass. Usagi knelt to the floor amongst the shards and stared at them in amazement. "You... you were a part of the miraa all along.... so that is what you meant by 'we are the same person, and we are not.'"
Usagi sat there for a few more moments, thinking of the advice that she had been given. What exactly had her mirror meant when she said that she might become an illusion herself if she weren't careful? it was odd.... because her mirror image had been her, had known all the things that she knew... and yet it knew more than Usagi did.
How confusing this all is.... and yet, it makes sense.... or at least it did for a moment there. Things are always so fleeting...
Usagi stood up and looked to see that the mirror had disappeared and it had been replaced by a regular looking door. By now Usagi knew that she had been pulled into some kind of place from hell, and that nothing was as it seemed. For all that she knew, behind that door was a pack of wild, starving demons who were just waiting to eat her alive. Usagi cautiously went over to the door.
She opened it, and when nothing attacked, she opened it fully. When her eyes registered what they were seeing, Usagi screamed in horror. None of the oddities in the rooms before could have prepared her for this.
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Trieze smirked at what he saw displayed before him. "She passed the first test," he told the shadow being in almost triumph.
"Hai, I see that, Trieze-san... but that means nothing yet. These next two tests will truly show just who she is," the golden eyed thing whispered. It's eyes shifted to a ruby red color before it continued. "That last test was a test about herself... if she truly knew herself. The next will test her faith in those that she loves and her faith in life."
"And the final? What then?"
The shadow beast turned it's head to look directly into Trieze's eyes as it's eye color shifted to a glacier and electrified blue. "In the final test, we'll see if this 'Usagi' holds the sacred power from beyond all ages."
"And if she does?"
"Human, you ask too many questions for your own good. But I will tell you all the same. If she has the powers, I will help you to train her. And then... this world will be all yours."
Trieze faced that girl on the screen. He watched as she opened the door to the next task before her. One girl... one girl holds that much power.... hai. I know for sure it is her, the one this shadow beast calls the heir to the White Moon Kingdom. I've known it since I first saw her. I will train her, and then use her and her powers. And yet... I still cannot help but wonder what this demon wants out of the bargain...
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Whew.... that felt like that took forever. Well, it took close enough... about two hours. And I'm exhausted. It was very slow going tonight. 10(+) reviews and I update.
Oh, by the way.... please vote on who you want her to be paired up with. The reason I couldn't tell you which name Usagi whispered was because I haven't been able to decide. That's why I need you're help.