stumble-3
This is not good. I'm...addicted to my own story. O_o ACK! I can't stop thinking about it! I can't stop writing itty bitty pieces of it in every notebook I have. Stupid story...on the plus side, I was listening to CD's (*gasp* No MP3's?!) and stumbled across 'Dryland', which reminds me terribly of this story, so I'll probably be quoting for a few chapters now. ^_^;; Eheheh...oh, I love my Lilith Fair CD! *hugs her CD's jewel case*

Okay, okay, okay. I decided on a purpose for the dream. But we don't have to worry about that just yet. Trust me, you can just let it slip from your mind right now. (Though it is rather disturbing...)

Galexz: Oh, I'm so transparent aren't I? Well, yeah, you're right...maybe. It depends on how loose you're definition of 'Hiiro' is.
Anime Princess: *smiles* I'm glad you like it. ^_^ And as I said, the dream will fit in later.



"Looks like something's coming,
looks like there's gonna be a storm.
Looks like everyone's running,
looks like everyone's torn."
-Tara MacLean, Dryland

Stumbling Towards Destiny
Chapter Three

Usagi sat in the chair beside Hiiro's bed, leaning back with her legs crossed. She alternated from looking at the comatose boy, and the small object in her hands. It was a crystal, and anybody just glancing at it might mistake it for a rather large diamond, but beyond that it didn't look out of the ordinary. It certainly didn't look magical. Usagi squinted, and held the crystal up to the light. Rainbows bounced around the exterior, and it sparkled with the refracted light. But still, ordinary crystals did that too.

"What part of you is magic?" she asked the crystal in frustration.

The crystal twinkled at her. You should be able to answer that, it seemed to say. It was hers now. It had been a week ago, two weeks after the first youma attack. She still remembered the fight that had activated the crystal. Heck, she'd been going over the thing in her mind non-stop, trying to figure out how the damned rock worked.

^>^>^>^>^>^>^>Flashback^>^>^>^>^>^>^>^>

Today was a normal day, for most people on the planet. Luckily it was that type of normal for Usagi as well. Usually, for Usagi Tsukino, a normal day had turned into something along the lines of: Wake up. Go to school. Go to work. Fight evil monster. Go to arcade. Do homework. Have conversation with cat. Sleep. Repeat. But today she had no classes, no evil monster, and lunch with Ami. Normal normal day. Well, it had started that way at least.

Usagi had stepped into Rosette, a little pizza and dessert place tucked between a bookstore and a barber shop, with a little bounce in her step. She'd slept well the night before, and now she got to eat out at her favorite restaurant. She'd considered applying for a job as a waitress their several times in the past few years, but it hadn't seemed necessary. The head chef, and owner of the restaurant, was one of the nicest women she'd ever met though. Just a little forward at times. She broke away from her thoughts when she saw Ami sitting at a table near the windows.

The cafe was fairly small. Upon entering, there were rows and rows of cakes and pastries under glass, which you could buy and leave without actually ordering anything more. From there you could see the kitchen, which was always busy. There were only three cooks (prep, line and pastry) at any given time, and recently Rosette was becoming a much more crowded. After walking past the display counter, Usagi looped around to the tables, on two stories. The upper floor had a larger table for big groups, and the lower section was just a collection of small tables for two or four. Some of the tables were secluded in the dark, and some were closer to the windows, like Ami's. All the tables had a small floral arrangement on them, made up of yellow or white roses, and babies breath. The spring display.

"Oi, Ami-chan!" Usagi called, and slipped into the chair across from her friend. "How have you been?"

Ami looked up from her tea and smiled. "Very good Usagi-chan. I'm learning a lot at the hospital here. And everyone has been so nice. And you?"

Usagi smiled brilliantly. "Great! Ogata-sensei says that my English is getting much better. And I think I'm really starting to understand it too. And Maria-chan is going home tomorrow!"

"Really? That's good news."

"Un!" Usagi laughed, but sobered quickly. "After that youma attack, I was afraid she wasn't going to get better."

Maria had been in the hospital only with a bad fever, at first. It had lasted a while, and her parents had become worried. It hadn't really been anything too serious, but professional medical attention was needed. But after that youma attack...Maria's condition has worsened, without the energy her body needed to recover her fever returned to the point where she had begun to hallucinate. Usagi remembered one particularly violent episode, where Maria had thought the creature was attacking again. It took three other nurses to hold the child down and keep her from harming herself. Only now was she finally health enough to leave. Usagi thanked god once again that only one attack had actually occurred in the hospital. Although the recent ones had been around Mugen as well.

"Usagi-chan, speaking of that; have you noticed that the youma generally attack near the location of the Senshi?" Ami asked, lowering her voice. Not many people were in the cafe, but it would be bad to have them overhear their conversation.

"No...only that they attacked near Mugen." Usagi thought for a moment. "But usually when we were there..."

"Ready to order?" a perky waitress came by their table, notepad ready.

"Hai!" Usagi quickly turned to young girl, as if her previous conversation was anything but serious. "One apple pizza, Tiramisu, and a vanilla milkshake please!"

"I'll have an egg salad sandwich and some more tea, please."

"Gotcha! I'll be back with the drinks in a moment."

"Say hi to Mako-chan for me!" Usagi called after the waitress. The girl just laughed an nodded.

"Mako-chan?" Ami questioned.

"Yeah! She's the head chef. She's really nice. I come here a lot, so sometimes we talk when it's not all that busy."

"Ah." Ami sat back, about to resume their previous conversation. She noticed the waitress returning with their drinks, and decided that a little more small talk wouldn't hurt. "And how is Yui-san?"

Usagi's eyes darkened a bit. "The same as always. He didn't seem affected by the attack at all, which is odd because it occurred in his wing of the hospital, in his room. But then again, he is in a coma. I'm not sure how much worse that condition could get."

That particular subject depressed Usagi. Usually, even if she couldn't make them better, she could at least cheer her patients up a bit. But she couldn't even do that for Hiiro. And at the same time she had this feeling that he was important. That he was involved in these monsters some how. But he'd been unconscious when they'd begun to appear. Usagi sighed, and rested her head in her hands. She was missing something, she just knew it.

An icy vanilla shake filled her vision, causing Usagi to look up in surprise.

"Compliments of the chef. Mako-chan says it'll take about fifteen minutes for your order, and she wants you to remember to stop by and say hello personally when you're done." the waitress winked, and skipped off to another customer.

"Anyway," Usagi tried to curb off the current subject, aware there were more important matters to be discussed. "Were you saying you think the youma attacks are targeted at...the Senshi?"

Ami bit her lip, thinking over how to answer the question. "Not exactly. I was doing reading with my computer, and I noticed that it can track energy signals. Particularly youma, but other energy too. Humans give off quite a bit of energy, and so do plants. But the plants have a distinct signal as well. It's really fascinating the way-"

Ami cut off when she noticed the look Usagi was giving her. "My point is, the youma that have been appearing seem to have a primary goal of gathering energy. The Sailor Senshi, even as civilians, radiate about ten times the levels of a normal human."

Usagi just stared at Ami for a moment, then sipped her milkshake slowly, closing her eyes. "So...you're saying the senshi are monster magnets."

"Well, I-"

Ami was cut off a second time by the sound of breaking glass, and a scream from the girl behind the from counter. Usagi's chair was knocked to the ground as she stood up quickly, racing to see what had happened, and to make sure everybody was all right. The site that greeted her caused her to slow, but it no longer to surprised her.

'It's amazing how quickly you adjust to things.' Usagi thought sadly.

A youma was reaching over the counter, gripping the clerk by the neck. Usagi could barely make out a distortion in the air around them. The clerks life being taken by the youma. That creature...it looked female. They all looked female. This one had a green skin tone, leaves strategically placed so that the world would still never know if those things only looked human. It didn't really have hair...many long green vines slithered down it's back, writhing about, helping to hold the clerk in place. Thorns jutted out of it's body at odd angles, and Usagi quickly decided that this battle would be best fought at long range. Ami came up behind her and gasped in shock. The would have to transform quickly.

"What's going on out there?" someone yelled from the kitchen. It was a girl with deep auburn* hair in a ponytail, and sparkling green eyes. She was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, with an apron dusted with flour covering her front. Makoto-chan.

"Shoot." Usagi whispered. If the kitchen staff was looking, they couldn't transform. So Usagi did the only thing she could think of:

"Eeeekk! A monster!" she screamed in her most high pitched voice, and bolted into the bathroom, dragging a very confused Ami by the arm. Once she'd slammed the door behind her, Ami looked at her curiously, and Usagi shrugged. "It seemed like a good idea at the time. Ikuyo."

Ami nodded, and they both pulled out their transformation pieces.

"Mercury Star Power....MAKE UP!"
"Moon Crystal Power...MAKE UP!"

One quick transformation later, and they were crawling out of the window to meet the monster from the front.

"Why can't we just go back throughout the bathroom?" Ami asked as she hopped out of the window.

"Because. If we come out the way we came, it will be suspicious." Usagi replied. "And besides, the youma will have its back to us now."

Ami nodded, and the two dashed into the store through the shattered glass the window. The monster did indeed have its back to the senshi, and it was surrounded by the fallen bodies of the staff, several of them being held in the hair of the monster. Only Mako-chan remained standing, trying to fend the creature off with a frying pan. Usagi was struck with funny the entire thing would be if it wasn't so dangerous.

"Moon Tiara Action!" she screamed, aiming carefully.

The tiara arched, slicing through the long tendrils of hair holding people still, and cutting through and arm as it went flying back to its mistress. The monster shrieked in pain, turning to the new distraction. The vines grew back quickly, and Sailormoon could see the arm beginning to re-grow. She gulped, and looked at Mercury. If it could regenerate, they had a problem.

"Shabon Spray!"

Thick fog covered the restaurant, buying them the time they needed to regroup. Through the haze Sailormoon saw Makoto begin to attack the monster again. 'Stupid', she thought. The monster finally grabbed Mako by her apron front, and pulled her closer. Sailormoon could make out Makoto's slumped form through the fog. Panic began to rise in the back of her mind.

'Isn't there anything we can do?'

"Moon Tiara Action!" Sailormoon tried again, send the disc hurdling towards the creatures midsection. It screamed in pain as the tiara ripped through it's middle, but the creatures body started to mend together just as soon as the damage was done. The monster glared at the tiara and backhanded it, sending it off course and and away from its owner.

"Shimatta!" Sailormoon yelled in frustration.

'The Sailor Senshi, even as civilians, radiate about ten times the levels of a normal human.'

'....the senshi are monster magnets.'

'Does that mean,' Usagi thought to herself. 'That everyone around me will be hurt?'

Sailormoon squeezed her eyes shut, to hold back her tears. Now was not the time to cry. Now was not the time to go hysterical. Mercury had run up to join Makoto in battling the monster. She tried to pull it away, apparently not noticing the thorns through the fog. The sound of her screaming in pain did however tear through the fog surrounding them. Sailormoon cringed as if she had received the injury. She shook her head, filled with a new resolve.

"I won't allow it!" she yelled, and everything stopped. The fog dissipated, and the youma stared at Sailormoon with a look of confusion.

An unearthly silver glow had surrounded Sailormoon, just a very subtly sheen. Her eyes were wet and her features were set in a strange mixture of hurt, anger and determination. The glow began to build, and pulse with the rhythm of her heart. Mercury gasped as she noticed she was glowing as well, a deep blue, in response to Sailormoon.

"I won't allow you to continue hurting the ones I love!" she yelled, and the aura surrounding her exploded outward . Makoto felt herself glowing as well.

'Why...?' she thought dimly. Trying to focus on Sailormoon, instead of blacking out.

The glow contracted at the brooch on Sailormoon's fuku, still pulsing until it grew too bright to look at. In a last burst of power, a crystal formed at the concentration of silver light, sending shock waves through the restaurant. As Makoto was hit by the shock wave, she felt herself changing as well.

Mild shocks rippled through her body. The feeling wasn't unpleasant at all, in fact it was like a surge of power. The wounds she'd received felt like barely scratches. Makoto felt like she could take on the world. Or at least the monster towering over her. And she knew exactly how to do it.

"Supreme...."

The sky grew dark above the restaurant, and the air became unnaturally charged with static electricity, causing the hair to stand up on the back of her neck. In the distance, thunder boomed ominously.

"THUNDER!"

Lightning flew down from the sky, striking Makoto, Sailor Jupiter, and coursing through her body. It was funny, Makoto had always thought being struck by lightning would hurt. Instead, it was more like a strange tingling up and down her body. She knew she could control it, direct it. And she directed it straight to the creature that had destroyed her restaurant.

It didn't stand a chance. Bubbles and cuts it could handle, but having ten thousand volts of electricity slam into it was more than any youma could take. With an unnatural scream, the monster seized up and fell to the ground in a charred green heap, no longer moving. Sailormoon followed suit, her energy drained. The strange crystal dropping by her side.

^>^>^>^>^>^>^>End Flashback^>^>^>^>^>^>^>^>

So now there she was, glaring at the strange, stupid crystal that wouldn't work how she wanted it too. With a sigh of frustration, she closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair. Try as she might, she couldn't duplicate the events at Rosette. The only thing she could come up with was the urgency she'd felt for her friends' lives.

'But Hiiro is important too! Onegai, Ginzuisho...I want to protect him.' she prayed and felt the warmth of the crystal against her skin. DIsregarding it, she concentrated her efforts on envisioning Hiiro awake, and healthy. She took his hand, and almost pulled back at the effect of the contact.

Pain. Emotional. Physical. Image of blood and fire, massive machines destroying cities, complexes, people. All through her, chaos seemed overwhelming. The large war of fire and running and screams filled her mind. Then just as suddenly it all stopped.

She saw a girl, fuzzy. She smiled and held a small yellow flower in her outstretched hand. The quiet peace of the situation touched Usagi.

But the reprieve was short-lived, as the destruction and carnage slammed against her psyche again at full force, images and sounds spinning wildly out of control, and she could feel her mind pulling away from it all. And at the center of it all, was one boy. Hiiro Yui. Standing there as calm as if the storm of blood raging around him was nothing, he had his arms crossed and his eyes closed. And as Usagi felt herself withdrawing into her mind, she could feel Hiiro waking up.

It was the last thing she felt before the peaceful blackness of her own mind claimed her, and she slumped over the hospital bed and fell unconscious.

^>^>^>^>^>^>^>^>^>^>^>^>^>^>^>^>
*In the manga, Makoto's hair is more of a red color, and I like that better. SO I say her hair is red/Auburn, not brown.

Also, 'Maria' is a Japanese name, kind of. It's highly unusual, but it's possible.