Never a Dull Moment
Author's Ramblings: That's right! We're BACK! With new stories, new plot
twists, and we're ready to have more fun than any of you readers will ever
be able to swallow! This season is going to out-shadow the first... Or so
we hope. It's a tough act to follow, isn't it? But, we'll try.
And now, without further adieu--on with the show!
Note: We've decided that, in Japan, there are 5 years of high school.
Why? Because we kind of NEED it to be so. School goes to grade 13. Okay?
* * * * * * * * * * * *
A lot can happen in three years. That's how long it's been since the world
was saved. Three years.
And that, my friends, is where it all beings... Late winter, three years
later...
* * * * * * * * * * * *
She was bored out of her skull.
In front of the class sat her old, fat, bald teacher, droning on
about Crystal Tokyo's police forces and outlining crime rates in a rather
religious manner as the other nineteen students in the class paid rapt
attention.
But she could care less.
It was boring. Indescribably boring. Glancing out the window, she
allowed a slight, shy smile to pull upon her pale lips. At least she had
lunch the next period. She could go eat with her two friends and gossip.
The smile faded. Three years ago, the mere thought of gossiping had
been foreign and impossible. She had duties... More duties than anyone
would ever understand. She had been one of...
"The Sailor Scouts. They were powerful, smart, and very well
trained. Without them, the world would have ceased to exist."
Her green eyes widened as she stared, aghast, at the teacher. The
Scouts? He was actually talking about the Galactic Sailor Scouts? She was
amazed. No teacher had ever...
"Ms. Yuuichirou," the man said suddenly, glaring daggers at her as
she gazed vacantly at the green chalkboard. The BLANK, green chalkboard.
"I am glad that you find the chalkboard interesting, but please choose to
study it when lecture notes are written up there." Getting no response
from the teen, the man furrowed his brow. "Are you trying to start
something?"
Shaking her head quickly, she brushed a few ebony locks from her
eyes. "I'm sorry, sir," she apologized, bowing her head and studying her
clear nail polish. "I just thought I heard you mention the Sailor Scouts,
and..."
"I did mention them," he responded, walking toward her with a
slightly surprised expression on his face. "They saved the world, and I
assumed the class would like to know about them more. Without the
Scouts..."
"They didn't do it alone," she put in, interrupting him boldly as
she glanced up from her desktop. "They had help from the Planet
Mistresses, you know."
He blinked his two brown eyes once, then twice, as though she'd just
announced herself to be the Queen of the Earth in disguise. "You..." He
gulped. "I didn't think that you paid any attention to contemporary
history."
She smiled shyly at first, but she quickly allowed that smile to be
replaced by a full-out grin. "I pay attention to a lot more than that,"
she supplied rather quickly, standing up and pacing to the front of the
room. "I know more about the Galactic Sailors than anyone else in this
room. Would you like to hear it?"
The class full of 12th-graders practically roared as the sixteen-
year-old sat down on the edge of her teacher's desk. "It all started about
three years ago," she began timelessly, her mysterious green eyes knowing
and her beautiful raven hair sparkling in the winter sun that flowed
freely through the window.
And everyone listened as Tara Yuuichirou told the story in a proud,
strong voice, but none of them realized what she was really telling. It
wasn't the story of the Galactic Sailors.
It was her life story.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Come back here!" She ran as quickly as she could down the stairs,
observing that--no matter how hard she tried--her paws would never be able
to keep up. That little pest had energy. And stamina. And she was from
the Silver Millennium.
Some miss-match.
The calico continued across the dance floor, paying no heed to
either the yells from behind her or to the sound of Phoebe's radio which
had--without a doubt--been left on when the teen had mounted the staircase
at four a.m. that morning to actually go to bed. The cat jumped over a
large pile of dirty towels, clearing it deftly, and turned just fast
enough to avoid running into an enormous mound of old newspapers.
But her opponent, who was about a third her own size and much, much
quicker, continued to run, giggling as she winked a blue eye at the older
cat. "Having trouble, Mama?" inquired the tiny black kitten with a grin.
"Am I too fast?"
"When I get my paws on you, Carina," growled Orion, lowering her
eyes as she jetted under a folding chair and started back up the stairs
after her offspring, "you will no longer have the ability to run."
The kitten just laughed and turned sharply at the top of the stairs,
tearing across the kitchen. From atop one of the green counters, two other
young cats watched with interest. "She's toast," said a slightly chubby,
smiling tan kitten.
The other kitten, a green one, nodded in agreement. "But will she
ever learn?"
"No," answered her companion. "I wonder why we're not driving Mama
and Papa crazy, though..."
"Because we're smarter than that, Galileo," came the quick response.
With a smile, the young male cat rubbed up against his sister. "I'm
so glad we're smarter, Ara," he told her in a confidential tone. "They'll
need to grow up if they're to be Guardians."
She had been smiling, but the smile faded as her gold eyes looked
away from her brother and down at the tile floor. "Yes, they will," she
uttered softly, sighing deeply. "We all will. Slowly, but surely, we will
have to accept our destinies and embrace them with a bold, knowing smile."
Ara shook her head and continued to focus on the floor. "That is our only
way of living."
Galileo looked at her, brown eyes confused. "What on Earth are
you..."
"CATCH THAT KITTEN!" A blur of silver fur flew through the kitchen,
followed by a rather large orange-and-white tomcat. "I swear, when I get
my paws on her..."
The silver blur doubled back and leapt atop the oak table in the
center of the room just long enough to wink a bright green eye. "Never a
dull moment!" she announced to her siblings before flying off in the
direction that she had come from a moment before.
Rolling his eyes, Galileo jumped off his perch and landed on the
floor with a rather loud 'plop'. "Why us?" he sighed with a shake of his
head. "Two hyperactive siblings and never a moment's peace..."
Ara joined him on the floor, stretching her long limbs as she
glanced at him. "But I suppose that's the way it was meant to be." She
sat upon her haunches, expression thoughtful. "Our destinies were, after
all, set out long before we were born, so perhaps those two have been like
this since the beginning of time."
Her brother made a face. "Then I feel bad for Fate."
"So do I," agreed the taller, slender young cat. "So do I."
There was a lengthy pause as the two sat in companionable silence.
Ever since they were tiny kittens just out of the womb, the two of them
had been inseparable. They were like two peas in a pod, really--completely
mature while their two sisters were nothing but furry balls of energy.
Sometimes, it was frightening how alike they were, but other times...
Galileo smiled slightly. "Why does Mama want Carina and Cassiopeia
so badly, anyway?" he inquired of his sister, glancing sideways at her.
The other kitten smiled. "Those two made quiet a mess of Miss
Phoebe's sewing basket this afternoon," she responded, walking slowly
towards the sound of scuffling.
He laughed. "How are we to know that Miss Phoebe didn't do it
herself?" he asked with a grin, stepping around a rotting banana peel.
She smiled one of her private, mysterious smiles. "That's a really
good question," she nodded, glancing at the mess of a house that they
resided in. "We should ask Mama and Papa that someday..."
And they went off to aid in the capture of their siblings.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The sound of metal against metal rang through the thick, cloudy air
as the two young warriors glared at one another, weapons raised. The cape
of one and the skirt of the other were ruffled in the freezing wind as the
boy slowly stumbled backward, defending himself from wrathful blow after
wrathful blow with the large, purple rod. The girl's eyes, like a cat's,
watched him as beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. "Ready to give in,
yet?" she mocked him, a smile playing on her lips.
He pushed forward without resolve, gritting his teeth as he swung
the rod. His arms tingled as metal clashed with metal. "Why can't we do
something else?" he begged, whining slightly.
She moved away, watching as he stumbled forward and nearly ran into
one of the many white marble pillars that dotted the landscape. "That's a
good question," she admitted with a slight nod, leaning on her staff as
she smiled slyly at him. "Mother? What do you have to say?"
The woman, who had been watching the proceedings in silence, neared
the duo. She was tall and shapely--exotic, some would say--with green-
black hair falling from the crown of her head and downward, ending well
past her knees. Garnet eyes that had seen all and would forever see all
darted to each of the warriors. And a small smile crossed her lips and
alit her eyes with a private appreciation. "I suppose Daddy will want us
home soon," Sailor Pluto admitted, placing her hands on her hips as she
glanced down at the two children. "As will Auntie Alex."
The little boy grinned at this and looked up at his mother. "Do you
suppose she'll play with me?" he inquired of the woman, red eyes
glittering in excitement.
Scoffing, the girl tossed her hair--hair the same exact hue of
Sailor Pluto's--behind her back and crossed her arms, allowing her Key
Staff to fall, discarded, to the cloud-covered floor. "We have better
things to do than play with our aunts, Peter," she chided her brother in
an adult voice. "Our destinies are more important..."
"We're not yet four years old!" he returned sharply, eyes suddenly
filled with anger. "Just because we look like we're older doesn't mean we
are, Aeris!"
"Well, some Master of Time YOU'LL make!" she snapped, hands
clenching into fists as she turned to him and lowered her multi-colored
eyes. "All you are is a little kid!"
Peter laughed aloud, but it was a mocking, bitter laugh. "Do you
really think we're adults?" he questioned of her, voice growing louder.
"I think that you've had one too many cups of chamomile tea!"
As the bickering between the twins continued, Sailor Pluto shook
her head and massaged the bridge of her nose. They didn't understand what
was coming--how could they? The training, for them, was just a slight
necessity that came out of being the children of a Planet Mistress. And
the fact that they would someday control time held no fear for them. Then
again, that was how it had to be. They had to learn.
And learning was always the beginning of something greater. Or so
she, the Guardian of Time, had once been told when she was a child. If
she had been a child.
"Shall we go home." It was not a question as she smiled slightly at
her children.
The brunette boy picked up his Time Staff. Except for the lack of a
Garnet Orb, the staff was identical to his mother's. And his sister's
staff was identical to his. "I suppose so, Mama," he responded, shooting
a stony glare at his twin sister. "I should like to play in the snow with
Aunt Alex."
Aeris picked up her staff but didn't say a word to either of them.
Sailor Pluto smiled to herself and held back a chuckle. Sometimes,
her children were just too cute for words.
And there was a flash of crimson light, and all three of them were
gone, leaving the Gate of Time empty and abandoned.
Leaving the Gate of Time as it had been before that fateful day
three weeks prior, when Sailor Pluto had decided--along with her soul
mate--that it was finally time to start training the future warriors.
And, perhaps, she had been right in deciding that.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Her gray eyes stared out across the city as she sat upon the couch.
She was supposed to be listening to the lecture. She was supposed to be
paying attention...
She watched a large, colorful bird soar across the blue sky. It
looked so happy, so at peace... It wasn't forever trapped behind marble
walls with two loving--but strict--guardians who wouldn't give her a
moment's rest. She wanted to be out there. Among the clouds. After all,
her REAL mother had come from there, so why couldn't she...
"Are you listening?" The voice, usually sweet and soothing, was
harsh.
Paling and clenching her teeth, the little girl turned her head from
the window and smoothed the skirts of her white dress. "It's not that I
wasn't listening, sir," she quickly apologized in her reverent, high
voice. "It was that I was distracted..."
He shook his head. "When will you learn, Ambriel?" he questioned in
an annoyed tone. "It's not that we are trying to be the bad guys, here..."
The blonde woman, who had taken care of the girl from day one,
smiled gently. "Because only one of us is." She shot a meaningful, if not
stern, glance at the silver-haired man. "I frankly think that if a
certain young man by the name Helios would just lighten up, then..."
The man resisted his growing temper and shot an annoyed glare at the
handmaiden. "Lisa, you are really not helping," he growled. "This girl
was..."
"Out playing in the mud." The woman stood and rose to her full
height, which was nearly half a foot shorter than the young man. "Like a
normal girl. She's five years old, Helios! And I promised to take proper
care of her, which would include letting her have fun!"
"Fun?" Helios roared, blue eyes almost hateful. "She's to run an
entire RELIGION as an adult! Did Martin Luther play in the MUD, Lisa?"
The handmaiden glared up at him. "When he was five, probably!" she
shot back.
"Well, I think that..."
"I wish Mama was here."
Both of the angry adults froze and turned their heads, then their
whole bodies, toward the little redheaded girl who sat on the enormous
pink couch. Her gray eyes were teary, and one of her lips was held firmly
between her teeth. "I mean, I wish a lot of things," Ambriel continued,
standing up and walking slowly toward the duo. Her slightly muddy white
sandals hit the floor with resounding flops as she neared the two of them,
"but, without Mama, nothing works out right."
The wistful expression on the little girl's face could have melted
lead, and Helios felt a lump begin to grow in his throat. Over the past
three years, he'd become close to the little foundling girl. She was his
Princess' little pet, really--when the redheaded nymph said 'jump', the
Princess of the Earth asked how high. And he'd watched in amazement as the
child had cozied up to him with a much lower track record of success. He
was not normally one to be uptight or strict, but the child had a destiny
beyond even her wildest dreams. And all Reeny and Lisa could manage to do
was spoil the child.
But her gray eyes were watering, her face so alight with hope, that
he couldn't help but let out a long sigh and crouch down to her height,
smoothing the hair of her ponytail. "Well, sometimes, some certain things
are a little more important than sitting around here with all of us."
Ambriel pouted. "Like what?" she inquired.
Rolling blue eyes, Lisa walked up to the girl and put her hands on
her hips. "Like college." She shook her head and wagged a finger at the
child. "We've been through this more times than I can count," she reminded
in a scolding tone. "And every time, you screw your face into a little
pout and ask why." She saw Ambriel's nose wrinkle and knew that the girl
understood perfectly. "Now, I'm all for you to grow up like a normal
child, but will you please just admit that Reeny goes to college and get
over it?"
The child looked to Helios, who nodded solemnly and stood without a
word. Making a face, she turned away from the adults and glanced out the
window.
Another bird flew past.
A bird... She sighed. A bird could embrace its destiny. A bird could
become what it was to become. Every bird had the supplies to become its
future self.
Her 'supplies' were all in a locked box. On a shelf. In a safe. A
safe that only her mother could get into.
"I want to be Angel Moon," she announced weakly, tossing her hair
behind her back. "I want to be a destined warrior. Don't you think I'm old
enough, Lisa? Don't you think I'm ready, Helios-papa? Don't you think..."
She turned back around and let out another long sigh.
The adults had left her alone. Alone once again.
"I want to be SOMETHING," she exhaled, the words echoing through her
lofty chamber. "Is it my fault that I don't know when I can be it?"
No one answered her...
Not that anyone would.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"I need cones," she muttered, riffling through the large walk-in
supply closet as the sounds of teens playing volleyball echoed through the
large gymnasium and into her ears. "Cones... Cones..."
A voice came from behind her, and she jumped into the air in fright.
"The third box on the left, second shelf." A blue-haired girl in a pair of
gym shorts and a too-big sweatshirt bounced into the closet, her eyes
glittering in amusement. "Don't you have a pee-wee soccer practice in an
hour?" she asked, leaning against the wall as her brunette friend opened
the suggested box and drew out quite a few day-glow green sports cones.
"Because Harbor Elementary gets out twenty minutes before we do, and this
is my second-to-last class..."
"Phoebe, can you PLEASE be quiet?" snapped the brunette, turning on
her friend as she ran a hand through her waist-length brown hair. The
other girl was taken aback by the tempered shot coming from her laid-back
friend. "I'm sorry, but I'm having a long week and I really don't need..."
The actress placed a hand on her friend's shoulder and smiled
gently. "I'm sorry, Haley," she said in a tender tone. "I heard about your
problems finding a college..."
Haley just shook her head and rolled her teal eyes. "I suppose Mom
told you all about it..."
"Your one mother teaches my voice class," responded Phoebe a bit
ambiguously. "And your other is my gym teacher." She shrugged, and her
hand didn't move from the other teen's shoulder. "But is everything really
alright? Besides college, I mean?" Her friend turned quickly away, and she
found herself smirking. "Guy troubles... It's written all over your face."
The brunette pulled away from her chipper friend and gathered the
cones in her arms. "It's not important, Phoebe."
"You love Eric, don't you?"
"Phoebe, I really..."
Grabbing her friend's chin gently, Phoebe gazed straight into the
brunette's eyes and lowered her voice drastically. "You better figure it
out," she told her companion, voice practically a hiss, "because our
lives are all going to change really soon and you'll regret letting him
go."
She pulled away. "And what's that supposed to mean?"
"You tell me." Phoebe winked a blue eye and strode out the door with
a certain bounce to her step, belying the mysterious words she had just
said.
With a shake of her head, Haley started out the other door of the
supply closet. "Sometimes, I wonder if I'll ever understand that girl..."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Dusting off the last shelf in the living room, he sighed. He really
needed to get a job.
And then, the phone rang.
"Hello? Oh, hi Mrs. Mokoti." He rolled his blue eyes as he listed
to the ranting woman rattle on and on about how direly she needed to talk
to her daughter. "No, no, Lyra's not home. School just got out. She'll be
home soon. Yes, Mrs. Mokoti. No, Mrs. Mokoti. Of course, ma'am. Good day
to you, too." He hung up and let out a long breath. A breath he didn't
know he had been holding.
Depositing the dust rag on the coffee table, he walked slowly up
and down the length of the room, pausing each time the hallway came into
view. It had made sense a month ago. But maybe it had stopped making
sense. She was hardly eighteen. She'd turned eighteen only a month ago.
Her mother was just not taking it well, and...
He walked down the tiny hallway and opened one of the two closed
doors. Within was just the kind of bedroom one would expect a teenage girl
to have--a single bed, a desk, a dresser, posters on the wall, clothes
scattered on the floor... He paled upon glancing at some of the clothing
on the floor. It was utterly amazing that, after they'd been a couple for
three years, he was still shy around her. And it was equally amazing that
she still blushed at some of her mother's innuendoes. And it was a few
THOUSAND times more amazing that, after three years, they'd not...
"Rich? You home?" The familiar voice brought a smile to his lips.
Ever since Orion had moved out, the apartment had been unsettlingly
placid. But then, she'd moved in, and...
Thin arms encircled his waist. "Do you know what my mother would do
if she found you snooping around MY bedroom, Mister Umino?" She let go of
him and bounded to face him, hands on her hips. "She'd probably kill you
and then cut out your innards..."
Richard smiled broadly and leaned down to peck her on the cheek.
"She called already," he told her with a slight smirk. "About three
minutes ago. Said you were late."
She made a face, but her chestnut eyes still glowed in amusement. "I
had to give Tara a ride home," she informed him, running a hand through
her blonde curls. "Ye gods! You'd think that she had this place under
twenty-four hour surveillance."
"Probably does," he winked, making a sweeping gesture toward the
room. "I bet that all of your clothing have bugs planted on them and you
don't even know it..." He picked up a discarded sweater and placed one of
the sleeves near his mouth. "Mrs. Mokoti, I just want to let you know that
Lyra is home and safe... Until I get my hands on her, of course."
Lyra smiled and chuckled a little, snatching her clothing away and
throwing it toward the laundry hamper--and missing, of course. "I better
call her," she said, suddenly sober. She glanced up at him apologetically.
"Will she ever get used to this all..."
"Heavens no." He placed a hand on her shoulder and bent down to look
her straight in the eye. "But I don't want you feeling sorry about your
mother's opinions or actions, because..."
Without warning, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him
gently, her lips warm against his. After a short moment, she pulled away
and let her hands slide to his chest. "You don't want me feeling sorry
because 'we're destined and it's not our fault'," she whispered, eyes
still half-closed. "We go through this every day, Richard..."
She sighed and stepped backward, a sad smile on her face. He gulped.
"Lyra, I..."
"But the only reason I manage to muster up the courage to stay is
because I love you more than life itself." Sending him a meaningful
glance, she bustled out of the room, no doubt going to call her mother.
Richard sat down on the edge of the bed, pushing a few shirts and
discarded test papers away as he smoothed the yellow sheets. Orion had
moved out about six months ago, telling him some story about necessity
and destiny. And then, out of nowhere, she'd had four kittens. He smiled
slightly. At least he knew what the 'necessity' had really been.
Closing his blue eyes, he let his smile grow. After his cat had
left, the one girl he'd ever loved moved in and made herself at home.
She'd made his empty apartment into a home. She'd made him happy.
In the beginning, he'd really missed the sarcastic talking Guardian
of his destined kingdom.
But he didn't miss Orion in the least anymore.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Her breath came and went in foggy pants as she bustled down the
street, not sure of what to expect.
Well, no. She grimaced. That wasn't true. She knew JUST what to
expect.
Tara had once said that anyone could have a vision. Anyone. Anyone
with a capital 'A'. Shinto or not. Of course, she'd scoffed at the time...
But wouldn't it figure that she'd been the first to feel it?
Well, there was really no proof that she was the first. Tara had
most likely felt it. At least a little. And Reeny, of course. She was the
Princess of the Earth, after all... She had a lot of telekinetic bonds
and stuff like that. And the cats, where ever they were...
"Alice?"
She whirled around, fists at chest level. Her nerves were shot, and
she was just about ready to...
The pink-haired teen smiled gently at her and stuck a hand between
them, as though to signal surrender. "You okay?" inquired Reeny, cocking
her head at the panting, edgy auburn-headed teen. "You seem really
nervous."
Laughing aloud, Alice wiped the beads of sweat from her brow. "Don't
you feel it, Reeny?" she questioned, clasping her hands together. "Don't
you feel impending doom? Don't you feel evil? Don't you--MMPH!"
She cupped her hand over the frantic one's mouth and pulled her into
a bunch of rather tall bushes. Crouching down and pulling her friend with
her, Reeny lowered her red eyes. "What the Hell do you think you're
doing?" she hissed in a low tone. "Announcing to the world that we're once
again inching toward disaster?"
"You mean you feel it, too?"
"OF COURSE I FEEL IT!" yelled Reeny, immediately lowering her voice
as she realized how loud she'd become. "Of course I feel it, Alice," she
whispered, brushing her bangs out of her eyes. "I've felt it for nearly a
month. And so has Diana, and so has Ambriel--whether she realizes what
exactly 'it' is or not..." She shivered. "And I HATE to think how long
Raye and Hannah and Tara and Susan have had this inkling, because my
mother's had it for months and she's not nearly as good with evil forces
as those four are..." Shaking her head, she trailed off and smoothed the
blue skirt of her college uniform. "Which means..."
Alice nodded solemnly, studying the mud they were in. Beyond the
bushes, she could see the white, fluffy snow that had been dumped upon
the city a few days before. The day she'd started to feel it... "Evil?"
she asked softly, brown eyes wide.
And Reeny turned away. And she knew what it meant.
"Let's go to the Palace," suggested the auburn-haired 13th-grader,
licking her chapped lips. "We can call the Scouts and..."
The Princess shook her head slowly, looping a pick hair around her
index finger absently. "We have to meet somewhere else... We can't involve
any of the Mistresses..." She took a deep breath and gulped nervously.
"Call Phoebe. We'll meet at her house."
"But..."
"But nothing!" snapped Reeny, standing quickly. "I don't think you
realize how important it is for us to stand on our own two legs this time
around." She sighed and glanced through a gap in the branches. From her
vintage point, she could see the highest spire of Crystal Palace stretch
endlessly into the Heavens; it rose straight up, it's point blocked by
clouds. She knew that it was time--time for them to break away and live
life on their own. To be Scouts and to fight without the Mistresses. And
she feared it something awful. "We will do this without the aid of our
mothers, because we must..."
Alice stood slowly, climbing out of the bushes with a confused look
on her face. "Whatever you say, Reeny," she responded in a soft tone.
"Whatever you say..."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Will you PLEASE go play in the snow with me?" pleaded the pathetic
little voice.
She opened one green-gray eye, glared at the source of the sound
with a certain amount of annoyed disdain, and then closed it again.
"Michi!" she called, settling back into the couch as though the effort of
opening one eye had greatly disrupted her. "He wants to play with you!"
The little boy with the dark brown hair made a face and pulled on
the woman's arm, stumbling over himself as he attempted to pull her off
the couch. "Come ON, Auntie!" he whined loudly.
"Uncle," corrected the blonde woman in a bored tone. "We go through
this once a week and..."
"You're female," corrected a timid yet timeless voice from across
the room. "Therefore, you cannot be our uncle." Aeris made a face and
glanced up from her thick book. "Technically, you're neither because you
are not related to us by blood."
Shifting her weight once again, the prone woman sighed. "Michi!" she
yelled loudly. "She's getting trivial again!"
The green-haired girl crossed her arms and hopped off the couch,
stomping out of the large parlor while muttering rude things about the
cranky woman. As she began climbing the large wooden staircase toward her
bedroom, a certain aqua-haired high school principal walked down the
stairs, her shoes echoing loudly as she came to the end of the steps and
started toward her wife. "Alex, you better have a very, very good reason
for screaming at the top of your lungs." She crossed her arms across her
chest and stood beside the couch. "I was in the bedroom, door closed,
listening to the tail end of the 1812 Overture while engrossing myself in
reading reports on Bach and Mozart and a twentieth-century rock group
called 'Blink 182'..." She paused long enough to make a face. "Which
reminds me that I need to call Phoebe Urawa's house and leave a long
message on appropriate essay choices with either Orb or Orion..." She
shook her head. "Anyway, I heard you over all of that." Lowering her blue
eyes, she glared at her wife. "Do you have any reason for your actions?"
Opening both her eyes, the blonde woman pressed her lips guiltily
together. "He was bothering me again," she said timidly, pointing an
accusing finger at the little boy who stood silently at the couch's side.
Michelle glanced down at Peter, who promptly looked up at her with
large, sweet red puppy-dog eyes. He could have made ice melt with that
innocent gaze. Instead, he melted the Mistress of Neptune.
"Play with him," she commanded in a stern voice, patting the boy on
the head. "He just wants attention."
Alex sat straight up, gaping at the little, wide-eyed child who
stood sweetly beside her. "But... He's annoying and..."
Peter smiled gently, his eyes tearing up. "Please, Unkie Alex?" he
pleaded in a cooing tone. The blonde woman felt a stony glare focus itself
on her face, and she put on a fake, annoyed smile. "Let me go get my
boots..." she told him, grumbling and sending a VERY angry look toward her
wife. Upstairs, she could hear the sound of running water--Aeris, most
likely...the sound of someone giggling--no doubt Hannah, who had been on
the phone all day with an old friend who lived New York...and the
bloodcurdling screaming of a baby...
And the baby was getting nearer.
"Come on, Peter," the blonde suddenly said, gripping the boy's arm
and practically dragging him toward the back door. "I'll play in my
slippers."
Rolling her eyes, Michelle glanced at the stairwell and then at her
frantic wife. "It's just Delaney," she called after the blonde as she
heard the heavy footfalls of a certain young man come nearer. "She's not
a ravenous viper or anything..."
"Close enough," grumbled the woman, slipping on a pair of navy
slippers. "That baby is evil, whether you like to admit it or not."
The other woman wrinkled her nose. "What a way to talk about your
granddaughter!" she yelled as the sliding glass door flew shut and the
strange duo--the Mistress of Uranus and a three-year-old with all the
maturity of a child of seven or eight--tromped through the snow outside.
"Miss Michelle?" came a hesitant, quiet voice from behind her. "She
won't stop fussing, and I don't know what to do, and neither does
Hannah..."
Turning around, the woman smiled gently. Before her was a young man
with a rather round face and a slight lack of height. He stood to about
her eye level, which was no monumental feat. Copper eyes pleaded with her
through a pair of black-rimmed glasses, and blonde hair topped his head.
Cradled in his arms was a child of about six or seven months, her fuzzy
black hair and shining purple eyes exactly like that of her mother's.
And the baby was sucking on two of the young man's fingers.
Michelle smiled. "Brian, I think you're doing all that can be done
for a teething baby," she told him with a slight shrug. "Hannah fussed
about three times as much as this little one did, and look how she turned
out..." She reached forward and touched a cautious finger to the baby's
cheek. "It still frightens me," she gulped, feeling a wave of sorrow wash
over her. She looked at the man, who seemed quite confused. "I mean, it's
scary that my daughter has a daughter, and..." she trailed off,
impulsively licking her lips.
He held the baby out toward her. "Why don't you take her for a few
minutes?" he suggested with a smile. "I need to get Hannah off that phone,
and you don't have anything better to do..."
She accepted the child, rocking the baby back and forth as Brian
bustled off. Her eyes welled up with tears as she let the infant take one
of her fingers into her mouth and suck on it. "Just like Hannah, you are,"
she breathed, walking up and down the length of the room. "I swear it,
Delaney, if I didn't know better..."
"Who's to say you don't?" There was a sudden flash of crimson light
and then Susan Chiba appeared, her hands casually in the back pockets of
her jeans as she stood in the middle of the room. "Come now, Michelle,
you can't deny that you've had your thoughts."
Michelle furrowed her brow and stared at the woman. "Thoughts
about..." she prompted, confused.
"Like mother, like daughter," supplied the Guardian of Time,
glancing first at the child and then a hanging portrait of her own family
of four. "You see it, though you won't admit it." Michelle continued to
stare. "All the Mistresses' daughters end up like them in a whole lot of
ways..."
The musician shook her head. "Not Haley, though. She's nothing like
me..." She froze, glancing sideways out the window as she watched
Alexandra tear through the snow, a certain brown-haired little boy
running after her. "She's like Alex," she breathed, as though it had hit
her for the first time. Then, she let her blue eyes glance up at the
taller woman with the long green hair. "But why do you bring it up now?"
Susan sent her a glance that could have brought boiling water down
to absolute zero in a half of a second. "It starts," she bluntly said in
her timeless, mysterious voice. "All of it starts."
"More evil?" Michelle didn't get a response, but that was exactly
the same as an affirmative. She chewed on her lower lip, thinking
silently to herself as she stared down at her tiny, half-asleep
granddaughter. "Is that why you've been at the Gate so often lately?" she
asked in a straggled voice.
Wordlessly, Susan held out a hand and a tiny red, black, and gold
transformation stick felt into its palm. Atop the stick was the symbol of
Pluto. Then, she waved her other hand and two tiny Key Staffs appeared
beside her--smaller, orbless versions of her own. With a slight smile, she
waved her hand again and all three relics disappeared.
"I started training them a few weeks ago," she confided in the
other woman. "The fighting is going to start any day."
Michelle pressed her lips together. "Any day?"
The Time Guardian was about to respond when a little, snow-covered
boy jetted into the house and up the stairs. Following him was a certain
blonde woman with a sopping wet slipper in each hand and what appeared to
be half a snowball atop her head. With a slight, amused smile, Susan shook
her head. "I better go save my son," she commented, starting for the
stairs.
The other woman brushed an aqua hair from her eyes and glanced at
the babe in her arms. "Remember, Delaney," she told the girl, sitting on
the edge of the couch as she spoke. "When you live with Scouts,
Mistresses, and eternal men, there is never a dull moment."
And the baby smiled.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Kick the ball, don't run from it!" yelled the annoyed coach,
brushing strands of hair from her teal eyes. "You can't win at soccer
unless you TRY!"
Laughing, a nine-year-old blonde girl with golden pigtails glanced
up at her soccer coach. "Don't you think you're being a little tough on
us, Miss Haley?" she asked sweetly, green eyes large as she smiled. "I'm
the oldest on this team, and I'm only nine..."
The brunette glanced down at the girl. If it weren't for the fact
that the child was more powerful than the whole of the Galactic Sailors,
she probably would have gotten angry. But she was a precocious, adorable,
powerful girl who would someday rule the world. Or so she had been told.
"Nah, Celeste," smiled Haley, ruffling one of the girl's pigtails.
"I'm just being...uhh..."
"Just being a coach, eh Haley?" inquired an adult from behind her.
The teen turned around to come face-to-face with a short, chipper blonde
handmaiden who made her home at Crystal Palace. "How's your indoor soccer
team going?"
The young woman smiled and shrugged her shoulders, glancing at the
team as a little girl ran, tail between her legs, from the ball. "Pee-wee
soccer is a headache," she responded, the expression on her face priceless
as she watched half her team get into an argument about who should go
retrieve the ball from halfway across the gym. "They never get anything
right."
Lisa just smiled. "Well, how would you like a new player?" she
asked, pulling upon the wrist of a rather sweet looking red-haired girl
with large, slightly frightened gray eyes. Haley cocked her head, and the
woman explained. "Helios and I got into a fight about what she should do
in her free time, and we decided to put her on some sort of sports team...
And Reeny agreed and even suggested yours..."
Ambriel glanced around the gymnasium in aghast amazement. She'd
never seen so many kids--thirteen, to be exact--all running after the same
little black-and-white checkered ball. A slight smile pulled at her thin
pink lips. Maybe, just maybe, it could be fun... IF she could pull her
mind away from its obsession with destiny long enough to walk straight.
"Hey, you're Ambriel right?" questioned the blonde girl, her green
eyes sparkling. "I'm Celeste, and I've known you since you were very
young."
The smaller girl just stared, neither shying away nor daring to step
even an inch nearer to the stranger. "I don't believe I've ever met you,"
she responded cautiously, her hands folded tightly together at her waist
level. "But you seem so very familiar..."
Even with the yells of thirteen rambunctious pee-wee soccer players
was drowned out by the strange, foreboding silence that seemed to emanate
from the two children as they stared at one another, unmoving. Both Haley
and Lisa glanced frantically at one another, not the least bit sure of
what they were supposed to expect from either girl. They had been around
long enough to know that strange--and wonderful--things sometimes happened
when just one of the girls was nearby. And neither was completely sure if
they wanted to see what would happen when both were together.
A ball landed at Celeste's feet, and she drew her eyes away from the
redhead just long enough to bend over and pick it up. She ran a finger
over a few of the seams and then smiled suddenly at the child astride her.
"Want to play, Ambriel?"
Gray eyes sparkled as the girl rolled up her sweatshirt sleeves.
"Care to teach me?" she inquired, walking out onto the portion of the gym
that was roped off as the soccer field. "I've never played before..."
The brunette coach furrowed her brow as the duo walked away from
them, completely confused. Placing her hands on her hips, she sent a
sideways glance toward the blonde handmaiden. "What was that all about?"
she asked in a bewildered tone.
Lisa shrugged. "I wish I knew." Smiling gently, she placed a hand
on Haley's shoulder and leaned toward her. "Scout meeting tomorrow at
Phoebe's house," she whispered, voice hardly audible. "All available
Scouts must report. Three p.m."
"But I have soccer..." Her quick protest was halted by a certain
stern look within the other woman's usually happy blue eyes. "Why do we
need a meeting?"
Glancing at both Ambriel and Celeste, who were having what seemed to
be a grand time running amongst the other children, the handmaiden smiled
sadly. "I don't know if you've felt the impending danger, but that girl--
or perhaps the angel within--has felt it. The knowledge of her destiny
blooms within her breast even as we speak." Her soft smile, the alone
sign that she was even the least bit happy, died suddenly, and she gulped,
eyes falling to the ground. "All she can think of, talk of, is her
destiny..." Lisa laughed aloud, but it was a choked, nervous chuckle.
"Today, she ran outside and played in the mud, and you know what she said
when she got inside? She said: 'Lisa, I would like to be a bird, and fly
on silken wings, and be all that my destiny requires of me.'"
A surprised gasp escaped the coach's lips as she swallowed the
funny taste that had surfaced. Deep within, below her skin, she could feel
all those funny tingles that had accompanied her times of being a Sailor
Scout slowly bubble up to the surface. Her fingers ached to touch the
Locket of the Comets, which was at home in its delicate wooden box--or
coffin, as the little oak container had seemed to be when she'd last
touched the locket. She yearned to feel the cold touch of metal upon her
brow... To feel the soft weight of the gloves on her arms... To look down
upon a pair of short, silver boots and to know that those boots would
carry her over the highest mountain of dread and across the deepest river
of evil if she only wanted them to.
But, beyond all of that, she could feel that overwhelming feeling of
doom, and it was very similar to the feeling she had felt when the
motorcycle within her illusion had tumbled over and...
She pressed her lips together. "Already?" she asked aloud, not so
much talking to Lisa as she was talking to herself. "It all starts
already?"
"I'm not sure," responded the handmaiden, hands in her coat pockets.
"But what I do know is that the world is slowly entering into another
stage of darkness..."
Darkness... Haley laughed silently in spite of herself. Who was to
say what was darkness and what was light? She'd faced the greatest dangers
of the universe, but the only thought that ever came to her was how much
she missed that feeling of despair. When she'd fought, she'd been
whole...wanted...NEEDED... She had been a warrior that the world could not
do without and she had liked it more than any words could ever even
attempt to describe.
Her breath caught in her throat. "I think I might like the
darkness," she breathed, hardly able to formulate a complete thought
within her mind.
Lisa furrowed her brow in confusion and contemplation, not wanting
to bother the teen with her meaningless questions. "Will we see you
tomorrow?"
She nodded, long ponytail flopping back and forth behind her as she
did so. "I suppose so," she whispered, staring out at the two young girls
who, bright hair flying behind them, played soccer without a care in the
world. A slight smile crossed her face, and she licked her lips.
The darkness, in her opinion, was much more peaceful than the
light...
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Her crimson eyes scanned the starry sky as she sat on the edge of
the small table, darting from twinkling body to twinkling body in a
strange, almost beautiful randomness that amazed the observer. The
silence was deafening, suffocating, and harsh in the little office as the
Guardian and the beautiful--though mysterious--woman sat wordless,
contemplating.
"I can't do it without them," she stated softly. "Hell, I could
hardly do it WITH them here, but now there's more evil and I can't...even
bear...to...think..." Her voice gave way to sobs as tears trailed down
her pink fur and landed on the table in little droplets.
Two soft fingers wiped the tears away before stroking her back
softly. "The circle has completed itself," the woman breathed, crystal
blue eyes staring out the same window as the red eyes had previously been.
"The third sovereign generation of Guardians has presented itself and will
soon take its place..."
"But they're kittens!" She glared up at the woman in shock, her
bloodshot eyes nearly hateful with grief and anger. "They can hardly be
appropriate guardians to replace my parents!" She threw her head to the
side so that the woman could not see her tears. "I just don't understand,
Serenity! I don't see why it has to be like this!"
Sitting down in an armchair, Neo-Queen Serenity gathered the small
pink cat into her arms and kissed the Moon symbol that was embedded within
the soft pink fur. "Diana, I know how hard it is for you to be without
your parents. And it must be terrifying for you; you've been thrown into
guardianship without a teacher for the first time." She took the cat's
chin between two of her fingers and looked the animal straight in the
eyes. "But I never knew my real mother until after I was a fighter for
love and justice, and look how I turned out." She smiled and patted the
soft fur some more. "Diana, you have done a better job guarding Reeny than
your mother could ever have done, and THAT is what is important."
Diana looked up at the Queen, eyes teary. "But why did they have to
go and die?" she questioned, entire body trembling. "I know what the
prophecy said, but..."
"'When the third generation of guardians presents itself, the first
shall fade into the shadows, leaving a path that only the ready guardian
can follow'," quoted the Queen, voice strong as she ran a hand through one
of her long golden pigtails. "Prophecy is something confusing and
dreadfully dull, which is why I avoid it." Her voice seemed to pick up the
old, familiar ring of a girl who had been lost to maturity too long ago.
"But, Diana, it always comes true, and that's why we try not to mess with
it."
The cat chuckled despite the grief that welled within her heart.
"They knew it was going to happen and they let the kittens be born?"
Serenity nodded. "You'll learn that, sometimes, the future means
more than the past does," she told her friend, the mysterious tone of
royalty replacing her happy-go-lucky commentary. "And they knew it more
than I ever will."
Sighing, Diana settled her head into the silken folds of the
Queen's dress. "I miss them," she sniffled, letting her eyes slowly fall
shut.
The woman nodded and stroked the cat's fur. "So do I," she
whispered. "Probably more than you know..."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The phone rang.
She rolled over in bed, her eyelids too heavy to open in the least.
Who would call so late on a school night?
It rang again.
Her groan was muffled as she groped for the obnoxious device that
was somewhere on the nightstand. She heard a few assorted pens and pencils
fall to the ground, but paid no regard. Yanking the receiver free of the
base, she cleared her sleepy throat. "Hello?"
"Hi honey! How's everything going?" The voice was disgustingly
chipper for such a late time.
Her brown eyes slowly cracked open as she glared at the bright
orange numbers of her digital clock. One a.m. A slight smile crossed her
lips. Not too late at...
"It's ONE IN THE MORNING!" she roared into the phone, suddenly
animated as she flipped on the bedside lamp and blinked at the clock, as
though it were playing some sort of foul trick on her. "Mother, this had
BETTER be a pretty goddamn important call, or..."
From the other end, she could almost hear her mother twist the
phone cord around her fingers as she spoke. "I was just worried about my
little-whittle girl," she cooed, voice dripping with sweetness and love.
"You were late calling me when you got home from school..."
Lyra rolled her eyes and flipped the lamp back off. "First off, I'm
eighteen years old," she reminded her over-protective, bossy mother.
"Second--and we've been through this twice--I had to give Tara a ride home
because her parents were busy..."
"Well, I just wanted to check up on you," interrupted Mina in a
stern voice. "It's important to me that my little snookums is safe from
harm."
The teen chuckled to herself. "You mean you wanted to make sure I
was safe from harm and potentially dangerous boyfriends by the name of
Richard Umino!" She heard her mother gasp a bit, and she could just
imagine the exact shade of red the woman was turning. She paused just long
enough to be dramatic--a trick she'd learned from Phoebe--and then she
smiled slyly. "Don't worry, he's not in my room."
Muttering something that sounded distinctly like the word 'good',
Mina Mokoti hung up the phone in annoyance.
Resting the receiver back in its proper place, Lyra leaned into her
pillows and listened to the sound of the winter wind shaking the tree
branches outside her bedroom window. Her brow furrowed. Why was her mother
so uptight? The animosity that the Mistress held toward the young man had
decreased sharply over the last three years, which was no surprise. Yet,
still...
"Who was it?" A shadowed form, muscular, tall and handsome, appeared
in the doorway.
She smiled slightly and pulled the comforter up to her chin. "Just
Ma," she sighed with a yawn, staring at him with sleepy but adoring eyes.
"It's the once-a-week midnight check."
Richard smiled a bit and blew her a kiss. "See you in the morning,
Star," he whispered, pacing back to his own room.
And her smile grew as she sank into the bed and let her heavy
eyelids fall shut.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Sunlight filtered slowly through her bedroom window as the chipper
young voice chorused in her ears.
"Gonna be late, Tara! Get up!"
She groaned and contemplated rolling over when she felt a strange
weight upon her legs. She attempted to stretch, but it did no good.
Whatever it was, it was attached very well.
And she knew exactly what it was.
"Get off me, Josh," she snapped as she sat up, kicking her legs a
little as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "It's way too early in
the morning..."
The boy on her legs grinned impishly and hopped off, batting long,
black eyelashes as he did so. Purple eyes shone in the morning sun as he
gazed at the sleepy teen before him. "But you've gotta go to school and
to the meeting today, Tara," he pouted, looking hurt and happy at the same
time. "And Mama said..."
She rolled green eyes and stood, stretching to her full height of
five feet, seven inches. "I'm sure that I know EXACTLY what Mother said,"
she snapped at him, annoyance in her voice as she glanced disdainfully at
the boy. "But you don't have to jump on me."
"I don't HAFTA, Sissy," he agreed, nodding enthusiastically. "But I
WANNA."
Ruffling her brother's soft, messy brown-black hair, Tara smiled
slightly. She could still remember when the child--now a very mature two-
and-a-half-year-old--had been born, and, on the same token, she could
remember the sleepless nights that she'd had due to his screaming from the
next room. But his love for her seemed to make up for the lack of sleep
and the occasional games of 'Hop on Sissy'.
Well, sometimes, anyway.
She rubbed her eyes some more, glancing out the window to view the
placid temple grounds. The snow outside was of the purest white, a stark
contrast to the browns and greens of the mud that was trying desperately
to replace the slush. It was February, a nice enough month in her opinion,
but it seemed as though the cold would just NOT go away this year. She
shivered at seeing the snow, and she pulled her nightgown closer to her
body as a reflex. "What time is it, anyway?" she inquired of the boy,
watching the sun sparkle across the snow as she spoke. "It doesn't look
like six a.m...."
Josh glanced at the clock, furrowing his brow. "Seven...two...
four..." he read, looking up at her with his large purple eyes. "That's
seven twenty-four, then, right?"
Nodding, she smiled and...
"SEVEN TWENTY-FOUR?" she yelped, looking at the bedside clock as she
felt her heart pick up the pace. The third number flipped to 'five', and
she held back what was going to be a blood-curdling scream. "SCHOOL STARTS
IN FIVE MINUTES!"
As his older sister turned into a whirlwind, trying to get dressed
and organized as quickly as possible, the little boy put his hands on his
hips. "I TOLD you, Sissy," he scolded in an exasperated tone. "I TOLD you
that you were gonna be late."
And he dodged a shoe that went flying in his general direction.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Father, what is the purpose of one attending a Sailor Scout Meeting
when one is not a Sailor Scout?"
He choked on his bite of banana and glanced downward. Standing next
to the table, hands clasped together at waist height, stood a little girl.
Her eyes, which were green, red, lavender, blue, gold, and every other
color of the rainbow combined, stared up at him. He gulped and swallowed
the bite of breakfast, still staring. "Excuse me?"
Aeris sighed and pressed her lips together for a brief moment before
clarifying. "I do not mean to sound ignorant in the least, but I do not
understand why my presence is needed today at the Sailor Scout Meeting."
She knitting her green eyebrows together, pondering her own words. "I am
but three years old, yet I am older..." She glanced down at her blue skirt
and white blouse, eyebrows still bunched together. "I am a girl trapped
in a body and a mind far too old, and yet..."
"Whoa, slow down," her father interrupted, laying the half-eaten
fruit upon the seemingly endless oak table and turning to his daughter.
"Aeris, I don't understand a word that just came out of your mouth."
Terrence pushed his glasses up on his nose and drew the girl--the girl who
was a three-year-old trapped in the mind and body of one who was eight--
into his lap. "Are you asking if you're a Sailor Scout?"
She licked hr lips and remained silent for a long moment as she
thought of an answer. "I suppose that, indirectly, I am," she responded,
staring into his green eyes. "I just do not understand how I could be a
Sailor Scout when there is no danger..."
Laughing aloud, he stroked her silken, chest-length green-black
hair. "There's always danger," he told her in an amused voice. "No matter
what. As long as there are people, there is danger."
With a shake of her head, Aeris unfolded her hands. "Not that type
of danger, Father," she corrected him, closing her eyes. "The type of
danger that requires this."
A small stick, red, black and gold with the symbol of Pluto atop it,
fell into the open palm of one of her hands. He sighed upon seeing it.
His wife had created that pen... Created it to give their daughter her
first chance at becoming the Guardian of Time. Of taking the position of
Sailor Pluto.
And Terrence sighed again. Soon enough, his son would take the
position of Master of Time, a position that had never been filled in the
history of the universe. A position that had, in essence, never been found
necessary.
"Aeris, times change," he told her in a stern voice. "People change.
And there will always be danger, sin and corruption." He took the pen in
his hand and ran his thumb over it, surprised by the warmth of the metal
and the beautiful, almost prismatic glow of the crimson symbol of Pluto.
"I suppose that, yes, you are a Sailor Scout," he told her. "I suppose
that, yes, you do belong at the meeting." Handing back the pen, he laid a
kiss on her forehead where--sometime, someday--a bright red birthmark,
now hidden from the world, would appear. "You are Sailor Chibi-Pluto."
She smiled a little, her eyes slightly teary. "Small Pluto," she
translated aloud. "The small Soldier of the Planet of Time." Hugging him
tightly around the neck, Aeris began to cry. "I will do a commendable job,
Father! I will make you and Mother so very, very proud!"
Out of the corner of his eye, Terrence could see his wife watching
from the far doorway of the obscenely large dining room, her usually stern
face alight with a sort of majestic-yet-saddened smile. Her red eyes never
left her daughter as she pressed her wine-colored lips together in a
subtle, pensive gesture.
Then, like a breath of wind, she turned quickly and disappeared down
the hallway.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Gray eyes stared out the window at the birds.
How she loved the birds. Their feathery wings... Their dreams never
interfered with their reality. Their parents never prevented them from...
"Stop it!" she scolded herself, clutching her hands to the sides of
her head as she yelped. "Mama and Helios-papa don't do it on purpose! And
I'm sure Lisa doesn't either!" Tears, tears that she didn't know she had,
began to flow freely down her cheeks as she slammed a fist against the
windowsill. "I don't understand it! I don't see why..."
A warm arm wrapped around her shoulders and she leaned into the
embrace, not caring who it was who held her. They were all the same, to
her. It didn't matter anymore...
A hand stroked her messy red hair. "Why do you cry?" inquired Lisa,
blue eyes filled with concern.
The girl weaseled out of the hug and wiped tears from her eyes with
her shirtsleeve, embarrassed to have one of her guardians see her so
upset. "I want to reach my destiny..." She pressed her lips together and
looked away. The birds, outside, still chirped.
"Then reach it." Out of the corner of her eye, she could see a tiny
white, gold, and silver blur being held out to her. She turned her head,
and gasped.
Her transformation stick.
Staring up at the handmaiden, the little girl cocked her head to one
side. "Do you mean it?" she questioned in a shaky voice as her hand
reached out to touch the tiny column of metal. "I can have my stick?"
"Well, yes..." lied Lisa, trying not to think of all the awful
things that both Helios and Reeny would do to her if they found she'd
handed over the pen without their permissions. "A long time ago, I made a
promise and... Well, I always keep a promise, Angel Moon."
Ambriel took the stick, clutching it to her chest as she looked
adoringly up at the blonde woman. "I know how much you hate to go against
what Papa and Mama say, Lisa," she informed the woman, shifting her
position so that she could take and hold the adult's hand. "But I am the
most grateful girl in the world to you..."
The handmaiden paled. "What makes you say that Helios and Reeny
didn't give me permission?" she questioned, chewing on her lower lip.
Chuckling, the child let go of the hand and glanced back out the
window. "Somehow, long ago, Mama taught herself to think and not be
emotional around me. Papa too." She glanced upward and winked. "But you
saw me crying and gave up on thinking. As always..."
With a sigh, Lisa ruffled the girl's hair. "I'm never going to
understand you, Little One."
Ambriel smiled, more to herself than to her guardian. "Perhaps it's
best that you don't," she smiled. "Perhaps it's best that no one does."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"A Scout Meeting... Hard to believe, isn't it?" She kissed the
Locket of the Earth before letting it fall back around her neck.
"You're telling me." The Locket of the North Star received similar
treatment.
The last teen just nodded, her brown eyes sadder than those of the
other two high schoolers.
Crossroads Junior High and High School was a bustle of bodies during
the last passing period of the week. Everyone, including teachers, was
happy at the mere thought of getting out of school for two full days.
Except for three girls.
These three stood against a bank of lockers, watching the world go
by as the familiar weight of density hung around their necks.
Lyra sighed and placed her hands in her pockets. "This is it," she
said in a soft voice, so that the students pressing past them in the hall
would not hear. "Our very last day of being normal teenagers."
The silent one smiled sadly. "It's been a long time since we've had
a meeting, hasn't it?" she asked rhetorically, the cool metal of the
Locket of Light nearly burning her hand. "I mean, we haven't been Scouts
for three years..."
"Three years..." echoed Tara, in a state of slight disbelief. "And
three-and-a-half since we received our lockets..."
They all sighed in unison, watching the clock as their five minutes
of passing period became four, then three, then two, and then...
Gulping back tears that were starting to well up in her green eyes,
the Shinto Priestess slipped her locket beneath the shirt of her navy,
red, and white school uniform. "Well, I've got Japanese next period," she
choked, smiling weakly.
"I've got Biology AP," supplied Alice quickly, running a hand
through her shoulder-length auburn hair. "It's a graduation requirement,
and..."
Lyra blinked her brown eyes. "Our last class as normal
teenagers..."
The threesome pulled together in a tight group hug, none of them
caring to let ago. A bell rang to signal that class would start in thirty
seconds, and finally they tore apart from one another.
And the blonde laughed aloud. "I think that it will be good to get
back to Scouting," she smiled with a slight shrug. "Don't you two think
so?"
They, too, chuckled and agreed.
And then they split up to go to their final class of normality...
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"I really appreciate you doing this for me," she told him in a
slightly timid, slightly upset voice, holding the clipboard out to him
with a sad smile on his face. "I know that you probably didn't want to..."
He ran a hand through his short gold-brown hair before accepting the
object from her. "Haley, really, think nothing of it," he said in a
reassuring tone. "I love kids, and I've seen your team practice before--
they've got great potential."
She pressed her lips together, twiddling her thumbs. "Yeah...
Potential..." she echoed nervously, staring at the gym floor. She was
silent for a long moment, a rarity, and then she gazed up at him, teal
eyes a bit teary. "Eric, I meant that the reason you'd not want to do
this is because of our...umm...history..."
Eric Hartford paled. Over the past three years, he and the older
girl had been in an on-again, off-again relationship that had, somehow,
managed to be a dream and a nightmare at the same time. And, up until a
short time ago, they had, for three long months, been on-again.
And now they had, for two brief weeks, been off-again...
With a sigh, he took one of her hands in his and squeezed it.
"Haley, I'm only eighteen," he reminded her with a contemplative sigh.
"I'm still in high school..."
"I know..." Her eyes met him fathomless copper orbs. If there was a
favorite quality of his that she loved to dote on, it would have to be his
eyes. They were endless pits of molten bronze... Drawing her in, playing
with her very essence...
She didn't realize how close they were until his lips touched hers.
All logic flew out the window as she slipped her arms around his waist and
let him kiss her. Slowly, gently, he pulled away and stared at her.
Butterflies took over in her stomach. Those eyes...
And he brushed her bangs off her forehead. "I've missed you..." he
murmured, voice low and breathless.
"And I, you..." A smile spread across her face as she glanced at her
watch. Two-thirty. It was only two-thirty...
"There's half an hour until my meeting," she pointed out to him as
his hand that did not have the clipboard somehow found its way around her
waist and was occupying itself with tickling her side. "And I'm sure that
I can be late..."
He smiled scandalously and, leaving the clipboard on the gym floor,
exited with his arm still firmly around her waist.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"This is amazing..." Princess Reeny, the future ruler of the entire
Earth, let her bright red eyes wander around the room. "I never thought
that this day would come."
Twelve people, of all shapes, sizes, statures, and age sat in a
circle around a folding table. It had, as almost an after thought, been
opened up in the dance-studio basement of the Urawa household, and its
dingy, dented metal surface was a stark contrast to the brown of the
wooden floor or the bright silver of the wall of mirrors. Still, none of
them seemed to notice as they were, for what was either first time in
three years or the first time in their lives, part of a group that would
do more good than anyone would ever know.
The Galactic Sailors.
Silence filled the room as everyone glanced at one another, faces
both happy and sad at the same time, no one knowing what to say or when--
or how--to actually say it.
And then, a timid hand from the end of the table shot into the air.
"I hate to be a pest," spoke up a little brown-haired boy, his red eyes
hardly at the level of the table, "but my sister and I want to know what
we're doing here..."
"Peter!" hissed the green-haired girl beside him, landing an elbow
in his side. She sat up to her full height, bright eyes sparkling as she
glanced at the pink-haired princess at the opposite end of the table.
"What he MEANS is that we are extremely curious to the methodology you
employed upon deciding the necessity of our appearance here at this date."
She cocked her head at Reeny.
The young woman's face went extremely pale as she stared blankly at
the girl. "Ex...excuse me?" she stammered, blinking. "What'd you just
say?"
Rolling red eyes, the little boy straightened up too, becoming not
nearly as tall as his companion but still increasing his stature. "She
just rearranged my sentence, that's all," he clarified with a sweet smile.
"That's sort of how Aeris is..."
"You're telling me," mumbled Haley under her breath, flipping her
long hair behind her shoulders as she leaned back in her seat.
The girl called Aeris looked offended at this comment but didn't
say anything. She did, however, cross her arms indignantly across her
chest.
Letting out a sigh, Reeny smiled. "We called you here because danger
is on its way." She stood, stretching, and began to walk slowly around
the table. "That is why, actually, we called each and every one of you
here. Those new to the game of destiny..." She sent a glance toward the
twins and then to the little redhead who sat between Helios and Celeste.
"And those who have been there before..." She glanced around at all of
the Galactic Sailors, and at Lyra's Prince, and then lastly at her own
Prince. "We all have to work together to defeat whatever this evil is.
We've done it before--most of us, at least--and we'll be sure to do it
again."
"But, Mama," pressed the child with the red ponytail, "how can we be
part of our destinies before any other evil comes to call? How can we..."
"Hush, Ambriel," interrupted Helios sternly, running a hand through
his shaggy silver-white hair. "Let the Princess talk."
With a sigh, the pink-haired Princess glanced at the duo who would
be her family. "She's got a good question, dear," she told the man with a
hint of annoyance in her voice. "We are the Galactic Sailors and the
Chibi-Scouts, and we can do anything."
"A noble thought indeed." Alice stood up, glancing around the room.
"But--and let me say this much before the guy with the freaky hair cuts
into MY statement--this isn't the same kind of evil that I felt with the
Raiders running around." She paused and licked her lips. "On a scale of
one to ten, with ten being the feeling I hold in the pit of my stomach
right this minute, the Raiders were a four."
Quiet set in, and it was deafening. The different expressions that
were distributed on each face--some of fear, some of hope, some of
confusion--were stony and understandable. No one could express the
feelings that they all had.
And then, she stood. Golden hair flowed freely around her shoulders
and down to her waist, unhindered by the two purple elastic hair ties that
usually held her hair in twin pigtails. The smile on her face was
mysterious and strange, nothing like that of the girl who she normally
was. And it could be said that, for the briefest moment in time, she was
no longer Celeste Ann Mokoti, a nine-year-old third-grader at Harbor
Elementary school.
She was the Keeper of the Nebulae.
"I would like to remind you that we are still the same people," she
said in an odd, low voice. "Three years may have passed, and we may have
become changed, but the moment we raise our relics high and say the words
that Fate has set out for us to say, we are no longer those changed
people. We are exactly the same as we were the first day we picked up
those relics.
"There are more of us. We are growing more powerful with age. But,
despite all this, we must realize the risks involved. The stakes, they
have grown. They have changed. And the fighting starts any day. But we
must stand tall and defend the world. We are superheroes, so to speak.
And we have a duty to the universe."
"She's right!" chimed in Peter from the other end of the table. "It
doesn't matter how scary this evil is, because we've got to fight it!" He
stood.
The girl beside him stood up too, a bit more slowly, and smiled a
gentle, sweet smile. "Though my brother often leans toward my unkind foe,
immaturity, I will have to say that I agree with this girl." Aeris nodded
in the direction of Celeste, her eyes glittering. "My father assured me
that, as I am a Sailor Scout, I must fight. And I assured him that, as I
am just as you say I am, I will make my mother and him proud of me."
Watching the twins with pensive gray eyes, Ambriel grinned and
stood quickly, ignoring Helios' attempts to subtly coax her into sitting
back down. "My destiny calls," she told the group. "I did not know what
it was today, but now I am sure that it is to be a warrior, just like you
other brave fighters for love!" She glanced at the blonde girl beside her,
whose green eyes had alit the moment that she'd first stood. "And I will
fly, just like a wing, to where ever my destiny will lead!"
Celeste glanced directly at Reeny. The young woman had, long ago,
allowed her eyes to widen and her jaw to drop. And still she stared at
the blonde girl, speechless, as the four children stood at their various
places around the table.
And the girl who was the Keeper of the Nebulae smiled. "As the
leader of the Chibi-Scouts, I announce that we, from this moment on, are
united. Two causes made one. From now until forever."
"Chibi-Scouts?" questioned Peter, staring at the girl before him.
"Is that what we are?"
With a gentle, special smile, the leader of the children nodded.
"That is what we are, young Master," she told him with a subtle wink of
one of her green eyes. "And that is what we will forever be."
She sat, and the other three younger members of the group followed
suit. Silence washed over them, but it was a slightly accomplished
silence. A slightly happy silence.
Then, the pitter-patter of feet--eight feet, to be exact--echoed
through the room.
Two cats launched onto the table's surface. One was rather large
and had orange and white fur which became tabby stripes at both his
forehead and at the tip of his tail. The other was smaller and much
scrappier, her calico fur matted with dust. Still, her overall presence
was almost intimidating, what with her wild green eyes and her strange,
mysterious half-smile.
And, the two birthmarks--one a bright gold moon and the other a
shining silver star--stood out against the relative darkness of the
basement.
"Sorry we're a bit late," apologized Orb quickly, his eyes darting
around at the different members of the group frantically. "We had some...
umm...'loose ends' to take care of."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Ooh, when I get my paws on them..." She paced nervously back and
forth in front of the door, every so often sticking an experimental paw
beneath the door frame. "Who do they think they are, locking us in here
while THEY get to go meet the Chibi-Scouts!" She turned her lavender eyes
to glance at the other three prisoners. "The Chibi-Scouts are OUR
responsibilities, but they don't care! OOH! I could..."
Galileo rolled his walnut-colored eyes. "Give it UP, Ara," he told
his sister with a shake of his head. "We're locked in the bathroom until
the meeting's over and there is nothing that the four of us can do about
it..." He smiled gently at her. "However, I admire your fighting spirit."
She sat on her haunches, feeling utterly empty. It had once been
said that Guardians had a telekinetic bond with their charges, and that
they felt like a part of their self was missing without that charge. And
that was how SHE felt. Empty. Alone.
And that knowledge that her 'other half' was sitting in the
basement, clueless to her meager existence, was not helping.
"Besides, Ara," chimed in the little black kitten from her spot
within the sink, "it wouldn't help. You KNOW that Papa thinks we're
freaks."
"Even though we're NOT," put in the silver one, her green eyes
sparkling. "Just 'cause we don't have our markings yet..."
The black one nodded in agreement. "And he doesn't believe that
we'll get our symbols in due time, even though that's what you say, Ara."
"And you read a lot, don't you Ara?" inquired the silver one,
smiling.
With a nod, the tall, slender kitten smiled gently at her two
siblings. "Thank you Carina, Cassiopeia, but I think that we'll need a
miracle to get Papa and Mama to let us out of here. After all..."
"Are you guys in there?" came a soft, high voice from behind the
door.
All four kittens glanced at one another, eyes wide. Only the chubby
tan male found his voice in time to respond. "Yes?"
A chuckle sounded. "I swear, my brother will never learn..." There
was the sound of a cat jumping, followed by the sound of a handle being
pushed down, and then the door opened toward them to reveal the face of a
smiling pink cat.
"Thank Serenity that I found you four," it said, stepping into the
room. "That is, of course, assuming you are the third generation of
Guardians."
Ara was quick to respond. "That would be us," she told the stranger,
"though, often enough, it's a surprise that we're anything at all."
"Our Papa's convinced that we're freaks," explained Carina, her blue
eyes staring at the forehead of the visitor. "Saaay... Where'd you get
that nice looking gold Moon?"
Cassiopeia's silver fur shone as she jumped to the tile floor and
scrutinized the symbol upon the cat's head. "Can I have one? Or two?"
Pushing the two smaller kittens out of the way, the tall cat let her
lavender eyes meet the gaze of strange cat. "Who are you, anyway?" she
asked cautiously, voice hardly above a whisper. "I've only seen one gold
moon birthmark in my entire life..."
"And she reads A LOT," put in the silver kitten.
The cat laughed. "I'm Diana, the royal Guardian of Princess Serena
and, more so, your father's older sister." She raised an eyebrow and
glanced at each of the four kittens separately, a surprised expression
slowly crossing her face. "Do you mean to say that you've not met the
Chibi-Scouts yet?"
They all shook their heads.
"And you haven't been assigned to a Chibi-Scout each, yet?"
She received a similar response.
"Oy vey," she groaned aloud, shaking her head slowly. "Then of
course you don't have your marks yet!" She rolled her crimson eyes. "I
swear, I'm going to kill that cat one of these days..."
Clearing his throat, Galileo spoke up. "I hate to interrupt your
anger with our father, but are the Chibi-Scouts here like he says they
are?"
Diana smiled. "You're Galileo, right?" He nodded, a confused
expression on his face. She glanced at the tall, thin, green-black kitten.
"And that would make you Ara. Your mother talks about you two CONSTANTLY,
you know that? All she can ever talk about is how well-read you are, Ara.
And how completely ingenious you are, Galileo. That's all I ever hear..."
"Auntie Di!" whined Carina suddenly, high voice cutting into the
cat's monologue. "Can we meet the Chibi-Scouts or NOT?"
Blushing a little, the older cat glanced at the black fur ball of a
kitten. "You want to meet them, I take it?"
"We WANT to be Guardians," clarified Ara stubbornly. "It's been a
really big deal from us ever since we were kittens."
"We still ARE kittens," pointed out Cassiopeia helpfully. "So we
couldn't have been waiting all that long..."
Ara just rolled her eyes and followed her strange, pink aunt out of
the bathroom.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Training will take place here twice a week until evil appears," Orb
explained to the group as he paced up and down the table's length. "It
will be rigorous, so bring lots of..." He turned to the end of the table
where, in all her timid timelessness, Aeris had a hand high in the air.
"Yes, Chibi-Pluto?"
She froze at the mention of her Scout name, as though someone had
just told her something she didn't fully understand. Gulping, she folded
her hands in her lap and turned her attention back to her question. "Peter
and I receive full training each day from our mother and father," she told
the cat. "What situation for training will we..."
He put up a white paw. "Celeste, as the leader of the Chibi-Scouts,
will deal with you on an individual basis, but I would think..."
"Well," spoke up a clear, low voice from the end of the table which
he was not facing, "if Celeste is the leader of the Chibi-Scouts, then who
leads their Guardians?"
Twelve pairs of human eyes and two pairs of feline eyes all focused
on a line of four variously colored kitten who sat in front of Reeny. A
bit behind them stood a rather proud, smug-looking Diana, her smile not
at all sweet as much as it haughty. "Look what I found," she winked at the
two Guardians who were already present. "Chibi-cats."
"Diana..." growled Orion, resisting the urge to go dig her claws
into the pink cat's face. "What the HELL do you think you're doing?"
"Who the Hell are they?" inquired Haley, eyes wide as she stared at
the kittens.
Phoebe made a face. "Heck," she corrected. "It's rude to swear."
The auburn-haired girl across the table made a face. "Hell shit hell
damn damn f..."
"Don't you say it in front of these children!" shot Helios and Reeny
in unison, both attempting to cover Ambriel's ears at the same time.
The redhead rolled her gray eyes.
Leaning back in her chair, Lyra yawned and glanced at her watch. It
was already six p.m. Had they really been in the Scout meeting for three
hours? Oh, well. She turned to the cats and smiled. "Well, whatever
wording you choose to use, we're still curious to who you are."
"VERY curious," specified Richard, pushing his glasses up on his
nose.
Bowing, the tallest kitten stepped forward. "I am Ara, the oldest
cat of the third generation of Guardian cats. I have been brought down on
this Earth to help train the Chibi-Scouts."
"As have I, Galileo." A chubby, pleasant-looking tan kitten stepped
forward and smiled at the group. Everyone was staring at him, and his
smile quickly faded. "Jeez, you make this seem like it's a funeral."
A tiny silver kitten leapt forward, prancing up and down the table
merrily. "I'm Cassiopeia, and I'm their sister!" she announced gleefully.
"And I'm Carina," introduced the last kitten, whose fur was the
color of night.
Orb paled noticeably. "Does this mean I have to explain?" he asked,
a bit nervous as he glanced around the group.
Nodding slowly, the Princess of the Earth smoothed the blue skirt
of her college uniform. "That would be a very nice idea, Orb," she smiled.
"Shit," muttered Orion.
"Shoot," corrected the blue-haired teen, flashing a charming smile.
The calico turned on her, green eyes alight in fiery anger. "Phoebe,
go f..."
"NOT IN FRONT OF THE KIDS!" yelped Helios and Reeny, once again
diving for Ambriel's ears.
Ambriel rolled her eyes. "Come on, you guys," she sighed with a
shake of her head. "You KNOW that Lisa can swear like a drunken sailor
when she has the inclination..."
Everyone looked at the little girl, surprised. She shrugged her
shoulders and leaned back in her chair.
"Look, I'm all for finding out ALL about the Chibi-cats," put in
Tara, standing slowly. "In fact, I would really like to hear about it. But
how about we do it over a pizza?"
For the first time that afternoon, a comment really made a whole lot
of sense.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The Galactic Sailors Say!
(All six original Galactic Sailor Scouts (Moon, Earth, Polaris, Phoenix,
Aurora Borealis, and Comet) file in, wearing their fukus)
Moon: (pensively) Did you all notice that this episode ended in a sort of
weird spot?
Phoenix: (shrugs) That's what you get when Kate stays home from school!
Moon: No, I mean it! WHY'D she do that?
Polaris: (rolls eyes) Reeny...
Moon: (angrily) And what was all that about me with a strange lack of
screen time? And what about the fact that Ambriel has this stupid 'bird'
analogy hanging over her head? And what about...
Comet: Comet Duct Tape SURROUND!
(A roll of duct tape appears and promptly covers Sailor Moon's mouth.)
Aurora Borealis: Well, I hope that you enjoyed story 15 of the Galactic
Sailors. I hope you like the new characters--
Earth: (interrupting) --none of which are all that 'new'--
Aurora Borealis: --and I hope you liked the plot.
Polaris: And the lesson of the day is...
(Pause)
All sans Moon: Duct tape is good!
Moon: Mmmm hmmmmm hmmm...
ALL: See ya!
-I Know-
Look around...
(Ambriel stares down at Tokyo from the top tower of Crystal Palace)
So many things aren't clear...
(Aeris and Peter stand before the Gate of Time with terrified expressions)
Don't worry, though...
(Haley smiles and turns a page in her book)
You know that I'll be there...
(Orion and Orb chase after the kittens)
A lot of things are so uncertain...
(Tara, near tears, bites her lip)
The future's on its way...
(Michelle holds Delaney, an amazed smile on her face)
Look into my crying eyes...
(Reeny wipes tears off her cheeks while Serenity watches nervously)
Don't take your love away!
(Alice slams the door in her father's face)
Sometimes, the road looks long...
(Lyra looks up at the North Star)
And sometimes, the world seems wrong...
(Phoebe hugs her mother around the waist)
But I know, I know, all you need is love.
(The six Galactic Sailors hold up their lockets)
Sometimes, you feel weak...
(Richard grabs onto the wrist of a falling Celeste)
And sometimes, the future looks bleak...
(Terrence shakes his head as Sailor Pluto walks through the Gate of Time)
But I know, I know, all you need is love.
(Ambriel, Celeste, and Aeris all hold up their transformation pens)
Times will change...
(Tara, robes flying, chases Joshua around the courtyard)
People will change, too...
(Haley plays with her now-long hair)
But deep inside...
(Helios takes Reeny's hands in his)
I always will love you...
(Richard bends down to kiss Lyra)
I suppose there are questions now...
(Peter tugs on Terrence's pant leg)
The answers are so far...
(Alice and Phoebe dive for a floating sphere and miss)
But look at me and smile now...
(Hannah and Brian both smile as Alex takes Delaney into her arms)
I am your guiding star!
(Lyra and Richard stare at Celeste and Peter, who are watching the sunset)
Sometimes, the road looks long...
(Lyra looks up at the North Star)
And sometimes, the world seems wrong...
(Phoebe hugs her mother around the waist)
But I know, I know, all you need is love.
(The six Galactic Sailors hold up their lockets)
Sometimes, you feel weak...
(Richard grabs onto the wrist of a falling Celeste)
And sometimes, the future looks bleak...
(Terrence shakes his head as Sailor Pluto walks through the Gate of Time)
But I know, I know, all you need is love.
(Ambriel, Celeste, and Aeris all hold up their transformation pens)
I know...
(Chibi-Pluto, the Angel Moon, and Chibi-Star stand together)
I know...
(The Galactic Sailors stand together)
All you need is love...
(All nine girls stand together)
All you need...is...love...
(The Prince and Princess of the Stars kiss)
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Did you all notice the new "I Know"? Well, probably not. I hope you liked
this episode! See you next time! (I hope...)
--KB--
Author's Ramblings: That's right! We're BACK! With new stories, new plot
twists, and we're ready to have more fun than any of you readers will ever
be able to swallow! This season is going to out-shadow the first... Or so
we hope. It's a tough act to follow, isn't it? But, we'll try.
And now, without further adieu--on with the show!
Note: We've decided that, in Japan, there are 5 years of high school.
Why? Because we kind of NEED it to be so. School goes to grade 13. Okay?
* * * * * * * * * * * *
A lot can happen in three years. That's how long it's been since the world
was saved. Three years.
And that, my friends, is where it all beings... Late winter, three years
later...
* * * * * * * * * * * *
She was bored out of her skull.
In front of the class sat her old, fat, bald teacher, droning on
about Crystal Tokyo's police forces and outlining crime rates in a rather
religious manner as the other nineteen students in the class paid rapt
attention.
But she could care less.
It was boring. Indescribably boring. Glancing out the window, she
allowed a slight, shy smile to pull upon her pale lips. At least she had
lunch the next period. She could go eat with her two friends and gossip.
The smile faded. Three years ago, the mere thought of gossiping had
been foreign and impossible. She had duties... More duties than anyone
would ever understand. She had been one of...
"The Sailor Scouts. They were powerful, smart, and very well
trained. Without them, the world would have ceased to exist."
Her green eyes widened as she stared, aghast, at the teacher. The
Scouts? He was actually talking about the Galactic Sailor Scouts? She was
amazed. No teacher had ever...
"Ms. Yuuichirou," the man said suddenly, glaring daggers at her as
she gazed vacantly at the green chalkboard. The BLANK, green chalkboard.
"I am glad that you find the chalkboard interesting, but please choose to
study it when lecture notes are written up there." Getting no response
from the teen, the man furrowed his brow. "Are you trying to start
something?"
Shaking her head quickly, she brushed a few ebony locks from her
eyes. "I'm sorry, sir," she apologized, bowing her head and studying her
clear nail polish. "I just thought I heard you mention the Sailor Scouts,
and..."
"I did mention them," he responded, walking toward her with a
slightly surprised expression on his face. "They saved the world, and I
assumed the class would like to know about them more. Without the
Scouts..."
"They didn't do it alone," she put in, interrupting him boldly as
she glanced up from her desktop. "They had help from the Planet
Mistresses, you know."
He blinked his two brown eyes once, then twice, as though she'd just
announced herself to be the Queen of the Earth in disguise. "You..." He
gulped. "I didn't think that you paid any attention to contemporary
history."
She smiled shyly at first, but she quickly allowed that smile to be
replaced by a full-out grin. "I pay attention to a lot more than that,"
she supplied rather quickly, standing up and pacing to the front of the
room. "I know more about the Galactic Sailors than anyone else in this
room. Would you like to hear it?"
The class full of 12th-graders practically roared as the sixteen-
year-old sat down on the edge of her teacher's desk. "It all started about
three years ago," she began timelessly, her mysterious green eyes knowing
and her beautiful raven hair sparkling in the winter sun that flowed
freely through the window.
And everyone listened as Tara Yuuichirou told the story in a proud,
strong voice, but none of them realized what she was really telling. It
wasn't the story of the Galactic Sailors.
It was her life story.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Come back here!" She ran as quickly as she could down the stairs,
observing that--no matter how hard she tried--her paws would never be able
to keep up. That little pest had energy. And stamina. And she was from
the Silver Millennium.
Some miss-match.
The calico continued across the dance floor, paying no heed to
either the yells from behind her or to the sound of Phoebe's radio which
had--without a doubt--been left on when the teen had mounted the staircase
at four a.m. that morning to actually go to bed. The cat jumped over a
large pile of dirty towels, clearing it deftly, and turned just fast
enough to avoid running into an enormous mound of old newspapers.
But her opponent, who was about a third her own size and much, much
quicker, continued to run, giggling as she winked a blue eye at the older
cat. "Having trouble, Mama?" inquired the tiny black kitten with a grin.
"Am I too fast?"
"When I get my paws on you, Carina," growled Orion, lowering her
eyes as she jetted under a folding chair and started back up the stairs
after her offspring, "you will no longer have the ability to run."
The kitten just laughed and turned sharply at the top of the stairs,
tearing across the kitchen. From atop one of the green counters, two other
young cats watched with interest. "She's toast," said a slightly chubby,
smiling tan kitten.
The other kitten, a green one, nodded in agreement. "But will she
ever learn?"
"No," answered her companion. "I wonder why we're not driving Mama
and Papa crazy, though..."
"Because we're smarter than that, Galileo," came the quick response.
With a smile, the young male cat rubbed up against his sister. "I'm
so glad we're smarter, Ara," he told her in a confidential tone. "They'll
need to grow up if they're to be Guardians."
She had been smiling, but the smile faded as her gold eyes looked
away from her brother and down at the tile floor. "Yes, they will," she
uttered softly, sighing deeply. "We all will. Slowly, but surely, we will
have to accept our destinies and embrace them with a bold, knowing smile."
Ara shook her head and continued to focus on the floor. "That is our only
way of living."
Galileo looked at her, brown eyes confused. "What on Earth are
you..."
"CATCH THAT KITTEN!" A blur of silver fur flew through the kitchen,
followed by a rather large orange-and-white tomcat. "I swear, when I get
my paws on her..."
The silver blur doubled back and leapt atop the oak table in the
center of the room just long enough to wink a bright green eye. "Never a
dull moment!" she announced to her siblings before flying off in the
direction that she had come from a moment before.
Rolling his eyes, Galileo jumped off his perch and landed on the
floor with a rather loud 'plop'. "Why us?" he sighed with a shake of his
head. "Two hyperactive siblings and never a moment's peace..."
Ara joined him on the floor, stretching her long limbs as she
glanced at him. "But I suppose that's the way it was meant to be." She
sat upon her haunches, expression thoughtful. "Our destinies were, after
all, set out long before we were born, so perhaps those two have been like
this since the beginning of time."
Her brother made a face. "Then I feel bad for Fate."
"So do I," agreed the taller, slender young cat. "So do I."
There was a lengthy pause as the two sat in companionable silence.
Ever since they were tiny kittens just out of the womb, the two of them
had been inseparable. They were like two peas in a pod, really--completely
mature while their two sisters were nothing but furry balls of energy.
Sometimes, it was frightening how alike they were, but other times...
Galileo smiled slightly. "Why does Mama want Carina and Cassiopeia
so badly, anyway?" he inquired of his sister, glancing sideways at her.
The other kitten smiled. "Those two made quiet a mess of Miss
Phoebe's sewing basket this afternoon," she responded, walking slowly
towards the sound of scuffling.
He laughed. "How are we to know that Miss Phoebe didn't do it
herself?" he asked with a grin, stepping around a rotting banana peel.
She smiled one of her private, mysterious smiles. "That's a really
good question," she nodded, glancing at the mess of a house that they
resided in. "We should ask Mama and Papa that someday..."
And they went off to aid in the capture of their siblings.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The sound of metal against metal rang through the thick, cloudy air
as the two young warriors glared at one another, weapons raised. The cape
of one and the skirt of the other were ruffled in the freezing wind as the
boy slowly stumbled backward, defending himself from wrathful blow after
wrathful blow with the large, purple rod. The girl's eyes, like a cat's,
watched him as beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. "Ready to give in,
yet?" she mocked him, a smile playing on her lips.
He pushed forward without resolve, gritting his teeth as he swung
the rod. His arms tingled as metal clashed with metal. "Why can't we do
something else?" he begged, whining slightly.
She moved away, watching as he stumbled forward and nearly ran into
one of the many white marble pillars that dotted the landscape. "That's a
good question," she admitted with a slight nod, leaning on her staff as
she smiled slyly at him. "Mother? What do you have to say?"
The woman, who had been watching the proceedings in silence, neared
the duo. She was tall and shapely--exotic, some would say--with green-
black hair falling from the crown of her head and downward, ending well
past her knees. Garnet eyes that had seen all and would forever see all
darted to each of the warriors. And a small smile crossed her lips and
alit her eyes with a private appreciation. "I suppose Daddy will want us
home soon," Sailor Pluto admitted, placing her hands on her hips as she
glanced down at the two children. "As will Auntie Alex."
The little boy grinned at this and looked up at his mother. "Do you
suppose she'll play with me?" he inquired of the woman, red eyes
glittering in excitement.
Scoffing, the girl tossed her hair--hair the same exact hue of
Sailor Pluto's--behind her back and crossed her arms, allowing her Key
Staff to fall, discarded, to the cloud-covered floor. "We have better
things to do than play with our aunts, Peter," she chided her brother in
an adult voice. "Our destinies are more important..."
"We're not yet four years old!" he returned sharply, eyes suddenly
filled with anger. "Just because we look like we're older doesn't mean we
are, Aeris!"
"Well, some Master of Time YOU'LL make!" she snapped, hands
clenching into fists as she turned to him and lowered her multi-colored
eyes. "All you are is a little kid!"
Peter laughed aloud, but it was a mocking, bitter laugh. "Do you
really think we're adults?" he questioned of her, voice growing louder.
"I think that you've had one too many cups of chamomile tea!"
As the bickering between the twins continued, Sailor Pluto shook
her head and massaged the bridge of her nose. They didn't understand what
was coming--how could they? The training, for them, was just a slight
necessity that came out of being the children of a Planet Mistress. And
the fact that they would someday control time held no fear for them. Then
again, that was how it had to be. They had to learn.
And learning was always the beginning of something greater. Or so
she, the Guardian of Time, had once been told when she was a child. If
she had been a child.
"Shall we go home." It was not a question as she smiled slightly at
her children.
The brunette boy picked up his Time Staff. Except for the lack of a
Garnet Orb, the staff was identical to his mother's. And his sister's
staff was identical to his. "I suppose so, Mama," he responded, shooting
a stony glare at his twin sister. "I should like to play in the snow with
Aunt Alex."
Aeris picked up her staff but didn't say a word to either of them.
Sailor Pluto smiled to herself and held back a chuckle. Sometimes,
her children were just too cute for words.
And there was a flash of crimson light, and all three of them were
gone, leaving the Gate of Time empty and abandoned.
Leaving the Gate of Time as it had been before that fateful day
three weeks prior, when Sailor Pluto had decided--along with her soul
mate--that it was finally time to start training the future warriors.
And, perhaps, she had been right in deciding that.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Her gray eyes stared out across the city as she sat upon the couch.
She was supposed to be listening to the lecture. She was supposed to be
paying attention...
She watched a large, colorful bird soar across the blue sky. It
looked so happy, so at peace... It wasn't forever trapped behind marble
walls with two loving--but strict--guardians who wouldn't give her a
moment's rest. She wanted to be out there. Among the clouds. After all,
her REAL mother had come from there, so why couldn't she...
"Are you listening?" The voice, usually sweet and soothing, was
harsh.
Paling and clenching her teeth, the little girl turned her head from
the window and smoothed the skirts of her white dress. "It's not that I
wasn't listening, sir," she quickly apologized in her reverent, high
voice. "It was that I was distracted..."
He shook his head. "When will you learn, Ambriel?" he questioned in
an annoyed tone. "It's not that we are trying to be the bad guys, here..."
The blonde woman, who had taken care of the girl from day one,
smiled gently. "Because only one of us is." She shot a meaningful, if not
stern, glance at the silver-haired man. "I frankly think that if a
certain young man by the name Helios would just lighten up, then..."
The man resisted his growing temper and shot an annoyed glare at the
handmaiden. "Lisa, you are really not helping," he growled. "This girl
was..."
"Out playing in the mud." The woman stood and rose to her full
height, which was nearly half a foot shorter than the young man. "Like a
normal girl. She's five years old, Helios! And I promised to take proper
care of her, which would include letting her have fun!"
"Fun?" Helios roared, blue eyes almost hateful. "She's to run an
entire RELIGION as an adult! Did Martin Luther play in the MUD, Lisa?"
The handmaiden glared up at him. "When he was five, probably!" she
shot back.
"Well, I think that..."
"I wish Mama was here."
Both of the angry adults froze and turned their heads, then their
whole bodies, toward the little redheaded girl who sat on the enormous
pink couch. Her gray eyes were teary, and one of her lips was held firmly
between her teeth. "I mean, I wish a lot of things," Ambriel continued,
standing up and walking slowly toward the duo. Her slightly muddy white
sandals hit the floor with resounding flops as she neared the two of them,
"but, without Mama, nothing works out right."
The wistful expression on the little girl's face could have melted
lead, and Helios felt a lump begin to grow in his throat. Over the past
three years, he'd become close to the little foundling girl. She was his
Princess' little pet, really--when the redheaded nymph said 'jump', the
Princess of the Earth asked how high. And he'd watched in amazement as the
child had cozied up to him with a much lower track record of success. He
was not normally one to be uptight or strict, but the child had a destiny
beyond even her wildest dreams. And all Reeny and Lisa could manage to do
was spoil the child.
But her gray eyes were watering, her face so alight with hope, that
he couldn't help but let out a long sigh and crouch down to her height,
smoothing the hair of her ponytail. "Well, sometimes, some certain things
are a little more important than sitting around here with all of us."
Ambriel pouted. "Like what?" she inquired.
Rolling blue eyes, Lisa walked up to the girl and put her hands on
her hips. "Like college." She shook her head and wagged a finger at the
child. "We've been through this more times than I can count," she reminded
in a scolding tone. "And every time, you screw your face into a little
pout and ask why." She saw Ambriel's nose wrinkle and knew that the girl
understood perfectly. "Now, I'm all for you to grow up like a normal
child, but will you please just admit that Reeny goes to college and get
over it?"
The child looked to Helios, who nodded solemnly and stood without a
word. Making a face, she turned away from the adults and glanced out the
window.
Another bird flew past.
A bird... She sighed. A bird could embrace its destiny. A bird could
become what it was to become. Every bird had the supplies to become its
future self.
Her 'supplies' were all in a locked box. On a shelf. In a safe. A
safe that only her mother could get into.
"I want to be Angel Moon," she announced weakly, tossing her hair
behind her back. "I want to be a destined warrior. Don't you think I'm old
enough, Lisa? Don't you think I'm ready, Helios-papa? Don't you think..."
She turned back around and let out another long sigh.
The adults had left her alone. Alone once again.
"I want to be SOMETHING," she exhaled, the words echoing through her
lofty chamber. "Is it my fault that I don't know when I can be it?"
No one answered her...
Not that anyone would.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"I need cones," she muttered, riffling through the large walk-in
supply closet as the sounds of teens playing volleyball echoed through the
large gymnasium and into her ears. "Cones... Cones..."
A voice came from behind her, and she jumped into the air in fright.
"The third box on the left, second shelf." A blue-haired girl in a pair of
gym shorts and a too-big sweatshirt bounced into the closet, her eyes
glittering in amusement. "Don't you have a pee-wee soccer practice in an
hour?" she asked, leaning against the wall as her brunette friend opened
the suggested box and drew out quite a few day-glow green sports cones.
"Because Harbor Elementary gets out twenty minutes before we do, and this
is my second-to-last class..."
"Phoebe, can you PLEASE be quiet?" snapped the brunette, turning on
her friend as she ran a hand through her waist-length brown hair. The
other girl was taken aback by the tempered shot coming from her laid-back
friend. "I'm sorry, but I'm having a long week and I really don't need..."
The actress placed a hand on her friend's shoulder and smiled
gently. "I'm sorry, Haley," she said in a tender tone. "I heard about your
problems finding a college..."
Haley just shook her head and rolled her teal eyes. "I suppose Mom
told you all about it..."
"Your one mother teaches my voice class," responded Phoebe a bit
ambiguously. "And your other is my gym teacher." She shrugged, and her
hand didn't move from the other teen's shoulder. "But is everything really
alright? Besides college, I mean?" Her friend turned quickly away, and she
found herself smirking. "Guy troubles... It's written all over your face."
The brunette pulled away from her chipper friend and gathered the
cones in her arms. "It's not important, Phoebe."
"You love Eric, don't you?"
"Phoebe, I really..."
Grabbing her friend's chin gently, Phoebe gazed straight into the
brunette's eyes and lowered her voice drastically. "You better figure it
out," she told her companion, voice practically a hiss, "because our
lives are all going to change really soon and you'll regret letting him
go."
She pulled away. "And what's that supposed to mean?"
"You tell me." Phoebe winked a blue eye and strode out the door with
a certain bounce to her step, belying the mysterious words she had just
said.
With a shake of her head, Haley started out the other door of the
supply closet. "Sometimes, I wonder if I'll ever understand that girl..."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Dusting off the last shelf in the living room, he sighed. He really
needed to get a job.
And then, the phone rang.
"Hello? Oh, hi Mrs. Mokoti." He rolled his blue eyes as he listed
to the ranting woman rattle on and on about how direly she needed to talk
to her daughter. "No, no, Lyra's not home. School just got out. She'll be
home soon. Yes, Mrs. Mokoti. No, Mrs. Mokoti. Of course, ma'am. Good day
to you, too." He hung up and let out a long breath. A breath he didn't
know he had been holding.
Depositing the dust rag on the coffee table, he walked slowly up
and down the length of the room, pausing each time the hallway came into
view. It had made sense a month ago. But maybe it had stopped making
sense. She was hardly eighteen. She'd turned eighteen only a month ago.
Her mother was just not taking it well, and...
He walked down the tiny hallway and opened one of the two closed
doors. Within was just the kind of bedroom one would expect a teenage girl
to have--a single bed, a desk, a dresser, posters on the wall, clothes
scattered on the floor... He paled upon glancing at some of the clothing
on the floor. It was utterly amazing that, after they'd been a couple for
three years, he was still shy around her. And it was equally amazing that
she still blushed at some of her mother's innuendoes. And it was a few
THOUSAND times more amazing that, after three years, they'd not...
"Rich? You home?" The familiar voice brought a smile to his lips.
Ever since Orion had moved out, the apartment had been unsettlingly
placid. But then, she'd moved in, and...
Thin arms encircled his waist. "Do you know what my mother would do
if she found you snooping around MY bedroom, Mister Umino?" She let go of
him and bounded to face him, hands on her hips. "She'd probably kill you
and then cut out your innards..."
Richard smiled broadly and leaned down to peck her on the cheek.
"She called already," he told her with a slight smirk. "About three
minutes ago. Said you were late."
She made a face, but her chestnut eyes still glowed in amusement. "I
had to give Tara a ride home," she informed him, running a hand through
her blonde curls. "Ye gods! You'd think that she had this place under
twenty-four hour surveillance."
"Probably does," he winked, making a sweeping gesture toward the
room. "I bet that all of your clothing have bugs planted on them and you
don't even know it..." He picked up a discarded sweater and placed one of
the sleeves near his mouth. "Mrs. Mokoti, I just want to let you know that
Lyra is home and safe... Until I get my hands on her, of course."
Lyra smiled and chuckled a little, snatching her clothing away and
throwing it toward the laundry hamper--and missing, of course. "I better
call her," she said, suddenly sober. She glanced up at him apologetically.
"Will she ever get used to this all..."
"Heavens no." He placed a hand on her shoulder and bent down to look
her straight in the eye. "But I don't want you feeling sorry about your
mother's opinions or actions, because..."
Without warning, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him
gently, her lips warm against his. After a short moment, she pulled away
and let her hands slide to his chest. "You don't want me feeling sorry
because 'we're destined and it's not our fault'," she whispered, eyes
still half-closed. "We go through this every day, Richard..."
She sighed and stepped backward, a sad smile on her face. He gulped.
"Lyra, I..."
"But the only reason I manage to muster up the courage to stay is
because I love you more than life itself." Sending him a meaningful
glance, she bustled out of the room, no doubt going to call her mother.
Richard sat down on the edge of the bed, pushing a few shirts and
discarded test papers away as he smoothed the yellow sheets. Orion had
moved out about six months ago, telling him some story about necessity
and destiny. And then, out of nowhere, she'd had four kittens. He smiled
slightly. At least he knew what the 'necessity' had really been.
Closing his blue eyes, he let his smile grow. After his cat had
left, the one girl he'd ever loved moved in and made herself at home.
She'd made his empty apartment into a home. She'd made him happy.
In the beginning, he'd really missed the sarcastic talking Guardian
of his destined kingdom.
But he didn't miss Orion in the least anymore.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Her breath came and went in foggy pants as she bustled down the
street, not sure of what to expect.
Well, no. She grimaced. That wasn't true. She knew JUST what to
expect.
Tara had once said that anyone could have a vision. Anyone. Anyone
with a capital 'A'. Shinto or not. Of course, she'd scoffed at the time...
But wouldn't it figure that she'd been the first to feel it?
Well, there was really no proof that she was the first. Tara had
most likely felt it. At least a little. And Reeny, of course. She was the
Princess of the Earth, after all... She had a lot of telekinetic bonds
and stuff like that. And the cats, where ever they were...
"Alice?"
She whirled around, fists at chest level. Her nerves were shot, and
she was just about ready to...
The pink-haired teen smiled gently at her and stuck a hand between
them, as though to signal surrender. "You okay?" inquired Reeny, cocking
her head at the panting, edgy auburn-headed teen. "You seem really
nervous."
Laughing aloud, Alice wiped the beads of sweat from her brow. "Don't
you feel it, Reeny?" she questioned, clasping her hands together. "Don't
you feel impending doom? Don't you feel evil? Don't you--MMPH!"
She cupped her hand over the frantic one's mouth and pulled her into
a bunch of rather tall bushes. Crouching down and pulling her friend with
her, Reeny lowered her red eyes. "What the Hell do you think you're
doing?" she hissed in a low tone. "Announcing to the world that we're once
again inching toward disaster?"
"You mean you feel it, too?"
"OF COURSE I FEEL IT!" yelled Reeny, immediately lowering her voice
as she realized how loud she'd become. "Of course I feel it, Alice," she
whispered, brushing her bangs out of her eyes. "I've felt it for nearly a
month. And so has Diana, and so has Ambriel--whether she realizes what
exactly 'it' is or not..." She shivered. "And I HATE to think how long
Raye and Hannah and Tara and Susan have had this inkling, because my
mother's had it for months and she's not nearly as good with evil forces
as those four are..." Shaking her head, she trailed off and smoothed the
blue skirt of her college uniform. "Which means..."
Alice nodded solemnly, studying the mud they were in. Beyond the
bushes, she could see the white, fluffy snow that had been dumped upon
the city a few days before. The day she'd started to feel it... "Evil?"
she asked softly, brown eyes wide.
And Reeny turned away. And she knew what it meant.
"Let's go to the Palace," suggested the auburn-haired 13th-grader,
licking her chapped lips. "We can call the Scouts and..."
The Princess shook her head slowly, looping a pick hair around her
index finger absently. "We have to meet somewhere else... We can't involve
any of the Mistresses..." She took a deep breath and gulped nervously.
"Call Phoebe. We'll meet at her house."
"But..."
"But nothing!" snapped Reeny, standing quickly. "I don't think you
realize how important it is for us to stand on our own two legs this time
around." She sighed and glanced through a gap in the branches. From her
vintage point, she could see the highest spire of Crystal Palace stretch
endlessly into the Heavens; it rose straight up, it's point blocked by
clouds. She knew that it was time--time for them to break away and live
life on their own. To be Scouts and to fight without the Mistresses. And
she feared it something awful. "We will do this without the aid of our
mothers, because we must..."
Alice stood slowly, climbing out of the bushes with a confused look
on her face. "Whatever you say, Reeny," she responded in a soft tone.
"Whatever you say..."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Will you PLEASE go play in the snow with me?" pleaded the pathetic
little voice.
She opened one green-gray eye, glared at the source of the sound
with a certain amount of annoyed disdain, and then closed it again.
"Michi!" she called, settling back into the couch as though the effort of
opening one eye had greatly disrupted her. "He wants to play with you!"
The little boy with the dark brown hair made a face and pulled on
the woman's arm, stumbling over himself as he attempted to pull her off
the couch. "Come ON, Auntie!" he whined loudly.
"Uncle," corrected the blonde woman in a bored tone. "We go through
this once a week and..."
"You're female," corrected a timid yet timeless voice from across
the room. "Therefore, you cannot be our uncle." Aeris made a face and
glanced up from her thick book. "Technically, you're neither because you
are not related to us by blood."
Shifting her weight once again, the prone woman sighed. "Michi!" she
yelled loudly. "She's getting trivial again!"
The green-haired girl crossed her arms and hopped off the couch,
stomping out of the large parlor while muttering rude things about the
cranky woman. As she began climbing the large wooden staircase toward her
bedroom, a certain aqua-haired high school principal walked down the
stairs, her shoes echoing loudly as she came to the end of the steps and
started toward her wife. "Alex, you better have a very, very good reason
for screaming at the top of your lungs." She crossed her arms across her
chest and stood beside the couch. "I was in the bedroom, door closed,
listening to the tail end of the 1812 Overture while engrossing myself in
reading reports on Bach and Mozart and a twentieth-century rock group
called 'Blink 182'..." She paused long enough to make a face. "Which
reminds me that I need to call Phoebe Urawa's house and leave a long
message on appropriate essay choices with either Orb or Orion..." She
shook her head. "Anyway, I heard you over all of that." Lowering her blue
eyes, she glared at her wife. "Do you have any reason for your actions?"
Opening both her eyes, the blonde woman pressed her lips guiltily
together. "He was bothering me again," she said timidly, pointing an
accusing finger at the little boy who stood silently at the couch's side.
Michelle glanced down at Peter, who promptly looked up at her with
large, sweet red puppy-dog eyes. He could have made ice melt with that
innocent gaze. Instead, he melted the Mistress of Neptune.
"Play with him," she commanded in a stern voice, patting the boy on
the head. "He just wants attention."
Alex sat straight up, gaping at the little, wide-eyed child who
stood sweetly beside her. "But... He's annoying and..."
Peter smiled gently, his eyes tearing up. "Please, Unkie Alex?" he
pleaded in a cooing tone. The blonde woman felt a stony glare focus itself
on her face, and she put on a fake, annoyed smile. "Let me go get my
boots..." she told him, grumbling and sending a VERY angry look toward her
wife. Upstairs, she could hear the sound of running water--Aeris, most
likely...the sound of someone giggling--no doubt Hannah, who had been on
the phone all day with an old friend who lived New York...and the
bloodcurdling screaming of a baby...
And the baby was getting nearer.
"Come on, Peter," the blonde suddenly said, gripping the boy's arm
and practically dragging him toward the back door. "I'll play in my
slippers."
Rolling her eyes, Michelle glanced at the stairwell and then at her
frantic wife. "It's just Delaney," she called after the blonde as she
heard the heavy footfalls of a certain young man come nearer. "She's not
a ravenous viper or anything..."
"Close enough," grumbled the woman, slipping on a pair of navy
slippers. "That baby is evil, whether you like to admit it or not."
The other woman wrinkled her nose. "What a way to talk about your
granddaughter!" she yelled as the sliding glass door flew shut and the
strange duo--the Mistress of Uranus and a three-year-old with all the
maturity of a child of seven or eight--tromped through the snow outside.
"Miss Michelle?" came a hesitant, quiet voice from behind her. "She
won't stop fussing, and I don't know what to do, and neither does
Hannah..."
Turning around, the woman smiled gently. Before her was a young man
with a rather round face and a slight lack of height. He stood to about
her eye level, which was no monumental feat. Copper eyes pleaded with her
through a pair of black-rimmed glasses, and blonde hair topped his head.
Cradled in his arms was a child of about six or seven months, her fuzzy
black hair and shining purple eyes exactly like that of her mother's.
And the baby was sucking on two of the young man's fingers.
Michelle smiled. "Brian, I think you're doing all that can be done
for a teething baby," she told him with a slight shrug. "Hannah fussed
about three times as much as this little one did, and look how she turned
out..." She reached forward and touched a cautious finger to the baby's
cheek. "It still frightens me," she gulped, feeling a wave of sorrow wash
over her. She looked at the man, who seemed quite confused. "I mean, it's
scary that my daughter has a daughter, and..." she trailed off,
impulsively licking her lips.
He held the baby out toward her. "Why don't you take her for a few
minutes?" he suggested with a smile. "I need to get Hannah off that phone,
and you don't have anything better to do..."
She accepted the child, rocking the baby back and forth as Brian
bustled off. Her eyes welled up with tears as she let the infant take one
of her fingers into her mouth and suck on it. "Just like Hannah, you are,"
she breathed, walking up and down the length of the room. "I swear it,
Delaney, if I didn't know better..."
"Who's to say you don't?" There was a sudden flash of crimson light
and then Susan Chiba appeared, her hands casually in the back pockets of
her jeans as she stood in the middle of the room. "Come now, Michelle,
you can't deny that you've had your thoughts."
Michelle furrowed her brow and stared at the woman. "Thoughts
about..." she prompted, confused.
"Like mother, like daughter," supplied the Guardian of Time,
glancing first at the child and then a hanging portrait of her own family
of four. "You see it, though you won't admit it." Michelle continued to
stare. "All the Mistresses' daughters end up like them in a whole lot of
ways..."
The musician shook her head. "Not Haley, though. She's nothing like
me..." She froze, glancing sideways out the window as she watched
Alexandra tear through the snow, a certain brown-haired little boy
running after her. "She's like Alex," she breathed, as though it had hit
her for the first time. Then, she let her blue eyes glance up at the
taller woman with the long green hair. "But why do you bring it up now?"
Susan sent her a glance that could have brought boiling water down
to absolute zero in a half of a second. "It starts," she bluntly said in
her timeless, mysterious voice. "All of it starts."
"More evil?" Michelle didn't get a response, but that was exactly
the same as an affirmative. She chewed on her lower lip, thinking
silently to herself as she stared down at her tiny, half-asleep
granddaughter. "Is that why you've been at the Gate so often lately?" she
asked in a straggled voice.
Wordlessly, Susan held out a hand and a tiny red, black, and gold
transformation stick felt into its palm. Atop the stick was the symbol of
Pluto. Then, she waved her other hand and two tiny Key Staffs appeared
beside her--smaller, orbless versions of her own. With a slight smile, she
waved her hand again and all three relics disappeared.
"I started training them a few weeks ago," she confided in the
other woman. "The fighting is going to start any day."
Michelle pressed her lips together. "Any day?"
The Time Guardian was about to respond when a little, snow-covered
boy jetted into the house and up the stairs. Following him was a certain
blonde woman with a sopping wet slipper in each hand and what appeared to
be half a snowball atop her head. With a slight, amused smile, Susan shook
her head. "I better go save my son," she commented, starting for the
stairs.
The other woman brushed an aqua hair from her eyes and glanced at
the babe in her arms. "Remember, Delaney," she told the girl, sitting on
the edge of the couch as she spoke. "When you live with Scouts,
Mistresses, and eternal men, there is never a dull moment."
And the baby smiled.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Kick the ball, don't run from it!" yelled the annoyed coach,
brushing strands of hair from her teal eyes. "You can't win at soccer
unless you TRY!"
Laughing, a nine-year-old blonde girl with golden pigtails glanced
up at her soccer coach. "Don't you think you're being a little tough on
us, Miss Haley?" she asked sweetly, green eyes large as she smiled. "I'm
the oldest on this team, and I'm only nine..."
The brunette glanced down at the girl. If it weren't for the fact
that the child was more powerful than the whole of the Galactic Sailors,
she probably would have gotten angry. But she was a precocious, adorable,
powerful girl who would someday rule the world. Or so she had been told.
"Nah, Celeste," smiled Haley, ruffling one of the girl's pigtails.
"I'm just being...uhh..."
"Just being a coach, eh Haley?" inquired an adult from behind her.
The teen turned around to come face-to-face with a short, chipper blonde
handmaiden who made her home at Crystal Palace. "How's your indoor soccer
team going?"
The young woman smiled and shrugged her shoulders, glancing at the
team as a little girl ran, tail between her legs, from the ball. "Pee-wee
soccer is a headache," she responded, the expression on her face priceless
as she watched half her team get into an argument about who should go
retrieve the ball from halfway across the gym. "They never get anything
right."
Lisa just smiled. "Well, how would you like a new player?" she
asked, pulling upon the wrist of a rather sweet looking red-haired girl
with large, slightly frightened gray eyes. Haley cocked her head, and the
woman explained. "Helios and I got into a fight about what she should do
in her free time, and we decided to put her on some sort of sports team...
And Reeny agreed and even suggested yours..."
Ambriel glanced around the gymnasium in aghast amazement. She'd
never seen so many kids--thirteen, to be exact--all running after the same
little black-and-white checkered ball. A slight smile pulled at her thin
pink lips. Maybe, just maybe, it could be fun... IF she could pull her
mind away from its obsession with destiny long enough to walk straight.
"Hey, you're Ambriel right?" questioned the blonde girl, her green
eyes sparkling. "I'm Celeste, and I've known you since you were very
young."
The smaller girl just stared, neither shying away nor daring to step
even an inch nearer to the stranger. "I don't believe I've ever met you,"
she responded cautiously, her hands folded tightly together at her waist
level. "But you seem so very familiar..."
Even with the yells of thirteen rambunctious pee-wee soccer players
was drowned out by the strange, foreboding silence that seemed to emanate
from the two children as they stared at one another, unmoving. Both Haley
and Lisa glanced frantically at one another, not the least bit sure of
what they were supposed to expect from either girl. They had been around
long enough to know that strange--and wonderful--things sometimes happened
when just one of the girls was nearby. And neither was completely sure if
they wanted to see what would happen when both were together.
A ball landed at Celeste's feet, and she drew her eyes away from the
redhead just long enough to bend over and pick it up. She ran a finger
over a few of the seams and then smiled suddenly at the child astride her.
"Want to play, Ambriel?"
Gray eyes sparkled as the girl rolled up her sweatshirt sleeves.
"Care to teach me?" she inquired, walking out onto the portion of the gym
that was roped off as the soccer field. "I've never played before..."
The brunette coach furrowed her brow as the duo walked away from
them, completely confused. Placing her hands on her hips, she sent a
sideways glance toward the blonde handmaiden. "What was that all about?"
she asked in a bewildered tone.
Lisa shrugged. "I wish I knew." Smiling gently, she placed a hand
on Haley's shoulder and leaned toward her. "Scout meeting tomorrow at
Phoebe's house," she whispered, voice hardly audible. "All available
Scouts must report. Three p.m."
"But I have soccer..." Her quick protest was halted by a certain
stern look within the other woman's usually happy blue eyes. "Why do we
need a meeting?"
Glancing at both Ambriel and Celeste, who were having what seemed to
be a grand time running amongst the other children, the handmaiden smiled
sadly. "I don't know if you've felt the impending danger, but that girl--
or perhaps the angel within--has felt it. The knowledge of her destiny
blooms within her breast even as we speak." Her soft smile, the alone
sign that she was even the least bit happy, died suddenly, and she gulped,
eyes falling to the ground. "All she can think of, talk of, is her
destiny..." Lisa laughed aloud, but it was a choked, nervous chuckle.
"Today, she ran outside and played in the mud, and you know what she said
when she got inside? She said: 'Lisa, I would like to be a bird, and fly
on silken wings, and be all that my destiny requires of me.'"
A surprised gasp escaped the coach's lips as she swallowed the
funny taste that had surfaced. Deep within, below her skin, she could feel
all those funny tingles that had accompanied her times of being a Sailor
Scout slowly bubble up to the surface. Her fingers ached to touch the
Locket of the Comets, which was at home in its delicate wooden box--or
coffin, as the little oak container had seemed to be when she'd last
touched the locket. She yearned to feel the cold touch of metal upon her
brow... To feel the soft weight of the gloves on her arms... To look down
upon a pair of short, silver boots and to know that those boots would
carry her over the highest mountain of dread and across the deepest river
of evil if she only wanted them to.
But, beyond all of that, she could feel that overwhelming feeling of
doom, and it was very similar to the feeling she had felt when the
motorcycle within her illusion had tumbled over and...
She pressed her lips together. "Already?" she asked aloud, not so
much talking to Lisa as she was talking to herself. "It all starts
already?"
"I'm not sure," responded the handmaiden, hands in her coat pockets.
"But what I do know is that the world is slowly entering into another
stage of darkness..."
Darkness... Haley laughed silently in spite of herself. Who was to
say what was darkness and what was light? She'd faced the greatest dangers
of the universe, but the only thought that ever came to her was how much
she missed that feeling of despair. When she'd fought, she'd been
whole...wanted...NEEDED... She had been a warrior that the world could not
do without and she had liked it more than any words could ever even
attempt to describe.
Her breath caught in her throat. "I think I might like the
darkness," she breathed, hardly able to formulate a complete thought
within her mind.
Lisa furrowed her brow in confusion and contemplation, not wanting
to bother the teen with her meaningless questions. "Will we see you
tomorrow?"
She nodded, long ponytail flopping back and forth behind her as she
did so. "I suppose so," she whispered, staring out at the two young girls
who, bright hair flying behind them, played soccer without a care in the
world. A slight smile crossed her face, and she licked her lips.
The darkness, in her opinion, was much more peaceful than the
light...
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Her crimson eyes scanned the starry sky as she sat on the edge of
the small table, darting from twinkling body to twinkling body in a
strange, almost beautiful randomness that amazed the observer. The
silence was deafening, suffocating, and harsh in the little office as the
Guardian and the beautiful--though mysterious--woman sat wordless,
contemplating.
"I can't do it without them," she stated softly. "Hell, I could
hardly do it WITH them here, but now there's more evil and I can't...even
bear...to...think..." Her voice gave way to sobs as tears trailed down
her pink fur and landed on the table in little droplets.
Two soft fingers wiped the tears away before stroking her back
softly. "The circle has completed itself," the woman breathed, crystal
blue eyes staring out the same window as the red eyes had previously been.
"The third sovereign generation of Guardians has presented itself and will
soon take its place..."
"But they're kittens!" She glared up at the woman in shock, her
bloodshot eyes nearly hateful with grief and anger. "They can hardly be
appropriate guardians to replace my parents!" She threw her head to the
side so that the woman could not see her tears. "I just don't understand,
Serenity! I don't see why it has to be like this!"
Sitting down in an armchair, Neo-Queen Serenity gathered the small
pink cat into her arms and kissed the Moon symbol that was embedded within
the soft pink fur. "Diana, I know how hard it is for you to be without
your parents. And it must be terrifying for you; you've been thrown into
guardianship without a teacher for the first time." She took the cat's
chin between two of her fingers and looked the animal straight in the
eyes. "But I never knew my real mother until after I was a fighter for
love and justice, and look how I turned out." She smiled and patted the
soft fur some more. "Diana, you have done a better job guarding Reeny than
your mother could ever have done, and THAT is what is important."
Diana looked up at the Queen, eyes teary. "But why did they have to
go and die?" she questioned, entire body trembling. "I know what the
prophecy said, but..."
"'When the third generation of guardians presents itself, the first
shall fade into the shadows, leaving a path that only the ready guardian
can follow'," quoted the Queen, voice strong as she ran a hand through one
of her long golden pigtails. "Prophecy is something confusing and
dreadfully dull, which is why I avoid it." Her voice seemed to pick up the
old, familiar ring of a girl who had been lost to maturity too long ago.
"But, Diana, it always comes true, and that's why we try not to mess with
it."
The cat chuckled despite the grief that welled within her heart.
"They knew it was going to happen and they let the kittens be born?"
Serenity nodded. "You'll learn that, sometimes, the future means
more than the past does," she told her friend, the mysterious tone of
royalty replacing her happy-go-lucky commentary. "And they knew it more
than I ever will."
Sighing, Diana settled her head into the silken folds of the
Queen's dress. "I miss them," she sniffled, letting her eyes slowly fall
shut.
The woman nodded and stroked the cat's fur. "So do I," she
whispered. "Probably more than you know..."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The phone rang.
She rolled over in bed, her eyelids too heavy to open in the least.
Who would call so late on a school night?
It rang again.
Her groan was muffled as she groped for the obnoxious device that
was somewhere on the nightstand. She heard a few assorted pens and pencils
fall to the ground, but paid no regard. Yanking the receiver free of the
base, she cleared her sleepy throat. "Hello?"
"Hi honey! How's everything going?" The voice was disgustingly
chipper for such a late time.
Her brown eyes slowly cracked open as she glared at the bright
orange numbers of her digital clock. One a.m. A slight smile crossed her
lips. Not too late at...
"It's ONE IN THE MORNING!" she roared into the phone, suddenly
animated as she flipped on the bedside lamp and blinked at the clock, as
though it were playing some sort of foul trick on her. "Mother, this had
BETTER be a pretty goddamn important call, or..."
From the other end, she could almost hear her mother twist the
phone cord around her fingers as she spoke. "I was just worried about my
little-whittle girl," she cooed, voice dripping with sweetness and love.
"You were late calling me when you got home from school..."
Lyra rolled her eyes and flipped the lamp back off. "First off, I'm
eighteen years old," she reminded her over-protective, bossy mother.
"Second--and we've been through this twice--I had to give Tara a ride home
because her parents were busy..."
"Well, I just wanted to check up on you," interrupted Mina in a
stern voice. "It's important to me that my little snookums is safe from
harm."
The teen chuckled to herself. "You mean you wanted to make sure I
was safe from harm and potentially dangerous boyfriends by the name of
Richard Umino!" She heard her mother gasp a bit, and she could just
imagine the exact shade of red the woman was turning. She paused just long
enough to be dramatic--a trick she'd learned from Phoebe--and then she
smiled slyly. "Don't worry, he's not in my room."
Muttering something that sounded distinctly like the word 'good',
Mina Mokoti hung up the phone in annoyance.
Resting the receiver back in its proper place, Lyra leaned into her
pillows and listened to the sound of the winter wind shaking the tree
branches outside her bedroom window. Her brow furrowed. Why was her mother
so uptight? The animosity that the Mistress held toward the young man had
decreased sharply over the last three years, which was no surprise. Yet,
still...
"Who was it?" A shadowed form, muscular, tall and handsome, appeared
in the doorway.
She smiled slightly and pulled the comforter up to her chin. "Just
Ma," she sighed with a yawn, staring at him with sleepy but adoring eyes.
"It's the once-a-week midnight check."
Richard smiled a bit and blew her a kiss. "See you in the morning,
Star," he whispered, pacing back to his own room.
And her smile grew as she sank into the bed and let her heavy
eyelids fall shut.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Sunlight filtered slowly through her bedroom window as the chipper
young voice chorused in her ears.
"Gonna be late, Tara! Get up!"
She groaned and contemplated rolling over when she felt a strange
weight upon her legs. She attempted to stretch, but it did no good.
Whatever it was, it was attached very well.
And she knew exactly what it was.
"Get off me, Josh," she snapped as she sat up, kicking her legs a
little as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "It's way too early in
the morning..."
The boy on her legs grinned impishly and hopped off, batting long,
black eyelashes as he did so. Purple eyes shone in the morning sun as he
gazed at the sleepy teen before him. "But you've gotta go to school and
to the meeting today, Tara," he pouted, looking hurt and happy at the same
time. "And Mama said..."
She rolled green eyes and stood, stretching to her full height of
five feet, seven inches. "I'm sure that I know EXACTLY what Mother said,"
she snapped at him, annoyance in her voice as she glanced disdainfully at
the boy. "But you don't have to jump on me."
"I don't HAFTA, Sissy," he agreed, nodding enthusiastically. "But I
WANNA."
Ruffling her brother's soft, messy brown-black hair, Tara smiled
slightly. She could still remember when the child--now a very mature two-
and-a-half-year-old--had been born, and, on the same token, she could
remember the sleepless nights that she'd had due to his screaming from the
next room. But his love for her seemed to make up for the lack of sleep
and the occasional games of 'Hop on Sissy'.
Well, sometimes, anyway.
She rubbed her eyes some more, glancing out the window to view the
placid temple grounds. The snow outside was of the purest white, a stark
contrast to the browns and greens of the mud that was trying desperately
to replace the slush. It was February, a nice enough month in her opinion,
but it seemed as though the cold would just NOT go away this year. She
shivered at seeing the snow, and she pulled her nightgown closer to her
body as a reflex. "What time is it, anyway?" she inquired of the boy,
watching the sun sparkle across the snow as she spoke. "It doesn't look
like six a.m...."
Josh glanced at the clock, furrowing his brow. "Seven...two...
four..." he read, looking up at her with his large purple eyes. "That's
seven twenty-four, then, right?"
Nodding, she smiled and...
"SEVEN TWENTY-FOUR?" she yelped, looking at the bedside clock as she
felt her heart pick up the pace. The third number flipped to 'five', and
she held back what was going to be a blood-curdling scream. "SCHOOL STARTS
IN FIVE MINUTES!"
As his older sister turned into a whirlwind, trying to get dressed
and organized as quickly as possible, the little boy put his hands on his
hips. "I TOLD you, Sissy," he scolded in an exasperated tone. "I TOLD you
that you were gonna be late."
And he dodged a shoe that went flying in his general direction.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Father, what is the purpose of one attending a Sailor Scout Meeting
when one is not a Sailor Scout?"
He choked on his bite of banana and glanced downward. Standing next
to the table, hands clasped together at waist height, stood a little girl.
Her eyes, which were green, red, lavender, blue, gold, and every other
color of the rainbow combined, stared up at him. He gulped and swallowed
the bite of breakfast, still staring. "Excuse me?"
Aeris sighed and pressed her lips together for a brief moment before
clarifying. "I do not mean to sound ignorant in the least, but I do not
understand why my presence is needed today at the Sailor Scout Meeting."
She knitting her green eyebrows together, pondering her own words. "I am
but three years old, yet I am older..." She glanced down at her blue skirt
and white blouse, eyebrows still bunched together. "I am a girl trapped
in a body and a mind far too old, and yet..."
"Whoa, slow down," her father interrupted, laying the half-eaten
fruit upon the seemingly endless oak table and turning to his daughter.
"Aeris, I don't understand a word that just came out of your mouth."
Terrence pushed his glasses up on his nose and drew the girl--the girl who
was a three-year-old trapped in the mind and body of one who was eight--
into his lap. "Are you asking if you're a Sailor Scout?"
She licked hr lips and remained silent for a long moment as she
thought of an answer. "I suppose that, indirectly, I am," she responded,
staring into his green eyes. "I just do not understand how I could be a
Sailor Scout when there is no danger..."
Laughing aloud, he stroked her silken, chest-length green-black
hair. "There's always danger," he told her in an amused voice. "No matter
what. As long as there are people, there is danger."
With a shake of her head, Aeris unfolded her hands. "Not that type
of danger, Father," she corrected him, closing her eyes. "The type of
danger that requires this."
A small stick, red, black and gold with the symbol of Pluto atop it,
fell into the open palm of one of her hands. He sighed upon seeing it.
His wife had created that pen... Created it to give their daughter her
first chance at becoming the Guardian of Time. Of taking the position of
Sailor Pluto.
And Terrence sighed again. Soon enough, his son would take the
position of Master of Time, a position that had never been filled in the
history of the universe. A position that had, in essence, never been found
necessary.
"Aeris, times change," he told her in a stern voice. "People change.
And there will always be danger, sin and corruption." He took the pen in
his hand and ran his thumb over it, surprised by the warmth of the metal
and the beautiful, almost prismatic glow of the crimson symbol of Pluto.
"I suppose that, yes, you are a Sailor Scout," he told her. "I suppose
that, yes, you do belong at the meeting." Handing back the pen, he laid a
kiss on her forehead where--sometime, someday--a bright red birthmark,
now hidden from the world, would appear. "You are Sailor Chibi-Pluto."
She smiled a little, her eyes slightly teary. "Small Pluto," she
translated aloud. "The small Soldier of the Planet of Time." Hugging him
tightly around the neck, Aeris began to cry. "I will do a commendable job,
Father! I will make you and Mother so very, very proud!"
Out of the corner of his eye, Terrence could see his wife watching
from the far doorway of the obscenely large dining room, her usually stern
face alight with a sort of majestic-yet-saddened smile. Her red eyes never
left her daughter as she pressed her wine-colored lips together in a
subtle, pensive gesture.
Then, like a breath of wind, she turned quickly and disappeared down
the hallway.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Gray eyes stared out the window at the birds.
How she loved the birds. Their feathery wings... Their dreams never
interfered with their reality. Their parents never prevented them from...
"Stop it!" she scolded herself, clutching her hands to the sides of
her head as she yelped. "Mama and Helios-papa don't do it on purpose! And
I'm sure Lisa doesn't either!" Tears, tears that she didn't know she had,
began to flow freely down her cheeks as she slammed a fist against the
windowsill. "I don't understand it! I don't see why..."
A warm arm wrapped around her shoulders and she leaned into the
embrace, not caring who it was who held her. They were all the same, to
her. It didn't matter anymore...
A hand stroked her messy red hair. "Why do you cry?" inquired Lisa,
blue eyes filled with concern.
The girl weaseled out of the hug and wiped tears from her eyes with
her shirtsleeve, embarrassed to have one of her guardians see her so
upset. "I want to reach my destiny..." She pressed her lips together and
looked away. The birds, outside, still chirped.
"Then reach it." Out of the corner of her eye, she could see a tiny
white, gold, and silver blur being held out to her. She turned her head,
and gasped.
Her transformation stick.
Staring up at the handmaiden, the little girl cocked her head to one
side. "Do you mean it?" she questioned in a shaky voice as her hand
reached out to touch the tiny column of metal. "I can have my stick?"
"Well, yes..." lied Lisa, trying not to think of all the awful
things that both Helios and Reeny would do to her if they found she'd
handed over the pen without their permissions. "A long time ago, I made a
promise and... Well, I always keep a promise, Angel Moon."
Ambriel took the stick, clutching it to her chest as she looked
adoringly up at the blonde woman. "I know how much you hate to go against
what Papa and Mama say, Lisa," she informed the woman, shifting her
position so that she could take and hold the adult's hand. "But I am the
most grateful girl in the world to you..."
The handmaiden paled. "What makes you say that Helios and Reeny
didn't give me permission?" she questioned, chewing on her lower lip.
Chuckling, the child let go of the hand and glanced back out the
window. "Somehow, long ago, Mama taught herself to think and not be
emotional around me. Papa too." She glanced upward and winked. "But you
saw me crying and gave up on thinking. As always..."
With a sigh, Lisa ruffled the girl's hair. "I'm never going to
understand you, Little One."
Ambriel smiled, more to herself than to her guardian. "Perhaps it's
best that you don't," she smiled. "Perhaps it's best that no one does."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"A Scout Meeting... Hard to believe, isn't it?" She kissed the
Locket of the Earth before letting it fall back around her neck.
"You're telling me." The Locket of the North Star received similar
treatment.
The last teen just nodded, her brown eyes sadder than those of the
other two high schoolers.
Crossroads Junior High and High School was a bustle of bodies during
the last passing period of the week. Everyone, including teachers, was
happy at the mere thought of getting out of school for two full days.
Except for three girls.
These three stood against a bank of lockers, watching the world go
by as the familiar weight of density hung around their necks.
Lyra sighed and placed her hands in her pockets. "This is it," she
said in a soft voice, so that the students pressing past them in the hall
would not hear. "Our very last day of being normal teenagers."
The silent one smiled sadly. "It's been a long time since we've had
a meeting, hasn't it?" she asked rhetorically, the cool metal of the
Locket of Light nearly burning her hand. "I mean, we haven't been Scouts
for three years..."
"Three years..." echoed Tara, in a state of slight disbelief. "And
three-and-a-half since we received our lockets..."
They all sighed in unison, watching the clock as their five minutes
of passing period became four, then three, then two, and then...
Gulping back tears that were starting to well up in her green eyes,
the Shinto Priestess slipped her locket beneath the shirt of her navy,
red, and white school uniform. "Well, I've got Japanese next period," she
choked, smiling weakly.
"I've got Biology AP," supplied Alice quickly, running a hand
through her shoulder-length auburn hair. "It's a graduation requirement,
and..."
Lyra blinked her brown eyes. "Our last class as normal
teenagers..."
The threesome pulled together in a tight group hug, none of them
caring to let ago. A bell rang to signal that class would start in thirty
seconds, and finally they tore apart from one another.
And the blonde laughed aloud. "I think that it will be good to get
back to Scouting," she smiled with a slight shrug. "Don't you two think
so?"
They, too, chuckled and agreed.
And then they split up to go to their final class of normality...
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"I really appreciate you doing this for me," she told him in a
slightly timid, slightly upset voice, holding the clipboard out to him
with a sad smile on his face. "I know that you probably didn't want to..."
He ran a hand through his short gold-brown hair before accepting the
object from her. "Haley, really, think nothing of it," he said in a
reassuring tone. "I love kids, and I've seen your team practice before--
they've got great potential."
She pressed her lips together, twiddling her thumbs. "Yeah...
Potential..." she echoed nervously, staring at the gym floor. She was
silent for a long moment, a rarity, and then she gazed up at him, teal
eyes a bit teary. "Eric, I meant that the reason you'd not want to do
this is because of our...umm...history..."
Eric Hartford paled. Over the past three years, he and the older
girl had been in an on-again, off-again relationship that had, somehow,
managed to be a dream and a nightmare at the same time. And, up until a
short time ago, they had, for three long months, been on-again.
And now they had, for two brief weeks, been off-again...
With a sigh, he took one of her hands in his and squeezed it.
"Haley, I'm only eighteen," he reminded her with a contemplative sigh.
"I'm still in high school..."
"I know..." Her eyes met him fathomless copper orbs. If there was a
favorite quality of his that she loved to dote on, it would have to be his
eyes. They were endless pits of molten bronze... Drawing her in, playing
with her very essence...
She didn't realize how close they were until his lips touched hers.
All logic flew out the window as she slipped her arms around his waist and
let him kiss her. Slowly, gently, he pulled away and stared at her.
Butterflies took over in her stomach. Those eyes...
And he brushed her bangs off her forehead. "I've missed you..." he
murmured, voice low and breathless.
"And I, you..." A smile spread across her face as she glanced at her
watch. Two-thirty. It was only two-thirty...
"There's half an hour until my meeting," she pointed out to him as
his hand that did not have the clipboard somehow found its way around her
waist and was occupying itself with tickling her side. "And I'm sure that
I can be late..."
He smiled scandalously and, leaving the clipboard on the gym floor,
exited with his arm still firmly around her waist.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"This is amazing..." Princess Reeny, the future ruler of the entire
Earth, let her bright red eyes wander around the room. "I never thought
that this day would come."
Twelve people, of all shapes, sizes, statures, and age sat in a
circle around a folding table. It had, as almost an after thought, been
opened up in the dance-studio basement of the Urawa household, and its
dingy, dented metal surface was a stark contrast to the brown of the
wooden floor or the bright silver of the wall of mirrors. Still, none of
them seemed to notice as they were, for what was either first time in
three years or the first time in their lives, part of a group that would
do more good than anyone would ever know.
The Galactic Sailors.
Silence filled the room as everyone glanced at one another, faces
both happy and sad at the same time, no one knowing what to say or when--
or how--to actually say it.
And then, a timid hand from the end of the table shot into the air.
"I hate to be a pest," spoke up a little brown-haired boy, his red eyes
hardly at the level of the table, "but my sister and I want to know what
we're doing here..."
"Peter!" hissed the green-haired girl beside him, landing an elbow
in his side. She sat up to her full height, bright eyes sparkling as she
glanced at the pink-haired princess at the opposite end of the table.
"What he MEANS is that we are extremely curious to the methodology you
employed upon deciding the necessity of our appearance here at this date."
She cocked her head at Reeny.
The young woman's face went extremely pale as she stared blankly at
the girl. "Ex...excuse me?" she stammered, blinking. "What'd you just
say?"
Rolling red eyes, the little boy straightened up too, becoming not
nearly as tall as his companion but still increasing his stature. "She
just rearranged my sentence, that's all," he clarified with a sweet smile.
"That's sort of how Aeris is..."
"You're telling me," mumbled Haley under her breath, flipping her
long hair behind her shoulders as she leaned back in her seat.
The girl called Aeris looked offended at this comment but didn't
say anything. She did, however, cross her arms indignantly across her
chest.
Letting out a sigh, Reeny smiled. "We called you here because danger
is on its way." She stood, stretching, and began to walk slowly around
the table. "That is why, actually, we called each and every one of you
here. Those new to the game of destiny..." She sent a glance toward the
twins and then to the little redhead who sat between Helios and Celeste.
"And those who have been there before..." She glanced around at all of
the Galactic Sailors, and at Lyra's Prince, and then lastly at her own
Prince. "We all have to work together to defeat whatever this evil is.
We've done it before--most of us, at least--and we'll be sure to do it
again."
"But, Mama," pressed the child with the red ponytail, "how can we be
part of our destinies before any other evil comes to call? How can we..."
"Hush, Ambriel," interrupted Helios sternly, running a hand through
his shaggy silver-white hair. "Let the Princess talk."
With a sigh, the pink-haired Princess glanced at the duo who would
be her family. "She's got a good question, dear," she told the man with a
hint of annoyance in her voice. "We are the Galactic Sailors and the
Chibi-Scouts, and we can do anything."
"A noble thought indeed." Alice stood up, glancing around the room.
"But--and let me say this much before the guy with the freaky hair cuts
into MY statement--this isn't the same kind of evil that I felt with the
Raiders running around." She paused and licked her lips. "On a scale of
one to ten, with ten being the feeling I hold in the pit of my stomach
right this minute, the Raiders were a four."
Quiet set in, and it was deafening. The different expressions that
were distributed on each face--some of fear, some of hope, some of
confusion--were stony and understandable. No one could express the
feelings that they all had.
And then, she stood. Golden hair flowed freely around her shoulders
and down to her waist, unhindered by the two purple elastic hair ties that
usually held her hair in twin pigtails. The smile on her face was
mysterious and strange, nothing like that of the girl who she normally
was. And it could be said that, for the briefest moment in time, she was
no longer Celeste Ann Mokoti, a nine-year-old third-grader at Harbor
Elementary school.
She was the Keeper of the Nebulae.
"I would like to remind you that we are still the same people," she
said in an odd, low voice. "Three years may have passed, and we may have
become changed, but the moment we raise our relics high and say the words
that Fate has set out for us to say, we are no longer those changed
people. We are exactly the same as we were the first day we picked up
those relics.
"There are more of us. We are growing more powerful with age. But,
despite all this, we must realize the risks involved. The stakes, they
have grown. They have changed. And the fighting starts any day. But we
must stand tall and defend the world. We are superheroes, so to speak.
And we have a duty to the universe."
"She's right!" chimed in Peter from the other end of the table. "It
doesn't matter how scary this evil is, because we've got to fight it!" He
stood.
The girl beside him stood up too, a bit more slowly, and smiled a
gentle, sweet smile. "Though my brother often leans toward my unkind foe,
immaturity, I will have to say that I agree with this girl." Aeris nodded
in the direction of Celeste, her eyes glittering. "My father assured me
that, as I am a Sailor Scout, I must fight. And I assured him that, as I
am just as you say I am, I will make my mother and him proud of me."
Watching the twins with pensive gray eyes, Ambriel grinned and
stood quickly, ignoring Helios' attempts to subtly coax her into sitting
back down. "My destiny calls," she told the group. "I did not know what
it was today, but now I am sure that it is to be a warrior, just like you
other brave fighters for love!" She glanced at the blonde girl beside her,
whose green eyes had alit the moment that she'd first stood. "And I will
fly, just like a wing, to where ever my destiny will lead!"
Celeste glanced directly at Reeny. The young woman had, long ago,
allowed her eyes to widen and her jaw to drop. And still she stared at
the blonde girl, speechless, as the four children stood at their various
places around the table.
And the girl who was the Keeper of the Nebulae smiled. "As the
leader of the Chibi-Scouts, I announce that we, from this moment on, are
united. Two causes made one. From now until forever."
"Chibi-Scouts?" questioned Peter, staring at the girl before him.
"Is that what we are?"
With a gentle, special smile, the leader of the children nodded.
"That is what we are, young Master," she told him with a subtle wink of
one of her green eyes. "And that is what we will forever be."
She sat, and the other three younger members of the group followed
suit. Silence washed over them, but it was a slightly accomplished
silence. A slightly happy silence.
Then, the pitter-patter of feet--eight feet, to be exact--echoed
through the room.
Two cats launched onto the table's surface. One was rather large
and had orange and white fur which became tabby stripes at both his
forehead and at the tip of his tail. The other was smaller and much
scrappier, her calico fur matted with dust. Still, her overall presence
was almost intimidating, what with her wild green eyes and her strange,
mysterious half-smile.
And, the two birthmarks--one a bright gold moon and the other a
shining silver star--stood out against the relative darkness of the
basement.
"Sorry we're a bit late," apologized Orb quickly, his eyes darting
around at the different members of the group frantically. "We had some...
umm...'loose ends' to take care of."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Ooh, when I get my paws on them..." She paced nervously back and
forth in front of the door, every so often sticking an experimental paw
beneath the door frame. "Who do they think they are, locking us in here
while THEY get to go meet the Chibi-Scouts!" She turned her lavender eyes
to glance at the other three prisoners. "The Chibi-Scouts are OUR
responsibilities, but they don't care! OOH! I could..."
Galileo rolled his walnut-colored eyes. "Give it UP, Ara," he told
his sister with a shake of his head. "We're locked in the bathroom until
the meeting's over and there is nothing that the four of us can do about
it..." He smiled gently at her. "However, I admire your fighting spirit."
She sat on her haunches, feeling utterly empty. It had once been
said that Guardians had a telekinetic bond with their charges, and that
they felt like a part of their self was missing without that charge. And
that was how SHE felt. Empty. Alone.
And that knowledge that her 'other half' was sitting in the
basement, clueless to her meager existence, was not helping.
"Besides, Ara," chimed in the little black kitten from her spot
within the sink, "it wouldn't help. You KNOW that Papa thinks we're
freaks."
"Even though we're NOT," put in the silver one, her green eyes
sparkling. "Just 'cause we don't have our markings yet..."
The black one nodded in agreement. "And he doesn't believe that
we'll get our symbols in due time, even though that's what you say, Ara."
"And you read a lot, don't you Ara?" inquired the silver one,
smiling.
With a nod, the tall, slender kitten smiled gently at her two
siblings. "Thank you Carina, Cassiopeia, but I think that we'll need a
miracle to get Papa and Mama to let us out of here. After all..."
"Are you guys in there?" came a soft, high voice from behind the
door.
All four kittens glanced at one another, eyes wide. Only the chubby
tan male found his voice in time to respond. "Yes?"
A chuckle sounded. "I swear, my brother will never learn..." There
was the sound of a cat jumping, followed by the sound of a handle being
pushed down, and then the door opened toward them to reveal the face of a
smiling pink cat.
"Thank Serenity that I found you four," it said, stepping into the
room. "That is, of course, assuming you are the third generation of
Guardians."
Ara was quick to respond. "That would be us," she told the stranger,
"though, often enough, it's a surprise that we're anything at all."
"Our Papa's convinced that we're freaks," explained Carina, her blue
eyes staring at the forehead of the visitor. "Saaay... Where'd you get
that nice looking gold Moon?"
Cassiopeia's silver fur shone as she jumped to the tile floor and
scrutinized the symbol upon the cat's head. "Can I have one? Or two?"
Pushing the two smaller kittens out of the way, the tall cat let her
lavender eyes meet the gaze of strange cat. "Who are you, anyway?" she
asked cautiously, voice hardly above a whisper. "I've only seen one gold
moon birthmark in my entire life..."
"And she reads A LOT," put in the silver kitten.
The cat laughed. "I'm Diana, the royal Guardian of Princess Serena
and, more so, your father's older sister." She raised an eyebrow and
glanced at each of the four kittens separately, a surprised expression
slowly crossing her face. "Do you mean to say that you've not met the
Chibi-Scouts yet?"
They all shook their heads.
"And you haven't been assigned to a Chibi-Scout each, yet?"
She received a similar response.
"Oy vey," she groaned aloud, shaking her head slowly. "Then of
course you don't have your marks yet!" She rolled her crimson eyes. "I
swear, I'm going to kill that cat one of these days..."
Clearing his throat, Galileo spoke up. "I hate to interrupt your
anger with our father, but are the Chibi-Scouts here like he says they
are?"
Diana smiled. "You're Galileo, right?" He nodded, a confused
expression on his face. She glanced at the tall, thin, green-black kitten.
"And that would make you Ara. Your mother talks about you two CONSTANTLY,
you know that? All she can ever talk about is how well-read you are, Ara.
And how completely ingenious you are, Galileo. That's all I ever hear..."
"Auntie Di!" whined Carina suddenly, high voice cutting into the
cat's monologue. "Can we meet the Chibi-Scouts or NOT?"
Blushing a little, the older cat glanced at the black fur ball of a
kitten. "You want to meet them, I take it?"
"We WANT to be Guardians," clarified Ara stubbornly. "It's been a
really big deal from us ever since we were kittens."
"We still ARE kittens," pointed out Cassiopeia helpfully. "So we
couldn't have been waiting all that long..."
Ara just rolled her eyes and followed her strange, pink aunt out of
the bathroom.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Training will take place here twice a week until evil appears," Orb
explained to the group as he paced up and down the table's length. "It
will be rigorous, so bring lots of..." He turned to the end of the table
where, in all her timid timelessness, Aeris had a hand high in the air.
"Yes, Chibi-Pluto?"
She froze at the mention of her Scout name, as though someone had
just told her something she didn't fully understand. Gulping, she folded
her hands in her lap and turned her attention back to her question. "Peter
and I receive full training each day from our mother and father," she told
the cat. "What situation for training will we..."
He put up a white paw. "Celeste, as the leader of the Chibi-Scouts,
will deal with you on an individual basis, but I would think..."
"Well," spoke up a clear, low voice from the end of the table which
he was not facing, "if Celeste is the leader of the Chibi-Scouts, then who
leads their Guardians?"
Twelve pairs of human eyes and two pairs of feline eyes all focused
on a line of four variously colored kitten who sat in front of Reeny. A
bit behind them stood a rather proud, smug-looking Diana, her smile not
at all sweet as much as it haughty. "Look what I found," she winked at the
two Guardians who were already present. "Chibi-cats."
"Diana..." growled Orion, resisting the urge to go dig her claws
into the pink cat's face. "What the HELL do you think you're doing?"
"Who the Hell are they?" inquired Haley, eyes wide as she stared at
the kittens.
Phoebe made a face. "Heck," she corrected. "It's rude to swear."
The auburn-haired girl across the table made a face. "Hell shit hell
damn damn f..."
"Don't you say it in front of these children!" shot Helios and Reeny
in unison, both attempting to cover Ambriel's ears at the same time.
The redhead rolled her gray eyes.
Leaning back in her chair, Lyra yawned and glanced at her watch. It
was already six p.m. Had they really been in the Scout meeting for three
hours? Oh, well. She turned to the cats and smiled. "Well, whatever
wording you choose to use, we're still curious to who you are."
"VERY curious," specified Richard, pushing his glasses up on his
nose.
Bowing, the tallest kitten stepped forward. "I am Ara, the oldest
cat of the third generation of Guardian cats. I have been brought down on
this Earth to help train the Chibi-Scouts."
"As have I, Galileo." A chubby, pleasant-looking tan kitten stepped
forward and smiled at the group. Everyone was staring at him, and his
smile quickly faded. "Jeez, you make this seem like it's a funeral."
A tiny silver kitten leapt forward, prancing up and down the table
merrily. "I'm Cassiopeia, and I'm their sister!" she announced gleefully.
"And I'm Carina," introduced the last kitten, whose fur was the
color of night.
Orb paled noticeably. "Does this mean I have to explain?" he asked,
a bit nervous as he glanced around the group.
Nodding slowly, the Princess of the Earth smoothed the blue skirt
of her college uniform. "That would be a very nice idea, Orb," she smiled.
"Shit," muttered Orion.
"Shoot," corrected the blue-haired teen, flashing a charming smile.
The calico turned on her, green eyes alight in fiery anger. "Phoebe,
go f..."
"NOT IN FRONT OF THE KIDS!" yelped Helios and Reeny, once again
diving for Ambriel's ears.
Ambriel rolled her eyes. "Come on, you guys," she sighed with a
shake of her head. "You KNOW that Lisa can swear like a drunken sailor
when she has the inclination..."
Everyone looked at the little girl, surprised. She shrugged her
shoulders and leaned back in her chair.
"Look, I'm all for finding out ALL about the Chibi-cats," put in
Tara, standing slowly. "In fact, I would really like to hear about it. But
how about we do it over a pizza?"
For the first time that afternoon, a comment really made a whole lot
of sense.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The Galactic Sailors Say!
(All six original Galactic Sailor Scouts (Moon, Earth, Polaris, Phoenix,
Aurora Borealis, and Comet) file in, wearing their fukus)
Moon: (pensively) Did you all notice that this episode ended in a sort of
weird spot?
Phoenix: (shrugs) That's what you get when Kate stays home from school!
Moon: No, I mean it! WHY'D she do that?
Polaris: (rolls eyes) Reeny...
Moon: (angrily) And what was all that about me with a strange lack of
screen time? And what about the fact that Ambriel has this stupid 'bird'
analogy hanging over her head? And what about...
Comet: Comet Duct Tape SURROUND!
(A roll of duct tape appears and promptly covers Sailor Moon's mouth.)
Aurora Borealis: Well, I hope that you enjoyed story 15 of the Galactic
Sailors. I hope you like the new characters--
Earth: (interrupting) --none of which are all that 'new'--
Aurora Borealis: --and I hope you liked the plot.
Polaris: And the lesson of the day is...
(Pause)
All sans Moon: Duct tape is good!
Moon: Mmmm hmmmmm hmmm...
ALL: See ya!
-I Know-
Look around...
(Ambriel stares down at Tokyo from the top tower of Crystal Palace)
So many things aren't clear...
(Aeris and Peter stand before the Gate of Time with terrified expressions)
Don't worry, though...
(Haley smiles and turns a page in her book)
You know that I'll be there...
(Orion and Orb chase after the kittens)
A lot of things are so uncertain...
(Tara, near tears, bites her lip)
The future's on its way...
(Michelle holds Delaney, an amazed smile on her face)
Look into my crying eyes...
(Reeny wipes tears off her cheeks while Serenity watches nervously)
Don't take your love away!
(Alice slams the door in her father's face)
Sometimes, the road looks long...
(Lyra looks up at the North Star)
And sometimes, the world seems wrong...
(Phoebe hugs her mother around the waist)
But I know, I know, all you need is love.
(The six Galactic Sailors hold up their lockets)
Sometimes, you feel weak...
(Richard grabs onto the wrist of a falling Celeste)
And sometimes, the future looks bleak...
(Terrence shakes his head as Sailor Pluto walks through the Gate of Time)
But I know, I know, all you need is love.
(Ambriel, Celeste, and Aeris all hold up their transformation pens)
Times will change...
(Tara, robes flying, chases Joshua around the courtyard)
People will change, too...
(Haley plays with her now-long hair)
But deep inside...
(Helios takes Reeny's hands in his)
I always will love you...
(Richard bends down to kiss Lyra)
I suppose there are questions now...
(Peter tugs on Terrence's pant leg)
The answers are so far...
(Alice and Phoebe dive for a floating sphere and miss)
But look at me and smile now...
(Hannah and Brian both smile as Alex takes Delaney into her arms)
I am your guiding star!
(Lyra and Richard stare at Celeste and Peter, who are watching the sunset)
Sometimes, the road looks long...
(Lyra looks up at the North Star)
And sometimes, the world seems wrong...
(Phoebe hugs her mother around the waist)
But I know, I know, all you need is love.
(The six Galactic Sailors hold up their lockets)
Sometimes, you feel weak...
(Richard grabs onto the wrist of a falling Celeste)
And sometimes, the future looks bleak...
(Terrence shakes his head as Sailor Pluto walks through the Gate of Time)
But I know, I know, all you need is love.
(Ambriel, Celeste, and Aeris all hold up their transformation pens)
I know...
(Chibi-Pluto, the Angel Moon, and Chibi-Star stand together)
I know...
(The Galactic Sailors stand together)
All you need is love...
(All nine girls stand together)
All you need...is...love...
(The Prince and Princess of the Stars kiss)
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Did you all notice the new "I Know"? Well, probably not. I hope you liked
this episode! See you next time! (I hope...)
--KB--
