Where should I start?
Disjointed heart
I've got not commitment
To my own flesh
And I'm left all alone
Can't find my home
No one to hear me, to heal my ill heart, I
keep it locked up inside
I cannot express to the point I've regressed
If anger's a gift, then I guess I've been blessed...
- "And One", by Linkin Park
----------------------------------------------------------------
Since the beginning of time, people had always looked to the stars.
And although their perception of their significance altered over time,
from religon to religon, and through the eyes of science; one thought
always remained the same. That they were a source of life and energy
and would be until the day the universe collapsed within itself or
otherwise.
The people of Kinmokusei knew more than most about the mysteries
of the universe. For many reasons and none in particular. If anyone
asked them, they would just say they _knew_. For in fact, the stars
were many things, and their secrets as others percieved them were
not often that far off anyhow. Why destroy a beautiful dream when
that dream wasn't so different from the reality? Even so, the people
of Kinmouksei probably knew more than most could tell you, and yet
a smaller number could use them to their advantage.
Seiko kou had been playing with tarot cards since she could stick
pebbles in her mouth at the early age of three. The detailed and
complicated desgins that bordered the edges of each card and their
smooth, empty black centers which sometimes showed pretty landscapes
of the galaxy, had fascinated her to no end. After she had gotten past
the stage of sticking them in her mouth, (much to her mother's relief
and Aunt's amusements), her mother had begun to show her the more
useful ways of handling her cards. Tarot cards (or her mother's cards
in particular) not only could show one pretty pictures, but was a way
of communicating with the stars. A way of recieving messages from
the heavens above.
However, when it came down to learning how to master them,
capturing images was one thing, recieving messages were entirely
another. For even after twelve years of "playing" around with her
mother's cards, she could never get what she wanted to see. Even
after all the frustration and tears, in the depths of her darkest hour, the
cards had refused to show her anything but a single white dot in a
black plain that made as much sense to her as Aunt Taiki's lectures
on the Physics of black holes.
Even then, most of the time, the cards would prefer to remain blank.
As frustrating as it could be though, she refused to give up, prefering
to believe that given time, she would eventually learn to master them.
While she saw this as optimisim on her part, her "family" begged to
differ. Searching for the whereabouts of her lost mother would only
conjure hoplessness eventually, and much disapointment, was what
they probably thought. Watching a fourteen year old girl spend hours
looking for something that just wasn't there anymore through cards
seemed pretty sad and had invoked too much pity in them which she
just couldn't bare to see. As far as she was concerned, she didn't
deserve any of it. Not one stupid tear. And as quiet footsteps could be
heard heading towards the door of her room, she imagined that a fifteen
year old looking for something that "wasn't there" would only be more
upsetting than before. If only they could see that it was all she had left.
In seemingly one swift motion, she scooped up her cards with one
giant sweep of her arm, and leapt off the bed, jamming them into her
drawer underneath a pile of skirts and dresses she never wore anymore.
Grabbing a book off her night table she hadn't touched in weeks, she
threw herself back onto her bed just as the door slipped open and a
young woman poked her head into the room.
"Is reading all you ever do?"
"Hm?", was Seiko's intelligent reply as she idly flipped a page without
even sparing a glance at the actual text.
Tori, her temporary guardian, stepped foreward to survey the room,
revealing a large belly already eight months full with child. She took
in, with a sigh of defeat, the silk curtains and their cloth coverings
drawn tightly together to prevent any source of natural light to find
it's way through, the ruffled bedsheets and pillows that hadn't been
made for weeks or longer, and several of her belongings that either
sat on the shelf or lay on the floor drowning in pools of dust. The
entire atmosphere was quite stuffy and in all, she thought, quite depressing.
The woman walked foreward and snatched the book away and put her
hands to her hips. Seiko opened her mouth as if to say something,
but instead squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, and turned onto her
side to face her.
"You've been lying in your room rotting for over a week" Tori scolded
her, in the motherly fashion she hated all to much.
"I go out for daily walks"
"How about going out with other children your age?"
Irritation immediately siezed her as well as suspicion. She never
bothered searching for companions to hang out with. Not after the
last time she had decided to give the world another chance. Any
social skills she had had left were rendered dead. She had found it
too tiresome and weary to even carry out a normal conversation. Plus
she had also discovered that she had been dwelling within the shadows
for too long, for the world she had attempted to return to, had already
left her far, far behind. Which was why she was suspicous at Tori's
suggestion, one that Tori immediatley confirmed next, was right.
"Gaitou is waiting at the door downstairs"
A coldness Seiko rarely showed to others swept over her features.
Beneath that coldness was everything she didn't want to show anyone:
anger, hurt, and a strong bitterness intermingled so deeply that it had
kept her up most nights as she tried to wash it out through tears.
Though tears were never enough. Gaitou and her two other friends,
Misha and Zou, had been with her since childhood, since the very day
she had first started coming to live with Tori and her husband during
the short winters to get away from it all. They had done nearly everything
together, from living up fantasy worlds as children most often do, to
defending each other in fights against the kids next door. They had
been there for each other through the times of good and bad.
Well... almost.
Even strong friendships could never outlast the hands of time. Or
even tragedies. After the disappearence of her mom, she hadn't been
in the best of states, true. It was kind of like a numbness had spread
over her entire mind, making it difficult to think or even communicate
properly. From all appearences, she didn't want anything to do with
anyone. Though in fact, she had been stupidly holding her hand out
the whole time, hoping with blind faith that someone would take it.
The problem was, they just didn't know what to do with her, and
eventually, she had accepted that. Eventually. It never felt any
better, though.
As she had gotten back on her feet for the first time in weeks since the disappearence,
she had decided she had been confined to the corners of her room for long enough.
She had come bounding down the stairs to the sounds of Tori making
breakfast in the kitchin and Oku working out in the back yard. The
bright horizon outside her opened windows had made her feel strangely...
at peace. Almost happy. She felt as though she could take on the
world that day and finding tickets that morning in her jewelry case
which had reminded her of a promise she had made months
before, only seemed to make it better. A look of surprise and worry had
crossed Tori's face as she announced she was going out that day before
grabbing a fruit dumpling and stuffing it into her mouth while examining
her tickets furthur.
"Are you feeling up to it?"
"I promised Gaitou and Misha I'd go to the festival this year with them.
I have to beat Misha at the games and Gaitou at his little arm wrestling
tournement we hold each year"
Tori's worry immediately vanished when she saw the faintest of smiles
creep across the younger girls face. There could only be one reply
to that. "Alright then. Have fun"
Flashing an infmous grin Tori had thought she'd never see again,
Seiko had grabbed another dumpling and turned back towards the
stairs calling back to her as she leapt up them two at a time. "I'm just
going to grab a coat, when they get here tell them I'll be down in a
moment"
By the time Seiko had found her coat after a good ten minutes of
searching, she could already hear the excited voices of her three friends
getting stronger as they walked down the street. By the time they
had gotten to her door, however, the excited voices had turned to
nervous whispers, unsure and somewhat weary. Frowning, she waited
for the bells that would officially announce their arrival. They never came.
Instead, Seiko watched from her window as the three of them slowly
backed off and continued on their way, the excited voices returning
only after they rounded the corner onto the next street.
They had abandoned her...
She wasn't sure how long she had stood at her open window, staring
at nothing in particular or maybe at the group of kids on the grass
laughing like they hadn't a care at all, until she had finally slumped to
the ground in defeat. They had abandoned her!
Shaking away the vial memory, Seiko was about to tell Tori where
Gaitou could gladly go, when she quickly interrupted her, her gaze
softening somewhat as she spoke. "Seiko... it's natural for people
to feel a little... unsure of others who hav--"
"Yes, I know", Seiko quickly cut in, trying hard not to sound too
impatient or mean to the woman who had to put up with her for
almost two years now. "You don't think I've told myself that hundreds
of times?"
"So you'll give him another chance?", her guardian asked hopefully.
Seiko wanted to punch a hole in the wall in front of her. She had
been wanting to do that a lot lately, she realized. How could she
understand? It didn't matter whether or not she was completely out
of line with her emotions. There was still a huge blockade there
between her and the people she had cared for. It didn't matter that
Gaitou, Misha or Zou lived only streets or houses apart. The fact was
they were light years away from each other now. She refused to pay
much acknowledgement to the sharp pang in her chest as she processed
this thought.
Tori's gaze tightened once more, as she took the girl's burning silence
as a defenite no. She watched the girl fidget some more and stare
down at her covers with an intense interest. "How long are you going
to hide from everyone?"
Seiko sighed and made a noise as if to speak, but stopped. There were
no words she could use to get across what she wanted to say. Which
really wasn't anything at all. All of a sudden she was feeling unsually
tired and worn.
"Seiko, you have got to get out of this slump. I don't want to see
you in this room all the time, I want to see you smiling and actively
involving yourself with other children out there"
"You sound like a physchologist"
"Seiko, your returning to school two days from now"
Something flashed in the black haired girls eyes as she spoke the
words. Fear, Acknowledgement... anger maybe. "Trust me, you'll feel
grateful in the end. All you really need is a small push I think", she spoke
soothingly once more as she touched the girls shoulder. She didn't
move or flinch as she usually did, but instead looked thoughtful.
Nervously so.
It was then that Tori's husband, Oku, intruded on their little interlude,
flashing them both that geuninely friendly smile that sometimes made
Seiko envious. He made it look so easy. "Tori, you might want to
come down to the door... A messenger from Cercis is waiting in the
living room to speak with you".
"A Queen's messenger?"
Oku shrugged in that way that said 'who else could it be' and turned
back down the hallway towards the stairs with his puzzled wife at
his heels.
* * * *
"Setsuna-san"
The still green haired woman pried her eyes away from the entrance
to the solar system, not at all startled by shattered silence she had
grown accustomed to for days. She smiled softly at her company
and the endearing name she hadn't been called in what felt like
years.
"It's been a long time Saturn"
The young purple-eyed woman nodded glancing past to the view of
the sky she had been staring at only a moment ago and at the calm,
seemingly impassive expression that spoke composure mastered
during millions of years. It was a face that Saturn had learned in
older days to read so well.
"The queen is not the only one that can feel it then".
The guardian of time shook her head, remembering that sudden rush
of energy that rippled across the galaxy almost two years ago. And
then, as suddenly as it had come, it had evaporated, leaving everything
at a standstill. A warning, she had concluded to herself.
"Does the queen still worry of this?"
"I'm sure she wouldn't have sent me to bother you if she wasn't",
Saturn smiled at her friend.
"How is she doing?" Setsuna asked curiously, turning back towards
the doorway. The younger girl didn't show any sign of annoyance at
the change of topic. "She and Endymion are both doing well. Their
kingdom has never been happier. Small Lady does well too, but
Haruka-san tells me that her mother wants to send her back to school
on the moon and that she's a little adamant about this"
"Is the queen that worried?" Setsuna asked softly.
"Sestuna-san. An old enemy haunts her dreams. But if I may say so,
she plays a better actress than you right now and that surprises me",
her tone grew serious. "What do you see Setsuna-san? Is it Chaos?"
The older senshi turned back towards her friend, regarding her
carefully. "I'm sure Chaos was reborn long ago. And that she wanders
the Galaxy in some form or another. But what I fear the most is that it
hides where time has no control. Where I have no control."
Saturn furrowed her brows slightly at this. "What does that mean?"
"It means.." Pluto paused, and then continued trying to take it from
a different angle. "About four days ago, Crystal Tokyo time, I visited
London, England during the year 2020.
I sat at a coffee shop and watched a woman and
her child stroll peacefully across the street, hand in hand, chatting
amongst each other as they looked at clothes in the store windows"
The younger girl nodded and urged her to continue.
"The next day I went back to that same coffee shop, during the same
year, the exact day, and the exact time. She was there with her child,
this time sitting on the corner wrapped in rags holding out her
hands and begging to anybody that went by. Her child, who I was so
sure was a young girl of eight or ten maybe, was now a boy of no
more than four years, huddled in her lap, barely stirring. A little perturbed
at this, I went back again and again. Each time I saw a different scene
playing out before my eyes. Once when I went back, my little cofee
shop didn't even exist. In fact, neither did London, England for that matter"
"But little changes happen all the time, don't they?"
Pluto nodded, "and your right, the changes did start off fairly small at
first. But the scenes became more and more drastic each time.
Sometimes they would return to a state of normalcy, but it would never
stop altering to a large degree. The only reason you might not have felt
it is because the changes go back before Crystal Tokyo was formed.
Luckily there haven't been any changes that have stopped the formation
of the city itself."
"But it still means the future is no longer certain?"
"Yes. And the worst part of it is, I can't pinpoint the interference.
The past we know is as it always was, so there isn't any problems there. It
might not even be Chaos. It could be anything or anyone" A flicker
of worry and uncertainty flickered in the senshi's red orbs.
"Setsuna-chan, you hinted earlier you might know why this is..."
And again the senshi of time turned towards the door that held the
mysteries of the history of the universe, an almost thoughtful expression
crossing her features. "For all the world, the galaxy and universe,
Saturn, I hope that what I'm thinking has never been more wrong"
* * * *
End of Chapter 1
Disjointed heart
I've got not commitment
To my own flesh
And I'm left all alone
Can't find my home
No one to hear me, to heal my ill heart, I
keep it locked up inside
I cannot express to the point I've regressed
If anger's a gift, then I guess I've been blessed...
- "And One", by Linkin Park
----------------------------------------------------------------
Since the beginning of time, people had always looked to the stars.
And although their perception of their significance altered over time,
from religon to religon, and through the eyes of science; one thought
always remained the same. That they were a source of life and energy
and would be until the day the universe collapsed within itself or
otherwise.
The people of Kinmokusei knew more than most about the mysteries
of the universe. For many reasons and none in particular. If anyone
asked them, they would just say they _knew_. For in fact, the stars
were many things, and their secrets as others percieved them were
not often that far off anyhow. Why destroy a beautiful dream when
that dream wasn't so different from the reality? Even so, the people
of Kinmouksei probably knew more than most could tell you, and yet
a smaller number could use them to their advantage.
Seiko kou had been playing with tarot cards since she could stick
pebbles in her mouth at the early age of three. The detailed and
complicated desgins that bordered the edges of each card and their
smooth, empty black centers which sometimes showed pretty landscapes
of the galaxy, had fascinated her to no end. After she had gotten past
the stage of sticking them in her mouth, (much to her mother's relief
and Aunt's amusements), her mother had begun to show her the more
useful ways of handling her cards. Tarot cards (or her mother's cards
in particular) not only could show one pretty pictures, but was a way
of communicating with the stars. A way of recieving messages from
the heavens above.
However, when it came down to learning how to master them,
capturing images was one thing, recieving messages were entirely
another. For even after twelve years of "playing" around with her
mother's cards, she could never get what she wanted to see. Even
after all the frustration and tears, in the depths of her darkest hour, the
cards had refused to show her anything but a single white dot in a
black plain that made as much sense to her as Aunt Taiki's lectures
on the Physics of black holes.
Even then, most of the time, the cards would prefer to remain blank.
As frustrating as it could be though, she refused to give up, prefering
to believe that given time, she would eventually learn to master them.
While she saw this as optimisim on her part, her "family" begged to
differ. Searching for the whereabouts of her lost mother would only
conjure hoplessness eventually, and much disapointment, was what
they probably thought. Watching a fourteen year old girl spend hours
looking for something that just wasn't there anymore through cards
seemed pretty sad and had invoked too much pity in them which she
just couldn't bare to see. As far as she was concerned, she didn't
deserve any of it. Not one stupid tear. And as quiet footsteps could be
heard heading towards the door of her room, she imagined that a fifteen
year old looking for something that "wasn't there" would only be more
upsetting than before. If only they could see that it was all she had left.
In seemingly one swift motion, she scooped up her cards with one
giant sweep of her arm, and leapt off the bed, jamming them into her
drawer underneath a pile of skirts and dresses she never wore anymore.
Grabbing a book off her night table she hadn't touched in weeks, she
threw herself back onto her bed just as the door slipped open and a
young woman poked her head into the room.
"Is reading all you ever do?"
"Hm?", was Seiko's intelligent reply as she idly flipped a page without
even sparing a glance at the actual text.
Tori, her temporary guardian, stepped foreward to survey the room,
revealing a large belly already eight months full with child. She took
in, with a sigh of defeat, the silk curtains and their cloth coverings
drawn tightly together to prevent any source of natural light to find
it's way through, the ruffled bedsheets and pillows that hadn't been
made for weeks or longer, and several of her belongings that either
sat on the shelf or lay on the floor drowning in pools of dust. The
entire atmosphere was quite stuffy and in all, she thought, quite depressing.
The woman walked foreward and snatched the book away and put her
hands to her hips. Seiko opened her mouth as if to say something,
but instead squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, and turned onto her
side to face her.
"You've been lying in your room rotting for over a week" Tori scolded
her, in the motherly fashion she hated all to much.
"I go out for daily walks"
"How about going out with other children your age?"
Irritation immediately siezed her as well as suspicion. She never
bothered searching for companions to hang out with. Not after the
last time she had decided to give the world another chance. Any
social skills she had had left were rendered dead. She had found it
too tiresome and weary to even carry out a normal conversation. Plus
she had also discovered that she had been dwelling within the shadows
for too long, for the world she had attempted to return to, had already
left her far, far behind. Which was why she was suspicous at Tori's
suggestion, one that Tori immediatley confirmed next, was right.
"Gaitou is waiting at the door downstairs"
A coldness Seiko rarely showed to others swept over her features.
Beneath that coldness was everything she didn't want to show anyone:
anger, hurt, and a strong bitterness intermingled so deeply that it had
kept her up most nights as she tried to wash it out through tears.
Though tears were never enough. Gaitou and her two other friends,
Misha and Zou, had been with her since childhood, since the very day
she had first started coming to live with Tori and her husband during
the short winters to get away from it all. They had done nearly everything
together, from living up fantasy worlds as children most often do, to
defending each other in fights against the kids next door. They had
been there for each other through the times of good and bad.
Well... almost.
Even strong friendships could never outlast the hands of time. Or
even tragedies. After the disappearence of her mom, she hadn't been
in the best of states, true. It was kind of like a numbness had spread
over her entire mind, making it difficult to think or even communicate
properly. From all appearences, she didn't want anything to do with
anyone. Though in fact, she had been stupidly holding her hand out
the whole time, hoping with blind faith that someone would take it.
The problem was, they just didn't know what to do with her, and
eventually, she had accepted that. Eventually. It never felt any
better, though.
As she had gotten back on her feet for the first time in weeks since the disappearence,
she had decided she had been confined to the corners of her room for long enough.
She had come bounding down the stairs to the sounds of Tori making
breakfast in the kitchin and Oku working out in the back yard. The
bright horizon outside her opened windows had made her feel strangely...
at peace. Almost happy. She felt as though she could take on the
world that day and finding tickets that morning in her jewelry case
which had reminded her of a promise she had made months
before, only seemed to make it better. A look of surprise and worry had
crossed Tori's face as she announced she was going out that day before
grabbing a fruit dumpling and stuffing it into her mouth while examining
her tickets furthur.
"Are you feeling up to it?"
"I promised Gaitou and Misha I'd go to the festival this year with them.
I have to beat Misha at the games and Gaitou at his little arm wrestling
tournement we hold each year"
Tori's worry immediately vanished when she saw the faintest of smiles
creep across the younger girls face. There could only be one reply
to that. "Alright then. Have fun"
Flashing an infmous grin Tori had thought she'd never see again,
Seiko had grabbed another dumpling and turned back towards the
stairs calling back to her as she leapt up them two at a time. "I'm just
going to grab a coat, when they get here tell them I'll be down in a
moment"
By the time Seiko had found her coat after a good ten minutes of
searching, she could already hear the excited voices of her three friends
getting stronger as they walked down the street. By the time they
had gotten to her door, however, the excited voices had turned to
nervous whispers, unsure and somewhat weary. Frowning, she waited
for the bells that would officially announce their arrival. They never came.
Instead, Seiko watched from her window as the three of them slowly
backed off and continued on their way, the excited voices returning
only after they rounded the corner onto the next street.
They had abandoned her...
She wasn't sure how long she had stood at her open window, staring
at nothing in particular or maybe at the group of kids on the grass
laughing like they hadn't a care at all, until she had finally slumped to
the ground in defeat. They had abandoned her!
Shaking away the vial memory, Seiko was about to tell Tori where
Gaitou could gladly go, when she quickly interrupted her, her gaze
softening somewhat as she spoke. "Seiko... it's natural for people
to feel a little... unsure of others who hav--"
"Yes, I know", Seiko quickly cut in, trying hard not to sound too
impatient or mean to the woman who had to put up with her for
almost two years now. "You don't think I've told myself that hundreds
of times?"
"So you'll give him another chance?", her guardian asked hopefully.
Seiko wanted to punch a hole in the wall in front of her. She had
been wanting to do that a lot lately, she realized. How could she
understand? It didn't matter whether or not she was completely out
of line with her emotions. There was still a huge blockade there
between her and the people she had cared for. It didn't matter that
Gaitou, Misha or Zou lived only streets or houses apart. The fact was
they were light years away from each other now. She refused to pay
much acknowledgement to the sharp pang in her chest as she processed
this thought.
Tori's gaze tightened once more, as she took the girl's burning silence
as a defenite no. She watched the girl fidget some more and stare
down at her covers with an intense interest. "How long are you going
to hide from everyone?"
Seiko sighed and made a noise as if to speak, but stopped. There were
no words she could use to get across what she wanted to say. Which
really wasn't anything at all. All of a sudden she was feeling unsually
tired and worn.
"Seiko, you have got to get out of this slump. I don't want to see
you in this room all the time, I want to see you smiling and actively
involving yourself with other children out there"
"You sound like a physchologist"
"Seiko, your returning to school two days from now"
Something flashed in the black haired girls eyes as she spoke the
words. Fear, Acknowledgement... anger maybe. "Trust me, you'll feel
grateful in the end. All you really need is a small push I think", she spoke
soothingly once more as she touched the girls shoulder. She didn't
move or flinch as she usually did, but instead looked thoughtful.
Nervously so.
It was then that Tori's husband, Oku, intruded on their little interlude,
flashing them both that geuninely friendly smile that sometimes made
Seiko envious. He made it look so easy. "Tori, you might want to
come down to the door... A messenger from Cercis is waiting in the
living room to speak with you".
"A Queen's messenger?"
Oku shrugged in that way that said 'who else could it be' and turned
back down the hallway towards the stairs with his puzzled wife at
his heels.
* * * *
"Setsuna-san"
The still green haired woman pried her eyes away from the entrance
to the solar system, not at all startled by shattered silence she had
grown accustomed to for days. She smiled softly at her company
and the endearing name she hadn't been called in what felt like
years.
"It's been a long time Saturn"
The young purple-eyed woman nodded glancing past to the view of
the sky she had been staring at only a moment ago and at the calm,
seemingly impassive expression that spoke composure mastered
during millions of years. It was a face that Saturn had learned in
older days to read so well.
"The queen is not the only one that can feel it then".
The guardian of time shook her head, remembering that sudden rush
of energy that rippled across the galaxy almost two years ago. And
then, as suddenly as it had come, it had evaporated, leaving everything
at a standstill. A warning, she had concluded to herself.
"Does the queen still worry of this?"
"I'm sure she wouldn't have sent me to bother you if she wasn't",
Saturn smiled at her friend.
"How is she doing?" Setsuna asked curiously, turning back towards
the doorway. The younger girl didn't show any sign of annoyance at
the change of topic. "She and Endymion are both doing well. Their
kingdom has never been happier. Small Lady does well too, but
Haruka-san tells me that her mother wants to send her back to school
on the moon and that she's a little adamant about this"
"Is the queen that worried?" Setsuna asked softly.
"Sestuna-san. An old enemy haunts her dreams. But if I may say so,
she plays a better actress than you right now and that surprises me",
her tone grew serious. "What do you see Setsuna-san? Is it Chaos?"
The older senshi turned back towards her friend, regarding her
carefully. "I'm sure Chaos was reborn long ago. And that she wanders
the Galaxy in some form or another. But what I fear the most is that it
hides where time has no control. Where I have no control."
Saturn furrowed her brows slightly at this. "What does that mean?"
"It means.." Pluto paused, and then continued trying to take it from
a different angle. "About four days ago, Crystal Tokyo time, I visited
London, England during the year 2020.
I sat at a coffee shop and watched a woman and
her child stroll peacefully across the street, hand in hand, chatting
amongst each other as they looked at clothes in the store windows"
The younger girl nodded and urged her to continue.
"The next day I went back to that same coffee shop, during the same
year, the exact day, and the exact time. She was there with her child,
this time sitting on the corner wrapped in rags holding out her
hands and begging to anybody that went by. Her child, who I was so
sure was a young girl of eight or ten maybe, was now a boy of no
more than four years, huddled in her lap, barely stirring. A little perturbed
at this, I went back again and again. Each time I saw a different scene
playing out before my eyes. Once when I went back, my little cofee
shop didn't even exist. In fact, neither did London, England for that matter"
"But little changes happen all the time, don't they?"
Pluto nodded, "and your right, the changes did start off fairly small at
first. But the scenes became more and more drastic each time.
Sometimes they would return to a state of normalcy, but it would never
stop altering to a large degree. The only reason you might not have felt
it is because the changes go back before Crystal Tokyo was formed.
Luckily there haven't been any changes that have stopped the formation
of the city itself."
"But it still means the future is no longer certain?"
"Yes. And the worst part of it is, I can't pinpoint the interference.
The past we know is as it always was, so there isn't any problems there. It
might not even be Chaos. It could be anything or anyone" A flicker
of worry and uncertainty flickered in the senshi's red orbs.
"Setsuna-chan, you hinted earlier you might know why this is..."
And again the senshi of time turned towards the door that held the
mysteries of the history of the universe, an almost thoughtful expression
crossing her features. "For all the world, the galaxy and universe,
Saturn, I hope that what I'm thinking has never been more wrong"
* * * *
End of Chapter 1
