Secondary Characters: The Fun
{Jon Carp}
address: jcarp@med.unc.edu


And then the fun begins.--Ian Shoales





She's not my child, dammit. She's not my responsibility.


POV shift



They're confused. I think. They don't understand what
I'm doing, much less why.

I think.

"Hello," I say, keeping my voice blank. "I'm glad you came."

"What did you do, Pluto?" Mars asks. "Did you..."

"Yes," I answer, hoping she's talking about what I think she
is. Judging by the looks on their faces, I was right.

"I really am evil," I say proudly, and prepare to defend
myself. But they don't attack. They just kind of stand there.

"I mean to kill you," I add hopefully. They don't take the
hint.

Dammit. I didn't know they were such morons. I have to do
everything myself, just like always.

"Why?" Sailor Moon asks. "Why did you do it?"

"It doesn't matter," I say. "Why not? But let me ask you a
question, before we start."

They don't like the sound of that at ALL. But Moon... she
sincerely doesn't want to fight me, does she?

I smile, maybe.

"What is it, Pluto?"

"Did any of you ever love me at all?" I never knew.

"Yes," Moon says quickly. "We always did, Setsuna. We
always..."

"Fat lot of good it did me," I say harshly.

She looks so sad. I think.

And then I go.







Jump. Dodge. Jump dodge. Dodge jump. Jump dodge fire!
Dodge.

They're not trying. I think. But something keeps bothering
me.

Moon isn't even faking it. She's just standing there, looking
worried. She was sincere, when she said she loved me. Hell, she's
always sincere. I envy that; I've never been sincere in my entire
life. I think.

Jump fire! Dodge. Jump jump.

Dammit. Too many years. Too many memories. Too many
thoughts. Not enough room, even in my brain, for everything.

I need help with this.

With a thought, their ridiculous bodies slow to a stop and
stay there in impossible positions.

I go downstairs, searching through offices and cubicles until
I find what I'm looking for. It's in English, but that's one thing I
can still remember.

As I head upstairs, I search. Aha.


sincerity, n. [L. sinceritas] the state or quality of being sincere;
honesty of mind or intention; freedom from stimulation or hypocrisy;
truthfulness; genuiness; earnestness


That doesn't help. At all. I don't know what half those
words mean.

I must have, at some point, but not anymore. That kind of
thing hasn't been important for so long.

I get to the roof, noticing with satisfaction that Venus froze
in a position where she kind of looks like she's doing the Twist.

I can't fight now. Not without knowing.

Well, let's get started.

Honesty, honesty... lessee... hortation... horizontal...
hook... honor...

No. There's something else more important than this, though
this certainly is important. I flip back the other way. Aha. Here
we go.


smile, v. [ME. smilen] to have or take on a facial expression showing
pleasure, amusement, affection, friendliness, irony, derision, etc. and
characterized by an upward curling of the corners of the mouth and a
sparkling of the eyes.


Hmmm. Interesting.






POV shift






Why, Pluto?

I've just realized that everything I've thought all night has
been some variation of the above question.

If Uranus were here, she'd be yelling in my face, trying to
get me to fight, instead of just standing there. She's not here,
though. She's dead.

Mars yelled at me a few times, and she's right, I know she's
right. Pluto... KILLED Mako-chan, but I can't start thinking about
that yet, I won't, I really won't, because I'll just start crying and
never ever stop. I can't let Pluto hurt anybody else, I know that,
but how can I fight her? She's supposed to be on our side! I can't
ever forgive her, but I don't know if I can kill her, either...

I start. Something strange... she moved. She was in front of
me, now she's... I look around, confused.

No one else is moving.

"I have another question for you," she says calmly from behind
me. "I'm sorry to make this harder for you, but I need to know."

She could kill us any time, but she hasn't. She's not evil,
she's talking to me. She doesn't want to hurt anybody.

"Pluto?" I venture, turning around. "Are you okay now?"

She ignores me. "A few minutes ago, I smiled. Do you
remember that?"

"Yes," I answer truthfully, and I really do.

Her face is blank and serious. "Did my eyes sparkle?"

"What?"

"Did my eyes sparkle while I was smiling?"

"I... I don't know."

"Think. Please."

They were as dead as always, I remember perfectly well. But
to tell her, hurt her, hurt everybody... "Yes," I answer. "They
did."

Her eyes close, and she seems to be thinking hard. "I'm doing
it," she whispers. "It's working."

And then she moves again.






POV shift






She flipped through the dictionary again frantically. It
would have been best to remember these words, but it was crowded in
her head, and they were just too far away.


happiness, n. the enjoyment of pleasure without pain; felicity;
blessedness; satisfaction.


"Shit," she muttered, and searched again.


pleasure, n. [Fr. plaisir] the gratification of the senses or of the
mind; agreeable sensations or emotions; the excitement, relish, or
happiness produced by enjoyment or the expecation of good; enjoyment;
satisfaction; opposed to pain.


"Dammit!" she yelled, her head beginning to ache. This was
clarifying nothing.


pain, n. [ME. payne] the sensations one feels when hurt, mantally or
physicaly, especially distress, suffering, great anxiety, anguish,
grief, etc.; opposed to pleasure.


That seemed slightly familiar to her, but not too much. She
thought she knew what anxiety, grief, and suffering were.

"That's what I DON'T want, right?" she asked herself.

"I think so," she answered. "Those are bad things. I think.

Waitaminute... shit."

Flip flip flip flip flip flip flip.


bad, adj. [ME. bad, badde]


"Hmmm. Nope, nope, nope...here we go."


3. unfavorable; unpleasant; disagreeable.


Or maybe:


7. harmful; injurious; dangerous.


"Yeah," she said. "So good would just be the opposite of
those. Yeah. That's right." She thought she felt proud for figuring
it out, but then it occured to her that she had no idea what "pride"
was.

She sighed.


pride, n. [AS. pryte] a sense of one's dignity or worth; self-respect.


"Can they define a single fucking word without using any
fucking emotions?!" she yelled to nobody.

Something that she thought was anger caused her to hurl the
dictionary away from her. It struck Mars in the head and knocked her
to the ground, where she stayed in the exact same position.

Pluto clenched her hands into fists, and started walking
towards them.





POV shift






They kept bringing stuff in for them, probably by the order of
Pluto, who, all of them had noticed, had not yet gotten the whole
thing "straightened out".

It took six people to lug in the air hockey table.

Michiru grinned as the air flow from the little holes shut
down. Haruka stared at the table in shock.

Hotaru put her arms around the tall woman. "That's best three
out of five," she said. "I think it's time you accept that Michiru is
better than you are."

"No!" Haruka protested. "She cheated!"

"How do you cheat at air hockey?" Michiru asked.

"She beat me, too," Makoto pointed out.

"Yeah," Hotaru said. "This takes nothing away from you,
Haruka. You're very good at air hockey. She's just a little bit
better."

Haruka grunted. "I HATE this place," she muttered, plopping
down in her chair.

Michiru went to her. "Y'know what?" she asked, giggling
slightly.
"What?"

"You're the loooooser." she said, grinning. "And you know
what that means? I'm the wiiiinner."

Haruka sighed. "I like it better when you're passive-
aggressive," she said. "When the hell are the going to bring us back
to life?!" she suddenly burst out. 'What the hell is the delay?"

"There's no delay," a voice said behind her. "I'm stalling.
And I refuse to bring you people back to life any more."

They turned and saw the god Pluto standing there.

"Aren't you supposed to be talking to Setsuna?" Hotaru asked,
raising an eyebrow.

"Shut up," Pluto answered. "What the hell am I supposed to
say to her? I don't understand her. You're the one who should be
talking to her."

"She doesn't want to talk to me," Hotaru said defensively.

"How do you know?"

"Because the last time I saw her, she said, 'I don't want to
talk to you.'"

"That doesn't mean anything," Pluto protested. "She doesn't
know what she's saying. She.." He trailed off.

They didn't know why. There was no apparent reason for him
to trail off. Nothing in the room seemed to warrant that kind of
reaction. He stared off at the wall by the desk. They all did the
same, trying to see what was so captivating. "What is it?" Makoto
asked eventually.

Pluto stopped staring. He shook his head and sighed. "Shit,"
he muttered, rubbing his hand through his hair.

"What?" Haruka asked, rather forcefully.

The answer came walking through the door in the form of four
rather confused-looking people in short skirts.

They seemed terrified. Of course, that was in stark contrast
to the senshi who were already in the room, all of whom were on the
verge of busting into tears.

Death and Jupiter followed the frightened ones in as
comfortingly as they could.

Jupiter looked up at Pluto. "It's not funny anymore," he
said. "It's gone far beyond what you thought would happen. I think
you know what you're going to have to do."

"What you SHOULD have done from the beginning!" Hotaru added.

Pluto ground his teeth audibly. "Fuck," he growled. "Why
don't we just make them goddamn godesses while we're at it?"






POV shift







The most wonderful thing has happened.

He came. Late.

And when he saw her, lying in that twisted position, blood all
around her, he did, I suppose, the most natural thing. He fell down.

"Hello," I say, although I know he's not listening. "I did
that. You hear? ME. I affected the future, I changed the storyline.
And it feels pretty fucking good, let me tell you."

And I smile. All I need is a mirror for this scene to be
perfect. So I can see my eyes, just to make sure.

I turn and start walking away, leaving him down on the cement,
as if I'd killed him, too. Goosebumps ripple down my arms.

A slight noise. He's probably trying to get her to wake up.
I turn, grinning.


They're moving again.


No! I... I killed them! I won! I...

They stand up, and all look at me. Moon looks so sad.

The others don't. Their eyes aren't sparkling, no, they're
hard as rocks.

So I stop the world again, and BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
they're gone. For sure.







POV shift.






Again.








POV shift








She turned to walk away again, not quite as satisfied, but
still okay.

Before she left, she turned to get one last look.

They were moving. Slowly, to be sure, but obviously moving.

Fear? beginning to well up inside her, she let the Dead Scream
live up to its name.

This time though, she went to Moon's body, grabbed her
crystal, and pocketed it. That would take care of the problem.

Not satisfied at all, she began to walk away.





POV shift





Again!





POV shift





She watched them, as she walked. She watched for any twitch,
any breath, any heartbeat.

They got up. She screamed and swore, and killed them again.
Then she started to run away.





POV shift





Again, dammit!





POV shift





They got up, froze, and died. She beat their corpses, kicked
their heads, broke their necks, broke their legs, crushed their ribs,
and smashed their faces.

They got up, and she killed them. They got up again, and she
killed them again. They got up repeatedly, and each time she
destroyed them, forcing their souls away from their mortal bodies.

And each time, mere seconds later, they got up again.

After the fifty-third time, she threw her staff down,
screaming with utter, true, recognizable frustration.

The combined attacks of fire, water, love, and roses struck
her simultaneously. As if that wasn't enough to kill her instantly,
the force knocked her backwards and off the edge of the roof. The
last they saw of her was a green blob flowing downwards, and then
there was the suprisingly loud thump of impact.

It was over.






























Three minutes later, the rooftop door to the stairs flew open.
Sailor Pluto stood there, panting from the effort of running up
numerous stories.

"Well," she said bitterly, "this was futile."