Punishment
Third Torture: Meditation
authored 5-23-01
modified 4-9-02
1st AN: In case you ignored the summary, or the warning in part one, MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD! If you don't know what happens at the end of the SMS and Stars seasons, _do_not_ read this if you don't want it spoiled. You've been warned. ~.^
2nd AN: I have neglected the fact that in the manga Setsuna stopped time to stop Diamond from joining the two Imperium Crystals. That bit just wouldn't fit in. So as background, include everything EXCEPT that episode. (I know, stupid author, but work with me.)
***
Setsuna curled up in the black space allotted her and soon noticed the air was thickening as thin wisps of palpable vapor found each other and joined, creating cloud-like cushions. She pulled her knees up to her chin and rolled onto the vapor cushions which responded by wrapping her in their embrace. They untied her bun and gently laid her long, tangled hair across her shoulders, lending a bit of familiar warmth to Setsuna and the cold energy of the void. In this fetal position, Setsuna looked like a child in the womb. Her chest was still bleeding profusely, and the black blood flowed in ribbons over her arms and legs.
She couldn't sleep because of the omnipresent pain. In waking dreams she envisioned the purple-black ribbons of the Senshi Pluto wrapping her, their edges sliding on her skin, then releasing as her fuku materialized around her. Several times she began to stretch out and up, raising her arms in henshin ritual, and would've sworn she was actually transforming. But it was only a dream. Once, she felt the lifeforces of Haruka and Michiru flare up, then be nearly extinguished, and screamed inside her head for their safety. In a minute, she sensed the glow of their souls brighten, and thanked whatever deity was listening to her pleas for keeping alive those that she was suffering for.
Aside from these visions, Setsuna was alone for time which seemed to lest forever, even to her. She tried counting the beats of her heart to distract herself from the emptiness and silence, but only found herself using the rhythm as a stopwatch to accurately mark the time, and so ceased.
Finally, Setsuna closed her eyes and curled herself tighter inside her vaporous bed. She tried to relax her body to at least give it semblance of sleep as her mind drifted. Semblance of slumber might help heal her body, she reasoned, which just -might- in turn begin to heal her weary soul.
The vapors surrounding Setsuna wrapped her tighter.
Setsuna's mind was pondering the resemblance of pansy blossoms to human faces when her chest exploded. Light poured forth in liquid form like glowing gilded water. The flow of black blood was enveloped and closed off by the mercurial light which heated her chest to burning. Setsuna watched, disbelieving, as her wounds cauterized and closed so fast she thought she was watching a time-lapse film. To her distress, the heat remained in her breast as the healing wounds sealed it in. Tentatively, she touched the area where the wounds had been. No tenderness, no scars, nothing! And the pain had left her, as well...
While she was thus absorbed, the blue light and council appeared around her.
"There will be no marks. All that will remain--and this only until you prove yourself--is the heat in your chest."
Setsuna quickly looked up, startled by his presence. "Excellency!"
"Go now, the sooner to return to the ranks of the Senshi," boomed Excellency's sonorous voice.
Setsuna's eyes widened as she felt ribbons wrapping around her. For a second, she had believed them to be those of the Senshi. But they were colder, stiffer than her beloved henshin transformation. As they pulled from her body, they revealed her lavender skirt suit. A rush of the cloud-vapors clamored around her, and shoved her bodily toward a portal just visible at et 'edge' of the void.
"Go," they whispered.
Hesitantly, Setsuna stepped through the portal.
Third Torture: Meditation
authored 5-23-01
modified 4-9-02
1st AN: In case you ignored the summary, or the warning in part one, MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD! If you don't know what happens at the end of the SMS and Stars seasons, _do_not_ read this if you don't want it spoiled. You've been warned. ~.^
2nd AN: I have neglected the fact that in the manga Setsuna stopped time to stop Diamond from joining the two Imperium Crystals. That bit just wouldn't fit in. So as background, include everything EXCEPT that episode. (I know, stupid author, but work with me.)
***
Setsuna curled up in the black space allotted her and soon noticed the air was thickening as thin wisps of palpable vapor found each other and joined, creating cloud-like cushions. She pulled her knees up to her chin and rolled onto the vapor cushions which responded by wrapping her in their embrace. They untied her bun and gently laid her long, tangled hair across her shoulders, lending a bit of familiar warmth to Setsuna and the cold energy of the void. In this fetal position, Setsuna looked like a child in the womb. Her chest was still bleeding profusely, and the black blood flowed in ribbons over her arms and legs.
She couldn't sleep because of the omnipresent pain. In waking dreams she envisioned the purple-black ribbons of the Senshi Pluto wrapping her, their edges sliding on her skin, then releasing as her fuku materialized around her. Several times she began to stretch out and up, raising her arms in henshin ritual, and would've sworn she was actually transforming. But it was only a dream. Once, she felt the lifeforces of Haruka and Michiru flare up, then be nearly extinguished, and screamed inside her head for their safety. In a minute, she sensed the glow of their souls brighten, and thanked whatever deity was listening to her pleas for keeping alive those that she was suffering for.
Aside from these visions, Setsuna was alone for time which seemed to lest forever, even to her. She tried counting the beats of her heart to distract herself from the emptiness and silence, but only found herself using the rhythm as a stopwatch to accurately mark the time, and so ceased.
Finally, Setsuna closed her eyes and curled herself tighter inside her vaporous bed. She tried to relax her body to at least give it semblance of sleep as her mind drifted. Semblance of slumber might help heal her body, she reasoned, which just -might- in turn begin to heal her weary soul.
The vapors surrounding Setsuna wrapped her tighter.
Setsuna's mind was pondering the resemblance of pansy blossoms to human faces when her chest exploded. Light poured forth in liquid form like glowing gilded water. The flow of black blood was enveloped and closed off by the mercurial light which heated her chest to burning. Setsuna watched, disbelieving, as her wounds cauterized and closed so fast she thought she was watching a time-lapse film. To her distress, the heat remained in her breast as the healing wounds sealed it in. Tentatively, she touched the area where the wounds had been. No tenderness, no scars, nothing! And the pain had left her, as well...
While she was thus absorbed, the blue light and council appeared around her.
"There will be no marks. All that will remain--and this only until you prove yourself--is the heat in your chest."
Setsuna quickly looked up, startled by his presence. "Excellency!"
"Go now, the sooner to return to the ranks of the Senshi," boomed Excellency's sonorous voice.
Setsuna's eyes widened as she felt ribbons wrapping around her. For a second, she had believed them to be those of the Senshi. But they were colder, stiffer than her beloved henshin transformation. As they pulled from her body, they revealed her lavender skirt suit. A rush of the cloud-vapors clamored around her, and shoved her bodily toward a portal just visible at et 'edge' of the void.
"Go," they whispered.
Hesitantly, Setsuna stepped through the portal.