(Chapter Six)
While Trunks, Gohan, Usagi and Luna were having a nice little flight home, Goku (speeding somewhere above the speed limit) had reached home quicker (obviously) and was now lounging on the couch reading a book. An oddly normal activity, and it was odd especially for someone who knew the Super Saiyan very well. ChiChi had been extremely quiet all evening and when they got home, her husband had hesitantly voiced his question. She'd snapped back an answer and walked into the bathroom, slamming the door, leaving her husband to wonder what the hell he'd done to make her this upset.
As soon as she was locked in, she turned to the mirror and opened the tube of lipstick that she'd run down the alleyway by the restaurant to retrieve. Her reflection in the mirror spun, and disappeared into a whirling pool. Instead of her own face, there appeared a young man with blue-black hair and dark blue eyes. She stepped towards the mirror, her eyes glazed over, her palm touched the surface of the glass and as she pushed, it gave way sinking in and she stepped through it. "Master…" she said dazedly. He smiled harshly. "You will do, I suppose." He said lightly as he gestured to step aside, which she did, swaying only slightly. A stone altar rose up from the gray mists that covered the floor and on it was a pool of water. Murmuring several words that she couldn't hear, the young man stepped towards it, watching as the water rippled once before becoming as still as a mirror. A face framed with dark red hair appeared, her red eyes staring up at him. "Who has called me in the land of the Dead?" she hissed up, glaring up at him.
"I, Dark Endymion, Prince of Earth, brother to the very Endymion that you yourself love." She glared, "That man betrayed me… he chose that moon brat over the Queen of the Dark Kingdom." her words came out in a hiss. "Do you still want him?" he asked, offering his only brother like it was nothing to him. In reality, the only family left in the world was dearer to him than even his own love, but if his foolish brother didn't realize how good his life was with that blonde Moon princess, then he was going to take her back. And he needed this witch's help, as much as he hated it. She looked suspicious. "What do you want in return? I have no doubt in my mind that you are doing this because you feel pity for a Queen who fell in battle with that moon brat." She spat the word 'pity' like it was poison in her mouth. The young man looked grim, "I want that 'little moon brat' for my own and if that means giving up my brother to one of the greatest Queens of the Dark Kingdom, one who defeated the Silver Millennium in only one attack, then so be it."
The woman in the pool frowned, thinking before finally giving him a curt nod. "I need a body." She said finally. He smiled grimly, "And I have one for you. One perfect for your needs to be close to that girl." he gestured sharply to ChiChi and she walked over. The red-haired woman looked disgusted as she eyed ChiChi but shrugged, "If this is the best you could do…" she said hinting insultingly.
He glared, before talking to the black-haired woman standing beside him. "Touch your hand to the pool." He told her and she complied slowly as the woman beneath her reached out a clawed hand. A red mist erupted from the pool, swiftly enveloping ChiChi, and the blinding hot pain with it, so harsh she had to let it out. The way she did was a long, loud piercing scream as the mist was absorbed into her skin. As the young man watched, the woman stopped screaming and her head dropped so that her chin touched the center of her collarbone. She was floating in the air, a few inches from the misty floor and her watched in grim fascination as her eyes glowed a dark red, before the glow faded and her eyes appeared. But they were not hers, they were red, and what should have been white, were now a yellow-gold, the eyes of the once-Queen of the Dark Kingdom. She focused firstly on him before looking down in barely hidden disgust. "Will I have to stay in this body forever?" He glared, she was acting more the self-absorbed bitch queen that she had been back in her more glorious days.
"I would be more respectful to one who brought you back from Hell." He snapped his thin patience at an end. Even Queen Beryl knew she was going too far and she seethed at the loss of power and what this little BOY was saying to her. He wasn't afraid though, his voice ran as smooth as black velvet. "But, I will be generous. The Dark Kingdom is no longer the most powerful domain in the universe, but it still holds much of our dark rule. I myself have no interest in it as my own kingdom is enough, you can have it back, daughter of the Earth." Beryl grimaced at the mention of her birthplace. She had been named a traitor and been banished when she went to practice the dark arts and she'd turned back and defeated the planet with a vengeance.
"Very well. I will do as you ask." But first… that little moon bitch is going to feel the wrath of a Queen torn from her kingdom. A swirling portal appeared at her side and she stepped through into a kaleidoscope of colors and she in a strange bathroom. She looked around, mildly confused before the woman's mind told her it was her own. Memories of this woman's life flooded her and she shuddered at the thought of the strength of these beings that the woman had known… and was married to!
She exited the bathroom slowly and found Goku still reading, sitting on the couch. He looked up and smiled at her before turning back to his book. She grimaced, for such an imbecile, this woman had at least semi-good taste in men. Perhaps a little too muscled for her taste, but he was not entirely unbearable to look at. This life, for the time being would do… until she was living the one that she wanted most of all… her own, with Endymion by her side.
And in the two college boys' apartment, Usagi and Luna were telling them the tale of the world that they came from, and a time long before when all was at peace and the moon was paradise. But as soon as she had finished speaking, a blinding white-hot pain erupted in her eyes and she shrieked as she clutched her head. Luna's fur rose up high and she hissed as she stared at her charge's face scrunched in pain. Gohan grabbed her and held her only a second before her form flickered… and disappeared, dumping Luna uncomfortably on the floor. But she didn't care; she was staring at the vacated spot on the sofa. Where was Usagi?
~*~*~*~
"Something's wrong… I just know it," Setsuna was pacing as she muttered. "What's happened to her?" asked Chibi-Usa fearfully, as her own mother was missing. "I don't know, she was sent into another dimension to retrieve the Rainbow crystals where I pinpointed them to be. But now… even if she finds them all, she won't be able to come back here. And my spell holding the present time won't hold forever. If that time is changed, without the senshi, there won't be a Crystal Tokyo and we'll be erased with it!"
"Perhaps, if we contacted her… and brought her here for a temporary time…" mused Mercury as she tended to Ami's wounds. Ami looked up at her, eyes wide… "Are you meaning to say that my inter-dimensional transport actually works?!" the blue-haired senshi blinked innocently. "Perhaps…"
"WOW!" The older senshi looked up at Setsuna and Pluto who were at the moment conversing. It seemed that the present had already begun effecting the future. Pluto's Time Key was gone too. "How would you do that?" asked Chibi-Usa curiously as she glanced at the two 'mad scientists'. "Well, I began the designs back in the twentieth century…" Ami raised an eyebrow, "I did, only two months ago." She told her frowning her displeasure of being left out. "We made designed it, but I built it and made it so that it would fully function… perhaps."
"Perhaps never was a good answer."
"It's never been tested, but I think it could work… what other choice do we have?" There was no answer. No one else was skilled in inter-dimensional transportation other than Pluto who needed a door and key. They had neither. "Let's try it then." Setsuna finally said, sighing. "There's nothing else we can do."
It was done. The machine whirred, little lights flashed, something-or-other beeped and blipped, and both Ami and Mercury were typing on separate keyboards faster than the speed of light. Minako, though injured had not lost harmed her tongue and she whispered to Makoto, "At least we know Ames' hands weren't hurt."
As it happened, the machine was supposed to send Usagi in a completely painless condition right on the floor in front of them. It didn't happen quite that way. For one, she was screaming her head off as the skylight above them shattered into little fragments of glass and they found her plummeting through, she and her dress miraculously unharmed.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" she screeched as soon as she recognized who she was with. "You couldn't have given me a WARNING?!"
Ami raised an eyebrow. "How?" she asked frankly. Usagi shrugged, "You're the scientific genius—es. Why are there two of you?"
"Because. Right now we're stuck here. And you're going to be back where you were a few seconds ago. Take this… your other communicator doesn't work. Usagi held up the battered pink watch. "You're telling me."
"What did you do to it?"
"HEY! I didn't do it! Some creep from the Dark Kingdom or something did it!" everyone sobered. "They followed you?"
"Maybe… but they're not that hard to handle by myself. Besides, I have help." She shrugged before glaring at both blue-haired girls who had been celebrating their success. "You know, you've still got some programming to do. That hurt like hell." The girls immediately stopped celebrating and bent their heads back to the machine tinkering with it. The flashing lights, and occasional beeps and blips returned were all that came from the machine and the two girls. Endymion finally stepped up, almost shyly as he looked down at the sixteen-year-old version of his wife. "Sere, I missed you."
She raised an eyebrow, "You did?" she asked almost coolly before she remembered this was the future, not her guy. "Um, well… thanks." He eyed her curiously. "What is wrong?"
"Perhaps the fact that you hate me." he looked horrified at the idea. "I could never hate you, in any time, any universe—"
"—but mine." The remaining girls from the Inner senshi were silent as Endymion looked at each of them in turn for any denial. "It can't be possible…" he gaped at the odangoed girl in front of him. "That can't be true." She shrugged, "Well, I'll go home and check it out okay? I'm a nice person, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt." But her words were cool and clipped. Then as a dazzling array of light surrounded her, she waved, "Bye now."
~*~*~*~
Rei stirred in her bed and sat up eyes suddenly leaping into complete focus as her nerves picked up the sense of knowing someone was in here with her. She looked around wildly for a moment before she found the only person in the room with her was Merelu, the cat-girl. She jumped up on the bed and eyed Rei curiously as Rei, knowing nothing else to do, stared blankly back at her."
"Are you really from the Mystic Moon?"
"Huh?"
"You know, the big blue and green thing in the sky?"
"Huh?" she repeated, not understanding. Merelu sighed in impatience and then ran to the door. "Come on! I'll show you!" When Rei didn't move for a moment, she ran back and grasped Rei's wrist in a paw and practically dragged her to the door in her impatience before dropping to all fours and running like that.
Suddenly, well to Rei at least, she stopped in the middle of nowhere in particular and pointed up at the ceiling. "THAT." she told her triumphantly. Rei had a sinking feeling inside her. "So… I guess I never got myself back home didn't I?"
"No… but don't worry. Hitomi's trying to get home too, and when she does, you can too!" Rei looked at her strangely. She could sense something about her that was strange little glow around the strange girl. Her aura. She could see it.
"Ahem." Rei nearly jumped out of her skin in surprise and Merelu was startled to. She spun around with her claws unsheathed to see Van standing behind her. She jumped into his arms and began purring. He looked up at Rei in a friendly glance, colored, and looked back down at his feet. She looked down to see that the buttons on the front had become undone. They had already been straining when she'd went to bed, but she glared at herself now, knowing just how more curved she was compared to Hitomi. She swore under her breath as she hurriedly redid them and turned a most unflattering shade that made her look similar to a tomato.
"I uh, I apologize for my indecency…" she murmured, trying to find the words that would impress a king. "No, it's quite all right, you're forgiven." He told her smiling in that friendly way of his.
"Do you wake up this early all the time?"
"Yes." Rei answered immediately. Then she face-vaulted. "How'd I know that?" she murmured unable to give herself an answer. "I'm sorry… I can't remember anything but there's always little pieces of things floating in my mind and they're so strange I don't even know if I'm dreaming it or not."
They stood silently in the empty hall and tension was beginning to build. "So… how did you get here? Hitomi came here with Lord Van, but nobody's come from there since. "So you're from Earth too?" she asked surprised, she'd heard something about him being from a place called Finaalia, and she was quite certain she'd never heard of such a place back home. "No, I went there to slay a dragon as part of the ancient rite of receiving my Kingship. When I killed it, and came home, Hitomi came along, purely by accident of course." Rei raised an eyebrow and hid a smile as he turned slightly pink. Merelu noticed this as well and smirked, licking a paw delicately. She knew too.
Suddenly, an image of a blonde with long golden hair done up in such a ridiculous hairstyle that it seemed to just scream "tease me" came up in her mind along with a tall black-haired man that she found extremely familiar. Just as the two of them together appeared in her mind, a blinding pain filled her, exploding from the very core of her body outwards. Her body seized up and she screamed in the pain, she would have dropped to the floor had there not been a wall behind her, perfect for letting her grip onto to try and regain her balance. But the wall disappeared beneath her fingers and she found herself flying through what looked like a temperamental blend of colors that were almost familiar… had they been less chaotic.
"REI!" shrieked Merelu as she bounded to the spot where the raven-haired girl had stood only a few moments ago. "What happened to her?!" she was holding onto several folds of Van's red shirt as he examined the place where she'd stood. "Was she taken away by Zaibach? Could that be it?" he murmured, but it was unlikely that his brother would do something as foolhardy as this. That girl meant nothing, she didn't have any power at all, unlike Hitomi. "No."
He whirled to face Hitomi who'd just appeared in the hallway. "No, I don't think so." She walked towards the place where she'd disappeared and touched the wall where Rei's hand been. A strangled gasp came from her and her eyelids fluttered closed as the vision swept over her. She could see the crystal towers of a brilliantly beautiful palace and the entire world seemed like paradise. A woman with long golden hair done up in two buns with streamers hanging down stood with such royal grace that Hitomi knew she must be a queen. "Hitomi… so you have finally come." Hitomi blinked, this woman could see her? "Who are you?" The woman smiled and swept out one of her bare arms towards the city she could see below the grassy cliff. "I am the Neo-Queen Serenity. This is Crystal Tokyo, where the world is finally at peace."
"Why… why is Rei here?"
"She is one of my senshi, she was destined to be my protector. But when the flow of time was tampered with, it jolted the timeline off track and those were are here now from the present were never supposed to be here. A demon that was sent to the present-time Tokyo was never supposed to have come before its appointed time, when the senshi were stronger."
"So you mean… Rei's not supposed to be in Gaea?"
"No, not so soon. But as it is now, there is no help for it. The others, to restore her memories brought her to this time. She was involved in a magical battle and it was not a physical injury that caused her amnesia. In the present, there had been no invention of this removal of dark magic but here there is. And you, Hitomi were supposed to have come to this time yourself in a time farther along time."
"Come here? But… I don't even live in this world, I live in the present, I'm a high school student I run in track… that's all!"
"But you are a goddess in your own way, you are what we call Fate."
"Fate?"
"Yes. Your visions are not normal, and I'm sure Vari has told you that you yourself control the destinies, you make up these visions from the depths of your own mind?"
"Yes…" The woman smiled. "Please… Rei will have to go back to Gaea, keep your identity a secret for now. When it is time, Fate shall meet Fire." Hitomi felt the strange swirling around her again and she barely saw the woman wave slightly before disappearing from the grassy cliff too.
"HITOMI! HITOMI!" the man on top of her was shaking her, trying to wake her up. Opening her eyes, Hitomi sat up. "What did you see? Where is that girl? What happened to her?" asked Merelu continually, spouting the questions like a fountain spouts water.
"She's… she's home. At least… it will be her home, one day." Hitomi smiled, and small sparkles caught in the pendant at her neck making it glimmer, a symbol of Fate, a symbol of her destiny.
~*~*~*~
Endymion was keeping well away from the Royal senshi. He was feeling quite terrible, and Usagi's visit had acutely sent an arrow straight through his heart. He wondered whether or not the thing was even beating still. Did his past self really hate her? No… it was impossible, nothing in the entire world could make him hate this golden angel from the moon, ever in any lifetime. "She's coming!" a voice ripped through his mind shattering his thoughts for a moment, leaving him just wide-eyed and staring. This was not supposed to be happening, he was supposed to be the cool and confident ruler alongside his wife. Granted, she'd always gotten so much more publicity than him, but he did a good job ruling anyway. Don't let them know… and if possible, you're going to have a little chat with yourself in a little while…
"Maybe we can talk some sense into her." Setsuna was tugging at the bow on her shirt in slight nervousness. This girl had magically induced amnesia and even though her 30th century self assured her that they certainly did have the technological advances (mainly due to Mercury) she was still nervous. She did not want to explain to her princess that her best friend had been killed being a guinea pig tester in the 30th century.
The sudden lack of substance in the air became painfully obvious as she stared, looking quite ill at the space where the air thickened and dissolved into a myriad of colors that flowed rather than flashed. It was shaped in the form of a woman and Rei appeared fully a moment later, dropping to the ground, unconscious.
"Oh dear," murmured Michiru softly as she kneeled down, bring the girl into a sitting position in her lap just as Haruka bent down and picked her up in her arms. "Where's she headed for?" she asked looking around for a bed of some sort where she could place the girl.
Where am I? The girl wondered, floating in and out of consciousness, her eyes fluttering slightly before becoming still. Why am I here? Who am I, really? Am I really who Hitomi tells me, some super heroine? But even as she thought these, another voice, a seductive, persuasive voice whispered in her mind, Don't think of such things… it is better not to remember times of hurt, times of pain. Think only of what is happening now, to this being that you are, and nothing else… No pain… no hurt… She swooned again, and her eyelids didn't flutter again.
"You know, it doesn't look like she's going to wake up." Venus suddenly said as she stared at the girl on the bed. "She's been out for… how long?"
"Three hours, twenty-five minutes and exactly thirty-two seconds." Replied Mercury aimlessly as she glanced at the clock on the screen as she prepped the machine that had been put together with a mixture of both machinery and machine. "Don't bother her."
"Hell, are you kidding? She's gotta wake up. Now is as good a time as any." Venus got up and grabbed the pitcher of ice-cold water on the dresser beside Rei. She grinned as the others leaped at her to put it down and drag her away from the unconscious girl before she triumphantly upended the entire onto the girl's face.
"AHHHH!!" shrieked Rei as she jerked up, her face and hair soaked and she stared up at the vivacious blonde on top of her and shrieked again. "AH!! GET OFF ME!" before literally shoving the girl away from her. She gained her wits slowly and leaned over the edge of the bed, looking at the frowning senshi of love on the floor rubbing her butt. "That hurt y'know."
"Who… who are you?" she asked the blonde slowly, wondering where she was. And why the hell was there a girl that looked exactly like her standing there? Or at least, how she looked like when she looked into a mirror in the morning? "You're in the 30th century in Crystal Tokyo chirped the blue-haired girl-girls. One of them was heavily bandaged but they were still identical. "What's going on here?" she asked beginning to get extremely nervous. This was too strange, really strange.
"She's awake now. Everyone out." Mercury shooed the rest of them out of the room while Ami gestured for Rei to come closer to her, as she didn't exactly want to get up with all the bandages. Rei walked over carefully eyeing the entire room carefully. "It's a strange place isn't it? I bet you can hardly wait till we get home."
"We?"
"Yeah, in present-day Tokyo? WE are stuck here while you get to go back and see some interesting new places."
"You mean Gaea?"
"Oh, is that what it's called? Well, yeah you're going to have to go back to Gaea. We don't have enough power to keep you here for long. We need to reverse that amnesia. It was caused by magic… and we want to remove."
Rei's eyes hardened, "Keep the hell away from me, girl." she hissed, her voice taking an entirely different tone. "You don't know who you're dealing with."
"Perhaps she doesn't, but I know I've got you covered." said another voice from behind them. Rei turned to see Mercury holding a bubble of… something in her gloved hand. And from the look of it, it looked cold and… icy.
"Now, get in that chair. NOW!" Mercury ordered, and Ami found herself wondering exactly how much she'd change in a thousand years. "No." hissed back Rei, whose eyes had become a horrendous red and her skin deathly pale. "This girl shall die before I leave her. I chose her amongst all you rabble. Though, I was tempted to pick that moonchild… she had powers. But this one has stronger psychic power than any I've ever seen—"
"Not as much as I have." said a voice from the door. All three of them turned to the door where Rei's replica (in her senshi fuku) had a fire arrow notched into a flaming bow aiming at her replica. "You!" hissed the possessed Rei. "You are one and the same with this body! If she dies, you die." The girl laughed harshly and her hand never wavered from her half-invisible bowstring.
"My mission has always been to protect my queen. As long as she is safe, I don't care about anything else. If losing my life keeps this world at peace, then so be it. But… I'm willing to make a trade." She told her.
"Such as?"
"Take me instead. You talk of psychic power. I am a thousand years more powerful than she is, just as she is a thousand years more powerful than her past self in the Silver Millennium. I am stronger. Trade her for me."
"Yesss…" hissed the girl softly as Mercury behind her carefully aimed an ice bubble at her back in case she tried anything funny. "Then I'LL TAKE YOU!" she shrieked as a huge red mist erupted from Rei, who slumped to the ground shaken, as it flew at Mars with astonishing speed. She loosed the arrow, and when that only slowed it down, she cursed and ripped something out of what looked like thin air. "AKURIYO TAISAN!" she yelled throwing an ofuda at it, stopping it in midair. "AQUA RHAPSODY!" yelled Mercury behind it, freezing the thing. It crashed to the ground and into little pieces of ice that soon melted away.
"Wha—what was that?!" asked both Ami and Rei having never seen one of them before. "It was one of the foolish possession demons that are killed so quickly… we've learned how to deal with them, but you haven't yet, I suppose." Rei looked at them all confusedly and was no hindrance when they gently led her into the chair, right below the mechanical monstrosity that would give her back her memories. Mars just stood there shaking her head and sighing. The mad scientist(s) had found a test subject.
After a lot of tinkering and… more tinkering, the blasted thing finally worked and Rei was led out to see the rest of them for the last few minutes before she was to be shot straight back into Gaea again. "I'm… I'm sorry all of you for all this trouble," she said softly, ashamed of herself for falling so easily into that… thing's control, "and I'll be back… after I finish doing whatever it is I'm supposed to do in Gaea… and we can all go. Go home." She smiled, waving slightly as she felt the dizziness again, "And besides, Van and Hitomi need me around." She disappeared.
"I don't have a clue why their lives are so perfect right now. They've both been sent to really dangerous places without us to help them out and their ecstatic to be there!" Her future self smiled wryly, "I wouldn't worry about that one, she can fight like a wildcat… and she can sure make a girl's butt kill when she shoves her out of the way!" she shrugged, "Bubble baths for everyone now. There's absolutely nothing to do, and there are plenty of bathrooms around here for all of us. Come on, all of you—including you too Endymion-sama!"
Minako grinned. Ah, at least in the future, she had the power she deserved!
~*~*~*~
"USAGI-CHAN!" yelped Luna as Usagi reappeared, incidentally standing on Luna's tail, so that while the cat was ecstatic to see her again, she was in considerable pain in the meantime. "Hey guys! I'm back!" she said happily before noticing her cat's painful situation under her foot and she released the poor kitty's tail, which was instantly lavished great attention by its owner.
"What happened to you, Chisaii-chan?" asked Trunks (the nickname had really stuck by this point).
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you—" she was interrupted by a sudden beeping from the mini-computer. The two guys stared at the thing. "A… watch?" asked Gohan staring at the antiquated-looking thing. She narrowed her eyes, "No, it's my communicator/computer thingamajigger in a watch." The screen fuzzed for a few seconds before zoning in on a face. "King Endymion?" she gasped as she looked at the handsomely worried face on the screen. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing… I'm just going to say to you, I'm going to have a little chat with my… former self. And I was going to inform just in case you were wondering how the hell he got the shit beaten out of him for being an asshole."
"You do recall you're the same person…" he smiled rather sadly, "Perhaps, but I promise you I would never love anyone other than you, Sere."
"Endy, you're doing it again." She replied automatically before doing a double-take. "Huh?" she asked herself. "Where did that come from?"
"I knew it. You've got Sere in you, even though you're still sixteen."
She looked puzzled but he shook his head, "Don't worry about it. I'm just going to have a little… talk with myself. Literally." His face disappeared from the screen and she laughed. "Endy always was one to go over the edge." She muttered before turning to the two humans' (and one feline) confused faces. "You would not believe me if I told you." She repeated again.
