Welcome friends to these exciting chronicles of Sailor Moon and Gundam Wing etc. ad nauseum. You all know the song and dance or you wouldn't be here.
Maybe you'll like this fic. If you do, review. If you hate it, flame me.
Disclaimer: Lady Star Healer and I do not own Gundam or Sailor Moon. (Sob) The characters Marle, Saira, Jacob, and the children do belong to us though. And you can't have them!
IntroductionIn the deep mists of the Fourth Dimension, there is a door. This door leads to everywhere and to every time. It is known as the Time Gate and is guarded by the eldest daughter of the Royal house of Pluto.
Over this Universe's hundreds of millennia, different women guard this gate. Some are tall, some dark, some stronger than others, but all are bound by the same sacred oath to guard Time itself.
It is in this place that our story begins.
To Find Their Way"Marle, you're only sending me to Earth because it's summer and you don't want to deal with the heat," Saira Kumo Yanai scowled. Marle Toki Kou looked at her sister and glared daggers.
"You know I'm not that irresponsible, and you know I have to guard the Time Line from the Kuroi (1)."
"I'm from the planet of war and fire. I think I could handle myself quite well against them in your absence." She stuck her tongue out.
"If you go back to fighting the Kuroi, you're just putting that child in danger. Especially if you do so alone."
"That's not the reason," Saira said brushing a hand against her still flat stomach. "I haven't told Jacob yet. I just needed to find the right time and then the call came in from the conquered regions and well…"
"Well," said Marle, a glint in her eye. "If you do this for me, I can arrange it so that you both just happen to wind up at a little corner bistro in say, Paris."
Saira thought long and hard about it. On the one hand she could be nice and do this for free, while on the other, she could give into the bribe.
"I think I'll have to take door number two," the raven-haired senshi said. "I hope they have a veggie dish. Just thinking about a t-bone steak is making me nauseous. Stupid morning sickness," she grumbled under her breath. "It doesn't even have the decency to come in just the morning."
Marle chuckled. "Don't worry, Saira-chan. I'll make sure that, AHHH!" Dropping to her knees in pain, she gripped her head with her hands and gritted her teeth to keep the rest of the screams in.
"What is it? Marle," Saira cried out as well with pain, clutching her heart. "Marle! What do you see?"
Standing up weakly, the Time Staff materialized in chalk white hands. "Something is terribly wrong, the disturbance is getting worse." With a jerky wave of the Staff, a portal opened up and she stepped through.
Not one to be left behind, Saira jumped in before the black hole could close. There was some slight disorientation, but they were both used to it. They had been living in the Fourth Dimension for some time now, and Marle had learned how to go directly from one place, through the Time Gates, and to another with a single portal.
When the mist rolled away from their vision, the two women found themselves in space over looking the third planet from the star known as Sol.
"The Earth," Saira whispered. "It's been so long since I saw it last." Looking down at her companion she asked. "What year is it?"
"They call it After Colony 196." Explained Marle. "To us it would be approximately A.D. 4652."
"So, about one thousand years after the invasion." The Phoenix started when she saw the moon. "Koneko must be rolling around in her grave."
"I agree," Mnemosyne (2) said scowling. "How could they scar it like that? Foolish children. I just hope it will be restored when the White Moon rises again."
They had been moving the entire time, and now they could see the cause of the temporal disturbance. A large construction was falling into Earth's atmosphere over one of the more populated areas.
"That space colony," Marle hissed,
"Is what caused the disturbance. It was never supposed to get that close
to the atmosphere." She looked at her sister with cold, unforgiving eyes.
"This is why you needed to come Saira," she put her hand on her
shoulder. "We need a good telekinetic to pull that sucker out of its
deteriorating orbit. But," she cautioned. "We need the ones known as
Gundam pilots to think they did it."
* * * * *
"We're starting to burn up," Duo's voice called in distress. "We're not gonna make it if we stay here!"
"Then that's it," Heero deadpanned. "Mission failed." He started to get up, and froze at the click of a suppressed 9mm behind his head.
"Bitter words, little boy. Now sit back down, we aren't licked yet."
He dared to shift in his seat and caught a glimpse of dark hair pulled back in a French braid. It was as black as Death Scythe Hell, and spilled to an unknown length along her back as blue eyes smoldered beneath windswept bangs. She was dressed in a pair of nondescript blue jeans and a denim jacket decorated with stylized blue flames.
"And just what do you think we can do?" She smirked and pulled out another gun to train on Duo and Trowa.
"This thing has directional thrusters right?" She waited for one of them to nod. She continued once they had. "Fire them all at once to skim along the atmosphere, bounce back into space and worry about regaining proper orbit after the fires go out."
"Why didn't I think of that?" the braided boy cried, half jesting. Her eyes didn't leave Heero's. He was the most dangerous one after all.
"Because I did. Now you only have one shot at this. Make it count."
With that she put away her pistols in holsters hidden beneath her jacket and stood in the center of the room, unarmed and starring into space.
Taking a deep breath, Saira reached inside herself to brush at the bright spot settled between her hips. 'Just hold on now, little one," she soothed. 'This might get a bit bumpy.'
Stretching out, she felt her mind pass out of her body and connected with the Cosmos's endless flow of energy and began to redirect it against the atmosphere of the blue green planet. The mental strain made her grimace as those around her took no notice.
With the passage of a small eternity, they began to put distance between the construction and atmosphere. 'Concentrate.' she whispered to herself. Soon there was enough momentum; she could relax a little. Saira realized she was sweating heavily. Maybe she should have used a little less energy. The amount of control needed was in direct proportion to the amount of élan drawn after all.
Out of long practice, she searched time and space for the steadying presence of her husband. He was distracted at first, fearful of…something, but the distance was too great for her to know exactly what. She let him lean into her, surrounded him with her energy, and felt a pinprick of shock. He knew about the baby, and she hadn't needed to say anything at all. But she was still hungry
And then, she was suddenly empty. Jacob's presence was gone.
Jacob was gone.
She was hit by a sudden shock wave of agony and she screamed, catching the eye of the suddenly aware pilots. Another wave came, smaller, less distinctive, but she knew that soul as well. Yaten was in danger.
Saira felt half of herself ripped away by the pain and in compliance, the left side of her body crumpled. Her eyes were open and she could hear the florescent lights buzz in their sockets, but she couldn't see any light. Tears began to make their way down her face and she didn't have the strength to care. Kami, everything was so…empty.
Feh, what good was saving strangers, if she couldn't keep her other half alive? The physical and emotional strain caught up with her, and she slipped away into true darkness.
* * * * *
Marle bowed her head as she watched Saira and her brother-in-law through a window in Time. Another pain ripped through her and she screamed. Tears falling down her cheeks, she lifted her head upward and cried, glad for once that sound refused to carry in the Fourth Dimension
"NO!"
Jumping to her feet, she conjured a portal and yelled, "Mnemosyne Crystal Power! MAKE UP!" as she fell through Time.
The blood red jewel resting on her collarbone pulsed light over her body. She closed her eyes and threw her head back as a column of hard vacuum rushed around her. In the silence ice grew across her body and was shattered by lightning bolts as her combat outfit formed. The airless bubble lifted and her tightly bound mahogany hair fell into the loser style worn by the Daughters of Chronos. Not only was it's style changed, her hair had become a mix of dark blue and darker green, a symbol of her heritage.
Her fuku wasn't really a fuku. It was instead modeled after a sleeveless training gi; dark blue, loose and flowing, with a slit up to each thigh that Yaten particularly liked.
A split second later, she landed as the fully transformed Sailor Mnemosyne on the plane where her children were, and blinked open her new red eyes to see Kuroi devouring four of her family.
As the Time Staff reappeared in her hands she powered up, aimed it at the two-dozen Kuroi monsters and called, "DEAD SCREAM (3)," putting the full force of her anger into the words. The deadly sphere of light slammed into the creatures, turning them to dust, and burning even that away.
Running to her children, Marle checked who remained, and was nearly choked by little arms trying to squeeze as close as possible. Waving her hand, a black hole opened and she firmly commanded, "Go through that and stay with your Grandfather. Don't wander, I'll be there soon." After planting a hasty kiss on each forehead, the children went through the portal, and their mother dared to turn around.
The first body she came across was Cassandra's, her eldest daughter. She would have been the one to inherit the task of safeguarding the Time Line. And she would have been perfect. Not a day went by that she was any less her Grandmothers reincarnation. But now, her role would have to wait for the next life. Her little body had been pulled apart and her limbs were scattered at four-foot intervals, gnawed upon. A long slash across her sternum was still spilling blood across the floor. Thankfully, her eyes were shut, but half of her pine colored hair was ripped out.
The next body was lying not too far from the first: Harmony, her second daughter. How ironic. At just four years old, the Heir of Mercury was, had been, a brilliant systems analyst and could have doubled for Queen Serenity of the Old Moon with her kind blue eyes and silver hair. She must have been the first one dead, the only part of her body left untouched was her head.
Galen, her third oldest, was only just dead. She brushed his unruly blue hair away from his face. He had an almost calm expression. His neck was snapped, and she was glad he had a quick death. But the scratches on his face, arms, and the blood under his nails told of how hard he must have fought. Her brave little Jovian.
Fighting back tears, Marle faced the last broken form drifting through the Hidden Plane. He was lying on his back not too far from where the children had been. A pool of his own silver blood was gathering around him. His emerald eyes were wide with horror as more blood dripped from his mouth. In his left hand rested his transformation item and a bite wound that had separated it from his arm. His stomach was slit open, his legs were gone, and his chest was empty where his heart should have been.
Shakily, she walked over and collapsed beside him. Mnemosyne looked around at the carnage and broke down. She sobbed until her eyes bled and her throat was hoarse.
"Why!?" It was forbidden for her to know her own future, but this, this… She should have known if her family was in danger.
She closed Yaten's unseeing eyes with a trembling hand. Hardening her face, she thought, 'I'll will cry no more,' and whispered, "May you rest in peace my love." Kissing his forehead she got up, waved her hand and stepped into a portal behind her. 'For I never will.'
She reappeared in space over the dead moon the Kuroi called a planet/base. At first her slight form went unnoticed. That was their second mistake.
Changing the Time Staff into a bow, she grasped a handful of energy from the Garnet Orb, let it fill with all her anger, pain and suffering, took aim and yelled, "Greek Calends Implosion (4)!" The dark light shot forward, past the Dragon Teeth patrol that was coming to 'deal with her', and imbedded in the planet. A mushroom cloud rose at the equator and was sucked down into the black hole that had formed on the surface. It's horrible gravity began to consume everything on the planet, including the base and it's inhabitants. A hundred thousand Kuroi went screaming to their deaths as the patrol finally caught up to Marle. The leader was just with in range when the effects of the attack began to take hold. Howling it swiped at her head, to miss her nose by a hair's breadth.
She didn't blink.
Instead she watched with a blank face and grim satisfaction as the patrol was dragged down to oblivion.
After it devoured everything on the moon, the black hole dragged down orbital debris, satellites from surrounding planets, the planets themselves, and plasma from the system's star. After an area of a billion kilometers had been purged, the black hole turned on itself, and collapsed after crushing the moon it had formed on.
The new widow opened a portal back to the Fourth Dimension and left without looking back. Her mission was over and this corner of the Universe had been cleansed of the Kuroi.
She just wished it could have lasted longer.
1) Kuroi means black or dark person.
2) Mnemosyne, an ancient Greek goddess whose name means memory. She was also the mother of the nine muses.
3) Pluto's attack, the Dead Scream, is meant to be whispered, unlike in the North American version where it is yelled. Mnemosyne yells it in this fic because she is very mad.
4) Greek calends is a fancy phrase for time nonexistent.
Well? What do you think? Did you like it or did you hate it? I'm open to all reviews.
