Act Eleven - Curses
Usagi shuffled over to the refrigerator, fighting back a yawn. She was wearing a pair of ratty flannel pajamas and her favorite pink terrycloth robe, her uniform for the past few days. Dark circles were present underneath her bloodshot eyes from a lack of sleep, and her hair hadn't been combed in days. Usagi didn't dare even look at herself in the mirror, afraid to see her reflection. She was already depressed enough without worrying about her looks.
After digging around in her well-stocked refrigerator and freezer, Usagi selected a pint of chocolate ice cream and grabbed a spoon. She then got situated on the couch and turned on the TV to her favorite anime show. Luna, who was laying on the window sill, stared at her mistress in concern. She'd been like this ever since the engagement was broken off.
"Usagi-chan, you're going to get fat if you keep eating like this," the cat warned. "Ice cream is not a suitable breakfast."
In defiance, the blonde scooped up a large blob of ice cream and stuffed it in her mouth. "I don't care, Luna. Ben and Jerry are the only men in my life now, and they don't care how much I weigh."
The black cat shook her head in mild disapproval. Usagi was taking the break-up extremely hard. It was if she didn't care about her life anymore. All she ever did these days was watch TV and eat junk food, occasionally taking a break to cry her little heart out. Luna opened her mouth to lightly scold her mistress once again, but was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. Usagi groaned.
"Who is it?" she called out.
"I have a delivery for Tsukino Usagi-san," the delivery boy replied.
The blonde grudgingly answered the door, looking as if she wanted to kill the poor unfortunate boy. The teenager held out a bouquet of beautiful blood red roses, which Usagi grabbed out of his hands as if it were nothing more than a bag of trash. Another pathetic attempt by Mamoru to win back her heart, no doubt. She should have known.
Slamming the door closed after the boy left, Usagi promptly tossed the bouquet of roses into the nearby trashcan without a second thought, not even bothering to read the note attached. She knew they were from Mamoru. Everyday for the past week or so, he had sent her a fresh bouquet of roses along with some sappy haiku he must have composed when he was fighting as Tuxedo Kamen. The thought of her tuxedo-clad hero temporarily brought tears to her eyes, but Usagi fought hard to hold back her sobs. That jerk didn't deserve her tears. She was better off without him.
Luna stretched and jumped off the window sill, taking a seat beside her mistress on the couch. Usagi made a face, finding the carton of ice cream nearly empty. "Stupid ice cream," she muttered, setting the carton aside.
"Usagi-chan, I wish you would snap out of this funk," the cat said. "The girls and I are worried about you. It's not healthy, physically or mentally. You know you are going to have to go back into the world sooner or later. You can't just stay in this apartment forever."
"Why not?"
The black cat scratched her head. "Well…how are you going to get money to pay for your rent? It's only a matter of time before your boss figures out that you aren't really sick and fires you. Then what will you do?"
Usagi waved her hand disinterestedly, obviously not too worried. The brilliance of her engagement ring, still worn on her left hand, sparkled brightly in the soft morning sun pouring in from the open window. "It's not a problem. I'll just pawn my ring. Naru-chan said it's worth at least half of a million dollars. That's plenty of cash to live off for the rest of my life. Maybe I'll even leave the country for a while and go on vacation in the Caribbean or somewhere."
Luna groaned. "I can't believe you still haven't returned the ring. The engagement is off. It isn't appropriate for you to keep it."
"You want me to return the ring?" Usagi said, hiding her hand behind her back as if she seriously expect Luna to yank it off her finger, never mind that she was a cat. "No way, Jose! I deserve to keep it after all those years I spent saving his butt. Besides, what would Mamoru-baka want with my ring? To give it to that cheap floozy?"
Once again, tears came to her sad blue eyes, but this time Usagi didn't bother to fight the conflicting emotions in her heart. Sobs shook throughout her body as she buried her head in her hands. When would this unending pain stop?
Beside her, Luna rubbed her head against Usagi's elbow in comfort. "It'll be okay, Usagi-chan. I know it doesn't seem like it now, but one day, you will get over this. Maybe you'll even learn to forgive Mamoru-san for what he's done."
"I'll never forgive him, Luna. Never."
The cat looked up at Usagi, sadness filling her heart. She hated seeing her mistress like this. Luna would take the silly, ditzy Usagi over this girl any day. She then turned to leave, thinking that Usagi probably wanted to be alone, when she saw a strange black light out of the corner of her eye. "What was that?"
"What was what?" Usagi asked, wiping her eyes with her blanket. She was surprised to see that Luna was staring at her hand.
"Your ring. I could have sworn…"
"Sworn what? What is it, Luna? Did you see something?"
Luna shook her head. "It's nothing," she said, not wanting Usagi to worry. "I was probably imagining things, but would you mind if I borrow your ring for a couple of days? Don't worry, I'm not going to give it back to Mamoru-san!" Luna assured her in an exasperated voice when Usagi once again tried to hide her hand from sight. "That's something you have to do yourself."
Confused by Luna's request, Usagi glanced down at the ring in question, wondering what the cat saw. It looked perfectly normal to her. She shrugged, then slowly pulled the ring off her finger. It was about time she took it off anyway. Luna was right. She really shouldn't be wearing it anymore now that the engagement was called off.
After she gave the ring to Luna, Usagi stood up and stretched, deciding to take a shower. Maybe Luna was right about her needing to go out again as well. It wasn't often that her faithful guardian was wrong, and she had to admit it was a beautiful day, just perfect for a walk in the park.
She quickly bathed and changed into some fresh clothes, finding that she actually did feel a little better now that she was clean. Luna was already gone when she came back out, but she didn't think anything of it. Luna probably had a date with Artemis or something. She then turned off the TV and walked out of the apartment, a fake smile plastered on her face as she headed toward the park.
She could do this. Nothing to it.
Rather than on a date with Artemis as Usagi thought, however, Luna was actually at the Crown Fruit Parlor and Arcade, making use of the secret control room located underneath the Sailor V game. The room hadn't been used in years, and it showed. Dust was everywhere, and the cat sneezed as she typed in her password, the tiny particles on the keyboard being disturbed by her movements.
A few minutes later, the computer was finished booting up. She was glad to see that it was still pretty much in working order. A lot of the information was outdated, though. Mentally, she wrote a note to remind herself to tell Artemis and Mercury to update the program. It didn't matter that years had passed since the battle with Sailor Galaxia; the Sailor Soldiers still needed to be on alert for possible enemies. Maybe she would even call a couple of emergency training practices so they could brush up on their attacks. It couldn't hurt, and if the feeling she had proved to be a real threat, they definitely needed to be ready to fight again, especially Usagi.
The cat placed Usagi's engagement ring inside a special compartment of the computer and began running a thorough inspection of the seemingly harmless-looking pink diamond. The results were shocking, to say the least. Luna's cinnamon red eyes widened as she scanned the analysis. Never in a thousand years did she expect this.
According to the results, the ring was infused with negative power. That in itself wouldn't be that shocking, as the cat suspected as much, but it was the particular energy signature that caused Luna to take a second look, thinking that there had to be some mistake. The Sailor Soldiers had destroyed Queen Metalia and the Dark Kingdom nearly eight years ago. It wasn't possible. There was nothing left, so they thought.
Luna typed another command into the computer, ordering an even more extensive examination. The new results only confirmed the earlier findings. The negative power found in the ring definitely had the markings of the Dark Kingdom. The black cat felt her fur rise along her back. There had to be some kind of logical explanation.
"Luna, what are you doing down here?"
She must have jumped at least ten feet in the air at the sound of a deep male voice in the room. Once she calmed down her nerves, Luna turned around and glared at her white-haired partner, who was laughing hysterically at her expense. "Artemis, stop that!" Luna ordered. "This is no time to be joking around."
"Why? What's going on, Luna?"
She rested her paw on the report. "This is the problem."
Artemis's goofy face immediately turned serious at the sight of the results. If it was possible, his soft fur actually turned a paler shade of white, as if he had seen a ghost. "The Dark Kingdom? But how is this even possible? Beryl and Metalia have been dead f-"
"I know, I know."
"We have to tell the girls," Artemis said, heading toward the door. "Let's go. Mina-chan and the rest of the Inners are having lunch here."
Luna quickly grabbed the results with her mouth and followed her partner out of the control room.
The priestess of the Hikawa Shrine absentmindedly stirred her tea with her spoon, not really paying attention to her friends' conversation. Over a week had passed since Usagi showed up at the shrine, upset about finding Mamoru in the arms of a still unidentified woman, and Rei was starting to really worry about her best friend. They hadn't seen or heard from her in days. Beside her, Ami lightly poked her in her ribcage.
"Rei-chan, is something on your mind?" the kind doctor asked. "You've been awfully quiet today."
Rei shrugged her shoulders. "I was just thinking about Usagi again. Yesterday, I went over to the apartment to ask her if she was interested in attending the festival with Yuuichiro-kun and me, but she wouldn't answer the door."
"Same thing with me," Makoto said. "Last Wednesday I came over with a fresh batch of Usagi-chan's favorite chocolate chip cookies to cheer her up, but I got the same response. She didn't want to talk. I just wish she would allow us to help. The last thing she needs is to be alone at a time like this."
Across the table, the goddess of love herself sighed. "I still can't believe that the engagement is really called off. Never in a million years did I expect this to happen. Mamoru-san and Usagi-chan were so much in love, and they've been through so much over the past eight or so years. I thought nothing could ever tear them apart."
"I don't think any of us ever expected this to happen," Ami replied. "We took what we knew about the future for granted, thinking that our destinies were set in stone. Obviously, we were wrong."
A small gasp came from Makoto's lips, and her dark green eyes widened until they were as big as saucers. "I didn't even think about that, Ami-chan," she confessed. "What's going to happen to us now? Crystal Tokyo won't exist if Mamoru-san and Usagi-chan don't get married."
Even with all her intelligence, the soldier of wisdom could not think of an answer to her friend's question. Ami shook her head sadly. "I don't know, Mako-chan. I just don't know."
The girls sat in silence, reflecting on what Makoto just pointed out. This was bigger than just a simple break-up. The entire future as they knew it was gone. There would be no Crystal Tokyo, no Chibi-Usa, and worst of all, no peace, for how could there be peace without Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endymion to rule over the reborn Silver Millennium? Were they now destined for a life of
war and discord?
Luna and Artemis, coming from the secret control room, walked over to the table where the girls were sitting, interrupting the quiet. The black cat jumped on the table and sat the thick report in front of Ami, while her partner took a seat in the empty chair beside his mistress. Curious, the blue-haired doctor began flipping through the pages. "What's this, Luna?" she asked.
"I'm afraid we might have some trouble, girls," the cat replied seriously. "This is the analysis of Usagi-chan's engagement ring, which-"
Rei rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me that meatball head still hasn't given the ring back to Mamoru-san," she interrupted.
"Yes, well, that's the least of our worries right now, Rei-chan. This morning, I noticed a strange black light being emitted from the ring, so I asked to borrow it and run a few tests. The results were shocking, to say the least."
Ami, who was busy reading the analysis, gasped and dropped the stack of papers, almost knocking over her glass of tea. Thanks to Rei's quick reflexes, though, she caught the glass before its contents could spill over the report. Minako and Makoto stared expectantly at the blue-haired doctor, surprised at the ill look on her face.
"What is it, Ami-chan?" Minako finally asked, but Ami could only shake her head and point at the report, her voice gone from shock.
Artemis cleared his throat and joined Luna on the table. "What Ami-chan is trying to say is that the analysis shows that a negative power with the energy signature of the Dark Kingdom was found inside the ring," he said.
"But that's not possible. We defeated Metalia and them almost a decade ago, Artemis. There must be some kind of mistake!"
Luna shook her head. "I'm afraid that there is no mistake, Minako-chan. I ran the tests twice, and both times the results were the same. There is no doubt about it. The Dark Kingdom put some kind of curse on Usagi-chan's engagement ring."
"So, does that mean that Queen Metalia has somehow been resurrected?" Makoto asked.
"It's really too soon to tell, Mako-chan. We can't jump to conclusions. So far, the cursed ring is the only evidence we have of the enemy. There haven't been any reports lately about youma attacks or energy drainages that I know about. I just don't know what to think about this."
A recovered Ami began going over the information again, trying to make sense of the analysis. Luna was right. There was something strange about the fact that there had been no attacks. The Dark Kingdom was notorious for its unending need of human energy, however, the ring showed no sign of being an energy draining device. It wasn't like them at all.
"Could it be possible that Usagi's ring was just a left over from the first Dark Kingdom attack?" Rei suggested hopefully. "If I remember correctly, Jadeite staged an attack on Naru-chan's mother's jewelry shop. Right? Maybe the ring was part of some old inventory."
"It's a possibility, but not very likely," Luna said. "During the first attack, the jewelry was used to gather energy from its wearers. Usagi's ring, on the other hand, doesn't appear to have that ability. It's more like it was used to cast a spell or a curse."
"Like causing Mamoru to sleep with another woman and breaking up the prince and princess's engagement?" Ami asked, suddenly understanding what Luna was suggesting.
"Exactly."
Minako leaned back in her chair, letting everything Luna and Artemis just told them sink in. A cursed ring would be a logical explanation for Mamoru's uncharacteristic behavior. "But why would somebody want to break up Usagi-chan's and Mamoru-san's engagement?" she mused, half to herself.
"I don't know, Minako-chan," Makoto answered, slamming her fist on the table. "But whoever is behind this is going to answer to me."
Rei's violet eyes burned with a fire which could easily match or even surpass Makoto's anger. Usagi wasn't just her princess, she was also her best friend. That somebody could put her friend through so much pain and heartache made her blood boil. "We need to tell Usagi and the others about this. Let's call a meeting at the temple later today with everyone present, even Mamoru-san. Maybe he could tell us exactly what caused him to sleep with another woman, whether it was simple physical attraction or if there could have been something supernatural at work. For all we know, the woman might even be the enemy."
"No, now is not the time."
Everyone looked over at the serious black cat in surprise. Luna was staring out the window, a single tear running down the cheek. Unbeknownst to the others, who were all too busy thinking about the ring and its implications, Usagi had just walked past the Crown Fruit Parlor, the look of pure sadness and despair written all over her tear-streaked face as she fought against the pedestrian traffic. It broke Luna's heart to see her beloved mistress this way.
Artemis walked over and gently nudged his lover. "What is it, Luna?"
"We can't tell her, not yet, Artemis," she repeated, shaking her head. "Not until we have some more proof. Usagi-chan's in so much pain. Do you know how much this would hurt her if we happen to be wrong about this?"
"But she has to know. The princess could be in danger. We have to do something."
Sighing, Luna turned back around toward the group. "We'll protect her. That's all we can do until we know more about the enemy. Protect her and pray that this will all turn out for the best in the end."
Outside Usagi's apartment building, her former lover pulled his jacket closer to his body, trying to keep warm in the cool autumn air. Though it was still fall, it looked like winter had decided to make an early appearance this year. Temperatures were already down to the early fifties, late forties. It sent a chill down Mamoru's spine.
He glanced down at his watch. It was almost one o'clock in the afternoon. The prince of Earth had been sitting on the same bench right outside the entrance of the building for nearly two hours, trying to build up the courage to go up to Usagi's apartment. Mamoru knew he was probably the last person she wanted to see today, but he needed to talk to her about what happened. It was a long shot, but he was growing desperate. The pain of living without her was worse than death itself. He had to make her understand that she was the one he truly loved. Setsuna had been a mistake. Tired from a lack of sleep, Mamoru hung down his head and closed his eyes.
Setsuna… He still didn't quite understand what had possessed him to make love to the mysterious guardian of time. In all the years he'd known her, he never saw her as more than just a good friend, someone who he could talk to about physics or law without her getting that glazed over look in her eyes that Usagi often did whenever he tried to hold an intelligent conversation with her. But that night he took her home from the party after she was almost raped by that racer, something came over him. At the time, he thought it was love, feeling as if he had been shot in the heart by one of Cupid's gold-tipped arrows. Of course, it might have been simple lust, for there was no doubt that Setsuna was one of the most beautiful women he ever met, but Mamoru liked to think that he had more control over himself. After all, all the Sailor Soldiers were attractive in their own special way, especially Rei, Minako, and Michiru, yet he never found himself sleeping in their beds. It was more like something had forced him and Setsuna together. But what?
His head jerked up suddenly, seeing a flash of golden blonde hair out of the corner of his eye. Usagi walked passed him, not even recognizing him, heading toward the park. Mamoru stood up from the bench and called out to her. "Usako!"
At the sound of her name, the blonde slowly turned around, her blue eyes filled with sadness and anger to see him there. It broke Mamoru's heart. Then, without saying a word, she swirled around on the back of her heel and began quickly walking away, tears clouding her eyes. Her plan of going to the park forgotten, Usagi headed in the opposite direction, fighting against the crowd.
Why is he here? Does he want to torture me? Usagi thought. She accidentally crashed into a young mother, not really paying attention to where she was going, causing the bag of groceries she was holding to fall to the ground.
"I'm so sorry, miss," Usagi apologized, bowing politely before helping the dark-haired woman and her son pick up the groceries. A flash of déjà vu hit Usagi as she looked into the mother's dark green eyes, but she was too upset to wonder why.
"That's okay. It could happen to anyone," the woman assured her.
Usagi looked behind her as she grabbed a can of chicken soup that had rolled away, surprised that Mamoru had managed to catch up with her. He called out her name again, but she had no intention of talking to him. Usagi handed the can to the little boy and sprinted off again, mumbling another apology. Why couldn't he leave her alone?
"Usako!"
Tears were now streaming down her face uncontrollably as she ran, the cool air stinging her watery eyes. The people around her must have thought she looked like a madwoman, running down the streets of Tokyo with one of her buns unraveled and her eyes bloodshot, but she didn't care. All she cared about was getting away from Mamoru so he couldn't hurt her anymore.
"Usako!"
She sped up her pace when she realized he managed to catch up to her once again. He always had been a better athlete than her. Despite her less than stellar athletic abilities, Usagi was able to put a little more distance between them until she tripped over someone's water hose that was laying carelessly in the middle of the sidewalk. She fell hard on the ground, sobs shaking throughout her body.
Mamoru quickly ran over to help. "Usako, are you okay?" he asked, trying to help her stand up, but she roughly pushed him away.
"Don't touch me! I can get up by myself…Owwww!"
She collapsed back on the ground in pain, holding onto her injured left knee. Mamoru kneeled down beside her and gently moved her hands aside, finding the knee was scraped up pretty badly. Despite her objections, he scooped the blonde up in his arms and carried her over to a nearby bench, where he began wrapping her knee in a gauze strip he conveniently found in his pocket. "You learn to be prepared for injury after years of fighting youma," he said, answering the unasked question in her deep blue eyes.
"Thank you, Mamoru-san," she said softly after he finished wrapping her knee.
Her former fiancé cringed at her formality, but figured it was probably appropriate considering that they were no longer lovers."I will always be there to rescue you, Usagi-san. No matter what."
Hesitantly, he reached over and placed his hand over her own, squeezing it lightly. She allowed the hand to remain there for a few seconds before gentlypulling away from his grasp and standing up. "I have to go. Luna is probably wondering where I am."
"Usagi-san, please don't go yet," he pleaded. "I know you probably don't want to hear excuses, but please just let me explain what happened with-"
"There's no need to explain anything," Usagi said bitterly. "I know what happened. You and Setsuna-san, one of my dearest friends, betrayed me, and then you didn't even have the guts to tell me about it. Instead I had to walk in on you two, in what I considered to be our apartment, about to make love. You lied to me, Mamoru-san, and that is the one thing I cannot forgive."
The prince of Earth bowed his head in shame. "I know it was wrong, but I just didn't know how to tell you. I was afraid you wouldn't understand. I didn't want to lose you."
Usagi's blue eyes softened for a moment as she sat back down on the bench beside Mamoru. "Remember the morning after the engagement party?" she asked. "I suspected that you had been with another woman, but I was willing to forgive and forget if you confessed. After all, we did have that huge fight earlier. I wouldn't have blamed you if you had a one night stand because of it, even if it was with Setsuna-san. It would have been hard, but I would have eventually forgiven you both. But you lied about what happened that night, and now I don't think I could ever trust you again."
"But you can. I promise I'll never lie to you again, Usagi-san. Just please forgive me. I love you so much."
Standing up, Usagi shook her head sadly. "I wish I could believe that, but I can't. Goodbye, Mamoru-san."
"Usako…"
He watched the love of his life walk away from him, his heart literally breaking in half. She was gone and he was left alone. Again.