Two: Femme
She stumbled a few steps but controlled her body before she fell over. Her eyes darted restlessly around but she could find no trace of the enemy they had been chasing. This place she was in looked unfamiliar. What she found even stranger was that she was back in her school uniform. Fear gripped at her heart. She glanced down at the ground and was relieved to find her transforming pen. She snatched it up and put it in her pocket.
"Where are we?" she asked. She turned only to find she was no longer with her friends. This discovery frightened her further. How had she lost them? Where was she, anyway? The place looked like a fairly small town with a few cafes and other shops scattered about. This was most certainly not her home. What had happened? She and her friends were chasing a monster. The monster had created a dimensional gate to escape from them (that had happened quite a lot in the past) and they followed. But there was no sign of the monster in this place. Something solid smacked into her. "Hey!" She spun around. Her anger soon dissipated when she saw one of her friends.
"Ow! That hurt!" She had never been so happy to see her carefree friend.
"Mina, there you are!"
"Yeah, of course," the other girl responded. "Where else would I be?" She blinked her blue eyes in astonishment. "Where are we?"
"I don't know, but the monster we were chasing isn't here."
"Ack! My transforming pen!" Mina cried, grabbing the pen from off the ground.
"Where are the others?"
"I'm not sure," Mina frowned. "I remember following that monster into the dimensional gate, then I guess I got knocked out because the next thing I knew I was here. Do you think we were thrown into a different dimension than the monster?"
"I don't know. We're in a different place, that's for sure." Suddenly another one of their friends appeared literally out of nowhere. It was a good thing that they were the only ones in the town, or this phenomenon would've been the cause of some unwanted attention. They noticed that her transforming pen was on the ground by her feet. It was picked up and returned to the proper owner.
"What happened?" she asked, glancing around curiously.
"Amy's here!" Mina cheered.
"Why the excitement, Mina?" Amy chuckled.
"You can use your computer to see where we are!"
"I'm surprised you thought of that, Mina."
"Lay off, Raye!" Raye merely smiled. Amy opened her mini-computer and began tapping a few keys. Her friends watched her at work. Neither of them knew much about machines so they kept quiet while Amy did her calculations. Amy paused with her fingers still hovering over the keys.
"This… can't be right."
"What's wrong, Amy?" Mina wondered. Before Amy could answer, another girl popped into view. She noticed where her transformation pen was and picked it up before she took notice of where she was.
"This doesn't look like the negaverse."
"That's because it's not," said Amy weakly. She closed her computer. "I think the dimensional gate threw us here."
"So, where exactly are we?" Mina questioned.
"And where's Serena?" Raye added. Her question was soon answered by the arrival of a fifth girl. Unlike the others, this girl stumbled and fell flat on her face. The four girls cringed in unison and helped the klutz to her feet. She was no longer transformed but her brooch was still attached to her school uniform.
"The minute I get my hands on that monster, I'll…." She stopped her threat. She glanced around, her face blank. "Uh… something tells me we're not where we're supposed to be."
"Bravo, meatball head!" Raye snapped.
"But where are we?" Mina demanded.
"We're in another dimension. It seems that something went wrong with the gate and we were all accidentally put here instead of wherever the monster was going," Amy explained.
"Oh, no! We're lost!" Serena cried.
"Not lost. Just misplaced," Amy corrected. She began tapping on her computer again. "There are two ways we could get back to our own dimension. We could wait for the monster to come back and reopen the gate, or we could wait until it reopens on its own."
"And which one is more likely to happen?" Raye asked.
"The first one is a bit less likely but easier. The second will happen no matter what, but it will take a while."
"How does a dimensional gate open itself?"
"Well, Lita, we're not supposed to be here, so the dimensional gate will open simply because it realizes we're not supposed to be here."
"Huh?" All four of her friends looked confused.
"Uh… never mind. Let's just say that we'll get back."
"When?" Serena asked.
"According to my calculations, the gate will reopen itself in about ten months or so."
"TEN MONTHS?!" the others shouted.
"Ten months. Yikes," Lita cringed. "What are we supposed to do until then?" Serena spotted something. She squealed and pointed excitedly. Her friends looked where she was pointing. They saw a sign that advertised a traveling circus that was to come nearby the very next day.
"Let's go see that, guys!"
"Yeah, let's go," Mina agreed. "Who knows? Maybe we'll meet up with some cute guys!"
"Cute guys? You know I'm in!" Lita grinned.
"I think we should go too. It would help us get to know more about the culture of this place," Amy nodded.
"Don't you guys think we had enough with the circus?" Raye sighed. They paid her no heed. "All right, fine. I guess it wouldn't hurt." The girls cheered and began making plans to go.
======
His cup was still hovering close to his lips. He never needed glasses and he wasn't one to have hallucinations. He was perfectly sane and his head had not been harmed. Then, how could he explain what he just saw? The bored café worker hadn't noticed the girls. He pinched himself just to make sure he wasn't dreaming, although he knew for a fact that he wasn't asleep. These girls were real, very real. But where had they come from? He was sure they weren't there before.
The first girl he noticed had long black hair and… violet eyes. He was certain she didn't know he was watching her. She wore a sailor-style school uniform. In just the few minutes he saw her he could tell she was a fighter. When she appeared he had been about to take a drink. The cup still waited, untouched by his lips. The café worker said something but he didn't hear it. This was a small town and he knew everyone in it. This girl was a stranger here.
Not long after this girl appeared, another followed. She had long hair as well, but hers was blonde. A red bow was in her hair and her eyes were blue. She also wore a sailor-type school uniform. Hers was blue and red while the other girl's was gray and black. After her came a girl with blue hair, then one taller than the others with brown hair, and lastly a girl with blonde hair wearing it in the strangest style he had ever seen. He hadn't heard any vehicle approaching. It was like they just showed up. Or maybe they were there the whole time, and he just hadn't noticed. Whichever one it was, he had a feeling that these girls were not natives of the town.
They left together, talking among themselves. He couldn't hear what they were saying. He watched them go. He took a sip of his drink. Whoever those girls were, they weren't his concern. He didn't have to worry about it. He stood up and flipped a coin on the table. He checked his watch. Damn! I forgot to meet Relena! She's not going to be happy. It was beginning to look like another one of those days.
======
Relena waited for over an hour and still Heero didn't show up. She was beginning to worry he wouldn't show at all. They had been a "couple" for about two years but he was still unpredictable and more a loner than Relena wanted. She was absolutely fuming. That Heero! I can't believe I keep putting up with this nonsense! Where in the world is he? I bet he's off in some café having a drink and not even thinking about me! If he ever shows his face, I'm going to absolutely…
"Relena." Her anger flew away. It was his voice.
"Heero." She threw her arms around him. Still not used to such treatment, he stiffened at the contact. "I thought you wouldn't come."
"Sorry."
"I'm just glad you came." She pulled away and smiled. I'm too easy on him.
"I'll make it up to you."
"Be on time for a change. That's enough for me." She was surprised to find herself enveloped in his arms. She sighed and nestled her head on his chest.
Ring! Ring!
"Heero, is that your phone?"
"Uh… yeah." He pushed her away and got out the phone. "Heero Yuy speaking. Uh huh. Yeah…. Tonight? It's a little short notice…. Oh, really? Okay, you got a deal." He hung up. Relena eyed him suspiciously.
"Who was that?"
"It was… uh… Duo. He, ah… wants me to come over and… help him with…. uh, something." Relena's eye twitched.
"You're lying to me."
"Relena…"
"That was someone offering you a sniper job, wasn't it? You promised you wouldn't kill anybody anymore!"
"It wasn't a sniper job!" Heero denied.
"I don't want to hear it! Just go, all right?" She blinked back a few tears. "You're just going to leave me anyway. So go!"
"Relena, I swear it wasn't a sniper job. I don't do those anymore, I swear. You've got to believe me," he pleaded. Tears were spilling down her cheeks. He pressed the phone into her hands. "Here, you can hit callback if you don't believe me."
"Go away," she chocked. "Just go away." She closed her eyes so she wouldn't have to see his back yet again.
======
"They're all staring at us!" Serena whined.
"I guess they think it's strange that five girls with no boyfriends are going to the circus together," Lita shrugged.
"Hey! I've got a boyfriend!" Serena snapped.
"Speaking of Darien, I wonder where he is?" Mina mused. "Wasn't he with us when we chased that monster?"
"I don't think he went through the gate," Raye sighed. They finally made it up to the front of the line. "Five tickets, please." She paid for the tickets and handed them out.
"At least we know our money's good here," Amy smiled.
"We're stuck here in a strange dimension with no real clue where we are, and all you can think about is our money?!" Serena shrieked.
"All you care about is being separated from Darien," Mina reminded her.
"So what?"
"You meatball head!" Raye growled.
"You know, I forgot to thank that nice man for giving us a lift," Amy realized. "It seems as if we're going to have to rent a car if we want to go anywhere in this place."
"Well, when we do get a car, I'm driving!" Raye decided.
"Hey! Why do you get to drive?" Serena fumed.
"Because I'm the oldest!"
"The rest of us can drive just as well as you can!"
"Ha! You can't even walk without klutzing out! There's no way I'm letting you behind the wheel!"
"You're just being selfish!"
"Look who's talking!" The two stuck out their tongues at each other. Their three friends watched with weary expressions on their faces.
"It just never ends," Mina sighed.
"Guys, you're causing everyone to stare at us. Please try and act civilized," Amy requested. Serena and Raye turned bright red. Mina noticed that Lita looked kind of out of it.
"Lita, are you okay?"
"That guy looks just like my old boyfriend."
"Which guy?" Raye asked. The girls scrambled to see what the guy looked like this time. It was strange that Lita got crushes on guys that "looked like her old boyfriend" but none of them had much in common. Lita was too smitten to point so her friends had to guess. Mina spotted a guy that looked pretty cute. He had on a green turtleneck and blue jeans. He had brown hair; the bangs covered up his right eye.
"He's a cutie. Is it him?" Mina pointed out the guy.
"Yeah, it's him," Lita confirmed.
"It looks like he's going to the circus too," Amy observed.
"Hey, maybe you'll see him there, Lita!" Mina cried. Lita blushed. "I'll try and catch him and get him to sit next to you. How's that?"
"Do you really think you should do that? We don't even know him," Amy frowned.
"Aw, quit being such a worry wart. Everything will work out," Mina assured her. Amy sighed in defeat. There were just some battles she couldn't win against Mina.
"Going to the circus just turned out to be the best idea we had!" Lita grinned.
Author's note: I'm going to be honest here. I kinda forced this, because I honestly couldn't figure out a good way for the senshi to show up in the GW world. I don't take French but I'm pretty sure femme is French for "female".