Chapter 6 – Impossible
"Usagi… Usagi?" Rei asked, stumbling over the name.
"Yea… that's my name… what's yours?"
"Oh… my name is Rei, Hino Rei," the miko stood agape, staring
at her former princess, turned little girl with a wrong last name. That
should be Tuskino, not Son… Tuskino… She thought in shock, not able to
process what she had just been told.
"What's your name?" Usagi was currently standing in front of
Makoto, one hand on a hip, waiting expectantly for an answer.
"Kino Makoto," she replied in a low whisper, not believed who
stood in front of her. Well, at least her first name is still Usagi… But…
oh, what happened?
Usagi turned to Minako and Ami, and asked, "What are your names?"
"I'm Mizuno Ami, and this is Aino Minako," the blue haired girl
said, covering for the princess of Venus, who was looking slightly, to
say the least, stunned. Ami guessed Minako would not have been able to
say a thing to this incarnation of their best friend, and on top of that,
the shock of Usagi's surprising entrance… Flying down, or falling down,
or however she got down, scaring them out of their wits…
Wait…Ami thought, not quite believing her eyes. Where are her odangoes?
Why is her hair in a braid? She always… Ami's observation was true – Usagi's
odangoes were a thing of the past – a thing of a past life, to be more
exact. To her former friends, Usagi looked so different… So changed, almost
naked without her ever-present odangoes.
Minako stood in a daze, taking in Usagi's appearance. Some part
of Venus' brain was surely cool, calm, and collected, but the rest of her
cranium had been thrown into chaos. Anarchy reigned supreme as Minako looked
Usagi over – her hair was different. It was still long, but the odangoes
were nowhere to be seen. Instead, a braid hung over one shoulder, reaching
down to mid thigh. She was not 16 anymore; this little girl looked about
eight or nine, nowhere near the age she had been in the Sailor Moon universe.
Her sparkling blue eyes were the same, still had the familiar old light
of trust and love shining though. But her odangoes were… And to top it
all off, it seemed that their former princess had learned to fly! A few
moments ago, Usagi had jumped up a few feet in the air, and decided that
she didn't want to come down anytime soon. She had been flying for what
seemed like ages now, and was currently looking at the four girls with
an odd expression on her face.
"What, you guys never seen anyone fly before?" Usagi joked, a
smile on her face. Abruptly, the Makoto straightened and gave her an odd
look, before turning to the others and announcing in what seemed like a
falsely cheery voice that everyone had better stop staring. The other girls
snapped out of their stupor and all began to talk at once, to each other,
to Usagi, to the tree next to them. They could have answered many questions
they had quite easily if they had been able to put some of their senseless
babble into coherent speech, but none was forthcoming. Realizing it would
be hopeless to try and talk to them, at least for the moment, Usagi closed
her eyes and floated silently on her back. The minutes wore on, and the
former princess's patience wore thin.
"Hey!!" Four head snapped around and faced Usagi, a guilty expression
evident in their eyes.
"Gomen nasai, but we were, uh, wondering-" Rei stuttered, only
to be cut off by Makoto.
"Yea, could you tell us - ?" she started out, only to be drowned
out by Minako, who started in on the senseless babble once again. Ami was
the only one who didn't speak, though she looked like she desperately wanted
to break into the conversation. Usagi guessed that Ami was either really
smart or really shy to not involve herself in the jumble of words and nuances
the other three girls were currently involved in.
"You guys really need to calm down," Usagi muttered. Neither
Rei, Minako, nor Makoto seemed to take notice of her quiet observance,
but Usagi glimpsed Ami smiling out of the corner of her eye. Usagi turned
to Ami, and said with rather comedic seriousness, "They never learned,
did they?"
"Nope," the senshi of Mercury responded with a small giggle.
"Maybe if we leave them alone they will come out of it," Usagi
suggested, a spark of mischief dancing in her eyes.
"Only one way to find out," Ami said. "Lets do it."
The three other girls didn't realize that two members of their
group had disappeared until Rei turned to Usagi to pepper her with more
questions. The three senshi had been so involved in some non sensical*
argument that they hadn't even realized when the two girls had walked off
in another direction. Rei looked around the empty forest, and realized
that they were alone.
"Come on guys, we're not gonna wait here all day!" Usagi called
impatiently. Her and Ami had almost disappeared in the foliage and kept
on walking, not waiting for the others.
"Coming!" Makoto was the first to gather her wits and race after
the two, uttering a hurried "lets go!" to Minako and Rei, who soon followed
suit and ran to catch up.
"Now, I have just one question for you – where did you come from?"
Usagi asked curiously. The energy readings I'm getting are like no others!
I can hardly get any readings at all! If I didn't know better, I would
say they were on the verge of death, Usagi thought, amazed. But their outward
appearances belied the readings she got; each girl had rosy cheeks, a sparkle
in their eyes, and seemed in good condition. The girls were in the middle
of a dense forest, right around where I had sensed those power levels coming
from. There was no one else within a 50 mile radius, aside from the animals
that live here. It had to be them! But there was no possible way it could
have been… Unless they are very good at hiding power levels. And what was
that odd look I got when I flew down? There were many puzzles that surrounded
those girls, and Usagi was determined to find out all the answers.
"Well," Rei started out after a pause, "we travel around a lot,
and somehow we ended up in the middle of this forest," Rei explained. The
miko felt uncomfortable lying to her former princess, but justified her
actions with the thought that it was only a half lie. "Could you by any
chance tell us what region we are in?"
"Well, this is the Black Forest, and you are in Japan, of course.
So you don't have anywhere to stay? Or did you come here to visit someone?
Why are you here?"
"Well, we like to call it… ummm… research…" Ami began, racking
her brain for a suitable explanation. "Yea, see we travel all over researching
different towns and cities and things, and we must have taken a wrong turn
on the map or something. We tried to find the fastest way here, but it
was as the crow flies, I suppose. Anyway, we aren't really visiting anyone,
just conducting our research," Ami finished, proud of herself for coming
up with the story.
"Oh, I see… sorta," Usagi said, giving Ami a blank look. "But
you need a place to stay? You can stay at my house! Or at least at Bulma's.
Either way, it's a good deal. So how about it?" Usagi asked, looking around
the group expectantly. There was a moment of silence before Rei broke in.
"I don't know about you guys, but it sounds good to me!" Rei
said.
"Yea, I don't think we are gonna get a better offer than that.
I say lets go for it," Minako agreed, a smile upon her face.
"I don't want to intrude on anything… Would your parents mind?"
Ami asked, always the polite one.
"My mom will be fine with it. As for intruding, not in the least.
It'll be fun to have you guys around. So do you want to stay or not?" Usagi
asked, a grin on her face.
"If you insist," Makoto joked. "I think we should do it girls."
"Ok, if your sure your mom won't mind."
"Stop worrying! My mom will love you! But there is one thing,"
Usagi paused, glancing around the group. "I do not want to traipse
through this forest. Its fun for a little bit, but I swear this forest
has a mind of its own. It seems determined to keep people wandering around
in it for days – a rather morbid sense of humor, I guess. So we are going
to do something that will get us out of here a lot faster," Usagi announced.
"Everyone has to hold on to me tight, and don't let go, k?"
"What exactly are we doing again?" Makoto asked uncertainly.
"Well, it's called 'instant transmission.' I just learned it
a few weeks ago, so we might not go exactly where we are supposed to at
first. But it's either that or walking, so make your choice."
"I'm not exactly certain about this, but I trust you," Rei said
with a small smile, and placed her hand on Usagi's shoulder.
"Yea, I think I will take my chances with you," Minako agreed,
putting her hand on Usagi's back. "Just be careful with us – 'instant transmission'
sounds… well, I've never done it so..."
"Don't worry, just hold onto me and you should be ok," Usagi
reassured the blond.
"I'm with you – I think I understand 'instant transmission,'"
Ami quietly spoke up. "Its sort of like taking your molecules, combining
them with electrons to make a force field-" Ami stopped talking as she
realized she was getting blank looks again. "Yea, lets just go."
"If everyone else is going, I'm in too. Let's do it," Makoto
nodded, placing her hand in one of Usagi's.
"Is everyone ready?" Usagi asked, glancing up at the faces of
her newly met friends. At the chorus of affirmative responses, she nodded
to herself and closed her eyes. Mom… Focusing on her mothers energy, she
felt power swirling around her, gathering about her form. Feeling herself
flicker in and out of being, she opened her eyes, seeing the forest melt
around her, giving way to a blaze of…
colors
images
memories
beauty
She wanted to scream, to laugh, to cry, to fly into the kaleidoscope
of feeling, that ethereal, lovely void, filled with so much. Whenever she
worked with her new transmission technique, she felt this, this instantaneous,
eternal… words could not describe the… ecstasy… Usagi felt alone, felt
surrounded, could feel gusts of wind whipping past her, could feel a gentle
ray of sun caressing her features, could hear the voices of the water whispering
to her, could taste the heartbeat of the earth, of the planets… A harmony
filled her mind, at once melodic and chaotic… This was the universe.
And then it was gone, and she was standing outside of her mother's
house, and she remembered her friends. Immediately she turned to look and
make sure they were all there, still fine. Everyone was still there, identical
expressions of ecstasy and terror and joy and…
"You saw it too, right?" Usagi asked softly. Ami turned to look
at her, blue eyes meeting blue, both filled with emotions that were indescribable.
The only response from the blue haired girl was a soft sigh, so quiet it
was almost inaudible.
"Usagi…" Rei whispered. "That was…"
"Everything," Minako broke in. "I could understand it all… it
was like a million voices at once… like…"
"Wind that promised the unattainable, clouds that can reach down
and cradle you in their arms," Makoto finished, a gentle smile hovering
on her lips.
"Its always like that," Usagi spoke quietly. "Seductive, enticing,
bewitching…"Usagi trailed off, gazing up into the blue sky for a moment
before turning on her heel and walking into the house. The four other girls
followed silently, lost in the images that were still fresh in their minds.
What do you guys think? I like it (mostly), what about you. Oh yea, and in the last chapter… I didn't mean the name mix up! I swear it! I'm sorry! But now you have something to read that (hopefully) doesn't have any mistakes, so review and tell me what you think! K? Thanks!
Spirit of Cosmos
