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Destiny, by Kristii
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Chapter one – a bit disjointed, but hopefully enough to set
the scene. If anything's unclear, drop me a note and I'll try to
explain it asap… Enjoy!! ^^
Sailor Mars and affiliated characters (c) Naoko Takeuchi
Comments? Write me: aznvballgurl@yahoo.com
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The summons came, last night.
It was morning, really; two hours past midnight, Eastern
Standard Time. Rei's communicator, silent for so long, had burst
suddenly into its emergency signal, slicing relentlessly through her
dreams...
Rei had yawned at first, snuggling closer to her husband and
ignored the urgent beeping; she groggily slapped at the alarm
clock twice, hitting snooze each time, wondering dimly why the noise
wasn't fading...
It was perhaps three minutes before Rei finally opened her eyes and
saw the bright red 2:09 AM flashing on her alarm clock--2:09 AM, five
hours before she would normally wake. The noise was not her alarm, then, but--
The communicator!
She was up in an instant, grabbing the watch and flicking
the cover up, hoping to God that it was more than Chibi-Usa
accidentally returning to play with Serena's "pretty watch." "Hello?"
"Mars." The screen, broken sometime since its last use,
flickered dimly with static; Pluto's voice came over the line, soft and
loaded with worry. "Get to Tokyo – now."
"What?" Rei stared at the blank screen, startled, as if it
could offer some rationale for Pluto's words. "It's 2:10 in the
morning, Setsuna. What's wrong?"
"A lot." Pluto's voice was quiet--dangerously so. "We're
having an emergency meeting, Mars, and you need to be here. There's
no time to find a flight – you'll have to teleport."
And then, on that, the line went dead.
Rei stared at the communicator for a second, then sighed,
grabbed a robe, and left for Tokyo.
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The others were already gathered in Serena's apartment when
Rei arrived, worried looks on each of their faces. It was obvious that
they already knew what was going on, and all had been visibly shaken
by it...
"Mars." Setsuna stepped toward the girl, her eyes unreadable.
"Sit down; we have a problem."
"I noticed." Rei gestured toward the coffee table, trying to
ease the tension. "A perfectly good box of chocolate is lying right
there--and Serena's not stuffing her face? Something has got to be
up!"
Setsuna's lips tightened; she was far too tense for light
humor. "This isn't the time, Mars. Crystal Tokyo is in danger."
Rei looked at the others then, finally. Mina and Mako were
sitting on the floor, their eyes worried, Ami scrunched between them;
Haruka and Michiru were on the couch, holding each other's hands and
Hotaru. Serena was in Darien's arms, her face frightened, refusing to
meet Rei's gaze...
"What is it?" She was afraid, suddenly; scared of whatever the
others were hiding. "What's going on, Pluto?"
Setsuna was quiet for a moment. "The timestream has shifted,"
she said finally. Serena began to cry at her words; Pluto shot her a
look, and to Rei's surprise, her sobs subsided. "The future has changed,"
Setsuna continued. "Once, Jadeite was to return and put the world
into a deep freeze; you were to guard the sleeping Serenity, and wake
her on the eve of the thirtieth century..."
Rei nodded, and Pluto looked away. "That will not happen. A
new force has arisen--the remains of the Negaverse, as it is. It has
taken the body of a young woman, and it wants power; but it cannot
strike as of yet--
"For it needs power, Mars, power. Right now, it has plans, but no
strength to put them into action. And this is where you must come in,
Mars..."
She understood, then, what had happened. "Jadeite is still
returning, isn't he?" She asked softly, her stomach suddenly clenching
with a deep sense of foreboding. He's still coming back, but...there's no evil to
possess him now. He'll be good--unless this creature gets its hands on
him, in which case..."
"Yes." Pluto nodded. "If Jadeite falls to the darkness, even
the Senshi may not be able to stop him. We have to prevent the
darkness from seducing him, Mars, and there is only one way to do that..."
Serena began to cry again; this time, Setsuna made no move to
check her. Rei looked at her princess, then at Pluto, then the others, knowing
full well what they were asking, yet unable to bring herself to do it...
"Please, Rei." Pluto looked away, her voice very quiet. The
younger girl was surprised by her words; ever on duty, Pluto had not
called her by that name in a long time... "I know how much you have to
lose; I'm sorry, really. If I could change the timestream instead of
foretell it, Rei, I'd never let this happen to you..."
When Rei said nothing, Pluto pressed on, her voice gentle. "I
won't force you, Rei. The choice is yours to make; I won't press you
into anything you don't want--"
"No," Rei said softly, looking straight into Pluto's eyes.
"You know as well as I that there is but one choice, Pluto." She
sighed, closing her eyes in defeat as she spoke. "I--I'll do it,
Pluto... I'll do it..."
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