Arc: Storm Arc

Title: The Calm

By: Lady of Earth aka Aya (gaiaya@hotmail.com)

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, Kodansha and....um...I don't remember? It doesn't belong to me, OK!

Ever known the calm before the storm? Where the wind disappears and sounds of life seem to fade into the background? It's almost as if the world is standing still and you're standing at the edge of it, searching and searching for a sign of life that you know exists somewhere.

And then...

It's as if everything erupts all around you. Strong winds throw you off your feet, rain pounding on your body and you try your hardest to seek shelter. But sometimes, it's too late to search for shelter.

Her blonde hair flew behind her as she forced her feet to take her faster. She looked behind her, blue eyes widening in fear as she gazed at the dark vortex that seemed to draw closer and closer no matter how fast she was going.

She hadn't a clue she would be thrown here. All she did was pick up the necklace that Pluto had placed on the table. And the only message that the Guardian of Time had left her was, "Find your happiness." It was as eerie and mysterious as Pluto herself, but as usual, her curiosity got the better of her.

The white light engulfed her faster than the scream erupted from her throat. The last thing she remembered was feeling terribly cold, before she was dumped into the lake. She plunged into the depths, yet it took her mere seconds to recover and began to swim to the surface.

She broke to the surface, coughing loudly, looking around at her surrounding with scared eyes. It was nothing more but a forest. It looked unthreatening enough, yet she knew from personal experience that looks can be deceiving.

It reminded her vaguely of the months passed and she felt the numbness return, even as she made her way to the banks. She pushed her hair back as she sat down suddenly, memories of the range of emotions that she felt in mere months made her think that she must be the unluckiest girl in the universe.

"You must marry him." She remembered Rei's face as the priestess told her the news. It was unexpected, to put it lightly, that the news came. She had broken up with Mamoru years ago and yet it seemed as if fate refused to be shoved out of the door.

So instead, she seemed to be the one shoved out instead. Rei had been most regretful as she informed her the news. And from what Mina had to say, Mamoru hadn't been exactly happy either. Apparently he and his current girlfriend were happy together.

But what can two people say to fate herself? Do they even dare to defy it? Yet as she became more and more desperate as the months draw nearer to the 'deadline' Pluto's present came almost as if a blessing.

"Some blessing." She muttered to herself, before drawing her feet together and she rested her forehead on her knees.

She must have fallen asleep, because she was jerked awake when she heard the loud rumbling. She staggered up, looking around as she tried to pinpoint where the sound was coming from. But as far as she could see, there was nothing different about the forest other than it was approaching dusk.

But she heard the rumbling again, louder this time. And the entire world was still. But this silence lasted for a mere ten seconds before the wind erupted. Her eyes suddenly widened at the gaping portal at the distance and to her horror, she noticed that it was drawing closer and it seemed to be swallowing everything in its path.

And that was when she started to run. And that's where our story started.

She was fighting a losing battle from the beginning, because whatever it was that was in store for her, it wasn't in this dimension of lake and trees. It was some place else. Even as one particularly strong wind picked her off her feet and the abyss began to suck her in, fate looked on calmly and nodded her head, knowing all was going according to plan.

In that split second as the vortex swallowed her and she screamed, something happened. If someone had been staring straight at her while this happened, they would have seen the flash of light, the sudden blurred images and how one girl's image was suddenly split into six.

And all six images were thrown into different directions of the abyss.

NOTE: Yes, this is an arc that I've just created. So what's the catch? I pick 6 different anime and YOU get to pick which order they come first. Well...actually, the first one's chosen for you. It's Gundam Wing. The pairing is still undecided, but I'm sure I can whip something up real fast.

The other five are as follows:

Fushigi Yuugi

Ayashi no Ceres (subject to change)

Final Fantasy VIII

X

Weiss Kreuz

As you can pretty much see, I'm still considering Ayashi no Ceres. So if anyone has ANY suggestions as to what anime I can use...feel free to drop a line. Oh and did I mention in a couple of them YOU can choose the pairing? ^-^

And...REVIEW!! Please???? (By the way, anyone waiting for "The missing soldier"...the next chapter should be up by the first of October. Now aren't you happy? ^-^)