Spiritwing: Thank you to Guardian Dimension for all your reviews. I really appreciate them ^_^! I finally finished this chapter, took me two days, wasn't sure what to write. Hope you like it!
Disclaimer: Refer to first chapter…For this chapter I do not own the song Imaginary, as it belongs to the group Evanescence (great songs ^_^). For all you readers…I took the song Imaginary from the Origin CD, not Fallen.
Usagi ran as fast as she could, the other senshi right behind her. She ran over what Shigorei had told them before they took off:
"Fate must not unite with Death…Chaos must not be spawned from the two evils…history must not repeat itself…"
'How would Chaos be born again so soon? Guardian Cosmos told us that Chaos might be born again, but I didn't know that she meant as soon as we got back! I should have been expecting this though…a senshi's star seed never dies…" Usagi contemplated as she remembered the meeting with Guardian Cosmos.
"Guardian Cosmos! What about Chaos?!" Usagi screamed as she was being pulled back to her own time.
"Chaos' core, Chaos seed, and Guardian Chaos both melted into the sea of the Cauldron. They may be born again. This is the place where stars and hopes are born…"
'But why now?' Usagi mentally asked the guardian fairy, though she knew she wouldn't receive a reply.
"We're almost to the park I think!" Rei announced as they drew closer to the center of the city. They came to a halt as they reached the snow-covered gate allowing passage into the park.
"Do you think she's still there?" Minako asked, and the others stopped. What if Taihosha had left the park? The question had not run through their minds until now.
"Minako's right! What if she's not there?" Makato realized, "We should split up."
"Usagi and I'll check the park," Rei offered, pointing towards the park, "The rest of you check the rest of the city."
"Okay Usagi, what does she look like?" Rei asked.
"Look for someone with long white hair and purplish eyes," Usagi described.
"That shouldn't be too hard," Makato commented sarcastically, "How many people in Tokyo are like that? Let's search!"
"Shouldn't we transform?" Ami suggested out of the blue.
"Yea! That'll make it easier to stop her from doing any harm to herself," Usagi agreed, "Let's go!"
"Mercury Star Power Make Up!"
"Venus Star Power Make Up!!"
"Mars Star Power Make Up!!"
"Jupiter Star Power Make Up!"
"Moon Eternal Make Up!"
In a shower of the elements, the five girls transformed into the inner senshi of the solar system. They split up as formerly agreed: Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury left the park in search of Taihosha in Tokyo, while Moon and Mars stormed into the park to find the holder of Fate.
Sailor Moon and Mars looked fervently for Taihosha, hoping that what they were dreading hadn't already happened. Their search led them to a small abandoned playground covered in ice. The normal colors of the structures had all turned white from snow and frost. The jungle gym and monkey bars had icicles hanging off them, and the sandbox was now a snowbox. They couldn't find any trace of Taihosha, but they stopped when they found there was something else behind the ice-covered slide that the two senshi couldn't see.
And there, sitting on the swings, her white hair cascading into the snow, was Taihosha. She was just sitting there, looking at her reflection in the snow. Tears fell from her amethyst eyes, landing as small droplets of ice.
"Taihosha!" Sailor Moon called.
Taihosha's head snapped up at the sound of her name to look upon the senshi that had come to 'protect' her as Shigorei had told.
"Shigorei…why do you do this to me? Why won't you let me die in peace? You are keeping me from salvation…" Taihosha thought to herself as she glared at the senshi with hatred.
"Are you okay?" Mars wavered in her speech as she asked the holder of Fate, taken aback by the loathing in her eyes.
"Leave me," Taihosha turned her head away in anger.
"But we can't leave you. You need our protection," Sailor Moon tried to explain, but Taihosha would hear none of it.
"I…I need your protection? I don't need anyone's protection! Shigorei just sent you here so that she could force me to live in this hell of a life!" Taihosha screamed at the alarmed senshi, "But you wouldn't know any of it now would you? Holding Fate inside your heart crystal? Not being able to be near the ones you love? It tears my soul apart! I don't want to live like this anymore! I want to die!"
Swallowed up
in the sound of my screaming
Cannot cease for the fear
Of silent nights
Oh how I long for the deep sleep dreaming
The goddess of imaginary light
The senshis of the Moon and Mars stood there for a moment, staring at Taihosha, who now was standing in anger. Is this what Fate had done to her?
"W…We…We didn't know," Sailor Mars stuttered, shocked at the outburst. Sailor Moon had a look of sad compassion on her face after she had recovered from the shock,
"We are here to help you…"
"If you want to help me, you can let me die," Taihosha replied grimly.
"No, we are going to help you through this," the senshi of the Moon stated, "I know that you think life is hell, but there has got to be something good in your life, isn't there?"
"Not anymore…" Taihosha whispered softly, looking back into the snow. She turned away and began to run gracefully from the two senshi.
In my field
of paper flowers
And candy clouds of lullaby
I lie inside myself for hours
And watch my purple sky fly over me
"Wait! Where are you going!" Sailor Mars called, though Taihosha never answered. The white haired girl just kept sprinting straight towards a tree lined pathway that was now covered in snow, with the senshi not far behind.
"Wait!" Moon and Mars called, but Taihosha had no intention of stopping. Finally, she came to a halt between the first two trees as a memory flowed through her head.
I linger in
the doorway
Of alarm clock screaming monsters
Calling my name
Let me stay
Where the wind will whisper to me
Where the raindrops as they're falling tell a story
It was spring and the trees had just begun to bloom with their white blossoms. Taihosha ran happily through the tree filled area, that she had come to know as a second home, searching for her beloved.
"Taihosha!"
Taihosha turned towards the male voice. His blonde hair hung loosely in face, covering his boyish eyes that were a deep emerald green. He stood about a neck taller than Taihosha; both strong arms wide open at the end of a tree-lined pathway. Taihosha began to run to those strong arms, awaiting their loving security. Running to him…
"Nukumori…" Taihosha cried softly, tears now flowing down her pale face, as she stroked the trunk of the tree next to her. Then her heart suddenly clenched.
If you need
to leave the world you live in
Lay your head down and stay a while
Though you may not remember dreaming
Something waits for you to breathe again
The senshi watched Taihosha fall to her knees in pain. As they got closer, they noticed she was clutching her heart in deep pain.
"Taihosha! What's wrong?" Sailor Moon called as she reached the young woman.
"Let us help you!" Mars begged, kneeling next to her and putting her hand on Taihosha's shoulder.
"Run…" Taihosha managed to whisper through the thousands of knives she felt in her chest.
"What?!" the senshis of the Moon and Mars exclaimed.
"Run!" Taihosha shoved Mars off her shoulder, throwing her ten feet from where she was onto the ice-covered ground, scraping her body. As Sailor Moon ran to tend to her friend, she looked back at Taihosha and stared in horror.
The young woman's eyes were quickly flashing back and forth from amethyst to gold. She was breathing in spasms, still clenching her heart while on her knees. She leaned forward, using one hand to support her. Mars opened her eyes just in time to see the horrible sight in front of them. Taihosha's hair was also flashing from the snowy white to midnight black and back again. Her skin was darkening to normal instead of its usual pale white.
Taihosha shrieked, filling the city with the shrill sound. Finally, her eyes turned a full gold, her hair as black as night, and her skin a light tan. Her shrieks filled the air again, throwing her head backwards as two enormous wings ripped through her shoulder blades. The top of the wings was adorned with golden feathers, and everything else was as black as her hair.
"Taihosha!" Sailor Moon called urgently. Mars just watched in fear, as she could sense its aura. It wasn't like anything they had faced before. This was pure evil…the black aura around this demon was enough to make Chaos' to seem like a blinding light. She was almost able to hear the screams of fear that sounded when this monster approached.
"Taihosha!" Sailor Moon called again, this time running to her.
"Usagi no!" Rei called, reaching out to her friend, but the senshi of the Moon kept running. The fallen angel slowly stood up, watching menacingly as the Moon soldier ran towards her. She stretched her hand out and began to gather energy. Sailor Moon stopped running and stared in fright as she saw a black mass of dark energy was targeted for her. This…thing…that was no longer Taihosha laughed quietly to herself as she lifted her arm to send it hurtling.
Suddenly, her arm quickly drew back and quickly clenched her heart in pain, just as Taihosha did. Before her body shattered, she threw her head back in a piercing screech that sounded like a calling.
In my field
of paper flowers
And candy clouds of lullaby
I lie inside myself for hours
And watch my purple sky fly over me
Without notice, the woman's body shattered like broken glass to reveal the real Taihosha beneath the shards. Unconscious, she fell forward into the snow, the shards coming together to reveal a golden heart crystal. The crystal flashed with a golden light as it slowly disappeared back into Taihosha's body.
"What was that?" Sailor Moon asked herself before hesitantly walking back to help Mars, looking back at Taihosha ever now and then to make sure that demon didn't show up again.
"It was Fate…" Mars whispered as Sailor Moon lifted the senshi onto her back, and then fell unconscious as well, detransforming to Rei.
"I have to find the others…" Sailor Moon told herself, "But I can't leave Rei and Taihosha…"
Somewhere else in Tokyo…
"Do you see her anywhere?" Sailor Venus asked Mercury as they passed. They had been searching for the past hour and none of them had seen any sign of Taihosha. The two senshi were standing at an empty intersection, as everyone had gone inside from the cold.
"No, I haven't seen her."
"Neither have I," Jupiter added as she strolled around the corner, "and I've searched everywhere."
"Us too," Venus and Mercury replied.
"Maybe Sailor Moon and Mars found her in the park," Venus suggested.
"Yeah! We should go find them," Jupiter agreed, "Let's go!"
A sudden wind blew through them, holding the same presence of Shigorei. This time she didn't have to create a whirlwind to let them know it was her.
"What's wrong?" Mercury asked Shigorei, the wind whipping against their skin.
"He's coming!" Shigorei warned, her voice filled with fear.
"Who's coming?" Jupiter asked, alarmed.
"Fate has called him…Death is coming…"
Spiritwing: So what'd ya think? Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars got a first taste of Fate. What about Death? Why was Taihosha chosen to become the captor of fate? Read the next chapter…well, once I'm done with it anyways. Keep reviewing! Pretty please?