Written by: Neeko
(tanpopo_nyo@hotmail.com)
Notes: Sorry I've left you all hanging for more than a month. Life's been busy with school work and personal musings, and plus I've been gathering ideas on how to end this story. There should be about one or two more chapters left. Thanks to those who have left comments encouraging me to write more. It really helps when you're low on inspiration! ^^; When this is done, I'll probably go over the story and revise a few things because there are some scenes that really bother me. *shrugs*
This chapter is sort of, well, it builds suspense for the next one. Everything will wrap up in the next two chapters. I'll try not to leave you hanging for so long again. :D
Updated: This chapter was re-written.. a lot. I noticed that
LOTS of it was confusing. Hopefully it'll clear your mind now!
***
Chapter 6
***
*beep* *beep* *beep*
"...unconcious state...."
*beep* *beep* *beep*
"...don't know when... wake..."
*beep* *beep* *beep*
"...internal bleeding... surgery... don't know... recover..."
*beep* *beep* *beep*
***
Mamoru slowly came to, his eyes slowly opening. He gently sat up, rubbing his
dizzy and aching head. Where was he? Looking around at his surroundings, hoping
something would seem familiar to him.
Which happened to be nothing but pitch black darkness.
Where was he? He groaned, continuing to rub his poor head. "Why do I always
end up in these places?" He complained to himself. How did he end up here
anyways?
He remembered pushing Usagi out of the way from a car.
His eyes widened. Did he save Usagi? Did she get hit by the car? Is she alright?
Or did he manage to save her, and die in the process?
"Mamoru-san?" A voice called to him. He spun around. It was a voice
he didn't recognize. He scratched his head.
"Who are you? Where... are you?"
"Do you know where you are?" It asked.
"I think if I knew, I wouldn't be needing your help."
"Do you know what happened?"
"I'm not sure. Things haven't been making that much sense lately." He sighed. "I just want to get out of here and see if Usagi's alright. Can you do that for me, whoever you are?"
No response.
"Okay then... I'll just, sit and wait, I guess." He muttered a few curse words. Sighing again, he turned around and let out a yell of fright. "Ahh!"
"Surprise!!!!"
"Minako-chan?!! What are you doing here?!"
Surrounded by a bright yellow light, in front of him stood Aino Minako, in her school uniform, flashing a peace sign. "Aren't you glad to see me?"
He blinked a few times, and reached out to touch her to see if she was real. His fingers pressed against her shoulders, and he blinked a few more times to make sure he wasn't dreaming. "Was it you who was calling to me earlier?"
"Nope. I just got here. Aino Minako, soldier of love, to the rescue!"
He looked Minako up and down and raised his eyebrow. "Why are you here? And where am I?"
"All questions will be answered. Just be a little patient! First off, I lied. I'm not Aino Minako."
"You sure look and sound like her."
"Ahh, really?" The girl giggled and smoothed out her skirt. "I'm a great actress, aren't I? I borrowed the form of Aino Minako to help you. Guess you could call me your guide!"
"Guide? For what? And where am I?"
"I am a guide sent from the PTB. You've been causing some uproar up there, Chiba Mamoru." She explained, pointing up. "You're one of the rare people who are blessed to carry two souls, instead of one, and right now, they're causing some major disturbance in the balance of nature."
"PTB?" Mamoru asked.
"Yeah, PTB. You know, Powers That Be. The hotshots who are running everything?
They sent me to help you, and told me to borrow the form of someone you were
familiar with."
"...and out of all them, you chose Minako?"
"Is there something wrong with the form I've chosen?" She asked.
Mamoru blushed, and coughed at the same time. "No, of course not, it's just.. out of all people, Minako..."
"Well, I think it's rather appropriate. I mean, didn't you think at first that Sailor V was the Princess?" She asked.
Mamoru remembered that. They were all fooled to believe that Sailor V was their
long lost princess, but she was actually the leader of the senshi. "So
what exactly am I doing here?" He asked, quickly changing the subject.
Minako-Guide held out her arms, "This, my friend is a gift."
Mamoru crossed his arms, looking around at the darkness surrounding them. This
was his present? Darkness? "Look, I appreciate the littlest things, but--"
"Mou, don't complain about the appearance! It's nice! Gloomy, dark... well...
yeah, I guess it does suck. But none the less, it's a gift."
"Great. Next chance I'll get, I'll thank the guys up there for giving me
endless darkness. I really appreciate--"
"Oh, stop with the sarcasm." Minako-guide scoffed, rolling her eyes.
"The PTB up there saw what you did today. You sacrificed your life for
Tsukino Usagi. You gave up everything you had, everything you worked for...
just for her to live." She touched her chest. "That was the most unselfish
thing you could do, Mamoru-san."
He recalled the pain he felt when he imagined it was Usagi getting hit by the
car. He couldn't allow it. He ran, as fast as he could... never stopping...
held out his hands, and pushed her out of the way. He flinched, remembering
how it felt.
His body crashing into the car, and falling to the ground with a thud. The
worst part was hearing Usagi scream his name.
Suddenly, his brown eyes widened, as a pang of realization hit him. "Wait...
gave up everything?"
"Mamoru, you died when you got hit by that car."
***
Her hands were shaking, her head, covered in sweat, her face stained with tears.
Tsukino Usagi waited impatiently for the doctors to return with the results.
They had told her earlier he slipped into a deep coma, one, that they were unsure
he'd recover from.
All because of her. 'My stupidity... my childishness... if I had seen that blasted
car, he wouldn't have--' Usagi clenched her eyes, trying to stop the tears from
falling. She'd been crying all day. She couldn't let Mamoru die. Not because
of her, not because of anything. "Please wake up, Mamo-chan... please..."
She pleaded.
Kino Makoto looked at her weeping friend, and placed a comforting hand on her
shoulder. Makoto, as much as pain as she was feeling too, knew it was nothing
compared to how her blonde friend was feeling right now. Sure, she thought Mamoru
was a jerk for hurting Usagi, but he didn't deserve this. No one did. "Usagi-chan...
it's alright. Think positively!"
"I'm scared, Mako-chan... what if... he... all because of me..."
"No, Usagi-chan, it's not your fault!" She argued. "It was an
accident! It was no one's fault..."
"It's my fault... if I hadn't run across that street... I should have waited,
I... I'm so..." She threw her head into her hands, unable to stop the tears.
"I'm sorry Mamo-chan, I'm sorry... please... don't..." Makoto wrapped
her arms around the blond, and held her close to her, slowly rocking her. "Mako-chan,
I can't live without him..."
"Don't worry Usagi-chan, I'm sure it'll all be fine... Mamoru will wake
up, and you two will be together. Everything will be alright, okay?"
The words of her brunette friend slowly comforted her. Usagi was glad to have
such friends at a time like this.
Suddenly, the doctor approached. Usagi's eyes widened, as she pulled away from
Makoto, straightening her uniform, staring at the doctor with hope in her eyes.
Which faded, when she saw the disappointment and remorse in his.
"No...." She whispered, slowly bringing a hand to her mouth. "God...
no..."
Makoto's eyes widened, and looked at the doctor. "It can't be...!!"
"I'm sorry to say... but... your friend is dead."
***
Mamoru panicked. He began to touch his arms, legs, body, making sure he felt
something. "I can't be dead!" He told her. "I can feel myself..."
He pinched his skin and flinched. "I can feel pain. I can see you. I can
do all these things. How can I be dead?! I can't be dead!"
Minako-guide grimaced, and frowned. "Mamoru-san, I'm sorry... but you died.
You died, saving her. If you hadn't pushed her out of the way, I'd be talking
to her, not you."
Mamoru's heart stopped racing, as he took in her words. His life for hers? As
much as the thought of being dead sucked, if it were Usagi in his position,
that would hurt him even more. He nodded, trying to let the fact that he was
dead sink in.
Minako-Guide smiled. "I guess in some sort of twisted way, you're happy
about being dead."
"Happy isn't quite the word I'm looking for," Mamoru muttered.
"Relieved, at least."
"It sucks being dead, but.. at least Usagi is fine. If that's true, then
I'm fine with being dead. As long as she's alright." He clenched his fists,
and sighed. "I've hurt her so many times... I just hope she's happy...
or at least, one day she'll be happy."
Minako-Guide twirled around and began to wave her hand across her face, trying
to bite back the tears.
"Minako? What's wrong?" Mamoru asked. She was crying?
"You guys are like Romeo and Juliet. Except, Romeo wasn't confused whether
he loved Juliet... and it's not like anyone was preventing you guys to be together...
plus, you guys didn't really commit suicide... on second thought, you guys aren't
like Romeo and Juliet at all--"
He grimaced. This guide was exactly like Minako! Borrowing her form must have
also included personality. "Minako, if you have a point, please bring it
up. Otherwise, if you don't mind, I'll be basking in my wonderful gift of darkness
that the glorious gift the 'PTB' sent me." He complained, adding airquotes
and turning his back towards her.
"Fine fine." She glared at his backside. "Never thought you'd
be so impatient." She muttered, straightening her skirt. "Like I said,
the powers up there saw what you did for Usagi. Although they can't bring you
back, they can put your soul to a rest. And Endymion's."
He scoffed. "What are you talking about?"
"Your soul is incredibly confused. The presense of Endymion's soul isn't
quite helping it either. So, I'm here to help put your soul's confusion to a
rest."
His eyes widened. Was what she saying true? Deep down, he knew it was. "And
just how will you do that?"
"I'll bring you to a different reality. A place where you are only Chiba
Mamoru. No previous life as Prince Endymion, no alter persona Tuxedo Kamen.
You still got into a car accident, grew up in an orphanage, but you were not
visited by Princess Serenity. This is as normal as your life can get. I'm sure
you've imagined this at some point of time."
He scoffed again, while at the same time, realizing the truth. He did dream
of having a normal life. Well, as normal as it could get. What it'd be like
to wake up normally, instead of being tormented by constant nightmares? Not
having to risk his life every night, saving the world from evil? What would
it be like...
...without meeting Usagi?
"What about Usako...?" He asked.
"She will have that normal life she's wished for. She didn't meet the senshi.
She was never Princess Serenity, nor Sailormoon. She was plain, normal, average,
Tsukino Usagi."
"And what good will this do?" He wondered why he asked, for he knew
what she was going to say.
"To answer the age old question: Would you have fallen in love with Usagi
if she was just Usagi?" Minako-Guide turned around, held up her hands,
as a white door appeared before them. "Here's your chance to find out.
Are you gonna take it?"
Mamoru hesitated. Here was his chance to find out. Was he in love with Usagi,
or the fact that she was Princess Serenity? What good would this do him? He
knew he was scared. Scared to find out the truth. Scared to see if he was living
a lie... scared...
...of being alone...
He remembered Rei's words. He wasn't a little boy anymore. He had to face his fears. He needed to find out the truth.
For Usako.
And for himself.
He took a step forward. "I'll take it."
Minako-Guide looked back at him one more time. "You know, after seeing
this, we can't bring you back. You'll have to spend the rest of your unlife
either feeling guilt for hurting a poor girl, or knowing that you were in love
with her, and wanting to fix your mistakes, but realize there's nothing you
can do about it. Do you think you'd be able to do that, Mamoru?"
He hesitated.
You're one of the strongest men I've ever met, Mamoru.
He nodded. "Show me the way."