Catherine.
Fly Me To The Moon
Chapter Two
Yesterday was really surreal. You know that feeling you get, when suddenly all this amazing stuff seems to be happening, and you had no idea what to expect or that you should be expecting anything? That's what I feel like now. Nothing about my real life, school, home, any of it, seems real anymore, and I've only managed to spend six hours at the Daily Planet. I have no idea what will happen next and I hope a little that tomorrow afternoon is a little more sedate.
Surely journalism isn't always that chaotic…
I wonder why things like this always seem to happen around me, well, not the violent terrorists or meeting up with Superman, but just being near the focus of such a large chain of events. These things never seem to happen to anyone else. I never thought much about it before, but when Naru said in her letter that she had expected me to be there when Sailor-V showed up, it made me realise that I've probably seen more than my fair share of freaky coincidences and events.
Serena looked up in surprise as Miss Haruna called her name for the fourth time. Her teacher's face was angry, and her eyes flashed dangerously as she stood waiting for some response from the student. Surreptitiously sliding her diary off her desk, Serena searched the whiteboard for some sign of what was being asked of her. There was none.
She looked back at Miss Haruna with a blush staining her cheeks. "I didn't hear the question", she said in a small voice, and someone at the back of the room laughed mockingly.
Miss Haruna sighed, shaking her head. "Serena, you must pay attention if you wish to achieve good grades, in English class more than anything else, you know that."
"I'm sorry, Miss", Serena barely caught back the 'Haruna-sensei' that threatened to slip out as she mumbled her embarrassed apology. When being publicly humiliated, she was more likely to slip back into her native tongue and mannerisms, just as a defence mechanism. Which of course led the other kids to tease her. Just as panic started to set in, Miss Haruna smiled warmly at her.
"I won't put you on detention this time", she said, as she started giving out the homework. Serena wasn't entirely sure that some of the groans from around the class weren't caused by the teacher's leniency, but she bent to her work with renewed diligence, ignoring her diary for the moment.
That afternoon, Molly and Serena headed to the shopping centre, looking for some release and comforting after Serena got back a bad test result. She understood why she had gotten the mark, but still, it was indeed disappointing. She would just have to study harder next time; that was all. But until then, she would visit every jewellery store in this part of Metropolis and drool over all the accessories she would not be able to afford for many years. And certainly not this month, since she had already blown her allowance.
Their first destination (and probably the only one they were actually going to visit) was Osa*P, a classic-style jewellery store owned and run by Molly's mother. The two girls wandered in to find hand-written paper signs all over the stylish displays, stating that the jewels had all been reduced in price to a fraction of what they were before. Women of all ages were crowding everywhere, desperately trying everything they could get their hands on, deciding that they wanted to purchase it all.
Standing on a stool behind a counter was Molly's mother, a tall woman with the same striking red hair as her daughter. She had fascinating eyes, and Serena found herself walking over to her as if mesmerised. As they neared, Molly's mother lifted a cheap megaphone to her mouth and began listing all the specials the store was offering for one day only. The analytic part of Serena's brain that was still functioning despite the lure of affordable real jewels wondered at the strangeness of this situation, but was then clobbered to death by the rest of Serena's mind.
"Hi Mum", Molly called out, and the two schoolgirls were spotted and waved over to a place near the front of the crowd.
"What are you two looking for?" Molly's mother asked, her eyes sparkling like the diamonds in the display.
"We were thinking about looking for some imitation jewellery", Serena said honestly, "because I haven't got a lot of money."
Molly's mother tsked loudly. "Serena, you are Molly's best friend in the whole world. You deserve real jewels, in gold settings." She reached under the counter and brought out a small box. Within sat a diamond ring, of a square cut, which Serena thought was actually meant to be an engagement ring. Beside it were two tiny diamond earnings, each set in gold and exquisitely beautiful. "I will sell you this for ten dollars", she said with a smile.
Unfortunately, she had spoken too loudly, for the woman who had been crowding Serena's left side had heard and screamed out, "Ten dollars! I will pay you twelve for that set!", and promptly pushed Serena and Molly away from the counter. Other women were suddenly pushing and screaming, desperate to get to that ultimate bargain.
Serena was thrown to the ground and decided in an instant that she had to get out of that shop. She crawled carefully; dodging a few times as the sudden throng of people surrounded her and threatened to trample her into non-existence. When she glanced to the side she realised that Molly was doing the same thing.
Finally she had broken free, and got to her feet somewhat warily. Molly was looking decidedly frazzled, much the same way Serena felt. "Where's Superman when you need him?" Serena sighed, shaking her head.
"Dunno", Molly murmured, looking back over the store. "Serena, I might stay here and keep an eye on my mum, okay?"
"Yeah, of course", Serena said, feeling like there was nothing she wanted more than to escape from the shopping centre and hide in her nice quiet room for a little while. "I'll see you tomorrow in Maths. Have fun."
Serena shouldered her bag and walked from the store, noting with some satisfaction the change in volume once the sliding doors closed behind her.
Sometime later, after she had eaten dinner and taken a nice relaxing bath, Serena found herself putting the finishing touches on her homework. As she scribed the last answer to the problems she had been address, she sighed happily, reaching for the bar of chocolate she had been munching on. She took a bite, then yawned, realising that she should be heading to bed shortly. So, much to her disappointment, the chocolate was put away and her teeth brushed. Serena then finally curled up under her blankets, not noticing that she had left the window open a crack.
When a small body landed on her sleeping form a few minutes later, Serena shot up in bed, barely suppressing a cry of absolute panic. The heavy weight was thrown off her, onto the floor, but it almost immediately jumped back onto the bed, this time avoiding landing on Serena who gasped in shock.
"You're the cat with the crescent moon bald spot!" She said in absolute amazement, wondering how the cat had tracked her down and why. The sudden appearance of a black cat in her bedroom in the middle of an apartment block in the middle of the night was starting to freak Serena out just a little.
"It's not a bald spot", the cat said quite calmly, in the voice of a teenage human girl, as she settled herself on the bed.
It is not surprising to note that Serena was quite suddenly freaked out, wondering if she was dreaming, hallucinating, or if there was something in the water here in America that made it possible for cats to talk.
"The cat talked?" Serena breathed to no one in particular.
"My name is Luna", the cat said, smiling in a peculiar feline fashion that suggested she knew something Serena didn't. "I have been looking for you, Usagi-chan."
"My name is Serena", Serena corrected distractedly, still trying to figure out how a cat could talk. Some kind of genetic experimentation perhaps?
"Very well", Luna said, and Serena turned almost her full attention on the cat, which seemed to be about to say something important. A gift from Kami-sama?
"First", Luna began, quite seriously, "let me thank you for taking those band-aids off my forehead. While they were on, I could not talk, and all of my powers were barely worth mentioning. And to make matters worse, I could not take them off myself. That was how I ended up in America actually. One minute, I was quite happily searching for you in Japan, the next, some kid had decided I belonged to her and I had to move with them to the opposite end of the world. I didn't have any say in the matter and was certain that I would never find my way to you until I figured out a way to get back to Tokyo, but here you were all along."
Serena suddenly realised that she was actually talking to the cat in Japanese. Somehow it didn't seem that important though. "I used to live in Tokyo, but I moved to Metropolis last year", she said confusedly.
Finally something clicked in Serena's brain. She had been studying too long and she was now hallucinating. The best way to solve that problem therefore would be to do something as opposite to studying as possible, which would be sleep. "Goodnight Luna", she said, rolling over in bed and pulling the covers up high so she couldn't see the strange cat sitting on her bed.
"Usagi-chan, this is not a dream!" Luna said, but to no response. She seemed a little taken aback by this, since she really was expecting Serena to demonstrate some form of reaction to her words. But Serena had quite clearly decided she was going to pretend the talking cat did not exist, although if Luna had looked closely enough she might have seen Serena's eyes poking out from under the blanket to stare at her in disbelief.
"Fine", Luna said, "this will stop you from believing it is a dream." She suddenly leapt into the air, doing a stylish double-flip and landing on her feet. However, Serena did not see the landing, for at the height of Luna's acrobatics, a flash of light had appeared in the air, which materialised into a gorgeous golden broach. Decorated with a special crescent moon insignia, Serena fell in love with the piece of jewellery instantly, and as she sat up in bed one hand reached towards it. "That is for you", Luna said, seeing Serena's hesitation.
"Can I really keep it?" Serena said, for some unknown reason accepting the sudden surrealness of her life. She picked up the broach and affixed it to the front of her top, untangling herself from the bed and walking over to the mirror.
"Many strange incidents have been happening in Metropolis", Luna began seriously from her post on the bed, before she realised that Serena was so entranced by her reflection that she was paying no real attention to the cat. "Serena, listen up!" Luna said sharply, and Serena turned around with a big silly grin on her face. "Many strange incidents have been happening in Metropolis and the police cannot do anything about them. You are the chosen warrior; you have to beat these enemies. And you have another mission: to find our Princess, with the help of the other Senshi."
Serena twirled in front of the mirror, before striking a pose towards Luna. "That sounds really neat", she exclaimed, getting into the spirit of the dream.
Luna tilted her head to one side. "You don't believe me, do you?"
"I will!" Serena promised, twirling again.
"Really?" The sarcasm was so thick it could be cut with a knife. "Then say this: 'moon prism power, make up'."
"Okay", Serena said with a cheeky salute. "Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"
There was a flash of pure white light that engulfed Serena, bathing her in a strange glow. Suddenly the dream she was living seemed too real, too terrifying, but she could not make herself wake up. A stream of pure ecstasy washed over Serena as a wave of warmth wrapped itself around her body, then her hands and feet. She turned around, trying better to understand what was happening, but all she sensed was a rainbow ribbon of colour tangling around her and dancing through her soul.
When it was all over, Serena found herself whispering at the mirror, "No way", as she looked at her changed reflection. "What's this?" She was quite suddenly dressed in a very changed outfit: a bodice of soft white material that seemed a little similar to lycra but was strangely tough like armour, a neatly pressed blue skirt that left little of her legs to the imagination and a matching 'sailor' collar like on her old school uniform, white gloves that stretched to her elbows where they ended with a strip of red ribbon, the same colour as the bows on her front and the small of her back, and the same colour as the choker she could see around her neck in the mirror. Her boots were also a striking red, reaching up to her knees where they were topped with a strip of white decorated by a gold crescent moon that were identical to the one on her choker. A heavy gold tiara rested on her forehead, forming an extended 'V' across her brow. Red gems covered up the buns in her hair, and Serena realised with a shock that she was posing in front of the mirror.
"I transformed", Serena said in a soft voice, thinking of an appropriate term from her cartoon-watching days. "What is going on here?" She turned to Luna, who seemed to be smiling in a very self-satisfied way. "Tell me, please."
But before the cat could answer, something changed in the air around Serena, and she could suddenly hear a cry for help as if the person was there in the room with her. "Help", the female voice called, "Superman! Somebody! My mum is-" Her voice cut out as suddenly as it started, but Serena suddenly knew who it was she had heard. This time when she turned to Luna, it was with slightly more urgency.
"That was Molly's voice. What is going on?"
Luna nodded to her. "Now do you believe me when I say this isn't a dream?"
"I really don't understand", Serena murmured, "but Molly sounded as if she is in trouble."
"Serena, you are Sailor Moon now. You alone have the power to save Molly. Go and help her."
Molly screamed loudly as the woman who looked so much like her mother tightened her grip around her throat. "Help!" she called out desperately, "please someone help me!" Molly was lifted off the ground by her throat and pain flooded through her, her vision clouded with red so that she could no longer see the many bodies that were littered around her mother's jewellery store. "You're killing me", she gasped, barely conscious, "please stop, mum."
Her mother smiled evilly, and her face contorted and changed, becoming that of a hideous monster. "I am not your mother, child, I am Morga", she said, her body changing to match her new face. Molly tried to faint and escape but she could not. "Your mother is locked up in the basement. She will join you in death as soon as I am finished here."
"I don't think so", Superman said, his hands on his hips and looking especially dreadful. Both monster and girl looked up at him, and he sped towards Morga, rescuing Molly and setting her aside gently before tying the monster up with a length of steel from one of the broken display cases. The monster looked at the superhero and smiled, and with a flex of her muscles Morga broke free, taking hold of Superman with one hand and throwing him towards the nearest wall. With a sickening crunch, his head collided with a pillar there and he sunk to the ground, feeling completely stunned.
Morga turned once more to the girl she had attacked, picking her up again and proceeding with the strangling she had started earlier.
"Mum", Molly whispered desperately as she drifted towards death.
"Let go of Molly", a female voice speaking with terrible authority echoed through the almost-silent shop. Morga looked away from her prey for a moment to see the stunning figure of a perfectly formed young woman in the doorway silhouetted against the moonlight outside.
With a sneer, Morga dropped the redhead in favour of this new and interesting target. "Who are you?" she growled and was surprised to see the shadow appear flustered.
"Umm, let's see", the silhouette murmured, glancing down at something small just outside the door as if for inspiration.
'Think like a superhero, think like a superhero', Serena's thoughts chanted like a mantra. She could do this; she could intimidate this creature and save Molly. Surely in a dream so weird she could win a fight or something.
Inspiration struck as she looked at Luna, and Serena smiled.
"I am the sailor-suited warrior of love and justice, Sailor Moon! In the name of the moon, I will punish you." She paused dramatically at the end, making vaguely threatening gestures towards the demon-thing, which at least was no longer attacking Molly.
"Sailor Moon?" The creature's voice was like gravel, and worried Serena as she moved towards it, "I've never heard of you. I am Morga, and in the name of me, arise, these slaves who have offered their energy to Our Great Ruler."
It was right about that moment that Sailor Moon / Serena saw Superman lying awkwardly on the ground behind the monster, and things suddenly became frighteningly more real.
But her attention was quickly directed towards the bodies that had previously been lying prone on the ground. Now the women who had fought so avidly for jewels earlier were rising up in horrific fashion, their eyes blank and soulless, their movements controlled as they started to move towards Sailor Moon.
She stepped back, her eyes leaving Morga for a time as she tried to figure out what to do and where to go. Sailor Moon had a very bad feeling about this.
One of the women leapt towards her and Sailor Moon jumped back, barely dodging the outstretched hands that threatened to rake her body with newly elongated claws. A second took advantage of her distraction, grabbing her and pushing Sailor Moon backwards towards the rear wall of the shop.
A flash of blue darted past her, grabbing the closest of Sailor Moon's attackers. "Superman", she breathed in relief, but another attacker immediately filled the gap created by his intervention.
"What are you people doing?" Sailor Moon asked in desperation as she turned and ran along one of the walls in the hopes of getting away from them. Luna followed, saying nothing but looking completely displeased with Sailor Moon's performance as a fighter.
Morga laughed, as Superman tried to restrain her with his bare hands. Her control over the people who had been her victims was undisturbed, and they cornered Sailor Moon, grinning vindictively. "Help, police!" Sailor Moon called desperately, after struggling to remember the English she was supposed to be crying. "Somebody? Superman? Molly?"
Remembering her fallen friend, Sailor Moon made her way over to her, leaping somewhat dramatically over some poor woman who had fallen over. Actually, she was a little surprised by how high and well she had jumped, better than would be normally possible. There must be something about the boots, she decided.
Wondering if there was anything about the gloves, Sailor Moon turned and hit one of the people following her, and was shocked to see the dark-haired man go flying across the room to land unconscious behind a counter somewhere. "Wow", she breathed, before remembering that she had been checking up on Molly. The redhead seemed to be fine, just a little drained. She was sleeping peacefully in an out of the way spot.
"Alright, Morga", Sailor Moon said, standing up and brushing down her short skirt, "I could almost forgive you for draining the energy of the people in this shop. I could even consider forgiving you for hitting Superman. But for beating up Molly here, I really will punish you."
"I'm scared", the demon said sarcastically, shaking her head from side to side and by some feat of acrobatics, jumping out of Superman's grip to float above the scene. Once more the possessed people started towards Serena, but this time she was angry.
Stepping forward, she hit one square in the face, and then kicked another with an agility she didn't know she possessed. But then one of the innocents hit Serena, and she fell down, suddenly landing badly and feeling real pain. A glance down at her knee revealed a deep painful cut, from which blood as red as her boots was falling.
"I'm bleeding!" She said in shock and horror, sniffling at the painful reality of the dream. Somewhere above her, Superman was again trying to restrain Morga.
"Come on, Sailor Moon", Luna said from beside her in a low whisper, "You must fight."
"I can't", she said softly, tears beginning to form in her eyes.
"Get that youma", Luna commanded, but Sailor Moon was in no mood to hear, caught up in her despair and pain.
"Why do I have to be the one to go through this?" She called out in a piercing wail, "I want to go home!" She held the last note of her cry, enjoying at least a little the way it seemed to reverberate about the high-ceilinged shop. Suddenly, a little flame within Serena seemed to flare into life, and the clips on her hair seemed to pick up the frequency of her cry, amplifying and transmitting it until the volume seemed to be almost painful to her. Around the room, most of the possessed people seemed to be falling down in agony, and Morga drew her clawed hands up to cover her ears. Somehow, Serena had found a way to cause the monster pain, but she was too distressed to even notice.
Even Superman was wincing at the subsonic wailing.
Morga decided that she had had enough. She reached out one clawed hand, trying to ignore the screaming that pulsed through her being. She had to stop this, or she would surely go mad.
"This'll finish you off", she said with rapture, quite prepared to slice through Serena's neck to put Sailor Moon out of her misery.
A flash of red sliced between Sailor Moon and the youma, and Morga pulled her hand back with a yelp of pain.
Both looked up in surprise, trying to see who had taken the offensive now. Up on one of the second-storey windowsills stood a man in a silhouette. He seemed to be dressed in a suit of some sort, with a top hat and cane. He looked much less ridiculous than Superman, and Sailor Moon felt an instant connection to him.
She looked down at the ground and saw there a single blood-red rose standing upright. Its stem had been sharpened to a point, and it had been this that had struck Morga. A number of thorns looked just as painful to Sailor Moon, and she wondered who this mysterious man was.
"Who are you?" Morga asked in a tone of some impatience.
The man leapt towards her, using his cane to strike at the youma. He stood between her and Sailor Moon, looking to protect the sniffling Senshi. She saw now that he was wearing a Tuxedo, and his cape was lined with red. A white mask protected his eyes from view, so she had no chance of recognising him.
"I am Tuxedo Mask", he said in a deep voice to both Morga and Sailor Moon. "Crying will not resolve your problems, Sailor Moon", he said over his shoulder to her.
"That's easy for you to say", she muttered angrily, getting to her feet and staring at Luna. "What would you recommend me do?"
Luna nodded once at Serena's improved attitude. "Take your tiara off", she commanded, "say 'moon tiara action', and throw it."
"Why do I have to do that?" Sailor Moon asked, wondering what magic such a thing would invoke. Morga grew tired of the delay, leaping towards Tuxedo Mask, parrying his cane with her claws.
"Just do it!" A note of panic had crept into Luna's voice, and Serena responded instinctively.
Time seemed to slow down as she touched her tiara, removing it carefully and gently and holding it before her. "Moon Tiara Action!" She cried out, not noticing as the golden adornment changed into a glowing disc of light, and hurled the tiara like a Frisbee at the youma. At the last moment, Sailor Moon realised what was happening, but she had no power to call the tiara back.
It tore through the youma, rending flesh and simply eliminating all that it touched. The disc of sparkling light grew, until it engulfed the creature's entire body. Morga's flesh turned to dust quite gradually, and this form then crumbled into a pile on the floor, which disappeared as if by magic.
"No way…" Sailor Moon breathed in stunned confusion, and then she realised exactly what she had done. She had killed Morga.
'I didn't mean it!' a frantic part of Serena's mind shrieked, 'I didn't mean to kill her! I just thought to imprison her or something.'
Superman was staring in shocked disbelief at where Morga's remains had fallen. "You destroyed her", he said accusingly to Sailor Moon, echoing her own thoughts eerily.
Tuxedo Mask smiled at her, seemingly relieved that the battle was over. "Splendid work, Sailor Moon", he said. "I will remember this." He swept out of the store, letting his cape flash in the moonlight. How could he say that what she had done was splendid? She had saved Molly and the others, but she had still killed. The magic was pretty impressive, but her purpose in using it was not.
"What a man…" Serena murmured thoughtfully, not caring to finish the thought.
Superman was still staring at her. Sailor Moon realised that she could not stand the accusation in his gaze, and so she ran from the store, ignoring the tears that started to fall and the fact that she knew he could quite easily stop her flight if he so chose. Serena had no way of knowing that Superman had been left standing in the store alone and looking confused, for the girl had seemingly disappeared, she had run so fast from the room. Almost as if she had been running at super-speed. He did not see the black cat, which walked from the room on silent paws.
"Good job, Usagi", Luna said sometime later, as Serena lay on her bed staring up at the moon in silent meditation on the events of the evening. She ignored the cat, instead reaching into her bag and recovering her diary. Something about the pink fluffy cover on the book suddenly no longer seemed right for Serena, as if a piece of herself had been changed such that the beautiful innocence of her diary did not suit her anymore. But she didn't want to think about such things.
She opened it up to the nearest blank page and started scribing her thoughts very carefully, feeling the need to share with someone who wasn't the strange talking cat who had turned her life upside down.
Dear diary,
Something horrible just happened. It suddenly occurred to me that I shouldn't be writing any real details in this book, in case someone one day decides to use it in evidence against me, but I did something really bad. I know it was bad, my head and my conscience keeps telling me so, but what bothers me is that my heart tells me I did the right thing.
No one ever told me that doing things for the greater good, in the name of love and justice, could cause such torment. I thought I was doing the right thing, that's what confuses me so much, and he seemed to agree with me. But my head tells me that I was wrong, and I don't know what path to choose.
Did I become a monster tonight, no better than the one I fought?