REAWAKENING
Book One of Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon CosmicStars
by Nashie (aka ShadowSamurai)
December 1999 - April 2000
Revised - Summer/Fall 2002
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon and her friends belong to Naoko Takeuchi. The author takes no credit for any of the original storyline. However, all the new characters belong to me and I'd appreciate it if you didn't take any without requesting permission.
Episode 211: The first soul taken? The evil soldier of Fate
Haruka and Michiru walked quietly together down the sidewalk. It overlooked the ocean, where sky and ocean met. There was a peaceful silence between the two. They were both sullenly thinking about what their princess had done earlier. Bringing them half into the vision and half into reality! Was she really that eager to learn why they had been so quiet?
"Haruka," Michiru finally whispered. "We have to tell them sooner or later. Either that or we'll have to keep that secret away from our princess."
"Setsuna was right about that though," Haruka mumbled. "If we tell Usagi-chan too much, she'll end up getting hurt. I don't want her to get hurt."
"You really care about her, don't you?"
"I..." Haruka began, then stopped. She looked down at her partner whose eyes began to look jealous. "Michiru! Don't get jealous over Usagi-chan! Everyone loves her, it'd be wrong not to love our own princess!"
"Okay then," Michiru said with a sigh. She smiled. "But I come in second, right?"
"No, I put you and Usagi-chan on the same level," Haruka replied. Michiru nodded, satisfied with that answer. She rested her head on Haruka's shoulder. Haruka smiled softly, a genuine smile, free of the sarcasm.
"Hey, watch it," a voice said sharply. Haruka stopped walking and so did Michiru. They turned to face the owner of the voice. A young woman, nearly as tall as Haruka, stood facing them. She had one odango while the rest of her brown hair flowed freely to her shoulder.
"Sorry," Michiru replied. "I guess we weren't paying attention." Haruka stared at the girl. She couldn't help but feel that she met her someplace before.
The brunette realized that the blonde guy was staring at her rather intensely. She narrowed her eyes. "What?"
"You look awfully familiar," Haruka whispered. She smiled. "You're rather pretty too." The girl blushed and Michiru gave Haruka a playful stare. Haruka let out a sigh, followed by a laugh. "What's your name?"
"My name?" the girl asked. She was still blushing due to Haruka's forwardness. "H-H-Hogoshi. Arakino Hogoshi."
The silence following that was almost deafening. The two older girls looked at Hogoshi. It couldn't be. There was only one Hogoshi they knew and she had been…
"Hogoshi?" Haruka finally whispered. The girl stared at her with large, innocent green eyes.
"What's wrong with the name?" she asked, hands on her hips. She got a dirty look on her face. "That's like saying something is wrong with your names, whatever they are." Michiru was too stunned to say anything. She just stared at the fiery young girl as she quickly walked away.
"It couldn't be…" Haruka said, her voice low. "That couldn't be Hogoshi-chan. But…" Her voice trailed off.
"She looks awfully like her," Michiru finished. She took a deep breath and shook her head. "But, I think, that maybe it's just a coincidence."
Haruka stared down at her partner. "A coincidence?"
"Yeah."
"Hmmph. I don't believe in a 'coincidence'."
"Then what do you believe in?" Michiru asked. She turned to Haruka. The racer's eyes were trouble.
"I believe that if it were a coincidence," Haruka replied, "that girl wouldn't have showed up the same time MagicStar and DreamStar did. So I seriously think that that may be Hogoshi-chan."
Hogoshi walked sullenly down the crowded street. It was like walking through a maze. How was she supposed to find the "planetary" light when she couldn't even find a fast food place?
Hogoshi sighed. A swift breeze blew past her face. Taking a deep breath, she leaned against the wall of a building. Watching other people pass by, her mind wondered back to the two other people she had met earlier. She didn't even know their names, but she felt something odd when she was talking to them. She knew very well that the guy was pretty and his girlfriend (she was his girlfriend, right?) was gorgeous.
Hmmph, why do I feel as though I need to see them again? Hogoshi thought to herself. She closed her eyes. It's not as if I know them. The only way I'd know them is if they had that planetary light. I would have recognized them immediately.
Just then, it clicked. It was as if she were trying to figure out a riddle when she remembered that she had hear that riddle before. She gasped. Those two people…of course! Two of the sailor soldiers who carried planetary light. But how had she figured that out? Just seconds before she was doubting…
"Watch out!" a high-pitched voice called. Hogoshi barely had time to react when she realized she was lying on her stomach on the ground. She blinked and struggled to refill her lungs.
"Usagi-chan! You're so clumsy!" the high-pitched voice said again. The owner of the voice, a cute pink-haired child, walked over to the struggling Hogoshi. "You okay lady?"
"Uh, no!" Hogoshi snapped. She turned her head and saw that a blonde odango girl was sprawled across her back. "Now get this klutz off of me!" A tall, brown haired girl pulled Usagi off Hogoshi's back. She smiled down as Hogoshi scrambled to her feet. Mako tried not to gasp. She was nearly as tall as Haruka!
"I'm sorry for my friend's actions," the brunette said. She sighed. "She's not usually this clumsy." Receiving a dead stare from the pink-haired child, the brunette blushed. "Okay, so maybe she is."
Hogoshi glowered at all of them. "Whatever." She watched "Usagi" turn to her and smile.
"Hi! My name is Tsukino Usagi!" she said, her blue eyes twinkling. Hogoshi realized, before even thinking about it, that she was smiling. This girl's positive energy was so outstanding it was rubbing off on her. "I'm really sorry about running into you like that!"
Hogoshi suddenly realized that this girl had stalled her on her mission and her smile turned into a frown. "Next time," she said icily, "watch where you're going."
"Yeah!" Usagi said, her friendliness never failing. She smiled as her two friends started to walk away. "I'll try! Maybe I'll see you around...um..."
"Arakino Hogoshi," Hogoshi replied, her smile slowly returning.
"Well, I'll see you around Hogoshi-san!" With that, the blonde raced down the street to catch up with her friends.
Hogoshi struggled not to smile. She didn't want to smile. Mumbling to herself, she turned away and ran down the street. Dumb kid. No one special. Just another dumb klutz.
"Sisters!" Hogoshi hissed in a liquid-like voice. She stared at the communicator on her wrist. "I've found two planetary lights."
There was silence. Hogoshi glared at the communicator and tapped it angrily. "I said I found two planetary lights! Come on!"
There was a static noise and Hogoshi felt a shock on her wrist. Holding a curse beneath her breath, she stared at the communicator. "You found two already?" Reverie asked.
"Uh-huh," Hogoshi whispered. "Right before this girl bumped into me and distracted me off my mission."
"Well, do you know which lights there are?"
Dumbfounded, Hogoshi's eyes widened. "Well, no. But I can tell you that one was a very boyish looking girl with sandy blonde hair. And the other was very pretty, with aqua colored hair."
There was a scowl on the other side. "Sounds like Uranus and Neptune. Figures you'd find them together. Well, the way I figure, you should go after Uranus first. With Uranus gone, the others should fall apart pretty quickly."
Hogoshi smiled evilly. "Consider it done."
Michiru came back outside from the Crown Game Center in the middle of Juuban District Court. "Sorry for making you wait Haruka." Haruka turned to her.
"It's all right," she said. She sighed. "So, what do Setsuna-chan and Hotaru-chan think of the situation?" Michiru shook her head as she climbed into the passenger side of the car.
"They're not sure what to think," she replied. "They don't know whether or not to believe us." Haruka's eyes darkened as she started the car.
"Well, something's up," she muttered. Pulling out into the street, she sighed heavily. "I just wish I knew what that something was." Michiru nodded her head in agreement.
I just don't want to think about it, she thought. I know something's going to happen to one of us senshi. I wish knew who. I wish it hadn't come to this.
"It's no use thinking about it," Haruka suddenly said. Michiru looked across to her. "I mean, the most we can do is realize there's a problem without getting more confused. I just don't want to get Usagi-chan involved."
"Because no one wants her to get hurt," Michiru finished. "But how can we protect her when we don't even know what's what?" The couple became silent and thought about the giggling princess. Their memories were troubled and so were their present thoughts.
The quiet was suddenly interrupted by the constant beeping of their communicators. Michiru's eyes widened as she flipped the top open. Ami's image appeared on the screen. Her face was etched in worry. Michiru took a deep breath. "Ami-chan?"
"Haruka-san! Michiru-san! There's a monster gathering energy from a back alley near Juuban District Court."
"A monster?" Haruka asked.
"Yeah! All the sailor soldiers are gathering. It's strong!"
Michiru nodded, her teal curls bouncing. "Of course. We'll be there." Ami's image disappeared. Michiru turned to Haruka, who had pulled the car over and stopped it.
"Well, we don't need to think about it right now," Haruka muttered as she got out of the car. "We have to go fight."
"Will we ever tell Usagi-chan?" Michiru asked as she also got out of the car. Haruka looked at her partner.
"I wish I knew Michiru," Haruka said, her voice somber. "I wish I knew." Michiru smiled and squeezed Haruka's hand.
"It'll be all right," she said. "Things will work out." Haruka smiled back. It was a rueful smile.
"You're right," she said. "No time to worry when we need to go and get rid of some monster." She reached in her jacket pocket and pulled out a blue and silver henshin pen. "Ready when you are."
Michiru pulled out her own green and silver henshin pen. "Let's go then." They quickly looked around before running behind a store. The darkness hid their identities from anyone who just might be looking. They held up their henshin pens.
"Uranus crystal power...!"
"Neptune crystal power...!"
"...make UP!"
Sailor Mercury looked around and saw the monster still running toward them. The monster was virtually a black humanoid shadow with glowing red eyes. All it did was screech and...slobber.
"Ugh!" Mars cried as the monster turned to look at her. Not only was it ugly, it was fast too. "Mars Flame Sniper!" Mars pulled back an arrow made of fire and launched it towards the creature. Dodging out of the way, the monster turned toward Pluto.
"Nice try," Pluto said with a laugh in her voice. "Dead Scream!" The monster stared at the guardian of time and stepped out of the way. Pluto shook her head in disbelief. Saturn ran up next to her.
"Where's Uranus and Neptune?" she asked. "We need their power right about now." Pluto shrugged.
"Mercury said they were on their..." Suddenly, Pluto went crashing back into cardboard boxes stacked behind them. She was lying on the ground, crippled with pain. Saturn turned around and saw that the monster had turned Pluto's attack back on her. Chibi Moon ran over, wide-eyed.
"Pu!" she screamed as she ran over to her beloved friend. Sailor Moon stared at the monster.
"How dare you hurt my friends!" she yelled. She pointed her finger at the monster. "I will punish you in the name of the moon!" The monster growled under its breath and glared at Sailor Moon with the same dead eyes. Venus and Jupiter got prepared for an attack.
"Sparkling Wide..."
"Venus Love and Beauty..."
The monster glared at them, daring them to use their attacks. It hissed happily, its red eyes rolling about in its head.
"...Pressure!"
"...Shock!"
The green and yellow attack went hurtling toward the monster that again stepped nimbly out of the way. Sailor Moon's jaw dropped.
"It's so...so..." Sailor Moon gasped. She stared at it. "We need a sailor planet attack." The others stared at her.
"We can't," Mercury said. She shook her head, causing the blue hair to twirl. "Uranus and Neptune aren't here yet." Sailor Moon stared at the monster that prepared to send one of its own attacks at the senshi.
"Oh man!" Sailor Jupiter growled. She stared at the monster. "That thing is fast. Smart, too. I give it that much credit." Mars nodded in agreement.
"We're going to have to do Sailor Planet Attack without those two!" she exclaimed. Saturn stared as the inner soldiers agreed to beat up the monster by using the most powerful of the combined attacks.
The monster, not liking how this battle was starting to go, shot out black vines everywhere. Each vine grabbed a senshi by the neck and began to strangle them. Quickly.
"Oh...my god," Jupiter gasped, falling to the ground. She could hardly breathe. Her lungs were slowly beginning to burn. She saw the others also struggling. Without enough air, they couldn't call on their attacks. Uranus, Neptune! Where were they!?
"Deep Submerge!" A sudden blue orb surrounded by water hit the monster dead on the head. Although stunned, the monster still continued choking the senshi.
"Space Sword Blaster!" A beam of gold energy hit the monster straight on. The monster fell down, letting the other senshi go. The monster, thoroughly upset, grumbled to itself as it looked around for the sources of the attacks.
"Uranus! Neptune!" Sailor Moon exclaimed as two familiar figures stepped from the darkness.
"Sorry we're late," Neptune apologized. "We came as fast as we could."
"You guys okay?" Uranus asked. The senshi nodded in reply, thankful for the help.
The monster looked over at the tall blonde soldier. Was this the one MagicStar and DreamStar wanted? It squinted, trying to make its eyesight better. Suddenly, pain shot through its body. It wrenched in agony.
"Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss!" Sailor Moon shouted. The monster let out one more scream before dissolving in the pink light. The sailor soldiers sighed in relief as dark clouds spread around them.
"Good byeeee!" Sailor Chibi Moon yelled. She smiled as she pounded her fist into the air. "We did it! We did it!" Sailor Moon was about to say something smart when someone laughed. As the clouds disappeared, they saw a figure levitating above them.
"Hello, sailor senshi," the girl said cruelly. "Let me introduce myself. I'm the soldier of fate, the one and only, Sailor Destiny."
"Sailor Destiny!?"
The brunette soldier nodded. She smiled quickly, a surprisingly cold smile. Sailor Moon couldn't help but feel that she had seen that smile someplace else before. She shook the feeling off. "Did you send that creepy monster after us?" she demanded.
"Of course not princess," Destiny said coolly. "It would have been such an easy catch anyway. It was more of a distraction. To get you to use up some of your power."
"What for?" Uranus asked, glaring at the girl. Her eyes narrowed. "You're working for those two witches, aren't you?"
"Of course!" Destiny exclaimed. She smiled at Uranus, turning completely toward her and giving the girl her full attention. "So make this easy and give up right now, dear? I mean, it would be so much easier if you don't even try to fight. Everyone will be so happy, especially me." Uranus raised an eyebrow. Why was Destiny just talking to her?
"What's going on?" Chibi Moon whispered to Venus. Venus shrugged and stared at the soldier of fate. Odd. Why was she only speaking to Uranus anyway?
"Well, are you going to make this hard?" Destiny asked, her voice growing cold. "I don't want it to be hard, Haruka, so you should just come now."
There was an awkward silence afterwards. Uranus stared at the girl intensely. How did she know her identity? The other sailor soldiers stared at Destiny for a long, long time. Destiny was waiting very patiently for the silence to end.
"What are you talking about?" Uranus finally asked. She glowered at the girl. "I'm not going anywhere." Destiny smiled. It was a dreadful smile, as if she knew a secret and wasn't telling.
"You have no choice really," Destiny replied, raising her hand over head. Beams of silver light encircled her hand like ripples. She closed her eyes as each silver ring became covered in electricity. "Cosmic Ring of Fate!" she screamed, throwing the rings towards the sailor senshi.
Sailor Uranus quickly jumped out of the way, hitting the ring with her sword, causing the glowing silver attack to split in half. It fell to the ground and disappeared from the lack of energy. But the other senshi were not so lucky. The rings wrapped around their waists, pinning their arms to their sides.
Destiny turned toward Uranus. "Now you have no choice. Either you come with me or…" Suddenly, the rings around the sailor senshi erupted with lightning . The pain was incredible. The senshi screamed in agony. Uranus' eyes widened then narrowed.
"Why are you doing this?" she demanded. "Stop it!" Destiny turned to Uranus with her huge green eyes.
"So you're going to come now?" Destiny asked, stopping the attacks. Uranus glared at the girl, with piercing aqua eyes.
"Do I have a choice?" she asked coldly. The brunette shook her head.
"Not really." Uranus shook her head. She had no idea what this fool wanted, but whatever it was, MagicStar and DreamStar were going to have some part in it.
"Fine then," Uranus replied.
"No!" Sailor Moon shouted. Even through all the pain that she had suffered, no one was going anywhere. "Uranus, don't!" Uranus stared at her princess, the one who she had promised to protect. The promise quickly flashed through her memory. Uranus shook the memory off. She didn't want to remember yet.
Destiny cocked her head to the side. "Good." The brooch on her chest glowed. Neptune's eyes widened. She looked over at Pluto and Saturn and saw that their eyes had also grown wide. Neptune stared at Uranus. She can't do this, she thought.
"No, Uranus!" she screamed. Uranus shook her head as Destiny approached her. Neptune stared in shock. Uranus…
Destiny raised her fist in the air. Dark energy swirled around her fist. A beam of silver energy shot down from the sky into her fist. "Soul Acquire!" Destiny pulled her fist to her brooch and the deadly glowing beam shot straight from her fist and towards Uranus.
"No!" Sailor Moon screamed as the beam hit Uranus straight in the chest. The sudden force of the blow sent her crashing backwards into the back wall of the store.
Almost immediately, a glowing dark blue orb flew from Uranus' body. She screamed in pain. Damn. The pain was terrible. Her vision blurred as she struggled to get up. Her entire body felt suddenly weak, as if her power had been drawn out. Taking a deep breath, Uranus tried to struggle to rise to her feet, but found it physically impossible.
The glowing orb went straight to Destiny. She smiled at it's brilliant light. The soul of the soldier of flight? That was almost too good to be true. She grinned as it entered her brooch. Looking back up, she saw Uranus struggling not to pass out.
Destiny stared at Uranus in horror. "How is it that you're still alive!?" Narrowing her eyes, she gathered a huge ball of energy in her hands. "You won't be when I get done with you."
Uranus glared at the girl with pure hatred. But something about Destiny, something very strong, kept her from doing anything. Uranus' eyes suddenly became sad. She stared at Destiny and it was as if her heart was breaking.
"Hogoshi-chan," Uranus whispered. Without even knowing it, tears were brimming in her eyes. "It's you, isn't it?" Destiny stared at the distraught girl. Suddenly, her eyes began to clear. It was as if a fog of darkness had been spread over it.
"Uranus-san?" Destiny whispered, so low that only Uranus could hear her. Destiny knelt down next to her, her eyes confused. "What…" Uranus shook her head and realized that her body was beginning to fade.
Fighting the urge to fight Destiny, Uranus just closed her eyes, the pain returning to her body. Each breath she seemed to take sent another ripple of agony and pain through her body. it was terrible, much worse then getting her heart crystal or star seed taken away. This was her own soul, her life...and it was gone. Uranus looked up at Destiny before her vision blurred again. Hogoshi-chan…
The other sailor senshi watched in anguish as Uranus' body disappeared in a shower of blue sparks. Destiny still knelt in the place where Uranus had disappeared. Her eyes became clouded with darkness as she straightened up. She looked over at the sailor senshi.
"One down, three to go," she whispered before laughing mechanically. In a whisk of silver bubbles, Destiny was gone. The minute she disappeared, so did the rings around the sailor senshi.
Pluto, Saturn, and Neptune stared at each other for the longest time. Sailor Moon fell to her knees, face in her hands, crying. Tears spilled down her cheeks. Jupiter and Mars ran over to her.
"Usagi!" they exclaimed. Sailor Moon didn't even look up. She pulled her hands away from her face. Her blue eyes were teary.
"Haruka-san!" she cried, before bringing her hands back up to her face. She murmured some more stuff, but it was all muffled. She raised her head, tears running like rain down her pink cheeks. "Haruka!"
Author's Note: Honestly, did I ruffle anyone's emotions for this episode? If so, R&R. I'd really like to know what you guys thought about this chapter – I was working on angst, but I think I missed by a couple of miles. Why is Usagi crying just because Haruka disappeared? Probably because the sight was all too similar to the deaths of her friends when their star seeds were taken.
Arakino Hogoshi is related to Tsukino Mirage and Tsukino Reverie? Right, I can tell by the fact that they share the same last name.
Episodes are counting down to the big battle. Hang on, the whiplash might hurt a bit.
Until twenty-four hours later, I'll be going.