Title: A Broken Promise
Author: Lady Matrix
Author's Notes: AH! DON'T SHOOT! DON'T SHOOT! -shields herself-
Yes, so I haven't updated this story in FOREVER... but I managed to convert this file into a html file! Yeah! High fives for me! -doesn't receive any- Any who... here's the [extremely] delayed Chapter four! Enjoy!
Chapter 4: Moonlit Meetings
"'Where she got her heart taken away'? Maybe where me and her first met?"
Rei sighed, rubbing her temples in exasperation. "If you mean Crown Arcade, there's one major down side to that. After school today, that place will be busy. No doubt Saffiru and Esmeraude will want to talk for a while. They would never pick a place like that. You know how much students love avoiding homework. Sure, your theory of 'whisking her off her feet' may be true..." The shrine maiden paused here, a dream-struck look crossing her face, "ha, I remember Usagi visiting the shrine every day back then and complaining how you were such a jack–"
A steady glare from Mamoru shut the shrine maiden up.
Impatiently, Mamoru snapped, "First off, I DON'T see how that's relevant–"
"Oh, just felt like reminiscing."
"–and where do -you- think that they'll want to meet us then?!"
Rei grinned slyly, amusement dancing in her violet eyes; seeing Mamoru freak out was definitely a sight worth seeing. She allowed the gears in her mind continue to whirr in the calculating way they tended to work in. Suddenly, out of nowhere the thought struck: as if some frying pan tossed at her head 90 MPH. Slowly, in a reassured manner, acting as if she knew the riddle's answer all along, she said, "Tokyo Tower, naturally."
Mamoru arched an eyebrow. "How do you figure?"
Rei sighed, and begrudgingly answered, "When they said 'where Usagi's heart was stolen', they meant literally. Remember three months ago on Usa's birthday? Kaoli Knight led us all to Tokyo Tower and Usagi's heart crystal was almost abducted," here Rei paused, and reminded herself that she really should yell at Saffiru for being imprecise about his description, "and Tokyo Tower is the ideal place to meet. Their renovating. No security."
By the smug look on her face, Mamoru could tell that Rei expected some praise on her clever detective work. Well, he wasn't about to give her that satisfaction.
"I knew that."
Rei smirked. "Right. And I gave birth to Pharaoh 90."
Mamoru blinked a few times and finally answered, "Rei-chan, you make it too easy for me..."
"Oh shut up BAKA!"
~*~That Evening~*~
Rei and Mamoru sat in silence. Mamoru supposedly concentrating on driving the red vehicle they now sat in, and Rei... Rei glancing out the window, a melancholy feel surrounding them. She had lost her best friend, and he a lover. As the minutes ticked away, they seemed no closer to finding her. Hopefully, Saffiru and Esmeraude could prove to be of some assistance.
The red Ferrari suddenly screeched to a halt. The duo were now in an array of shadows, the large figure of Tokyo tower looming, almost menacingly, over them.
Mamoru switched off the engine, and both sat in silence. A cricket played its nocturnal melody in the background.
A soft murmur from Mamoru, "Rei, we should go."
Rei inhaled and exhaled, a frown creasing her pink lips. "Hai. I know...it's just..."
"Nani?"
Rei examined her hands for a while. "Mamoru, have you ever stopped to think these past two days about what would happen if we never got Usagi back?" The silence was long. The sort of uneasy silence that followed any pronouncement of death until someone let out a gasp of air, or things of the like.
Mamoru shook his head and attempted a grin, but failed miserably. He settled for a forced half smile. "Rei. Don't think like that."
Rei shook her head. "Cards. I need my cards."
Mamoru stared curiously as the Guardian of Mars dug around her jeans pockets. After a few seconds past by, she triumphantly held up a pack of tarot cards. "Here, they are," she began softly. She flipped the cards so it showed the similar design of the back of each card. She balanced each one carefully on the dashboard and shuffled them around and then busied herself in doing a sort of "fortune telling" that Mamoru was not quite sure how to execute. It was a complicated system, obviously: from the concentration in Rei's eyes, Mamoru knew better than to interrupt.
After a few minutes [that seemed like an eternity to our poor Mamo-chan], Rei stared at a trio of cards being grasped in her right hand. Mamoru peered over her shoulder but she wrenched them away from his view.
"What do they say?" he queried.
Rei looked up at him, dazed, as if forgetting he was in the car with her. "Um...nothing. Just a bunch of garbage."
"Garbage? Demo–"
Rei's violet eyes flashed warningly. "Drop it Mamoru. It's nothing."
Mamoru didn't pursue the conversation any further. For if he did, he was quite sure that he would be in a morgue somewhere in Juuban, this time tomorrow.
~*~Tokyo Tower~*~
Click. Clack.
"Do you have to make so much noise?"
"Hey. -YOU- try walking in heels and see how it goes."
"Nah. That's okay."
A newly transformed Sailor Mars and Tuxedo Kamen wandered throughout the 1st floor of Tokyo Tower, engaged in sighting any clues of Saffiru and Esmeraude being there.
"Please proceed to the 500th floor," a computerized voice made the both of them jump; their nerves already on edge.
"500th floor? This building doesn't have 500 floors!" Mars hissed.
Tuxedo Kamen shrugged. "It's worth a try."
The duo of super heroes clambered on to the glass elevator and amazingly enough a button was on the floor selection list, neatly labeled: 500. Yet, something was different about that button. It seemed transparent, like a hologram.
Tuxedo Kamen, ever suspicious, pressed the button reluctantly, surprising himself as his index finger met with a solid surface.
Suddenly, though both keen on spotting unwanted surprises before they could, frankly, be surprised by them, the sudden jerk of the elevator rising up through both back against the glass material. Sharp gasps of pain arose through the air as they tried to stand up, but it seemed gravity was against them. They simply could not defy the G-force surrounding them.
"Mamoru–I can't breathe!"
Not that the ebony-haired man was having much progress in retrieving a breath of air himself; a guy could only hold his breath for so long.
'Ding.'
It was such a light sound, so out of place with their horrendous trip up to the so-called 500th floor.
The elevator doors parted slowly, as both warriors scrambled to get out of the machine of death, in case the silver doors decided to close in on them once again, sending them for another trip through Hell.
"I'm gonna kill Saffiru once I see him. I swear I will," Mars vowed darkly, grinding her teeth together inconspicuously. All the time imagining a scalded Saffiru. Oh, the fun one could have with their imagination...
Rei chuckled, totally forgetting where she was. Mamoru shot her a reprimanding glare and snapped, "Rei, stop your stupid giggling! Look around, would you?!"
The shrine priestess rolled her eyes and observed in a melodic tone, "Look's like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning,"
Mamoru guffawed. "And this is the one day that you didn't... am I right?" A muse that was met with a quick slap at the back of his head.
"Heh. As childish as ever, aren't you?"
Rei delivered a glare in a specific direction. Oddly enough, a figure came trotting out from the shadows she faced. A figure befitted simply in a t-shirt, jeans, and baseball cap.
Saffiru grinned at the 2 soldiers as he adjusted the cap balanced atop his head. "Why, I'm offended," he said in a mock-wounded voice, "you came here thinking we'd ambush you? Why, the nerve of it... surprising even more, however, is the fact that you two figured out the answer to my puzzle."
Rei growled beneath her breath, but allowed Saffiru to keep his head for the time being. "Well?! Where is the base?!"
"Now, now, Ms. Hino, we should mind our manners better, shouldn't we?" Esmeraude
clucked snidely, taking her place beside Saffiru. Just like the blue-haired man, the former Black Moon loyalist wore simple, casual clothes. One could not very well keep a dagger in a jean's pocket, without it poking out.
"Screw manners: you better get talking before I decide to chuck a fireball at you!" the shrine priestess threatened, wiggling her fingers for emphasis. "Don't think I have a problem with attacking someone who used to have me on their death list."
"Very well. But we must make a deal."
"Mamoru's left eyebrow shot up. "Which would be?"
Saffiru stared lazily at the justice-enforcing duo, as the words rolled off, nonchalantly off his tongue, "Firstly, that you kill my brother." As the singular response that was provided with this was silence, the blue-haired doppelganger of Mamoru continued, "I would do it myself, but... " he laid a hand on a pillar: only to have it pass straight through. Saffiru grinned to himself. "I'm not exactly capable of the job, as you can see."
Rei blinked a few times. She sensed no spirit energy; no other worldly force...
"We are but mere holograms Ms. Rei. Projections of our former selves. Not spirits. Our bodies are lying unconscious somewhere in the Black Moon base. Which brings us to the second part of our pact. You must save our bodies after you have dealt with the forces my brother shall send your way."
Tuxedo Kamen stirred uneasily. "You make it sound like a stroll through the park. Like there will be no problems to experience whatsoever."
Saffiru smirked, forcing his face into an impish expression. "So... you have met Wakeru."
Mamoru felt an unrelenting amount of rage thrash wildly about in his heart. The mere mention of that name; the things the owner of that name said he'd do to his Usako...
Esmeraude laughed lightly, "Quite the charmer though, isn't he?"
"Just give us the information we came for," Mars snapped impatiently.
Finally, Saffiru gave a nod of his head, indicating he was ready to give them the information they hungered for so much. "Downtown Tokyo–go to the abandoned dock. From there you shall go to Warehouse Number Nine. Once inside you will notice a hole in the floor. Jump in. From there you shall be transported to the Black Moon base."
Tuxedo Kamen let the words burn their brand into his mind, until he was sure that he could sleep talk, and these would be the words he'd say. As he occupied himself with repeating the phrase over and over in his psyche, Sailor Mars queried, "Is there anything else we need to know?"
Esmeraude sent a questioning glance at Saffiru, prodding him on to leak further information he withheld. The blue-haired man's image flickered here and there: the Black Moon's main computer wasn't exactly a stable one. The shine of the moonlight from an open window penetrated through his form, giving him an eerie ghost-like appearance.
He looked tired right then, weighed down by all this lecturing. He opened his mouth, satisfying Rei's wait with, "The twin soldiers. You must know of their origin. They resided on the moon, just as you senshi did. Obviously, your past memories haven't been fully restored to you, but–"
Saffiru was to continue on, but Esmeraude's screech of, "Saffiru! We must leave the mainframe! Your brother, he–"
And the haunting cry of, "Computer Error. Computer Error," resounded throughout the tower. There was no sign of Saffiru and Esmeraude. It was as if they had been deleted from the very mainframe of life.
Mamoru cleared his throat, crashing through the silence. "Rei–call the girls. There's a certain prince we need to turn into a pauper."
Author's [Concluding] Notes: I ask that you all not murder me. . Also... for those of you who are missing our number one moon maiden, I guarantee in that mysterious ways authors do, that you'll be seeing her again. [insert suggestive nudging and eyebrow raising here]. Also, I promise that as long as I am capable, I will be more efficient with my chapter updating! Send C &C to thepinkmatrix@aol.com! Or just review!