Sailor Moon
"Reflections of a Red Rose"
By: NeoMoon
Rated: PG-13
Chapter Twenty-Four:
Lights flashed around her music screamed, but it all meant nothing, nothing really existed except
the red haired woman that stood before her, and with a single intake of air, the world came back
to her with mind numbing speed.
"Why?" She asked her voice barely heard, her hands shaking with rage and disbelief, as she
looked her friend in her deep blue eyes. "Minako, why?"
The music slowed, its fast techno beat changing to low bass and strings, the lights still
flashing around them darkened to purples and blues, as if purposely for her. Minako looked at
Usagi, staring straight into her own reflection, she found it for the first time in her life hard
to breath. How, Usagi? She thought. How can I tell you?
Usagi didn't move, hardly breathed as she waited, wanting her friends answer before she did
anything else. She could hear the music, so soft, so sad, could hear the slow unsteady breath
that escaped Minako's lips.
Ami sighed as she carefully placed the receiver back onto its stand, then turned to look out the
large bay window of her room, her feet moving softly across the heavy soft carpet, till she stood
almost against the window, her hand touching the glass, her warm breath steaming it. She was
worried, very worried, it was late, Usagi should have been home, and their had been no answer at
Mamoru's either. Her stomach ached, her heart beating faster then normal, she knew something was
wrong, she knew it!
Her decision had been made, turning she saw her mother standing in the shadows of her room, a
large white paper in her hand, a sad smile on her face. "It's a train ticket." She said,
holding the ticket out as she walked toward her daughter, Ami noticing how much her hand was
shaking. "Something was wrong at dinner I could tell, so - so I went to the station and got
this." She pushed the ticket toward her daughter forcing Ami to take it before she spoke again.
"The train leaves in a hour, I'll drive you."
Ami looked at the ticket, her eyes wide. "There's still another day." She said her voice low,
and shaking. She looked up at her mother. "Why?"
"Because." Her mother said, her body limply falling onto Ami's bed. "You care about your
friends, and something's wrong. Don't worry I'll be home after the seminar."
Ami nodded, and quickly gave her mother a tight hug before beginning to pack her things.
Why does everything have to be so hard? Hotoru thought as sat at the small kitchen table alone,
her head buried in her arms. Why did everything always come out bad around her?
Sitting up she looked over at the couch and bite back a small sob as she saw Micheru's pale body,
glistening with sweat, lying still under the heavy blankets. Why did those she loved always have
to die?
Standing she walked over the stove, and looked at the kettle of tea, steam rising from the spout.
She had made the tea just for Micheru after Haruka had come, but that was almost an hour ago,
and it still sat there waiting for Micheru to drink it. Slowly Hotoru reached out and turned the
stove's dial, cutting off the heat to the kettle. A small sad smile coming to her pale face as
she watched the coils slowly turn from bright red to a dark black, that was what she was good at,
extinguishing life.
She left the kitchen, the once hot tea now freezing to the touch, and slowly carefully; she
walked toward the couch, her glaive resting comfortably in her slender hand. She would help her
friend, it as the least she could do.
Minako breathed, that was all she could do, her mind was spinning, her eyes darting between
Lillith and her friend. She already knew the answer, she already knew that she still could not
turn back; she knew that she had turned away from the only person that had ever believed in her.
She had stood on the rooftop of the warehouse, shielded by the darkness of the night, watching
them as they had made their remarks about their first meeting, hissing as each of them seemed not
to trust her, not to believe that her appearance was not a convince of the enemy. All of them
doubted her, none of trusted that she was who she said she was, except one, the bubbly blonde who
seemed to remind her so much of herself, she believed, she trusted, and in that instance Minako
knew that she would always, always be by her side.
But your not are you? A small voice spoke. You betrayed her for your own selfish reasons. You
sacrificed that in which you believe.
Shut up! Minako screamed to herself.
"I - I wanted to be free." She whispered, hoping, wishing, praying that Usagi wouldn't hear,
wouldn't look at her with eyes so full of hate, and disgust, and - and pity. Please Usagi,
please I don't care what you think, just please, please don't pity me, I don't deserve it!
She didn't get her wish, and as she looked into her friends eyes, seeing how much her friend
understood, how much forgiveness and pity that she knew was Usagi's greatest treat, her heart
snapped. Her blue eyes turned to ice.
"Damn you!" She spat her hand clenching down on Usagi's arm, making the girl squeak in pain.
"Damn you! I don't want your pity, I don't want anything for you!"
Tears welled up in her friend's eyes, and Minako finally smiled, she was happy to have brought
pain to those eyes that were so full of love and forgiveness, those eyes that would give pity to
even her.
"It's okay, Minako." Usagi said to her. Her hand moving to touch Minako's face. "It's alright,
I understand."
She wanted to scream, to curse, to punch the caring, understanding smile off of the little fool's
face. "You'll never understand!" Minako hissed, and flung Usagi toward Lillith. "Take her."
She said not wanting to look at the body that lay curled into a little ball on the floor before
pushing her way back into the crowd of dancers. Within seconds the music sped up, the tempo
increasing, letting her drive out al her fears, all her hate, all of her guilt in the throes of
the dance.
The air around her was scented with jasmine and lavender, the soft flickering of the candle light
piercing the dark veil of her closed eyes, but she tried to ignore it, tried to ignore the walls
of the small guest room, tried to ignore the faint sound of the wind against the window glass,
did everything in her power to block out the world.
Setsuna breathed in the scented air, as her mind concentrated, doing its best to find the
specific moment the time when everything would come together, but she couldn't to her time was to
large, in a blink of an eye she had watched the rise and falls of empires, saw countless worlds
being born and die. For her to see one moment in clarity was impossible, and yet she tried.
The darkness of her mediation was broken, a small gray orb floated in the darkness, a small orb
spinning slowly around it, and she knew what it was, where she was. Pluto.
Slowly she moved past it, watched as Neptune then Uranus entered into her vision. Next came
Saturn then Jupiter. After them came the asteroid belt, and she shiver as she floated through
the blasted chucks of rock and ice, her mind seeing the world that once stood in its place, far
before even the kingdom of the Moon stood.
Her pace increased, in mere seconds she had past Mars and the moon, her astral form moving at
untold of speeds as it enter the Earth's atmosphere, as she pasted countries, and peoples, all
their face's and names a blur to her, she wanted to scream, it was moving to fast she would never
discover . . .
Then slowed. She rested, floating outside the window of Micheru's apartment, watching as the
young girl, walked toward her friend, a glaive resting in her hand. Setsuna tried to scream,
tried to warn the woman on the couch, but she couldn't this hadn't happened yet, or was it
happening as she watched?
Slowly the glaive was raised above the tiny girl, her arms looking as if they were too weak to
hold the glaive. Purple light slowly spiraled away from the glaive, wrapping around the woman
lying on the couch.
The body jerked upward, the back arched as if something had grabbed hold of the waist, in seconds
the woman's face turned from a sickly pale to the ashen gray of death.
Setsuna choked back a scream.
The slight wind that had been around her died, the sounds of the night, of the city slowly
vanished, she was left in silence, looking on as the young girl dropped the glaive and rested her
head on the now dead woman. Around her a moan escaped from the world itself, and within moments
there was nothing but a soft purple light, the world had been destroyed.
Hotoru almost stumbled when she heard Setsuna's scream, but kept her course, she had a job to do,
a friend to save.
Kneeling down beside Micheru, Hotoru softly ran her hand over her friend's pale cheek, forcing
back her tears as Micheru mumbled for her lover. "Soon." She whispered softly, like a mother to
her sick child. "You'll be better."
Gripping the glaive firmly she raised it over her head letting it's point rest over Micheru's
heart, all it would take was a small bit of energy, then Micheru would be at peace, then all her
worries would be gone.
Closing her eyes, she sunk deep within herself, gathering the energy and focus need for the task.
Taking in a deep breath she opened her eyes, and gasped at the small spiral of soft purple
energy the wound around the glaive's point. Slowly the small bit of energy wound it's way toward
Micheru.
"No!" Hotoru jumped, and looked toward Setsuna, who stood leaning hard against the doorframe of
the guestroom, her eyes wide with fear. "Hotoru stop!" She screamed again as she pushed off the
frame.
"No!" Hotoru yelled, closing her eyes, focusing on helping her friend. "I got to help her."
There was no time, there was no way the Setsuna could convince the young girl to stop. With a
speed that surprised her, she lunged at Hotoru, slamming into her hard and sending both of them
into the apartment's far wall.
Setsuna stood, stumbling as the world spun around her, and looked back at the sleeping Micheru, a
sigh of relieve escaping her lips as she saw her friend still breathing even if it was weak.
"I wanted to help!" Hotoru screamed, her voice creaking. Setsuna turned to see the girl looking
up at her defiantly, ignoring the tears that streamed down her cheeks. "I wanted to stop her
pain!"
"You don't have that kind of power!" Setsuna retorted, her voice a mixture of anger and relieve.
"You can't just . . ." She shook her head, unable to go on as she fell to the floor and
gather the girl in her arms. "It just can't be." She whispered
"But I'm sick of the pain." Hotoru whispered as she buried her head against Setsuna's shoulder.
Why? Usagi thought as she stood, tears streaming down her face, as she heard over and over what
Minako had said to her. Why?
She looked at the woman before her, the red haired woman that had been at love's apartment, the
woman that had taken her friend away for her, had made that friend betray her. "Damn you."
Usagi hissed, her eyes narrowing as the woman just looked at her, her eyes moving as if
appraising Usagi's worth. Finally the woman's full red lips parted, and she spoke.
"I don't want to hurt you. All I want is my husband back." Her voice was soft, and sweet, but
it would not disarm Usagi, not tonight.
"Your Husband?" She said her voice too soft, too calm. "Mamo-chan is not yours."
The woman laughed, it sounded so beautiful so innocent, it felt so wrong. "My dear, please
believe me, he is mine." The woman said, stepping closer to Usagi. "Please, you are a young
woman, you have a full life ahead of you. Just walk away."
"No!" Usagi screamed.
Light flashed around her, an unfamiliar weight appearing in her hand as the light slowly
dissipated.
Usagi looked down at her hand, her eyes going wide with fear as she saw the object in her hand,
the sword from her dream, the sword that had killed Chi.
"Reflections of a Red Rose"
By: NeoMoon
Rated: PG-13
Chapter Twenty-Four:
Lights flashed around her music screamed, but it all meant nothing, nothing really existed except
the red haired woman that stood before her, and with a single intake of air, the world came back
to her with mind numbing speed.
"Why?" She asked her voice barely heard, her hands shaking with rage and disbelief, as she
looked her friend in her deep blue eyes. "Minako, why?"
The music slowed, its fast techno beat changing to low bass and strings, the lights still
flashing around them darkened to purples and blues, as if purposely for her. Minako looked at
Usagi, staring straight into her own reflection, she found it for the first time in her life hard
to breath. How, Usagi? She thought. How can I tell you?
Usagi didn't move, hardly breathed as she waited, wanting her friends answer before she did
anything else. She could hear the music, so soft, so sad, could hear the slow unsteady breath
that escaped Minako's lips.
Ami sighed as she carefully placed the receiver back onto its stand, then turned to look out the
large bay window of her room, her feet moving softly across the heavy soft carpet, till she stood
almost against the window, her hand touching the glass, her warm breath steaming it. She was
worried, very worried, it was late, Usagi should have been home, and their had been no answer at
Mamoru's either. Her stomach ached, her heart beating faster then normal, she knew something was
wrong, she knew it!
Her decision had been made, turning she saw her mother standing in the shadows of her room, a
large white paper in her hand, a sad smile on her face. "It's a train ticket." She said,
holding the ticket out as she walked toward her daughter, Ami noticing how much her hand was
shaking. "Something was wrong at dinner I could tell, so - so I went to the station and got
this." She pushed the ticket toward her daughter forcing Ami to take it before she spoke again.
"The train leaves in a hour, I'll drive you."
Ami looked at the ticket, her eyes wide. "There's still another day." She said her voice low,
and shaking. She looked up at her mother. "Why?"
"Because." Her mother said, her body limply falling onto Ami's bed. "You care about your
friends, and something's wrong. Don't worry I'll be home after the seminar."
Ami nodded, and quickly gave her mother a tight hug before beginning to pack her things.
Why does everything have to be so hard? Hotoru thought as sat at the small kitchen table alone,
her head buried in her arms. Why did everything always come out bad around her?
Sitting up she looked over at the couch and bite back a small sob as she saw Micheru's pale body,
glistening with sweat, lying still under the heavy blankets. Why did those she loved always have
to die?
Standing she walked over the stove, and looked at the kettle of tea, steam rising from the spout.
She had made the tea just for Micheru after Haruka had come, but that was almost an hour ago,
and it still sat there waiting for Micheru to drink it. Slowly Hotoru reached out and turned the
stove's dial, cutting off the heat to the kettle. A small sad smile coming to her pale face as
she watched the coils slowly turn from bright red to a dark black, that was what she was good at,
extinguishing life.
She left the kitchen, the once hot tea now freezing to the touch, and slowly carefully; she
walked toward the couch, her glaive resting comfortably in her slender hand. She would help her
friend, it as the least she could do.
Minako breathed, that was all she could do, her mind was spinning, her eyes darting between
Lillith and her friend. She already knew the answer, she already knew that she still could not
turn back; she knew that she had turned away from the only person that had ever believed in her.
She had stood on the rooftop of the warehouse, shielded by the darkness of the night, watching
them as they had made their remarks about their first meeting, hissing as each of them seemed not
to trust her, not to believe that her appearance was not a convince of the enemy. All of them
doubted her, none of trusted that she was who she said she was, except one, the bubbly blonde who
seemed to remind her so much of herself, she believed, she trusted, and in that instance Minako
knew that she would always, always be by her side.
But your not are you? A small voice spoke. You betrayed her for your own selfish reasons. You
sacrificed that in which you believe.
Shut up! Minako screamed to herself.
"I - I wanted to be free." She whispered, hoping, wishing, praying that Usagi wouldn't hear,
wouldn't look at her with eyes so full of hate, and disgust, and - and pity. Please Usagi,
please I don't care what you think, just please, please don't pity me, I don't deserve it!
She didn't get her wish, and as she looked into her friends eyes, seeing how much her friend
understood, how much forgiveness and pity that she knew was Usagi's greatest treat, her heart
snapped. Her blue eyes turned to ice.
"Damn you!" She spat her hand clenching down on Usagi's arm, making the girl squeak in pain.
"Damn you! I don't want your pity, I don't want anything for you!"
Tears welled up in her friend's eyes, and Minako finally smiled, she was happy to have brought
pain to those eyes that were so full of love and forgiveness, those eyes that would give pity to
even her.
"It's okay, Minako." Usagi said to her. Her hand moving to touch Minako's face. "It's alright,
I understand."
She wanted to scream, to curse, to punch the caring, understanding smile off of the little fool's
face. "You'll never understand!" Minako hissed, and flung Usagi toward Lillith. "Take her."
She said not wanting to look at the body that lay curled into a little ball on the floor before
pushing her way back into the crowd of dancers. Within seconds the music sped up, the tempo
increasing, letting her drive out al her fears, all her hate, all of her guilt in the throes of
the dance.
The air around her was scented with jasmine and lavender, the soft flickering of the candle light
piercing the dark veil of her closed eyes, but she tried to ignore it, tried to ignore the walls
of the small guest room, tried to ignore the faint sound of the wind against the window glass,
did everything in her power to block out the world.
Setsuna breathed in the scented air, as her mind concentrated, doing its best to find the
specific moment the time when everything would come together, but she couldn't to her time was to
large, in a blink of an eye she had watched the rise and falls of empires, saw countless worlds
being born and die. For her to see one moment in clarity was impossible, and yet she tried.
The darkness of her mediation was broken, a small gray orb floated in the darkness, a small orb
spinning slowly around it, and she knew what it was, where she was. Pluto.
Slowly she moved past it, watched as Neptune then Uranus entered into her vision. Next came
Saturn then Jupiter. After them came the asteroid belt, and she shiver as she floated through
the blasted chucks of rock and ice, her mind seeing the world that once stood in its place, far
before even the kingdom of the Moon stood.
Her pace increased, in mere seconds she had past Mars and the moon, her astral form moving at
untold of speeds as it enter the Earth's atmosphere, as she pasted countries, and peoples, all
their face's and names a blur to her, she wanted to scream, it was moving to fast she would never
discover . . .
Then slowed. She rested, floating outside the window of Micheru's apartment, watching as the
young girl, walked toward her friend, a glaive resting in her hand. Setsuna tried to scream,
tried to warn the woman on the couch, but she couldn't this hadn't happened yet, or was it
happening as she watched?
Slowly the glaive was raised above the tiny girl, her arms looking as if they were too weak to
hold the glaive. Purple light slowly spiraled away from the glaive, wrapping around the woman
lying on the couch.
The body jerked upward, the back arched as if something had grabbed hold of the waist, in seconds
the woman's face turned from a sickly pale to the ashen gray of death.
Setsuna choked back a scream.
The slight wind that had been around her died, the sounds of the night, of the city slowly
vanished, she was left in silence, looking on as the young girl dropped the glaive and rested her
head on the now dead woman. Around her a moan escaped from the world itself, and within moments
there was nothing but a soft purple light, the world had been destroyed.
Hotoru almost stumbled when she heard Setsuna's scream, but kept her course, she had a job to do,
a friend to save.
Kneeling down beside Micheru, Hotoru softly ran her hand over her friend's pale cheek, forcing
back her tears as Micheru mumbled for her lover. "Soon." She whispered softly, like a mother to
her sick child. "You'll be better."
Gripping the glaive firmly she raised it over her head letting it's point rest over Micheru's
heart, all it would take was a small bit of energy, then Micheru would be at peace, then all her
worries would be gone.
Closing her eyes, she sunk deep within herself, gathering the energy and focus need for the task.
Taking in a deep breath she opened her eyes, and gasped at the small spiral of soft purple
energy the wound around the glaive's point. Slowly the small bit of energy wound it's way toward
Micheru.
"No!" Hotoru jumped, and looked toward Setsuna, who stood leaning hard against the doorframe of
the guestroom, her eyes wide with fear. "Hotoru stop!" She screamed again as she pushed off the
frame.
"No!" Hotoru yelled, closing her eyes, focusing on helping her friend. "I got to help her."
There was no time, there was no way the Setsuna could convince the young girl to stop. With a
speed that surprised her, she lunged at Hotoru, slamming into her hard and sending both of them
into the apartment's far wall.
Setsuna stood, stumbling as the world spun around her, and looked back at the sleeping Micheru, a
sigh of relieve escaping her lips as she saw her friend still breathing even if it was weak.
"I wanted to help!" Hotoru screamed, her voice creaking. Setsuna turned to see the girl looking
up at her defiantly, ignoring the tears that streamed down her cheeks. "I wanted to stop her
pain!"
"You don't have that kind of power!" Setsuna retorted, her voice a mixture of anger and relieve.
"You can't just . . ." She shook her head, unable to go on as she fell to the floor and
gather the girl in her arms. "It just can't be." She whispered
"But I'm sick of the pain." Hotoru whispered as she buried her head against Setsuna's shoulder.
Why? Usagi thought as she stood, tears streaming down her face, as she heard over and over what
Minako had said to her. Why?
She looked at the woman before her, the red haired woman that had been at love's apartment, the
woman that had taken her friend away for her, had made that friend betray her. "Damn you."
Usagi hissed, her eyes narrowing as the woman just looked at her, her eyes moving as if
appraising Usagi's worth. Finally the woman's full red lips parted, and she spoke.
"I don't want to hurt you. All I want is my husband back." Her voice was soft, and sweet, but
it would not disarm Usagi, not tonight.
"Your Husband?" She said her voice too soft, too calm. "Mamo-chan is not yours."
The woman laughed, it sounded so beautiful so innocent, it felt so wrong. "My dear, please
believe me, he is mine." The woman said, stepping closer to Usagi. "Please, you are a young
woman, you have a full life ahead of you. Just walk away."
"No!" Usagi screamed.
Light flashed around her, an unfamiliar weight appearing in her hand as the light slowly
dissipated.
Usagi looked down at her hand, her eyes going wide with fear as she saw the object in her hand,
the sword from her dream, the sword that had killed Chi.