Taking Over Me
By: Zarabeth McGregor
Chapter 1
Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon; this includes the plotline, the characters and the situations. If I did, I wouldn't be writing non-profit fanfiction.
A/N: I figure that the scouts had different names in the Moon Kingdom, so here they are:
Rei: Kelis (Yeah, like the singer...)
Mina: Dionaea (This is one of the names the Greek Goddess of Love Aphrodite is known by)
Lita: Adelita (A nice extension of her name; also the title of a lovely Spanish song)
Ami: Mercedes (Kind of close to the name of her planet)
I'll post them up periodically so y'all won't have a problem remembering.
...And a song
Someone sings
Once upon a December...
Once upon a December
From the movie 'Anastasia'
Tokyo: 1992 ADSeveral Millennia after the fall of the Moon Kingdom
The sun had dipped behind the high-rise buildings of modern Tokyo, colouring the sky in a brilliant collage of oranges, pinks and reds. In the east, the thin sliver of a quarter moon slowly ascended the sky.
The grounds of the Cherry Hill temple were quiet, a gentle breeze causing a slight stir amongst the fallen sakura leaves along the grass. It was past its usual operating hours; no one came to the shrine to worship at night anymore.
Deep within the temple itself, beyond the areas that guests frequented during the daylight hours, where they explored and exclaimed in awe, where tourists snapped photographs to send families and friends back home, was a room. In the middle of this room, a large metal pyre stood, almost as ancient as the building itself, where a large, roaring fire burned, the only light within that section of the temple. Upon the walls, shadows danced and frolicked creating strange, fascinating shapes and forms, almost looking lifelike.
The young priestess of the temple sat before the fire in her work robes, placing majority of her small weight on her stockinged heels, staring intensely at the flames, seeming too unnatural to be real in their great heights and the passions which they burned with.
She sat silently, her large violet eyes fixed onto the fire burning before her thinking, reflecting. Today had been a most interesting day...
Flashback"Rei!" she was just coming to out of what seemed to be a very long and exhausting sleep. Taking one look around her, at her otherworldly surroundings, she knew immediately that she had no clue as to where she was.
"Rei!" the voice called urgently again, jerking her out of the veil of her groggy stupor. Rei looked about her for the voice. Before her was Serena's grey cat, pushing a red pen towards her with a small paw.
"Here," she whispered urgently. "Use this and transform!" The cat's eyes were wide and desperate.
"Wha..." Rei blinked rapidly. That cat so did not just talk to her...she had told her grandfather the incense in the temple was too strong...
"Rei!" a blonde girl called out to her. Dressed in a sailor's uniform, with a skirt that made her uniform's own look modest; Rei vaguely wondered what this girl was up to, until it finally occurred to her.
"Sailor Moon?"
"Yes! Use that pen and say 'Mars Power Make up!'" the girl responded in a moment's respite before she joined an unfamiliar blue-haired girl in fending off several fiery orbs. By now, Rei was beyond confused. Was this some sort of warped dream? She knew dreams weren't even this warped. Did she somehow get drunk?
"Rei!" and the cat spoke to her again. "Transform!" Before she could stare in wonder at the talking cat again, a ball of fire streaked past her face, the scent of singed hair filling the air. And suddenly, everything became clear.
She was Sailor Mars. Her fellow scouts were in trouble.
Picking up the pen, she held it up in the air, her body upright and shouted with conviction and confidence.
"Mars Power Make Up!"
All of a sudden, she felt flames engulfing her, but far from burning her, they seemed to nurture and protect her, the heat warm and comforting against her body. She felt her clothing peeling slowly from her body, before being replaced with stranger, though somehow familiar garments. Within a few moments, it was all over. She was now prepared to fight.
From her position, she could see everything much clearer. Sailor Moon and the other girl were trying in vain to fend themselves against strong magical forces constantly being fired at them from a man standing at the far side of the cavern they were in. She turned her attention to him.
He exuded nothing but pure arrogance. From the sinister smile on his lips, to his cocky and plain overconfident posture, she could see that he felt himself below their powers and prowess. They were a waste of his precious time, whatever that was.
She immediately disliked him. She wanted nothing more than to wipe that smirk of his lips.
He deflected their attacks with a mere flick of a gloved hand, sending more powerful attacks hurtling at them with the other. The girls barely managed to dodge them. He looked bloody well bored.
"Come on, girls..." he drawled, his voice haunting with its singsong cadence, like a caress over Rei's skin, into her nerves, down to her soul. "Is this all you can do?"
"You've just gotten us warmed up!" Serena shouted, sounding way more confident that she looked. Her costume was burnt and singed in various places. With a shout, she sent another attack through.
"Moon Tiara Action...TRAP!" she hurtled her tiara at the man, her entire body thrown into the action. It ripped through the air towards him and he did nothing to stop its progress. It started whizzing towards his fine face, causing his blonde hair to ruffle softly. With one fluid movement, he raised a hand and batted the Frisbee/tiara lightly, sending it hurtling away a few feet.
But something happened that he did not anticipate. Instead of returning to its owner, the Frisbee started back towards him, before wrapping itself around his arm, then ultimately around his entire body with a shimmery and thin, but obviously strong cord. In little more than a second, he was completely trapped.
He looked surprised, even shocked. But only for a fleeting moment. Immediately, the smile was back in place, and his blue eyes were once again cold and mocking.
"Oh dear...look what I've gotten myself into..."he simpered. Rei clenched her gloved hand tightly, feeling a surge of fire rush through her body, starting from the soles of her heeled feet, rushing through her very veins. She was sure if she tried, flames would erupt from her very fingertips. Before Serena could start gloating, before Rei knew exactly what she was doing, she ran forward, surprising the scouts, her hands already anticipating her attack.
"Akuryo..." she started, the tiny parchment between her fingers, her dark eyes focused on the trapped enemy. For the first time, he openly regarded her. His expression was fleeting, but the smile faltered and arrogance was completely gone. But it was back within a few moments. Rei almost thought she imagined it.
She raised her hand, taking aim.
"Tai..."and suddenly she halted. It only seemed momentary from the view of the others, but for her at least, it was much more significant. They had made eye contact, his blue eyes fixated on hers. And she saw something there, not an emotion, but something specific. A memory.
"...san!" she let the parchment fly. It sliced through the air, locked onto its target with deadly accuracy. She watched apprehensively, as did the other two scouts.
And just before it would've struck him, it veered slightly, so slight, no one else would've noticed at that time except Rei. But the implications of this tiny change in course became glaringly apparent as it bypassed the blond man by a breath, catching a few strands of his light hair. The parchment crashed and burned into the wall directly behind of him.
The smile on his face widened. With a small, insignificant movement of his hand, he burned the cords of the Frisbee and it clattered to the ground. He dusted his shoulders off quite haughtily.
"Thank you for that little tango, dear hearts. I needed to get my blood flowing..." And with that, he took a single step back into the shadows, blending in with them completely. His eyes had never left hers.
Rei could do nothing but stare, her mouth wide open in wonderment and awe.
She rarely missed.
And never did so intentionally.
End FlashbackRei replayed that scene in her mind's eye so many times, she knew it completely be wrote now. And yet, she was nowhere near understanding anything that had happened.
At least with the whole issue of the Sailor Senshi, she would get her explanation from Luna and the others tomorrow.
But she could not understand the other part of her current dilemma. She had missed him.
Completely on purpose.
The reasoning behind her split-second decision was what she was trying to divine at the moment, this was why she came to the cleansing fire and the heady incense. If it was one place she could get answers, it was here.
She cleared her mind completely, setting her back straighter. Focusing all her attention on the flames, she started her chant.
"Sun, moon, fire, earth; fire, air, water, rock," she whispered steadily, her slender fingers forming the signs of the various elements as she called them out.
"I am flame, flame is light; I am fire, fire is sight..." she dropped her voice even lower, repeating the words slowly, before quickly picking up her pace. Eventually, she began to feel the effects of her meditation. She was being drawn into the flame.
And quite suddenly, a vision came before her, as plain as day. She saw the cocky, self-assured man as he had been earlier that day, looking regal in the uniform of the ones he served. And his eyes. His blue grey, deep eyes, luring her in completely. He no longer wore the smirk that had so infuriated her. Instead he was calm and almost serene, which served to emphasize his lovely features: the firm, strong jaw and chin, with the high cheek and tempting lips all accented by his evocative, large eyes. He was exquisite, as no earthly man should rightfully be.
He slowly, almost tentatively stretched a gloved hand out to her, the gesture clear in its meaning. He wanted to take her hand him his, to take her with him, wherever it was he was going.
But all she saw presently was his eyes, their story intriguing and beautiful, though she could not quite discern what they were trying to tell her.
And as she gazed into their depths, she hear the distinct singing of a woman, her voice as clear and as lovely as a siren, and just as compelling, accompanied by the music of a well-played lute. Her words were just as enigmatic.
"You don't remember me...But I remember you..."
And just as suddenly as it came, it left, sending Rei back to reality with a strong, almost physical jolt. She looked around her wildly, panting and suddenly exhausted, trying to reassure herself with her surroundings. She was shaken to the very core of her being. What she just saw was not a passing fancy; that was an authentic vision. She clutched the small necklace at her neck with a trembling hand.
And she was left with even more questions, with almost no answers.
Across the city, in the suburbs outside the business district of Tokyo, she lay in the darkened room. Serena was in the bed above her, sleeping contentedly, her snores making all hope of sleep impossible. She muttered the odd time or two something about cheesecake and an Andrew that Luna had yet to meet. Not that she cared about the young man.
And not that she cared for sleep either.
Today was highly interesting, that was a fact.
The discovery of the newest addition to her team intrigued her for several reasons.
For one, she knew that the senshi had intentionally missed her target. The Senshi Mars never missed.
And she did not even want to wonder why.
Yeah! Another chapter. First of all, let me say thank you for the kind reviews! They're really inspiring.
Secondly, let me point out that I'm not following any one version of Sailor Moon; I'm taking from both the manga and the anime, as well as making up my own thing as I go along. And for any glaringly obvious mistakes I may make, sorry, but the last time I saw Sailor Moon was, what...four years ago? My memory is quite rusty, thank you...
By the way, I am going to change the title of this fic. I did some revision, and figured out where I wanted to take this fic. So, I'm going to re-name it 'Deora ar mo Chroi', Gaelic for 'Tears on my Heart'. This title better represents what I am trying to portray.
But yeah, read and review if you please...