Author: Abigail aka Moonchild aka Drive Me Mercury
Email: abigail@makenai.org
Rating: PG-13
Chapter started: 2-17-03 Chapter ended: 2-22-03
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon and all characters and settings belong to the one-and-only Naoko Takeuchi. All created characters and plots within this story are my own.
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*Chapter 3*
-Going Backwards-
A shadowed hand pulled open the desk drawer, trying desperately to be quiet as possible. There were probably no people awake in that entire quarter of the palace, but still she cringed at every smallest noise she accidentally made. A small flashlight guided her actions in the otherwise pitch-black room. With confident movements that showed she knew what she was looking for and exactly where it was, she pulled out pens, staplers, boxes of paper clips, and other such common items, placing them on the desk's smooth surface. With the drawer now cleaned out, her small hand reached in, running over the back, the bottom, the sides of the container. She knew it was here somewhere, she'd even seen Setsuna reach in and put…
There. She felt the panel give way under her fingers as a secret compartment opened up. She pulled out her treasure, cold and hard against her palm. It was a small key, with stylized engravings and encrusted with small jewels.
Soft fingers wrapped around the cool metal.
Now, to put her plan into action.
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Setsuna woke startled to the shrill cry of the alarm that filled her bedroom. Groggily she dragged herself out from under the warm covers to silence the machine that was networked with her office and the time chamber. Pulling on a robe, she wondered softly to herself, "What on Earth…?"
Her swift footsteps covered the distance between her bedroom and office several hallways away. As her mind cast off the fogginess of sleep and started thinking more clearly, more questions and an underlying worry began to form. There had been no indications of trouble in Time since Crystal Tokyo was born, and certainly not recently. Perhaps a malfunction of the alarm? But even that seemed unlikely.
Opening her office door, the same shrill alarm greeted her ears. Setsuna winced as she flipped the light switch and reached for the button that would turn off the piercing noise. That accomplished, she swept her eyes over the office momentarily and gave a sharp intake of breath when her fears were confirmed, and she saw the bare drawer with its secret compartment exposed. With just two touches to her control panel, a view of the Time Gates jumped onto the screen. There was no stirring of human nor creature in the realm of Time, and to the untrained eye everything seemed peaceful and untouched as it had for thousands of years. But in front of the timeless gates a glow was slowly fading – evidence that someone or something had been active in the time warp just minutes earlier.
Setsuna spoke as the realization struck her.
"She wouldn't have… "
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The first thing Miya did… was panic.
And rightly so. She had landed in 20th century Tokyo with no money, no friends, and no clue how she was going to find her real parents. Not only that, but she was sure she had overshot her birthdate by nearly a whole year. No one had ever told her time travel was such a precision art. The plan had seemed so brilliant when she first conceived it on impulse, but now it struck her in the pits of her stomach that she had no idea what her parents looked like or what their names were. There were thousands of couples together on this sunny afternoon in Tokyo. Which one was –her- mom and dad?
Maybe she should have begged Setsuna for more information. She asked a random person for today's date: August 4, 1997. She wouldn't be born for another eleven months. No one in this time even knew she would exist. Now Miya had nothing to do but fret over this huge oversight on her part. She couldn't very well walk up to any of the passing couples on the sidewalk and ask, "Hey, do you know if I'm your future daughter?" For the first time in her life, she felt utterly, entirely, lost and alone.
She wasn't even entirely sure how to get back home, but she was putting all her trust into the key for that. She kept one hand in her pocket wrapped around the metal object, almost frightened to death of losing it. She had no idea where to go next, but an emerging stubborn streak prevented her from immediately returning to Crystal Tokyo. It was strange looking to the east and not seeing the towering spires of the Crystal Palace dominating the skyline. This place was almost like another planet, and yet oddly the same.
Miya paused to gaze at her face reflected in a shop window. Stubby, turned-up nose, large, slightly slanted blue eyes, black hair tinted blue in the sunlight… she looked around but didn't see one adult that even resembled her. She decided to look a little more, but the chances of actually finding the right person seemed hopeless. With a pout she continued walking and window shopping – might as well enjoy a little fun and freedom before she figured out how to return to her own time.
But surely… there had to be some way to find them. Right?
She wandered for an hour, watching people, peeking into stores, and giggling at a few 20th century fashion fads. She came upon a street that she recognized, though it had changed – a place where she had been before with Setsuna. There was a small park nearby, and at that moment there seemed to be a large crowd gathering. Curious, she stood on tiptoes, only managing to make out that there was some sort of stage set up in the center of the park. Drawn toward the area by some unexplainable urge, Miya picked up her pace. As she came nearer, the smooth notes of a song flowing through the air found her ears.
…Passing through the distant night sky
Now I'll wish on a shooting star
Whispering 'I want to be with you'
Please tell this to her, starlight…
The crowd was packed together in front of her so that she couldn't get a glimpse of anything but a row of human behinds. She tried to squeeze, push, slither, her way through somehow without being extremely rude but didn't manage to get very far. Taking advantage of her small size, she finally made progress crawling through people's legs, although she stepped on quite a few feet and even got her own fingers tromped once. Somehow she emerged unscathed barely an arm's reach from the stage. The music could be heard clear and loud here so close to the speaker system.
Search for your love
A ship floats adrift
She could see now that there were three singers on the stage – young men in different colored suits, faces twisted in passion, only in song letting their true emotion shine through for all to see as they poured all their soul into one melody. The lead singer was a dark-haired man in red, with a ponytail like the two others. As Miya watched him she thought she had never heard a voice so beautiful. It's deep, rich sounds were stirring up a warmth inside her heart, a warmth like she had never felt before – beginning coiled in the depths of her stomach and washing over her being like the gentle waves of the ocean.
Search for your love
In the madness
And yet… she felt sad. The man's eyes opened for moment in the middle of his song, and for the briefest second, his sapphire eyes met with hers. The feeling was unexplainable. In that moment, Miya felt as if she could glimpse his soul – the conflict, the passion, the longing… there was a message he needed to convey to her. As the warmth turned to fire…
Swept out to you…
Everything else seemed to fade away until there was nothing but the music… the –sight- of the music, the –touch- of the music.
Violence. Destruction. …Death. A blur of horrified faces, and the pungent smell of evil. The clash of weapons, and the blood of pain.
Then escape. A darkened sky. The dim color of sadness. Desperation… clinging… searching…
Loneliness.
Can you hear my voice calling?
Where are you now?
My princess…
Princess? Were they calling to her? 'Am I a princess? It feels as if they are reaching out to me… yet I can't reach back, and I can't answer.' Who was this lady they were searching for? The fire in her heart burned, enveloped by the music. A vision wavered before her closed eyes – long, flowing hair, a gentle smile… Miya was comforted by her very presence, this woman who was friend, guardian, and lover.
Answer me
Right away
Answer me
So gently…
Where are you, mysterious princess? Your soldiers are longing to see you. Come back to them once more…
Miya wanted, needed to reach out to them, comfort them, but she didn't know how. She felt an unexplainable connection to the three on stage, like a long-lost twin you never knew you had. Someone who could –feel-; someone who could –understand-. And there was a force inside her stirring, burning, wanting to be…
Released.
Miya opened her eyes as if awaking from a dream. The crowd around her was shouting, she realized, as the noise gradually seeped into her consciousness. The song had ended and the men on stage were now talking to the audience. A lingering feeling in her chest left Miya to wonder what had just happened. Had she fallen asleep and dreamed? The thump of her heart told her otherwise, and the vision had seemed so real. She looked around her to see if anyone else had been affected in the same way, but no one else even noticed the short girl beside them, happily chattering as they watched the concert. Miya's eyes turned again to the figures on stage.
She tugged at the shirtsleeve of the girl beside her. "Ne… who are they?"
The teenager stared at her like she had just walked off a UFO. "You don't know? It's Three Lights, of course!"
"Oh…" She looked up at the man in red again, laughing now as he flirted with the crowd. Miya puzzled how his careless attitude now could contrast so much with the depth of feeling she had heard in his song just seconds before, making her wonder if she had imagined it all. "And who is he?"
"The lead singer? That's Seiya Kou. He's sixteen and he's the most popular of the three. And best of all, he's a Leo! Isn't he just the hottest?" the girl gushed.
The trio was waving to the fans now as they prepared to leave. As he turned before disappearing behind stage, Miya recalled the eyes that had met hers for only a moment.
"Seiya Kou…"
