It is I, Jjah-Jjah! Hey, maybe now that I've finished this, more people will review. All hail the Small Lady and Helios pairing! Muahahaha! Reviews!
brae: Thank you. Glad you like my portrayal… Well… Here's the rest, finally…
crazyhanyoued: Thank you for reviewing! And yes! The end is finally here! Muahahaha!
Kerichi: Gee, thanks! (blushes) I dunno if the portrayal of Helios is going to be that radical. Anyhow, everything is from Chibi Usa's perspective, so we don't really kno what he's thinking, only what he says… So, in theory, he could be pretty messed up… I'm thinking I might write another story that delves more into his character, but not incredibly soon.
YamiClara: (Giggles back insanely…) Thank you for the review:D
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Disclaimer: Sailor Moon belongs to what's-her-face… And that's not me…
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Breakfast is a wonderful time of the day…
Ok, I'm a glutton. I'll admit it. In my defense, it's hereditary. I love foods of all kinds and I always enjoy trying something new. However, on this particular morning food was the absolute farthest thing from my mind.
"Are you sure you're not hungry Small Lady?"
"Are you sick?"
"Is the world coming to an end?"
I blinked at all the people around the table, exasperated. What was wrong with not being hungry? Granted yes, I normally had about three to four helpings at breakfast, but life is about change! I know. I read it on the back of a matchbox.
"I'm perfectly fine everyone!" I smiled and tried to look normal. Gah! The hardest possible thing in the world to do has to be trying to act normal when you feel like running into the sunset screaming like a giddy fool.
"As long as you're alright." My mother's voice always carried even though it wasn't particularly loud. It was as if the air itself were trying to cling to the fading reverberations of sound because they were so beautiful. I smiled and my mother and nodded.
Neo Queen Serenity. I have never understood how she transformed from silly Usagi to angelic perfection. I had always thought that the same royal air would come to me with age, but now as I stand on the threshold I think I've decided that it's something that I don't really want. I wonder sometimes if when Usagi changed into Serenity, if she didn't lose a part of herself. At least I'll always know that even if I remain always as angsty, and clumsy and imperfect as I am, I'll always be me. At least I have that.
The rest of the meal went on uneventfully. I stayed for a while, so as not to arouse any suspicion that I was up to something. Which I was very surprised I succeeded at, actually… Either everyone was preoccupied with something else or I'm a much better actress than I give myself credit for. Anyway, I excused myself at the first opportunity and soon as I got out of seeing distance, I rocketed to my room, slamming and locking the door behind me.
I stood there for quite a while, leaning against the intricately carved paneling, too scared to start moving to the closest where all my hopes were hidden. What if it wasn't there anymore? What if it had all been a hallucination from lack of sleep? What if it had been a side-affect of those pizza-mushroom-cheddar puff things I had eaten early last night? Crappity, crap, crap, crap.
One step.
Why now? Why now when I was so insecure with myself?
Two steps.
Against my will, I actually wished that I had become the beautiful, elegant, flawless, woman that I was not. I smacked myself in the head immediately afterwards…
Three steps.
How had it gotten into my room? Had he brought it here? Was it some kind of sadistic conspiracy concocted by my family and/or friends? Beamed in by aliens? Stolen from Elysion by packrats and cashed in my room by mere chance?
Several more steps that I'm too lazy to relate.
Holy frigging crap! I'm freaking out! I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die! The frikken thing is right inside my wardrobe! Or is it? … Oh, shit! It's going to be gone when I get there isn't it! Yup… That's the way life is: your hopes get up and then they're CRUSHED! They're crushed so bad…
My hand rested against the wardrobe door for a moment, and then I opened it. My clothes were wadded up at the bottom just as I left them. I reached down, my whole arm trembling, and pulled the cloth back.
And there it was. I picked it up with both hands and pulled it from its hiding place, not daring to take my eyes from it in case it decided to disappear. Rabid butterflies were having their sadistic way with my stomach and I felt a little bit light headed. The room spun for a moment as I sunk to the floor, my skirts billowing out around me like a mushroom. The Stallion Reve's base made a metallic sound as it connected with the marble floor. I took my hands away from the sides and almost immediately an almost tangible hush settled over the room, followed by a slight chill. All I could hear was my own breathing; all I could feel was my own heartbeat. I felt strangely hypersensitive; I was aware of the very atmosphere around me, yet I was unaware. My hands hovered over the sphere at the top of the Reve for a single moment. A slight not-glow had started, the kind that can only be seen behind the eyelids, emitting the tiniest bit of heat. Then my hands were drawn to the sphere as if by magnets and everything turned white.
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There was no sense of time.
I don't remember how long I lay there, my eyes closed, aware, but unwilling to admit it. I felt as if I were enveloped in a cloud, light as a feather.
Feathers.
Once again, the images of my dream floated up from the watery darkness. Behind my eyelids white spots appeared and as they slowly fell towards me they turned into feathers. They fell against my skin like velvet snow. I opened my eyes.
Not feathers. Petals. A strange vine, absolutely loaded with heavy-looking white blossoms threaded through with purple, loomed over me like some kind of protective canopy. I blinked up at it for a while, understandably confused, and then slowly stood. A sweet smelling breeze came up, making my skirts ripple as I surveyed my surroundings. I had been resting at the base of a lovely moss-covered goddess statue; the flowering vine was twisted around it so that it looked like some kind of exotic tree. She was smiling at me. The statue tree and I stood at the apex of a green rounded hill; apparently the highest point for some distance. A beautiful forest stretched out all around me, dotted with colors I could only guess were hundreds of flowers. The atmosphere, and I mean literally, sparkled.
I had never seen such a beautiful place in my life.
Not even Crystal Tokyo could hold a candle to this. I spun around and smiled like an idiot… Why was I here again?
Wait a minute… Breakfast, mad dash, Stallion Reve, twilight zone moment, transport to…Oz? Yep. That sounded about right. Now what?
"Follow the yellow brick road!" I didn't realize I'd said it aloud till it echoed back to me. Ok… Small Lady, it's time to get down from the high places and go find your sanity. Too bad I didn't have Diana with me. She would have made the perfect Toto. Alrighty then. Down the hill I go.
There wasn't any kind of path anywhere, so I simply picked a direction and started down. The grass was dewy, so I had to hold my dress up and pick my way carefully to keep it dry. As it was, I soon discovered that my silk shoes were no ruby slippers. They were soaked through in the little time it took for me to get down the hill. Once I got to the base, I found a conveniently placed large rock, which I sat on and pulled off my shoes. I didn't really feel like carrying them, and god knew I could stand to lose a pair after all those shoe-shopping excursions Sailor Venus had dragged me on, so I lined them up neatly on the rock and walked barefoot into the forest.
There's just something about walking barefoot through a forest. I'm not quite sure what it is… Maybe it's a feeling of being at home. Truthfully, I had never felt more at home anywhere than I felt in that forest. I walked for a while, I don't know how long, but I never did get tired. The trees surrounding me were thin, young, and very tall. They hadn't looked overly tall on top of the hill, but now that I was below them I felt like a rabbit among giants. (Ok, bad pun…) I could see the morning sun beginning to climb through the greenery far above. At some point, I became aware of a faint noise and being as I didn't have any appointments, I followed it.
The closer I came, the more unmistakable I realized the sound was. When the waterfall came into view, I wasn't really surprised, but I was in awe. It was beautiful. Heck, everything around here was beautiful. The water looked white like snow, as it cascaded down in a thick ribbon into deep pool below it. As I neared, I couldn't quite understand it. There was no water draining off the pool that I could see, yet despite all the water going into it, it didn't overflow. The pool itself was nearly perfectly round and it seethed with bubbles like soda pop. Was it hot? I kneeled down next to the pool, the spray of the waterfall dampening my face, and held a hand a few experimental inches above the water. When I didn't feel any heat, I dipped my fingers in and giggled. It felt so nice! Funny, but nice. It was a lovely cool temperature and the bubbles tickled.
Another strange thing about the pool was that despite the disturbance the bubbles made, I could see my reflection as perfectly as if I were looking in a mirror. It was the stereotypical unicorn's pool; strange and beautiful. At that moment, I could no longer deny where I was.
I had seen Elysion. At least I think so. When Helios was Pegasus he had often shown me his kingdom in my dreams, but Elysion had been in tatters then. It had been encased in the ice of Nehellenia's wrath. Besides, I had almost always seen it from an airborne perspective. Too bad I couldn't call back up those wings that Pegasus had given Usagi and me that one time. Then maybe I would have been able to recognize something.
But in any case, I was sure that I was somehow in the world of dreams. I peered at my reflection as I thought. Ok. I had evidently been sucked here through the Stallion Reve. So, whoever had put the thing in my room wanted me to come here… But it couldn't have been Helios, right? I mean, he would have probably been waiting for me instead of leaving me to wander around aimlessly. My parents could have done it, they certainly have the power, but I hadn't seen any indications that something was going on a breakfast this morning. Usually I can tell when they're up to something. There's no one else, is there? Maybe Puu, but I just can't see her as being the type to just dump me here. She would have probably visited me and talked to me about it first. I don't know anyone else who would be able to pull this off…
Owie. My head hurt. A part of me screamed that I should be careful, on guard, but another part of me just told me to savor the experience while it lasted. Hadn't I always wanted to come here? Funny, it was almost a kind of…dream…of mine… I shook my head hard, squeezing my eyes shut, setting my pigtails whipping like lethal missiles. I stared intently at my refection and noted what I saw.
Cone-shaped rabbit ears pointing skyward, complemented by long, thin streamers and curving bangs that framed a crescent moon. Gigantic blood-red eyes. A thin, yet lamentably short figure swathed in pink silk. I reached up and ran my fingers over the smooth surface of my crescent moon birthright and stared myself in the eyes with a seriousness that was somehow wrong.
I am looking waaaay too far into this.
Ok. In the dream world, alone in the woods, sitting by a waterfall, no idea what direction Helios might be in…
Time for a swim.
So, I twisted my pigtails around my head, to keep them from getting wet, in a manner that most likely would have made anyone that saw them burst into hysterical laughter before dying from a brain aneurysm because of the lack of oxygen. What can I say? Dealing with hair as long as mine sometimes forces one to become creative, and sometimes creativity just goes wrong… Anyway, then I looked around to make sure I wasn't being spied upon, and took off my dress, laying it on a nearby rock so it wouldn't get wet. Finally, I slipped into the water.
Brrrrrrrrroo ga-ha!
Is that a word? Probably not, but that was the first thing that sprung into my mind. The water was so fizzy! And cool! And fizzy! And cool and fizzy and fizzy and cool… In case you haven't figured it out by now, it was really nice. It kind of reminded me of one of those massaging shower-heads, but coming from every direction. I crossed one arm protectively over my chest, held onto the side of the pool with the other, and simply floated, closing my eyes and tilting my head skyward in complete bliss. I allowed my worries, cares, hopes, and fears to slip away.
I hadn't really planned on going underwater, that was the entire point of the ridiculous tying up of the hair, but I guess I wasn't thinking clearly or something. Maybe I was held prisoner under the hypnosis of the bubbles, I dunno. So, without any conscious thought, I held my breath, let go of the side, and slid beneath the water. I didn't move or fight the water's stirrings. The current worked my pigtails free; I felt one brush against my bare arm. My eyes were closed, so as far as I knew, I could have been only a few inches from the surface, or it could be feet. I didn't know. I didn't care. I opened my eyes and saw white.
White? Bubbles, the spray of the waterfall. They danced and swirled and seethed far above me, like feathers twirling in the wind. Feathers? Yes, they were feathers. Before my eyes the silvery little spheres lengthened and whitened and then the water just beyond my reach was thick with feathers.
I kicked my legs, adrenaline giving them a strength that surprised me. I reached upwards, hands outstretched. Only a little bit further.
My hands touched nothing. My head broke the surface, I dragged in a huge lungful of air, and the waterfall thundered down on my head. The feathers were gone. Shakily, I pulled myself out of the poll and lay there for a moment, catching my breath and waiting for my body to adjust from the weightless feeling that you get from being in the water. Eventually, I realized I was naked and pulled my dress back on, despite the fact that I was still wet. My hair had thankfully stayed in its proper style. (Hey, if the official moon hairstyle can stay in place through youma attack and apocalypse, what's a waterfall going to do?) Hopefully, the sun would dry out my clothes as I walked. And walk I did.
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It took a while, before I realized that since Elysion is at the center of the earth, it had no sun. There was this bright thing that seemed to serve the same purpose, but it wasn't really a sun. I could tell because I stared straight at it for fifteen whole minutes, blinking sparingly, and my eyes aren't ruined. And as for my clothes and hair drying? Heh, heh, heh… Yeah… That worked out just peachy keen.
I had been walking for about half an hour when the rain started. I call it rain, because I'm not sure what else to call it. It wasn't quite the same thing as rain as I'd known it before. Usually rain is just usually, you know, drops of water falling from the sky, pretty straightforward. Yet this rain was more of a mist. It wasn't a fog, because a fog hangs around, it's static. This mist moved like rain, from the sky to the ground, but the droplets were very fine, almost as if it wasn't really water at all. And it didn't make things look gloomy either. I took refuge under a large tree that looked at the base to be a whole bunch of small trees whose canopies blended together into one. It kind of looked like an umbrella, and it certainly acted like one. I sat on a protruding root, rested my chin on the heel of my hand and looked out over a world that was bright and beautiful. It was like looking at the world through a living veil. I wonder what it would be like to live here.
My musings were interrupted by a nearby trilling sound just to my right. I looked, and perched right near me was a strange little bird. I blinked, it blinked. How alike we were… Really, though. We actually were the same color. It was hot pink, looked something like a sparrow, and had long dark yellow crest on the top of its head that raised and lowered with its expressions. It cocked its head, looked at me appraisingly.
"Hello." I said, wanting to be polite just in case this was some magical talking dream-bird that I was speaking to. "Pleased to meet you. My name is Small Lady." The yellow crest rose vertically and it blinked at me. I guess that means, 'Hi, how are ya? Nice to meet you too.', in bird talk. Suddenly, the little guy chirruped and another little bird flew down from the top of the tree a few moments later. It perched right next to the other bird, chirruped back a greeting, and peered at me too. This one was a tad bit smaller than the other, and was black instead of pink. It didn't have a crest, but it did have several neon green and blue vertical stripes going down its head and back. Funny. I always thought that vertical stripes were supposed to be slimming, but this little dude was rather chubby. And cute, I might add. I smiled at him and bowed slightly. He clucked and blinked at me for a bit, till both of them spontaneously flew over and perched on me. The pink one went for my shoulder and the black one landed on my knee.
Alright. I had the approval of the natives. Now its time to get some answers. "Excuse me, but have either of you seen…a Pegasus? I need to find him." It seemed to me that Pegasus might hang out with birds… Hey, it's possible…
The two of them looked at one another, looked at me, and then took off in tandem again. I thought at first that they had decided that I smelled bad or something and were ditching me, but as they reached the edge of the canopy they stopped and hovered, waiting for me to follow. Not being one to disappoint, I did.
Considering how colorful they were, they were darn easy to follow, even in the mist. They led me to a huge mass of orange canna flowers. At least I recognized a little bit of the plant life. There, they stopped, and perched on the big glossy leaves chattering excitedly to one another. Ok… Either these birds didn't actually understand me at all and were now laughing at my expense, or Helios had turned into a flower patch. Well crap. I started to go back to the tree and get out of the rain, but then I noticed something caught in the flowers. Something white…
I looked closer. It was still there. Slowly, afraid it would disappear; I picked up the long white feather and held it to my breast. It was so soft; it felt so familiar. I was holding a piece of him in my hands. The realization stopped me cold, stopped me breathing. My legs almost collapsed beneath me. So close. So very, very close. My hand trembled, and I looked at the birds with what must've been my heart in my eyes, because without a sound they took off and led me on.
It was only a few moments. It had to have only been a few moments. They led me around a few trees, and what might have been a wall, but I couldn't tell because it was so covered with climbing yellow flowers. Then, as if I had stepped through a portal, before me a lovely flowering garden and what could only be a sprawling temple appeared. My avian entourage let out a few tweets of farewell and disappeared. I stood there, wide-eyed, barefoot, soaking wet, and clutching a feather as if it were my very soul. I probably looked a horrible mess, but I didn't give a damn. I felt like a string was tied to my thudding heart and I was being pulled down a predetermined path into the garden. There were too many different kinds of flowers to mention or notice. I only had one thing in mind. Then, out of the mist, the form of an intricately carved white gazebo emerged.
And there, standing in the center, looking skyward with a solemn expression on his beautiful face, was the man of my dreams.
"Helios."
After I said his name, I saw his eyes widen. He turned and looked straight at me. Our eyes met for what seemed like an eternity. Then, he blinked, and blinked again. He rubbed his lovely amber eyes with one hand and then looked at me again, the astonishment on his face growing with every second.
"Maiden?"
He said it so softly, I barely heard him. I smiled sadly, I was just about ready to cry, and nodded. For a moment there was disbelief. Then he made a little sound, I'm not sure exactly what it was, but it broke my heart. He quickly stepped out of the gazebo, into the rain with me. We stood only mere feet apart. He had aged a bit since I had seen him last. Most noticeably, he was a bit taller. His silvery hair rippled a bit in the wind as if it was water, and his golden horn glinted in the light. I could've just stared at him for hours… I could've, but I didn't.
"Long time, no see, huh?" I smiled.
"Yes… It's been…quite a while…"
I took a step forward, another step forward, and another. I fingered the feather in my hands as if it were a magic talisman. He must have noticed, because he looked down at my hands and his eyes widened fractionally. To my surprise, I found myself standing in front of him, looking up into his eyes.
"I missed you…" There, I said it. The cards were on the table. It was make or break time.
He said nothing. He simply stared down at me with a stunned look on his face.
That did it… I couldn't stop the tears. I ducked my head and looked down at my toes before he could see. "Do you know my dreams, Helios?" I whispered. "For all these years I've waited to see you when I close my eyes. I haven't. I…I really missed you… Can't you please just say any—."
Before I could finish my self-righteous, teary tirade, I felt warm hands cup both my cheeks and tilt my head upwards. Before I knew it, his lips were on my own and my dreams were coming true.
Yowzers.
What a kiss! I tingled all over and my head spun with the sweetness of it all. We drew together as if we were being bound and I wrapped my arms around him. Last time I had embraced him, I had had to wrap my arms around his waist. Now I reached his chest… Huzzah for small advantages! Then came the point where intelligent thought completely dissolved. The only thing running through my head was how good he smelled, a combination of rain, sandalwood incense, and a distinctive sweet horsy smell. I was in heaven.
And all too soon it was over.
Our lips parted and I opened my eyes to stare up into golden orbs of barely masked pain. "I'm sorry." He said. He tried to pull away, but I held onto him. "I've wanted to do that for over a thousand years, but… You must understand… I always thought…"
"Thought what?" I prompted.
His bangs covered his eyes. "I'd thought that you'd forgotten me…"
"What!" How the hell could he have thought that!
"Most I visit forget me eventually… They grow, and their dreams change, and they forget all about me. There's no reason to believe that something as strange as a winged horse is anything but fantasy. I didn't think that you would be any different. I'm sorry, please forgive me." A warm raindrop fell on my cheek. "I never looked in on your dreams, because I thought they'd be too painful. The thought of you dreaming of another was…too much to bear…"
My wonderful Helios was crying. I reached up and wiped his tears away. He looked at me, startled, as if he had not expected me to touch him. "It's alright, but you should have known better…" I smiled. "I couldn't forget you like the others because I love you."
His smile was slow and warmed me like the sunrise. I felt as if I were a willing prisoner inside that stunning glow.
"Small Lady, Chibi Usa, Usagi, my Maiden…" He trailed off, and drew me close, his head lowering towards mine, and just before we kissed, he whispered against my lips.
"I love you…"
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Well, yeah… At some point, Helios eventually noticed that I was soaking wet, so he ushered me inside his temple and proceeded to pamper me. He found me a dry robe to wear while so my dress could be cleaned and dried, and I had let my hair down so that it would dry faster. Now, we sat together on some sort of comfy couch thing, drinking this spiffy hot cider-tea drink and just talked. It was nice.
"By the way, how did you get here?"
I blinked. "Don't you know?"
"No. It was quite the surprise, though a pleasant one, I might add."
I blushed instantly, and then recounted the tale of how I found the Stallion Reve and what happened after. "I wonder who put it there…" I mused aloud. Helios shrugged and smiled thoughtfully.
"I don't know, but I'm certainly glad they did." He leaned in for another kiss, and I obliged him.
So, here I am, wearing nothing but a borrowed robe, sitting on a couch kissing a unicorn boy, I have no idea exactly how I got here, and my parents and friends have no idea where I am… Who cares?
I'm happy…
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The End…
Kind of…
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Meanwhile, elsewhere in Elysion…
"I told you it would work! I told you, I told you, I told you!"
"Ok, ok, you were right. Don't rub it in…"
"Are you sure that's that kid? I mean, she's hot."
"I am a total genius!"
"Of course it's her, kids do grow up you know… Besides, he wouldn't have recognized her if she hadn't been the one, but he did recognize her, so she has to be the one!"
"…"
"…"
"Never mind…"
"Yeah. Anyway, he was just so lonely! It would have been cruel not to help!"
"You can say that again. Besides, watching him mope around was just so depressing…"
"I mean, think about it… We've probably just done the world a great favor. Without Helios, there would be no one to take care of the people of earth's beautiful dreams, and then all sorts of horrible things might happen!"
"That was a good job of slipping it into her room, by the way."
"We aim to please! You have no idea how hard it was to slip in there without those sailor senshi noticing!"
"Alright! What do we do now?"
"I dunno. We could go spy on them."
"That's evil."
"So? We can do evil."
"Well, I guess you're right. If we get caught, we can always say we were chaperoning. It'll get us in good with the royals."
"Amazon Trio away!"
And it was thus, that Fisheye, Tiger's-eye, and Hawk's-eye concocted and carried off their dastardly scheme…
The End. (Again.)
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Oh my God… Did I write all that fluff? It was fluff, wasn't it? Dang… I never thought I'd be able to do it… Well, hopefully it doesn't suck too bad. At least it's finally finished! R&R. Tata, JJ.