THE SECOND MOBIUS
Book Two of Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon CosmicStars
by Nashie (aka ShadowSamurai)
May 2000 – September 2000
Revised - Winter 2001
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon and her friends belong to Naoko Takeuchi. The author takes no credit for any of the original storyline. However, all the new characters belong to me and I'd appreciate it if you didn't take any without requesting permission.
Episode 224: Secrets of the revelation? Soldiers of the gemstones unite!
"Lovely, lovely," a voice echoed through the darkness. A tall blonde sailor stepped from the shadows. She had a different sailor fuku than the sailor senshi. Her own sailor fuku was in various shades of shimmering yellow. Her brooch was star-shaped with the zodiac sign of Libra intertwined with the sign of Venus. She wore a sheer golden skirt panels, under a golden sailor skirt and white sailor boots that reached her knees. Her pale blonde hair was pulled into two braided pigtails that reached her thighs, where the ends were tied with two yellow ribbons. She smiled. "Nice work."
"Thank you Sailor Libra," a high pitched voice said eagerly from the darkness. A petite pink-haired woman wearing a similar sailor senshi outfit of rose colors walked forward. She smiled and her blue eyes sparkled. "Your comment is greatly appreciated."
"Yes, of course," Libra replied, her gold eyes narrowing. She smiled grimly. "Now, how exactly do you expect this to work?" Cancer stared at the golden-haired young woman and then at the weapon that was in her hands. It was black scepter with silver designs etched on it. The orb on the base of the scepter was made of black tinted glass. Black demon-like wings spread from the base of the orb.
"Ah, it's called the Oracle Mace," Cancer said slowly, stroking the orb with her gloved hand. "It's used to destroy those bothersome traitors of the revelation and their bratty sailor pals." Libra shook her head in disgust.
"Can you actually believe they were part of the zodiac soldiers?" she murmured, clucking her tongue. "They fight with the moon princess for goodness sakes. I mean, who would want to fight with a petite, air-headed, crybaby, klutz of a princess when they had so much going for them over here? I bet it's their fault we couldn't find our true princess. They left us so long ago to cope by ourselves. What were they thinking?"
"Well, they'll be getting their punishment," Cancer replied, firmly gripping the scepter. "But our main concern is finding that taboo talisman before they do. They find it, well, that just about spells it for us." Libra shook her head.
"Supposedly, Aquarius and Pisces went out looking for four gullible humans who can help is in this search. I doubt they will find someone who would betray their own species."
"Doubting, Sailor Libra?" a voice asked sarcastically through the darkness. "Maybe you should find out what's going on…" Aquarius appeared in the room, leviating upside down above them, "…before you assume it." Libra glared at dark blue-suited Aquarius as she flipped down and landed gracefully on her feet.
"I have yet to ask you, Aquarius."
"What are you doing, talking to the peppermint?" Aquarius asked, meaning Cancer. Cancer's eyes flared.
"Don't call me that!" she wined. She stomped her foot, her cheeks large in pout. "I'm not a peppermint." Aquarius rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, sure," she replied. "Both you and Sailor Aries look like peppermints." Then she looked around quickly. "Just don't tell Aries I said that. She might kill me or something." Libra sighed at Aquarius' hotheaded remarks. She wondered who on earth her twin was like. She shuddered at the thought of two Aquarius'.
"Hello, Cancer to Libra," Cancer shouted in her soprano voice. She stared at Libra with large blue eyes. "Didn't you hear what Aquarius said? She and Pisces found four people." Libra nodded, the golden pools that were her eyes amused.
"You did something right, no?" Libra asked. Aquarius glared at the golden-haired soldier with fierce green eyes and turned her back. Her pale blue hair bounced softly against her waist as she left in anger.
"I think you set her nerve off again," Cancer replied, tugging one of her rose tresses eagerly. "You're in for it!" Libra sighed and walked out of the room, her footsteps sounding light on the floor. Cancer quickly scampered to catch up.
"Hey, wait up!" a voice called from behind. A gorgeous turquoise-haired girl came running up to the couple. She glared at them. "Aquarius been here yet?" Libra nodded and the girl groaned.
"Why do you hate her so much, Pisces?" Cancer asked, once again tugging a rose curl. "I mean, I can see that she's charming and sarcastic and hot-headed, but other than that, why should you hate her?"
"Hate her?" Pisces asked, her green eyes glistening. "I don't hate her. I just dislike her."
"Same difference."
Pisces sighed. "They always say opposites attract, but they couldn't be more wrong. I'm the exact opposite of that brat. I'm not charming and I'm not sarcastic and I'm not hot-headed." Cancer and Libra shared a look. That wasn't true. Pisces was quite charming, quite sarcastic, and quite cold.
"Then she goes and finds four dead humans and says they're gullible!" Pisces hissed. "But somehow, she'll convince the princess she's right. Ugh, I totally hate her!"
"A minute ago it was disliked," Libra brooded. Pisces stared at her.
"Whatever I said, I don't like her," she replied as all three of them stepped into a large room. Black marble columns surrounded the room, ending in exquisite designs overhead. A throne was near the back of the room. A young woman sat in it her unbelievably long black hair cascading behind her. Four other senshi were inside the room, waiting for the three.
"You're late, Pisces," Aquarius teased, her green eyes flickering. Pisces glowered at her. Turning back to the princess, Aquarius bowed gracefully. "Princess, I have done what you've requested…" Pisces cleared her throat and Aquarius smiled, "…we've done what you requested and have found four eligible bodies."
"Bodies?" the princess asked, her voice sounding eerie and unnatural. "What do you mean 'bodies'?"
Aquarius didn't even falter. She stood and looked the princess straight in the eye.
"I mean, they're dead," Aquarius replied. "I found them dead and realized that it'd be easier to handle them. We can erase their memories and they'll be easier to convince that they work for us."
"Haven't you realized," Pisces suddenly flared as she strode up to the taller soldier, "that these people could've been famous in their previous lives? If they're suddenly back from the dead, there's going to be something seriously wrong with that!" Aquarius smiled.
"I'm always one step ahead of you, love," Aquarius said, tugging gently at one of Pisces' teal curls. Pisces blushed, furious. Aquarius turned back towards the princess. "You can change their appearance easily. It will, of course, require some power, but I'm positive this will work." The princess stared at the blue-haired soldier and considered her proposal.
"And if these humans recall their past lives?" she asked. Aquarius grinned and Pisces glared at her hatefully.
"They die," Aquarius replied, her deep voice sounding fairly amused. "They can't support life without this light so…" She let her voice trail off. Pisces wondered about the girl. Always smart, always casual and charming. She hated this perfect girl with the perfect attitude. Brat.
"Where are these four you talk of?" the princess asked. She stood up and walked from her throne until she was face to face with Aquarius and Pisces. Her green eyes glittered. Pisces felt uneasy in the presence of the royal princess of the zodiac, a title that did not rightly belong to her.
Suddenly, Pisces felt warmth against her hand and looked down. Aquarius had grabbed her hand and was staring down at her with glittering green eyes. "Be strong, Pisces," she mouthed then let go of her hand.
Pisces stared open mouthed at the girl. Her hand was tingling from Aquarius' touch. She thought that Aquarius hated her as much she hated Aquarius. But, after seeing that look of affection in those green eyes, some of those thoughts glided away briefly.
"Here are the bodies," Aquarius said, kneeling down on one knee. Stunned, Pisces also kneeled down and her hand brushed up against Aquarius'. The same shivering feeling spread up her arm. "They are in excellent condition so I suppose they've only been dead for a couple of days."
There were four bright lights in the room and the senshi covered their eyes. Blinking profusely, the princess opened her eyes and turned behind her. Four bodies, radiant from an individual aura, floated lifelessly behind her. She approached one that was surrounded in a very pale aura, showing that she was dead.
"These outfits…" the princess whispered, gently touching the black fabric of a dark-haired girl who looked no older than ten. "These must be what humans call the latest fashions. Quite odd, if you ask me." She nodded in approval. Aquarius and Pisces rose to their feet.
Sailor Aries was staring at the four bodies, her violet eyes dark. Her deep violet hair, held in numerous braided pigtails, reached down to her waist. Her sailor outfit was designed in red. "I have a bad feeling about them, Sagittarius." she whispered to the pale green-haired soldier standing next to her.
"Shhh," the tall girl whispered, her brown eyes regarding the four bodies. Her hair was rather short, ending just above her shoulder. "I have no premonition, Aries. So just be quiet and listen." Aries, stubborn and fiery tempered, said nothing.
"I wonder what the big deal is," Virgo groaned, pulling at her dark blue ponytail. Her outfit was indigo and she seemed rather bored. She smacked her gum loudly before blowing a huge pink bubble that popped and covered her entire face. Pulling the goo off, she smiled grimly. "I mean, I really don't care about conquering this tiny planet." Libra shook her head.
"We're not conquering anything," she reminded all of them. "We're here to save ourselves from dying. And perhaps finding our true princess instead of that brat over there." Cancer nodded and sighed.
"That had better be it," she said, grasping the Oracle Mace firmly. "I'm not willing to work my behind off to try this again."
"You are so lazy," Virgo said, sticking another piece of gum in her mouth. "I mean, come on. Do it 'till you get it right, Cancer."
"I don't wanna!"
"Oh, stop your whining," Sagittarius groaned, clapping her hands over her ears. "If I didn't know any better I think your twin was that princess of the moon, Serenity." Cancer stopped crying and stared at the green-haired soldier in horror.
"No, no, NO!" she cried, her blue eyes hysterical. "Never that whining crybaby!" The taller girls looked at each other.
"Then stop crying!"
Cancer stopped.
Aquarius and Pisces stared at the four bodies, wondering. They wondered exactly how they had died. Maybe a car accident? No, no bruises or broken bones. Could it have been a natural death? Impossible, they were too young. Maybe, they were poisoned? Then why did they look so worn out?
"It doesn't matter how they died," the princess said, staring at the two with huge green eyes. Four lights glowed in front of her. "What does matter is if they'll listen or not." Looking back towards the other zodiac senshi, her eyes snapped. "Sailor Virgo!" The blue clad soldier humbly walked towards the princess and her two fellow senshi.
"Sailor Virgo," the princess whispered, her voice soft and ghostly, "we need new appearances for these four bodies. Can you help?"
"Of course, my princess," Virgo said sweetly, smacking her gum loudly. She winked at Pisces. "I am, after all, the soldier of demeanor." She turned to the first figure, a blonde, athletic looking girl. "You. We have to do something with that hair of yours. I'm thinking, a tad bit longer." Laughing to herself, she pointed her finger. "What do you think you were, a guy?"
Blowing a large bubble, she turned to a young girl, the one the princess was staring at. "And you. Can't just leave that dark hair of yours hanging, can we? I'm thinking, how about some odangos in braids?" She walked over to a fragile looking girl whose face was distorted in pain. "Love those curls of yours, but we can put that up into a bun, 'kay?"
Finally, she turned to a medium-skinned solider. "Nice, sweet. But we can put that long hair of yours into a simple braid." The soldier looked up at the ceiling and clasped her hands together. She lowered her head quickly in a nod.
There was a brilliant flash of light. Dimming away, Virgo saw with satisfaction that her appearance makeover was a success.
"And, I've added at no extra charge," Virgo said pleasingly, "a new personality. Harder than not, but possible." The princess nodded, her black hair shaking.
"I did not ask you to give them personalities, Virgo," she said icily. Virgo nodded, but her energy wasn't hurt one bit.
"I'll be more considerate next time," she said, snapped her fingers, and then flounced off. The princess glared at her with disgust. One of the most failed off all the senshi, she was a good fighter and that's why she kept her.
The princess held the four lights above her head. Her hair swarmed around her as a stiff breeze picked up in the suddenly silent room. The four bodies still lay motionless, but their hair began to swell around them as well. The princess closed her eyes as she concentrated.
Upon this now I lay your souls
To bring about a revelation foretold
Deeply I engrave this time and hour
As you receive this sacred power
The deep blue light responded to the revelation first and slowly moved toward the blonde. It entered her body through the deep blue brooch on her chest. Her body glowed dark blue for an instance before her chest began rising up and down.
The second light to respond was emerald in color. It seemed to pause before moving toward the young woman with the curls. It also entered through the brooch on her chest, which was sea green. She began breathing slowly and finally blinked, revealing gorgeous cerulean eyes.
The two final lights moved at the same time. The red light went towards the older girl while the yellow light approached the smaller and younger one. The lights slowly passed through the brooches and their skin became warm from the sudden rush of flowing blood and oxygen.
The blonde slowly sat up, holding her head in her hands. She was groaning to herself. All of the other sailor senshi were on alert, their eyes growing huge. The princess backed up a bit.
The azure-haired girl sat up as well, blinking. She opened her mouth as if she were going to say something, then shut it. Her blue eyes looked hysterical as she looked from one face to another. The blonde took a moment to look at her, then went back to her wallow in her own confusion.
"I'm not going to say anything," came a weak voice and all eyes turned to the youngest of the revived, "because I have no idea what to say." She sat up, her violet eyes harsh, yet innocent.
"Oh, you finally woke up!" Pisces exclaimed, pretending to be relieved. She smiled at them. "We were so worried!" The blonde looked up and stared at her.
"Who are you?" she asked, her voice deep and troubled. Her aqua eyes were regarding everybody in the room carefully. Aquarius quickly picked up on the act.
"You don't remember us?" she asked, her voice soothing and charming as always. She seemed to consider this. "Must be amnesia. We weren't sure you'd make it through." The gorgeous girl with teal hair gently landed on the floor. She stood shakily.
"Well, thank you, since it must be amnesia," she said. "Since I have no idea who I am and why I'm wearing such a skimpy outfit, enlighten me." She gently touched the bun high on her head in which all her hair was wound. She gently let down a few curls. Virgo scoffed at the improvement.
"You're…um…" Aquarius paused. The deep blue eyes the color of the ocean, the sea green brooch. "…Atlantica. Sailor Emerald. Remember?" Atlantica stared at the blue-haired soldier and shook her head. The blonde finally stood up.
"She's Atlantica, huh?" she asked, her voice sarcastic. "So, who am I? Because I, for one, have no clue whatsoever about what happened." Pisces stared at the pointed odangos on the girl and the long, long trailing pigtails. The odangos looked like rabbit ears.
"Bunny..." Pisces whispered, pretending to be shocked. "Bunny, you really don't remember do you?" There was another silent glare.
"My name is Bunny? You've got to be kidding me."
"Nope."
"Lord, that sounds so childish. I mean, why one earth would someone's nickname be Bunny?" Atlantica clucked her tongue.
"Deal with it."
The murderous aqua eyes turned to the girl. "Did I ask for a response?" There was no answer. "I didn't think so."
The other two girls were just staring quietly at the other two. The older one shook her head. "I might remember something if I saw someone from before the incident. So, I might as well know my name as long as I'm here." Her crimson eyes regarded the princess carefully.
"Zephyr, remember?" The crimson eyes remained confused as the name entered her clouded mind.
"Never…heard of it…before," she whispered. The younger one looked at the others, her violet eyes growing wider every second.
"I've heard the others ask you for names," she said, her voice weak. "But I want to ask you for information. First of all, how did we lose our memories?"
"Accident." Bunny rolled her eyes. Well, that was stating the obvious. The young girl nodded.
"And, may I ask, what kind of accident?" Pisces shrugged her shoulders. Atlantica fumbled with her hands slowly. She didn't like being here. Not with a crowd of strangers and three other people with amnesia. That wasn't any fun. Especially since one of the three seemed to have a really bad temper. She looked downwards, shaking slightly.
"Hey, hey," Bunny suddenly said, walking over to Atlantica. Atlantica didn't look up. Bunny probably didn't want her crying and came to talk some sense into her. But to her surprised, Bunny put her arm around her. "Hey, it's okay. You'll be okay, you'll be okay. As long as-" The blonde stopped suddenly.
"What?" the princess asked, slightly annoyed.
"Nothing," Bunny said, pulling away from the distraught girl. "I just thought that maybe I had said that someplace before. I was going to say, 'as long as we're together', but…" She trailed off and became lost in her own thoughts.
"You're Skylar, sweet," Cancer chirped from behind. Her blue eyes sparkled as she stared at the black-haired girl. "And all four of you are the crysal senshi." Zephyr stared at Cancer with a laugh in her crimson eyes.
"Senshi what?" she asked incredulously. She shook her head, the green braid swinging left and right. "I'm hallucinating."
Sailor Aries watched the four newly awakened girls sort out their own problems. But there was something. Something she couldn't quite place that was very wrong here. She clucked her tongue in disgust and turned away. Sagittarius saw her ready to leave and ran after her.
"Aries! Wait!" Aries stopped and allowed the girl to catch up. Sagittarius grabbed her shoulder. Her brown eyes were sharp. "What's wrong, Aries? You've been acting peculiar ever since those four showed up."
"I don't trust them," Aries replied, her tone soft. "Something about them is too foreboding. I don't trust them one single bit."
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Hogoshi grabbed her locket suddenly. Rei looked up in surprise and raced back toward the brunette. "Hogoshi-chan!" Minako and Mako turned back too and looked worried. Hogoshi was breathing in gasps. Her head was spinning and her heart was beating fast.
"I'm…okay," Hogoshi gasped, trying to smile. The pain was infuriating. She felt the stinging in her eyes and the burning of her heart and soul. It was as if her soul was begging to be let out of her body. Either that or this was a really weird heart attack.
"I'm just a bit dizzy," Hogoshi replied. "Can we find a place to sit down?" Rei nodded and looked around for bench. After spotting one, with the help of Mako, she helped Hogoshi over to it. Hogoshi tried to calm down, but the attacks didn't stop. If anything, they were getting much worse. She couldn't help but to cry out in pain a little.
Her locket was shaking and glowing. Minako looked worried. "Hogoshi-chan, what's wrong?"
"I don't…know," Hogoshi gasped as the pain began to dull. Her heart stopped racing and continued its regular pace. Her head stopped spinning and her lungs no longer felt restricted from air. "I felt like my heart was burning up or something."
"Then why did the locket react?"
"I don't know," Hogoshi said, leaning her head back. Mako shook her head.
"Maybe you're too exhausted," she said. "We're going home."
"No, I'm okay!" Hogoshi smiled, pulling her hand way from her locket. It had stopped vibrating and returned to normal. "See? I'm in for a couple more shops. Don't lock me up in Mako's house."
"We won't," Minako sighed, pulling the girl to her feet. "Now, I'm sure I saw a sale sign back there somewhere. It was a department store, I'm sure of that."
Hogoshi watched as the other three girls began chattering happily. She smiled, but couldn't help feeling creepy after that weird attack. What had happened to her? Oh well. No use worrying about it now.
"Hogoshi-chan!" Mako called, waving back to the girl. Hogoshi looked up in alarm.
"What?"
"Are you coming or not?" Hogoshi smiled sweetly as she ran up to catch them. They may not be the most patient friends in the world, but they sure were the kindest.
"Coming!"