Chapter Ten – A Flight of Reason
Emotion was the great destroyer of reason. It had no semblance of friend. To anyone in any place that had felt the overwhelming agony of losing the thing that was most dear, that pain was nothing more than Hell's wrath brought ten-fold onto the Earth. When it was tearing into the heart, not even a divine destiny could remit the determination needed to push aside the clutch of despair and see anything more than the jagged edges of that feeling.
When agony abounds, reason is upended.
Usagi had no reason to be there. Passing by was only a reminder that a great hole in her life had been opened up and she had no way to seal it. The very reason she had been able to endure all of the trials in her life had been lost and seeing the gray shadows of the bland building before her did nothing more than agitate the aching void in her chest. It was her emotions that changed a building like any other into a monument of catastrophic loss and the shattering of a cosmic fairy tale.
"Mamo-chan…" she whispered sullenly, her voice feeling like it didn't even want to brave the cool night air. Although she yearned to see a shadow move past his window, perhaps a familiar shadow parting the curtains and offering a warm wave, there was nothing beyond the window glass now but emptiness and darkness.
Usagi could barely stand all of the drama in her life. Friends had now become enemies to the most brutal extent and enemies that would be friends offered warm hands and smiles to her. The suffering in her eyes reflected in the eyes of one she held most dear, but there was nothing that she could think of to settle either storm. Her city was in danger and people were being taken, yet her mind could go no further than the empty building right before her. Although it had taken awhile for the reality to set in, losing Mamoru had truly affected Usagi within the last few weeks, for seeing two of her friends granted the illumination of love had reminded her just how precious Mamoru was to her. He was her prince. The entire world revolved around the fact that their love had endured a thousand years and shone through the most powerful evils known to exist. Could she simply accept that fact that all of that had ended?
The thought of Anubis caused a quiver of anger to creep up her spine. The fallen god of a universe not connected to this one had so easily manipulated her love and violated the body of her prince. She could still feel the foulness of his sweet breath on her skin as he spoke melodic poisons to her. Creatures of evil held no reverence for the sanctity of one's body, for they seemed to enjoy raping the visage of one so loved and using that instrument of affection to truly carve out the beating heart. How many times would the darkness use this filthy technique to further its own purposes? The very thought of it disgusted Usagi.
In the moment before Usagi found the resolve to leave, where her heart was most vulnerable and her eyes were searching the hardest, something beyond that sacred pane of glass tripped Usagi's rhythmic heartbeat and caused a breath of air to linger on her slightly parted lips. Were her eyes playing tricks on her? Did she really just see a flash of shadow across darkened veils of night? For a moment, she considered that she was merely seeing what she wanted to see and that anything found in the empty room of her lover was all optimistic longing. However, while she stood down on the street below, her neck arched slightly and the thunder of her heartbeat in her ears, something that could simply not be cast aside as an illusion flickered in the darkened apartment. Usagi's chest rose and froze, the evening breeze chilling the small of her back as it arched in an anxious hope. It was her hand across her breast that felt just how real the moment was, for her heart could not lie to her in the face of seeing such a sight.
The strain of charging up the stairs in a frantic spell could not bring Usagi down, even for a moment. Her legs were aching with the sudden burst of exercise and her breathing tore at the inside of her chest, but there was no solace for her body since her heart had taken over the controls of her mind and was pushing every muscle beyond reasonable expectation. She nearly broke through the door, oblivious that it was already opened slightly, and found the dying light she had seen fill the apartment. Her eyes reflected the slipping light and the figure it left in Mamoru's bed. It was nearly impossible to blink, for if she were to lose sight for just a single instant, she would find that it was all a dream.
Mamoru was resting in his bed as if nothing had been amiss. Pale moonlight sneaking past the few clouds in the sky cast a brilliant sheen across his face, as if this moment had been granted to Usagi for the pain she had been forced to endure. His presence was enough to make her stand there and fight the disbelief she felt, but it was hardly adequate to keep her from stumbling over to his bed, fall to her knees and put her shaking hands onto his warm arm.
It was real.
The breath that had lodged in her throat finally broke free and a whimper of joy filled the room just as the blinding light had before. Usagi held onto Mamoru as tightly as she could, mildly weeping into his chest and ranting on in incoherent sentences that only truly related how much she had missed him. Just being able to have him in her arms again was enough to melt the world away. It could have been forever that she held him tightly, but soon enough another figure in the room stepped forward and made her presence known.
Usagi wasn't able to bring herself to away from Mamoru for a moment, and Sailor Pluto watched with a bitter smile on her face. The love between the two was something that she had adored and admired since even before they knew each other, for time had a way of breaking all rules. Their love was something so rare in all of existence that she could only see the sensibility in staying near to them while her other side could not. The details of her own existence were things still best left in obscurity.
The ecstasy Usagi felt while holding to her beloved was eternal, yet she felt compelled to look away from him for a moment and address the figure she had somehow known would be there. "Sailor Pluto, where did you…" she began but the strange look on the Time senshi's face ended the question before she could finish it. It was a perplexing expression, and Usagi couldn't quite find one explanation that could describe it. Sailor Pluto's lips were smiling, but here eyes were hollowed and, somehow, at the same time filled with all of the mysteries of the universe. A kind face that she had come to love and trust beyond reason was now so mysterious to her, but she knew that whatever had brought Mamoru back to her, Sailor Pluto was involved. "Please tell me how you found him," she said, her hand tightening around Mamoru's.
Sailor Pluto's lips parted slightly, though not even a breath came out. The will of her other side was fighting against the needs swelling in her heart, making her the most tumultuous place in the universe. If existence was defined as the conflict of men and gods, then Sailor Pluto was the very essence of creation. Thought she wanted to confess everything to Usagi, she knew of the dire repercussions that would follow not only for her, but for everything that had transpired in this universe and the last. Could Jikan truly be as cruel as to wipe out an entire universe because a finality could not be achieved? She would like to think that the person she loved could not, yet she could also not judge him by any human standard. Atrocity was a singularly human idea, when put into the realm of their existence.
However, her love for the two before also bore great consequences in her life. Should she let them contribute to this crime against life, she would be betraying herself and them. It was never a just thing in her mind, letting the wills of higher beings manipulate lesser beings for some enlightened purpose. Would she have to choose between the love of the heavens and the love of the stars? With her lips pressed tightly against each other, her resolve quelled any fear and opened her eyes wide to Usagi and Mamoru.
"Still here?" said another voice from the darkness beside Sailor Pluto, though it wasn't a voice that any had heard in a long time. Usagi's eyes widened in fear just as Sailor Pluto's did, though only Usagi needed to look at the figure stepping out next to the Time senshi.
Eve was still as beautiful as ever, and just as she stepped out next to Sailor Pluto, whatever words that had built up in the senshi's throat suddenly fell away. The voice that had come out of Eve's lips was different than before, as if someone else was inside. Her eyes were also darker, cast upon Sailor Pluto with a resounding fury lingering in each reflective pupil. Usagi was speechless, for she had never seen such a look on Sailor Pluto's face.
Before Usagi could protest or Eve could command, Sailor Pluto's eyes pressed closed and a whispered apology was offered instead of a farewell. Sailor Pluto stepped backwards into a shadow and faded away, leaving a most confused Usagi to stare at Eve. Things were taking place that confounded her and took her beyond the realm of any sane rationalization. Sailor Pluto, someone she thought she had come to know so well, was acting in a very different manner during this entire endeavor, as if something were affecting her that had far more potency than mereclaw or fang. For a moment, Usagi even began to question the trust she had for her.
Eve suddenly shifted slightly, her eyes blinking as if she had just woken from a dream and her footsteps unsure, and she locked her eyes on Usagi as if she were the last person that was expected. "Serenity-sama…" she muttered, as if taken in a pale moment of her usual self. Usagi was surprised at the reaction, but soon witnessed Eve regain her composure and seemed to regain some bearing. "I see that your Prince has been returned to you. Did I not tell you that I am not your enemy?"
Usagi blinked, completely lost now, and looked back to Mamoru. "You," she whispered, "returned him to me? But I thought…"
"Serenity-sama, I fear that some higher power is at work here. Somehow, I know that giving you your prince is the wishes of my master, though I cannot remember releasing him," Eve confessed, her unsure eyes straying to the side and her left arm hugging across her body slightly. Usagi's mind now raced, for if Anubis had released Mamoru, then perhaps he had done something to him or worse. Eve felt as helpless as the girls she was allegedly trying to save, for images of Kage's madness still dwelled vividly in her mind. With Usagi's silence, she felt that the only person she could trust was the senshi before her.
"I no longer have any influence over my general, Serenity-sama. I fear no one has. He has now become a threat to everyone, not just you or I. For the sake of the world, he must be stopped by any means necessary."
Usagi's eyes dulled a bit, but she didn't look away from Mamoru. Too much was happening too quickly and she felt that the only way to stay standing was to clutch to Mamoru's hand. However, she couldn't deny the fact that what Eve was saying could easily be an unfortunate truth. Even trying to imagine what stopping Kage would mean for Makoto caused a rut to appear in Usagi's stomach. "Tell me everything," she said, standing and facing Eve with a strong resolve. "I don't trust you, and the reason Kage is so dangerous is because you made him that way. But I can't let anything happen because of him. So tell me everything you know."
The next hour was spent telling Usagi the many horrifying details of Kage's return and his descent into madness. Eve actually felt better as she spoke, but she did also leave out one very important fact. The name of Yamito never came up. It was a card that Eve would not play. After all, she still wanted him for herself. Usagi listened to it all, terrified and disgusted that such a thing had happened, yet surprisingly calm considering that she knew one of her dearest friends had become enamored with Eve's wayward general. It tore at her heart when she saw Minako and Ami so content with the return of Suteki and Kurai and Makoto's eyes dulled whenever she heard the name Kage uttered.
Still, Usagi managed to keep an optimistic feeling that she could somehow save Kage as she had saved countless others before. "Is that everything?" she demanded, sitting on the bed next to Mamoru.
Before Eve could answer, a weak, forced voice came from Mamoru and paralyzed the room. "Yamito…" Usagi whipped around and stared at him, for Mamoru's eyes were wide open and staring at the ceiling, as if he were wide awake and asleep at the same time. Usagi's heart stopped, as if to defy her life in the prospect of actually having her Mamo-chan once more. Seeing him with his eyes opened fooled her into believing that the worst was behind them and that she had finally regained her prince. Falling back to the bed, her eyes wide with hope, she finally coughed her voice past the knot in her throat.
"Mamo-chan! Can you hear me? Are you okay?" she demanded furiously, shaking his shoulder lightly and petrified at his expression. Eve remained reserved, her brow furrowed and her lips twisted in the natural snarl reserved for those moments when the thing most wanted is on the verge of being taken away.
Should the senshi, most prominently the Mars senshi, find out that the beloved Yamito was still alive, then she would truly lose everything. Could this be why the master released him? Why would he wish the senshi to know that Yamito-kun is alive? Her mind was a torrent and she ran her hands across her stomach, as if to cradle the essence of Anubis inside of her. More than ever, she felt as if she were being used. More and more, she felt that Yamito was the key to all of the questions brimming in her mind and she, at once, wished to flee back to her realm and confront him. However, she also knew Kage was there and that his power still protected Yamito. No matter how desperately she wished to obtain Yamito, there was no way that she could overpower her maddened general and find her prize. Something would have to be done in order to remove Kage as an obstacle. At once, she decided to play her trump card. The two that Kage had sought after so viciously would be given to him, if only to take his attention away long enough to finally get her hands on the sleeping Scion of Mars. She had, after all, promised him she would deliver them. Also, if these senshi knew that he was alive, then measures would have to be taken. Nothing beyond getting Yamito mattered to her now.
As the pounding of her heart filled her ears, she began to look on the wild Usagi with a darker expression, her eyes filling with a dubious haze and her lips pressed tightly. Despite the fact she clung to her prince, Usagi's heart also beat because of Yamito. Whatever loyalty she felt because of the feelings within her slowly melted away, being replaced with contempt for any that had the ability to take Yamito from her. Nothing else could sway him from her. Even the will of her master began to cloud in her head. Eve would have to eliminate anyone who loved, or was loved by, Kurobashi Yamito. That was the only way to obtain him completely.
"Yamito," Usagi said loudly, facing Eve with wide eyes and hope finally present once again. This news not only brought hope, but genuine delight for her very dear friend. She could barely wait to tell Rei. With innocent, blind eyes, she laughed lightly as she looked upon Eve, unaware of what was brewing inside of her. Joy had blinded her now. All she could see now was the reunion of her two loved companions.
"Yamito is alive."