Yeah! Here is a special Canada day present for everyone! A new chapter to enjoy! - Sorry for taking so long to update again, but school and exams have kept me really busy, and this summer I'm doing an internship at the hospital so I still won't have as much writing time as I would like. Still, I figured that a new chapter was the least of what I owed everyone.
Life is actually going pretty good right now, we've got a new puppy, I've gone down a pants size, and my little brother seems to have outgrown his gaseous stage ( aren't adolescent boys disgusting?). I hope that I might update again before September, but I am not that great with regular scheduled updates. In addition, one of my goals is too make every chapter that I right longer than the previous one. (You can probably see why the multiple months between chapters my update schedule is.)
Special Thanks to:
heaven-sent-angel1- I'm glad you like the story, I'll try for a happy ending, but I'm not making promises as the tone in this story is a little dark.
IssaLee- I like the ideas you put forward, but Zack is a little bit of a problem isn't he? Thanks for reviewing, your input is nice to have.
Lady17- Don't worry, Serenity may be in control, but Usagi isn't gone completely as you'll see in this chapter.
ffgirlmoonie- Sorry, I can't really give that away. But it does have a good chance of happening.
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor moon, very few of the characters in the story were actually created by me, so please do not sue. - You would get much if you did anyhow. ( Seriously, I am still broke. I spend all my money on Manga and Sushi.)
By Your Side
Chapter 6, Elysian
By: EmeraldSong
She floated within a sea of nothingness, a place desolate and empty to her senses.
'Where am I?' , nothing volunteered an answer, but the landscape around her began to ripple and she found herself in a gray sea of clouds, the warmth of a bright white sun penetrating them to kiss her skin.
"Where are your clothes?" Triangular shapes that turned into plain gray birds squawked as they came closer to her. Belatedly she looked down and flushed when she realized that she was as naked as the day she had been born.
"I..I don't know." She muttered, trying in vain to cover her nakedness with her hair and hands, but as the words their way out of her mouth she realized that the strange avians were already disappearing from her view once more.
"Where are you clothes?" a different voice demanded snottily, this time from behind. Startled she whipped around in mid-air, only to find herself face to face with a flying black cat. A strange ruby eye regarded her all too humanly from under short black hair, and the tiny white wings that lay delicately on the cats back almost distracted her from noticing the golden crescent moon that glowed on its forehead.
"Why do you have wings?" she whispered, stretching out a pale hand to race her finger along the outline of one.
"Don't touch them!" the cat glared at her and flew just slightly out of her reach. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep these clean? If you somehow manage to dirty them it will take me hours to get them clean again." The dark red eyes glittered at her dangerously.
"Sorry… but I was just wondering why you have them? Cat's don't normally have wings…Do they?" she was flushed all over, partially from embarrassment at her nakedness and partially with anger at the snotty black cat.
"So I can fly of course." The cat sniffed disdainfully, "Are you simpleminded? If you don't want to fall to the ground I advise you to grow some."
"What? But I can't grow wings!" Her eyes widened in horror, 'how am I floating anyhow?'
"Oh.. Well that's too bad, try not to make too big a mess when you hit the ground." With those last words from the cat, her body became heavier and began to sink. She moved to the ground gradually at first, but increased in speed as her density became larger.
She was falling, and then suddenly she was not as something swooped from underneath to catch her. Her eyes closed as she descended at a much slower and controlled speed. Her rescuer touched ground and she swore that she felt the presence of arms embracing her, but when she opened her eyes there was no one in sight.
"Hmm… You aren't an ordinary dreamer, are you?" Annoyed she spotted the black cat gracefully descending to hover beside her. "Helios doesn't venture out of his sanctum for just anyone. Just what might make you so special?" the tone the cat used bordered on slight rudeness.
She ignored the cat, in favor of examining her surroundings instead. Everything in it came in shades of gray, black or white, the exception to this being herself and the cat's mysterious ruby eyes. Tiny shriveled plants dotted the surrounding landscape, and the sky above remained in a state of perpetual cloudiness. In the distance a black spire rose from the barren ground, the oppressiveness of its dominating presence overwhelmed everything else in sight. She had seen that tower before, but exactly where it was from was locked deep within the recess of her mind.
"Shiranai." The cat spoke softly, seeing where her gaze was directed. "It lies at the centre of everything, both here and in the real world."
She shivered, for indeed the name was very familiar to her. It evoked a feeling of hopelessness and desperate fury, though she did not know what of, and what did the cat mean by referring to the 'real world' anyway?
"Where… precisely are we?" she asked, confused.
"This is Elysian, the kingdom of dreams." The cat must have seen her befuddled expression, for it sighed and continued, "It's a special dimension that has no real perimeter, because it exists between different planes of reality. To be precise, it is actually a pseudo dimension created by the collective dreams of every soul that existed, currently exists, and will exist in the future."
"o0…"
"Let me put it in simpler, less complex terms. Elysian is the creation of everyone in the universe, it's a giant dream that is shared by all."
"Oh…" that made a little more sense, more than anything else that the cat had said. "But if this is a world created by that many people, how come I'm the only human here?" and where are my clothes?
The cat scowled, "Elysian may have been created by everyone, but few people are actually able to access it. I personally don't know how you got here, or why Helios bothered saving you."
"Umm.. So just who is Helios?" she ignored the barb in favor of gaining more information about her present situation.
"The priest of Elysian. He guards the pure dreamers against corruption and is the official caretaker of Elysian."
"So if I wanted to leave here, he's the guy I have to see?" she prodded.
"Well yes, but one simply does not…"
"Perfect! Where can I find him?" she interrupted, earning herself an outraged glare from the cat.
"Helios is a very important being, he has better things to do with his time than send stupid naked humans home!" the cat sucked in air, obviously ready to set loose a tirade that would have no discernable end. Her tiny-feathered wings flapped in agitation. "At the very last you should find something descent to cover yourself with! I'll have you know that…"
"Enough Luna." A masculine voice gently demanded from behind. "You know not who you speak with. She is not at fault."
She whirled around to find herself facing a white winged horse, his large red eyes blinking warily at her.
"Lord Helios!" the cat stammered, her fur standing on end.
"Humor me Luna, it's rare that I get to see others, you and Artemis have been my only companions for quite some time." He turned away from the cat and gracefully inclined his head towards her, "What is your name child?"
"I'm…" she tried again, "My name is…" she looked down at the ground hopelessly. For some reason her name seemed shrouded in darkness, the details of who she was blurred and hidden behind some mysterious veil. "I don't know." Her shoulders slumped at this admission, and she could feel the beginnings of a tear pricking her eye.
"Your face and thoughts are closed to me, but if you would be kind enough to give me permission to look into your dreams, perhaps we could find out together." His eyes held no judgment, and she found herself nodding her assent to his inquiry. "Place your hand on my head and we will journey together."
Tentatively she placed a slender hand on his head, only to notice a crevice about an inch wide that for some reason filled her with sorrow. Her hesitation must have been noticed by the horse for he shifted his eyes to her and gently murmured, "The pain is not great, that is just a reminder of something long lost." She placed her hand back over it tenderly and relaxed slightly at his reassurance.
It was over in a second, a bright flash of angry red light and Helios jerked his head away violently, the inlet on his forehead bleeding slightly.
"Helios!" Luna cried, her face aghast.
"I'm fine Luna." However, she could tell he was not. His breathing was ragged in a way that she knew had nothing to do with the fact that he was a horse. "Her dream surprised me, nothing more serious than that."
"What's going on here?" a new male voice inquired, she almost died when she saw another winged cat. It was white instead of Black and had blue eyes instead of red ones like Luna and Helios; also on its forehead, a crescent moon like the one on Luna's head blazed.
"You're tardy as usual Artemis!" Luna barked, her face looking irritable. The other cat gave her a hurt look, but stuck his tongue out as soon as she turned her attention back to Helios.
"What happened Helios? You look like you got on the bad side of a tiger with PMS." He winked saucily at Luna, who visibly bristled as her fur stood on end.
"I was too careless." Helios sighed, if such a thing was possible for a horse, "Well, time to see if it was all for naught. Do you remember who you are now?" he addressed her.
"Usagi…" she whispered, and one of the tears that had been threatening to overwhelm her rolled down a pale ivory cheek. "My name is Usagi Tsukino."
"Ugghhh…" Shingo groaned, putting a hand to his head in response to a sudden and sharp ache. A monitor beside him beeped, and footsteps edged toward him.
"Why do I feel like a two-ton weight was dropped on me?" he muttered idly to himself.
"Shingo Tsukino?" A friendly voice beside him questioned.
"That's me." He looked up and spotted a young woman dressed in a white nurse uniform. She had shoulder length black hair that was trimmed around her face and deep violet eyes.
"Do you remember anything about what happened to you?"
"I..I was on my way to…" his tongue stumbled on the words, realizing that depending on the company that he was currently keeping, it might be best to not mention he was going to blow up Shiranai. "Where am I anyway?"
"Underground base 7 of the Japanese resistance branch." She replied brightly.
"What?" he sat up quickly, then immediately regretted the action as he felt his ribs cracking. "How did I get here? I'm supposed to be dead!"
"That's exactly what I want to know." A man spoke harshly from the side of the room, his face obscured by shadows. Accusation laced his voice tightly.
"Lieutenant Greene! I thought I told you to be quiet!" his pretty nurse turned around to glare at the interrupter. "You are here on my sufferance, if you make a nuisance of yourself I will not hesitate to remove you from the room."
"But!" he started angrily, until the nurse cut in.
"No Buts! This isn't your sector and I'll complain to the commander and see that you go into lockdown for a few days to cool your temper!" her eyes looked dangerous and Shingo was relieved that he was not on the receiving end of her wrath.
"Sorry, it's just that…" Greene continued lamely, "Ami…" he choked.
"Miss Mizuno would disapprove of your behavior as well." She told him calmly, "It's counter-productive and aggravating, we stand a higher chance of finding out what happened to her if you would gain back some self-control."
The man grunted in what might have been an affirmative and sat in a chair that was not shadowed, giving Shingo his first glance at Lt. Greene. Curling strawberry blonde hair surrounded a face that was slightly more masculine than feminine but still appealing in its own unique way. His slender body was that of a thinker and not a fighter but Shingo quickly revised his opinion as he saw the way Greene covertly studied everything around him in a suspicious appraisal. It was that and the hard green eyes that never lingered in one place to long.
The room itself was white but Shingo could see traces of colour everywhere, something that would be unthinkable above ground. The nurse's hair clip was a bright little rainbow, and the uniform that the Lt. wore bore stripes that were the same as his namesake. Even the medical and monitoring equipment had brightly coloured buttons that beeped and whirled in hues of blue and yellow.
"Please continue where you left off Mr. Tsukino." she smiled at him encouragingly.
"I…" he paused, letting the memories wash over him, "We had blown up much of the outer buildings, and things were going in our favor. But then," he watched over in his memory as a black shape descended form the sky, sending rocks and debris scattering in its wake; the terrible golden light that had bathed everything in its bloodthirstiness, and killed so many of his comrades. "Endymion showed up." Screaming Serenity, a name that strangely made him think of Usagi.
"And?" Greene's impatient voice prodded from across the room. The nurse shot him a glare.
"He cut through our forces like a hot knife through butter." Shingo admitted flatly. "We didn't stand a chance."
Dark black hair curled around a face that would have been almost beautiful, but with his sunken golden eyes that blazed with battle lust and his expression of madness, Endymion could only be described as demonic.
The dark prince just stood still for a second, and he laughed hysterically as he swung his sword and golden light spilled onto the battlefield. Rebels and Guards alike disintegrated when hit with the lethal golden light. A few of the rebels detonated before they were hit adding explosions and fire to the screams.
"Before I knew it, I… I was the last one left standing." The face flashing through his mind was that of the Brown-haired girl. The anguished expression she had wore before being blown to bits haunted him. "I was so angry, and when he became distracted I took my opportunity and charged him." Something inside his head decided it would be best to leave out of his story the strange reaction that Endymion had to him. "Unfortunately the detonator that they had given me was defective, and it didn't work despite how close to him I managed to get myself."
The nurse and Greene looked at him expectantly when he stopped, and Shingo felt briefly annoyed by their intruding closeness. He continued.
"I thought I was going to die by his sword, until silver light filled the sky and everywhere around me." This was where he knew his story seemed to cross the line between reality and dream, even though he was just telling the truth. "A woman appeared. A woman Endymion called Serenity." He sighed, "That is all I remember, she appeared and then I woke up here."
"Ridiculous." Lt. Greene muttered.
"What did this 'Serenity' look like?" the girl queried him.
"She had long silver hair up in odango's, and wore a white and silvery gown. There was something golden glowing on her forehead." In the background, he heard Greene snort at the unlikelihood, but Shingo chose to ignore him. "Then I blacked out and wound up here."
"You have no idea how you got here?" The girl queried.
"No." he answered shortly, growing weary of their questioning.
"Thank you for your time Tsukino-san." She addressed him, "That will be all the information that we require for now." Without further a due, they both turned their backs on him and left the room.
"Thank you Tsukino-san." He pitched his voice high in imitation and snorted. "They didn't even give me a chance to ask any questions of my own."
"Well?" Hotaru turned to Zack, and he sent the room that Shingo was in a glare.
"He's not lying, as much as I wish he were; every word he spoke was true, or at least what he believed to be the truth." Zack's voice was slightly bitter, "The sensors aren't picking up any negative energy either, though the injuries to his abdominal are of slight concern."
"Why would that be?" she inquired of him politely.
"There's energy there, but there's no trace of the blood magic that the golden crystal leaves." Zack sighed in annoyance, " If anything it's suspiciously similar to the energy you release when you heal people Hotaru."
"What?" her eyes widened in disbelief, "Does that mean that perhaps Ami?…" she trailed off as she saw the Zack's face spasm at the mention of Ami's name.
"No, that's impossible. Ami's a normal human, I've seen her medical scans myself." He grimaced.
"Not all powers are detectable Zack. In any test ever done there have always been exceptions and anomalies." Hotaru coloured her voice with only a hint of the irritation she felt with his phenomenal stupidity. "My healing abilities went completely undetected until my father died."
"Even dormant abilities like yours Hotaru need an emotional stimulus to call them out." Zack shot her a glare, "Ami has been protected from that sort of thing. I made sure of that."
"Not from the betrayal of someone she cared about very much." Hotaru could feel the blood inside of her chilling. " Protect her? What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything wrong!" he did not look her in the eyes, a very bad sign.
"If you didn't do anything wrong why do you feel guilty?" She prodded innocently.
"I don't feel guilty." He denied swiftly, still not looking at her face.
"That's Bull Shit, Zack. Don't lie to me." She could feel her anger rising by each passing second, "I may not have lie detecting abilities like you, but I can still tell when you're hiding something."
"What if I am?" he shot back, obviously on the defensive, "You may outrank me in here on the medical station but everywhere else I'm your superior. Don't think that you have any right to pry into my personal matters." He was so self-righteous that he did not see the inside of her palm coming until it slapped him hard across the left side of his face and leaving behind a red imprint.
"Fine." Hotaru muttered, her eyes darkening over. "But don't come running to me when you wake out of your delusion, and finally figure out that it's your fault Ami isn't here anymore." The words were harsh, but they were exactly what he deserved.
"I could have you court-martialed." The words came out a whisper, and consequently were hardly as threatening as she assumed that they were supposed to be.
"If half of what I suspect you did to Ami is true, I could easily return the favor." She returned his glare two-fold, "This isn't over."
He probably sensed the truth in her words, and accordingly backed down and left the medical ward without saying another word.
It was ironic, in a sense. Among the gifted, he was known as the first seeker of truth because of his abilities to see the true meanings behind spoken and written word. Nevertheless, in reality, he was as ignorant about the things in front of him as any other person was, if not more so.
The air aboveground was less stagnant than she remembered it being, but that could probably be explained by Serenity's presence. Despite that, she still felt like choking as she inhaled more of the filthy air into her system.
"Your lungs are more sensitive to the impurities in the air now." Serenity explained as if she had read Ami's mind. "I'm slowly awakening your powers so that the adjustment is easier on you and your immune system can rebuild its resistance. Earth has become much more polluted since my time."
"I thought that awakening my powers would help…" Ami paused to cough once again, "But so far it seems their more of a liability…" she sighed, and soon found her body starting to spasm again.
"Currently yes, I suppose that we need somewhere to hide out for a while. I also need to rest, with just the two of us teleportation is a little strenuous." Serenity sighed, her face somehow a little less serious than it normally was. It almost reminded her of the old princess Serenity, the one who knew how to laugh and enjoy life. Startled, she shook herself out of her reverie. 'I am not Emira' she reminded herself, 'I never met the old princess Serenity.'
"Are there any rebel safe havens that you know of?"
"I could name a few, but I don't believe that it would be a very good idea." She cringed at the thought of having to face Zack again, her righteous anger from the night before had evaporated under the strain of teleporting several thousand miles underground to the face of the earth. "To protect the civilians dwelling below every single entrance is heavily guarded and warded tightly against intrusion. Security would have me on file, but I know that you would cause a lot of suspicion."
"Very well, I have a place that should be safe for the moment." Something close to a grimace flashed across her face, "Usagi's parents will take us both in without questions. They have lost their son, but they will do anything to keep their daughter safe." Serenity strode forward to step out of the alleyway that they had teleported into, but Ami grabbed one of her shining white sleeves just in time.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" she whispered.
"What?" Serenity hissed at her, clearly annoyed at being touched. Even if the one who touched her was one of her long lost guardians.
"Our clothes! Your forehead! Everything about us screams conspicuous especially on the surface!" Ami whispered as respectfully and urgently as she could. How could she have been so stupid? "There's no way we can blend in with the rest of the populace. Someone will see us and report it."
"Very well, I'll cast a concealing spell on us. It should last long enough for us to make it to the Tsukino residence." Serenity closed her eyes and a few seconds later the crescent on her forehead disappeared. Ami watched, mystified as her silver hair began to gleam gold and when she opened her eyes once more they were baby blue. The white and gold robes that she had been wearing and Ami's clothes had transformed into drab gray schoolgirl uniforms.
"Usagi Tsukino lives again." She said bitterly, fingering the new dress draped around her body disdainfully.
"Do you know the way from here?" Ami questioned.
"Of course, we're only a few blocks away." She did not say anything more before striding out onto the street, Ami quickly ran behind to keep up.
They had teleported into a residential area, but nothing but the occasional person walking outside betrayed that. The living apartments were in all directions and placed unevenly by someone who had no idea for beauty, only efficiency. Despite the shabby living conditions, the streets were clean of any sort of trash and waste. Now that she thought about it though, Ami could remember the steep punishments for anyone of the lower class caught littering or defacing the streets in any way.
"Serenity, slow down! You're attracting too much notice." Ami cried out, trying to be quiet and then was overcome by another fit of hacking. The former moon princess slowed down to a fast walk in deference to her, Ami supposed.
"I apologize Ami, I dislike being out in the open like this." Ami nodded her understanding to show that she also found the very air distasteful. They continued onward not saying anything for several minutes, though she could almost feel eyes pressing against her spine.
Unsettled as she was, Ami did not notice when Serenity suddenly stopped and ended up bumping into her.
"This is it." For some reason that Ami could not place, the small house that they stopped in front of stood out just a little more than the identical houses that stood on either side of it. She felt hesitant about going right up to the door, but Serenity did not delay and went straight up and knocked gently on the door. It creaked open, and a middle-aged woman with a slightly blue tint to her curly long hair poked her head out. Dimly, Ami noted that her eyes looked red and slightly blood-shot, possibly from crying.
"Usagi? Is that you?" not waiting for the moon princess to respond, the woman swept her into her arms and sobbed gratefully into her shoulder. "I was so worried."
Serenity did not respond past awkwardly patting the distraught woman on the shoulder and staring dispassionately into the house.
"I'm fine mother." She pushed the woman off her and looked into her eyes, "it's time to sleep now…" her voice was low and soothing. Ami began to yawn but caught herself before it was out of her mouth. "That's right, you just go to sleep…" The woman's face went slack and she collapsed into Serenity's arms.
Ami then proceeded to watch in shock as the moon princess dragged the woman back into the house, gesturing for Ami to close the door before anyone could see. Surprisingly gentle she laid the woman on a grayish couch near a window and smoothed the hair off her forehead.
"Who is she?" Ami asked boldly, stepping out from the shadows to face Serenity.
"My mother." A slightly ironic crossed her face, "Or rather, the mother of this body that I'm currently possessing."
"Why would you do something like that to her?"
"Our mission will be much easier if I alter her memories a bit and tweak her thoughts so she's not to suspicious of me. Externally I'm nothing like Usagi, so it's better if I gloss the differences over."
"That's seems a little too inhuman, even for you."
"I never claimed to be otherwise."
"True."
"Do you have a problem with that?"
Ami sighed, "Not really, besides…" she coughed a little bit, "I suppose I'm not human either."
"Of course not, now if you're done questioning my actions I would appreciate it if you would go upstairs and find something for us to wear. The glamour is going to come off any second now."
To be continued….uh, hopefully …
Well that is it for now, any comments or concerns that you as a reader or fellow writer might have, please feel free to review. I love hearing feedback from people and anything you have to say will fall on open ears.