Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon or Gundam Wing.
Warnings: Expect brevity. Was finally updated to sate some appetites.
And You Don't Seem to Understand
Chapter 13
The night glittered.
Against a smooth rock, a little girl stopped to catch her breath, kneeling in the waist-high grass. Up just a little ways ahead, her playmate paused and turned around, cupping his hands around his mouth.
"Hurry up!" he shouted. The shifting black-grey shadows enveloped him as he darted off again.
With a deep disgruntled sound, she pushed off the rock into a run. Up, up, up the hill she rushed, legs churning through the sea of pitch grass until she broke the surface and reached the wide, flat peak. She collapsed in a muted ruffle of skirts and stared pacifically at the moonlit profile of her playmate.
"What did you want to show me so badly?" she whispered, following his line of sight into the vast abyss.
He turned to her briefly with the youthful flash of a bright-eyed grin. "Comets."
She immediately perked up, hopping to her feet and scoured the sky with renewed vigor. Tiny stars dotted the sky, winked lazily, but stagnantly.
Maybe, if she blew at them. . .
He cut her fantastical musing short with a hushed voice and an emphatic finger to the sky, "Look, right there!"
She jerked her eyes to the right. A pale light arced through the heavens and tore the night in half.
A silent moment of awe passed before she hopped to her tiptoes and squealed, voice traveling for miles. "Did you make a wish?"
He smiled mysteriously at her, eyes as bright as the comet she had just beheld. Then, quickly, he looked away and gazed down at their tiny village lying tranquilly at the foothills. It was late, but many windows were still lit.
"Well," she said with a sulking voice; his taciturn response was obviously not satisfying, "I wished for. . .um. . .pros-per-i-ty."
Startled, he turned to her. "You're not supposed to tell people!"
"Why not?" she whined, flailing her plump little arms.
"Because it's not gonna come true!"
Her bottom lip quivered. Obstinately, she shouted, "Yes, it will!" and made a break down the hill with a burst of speed.
He chased after her, even if it was for a little while. Halfway down, he caught his breath and remained rapt at where he stood. Overhead, slews of blazing blue and red comets sailed down like hail and crashed headlong into the town's buildings. The dry, thatched roofs rapidly caught fire.
Five minutes later, the tiny village became a single, searing orange-red flame.
Maybe there was a part of him that had known, the part of his thought processes that manifested in pain every time he thought about Sailor Moon. It was as if that element of his brain was trying to warn him, stay away,because it knew exactly what Hiiro was getting himself into.
But even that concept of precognition as a possible reality was hard to grasp—even when magic in its most physical and potent form stood before him. Already he could feel the lazy cataclysm of everything he had learned for the better part of his life taking place in the center of his body. It spread out fiery little tendrils through his stomach into his limbs and deep into his fingers and toes.
The hand that held the brooch burned. He relished the pain because it was all that anchored him to this faithless existence.
Hiiro lifted his heavy eyes and faced her, only now, the Usagi with the eyes of before—the sorrowful eyes that could shred a soul to bits—was gone, and the Usagi before him was a stranger.
Magnitudes shifted. The mouth of the yawning chasm between them shrank, but the gulf of the chasm deepened.
Rei was suddenly there with her penetrating presence, Sailor Mercury close behind her. She glanced at Usagi, and in her abstruse way, returned her unsettling gaze to Hiiro.
Hiiro noticed, but only peripherally. Then, instinctively, he extended his hand and the brooch.
Usagi tread lightly across the crumbling floor. She placed her trembling hands around his and closed them.
It was all warmth for two fragile, breathtaking seconds as he loosed his fingers and let her take away her rightful inheritance.
Rei didn't realize how hard she was gripping the doorjamb until the electrifying tension dissipated. Flexing her tight joints, she promised herself to make a marked re-evaluation of Hiiro because he hadn't made the mistake of forcing himself to understand. She mustered up her spirit and stepped forward to gather the team and move to more stable ground. Behind her, Sailor Mercury clamped a firm hand on her shoulder, compelling her to turn.
Her blue eyes were rippling. "Do you hear that?"
They turned together, tuning their ears to the distance. It was faint and indiscernible at first, like a faded humming or a couple so softly that their words could not be heard. They stretched further up, perking their ears. With each eternal second, the humming became louder, louder, louder. . .
And ultimately closer.
In the horizon, an enormous blue-white tide came crashing across Tokyo. It crushed the screams, the crying, the prayers before they could reach heaven. Violent surf became the only noise, their only god. The towering business buildings crumbled against its omnipotent touch. Downtown Tokyo, once a glorious center of entertainment and commerce, was leveled within the lingering time-frame of two minutes.
Hiiro leapt into his gundam, interpolating the noise with a short command, "Get on!"
The girls shared a puzzled look, not sure what he meant. Usagi glanced at the immense machine as it warmed up, as the massive right arm extended unthreateningly before her as Hiiro much had done only minutes ago. With a sudden burst of comprehension, she jumped onto Wing Zero's metal alloy hand and began climbing up the arm.
The Senshi immediately followed suit without question.
As soon as they were as comfortable as they possibly could be, the gundam accelerated into the sky. Gravity pulled at them, forced them to cling harder; cold wind that smelled like salt, like the ocean cut their faces. The dilapidated school began to shrink as they soared higher and higher. When they stopped, above the school, above the tallest building in Tokyo, and above the destructive tidal wave, they had a bird's eye view of what was once their glamorous city and its equally exceptional people.
The current smashed into the school and bulldozed it down. The surface calmed—a deep, yawning sigh—and passed.
Then the water, exhausted of power, of will, and of otherwordly-control, turned to snow.
AN: Is that it! I swore this was more than three pages. It felt like at least five - I swear. :o In any case, please review, for sanity's sake. ;)
Kail Ceannai: i luuuuub celticish stuff! it's all so elegant and gorgeous ;o like... new age music :D i've always wanted a celtic knot tattoo on my lower back xDD but i'm afraid of commitment o-o;; in any case, i wonder if you're still here lolol since i take forever between updates hahaha x-x
Damia - Queen of the Gypsi's: spike has an impressive british accent despite coming from california xDD LOL i think people who speak their mind are cool ... except when all their thoughts are malicious. ;( haha
the Desert Fox: yes yes, i agree! pacifism does not work ... usually. sometimes you just gotta beat people up to make them learn ... or to make them stop teasing you. --;;
datajana: thanks so much! teehee :D more setsuna later, like in a real chapter. mowahaha!
Snoggitz: awesome sauce! xD what does that taste like ;x
angel313: thanks! ;;
koldy: thanks? xD:DxD
BLACKAURAsama: i want to open-mouth kiss you ;O
Cor-chan: sankyuu ;;
Usagi Asia Maxwell: this story will never end :D:D:D i kind of overshot my goal of 3 chapters, actually, so now it'll NEVER END!
angelwings6117: i didn't realize it was so intense? OO;; and that heero. why was he so slow:shakes a fist: thank you thank you! my ego is expanding xD
platinum star: thanks for reading! stay tuned (if you're still remember this story xD)
Heero's Bunny: you're so nice... i wanna hug you. ;-; can i hug you?
Flame Ivy Moon: with cherries on top? yum yum
Falke-ness: wow, thanks i don't know what else to say OO;;
LunarPrincess: aww, you're making me emotional now ;-; thanks so much for staying with the story!
Liquid Ice: it was two chapters at a time! and now it'll never happen again! hahaha x3 LI-chan, you MUST WRITE, okay? you gots me? you must write or i'll try and stalk you until you do. no no, thank you for inviting me! although i haven't added any to the community. oo;; i think you've got all the ones i like already :D we minds think alike!
JaminJellyBean: the veryveryveryvery first! i'm flattered xD but trust me there are soooo many good ones out there! angelight and liquid ice and kiwi-chan, for example, they write awesomeawesomeawesome u/h fanfics
noali: lolol, originally, this was supposed to be exclusively an u/h fanfic. then it grew arms and legs and mind of its own and started to run away, eating all the characters. ;o if all goes well, you will be no longer (or at least less) confused in the end ;-; thanks for reading!
Lady Psyche: i updated :D
Raine of The Darkness Clan: aww, don't cry! it's not worth a cry. ;-; thanks so much for reading!
Jayden-the-Jaded: uwaaahhh that was one long review o.o! i think it took me like at least half an hour to read lolol. ok, let's see how many answers i can fabricate x3 ohh yes i agree, after i expanded my anime/manga horizons, there were so many more yummier bishies than mamoru. :D LOL, poor relena xDD ah well, she's really playing a small part in this fic, altho her role may be a lot more complicated... which is where usagi and her almighty powers of clemency come in. :zips lips: too many spoilers already xD ohh ok, what i meant by that line "it was here in this world the same time it was there in that world" basically means the ginzuishou existed in every single world possible. haha sorry ;x should've made that more clear. bingoooo usagi can't become cosmos until she accepts mamoru's death. yay! cosmos, unleashing the senshi's powers - how does that all work, right? i've always believed that the senshi and usagi have this connection. in so many episodes, we see the senshi helping sm even when she doesn't call to them with her voice; it's like they can feel her when she's in need. and because of that, in this story, when mamoru died, usagi herself was suffering so deeply that subconsciously, the senshi began to supplement her with their own powers, which was how they "lost" theirs. essentially, usagi had used them to maintain her health, her ability to exist. anddd um, hrmm, the mobile dolls answer will come later, embedded in the story. pwahaha. setsuna at the circus. HAHA. people will surprise you ;x and she wasn't an acrobatic or a clown if you're wondering xP lolol and the topic of rei and hotaru, and how they got to keep their powers. in actuality, rei, hotaru, and setsuna got to keep their powers (except setsuna was off elsewhere so that idea was never really introduced). the reason for this is because even before they became senshi, rei and hotaru (and setsuna) already HAD powers. rei had the power of premonition and hotaru had certain powers of healing. one could argue that hotaru's powers came from her possession as mistress 9, but i don't believe that as much as i believe hotaru herself has powers. as one of the outer senshi - who all seem to be more mysterious and wield stranger powers than the inner senshi (take haruka and michiru - in the episode where haruka reminisces about her first meeting with michiru, it became clear that each had a certain 6th sense about each other and the oncoming danger). this is why i left them their natural-born powers. :) the part about hiiro thinking he knew usagi was because he had seen pictures of sailor moon. that was why he knew there was some familiarity between the two, but could not make the connection (due to magical intervention). hrmm, i'm not sure what you meant about the mako and hospital episode o.o;; but i'll definitely try to answer next time if you ask ;; that is... if you even remember this at all ;-; hahaha but thank you so much for reading and reviewing and enjoying :D:D!
silver tsukino: thanks!
Serenity Moon2: yay! i shall introduce u/h action in small bursts ;x
Blubby Blueberry: i luv blueberries o.o;; i could eat them forever. phew, i was really scared that the story started taking a more fantastical turn when i infused cosmos into the storyline, but i'm glad you think it's still realistic! thanks for reviewing!
Hells Tenshi: thank youuu!
AnimeSiren: updating is hard ;-; but reviews keep me going (sometimes) xD thanks!
MoonlightPrincess: ;o an epic! i never expected it to be this long, actually :)but thank you for reading!
very-lazy-one: you can't be more lazy than me! xP ahh it feels good to be respected! hahaha, i don't feel i quite deserve to be respected... but your thoughts are well-appreciated. thanks for reading and sticking through this story
moongirlSelene99: i do have the ending written out HAHA, i just don't have the stuff that goes in the middle. LOLOL, ok, i'll try to write more since i'm sad and unemployed.
zero25: gasp! as soon as you reviewed, i updated. it's all thanks to you! teehee