The First Senshi
Part 5
"It's so dark!" Rei whined as she stumbled and nearly fell again, "Can't anyone do anything about that?"
"We'll never find our way in this," Makoto agreed, pausing.
Sailor Pluto ignored them and pushed by, her time key clacking on the stone ground with each step, "Your eyes will adjust more and more to the darkness over time."
Minako stepped up behind Makoto and Rei, giving each a firm shove, "We can't stop until we've freed Sailor Mahou-Henshin and gotten our powers back. Remember that."
"She's right," Haruka nodded, "We cannot do our duty to our planet and system if we can't henshin."
"But we can still fight!" Makoto said with a grin, and plunged into the darkness ahead of her, trying to catch up with the rest of the group. Only Michiru hung back with those that could not transform.
"Haruka," Sailor Neptune said softly, "How can you go into battle like this? Without powers?"
"How can I not?" she responded shortly and picked up her pace to catch up as well.
Leading the group with her visor over her face, Sailor Mercury scanned the darkness for any signs of a room of any sort away from the passageway they were in. "Does it bother anyone else how dead the sound is here? It does not resonate like it should in a stone corridor like this," she observed absently.
"You're right," Sailor Moon nodded and shivered. "This place is wrong in so many ways. I just want to get this over with and go home."
"Don't we all?" Setsuna asked, "This place makes me feel as lonely as I was when I guarded the Time Gate."
Suddenly, Sailor Saturn stopped mid-step. She pointed into the blackness and said urgently, "Up there! There's something there!"
"Or someone!" a voice called, followed by laugh, which was quickly joined by two more.
"Charge!" someone else shrieked.
Three more of soldiers of darkness came plunging out of the darkness ahead of them.
They stopped just in front of the senshi and each called out attacks, wielding short wooden rods.
"Nu Light-speed Rupture!"
"Lambda Raging Undulation!"
"Mu Scorching Resistance!"
In the chaos, Makoto, Haruka, Minako, Rei, and Michiru caught up with the group, while the rest scattered.
"Silence Wall!" Saturn screamed, raising her glaive high in the hair. The three attacks ricocheted off the shield, exploding noisily against each other. Avoiding their own attacks, Sailor Nu, Sailor Mu, and Sailor Lambda dove and tumbled out of the way.
"You're not so strong," Rei laughed.
"Neither are you!" the yellow-clad Sailor Lambda laughed ad she rose from the ground.
"Having fun yet?" Her companion, Sailor Mu asked.
"Plenty of fun," Makoto shot back, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "We are exactly the sort of people that love wandering around lost in despair and oppressing darkness."
"Oh, we thought so," Sailor Nu giggled.
"Doesn't that feeling of loneliness get to you too?" Sailor Moon asked. "If you came back to our Universe, you would find a much happier places. Just think." She advanced pleadingly towards them.
Lambda grimaced. "Happiness? I think not."
"How would you know?" Minako asked sharply, "We have lead perfectly happy lives!"
"Lies!" Sailor Nu hissed, but Lambda continued.
"I know, because I was born in your universe," she said flatly, hatred flashing in her eyes. "We all were. We spent the first part of our lives there; that miserable existence that could be called childhood."
"But childhood is a happy time," Sailor Mercury protested. Behind her, Rei and Sailor Saturn exchanged dark glances.
"Wrong again!" Lambda shouted. Sailor Mercury cowered back into the group, away from the dark soldiers— and where Sailor Moon stood. The dark-skinned soldier began again with a face that threatened anyone that would dare interrupt her, "I was born on Prii, in a system so far from yours that your weak astronomers haven't even discovered it yet. When I was young, I went into hiding frequently, both from the warring factions on Prii and from my own hateful family. I nearly starved to death on several occasions. When my entire family was murdered in an invasion that I barely escaped from with my life, I wasn't sure whether to mourn or rejoice.
"It was only then, when I was less than half your age, Sailor Moon, that I finally awakened to my powers as a Sailor Senshi. Sailor Seishou-Yami came to me and chose me as one of her top Sailor Senshi. With a Sailor Crystal and immense power inside of me, I was able to find and release Sailor Prii where she had been locked up by the revolutionists. Together, we destroyed the opposition. By the time I was nearly your age, Sailor Saturn, the rebellion had been squashed and Sailor Prii could once again take control of the planet.
"That was when Sailor Seishou-Yami came to me again and invited me to be one of her personal guards in the Black Universe. Here, she treats us like royalty. Here, I met my first true friends and companions, Sailor Mu and Sailor Nu. There, pain and strife run rampant. I would never go back to that place," she concluded darkly, advancing towards the Sol Senshi. None of them could find words with which to reply.
Nu stepped forward to join her companion. "Unlike all of Mahou-Henshin's soldiers and the rest of Seishou-Yami's, we, her elite, don't have starseeds that were passed down through generations. She seeks out places of injustice on her planets and plants Sailor Crystals in strong-hearted girls there so that Sailor Senshi can bring the justice," she explained. "We are soldiers of justice."
"We are soldiers of justice too!" Sailor Moon protested, "Then shouldn't we be allies?"
"How can you be soldiers of justice?" Mu snapped, "You have never know injustice!"
"There is plenty of injustice in our world!" Sailor Saturn argued. "Why else do you think we'd be around?"
Sailor Mu chuckled and began pacing back and forth in front of the Sol Senshi. "You contradict yourselves," she observed with a smile. "So your world isn't perfectly happy like you claim?" Her piercing gray eyes met momentarily with each of the senshi as she spoke, evoking painful memories, "Have you felt loneliness?"
Sailor Pluto stood alone in the swelling mists of time. While the rest of Serenity's court had been sent into the future, she alone had to stay behind and guard the time gate to keep anyone from passing through. Few people even knew of the gate's existence while even fewer would dare to venture near it. She and her mother used to share this duty from time to time. Now she was alone. Absolutely alone…
Young Ten'ou Haruka stared blankly out her apartment window. There was nothing familiar to her in this part of Tokyo. She left her parents in a town just outside of the capital so that she could attend a better school and pursue her passion in racing. While her wealthy parents sent her the money she needed, they seldom called or write. Her career as a racer, even as a teen, was extremely successful, but her social life was the opposite. Potential friends in the men shied away when they discovered she was female while girls lost interest in her as soon as they made the same discovery. There was that beautiful young violinist from the first district that she had seen flirting with another woman after a concert that she had attended, but why would such a talent musician take interest in such a mediocre pianist like Haruka? That girl didn't seem to the sort to be a racing fan either…
"Have you felt loss?"
Hino Rei stood outside of the white curtains of her mother's hospital room. Suddenly, the gentle pulsing beeps turned into a single, long, droning tone. Horrified, she peered through the curtains. There was no life in her mother's body. Silent teas streamed down face. She sniffed loudly and wiped her eyes. Finally, her father seemed to remember her.
"Rei," he said stiffly, looming above her, "Your mother is dead… I am sorry. I will be sending you off to your grandfather's shrine to learn to be a miko. You can go there in a few days." He turned to his aide, "Kaidou, would you have her driven back home? She doesn't need to see this."
Rei said nothing, letting tears stream down her face, her heart growing cold.
Kaidou gently wiped the tears from her cheeks with a handkerchief and handed it to her. "Come Rei-chan," he said with a smile and taking her hand, "Let's go home. Everything will be alright…"
Kino Makoto forced herself to stay away a little longer. Her parents were long overdue from their trip to Hong Kong. Their plane should have gotten in hours ago.
Suddenly, there was a sharp knock at the door. Makoto jumped excitedly to her feet and hurried to unbolt the door, ready to jump into her parents' arms. She flung the door wide open, but instead of her parents, she found a woman dressed in a police uniform."
Before the tired girl could assess the situation, the woman spoke. "Is this the Kino residence?" she asked.
Makoto nodded and answered hesitantly, "I am Kino Makoto."
"I am so sorry I have to tell you this," the police officer started, her face pained, "But the plane that your parents were on went down over the open ocean. There were no survivors."
Left speechless with shock, Makoto did not even realize that she was crying until her body shook with silent sobs.
The woman tenderly reached down to hold her shoulders, "We know you don't have any other living relatives. We are going to have you put into the nearest orphanage where—"
"No!" Makoto shrieked and pulled away from the woman's grasp. Her voice cracked with sobs. "I don't want new parents! I don't want to leave here! I can live on my own!"
"But—" the woman protested, backing away.
"Get out!" the young girl screamed and slammed the door in the face of the officer. She quickly bolted the door then turned to rest her back against it, ignoring the pleas of the woman. She slid down the door to hug her knees, her sobs muffled by her lap…
"Have you felt rejected?"
"Papa!" Tomoe Hotaru called, wandering through the empty halls of her mansion. She called again, "Papa!"
Just then, a red-haired woman in a crisp white lab coat rounded the counter in front of her. "Papa is busy right now, Hotaru-chan," she said, false sweetness so thick in her voice that it was almost tangible.
"Stop pretending to be my mother Kaolinite," Hotaru said bitterly, "I want to see Papa!"
Without warning, Kaolinite reach out and smacked the small girl firmly across the face. "Don't use that tone with me!" she snapped. "I told you, he's busy right now!" With a scowl, Kaolinite turned on her heels and stormed off.
Hotaru's cheek stung and her eyes watered, but she resisted the urge to cry out. "Leave Papa alone, Kaolinite!" she shrieked after her, but broke into a violet fit of coughing. She clung desperately to the doorframe nearest to her as her knees gave in and she fought fainting. No one seemed to care about her worsening sickness…
Mizuno Ami returned, again, to an empty penthouse. She took off her shoes and padded softly through the silent rooms towards the kitchen and peered at the message board that she and her mother kept.
'Sorry I missed you yesterday. I'll be home very late again. Do not wait up for me. Don't forget jyuuku tonight. I'm counting on you to do your best!'
Ami wrote in reply, 'Do your best at the hospital! I will leave some dinner in the refrigerator for you.'
Selecting a frozen meal of vegetables and udon noodles from her freezer, Ami popped it in the microwave and set the timer. While she waited for the food to cook, she found herself staring at a small painting of a mountain landscape hanging on the wall opposite of her. It had been a birthday gift from her father two years ago. Ami rarely saw her father, since her parents divorced when she was very young. She hardly knew him, so she did not miss him.
Somehow, it seemed, that she was missing her mother less and less. Ami had grown from being a little girl while her mother wasn't watching and hardly seemed to know her any more. To Ami, it was almost be no different if she didn't have parents at all…
"Have you felt misunderstood?"
"That Aino Minako sure thinks that she rules the world!"
"Just because she lived in London for a while and is captain of the volleyball team doesn't make her queen!"
"She seems to expect boys to fall all over her because she's so beautiful."
"She let that crowd of admirers get to her head."
Aino Minako pretended not to hear the other girls' biting remarks as she ate her lunch on the edge of another group of chatty girls. In truth, she only had a crowd of admirers when she first returned from London. Once people realized that she was just a regular Japanese girl, not British, they drifted away, leaving no real friends. Still, she hung out with the same group of girls for lack of other company. Since London, she hadn't had any true friends…
"He's so cool!" a girl named Eri cooed, pointing to a magazine picture, "Don't you think so, Michiru?"
Kaiou Michiru shrugged, "He's just another idol."
"Only the most attractive today!" Eri retorted, "Don't you think he's cute at all?"
She shrugged again, but amended, "He does sing well."
"Is all you think about music?" Eri demanded, "You're so weird, Michiru. I've never seen you show any interest in beautiful men that all the other girls go crazy for. It's not normal!"
Laughing nervously, she suggested, "Maybe I really am working too hard at violin." Inside, she was a mess of nerves. Michiru didn't want her only friend to know that she wasn't interested in boys at all at the moment. She constantly feared that Eri would discover that she actually found her attractive. Eri would undoubtedly run from her. If only she could really be herself…
The cluster of Sol senshi stood awkwardly together, each tearfully recalling some of her worst memories.
"But you, Sailor Moon," Sailor Mu said slowly, a look of satisfaction growing across her face, "You have never known pain!"
Before any of her soldiers could react, Sailor Mu, Nu, and Lambda lunged forward and seized Sailor Moon. Almost instantly, they disappeared, leaving only Usagi's terrified scream hanging on the air. Their trances were broken.
"Let's go after her!" Makoto said urgently and sprinted forward.
"We have no idea where they took her," Sailor Pluto argued, "We need a plan of action!"
"There's no time to plan!" Rei yelled, "Sailor Moon is in danger!"
"Maybe if Mercury hadn't been scared and backed away, she could have done something to prevent this," Haruka accused sharply.
"Oh really?" Mercury said dangerously, dismissing her visor, "Maybe if you weren't so lost in self-pity—"
"Self-pity? I saw both you and Minako lost in self-pity too!" Haruka snapped.
"It's not like I could have done anything," Minako retorted, "Those that still have powers should have reacted faster."
"I would have liked to see you react that fast," Saturn said, glaring at Minako.
"Yea," Rei added, "You had the best short at them, Neptune. Why didn't you take it? Sympathetic to Lambda's story?"
"I would never sympathize with an enemy!" Neptune shrieked then attacked, "Neptune Deep—"
Before she could finish, an ominous laughter cut through the air and the darkness lifted. The girls found themselves in a large hall with a great throne in front of them. Sitting on it was a Sailor Senshi dressing in dark blue and pink with waving black hair. Behind her, shackled to the wall, was Sailor Moon.
"Sailor Moon!" Mercury breathed with relief. She could see the others relax around her.
The figure on the throne laughed again, "I was enjoying watching you fight. The strongest team of senshi in the White Universe can't even work as a team."
"Who are you?" Rei demanded.
"I am Sailor Seishou-Yami," she said, smiling, "and I would like to welcome you to my humble home."
"Release her!" Makoto ordered, stepping forward with Rei and Minako.
"Take us instead," Haruka agreed, joining her at the front.
"I intend to take all of you anyway," Seishou-Yami laughed.
Sailor Mu appeared from the shadows and said smugly, "Now, Sailor Moon, is when you learn pain."
"No, don't do it, please!" Sailor Moon begged.
"Sorry, Moon Princess!" Seishou-Yami smiled then turned her attention to the group in front of her. Suddenly, she stood and yelled, "Ankoku Power!"
Rei, Minako, Makoto, and Haruka were enveloped in dark energy. Usagi screamed in horror but could not avert her eyes while the four girls shrieked in pain. When the power disappeared, they lay motionless on the ground.
"Haruka!" Neptune shrieked, tears already welling up in the corners of her eyes while the other remaining senshi stood like statues in shock. She turned to Seishou-Yami with fire in her eyes and screamed, "Deep Submerge!"
Nothing happened. Neptune stared at her hands in disbelief.
Seishou-Yami summoned another figure from the shadows, "Sailor Sigma, fetch Sailor Mahou-Henshin." She then snapped her fingers and the bodies of the four fallen girls disappeared.
"No!" Sailor Moon wailed.
Seishou-Yami ignored her, "You cannot attack, Sailor Neptune, because you have been cut off from Mahou-Henshin and your power has finally run out. You, all of you, are useless Sailor Senshi."
Saturn's glaive slipped from her hands to the cold stone floor as she was overcome with shock. It clattered eerily.
"I'm so sorry it had to end this way, Princess," Pluto said softly.