Chapter 7: Lifting the Log
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Sailor Jupiter wasn't just at home in violent tempests. As her weapon, an enchanted wreath of oak leaves, evidenced, she was very comfortable in trees. She and Nephrite, the Contender, were in position in two trees near the Tsukino home that sported a clear view of Usagi's window, and the tree right next to it.
From her spot hidden in the trees, she also had a view of several of the other pairs in position around the house. Sailor Venus and Kunzite, the Vindicator, were hidden in view of the front door in case of problems, with Sailor Mercury and Zoisite, the Strategist, on their marks near the back door. Sailor Mars and Jadeite, the Seer, were on either side of the roof, with each window in view. Sailor Mars had her flaming bow and arrow at the ready.
The Outer Senshi and Endymion were all over the house. Neptune and Saturn waited on the other side of Usagi's bedroom door, ready to storm in at any time. Sailor Pluto, thanks to thousands of years of disciplined, stood perfectly still inside Usagi's closet. Sailor Uranus was on her stomach under Usagi's bed, her Space Sword tight in her hands.
Endymion was most accessible to the perp should Usagi fall asleep; he was hiding behind the voluminous drapes at the side of Usagi's window. Sailor Pluto was fairly impressed with his self-control—the purple drapes were motionless, and large enough that they covered his feet and hid him on either side.
They'd been in position for nearly five hours. As soon as Usagi had left her room to go to the bathroom, they'd gone in. Luna was nowhere to be seen. But no one got bored or careless or restless. No one moved. No one made a sound.
Usagi had actually done her homework while she waited for the fake Mamoru to show. She finished. She turned on the TV. She got bored. She sat by the window for almost a half hour, so dangerously close to Endymion.
He could hear her breathing. If he blinked, he'd be on top of her, he knew it. So close… Endymion clenched his eyes shut, bottling his desire, his need to touch her, to be sure she was real, and sent himself forward in time until his wife's pale face was in his eyes and her weak, labored breathing in his ears.
It was four in the morning, and now Usagi was dozing. He knew she wasn't completely asleep because occasionally a soft cry escaped her lips, and her breathing was unsteady, not the predictable rise and fall of sleep.
She believed she'd been played, and she was crying in the bed, very quietly. Endymion was at battle with himself, controlling his instinct to comfort her.
Just then, he heard Jupiter's owl call. He wouldn't have caught it if she'd hadn't demonstrated-it sounded too real.
That meant that the suspect was here. Endymion used all ancient training in stealth, taught to him by his father in the Silver Millennium. He didn't make a sound. He took slow, long, quiet breaths. He didn't move.
And just as Jupiter had warned, a figure was heard by the window. Usagi didn't hear; she seemed to have dozed off. Every nerve was alive in Endymion's body as the window slid open, slowly, inch by inch, until a black silk top hat found its way through.
Tuxedo Kamen entered the room. The cape didn't move, as the air was dead.
Endymion seethed, silently. How dare anyone try to impersonate him… The king could sense Uranus and Pluto tense because the temperature in the room dropped several marks.
The fake Tuxedo Kamen produced a rose; a beautiful, blooming, thorny rose. Just as Setsuna had described. The room was like a corpse as he approached Usagi. Endymion saw her eyes twitch- she was awake, but she was waiting to see what Mamoru was doing… maybe in her mind, she was hoping for a secret gesture of hidden affection… or maybe she could sense that something was horribly wrong…
Tuxedo Kamen reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun. Every nerve, muscle, every individual cell in King Endymion's body screamed at him to move, to attack, to do something…
He could almost see the moonlight glint at him off of Uranus' Space Sword from under the bed. The deadly weapon was trembling with its wielder's anticipation.
Mamoru stared intensely at Usagi's face, trying to read her thoughts. He could sense a curiosity from her, but also a sharp sense of alarm. But her face didn't betray a thing.
Tuxedo Kamen knelt and put his mouth next to Usagi's ear. Her eyes fluttered, but did not open.
"Kooin ya no gotoshi," the imposter whispered, unhidden contempt blazing in his soft tone. But something about the voice was wrong… the lack of inflection, the monotone…
These fleeting thoughts fled Endymion's mind as Tuxedo Kamen waved the rose under Usagi's nose, then pressed it into her hands. She gasped, but her eyes did not open. Endymion began to panic… what if she really was asleep…
The man pretending to be Tuxedo Kamen placed the gun on Usagi's temple. He cocked it, and Endymion and the Outers began to spring into action.
But there was no need. Usagi's eyes snapped open, full of fear and anger. Faster than humanly possible, she slapped the gun out of the man's hands, throwing him off balance. He landed on the floor, and Endymion could feel Haruka's fierce desire to kill him, but none of them moved. Usagi was alive, and she was livid.
She transformed into Sailor Moon in an instant, and jabbed her scepter into Tuxedo Kamen's throat as he backpedaled to the wall near the window. But he froze when the deadly weapon touched his skin.
"Who are you!" the invincible soldier Sailor Moon demanded in a dangerously low tone. "Who sent you!"
The phony Tuxedo Kamen began to laugh maniacally. In an instant, even though it was disguised by a deeper, male voice, Endymion recognized the laugh and saw right through the disguise.
Time seemed to slow. A snarled comment from his disturbed past self floated through Endymion's mind.
Every night, I hear her killer's maniacal, god-forsaken laugh in my nightmares!
Sailor Moon recognized the laugh, too. Anger fused with acerbic contempt laced the soldier's voice in a rare way.
"Esmeraude! Surely Demando didn't send you to execute me! I didn't think you were even alive!" Sailor Moon hissed contemptuously, putting pressure on Tuxedo Kamen's throat. In a flash, it was no longer Tuxedo Kamen. The form of Esmeraude took his place, still laughing her horrid laugh.
"Certainly not, Princess!" Esmeraude spat the word, but Endymion noticed again, the strange monotone and Esmeraude's dilated, blank eyes. "He executed me! But now I've come to kill you in the form of your lover, so you can know how that feels! To have the man you love kill you!"
Sailor Moon knit her eyebrows skeptically. "Stand," she commanded. Esmeraude did so.
Sailor Moon cocked her head, annoyed. "You don't appear executed to me, Esmeraude. You know what, I don't have time for this. I have a math test tomorrow."
With this, Sailor Moon blasted Esmeraude with a lower intensity beam, sending the witch flailing out the window. Sailor Moon closed and locked it, turning away, missing the flaming red arrow that shot from the roof, stopping the suspects escape. Endymion grinned, tears pooling in his eyes. Now, it seemed, everything would be okay.
With an exasperated sigh, Sailor Moon powered down, and tied a bandage around her hand. Muttering to herself, she crawled into bed, and without another word, fell asleep.
Instantly, the Outers teleported from the house. Endymion lingered, stepping out from behind the drapes to look at his wife's past self.
She was so brazen, so impetuous, yet still so innocent. And the King didn't miss the irony of the situation. Sailor Moon dismissed Esmeraude as a joke, a complete non-threat and went back to sleep, when Esmeraude had murdered without fail the first time around.
He silently approached her bed. She was dead to the world, exhausted from the long night and sudden output of power. And even though Pluto would not approve, Endymion placed a kiss on her check, then whispered softly, "I'll always love you… my Usako…"
She smiled in her sleep.
With one more lingering gaze, Endymion teleported from the room.
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When he reappeared before the Senshi and Shitennou in the woods, all of them had weapons trained on Esmeraude. She was laughing hysterically.
"God. Now I'm glad I wasn't around when you guys fought this particular disgrace to the human race," Uranus spat. "Shut up, witch!" she yelled, smacking her with the flat of her blade.
No wound appeared, and the green-haired woman didn't stop chortling.
"Well, Usagi didn't seem to think this woman was a threat," Michiru noted, Saturn nodding in agreement. But Pluto didn't comment on that.
"Ami, Zoisite. Scan this creature, quickly." A frightened, ominous alarm undertoned Setsuna's command.
Endymion whirled to face her, his violet cape flying out behind him. "What is it, Setsuna?"
Her face was paler than it had been when Neo-Queen Serenity had first been stricken.
"Kami, let me be wrong!" she prayed fervently, ignoring him.
They waited—almost—silently as Mercury's computer processed the information it received, with Zoisite gazing over her shoulder.
A beeping alarm spouted from the tiny machine. "Strange," Zoisite murmured. "Setsuna, what does this mean?"
Setsuna fairly leapt to look. Her composure crumbled as she analyzed the data.
"KUSO!" she swore loudly. She swung around to Esmeraude, shoving the Garnet Rod against her neck, forcing the woman to the ground.
"I knew it. I knew it as soon as Usagi said she thought Esmeraude had been executed."
The eldest, deadliest Senshi glared down at Esmeraude. "Identify program!" she shouted. The Senshi and Shitennou stared blankly at her, and Endymion could feel panic rising again.
In a monotone, Esmeraude answered. "Esmeraude Anomaly." She sounded like a robot.
Pluto's voice heightened in pitch. "Identify purpose!"
"Enter timeline. Destroy Tsukino Usagi."
With a furious shove with the Garnet rod, Setsuna hissed her final question.
"Identify creator."
The anomaly Esmeraude began laughing again. Hysterically; robotically. "Kooin ya no gotoshi!" she screeched over and over. "Kooin ya no gotoshi!"
With a growl, Sailor Pluto swung her weapon into an attack position and declared, "You have been identified as an anomaly in the time stream. Prepare to be deactivated."
With that, Sailor Pluto send a deadly "Dead Scream!" point-blank at Esmeraude. She disappeared in a flash, but her sickening laugh echoed long after she disappeared.
King Endymion seized Sailor Pluto's shoulders. "Setsuna. What is going on!"
Pluto's eyes flashed. "Prepare to teleport!" she barked. "We've played right into our enemy's hands. That Esmeraude was an anomaly; like a computer virus, except in the time stream."
Dread filled Endymion. He could taste bile in his mouth, and he sensed the alarm as the others began to panic.
"What does it mean, Setsuna," he asked through his teeth, fighting for control.
"It means we've fallen for a ploy to leave the Queen unguarded. The source of this anomaly is still in our time, and anything powerful enough create this anomaly could find a way to evade my Time Stop. And this creature is alone in our time, with a free pass to Serenity! We left her with no one but Naru to protect her!"
Somehow, Endymion managed not to dissolve into rage. "Then, we teleport now. They're both defenseless since Serenity can't have gained her strength back yet, they've probably already been captured. Prepare to teleport."
But through his cold commands, neither Senshi nor Shitennou missed the frantic tears of guilt in his eyes.