Hello my dear readers! I'll bet you thought that I gave up on this story or
something! But the truth is that I finished the first half months ago, and
then got this major writers block and had no idea what to do next. But now
I think I have a general idea as to what's going to happen, so chapters
should come much more frequently.
And thanks again to all of those loyal reviewers that just wouldn't give up on me! It really means a lot. This is dedicated to YOU. And of course to my cat, but that's another story.
***
Ayumi stared doubtfully at the machine that Motoki was trying to get her to try. After she had woken up from her brief nap he had insisted that she be shown around the arcade. She had readily agreed, wanting nothing more than to explore her new 'home', and that consisted of the Crown Arcade that was right below her room.
"Come on Ayumi, there's nothing to be worried about. It's just a little video game. Sailor V is very popular, and lots of people play it. Why don't you just give it a try first." As he was talking Motoki was slowly pushing her into the chair in front of the screen with this weird looking girl jumping around and kicking monsters. Still not sure if this was safe, and what she was supposed to do, Ayumi nodded.
"All right, I'll give it a try. But first, how do you work it?" After Motoki quickly showed her how the buttons worked she pressed the start button. And waited.and waited.
Finally Motoki looked to see how she was doing, to see she was glaring at the screen. "What's wrong Ayumi-chan?" He asked quickly, and smiled when Ayumi blushed at the nickname.
"It won't start for some reason. I did what you told me to do, and I pressed the start button, but it's still not doing anything!"
This time it was Motoki's turn to redden, and he was just grateful she didn't see. "That's because you need to put a quarter in it first. Here you go." He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out 8 quarters or so. "All you need to do is pop it in the slot, and boom. You're playing Sailor V."
Ayumi quickly thanked him, and popped the quarter into the slot. As soon as she hit the start button his time the screen started to flash and she guessed that it was finally working. When it came back again she saw the girl that she took to be Sailor V standing in the middle of a street. Tentatively she started to move her character forward, looking around still not sure what was supposed to happen.
Suddenly a big purple monster came out of nowhere and blasted her to pieces! She didn't even see it coming. What kind of a game was this anyway. Purely on impulse she began to wail.
Before she knew it Motoki was at her side again. "What, what is it? Is something wrong?"
Ayumi stared in shock at Motoki. What the heck was that? She never wailed.did she? What a silly thing to do in a crisis. Unable to think up an excuse for her childish behavior, she turned to the screen and said. "I died."
Motoki, simply grateful that horrible noise had stopped tried to smother a laugh. "Of course you died. That's the point of it all. You play and get as far as you can, and then eventually you die. The only thing you can do is last as long as you can." With that he turned around and went back to do whatever it is that he does behind that counter.
Ayumi glared at the video game. What kind of a hoax was this anyway? A game that you can't win? That didn't sound right. With a newfound determination she turned back to the keys, resolute in her decision that she wasn't going to die this easily, and it took much more than a simple purple monster to take down the great.Ayumi's line of thought ended abruptly. The great what? She shook her head and turned toward the game.
***
"So let me get this straight." Rei took a deep breath before continuing. "Your Chibiusa, the daughter of Usagi aka Serenity, and you're here because your mother sent you back in time because now she needs your help; you don't know why."
Chibiusa nodded happily and chirped. "Yup, that's just about it."
Rei continued to look at the small girl incredusely. Who did she think she was kidding anyway? This had to be some sort of a dream or something. Because there was NO WAY Usagi's daughter could be standing in front of her right now, especially when Usagi was dead. It just wasn't possible for anything this little girl said to be true. But if she wasn't Chibiusa, and she looked just like her, then who could she be?
Chibiusa stood nervously in front of the four girls, restlessly shifting from foot to foot. This wasn't going nearly as good as planned. For one thing, they were not supposed to pass out when they first saw her, almost like she was a ghost. And now here they were looking at her like she was a mutant or something. Almost like they knew.but there was no way they could. It just wasn't possible. Sentsuana had done way too good of a job for anyone to realize.
Ami still couldn't believe that she let her body incapacitate her like that. She may very well have wasted precious minutes by falling to the floor like she did, and she had been thinking furiously ever since she had woken up to find that yes; Chibiusa was still there. But she was the genius of the group, so while everyone else was still trying to get their wits about them, she was thinking and scanning every possibility. For one thing, this small pink haired girl couldn't be who she said she was. It simply defied all of the laws of physics for a child to exist when the parent was dead. It wasn't conceivable. But if she wasn't Usagi's daughter, then who was she?
Chibiusa knew something was wrong. Now Ami was looking at her with those calculating eyes, those eyes that saw far more than people gave her credit for. After all, Chibiusa knew more than most people. In the future Ami always seemed to know how well she was doing in school, and when she was drifting off those few times Ami tried to help her with her homework.
Minako wasn't looking at Chibiusa at all. She had already had plenty of time to examine the girl when she had brought her over, and was turning her mind to other more important things. Like that girl she had found Chibiusa with. There was just something about her that put her on edge. She had this - aura about her that Minako didn't recognize, but was at the same time familiar and she almost knew why. Almost like when you're watching a movie, and you see a character that looks familiar. You don't recognize him from anything, and you can't place the face. But at the same time you could have sworn you've seen them in something. And then there was Motoki. He had acted to cold with her.and that wasn't how she imagined them meeting. And she knew it was all her fault. After Usagi's note she had cut herself off from all old ties, including her friends and her favorite hangout. Just going there was so eerie, and every time she saw something that reminded her of Usagi the sadness came back. But even though she knew that Motoki was supposed to act like that, the memory of him hugging that girl just wouldn't go away. He held on to her as if he was never going to let go, just like she always imagined him holding her. And the more and more she thought about it, the more jealous she became.
Makoto didn't know how she knew it, but she was positive that this little girl was the daughter of Usagi. She just radiated that same innocent aura that Usagi used to. And her instincts, which had never led her wrong before were all screaming at her to go hug this little girl and welcome her just like she was supposed to. And despite the logic that screamed that this couldn't be who she knew she was, she had never listened to logic anyway. And it wasn't totally impossible. There was a way.
What was the saying she had heard on TV once. The tension was so thick you could almost cut it with a knife? Yes, that was it. And that described the room perfectly. Makoto was the only one who was acting like she usually did in the future. She was giving her a large smile, and Chibiusa knew she believed her. She kept herself from heaving a large sigh of relief. Minako probably hadn't even put the pieces together yet, but she would soon. After all, soon she would get her mind off what was bothering her and put two and two together. And Ami and Rei were looking at her suspiciously. But how could they possibly know? Mommy had said that it wouldn't be a problem, and Puu had been so careful.
"All right, what is this about?" Chibiusa whipped around when she heard the voice, just seconds before the door opened.
"This had better be important, I was bus." The door opened and in stepped a man with black hair, wearing the ugliest green jacket. But then he looked at her, and his expression changed from one of curious anger, to one of shock and amazement. Who was this guy anyway?
"Mamoru, I'm so glad you came." Ami sounded so grateful. But Chibiusa didn't even remember seeing him before. He didn't look like a very nice person either, there was an..aura around him that she immediately didn't like. And the way he looked so contemptuously at her friends didn't exactly put him in her good book.
But Mamoru didn't pass out like the girls did. He just stared at her for a few seconds, and then it was like he was finally seeing her. He smiled at her, and cheerfully said. "Chibiusa. It's so good to see you, now why don't you come to daddy?" Chibiusa shuddered uncontrollably. He sounded to happy, so loving. But underneath that she could feel a resentment that she didn't understand.
He took one step towards her, and she took one back. One more step, and once more she stepped away from him. He held his arms outstretched as if he wanted to hug her, but Chibiusa knew she didn't want this man any closer to her. She moved back as far as she could until she felt the wall at her back, and knew she couldn't go any further. She turned terror filled eyes to her friends. Why weren't they protecting her? Wasn't that their job? Finally her eyes rested on Ami. Her teacher, and her friend. But she was looking at her with calculating eyes, wondering what was happening. Then she moved to Makoto. She was always her friend, surely she would protect her from this man. Didn't they even see that something was terribly wrong?
Finally Makoto took a step forward and came to stand in front of her. She kneeled down so they were face to face and in a quiet voice asked. "Chibiusa, aren't you happy to see your father?"
Chibiusa lifted a shaky finger and pointed at the man with the black hair and the cold dark eyes. "I have no idea who that man is. But he is most certainly NOT my daddy."
Nothing could have prepared her for the looks that everyone in the room gave her at that moment. Like she was a creature that couldn't be trusted. But these were her friends! They were supposed to trust her, not matter what. At least, what was what Puu said.
Finally Rei spoke up. "Well, if Mamoru isn't your father, then who is?"
Chibiusa stuck out her tongue at her. "Well, wouldn't you like to know? But I really can't tell you. After all, dealing with the past is so dangerous. If I tell you who my dad is, he might never meet my mom and then where would I be? I'll tell you, I don't want to find out. But I will tell you one thing, my mommy loves him very much. She says sometimes that he saved her from herself, although I don't really know what that means. They don't like to talk about their past very much."
"Saved her from herself." It almost makes sense. Ami muttered quietly to herself. After all, what better way to save Usagi from herself than preventing her from completing the ultimate act of self-betrayal? But that was impossible. She had done a thorough search for Usagi after she disappeared, and she wasn't anywhere. And the only way that could happen would be death. It was a nice thought though.
"I'm sorry Chibiusa, and I hate to be the one to tell you this." Mina finally interjected into the conversation. "But your Mommy isn't going to be meeting anybody. You see, she."
"Chibiusa, it's time for you to go now." A sophisticated voice came from seemingly no where before Pluto appeared. You've already accomplished what you set out to do, and I really shouldn't have let you stay for as long as I have."
Chibiusa immediately disregarded whatever Minako was about to say and turned to Puu. "But I was having so much fun!" She stuck out her lower lip, only causing Pluto to chuckle.
"I know, and you can come back another time. But for now you really need to be going." Pluto gently guided Chibiusa through the time gate that she had temporarily created and followed right behind her, not even glancing back at the very confused scouts that were left in the room.
***
*Through the time gates*
Chibiusa tugged irritably at her hair. "I don't see what you wanted me to wear this anyway, it's absolutely ridiculous and you know how much I hate pink!"
Pluto just sighed. "I've already told you. They would never believe that you were who you say you are if you looked any differently. After all that other Chibiusa had to come and mess up everything. I still don't know how she managed to come into this dimension, but she certainly did her own fair share of screwing up everything. And everyone back in the past still believes that her future was their own. Even me." With a wave of her hand she undid her most recent spell.
In front of her now stood almost the same exact little girl, except for a few changes. Her face and height was still exactly the same, only now instead of red eyes Prussian Blue ones stared back at her. And messy blonde hair hung loosely over her shoulders. She looked down at herself and couldn't help grinning. "You have no idea how good it feels to be me again! And as much fun as the past is I can't wait to get back home and try to beat Uncle Duo at chess." She paused for a minute and asked what had been bugging her for a while. "But you never did tell me what I went back in time for. After all, I didn't really do anything."
Pluto got a far off look in her eyes as she remembered what was supposed to happen. Ayumi/Usagi running off crying, not knowing where she was going. Blinded by tears and with no one to stop her she had disappeared for mere minutes, and the next time she was seen she was lying in a puddle of blood, her dress ripped to shreds as a mere cutthroat had ended her life.
"Believe me Chibiusa, you did far more than you could ever imagine. Now I really think you should be getting back to your family." With a quick hug Chibiusa ran through the gate and into the waiting arms of her cherished parents.
"And now I have repaid you for the tragic mistake of my past." Pluto turned back to watching the gates of time, waiting for something that would never come.
***
Well, I hope you liked it, and that I did a successful job of confusing you! Well, remember to review and tell me what you think! Suggestions, comments, and of course flames are always welcome.
Email me at sirencalling@yahoo.com if you need to argue anything, or just to say hi.
And thanks again to all of those loyal reviewers that just wouldn't give up on me! It really means a lot. This is dedicated to YOU. And of course to my cat, but that's another story.
***
Ayumi stared doubtfully at the machine that Motoki was trying to get her to try. After she had woken up from her brief nap he had insisted that she be shown around the arcade. She had readily agreed, wanting nothing more than to explore her new 'home', and that consisted of the Crown Arcade that was right below her room.
"Come on Ayumi, there's nothing to be worried about. It's just a little video game. Sailor V is very popular, and lots of people play it. Why don't you just give it a try first." As he was talking Motoki was slowly pushing her into the chair in front of the screen with this weird looking girl jumping around and kicking monsters. Still not sure if this was safe, and what she was supposed to do, Ayumi nodded.
"All right, I'll give it a try. But first, how do you work it?" After Motoki quickly showed her how the buttons worked she pressed the start button. And waited.and waited.
Finally Motoki looked to see how she was doing, to see she was glaring at the screen. "What's wrong Ayumi-chan?" He asked quickly, and smiled when Ayumi blushed at the nickname.
"It won't start for some reason. I did what you told me to do, and I pressed the start button, but it's still not doing anything!"
This time it was Motoki's turn to redden, and he was just grateful she didn't see. "That's because you need to put a quarter in it first. Here you go." He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out 8 quarters or so. "All you need to do is pop it in the slot, and boom. You're playing Sailor V."
Ayumi quickly thanked him, and popped the quarter into the slot. As soon as she hit the start button his time the screen started to flash and she guessed that it was finally working. When it came back again she saw the girl that she took to be Sailor V standing in the middle of a street. Tentatively she started to move her character forward, looking around still not sure what was supposed to happen.
Suddenly a big purple monster came out of nowhere and blasted her to pieces! She didn't even see it coming. What kind of a game was this anyway. Purely on impulse she began to wail.
Before she knew it Motoki was at her side again. "What, what is it? Is something wrong?"
Ayumi stared in shock at Motoki. What the heck was that? She never wailed.did she? What a silly thing to do in a crisis. Unable to think up an excuse for her childish behavior, she turned to the screen and said. "I died."
Motoki, simply grateful that horrible noise had stopped tried to smother a laugh. "Of course you died. That's the point of it all. You play and get as far as you can, and then eventually you die. The only thing you can do is last as long as you can." With that he turned around and went back to do whatever it is that he does behind that counter.
Ayumi glared at the video game. What kind of a hoax was this anyway? A game that you can't win? That didn't sound right. With a newfound determination she turned back to the keys, resolute in her decision that she wasn't going to die this easily, and it took much more than a simple purple monster to take down the great.Ayumi's line of thought ended abruptly. The great what? She shook her head and turned toward the game.
***
"So let me get this straight." Rei took a deep breath before continuing. "Your Chibiusa, the daughter of Usagi aka Serenity, and you're here because your mother sent you back in time because now she needs your help; you don't know why."
Chibiusa nodded happily and chirped. "Yup, that's just about it."
Rei continued to look at the small girl incredusely. Who did she think she was kidding anyway? This had to be some sort of a dream or something. Because there was NO WAY Usagi's daughter could be standing in front of her right now, especially when Usagi was dead. It just wasn't possible for anything this little girl said to be true. But if she wasn't Chibiusa, and she looked just like her, then who could she be?
Chibiusa stood nervously in front of the four girls, restlessly shifting from foot to foot. This wasn't going nearly as good as planned. For one thing, they were not supposed to pass out when they first saw her, almost like she was a ghost. And now here they were looking at her like she was a mutant or something. Almost like they knew.but there was no way they could. It just wasn't possible. Sentsuana had done way too good of a job for anyone to realize.
Ami still couldn't believe that she let her body incapacitate her like that. She may very well have wasted precious minutes by falling to the floor like she did, and she had been thinking furiously ever since she had woken up to find that yes; Chibiusa was still there. But she was the genius of the group, so while everyone else was still trying to get their wits about them, she was thinking and scanning every possibility. For one thing, this small pink haired girl couldn't be who she said she was. It simply defied all of the laws of physics for a child to exist when the parent was dead. It wasn't conceivable. But if she wasn't Usagi's daughter, then who was she?
Chibiusa knew something was wrong. Now Ami was looking at her with those calculating eyes, those eyes that saw far more than people gave her credit for. After all, Chibiusa knew more than most people. In the future Ami always seemed to know how well she was doing in school, and when she was drifting off those few times Ami tried to help her with her homework.
Minako wasn't looking at Chibiusa at all. She had already had plenty of time to examine the girl when she had brought her over, and was turning her mind to other more important things. Like that girl she had found Chibiusa with. There was just something about her that put her on edge. She had this - aura about her that Minako didn't recognize, but was at the same time familiar and she almost knew why. Almost like when you're watching a movie, and you see a character that looks familiar. You don't recognize him from anything, and you can't place the face. But at the same time you could have sworn you've seen them in something. And then there was Motoki. He had acted to cold with her.and that wasn't how she imagined them meeting. And she knew it was all her fault. After Usagi's note she had cut herself off from all old ties, including her friends and her favorite hangout. Just going there was so eerie, and every time she saw something that reminded her of Usagi the sadness came back. But even though she knew that Motoki was supposed to act like that, the memory of him hugging that girl just wouldn't go away. He held on to her as if he was never going to let go, just like she always imagined him holding her. And the more and more she thought about it, the more jealous she became.
Makoto didn't know how she knew it, but she was positive that this little girl was the daughter of Usagi. She just radiated that same innocent aura that Usagi used to. And her instincts, which had never led her wrong before were all screaming at her to go hug this little girl and welcome her just like she was supposed to. And despite the logic that screamed that this couldn't be who she knew she was, she had never listened to logic anyway. And it wasn't totally impossible. There was a way.
What was the saying she had heard on TV once. The tension was so thick you could almost cut it with a knife? Yes, that was it. And that described the room perfectly. Makoto was the only one who was acting like she usually did in the future. She was giving her a large smile, and Chibiusa knew she believed her. She kept herself from heaving a large sigh of relief. Minako probably hadn't even put the pieces together yet, but she would soon. After all, soon she would get her mind off what was bothering her and put two and two together. And Ami and Rei were looking at her suspiciously. But how could they possibly know? Mommy had said that it wouldn't be a problem, and Puu had been so careful.
"All right, what is this about?" Chibiusa whipped around when she heard the voice, just seconds before the door opened.
"This had better be important, I was bus." The door opened and in stepped a man with black hair, wearing the ugliest green jacket. But then he looked at her, and his expression changed from one of curious anger, to one of shock and amazement. Who was this guy anyway?
"Mamoru, I'm so glad you came." Ami sounded so grateful. But Chibiusa didn't even remember seeing him before. He didn't look like a very nice person either, there was an..aura around him that she immediately didn't like. And the way he looked so contemptuously at her friends didn't exactly put him in her good book.
But Mamoru didn't pass out like the girls did. He just stared at her for a few seconds, and then it was like he was finally seeing her. He smiled at her, and cheerfully said. "Chibiusa. It's so good to see you, now why don't you come to daddy?" Chibiusa shuddered uncontrollably. He sounded to happy, so loving. But underneath that she could feel a resentment that she didn't understand.
He took one step towards her, and she took one back. One more step, and once more she stepped away from him. He held his arms outstretched as if he wanted to hug her, but Chibiusa knew she didn't want this man any closer to her. She moved back as far as she could until she felt the wall at her back, and knew she couldn't go any further. She turned terror filled eyes to her friends. Why weren't they protecting her? Wasn't that their job? Finally her eyes rested on Ami. Her teacher, and her friend. But she was looking at her with calculating eyes, wondering what was happening. Then she moved to Makoto. She was always her friend, surely she would protect her from this man. Didn't they even see that something was terribly wrong?
Finally Makoto took a step forward and came to stand in front of her. She kneeled down so they were face to face and in a quiet voice asked. "Chibiusa, aren't you happy to see your father?"
Chibiusa lifted a shaky finger and pointed at the man with the black hair and the cold dark eyes. "I have no idea who that man is. But he is most certainly NOT my daddy."
Nothing could have prepared her for the looks that everyone in the room gave her at that moment. Like she was a creature that couldn't be trusted. But these were her friends! They were supposed to trust her, not matter what. At least, what was what Puu said.
Finally Rei spoke up. "Well, if Mamoru isn't your father, then who is?"
Chibiusa stuck out her tongue at her. "Well, wouldn't you like to know? But I really can't tell you. After all, dealing with the past is so dangerous. If I tell you who my dad is, he might never meet my mom and then where would I be? I'll tell you, I don't want to find out. But I will tell you one thing, my mommy loves him very much. She says sometimes that he saved her from herself, although I don't really know what that means. They don't like to talk about their past very much."
"Saved her from herself." It almost makes sense. Ami muttered quietly to herself. After all, what better way to save Usagi from herself than preventing her from completing the ultimate act of self-betrayal? But that was impossible. She had done a thorough search for Usagi after she disappeared, and she wasn't anywhere. And the only way that could happen would be death. It was a nice thought though.
"I'm sorry Chibiusa, and I hate to be the one to tell you this." Mina finally interjected into the conversation. "But your Mommy isn't going to be meeting anybody. You see, she."
"Chibiusa, it's time for you to go now." A sophisticated voice came from seemingly no where before Pluto appeared. You've already accomplished what you set out to do, and I really shouldn't have let you stay for as long as I have."
Chibiusa immediately disregarded whatever Minako was about to say and turned to Puu. "But I was having so much fun!" She stuck out her lower lip, only causing Pluto to chuckle.
"I know, and you can come back another time. But for now you really need to be going." Pluto gently guided Chibiusa through the time gate that she had temporarily created and followed right behind her, not even glancing back at the very confused scouts that were left in the room.
***
*Through the time gates*
Chibiusa tugged irritably at her hair. "I don't see what you wanted me to wear this anyway, it's absolutely ridiculous and you know how much I hate pink!"
Pluto just sighed. "I've already told you. They would never believe that you were who you say you are if you looked any differently. After all that other Chibiusa had to come and mess up everything. I still don't know how she managed to come into this dimension, but she certainly did her own fair share of screwing up everything. And everyone back in the past still believes that her future was their own. Even me." With a wave of her hand she undid her most recent spell.
In front of her now stood almost the same exact little girl, except for a few changes. Her face and height was still exactly the same, only now instead of red eyes Prussian Blue ones stared back at her. And messy blonde hair hung loosely over her shoulders. She looked down at herself and couldn't help grinning. "You have no idea how good it feels to be me again! And as much fun as the past is I can't wait to get back home and try to beat Uncle Duo at chess." She paused for a minute and asked what had been bugging her for a while. "But you never did tell me what I went back in time for. After all, I didn't really do anything."
Pluto got a far off look in her eyes as she remembered what was supposed to happen. Ayumi/Usagi running off crying, not knowing where she was going. Blinded by tears and with no one to stop her she had disappeared for mere minutes, and the next time she was seen she was lying in a puddle of blood, her dress ripped to shreds as a mere cutthroat had ended her life.
"Believe me Chibiusa, you did far more than you could ever imagine. Now I really think you should be getting back to your family." With a quick hug Chibiusa ran through the gate and into the waiting arms of her cherished parents.
"And now I have repaid you for the tragic mistake of my past." Pluto turned back to watching the gates of time, waiting for something that would never come.
***
Well, I hope you liked it, and that I did a successful job of confusing you! Well, remember to review and tell me what you think! Suggestions, comments, and of course flames are always welcome.
Email me at sirencalling@yahoo.com if you need to argue anything, or just to say hi.