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Distorted Visions
Eventually, I get up. Looking in the mirror, I remember even yesterday I was bright and optimistic, even if mourning. Why did it take me holding my still friends bodies to make me realize all of this? I walk into the shower to take off the morgues grime while I think of how naïve I have been these past few years.
Should I wait until after the New Year? Why not? Stepping out of my bathroom, I again see those pictures. I see Andrew's bright face, Darien's dark face, and everyone else I used to know or love. A smile crosses my face, even if it was a small one. They deserve a warning, even if they don't heed it. If destiny wants to put in my hands the ability to give and take death, I will use it, even if millions might die because of it.
I make sure that all the gifts are in the bag that I left them in and that I am dressed, long before I even sit down to do my hair, like I always do. My arms seem to have a life of their own as they begin to put my hair into my meatballs. I stop them. Staring at my reflection, I see how those buns had made me look younger, happier. They were what made me me. They were what made me happy. I am happy no longer, therefore should not be wearing them. I look into my drawers and pull out more hair pins.
Slowly, I begin to put it up in a pony tail, and then begin to braid my seven feet of loose hair. Even braided, it hits the floor. No matter how much I would change, my hair would always stay long. Something had to stay the same. It takes several hands switches to make a bun be finished. A hair scruchie wouldn't even fit around the middle of it. That was why I had to use the pins. Fifty pins later, I look dark and closed enough to not be lying with my physical form, and I leave the house to make one of my final charades.
Darien
That night of my Christmas shopping, I observe a fight with Sailor Moon and another shadow thing. Tonight, she looks like she know what she is doing, especially with attacks that now do something to incorporeal figures. I begin to close my curtains as she gives one final attack and the thing is destroyed. Leaving a slight trace on her to maybe find out where she lives, I begin to get ready for bed myself. However, she does not move. I peaked back around the curtain. She is sitting against a building, and looked like she was thinking. Her thoughts run about her face, most of them sad, or like she was plotting something. At a conclusion, she gets up and flees the area. I finally had begun to fall asleep, just as I felt a great deal of magic being dealt around, from one point to another. This happens about 12 times before it stops. Then, I feel a great presence just black out.
In the morning, at the arcade, I get a laugh of how the morgue had been robbed; I remembered those odd magic flashes. I didn't say how I thought that Sailor Moon had taken those bodies. Besides, she had more of a right to her comrades' bodies then the controlling government. I turn back to Serena, who was looking different today, more strained, and definitely paler. Maybe her tan from the summer was wearing off and I was just noticing. She has a calm, decisive look on her face. "Serena, are you okay? You look different." She smiles as if that is the best thing she has heard in her life. She brushes past me, and where she passed by me, I feel the air tingle with electricity, hot, dark, electricity. "Hi Andrew, I have your gift." She sits down next to my usual spot.
Andrew recovers quick enough to duck behind the counter to pull out another wrapped gift and set it on the counter. He slides it over, and uses to much force, for it nearly falls between hers and mine stools. "Catch it, its glass!" I barely see her reach for it, but she does, and it seems time slows till it does. When it does resume, she is holding the box in her small hands. "I got it, and thanks for the hint." She twists around to her bag and sets it in. The air around her glitters with magic remnants. Watching, it absorbs into her body. I notice her magic is silver grey and the glitters can look like the cosmos.
She turns to me, another box in hand. "Now Darien, do you want yours before you piss me off, or after?" It's a joke, a joke I don't hear her use much. I answer with my own joke. "I'll take it now, so the bomb inside takes you and everybody else with me." It's a joke only, yet it is taken as something else, to. Her face panics to anger, but goes normal then. "Funny, Darien, funny." Serena gets up then, still wearing that white layer underneath the hem of her shirt that is highly noticeable with a black shirt. "Well, guys, I have some things to do before Christmas. I'll see you later." I am given my box before she flees the arcade under the darkening sky.
Andrew goes to help someone, and when he comes back, we don't know how to take her hasty entrance. Nothing is said as we think on it, on if we should say something about it. We don't. "So, are you still going to ask her out?" I reactively study the corner plants. "Um, well, their might be another." Andrew stops cleaning off the counter to look at me. "Dare, she dumped you for good awhile back. She isn't going to take you back. Oh, wait..." He begins to study me like I am the plants. "It's her, the other one." I nod as I drink my coffee. Andrew sighs loudly. "Look, you are like a brother to me, but she could choose any one in Tokyo. You aren't that special."
I glare at him because he knows that that isn't true. "Okay, you have abilities, but so do many other people in the city. I have even felt Serena using those abilities, to." I didn't know that Andrew was that aware. You learn something new everyday. "You know what I am trying to say." I look at him finally, with out any expression. "I know that I'm crazy Andrew, and I know that inviting her over for Christmas was either stupid or brave, but at least I am not waiting for one female to call." I unleashed my own ammo. Andrew took it full.
"Fine, truce, then." I smile at him, and he give me a 'smart ass' look. We are equal. "Well, Andrew, I have to still give Serena her Christmas gift. I'll see you later." I hear him whisper 'good luck', and send him the same right back.
Serena
Darien didn't know about me, or the current weeks, so it wasn't his fault, but those bodies in my basement aren't there by themselves. Lying over the arm of the couch, with a pillow over my face, and my hair taken out of its bun, I want everything to just go away. For a minute, I believe it to happen, but the knocking on the door brings me back. The psychic vibrations are Darien's.
Mentally, I unlock the door. It's open Darien. Nothing happens for a few moments, so he either is confused, or delayed somehow. You can come in. finally, the door opens and I feel Darien stop to take off his shoes. He is now in the living room looking for me. I wait while he comes over to lean on the back of the couch. Finally, I take the pillow off of my face. He is looking straight down at me. "What do you want Darien?" I stare patiently for his answer. "Do you always answer the door like that?" I blink at him. "No, now what do you want?" He nods. "Do you want your gift?" Is that all he came over for? Is that what he interrupted my distraught thoughts for? "Thanks Darien, you didn't have to get me anything. You can put it on the coffee table."
His response is cut off as thunder rolls across the sky. I get up, to examine the sky, to see if it looks the evil I feel. I push myself up, and Darien follows me. Standing before our huge glass windows, I am verified. Crap, he shouldn't leave, and he'll be stuck here tonight. Even though it is only two, the sky looks about nine. More thunder rolls across the sky and lightning flashes. Pictures of the ruins of the moon palace flash before my eyes as the same evil approaches. I turn away from the window to go check that all doors are warded, windows shut and locked, and the entire house shielded.
From the kitchen, I yell to Darien. "You are staying until the storm clears." I turn to see a pale Darien in the living room. Quietly, I walk up behind him. "You feel the evil. You know why you should stay till it clears." Darien nods and looks at me. "Could you check the rest of the house for closed windows, or any external doors that are open?" He silently goes off to find them, and I hope I don't regret him going into my room. I know it is open.
I move into the middle of the living room, to the center point in the house.
"May evil be sent from this house." I place my hands together to collect the energy. "May this house be pure from the storm outside." I separate my hands and balance the energy between them. "May nothing enter this house that will do us harm." I raise my hands higher and face my palms out. "May Selene protect us if we are worthy." The energy is released, and spreads around me, around Darien, around my house, with my wind carrying it. I feel the floor go out from under me, and darkness surrounds me.
The darkness retreats. I open my eyes to find Darien looking down at me. "Where am I?" Darien helps me sit up. "You are on your couch." I try to reach out to sense, and I feel dizzy after the attempt. "Don't try to use your energy." I close my eyes to sense my crystal, to sense my magic. It is still there. "I see. Darien, are my shields up?" I hate having to rely on others. Does my face show it? Darien finds it funny that it does. "Yes, they are up, and are taking the brunt of the storm." I feel helpless now. "Why did you black out? I only do that when I am using magic when I have not eaten." I look outside to my shimmering clear dome that I created, and see the storm winds beating effortlessly on them. "That is my reasoning." What I didn't tell him was that that wasn't the strongest stuff I would be doing on an empty stomach.
Darien gets up to go to the corner chair, closest to me. "Are you hungry?" I shake my head. "How long have I been out?" Darien thinks about it and looks at a clock. "About two, three hours." Wow, that's the longest I have been out doing a domestic spell. It isn't a very good beginning. Great, now I can't meditate with the evil storm outside, I can barely do cantrips, and I am hungry. I don't want to eat.
In one quick movement, I push myself up from the couch before I can get dizzy. Going towards the kitchen, I call out to see if he wants anything to eat. Darien responds by teleporting in front of me. "Isn't that a waste of magic?" He smiles evilly. "No, because nothing else would have stopped you." I try to go around him, and it doesn't work. "What are you trying to do?" I just want to get something to eat! "Sere, you just were unconscious on the couch and now you expect to function normally?" I stare at him. "Yes, I do." I push past him and dodge his arm to get to the fridge.
"Are you aware that you shouldn't be able to move, much less think after using a spell that was to strong for you?" I open the fridge door and kneel down to start to find something to eat. It takes me a few minutes to answer. "Yes," I pull out the day old pizza that I had stashed in the back of the fridge. I open the microwave door, grab a plate from the cabinet, and get out a few of the pieces. In under a minute, and before Darien can protest, I have started to reheat my food. "But I can still do much more. That was a small ritual, already set up, so it didn't require much energy." I go to sit down and Darien doesn't get the way. He leans against the counter, digesting this.
"Then why did you faint?" I look away, into a corner. "I haven't eaten for a day or two." "Oh." He gives me the eye my father would have given me. "Are you anorexic?" I blink at him. "No, I just forgot. Do you want some?" Darien nods. "You can get your own plate." I smile sweetly at him. He has the grace to be embarrassed as he makes up his own plate. When mine is done, Darien doesn't let me cast anything by grabbing my left hand, so I just lift it over to me with telekinesis. He wonders as he puts his own in the microwave, still holding my casting hand. "I prevented you from casting yet you moved it." I nodded. "Yeah, it's called being telekinetic."
I can feel the storm start to ebb away, but I know it will come back in a little while. "The storm is ebbing, but it will be back." Darien looks at me as I begin to eat my dinner. "You know this?" I meet him in the eyes. "Yes, and so do you." Darien begins to eat. I suggest going into the den to watch the news. He gives me an odd look. "I need to distract myself from what I can't do, and we should be grateful that we have electricity and the conciseness to watch the news." I know that I have some questions to answer later, but it isn't like I have to answer any.
Darien
That odd answer made me have questions for later, but I knew perfectly well that Serena didn't have to answer any of them. Sitting there in the dark den with the TV on eating pizza was far more comfortable than I would have imagined. Serena was actually somewhat relaxed while watching the news, except when it came to the Memorial Day service.
"To show how grateful the citizens of Tokyo are, many people are speaking during the memorial service, even to the extent of the local vigilantes. With the distressing news of the robberies, however, numbers have increased for those whom wish to speak. We have Lisa Yearling at the scene of the senshi slaughter, with a surprising interview from the head Vigilante herself, Sailor Moon."
Serena turned away at this moment, and closed her eyes as if she knew what was coming. I kept watching. "You were the leader of the senshi?" The hard cold face of Sailor Moon was imposing and regal to the Japanese citizens as she answered. "Yes, I was." The flashing cameras suddenly went out, but the video cameras kept rolling. "Was there another at the hospital with you?" Sailor Moon looked into another camera. "Yes, there was." Yearling was beginning to look annoyed with the short answers. Serena smiled slightly, as Sailor Moon kept her face cold. "In what condition is she in now?" Sailor Moon looked off to the sight of the slaughter. "She is dead." She was looking straight at Yearling. Yearling responding with an 'oh.' "How do you feel about the memorial service on Christmas day?" Sailor Moon looked directly into the main camera. "It is a chance for us all to express our grief, I among those people, but I do not see why it has to ruin other people's Christmas who cared nothing about us." The camera caught Yearling rubbing her forehead just as the comment finished. "Well, um, I am Lisa Yearling with, well; I used to be talking to, Sailor Moon." All that was left of Sailor Moon was the shimmer silver sparkles of magic.
Serena shut off the TV, leaving the room dark. "You are related to Sailor Moon." I should have really hit that conclusion long ago, or at leased assumed that Serena was a fan. "Yes, I am." Darien found that response funny. Serena curled up tighter. "Did you meet the other senshi?" Serena smiled cynically. "Yes, I did, I knew them very well." Darien swallowed. "I'm sorry for your loss." "All of Tokyo is sorry for my loss." An uncomfortable silence took over then. She was so, non Serena about this, she wasn't whiny, nor a crybaby like she usually was. All of this week and last, she was like that to. Was she always playing a charade? Why?
Those were too personal to ask however. "What did you mean earlier?" I could not tell if she was stalling or something else. "Do you believe in past lives and reincarnation?" I nodded, and then remembered that she couldn't see me.
Lightning began to light up the room. "Yes, why?" The lightning caught Serena stretching her legs out from the couch. "The last storm I saw was a thousand plus years ago. It was caused by this witch, who was strong, and evil to, so she packed a punch. This was how she possessed the people, and killed off the royal family. We had no electricity anyway, so it wouldn't have bothered us any way, but the storm had caught me off guard while I was out side with a visiting prince, and the last thing I remember, before my mother, was watching the prince go down, and then I went. I still don't know how I lived to see my mother again. Now you owe me your explanation." I swallowed and tried to dig up more memories. "I don't know where I was, nor what country I was a prince of, but I was at a visiting kingdom when it us. I don't remember the details."
There was that silence again. "Maybe that was a good thing." I heard her stand up, and pad towards the stairs leading up to the living room. "Why don't we open up the gifts to lighten the mood?" I stood up, just as a flash of lightning gave Serena the appearance of being dressed like the moon guardian, with a silver crescent moon on her forehead. I blinked my eyes clear and kept following her into the living room.
Darien and Serena
The living room was definitely brighter than the den. "The storm will end soon." Serena was starting to get all private again. "I'm sorry I asked you those things." She laughed it off. She was also faking it. "You had questions. I could have told you lies or no answer at all." Sitting down on the couch, Serena took the box I gave her off the table, and waited until Darien was comfortable on the other end of the couch until she started to unwrap her gift.
Her breath was taken away. The earrings were her old pair for her sailor costume. The golden bracelet was the one she wore as Princess Serenity. She could not identify the star locket, but it had importance somewhere. Later she would find it. The charm bracelet though, was what scared her the most. Did the company that made this stalk them and they never knew about it? Darien was beginning to look a little disappointed. "Darien, I love it, but I wondered how long the company had been stalking the senshi." Darien laughed along because he didn't know if that was a joke, and if it was a joke, then what did it mean. She pulled out the charm bracelet and looked at the silver bracelet in the dim light from the storm.
"What are those charms?" Darien had been watching her and not touching his own gift. "It's a senshi bracelet." He moved closer to see. She pointed to a sword. "That was Uranus'." the next thing was a mirror, one of those old fashioned kinds. "This was Michuru's true seeing mirror." The next one was of a little heart like thing with a red crystal bead in the center, and the next was a glaive. "This one was Pluto's staff and I don't know what the glaive was for." Next were paw prints, two of them. "These were the guardian cats." She explained that the lightning bolt and the Jupiter symbol was Jupiter's. "The chain was Venus' Love me chain. It was rumored to belong to her mother." Darien knew she was hiding something bigger now, with this vast knowledge. "The little blessing papers were Mar's binding spells and the little computer was Mercury's."
She pointed a dark red fingernail at a couple pens next on the chain. "The pens were the first transformation wands, and the crescent moon was, or rather, is Sailor Moon's along with the little tiara and scepter." Darien was looking at me strangely. "What? Are you the only one that is a fan?" Darien looked about to say something, when I saw that the storm was finished. "Darien, you must get home and set up your wards before or if he comes back." Darien's last thought was lost as she began to hurry him home, and told him not to use heavy magic. 'It will attract and drain you.' She had said, besides not to drop the gift. Down the path, he began to hurry, where his call of 'Bye Princess' would not reach her, and when it did, she would wonder.
my battery is about to die, i hope you enjoyed it and reviewed as well. Thanks mucho!
PS. SailorPrincess...(sorries i am bad with the memory) Kunzite i thought was the japanese version of malachite. He's the white haired general if it helps. He was a big bad guy in Sailor R
This is chapter seven of saw one by saturnsdarkness