Outer Shadow--The Lonely and the Cursed
I don't want to be back here…onegai…let me go…
Onegai…I don't want to be the Messiah of Silence again…
Honda stood with a groan and rubbed his head, looking around before he saw Haruka and Michiru nearby, also getting up and looking at where a man with robes was walking towards them. As Honda stood as well he saw that the man was Shadii.
"Where's Setsuna?" Haruka demanded.
"I have been searching for her. We were separated shortly after coming here. Akunadin seems to have also taken Hotaru-chan as well."
Honda looked around and finally noticed it. "Um…weren't these buildings destroyed?"
The group looked around and Michiru blinked while Haruka cursed. "Kuso…Mugen Gaken…"
"Mugen Gaken?" Honda asked while Shadii also looked slightly confused
"That's the school where Professor Tomoe tried to bring down Master Pharaoh 90 on the world," Michiru said, "He tried to join our world with theirs. The only way to stop it last time…"
The two Outers paused and Honda looked over. "What? What stopped it last time?"
"Sailor Moon sacrificed herself," Haruka told him and Shadii, "and then Hotaru…Hotaru became Sailor Saturn…and she nearly destroyed the Earth."
The four looked around and Honda finally said, "So, where could Setsuna or Hotaru be?"
Shadii looked around and noticed the three buildings and their positions. "Meiou Building…Tenou Building…Kaiou Building…and at the hub of these three, Mugen Gaken. There's a reason for that, correct?"
The two remaining Outer Senshi looked over at the others and nodded. "We were watching over Mugen Gaken. From there was where the evil attacked, and from the tops where we tried to stop the destruction of our world."
Honda paused as he looked around and finally said, "Four buildings, four of us. I'd say the answer to what we have to do is simple."
"But then who's going after Hotaru? Not you--," Haruka started but Honda glared at her. "Why not? What if you can't get into Mugen but I can? You're building's clearly marked."
"He has a point, Haruka," Michiru said, "Maybe we must should listen to him."
Haruka looked at Michiru, then at Honda before sighing. "Fine. Now what?"
Shadii looked at the buildings. "I will take the Meiou one."
"Why you?"
"Is it not obvious?" There was a pause before he said, "Both I and Setsuna-san are lonely, and thus we deal with that together."
Honda sighed. "I was going to say something else, demo…"
"That's true," the two lovers in the Outers group said, forcing Shadii to cast the three a glare before heading for the Meiou building. Honda looked up at Mugen Gaken and then at the other two. "Good luck."
"Don't make it sound like we're about to play Go," Haruka said.
"She's not all that good at it. Shogi works much better for her," Michiru teased.
"Michiru…"
The Tenou building was quiet and seemed to have a wind rushing through it and rattling all the windows, trying to get out. She wondered briefly what happened to the wind which got out the door, or if they were all trying at the windows, not caring for doors because they thought it just lead to another hallway and not freedom.
She walked through to her room and opened the door, hearing the windows rattling even harder here. She cast a glare around at the windows.
"Silence."
The rattling stopped abruptly and Haruka walked over to open one. Wind rushed past her, seeming to feel like she was running or driving her car. She closed her eyes and searched for the point, for whatever it was that Akunadin wanted her to be tested on.
The rooftop…where her Space Sword had reacted and called forth Sailor Saturn.
She opened her eyes and looked over at the now-dark Mugen Gaken building. A small, worrying thought towards Honda and his lack of power crossed her mind, but then again she had thought that Sailor Moon was weak in many ways. She had proved her wrong and shown to be a good leader. Honda wasn't a leader, not like Atemu (she hated to admit) or even Kaiba, but he commanded some power. The three main Duelists, however, were the ones in charge. Honda was second in command, and would take up that mantle of leadership if he needed to.
Just like Haruka and Minako…
With a sigh she turned and headed up to the roof.
Michiru looked at all the leaking water, possibly from the multiple indoor pools which had littered her own building, and a few drops landed close enough to her lips that she could taste the salt water.
It made sense, she supposed, but she expected maybe some chlorine or something.
With a shrug she walked up the stairs and headed into her old room, seeing that it was flooded slightly and the water eagerly rushed past her and into the halls to empty out. She walked in, wading nearly at some points, to open a window and look over and see that Haruka's window was opening and a swirl of wind was forming outside of it. She was sure that at the bottom of her building was forming a large mass of salt water.
This would mean Haruka was heading for the roof, and Michiru should be there as well, facing where her lover was. She smiled briefly at the thoughts of how they met and how long they had been together, then headed upward, thinking.
Haruka probably was coming to terms with her slight dislike of the Three Duelists, as she had named Katsuya Jounouchi, Ouji Atemu and Kaiba Seto. Michiru had to admit it was true, as the rest of the group was not as close nor as good as these three. While Atemu was the strongest, holding control over the three Egyptian Gods, Kaiba also had held one Egyptian God and currently was in charge of the strongest Dragon, the Blue Eyes White Dragon. His brother and the sister of one person he seemed to enjoy taunting also held a Blue Eyes, but his seemed to be in charge. The last was Katsuya Jounouchi, who dealt with luck and charging in to battle, held the Red Eyes Black Dragon, the second-strongest Dragon.
The way they were as Duelists seemed to dictate how they were in fighting as well. Atemu was strong and so was Kaiba, but between the two, Atemu was stronger. Jounouchi was their second in command, the one who could fight either but not win, but at least he gave them a slight fight as well.
Hoping her feelings were right, Michiru headed up to the top of the tower.
Shadii had to admit that he had heard a few songs during his time, but never had one really gotten stuck in his head. The one playing almost too quietly to really be heard was what drew him towards one of the rooms upstairs.
"He needs me he needs me he needs me he needs me…"
Sadly, that song was getting stuck in his head now.
Not that he minded too much. It seemed like a rather nice song.
He looked over and began to realize that there was something about the building. All over were clocks, and all of them seemed frozen at the time they had gone into the museum. The clocks were of varying types, from the most advanced digital to a simple sun disk, and even that had the shadow stopped.
Was all of Time frozen inside of this building?
He walked up to where the song now seemed to be skipping in the room, as if starting to stop as well, becoming frozen in this place as well.
He walked in and saw Setsuna sitting down, looking out the window. The tall Time Staff was nearby and wasn't glowing, so it wasn't her.
"Were there any taboos for the Millennium Items?" she asked. He paused and finally nodded. "There were some. We were to use them only in service to the Pharaoh. After his death, we were to use them only to help him regain his memories, or to find one who was to have it. Marik and Isis-san's family believed that they were to guard not only the Memory of the Pharaoh but also to protect his tomb and the two Millennium Items given to them. The Millennium Ring was only to be found if we need to revive the Pharaoh, however even lost it is drawn to certain people. The Puzzle…well, it is the Puzzle."
"I have…had…three Taboos placed upon me. I was not to leave my station at the gate of Time…I was not to allow any to pass through the gate of Time, and I was not to stop Time. If I did the last offence, I would die."
"Did you ever do one of the offences?"
"I broke all three, and was revived. But now…I cannot say. Time has stopped here."
"Then restart it." Setsuna looked at him and he walked forward, "Are you not the Goddess of Time? If you can stop time, if you have that power even if it is forbidden, can you not also start time?"
"Our powers are gone."
"Then we will find them again, will we not?" Shadii held out his hand. "Come, let us find that power you lost, so time can continue and so we can save Hotaru."
Setsuna finally nodded and took his hand, the Time Staff disappearing and the two headed up for the top of the building.
Honda raced through the whole place. When he said he would take this building, maybe they should've said something about the demons which seemed to inhabit the whole of the place. He had run into five or so already, and had been running since then.
So this is what Jounouchi felt like when he was being attacked by the zombie-professor, Honda thought briefly as he remembered when Jounouchi had told him about that night and the odd events. While now they knew it had been Shadii who had caused that, Honda had to admit he didn't like these odds.
He finally turned and went to hit one. Something inside of him seemed to be triggered and the monster was thrown back. For a second he blinked before what looked like a long bow appeared before him, styled like some of those old Egyptian ones he had seen in the exhibit.
Okay…hell, why not? he grabbed the bow and pulled it back, conscious of the fact that he had no arrows but somehow knowing he didn't need one.
His body's inner power pulsed, and he aimed before releasing. Two monsters went down.
"You're pretty good," the man said, his eyes strange along with his hair and his outfit speaking of being higher in the Guard then he was.
"Thank you."
"What is your name?"
"Honda."
"Ah…well, I am Sergeant Jono."
"As I hear, soon to be Captain of the Guard Jono."
Jono gave him a roguish smile. "Indeed. I need a few good men behind me, though. You're good with a sword and such, I know, and my ranged combat was never good. We need someone like you as my second in command."
He couldn't believe it and nearly dropped his bow.
"What do you say?"
"HOTARU-CHAN!"
The door burst open and Hotaru looked up to see Honda standing in the doorway, an Egyptian-style bow in his hand but no arrows that he could see.
Professor Tomoe glared and then threw out a ball of energy, meant to take out someone's hoste. Hotaru gasped but Honda dodged it easily and pulled back the empty bow string to send something that had to be an energy arrow instead at Professor Tomoe.
"Honda-san!" she said as the energy arrow caused a good deal of damage and allowed him to reach over where she was strapped down in a chair. "You have to get out of here. He…I…"
"Don't care," he muttered, "Yugi-chan has two selves and I didn't care. Come on, we're getting out of here."
"NO! My daughter…Hotaru! Give me back my Hotaru-chan!"
The two raced out of the room and up the stairs towards the top of the building.
Why is he saving me?
Hotaru stumbled and Honda picked her up, carrying her up the stairs she knew she wouldn't have been able to go up on her own.
I am…
He couldn't protect himself if he was carrying her but he did anyway and he was caring for her, not in the same way that Haruka or Michiru did, or even Setsuna.
I was…
"Don't worry, we're almost there."
Why are you saving me?
They came out into the top of the tower.
The sky was dark and Honda blinked. "What's up with this?"
"It happened before," Hotaru said quietly, "Honda-san, I'm so sorry I got you into this…"
"Hotaru-chan, I chose to come this way," he said, smiling at her and causing her to blush slightly. "Don't worry about it, okay?"
She finally nodded and he placed her down, looking to the door. "So now what?"
"We have to stop this darkness," she said, "demo…"
"You don't have any power and neither do the others. Hell, I didn't either, now I do. Believe that you have it, and maybe it'll come to you."
Hotaru looked over at him then at the three other buildings. On top of each was the three who were her adopted parents, and one had Shadii as well. Honda looked over at the door and saw it being pushed against by a force from behind.
"I think we should hurry."
Hotaru looked over at the door and then at the others before lowering her head.
Honda moved over and put a hand on her shoulder before leaning in to whisper, "You are not a Messiah of Silence. You are Sailor Saturn, the Senshi of Death and Rebirth. You can do what no other can, and must be strong to do it. You are strong, Tomoe Hotaru. You are a strong girl, and you can do this. We're all here for you."
Shadii looked over at Setsuna and then back to the middle building of Mugen Gaken. "Are you sure about this, Setsuna?"
"As sure as I can be," she said, "whatever happens, happens Shadii. I am going to accept it, but we cannot allow Yugi to be held by Akunadin, nor for him to win. We shall defeat him."
Shadii smiled and nodded before holding up the Millennium Scales and then the Millennium Ankh. Both glowed with power and filled the area with Shadows before Setsuna raised up her own hand. "Pluto Eternal Power, Make-up!"
Haruka felt the wind rush past her and looked out to see the shadows of both Shadii and Setsuna's power joining and flowing from the Meiou building. On the next building, Michiru was looking over, the Kaiou building flooding slowly with what had to be sea water.
Our powers are flowing all around us. She turned to face the Mugen Gaken building and then saw Hotaru and Honda standing there, Hotaru's glow purple.
Her power couldn't be released until theirs was, and she would let that happen. She would allow her adopted daughter to find that inner power.
"Uranus Eternal Power, Make-up!" she yelled as, from the next building, she saw Michiru's hand go up as well.
"Neptune Eternal Power, Make-up!"
The power flowed around them, the wind gather to surround her and the ground underneath exploding before she finally saw her new self, her outfit much like the one before, the only addition being white wings. The water had cleared to show Michiru in much the same outfit as before, also with white wings. They turned to where Setsuna, now Eternal Sailor Pluto, looked over and she lifted up the Time Staff. Eternal Sailor Uranus lifted up her own Talisman, the Space Sword, and saw Eternal Sailor Neptune holding up the Deep Aqua Mirror.
"Rising Space Currents!"
"Melodious Tidal Wave!"
"Garnet Gem, Time's Ally!"
The powers focused and moved towards Hotaru, flowing around her and her power suddenly exploding. Honda shielded his eyes as he saw her appear.
Unlike their uniforms, hers looked like when she had first appeared before them, only black wings were on her back. She opened her eyes and raised up the Silence Glaive.
"Silence Final Dance--Rebirth!" she seemed to do a practice dance with the glaive as the power gathered and then struck.
The world here exploded in shadows and light.
Honda opened his eyes and looked over to see Hotaru standing nearby, still in her Eternal Sailor Saturn outfit. He wore something more like that of an Egyptian outfit from old times, though he wasn't sure when he put it on. Maybe when he felt his own Shadow powers go out to stop himself from being hurt in case her power was destructive.
"You okay?" he asked her. She smiled at him, now looking her age.
"I'm fine, arigato, Honda-san."
He smiled back at her and then realized they were on the ground, the others slowly getting up around him. The buildings were gone, and all they saw was a door with the strange eye that appeared on Yugi's eye when he used to change between Yugi and Atemu. Above it was the four symbols belonging to the Outer Senshi.
"It appears we have an exit," Shadii said.
"You like to point out the obvious," Sailor Uranus pointed out. Sailor Pluto and Sailor Saturn gave her a look that said 'behave' and the group walked over to open the door and walk out.