Chapter 30
Three hours later, and things weren't much clearer than they'd been when Usagi had just been lying on a park bench unconscious.
She hadn't woken. There was still no sign of the other Senshi. Or even an enemy or a threat.
Just Usagi.
It was mind numbing. Seiji had meditated, or tried to, no less than five times. He sat, staring at his twelfth cup of tea, the single onigiri he'd let Nasuti badger him into taking still uneaten on its neat little plate.
His questions were numerous, and seemed to multiply by the minute, chasing each other around in his brain like dogs on a race track. He had no answers.
Seiji hated having no answers.
The only actual fact he felt reasonably confident in accepting was that clearly, whatever had gone down in the Underworld wasn't over. A fact causing him no end of anxiety or foreboding.
And the most urgent question looming in his mind was what had the Senshi all been doing, these last few months?
Because really, what had they been doing? If Usagi's current state was anything to go by, all the time he'd spent assuming Minako was living her life, totally back to normal, had been completely inaccurate. And the need to know what had been going on in the Senshi's dimension during the gap in time between the Underworld and now burned inside of him.
Technically, it wasn't any of their concern, was it? That was a logical argument to make – nothing had been molesting the Troopers or their own dimension – that they were aware of – and so there hadn't been anything to monitor. The Senshi lived in a totally separate dimension, and whatever battles they'd been raging there had belonged in that dimension.
That was the argument he'd tried to make. To calm himself down. To alleviate the guilt eating him alive that he'd been stupidly oblivious when allies – friends – had potentially been suffering. He didn't want to admit that was the case. But Usagi certainly had suffered, and it followed that the Senshi had endured whatever she had endured.
And the it's not my business argument felt shallow and callous.
It was his business. Very much so. He'd spent a significant amount of time and energy with the Senshi in a dark place. They'd bonded too closely for Seiji to pretend like he hadn't already been obsessing over Minako's whereabouts and wellbeing. For him to pretend like he could sit here and be calm and rational when the Senshi were who knew where and Usagi had clearly Been Through A Lot.
Nasuti bustled into the kitchen then, silent despite the energy swirling around her as she prepared a fresh pot of tea and fussed with some sort of medicinal powder with an intense focus that reminded him of all the times she'd been doctoring the Troopers in between skirmishes.
Hands and gaze steady, she worked at her tasks with a competence that Seiji admired, efficient and no-nonsense and calm. She turned with her refurbished supplies, caught sight of Seiji sitting with his cold cup of tea and still intact onigiri, and gave him an exasperated side-eye before she bustled out of the room again.
Ryo wandered in shortly after, looking lost and ready to explode at the same time. His hands were balled into fists that he'd jammed into his pockets as he wandered the circumference of the room aimlessly before plopping down in a chair across from Seiji like a sullen little kid.
Raising his eyebrows at his leader, Seiji nudged the onigiri across the table at him.
Ryo looked at it the same way Seiji had been looking at it, and it simply sat there, partially across the table between them.
"How's everything upstairs?" Seiji asked, trying to give Ryo an opening if he needed it. He had a pretty good idea how everything upstairs was going. When Ryo merely shrugged with jerky frustrated movements, that only confirmed his suspicions.
The same. It was going the same.
"Shuu hasn't moved. Shin's keeping him company. No word from Touma," Ryo replied glumly. "Usagi hasn't even twitched. Nasuti is fussing." he muttered.
They both cast a glance at the lonely onigiri. Seiji sighed. "One of us better eat that before she comes back down here," he said. Ryo extended a hand glumly and pulled the plate toward himself. He ate mindlessly, with big bites, and it was gone in a matter of moments. Silence passed between them again, Ryo's knee bouncing so quickly it was practically vibrating.
"Wonder where Touma got off to," Rekka grumbled, his frustration becoming more visible in his body language. Seiji shrugged.
"You know Touma. He won't stop until he figures something out. Maybe he had an idea," he replied, trying to keep positive. Ryo shrugged in reply, the motion more about conveying his general impatience and unease than an acknowledgement of the statement.
They were sitting across from each other, staring at the table top when Shin ran into the room looking breathless. "She's waking up!" he yelled. Seiji and Ryo leapt from their chairs, stampeding after Shin up the stairs.
In the small guest room they'd put Usagi, Nasuti was sitting on the bed beside an Usagi that was sitting up, a palm on her forehead, and Shuu was leaning so far forward in his chair he was in danger of falling off. Usagi looked groggy and exhausted, and her head turned slowly as she peered around the room blinking.
The commotion of them entering the room roused her attention, and she stared at them all blankly.
"I must be dreaming," she murmured, putting a hand to her head and squeezing her eyes shut. "I didn't know you could have headaches in dreams," she added after a moment.
Nasuti smiled warmly. "I'm afraid you're not dreaming. We've been waiting for you to wake up actually," she said with very obvious cheer.
Usagi huffed air from her lungs that Seiji thought might be an attempt at laughter, but there was a bit too much hysteria lurking in her facial expression for him to take her seriously.
"That's….that doesn't make sense. That would mean I was in a totally different dimension, and I cannot be in a totally different dimension. Not only is that impossible, but I can't be here. Not right now. Not unless…" she turned bright, eager eyes toward Shuu. "Where is everyone? The Senshi are here too right?" she breathed. When he gave her a deer in the headlights look, her temporary cheer began to collapse into panic. She put her fingers over her lips, and then wrapped her arms around herself, body shaking.
"Oh," she whispered. "Oh no." She squeezed her eyes shut, bringing her knees up and resting her forehead on them, the shaking intensifying. Shuu shot a helpless look in Shin's direction, and Suiko moved forward to stand beside him as Nasuti moved in to place a comforting hand on Usagi's shoulder.
"It'll be all right. You're here now, and we can help," she tried to reassure the woman. Usagi shook her head, hugging her middle tighter.
"No. We're supposed to stay together. How can I help if I'm not there?" she whispered to her legs. "How am I supposed to save them if I'm not even there?"
"Save them from what?" Shin said in a low voice, pitched to sound calming. Seiji could see the tension riding Suiko's shoulders, but to his credit, the Warrior of Trust could still be incredibly gentle.
"I don't know!" Usagi wailed into her legs, hysteria building. "We don't even know what it is! It was just there, when we came back from the Underworld."
She paused here, taking a few short, rapid breaths. On the one hand, Seiji wanted to calm her down before she hyperventilated, but on the other hand, he wanted all the information she had, right now.
"Everything is gone," she whispered to her lap. "We were too late, and everything is gone." She looked up at Shin plaintively. "I have to find them. Please. I have to find the Senshi. We lost everything. I can't lose them too," she begged.
Shin moved around Shuu, putting a soothing hand on Usagi's back and leaning in close to her. "We'll find them Usagi. But we're going to need your help. Can you tell us what happened? What's the last thing you remember?" he coached, voice still that low, soothing tone. Beside him, Shuu looked so tense Seiji was surprised he hadn't vibrated his chair into dust beneath him.
Usagi swallowed, straightening, but not letting go of her self-hug.
"There was a fight. A big fight. There's this…thing. We don't know what it is, but it's so big. Ami said she couldn't figure out where it ended and everything else began. It's all….confusing. I'm sorry. I'm not being very helpful…" she put her head back down on her knees for a moment, and took a deep breath.
"It's all right. Take some deep breaths and don't rush. We're right here with you," Shin reassured her. Ryo had moved to stand beside Nasuti as Seiji had moved to the foot of the bed. Absently, he wished Touma hadn't taken off. Tenku's brilliance might be particularly useful right now.
Usagi put a palm on her forehead and sighed. "It was there when we got back from the Underworld. And everything else was just…" she trailed off here, her eyes filling, tears spilling down her cheeks quietly. Her face crumpled. She dropped her forehead back into her knees, gripping her head on either side, fingers tangling in her hair as her shoulders shook.
"Everybody was gone," she moaned, the shaking intensifying. She sobbed quietly for a moment. Shin watched her, compassion lurking in his eyes, his hand between her shoulders as Nasuti rubbed her arm and made soothing noises.
Seiji felt alarm cascade through him.
Something had been waiting for the Senshi? They'd parted ways after the Underworld, but they hadn't all gone back to their own normal lives. It sounded like that something had been there, wreaking havoc in their absence. Using their absence to inflict chaos. He wasn't quite sure what she meant by Everybody was gone, but he had a terrible feeling that she meant exactly what she had said.
That everyone had perished.
He prayed fervently that that wasn't what she meant. That he'd somehow misunderstood her. It was difficult to wait for her to continue. Seiji knew they all wanted the story right now, so they could take action, but the depth of her grief gave them all the patience they needed.
"S-sorry. I'm – I'm a mess," she hiccuped. "I – where was I?" she mumbled, her voice flat and empty. Seiji felt concern cloud his throat. He didn't like how she'd suddenly shut her emotions off.
"I – Oh. Right. There was a big fight. That thing was trying to eat…everything I guess. I don't know. Ami-chan explained it that way. But I don't really know what she meant, because it had already – " she cut herself off. Swallowed. She'd dropped her hands into her lap, and was staring at them with an empty gaze, fidgeting very gently and slowly with her fingers.
"We were hiding, but it was impossible to hide for too long. So we had to face it head on. I was using the Crystal to keep it back. And I don't know. They planned something without me – " her voice broke here, vibrating, and she took another deep breath, burying her face in her hands.
"I guess they had to plan something like that, didn't they?" she whispered into her hands. She took another breath and another. Then dropped her hands again and resumed staring at them in her lap.
"Sometimes, when we combine all of our powers, we can do…some special attacks. We have special abilities. And when I was using the Crystal, they combined their powers with mine, somehow, and…" she swallowed, biting her lip. "They…must have used the Sailor Teleport," she continued in the tiniest voice he'd ever heard.
"They used their powers to make a Sailor Teleport. And they sent me here," She put her face in her hands again. "We were supposed to stay together. How can I protect them, how can I save everyone, if I'm here?" she said in a low voice. "I can't do anything."
She wrapped arms around herself again. "I can't do anything…" she repeated.
They all sat in the heavy silence that followed, saddled with their own thoughts. Seiji's stomach had sank all the way down his legs and was somewhere in the vicinity of Nasuti's first floor.
The Senshi were in trouble.
And he wasn't sure how the Troopers were going to reach them. Based on what Usagi had just told them, the Senshi had sent her on a one-way trip to another dimension – likely in a bid to keep her safe. He hadn't even known they'd had a capability like that. Then he remembered the mention of one of the Senshi having control over space and time. Maybe…
"What about….wasn't there a Senshi that had powers related to Space and Time?" he tried to prompt her. She tensed up, her shoulders scrunching up around her ears, her body curling tightly into itself.
"…She's gone," she whispered in reply, her voice breaking. Seiji regretted the question even as he realized that the part of the Senshi's team that had been left behind from the Underworld may not have survived their absence. He was trying to wrap his mind around the fractured picture Usagi had presented them, and had to admit to himself that the clearer the picture got the less he wanted to look at it.
The Troopers' instincts had been right. Something had been wrong. Something had been off. Just…not for the Troopers. They'd been fine.
It had been the Senshi that had suffered. His guts clenched and his heart pounded.
And now, even though the Troopers had finally been enlightened, there wasn't any obvious path forward. They could not act on the knowledge. How in the hell were they supposed to get to Usagi's dimension?
He'd thought not knowing was bad.
This was worse. This was so much worse.
Touma came flying in then, his hair wild, a satchel hanging from one shoulder across his chest.
The warrior of Tenku skidded to a halt in their midst, hands on his knees, panting as he struggled to catch his breath. Seiji frowned. Had he run all the way from the city? The blue haired genius straightened, taking the scene in quickly, his eyebrows moving up as he took in the solemn faces around the room and the fact that Usagi had woken. He turned, casting Seiji an inquisitive stare that Seiji tried figure out how to answer without upsetting Usagi any further.
He jerked his head toward the bedroom door and they both stepped outside. Trying to be as succinct and logical as possible, Seiji filled him in, hoping that Touma might somehow be able to pull an Ace that could get them through this.
Touma's blue brows furrowed over his equally blue eyes, his expression deeply troubled as he processed the information Seiji was giving him. After a moment, he nodded. "That makes sense. I wish it didn't, but it does. It sounds like someone or some thing needed the Senshi and the Crystal out of range so it could make a move," he concluded.
Seiji had no idea how Touma could be so logical and simplistic about it.
They were talking about something that sounded like it was eating an entire planet. And the Senshi had been battling it for…how long? Seiji tried not to think about it too much right now. But later...when he had time and space...Seiji suspected he might be struggling with his thoughts for awhile.
"I've got an idea," Tenku said then, and reached into the large satchel he was carrying. He produced a massive disc, flat, and wrapped carefully in a dull grey drop cloth. It was huge, it's diameter the size of Touma's entire trunk, extending from just beneath his neck to just below his belly button.
Seiji raised his eyebrows. "What is that thing?" he asked. Touma's cheekbones reddened, and a tingle of suspicion coasted down Seiji's spine. The archer shrugged, still supporting it with two hands, looking uncomfortable suddenly. He gestured with his head towards the doorway.
"C'mon. I'd rather explain it to everyone at the same time," he said, moving back into the room. The spectacle of Touma walking in carrying a giant mystery object seized everyone's attention immediately, and he shrugged self-consciously beneath everyone's gaze. At the flash of movement, Usagi looked up, taking him in with blank eyes. He gave her a gentle smile.
"Hey, Usagi. We're going to figure this out, okay?" he reassured her, dropping to a crouch on the floor and carefully laying the disc on it in front of him. He worked quickly, nimble fingers peeling layer after layer of cloth from the object. Seiji's curiosity got the better of him and he moved in, crowding around Touma's shoulder and dropping into a crouch next to him.
"Sorry it took so long…my apartment is kind of a mess," Tenku confessed guiltily as he worked. Seiji snorted as he imagined the likely condition of his friend's place. Touma wasn't really someone Seiji would describe as tidy, and if he'd been in the same funk as the rest of them, he could only imagine what Tenku's apartment looked like now.
The cloth finally parted to reveal….the creepiest looking mirror Seiji had ever seen. It was bordered by oni masks and screaming skulls, held within what appeared to be wisps of smoke and flame. The skulls had eyes cut from crystals deep red in color that only added to the ominous picture it presented. The glass itself was silver, but seemed to be much too dark for a normal mirror – as if a film of shadow had been laid over its surface. The sight of it made his skin crawl, and he felt like all those ruby eyes were watching him.
It looked to be some sort of very old, very ominous kamidana, and Seiji kind of wanted to know what Touma was doing with something that dangerous-looking just….absently placed inside his apartment. He lost a bit of color as he thought about the awful things that might have befallen Touma without any of them even knowing.
He opened his mouth, scowling, to give the archer a piece of his mind, but Touma locked eyes with him and flushed then, looking away.
"I know I know. But it's fine. I promise." He hesitated a moment, unsure of himself. He refused to make eye contact with any of them when he confessed, "Um. Lady Kayura sort of gave this to me. After…everything that happened with the Youjakai. She told me I could use it to contact her in case of an emergency. I figured this counted as a pretty serious emergency."
He scratched his ear uncomfortably in the silence that followed as they all stared at him stupidly.
Finally, Shin cleared his throat.
"I thought you meant like….the last time we all talked to each other when you said 'our last call with Kayura.' I didn't realize that you actually had some kind of creepy mirror phone to communicate with her." Suiko tried to sound…neutral, but there was an accusation in his tone that hunched Touma's shoulders around his ears. Shin had left Usagi's side and was now standing at Touma's other shoulder, scowling with suspicion at the mirror.
"Yeah, I know, ok? But I didn't know how you guys might react. And I thought…I thought having a link to the Youjakai might be important. I know we're not all best friends with them, but Shutendouji gave his life to her, so I figured she was pretty trustworthy. And it's not like I'm calling her every day. I haven't talked to her since…I don't know, our last battle?" he muttered self-consciously.
Seiji's initial reaction was still anger. He wanted to be angry. What if the masho had come through and hurt Touma? Taken him? He fought back a momentary vision of Touma being tortured in some horrific dungeon while the rest of them went about their daily lives, clueless, and swallowed hard, trying to push it away.
He forced himself to take several deep breaths and really think. Ryo had clenched his fists, and wasn't making eye contact with anyone, so if someone didn't diffuse the situation soon, their leader was going to blow an artery. Ryo was already tense. This hadn't helped their leader calm down any.
Ok. So Touma had an open link to the Youja—to Lady Kayura he corrected himself.
Honestly?
He'd had the thing for how many years now? And to an extent, Touma was right. Telling any of them that he had a direct link to their former enemies hanging around his apartment in case of emergencies would not have gone down very well back then. Not right after a battle. After they'd nearly lost Ryo.
It wasn't exactly going down smoothly now, over a decade later.
And this wasn't the time for it anyways. Seiji didn't particularly want to talk to anyone in the Youjakai, but Kayura was probably a better option than anyone else. And this counted as the most desperate of emergencies.
The Senshi were in very serious danger. He didn't have a complete picture, but he didn't need one to figure that out. If they still couldn't access their full powers, and they'd used what they'd had to transport Usagi to an entire other dimension, he couldn't imagine they were going to last much longer. Seiji met Shin's eyes.
"This isn't the time." He looked back down at Tenku. "I understand why you did it Touma, but you should have told at least one of us." He gently took Touma by the shoulder and shook him. "We're all equally responsible for things like this and it's not fair that you were carrying a burden like this on your own. I don't want to think about what might have happened while the rest of us were totally in the dark," he added.
"And I really don't want to think about that thing in your apartment. Where on earth were you storing it? When's the last time you cleaned?" Shin wondered with a shudder. Seiji watched Ryo's shoulders droop a bit, losing some of the tension that had been bound up in them with their banter.
"He hasn't cleaned since his mom came for dinner three years ago, you know that Shin," their leader teased in a soft voice. Touma stammered angrily, trying to defend himself, but Seiji noticed a small upward twitch of his lips when Ryo relaxed.
"Ok," Seiji waved his hands, the urgent need to find the Senshi riding his nerves. "Let's do this. What kind of reception does this thing get?"
Touma scratched his head and shrugged again. "Dunno. She didn't say I had to do anything special. Just knock."
"Like…on a door?" Ryo asked, skepticism in his voice.
"Sure?" Touma ventured back.
He propped the mirror against a wall, and they arranged themselves around it. Carefully, cautiously, Touma extended his fingers towards its silvered surface. The archer inhaled, held, and then exhaled.
"Ok," he whispered, "Here goes nothing."
He tapped softly, four times, against the mirror's surface. Seiji thought they might have to wait for something to happen, but on the fourth knock, its surface rippled like a pond, and Touma's hand slipped through. Panicked, he and Shin immediately tackled Touma backward, yanking his hand out. They scuffled as Touma tried to right himself and figure out why he was on the floor underneath them suddenly.
"Well. This is quite an interesting sight," a sickeningly familiar female voice called out. They all froze in place. Ryo dropped into a battle-ready stance, his hands clenched into fists. Shin was kneeling beside him and Touma hands out to block.
Seiji scrambled off of Touma and they both popped up quickly. Touma tried to fix his mussed hair and gave Seiji some serious side-eye that he ignored. He had had every reason to be on edge. Shuu had bolted from his place beside Usagi and was standing next to Ryo, his face a mask of hostility.
Touma gave up trying to tame his hair and sighed heavily.
"Long time no see," he muttered, his cheeks slightly red with embarrassment.
"Tenku," Kayura bobbed her head in a greeting that seemed a bit too affectionate to Seiji's mind. Weren't they mortal enemies or something? She still looked the same – like a teenage girl wearing partial Kabuki makeup, and it made him feel both weird and old at the same time. "My. You're all so…big now," she murmured, taking them all in. She turned then, her face all business, and fixed Touma with an intense stare that didn't seem to phase the archer at all.
"I assume this must be quite the emergency. I've heard a great deal about some of your exploits since our last encounter. I don't imagine there's much that you couldn't handle on your own," she said in a warm tone of voice. It was both surprising and humbling to get that kind of praise from someone like Kayura, and Seiji felt his chest swell a bit.
Touma rubbed the back of his head self-consciously, pulling his legs into a more comfortable sitting position as he faced her. "You could say that," he confessed, looking uncomfortable with the praise. "We uhh…recently ended up in an alternate dimension – not our choice, by the way –" he added. At her nod, he continued, "and we uh…met some other warriors from still another dimension, that'd also been pulled there. And this dimension was basically an Underworld. Kind of like the Youjakai, but definitely not the Youjakai. The strange part is that they initially attacked us with what looked like Youjakai soldiers. I didn't know what to think at first—"
"Youjakai Soldiers?" Kayura's eyebrows had climbed into her hairline as she interrupted Tenku's admittedly heavy flood of upfront information. "Underworld?" she continued.
When they all nodded, she frowned.
"Stay there. I'm coming over," she barked, vanishing from view.
"Uh. Did she just say I'm coming over?" Ryo asked the silent room at large.
Before any of them could respond, the room was full of Lady Kayura and…Rajura. Fantastic. Seiji definitely wanted to be dealing with a warlord right now, on top of everything else. He immediately reached for his armor, his clothing vanishing as it was replaced with his undergear, but Kayura threw up her hands, the Ancient's staff clanging musically, and they all froze.
"Troopers. We mean you no harm," she intoned calmly. "I would have hoped we'd be on better terms by now, but clearly, there's still some hostility going around," she added with a growl.
Seiji blinked. Better terms? Hostility? After she'd popped into their space virtually unannounced carrying one of their worst enemies with her? Was she nuts?! He stared at the shakujo in her hand and reminded himself that there was no way she'd be able to wield it if either the Ancient or Shutendoji felt she was unworthy. He forced his muscles to relax, inch by inch.
Rajura looked amused, but refrained from taunting them. Judging by the nasty look Kayura had slanted him when he'd laughed at the pandemonium, he'd been given a lecture about behaving. And man, it was kind of strange to imagine a huge, angry, demonic guy like Rajura getting a lecture on manners from a tiny little thing like Kayura.
Kayura faced them all again, tipping her chin up, her curious gaze landing on Usagi in the bed. Usagi, to her credit, stared right back, even though her expression was blank, her eyes going through Kayura instead of taking her in.
It hurt, to see Usagi this way.
It took a lot of effort not to block Kayura's view, but Seiji managed it. If either of them so much as twitched in that girl's direction though, it was on.
"All right. Fake Youjakai soldiers. Alternate Dimensions. Take it from the top if you please, Tenku."
Touma flushed nervously when all eyes flew to him, but nonetheless, he recounted their ordeal in meticulous detail, down to the last moment they'd been with the Senshi and every aspect of discovering Usagi and what she'd managed to tell them.
At the end of the story, Kayura turned a solemn stare onto Usagi. Usagi looked exhausted and devastated at the same time, her focus on the window near the bed. She seemed to be taking in the scenery outside, and Seiji imagined she might be at the end of her mental ability to process anything.
She needed rest.
Kayura tipped her chin up, addressing them all. "These…Senshi. You want to what? Find them all and bring them here?" she asked.
It was a reasonable question, but Seiji found the answer became more complicated the more he thought about it. Did he want them here? His gut reaction said yes. But that was hardly fair to the Senshi. They deserved to have their lives back.
"If we can help repair the damage to their world, that would be the first priority, but I'm just not sure –" he started.
"There isn't anything to save. We're too late," Usagi said in a dead tone of voice. "There's nothing left."
Shuu made a noise and put a hand on her arm, but Usagi didn't acknowledge any of them, just kept staring out the window.
"There's a risk," she continued quietly. "You bring them here, you let me stay here, and whatever it is, it comes here looking for us. Your safest bet would be to just…send me back if it's possible, and seal any connections between our worlds." She met their shocked stares with her own resolute one. "I'll fight with everything I have for a better future but – "
"Princess Serenity," a woman's voice echoed in the room. Usagi froze, her eyes wide. She turned the expression onto Kayura and Nasuti, as if the sound had come from either woman.
"Princess Serenity, you must keep the starseeds safe" the voice continued.
Seiji tensed, looking around, trying to understand where it was coming from. Shuu started then, and pointed at her neck. It was then Seiji realized there were two crystals hanging there, not just one. The second crystal was dark – nearly black – but it glowed softly in its center with a warm golden light.
Usagi looked down, and tentatively brushed her fingertips over the gem, her brow furrowing with confusion. As soon as her hand made contact with the crystal, a woman's tall and shadowy form appeared, gradually getting brighter, until the translucent image of a Senshi appeared.
A Senshi they hadn't met.
"Sailor Pluto!" Usagi gasped. Immediately, her face crumpled, her eyes flooding. "I'm so sorry, I – "
"Princess. We do not have much time. The best hope for our world and everyone in it now is to guard the starseeds and find a place where they can safely be reborn. This monster will hunt you. If you return to our world, you risk great and terrible danger. The starseeds cannot be lost. Do not let the Guardian Senshi's sacrifice be in vain," the woman intoned, thumping the large silver key she carried meaningfully.
Usagi put her face in her hand. "How can I find a new place for all those seeds to be reborn? How could I even do something like that without the cauldron?! Is there nothing I can do to save our world?" she cried out. She bit her lip, looking back up at the shadow of the Senshi, her eyes full of desperation. Seiji did not like the way the woman had said sacrifice. He didn't like the idea of the Senshi sacrificing anything.
The woman smiled at Usagi with heavy sadness. "Princess. I am so sorry to place a burden like this on your shoulders. You alone are our future. The Galaxy Cauldron was consumed. There is nothing left in our world. I wish I could give you safe passage to another place or time. But I cannot. The power of the time key now rests in the amulet with the starseeds. But have a care. Using the key when it is so unstable outside of its own universe can have terrible consequences."
Usagi frowned, determination etching itself into her features.
"I won't let you down. I won't stop until I've found a safe place to rebirth the starseeds. You can count on me," she vowed.
Seiji stared at her. He had no idea what the two women were talking about, but even still, the bruden Usagi had just willingly shouldered seemed...heavy.
The woman she'd called Sailor Pluto nodded her head. "Princess. It was an honor to serve you. I wish you the blessings of Guardian Pluto on your journey. Until we meet again." And then she was gone.
Usagi bit her lip, the determination in her face strong now, as she tossed the covers aside and moved to put her feet on the floor.
"Whoa, hey, wait a minute. Where are you going?!" Shuu called, alarmed. Usagi paused, shooting him a puzzled look over her shoulder.
"I'm going to get my Senshi. Then…I don't know. I guess we're all going on a mystery adventure." She smiled weakly at Shuu, her exhaustion clear, and Seiji felt alarm course through his own system. He didn't really understand what had just happened, but he did pick up enough to know that Usagi was planning to use an unstable teleportation device to try and move through space and time.
"That's way too dangerous," he said, taking a step forward, putting a hand out. She frowned at him, her eyes hard.
"It doesn't matter. My friends need me," she told him resolutely.
"Nope," Ryo chimed in, arms crossed. "Seiji's right, it's too dangerous, and there's no way the Senshi would be ok with it."
"What is she talking about, rebirthing Starseeds?" Nasuti wanted to know. Usagi started to explain, then stopped, looking overwhelmed.
"They're like…souls? The essence of each person is held within a starseed. Rebirth the starseeds, and I can give everyone in my world a second chance," she finally answered. Shin put his hand on her shoulder. Seiji couldn't help his wide-eyed blink.
She was carrying the souls of an entire world around her neck? He looked at her with new eyes. He'd known her in the Underworld - her good-natured cheer, her affectionate warmth, and positive attitude, but this was a different side of Usagi. This woman was literally carrying the entirety of her world around her neck, the hope of their future on her shoulders, and she'd taken on that burden without so much as a twinge of uncertainty. Who was this woman? The regalness of her bearing now hinted at the royal lineage the other Senshi sometimes hinted at.
He'd known Usagi.
But it looked like he'd just met Princess Serenity.
"Usagi. Let us help you. You shouldn't do this alone," Shin said encouragingly. She smiled at him.
"You're very kind. But I can't ask you to take on this risk. It's too dangerous. I'm not even sure if the time key will take me where I need to go," she admitted, hunching her shoulders up around her ears.
"Perhaps we don't need to use the key at all," Kayura's voice interjected, reminding them all of her presence. They turned to look at her. She was staring intently at the crystals hanging from Usagi's neck and Usagi herself, and this time the urge to block her view was even stronger. He absolutely didn't want Kayura Getting Ideas.
Kayura turned, gesturing at the mirror leaning against the wall. "All we would require is something that connects your world to this one. One of those crystals should work," she suggested. Seiji bristled.
"We are not putting either of those crystals anywhere near that mirror. We have no idea what would happen," he growled. Kayura shrugged, her facial expression suggesting that Seiji was the one being unreasonable here.
"Very well then. The young woman – Usagi? – can try touching it instead," she added airily. Shuu growled behind him.
"Hell no! We're not putting her near it either," he snarled. Shin and Shuu had clustered protectively around Usagi where she sat on the bed, but Seiji noticed that interest had sparked the princess' gaze.
"The mirror can take me there?" she breathed, leaning forward. Ryo moved to stand near her now, arms crossed, expression dark, and Seiji moved closer from the other side so they were all clustered around her. Touma had placed himself between their grouping and the mirror, his gaze shrewd as he studied the object.
"Usagi it's too dangerous. We don't know what that mirror is capable of or what it will do," Ryo said to her gently. "I want to get to the Senshi too, but I won't put you at risk." It was natural that Ryo had assumed responsibility for Usagi in the Senshi's stead, and it felt right that they should keep her safe now. Even if doing so meant being unable to reach the Senshi themselves. But somehow, Seiji knew deep down that Usagi needed to be kept here, where it was safe, however that had to happen. If the Senshi had already sent her away, he didn't want to think about what might happen if she returned.
Kayura tilted her chin at them. "It is merely a portal that allows passage between realms," she said, the makings of insulted irritation beginning to weave through her tone.
"Well it's the mirror or the time key," Usagi said stubbornly. "They can't both be too dangerous. One way or the other, I'm finding my Senshi."
"Can it be anything connected to their universe?" Shin asked. Kayura studied him, nodding. "As long as it can be connected to someone or some thing from their universe, the mirror should allow passage," she agreed.
Suiko reached into his jacket pocket then, and pulled out a small slip of paper. Curiosity in his gaze, Touma squinted at it before he pulled back, his expression full of a pleased surprise. "It's an ofuda!" he said. "Is that Rei's?" Shin nodded.
"I found it right after we came back," he admitted, his gaze softening as he stared at it. "Would this be something we could use instead?" Kayura made an intrigued noise, and moved to stand before Suiko. She held her hand out, and he reluctantly passed the small scrip to her. She closed her eyes for a moment, her brow furrowing before she nodded decisively.
"Yes. This should work. I can feel the connection it carries. Let's test it." She passed the paper back to Shin and gestured him closer to the mirror with her. Touma stood at his elbow in silent support, and, Seiji guessed, silent back up. Kayura crouched, rolling the mirror onto the floor so that it was flat and facing the ceiling before holding out her hand for the paper. Shin passed it to her, and she laid it against the kamidana's surface before closing her eyes and waving the shakujou. The staff chimed and the mirror began to glow.
After a moment, the chiming stopped, and Kayura straightened, shooting Touma and Shin a grave look. "This will get us there, but we need to hurry. This dimension is highly unstable and very close to collapse." She stood, facing their group. "Everyone, armor up. Do you still carry the Jewel?" she asked. Nasuti nodded, reaching into her shirt and pulling the pendant out.
Kayura bobbed her head. "Good. We're going to need that to help guide us. Someone will need to stay here on the other side to guard the entrance into our world," she intoned. She cut a sharp look at Usagi as she said it, and Seiji realized that Kayura was trying to leave them an opening to convince Usagi to stay behind. The woman was standing on unsteady feet, expression stubborn as she stared at the mirror. Ryo and Shuu had crowded themselves in front of her in an attempt to keep her back.
"Usagi. Let us go after the Senshi. This is too dangerous. The Senshi sent you here to keep you safe," Seiji said softly, trying to coax instead of command.
Either way, she wasn't getting anywhere near that mirror.
She looked to him, her mouth opening to protest, when her legs suddenly gave out beneath her. Shuu made a noise as he caught her, scooping her up and cradling her against him. "It's ok Usagi. These guys can handle it. Let's wait here for them, ok?" he told her.
She met their gazes, chin raised, looking into their eyes for a moment. Seiji met her stare with his own resolute one as her gaze passed, and after a moment, her shoulders slumped with defeat. She wrapped her hand around the two crystals hanging from her neck, and closed her eyes, her bow furrowed, before she simply nodded silently.
"Please be careful. Please. Save my Senshi," she whispered. Seiji nodded at her with Shin and Touma. Ryo smiled at her with one side of his mouth.
"You can count on us, Usagi. We won't let you down," he promised. She smiled back at him weakly.
"You'd better not let me down Ryo Sanada. Or I'm coming in after you," she threatened. Her tone was light, teasing, but Seiji didn't doubt she'd do exactly that if they took too long.
"Everyone, get in a circle around the mirror. Someone, please take the Jewel," Kayura instructed. Seiji called his armor and moved to stand with the others. Nasuti pulled the Jewel from around her neck and Touma stooped so she could drape it around his. She said something to the archer and he smiled at her. She reached up to ruffle his blue hair and his smile faded into the petulant irritation of a teenage boy.
The Troopers collected themselves into a loose circle as they armored up, joining Kayura and Rajura around the mirror. Seiji wasn't really thrilled to be going anywhere with Rajura, but he was willing to try a great number of things to get the Senshi and bring them to safety. Shuu, Nasuti, and Usagi watched them anxiously, and Seiji tried to smile reassuringly at them.
"Don't let the world blow up while we're gone, 'kay?" Ryo said to Kongo with a grin.
"You mean don't blow the world up, right?" Shin corrected their leader with an answering smirk. Shuu rolled his eyes.
"I'll keep him in line!" Nasuti promised. "Just make sure you get back here in one piece!" she called anxiously. Usagi remained silent, her eyes huge and desperate in her face as she clutched the crystals around her neck in a white-knuckled grip. Shuu still hadn't put her down, Seiji noticed.
"Join hands," Kayura instructed.
Rajura and Touma both gave each other heavy side eye as they reluctantly connected the very tips of their fingers. It might have been comical if it weren't so dire. It felt…wrong to be going into battle with a fully armored Rajura instead of against him, but Seiji figured - if he could trust a bunch of zombies to have his back while he slept, and process the fact that Touma had a mirror phone that connected him to the heart of their most hated enemies' kingdom, which he'd had for more than a decade, apparently kind of lost in his apartment - then taking Rajura on a field trip to get a bunch of magical women from another, unstable dimension before it collapsed was fine too.
Honestly, he was getting used to the weird. Why had he ever thought things could be normal?
Seiji linked fingers with Kayura – which also felt incredibly strange to do – completing their circle around the kamidana, and then everything seemed to blink out of existence.
He opened his eyes.
And wanted to close them again when he took in his surroundings. This was where the Senshi had been?
It was a complete wasteland.
Nothing moved. Nothing breathed. There was no sound. Not the call of a crow or the yowl of a cat. Only the constant and steady wind that buffeted their circle from the side. Seiji turned as they released hands to take in the landscape.
Total and complete ruin.
They were in a city that looked remarkably like Tokyo. In a post-apocalyptic movie. Buildings were crumbling, shedding small pieces of themselves with rumbles that echoed off the sides of other sky-scrapers like thunder. There were lights, he realized, but they were haphazard and weak. Flickering.
They'd landed on top of a hill, and as he turned to take in their nearby surroundings he realized they were at the top of the stairs leading to a shrine. He read the sign.
Hikawa Shrine.
"This is Rei's family. I think," Shin breathed, his face grim. When they looked at him, he pointed at the sign. "She mentioned at some point that she helped her grandfather run the family shrine. The Hikawa," he explained.
They all looked at the shrine buildings at the same time. Crumbling, wrecked, it hardly looked like a place fit for anyone to inhabit now. The anxiety in his guts swelled, multiplying itself into guilt and rage, the emotions weaving themselves together into a miasma Seiji struggled to keep at bay.
This was where Minako had been? All that time he'd spent teaching his classes and working to open a new branch in his family's dojo, all the showers and workout routines, and soccer games, and moping around like an idiot wondering if she had a boyfriend, wondering what she was doing, and if she was thinking of him too…
And Minako had just been trying to survive, still trapped in the darkness the Troopers had left behind.
He cast another glance around. No. This was worse than the Underworld. The Senshi had been trapped in their own ravaged world, surrounded constantly by the echoes of those they hadn't been able to save. Surrounded by the reminders of the world that they had cherished and ultimately lost.
He didn't know what kind of terrible monster could do something so vile. But a part of him wanted to meet it.
So he could annihilate it.
It had kept him from Minako. It had separated the Senshi from the Troopers when the Senshi had needed help. It had united them, bonded them, and then split them in two once more, so that it could crush half of their whole.
The rage built inside of him and he shoved it down.
Now wasn't the time to give in. They needed to find the Senshi. He gazed up at the sky, at clouds that roiled angrily as lightning flashed, reaching sharply angled fingers into the landscape, adding to the already rampant destruction.
They needed to find the Senshi. And get them out of this place.
Anything else would have to wait. But he wasn't leaving this place without them.
