Castle in the Sky

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

A/N: MORE CHIBI SOMA PLUSHY ACTION! …. He so hates me...

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Soma,

Too often as of the 21st century. What have you done?

The email was not signed off with a signature, but with snark like that who 'else' could possibly send that as a message?

To Arikado,

Why does it have to be something 'I' have done? The last two times were because people were doing things 'to' me. And I'll have you know that your attempt to seal away the castle has officially failed in the most spectacular fashion I can think of.

Signed,

The reason you're still gainfully employed as a vampire hunter.

Plushy Soma

"Why are these messages all adding the 'plushy'?" Soma asked as he looked down at his felt phone, his bowl shape eyes and inverted v shaped mouth showing his deep thoughts. He hung like a plush doll from the Castles' arms, now fully free from Usagi's arms.

Makoto had departed to assist Mina in making some light snacks for the sudden group on the temple grounds. Everyone had moved themselves so they were out of the way from the front of the Shrine. Settling themselves near some trees and why in the name of God wasn't the Castle turning itself back into a normal girl rather than a freaking SAILOR SCOUT?!

"Maybe because you are?" Hotaru offered thoughtfully as she took in his adorable plushy face. "I mean, you're more emotive now than you are as a person, the signs and other things appear randomly to help you express yourself even. And now you have felt tears pouring out of your eyes," she she added as his expressions shifted through her attempt to rationalize it.

"Someone make her change back into a person..." Soma whimpered as he seemed to deflate. But as he deflated she noted how the weather felt shifted, the sky had been cloudless, but now there was a single white cloud in all the bright blue sky.

"Usagi, I hate to say the Vampire is right," Rei began when Soma's voice rose over her in a cry of 'Stop calling me that!'. "We've protected the world a great deal, sure some how the toy got through, but apparently he's someone else's problem."

"I'm not a toy! And that's only because you can't handle me at my best you walking match stick!" Soma shouted back with the sky seemingly answering by providing him another cloud.

Meanwhile some distance away so they could speak privately among themselves...

"So basically you waited for Chibi Usa to show up after the wedding," Haruka clarified as she and Michiru stood under a healthy green tree with Setsuna.

"Like the Princess, I too, looked for the day that the Small Lady would arrive. I never looked in the time stream to see what had happened. Taking everything based on faith, until," with that even Setsuna found her voice lacked the strength to continue.

'Until that time she was needed and met this Chibi Usa', felt too cruel. Watching the Princess sob into her daughters' arms, made Setsuna quietly burn with the same shame that consumed all the others in the group.

"What do we do now then? We've wasted all this time expecting a pattern that never came about. Should we even bother to try and find the Asteroid Scouts? Wouldn't their age already put them at the same as Chibi Usa?" Michiru asked as she brought out her Mirror and began gazing into it thoughtfully.

The question was left hanging while the rest of the Scouts stayed near Usagi, who had yet to release her daughters' hand from her own.

"You know Rei, Soma's been a big help to me..." Usagi pointed out, again.

Minako and Ami exchanged glances at the growing stare down going on between Rei and Soma before shifting their gaze to the rather radical scout among them.

"So... do you have a name? I mean we can't just call you 'castle' or 'Sailor Chaos' in public..." Minako pointed out in some vain effort to establish something more normal.

"For that matter how does an inorganic Castle become an Organic person? Chaos or not," Ami followed up promptly behind Minako's own inquiries with her own. With that, Ami stood up with her computer already in hand and began trying to figure out what this girl 'was' exactly.

Sailor Chaos blinked at Minako since the idea of having a name never crossed her mind. "Well, how would you name 'me' I'm a creature of Chaos. Its never in a fixed state or the very nature of 'Chaos' would be lost. So if I don't want to be a castle than I'm not," she stated simply. Giving the scouts something to mentally work with.

After all she was a creature 'of' Chaos, not Chaos itself, therefore pretty much more of the same of what they had fought for years. Created agents of Chaos that threw the world into disorder, though one that seemed willingly tethered to Soma. Not only willingly tethered but tethered in the form of castle so there had to be something that tied the castle to Soma. Which clearly was the whole 'Vampire Lord of Darkness' thing that Soma was rocking.

"But why are you 'here'?" Ami asked as she took in what life readings she could get off the strange girl.

"She was here for years actually," Soma pipped up though he kept his eyes glued on Reis'. "She was the Castle of Dracula in Europe. Then got sealed away off the planet all together, in fact the last time I heard about her as a Castle was..." Soma developed more question marks over his head that suddenly straightened into exclamation marks. "That's right, Fortner was talking about how she was weakening..."

"Weakening?" Ami noted, her tone almost absently doctorish as she continued pressing the keys on her computer.

"Weakening?" Rei repeated thoughtfully dropping the staring contest so she could study the Scout before her. "So... she was dying?"

Sailor Chaos promptly pulled up Soma so she could hide her lower face behind his head while glaring in an aggressive manner towards Rei for the statement.

"Seems to be it," Chibi Usa commented with a slight tilt of her head. "But that makes sense, she was dying and needed to get back to what keeps her alive. We'd all do that so that's no surprise, and she hasn't done anything 'bad' so..." Chibi Usa's eyes went to the sky as she tried to think of what she would do if 'she' were this castle, before she lowered her red eye gaze to focus more on the Scout. "You really aren't aligned to any side are you? I mean, you're created by Chaos, but that doesn't mean you have an actual alignment so... I guess its safe to say you just want to be around your Master so you can sustain yourself huh?"

Sailor Chaos gave a slight nod, her eyes disappearing behind the white fluff of Soma's hair as she did so. "Master destroyed the thing that links me to Chaos properly, I only have Darkness as my solid connection now and Master who is my source left so..."

"So maybe you should be 'Sailor Darkness', instead?" Usagi offered thoughtfully while Soma's eyes changed to look like threaded eyelashes.

"You know its one thing to run away from a demon filled piece of real estate, but now that you're in this form. I feel like an ass for running off, and I shouldn't. I don't want to go back to being evil!" Soma grumped out, his hands tapping an irregular beat on the Scouts' glove covered arm. While overhead a few clouds began to drift lazily over the sun.

"Well maybe you shouldn't be a vampire," Rei pointed out sharply while Usagi facepalmed.

"How about I take a bite out of you!" Soma began, slipping away from the Chaos Scout and launching himself at Rei.

The Princess of Mars raised her arm up in defense only to have Soma somehow manage to latch on. He had these felt fangs that rested over her arm and she could feel the rest of his felt mouth texture against her arm. His eyes had turned gold, but there was no pain to the bite, after all, how could there be when it was a mouth of felt? Causing her to cock her eyebrow up in mocking ridicule at the plushed out Vampire Lord.

Then the sucking sound began.

It was the noisy sound of someone sucking the very last drop of soda out of a can. That sharp, very unmusical, unlord like 'slurp, slurp' sound that got everyone in ear shot to look.

Rei's eyes turned huge while Soma's eyes shifted into the shape of an evil smile, "he's feeding! I told you he's evil! Get off me you demon!" She began shaking her arm up and down to shake herself free while Minako and Ami bracketed her with mutual 'really Rei' expressions on their faces.

Minako grabbed Soma, and apparently that was all it took to free Reis' arm while Ami took said sucked up on arm to check for any damage. While also holding the woman in place as Rei struggled to get one of her Ofuda's out to deal with Soma. But interestingly enough there was no clear signs of bites on Rei's arm. Just two small red marks as though she had been bitten by a small and relatively harmless pair of bugs.

"Does it hurt when I touch it?" She asked in full doctor mode, ignoring Rei's demands to be released.

When something magical happened, despite the clouds that had congregated over the Shrine the angrier Soma had gotten from Rei's verbal attacks. Those clouds suddenly dispersed, allowing shafts of golden light to filter down again onto the shrine seemingly from just the sound the Scouts had not heard in decades.

Usagi was laughing.

It was a 'Usagi Laugh' the type she gave when they were 14, full of love and happiness, the overwhelming abundance of joy that was uniquely Usagi herself. The laugh of a woman who didn't care to be the best in school, or the most beautiful, who was happy with who she was and the most happy when surrounded by her loved ones.

Be them family or friends.

And why shouldn't she laugh? The shrine was different, but as she sat there Usagi saw their 14 year old selves all over again. Adult attire was replaced with Middle School uniforms, the professional expressions of business women was replaced with the worn expressions of exasperation. There were no jobs outside the shrine walls, all that existed was this moment a bunch of 14 year olds hung out and laughed. Comical and warm, so filled with love and light that she shoved the modern world away and for a moment retreated back to that golden time in their lives.

Her laughter causing the others to stop and study her in surprise before looking at what they were doing. While the Outer Scouts may have been lost to their older adult problems, the Inner Scouts found themselves realizing the ludicrous situation. Princesses one and all, protectors of the world, and they were fussing and arguing like they were kids again all because of Rei's obsession with a Dark Lord.

Suddenly hating Soma felt foolish, even to Rei, the weight of the years they had lived slipped away. And once more they were teenagers enjoying a day out, even the presence of a 'Sailor Chaos' weighed less. All because Usagi was laughing. Just the sound of her laugh, one they hadn't heard since Chibi Usa's infancy seemed to shake off the shackles of their never ending struggle. The little aches and pains that went with always having another battle to fight slipped away. Leaving all the Inner Scouts to share in the laughter, old friends laughing in the light of the sun.

Only to be interrupted by Mina's voice that sang out into the air. "We're back! And its delicious!" In her hands was a tray filled with cups and a teapot with Makoto following behind with a tray that held a large pile of riceballs and sandwiches. Whatever emotional response Makoto may have held given Usagi's outburst was tamed by the calming chance to lose herself in cooking it seemed.

And Mina was just a new friend, Soma too, new friends who were brought into their fold via their clumsy, loving Usagi. Mina labored under the tray for only a little bit as she approached the Inner Scouts. Each Scout taking up a drink for themselves while Makoto followed behind, taking in the much better atmosphere that the grounds exuded.

Until she reached Soma and that's when things got interesting.

The plush Soma was standing on a plush gorgon head that was balanced on a stick. Allowing him to be able to just peek over the tray and see what Makoto had made. His eyes had turned back blue, but they were also reflecting a rice ball at the moment. "They look good, wish I could have one..." He finally spoke in a mournful tone as he turned to give Sailor Chaos a dirty look.

"Well, take one..." Makoto offered though she wasn't exactly sure what good that would do, personally.

"You drank blood, you should be able to eat a Rice Ball," Hotaru pointed out pragmatically.

Which automatically got Makoto's attention, "you drank 'what'?!"

"She started it," Soma answered absently as he reached up and took a rice ball into his hands. Which, given his new size, was about half the size of a bowling ball. Only to turn into a felt made rice ball, that couldn't possibly be eaten. Right?

"You're crying again," Chibi Usa pointed out, while Makoto freed up one hand and poked his cheek.

"Its wet... your tears are wet despite being... well a toy now." Makoto noticed with some awe in her voice as she rubbed her index finger with her thumb.

"Maybe you should try eating the rice ball... despite your tiny little mouth and its proportionally huge rice ball." Haruka suggested as she walked over, picking up a small sandwich for Michiru and a rice ball for herself. "Makoto is a great cook, seems a shame to miss out just because you're a plush toy."

Soma hesitated for a moment, he honestly didn't want a mouth full of felt. But the blood 'did' taste like blood once he drank it. So he brought the rice ball close to his face and took a tentative 'bite', with his mouth popping open.

"oh! The rice ball has a bite mark in it now!" Mina noted in surprise, as Minako leaned over and nodded.

"Sure is!"

While Soma found himself with a small amount of warm rice in his mouth, not felt. Pleased he began chewing his way through the rice and then took a bigger bite out of the ball. His eyes turned into arches of happiness, his cheeks puffed up, every sign given that he was happy.

"How are you hungry? You drank blood from Rei after all," Ami inquired leaning over in curiosity to exam Soma's eating process.

"I didn't drink a lot, just enough to get my point across. Besides this tastes a lot better than Rei, she tastes like flat hot sauce you find in a restaurant." Soma answered, merrily eating his rice ball...

"I can punt him over the wall and to the ground below, just give me one shot!" Rei growled as she tried to get past Minako and Ami who were now both holding her back.

Usagi was giggling with her daughter, when her eyes caught sight of something, or rather some'one' that would just reinforce the whole '14 year old teenage girl' air of the place. Causing her to lightly tap on her daughters' hand and get Chibi Usa to look over at the front gates of the Shrine.

"Hold the phone... Who is 'that'?" Chibi Usa asked as her eyes got wide taking in the black clad, raven haired man who had just finished ascending the stairs. The other scouts blinked and looked around and one could almost hear the low whistling that took place. Tall, slender, hair immaculately groomed, skin clear of any blemish, and in an elegant formal business suit.

"Hi Mr. Arikado!"