Lunar Titanium

An Alternative Story by StrawberryMilkyTea —

[Part 2]

=The Dormant Daughter of the Silver Moon=

"Well, it looks like we're finished here," declares the optometrist, moving the light in his hand away from my eyes. Clicking it off, he replaces it into the breast pocket of his lab coat. "You seem to be the product of a medical miracle, Miss Tsukino. There isn't even a trace of scarring in your retinas, and it seems that your eyes have retained their natural color. I don't see any issues, but just in case, I'm going to prescribe you some medicine for headaches. Don't strain your vision, and if you feel yourself regressing, be sure to come back immediately." He scribbles out a strange word onto a prescription pad, then tears the page free and hands it over to my mom.

Only three days have passed since I regained my sight, so I still have a difficult time closing them – I've seen enough darkness to last several lifetimes. It's an adjustment for certain; I had barely gotten used to being blind, and then this happened and reversed every coping skill I'd managed to develop. Not that I resent it, of course. I'm thrilled to be able to see again.

Well, sometimes…

Currently I'm cleaning my room, going through and organizing things that I wasn't able to before. Dad fixed the mirror, and I did my best to repair the picture frame I'd thrown at it during my fit of rage. It was a picture from graduation. The girls were surrounding me, all of us wearing white gowns and brightly smiling, clutching to the scrolls that marked us as graduates. A small, sad smile tugged at my lips as I set the photo beside my heart-shaped jewelry case.

For the first time in months, I'm wearing my hair in buns again. It was too hard to fasten them when I couldn't see, and Mom already did enough for me, I didn't want to ask her to spend two hours a day messing with my abundance of hair on top of it all. But it feels nice, almost as if things are getting back to normal. Or, as normal as they can be, anyway…

My eyes land on the silver brooch Serenity left for me, which lies still on my nightstand. It's unlike any of the other lockets I've owned so far – there's absolutely no color, just chrome, with metal wings unfurling around the sides, and a diamond inlaid the center. I don't know how to activate the powers, or if it will work, but I have been too scared to try it yet.

"It isn't the same." I jump at the sound of a vaguely familiar voice and whirl around to find a black cat with a golden crescent moon mark on her forehead. She is sitting on my bed, straight up, not like a normal feline. After a long pause, I walk over to Luna and shakily lower myself to face level with her. Part of me fears to believe it; hope hasn't exactly been my strong suit lately. "Luna, did you just speak to me…?"

For a moment, she looks as shocked as I do. "You can understand me again?"

"Y-yes," I stutter, managing a trembling nod as tears of relief glaze over my eyes. I open my arms and wrap the cat into a warm embrace, so thrilled to have my friend back. But there isn't much time to celebrate – I have other friends to save. Releasing Luna back onto my bed, I grab the brooch from my night stand and show it to her.

"What did you mean by saying it isn't the same?" I inquire.

After looking at it for a brief beat, Luna turns her eyes up to me with a grave expression. "It is the Imperial Crystal, but it's… different somehow. Changed. Usagi-chan, I don't think it is safe to use it."

"Queen Serenity gave it me," I say uncertainly, looking down at the gorgeous locket in my palm. "I don't have a choice. I have to trust her – she restored my sight, and I know exactly what I'm supposed to do with these gifts she's left me."

If the other Senshi really are trapped in Hell, then only one person can save them. And regardless of whether ort not I am ready to be Sailor Moon again, I must be.

Just as I am fastening the brooch to the front of my shirt, however, I hear a loud commotion outside – as if someone has set off a bomb somewhere nearby. Instantly, Luna and I rush out of the house to find half of my street in ruins. Smoke rises like ominous clouds from the destruction, which was apparently caused by the gargantuan creature with what seems like hundreds of insect legs, all wiggling in tandem as its large body worms through the street with all the force of a freight train.

Its pale face is delicate, made up of white with ruby lips and long, shiny ebony hair frames the expressionless mask. It's barreling straight towards us. Instinct makes me grab up Luna and take off running at top speed. I can hear the houses being crushed by the Chogsogu's grotesque body, smell the coppery blood of the hundreds of people it must have already killed during its rampage.

I turn down a narrow alley that I'm certain it can't follow us.

I'm wrong.

It tears through the small space, its large body squeezing towards me, secreting a putrid acid along the brick walls. It corrodes anything it covers, just like the rain it brought down on Tokyo the day it arrived with its fellow monsters.

Now I'm trapped, back pressed to a fence with barbed wire wrapped around the top, my heart pounding all the way up to my throat, clutching Luna as tightly as I can. The Chogsogu's horrid breath blows across my face, its demonic feminine giggle echoing in my ears. I don't want to open my eyes, but I can feel it right in front me, opening its jaws and –

Suddenly, the abomination stumbles back, shrieking at an octave that causes my ear drums to burst. Jolting as Luna wriggles free from my arms, I at last look at what's causing the commotion.

It's a girl – she's wearing a pink sailor uniform lined with metallic gold, matching thigh high boots, and gloves. The skirt itself is covered in galaxy print.

Despite only seeing the back of her, I can tell right away that she is a Senshi. But not one I've ever met. Her short hair is platinum, like starlight, and curled into two perfect ringlets pulled up like twintails. She seems about sixteen years old, purely based on appearance, but she's pretty scrawny – then again, who am I to call someone skinny?

It's only now that I see the carved ivory bo staff in her hands, tipped at each end with giant glowing stars, which she uses force the Chogsogu away from her. It screams even louder before retreating completely.

Panting heavily, the strange young girl glances over her shoulder briefly to look at me with the brightest sapphire eyes I have ever seen. And then she runs forward, wall jumps onto a nearby fire escape, and disappears from view. Just like that.

Too shocked for words, I look at Luna, who is also slack jawed in confusion. Neither of us could speak, but further down the street the Chogsogu had found itself sme new victims and was no doubt causing astronomical damage. So I stood up and grabbed the brooch from my shirt.

It was time to become Sailor Moon again.