School finished at last and Eliana stood, gathering her things. "So, where should we go first to get things for Mr. Apollo?" she asked.
"I was thinking the local pet store. There's one not too far from here," Hajime said, and began to lead the way. It took about ten minutes, but they got there. "Okay, so maybe a bed and a scratching post..." Hajime was talking to himself as he checked prices on things, then decided on two that were modestly priced and decently sized. "I think he'll like them. Okay now, onto the grocery store." He led the way again, taking Eliana with him to the grocery store. "Let's get some tuna, and some cat food." Grabbing a decent amount of each, he led the way back to his apartment. On the way, something happened again. A heavy metal beam that had been slowly been lifted into the air for a building that was under construction now fell, hurtling towards the two going towards Hajime's apartment. Hearing it coming, Hajime threw his items and shoved Eliana out of the way before dodging himself. It was a close call. "Dammit!" he hissed. A dark wisp of energy siphoned off of him, invisible to most everyone.
Eliana- who unlike the other sailor scouts that she'd seen working in the past did not possess a great deal of physical ability. So when he shoved her out of the way she did not to a graceful somersault and end up back on her feet. Instead she hit the ground and rolled, managing to whip herself around in time to see the energy seeping off him. She'd felt the energy of Metalia a second before the attack and had been preparing to protect him from it- not expecting the beam over them to be the target. 'His energy... it feels sort of corrupt...' she though, wincing as she got back to her feet. Her arm hurt from hitting the ground and her knees and palms were scrapped as well. "Tsukino-san, are you alright?" she asked, hurrying over to him. It seemed his energy was back under control for the moment but...
Apollo hurried over to the two, having been following behind them. He checked on Sailor Sun but she quickly sent him a thought to go to the boy instead. Grumbling under his breath he went to the boy and meowed, pawing gently at his leg.
"Well hello Apollo," Hajime said, semi-cheerfully. It was as if he was trying to brush off the incident. "And yes, I'm fine Eliana. However, you look like you scraped your knee when I pushed you out of the way. Let's hurry back to the apartment. Apollo, I can give you a ride if you don't mind just sitting on my shoulders." Holding a hand out to Eliana after gathering up his purchases, he smiled a little bit. "Let's go. When we get to my place we can clean out the scrape and bandage it so that it doesn't get infected. I can worry about furniture later."
She could already feel her body starting to heal the wound and shook her head. "I'm sure it's not as bad as it looks." she looked at the beam that had tried to crush them. Workers were hurrying towards them. "Oh dear..." she muttered, taking his hand.
"Are you kids alright?!"
"We're fine sir. No harm done." she assured him. "Guess we're pretty lucky huh?" she asked. She took about another minute to assure them that they were both fine before they were finally allowed to leave. "Did you see the sad Lady at all?" she asked. he hadn't given any indication that he had as far as she could tell, but it might help her figure out a way to tell when these attacks were going to happen more precisely if she could get more information.
Apollo had refused to ride on his shoulders, and chose to walk on the ground, though he was clearly acting like a watch dog more than a cat, alert to everything that went on around the two.
Hajime unlocked his door and set up the cat bed and scratching post, then put out a bowl of cat food for Apollo. Looking at Eliana, he motioned to the fridge.
"Do you want anything to eat or drink? You can help yourself," he said. Remembering her question from earlier, he shook his head. "And no, I didn't see the sad woman at all. Usually I do before a stroke of bad luck..."
"You know... maybe you should consider it more of good luck." she told him after thinking it over for a moment. "Normally someone would have died by now with some many things going wrong around them. But you haven't even really been hurt yet right?" she asked.
Apollo decided it was about time for him to act as she'd asked him two. He walked up to Hajime and then with a little jump hooked his claws into his pocket around the stone. Once Hajime tried to shoo him away he let go and trotted over to his bowl of tuna.
Eliana couldn't help a slight giggle. It was rather amusing to see Apollo behaving so 'cat-like'. "Do you have something in your pocket? Catnip perhaps?" she asked, giving him an easy smile.
Hajime hesitated. He'd never shown the crystalline rose to anyone before, but maybe this girl would be able to help him. She had this odd aura about her... Slowly pulling out the crystal, he held it in his closed fist for a few moments, still rather reluctant about showing her.
"This is what was in my pocket," he said after a few more agonizing moments. "It is very special. I have no idea why..." Standing, he went over to his room, and opened the door slightly. He still held the crystal in his hand, not quite willing to let her touch it. "Would you like to see what she really looks like?" he asked, unsure of why he was opening up to this girl whom he'd only met the day before.
Seeing the crystal herself was something she felt she needed to do before moving on. She'd been told about it but now she confirmed for herself. She followed him into his room and stared at all the pictures. It occurred to her that this wasn't the sort of thing someone would share with a stranger. "Tsukino-san... can I ask you something?" she turned to face him, her expression serious. "Would you say that you trust me?"
Apollo came to stand in the doorway to watch.
Hajime looked at the most prominent picture, the one that looked most realistic. It was large upon the wall, and the woman seemed actually to be crying, instead of having her tears painted on. Closing his eyes for a few moments, he then nodded, turning to Eliana.
"There's something about you that makes me want to trust you." His tone sounded somehow broken.
She let out a slow breath and stepped closer, closing the distance between them so she stood less than a foot away. She reached up and gently touched his cheek. "Then I think it only right I return the favor." she told him softly. "Who you see is Princess Serenity. Well more accurately Queen Serenity, ruler of the moon. However, the moon kingdom was destroyed 100 years ago, and she, along with her Husband the Prince of the Earth, were sealed away by the silver crystal. A crystal you now hold in your hand." She stepped back. "The strange things that have been happening to you are because Metallia, the monster responsible for the destruction of the Moon Kingdom, has found you, the one that can stop her, and she is now trying to kill you." She stepped back further. "If you would like me to continue to explain I can take you somewhere that will prove to you I'm not simply making all this up. Or I can let you try to absorb what I've told you so far. Your choice, Prince of the Moon Kingdom."
Hajime blinked when she touched his cheek, and then blinked again at what she said.
"Queen Serenity..." He shook his head. "It fits her somehow." Turning to Eliana, he finished listening to what she was saying. "After everything that has happened to me, I want to know everything," he said, his eyes earnest and his expression serious. "Take me to where you need to take me. I want to know." He hadn't heard the last bit about him being the Prince of the Moon Kingdom.
She gave him a slight smile. "Very well then." she pulled out a small contact case from her pocket. "Finally get to take these off," she murmured and then took out her contacts. She looked up at him, her eyes once again pale yellow. She held out her hand and a golden staff appeared before her, she gave it a little twirl. "Solar Power Make Up," she breathed. Light filled the room and when once it faded she stood before him as Sailor Sun. They were also no longer in his room. "This is what is left of the moon Kingdom," she told him, gesturing with one gloved and at the devastation around them.
Hajime, momentarily blinded by her light, gasped as he saw the devastation. There was rubble strewn everywhere, and what appeared to have once been a magnificent castle now was just pillars and burnt marble. The bodies of the people seemed to have turned to stone, and they lay everywhere. A crystal monolith drew his attention, and he walked slowly over to it. An infant, her small body now a stone figure, lay at the base. A shattered golden locket lay beside her, and it seemed to have originally had the shape of a star. It tinkled brokenly as he stepped forward, accidentally kicking it with his toe. Jumping as the melancholy few notes broke the silence, he noticed the couple imprisoned inside the monolith. The beautifully sad woman, she was there.
"Queen Serenity..." he whispered, touching the crystal. Her face was exactly as he had seen it before, sad and pleading. She was reaching towards the body of the infant, and her mouth was open, as if she was calling out in grief. The man beside her held her close to him, his face full of grief too. Both were young, maybe a few years older than him. "What is her husband's name? And the infant? Whose child was that?"
She came to stand beside him. "He was King Dymion, the twin brother of a Queen of Earth, Great Uncle to the current ruler." She looked down at the child sadly. "That was Princess Rina, their child. She'd have been four months a few weeks before this happened. When this happened." She reached out and tapped the monolith. "The Silver crystal that Queen Serenity used to protect placed them in this, protecting them from Metallia. That crystal is the crystal protected by the people of the moon. It has now found the one that will wield its power to rid this universe of its greatest threat. I'm not sure how you came to possess the crystal without awakening as the Guardian of the Moon, but it would appear that you have. Of course there has never been a male Moon Guardians before, so I have no way of predicting a common string of events for you." She looked back at the girl that had once been known as Usagi and bowed. "I am sorry, my friends, that I couldn't stop this from happening to you," she told them, her voice catching slightly.
Hajime watched her, and put a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"Eliana... I'll help save them. Whoever this Metallia is, I'll make sure she pays for this." His eyes flashed, and a dark wisp of energy escaped him again. Looking up at the youthful King and Queen, he bowed, paying his respects. "Queen Serenity, I think I've figured out how to help you. Please stop looking so sad..." A few yards away, a woman appeared, and this time, she was visible to Sailor Sun as well, since Hajime's hand was on her shoulder. Serenity looked just as she did in the crystal before them. Casting a mournful glance at her fallen child, she looked at the two and smiled slightly. The smile was knowing, as if she saw something beginning, or something ending.
Seeing that wisp made Eliana worry. "Tsuki-" She stopped however and stared, seeing Serenity before them. That smile... she wouldn't have smiled if things were looking to end badly... right? She looked at Hajime again and took his hand from her shoulder, examining his fingers. She'd never held a man's hand before- not that she could really remember as her memories of before she was Sailor Sun were vague. "Your hand is big," she commented, surprised. "And your fingers are long too." She fiddled a bit with the ring finger of his hand, trying to gauge the size of it. She looked up at him. "Would you be willing to wear a ring?" she asked.