Journeys Through the Past
A Sailor Moon fanfic by Sailor Chronos
Chapter Five: Shattered Dreams
It was late in the afternoon, and the girls were all having tea at the shrine. Alyssa had arrived late but was assured that she hadn't missed anything important.
Usagi noticed that Alyssa wasn't her usual self. "Is something wrong?" she asked. "Did your date not go well?"
Alyssa sighed and put her teacup on the table. "It went very well. I just have a lot to think about."
"Can you tell us?" Makoto asked. "Maybe we can help."
"I don't know." She paused, then took a deep breath. "Kurisu-san and I both realized that we know each other from somewhere, as if we were together in another lifetime."
The other girls were surprised, but Usagi understood at once. "I can see it in your face, Lia-chan. I had the same feeling when I met Mamo-chan. You and he could have been friends on your planet, long ago."
"I thought of that too. But I would have remembered, I'm sure!"
Rei nodded. "The difference between you and us is that you weren't reborn into the future. You should have retained all your memory."
"Not necessarily," Ami said. "Artemis told me that spending long periods in stasis can cause lapses in memory because the brain diverts most of its resources to maintaining itself. It takes time for complete recovery. That's why he and Luna had forgotten some of the things that they had meant to tell us in the beginning."
"Yes, that's it." Alyssa perked up. "But I wish I could remember everything. I don't like these half-memories and unknowns."
Minako put a reassuring hand on her arm. "Give it time. That's what you're good at, isn't it? How about you tell us what you do remember of Chronos? None of us had a chance to go there before the war."
Alyssa looked at the ceiling for a moment, remembering the good times before the Dark Kingdom had appeared. "It was a beautiful planet; very mountainous with several small seas. The lands near the capital city had been altered to make them more liveable: grassy hills and small forested valleys. The solar year was more than twice as long as an Earth year so people had both a birthday and what was called a "yearing" celebration."
"So that means, although you're sixteen, you've only had eight birthdays?" Chibiusa asked, giggling. "How confusing!"
"Not so confusing as for someone born on February 29th," Mako said.
"I still feel bad about not being able to protect the planet," Alyssa admitted. "I wonder though, how could Kurisu-san be from Chronos? Everyone except for me was killed."
Mako frowned. "He may not have been on the planet at the time. Then when Queen Serenity saved everyone, he was reborn here on Earth."
"When he remembers everything, you can ask him," Usagi suggested. "I'm sure he will, eventually. All of us did."
Minako abruptly yawned and stretched her arms out. "I don't know about you but I feel like going for a walk."
"Just the thing to get the cobwebs out of the mind," agreed Ami, and they all stood up and left.
Fish Eye was having fun. He had found a young man that was quite handsome, and had proceeded to impress him with womanly charms. When the game got boring, he revealed his true appearance and captured the man's dream mirror, then waited for the Senshi to appear.
"Stop right there!" hollered a girl's voice. He smirked; they were right on time. How predictable. He pretended to be annoyed and endured Sailor Moon's speech, then called out, "This will be your last battle, Sailor Senshi! Come out my Lemure, the master wizard, Majikan-kun!"
The creature that appeared out of his shadow looked like a cross between a clown and a fairy, dressed in long robes and a peaked hat. It began to juggle seven coloured balls: red, blue, green, gold, white and two pink.
"I'll take care of this!" Mars said. "BURNING MANDALA!"
The rings of fire streaked toward the Lemure. It threw the red ball toward them, and the fire was absorbed into it, causing the ball to grow larger! The ball continued on its way and enveloped the stunned Sailor Mars before she could leap away!
Now Chronos reacted. "STASIS DISK!" Her disk trapped the Lemure in time. "Attack it, quickly!" she shouted.
"VENUS LOVE ME CHAIN!" Venus hurled her golden chain at the Lemure but the stasis wore off in time for it to escape. She was surprised at how fast the thing was.
Jupiter swore. "Don't let those energy balls touch you!"
Chronos tried again, putting all her concentration into it. "STASIS DISK!" Her aim was unerring and the disk struck.
"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!" Jupiter followed up with her attack.
The Lemure fell to its knees, whimpering. The balls it had been juggling fell to the ground. "Chibi-Moon!"
Something prickled in her mind, and Chronos stared at the fallen Lemure with suspicion. "This feels wrong. Be careful, Chibi-Moon."
Chibi-Moon nodded and brought out her crystal bell. "Please, Pegasus! Help us protect the dreams! Twinkle Bell!" A golden light appeared overhead.
Suddenly the Lemure grinned maliciously and brought out another ball, a black one, and swallowed it. At once it was filled with a tremendous dark energy! In a flash it stood up and waved its arms viciously at the balls that were scattered on the ground. They all flew up into the air and accelerated downward toward the Senshi!
"I knew this was too easy!" Chronos shouted and jumped out of the path of the white ball that was flying at her. She managed to get a quick look around before having to dodge the oncoming sphere again. Sailor Moon and Chibi-Moon had already been caught. Venus stumbled and was trying to get up again when she was trapped by the gold ball. Jupiter and Mercury were managing to stay ahead of theirs, but would not be able to run forever.
Chronos thought furiously. She would not have time to launch an attack with that ball after her. Instead she drew her sword, turned around and brought the blade down on the white sphere with all her strength. The sword bounced off the ball as if it were made of rubber, flinging her across the street and onto the sidewalk.
"Chronos!" cried Jupiter, and began to run toward her, but the green sphere enveloped her before she got two steps. Mercury was caught at the same moment, and at last, Chronos herself was trapped.
Fish Eye and the Lemure began to laugh as Tiger Eye and Hawk Eye appeared. "Master Zirconia will be pleased! The Sailor Senshi will no longer trouble us!"
"What are those things?" Hawk Eye asked.
"Zirconia called it a Spectral Trap," Fish Eye replied. "It homes in on the specific energy of its target. Once trapped, the victim will experience his or her worst nightmares, rendering them helpless. They cannot escape!"
Tiger Eye smirked. "Now we can get on with our search!" The three of them vanished through their portals, leaving the Lemure standing guard over the Senshi. The man that Fish Eye had captured earlier lay nearby, forgotten.
Ami was walking through the corridors of a hospital, wearing a white lab jacket and carrying a clipboard. The PA system came on: "Doctor Mizuno to Trauma Unit One." She frowned and picked up her pace. A few nurses and patients smiled at her as she passed.
She was met by several other doctors, who began a barrage of questions and orders. "What's the status of the patient in Room 304?" "How do you set a multiple tibial fracture?" "The trauma team needs two units of type B+ blood STAT!" "What procedure is used to treat an abdominal perforation?" With each question the voices became louder. "What ratio of saline solution is used for an I.V. drip?" "The patient in Room 448 has crashed!"
Ami held her clipboard in front of her, trying to fend them off. "Stop it, please!" she cried.
"You're not a good doctor, are you?" one of them sneered. The others joined in. "You're not a good doctor! You're not a good doctor!" they chanted.
"No! Stop! NOOO!" Ami fell to her knees, hands over her ears.
Usagi smiled up at Mamoru, who looked so handsome in the white tuxedo he wore. All around them, people were cheering and opening bottles of champagne. "Mamo-chan, we're married at last! We don't have to worry any more."
He smiled back at her. "We'll be together forever, my love." He bent down to kiss her, and Usagi closed her eyes in anticipation.
A cold wind sprang up from somewhere, and the bright sunny day turned dark. Usagi opened her eyes, and Mamoru was no longer there. "Mamo-chan! Where did you go?" she called.
"He's with me!" said a voice from behind her. She whirled to see a strange woman, dressed in a wedding gown similar to her own, holding on to Mamoru's arm. "I'm much better for him than you are! You're too young for him, not to mention being jealous, clumsy and air-headed!"
"He loves me for who I am!" she retorted. "Give him back!"
"You really think so?" the woman asked maliciously. "I'm mature, sexy and intelligent. How could he not love me? You do love me, right, Mamoru?" She held Mamoru close.
Mamoru said, "Of course I do," and kissed her. Then the two of them vanished, leaving only the strange woman's laughter behind.
"Come back! Mamo-chan!" Usagi screamed, but there was no reply. The icy wind bit into her and she began to shiver. "Don't leave me alone!" Tears ran down her face. "MAMO-CHAN!"
The smell of garlic permeated the restaurant's kitchen as Makoto prepared the main course for the latest customers. A waiter poked his head through the doorway. "Chef Kino, do we have enough raspberry flan left? The patrons at table two want seconds." He grinned.
"That's not a problem," she replied with a smile. "I'll bake another as soon as I'm finished this." The waiter nodded and left.
Without warning, the pan of vegetables that she was sauteeing caught fire! Immediately she turned off the stove and clapped the lid on the pan, stifling the flames. The smell of burned food wafted up, and she grimaced. She would have to start over.
Another waiter entered the kitchen with a frown on his face, carrying a plate of food. "This was sent back. The customer doesn't like it; he said it's too spicy."
"This is too bland!" complained a customer from the doorway.
Several more people tried to crowd into the room. "Too much pepper!" "Not enough vegetables!" "This isn't cooked enough!" "What kind of dish is this? Don't you know how to cook?" The voices became a blur of sound. "You can't cook!"
Makoto dropped the pan she held and cried out as the angry people converged on her.
A soft breeze blew through the grass, but dark clouds were gathering on the horizon. Alyssa was walking with her closest friend, a handsome dark-haired boy who had been her friend since childhood. However, there was something different about him this time. "What's the matter, Kuri-chan?" she asked.
He stopped and turned to her. "I don't like this, Lia-chan. Why aren't you allowed to see me any more? Don't your parents approve?"
She sighed. "It's not that. I'm about to start the next phase of my Senshi training. Mirai said that I have to be isolated for my own protection, because of the power that I'll be learning to control. She doesn't want to take the risk that I might hurt someone."
Kurin stared at his feet nervously. "I know, Lia-chan... but I wish there was another way. You know how I feel about you."
Alyssa was unable to stop the tears that suddenly flowed down her face. "Yes..." She stepped forward and put her hand on his arm. He abruptly pulled her into his arms and kissed her, hard, then quickly let go and began to run back toward the city. "Kurin!" she called after him, but he didn't answer. "Kuri-chan!"
Lightning crackled in the distance, then it began to rain.
She blinked. This wasn't right! It hadn't been raining that day, it had been bright and sunny. This wasn't even a dream; but a memory that was being twisted to appear to be a dream. The spell that was holding her had been unable to corrupt her true dream, perhaps because her brain was still recovering from the stasis. But now that she understood this, how could she escape? As she considered, the vision around her began to fade.
After dredging through old memories she found the answer. During her training she had frequently entered a trance state to help focus her powers. To wake herself up from such trances she had set up a subconscious key to use. She hoped that it would help her foil this trap. After all, what was a dream but another sort of trance?
She brought forth her wand and held it in front of her, focusing her will on it. "Chronos Star Power!" The gem in her tiara glowed.
The Lemure was leaning against a lamp post, bored, when the sphere that held Sailor Chronos suddenly glowed brilliantly and shattered. It stared at the freed Senshi in shock, then reached under its hat for another ball.
"Oh, no, you don't! STASIS DISK!" Chronos flung a disk at the Lemure, then followed up with "TEMPORAL FORCE DISSOLUTION!" The silver globe of temporal energy struck and it screamed in agony. Then she gasped and fell to her knees, too drained to finish the job.
The Lemure began to move again.
"Sailor Chronos," said a soft voice.
She looked up to see the beautiful winged horse standing next to her. "Pegasus," she whispered in awe. "I don't have enough power to help them." She looked toward her still-trapped friends.
"You are a true warrior," he said. "I will give you the power to help." He lowered his horn to her shoulder, and Chronos could feel a wonderful warm energy flowing through her. "You are now a Super Sailor Senshi. Say Chronos Crystal Power, Make Up."
She stood and brought forth her wand. Before her eyes it changed from a straight stick with a star on the end to a beautiful curved wand with a hand-guard topped with silver wings, and a clear crystal sphere on the end with the symbol of an ornate hourglass inside it. "Chronos Crystal Power, Make Up!"
At the end of the transformation, she faced the startled Lemure, the long silver bows of her new fuku fluttering in the breeze. "For love and justice, I am the pretty warrior Sailor Chronos! You're history!" Holding her hands in front of her, she summoned her powerful energy. A spark grew into a bright sphere with several rings chasing around it. "TEMPORAL FORCE DISSOLUTION!"
"Stage out!" the Lemure howled as it was aged dramatically, then it fell to dust. The globes that held the other Senshi all burst, and the girls fell to the ground, dazed but otherwise unharmed.
Pegasus whinnied and flew into the air. "Super Sailor Chronos, always remember your friends," he said, and disappeared.
Chronos smiled after him before hurrying over to help the others.