And the next chapter is here! Thanks for all the reviews, guys! You rock! I'm so excited about where this is going.
I do just want to give you guys a heads up. I'm also writing another story at the same time as this. So, updates will be a little while. But not too long, I promise. Just don't expect one every week. I wish I could write one every week but I have to handwrite it at work and then type it on my off days.
As always, I big thanks to Laura. She catches the small things (like leaving a sentence just kind of hanging around…yeah, that was weird). And I love getting feedback on where a story is going. I may like it but getting a second opinion is always best.
And again, I don't own Sailor Moon or OUAT.
"What do you mean there's nothing about Regina Mills?"
Artemis shrugged and clicked the trackpad on the laptop again. "Just that," he said. "There's nothing on Regina Mills." He nodded toward the screen. "There's not even anything about Storybrooke."
"Nani?" Usagi muttered, slipping back into her native language. She pulled the laptop closer to her. Sure enough, the computer was showing (in Mercurian language) No results found. "So, even the smartest technology made by the smartest people in the universe couldn't find Regina or this town." She looked back at the two cats sitting in the passenger seat of her rental car.
She had paid her bill at the diner and decided that having her cats search on a laptop from another planet for a citizen of a town that couldn't be found would be better done in her car.
"I don't understand," Usagi murmured. "Mercurian computers can find anything in the universe."
"Maybe the town is too small to show up on the database," Artemis suggested.
Luna shook her head. "No, that wouldn't be it," she said. "That small town in Kansas showed up and I think it is smaller than this."
Usagi stared at the laptop, her blonde brows furrowed together. "This doesn't make sense," she muttered. "It's like something is cloaking the town."
"Like magic," Artemis said softly.
A knock on the window broke the uneasy silence that had descended in the car. Usagi jumped at the intrusion and looked over at her window before pressing the button to lower it.
"Hey, there." The woman outside the car was the very same blonde that had walked by them and into the diner just about an hour earlier.
"Hi," Usagi said with a grin, determined to not let the fact that no one in that group acknowledged her bother her too much.
"My name's Emma Swan," the woman said, leaning down and placing her forearms on the window sill. "I saw you earlier but I didn't think stopping the entourage behind me to say hi would be polite. They can be slightly overwhelming."
Usagi's smile became more genuine. "I'm Usagi Tsukino. It's nice to meet you."
Emma raised an eyebrow. "You aren't from here are you?"
Usagi laughed. "How did you know?"
Emma grinned. "It could have been the name that tipped me off. But you have a very slight accent as well."
Usagi's eyes widened and she turned and glared at Luna. "You told me my accent wasn't noticeable!" she hissed.
Emma's green eyes studied that girl in front her, trying to decide if this was a joke or not. After a moment of the younger blonde glaring at the black cat and said cat actually looking sheepish, Emma just laughed.
"Everyone knows cats have a tendency to lie," she said. "And don't worry," she continued. "Your accent is only noticeable to someone whose job it is to notice things."
"And your job is…"
"Sheriff." Emma stood up and motioned to the badge on her hip.
"Oh, local law enforcement," Usagi grinned. "Then I feel safe."
Emma grinned and leaned back own. "Are you just passing through?"
Usagi shrugged and closed her laptop. "I may stay for a few days. I've been on a sort of road trip for the past few months, just taking my time in crossing this fine country of yours. And now that I'm at the end of the trip, I'm not sure what to do now."
The sheriff watched the range of emotions cross Usagi's face, the last being a deep sadness that tugged at Emma's heart.
"Where will you be staying?" she asked, breaking Usagi out of her depression.
Usagi shrugged. "I don't know," she answered. "Are there any hotels around here?"
"No," Emma stated. "But there is a bed and breakfast next to the diner. The same lady runs both."
"Old lady with a scowl on her face?" Usagi asked with a frown.
Emma chuckled. "I haven't heard Granny described as such but, yeah, that's her." Emma studied the frown on Usagi's face. "What did she do to make you say that?"
The younger blonde sighed and shook her head. "She treated me weirdly. In fact, everyone in the diner stared at me like I was a ghost or something."
The sheriff had the grace to look sheepish. "Yeah, sorry about that. They aren't used to strangers. They did the same thing with me, too."
"They must not get many visitors."
Blonde curls shook in the negative. "I've been here for a year and you are the first since me."
"Wow," Usagi muttered with a side glance at her cats. "Well, maybe I'll check out the B&B," she continued. "Do they allow cats?"
Emma bit her lip and studied the two cats sitting patiently in the passenger seat. Their eyes seemed to be following the situation and if Emma hadn't just spent a few weeks in a place called "The Enchanted Forest" that would have really freaked her out.
"I don't see why not," she said. "But I can ask Ruby, Granny's granddaughter. Give me a moment."
Usagi watched the blonde walk back to the diner before she turned to her cats. "Did you sense the magic on her?" she asked quickly.
The cats just stared at her.
"Really?" Usagi asked in disbelief. "Am I the only one that can sense this stuff now?"
Luna sighed and shrugged. "I guess," she said softly. "The ability to sense other magical beings and auras was part of Mars' powers. You inherited all of their powers when…" she trailed off, leaving the last part unsaid.
Usagi quickly swallowed the lump that tried to take up residence in her throat and nodded. "Okay, so anyway," she said with a shake of her head. "Emma was dripping with magic. But not like the magic Regina had. It's…different. Like…a light magic. Similar to mine. Regina had magic similar to Galaxia. It was dark but not innately evil."
"You aren't making sense, Usagi-chan," Artemis said softly. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know," Usagi whispered, looking in the rearview mirror at Emma and a brunette making their way toward the car. "But something is up with this town. Something is pulling me here. And we need to stay until we find out what that is exactly." And with that said, Usagi opened the car door and stepped out.
"Something's weird here."
"What do you feel?"
"Anger. Hate. Loneliness. Sadness. But also love. Pure love."
"So, love will save the day again."
"Doesn't it always?"
"That's the goal, Mako-chan. What we've always tried to do."
"I don't like that the computer couldn't pick anything up."
"Hai, that was weird within itself. Ami-chan, you sure that computer has all the updated technology?"
"Mercurian technology updates automatically. It updates with the planet its on and the time it is in. You know that, Rei."
"This just makes me…uneasy."
"Hai, we can tell. You're all twitchy."
"Shove it, Minako."
"Whoa, Pyro! Calm it. I'm just trying to lighten the mood."
"But, I don't know what to do here. This is freaking me out. We aren't there to help her!"
"We know, Rei. We know. But we've got to stay calm."
"Easy for you to say, Ami. I think you're always calm."
"Is that supposed to be an insult?"
"No, it's a compliment, I swear."
"Stop smirking, Rei. It gives you away."
"Stop posing, Minako. It gives you away."
Laughter echoed around the space. Finally silence returned.
"What do we do? Like you said, Rei. We aren't there."
"And we haven't been for years." A sigh was heard before the voice spoke again. "She can still hear us. We know that. So, we help in that way until we can be there."
"Okay. So…what do we do?"
"You, Rei, continue to use your psychic…thingy."
"Psychic thingy? Really, Minako?"
A glare and then moving on. "Ami, your intelligence is always needed. She can pull from that. Wherever she is and wherever we are…she can use it."
"Of course."
"Mako, your strength will be needed in the days to come. It may not be today or tomorrow. But there is a fight coming. We can all feel that. Be ready."
"I'm always ready."
"And what about you, Minako? What will you do?"
"Why," A flip of blonde hair. "I'll be gorgeous of course."
"Minako!"
A giggle. "Fine. Fine. I'll use my leadership skills," a groan "and my ability to pinpoint the good from the bad. Something pulled her here and we need to help her figure out what it was."
"This is going to be big, isn't it?"
"I think this is going to fall right up there with Chaos, Ami. I just hope Setsuna is figuring things out on her end. We're gonna need some bodies really soon."
To be continued…
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