The Marine of Pluto
By Coenraad
Chapter 4
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon, nor do I make any money from this.
At night following the whole strange situation with the Youma taking hostages at knife point, the Senshi of time found herself experiencing even stranger dreams.
The dreaded time right after the fall of the Silver Millennium, while all the souls relevant were sent forward in time and Queen Serenity's life had passed; Pluto went to the final places where she knew life was still running its course.
On Pluto's surface, a massive installation was literally a hornets' nest of activity. Large machines of warfare were being crewed, and armed. tanks, combat walkers and artillery of all shapes and sizes were standing at the ready with their respective crews all very much aware of the situation they face and the inevitable outcome.
Even though the coming onslaught spelled certain doom, they were all determined to take as many of the enemy with them as they could. the speeches had already been given. And for once the paper work be damned.
On a balcony overlooking the gathered forces, an older gentleman stood in a somewhat casual uniform. Not quite uniform dress, but at the same time not totally casual. His military cap clashing with the white blouse, blue-jeans, army boots and pistol belt and two holsters. On his cap he wore the plutonian military insignia along with the highest obtainable rank. behind him his secretary was briefing him on the current readiness.
"So far all units are ready, we have some reports of soldiers taking twice the amount of ammunition, but no one really seems to take mind to this fact-" The secretary droned on until the door behind the him slid open to reveal Pluto herself.
The man didn't react as he kept looking out over his troops. "How did it go?" HJe simple asked the Princess of Pluto and guardian of time.
With a sullen look Pluto went to stand beside him and leaned on the baloney's edge. With a flick of her wrist she dismissed the secretary and only spoke up once the door was closed behind him. "As well as can be expected. Its hard seeing something like that." she admitted. "How are things here?"
The man sighed deeply. "As well as can be expected I suppose. the men know that we won't survive, but surprisingly they are eager to fight. Its true what they say about deaths door, once you are in front of it, the desire to fight becomes all that more virulent." A hint of pride crept into his voice. "Either way, the bastards won't take this place without a fight, unless of course they fusion bomb us from orbit."
"What about the castle?"
"Safely tucked away on the dark side of Charon. We've made a fake several miles away from here. making it look like its landed and trying to disappear underneath the ground. Hopefully they will Fusion bomb it instead of the real thing or us."
"You have really pulled out all the stops to pull this off." Pluto answered as she placed her hand on the man's arm, he smiles at her as he placed his hand over hers.
"Of course my Princess, I have sworn my life to protect your place no matter what the cost, and I intend to uphold my sworn duty."
A slight tear would streak down Setsuna's cheek. "I will miss you Hayate."
"I know Sets, I know… but honestly… half of my soul is in the mechanism of the time gates, so you will always have a part of me with you." Hayate whispered to her after wrapping his arms around her. "Who knows, maybe my connection to the gates will allow me to be reincarnated as well." he said in an attempt to cheer her up.
Setsuna nodded hopefully. Hayate may have only been a commoner, but he had served her faithfully since the day he enlisted at age 18. While a relationship between a commoner and someone of the royal house was an outrageous concept, mainly because the nobles thought that they were the only ones worthy, this did not stop Setsuna for seeking comfort in his arms behind closed doors. If she wasn't a Princess, and him a common military man, she would have wished to make things a little more official. Even if he now started to push Seventy years of age, it didn't do anything to diminish her like and even love of him.
In a weird turn of events she was met with a small hollowed out crystal made into a small box being held in front of her. "what's this?" she'd ask.
Hayate let go of her and turned her to him. she had a confused look on her face which only made her look that more adorable to him. "Well… I know I'm not as young as I used to be, but with the kingdom at an end and this planet soon to follow. I just want to do one last thing to make sure that I myself have no regrets…" Taking to his one good knee he knelt down before her and presented her with the box. holding it up and pushing it open with his thumb to reveal a silver ring with a polished piece of jade to match her slightly darker green hair. "Setsuna Meioh, will you be my wife…"
Setsuna woke up in the comfort of her own bed covered in sweat. She touched her own forehead to try and calm down as her eyes roved around the room from spot to spot yet not quite seeing any details of her bed room while her mind raced on about what she had just experienced. 'what is going on? I haven't had any dreams about the silver millennium in a long time, and certainly not about that!'
Though her connection to the time gate she knew that it was one past eight in the morning. It was the weekend and she had promised Hotaru to go out shopping while Haruka and Michirou entertained themselves with some lovie dovie time, their task of trying to tail 'Hawk' being on hold until Monday.
A strange feeling of envy settled into her stomach as she thought about being intimate. While she could remember the short night of intimacy she had with Hayate ever so clearly, she couldn't bring herself to be intimate with another man. No… even if queen serenity never consented to it. And no priest had ever done the ceremony. She considered herself an married woman, her royal blood and his commoner blood be damned. In that same moment of envy, she felt regret; if only she could have acted sooner on those feelings. And if only it didn't take the fall of the silver millennium for them to finally be free of all the burdens that their positions forced upon them which caused them to have to uphold their image in the public eye. Then there was a very real chance that she could have been happier for a much longer time until being called away to the gates of time.
Setsuna sighed as she rolled the covers off of her body and got up. Stretching she turned to her closet and picked out something to wear. Something tasteful and mature. A black suede knee length skirt with stockings to match, a white blouse and plain black high-heels. Having picked out her clothing and laid them on her bed, she went to take a short shower. After only 30 minutes she walked back into her bed room with a towel wrapped around her body and another one around her hair.
An illusion momentarily drifted over her vision….
She walked over to the bed in Hayate's personal quarters, a towel covering her body and another covering her hair. she let the one on her head fall to the ground behind her as she moved on. Hayate himself was waiting on the edge of the bed. The only thing currently covering his body were his boxers. Setsuna couldn't help but smile as she approached while he stood. She took his head in both hands and they touched foreheads with each other.
"Does this satisfy you, my darling?" he whispered.
Setsuna could only nod in response. She had asked him to shave the beard and mustache and he had done so using only his field knife and a cup of water. It made for a rough cut but that suited him just fine."You do realize that I have to be at the gates of time before her forces arrive here don't you?"
Hayate could only huff. "Lets worry about that some other time. Last reports indicated that they were at least 2 more days away."
"And how long was that ago?"
"No more then forty-five minutes ago."
"I wish there was a way for you to join me." Setsuna confessed.
He shook his head as he moved her to the bed. Setsuna let go of the towel as he placed a single finger on her lips. "None of that now, this should be a happy day, the consummation of our marriage after all."
Wrapping her arms around his neck, she leaned back, bringing him off balance at which they both fell into the bed.
"Setsuna-mama, are you awake?" Came the innocent voice of Hotaru from behind the door.
Setsuna had to shake self out of the daze to collect herself. 'ugh, what is wrong with me today…' she thought to herself before replying. "Yes Hime-chan, I will be there in a moment."
"Ok" came her reply.
Dawning her clothing in record time, Setsuna opened up her night stand drawer and picked up a small jewelry box. Hey eyes fell on the ring with jade, the one she received from Hayate. the design was simple enough to be considered an earth design so she went with it if only to keep the men out there at bay if Hotaru's presence and calling her mama didn't.
The whole morning, Hotaru was having fun with her Setsuna-mama but she could tell that something was bothering her. When they were strolling past the bridge going over the channel on the way to home Hotaru had finally worked up the nerve to just asked the question "is something wrong Setsuna-mama?"
Setsuna's head jerked down to her and it took a moment too long for her to reply "Of course not hime-chan. Everything is just fine."
Just as Hotaru was about to object to this answer they heard a shout from below over the edge of the bridge. looking over she spotted a young boy trying to get out of the current but so far was only being dragged along.
"WATCH OUT!" Came a shout and from the corner of her eyes she noticed a figure rushing toward her and some sort of thing being throw towards her. The thing turned out to be a suede suit jacket that hit her Setsuna-mama in the face, and the figure being a man, who had thrown the jacket. "HOLD THAT FOR ME." He shouted as he jumped up onto the edge of the bridge railing and pushed off into the water. As her eyes tracked the man jumping she noticed the weird leather sling under his arm with some sort of object underneath. It all happened so fast that she couldn't really process it all while her mind was occupied with what could possibly be bothering one of her parents.
A splash below made her realize that the man had jumped in after the boy. "Lets follow them." Setsuna suggested as she folded the jacket over her right arm seeming slightly annoyed for being used as an impromptu coat hanger.
Nodding back, they both started walking. 'maybe I should throw clothes at her too… she seems to have gotten out of her gloom.' Hotaru thought to herself.
Down in the cold waters of the channel, Hawk was doing the breast stroke to get to the boy. Once he got to him he rolled onto his side and hugged him close. "its ok… just remain still and I'll get you back onto land and back to your mommy and daddy ok?" The boy nodded at which he smiles. "Good boy…" he spoke as she started to swim to the side. the channel was now surrounded by sloped banks covered in grass and no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't get a solid grip anywhere. the current of the water being too strong for him while has holding onto the boy.
The boy, as if psychic, seemed to realize the problem and couldn't help but to start crying. Hawk felt a headache coming on right now and that usually only meant one thing for him; impulsive actions.
Pulling in his right leg, he pulled up his pants a little, the action being performed a little too roughly causing the piping of his suede pants to rip, but this did afford him easier access to the knife he hid there. pulling out the 7 inch long dagger, he trusted it onto the ground of the embankment like an anchor.
Rolling onto his side he pushed the boy up with one hand while urging him to climb. Bystanders around the river had apparently noticed the commotion in the waters and were ready to receive the boy leaving hawk free to pull himself out and up with his knife as leverage.
Police and an Ambulance soon arrived along with a very upset parent who had feared the worst. But the unpleasantness to the situation was when the police noticed the gun hawk carried under his armpit. Regular police officers didn't carry guns in Japan so they were a little bit skittish. The showing of legal documents along with his permit to carry his weapon eased the situation little bit. When a woman and a girl came along with his jacket did things quiet down as the gun was hidden under his jacket.
'Out of sight, out of mind… typical.' Hawk mused as he took in the dispelling situation around him. 'and forgotten too…' Shrugging to no one in particular, he slowly turned to home. Only to be stopped by the two he had thrown his jacket too before jumping over the edge of the bridge.
"You move very skillfully for an outsider." The woman with jade green hair and crimson eyes commented.
Offering a small bow hawk couldn't help but smile. "Thank you Ma'am, sorry for giving you a face full of jacket, but I didn't exactly have the luxury of time."
The woman waved it away. "Understandable, but that was a very noble thing to do."
"I save lives, its my thing." he answered while thinking, 'yeah bullshit… I save lives by extinguishing the lives of those who threaten us. But I'll just stay humble so you won't know that.'
The girl beside the woman coughed.
"Oh I'm sorry Hime-chan." The woman chuckled. "I'm Setsuna Meioh, and this is Hotaru." the both of them bowed slightly in greeting.
"Captain Jonathan "Hawk" Johnston, United States Marines." Hawk answered as he returned the bow.
"So Johnston-san, what are you doing in the land of the rising sun while armed?"
Hawk shrugged "Work, currently helping out at a local school in the English classes while my unit is stationed in the country."
"Do you always carry a gun?" Hotaru asked.
"Pretty much, I'd rather carry one and never having to use it. then suddenly finding myself in a situation where I need it and not having it with me." Hawk explained.
Hawk observed the two of them exchange a glance and silent word. "Would you care for something to warm you up at our place? I could sew your pants back up." Setsuna offered.
Scratching the back of his head, Hawk nodded. "Sure, I guess… I don't wish to intrude…"
"Not at all Johnston-san" Hotaru said sounding eager.
looking at Setsuna, she nodded her agreement as well causing Hawk to sigh, "Ok then, and please, call me 'Hawk' everyone does."
Hotaru chuckled "Ok, Taka-san"
The walk was quiet relaxing, Hawk walked beside Setsuna while Hotaru led the way for him. 'He's alert, I'll give him that.' Setsuna noted as she looked past him to the other side of the street, or at least pretending to. 'I wonder what he is planning, though leaving those two shell casings for us to find afterwards was a nice touch.' she let off a chuckle.
"Did I miss something?" Jonathan asked.
"Nothing Mister Taka" she said. "I'm just wondering why you prefer to be called 'Hawk' instead of your actual name.
"Oh that's an easy one, Jonathan Johnston was the name the government 'assigned' me. Hawk is the name my family gave me."
"I don't understand, doesn't your Mother and father decide your name?"
"Heh… traditionally yes, but I was born an orphan. Taken into a special government program that raised orphans to become soldiers later on. The Marines are my family now, and they named me 'hawk' because I have such good eyes." he loosely explained.
"So if you don't mind me asking, what do you usually do when not on duty?"
"Jumping into rivers after children." Jonathan said with a chuckle. "But seriously, usually I just stroll around, maybe hang around in the park and play my guitar. Other times I like to go to some place up high and alone to just enjoy the silence."
"Don't you ever go out dancing or to a club? Try and find that special girl?"
Jonathan shook his head "I don't really see the point. Its not like I'll be sticking around, that and I could die at any time. I don't think its fair to constantly be away on assignments while leaving someone behind to just worry about when I will be returned to them in a box instead of standing on my own two feet. Risk of the job I'm afraid."
"You never had a girlfriend?" Hotaru asked
Again he shook his head. "What about? do you have a boyfriend?"
Hotaru's cheeks started to burn a light crimson as she weakly shook her head.
Jonathan chuckled lightly "Oh don't worry. A girl as cute as you will have no problem to find a boyfriend if you really wanted to in no time at all."
"Well aren't you the flatterer." Setsuna said as raised an eyebrow.
"Oh I have my moments." Jonathan shrugged, "So how much further?"
"Its over there." Hotaru gestured.
A\N:
The 7 inch dagger mentioned in the story is actually a Ka-Bar, I didn't use that term because I felt it would distract from the story.
IMPORTANT!: on my account Bio, there is a link to a survey. it would help me greatly if people who like to store so far to fill out the survey. I will announce the results of the Survey the next time I release a new Chapter of TMOP.
Take care and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.