Disclaimer: Neither W.I.T.C.H. Nor Sailor Moon nor anything else that might pop up belong to the writer of this story.
Author's Note, Taeniaea: Lot of stuff got revealed, and we finally have an antagonist! Kind of feel sorry for Fia, though...
Author's Note, Rimshooter: Phew... lot of stuff happened this chapter. We took a little creative license regarding Saturn's vague – no, ultra-vague past life, so... this is the product. Hope it makes up for the long delay and shortness of the previous chapter (which was more of an intro to this chapter designed to get the ball rolling).
EDIT NOTE (Taeniaea): Sorry about the re-upload, we caught several spelling mistakes.
Chapter VII: Matters of the Heart, Winds of Shadows
Syl held out her hand, one finger extended, and a barely visible drill of wind began spiraling around it, growing in size to cover the entire arm.
"Scatter!" Will cried out just before the drill sped away from the hand. As Hay Lin took to the air again, the rest of the group threw themselves to the side... just as the drill impacted the ground, forming a neat hole.
"You know, you guys can fly too." Syl commented as she formed five drills around each finger of one hand, "Why don't you copy Air's example?"
"It's like a manager telling her lazy employees to copy the over-eager new guy," Irma commented... just before Syl released the next wave of drills.
"I heard that!" Syl sang, another wave of drills already prepared as the guardians threw themselves to the side (or weaved around in Hay Lin's case) the drills.
Still standing in the place from before, Yan Lin rose a brow as she tilted her head to the side, avoiding a potential mis-fire. Above, Syl was flying circles around Hay Lin, firing drills toward the guardians with reckless abbadon, as if she were playing some bizarre form of tag. 'Definitely a former guardian...' Yan Lin decided, before turning her eyes to the small army of wraiths that were harassing the guardians whenever Syl's attention was turned away, 'But judging from those shadows... I don't like the feel of this at all.'
"Agh! Enough of this!" Cornelia exclaimed, furious. In a miraculous (or fluke) demonstration of control, a barrage of roots and vines erupted from the concrete, snaring Syl... only for the girl to smile and vanish into thin-air, prompting the roots to fall slack. Moments later, she re-appeared in the same place and position, another barrage of drills set to fire.
"Nice try blondie," Their pixie-like opponent called out, "but you don't have anything on Rumina-nee's binds!" Especially when she's angry...'
The drills fired... only to strike a slab of overturned earth. "Hypocrite! Your hair is blond too!"
"But I'm not a withered old hag!" The girl responded smilingly as her drills converged, tearing through the wall with ease, prompting Cornelia to freeze up in shock and anger.
Cornelia didn't dodge, so Irma knocked her to the side with a well-placed blast of water. Seeing the blond guardian still sputtering incoherently, not even registering the fact she was now soaked, "I think we've lost her." The water-user commented lightly. "Withered old hag – I'll have to remember that one."
In response, Cornelia turned a glare that could melt steel and kill forests on her, "Not. Hearing that. From you!" She exclaimed... only for a large cactus to grow up from beneath her.
In the air, Syl was shaking like a leaf, finger pointed at Irma. Hay Lin waved her hand in front of the girl's face, to no avail. "Guys... I think something's wrong with her." The air guardian noted...
...only to be blown away by a sudden gust of wind coming from the girl. "Sorry about that. Surprised me for a moment." She glanced at Hay Lin, her smile growing more pronounced, "Oh come on, you can't disperse that little thing?"
"I'm still learning," The girl complained, rubbing her rear from where she struck the concrete, "Today was our first day."
"Really? I thought you were doing pretty good." Syl commented, when a new voice cut in.
"This is Sailor Saturn under the protection of my guardian star," The battle, if it could be called such, froze as everyone present turned to a trio of individuals on a nearby roof-top. To the guardians, it was a chance (albeit a poor one) to see the senshi in action, and maybe ask them about Mugen Academy... 'or not,' Taranee thought, glancing at Will.
Syl, in contrast to the curiosity and surprise of the guardians, looked on the verge of panic, "Hi-" She clapped her hands over her mouth. "I – er.. .um... Play with you later, bye!" With that, she faded from view. The wraiths sank back into the shadows, drawing a concerned frown from Yan Lin.
"Well, that was sudden," Irma noted... just as a spiraling sphere of wind rocketed its way toward Will with a cry of 'World Shaking!'
"Will!" The guardians called out, prompting a flinch from Saturn as the sphere drew closer to striking the red-haired Keeper of the Heart... only to bounce off a pale pink barrier of energy and dissipate in the air.
.
Newly minted or not, the guardians still formed a human shield around Will the moment hostilities became apparent. Too much had been going on too fast, and it all seemed to revolve around the newest addition to their circle.
"You always introduce yourselves this way? I can see why you're not as popular." Cornelia said
"Well, Saturn hasn't moved since she first spoke – and she's more popular than the other two combined." Irma reminded, taking her chance to join the banter, "Lesson Learned: Blasting people doesn't make you many friends – nice to know."
At this point the wind senshi was a sputtering mess and the other older one, who'd yet to move, was stifling a small laugh at her comrades expression. Still, she was an outer too and her pride was also on the line. It was tempting, oh so tempting, to show them why it was a bad idea to bring her temper out of its shell... but Saturn was looking at her nervously, a pleading expression on her face. 'She recognizes one of them too, somehow.' Giving a mental sigh of defeat, Neptune refrained from following through with the attack she'd been preparing.
"Well, the past several times we've stumbled upon a scene such as this... every non-senshi involved in the fighting has been a you ma or similar. Since you clearly know who we are," She passed a surreptitious gaze over Uranus' still sputtering form, "who are you, and what are you doing here?"
"We're the Guardians of the Heart of Kandricar," Will responded from her place amidst her friends, and, ignoring a somewhat reproving glance from Yan Lin, kept speaking, "We're kind of new to this, but... I have a question for you, that I really need answered."
'Kandricar... why does that sound so familiar?' At the next statement, her brow rose, "Really? What kind of question?"
"I have a younger sister," She started, and a cold shiver ran down Saturn's spine, "She was involved in the Heart Snatchers attacks somehow... I... was she a victim?"
Uranus gave the response then, her face a cold mask, "That depends, what was her name?"
Will took a deep breath, "Tomoe... Tomoe Hotaru."
The Silence Glaive fell out of Saturn's grip.
-Syl (Library)
"Rumina-nee, Hime-sama just-" Syl paused, staring at the scene closer. "Why is Fia-nee tied up beneath your feet?"
"She was being noisy," The other answered serenely, "What about Hime-sama?"
"Ah!" Syl clapped her hand and a fist together... only to sigh in defeat, "I forgot."
As Fia banged her forehead against the floor, Rumina only nodded, patting Syl's head softly, "You'll remember. How'd the young ones do?"
"It was totally one-sided," The wind-user answered dejectedly, "The only one who really did any good was Air. Earth managed to snare me once... but then she got herself trapped in a bear hug by one of her own cacti."
"What about Water, Fire, and the Keeper?" Rumina continued passively.
"Water was scary. She reminded me of onee-sama... if onee-sama was trying to prank someone." The three of them shivered in unison, Rumina's passive smile faltering somewhat, "Fire was afraid of her element," Fia snarled through her gag, "and the Keeper was good at dodging things... not much else."
"What about their personalities?" The older girl asked, recovering her previous cheer... if it could be called such.
"Earth was a total hag," One of the pats on Syl's head multiplied in strength exponentially, sending the child into the ground. "Ah! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She cried as Rumina blinked, looking down at Syl.
"Are you alright? Did you trip on something?" She asked, picking Syl up and dusting her off.
"You remind me of onee-sama sometimes – scary..." The girl shivered as Rumina looked on, nonplussed.
"How so?" The elder asked, tilting her head to the side, a curious expression on her face.
Syl only shivered again, "I don't think you'd understand even if I told you..."
Rumina seemed to contemplate this for a couple more seconds before shrugging, "What about the others?"
Syl fingered her chin, "Air was fun. She was better than the others, at least... but she couldn't disperse a basic gust. Guess I got my hopes up too much. She took it easily though, unlike the others... the others... I didn't really get any other impression of them." Suddenly, she clapped her hands again, "Oh yeah, they had this really nice old lady with them too. She could dispel my air drills – didn't even lift a finger to do it, either!"
"Probably the former Air," Rumina noted, before picking a new book from the shelves and sitting down.
"But I'm-" Syl started, only to be interrupted by Rumina.
"-over nine hundred years her senior. And a mere shadow, like the rest of us."
Syl sank to the floor, depressed. "I know. Don't remind me..."
"That wasn't my intention." Rumina stated opening her book, "but you should keep in mind... how many times might the Heart have changed hands, in all this time?"
The three of them grew silent... though Fia didn't have much choice in the matter.
Suddenly, Rumina marked her place and shut the book, glancing to Syl, "The young ones are about to be interrupted. The inners are going to cause some misunderstandings, and the young ones have only just recently cleared the last one."
"Ooooh!" Syl stated, excited, "I've always wanted to try fighting one of the inners!"
"Do you want me to come with you... Fia is getting impatient, and she might hurt somebody if I leave her alone..." Glancing down, Rumina saw a pile of severed ropes, with smoking scorch-marks on their ends. "Never mind, I'm coming too."
-Inner Senshi (En route to the Outers)
The senshi were racing across the rooftops at full speed toward the outers when they were interrupted by a sudden shout. "Infernal Serpents!" Two snakes made of fire appeared out of nowhere, racing toward Moon only to crash into the roof when she jumped out of the way at the last moment. "Nice dodge," The same voice continued mockingly as its source appeared, rising out of a shadow cast on the roof in their path. It was a girl with medium-length, pale brown hair and amber eyes that seemed to glitter, a violet line running under each. "Didn't expect you to be so agile there, Serenity – maybe I should try harder."
"That attack, and those eyes..." Luna started.
"Fia?" Artemis finished, "Keeper of the Flames?"
"What're you doing, attacking the princess?" Venus questioned. It was obvious Fia knew exactly who she'd just targeted, so there was no point trying to keep the secret.
Fia smirked – a broken, manic thing that wouldn't look out of place in a horror flick, "She's not my Princess. She got my Princess killed!" With that, another pair of flaming snakes formed on the girl's arms, racing out at Moon with the signature cry, "Infernal Serpents!"
"Venus Love-Me Chain!" Venus cried, signature golden chain appearing and dispelling the serpents, wrapping around Fia.
"Akuryo taisan!" Mars cried, tossing an ofuda at Fia... only to blink as it struck her and the brunette grinned.
"Consuming Shell!" She exclaimed and, with that, the talisman and chains vanished as a sphere of flames surrounded Fia, disappearing a moment later. "Come on, is that the best the Royal Guardians can do?"
Mars growled at the insult, only to be silenced by a placating hand from Moon. "Venus... you know her?"
The other blonde senshi glanced at moon, "We all did. Keeper of Fire. One of Saturn's friends from the Silver Millennium... also one of her most loyal servants, if I recall... but that doesn't do their relationship justice."
"And she's mad at me, because...?" Moon trailed off, fingering her chin thoughtfully.
A tic mark appeared on Fia's forehead, "You banished her, you little witch! Infernal Serpent!"
Moon blanched as another serpent sailed toward her, only to be deflected by Venus' chain again. "But I didn't banish her, did I?" Moon asked, dodging a serpent that got past Venus' defense. "I couldn't have..." she glanced to Chibi-Moon, who was letting out an ominous aura that seemed to say, 'You better not have.'
"No, you didn't, it was your mother." Luna explained, as Artemis perked up.
"Don't worry, though. Fia's not really angry – this is her most basic attack."
"I heard that!" The enraged fire-user exclaimed, "How's this for basic? Infernal Tide!" A large mass of fire built up in front of her, before rolling toward the scouts.
"Scatter!" Venus called out, grabbing Moon and jumping as the rest of the scouts followed suit, prompting the wave to scorch the roof top but otherwise do no damage. "Just had to stick a paw in the teeth, didn't you, Artemis?"
Fia paused, ashen-faced, "That was terrible, Venus. You can do better."
Venus turned, red-faced, "It was close enough!"
"Only because it's a Mau." Fia retorted, causing the group to blink at the unfamiliar word... an opportunity Fia took to prepare another attack... only for a figure to rise out of the shadow behind her and swat the back of her head, sending her flying into the streets below with wide eyes.
"Distracting them is well and good, but if you kill Serenity, I won't forgive you... and I don't think Hime-sama will, either – her daughter's her best, and only, friend."
Fia shouted up in response, stars in her eyes, "In other words – you wouldn't care if Hime-sama didn't!"
"Grasping Roots." The new arrival whispered, and Fia found herself wrapped up in various plant roots.
"Hey, wait a minute!" The roots began to pull her into the ground, "No! No no noooooo!" She screamed as she was dragged under.
"Cool your head in the darkness a little while, nee-chan." Rumina asserted pleasantly, before turning to the senshi.
"Um..." Moon uttered intelligently.
Venus sighed, "Fia's alive... just alone. And cramped. There's a reason all of the Keepers except for Rumina were claustrophobic..."
"It's because Rumina buried them alive routinely." Artemis coughed out quietly, drawing bewildered looks from the other senshi.
"Hime-sama wasn't claustrophobic," Rumina inserted brightly from her position... directly beside Moon.
The leader of the senshi jumped, surprised. "Wah! How'd you do that?"
Rumina turned to Moon, tilting her head with a pleasant smile on her face, "You're so energetic, Serenity. Here I thought you'd faint..."
"If Fia was fire... then... are you Earth?" Mercury asked, garnering a small nod for Rumina. Blinking, Mercury did a double-take, "By chance, were you at the library earlier?"
Rumina nodded again, "Yes. Please turn off the alarm on the Mercury Computer when you enter, next time. It's rude and obnoxiouslyloud to those reading."
A shiver ran down the collective group's spine before Venus spoke up, "Why are you here, anyway? It's clear you didn't reincarnate, and your eyes-"
She was interrupted when Rumina hummed, tapping her though and prompting several roots to shoot up and wrap around Venus' mouth. "I'm here to keep you from interrupting the children. Nothing more, nothing less. And Mercury," she smiled, ignoring the tension in the air, "I'm not the Keeper of the Earth anymore. I was forcibly retired." Venus' eyes widened as she was lifted by the vines and tossed across the street. "I abhor violence but... I can' let you walk in on the little ones. My apologies."
"What do you mean little ones?" Artemis asked, jumping off of Venus' shoulder before she hit the ground.
"Why should I tell you?" Rumina asked, confused, "You drove Hime-sama insane. Got us killed."
A chill ran down Moon and Chibi-Moon's spines. 'Does that mean...?'
Any further thoughts were interrupted when a small figure impacted against Chibi-Moon's back, catching her in a bear hug. "I'm here Rumina-nee! Let's play!"
"Go play with the little one elsewhere, Syl. I don't need your help." Rumina requested. "Play normally. Nicely. Hime-sama will be upset if you break her."
Nodding, Syl smiled and, before anything could be done, both she and Chibi-Moon vanished into thin air.
"What'd you do with Chibi-Moon!" The group exclaimed, only for Rumina to hum, unfazed.
"Syl's playing with her – don't worry. She'll be back as soon as we're done." With that, ex-keeper of Earth tapped her foot to the ground ominously, and a pair of large, stone hands rose up from the street. "I don't want to fight... but since we have the opportunity, let's spar a while." One hand came crashing down, "Show me your strength."
"Wait!" Venus called as the hand crashed down, shattering the street where the senshi used to stand, "What about Marielle and Renee?"
Rumina's smile took a sad hue, "They're not part of this reunion, I'm afraid. Now... it's been a while. Have you grown rusty?"
The pebbles and spikes in the area began to levitate into the air.
-Syl (Unknown Location)
"Wah!" Chibiusa exclaimed as she fell out of a nearby shadow, landing hard on the stone floor.
"Oops." Syl winced, "Sorry – I forgot you probably haven't traveled this way before."
"It's okay..." Chibiusa assured, patting herself off as she stood up. "It's really dusty here..." She spoke, looking around the dark, empty stone corridor. "Where are we?"
Syl smiled brightly, "A very important place. My most, and least, favorite place in the entire world... Hime-sama's castle."
"It's still standing? I thought everything-" Seeing Syl's sad smile, Chibiusa faltered, "Right, sorry... Why here? Why now?"
"Well... I was told to play with you. I didn't want you to run off somewhere, and I really want to play so... I picked here, because it's farther away than anywhere else. Nothing can come here, except for Keepers, ex-keepers, and Hime-sama herself... if she remembers how."
"So... this was Taru's house?" Chibiusa noted with wonder, "It's kind of... dull."
Syl giggled, "It is. So Taru is her name, now?"
"No – her name is Hotaru. Tomoe Hotaru... but why am I telling you this?" The (debatably) youngest scout fingered her chin, confused.
Syl smiled mysteriously, "Because I asked... what do you want to do?"
The other knuckled her forehead, stealing a glance at Syl... who continued to stand there, smiling. 'Great so... I'm locked up in Taru's castle, several planets away from Earth, with a girl who may or may not consciously be tapping into some weird mind-control power... how do I salvage this?'
"Where's Taru's room?" She asked, coming to a decision.
Syl's smile seemed to lose some life, "...the back of the northern wing. I can show you..."
"Lead the way."
Gulping, Syl nodded and started walking through the castle, leaving Chibiusa to catch up with her or be left behind.
-Will (with the Outers)
You could cut the tension in the air with a knife. It was that tangible.
Immediately after Will's statement, the two elder Outer Senshi seemed to freeze. The younger, however, seemed to melt, and was now a sobbing mess on the roof-top repeatedly muttering, "I'm sorry." over and over again, much to the bewilderment of the other two.
It made Will suspicious. Very suspicious, but there was little to do.
She could ask another question, and maybe either make Saturn's condition worse or provoke one of the other two... or she could remain silent, as now, and hope for a solution to present itself.
'What a mess.' Will thought, tired. "Um..." Will started, but that was when another figure appeared, wrapping her arms around the crying senshi before vanishing.
"Right..." Neptune spoke, glancing between where Saturn was moments before, and where the red-head was standing, bewildered. "Are you sure that-"
Neptune was interrupted when Uranus suddenly shouted. "PLUTO! GET YOUR LAZY, FIGHT-WATCHING BUTT BACK HERE!"
An elegant looking woman with long black hair and ready eyes appeared behind Uranus, tapping the annoyed senshi in the back. "Can you refrain from shouting? Your image is bad enough as is."
"IMAGE? YOU ARE PREACHING TO ME ABOUT MY IMAGE?" The wind senshi raged, whirling about and about ready to strike Pluto... only to refrain from doing so at seeing the passive, amused smile on the elder's face. "You better have a damn good explanation." The senshi of time's brow rose, and Uranus deflated completely. "Right. Stupid of me – demanding an explanation from the Queen of Mysteries."
"Here's something better," The senshi of time spoke, smile growing tenser as she seemed to grow in height, looming of Uranus, "What do you think you were doing? You just tried to assassinate the Keeper of the Heart of Kandricar. In. Broad. Daylight."
Neptune palmed her face as Uranus wilted beneath Pluto's enraged gaze. 'I knew there was something familiar about that word. It was that pendant Renee used to carry around. Damn.'
"Do you even realize all the hell you might've caused? She's the only thing keeping this realm separate from all the other damn loony bins out there!" The Guardian of Time roared, "Kill her and this entire world collapses! Every city. Every country – planet – star. Everything!"
"But-" The blonde started, seeming so much smaller in the face of the uncharacteristic blow up on Pluto's part, "but she-"
"Saturn would never forgive you." Pluto whispered, deadly serious, "You know why."
As Uranus fell apart completely, Pluto cast her gaze onto the guardian's, who flinched under the severity of it. "My apologies for this." She said, cough quietly to herself as she regained her composure, "They weren't very well-informed..." 'And neither was I – I just happened to be watching when you mentioned the Heart.' "...would you like to come over to our house for some tea? Maybe relax a little before we make things even more complicated by answering your questions?"
"Right... because tea and cookies heal all wounds," Irma muttered sarcastically. "We should totally trust the one who waits until the very last minute to show up... immediately after kidnapping one of her team-mates, prompting the other to start shouting in insensible rage."
"Well... we could just go our separate ways, and never see each-other again... but if we did that, it would undoubtedly bite us in the proverbial rear later." Pluto retorted mildly.
"OR the whole lot of you could burn in your own personal hell!" A new voice cut in, and Pluto whirled about to see a girl with light-brown hair and glowing amber eyes standing on a nearby rooftop, arms engulfed in fire. "Infernal Column!"
Pluto's eyes widened, and she pushed the other two outer senshi off the rooftop just as the entire building was consumed by a massive pillar of fire.
"Wow, that's a lot of heat," Irma noted, impressed, "Another dark guardian?"
"Another?" Neptune asked, garnering a nod.
"We were fighting one before – weren't you watching?" The water guardian answered, still watching the flaming building as the pillar fell away, leaving a smoldering wreck behind.
"Where'd you take Hime-sama, time-witch?" The previous voice questioned dangerously, and all eyes were turned to see the newcomer facing down Pluto. "I escape from hell... just in time to see you. And not only do I have the pleasure of seeing you, but I see you making off with Hime-sama... and then stopping by again to chit-chat with the newbies!"
Irma whistled lowly, "She's pissed."
Neptune gulped, "If she's who I think she is, I have reason to believe why... and if I'm right, she's not just pissed – she's royally pissed."
"By chance... do you know anyone named Rumina?" Uranus questioned nervously, only to sigh in relief at a negative nod.
"The last one called herself Syl, though," Hay Lin inserted helpfully.
Uranus face-faulted.
Attention was drawn back to the confrontation between Pluto and Fia when the former was forced off the roof by a cry of "Infernal Tide!"
The time senshi grunted, rubbing her leg where a small burn had made itself apparent. Looking up, though, she chuckled, causing Fia to pause in confusion, "You say you just escaped from hell...by chance, does Rumina know you're here?"
"Of course not!" Fia shot back heatedly, before suddenly shivering, her anger vanishing, "Wait a minute..."
A swift blow to the back of her neck, and Fia found herself flaying unconscious in Rumina's tender grip. "I said that I wouldn't let anyone interrupt them. You included." The former keeper of earth intoned, "And not only that... you forced me away from my spar."
A brief stare was shared between Setsuna and Rumina before the latter vanished into the ground, dragging Fia with her.
"..." Pluto muttered to herself, staring at where Rumina had just been standing.
Several moments later, the inner senshi appeared, looking battered and decidedly worse for wear, to see five individuals clad like the one that had been toying with them for the past several minutes, talking with the outers in what was a surprisingly civil conversation, all things considered.
It made growing headaches worse when Chibi-Moon appeared out of nowhere. "What the-" She started, glancing around, "Dang it!"
Confusion seemed to be the air's favored emotion that day.
-No Perspective (Hotaru's Old Room)
In the bed of the room Chibi-Moon had just been about to enter, a young girl about the edge of the person who once lived here lay on the bed, asleep and surrounded by a soft aura of pink light. There was a brief, bell-like chime, and then the aura pulsed. The girl opened her eyes, revealing a pair of confused brown eyes. "...?" She called out, questioning... but there was no answer save the echo of her own voice. Closing her eyes, she shed a single tear... and then she stood up.
Blinking, she noticed the lack of a familiar weight around her neck.
-Will
Will glanced at the Heart as it levitated out of her shirt, giving off a brief pulse of magic before returning to its previous, inert state. 'Great... now what?'