I've been, like, totally neglecting my other stories just so I can spend time on this one. You're welcome XD
Notes: I never realized how much the song "You're Just My Love", sung by Mitsuishi Kotono (Sailor Moon's VA) and Furuya Tohru (Tuxedo Mask's VA), really fits this story until I read the translation. It's amazing. I love it. Go listen to it on YouTube. ducanhkoba is my favorite channel when it comes to the character songs of Sailor Moon. It's amazing.
"Yumemiru Dake Ja Dame", Sailor Moon's first season image song, is so incredibly adorable! I love it :D
I love the Yuri senshi :D MarsxVenus and MercuryxJupiter :D
Sailor Moon is owned by Naoko Takeuchi-sensei and TOEI Animation, and I'm really getting tired of saying that.
"I have a plan!" Haruko squeals. "And it's unbeatable!"
"Tell me," Akira says as she buttons her shirt and vest, smirking up at her.
"So first, we take this very important key and cut through the bars here. Next, we transform, of course, and I'll take my Sword and break everyone else out, and so then they'll transform, and if some guards come along, we'll take 'em out, and after that's all done, we help Usa-chan and Mamoru-kun by fighting against the Kurushimi Company! It's simple, really."
"You're a genius," Akira says, shaking her head in awe.
Haruko rolls her eyes. "C'mon."
"I agree with Akira-san."
Akira and Haruko turn and look to where the voice came from. Across the hall, Ami and Rei sit in a cell.
"Were you listening in the whole time?" Akira asks.
"Of course not," Rei says. "We're not that rude."
Akira bites her tongue against all the rude things she wants to say to her, and shakes her head. "Man, if you weren't one of Blondie's friends, I swear, I would've pummeled you a long time ago!"
Rei snorts. "Yeah. Okay. I'm a lot stronger than you think I am."
"R-Rei-chan, please try to get along with Akira-san. She protected Usagi-chan, and she's Mamoru's sister."
"Hmph! I don't really care. She bothers me."
Akira stands up, stealing the shard away from Haruko, who gasps. "You know what, girl?" She slices through the bars on her cell in one fell swoop.
"What? What're you gonna do?"
She slashes through Ami and Rei's cell, and picks Rei up with one hand by the collar. "What do you think I'm gonna do, huh? I'm gonna beat your ass!"
"Akira!" Haruko scolds, wrapping her arms around Akira's waist.
"Haru, don't. I don't want to hurt you."
"Akira, you need to stop. She's Usa-chan's friend and a comrade! Just breathe, Akira, breathe, and remember what Jose taught us!"
"Keep your temper under control! You'll never accomplish anything with a temper like that!" Jose shouts from the cell next to Akira's.
"Thank you, Jose!" Haruko calls back. "Neo Sun Power: Make-Up!"
Sailor Sun unsheathes her Sword, and Akira drops Rei. "They're right. You're not even worth it. Neo Earth Power: Make-Up!"
"Please remember, Usagi-chan! We need you!" Luna's crescent moon projects onto Usagi's forehead, she supposes to help her remember, but she can't remember anything.
Suddenly, there's a sharp pain on the nape of her neck, right on her hairline, and she screams. The pain doesn't subside. She feels along her neck to find the source, and finds a small piece of hot metal, burning hot. When she touches it, the pain grows, so she knows that's the cause, and her back arches as she groans in pain.
"What is it?!" Mamoru asks, seemingly afraid to touch her.
"T-Tweezers! I need tweezers!"
"I know where they are!" Luna tells him. "I'll get them!" With that, she runs off to get Usagi's tweezers.
"Wh-What can I do?" Mamoru inquires.
"When Luna comes back," she says through her teeth, "I need you to yank out this piece of metal from the back of my neck. It's hot, so I'm sure you'll be able to at least feel it if you can't see it."
"Are you sure? Won't it hurt?"
"It's gonna hurt a lot more if you don't, so just do what I say!"
"What if it doesn't work?"
"Well, then, dang, what a waste of time, but I highly doubt that'll happen, because I seriously don't think this was here before!"
"No, it wasn't," Mamoru mumbles, somehow sure of himself, like he'd felt back there before.
Which brings her back to this mysterious girlfriend of his. She has a theory, backed by evidence: She's his girlfriend. It doesn't really seem likely, but the evidence is there. The way he looks at her. The way he talks to her. How he cares about her. And just the way he's been calling her "Usako" instead of "Odango" like usual. And doesn't the main heroine always get the sexy hero in the end?
"Here, I found them!" Luna says, cutting into her thoughts.
"I'll take them," Mamoru says. Then, the pain in her neck spikes to a new high. She lets out a squeal, but bites her lip until she tastes rust and salt in her mouth: blood. She's no good around blood, so she feels a little faint, even in the current situation.
"Just rip it out!" she grunts.
"O-Okay…"
Then, the pain melts into nothingness, and she falls.
"Just rip it out!" Usagi almost yells through a clenched jaw.
"Okay!" Mamoru says. He squeezes his eyes shut, and yanks the piece of hot metal out of her neck.
Then, her body goes limp, and she falls forward.
"Usagi-chan!" Luna shrieks.
"Usako!" he yells. "I knew this was a bad idea!"
"This isn't exactly the time or place for 'I told you so,' Mamoru!"
"I know… It's my fault. I shouldn't have yanked that thing out."
"She would've been in pain if you hadn't."
"But now she's- she's- she's-"
"Flip her over and check for a pulse."
Mamoru sighs, and follows instructions. He checks her wrist, her neck, her ankles, her elbows, even her chest, but-
"Nothing. There's nothing," he says hollowly. "There's no pulse. I couldn't find a pulse."
"That's impossible. Watch her chest- it's rising and falling! She's breathing, Mamoru! Check it again!" Sure enough, there's movement in her ribcage, but Mamoru isn't convinced.
He sighs. "It's not going to change anything, but- fine." He checks again, but there's still nothing.
"No, she's- she's- she's- She's gone, Luna," he says, his voice cracking on the word "gone".
"But she's breathing!" Luna shouts. "How would she be breathing if she were pushing up daisies?!"
"I don't know, Luna."
"She's not gone. Sailor Moon can't die!"
"Just accept the facts, Luna! Don't you see? It's not as impossible as we thought! Everything can be defeated, even"-he tries to swallow down the frog in his throat to no avail-"Sailor Moon." His voice cracks again. "Nothing is turning out the way it should."
"C'mon, Usagi-chan!" Luna says, nudging her on the arm. "You gotta wake up! C'mon, open your eyes!"
Mamoru stands and walks down the hallway. He opens the last door on the right, and falls to his knees. Her fragrance was almost overwhelming. He swallows, and takes a deep breath. "God… Queen Serenity… Anybody who will hear my prayer, please… Please, you must bring her back… For the good of the earth, and for us, her closest friends, for our well-being, and me… She's everything to me, and there's no point in living if she's gone. Please. Please. Bring her back. I need her. Please."
"Hey!" a guard calls from down the hall.
"Oh, crap!" Earth says. "Element: Earth! Quaking Landslide!" The cracking rock hits the man at full speed, sending him flying. "Yes!" she hisses, pumping a fist.
Sun sighs, smiling, and slashes through the bars holding Jose captive. Then, she turns and frees Makoto and Minako, who quickly transform.
"Over there!" a female guard says.
"Jupiter Heavenward Halberd!"
The guard cries out, flies backward, and lands on her feet. She laughs triumphantly, and charges again. "Cosmic Beam!" The guard charges purple and blue energy, seemingly cosmic in nature, and then proceeds to fire it at the soldiers.
Sun screams and clutches Earth in her fright. The world turns to a vast land of brightness, blinding everyone.
Usagi suddenly finds herself in a large, soft bed with a gauzy, white canopy and fluffy comforters, rather than what was supposedly her apartment. She looks around the room, wondering where she could possibly be. She wonders if waking up in strange rooms is a thing of hers. She vaguely remembers waking up a long time ago in a strange dress, in a strange bed, feeling very afraid. She remembers a man-a prince?-with silver, chin-length hair and a black, downward-facing crescent moon. She shivers with fear, though she doesn't know why.
The room looks very fancy, like the type you'd find in a fairy tale palace where the princess sleeps. She stands up to look for a door, and then sees one just beyond the canopy. She opens it cautiously, not sure of what's behind.
To her surprise, it's a dark hallway with a lit doorway about 6 feet away. She walks through the doorway into what seems to be a large breakfast room. A man who looks just like a purple-haired Mamoru sits at the table in his pajamas, reading the news on a hologram while sipping his morning coffee. He looks up at her in surprise, and then smiles in amusement. "Ah, so you're the guest Serenity told me about!"
"Huh?" she says, and squints at him.
He stands. "Welcome to Crystal Tokyo. I suppose your reaction conveys that this is the period where your memory fails you?"
"U-Uh…" Her brain slowly translates what he means to: "I guess you don't remember me, huh?" so she replies, "S-Sorry…"
The man nods in understanding. "Quite alright. In the given circumstances, it's a pleasure to work with you, as always. My name is Endymion." He holds his hand out to shake.
She takes his hand, and a sort of zing of electricity travels from his hand to hers, up her arm, and throughout her body, giving her light chills.
Then, one thousand years' worth of memories and then some flow into her mind. Tears slip down her cheeks as each loss, pain, and hardship stabs her heart, but are quickly healed as joy, happiness, and relief fill in the cracks and make her whole.
She wipes her face and smiles up at Endymion. "Thank you… Mamo-chan."
He smiles back and winks. "My pleasure," he says, hugging her. Then, he pulls away and takes her shoulders. "Now that you understand, you know what you have to do, don't you?"
"Right. I have to defeat Kuroi and help everyone."
Endymion smiles proudly and pats her shoulder. "That's my girl!" He kisses her on the forehead, and she closes her eyes, relishing in it. "And one more thing…" he says, and leans in. He whispers something in her ear, and she frowns sadly. "Sorry," he says. "Now, just wake up!"
Taiki closes his book, and sighs. "What is it that you want, Seiya?"
"Nuthin'. Just wanna hang out with my fave bro. Is that a crime?"
Seiya is leaning on the chair next to Taiki's. Taiki groans. "What is it you really want?" Seiya sighs, and sits in the chair he was leaning against. "It's about Tsukino Usagi, isn't it? And you're coming to me because Yaten and Kakyuu are out."
"W-Well…" He sighs, and looks down. "Yes and no…" he whispers. Taiki raises an eyebrow. "I feel like she's in trouble right now. Like, bad trouble. I want to go help. I came to you because, well, honestly, you're a better fighter."
Taiki scoffs. "Well, besides Fighter herself."
Seiya rolls his eyes. "Thanks. So, whaddya say?"
Taiki sighs. He should probably help. "Fine. I'll go."
"Yay!" Seiya cheers, and hugs him. "Thank you! You're the best!"
"Whoa!" Taiki says, and pushes Seiya away. "We're not going to do that."
Usagi's eyes fly open and she sits up. Finally, she's waking up in a familiar place, her own bed at home. She wonders if Mamoru placed her there when she "died". She hopes he's okay. She wonders if she went to find the others. Maybe Luna's there, too. Surely the Guardians and Haruko are there, too. But where is "there"? Where Akira is? She's sure that Akira's eyes were blue before, when she met her on the roof. Weren't they?
`Usako?` Endymion says in her mind. `I'm going to guide you to their hide-out. Don't worry, they're fine. Trust me, I was there. Everything is going to go smoothly.`
`Right. Thanks,` she replies, and takes a deep breath. "Neo Moon Power: Make-Up!"
`Alright, now go to the ground floor and exit out the front entrance.`
Usagi leaves the apartment and locks the door behind her. Safety first, right? She presses the button for the elevator repeatedly, but, of course, it's taking a million years. "Oh, forget it!" she growls in exasperation. She turns around and wrenches the door open for the stairwell, hopping over each flight in her impatience.
She shoves the bottom door open and sprints to the entrance, not caring about the bystanders staring at her in confusion and curiosity. `Now what?`
`Take the first right, into the alley. See the dumpster?`
`You're kidding, right?`
`Of course it's not a REAL dumpster. You think they would go for that? In any case, open it.`
Warily, she follows instructions, and a red laser scans her face. She flinches, waiting for the heavy artillery to shoot her dead.
`Don't worry, your face and voice match Kuroi's perfectly. You're fine. I told you it would go smoothly.`
She opens one eye carefully, then relaxes when she sees a hologram requesting a five-digit pin.
`6-2-9-1-7`
Sailor Moon pauses. `How did you know?`
`It's today's date in your time. They're not that smart. And while we're on the topic, happy early birthday.`
`Oh… That's right. Thank you.` She swallows. Also bringing them ever-closer to their wedding date, which is to take place on August twenty-first. They've got so much to prepare for, they don't need all this. Weddings take a lot of time, especially if you've got a seamstress-friend who's making all the clothes for them, Makoto being the seamstress-type friend. They were all going to plan some more at the Parlor, until Kuroi's goons had to get in the way. Now, thirty-six hours later, she's still dealing with her. That's thirty-six hours down the toilet. Oh, is Kuroi gonna pay for that! Sailor Moon would make sure of it.
Sailor Moon punches in the numbers, and, instead of a million knives slicing her to shreds, she hears a pleasant beep as the hologram turns green and disappears. She shrugs, and hops in, the lid slamming shut above her.
She crawls down the long hallway with flickering orange lights leading the way five feet at a time, alternating walls.
"Where do you think she might be?" Maker asks Fighter.
Fighter looks around. "This way," she says, and starts running in a different direction, and Maker groans, making Fighter laugh. "Don't worry, I know where I'm going. I can feel it."
Fighter comes to a sewer and stops. She squats down and tries to lift up the lid. "C'mon, Maker, help me out here."
Maker sighs, and joins her. They finally get it up after some work, and toss it aside. "Down there?" she asks incredulously.
"No, Maker, we just lifted that heavy thing up to smell the piles of crap! Of course down there! C'mon, Maker, grow a pair so we can do what we need to do!"
"Oh, fine…"
Fighter climbs down the ladder, and, rolling her eyes and plugging her nose, Maker reluctantly follows suit.
"Wow, it smells so nice down here!" Fighter says.
"I'b dot dat stupid, Fighter," Maker says.
Fighter shrugs. "Just trying to help you be courageous. It's not that bad." She sniffs, then wrinkles her nose. It's that bad.
The light dims and goes away, and Sailor Mercury cautiously opens her eyes. She looks around to see that nothing has really changed.
Until she sees her own body standing ten feet away from her.
"What's going on?" her body asks. That was her voice all right.
She looks down at her hands. They're a little bigger than normal, and the gloves have cut-off fingers. As she moves her head, long, black hair falls in her face.
She notices Sailor Sun standing next to her, much smaller than she had seemed before. She's looking at her own body, and Mercury wonders if the same thing happened to everyone.
The woman who made the blow cackles. "Have fun, my friends! Let's go." She turns on her heel and walks away.
"Yes!" the guards all say, and walk away with her.
After she's left, Sailor Sun says, "This isn't my body. And what the hell is up with my voice?! It's like I was breathing helium or something." Then she grins mischieviously. "Wait a second. I'm in Haru's body… There are advantages to this…"
The man that Mercury has seen all of one time (and it wasn't even him; it was his counterpart) walks over and takes Sun's wrists in his hands. "No, Akira. Don't touch me."
"Haru? Is that you?" Sun-who is apparently Earth-says, smiling sheepishly.
The man rolls his eyes and smiles. He lets her hands go.
Earth looks up at Mercury. "Who's in my body?" she asks.
"M-Mercury… I'm Sailor Mercury." Her new voice sounds strange, low for a woman's. She doesn't like it.
Sailor Earth rolls her eyes. "Damn. Gotta have the little one."
The man-is it Sun now?-whacks her on the shoulder. "Hey," Sun warns
Earth rubs her shoulder where she was hit. "Ow… You know I love you just the way you are!"
Sun rolls her eyes. "Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, but now I'm bigger than you are."
"But if you keeping hitting me, you'll be in pain when we get back to normal. 'Cause you'll have bruises."
"Then that's just too bad," Sun says, moving in closer to Earth.
"Anyway," Sailor Jupiter's body says. "If you can cut it out for a second we might be able to figure out what we can do!"
Sailor Earth growls and walks over to Jupiter's body and looks up at her. "I bet I know who you are."
Jupiter's body snorts. "Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. You're that sassy girl, aren't you? Mars?"
"Uh… Um… You two shouldn't fight!" Sailor Mercury says, and jogs over to stop the contention. "Mars is right, we need to figure something out. First, we should start by saying who we each are, so that we know who's in who's body."
Mars' body raises her hand up high. "Aino Minako, right here!" She winks. "The Love Goddess is at your service! Tee-hee!"
"Oh, God…" Mars says.
Venus' body raises his hand. "I'm Jose," she says, then adds to herself while examining her body, "I've never been in a girl's body before."
Venus balls up her fist and growls. "Don't try anything funny," she says in a low, menacing voice, her mood suddenly different.
"You bipolar, or what?" Earth says, and snorts.
Venus turns her death glare-which is quite scary in Mars' body-onto Earth, who doesn't even flinch. "Don't try me, Shorty."
Earth points her finger at her face. "Hey. I ain't short. I'm half a foot taller than you, Shorty," she says, and points at Mercury.
Venus turns to look at her, and Mercury winces. She hates Mars' death glare. She holds her hands up in surrender. "Don't hurt me, V-chan!" she says, and hides behind her hands.
Venus sighs. "I won't, Mer-chan. I love you too much for that." Venus takes her hands and smiles. "We'll be together forever!"
Mercury sweatdrops, and out of her peripheral she sees the man's body and Sun's body moving in with angry faces. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, V-chan, you've made your point! They're getting mad!"
"Eh?"
"The topic at hand, please!" Mars says loudly. They all quiet down. Earth narrows her eyes. "Thank you."
Mercury's body raises her hand, making Mercury's new stomach do a flip-flop. "Jupiter over here." Mercury sighs in relief. So it's Makoto.
"Thank you," Earth mocks, grinning. Mars squints at her, and Sun giggles.
"Well, let's get a move on," Mercury's body says. "There's nothing we can do at the moment. Maybe it'll happen like when Usagi and Chibiusa switched ages, in the night."
"Jupiter's right," Mercury says. "We need to keep moving. I'm sure our bodies will inform us of the proper attacks to use, just like getting an upgrade."
"Yeah. Let's go!" Venus says.
"Alright," Mars says.
After about a minute of crawling, Sailor Moon comes to a small hatch in the floor with a wheel handle. She opens it cautiously.
Just below her, she sees Kuroi sitting in a gaudy, golden throne with burgundy upholstery with her legs crossed, her head leaning against her hand. Sailor Moon smiles. She's a sitting duck!
Sailor Moon maneuvers so that her legs are hanging just over Kuroi's head, and pushes herself through the hole, an impish grin on her face.
She lands on top of Kuroi, who shrieks. "What in the name of-?!"
That kind of hurt Sailor Moon, too, but it was definitely worth it.
She sits up, and grins at Kuroi, who's rubbing her neck in pain. "I'd say, 'Sorry, didn't see ya there!' but I'd be lying if I did! How ya doin' Kuroi? As for me, I've been a bit 'down in the dumpster' lately 'cause some stupid, annoying girl keeps hurting me and my friends, but other than that, I'm doin' alright!"
"You!" Kuroi growls, staring fiery daggers at Sailor Moon, who smirks. "I thought I got rid of you!"
"You can't get rid of me! Isn't that right, everyone?" She turns to face her friends, and winks.
"Sailor Moon!" they call.
"Who else?"
Ikuto slashes a dagger at Tuxedo Mask, who neatly dodges. Well, sort of. He's already got three wounds in just his torso alone, let alone his limbs and head included. He can't concentrate. He can only think of his Usako, and his prayer. He hopes it was heard.
Then, suddenly, Kuroi screeches, and everyone stops to see what happened.
A girl in a small, white dress and blonde pigtails-odango pigtails, he notices-sits up and laughs. "I'd say, 'Sorry, didn't see ya there,' but I'd be lying if I did! How ya doin' Kuroi? As for me, I've been a bit 'down in the dumpster' lately 'cause some stupid, annoying girl keeps hurting me and my friends, but other than that, I'm doin' alright!"
No way.
Kuroi bares her teeth and growls. "You! I thought I got rid of you!"
"You can't get rid of me! Isn't that right, everyone?" The mysterious girl turns towards the senshi, and winks. Tuxedo Mask falls to his knees, ignoring the pain. The only thing he sees is her. The only thing he feels is relief and gratefulness. The only thing he thinks is his gratitude, and how amazing she is. How is she here?
"Sailor Moon!" they all say.
"Who else?" she asks, grinning.
"C'mon, Tux!" Earth, in the form of Sun, says. "Getcher head out of the clouds!"
"R-Right!"
~One Hour Later~
Kuroi smirks, and Sailor Moon grits her teeth. "Well, now it's just you and me, compadre!" she says. She and Sailor Moon are circling each other. Kuroi snickers. "Your people… they're not great shields, are they?"
Sailor Moon growls. "They're not shields. If you weren't so twistedly blind, you could see that. Don't you love your people?! Don't you feel bad that they risked their lives for you?!"
Kuroi snorts. "As a matter of fact, I don't."
"Of course not."
"That was their choice. They don't have to be here."
Sailor Moon stops and falls to her knees beside a terribly-injured, unconscious Tuxedo Mask. "Oh, my sweet…" she says sorrowfully as tears slip down her face and drip onto his dead-like body.
"I thought you said you weren't going to feel any more pain?" Kuroi mocks.
Sailor Moon stands and clenches her fists. She stares at the ground angrily, then her head snaps up to face Kuroi with wild ire. She grits her teeth. "No, this isn't pain… This is anger!"
And, so, with a loud snarl, Sailor Moon lunges.
Blah, blah, blah, derp :3