Chapter 5: 20/20
Pyrolusite had expected his sister to mellow after the incident. The blindness would teach her a lesson, he thought, or at least make her too scared to flit around carelessly like she'd always used to. Then there would be quiet, blessed quiet, and he could work on his inventions in peace. Since Ripidolite had handed down the order for him to take over the Crystal Tokyo operation, he would need all the time he could get.
But he was wrong. In another display of her remarkable resilience, Calomel had become, if possible, even more active than before. She had turned her handicap into an adventure. What had been simple tasks were now momentous accomplishments, and of course she had to share each one with the nearest person. Which, more often than not, was him.
"Hey, look! I can still do a handstand!" She demonstrated eagerly, knocking over a lamp in the process. Pyrolusite sighed and picked it up. She was lucky it hadn't broken, and luckier that it hadn't wrinkled his blueprints, which were spread out across the carpet.
"At this rate, I'll be back in action in no time!" she declared. "So don't get too comfortable, onii-kun. Once I'm allowed to return to duty, I'm going to get revenge on that little brat SailorPallas! And then I'll kill SailorMoon!"
Pyrolusite rolled his eyes. Ironic that she was this enthusiastic about their mission now, when she'd never been a hard worker before. "When CR-850N is done she'll be more effective than you ever were," he boasted. Calomel looked stricken.
"Don't be so mean to her, Pyrolusite," Ripidolite scolded in a bored tone that made it clear she was more interested in making the noise stop than actually maintaining harmony among her siblings. She took about half a second to glare at him before returning to applying a third coat of forest green nail polish.
"Hey, does it have any games on it?" Calomel wanted to know.
"Of course not. Don't be silly."
She pouted for two seconds, then promptly forgot she was upset and renewed the onslaught of questions. "What does it look like?"
"A girl." The description was intentionally terse. He was growing weary of describing everything for her. He was not gifted with the eloquence to paint a picture with words, but Calomel had always been visually oriented, and she had appointed him to act as her eyes.
"If you're trying to attract girls with it, you should have used a boy robot," she told him.
"No," Pyrolusite argued, "the goal isn't just to attract them. They have to trust her, and girls are more trusting of other girls." Besides, the senshi probably aren't as foolish and boy-crazy as you, he thought, but resisted saying it out loud. For once, he didn't feel like starting a fight with her--he was tired, and if they made Ripidolite angry enough to get up from her chair things would get ugly.
Calomel shrugged. "I guess you're right. But anyway, can I play with it for a while?"
"She is not a toy," Pyrolusite snapped.
Calomel's face scrunched up in a pout. "Sheesh, what's with the defensive attitude?" Suddenly she clapped a hand to her mouth in an exaggerated gesture of surprise. "Don't tell me you're like... you know, involved?" she squealed, sounding somehow horrified and delighted at the same time.
Pyrolusite's face was a collage of shock, disgust, and mind-numbing confusion as he tried to form words. "Wha- what the hell are you talking about?! She's a weapon, not some kind of love doll!"
"You don't have to be embarrassed. It's a natural thing for boys at your age..."
"I said it's not like that, damn it!"
"You're both idiots," Ripidolite grumbled.
"Wow, Seresu-chan! Your room is so pretty!" Usagi exclaimed as they entered. The girls had moved their get-together to Seresu's house, because Neo Queen Serenity had semi-politely booted them out at eight in the morning after they had kept her up all night with their talking, laughing, and spontaneous pillow wars. Atena was trying to avoid going home because her house was still flooded. Hotaru was just trying not to fall asleep on them.
"Even the princess recognizes my good taste! I'm honored by your kind words."
They all sat down on the pink and yellow knitted rug in the center of the floor. Atena had procured several packages of Yan-Yan, and snacks and small talk kept them occupied for a while. Eventually, Atena took to building small houses out of her Yan-Yan sticks, using the icing as cement. Hotaru watched her attempts for a few minutes and then finally lost her battle with drowsiness, dozing off against Usagi's shoulder. Meanwhile, Usagi and Seresu were engaged in intellectual discourse on the highly crucial subject of hair care. After all, when one's hair is six to seven feet long, this becomes a matter of some importance.
"Yours is so smooth and shiny," Usagi gushed enviously. "How do you do it?"
"I wash with my favorite wheat protein, low-detergent, heat-activated, herbal aromatherapy shampoo--starting at the scalp, that's very important! Then I use a multivitamin conditioner, rinse with cool water, pat it dry with a lint-free towel, work hair cream in while it's still damp, and blowdry in 3.7 centimeter sections, ending with a blast of cold air to seal the cuticles--also very important! Then I finish up with a flatiron and a little bit of spray volumizer. And once a month I apply a mixture of avocado and olive oil with a little bit of baking powder."
"For your hair?! What a waste of perfectly good olives and avocados!" Atena mourned.
"What do you mean, a waste? This is serious business!" Seresu said adamantly. "You leave that in for a quarter of an hour or so, Usagi-chan. It does wonders!"
Usagi blinked. "I had no idea it was so complicated... Can I brush it?"
"Of course! But only if I can do yours afterwards!" Eager to show off her prized locks, Seresu quickly unwound her bun-and-loop hairdo. (Since her first transformation into Ceres, she had taken to wearing the complex style her senshi form sported even as a civilian. The whole getup took her almost an hour every morning, but she liked it anyway.)
Atena shrugged and went back to building. "If I had all that stuff, I'd make a sandwich..."
Usagi carefully settled Hotaru to the floor and tiptoed around Atena's miniature city to sit beside Seresu. She lifted the pink strands reverently and began running a brush through them.
Atena glanced up from the Yan-Yan apartment complex she was constructing. "Hey, Seresu-chan. With your hair down, you look just like Usagi-chan," she said. "You could be her twin! Or her stunt double!"
Seresu raised an eyebrow. "I think Usagi-chan does her own stunts."
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Usagi mock-glared at her for two seconds before they all burst out laughing.
"Venus used to be a decoy for my mother, because they looked so much alike," Usagi recalled. "I guess she can't anymore, though, because Mom's hair turned white."
"I wonder if Usagi-chan's will turn white when she's queen," Atena pondered.
"Never!" Usagi screeched, clutching her odango defensively.
"Hey, let's do Seresu-chan's hair just like Usagi-chan's!" Atena suggested. "Then we can have fun confusing people!"
"I'll be your decoy, like Venus before me!" said Seresu, growing starry-eyed. Since childhood, she had idolized the golden-haired leader of the senshi. But now she was more than a fan. As SailorCeres, she had a chance to work with Venus in person, and the close encounter had only strengthened her obsession. It was no longer enough to admire Venus. She would become Venus, from her frighteningly graceful fighting style to her sophisticated mannerisms to her fondness for ramen--Seresu in fact hated the stuff, but ate it just to be like her.
Usagi and Atena began winding Seresu's hair into buns. "So what's it like at Mugen, Seresu-chan?" Atena asked. "I hear it's a really tough school..."
"It is, but I like it so far. I worked hard for seven years to get in, you know."
Usagi's eyes boggled. "Seven years?!"
Seresu nodded. "My mother was a Mugen graduate, and so was my grandfather. They always wanted me to go there too, but I... really didn't want to move to Japan, so I didn't try my hardest on the entrance exams." Seresu's face said that she was lying, and Usagi guessed that she had probably failed the notoriously difficult tests. She quickly went on, "Still, my mother really wanted me to go, so she arranged for me to enter Tokoro Middle School, hoping I could transfer into Mugen for high school. And just this year I finally got in!" The others congratulated her, and she giggled, feigning modesty.
"So where did you live before you came to Japan?" Usagi asked.
"I was born in London. My mother is from Japan, though," Seresu explained. "And my father's family is originally from France. So I've got connections all over the globe!"
Something occurred to Usagi just then. "Are you the same Garnier as that cosmetic company?" she asked excitedly.
"No."
"Aww... I was hoping you could get us free stuff."
"Avocados are for sandwiches," Atena couldn't resist mumbling.
Seresu's odango were nearly finished now. "You know, it's funny," she said. "For the longest time, I didn't want to leave home... but one day I had this dream that a girl in a pink dress was calling me. I woke up that morning feeling like I had to come to Japan." She smiled at Usagi. "I suppose it must have been destiny that we met. And then when I saw you in danger, something snapped, and I remembered everything about the past."
Atena waved excitedly, eager to share her story. "I got my memories back by getting hit on the head!"
Seresu just sighed at her.
Pyrolusite looked his creation up and down and gave it a satisfied nod. The robot smiled and nodded back.
"Shall we?" he invited her.
"Let's go. I am looking forward to testing my battle functions," she replied. Pyrolusite frowned, noting a slight anomaly in her inflection of a few syllables. He would have to correct that later. For now, they were headed for the battle training facilities; after all, her undercover civilian guise was only secondary to her true purpose.
"She needs a better name than CR-8-whatever," said Calomel, who was tagging along.
"I suppose you're right. What do you want to call her, then?"
Calomel thought hard for a few seconds. "I know! Carnelian." She tapped the robot's shoulder. "Your name is Carnelian, okay?"
"My name is Carnelian," the robot repeated.
"No, no, no. That's too conspicuous. She needs an alias that will allow her to blend in."
"Fine, but I want her secret real name to be Carnelian," Calomel insisted.
He sighed. "All right."
They had reached their destination--a large, padded room with a floor that could raise or lower to simulate varied terrain. They could have fun with that later, but for now he wanted a flat surface to work on the basics. Carnelian stepped inside as a series of small targets lowered from the ceiling. She breezed through a series of hooks and jabs with a stationary target, then moved on to adapt to a moving opponent, then dodging and counterattacking. Pyrolusite nodded approvingly as he watched.
"I'm bored," Calomel whined. "Can I play over there while you guys are testing?"
Suddenly, Pyrolusite had an idea. "Calomel, why don't you be her opponent?"
Vesta and Juno slammed into the ground as the beam of energy struck them. The force of the impact hurt enough, but the way momentum dragged them across the rocky soil was far worse. Stones and small shards of rubble tore through fabric and skin, leaving their backs a bloody mess when they finally came to rest.
They didn't have time to think about the pain, though, because he was already preparing another attack. Rolling to the side, the two were on their feet again in an instant, just in time to dodge the second beam.
The blast threw up a cloud of dust, and Vesta used the temporary cover as a chance to attack. "Homing Flare!" she screamed, channeling all her anger and frustration into a single destructive fireball. Her adversary tried to dodge with a nimble backflip, but the burning sphere tracked him and smashed into him. He cried out and fell to the ground, his cape in flames. Vesta herself was close behind, aiming a flying kick at his head while he was down.
But the man was too quick. He caught her with his legs and twisted her around, slamming her head-first into the ground. He rolled backwards and was on his feet before Vesta could get her bearing. Tossing the charred cape aside, he lunged at Vesta and grabbed her from behind. She heard him laugh as he started to slowly choke her. In desperation, she jammed her white stiletto heel through his shoe. He cried out in pain as his toes broke, and she took advantage of his surprise to break free and elbow him in the gut.
Limping, he roared in anger and summoned another orb of white light to attack her, but the effort was cut short by Juno, who came in from behind and knocked him to the ground with a back roundhouse to the jaw. The green senshi pinned his chest under her knee and punched him hard in the face. She got a few blows in before he caught her fist and twisted her arm. Juno recoiled in pain, and he used his momentary advantage to roll over on top of her and land several punches of his own.
Vesta had recovered by this point and tackled him, knocking him away from her companion. While he was stunned from the blow, Juno grabbed him by the collar and flung him against a wall. His head cracked against the hard crystal, and he slid limply to the ground.
Vesta reached down to pull back his hood. She wanted to look her adversary in the face before she killed him.
But instead of his eyes, she was met with two blinding hollows of white light. A horrid shriek issued from his throat as his whole body lit up with a golden aura. The earth heaved, and suddenly the two senshi were in the air, and the whole world was pain and radiance.
Juno crashed through the ceiling of one of the few crystal towers that was still standing and bounced across the faded oak parquet that had once been the floor of a dining room. For a few seconds the pain and shock of the fall numbed her senses, but then she cautiously sat up, testing her body. Amazingly, she had escaped any major injuries. Vesta had not been so lucky. She had landed on a fallen chandelier, and one of the decorative crystal spikes had impaled her shoulder. Juno cringed in spite of herself. She had never seen so much blood. But Vesta's ragged breathing assured her that her fellow senshi was still alive... for now.
Suddenly the pale sorcerer was in front of her. By the time she saw him, he had already lashed out with a crushing kick to her chest, knocking her back to the ground. Another ball of impossibly bright light gathered in his hands and expanded until it filled his outstretched arms. And then he hurled it at them.
The giant sphere of energy came barreling toward them, tearing up the floor and the ground in its wake. The two senshi were powerless to defend themselves against the blast, which simultaneously smashed them into the ground and sent wave after wave of psionic energy coursing through their bodies. It was the worst pain Juno had ever experienced, and she abandoned all dignity and screamed without restraint. Vesta was too weak to scream and could only manage a garbled moan, praying for the solace of unconsciousness.
Juno thought she probably had passed out for a moment. She lay limply on the ground, sickened by the dull, throbbing ache in every nerve and self-disgust at her own weakness. It was a battle just to force her eyes open; even the dim glow of twilight was painful after the torture of light she'd just been through. But terror won out over discomfort, because she knew the man was coming for her.
When she looked up, he was standing over her. And suddenly, Juno knew she was going to die. His face, cool and emotionless, filled her vision, framed by the broken fragments of the palace that represented everything the senshi had worked to build for the past thousand years. He raised his palm, summoning his power to deliver the final blow.
No, she thought suddenly. This was wrong. This wasn't Crystal Tokyo. They had known it was an illusion, and yet all this time they'd been fighting as if it were real. In spite of reason, her mind had accepted the ground beneath her feet, the image of the ruined city, and the pain of the wounds she had received as truth.
"It won't end like this," Vesta whispered. She understood too. They would not break out of this trap if they kept playing by its rules.
"This is not our future!" Juno declared. Her voice rang out with more strength and determination than she'd thought herself capable of in this battered state, and that vigor seemed to spread through her body. She found herself on her feet again, and in spite of the grave wound in her shoulder, Vesta stood up beside her. The sorcerer took a step back, rage and disbelief on his face. He launched another volley of energy bolts at them, but the senshi paid him no heed.
"Let's go home, Juno."
"Yeah."
Suddenly, they felt a snap. The strangling bond that had held them suddenly broke, and they only realized afterwards that they hadn't been breathing. The turbulent sky split open, the angry sorcerer vanished, and the desolate mirage around them dropped away as they finally opened their eyes.
Calomel dodged another burst of flame from Carnelian's arm-mounted blowtorch, then used a quick blast of ice to counter the round of mini-rockets her opponent launched at her. She went on the offensive, summoning a small hailstorm over the whole arena. The tiny chunks of ice did little to damage the armored robot. Having determined that blindness was Calomel's greatest weakness, Carnelian rolled to the side and dashed around her, attempting a stealthy knockout punch from behind. Calomel was confused at first, but the true purpose of the hail soon revealed itself--the metallic ring of the ice striking Carnelian's body gave away her location. She spun around just in time to block the punch, although the force of the blow still knocked her back. From the ground, she aimed another blast of ice at Carnelian's knees...
On the sidelines, Pyroulusite's eyes darted back and forth, following the ever-shifting battle with growing excitement. Carnelian was everything he'd built her to be and more. But the real surprise was Calomel. He had expected Carnelian to make short work of her. True, she was not winning, and had been focused on defending herself for most of the match. But she was clever and adaptive, using her powers as tools of strategy rather than her usual style of mindless attacking. For once, Pyrolusite did not have such a hard time believing that they were related.
Suddenly, Carnelian simply stopped.
"What are you doing?" Calomel asked, exasperated. Carnelian had produced a small fan apparatus from her wrist and began cooling herself. "You can't just quit! Fight me seriously!"
"I cannot. I am at the limit of my operating capacity," Carnelian replied.
"Well I'm not!" Calomel protested, stomping her foot. The effort of that motion was enough to knock her over, and she collapsed to her knees.
"That's enough for now," Pyrolusite said. "You're exhausted. And her weapons systems have to cool off or she'll melt."
"I'll cool her off, all right!"
He looked at her with mild surprise. Sweat was dripping down her face, and her shoulders were heaving as she gasped for breath, but there were vigor and determination in her voice that he had never heard before. She pushed a loose clump of blue hair back from her face and levered herself to her feet.
"Maybe later," he said. He looked from his sister, who was so exhausted she could barely stand but still demanding to continue the fight, to Carnelian, composed and pretty as ever and calmly refusing. "Calomel. You win this round," he decided.
"...I do?" She sounded genuinely surprised.
"Yes. And I think somebody needs an attitude adjustment."
Carnelian nodded obediently. "My temperament controls are located under the panel at the base of my neck. Shall I shut down so that you can re-calibrate me, Sir?"
Pyrolusite smiled. This was why he loved robots.
Home-made posters printed on cheap copy paper covered every available surface at Crystal Juuban Public School. They were plastered over walls, lockers, windows, bathroom stalls, and even the ceiling. When Minazaki Tomoe fell asleep in class yet again, someone taped one to her head. Stray papers littered the floor everywhere and piled up in the corners, until students were literally wading through them as they walked down the halls. And staring at them everywhere they went was one girl's face.
"Souga Miruki-san. She's in your class, right Usagi-chan?" Hotaru noted, examining one of the posters.
Usagi nodded in affirmation. "She was absent for a long time, and then she was reported missing."
A few seconds later, Chino Takashi came tearing down the hall as fast as his skinny legs would carry him, kicking up a fresh flurry of paper in the process. He skidded to a stop in front of Hotaru and greeted her hastily. "Hello, Tomoe-san. You noticed my poster?"
Hotaru tried not to look contemptuous as she glanced at the sea of white. "It was... hard to miss."
"If you have any information at all, please call the police! It isn't like Miruki-chan to run off without telling anyone. I'm sure she was kidnapped or something!" Chino spoke so rapidly that his words ran together, and the girls could barely keep up with what he was saying. He looked like he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
"Why didn't anyone realize she was missing right away?" Usagi wondered aloud.
"She was supposed to be visiting her grandparents in Nagoya over the weekend," he explained. "Nobody realized she was gone until they called the next morning asking why she hadn't arrived. They'd thought her train was just late." Chino swallowed hard. "Then they spent almost a month searching for her up there, until they figured out that she never got on the train in the first place, which means she disappeared here in Tokyo..."
The girls exchanged furtive glances as the same unpleasant idea occurred to both of them. Of course, it could be just a coincidence--even pristine and peaceful Crystal Tokyo wasn't one hundred percent crime-free--but Miruki had vanished right around the time the Moirae had made their presence known. Suddenly, Usagi remembered the bizarre events on her first night as SailorMoon: the mysterious screams, the alley full of flower petals... a trail of evidence with no logical resolution, as though she had stumbled upon a crime scene but hadn't been able to find the crime. And it had happened the day before Miruki had stopped showing up at school.
Hotaru told Chino that they would keep an eye out for Miruki. He thanked them and left to hang up more posters. When he was out of earshot, she turned to Usagi.
"Do you suppose they had anything to do with this?" she asked in a low voice.
Usagi pursed her lips. "I may have a lead. Let's go after school and check it out."
Sunshine, glorious sunshine. Vesta had rarely taken the time to appreciate it before, but when she and Juno emerged from the dusky nightmare-world of Petalite's illusion into the clear air of a fully intact city, she took a deep, slow breath, savoring the warmth and light that surrounded them.
And then the pain caught up with her. Petalite's illusion had been more than just a cruel trick played on their minds. Somehow, the injuries inflicted on them there had manifested on their physical bodies. In a way, it made her feel a little less foolish to know that they had been in real danger, that the entire epic battle they'd just fought hadn't been a mere figment of their imaginations. But if the realization soothed her wounded pride, it did little for the rest of her.
Dizzy, she slumped down against the wall of the alley they stood in, and groaned as sharp pain shot through her wounded shoulder. Juno, hovering worriedly over her, was in slightly better shape, but clearly battered as well.
"You've lost a lot of blood already," Juno said. "We have to get you to a doctor."
Vesta shook her head and forced herself to stand, ignoring the renewed rush of dizziness that washed over her. "We have to get to the princess," she insisted. "We have to warn her..."
"Don't be stupid," Juno retorted bluntly. "That spike went clean through your shoulder. You're in no condition to be walking around! I'm going to find a phone and call 110--"
"No. Civilians will ask too many questions." Vesta coughed and staggered forward, intending to go with or without her comrade. "I'm sure the queen can heal me once we report to her."
"You won't make it!" Juno argued. She caught Vesta, who was swaying, and wrapped the other girl's good arm around her own shoulders to support her, trying to reason with her all the while. "Even the Silver Crystal can only do so much! The hospital is closer, anyway."
Vesta glanced sideways at her, a faint grin tugging at the corner of her mouth. "Juno, one thing you're going to learn about me is that I'm incredibly stubborn."
Five steps later, she collapsed. Her transformation unravelled in a shower of red sparks as she hit the pavement.
Juno let out a resigned sigh. "Not stubborn enough to overcome the laws of nature," she chided her unconscious friend. She tapped her brooch to revert to her civilian form, then scooped her up bridal-style. For a moment she was surprised at how light the girl was, even when she was dead weight in her arms.
"Don't you die on me..." she muttered, heading for the hospital as fast as she could.
Moros tapped her fingers impatiently on the arm of her throne as Hypnos approached. He paused in a shallow, but graceful bow and waited for her to acknowledge his presence.
Moros waited a calculated second before she spoke, giving him just enough time to begin running a mental catalog of all the things he might have done to incur her wrath. When she did address him, her words were brief and toneless.
"How is the search for the Golden Crystal going?"
The way she phrased such questions always struck Hypnos as odd. There was no implied threat, no assumption that he was purposely being lazy. He knew Moros was not a particularly patient person, but in spite of her many efforts to make herself intimidating, she did not talk like a dictator accustomed to being feared. She demanded results, but in an almost naive way, like a spoiled young princess who found it inconceivable that anyone would not want to please her.
"We've been searching everywhere for it, my queen," he replied. "We lost track of it after it disappeared from the Crystal Palace. Endymion and Serenity must have caught on to our plan and hidden it somewhere."
Moros's thin fingers tightened on the arms of her throne. "How would they have found out? Are you suggesting that we have a mole?"
"That's... there's no evidence of that, my queen. Calomel sent a monster to distract them while we tried to infiltrate the palace. It's possible that when they detected it, they moved the crystal to a more secure location."
A crease formed in her forehead. "Very poor planning on your part."
"My deepest apologies." Hypnos bowed again, with all appropriate mortification.
Moros relaxed, though her displeasure was still evident. "Your error is forgiven. Just hurry and bring me the crystal." Once again there was no threat attached, as though the fact that she was upset was enough to motivate anyone to work harder. She was unnervingly calm as she added, "Kill anyone you have to in order to get it."
"Of course, my queen."
"And what of your partner?" There was an sudden sharpness in her voice that made the hairs on the back of his neck rise.
"Aether has been observing the sailor soldiers as well as helping me in my search."
Moros seemed satisfied with his report, but her eyes were distant, preoccupied with some other worry. Her moods were as unfathomable as Aether's, Hypnos thought, and that was saying something.
"Very well then, you are dismissed. Keep working hard."
Hypnos departed with his usual fluid elegance, his shadowy cape closing around him and quickly melting into the larger blackness of the corridor. Long after he faded from sight, the young queen continued to stare into the darkness with an expression of detached bitterness.
"I won't forgive anyone who tries to deceive me," she whispered.
"So this is where you found the flower petals?" Hotaru asked. They were standing in a narrow, shaded alley not far from the Crystal Palace. So far, they hadn't found anything that looked suspicious, and Hotaru couldn't help but wonder if the screams her friend claimed to have heard weren't just the product of fear and an overactive imagination. But Usagi wasn't normally one to jump to conclusions about things like this.
Usagi nodded as she scrutinized the area for evidence. "They looked kind of like cherry blossoms. I thought it was strange since it was pretty late for them to be blooming," she recalled.
"Look!" Hotaru exclaimed suddenly, pointing to the ground. "Footprints!" She leaned down to get a closer look, and frowned at what she saw. "Bloody footprints. And a trail of blood drops."
Usagi gulped. "Let's follow them."
Peering at the ground, the two made their way along the street. They had gone a few hundred meters when they reached a larger splatter of blood on the ground. Usagi cringed involuntarily and turned away.
"Hmm... the footprints end here, but the drops keep going," Hotaru noted, thinking out loud.
"Did the person stop and clean off their shoes somehow?" Usagi wondered.
Hotaru tapped her chin, lost in thought. "Maybe a criminal killed someone and fled, then stopped to remove his shoes so they wouldn't leave a trail." She paused and shook her head. "That wouldn't make sense though... why would someone only clean their shoes if the rest of them was still dripping blood?"
"Suppose the footprints are the victim's own," Usagi reasoned. "It wouldn't have to be a crime. Maybe he was injured in some sort of accident. But that still doesn't explain why the prints stop here, or what that big spot is."
Hotaru bent down to study the reddish stain on the pavement. "This kind of looks like the shape of a person's side," she realized. "Someone was covered in blood, and fell..."
Usagi had a sudden epiphany. "There were two people! One of them was badly injured, and these are his footprints--"
"Her," Hotaru corrected upon examining the treads more closely. "These are women's shoes."
"These are her footprints. She walked this far, and then collapsed. Then her companion carried her the rest of the way."
Their eyes followed the trail up the street toward a tall, squarish building. "The hospital!" Usagi said. "Let's go!"
Ten minutes later, Usagi and Hotaru arrived at the hospital. "Excuse me," Usagi said to the nurse behind the lobby desk. The young woman pushed a pair of thick turtle-shell glasses up the bridge of her nose and peered up at them. When she recognized the princess, she immediately put on a bright smile.
"Good afternoon, Your Highness," she greeted, her voice rising with unnatural cheer. "How can I help you?"
Usagi was slightly annoyed at the woman's forced attitude, but tried not to let it show. "Could you tell me if any... unusual patients have been admitted today?" she asked. She didn't want to ask outright if there had been any youma attacks. They were still trying to keep their recent battles out of the public spotlight. Privately, Usagi disagreed with her mother's decision to shelter her people from the knowledge that their city was under attack. Serenity meant the best, as always, but Usagi thought they deserved to know the truth. They would be frightened, but maybe they should be. And if they knew, they could help at times like this.
But then again, everyone in Crystal Tokyo thought of the senshi as their invincible, infinitely benevolent saviors. Their confidence had been shaken once, momentarily, with the senshi's defeat during the Black Moon's attack (which Usagi couldn't help but feel was largely her fault.) And fear could make people do crazy things. As her mother had once pointed out, it was lack of faith in the senshi that had lead the rebels to join Wiseman in the first place. For now, Serenity insisted, it was for the best if the senshi bore the burden alone. Usagi respected her mother enough to uphold that decision in spite of her own misgivings.
The clerk frowned thoughtfully. "Unusual patients? Can't say that I've seen anything too out of the ordinary."
"To the extent that things are ordinary in a trauma center, anyhow," an older nurse next to her added.
"Well, has anyone come in with a particularly severe injury?"
The young nurse shook her head, her short black hair fluttering around her face. "I'm sorry, but to tell you these kinds of thing would violate patient privacy, and I can't do that. Not even for you, Princess."
Usagi sighed. She'd expected as much, but she was still disappointed that her only clue had lead them to a dead end. The girls thanked the nurse and left.
"Don't worry," Usagi reassured Hotaru, the words of comfort as much for her own sake as her friend's. "I'm sure Souga-san will be found safe and sound. In the meantime, there's no need for us to be jumping at shadows."
"Yeah," Hotaru agreed, trying to put on a cheerful face for Usagi's sake.
"But still... it's hard to relax knowing that she's in danger." Usagi turned to her suddenly. "Hotaru-chan, I think we should get the senshi involved."
The dark-haired girl paused to consider that. "I doubt Venus and the others will have time for a case like this. Right now they're so concerned with palace security that they barely sleep. But maybe the queen will let us handle it. If it really does involve them, this might even lead us to--" Here she paused and glanced around to make sure no one was listening before continuing, "the Golden Crystal."
"She's our classmate. Of course we should be the ones to handle it." Unconsciously, Usagi ran her fingers over her brooch as she made a vow: "We won't rest until we find her."
Petalite carefully rearranged the pile of broken threads in her hands, muttering curses all the while. She hadn't expected them to escape this quickly. Perhaps Pyrolusite had been right when he had told her she could keep them trapped longer if she created a pleasant illusion. But she had wanted them to see that future. She wanted them to know the desolation and despair she had known.
Tiptoeing distastefully around several grimy puddles, she made her way across the cavernous room to where a young schoolgirl lay unconscious on a steel table. The girl was cold and limp, but still breathing in shallow gasps. The bluish tinge of the flickering fluorescent lamp that provided the only illumination in the basement only emphasized her deathly pallor. Petalite brushed the girl's cheek with her long nails and clucked her tongue in disappointment. "I really shouldn't have expected Thread of Life from a weak girl like you to be able to hold a sailor soldier," she sighed.
Behind her, the caged doors of a rusty old utility elevator rattled open, and her two daughters stepped out.
"Thanks, Ripidolite. I can find my own way from here," Calomel said.
"Suit yourself." The taller woman disappeared back into the elevator.
Calomel made her way across the basement, stumbling a couple of times over bits of trash that littered the floor. (Pyrolusite must have been down here hunting for scrap metal again, she thought. The slob always left a mess when he was working on a project!)
"You're late," Petalite stated flatly.
Calomel ducked her head sheepishly. "Sorry..."
"Anyway, I need you to repair this girl's Thread of Life." Petalite placed the strands in her daughter's hands.
Calomel frowned, realizing what that meant. "Your Spirit Weave was broken?"
"Yes," Petalite said through clenched teeth. "Those two senshi escaped my illusion." She hated being reminded of her failures. But she knew Calomel meant no harm, so she tried to keep her temper.
"Hmph. That sucks. Well, don't worry, I'll get revenge on them too once I'm back in action!"
"Oh?" Petalite said, and Calomel couldn't tell whether the lilt in her voice indicated surprise or doubt. "You seem to be more enthusiastic lately, Calomel."
"Maybe." A pale blue aura lit up around Calomel's hands as she got to work. As she concentrated, the silvery threads rose up in a coiling mass, floating as if suspended underwater, and aligned themselves end to end. With a flash the light liquefied, scattering into glowing blue drops that coated each strand with a fine mist. Tiny beads of blue energy gathered around each break, and frayed ends began to knit themselves back together as the healing began.
The chatter in Room 10 reluctantly died down, and the students rose and bowed dutifully as Mr. Sunahara entered.
The teacher, a slight, mousy man with gaunt cheeks and thin hair that had once been black but was now about half gray, peered at them over the rim of his heavy spectacles. He smiled briefly when his eyes fell on Hotaru, who already had her notebook out and was poised for the lesson to begin. But his smile faded when he saw Minazaki Tomoe in the next row, fast asleep and drooling on her desk. "Will someone kindly wake up Minazaki-san?"
The boy next to her obliged with a swift poke in her ribs, and the girl sat up with a startled cry. "Eee! Sorry!" she squeaked, making a futile attempt to catch up to her classmates by standing, bowing, sitting, and taking out her notebook in the span of two seconds.
"As you all know, today you will be splitting into groups to do your chemistry lab," Mr. Sunahara began, trying not to make his weariness evident. "But first, I would like to introduce a new transfer student. Please welcome Kanzaki Akako-san."
A tall, exotic-looking girl with brilliant scarlet hair stepped in from the hall. Her deep ruby eyes scanned the classroom as she bowed and began to introduce herself. "It's nice to meet you all. My name is Kanzaki Akako, and I'm from..." She hesitated, then shrugged. "Well, it's difficult to say where I'm from, because I recently lost my memory." She laughed, seeming as if she were not at all bothered by this fact. "No worries though, I'm sure it'll come back to me eventually! Anyway, please show me around!" Murmurs went up around the room as she bowed and took her seat in an empty desk a few seats behind Hotaru.
Once the commotion died down, the teacher instructed them to find their lab partners. The students quickly formed up into groups of three or four. Hotaru hovered at the edge of the crowd, wondering if she would be ignored as usual.
Akako was quickly encircled by would-be partners, most of them male. "Hey, one at a time, boys!" she teased, laughing. She glanced over at Hotaru. "It looks like Tomoe-san still needs someone to work with," she suggested, hoping to divert some of the attention.
One of the boys snorted derisively. "I'm sure she can do the lab on her own, since she's so smart. And it's not like Sunahara-sensei would ever give her a bad grade."
Hotaru sighed. It's the same as always. She gathered up her things, resigned to work alone.
"Umm... Tomoe-san? Can I be your partner?" a small voice asked. It was Minazaki. The girl shuffled uncomfortably, peeking up at Hotaru through a veil of shaggy brown bangs. "No one else wants to work with me, because science isn't exactly my strong point," she explained, biting her lip. Her eyes grew wide and desperate. "But I promise I'll try really hard! Even though I don't really understand everything! Okay?" The last word was more of a plea than a request, and she accentuated it by clutching at her classmate's arm in a manner that was a bit too friendly for Hotaru's comfort.
As much as she dreaded the thought of having Minazaki for a partner, Hotaru couldn't help but feel a twinge of pity--and empathy--for her. Besides, it would be hard to do the lab alone.
"All right, let's work together."
"Yay! Thank you so much!" the girl chirruped, literally jumping for joy.
"Mind if I join you two?"
Hotaru looked up in surprise to see Akako. "You mean you don't have a partner?" she asked, glancing at the crowd of heartbroken boys on the other side of the room.
Akako shrugged. "I have high standards for my partners, see. And word has it you're smart. What do you say?" She leaned across the desk, resting her chin on the back of one hand coquettishly.
In spite of herself, Hotaru felt vindicated. "Sure, you can work with us if you like," she said, relieved at the prospect of a third party to dilute Minazaki's ineptitude. Even if said party was invading her personal space and making her quite nervous with that intense stare she was giving her.
"All right! Now I won't have to do as much... I mean, now there's three of us, so it'll be easy!" Minazaki cheered.
The students lined up and marched across the hall to the lab room. Hotaru's group found a station in the corner and set to work. They decided that Akako would perform the delicate experiment, Minazaki would take notes, and Hotaru would do the calculations and explain to them what it all meant.
"So... you really lost all your memory, Kanzaki-san?" Minazaki asked, regarding their new classmate with wide-eyed fascination.
The red-haired girl nodded as she adjusted the flame on their Tirrill burner. "I woke up in a hospital bed with no idea how I got there. Apparently some strange person brought me in, but vanished afterwards before the staff could ask any questions. I don't know if I have any family, but no one came looking for me. All I remember is my name. Right now I'm living on my own, trying to find someone who can tell me about my past."
"Gosh, that must be tough!" Minazaki's understatement was almost comical.
"I'm get along all right," Akako said. "Apparently there were two hundred thousand yen tucked in my pocket when I was brought in, so my hospital bills are paid for!" The other two girls gawked at her.
"It seems strange though," Hotaru remarked. "I would think whoever brought you in would at least stick around until you woke up."
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of shattering glass. "Eek!" Minazaki squealed, backing away from the graduated cylinder she'd accidentally knocked off the table. "Uh, I hope we didn't need that."
Hotaru and Akako groaned in unison. This was going to be a long lab session.
At last, after nearly an hour of tedious spell-weaving, the girl's Thread of Life was whole again. With a shuddering sigh, Calomel allowed it to drop back into her palms. Conjuring youma or summoning destructive blasts of ice was easy, but this kind of spell always took a lot out of her.
"Good work," Petalite told her with an approving nod.
"Wait," Calomel said as her mother reached for the thread. She ran her fingers along the length of it. "It's so... short."
"That's not our concern, Calomel," Petalite admonished.
"Souga Miruki, from Juuban," Calomel whispered, the soft blue glow returning as her fingers read the girl's fate encoded in the gossamer yarn. "She was born with an unknown heart condition, and will die at age 26... Mother, we can't just put it back inside her, knowing that!"
"We can't interfere with her fate."
Calomel crossed her arms. "That's not fair! Aren't we changing our own fates?"
Though Petalite's eyes narrowed in anger at Calomel's disobedience, she had no answer for that argument. In the moment she hesitated, Calomel made a quick twirling motion with her finger, adding several inches to the end of Miruki's thread. "Let's consider it a return on her investment," she reasoned.
Without a word, Petalite snatched the thread from her daughter and laid it on the girl's chest. She made a few quick, intricate gestures with her hands. The thread rose up briefly, coiled itself into a complex knot, and spiraled downward, absorbing into her body. Miruki inhaled sharply and stirred. As Petalite watched, her body warmed and color began returning to her face.
"Well," she said, bending down to scoop her up. "Best to get her home before she comes to."
"So the reason we had to dry out and seal the container first is because water is a protic solvent, and even the relatively small amount of water vapor in the atmosphere could cause errors..." Hotaru explained. She trailed off, noticing the blank look in her partner's eyes.
"Sorry, but I have no clue what you're talking about," Minazaki admitted.
"Water in the air makes the reaction not work," Hotaru summarized.
Minazaki yawned and collapsed back onto the bed she was sitting on. They were in Akako's hotel room, trying to finish their lab report. The room was a small but tidy space that was temporarily serving as her home until she either found her family or at least managed to locate an affordable apartment.
The brunette fingered a faint coffee stain on the garish bedspread and sighed. "How much more do we have?"
"Just the analysis and conclusion, so let's hurry and finish," Hotaru said, trying to sound encouraging.
Akako, seated at a desk across the room, finished typing something on Hotaru's laptop and stood up. "I've got the graphs done," she reported. "Have you answered all the questions yet?"
Minazaki gave her an apologetic smile. "We're getting there."
They were interrupted by several loud knocks on the door. Akako got up and squinted through the peephole. "There are a couple of strange people outside..." she said with a slight frown.
"Hotaru-chaaan!" two unmistakable voices called out from the other side of the door.
Hotaru's face brightened, though she looked puzzled at the same time. "Oh, they're my friends."
Akako opened the door, and Usagi and Atena stepped into the room without hesitation, bringing a large pizza box with them.
"You must be the new transfer! We heard you were studying with Hotaru-chan, so we came to meet you," Atena said, smiling up at Akako. "Kanzaki-san, right? I'm Itokuri Atena."
"And I'm Tsukino Usagi! Yes, I am the princess. Don't freak out, okay?"
The two bowed. "It's nice to meet you!" they chorused.
Akako seemed overwhelmed by their energy (not an uncommon response when dealing with Usagi and Atena, who seemed to exponentially enhance one another's hyperactive tendencies.) "It's nice to meet you as well," she replied, slowly backing away from them.
"We have brought tribute!" Atena added, holding up the pizza box with a flourish and laughing at her own silliness.
Minazaki jumped up, enticed by the delicious smell. "All right, food! Why don't we take a break and eat, guys?"
Seeing that Minazaki and Akako were completely distracted, Hotaru gave up on finishing the report for the moment. "Food sounds good. Maybe we'll be able to focus better if we're not hungry," she reasoned, hoping her partners would catch the hint. But Akako was busy clearing a space on the desk for the pizza box, and Minazaki was introducing herself to Usagi and Atena.
"Hey... you and Hotaru-chan have the same name! Sort of!" Atena observed.
"Yeah! It gets really confusing, so everybody in class just calls me Minazaki."
Meanwhile, Akako had fixed Usagi with that same unblinking stare she had given Hotaru back in the classroom. "So, Tsukino-sama..." she began, taking a step toward Usagi. Her tone of voice was completely innocent, but somehow Hotaru imagined she saw something predatory in the girl's smile. Instinctively, Hotaru stepped between the two, standing protectively in front of her best friend.
"Hotaru-chan?" Usagi queried, puzzled by her behavior.
Hotaru blinked, coming to her senses. "Ah, I... excuse me," she apologized quickly. She slipped past Akako and pretended to be fascinated by something outside the window. But she felt compelled to keep glancing at the red-haired girl's reflection in the glass.
Oh, what am I doing? I'm probably just getting jealous again... Hotaru mentally chastised herself, and tried to dismiss the incident.
"Does anyone want drinks?" Akako asked. "I saw a vending machine down in the lobby."
"We'll go get them!" volunteered Atena and Minazaki, who seemed to have become good friends in the past two minutes.
When the two had left, Akako excused herself to go to the bathroom. With a deep sigh, Hotaru settled herself onto the bed and tried to calm her inexplicable jitters.
Usagi came and sat beside her. "Actually, Hotaru-chan, we had another reason for coming here," she said in a low voice. "We were hoping to discuss our latest case."
Hotaru nodded. "I figured as much. But there's something else I think we should talk about too."
"Hmm?"
"Well, that is... what do you think of Kanzaki-san?" She chose her words carefully, trying not to sound like she had some sort of unreasonable fear of their new classmate. Even if that were a little bit true.
"I don't know, she seems nice. Why, did something happen?" Usagi asked, looking concerned.
"No, not at all," Hotaru said quickly. "I'm not sure what it is, but I just feel strange when I'm around her."
"Strange as in... sensing an aura?"
"Maybe. She does have red hair, and she's about the right age," Hotaru said, catching Usagi's drift. That would make everything fall into place, she thought.
"Do you think we should call Seresu-chan?"
Hotaru deliberated, then shook her head. "Let's just keep an eye on her a little while longer. Or at least wait until we finish our report."
Two seconds later, Akako came flying out of the bathroom with a panicked scream. A loud bang shook the building, and a huge plume of fire issued forth from the bathroom door. Usagi and Hotaru jumped up and formed a wall between Akako and the beast that emerged: a faceless hulk with four arms that seemed to be made of molten lava. Thick black smoke billowed from its head, and globs of burning goo dripped from its body, setting off small flames on the hotel room carpet.
Damn! Usagi thought. At this rate, the whole building will burn down! We have to transform...
Hotaru seized her arm. "Don't," she whispered urgently. "It's not safe for you to compromise your identity. I'll handle this one alone."
"But..." Usagi started to protest.
"Saturn Crystal Power, Make Up!" Hotaru shouted.
The monster was lumbering toward them, engulfing everything in its path in flames. Saturn released a quick attack at it, mostly to test its reaction. It stumbled momentarily, but kept coming. She frowned. This one wouldn't go down easily.
Usagi decided to trust her for now, and knelt down beside Akako, who was huddled against the wall, coughing from the smoke. "Hang in there," she urged. "Sailor Saturn is here to rescue us." She was still hoping for the slight chance that Akako had been too scared and distracted to notice Hotaru's transformation.
No sooner were the words out of her mouth than Saturn came sailing across the room and hit the wall, landing with a groan next to Akako.
"Are you sure?" the redhead asked doubtfully.
Saturn ignored the comment and got back up to attack once more. She swung her glaive to cut off one of the monster's arms, but the blade sank into its liquid magma body and got stuck there. She barely dodged a punch from one of its other hands, and kicked it in the chest to knock it away and free her glaive. It worked, but Saturn wound up with a burn on the sole of her foot. Limping, she retreated a few steps.
Suddenly Usagi--or rather, SailorMoon--was beside her, lending her an arm to lean on. The taller girl smiled apologetically. "I couldn't let you fight alone. Don't worry, I got Akako out through the fire escape."
"Your tiara is gone! How are you going to fight?" Saturn protested.
"I'm working on that part."
Saturn scanned the room and spotted a fire extinguisher hanging by the door. The tiny canister seemed a meager defense against the inferno, but it was better than nothing. She nudged SailorMoon and gestured toward it with a jerk of her head. "I'll keep it occupied," she whispered.
Moon nodded in understanding and began creeping along the wall. Saturn raised her glaive horizontally, gripping it with both hands. A shockwave rippled outward from the weapon, and Saturn's hair and skirt fluttered as if lifted by a sudden breeze. SailorMoon's skin prickled as all the light and sound in the room seemed to dim, drawn into the tip of the Silence Glaive. No matter how many battles she fought with Saturn, she could never hold back a slight chill when she witnessed the death senshi's powers.
For a moment all that could be heard was the hollow, unnatural reverberation of Saturn's voice as she whispered, "Silence Glaive Objurgation."
The explosion of energy that issued from Saturn's glaive was itself completely invisible, but its effects were anything but. Carpet was torn up, a lamp splintered, the bed overturned and smashed into the far wall. A roaring sound filled the room, and Moon had to claw her way over to the fire extinguisher against the incredible wave of pressure.
When it was over, she almost expected not to need the extinguisher. But the monster was standing there completely uninjured. All Saturn had accomplished was to push it back a step or two.
"No way!" Moon groaned. The monster's head flopped about, like a dog shaking off water, and it took another swipe at Saturn. Moon watched in horror as her friend was thrown across the room and smashed into the desk that stood in the corner. Saturn gasped in pain as a sharp corner gouged her ribs. She doubled over, winded, and sank to the floor.
In spite of everything, she was somewhat relieved to see that the laptop containing their lab data had not been damaged... yet.
With an angry shout, SailorMoon charged at the monster, opening the valve of the fire extinguisher. Chemical foam coated one of the thing's arms, dousing the flames, and for a moment she thought her last-ditch plan was working.
Then, suddenly, the fire extinguisher clicked and stopped working. It was empty.
The monster let out a deep, rough growl, the sound of boulders grating together. Its two left arms lunged, wrenching the metal cylinder from her grip and deftly bending it in half before flinging it out the window. Before Moon could react, it grabbed her wrist and flipped her hard onto the ground. It wound up for a finishing blow, but she managed to roll out of the way before it could smash her head beneath its fist. Coughing from the thick smoke, she crawled to relative shelter behind a chest of drawers that had fallen on its side. Saturn found her there and the two huddled together defensively.
The monster's fiery touch had melted right through SailorMoon's glove, and the skin beneath was badly burned. Dizzy with pain and lack of oxygen, it took her a moment to realize that the end of one of her ponytails was on fire. So much for the avocado treatment! She struggled to beat out the flames with her good hand. Saturn reached out to heal her, but there was no time; the monster had shaken off all the foam and ignited itself anew. Now it was advancing on them with clearly deadly intentions.
"Stop right there," Akako's voice came, low and determined, from behind them. She had climbed back up the fire escape stairs and was standing on the edge of the window, fists clenched, illuminated by a deep red aura. "You will not hurt my friends!"
"I knew it!" SailorMoon whispered excitedly.
"Vesta Star Power! Make Up!"
A burst of flame surrounded the newly awakened soldier, and Usagi and Hotaru had to jump away to avoid being scorched. When the fire dissipated, their new comrade leapt down between them, her red sailor fuku glowing like live coals. Vesta grinned, her trademark dangerous smirk now directed at the monster. "At the risk of sounding cliche, let's fight fire with fire!" She pulled her arm back and conjured a fireball. Saturn grimaced and edged away as the flames threatened the edge of her skirt. Vesta needed to work on handling her powers safely around others...
"Vesta Flamethrower!"
A white-hot stream of fire shot from Vesta's hand and slammed into the monster, pinning it against the opposite wall. It struggled against the onslaught, but she only laughed and increased the intensity of her attack. The room was growing hotter by the second, and Saturn staggered, feeling faint from both the temperature and smoke. With one final burst of power, the entire back half of the room exploded in one massive flash-over. Saturn and Moon dove behind the overturned bed in terror, but Vesta only watched with a satisfied expression as the monster's remains--and most of the furniture--crumbled into ashes.
After a cautious second, SailorMoon poked her head out from their shelter and smiled up at Vesta. "Um... Nice work!" she congratulated their new teammate.
As they were crawling out, SailorCeres appeared in the doorway. "My, my, what a mess!" she fussed. "It would seem you've already taken care of things... Goodness!" She stopped short as her eyes fell on the newcomer. "Vesta! We've found you at last."
Vesta smiled slowly. "You're Ceres, right?"
"That's correct. SailorCeres, Soldier of Abundance, and the leader of the Quartet!"
Vesta laughed and nodded jovially. "Of course! Who could forget?" She turned back to Saturn. "So, is this the whole team?" she asked, gesturing at the group.
"There's also Pallas," Ceres answered, clearly a bit irked that Vesta seemed to think Saturn was in charge rather than her. "Speaking of which, where is she?"
"She went downstairs to get drinks," Saturn explained. "We didn't get a chance to call her, so she probably has no idea there was even a battle."
"Typical," Ceres muttered under her breath. "Well, anyway, it's just the five of us for now; we haven't found Juno yet."
"And then there's our caped friend," SailorMoon reminded them. She glanced at the window. "I was almost hoping he'd show up today..."
That caught Vesta's interest "Who, now?" she asked.
"He's a mysterious ally who watches over us. He always wears a cape and a tuxedo," Moon explained. Saturn made a face. She had her doubts about whether the man was an ally, but decided not to reopen that discussion at the moment.
Vesta frowned. "It's not a black cape, is it?"
"No, it's white. Why?"
"Never mind," Vesta said, shrugging it off. "So this guy, he helps you in fights?"
"Well... now that I think about it, he hasn't yet. Usually he shows up after the fight is over," Moon admitted.
Vesta snorted. "Not much of an ally."
Secretly, Saturn was pleased to see Vesta displaying some common sense. But she could tell Moon was getting upset, so she tried to steer the conversation away from the mysterious stranger. "Anyway, it's good to have you on the team, Vesta," she said, and the others added their agreement.
Ceres noticed the worried look on Moon's face and squeezed her shoulder. "I dare say you don't need a man to protect you, when you've four wonderful guardians who would stand by you through anything."
Moon cheered up a little. "Yeah. Thanks, Ceres." But still, she thought. I can't help but wonder why he doesn't show up in time to help. Is he really our friend?
Just then, the wavering wail of a fire engine sounded below. SailorMoon gulped as she saw firefighters pouring into the building. "Quick, we have to get out of here!"
The four senshi hastily clambered out the window and up onto the roof. From there, they hopped across building tops until they had reached a safe distance, then shimmied down a gutter drain to the safety of a quiet cul-de-sac. There were lights on in a few of the houses, so they didn't feel safe enough to de-transform, but at least they probably didn't have to worry about being arrested for arson.
"Oh no!" Saturn cried out suddenly.
"What's the matter?" askes Ceres.
"Pallas is still back at the hotel..."
"I'm not happy, Petalite," Moros declared, fixing her servant with a stern glare. The pink-robed woman, already on her knees, bowed even lower. Her silken hair spilled over her shoulders onto the slate floor, vibrant magenta streams against hard, impassive gray. The contrast only served to emphasize the cold, dim atmosphere of the room.
"We've already deviated from our scenario by three sailor senshi." Moros leaned forward on her throne so that her face was inches from the other woman's. "Three senshi, Petalite, when none should have awakened. Your failures are going to make my life very difficult."
A hint of amusement could be heard in Petalite's voice, though her head remained bowed. "Actually, my queen, there are only two: Pallas and Ceres," she corrected. "Not counting Moon and Saturn, of course, but as we both know they're a different case entirely."
Moros raised an eyebrow. "Aether just informed me that Vesta has appeared."
Petalite's only reply was a cold smile.
"Wonderful," Ceres grumbled sarcastically. "You realize that this means Atena-chan and Minazaki-san are going to be left in a burned-down hotel room with an armful of soda and a lot of explaining to do."
"We have to go back for them," Moon decided.
Saturn nodded in agreement. "Let's find a place where we can change back, and we'll go find her."
They had walked a short way when they noticed that Vesta wasn't following. She was standing in the center of the circular street with her back to them, seemingly lost in thought. The sun was beginning to set, and the blue shadows of twilight just obscured her face.
"What's the matter, Vesta?" Ceres inquired, hesitantly reaching out to her.
"It's a shame Pallas isn't here," Vesta said, without turning around. "I really would have liked to meet her." There was an unsettling lilt in her voice, and the other three senshi unconsciously huddled together. The red soldier chuckled, a mirthless sound that sent shivers along Moon's spine.
In a flash, Vesta's sailor fuku burst into flames, and with a fierce shout she swung her leg up to connect with Ceres's jaw. By the time the other girl hit the pavement, her clothes had completely burned away, revealing a suit of red, high-tech polymer armor over a robotic body.
Her arm broke apart, then reassembled itself into a rocket launcher, which she pointed at the two remaining senshi, all the while looking the princess straight in the eye with that calm, appraising, leer.
"Goodbye, SailorMoon," she said, and fired.