Finding himself standing before Queen Beryl once more, listening to the results of his work, Jadeite smiled as he watched the plant that the queen had decided to test it on withered away under the influence of the special mix of ultrasonic sound-waves.
"So, the music stole the energy of that plant," Queen Beryl said, looking rather surprised to have seen such a thing.
"Queen Beryl, this music contains subliminal ultrasonic waves," he stated, calmly explaining the effect that this newest creation would have. "The humans who listen to it will suffer the same fate as that plant."
"Interesting," the queen said. "You may proceed. However, I would like to know if you've made any further plans for acquiring that boy."
He paused for a moment of thought. "It seems that that particular human is connected in some way to Sailor Moon. He never seems to be far away from where he can call out to her, and I've often seen them in each others' company. I think that the best chance we have is to lure Sailor Moon in, separate the two of them, and bring the boy to us after the youma have managed to subdue him."
"I suppose, given what an annoying constant Sailor Moon seems to be in that boy's life, you could very well be right," Queen Beryl said, a slightly aggravated cast to her face. "You may proceed."
"Thank you, ma'am." He bowed sharply, then turned back to watch as the youma he had sensed during the course of this latest turn in conversation materialized fully. "Kyurene. Go plant the ultrasonic waves from this tape into the music that humans listen to."
"As you wish, sir."
A brief working of his telekinesis saw the tape in his loyal youma's hands, and Jadeite allowed his mind to mull over the other matters that would soon need attending to if he were indeed to capture that interesting human for the Queen. The boy was proving to be rather troublesome with how slippery he was, Jadeite had to say. Still, in the end Jadeite was determined to lay claim to the unusual reserves of energy that the boy possessed.
In the end, there was nothing more to it than that.
~SM~
When he'd managed to find a free day in both of their schedules, Mamoru Chiba had taken the opportunity to invite Trevor Tsukino to his apartment so that the two of them could speak. Most of his curiosity about the younger boy was because of that strange power he'd felt when he'd accompanied Usagi and her friend to the hospital. He could still remember the pulses of energy that had passed through his hands and into Trevor-kohai's body.
The ones that had probably been responsible for his awakening in the first place.
When he heard the soft ring of his doorbell, Mamoru got up to open it and found Trevor-kohai standing outside with a pair of bottles of Strawberry Ramune soda.
"I didn't know what else to bring, Mamoru-sempai," Trevor-kohai said, bowing with a sheepish expression on his face. "Thank you for inviting me into your home."
"Good morning, Trevor-kohai," he said, stepping out of the way as the younger boy removed his shoes. "Come inside."
"Thank you for having me," Trevor said.
Mamoru smiled slightly as he led the younger boy over to the table he'd set up in his sitting room when he moved in.
"You're a lot more polite than your sister, Trevor-kohai."
The younger boy hesitated for a moment. "Mamoru-sempai, do you… I mean, are you not fond of my sister?"
"I don't hate her, if that's what you were asking," he said, pausing for a moment to watch as Trevor-kohai turned away slightly. There were other reasons that he acted the way he did around her, there had to be, but he wasn't about to share them with someone else when he hadn't even managed to figure them out yet. "That's not what I really wanted to talk to you about, though."
"What was it you wanted to talk to me about, Mamoru-sempai?" Trevor asked, as the two of them settled down around his table.
"Do you remember that time I visited you in the hospital?"
"I do," the younger boy said, looking confused, but like he was trying not to be rude by saying anything.
"Do you remember how you woke up?" he asked, watching to see how Trevor-kohai would react to his question.
"I-" the younger boy turned his eyes slightly away, pulling in his arms so that he ended up looking almost endearingly vulnerable. "I'm sorry, but I don't quite remember that."
Deciding to take a chance, not wanting to feel so alone with everything that had happened to him – those strange dreams of a princess, calling out for him to find the silver crystal – Mamoru held his hands palm-up, and concentrated. He could see the soft glow of energy gathering in his hands, and more than that, he could see Trevor Tsukino reaching out. When the younger boy started to pull his hand back, clearly hesitant about what he'd intended to do, Mamoru reached out to clasp the younger boy's offered right hand.
He could feel the energies that pulsed between their hands, all the stronger now with Trevor-kohai's own energy adding to his own, and Mamoru looked up at the younger boy again. Trevor-kohai looked startled by what was going on, but for some reason he didn't exactly look surprised.
"Have you ever done anything like this, Trevor-kohai?" he asked.
The younger boy hesitated for a moment, looking down at their joined hands as though he was considering something important, and then back up. "Not anything like this, Mamoru-sempai. But… I have felt a bit different lately."
He chuckled. "Well yes, it is a lot different than what most people can do." He paused for a moment, and then decided to ask the question that he'd started thinking about during the time that he and Trevor had been speaking. "Do you remember something called the silver crystal?"
"Silver crystal?" Trevor looked confused, but also disappointed, somehow. "I'm sorry, Mamoru-sempai, but I don't know anything about that."
"Thank you for being honest, at least," he said. "Do you at least remember your parents?"
Trevor turned away slightly. "I'm starting to forget the sound of their voices, but I do remember them."
Catching the unspoken implications of what Trevor-kohai had said, Mamoru smiled gently. "I can't remember anything about my parents; ever since I was six years old, and they died in that car crash. Now, all I can remember is the silver crystal, and the princess who keeps calling to me."
"A princess?" Trevor-kohai echoed.
"Yes; the princess who keeps calling to me in my dreams, urging me to find the silver crystal. I think that's the only thing that can help me find out who I really am," Trevor looked shocked but sympathetic when he finished speaking, and Mamoru smiled softly. "Trevor-kun, will you help me find the silver crystal?"
"I… I don't know how I'd be able to help you, Mamoru-sempai," Trevor said, his expression as humble and contrite as his tone.
"For now I'd just like to meet with you again," he said, rising from his seat so that he could escort Trevor back to the front door. "I'm glad to have met someone else who can understand me, and I'd like to have the chance to further explore the abilities that the two of us have."
"All right," Trevor-kohai said, bowing as he slipped his shoes back on and turned to make his way out the door. "Thank you for having me, Mamoru-sempai."
"Thank you for coming, Trevor-kun," he said, closing the door behind the younger boy as he left.
It was a good feeling, not being so alone in the world anymore.
~SM~
As he made his way back down the path that would take him back to the meeting place that he and Usagi had decided on when they had gone their separate ways to meet with Mamoru-sempai – in his case – and Naru's in Usagi's, Trevor looked up at the sky. The clouds had been heavy on the horizon ever since he'd woken up in the room he and Usagi shared, but now they truly looked like they were going to rain. Pleased that he'd thought to bring his umbrella, Trevor opened it just before the first thin drizzle of rain could truly start to fall.
Waving to Usagi as he caught sight of his younger sister making her way down the sidewalk towards him, he smiled as he saw the happy expression on his younger sister's face as the two of them met up with each other again.
"Trevor-nii, Naru-chan and I listened to jazz together!" his younger sister said happily, as she came up close enough for them to walk together without their umbrellas getting in the way. Then, her face twisted into an annoyed expression. "Was Mamoru-baka at least nice to you, Trevor-nii?"
"He was, Usa-ko," he said, still not quite sure just why Mamoru-sempai and his sister didn't seem to get along. "Did you enjoy spending time with Naru-chan?"
"Yeah," Usagi said, looking happy again. "The jazz was really nice, and Naru-chan played some of Yusuke Amade's music."
"Yusuke Amade," he echoed. "I think mother is a fan of his music."
Usagi smiled brightly at him as the two of them continued down the path together, and Trevor smiled back. He'd always enjoyed the scent of rain, and the soft sounds of it when the droplets fell on the city. The light was so soft under the falling rain, and as long as it wasn't too heavy to see where you happened to be going, Trevor liked to be out in it.
He barely had time to catch the sound of running footsteps, and Luna's sudden shout of warning, before someone large and heavy crashed into him and sent him tumbling to the wet ground on his back.
"Ow, my head," he moaned, shifting his umbrella so he wasn't being rained on anymore, and then levering himself back up.
He could hear Usagi berating the man: a tall, broad-shouldered, older man who was covered in a light sheen of rain. It didn't look like he'd had an umbrella, but given the look on his face, Trevor thought that he probably hadn't noticed anything like that.
"I'm sorry! Please don't kill me!" the old man pleaded, hands on his head as he groveled on the sidewalk.
"What? No, no! Neither of us is going to kill you!" Usagi called back. "Still, you really should apologize for running into us like that."
"I know, I'm sorry," the man said, with a respectful bow to the both of them.
"It's all right," he said, returning the offered bow. "I'm sure you didn't mean any harm. Why were you running so fast, though? You might've really hurt someone."
The man looked contrite, and as the three of them fell into step with one another, Trevor wondered just what he could have been running from.
"There's someone after me," the man paused, narrowing his eyes with a shudder. "No, not someone, something."
"What? There's really someone after you?" Usagi asked.
"You kids probably won't believe me, but the thing that's after me, well… It's a monster."
"A monster?" he echoed; given everything they'd seen, he wondered if the monster the older man had seen was a part of the Dark Kingdom.
"Yeah," the man shuddered. "I saw it when I was walking back from the studio, and that thing cornered me in an ally. At first, I just thought it was a woman… but then all of those bats started appearing… and then… Nah, I was probably just seeing things." he shook his head, sighing. "Sorry for making you kids listen to my silly story. I'll let you both go now."
"What?" the two of them asked, almost at once.
"I'm working a gig down at the jazz club just down the street," he said, pointing down the street with his thumb.
"You're a musician?" he asked, and the man smiled softly.
"I play some music, when I get the inspiration," he paused a moment, a contrite expression coming over his face. "Oh, I almost forgot, for your dry cleaning." The man began digging through the pockets of his pants, probably for his wallet, but he didn't seem to be able to find it. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't have anything on me right now. Will you contact me at this number?"
Taking the business card that the man handed to him, Trevor looked down to read it before he put it safely away somewhere. "Thank you, Yusuke Amade-san."
"Yusuke Amade?!" Usagi echoed, much louder than he'd been trying to be.
"See ya!" Yusuke-san called back, as he ran off into the rainy late-afternoon.
"Trevor-nii, that was Yusuke Amade, from the CD that Naru-chan and I were listening to!" Usagi said, hugging his arm as the two of them stood in the light rain.
"I didn't want to go making a fuss," he said, turning back to Usagi after Amade-san had vanished into the distance.
"None of that matters right now," Luna called up from her place on the ground by their feet. "There's a monster after him; you should both know what that means."
"Yeah!" Usagi exclaimed, punching her right fist into her left hand. "We should go protect him! And…" she giggled. "Well, it would be a good chance to take a peek into the grown-up world, eh Trevor-nii?"
But she was already pulling him along through the soft rain, the both of them on their way to the jazz club where Amade-san had said he was working today, and he had to run or else risk being pulled back to the ground by his sister's sheer enthusiasm. At the pace the two of them were moving, they soon stood just outside the club that Amade-san had headed off to so quickly.
There was a dark-green awning over the building, and as he and Usagi folded up their umbrellas so that they would be able to go inside, Trevor wondered just how they were going to be able to get inside.
"So, this is a jazz club, huh?" Usagi said, looking up at the façade of the building they were facing now.
"I doubt they'll let in a pair of kids like you."
"You're probably right," he said, in response to Luna's statement.
"Oh, the both of you, you're just so dreary," Usagi said, sticking her tongue out at the two of them. "Did you forget already? We have this!" Usagi draped his left arm over her shoulders as she drew out the transformation pen that Luna had given her, back when they were trying to find out just what had been going on at the FM 10 station. "Moon Power! Turn us into a pair of totally awesome musicians!"
He could feel that same sensation of something insubstantial settling over him like a cloak, lighter than the finest silk, that left his skin briefly tingling in its wake. At least, those parts of his skin that were still capable of feeling anything at all. Looking down at himself, Trevor found that he'd once again been dressed in black leather, but this time he was wearing leather pants to go with his leather jacket.
The shirt he was wearing had become sleeveless again; he could feel the inner-lining of his leather jacket on his semi-exposed arms.
Usagi's outfit had also been changed by the power of the pen: she was wearing a bright red jacket, which was shiny enough that it looked like the same kind of leather that he was wearing now. Her white skirt had been turned black, and she was now wearing a pair of long violet stockings that ended just a couple centimeters below her skirt. Under the jacket, she was wearing an off-white tube-top with large stitches up the center.
Her hair had also been colored a vivid, neon lime green, with her bangs fluffed out and striped with bright pink.
"Wow, Trevor-nii, we look so grown-up now!" Usagi said, grinning happily at him, before reaching out to ruffle his hair. "You look good with your hair colored, Trevor-nii."
Colored? he wondered, as the two of them turned to face the door.
"But, I don't think they'll let a cat like you inside, so we'll have to do something about you," Usagi said, reaching down to pick the cat up.
When Usagi set Luna down on her shoulder, Trevor took a deep breath and joined her as the two of them made their way into the building. They weren't stopped at the door, thankfully enough, so that meant that they were going to be able to find Amade-san and at least ask him if there was anything else he could tell them about his encounter. When the two of them had found a nice booth at the far end of the room, Trevor looked around at all of the people gathered inside.
He didn't know just what he'd been expecting from a place like this, but it was nice and quiet, at least.
"There he is, Trevor-nii," Usagi whispered to him, just loud enough that he could hear her over the soft music filling the room. "Oi, stop squirming around, Luna-sensei! You're just supposed to be neckwear, remember?"
"Have the two of you decided on your orders?" one of the wait staff asked; Trevor noticed his bright white uniform, and the cloth neatly folded over his left arm.
The man seemed to be every bit the professional.
"A couple soda floats, please!" Usagi called happily.
Before he could say anything to her, the waiter told her they didn't serve anything like that, and she dismissed him without an order. Luna looked like she wanted to sigh deeply in the aftermath of that conversation, but she restrained herself for the sake of not breaking what character they had while they were here.
"You know, for an old guy, he looks pretty good when he plays the piano," Usagi said, hugging his right arm close as the two of them continued listening to Amade-san playing.
"He is a very good musician," he said, smiling softly.
Feeling Usagi begin to lean more heavily on him as the two of them listened to the soft piano music drifting all around them, Trevor looked over to see that his younger sister was starting to relax more and more as she continued leaning against him. Turning back to look at where Amade-san was, Trevor saw that he'd just finished with his song and was getting up to leave.
"Usa-ko, we should go now," he said, shaking her gently so he could wake her up without startling her too much.
"Trevor-nii…"
Luna's call stopped his younger sister from saying anything else, and the two of them headed out the back door of the club, following quickly on Amade-san's heels. He felt the brief tingle across his skin as their disguises were lifted away, but he didn't stop to think about that since there was already enough on his mind without bringing up some other unexplainable thing.
When they'd made it down to the last two flights of stairs, Trevor heard a loud shout from the parking garage. A very familiar shout.
"Amade-san!" he called, nearly at the same time as Usagi.
The two of them raced down the stairs, after watching in stunned shock as a human-sized bat-creature leaped out of the parking garage and soared into the sky. Usagi was slightly ahead of him when the two of them made it to Amade-san's side, and so she was the first one to see just what was wrong with him. It seemed as though he'd only been knocked to the ground, though given what he was saying, it seemed that that the youma had made off with the demo tape he'd prepared earlier.
Luna seemed to be trying desperately not to talk while they were still around Amade-san, but that became more difficult than it had been before when he, Usagi, and Luna all piled into his car and Amade-san drove off with a sudden lunge of acceleration. Bracing himself against the back of Amade-san's seat as the car shot out of the parking garage, Trevor had only a moment to be grateful that there weren't any other people on the road between them and the youma they were following.
"Trevor-nii, see if you can spot that monster for us, okay?"
"Right," he said, nodding even as he turned his eyes towards the sky.
Amade-san and Usagi were talking about the demo tape that he had recorded, but since he had to shield his eyes from the steadily lightening rain, while at the same time trying to pick out the silhouette of the youma against the dark clouds, Trevor really didn't have any attention to spare for it.
"Usa-ko, it looks like the clouds are starting to clear up now," he called, relieved that his task would at least be getting somewhat easier.
"Great! We'll be able to see that monster a lot more easily now!"
He and Usagi were able to track the youma from the ground much better now that the rain had stopped and the clouds had been blown away, but with them gone it was also a lot easier to see how late it was getting. Putting that out of his mind with some effort, Trevor focused on guiding Amade-san along the path that the youma was taking. They had soon arrived at a large skyscraper, covered in lighted windows.
"Are you kids sure that monster landed on this building?" Amade-san asked, sounding like he didn't want to believe it.
Still, the both of them confirmed it for him, and as it turned out this was where his lady friend Akiko worked. Racing into the building, taking the elevator up to the studio because the stairs would have taken them too long, even if being inside the elevator left them more vulnerable to an attack by the youma, Trevor braced himself when the doors began to open. He didn't know just what all of them were going to find when they got out, but given what had already happened, he was sure it wasn't going to be anything good.
The studio in front of them looked like he imagined every recording studio looked, but the presence of the youma inside the studio was what took up most of his attention. She looked just as human as the other youma had, before they'd shed their disguises and revealed themselves for what they truly were. When Amade-san shouted for Akiko, and Luna tackled the tape out of the youma's hand, Trevor let himself relax slightly.
They at least had the tape now; Usagi could probably deal with the youma, much as he might have wished he could help her.
When phantasmal bats began appearing all around the woman, Trevor tensed up again. The youma's form was entirely obscured by the bats, and then her form changed into a bat. A bat the size of the woman it had once been, with huge wings that only served to make it look all the bigger.
"Give me the tape!" the youma demanded, glaring at the three of them where they stood.
"Huh?" Amade-san wondered, and Trevor glanced back at him from where he was standing to see just what it was that Amade-san was talking about "That's not the demo tape I made!"
"Huh?" was all he had time to say, before the youma leaped forward, grabbing his neck and pinning him to the opposite wall.
He could hear Usagi and Amade-san both shouting at the youma, but as the creature's hand closed tighter around his throat and Trevor tried to pry it loose, he realized that he didn't have any attention to spare for that. Coughing as he found himself dropped on the floor. Trevor opened his eyes and saw that Amade-san and Akiko-san had managed to escape from the youma's reach; he also saw the large hole in the window.
"My sister, she went out there?"
"Your sister is very brave, young man," Amade-san said, smiling kindly at him.
"Yeah," he said, looking at the hole in the window for a long moment before turning back to Amade-san and Akiko-san where they stood. "Do you need any help, Amade-san? Akiko-san?"
If Usagi was being brave, then he would have to be brave, too.
Helping Amade-san and Akiko-san back out of the building, knowing that the people there weren't in any real danger from the youma who had been pursuing Amade-san. With her tape destroyed there wasn't any way for the youma to complete whatever plan it had been working on for the Dark Kingdom, and since the youma had gone out to fight Usagi, Trevor was sure that it wouldn't be able to come after any of them again. But, just in case, he knew that it would be better to meet up with Usagi sooner rather than later.
They made their way back into the bottom floor of the building, the elevator doors opening just as Usagi made her way back inside.
"Trevor-nii!"
Bracing himself as she ran over to hug him, Trevor smiled. "Are you all right, Usa-ko?"
"I'm fine, Trevor-nii," she said, smiling right back at him. "I got that youma good! It won't be threatening anyone else, ever again."
"I'm glad to hear it."
Turning back, as Amade-san and Akiko-san came over to thank them for what they had done, Trevor smiled at the two of them.
~SM~
Hugging Trevor-nii's left arm as the two of them sat in the back of Amade-san's car as he drove them back to the Crown Game Center, she smiled as she leaned against him. She was glad that she had managed to destroy the youma that had been threatening the old man and the woman he'd fallen in love with, and she was also glad that Trevor-nii hadn't been hurt too badly during the battle. Still, Usagi knew that she would have to do better if she wanted to protect Trevor-nii from the Dark Kingdom.
Saying goodbye to Amade-san as she and Trevor-nii stepped out of his car, Usagi took her umbrella and looked up to the sky. The stars were starting to come out in the early dusk, and she smiled as she caught sight of the half-moon just starting to peek out from behind the few remaining clouds.
"Come on, Trevor-nii," she said, smiling over her right shoulder at her brother. "Let's go home."
"Yeah, Usa-ko," Trevor-nii said, smiling at her. "Let's go."
When she and Trevor-nii finally made it back home, Usagi smiled as she let them in, calling out a greeting to their mom as the two of them came inside. Dad got there a few minutes later, and the five of them all sat down at the table together for dinner.
~SM~
When he went out to meet up with Mamoru-sempai again, Trevor wondered just what else the two of them were going to be talking about this time. Making his way up to the door of the older boy's apartment, Trevor knocked and waited for the door to be opened for him.
"Thank you for coming again, Trevor-kun," Mamoru-sempai said, as he handed over the thermos of coffee that he'd prepared beforehand.
Mamoru-sempai hadn't seemed to enjoy the Ramune soda that he'd brought before.
"So, have you decided if you're going to help me yet, Trevor-kun?" Mamoru-sempai asked, turning to take the thermos of coffee as Trevor handed it over.
"Well, I'll do what I can, Mamoru-sempai, but I don't really know what you want from me," he said, watching as the older boy went over to place the thermos Trevor had handed him on a nearby counter.
"Thank you, Trevor-kun," Mamoru-sempai said, smiling. "For now, I'd just like you to keep meeting with me like this, all right?"
"All right, Mamoru-sempai, I will," he said, as Mamoru-sempai handed him one of the chilled Ramune sodas that he'd brought the last time the two of them had met.
He still couldn't help but wonder just what it was that the older boy would end up wanting from him, as time went on.