Chaotic Waters Act 1, Chapter 8:Divine Grief and Primordial Sea.
The five Senshi and Tuxedo Mask stood there staring at the back of the kneeling Guardian of Pluto, not saying a word as they watched her shoulders shake from her emotions. The ancient woman's grief was so strong it was almost palpable, seemingly coming off of her in waves that even the weakest of empaths could sense from miles away. In fact, all across the nation, several powerful empaths fell to their knees, crying out in pain and loss in an ancient language none but the ancient woman still spoke. In time the dark skinned woman finally stood, her back to those who were her friends in their past lives. "...I'll answer any questions you want, but not today." She said firmly, her voice like ice to keep even the smallest drop off her tears contained within now that the Guardian of Neptune had passed.
"Take your time." Sailor Moon said softly, her own throat tight from the ancient women's grief. She paused for a moment pointing at the collapsed teal haired woman on the floor. "Just, what about her, she isn't...you know. Is she?"
Reluctantly, the Guardian of Pluto glanced over at her friend's current incarnation, watching as her body regressed to that of a seventeen year old."She's the same height as Venus."She mused, tearing her eyes away. "She's fine, just drained from...from Nerida inhabiting and then leaving her body. She'll wake up in a few minutes or so." The woman said, stumbling over her friend's name. "She'll be in pain and out of it, so don't let her go home on her own." The Guardian of Pluto ordered sharply before waving her staff, vanishing from the command room in a flash of purple light.
-?-
"This is new." Michiru mused, looking down at her hands, her currently semi-transparent hands. "What have I gotten myself into this time?" She muttered, looking around the large, black stone hallway she had suddenly found herself in. The damn thing seemed to go on forever, perfectly lit with wood doors at regular intervals. The last thing she could remember was hearing that voice and then feeling like she was getting ripped apart, next thing she knew she was here. "Is this what it's like for Ryoga?" She wondered for a moment before shaking her head. "No, focus. You need to figure out where you are, what the hell happened to you, and why you're see through." She put her hand on the stone wall, only slightly surprised when they didn't slip right through. "Okay, I can't pass through walls..."
Shrugging, the cursed girl looked behind her, not being even the slightest bit surprised when the hallway continued for as far as she could see in that direction as well. "No use hanging around here, and I'd rather go forward than back." She mused, taking a step forward.
-Antarctica-
The Guardian of Pluto appeared in her favorite place on Earth with a flash of light, deep in a hidden valley of ice in Antarctica where she could be alone with her thoughts. Her knuckles tightened on her staff as her manaburnedin her chest, her teeth gritting together almost painfully tight. With a shriek she whipped her staff forward, launching a beam of pure light purple magic the size of a double decker bus from the heart shaped tip. The massive beam flew forward in a straight line erasing whatever it touched from existence before splitting into a thousand smaller beams that flew up into the air before slamming back down into the ice all around her. The woman cast spell after spell, from random blasts of magic to her most destructive spells she cast them, burning through her massive reserves of mana, devastating the land around her. She cast her magic over and over for almost three hours before she fell to her knees in exhaustion, shaking from the strain she had just put herself through.
"Damnit..." She whispered, her crimson eyes shifting into a shade more like liquid gold. "DAMNIT ALL!" She screamed, slamming her fists down on the icy ground with explosive force, a golden light bursting from within her and shattering what was left of the area around her.
"..."
"...What do you want?" She hissed angrily from the giant crater she had made, glaring at the man who had appeared behind her without a sound.
He was tall, even more so than her, with skin the same shade as her own, bright golden eyes, and long black hair the color of the night sky reaching down to his ankles. He wore no shirt, only a thin pair of pitch black jeans and nothing else, seemingly as unaffected by the cold as herself. " ." His words were spoken in a language that few could understand, even in the time of the Nine Planetary Realms, a language she had beenbornwith the knowledge of.
The language of the gods.
"Can you not?" She snapped, hissing in pain as the words and their meaning tore into her mind like a rabid beast. "If you're going to speak to me, use this language, or at least Solarian, I'm only half god, the divine tongue wasn't meant for me."
"...very well little cousin." The god said in Japanese after considering her words, wrinkling his nose at the mortal language. "You called me." He repeated, his voice soft and welcoming like a summer breeze.
It might as well have been sandpaper with how it grated on her nerves.
"I called you to guide her to the Underworld Thanatos, not to stick around in the mortal realm." She hissed, glaring at the god standing before her.
The divine being said nothing, merely looked up at the sky with a soothing air about him before shaking his head and walking over to the woman's staff that had been blown away by her titanic blow. He picked it up, brushing off the snow and ice stuck to it before walking back to the grieving woman. "Her death was inevitable little cousin, the consequences of even a weak soul inhabiting their reincarnation's body would have been devastating or have you forgotten the fall of Minerva?" He asked, raising a perfect eyebrow. "That was from a soul with no magical ability, it would have been far worse had you let the Sorceress of the Deep stay." The god said, stabbing the staff into the ice in behind her effortlessly, sticking his hands into his pockets after.
Melinoe scoffed and looked away, refusing to let herself be affected by the god's aura of peace. "She hated that title." She muttered, rolling her eyes. "Said it was too pretentious.
"And yet it was hers, by power and by deed. I will not dishonor the woman simply because she did not like how her title sounded."
"You're going to get cancelled for that." She muttered in response, much to the god's confusion.
"...cancelled?"
"Cancel culture, it's something that will become a thing in about thirty years." She replied, rolling her eyes.
"I see your father's blood still allows you to peer into his domain." The god's tone was peppered with amusement. "Did he not scold you for doing so after you drank too much wine and sang music that would not be created for many millennia?"
"That was one time! He should have just let it go."
"Thatwasthe name of the song I do believe."
"...tell me the truth Thanatos, will she be happy there?" The woman asked, leaning against her staff, her lip quivering as she fought the tears threatening to fall from her eyes.
"I am sorry little cousin." He said, the god's eyes glittering with remorse. "You know I cannot tell you what you wish to know. You must wait for me to come for you to receive the answers you seek."
"...don't you usually send one of your children to guide souls? What makes me so special, my father?"
"I have always handled the guiding of the souls of the Guardians and will continue to do so. From the second to the very last, none but I shall lead you to your resting place."
"...what about that voice we all heard? That wasn't yours."
"I was there, merely out of sight, once you closed my doors I led her to the Underworld. Her elder sister merely...assisted me in the journey." The god once more looked up at the sky, seeming to frown at something he saw there. "...so many." He mused, shaking his head in sorrow.
"Thanatos?"
"It is nothing." The god replied, as his feet began separating into black dust, slowly spreading up his body. "Or rather, it is nothing you need to worry about. Things will happen as they should little cousin." The god said with finality, as the last of him blew away, nothing more than dust in the wind.
"Cryptic as always." Melinoe muttered, looking around at the destruction she had wrought, her eyes slowly bleeding back into their normal crimson hue. With a deep sigh, she picked up her staff and drew a small circle with it. "...I suppose I'd better go keep our promise." She mused tiredly, the ghost of a sad smile forming on her face.
{"Hey, let's make a promise! If one of us dies, then the other three have to have to drink a bottle of Saturian Mead each!"}Ziaza, their strength. Always there for everyone they loved, willing to offer their shoulder to hold their loved ones up or to wipe away their tears.
{"Zee, why do I get the feeling you're trying to get all of us drunk and in bed together...again?"}Nerida, their compassion. Always kind to those who were hurting or in pain, willing to offer a helping hand to anyone who needed it.
{"At least I always manage to keep my clothes on."}Renata, their humanity. Always reaching higher and higher, yet willing to lay their life down for a stranger, so long as it meant they would never shed a tear.
Her friends, her comrades, her family. They were all these things and so much more to the Plutonian. There were no words in any language, not Japanese, not Solarin, not even the divine tongue that could articulate her feelings towards them. "..I suppose I'll have to drink for all of you now. I don't have any Saturian Mead anymore...but maybe you'll accept Spirytus? It's not as strong, but it's what I have." She asked, laughing lightly when a soft breeze ruffled her hair gently. "I guess so, three bottles it is you pervert." It was only for an instant, but she swore that she felt a familiar hand brush away her tears while two sets of arms held her from either side. {"...goodbye."} She whispered.
With a flash of purple light, she vanished from the icy land, her magic circle having already restored the area to what it was before she had arrived, leaving no trace of her visit whatsoever.
-Command Center-
"Sooo...what do we do now?" Makoto muttered, having helped Rei lean the unconscious Michiru against one of the pillars in the Command Center. "Do we all just wait for her to wake up?"
"I can't, I should have been back at the shrine hours ago." Was the shrine maiden's reply as she tapped the jewel at the center of the ribbon on her chest, her Senshi uniform fading away into her school uniform. "Grandpa wasn't happy when I told him what happened with Beryl. Apparently he's known about us from the beginning, but he was...less than pleased when I told him that almost all of us have nearly died."
"You're kidding." Minako muttered, putting her palm to her forehead. "And he never said anything till now?"
"Well...according to him, he wasn't going to say anything at all, but something happened that made him change his mind." Rei hedged, not wanted to get into her mistake.
"What happened?" Usagi, ever the curious rabbit asked, tilting her head.
"I might have maybe attacked Kaioh-san, the...girl that was at the shrine earlier today." The shrine maiden said with a blush, looking anywhere but at her fellow Senshi.
"Rei!"
"I didn't do it for no reason." She snapped, her face becoming more flushed. "I thought I sensed an especially evil aura from her and I just panicked okay?! That whole mess with the dark kingdom was only two months ago and then we had those alien...twins? Lovers? Whatever, we just finished dealing with that situation a couple days ago!"
"I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that aliens actually exist." Usagi muttered. Almost as one, everyone save the unconscious teen leaning against a pillar stared at the Moon Princess incredulously. "...what?"
"Usagi,weused to be aliens, all of us were." Minako said pointing back and forth between herself and the twintailed girl.
"Pretty sure I've never been an alien." Mamoru muttered, wrapping his arm around Usagi's waist and pulling her a little closer, much to her delight.
"Yeah...are we gonna talk about what she said? About how all of us were princesses and not just Usagi?" Makoto asked hesitantly, fidgeting with her ponytail. "Doesn't that seem a little weird to you all?"
"...What do you mean?" Rei asked, giving the Senshi of Jupiter an odd look.
"Well...if we were all princesses then that would kind of imply that we each had our own kingdoms."
"Well yeah Pluto did say that, and my own memories of the old days confirm as much but I don't see your point." Minako rubbed the back of her head frowning at Minako's statement.
"I think I get it." Ami mused, tapping her finger in thought. "If we were all princesses with our own kingdoms, then why were we charged with protecting Usagi in the old days?"
"Fuck!" Suddenly the unconscious teen resting against a pillar jerked awake, gasping for air and startling everyone there.
-? A Few Moments Before-
"Maybe just walking forward without any idea where I'm going wasn't the best idea." Michiru mused, her eyebrow twitching in irritation. She'd been walking for what seemed like hours and nothing ever changed, just the never-ending hallway and wooden doors. Giving into the curiosity that had been burning in her mind since she'd come to in this annoying place she walked over to one of the doors, reaching for the metal doorknob. Slowly, a detailed image formed in the wood from the moment she touched the knob, like it had been burned into it by heated tools. It depicted a child, herself going off of the darkly shaded pigtail the child wore their hair in, in a martial arts Gi holding their body in a stance Michiru recognized from her time studying Muay Thai. "The hell?" She muttered, letting go of the door knob and watching as the image faded away until all that was left was polished wood. Narrowing her eyes, she turned around and walk to the door directly across from the previous one, gripping the doorknob and watching as another image formed. This one also depicted herself as a child, this time sitting next to another kid with a small ponytail. It took her seeing the okonomiyaki the two kids were sharing to realize the other child was Ukyo, something she should have realized just from the resemblance to her friend...maybe former friend after their last meeting.
"Memories." She muttered after the third door she tested, one depicting her practicing Judo. "These are my memories...does that mean I'm in my own mind?" Something about her mind appearing to be a long empty hallway didn't sit well with her though she wasn't sure why. Looking around she paused at the sight of one particular door instinctively knowing that this was one door she should stay away from. It was covered in claw and bite marks, enough to give the door a practically shredded look, from some kind of small animal. She didn't need to touch the knob to know what memory this door was, the Neko-ken. "Not touching that one." She winced, taking a step back from the door that practically emanated fear and pain. She turned to keep going and froze mid-motion.
Nothing.
There were no doors after the Neko-Ken, it looked like there had been before, there were rectangle shaped patches of smoothed out stone where the doors would normally be, but nothing else.
"The hell?" Her brow furrowed as she placed her fingertips against the smoothed out stone feeling...something that was there and not there at the same time. "What in the world...?" She kept walking, feeling ever smoothed out patch of stone, feeling that same there and not here feeling every time until she finally came across another door. This one was different, nearly five times the size of the others and made entirely of the same black stone as the hallway with an enormous sea-green trident reaching from the base to the top of the door. There was no doorknob, only a seam that cut right down the middle of the trident. "...well at least it's something." She muttered, putting her hand on the door.
Nothing happened.
"Okay so it's not a memory like the others." With strength that few who saw her body would believe she had she pushed the door, the muscles and veins in her arms bulging from the effort and strain of the task before her. Slowly the door rumbled open with a sound like an avalanche, her teeth grit tight together from the strain of the herculean task. All of the sudden the door snapped open smoothly sending her stumbling forward. "Fuck!" She exclaimed before her nose slammed into the floor, a yelp of pain escaping her lips as she cradled the sensitive sensory organ. Looking up, she blinked away the tears forming in her eyes from the pain in her nose looking at the room she had fallen into. It was absolutely gigantic in size, the same black stone covering the walls and floor save for the Emerald green carpet that trailed to a small set of stairs, leading to a stone chair, no a throne.
A throne that was not empty.
Sitting upon it was a woman, easily in her mid thirties with deep frown lines and scars littering her face. She was built like a warrior of old, her muscles straining against some kind of thin armor Michiru just knew even Ryoga wouldn't be able to dent, while what looked like a grey wolf pelt rested gently on her shoulders. Her onyx hair was chopped short and shaved on the right side, with one singular beaded braid on the left side. A small chunk of the woman's ear on that side was missing, like some beast or weapon had torn it off. She was resting her head on her right fist, giving Michiru a faintly displeased look, like the teenager had offended her somehow.
Michiru stood up rubbing her aching nose and moved to take a step forward, nearly jumping back in shock as the woman was suddenly in front of her. There was no surge of ki, no flash of magic, not even the slightest muscle twitch that had preceded the event, one second the woman had been on her throne, the next she was standing in front of Michiru with a single finger resting just below her throat. A single finger that had stopped her from moving forward a centimeter and was somehow keeping her from moving back. The woman was massive up close, taller than any human Michiru had ever seen, standing head and shoulders over the cursed girl. Whoever she was, she was giving off an aura of power unlike anything Michiru had ever felt in her life. Cologne didn't compare. Happosai didn't compare. Herb didn't 't compare, no-one did. Standing next to this woman was like standing next to a nuke or a cataclysmic disaster, it wasn't something that could be put into words, only experienced.
"Begone." The woman's voice was loud and booming like thunder, with all the authority of a displeased ruler. She pressed on Michiru's chest, just the lightest amount of pressure, like a feather falling on the ground.
It felt like a meteor had struck her.
Michiru was sent flying back, rocketing down the hall past all of the doors she had seen and into an expanse of white in less time than it took to blink, unable to even get a single sound past her lips before her vision faded away. "...I will not speak to one who does not know their own truth." The woman grumbled as she rested her head back on her fist, once more sitting on her stone throne in an imperceptible example of speed, staring up at the ceiling with a bored look on her face. There, floating in the air a hundred of feet above the floor was a crystal, an enormous diamond any jeweler would have drooled over before becoming horrified at what was inside of it.
Gently floating within the gem was a child with long black hair down to their back wearing a blue sundress, a delicate pink hairband holding back their bangs. They were curled in on themselves as if they were protecting something precious, something worth more to them than any injury the world could heap upon a child. A child that was covered in claw marks that were weeping crimson tears without end.
"At the very least you must deal withthatunsightly thing before I speak with you, child of my blood."
-Command Center-
"FUCK!" Michiru came to with a jolt, jerking awake with a gasping breath that made her lungs burn and her vision swim. She groaned, cradling her pounding head, her body shaking as an unnatural freezing chill ripped throughout her body. She closed her eyes, the room far too bright for her suddenly overly sensitive eyes.
"SHE'S AWAKE!" She heard someone shout from the other side of the room, exacerbating her already pounding head.
"HEY, ARE YOU OKAY?" A different voice, multiple people were in the room with her, but why were they shouting, why couldn't they just speak normally?!
"COULD YOU-" She flinched, her own voice was too loud. She was sure she wasn't yelling, was there something wrong with her ears? "Could you talk softer? My hearing's messed up, everything's too loud." She whispered, wincing at even the soft words being too loud for her sensitive ears.
She could hear the other people in the room shifting, the swish of cloth brushing against itself and other things were like nails on a chalkboard, grating and all too much. She heard someone take small, light steps towards her. "Are you alright?" Another voice this one whispering like she was , that made three so far, how many people were there with her?
"I've been better." She grunted, keeping her eyes closed. Gods, was there a way for these people to lower the brightness in this room?!
She felt someone place a gloved hand on her arm, at least she thought it was a glove, it didn't feel like skin. "Is there anything we can do to help? Do you need some water?" The voice didn't sound like a guy's, come to think of it none of the voices she'd heard since coming to had been male. For some reason the idea of being alone in a room full of girls made her uneasy, like someone was going to jump out and attack her for it. She'd felt this way in the locker room at school of course, but when it came to there she just did her best to get in and out as quick as possible. Come to think of it, whydidbeing alone with a bunch of girls make her anxious? Was it because she was a guy? "Hey...can you hear me?" The person talking asked again, worry lacing their whispered words.
"I can, and all I need is for one of you to turn off the lights, feels like my eyes are being stabbed even with them closed." She grumbled, shivering as another chill rushed down her spine, bringing with it a wave of soreness that nearly made her pass out."Fuck...I feel like I just went ten rounds with Ryoga, or Akane after she ate that Super Soba."
"Oh! Uhhh...can we do that?" The girl wondered.
There was a sigh from someone in the room, a long suffering one if she had to guess, before she heard someone press some buttons. Something beeped in response and the lights slowly dimmed enough that her eyes no longer throbbed painfully, helping immensely with her pounding head. "Thanks." She muttered as she slowly opened her eyes.
There were six other people in the room, five girls and one guy all wearing the most ridiculous outfits she'd ever seen save for...was that Hino-san? "...Aren't your legs cold?" She blurted out, raising an eyebrow at the shortness of four of the girl's skirts."I'd guess they're all the same age as Hino 'cept for the guy, he looks a little older. Though why he's hanging around a bunch of middle schoolers wearing mini skirts I DON'T want to know."
The four girls wearing the odd outfits looked at each other sheepishly before one of them, a brown haired girl in a ponytail answered. "Not really."
"Now, if your feeling a little better, do you think you can answer some questions of ours?" Another voice said, one that didn't belong to anyone she could see going off of the fact that none of their lips moved.
"Who...?"
"Down here."
Michiru paused, feeling a strangely familiar dread before she looked down and saw the one who had spoken, a black cat with a gold crescent moon on her forehead.
"Hello there, my name is Luna and-"
A shriek of absolute terror erupted from her mouth as she scrambled away from the demon backwards on her hands and feet, her heart pounding like a war drum against her chest. Her eyes widened and her breath came out in short panicked gasps as she felt phantom claws and fangs piercing her skin. It was going to get her, it was going to hurt her, itwasgoingtokillherandfeastonherbloodandmarrowandtakeitawayfromherandshecouldn'tescapewasn'tallowedtoescapehadtostayinthepit-
"-LUNA, ARTEMIS, GET OUT OF HERE!" She distantly heard someone shout, her mind not able to process what the words meant past thefearpainterrorsurging through her veins. She let out another shriek as the demon jumped, wide-eyed in surprise before bolting, another one following it a split second later up a set of stairs she hadn't noticed. How many more were here? Were some hiding, waiting to tear and bite at her flesh?! "Hey, none of that. They're gone, they can't hurt you." She felt someone put their hands on her face and turn her head but she couldn't see them, couldn't see anything. It was like the fear and terror had taken over her vision, nothing she saw made any sense to her, there was only the terror of the demons turning everything into a blur. "Breathe with me. Deep, slow breaths."
"Usa-Sailor Moon?!"
"Not now Mars." The voice snapped. "She's having a panic attack!"
"W-What?" She croaked out, her throat tight. A panic attack? Was that the reason the room was spinning? Why the left side of her body was starting to go numb? Why it was so hard to breathe?
"Shh, just focus on my voice and breathe with me."
"I-"
"-Don't talk. Just focus on matching my breathing and the feel of my hands on your face." The voice interrupted, repeating her earlier words and making slow deep breathes for Michiru to match.
It didn't take long for Michiru to calm down, her exceptional control of her own body easily let her match the voice's breathing and slowly, her vision cleared from the haze of fear that had made everything so blurry. "Srry." She mumbled before frowning, her words were slurring."My mouth and tongue. The muscles in them are too tense, they're keeping me from talking normally."
"It's fine, how are you feeling?" It was the voice that had helped her through it, belonging to a girl with long blonde hair in twintails and two buns...wait why did that seem familiar, had she met someone with that hairstyle before?
Without responding Michiru stuck out her tongue and pointed it towards the ceiling, holding it there for a couple seconds before relaxing.
"What are you...?"
"She's trying to loosen the muscle tension in her mouth." Another girl, one in a blue skirt said giving Michiru a look of amazement watching as the older girl repeatedly stuck her tongue out for a few seconds before relaxing."She realized it was her muscles that were keeping her from speaking clearly and started taking the correct steps to fix the issue. That requires knowledge on how the body works that most people don't have or would be too panicked to be able to use...just who is this girl?"
After a few repeated tongue stretches Michiru frowned before shaking her head."Something's off, my body's not responding the way it should, but I think I've relaxed my muscles enough to be able to talk normally for a while."It wasn't just her mouth, her whole body felt off. Her arms and legs were shaking and she was having random muscle spasms in them too, whatever had happened to her had royally screwed her over."I doubt I could stand right now, let alone throw a decent punch."This wasn't good, if anyone from Nerima managed to find her while she was like this then she wouldn't be able to put up a fight and if Cologne or Shampoo found her...she shivered, that wouldn't be good at all. She grit her teeth and looked down before freezing, her face suddenly feeling like it was on fire as it turned beet red. "What thehellam I wearing?!" She shrieked making everyone else letting out a long suffering sigh in response.