"So it's the knife?" Haruka asked, leaning against a wooden beam.
"Yes." Setsuna said, looking pale and rather ill.
It was the late afternoon of the day of the battle, and the Sailor
Senshi had all been called to the Hikawa Shrine. Setsuna sat on the
steps right next to Rei, who looked only slightly better than the other
woman. Makoto sat on Rei's other side, a comforting presence that Rei
could lean on. Hotaru and Chibi-Usa sat on the step below and a bit to
the side, and Mamoru and Usagi stood side by side next to the steps.
Michiru stood next to where Haruka leaned against the support, and Ami
and Minako sat hand-in-hand on the shrine's wooden walkway on the other
side of the steps, their legs hanging over the side.
"Tachyon is completely insane." Setsuna continued. "Which isn't news to
anyone who's actually seen her." She managed a small, sarcastic smile.
"And her powers allow her insanity to spread into the flow of energies
around her. That's what keeps Ami's computer from working properly when
she's nearby. It has a similar effect on me." She added with a rueful
smirk. During her and Ami's examination of Rei, her proximity to
Tachyon's handiwork had caused her to physically sick several times.
"And the knife?" Michiru asked, her eyes on Rei and her expression soft
and deeply sympathetic.
"The knife concentrates and amplifies the effect." Ami said. "When she
used it on Rei, it didn't just pierce her flesh, it pierced her energy
pattern and inflicted Tachyon's madness on it." Rei winced visibly and
Ami sighed. "Sorry, Rei-chan." She said softly, and Rei gave a little
nod.
"Can you fix it?" Makoto asked Setsuna, her eyes never leaving Rei.
Setsuna closed her eyes and sighed. "No." She finally said. "If it was
just tangled, given time, I might be able to repair the damage. But it's
still shifting and twisting...still connected to the weapon that
inflicted the wound. If I could find where the link was, I could sever
it, but it could take me an eternity to find it within that random
insanity." With an apologetic look, she placed a hand on Rei's shoulder.
Rei looked up and gave Setsuna a small smile. "Hey, it's okay..." She
said softly. A moment later her eyes slid away and the miko stared ahead
into space again.
"What happens if we destroy Tachyon or the knife?" Haruka asked.
"That's what we're going to have to do." Setsuna said firmly. "If we can
shatter that blade, Rei's energy should fall back into a usable pattern
again. You'll go back to normal." She gave Rei's shoulder a small
squeeze and released it.
"Then that's it!" Makoto said, leaping up and slamming her fist into her
palm angrily. "The next time I see that little psycho I'm going to blast
her *and* her knife into a million pieces." She grinned brashly down at
Rei. "I promise, Rei-chan."
"Hm..." Rei glanced briefly up at Makoto and gave a small nod, resting
her chin in her hands.
"We'll help you Rei-chan." Michiru said, and Haruka nodded.
"Of course we will. Everything will be okay." The short-haired Senshi
said firmly. Rei lowered her head and ran her fingers through her hair
in an impatient gesture.
"Rei-chan?" Usagi asked diffidently, tilting her head quizzically at the
other girl.
"Don't!" Rei snapped. "Don't say it's going to be okay, Usagi-chan. In
fact, everyone just stop. Stop!" She rose to her feet, an angry look on
her face. "I hate this! Okay? I hate it. I *HATE* it. You have no idea
what it was like sitting here this morning, completely helpless, with no
idea what was going on, too scared to use the communicator because I
didn't want to distract you guys!"
She ran out of breath and she paused to catch it before starting again.
"So do *not* tell me it's going to be okay! I don't need to hear this
right now! I can't do *anything*! Do you know what that's *like*?" She
shouted, jumping off the steps and wheeling on all of them. "Do you have
any idea what it's like to know that you're all going to be fighting
while I'm just sitting here alone?" She abruptly seemed to run out of
energy and she stopped, covering half her face with her hand. She sighed
deeply.
"Look...I'm sorry. I know you all just want to help. I just...can't deal
with this right now." She stormed up the steps into her room and slid
the screen shut with such force that it made everyone jump. There was a
moment of embarrassed silence.
"Should someone go after her?" Minako said in a voice just barely above
a whisper.
"Go for it." Haruka replied with a smirk, speaking just as softly.
Minako's eyes widened and she quickly shook her head.
"Is she alright?" Hotaru asked, looking at the closed door with a
concerned expression.
"She'll be fine, Hotaru-chan." Setsuna said reassuringly. "This would be
a terrible position for any of us to be in, but I think it's worse for
Rei. She just needs time to work things out."
"We should probably go." Ami said, sliding off the walkway to the
ground. "I'll start trying to think of a way to find Tachyon's base. If
we can do that, we can try to surprise her. Now that Setsuna's stopped
her from seeing our futures, that would be possible."
"That's a good place to start." Minako agreed, hopping down to stand
next to her. Everybody drifted away, until only Makoto was left, still
sitting on the steps. She sat there, looking at the door for a long time
before finally walking off as well, a troubled expression on her face.
-------------------
On the distant outskirts of Tokyo stood a richly appointed, Western-
style mansion, surrounded by wide and elegant grounds. With the onset of
winter, only a single groundskeeper was present that afternoon, his mind
carefully altered to believe that the couple who had once lived in this
place were still in residence.
As Meson watched him with bored disinterest, it amused her to consider
how horrified the creature would be if it knew what Tachyon had done to
it's former employers. She stepped right in front of him as he tended a
bed of hardy winter flowers. He didn't even glance up, and her footsteps
did not make the smallest impression on the damp, yellow grass.
With a certain careless ease she climbed up the side of the building and
entered a second story window, her senses on the alert as she crept
soundlessly through the halls. The place was ominously silent, but that
was normal for Tachyon's territory. None of the daeva under her control
wanted to draw attention to themselves.
Meson crept down the hall, looking for one of those daeva. She could
find Tachyon herself, of course, but she considered it important to
assert her influence now and again. All the daeva in Hadron's army were
ultimately hers, and she wanted them all to know that no matter where
they were, no matter who else they served, she could find them in an
instant. It made discipline so much easier if they all felt like her
eyes were always on them.
There was one, walking silently down the hallway. A female daeva, with
roughly human proportions. Her skin was dark blue and her hair was
white, with two insectoid antennae jutting out of her forehead. Meson
crept behind her and, when she was almost touching her, spoke. "Where is
Tachyon." To her surprise, the daeva immediately fell into a crouch,
covering her head protectively.
"Please, don't!" She cried out over Meson's voice. Then she paused. "Oh,
Lady Meson, it's you!" There was palpable relief in her voice.
"Where is Tachyon?" Meson repeated in an even tone, ignoring the daeva's
fearful behavior.
"She...she's in a study on the third floor." She pointed down the
hallway. Just up those steps, and to the left.
"Stand up and take me there." Meson snapped, wondering at this
creature's incompetence.
The daeva flinched and slowly stood. "Please, Lady Meson...Lady Tachyon
returned several hours ago. The Furies were not with her. She is...very
angry."
Ah...there was the explanation. Meson had been considering killing the
daeva for her insolence, but now reconsidered. There was little point in
slaying the wretch for trying to avoid a more painful and gruesome
death. "Very well." She said, stepping past the daeva towards the
stairs.
"Thank you, Lady Meson, thank..." The daeva turned to watch Meson
depart, but the white-clad woman had already vanished from sight. As she
stalked up the stairs, her black cape swirling around her, Meson
considered what could have angered Tachyon so. Even if the Furies had
been killed and all the Sailor Senshi escaped, they should have caused
enough chaos to satisfy the child. Something else must have happened.
Reaching the door, she lifted her hand to knock, and Tachyon's light
voice rang out, tense and angry. "Come in Meson." As she entered, even
she was unable to conceal a flicker of distaste at the sight of the
daeva on the table. After what Tachyon had done to it, it should have
died in seconds, but the girl had slowed it's body's passage through
time, without affecting it's mind, forcing it to endure every agonizing
moment of it's delayed death.
Tachyon herself was sitting in the depths of a large, soft armchair, her
legs kicking at the upholstery and her face petulant and angry. "What
happened?" Meson asked perfunctorily.
"Sailor Pluto cheated." The tiny girl snapped. "She hid the Sailor
Senshi's presence from me. I can't see them anymore."
Meson didn't want to antagonize the child further, it was contrary to
her reason's for coming, so she kept her angry exclamation to herself.
Tachyon's ability to see their enemies' future and keep them from doing
the same was one of their few advantages on this world, and now it had
been cut in half.
The child leaned over and retrieved her knife from the remains of her
victim and began stabbing it rhythmically into the arm of her chair.
"When I have them, I'll make Sailor Pluto watch while I carve the rest
into tiny little pieces." She muttered, her eyes going distant. Meson
let her lose herself while she took a position opposite the chair on the
other side of the table.
"Tachyon." She finally said, and the child's eyes turned up towards
Meson, blank eyes devoid of everything but a need to kill. It would have
frozen the blood of most beings, but Meson had protection against
Tachyon's time-manipulation tricks, and the girl knew it. "Perhaps the
time has come to stop playing with the Sailor Senshi and accomplish your
mission."
The girl's eyes cleared somewhat and a hint of her usual mask appeared,
a small, playful smile on her face. "No, no, no...I'm not done with them
yet. There are still games to play..."
"The first Vortex has to be opened soon." Meson said in a cajoling tone.
"The Black Cultists cannot finish the preparations for the ritual
without its power as an anchor. And Lord Hadron is very eager to enter
this world, and he can't do it without the power of the Vortex."
Hadron's mere presence was anathema to the natural energies of a planet
like the Earth, and this planet had a remarkably powerful flow of
energy. This made it ideal for Hadron's plans, but it also resisted his
entry to the point that it would take a powerful disruption to allow him
to cross over.
"I don't care about any of that." Tachyon said dismissively.
"No, you wouldn't." Meson agreed quietly. "But what about your reward?
Once the first Vortex has been created, your duties to Hadron will be
complete. We can open the other two on our own, and you can use the
power of the first to gain your heart's desire. Once you have that, you
can take care of the Sailor Senshi at your leisure. Not even Sailor
Pluto could stop you then."
Tachyon's eyes lit up with longing at that, and her stabbing of the
chair stopped as she considered Meson's words. "I'm still not finished."
She finally said, her usual lilting tone tone returned. "I can still
have fun with the Sailor Senshi. But not for much longer. I'll open the
Vortex soon. I have the perfect place already picked out." She gave
Meson a sunny smile. "Okay?"
Meson gave a small, mirthless smile in return. "Of course Tachyon. Have
fun." She left the room then and proceeded invisibly out of the house,
moving well away from Tachyon's disruptive influence before transporting
herself back down to her headquarters, deep beneath Tokyo. Now she just
had to ascertain what Muon had been up to all this time, and she would
be ready to report to her master.
-------------------
Minako walked into her yard, then stopped as she caught sight of her
mother's car in the driveway. -Great, she's home early.- Her mind
drawled sarcastically as she leaned her head up and looked up into the
night sky. The clouds that had hung there all day had finally started to
blow off towards evening, and she could see the stars twinkling behind
them. She puffed up her cheeks and let out a loud sigh, wondering if it
would be worth it to just turn around and head back to Ami's place.
No...Ami's mom would be home soon, and that was an awkward encounter
Minako just wasn't ready for. That was why she had left in the first
place. And it's not as if she had been contributing much to the
conversation anyway. Setsuna had joined the two of them, and she and Ami
had been brainstorming ways to use the link between Rei's wound and
Tachyon's weapon to find the little monster herself. Since everything
they thought of had involved finding the link within Rei's energy, and
that seemed to be all but impossible, they didn't seem to be making much
progress. But at least it felt like they were doing *something*.
"Poor Rei..." Minako sighed. She didn't blame her for getting angry at
them. After the shock of having her powers torn away, Minako didn't
think she could bear to hear too many reassurances either. And having to
listen while the rest talked strategy and knowing that you couldn't do
anything to help...Minako shuddered a little, and that movement
transformed into shivering, a sudden gust of wind reminding her that she
was standing in the snow in a skirt and leg warmers.
She glared at her house, and its windows seemed to look back with an air
of smugness, as if daring her to come inside. A white shape detached
itself from the wall next to her and hopped to the sidewalk, twining
between her legs. "Hello Artemis." She said with a smile.
"Hi Minako." Artemis replied, hopping lightly up on her shoulder. "Any
reason in particular you're standing out here? Or just enjoying the
cold?"
Minako nodded her head towards the house. "She got back before I did."
"Oh, great." Artemis sighed. "What do you want to do?"
Minako shrugged a little, so as not to dislodge her passenger. "Not much
of a choice. Let's go, cat." She headed into the yard, pausing just a
moment before opening the door.
As soon as the door shut behind her, she could hear her mother's
strident voice from the living room. "Mimi, is that you?"
"Yes, Mother, it's me." She said with a small sigh. Artemis nuzzled her
cheek for support and she smiled a bit.
"You're home so late!" Her mother appeared at the entryway to the living
room, a rather overly-dramatic expression of concern on her face.
"This is when I usually get home, Mother." Minako said in a neutral tone
as she slipped off her shoes and put on slippers. Inwardly she groaned.
She knew what was coming. For some reason or another, her mother had
suddenly felt like playing the concerned little Mommy. Nights like this
generally ended badly.
"Well you should start coming home earlier." Her mother said in a firm
tone. It's not good for you to eat dinner so late."
"I usually eat later than this, Mother. And besides, I ate at a friend's
house, anyway."
"Oh, your little blue-haired friend? Aki, right?"
"Ami, Mother!" Minako almost snapped. Her mother touching on the subject
of Ami was enough to raise her hackles, let alone her failure to get the
name right.
"Sorry dear..." The thin woman said in a placid tone as she glided past
Minako and into the kitchen. "Are you sure you're not hungry, Mimi? I
could make you a little something."
Minako actually *was* fairly hungry, which only served to irritate her
all the more. "No, Mother." She sighed. "I told you, I ate at Ami's
house." Her brain told her mouth to stop right there, but her mouth
chose to listen to her tired and irritated gut instead. "Besides, I can
fix myself something to eat. I'm more used to that, remember?"
There was a pause from the kitchen. "What's that supposed to mean,
Mimi?" The placidity had suddenly vanished.
"It's not like you're here most nights...or at all." That last part was
supposed to be under her breath, but her mouth betrayed her once again.
At this point Artemis wisely abandoned his post and headed upstairs to
Minako's room.
"Mimi!" Her mother's voice, now hurt and angry, preceded her appearance
at the doorway to the dining room. "You know how hard I try to be here!
But I have a lot of obligations and responsibilities..."
Minako let out a half-laugh full of disbelief. "Oh, you're right! All
the cocktail parties and charity dinners must just eat up your life. How
*do* you find the time?" It was the same fight...the exact same fight.
Every. Single. Time.
"Aino Minako!" It seemed every mother, no matter how unskilled, was
gifted with The Voice and her mother whipped it out now. "I am your
mother and you will *not* speak to me that way."
"Sorry *mom*." Minako replied, her voice dripping with cold sarcasm. "I
guess I just forgot."
"Go to your room, young lady!" Her mother shouted, and Minako stalked
past her towards the stairs.
"I was already on my way!" Minako snapped over her shoulder in a tone
that clearly said she viewed this as a voluntary decision.
"How did I raise such a daughter?" Minako's mother gave a small, hurt
moan.
Minako was halfway up the stairs, and at that, her hand clenched on the
banister so tightly her knuckles turned white. "You didn't *raise* me at
all, Mother." She said in the nastiest tone she could muster, looking
down at her feet. "You've never been around enough. And you know what? I
don't really care anymore. Just don't expect me to jump for joy every
couple of months when you get the urge to play house."
Her mother made an angry reply, but Minako didn't hear it as she ran up
the stairs and burst into her room, slamming the door shut behind her
and locking it. She leaned back against it, tilting her head back with
her eyes closed, letting out a long, shuddering sigh.
"Minako?" Artemis spoke timidly from where he stood on her bed. Minako
immediately flung herself on the mattress, folding her arms gently
around the cat and crying softly into his side.
She hated fighting with her mother like that...it dredged all her hurt
feelings up from wherever she tried to keep them hidden away. And even
worse was the guilt she always felt afterwards. It was old, sour guilt
mixed with new. It was the guilt of a little girl who wondered if she
were somehow responsible for her parents never wanting to spend time
with her. It was also the more adult guilt of a young woman who knew
very well she wasn't helping anything by letting her emotions push her
into these verbal brawls with her mother.
As she began to cry herself out, she could feel Artemis' sandpaper
tongue licking the tears from her cheek. She lifted her head and looked
at him with a tearful smile. "Thanks, Artemis." She said, gently
stroking his back.
"You know I'm here for you, Mina." He said, nuzzling her cheek once
again.
"I know..." She pulled herself into a sitting position and gathered the
white cat in her lap. "I don't know what I would have done without you
all these years." She said sadly.
"Don't even bother thinking about it." Artemis said with a smile. "I'll
always be here for you."
"Thanks." Minako replied, a more genuine smile on her lips now. She
sighed deeply, and that sigh turned into a yawn. "I'm pretty wiped,
Artemis. I think I'll get ready for bed." She paused. "Are you up to
speed on everything that happened today?"
Artemis nodded. "I was just coming home from Usagi's house. Luna filled
me in on everything."
"Did you two have any good ideas?" She sighed again as Artemis shook his
head.
"Nothing. Did you, Setsuna and Ami come up with anything?"
"No..." -Ami!- Minako was suddenly overwhelmed with a desire to see the
blue-haired Senshi again.
"Minako? Are you okay?"
Blinking, Minako realized she had fazed out in the process of leaving
her bed. "Oh...yes. Just thinking." She smiled.
"What about, I wonder?" Artemis muttered sarcastically, and Minako
dropped a pillow over him.
"None of your business!" She stuck her tongue out at the buried cat. As
she dressed for bed, she found the idea of going to see Ami increasingly
dominating her thoughts. She knew she couldn't...it was too late, her
mother would be home. But still...seeing Ami, talking to Ami, would make
her feel so much better. She silently debated calling her, but decided
against it. She really wanted to see her face to face.
Once she was in her pajamas and settled into bed, she let out a last
sigh. "Good night, Artemis."
"Good night Minako." Artemis replied from where he was curled near
Minako's feet. "I hope you feel better in the morning."
"I'm sure I will." Minako replied, knowing it would be true. A good
night's sleep was the best thing to get the sour taste of the fight out
of her mouth. -Second best, anyway.- Minako thought to herself, a vision
of Ami twirling through her head again. She shook her head and closed
her eyes. She could talk to Ami in the morning.
Despite her weariness from the eventful day, sleep was elusive prey for
Minako that night. Her mind was buzzing too much, the hurt from her
fight with her mother swirling along with her sympathy for Rei's plight,
her plans for Tachyon's future attacks, her continued puzzlement about
the enemy's true goal and behind it all her still-consuming desire to go
see Ami.
And that wasn't all. There was the dream. That strange, all-too-real
dream she had had twice now. It was there as well, pulsing behind her
consciousness. She knew somehow that it was just sitting there, waiting
for her to fall asleep, and she really didn't feel up to a dream so
vivid and frightening that night.
So the best she was able to manage was a fitful doze, tossing and
turning in bed until Artemis had moved himself to the soft chair in
Minako's room with a series of sleepy, dissatisfied grumbles. And then,
for no reason Minako could discern, full wakefulness hit her and could
not be dispelled. She glanced at her clock. It was only half-past one in
the morning. Perfect.
She kicked at her sheets, turning over and over again, trying to find a
comfortable spot to little effect. Finally she gave in to insomnia and
sat up. "Okay..." She whispered. "No sleep tonight. What are we going to
do instead, Minako?" She looked around the room, illuminated dimly by
the moonlight coming through her window.
She had a new video game...if she turned it down she could play without
waking Artemis...but she didn't really feel like it. There was the new
book that Makoto's friend had just published...but she didn't feel like
reading, either. Her eyes fell on her schoolbooks. -You could always
study.- She thought in Ami's voice, then chuckled softly. Her eyes went
to the Sailor Mercury plushie she had won from the crane machine.
That was the real problem...she still wanted to see Ami. She hugged the
plushie to her, then stopped, holding it out at arm's length to look at
it. An idea struck her. It was an...interesting idea. It was dramatic,
romantic and very slightly insane. A slow grin appeared on her features.
It was perfect.
She slid out of bed, murmuring to Artemis that she was leaving. The cat
gave a sleepy assent without really listening and Minako, not wanting
her guardian to worry, took a moment to write a note and slip it next to
him. She tiptoed to her closet and got dressed, then crept out into the
hallway, pausing by her mother's room to make sure she was asleep. She
went downstairs, put on her shoes and coat, and silently let herself
out.
Once she had achieved the freedom of the sidewalk beyond her yard, she
giggled into her hands, her eyes dancing with excitement. This was going
to be absolutely perfect!
-------------------
Ami had settled down to sleep just a short while ago, her homework
complete and her study goals for the day achieved. She'd be tired in the
morning, but she always did her best work at night. She and Setsuna had
talked into the evening, trying to find a way to help Rei. In the end
they were forced to conclude that unless one of them had a flash of
inspiration, they would be forced to wait for Tachyon to show her hand
once again.
Shortly afterwards, Ami's mother came home. Without fumbling, Ami
introduced Setsuna as a friend of Haruka and Michiru's, whom Dr. Mizuno
had already met, and explained that she had been helping Ami with some
of her more advanced subjects. Her mother accepted this explanation
without comment and invited Setsuna to dinner, an invitation the tall
Senshi accepted with a small, amused smile that made Ami nervous.
Dinner passed without any huge incident, although Ami and Setsuna did
have to relate the semi-fictional tale of being trapped in the subway
during the strange riot. Dr. Mizuno was extremely relieved that Ami and
her friends hadn't been seriously hurt, and added, "You seem to be a
magnet for this kind of trouble, Ami...you always seem to be around when
it happens." Ami just swallowed and forced a natural sounding laugh
about her 'bad luck.'
Setsuna left after dinner and Ami caught her mother giving Setsuna one
of her inquisitive, questioning looks that made her more nervous still.
Not wanting to give her cunning mother the chance to trap her in a
potentially catastrophic conversation, she quickly pled a lot of
schoolwork and retreated to her room for the remainder of the night.
All that had been troubling her mind to a great degree when she finally
got into bed, but her weariness had soon caught up with her anyway. But
she hadn't been truly asleep for more than fifteen minutes before she
was awakened by a very out of place noise. It was coming from the
sliding glass door that led out onto her small balcony. It sounded like
someone was...knocking?
Sure she was mistaken, she got out of bed with her transformation pen
held tightly, just in case. She opened the curtain a bit to look outside
and gasped, flinging the curtain open without hesitation. She blinked
and rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't mistaken, but nothing
changed.
There she was, goggles and all, holding a pure white lily to her face as
she leaned against the balcony's railing. It was Sailor V.
-------------------
AUTHOR'S NOTE- A different kind of cliffhanger here, eh? ^_^ Be ready
for some serious sweetness in the next chapter!
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