Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Crow Sailor Moon ❯ The Lights Will Lead the Way ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Episode Two:
The Lights Will Lead the Way
Seiya
I awoke suddenly...ack, another sodding headache. How the hell do I
get myself to do that every night?! Get drunk, come home, wake up,
hangover. Ugh. I need to stop myself this time. I think I might chain
myself to my bed or something and throw the key to someplace where I
can't reach it. In fact, that was sounding like a better and better
idea every minute. I struggled with myself and managed to crawl off
the couch, and immediately lost my balance and fell to the floor. I
groaned. Why me?
Maybe it's the whole punk-rocker facade. Not that I play punk rock.
But still, I feel like a rock star. Maybe that's what gives me the
idea to get drunk every night. No, not the idea--the big head. Man, I
feel daft.
I slowly raised into a kneeled position, one hand clasping to the
coffee table for balance. I used the other to knock the phone right
off the hook, without meaning too. I picked it up, and dialed the
number for my friend Yaten's apartment.
After about four rings, he finally picked up the phone. "Ugh. What."
I laughed, rather druggedly. "Lovely greeting."
He moaned. "Smeg you. My head feels like a sodding sledge-hammer's
been having a field day."
I laughed again. "Likewise."
"Eh...what?"
"I said, likewise."
"Speak up, I can't hear you."
"Get an hearing aid, then. I don't want to bother with you."
"It's not me. It's the hangover."
"Ah...well, talking with you's like talking with an hangover."
"Dude, that made no sense."
"Ugh...I know. I don't feel like making much sense this morning. My
head hurts. I think I'm going to go take a shower, a nice cold one."
"Then maybe slit your wrists and fall asleep in the bathtub? That'll
get rid of you and your stupid phone calls, it would."
"Sod off," I sassed back. "Listen, it's been a pleasure talkin' to
you--"
"Now you know you're full of it."
"Yeah, well--you're right. Smeg you later, I'm going to see what
Taiki's up to."
"Good idea. I'm going back to sleep for a few more hours."
"Toodles."
I pressed the little button on the phone to hang it up, the turned it
back on and dialed the number for Taiki's apartment. Then I changed my
mind, and set the phone back on the receiver. I didn't really feel
like talking to anybody, who am I kidding? I know they both woke up
with hangovers, it always happens.
Oh well.
I forced myself to get up, and take a shower. Later that night, I'd be
meeting them at the club. But this time, I wasn't going to let it
happen. Even though I know I've said that before.
***
That night, we all met up at the club, ready to play a gig. Before we
started though, I called Yaten and Taiki over to talk with them.
"Okay, listen guys, tonight, no matter what you do, do not, I repeat,
do not go to any parties and get plastered. Understand?"
They both nodded. "Got it," replied Yaten, "but just one thing. Who's
that guy over there that's been staring at us this entire time?"
Taiki and I looked over at him. Taiki shrugged. "An obsessed fan,
maybe?"
I shook my head. "No. There's something funny about him. How much time
do we have 'till we go on?"
Taiki looked at his watch. "About ten minutes."
"Allright," I said, "let's go ask him what his deal is."
We walked over to the man, and he continued to stare at us the entire
time. Then, when we were a few feet away, he stood up, and walked past
us. As he did, he said rather softly:
"Meet me outside. I want to talk with you."
We all turned, and watched him as he headed out the exit. I looked to
the other two. "Should we follow him?"
Yaten squinted in the direction of the man. "I don't trust him. I
think he's up to something we don't want to be a part of."
I looked over to Taiki. He shrugged. "I don't see any point in
following him, but I don't see any problem, either."
I nodded in agreement. "Allright, then. Let's see what he's up to."
We walked outside, to see him just standing there, over in an
alleyway. We walked over to him, and as we approached, he leaned
against the wall, and grinned.
"You are...Yaten, Taiki, and Seiya, am I correct?" He asked. He had a
French accent. It sort of went with the rose he was holding.
Yaten poked my shoulder, and leaned over to whisper in my ear. "He's
French...."
"I noticed," I replied, giving him a look that said "I'm not daft."
The guy went off saying something else, but Yaten was still poking my
shoulder.
"Seiya," he whispered urgently, "he's French."
"What's your problem, then?" I mouthed off. I didn't have time for
Yaten and his inane fear of French people.
Suddenly, the guy held up his hand, closed his eyes, and muttered
something. Maybe he was mad because I didn't listen to what he said? I
don't know. Whatever the reason, he was doing something...strange.
Suddenly, this little swirly cloud came over him, and he was all of a
sudden wearing a toga.
0x01 graphic
"Ahhh! It's a French Crossdresser!"
Both Taiki and I shot a glare at Yaten. What was his fuss all about,
anyway?
He shrugged. "It's my worst fears justified."
I made a "tsh" sound. "Yaten, you're just....weird."
Suddenly, the French guy threw his rose at us. We just continued to
stare at him.
"Listen," I said, "I don't know what you're thing is--don't want to
know, actually--but we have to be on in five minutes, so we sort of
need to go."
"No," he said, laughing manically, "you will never be on again!"
Yaten gave him a weird look. "What are you on, exactly?"
Taiki chuckled. "You have no room to talk, waking up with an hangover
every morning."
"So? You do it, too."
"That's....beyond the point."
I raised an eyebrow at him. "Got that?"
"....shuttup."
Suddenly, I felt...a pulling sensation of sorts...and then...
I found myself standing, along with Taiki and Yaten, on a bridge that
stretched across a long ravine. There was a fog all around us, and...a
crow...
It landed about five feet away from us, and then--it grew. Larger and
larger, until...there was a man standing there. The crow's feathers
had become something like a cape for him, and his long black hair cast
shadows on his face, so that you couldn't see his eyes. And then, he
spoke.
"It is time for you to awaken, Fates." His voice was real deep and
thick, and it echoed all around us...and his lips didn't move.
"Fates...?" asked Taiki.
The man gave a soft, single nod of his head. "Every night you visit
the Afterworld, and you don't even remember it."
I blinked. "The Afterworld?"
Taiki looked deep in thought. "Remember....of course....the bloody
hangovers..."
The dark man laughed. "A silly human concept, that. It was only an
excuse for you because you couldn't remember anything."
Taiki nodded. "Of course...it all makes sense now..."
He gave another nod of his head, jostling his hair ever so slightly.
"The crow of the rose was the one that was bothering you. I just
brought you here to let you know that you could take care of him, if
you wanted to. Your powers are as great as mine."
"Powers?" asked Yaten skeptically.
I bopped him on the shoulder. "You know, I find it hard to be
questioning anything at this point. Have a look around. If you haven't
noticed, Toto, we're not exactly in Kansas anymore."
The crow guy gave a deep laugh. "Kansas...exactly. This is the world
of Munchinkinland, and if you cross this bridge and follow the
yellow-brick road, you'll eventually wind up in the Emerald City."
"Oh yeah? Then who would be the Wizard of Oz?"
The man gave another deep laugh. "That, gentlemen, would be me."
Before I or the others had a chance to reply, we suddenly found
ourselves back in the alleyway, staring the French Crossdresser in the
face.
"Hey, I don't remember clicking my heals," moaned Yaten.
"Humph," I muttered. "That guy reminded me more of the Goblin King
than the Wizard of Oz."
"At least we didn't get trapped in The Labyrinth," chuckled Taiki.
"Yeah, well right now, I'm trapped in a bunch of bad movie flash-backs
with a couple of dinks and a French Crossdresser, not to mention the
David Bowe wanna-be from the bridge, my head hurts, and I think we
just missed our gig," Yaten whined.
"At least you didn't have to listen to any singing munchkins..."
"Hello?" yelled the French guy. "Monsieurs? We have business to attend
to."
Yaten snapped his fingers. "Oh....oh, yeah, right."
Taiki grabbed my shoulder, then Yaten's, and pulled us aside. "Guys,"
he said, looking back and forth from me to Yaten. "The guy on the
bridge said we have powers of some sort. And apparently, this guy
wants to fight us, or whatnot, and I think it would be a good idea if
we tried to use these mystical powers of ours."
"Alright," I agreed, stepping over and turning to look at the guy with
the rose. "Okay, listen, we're new at this whole 'super-power' thing,
so just give us a minute."
He nodded. "Sounds fair to me."
I turned back to Taiki and Yaten. "Alright, so what are we going to
do?"
"How about run away?" Yaten whimpered.
"Yaten," I sighed, "I've told you this several times already. Just
because someone's French doesn't mean they're a spawn of Satan."
"How do you know that?" he asked accusingly. "For all you know, he
could kill us."
"What does that have to do with the fact he's French?"
"Guys!" Taiki called us to attention. "Let's try something. Now, do
you remember what that guy said about the Afterworld?"
"Sort of..."
"According to him," he explained, "we visit it every night, which is
why we feel like we have hangovers in the morning."
Yaten lowered his brows. "What are you getting at?"
"Well," he replied, scratching his chin, "if we can visit it every
night, we can take this guy there. Right?"
"Oh, I see!" I said, snapping my fingers.
"But how are we going to do that?" blurted Yaten. "We don't know how
the heck we get there in the first place."
I shrugged. "Let's just give it a try. On three. One...two..."
Before I could even say three, I felt that wierd pulling sensation
again, and we were standing on a grassy knoll, and the French guy was
a few feet away.
"Oh, that was cool!" Yaten exclaimed. "Let's do that again!"
"In a minute," I said to him. "First, let's take care of him."
Yaten raised an eyebrow. "How?"
Taiki scratched his chin. "Maybe if we try digging deep inside us...we
could find the source of these powers, and find a way to take care of
him."
"Or we could just leave, and let him stay here," suggested Yaten.
"That would get rid of him, it would."
I shook my head. "We can't do that. What if he finds a way out?"
"Right," agreed Taiki. "Let's try that digging deep thing."
I nodded. "It's worth a shot..."
So I did. I looked inside myself. I didn't exactly know what I was
looking for. In fact, I was preoccupied with the notion that for once,
just maybe, I'd wake up without an hangover. That would feel good.
However, it wasn't long until I found what Taiki was talking
about...there was a spirit inside me, a "Fate" I guess...I could only
wonder...
I tried tapping into it, trying to unleash whatever power it had. I
managed to awaken it, and I could feel it flood my body....and
suddenly, I felt...funny...
I opened my eyes. My jaw practically dropped off my face as I looked
at Taiki and Yaten. "You...guys....you're women!"
"Hey, take a look in the mirror, jackass," mouthed Yaten. "You're a
girl, too."
"It...kind of...makes sense," said Taiki. "The Fates of Greek
mythology were women. Old women, granted, but women just the same."
"Well, at least we're not old and wrinkly..." I said, frowning. It
wasn't much of a comfort.
"Hold on, you guys," said Yaten, starting to walk off. "Be right
back."
I gave him a funny look. "Where are you going?"
He grinned. "Give me a break. Isn't it every guy's dream to be in a
woman's body, at least once? Think of the possibilities!"
I slapped my hand against my face, pulling it downwards. "Is that all
you can think about at a time like this?"
He shrugged. "It didn't seem like too bad of an idea."
Taiki shook his head. "That's all good and dandy, Yaten, but what if
we can't get back?"
Yaten blinked. "Well, we can have fun the first week, and then
eventually we'll get used to it. I mean, come on, there's gotta be
lesbians in Tokyo somewhere."
I made a "tsh" sound. "Allright, but make it quick, we need to take
care of this French fellow."
"Um, speaking of which...," started Taiki, looking off over where the
rose guy was, "where'd the French guy go?"
I spun around to look where Taiki was looking. He was right, the guy
was gone.
Yaten humphed. "It wasn't like we didn't give him the chance, standing
around like a bunch of idiots and turning ourselves into women and
things like that."
I gave an exasperated sigh. "Well, if he's gone, we should be getting
back now, right?"
Yaten gave a nod. "Yep."
"Allright, let's give this a whirl. On three..."
When we opened our eyes again, we were standing back in the alleyway,
the French guy was gone, and we were....men again.
Yaten snapped his fingers. "Damn, I didn't get the chance to take my
woman body for a spin."
"Yaten, I don't think the Fate went away. It's probably still inside
you," Taiki pointed out.
Yaten grinned, and snapped his fingers. "You're right! Thank you,
Taiki, you've made my day. Now, if I disappear for a while, don't come
looking for me, okay?"
He started walking off, but I grabbed his shoulder. "Listen, don't do
anything stupid, right?"
He winked. "I don't know. I'm a young man, for now anyway, and I have
a long night ahead of me. Who knows what trouble I can get myself
into?"
"Ugh...," I sighed. "That's what I'm worried about..."
So that's how it all happened. We discovered our powers as the Fates,
and learned about the Crow. And Yaten has himself a new...hobby. I
guess things aren't all bad.