Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Crystal Trials ❯ Turbulent Seas ( Chapter 1 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Crystal Trials - Turbulent Seas



This is the first in a set I plan to write involving the popular anime Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon (don't let Sailor Moon aired on Cartoon Network currently fool you; the japanese version is aimed at a higher age audience). This is also my first stab at a fanfic period, and as I have only seen the three movies and a small portion of the SS series in japanese subtitled, I will be the first to admit that there will probably be instances where I might mess up a personality or two. I apologize. Having said that, if you are still with me, this was mainly aimed at fans of the series, but if you're being persistent, here's a short rundown of all the major characters mentioned in this story and the roles they play (keep in mind that, in Japan, last names are first, so Tsukino Usagi would be Usagi Tsukino here in America):

Tsukino Usagi - Sailormoon

Mizuno Ami - Sailormercury (mentioned, but does not play a role)

Meioh Setsuna - Sailorpluto

Kaioh Michiru - Sailorneptune

Tenoh Haruka - Sailoruranus

Tomoe Hotaru - Sailorsaturn

Also, the word senshi is the equivelant of soldier in english (if you have seen the dub, think scout *shudder*).


**************************************

< br> .......floating.......


.....floating......


.......floating......



The cool water eased her muscles, muscles only slightly strained from the rigorous workout she had just put herself through. She enjoyed swimming - no, enjoyed was too mundane a word. She lived the water, breathed the water, she WAS the water. It was an exhilerating feeling, one she didn't think she would ever tire of. She reveled in swimming, in the way she could forget about everything and concentrate solely on cutting through the water.

Her aqua-blue eyes flicked open, and she stared upward at the vaulted ceiling as a slight frown graced her face. TOO easy to forget at times. It was quiet now, but what stopped something new from appearing as so many times before? She closed her eyes again. It was no matter; all she could do was be ready.

A slight chill stole through her body, something she couldn't blame on the water. Was it her gloomy thoughts that triggered this feeling? She wanted to think so. Still, it was better to be sure. She concentrated behind closed eyes, delving deep into her being, down deep to the very corner of herself that made her what she was. Soldier of affinity. Fighter of elegance. Sailorneptune.

The power called to her, invited her as it always did when she sought it. But she ignored its offer to embrace it, though tempting it may have been. She focused on divining the reason for her disquieting feeling using only a small portion of the power. As she concentrated, her chill increased until she was nearly trembling in the water. She felt herself slip beneath the water she had been floating on, but still she kept reaching outward with the power. Dimly at first, but then gaining in intensity, she heard the rythmic crash of waves on some far-off beach, words in a language only she could understand. She listened for as long as she could until she could feel her lungs burning for oxygen, then released the power.

She kicked upward with powerful strokes, breaking the surface of the pool she had reserved for her personal use and drawing in deep breaths. Slowly she eased over to one of the sides and pulled herself out. She retrieved a towel from where she had laid it on a chair, as well as a small watch. She rubbed her blue-green hair vigorously, her eyes troubled as she let herself out onto the small adjoining balcony. She drew in deep, cleansing breaths of the fresh air, ignoring the small goosebumps that rose on her bare arms and legs at the cooler air. It was late afternoon; it was still too early for her ride to arrive, but she knew that, though it may not be much to her, it shouldn't wait. She took the watch she carried in one hand and flipped the aqua-blue cover open, revealing a small screen instead of a normal watchface. It activated automatically, static crackling on the screen as she waited for her call to be answered.

Within minutes it was, the small screen filled with the boyish face of a blonde female. "Michiru? What is it?" the face asked immediately, her voice sounding tinny through the small hidden speakers.

"I didn't mean to interrupt your racing, Haruka," she began, seeing that Haruka was seated in her racing car. "But....Haruka, I sense something. The seas are restless."

Michiru could see faint troubled lines appear on Haruka's forehead, though her expression never wavered. "I'll be right there," she replied simply and was gone, static replacing her face.

She closed the communicator's cover slowly, wandering over to the low railing and resting her elbows on it as she looked out over Tokyo. Her eyes wandered from building to building, over Tokyo Tower, and finally out to the western horizon where she could faintly make out the Sea of Japan glittering beneath the afternoon sun. Michiru could feel a bit of herself rebelling against the fact that, despite the near-perfect serenity she and Haruka had been enjoying since the banishment of Chaos, something was quite possibly lurking around the edges of their idyllic existence. Again.

As she stood there quietly, she realized with a sharp pang of anger that she had thought for a brief instant that she was growing tired of her seemingly-repetitive life. "~Kaiou Michiru, you have no say in the matter~" she reminded herself sternly. "~The Princess MUST be protected, and there is no alternative~" Her stern tone brooked no argument, and her mind sheepishly fell silent. After a moment, Michiru left the balcony and went back inside to change and await Haruka.

Not long after changing into a simple dress and laying out on one of the pool chairs alongside the indoor pool, Tenou Haruka breezed through the large double doors. She wore casual clothes, jeans, and a buttoned navy-blue, sleeveless shirt. Michiru rose to greet her, squeezing her tightly as Haruka pulled her into a quick hug. "What happened?" she asked as she pulled away, studying Michiru closely.

Michiru explained as best she coudl what had transpired, asking after she had finished, "Didn't you feel anything? Anything at all?" Several times, both she and Haruka had felt the same disquieting feelings.

"No, but that doesn't mean anything and you know it. Come on, lets get out of here," Haruka said, taking Michiru's hand. They left the pool with nothing more said between them.

Haruka handled her convertible with the same care and precision that she handled her racing car, so within moments she and Michiru were free of downtown Tokyo and wheeling through the suburbs. As trees flashed by, Michiru found herself reflecting on the way things had been for her. It had all started for her with that recurring dream just over three years ago. Darkness ripped apart a blood-red Tokyo with only lone figures standing defiantly to defend it. They, too, were ripped apart. And it had ended then. Disturbed by the intensity of the dream, she had painted it with an expert hand as a sort of mind-easing therapy. And then the figure had come to her, calling herself the Guardian of Time and revealing to Michiru her true destiny - that of a warrior.

Not long after, her painting that she had entitled 'The Destruction of the World' was featured at a local art gallery. This act, whether by chance or something more, brought Haruka to her. She had experienced the same dream and didn't know what to make of it. She sought answers, answers Michiru didn't have at the time and so was rather brusque with Haruka. It wasn't until later when the Guardian of Time, later to be named Sailorpluto or Setsuna to her friends, came to her again and revealed Haruka's place in the world - ruler of the skies, Sailoruranus.

She had given Haruka a choice to embrace her destiny, something that she herself was never given. "Once you touch that henshin wand, your life will not be the same," she had told Haruka in warning, intending to make her realize what she was getting herself into. But still Haruka had accepted this and touched the wand, revealing to her all the knowledge that had been saved for her since the time of the Moon Kingdom's downfall. Life hadn't been the same since, but they had learned early on that each of them had been unconsciously seeking the other out, the other half of their soul.

"You seem quieter than usual, Michiru," Haruka commented as she drove, glancing at her from across the seat.

Michiru's thoughts scattered at Haruka's comment, and she replied, "I'm just thinking."

"About......?" Haruka persisted, returning her eyes to the road. "We keep no secrets."

Michiru smiled faintly. "You know me well enough that I couldn't keep anything from you if I wanted to, Haruka. No secrets. Just reflecting."

"Forget the past; what's over is over. Concentrate on now," Haruka said quietly, placing a hand over Michiru's.

"You cannot forget the past without losing sight of the future," Michiru said, smiling wryly at the way she sounded.

"You've been spending too much time with Setsuna. You're starting to sound like her," Haruka observed. Michiru simply laughed.

Haruka pulled up in front of the nondescript iron gate that broke the high stone walls that surrounded the property. She pushed a button on a small controller and allowed the gates to slowly and silently open and allow them onto their property.

After the whole Chaos episode, Haruka and Michiru had given up their penthouse apartment in favor of something more quiet and secluded. Between the money from Haruka's successful racing career and Michiru's artwork and occasional appearances at concerts with her violin, they could easily afford to buy and maintain the sprawling mansion on their twenty-or-so acres of land. Not only did it give them privacy when it came to not-so-frequent senshi meetings, it also deterred all the fans who still thought that tomboy Haruka was male.

The racer drove up the long curving driveway and stopped before the three-story mansion. A girl no more than thirteen burst from the doorway and ran up laughing as the couple exited the car. "Haruka-papa! Michiru-mama!" she exclaimed happily. "You're home early today!"

Haruka and Michiru exchanged amused glances, and Haruka said, "Yes, Hotaru. Is Setsuna about?"

Hotaru followed the couple as they walked up the cobbled walkway, responding, "Yup, in fact, she just returned a few hours ago."

"Good. We need to talk with her," Haruka said, opening the door and allowing the two women to proceed her.

Hotaru stopped just inside the spacious hall and looked back at Haruka and Michiru closely. "Is something wrong?" she asked carefully, watching for any reactions from the two.

Michiru smiled warmly at the girl and responded, "We're not sure. Its probably nothing, but one can't be too careful. Now go run and find Setsuna. We'll be in the den."

Accepting this response without further questioning, Hotaru ran up the curving staircase leading to the upper floors, shouting back as she ran, "Ami-chan sent us a letter, its on the table!"

"I think she's finally returning to normal," Michiru observed as Hotaru's voice faded away above them. After Tomoe Hotaru had been possessed by Mistress 9 and later purified by Sailormoon using the ginzuishou, it had been decided by Setsuna and agreed to by Professer Tomoe that it would be best if Hotaru, senshi of death and destruction Sailorsaturn, came to live with Haruka and Michiru. After being reborn through the power of the ginzuishou, she rapidly sped through childhood, and by the time a year had gone by, she had matured a full four years. It had been like this for three years now, and Hotaru was finally showing signs of slowing. "Its good that she can finally enjoy a real life."

"Maybe," Haruka said, not souding like she fully agreed. The pair took a detour through the kitchen where Haruka picked up Mizuno Ami's letter and both of them walked through the lower floor to the den in the south corner where it recieved sun nearly all day through the multitudes of floor-to-ceiling windows. It was spacious enough to sit the entire senshi team comfortably with room left over, and so most of them were held there.

Haruka sat herself down on one of the small couches, Michiru settling in beside her. Haruka slid the letter out of the envelope and began reading the neat, precise handwriting. "Ami's doing well in Germany," Haruka said after a moment of reading. "She says that she'll be done with her studies within the next two years."

"She'll make an excellent doctor," Michiru said with a smile. "Just like her mother."

"They've all started doing remarkably well," Haruka said. She put Ami's letter back into its envelope and sat in the warm sunlight quietly with Michiru. They didn't talk, merely enjoyed the presence of each other and spending time in quiet meditation as they waited for Hotaru to return with Setsuna. The guardian of the Gates of Time came and went as she pleased, sometimes gone for a week or more only to return with barely a word of explanation aside from enigmatic answers. But they had learned long ago to accept this without question as just another part of their less-than-normal lives. They trusted each other's actions.

Meioh Setsuna breezed through the arched doorway leading into the spacious den then, long hair such a dark shade of green that it looked black swinging behind her as she walked. Hotaru was hot on her heels, and quickly slipped by the older woman to settle herself in her favorite chair. Setsuna sat down more slowly, facing the two that were already present.

"Hello, Setsuna," Michiru greeted the elder woman. "How have you been?" Being in such a large mansion gave the four of them some much-needed space, and often a day or more might go by before they saw each other.

"Fine, thank you," Setsuna replied evenly. "But you appear to have something on your mind, Michiru."

Michiru hesitated momentarily, looking appraisingly at Hotaru who sat still and quiet in her chair, listening to the three. "I felt something today, Setsuna," she said after a moment. "The seas are in upheaval."

A slight frown creased Setsuna's dark brow, but her expression never changed. Glancing at Haruka, Setsuna asked, "And you? Did you sense something as well?"

Haruka shook her head. "No, but often Michiru senses things before I do. The fact I felt nothing doesn't mean anything," she said, almost defensively.

"Yes, but I have not sensed anything either," Setsuna said after a moment, returning her reddish eyes to Michiru. "Are you sure of what you felt, Michiru? Never before has one of you sensed anything before I have."

"You HAVE been working yourself hard lately, Michiru-mama," Hotaru piped up, almost sounding apologetic. "Maybe you only THOUGHT you felt something."

Michiru stiffened, looking at her two friends in mute outrage. Haruka squeezed her arm, conveying that she at least believed her, but even she was upset that nobody believed Michiru and she glared cooly at Setsuna and Hotaru. Finally regaining her composure, Michiru rose gracefully and said in a quiet, icy voice, "I know what I felt." With that simple statement, she left the den with her head held high in defiance, Haruka only a step behind her.

"Setsuna, did we say the wrong thing?" Hotaru asked worriedly after the pair had departed. "I didn't mean to hurt her."

Setsuna sighed and rose tiredly, as if all the centuries she had spent outside the flow of time, guarding the Gates of Time, were finally catching up to her. "You merely spoke the truth, Hotaru."

The girl followed Setsuna out of the room silently, finally saying with a sigh, "But she sounded so sure of herself." Having said that, she turned down a side corridor, making for the backyard where she might gain some quiet, leaving Setsuna to watch her go.

"She did, didn't she...." she mused to herself.


*************************************


As she sipped her coffee, Michiru stared moodily out at the passing Tokyo people. Haruka had taken her to the coffee shop both of them frequented, realizing that her lover was in no state of mind to remain at the mansion. Michiru's pride and confidence in herself had been questioned, and now she had begun to question herself. Looking back on the last few weeks, she HAD been pushing herself more than she normally did, lining up performance after performance and still finding time to practice both swimming and her violin. Maybe Hotaru had been right; maybe some part of her was jumping at shadows after all she had been through.

"Don't second-guess yourself, Michiru. I trust in what you felt," Haruka said quietly, correctly guessing the aqua-haired woman's line of thought.

Her words cut through Michiru's thoughts. Rarely did Haruka offer support to her in this way, perferring instead to be the silent rock to lean on when she needed it. "But I HAVE been driving myself, Haruka. Maybe Hotaru was right...."

Haruka looked at her sternly over the rim of her china cup, a look Michiru couldn't ever remember being used on her. "If I didn't love you so, I would laugh in your face, Michiru," Haruka said calmly, her stern expression never wavering. "You almost sound as if you were looking for pity."

Michiru drew herself up straight in her booth, refusing to take that from even Haruka. "You presume too much!" she declared cooly as Haruka's stern face turned to one of faint amusement. "I don't want your pity, nor anyone elses!"

Haruka placed one of her hands over Michiru's clenched one on the table and said quietly but firmly, "Then stop talking as if you are."

Michiru sighed and relaxed. "I'm sorry, Haruka. Its been a long battle to get where we are now. I just hate the thought that this quiet might be only an illusion," Michiru said lowly, guiltily, as if ashamed of herself for even thinking it.

"The day we stop fighting will be the day its over for everyone, Michiru," Haruka said, squeezing her hand.

Faint amusement glittered in Michiru's somber eyes as she responded, "Who's been spending too much time with Setsuna NOW?" The blonde smirked.

They remained in the coffee shop until dusk had settled over Tokyo and streetlights had begun to light up the streets. Haruka had driven Michiru on her red motorcycle, simply as a change of pace for them. Michiru rode behind Haruka, gripping her waist with her hands as leverage as the two sped through the slightly chill air. Haruka was heading back to the mansion, Michiru could see, and she figured maybe that was for the best.

As they left Tokyo under cover of near nightfall, Michiru felt herself become increasingly ill-at-ease. Not with Haruka's driving, though she drove eratically, Michiru felt exhilerated by the speed. No, this was something else. The feeling increased as they drove, filling Michiru with a sort of dread. Vaguely she heard the low crash of ocean waves in her helment she wore, crashing eratically on invisible rocks. "Haruka...." she managed to get out, but her words were lost in the rushing of the wind.

Remotely, Michiru saw an intersection approaching, the last one before their mansion. As they just began passing though, Michiru looked to the right and saw a large truck bearing down on them, nearly invisible without its headlights on. Michiru saw that it was too late for either of them to stop and screamed, reflexively releasing Haruka and throwing up her hands. She heard Haruka swear loudly. Time slowed. Michiru felt the truck slam into the motorcycle just behind where she sat. Out of control, the motorcycle rolled over again and again, sending her flying through the air. She heard a loud crunch and she jerked to an abrupt halt and fell to the ground. She didn't feel anything. Didn't move.

She didn't know how long she lay there before she felt someone move her. Michiru's vision faded in and out. "Michiru?! MICHIRU!" somebody cried out, a familiar-sounding voice but her mind curiously wouldn't allow the face to surface. She was tired, and it was hard to take in breaths.

Her vision swam into focus, revealing a blonde-haired girl holding her hand. "Haruka...." she breathed, grasping onto the identity of the person before her like a lifeline.

"Don't speak," Haruka said sharply, fear behind her voice. "Help is on the way. Hold on." Michiru squeezed Haruka's hand as best she could, knowing inwardly that it may be too late.

"~Come~" a voice said commandingly in her head. Michiru felt herself being torn apart, divided into two parts. She closed her eyes on Haruka and grappled with the unseen hands, desperate to keep her purchase on Earth. But they ignored her efforts and, with a final tug, Michiru was floating above her body. Haruka was holding her stiffened hand, looking back anxiously at the ambulance that had just arrived. "~Come~" the voice repeated, more urgent this time, and the world around Michiru faded to black.



********************************


She was first aware of the gentle rythmic sound of a tranquil ocean crashing closeby and thought it to be all in her head. But as her senses began to right themselves one by one, she began to smell and taste the salty air and feel herself lying on something like sand. She opened her eyes.

She was greeted by the sight of an ocean that stretched out to greet the crystal blue sky at the horizon. To her left and right as she turned her head slightly, white sands stretched out farther than the eye could see. Somewhere above her, the sun shone gently down on her, though she wasn't too warm. Wondering where she was and how she had gotten there in the first place, Michiru rose to her feet. Not until she was standing did she remember the accident, and she immediately looked down at herself. No injuries, not even any tears in the fabric of her clothes. Suprised, Michiru took renewed interest in her surroundings, an ugly suspicion forming in her mind.

"You seem bewildered, warrior of oceans," an amused voice said from behind Michiru.

She wheeled around, ready for nearly anything except what she saw. "Who said that?" she asked suspiciously, eyes glancing around. There was nothing that she could see before her, though the voice sounded close.

A slight rippling in the air before her caught her attention, small shimmerings just barely discernable in the bright daylight. "I am what you are," it replied simply.

"What do you mean?" Michiru asked, circling warily around the glitters that moved lazily in the air.

"What I mean isn't always apparent at first glance," it replied, either unaware or uncaring of the close scrutiny. "But neither of those questions matter much."

Michiru stepped back, attempting to puzzle out the enigmatic being before her. "Very well, what questions DO matter?" Michiru asked carefully, running a hand through her blue-green hair.

"You tell me."

At this point, Michru's temper, which she had prided herself with keeping up until then, boiled over. "Look," she said angrily, stepping forward. "I don't know who or what you are, nor do I much care. All I want to know is, where am I?"

"What you mean to ask is, 'Am I dead?'" It replied calmly, impassively. When Michiru didn't reply, it went on. "No, you are not dead. That is, not yet."

"Not yet?" Michiru pressed, determined to recieve at least one clear answer.

"Beyond here, we will all pass on," it replied. "Even you."

Frustrated, Michiru asked, "Have I been brought here to debate philosophy and puzzle out ambiguous answers from a bit of glitter in the air?"

"What do you wish?" the shimmer asked abruptly, seemingly shifting in place. "Be honest. I know you better than you think."

Michiru fell silent, contemplating the question presented to her. "What does what I wish have to do with this place and why I am here?" she asked finally.

"What do you wish?" it repeated.

Michiru squelched her frustrated anger before she could act on it, clearing her mind and weighing her options. What DID she wish? After a moment of intense thought, she realized that she didn't wish for anything. "Everything I need I've already found," Michiru replied carefuly. "I need nothing from shimmers in the air that don't believe in straight answers." She couldn't keep a hint of contempt out o fher voice no matter how hard she tried.

"Ahh, you may think you need nothing, Sailorneptune, but I know better. You desire peace so you and Sailoruranus might live more happily together," the glitter said wisely. "You no longer wish to be a senshi."

"That is a lie!" Michiru shot back without thinking.

"The only lie told here is the one to yourself," the glimmer said, its voice intensifying slightly. "I speak only truth. It is not my fault that you do not wish to hear it."

"I don't agree with what you say," Michiru said with a toss of her head, her voice almost uneasy.

"You may not agree, but that doesn't change what is," the voice shot back. Then, in a gentler voice, it went on, "You needn't be afraid of admitting what is true, you know. There's no one around to hear your confession."

"I confess to nothing!" Michiru returned sharply. "And I resent the fact that I have been brought to wherever this is to be asked meaningless questions!"

"It is no matter whether you agree," the voice said, ignoring Michiru's last comment. "I know I speak the truth, so I shall give you a taste of what you hunger for."

A small tingle began at the bottoms of her feet and expanded outward until her whole body tingled, then it was gone. "You now have peace, but will it be worth it?" the voice asked, sounding amused. Then it vanihed, sparkles and all, before Michiru could question it.

Michiru didn't relax long, for almost immediately, her sense began jangling alarmingly, warning Michiru that evil was nearby. Cries rang out from down the beach, Michiru wheeling around to see Haruka and Usagi transformed and fighting ineffectively against some rock-born monster. As she watched, too startled to take action, one of the monster's great hands came down and clamped around Sailormoon. The other knocked Sailoruranus to the ground and closed over her, pressing her harder and harder into the dense white sand. "Michiru! Help!" Sailoruranus cried, looking desperately up at her.

The cry jolted her to action, raising a hand into the air and clasping it around the golden wand that came to her summons. Her arm still raised, she shouted, "Neptune Planet Power, MAKE-UP!" Nothing happened. An icy shock of fear raced across her skin and through her veins, her arm slowly lowering as she looked at the wand, dumbstruck. As if sensing that it wasn't needed, the wand vanished in her hand.

"AHH!" Usagi's cry of pain jerked Michiru out of her shock and brought her to action. She raced forward between the rock-giant's legs, taunting him and egging him on. One hand around Usagi and the other pressing Haruka inexhorably further into the sand, the giant roared in rage and frustration, attempting to kick out at her with its legs. Fortunately for the senshi, this act unbalanced the giant, and with a roar of rage, he fell backward. Usagi leaped nimbly from the giant's released hand, however Haruka was still pinned as before. "Haruka!" Usagi yelled, racing for the giant's hand, her Moon Tier in one hand.

Michiru intercepted the running Sailormoon and tackled her to the ground just as the giant's free hand swept over where Usagi had been standing. "Michiru! Help me!" Haruka cried in a pain-filled voice as Michiru returned to her feet.

Something about the way Haruka had said these words made Michiru pause. In all the time they had known each other, Haruka had never asked for help. She looked closely at Sailoruranus, ignoring Usagi who was yelling something at her. Haruka's pain-etched face looked at her desperately between the giant's fingers, one arm flayed out on the sand - here, Michiru froze. On Haruka's wrist was a golden bracelet. "~IMPOSSIBLE!~" her mind cried, memories of those very same bracelets being around her own wrists, making her one of Galaxia's pawns. She had been evil, had done evil things, but at the last minute both she and Haruka, who had been enslaved as well, overcame the bracelet's power, and they were freed. However, this act cost both of them their lives, and it was only by the power of Sailormoon and the ginzuishou that they were revived again. "No..." she whispered, taking a step back. "Its not possible!"

"What? What is it, Michiru?" Usagi asked, peering at her curiously. Somewhere beyond Michiru's reeling senses, the giant roared again.

"....Nothing, Sailormoon," Michiru replied, drawing in a shaky breath and coming to a decision. She held Usagi with her eyes and said sternly, "I want you to run, Sailormoon. Run far away from here and don't look back. This fight will be too much for you."

"No, Michiru, I can't do that. How can you ask me to do such a thing when we have to help Sailoruranus?" Usagi asked, her youthful face frowned in confusion. Half-turning away from Michiru, Usagi began to run again toward the giant and Haruka, both seemingly frozen.

Michiru darted forward and grabbed Usagi's shoulders roughly, spinning her around to face her. "My number one duty as Sailorneptune is to guard your life, Princess, to protect you from harm. This battle will destroy you, Usagi, and I cannot allow that." Michiru knew that, if it came to fighting Haruka, destroying one of her dear friends would crush Usagi's battered will. The fight had been long and hard for the senshi of justice, for she had been fighting longer than even Michiru herself.

"And it will not destroy you as well?" Usagi asked, puzzled.

Michiru smiled faintly. "It may very well destroy me. But I ask you to trust me and leave this place," she said. With a sudden burst of insight, she added, "You don't belong here anyway."

Wise understanding appeared on Usagi's face, and with an approving nod, she vanished. Not fully suprised, Michiru returned her attention to the battle. The giant was gone and Sailoruranus was standing not twenty feet from where she stood untransformed, Michiru saw, startled.

"There's no need to keep up appearances anymore, is there?" Sailoruranus asked in an alien voice. It was Haruka's yet at the same time it wasn't, so threaded with hate and malice that it was given a new sound. "You have ruined the plans."

Michiru's mind raced. Untransformed as she was, she didn't stand a chance against Haruka if it came to a fight. Which she prayed fervently that it wouldn't. "Chaos and Galaxia are gone, Haruka. Who has done this to you?" She asked, nearly choking on her words.

Sailoruranus threw her head back and laughed, the cold, mocking sound sending chills up Michiru's spine. "You fool! Chaos can never be contained! The universe needs evil just as it needs good. We are the balancing force. Yet we are not content with this, so we seek more. And you senshi are they only beings that might possess enough power to stand in our way. Were it not for Galaxia's weak heart, Chaos would have reigned supreme!" the evil senshid eclared. "But I am not weak, as you know. Not even for you, Michiru. That is why Chaos chose me. I will succeed where Galaxia failed."

Without warning, Sailoruranus dashed forward, covering the ground between them in the blink of an eye. Michiru was only just able to duck and roll away from the blows Haruka tried to land on her. She rose slowly to her feet, analyzing and discarding strategy after strategy. Everything revolved around Sailorneptune, her alter-ego that she somehow couldn't become. Sudden clarity struck her then, of what the mysterious being had given her. "~Is this punishment?~" Michiru cried out mentally as Sailoruranus began to charge once again, knowing she couldn't dodge this next attack.

"Punishment? But you wanted peace. I gave you what you craved," the voice said beside her. Time seemed frozen, Haruka stopped midstride not five feet from where she stood, golden bracelets glittering coldly in the sun.

Michiru turned to face the sparkles that had appeared. "What does peace have to do with stripping me of my powers?" Michiru demanded. "And what have you done to Haruka?"

"Your powers brought you into battles. Take the powers away and you have no reason to fight, giving you peace," the voice explained patiently. "Do you wish your powers back?"

"Yes!" Michiru said desperately.

"Do you know what you must do once you regain them?" it continued.

Michiru took in a deep breath and said, "Yes." Her voice grated harshly in her throat.

"Very well," the voice said. A pale aqua glow appeared before her, intensifying and elongating until a bright flash caused Michiru to shield her eyes. When she looked again, she was started to see a large trident floating before her, dark aqua except for silvershod tips. "Are you worthy?" the voice asked of Michiru as the senshi started reaching for it.Michiru stopped, thought a moment, then replied confidently, "I've sworn to defend the Princess from harm, to place her life above my own. I have succeeded. I am worthy."

"Yes you are, ruler of Neptune. You have proven yourself worthy of this title," the voice said. "Grasp your birthright and do what you must."

Without being urged a second time, Michiru reached out and grasped the weapon before her. In a rush, Michiru felt her transformation overcome her, filling her ears with the sound of a thousand oceans and shocking her senses with a feeling akin to being doused with icy water. Sailorneptune stood where Michiru had been only a moment ago. Swallowing, she opened her closed eyes.

Sailoruranus charged her, a perverted form of her Space Sword held above her. Hate glittered in her cobalt eyes, and her face was twisted into a rictus of contempt. Getting a better grip on the trident she still held, Sailorneptune raised it as Sailoruranus bore down on her. She instinctively closed her eyes.

(......not Haruka....)

(.......she's a monster.....)

(.....death is the only way......)


Sailorneptune felt a shock ripple though the trident and up her arms, as if something had rammed it.

(......its not Haruka........)

Everything was still. Sailorneptune opened her eyes, closed, she believed, to avoid witnessing the enevitable. The trident had struck true, and Sailoruranus hung at its end, the tips buried deep

(......not Haruka.......)

into her chest. Suprise registered on Sailoruranus's face, her dilated eyes wide in shock. The Space Sword vanished from nerveless fingers, and with a superhuman effort, Sailoruranus pulled herself off the trident. Blood started flowing, a dark red rush that fell and pattered

(.....she was a monster. Chaos....)

on the white sand and creating vivid red slashes. Falling to her knees and gripping her chest, Sailoruranus took one look up at Sailorneptune. Her blue eyes were clear. Untainted. Not evil. Unable to bear anymore, Sailorneptune flung the bloodied weapon away and ran. The ground beneath her shattered, pitching her headlong into darkness.


*******************************


(You have passed.)

(Passed? Passed what?)

(The test. You are worthy to defend the Queen. Have a care, however. Who you fought at the end was something of your own mind's creation. As well as the outcome.)

(What do you mean?)

(It was meant as a warning. A vision, if you will.)

(Something that will come to pass?)

(Perhaps. The road to the future has many branches.)

(Who are you?)

(I am what you are. Nothing more.)


******************************


Michiru came awake, clawing ineffectively with her bound-up arms at the stark-white sheet that covered her body. She felt tears coursing down her cheeks, blurring the room she lay in. "Haruka!" she rasped harshly, her throat achy and constricted.

"Michiru! Its alright, I'm here!" her lover's voice said over Michiru's near-hysteria. Her normal voice. Michiru allowed her tear-filled eyes to clear, hardly daring to breathe.

The stark, sterilized walls of a hospital room sprang at her, only broken by the small window on her left. An attempt at cheering the room up lay in the faded blue curtain and in a pair of matching blue padded chairs, but these objects seemed out of place and did nothing to lessen the starkness. Haruka sat in one of these chairs, her blonde hair tousled and unkept and dark circles under both her eyes proved at a glance taht she had not gotten much sleep. "Where....?" Michiru asked, too bewildered and disoriented to form complete thought. Her eyes slid to her exposed hands, half-expecting to see fresh blood coating them. She shuddered.

"Tokyo Central," Haruka replied gently. "You were in bad shape after the accident. At first, the doctors didn't think - " Haruka broke off, apparently rethinking her words. "You suprised everyone, Michiru."

"~Accident?~" Her mind asked itself. "~That was all a dream...?~" Aloud she asked, "How bad am I?"

"Your head suffered the most because your helmet shattered after you hit..that tree. You also broke several ribs and...." Haruka hesitated, measuring Michiru with her eyes. "And both of your arms are broken. The specialists I've talked to aren't sure whether you'll regain full use of them."

Michiru's breath caught in her throat, the implications that brought were staggering. Her swimming, her sculpting and painting, even her violin-playing....these were all affected. But even as dismay at this news swept over her, she felt her old spark and determination rise in response. "We'll see about that," she said simply, in a tone that brooked no argument. Haruka smiled, not even bothering to hide her relief.


*************************************


Michiru remained in the hospital for another week after waking under the watchful eyes of Mizuno Ami, who had flown in from Germany after receiving word, and her mother. Under their care and with help from her senshi alter-ego, she recovered quickly and was soon back at the mansion. As she had promised in the hospital, Michiru strove daily above and beyond her required physical therapy to become as she was before the accident. At first it seemed impossible, her arms so painful at times that she was forced to double her pain medication. But she grit her teeth and weathered the pain, refusing to give in and give up her lifestyle. Her persistance paid off in the long run, for it grew easier and easier for her, and within the course of a month, she was at her former strength.

She waited a long time afterward before she allowed herself to reflect back on what had happened to her, hung up on whether it was merely a dream brought upon by her trauma (she had heard of such things occurring to people before, she could swear), or something more. If it was, in fact, something more, what did it all mean? She didn't want to think that she would be forced to fight Haruka, but what other meaning could there be?

Finally, her indecision brought her to Setsuna one afternoon several months following the accident. Catching her alone, Michiru sat the keeper of Time down and forced herself to relate all that had happened while unconscious. Setsuna remained quiet throughout Michirus tale, her face smooth and impassive, betraying no hint of what she was thinking. She was silent for a few moments after Michiru had brought forth the question that had been bothering her all that time. "In all the time I spent at the Gate, in all the traversings of time I did, only once have I heard anything akin to what you just described," Setsuna said finally, looking down at her tea meditatively. "It was far into the future, at a time when Serenity and Endymion were preparing to step down and allow Small Lady to ascend. In that particular time, trouble was building beyond this planet, lurking just inside Serenity's sphere of awareness. I was observing silently, when I heard Small Lady, at that time nearly eighteen, ask, 'and what of the Outers? Couldn't they help us?' To which Serenity replied, 'they would if they were still around. But I was told after ascending the throne that they wouldn't ever be around.'" Here, Setsuna paused to take a swallow of her cooling tea. "When Small Lady asked why, Serenity told her that she didn't know, but a voice had come to her in a dream and explained that the outer senshi had been tested and they had failed. All of the outer senshi."

Michiru let the silence stretch out before asking, "So it wasn't a dream?"

"No. Nothing that vivid is ever merely a dream."

"But, if that's true, how is it that I passed my test when you say that we are doomed to failure? And what does the warning at the end mean?" Michiru persisted.

"What I witnessed was only one of an infinite number of possible futures," Setsuna said, sounding infinitely tired. "And as for the warning, I do not know. Its meaning escapes me."

Michiru sighed. "Then there's nothing we can do and no way to find out anything more. We're forced to wait." As an afterthought, Michiru asked, "Should I tell Haruka and Hotaru of this?"

Setsuna shook her head. "Better they discover it on their own. If they are to be tested as well, our telling them will influence their decisions."

"And what of you?"

Setsuna smiled faintly. "The sort of test I would be put through is something nothing could prepare me for."

Michiru said nothing, merely looked at the guardian of time, Sailorpluto, feeling something akin to pity. Setsuna had lived for hundreds of generations outside the normal flow of time, seen much that had hardened her spirit and had changed the way she looked at life. After a minute or two of silence, Michiru quietly rose and left the room.

Setsuna bowed her head after Michiru had departed, sighing to herself. There was more she knew of what Michiru had been through, but she told herself that none of what she knew would make anything easier when the time came. Silently she rose with her empty cup and started for the kitchen, feeling like the burden that had been put upon her shoulders had just doubled.


**********************************

| Crystal Trials - Fear of Shadows |

| Stories |

| Home |