Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Museishi ~Silent Death~ ❯ Three ( Chapter 3 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Elsewhere 
Anime/Manga: Sailor Moon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Horror / Psychological / Angst | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 03.28.2005 | Pages: 6 | Words: 6.1K | Visits: 274 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Sailor Moon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Horror / Psychological / Angst | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 03.28.2005 | Pages: 6 | Words: 6.1K | Visits: 274 | Status: Completed
Fandom: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon (anime)
Date Finished: October 23rd, 2004
Classification: Horror, Suspense, whatever you want to call a Creepy!Fic
Pairing: None especially; all non-canon pairings are only hinted.
Rating: PG-13
Note: Written for the sixth Gundam Legends challenge. (http://www.wiwp.nu/halloween/)
Museishi
~Silent Death~
By Elsewhere
elsewherecw@shaw.ca
All other information in Part One.
Part Three:
*****
Crumbling forms are closing in towards
me
I wish everything would collapse and
scatter away
*****
"So you've broken the curse," the old man said conversationally, his eyes sweeping the three of them in turn.
"Damn right we have," Yaten said, his voice low and dangerous as he came to stand next to the fire. His hand was in his pocket, clutched around something.
"Tell us; how did you do it?" the old woman asked, clearly curious.
"All three of us have some extrasensory ability; he and I are empaths, able to find the psychological flaws in your dream world, and she's capable of precognition," Rei said evenly, her hand clasped firmly around her wand as she stood next to Yaten, unwilling to let her guard down for even a second.
Hotaru stood between her friends and the door, blocking off the exit, leaning almost casually against her glaive.
"I saw this coming the moment I set foot in that bedroom," she remarked idly. "Of course by then it was too late, and I had been ensnared, just like everyone else. After that all I could do was play along and try to find my way out of it."
"As for the two of us," Yaten said, glancing at Rei and waiting until she nodded, confirming that what he was saying was correct, "a part of our consciousness, which had sensed the danger in this house as soon as we entered it, remained aware. That part of ourselves encountered our dream selves and pulled us back, out of the dream."
"A never-ending nightmare, giving you a realistic vision of your worst fear come true...right?" Rei said, narrowing her eyes. "But why?"
"I think I can guess," Yaten said grimly, folding his arms over his chest.
"You are correct, Yaten-san."
All of them looked up, watching as Setsuna walked slowly across the room, her Garnet Rod held in her left hand.
"Setsuna-mama," Hotaru said, her tone calm.
"Setsuna! You made it out too," Rei remarked, and Setsuna smiled slightly.
"I was never taken in," she said lightly, focusing her eyes briefly on the old couple, who were now nervously glancing at each other where they sat on the couch.
"How? How could you be immune to our nightmares?" the woman whispered, obviously frightened by this news.
Setsuna's smile became slightly unpleasant.
"I have lived and died for several thousands of years," she said grimly. "All of my worst nightmares have at some point come to pass. There is nothing that frightens me anymore."
She didn't speak in order to brag; she told only the jaded truth. The old couple stared at her with a kind of respectful horror.
"Now, if the three of you would come with me, I think it's time we set to rescuing the others," Setsuna said evenly, and then she gestured with a nod of her head towards the old couple. "Hotaru, if you would, please."
"I'd be glad to," Hotaru said, stepping forward with her glaive raised. The old couple cowered backwards, towards the fireplace, and in their fear, their human visages started to falter, slowly revealing the creatures beneath.
Yaten and Rei stepped out of the way as Hotaru held the glaive in front of herself.
"You...you can't kill us," the old man said suddenly, his voice bursting with desperate bravado.
"I don't intend to," Hotaru said simply, and then she pointed the Silence Glaive towards the sky and shouted the words of incantation. In an instant, a glittering barrier had surrounded the small, enclosed space the two creatures stood huddled within.
"S-Surely you don't think this can entrap us?" the woman said, taking a step towards the barrier.
"Go ahead and try," Hotaru suggested, and the woman stepped back, shivering with fear.
"But there's nothing you can do!" the man said, sounding somewhat exasperated. "Once they've been caught in our nightmares, they cannot be brought out...you can't save your friends."
"Watch us," Yaten snapped, before he turned on his heel and followed the others out of the room.
*****
"What are they?" Rei asked as the four of them hurried down the steps towards the cellar, Setsuna in the lead with her rod held up, the Talisman at the end providing an eerie red glow that lit their passage.
"Vampires," Setsuna said, to which Rei blinked.
"Vampires?"
"Not like you're thinking," Yaten said, frowning slightly as he brushed a cobweb away from his face. "We have similar creatures in my home system. These ones aren't like the ones you Earth people think about when you hear the word 'vampire', sucking blood and so on..."
"Precisely. These ones feed on souls," Setsuna added, and Rei gasped, glancing back towards Hotaru, who was bringing up the rear. The youngest of them had a pinched look of grim determination on her face.
"The nightmares keep the prey occupied so they don't struggle while the soulstealers suck out their souls," Hotaru said, and Yaten and Setsuna nodded their agreement.
"But obviously these two are not capable of doing all of this on their own," Rei said, glancing at the others. "Right? They may feed on the souls, and they may have created the nightmares, but could just the two of them have gone around in the time since we went to sleep collecting everyone's souls?"
"No," Yaten said, shaking his head. "What felt like hours to us in our nightmares was actually a period of less than five minutes; that was how long it took the three of us to break the cycle and get free of the dreams."
"They have a rather neat soul-collecting system," Setsuna remarked as they finally reached the cellar, deep underground, and she tapped her rod, increasing the illumination it provided, as she stepped forward. "Now, please step carefully..."
The other three were silent, unsure what to say as she finally brought her rod to rest just above a small potted plant. It looked like some kind of cactus.
"This is what they've been using," Setsuna said quietly. "I know it doesn't look deadly at the moment, but that's because I have subdued it."
"What is it?" Rei asked. Upon closer inspection, they could all see that something was off about the plant; it seemed to be breathing out cold air, heaving and shaking slightly as though it was sleeping, and uneasily at that.
"It's a piece of a very dangerous plant called 'Museishi'," Setsuna explained. "It's been a very long time since I've seen any sign of one. The plant's main property is the ability to suck the life essence---the soul, if you will---out of any living creature that gets within a certain radius of it. A full-grown plant is capable of draining the life of an entire planet in a matter of minutes."
"Damn," Yaten muttered, obviously impressed. "What is it doing here?"
"I have no idea. But since this is only a cutting, its power is limited to just the local area," Setsuna said quietly. "Although it may also be what's causing the unusual weather patterns."
"That gas station..." Hotaru murmured, and the others turned to her, confused until she explained further. "The people at that gas station warned us that this wasn't a good place to go camping. They told us people often disappear here."
Rei set her jaw, her expression uneasy.
"This must have been happening for years," she murmured. "They lure people to this place, a few at a time, promising a cold place out of the storm, and feed on their souls."
"Not anymore," Yaten said firmly. By then he had his brooch out and was clutching it in his palm. "What do we do with it?"
"If we kill it now, we risk the souls within it---the souls of our companions," Setsuna said regretfully. "I think there must be only one way to free them..."
"We have to get them to break the nightmare, the way we did, and pull their souls back from the Museishi," Rei concluded, glancing around at the others.
None of them were pleased about the prospect, but it was obvious that it would have to be done.
"All right then...let's go," Yaten said, gesturing back to the stairway, and they started back up the stairs at twice the speed they'd come down them.
*****
The hardest part was willingly submitting themselves to the nightmare again. Rei was the first to succeed, meditating in her place on the bed, surrounded by her four lifeless roommates, until it overtook her again. Hotaru and Setsuna went next, and Yaten held on stubbornly until the very last moment until he finally closed his eyes and let the blackness claim him.
When he opened his eyes, he was still on the bed, but he could hear sobbing nearby. The beds around him were empty. He got to his feet and hurried around the corner to the bathroom.
Seiya was sitting in the bathtub, rocking herself back and forth, sobs wracking her body as she rubbed at her eyes until they were red and raw. As soon as she drew her hands away, Yaten gasped at the sight of Seiya's face, or the mangled remains of it, ripped to shreds. A glance at the shattered mirror explained that. The bathtub she sat in was filled to her ankles with blood.
"Seiya...Seiya," Yaten said, as gently as he could, approaching her carefully.
"No, please, Yaten, no more...I know already," Seiya cried, like a lost little girl, and Yaten bit his lip, gathering his courage, before he stepped into the bathtub, feeling the blood seep between his toes.
"Seiya, look at me," Yaten said, and he knelt before her, his hands touching her shoulders. "Seiya...it's really me this time. You're dreaming. This is a nightmare, and you have to wake up. You have to realize it's just a dream and wake up, now."
Something about the urgency in his voice, or perhaps the unexpected warmth of his touch, made Seiya look up in surprise, and she started crying again when she saw the kind look on Yaten's face. At this moment, it seemed worse to her than the Yaten she had seen in the mirror.
"Seiya, come on...look, you have to listen to me," Yaten said, quickly growing desperate with Seiya's lack of positive response. "*Please*, Seiya."
"I didn't mean to fail you, I swear to god, Yaten, I didn't mean it..."
Yaten reached out, risking everything on the only chance he could think of, spurred on by Seiya's nonsensical ravings. He pulled her forward gently, folding his arms around her, and buried his face in her hair.
"I know you didn't, Seiya. I know you would never deliberately hurt me," he said, his voice firm and steady as he bent to speak directly into Seiya's ear. "And you know that I would never hurt you, don't you...?"
There was a long silence, and Yaten held her throughout it, rocking her, stroking her hair. Then, finally, something released, and Seiya let out a long, shuddering breath. Yaten felt the world around him shift, like a glitchy computer screen, and suddenly he was kneeling in a cold, dry bathtub, holding another man in his arms.
Seiya looked up, his face streaked with tears but clear of blood and gore. Yaten let out a sigh of relief, and watched as Seiya hesitantly smiled.
"Um...hey, Yaten," Seiya said, sounding completely and utterly embarrassed.
"Never mind all that," Yaten said, shaking his head before he let Seiya go and climbed out of the bathtub. He turned back and held out a hand; Seiya took it and shakily got to his feet. "We've got to find Taiki."
"Right," Seiya agreed, and without another word---only the briefest, deeply meaningful glance passed between them---they left to find their bandmate.
*****
Rei opened her eyes and sat up, taking in her surroundings in a glance and realizing instantly that she was alone. She had to find the others---in particular, she had to find Usagi, because she had a feeling Usagi would be able to help her with the rest. Her last memory of Usagi was the chilling sight of her lying cold and still on the rug in front of the fireplace, but she knew that wasn't reality. She moved through the empty house and out into the night, ignoring the rain that pounded hard against her as though trying to keep her away as she walked steadfastly towards the one landmark on the flat land outside: a huge, ancient, solitary tree. A flash of lightning illuminated the tree and in that instant she saw Usagi standing alone beneath it, hands over her eyes, crying desperately.
"Usagi!" Rei shouted. "Usagi."
She spoke the name again as she finally reached her friend and pulled Usagi into her arms, trying to warm her.
"Rei-chan...Mamo-chan, he...he's..." Usagi gasped, her lips numb with cold.
"There's nothing wrong with Mamoru-san, Usagi," Rei said, shaking her head. "He's asleep, just like the rest of us. This is a dream! A nightmare."
"But...but I saw..." Usagi said, but she stopped when Rei shook an angry finger in her face.
"Would I lie to you?" Rei demanded, her tone verging on righteous anger.
Usagi slowly shook her head, and Rei watched, amazed, as the haze slowly cleared out of Usagi's eyes. The landscape seemed to shift slightly, and then it stopped raining, revealing a balmy, moonlit spring evening. Usagi stared around, awe-struck, her gaze finally coming to rest on the foot of the tree.
"But I saw him here..." she whispered, a hand over her mouth.
"It was just a dream," Rei said, clasping Usagi tighter. "And now you have to help me get the others out of it, all right?"
Usagi nodded, her resolution at this suggestion of action instant.
"Just tell me what to do," she said, and Rei nodded, taking her hand and pulling her back towards the house.
*****
Rei first took Usagi to the kitchen, where they found Mamoru lying on the floor, staring up at the ceiling as though he'd found something especially fascinating there.
"Mamo-chan!" Usagi exclaimed, and then she bent over him, obviously concerned. "Mamo-chan, can you hear me?"
"If he can't, then *make* him hear you," Rei advised her, and Usagi nodded determinedly.
"Mamo-chan...I think I probably know what you're thinking, so it will probably make sense if I say that it's not true, and you know it's not. You know you could never fail me, because I don't expect anything of you...except that you love me, and you do, and that's enough."
She cut off her ramble long enough to give him a quick peck on the lips.
"You know I don't bother worrying about the other stuff," she said with a slight grin. "We're together, and that's what matters to me. And we always will be, Mamo-chan. We always will be."
Rei watched, a slow smile crossing her face, as Mamoru's eyes cleared and he slowly reached up a hand to cup Usagi's cheek, the expression on his face going from confused to relieved in a matter of seconds.
"You go ahead and wake up now, Mamo-chan...we'll take care of the rest," Usagi whispered, bending to kiss him once more before he faded away. She got to her feet and turned to Rei.
"Okay, where next?" she asked, and Rei took her hand, ready to lead the way again.
*****
Seiya swore softly when he and Yaten first stepped off the back porch into the pouring rain, and Yaten glanced back to make sure Seiya was closely following him before he pushed onward.
"Where are we going?" Seiya called, hoping his voice would carry over the sounds of the storm.
"That tree," Yaten said, pointing to the huge, dark silhouette ahead of them. "I have a feeling about it..."
As usual, of course, his feeling was spot on. They reached the foot of the tree and Seiya swore again when they saw Taiki sitting cross-legged in front of it, holding Ami's hand. A closer look and Seiya had to turn his head, feeling bile rising up in his throat. Ami was dead, her wrists slit; the mud surrounding her and Taiki was red with blood.
"It's part of the illusion," Yaten said, but he too sounded a little weakened by the sight as he crouched next to Taiki.
"Taiki," Yaten said, taking hold of Taiki's shoulder and shaking it once, firmly. "Taiki! This is a nightmare, Taiki. I know somewhere in that enormous brain of yours you have to realize that this isn't something Ami-san would do. Come on, think it out logically...you do it with *everything* else."
Taiki was non-responsive, so Yaten sighed and glanced back towards Seiya.
"A little help, here?" Yaten said irritably, so Seiya reluctantly got to his knees next to Taiki, trying to ignore the blood.
"Taiki? Taiki, it's me...it's Se...it's Fighter," he said, reaching out to touch Taiki's cold hands. "Look, I know I don't do this often, and I know it kind of pisses you off when I do, but I'm going to have to give you an order, all right? As your leader, seriously...a very important order. I need you to snap out of it *right now*."
As though galvanized, Taiki suddenly lifted her head and blinked, then turned slowly to glance at her two bandmates.
"Seiya? Yaten? What...?" Then she stared down at Ami, and blanched.
"It's a dream, Taiki," Yaten said quickly. "This is a nightmare. We're here to help you break out of it. You're seeing something you fear. For once, you're justified in rationalizing yourself out of something, so go ahead and *do it*."
Taiki blinked again, and Yaten and Seiya both stayed still as again the world rocked, tilted, and then was set right again. The rain stopped, the blood disappeared, and Taiki was holding a warm hand, his fingers feeling for a pulse. Then, as he watched, she disappeared altogether.
He opened his mouth to say something, then hesitated, glancing at the others.
"Go ahead," Seiya said with a small smile.
"We'll be waiting for you," Yaten agreed, and then they stepped away and vanished.
Taiki turned and, setting his jaw, got to his feet, ready to step back into the rain. Two steps and he was back into the thick of it, pouring down on him in wide sheets, and there she was, just a few feet from him, kneeling in the mud and crying helplessly.
"Ami-san!" He ran the few extra steps to her and skidded to a stop, kneeling in front of her, taking her shoulders in his hands and shaking her slightly. "Ami-san, look at me."
She didn't respond.
"Ami-san, whatever it is you've seen or are seeing, it isn't real! We've been trapped in a cycle of nightmares, and it's time to break free," Taiki said, and even he was surprised by the strain in his voice. Of course he'd been trying to hide so many things for so many years...dreams were often revealing. "Please come with me, Ami-san...please."
When she still said nothing and didn't move, he let out a frustrated sound and leaned forward, pulling her up into his lap and cradling her there.
"Look at me!" he demanded. "Damn it, Ami, look at me!"
Finally his words seemed to get through, and she looked up, her eyes wide and forlorn. When she saw the kindness in his eyes, she seemed puzzled.
"Usagi-chan...Mamoru-san..." she began, weakly.
"They're fine...they're asleep, just like you are right this minute," he said, bringing up a hand to gently stroke her cheek. "It's time we woke up, Ami."
She was silent for another minute, but he watched as the cloudiness in her usually-brilliant blue eyes faded away, replaced by determination. They both looked up as the rain stopped, and she touched his face in return.
"All right...let's go."
*****
They found Makoto and Minako both kneeling on the carpet in front of the fireplace, and Usagi blinked, a bit disconcerted to see the dead version of herself lying on the same carpet, cold and wet. Makoto seemed catatonic, lost in her remorse, and Minako was weeping with grief.
"You take Mako-chan; I'll try Minako-chan," Rei suggested, and Usagi nodded, moving over to kneel in front of her friend.
"Mako-chan," she whispered, bringing up her hands to gently wipe the tears away from Makoto's cheeks. "Mako-chan, it's me...Usagi-chan. I'm not dead. I'm alive, and I'm right here in front of you. Would you...would you look at me? I don't want to see you like this anymore."
Her words were earnest, her expression pained, and she watched as, at her touch and the sound of her voice, Makoto slowly came around, eyelashes fluttering a few times before she caught Usagi's bright blue gaze. In the next second she was grasping Usagi's hands and then hugging her tightly, making sure she was real, sobbing her relief against Usagi's shoulder.
Minako wasn't as easy to pull out of it.
"Minako-chan?" Rei said, gently touching Minako's hand where it still clasped one of the dead Usagi's. "Minako-chan, it's Rei-chan...listen to me...we've all..."
"My responsibility," Minako muttered, her voice so low and dull that Rei felt a pang of unease move through her. "Leader...ha...some leader...my responsibility...nothing, now, all nothing..."
"Minako-chan," Rei said again, but when Minako continued to mutter nonsensically, Rei quickly lost her patience. She didn't like the feeling Minako's words were creating in the pit of her stomach, as though Minako was threatening to pull *her* back into the nightmare world. She drew back her hand and, gritting her teeth, slapped Minako hard across the face.
The effect was instant.
"OW!! REI-CHAN!! WHAT THE HECK DID YOU DO THAT FOR YOU..."
Minako's voice cut off abruptly as she stared around herself, and then at the two Usagi's, one dead on the carpet and one clutched in Makoto's grasp.
"Oh my god, I could've sworn I was just..." she started to say, but then she saw Rei shaking her head.
"It's all been just a bad dream, and now it's time to end it," Rei said with a small smile. "Good to have you back, Minako-chan."
"Um...right!" Minako said, giggling and scratching the back of her head as she noticed that suddenly the room was different; Usagi's corpse was gone.
"Okay, everyone...time to wake up," Usagi said loudly, and the other three replied with a firm shout of, "Right!"
*****
Hotaru got up from where she was kneeling on the kitchen floor and walked quickly upstairs to the bedroom she'd been sharing with her parents, and found the beds empty. Then she glanced up and saw one of her mothers standing by the window, looking out at the moon.
"It's stopped raining," Setsuna observed pointlessly before she offered Hotaru a gentle smile and held out her hand. Hotaru touched it, and together they stepped forward into the nightmare.
Haruka was curled up on the floor of the bathroom, staring at nothing at all. When Hotaru knelt in front of her, at first she went unnoticed. Hotaru sighed as she lightly ran her hands through her papa's hair.
"You always worry too much, Haruka-papa," she said softly, a slight tone of reproach coloring her words. "You know I'm not really a child."
"Child...my own child, and I killed her with my own hands," Haruka whispered, her voice hoarse from screaming. She stared at her hands, as though she could see blood on them.
"That was a long time ago," Hotaru said, still gently stroking her hands through Haruka's short, sandy blonde hair. "And long since forgiven. All of that is behind us."
Haruka shook her head, closing her eyes against the tears welling up against her eyelids.
"You do what you have to do, and none of us blame you for it," Hotaru said, leaning forward to kiss Haruka gently on the forehead. "And besides all of that, you're too overprotective. I'm not really a child."
The repetition finally seemed to sink into Haruka's brain, and after a moment she reached out and pulled Hotaru into her arms.
"Of course you are," Haruka whispered, her voice shaking. "My only child."
They were silent for a moment before Haruka looked up, first looking at Hotaru, and then up at Setsuna, who smiled gently.
"Hotaru...Setsuna...I..."
"Later," Setsuna said gently, reaching out to help Haruka to her feet. "Now, we must find Michiru-san."
Haruka got to her feet and followed them down the stairs, into the kitchen, where they found Michiru huddled under the table, hands tightly clasped to her ears, staring at the kitchen floor, where Setsuna's dead body was sprawled. Setsuna coughed and stepped over her corpse before stopping to lean against the door jam. Hotaru stood next to her, watching silently as Haruka slowly crawled under the table.
"Michiru," Haruka murmured, her voice still shaky, but it was nonetheless the sweetest, most loving tone either Hotaru or Setsuna had ever heard her use, in all their time living together. "Michiru?"
Michiru continued to look at the body on the kitchen floor, so Haruka moved herself into Michiru's line of sight and reached up to clasp Michiru's face.
"Michiru..." Haruka murmured one last time as she bent downwards and brushed her lips ever so gently over her lover's. At first there was no response; it was like kissing ice. But after a moment, the tension seemed to flood out of Michiru all at once and she wrapped her arms around Haruka's neck, pulling herself closer, kissing Haruka with a fervency that suggested desperation.
They woke up wrapped up in each other's arms, legs tangled beneath the sheets, and Haruka offered Michiru a brief smirk before she threw off the covers and bounced to her feet.
"Well, that was revitalizing," Haruka said, punching her fist into her other hand. "Now we get to kick some ass, right?"
"For once I concur," Michiru said as she appeared beside Haruka, pressing close to her in the darkness of the room.
"What are you saying? You've got way more of a lust for blood than I ever had...ow!!" Haruka gasped as Michiru elbowed her sharply in the ribs.
"Now, now," Hotaru said, rolling her eyes as she came around to stand in front of them, running her hands through her newly sleep-mussed hair. "You know what they say about how bad it is for a child to see her parents fight in front of her."
"The child's got your mouth," Michiru said, glaring at Haruka, who blinked.
"What? No way! Setsuna's the one with that kind of sense of humor," she accused, pointing to Setsuna, who was still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
"What am I being accused of now?" Setsuna asked with a wry smile as she got to her feet and came to stand behind her daughter, touching Hotaru's shoulder and smiling down at her.
Whatever Haruka and Michiru had planned to say in return was interrupted by the sound of a commotion out in the hallway. The four of them hurried to the door, nearly tripping themselves up, and found Usagi, Rei, Minako, Makoto and Ami gathered in the hall, all talking in whispers to one another. Usagi was madly gesturing, while Rei seemed to be trying her best to yell at Usagi in a whisper.
"Oh, there you are!" Rei said, turning her attention abruptly to the four new arrivals. "We thought you might never wake up."
She winked at Setsuna and Hotaru, who simply smiled in return. Just then, the door across the hall banged open and Yaten stepped out.
"All right, let's rip this joint apart," he said loudly, and with a sigh, Taiki stepped past him, patting him on the head.
"Why don't we come up with some sort of *plan* first?" he suggested.
"Actually I'm kind of liking the ripping apart idea," Seiya said, and he smiled as he saw Taiki and Ami meet in the middle of the hallway, blushing the instant they saw one another.
"Whatever we do, let's do it quickly," Mamoru suggested, and then he let out a weak sound of protest as Usagi squealed happily and launched herself at him, knocking him back into an unstable wall that creaked at the impact.
"Usako..." Mamoru moaned. "Please, can we do this a little bit later?"
"Oh...sure," Usagi said with a girlish giggle before she pulled away, allowing him to dust himself off.
"All right, everyone," she said, turning and pointing to the stairway. "Forward march!"
Everyone remained still, except for Rei and Yaten, who each tapped their feet impatiently.
"Um...Rei-chan, where are we going?" Usagi whispered.
"The drawing room," Rei said from between gritted teeth, and Usagi beamed.
"Right! To the drawing room!"
And she led her twelve sleepy troops down the stairs and towards the drawing room.
They found the old couple just where Hotaru had left them, entrapped within her Silent Wall, but there was no remaining sign of an old man or an old woman, or anything even remotely human. What stared up at them were two obvious youma, by then quivering with fear as they realized their impending doom.
As soon as Usagi saw their expressions, she took pity on them, as it was her nature to do.
"Hotaru, would you...?" Usagi asked, and with a nod, Hotaru released the barrier. The two miserable creatures shuffled forwards, kneeling before Usagi, sniveling about how they wished for forgiveness.
She nodded, smiled sadly, and placed a pale hand on each of their heads, then watched passively as both of them crumbled to ash at her fingertips. The dusty remains blew into the fire and crackled briefly, while Usagi turned back to the others, closing her hands into small fists. It was obvious she was trying by then not to cry; Mamoru took her in his arms and comforted her, and after a moment she nodded her head, having regained her strength, and stepped away from him.
"All right, now...Setsuna-san, take who you want, and go ahead," Usagi said, gesturing towards the hallway. "I leave the rest in your hands."
Setsuna nodded and turned to her family.
"Haruka-san, Michiru-san, Hotaru-chan...if you please," she said, and each of them nodded in turn before they followed her down the hall and towards the cellar. Usagi smiled her approval at this arrangement.
After a moment they heard a sharp boom, the noise loud enough to shake the house on its foundations, and then Setsuna, Haruka, Michiru and Hotaru reappeared at the top of the stairs, their weapons no longer in evidence.
"All right," Usagi said again, her expression one of total exhaustion. "Let's get our stuff and get out of here."
Without argument they all trooped upstairs, packed up their stuff, and made their way out into the mild spring evening. Mamoru commented idly on how brilliant the stars were that night, and a few of the others muttered their agreement as Rei lingered behind on the porch, saying a prayer for the hundreds of restless souls she could sense had been stolen here. She pulled out one of her fuda and held it to her forehead, whispering the sacred words and adding an incantation of her own before she lay the paper to rest on the front porch. As they drove away, a few of them couldn't help but look back and watch the purifying blaze, the flames licking high into the air, turning the night sky grey with smoke.
*****
From yonder of darkness, pierced light
awaken the past
Eternity of time is ticking away endlessly,
Reminiscence
From yonder of time, the present tied to
the past
With pieces of recollection, Reminiscence
*****
THE END
Happy Hallowe'en! ^_~ Don't let the vampires bite!
Date Finished: October 23rd, 2004
Classification: Horror, Suspense, whatever you want to call a Creepy!Fic
Pairing: None especially; all non-canon pairings are only hinted.
Rating: PG-13
Note: Written for the sixth Gundam Legends challenge. (http://www.wiwp.nu/halloween/)
Museishi
~Silent Death~
By Elsewhere
elsewherecw@shaw.ca
All other information in Part One.
Part Three:
*****
Crumbling forms are closing in towards
me
I wish everything would collapse and
scatter away
*****
"So you've broken the curse," the old man said conversationally, his eyes sweeping the three of them in turn.
"Damn right we have," Yaten said, his voice low and dangerous as he came to stand next to the fire. His hand was in his pocket, clutched around something.
"Tell us; how did you do it?" the old woman asked, clearly curious.
"All three of us have some extrasensory ability; he and I are empaths, able to find the psychological flaws in your dream world, and she's capable of precognition," Rei said evenly, her hand clasped firmly around her wand as she stood next to Yaten, unwilling to let her guard down for even a second.
Hotaru stood between her friends and the door, blocking off the exit, leaning almost casually against her glaive.
"I saw this coming the moment I set foot in that bedroom," she remarked idly. "Of course by then it was too late, and I had been ensnared, just like everyone else. After that all I could do was play along and try to find my way out of it."
"As for the two of us," Yaten said, glancing at Rei and waiting until she nodded, confirming that what he was saying was correct, "a part of our consciousness, which had sensed the danger in this house as soon as we entered it, remained aware. That part of ourselves encountered our dream selves and pulled us back, out of the dream."
"A never-ending nightmare, giving you a realistic vision of your worst fear come true...right?" Rei said, narrowing her eyes. "But why?"
"I think I can guess," Yaten said grimly, folding his arms over his chest.
"You are correct, Yaten-san."
All of them looked up, watching as Setsuna walked slowly across the room, her Garnet Rod held in her left hand.
"Setsuna-mama," Hotaru said, her tone calm.
"Setsuna! You made it out too," Rei remarked, and Setsuna smiled slightly.
"I was never taken in," she said lightly, focusing her eyes briefly on the old couple, who were now nervously glancing at each other where they sat on the couch.
"How? How could you be immune to our nightmares?" the woman whispered, obviously frightened by this news.
Setsuna's smile became slightly unpleasant.
"I have lived and died for several thousands of years," she said grimly. "All of my worst nightmares have at some point come to pass. There is nothing that frightens me anymore."
She didn't speak in order to brag; she told only the jaded truth. The old couple stared at her with a kind of respectful horror.
"Now, if the three of you would come with me, I think it's time we set to rescuing the others," Setsuna said evenly, and then she gestured with a nod of her head towards the old couple. "Hotaru, if you would, please."
"I'd be glad to," Hotaru said, stepping forward with her glaive raised. The old couple cowered backwards, towards the fireplace, and in their fear, their human visages started to falter, slowly revealing the creatures beneath.
Yaten and Rei stepped out of the way as Hotaru held the glaive in front of herself.
"You...you can't kill us," the old man said suddenly, his voice bursting with desperate bravado.
"I don't intend to," Hotaru said simply, and then she pointed the Silence Glaive towards the sky and shouted the words of incantation. In an instant, a glittering barrier had surrounded the small, enclosed space the two creatures stood huddled within.
"S-Surely you don't think this can entrap us?" the woman said, taking a step towards the barrier.
"Go ahead and try," Hotaru suggested, and the woman stepped back, shivering with fear.
"But there's nothing you can do!" the man said, sounding somewhat exasperated. "Once they've been caught in our nightmares, they cannot be brought out...you can't save your friends."
"Watch us," Yaten snapped, before he turned on his heel and followed the others out of the room.
*****
"What are they?" Rei asked as the four of them hurried down the steps towards the cellar, Setsuna in the lead with her rod held up, the Talisman at the end providing an eerie red glow that lit their passage.
"Vampires," Setsuna said, to which Rei blinked.
"Vampires?"
"Not like you're thinking," Yaten said, frowning slightly as he brushed a cobweb away from his face. "We have similar creatures in my home system. These ones aren't like the ones you Earth people think about when you hear the word 'vampire', sucking blood and so on..."
"Precisely. These ones feed on souls," Setsuna added, and Rei gasped, glancing back towards Hotaru, who was bringing up the rear. The youngest of them had a pinched look of grim determination on her face.
"The nightmares keep the prey occupied so they don't struggle while the soulstealers suck out their souls," Hotaru said, and Yaten and Setsuna nodded their agreement.
"But obviously these two are not capable of doing all of this on their own," Rei said, glancing at the others. "Right? They may feed on the souls, and they may have created the nightmares, but could just the two of them have gone around in the time since we went to sleep collecting everyone's souls?"
"No," Yaten said, shaking his head. "What felt like hours to us in our nightmares was actually a period of less than five minutes; that was how long it took the three of us to break the cycle and get free of the dreams."
"They have a rather neat soul-collecting system," Setsuna remarked as they finally reached the cellar, deep underground, and she tapped her rod, increasing the illumination it provided, as she stepped forward. "Now, please step carefully..."
The other three were silent, unsure what to say as she finally brought her rod to rest just above a small potted plant. It looked like some kind of cactus.
"This is what they've been using," Setsuna said quietly. "I know it doesn't look deadly at the moment, but that's because I have subdued it."
"What is it?" Rei asked. Upon closer inspection, they could all see that something was off about the plant; it seemed to be breathing out cold air, heaving and shaking slightly as though it was sleeping, and uneasily at that.
"It's a piece of a very dangerous plant called 'Museishi'," Setsuna explained. "It's been a very long time since I've seen any sign of one. The plant's main property is the ability to suck the life essence---the soul, if you will---out of any living creature that gets within a certain radius of it. A full-grown plant is capable of draining the life of an entire planet in a matter of minutes."
"Damn," Yaten muttered, obviously impressed. "What is it doing here?"
"I have no idea. But since this is only a cutting, its power is limited to just the local area," Setsuna said quietly. "Although it may also be what's causing the unusual weather patterns."
"That gas station..." Hotaru murmured, and the others turned to her, confused until she explained further. "The people at that gas station warned us that this wasn't a good place to go camping. They told us people often disappear here."
Rei set her jaw, her expression uneasy.
"This must have been happening for years," she murmured. "They lure people to this place, a few at a time, promising a cold place out of the storm, and feed on their souls."
"Not anymore," Yaten said firmly. By then he had his brooch out and was clutching it in his palm. "What do we do with it?"
"If we kill it now, we risk the souls within it---the souls of our companions," Setsuna said regretfully. "I think there must be only one way to free them..."
"We have to get them to break the nightmare, the way we did, and pull their souls back from the Museishi," Rei concluded, glancing around at the others.
None of them were pleased about the prospect, but it was obvious that it would have to be done.
"All right then...let's go," Yaten said, gesturing back to the stairway, and they started back up the stairs at twice the speed they'd come down them.
*****
The hardest part was willingly submitting themselves to the nightmare again. Rei was the first to succeed, meditating in her place on the bed, surrounded by her four lifeless roommates, until it overtook her again. Hotaru and Setsuna went next, and Yaten held on stubbornly until the very last moment until he finally closed his eyes and let the blackness claim him.
When he opened his eyes, he was still on the bed, but he could hear sobbing nearby. The beds around him were empty. He got to his feet and hurried around the corner to the bathroom.
Seiya was sitting in the bathtub, rocking herself back and forth, sobs wracking her body as she rubbed at her eyes until they were red and raw. As soon as she drew her hands away, Yaten gasped at the sight of Seiya's face, or the mangled remains of it, ripped to shreds. A glance at the shattered mirror explained that. The bathtub she sat in was filled to her ankles with blood.
"Seiya...Seiya," Yaten said, as gently as he could, approaching her carefully.
"No, please, Yaten, no more...I know already," Seiya cried, like a lost little girl, and Yaten bit his lip, gathering his courage, before he stepped into the bathtub, feeling the blood seep between his toes.
"Seiya, look at me," Yaten said, and he knelt before her, his hands touching her shoulders. "Seiya...it's really me this time. You're dreaming. This is a nightmare, and you have to wake up. You have to realize it's just a dream and wake up, now."
Something about the urgency in his voice, or perhaps the unexpected warmth of his touch, made Seiya look up in surprise, and she started crying again when she saw the kind look on Yaten's face. At this moment, it seemed worse to her than the Yaten she had seen in the mirror.
"Seiya, come on...look, you have to listen to me," Yaten said, quickly growing desperate with Seiya's lack of positive response. "*Please*, Seiya."
"I didn't mean to fail you, I swear to god, Yaten, I didn't mean it..."
Yaten reached out, risking everything on the only chance he could think of, spurred on by Seiya's nonsensical ravings. He pulled her forward gently, folding his arms around her, and buried his face in her hair.
"I know you didn't, Seiya. I know you would never deliberately hurt me," he said, his voice firm and steady as he bent to speak directly into Seiya's ear. "And you know that I would never hurt you, don't you...?"
There was a long silence, and Yaten held her throughout it, rocking her, stroking her hair. Then, finally, something released, and Seiya let out a long, shuddering breath. Yaten felt the world around him shift, like a glitchy computer screen, and suddenly he was kneeling in a cold, dry bathtub, holding another man in his arms.
Seiya looked up, his face streaked with tears but clear of blood and gore. Yaten let out a sigh of relief, and watched as Seiya hesitantly smiled.
"Um...hey, Yaten," Seiya said, sounding completely and utterly embarrassed.
"Never mind all that," Yaten said, shaking his head before he let Seiya go and climbed out of the bathtub. He turned back and held out a hand; Seiya took it and shakily got to his feet. "We've got to find Taiki."
"Right," Seiya agreed, and without another word---only the briefest, deeply meaningful glance passed between them---they left to find their bandmate.
*****
Rei opened her eyes and sat up, taking in her surroundings in a glance and realizing instantly that she was alone. She had to find the others---in particular, she had to find Usagi, because she had a feeling Usagi would be able to help her with the rest. Her last memory of Usagi was the chilling sight of her lying cold and still on the rug in front of the fireplace, but she knew that wasn't reality. She moved through the empty house and out into the night, ignoring the rain that pounded hard against her as though trying to keep her away as she walked steadfastly towards the one landmark on the flat land outside: a huge, ancient, solitary tree. A flash of lightning illuminated the tree and in that instant she saw Usagi standing alone beneath it, hands over her eyes, crying desperately.
"Usagi!" Rei shouted. "Usagi."
She spoke the name again as she finally reached her friend and pulled Usagi into her arms, trying to warm her.
"Rei-chan...Mamo-chan, he...he's..." Usagi gasped, her lips numb with cold.
"There's nothing wrong with Mamoru-san, Usagi," Rei said, shaking her head. "He's asleep, just like the rest of us. This is a dream! A nightmare."
"But...but I saw..." Usagi said, but she stopped when Rei shook an angry finger in her face.
"Would I lie to you?" Rei demanded, her tone verging on righteous anger.
Usagi slowly shook her head, and Rei watched, amazed, as the haze slowly cleared out of Usagi's eyes. The landscape seemed to shift slightly, and then it stopped raining, revealing a balmy, moonlit spring evening. Usagi stared around, awe-struck, her gaze finally coming to rest on the foot of the tree.
"But I saw him here..." she whispered, a hand over her mouth.
"It was just a dream," Rei said, clasping Usagi tighter. "And now you have to help me get the others out of it, all right?"
Usagi nodded, her resolution at this suggestion of action instant.
"Just tell me what to do," she said, and Rei nodded, taking her hand and pulling her back towards the house.
*****
Rei first took Usagi to the kitchen, where they found Mamoru lying on the floor, staring up at the ceiling as though he'd found something especially fascinating there.
"Mamo-chan!" Usagi exclaimed, and then she bent over him, obviously concerned. "Mamo-chan, can you hear me?"
"If he can't, then *make* him hear you," Rei advised her, and Usagi nodded determinedly.
"Mamo-chan...I think I probably know what you're thinking, so it will probably make sense if I say that it's not true, and you know it's not. You know you could never fail me, because I don't expect anything of you...except that you love me, and you do, and that's enough."
She cut off her ramble long enough to give him a quick peck on the lips.
"You know I don't bother worrying about the other stuff," she said with a slight grin. "We're together, and that's what matters to me. And we always will be, Mamo-chan. We always will be."
Rei watched, a slow smile crossing her face, as Mamoru's eyes cleared and he slowly reached up a hand to cup Usagi's cheek, the expression on his face going from confused to relieved in a matter of seconds.
"You go ahead and wake up now, Mamo-chan...we'll take care of the rest," Usagi whispered, bending to kiss him once more before he faded away. She got to her feet and turned to Rei.
"Okay, where next?" she asked, and Rei took her hand, ready to lead the way again.
*****
Seiya swore softly when he and Yaten first stepped off the back porch into the pouring rain, and Yaten glanced back to make sure Seiya was closely following him before he pushed onward.
"Where are we going?" Seiya called, hoping his voice would carry over the sounds of the storm.
"That tree," Yaten said, pointing to the huge, dark silhouette ahead of them. "I have a feeling about it..."
As usual, of course, his feeling was spot on. They reached the foot of the tree and Seiya swore again when they saw Taiki sitting cross-legged in front of it, holding Ami's hand. A closer look and Seiya had to turn his head, feeling bile rising up in his throat. Ami was dead, her wrists slit; the mud surrounding her and Taiki was red with blood.
"It's part of the illusion," Yaten said, but he too sounded a little weakened by the sight as he crouched next to Taiki.
"Taiki," Yaten said, taking hold of Taiki's shoulder and shaking it once, firmly. "Taiki! This is a nightmare, Taiki. I know somewhere in that enormous brain of yours you have to realize that this isn't something Ami-san would do. Come on, think it out logically...you do it with *everything* else."
Taiki was non-responsive, so Yaten sighed and glanced back towards Seiya.
"A little help, here?" Yaten said irritably, so Seiya reluctantly got to his knees next to Taiki, trying to ignore the blood.
"Taiki? Taiki, it's me...it's Se...it's Fighter," he said, reaching out to touch Taiki's cold hands. "Look, I know I don't do this often, and I know it kind of pisses you off when I do, but I'm going to have to give you an order, all right? As your leader, seriously...a very important order. I need you to snap out of it *right now*."
As though galvanized, Taiki suddenly lifted her head and blinked, then turned slowly to glance at her two bandmates.
"Seiya? Yaten? What...?" Then she stared down at Ami, and blanched.
"It's a dream, Taiki," Yaten said quickly. "This is a nightmare. We're here to help you break out of it. You're seeing something you fear. For once, you're justified in rationalizing yourself out of something, so go ahead and *do it*."
Taiki blinked again, and Yaten and Seiya both stayed still as again the world rocked, tilted, and then was set right again. The rain stopped, the blood disappeared, and Taiki was holding a warm hand, his fingers feeling for a pulse. Then, as he watched, she disappeared altogether.
He opened his mouth to say something, then hesitated, glancing at the others.
"Go ahead," Seiya said with a small smile.
"We'll be waiting for you," Yaten agreed, and then they stepped away and vanished.
Taiki turned and, setting his jaw, got to his feet, ready to step back into the rain. Two steps and he was back into the thick of it, pouring down on him in wide sheets, and there she was, just a few feet from him, kneeling in the mud and crying helplessly.
"Ami-san!" He ran the few extra steps to her and skidded to a stop, kneeling in front of her, taking her shoulders in his hands and shaking her slightly. "Ami-san, look at me."
She didn't respond.
"Ami-san, whatever it is you've seen or are seeing, it isn't real! We've been trapped in a cycle of nightmares, and it's time to break free," Taiki said, and even he was surprised by the strain in his voice. Of course he'd been trying to hide so many things for so many years...dreams were often revealing. "Please come with me, Ami-san...please."
When she still said nothing and didn't move, he let out a frustrated sound and leaned forward, pulling her up into his lap and cradling her there.
"Look at me!" he demanded. "Damn it, Ami, look at me!"
Finally his words seemed to get through, and she looked up, her eyes wide and forlorn. When she saw the kindness in his eyes, she seemed puzzled.
"Usagi-chan...Mamoru-san..." she began, weakly.
"They're fine...they're asleep, just like you are right this minute," he said, bringing up a hand to gently stroke her cheek. "It's time we woke up, Ami."
She was silent for another minute, but he watched as the cloudiness in her usually-brilliant blue eyes faded away, replaced by determination. They both looked up as the rain stopped, and she touched his face in return.
"All right...let's go."
*****
They found Makoto and Minako both kneeling on the carpet in front of the fireplace, and Usagi blinked, a bit disconcerted to see the dead version of herself lying on the same carpet, cold and wet. Makoto seemed catatonic, lost in her remorse, and Minako was weeping with grief.
"You take Mako-chan; I'll try Minako-chan," Rei suggested, and Usagi nodded, moving over to kneel in front of her friend.
"Mako-chan," she whispered, bringing up her hands to gently wipe the tears away from Makoto's cheeks. "Mako-chan, it's me...Usagi-chan. I'm not dead. I'm alive, and I'm right here in front of you. Would you...would you look at me? I don't want to see you like this anymore."
Her words were earnest, her expression pained, and she watched as, at her touch and the sound of her voice, Makoto slowly came around, eyelashes fluttering a few times before she caught Usagi's bright blue gaze. In the next second she was grasping Usagi's hands and then hugging her tightly, making sure she was real, sobbing her relief against Usagi's shoulder.
Minako wasn't as easy to pull out of it.
"Minako-chan?" Rei said, gently touching Minako's hand where it still clasped one of the dead Usagi's. "Minako-chan, it's Rei-chan...listen to me...we've all..."
"My responsibility," Minako muttered, her voice so low and dull that Rei felt a pang of unease move through her. "Leader...ha...some leader...my responsibility...nothing, now, all nothing..."
"Minako-chan," Rei said again, but when Minako continued to mutter nonsensically, Rei quickly lost her patience. She didn't like the feeling Minako's words were creating in the pit of her stomach, as though Minako was threatening to pull *her* back into the nightmare world. She drew back her hand and, gritting her teeth, slapped Minako hard across the face.
The effect was instant.
"OW!! REI-CHAN!! WHAT THE HECK DID YOU DO THAT FOR YOU..."
Minako's voice cut off abruptly as she stared around herself, and then at the two Usagi's, one dead on the carpet and one clutched in Makoto's grasp.
"Oh my god, I could've sworn I was just..." she started to say, but then she saw Rei shaking her head.
"It's all been just a bad dream, and now it's time to end it," Rei said with a small smile. "Good to have you back, Minako-chan."
"Um...right!" Minako said, giggling and scratching the back of her head as she noticed that suddenly the room was different; Usagi's corpse was gone.
"Okay, everyone...time to wake up," Usagi said loudly, and the other three replied with a firm shout of, "Right!"
*****
Hotaru got up from where she was kneeling on the kitchen floor and walked quickly upstairs to the bedroom she'd been sharing with her parents, and found the beds empty. Then she glanced up and saw one of her mothers standing by the window, looking out at the moon.
"It's stopped raining," Setsuna observed pointlessly before she offered Hotaru a gentle smile and held out her hand. Hotaru touched it, and together they stepped forward into the nightmare.
Haruka was curled up on the floor of the bathroom, staring at nothing at all. When Hotaru knelt in front of her, at first she went unnoticed. Hotaru sighed as she lightly ran her hands through her papa's hair.
"You always worry too much, Haruka-papa," she said softly, a slight tone of reproach coloring her words. "You know I'm not really a child."
"Child...my own child, and I killed her with my own hands," Haruka whispered, her voice hoarse from screaming. She stared at her hands, as though she could see blood on them.
"That was a long time ago," Hotaru said, still gently stroking her hands through Haruka's short, sandy blonde hair. "And long since forgiven. All of that is behind us."
Haruka shook her head, closing her eyes against the tears welling up against her eyelids.
"You do what you have to do, and none of us blame you for it," Hotaru said, leaning forward to kiss Haruka gently on the forehead. "And besides all of that, you're too overprotective. I'm not really a child."
The repetition finally seemed to sink into Haruka's brain, and after a moment she reached out and pulled Hotaru into her arms.
"Of course you are," Haruka whispered, her voice shaking. "My only child."
They were silent for a moment before Haruka looked up, first looking at Hotaru, and then up at Setsuna, who smiled gently.
"Hotaru...Setsuna...I..."
"Later," Setsuna said gently, reaching out to help Haruka to her feet. "Now, we must find Michiru-san."
Haruka got to her feet and followed them down the stairs, into the kitchen, where they found Michiru huddled under the table, hands tightly clasped to her ears, staring at the kitchen floor, where Setsuna's dead body was sprawled. Setsuna coughed and stepped over her corpse before stopping to lean against the door jam. Hotaru stood next to her, watching silently as Haruka slowly crawled under the table.
"Michiru," Haruka murmured, her voice still shaky, but it was nonetheless the sweetest, most loving tone either Hotaru or Setsuna had ever heard her use, in all their time living together. "Michiru?"
Michiru continued to look at the body on the kitchen floor, so Haruka moved herself into Michiru's line of sight and reached up to clasp Michiru's face.
"Michiru..." Haruka murmured one last time as she bent downwards and brushed her lips ever so gently over her lover's. At first there was no response; it was like kissing ice. But after a moment, the tension seemed to flood out of Michiru all at once and she wrapped her arms around Haruka's neck, pulling herself closer, kissing Haruka with a fervency that suggested desperation.
They woke up wrapped up in each other's arms, legs tangled beneath the sheets, and Haruka offered Michiru a brief smirk before she threw off the covers and bounced to her feet.
"Well, that was revitalizing," Haruka said, punching her fist into her other hand. "Now we get to kick some ass, right?"
"For once I concur," Michiru said as she appeared beside Haruka, pressing close to her in the darkness of the room.
"What are you saying? You've got way more of a lust for blood than I ever had...ow!!" Haruka gasped as Michiru elbowed her sharply in the ribs.
"Now, now," Hotaru said, rolling her eyes as she came around to stand in front of them, running her hands through her newly sleep-mussed hair. "You know what they say about how bad it is for a child to see her parents fight in front of her."
"The child's got your mouth," Michiru said, glaring at Haruka, who blinked.
"What? No way! Setsuna's the one with that kind of sense of humor," she accused, pointing to Setsuna, who was still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
"What am I being accused of now?" Setsuna asked with a wry smile as she got to her feet and came to stand behind her daughter, touching Hotaru's shoulder and smiling down at her.
Whatever Haruka and Michiru had planned to say in return was interrupted by the sound of a commotion out in the hallway. The four of them hurried to the door, nearly tripping themselves up, and found Usagi, Rei, Minako, Makoto and Ami gathered in the hall, all talking in whispers to one another. Usagi was madly gesturing, while Rei seemed to be trying her best to yell at Usagi in a whisper.
"Oh, there you are!" Rei said, turning her attention abruptly to the four new arrivals. "We thought you might never wake up."
She winked at Setsuna and Hotaru, who simply smiled in return. Just then, the door across the hall banged open and Yaten stepped out.
"All right, let's rip this joint apart," he said loudly, and with a sigh, Taiki stepped past him, patting him on the head.
"Why don't we come up with some sort of *plan* first?" he suggested.
"Actually I'm kind of liking the ripping apart idea," Seiya said, and he smiled as he saw Taiki and Ami meet in the middle of the hallway, blushing the instant they saw one another.
"Whatever we do, let's do it quickly," Mamoru suggested, and then he let out a weak sound of protest as Usagi squealed happily and launched herself at him, knocking him back into an unstable wall that creaked at the impact.
"Usako..." Mamoru moaned. "Please, can we do this a little bit later?"
"Oh...sure," Usagi said with a girlish giggle before she pulled away, allowing him to dust himself off.
"All right, everyone," she said, turning and pointing to the stairway. "Forward march!"
Everyone remained still, except for Rei and Yaten, who each tapped their feet impatiently.
"Um...Rei-chan, where are we going?" Usagi whispered.
"The drawing room," Rei said from between gritted teeth, and Usagi beamed.
"Right! To the drawing room!"
And she led her twelve sleepy troops down the stairs and towards the drawing room.
They found the old couple just where Hotaru had left them, entrapped within her Silent Wall, but there was no remaining sign of an old man or an old woman, or anything even remotely human. What stared up at them were two obvious youma, by then quivering with fear as they realized their impending doom.
As soon as Usagi saw their expressions, she took pity on them, as it was her nature to do.
"Hotaru, would you...?" Usagi asked, and with a nod, Hotaru released the barrier. The two miserable creatures shuffled forwards, kneeling before Usagi, sniveling about how they wished for forgiveness.
She nodded, smiled sadly, and placed a pale hand on each of their heads, then watched passively as both of them crumbled to ash at her fingertips. The dusty remains blew into the fire and crackled briefly, while Usagi turned back to the others, closing her hands into small fists. It was obvious she was trying by then not to cry; Mamoru took her in his arms and comforted her, and after a moment she nodded her head, having regained her strength, and stepped away from him.
"All right, now...Setsuna-san, take who you want, and go ahead," Usagi said, gesturing towards the hallway. "I leave the rest in your hands."
Setsuna nodded and turned to her family.
"Haruka-san, Michiru-san, Hotaru-chan...if you please," she said, and each of them nodded in turn before they followed her down the hall and towards the cellar. Usagi smiled her approval at this arrangement.
After a moment they heard a sharp boom, the noise loud enough to shake the house on its foundations, and then Setsuna, Haruka, Michiru and Hotaru reappeared at the top of the stairs, their weapons no longer in evidence.
"All right," Usagi said again, her expression one of total exhaustion. "Let's get our stuff and get out of here."
Without argument they all trooped upstairs, packed up their stuff, and made their way out into the mild spring evening. Mamoru commented idly on how brilliant the stars were that night, and a few of the others muttered their agreement as Rei lingered behind on the porch, saying a prayer for the hundreds of restless souls she could sense had been stolen here. She pulled out one of her fuda and held it to her forehead, whispering the sacred words and adding an incantation of her own before she lay the paper to rest on the front porch. As they drove away, a few of them couldn't help but look back and watch the purifying blaze, the flames licking high into the air, turning the night sky grey with smoke.
*****
From yonder of darkness, pierced light
awaken the past
Eternity of time is ticking away endlessly,
Reminiscence
From yonder of time, the present tied to
the past
With pieces of recollection, Reminiscence
*****
THE END
Happy Hallowe'en! ^_~ Don't let the vampires bite!