This is something I wrote a couple of weeks ago... thought I might as
well send it out. My first crossover attempt... Anyway, notes are at the
bottom, and C&C is met with gratitude and appreciation. :)
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Disclaimer:
Sailormoon is property of Takeuchi Naoko-sama; other series
are property of their respective owners. Please don't sue me. ^_^
Thank you for reading! ^_^
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There was going to be an eclipse that night.
Kino Makoto knew it, staring out the window at the darkening Crystal
Palace. Minako had told her earlier, with an unusual amount of anxiety. She
seemed to have some strange superstition running around in her head, and had
been more than happy to share. A child borne of eternal darkness...
Makoto shivered, pulling her jacket tighter around her body. She was
going to kill Minako once this was all over. As long as the stress didn't
kill _her_ first...
"Kino-san?"
She nearly jumped out of her skin, but instead turned, and said
weakly, "Yes?"
The doctor smiled at her. "Kino-san, you look like hell."
Makoto was slightly taken aback, until she remembered the doctor had
no idea who she really was. She smiled back at him, faintly. "Dr. Kitamura.
How is she?"
"Oh, your friend is doing just fine. Won't be long now."
She leaned against the windowpane, silently thanking Kami.
He flashed a smile at her again, and she couldn't help but notice how
charming he looked. She sighed dreamily. Just like her old --
"Uh... Kino-san?"
"Um..." Makoto blushed. "Sorry." She scratched her head sheepishly.
What a time to revert back to adolescence...
Kitamura didn't seem to have noticed. He continued to scratch away at
his clipboard, listening absentmindedly as an aide whispered in his ear. He
nodded, and then looked up at her. "Perhaps we should go in," he said
cheerfully. "It's started."
* * * *
v E r T i G o
a sailormoon xover...
chapter 01: the glass house
* * * *
It had been nearly sixteen years since Hino Ranaki's birth.
The child had turned out to be a red-haired, temperamental, rather
strange little girl. Makoto, teasingly, had told Rei that Ranaki was just
like her... In reality, Makoto had a strong suspicion the girl had more of a
resemblance to her mysterious father than Rei would've liked.
The father... Rei still refused to talk about him, even mention his
name. For a moment, when Setsuna had appeared all those years ago in the
hospital room, Makoto had believed that Rei would crack. "Ranaki," was all
Setsuna had murmured, but the baby had replied. Somewhere between a hiss and
a shriek, she had laughed. Rei seemed almost... horrified. But she had said
nothing, and the name had stuck.
Makoto still wondered about that.
"Mako-chan?" Ami questioned abruptly, rousing her out of her reverie.
The two former senshi were on the top floor of the Crystal Palace,
taking a break from the frenzied activities happening inside. The millennial
anniversary of Neo-Queen Serenity's rise was in one week, and the planning
committee was in their 'chaotic' stage. Frankly, their questions had been
driving Makoto crazy. Ami didn't seem to mind, though, so she was somewhat
surprised when the other woman had asked her up. She hoped it hadn't been for
anything too heavy. She wasn't really up to pondering serious issues at the
moment.
"Sorry, Ami. I was just thinking..." Makoto glanced at her. "So, what
was it you wanted to talk to me about?"
Ami was silent for a long while, staring thoughtfully at the sunset
in the distance. Finally, she spoke, "I'm worried about Rei. She's been much
too tense around Setsuna..."
"Ami," Makoto answered, sighing, "there's been tension between them
ever since --"
"Ever since Ranaki was born, I know," Ami interrupted. "But lately,
it's gotten worse. Rei's been almost... openly hostile. And I heard Haruka
and Michiru talking..."
"You were eavesdropping?" asked Makoto, incredulous.
Ami blushed. "It wasn't purposeful. I was just walking by..." Then
hurriedly continued, "They were discussing Setsuna. Apparently, she had been
acting very strange, preoccupied. And she told them something disturbing
about Rei..."
"What?" Makoto frowned heavily. This was exactly the kind of thing
she didn't want to deal with right now.
Ami shook her head. "I don't know. They were too far away..."
"Why didn't you ask them?"
Ami looked down at her clasped hands, her frown mirroring Makoto's.
"It didn't seem like a conversation they wanted anyone to hear."
There was some flawed logic in that. There had at be. There would be
no reason for Haruka and Michiru to be keeping secrets. All the senshi were
family now... They were...
Makoto scowled. <What bullshit.> she thought to herself. Pluto had
always had her own agenda... and the rest of the Outers still kept their
distance, after all these years. The trust was there, and at the same time,
was not. And yet...
"We can't jump to conclusions," Makoto said grudgingly.
Ami stared at her. "I wasn't."
Makoto cleared her throat, suddenly embarrassed. "Oh." Perhaps... she
was reading into things that weren't there. She needed to find Haruka...
"Well," Ami said, abruptly changing the subject, "I'm famished. What
are you making for me tonight, Mako-chan?"
Makoto managed a small smile. Trust Ami to lighten the mood. It was a
strange thought. "Hmm... how about sauerkraut sushi, and pickled Aegean eggs?"
Ami sweatdropped. "Um... Did you invent that yourself?"
"Ee, yesterday. Sounds yummy, right?"
"Er." Ami's mouth twitched. "Yes, sounds very... appetizing. Um...
just as long as it's not too messy..."
"Huh? Why?"
"I need to memorize my speech for the celebration, and work on
deciphering those Dark Moon scrolls we found awhile back, and grade my
students' papers..."
It was Makoto's turn to sweatdrop. "Is that all?"
"Oh! Yes, that reminds me... I wanted to talk to you about someone."
Makoto groaned. "Please don't tell me Minako convinced you to set me
up again!"
"Um, no. Of course not." Ami shook her head sheepishly. "It's one of
my students. He's a great admirer of yours, and asked me to put in a good
word."
"Why?" Makoto asked suspiciously.
"He'd like to meet you. I told him that would be alright..."
Makoto sighed. "His name?"
"It's... what was it?" Ami frowned, and reached inside her coat,
pulling out a leather-bound notebook. She slowly searched through her class
lists, her expression quizzical, until she came to the person in question.
"Socrates. Kuno Socrates."
Makoto raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, he tells me he comes from a long line of philosophers and
mathematicians..." Ami paused in mid speech. <How odd. His name keeps
slipping away.>
Makoto groaned, and slumped down over the balcony railing. "Well, I
suppose it wouldn't hurt to just meet with him."
<And then again, perhaps it would.>
Strangely enough, the thought hadn't come from Makoto. Nor had it
come from her blue-haired companion.
Hino Rei scowled from her spot within the shadows. <Damn him! Leave
it to one of _them_ to make an impromptu performance, before the play's even
begun.> She wrinkled her nose. She shook her head, quietly making her
escape. <Must be Setsuna.>
--
It had always been there -- a gap in space and time, a place
brimming, and at the same time, devoid of life. It had once been a place of
peaceful solitude, serenity; but Time had changed all of that. It was now a
permanent residence for evil -- bodiless ghosts roamed the limitless
corridors; creatures that had been condemned to an eternity of nothingness,
their souls deemed too destructive for reincarnation.
Silence was the enemy here, as it rolled perversely along unseen
waves of darkness, enticing voices from the voiceless, and sending already
dimwitted minds into a spiraling madness.
There were few who could survive it; every moment slow agony, with no
way to release it, and no way to end it. The minutes rolled into years, as
the years rolled into eons; and it took not quite that long for the souls to
roll into the nothingness, fading away as quickly as they had appeared.
Nevertheless, there was always a survivor. As she had always been.
Her death had been abrupt, and shocking, the rage mingling with the
pain and disbelief. She knew as she fell away from the world that this was
the end -- there would be no more chances. But she refused to accept that,
even as her soul plunged through the mirror between planes, and as she fell,
she snatched a shard of glass. The jagged edges cut into her invisible palm,
the pain tugging at her, as if it wanted to replace the missing piece with
part of her. Yet still she held on, believing utterly that she must be owed
something, even if it was only this glimpse of the outside world. And she, as
always... as almost always, had prevailed.
Once deposited in the void, she had gathered her essence around the
tiny window, and watched, transfixed, as the world moved and changed without
her; and she had continued to do so, since the moment of her death, nearly
two thousand years ago.
Her mind had been kept sharp with anger, and occasionally, moments of
satisfaction. When her enemies were injured, she rejoiced; when they
succeeded, she fumed. She watched as her powerful allies were obliterated,
youma wiped away as if they had never existed. She watched her enemies grow
in power and number, gaining the humans' trust. Soon came the finale -- a
divine ice age summoned by a resourceful youma. To her disgust, both were
defeated, and the humans wept before her enemies like they were goddesses.
And Crystal Tokyo had emerged, as if from a distant nightmare... and
Sailormoon, the repugnant little zealot, was worshipped as her mother had
been before her. An heir was soon produced (more likely coerced from that
fool, Endymion)... a pink-haired gnat, who was cooed over like someone long
lost, and finally returned. She, frankly, found it sickening, and would turn
back to scheming whenever it became too much for her to bear. She had always
enjoyed scheming -- the feeling second only to ordering traitors' deaths --
whether the attempt was fruitless or not. It supplied her with the sense of
control which she craved... and perhaps added a few drops to her small
reservoir of hope.
She had, after a while, begun counting years by plots she had
conceived... one thousand now -- one thousand years since the rise of the
tainted Dark Kingdom. And it was around that time that she finally noticed
the change.
It had been subtle, to be sure, but their was still something
significant happening... something to be exploited. Her mind writhed in
frustration, seeing a clear weakness, a time to strike. But she could do
nothing except watch... and wonder. Crystal Tokyo was no longer unified; a
widening crack visible to the observant eye. Loyalties were changing, and
rearranging. And a new player had entered the game...
<The cowed humans are too feeble-minded to see it. But I, _I_ have
seen through their flimsy charade. Now, if only....>
Her mind withdrew, flinching away from the longing. She felt the
weakness in herself, and lashed out with her thoughts, hatred momentarily
clogging her senses.
The thought stopped. Instantly, as if someone had cupped their hand
around it, and tossed it aside. Her shapeless form turned back to the mirror
shard. It was blank. <No. No.... I won't allow this....>
"In the end, it matters not what you will allow, but what I will
allow you."
Her mind froze, paralyzed by some strange feeling... Fear, she
realized, almost amazed. <I... fear?> Her mind erupted in a spontaneous array
of emotions -- as close as she could come to laughing.
"There are many fates worse than this, Beryl. But I have a special
one in store for you..."
--
The sun was out. She could feel its warmth along her stretch of
exposed skin. Her skin...
Beryl smiled. Of course, it had all been a dream. Metallia, Serenity,
the Darkness -- none had been real. She was lying under her beautiful Earth's
life-giving star, in her father's garden. She was only sixteen, still a
sanguine child. And her brother was coming to visit...
Beryl's eyes shot open. That wasn't right. She had never had...
"As a side affect, you may experience certain memories that aren't
your own."
She turned her head, blinking rapidly. She was lying on stones, and
something yellow was in front of her eyes. "What is -- I --"
A green-haired woman knelt at her side, her expression placid. "It
will take a while to get used to, Beryl."
Her pulse quickened. What was happening? The yellow fuzz was all
around her, the pebbles squirming their way into her back. She had been in a
dark place, and now it was so bright. She had been cast away, and now...
"Senshi," Beryl hissed, attempting to struggle to her feet. It was to
no avail. It felt almost as if lead weights had been placed over her body.
"What have you done to me?"
The woman smiled slightly. "I needed someone who could be controlled,
Beryl. You were the obvious choice." She reached behind her, retrieving a
small silver object. She held it before Beryl's face, and demanded, " Look!
And understand..."
For a moment, Beryl thought she was looking at some sort of photo. A
blonde child, girlishly beautiful, stared down at her from the smooth surface
of the... of the....
"W-what?" she gasped, and the girl's mouth opened along with her own.
She trembled, and the girl trembled with her. She was looking at... a mirror?
But that couldn't be _her_. That frail, fine-boned _thing_...
"From now on -- you are her," the woman stated flatly. "And she is
mine. You will be my eyes and ears at the Crystal Palace until the chosen one
is drawn out. And then, Beryl -- Monou Kotori, the real floor show... will
begin."
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Notes:
I know not much of the plot (or the crossover aspect) has been revealed
but, obviously, more will be revealed in later chapters. (If I decide to
continue it, that is) Lemme know if you think it sucks, and if I should throw
it in the trash. ^_^; I just wanted to try my hand at writing things besides
SM....
Anyway, thanks for looking it over. :)
Later,
~ice (who is desperately trying to get over her current writer's block... -_-)