USAGI IS DEAD II DEAD IS USAGI by DARK DAY FOR ANIME Diclaimer - Sailormoon is owned by Takeuchi Naoko and Bandai, so these characters really belong to them, except ones I made up. This means I'm only using the Sailormoon characters for purposes benign. I'm not a ripoff merchant like "Anya Romanov". ^_^ ------------------------------------------------------------------- S T A R T ------------------------------------------------------------------- "Usagiiiiiiii....." She could hear the soft voice, whispering across her dazed and confused mind. "Uuuuuusaaaaaaagiiiiiii...." It was musical in its low tones. She opened her eyes, and stared into her face. "Ah, I see you're awake, now. That's good." Usagi blinked. "Who... What is...." ""Hmm.... I could have predicted this conversation was going to start that way. You asking who I am and all that. Well, I'm not going to tell you, dearie. It just wouldn't be sporting." ----o Wind raced across the tarmac as Makoto and Hotaru concluded their little tale of how they came to be at this point in time, when they obviously belonged somewhere else. Of course, Naiad also belonged to another point in time, but that was beside the point, so to speak.... "Hmmm...." Naiad put a hand to her chin. "So, the problem runs that deep, does it?" "Hmmm...." Makoto put a hand to her chin. "Yes it does." Naiad sighed, dropping her hands to her side. "Why do you mock me so? I am not your enemy." Makoto and Hotaru looked at each other, a half-smile on Makoto's face, a half frown on Hotaru's. "Look...." Hotaru turned back to Naiad and stepped forward, allowing her glaive to dissipate into its dimensional pocket. "The last time we bumped into you, you were not entirely friendly...." "I have not encountered this incarnation of your beings at any previous stage." Naiad said, indignantly. "It is most unlikely that I have committed this act." "Oh, it was you alright." Makoto crossed her arms and turned aside. "You told us to stop meddling with time. That what we were doing was making things worse, whilst doing things to stuff the situation up even further...." "I do not believe this to be true...." Naiad strode forward, past Hotaru and up to Makoto. The Jupiter senshi looked at her warily. Naiad was one of the few women who could honestly be said to be taller than Makoto, a physical presence that Makoto disliked when encountering someone she didn't trust. "I would do nothing to change the timelines. What is set in stone must remain that way.... Time paradoxes, by their very nature, cannot exist...." "So what do you call that?" Makoto pointed at the bodies of Sailormoon, Mars, Mercury and Jadeite. "I'd call that a monumental stuff up in your theory." "A time paradox cannot occur because it creates events that cancel out the cause. Therefore, a time paradox cannot exist. This reality is a splinter." Makoto blinked, not comprehending. "A splinter?" "Every fraction of a nanosecond, a splinter reality is created. That is what the passages through the worlds of the dead lead to.... Alternate realities are created that are not the core reality. We exist as a part of the core reality. Every possibility that is to exist happens to us...." Makoto's head spun through all this metaphysical jargon. Hotaru stepped up behind Naiad. "What you're saying is, it doesn't matter if she goes through time, screwing around with events. These events will never change the core events of time." Naiad looked aside at her. "There is a limitation. That is why the doors to the worlds of the dead must remain closed, accessable to only a very few...." "What is that limitation?" "When the splinters involve major events in history, creating larger divergents.... Then the splinters start to have splinters, and so on and soforth.... The smaller the event creating the splinter, then the more likely that that timeline shall fade back into the core reality...." "So we can only have so many major blots on the copybook, so to speak?" Makoto chuckled. "Then we start to run out of space for all the new realities created." "Precisely." "What would happen if too many major splinters are created?" Hotaru asked, a dark thought coming to her mind. "A mass annhialation.... The core timeline shall be destroyed, time shall cease to exist.... What remains shall be a jumble of confused and incomprehensible elements...." "Chaos, in other words?" "Indeed." Hotaru and Makoto felt a cold chill run through them. ----o Part Six Chrysanthemum Blood ----o "BAH!" Miste Kiele threw her hands in the air, striding purposefully around her darkened bedroom. "How dare you invade my private domain to address me with such lies." "The truth....." Ami started, softly. "....Is sometimes hard to accept." "Accept? Accept!? I will not accept that I am to be partly responsible for the downfall of the Kingdom." She turned on Ami and stepped up to her. "So you're my future life, eh? I guess one can go backwards in their development, after all...." Ami smiled. "Your insults don't work on me, I'm afraid. You're only berating someone who has learnt from your mistakes." Miste sneered. "Do you really think I shall betray my position? I am the Senshi of Mercury. I promise you, I take the duties of that role very seriously." "And they are?" "To defend my Queen from attack, be they physical, psychological or otherwise." Miste crossed her arms as Ami smiled back at her. "And who is your Queen?" "There is no Queen, at present. The old Queen Serenity has passed on.... Wait...." Miste looked at her intently. "Yes, indeed. The new Queen is to be Tranquility, not the Princess Serenity." Miste's face went dark, and she turned from Ami, trying to hide that expression. Ami's smile also faded. "Now let me ask you, Miste.... To whom do you hold your loyalties?" "To the Queen, of course." "Are you so sure?" Miste did not answer. ----o Hotaru stood, triumphantly, over the unconcious forms of the anti-Usagi extremists as the crowd, standing around the scene outside of the hospital, started to applaud. Hotaru put a hand behind her head and giggled inanely. "Arigato...." She felt embarassed to be the centre of attention like this. "Puuuuuu...." Said the small, white bunny senshi, sitting on the bodies of the thugs, smiling. Hotaru turned to it, confounded but amused by her saviour. "Uh, thanks for your help.... Sailor PuPuPu....?" "Pu puuuuu." Sailor PuPuPu waved one of her little paws at Hotaru, then with a dramatic flourish, bowed to the crowd and leapt high into the air. "Pu puuuuuuuuuuu........" It landed on the building from which it had made its entrance and turned one last time to the crowd. "Three cheers for Sailor PuPuPu...." Hotaru heard someone say as she watched Makoto being helped out of the crowd by a young woman, with cat's ears and a tail, dressed in a semi-official police uniform. "Hip hip...." "HOORAY!" The crowd chanted. "Hip hip...." "HOORAY!" As the crowd gave its last cheer, Sailor PuPuPu waved to her adoring fans, and bounded dramatically into the darkness.... "What the fuck was that about?" Said Makoto when she reached Hotaru. The dark-haired senshi shrugged. "Buggered if I know, pal. Buggered if I know...." ----o Usagi stared at the stranger. She was dressed in a singlet and denim shorts, and wore her long, silver-white hair down, without the odango affectations. So in some respects, this wasn't the same person. However.... She tried to move, but found her arms had been tied to the back of the chair in which she had been sitting. "Why have you tied me like this? Who are you anyway?" "Who am I...." The double lifted up her head, staring at the ceiling of the dark, bare room they were in. "I really wish I knew. I thought I was you, but it seems I made a mistake." "How could you be me? I'm me. At least, I think I'm me. I was me the last time I looked." Usagi's head began to spin. "Enough of this.... Why have you tied me up like this?" "Because I don't want you wandering about. It's not good practice, you see, when you've kidnapped someone, to allow them to chance an escape. Even, in your case, to go through the henshin procedure, and become Eteranal Sailormoon, or whatever you like to call yourself." "Why have you kidnapped me?" Usagi was furious. Her double shook her head and giggled, which faded into a cackle that caused a chill to run down Usagi's spine. "Oh, it's 'why' this and 'why' that, is it? You really are the most unimaginative individual. I can barely believe I was spawned from someone as overtly stupid as you." "How dare you.... Just you WAIT!" Usagi started to thrash about in her chair, causing it to topple sideways. She crashed to the floor with a painful thump. For a few moments more, she was flying amongst the stars. When she came to, the double's face was in hers again. Not a pleasant sight from floor-level. "What did you think you were going to achieve by that little display of emotion? An easy escape?" "You can't just call me stupid and get away with it...." "But I did. It isn't any more likely that you're going to thump me from where you're lying now than when you were sitting up." "Oooooh! Just wait until I get my hands on you!" "And you'll do what, eh?" She poked Usagi's nose with a finger. "Bite my ankles, or something to that effect?" "Bitch." "Aww, now that's just TOO nasty. Wouldn't it be better if I sat you up, like a good little girl?" Her double simpered. It made Usagi feel sick. "Why would I want any help from you? You've kidnapped me, for whatever reason, and you've tied me up in this chair. Just what the hell is going on, here?" "Oh, so you'd prefer it if I left you on the floor? Have it your own way, then." The double stood and walked across the floor, stopping at the far wall, chuckling. Usagi blinked in surprise. "Hey, I didn't mean it that way. You can't leave me on the floor...." The double ignored her. "Hey! Please, I can't stay like this.... I get funny dizzy spells.... Hoi!" "You should have thought of that before you dissed me, bitch. Now you're stuck down there. What are you going to do about it?" ----o "Your allegiances have always.... ALWAYS... been to Serenity. You allowed yourself to get close to the girl. You NEVER allow yourself to get close to anyone, and yet, with Serenity, you found a power of will you could not ignore. And so, to find that she is not to be Queen must have come as a monumental shock to you." "My duty is to my Queen." Miste's response to Ami's statement carried an annoyed tone. Ami paused for a few moments, allowing the words to sink into Miste's mind. "So why are you leaving the Palace to take up the position of Serenity's advisor in her new role as a colonial Governess?" "Because I follow my heart. My heart tells me that I shall find more joy in life as Serenity's advisor than to be couped up here in the Palace." "Yes, the Palace does have an awfully anaemic atmosphere. However, I wonder if that statement really rings true...." "Are you suggesting that I am lying?" Miste turned on Ami. "I don't really believe, for one moment, that someone with the political drive that you have had in your time is willing to give everything away because of an attack of the warm fuzzies." Ami almost laughed at Miste's expression. "What do you mean, 'warm fuzzies'?" Miste asked, slowly. "I mean, you are a puppeteer. You're more at home manipulating people than making yourself feel good by doing charitable works." "I beg to differ. I am the convenor and patron of many of the Kingdom's charities." "Well bully for you.... I'm sure everyone thinks of you as a warm and cuddly individual. It doesn't change the fact that, after a week of the fresh air around Garnia, you'll be itching to chop some tall poppy down. You might even take to lynching the poor and stealing candy from babies to get your kicks." "That does it. I don't have to listen to this from you." Miste ranged up on Ami, threateningly. "Remember who I am, Miste? I am your future life. I have learnt from the mistakes YOU made." Ami prodded Miste in the chest, displaying absolutely no fear of her. Miste was taken aback by Ami's brazen attitude. There certainly were aspects of her that had survived her passing, that was for sure. ----o Makoto and Hotaru sat quietly in one of the offices at the hospital. CereCere rubbed Makoto's back, trying to relax the pent- up frustrations of the tall woman. "Dammit!" Makoto punched a fist into her other hand. "Where in Kami's name did they get themselves a rubicon. I thought the last one of those was dispensed with when we raided Rubi's shrine fortress...." Natsagi, the young policewoman who had attended the scene, leant against the wall beside the door, looking out as hospital workers cleared away the damage from the attack by the Usagi extremists. "Did you really think you were going to be able to rid yourselves of the problem by ridding yourselves of all the rubicons that had been constructed?" She sniffed and pawed at her hair. Makoto stared at her as she became distracted and started licking herself. "Nyaa... Nyaa..." "Well, she is a cat...." Hotaru sweatdropped. "What she says is true, though." CereCere leant over Makoto's shoulder. "We smashed the symptoms, but not the cause. We never found the plans for the rubicon, itself." Natsagi wiggled her ears and returned to the conversation. "We've had some problem with criminals using the rubicon against those of us who have magic powers. So far, none of us have been able to find who is constructing them...." "Most likely not in this town." Hotaru nodded. "If it had been in this town, we'd have caught them by now." Natsagi screwed up her nose in a kawaii fashion. "Anyway, now that my people have the identities of the individuals who attacked this hospital, we'll be able to track down where they got their hands on the rubicon...." "I certainly hope so." Hotaru looked at the floor. At that moment, Usako and Umi appeared in teh doorway. Umi had a smile on her face as wide as the Grand Canyon, as she carried a small, white bundle into the room. "Hey guys, look what I found while we were hiding...." Everyone in the room looked up. In Umi's arms sat a small bunny thing. For a moment, both Hotaru and Makoto blinked. "Puuu...." Said the bunny. Umi hugged the bunny tightly. "Isn't she just the cutest thing you've ever seen? I've called her Mokosagi." Umi pointed to the small tuft of gold hair sitting on top of the bunny's head. "I think she's another Usagi clone. She certainly seems to like the name. Don't you, Mokosagi?" "Puuu..." Mokosagi nodded in agreement. Hotaru was the first to speak. "It couldn't be...." Makoto was next. "It has to be...." They both stared at each other, then shook their heads. "Nahhh... It couldn't be that obvious." Hotaru shrugged. "Puuu...." Mokosagi said, with her perpetual smile. ----o Swing, slice.... Usagi opened her eyes. Swing, slice.... She looked up. Swing, slice.... There was something swinging over her. Swing, slice.... Attached to the ceiling. Swing, slice.... It had a large blade on the end, making slashing movements across her middle. She let out a gasp, and could hear laughter from all around. Swing, slice.... She tried to move away, but found she had been tied down. Swing, slice.... She was tied down to a pool table. She turned aside, and saw all of the members of the Hotel's Activities Room watching her, drooling. Even the monitor was standing there, taking bets on how long she would last before she finally broke.... Swing, slice.... That might not be very long, at the rate the blade was being lowered.... She wanted her teddy, right here, right now.... Swing, slice.... ....And slowly, her tenuous hold on reality started to slip. Swing, slice.... She felt the urge to scream. Swing, slice.... And then there were explosions. Other people began to scream for her as she felt blood splatter over her body. At first, she thought she'd been struck by the swinging blade, and closed her eyes to endure the pain in her final moments. But there was no pain, What there was, following the fading screams and explosions, was a few moments of silence, where she felt her bonds being relaxed. She opened her eyes, to see the Security Guard, leering over her. She sat up quickly, almost banging their heads together, holding her hands over body, as if she were naked. "What is...." She looked at him for a few moments, and realised he wasn't alone. There were five other Security Guards with him, carting away the bodies of the Activities Room residents. She almost fainted. He chuckled. "I told you not to get involved in their little games." He shrugged and turned away. Usagi climbed off the pool table and slided around to the opposite side. She put her poot into something, and realised it was the monitor's shattered head. She screwed up her face as she removed her foot and shook it with disgust. "I didn't try to get involved. I didn't really have any choice in the matter." She started to pick her way towards the rear door of the large room. The Security Guard half-looked at her. "At least you didn't use the lifts, like I told you to." "Never use the lifts. Right. Thanks for reminding me." She turned and ran around the swimming pool, almost slipping on the wet surface surrounding it, and made her way through the rear door.... Which was rather painful, since she didn't have an opportunity to open it first. The Security Guard winced, then patted his gun. "Don't worry.... We'll have her down to you in no time, my master." He smiled. ----o Usagi growled and started thrashing about. "I'll get you! I'll get you for this!" "Why?" The double turned and looked down at Usagi, her face a softened mask. Usagi stopped and frowned at her. She just couldn't work this girl out. "Umm.... About sitting me up again...." "Say please." The double smiled. Usagi clenched her teeth. "Puhleeeeeeze...." Oh, how she hated saying that. The double smiled and stepped over to her. With a grunt, the double had righted Usagi and the chair. She stood back, patting Usagi on the head. "See, that wasn't too hard, was it?" Usagi fumed, then feigned a friendlier expression. "So, umm, can you puhleeeeeeeeze tell me who you are, and what is going on, here?" The double smiled sweetly. "Of course I will. Niceness begets niceness, you know." She stepped back and leaned on the wall. "You see, I've saved you from being killed." "Killed? Me?" Usagi sweatdropped. "Who would want to kill me?" The double shrugged. "Your friends, for one thing, although I dare suggest they aren't feeling this way because of anything they have control over." "My friends? What do you mean, my friends?" "Your senshi. Our senshi. Those traitors who have pretended to be our senshi.... Whatever you want to call them...." The double's face went dark. "I know, now, it wasn't their fault, but how can I let it go? This anger...." "I don't believe you...." Usagi said, eventually, after boggling over this little piece of information. "They would never do that to me..." "Are you so blind as to not have seen the signs?" The double spat, angrily, then put up her hands, calming herself. "Sorry, sorry.... Yes, you are indeed blind enough not to have seen the signs of their incipient betrayal.... You... We trusted them with our lives. We loved them and thought they loved us back. But love is such a tenuous emotion when it comes to the kind of psychological manipulation that they have undergone...." She clenched her fists. "Their minds have virtually been raped, by being greater than them, and they don't even realise that this has happened...." "So.... Why kidnap me like this? Why tie me up and all...." "Because they will chase you here.... By removing you from that stream of history, I have changed everything that was to follow. Even my own creation. And yet, I still exist. What does that say to the concept of the time paradox, eh? What does that say about my existence? I'm strong enough.... POWERFUL enough... to resist the pull of the paradox." Usagi recoiled as her double leapt forward, slamming her hands down on Usagi's shoulders. "I can do anything, because I've been removed from the seed of my creation. I am now an individual entity, with thoughts and feelings of my own, dragged from the worlds of the dead by a power greater than you can conceive. Now I shall change time, to create a universe where the destiny to which you were born shall come to pass...." Usagi was about to say something, when her double clamped her lips over hers in a passionate kiss. Usagi couldn't fight her strength, and felt sickened by the expression of lust, or love, or whatever it was her double was trying to express. The double pulled herself away, panting heavily, and gripped Usagi by the back of her hair. "Yes.... Together, we shall change HISTORY! Like it has never been changed before...." END OF PART 6 ------------------------------------------------------------------- S T O P ------------------------------------------------------------------- Next Chapter - "A Shy City" DDFA ayanami@merlin.net.au Chief Propoganda Officer, Keeper of the Tapes and co-founder of the Sai-chan Appreciation Society Adelaide Japanese Animation Society http://adelaide.net.au/~nene/ajas.html Version 1.0 - 13th May 1998