Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Mended Wing ❯ Mended Wing - Chapter Eight ( Chapter 8 )

Authors Notes: Hey guys, guess what! I think Mended Wing is going to end up being longer than Broken Wing! The way I have the story set up right now, anyway, points in that direction. I've got some specific things I want to do, all of which will add length to the story! It may actually end up being twice the size of Broken Wing! Which means I'll expect twice the reviews! ::looks proudly at the 720 figure for reviews for Broken Wing:: I still can't believe I've gotten over 700 reviews for BW! You like me, you really like me! And my review numbers have gone down ever since ff.net started their evil support services, so I know it's not my writing has getting bad that keeps MW from reaching the same standing. Yee! Thankies: Trenchcoat Man, Aishiteru and purple penguins. Marika Webster, Dooby, and peas, and the new wall! Fuuzaki-chan, When in doubt, pluck a chicken. Tensei-san, I tawt I taw a puddy tat! Girl-chama, where are you? Rashaka-chan, WHERE ARE YOU?!? Where are my mile-long reviews??? ::sniffles::

 

Disclaimer: Aw, you guys know by now I dun own em.

 

Warning: Marika Webster and I are co-writing a fic! Weiss Kruz, and a little something extra. Check it out under the name Kali Ma. The title is The Thinnest Veil. We now continue with your regularly scheduled fanfic.

 

 

Mended Wing - Chapter Eight

 

 

The door opened. Masurao blinked at the sudden intrusion of light into his dark world. His eyes squinted almost shut of their own volition, and he couldn't see the people who made the shuffling sounds.

“Hey!” he called to them, “Hey! Who are you people? What do you want? Where are we?”

Only their feet hitting the floor answered him. Not like he really expected them to tell him exactly where he was and how to get out should he feel like escaping. That only happened in bad movies and books.

His eyes were beginning to get used to the light when he heard Rei shout and a struggle ensue somewhere to his right. He cried out to her, trying to get her to answer him so he could find her, but she either couldn't hear him or couldn't waste the effort to reply. Masurao crawled towards her voice and the sounds of frustration being given off by the men. Whatever they were trying to do, and Masurao hoped against the worst, Rei wasn't giving them much of a chance to do it.

His eyes caught the blurred vision of a foot coming towards his face, but not in time to block it. He fell backward into the wall. Masurao felt something streaming down over his lips and knew his nose was bleeding. It throbbed, beating out its own painful rhythm. Shadows moved past him, carrying a kicking, fighting form with them. Then the door closed, shutting him away from light and freedom again.

And Rei was gone.

 

 

~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~

 

 

Luna watched Mamoru. Mamoru watched Usagi's body. Somehow he had managed to make Setsuna coherent enough to form a Time shield around the body so it wouldn't decompose while they tried to figure out what to do. But Mamoru had done no thinking, or none that he shared with the rest of them, at least. All of his thinking had been done behind closed mental doors. No one knew if he would come out of this stupor in time to help them do anything.

Luna felt like walking up to him and scratching him good and hard. On any other occasion she might have, but in this case she could no more conjure the energy to scratch than he could to leave Usagi's side. So the cat turned and skulked from the room.

The apartment felt so empty, sounded so silent. Usagi did not meet her in the kitchen to offer the sugar stars Luna loved so much. Pots did not bang together to announce another one of the woman's cooking binges, where she somehow got the idea she could actually cook. The thought made the cat want to laugh, yet lie down and sobs at the same time. Usagi-chan, where are you? Are you still in that body, just waiting to be brought out? Or has your soul already gone to Heaven? Is all of our planning in vain?

“Here, kitty.”

Luna felt her fur automatically lift on her back at the voice. She knew who it belonged to, but its still unfamiliar quality brought out the feline instincts in her. She turned, crouched on her belly, and looked into the smiling indigo eyes of the man who now called himself Father Duo. He awed her because of how highly Usagi had once spoken of him, but frightened her because of what he had become without her. Duo looked on her with the same mixture of awe and fear.

“You are a beautiful cat,” he told her, “but truthfully I haven't figured out yet whether you are a miracle of God or a demon of Satan.”

“I am neither,” Luna huffed as she straightened herself into what she hoped was a regal stance. “I am a person, just like you. I come from the planet Mau, and served as Royal Advisor to Queen Serenity XVIII of the Moon Kingdom.” With that said she licked her paw gracefully and stuck her nose in the air in true feline fashion. “And I know I'm beautiful.”

“Yeah,” said Artemis from the living room doorway, “well, Miss Beautiful, you and the priest better get in here.”

Artemis led the way into the living room, where Ami and Mamoru stood toe-to-toe among the other assembled Senshi and pilots, staring each other down, both wearing faces of the utmost fury. Mamoru's dark eyes had swirled black as they often did when most enraged and his fists balled at his sides. This display did not discourage the smaller Senshi. She stood straight as any proud tree, blue-black eyes steely with her determination not to back down, even from the wrath of her prince.

“I have the big key-stick!” Setsuna bounced on the couch, clapping her hands together. Luna shuddered, imagining the proud, stern woman Setsuna had been in order to erase the disturbing picture of what she had become. “I can do it, I can, I can go back!”

“Go . . . back?” Father Duo's brows furrowed as his religion-saturated mind tried to fathom those words, but Luna knew immediately what the Guardian meant.

“We can't!” Ami shouted, eyes narrowing even as Mamoru's did the same. “The law-“

“That doesn't matter!” The Earth Prince shouted in return through gritted teeth, “We all know Usako wasn't supposed to die! We'd only be setting things right!”

“That doesn't change the fact that there are cosmic laws against changing the past! This law was instituted by Father Time himself! We can't just go against Father Time!”

“Like Hell we can't.”

“Haruka!” Michiru looked on her lover with wide, anger-filled aqua eyes, probably the first time Luna or anyone had seen her angry. Haruka scowled but didn't take the comment back. Father Duo stumbled in stricken terror. Luna could only assume that he'd finally figured out what the conversation was about.

I hope your Lord will save you, Duo. I'm not sure the Senshi can anymore.

 

 

~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~

 

 

The conversation escalated. The Senshi fell into their more natural Japanese, which Father Duo couldn't understand. He looked to the others, noticing Triton's blank looked, but the expression of total concentration on Wufei's face. Quatre faced away, trying to seem disinterested, but Duo noted the alert way he stood and the way he leaned slightly towards the argument. He gave a short bark-laugh just before Ami turned to address the Japanese-impaired.

“Duo, Triton, we've decided to vote on whether to allow Setsuna-san to change the past and prevent Usagi-chan's death. Since this will affect you, you four will receive a vote as well.”

“But,” Duo heard himself blurt before he could help himself, “what about the other two? They aren't here, and shouldn't they get a vote? Shouldn't we try to save them first?” This only began to cover for his real fear, that any action they might take towards resurrecting this woman would be the very work of the devil and condemn all their souls.

“If we stop Usagi-chan's death it will change everything that's happened from that point on. Rei-chan and Masurao-kun would never have been taken.” Ami explained this in the cool, calm manner of one who is used to explaining difficult ideas to people less intelligent than herself.

“And Grandpa wouldn't be dying,” Hotaru murmured from a safe corner of the room. She sat there with her legs drawn close to her chest, arms draped loosely around them.

“I vote we do it,” Mamoru said, cutting off any more discussion. His stance suggested painful death for anyone who would oppose him.

“I vote against,” Ami shot back without hesitation, her own manner dangerous.

“I vote against as well,” said Minako, not flinching under Mamoru's hateful glare.

“Let's do it,” Haruka growled, “There are some times when the rules need to be broken, and this is one of them.”

“I agree.” Wufei stood. “An innocent woman has been murdered. I've spent enough time around these people to know they are honest and deserve respect. If they say that her life will have significant impact on the future, I believe them. The rule must be broken.”

“That's three for and two against,” Ami stated with a frown.

“I'm for it,” Makoto said with a deadly gleam in her hard, emerald eyes. “Let's get her back. I don't care how.”

Michiru shook her head. “No. We're Sailor Senshi and we do what is right by the rules established. To do anything else would be a step towards the darkness we try so hard to fight.”

Duo nodded. He felt, since he was allowed a voice, that now would be the time to raise it.

“Yes. Goodness does what it can in the right ways. We can't do something evil for the right reason. It's no less evil.”

“That's four for and four against, a tie so far.” Ami sounded a bit more relieved, though with the tightening of her features Father Duo saw the powerful self-restraint she practiced. She would wait until the vote was officially over.

“Who says Father Time gets to make all the rules?” Quatre spat in true arrogant fashion. “Is he so much wiser than all of us just because he's Father Time? I say let's go for it.”

Those who championed the cause in favor of cosmic law held their collective breaths as the count rose to five for and four against. Triton and Hotaru remained the only ones unaccounted for. Whoever voted last had the potential to decide all should the other vote against. Duo clutched his bible close and watched their faces. Both were silent, lost deep in heavy thought from the looks of things. No one dared move. Except Quatre, of course, who maintained a calculated air of cool indifference.

“I vote against,” Triton finally said. Duo saw guilt flicker across the other man's face, only for a moment, but there. Duo dealt in guilt, had seen too much of it not to recognize the emotion when it manifested. He would talk to Triton, later, yes, definitely.

“Hotaru-chan?” Ami, as well and the others assembled, looked to the youngest of their number. “It's a tie, five to five. We need your vote.”

The girl turned her violet eyes up to the rest of them, showing an anguish none expected. From his place, Quatre started and Duo thought the blonde actually began to move towards her. Then she spoke and Quatre was back in his placed as though never moved.

“I can't make a decision like this.” She lifted a hand to stop their protestations. “No, I can't. I loved Usagi-san as much as the rest of you, and I really want her back, I really do.” She paused, looking to the ground. Then her body shook and her eyes squeezed close. “But I am living proof that some things shouldn't be tampered with. I am the embodiment of the forbidden, and that makes me think Father Time knew what he was doing when he set the rules against Time travel. So I don't know what to do. I don't know how to vote.” Hotaru looked at them all with her pained eyes then stood and ran from the apartment. Without warning or explanation Quatre jumped to follow her. Their twin footsteps trailed out the door and down the stairs. Duo wondered what to expect next. Setsuna provided.

“That's okay.” She giggled. “I forgot how anyway!”

 

 

~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~

 

Hotaru felt a hand close about her arm just as she reached the bridge. Kami-sama, the bridge. How many times had any one of them come to this place to stare down at the water for how many different reasons? Usually sorrow or anger. She never knew anyone to come to the bridge for any good reason.

“Hotaru-chan,” said Quatre's voice in that strange accent he had. His grammar and knowledge of Japanese words were flawless, but his accent left much to be desired. The accent hid anything he may have been feeling under his words, helped by his icy tone.

“What?” She tried to jerk her arm from his grip, but instead he only pulled her closer. Quatre wrapped his arms around her. Clumsily, as though he'd never done it before, but it was a hug nonetheless. “What are you doing?” she murmured into his shirt, sniffling miserably.

“Nothing,” he replied, not sounding convinced. “I don't know. Something I wish someone had done for me at least once.” His voice drifted to her ear, filled with such suffering Hotaru forgot momentarily her own sadness and lifted her eyes to meet his. Such a sad blue, not bright and sky-like as Usagi's had been. Hotaru saw no real hate in those eyes, except a deep self-loathing. The rest was pain, simple and honest pain.

“What happened to you, Quatre-kun? What happened to make you such a cold, miserable person? I know there's someone else beneath that arrogance, another Quatre who begs to be released.”

Quatre's arms fell to his sides. The pain she saw in his eyes fell back behind the familiar veil of disdain she knew now to be a lie.

“There is no other Quatre. There's just me. No matter what you people say, I'm the only Quatre that ever existed. I remember my past clearly, I remember it, every second, even in my dreams, in vivid color that would leave you shocked and breathless.” His lips curled into a hateful scowl. “I wish I didn't.” Then he stepped away from her, shaking his head. “I just came out here to . . . I don't know. I guess to make you feel better for being such a `weak woman' as Wufei would say. I didn't expect or want an interrogation.” He turned, but this time Hotaru reached to stop him. Her hand slipped under the long sleeve of his jacket and closed about his wrist. She gasped at what her fingers felt. Quatre tensed.

“Quatre-kun . . .”

“No.”

“What have you done? When?”

He snatched his arm away from her, able to do so because of his strength.

“A long time ago. No need to worry about that. My sister saved me. As always.” The shadow on his face told her that he didn't appreciate his sister's efforts. He didn't walk away though. Instead he went to the side of the bridge, as did all people who passed by with weight on their souls. The bridge side seemed to attract wayward hearts and all their troubles. “It's not easy to be the last of thirty children, thirty kids all created in a laboratory, birthed from vials instead of wombs. My mother died not long after I was created. Maybe if she had lived things would have been better. The sisters that knew her used to tell me stories about how kind and compassionate she was. When they had time for me.” He sighed and put his hands on the stone. Hotaru moved beside him, placing a gentle hand on his back. She remained silent in hopes he would continue. “It didn't take me long to realize they all hated me for some reason. I never did find out why, but in all their gazes there was a cruel spark of hatred. I can't imagine what I could have done to make them all hate me so much.” A sob shook his frame, trembled him from the inside because he refused it release. Tears perched on his eyelids, pushing to get out, but he held them there, imprisoned with the emotions he'd kept inside so long.

“My father hated me too. I don't know why he never just killed me and got it over with. Instead he sent me to a colony on the very edge of civilization with only my sister Iraya to keep me company. She's a doctor. That's how she saved me every time.” He stopped to take a deep breath and turn his gaze from the water upwards to the starry sky. “Five times. I tried to kill myself five times, the fifth just before I came here.” His left hand moved to circle about his right wrist, the thumb passing lightly over the scar. Hotaru moved closer and he put out both wrists to show her what she'd only felt before. Two identical white scars. The wounds had been deep to create scars that could be felt so easily. “This was the third time.”

Hotaru sighed shakily. Why should such a beautiful man, so capable of kindness, be forced to endure a life such as the one he'd described? But she understood. She understood the cruelties that life could throw at unsuspecting and undeserving people while sparing those with evil in their souls for better destinies.

“I am Death,” she told him. His blue eyes turned to her, confusion lighting them in a way anger and self-hatred never did. “Of all the Senshi, I was chosen to be Sailorsaturn. My powers as a Senshi deal only with destruction. As a result I am sheltered, taken care of by the other Senshi, but ultimately they fear me. If there ever comes a battle they can't win, then I will be forced to destroy Earth in order to save it.” Would he desert her now? Was he afraid? “That's the thing you see in my eyes that unnerves you, that makes you want to run from me.” But please don't run. I need a friend who won't run.

“It doesn't make me want to run.” He turned fully to her, his blue eyes looking down to her with a sudden flash of pure clarity. “It draws me to you.”

Silence. After those words Hotaru heard nothing but the flowing of the water and the wind rushing past her ears. The harsh sounds of the city didn't make it to her, only the gentler sounds of nature. Somewhere she certainly heard a star shoot, begging for a wish to be made. Somewhere in the universe surely a star was shooting, even if she couldn't see it. Wishes still applied on those unseen stars. What would she wish for, though?

Before she could formulate a half-coherent wish, she felt the softness of Quatre's lips on her mouth, pressing lightly and with a confidence she hadn't known he possessed. Then his hands were on either cheek, cupping her face gently. Hotaru didn't dare move, didn't understand completely what was happening, and couldn't think straight enough to decide if she liked it or not.

When he released her face and her lips, Hotaru blinked at him dumbly. Her mouth worked but no sounds came out. Quatre actually blushed and looked away.

“I'm sorry.”

“N-No,” she finally managed to force out, “it's alright. It's fine. I . . . I just wasn't . . . expecting . . .”

“No, really, I shouldn't have done that.” Acid laced his tone. Hotaru looked up to see that hard shell erected once more around him. “It's just been a while. You know. You're just here.”

She knew this time that shell wasn't going to come down again. Hotaru sighed.

“I'm here, Quatre, if you ever need me. I'm a friend, whether you believe it or not.” She stepped close to him to close the gap he'd made when he released her. Her arms rose and tightened around him in the hug he'd wanted for so long. She felt his body stiffen as it had when she felt his scars, but he didn't try to get away this time. Hotaru let go and turned. She left him there by the bridge. Without even once turning to look back, because she knew that he wouldn't jump. He still hated himself. He still pitied himself. But something else had forced itself into his small, cold heart and Hotaru had faith that it alone would keep him from killing himself.

She smiled a little as she walked towards her apartment. She felt much better that when she'd left Mamoru's.

After all, she'd found a friend who wouldn't run.

 

 

End Chapter Eight.