Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Sanctuary : Haven ❯ Chapter Two ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: I don't own SM or GW.
Dedications to SilverRay and my Onee-chan Comet~Princess.

Chapter Two

Index:
Selenity - I call Usagi this instead of Serenity, because this is her Silver Millenium name in the Japanese version.

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Looking around the room, the sight blew many a breaths away. Tables were placed sparingly around the room; refreshments were station to the left of the dance floor, chandeliers lighted the room up in artificial brilliance, balcony doors were opened for pathways to the gardens and people milled around in the most spectacular clothing for the season. It was a sight straight out of the movies and books of old.

But old what? Old in history, or old in their own history?

Bitter thoughts once again filled her mind, she had faced many monsters and defeated them, yet demons of her own mind, she could never escape. The purest star was the one most open to corruption, the brightest light stood the most chance to be dimmed and the strongest heart was most often the most fragile.

She wanted to run. She wasn't ready for this. She didn't think she ever would be.

But looking to her right and seeing the people dearest to her heart, in the same state, she could not back down now. None of them were ready, but it didn't matter, they had to be strong. If even one of them retreated, the rest would fall. Their world was on a very delicate balance, she could not be the one to break it.

Not again.

Not ever again.

Taking a deep breath she stared out in front of her and spoke, " We'll meet up later."

A statement. Not a question, not an uncertainty, it was a definite.

She felt them nod, she could not afford to look at them, and she watched as the two made their own separate ways in the crowd. Hiiro going head on and Dorothy threading in, mingling back into the society she had worked so much to leave.

It was just her now.

She turned and took another breath before walking to the crowd of sophisticated looking blondes. Each looking beautiful, unique and welcoming in their own way.

" Selenity!" one of them cried out as she caught sight of her.

She smiled and dove head first into the unknown.

" Selenity! You came!" one of the other blondes squealed.

" Karen." She said smiling and nodded her head to each of them, " Melissa. Susan. Iris. Christina, and Lilth."

" My Selenity! I haven't seen you since you were a but a child, and see how much you've grown!" Susan was one of the older siblings, 9th to be 'born' and two years her senior.

" We all haven't seen you since you were a child." Melissa said, sister 14, 22 months her senior.

" You haven't been coming to the reunions, it's a miracle I even recognized you." Karen lecture, sister 17, one and three quarters years her senior and twin of Iris.

" Ah, come on, I've sent letters and photos haven't I?" she said.

" Though e-mail!" Christina, sister 23, exactly one year older, said in a teasing tone. " Don't even take time to write us a real letter."

" Come on Chris," Lilth, sister 26, five moths older, rolled her eyes, " there's 28 of us, if she actually took the time to write us letters, her hand would go numb."

Christina pouted, " Well she could have written me."

" And what makes you so special?" Iris mocked, and they all laughed.

The 30 Winner children kept in touch by e-mails mostly, quick and easy to send multiples as well as less costing. In such a big family, Usagi found that she could get by with sending one e-mail a year with a few photos of her included, and not come to the reunions without having get them mad and come looking for her.

" Where have you been all those years?" Karen asked, " I couldn't even find you when I looked you up."

" That's because you looked under Selenity, Karen." Lilth said, " I found her this time, with the name Usagi."

" Yes," Karen said quietly, her eyes soft, " Father use to call her that, with her hair and all."

There was a moment of silence between the girls now, each looking at each other nervously as they did not know if Usagi knew about their father's death. Usagi knew, but they did not know that and so she did the courteous thing and did not ask.

" Well," Susan said, clearing her throat, " what name did you go under? We never did find you which family took you in, father never said. And Quatre never found the files so we could find you again."

" Tsukino, Usagi wasn't it?" Lilth said, looking at her.

" Tsukino, Usagi. Usagi, Tsukino…" Melissa said mildly, " Doesn't that mean Rabbit Of The Moon?"

" Yes." She answered.

Karen laughed, " It seems you have a empathy of things with the moon. Selenity, the moon goddess and rabbit of the moon."

You have no idea Karen, absolutely none. She looked away and pushed the slight tinged of bitterness away from her thoughts.

" The moon and I…have a history together." She murmured, but did not think they heard.

" Ah, well, you're back now and that's all it matters." Melissa said, giving her a wide smile.

" Hai." She said quietly to their backs as they moved to find the other members of their family.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He walked towards the group of politicians, his stride firm and unyielding, his stare fixated upon a head of dark honey color hair. He was slowly slipping back into the mold, he knew, the mold that J had sculptured for him. The mold of the perfect soldier.

His eyes became cold, drawn inwards instead of looking out, his face became a blank and the all-familiar feeling of being empty came back to him. Just when he thought he had left it all behind, the past came back to him with a vengeance.

He knew the instant those azure blue eyes saw him, they widened in shock and the owner of them removed herself from the group quickly to walk up to him. He watched removed as she made her way to him; joy playing across her face and her eyes overflowing with hope.

" Hiiro." She breathed out when she finally stood in front of him, her face in an expression of wonder.

" Ririna." He replied curtly.

" You're here." Her voice was barely a whisper, almost if unbelieving that he was actually there in front of her.

Her hand moved up to touch his face, yet his voice stopped her.

" Would you like to dance?" Spoken in monotone and void of any emotions.

Her hand stilled in mid-air, stopping before it reached it destination. Her eyes searched his, only to come up with no answers, just like before.

Before... Was it really the past as it was really the now? He wondered.

" Of course." Ririna replied, smiling up at him and placing her and in the one he had outstretched.

Out of the corner of his eye, as he twirled the Vice Foreign Minister around on the dance floor, he saw Dorothy looking at them. Her eyes as unreadable as his were blank.

It seemed they all were slipping back into the molds the world had for them.

" Hiiro," his attention was moved back to the girl in his arms, " where have you been for the past year?"

He remained silent as her eyes skittered over his face, as if she would find clues there.

" Around." Was his grunted reply.

Her eyes dimmed and smiled sadly at him, as if she knew she would get no more out of him then that.

Yes, how they had slipped back into their molds.

Staring down at her azure blue eyes his mind flew off in different directions of what was important and what wasn't and what was expandable to his cause. Automatic, mechanical thinking that had no trace of humanity in it.

He was very fast slipping back into the past. His last non-robotic thought was, Usagi was going to kill him.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dorothy peered over once more at Hiiro on the dance floor with Ririna, before shaking her head slightly and threaded through the crowd, searching for her target. As she walked, after a short while, people started to part a way for her, in fear of her.

The changes had come back she had felt even before she had glance briefly to a side pillar that gave reflection from its metallic surface. There was a dangerous smile on her face, pleasant but hinted at things ominous, the sadistic gleam from the war had come back into her eyes and as she continued walking, her hips acquired the lusty swing from the times before she meet Usagi. The air around her was like an invisible barrier once more, and she was once again removed from the party even while she was there.

Old familiar thoughts filled her head as she nodded and smiled coolly to those passing her, in greeting. They nodded politely back or swapped harmless chitchat with her, to stay in her good graces no doubt. The people here saw her still as she was before, or maybe more precisely what she was now, as the high-powered politician she once was.

And maybe will be again, you never know.

Above the head of the man who held the currently weather conversation with her, she saw the blob of platinum blonde hair that could only belong to the one person she was looking for. She gave the man she had been talking to comment that hinted that she had to leave, and he immediately excused himself, saying he caught sight of his friends.

Ignoring the man she made her way to the front of the room, where the person she was seeking talked with another man, whom she recognized as the Prime Minister of L3. She walked up to them and standing next to the two men, she waited for them to take notice of her. They didn't seem to.

The Prime Minister and Quatre Raberba Winner exchanged words; she only listened to them with half an ear, deeming the conversation unimportant for the moment, but stored the information away for another day in her head anyway. Finally when the man had left, she was about to clear her throat and make Quatre notice that she was there, until a beaming blonde woman, one of the sisters she guessed, ran up to him with a sheet of paper.

" Quatre, Quatre!" she yelled, " Look what I have!"

" Um…part of the guest list?" Quatre said lightly.

The girl blushed and glared at her brother, as the fact he stated had been painfully obvious. " I meant LOOK!"

She shoved the paper in his face and he took it to his hands and pushed it back to a readable distance, before stating mildly " It's the guest list of all the lady friends that our sisters invited."

She glared and shot words out at him, " Look down at the bottom of the middle column!"

He did, and his eyes almost bulged out of his face. Seeing this interesting face, she decided to see what it was about. Peering over his shoulder to the paper, down to the bottom of the middle column, she saw the name he was so shocked over.

Dorothy Catalonia.

Stepping back she pinched her lips together in amusement.

Quatre couldn't believe it, the girl he had been searching all over the colonies for ever since the war had been over, was right here at the party. After one year of no news of her, and her presumed disappearance that he worked so hard to find her. When the war was over, he had felt her lost soul crying out and he had so wanted to help her, yet he could not find a trace of her.

And now she was right here in the same building as him.

Right here in the same room as him.

" Mr. Winner." A familiar voice drawled out from in the back of him, which made him gulp almost painfully and turn around slowly.

Right behind him.

" M-M-Ms. Dorothy!" He exclaimed.

She stood there looking amused at the expression of his face -like he just had a heart attack- and watched following in the next few seconds as a flush climbed up from his neck to his face.

" Hello." She said demurely.

" H-H-Hi!" He squeaked back, sure that his face was as red as a tomato.

" What's that?" she asked, the very picture of polite curiosity as she gestured towards the piece of paper in his hand.

" What? This?" He said nervously as he moved the paper up and bit, " Just, uh something Jessica was showing me." He shoved he paper back hurried at his sister, Jessica, who looked extremely confused at her red as cherry brother, who he grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her around, " and now that she's done, she was just leaving."

She turned her head around to look at him weirdly and opened her mouth to object, but he shoved her along and she gave him an indigent glare before going on her way. " This is the thanks I get for helping him out? What kind of brother is he?" she muttered as she walked.

Her eyes twinkled with mirth out at him and her lips twitched upwards slightly as she continued to stare at the embarrassed boy whom was fiddling with his fingers nervously.

" Ms. Dorothy," he said clearing his throat and pulling at his tie, all of a sudden it felt too tight for some reason while it had felt fine a minute ago, " What brings you here?"

" I was invited." She replied.

" Oh, of course." His voice wavered and his eyes skittered here and there, searching for something to say as she stood there, in all likeliness, watching a show she really liked. " So, um which one of my sisters do you know?"

Well that about whacked her back to reality. She blinked looking at him and Usagi's words that she had spoke to her and Hiiro before they exited the car came back to her.

We need to settle our past in order to go into the future. Just remember, I'll be waiting.

Settle our past. Looking at him now, the sparkle of laughter left her eyes and her expression turned serious.

" Mr. Winner. Quatre-"

" Hey Quatre!" a shout cut her off and she whirled around to see what she had expected, but wished all the same she hadn't.

" Duo!" Quatre's voice shouted back in relief as the blush finally started to leave his face.

" Hey man, how you been doing?" Duo said happily as he lead his other two companions towards the blonde ex-gundam pilot.

Dorothy cursed mentally as she saw the three of them. Chang Wufei. Trowa Barton. Duo Maxwell. Her mind ticked off each name, and including Quatre, they were all here. Damn, and she thought Hiiro would have had the least to deal with here. Or so she had hoped.

Standing still her thoughts flew around her head, bombarding her mind with all the different situations that could arise and didn't notice the babble Duo made with his friends.

" I think we should go and be seated at our tables now, don't you guys?" Quatre finally said after a while.

The other guys agreed and moved towards one of the closer tables and it was a moment before she blinked and saw the hand that was held out stretched to her. He stayed root to the spot, calming waiting for her to accept, and who was she to object?

She placed a hand in his and let him guide her to the table and watched him pulled out her seat for her, the one right next to his.

" I was told that they placed me at one of the middle tables on the right side of the room." She told him, sitting down on the chair he pulled out for her.

" I'm sure arrangements could be made." He spoke in a smooth voice and even flashed her a smile afterwards.

Very brave of him. But then again, this was the man who called her kind when she stabbed him in the leg.

She decided not to think about it now and looked around for her friends instead.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Usagi was reminded why she had never wanted to come back.

Looking at Elizabeth, a wall slammed shut in her eyes and she gave her a cold look. Yes, she was cruelly reminded why she had never wanted to come back. Back to the past where some sisters loved her, and some hated her.

They blamed her, not Quatre for their mother's death. She was the last one born before Quatre, only three month older then their only brother. They blamed her and not him.

Because she was the last one 'born'.

Because she was the youngest after Quatre.

Because she was a girl.

They thought if she had been born a male, mother would have never died. And maybe it was true, for only a few days after they had found out she would turn out female as well, did their mother proclaimed that she was pregnant. If she had been a male, mother might no have gotten pregnant, and mother might not have died in childbirth.

It was all her fault mother died.

If only she had been male, if only she had been Quatre, mother would not have died. Quatre should have been the one 'born' and not her, she shouldn't have existed. If she hadn't existed, Quatre would have been taken her place, and their mother would not have died in labor.

It was all her fault mother died.

They could never blame Quatre, he was male and he was the Winner heir. No, it was her that was to blame.

She killed mother.

Elizabeth was one of the older ones, the 4th to be born; she was five years older her senior and was one of the few that had memories of their mother. She blamed Selenity for their mother's death, if she hadn't been, then mother would still be here. Mother would still hug and hold her, mother would still sing to her; mother would still be there to tell her she loved her Elizabeth and her sisters very much.

It was all her fault.

The old taunts and sneers came back to her; the hateful comment and the spiteful words from her childhood flooded her mind. It was all her fault. Her fault. Her fault. If I hadn't been for her, they would all have had a mother. Her fault.

Usagi let her eyes flutter close in pain but opened them to stare up at Elizabeth coolly when she felt Melissa's hand settle on her shoulder, offering support. Melissa had known it would be hard for her.

Elizabeth had been the terror of her childhood, spitting spite and hate to the young girl even before she had known how to speak. Elizabeth had been five the time Selenity was born, and had been happy for another baby sister to love, until three months later their mother died in giving life to Quatre. Then she had begun to hate her.

She couldn't hate Quatre, he was the heir they had all waited for, and he was the one that would look after and inherit Winner Corporations when he grew up, if he had not been born, all would have been lost. So the one before him had been blamed for a deed she hadn't had any part in and didn't understand.

It hadn't been just Elizabeth either, others -sisters younger than Elizabeth- blamed Selenity for not being able to have any memories of their mother to keep while Elizabeth had blamed her for stealing away the mother she could only vaguely remember.

Even now Melissa could feel them losing Selenity more and more beneath her hand. She squeezed her younger sisters shoulder, but got no reaction from her.

She cursed Elizabeth for it all.

For all the years of her life with the Winner sisters, Selenity had felt unwanted. Always told she was at fault for a deed she had no clue about and hated because of that. Elizabeth had been one of the older ones, if they hadn't shared her opinion; they were too scared to object to them.

And so, having no one to play with and always alone most of the time, Serenity had always been a shy and reserved girl, even around her family. Especially around her family. When she had come to the reunion, coming up and greeting them like that, she had such high hopes of seeing the girl they never knew but always knew had been inside. Now, she could already feel Serenity withdrawing back into herself.

" Let's go find Gwen." Melissa said quietly.

But Selenity surprised, instead of turning away from their sister, she looked the older sibling straight in the eyes instead.

" No." she said.

Melissa looked at Usagi surprised, but she ignored it. Elizabeth had dominated her childhood, spiting her, hurting her with the words that just seemed to forever flow out of her mouth. It if hadn't been one thing, it had been another. Her hated hadn't seemed to end at blaming her for their mother's death; she had hated her for simply being.

But she wasn't the scared five-year-old anymore, who knew what every single word that came out of the silver polished mouth meant and got hurt with every syllable. Taunts, jeers, rude insults, swears, almost anything that expressed hatred. They had trailed after her little running feet even when she was out of her sister's sight. They had made her feel unwanted, unneeded, and always unsatisfactory.

But she didn't need her family's approval of her anymore, she had moved on. She wasn't going to turn around and walk away from this fight. It was high time this scored was settled, by the time she left back for the Earth; she was going to lay this past to rest.

But this was not the time.

Staring up at Elizabeth, she knew this was not the time for battle. Quatre, her little brother wanted this reunion to be a happy event, and she wasn't going to spoil it by making a scene. Time would come soon enough.

" I'm not going to back down this time Elizabeth," she said to her sister, " I've grown up. I've changed. I know better now. I'm not going to let you blame me for your grief."

She could tell that both her sisters were startled at her words, but she just turned and walked away. There were other things to do and other family members to talk to, maybe she cold even talk one of them into taking her to father's and Iria's graves to pay her respect.

Walking around the room, she could see Hiiro on the dance floor talking to Ririna and Dorothy sitting right by her brother Quatre. They were taking on their past head on, and she approved. She was once again shown the extents of their courage and she couldn't help but to feel proud of them.

She was about to make her way towards Dorothy, when a hand landed softly on her shoulder. Turning around, she saw the face of one sister she would always welcome.

" Haruka!" she cried and hugged the older woman around the waist.

Her sister patted her tenderly on the head and her eyes gazed down at her gently, " I saw you talk to Elizabeth."

She was silent for a moment before she spoke, " Yeah."

Haruka nodded and looked up towards the table where she was headed, " Going to meet up with your friend and to say hi to your brother?"

" Yup!" Usagi said cheekily, " You coming?"

" Sure." Haruka replied.

" Oh, where's Michiru? And Setsuna and Hotaru?"

" Oh, they're around here somewhere, mingling…"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dorothy was getting annoyed, no exasperated, no just plain pissed. Sitting here at the table listening to Duo Maxwell jabber on and on about who knows what and asked her unlimited amount of questions, she was starting to get ticked.

Damn, doesn't he ever stop talking? She thought to herself. Somebody, anybody please help me!

Out of the corner of her eye as she answered another one of ex-gundam pilot 02's questions, she saw Quatre's lips twitching. He knew she was getting frustrated and was enjoying it, the god damn S O B! She grounded her teeth together and smiled to the best of her abilities with a twitch in her left eye.

Somebody help me! She begged.

Then she blinked, coming towards them on the left were Usagi and Haruka, but on the right, Hiiro and Ririna was making their way to them as well. An evil evil little smile came to her lips and a smug glint appeared in her eye.

So you like seeing me to get ticked huh mister Quatre Rebarba Winner? She thought, well you've ad your fun. Now it's time to have mine.

Lazing back to her chair and letting her face take on an amused expression, she opened her mouth and said, " Looks like Mr. Yui finally plans on join the party."

She pinched her lips to suppress a wide grin as the all the ex-gundam pilot gentlemen at her table, nearly snapped their own necks to stare in shock and dumbstruck faces at her male housemate.

Evil evil Dorothy, She thought as she watched in satisfaction as Hiiro Yui finally reached the destination and in his own almost detectable way, squirmed in his seat uncomfortably at the attention. Hmm, seems like Usagi's rubbing off on me.

***Owari No Shou***

Hiasobi: End of Chapter. Sorry for taking so long on this chapter, but I had a writer's block and so much homework for the last week or so AND I'm working on my site. Oi, so much work! The next chapter might take a while, but I'll try ot get it out as soon as possible!
Decided to continue this fic. Do you guys know you can get very violent? owie....
Please review!