Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Magic Knight Rayearth Fan Fiction ❯ Shadow of the Absent Moon ❯ Usagi & the People of Cephiro ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Disclaimer: All characters, places and quotes of Magic Knight Rayearth are copyright CLAMP, Kodansha, Dentsu, YTV, TMS-K & Anime Works. All Sailor Moon references and characters belong to Naoko Takeuchi, TOEI, Kodansha & Pioneer.

Shadow of the Absent Moon
- Usagi & the People of Cephiro -

"Geez! You made me loose track of Lantis!"

"That voice... I remember hearing it somewhere."

"You should recognize it. Lantis over there is-"

What? Where am I? Usagi opened her eyes. The cyan ceiling staring back at her was not familiar.

Mamoru crying out her name. "Usako! No!"

Mamo-chan? "Mamo-chan!!!" Fully awake, Usagi struggled against a weight in her head to sit up. Worse than the ceiling, nothing and no one in the room was familiar either.

"Calm down, Miss," this from a dishwater blonde with glasses. "You are going to hurt yourself."

"What?" There were too many of them. Too close. Too close. Usagi scrambled backward only to fall off the bench she was on, landing hard on her tailbone.

"Please, we aren't going to hurt you," said the redhead. The little white creature in her arms spouted and enthusiastic "Puu!" and jumped down to disappear down a hallway.

"Where am I? Where's Mamo-chan?"

No one answered right away. Usagi allowed herself to study the characters quickly. The tallest of the men in the group was taller than Mamoru. He had armor and a cape and if he so much as crossed his eyes, Usagi knew she would have cried.

The next tallest, had a silly hat and stood with his mouth hanging open like he was hunting for flies.

Standing just next to the silly one was a pink-haired, I've-got-the-swimsuit-pagent-in-the-palm-of-my-hand woman.

The last of the men in the group was just taller than herself. He had green hair and enough scars on his face to show how nasty a life he must have led. It was there that Usagi had to stop her studies, because the green-haired one spoke.

"You were brought here for your safety. Cephiro is no longer safe outside these walls." His words were so kind, so gentle; Usagi changed her opinion of him. Maybe his life wasn't that hard, after all.

But Cephiro? "Where?"

Eyes in the room grew large as a whole. Usagi might have been at the other end of a microscope looking up at a humongous eye.

A girl who had missed Usagi's scoping stepped up and knelt in front of Usagi. She frowned as her sky blue eyes roamed over Usagi's face. "Hikaru? Fuu? Do you see it?"

The red head and blonde gasped. "Yes," said one, "Uh, huh," said the other.

"You're from Tokyo, aren't you?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Blue eyes frowned deeper, shaking her head slowly. One of the other two, Hikaru or Fuu nodded and turned to whisper to the crowd. The tall scary one tried to object, but the red head sent him and the rest of them on out the door.

Three pair of eyes shot enough pity at Usagi for her to wish she really were under a microscope. What are they waiting for? Mamoru. Mamo-chan, I'm sorry.

The girls kept opening their mouths to say something, then changing their minds and stood there gaping for a few more seconds.

Didn't someone say something about it being unsafe outside? "Where's Mamo-chan?" They hadn't answered a single question yet, but, hey, here's to hoping.

"Who?" Blue eyes asked.

Oh, no. No, no, no. "The guy I was with. Black hair."

"Lantis?" asked the red head.

Usagi shook her head. "No. He's still got to be out there!" Don't mention the monster, they'll never believe it.

They were in some sort of central intersection for hallways and other rooms. There were doors or passages in every direction. "How do I get out?" She stood up. The pity was getting to be too much to handle.

"You can't possibly want to go out there," said Blue eyes, reaching a hand out to Usagi.

Usagi sidestepped the hand. "It is not wise," began Glasses. "You do not understand-"

"No, you don't understand." Usagi put the wall to her back. "If Mamoru wasn't brought here with me, he's still out there."

The red head nodded. "You're right. I've got to go out there and find him."

"I am joining you, Hikaru-san," said the one who had to be Fuu.

"Me too."

"Umi-chan, Fuu-chan, I can't let you come with me. Someone needs to stay here and watch for attack."

What did they get into at Tokyo Tower? Something clicked. "You were all at Tokyo Tower!" They glared. "I remember because you looked so miserable."

"You were at Tokyo Tower?" Something akin to pain clouded Hikaru's bright eyes.

Usagi nodded. "Right before Mamo and I got hit by that light."

"No," Hikaru whispered shaking her head. "It's not right."

"Look, I don't care what kind of personal crisis you're suffering through right now. I need to find Mamoru before another monster finds him. You can have your crisis as soon as you let me out of this place."

"You can't go back out there. I will find him for you. I promise."

"You're not going alone." Umi placed a hand on Hikaru's shoulder.

"I can call Rayearth if I get in trouble."

"One of us should go with you, Hikaru-san."

"Yeah," Usagi jumped in, "me." They glared for the thousandth time. Usagi shooed at them. "Stop that! It's annoying. Are you going to tell me how to get out of here?" No response. "Fine. I'll find the exit myself."

What I wouldn't give for Mercury and her computer right now. She pushed her way through aiming for the opposite corridor.

Someone grabbed her arm. "Don't go alone." Hikaru's hand dropped to her side. "We'll go with you."

"We?" Umi's eyebrow raised.

Hikaru nodded. "If there's trouble Ferio can call us." She cast a strange look at Fuu.

The blonde nodded. "I will go talk to him."

There was a delay in Fuu's return. Hikaru used the delay as an excuse to lay down the ground rules. Usagi was to stay back if a monster showed up. She was to do exactly as she was told, when she was told to do it. Got that? It is for your own good, you know?

She agreed. Anything if she could save Mamoru. Let them think she was a weakling.

"Gotta say, I never thought you were much of a leader, but...

Oh, happy Ho! Wouldn't Rei just LOVE to see this?

Finally, Fuu returned with the fluffy white creature bouncing at her heels. "Master Mage Clef requested Mokona-san join us on our journey."

Master Mage? Don't ask. Find Mamo-chan, and then get curious. Denial is a wonderful state of being.

"Puu Pu Puu!" cried Mokona jumping down the corridor.

"One more thing," Umi said. "If you don't run, you'll never keep up with Mokona!"

Usagi shrugged trailing behind the three girls and the strange ball of fluff.