Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Magic Knight Rayearth Fan Fiction ❯ Shadow of the Absent Moon ❯ Usagi, the Former Pillar and the Hard Decision ( Chapter 14 )

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 Former Pillar and the Hard Decision -

Usagi found her destination to be a room near the top of the tower castle. The room was empty save for a fountain with a crown adorned stand in the center of its waters.

"Arigato," she heard just before the translucent image of a beautiful young woman appeared over the fountain. The woman was clothed only in her own golden locks and white lilies. Her hands were clamped beneath her chin as if in prayer and her eyes were kind, but sad. Usagi felt that this woman hadn't a happy moment in a very long time.

"My sister was... For a long time," Ferio's words came back.

"You're Ferio-san's sister. You're Emeraude-hime."

Emeraude inclined her head.

"I heard that you were-" Usagi blurted before reassessing the meaning of Emeraude's see-through state. "Oh!... Sorry."

"There is no need for you to apologize. In fact, I wish to beg forgiveness from you."

"Why?"

The princess bowed deeply. "Gomen nasai. I am the one who called you here to Cephiro." She rose from her bow. "I am sure that you have heard that Cephiro is fading without me."

Usagi nodded.

"It is because I was selfish. I placed my own feelings before Cephiro and now many have died. Many more will die before it is over."

"What did you choose over Cephiro?" Usagi couldn't help it. She had to ask, though instinctively she knew what the princess' answer would be.

Emeraude closed her eyes. "His name is Zagato. He was my head priest." Tears glittered at her eyelashes. "It only took one look and I could not keep him from my thoughts. After I realized he felt the same way about me, I did not want to keep him from them."

Usagi felt her hands curl into fists. "You shouldn't have had to, Emeraude." She raised the princess' chin high enough to make eye contact. "Never doubt that. Love is the only thing in this universe that I know for sure-if you'll excuse the cliche-can span time. It endures. You can try to deny it, but nothing, and I do mean nothing, can extinguish it." She smiled. "You did the right thing. It's just sometimes the right thing has consequences. Now, tell me what I can do to help reverse these consequences."

The princess nodded. "Allow me to start from the begining. Cephiro can not exist without someone praying for it's existance. I was that Pillar of will, but now I have abandoned my country and left it without support."

"This had to have happened before, right? You couldn't have been the only Pillar."

"It has happened before. Usually, Cephiro itsself can choose the Pillar's successor. It merely chooses the one person most capable of maintaining the vigil. Unfortunately, this time there was no one in Cephiro with a strong enough heart to sustain this world.

"Now, there are two very strong candidates for the position. Their hearts are near equal in strength and Cephiro can not make a decision."

"Hikaru is one," Usagi stated without doubt and then with a groan, "Please don't tell me I'm the other one! I can't stay here! I've got too much to do in my own world!"

"That is part of the problem. You are not one of the two I spoke of."

"Whew!!" Usagi clutched her chest to slow her pounding heart. "That's a load off!"

"Your heart is much stronger than either of the candidates."

Usagi froze for a moment. "I'm stronger than Hikaru?"

"In your will, yes. This is why I have brought you here. I knew a battle would ensue between the candidates over the crown. I also could sense an evil presence working through the shadows of the broken land. I knew I would need someone who's will to protect everything would be so strong its scream would shatter the farthest mountain peak; someone who's heart would dwarf Hikaru's, Eagle's and my own. I needed the Queen of the Moon." The princess bowed in respect.

Usagi jumped, then very slowly closed her gaping mouth. "I'm not really the Queen, yet."

"It is in you, below the clumsy schoolgirl, even below the Soldier of Love and Justice."

"Okay... So, if I'm not here to become the new Pillar, or whatever, then why am I here?" An image sprang into her head. "I've met your Queen of Darkness and her pink-haired daughter. You need me to stop her. I hate to be the one to break it to you, but she beat me like an unwanted step-senshi! You don't think I can stop that, do you?"

Emeraude shook her head. Strangely, this had a calming effect on Usagi's panic. "No. What I need you for will be much more difficult and much more painful. I need you to become a buttress for Cephiro."

"You want me to dust and clean and answer the door?" Usagi asked without understanding.

The princess paused. "A 'buttress' (a projecting structure to support a wall), not a 'butler'(the chief male servant of a household)"

"Oh."

"You must become a temporary support until the decision can be made. You must prevent Cephiro from degrading entirely."

She must do this and she must do that... Or this world would dissappear. Fine. "How do I do that?"

"It will be very hard. There will be no room for frivilous thoughts," she said the word "frivilous" like it pained her to do so. "By hard, I mean there will be no room for thoughts of your Mamoru." Usagi nodded. "I will also be very painful. I am not sure how, but you will be connected to Cephiro. Its pain will become yours."

Usagi bit her lower lip. Mamo-chan, I just found you and now I have to give you up! "Is it... It isn't permanent? It's just for a little while, right?"

"No, it is not permanent. You will resign as buttress when the Pillar takes up his or her duty."

Mamo-chan, gomen nasai. "All right. Fine. I'll help you. It's what I do as the Guardian of Truth and Justice!"

Emeraude nodded and held a small green stone. "This is one of the lesser jewels from my coronet, the symbol of the Pillar. It will connect you to Cephiro. Usagi plucked the gem from the princess' waiting hand.

The crystal glowed bright green, then white and finally pink. When the light died, it had become a heart shaped pink stone. Usagi took out her locket and found it had developed a recess, just the right size for the crystal. It inserted with a click.

"Here goes nothing! Cephiro Heart Power! Make Up!"

She was engulfed in a giant version of the pink gem. The stone shrunk until it was absorbed into her body. It shattered, the fragments burst through her skin, reforming as her fuku and tearing a scream from her throat. The henshin ended with Usagi on her knees, shivering with reaction. Nausea welled up and everywhere her fuku made skin contact there was a burning, like rubbing alcohol on a bleeding scrape.

The new uniform covered most of the senshi's skin. The boots came up high on her thighs. The sleeves met a pair of short gloves at her wrist. The only part of her skin not screaming was the V at her neckline and most of her head. At the center of her forehead, there was a crescent shaped object embedded.

After a few minutes of pushing down gorge and pain, Hashira Sailor Moon looked up. Emeraude was gone. There was only a single lily as proof of her visit and the ringing echo of her words...

"...there will be no room for thoughts of your Mamoru."

To Be Continued...