Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Sailor X ❯ SX5: Transfiguration ( Chapter 5 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Sailor X #5 Transfiguration

By: John Brengman

Edited by: Thomas Schell

==> * SM * <==

"Do you know the people fighting for your head?"

- Queensryche, "The Voice Inside" 1997

...violation... The memory continued insistently.

"No," Rachel thought. "You are banished."

...violation... The memory insisted again.

"No!" Rachel screamed to herself. But, this was not an irritating
lyric that would not go away...

...violation... and now the pictures began to flash through her mind
again.... the girl was carried through the dark living room toward her
parents' bedroom...panicked... thrown roughly onto the disheveled
bed... pajamas ripped open... a heart surrounded by thorns....

...violation...

"No!" Rachel thought sternly, but she could sense the wavering. "I
have defeated you," but the thought

sounded hollow and only served to bring about another assault from the
past...

...violation...

Rachel stumbled and fell against the stone wall of a building under
the barrage. "No...", she hissed under her breath...

...violation...

The young girl began to cry and her tears mixed with the torrential
rain that pummeled the city. She collapsed to the ground...

...VIOLATION...

"No..." Rachel pleaded...

==> * SM * <== The Crystal Palace

"Hangin' by a thread, problems in my head...."

* Queensryche, "Hit the Black" 1997

...violation...

Sandra awoke with a start and shot up in bed. For some reason, her
first thought was to gather the rumpled covers of her bed more tightly
around her as if hiding her body. Banishing that thought with an angry
shake of her head, she arose and slipped into a robe. Tying the robe's
belt about her waist, Sandra

walked over to the huge window with its view of Earth as it sparkled
with the light of the dawning morning.

Sandra looked over at the clock on her nightstand. "Quarter-til
seven," she thought. "No sense trying to get more sleep..."

...violation...

Sandra turned back to the window as the waves of memory crested over
mental barriers erected to shield from intense emotional trauma.

"Rachel..." she murmured worriedly.

==> * SM * <== Noruma District

"He said, `Would you respect me, if I didn't have this gun?

Cuz without it, I don't get it, and that's why I carry one."

* Phil Collins, "Both Sides of the Story," 1993

The Yotochib police arrived at the scene of the fifth murder in the
Noruma District in less than three days. That in itself was not
strange...there were often more than double that many murders in this
shattered area of the city.

Not many of the victims were frozen solid however.

"Whoever this person is," police lieutenant Ryunosuke thought as he
examined the ice-cold corpses of four men, "he or she is quite picky
about who they kill."

Scattered around the ground were various tools of the drug
trade...pipes, needles, and other paraphernalia. One officer emerged
from a makeshift hut further down the cul-de-sac where these thugs had
met their end. "Lieutenant," he said, then tossed a small plastic bag
to Ryunosuke.

Looking through the clear flimsy material that kept its contents
safely dried, Ryunosuke say dozens of oval shaped capsules, each
filled with a deep blue liquid...

"Yep," the junior officer said, noticing the expression on Ryunosuke's
face. "It's Skye." He nodded toward the ramshackle hovel. "There's
more in there...crystal meth, cocaine, opium, and enough chemicals and
equipment to put our chem lab to shame. Whoever did this just popped
the biggest drug ring I've seen in my ten years on the police force
here."

"Yes," Ryunosuke agreed.

"But two wrongs don't make a right," he thought.

==> * SM * <== The Crystal Palace

After all of the young women had gathered in the queen's study along
with Neo Queen Serenity and all three of the cats, Sandra had started
to tell them what she had sensed from Rachel. Most of the Sailors
reacted throughout the tale with various expressions of shock and
horror. Bethany was stone-faced, she hated any of this kind of talk.
Vanessa was similarly dispassionate, but she tried to comfort
Victoria, who seemed about ready to flee the room.

Sandra found those reactions to be normal under the circumstances.
However, her mother and the two older cats also were showing no
significant reaction. Seeing this, Sandra trailed off with her
thought...

"...and you know this...," she said softly. Puzzlement arose from the
gathered women, who then noticed that Sandra was gazing sternly at her
mother.

Serenity and the cats felt eight pairs of eyes on them as they each
tried to decide how best to disclose what had remained a secret since
the founding of the team.

Finally, Serenity stood and stepped forward.

"The guardians and I have known about Rachel for quite some time..."

* * *

Tokyo Central Detention Center

May 25, 2012

A woman in her thirties sat across the desk from Director Yanori Ikeda
and said the unthinkable. "I want an inmate released into my custody,
and I want it done now."

The bulky man squared his shoulders as if to block the woman's access
to the inmates personally. "I don't take orders from civilians," he
growled as he puffed on a cigar. The smoke wafted up to join the cloud
that fogged the upper regions of the posh office. "And I certainly
don't take orders from a blonde

wench, Ms...."

"Tsukino," the statuesque woman said as she stroked the black cat on
her lap. "Ms. Tsukino Usagi." She paused, enjoying the Bond-like
moment. "Under the UN Outreach Code of 2010, I am taking custody of a
person detained here named Rachel Kyle."

"Your custody?" Ikeda asked skeptically. "Ms. Kyle is here for the
crimes of burglary and assault, more than one charge of assault,
actually..."

"Yes," the woman replied. "That is not relevant. From the moment she
is released, she will be my responsibility."

"What do you plan to do with her?"

"That also is not relevant," the woman replied dryly. "I assure you
that she will be enrolled in a program which will fully rehabilitate
her."

Ikeda tried to protest, but the woman broke in. "I plan to take her
off your hands. No doubt that cell will be filled five minutes after
Rachel Kyle leaves."

"No doubt there are more than enough ruffians out there in the
earthquake zones for you to round up." The woman thought of the quake
that devastated the city a month earlier, of the thousands of people
left homeless...the roving bands of foragers wearing tattered remains
of clothing...

There was a long pause while the director mulled the statement over,
his thoughts possibly mirroring those of the woman sitting across from
him.

Finally, "Okay, Ms. Tsukino. The young lady will be immediately
released into your custody. You have fifteen minutes to remove her
from the premises or this deal is off."

The woman stood and bowed slightly. "Thank you."

The woman escorted a thin raven-haired girl onto the launchpad atop
the detention center. The wind-driven rain blew the girl's hair back
away from her face as she and the woman approached a lone shuttle. The
woman's black cat was hunched down in the folds of her coat, held by
her arms.

As the two approached the shuttle, the driver's side door opened and a
man stepped out. He fought the wind seemingly without effort and came
around the shuttle to open the back door facing the oncoming women.

Just before she reached the shuttle, the woman heard a voice shout,
"Ms. Tsukino!" She turned.

It was Ikeda.

The wind whipped his tan cape, and the wind drove through his hair.
All of this seemed to make the man look colder. "I don't want to find
her back here!" He said. "Ever again!"

The women got into the back seat of the car-like shuttle without
comment.

Once they were safely away from the wind and the rain, and the fuming
Ikeda, the woman looked over at the young girl she had rescued from
the prison. The girl still wore her prison garb. "Are you okay?" The
woman asked, putting a hand lightly on the girl's shoulder. The girl
did not answer and simply stared straight ahead...

Serenity removed her coat and Luna emerged. "Pilot," the queen said.
"Take us home." The pilot nodded slightly and pulled a headset over
his head. "This is UN Shuttle 34 to UN Geneva, please clear us for a
glide path out of the Tokyo region, then clear us for atmospheric
exit."

The reply came, "UN Shuttle 34, you are cleared for southeast glide
out of Toyko and ascent to orbital

Level."

The women in the back did not seem to notice any of this. Luna perched
herself on the queen's lap. Looking up, the feline gazed into the eyes
of her dear friend. "Shall I begin?" Serenity nodded.

Luna leaped onto Rachel's lap. The girl was involuntarily drawn by
this intrusion, and Luna took that opportunity to lock her gaze with
an unblinking stare. Before Rachel could resist, Luna had initiated a
mind link.

The shuttle lifted off silently from the top of the prison. It's
navigation lights blinked on as it rotated once above the landing pad.
It then made another lazy rotation around the top of the building
before straightening up and continuing a steady climb into the sky,
heading southeast over the harbor. People on the ground, having long
become accustomed to such sights, largely ignored the ship passing
overhead. Besides, the everyday concerns of life occupied too much of
their time.

* * *

"Through the mind link," Serenity continued, "we learned everything."

"But we decided that secrecy should be held in this case," Luna said.
"It would not do to have you know exactly who you had to entrust
yourself to."

"That's rather cold, don't you think?" Melissa asked.

"They figured we would not want to have someone on the team who was a
criminal and a psycho," Cass said.

"Judging from your reaction," Luna replied. "We were right."

"This argument is getting us nowhere," Sandra stated. "I am going to
help Rachel. No matter what her past, she is one of the Sailors now,
and we have to stick together. Queen Beryl's done something to her, so
we have to help. But I have two questions first."

"Okay," Luna said. She knew what was coming was going to be rough.

"One," Sandra said. "How did this get by Amy? After all, she had to
have a say in this."

"Actually," Artemis replied, "Rachel was presented to Amy as our
choice. We told her that we felt we could mold the girl into a hero, a
girl worthy of being a Sailor."

"I was not lying when I said I planned to rehabilitate Rachel,"
Serenity said.

"You girls must give Rachel a chance," Luna said. "If she can continue
to focus her emotions, her control of the power of Mercury will grow.
She has the potential to become a great force for good if she is
surrounded by people who will give her a break."

Brandy nodded her agreement. "It sounds like she's been through a
lot." The others nodded their agreement.

"Question Two," Sandra said, silencing the room.

"Since you have held information from us, how can we trust you?"

Dead silence filled the room for an awkward moment.

"I am sorry," Luna replied finally. "I know you will have trouble
taking me at my word for a while but please know that the only reason
we hid this from you was for the good of the Sailors."

"Yes," Artemis said. "Had we sprung this on you at a time when you
barely knew each other, our efforts to recruit a new group of Sailors
would have fallen apart. You never would have come together as a team.
With the Negaverse out there, we could not take that chance."

"But again," Luna said. "I apologize. Please forgive us"

Sandra stood. "Done. We have a friend out there who needs us, and it's
past time for us to do something about it." Looking at the others, she
said, "Brandy, Cass, Bethany, you're with me. The rest of you, hold
here in case more help is needed. Vanessa, is the Timegate
operational?"

"It is," Vanessa replied.

"Good," Sandra said. "We'll have to use it to transport to Earth.
Let's go."

==> * SM * <== Noruma District

Sailor Mercury smiled as she drained the energy from the three thugs
at her feet. The pale light from the energy drain faded as the bodies
froze into lifelessness. Stepping over the corpses, Mercury kicked
over a barrel, spilling the drugs atop it into the water-soaked alley.

Satisfied that the deed had been done, Mercury stepped out of the
alley and into a circle of Sailors.

"This has gone far enough," Sailor Mars said.

"We know about what Beryl has done," Sailor Venus said.

"And we're here to stop you." Sailor Uranus said.

Before Sailor Moon could add anything, Mercury answered.

"MERCURY BUBBLES...BLAST!" After a quick flash of bubbles, the air
filled with fog.

"What the..." Uranus exclaimed.

Sailor Moon felt something brush past her. "She's over here!" The whir
of a motor blared out as the Sailors gathered around Sailor Moon and
the fog lifted from the area. They could see Sailor Mercury speeding
down the street on a motorcycle that had belonged to one of the thugs.

"She's got a good start,' Sailor Uranus said as she mounted one of the
pair of bikes remaining. "Let's get going." Sailors Mars and Venus
grabbed the remaining bike, while Sailor Moon swung herself behind
Sailor Uranus. With a roar, the two bikes took off after Sailor
Mercury.

The chase began in the Noruma District, then snaked its way to the
four-lane Intercity Highway. The road was nearly vacant as the three
motorcycles entered the highway west of Noruma and headed toward the
mountains west of the metropolis.

The Sailors closed the distance between themselves and Sailor Mercury
as they entered the foothills.

When Sailor Moon and Sailor Uranus got within shouting distance of
Sailor Mercury, Sailor Moon yelled, "Pull over!" With a grimace, she
thought, "I sound like a cop."

The highway started a slow downward slope toward a mountain tunnel.

Sailor Mercury turned around and took her hands away from the handle
bar. "Eat asphalt!" She shouted.

"MERCURY BUBBLES...BLAST!" Again a fog obscured the Sailors' vision
and Sailor Uranus had to concentrate on keeping the bike on the
highway. They soon emerged into the clear....and inside the tunnel.

Uranus stepped down on the gas and screeched ahead to come alongside
Sailor Mercury.

"Get ready to jump over!" Uranus shouted.

Sailor Moon looked down at the highway as it sped by beneath then. In
most cases, she was vastly different from her mother, but the thought
of being smeared over the highway was not a pleasant one. "No way!"
She yelled.

"Do you have a better idea?" Uranus asked.

"Damn right I do!" With that, Sailor Moon mentally reached out to
Mercury. The tendrils of her mental contact reached toward Mercury's
mind...and they were suddenly batted away with such force that Sailor
Moon nearly fainted.

The chase continued as the highway exited the tunnel, and arced north
and east back toward the city of Tokyo. All three bikes fought the
wind, the rain, and the occasional car or truck as they battled each
other.

This continued as the highway entered the city of Tokyo and headed
toward the downtown area.

The Intercity Highway was a new highway, a modification of the
highways in the area after the earthquake of April, 2012. The final
section was a four mile stretch through the southern edge of downtown.
It was a raised section, built two stories from the ground...and one
section was still unfinished.

This didn't deter Sailor Mercury, who blasted past the highway
construction signs and continued down the road.

"We have got to stop her!" Sailor Moon shouted.

"We should be more worried about stopping ourselves," Sailor Uranus
replied. Looking over Uranus' shoulder, Sailor Moon saw that they were
going at about 70 miles per hour...on a slick, rain-soaked road.

Sailor Mercury saw that the road was going to abruptly end. She sped
up, broke through the final barricades and sailed over the gap,
landing with a thud on the other side.

Sailor Uranus slammed on the brakes and whipped the bike
around...coming to a stop within a foot of the edge. Sailor Moon
watched while some gravel fell off the edge of the highway and
plummeted to the ground. Sailor Mars stopped her bike a few feet away.
The four Sailors watched as Mercury sped away.

==> * SM * <== Downtown Tokyo

"I am I...no, not THAT"

* Queensryche, "I Am I" (1994)

The Sailors used the scanners at the Crystal Palace to track Mercury
to an area outside a half-completed office building. They fanned out
after discovering the motorcycle she had been riding...abandoned.

A think fog hazed over the area, cutting down vision to a few feet in
front of each girl. Sailor Venus looked up from her communicator.
"This fog is interfering with the castle's sensors. They can't get a
good reading."

"That's the last time I complain about her powers being weak," Sailor
Mars said.

"Are you sure this isn't just this storm?" Uranus asked.

"A fog bank in the middle of what used to be a typhoon?" Sailor Moon
asked from an area near the building, "I think not."

On the second story of the building, a pair of hands gripped a length
of wire, wrapping it around clenched fists, pulling it tight...

"No sign of her over this way," Mars said.

"Wait," Venus said quickly, "If this fog is from Mercury, then..."

"Ambush!" Uranus exclaimed.

A shout drew their attention as Mercury leaped from the office
building and dropped down behind Sailor Moon. As Sailor Moon turned to
face Mercury, the other Sailors rushed to assist. Mercury reacted
before any of them, whipping the wire around Sailor Moon's neck. She
then ripped Sailor Moon off her feet, her screams squelched by the
wire that constricted tightly around her throat.

The other Sailors were about to charge into battle when Sailor Mercury
stopped them with a shrieking, "BACK OFF!" The Sailors hesitated, so
she added, "or I'll take her damn head off!"

Sailor Moon mentally sensed that Mercury was too absorbed with trying
to get as much terror out of the situation, so she reached out to
Sailor Venus.

"I am okay," she said, "for now. You keep her attention on you."
Sailor Moon pulled out her Moon Wand.

"Oh no you don't!" Mercury yelled seeing this. She wrenched the wire
tighter, and Sailor Moon tossed the wand away in what she hoped looked
to be an involuntary response to the new wave of pain. As Sailor Venus
retrieved the wand from the puddle where it landed, Sailor Moon
mentally said, "Use it when I tell you to...not before."

Venus nodded her agreement, then retreated to where the other Sailors
were. Shouts of outrage were mingled with pleas for mercy, and all
were met with an evil laugh from Mercury.

"You don't get it, do you?" She replied coldly. "This isn't about you,
or her." Another twist on the wire shot a wave of pain through Sailor
Moon. "This is about me!"

"Hmm," Sailor Moon thought through the haze of her mind. She had to
act quick. Mentally, she reached out toward Sailor Mercury, but she
didn't get far before she reached a seething cauldron of anger and
rage, bubbling up, about ready to boil over...and within all of that,
a duality...as if someone else...

"I've got it!" Sailor Moon exclaimed to herself as she delved deeper
into the emotional firestorm. Sailor Mercury did not seem to notice
the intrusion, so the other Sailors were doing their jobs well.
Finally, Sailor Moon thought she was far enough into Mercury's psyche.

It was time to up the ante by giving Beryl exactly what she wanted.

"I am Sailor Moon," she mentally shouted within the recesses of
Mercury's mind. "I am the princess of the Moon Kingdom! Queen Beryl,
you want to regain your power? You want to be free? DO YOU?" The
surrounding area seemed to darken in anger as she asked this. She
could distantly feel that her body was on the edge of consciousness.
She had to act quickly.

"Then take me!" She shouted. "You want someone with real power, take
me!"

As the other Sailors watched, a green mist began to flow from Sailor
Mercury. It flowed down and caressed Sailor Moon until she was
surrounded by it. Mercury dropped to the ground and Sailor Moon stood
up, her back to the others...

The mist wrapped itself around Sailor Moon. She grew taller, her
shoulders broadened out, and her hair turned brown. Her skin turned
into almost an albino shade of pale.

Venus stepped forward. "What in the...?" The rest of the Sailors stood
transfixed by this hideous transformation.

The woman that turned around to face the Sailors was not Sailor Moon.
The thin, lithe form that faced them smiled, her hair blown back
softly by the dying winds.

Queen Beryl had been reborn.

The Sailors were about to launch themselves into an attack but Sailor
Venus held them back. They looked at Venus as if she'd lost her mind.

"Those weren't Sailor Moon's orders," she said simply.

"Now," Beryl said.

"What?" Venus said, looking over toward the evil queen.

"NOW!" Beryl yelled.

"Oh!" Venus exclaimed as she grabbed the Moon Wand and raised it in
the air. "On behalf of the Moon," she said. "MOON HEALING ACTIVATION!"

A white beam shimmered from the crystal on the wand and enveloped
Beryl in a glowing aura. Beryl let out a scream of pain as the glow
grew to blinding strength.

The beam from the wand pulsed in strength. Each pulse shimmered around
the now-shrouded form and radiated outward in a wave of heat and light
that lit up the night.

After five such pulses, the wand went dark. The aura gradually faded
out, and Sailor Moon dropped to the ground next to Sailor Mercury.

==> * SM * <== The Crystal Palace

The girls peered through the glass partition at Rachel, who lay asleep
in the castle's infirmary. The lighting was subdued. As they watched,
a nurse entered the room, checked Rachel's temperature and pulse,
marked the results on her clipboard, freshened the flowers, then left.

None of this disturbed Rachel, or Luna, who had established a mind
link with her.

Sandra approached the worried girls. Her neck was in a brace, but
otherwise, she was okay. "Luna will do what she can to undo what Beryl
did," Sandra said. "But she won't be able to undo all of it."

"How bad is it" Brandy asked worriedly.

"Bad enough," Sandra replied. "She'll still have that wraith shard in
her. It just one of those things she'll have to battle and deal with
on her own."

"As to the rest, it depends on how far she had gone to put that
portion of her life behind her."

"Sounds like she has a rough road ahead," Cass said softly.

"The good thing is," Sandra added, "she's a strong girl, she has a
whole set of new powers, and most of all, she has all of us to support
her. I think she'll do fine."

Deep in the recesses of Rachel's mind, a sun shone down on a grassy
meadow. A young girl sat upon a blanket, her back against a large
tree. She let the cool winds rustle her hair.

A black cat was nestled in her lap, purring itself to sleep...

FINI

Fanfic ©1999 - John Brengman and Artemis Publishing

Sailor X series inspired by Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon,

© 1992 by Toei Animation Co Ltd. and based on Kodansha's

manga production of "Sailor Moon", written by Naoko Takeuchi

This fanfic is freely distributed. Release date: November 5, 1998

Release: 3^rd Edition: January 16, 2001