Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Ascension Trilogy, Book 3: Ressurrection ❯ The Learning Curve ( Chapter 6 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

RESSURRECTION,
Chapter 6: "The Learning Curve"

By Bill K.

Serenity appeared at the window of the small building acting as a
base for the senshi. Outside, a hundred people had gathered, waiting
for something. When they saw her at the window, the crowd looked and
pointed and surged in to get closer.

It was too much for her to stand and she turned away. To her
surprise, she found Princess Kakyuu behind her. Serenity jumped back in
surprise.

"My apologies, Usagi, for startling you," Princess Kakyuu said
with serene grace.

"I guess it's not your fault," Serenity whispered, embarrassed.

"Do the people gathered outside distress you?"

"Yes," Serenity replied, having long since given up wondering how
Kakyuu always seemed to know her mind even when she didn't. "What do
they want, Kakyuu?"

"For some, a future," Princess Kakyuu replied. "For others, a
restoration of what was. They look for hope. They see it here, so they
come."

"I'm only one person," Serenity sighed.

"Only one person is needed to guide," Kakyuu smiled.

"Yeah, but the person has to know where she's going first or she's
a lousy guide," Serenity said miserably.

"Your wisdom shows through once more," Kakyuu told her cheerfully.
"You possess the proper direction already. You just do not trust your
judgment. When you do, you will lead and they will follow."

"I suppose they do still need my help." She started for the door,
but Kakyuu's gentle hand on her arm stopped her.

"Forgive me, Usagi, but it is the wise person who knows when to
aid and when to step back and allow another to achieve alone - - and I
sense there is something you feel you must do first." Serenity looked
down. "Do not consider it selfish. You should do this, if only to ease
your mind and allow you to better aid others."

Serenity nodded. Then she looked up, almost desperately.

"Will you come with me?" she asked.

The hospital was an empty shell. Caved in on two sides, it was
empty. The patients who survived were gone, evacuated along with all
the drugs that could be salvaged. A grove of fruit trees grew in the
lobby and the emergency room, giving some life to the hollow husk of
cement and steel.

Serenity stood at the foot of the rubble. Princess Kakyuu stood
beside her. Both were solemn. Serenity lifted her arm up, then began
to waver.

"What do you fear?" Kakyuu asked.

"That one day using the power is going to be too easy," Serenity
admitted. "That I'll lose my humility and become a bully or arrogant."

"They are wise cautions, ones you should keep close to your heart.
But you must be cautious, not frozen into inaction. You have a good
heart and a pristine soul. Listen to the concerns and advice of others
at all times, but allow these traits already within you to guide you."

Serenity nodded. She lifted her hand again and the rubble began
to reform, the molecules of the debris manipulated by the energies of
the Silver Crystal. The debris began to reform into a four-cornered
six-foot pillar, colored black as night and tapering from a four-foot
base to a one-foot tip. At the base was a plaque. Wiggling her finger
in the air, Serenity caused characters to form on the plaque. Soon it
read:

"To the memory of Kenji and Ikuko Tsukino
Undeserved as parents, but not forgotten by
A grateful daughter"

"I should have done something," Serenity whispered as she and
Kakyuu stared at the monument.

"Then let this be your next lesson, dear Usagi," Kakyuu told her.
"We possess vast power. We can perform things that seem as miracles.
But there are some things even we cannot alter. You must always try
your best, but you must realize and accept that sometimes your best will
not be good enough."

"Then what's the use of having powers?" Serenity asked.

"Dwell upon the positive rather than the negative, Usagi," Kakyuu
said. "Do not berate yourself for the lives you cannot save. Instead
cherish the lives you do save."

"She makes sense," Serenity heard a voice she feared she would
never hear again speak from behind her. Whirling, she saw Shingo, a
little more gaunt than she recalled, but alive. Instantly she broke and
ran to him.

"Shingo!" she sobbed, hugging her brother. "Oh, I was worried you
were dead, too!"

"Guess I got lucky," Shingo said, returning her embrace. Since he
dwarfed her by several inches now, the top of her head came to his
throat. He rested his chin on her blonde hair and she didn't mind a
bit.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save Mom and Dad," Serenity whimpered.

"Hey, until I saw all these trees sprout and heard your voice in
my head, I was afraid you were in there with them. Glad to know I was
wrong. Don't blame yourself - - although I know you're going to
anyway."

Shingo held his sister at arm's length and looked her over.

"You've changed," he said and she cringed. "For the better. Just
how powerful are you now?"

"I'm still finding out myself," Serenity said sheepishly. Then
she noticed Shingo was staring enraptured by Princess Kakyuu. "This is
my friend and mentor, Princess Kakyuu."

"I am pleased to meet you," Kakyuu said with a voice like a
melody, smiling with the radiance of a small sun.

"Uh huh," Shingo replied vacantly.

"Stop drooling. You're embarrassing us both," Serenity whispered
to her brother, nudging him. This shook Shingo out of his trance. He
gave Kakyuu a sheepish glance, though the woman took no outward offense.

"So, um, do you think you've got the power to fix all of this?"
Shingo asked Serenity. "It's going to take months to dig out and months
after that to rebuild. And the people I saw while I was wandering
around need shelter."

Serenity looked inquiringly to Kakyuu.

"You must choose your own path, dear Usagi," Kakyuu advised her.
"I can only offer guidance. Do you recall what I said to you earlier?"

Serenity grimaced. "Not really. I warned you I was a terrible
student."

Kakyuu smiled. "Do you recall I told you that a wise person knows
when to aid and when to step back and allow others to achieve? It is
easy for those stronger or more fortunate to aid those weaker or less
fortunate. Some might say it is a duty. But it is just as easy for the
weak and less fortunate to become dependent upon that aid rather than
achieve on their own. Assistance is not a bad word. Neither is
charity. But neither is self-determination."

Serenity looked down, hopelessly confused.

"I think I can see what she's talking about," Shingo told his
sister. "The more you do for people, the more they seem to expect you
to do for them. I guess that's right." He turned his gaze to Kakyuu.
"But on the other hand, if you turn your back on suffering, are you
worthy of your strength or good fortune? Doesn't great power or fortune
obligate a person to do more?"

"Your brother speaks true and with great eloquence," Kakyuu told
Serenity. "Usagi, you will run across situations where there is no
wrong. You will also run into situations where there is no right."

"So what do I do?" whined Serenity.

"You must decide for yourself. You must choose what course you
think is right."

Serenity huffed in frustration. She looked to Shingo, then to
Kakyuu and back to Shingo again.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to rebuild everyone's home," offered
Serenity. She turned to Kakyuu. "Do you think I can do it?"

"I think the important question is - - do you?" Kakyuu replied.
* * * *
It was a curious sight. Sailor Pluto standing before the broken
rubble of the university library. Her hands clasped the Time Staff and
her forehead leaned in against it. She was deep inside of herself,
oblivious to the survivors who searched the remains of the campus for
other victims, personal possessions or valuables to steal. Her long
green-black hair blew slightly in the breeze that traveled across the
campus. It was a warm summer breeze, one that hadn't been felt in
nearly two years.

As she concentrated, the ruby orb atop the staff began to glow and
pulse with light. The light slowly grew brighter, the pulse stronger
and more vibrant. The glow tinted Pluto's features in deep ruby.
Suddenly her head righted itself and her eyes opened. The staff was
brought to a sixty-degree angle, the orb pointing at the rubble.

"Chronos Maelstrom!" Sailor Pluto called out.

Impossibly ice began to reform upon the broken cement and stone.
People stopped and stared, thinking Pluto was somehow resurrecting the
menace that lingered just at the bottom of everyone's conscious
thoughts. Then the broken bits of the building began to reconstruct.
Corners knitted themselves back together. Crossbeams leaped back up
onto their supports and stone and mortar jumped to cover them. Within
seconds the building that was the university library lived again, once
more covered in thick sheets of ice. But before the building could
collapse again under the weight, the ice began to melt. When it
evaporated into nothing, the library was restored, a place as it was
before the Second Great Ice Age had occurred.

And Sailor Pluto sank to her knees, gripping desperately onto the
Time Staff for support.

"Are you all right?" someone asked her. Pluto looked up and found
a young man of college age standing over her. Though he had black hair
and Japanese features, something about his frame and his mouth reminded
her of Janus.

"I," sighed Pluto with fatigue, "will recover shortly."

"What happened here?"

"I have reversed time in this small section of the world," Pluto
explained. "There was a great reservoir of knowledge in this place. I
- - did not wish humanity to lose it. We will need it in the coming
months." Pluto seemed to sadden. "And it must be here for children
to explore and grow wise."

"And the people that were inside?" he asked hopefully.

Pluto concentrated for a moment. "All that were trapped inside
are without mutilation," she wheezed. "It is beyond even my power to
restore life to them."

"That's still amazing! Can you do it anywhere else?"

"Yes," sighed Pluto as she climbed to her feet, "but I shall not."

"Why?"

"This process takes a great amount of effort from me. The strain
would ultimately doom me - - and I have a destiny that I must fulfill."
She rose to unsteady feet and looked at the stranger with solemn
resolve. "Though I may desire such a thing, I cannot give in. To do so
would divert the world from a path it must not be diverted from."

Seeing the answer didn't satisfy the youth, Pluto put her hand on
his shoulder.

"Do not despair. 'She' is at this moment working for the greater
good. Trust in 'her' and 'she' will protect you."

And Sailor Pluto walked off, her mission accomplished.
* * * *
There was a knock at the door. All heads turned to the sound.
Minako and Ami exchanged exasperated glances while Makoto shifted toward
her children to better protect them. Who could be knocking now? The
senshi, worn out from helping with the sick, the injured and the
larcinous, were trying to grab some rest with exasperating lack of
success. Throughout the day occasional strangers had come up to the
door, begging to see "the great princess", seeking relief from their
various misfortunes. Some requests were genuine and occasionally
heart-rending; others were trivial and did little more than annoy them.
The intrusions were becoming more and more frequent. Often Endymion had
answered and did what he could to accommodate them, but he was off - -
somewhere.

"This place needs a doorman," grumbled Minako as she moved toward
the door. Her hand closed around the knob. Just then, Rei's head
snapped up.

"Don't open it!" she yelled.

Minako turned to her, puzzled, as she opened the door. In walked
the last thing in the world Rei wished to face. She sprang to her feet
and charged the intruder, though she could still feel her power over
fire was weak due to her eruption on Knorr.

"You have some nerve coming here!" Rei roared.

"Hello, Rei," Dietman Hino said calmly and evenly, though his eyes
smoldered with resentment at his daughter's disrespect. "I'm glad you
survived."

"What do you want?" Rei snarled.

"I want to talk to your friend. I believe her name is Sailor
Moon?"

"It's Serenity now. And what do you want with her?"

"I wish to discuss working with her to restore Tokyo - - perhaps
all of Japan, if that's possible," Hino told his daughter. "She's
certainly demonstrated the ability in the past to rescue us when we were
all threatened. Although I have to admit, I didn't think she was strong
enough to make all these fruit trees and vegetable plants grow. But
that just means the possibilities are even greater."

"And what do you get out of it?" Rei glared. Hino sighed.

"Is she here?" he asked.

"Answer my question!"

"What I get out of it is the restoration of the greatest country
in the world and an end to the suffering and misery of the people I was
elected to represent and safeguard," snapped Hino with irritation. "I
am Secretary General of the Diet and chair of the ruling party and it is
my responsibility to explore any and all avenues to ensure or restore
the health and safety of my constituency! And if you weren't so busy
acting like a petulant little child, you'd see that!"

Rei glared, stung. Ami moved it to try to mediate.

"Hino-sama, your reasons are noble ones," Ami offered.
"Unfortunately, Serenity's not here. No doubt she's out doing exactly
what you're hoping she'll do."

"It'd be better if she coordinated her efforts with the disaster
relief command center that's been set up at Tokyo Stadium," Hino
replied. "It's preferable to her acting on her own."

"Why?" Minako asked suspiciously. "As long as she's helping
people, why does she have to run it by you guys first?"

"To avoid duplication of efforts, misallocation of resources and
to maximize our effectiveness," Hino told her. Then he noticed Rei
staring at him in that uncomfortable manner she'd had since she was
thirteen, like she was looking into his soul. There was an awkward
moment in which Dietman Hino couldn't think of what to do or say.

Then Rei filled the silence.

"You're afraid of her," she whispered. Heads turned toward him.

"Nonsense," he replied.

"You see what she can do. You see how the people respond to her.
You see how the crowds out there have been growing almost by the hour.
How they wait for her, clamor for her, hang on her every move - - how
they see her as our only salvation - - and you're scared! Scared you'll
lose the one thing you've worked and sacrificed and devoted your entire
life to getting: Your political power base."

"Rei, that's a hateful thing to say, even for you," Hino scowled.

"It's all you've cared about your entire life: Your career! You
gave up everything for it - - your scruples, your morals, - - your
family! And now it's all melting away like the ice that held everybody
prisoner! And while everybody's out there suffering and sweating to put
all of this back together, you're scrambling to keep your power from
running down the drain!"

"I am trying to do what's best for the community," Hino began.

"Like when you told everybody to stay inside until they could be
evacuated!" Rei snarled. "How many people were trapped inside those
buildings when they froze over? How many people died when those
buildings collapsed onto their heads? How much blood is on your hands?"

"Rei!" Ami said, forcing herself between them and holding her
friend back. "I think that's enough." Rei glared at her friend. There
was a moment where it looked like she would violently shove Ami away,
but the moment passed.

"No, let her go," Hino told Ami bitterly. "She's spent her entire
life pointing out other people's mistakes. And yes," Hino continued,
forcing his way past the emotion that clutched his vocal cords, "it was
a mistake. And yes, I do have their blood on my hands. I did what I
thought was best and I was wrong and thousands suffered for it. A good
leader learns from his mistakes, though, and presses on to aid his
people."

The room was filled with an awkward silence.

"I know you condemn me for it, Rei, just like you condemn me for
everything short of Hiroshima. But if your precious Serenity does
decide to seize power, or even if the people decide to give it to her,
some day she'll be faced with a choice just like the one I was faced
with. And on that day we'll see just how much better she is than I am."
Turning to Ami, Hino forced himself to calm. "Please convey my respect
to Serenity and ask her to meet with me at her earliest convenience."

Dietman Hino turned and left.

"Poor man," sympathized Hayami. "It must not be very easy to be
in his position right about now."

"Don't let him con you," Rei said bitterly. "He mixes in just
enough truth to sound sympathetic and believable. That's why he's such
a great politician."
* * * *
Serenity and Kakyuu ventured through the ruins of the city until
they found a secluded spot away from the destruction. It was the former
botanical gardens of Tokyo and, aside from a collapsed arboretum and
some felled trees that couldn't take the weight of the ice, seemed
untouched by all of the destruction visited upon the city. The scenery
was reborn, thanks to Serenity, though she'd take no credit for it.
Kakyuu looked over to Serenity and noticed how relaxed she'd become.

"Such vistas of flora please you," she commented.

"Yes," smiled Serenity. "I've always thought gardens and forests
were just so pretty. There's something about natural scenes that just
seem so - - well, natural." Serenity blushed. "Boy, that sounded SO
articulate."

"Usagi," Kakyuu began patiently.

"And it's so ironic, because I've always been all thumbs when it
came to gardening. Everything I tried to grow just, well, died."

"Usagi, there is no need to constantly devalue your efforts,"
Princess Kakyuu told her. "I do not think you arrogant." Serenity
looked down, embarrassed. "As to your efforts, you need only look
around you and see all the fruit trees and vegetable plants that grow at
your behest, all the flowers and greenery that once more live. Perhaps
before you tried too hard, anticipating that you would fail. Perhaps
you need only act anticipating you will succeed."

"But the stakes are so much higher now," Serenity replied. "We're
not just talking about a garden."

"I know this. You hear the cries. You feel the pain of your
people, not just here but across the globe. I hear them as well. And
you wonder, with your mind still grounded in that clumsy young girl who
could do nothing right save love life, if you can help them." She
clasped Serenity's hands and held them tight. "You can."

"I believe you," Serenity said, eyes averted. "You know so much
more than I do, I'd be silly not to." She raised her head, her eyes
filled with teetering confidence. "What do I have to do?"

"What do you wish to do?" Kakyuu asked gently.

"Well, Shingo said people need shelter. I guess we should start
with that."

"A good choice. It will not be an easy task, Usagi. Do you feel
up to it?"

"I don't know. Last time I tried something like this, I almost
- - well, you know."

"Do not fear. I shall join my energies to yours should you
falter." Princess Kakyuu smiled at Serenity. It was a playful smile,
full of joy and fun, and yet behind it was deep, earnest emotions. "You
have become a great friend to me in the short time I have known you. I
should not wish anything dire to happen to such a great friend." Then
her smile took on a mischievous glint. "And I doubt Seiya would forgive
me should I allow anything to happen to you - - nor would your friends,
particularly your Uranus and Neptune." Serenity only looked at her
perplexed, for the comment had sailed over her head. "Do not fear. I
will aid you. And if you feel yourself becoming overtaxed, you are
permitted to stop. Ten bites will finish a pie just as permanently as
one."

"Obviously you've never seen me eat," grinned Serenity. Kakyuu
smiled back, amused by the joke, though there was no way she should know
why it was funny. Then she took Serenity's hands and brought them up so
their arms were level with their chests.

"It is as before," Kakyuu instructed. "Concentrate on what you
wish to happen and then allow the energy to flow from deep inside of
you. Above all, believe you can do it. And remember I am here and will
aid you if you need it."

Serenity nodded. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then
began to concentrate.

"Not too hard," Kakyuu prodded softly. "Be as the feather
floating in the wind. Do not force the power. Let it flow from you."

Nodding, Serenity took another breath and concentrated on the
feather analogy. A calmness washed over her. She could feel the power
of the Silver Crystal glowing in her chest. It seemed even easier now
than before when she grew all the fruit and vegetables. She opened her
eyes, wanting to tell Princess Kakyuu. To her amazement, they were
fifty meters in the air. Startled, Serenity immediately began to
struggle to maintain altitude.

"Calm, Usagi," Kakyuu said gently. "Be as the feather."

Chagrined, Serenity nodded and thought of the feather.
Immediately she stabilized in the air. Recalling Kakyuu's instructions
and the sensations she recalled from the time before, Serenity focused
on her vision. She saw a city restored to what it had been. The power
flared brilliant within her and immediately began to hurt. Serenity
tensed.

Continued in Chapter 7