Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Dream Catcher ❯ The Lady in Black ( Chapter 6 )

CHAPTER 6: THE LADY IN BLACK

A tall senshi with long black hair pulled into a bun stood in the middle of a forest. It was a nice sunny day. Everything was quiet. Too quiet. She looked around. There was something strange hanging in the air, like a warning of a danger. She turned around again trying to find where this sensation was coming from. A sudden gust of wind caused her to shield her eyes. The `danger' seemed to have waited just for that.

"Dark Dome Close!" she heard from behind.

She tried to turn around but her body froze. The only things she was able to move were her eyes.

"It's impossible!" she thought shocked. "I am the only one who can use that power."

`That's what you thought."

The forest vanished and a man showed up out of nowhere. He had black hair and wore a white shirt and black pants. He was handsome, but there was something cold in his blue eyes.

"Yes, I can read your thoughts." He answered her unspoken question.

"Who are you?" Pluto thought intensely. The man looked at her closely.

"I am somebody who will slowly drain your power, just like I will do with your teammates."

He began to laugh. There was something in his laughter that sent chills down Sailor Pluto's spine. She attempted to move again but nothing happened.

"You're beautiful." The man caressed her cheek. "It will be a shame to destroy such beauty, but I can't take any chances."

Pluto tried to move the staff she held in her hands, to attack the man, but she couldn't. The situation seemed hopeless, when a sudden light filled the air. The man covered his eyes and escaped into the shadows.

"Don't fear!" A female voice spoke from above. Pluto looked up. To her surprise she had no problems moving. She looked down at her hands. The spell seemed to be broken, at least temporarily. When she looked back up she saw a beautiful woman standing in front of her. She wore a black gown with long lacy sleeves. The dress was tied with ribbons across her chest and a silver belt was wrapped around her hips. Her black shoulder-length hair was slowly moving in the gentle breeze.

"Who are you?" Pluto whispered afraid that the vision would disappear.

"I cannot tell you, but the time will come when you and your friends will find out everything. Right now I need your help."

"What can I do?"

"Find the one with the purest dream. Only that special someone can defeat the Dream Master and break the spell that lies over the Galaxy."

"The Dream Master?" Pluto wasn't sure if she'd heard that name before.

"He is the one who trapped you in this dream. And sealed me away. What you see in front of you is a mere reflection of the real me."

A shadow of sadness covered her pretty face.

"I cannot hold him off for much longer. Use the power of Emma, the guardian of the island you're on, to free yourself from this illusion."

The light around both women began to fade. The lady in black finally disappeared. Everything was back to the previous state. Pluto's body was immobilized again.

The man came back angry.

"Who was it? Answer me!" he yelled looking around. "It was her, wasn't it? I know it was her, but how? She couldn't have escaped."

Pluto looked at him curiously.

"So you are the Dream Master."

"How do you know my name? She told you, right? What else did she tell you?"

"It's not important. The fact is that you are just an illusion, a dream."

"If you are so sure of it, how come you're still here? Don't you think you would've waken up by now?"

He laughed in her face, but he didn't sound as sure of himself as he was before. Pluto remembered what the lady said about the power of Emma, but she didn't know how or where she was going to find it. Especially since her body was like made out of stone, not able to move.

"I think I've played with you enough. It's time to get serious."

The Dream Master approached her and touched her forehead with his index finger. Pluto felt a wave of energy leaving her body.

"I need to do something quick, or I won't survive."

"Say good bye to the world while you still can, because in few moments your body will be dry of energy."

"Oh, please, the Guardian of Emma, lend me your powers!"

The garnet orb on top of her staff suddenly began to glow bright red. A great energy rushed through Pluto's body. The young woman took a deep breath. Her limbs moved freely again. The man watched her in shock as she lifted the staff and swirled it over her head.

"Now it's my turn to play with you."

Pluto put the staff to her side. Words began to flow through her head. She didn't hesitate to call them out loud.

"Whispers of Souls!"

A shower of purple stars flew from the end of the staff hitting the man in the chest. They caused some sort of vacuum around him. His energy was slowly being pulled from his body.

"I'm not defeated yet!"

He screamed as he vanished. The surroundings began to reappear. Pluto found herself standing in the middle of the forest again. She quickly looked around. Everything seemed to be in tact. The young woman looked up to the sky thinking of the mysterious lady.

"Thank you." She whispered.

It was time to find her way out of this forest and get to the main land and the palace.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Sailor Mercury stood in front of a massive door. Her fuku was wet. She landed in the nearby lake. Her body was sore but nothing seemed broken. The water helped soften the impact. As soon as she got out of lake she pulled out her computer and did a scan of the surroundings. From that she found out she was stranded on an island. And now she was standing in front of the only housing structure in the area.

The building had a tall stone wall built around it. The copula of the building reminded Mercury of an observatory she saw back home. She rang the bell and soon the door opened. To her surprise nobody was behind it. She entered with caution. The courtyard was big. Most of it was covered with grass. There was a path leading right through it. She touched her earring and a visor appeared on her face. She began to make her way to the other side of the yard. When she was about 50 yards from the building the main door flew open and an old man came out.

"Welcome to the Kinmoku Observatory." He called out with a big grin on his face.

"I don't get visitors very often. My name is Tamazuki Nakano. Please come in."

Mercury hesitated. The man noticed that and smiled again.

"Well, I'm not going to hurt you, but it's up to you to decide if you're going to come in."

He turned around and disappeared behind the door. Sailor Mercury stood outside for a moment trying to decide whether to trust this stranger or not. Finally she walked inside, with the visor still on. She heard some noises coming from behind a door to the left. She pushed it open. Tamazuki was busying himself around the small room, which appeared to be some sort of kitchen. He pulled two cups out of a cupboard. Moments later the water on the stove began to boil and he poured some of it into a teapot. The smell of a freshly brewed green tea filled the air.

"Please, make yourself comfortable." The old man said without turning around.

Mercury knelt down by the short table placed in the middle of the kitchen. Soon she held a steaming cup of tea in her hands. She took a sip and soothing warmth rushed through her body. Until now she didn't realized how cold she was in her wet clothes.

"So tell me, where are you coming from? You don't look like a Kinmokian."

"I'm from planet called Earth. We… I came here because Princess Kakyuu called for help."

"Oh, you must be one of the Sailors we've heard so much about." Tamazuki said excited. He quickly scanned the girl's clothing.

"Judging by your outfit you must be Sailor Mercury. Yes," he added quickly seeing the surprise on the girl's face. "we know all about you. How could we ever forget the fact that you saved our dear Princess."

He got up and walked over to the door.

"Come with me. I want to show you something."

Mercury stood up and followed the man. He led her towards the back of the building. Soon they entered another room. This one was a lot bigger than the kitchen. In the middle of it stood some sort of machinery. Sailor Mercury recognized it immediately as a telescope.

"I saw you all land. I can show you were your friends are." He took the girl by the hand and pulled her to a desk. There was a map spread on it. It had one huge continent in the middle of it and eight small islands scattered around it. Mercury noticed ten red dots on the map. Before she could ask Tamazuki tapped the points with his fingers.

"These are the places where your friends landed. These islands are called Ryujin, Raiden, Benten, Fudo, Ebisu, Emma, Fujin, and Shoki." He pointed to each island as he named them. "This is where you are - Ryujin."

Mercury nodded. She took out her calculator and made a copy of the map. While she was working on the map the man walked over to another machine standing in the corner. He picked up a piece of paper and brought it over to the girl.

"According to this note I got from the palace some of your teammates have already been found." Tamazuki began to read the names of the list. "Sailor Uranus, Sailor Neptune, Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask. They seem to be just fine."

"Five are still missing." Sailor Mercury said more to herself than to the old man. She looked at the map. "Where were they found?"

"Uranus landed on Fujin, Neptune was found on Ebisu, Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask were on the main land." The man looked at the map and scratched his chin.

"That's interesting." He muttered under his nose. "Very interesting."

Sailor Mercury looked at him curiously.

"You see," the old man began to explain, "these island are dedicated to our gods and goddesses. Ryujin is the god of the sea. Ebisu is also the god of the sea. He represents the wealth of the sea. If I'm not mistaken you and Neptune are somehow connected with water and its powers."

Mercury nodded.

"Now, I'm not quite sure about Uranus, because Fujin is the god of the wind. He was present at the creation of the world."

"I believe I know the connection. Now, what do the other names mean? Maybe it will give me an idea where to look for the rest of them."

"Ah, yes. Benten is among others the goddess of love, wisdom, and music. Raiden is the god of thunder and lightning. Emma is named after the god of the underworld. Fudo is known as the god of fire and wisdom and Shoki is the god of the afterlife."

"Contact the palace." Sailor Mercury said after a short pause and she explained to him which senshi landed on which island.

"Thank you for your help, Mr. Nakano."

She bowed in front of him and walked over to the door.

"You're going to need a boat if you want to get out of here."

Tamazuki gave her the direction to his boathouse and bidding the girl `good luck' watched her leave the observatory.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The sound of leaves rustling in a breeze and the singing of birds brought Sailor Mars back to reality. She opened her eyes and closed them immediately. The sun was high up in the sky. She sighed heavily and tried to get up. Her right ankle seemed to be wrenched. She stumbled a little, but managed to lean against a tree trunk before falling back down. She looked around. Olive trees surrounded her from all sides. Most of the branches grew from the top leaving the bottoms of the trunks bare. The leaves were tiny and red. There was something familiar about those trees, even though she knew she had never been here before. As soon as she was sure she wasn't going to fall back down, Mars began to walk towards some buildings she saw on the other side of the garden. It was difficult with a sore ankle, but before long she reached the houses. She sat down on a step to take a break.

"Welcome to Fudo Temple." A monk appeared in front of her. Mars tried to stand up to greet him.

"Please, you need to rest your ankle. I saw you coming out of the garden."

He smiled at her. Mars noticed a jar he was holding in his hand. He opened it and stuck his fingers inside. When he took them back out his fingers were covered with some sort of cream. He knelt down in front of the surprised girl, took of her right shoe and began to rub the substance into her sore foot and ankle. Sailor Mars was too shocked to protest. When the monk was done he stood up and reached out to help the girl up. Mars accepted the offered hand and got to her feet. To her surprise her ankle didn't feel sore anymore. The cooling sensation coming from the paste seemed to have eased the pain.

"You still need to rest. Come with me and I'll show you a place where you can relax."

Slowly he led the girl to a room just inside the temple. There was a bed on one side and a table with cushions around it in the middle of the room.

"We are honored to have you as our guest, Sailor Mars of the Earth senshi." He bowed in front of her and walked out leaving the shocked girl to herself. Mars sat down. Moments later the door opened again and another monk brought inside a tray with food and drinks. He sat it down on the table and was getting ready to leave.

"Wait a minute." Mars stopped him before he closed the door. "How do you know who I am."

"We received a message that the senshi from Earth arrived. And since you are wearing senshi fuku…" he smiled and bowed.

"Yes, of course. Do you know where the rest of my group is?"

"Yes, it won't be long before you are all united again. Tomorrow one of us will take you to the main land. We have already arranged a transport for you that will take you to the palace."

"Thank you." Mars sighed in relief and gratefully bowed. The monk left the room and the girl could finally relax.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

It was a busy day at the palace. Everybody was getting ready for the Sailor Senshi to arrive. After receiving the message from Tamazuki Nakano it didn't take the Starlights long to find the rest of the girls. Sailor Starhealer made sure that every one of the girls was safely being transported to the palace. Sailor Starmaker supervised the preparations of the quarters for the guest.

The only one that was lacking behind in all that commotion was Sailor Starfighter. She was spending most of her time with Usagi. Fighter decided that it would be best for the girl's health if she took on her Earth form, as Seiya Kou.

"Tell, me Seiya." Usagi asked as they walked through the garden gate. "What is Earth like?"

"It's beautiful. It looks like a blue crystal ball when you look at it from space."

"Is it similar to Kinmoku?"

Seiya looked at the sky as they sat down on a bench. The sun was slowly setting.

"Yes, in some ways it is. Both planets have beautiful Princesses as their protectors."

He turned towards the girl and took her hand. Usagi blushed gently.

"I missed you, Odango."

"Were we….?" She wasn't sure how to ask. "Were we together?"

A sad smile appeared on the boy's handsome face. He suddenly stood up.

"Come with me. I want to show you something."

Seiya led Usagi out of the garden and into the nearby forest. The whole time he never once let go of the girl's hand. Usagi became nervous. She was about to turn around when they came upon a clearing. There was a beautiful lake in the middle of it. It shone brightly in the setting sun. Seiya pulled the girl towards the beach. They sat down next to each other watching the final rays of sun slowly disappearing under the horizon. The couple didn't talk taken by the beauty of the surroundings. The boy slowly raised his arm and put it gently around Usagi's back. She shivered, but didn't move away. Slowly she lowered her head onto his shoulder. They stayed like that till it got dark. Finally Seiya broke the silence.

"This is my favorite place. I've been coming here every evening since we came back from Earth. It helped me get through the times when I missed you so much it hurt."

He touched the girl's chin and turned her face towards him. They looked deeply into each other's eyes. The boy leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers.

"Were we really together?" a sudden thought began to fill Usagi's head. "This feels strange, not right. Is it because I know that he's a girl in his senshi form. No, that's not it. There is something else… No… SOMEBODY else."

Her eyes opened wide. She pushed Seiya away and with a quick apology ran into the dark forest.

"Usagi, wait!" The boy called after her, but she was nowhere to be seen.

The poor girl ran as quickly as she could through the dark woods. She could barely see where she was going in the moonlight. Tears were pouring down her cheeks.

"Who are you?" she kept asking over and over again. "I know you are deep in my heart. Tell me, who you are? What is your name?"

She tripped over a fallen tree and landed face forward in the moss. Her shoulder began to shake as she cried harder and harder.

"Why can't I remember anything? Why? WHYYYY?"

Usagi pounded the ground with her fist. She cried with anger until there were no more tears left in her eyes. She began to calm down. Finally her sobbing started to fade away. Soon she was fast asleep.

She had a dream.

She was sitting on the ground. Four girls were standing around her.

"Hey, Usagi, want to come with us to the Crown?"

The girl with long blond her winked at her.

"You know he's waiting there for you."

"Who's waiting?" she asked.

"She doesn't get it. She never gets it. Just forget her and let's go."

A dark-haired girl turned away with annoyance, but kept looking over her shoulder.

"Get what?" Usagi was getting frustrated. Tears began to fill her eyes as she looked around.

"Crybaby!"

"Why are you always so mean to me?"

"Really, Usagi. Don't you remember anything?"

Big blue eyes looked at her with curiosity. Her short black hair flew into her eyes as she leaned forward.

"Don't tell me you forgot the love of your life? I will never forget my first boyfriend. He had the same smile as your…"

"UUUSAAAGIIII!"

A familiar voice came calling from far away. The girl turned around to see who it was. She didn't see anybody but when she turned back to ask the other girls, they weren't there anymore.

"USAGI! WHERE ARE YOU?"

This time it was a different voice, but still familiar. A sudden wind began to howl around her. It made her shiver so hard that it woke her up. She was still lying on the moss covered in the morning dew. She realized she stayed there all night.

"USAGI! ASNWER, PLEASE!"

She recognized the voice immediately. It was Starmaker. She appeared to be a lot closer this time. Usagi quickly wiped her face with her hands and began to walk towards the calling. It wasn't long before she was reunited with the people from the palace. They wrapped her in warm blanket and took her back.

Seiya joined the search party as Starfighter. He was happy that the girl was found but he discretely decided to stay away from her, at least for now.