Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Where the Sky meets the Ocean ❯ Embark Neptune ( Chapter 2 )

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

Awareness began to trickle away from her legs, numbness filling in its empty wake. Perched on her knees and ankles, Michiru uncomfortably looked on as the priests scuffled about in a huddle, catching only the occasional point or glance or whisper directed her way. The meeting had begun like any other, but as the orders of business were introduced, a topic of great importance was announced. They didn't read it out fully, like was custom, but in about mid-sentence the presenter's eyes scanned the lines to follow and stopped short. He called the other monks to him, and they formed a big ring of muffled exchanges. One priestess took the list from the hands of the presenter, and exclaimed in an excited whisper something like, “She still can be, its harmless!” while tapping a finger frantically against the bottom of the page. A unanimous nod of relief rippled through the group, and they once again took their seats. Pleasantly corrected, the presenter addressed Michiru with a reassuring grin, though it came up false in her eyes, and this explanation:

“As you may know from previous meetings, for us to mend the alliance between our ocean and the Palace of the Heights, a representative is being brought to us to live and learn for a half cycle, and you are our chosen emissary to return and study with them. Their council has responded much faster than we anticipated it would, and all the arrangements were finalized within the past two days. The exchange should not be overly invasive, and your studies will not be interrupted at all, until the point where you must leave, in which case books shall be made with all the notes you will need for the remainder of the cycle. The empty room next to yours will be made ready for the representative, and it will be your duty to ensure their comfort and be there should they need assistance. Go now and make ready!”

Concerned, but powerless, she bowed and accepted, and headed back to her bed quarters to change for the reception, figuring it best just to go with the current. Folding the robes neatly into her dresser, and then moving to open a richly adorned chest on the floor next to it, she lifted one of the complexly woven dresses out. She held it up briefly, shaking her head in defeat at how useless it would be to really choose, there was no choice in any other aspect of the situation and to waste the energy convincing herself otherwise was self destructive.

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The long voyage to Neptune was suspiciously casual, not casual in a comfortable way by any means, but too plain and hollow to be an official business trip. One of the oldest and rattiest ships was her escort, it was leaky and vermin infested, so she wasted most of her time killing rats. When there were none left to eradicate, she took the pile she had accumulated and began slitting them open. Idly dabbing the blood in spots on the floor, she eventually developed a dragon design, and using a rope found on the floor nearby the frayed end served as a makeshift brush. She tried very hard to create a consistent texture, but the wood grain was working against her and she switched to a technique for a more rugged dragon, which worked very nicely, and by the time the ship arrived it was complete. As it was entering the planets atmosphere, Haruka spat on her hands and then wiped them clean on her pant leg.

The thick, salt-laced air froze her on the spot, and threatened to crush her body like some icy implosion. The light, sunny air was squeezed from her lungs, and unforgiving darkness took its place. Numbly, the planks of the bridge beneath her began to disappear, and the ones at the end seemed to be pulled closer. Every heartbeat seemed slower and more desperate than the last, and her flesh crawled and quivered in an attempt to regurgitate the chill. Her belongings trembled inside the chest she carried loosely before her, combined with the prickling of her skin and chattering of her skin the noise was enough to drive one insane. Through eyes that no longer seemed liquid, a figure slanted before her line of vision, a robed figure, and for a moment she contemplated attacking them and stealing the robe, but decided her blood was too cold to move that way, so the mindless wander across the frigid island continued without incident, ending anticlimactically with an eventual meander to the hooded greeting. She was then led through the empty mouth of a cave that led to the deepest hell she could ever imagine fearing…

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The sea green dress pulled forward on her ankles with every step she took, and echoed across the facets of the dripping rock wall. Joining her were a handful of priests, following suit in the procession, hooded and ominous as they followed each of those steps toward the grand surface door. It was previously ajar, and the priest coming from the surface led the exchange inside with the same paced footsteps, the parties meeting exactly halfway. Michiru watched with glazen eyes a scene that would change the course of her entire life with minimal interest, observing the newcomer with empty thoughts. Finally, after several moments, she forced the world into focus and viewed the guest carefully, noting the same desperate shroud before, her eyes, the guest was indeed female, not that it really mattered, but in a way it truly did.

Curiosity began in the pit of her gut as a tremor, pulsating in crescendo until she could actually feel her heartbeat seeking a reason for being. Unknowingly, tentatively, she took a step forward, a breath, another, a beat, a third, a questioning glance. The stranger looked up, ashamed, a beat, confused, a release, begging for the fourth step. It came with the beat, and as the priest began a monotone introduction she reached out with her right hand, searching for some meaning, grasping the handle of the gilded chest with a breath, beckoning for the release that followed and the stranger moved the free hand to support her own end of the box. She followed the priestess with blind trust because she could have nothing else, as the priests mumbling faded down the dampened rock halls.

Objects make idle noises as the shift in the box against the fabric and leather, little sounds echo against the walls to match the heartbeats and bounce off each footstep. Michiru reached out with her left hand and pushed open the guest room door, causing the maids to rush out in a flurry of hushed “oh dears” and “excuse me's”. The girls ignored their bustling with stone cold faces too tired to care, the priestess leading the chest to a bare spot at the foot of the futon, and the fighter lowering it to that designated spot with a robotic grace. They stood there for a handful of moments, staring at the floor and summing themselves up, and then raising their eyes to each other to compare that product. It wasn't worth much at the time, but the mutual helplessness made embarrassment futile, so they weren't.

Ruka sighed after the endless exchange of heart breaths and sigh beats, and held out her hand in greeting. She took it on impulse and the gravities melded for a few beats before giving a polite curtsy and informing the Uranian she would be just next door should she need anything at all, and taking her leave. Haruka nodded and watched her go, the hem of the long sea colored dress swaying across the stone behind her ankles…