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M E N U
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| ©2002 aoi-midori |
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chpater one: revelations 'I can hear a noise. Yes, I can hear ringing. The sound of people crying, the heart-wrenching sound of destruction, I'm not dead! But why is everything so dark? Am I dead? Is this what death is? A pitied soul trapped upon the ear with no vision, no ability to communicate, or express emotion? It's all coming back to me now. Along with my vision, I can remember what had happened.' Serena's thoughts pollute her mind with worry, with anger, and with the hunger for vengeance. These images that have stained her memory, the images of loved ones, of the innocent, burning. 'This cannot be forgiven!' she screams deep within her thoughts, and bursting from her lips with a soft, almost lifeless tone, "Queen Beryl…." Then it all becomes fuzzy. Her blurred vision begins to fade once again, wrapping her mind with soft dreams and blackened pictures, bring her soul back to a unconscious oblivion… * * * * * "Look at this…" soft spoken words roll from the mouth of Sailor Mercury as she rests her eyes upon the horizon, looking no different than the few feet just in front of her, a desolate field of nothing but smoke and broken hope. "All that we've lived for, all that we've taken care of, we've cherished…..gone. I mean," she pauses as she tightly clenches her eyelids to catch her tears and squeezes herself tight as if to wake herself from a nightmare, "so many innocent people. So many children…" he words can no longer carry an type of solid form, as they are soon drowned with loud crashes of cries. "What can we do?" questions Sailor Venus, though the tone of her voice reveals neglect for an answer. She had been nearly in shock since the beginning of the attack, motionless and emotionless, a statue that bared a face of fear, and of sadness. If it hadn't been for the quick thinking of Amy, she might have perished along with the rest of the civilians that had inhabited the Neo Tokyo Mall that evening. Sailor Mercury had saved her life, and she was determined to return the favor. But for now, needless thoughts on returned favors must be swept aside. The question now is, 'What can we do?' "Huh-" the uncontrolled cries of Amy cease, as she turns to Mina revealing a thanking smile that she is alright, but it is soon hushed by the return of tears and an almost violent thrust of her head, returning her eyes to the destruction mounted before her, "I'm glad to here your voice again, Mina." "I want to thank you, Amy," she pauses as if to make sure her words don't come off as offensive in the wake of what had just happened, but continues as planned, "I thought I was going to die. But, now I'm alive, because of you-" Her words are cut off by a silence from Amy, a silence that is almost fearful. She cannot take this uncomforting quiet any longer, but just as Mina begins, she is hushed by Amy, "Your welcome. That's what friends are for," her words, unchanging in tone, she continues, "But…was our surviving really worth it?" Mina grins off Amy's question. It's not as if Mina can happily smile during a time like this, but, like always, Amy has a point. Instead, she brushes of the question by asking one of her own, "What do-" she cuts her self off, resetting the question in her head in search of her own answer, but comes up without one. "What do you think caused that?" Amy replies softly, still showing the sign of both fear and sadness in her voice, "It was Beryl." Immediately Amy lowers her head, also feeling disgrace in the truth. Mina's silent shock churns instantly into a shower of emotions. She spits a loud, "What?!" She pauses, the sign of anger and fear remains painted on her face, waiting for Amy to surrender her sick joke. 'Why would Amy say something so cruel? It's not like Amy to joke, especially during a time like this?' Mina screams in her thought. As she waits for Amy to speak, she realizes that it was no joke. She can see it Amy's eyes, she can feel it in her heart. Once again, her anger overpowers her words as she bolts Amy with accusations and questions, "THAT CAN'T BE! You know for a fact, as well as I, that Queen Beryl is dead! We both saw her die, we helped Serena and the rest of the scouts finish her off." Her words start to become softer, as if she is slowly seeing a possibility in the cause being Beryl. "I mean, I saw her body burn with my own eyes. I can still hear her screams of pain as if it only happened a moment ago. It's impossible." Wide eyed, Mina traces the ground between her legs with her eyes, but her vision is focused on the images playing back in her mind. Silence falls upon the two for quite sometime once again. Amy, still standing at the edge of the heap of broken rock and splintered metal which used to be such a beautiful shopping mall, staring blindly through sore eyes upon the scattered grounds before her, stretching all the way to the horizon and beyond. Nothing is moving except for the smoke. Nothing can be seen but sadness and destruction, yet Amy stares into this mess for what seems to be forever, hoping to see some form of life, or maybe waiting to wake up from a nightmare. But Amy now knows, no life is to be seen her, this isn't a dream. She raises her head, still not facing Mina, she begins to reply. "Do you believe in reincarnation?" "Reincarnation?" Mina slowly answers with the same question. They haven't spoken for what seems to be hours, so Mina finds her self trying to switch focus from her brainstorms to their prior conversation. Once focused, she retorts, "You can't possibly think that Beryl has reincarnated! Do you?" "Mina," anger floods Amy's voice, yet still comes across as soft and innocent, "I saw Beryl with my own eyes." She pauses, waiting for Mina to snap back, denying her of what she saw. After she is greeted by nothing but silence, she continues, "through the commotion of the storm, I could see her eyes." "She was here?" Mina jumps to a stand, braces her feet upon the crumbled Earth below her, and clenches her teeth, "She was here? And you didn't do anything about-" "I saw her eyes in the clouds." Mina breaks to a silent sigh. Realizing she has been battering Amy with undeserved anger, she folds her hands, closes her eyes, and replies softly, "What do you mean?" "I saw her eyes, as if she were part of the sky." Amy knows her theory is coming off as crazy, but she also knows what she saw. "I thought I was only day dreaming. I thought it were merely a haunting flashback of the day we defeated Beryl. Until," she pauses, giving space for her cries as she relives the horrible situation in her mind, "until everything started blazing." Mina closes in on Amy and rests her hands upon her shoulders. As she rubs her hands up and down, massaging Amy's arms, she continuously replies, "Everything will be alright. We'll bring this place back to normal someday, you'll see." Amy spins with a quick jolt, yet carrying grace in her movement. She clenches to Mina's shirt and rests her face upon her chest, soaking it with tears. Fervently running her fingers through Amy's hair, she holds her close, not wanting to part with her, what seems to be, only friend. Looking high into the sky, as if talking directly to God, she whispers…"I hope the other scouts are all right. We need their help if we ever plan to make this place beautiful again…" * * * * * "SERENA!!!" "SERENA, WHERE ARE YOU?!" 'Those voices…' Serena slowly gains consciousness once again, yet unable to open her eyes, which are filled with ashes and burn from smoke, 'Lita? Rye? My….My friends?' She feels weak. Crushed. It all becomes clear to her, her memory begins to return, 'That…..that bright light. Everything began burning….' The thought of being dead instantly ceases existence. She can't be dead! Death, she ponders, couldn't be this painful, this crushing. With those thoughts flowing threw her head, she realizes she's trapped, buried beneath debris from that explosion. "Lita, where's Serena?!" Raye's voice, trembling with fear, rapidly darts questions towards Lita, "She can't be dead! We have to find her! Serena can't be dead!" Lita, also trembling and crying, turns towards Raye, who at the moment is violently ripping through the piles of large debris beneath her feet. She rushes towards Raye, know that if she keeps up these actions based on emotion, she's bound to hurt herself. Grabbing Raye by the shoulders, she's prepared for a violent backlash, since she can sense Raye is determined to find Serena. But, there is nothing. No struggle. No screams. Just a limp frame, bowing her head and sobbing loudly. Raye slowly lifts her almost lifeless frame from the ground, turns, and embraces Lita so gracefully. "Are we," her voice comes off as almost stuttering with fear, "Are we…..are we the only survivors? Is," reality grasps her strong, as she continues with louder words wrapped with tears, "Is Serena dead?" Lita can feel Raye's pain as well, but knows that the answer may cause more damage towards her. Instead, she remains quiet, only squeezing Raye tighter, bringer her deeper into her arms. Raye continues to speak, flushing her mind of every lasting thought, "I've, I've grown so close to Serena. She was one of my best friends. I know we never got along for the longest time, but that only made us closer. For the last few years, whenever I was in trouble, when ever I had a problem, she was there to help me through it, to hold me and tell me everything is going to be ok," she pulls back from Lita's hold, looking her deep in the eyes. Her reflection, clear in Lita's tears, she continues, "I want to do the same for her. I want to hold her right now, to tell her everything will be ok." So much sadness, so much loss, Lita lifts her head away from Raye's pained face. She can't take the sight of her this way anymore. Her blurred vision buries itself deep into the horizon. She wipes her flooded eyes, and through new sight she notices motion in the ground. "Oh-" Suddenly Raye's cries hush, as she finds hope in that sound from Lita's lips, carrying her eyes to meet the same horizon. In a matter of seconds, a limp hand resurrects from the rubble. "It's Serena!" Raye screams as she darts towards this survivor, before Lita has a chance to calm her down. Knowing that the possibilities of this soul survivor being Serena are close to none. But, as the image replayed in her mind, seeing that hand jump from the ground, for a moment she felt assurance that Serena was in fact alive, and that this hand was hers. Before giving herself time to deny her thoughts, she rushes behind Raye. "Serena! Serena! Is that you?!" once again, the violent nature of Raye removing rubble returns, but at even a quicker speed. Just as Lita finally arrives at the scene, Raye lifts Serena from the hole, wrapping her arms around her limp frame. "Serena! I knew you'd be alright! I was just telling myself, I want-" Raye cuts her own words and snuggles her face close to Serena's, through cries of happiness, she slips one line, "Thank you, God." From the sky bounces a piercing sound, causing all three to jolt their heads upwards. Bracing their eyes from this bright light, they try to catch a glimpse of this mysterious aircraft. Before even able to focus attention, let alone vision, the helicopter immediately lands, and from it's door appears four people. Lita, being the most stable at the moment, is the first to see them, "It's," she pauses in shock, and bolts out with happiness, "It's Amy and Mina!" But who are the other two? Through squinted eyes, she tries to place there faces, "Is that……Alvin and Molly?"
Coming Soon! Chapter 2: Upon Cold Stone |