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devinescribe · 1 year ago

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Betrayed

Ch. 22 of 100 Promises

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You ran into Chishiya on your way down.

"Nice punch," he mentioned, high fiving you. You smiled. He had really changed a lot since you first met him.

"Go help Ann and Kuina, they are taking a good approach to this. I... have something to do," he instructed, holding a water gun in his hand. "What? Gonna put the fire out with that?"

"More like start one..."

You stared for a couple of seconds, and nodded. "Alright... stay safe."

-----------

"Suguru! Come on you promised!" You whined, dragging him over to the swings. He tried pulling away from your grip. "No-no, i am not getting on that death trap."

You two were at a carnival, and the swings happened to be your favorite ride. His least favorite.

You thought for a second and smirked. "I'll let you kiss me at the top of the farris wheel~!"

His face turned bright red as he stammered and hid behind his hands. "(Y-y/N) you c-can't say that," he mumbled. "What you don't want to kiss me? You seemed eager to do so la-"

"Ok ok ok fine!"

You smiled, and pet the top of his head.

----------

You ran, heading to the part underneath the beach. It would be easier to travel this way.

You ran around, finally finding Ann.

"Ann!" You yelled, getting her attention.

She turned, quickly taking the defensive. "She's on our side, it's ok," Kuina said. You nodded.

"What do you need from me?"

___________

Numb

That's all you felt. You weren't happy. You weren't sad. You were nothing.

Chishiya dragged you two along with him, eventually coming up on a screen room.

"We meet again," he said with a smirk. "You?"

"(Y/N), you're ok!" Usagi exclaimed, hugging you.

Ok?

Physically, you guessed you were fine. Minor burns along your arms and legs.

Alive? Physically your body was alive. The blood ran hot through your veins, your heart beat to a foreign beat you didn’t know.

Ok?

Mentally no, you just wanted to sit in a hole and cry for hours. You wanted to be left alone, you wanted to be held, actually you didnt know what you wanted.

You wanted to hate him.

And you did.

But a small piece of you faught.

The screaming teenager inside your head.

"He's dead! He's dead and its all your fault! We said we'd protect him! You hurt him you hurt him you liar! You're a liar!"

Oh how she cried, tearing up the walls of your brain. But you wished for nothing more than to forget.

Alive? You mind was bordering death.

"Yeah. I guess I am," you responded with a small laugh.

Light filled up the room as all the screens turned on. On them was Mira.

"I told you hot bitches that don't talk can't be trusted," you said to Kuina. She scoffed, and handed you a piece of candy in her pocket. "Ah thank you very much."

"Next stage?"

Well, this would be harder than you thought.

_______

"I don't care just... take me somewhere," he muttered, as you smiled widely.

"Anywhere?"

"Yeah yeah, anywhere let's go before I change my mind."

You two walked throughout the city as you dragged him along. You knew exactly where you wanted to take him. You walked in the shop doors, greeting the people working there.

"Ah, she's back! Oh... hun it seems you brought a stray dog with you," one of them giggled. "Stray- oh! This is Niragi, my best friend. Y'know the one I'm always talking about?" You introduced, shoving him forward. "Oh. Alright then what can I do for you today?"

"What i mentioned last time. But for both," you said, using the cryptic language for him to not back out.

"Ohhh... he scared of needles?"

"Uh... yo, 'Ragi, you scared of needles?"

"No, what kind of a dumbass wuestion is that?"

"Ok, got it."

She dragged you both over to some chairs, where Niragi decided to finally look up and see where you were.

"(N/N), why are we here?"

"You said anywhere!"

"Oh my gods..."

"Hey, if you back out of this I'll cry."

And about 30 minutes later, you were both out of there with a slight sting in your mouth.

"This fucking hurts," he whined. "Good. Remember what she said. No, kissing is not a good idea, no eating your hook up out is not a good idea, and on top of that not cleaning it until it heals is also... not a good idea."

"Yeah yeah whatever..."

_________

Tears welled up in your eyes. Why did you choose to remember the memories now?

The group of you all walked in the city, the giant blimps floating around.

"Yeesh... crazy bitch," you mumbled, wiping the tears away. "Yeah..."

Suddenly people started running towards you guys, frantically screaming.

"What's going on?!"

"King of spades! Run!"

You watched people duck behind cars and gets shot. While everyone else was running, you and Chishiya observed, occasionally dodging some.

"Well fuck me," you muttered. Then the bullets came spraying toward you making you yelp, and run. You zig zagged your way to a car, making it harder to catch you.

You hid and saw Chishiya jogging with his hands in his pockets.

"For fucks sake," you muttered, running back to him. You grabbed him arm and dragged him. "Fucking run dumbass. Bitch ass motherfucker, you aren't a goddamn cat, you don't have nine lives you're just as mortal as the rest of us," you lectured while dragging him and running behind a car.

You heard him huff next to you. "Have I ever mentioned... how much I hate spades?" He said with a small laugh. You smiled. "I don't think so. But I do- jesus fucking christ," you started, getting scared by Kuina getting behind the car with you guys.

Chishiya pulled sometjing out of his pocket handing it to her. "A... bomb?"

"For if you're ever in a pinch," he responded, as if it was totally normal to give your friends bombs.

------------

"Shit. That's not good, go!"

Chishiya grabbed your hand, pushing you away. You heard Kuina scream for you guys as you ducked behind a car, hearing an explosion.

"Oh my god. Whats the plan now?" You asked. You were really tired of the world punishing you like this. "We are going to be very careful, and leave. The Jack of Hearts isn't difficult, and hearts are your specialty," he said, pointing at the ballon. "Yeah... I guess. It's also the farthest. Since the King of Spades went that way following after them, i think we are in the clear. His ballon follows after him so lets go," you agreed.

You two began your trek through thd abandoned city and tried not stepping on corpses.

"This is really erie. I know that I was happy to be here at first, but now? God I wish I was dead," you mumbled. Chishiya grabbed your arm, pulling you away from the edge of the road. You scoffed, "What am I going to do? Get run over by the still cars?"

He laughed. "Yeah. You're kind of a klutz. I wouldn't put it past you," he said with a smile. You liked spending time with him.

"How are you doing?"

"What?"

"I asked, how are you doing?"

Silence.

"It's ok to miss him you know... You don't go from loving and trusting someone for years of you life to hating them overnight. I know you think you have to, but you don't. You're allowed to mourn the loss of your best friend. You're allowed to be sad and cry."

Tears welled up in your eyes.

"It's not ok. He's a horrible person. He tried to do horrible things. And I'm happy he's d-... I'm happy hes dead," you said, hearing your voice crack. His arms wrapped around you, shocking you. "It wasn't your fault. It's ok," he whispered. You broke down in his arms.

You hated that you felt bad for him. You hated you missed him.

-------------

"Chishiya, forget Niragi, look at those two," you whispered, subtlety pointing at two of the guys in the game. "You know one of them is a murderer right?"

"I am too at this point, so fuck it."

He sighed, nodding.

You looked up at the screen with everyone's name and picture.

Banda Sunato

Matsushita Enji

"Hm... I know who the first one is. The second one sounds really really familiar," you mumbled.

The game had started, and you watched everyone go to groups.

-------------

It was the second round and you heard someone call out to you.

"(L/N)?"

You turned around, expecting Chishiya.

It was Matsushita.

"I'm sure you don't remember me-"

Then it hit you who this was.

"Nononono, i remember, you were in my psych classes! We graduated together!" You exclaimed.

"So, you do remember."

This would be fun.

#alice in borderland #×reader #niragi #chishiya #angst #aliceinborderland #100 promises

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boots-with-the-fur-club · 8 months ago

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Chapter 7 of The Teenage Mutant Phantom of the Opera!

“Hey! Raph! Dad! This is Leo! Doesn’t he look like the drawing I made?” Mikey smiles.

Leo feels like the blood in his veins complete freeze, causing him to be immobile.

Raph and the rat turn towards them.

Leo makes eye contact with the latter, and some form of recognition washes over him.

He knows he’s seen this short man before once, even if he can’t exactly remember the moment itself.

Maybe it was the moment right before he was abandoned.

The rat’s eyes fill with emotion.

There’s shock in there for sure, sadness, guilt, maybe even some hope.

“G-Green….? You’re….alive?” He nearly whispers.

Leo attempts to remove his hand from Mikey’s but for some reason he’s got him in a grip he can’t get out of.

He’s so small, how is he this strong?

Leo’s mind flickers to the moments where he broke things because he wasn’t careful with his own strength.

The realization makes him panic further.

“I don’t know who that is.” He grabs Mikey’s wrist this time and squeezes it slightly to get him to let go.

Mikey finally does, but quickly starts clinging to his arm instead.

“It’s you! That’s what dad named you! Well, at first, when he wasn’t being too creative considering we’re all green. But then he named us after renaissance artists! You’re still named like us! It’s destiny!”

Leo is usually sort of desperate for touch since he never gets any, but right now feeling Mikey hold onto him is making his skin crawl.

“I’m named after a constellation, not a painter. You’re mistaken and you need to let go of me.”

Raph manages to pull Mikey off Leo, sensing the anger in his body movements.

“Pops, Mikey, maybe we should give him a second?”

“I don’t need a second, I need to go. I’m not continuing with this conversation.” Leo angrily turns around.

“Wait! Please! I don’t know what you think happened, but I promise I didn’t leave you behind on purpose. I thought you were gone. I loved you the moment I saw you. I would never have abandoned you.” Splinter begs for him to understand.

Leo tenses his fists.

“Never would have? You did. You left me here to die, you left me disfigured. I’m supposed to think that you want me now? Even if you had just simply come back to try to find me you would have. You didn’t. Live with it and accept your guilt, but don’t think I’m going to say it’s okay or forgive you.”

“Green-“

“That’s not my name! Someone gave me a real name and raised me and it wasn’t you! You and your sons might think that just because I’m somehow related to them that it means you’ll accept me no matter what but you know absolutely nothing about me. You’re never going to.” Leo starts making his way through the crowd.

He’s surprised when the rat starts coming towards him at a much quicker pace than his aged body should be able to move.

Leo is already feeling lower than ever at the moment and now realizes he won’t just be able to get back to his seat and watch the rest of the opera at this point.

His entire experience in what should be a perfect night is completely ruined and it’s all their fault.

Leo opens up a portal a little above himself and jumps in. The height and speed he leaves and closes it makes it so he can be followed.

Splinter drops to his hands and knees as the crowd stares at him.

Mikey and Raph are quick to try to comfort him or at the very least get him standing. They know this is bad since they are already well aware just how much the guilt of what happened to their brother eats away at him.

When the intermission is over Raph has to basically carry him back to their seats. Splinter is too distraught to properly pay attention to the opera.

Donnie immediately notices this and the fact that Leo isn’t there for the second act.

He tries not to let it affect him but the damage is done. The excitement from before is gone as his mind wanders to what happened.

Usagi can’t help but be distracted by Donnie being upset and his friend’s absence as well.

It leaves a tense feeling in the air once everything is finished.

Usagi follows behind Donnie as he walks towards his family. He does stop before getting too close though, wanting to allow him space to talk.

He watches as Donnie’s face falls while Mikey and Raph talk to him.

Usagi comes to the conclusion that they bumped into each other and it didn’t go very well.

He feels so stupid that he didn’t consider this could happen or to ask if Donnie was inviting his family.

The sadness in Donnie’s face mixes with anger, or at least something close to it.

Mikey raises up his arms with a knowing look and Donnie scoops him up, squeezing him tight like this is some kind of set deal between them.

Donnie soon walks over to Usagi.

“I have to get home.”

“Okay, you have my number if you need to talk. I’m here for you Donnie, we can fix this.”

Donnie nods.

“I appreciate it. I do, really. I wouldn’t have gotten to see him without you.”

“I know we didn’t start off right, and that it took a while for you to warm up to me, but you should know I do like you.”

Donnie blushes and forces Mikey’s head to stay turned away so Usagi doesn’t see the reaction coming from him.

“You….you do?”

“It’s probably surprising to hear, but yes. I see you as a friend.”

Donnie clears his throat.

“Oh, of course that’s what you meant. At this point it’s fairly obvious we can rely on each other.”

Usagi smiles.

“Stay safe getting home.”

“We will.” Donnie walks off back to his family and then leaves.

Usagi’s smile drops.

Leo might think that Usagi knew this would happen and betrayed him. He could stop talking to him for much longer and they might not be able to find him again.

It’s terrifying to think that maybe he won’t ever see him period after this.

He’s taken out of those thoughts when his aunt and sister find and come up to him to congratulate him on his performance.

They too eventually go home together.

Once everyone has completely left the theatre, Leo is again back at the catwalk.

He’s never felt more stupid in his life.

This was seen a mile away, maybe not this specifically, just the fact that it could turn out so badly.

Did Usagi know Donnie’s family was going to be here?

No, there’s no way he would do this to him.

It’s Donnie’s fault, all of this is his fault!

He’s ruining everything! He ruined Usagi’s first performance!

He’s just going to keep destroying everything Leo’s worked so hard to build without even a second thought!

The first performance is long over.

That means Leo is free to finally get rid of that dammed pest who keeps saying he’s his brother.

He’s going to deny it as long as he possibly can despite knowing now more than ever that it’s probably true.

The urge to live a normal life has been around since he was a child.

There’s a difference between an urge and what he knows is possible.

He meant what he said to that rat.

Too many years have passed.

Their family probably already has a dynamic that couldn’t possibly include him.

There’s also the fact that he would have to admit that he has no current guardian, has been staying alone in a theatre this whole time, and the fact that he is the phantom that keeps messing up productions plus almost hit Donnie with a sandbag.

That’s not even to mention all his obsessive behavior, need for perfection, and the horribly ugly burn on his face.

Being with them is simply not an option.

It will be even less of one after he’s gotten rid of the biggest problem in his life.

He portals to his room and begins planning the best way to get rid of him for good.

Usagi can’t find him when he goes to the theatre the next day no matter how loud he yells his name or how long he stays.

It hurts Leo to ignore him, but he has to in order for his plan to start off right.

Usagi texts Donnie about Leo not showing up anymore. The situation has them both on edge for the next performance.

That’s not the only thing, though.

Donnie finds that his costume has been shredded and with paint splattered all over.

The backup costume isn’t exactly ripped but someone glued a bunch of different fabric on various areas of it.

“Who would do this? They didn’t even just hide the costumes, it’s like the person wanted you to see how much it’s messed up.” Usagi comments.

Donnie stares down hard at them and a slight smile comes to his face.

“You’re right. It’s exactly like that.”

“And this makes you…..happy?”

“It does indeed. It seems like the phantom is striking once again.”

“You still think it’s Leo?”

“Oh I have zero doubt about it and honestly you’re in denial, however! This means he’s still been coming to the theatre despite you not seeing him.”

Usagi furrows his brows.

“I don’t know how to feel if it’s true then.”

“We made the assumption that he leaves the theatre when we can’t find him, but what if he doesn’t?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you don’t have his number or know where he lives. He’s secretive, only ever shows up here, and his portals were only ever inside other buildings. I think I know exactly what’s happening and that’s going to help me get him where he belongs.”

“Are you going to fill me in?”

“No.”

“No!?”

“Not until I have proof! I’m going to do what I do best, research and collect data points. Until then, this needs to be fixed.”

“How can we fix them on such short notice?”

“I have a father who sewed all my clothes since I was in diapers and a brother who makes bears for a hobby. This isn’t an issue.” Donnie pulls out his phone.

After not a lot of time, Raph shows up and carefully, but quickly, gets to work on fixing at least one costume enough for the show.

Usagi is amazed at how fast he works with such precision.

He’s able to finish just in time for their run through.

Usagi once again stays a bit away to give them their privacy.

He can still hear them from where he is though.

“How’s father today?”

“Our like a light with milk and cake. Dee, did he….is Leo comin to this performance? Is he ever comin back?” Raph looks away, hand on the back of his neck.

“Don’t worry about that. He’s going to be our brother even if I have to take him kicking and screaming to the lair.”

Raph looks back and smiles softly.

“I know I should be telling you to try to avoid that, but do what you have to. I’m actually lookin forward to having another knucklehead to take care of.” He pats the top of Donnie’s head.

Donnie smiles back.

“We’ll have him in a different mask in no time.”

“Good luck tonight. You’re gonna be great.”

“Am I ever anything less?”

“Only at basketball.”

Donnie huffs and Raph has a shit eating grin before he heads off.

Usagi smiles as Donnie comes back.

“What’s with that look? If you’re laughing at my lack of sports skills I will trip you on stage.”

“Donnie, I’m starting to think you are the secretly sweetest person I’ve ever met. You love your brothers a lot. Even just the potential ones.”

Donnie blushes, hiding his face slightly with his costume.

“Stop ruining my mysterious bad boy image.”

“It’s way too late. You’re sweet and I know it.” Usagi chuckles before going to his spot.

Donnie smiles again before some metal suddenly falls down next to him. It’s small, but also didn’t come from anywhere near him.

He glances upwards and swears he sees movement, although he can’t be fully sure.

Fine, if that’s how he’s going to play it. Donnie can compete just as well.

Challenge accepted, brother.

#the teenage mutant phantom of the opera #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt #2018 tmnt #rise of the tmnt #tw gaslighting #tw manipulation #tw obsessive love #tw obsessive behavior #tw obsession #tw obsessive thoughts #tw emotional manipulation

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beewolfwrites · 4 years ago

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And When I am Formulated, Sprawling on a Pin - Chapter Nineteen: I May Think of You Softly

The angst is starting to hot up now, because we can’t have a Chishiya fic without it :)

As always, you can also read this on AO3 here.

Just adding this because I’ve gotten a few messages about it, but once this fic comes to an end, I’ll start reading the manga properly so I can eventually write a part 2/sequel!

While I’m reading it though, I want to make a collection of one-shots based on this fic from Chishiya’s pov. I have a few scenes in mind to focus on, but if there are some you’d like to see, just drop me a message, comment, carrier pigeon etc... and let me know!

----------------------------------------------

‘It’s time.’

They were simple words, but they carried an awful lot of weight. The plan had to go perfectly, otherwise we were finished.

Arisu’s voice sounded from the other line. ‘Is everyone getting into position?’

I picked up the walkie talkie and headed to the door, only for Kuina to grab my arm and stop me. Perplexed, I opened my mouth to ask her why, but her pleading expression silenced me as she took the walkie talkie from my hand.

At the same moment, a new voice – Usagi’s – came through. ‘I’m in the hall, keeping lookout.’

Never taking her eyes from mine, Kuina’s hand tightened around my arm. She pressed the button to activate the walkie talkie. ‘We’re watching over the elevator to the top floor.’

Except we weren’t. We were here, in my room.

Kuina??

Once again, I began to ask her what was happening, but she shook her head, shushing me. The guilt in her eyes was unmistakable. ‘The coast is clear,’ she said into the walkie talkie.

Then it became awfully, awfully apparent what was going on.

‘The new leader is making a speech in the lobby,’ Chishiya said, ‘and all the executives and militants are at the annex. I’ll let you all know if there are any changes.’ There was a pause. ‘This is our only chance. I’m counting on you, Arisu.’

Shrugging out of Kuina’s hold, I sat down on the bed, trying to process the situation. This had been his plan from the start. Not the official plan, but a fake one: to use Arisu and Usagi to locate the safe, and to let them take the fall. Chishiya may know the passcode, but the location of the safe is something that can only be discovered once you actually go into the room.

He’s using them as his guinea pigs.

‘I’m in the Royal Suite now,’ Arisu said. ‘Though I can’t see anything that looks like a safe. Just give me a minute.’ My knee began to bounce nervously as the line went quiet. Then his voice crackled through, triumphant, ‘I’ve found it!’

A puff of air sounded from the other line, and I could practically hear Chishiya’s smirk. ‘The code, it’s 8022.’

There was a pause. ‘How do you know?’ Arisu asked. ‘Did you see inside the black envelope?’

I leaned forward, curious about how Chishiya had managed to figure it out simply by sitting in the same room. There were two possibilities here. Either Chishiya knew perfectly well what the passcode was, and he would concoct a lie to give to Arisu, or he only had an inkling about the passcode, and he was using Arisu to test it out.

‘No,’ Chishiya said, ‘but I didn’t need to. Aguni’s expression told me everything. He was surprised at first, then he was confused. I believe the paper inside was blank.’

‘Blank? But what about the passcode you just told me?’ Arisu asked.

There was an amused hum. ‘The wax seal. You remember Hatter’s ring… it was stamped with the word ‘BOSS’. When the wax seal was stamped, the embossing left numbers. That was the true code.’

You really are incredible, and not necessarily in a good way.

It certainly sounded convincing enough, though until Arisu tested it, there was no way of knowing whether this was the genuine truth, or an impressive sounding lie. And judging by the way things were going, he would find out very quickly.

My heart broke for Arisu as he spoke with pure, blind amazement. ‘Chishiya, I’d hate to be your enemy.’

I held my breath, waiting for the worst as silence ensued. This was a setup, after all. I glanced at Kuina, but she only looked at me apologetically.

Why does he have to be so cruel?

‘Chishiya??’ Arisu’s voice shook. ‘Chishiya, the code’s wrong?’

The static shut off into silence.

------------------------------------------

Even the stale air of my room tasted bitter as I gripped my walkie talkie, turning it over in my palm. It was tempting to just toss into the dustbin and wash my hands of the whole thing, yet I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Chishiya had backed me into a corner. It would be too dangerous to stay at the Beach now that the militants had taken over, but I also resented Chishiya for stringing me along in such a dreadful scheme.

Kuina was waiting for me in the hall outside. Now that the militants were busy with Arisu and Usagi, the royal suite was unguarded. This was the final test. The real plan. But as for whether or not I joined them…. I didn’t have a choice, or at least, it seemed that way. I remembered the words that I’d told Hatter when I first arrived at the Beach.

‘I still have a choice. It’s just that one of the options doesn’t look too great.’

There was always the option to stay and pretend that I had nothing to do with it. Except there was an obvious downside; Niragi wouldn’t settle for that. He’d be out for blood. My blood. It was either possible death or certain death… freedom or confinement. I knew which one I preferred.

‘Though wise men at the end know dark is right, because their words forked no lightning they do not go gentle into that good night.’

It was funny how fittingly Dylan Thomas’ poem sprung to mind now. I was going to die. That was inevitable. But I still wanted my voice to be heard. I still wanted to chase the meaning of it all.

Pocketing the walkie talkie, I walked towards the door. It almost felt sad. All the textbooks I had been given, the books that had kept me sane this entire time… I would have to leave them behind. They were gifts from Chishiya, but after what he’d done to Arisu, they were tainted. I shut the door behind me, quite possibly for the last time.

Kuina was leaning against the opposite wall, and when she saw me, her expression was one of relief.

‘For a minute, I thought you weren’t coming.’

I tried to smile. ‘For a minute, so did I.’

The hotel was quiet as we made our way to the top floor, it became apparent how quiet it was. The militants and executives were likely dealing Arisu and Usagi by now, and I hated to think of what was currently happening to them. Perhaps this was another reason Chishiya wanted to use them; as a distraction.

‘I don’t like it either,’ Kuina said. Her jaw was rigid. ‘I really don’t like it. But I have to get home to my mother.’

Some of the bitterness I felt softened. I couldn’t fault her for that. Not really. She had told me once, while we were on the rooftop, about her mother being the only one to accept her after her gender reassignment, and now her mother was ill, yet she was stuck here, unable to help. She had tried asking about my own life, although I’d brushed it away at the time.

‘My brother,’ I said after a moment. ‘I want to get back to him. He’s older than me, a psychologist. He went into psychology to research treatment options for certain mental health conditions. My mother isn’t happy… to put it mildly. She’s a mess. Probably it’s something to do with being married to my dad, or maybe it’s genetic.’

Kuina went quiet at first, then took the quit-smoking aide from her mouth. ‘Are you two close?’

I shrugged. ‘I suppose we are. We both grew up in the same place, and we both have that understanding. He was always the one who went first, and I’d follow him. He wasn’t scared of anything, not even my dad.’

Kuina and I didn’t say anything more after that. We were nearing the top floor now, and even though I couldn’t see him, I knew that Chishiya was lurking somewhere, waiting for us to give him the all-clear.

As planned, Kuina handed me a second walkie talkie, and I took my place at the end of the hall, looking out for any executives. Meanwhile, Kuina took watch outside the royal suite, where she could see Aguni’s room. So far, Aguni had remained in his old room, despite being the new number-one, and since Arisu and Usagi’s capture, he had yet to emerge.

Chishiya’s voice sounded through the walkie talkie. ‘You two, how are things on your side?’

Just the sound of his voice brought with it a mixture of anger… despair… betrayal… relief… and love. Even that. How was it that now, when I had never been more hurt by him, I still craved the safety I found in his voice.

I don’t know who I hate more, him or myself.

I didn’t particularly want to speak with him. But ignoring him wasn’t an option either. ‘You’re all good to go from where I’m standing.’

‘Aguni’s still in his room,’ Kuina’s voice crackled through. ‘We’re getting bored now.’

‘Then should we get going with the plan?’ he suggested.

I clicked my tongue, eyes scanning either side of the empty hall. ‘We’ve already gotten going. It’s you who needs to hurry up.’

‘Patience,’ was the curt reply.

I didn’t hear anything, but I knew that somewhere down the hall, Chishiya was entering the royal suite. ‘I don’t know if Arisu is stupid or intelligent,’ he said. ‘Hatter was paranoid. He wouldn’t have hidden the cards in a normal safe.’

Did Arisu try breaking into one of the hotel’s guest safes?

‘Where’s the real one then?’ Kuina asked. She sounded tired and weary.

‘When Arisu was caught,’ Chishiya replied, ‘Aguni wasn’t paying attention. He was looking towards a certain picture on the wall. It turns out the paper wasn’t empty after all. It contained a drawing instead.’

It was impressive how Chishiya was able to figure these things out through body language alone. For someone who seemed to have no concept of how people behaved, he sure paid attention to our behavioral patterns.

‘So, you had no idea where it was until then?’ I asked.

‘Exactly,’ Chishiya said. ‘What happened to Arisu was necessary if we were going to find the real safe. Speaking of which, I’ve found it.’

The way he talked about it was chilling. Not so much the words themselves, but the ease in which he spoke them, the lack of hesitation.

Kuina seemed to be thinking the same thing, as she sighed into the walkie talkie. ‘You used him just for that?’

The response was immediate. ‘In order to gain something, you have to lose something. He’s just a sacrifice. Things like this happen a lot, don’t they?’

The level of self-assurance behind those words… it was brutal. I always knew he was like this, but what did that mean for me and Kuina? Were we just pawns like Arisu and Usagi? Would our deaths be necessary too?

‘No, they don’t.’ Kuina said. ‘Not at all. I really don’t want to be your enemy.’

At this, I almost laughed. When I first met Chishiya, I had thought the same thing, and earlier today, Arisu had said something similar himself.

‘I get that a lot,’ Chishiya replied.

Perhaps everyone is his enemy. Perhaps the only person he sees surviving the Borderlands is himself.

The idea was a harsh philosophy, but it made sense. Chishiya had always made me feel like insignificant just through his calculating gaze alone. In that sense, he was just like my own father, and chances are that was why I was drawn to him. In this crazy parallel world, feeling small was the only thing familiar to me.

Maybe, in order to gain my own freedom, I have to lose Chishiya.

--------------------------------------------

Now that the sun had set over the skyline, the evening had turned still and cold. Aside from the hum of cicadas and the chatter of crickets, it was quiet. Leaning against the outside wall of the hotel, I wrapped my arms around me, although it did nothing to stave off the shivers that tickled my skin. Nor did it melt the wedge of icy determination that had buried itself within me.

I’ll follow him for the sake of leaving the Beach… but I refuse to let myself love him.

I had never been a good liar.

To my right, Kuina was leaning against a lamppost, staring guiltily at the ground. Meanwhile, Chishiya removed his numbered wristband as he strolled towards a decorative brick archway that led out of the hotel grounds. ‘I guess we won’t be needing these anymore.’

‘Don’t you feel sorry?’ Kuina asked quietly.

He stopped. ‘Sorry?’

I looked at him curiously, wondering how he could seem so calm. ‘About what happened to Arisu… I feel really sorry for him. We both do.’

Kuina nodded, folding her arms tighter. ‘Don’t you?’

Chishiya’s eyes flitted to mine, and for the first time, I saw genuine surprise there.

Show me a sign… please give me a reason why I should trust you.

‘Is there anything we wouldn’t do in order to survive?’

A shudder ran through me, and this time, it had nothing to do with the breeze. His words confirmed my every suspicion, but I couldn’t let myself feel so disappointed. I needed to block it all out… block everything out.

Then he smiled. It would’ve been easy to mistake it for his usual smile, if not for the hint of bitterness there. ‘If you both feel so worried, then maybe you should go and help him.’

Kuina looked at him, eyes wide with regret. However, she didn’t move. Neither of us could. We both had our own reasons why we needed to survive and return home. Knowing this well, Chishiya took a step towards the arch, only to stop once more. His brow furrowed as he whispered something under his breath.

Growing impatient, I pushed away from the wall and walked towards the exit… towards freedom.

‘Stop.’

Chishiya’s hand clasped around my wrist, dragging me back. I yanked my arm away immediately, both hating and loving the feeling of his fingers on my skin. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’

Kuina appeared at my side, and the three of us watched tentatively as Chishiya tossed his wristband through the arch. A red laser burst through the plastic, leaving behind a singed hole.

I stepped back, horrified. This couldn’t be… could it?

The Beach is a game arena??

#alice in borderland #aib #imawa no kuni no arisu #chishiya #chishiya shuntaro #chishiya x oc #chishiya x reader #chishiya alice in borderland

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kursed-arcana · 3 years ago

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Sailor Moon Eternal part 2 review

This review will contain some spoilers.

So the dream arc is my favorite story arc of sailor moon. I even adore the supers adaptation of it. The second movie does an excellent job of adapting the remainder of the dream arc. It has beautiful animation and character designs, a beautiful soundtrack with some nostalgia thrown in and a fantastic story. The second movie is where the plot really starts moving forward.

So the dream arc offers some backstory and world building, highlights the individual guardians, with this second movie focusing on the outer guardians as well as some development for both mamoru and Usagi. Get prepared to learn more about the silver millennium, Mamo and the Golden Crystal. The Golden Crystal's role is quite different from the 90's anime and far more interesting. People have complained about mamo being useless for far too long. It's about time he gains the ability to truly stand with his love. It's too bad it took so long, we won't be seeing much of it in this movie or hereafter.

Now Nehelenia is a petty woman and I adore her and her circus. The Amazoness Quartetbis such a fun group and I'm thrilled to finally see them in all their guardian glory. The old anime redeemed them as well but made the bad choice to not reveal that they are sailor Guardians destined to fight with Chibiusa. It instead chose to lightly hint that they'll meet again and then never show it. Unlike in the supers arc adaptation, Nehelenia is completely defeated here and won't be an opponent in the stars arc. She also has no tragic backstory bit is instead quite similar to Maleficent, the wicked fairy, from Sleeping Beauty. While she doesn't have a tragic story this time around, she does offer an interesting perspective when paired with Queen Serenty.

Alas, for all this movie does right, it's tight run time hinders it. The film goes by at a rapid pace. You'll want to give it your full attention so you don't miss anything. Sadly the movie, much like crystal cuts some fun moments, as well as some backstory and explanatory content. If your left slightly confused by anything, I encourage you to give the manga a read to fill in the blanks. My honest oppinion though is that you'll comprehend everything fine.

For example, I believe in the manga the guardians visit their castles or at the very least we get a view of them. Each one has a fantastic design and we're a gift from Queen Serenity upon the birth of each guardian. The anime cuts the backstory and were just sort of told they have castles and need to channel their power to help sailor moon.

For those of you wondering, yes saturn has a transformation at last. And it is completely underwhelming. It's animated beautifully, there's just not really much to it. They could of kept it relatively the same but with a little more oomph. Like have her state on the crystal rocks around her or something. We waited years for this and will only see it once.

Helios and chibiusa are portrayed excellently here. Their romance is truly a highlight and a personal favorite of mine. The resolution to their character arcs is far stronger here and it it climaxes with a moment that heralds back to the iconic Usagi and Mamo moment in arc 1 where the silver crystal reveals itself and saves him. Only this is Chibiusa's moment to shine.

Now the soundtrack, anyone feeling nostalgic should definitly watch the credits. While the first film used the first ending of super s the second film used the second and it's just as fantastic as you'd think. It will make you want to dance like the guardians did in the old ed visual.. The other song played during the credits is another character song that can be found on the soundtrack. Please give it a listen.

Well that's it for now. The movies were fantastic despite their faults. Let's hope we see the stars arc soon. I'd be happy for wither a few more movies or a season. As long as it comes fast.

"Inside each of us is a star"

9.5/10

-.5 for cutting castle content. I wanted to see the castles lol

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sparksfrompemberley · 4 years ago

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Sera Myu Review: Usagi Ai no Senshi e no Michi (1994)

This review comes too late i know, but here it is!!. Also, this is MY opinion, so please, please, respect it. Thank youu and please be free to tell me your feelings towards this musical.

So, here is the thing: this musical is very special to me because it was the very first sera myu musical that I´ve ever seen. Actually the first video of sera myu that I watched was “Gondola no Koibito-tachi”, so it is going to be veery hard for me to judge, you have been warned LOL.

The one thing that I love about this musical is that it´s very funny. Yeah, maybe the humor is very silly but I think it fits very well with the story. That being said, the screenplay is very rare to say the least, do not get me wrong it was much better than Gaiden, but I feel that this arc was not very well developed and that they mixed moments that would be better in the previous and next arc (black moon / dreams) such as that the senshis wanted to pursue their respective dreams. Speaking of which, I can never understand why Ami is always the target of the bad guys. This happened in most of Bandai's musicals (although it seems to me that it only happened during the first stage) and then in Nelke's (in the Reconquest). On the other hand, I would have liked to see the Black Moon arc, the truth is a shame they didn't do it because I think it would have been very good. Also, although Usagi continues to fight with Chibiusa during this arc, she does not have the same intensity as in Black Moon and in this musical it seems as if she is jealous of her, which would be much better in the previous arc ..

Professor Tomoe is not one of my favorite characters but I still didn't like how he was portrayed here. Kaolinate had more participation than him and I hated the part when Usagi, wearing that ugly dress (poor Anza gosh, she had to fly over wearing that thing), asked them to stop ... I swear, I had to advance that part because It was unbearable, the same thing happened with Tabidachi, but that was Ayako's fault, because I don't like her performance during the song. I really really like Ryuuji Kasahara, another guy that I adore!. He always plays bad characters but he's so funny and so entertaining to watch ... obviously he had a lot of fun. Sometimes I try to imagine what it would be like if he had been Mamoru ... I mean I LOVE Yuuta as Mamoru but Idk It is hard to imagine Ryuuji playing another character but I think he would have nailed it . What do you guys think?

On the other hand, and to not make this post so long (LOL) I must say that Anza was much better than in the previous arc. I see her more comfortable and her crybaby moments are better, I really like how she fights with Chibiusa, which by the way, she went crazy hahah. I really liked Ai Miyakawa, she was very sarcastic and mean, very funny to watch. Anza also has very good chemistry with the rest of the senshis, and without fear of being wrong, I would say that the best group of senshis is in this musical: Ayako / Amy is the classic Amy who has moments that work for me (for example in this musical, when she tries to get Usagi to fix herself with Chibiusa) and others not so much (I don't see anything interesting in her character, it's always the same, although maybe it's not her fault) Kanoto / Makoto I LOVE HER TOO MUCH, I mean I think It goes unnoticed among the fans and I don't understand why! Well yes, maybe the "feminine" part of Makoto didn't develop, but it's not that bad either. She looks a lot like manga and anime, she is funny and, unlike other actresses, she participates in the story, she is not there to complete the group. Nana / Minako I LOVE HER !! Again, she is not the Minako that we are used to seeing, but in this musical I think she is excellent, also she is funny and a little crazy. The only "bad" thing is that her leadership is not appreciated, but again, it is not her fault (damn script LOL), Mikako / Rei another who I LOVE, far is one of my favorite Mars / Rei and in this musical I like Although it does not shine unfortunately, but I love her just the same. Finally, impossible not to name Yuuta because he is a fantastic actor. Being his first musical as Mamoru / Tuxedo I must say that I liked him a lot, his chemistry with Anza is something from another planet, it is something very genuine, fresh and real: you can feel that they love each other. I'm looking forward to it but they are my favorite couple of all musicals.

To sum up, yes, I really liked this musical, not only because of the performances I mentioned above but because it is very special to me. This arc never caught my attention honestly, don't ask me why, but of all the ones there are, it's the one I like the least. But this musical works for me better than the anime LOL. The next review will be of the Dreams arc, and maybe I'll upload it next week.So this is my review, please fell free to message me sharing your opinions!!

#sera myu #anza ooyama #anzamoon #usagi ai no senshi e no michi #sailor moon musicals #sera myu musicals #sera myu reviews #rose reviews #usagi ai no senshi e no michi (1994)

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docholligay · 5 years ago

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For writing day. What was Haruka’s last conversation with her mom like? Did they ever talk after she was hurt?

“No is no, Mom,” Haruka helped Kimi widdle into her cardigan. It wasn’t quite yet spring, but it wasn’t winter, either, and Haruka found herself worrying about whether she had the kids dressed correctly, even years into this parenting thing, “I told you we’re not giving you money.”

“Haruka,” her mother slurred, “You have plenty of–”

“Papa!” M.A. hollered, “I can’t find the pink glitter shoes!”

“Look by the door, honey!” She turned her attention back to the phone, “That’s not the point. I told Michiru I wouldn’t give you money, and I’m not giving you money. We’ve had that rule for years now.”

She tried to be firm. There was still a part of her that wanted her mother’s love, desperately, that had always wondered why her mother couldn’t have protected her, couldn’t have cared for her. She told herself her mother had done the best she could, even if it was terrible, and that she couldn’t do it wasn’t because of Haruka. Haruka hadn’t done anything to make her mom the way she was.

She snorted on the other end of the line “Well that girl you married wouldn’t know about FAMILY if it.”

“No, you gotta stop this–”

“Papa!! THey aren’t by the door!”

“Your FATHER was just like this, he left me high and–”

“You never told him about me! I met him when I was twenty-fucking–” Haruka snapped, and Kimi flinched a little, “no, no honey, I’m sorry, Papa’s not mad at you–I can’t have this conversation right now.”

“Haruka,” she said sadly, “I’m so hungry.”

It was a trap and it was true, and it was not Haruka’s problem, and she tried very hard to carry all of those things at once. She reminded herself that her mother was an addict, and her mother was just going to use the money for more of it, the same way she had all of Haruka’s young life, no matter how many times Haruka had said that she was hungry, too. Her mother had neglected her. It was not her job to take care of her mother now.

“Papa!”

“Mom, the kids and I are going out.” She turned to the door, “Check in the totebox in your room, M.A.! I, we–”

What she wanted to do was invite her Mom to meet them at a little noodle shop, or one of the conveyer belt sushi things M.A. adored and Michiru loathed, or an izakaya, and buy her Mom as much as she could eat. That wouldn’t go against the promise. She’d donee it before. Her Mom would be drunk, or high, or both, but at least Haruka could buy her all the dumplings she could possibly want. She hugged Haruka at the end of it, sometimes.

“I can’t.” She sighed, instead.

Her therapist had told her a dozen times at least that she needed to detach from her mother. That talking to her mom only hurt her, and Haruka suspected it was true. Her mother hadn’t taken good care of her, she reminded herself. Her mother hadn’t taken her to a doctor when her boyfriend had burst Haruka’s eardrum, nor for any of the infections that ensued, and now a small hearing aid was tucked into it. She came away from meetings with her mother feeling like it was her fault for all of it, that they had been poor and desperate and it wasn’t her mom’s fault Haruka didn’t inspire her to do better.

More importantly, she had no one to watch the kids, and Michiru had told her in no uncertain terms that if Haruka ever allowed her daughters around Haruka’s mother, there would be a terrible fight indeed, one that Haruka would not win, and that would very likely result in Haruka living outside the home for a time. Michiru never threatened her like that.

It wasn’t a threat, Haruka knew. It was a statement of consequences.

“Ruki…”

“Please don’t call me that.” She calls me that because grandma did, Haruka reminded herself, she wants me to remember grandma.

But for a moment, she considered calling Usagi. She might be home, and available. She loved the girls. She could get lunch with her mom, and feed her, and maybe buy her some cleaner clothes. Michiru wouldn’t kick her out over that, only huff and roll her eyes. Maybe pout a little.

“Papa.” M.A. was at the door, and Kimi looked up at Haruka in her chair, and Haruka was suddenly very aware that she was the center of these girls’ world. “Papa, I found my shoes. Are we gonna go to the museum?”

“I’m sorry, Mom. I can’t. I have to go.”

She hung up the phone, turned it on silent, and slipped it in her pocket, putting Kimi on her lap.

“Of course we are, honey. I love being around you.”

#Au of Mystery and Shadow #Anonymous

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kasienda · 5 years ago

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8 and 41

8. How did you get involved in your latest fandom?

Short answer! It’s my sister’s fault! It’s always my sister’s fault.

For Sailor Moon: My sister and I watched the DiC dub afterschool every single day after school when we were in middle school. And at the time it was half way through Sailor Moon R, and we were left on a cliff hanger while they were still broken up!! How terrible! So she and I would make up scenarios and scenes together for what we thought was going to happen in the second half of the season. I started reading fic in this fandom (and in Avatar Last Airbender) when my cherished first serious (and very small) fandom, Chrono Trigger, started dying. And I read probably for 6 months or so before I suddenly started seeing scenes in my head, and of course I had to write them down. And once I started writing a fic, I became completely obsessed and have yet to stop!

For Miraculous Ladybug: My new love! My sister was watching this show with her daughter (who’s six) and she insisted that I would love it. That it was essentially French Sailor Moon. I ignored her for a long time, but she started writing fic of her own, but she wouldn’t let me read it until I had seen more of the show (blackmail!). And about 3-4 episodes in I was hooked! And then man, this fandom loves identity shenanigans/reveals as much as I am (it’s my favorite trope). So, I’m even more obsessed with the fic than with the show.

41. List and link to 5 fanfics you are currently reading.

Sailor Moon Stories:

1. It’s Always Been You by @beej88. This is an adorable non-senshi AU where Usagi and Mamoru grow up as childhood friends. And (ulterior motive) I owe beej88 so many reviews because she comments on all my stuff! And I’m so far behind!! So maybe if you like to comment on stuff, you can give her some extra attention! This story is finished and SO CUTE! (Though I’m not finished with it yet).

2. Much Much More than a Moment - @tinacentury‘s take on Mamousa Week this year. She kinda specializes in fix it fic - she just consistently adds so much depth to canon and I love every piece. She’s not finished with the week yet, but each of these one-shots stand alone. And they are gorgeous? (Did I say that already?)

3. 2B or not 2B? - by AuroraFireMadness - this is a massive senshi/shittennou story. I really appreciate how the relationships develop (like it’s not five copies of the same thing). This lady is fantastic at juggling ten characters through all this. It’s not finished, but it’s a fantastic ride so far.

Ladybug Stories:

1. Minor Details - @bubbleblower brought us this delightful multi chapter identity reveal. Where Ladybug accidentally reveals herself to Adrien coming to the defense of her partner in crime Chat Noir. This is the kind of delightful fun that I live for!

2. Dance with me, Chaton - by Totally_lucky - This is a LadyNoir July Story. It’s somehow a no-powers AU. And goodness, I LOVE it!! More identity shenanigans!

3. Phantasmagoria - @mikauzoran - Is is a Luka/Adrien pairing. Not my usual stuff, but this author can establish emotional intimacy between any two characters through the sharing of trauma! And I really enjoyed exploring this dynamic between these two characters! Plus, bisexual representation is always a plus in my book!

Thanks for the ask @starlingsinclair!

#ask answered #ask me anything #sailor moon fan fiction #miraculous ladybug fan fiction #sisters are awesome #falling into fandom #fic rec

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sittingoverheredreaming · 6 years ago

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SPARKLE SPARKLE

I feel very fortunate to have drawn @rhiorhino as my Sparklee!! I went with “Mina & Rei cuddling in a snowstorm,” 1300 words. I HOPE YOU ENJOY!!!

_______

There were only two people who would haul their dumbasses through this blizzard to knock on Rei’s door. She debated which was more likely as she rose from her seat at the fire to answer. She doubted Ikuko would let Usagi leave the house in this weather, but Usagi was likely to be worried. Rei wouldn’t put it past her to try to sneak out to check on everyone-- though stealth was never Usagi’s strong suit.

She resigned herself to the other possibility as she opened the door, just in time to take a snowball to the face.

“And you call yourself a soldier! Where is your vigilance? I could have been a youma!”

“I’ve never seen a youma wear quite so many layers.” Minako had, at least, dressed for the weather before making the trek across town. Hardly an inch of skin was showing-- a welcome change, in Rei’s mind. “What are you doing here?”

Mina shrugged. “I was bored.” She pushed her way in and began unwinding her scarf. “Everything’s shut down.”

“Yeah, they want people to stay in doors.”

“Great, so you can’t kick me out!”

Rei sighed. She could not, in good conscious, send her back into the storm. “Just try and stay out of the way. Some of us still have things to do.”

“You won’t even know I’m here.”

Were that it were true. Rei had barely returned to the fire to resume her reading when she felt something distinctly foot-shaped against her back. “Mina!”

“What?” Mina, sprawled on the floor, looked up from the manga she’d filched from Rei’s stash. “I’m being quiet!”

“You’re putting your feet on me.”

“The floor is cold!”

“So don’t lie on it.”

“But you’re here.”

Rei huffed. “Fine. I’ll sit with you and do homework instead. That work for you?”

“Whatever you want, I’m not even here.”

Rei could not dignify that with an answer. She set them up at the kotatsu, situating herself across from Mina. She cracked open her history book and--

“This is cosy, why didn’t we do this in the first place?”

Rei tried to ignore her. She could have a productive day still if she tried hard enough. If she just focused, she could finish her assignments and chores.

She glanced up. Mina had begun to slide around the table, inching ever closer to Rei. “What are you working on?” She leaned over to see.

Rei schooched away. “Homework.”

“Yeah. What homework?”

“Does it matter? Go back to reading your stupid manga.”

“It’s your stupid manga, and I’ve read this one already, Rei, you’re behind.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” Rei gripped her pen tighter. “I’ll try and plan better for your next unannounced visit.”

“Yeah, really. You don’t even have snacks out.”

“Mina…”

She rose. “You’re right, you’re right. I should get out snacks. You want anything?”

“No.” Rei would take whatever opportunity she had for time apart, however little she got. Mina, at least, was sure to take her time picking through the food Rei had, and indeed, it was a good ten minutes before she returned to the low table with chips and chocolates.

It was a mixed blessing. If Minako was eating, she wasn’t talking. But every crunch of a chip raised Rei’s hackles a little more.

In 1560-- CRUNCH-- Nobunaga’s army--CRUNCH-- defeated a force several times its size in the Battle of--CRUNCH!

“Do you have to do that here?”

“Do what?” Mina said through two chips balanced between her lips to make a duck bill. She bit into them both, sending crumbs everywhere.

“Eat.”

“You don’t want me to eat at the table? But Rei, I’m a lady of manners, and--”

“You know what I mean! Did you come here today just to annoy me? Couldn’t you have bothered someone else?”

Mina frowned. “I came here to be with you.”

“Well you should have asked if I wanted you with me!”

“Fine.” Mina rose again for the table and headed for the door. She slipped on her shoes and her coat, but didn’t bother with the rest of what she’d come bundled in.

Rei braced against the guilt as Mina slipped back outside. It wasn’t her fault if Mina was stupid enough to go out in a blizzard. It wasn’t her problem if Mina couldn’t just leave her alone.

Besides, if it got too bad, she could just transform, their Senshi forms had survived the cold well enough at D-Point and--

Shit. Rei put her face in her hands. Sometimes, maybe, she was a dumbass, too. She grabbed her own coat and raced into the cold.

It was a day much like that one had been-- the wind cut her breath short, the snow blew in all directions. A fear that had nothing to do with the present moment settled into Rei’s gut. The hair of her neck stood at attention, waiting for an attack that wasn’t going to come. She followed the freshest foot prints and found Mina huddled behind another shrine building, shivering from more than the cold.

“I’m sorry,” Rei said. “I wasn’t thinking.”

“I don’t want your pity.”

“You’re too annoying to pity.” Rei crossed her arms. “But you shouldn’t be alone.”

“What, you think I’ll do something stupid?”

“No, for once, I think you won’t.”

Mina glanced over, hiding her face in her hair. “I didn’t want to make a big deal of it. But I feel like I’m back there. I feel like we’re all about to die again.”

“We’re safe, Mina.” Rei hesitated a moment, then took her hand. “We’re all safe, and we’ll be safer when you come back inside with me.”

“I can try and let you be this time.”

Rei almost took her up on it, but then shook her head. “Why don’t we do something together? I can take one day off.”

Mina squinted at her. “Rei Hino can take a day off? Did you already catch a cold out here?”

“Oh shut up.” She led her back inside, where they piled blankets on the couch and picked a movie to watch.

“You could have told me what you were feeling,” Rei said as the previews started.

“I didn’t want to.” Mina raised one eyebrow pointedly. “And you have no room to talk, Miss Visions of the world’s end.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Rei looked over at her. “Maybe next time I’ll try and pay better attention. Maybe.”

“Going soft on me, firecracker.”

“Shut it.” Rei shoved at her shoulder. They sat quietly for a few moments, and then Rei had a thought. “Do you want to sit over here?”

“Are you asking if I want to swap sides?”

Rei exhaled, already half regretting bringing it up. “No, I’m asking if you want to be closer, but if you’re going to be difficult about it--”

But Mina was already there, wedged into the crook of Rei’s side beneath her arm. “Thanks,” she said, voice soft and small.

She felt small against Rei, smaller than all her strategies and ostentatious displays, her bluster and her blows. Sometimes it was easy to forget she was a girl as well as a soldier and a wannabe idol, someone with all the interiority and fears that Rei had.

She wondered as the movie played if any of the others had seen her smallness, or if it was something special for Mina to show her how soft she really was. She thought it likely-- and perhaps hoped-- it was the later. Slowly she found herself stroking Mina’s hair. Their breathing began to sync as her fingers tangled in and out of the silky strands.

“You’re not so bad, like this.”

Mina laughed. “Don’t get used to it, hot stuff, I’m having an off day.” She sighed. “It feels nice, though.”

“Well, I guess if you’re ever having an off day, you can come here.” Rei winced. “And you’ll make me regret saying that, I’m sure.”

“You know it.” But she cuddled closer, and while all the world was frozen around them, it didn’t seem like such a bad prospect.

#rhiorhino #sam writes #sparkle sparkle #reinako

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kyralih · 6 years ago

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cardinal king, arc two, chapter ten

Ongoing Sailor Moon fanfiction where the roles are reversed, and instead of Beryl and the Earth Kingdom attacking the Moon, the Moon Kingdom attacked the Earth Kingdom and now, thousands of years later, Mamoru and his Four Heavenly Kings fight to keep Earth safe.

While their past business was wrapped up in the First Arc of their story, their return to Tokyo was met with little in the way of peace, as Mamoru encountered a red haired, red eyed little boy who also calls himself “Mamoru” and insists on being with Usagi, despite the dangers that dog him at every turn. To make matters worse, a surprise attack has them down two Kings and leaves them with very little information to go off of to get them back.

Can they solve these mysteries before it’s too late?

For more information, media, and links to prior chapters, see this page: Cardinal King

Name reminders! Zoisite–> Hanada, Kaito –> North King Jadeite –> Moegi, Yuu –> South King Nephrite –> Midori, Nero –> East King Kunzite –> Kobai, Khalid –> West King

The moment he and Usagi appeared in the kitchen doorway, Khalid put down his riceball and, while his stoic expression did not change much, Mamoru knew him well enough to spot the softening of his features that showed he was relieved. He had a plastic bag in one hand, something thin and rectangular sticking out of the top; he wore casual clothes, and while Mamoru looked hard for signs of fatigue, it seemed Khalid was nearly completely recovered from the trials of the previous day, quite unlike himself, which was a relief. He offered him a shrug by way of greeting and apology for not looking better, to which Khalid returned an inclination of his head, acknowledging his condition without any blame. Rin noticed Khalid’s change and turned to see what he was looking at, then quickly stepped down off of the new kitchen chair and away from the counter with its lunch construction, hesitating as he approached.

His red eyes were focused on his little slippers that Nero and he must have picked out when they picked up the ice cream the other day, probably studying the little pink bunny rabbit stitched into the toe of the white slip-on. With hands held behind his back, he quietly said, “I’m sorry.”

He knew about what; it didn’t have to be mentioned, especially with the amount of shame the little kid was exuding. “It wasn’t your fault, Rin,” he replied softly. He was just a kid -

“Yes, it was,” Rin assured, the words barely above a whisper, hardly heard above the low volume of the news program on behind him.

Mamoru made no sudden movements, his eyes darting to pin Khalid in place, too. What did he mean, it was his fault? Carefully, full attention returning to the little red-headed stranger, he inquired, “What do you mean, Rin?”

The kid’s head shook, red hair shifting messily.

“You didn’t mean for that to happen, did you, Rin?” he pressed softly, repeatedly using the nickname Usagi had given him specifically to remind the kid that they were supposedly friends. When he was at the children’s home, that tactic seemed to work the best on kids around Rin’s age when the adults were trying to get an honest answer out of them.

His head shook again, this time accompanied with a little “ No. ”

“How was it your fault, Rin?” he repeated, already planning what actions they would take if it turned out Rin did work for the Archons.

“ They were after me , ” Rin finally said, his hands wringing behind his back, the admission releasing the tension that had been building in everyone else. He looked up and quickly away, but not before Mamoru saw the tears there. “But they got you and you got hurt and -”

“That wasn’t your fault,” Mamoru reassured, glad, at least, that they hadn’t be harbouring one of the enemy after all. Or… at least, if they were, Rin didn’t seem to be actively working against them. He reached down and quickly ruffled the messy red hair. “I told you I’d protect you from them, didn’t I?”

Rin’s head nodded, and he reached forward and took Mamoru’s hand -

He was running in the dark, as hard and as fast as he could. All around him the city was empty and eerily quiet, except for the voices that echoed off the tall storefronts -

“Oh Little Red~”

“C’mon, Red~ Slow down!”

“We just want to play with you~”

“Don’t you want to play, Little Red? You’re lonely, aren’t you?”

He covered his ears, trying to stay as quiet as he could be, but then directly ahead of him she appeared, smiling a creepy, demon smile at him. “Found you.”

Immediately four others appeared behind him, each female form covered in a different color of short hair - red, purple, blue, pink, and green - each of them wearing modified swimsuits with stiff collars, each of them with the wings of a wasp. Each one’s pure black eyes staring at him as they smiled. “Game over~”

“I’m sorry you were hurt, though,” Rin said.

Mamoru blinked, the vision fading away. If nothing else, he was fairly certain now that Rin wasn’t in league with his chasers. He hadn’t recognized the storefronts, or the language that the signs were in - which ruled out Japan and anywhere that spoke or wrote in English, Korean, or Chinese. Where then, that Rin was able to appear in Tokyo? How long had he been pursued by these things, and why ? And how were they connected to the Archons? Realizing he had hesitated, he closed his hand around the kid’s and reassured him, hoping he could keep him talking. “Thank you, Rin. I’ll be okay, but could you tell us a little bit more? We want to keep helping you, but if we knew more about what was going on we could help you out better, and maybe not get hurt like this again.”

Rin seemed to think it over. Usagi moved from his side back over to the counter, where she gathered the lunch they had been putting together and moved it over to his new circular kitchen table. It was larger than his last by half, now comfortably able to sit four - six if you really crammed everyone in - as opposed to the square table he had had before. It was the largest that could comfortably fit in his small kitchen, and while only four chairs were set up currently, another two collapsable chairs stood waiting in the closet behind the door, a promise that he intended to keep. Khalid sat down at the chair closest to the refrigerator, Usagi beside him, and he slowly walked Rin towards the other two chairs.

Rin took a deep breath, keeping up with slightly shuffling feet, and finally replied, “Okay.”

They were getting somewhere. Mamoru pulled back a chair and Rin hopped up into it, looking to Usagi as she put some… interestingly shaped rice balls, sliced vegetables, and little hot dogs shaped like… octopus? And bunny rabbits, maybe? on his plate. Mamoru sat beside Rin, getting similar treatment from a beaming Usagi. He adored her, but was glad the lunch was pretty much things you couldn’t burn or overseason without some sort of visual cue. … but he was going to be careful biting into the center of the rice ball, just in case. The eagerness he felt for finding out even just one piece of the puzzle was enough to make him feel ten times better than he had upon waking.

“How about you start at the beginning, Rin,” Khalid suggested in a casual tone, obviously not wanting to rock the boat, his serious, silver gaze inspecting the sliced hot dog he had speared with a fork, the image one that Mamoru thought he may never forget.

“I…” Rin hesitated, apparently uncomfortable with the suggestion.

Usagi quickly stepped in, “Or what if you told us about the people who are chasing you,” she suggested instead, and Rin looked at her once and nodded.

“Okay, but can we wait for Helios and everyone else?” he asked, picking up a piece of cucumber and munching on it quietly, completely oblivious to their reactions to the request. Helios, finally releasing their attempt at a charade, glided in from the living room and landed on the table beside Mamoru, stretching his wings once before tucking them in closely. Rin looked up from his vegetables with a low sigh, watching as Helios landed, and mumbled, “I knew you were alive; you didn’t have to pretend.”

Helios shook his mane.

“I know you can talk, too,” he said, finishing his cucumber.

“I’d like to know how you knew, but if you wanted to answer Usagi-chan’s question first…? ’

The kid smirked as if proven right and picked up a carrot, “Where’s Ne-- Nero ,” had he corrected himself, or just tripped over Midori’s name? “And Kaito and Yuu?”

“They won’t be coming for lunch, ” Helios replied, and Mamoru swallowed, stiffly reaching for one of the rice balls on his plate.

“Can I wait for them?” Rin asked, looking up at them, lips twitching, “I promise I’ll tell, I just… I like it when everyone is here.”

So did he.

“It’d be better if you just told us , Rin,” Helios tried, “ They won’t be by today, and what you say could be very important - ”

Helios stopped talking when Rin’s eyes widened, his hand stopped halfway to his mouth, and looked from Mamoru to Khalid to the news program in the other room, expression one of a frightened rabbit. “ Oh, no .”

“Rin?” Usagi prodded gently.

“Oh, no ,” he repeated, putting hands on either side of his head, eyes moving back and forth quickly as he thought something through. His eyes settled on Khalid for a long moment, before he pushed back from the table, jumped down from the chair, and promptly ran from the room, taking whatever answers he had with him.

“Rin!” Usagi called after him, springing up quickly to follow. Mamoru attempted but the strain made him lightheaded so he stayed as she left, trusting her to coax him back out; Rin always responded to her better anyway. His hands flexed. Rin must have figured it out, but that he had had to figure it out meant he may not have the answers they needed to get everyone back. He may not even have any answers that would be useful to --

Helios jerked and stood still, his eyes widening as his head and horn involuntarily turned towards the living room. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to.

“Where?” Mamoru asked, determinedly eating the food on his plate. He’d need the energy. What happened at the Elementary school couldn’t be allowed to happen again; he’d just have to trust in his powers to help him do it alone.

“I’d have to take you, ” Helios replied quietly. “Are you sure you want to do this? ”

“There is no other option,” he answered, and a gentle flash drew his attention across the table where Khalid now sat as West King, his silver gaze even and determined through his mask as he stood back from the table. “Khalid,” Mamoru began; he thought they had come to an understanding yesterday - Khalid needed to stay out of the fight - but before he could put together a phrase asking him to hide out in Elysion, West King cut him off as he strode out of the kitchen and into the living room. For a moment Mamoru almost hoped that he was going to say he’d stay put, but Khalid called out of the living room,

“I swore an oath to protect you, Mamoru. Do not ask me to forsake that.”

“Even if it costs us the world?” Mamoru challenged. Before Khalid could reply, he closed his eyes and concentrated on the golden crystal, urging it to act on his need, and in a rush of warmth and energy his pajamas bottoms and the blood-stained gauze wrapping his chest were replaced with the armor of his past life. For the first time in what felt like days he breathed easily, the wounds in his chest from the night before finally fully knitting closed, the energy to do so coming easily from the earth beneath him. The headache was gone, though the weariness remained. He stood, the movement no longer painful, and waited for Khalid, ready to face him down, show him that he could do it alone, that his friend didn’t need to risk himself and the planet on a promise made millennia ago. Helios regarded him with worry in his garnet eyes, but he couldn’t reassure him that he’d be careful just yet - not until Khalid agreed to keep out of it.

Khalid reentered the room and paused as he took him in, “Endymion,” and then, definitively, he removed the silver mask from his face and tossed it to the kitchen floor, strongly calling up images of Kunzite rather than West King. Without an ounce of jest, he continued, “Protecting you is protecting the world.” He moved towards the door, pausing to add, before Mamoru could say anything else, “I will not stay; arguing the point can only cost us time.”

Mamoru as Endymion sighed but strode forward to join him; once his mind was made up, it was easier to move mountains than change it.

“He’s locked himself in the bathroom and won't open the door -" Usagi said as she came around the corner, catching her words as she saw them. She met his gaze and for a moment it was like looking back thousands of years, his heart catching in his chest. Serenity. Usagi. She moved to him, her slight hands glancing his forearms to hold onto his cape and she studied his chest. “You're healed?” she asked quietly.

He nodded, tilting her chin up to face him. “I'll come back,” he replied, understanding what she meant.

Her deep blue eyes shifted from his face to West King and slowly back to him again, understanding. “You want me to stay here,” she stated, but she wouldn’t meet his gaze.

She sounded hurt and he disliked the veiled implication in her explanation; it wasn’t that he didn’t want her with them, just that it was necessary. And possibly safer, if he was being completely honest. Already he had lost Kaito, Yuu, and Nero, and Khalid danced with that same danger without having to do anything to start with; risking her, too, felt like too much. Her staying here with Rin meant Rin would be safe, and that there was no reason to believe that the enemy knew where he lived - else they would have been here already - was a benefit that could end at any moment. He swallowed, dropping his curled fingers from beneath her chin to put his hands on her shoulders. “Rin knows more than he’s letting on; you could get it out of him. And if those shapeshifters come looking for him here, we know that you and your powers can defeat them; Khalid and I don’t have that same record with them,” he said, nodding back toward West King, “We’re going to go destroy those crystals and put a stop to this chaos they’re causing, and then we’ll come back.”

She didn’t react at first, but then she released his cape to put both of her hands over his. “And if you don’t, I’m coming to get you,” she said, her eyes, finally meeting his, were filled with determination.

He smiled at her, quickly kissed her forehead, and turned to leave, Helios jumping from the table to join him at the door. The weight of the extra armor felt like nothing new; he only noticed the minute changes in his balance to compensate for the metallic shoulderguards and fauld. In moments they were on the rooftop, and from there racing across the city towards the most recent attack; once they stopped that they would go back to the elementary school and break the crystal there and anywhere else they had been planted.

They cleared across the city, following Helios’s instructions, and darted down to enter the doors to an animal shelter called Animal Kingdom. The storefront was eerily silent and Mamoru’s stomach rolled at what that meant. Pets. They weren’t just going after humans, but why would they attack such innocent creatures? The energy they had was much less than that of a human. A receptionist lay unconscious at the desk, a cat stretched out across the floor unnaturally - it had been trying to reach something; following the line of its path he found kittens, five of them, barely breathing beneath the level of the dark miasma. Mouth in a hard line, he strode over, bent, and scooped up the little bed they were crowded in an placed them, and their mother, on the counter above the sickly purple mist. West King, scimitar unsheathed, kept close, his eyes sharp and darting for any hint of motion, waiting for him to finish before the pair of them went further into the shelter, past the offices and examination rooms and into the kennels in the back.

Somewhere along the way he had unsheathed his sword. Sometime before he kicked open the door to the silent kennels he had a rose in his hand, a rose that pulsed with the power he funnelled into it. As the door clashed into the cage wall behind it he sent the projectile flying, sight focused only on the glowing mass of crystal jutting out of the concrete wall at the back of the enclosure. A creature - large, hulking, some mix of beast and man - darted away from the attack as though dodging it and dashed down the hall to meet them, but Mamoru struck true to his target - the crystal cracked and the mist started to dissipate. Khalid shoved him out of the way and brought his naked blade to meet the rushing creature, ducking to dodge the thick arm of the beast and neatly stabbing upward. The creature shuddered once before simply collapsing, the form melting into a puddle on the floor before becoming dust. A golem.

Animals around them started to stir and the pair of them made their exit, glad that this instance had been so easy to handle. As they made the series of leaps up the sides of buildings towards the roofs, they both turned towards the Primary School to stop the crystalline growth there only for Helios to call them back. “There’s another! ”

Of course there was.

“Usagi-chan,” Khalid called into the wristwatch communicators as they followed Helios, “Add Animal Kingdom to the list; the map is set up - “

“I’ve got it mapped out!” Usagi replied, and Mamoru held up the watch to see what she meant; the thin rectangular package Khalid had brought in before must have been a map and ruler, as it was unfolded over his coffee table. He couldn’t make out much in the tiny image, but he understood Khalid’s intent just from looking, feeling foolish for not thinking of the same thing - he was looking for a pattern. “I’ll look for shapes or see if I can find any other connection!” Usagi replied, glancing over her shoulder to the color-coded diagram of streets and prefectures.

“There’s another,” Khalid added, just as Helios paused in the empty air above another street. Mamoru looked down just as Khalid did and read the store’s name just as his friend called it out, “‘Lucky Charms House’.” As a reply of “ Got it! ” echoed out of their devices, West King closed the watch face and jumped down, his cape fluttering in the air behind him, and Mamoru followed suit. The storefront was silent and dark and Mamoru made sure to keep close to Khalid as they approached, the similarity to the events of yesterday enough to make his heart beat faster.

The glass doors opened smoothly at their touch, a little bell shaking as they entered into the store together. The door closed, and suddenly the light spilling in from outside went out. Breath catching in his throat he turned sharply, but West King was still there with him, his slightly taller friend as stoic and determined as ever. “Let’s find the crystal,” he said smoothly, though Mamoru noted the scimitar in his hand already. He nodded and faced forward, though kept close as they moved down the main aisle of the store. It looked like an oddities shop, filled with eccentric jewelry and occult instruments meant for fortune telling, or so the signs read; but so far there was no sign of the crystal. Helios, horn glowing slightly, kept just ahead and above them in an attempt to minimize the long shadows that could hide what they were after -

“So we meet at last, Kobai Khalid,” a voice called, and they whirled, searching for its source, instinctively going back-to-back to search for the danger in the half-light. The voice, seemingly bodiless, continued, “Good reactions, as expected from someone with your skill level. I, unlike my colleagues, will not be so stupid as to show myself quite so easily. I trust you’ll listen to my proposition and respond appropriately?”

West was silent. Mamoru looked to Helios, who nodded, and carefully flew as high as he could to spread out the light. On edge, he summoned a rose and prepared to throw it at the slightest hint of movement or indication by Helios.

“My name is Astaphaios, and through my work with Adonaios and Horaios I serve the great Demiurge. As he prepares to make his journey to this planet I would like to offer you a place in the new world order; we could use a man of your talents and affinity.”

East’s reply was cold in the ensuing silence, letting the beat drag on almost uncomfortably long. “You claim to be smarter than your colleagues, and yet you ask anyway. You know as well as I that I will refuse your offer; why make it?”

The voice, Astaphaios, replied almost dejectedly, “I am the wisest of them, and I believed you would be a kindred spirit, Khalid. Yes, I knew what the answer in your heart would be, just as you knew I would make that offer anyway. My hope was that you would realize the futility in refusing and make the wiser choice; you know as well as I that even in the defeat of Saboth, Elaios, and Iao, we got our new recruits anyway. Should you refuse you will still join us as they have. If nothing else, take heart in that and join us to rejoin them - surely you care for them enough to make that choice? Else, you care enough for Earth to make this choice. Has he told you what he has heard about what we have seen in this planet’s future should he take charge?” Astaphaios asked, pausing, “I was witness to their final conversations - Elaios and Iao’s. That “prince” of yours knows what he will do to this world. Has he shared that information with you, Khalid? You, who should be his closest confidant…”

He hadn’t. There hadn’t been time - it had all happened so quickly, and after the loss he hadn’t been able to talk about the details.

“He didn’t, did he. He wouldn’t - it’s not flattering, and he knows he needs you to make any of his dark dreams come true.” Astaphaios sounded almost disappointed, and Mamoru swallowed, turning slightly in an attempt to catch Khalid’s eye, but his silver-haired friend was staring ahead of him. “He has not been as close with you in this life as your last; is this loyalty you show him entirely deserved, King of the West? Come with me, with eyes wide open, and help us guide the future of this planet towards where it should be, rather than the doomed path it is on.”

Khalid’s reply was made with finality: “You speak in lies, and I will never serve a false cause.”

A sigh whispered through the air and Mamoru tensed, waiting for the attack. “A pity. You could’ve been so much more useful.”

Bright light flooded the space around them and Mamoru whirled just in time to see Khalid’s body illuminated in a column of pure white light. He reached for his friend, heart hammering in his chest, but he was too late - his bare hand passed right through Khalid as though he were a ghost. Immediately he dropped to the ground, his hand slamming into the surface with a burst of power to find the pink glow of Kunzite with psylocation; he got a faint trace of a reading just as Helios called out above him and raced towards a corner of the building - Mamoru stood, hand glowing with Golden Crystal Energy, and fired in the direction Helios indicated.

The burst of power hit something and flung it backwards into a display of crystal balls, the glass cracking and falling to the ground all around a form that only then became entirely opaque; Astaphaios glittered for a moment, looking down at himself as he took a heaving breath. Mamoru strode closer, his hand glowing again with the power that came only too easily to his beck and call. He knelt and roughly pulled on the shirt of his enemy; he called healing energy, preparing to keep him alive to demand answers; the dark skinned man with eyes as old as time looked at him with nothing short of hatred.

“Where are they?!” Mamoru demanded, but Astaphaios released his breath and simply burst into shards of glittering light before fading away, the early afternoon light returning to the store the moment the last glimmering mote disappeared.

Mamoru as Endymion remained where he was, clutching at air on a floor littered with shards of crystal balls, unable to help wondering if his future was just as broken.

Helios let him be for a few moments more, but then landed carefully on the now-empty shelves and fixed him with a garnet gaze. “ There was nothing you could have done. I felt the energy pulse - do you know where they are? ”

Mamoru nodded and stood, calmly walking from the stoor with the unisus flying at his shoulder. “I got a read just as he was teleported, but it doesn’t do me any good.” Leaving the store, he stopped and looked straight up, clenching his jaw and glaring as though he could see through the atmosphere at the monsters responsible for this. Helios joined him, looking up curiously before snapping back to attention.

“Space?! ” He replied incredulously.

“Kunzite’s glow went up before disappearing,” Mamoru confirmed and let Helios run with the explanation.

“That’s… that’s why you weren’t able to track them before - you couldn’t even if your powers hadn’t been constrained; they were off the planet’s surface and your psylocation is limited to objects touching the Earth. And Hanada’s… ”

“His website’s leads were correct. U.F.O’s. It has to be them - the Archons. They’re up there - Kaito, Khalid, Nero and Yuu. They said that they needed all four of their energies to summon or call this Demiurge. Now they have all of them and there is no way for me to get to them.” He paused, looking to Helios for clarification, “Is there?”

He had remembered a good many memories of his past life, but a lot of the time knowledge about his powers were just known rather than remembered. However, while he had no problem recalling and using powers like psylocation, psychometry, and healing through psychokinesis, he had no idea if he had rarer abilities that he simply didn’t know he had. Something like true psychokinesis or teleportation would be helpful right about now.

“Not that I know of… ” Helios replied morosely.

They stood in silence for a moment, the magnitude of what he was about to face without them too large to move past for the moment. All of them… How could he do it alone? He had to try; there was no other option. Whatever the true intention of these Archons and this Demiurge was, it was not what they claimed, and he couldn’t just hand the Earth over to them. He would fight them - it’s what his friends would want him to do, just as…

Just as he wanted them to do.

Whatever mess they were in right now, he knew they were alive . He didn’t know their situation, but he knew they were up there, they were together , and he knew that they could figure out a way to come home, or else make sure that the Earth was safe after all this was over. He believed in them. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on them, on their faces, their voices, their mannerisms - Kaito’s furious scribbling on his pocket-sized memo pad and his critical eye rolling, Nero lounging, stretching, loudly laughing at whatever came his way, Khalid’s steadfast determination alongside that softer side he rarely let show, and Yuu’s arm-crossing, driven and pushy exterior masking the inner idealist. He focused on them and their power gem’s glow - Kaito’s Zoisite, Nero’s Nephrite, Khalid’s Kunzite, and Yuu’s Jadeite - and sent out Golden Crystal energy, not knowing if it could even reach them. ‘ Fight them! Come back! ’

Helios looked at him sharply, “ What was…? ”

“A reminder,” he replied, looking up to this advisor, “I’m fighting this until the end; I believe they are, too. If anyone could figure out how to come back, it’s them.”

Helios nodded, and just as the clerk opened the door to the shopfront behind them, Mamoru lept skyward, landing on the roof to run towards the elementary school to shut down its crystal. As he ran, the communicator went off and he answered, looking to the watch face, heart lighter at hearing her voice.

“Okay, I’m not exactly sure, but I think it’s two concentric circles - “ Usagi explained without greeting, the watch pointed to the ceiling as she obviously examined the map she had been working on for Khalid, “See?” she said, and the angle flipped around awkwardly until the map, tiny and barely legible, appeared. “I don’t know if I can predict the next attack or anything from it, but maybe their base is in the center.” The viewpoint changed back to the ceiling, “It could be where they’re holding everyone - should we check it out?”

He approached the school but it was no good - emergency services were all over the place. There was no way he could get in and handle the crystal without being spotted and identified. He looked around for a less conspicuous way of entering -

“Mamoru?” her voice called softly, and he looked back to the communicator to see her worried expression. “Is Khalid…?”

He nodded, looking back at the school, “He’s with everyone else. The person responsible for today’s attacks is out of service, but with West King, the Archons now have all the energy they claimed to need. Unless they were somehow able to resist, Demiurge is coming.” He calculated the jump and landed within the shadow of the rooftop access closet and quickly entered, leaving the door open behind him. The air was thick with the crystal’s miasma, and on the fourth floor of a building that didn’t bode well for the lower floors, one of which most likely held the dark crystal itself. Helios beside him, they ventured through the empty halls.

“I’m coming to meet you -” Usagi started, but he quickly cut her off, looking into the watch face with an easy expression.

“I’ll be finished by the time you get here,” he said, actively having to fuel energy from the Earth to keep moving forward as they reached the first stairwell, the air losing its transparency. In an overly casual fashion, he reached out with his free arm to give Helios somewhere to rest, continuing to maintain eye contact with Usagi. “I’ll be back at the apartment after this, barring another attack. If anything else happens I’ll call you, okay?”

Her gaze was critical as she stared back at him, but then something flashed softly, illuminating her face from below, and she broke eye contact to look down herself. “ That’s new, ” she said softly, and then looked back at him, “Okay. I’ll see you in a bit then.”

“See you then, Usako.”

She blushed, grinning, and terminated the call. He let out the rest of his breath, the mist making him lightheaded, and covered his mouth with the corner of his cape, moving Helios to straddle his shoulder like he often did in “plushie mode”, and they descended deeper into the depths of the Juuban Municipal Primary School.

#sailor moon #tuxedo mask #prince endymion #shitennou #sailor moon fanfiction #cardinal king #cardinal king arc two

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ducknotinarow · 2 years ago

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Measured steps upon the pavement guide him among a sparse crowd, contemplation about the last audience with the Council doesn’t prevent him of being aware towards the environment, now steadily turning less lively as the evening begins to fall upon Hidden City’s streets. Upcoming night will provide much needed serenity, there’s a lot for him to reflect upon and dedicate attention… Even with a current absence of demonic threat, the concealed role of an ambassador makes the immortal refrain from his return home, couldn’t be ignored along with a number of other duties. Incoming hurried pace is what causes the swarm of his thoughts to scatter, acute hearing is soon to catch the sound of youthful voice alongside it when trained feet are already slowing down and turn in direction of the call. Somehow, it is no surpise to see who’s quick to approach him… Allowing Usagi to state his request, he ponders it with a soft brief hum before one’s calm baritone will give his composed reply. “You already have a teacher, young warrior. Don’t you think that is irreverent to ask for another behind his very back?”

“Return to your dojo, disciple of Katsuichi - his mastery is more than outstanding enough for you to learn from. I will not disrespect it by stealing his students…”

Usagi’s nose twitched a little at the rejection. He didn’t blame them he took pride in being Katsuichi’s student. His only student even but the thing about that is that right now. He grew silent pushing that away for now. “I do and I am proud and thankful to my teacher. I have studied under him for a long time. But there is still a lot I can and need to learn.” He tells the other samurai. Lifting his head now he sets his pink eyes on Jack. “I am not seeking a new teacher to replace him. Katsuichi is more than a simple teacher to me anyway. But, I am seeking to get better. To improve. To better wield my blade." Even if they told him no he would insist after all he did the same with Katsuichi.

Soon though he softens a bit letting his shoulders lower a little. "Besides right now because of a mistake someone I care for, got hurt." He confesses, not mentioning who. But the words help him ground into what he was chasing them down for. "I don't seek to collect teachers to build up a name or anything like that if that is what you think. I simply want to improve, I need to know how to make up for my faults" their head lifted up again to face them, standing tall to show them he wasn't backing down.

"So please, I ask again will you help me?"

Start for @sonxflight || Usagi Miyamoto

Usagi may know how to swing a sword but at best he was no better than a child playing pretend when it came to everything else. He didn't know form or anything else proper to wielding it. He didn't know everything else that came with being a samurai, he knew it was the path he wanted to be on though. The first step was finding a teacher. He was pretty set on who he wanted. A wandering human samurai. There was no one better than them, quick on thier trail he near chased them down. "sir wait!" he called out stopping just short of running right to them, waiting to catch his breath as he looked at them. His nose twitched a little as he grounded himself into his resolve, bowing down now.

"My name is Miyamoto Usagi. I am in training to become a samurai." he began to introduce himself to them first. "I'm in need of a teacher if you please!" he quickly asked. not waiting to beat around the bush he was going to be straightforward with his request, driven by his determination alone.

#muse| miyamoto usagi #sonxflight #\\closed thread\\#\\reply\\#stayed qeued #((he will follow them non stop if he says no again u_u lol))

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miitzwrites · 7 years ago

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Hey y'all, I’m back! This new drabble was requested by Raxius on FF.net

The prompt is: Sometimes, Neo Queen Serenity and Chibi-usa sneak out of palace grounds and disguise themselves to go enjoy time as mother and daughter and will sometimes bring King Endymion out when they want time as a family.

I added a bit more to the original idea, hoping you all will like it!

Also, I’m gonna be honest with you, this piece is one of my favorites, and it took me almost a week to complete, because it kinda feels personal. I lost my mom in May, and she never had the chance to read one of my stories, and I couldn’t tell her more about this hobby, and I’ve had a hard time coping with her death, so writing has been very therapeutic to me, and this prompt went straight to my heart, because i hope she’s proud of me, whenever she’s now, so I really hope you all like this.

As always, English isn’t my first language, and this piece was unbeta'ed.

And send me your prompts! I accept pretty much anything tbh.

Without further ado, enjoy!

“Small Lady, where are you?” The voice of Neo Queen Serenity resounded through the walls in one of the farthest places in the palace. Since Pluto’s death, her daughter could be found in front of the Space-Time door most often than not. Diana, the daughter of Luna and Artemis, never left her side, but the Queen could see the veil of sadness that sometimes shadowed the girl’s face.

Just as she suspected, the Queen found the Princess in front of the forbidden door, with her back to her. From her place, Neo Queen Serenity could heard the conversation between the Princess and her loyal companion.

“But you were so brave in battle, Small Lady. Wherever she is, I’m sure she’s proud of you!” The small kitten exclaimed, looking at the Princess from her place on her lap. Chibiusa, or like people called her in this time, Small Lady, petted her gray fur and nodded, not entirely convinced. “I could finally become a Sailor Scout like her, but she couldn’t see me. It is my fault, Diana.”

The tears that clouded the girl’s eyes didn’t go unnoticed by the Queen. She knew there were some hidden issues that didn’t leave her daughter alone, but the extent of them were unknown to her. Even after all these years, she was the same Usagi Tsukino, with a few more years of experience, but the same pure heart that wanted to protect everyone. And when she saw her daughter crying, it felt like a stab in the chest.

Neo Queen Serenity cleared her throat to make her presence known. Small Lady quickly wiped off her tears, and Diana jumped to her feet.

“Small Lady, did you forget your lessons?” Asked the Queen in her practiced ‘mom voice’, as Venus liked to call it. “Jupiter has been waiting for you, and you know it’s rude to make people wait for you.” Resigned, Chibiusa stood up, “I apologize, mama. It won’t happen again.”

“Good. Now hurry up, and when you finish, I would like to talk to you.” Chibiusa ran off to where her lesson took place, the garden, and Diana stayed behind her. When she was sure the girl wouldn’t hear her, she turned to the Queen and bowed her head, in a respectful gesture. “Neo Queen Serenity, please don’t be too severe with her. She just misses her friend.”

The Queen picked up the kitten and kissed her small nose, “I know, Diana, and I want to help her. I think I know how to cheer her up, but I will need your and the King’s help.”

Oooooo

“Come on in!”

Neo Queen Serenity entered the office, and closed the door. Since the new age of Crystal Tokyo began, the King Endymion was the head of the medical engineering advances team, so it wasn’t a surprise to find him with his eyes glued to the screen of his computer.

“Did you bring the file?” He asked with tiredness in his voice. “No, but I brought some cookies, your favorites,” answered the Queen with her bright, contagious smile. She might be the Queen now, but on occasions, Usagi made her infamous cookies, crispy with burned edges, and the perfect amount of chocolate chips.

The King pinched the bridge of his nose, and let out a small laugh. “You only make these when you want something,” he said, taking a bite off the cookie. “What did you do, Usako?”

“Oh, Mamo-chan, is it really too hard to believe that I’m being a good wife? When was the last time I cooked for you?” She answered, crossing her arms over her chest with a pout.

“Hmm…. Two weeks ago, when you broke one of the windows in the main hall.”

“Don’t bring that up again, Mamoru-baka! I swear it was an accident.”

“Yeah, yeah, if you say so, Odango Atama”

In public, they were King Endymion and Neo Queen Serenity, sovereigns of Crystal Tokyo, the legendary Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon. But in private, they were Mamo-chan and Usako. Just another married couple that loved each other so much.

The King raised from his seat, sneaked his arms around her waist and kissed her pout away. “Okay, I may need a little favor,” the Queen confessed, stealing another kiss from his lips. “It’s about Chibiusa. I think it’s time for her to start her training.”

“But the girls are busy reinforcing the security system, and the Shitennou are away in a mission.” Mamoru mused, playing idly with her long hair. “And what about Sailor Moon?” Usagi asked, earning a confused look from her husband. “Usako, you haven’t transformed in centuries.” A cloud of sadness crossed her features. She might not openly admit it, but Usagi missed being a full-time Senshi. Being a Queen was rewarding, yes, but at times, it wasn’t enough. Luckily, she had her family and friends, to remind her how loved she was.

Mamoru pulled her even closer, and kissed the crown of her head as Usagi rested her head on his chest. “You think about sending Chibiusa to the past, don’t you? Your old self will be thrilled.” Usagi snickered and shook her head. “My old self could use more responsibility. Chibiusa can learn a lot from her and from the others. It’ll be beneficial for the both of them.”

“She will do great, and when she comes back, Chibiusa will be a full fledged Sailor Senshi,” the King never doubted his daughter, even when she was possessed by the malicious spirit of Wiseman, he knew she would overcome any difficulty.

“There’s also something else I want to ask you,” Usagi looked up at Mamoru, batting her eyelashes, sweetly. “I want a family day. Just you, Chibiusa and me.”

Mamoru wasn’t a stranger to her charms, and with those pleading, blue eyes, he knew there was no way he could deny her anything. “Okay, Usako, just say the day, and we’ll do whatever you want.”

“Whatever I want, you said? Oh Mamo-chan! I want to spend the entire day with you and Chibiusa like a normal family.”

“Considering our history, I would dare to say that we’re as normal as we can,” Mamoru muttered, and Usagi hit him in the arm, pouting again. “You know what I meant!”

“Alright, alright. Whatever you want, my love.”

Yes, he couldn’t deny her anything.

Ooooo

When the lesson finished, Chibiusa returned to her bedroom. Her lessons with Jupiter were always her favorites. She’d learn more about gardening or cooking, and was a personal pleasure of hers to watch her parents’ faces lighten up when she presented them a new dish.

When she opened the door, Diana received her with a smile. “Small Lady, your mother brought you something!” Exclaimed the kitten, as Chibiusa set her eyes on the package placed on her bed. Immediately, Chibiusa unwrapped the box, -she could see that her mother had personally wrapped it, using a wrapping paper full of bunnies and a big, pink ribbon-.

Inside the box, was a note attached that read: “To my dear daughter. May this be the beginning of a new age for you. With love, Mama.”

Excitedly, Chibiusa discovered inside of the box a painting set and new brushes. Most people didn’t know this, but Chibiusa loved to paint. Her mother wasn’t like most, though. She liked to be involved in her daughter’s interests.

“Did you like your present?” The Queen asked from the door, carrying another box with her. Chibiusa ran to her, hugging her. “Yes, mama, I love it! Thank you so much!”

Usagi felt her heart melting in that instant. She was sure that the girl would love the rest of the surprise.

“I have something else for you.” Usagi pulled out from the box a pink blouse and a baby blue skirt that she knew Chibiusa would love. The girl happily took the clothes in her hands, giving her mother a wider smile. “Are we attending another affair, mama?” Chibiusa questioned, placing the blouse and skirt carefully on her bed. “Something like that. You, your father and I will have a family day outside of the palace, tomorrow.” The Princess shoot a confused glance at her mother, and said “But you never leave the palace, last time you did .-” Before she could complete her sentence, Usagi leaned down, and took her small hands, smiling. “Just be sure to be up early. And think about what you would like to do”

With that, the Queen left the room. Diana walked to Chibiusa’s side and nudged her leg to get her attention. “Small Lady, I’d recommend a new hairstyle just for a day,” the kitten winked at the Princess, who nodded eagerly.

OoO

The morning came, and Chibiusa woke up a little after dawn. She wore the outfit that her mother had given to her the previous day, and do her hair into a ponytail instead of her usual buns.

“Mama? Papa? Are you awake?” She knocked at her parents’ door, and was greeted by her father, who had left his usual white and lavender tuxedo and mask, and instead, wore a more casual attire, with a simple pair of jeans and a white button down shirt. “Your mother should be ready in no time. Remember, she’s not a morning person.”

“Oh, shut up, Mamoru-baka!” Usagi called out from their en-suit bathroom, stepping out a moment later, wearing a lilac sundress and a baseball cap. Her hair was up into a high ponytail, just like Chibiusa’s.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you two so casual,” said Chibiusa, inspecting their outfits. Maybe she hadn’t seen this version of her parents, but she remembered fondly the serious clothes that young Mamoru wore, in contrast with the bright and colorful dresses of the young Usagi.

“Have I told you that your father used to have an horrendous green jacket?”

“Usako!”

Ooooo

“Mamo-chan, I want another caramel apple.”

“But you ate two already!”

“Mamo-chan, please, don’t make me beg.”

“Okay, Usako, but it’s the last one.”

Usagi grinned at her husband, and the moved her eyes back to watch as Chibiusa entertained herself with her new painting set. The cool breeze of the autumn evening touched her skin and goosebumps raised on her skin. Mamoru returned a few minutes later, with another caramel apple for her and a cup of coffee for him. He pulled her close, embracing her with an arm around her shoulders, and kissed her temple, his gaze moving to where their daughter was.

“Thank you, Mamo-chan, this day was perfect, and Chibiusa thinks so, too.” Mamoru nodded his agreement, and a small laugh escaped his lips. “Yeah, except for the amusement park and the roller coaster, everything was great.”

“Don’t be like that, Mamo-chan! I haven’t seen you this relaxed in years. We should do this more often.”

“When Chibiusa returns from her trip, we’ll do this again.” Usagi nodded, eating her snack, and a comfortable silence set between them.

Without a doubt, this day had been the funniest in years. With their jobs, it was easy to get lost and overwhelmed, but they knew that, at the end of the day, they would have each other and Chibiusa, to find their way back home. That was one of the reasons why Usagi insisted on having everyday dinner with her family, so they could share a private moment, similar to what she did with her family when she was younger. Mamoru got accustomed to this, too, and when his days were at their worst, he counted the hours until he can have a moment of peace with his wife and daughter.

“I’m gonna miss her,” she broke the silence, snuggling against his side. “The palace will be so quiet without her.” Mamoru ran his hand down her arm, and sighed heavily. “It won’t be the same, but the girls can make you company until Chibiusa comes back home.”

Usagi shook her head, taking his hand and playing with his fingers. “I can’t distract them from their duties, and you know that as well.” Mamoru hummed, “Your girls are busy, yes, but don’t you remember? This century will need a Sailor Moon, and Sailor Moon will need her own guardians. What I mean is, it’s also time to call the Quartet.”

“How didn’t I think about this before?” Usagi responded, and her face lighted up. “If the time comes, this world will need a new protector of love and justice, and I’m positively sure that Chibiusa will do a splendid job.”

Their conversation was interrupted by Chibiusa. She carried with her the painting that she just finished. She could capture the dead of the day and the first stars that appeared on the sky, combined with the beautiful sight of the lake. “Mama, look!” The girl proudly held out her painting to her mother, and Usagi smiled at her, complementing her work. “It is beautiful Chibiusa. It’ll be a beautiful decoration for our dining room.”

“You’ll have to paint one for my office, too, Chibiusa, but that will have to wait until your return.” Chibiusa looked at her father with a puzzled expression, and her lower lip started to tremble lightly, afraid of having done something wrong. If she was honest with herself, deep inside herself, she doubted that hee parents had forgotten what happened with Wiseman and Black Lady.

Usagi hugged her daughter to her chest at her display of distress. “But I don’t wanna leave your side, mama,” Chibiusa weakly told her, and Usagi did her best not to let her emotions get to her. Mamoru, on his part, took Chibiusa’s hand, and rubbed soothing circles in her palm.

“Did you remember what you tell your mother, Chibiusa? That you wanted to work by her side and help her protect this planet?” Noticing the way his wife worried her bottom lip, Mamoru decided to intervene first, “Well, you’re now a Senshi, like Jupiter, or Venus, or Mars, or Mercury. And one day, it will be your duty to be a full time Senshi. But to do so, you must learn some things first, like fighting or how to control the Silver Crystal.”

“I don’t understand, papa,” the girl answered, and Usagi took in a deep breath to try to calm herself down. “What your father meant is that we want you to train with Sailor Moon and the Sailor Senshi from the XXI Century. If you accept this, we’ll make all the necessary arrangements to send you back to the moment you said goodbye to our younger versions. I’m certain neither of them will oppose this idea.”

“I will train with the legendary Sailor Moon and the other Senshi?” The sadness on her face was quickly replaced with a huge grin, and without a second thought, Chibiusa accepted, and hugged her mother tightly. “Yes, mama, I want to train with them. I promise you I won’t come back until I’m a full fledged Senshi.”

A sigh of relief left Mamoru’s lips, and although Usagi was still sad, the enthusiasm of her daughter compensated any negative feeling. “Alright, Ladies, time to get back home. Minako won’t be very happy with you two, eh?”

“Yeah, and wait until she tells Kunzite.” Mamoru groaned, which earned a heartfelt laugh from both Usagi and Chibiusa.

Ooooo

“Are you sure you won’t need anything else?” Asked the King as he opened the Space-Time door. “Yes, papa, I checked twice. And I will be staying with mama Ikuko and papa Kenji. I’ll be fine.”

The King crouched down to pull his daughter into a hug. “Be a good girl, please, mama and I will be waiting for you to come back.”

“Don’t worry, papa, I promise I will make you two proud.”

“But you’ve already made us proud. No matter what you do, will be right beside you.” Chibiusa nodded, and her mother took her in her arms and kissed the crown of her head. “Don’t forget that we love you so much, and please, give this letter to Usagi for me. Oh, and don’t give her a hard time, okay.”

“Yes, mama, and promise me you’ll take my place in Jupiter’s cooking classes, yes?”

“Oh don’t think about that now. I can assure, Jupiter will be very busy until your return.”

“Neo Queen Serenity, will you allow me to visit Small Lady?” Diana asked, jumping off her arms to say goodbye to her friend. “Of course, Diana, just give her some time to adjust to the change.” The Queen conceded her request, and the small kitten beamed to her. “Thank you, Neo Queen Serenity. Small Lady, I will see you soon. Give my father and mother my regards, please.”

Chibiusa smiled at her loyal friend, and with a teary smile, she turned around and walked through the gates of the Space-Time door. With the key that Pluto gave to her, clutched to her heart, Chibiusa recited the words that she had learned by memory. “Pluto, show me the path of light!”

Ooooo

After seeing Chibiusa off, Mamoru and Usagi sat in silence on their favorite bench. Usagi mused about how crazy this time had been, and prayed for a moment of peace. Lifting her gaze up from the fountain, she met Mamoru’s gaze. A blush colored her cheeks as Mamoru’s lips descended upon hers, placing a sweet kiss on hers. And, like the first time they shared a kiss in this very spot, something fell from the sky, and before either of them could react, Usagi saw how Chibiusa fell into Mamoru’s arms, and then jumped off, with her bright and lousy laugh.

“Hi! I’m back!”

#sailor moon #sailor chibi moon #neo queen serenity #king endymion #sailor moon fanfiction #mamousa #usamamo #small lady #sm prompts #also on ao3 and ff.net #my fics

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keyofjetwolf · 7 years ago

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Jet Wolf Summarizes Act 26

As it turns out, the manga and I aren’t going to be great friends. Rather than spend the energy on a liveblog that’s increasingly negative, I’m reading each manga act (mostly) silently, and then writing up summaries at the end. I’ll be very candid, which means there’s likely criticism and snark a’plenty about the manga, either wholesale or in details. If that isn’t a thing you feel like reading, please skip this post!

Things included in this summary:

The final battle against Wiseman/Death Phanton/Nemesis/Ryan. Why Ryan? Why not Ryan. Presumably his parents didn’t name him Death Phantom. Now his name is Ryan.

The conclusion to all the Crystal Tokyo shit.

The arc epilogue, which is where all the character-intensive stuff should happen but in case you forgot, this is a summary of THE MANGA.

Things not included in this summary:

My multiple literal screams.

At least not in audio form.

I’ll still scream in text though, don’t worry.

Usagi aims her love rod at an entire fucking planet which is now I guess close enough to be within visual range of Earth. I have so many questions about this, but it occurs to me that it would only make this arc longer if they were to be answered, so I keep my mouth closed. There’s a burst of light. Usagi disappears. Planet Ryan disappears. Aw, she’ll have to fight the big bad on her own, but this will be test of her mettle that will prove she’s

JUST KIDDING CAN’T FORGET THE REAL STAR

Mamoru joins Usagi by, near as I can tell, thinking about it real hard. Nobody else joins Usagi. Nobody else even tries. I can tell that, somewhere, some part of me wants to cry. The tears don’t come.

Neo-Queen Serenity’s clock finally runs out of snooze times, and she decides she’d better get up. She wanders her dead and deserted palace, noting her potentially dead but certainly unwell Senshi. She considers going to them, checking on them, showing any concern about them whatsoever, but then chuckles to herself. Don’t be ridiculous, this is the manga! Only one thing matters. CAN YOU FOLKS AT HOME GUESS WHAT IT IS??

I know, right? It’s so good to see Mamoru getting the kind of attention he’s due. He’s been so neglected and forgotten. :(

King Douchedymion wakes up, Holodouchedymion disappears, and he and NQS emerge from the palace. Then we get some Family Values propaganda bullshit.

NO OKAY

NO FUCK YOU

YOU DON’T GET TO SPEND YOUR WHOLE DAMN ARC TALKING ABOUT HOW CHIBI-USA IS LONELY AND ISOLATED AND HASN’T KNOW A SHRED OF AFFECTION FROM HER MOTHER FOR NINE HUNDRED FUCKING YEARS AND THEN DRAW THIS LIKE IT RESOLVES ANY OF THAT

WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT THIS IS INTENDED TO DO BECAUSE NEITHER CHIBS NOR NQS NOR ANYONE ELSE SAYS A SINGLE WORD ABOUT THE NEGLECT AND ABUSE CHIBS HAS BEEN SUFFERING LEAVING THE ONLY CONCLUSION THAT IT’S JUST NOT A CONSIDERATION TO ANYONE ANY MORE AND WE’RE GOOD

WE ARE NOT FUCKING GOOD AT ALL

And this gets even worse as things go on. I’m obviously having to rely on my translation here, which I grant is questionably accurate at best, but it’s what’s in front of me right now, so.

NQS goes on to tell Chibs that what got her to wake up was Chibs’ transformation into a Senshi. The conversation continues with Chibs expressing all this sadness and remorse for all the people she feels her actions indirectly killed and all the people she couldn’t protect. NQS says “It’s not your fault, now let’s not talk about it any more.” NOTE THAT SHE SAYS THIS WITH PLUTO’S DEAD AND SPRAWLED BODY LIKE FIVE FEET AWAY BUT EVERYONE IS FINE WITH THAT. From here, it starts to really get to me though, because the entire exchange turns to Chibi-Usa’s power. “You have powers of your own now,” NQS says excited. “We can use our powers to protect the planet together.” When Chibs tearfully confesses she didn’t think her mother needed her, NQS starts strong with “You’re my only daughter. You’re precious to me.” but then:

And it doesn’t stop there. NQS turns to the Senshi (MY GOD YOU MEAN THEY’RE THERE???) and tells them that when she ascended, she “lost almost all of [her] powers to fight as a soldier”. And some other shit I think may be translated wrong but doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme. The important part is that she tells Chibs she has to use Pluto’s powers (WHICH I GUESS SHE CAN JUST DO NOW) to find Sailor Moon and Tux, and use her power to help them take Ryan down for good.

(A THING SHE HERSELF WAS UNWILLING TO DO HERSELF BY THE WAY I JUST WANT TO POINT OUT THAT SHE’S SENDING HER EIGHT YEAR OLD DAUGHTER TO KILL A DUDE SHE REFUSED TO TAKE CARE OF)

ALSO FOR SOME REASON THE INNERS CAN’T ALSO GO FIGHT WHY THE FUCK DO THEY KEEP LISTENING TO EVERYONE TELLING THEM WHERE THEY CAN AND CAN’T GO

I’m going to skip ahead a bit to complete my thought about NQS here, but later in the chapter she powers up the Inners with the laughable “You’ll be able to fight alongside Sailor Moon with ease” like yeah, I’ll believe that when I fucking see it. She also powers up Sailor Moon from across time and space, and gives her a new brooch and toy from Bandai, AND OKAY WE’RE COMING TO MY POINT NOW.

Which is, EVERY GODDAMN THING ABOUT NQS AS SHE RELATES TO ANYONE NOT ENDYMION IS ABOUT POWER. And this CREEPS ME THE FUCK OUT. Her entire exchange with Chibi-Usa isn’t about Chibi-Usa, it’s about how now Chibi-Usa can fight. The fact that she didn’t wake up until Chibs could transform upsets the shit out of me. There’s no part of their interaction that, in a sincere way (and no I don’t count the easily tossed out “You’re my daughter, you’re precious” platitude as none of her interactions with Chibs over their 900 year relationship demonstrate these feelings in a way recognizable to Chibs), show NQS has any interest in Chibi-Usa whatsoever UNTIL SHE HAS POWER. She LITERALLY does not wake up and hug her daughter for what last issue suggested was the first fucking time until Chibi-Usa is a Senshi.

CREEPED. THE FUCK. OUT.

God, anyway, then Usagi and Mamoru spend five pages or something telling each other that they’re the bestest and Mamoru is just as important and powerful as Usagi.

Because again, what does female empowering mean if not “reassure the male romantic lead he’s on equal footing with the titular female lead character”.

Somewhere in the 30th century, the Senshi are filling out their resumes.

Chibs shows up, and she and Usagi destroy Planet Ryan, which is sure to send debris hurtling to Earth and upsetting the delicate climate balance that hahaha no of course not, everything’s fine.

NQS then powers up the Senshi, a move she couldn’t have done a few minutes earlier and then sending them off with Chibs to have anything at all to do with the final battle, because why, honestly. Why. Just why.

Everyone returns to Earth, and Usagi angsts a bit about not getting to meet her future self, which she can’t do because all of space and time will unravel and it’ll be very bad. Neo-Queen Serenity is angsting about it herself. It’s all so sad, so very sad, so much sadder than poor dead Pluto still lying there going through various stages of rigor mortis on her first outing in about five thousand years.

THANKS FOR SHOWING ANY LINGERING REMORSE ABOUT THE DEATH OF YOUR ONLY FRIEND LITERALLY TEN MINUTES AGO

But honestly, who has time for any of that when Usagi is sad? SHE WANTED TO MEET HERSELF YOU GUYS AND IT’S HEARTBREAKING THAT SHE CAN’T IT’S TRAGIC THE MOST TRAGIC THING TO HAPPEN ALL DAY, manga!Usagi is thinking to herself as she steps over Pluto’s body still-warm body.

BUT FUCKING WAIT

BECAUSE NEO-QUEEN FUCKING SERENITY AFTER TALKING ABOUT HOW THEY COULDN’T POSSIBLY MEET RUNS THE FUCK UP AND STARTS CHATTING TO USAGI ANYWAY

I SCREAMED I SCREAMED SO GODDAMN LOUD WHAT IS THIS UTTER FUCKING BULLSHIT

JUST THIS CONVERSATION COULD ALTER HISTORY

YOU JUST LOST LITERALLY YOUR ENTIRE CITY’S POPULATION IN A WAR AGAINST FUCKS WHO WANTED TO ALTER HISTORY

SAILOR PLUTO FUCKING DIED SO YOU COULD STOP EVERYTHING UNRAVELING

AND NEO-QUEEN SERENITY SAYS FUCK ALL OF THAT BECAUSE SHE WANTS TO SAY HELLO TO HER GODDAMN FOURTEEN YEAR-OLD SELF

A DECISION USAGI NOT ONLY SUPPORTS BUT IS DELIGHTED BY

I AM A BALLOON FILLED WITH PURE RAGE AND I JUST FUCKING POPPED

THIS IS THE MOST SELFISH SHIT I HAVE EVER SEEN

“Wow, Chibs, your mum’s a bitch,” Minako says. Chibi-Usa just emphatically nods.

R A G E

Ugh, fuck, let’s get this over with. Chibs is packing up and leaving, and Usagi is all “YOU DON’T THINK ABOUT MY FEELINGS”, as though anyone else is allowed to have feelings to ever be considered. She goes to the park to travel home. Only Mamoru is there. I can’t even pretend to be anything but resigned at this point. But don’t worry, because the Senshi have a whole long panel!

Rei is comforting that fan club president she knew for a couple of hours! Makoto receives a hug from the guy who talks about Mamoru 98% of the time! Minako greets Motoki who looks terrified! Ami is just there because like I said back at the beginning of this arc, she has absolutely no other character at all to connect her to!

God, aren’t you bored with all this attention on the Senshi? TAKEUCHI SURE IS BUT DON’T WORRY HERE COMES MORE MAMORU AND USAGI. They talk about how their future is already planned out, and are somehow romantic and wistful about it. And then surprise! Chibi-Usa is back!

Neo-Queen Serenity will finally, after 900 years, get to see her daughter grow! God, how terrifying. HEY FOURTEEN-YEAR OLD ME PLEASE RAISE HER LIKE YOUR DAUGHTER I SPENT LIKE HALF AN HOUR WITH HER AND IT WAS TERRIBLE KTHX ♥

THE FUCKING END

#JW reads Sailor Moon #sm manga act 26 #jet wolf summarizes the manga #a novel by jet wolf #jet wolf versus the manga #I KNOW THERE'S NOT MUCH FUNNY HERE I APOLOGIZE

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goodlucktai · 8 years ago

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If the Creek Don’t Rise (3/3)

‘verse: Mostly IDW, some elements of 2k12

Pairings: Rasey, Woody/Mikey, Ramona (past)—and a few more may be implied down the road, we’ll see brief mentions of Leosagi.

Summary: In which Raphael and Michelangelo are UCLA students and bring some friends home to South Dakota for Thanksgiving, where Donatello plays matchmaker, Casey becomes a horticulture enthusiast, Woody has great taste in art, and Raphael fakes an engagement.

Notes: This is an AU I started writing for @tmntflashfic’s first theme ‘beginnings.’ It’s very loosely based off the old Pauly Shore movie “Son in Law,” and I’ll thank y'all not to judge me for that. <3 This AU is not to be taken seriously, so please don’t take it too seriously. It got longer than I anticipated, so I cut it into three parts.

Titled after something my nana always says, “If the lord’s willing and the creek don’t rise,” which just means that as long as nothing unexpected happens, everything will go to plan.

THE FINAL PART IS FINALLY HERE

(Story tag)

Raphael was one-hundred and fifty percent certain his life was over.

His brothers kept throwing him bewildered looks, staring between him and Casey as though trying to form a connection that wasn't there. Going over what they knew in a new light, and drawing lines between every interaction they had seen so far and the bombshell Casey dropped on essentially the entire town, and wrapping their minds around the idea of Raph and Casey actually being Raph And Casey.

“I need some air,” Raph said abruptly over Leo's fourth attempt to draw him into conversation, standing up so sharply that he bashed his knee into the tabletop and rattled the glassware. “Shi – shoot. Sorry. Jones, you wanna come with me? For some air?”

“Dude, the food’ll be here soon.”

Raph's murderous intent probably showed on his face, because Mikey stood up a second later. “I'll go with you guys.”

“Oh, god, please don't leave me here,” Woody said very quietly, scrambling out of his chair to follow them.

Which is how Raph found himself pacing the parking in the warm country night air, hands folded into tight fists at his side. Woody and Mikey were sharing a cement parking block, sitting with their knees folded up by their chins and watching Raph's back-and-forth march with solemn eyes. Casey was leaned against the wall without a care in the world, and it made Raph want to grab him by the shirt and shake him.

“That was your move?” he bit out. “Faking an engagement? Jesus Christ, Jones!”

“Hey, I didn't see any of you comin' up with any brilliant ideas,” he shot back with a scowl. “And it ain't like I had days to think it over!”

“C'mon, Raphie, it's not Casey's fault,” Mikey interjected before Raph could give voice to any one of numerous scathing retorts. He looked pale and worried for him, face a wash of tired yellow from the buzzing streetlight overhead. “We were all pretty much put on the spot back there. At least the thing with Lisa is taken care of.”

“Okay, but this is – ”

“A lot better,” Woody said calmly. When Raph cut a glance at him, he added, “You're in complete control of the situation now. When we get back to your place, we'll explain the whole thing. Just play it cool through dinner, alright?”

“Yeah!” Mikey piped up, looking exhaustively relieved. He tilted a shining look Woody's way. “There's nothing to worry about, bro, we'll sort this out first thing once we're home.”

Except that the first thing that happened once they got home was Leo, successfully cornering Raph alone on the back porch. Woody shot him a sympathetic glance over Leo's shoulder but ultimately abandoned him to his older brother's mercies in favor of following Mikey around like a second shadow. Goddammit.

“Dude,” Raph headed him off, “it's been a night, okay, just – ”

“Look, I know you don't want to talk about it,” Leo said with a firm hand on Raph's arm, curtailing his attempts to get the hell out of dodge. But it was less that and more the earnest look in his wide almond eyes that kept Raph's feet rooted reluctantly to the floor. “I know that you probably had planned to tell us the news while we were together for the holidays, and I'm really sorry Elizaveta made it necessary for you to announce your engagement the way you did.”

Raph wanted to sink through the floor and disappear for maybe the rest of his life. Hoarsely, he said, “Leo, that's not – ”

“Just hear me out,” his big brother insisted, and somehow his expression only got more sincere. “I've – been texting you a lot recently about a guy I met on campus. Usagi. Remember?”

Raphael hazarded a nod, and shifted so that Leo's grip on his wrist was less of a grab and more of a hold. Leo nodded back, as though he needed the encouragement, and took a deep breath.

“I like him,” he blurted, cheeks coloring. “I like him a lot.”

Oh.

“Oh,” Raph said, eyes huge in his face. Leo was still nodding, looking equal parts panicked to have said it out loud and relieved to part with the confession. He was staring at Raph like Raph had all the power to destroy him with a single word or harsh look, and Raph found he didn't care for that shit at all. “Look, man, that's – whatever, you know? You didn't really think we'd care, did you?”

“I don't know,” Leo said quietly, letting go of Raph's arm. “I mean – I told myself I was being stupid, but – ”

Raph could feel himself start to frown thunderously at the idea that Leo could tote around the ridiculous concept that his family's love for him was conditional. And maybe it was a little hypocritical, since the same quiet worries had circled Raph's head, too, back when he was first irreparably charmed by the most obnoxious roommate in the history of UCLA – but at the same time, it was different. It was Leo.

“Hell yeah, you were being stupid. Look, as long as he's a good guy, as long as he doesn't – ” He thought of Bradford and the end of Mikey's sophomore year and abruptly saw red. Thought of the man Leo had his eye on doing anything similar, and his fists clenched so hard it hurt. “ – hurt you, y'know, in whatever way, then it don't matter. Not a lick. And our brothers and dad and Uncle L will all tell you the same thing. You know they will.”

There was a sheen to Leo's eyes that looked like it might be tears, but he chuckled warmly. Rubbed his face with the sleeve of his shirt and hitched up a smile so wide it probably could have left a permanent impression.

“Well – that's why I wanted to talk to you,” he said. “To say thanks.”

Something close to dread pooled in the pit of Raph's stomach. “Thanks?”

“Yeah. I was scared, but you made it less scary. You've always been so much braver than me.”

Fearless Leo's eyes shone for a split second before he moved forward a swift step and tugged Raph into a solid hug. They were about the same height, Raph realized dimly, and wondered when that had happened. It was autopilot to put his arms around Leo in turn, and he only got squeezed tighter for his troubles.

“I’m going to talk to father before I go back to school. Thanks, Raph, really.”

Raph closed his eyes, and allowed himself an inward and heartfelt, Fuck.

"There is no fucking way we can call it off now,” Raph said, waving his hands wildly. “No fucking way.”

He had called an Immediate Emergency Meeting, which was why they were all clustered in the back shed, AKA Mikey’s childhood art studio. The overhead light was still swinging from the fifth time Casey had smashed his head into it, and subsequently Casey was rubbing his forehead and cussing under his breath.

Similarly, Woody was only half-listening; eyes roving the room like he was trying to commit ever inch of the dust-covered space to memory, lingering on old painted canvases and listing sculptures like there was treasure to be found among them.

Raph had Mikey’s full attention at least. His little brother was perched on the workbench, watching him with wide, worried hazel eyes.

“Well,” he said slowly, “it’s still okay. We’ll just ride this thing out, y’know? I mean, we’re only gonna be here for the rest of the week, right? And then when we go back to school everything will go back to normal, you can call and say the two of you broke it off or something. Right?”

“I -- yeah, I mean.” Raph ran an agitated hand through his hair, forcing himself to calm down. “Yeah. Yeah, you’re right.”

Mikey beamed at him, tension easing out of his shoulders. Raph was unspeakably grateful, for the millionth time in his life, that he could always count on having Mikey on his team. Things never seemed as bad with him around.

“So you and Case just gotta act couple-y until then! No problem!”

Casey snorted, and Woody whipped around with a delighted expression. “’No problem’? Mikester.”

“What? What’d I say?”

Raph prayed that the shitty lighting in Mikey’s shed would be enough to hide the way his face turned red. From the coy look on his little brother’s face, and the amused look on Woody’s, he knew that was probably a fool’s hope.

Casey was still rubbing his forehead but he was watching Raph closely now, with something measured and thoughtful in his eyes.

Later, in the relentless quiet of Raph’s bedroom, the scattered feet between his bed and Casey’s cot seemed to stretch into miles. It was nothing like their first night there -- nothing like every night for the past few months in their dorm room at school -- when they could stay up and talk about anything, cradled safely in the dark as they learned to navigate each other’s pitfalls.

It was uncomfortable. The learned familiarity was gone. Raph was grasping for it at the corners.

Casey’s cot creaked as he rolled over, and his voice drifted through the space between them cautiously.

“Raph? You awake?”

With the blanket pulled up around his ears, Raphael pretended not to be.

Raph went slinking out of the house early the next morning. He waved to Uncle L when he passed him in the kitchen, put together a quick breakfast of leftovers out of the fridge, and crept out the side door into the yard while the sky was still more dark than light.

Father would have started the chores already. Raph wouldn’t see him until lunch. He wanted to talk -- it’s obvious he wanted to talk -- but he had always given his kids the whole of his faith, and probably trusted Raph to come and find him on his own when he was ready.

Fat chance of that.

Hiding in the horse barn, Raphael leaned against the wall and put his head in his hands and tried very hard not to lose his collective shit.

If the thing with Lisa wasn’t bad enough, now he’s fake dating a guy he wants to actually date, and it’s fake going really well, apparently, because they’re fake planning to get married.

He suckered himself into this situation in the first place, inviting Casey along for the visit home, but the kicker is he can’t even really bring himself to regret it. Not when the alternative would have been Casey on his own back in California.

He’s had a good time, Raph thought, and didn’t want to take a moment of it back.

“Yo,” Casey said abruptly, drawing Raph’s head up sharply. His sleep-touseled friend was in the wide doorway of the barn, looking distinctly unimpressed with him and the world and wakefulness in general. “Are you seriously avoiding me? Weak as hell, man.”

Raph could only stare at him, trying to find his footing in this conversation he was desperately unprepared for. Casey took pity on him after a moment and gestured over his shoulder.

“My buddy showed me where you were. I named her Chompy by the way, on account of the hole she chewed into my shirt the other day.”

Raph followed his hand to the fence opposite the barn, where the newest addition to the family sheep was gazing dolefully at them through the gap in the wooden posts. He blinked, and looked back at Casey, and said, “You can’t name Mikey’s sheep Chompy. That’s a stupid name.”

“Oh, yeah, you’re all named after like, artists and shit. Okay, fine in keeping with family tradition, she can be Chompy Picasso.”

“No. Just -- no. I’m gonna. Hold on.”

He dug his cell phone out of his pocket and sent a text to Mikey; who was probably still up at ass o’clock in the morning after having not gone to bed in the first place in favor of a sci-fi movie marathon with Don and Woody.

Sure enough, Raph got a reply almost immediately.

To: Mike case is tryin to name ur lamb chompy picasso

From: Mike !!!! thats the best name EVER tell him thx omfg

“Okay, well, it’s official,” he said, pocketing his phone again. “I don’t know any of you. You’re all total strangers. Get out of my house.”

“Pfft. That makes this engagement a little weird, don’t it?”

Raph didn’t flinch, but it was a close call, and he jerked his eyes away to stare at the wall, and then the ground. He didn’t want to talk about, didn’t know why he thought he could avoid it, wanted for there to be a way to go back and face Lisa from the beginning the way he should’ve -- the way she deserved -- instead of hiding from the situation like a coward.

He should have --

“Raph,” Casey barked, “stop freaking out, Jesus Christ!” His tone was sharp, but mostly without anger, and the steps forward he took were hurried. “I’ll slap you in the face to snap you out of it like in every bad Lifetime movie you’ve ever seen, don’t even try me.”

“You don’t watch Lifetime movies.”

“Fuck you, you don’t know what I watch.” Casey punched him in the shoulder, just hard enough to leave a residual ache there after his fist fell away. “And I don’t know what bullshit is running through your head right now, but we’re fine. This whole thing was my fault, and I’ll deal with it. So quit acting like the world’s comin’ to an end, you moron.”

Raph risked a glance up at him, disbelieving. Casey looked ready to throw another punch, agitated in a restless way that spoke more of worry than anything else.

And Raph felt like a moron.

“Fuck. Case, look -- “

But they were both interrupted by the dark head of a dapple grey stallion as it leaned over the door of its stall to see what all the commotion was about. It flicked an ear and shook out its mane before craning a long neck over to inspect Casey curiously.

“Holy shit,” Casey said, completely side-tracked as he stared at the approaching horse with wide eyes. “There’s a monster in your barn.”

“This is Spike.” Raph patted him fondly. “He’s nosy.”

“Yeah, I’ll say.” Casey put out his hands cautiously, and Spike leaned his nose into the cradle of his palms, snuffling wetly around for treats. “Ew,” Casey added, delighted.

Raph watched them for a minute, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“So,” he ventured, “we’re good?”

“Yeah, man. We’re good. Unless you keep acting like an idiot, goddamn.”

Spike lipped at the hem of Casey's shirt affectionately. Casey squawked, and Raph's heart did a complicated flip in his chest.

Raph's brothers, and his father, and his uncle all approved of Jones, whether the knew the full truth about the situation or not—but it was something else, something important, that his horse approved of him, too.

Fake dating, he reminded himself viciously, knowing already that the reminder wouldn’t stick.

The day before Thanksgiving, there was a big dance hosted at the rec center for the young adult crowd. The six of them took Uncle L’s truck, tired of being cooped up at the farm, and if the drinks provided weren’t spiked Raph would spike them his damn self.

“You see Lisa anywhere?” he asked, leaning against the wall next to Casey with a cup of warm punch.

“Am I s’posed to be lookin’ for her?”

“I owe her an explanation."

“You don’t owe anybody shit, bro, but I’ll keep an eye out.”

On Raph’s other side, Donnie straightened so abruptly that it got Casey, Raph and Leo’s -- from the other side of the refreshments table -- attention all at once. And before any of them had a chance to so much as open their mouths, he was pushing off the wall and striding through the crowd with vicious intent, looking ready to steamroll any number of people out of his way.

“What the heck,” Leo said, frowning. He was searching the room for the source of Donnie’s sudden beeline, and found it moments before Raph did.

Something ice-cold and toothed reared its ugly head in the pit of Raph’s chest at the sight of Bradford dragging his little brother out the back door. With a bitter taste in the back of his throat, he dropped his cup and shoved his way across the dance floor after Leo.

The back was for deliveries, with a wide gravel drive and a small storage shed. It was much quieter and darker out there, where the lights and the music and the dull roar of conversation from the party they had left behind were distant and muted.

Donnie was boxed in the doorway, frozen, with a hand over his mouth. Leo all but picked him up and moved him out of the way, face dark with furious fear, but after a second to take in the scene, he was motionless, too.

“What the fuck,” Raph blustered, shoving past, “move, don’t just -- “

“Holy shit,” Casey said from behind him.

Bradford was crumpled on the ground, a bloody hand trembling over his broken nose. His lettermen’s jacket was stained with it, his cronies standing well back, and Woody was lowering his hands as Raph put the pieces of the scene together into a cohesive picture.

Holy shit was right.

“Keep your hands to yourself,” Woody said mildly, eyes cold as he looked Bradford over. “I really don’t want to have to tell you again.”

He looked like he really wanted to have to tell him again.

Reaching out without looking away from Bradford for a second, Woody gathered Mikey up under his arm, curling the smaller blond in tight against his side. Mikey’s eyes were wide but it was wonder in his face, and the beginnings of delight, and any shadow of that awful misery from moments earlier was burned completely away.

“Dude,” he whispered adoringly, “You’re a ninja.”

Woody’s icy expression gentled for him, almost absurdly, and if Raph looked to his left he’d see Donnie looking smug as shit at having been right about something no one else could have guessed from the very beginning, again. ��Something like that. My aunt’s an MMA fighter. She taught me a lot. I took lessons for a few years, too.”

“Holy cats! Woody! That’s, like, maximum rad!”

Grinning down at him, Woody said, “Anyway, weren’t we about to go dance?”

With a gasp, Mikey snatched up his hand and tugged him back toward the door. He looked surprised to see his brothers there, but he greeted them with a smile that didn’t shake, and Donnie touched Woody’s arm for a moment of exhaustive, wordless thanks.

Woody shook his head with a stubborn glint in his eye, squeezing Mikey’s hand tighter.

“Message received,” Leo said with a grin, and Raph watched Donnie take a mean delight in locking the back door behind them when they returned to the party. Not that he was worried about Bradford showing his ugly face anywhere near Mikey again anytime soon. He owed Woody a drink or ten for that.

“Dude,” Casey said, “what the hell is up with that guy? Why’s he got it in for Mike?”

There was a wet floor sign and a disgruntled janitor cleaning up the spilled drinks Raph and his brothers left behind earlier. Raph went in search of a new spot to stand in.

“You know the movie Carrie?”

“Sure.”

“Same deal. Except instead of pig blood there at the end, Bradford got him up on stage in the middle of the homecoming dance and outed him in front of god and everybody.”

“Jesus fuck.”

“I got suspended that night for two weeks for beating the shit out of Bradford, but dad gave the principal so much hell she brought it down to one.” Glancing sidelong at Casey, Raph added, “Mikey got bullied after that, bad. Not for long, I mean, he doesn’t have three big brothers for nothing. But it left a mark on him, y’know, it really did some damage.”

“You think Woody knew?”

“I dunno. I didn’t tell him. And Mikey doesn’t talk about it. Anyway, I don’t think it matters. Anyone who looks at Mikey cross-eyed is gonna have fuckin’ Bruce Lee to deal with, and I’m more than fine with that.”

It wasn’t hard to find them on the dance floor, swinging each other around wildly and laughing louder than the band could play. The Mikey of two years ago wouldn’t recognize himself if he could see it, Raph thought. Dancing close with another boy in front of their whole small-minded town like there wasn’t a single goddamn thing to be ashamed of.

That night, warm with the alcohol they picked up on the way home and groggy, Raph fell into bed with his clothes on. Barely a minute later, hands were shoving at his chest and shoulder, and Casey was muttering, “Scoot over, dude, I’m not sleeping on that fucking thing anymore.”

At three a.m. it made sense, and Raph rolled over to make room for him.

A rooster call woke him up scant hours later, and he blinked painfully through a hangover into the weak sunlight beginning to poke its fingers through the windows of his bedroom.

His arm was slung over Casey’s waist. Casey was drooling on his shoulder. His head hurt too much to process either of those things.

“Yer thinkin’ too loud,” Casey muttered softly, the words wincing and whispered. “Too hungover for that shit.”

“Case -- “

“I swear to god -- “

“No, listen,” Raph was saying stupidly. “I don’t want to fake date you. It’s driving me insane, I don’t want to do it anymore. So that’s why we should -- “

With a soft cuss, Casey jerked upright. Raph had exactly one second to worry before his roommate was clambering on top of him, straddling his waist with a twisted comforter between them and leaning down with tangled hair and blurry eyes to kiss Raph quiet.

It worked like a charm -- Raph shut right up. Casey kissed him for a lot longer anyway. Relentless, like there was something to make up for. Whatever it was, Raph was happy to give it, digging his fingers into his grip on Casey’s arms, keeping him as close as he could until the last possible moment.

To: X-XXX-XXX-XXXX sorry abt dinner the other night. sorry about a lot of stuff.

From: X-XXX-XXX-XXXX Forgiven.

To: X-XXX-XXX-XXXX next time i visit ill make it up to you. promise

From: X-XXX-XXX-XXXX You will do no such thing. Next time, I will make it up to /you/. I owe you that much.

From: X-XXX-XXX-XXXX And I hope you’ll introduce me to your fiance. I would like to meet him.

Contact saved as “Mona Lisa.”

“What are you smilin’ about?” Casey mumbled without lifting his head, word salad all but lost against Raph’s collarbone.

“How do you know I’m smiling, you creep?”

“C’n just tell. What’s up?”

Raph set his phone aside, and pushed a hand through Casey’s hair.

“Wanna come home with me again for Christmas?”

“Pretty sure I have a standing invitation from your entire family to crash all your holiday get-togethers, loser.” He slung an arm across Raph’s waist and yawned. “Welcome to the married life. No getting rid of me now.”

“We aren’t married, dumbass.”

“Fuck you, go back to sleep.”

The two of them in one bed was a tight fit, but the cot was all the way across the room, they were still existing on the tender plane of the very barely not hungover anymore, and it seemed like a waste to sleep so far apart anyway.

On Thanksgiving Day, three things happen:

Mikey fucking outdoes himself, to literally no one’s surprise, and the food is fantastic. He and Woody hold hands through most of the meal, and Raph and Donnie share a wry look when father surreptitiously passes Leatherhead, who has better lighting from his side of the table, the digital camera.

Leo comes out to the rest of the family, and it goes more or less exactly the way Raph thought it would. Leo's face is a pleased pink as he swipes through his phone at Mikey’s tireless demands for pictures of Usagi.

Raph clears his throat halfway through dessert and manages to meet his father’s eyes when he says, “There’s something I need to tell all of you. About the, uh. Engagement. See, we were -- Case and I, we were never really -- “

“ -- sure about the wedding date,” Casey cuts in smoothly, claiming a third slice of pumpkin pie. “We figured we’d put things on hold, you know, till we’re done with school, at least. No sense rushing in, right?”

Mikey and Woody are grinning across the table at him. Casey is grinning around a mouthful of pie. Raph throws his last vestiges of caution to the wind and grins right back.

#tmnt idw #tmnt 2k12 #rasey #woodyangelo #my writing #fake engagement au #i accidentally posted this like 5 times will typing it up dlgjghakjdgh #**while #anyway glad its finally over lmao sorry it took this long #also its 4am so if something in this chapter is awry now u know why #tmnt fic

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shnuggletea · 4 years ago

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So... Mamoru is Endymion. Shocker I know! But what's he gonna do with that info? Thank you all for the awesome reviews and not cursing my name. I mean, some of you did but it was all in good fun. IT WAS ALL IN GOOD FUN!

I told you guys that I loved the last chapter and it was my favorite. Well, this one is Darkenedhrt's favorite. So I'm dedicating it to her. Here you go, raging and out of control Endymion off to find his 'wife'. Nothing like two people in your head to confuse the hell out of your personality! Personally, I love how the Shitennou react. Cracks me up!

Fanfiction HERE

AO3 HERE

Chapter 17

Her chest tightened to uncomfortable levels, causing her to wake up, the amount of anger that rolled into her was overwhelming and no amount of deep breathing seemed to calm it. She heard voices outside her room, yelling mixed with hushing. Getting out of bed, she stumbled, the emotions rolling into her were not her own and she struggled to cope.

Luna stood on the bed, looking after her as she wobbled towards the door. "Usagi-chan, are you alright?"

She couldn't even answer the question because she herself didn't know.

Managing to make it to the door, she flung it open, finding the boys, Minako and Makoto, all standing in the living room. Minako and Makoto had both clearly just woken up and stood bleary-eyed to the side. But once they caught sight of her, they snapped to attention, running to her side.

"Usagi-chan?"

"Usagi-chan are you alright?!"

Zoisite was pacing, all the boys looking agitated, even Kunzite was a bit on edge. "See! Look at her! This proves it for sure!"

"Proves what?!"

They all looked at her, concern etched on their faces at her current condition. Kun straightened, clearing his throat of his own nerves. "He has awakened. Endymion has returned. And I have a feeling he is on his way here now."

Makoto almost dropped her. "What?!"

"You could have said that sooner! We should get her out of here!" Minako was pushing her to the door and Kunzite stopped her.

"It doesn't matter where you take her, he will find her. They are connected. Look at her! You think she is ill? No, that is Endymion!"

More anger billowed in, nearly bringing her to her knees. "Why is he so pissed? I thought you said he loved me? If he loves me, then why the hell is he doing this to me?!" Kun smirked and she had to fight the urge to smack him.

"Endymion has only one weakness, Usagi, and that is you. Waking up and you not being there with him, he has probably lost it."

She managed a glare at Jadeite. "That is putting it lightly! And I am not his weakness, Serenity is! It is not my fault he woke up all alone!"

"Isn't it though?"

Neph looked her over, straight-faced and honest with his words and she only found it more confusing. She opened her mouth to ask more from him but was silenced when the floor began to shake.

"What the hell? An Earthquake?"

Jadeite shook his head at Makoto. "An Earthquake would be better."

"Oh shit, he is PISSED! He is going to kill us for sure."

Zoisite started to pace again while Kunzite went to the door, opening it wide and stepping back. She gave him a curious look. "I don't want him busting the door down. We have a deposit that I would very much like to get back."

She rolled her eyes and bright, white light filled the room for a second, a roll of thunder following shortly after. Even with Endymion's anger boiling over inside her, she still jumped and squeaked at the sound.

"Jesus, he is going to bring down the whole building!"

She grimaced at the boys, partly due to her frustration and partly due to the pain she was experiencing. "I thought you guys said something about him having better control. Whatever that means!"

Zoisite still paced, all of them edging around the room while looking pale. Neph looked around wildly as if Endymion would appear anywhere in the room at any second. "He does have control but not when his emotions are out of whack."

The building continued to shake and thunder continued to roll outside. "Oh, this is ridiculous!" She pushed away from Makoto's and Minako's hold, standing in the middle of the room before the door. "Come on already then! Come and get me, Endymion! I am not afraid of you!"

As if controlled by her, everything became still and silent, causing his voice to ring out eerily. "You should be."

Startled, she jumped, facing the door and finding him standing in it. "Mamoru?" He walked casually into the room as if he owned the place. Not a care in the world. "You shouldn't be here. Endymion will be here any second now."

Yet another wave of pure anger rolled into her but she managed to remain standing, not wanting to alarm Mamoru. If he thought she was in trouble, he would never leave.

Once inside the room, the boys all stopped and fell to a bent knee before Mamoru. "Oh, Kami. Get up, you idiots!" They all looked up at him, questioning looks on their faces. "I said get up!"

They all jumped up, standing rigidly before him. Mamoru walked before them like a man inspecting his troops. Then he stopped, grabbing each of them behind the neck and pulling them into him in a fierce hug.

"It is good to see all of you again."

The anger lessened, making her able to stand and speak while watching the small and respectable lovefest before her. She glanced around, finding the girls just as confused as she was. "Mamoru?"

The men released one another quickly, a short man hug between the five of them. "But you all still kept me in the dark."

They each bowed their heads, Kun being the only one brave enough to speak. "Forgive us, my lord. For that and for many other things. We did try to awaken you… but it was not meant to be us."

At that, Mamoru spun to face her, anger hitting her hard again. It matched the look on his face and the fire in his eyes. "That's right. It was my little Serenity's job, wasn't it? And she refused."

"What?"

She was reeling, her mind spinning, which wasn't helped when Mamoru lifted her up into his arms. "If you will excuse us. I need a moment alone with my wife."

Tiny electric shocks hit her from every part of that touched him and it hurt. Her last glance behind them as he carried her to her room was Kun and Neph jumping over the couch and restraining Makoto and Minako. The two of them fully planning to come after her until then.

The door slammed behind them and he set her back on her feet. "Pack!"

She was still swimming, trying to keep up with it all. "What?"

He was at her dresser, his back to her while he started opening drawers. "I said pack! You are not staying here!"

Now her own anger came to the surface. "You can't tell me what to do!"

Turning on his heel, he glared at her, his anger nearly forcing her to the floor. "The hell I can't! No wife of mine is going to stay with four men!"

She barely managed to stand straight, forcing herself to remain tall. "I am not your wife! And those four men are your friends!"

He stepped up to her, her knees buckling, but she forced them back up. "I took vows, same as you, to be with you forever. That means even in death and the life after Serenity."

"I am NOT Serenity, I am Usagi and you are Mamoru. What is wrong with you?!"

This time, she did buckle, making it to her bed to sit as she was overwhelmed with the rage of someone else. "You feel that don't you? Once I woke up, breaking your barrier was no problem. Notice that I am not touching you for you to feel it either? That's because you and I have a bond. An unbreakable connection that we have always had. Since we were children!"

"...Endymion?"

He did a small and mocking clap. "There she goes. She finally gets it. And YOU kept us apart. Out of what? Stubbornness? Selfishness? Fear?!"

Her vision began to swim, black edging at her vision. "Mamoru...please stop.."

"Months Serenity. For months you have been awake without me and then, when you found out that it was up to you to awaken me, you refused!"

She leaned back on the bed, hoping to fall back on it instead of the floor. "Endymion, you are hurting me!"

His anger left her, a weight lifting off her chest in an instant, and she almost fell over from the sudden lack of it. Her vision cleared, finding him kneeling before her, holding her upright. He did his best to send soothing waves through her, but the guilt was there as well.

With a gentle hand, he brushed away a few wild hairs from her face, a few strands coming free from her braid. "I'm sorry."

He still knelt before her, both his hands on her hips and watched her. "You know, I'm pretty sure you caused your men out there to wet their pants."

"But you weren't afraid."

Shaking her head, she kept her eyes on him as he kept his on hers. "I know you would never hurt me. Not intentionally anyway."

She felt his guilt again, his eyes leaving hers, but she grabbed his face to pull it back up to hers. "I will never hurt you again. Unintentional or otherwise."

She giggled, but he didn't smile. "Well, that's not true. How will we train?"

He stood, going back to her dresser again. "You won't be training. Not anymore."

She pushed off the bed, her own anger starting to flare up again. "Excuse me?"

"I'm benching you. You are not fighting anymore. I will protect you and the Earth. It is my duty, not yours."

"Are you serious?!"

"Very! Now, where is your suitcase?"

She stomped over to her dresser next to him and slammed the drawer he stood at shut. "Stop it, I am not going anywhere!"

He opened it again. "Yes, you are."

She slammed it shut again and he barely got his hand out before it got crushed. "No, I am NOT!"

"You are not going to live with other men!"

"And just where do you expect me to live?!"

"With me, your husband!"

"YOU ARE NOT MY HUSBAND! Serenity and Endymion were married, not us! They are dead!"

"That is a small and inconsequential detail."

She stomped her foot, her frustration shimming through her to him causing him to grimace. "It is not!"

"Fine, then let's get married."

All the blood drained from her face and it felt as if the wind was knocked out of her. "What?"

"You're right. Serenity and Endymion were married. And according to this world, we are Usagi and Mamoru. So we should get remarried."

"You can't be serious."

"Why do you keep asking me that?"

She moved away from him, needing as much distance as possible from him for fear she might strike him at any moment. "You have lost your mind! Regaining your memories has changed you because you are crazy!"

Her back was to him, unable to look at him at that moment. So she didn't see him approach, just felt his arms around her as he pulled her in tight to him. "You make me crazy."

Her heart was racing in her chest and he spun her around, his lips crashing to hers in an instant. Her brain was spinning, wave after wave of affection and love crashing over her from him, making her heart swell and thump against her rib cage.

After a few moments, he pulled away, only to lift her up off her feet. "Kami, I have missed you so much."

His mouth was on hers again, silencing any thoughts she had other than his lip as she pulled it into her mouth, sucking and nipping on it. He moaned against her, his tongue sliding across her bottom lip, gaining him entrance to her mouth and a moan from her in return.

Pulling her to him tighter, she wrapped her legs around him, not really sure what she was doing. Her body seemed to know just what to do and how to respond to him. She was aching for him, not sure how much of that was from him or from herself, but the only way she could describe it was as wanting.

Her back hit the bed before she even realized he was lowering them and now he laid on top of her. His hands roamed her body, touching and caressing places, the right places. Like he knew exactly what to do while she did not. Her hands felt clumsy, shaking as they moved up his chest to his shoulders.

Pulling his mouth away from hers, he led a trail across her jaw and down to her neck. When he reached her collar bone, her body arched in response, offering herself up to him. His hands worked their way up her t-shirt, pulling it up to her chest, leaving her bare to the cold air in her room.

His mind opened to hers, she read him with ease. He was planning on making love to her, right then and there with a room full of people just on the other side of her door.

"Wait...stop...we can't."

He groaned, the vibration running from his lips to her skin. "Yes, we can."

"No...the others."

"I don't care."

She shoved hard on his shoulders, breaking the contact. "I care!"

"Kami, Serenity, you are so stubborn."

Her heart cracked, splintering into a thousand pieces while tears pooled in her eyes. She couldn't even look at him, pushing him up so she could wiggle her way out from under him. "I am not Serenity."

"Usako…"

"No! Endymion loves Serenity okay, I get it. But Mamoru? He does NOT love Usagi. Never has. Maybe at one point, I was okay with that, but not anymore. Not in this life. I refuse to be some stand-in for someone who died over a century ago."

She pulled her shirt back down roughly, gaining her freedom and getting away from him and her bed. "Wait Usagi."

"I think you should go."

Her back was to him again. She could feel him searching her feelings and her mind. "You don't remember."

She huffed, pulling her head up to the ceiling and letting her tears fall back to her ears. "Remember what?"

He was still searching her, assessing her and she was sick of it. Pushing him out, he gasped, but then slowly got up from the bed. She thought he was going to wrap her up in his arms again, coming to stand behind her.

"I've hurt you again….I'm sorry. I thought...I thought you remembered."

The pain he felt mirrored hers but cut in half in comparison. It was different, more like mourning. Perhaps he finally came to terms with reality, that his Serenity is gone.

She couldn't stop herself from watching him as he walked past her and out the door. As soon as the lock clicked into place, she flung herself back to the bed and sobbed.

~*O*~

"Take it the reunion didn't go as planned?"

He glared at her, the blonde sitting alone in the living room mocking him. "Screw you, Aphrodite."

"Ho, now, is that any way to talk to your new best friend?"

He grabbed his chest, the splintering from Usagi's heart reaching his tenfold. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You didn't really expect to walk in there and her accept you as her long lost husband did you?"

"Kinda yeah?!"

She shook her head, chuckling, "But she isn't. She is Usagi."

"I KNOW that!"

"And you are Mamoru."

"Would you get to your fucking point?"

She laughed again, standing and poking him in the chest with her finger. "Usagi believes that Mamoru didn't love her."

"Which is ridiculous!"

"Oh is it? Did he tell her he loved her? Did he show her any genuine interest BEFORE he started getting his memories? Look, I'm on your side, I know both Mamoru and Endymion love Usagi. But that doesn't change the fact that Usagi feels as though you are just using her as a look-a-like."

He gripped his hair, feeling the need to rip it out in his frustration. "She's not a look-a-like!"

She patted his shoulder, a feeble attempt to calm him. "As I said, I'm on your side."

He relented, releasing some of his tension with a heavy breath. "What is it you suggest I do then?"

She shrugged, walking away and towards Kun's room. "I don't know. But if you want Usagi, you need to prove to her that Mamoru loves USAGI, not Serenity."

She shut the door behind her, leaving him alone in the dark. "Oh...is that all…."

Not as bad of a cliff hanger, right? Stay tuned lovelies!

#sailormoon #sailor moon #sailor moon fanfiction #sailor moon fandom #usagi tsukino #mamoru chiba #usagi x mamoru #shitennou #Inner Senshi #shitennou redemption #senshi x shitennou #endymion is awake!#run!#faulkner writing

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myucornerorg · 6 years ago

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Usagi's the sort who takes the initiative to make friends with literally everyone, and people usually like her back (or if they don't, Usagi doesn't get the message), so I imagine she doesn't know what Ami goes through. Ami is thought to be unapproachable and snobbish, and her only "friends" are people who want to use her for her smarts. Even in Act 2, when Usagi tells her she's a Senshi, Ami accuses Usagi of only wanting to be her friend because they're both Senshi.

Ami's trying to be kind, afraid she'll ruin Usagi's reputation at school if they're suddenly friends. And in a sense, something like this does happen later, when she and Naru have a confrontation after Ami keeps Naru from seeing Usagi when Usagi is sick from Kunzite's attack in Act 14. Naru gets jealous of Usagi and Ami hanging out so much, and initially Ami doesn't know what to do, and is distraught when Naru gets caught in an enemy trap, cause she was hoping to make up with her somehow. In the end, though, she's able to stand up for herself and tell Naru she's not going to stop being Usagi's friend, and they come to an understanding.

The issue of Ami and Usagi's friendship is actually dealt with in Act 5. The ep starts with Usagi being upset because Ami keeps calling her "Tsukino-san," since (in her view) this makes it sound like they're not friends. Actually, Ami is following proper Japanese etiquette; usually in Japanese, you address someone you don't know very well in a more formal way. (She does this with Luna too when she first meets her). Even in the 90s anime, if you pay attention, all the Inners call Usagi just "Usagi" EXCEPT MERCURY, who calls her "Usagi-chan." Which is actually a big deal. To call someone by just their first name, without any suffix, in Japanese is called yobisute, and usually only people who are super close to you, like your family, lover, or really close friends, are allowed to do so. Mamoru does a variation of this when he calls Usagi "Usako" or "Usa." This is why anime and manga make such a big deal out of characters addressing each other without a suffix. If you address someone by their name without a suffix, and you haven't earned the right to do so, it's seen as an insult.

Anyway, Ami takes this to heart, and even buys a book on how to be a friend, then tries to apply its principles. Unfortunately, she's a little too literal about it, and ultimately faints from the pressure at a slumber party at Usagi's. While she's passed out, Usagi finds the book and figures out what's up. Though to be fair, Usagi had noticed Ami was acting weird earlier and brought it up to Rei, and Rei had warned her not to rush Ami. Which makes sense, cause Rei has also suffered rejection and isolation, so she understands what Ami is struggling with. Unfortunately, when Usagi does find out, she gets mad and says to Ami that while she does like the changes Ami has made, she wants them to be genuine changes, cause "friends don't lie to each other."

This is an understandable reaction in context, but is also rather out of character for Usagi, who usually forgives or completely overlooks the faults of others, even her friends. It would be more in character for her to be like "You don't need to do this, Ami-chan. I like you just the way you are." But oddly, she doesn't.

I think this is part of why Mercury decides to take on the youma on her own later in Act 5 - she probably assumes Usagi hates her right now and that she has something to prove. In Act 16, when she blames herself for Naru getting captured, she does much the same thing, taking down the youma on her own even though Moon, Mars, and Jupiter are all there too. (Jupiter does have a cold, but still).

Only at the end of Act 5 does Usagi finally get it - that Rei was right, and she shouldn't push Ami too hard; Ami can change, but it has to be at Ami's own pace.

Fast forward to the time of the Darkury Arc...Ami is shown alone in the Senshi Base, quietly knitting mittens for her friends (and even a tiny scarf for Luna!), and hoping that, although they're all kind of going their own ways right now, they'll reunite soon. And they ARE kind of going their own ways - Usagi is obsessed with her budding feelings for Mamoru, Rei's got drama going on with Minako, and even Makoto is shown (in a flashback in Act 22) to be too busy to hang out with her. In fact, the way Kunzite is able to capture Mercury and turn her evil in the first place is by distracting the other Senshi with youmas, thereby isolating his target.

And, after formally taking her place in the Dark Kingdom, what's the first thing Ami proceeds to do with her evil powers?

BRAINWASH THE ENTIRE CLASS INTO LIKING HER.

Though she may be evil, that desire for friends is still there inside Ami, along with how much she felt alone when her fellow Senshi essentially blew her off, and she turns that against her former friends by making them experience the same loneliness she felt. Remember what Naru says to Usagi when she comes in? Usagi is all happy to see Ami and says "Ami-chan!" To which Naru replies, "Since when are you so familiar with Mizuno-san?" This goes back to what I said before about suffixes. Usagi calls Ami "Ami-chan" because, to her, they're friends. But that sort of address is very familiar and presumes a friendship which Naru is acting like Usagi hasn't earned.

Because of this, Ami gets to be popular and now it's her friends' turn to be ostracized. Only after this do they realize how bad they screwed up.

I think this overall plot was handled really well, and fits with PGSM's emphasis on the girls' civilian lives. Ultimately, Ami's friendship with Usagi strengthens after the Darkury Arc, and really comes to fruition during the final battle.

It’s so heartwarming yet also painful to see Usagi being so eager to be the best friend she can with Ami-chan! Usagi’s face just lit up the moment she saw Ami waiting for her, especially after the disappointment of being turned down from lunch time. She is still so pure and innocent, and more importantly, clueless of the barrier Ami experiences in school, leading to her lack ability to empathize Ami’s reason for “secrecy” and distances in their schoolmate’s eyes.

Ami on the other hand, obviously had wanted to spend time with Usagi, yet deflected it as the need to keep their Senshi status a top secret. She is so logical it makes for a hard to refute reason, yet doesn’t make it less lonely and painful for her. All it serves is to shield Usagi from the hard truth that Ami feels isolated at school, and lessen the possible sting for Usagi by assuring Usagi that it wasn’t anything personal that Ami had declined Usagi’s invite at lunch time. Ami even had let her mask slip for a second while Usagi wasn’t paying attention, but then immediately bounced back and changed the topic to the missing miko/maidens.

They both care so much for each other already, yet they are still so new to this friendship that Ami doesn’t know how to be truthful yet, and Usagi doesn’t understand and cannot emphasize with Ami’s situation as it’s something she and her “normal” friends wouldn’t have had to encounter.

(This especially makes for a very interesting parallel when Darkury comes around!)

#off topic #pgsm #tsukino usagi #mizuno ami #usagi tsukino #ami mizuno

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