So Far Gone Chapter Three Lois Fogg SireneCall@hotmail.com All right, all right, I know I ought to hang my head in shame. So, I got distracted. Very distracted. Several months worth of distracted. But hey, I’m back, and I know you won’t hate me so much after you read chapter three . I swear, I’ll have this story done by chapter five, and I know I am capable of getting this out on a relatively regular basis (and no, I do not mean tri-annually). Maybe I need external motivation…a couple of emails threatening bodily harm might just do the trick. Anyway, about this story. I think I ought to make a FAQ for it or something, because it seems to confuse people, but I’ll try to answer some of them here. No, Chibi-usa doesn’t have the crystal inside her in my version, it would make things even more confusing. Don’t ask me how the wise man knows Tuxedo Mask’s and Sailor Moon’s identities, just pretend he saw it in his crystal ball, ok? All right, that’s all I can think of. The story makes sense to me, but I’ve been told I’m crazy by a number of people. E-mail me with your questions, and maybe I will make that FAQ. There will be a lot more adventure stuff (and romance, yay!) in the next two chapters and a lot less trying to explain this strange plot line. Oh, and I DO want email, and I suggest you send it to me if you want me to finish this story! By the way, I just started watching Sailor Moon S, and it is SO COOL!!! Does anyone else find Haruka disgustingly handsome for a girl (though still no match for Mamorou!) Oh yeah, Sailor Moon doesn’t belong to me (great, that was original). All right, I’m done. Read, enjoy and email! ******* Hushed voices washed over him and receded like a tide gradually coming in. Eventually, Mamorou regained exhausted consciousness. Something was wrong, he knew. He should be dead, but he didn’t think people felt so exhausted when they were dead, did they? Something gnawed at him even in this groggy state, and Mamorou struggled to understand what it was. First of all, he reasoned, he couldn’t possibly be dead. There was something else though, something more important, something about…love. Usako! Mamorou sat bolt upright in the bed, felt overwhelmingly dizzy, and fell back down again. Where was she? He screamed inside his mind, and for that matter, where was he? He looked around himself uncertainly, the surroundings not only unfamiliar, but somehow, unaccountably different. This wasn’t heaven, but what was it? His head turned towards a wall as he heard a movement and was surprised when the wall seemed to push inward and a woman wearing odd clothes with long green hair walked in. Mamorou stared at her, speechless. "I see you’re awake." She said mildly, apparently passing the time. Mamorou quickly found his voice once he realized that she was not some sort of alien. "Where’s Usako! Where am I? What happened? Who are you?" The questions tumbled out over themselves, but the strange woman simply raised her hand with a quiet power and Mamorou instantly subsided. "My name is Setsuna, and you are here because I allowed you to be because you were dying." "Where is here?" Mamorou asked warily, a sense of dread welling in his stomach. "Crystal Tokyo, in your future." At this Mamorou felt stricken. He knew where he had heard that name before, Crystal Tokyo. ChibiUsa, of course, this is where she lived. And somehow, he was in her present, in his future. But still, that wasn’t all of it. The most important part was still missing. "Where is Usako?" There was a deadly calm in his voice. "She is still in your present. Only you were allowed to pass through the time gate, because otherwise your death would have ruined the time continuum. I know this isn’t easy to believe, but if you die, this whole city doesn’t exist." In his already weakened state, these emotional blows seemed to leave almost physical dents, but still he knew that something in her explanation was missing. "All right. According to you, I was saved because I am vital to the future of this city. But if my death destroys this city, why doesn’t my disappearance?" Setsuna refused to answer him, staring at him with her deceptively calm green eyes. Mamorou refused to budge. "Who took my place?" he asked, with intensity greater than hers. Whether she knew it or not, he had more at stake with this question than she could possibly have understood at that moment. For that person, whoever he was, stayed with his Usako while he was here, in Crystal Tokyo, alone. Loneliness and jealousy and anger all came at him in a rush so great he felt his heart shatter and his mind tear painfully. Still, his face remained implacable. In that room, a titanic clash of wills was held that determined, in many ways, the fate of a city and of a love. As is true of most battles, past and present, only the two combatants were aware of its existence, yet the outcome would affect so many people’s lives. In a rush, time, which had slowed to a trickle, quickened to normal speed and Setsuna’s green eyes flashed downward, conceding the battle. "You never truly mellowed, did you?" She said quietly, obviously not expecting an answer, for the question was entirely unexpected to Mamorou. She looked up again, daring him to object, but he remained silent, waiting the response to his question. "He calls himself Endymion now, but it is your future self, gone to live his past again." ****** Usagi stared unseeing at the ocean, the soft music of her locket wafting over her ears with the tide. Tears streamed, unheeded, down her cheeks as she wondered for the millionth time what had happened in that room. He had been there, dying and suddenly he had disappeared, leaving her nothing but his memory. In some ways it was worse not to know what happened to him, for without a concrete reality, her imagination came up with a million gruesome possibilities worse even than death. "Mamo-chan." She whispered brokenly. What about their life together, what about everything they promised they would do? And what about her questions? Why had he pretended to hate her, when he loved her as much as she realized he had? When Usagi stared into his eyes that last second, the relief she had felt was unimaginable. She had truly begun to doubt his love for her, believe that he hated her, and suddenly to know that he did love you… Only to have him taken away! In a violent motion that disturbed Luna, trying to comfort her, Usagi turned her head away from the ocean. Her eyes confronted a pair of gray pants, belonging to a tuxedo, which she recognized immediately. Curiously, uncertainly, she looked up into his face. Something dawned on her, even with the strange mask. Then he took it off. For a moment of eternity, the world went white as the vision confronted her. "Mamo-chan?" Usagi asked uncertainly. It was he, yet…different somehow. "Usako." He said, and there was something strange in his voice, a sense of utter disbelief. Somehow, their lips found each other and she was in his arms, passionately embracing the man she thought she would never see again. For the moment, there were no complications, only joy. For this one, solitary moment, their love came unhindered and without complications. This one time Usagi was able to love Mamorou and there was nothing to hold her back. Unfortunately, it ended all too soon. ******* Mamorou stared at the beautiful figure encased in crystal, as if he wanted to drown in her. A green-haired figure stood in the doorway behind him, an expression of compassion and pain on her face. He closed his eyes suddenly and clenched his fist, a fierce expression on his closed face. Abruptly, he turned away from the crystal, and his fist almost involuntarily slammed against the crystal in a vain attempt to free the one trapped inside. Setsuna’s heart ached for him—she knew how much he loved her. His blue eyes flashed dangerously at her and she stepped back involuntarily at the ferocity in his glare. "Setsuna, what happened?" He asked, and the combination of emotions was almost too much even for her. Pain mingled with passion, anger and disbelief assaulted her senses. "The wise man and nemesis attacked us." She said quietly, averting her eyes from his, unable to meet the accusation she saw there. "We did all we could, but the ginzinishou disappeared and it was all the senshi could do but hold the heart of the city. We sent Small Lady back to the past in hopes she could find the crystal for us there, and for her safety. Demando is dead now, thanks to you, and Nemesis virtually destroyed, but the wise man still attacks daily and we grow weaker every day." Setsuna braced herself, she knew she hadn’t answered his true question. "What happened to her?" He asked, and she backed up another step. "She…the senshi placed her inside for…protection, during the initial battle. When the crystal disappeared, we were unable to release her. We…don’t know. The wise man must be defeated before we can find the crystal and then…perhaps." Her voice was barely a whisper on the last word. "Perhaps." He repeated, an awful parody of her voice drowning in bitterness. He turned back to the crystal, his hands pressed in vain against it. Setsuna was reminded painfully of another time when she had seen Endymion do the very same thing. "What about the dreams?" He asked, his voice dangerously flat, still facing the crystals. Setsuna was momentarily confused. "What dreams?" She asked. His back was still disconcertingly towards her. "You know." He said decisively. For a moment she opened her mouth to deny the charge but then, with a dawning sense of dread, she realized that she did. Endymion had, when the battles had first started, told her of some damn fool plan of his to ‘test’ his past self by sending dreams designed to tear him away from Usagi. Endymion had said that if they could overcome the difficulty, the future might be saved. It was idiotic, she had told him so, but he was resolved, and had done so anyway. The problem was that he was under the false impression that Serenity’s current position was due to his own neglect. For some reason, he thought that he hadn’t loved her enough, so he decided that perhaps if he could alter the past, the future would change as well. Stupid, Endymion. She thought to herself, unable to control the wave of compassion she felt for him. It was obvious he had not thought of one contingency. What if the past Mamorou’s love for Usagi was so great that he left her alone simply to save her life? What if he slowly killed himself in despair in order to have some hope of saving her life? "Not true…a test." She said finally, her stomach balling up in a knot of pain. Oh god, I’m so sorry, so sorry…She thought, unable to say so. Again, he turned away from the crystal, but now he walked towards her, and she was unable to move, rooted to the spot by the unbearable disbelief and pain in his eyes. It was like betrayal. "And now she’s gone." He said, and walked down the hall, away from the room. Setsuna stayed for a long time afterwards, blindly staring, tears coursing unheeded down her cheeks. ******* Artemis, Minako, Makoto, Rei and Ami sat together in Usagi’s room, trying to comfort Chibi-usa, crying helplessly in Minako’s lap. Minako and Artemis shared a worried glance above the bobbing pink odangos. "Where’s Usagi?" She mouthed silently to him. "With Luna." He answered. Rei, picking up on the conversation, raised her eyebrows in mild sarcasm, imagining the scene to be rather like this one. Her sarcasm vanished immediately, however, when Chibi-usa’s sobs reminded her of what had happened. Ami, silent ever since she had told Chibi-usa what had happened, now tried to comfort her. "We don’t know if he’s dead, you know. He just…disappeared." Makoto shot Ami an evil glance while Chibi-usa’s sobs redoubled. Ami shrugged her shoulders in helpless apology and Makoto’s look softened to one of compassion. "I want…my Mommy. I want to go home!" Chibi-usa said, muffled between her sobs. The others looked at her, pain in their eyes. "Chibi-usa…you can’t go home yet. What if the wise man comes to get you? You have to stay here, where you’re safe. You know your parents wanted you here." Minako said gently. She was surprised when Chibi- usa violently wrenched herself from her lap, nearly knocking Artemis over. "I don’t caaaare! Mamo-chan’s gone!" she screamed, and turned to run away from the stricken group. What happened next was so improbable that, in retrospect, the others remembered it in slow motion, like an event not quite real. Chibi-usa froze, and a hand flew up to her mouth, muffling her shriek of disbelief. The other’s turned to where the girl stared in dumb surprise and each, in turn, grew still in shock. Walking towards them was Mamorou (but not quite Mamorou, Rei noticed immediately) with Usagi and Luna slightly behind him. "Daddy!" Chibi-usa sobbed suddenly and raced to him, embraced in the arms she had missed for so long. "Mamo-chan?" She asked uncertainly in his ear as she hugged him fiercely, unknowingly copying exactly what Usagi had asked only moments before. Not exactly, Endymion thought, but was unable to kill the hope in her voice. I’ll explain later, he assured himself. "Yes." He said and hugged her even more tightly. She was his daughter, and he had missed her nearly as much as his Serenity, encased in the crystal tomb. ******* The wise man felt only mild annoyance at the demise of Demando. He had become an inconvenience lately, with his obsession over Sailor Moon/Neo-Queen Serenity overshadowing the wise man’s business. Finally, he was finished with the meddling planet of Nemesis. They had outlived their usefulness ages ago, and it had been carelessness on his part not to dispose of them earlier. Finally, he was able to end this charade that had gone on for entirely to long and complete his ultimate goal: to deliver the world in its entirety to the death phantom, future world ruler and destroyer. The dark crystal was growing stronger every day, and now it was powerful enough for him to destroy the sailor senshi guarding the heart of Crystal Tokyo. Even the power of the ginzinishou was not enough to destroy him now. There was nothing to stand in his way. Well, almost nothing. The threat of the slightest thing to ruin his plans was a constant annoyance to the wise man and although he had eradicated all others, this one annoyance might prove his downfall if he ignored it. What truly drove him crazy was that he was unable to find a solution. His hands had been tied for over a year now. Of course, Demando had done one useful thing on his way out. Tuxedo Mask, otherwise known as Chiba Mamorou, was somehow out of the picture. Disappeared, it seemed, although to where he did not know. He was tempted not to care, but the wise man knew that unless Mamorou and the girl were dead, the threat still remained. Unfortunately, he could not kill them either. All attempts to use Nemesis to kill them inadvertently had failed, as well. He did not know if the prophecy would fulfill itself with Chiba Mamorou absent, but he knew only both his and the girl’s deaths would ensure his plan’s success. Wise man had a task. First he must find the missing Chiba Mamorou at all costs as well as the girl and devise some plan to kill them without his own hands being guilty of their blood. If he could do that, somehow, then the world was ripe for the plucking. The death-phantom would take over the world and the universe, turning it into the miasma of chaos both so desired. He had never expected the one limit on his powers to take effect. Honestly, when he gave up his life to serve the death-phantom and life immortal, he had not expected for the one condition, his one limitation to ever come up. "Only one thing will ever be able to destroy you." The death phantom had told him. "If power is placed in a true-love’s hands, your death will be the outcome." The wise man had never believed in true love before, and so to encounter it shook him to his core. Fear was something he had never experienced in this form up till now. Yet, when he first saw Serenity and Endymion together he identified that strange ball in the pit of his stomach immediately. This was true love, and they had power. Still, he attacked the kingdom and the Senshi of the time, in fact, helped him by encasing the Neo queen in a crystal tomb. She was not dead, but the wise man ensured that she would be unable to wake, and therefore unable to harm him. And then, true disaster struck. When he began to ready himself to destroy the senshi’s hold on the future crystal Tokyo by attacking the past, he encountered more senshi…and another true love, the same one’s in the past. He knew he would be destroyed if he tried to kill them, yet one by one each leader of Nemesis died, and the love continued. Now he must find Chiba Mamorou. Somehow he would take them both and dispose of them, even if he could not kill them. Somehow, he would use his power to destroy the only ones that might kill him. Yes, thought the wise man. First the two, then the world. His gaze returned to the crystal ball, intent on images only he could see. ******** Stay tuned for next week (don’t look at me like that! I swear!) Will Mamorou be caught in the wise man’s evil clutches? Will he and Usagi ever meet up? Will Serenity be released from her crystal tomb? Is Usagi two timing Mamorou with Endymion…is that even possible? And what is Setsuna doing anyway? Hey, don’t ask me, I just write the thing.