Part I
Disclaimers:
I don't own Sailor Moon blahblahblah... just borrowing. Don't sue.
This story is completely independent from the "Cycle of Our Souls" series.
I'm using the Japanese names because I felt like it, and because I use Japanese names for the bad guys (making their debut later). I wanted a little bit of continuity. :)
Anyway, I reckon this would take place between SMR and SMS (yeah, again), but it's not really related to either. When I sat down to write this, actually, what appeared on the screen was not at all what I was planning, so I hope this turns out ok. :) Enjoy!
"You're just a coward, Hino Rei! A complete coward and a fake!"
I step back, stunned. A coward... a fake... I've been called worse, but nothing has ever hurt so much as these words coming from this person. A coward... a fake... Kami-sama, she's right. All my talk of duty and honor and being a good leader, and here I nearly get us all killed with my stupidity... and then take it out on Usagi. I shake my head, trying to look away from her angry indigo gaze, but I can't. I am a coward. I am a fake. And worst of all, I'm the biggest hypocrite known to man. Gods, Usagi, can you ever forgive me? Can any of you?
I open my mouth to apologize, but it's too late; they're already leaving, turning their backs on me and walking away. "No!" I try to scream. "Matte, please! Don't go..." My cries fall on deaf ears and suddenly my anger explodes like a living thing. The fire consumes me, drags me into its hot, acrid arms and holds me close to its burning breast.
"It'sss too late, Rei," the fire says. "It'sss too late to ssssave yourssself. You have hurt them beyond measssure. Jussst give up. It isss easssier that way."
I fight the fire, try to push it from me, but it is too strong and too much my own. "Please," I whisper, "please release me... I will pay... please..."
The heat is gone. The pain is gone. The fire seems to listen with abrupt and rapturous interest. "Pay?" its strange voice hisses. "What could you pay that I would be interesssted in, little one?"
"Anything. Usagi! Let me go! Minako-chan, please! Bring them back! Ami-chan... oh, Ami-chan. Anything. I'm sorry, Mako-chan, so sorry! Anything!!" I know I am speaking incoherently, but I don't care. The fire is devouring my soul, and I know I cannot escape its grasp without the help of my friends.
"Anything..." it whispers, amused. "Yesss, anything! I will take my payment."
And suddenly I am free. My friends are there, standing over me, concern etched on each face. "Rei-chan, are you all right?" Ami asks in her sweet lilt, the blue visor covering her eyes as she scans my body.
"I'm... hai, I'm fine." I watch them all, looking for signs of their earlier anger, but finding none. Something is wrong, though, very wrong. "Where's Usagi?" I gasp suddenly, my blood chilled as it has never been before.
The three girls exchange a look, and finally Ami says, "She's gone, Rei-chan. There was an explosion and... she just disappeared."
I struggle to sit up, my head still reeling from the confrontation with the flames. "That isn't possible! Nai! I said anything, but this... this is too much..." My friends stare at me as though I'm speaking Russian instead of good, plain Japanese, and I shake my head in anger. "The fire! I told the fire I would pay for my freedom, and so it let me go... but I didn't mean I would pay with Usagi's life!"
"Rei-chan... what are you talking about?" Minako asks after a long, confused silence.
"Don't you remember the battle? And Usagi yelling at me? You left me, all of you, and the fire came... it was trying to consume me!"
"There was a battle," Makoto says slowly, "and Sailormoon destroyed the youma, you fainted and then she disappeared. She didn't yell at you, and the only fire was the one that..." she trails off as though struggling with something, "was the one that killed Usagi."
I can feel the blood rush from my face, and I'm sure I'm as white as a ghost. "Are you sure she's dead?"
Ami frowns. "She's just gone, Rei-chan. I tried scanning for her, but I couldn't find anything.
I rise to my feet and turn away from her, my teeth digging into my lower lip painfully. "The fire betrayed me. Keep scanning, Ami-chan, and I'll go to the temple and talk to my fire. It will help us... don't worry, minna, we'll find her! I have a feeling she's out there... somewhere..."
End I
For those of you who know my writing, you know that this section is atypically (is that a word?) short. The others will be longer, past tense and in third person. I thought doing this one like this, though, would be more effective.