Hello! Here is ch. 2. As ever, C&C is VERY welcome.
It wasn't completely clear in the first chapter [Raye
the baka mislabelled it], so I'd like to say now that
this is a *merge*, not a crossover. Tsukino Usagi,
Hino Rei et al will NOT be appearing.
While no more than a working knowledge of Sailormoon
is necessary to follow this story, I have set it past
the end of Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz (the sequel OAV
series), and so a knowledge of the *complete* series
is necessary, or the reader may be spoiled. Especially
in this chapter, as one of the characters from Endless
Waltz plays a VERY important role here and will
continue to do so in the rest of the story. Also, most
of the biographical data I use does NOT come from the
anime, which was rather reticent on that point. It
comes from the novel and the manga.
If you would like more information, or even to know
what on EARTH I'm talking about, please go to
http://www.gundam.org/ or go to
http://www.anipike.com/ , go to "Gundam Links" and
read one of the information pages.
[I did try to write a summary of Gundam Wing but, what
with the history and personal data, it was two pages
before I even started on the story. And it wasn't even
a very *good* summary. This is a VERY COMPLEX
universe!]
Please enjoy!
Raye
=====
raye_j@yahoo.com
http://members.xoom.com/Raye01
Everyone is a philosopher.
Some people just get paid.
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Gundam Moon
by Raye Johnsen
raye_j@yahoo.com
***********
Kidou Senki Gundam Wing is copyright Sunrise, Bandai and
animevillage.com. Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon is copyright Naoko
Takeuchi, Nakayoshi and DiC. I have no rights and make no claims to
any. Comments will be welcome at raye_j@yahoo.com; flames will be
given to Hino Rei for spare tinder and or Chang Wu Fei for fuel.
***********
Chapter Two: Daughter of Ice
Sitting in her office, Sailor Pluto sighed.
Sailor Moon had finally awoken. That meant the other Sailors
would also, soon. All nine would be called upon, if she read the
Timestreams correctly...
Sometimes this reincarnation business was more trouble than
it was worth. Did she *need* to be so young, every time? When she
was young she made mistakes. She'd tell the wrong person the
wrong thing at the wrong time, she'd take the wrong step, she'd
even fall in love...
She rapidly squelched that thought. /It's over. He's dead,/
she told herself flatly. The pain would go away, in time. Time...
technically its master, she was its prisoner as much as any other
mortal. Yet she had never taken that final step, placing herself
outside time. Mortality might be painful, but only mortals could
forget. Without that ability, Pluto felt that she might very
easily lose her sanity.
/My grip on my wits is stressed enough at the best of
times./
What was really frightening, though, had to be what the
Timestreams were indicating would be the resolution to the entire
situation. *Who* the resolution would come down to.
/Saturn is going to awaken.../
Pluto stood up and walked out of her office, with that
thought echoing in her mind.
/The Senshi of Destruction is about to enter my world./
*****
"... So the doctor says I'll be walking *without* the braces
in less than a year!" Marimeia Barton-Krushenada finished
triumphantly. The image of the young man on the other end of the
call nodded calmly in response.
"%That's good news, Marimeia,%" Trowa Barton-Winner's voice
crackled slightly. The connection to L4 colony was due to be
upgraded in the next week; it was one of the reasons Marimeia had
called her 'uncle' this day rather than waiting.
His face turned slightly to one side and she heard his
spouse's voice, unfortunately too soft for the vocal connection
to pick up. Trowa smiled gently at the person offscreen, before
returning his attention to her.
"%Quatre would like to know if you will accept our
invitation before the braces come off?%"
Marimeia grimaced theatrically. "I look awful with them on!
I'd rather wait until I can walk on my own before I come meet the
Winner Family."
Trowa smiled at his 'niece'. "%I understand.%"
Marimeia smiled. That was one of the nicest things about
Uncle Trowa - he *did* understand. "But I do want to come see
your home, and I'd love to see you and Uncle Quatre again," she
continued. "So - after then, I'll come?"
This time the voice was loud enough for her to hear without
Trowa repeating the message. "%Tell her we'll visit her when we
visit Earth next week!%"
Marimeia grinned at the vidscreen. "I heard," she said,
before Trowa could. "I'll look forward to it."
A soft chime sounded. Marimeia glanced at the top of her
vidscreen and made a face. "Oh, no, my time's up," she frowned.
"I'll speak to you later?"
"%We'll call you when we make planetfall,%" Trowa promised.
They bade each other goodbye and Marimeia ended the call.
Standing up, Marimeia took a few shaky steps from the desk
to the couch. Gratefully she collapsed into the soft cushions. It
was such a strain to walk even that much! But now that she
*could* walk, she would never, never, NEVER get into that
wheelchair ever AGAIN!
She sighed as she lay on the divan, feeling the pains that
had ripped up her legs slowly subside. Her penance. She hadn't
told her substitute-uncle, but the doctor had been definite; she
would walk, but never far and she would have to live with pain
forever. She'd felt it was worth it.
Sitting up slowly when she felt she could, she straightened
herself up. Steeling herself, Marimeia stood up and took those
twenty steps again, back to the desk. Collapsing into the
comfortable chair Mama-Anne had bought for her, she breathed
deeply. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. The pain wasn't as bad this
time.
She hissed as a sudden one shot up her right leg. /Then
again, maybe it is./
Two years before, she'd been in Hell. Living under her
grandfather's regime, a puppet to his desires, it had taken a
bullet clipping the side of her spinal column to free her from
the cage of half-truths Dekim Barton had woven around her.
She'd adopted the boy who'd taken her uncle's name as her
uncle, and her father's love as her mother. Ironically, she was
more loved now than when she'd been in the care of her
blood-relatives.
/I'm living proof that the family you pick is better than
the one you're born to./
She sighed and touched the entry-pad of the computer.
/Problems come, problems go, and yet school remains. I
*hate* maths./
*********
Good things come to those who wait. In this case, it was
Relena Peacecraft-Darlian, after work, bearing icecream.
Marimeia could have cheered - Relena had even remembered her
favourite flavour was mint choc chip.
Relena, for her part, was relieved when Marimeia's attention
was immediately riveted to the icecream box as soon as she
appeared in the door. /The delights of being nine,/ she
reflected, as the younger girl hit the confection like Wing Zero
hitting a pack of Mobile Dolls.
She immediately regretted being so bitchy. The child had
been through several operations to repair her spine and had
managed to not only survive them, but also to grow up. Marimeia
had been a spoilt child, parroting the grandiose insanity of her
grandfather. Now she was a sadder, wiser girl who paid in pain
every day for her innocent trust in her only blood relative.
As Marimeia devoured her icecream, gleefully ignorant of
kilojoules or manners, Relena watched her, internally debating.
/Do I tell her? I couldn't tell Pargin. Milliard was out of
the question - knowing him, he'd come haring back from Mars to
'protect' me, even if Lucrezia tried to sit on him. I can't risk
upsetting Lucrezia either. The first trimester of a pregnancy is
the riskiest, isn't it? But if I tell Marimeia, I have to tell
Lady Anne too - Marimeia would tell her herself, she never keeps
secrets from her 'Mama-Anne'./
Marimeia stopped eating suddenly. "What's that perfume?" She
asked, sniffing. "Are you wearing a new fragrance, Relena?"
Relena sniffed the air herself and felt her eyes widening.
The mysterious fragrance that had hung in the air the night of
the strange meteor, that the monster-thing had worn! That
meant...
"Only two. Pfah. Still, you'll serve."
Relena and Marimeia swiveled on the couch. they were sitting
on to see a redheaded woman, dressed in a conservative black
business suit, in the doorway.
This was odd. Not only was this woman unknown to either of
them, she was physically, undeniably *there*. Marimeia and Anne
lived in an apartment on the thirtieth floor of the main
Preventer's building; the building was absolutely *covered* with
security. How had this woman gotten through?
Frowning, Relena saw the black cross on the woman's forehead
and knew *how* she'd gotten through. The question remained: why?
"I'm sorry," Marimeia said politely. "This is a private
residence. If you wanted the Preventers' main office, you will
have to go back to the fifteenth floor. And wait till 8:30
tomorrow morning." She turned away from the door pointedly.
Addressing Relena in a stage whisper, she added, "I don't like
that cross on her forehead. It isn't a pretty tattoo at all."
Relena stared in shock at her 'cousin'. Marimeia was able to
smell the perfume and see the sigil? Then she did a double-take.
Between Marimeia's eyebrows glowed a sigil she'd never seen
before. A circle, surmounted with an uptilted arc, giving the
impression of horns, balanced on the top of a short cross. The
pale blue glow glimmered down, catching Marimeia's eyes and
endowering them with a preternatural light.
/What is she?/ Relena wondered, not able to see the sigil of
the Moon appearing on her own brow.
They stood in frozen tableux, the girl-child, the girl-woman
and the woman-monster, until the moment was disrupted by a figure
appearing in the doorway.
"I'm home!" A woman's voice rang out, and Lady Anne stepped
into the room. "What a day - YOU!" This last to the monster just
inside the door.
"What?" the monster-woman was rattled. Its disguise was
perfect! It had to be! How these two - not even *mature*
specimens - had managed to penetrate it, she didn't know, and now
this adult had spotted her...
Marimeia stared. Mama-Anne had come home as she usually did,
but this couldn't be Mama-Anne. Because Mama-Anne didn't have a
tattoo on her forehead shaped like a cup, holding a small circle,
balanced on the top of a long, thin cross. Especially not one
that glowed deep, dark green.
"Lady Anne?" Relena gasped.
Mama-Anne glanced over at Relena and smiled. It was not a
nice smile, Marimeia felt. It seemed to say, "Everything's going
as I planned, and what's happening isn't good but it's all
happening the way I want it to".
Dekim Barton had worn it a lot, towards the end.
The woman thing had had enough. "I do not know who you are,
but I will drain you of your energy now! My masters will be
pleased with your deaths!"
"No! Moon Crescent Power, *Make-Up*!" Relena hissed,
stepping forward. And Marimeia stared at her friend.
A small diamond pin in Relena's cravat, which Marimeia
hadn't noticed before this, began to glow. It pulsed, once, and
then blazed. The sheet of light that shot out of it hung in the
air and then fell towards Relena. It clung to her, draping over
her body like a sheet of cloth, then seemed to melt in close to
her body. The part that had fallen over her feet ran together to
form boots; the part that fell over her hands clung and formed
into skintight gloves. The rest ran down or bunched up over her
torso to form a glowing white leotard, with a two-inch long
royal-blue ruffle over the hips in an abbreviated skirt. A sailor
collar hung over her shoulders, lining the neck of the leotard.
It tied into a bow at Relena's cleavage, with the little diamond
pin on the knot. Finally the part that had fallen onto her head
formed into a delicate filigree headband, set with a ruby.
There was only one thing to say, and Marimeia said it.
"Wow!"
Relena flashed a smile over her shoulder at her before
turning. "I am Sailor Moon, fighter of evil. Leave this place now
and no harm will come to you."
Karotis frowned. Sailor Moon? Sailor Moon? She'd heard the
name before. Where?
Oh, yes! In the briefing! Master Garnet had said to kill
Sailor Moon! What she would have done anyway!
(Actually, what the order had been was: "If you encounter
Sailor Moon, run away *fast*. But if you're trapped, try to kill
her, and pray you succeed before she does." But Karotis had been
concentrating on planning her disguise and had only been half-
listening. The moral of the story: during military briefings,
*pay* *attention*.)
"No," she now said with a smile, "I think that harm will
come to *you*." She charged... to go flying headlong over the
coffee table and onto the couch.
Relena blinked and looked very innocent from the position
beside the coffee table she'd stepped to. Lady Anne, the sigil on
her forehead still glowing, covered her mouth, obviously
suppressing laughter. Marimeia didn't bother.
"All right! That's it! No more Miss Nice Monster!" The woman
lurched up from behind the couch. As she stood, her skin deepened
in colour to a burnt orange. Her clothing rippled and began to
grow scales, flaring and spreading into a wretched parody of a
noblewoman's dancing gown. Her hair glowed and grew into a
particularly nauseating shade of day-glo green, while her eyes
shrank in their sockets to the size of withered raisins.
Again, Marimeia rose to the occasion. "Yurk."
"And the brat DIES!"
Karotis charged over the couch, snatching Marimeia by the
neck and pinning her against the wall. Head lolling forward, her
hands clenching up around the - thing's - grip, Marimeia fought
for breath.
/Not like this! I don't want to die like this!/
|You don't have to.|
/What?/
|You can save yourself, if you embrace your destiny.|
/TELL ME WHAT YOU MEAN!/ Marimeia shrieked at the strange
thought. /Not again - not again - I don't want to be a puppet
again -/
|You can save your own life. But the price for your life is
your life.|
/I don't *understand*! I *don't* *want* *to* *die*!/
|Then raise you up your hand and say, "Mercury Crescent
Power, MAKE-UP!"|
Marimeia opened her eyes. Beyond the circle of the monster's
reach, Relena - Sailor Moon - was held up short by the monster's
claws. Mama-Anne was tracing a circle around herself and she
could feel the power in her cry.
"Pluto Crescent Power, MAKE-UP!"
/Mama-Anne? Relena? Me?/
Sucking in what little breath she could, Marimeia clenched
her right hand. Something was lying in it, but she couldn't bend
her head to look.
"Mercury Crescent Power, MAKE-UP!"
It was the strength of the ancient glacier, the power of the
grinding ice that filled her. The cool of sweet snow wrapped her
aching limbs and soothed away her pain. The stabbing icicles that
had tortured her body now returned to fill her bones and stiffen
them against the enemy.
Sailor Mercury pushed the arm of the enemy minion from her
throat. Weak? No, not anymore; she was the glacier that rides
over the land, carving it before her, and nothing could stop her.
Pivoting as she fell, graceful as a snowflake, facing her
enemy; as she ever had. Marimeia had always been cool under
pressure; now she was Sailor Mercury, the Soldier of Ice. Drawing
a breath, before Sailor Moon and Sailor Pluto could react...
"Shine Snow Illusion!"
... she struck.
"I can't SEE! I can't SEE!" Karotis wailed, backing away
from Mercury's sudden blizzard. She banged into a chair and
collapsed into it, opening her eyes to see three Sailor Senshi
staring at her with *very* unhappy expressions.
"I can SEE," she muttered.
Relena grinned very nastily and began to fiddle with her
headband, while Karotis tried to scramble out of the chair. She
almost made it.
"Moon Twilight Flash."
"AAAAIEEEEE!"
And *that*, as they say, was *that*.
**********
Relena stood at the window, looking out.
"He didn't show," she muttered, disappointed.
"We didn't need him," Marimeia pointed out. "I think we did
great." She looked down at the small sapphire cabouchon brooch
she was holding. She had discovered, if she held it right, that
she could see the astronomical symbol for Mercury in the depths
of the gem. She was inordinately pleased with this, especially
after Relena told her that the symbol had appeared on her
forehead before she had transformed. "I really did it, didn't I!"
Lady Anne smiled down at her daughter. "Indeed you did."
"I'm not even *sore*!"
"The living room," her mother gently pointed out, "is a
shambles."
"We can clean it later," Marimeia blithely dismissed all
such mundanities of life.
Relena sighed, marching over from the window and plopping
down onto an overstuffed chair. "I really wanted to see
Trenchcoat Guy again," she mourned.
"I'm glad he didn't show," Lady Anne said. "Do you know how
much it's going to cost me, right now, just to replace that
chair? Bullet holes would've been worse."
"I guess," she muttered. Then she perked up. "Oh! that
reminds me! I was going to ask Marimeia if she'd come with me to
help me buy a cat."
Lady Anne blinked. "A... cat?"
"I think I need a pet. To absorb my attention."
Lady Anne thought about the matter for a moment. "A cat will
do *that*, all right," she agreed. "May I come with you?"
"Of course."
**********
Lady Anne felt like holding her breath. It was only the fact
that she *knew* it had worked that stopped her. Getting the girls
here, to *this* pet shop, was necessary. She'd done her bit. It
was time for the Universe to turn up with the goods.
"Relena! Look at this cat! Isn't she pretty? She has a patch
of yellow fur, just like your Moon! See?"
Anne smiled. /Ping-pong./
Marimeia and Relena ooh'ed and ahhed over the kitten a few
minutes more, then Relena proudly carried her up to the counter,
handing over the price. The shop owner didn't even notice
Relena's Moon, glowing on her forehead.
Marimeia and Anne did.
"I wonder why your symbol is glowing like that?" Marimeia
said in the car on the way back to Relena's home.
"Maybe because I'm not an ordinary cat?" the kitten replied,
blinking her huge amber eyes. Relena and Marimeia jumped. They
both knew *that* voice.
Anne laughed.
"Hello, Sailor Pluto," the kitten said.
"Hello. It's good to see you. It's been a long time."
"Yes, that it has."
Relena asked, in a voice that was a lot steadier than it had
any right to be, "I'm sorry, but who *are* you?"
The cat blinked. "Oh my ears and whiskers! I forgot to
introduce myself. I am Luna, the Chief Advisor of the Moon
Kingdom, Last Guard of the Princess Serenity, and the one who's
been telling you what to do the past two times you've faced
monsters."
The stunned silence that filled the car was deafening.
"I also catch mice."
Anne shook her head. They all had a lot to learn.
**********
Author's notes:
1) Astrological symbols: yes, I know they're not the ones used in
the anime. The symbols used in this fic are modern Western
Astrological symbols, the sort an astrologer would use today if
you walked into his office and asked for a horoscope. I don't
know where the ones in the anime came from; I certainly don't
recognise them. And so I won't use them. Sorry, BSSM purists; I'd
rather use something I know is accurate than something I don't.
2) Shine Snow Illusion: Weird but true; in the manga, when making
her fog, Mercury says nothing. She simply wills it into
existence. This attack is actually the first one she makes. It's
from Volume 4, Chapter 12, and quite a pretty attack, really. Not
as offensive as anybody else's but then Mercury isn't, is she?
3) All comments welcome at raye_j@yahoo.com.