Elemental Wardens 8
Ariel
found herself alone in a bathroom. Rei had left her
reluctantly when she had insisted on some privacy. She sank to the floor leaning awkwardly up
against the wall, head tilted back to stare blankly at the ceiling. “You’ve got to get a grip, Ariel,” she
whispered so softly even she could barely hear the words.
~Let me help you~ a silent voice whispered through her
mind. With utmost reluctance, Ariel
lowered her gaze from the ceiling.
Standing before her inside of the full-length mirror was a copper-haired
woman clad in a simple, vaguely medieval style dress. She was looking at herself as she once had
been. It was her own face, her own green
eyes, but thoughts slipping behind them were alien. Behind the mirror-bound woman, a surrealistic
landscape heaved and surged. Almost
familiar landscapes in pale, washed-out colors formed and then melted into
something from Salvador Dali’s imagination before
beginning the cycle again. The all too
solid woman smiled coolly. ~Greetings,
my doppelganger.~
“Haven’t you caused me enough trouble without sending me
into full blown delusions?” Ariel whispered.
Aritrina shrugged and crouched
down so that she was on the same level as Ariel. Behind her, a forest grew to towering heights
at dizzying speed. ~Your trouble is your
own, child. It is not my fault that you
will not accept that you are me.~
“I am not you!” Ariel growled, “I am me! I am Ariel MacWayne
of
~Semantics, mere semantics. Either you will accept the truth willingly or
it will be forced down your throat. That, too, is your choice.~
“Some choice!” Ariel rolled up
onto her knees, glaring at the image in the mirror. “I will make my own truth. I will not be dictated
to by anyone, most especially not by you.
You are dead! And so is the world
you came from!”
Aritrina flinched. Her image wavered for a moment before
becoming once again as firm as the glass she stood in. ~That does not matter. All that matters is that you fulfill our
duties, avenge the deaths of our family, and punish those who betrayed us!
~
With
each phrase, that echoing non-voice deep in Ariel’s head grew and grew until it
was almost a physical weight pressing her to the floor. Aritrina’s unassuaged grief and ravening anger swept through her like a
tornado raging across the
“No,”
Ariel grated between clenched teeth. She
crawled toward the mirror. “I will not
let you destroy me!” With agonizing
slowness, she raised a shaking fist. “I
will shatter this glass and slit my own throat with a shard before I let that
happen!”
~You
could not!~
Ariel
simply stared up at her past self and drew her fist further back, shifting her
stance as much as the weight of magic would let her. It might take more than one blow, but she had
no doubt that she could carry out her threat before Aritrina
could destroy her.
Before
her fist could fall, the awful pressure eased, dying down until only the most
distant brush of magic caressed her bruised senses. Ariel took a deep, shaky breath and settled
back. She didn’t
relax; tension still shivered through muscles held at ready to carry out her
threatened action.
~I
can see that this is getting us no where.~ There was grudging respect mixed with the
utter despair in Aritrina’s phantom voice. ~Will I never be able to avenge the wrongs
done to me and mine?~
“Look,
sweetness,” Ariel whispered hoarsely, “You’re not a Klingon. This whole vengeance thing is just not going
to fly.” Puzzled anger flashed across Aritrina’s face.
Ariel continued before her past life could speak. “The ones that wronged you are dust, twice
over. The Moon Queen defeated them eons ago and then her daughter,” The American jerked
her thumb toward the door to indicate the world beyond the bathroom, “who’s
right out there by the way, killed Beryl and Metallia
not quite five years ago. You are just
flat out too late.”
~Then
I will have my vengeance upon the White Moon Kingdomers! If they had honored our treaty, Beryl would
not have triumphed!~
Power howled again, but thankfully it was confined within the mirror
with Aritrina.
Golden streamers of pure aeros energy swirled
around her in an inhuman dance.
Ariel
slapped the glass, startling the raging psuedo-ghost
into looking back down at her. “No, you
won’t. Those girls are not to blame for,
for any of this! I’m
having to drag around your emotional baggage. I’m not going to let you fling it onto anyone
else.” Her eyes narrowed, flecks of
yellow began percolating up from the depths of those green orbs. “Remember, I will slit my throat before I let
you take me over unwillingly. Somehow I
doubt you can do anything on your own.” Aritrina snarled at her; the streamers of energy sped their
mad dance, flicking out to slap impotently at the mirror that contained
them. “You might as well throttle back.”
~This
is not over, daughter of my spirit!~
Ariel
blinked and the spirit in the mirror was gone.
Only her own reflection stared back at her with
tired green eyes in a haggard face. She
turned her back on the silvered glass and ran shaking hands over her hair,
ruthlessly hooking stray copper curls behind her ears. “This is going to be such a fun year. I can tell.”
She climbed to feet, leaning heavily on the wall for a moment before
forcing herself to stand straight. “Lord,”
she whispered to the heavens, “please let me get through this day with no more
weirdness. I don’t know if I can handle
it.” Ariel reached for the doorknob with
a hand that remained surprisingly steady.
Voices,
reassuringly real voices, echoed down the hallway. She headed toward them. Ariel’s tennis shoes knocked softly on the
hardwood floors; she winced when she realized the social phoopah
she had inadvertently created. She
paused near the doorway to remove the offending footwear.
“I
don’t give a damn about your reasons, Pluto,” Haruka
was growling on the other side of the thin wall. “I will not let you hurt Ariel!” Ariel straightened abruptly, eyes narrowing
in sudden tension, ears straining to catch the muffled words.
A
cool voice answered Haruka’s protest with measured
words. “I am not concerned about MacWayne-san. Aritrina of Griffin’s Eyrie could
destroy all that we have fought to preserve.
The formation of Crystal Tokyo is in jeopardy.”
“Why?”
Usagi asked quietly, “why do you think that Ari-chan is such a threat?” Ariel peeked around the edge of
the doorframe. A tall, dusky skinned
woman in a sailor fuku was standing apart from the
others. Her garnet eyes seemed to be focused on the Sacred Fire that formed the heart of the
temple’s main room. The strangely
key-like staff in her hands caught the firelight and reflected it back in sparks
and swiftly dying fragments of color.
The
sailor senshi answered softly. “Unlike the rest of you, when Chiba-san first
came into his powers, he would black out and Endymion
in the form of Tuxedo Kamen would take control of his
body. It was Endymion that protected you during those first
crucial weeks of battles. Later, as he
acknowledged his legacy, and his love for Usagi,
Chiba-san took over the Tuxedo Kamen role and Endymion became only a fading part of his
personality.” Those deep garnet eyes
shifted their gaze from the leaping fire to Mamoru’s face. “I do not know if the power came to you in
that fashion, Chiba-san, because you are of Earth or if it was because you were
an adult and lacked the flexibility of mind of a child. Fortunately, Endymion
shared your wish to protect the Princess.
His last moments during Silver Millennium were spent
defending the Princess and so those noble intentions carried over to this time. If Aritrina gains
control of MacWayne-san, she will not be so,” Pluto
paused to grope for the right word.
Sirocco,
who had been silent so far, flung words into the breech. “Helpful?
Friendly?
Magnanimous?
Ready to follow the party line, perhaps?” He was fairly vibrating with resentment laden sarcasm.
“Try
‘sane.’” Ariel said. She managed not
flinch as Sailor Pluto met her eyes. The
sheer weight of years in the Senshi’s eyes grated
across her over-sensitized nerves. She
ignored the others in the room as she stood in the doorway. Pluto seemed to try to slide into the
background of perception. Ariel had to
concentrate to keep her attention focused on the enigmatic woman. “I’m guessing that Aritrina
didn’t die with some noble intent in mind.”
White
gloved hands tightened around the Time Staff.
“You do not know?”
A
faint smile that never touched her harried eyes curled Ariel’s lips. “That’s one nightmare that I have been
spared. I could ask Aritrina
the next time I talk to her, but somehow I doubt she’s going to be one to share
intimate details with me, involuntary flashbacks aside of course.”
Usagi
stepped toward the American girl with Haruka right
behind her. “You spoke with your past
life, Ari-chan?
When?”
“Oh,
a few minutes ago,” Ariel shrugged with patently false nonchalance. “She was kind enough to make an appearance in
the bathroom mirror before attempting to destroy me on a psychic level. My amateur diagnosis is that’s she skirting
the ragged edge of homicidal mania.”
“That’s
not good,” Haruka said. She and the Princess were still several yards
away.
Ariel
shrugged again. “It’s certainly not what
I’d have chosen. But I can promise you
that I will keep Aritrina under control.”
Pluto
shifted her stance, lifting the Time Staff a few inches off the floor and
sliding a few feet to the side. There
was no one between her and Ariel. “You
cannot be certain that you can control her.
Aritrina was exceptionally stubborn and very
powerful.”
“I’ll
make you the same promise I made her. If
Aritrina ever comes close to taking control of me, I
will slit my own throat.” Ariel’s voice was even and deadly serious. “Then no one would be subject to the dubious
pleasure of the dead woman’s company.”
“That
is a powerful oath.” The strange gem
atop Pluto’s staff began to glow and a cool wind stirred her green tinged
hair. “But ultimately, it is nothing but
hollow words. I cannot trust the
Timeline to them.”
“Pluto!”
Haruka bellowed, “No!”
“I
forbid it!” Usagi snapped.
Sirocco
did not wait to see if Pluto would obey her Princess. He launched himself to near the high ceiling
before turning to dive with arrow straight, swept winged intensity. Ariel, wide eyed and more frightened by him
than by the threatening Senshi, took a half-step back, waving her arms defensively in
front of her. The eagle’s body glowed golden;
Ariel’s flailing arms did not even slow down as they passed through his body
seconds before he plunged into her chest.
The air currents in the room glowed golden with power before swirling
into form an ever growing sphere around Ariel.
*****
She felt that damned bird’s beak as it knifed into her
chest. Her hands moved automatically to
cover the spot, certain in that split instant of overwhelming pain that he had
taken away all of her choices by killing her.
Blinding white light filled her vision and her mind then swiftly faded
away. When sight returned, a swiftly
melting surrealistic landscape surrounded her.
“Oh, shit!” She dropped into a
defensive crouch. “Aritrina,”
she growled.
“She’s not here,” Sirocco said from behind her. She spun to face him and her jaw bounced off of the color shifting ground. A boy of about fourteen years of age with
cool black raptor eyes was the only other person there. “This is the realm of the spirit. Only you and I are here; hopefully it will be
brief stay.”
Ariel said the only thing that came to mind. “You’re buck naked.”
Sirocco rolled his eyes.
“So are you. You humans are just
too obsessed with bodies and ‘body consciousness.’” As Ariel’s eyes and cheeks blazed with embarrassed anger, he hurriedly continued. “Your mind is interpreting my spirit form as
something you can comprehend.”
Ariel buried her face in her hands. “I so did not need this today!”
Gentle hands pulled her arms down. “Listen to me, Ariel. I can only imagine how hard this is for you,
just floundering around while your perception of the world is tumbling down
around your ears. I’ve
always known what I am and what my purpose is.
I am the Fey of the Desert Wind.
I am your guide and your guard and your partner.”
“You’re only a kid,” she whispered.
A wry smile crossed his painfully young face. “So I’m young for a Fey. I brought you here so that we can activate
our Fused Form. It is only we are
together in one physical body that we can access our true power.”
“Fused… I won’t be controlled by anyone. That includes you.”
He laughed softly.
“If anything, it will be the opposite.
My pure magic and strength will be harnessed to your heart, your will.” He turned absolutely serious.
“It is the only chance you will have against Sailor Pluto. All that I remember about her tells me that
she is old and powerful and can be utterly ruthless.”
“I don’t believe that Usagi will
let her harm me.”
Sirocco shook his head.
“I will not risk you on the chance that the Moon Princess will shield
you. You died once when I was not
there. I will not let that happen
again!”
Ariel leaned her forehead against Sirocco’s, moved for the
first time toward compassion for this creature that had forced himself into her
life. “Alright,” she said, “We’ll try it
your wa…” Some
sixth sense snatched her attention up toward the pale sky. All the blood drained from her face. She dragged Sirocco close and curled her body
protectively over his before the giant formless mass descending from the
heavens crushed them down into oblivion.