Chpt Three: Yumewomiru Zetsubou

Fighter had reverted back to her Seiya form once she was on the outskirts of a local park. Seiya walked through silently, too many thoughts milling about his mind. `Doushite? Why did I think it would be the same?' He shut his eyes tightly and curled his fingers into fists. `Nothing will ever be the same now. That boyfriend of hers is back now… nothing's the same. Absolutely nothing!'

He tracked down a bench and sagged down onto it, burying his face in his hands. "Doushite?" he whispered. "My heart still aches, even when I know there is nothing there! DOUSHITE?!" He slammed a fist onto the bench and winced at the slight pain.

Kit's words kept echoing back at him, claiming him to still be Fighter even when called Seiya. He was sure that he differentiated himself from his senshi soul of Star Fighter; Kit must have been wrong. But even knowing this did not keep his thoughts from the comments.

Letting out a frustrated half-cry, Seiya glared up at the stars in the sky. "There is a mission to focus on! It is the only reason for being here! There is nothing else!" He felt wet droplets on his clenched fists and wished that perhaps it was raining so that he might blame it on the weather. "Demo…" He grit his teeth and bowed his head, feeling the few tears drop off his face. `It is the mission we are here for. Odango has that Mamoru back here now… why would she be interested in us - in me? I always was fooling myself. She never cared, it was never more than friendship and she gives that to everyone!'

"I didn't recognize them at all… no one in the palace have mentioned them either. What's that supposed to mean?" Chibi-Usa was trying to be helpful but it seemed that she was only causing the inners panic as that chattered to each other nervously.

"Calm down, Minako-chan… maybe we can talk with Pluto soon and she can let us know! Why would they die? If we are alive, so should they be! Don't worry!" Makoto patted the blonde's shoulder in attempt to ease Minako's hey-wire emotional state.

Usagi had sat down beside Mamoru on the stone ledge and was staring at the ground. "Anou…" the others quieted. "Demo… are they not here now?" she looked up. "They are fighting on their own, saying they don't want our help. That means they…" She looked worriedly at the others. "Can't we help?!"

The two older girls stepped forward with a rather tall Hotaru. Everyone blinked at the supposedly younger girl and then glanced at the two who acted as parents. "Hai," Michiru answered the questioning looks, "she is growing again. What is this battle that approaches? How is it that the senshi we battled are fighting alongside the Starlights - what are they doing back?"

Ami gave a brief rundown of the situation to the other girls. "Sou da na…" Haruka wrapped an arm about Michiru's waist and pulled her tightly to her, not looking at the others. "They are fighting on their own, then. Good. Don't interfere." She gazed back at Usagi with force and repeated, "Don't get involved. They have asked you again to keep out. Had you not intervened last time many things would not have happened - we were lucky that everything worked out. It may not be as easy this time."

Usagi, who was leaning against Mamoru's shoulder, buried her head away and did not reply. `But I want to help Seiya! I don't think they can do it themselves.'

Nezu let out a few squeaks of protest as the gate she was studying suddenly sparked and lit lightening bolts at her. "PLUTO-SAN!" she shouted down the corridor. "PLUTO-SAN!"

The senshi of time was by her side in seconds, glowing with power to calm the gate. Maker came up during the time and watched solemnly as Pluto finished resealing the gates. "You cannot keep doing that and still maintain your strength," the Starlight noted.

Pluto panted and just glanced the other's way. "Do not… underestimate me, Maker." She stood up to her full height and straightened out her appearance before addressing Maker, "What did you need?"

"I just observed another part of their conversation. It was only those senshi of the inner planets and the man and little girl. The girl says she hasn't seen us before in her time."

That got Pluto's attention. Snapping to alert she demanded, "NANI?! Small Lady has heard of you before! Starlights do not visit often in Crystal Tokyo, but you have been there in the future!" Maker shrugged and moved out of the way for Pluto as the tall senshi breezed past to double-check on the information.

"More than likely," was the brisk reply. The white-haired senshi gripped her elbows and nibbled on her lip as her tail twitched worriedly. Maker noted the nervousness and sighed, "Nezu-san, can you trust in your friends to handle this? If they can, I know Fighter and Healer can too. If all of them can handle this, then we can change what is being altered and set Fate on the right path."

Nezu looked up at the taller senshi and gave a smile, signaling that she understood. "Aa," Pluto's unique voice reached them as they heard her boot heals clicking, "you are very good, Maker. You were also right about the conversation." She frowned. "Even though Haruka and Michiru have asked Usagi to stay out of the way, I don't know how long she will listen. If she believes you all to be in too much danger, she'll join."

"Don't doubt her. I'm worried about her safety more than anything." Pluto passed her time staff back and forth before her. Through the movements of the swings, she looked at the two senshi with her and asked, "Do you wish to contact them?"

The movement of the staff kept going until a holographic-type image floated about them, cloaking most of the time corridor. "Setsuna-san!" one of the images called.

"Maker!" Maker turned her head when hearing her name and found herself looking at an image of Ami. Being polite, she nodded her head in silent greeting.

"Minna," Pluto greeted. She set her staff down and looked at the little pink-haired girl who was clutching at a metal ball shaped like a cat head. Looking closer, Maker concluded that the others were seeing them through an image projected by the `toy'.

"We listened to the conversation, Princess," Pluto told her. "What she says should not be true, but perhaps time is already altering. Starlights have been to Crystal Tokyo - not including the new Star Kit - and have surely been mentioned to Small Lady." She gazed down at the little girl. "Are you sure you have not heard of them at all?"

Chibi-Usa considered for long moments but still came up with her original answer of no. "Then shouldn't we help out now?" Ami inquired, looking concerned. "If they've already faded from the future, we don't want them to die now! What if this demon is too strong to fight?"

"You are not fighting," Maker snapped. Everyone looked at her. She closed her eyes briefly and repeated, "You are not going to fight with us. This job is our own and was assigned to us and not to you. Don't take on more than you've been told."

The girls looked crushed, having wanted to help out. Michiru and Haruka stayed silent off to the side, a bit surprised at Maker's insistence of doing the mission alone - but also knowing how it felt to be entrusted with such a mission.

Nezu suddenly screamed out a warning, "Pluto-san! Pluto-san! It's happening again!" She jumped out of the way as energy escaped a gate - hitting her tail and giving her a shock. "Itai!"

Pluto was out and down the corridor in moments to stop that leak. Everyone on Earth just blinked a bit at the two senshi now projected before them. "We're dealing with things here. Fighter and Healer are working with the others on Earth to stop it from there. I request you not get in their way." Maker's eyes flashed warningly.

Softly a voice reached their ears, "Nezu. Maker." The tone seemed masking, leaking only out a seriousness and dread that caused a chill up the senshi's spine. They walked with steady steps down to the gate that Pluto was leaning against and took in her disheveled state. "This time has already been mixed, the inner senshi from the past traveled to Crystal Tokyo as they should have, but the Nemesis sisters and Rubius were still there for some reason and added to the danger of fighting. For other unknown reasons, Pegasus is there along with Super Sailor Chibi-Moon. None of this is making sense…"

"Luckily no. I've put a barrier about each gate so that what happens in that timeline will not effect the others. The only one that doesn't have as strong of barrier is in the time Fighter and the others are in. That will be the gate that will hold the changes that can ensure the future - as long as everyone does their duty correctly." Maker nodded and then brought up an ethereal screen and keyboard that had been given access to her.

As she typed, she said, "I've been gathering data here. I almost wish for another battle with a similar shadow creature from before to get more information on it - then we might have some clues as to what the demon is. We'll probably still have to search for what this demon wants, however."

"Hai. Good job, Maker." Pluto stood and looked at Nezu. "Would you please watch the gate for notices from the others? Neko said she would be keeping us up to date."

"Hai!" Nezu scrambled off, glancing over her shoulder at the two senshi who began to talk in low tones. `I wonder if we really are strong enough. I believe in them, but is that enough?'

"Anou… will Seiya-san be alright?" Sukuyo asked worriedly, wringing her hands together in her lap. The group had returned to the two-room apartment they had rented but Seiya was not there.

Yaten brushed it off and said, "He'll be fine. He used to always walk off when he had to do some thinking - hates being crowded." He hoisted himself up onto the tall stool by the kitchen and leaned back on his elbows. "I'm still a bit surprised." The others glanced at him, waiting for him to continue. Without looking away from the city-lights outside the window, Yaten continued in a slightly softer voice, "I thought he'd have troubles with that girl a least a little later than the first meeting."

"It must be, to Seiya," Kit commented. She was laying back on the smaller couch and studying her newly-painted finger nails in the light. "He wouldn't be so worked up like this if it meant nothing." She frowned and tilted her head back to look at Yaten upside down. "Well?"

"Hn. Just ignore it. He's a lovesick fool who's blinding himself with hope." Yaten crossed his arms and turned away stubbornly. Kit made no comment and turned back, once again, to her nails.

Looking around at the others, Neko announced, "I'll check in with Pluto-san." She stood and left the room so that her conversation wouldn't be bothered.

Not soon after her departure, the front door opened and Seiya stepped in, slipping off his shoes. He waved without much emotion and walked to sit on the available chair beside the couch where Kit was lying. He looked down at her with a weird look on his face and asked, "What are you doing?"

She grinned and uncrossed her legs, swinging them over the side of the couch to sit up. She placed her hands carefully on her knees before facing him fully. "Painted my nails, can't get them all smudged now, ne?" She laughed a bit when Seiya sweat-dropped at the answer.

Kit ignored Kashoko's reaction and jumped up, "Sure! C'mon, let's go…" Sukuyo followed the new Light from the room and into the room that the girls were sharing.

"Really, Seiya," Yaten scolded, "you're suppose to focus. How long did you even see her? Five minutes? I thought we'd cleared this up before." His green eyes flashed and he stood, coming before Seiya. "Don't blind yourself," his voice was softer. "That girl already has someone and I've heard more than enough about that being Fate. We're fighting for this set Fate… have you realized that yet?" Seiya's eyes widened, suddenly. "We are fighting to protect that set Fate. Ironic, isn't it?" His voice was a mere whisper, no sarcasm in it all - which was not usual for him. "You'll be helping in a fight to keep them together. We fight to protect a Fate that we don't even fit in." He laughed softly and turned away, walking to the window.

Seiya made no comment, though he knew he should have made note of Yaten's behavior. He hadn't really thought of it before. But what Yaten had said was true. They were fighting for that Fate. `It is ironic… how am I supposed to fight full-heartedly when I know that it will only mean that any chance - no matter how slim it is - will be destroyed?' He buried his face in his hands. "I'm just selfish," he muttered.

He made no response, not wishing to be arguing at that point. "Oh?" Kashoko and Seiya looked over at Yaten. "You two, there's another shadow thing down there." He pointed. "Healer Star Power, Make Up!"

The three senshi made their way out the window and then leapt down the fire escape to the alley below. The shadow creature was nearly invisible in the dark passage, it's brilliant sapphire eyes the only thing giving it away. When it stood to face it's challengers, Lead Crow let out a scream of surprise. Fighter and Healer backed away with her, looks of disbelief and shock crossing their face. The shadow let out a bit of high-pitched laughter and brought forth its clawed hands that still had blood dripping off of them.

"… I don't think you want to know, Maker," Fighter murmured softly, feeling sick to her stomach. The torn corpse of the woman lay out before them in a grotesque state. Her arms were spread wide and bloody claw marks showed that the creature had pinned her down there. Her neck was painted with blood that still spilled from four large fang holes.

"Star Fox Blaze!" The two attacks paused the creature in its steps for a bit. "I don't think it was finished, it began clawing right below her chest - see?" Star Kit pointed to the shallower cuts that were spurting blood along the ground.

Lead Crow and Nyanko combined their attacks to tear away half of the Shadow's body. It faltered, having the attack hit vital parts, and the other took their chance. "Star Serious Laser!"

"There's no way," Star Kit replied. She kneeled down by the ash remains of the Shadow and picked up some of it with her gloved hands. As she rubbed it between her fingers, it smeared, staining a maroon color. "How odd…" she murmured.

Healer dared going forward and hesitantly put a hand by the woman's wrist. She shook her head. "I thought not. There's no pulse…" The blood was also flowing a bit less steadily. "We should get out of here…"

The senshi jumped back up to their floor and entered via the window before de-morphing. "That was just…" Kashoko still looked pale, holding onto the shivering Sukuyo.

Seiya shook his head, hoping to somehow get rid of the memory of the corpse. It wasn't working. "I don't think I can go to sleep right away… who's going to stay up?" Everyone nodded. "Somehow I figured that…"

Kit nibbled on her lip. "So what do we do about these things? The first one hadn't really been doing anything at all. This one was beginning to tear apart an innocent."

"There's going to be a lot that we have yet to do. Don't worry over it too much yet," Neko advised. "Maker-san and Pluto-san will work with Nezu to figure out something. They job is to observe, ours is to fight and just keep our eyes open. Okay?" The others nodded.

"Destiny is so unfair…" The voice was bodiless, toneless. Its essence was everything and nothing. "Poor, poor Children. You hate these bonds…" In the emptiness another sound echoed as metal froze and cracked into splinters. A gleeful laugh that mixed a child's giggles and a villain's chuckle echoed in the darkness.

Pairs of glowing, solid-colored eyes began opening within the emptiness, just barely lighting the endless space. "Your fate may have been written in stone but you have the tools and strength to tear it down! Endless confusion can come by following Fate, not always by straying from it." The voice floated from one spot to the next, urging the creatures with the glowing eyes to awaken more.

In small groups, shadowy creatures vanished from the darkness, their eyes taking the bit of light from the area. The voice continued calling, chanting, singing… constantly moving and giving no sense as to what it was.

The last creature left and everything was plunged back into blackness. The voice laughed loudly, deadly echoing in the dark. "Dance, dance, Shadows! Remind Them of Their joyous times of freedom! They need not follow Fate! Fate is the fool and those who follow are all the more foolish!" gleefully the voice continued on by itself.

Seiya lay awake in bed, staring up at the ceiling with worried eyes. It was nearly three in the morning and he had previously been asleep - until being woken by his dream. He still could hear the screams and frantic footsteps ringing in his ears.

Finally he turned over and studied Yaten in the bed across from him. The light-haired boy was soundly sleeping on his side, facing Seiya. His loose bangs feel over his face and made him look so naïve. That was a rather amusing thought, considering how stubborn and how out-spoken he was. Seiya grinned a bit to himself. Some things hadn't changed after all, that was a relief.

He sat up and leaned against the wall, wondering what they were going to do. He still hadn't forgotten the look and smell of the corpse that had been bleeding life out as they fought. What was this enemy after? Galaxia - Chaos - had been after the star seeds, but this thing didn't have an obvious objective yet. *Fools, fools…* The sound echoed in his head over and over, growing strong each time.

In the bed over, Yaten's eyes popped open, alert and ready. "Nani? Nanda?" He blinked at Seiya with a strange feeling in his gut. "You're acting weird. What's wrong with you?"

"Yaten! … itai…" Seiya shut his eyes tightly, gripping at his forehead as the chant began screaming into his mind. "Itai…" he whispered in a half-sob. The pain was clenching his chest and filling his mind, forcing tears of pain to his eyes. "… Yaten!"

"Seiya!" Yaten tripped on his way to getting up. He hurriedly regained his footing and stumbled over to Seiya, holding his shoulders. "Seiya! NANDA?! Daijoubu? Seiya! Seiya!"

"Make it stop…! Ah…! Yaten!" Seiya clutched at Yaten's arms tightly, wishing the other could do something. `What the hell is this?! Please… stop it… stop…'

Yaten winced at the tight hold that was gripping his arms but didn't complain, at a loss as to what to do. He looked around, trying to figure out what to do as his mind whirled around with various miscellaneous thoughts.

`Itai…itai…' He was vaguely aware that the voice and chant were dying way. That was also the point that he realized he was also falling into darkness…

"Seiya!" Yaten exclaimed as he braced the other boy up. "What is this?" he muttered to himself, "He's fainted now." Carefully he laid the boy down and tucked him in before going to sit down on his own bed. He pulled out his transformation head piece and placed it over his ear. Looking over at Seiya, Yaten called, "Maker. Maker, can you hear me?"

Yaten shrugged, realizing too late the the geasture wouldn't do any good. Flushing, he answered, "I don't know. I woke up to him screaming to stop and then he kept telling me to make `it' stop."

"Fine with me. Hey, did you find anything else out from that fight last night?" Yaten lay on his back and stared at the ceiling as he waited for Maker to reply.

<Yes… just a second.> Yaten could hear little clicks of keys being hit before Maker spoke again. <Let's see… from studying energy and ki readings, the creature seemed made up from dead star particles. Human ki was mixed with it, though - I'm not sure yet if this was because it had been attacking the human before hand or not. Its own ki was incredibly high, I'm actually surprised you could finish it off at all.>

<Nezu picked up readings of other attacks later on.> There was silence on the other end and Yaten just held his breath. <The human ki all vanished from each attack.>

<You couldn't have done anything,> Maker told him quietly. <There were too many at once. Handle only what you can… once we find the one who's heading all of this, we can end it by destroying the demon. I'm sorry, Yaten. I need to go now. Out.>

"Over and out," Yaten mumbled. He tore the stared senshi tool viciously from his ear and tossed it across the room. Sitting up, he curled up and began to shake with unshed tears. "Doushite? We came here to protect people! No one is supposed to die! Naze…?" He shook his head, self-hatred mixing into his already tangled emotions.

"Sou da na." The four girls jumped in surprise and turned from their spots at the picnic table to see Yaten holding sunglasses in one fisted hand and head bowed.

His eyes widened a bit as he felt tears of guilt start up again. He trembled a bit as his hold tightened, snapping his sunglasses. The girls stared in surprise and Minako backed away. He shook his head, looking up. "They are too strong for you! We made an extremely grave mistake last night and did not watch for others, but we will correct that! We have the ability to stop them. You cannot! Do not get invovled!"

Yaten pulled back his hand for a punch and turned at the last instant to a tree where his fist cracked into the bark. He breathed hard, staring at the disrupted pattern his punch had caused. "Do not," he hissed in a dangerously low voice, "get in the way."

Rei was silent. "He blames himself. I bet the others are probably like that too… I feel bad now." She hung her head forward. "But… I am so upset about all these deaths! I believe him when he says we don't have the strength to fight… I'm sure of it. Galaxia strained our powers to their limits."

"Another one?" Maker asked rhetorically. Pluto just glanced sidelong at her and nodded her head weakly. Maker frowned worriedly at her. "You know you can't keep doing this. Isn't there some other way?"

Maker sighed, "You're stubborn." Pluto smiled faintly at her. "Listen, there's already been five more deaths. Outskirts of Tokyo and not anywhere near where they were." Maker waited for that part to sink in before continuing. "There's still nothing in common."

"I'm already thinking that, too, unfortunately. Crow and Siren battled one of the Shadows not too long ago but could not kill it. Siren's wounded badly - they had to retreat and leave it be." Pluto glanced at her in confusion. "I don't understand it either. They had never been able to lay a hit on it. The Shadow was no stronger than the others, though. That's not it, either. Nyanko, Crow, Siren, and Fighter had been in a battle before that and had not been able to finish it either."

Now fully standing, Pluto came to stood before Maker. "How would that be?" Maker shook her head to signal she didn't know. "I don't like this… something is very wrong her, worse than what we had assumed before."

"Keep looking through the data you're collecting. Hopefully we can come up with an answer. We have to do this…" She turned away and called back, "I need to check on the other corridors. Excuse me." She walked through the mists and soon disappeared.

Maker sighed and slumped to sit on the floor. The others had arrived on Earth hardly a week ago and had only fought the first Shadow two days ago yet everything was already building and human deaths were adding up quickly. There was no rhyme or reason to it - not even Pluto could figure it out. Together the two had reviewed through past senshi battles and Maker had learned of the Earth senshi's future and past. This was something far surpassing anything that any of the senshi had faced - no one was prepared.

She smiled bitterly and let out a snort. "We're going to die saving a planet that isn't our home. No, correction, I'll be living because I'm here and failing miserably at trying to help them." She bowed her head forward and laughed bitterly. "How stupid of us to be so confident. I wonder if they have realized yet what we will sacrifice?" Her eyes flashed, brightened with the gleam of tears. "Happy, now, Fighter? You'll die protecting her… see if she cares…"

Angrily Maker stood up. "No," she muttered, "no, I will not loose hope. Not yet. I know I can figure this out. The enemy must know that we are looking for it… I'll get this figured out, we won't die…" She strode back down the corridor to continue on with her work.

"I have to admit that I was too. Maker is strong, though, she'll tough it out. I know that she'll do her best." `Now we just have to hope that "her best" is enough…'

And thus the plot thickens. ;;^^ Okay, gomen for being all dark in here... it's a totally different feel for the SM universe, but it does work, don't you think? If it was a inner-centered fic it wouldn't. But since it was mostly on the Lights I thought I could get away with some dark stuff. This story is moving a whole lot faster than I thought it would (and sort of faster than I want it to, but I won't complain). Hopefully chpt 4 will be out soon.