Fandom: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon (anime)
Date Finished:
Classification: Romance, Angst, Humor, Alternate Universe
Pairing: Helios/Yaten, Taiki/Ami, Seiya/Kakyuu  
Rating: NC-17

Take My Hand
By Elsewhere
elsewherecw@shaw.ca

All other information in Part One.

Part Three:

Glossary:
bishounen - beautiful boy
chikusho - damn
e? - huh?
kuso - shit
ne - a kind of all purpose word to catch someone’s attention or seek confirmation
senshi - soldier; warrior
shinshinmoujaku - unsound mind
shinshinshou - psychosomatic illness
taku - damn

Note: The song the Starlights sing in this part is ‘See Me~Boku-tachi no Jidai (It’s Our Era)’, from the Sailor Stars musical. You can find the translated lyrics at Musical Moon: http://www.angelfire.com/musicals/musicalmoon/

*****
And I’m so lonely
I don’t even want to be with myself anymore
I just want to feel safe in my own skin
I just want to be happy again
*****

"I’d almost forgotten just how cold space is."

"Part of our method of travel involves a protective barrier, Healer…there’s absolutely no possibility that you can feel the coldness of space," Maker responded dryly, using Japanese just as her companion had. They had decided to start using the language early to practice after ten years of not using it.

Healer turned to glare at her.

"I don’t care, Taiki. I’m cold."

"It’s psychosomatic," Maker said simply, rolling onto her back and floating backwards as she looked at her fellow senshi. The three of them perceived one another in their usual human forms---a privilege of the fact that they were all senshi---where an outside observer or even a fellow senshi seeing them from far away would see nothing but a fast-paced shooting star. To the three of them, it seemed as though they moved through space as a three person unit, enclosed by a bubble of soft white light that trailed off behind them.

"Are you implying I’m crazy?" Healer said, frowning deeply now.

"Not at all," Maker said, lifting an eyebrow. "Just because something is psychosomatic doesn’t mean that it isn’t very real to the one experiencing it…"

"Ah, again! She said it again! Did you hear it, Seiya!?"

"Yeah, I heard it… ‘unsound mind’. She thinks you’re nuts," Fighter said with a grin, also lazily twirling around as she flew, her arms folded behind her head.

"E!?" Maker said, her face twisting comically for a minute before she gave a lopsided smile, finally sorting out the problem. "No, no…not ‘shinshinmoujaku’, ‘shinshinSHOU’."

"Aa, shinshinshou…" Fighter repeated, nodding her head knowingly before pausing to ask, "Wazzat?"

Maker pinched the bridge of her nose as though she had a headache, which she might well have had, Healer was still glaring at her so intensely.

"It means that because you imagine a certain setting or situation to feel a certain way, it *does* feel that way to you; your imagination becomes actual feelings. Healer perceives space as a cold place, so her body feels cold when she’s in space," Maker explained patiently.

"Ah, I get it, I get it," Fighter said, nodding and folding her arms, trying to look grave and intelligent.

Healer was silent for several moments, the frown never fading from her face, until finally she rubbed vigorously at her arms and sighed.

"Well, whatever. I’m cold, for whatever reason."

"Probably thinking about other times we’ve made this trip," Fighter commented, cobalt eyes narrowed slightly as she gazed at the darkness around them, finally focusing on Healer and offering a slight smile. "The first time we were terrified, right? We were alone and we didn’t know where we were going, and we’d just lost everything…The second time we were almost as frightened…we wanted so badly to get home, and everything was going so well we were all worried it would turn sour just before we reached our final goal of home, remember?"

"Mm, that’s true…" Maker agreed, nodding as she tilted her head back and thought back to those tense, frightening days ten years ago.

"Remember what we did on those trips?" Fighter asked with a gentle grin towards Healer, who lifted her eyebrows and shook her head. Fighter held out her hands, palms up. "We held hands…we made sure we stayed connected the whole time. Remember?"

Healer’s eyebrows lowered as she thought back and realized she did indeed remember spending most of their initial trip towards Earth and a great portion of their subsequent return to Kinmoku with her hands clasped tightly by Maker and Fighter.

"Go ahead," Fighter said, nodding down towards her open hands, and Healer hesitated briefly, hands against her own chest as though she was shy before she reminded herself that this was one of her two absolute closest friends in the world who would not begrudge her her fear. She reached out and grabbed Fighter’s gloved hand firmly in her own and drifted down to fly roughly in line with the younger senshi, who turned her head and winked.

"You too, Maker, if you want," Fighter said, holding out her other hand towards Maker, who smirked a bit but floated to Fighter’s other side and held out her other hand, allowing Fighter to take the initiative in entwining their fingers tightly. Fighter grinned when she finally had the other two where she wanted them, on either side of her, hands tightly intertwined with hers. She turned to smile at each of them. "Much better, ne?"

"…Yeah…actually…I don’t feel as cold…" Healer admitted, shaking her head a bit and sighing.

"Don’t sound so surprised," Fighter said with a little chuckle. "You know we’re always stronger together than we are apart."

"Yeah…I suppose," Healer agreed after a moment, offering Fighter one of her rarest, gentle smiles. Fighter grinned back before turning to glance at Maker and then focusing on Healer again.

"So, what do you want to do to pass the time? We’ve got a long trip ahead of us, and if we get bored we’ll get depressed…"

"What exactly do you have in mind?" Maker asked, lifting an eyebrow as she usually did when she was anticipating an idea of Fighter’s that she would most likely have a dubious reaction to.

"I think we should sing," Fighter said, smirking as she glanced to her two companions. "Ne? What do you think?"

Healer opened her mouth to reply, but Maker beat her to it.

"Fighter, the trip to Earth *is* long and it’s been some time since we’ve accomplished it…I think we should worry about conserving our strength," Maker said, frowning a bit.

"Oh, come on, Taiki…" Fighter said, her own smile fading as she saw the stern look in Maker’s bright purple eyes. "Strength is no concern as long as we stay together…and I just thought…"

"I think…it’s a good idea," Healer finally spoke up, interrupting Fighter, who turned to her, surprised. She’d thought that it would be Healer who would argue with the suggestion first. Healer blinked her lime green eyes owlishly once, turning to Maker, who frowned slightly. "It will take our minds off of…things, and it will help pass the time, like Fighter said."

"But…" Maker began, but Healer shook her head.

"No…Fighter’s right. As long as we’re together strength is of no concern. We’re fine. If you don’t want to join, that’s fine, but…"

She glanced to Fighter, who still looked surprised, but grinned and nodded. Fighter turned to Maker.

"You in?" she asked, offering her typical lopsided grin.

"…Yes," Maker said after a moment, sighing and then offering a small smile.

"All right then…somebody bring up a rhythm, would you? My hands are occupied," Fighter said, winking and lifting her hands, clasped with her two companions’, for emphasis. Healer gave a little smirk, thought for a second, and then started to slap her hand against her thigh in an even rhythm---one, two, one-one-two---which she repeated a couple of times before Fighter caught on and started to nod her head, catching the beat.

"Kobore ochisou na hodo ni, jukushiteru kokoro wo, o-tagai kakushiteru no wa, koko ira de yameyou," Fighter sang, her clear, firm voice bouncing out into the protective bubble the three of them had created. Healer smiled at the sound---she hadn’t forgotten the pleasure of making music, but it had been a long time.

" ‘Suki sa’ to hitokoto ieba, mune ga toki wo kizami," Maker joined in, her voice lower than Fighter’s, providing a nice contrast.

"Yoake ga tobira hiraite, umi kaze wo maneku," Healer finished off the verse, her higher, sweet voice providing the other end of the spectrum.

"See me," the three of them chorused, to lead into Fighter’s, "Haato biito ga…"

"Hear me," they sang together again, and Healer and Maker turned to Fighter, who strongly sang out, "Shigunaru daseba…"

"Touch me," they sang as one, which blended into Fighter’s final, "Shinsen na pawaa michite kuru yo…"

And then they came together in the chorus:

"Minogasanai, akiramenai, yume ni todoku made wa…so, mou sugu soko ni boku-tachi no jidai…kinou janai, ashita janai, ima kono shunkan sa…yes, kanashimi mo shiawase no ichibu dakara…"

By the time they finished the song, they were all laughing, Fighter’s grin the widest, as always, as she released her friends’ hands and wrapped her arms around them.

"Taku…that brings back memories, doesn’t it?" she said, kicking her legs idly as she floated along, smiling nostalgically. " ‘Boku-tachi no jidai’…I guess we were a little full of ourselves…I bet they’ve forgotten all about us now."

"I hope so," Healer said, sighing softly. "The last thing I need is a bunch of raving fangirls after me again."

"Even if anyone does remember us, they’d only recognize you as a male," Maker pointed out sensibly. "I thought you weren’t going to change."

"I’m not," Healer said with a smile. "Thank you for reminding me."

Fighter chuckled and pinched Healer’s hip, laughing harder when Healer smacked her in the ribs in return.

"So what shall we sing next?"

"Hmm… ‘Todokanu no Omoi’?" Healer suggested, and the others agreed quickly enough.

That was how they passed the time on their trip to Earth: singing their old, popular songs from their previous time on Earth when they had been the all-male Japanese pop band Three Lights, and occasionally pausing to reminisce over the songs, and their time on Earth. It worked remarkably well…except for a few times during their conversations, Healer found herself not worrying about the trip to Earth at all, but instead focusing on singing in harmony with her companions, just as she always had when they had been up on stage back then. Just as Fighter had said, it passed the time and took their minds off of where they were going and who they might meet---Healer was fully aware that Fighter had needed a distraction as well---and by the time Earth came distantly into sight, Healer realized that she had actually been having a lot of fun. She didn’t often allow herself to have fun.

As they drew closer to Earth, they began to realize that something odd was going on. Throughout the time they’d been traveling through the solar system, they’d noticed the unusual activity of the sun; the star the humans called Sol was experiencing a lot of what Maker called ‘sunspots’, much to her two fellow senshi’s confusion.

"They don’t look like spots…they look like enormous arcs of fire on the surface of the star," Fighter had commented, while Healer had merely wrinkled her nose.

"To your eyes, at this distance, yes," Maker had replied simply, her own eyes focused on the sun. "Hm…Mercury’s visor would be of use in this case. There’s no way for me to analyze what exactly is going on. There seems to be an unusual amount of activity. But then, I know little about the patterns of Sol over the past ten years."

By ‘Mercury’, of course, Maker had meant Sailor Mercury, one of the solar system’s senshi---the senshi that Maker had become closest to when they had last been to Earth. Both Fighter and Healer found it interesting that even now, Mercury was the first one Maker thought of.

"Let’s just keep going," Healer had suggested, and they’d continued flying on to Earth, only to find that things were even more unusual in that direction. Surrounding Earth were the usual satellites and other manmade orbiting objects, but there was also a blanket of flashing light reminiscent of the aurora borealis one might see on Earth, covering a large portion of the Eastern part of the globe.

"What’s this…?" Healer murmured as the three of them floated closer.

Fighter shrugged, while Maker stared at the light, fascinated.

"Whatever it is, we can’t afford to let it make us late…" Fighter said after a moment, setting her jaw. "We’d better just ignore it."

"That might not be the best idea…" Maker said, shaking her head. "We have no idea of its properties or what its purpose is…"

"It’s just light though, right?" Fighter asked, sounding a bit nervous as she eyed the flickering light just below them.

"I have no idea," Maker said simply, lifting her hands.

"Well, we can’t turn back now," Healer said, irritated. "What are we supposed to do?"

Maker was silent and Fighter finally shook her head.

"We have no choice…come on, let’s go," she said, clasping the others’ hands even more tightly. "Just in case, make sure to stay close, and don’t let go of my hands."

The other two nodded, grasping her hands firmly and pulling in a little closer before they started to fly downwards, creating a descent formation that would take them into Tokyo, Japan: their destination.

Healer felt her sense of nervousness rising as they approached the light and, upon closer inspection, she could see it flickering menacingly, like a lightning storm. But that was impossible this far up in space…

"Hang on to me…" Fighter reminded the other two, gritting her teeth as they descended into the light.

Within seconds, they realized the mistake they’d made. The moment their bodies hit the light, it felt like miniature strikes of lightning covered their bodies, lightning strong enough to penetrate their protective barrier. Fighter was the first to scream, mostly out of frustration, as she felt her entire body go numb with shock and pain. Healer was next, pulling herself closer to Fighter as though seeking protection as she closed her eyes and cried out in agony. Maker gritted her teeth, fighting against the urge to yell her own anguish as the pain ripped through her, making her feel as though she was being torn apart.

"Chikusho…" Fighter gritted out slowly, eyes tightly closed in an instinctual effort to save them from whatever invisible force was attacking them. "Retreat!"

"Impossible!" Maker reported, turning to yell into Fighter’s ear in the hope of being heard. "We’ve lost our lift…we’re falling, Fighter!"

"You’re kidding!!" Healer screamed, crying out again in pain as she felt something slice against her stomach.

"Kuso…in that case, prepare for a crash landing…" Fighter yelled, gripping the other two’s hands as firmly as she could. "Make absolutely sure you don’t let go!!"

"Who would let go!?" Healer shouted, but even as she said it, whatever was hitting them started to grow stronger, and it seemed to be pelting directly at their arms and hands.

"Kuso!!" Fighter screamed again, voice rising in pitch as she fought to hold onto her fellow senshi’s hands. Healer was shouting too, her words nothing but nonsense as she used both hands to grip onto Fighter’s hand, making her own balance even worse. Maker’s face was set in a grim look of knowledge; she knew what was coming.

It was only a matter of moments after that that Maker’s grip slipped and then broke away, and whatever force was battering them swept her away and off into the brilliant light within seconds.

"Maker!!" Fighter yelled at the top of her lungs, lunging uselessly after her, wincing as she felt Healer cling even more tightly against her other side, still screaming and cursing things that nobody would be able to understand.

"Kuso…Healer, hold onto me tightly…don’t let go…we’ll find Maker later…" Fighter said distractedly, her eyes searching the light around them for their lost friend. She was so distracted that at first she didn’t notice when Healer started to slip away, and by the time she turned and started to fight back, trying to pull Healer back to her, it was too late.

"Healer!!" she shouted, holding onto Healer’s arms and trying to pull her back, but some kind of vacuum force was trying to take the other senshi away from her. Healer was screaming something Fighter couldn’t hear, hands desperately reaching for her. For only a brief second, they came close enough that Fighter could hear her: "Don’t leave me alone!!"

"Healer!!!"

The last thing Healer saw as she was sucked off into the light was the panicked look in Fighter’s eyes.

*****

At first as Yaten woke up, she felt as though her body was surrounded in cotton candy; something soft, sticky, and with a sickeningly sweet smell. The more aware she became, the more the pillowy softness surrounding her started to dissolve, and she began to notice little details like the hardness of the ground beneath her, the sensation of something sharp digging into her lower back, and the variety of aches throughout her entire body. A few minutes after that, when she finally managed her first soft groan and tasted the metallic liquid on her tongue, she realized that the stickiness was blood. After that, she spent the next few seconds forcing herself to remain calm; to focus on assessing her own condition.

Several moments after that, after flexing muscles and testing energies and discovering nothing seriously broken, she forced herself to roll onto her side, off the rock that had been digging into her back, and felt another quiet moan of pain build in her throat. This time she took note of the timbre of it, and even as her eyes finally rolled open she took another moment to assess her own energies, confirming to herself belatedly as she looked down at her bare chest that her inner assessment was correct.

/I’m a man,/ he thought to himself as he slowly pushed himself to sit up, closing his eyes tightly against the pounding sensation in his skull and pressing his fingers to his temples. /Why…?/

It was understandable enough after the kind of landing he must have taken to have lost his henshin---given the circumstances, he could even understand having lost his access to the subspace bubble where he and the others kept the few belongings they’d decided to bring along. Even the clothes he had been wearing prior to henshin were gone, leaving him naked. All he had with him now was his henshin broach thankfully clasped tightly in one fist. But…

Losing his henshin was one thing. Changing sexes was entirely different. He should have reverted to the sex he had been at the time of his henshin, which had most certainly been female. To change sex was an entirely different, consciously decided transformation, yet it appeared to have happened while Yaten was unconscious.

He finally managed to crack open an eye just enough to take a glance at his surroundings. All he could see was green grass, bushes, and large insect-ridden flowers he recalled being called something like botan. He realized belatedly that the flowers, which were in full bloom, were the source of the sickeningly sweet smell he had noticed earlier.

Somewhere nearby he could hear the faint burbling of water---probably a small stream or creek. Other than that, all he could tell was that it was midday, and that the sky was slightly clouded over, a color midway between blue and grey that foretold of a possible storm. He was certainly on Earth, which---unless he were dead, which he hadn’t thought---he hadn’t doubted. But as to where…

He sat for some time in silent contemplation, focusing on regaining his energies in the hope that he could heal some of his injuries and then move on to try to figure out where he was and what had happened to Maker and Fighter.

The pounding in his head had just started to become quieter when he became aware of a rustling in the bushes over to his left. He managed with some effort to lift his head and open his eyes just in time to see a young woman who didn’t look much older than him push her way through the bushes into the clearing he was sitting in.

"Ara…what have we here?" the woman said, brushing several strands of aqua blue hair out of her eyes before she peered at him curiously. The woman blinked twice, then stood up straight.

"You," she said simply, and Yaten grimaced slightly, rearranging himself so that her view between his legs wasn’t so easily obtained.

"You mean me?" he asked roughly in return, a quiet cough accompanying his first attempt at vocalization since he’d awoken.

"Yeah…I don’t see any other naked silver-haired bishounen in the area…or anyone else, for that matter," the woman replied, tilting her head before she moved closer to him. He flinched slightly, and she stopped her advance. "What are you doing there? You seem injured."

"You have…fantastic powers of…observation," Yaten grunted between soft gasps for breath. He knew he hadn’t broken anything, but the more he moved, the more he considered the fact that he must have bruised his ribs at the very least.

"Hn, and you have a sense of humor, I see," the woman said, and this time when she came towards him and he cringed, she ignored it and knelt next to him. "Never mind injured…you look like you just plummeted from outer space."

Yaten couldn’t help the tiny, ironic smile that came to his lips.

"Hmm…so it’s like that, huh?" the woman said, sounding more curious as she leaned a bit closer. He flinched again but blinked at the sudden sensation of her strength as she took his chin in her hand and turned his head, taking a look in his eyes. Almost the moment ‘her’ fingers touched his skin and he felt the flicker of emotions that moved across from ‘her’ mind to his, he realized his mistake.

"You…" Yaten began, eyes widening.

"No need to thank me," the man---for Yaten now realized that he had made a mistake in assuming the person’s sex simply because of his appearance and the sound of his voice---assured Yaten, even as he bent and, taking a deep breath, hoisted Yaten into his arms.

"I wasn’t about to," Yaten said, feeling his cheeks turning red as he realized his predicament. The man glanced at his face and suddenly smirked, shaking his head.

"I see. Well, anyway, my name is Fumiko. Sakana Fumiko. Everyone calls me Fuu-chan. And you are…?"

"Yaten. Yaten Kou," Yaten replied curtly, still frowning slightly. "Where are you taking me?"

"To the Temple," Fumiko answered simply with a bright grin. "We can get you help there."

"I don’t need…"

"Yes you do," Fumiko said with a simple nod of his head. "You’re badly injured, Yaten-kun. I’m sorry if it hurts your pride, but you’ll have to put up with being taken care of for a little while."

"Taken care of…? You don’t even know me," Yaten muttered, staring up at Fumiko’s face in confusion.

"Does that matter?" Fumiko asked, rolling his eyes. "Now I think you should be quiet and rest. It’s not far to the temple."

Yaten took Fumiko’s advice, mainly because he knew of nothing to say in response. Instead, he watched his surroundings as Fumiko carried him through what seemed to be a park, full of lush green plant life and centred around a beautiful blue lake with several small waterfalls and streams running into it. These things were all recognizable to Yaten, but what confused him were the other things he noticed---things like purple, yellow and blue plants that he didn’t recognize as native to Earth, and in particular, he was surprised to see noticeable traces of crystal almost everywhere he looked. Mounds of it popped out of the ground in places; in others tall pillars of crystal stood out of the grass.

"Ne…um…you…" Yaten murmured distractedly after a few moments of gazing at one particularly bright crystal that was poking out of the middle of the lake.

"What?" Fumiko asked, seemingly unconcerned by the fact that Yaten had already forgotten his name.

"Where…are we?" Yaten asked, his uncertainty evident in the faint tremor in his voice.

Fumiko blinked, then took the question in stride.

"Like I said, we’re close to the Temple of Elysian, which is on the southwestern edge of Crystal Tokyo’s limits."

"Crystal…Tokyo?" Yaten repeated, a bit dazedly.

"Yeah…the capital of both Japan and the Earth…you don’t remember?" Fumiko asked, frowning now as he gazed down at Yaten, concerned.

"Tokyo…capital of the Earth…?" Yaten repeated, eyes only widening further.

Fumiko bit his lip for a moment before he spoke again.

"Like I said earlier, maybe you should just rest quietly until we get to the Temple," he suggested, his voice quieter as he watched the way Yaten now looked at his surroundings with an increased sense of panic. "It’ll be all right, Yaten-kun…we’ll figure out what happened to you."

/I know what happened…I’m lost on Earth and everything’s changed and Seiya and Taiki aren’t here…/ Yaten thought. He could feel his heart beating hard in his chest. /What…am I going to do…?/

*****

END PART THREE