Welcome to Gaia! ::

The world needed a hero.

And that hero... was not Sailor Neso.

After leaving his apartment with every intention of going on patrol, Neso had stumbled across an apple tree in someone's backyard. He spent thirty minutes climbing the tree, and another ten selecting the five best apples to eat.

He ate the first two while attempting to walk the balance beam over the sidewalks from Sovereign Heights to Meadowview. Then he accidentally destroyed one after it fell from his head and rolled into a gutter. (It wasn't as easy as it looked to balance an apple on your head, you know.) The fourth he gave to a homeless man propped up against a bench near DC Central Park.

It took an hour, and he was already worn out.

With one apple left and no more desire to crimefight, Sailor Neso scaled the nearest high rise building, took a seat on its ledge, and set about finishing his last pilfered fruit.

High-rises were best for looking at the city, that much was certain. Neso took a bite of his apple and then held both hands up to square the horizon. He bent one finger and said, "Wish I had my camera." It was barely audible, but enough to distract him from the noise behind him on the roof, if he had been paying attention (which of course he wasn't).

It wasn't until there was a boot in his back that Neso paid attention to anything at all. There was a chunk of apple in his mouth. Neso turned over his shoulder and chewed it slowly. "Hi," he said, confusion plain on his face. "Thanks for the tip."

Neso got to his feet casually. He sensed some weird vibes coming off of this kid, but he didn't have enough experience to understand what that meant, that this dark energy meant more than bad mojo, that it could mean death. The senshi smiled and lowered his hand (he was quite tall compared to anyone, but especially someone of the Nega's height) to shake the stranger's hand.

"I'm Neso," he said. "Sorry I don't have another apple."

Neso's eyes dropped to the knife in the strange boy's hand. His smile faltered, became questioning. It faded entirely when his handshake was not only refused, but mocked. Was this the kind of person that the other sailors had warned him about? Was this the enemy? Neso didn't like to think he had any enemies. His struggle over good and bad had been made easier when he reconnected with his little senshi circle. The Negaverse were evil, the baddest of the bad. Getting rid of them meant making the world a better place -- and that was what Neso wanted: to make life better.

What rabbit hole had he stumbled into that evening?

So he backpedaled. "Sorry, I just..." Eloquence had never been his gift. Neso shuffled awkwardly. "I believe everything in the world deserves respect and a chance at peace."

With his back to the edge of the roof, Neso felt unprotected. He took a step to the side to give himself a touch more security. It didn't help much. The bad vibes that had eluded him before now came swelling into his senses at full force. He tried to push them back. "What's your name, brother?" he asked. The apple was reduced to a core clutched in a nervous hand.

Sailor Neso didn't understand. His mouth fell slack, eyebrows furrowed. It was the kind of comic expression that might cross the face of a protagonist during the yukk-yukk "big reveal" of the full scope of his naivety. He started to say, "But I was born in Destiny City," but was cut off by Captain Wolframite's diatribe. The senshi of summer didn't like the tenor of this conversation. If this was a party, he would make an excuse to get away from this wet blanket, or would crack a joke to avoid the heavy topic. On the rooftop, there was no such easy escape.

The wind whipped wildly across the flat cement surface of the building's roof. It stirred the long coat at Neso's back. The long strips of serrated fabric at its bottom slapped noisily against the bare backs of his legs. It was getting cold; he could feel that in his bones. As DC rotated farther from the sun, the summer grew more distant, a mere memory. Some days, Neso fantasized about chasing the sun across the globe, scaling continents and seas so that he could live in a constant state of summer. In such a serious situation, it was hardly appropriate for his mind to be wandering, but there it was, wandering toward the promise of eternal sun.

The sailor was sucked out of that sweet reverie by the threat of death. It brought him back to the cold and staggering reality that he so desperately wanted to avoid.

Neso stepped backwards and raised his hands in front of him like an old woman being mugged for her purse. "Wolframite, you don't have to do this. I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt anyone. If we would all lay down our weapons, we could have peace. Don't you want peace? Don't you want to spend your nights at parties, or working on photography, or hanging out with your friends, or your significant other...s?" Neso was, in fact, listing all of the things he would rather be doing. He assumed Wolframite would want the same things.

His feet continued to backpedal. When it came to fight or flight, Neso had no problem deciding. He quietly searched for exits. There were two ladders off the roof. Both were behind Wolframite. The other option... well, the other option was not one he wanted to consider.

Significant others? Neso could understand that. He had several people who he considered significant others. In fact, he sort of looked at everyone this way, which, in truth, made no one significant. Except his fellow seasons, the Zodiacs, and of course the Princess. They did sit on a slightly higher pillow, even if Neso wasn't terribly aware of it. It was a shame that none of them were here now to help him. Up on the roof with this stranger advancing, Neso felt a cool pang of loneliness. It mixed with fear and made his knees shake -- and with legs as long as his, it made for quite a bit of rattling.

The senshi of summer raised his hands in front of his face. It was a comic sight -- massive Neso cowering in the face of the smaller, frill-covered boy before him. His deep blue eyes followed the chain as it flowed through Wolframite's hand, but stopped on the blade. He swallowed hard. "C'mon, man, life is a cycle. Death only brings on more death, right? Hurting me won't bring back any of your loved ones, just like me fighting back wouldn't save my fallen buddies either. We just got to lay down our weapons and look for a bright future -- together." Neso took a trembling step forward.

Shadowed by the glowing moon, it sort of looked like he might be attempting to hug the Negaverse Captain. "An eye for an eye makes the whole--" His words were cut short. Wolframite threw a swinging kick, and it hit Neso like a sack of bricks. The impact sent Neso reeling back, falling flat on his back. He staggered to his feet and slipped on some loose roofing. "You don't need to do this, man! We don't have to be enemies!" His hands were up again, but it wasn't an aggressive stance. Hell, it was hardly defensive. Neso backpedaled, aiming to put distance between the pair.

This was not going the way that Sailor Neso. Couldn't they just back in time? Couldn't he just have eaten his apple and gone home for a nice night of sleep? It didn't occur to him why Wolframite took such offense to his little quote. Neso was not always the most observant senshi in the world, or person. He would pay for that mistake.

His hands were still raised. "You're freaking me out. Let's just talk, man." Neso was not getting the hint.

It took a kick to the chest and a swing of a knife in the same spot. The slice was an angry gash over his chest, but shallow thanks to the angle he fell at. His arms moved just in time to catch the other cut across his arm. "No, stop!" he shouted. One long leg kicked out, aiming to knock Wolframite off his feet.

Maybe then Neso could run.

His powers. He had them, Neso knew this. His fist could glow and swarm and crush things in its fiery arc. The words touched his lips. The senshi of summer tried to will himself to stand. "Summer Heat Strike..." he murmured, raising a hand up. It wiggled with lines of heat, but only dimly.

Then Wolframite brought the crushing blow down on top of the gaping slash that had only just gotten chance to really bleed. The noise that came out of Neso seemed unnatural, too animalistic. His charged hand flopped uselessly against the bend of the Nega's knee, at worst leaving him with a pleasant heat on the spot, nothing that could harm or even annoy.

This was who he was. Neso was the guy who lost the fight. How had it happened so fast? Hadn't everyone warned him to be more careful? The thoughts were too real, and he squinted them away, all the while feeling his ears assaulted by the boy he was certain would kill him that night.

Castor. Tell Castor.

When the pressure on his chest alleviated, Neso crawled to his feet, blood running down his arm and chest like run-off from a shower. He tried to extend to his full height, but the cut pinched, forcing him to sag forward. Was this a trick? Neso was not so manipulative to think that. A hand clutched at the wound on his arm. It stung.

"Okay," he said, weakly. The senshi started to back away. "Okay, I will tell him."

Sailor Neso was shaken and scared, but he took the risk of turning his back to run away. And run he did -- he ran all the way to the red light district, a place where another senshi had told him you could get decent enough medical care without any questions. As for finding Castor? Neso wasn't sure if it he had it in him to share that most terrible message.