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 Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2011 6:54 pm
The time that Fallon had spent without her henshin pen had been the longest of her life. Before this, she might have cited the painful days spent in the hospital after Wolframite attacked her. Back then, she was merely a civilian, delicate as paper. The thought brought a dagger to her chest. Ariana and the others had reduced her to that same state of helplessness. "They are trying to break me," she said harshly to the empty room. It was too hard to stay in Destiny City. She didn't want to talk to anyone, to see anyone.
After accosting Devorah in the apartment they shared, Fallon had fled the city limits. She was two towns over in a place that caught ripples of DC's crime wave, but was otherwise spared its death and destruction. There was a bed and breakfast here that she liked. She had come here once with her mother for a little time together. Iva. What was her mother up to? She had terrified the woman into silence as Ares. Now she couldn't even cross through the mirrorspace to see if Iva still twitched at her presence. Family had been sacrificed for this cause. And now her replacement relationships had abandoned her too.
In the new town, Fallon rented a room under the name Selene Cartwright and spent days lying on the plush bed, staring up at the ceiling. She barely ate, hardly slept. Magenta eyes stared out the window for hours, watching people pass by and cars zoom in and out of sight. Was this what normalcy was? Was this the joy that so many senshi were eager to get back to? When Fallon had a battle to plan, her fingertips hummed in anticipation. As a civilian, there was no other activity that brought her the same joy, not even cooking or sex. So Fallon sat alone in a room and plotted her revenge.
Her complacency had lasted awhile, but Fallon refused to be kept down. She had to find a way to get her pen back -- but how? None of her powered allies had come to her side, not that they could find her easily if they wanted to. Part of this was her own fault. Fallon was too ashamed of her fragility to reach out to those who might still support her. She didn't want them to see her like this. How could the warrior charge into battle without a weapon at her side? If she had been able to as a civilian, Fallon might have tried to reach out to the other parallels, but when she fled DC, she had left her cellphone behind too. What would they think to see her like this?
There was a knock at the door. Fallon rose from the bed and crossed to open it. The landlady stood there holding a plate with scones and tea. "Thank you, I can take this," Fallon said, grabbing the tray firmly and moving to set it on the table overlooking the window. When she turned, the woman was still there. "I'm sorry, did you need something else?" she asked.
The woman smiled. Lines cracked in her skin, radiating out to her gray hair pulled tight into a bun. "Are you all right, dear? A girl so young should not look so sad." Her voice sounded as rough and broken as her skin. The cardigan at her shoulders hung limply off of her thin frame.
Fallon watched her quietly. "Have a nice afternoon then, Miss Abrams. Thank you for the tea." She turned her back to the woman and began readjusting the tray, aligning it to the order that she preferred.
After a few moments, the door shut, and Fallon finally released the breath that she had been holding in.
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Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2011 6:56 pm
Madison Heller never questioned her Captain. Not when it was in lacrosse, not when it was in field hockey; Madison was many things that were distasteful, but she was a team player. Many people found this aspect of her to be somewhat startling, as she was expected to be the usual delinquent, not prone to accepting orders from anyone. But she had been trained from an early age to take instruction well, and she did put her trust in to those in positions above her. Which was why the current actions of the Blood Moon Court distressed her so much. It was one thing for their leader to be questions, quite another thing to mutiny against her. Madison trusted Sailor Ares like she trusted no other, though had never much said anything to Ares to make her think her loyalty was anything more than just words. It was more than just words, a certificate of loyalty to the new head of the parallels, and those that had decided to work with them. No, it was more that Fallon had not fallen apart when their Princess had... left, had strove to give them something to fight for again, had lifted Madison out of her depression and ordered her to move. Her life was on the brink of falling apart, more than it had ever been before, and it was caustic to feel that what she was doing every night was helping those around her. And she began to trust those in the BMC more than just colleagues, and though she had barely spoken with many of them, she treated them all with utmost respect.
Until now. Now, her leader had been dealt a vote of no confidence by a girl not even on her own level of power, and others had backed her. Sailor Gaia had been shocked in to silence, and Birhan Istat had taken her silence as agreement to the plot to take power from Sailor Ares. She had heard of the things that Ares had been accused of, but it was unimportant to Sailor Gaia; she did not question the use of excessive force in her day to day life, so why now? She believed that Birhan had seen what she had seen, but at the same time, she felt there could be more to the story. Besides, they were in a war; there would be civilian deaths, half the senshi were atom bombs just waiting to happen. It was naive to think that an unfortunate death of a civilian was something to jeopardize their whole set up.
She allowed Birhan, and the rest of the ISS, to believe that she was on their side, that she would accept their double cross, all the while plotting her own double cross. She had wished that Ares had trusted her enough to call her, let her know her position, but she accepted that she had played her part well enough that even her Captain felt that she had turned against her. It pained Sailor Gaia, knowing that Sailor Ares thought that everyone had turned against her, but it was important that Gaia be granted access to the ISS for as long as she could manage.
As long as it took to get Ares' pen back.
It had taken a week to glimpse a peek at the pen; it had been kept on Birhan Istat's person, which Gaia grudgingly accepted as rather smart, if quite annoying. Gaia had hoped that she would have left it someplace safe and forgotten about it, but she finally had to assume that Birhan Istat wasn't going to just leave it lying around. Until she did.
More to the point, Madison Heller bumped in to Birhan-- Ariana-- on the street, and scattered the contents of her purse on the ground. Including Ares' pen. Gaia grabbed it, handing it back to Birhan; Gaia was not stupid. Her plan was a tad more complicated than grab and go. It would do Ares no great service to grab what she desperately needed and then have it taken back by force over her subordinate's idiocy. Instead, Gaia waited a few days, a Monday, and broke in to Ariana's room. It was less breaking in, as much as it was mirror walking in to her room, and ransacking it as gently as she could. Her parents were at work, she was at school, and Madison was skipping school. A fairly normal day, and Gaia had waited for it with great pleasure. As much as she would have like to tear the room apart, Gaia needed to find the pen without Ariana being wise to her transgression, even if it only allowed her clemency for a night. That night there was to be another meeting of the ISS and Gaia doubted that Birhan would leave her house without the pen, but Gaia had made it so she didn't feel safe with the pen on her anymore. An accident, of course, but Birhan would assume her as the culprit as soon as she found the pen to be missing, so as much as she could, Gaia laid the articles of drawers back in their place. The pen was finally found in a copy of Anna Karenina, the pages cut away in order to fit the pen, the pages glued together. Gaia wondered briefly what the book might have held before the pen, as this was not something that you did in a day, but she frankly didn't care all that much. Replacing Ares' pen with a regular ballpoint, Gaia put the book back, and climbed back in to the mirror, a different destination in mind.
Sailor Gaia had already tried to find where Fallon was hiding, in the days prior to the reclaiming of the pen. She knew it couldn't be too far away, as Fallon would be loathe to leave her pen longer than she had to when her month was up. But Gaia soon found that she seemed to be outside of the city outskirts, which made finding her slightly more difficult. It wasn't until she remembered an offhand comment that Fallon had once made to her about a Bed and Breakfast that Madison even felt that she had a lead. She had come by the information in a way that she doubted that the rest of the BMC would recall such a conversation-- Madison had been asking if anyone knew a good place to stay a few towns over, for an upcoming Field Hockey tournament. The Bed and Breakfast had been Fallon's suggestion; she had even given a tiny smile, which was about as personal as you got with Fallon when she was in a leadership role.
Standing in front of the dirty mirror in the second floor bathroom of her house, Gaia took a deep breath. She had only been in one of the rooms in the Bed and Breakfast, and she doubted that she would be lucky enough to mirror walk in to Fallon's room; she just hoped that it was empty. Climbing in to the chilly glass surface, the walk took no time at all, and Gaia sighed unhappily when she found that there was light coming through the other side of the mirror. She hesitated for a moment, peering in to the room, hoping that the lights might have been left on by a patron, but there was a girl in the doorway, talking to an older woman.
A girl with dark hair in an intricate style that Gaia doubted that anyone else could replicate; she waited until the woman left, the mirror threatening to pull her out at any second, before allowing herself to step out of the lovely full length mirror. She loved full length mirrors, it was so much less ungainly.
She bent on one knee and waited for Fallon to address her, one hand extended with her pen in Gaia's open palm.
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Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2011 6:57 pm
Fallon stood over the tray of tea. It was chamomile. She could tell by the scent. There was a fresh circle of lemon resting gently in the base of a clear cup. Clear dishware was Fallon's favorite, but she lacked the peace of mind to appreciate it now. Painted nails brushed over the warm lid of the tea pot. She hooked a finger around the handle and lifted it. Her eyes caught on a hairline crack running from the base to one of the painted flowers gracing the pale blue surface. With the same methodic precision that she used in all aspects of her life, Fallon began to pour the steaming liquid over the lemon wedge.
The first splash muffled the sound of Sailor Gaia emerging from the mirror. If she was in henshin, Ares would have felt her eyes p***k in an instant, but as a civilian, her senses were dulled, like she was trapped underwater. It was only when the Senshi of Clay pressed a booted foot onto the carpet that Fallon became aware of her presence. She turned abruptly, teapot clenched in her hand as if to be thrown.
But there was no intruder. Instead there was Sailor Gaia in a pose of respect presenting the piece of her soul that had been taken from her. Fallon stared at the girl for a moment, and then let her eyes fall slowly to the pen.
No words left her mouth. Fallon turned to set the teapot down. Her bare feet shuffled across the soft carpet. In spite of her own pomp, Fallon knelt on the ground in front of Gaia. Her chin wrinkled, but she bit down on her tongue. There could be no tears. It would be an insult to the kindness and loyalty and dedication of the girl in front of her.
With a shaking hand, the teenager reached out and retrieved her henshin pen. Such a small thing, a tiny trinket. But the second she felt the weight of it in her palm, Fallon felt an indescribable tremor of power vibrate through her chest. "I didn't doubt you," she said firmly. "I never doubted you." It was as close to loving as she was capable of getting with the fellow parallel.
Getting to her feet, Fallon raised the pen over her head and phased immediately back into the form she existed to be: Eternal Sailor Ares.
Booted feet pressed into the clean carpet. Her heart was beating wildly, filled with more adrenaline than she could contain. Ares wanted to run. She wanted to scream. She wanted to rip out the hearts of every Blood Moon senshi who had crossed her and watch those pulsating muscles slowly crawl to a stop in her oozing palm.
Power, rage, and triumph filled her in an infectious cocktail. When she spoke, her words tipped with fire. "There is so much to be done, but I have to know -- how did you do it? And do they know it is gone?" It was hard for her to focus on the conversation. A thousand mental pictures of Birhan and Scylla and Gunn fleeing from her in terror filled her mind.
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Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2011 6:58 pm
Gaia hadn't expected anything from Ares, it wasn't why she had put herself at risk to get what she had lost back. It was only that she thought it had been wrong to take it like they had, without a trial, without an explanation, without any doubt that she had done something wrong. How were they to be a strong force if at the first sign of trouble they broke faith with their leader? How could they ever think they would be the same after this? It was as if they had all been irrevocably damaged, but no one made any mention to it. It was as if no one had realized how far they had gone, and how they could never go back. It would also be true to say that the rest of the Blood Moon Court also felt the same could be said about Ares' transgression, but Gaia was resolute in her belief that it was they that were in error.
Besides, she had made her choice, and knew she would never regret it, the moment that Ares told her she trusted her payment enough for the Parallel Senshi. She stood up from her kneeling position, the carpet was making grooves in her pale legs, and stood leaning against the wall, not knowing what to do with herself now that her job was complete.
"It won't be long before they know," Gaia admitted, explaining the events hurriedly, "there's a meeting tonight, and I doubt that Birhan Istat would leave the pen at home; I might be misjudging her, but I think she likes having it near her. Less of a chance that someone else would suffer the same fate that she condemned you to."
It was around four o'clock, so that gave them a number of hours before the meeting-- but Gaia could not ascertain exactly when Birhan Istat might find the pen missing.
"They might have discovered it missing by now, I can't guarantee she won't look for it before the meeting. And she'll know it was me, I mirrorwalked-- it was faster than picking her locks, and had less of a chance of a neighbour noticing it in broad daylight. I'm sorry that I couldn't give you more time."
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Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2011 6:58 pm
Ares took in the events as Gaia described them with a few curt head nods. One trick that the White Moon would never have? Mirrorwalking. It tipped the scales pretty heavily in the parallels' favor, she thought. "This will not be a strike against the entire Blood Moon Court," Ares said swiftly. "This will be a response to what was done to me by the three people who made the choice to do it. That is my Court. I will have it back. I will not watch it be taken from me." These things were said for her own benefit, if only to hear herself say them in this fuku.
The mirror behind Gaia reflected her image: swathed in black and lace and twirling ribbons. Her gray eyes settled pleasantly on her own reflection. She gripped her torch in one hand, twisted its metal in the soft skin of her palm. "I don't need more time," she said again. "Gaia, it is just you and me against the entire Court. I do not know where Laocoon or Zirconia stand. I don't even know where Albali stands, or any member of the Court." She rested the tip of her torch against the ground. "But I do have a plan. I'll need your help." The plan was a tiny kernel nestled at the back of her mind. She had to show the others that she was the one they needed to follow. She needed to shame Birhan and Scylla and Gunn -- eternal, super, and regular. She needed to do something to demonstrate to the Blood Moon Court that following Ares should be the only option.
Now, Ares just needed to know that Gaia would follow her down this road. War against fellow senshi. A battle for supremacy with her allies. It was the only answer that Ares could come to in her bitter, furious mind.
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Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2011 6:59 pm
There was no hesitation. Gaia gripped her clenched hand to her chance in a pose reminiscent of a salute, and nodded.
"Always, my queen." Gaia twisted her mouth in to a grin, anticipating a just battle in their future.
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Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2011 7:00 pm
Queen.
Ares' confidence faltered for a moment. Nehelenia was their queen -- a dead queen, but still the only one the girl had ever known. She understood what Gaia was trying to say though, the hope that she was instilling in the girl who had only just gotten her battle legs back. Her mouth folded into a thin line, and Ares shook their clasped hands.
Turning back toward the table by the window, Ares walked over and lifted the teapot. She quickly poured Gaia a glass. "Tea now," she said, passing the steaming mug to the Senshi of Clay. "Then we teach Birhan Isat what regret feels like." The Senshi of Smoke hoisted her tea cup into the air and clinked it with Gaia's, forming what was potentially the least intimidating 'cheers!' in the history of the world.
The true intimidation would come along soon enough.
Ares would not lose the Blood Moon Court. Never.
It was war.
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