The much awaited and maybe even anticipated edition to Sailor Moon:
Tragedy & Apology. Read, enjoy, or whatever you do with SM 'fics. =)
Sailor Moon: Tragedy & Apology
Part 2b
Artemis sat on the bed, Serena's unconcious body on the floor before
him. "Mighty undignified position for a young lady." He though to
himself as she stirred a little.
Serena groaned a little, touched a small bump on her head and propped
herself up on her elbow. "That hurt."
"Guess I should have asked you to sit down." He grinned.
"Would have been nice." She replied sarcasticly, then slowly climbed
to her feet as she looked at him perplexed, "Human?"
"Human." He confirmed with a nod. "Will you do this for me?" He almost
pleaded with her.
"Well, sure. But how?"
"With the crystal y..." Artemis bit back the insult.
"So why human?" She asked, pulling her compact off her blouse and
opening it revealing the crystal inside.
It flared to life with a blinding flash of pink light as it reacted
to Artemis' desire. Slowly the pink light faded, retreating into the
crystal as it was replaced by a brilliant white light that illuminated
from Artemis' body. His growl slowly became that of a human groan as
his body morphed and stretched. The light diminished as the
transformation neared its completion then was no more leaving the
unconcious naked form of Artemis' new body.
His frame was tall and slender, but still muscular. Bangs of white
hair came down to his unusually dark eyebrow. The rounds of his ears
were pointed slightly, a holdover from his cat form, along with his
slightly fanged eye teeth.
Serena watched, mouth agape, tried to drag her eyes off him but
couldn't until the screech of claws across her window broke her trance.
"Get something to cover him up." Luna commanded jumping through the
window as it opened.
"Err yeah right." She pulled a blanket off her bed, her face
becomeing a nice shade of red as she laid it over him.
Artemis stirred slightly, then his eyes snapped open. He pulled
himself into a sitting position then slowly got to his feet, the blanket
falling off him just as Sammy opened the door and looked in.
The room was envoloped in silence for a moment then was broken
abruptly. "Dad! Serena's got a naked guy in her room!" He yelled, taking
off down the hall.
"Wait Sammy!" Serena yelled running out of the room in pursuit.
"Out the window Artemis, and take the blanket!" Luna ordered jumping
onto the sill.
"Oh yeah. Got to remember I don't have a coat of fur anymore." He
joked grabbing hold of the blanket and wrapping it around him as he headed
for the window. He leaned through looking at the ground below, "You know, I
don't think I can make it."
The roar of Serena's father overreacting echoed through the house
shortly followed by the stomp of his feet coming up the stairs.
"Artemis, you don't have time to worry about that now." Luna said
impatiently. "Just jump"
Artemis climbed onto the sill, forcing himself to jump out just as
the door began to open. He hit the ground with a dull thud, pain
piercing through his joints on impact. Supressing the urge to vocalize
the pain he scrambled around the side of the house, taking refuge in the
shrubs.
"There better not be a boy in here." Her father warned entering the
room. He gave the room a quick scan then a thorough once over, turning
to Sammy when he found nothing. "You know better to lie young man. Go
to your room."
"But..." Sammy decided not to argue, instead opting for a cold glare
at his sister as he left.
Serena shut the door behind her father letting out a sigh of relief.
"So where did he go?"
"Out the window." Luna responded pointing with her paw.
Serena looked out in disbelief, then saw the footprints where he
landed. "That had to have hurt."
"You can come out now Artemis. Serena will get you some clothes."
Luna called out he window, quietly enough so that no one in the house
would hear.
"I guess I'll go get him some clothes." Serena said sarcasticly, then
turned and left. She returned a few moments later with some of her
fathers clothes and tossed them out the window. "Those should fit ok."
They fluttered down, the shirt landing on Artemis' head.
He looked at the clothes and let out a sigh. He had been human for
only a few minutes and not much had gone right. Now he had to wear this
human clothing which was proving very difficult to put on. "The girl." He
though, "Going through this for her." He smiled as her image went through
his mind and at the fact he finally got the pants on correctly.
He pulled the sweater on over his head with reletive ease once he
managed to get his unfamiliar limbs line up with the proper holes. Then
looked at the shoes, scowled at the laces. As a cat he hated velcro and
its awful tearing sound, but wished for it now.
Serena finally managed to get out of the house without her dad seeing
her, figured it might look funny her leaving right after that little
incident.
She found Artemis at the side of the side of the house struggling
with the laces and the shoes on the wrong feet. "Need some help with
that?" She smiled as she bent down and took over the job of getting his
shoes on correctly.
"Where you going to stay now?" Luna asked. She figured he probably
hadn't thought ahead and was going to enjoy making things tough on him.
"Umm hmmm. I guess Mina's is out of the question now." He chuckled
lightly. "Any suggestions?"
"How about Lita's. She lives alone." Serena offered.
"Or Rei's." Luna was quick to add.
Artemis pondered the choices turning his eyes skyward in though. "I
think..." he paused a moment, "Lita's would be best."
"Why Lita's?" Luna asked. The three of them began walking in the
direction of her house.
"She can cook." Artemis responed.
"Makes sense to me." Serena smiled and patted her stomach.
* * *
Lita looked up from her cooking wondering who was at the door. "Just
a minute!" She called, giving the stove a quick check to make sure
nothing was gong to burn. She opened the door and greeted them, blushing
when she saw Artemis.
"Lita, meet the new and improved Artemis." Serena modeled him like he
was an appliance.
"Hey! I was a good looking cat." Artemis cast his nose skyward.
"In your mind at least." Luna teased. Artemis aimed a kick at her.
Lita opened the door wider and motioned them in and gave Artemis a
long hard look as he walked by then whispered, "He looks just like my old
boyfriend." to Serena.
* * *
Serena awoke groggily, her mind slowly sorting dreams from reality.
Something it found exceedingly difficult to do as Serena frequently mixed
the two. Its biggest difficulty this morning was wether to file yesterdays
events under dream or reality. After much debating with the two halves of
itself it decided on reality and kicked Serena into late mode.
She jumped out of bed flailing her arms in her usual late panic.
She dressed quickly, ran down the stairs grabbing for anything that could
be eaten on the run.
Serena leaned over trying to catch her breath a the bottom of the
steps to Rei's temple, then ran up them. She would have been there
sooner if she was able to run anywhere without knocking over atleast a
half a dozen people on her way.
"Can't you ever be on time?" Rei asked in her usual sarcastic greeting.
"Only if..." Serena stopped in mid sentance. Mina, Rei, Ami but no
Lita. "Wait a minute. Your mad at me for being late and Lita isn't even
here yet."
"Hate to break up your lovers spat." Mina interrupted before it would
be to late to stop the argument that was about to ensue. "Has anyone
seen Artemis? He never came home last night."
"He spent the night at Lita's." Serena giggled.
The girls raised an eyebrow at that giggle. It was a dead give
away that she knew something they didn't. "Ok Serena, spill it." Rei
commanded.
"Well not with an attitude like that." Serena said. Then both of
them broke out into a staring match.
"Sorry we're late." Lita called as she arrived, dragging a beraggled
Artemis behind her. Luna was at his heels snipping insults and
complaints up at him.
Artemis jerked his arm out of Lita's grasp. "Was that bucket of ice
water really necassary?" He asked annoyed.
"Don't get mad at me. It was Luna's idea, and we had try'd
everything else to wake you up." She answered shifting the blame.
"Who's the cute guy Lita?" Mina teased lighly.
"Haven't you told them yet?" Luna asked Serena irritated.
"Err umm. Guys, meet the new and improved Artemis." Serena announced
useing the same method she used to introduce him to Lita.
Her words were met with blank stars from the three girls, as well as
dragging a low grumble from Artemis. Their shock lessoned slowly as they
began looking him over.
"You know what you need?" Mina looked over his clothes. "Shopping
trip!" She yelled with a large smile.
"Wha..." Artemis succumbed to the girls grasp as he tried to escape
from his impending doom.
* * *
Artemis was dragged through the mall by the five energetic
girls, his arms full of parcels, his companions seemingly oblivious to his
dislike for shopping. Only two things kept him going. Mina, and the
glares of envy from other guys in the mall. But even those weren't
enough to make him to continue.
"No more." Artemis pleaded, taking a seat on a bench and dropping his
bags and boxes. "I can't go on."
"But we're just getting warmed up." Mina tugged on his arm lightly.
"Warmed up indeed." His voice dipped into sarcasm and annoyance.
"You've been dragging me around this mall all day. I haven't had
breakfast, you wouldn't let me stop for lunch, and it's almost dinner.
No more."
"Aww, is Artemis tired." Mina tried goading him into continueing,
only recieving a glare instead. She wasn't ready to give up yet, though.
Changing her approach, she put on a sad puppy dog face. "Just one more
store, please?"
He managed a tired smile and gathered the parcels he dropped a moment
ago as he stood up. "The things I put up with for a pretty face." He
thought to himself while being dragged to what he figured would be his
demise.
"Go ahead without me." Serena said spotting Andrew coming out of a
florist shop, flowers in hand. She ran over to him, "For me?" She asked
with a phony bashful expression.
Andrew pulled a rose from the bouqet and handed it to her.
"Actually for Reita. She'll be arriving on a flight this evening.
Heading to the airport now."
"Then I won't keep you." She brought the flower to her nose. Its
scent drew a smile and tears to her eyes reminded of the love she had
lost.
"Serena," He pause a moment, trying to keep his words from being
insulting. "I hear your haveing trouble with your grades."
"You could say that." She forced a small chuckle. She had already
resigned herself to accepting that she would fail this semester and tried to
avoid thinking about it.
"Well, why don't you come by tomorrow. I'll give you a hand with
your school work." He offered.
"You don't have to do that. It's too much trouble." She
responded, searching for a way out.
"It's no trouble." Andrew insisted. It was apparent to him she'd
need to be trapped into accepting his offer.
She realized he wasn't going to give up so easily and decided to play
the best hand she had. "Won't you want to spend time with Reita tomorrow?"
He suppresed a smirk. It was a nice attempt but he knew something
she didn't. "She has to go to the University tomorrow."
Her hand was beaten. To late to use the doctor or dentist excuse,
and any others were to obvious as to what they were. "Well ok, if your sure
it's no trouble." Her final chance for escape rested on it being too much
trouble.
"Checkmate." He thought to himself. "No, no trouble. Around 10am ok
for you to come by?" He asked.
"10 is fine." She answered conceading defeat.
"See you then." He smiled and waved as he hurried off.
She waved and groaned inwardly as he walked off. "Wonderful." She
thought, "He'll try and help me. I'll still fail and he'll feel bad."
Only shopping or the arcade would make her forget her worry. Being in a
mall, she opted for shopping. Turning, she went to catch up to Artemis and
his agents of torment.
* * *
A young lady stood, looking out the window as planes came and went.
She rocked her suitcase back and forth in front of her, unaware of the man
that approached silently from behind as her thoughts were far away.
She jumped and spun around as the man touched her shoulder. "Andrew!"
She said startled, "Didn't see you coming."
"For you M'Lady." He handed her the bouqet with a silly grin.
She dried a tear as it formed. "They're beautiful." Her voice wavered
as she kissed his cheek gently.
He relieved her of her suitcase then took her hand. "Up for some
dinner, or maybe just head over to my place?" Andrew asked with a
lighthearted tone.
"Dinner." Reita smiled. She wanted to lean against him, to gather
strength for what she was going to do. But the cruel irony in it
prevented her from doing so.
* * *
The day of shopping over, Ami and Rei waved goodbye and left in
opposite directions. Artemis sruggled with the packages, looking between
the three remaining girls for any sort of assistance but none was
forthcoming.
"Well, I should get going too." Serena said as she looked at her
watch. "Mom will have a fit I'm late for dinner again."
Artemis grumbled along with his stomach at the word dinner.
"Something I'll probably never get to eat again."
Mina couldn't hold back her smirk as she rolled her eyes. Cat or
human he was the same, always complaining. "Gotta run." She said turning
to leave.
"Wait!" Artemis blurted out, immediatly wishing he hadn't and
wondered what had possessed him to do so. He stared at the ground
managing an occasional sheepish look at her. Taking a deep breath, he
forced words that he wasn't ready to ask out. "Would... Would you
like to... togooutwithmetoamovieorsomething?"
* * *
The conversation was virtually nonexistant in the car and the same
as they ate dinner. Andrew could tell something was worrying her. His
conversation attempts usually were responded to by one word answers or
simple nods. "Is there something wrong?" He finally asked.
A long silence passed before Reita responded. "Andrew," she paused
to gather courage, "I've met someone else."
He didn't respond. There was nothing for him to say. He pushed his
chair back from the table, stood and left, scoffing in his mind at her
words "I'm sorry." as he past her.
----------------
The end of part 2b.. Continued in part 2c or 3a, haven't decided yet.
As usual, comments go to 'ue921@freenet.victoria.bc.ca' along with flames
and anything else you may wish to.
Big thanks to Windlily for her time and effort into editing his fic.
Something it much needed. =)
[Insert anything I forgot to say here]
Teaser of Sisters ~~~\ || /~~~ Watcher of Sailor Moon
Player of Tekken 2 ---- Bamboo ---- Reader of Mangas
Avatar of Cuteness ___/ || \___ Author of Fanfics
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