Yeah, Yeah. I know I'm late for my own deadline for this.
Anyway here comes Lavender #2 !
Disclaimer:
All SM characters owned by Naoko Takeuchi.
Lavender and Apollo are mine. If you wanna use them ask permission
first.
C&C and MSTs are always welcome.
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// = thoughts
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Lavender # 2: Wake-up Call
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Night usually brought quiet. Usually.
This night was an exception as a full moon illuminated the scene of carnage
below. A large crater was in the center of a vacant lot in the Juuban area.
It was similar to what happened a several months ago both in the extent of
damage and the crowd it attracted. Especially five teenage girls.
' Hey, wasn't this what happened before Ail and Ann appeared ?' Makoto
said as she surveyed the damage done to the place.
' Yes. But there was no report of a comet sighting tonight.' Ami said as she
also looked at the crater. She looked over at Usagi and Rei who were doing
there usual verbal duel. It ended with both of them sticking out their tongue.
' Fortunately the Mercury computer was on when the explosion happened.
I got a few readings.' Ami said as she turned to look at Makoto.
' The thing is the closest thing I have that resemble the readings were what
I got from Hotaru when she's in her Saturn form.'
' WHAT ?!?! ' Minako, who was also currently looking at the crater, said in
dismay as she looked to Ami. ' You mean she's - '
' No. I called up Haruka and Michiru immediately after I got the readings.
Hotaru seemed to be affected by it but it was not her. I'll go to their place
tomorrow to check her out.'
' We better start training again. You know how these things work.' Rei
said as she joined the conversation. ' Something weird happens and then
we get a new batch of enemies. I can't sense any thing but it's better to
be prepared.'
All five girls agreed as they left the area.
Atop a nearby building a caped figure held a white cat in it's arms as it looked
down on the scene below. Moments later it moved away, casually leaping from
roof to roof, lavender cape billowing in the wind .
**************************
On the other side of town, two women were discussing something over cups of
coffee.
' All we saw was Hotaru suddenly sitting up, screaming and her sigil flaring up.'
Haruka Te'nou said before she sipped from her cup of coffee. ' Are you sure you
don't know anything about this, Setsuna ?'
Setsuna Mei'ou, The Guardian of Time responded in the negative.
' As far as I can tell this is not supposed to be happening ! ' she said in an
exasperated tone that Haruka never heard her use before. ' And when I try
to use my future sight on this event all I get are visions of mists and the sigil
of Saturn.'
Haruka smiled a bit at the thought of the all-knowing Guardian of Time knowing
nothing though the smile quickly vanished when she noticed Setsuna glaring
daggers at her. // Forgot that she could read minds // she thought as she
squirmed uncomfortably under Setsuna's gaze. She was thankful for Michiru
entering the room. ' How's Hotaru ?' Haruka asked her , a bit worried.
' She's fine now . Though she kept muttering something about cats and pain.'
she said as she mixed herself a cup of coffee.
' Well, I need to really look into this incident. I don't like surprises.' Setsuna
said as she stood up and changed into her Senshi uniform. ' It seems
harmless enough but you never can tell.' With that the Senshi of Time
disappeared.
' I hope everything's okay.' Michiru said as she sat in her chair at the table.
'Yeah, me too. ' Haruka said as he took another sip of coffee.
**************************
Pain....darkness...light...as these simple thoughts started to coalesce in the
animal mind of a white-furred cat, other more complicated thoughts were
starting to form in its frontal lobe. Visions of battles, of people and of a
kingdom of great beauty..........
.........of being fed by a raven-haired girl with the most beautiful purple eyes.
.......of lords and ladies of court.
.....of a pampered life, gorging on delicacies.
...of the girl growing old and marrying a man in a uniform of black.
..and of death, searing fire burning its flesh.
At this thought the cat awakened, opening it's eyes in a flash. Or tried to.
One of it's eyes would not open or rather could not open. With it's limited
vision it could see a nicely furnished room with a man-thing resting on the
soft-thing. //No, not man-thing. A person. A man.// the thought flashed
through the cat's mind. He was wearing a mask, that hid his face, hair as
black as night contrasting with the white of the smiling face mask.
//Lavender.// A thought flashed through the cat's head once again. Lavender.
The name of the man. He suddenly stood up from the soft-thing. // No. A
couch //, thought the cat,// that's a couch//. The cat became more confused
at the thoughts it was hearing. The man it only knew as Lavender turned his
face to look at it. The mask's unblinking gaze was unnerving as it looked
at the cat. The cat was uncomfortable until the man broke the silence.
' Well, Apollo. Nice to see you again.'
' Apollo ? Who's Apollo ?' the cat said in a high-pitch voice. At the sound of
his own voice, a look of shock flashed across it's face. ' How - '
' Don't worry, Apollo. You're always this surprised to hear your own voice.'
The masked man said as he walked over to a nearby table, and picking up
a box.
The cat looked at the masked man as he approached. He seemed to be kind
enough but he knew humans were not to be trusted. It looked around for the
nearest exit, but the man was already in front of it, opening the box.
' Now, Apollo , as always your right eye was removed when you awakened.
The eyepatch should remove all discomfort that would come from the wound.'
The cat was wondering how he could understand the man. It knew it could
understand a few words in the man-tongue but never this comprehensive. And
it was thinking much more clearly. It knew that the square-thing was a box,
the wooden-four-legs was a table and such stuff. He could tell that the man
before him wore a tuxedo, dress shirt and pants. // But the color is awful.//
the thought emerged in it's head. It could do nothing but agree with the voice.
Purple was not something you usually used for tuxedoes. It saw the man pull
an eyepatch out of the box and proceed to attach the cloth piece to his head.
The itching where it's right eye used to be suddenly stop.
' So Apollo, your head fixed up ? ' the man asked him as the cat looked at him
wonderingly. It had not been treated this way in a long time. And there was
an impulse within it to trust the man.
' I think so.' the cat responded, amazed that it could talk in man-tongue.
' Good.' The man said as he went to get another box. He retrieved it and strode
back to where the cat lay. He put the box in front of it, giving it an opportunity
to examine it closely.
It looked something akin to a tool box. The cat wondered how he knew what a
tool box was. It was black and seemed to be made of a something mettalic.
// Mettalic. What's that ?// the cat wondered to itself as he got an answer from
another part of his mind. // It's made of some sort metal.//
The man pressed a complicated series of motions all over the box and a moment
later a hiss came from the container as it opened. It contained a number of wicked-
looking surgical implements that made the cat wince. A part of it was saying it
should calm down another part was saying it should go and run. As this internal
conflict went on inside the cat, the man picked up a syringe from the box.
' OK, Apollo, time to go sleepy for awhile.' the man said as he prepped the syringe,
letting a few drops come out.
The cat's animal mind screamed. It had suffered enough. A rational voice in it's mind
was telling it to just relax. But the cat was still in trauma from it's recent experience
and it was still mostly animal though it had normal human thoughts.
It is needless to say that the screaming part of the mind won.
What happened next was pure instinct , as the cat sat up on it's four legs, determined
to get out. Suddenly it felt as if his limbs were on fire , but this fire was not painful.
This fire gave it strength. From the man's stance one could tell that he had noticed
the glow and he straightened up a bit, as if readying himself to take a punch.
The Sigil of Saturn flared on it's forehead and a concentrated blast of black and
silver energy slammed into the man sending him sprawling. The cat turned to
the window and once again the sigil flared as another blast shattered the window.
Instinct took over though a voice in it's head was screaming at it for hurting the
master.
// Feh. I have no master. I walk alone.// The cat thought to itself as it silenced
the thoughts. It wondered how it managed to do what it did and why there was
a feeling of wrongness to it.But the cat shrugged it off and followed it's instincts.
And it's instincts told it to get out. Now.
The cat moved with feline grace as it jumped out, into the night.
********************
The masked man lay still in his position for a few moments before he started
to move. A slight groan of pain came from behind the mask as the man stood
up. He raised his hand up the front of his scorched shirt.
' Good thing, I put the shield up. ' he grunted as he swayed a bit. ' Damn that
stings !'
He held on to the wall for support when he heard a slight knock on the door.
' Takashi-san ? I heard an explosion and I was worried. Are you alright ?' a
worried woman's voice said on the other side.
The man stood up straight , showing control as he moved towards the door.
One hand went to his mask and another went to an ice bag conveniently placed
by the door. The hand holding the icebag joined the other in pressing to his
face.
Beneath the hands, the mask began to glow.
********************
Sayuri Aoshima was worried about her border. Coming and going in the middle
of the night. Explosions too, though those were rare. Still her border was her
responsibility. That's why she was here at one in the morning knocking at her
tenant's door.
The knob turned and the door opened. She was relieved to see a young woman
with a pageboy haircut in a lab coat over a black shirt and grey slacks. An
icebag was pressed on her forehead just above one of her lavender eyes.
' Takahi-san, are you all right ?' she asked.
' Everything's fine, Aoshima-san. Just another experiment gone wrong.' her tenant
answered peering at her strangely with those lavender eyes of hers. They really
were beautiful.
' Are you sure ? Maybe you should go - '
' No, Aoshima-san. I'm fine. Everything's allright. Go back to sleep. I'll be allright.'
she said, her eyes seemed to flash, light from the nearby lightbulb glinting strangely
from it.
' Oh, alright. As long as you're OK.' Sayuri said as the door closed and a click
signaling it being locked. Takashi-san was fine. She said she was fine.
Everything will be alright. Don't worry about anything. Better go back to sleep.
That which she did.
********************
The image of the woman shimmered as the door closed to be replaced the masked
man. He put the icebag back at it's place and walked to the broken window. The
mask peered into the darkness of the city night.
' Damn, too far gone and the masking spell is still too strong. I'll have to start looking
tomorrow.' he said as shook his head a bit. He pulled the curtains to try to make up
for the broken window. he then went over to pick up the fallen syringe and box. After
putting the syringe in, he pressed a panel on the box and it once again hissed as it
sealed itself.
' Better take a rest first. The blast hurt more than it should.' he said ruefully as he
shook his head a bit once again. ' You're getting rusty, Lavender.' he said a trace of
amusement in his voice. He pressed the light switch off as he opened the door to his
dark bedroom.The room was plunged into darkness except for the shaft of moonlight
from the shattered window that struck the table in the center of the room. The sound
of something being thrown onto it could be heard.
It was the mask, face smiling eerily in the weak moonlight.
__________________________________
OK, Any C&C about this, I welcome since I need someone
tobeat my style into shape again. This is the first time I wrote
fiction , any fiction, in three months, so I'm a bit rusty. And
Lavender will never be used as a viewpoint character so don't
complain about that. It makes him more mysterious that way.
About the Synopsis List Review, it will be delayed because
I got kicked in the head by the Muse and am working on
creative overdrive. The cups of chocolate and Coke littered in
the sink are proof of that. Heck I got Lavender #5 written up
already, I'm just cleaning #3-5 up and my Alternities series
is being started up. Matthew Lewis, if you're reading this after
I finish the above fics get ready to pre-read Chapters 2-10 of
'Guns of the Immortal'. If I find the notebook where I wrote them
and manage to transcribe them in time. And BG Conspiracy is
being cleaned up and kicked around in my head as the caffeine
once again kicks in. Aaaand my Ranma fic ' For Eternity ' is
going to be finished even if it's the last thing I do. Damn, I'm
ranting again. Better return to my fics before my mouth starts
foaming.
Lavender #3-5 and Alternities will come out Monday. I hope.
____________________________________________________________
' Writers are the torchbearers of civilization. We're set in a corner only we
can illuminate.Some of us are searchlights, able to cast a beam into the
far reaches of the human soul.Some of us are candles , barely able to
sustain a glow against the darkness. Nevertheless the words I write
are important, because light is additive. Another's light doesn't diminish
my own. Our lights together make us stronger.'
- (After much paraphrasing and reaaranging) Roger Martin
' ... there's a hell
of a universe next door ; let's go '
e.e. cummings ' Pity the Busy Beast Manunkind '
' How can a person live in a world where she can hear voices only she
can hear and visions that only she can see ?'
- (Paraphrasing) Shirley Jackson
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