Done for the one hour challenge a week ago, I held this back because of the
theme.
Forgotten
by Ken Arromdee
The true Messiah, the one with the brightest pure heart of them all, a girl
named Tsukino Usagi, woke up screaming.
Her mother rushed into her bedroom. "Usagi, is something wrong? I just
heard you yell out."
"Eh heh heh. It was just a nightmare, Mom... I'm okay. I shouldn't be
yelling out because I have nightmares at my age, I suppose."
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yes, I'm sure."
And Usagi tried to sleep again. Soon after her head hit the pillow, she
fell sound asleep, and in her dreams, saw the apparition again. It had no
feet and was blurry, impossible to make out. It pointed at her. "Usagi...
Sailor Moon... where were you?"
She ignored the apparition and tried to sleep even more deeply.
* * * * *
"Rei, I had the dreams again. Do you think it's another enemy? How can
there possibly be anything else after Galaxia? She was supposed to be the last
one!"
"Hmm. Usagi, maybe you just ate too much ice cream."
"I did not, Rei! There are lots of places an enemy can come from. Maybe
they're from another dimension."
"There's no such thing as another dimension."
"Maybe not, but Rei, I mean it! There's something wrong, I can't keep
having that same dream for no reason and it feels so strong. Could I have
hurt someone and now their ghost is coming after me? It looked like a ghost in
the dream."
"When have you ever hurt anyone, Usagi?"
She thought it over. "Let me see... there was Queen Metallia, and
Wiseman, and Pharaoh 90... a whole lot of youmas. Oh, Mistress 9 too."
"Did it seem like a bad guy in your dream?"
"Well, no, Rei-chan, but...."
"Right, but. Next time you have a lot of ice cream, you can invite me
over to eat some of it and you won't have enough to give you bad dreams."
* * * * *
In a rare display of competence, the next time Usagi had the dream, she
tried to speak to the ghost. Somehow she knew that she wouldn't wake up until
the ghost went away... or else that she'd wake up to see it standing over
her for real. "Who are you? What did I ever do to you?"
"You... let me... die..."
"I didn't let anyone die! Except my friends, and I brought them all back.
Go away, I need to get some sleep for the test tomorrow." Then she realized
she was still asleep. "I mean some peaceful sleep."
* * * * *
"You're going to exorcise the ghost. Rei-chan."
"Why?"
"Because you're my friend and it's your job to do that anyway."
"It might not work", replied Rei.
"It's not going to work if you don't do it!"
"Fine." Rei pointed to the fire. "Sit in front of that and stare into
the flames for a while. I'll see what I can work out."
Rei walked away and finished the last 50 pages of her manga, letting Usagi
calm down a bit by staring at the flames, and then got out all her tools,
which was mostly some pieces of paper on a string, incense, and a book of
incantations.
She sat down in front of the flames, legs crossed, and tosssed the incense
in. After a long chant, she finished by exhorting the spirit to show itself.
Mist gathered together and formed into a blurry purple figure.
"Who are you, and why are you bothering Usagi?" asked Rei.
"She... brought back her friends... but forgot about me...."
"Are you a villain?"
"I may have been, but I died a hero. But when she got a chance to bring
everybody back to life, she forgot me...."
"But who are... oh, I get it." She almost broke out in laughter. "That's
funny. USAGI!"
The ghost didn't scare her much when she was awake (maybe it was her youma
experience) but being yelled at by Rei certainly still did. She looked at Rei
in anger.
Rei glared back. "When we were all dead, and you brought us back, why
didn't you try to bring back Nephrite too?"
"What? Oh, I never thought of doing that! Umm, maybe the Silver Crystal
is like the Dragonballs and you have to be dead less than a year. Oh, right,
the first time it was less than a year."
Rei continued. "If I were Nephrite, I'd be pretty annoyed by that, you
know. Here he is, he's a bad guy, but he redeems himself, and he dies soon
after that, and then you have a chance to restore the dead to life and you
just *forget*? Forgetting homework is one thing, resurrection is different!"
"Fine. Nephrite, I'm really, really, sorry. Next time I get a chance to
bring back the dead, I'll remember to include you in it."
The ghost looked at Usagi, nodded, and spoke. "Please try to remember
this time." It vanished.
"I guess that's over", said Usagi. "Thanks, Rei."
Suddenly another ghost appeared in the flame. She was instantly
recognizeable by the odango in her hair.
"Queen Serenity..." said Usagi. "I'm sorry, I forgot you too! Are you
satisfied? Please?"
The ghost looked at her disapprovingly, but vanished.
Then two more ghosts appeared in the flame. Their faces were clear, and
somehow Usagi recognized them, but they were no villains or heroes....
"Hey, who are you?" yelled Usagi. "And haven't I seen you before? Oh...
I know. I saw you in pictures. Sorry, Great-Grandpa, Great-Grandma. I
didn't think of you either. I'll be sure to do it next time." The ghosts
vanished.
To reveal an ethereal line of people, extending through the wall and
possibly endless. The next ghost in the line approached Usagi. And Usagi
looked at the line, and screamed.