Setsuna sat on the steps, breathing heavily. She'd done entirely too much running this evening, without a single thing to show for it except sore feet. She took off her right shoe and winced with mingled pain and relief as she stretched her toes inside her socks. Sore feet and at least one monster blister. Maybe she should have transformed into a senshi before starting her search, but she was much more innocuous as a college student. Sailor Pluto would have to spend too much effort in not being noticed. She put her shoe back on and took off the other as she shifted her seat slightly. The cement steps were cool this early in the afternoon. Thank goodness it was early fall-too late in the year for it to get really hot.
She looked around in exasperation as she put her second shoe back on. Nothing was wrong-at least, nothing she could pinpoint exactly. Everything seemed to be a bit off. There seemed to be more women out, for example, and they were dressed slightly differently, as if the hemlines had risen an inch in the last few hours, and Setsuna hadn't been informed.
She rested her chin on her palms and her elbows on her drawn-up knees as she silently surveyed the quickly moving populace. That seemed to be it-one of the little things that had been wrong-the styles had changed slightly. She would have noticed it sooner, except she was expecting something much more drastic, like a different party in control of the government, or different names for important streets.
She leaned back to tug on her skirt, feeling uncomfortable for being out of style, even though that was a minor concern compared to her others. With an irritated twitch of her lips she sat back up and smoothed imaginary wrinkles off her lap as she thought.
Such a small change was much harder to correct than a large one, simply because it was such a subtle thing to track down and find. If she'd been guarding the Time Gate like she was supposed too. . . Setsuna shook off her self-recriminations. She'd had to develop a normal, time-bounded life to keep an eye on the other senshi, and she couldn't very well abandon it now-it would cause too many questions. She'd set herself up so well it would be difficult to "kill" Setsuna off without raising too many questions, and going back to undo what she'd done would make it so she'd never exist as Setsuna at all, effectively forcing her to start all over again. Not a pleasant prospect. If only seeing the future was as easy as the past.
Which brought her back to the present problem. How could she search out the source of the time anomaly? Whoever was changing things had come out of the future, or she would know about this already, and they had the ability to travel through time. It would be impossible to track anything down until she ran across a change she could trace back, or until she found out who this new enemy was.
She considered taking this to the other senshi. Maybe they would notice something they could tell her if they kept their eyes open. She shook her head in frustration. That wouldn't work-the other senshi lived exclusively inside the time line. When it changed, they would too. Why worry them when there was nothing they could do about it? Setsuna looked up with determination in her eyes and squared her shoulders.
It was all up to her.
*****
Hito shivered. He heard his teeth chatter and wrapped his arms around himself in a vain attempt to hoard his body heat. Something poked him and he heard a familiar and frightening voice urge him to wake up. With a reflex of fear he curled into a tighter ball, praying the owner of that voice would leave soon.
"Wake up!" Poke. "Wake up, damn you!" She poked at him harder this time and he barely managed to stifle a grunt of pain. "I know you're awake. Don't cause me these problems, boy, or I'll kill you. It took me a bit of effort to find you, but I can find another if I have to." This time she kicked him and he closed his eyes tighter and bit his lip. "Very well then, boy. Goodbye." Hito cracked one eye open and looked up to see the woman raising her staff up over her head. She wouldn't! She wouldn't kill him. . .would she? He already knew she was nuts. . . She answered his silent question as she began to bring the staff back down in a whistling arc that was aimed straight for his head.
With a yell he rolled along the ground, out of danger. He felt the floor shiver with the force of her blow as the staff crashed into the ground. He scrambled to his feet and backed away from her. "Okay, okay, I'm awake! Don't do that!"
He looked around and gasped. While he'd been out she'd brought him someplace else. There was a door in front of him, ancient and ornate, standing in the middle of nowhere. Because that's where he was-nowhere. It was like they were standing inside a cloud, only there was something relatively solid beneath his feet. He brought his bare arms up and rubbed them vigorously in an attempt to warm himself. He was still wearing nothing but his boxers, and he was covered with goosebumps from the cold wind that blew perpetually, yet somehow didn't disturb the foggy surroundings.
"Wh-where am I? What do you want?"
She looked at him curiously, absently twirling her staff in one hand. "This is my home." Her lips twitched and she stopped twirling her staff to wave it around the eerie fog bank they stood in. "Come on in. So glad you could stop by."
"Where are my parents? What do you want?"
"Your parents are fine. If you do what I want you might even be able to go back to them without them ever realizing you've gone."
"What do you WANT!?!?"
She closed her eyes and held out her hand, and some of the fog parted a little ways, revealing a pile of clothing. "I want you to put those on, for now. Later I'll tell you what you need to know." When Hito just stood in front of her, shivering and staring in confusion, her face darkened. "Now! Go! I may have plenty of time, but I'm very short on patience!"
Hito quickly walked up to the small pile and began to pull on the clothes over his shorts, wrinkling his nose. "These are old! Where did you get clothes like this? From a museum?"
The woman had calmed down again, and looked at him with those frighteningly serene eyes. "Actually, when I got them, they were new."
"No way! There's no way you're old enough to have had these! Look! They're from before World War II! You're not even thirty yet, lady." She didn't answer him, just smiled faintly and waited.
Finally he put on the distasteful outfit and stood up, nervously shifting from foot to foot. "Well? Now what? Can I go home now?"
"Of course not! How do they fit?" The woman stepped around him, looking him over in the way a patron would examine an expensive piece of art before purchasing it. "They fit well. Good. You won't stand out too much." She stepped back again. "I need you to go someplace and talk to somebody." She looked down with an intense expression and the strange door began to glow. She raised her head again and held out her hand. In it was a golden key, glowing faintly. "Take the Time Key."
Hito didn't even hesitate this time-he really didn't want to make her get angry again, if he could help it. As he picked it up he gasped. It almost felt as if it were alive. It was warm and seemed to pulse in his hand. The woman carefully closed his fingers over the small key, and he was too mesmerized by the strange object to flinch at her touch. "What is it for?"
"When you've done what I've asked, use this to get back here."
Hito forgot his fear in a sudden rush of anger. "But you said I could go back home when I was done! I don't want to come back here."
She patted his cheek. "Don't worry. The only way to get home from where you're going is to come here first. I keep my promises. I always have." She stood up straight again. "Now, to tell you exactly what you'll be doing." She pointed at the floor. "Sit."
Hito sat down without comment and prepared to listen intensely. The sooner he finished doing whatever it was she wanted done, the sooner he could go home.
*****
Setsuna felt her feet begin to pick up their pace as she neared her home. It was late-hopefully Michiru or Hotaru had saved a bit of dinner for her. She was looking forward to sitting down. Maybe she should take out some cash and buy herself a pair shoes better suited for walking. Come to think of it, she hadn't purchased any new clothes for herself in a good month. Or maybe she could buy some cloth and sew herself an original outfit. There was a design for a cute fall dress she'd be thinking aboenut. . .
She stopped her quick walk toward the warm, inviting light emanating from the house and stood in the darkness to berate herself. Why was she thinking about things like this right now? Such inconsequential things were nothing when held up to the fact that someone was interfering with the time stream. Maybe she just didn't want to think about it. Yes, that was it. She was tired of worrying about it.
Too bad. She had to worry about it until the problem was solved. Tonight she would have to research history, to see if anything recognizable had changed. And she would have to find an innocuous reason to visit all the senshi-this could be an enemy plan to distract or even destroy the Sailor Team. Since she was the only person who would even recognize any difference between the old time stream and this one, she was their only chance at stopping this person, whoever it was.
She resumed walking home and cursed at the fate that made all this start to happen during the school year. It would be so much easier to do all of this during holiday. Setsuna shrugged and sighed. There you had it. Life was just never fair. She walked up to the door and opened it. Michiru looked up at her in surprise, and Pluto noted with worry that her hair was longer than she remembered it this morning. It was affecting the senshis' lives too. Not good.
"Setsuna?!" Michiru stood up and looked at her with worry. "What are you doing here? Don't you have class in five minutes?"
Definitely not good.
*****
Hito tugged at the neckline of his shirt. It was so hot here! Why couldn't that weird lady have picked something cooler for him to wear! His feet hurt too-it was hard to believe that what he was wearing used to pass as shoes. He began to feel sorry for his parents if they'd had to wear things like this in their childhood. He wanted to sit down on the ground or walk around a little, but the lady had insisted he could not budge from the spot she set him in. People had been gathered in the street when he'd arrived, and he'd been grateful it was still dark, or everyone would have noticed his strange arrival-stepping through a door that wasn't there. Now he was being crushed and jostled by a huge mass of people, and he often had to fight to keep his spot near the front. Many of the adults were shocked at his impolite behavior when he refused to move for someone older than him, but he already knew he was much more frightened of the lady in black than he was of these people.
Now he just had to remember to say exactly what she'd told him to say. He shivered a little as he thought about it. This was time travel! He was actually standing in Japan during World War II, before his parents had even been born. And now he was going to say something that could change the whole war.
He'd considered not saying it during his long hours of waiting. After all, if he changed the outcome of the war, wouldn't he change his own future? Maybe his parents would never be born, and so he couldn't exist. Maybe. . .
He could come up with infinite 'maybe's, but there was one fact he couldn't forget-they were all only possibilities while the lady was a definite reality. And he wanted to go home.
Suddenly the murmur of the huge crowd rose in volume and Hito leaned forward. There it was, the military parade the woman had told him to watch for. Now he just had to find the right young man. . .there he was! The one the lady had told him about. With a grin of triumph-he was almost done! Soon he'd go home!-he ducked under the soldiers holding the enthusiastic crowd back and ran into the middle of the parade. He heard angry curses and shouts as people tried to stop him, but the woman had told him he had to say his line to the young man. Finally he neared the man-only a few years older than himself-and stifled a laugh as the boy's eyes widened in surprise at the crowd of people chasing Hito.
"What are you doing, boy?" the young man asked arrogantly.
Hito grabbed the front of his uniform and pulled him close, ignoring angry gasps coming from those who watched. "Listen to me. The Americans have broken your code. They can understand all your encrypted messages."
The young man's eyes flickered, but he gave no other sign of worry as he laughed. "Don't be silly. Of course they haven't broken our code. We can not lose this war-the gods and the emperor are with us."
Hito swallowed as a huge hand grabbed the back of his collar and began to yank on him. He held tighter to the man's uniform, hoping the cloth would hold up. He hadn't said everything yet-he bared his teeth in determination. He had to do this right or that woman would never let him go! "It's true! Look, it's easy to test! Send an encoded message they can't ignore and see if they respond! It will cost you nothing if I am wrong, and the war if I am right!"
The young man pulled his desperate hands off his uniform and gestured angrily at the multiple men that now held Hito. "Put him in a holding cell. We'll want to question him."
Hito fell silent. He'd done what the woman had told him to do, and now he was going to jail. He dejectedly let the soldiers drag him off the street. Why bother fighting? He already knew he'd lost. Why? Why had this mad woman picked him to torture? Didn't she have anything better to do?
The soldier threw him into a gray cement cell with black iron bars and locked the door. Hito picked himself up off the hard ground and wrapped his hands around the cold bars as he tried to peer around. It appeared as if he were alone in the whole cellblock.
"Hello? Hello-oh!" No response. "Hey! Is anyone there?" He heard panic enter his voice. He didn't want to be alone here like this! "Anyone?"
"Shut up in there!" He recognized the gruff voice of one of the soldiers who'd brought him here and slumped to the ground. Well, at least he wasn't completely alone. Seeking more comfort he took out the strange key the woman had given him and ran his hands over it. He hung his head and closed his eyes. What a terrible day this was turning out to be! It was all a huge mistake, a giant bad dream that he couldn't wake up from.
"Very good, Hito. You succeeded. Why don't you get up off that floor now?"
Hito raised a tired head and laughed a little hysterically. "You came back! I thought I'd be stuck here!"
The woman leaned over and touched the key he was still holding. "Didn't you remember? I need you to touch the key with your bare skin and wish to leave to get to you. I can't leave my post for long. Stand up now, we're going to go. Unless you wish to remain here?" She raised a fine black eyebrow at him and he quickly climbed back to his feet.
"No! No, I want to go now! I'm ready!"
"Good. Hold on now!"
Reality wavered around him again and he closed his eyes to shut out the terrible sight.
*****
Setsuna winced as she ran-she'd definitely have to soak her feet after class. They were protesting her harsh treatment of them very strenuously. Gasping, she finally came to the lecture hall. She was only about five minutes late-the professor would be annoyed at the interruption, but it could be a lot worse, she supposed. She was already feeling a bit confused as two different pasts warred for dominance in her mind. She could distinctly remember two slightly different yesterdays, and the experience was very disorienting. Setsuna only hoped she could get this resolved soon. But first things first-astrophysics first, then seeing to her feet, then she'd do some more serious research into the divergence of the time stream.
That decided, she began to walk up the staircase. Her foot was hovering above a step when she felt another shock wash over her body. It was much stronger this time, she almost lost consciousness. Her foot began it's trip down to the next stair as she began to run forward with worry, but to her surprise her foot kept going down and she tumbled forward. She looked down and gasped as the rest of her support wavered and shook and disappeared. The building around her shimmered out of existence, no more substantial than a mirage, and she fell down to land in the middle of someone's garden. She blinked a few times, still disoriented by the huge shift in the time line.
"Hey! What are you doing in my garden, woman! Get out!" A middle-aged man, dressed in traditional Japanese clothing, strode out the house on one end of the walled garden, an angry look on his face.
Setsuna slowly pulled herself to her feet and began brushing off dirt and a few small stones. Finished, she gave him a deep bow of apology. "Gomen nasai! I fell, and happened to land here."
The man didn't seem to be in a forgiving mood. He crossed his arms and snorted. "'Fell'? From where, the sky?" Setsuna didn't reply, just watched him warily. What could she say? The man waited for a few seconds, then frowned and pointed toward a door in the wall. "Fine then. Just go, before I call the authorities."
Setsuna gave him another quick bow and quickly scurried out of the garden. The man turned away and Setsuna thought she heard him mutter something about gaijin. As soon as she stood outside she froze, completely unprepared for the sight that met her eyes. It almost looked as if she'd traveled back in time. All of the buildings looked as if they'd been built in the old way, and as Setsuna scanned the crowds, most everyone was wearing traditional clothing and hairstyles. Many of the pedestrians gave her untrusting glances and hurried away from her. What had happened here?
Feeling distinctly uncomfortable, Setsuna tried to reconcile three sets of memories now. She put her hands to her temples and tried to think. As a new memory struck her she gasped and snapped her eyes open to look around. Someone had warned the Japanese that the Americans had broken their code, and as a result, the Japanese had managed to fight the United States to a standstill. Japan and the United States were the two superpowers in this time line, both having enough nuclear weapons to blow the other country to bits. Hiroshima and Nagasaki had never happened. Americans were the enemy, their cultural influence had been fought until there was barely a trace of it anywhere. As Setsuna continued to walk down the street toward home she noticed small concessions to modern conveniences here and there, but most of them were well camouflaged. She stopped as she approached her neighborhood. She couldn't remember her own life here. She had no idea who she was in this time line. Maybe Setsuna had never existed here. She cast back through her mind in a desperate attempt to find something, but it seemed to be useless. Very well, then. She would find the senshi and see if they knew her. With three different memories she was having a hard time deciphering things herself-anyone else's mind would be clearer right now.
That decided she scanned for a memory of where Mercury was in this present. She or Neptune would be most able to handle the nasty surprise she was going to have to drop in someone's lap. Finally she found it in her jumbled mind. Mercury was actually quite close. Maybe she could even get more appropriate clothing there. She took off at a jog, wanting to smile at the offended air with which everyone on the street ignored her.
She stopped as she reached where she knew the Mizuno family lived and looked at it with shocked surprise. The house was small and poorly kept. In her universe Ami had lived in a large house-they'd been well off since her mother was such a fine doctor. She knocked on the door and waited. After a few seconds the door opened a crack and Ami stuck her head out to look up at Setsuna.
"Yes?" she asked, quietly polite. Well, at least one thing hadn't changed.
"Ami-chan! Thank goodness it's you. I need to talk to you-is there someplace quiet we could go?"
Ami regarded her with wide eyes. "I-I'm afraid you have the wrong house. I don't know you."
Setsuna fought an urge to stare in shock. She should have expected something like this. She lowered her voice in case anyone was behind the door and leaned close. "Mizuno Ami, I know who you are."
"Well," Ami started, "I can see you know my name, but that hardly means-"
"Sailor Mercury!" At Setsuna's exasperated interruption Ami stopped speaking to stare at her in horror. Setsuna nodded. "That's right, I know you. We need to talk. Now." That's why the stick existed after all-sometimes the carrot didn't work. Ami stepped back and let her in. Setsuna looked around with surprise at the poor furnishings, then jumped in shock as she got a better look at Ami. Her hair was long and thick, and pulled up to the top of her head in a bun. "Ami! Your hair! It's so. . .different." She closed her mouth with a snap and shook her head. How odd that with such drastic changes in the time line, the first thing that truly shocked her was seeing Ami-chan with long hair. Baka! "Never mind that. Where can we talk?"
Ami swept her arm in the direction of a small but impeccably clean room. "This is my room." She ushered Setsuna quickly inside and hurriedly shut the door, then turned back toward Setsuna with her back to the door, eyes wide open with fear. "Who are you? How do you know about Sailor Mercury?"
Setsuna considered simply telling Ami-chan that she was Sailor Pluto, but decided that it would take too long to convince Ami. Instead she held up her transformation stick. "Pluto Planet Power! Make Up!" She let her power envelop and transform her, then reached out into her dimensional pocket for her time staff. Thank goodness that hadn't been messed up by all the time shifts! Ami was plastered against the door, a frightened look on her face.
"Who are you? How come we've never met you before?"
Pluto tilted her head. Maybe Ami was too timid to deal with this, after all. She shrugged. It was still worth a try. "I am Sailor Pluto, the guardian of time, and we have one huge problem." Ami groaned and fell down to the floor in a dead faint. "Okay," Pluto shrugged, "more than one."
*****