Elements of Eternity

written by: Gina Biggs  &  A.N.Ferguson
site: http://secondlight.animehunters.com/
contact: haruka@magworld.com
date completed: November 1997
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Episode 05 - The enemy revealed. Two soldiers test their feelings.


Classes had just ended for lunch, and students filled the campus of the Tokyo Planet 
Academy. Oceanna was among them, enjoying the day. She was walking alone when she heard 
a familiar voice yell, "Norris-saaaan!"

She turned in time to see Yukio running towards her extremely fast. Oceanna's face lit 
up when he halted before her. She fanned him with her hand until he could breath normally 
again, then gave an amused grinned. "You should think about joining track," she teased.

"What, and risk hurting myself running?" He returned, with overly innocent exasperation.

******************

A short distance from the couple, Bunny, Melody, and Pepper walked together. Bunny was 
thinking about dinner when a tug on her sleeve brought her from the delicious daydream. 
She glanced at her younger companion with annoyance. "What do you want?"

"Look over there," Melody whispered, pointing in Oceanna's direction.

Bunny giggled at the scene and both girls dashed behind a bush. They motioned for Pepper 
to join but she only gave them an amazed expression. "What do you guys think you're doing?" 
She inquired.

"We're going to spy... er... make sure Oceanna's alright," Bunny answered.

Pepper stretched her neck to look at the couple. "She seems just fine to me."

"Are you coming or what?" Melody asked.

"No, thank you."

The spies shrugged and tiptoed away without Pepper. They ducked behind another bush 
closer to Yukio and Oceanna. Their team effort didn't last long, though. Soon their 
loud whispers and the crunching of the leaves gave them away. Noticing the noise, Yukio 
parted the leaves of their hiding place and found Bunny and Melody at each other's 
throats. They stopped suddenly and with a smile of embarrassment they scurried off.

Oceanna and Yukio laughed and sat on one of the benches close to them. Yukio shook his 
head and commented, "You're friends are very interesting."

A knowing light sparkled in Oceanna's eyes as she answered him. "Yeah, they're definitely 
one of a kind."

They enjoyed each others company, talking about nothing and everything until Yukio turned 
to a more serious subject. "Norris-san, if I ask you something, promise you won't get mad 
or avoid the question?"

"Oh dear," Oceanna hesitated for a moment. "Okay, I promise. What is it?"

"Why is it you won't tell me about you? I mean you know a lot about me but I hardly know 
anything about you. Why don't you ever talk about your past or how you feel?"

"Well, I'm an only child. I was born and raised in Scotland, now I'm here with you and 
today I feel fine."

Anger and frustration crossed Yukio's face. "See, there you go again avoiding the subject 
by being vague. You promised you'd answer!"

Oceanna sighed then looked down at her folded hands. "I'm sorry. I guess I'm just not used 
to talking about myself. It's easier to listen to another's I suppose."

Yukio gently lifted her chin so she had to look at him. "Well, now I'm listening."

"Okay," she smiled and began her story, "I was born in Arbroath, Scotland. My father 
made his living from fishing in the ocean, and my mother was a housewife. We were what 
I guess some people would call poor, but we always had clothes and food, and we were 
happy. Still, my parents told me they wanted more for me. They always accented on how 
important an education is, and how I need one to make it in this world. That's what 
makes my attending this school so perfect. Not only do I have a chance for proper 
education, but I also get to experience what it's like in a different country."

"It was pure luck that a representative of the Academy happened to see me dancing and 
singing at my school's festival. He just walked up, and handed me the chance to attend 
his school on a golden platter. Free tuition, free board, everything free. My mom was 
so happy when I told her about it that she cried. Now I'm here."

"You must miss your parents."

Oceanna nodded her head. "Yes, I miss my mom very much. I've been missing my father for 
longer, though. He died a year ago."

"I'm so sorry," Yukio said, looking truly distressed.

"It's okay. I--" Oceanna's words were cut off by the bell ending lunch.

"What rotten timing," Yukio growled.

Oceanna laughed. "I have practice after school so I guess we'll have to continue our 
conversation tomorrow."

"Okay, then I'll meet you here for lunch tomorrow."

"It's a date," she agreed.

He blushed at the mention of the word 'date' until he remembered that he had to get 
to class. When they parted to go to they're separate classes a chill ran down Oceanna's
back. "I have a terrible feeling that I shouldn't have let him leave my side today."

******************

Later that same day, Rei sat in her prayer room. She stared at the fires, chanting. 
Yuuichirou entered with a tray of tea. Quietly he placed the tray at the door and 
hurried out so he wouldn't disturb her. Absorbed in her reading, Rei hardly took 
notice of his exit. Suddenly she sensed a dark presence in the fires. Her tone was 
grave as she said, "It's growing stronger. This darkness will soon reveal itself."

Usagi walked aimlessly through the streets, hoping she would bump into Mamoru somewhere 
along her way. Instead, she found Minako, Ami, and Makoto exiting a store. "Usagi-chan!" 
Minako squealed, happy she would be able to add another person to their shopping spree. 
"Wanna join us?"

She looked hesitant as she faced them. Her answer was slow. "I'm not sure. I was kind of 
looking for Mamo-chan."

Makoto rolled her eyes and groaned. "Come on, it'll be fun."

"Yes, I believe you of all people would enjoy it. Mamoru-san will be fine for a couple 
of hours," Ami added.

"Well, alright, if even Ami-chan is saying so I guess--" Usagi assented with a bright face.

"Good!" Minako interrupted as she grabbed the odango's arm. "You know, just because 
you're going to be a queen someday doesn't mean you can forget how to shop."

******************

The four girls passed a book store and Ami insisted they should go in. With heavy sighs 
the group agreed. Usagi looked forward to picking up some good manga. Just as they entered 
Usagi saw a familiar face. "Pepper-san!" she called and led her group to the red head.

Pepper closed the book she had been looking at and turned to face them. She greeted 
pleasantly in Japanese, "Konnichi wa, Usagi-chan."

"Hey, Usagi!" Bunny moved to join them, pulling Melody along with her.

"Bunny-san, Melody-san, Pepper-san," Usagi began, "I'd like you to meet my friends: 
Ami-chan, Mako-chan, and Minako-chan. Everyone, these are the girls who go to the Tokyo 
Planet Academy."

"Oh, cool!" Minako's eyes sparkled. "It must be great going there."

"Yeah, it is," Melody agreed.

The two girls, Minako and Melody, instantly found a connection as they saw the spotlight 
attitude in each other. Idols to the end! Ami listened to the chatter of the two until 
she noticed the book Pepper held. "Is that an Astrophysics book?"

"Why, yes it is. Are you familiar with the subject?"

"Am I," Ami replied, overjoyed.

Makoto and Usagi conversed about the school, but Bunny heard very little as she was 
thinking to herself. Bunny looked at Usagi with a fondness she had never felt for her 
before. She had always disliked the girl, but since the other night she had befriended 
her and felt a sense of hope. "She's been so kind to me, Sailor Moon, Tsukino Usagi," 
Bunny thought, "I wish could thank her for being such a good friend, but no. It's better 
if I keep my identity from her for now. For some reason, I feel it's best. I'm sure 
Mamoru-sama won't say anything either. That's how it should be for now."

Finally, the girls parted, with promises to get together again, especially when Oceanna 
could come. The four watched the academy girls walk away. "I thought they were nice," 
Makoto commented, "nothing like the rumors that go around. The Academy might be a nice 
place after all."

The others nodded to show they agreed, then Minako exclaimed, risking her friends looks 
of exasperation, "And they're so cool!"

******************

The girls entered their dorm laughing, but stopped when they saw the startled expression
on Oceanna's face. Floating above her hand was a ball, small in size and light blue in 
color. Bunny ran over to her friend in hopes of getting a better look.

"What is it?" she asked excitedly. "Where did you find it? And how do you get it to float 
like that?"

Oceanna quickly stuffed the ball into her pocket. "It's just a trinket my father found 
entangled in one of his fishing nets one day. He said whenever he looked at it he was 
reminded of me, so brought it home, and gave it to me."

"Well, how did you make it float?" Melody threw in, a little impatiently.

"I don't know. It just always did that. Um, did you have fun?"

"Tons!" Bunny declared. "You should have gone. We met some of Usagi's friends, and I 
bought these cards while we were out. Wanna play?"

"I'm actually a little tired so I'm going to take a nap. Maybe later," Oceanna answered 
turning from her friend.

Bunny shrugged, and moved to Pepper. "How about you?"

"No, time. Our outing sucked it all up. Now I have to do double the studying for my test 
tomorrow."

"Alright," Bunny mumbled.

When she turned to Melody, the young girl pulled out her instrument and began to play. 
Bunny growled and stomped off to her bed. She put on her headphones, pulled out a sketch 
pad, and drew disappointedly.

******************

At lunch the next day, the girls left Oceanna, who was waiting for Yukio, and sat under 
their usual shade tree. Pepper pulled out her textbook to study, while the other two 
chatted pleasantly, for a change. Finally, Melody could take it no longer. She covered 
Pepper's book with her hands. "Why do you always study, and never allow yourself to have 
fun?" she inquired.

"I believe one should strive to better one's self." Noting her friend wasn't satisfied 
with her answer, Pepper sighed, and continued, "I'm desperate for an education. No one 
in my family ever had the chance to go to a nice school, or even tried to achieve anything. 
I just want to be different from them. They're so strange, too. I don't like to think I
have anything in common with them. That's the main reason I cover my accent."

"You should try to be happy with yourself no matter what you achieve, as long as you give 
all your effort to do so. Nobody's perfect," Bunny chided, softly.

Melody grinned, then teased, "She only says that cause she just failed another test in 
Math today."

"Why you little..." Bunny started as she crumbled the test paper she had been holding in 
her hand.

Oceanna cleared her throat, stopping the fight. She lowered herself to the ground next to 
the shocked pair. "What you said was nice, about nobody being perfect," she commented, 
remembering her own struggle with perfection, her desire to make everyone proud.

"Thanks, but um... what's wrong? Where's Yukio?" Bunny questioned.

"I don't know," she replied, worriedly.

From out of nowhere, two boys dashed up to Oceanna. One boy demanded, "You're Yukio-san's 
girlfriend, aren't you?"

"I... I'm not his girlfriend."

"You eat lunch with him," the other chimed in, then struck a pose as if he had just provide 
the winning evidence in a case.

The first one rolled his eyes. "Either way, do you know where he is? We thought he might
be skipping classes with you."

"Why would either of us skip?" Oceanna exclaimed in a huff.

"Well, he didn't show up for class today, so we thought--"

"He didn't show up?" she interrupted. Her face fell when both gave a negative shake of 
their heads.

******************

Throughout the rest of her day, Oceanna fretted about Yukio. In Math class, Bunny tried 
to cheer her up by suggesting he might just be sick. She kept whispering until the teacher 
called on her to answer the next question that she had not been paying attention to. 
Oceanna with an embarrassed smile, listened to her friend fumble for an answer. She nodded 
to herself in hopes to convince her mind that the problem was simple, that his was sick. 
Then she covered her worry with a smile.

Pepper sat in her English class trying to get in last minute studying before her test but 
she couldn't keep her mind on the task. She tried to cover her annoyance when another leaned 
over her shoulder. She smiled, and whispered in broken English, "This is an important test, 
right Pepper-san? Don't fail it or it might affect your grade terribly."

With those words, Pepper's cool calm was broken. She became very nervous, and couldn't 
concentrate through the rest of her class. She struggled with the test and barely managed 
to finish just before the bell rang for dismissal. Pepper watched the other students hurry 
from the room as she made her way to turn in her paper. Before she could leave, the teacher 
stopped her. "Is everything alright, Mint-san? You are one of my best students in 

this class and are always the first to turn in your paper."

"I'm fine, sensei. Thank you for asking. Bye," she offered in an embarrassed tone before 
she rushed out of the class.

******************

The next couple of days, found Pepper being made a fool of in almost every class. The 
students seemed unnaturally harsh even though they were hardly saying anything. To make 
matters worse, she was having trouble paying attention to her studies. Every time she 
tried to listen to the teacher she felt as if the words of the other students were burning 
into her mind.

While Pepper's confidence quickly plummeted, Oceanna's worry increased. She had not seen 
or heard from Yukio in three days. The more she thought about it the more she felt as if 
his disappearance was somehow her fault.

Bunny and Melody watched their friends become more restless with each passing minute and 
were troubled by what they saw. After a long conference, they decided they had to say 
something soon.

******************

Everyone was relaxing in the dorm when Melody approached Pepper. "I know it really none 
of my business, but I'm worried about you. I heard you're having trouble in school, and 
I haven't seen you study for two whole days. This just isn't like you. Is anything wrong?"

Pepper flashed her a cold glare, then her look softened. "Thank you for worrying, but 
you're right. It isn't any of your business, so just leave me alone."

Melody's jaw dropped opened as she watched the red head run from the room, into the 
night. Bunny moved beside her, commenting, "I believe you said something wrong, or maybe 
it was your breath. Have you brushed your teeth, lately?"

"That insult is not even worth returning. Come on, we should go after her," Melody stated, 
pulling Bunny by the arm.

"I'm coming! I'm coming! I'm just as worried as you. You don't have to pull my arm off!" 
The dark haired girl complained as she continued to get pulled along.

Oceanna, who had been pretending to be asleep, hopped out of bed as soon as the others 
were gone. She hurried to dress herself, then ran out the dorm. She didn't know where 
to begin looking, but she had to do something to find Yukio. Upon returning without 
Pepper, the girls found their room empty. Both sighed in exasperation, then left again 
to search some more.

******************

Oceanna began underneath the school, in the basement. As she walked around she thought 
to herself. "I can't involve the others. This is my problem. I can fix it on my own."

It wasn't long before she came upon an open door which glowed red and yellow. The odd light 
from the door lit up the area around it, but as she entered the room, the light waned until 
it was completely dark. She jumped when a voice whispered her name. "Yukio," she exclaimed.

She removed the little sphere from her pocket and blue light lit the room up enough for her 
to see him. She fell to her knees when she saw him. Clad in dark armor, and with a sword in 
hand, he stared at her expressionless. "Yukio!"

Another voice spoke to her, "How do you like that? You couldn't protect him little one. 
You failed! Now let me see you!"

Light filled the room, revealing a throne which hovered high in the air. A dark clothed 
woman sat on it and screamed, "When I looked in the hearts of the students I discovered 
your feelings and was intrigued. You also wish to be loved, but you afraid of losing, of 
failing. Your distrust and lack of self-confidence will be your death. Yukio take care 
of her!"

The evil disappeared from the room and all was quiet. The blond could hear her opponent 
drawing near so she did not hesitate. Oceanna transformed into Sailor Water before Yukio 
could attack. She blocked his sword with her staff, but through the whole struggle she 
heard in her mind, "I've failed..."

******************

Sailor Fire stood outside the school, thinking of what a failure she had turned out to 
be. Her friends didn't care and if they did where were they now? She began to feel that 
she would never be more than an ordinary girl, living a life like the rest of her family.
A circle of flames whirled around her, never once touching her body. Soon the small circle 
rose up into a full cyclone of fire which could be seen for miles. It drew the attention 
of all the sailor soldiers, including Mamoru and Usagi. All hurried to the source.

******************

Yukio and Sailor Water continued their fight, but she had managed to make him chase her 
out of the building. He knocked her down just as they reached the fresh air. Laying on 
the ground all she could think was, "I can't fight him. I failed him. I couldn't protect 
the one I care for."

He towered above her about to strike with his sword when a vine grabbed a hold of it. 
Oceanna looked up in time to see two girls standing back to back. Yukio called out to 
them, "Who are you?"

"I am the Sailor of the Wind."

"I am the Sailor of Terra. Soldiers of the Elements, and guardians of this planet."

Wind yelled, "Defenders of the innocent. In the name of the Earth..."

"We will punish you!" They finished in unison.

Yukio face reddened in its anger as Terra called to her friend, "Water, you have to 
stop him! It's up to you!"

"I can't."

"Don't give me that bullcrap! I know you have it in you. If me and Wind can get along, 
then you can definitely save Yukio-san!"

For a moment there was only silence as the two solders were hugging each other as if 
they were getting along. Huge, unconvincing grins appeared on their faces. "I... I... 
can do it. I will do it."

Water rose to her feet in determination. Pointing her staff at the charging Yukio, she 
shouted, "Chaotic Rain DANCE!" He screamed as the needle-like drops pierced through his 
armor. The small beads of water glowed on his skin as they slowly absorbed the dark 
strength fueling his body. Finally he collapsed at the feet of water and reached out to 
her. "I will kill you," he whispered, "I will kill you for my great Master."

Despite his words, Water knelt beside him, and wrapped her arms around him. With the 
simple act of an embrace, he was brought back to his senses. The last of the dark energy 
dissipated from his body. A black rose, fixed onto his armor, dropped to the ground and 
fizzled into nothingness. He whispered, "Norris-san."

"Call me, Oceanna."

******************

At that moment, the raging firestorm grew larger. Within a short amount of  time it had 
grown to the point of great danger. The five ran to see what had happened. The heat of 
the flames licked at them as they neared. Within the heart of the storm they saw the 
Fire soldier standing.

From the night, appeared the inner and outer soldiers. They gathered around the elements, 
but none, except Sailor Moon, dared to go closer to the storm. Even though the heat was 
unbearable, she moved forward. "Sailor Fire, why are you doing this?" Sailor Moon called.

"I'm no good! I've tried so hard to fit in, to excel, but I'm nothing. I'm a failure. 
I'll never amount to anything, so I might as well destroy this useless life now!"

Tuxedo Kamen joined Moon, and yelled to his protector, "Don't lose faith in yourself, 
Sailor Fire. The rose that survives the storm is not necessarily the tallest or strongest, 
but the one intelligent enough to plant its roots deep in the ground."

"Be proud of who you are, and what you've already accomplished," Moon urged.

"Just because you're not the best all the time doesn't mean you're not worth anything. 
Accept yourself as how you are. We all like you that way," Water joined.

"Yeah," Terra agreed. "Who else tries as hard as you do, constantly studying and 
overachieving. I think you deserve a break now and then to make a mistake."

"You're worth everything to us. We wouldn't be a good group without you," Melody added.

The flames from the whirling fire around the girl began to eat away at her skirt. Slowly
she closed her eyes as she became overwhelmed with the intense heat. In the back of her 
mind she heard a voice, her own voice speaking to her. "Sailor of the Fires of Passion, 
you must believe in yourself. Believe in the love and justice that you represent. You 
are needed among them, the Eternal Elements of nature, of the Earth. Listen to them, 
listen to the people who care about you. Listen and believe."

Slowly the flames diminished as their words began to sink in. She opened her eyes to the 
people around her. "You mean it?"

"Of course!" the three cried in unison, and ran to their friend.

Just then, an explosion sounded from the school's rooftop. A woman appeared, clad in black 
and red soldier apparel. Her unruly hair flew about her head in the wind as she let out A 
loud cry of frustration. She glared at the soldiers. "How dare you! You've destroyed my 
plans once to often, you little--"

She wasn't able to finish her sentence as Uranus and Neptune called upon their powers. 
The attack struck her full force, but as she flew back so did Tuxedo Kamen. The dark
haired woman laughed at them. "Be careful, you might hurt us," she taunted, then 
disappeared leaving everyone to ponder what she meant.


End Episode 05.