Red Eyes by Papirini

Red Eyes
by papirini



It was pretty obvious something was wrong when Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune arrived on the scene.

"What the..."

The devastation of the explosion was apparent. The remnants of the Mugen building, even as crumbled as they were, had been completely leveled by the flames that engulfed it. The flames themselves had died out, but the smell of burning rubber and flesh was in the air, and it almost made one sick just breathing. All that remained of what happened was a large cream-colored mound, which looked like a large computer drive of sorts; Uranus could have sworn she had seen it before, though she was unsure of where.

Uranus and Neptune weren't even supposed to be in Tokyo; they had promised to leave the city to the girls, the guardians of the princess, while they themselves got their priorities and lives straighted out. However, one of the last great-aunts in the Kaiou family had inconveniently died, leaving a substantial part of her vast estate to Michiru, whom the great-aunt had a fancy for even as much of the family had turned their backs on her. So, unwanted, they were forced to return for the reading of the will, and after they had left Haruka understood why Michiru and her older brother were glad to be independent of their mother.

Thinking of family rivalries was not on Uranus' mind at the moment, however. Once they saw the distant explosion, the couple put aside the personal problems and went to investigate post haste. There had been some people, young kids perusing the site for souvenirs of the abandoned Delta, when the explosion occurred. The oldest one could not have been more than ten, and all of their bodies - strangely, none of them were burnt - were stacked in a corner near the computer.

"This is...." Uranus looked at Neptune, who was looking up and was too aghast to even take out her computer. "What happened here?"
".....uh...."
"Neptune?" Uranus frowned. "What's wro-"
"HEEEELP!!!"

Uranus' voice was cut off by a loud-pitched whining. Before she could react, however, she suddenly felt someone fling their bodies on her, sobbing violently as her sailor top was tugged at.

"Wh-"
"Help meeee!!!" Tufts of periwinkle hair appeared in the light of the night sky as a pair of hands - clad in blue plastic - got close to ripping off her whole suit. "Stop her!! Don't let her kill me!!!"
"Viluy?!"

The body was quickly thrown off, and Uranus jumped back, looking down at her enemy as she did. She was dressed as she had been when her body had been disintegrated by her robo-nanites, but her eyes were different; her pupils were not completely dilated, as they had been when she had first revealed herself. She was also covered in wiring, strands of cable tangled in her hair and clothing.

"You!!" The soldier glared at the trembling figure. "I should have known. That supercomputer is yours, isn't it?!"
"Eeeeek! Noooo!!!"

Neptune was also as startled as, if not more so than, her partner. As Uranus stepped back away from the Death Buster, who kept trying to crawl towards her, Neptune could only watch, somewhat confused. Though it was not natural to be frazzled by such things, the past two weeks had been topsy turvy for her - the Messiah of Silence saved, the weak princess becoming stronger than they. It was only getting stranger by the moment.

"Don't lie to me! What's going on?!" Uranus glared at the Witch as she kept blubbering towards her. "You killed those kids. Do you think you're going to trick us somehow, Viluy? Or do you want me to call you Bidou Yui?"
"I-i-i...." Uranus could see various scratches and bruises on her as she scampered forward. "N-no! It's...it's not me! I d-don't want to h-hurt anyone anymore!!"
"Really?" Uranus crossed her arms. "And why don't I believe you?"
"N-n-no, you must!!" Viluy began to shake. "I...I mean, I admit I did....I did try.... b-b-but-"
"But what?"
"...I...."

Only Neptune noticed the twinkle of light as it suddenly formed behind Viluy. With a gasp, she started to run as the light suddenly mushroomed into a giant ball of energy.

"URANUS!!!"

She pushed Uranus out of the way, just as the attack ripped through the ground, sending dust and ash all over them. The two soldiers stumbled, tripped on each other's feet, but somehow they managed to keep their balance. Meanwhile, the attack crashed through another pile of rubble and dissipated.

"Uranus...." Neptune shook as she wiped off Uranus' sailor top. "Are you..."
"Yeah." The answer was a mumble. "Unfortunately....so is she."

At this, Neptune looked and - much to her chagrin - Viluy was clinging tightly onto Uranus' neck, so tight that it looked like the soldier's eyes were about to bug out. Uranus began to try unhinging the enemy off of her, but she clung tighter than ever.

"Come on." Uranus grit her teeth. "Get off."
"I c-c-can't..!"
"Don't make me kick your..."

Uranus stopped. A strange sound began to echo through the ruins. It was a soft sound, repeating several times within a matter of minutes. It became louder, then softer, the echo carrying into the senshis' ears for them to process exactly what it was.

Laughter.

".....Well...." A familiar, sultry voice suddenly filled the air. "It appears you have saved Bidou Yui. Congratulations."

Uranus and Neptune both froze at the sound of the voice. It was the voice of a friend, one they thought had died.

"....Pluto...?"

But something was different. There was a tone of sarcasm, of harshness and disrespect that seeped through the greeting. It was nothing at all like what she would have said or done before; there was a hardness to it that neither Neptune nor Uranus sat well with.

The feeling of bad fore bearings grew exponentially as Pluto stepped into their sight after a long silence. She almost sauntered in, her walk carrying a cocky step. Her green hair, her sailor suit, and the remains of cables whipped around her like a shroud, covering her face. In her hand was the Time Rod, upon which the Garnet Orb sat; the usual bright luster of the gem seemed dulled with darkness, even though is shined with power.

"Well." Finally, her hair fell to her side, though it revealed little; her face was turned down towards the ground. "Hardly a surprise to see you two here. But I suppose I should have expected you sooner than later. Ah well."
"Pluto...!" Uranus' eyes widened and lit up, despite the bad feeling she had. "You're....alive...!!"
"It can't be..." Neptune's hand went to her mouth. "But...it is. Sailor Pluto!"
"Indeed." Pluto changed hands with the rod, still looking down. "I am alive, I am well. Unfortunately...."

At this, she turned her head up towards her two friends, revealing her cold face, her jaunty smile, her narrowed red eyes.

"....I can't say the same for you."

Uranus and Neptune looked at Pluto, not understanding. They looked on with confusion, then indignation, then horror.

"No..."
"Dead Scream."

The same red orb from before. This time, Uranus also dodged, and easily avoided the blast. That one, too dissipated as it hit another pile of debris, blasting out another hole in what remained of Mugen.

"Ahahaha!!" Uranusa heard the laugh as she fell to her knees. "Good....good....you can still play."

Uranus' head bolted up to confront Pluto, to ask why, to ask how. When she did so, however, Pluto was nowhere to be found.

"Damnit!"

She could not confront Pluto; in her strange new way; this new Pluto was mocking her and Neptune, using her powers against them. So she went to the person whom she figured knew most of what had happened.

"You did something to her." Uranus glared at Viluy. "What did you do to our partner?! And what did you do those kids?!"
"Nothing!!"
"Liar!!!" Uranus, losing her cool in that moment, slapped her hard. "What did you do?!?"
"N-n-nothing on purpose!!!"
"...Nothing...." Uranus started to shake. "on....purpose?!"
"Uranus."

At this, Uranus felt Neptune's hand touch her gently on her shoulder. The subtle, silent attempt to calm her down worked. Knowing better than to flip on her partner, Uranus took several deep breaths to stop herself from completely losing it, though it was obviously she was quite angry regardless.

"....Fine." Uranus looked away from the former Witch. "Whatever. What happened?"
"I w-was trying to capture pure hearts for our master when I g-got killed." Viluy gulped. "I w-was being revived by Professor Tomoe b-because...well, he liked my ideas and stuff. I was his f-favorite, you know."
"Uh huh."
"Well.....I woke up, and....the school was destroyed." At this Viluy gulped. "And, um, well, I woke up, and...it turned out that I wasn't the only one Professor Tomoe revived."
"Pluto."
"Y-yeah." She looked at where Pluto had been, shuddered and turned back to Uranus. "I o-only meant to look into her mind. N-nothing more. It's the truth. B-but I used a program Eudial created, and....and....she was s-still unconscious, b-b-but..."
"It malfunctioned..."
"Our minds...th-they were altered, and she's st-still s-sort of un-c-conscious....but I...I b-became....I started to understand you g-guys and your p-point...and then sh-she got all mean...and I...I...."
"You've got to be joking...."
"....I'm so sorry!!!" In a pathetic show of just how she was handling being good, Viluy broke down and bawled into Uranus' bow. "I was so h-horrible to you! T-to those other students....to you....to-to-"
"Stop it!" Uranus hissed. "How pathetic. When you killed those kids."
"I d-d-didn't-"
"You used the supercomputer and it altered your minds." Neptune looked around. "Can you at least reverse that?"
"....W-well..." Viluy sniffed. "I'd h-have to f-fix it, b-b-but I might...."
"Might what?!"
"....I DON'T WANNA BE EVIL AGAIN!!!" The bawling continued, harder and louder. "PLUTO IS LIKE WHAT I USED TO BE AND I'M SCARED OF HER!!!!"
"Oh, for the love of-"
"Aahahahaha!"

The two senshi whipped their heads around at the sound. There she stood again, her hair in the wind, standing on top of a large pile of rubber near the supercomputer, her rod in the ground like a flag on new soil.

"...What?"
"Ohoho! You poor children." She glared at them, the laugh still in her throat. "You have no idea how much I am enjoying this. Knowing how short your life is now, seeing your faces when you learn what Viluy did....really, I never knew how much I could enjoy this until now. It's almost a pity you'll have to die."
"If you're enjoy this so much, why don't you just kill us right here and now?" Sweat forming on her brow, Uranus took out her sword. "Or is there a way to save you....? You watch over time and space, can see all events of this universe; why can't you see that you've been poisoned, that you're still asleep?"
"Poisoned?"

Pluto laughed again, harsher than before. Uranus looked over at Neptune at this, letting the frightened Viluy slip off of her neck. Neptune nodded, and called up her mirror.

"You think I'm poisoned?" Pluto looked ruefully at the two as they brandished their weapons. "That I'm some sleepwalking zombie who'll wake up and make it all better? That I'm some mindless tool just because Viluy's sense of duty was injected into me? That I'm just talking up a good game to look good in front of you, like every other villain we've faced?"
"It's never been known to fail, Pluto."
"....You two idiots." Pluto's hair flew violently in the wind. "I thought you knew me better; when I speak, I speak the truth. For I do not just have the power to look and watch over time; I have the power to be time. I can bend the time-space continuum in any way I wish to with a mere thought."
"What...?"
"Oh....didn't I ever tell you two about that?" Pluto took up her rod from where she stuck it and pointed it at Uranus. "Maybe you weren't listening when I said it. The senshi always were ignorant of everything I told them, weren't they?"
"Pluto."
"I always had the power to shape time and space, but I never used it. I was in thrall with Queen Serenity, and obeyed her every request. The three wishes you already knew of, but she had hundreds of other stipulations for me - ones you would never hear of if I didn't tell you of them now. She didn't want anyone to know how much power I really had, in fear that someone would worm their way into my confidence and have me....heh....abuse them."
"No way..."
"Now, though, thanks to your new...eheh....'friend'," at this, her words seemed to drip with nothing but sarcasm, "within a matter of minutes, the beginnings of my plan for this universe will come to fruition. Events will change, memories will be altered, and this reality will be replaced completely for the imposition my new order."
"You wouldn't-!!"
"What's wrong?" Pluto wiped hair from her face. "Are you jealous of me now, Haruka?"
"Jealous?" Uranus' face darkened. "You know, Pluto, you really make a lot of assumptions, don't you?"
"I only speak the truth."
"You're speaking things you've never speak when you're normal!"
"Excuse me, Michiru?"
"Don't you see it? Your mind's been altered." Neptune's eyes widened. "You don't know what you're doing! You....I know you wouldn't have killed those kids if you weren't...."
"Neptune!"
"Oh, I wouldn't?"
"Let us fix the machine and we can reverse-"
"That is where you are wrong."

Pluto stared at Neptune, her red eyes pulsing with an inner darkness that silenced the sea senshi once their eyes locked. Then, with a motion of her hand, she pointed her staff and glowing talisman towards the machine.

"Dead Scream."

The machine exploded on impact, sending shrapnel everywhere. Several shards hit the senshi, drawing blood, but as both had been through worse, it was not severe for them.

"AAAH!!!" Next to Uranus, Viluy whimpered. "No, no, no...this is all....my fault...."
"....Pluto....No...."
"...You know, secretly I'm glad you came, even if I could just show you that." Pluto kept her eyes on the senshi, a deadly smile full of pride slowly forming on her face. "I think you get my point now, right?"
"Then.....you really did....."
"And those kids?...they were quite annoying when they saw what was happening. A child's scream is irritating on the ears. That much I know Bidou-san can still agree with me on." Pluto turned and winked at Viluy, as if the deed was a little game for just the two of them. "Right, Viluy?"
"N-no.....NOOO!!!" Viluy shook her head. "I told them you did it! Leave me alone!!"
"Eheheh." Pluto snorted. "Aah, poor girl. Before you tamped with our minds, you would have been giggling like an idiot and you know it."

Neither Uranus nor Neptune could respond to this. The two could only stare at Pluto, into her dark eyes, filled with hubris and hatred. It was not the Pluto they knew, the woman who had stopped time and risked her life and soul to ensure that the two of them could continue the mission to save the world. It wasn't the Pluto who had been so noble; secretive, but noble, never imparting to them anything, and yet doing everything she could to prevent the disaterous future that had appeared on the horizon, a possible future called the Silence that only she could see with full clarity.

All of that had been twisted, and all that stood in front of them now was a new, terrible, murderous enemy, someone who seemed to no longer even hold a shred of remorse. Now, Sailor Pluto was far more dangerous even than Sailor Saturn. For as destructive as Saturn may have been, Saturn had sacrificed herself, even she could not not know what would happen next. Pluto, however, knew everything, knew everyone, knew what to do to make everything fit.

There was no turning back for either senshi once they realized the entirety of their situation, and who they were really dealing with.

"....You bitch."
"Is that all you can come up with?" Pluto laughed again. "Aah, I'm not worried about it. Not at all. Soon enough, I'll get to you too as well."
"We won't work for you, Setsuna." Neptune shook her head angrily. "Not after this. We'll never forgive you."
"You don't have to." With a leap, Pluto jumped from her perch and landed in front of the two senshi. "I plan on erasing these little brats from the time stream. You know, a little pull here, and a little pull there. I'm actually making the motions to prevent their births, even as we speak."
"You...."
"Once they are gone, they won't live to die by my hand." Pluto chuckled. "So naturally, you wouldn't even know that I had killed them, because technically they never existed."
"I can't believe you...."
"And I wouldn't attack if I were you." The shadows on Pluto's face deepened. "Oh, I know how much you two are seething now, but...if you attack me, I'll just have no choice but to kill you both. On the other hand, I could always use you two by my side....your powers are commendable. If you contribute to my new order, I can assure you, your future will look much brighter than it does right now."
"And you'll..." Uranus' voice was shaky as she clenched her fists. "You'll just change our memories so we'll serve you. So we'll forget about who you were before. About the Silence, and about the other senshi. About," her eyes looked at the remains of the children, tucked away in the corner, "them."
"Yes." Pluto nodded. "That's the idea."

".....Well......"

Uranus' anger was such that she could feel the power course through her, ready to lash out. She didn't even need the words for her attack; she merely lifted her fist up to the sky.

"I think your idea sucks."

With the quick movement, and with the ball of energy in her hand, Uranus slammed down onto the ground, the energy of the ball causing the ground to shake violently. Ten seconds later, Neptune, equal in her frustration, equal in her rage, threw a ball of sea green energy in her hands straight at Pluto, without any word, not even a struggle to bring her power up. The paths of both attacks mingled as they were hurled towards Pluto, with all of the divine wrath that could be had from the former allies.

Pluto didn't even blink.

"Time....Stop!!"

The golden orb suddenly stopped in its path towards Pluto, only inches away from her feet; the sea green orb was a foot behind that. The rubble thrown up by the attacks hung in midair, while he air itself suddenly became stale, and the wind died. Almost everything was frozen dead in its tracks, even Uranus and Neptune; they too were frozen in place, their eyes locked in determination.

With a laugh, as Uranus especially looked like she was trying to break wind, Pluto stepped away from the line of attack; finally the world was fully hers now. Everyone who could have possibly stopped her was now incapacitated by the incredible, forbidden power. But nothing was forbidden to Pluto anymore; any and all inhibitions she may have had were stripped away. No person in the universe could contend with a being who could stop reality.

As her dark red eyes scanned the room, she spotted something in the corner near the bodies of the dead children, quivering violently, whimpering pitifully. Twirling her staff like a baton in one hand, she walked over towards the shaking figure, a hum in her throat and a malevolent smile on her lips.

"Well, well." Viluy trembled even more as the sailor towered above her. "If it isn't you. I was wondering where you had gone during our parley."
"P-please..."
"I must thank you, Bidou-san." Pluto looked down at her free hand, as if in contemplation. "The new mind set you have given me is...refreshing. Truly, I never thought this could be so much fun."
"N....no..." Tears began to fall from the former Witch's eyes. "Please don't h-hurt me..."
"Pathetic." Pluto shook her head. "I never realized just how pathetic it was to be me until I saw how my former methodology affected you. You just crumble at the sight of blood now, just like the other sailor senshi. What a waste of power."
"...aah...."
"But unlike them, I have the ability to see through time. Manipulate it. Create it." Pluto's hand clenched into a fist. "Oh, the possibilities that will become true. All those thoughts I dared not think of when I was merely guarding the Time Gate - now they are materializing. And once I kill these two, no one will be able to rival me. Not even Hotaru..." at this, she laughed. "What can a mere baby do?"
"Aaaah....."
"Aah, the past is changing now, ten thousand years ago. You know, I think the Garnet Millennium has a....very nice ring to it." Pluto closed her eyes, her smile becoming more twisted. "No, millennia. Because I will make sure that my utopia will last longer than even the earth itself will. Finally, a kingdom that will transcend all things, even the power of the Ginzuishou, and hold dominion over the countless stars. All things but time, because I am time, and all that will soon be mine...it will be beautiful..."

At this, Pluto opened her eyes, and saw it out of the corner of her eye. Viluy was crawling away, opening her mouth to scream.

"HARUKA-SAN!! MICHIRU-SAN!! HELP!!!!"
"Where do you think you're going?"
"HARUKuaaaahhurggle...."

Viluy's screams were immediately cut off, as was her head, by the sharp keyhole teeth at the base of the Time Rod. The blue hair mingled with red blood as the head rolled off into the shadows; the rest of the body simply fell onto the pile of dead children, giving off one last shudder before it finally lay still.

Fool.

At this, Pluto turned back towards the other two, her former partners. Grasping her rod with both hands, she started walking towards them slowly, her mind going over what she planned to do with them. It was a pity that they would have to die, but Pluto didn't mind it one bit; after all, they had defied her, and with them out of the way there would be no witnesses to what Pluto was doing at that moment. Of course, it would be too easy simply to dispatch of the two and be done with it; she had to make sure to supplant the scene with some finesse.

Finally, as she walked over to Neptune, Pluto struck on a way to have fun with the two girls. Naturally, Bidou Yui, Kaiou Michiru and Tenou Haruka were involved in a lesbian love triangle, the murders a result of jealousy and hatred. Under the pretense of conducting a secret threesome, Haruka lured her unfaithful lover, Michiru, and the third party, Yui, to the remains of Mugen and killed them both violently. The children, too, had died by Haruka's hand, before the lovers came to ensure no witnesses, and in a desperate attempt to cover all her crimes, Haruka set a haphazard fire before turning the jeweled sword on her own chest. Unfortunately, while the fire caused an explosion, the bodies themselves ended up not burning.

After Pluto dispatched Neptune, all that needed to be done was to simply take Uranus' sword and use it on her, smearing it with everyone else's afterwards. Then, a few minor manipulations of the time stream would ensure that the police would find ample evidence of the illicit affairs - photos, gifts, threats. Memories could be implanted in anyone; even the moon princess could be swayed to remember that Viluy had also been Michiru's lover while she was a Witch, allowing for the passing of many secrets that inevitably hurt the senshi's cause. The wedge would be driven, and after that, it would only be a matter of the senshi coming to her, bowing to her on bended knee, her triumph complete...
















The teeth of the key blades was a mere four inches from Neptune's throat when the pain struck her chest.

Pluto gasped, staggering backwards from the sharpness. She had used a lot of power in a short span; holding her hand to her chest, she went one-handed and prepared the execution once more. She could swing one-handed very easily.

That was when the next pain rolled in, worse than the first, going from her chest all the way to extremities of her body. The wind was knocked out of her; her concentration on death, on altering time, on her own grand plans was interrupted.

What... Pluto doubled over, her mouth open, her eyes wide. ...is this?!

She attempted to draw in air, but it was to no avail. Dropping her rod, she fell to the ground, gasping for that something that simply refused to come into her. She held her chest, a silent scream on her lips as her mouth went at every angle to bring renewal to her lungs. Still nothing, as she clawed futilely at the air with her other hand, trying to get it into her body before it was too late.

No.....no!!!!

She had forgotten. In awakening to evil in her unconscious state, she had neglected one thing. For all of her power, for all of the newfound feelings, for all of her grand plans, attacking Uranus and Neptune with the guidance of her suffocating pride was her undoing.

She had forgotten what would happen to her if she stopped time.

This can't....be.....

When she tried to attack her friends, in that act of blatant betrayal, Pluto had made her first, now deadliest, mistake.

I.......can't.....

Pluto's eyes began to glaze over from lack of oxygen, and as they did, the wind began to blow again. The stars began to shine once more, and slowly, but surely, the sailor senshi were returning to life, their lungs taking in breath.

As they lived, however, she would die, and all the things she did in that brief time would be reversed....

Not everything. She began to stiffen, and whatever soul had been left within her disappeared, returning to its origin of birth to be cleansed of the taint. She would return, fully awakened, her own memory gently flushed of this night.

But even as she passed into the spiritual plane, and rigor mortis fully set in, the evil transformation stayed in the physical sense. Her eyes were still unnaturally wide with fear and her mouth was still opened, her lips twisted diagonally across her face, her expression still grimacing with agony as she wished for oxygen, her veins popping out of her forehead and neck, her hands gnarled from clawing at the sky. It would be this version of Pluto, then, that Uranus and Neptune would remember more as they emerged from the time stop. A warped version of her former self, her tortured face just like a kabuki mask, revealing the evil that had overtaken her in that brief point of life.


FIN