SMV - Summer Quest 4

The glowing crystals dotting the dark landscape almost become a familiar comfort to her as they continue their trek onwards. None of them are dark and ominous anymore – maybe the princess’s presence has warded those awful crystals off.

It’s the silence that’s getting to Shizuku. She desperately wishes Rhea would say something, anything, but the spirit senshi seems content to float on in utter silence.

“We should thank her,” Shizuku finally says, desperate for some noise besides the clack of her own footsteps. “the princess. Without her, I don’t think I would have gotten out of there.”

“Mm.” comes Rhea’s response, the woman’s gaze focused somewhere else.

Shizuku frowns. There was the chance that Rhea was just distracted, but – “Rhea?”
Rhea doesn’t answer.

Shizuku’s frown deepens. She decides to follow Rhea’s gaze and –

- mirrors?

To be honest, Shizuku’s had enough with mysterious things showing up out of nowhere. She’d give anything to be back in the village, enjoying the day with Kaede right now. The girl’s determined to ignore the mirrors entirely – but apparently Rhea had other ideas. The ghostly senshi floated over toward the mirrors, gaze entranced by them – and Shizuku bites back a curse when she realizes what’s happened.

“R-rhea?! Hey, let’s just not go that w – aw, c’mon…” Shizuku sighed as Rhea continued to float on, shaking her head and going after the other woman. When she catches up with the senshi, Rhea’s floating in front of a tall mirror.

“Isn’t it lovely, Miss Shizuku?”

Shizuku looks up, standing just off to Rhea’s side. And then she focuses her gaze on the mirror.

Maybe it’s because she’s so close to Rhea. Or maybe it’s because it’s seeming like she’s Rhea’s reincarnation. But the reflection in the mirror is herself – as Rhea. Or Sailor Rhea, she assumes. Beside her is Sailor Cronus, with Cronus and Rhea holding hands, fingers laced. (Shizuku blushes at the thought, but the Rhea in the mirror seems happy and content, just like Cronus is.) And behind the two of them are more senshi, with faces that Shizuku both doesn’t recognize and yet feels like she knows better than anyone else in the world. She counts the other senshi under her breath, names coming to mind as she does so.

Oceanus. Tethys. Hyperion. Theia. Coeus. Phoebe. Mnemosyne. Themis. Crius. Iapetus.

Together with Cronus and Rhea, it made twelve.

The other ten senshi are smiling warmly – something about it makes Shizuku’s heart twist. She looks closer, drinking the sights in. None of the senshi outfits are dark and tattered – rather, they’re all pristine and white. It’s only that she sees them all that she notices something significant – while the other ten senshi have their colors matching, it’s only Cronus and Rhea whose sailor collars have been switched. And paired with their hand holding and the happiness on their faces…

“You and Cronus are…” Shizuku begins, turning toward Rhea – and she stares. Tears are streaming down Rhea’s cheeks, and her ghostly hand is pressed against the cold glass of the mirror. “Rhea?”

Rhea jumps, wiping her tears away. “I-I apologize, Miss Shizuku. I just…”

Shizuku shakes her head. “It’s natural to miss people that mean a lot to you.” she hesitates. “Rhea? Um, what – what happened?”

Rhea only turns her gaze back to the mirror. “I told you. We had to abandon our teammates. I betrayed Cronus. I died.” she answers, voice stiff.

Shizuku shakes her head. “That’s a lie. The way you and Cronus look together, i-it…” And she can feel her cheeks heating up, but she’s just got to say it. “…i-it’s the way I look at Kaede-chan! You never would have done anything to hurt her!”

Rhea grits her teeth. The image in the mirror begins to warp. ”Miss Shizuku, please don’t - ”

Shizuku squares her shoulders. “No! You’ve been living in me or something, haven’t you?! You haven’t told me anything the entire time you’ve been here! Wasn’t it you that told me everything would make sense soon?! Nothing will make sense if you just keep lying to me!”
The mirror warps even more. The smiles and warmth vanish, replaced with haggard, tired looks. All twelve senshi in chains. Darkened, tattered fuku. A shadowy figure looming behind the twelve of them –

Rhea’s eyes shut tight. “I don’t - ”

“You shouldn’t lie to yourself! And you definitely shouldn’t lie to me!”

“I don’t want to remember!”

Rhea’s agonized voice echoes all around. Blood splatters on the mirror, just before it cracks every single mirror in the vicinity. Dark, ugly shadows seep out of the mirrors, pouring out like fresh blood. Farther away from them, there’s a bloodcurling scream.

Shizuku freezes, torn between saying something to the shaking, stricken Rhea and following the scream. She opens her mouth anyways, but the words won’t come forth – so instead she shuts her eyes and turns away, following the scream. Farther ahead, she can see four senshi struggling to save the same princess who helped free her – and the princess slips out of their grasp, pulled into the seeping darkness. Shizuku covers her mouth in horror, just as the four senshi let out a cry of horror.

Rhea returns to her side still shaken. Shizuku watches as the senshi try to figure out what to do – and Shizuku’s hands clench into fists.

“We have to save her, Rhea.”

Rhea looks at her meekly.

“Together.”

Shizuku takes a deep breath – and approaches the darkness ahead.