Part 2
“Who?”
The word that left Usagi’s lips was simple, but it held a greater meaning than just a simple question.
Minako let out a laugh, patting the other blonde’s back. “Aww, c’mon Usagi. Did you guys have a fight or something?” she laughed, thinking that her friend was simply angry at the missing starlight. Maybe she had finally gotten sick of her adopted nickname.
The other girls didn’t pay attention to Usagi, thinking more about the fact that Yaten and Taiki were desperate enough that they had come to ask them for help. “Is something wrong?” Makoto questioned as studied the face of the two girls that stood before their group. They seemed to be generally worried, and that was never a good sign, especially from Yaten, who usually never truly showed what she was feeling.
Rei was doing the same, and for the first time she noticed that neither of them were in their male disguises, actually wearing clothes made for women for once. Usually that would make her curious, but now all she thought was that they needed to get out without being recognised. She stayed quiet though, wanting to hear their explanation.
What were they doing looking for Seiya? The last time any of them, excluding Usagi, had seen the dark haired starlight, was when all three of the idols had been together.
Yaten and Taiki looked between themselves, obviously more distressed by the blonde’s question then any of the scouts. “Her too?” Taiki mumbled to the silver haired female beside her, only earning a frown in response.
“Too?” Usagi wondered, looking from the girls before her, too Minako. “And what are you talking about? Who’s Seiya?”
This seemed to strike alarms in the scout’s minds. She wasn’t joking. Usagi really had no idea who they were speaking about. They had been so close though, something bad had to have happened.
“What’s going on?” Rei demanded, staring straight at Yaten. Her expression demanded an answer, and she would get one.
Yaten just glared in response. She didn’t like that look. It was like the raven haired young woman before her thought she was in control, that she was the boss of her. She was about to tell her that they’d explain when they wanted to, when Taiki put a hand before her to stop her.
“We have to talk,” she nodded. She was glad to see that the others seemed to know exactly who they were searching for. What worried her was Usagi. How could the strongest of them have been effected? This was bad, especially since the blonde was their only link to Seiya at the moment. She had been the one she’d gone to see before she’d gone missing.
“Alright, but can we do it somewhere else?” Usagi butted in, everyone turning to look at her. A strange sound broke the silence and she just laughed. “I’m starving.”
*****
The seven girls all sat down at one of the tables in the restaurant section of CROWN, silently looking between themselves. The scouts were just staring at the starlights, waiting for an explanation while the two girls just tried to think of where to begin explaining.
Taiki sighed, and opened her mouth to begin explaining, but it was the silver haired girl who spoke first, sick of the silence. “Seiya,” she started, looking between the others, specifically at Usagi who still had no idea who they were speaking about. “...Doesn’t exist.”
“Excuse me?” Minako just blinked at the silence that followed that sudden confession. So what was she? Some kind of illusion? Or even the transformation of something else? She felt dizzy as a number of explanations spun through her mind.
“What she means is,” Taiki continued, also having an eye on Usagi as she ordered something to eat. Everyone else was too wrapped up in trying to hear what the hell they were talking about when their friend asked if they wanted anything to eat. “To everyone but us, and you, Seiya never existed. She was never a member of the Three Lights, and no one has ever even heard of her,” her voice became softer with each word, but the girls heard everything she was saying.
Four heads snapped around to look at the blonde who sat at the edge of teh table, mumbling something about her food taking too long. “You mean Usagi...” The blunette who had been quiet up until then tried, attempting to understand all of this. It made no sense, but really, what had made any sense in their lives since they had discovered their destinies?
“Seems to be affected as well,” Taiki nodded slowly.
“But what does this all mean?”
Yaten glared at nothing in particular, crossing her arms over her chest. “It means that something’s gone wrong. We’ve never seen anything like someone’s entire existence being erased. Whoever caused this has to be powerful with either a grudge against Seiya, or is trying to pick us off one by one,” she spoke, her hands balling into fists.
Something was definitely wrong. None of them had ever seen Yaten this distressed. “What are we going to do?” Usagi spoke up.
Yaten blinked. “You were actually listening?” she raised an eyebrow.
The blonde nodded, her expression was serious. “I still have no idea who you’re talking about, but from what you’ve said it sounds like this Seiya is a friend, and it makes me sad to think I’ve forgotten a friend,” she explained. Her speech would have seemed so much more inspiring if she hadn’t been shoving French fries into her mouth every two words.
Rei stood up slowly, everyone looking toward her as she did. “Meet me at the shrine in an hour,” she told the group, walking off as if she were in a hurry before any of them could answer.
*****
“Is there anything I can get you?” Rei’s grandfather popped his head into the room, looking from his granddaughter to the giant fire that burned before her as she sat on the wooden floor, her eyes closed, chanting to herself.
Rei didn’t open her eyes, but stopped her chanting for a few seconds. “Not now grandpa,” she told the old man quickly, resuming her previous motions.
“Ok then,” he nodded, popping his head back out the door and leaving her to do whatever she was doing.
Rei opened one eye softly to glance into the fire, nothing popping out at her. She could feel sweat beading on her forehead, not from the heat of the fire, but from how hard she had been working to get some kind of sign.
She blew a stray strand of hair from her face, before just pulling a string from the fold of her miko outfit that she would use as a pocket, pulling her hair together and trying it up, making sure to sure not to leave any hair hanging in her face.
“I must be doing something wrong...” she muttered to herself, trying to figure out a different approach. She had been thinking of Seiya when chanting, but if teh starlight no longer ‘existed’ then maybe she had to think outside of the box.
She still didn’t get it. How could Seiya have completely been erased? It didn’t make any sense. Neither did the fact that they were still able to remember the dark haired female, yet Usagi, the one who had the strongest bond with her, couldn’t.
She closed her eyes, placing her hand over them as she let out a soft sigh. She couldn’t give up yet though, they had to know what kind of enemy they were going to have to face, they had to know something. Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes again, but what she saw wasn’t the burning flames she was so used to.
The room was dark, but Rei could hear a wicked laughter in the background. It was a male voice, but that was all she could make out. A light flashed for a second, before the entire room once again faded to black. She had only needed that split second to see what the light had revealed though.
“Serenity..." The word hadn’t been spoken by herself, by Rei could hear it ring throughout the darkness.”
Her hands shook as she once again was simply staring into the fire that had begun to die out as it burned the last of the wood it was feeding on. It didn’t occur to her at that moment that her flames never usually died out by themselves, they would keep burning until she would put them out herself.
She had to speak to the others. She needed to tell them what she had seen. “This isn’t good,” she whispered, the fire giving one last struggle to stay lit before blowing itself out.
