It had taken some time to find a way into the building they had been at. Once they were inside, then it was a matter of negotiating their ways through the debris covering every surface. If they were going to stay here, she felt like they might need to clear a path through the rubble.
Maybe not, though. Maybe it would be better to leave the path as difficult to deter anyone or anything else from stumbling into their sanctuary. She was going to defer to Trunks-kun on that one.
But the stairs going up were intact, though the same couldn't be said for the ones going down. They could get two additional stories up before rubble covered the stairs to the point there was no longer any passage to be had. The building had looked from the outside like there were a few more levels above the one they were on, but three stories up was going to have to be good enough.
There were several rooms on the third story, though she couldn't say they were all divided; holes and huge chunks were visible, leaving it a lot close to being all one big room. Whatever this building had been before now, it had at least included a bathroom on this floor. It even seemed to work, which was all the better.
In the end, Trunks-kun ended up settling to the section of the floor closest to the stairs. She didn't even pretend to be surprised. As for her, though, she took the one next to Trunks-kun's, just in case. The bathroom was more towards the center of the floor, and there were still two rooms available. What they could be used for, she didn't know.
Training maybe, she supposed. Trunks-kun looked like he was used to doing some kind of damage, even despite his frankly impressive manners and quiet demeanor. She, on the other hand, was most completely unused to doing much of anything without her powers. She was going to have to come up with something, though--or at least something besides running away. The thought of that being her entire strategy did not sit well with her at all.
Still, maybe she wasn't completely useless. She had had softball training with Seiya a few years ago, back in her first year of high school. She had been absolutely horrible at catching the ball and she had never quite managed to get the ball to go where she was aiming when it was her turn to bat, but she could swing. She could definitely swing, at least according to Seiya-kun, who may or may not have just been being kind.
But she did have her metal rod. It was better than nothing at all. It was better than just running away every time. It might have been two years since she had last had to transform--or rather had to transform and managed it successfully--but she was still Sailor Moon.
Or she had been Sailor Moon. If she couldn't transform anymore, that probably meant she wasn't Sailor Moon any longer, much less Eternal Sailor Moon. She was going to do her best not to let that fact make her useless, though. She was not going to be some helpless damsel always needing saving.
"It's not going to be terribly comfortable," Trunks-kun's voice carried over from the next 'room', "but I think it should be secure enough, Usagi-san."
"Thank you, Trunks-kun. Trunks-kun?" she questioned as she stepped into the tiny common area. She waited until he stepped out as well before she continued. "Do you think you can show me something I can use to defend myself, if we happen to get separated at some point?"
Trunks-kun nodded slowly, his face serious. "Of course. We'll see what we can come up with tomorrow." And there was that faint flush again. "I owe you anyway."
She tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Oh? For what?"
"You didn't have to stand guard while I was unconscious before, especially not when you'd lost your powers."
If she was going to trust them, then she was going to need to trust him all the way. "My magic. I lost my magic. I used to be able to transform and use my magic, but it's gone now. I can't even feel it inside me anymore."
It was a show of trust--and a pretty huge one at that. She still hadn't said she was Sailor Moon. Of course, if she was gathering correctly from what Tenchi-san had said, then all of them came from their own unique world. Trunks-kun wouldn't have any idea who Sailor Moon was, no more than she would have any idea who the heroes of his world or Tenchi-san's world were.
"I was able to gather ki and use it in attacks." He snorted, and it almost sounded completely un-Trunks-kun-like. "I could even use it to fly. I haven't felt even a glimmer of it since I woke up. I feel like I've lost a lot of my strength too."
She had to fight the uncharacteristic urge to swear. "Still, you heard what Tenchi-san said. There's at least one person who has gotten some of their powers back. It's not impossible." And she still had the Ginzuishou. As long as she was still enough of Queen Serenity's daughter, then maybe, maybe, she could still persuade it to work. It was always a game changer, a wild card in the deck, so to say.
"I'm not too sure I want to go inquiring of someone who calls himself the Thunder Emperor when all I have is my strength to defend myself. I've been up against some truly stacked odds, but that just sounds like sheer suicide."
She couldn't say that she disagreed. The name alone, even before Tenchi-san's rather terrifying description, made him sound like someone she never wanted to meet.
Somehow, she was fairly certain, though, that she was going to.
28 August 2012
And here is Chapter Six. I just finished Chapter Thirty-Nine, but it was quite a doozy, at least for this story. I have eleven prompts left to go, and frankly, they're blowing my mind trying to figure them out. I do have a feeling that I'll be writing until well into September on this, since there is still quite a bit of story left to tell, but that's not exactly a hardship. I'm enjoying this one.
See you guys on Thursday with the next chapter!
Apollymi