Sailor Mars became Rei Hino and took a card out of her purse, then tossed it through the Gate. When it shimmered and changed they had their answer.
"If we leave the Gate then, we will change to how we are in the new reality." Mercury sat back on the mist-covered flooring and seemed lost in contemplation.
"That's bad," said Sailor Moon. "What about Mamo-chan?"
With a sigh of resignation, Sailor Mercury used her computer to access the Gates' control mechanism and shift the view.
He was a scared little boy, who was similar to an awful lot of other scared little boys.
His parents had died in a car wreck and so it was exactly like it had been in the original timeline.
Except that his mother had been growing increasingly agitated and hostile all evening. At one point she'd turned to his father and asked him if he even knew where they were going. His father had said something about having directions to the place.
His father had driven off the road because his mother had been choking the life out of him at the time.
When he'd come to, he'd been in a hospital, watching an orderly restraining a nurse who was covered in blood who was holding a pair of scissors in her hand that had been dripping.
He was a scared little boy with a lot of nightmares, very similar to a lot of other boys.
Some women had apparently realized something was wrong but they fell to the madness while still trying to figure out what it was. Others had remained calm despite the madness around them somehow. He'd gotten out of his hospital bed when the guy holding the nurse back had been repeatedly stabbed and clubbed by other nurses until he'd just sort of broken apart.
He'd hidden away for the week, seeing things that had him trying to keep from whimpering.
So Mamoru Chiba was the same in that he was an orphan and he was alone in the world.
Men who discounted women as weak or ineffectual died during that week. Superior upper body strength or legal niceties were not sufficient protection. Guys who saw the madness and got out of town or barricaded themselves mostly survived. It took three days before Mamoru Chiba found a group of surviving males. When one of the maddened women started the Juuban Fire that swept through that area, they took advantage of it to escape. Many of the firefighters did not, as they responded and were then set upon by maddened women.
There were those who were attacked and survived. Some were wounded or scarred from their experiences. Those who were fed bamboo shoots or broken glass but realized just in time that their 'loved one' had been affected too, those who had survived the brake cables on their car being cut, those who survived having electrical appliances thrown into the water where they were bathing, those who survived any number of attempted murders - gathered together.
Some came to a near worship of the person leading them to safety. In the case of Mamoru Chiba, the leader of their group had been a pinnacle of resourcefulness. He had known how to avoid mobs and sneak around the edges of society, how to survive in a world gone mad. Mamoru Chiba was one of a handful of boys who looked up to their sensei and had survived that week because of his skills and experience.
Mamoru Chiba was a big fan of Genma Saotome.
"Okay, now I'm concerned," said Rei Hino. She just knew there was something wrong with this picture.
"Mamo-chan is a martial artist?" asked Sailor Moon, eyes wide. Wider than normal even.
"Well, so many were affected during this that they can't exactly ostracize those who did it," pointed out Mercury. "It looks as though the only reason more guys didn't die is that some of them had no problems tying the women around them up until the worst had passed."
"I'll fix it," said Sailor Moon, clenching one hand. When she opened it there was a clear crystal in her palm.
"You can't, Sailor Moon," said Mercury. "This is too big. You'd kill yourself and still not be able to do it."
"I have to try," said Sailor Moon, tears streaking her face again. "I can't... Shingo..."
Sailor Mercury thought for a moment then:
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(Posted Sat, 04 Jun 2005 03:36)
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