Just the fact that she could even get out "because" indicated that the geas was weakening now that Venus's had been lifted. But unless hers specifically was lifted, it wouldn't leave completely.
Everyone present watched as the Senshi of Time struggled to obey conflicting commands of the geas at the same time. Saturn, Neptune and Uranus, who were especially close to Pluto, and Usagi (who cared for all her friends and comrades) were all very concerned by Pluto's impression of a scratched record.
"Be...be..." Pluto stuttered. Suddenly she stood up straight took a deep breath, appeared to collect herself.
"Pluto?" Saturn said cautiously. "Daijobu?" Setsuna cautiously nodded.
The senshi breathed a sigh of relief at the apparent sight...and then Pluto screamed in out right pain as she collapsed, twitching, to the ground with her eyes rolling back into her head.
"What's the matter with her?!" Brianna asked, moving forward to kneel next to the writhing senshi as the other sailors did.
"Oh dear," Belldandy said coming forward. "There's a spell on her."
"A geas," Urd clarified grimly, coming to join the others.
"Oh spirits above," Belldandy chanted. "Grant this woman rest and surcease from her pain. Shield her from this curse upon her." immediately Pluto's writhing ceased and she lapsed into a mere state of unconsciousness, though the trickle of blood from her mouth was not a good sign.
"What's geas," Usagi asked.
"It's a spell designed to insure that a person completes a task set them," Skuld said as her elder sisters inspected Setsuna. "It imposes a mental compulsion upon the victim to force them to attend to the task to the best of their abilities. If they fight the compulsion then it hearts them. The greater the geas the more dangerous they are. The weakest can be fought off by strong wills. The strongest could lay low a demi-god."
"It is a spell for making slaves?" Usagi asked, ill.
"Exactly," Urd said. "And I recognize the caster. You're reincarnated from the Silver Millenium aren't you?"
"Why, yes," Mercury said, surprised.
"This is why the gods withdrew support from Serenity's reign," Urd said.
"The gods...withdrew support?" Luna gasped.
"Indeed," Belldandy said sadly. "Serenity began to grow paranoid about her closest friends and her husband. She began to lay geas, spells designed to punish the worst criminals, upon all those closest to her to insure they would never betray her. And the geas she laid did not have any conceivable end as is the usual practice. She sentenced all her closest friends to life-time slavery for no good reason at all. And rumors say that she included her daughter in the list...to insure that her will would be carried out. Urd?"
"Yep," Urd said. "All of them carry one, except her." She pointed to Venus.
"So if she just obeys the geas, she'll be fine?" Haruka asked. They'd lived with "geas" all their lives, and they felt fine, so all they had to do was get Setsuna to go back to following it and everything would be normal.
"No," Belldandy said. "I'm afraid that won't work."
"Why not?" Haruka demanded.
"Because when SHE commanded her to speak," Venus said, pointing to Usagi. Without the geas on her she was free to speak her mind and talk about what she had learned from the time gates. "Setsuna got put in a place where she disobeys the geas no matter what she does!"
"The only way to save her is to remove the geas," Belldandy confirmed.
See other episodes by Thrythlind
(Posted Sun, 08 Dec 2002 18:23)
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