Lina Tsukino walked down the streets of the Juuban District, not really looking where she was going. Rather, she was reading a sheet of paper. She crumpled the test in her hand. "Danm, a 'C-'! I knew I shouldn't have stayed up all night reading those occult books!" Lina threw the wad of paper behind her head.
"Hey!" A soft male voice objected from behind her. Lina turned to see a boy with dark purple hair over one eye...unfolding and reading her test paper. "A 'C-'?!" He looked up to regard her. Lina blushed with embarassment, but turned to defend herself.
"For your information," Lina marched towards him, "That grade is a total fluke! I'm an A-student!" Regarding the evidence in his hand again, the boy continued disbelievingly.
"A bookworm, huh?" Lina defied his sarcasm with a serious expression edging on the temptation to drop kick him. But then she replied smugly.
"No, actually. Brilliance just comes to me naturally." The boy nodded, still not convinced, and turned away, but not before Lina caught him rolling his eyes. Lina gave him a quick jab in the shoulder. "Just who do you think you are, anyway!?!" He sighed and replied matter-of-factly.
"Zelgadis Chiba. Now if you'll excuse me, there's somewhere I need to be." Zelgadis weaved through the crowds in the street before disappearing from Lina's sight. She sighed.
There goes my reputation, yet again. It was bad enough that Naga Aino made popular the nickname "Dramata" when refering to Lina around Crossroads High School. Now perfect strangers would regard her as a joke too. At least Naga she could bop on the head. It just wouldn't do to be that violent with strangers. She was raised to be polite, afterall. ^_~
Later at the Tsukino houshold, Lina laid out on her bed reading (an occult book AGAIN, instead of a text book), with a plate of chocolate cheesecake handy. Lina turned over to lay on her stomach when she heard a creak through her window. She immediately put down the book and got quiet, tracing over her room with her eyes. When a black cat (slightly fushia hued) hopped up on her bed, Lina almost jumped out of her skin.
"Jeeze, don't scare me like that, kitty!"
"Meow." Lina offered the cat her hand, which it promptly sniffed and accepted. Lina began to scratch its furry little head when she took note of the bandaid on its forehead.
"Who put this on, kitty? Do you belong to someone?"
"Meow." Lina carefully lifted the adhesive bandaid.
"Hold still now. If you're bruise or whatever isn't healed under here, I'll have to get a new bandaid for you." Lina removed the bandaid.
"Me-OWWWW! hiss"
"SOR-RY!" Lina grimaced. Just as she began to stare at the crecent moon on the cat's forehead...
"You're still not careful, Lina."
"W-w-what?!?"
"That's right. I'm a cat and I'm talking. You probably don't remember your past life, but I'm the reincarnation of your older sister, Luna."
"Heh-heh. You had bad karma in your last life, didn't you? Very funny. Alright!" Lina almost yelled out. "Whoever is throwing their voice and playing this joke, you've got wayyyy too much time on your hands. You people must have no life!"
"Lina, this isn't a joke." The cat said seriously. Lina just gave it a disbelieving, but wary look. "sigh Fine. I'll prove it." Before Lina could react, a beam of light shot out from the cat's crescent moon mark. As the light penetrated Lina's forehead. Her eyes closed into darkness.
Lina stared at her hands. They were translucent. And she was floating in a dark void with many lights in the distance.
"Where am I?"
"You're on the Astral Plane." A woman with short fushia hair and long bangs floated up next to Lina. "It's me, Luna."
"Well, what's going on here!?"
"We're in a place where people exist only as spirits - "
"I KNOW what the Astral Plane is! I've read all the books! Now why did you bring me here? So you could meld our minds together and prove you're telling the truth?"
"Yes, Lina." The image of Luna almost smiled before whispering, "You're still very perceptive." Lina caught that and replied.
"Yeah. Perceptive enough to realize that you're obviously more of an expert in the Astral Plane than I am, and could very easily manipulate my mind and show me lies instead of the truth." Luna sighed.
"And you're still very stubborn."
"HEY!" Lina took a swing at Luna, her fist accompanied by a great surge of power which Luna barely managed to dodge. Beneath her bangs, Luna's eyes widened in shock.
"Even after all this time of dormancy, your power is still strong!" Lina wouldn't admit it outloud, but she was in awe as well. "Very well." Luna conceeded. "You obviously would put up a powerful resistance if I invaded you mind to uncover your past life memories. You will remember when you are ready. So I will simply show you my memories." Luna bowed her head and concentrated. Her astral body melted into a window of images as her voice emanated from it. "Thousands of years ago, when sorcery still existed, instead of mere myth in your books, each planet in this solar system was inhabited by human kingdoms..." As Luna explained, Lina squinted at the images her mind created. They were all fuzzy. As if sensing this, Luna paused in her story. "Yes, my visual memories have been deteriorating, but my emotional memories are still in tact."
"But why?"
"All this time, until you removed that bandaid from my crescent mark, I have been trapped here, in the Astral Plane, unable to do more than gently guide the subconscious mind of my reincarnated host."
"You mean the cat." ^_~
"Yes." ~_~ "But when the other Sailor Slayers are found, I will be able to transform back into my human body and take my place as the Guardian of Time." Lina arched an eyebrow. Luna continued. "When the Mazoku attacked, the defenders of the Moon Princesses, including you, me, the princeses of the other planets, and the Prince of Earth, were caught unprepared. Because of this, we lost the battle. I was the only one left. And still sworn to protect the royal family, there was only one thing left I could do to save them: Rescue their souls and reincarnate them for the furture. Unfortunately, the spell I cast required me to call upon the Lord of Nightmares. My body could not handle all the Nightmare Magic, and my physical self died. I've been here, all this time, in the Astral Plane, gathering power and watching over the seal I placed on the Mazoku."
"If you've had thousands of years to gather power, why haven't you been able to return to the Physical Plane?" Lina interrupted. Luna reverted back to her human-like Astral form.
"Because I am inexperienced in using Nightmare Magics as I cast the Spell, there were some improper transfers to the Astral Plane as well as back to the Physical. I myself lost most of my strength since my physical death, and it has taken me these thousands of years to reagain enough power to strengthen my connection with my reincarnated body, through that crescent moon mark." Luna cleared her throat to continue.
"It's not possible to clear your throat in the Astral Plane!" =P Lina pointed out. Luna blushed and sweatdropped.
"As I was saying, the spell also captured the souls of the Mazoku, and locked them away. But I've sensed the seal deteriorating. They are slowly breaking it and will soon be able to return to the Physical Plane, as well as run rampant in the Astral."
"And what am I supposed to do about all this?"
"You're still sworn to protect the Moon Princesses. The Mazoku will no doubt try to take their revenge on them. You must find the Princesses first, and defeat the Mazoku."
"All the Mazoku?" Lina sweatdroped this time.
"Not all. The seal I placed on them was great. Only a few Mazoku will be able to escape at any given time. Now there's something on the Physical Plane that I need to show you."
After a large flash of light from Luna, Lina checked her hands. whew Opaque. Luna, in cat form again, nudged Lina as she lay on her bed.
"Lina. Take this." Luna pushed a broach towards Lina, which the cat pulled out of nowhere. Lina sat up.
"What's this?" Lina was still wary of this cat, but couldn't help but be dazzled by the beautiful jewelry.
"It's a talisman. It will be able to reawaken your powers from your past life." The cat was right. Lina touched a fingertip to it, and the broach seemed to ring with a power that tingled through her senses. But still... Luna gave her sister a look. "Lina, at some point you must trust me." After a moment of thought for both parties, Luna sighed. "If you don't believe me, wait. Soon the Mazoku will reappear, and when you see all the horrors they cause, then you must believe me." And with that, the cat jumped out the window and left Lina alone with her thoughts.
Lina had read all about the Mazoku in her occult books. She thought a moment, but still couldn't explain what had just happened and all the things she had saw....unless those occult books were more than just myth and superstition. If everything Luna said was true, then Earth was in for A LOT of trouble. ......And Lina would be in for a lot of power. Our favorite red-head allowed herself a squeal of delight.