Part 4
Seiya frowned as she looked at her reflection in the mirror.
After learning little more than nothing about the man that had revealed himself to her, she had been blindfolded, much to her protest and struggling, and was taken from the darkness into a well lit room. At first she had no idea where she was, but after actually assessing her surroundings she had realised it was a bedroom. The large bed on the opposite side of the room was a dead giveaway.
“You will be eating with me tonight. I’ll leave you to get changed,” he’d said, before leaving the room and locking the doors behind him. She had spent a good amount of time pulling at the handles of the large wooden door, and just plain trying to knock it down before she had given up.
What had he meant, get changed? She looked around her prison. It was pretty bare, the whole room consisting of the large bed, a full-length mirror in the corner and a closet that sat against the opposite wall.
Taking a bet on the closet, she had opened it to reveal a plain, dark satin gown that had matched the color of her eyes. She had stared at it for what felt like minutes, trying to decide what the heck to do with it, before she had finally removed it from its resting place so she could get a better look at it. “Oh hell no,” she’d shaken her head, holding up the offensive garment. He wanted her to wear that? She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d worn women’s clothing.
That was when the woman had walked in. The one with dark, charcoal hair and eyes to match. Eyes that scared the hell out of Seiya. Whatever this woman was, she wasn’t human. “You’re not dressed,” she’d spoken in a soulless, almost robot sounding voice. “That won’t do. My lord will be displeased,” she shook her head. “I will help you.”
Deciding that whatever she was, the starlight didn’t want to mess with her then and there, she had just stood there as the woman had undressed her and helped into her new dress, her cheeks blazing red. Any other time she would have tried to punch out anyone who wanted to get her naked, but she had no idea what she was up against, and that just annoyed her.
And that was why she was frowning as she stared at her reflection. The woman, who had introduced herself as Nerida after Seiya’s constant attempts at getting her to reveal some kind of information, had fetched her a matching pair of gloves earlier and was now brushing her hair which she had let loose from its usual ponytail.
She fidgeted as she waited for her to finish, uncomfortable with the sudden pampering while in enemy territory. She was so confused that she couldn’t even begin to guess what was going on, or what that man had planned for her. One thing really did bother her though, and that was the fact that her abductor looked so familiar. Yet the reason why was dancing before her, just out of her reach.
“You’re finished,” Nerida told her in the same emotionless voice. She once again focused her attention on her reflection, seeing her hair had just been left down, with two simple, silver star clips holding it out of her face. “You may now go and see my lord,” she told her, stepping aside so that Seiya had a clear view of the open door.
That was when she ran. Her heeled shoes clicking as she ran out into a long hallway. She had to get out of here quick. She had no idea what this guy was planning, but she didn’t want to find out.
“Where do you think you’re going? The dining all is in the opposite direction,” the calm voice behind her made her freeze, and she swiftly turned around to see him standing there, watching her with interest. She didn’t know why she had stopped, maybe it was fear. All she knew was that she should have kept running.
She glared at his amused expression, far from amused herself. “I’m not hungry,” she answered, her voice flat.
He chuckled. “That’s too bad then. I was quite looking forward to-” he cut off mid-sentence, reaching out and gripping her wrist before she even had a chance to react. “Your company,” he finished, flashing her a charming smile.
She struggled, trying to fight against his grip, but found it was no use when he didn’t even budge. “I’m sure you could find some way to entertain yourself,” she growled, attempting to attack him with her free hand.
His eyes seemed to blaze as he reached out to grab her free wrist, pulling her closer to him and stopping any chance of escape. “Now where’s the fun in that?” he breathed, their faces inches apart as he stared in her eyes that were filled with absolute hate for this man.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” she spoke softly, but with an angry force to her words.
He smiled, opened his mouth slowly and mouthed three words...
‘Dinner’s getting cold.’
That’s it. She was going to kill him.
*****
Elsewhere, the senshi were completely stumped for ideas. They had no idea what to do about Seiya, no idea what to do about Rei’s vision, and no idea what to do about the owner of the voice she’d heard.
“I’m still lost as to how this photo still exists,” Michiru spoke thoughtfully, glancing over Usagi’s shoulder at the photo she had refused to let go of after she’d seen it.
Even though she couldn’t remember the dark haired female, some part of her obviously did. That was proven when she had seen the photo. It had made her happy, the memory she couldn’t piece together, but at the same time she was sad she couldn’t remember such a happy time.
Taiki nodded. “It doesn’t make sense that this is the only visible proof of her. You would think everything would have been erased,” she commented, trying to figure out how this was possible.
Ami, who had taken a seat beside her, nodded. “There must be a reason for this.”
“Maybe whoever did this didn’t have enough power to get rid of her completely,” Minako tried. As confused as everyone else. Well, almost everyone.
Rei on the other hand, had come up with a different assumption. “Maybe it was Seiya,” she told the others. “It would make sense that she would choose a picture of herself with Usagi to keep herself ‘real’” she finished her theory. She could have been way off, but it was better now that they had something to go on, rather than grasping at straws.
Yaten let out and exasperated sigh. “Even if that was the case, it doesn’t bring us any closer to anything!” she rubbed her temples in annoyance.
Rei stood up then quickly, angrily walking the few steps to the silver haired starlight, and pointed a finger in her face. “I haven’t seen you come up with anything yet. So I suggest you start help thinking of a plan, or shut up and don’t say another thing.”
Yaten looked ready to kill the fiery priestess, but instead just huffed and crossed her arms, glaring at something on the other side of the room. One of these days...
“She’s got a point though,” Haruka spoke up, agreeing with the starlight even if she didn’t really like it. “Even with that information we can’t find out where Seiya is, or anything about this enemy,” her expression was pulled into a frown as she said this, annoyed that nothing was ever easy.
Rei glanced at the other, letting out a light sigh. “I know. I guess I’m just annoyed that I wasn’t able to find anything else,” she lightly rubbed her eyes, the weariness that sometimes came after he predictions finally beginning to hit her.
“You should rest,” Yaten told her not changing her expression, earning a surprised stare from Rei. Did Yaten... care? No, there was no way. She was probably just meaning it so that they could get another prediction out of her or something.
“I agree,” Minako spoke up. “You look tired.”
Rei shook her head. “I’ll rest when we’ve figured this entire thing out,” she told them. “But thank you anyway.”
“Don’t do it!” the sudden outburst caused almost all of them to jump, before ten pairs of eyes turned to stare at Usagi to try and figure out what happened. They soon realised that the blonde hadn’t been talking to any of them though.
Her eyes were clear, staring straight ahead at nothing. Or rather, nothing anyone else could see. “Usagi? Are you ok?” Setsuna questioned, moving to Usagi’s side try and get a response from the young woman.
She wouldn’t get one though, as barely a second later with tears brimming in her eyes, Usagi collapsed, asleep.
“What happened?” Makoto jumped from her seat and practically ran to the blonde’s side. They knew she could sleep through anything, but this was different. “Usagi? Usagi?” she called as she shook the smaller female’s shoulders, trying to get her to open her eyes.
