Finding Comfort In The Waves

[bound_to_water]

Ah... Paradise.

Princess Mercury sat on a rock, shoes resting in the sand nearby, yet safely away from water. Skirt was raised to her knees, the water-attuned senshi letting the crashing waves lap at her feet and ankles. There was even a seagull or two, the only sound aside from the natural sound of water ebbing and flowing. The water was perfect, crystalline and blue, the sky clear and the sand warm. Few things were on Earth that Mercury found rivaled her own planet, but the beach was definitely one of them.

Blue eyes closed as the sea breeze tousled her curled hair, one hand resting gingerly atop her Crystal, the other on the rock. Even the light mist that splashed onto her arm, her dress brought her comfort, some sense of peace. A break deeply needed, from planning and explaining and negotiating a new kingdom. She had averted something truly disastrous with her own two hands. Even now, nobody save her friends knew what truly happened, why the Ginzuishou was no more. And it would stay that way. To change thinking, to assure everyone the new rule was not something to be protected, but something to protect everyone.

She may complain, but as her eyes opened and she looked out at the scenery, she would smile. She was content, busy or no.

Comments

[waterfell]

Even she felt it: the peaceful murmur of the water, the damp sand under feet left bare of their tall boots just this once. There was nothing to intrude here, nothing to demand attention and focus or to push her. It was a place made for her.

It was a place made by her. Surprise written all too clearly on her face before she composed herself, Mercury found herself looking at a perfect image of her own form.

No. Not herself. She knew the face looking back at her, even in those differences and divergences. "Princess Mercury."

[bound_to_water]

The princess turned, to focus her gaze on the reflection before her. No - the other her. Other self. One she knew well as her blue eyes widened some. She didn't dare believe, not after so long, and yet, the hope and potential happiness wells in her, released before she can restrain it.

"... Twin?"

[waterfell]

Dark eyes look back at blue ones. She feels something inside her that she isn't sure how to name. It's an anticipation. It's a meeting that she never thought would happen. Things like that don't happen, for her. Fortunate miracles are for the safe and blessed.

But there is only one person, in any world she's ever seen or been to or heard of, that calls her that.

"I didn't think to see you, after Econtra," she says levelly.

[bound_to_water]

As much as she knows her darker half will not appreciate it, her body moves before her mind can react, soft sand between her toes as she walks to her twin, taking her into a hug. Her eyes close, holding Mercury close even if the motion isn't reciprocated.

So much had happened. Much she wished her twin could be there for, even if it was impossible. There was little to miss from Econtra, but her twin, most definitely, was one of them, if not the only thing.

The princess allowed herself this selfish moment. Just this once.

[waterfell]

It had been years since they'd last seen each other, and yet Mercury still couldn't bring herself to return the gesture. Her body tensed, unused to familiar touch.

Yet she didn't pull away, either.

Her next thought was much easier for her to focus on. "How long has it been since then?" Time has not always moved the same between the worlds she's seen.

[bound_to_water]

Mercury pulled away, a small smile on her lips. "Too long. Though I admit, I usually don't count." That was true enough, given the nearly immortal status of the princesses in that time. A hundred years could pass, and to them, it would feel like mere days. "How have things been, in your world? I do hope they have improved." Her feelings were genuine, her words heartfelt. It was hard for her to be otherwise, around her twin.

[waterfell]

"For the time being, my world is calm." The words say nothing of the battles that led to that calm: wresting control from Beryl, driving off the Death Busters, combating Princess Snow Kaguya, the Dead Moon, and even the Shadow Galactica. It had ended in defeat, once; they owe their current world and lives to the hope of a senshi from across the galaxy, Sailor Kakyuu.

She finds she isn't sure what to think of that. Hope has never been easy for her.

To her double, Mercury adds aloud, "I continued studying." Her proof that her life is her own.

[mooneternal]

A nice, calming soothing waterside... It was a nice change of scenery from the dreams she'd been having lately -- even her school life had been hectic. And then, the lack of communication from Mamo-chan... She didn't want to admit that she had been feeling down lately. But this, taking time to herself, walking barefoot amongst the waves... yes, she needed something like this.

Something quiet... serene...

As her thoughts began to turn behind closed eyes, a pang of something painful shot to her temple, causing Usagi to wince, opening her eyes again. But the discomfort was forgotten when she spotted something in the distance. Someone else...?

Wait... a Sailorsenshi? Was it -- "M-mercury?!"

[bound_to_water]

Ah, that voice. Of all things to disrupt her, it had to be one she wanted the least. "Serenity... Are you haunting me now?" She looked somewhat in the blonde's direction, but not fully. Her voice was cold, colder than any ice Mariner Castle held. "I will not apologize; I refused to let your selfishness destroy everything." Other than this, she did not move, the waves lapping at her feet, keeping her anger calm.

[themanoftomorrow]

Along the beach, still in costume and with Krypto wandering at his side, Superman found himself facing someone familiar. A girl who's face he'd only seen in dreams, though wearing different clothing. And this time there was no candy-coated Fortress of Solitude. So, the Man of Steel waved.

"Hello there. Mercury, right?"

[bound_to_water]

At the mention of her continuing her studies, Mercury smiled and nodded. "That's wonderful. I had hoped your joy of learning stayed with you." It was easy to lose, when one was busy risking everything and fighting; the princess knew first hand. "Come; enjoy the waves with me." She walked back to the rock, sitting back down on the rock so it left plenty of room for her twin.

[bound_to_water]

Mercury turned her head to look at the person addressing her, a slight cant given. "Do I know you?" It was a fair question; she had never seen him before, after all. And that outfit... She wasn't one for fashion, but what on Mercury was he wearing?

[themanoftomorrow]

He shrugs and looks down at the dog with a raised eyebrow. "We've met once before in a dream, so it's fair to say you may or may not. I'm Superman. And was my guess right?"

[bound_to_water]

She inclined her head the smallest bit. "Indeed, it was. I must admit, my dreams do not regularly include strange men named 'Superman'." May as well be honest with him up front.

[waterfell]

"I still have goals I want to achieve," was her answer. She wasn't sure it was joy or a dream anymore; it was just something she kept doing anyway, something she had her own reasons for, something she can use as proof she has a life outside of battle still.

Something she decided when her mother was ill.

Mercury seats herself somewhat primly on the rock, as if it were a chair for a formal visit somewhere back home.

[bound_to_water]

There was nothing but the sound of waves for a few moments. When Mercury speaks again, it's soft. "When I went back, the Ginzuishou began to react again. Unnoticed, the disaster would have happened again. None of the other senshi were as clean of the influence as I was." Something she would thank her twin for, again. "So I did what needed to be done."

[themanoftomorrow]

"And mine didn't used to include blue-haired women named after planets, though I'll admit you look slightly different from the last time. Do you have a sister?"

[bound_to_water]

She soon puts two and two together, and the smallest smile appears on her lips. "You must have met one of my alternates, in that case."

[waterfell]

Mercury knows all the arguments: the past would have been destroyed, the planet lost, the war that cut past from present would have broken out. She believes those things.

But she knows they weren't the only thoughts in her mind. Not when the moment came, and probably not afterward, either.

"Is that what you were thinking all that time?" she asks her double. Looking into her own face - or slightly away from it, as she does now - makes it easier to question herself, and her own thoughts, without seeming to do so.

[bound_to_water]

"Yes. To save millions of lives, I stabbed Serenity, destroying the Ginzuishou in the process. She lives, but only just, thanks to Pluto's slumber." The wind ruffled her hair, obscuring the sign on her forehead somewhat. "To have taken a life when I never have before... I thought I would feel... something."

[themanoftomorrow]

"Did I now? The one with the black feathers and the major chip on her shoulder? Funny, she knew me and you don't," he replied with a smile.

[bound_to_water]

"Black feathers... Dark Mercury, correct?" She hated using the word 'Dark', but it was her name, after all. And she let the chip remark slide, for now.

[themanoftomorrow]

"She just called herself Mercury." He shook his head, his eyes closing in contemplation. She did seem pretty...dark by his standards.

[waterfell]

It's that certainty she envies.

"If she's your enemy," Mercury observes, "there's no need to feel something over it." She's no longer the softer heart that might have argued for another chance, or another way.

But she also said 'if'.

[bound_to_water]

"Then that was more than likely my twin. Not by blood, but many other factors." She reaches down to brush a few errant droplets of ice, which used to be water, from her leg. Naturally cold as she was, it wasn't unusual for her to accidentally make ice when she didn't intend to.