Disclaimer:  I disclaim everything that is canon Sailor Moon in this
fic.

A Slip in the Creek
By: Tomas Megarson
A Sailor Moon/SI fic
Email: NighthawkTM@yahoo.com
Website: http://nighthawk.anifics.com


        The ethereal light bathing the room wasn't even able to give a
glow of cheer.  The perverse evil that filled the room with a stench
that was forced upon the mind and soul of those within its grasp stole
all touches of kindness and humanity.  The room was vast and made of
cold hard stone that refused to take in any heat, making those within
suffer from its chill.  It was a chill that would seep into the bones of
those compelled into it.

        Those within the room could hardly be counted as human.  Of the
hundreds of beings present only the four at the front of the room
appeared human.  The others that filled the room had some human aspects
that led those who saw them to consider them demons rather then true
monsters.  All of these creatures, these youma, gazed forward with fear.

        Upon a throne that sat on a raised dais, Beryl gazed at the
black stasis crystal containing Jadeite.  Her general had failed her for
the last time, and she wouldn't give him the chance to fail her again.
She would savor the terror filled face later, however.  For now she had
far weightier matters to deal with.  Turning her gaze to her subjects
below her throne, she let her anger filled eyes sweep over them.

        The lesser youma present shied back from that gaze.  They knew
that in that state she was as likely to strike out against them as
though they had failed her like Jadeite.  Her other Generals stood
quietly watching her, their faces calm but their eyes also holding fear.

        Behind their fear, however, Beryl could see in each a greed, a
desire, to attempt to succeed where Jadeite had failed.  Each of the
three remaining generals was sure of his own power and strength, and
each was just as sure that he would succeed where the first of their
number had already failed.

        Beryl almost found it amusing at how competitive each was.  The
more one of them succeeded the more the others would try to stab him in
the back.  The entertainment value of this alone made it worth while to
keep them around.  The internal power struggles always made sure each
was fit for duty and for battle when she called upon them.

        "Now then..." Beryl stopped her speech and gazed over her
generals.  Kunzite, Zoicite, and Nephrite were present.  That was three
of her Generals, but she had four Generals left.  "Why is Saphite not
present?"  Her voice seemed to gain another layer of frost as she bit
her words out.  A deep rage filled her as she realized that her summons
had been ignored.  The fire of her anger rose in her eyes even as her
voice grew colder and colder.  "SAPHITE!  APPEAR!"

        Beryl's gaze swept over her other Generals as they looked at
each other with questions in their eyes and fear across their faces.
Where had Saphite gone?  While he was the youngest of the Generals that
wouldn't protect him from her wrath.  Nor would it protect the others
responsible for his training from her rage.  One General had already
paid a price to Beryl today, and it was looking as though the rest would
soon follow.

        Before Beryl could demand Saphite's presence again a snore
reached her throne, causing her eyes to widen at the insolence of it
all.  Someone dared to SLEEP in her court, and when she was giving
orders no less!?  All this act did was send her already towering rage
outside the atmosphere.  "WHO DARES!"

        The entire court of monsters looked around attempting to find
the source of the snores that were filling the chamber.  Finally, after
what seemed like eternity as Queen Beryl sat fuming on her throne, one
of the youma far in the back roared in victory and yanked someone to his
feet.  A path quickly formed to the throne giving Beryl a clear view of
her missing General.

***

        With a groan, Tomas slowly began to open his eyes and gaze
around.  His eyes had barely opened into slight slits letting his green
eyes gaze through when he shut the tight again.  Even the dim light
within the throne room caused him pain.  Perhaps going back to sleep
would be a better plan.

        If only whatever was holding him up would let him go now.
Through his 20 years of life, the black hair youth had never learned the
art of sleeping while on his feet.  Or on his back.  Or sitting.  Or in
a moving vehicle.  Or when the room was totally silent.  As he came to
think of it, there were lots of things that kept him from sleeping.

        As he felt his body bounce while whatever was holding him shook
him, Tomas slowly came to realize that he wouldn't be getting back to
sleep anytime soon, which really sucked in his opinion.  The stupid
headache wasn't giving any signs of leaving, and he would have preferred
to sleep it off.  He opened his eyes slowly letting them adjust to the
light as he tried to recall what had happened.

That fall had really hurt, stupid creek, and it seemed like it messed up
his mind.  For some reason he was seeing a bunch of stupid looking
monsters.  "Ugh...the hell...?"  Something was feeling wrong in himself.
It was a feeling that reminded him of heartburn, but a bit more wide
spread.  Breathing was beginning to become a problem as well.

The heartburn problem was going to take awhile to deal with, he was
sure.  He'd have to wait until he got home before he could deal with
that.  The breathing problem was easier.  He just had to get whatever
was holding him up to quit choking him.

        Before he could, however, Tomas was thrown to a hard floor by
whatever had been carrying.  Besides the fact that his head was still
hurting, he realized that his hands were getting cold.  Stupid floor,
like the bad circulation he had in his hands wasn't doing a good enough
job of getting them cold.  Pushing himself up, Tomas rubbed his neck
where his clothes had been previously choking him.  His head was bent to
the ground his eyes searching it as he worked his mind around what the
hell was going on.

        "SAPHITE!"

        The yell caused Tomas to look up at the person who yelled.  Upon
seeing Beryl he blinked twice.  Hard.  After that he turned his head one
way and then the next gazing around the room.  No one else said
anything, in fact they all seemed to be holding their breaths.  Not
having any better ideas, Tomas hazard a guess.  "Uh...yeah?"  This was
some freaky dream.  Though why he wouldn't be using his real name in a
dream, he had no idea.  Maybe he was wrong and this Saphite was someone
else.  He hoped so, because the red head bitch looked pissed.

        It had to be a dream, right?  He knew he had slipped and hit his
head.  He remembered that.  And he knew who the bitch on the throne was.
He'd seen Sailor Moon enough times to know that, and everyone knew that
anime wasn't real.  At least anime characters were not real in his
dimension.  And while Tomas was a great believer in parallel worlds, he
knew which world he belonged in.

So all of that meant that this was a dream that was caused by hitting
his head in that stupid creek.  And if it were a dream, everything would
be fine.  After all he'd fallen into lava in dreams before and hadn't
even gotten warm from it.  Yup, it was a dream, and as such he had no
need to worry.  But it might be fun to play the part.  For a bit.
Maybe.

        "WHY WERE YOU SLEEPING!"

        "Uh...because I was tired?"  At the glare of ice he got, Tomas
guessed that was the wrong answer.  Just because it was a dream and he
couldn't be hurt didn't mean he wanted to fight.  He'd had problems
fighting with magic and such in dreams before.  Sure he'd seen a lot of
slayers and knew the incantations to the spells but they rarely worked.
Fighting with ki was even less likely to work for him.  He'd gotten ki
to work once in a dream, and even then it did nothing.

        Bringing himself out of his thoughts, he realized that Beryl was
still staring at him.  He needed a new excuse and fast.  Too bad being
tired didn't work, now he would have to get creative.  Thankfully he
could ramble with the best of them, and lie as well.  "I was not
sleeping my Queen."  That was good.  Try to be formal and refuse to
accept the event ever happened.  Kuno logic seemed standard in Sailor
Moon with the villains.  "Your awesome power was so overwhelming to my
small being that it overwhelmed me."  Yup, flattery worked too, and he
even managed to keep from sounding sarcastic.  That was a real surprise,
but something more was needed.  Seeing Jadeite in the stasis crystal, he
hazard a rough guess at where he was.  If he was wrong then he'd look
like a fool, but that was normal for him.  He just needed one more line
with some trembling and groveling thrown in for good measure.  "Please,
Your Majesty, forgive me, for I am not as strong as your other Generals,
and Jadeite's failure and punishment have overwhelmed me."

        Beryl's gaze held him for a long time.  Tomas wondered if she
had bought all that.  It was such a load of shit that even a farm
couldn't have used it, and they used shit for everything.  He swallowed
as a nasty grin came to Beryl's face.  "You will be taking up where
Jadeite left off Saphite.  You have one chance, and only one chance, to
prove to me that having you as a General isn't a waste of power."

        "Your Majesty!"  Nephrite called out stepping forward.  "How can
you send HIM next?  He's weaker then Jadeite was!  You should send me!"

        "QUIET NEPHRITE!"  Beryl's eyes glowed red as she gazed at the
General.  "You will never question my orders again!"  Nephrite stepped
back in fear as Beryl turned back to Tomas.  "Choose a Youma and begin
to drain energy again!  You will take up Jadeite's burdens.  And should
you fail me your life is forfeit."

        Tomas blinked in confusion.  This was not what he was expecting.
He was actually expecting to get zapped with magic or something.  But he
had to go with the flow.  Still, he did have some questions.
"Umm...shouldn't I kill the Sailor Senshi instead?"  Sure Beryl was
stupid in canon Sailor Moon, but she had to be smarter in his dream.
Didn't she?  Well, maybe she just needed a hint to get the right idea.

        "No, you will ignore the Senshi!  They're nothing but flies!
They will be crushed whenever I want them to be!  You will gather energy
for me just as Jadeite had been doing!"

        Maybe a stronger hint was needed.  With that idea, Tomas tried
again.  "But...they continuously beat up on Jadeite, destroyed his
youma, ruined his plans, and made us look like fools.  Doesn't any of
that make you think they're a threat to your plans?"

        "No, it doesn't!  And DON'T question me AGAIN!"

        Tomas blinked as he looked at her.  Maybe hinting wouldn't work
at all.  This was starting to get to be a pain, and he'd barely started
the dream.  Sure being an evil villain in a dream he could deal with.
Being a stupid evil villain in a dream was too much though.  Oh well, it
wasn't like this could come back to haunt him anyway.  It was just a
dream.

Deciding that hinting was out of the question, and that working for
Beryl would be hell, Tomas changed tactics yet again.  It was time to go
solo.  "You're a fucking idiot, you know that?"

Beryl's eyes bugged out and everyone in the room stepped back.  The
contempt that Tomas held for Beryl seemed to just reach out and bitch
smack the evil that the Queen radiated.  The best part was that Tomas
was just getting started.

Taking a breath, Tomas truly began.  "I mean, damn it, your General got
his ass handed to him by some school girls.  That has to be the worst
insult you could take."  Tomas turned his gaze briefly to the other
Generals before looking back at Beryl.  "Here you are with Generals who
supposedly where trained in a military and then enhanced with magic, and
yet they're still going to get whipped by some fourteen year old
chicks."

Tomas gave a long suffering sigh before going on.  "And then there's
you, the big idiot on the block.  Jadeite there fails at the most basic
of tasks, and then you KILL him for it.  You've just weakened yourself
because you had a temper tantrum.  If the Senshi don't kill your
Generals because they're idiots, YOU'RE gonna kill them because you're
an idiot."

" So in the end I have one question for you.  Where you born this stupid
or did you have to work at it?  I mean, do they teach you how to be a
complete moron at Queen School or where ever you went to get your
crown?"  This was getting to be fun.  Beryl looked like she was going to
have a heart attack right before him.  If Tomas was lucky she would.


        Hearing a silent room, Tomas decided to press on.  "Are you so
fucking dumb that you think I want to get killed like Jadeite?  I'm a
thousand times smarter then those other three bafoons and you put
together.  I'm supposed to get myself killed working for an idiot?  No
thank you."  Tomas shook his head indicating how he felt about all this.

"This job was fun for awhile, but the benefits are gone.  I quit.  You
can find some other fall man to play this role."  Now he needed the
dramatic exit.  Reaching out, he prayed that this would be one of those
rare times he could get magic to work in a dream.  "I'll see you fucking
idiots around.  Assuming you ain't killed first of course.  Oh, and
don't expect me to call."

        He knew the basics of how to teleport or at least sorta.  He had
one explanation from a Dragon Ball Z episode.  First he visualized a
place he knew that was in the Sailor Moon Universe.  Then reaching out
to that power he tore himself apart, vanishing in a flash of light.

        The throne room was silent for almost five minutes after his
departure.  Then Beryl screamed.

***

        A flash of light at the Hikawa Shrine left behind a dizzy person
in the night air.  Tomas blinked and promptly sat down on the ground
waiting for the world to stop moving.  It made him glad he hadn't eaten
earlier or he might have gotten sick from it.  Slowly the world slowed
its spinning and Tomas looked around him a smile forming on his lips.
It had worked.  It had actually worked.  He could teleport in this
dream.  Cool...

        Teleporting was going to be a lot of fun, at least until he woke
up.  He'd play with it some more, but for some reason he felt rather
tired.  That in it self was strange as he'd almost never been tired in a
dream before.  He pushed himself up and began walking toward the shrine.
Maybe it would be best to end the dream now.  The last time he'd tried
to sleep in a dream it had caused his to wake up.

        As he reached the door to the shrine he knew he had to decide.
It could be fun to wake Rei up dressed in this general's uniform...but
being a dream, who knew what would happen then.  Of course, if he knew
what would happen where would all the fun be in that?  It was a lot
better to just wing it and see where it took him.  Besides he didn't
want the dream to end yet, it was too much fun.

        Reaching out, he quietly opened the door grinning.  It was so
nice of his dreams not to bother locking the door for him.  It made
breaking in so much easier when he didn't have to try to pick the lock.
Quietly Tomas closed the door behind him taking every care not to make a
sound.  This could be a lot of fun.

        Tomas managed two steps into the temple before stopping and
frowning.  "Damn," he whispered, "where's Rei's bedroom?  Come on Tomas,
remember now, where is it?  Where have you seen a layout of the Temple
before?"  After concentrating a moment he smiled.  "Got it, down the
hall and on the right.  Thank Kami-sama for that RPG."

        Now that he had his destination locked into his mind, Tomas
crept quietly, careful to place each step slowly to keep from risking
the floor creaking under his feet.  Waking up the old priest would be
bad right now.  He wouldn't be dead tired from fighting Jadeite, so
slipping one past him would be a problem.

        Finally, after what felt like forever, he reached the door to
Rei's bedroom.  His hand slowly reached out for the door, ready to slide
it open, when he paused.  He wondered why his brain chose now to
remember that he had no idea what to do.  "Damn," he whispered, "I was
never good at pranks."  With a frown on his face, Tomas slid open the
door to her bedroom.  He was glad that by this time his eyes were used
to the dark.

        Tomas let his eyes drift around the room, taking it in.  Despite
its darkness Tomas could tell it was at least fairly nice.  It was
cleaner then his room normally was, but smaller too.  That he shrugged
off to being in Japan what with the lack of space and all.  Finally he
looked at Rei who was sleeping in her bed.

        He let his eyes look over her peaceful face as her black hair
was spread across her pillow.  "Man," he whispered, "she's pretty cute
when she's sleeping.  Too bad she's too young for me."  With a slight
shrug, Tomas looked around the room for any prank material.  "Ah, well,
I'll probably forget all this a half hour after I wake up anyway."
Well, now all he needed to do was figure out what prank to pull.  After
a few moments, he smiled.  "I got it."


***

        The sky lit into a dull gray before the sun rose in the sky.  As
the sun rose farther into the sky, it became the color of tempered
steel, a light blush forming on the horizon.  Within the Hikawa Temple
it was also a sign to rise and begin the morning chores.  Rei rose with
the light, though not very willingly.

        That had been a strange dream she had had the night before.
Waking up in the dark and feeling her bed shaking all around her.
Immediately she had gazed around her room only to find it empty.  It was
her room, she knew, but everything had been removed.  And then the voice
that spoke...it seemed so hollow.  But...what was it's warning?  Try as
she might, she just couldn't remember what the voice had said.

        Looking around her room now, however, everything was normal.
Everything was in its proper place.  The used tissue that she had placed
on her nightstand the night before was even still there.  She took the
familiar surroundings and allowed them to calm her from her dream.
Things were alright now that it was morning.

        It didn't take Rei all that long to get dressed.  Stepping from
her bedroom she breathed in the morning air that was slowly blowing down
the hall from an open window.  It brought with it the beginnings of a
brand new day.  And a new day it was going to be.  They had done it,
killed one of the Dark Kingdom's Generals.  It was a good day to be
alive.

        Opening a small closet, Rei removed a broom and headed for the
door.  After sweeping the walkway clear she would change to go to school
for the day.  Nothing was going to go wrong for her, she was sure of it
right up until she opened the door.  After the door was opened, however,
everything changed.  Mainly because a man dressed in what looked a lot
like what Jadeite had been wearing the night before fell backwards so
his head landed on her feet.  She would have cried out in fear if it
weren't for the fact that he was snoring and that her mind still wasn't
working from the lack of sleep.

        It was with a sort of stunned awe that Rei stared as Tomas
continued to sleep with his head resting on her feet.  His face looked
so peaceful and relaxed.  Her minds eye began trying to match Jadeite's
face to Tomas's but failed every time.  There were no similarities to
the two that her mind could make.  After almost a half a minute her
nerveless hands finally dropped the broom that it was holding.  Right
onto Tomas's face.

***

        Tomas's eyes snapped open just as the broom touch.  He blinked
as he stared up the legs that rose in front of his eyes.  His brain
immediately shut down the perverted side as he was sure comments like
that would only get him hurt.  Hurt more then he already was anyway.

Stupid creek.

Letting his eyes drift farther up the body before him, Tomas's gaze sped
past the girl's chest.  Looking there, he knew, would only get him into
more trouble.  Finally he looked into the girl's face.  It took him a
few moments to place the face from where he knew it.  Rei Hino.  And he
knew she was just from an anime and manga.  But that was impossible.
All that stuff with Beryl and stuff had just been a dream.  And he went
to 'sleep' after that, so he should have woken up.  He felt woken up.
He felt like he had slept.  So this was all just a dream  Right?
But...he was sure he felt awake.

        And for the first time he realized something that should have
occurred to him the 'night' before.  He had ALWAYS dreamed in third
person, like a camera over the shoulder of himself.  But...he'd been
seeing everything in first person.  He couldn't see himself.  He WAS
looking out his eyes.  That never happened when he dreamed.  This...was
a bad sign for him.  This was getting, in fact, even scarier then his
worst nightmare.

He was starting to believe that this was...real...and not a dream.  And
he had pissed the hell out of someone way more powerful then he was.

        And then he shifted into Panic mode.  He needed a plan, he had
to have a plan.  He was good at plans, he knew he was. He could come up
with a plan on the shortest of notice, like this.  And he had a plan.
He was going to wing it.  Not much of a plan, but he could do it.  "Hi."
Tomas smiled next.  A smile was good.  Trying to be friendly was good.
Not getting killed was very good.  If he didn't get Rei mad he wouldn't
get killed.  That would be good.  "Sorry about this.  I didn't realize
that was a door.  I had thought it a wall.  It was dark when I got here
last night."

        Tomas watched as Rei slowly swallowed. That could have been a
good or bad sign.  By the Kami did he wish he had seen Sailor Moon
recently.  Forcing his attention off that track, he listened to what Rei
was saying.  "Can I...help you?"

        "Umm...only if you can get in touch with the Sailor Senshi."  Of
course, Tomas knew she could.  He knew who she was after all.  Now if
she could get in touch with them without telling them to kill him, that
would be even better.  "I'd like to talk to them."  About this point
Tomas realized that his head was sitting on her feet.  He contemplated
moving but decided against he.  He didn't want to make her any more
afraid.  Besides, it was kind of comfortable.

And he didn't think his back was working.  Sleeping sitting up had been
a bad move.  He made a mental note to never try to sleep sitting up
again.  It was very bad on his back.

        "Why...why would you want to see them?"  Tomas could easily tell
that Rei was nervous.

        "Well..." At this point Tomas grimaced.  Now he had to decide
how much he could tell and how much he had to keep secret.  And he
didn't exactly have a long time to decide.  "I realized that my boss and
fellow workers were a bunch of complete idiots.  They have less then no
knowledge about even semi-decent tactics."  He gave a small shrug.  That
was the truth.  Of course he didn't say who his boss was yet, but that
would come up eventually, he knew.  "Since I'd rather not be killed
because of a bunch of idiots I decided I'd defect."  And then he
grinned, just because he couldn't help himself.  "Also, from what I've
seen, the Senshi are a lot more attractive too."

        Rei was about to say something when Tomas finally got off her
feet and stood up.  She had to swallow as she gazed up at him.  He stood
a good 8 inches taller then her.  If it weren't for the good-natured
smile on his face it would have been an imposing sight.  Well that and
how thin he was.  It seemed as though he'd been starved his entire life.
"Well...I've seen the Senshi a few times," she said,  "but I don't know
them."

        Tomas forced his face to frown and then sighed as though
depressed.  "Well, a fellow bad guy once used this place for some evil
plot that was rather poorly thought out.  Would it bother you if I hung
out here and waited to see if they showed up again?  I promise not to
attack anyone."  He raised his right hand.  "Scout's Honor."

        Rei blinked.  "You were a scout?"  Tomas saw her blink again and
raise a hand.  "And what do you mean fellow bad guy?"

        Tomas couldn't stop the nod at the first question, so he went
with that first.  "Yup, I was a boy scout.  Did it for about five years.
Then my family moved and I didn't fit in well with the other kids so I
quit it."  Then he frowned.  "As for the bad guy thing, well, somehow
after I moved I became an evil general for an ugly bitch who wants to
take over the world."

***

        Rei was doing her best to get her mind around everything that
Tomas had said to her.   She watched as he shook his head before
reaching up to scratch an itchy spot behind his ear.  "I still haven't
figured out how that happened.  So," he raised his head, "can I hang out
here?"

        "Umm..." Rei continued to fight with herself over what to do
about this.  On one side he had admitted to being an evil bad guy.  On
the other he had said he wanted to defect.  On the third he wanted to
stay at her shrine.  What to do, she thought, what to do.

        Then, slowly, the voice from her dream came back to her.  Parts
of what it had said came to her mind.  Help would be found...she growled
in frustration and failed to notice as Tomas took a step back.  Well,
the dream had mentioned help...maybe this person was it.  She looked up
at him.  "I don't even know your name.  How can I let you stay here?"

        She watched as the man before her slapped his own forehead.  "Oh
yeah," he said, "How could I have forgotten that?"  She watched as the
man bowed deeply to her.  "I am Tomas.  I have been called Saphite as
well, though I'd prefer never to hear that name again."

        Rei gazed at Tomas for a moment with a frown on her face.  Still
she struggled about what to do with him.  This was getting to be too
much stress to deal with.  She needed to talk to Luna.  But she didn't
want to risk turning Tomas against the Senshi either.  This was too hard
a choice, but she had to make it.

        "Tomas-san," Rei swallowed at what she was about to do, "you may
stay here if you like, however, do not go inside the shrine itself."
That would have to do until she got a chance to talk to Luna.  And Ami
as well.  She waited until Tomas bowed to her before turning and going
back inside closing the door behind her.  This was going to be a long
day, she was sure.