"Hi, Melanie!"

"Oh, hi Daina!"

"Wasn't today just insane???"

"I know!"

"What was with the teachers?"

"I don't know! I heard they got some kind of strict order from the administrators and that there was supposed to be some super-huge inspection of the classes or something."

"Still! I mean, in French we can usually pass notes if we do it discreetly enough, and there's lots of jokes going around. And in math we can get away with a lot, and the teacher is constantly smiling. But in both classes, it was like, 'You need to know this-and-this-and-this and you will have a test on it TOMORROW!!!'"

"I know! My morning was exactly the same. And in gym, we weren't allowed to play our own little version of basketball anymore. We were organized IN TEAMS! We never do that!"

"And in biology we didn't even go over what movies we saw over the weekend!"

"We do that even in our busiest periods!"

"I assume our afternoon classes were the same."

"We did serious bookwork, even in photography!"

"Our teachers wouldn't so much as smile!"

"Even the security guards were incredibly strict. I know eating lunch in the hallways breaks some rule, but we never have had to crowd into the cafeteria like that! And then they made us be so quiet!"

"They even made us be orderly between periods!"

"Well, the huge inspection probably is over and everything will be back to normal tomorrow."

"Yeah..."

"And the lights were all weird today, too!"

"Yeah. I know fluorescent lights flicker sometimes, but not for hours and hours!"

"They gave me this big migraine, but the teachers wouldn't let me go to the nurse!"

"Everyone was especially cruel today. I have SO much homework! This English essay is long in length, but it shouldn't take too much time. But I got all these time-consuming word problems in math!"

"Oh, same here! And we have SO MUCH history homework! And the project in photography, it's a project that we should have a week to do!"

"And I have confirmation class tonight! How will I finish it all? Why have they completely stopped their late-work policy? I'd be tempted to skip some altogether if the assignments weren't worth so many points of our grade."

"Sigh."

"We should probably go now and work some more."

"OK."

"Have lots of fun!"

"You too! Tomorrow will be better. Bye!"

"Bye!"


Melanie hung up the phone. She felt a little better after having vented about her day, but she was depressed at the thought of the piles of work awaiting her, and her headache had not quite left her.

All Melanie wanted to do was go to sleep. But she could not. She could not let herself.

Something brushed against Melainie's leg. She started, but feeling a furry purr, she realized it was her cat, Minou. She picked him up and placed him in her lap, wanting to cuddle him but thinking he would run away and play. Instead, Minou felt content to lay in Melanie's lap and purr.

Melanie began to relax. She stroked Minou between his ears and thought about what Daina had said, about what had happened that day. It had been a strange, strange day. Melanie relived the flickering lights, the teacher's cold voices. Melanie began tracing the white splotch on Minou's forehead, the one that formed a perfect circle. She leaned down to kiss him on it, as she so often did. The kitten looked straight up into Melanie's eyes.

"You know you are more."

"What? What was that??" Melanie had hear a voice, and she could not believe her senses...

"You know you are more than what you are thought to be. You know you are not quite like most of those around you."

"YOU TALK???"

"You see and hear that I am talking to you," Minou replied in that voice in which one points out the painfully obvious, with a twinge of annoyance.

"Wha.. bu.."

"I have been sent to find you. You are more than what you are thought to be."

Melanie was dumbfounded. She could think of no suitable reply.

"Well, respond, reply! Do not just stare!"

"Um... yes. Yes, I have always... been looking for something... beyond."

Minou, who had been impatiently swishing his tail as he sat in Melanie's lap, stood, reaching until the white splotch touched Melanie's forehead. Melanie would have sighed in pleasure had she not been so confused.

"This," explained Minou, "Is a mind meld. It will remind you of things your mind cannot recall, though the events are written in the very atoms of your body."

Melanie's brain flailed in confusion and foreboding.

"No, it will not hurt. Calm yourself."

*Color. Peace. Tranquility. Music. Laughter.* Images flooded Melanie's mind, outlining castles, cities, planets, a glorious kingdom.

"You know of the Sailor Scouts," Minou stated, pausing to indicate that a response was expected.

"Of course I know of the Sailor Scouts. Everyone knows of the Sailor Scouts! And I practically worship them!" But Melanie could not think now, for the images filled her mind. The Sailor Scouts, the Moon Kingdom, everything she knew of these relived itself in her. The reliving continued beyond what she knew with her conscious mind. She saw and felt everything around her as if it was happening to her. She saw the bad times that caused the downfall of the Moon Kingdom.

"You thought that Earth had not representatives other than Prince Darien, it being Earth. Earth was special, thought you. But it was even more special than you thought. It was represented not by a Sailor Scout, but by the six Sailor Guides. Earth was the place of origin, and every element vital to life except life itself was represented by one who would govern and control it.

"You know how the Negaverse destroyed the Moon Kingdom, beginning its destruction by taking over Earth. Those of Earth knew nothing of the Negaverse until the moment of the fatal attack, by which time it was too late to act against it. The guides, separated, could not fight the evil that was the Negaverse, and their individual powers could only delay the inevitable. The guides were obliterated almost immediately.

"But the guides were of the elements. They could never be permanently destroyed without complete annihilation of all that is. They returned more than a thousand years later, born without knowing their past."

"And I am one of the Guides."

"You are one of the Guides."

*Six guides left Earth to visit the Moon Queen. They laughed and talked together. They looked like ordinary girls, but each laughed especially heartily and each wore a crystal pendant around her neck. As soon as they returned to Earth, the bad times, when those of the Negaverse almost gained control, began.

*Guide Water, with a touch to her crystal and the words 'Water Crystal Power Make Up!' morphed into her guide form. She could control the movements of all water with her mind alone, even making the water carry her, she skimming along its surface. But when she held her crystal in both hands, she could, with supreme concentration, make water, rain where there had been none. She could give sustenance and heal physical ailments. And superimposed on the Guide Water of a thousand years ago was a face of a girl Melanie well knew: Veena.

*Guide Earth grew into her guide form. She had the strength of earth and was able to withstand physical onslaught. With crystal in both hands and concentrating, she could shake anything down with a sound like a thousand thunderbolts, contolling the movements of the earth and creating earthquakes and landslides. She could control the force of the earth and make the seeds within it sprout and grow. Superimposed on Guide Earth of old was the face of Valerie.

*Guide Fire burned into her guide form. She could control the actions of fire and make things hot or cold. She could also curse more impressively than she had ever before. With concentration when holding her crystal double-handed, she could summon drom nowhere fire and its family. Lightning, flame, and electricity obeyed her, and her cursing alone could make the most hardened criminals fall. Superimposed on old Guide Fire was the face of Sarah.

*Guide Air whirled into her guide form. She could control the currents of air, moving things as large as herself. With enough concentration she could control entire rainclouds. In double-handed crystal-holding concentration, Guide Air could see things completely clearly, whether they were obscured by fog, spells, or physical obstacles. Her perception was unmatched. Superimposed on the ancient but young Guide Air was the face of Rachel.

*Guide Earthshine glowed into her guide form. She was controller and guardian of the outer shine, the earthshine, the magical sunlight reflected off of the earth and back into space. As long as the earthshine was strong enough, things of the Negaverse could not go through. When holding her crystal with both hands and concentrating, she could also control inner glow, restoring spirit. Superimposed on Guide Earthshine of old was the face of Daina.

*Guide Sync slipped into her guide form. She controlled the Earth's sync. Gravity and the spin of the earth obeyed her. With her special double-handed crystal-holding concentration, she became controller of other syncs as well. She could move time and space, so being able to teleport. She controlled the syncs within the mind, and so possessed telepathy.* Melanie looked into the mind of Guide Sync from one thousand years ago, and saw herself.

Melanie slowly withdrew from the kitten. She was shocked. Coherent thought was impossible. For five minutes she just sat and stared at nothing, turning over and over and over again in her mind what had just been thrown at her.

"Melanie, you know what you must do," Minou said as he interrupted her thoughts.

Melanie did not want to think. She wanted Minou to tell her what to do. But she knew he would not, so she answered. "Yes. I must gather the other guides. But I can't tell them! I don't know what to say!" Melanie panicked a little. "Minou, you must be the one to tell them!"

"Of course I will tell the other guides," Minou replied coolly. "That is why I was sent to you: to tell you and the others, when the time was right for you to know."

"Now. Now the time is right for us to know." Melanie pondered this. "Why??"

"The guides serve a purpose. The scouts can protect the Earth and its people from evils that are from without, but when the evil is from within, it is only you that can help. Heal and protect."

"What of the pendants?"

"The pendants were reborn as you were. You have yours now. It was given to you at birth." Melanie knew of what Minou spoke. "The topaz jewel in the elaborate setting that I have never worn."

"You and everyone else thought it was topaz. It truly is the sync crystal."

Melanie went over to where she kept her jewelry. In a tiny, velvet-lined box the crystal was hidden. It gleamed brightly when Melanie took it out. "The others have their crystals too?"

"Yes. You must gather them and their crystals and bring them to me."

"Minou, it's dark outside already. Everyone had tons of homework. No one will be able to come over now. We could meet only tomorrow. But I don't think everyone could meet before or after school. So we will meet during lunch. Why do we have to have different lunch periods?! It means I will have to skip photography. We never do anything in that class, anyway. I will probably not even be missed." For a moment Melanie forgot that her school had become incredibly weird, that she was Guide Sync and talking to a cat. She suddenly remembered. "Can you come to school with me? In my backpack?"

"I suppose I will have to," Minou sighed.

Melanie waited as if for something else to happen. Minou said nothing. "I guess I'll finish this homework, then."


Proceed onto part II.
Go back to Fanfic.
Return to central XFAF territory!