Done for the one hour challenge a week ago, I held this back because of the theme. Forgotten by Ken Arromdee The true Messiah, the one with the brightest pure heart of them all, a girl named Tsukino Usagi, woke up screaming. Her mother rushed into her bedroom. "Usagi, is something wrong? I just heard you yell out." "Eh heh heh. It was just a nightmare, Mom... I'm okay. I shouldn't be yelling out because I have nightmares at my age, I suppose." "Are you sure you're okay?" "Yes, I'm sure." And Usagi tried to sleep again. Soon after her head hit the pillow, she fell sound asleep, and in her dreams, saw the apparition again. It had no feet and was blurry, impossible to make out. It pointed at her. "Usagi... Sailor Moon... where were you?" She ignored the apparition and tried to sleep even more deeply. * * * * * "Rei, I had the dreams again. Do you think it's another enemy? How can there possibly be anything else after Galaxia? She was supposed to be the last one!" "Hmm. Usagi, maybe you just ate too much ice cream." "I did not, Rei! There are lots of places an enemy can come from. Maybe they're from another dimension." "There's no such thing as another dimension." "Maybe not, but Rei, I mean it! There's something wrong, I can't keep having that same dream for no reason and it feels so strong. Could I have hurt someone and now their ghost is coming after me? It looked like a ghost in the dream." "When have you ever hurt anyone, Usagi?" She thought it over. "Let me see... there was Queen Metallia, and Wiseman, and Pharaoh 90... a whole lot of youmas. Oh, Mistress 9 too." "Did it seem like a bad guy in your dream?" "Well, no, Rei-chan, but...." "Right, but. Next time you have a lot of ice cream, you can invite me over to eat some of it and you won't have enough to give you bad dreams." * * * * * In a rare display of competence, the next time Usagi had the dream, she tried to speak to the ghost. Somehow she knew that she wouldn't wake up until the ghost went away... or else that she'd wake up to see it standing over her for real. "Who are you? What did I ever do to you?" "You... let me... die..." "I didn't let anyone die! Except my friends, and I brought them all back. Go away, I need to get some sleep for the test tomorrow." Then she realized she was still asleep. "I mean some peaceful sleep." * * * * * "You're going to exorcise the ghost. Rei-chan." "Why?" "Because you're my friend and it's your job to do that anyway." "It might not work", replied Rei. "It's not going to work if you don't do it!" "Fine." Rei pointed to the fire. "Sit in front of that and stare into the flames for a while. I'll see what I can work out." Rei walked away and finished the last 50 pages of her manga, letting Usagi calm down a bit by staring at the flames, and then got out all her tools, which was mostly some pieces of paper on a string, incense, and a book of incantations. She sat down in front of the flames, legs crossed, and tosssed the incense in. After a long chant, she finished by exhorting the spirit to show itself. Mist gathered together and formed into a blurry purple figure. "Who are you, and why are you bothering Usagi?" asked Rei. "She... brought back her friends... but forgot about me...." "Are you a villain?" "I may have been, but I died a hero. But when she got a chance to bring everybody back to life, she forgot me...." "But who are... oh, I get it." She almost broke out in laughter. "That's funny. USAGI!" The ghost didn't scare her much when she was awake (maybe it was her youma experience) but being yelled at by Rei certainly still did. She looked at Rei in anger. Rei glared back. "When we were all dead, and you brought us back, why didn't you try to bring back Nephrite too?" "What? Oh, I never thought of doing that! Umm, maybe the Silver Crystal is like the Dragonballs and you have to be dead less than a year. Oh, right, the first time it was less than a year." Rei continued. "If I were Nephrite, I'd be pretty annoyed by that, you know. Here he is, he's a bad guy, but he redeems himself, and he dies soon after that, and then you have a chance to restore the dead to life and you just *forget*? Forgetting homework is one thing, resurrection is different!" "Fine. Nephrite, I'm really, really, sorry. Next time I get a chance to bring back the dead, I'll remember to include you in it." The ghost looked at Usagi, nodded, and spoke. "Please try to remember this time." It vanished. "I guess that's over", said Usagi. "Thanks, Rei." Suddenly another ghost appeared in the flame. She was instantly recognizeable by the odango in her hair. "Queen Serenity..." said Usagi. "I'm sorry, I forgot you too! Are you satisfied? Please?" The ghost looked at her disapprovingly, but vanished. Then two more ghosts appeared in the flame. Their faces were clear, and somehow Usagi recognized them, but they were no villains or heroes.... "Hey, who are you?" yelled Usagi. "And haven't I seen you before? Oh... I know. I saw you in pictures. Sorry, Great-Grandpa, Great-Grandma. I didn't think of you either. I'll be sure to do it next time." The ghosts vanished. To reveal an ethereal line of people, extending through the wall and possibly endless. The next ghost in the line approached Usagi. And Usagi looked at the line, and screamed.