Disclaimer: I do NOT own Sailor Moon and its characters. I only own this fanfic and the plot.
Blood. Soot. The smell of decaying corpses.
You swallow down the big lump of vile that dares to come out. You take in deep breaths, swipe off the blood that has been impairing your sight, and walk - or at least try to - toward the common room. That damned Earth general has gotten a few lucky shots at you: a hole in your abdomen gapes out blood, a nearly cut out immobile arm spills out blood, and your legs shake dangerously with each step. You've hardly moved from your formal place but your legs give out. You stumble and fall down to your knees. You take in more shallow breaths, more quickly than before. You try to get up. You wince and cough out blood as a cat would cough out a hairball. You stare at the spat out blood for a moment. 'Keh,' you think. You may not be in the best state, but you must continue. As the true Martian you are, you must move to the one you protect. Though slowly, you pull yourself up and walk. A few more steps. A few more and you'd see her, pull her safely into your arms, and say goodbye to this crumbling world. But oh cruel fate. You let out a frustrated cry as your legs give out once more.
You feel the metallic taste of blood as the silver-haired general pushes in his sword through you. You gasp as he takes it back out. You crumble down and spat out your blood. Though all you can see now is his black boot, you know he is smirking. "It seems that my brother has finally ended the life of your love," he says. Tears dare to fall out. You know that's not true. You know that's not what you wish to believe. But that strangled cry from only a few moments ago, you had to hesitate. You hesitated during your fight and thus are in this current state: weak and vulnerable. "No," you whisper, "not until I give up." You shakily get on your feet. You raise your head to look at your opponent in the eye. He gives you an amused smile. "You truly are the lover of a Martian. A Venusian would know this is the time to surrender." You say nothing as you breathe in shallow breaths, just barely hanging onto the little life you have. You think of your lover and that stubbornness of hers. You smile. Yes, the Venusian blood in you urges you to run, to live, but it also tells you to love, to believe. And you love your Martian, your Rei. Your stubborn Rei whom you believe is still alive, weakly perhaps, but still steady.
You see the Venusian stand still. You snort. Stubborn as a Martian, you bitterly think. What does that Martian have and you don't? How could she capture the heart of such a beautiful warrior while you merely get more and more of her hatred? You laugh at yourself. You know the darkness within you feeds off of your hatred of the Martian. It makes you less and less of a human. But the world is coming to an end, anyways. This was a war that neither side would win. Nothing can be done about it. Not in this lifetime at least, you think. You look at the warrior in front of you. She is truly the incarnate of Aphrodite, even at her last few minutes of her life. You hold up your sword high, to finally make that finishing blow. To end it all.
A cry fills the room, the halls, the crumbling castle of the moon.
Kunzite staggers away from the Venusian, clutching his bleeding left chest. Sailor Venus had taken the split second to give a fatal blow. She used her trademark attack, Crescent Beam directly on top of his heart. With a hand still stretched out, Venus breathes in and out. Nothing happens for one short, but seemingly eternal, minute. The evil within Kunzite vanishes with an ear-piercing shriek as if it had been blown by the Venusian power, and Kunzite... as he takes in and lets out his final breath, Kunzite gives a slight smile. All is over, and so is he. But at least, he is himself now.
Sailor Venus breathes multiple shallow breathes. She coughs, and wipes the blood off of her lips. Taking in one big breath, she uses the last bit of her strength to sprint toward the hallway where Rei was fighting Jadeite. As she leaves the common room and enters into the hallway, Minako suddenly stops. Not too far away, she sees a standing silhouette.
"Oh, please," she whispers and runs again, hoping, just hoping.
When she reaches the figure, she knows that she's shaking, a lot - maybe even a bit too much. But she can't help it. She's crying and she can't stop. For the standing figure was, as she had hoped, Rei. But she is not here. No. No. No. Minako can't stop chanting that one word. She can so easily see Rei dragging her almost torn body to the common room, where she had just been fighting in. That stupid, stubborn Martian... How else could she have died whilst standing? Minako shakes her head, and closes her eyes, smiling slightly at the memories of her Rei so stubborn, but yet so cute. Her frown returns as she opens her eyes to see of what's left of her. She brings up her hand to caress Rei's face, hopefully willing her life back. 'She's still warm,' Minako thinks. If only she had ended her fight earlier... If only she had been half the warrior Mars was... If only, this war had never started... Minako slowly inches herself closer to Rei, wishing she could feel Rei's breath on her as before. She brushed her lips against those of Rei, looking into Rei's eyes... Amethyst eyes that once burned with raw passion, dancing like the flames of a wild fire, are now so unfocused and dead, like ashes from the remnants. Willing for a miracle like those in the ancient fairy tales, Minako closes her eyes and kisses Rei ever so softly. As she backed away, she didn't dare to open her eyes. She didn't want to face the reality, but, she couldn't... Minako opens her eyes to just to see her lover, once again. Even death couldn't take away her beauty. Minako hugs her love and that's when Rei's body lost all balance, as if she were just waiting for Minako's embrace. Minako slowly brought them to the ground. She knows the world is crumbling around them, but she doesn't care. She doesn't want to leave where she is right now. She cries in Rei's arms, but she feels so much at peace. They were parted, but just for now.
"We'll be together soon, love," Minako whispers as the Moon Kingdom fell to its end.
*AN*
Hello, it's been like forever since I last updated.. And I felt really depressed recently (sadly) and had this one-shot in mind for a while. And thought YES ANGST. Uhm, yeah, sorry.
I think I messed up the last paragraph; I think I could do better but not now. And I kind of just really wanted to finish and publish it here. Maybe if my muse gets better after say what.. a few months then maybe I'll come back and edit this one, haha.
Very many pre-thanks to those who read and review! :)