Silent Dark Light

by Heroine of the Valley

Hotaru relives her worst experience.

Silent Dark Light

Disclaimer: I do not own SM or Ronin Warriors.

As she passed an old antique store, Hotaru saw something that caught her eye in the display window.  It was an old, ancient looking oil lamp, nothing like the ones she had in her collection.

"What a beautiful lamp," she commented.  She looked closely at it and blinked her eyes as a cold, dark feeling came over her.  She shook her head to clear it and walked in the store.  "Excuse me, how much for that lamp in the display?" she pointed to the lamp then reached in her purse.

"A very lovely lamp, isn't it? The clerk asked with a grin.  "The person who sold it told me that when you light it after making a wish, it will come true."

Hotaru smiled as she pondered her wish, "A wish come true.  That's magical.  I have a dozen lamps and none of them are like that."

"This is a very special lamp," the clerk told her.

She paid for the lamp and walked home.  Waiting for her there was Anubis.

"What's in the box?" he asked.

"I just bought a new lamp!" she replied.

"Another?"

"This one's different," she said, "come with me upstairs.  Why didn't you ask Daddy to let you in?"

"He's not here."

"Oh, I forgot," she said, "He's teaching a new night class.  I guess we're all alone." She sent him a flirtatious smile and he slid his arms around her while she began to unlock the door.  "Sit down and make yourself at home."

He flipped on the light switch and she flipped it off.  He looked at her questionably.

"I want it to be totally dark when I light the lamp," she told him.  "Would you like anything?"

He shook his head and sat down on the couch.  "Why don't you show me this new lamp you bought, Hotaru?"

"It's an old lamp," she began as she opened the box. She went to the kitchen to get a box of matches.  "I've always wanted a lamp like this."  She pulled the lamp out, "it must be over a hundred years old."

Anubis gasped and leaned back, like he saw a spider crawl over the coffee table.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"T-the l-lamp," he stammered, "Hotaru, whatever you do, do not light it!" The lamp looked threateningly familiar to him.

"Relax, Anubis," she said, striking a match, "It's a special lamp.  A wish will come true once I light it.  What should I wish for?"

"I wish that you won't light it!" he shouted.

"Anubis, what would happen?  Okay, I'll make a wish, I wish that you will always be there when I need you."

"No, Hotaru!" he reached for her arm but she continued to do the task.

She took the glass case off and lit the lamp.  The flame was a dark, devilish purple that mirrored in her plum colored eyes.  An evil grin spread across her lips and she pulled it to her lips and blew it out.  When the flame went out, so did she.

"Hotaru!" Anubis screamed, "No!"  He waved his arm where she just stood.  "Come back."  He looked at the flame and tried blowing out.  It flickered as it blew back, but it did not disappear.  The harder he tried, the darker and bigger the flame got.  He waved his finger through it and he felt not heat, but coldness.  A very icy coldness.   "I have to notify the others."

The others came quickly as they could, "what happened to Hotaru?" Rini demanded.

"That," Anubis pointed to the lamp, "it's an old lamp that will send whoever lights it to a world of no light and their worst experience will happen again and all their fears will haunt them."

"So, just blow the flame out," Sekhmet said.

"Don't you think I tried that?" Anubis snapped.  "Trista, do you know how to get to this world? Could it be the same place Rini went to?"

Trista shook her head, "I'm sorry."

"I don't think so," Rini said, "The place I went to was a real planet.  Hotaru's probably actually close by but in a different dimension." 

"What was her worst experience?" Anubis asked.

"I'm not surprised she didn't tell you," Trista said, "since she doesn't remember it.  Mistress9 used her body to bring Pharoh90.  She almost killed Hotaru."

"She is the sovereign of silence," Amara said, "we knew once that she was awakened she would destroy everything so we tried to stop her."

"But it was not Hotaru's fault," Rini said, "Mistress9 wanted the most pure heart.  Mine.  She was only using Hotaru's body because Hotaru's weak."

"We have to find her," Anubis said.  He looked at Kale, "I think you know what to do.  I'm coming with you."

"It won't work that way," Kale said, "I must go alone."

"Mistress9 is gone for good," Michelle explained, "I'd hate to have to fight her again."

A crazy high-pitched laughter filled the house.  "Too bad, you're going to anyway!"  The house changed into the castle of Mistress9.

"It's Mistress9!" Serena gasped, "now sailors!"

The sailors quickly called upon their new armors.  The warriors and warlords followed.

"Leave Hotaru alone!" Sailor Neo Moon shouted, "If it's my pure heart you want then take it!"

"Sailor Neo Moon, no!" Sailor Moon shouted.

"I know longer need your pure heart," Mistress9 hissed.

"Then it was Hotaru you were after along, wasn't it?" Anubis demanded.

"Precisely," she replied with a sneer.

Anubis tightened his hands around his weapon, "You let her go!  QUAKE WITH FEAR!" He encircled her in her chains and she broke out of them.  Her hair stretched out and began choking him around his throat.

"Never," she said, "you can't stop me, now that Hotaru has become stronger.  It was only a matter of time until she would come back to me again.  She's stronger and now, so am I."  She smiled as she watched Anubis try to wriggle free.

"Let him go!" rang Hotaru's voice rang, "leave Anubis out of this!"

"Ghah!" Mistress9 dropped him and put her hand to her head, "you stay out of this. You fool!  Don't try to stop me!"

"Hotaru's still alive," Neptune stated.

Anubis raised to his feet, gasping for air, "Hotaru!  Can you hear me?"

"Anubis, you've got to get out of here!" she shouted back. 

"No, you made a wish that I'll always be there when you needed me!" he cried, "I'm not going to leave you!"

"You have to, Anubis!"
"Kale, you must go find out where she is," Pluto said, "we'll hold of Mistress9 for as long as we can."

"She disappeared when she blew out the match, right?" Kale asked Anubis.

"That's right," Anubis replied.

Kale picked up the match she used to light the lamp.  He placed it into the flame and as he was about to flow it out, a stream of Mistress9 flung out to strangle him.  Sage jumped to cut her hair just in time.

"Hurry, Kale!" Sage called out.

Kale didn't waste another moment. He blew out the match and ended up in a dark cold place.  He surrounded by ruins, the remains of a massacre.  The scent of blood filled his nose. "Hotaru, can you hear me?"

He Kale could hear soft sobbing coming up in front of him underneath some debris. 

"Hotaru?" he called out again.

"Leave now," came the sobbing voice.  "It's not safe here."

He found Hotaru as Sailor Saturn, but not in her armor.  She wore her first sailor outfit, the white body skirt and purple miniskirt and a black cape.  Half of her ribbon was missing and her mini skirt was torn.  Her cape was ripped around the bottom and she held her glaive, broken in two in her hands. There was blood on her gloved hands. Blood that was not her own.  "The only meaning of my existence is to destroy," she mumbled.  "I'm the sovereign of silence. The soldier of destruction."

"That's not true, Sailor Saturn," Kale told her.  "You're more than that."

"Yes it is," she sniffed, "that is why Mistress9 wanted me.  Because I was the soldier of destruction. The dark sailor scout.  The wish I made did not come true."

"What wish?"

"I made a wish that Anubis would be there whenever I needed him," she explained, "I need him more now than ever and he is not around."

"Rubbish," Kale murmured, "can't you hear him? He's fighting with Mistress9 right now.  Your other side, Hotaru, is still part of Mistress9.  She told Anubis to leave but he refuses to leave.  He's just too loyal."

"So, the wish did come true?" she asked.

"Yes, listen, Sailor Saturn," he told her. "Listen."

"What in the world?" Dr. Tomoe shouted demandingly as he entered.

"Dr. Tomoe?" Sailor Uranus, "how did you get here?"

"Scouts, do you remember when something like this happened to Hotaru's home?" Sailor Mercury asked, "We weren't able to get in."

"Yes," Sailor Mars replied, "but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Maybe," Sailor Mercury said, "maybe Mistress9 is weakening!"

"Welcome home, doctor," Mistress9 said with a grin.

"You," he mumbled, "you're the one who--"

"That's right," she said, "and I've come to finish what I've started!" Her hair pulled up and shot at Dr. Tomoe like a bullet.

"Dr. Tomoe!" Sailor Moon cried out.

Mistress9's hair went right through his heart and pulled out sickeningly. And he fell back as he went into convulsions.

"Daddy!" Hotaru cried out.

"How could you," Sailor Jupiter muttered, "That was Hotaru's father!"

Anubis knelt down at his side, "Dr.," he began.  The words were caught in his throat.  He could only think how hard this will be for Hotaru.  Anubis stood up with a sneer upon his face, "Mistress9, this is over!"

"Indeed it is," she said, "you are next!" another sharp lock of hair began to spring at him. 

"NNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Hotaru screamed, "Anubis!"

Just before the dangerous hairs nearly killed him, Saturn's glaive punctured through her chest.  The sound of the quick clear slice remained in everyone's ears.

"I will not let you harm him!" Saturn snarled and she appeared behind Mistress9, pulling the glaive from her back.  "It was me you were after."

Mistress9 stumbled forward as she clutched her chest.  "I almost had you.  Why when I always get so close, why must you ruin it for me?"

"Because, Mistress9, in case you've forgotten," Saturn told her, the blood of Mistress9 staining her glove, "I have people I care about a lot. And Anubis happens to be one of them.  If you DARE harm him then I will slice you into ribbons!"

Blood fell from Mistress9's mouth and large wound in her chest, "you cannot defeat me."

"I already have.  I'm stronger now," Saturn said, "It's all over now, Mistress9.  Go back where you came from."

Mistress9 died at Saturn's feet.  Saturn let out an exasperated sigh.  The castle changed back to Hotaru's home.  The light on the lamp blew out.  Kale stood next to it.

"Daddy," Saturn mumbled as she knelt down at him.  She placed her hand over the wound, but her healing powers did not work.  "Nnnnnoooooo." She dropped her scythe and covered her face with her palms and she transformed back to Hotaru. "Daddy!"

"Hotaru, I'm so sorry," Anubis murmured as he pulled her in his arms.

"Oh, A-aahhh-nuuu-biissss," she choked, "why would she kill my father if it was me she wanted?"

"I don't know," he said.

"Why didn't I do anything," she demanded herself. "I didn't stop her.  She almost killed you!"

"I almost had her anyway," Anubis breathed in her ear, "and you made a wish that I'll always be there when you needed me."

"But the wish didn't come true," she said, "I ended up in a dark world.  I should have listened to you!"

"Of course it did, Hotaru," Anubis whispered, "I'm here now, aren't I?  You didn't have to make a wish anyway, Hotaru.  I'll always be there for you."

She held on tighter to Anubis, just to be sure that he was there.  Hotaru got rid of that wishing lamp. In fact, she got sick of collecting lamps and she got rid of them all.  Her time was already consumed with Anubis there when she needed him.  Now with her father gone, Hotaru needed him almost every minute of every day.  And when she said she was okay, Anubis was there anyway.  Refusing to leave her side.

The End.