Ok so I know that originally I had this story up but after some backtracking, I realized exactly how rushed and messy it was. Granted it's still not the best but if you've seen the first, you'd agree that this is a lot cleaner.
Disclaimer: Of course I don't own Sailor Moon. If I did, it would be crappy.
Childish cries intensified the pain in her head, darkening her vision.
"Mommy! Daddy!" There they were again.
Another voice sounded, but it was muffled, distant. "Run!"
She didn't listen. Instead she moved closer to the cries, blinking frantically in hopes of restoring her vision. Her boot slid mid-step and she braced herself with her hands, but something wet came away on her hands. Something wet and warm. A terrible screaming sound escaped her lips as she registered all the blood.
There was a searing pain in her left arm, followed by a piercing screech that was not her own. A dark, blurry outline of a bull-like monster towered over her. Two fuzzy cold dead faces, one missing a considerably large chunk where the brain should have been.
Visions flashed through her mind, a mixture of emotions swirled through her body and the sensations overwhelmed her. The teenager howled, clutching her head, as memories flooded her brain. She couldn't even begin to make sense of the blurry, jumbled images wreaking havoc on her mind.
"Mommy! Daddy!" A small, terrified voice cried out, the call echoing through her mind.
She flinched, bracing herself for more images. Her head buzzed and she could feel them surfacing again.
"Rei!" The furious shout cut through the visions like a knife would slice through flesh. The raven-haired girl shook her head to clear her senses, glancing around feverishly.
"Mommy. Daddy." It was a whimper now.
Rei looked down, discovering a pile of rubble at her feet. A small hand shook as it reached out desperately for help. Rei dropped to her knees, furiously tearing at the debris. The cries were getting softer as the sounds of labored breathing met her ears. The slowly dying voice heated her blood and turned her vision red at the edges.
She had to save the girl.
Grimacing, Rei lifted a particularly large chunk of wall away and saw a dirty lock of blonde hair. "Help… please." The plead was soft, so soft she almost didn't hear it. Rei grabbed the hand, trying not to hurt the girl further, and began to move and kick away enough debris to reach the body connected to it.
Finally she unearthed a face with streaks cut through the grime on it by tears. The girl tried to take a deep breath, but she only produced a wet croaking noise, her face distorting in pain. Something was crushing her lungs. Rei clawed at the rocks and broken building parts, bloodying her own hands in a desperate attempt to save her.
Terrified green eyes met hers for a brief moment, daring to fill with hope. At last Rei was able to clear out the rest of the rubble crushing the small girl and, with a strangled cry, the girl clung to her legs as tightly as she could. Rei didn't get a chance to respond to the fragile embrace before the girl's body was wracked by a spasm, falling to her knees. She retched blood, some spilling onto Rei's legs and boots. A choked whimper escaped her lips as she collapsed. Dead.
Rei stared, unable to even breathe the word "No" into the silence that had befallen her. She ignored the shaking ground, the shouts of men and the insistent hand gripping her arm. She stumbled backwards and fell over a piece of the fallen building, her already injured arm twisting at an awkward angle as she landed.
Her eyes widened as she gave a silent scream. Why was this different?
A hand jerked her roughly to her feet. The usually steady and graceful raven slipped and would've fallen again if not for the strong arms holding her steady.
"C'mon, we've got to get out of here." A heavy voice hissed.
Rei looked around. There. On the rooftop. She quickly rolled to one side, grunting at the pain in her arm, and crouched behind a boulder. She took a peek around the large rock and, upon seeing her enemy, launched a fire arrow at him. He fell back, clutching his burning chest, screaming all the way.
Her arm throbbed but she spared a quick glance at it-definitely useless now-before following her partner through the broken building, swinging her sword and slicing down enemy assassins. Her left arm was too weak for her to use her powers properly. Ahead of her, Phobos was locked in combat with a large, burly man. His oversized sword was at least two feet wide.
He lifted it above his head and chopped down with unbelievable speed. Phobos barely managed to dodge it, the steel glinting hungrily as it cut into the ground- just missing his face. Phobos' sword moved into a swift uppercut and sliced through the man's side, but he cried out in shock as his sword lodged itself in the man's chest. Then a large fist came up and he was decked hard in the face.
The ashy-haired man staggered backward, weaponless and cornered. Rei cut down the last assassin attacking her and leaped from rock to rock, a blur of movement. Something made the large man turn and an angry, surprised look came to his face at the sight of her charging at him. Wait, he saw her? But her sword was already cutting into his thick skin. Unfortunately, the man had anticipated her last minute thrust and she'd only managed to graze the stone hard skin of his chest.
The girl landed a few feet away and quickly spun on her heel, maneuvering herself expertly through the assassin's defenses and striking with her sword again. Like Phobos' sword it lodged in the man's chest and refused to come out, but this was exactly what the Martian wanted. Flames burst from the blade of her sword and the assassin roared in agony as he was slowly melted from the inside out. His skin peeled from his body, revealing the murky substance beneath that identified him as one of the Summoned. Rei snarled and yanked her sword out, using the momentum to swing the weapon in a deadly arc of flame and effectively incinerating what was left of the creature upon contact.
She stepped back as to not be caught in the aftermath of her own inferno as the Summoned creature imploded in on itself and collapsed in a pile of dust, Phobos' sword clattering to the ground in the process. Rei frowned slightly at the grey substance still clinging to her clothes and made a mental note to herself to clean them later. Then, aided by his voice, she remembered her friend.
"Ow, dammit. That hurt." Phobos moaned, gingerly touching his swelling face.
The younger girl chuckled, sheathing her sword before offering him her good arm. "Get up you big baby." He took it gratefully and wearily rose to his feet. Rei double-checked herself while Phobos retrieved his sword. No new injuries. Good.
Faint footfalls made her turn before shoving Phobos behind a hunk of fallen building and diving after him. "We've got to get out of here before they find us." She hissed. Phobos nodded solemnly and pointed to the entrance they had used to come through.
The footsteps weren't so faint anymore.
Rei shook her head quickly in her disagreement with her friend. She pointed up, signaling to him with her hands that they would escape on the rooftops. The ash-haired man arched an eyebrow in surprise.
*Won't that make it easier for them to catch us?* He signaled back.
*No. We came from the underground, they'll be waiting for us to make a move towards there. Besides, if we're careful, we'll see them but they won't see us.* She signaled back, flashing him an irritated look, which Phobos defiantly brushed off as he peeked over their hiding place.
He nodded briefly and they silently began climbing rocks, using their hooks to scour the wall and slip onto the roof. Carefully the two Martians scouted the roof, looking for any signs of enemies. Nothing. All clear. They checked out the surrounding areas and there were no signs of anything above ground.
They didn't notice the tall, white-haired man watching them from a distance on another rooftop. Standing next to him was a shorter man with long, unruly dirty blonde hair.
"Should we kill them now?" The shorter man asked.
The taller one shook his head. "No, I have a job for the girl."
Quickly, Rei and Phobos hopped onto the next rooftop and briefly checked their surroundings before jumping to the next, moving like shadows. They traveled that way for some time, heading back to their base.
So finally, I'm done, it's taken me forever to fix it up this much. Sad I know...but I owe most of this to Cloud Auditore Fair who set out on the horrible task of correcting my mistakes.
Reviews are nice, so is candy. And aspirin...