A Warrior Bunny
Sailor Moon One-shot
By: Abazilliondayz / Falling into the darkness
[Side Note: I do not own Sailor Moon]
A few lone stars speckle the incandescent night sky into misshapen constellations with no clouds to keep them company save that of a sliver of a waning moon. While metal obelisks burst forth from the ground in a rebellion against gravity only to be halted miles from breaking the atmosphere. Their metallic bodies reach out to the heavens as if in silent solemnity. To honor their gods, these faithful servants display geometrically square scars that litter the course of their empty cadavers. As if in reply to their prayers, light illuminates from their cold husks in compensation for their inability to become companions with the stars. The buildings will make no new friends tonight.
Despite the effulgent city, no waking creature walked its thin, twisted streets. No cars or trains crawled and howled its way through the spaces between the buildings to remind the solemn edifices that they are not so alone. In fear of the calm serenity of the ground, no cloud roamed and no star fell in the sky. All stood still in the night, holding in a breath of disbelief. Such a quiet moment had become an estranged stranger to Tokyo and its daily, chaotic moon lit happenings. The world it appeared, for once, slumbered in peace.
All for except one, at least.
Perched above the top observation deck of Tokyo tower, Serena gazes blankly at the city below. Hunched in over herself, she unconsciously braces against the brisk breeze that tugs teasingly at her hair and clothes. She pays no mind to the wind blowing her shirt softly off her stomach and her shorts further up her thighs, too busy was she brooding in the silence of the city. Her dainty feet dangled precariously over the edge of Tokyo tower with no forethought to the thousand foot drop below. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Serena heard the soft murmurings of Chaos begging her to jump.
She had enjoyed no repose in her bed next to her feline guardian. She had struggled to fall asleep for the first time in her life as subtly her consciousness prickled with anxiety. An anxiety that had formed over the few years in which danger and death had loomed behind the smile of every kind stranger. Unknowingly, Serena had begun to recognize Chaos in every face, familiar or otherwise. Even though, she knew Chaos was never actually there. It wasn't until after Serena saved Galaxia that she felt her small light of Hope had finally dissipated having been spread too thin too often.
Afraid of disturbing Luna's slumber, Serena had silently fled out her bedroom window and into the night. Fated as always, it was no surprise that Serena found herself at the top of Tokyo tower. It's unmatched height within the city made it the perfect vigilante post to survey for the ground for any potential danger. It also served as Serena's late night haven.
Tracing her eyes over Tokyo's architecturally gridded roads, the glint of her toenails caught her eye. Briefly, Serena studied the dirt underneath her toenails and the mud that caked her soles. Amidst her observations of her feet, her gaze traveled up her left leg where thin hairline scars weaved up her leg and into her torso stopping only at the massive scar that sat above her heart. Shifting her gaze to the moon, Serena could only numbly recall the moment when she took Darien's life and then her own with the sword of the imperium crystal. It was then, Serena noted, that her life began to spiral out of control. All her fights, all her wins and losses: they came at a cost. The price being the scars never healed from her skin- forever visible as thin fissures on the porcelain tapestry of her skin- or from her mind.
All she had to do was close her eyes and there they were. The faces of her friends and family dying over and over. Killed by Beryl or Wiseman or Galaxia. Repeatedly, she failed them. Grief marked its presence in the wake of the tears that rolled down Serena's cheeks and the sobs that she let drown in her chest. It had been barely a week since Serena had defeated Galaxia, but she was no fool, she knew that the sharpness of the pain in her heart would not dull.
She would always see Rei gasping for her last breathe as Galaxia drained the life out of her. Rei's eyes pleading with her for death to come sooner. She would never forget the feeling of Rei's cold corpse cradled to her chest and the sound of hearing two heart beats fade to one.
Serena could still envision Lita's out stretched hands reaching for her as Queen Nehellenia shot lightening right through Lita's chest. A perfect hole punched between her shoulder blades and her bosom leaving a macabre window of where Lita's heart should have been. A hole that left an emptiness that Serena felted reflected within her own chest to this day.
She still bore the scars of when Mina shoved her out of the way to take a full attack from Queen Beryl's minion. Serena's left shoulder forever missing small chunks of skin where small pebbles punctured her deeply upon impact. The image of Mina's limp body hanging twenty feet off the ground from a thorn pillar that speared her through still gave Serena a queasy feeling in her stomach. Serena could still not fathom all the blood that dripped down those vines.
Serena never forgot the acrid smell of burnt flesh as Ami's body was charred beyond recognition. A self-sacrifice done in vain as Serena returned the favor by killing herself after she stabbed Darien. A selfish mistake that Serena knows she will never atone for. Ashamed, Serena knows that Ami still shrinks away from any kind of fire and that she turns pale whenever she watches someone cook meat over an open flame. Ami had turned vegetarian shortly after that event.
Taking a deep breath, Serena wiped away the tears that had left salt residue on her cheeks and pushed away the images to the back of her mind. She knew Chaos would revel in the memories that plagued her to make sure that the pain in her chest would never dim. She wished she was the moon, forever waxing and waning, becoming cleansed at the end of every month. Every sin washed away. Every scar healed and faded and forgotten. As Chaos greedily consumed her every negative thought and emotion, they murmured their suggestion that a quick jump could make it all go away.
Ignoring the darkness that lingered in the dank recesses of her mind, Serena withdrew her brooch out of her shorts' pocket. It had become a habit to take it everywhere she went, she couldn't remember the day when she stopped forgetting it in her room. Maybe, Serena pondered sullenly, it was shortly after Luna almost died in one of their regular fights trying to get her brooch to her. When she first got it and became Sailor Moon, she was full of so much excitement, so much joy and now, Serena realized, all the brooch did was fill her with dread.
Leaning forward with her arm straight out in front of her, Serena held the brooch in her open hand. Slowly, she watched as it slipped out of her hand and towards the ground. Falling parallel down Tokyo tower and disappearing into the million lights of the city below, Serena did not wait to hear it shatter against the pavement. She did not go looking for it. Serena got up and went home. She knew that she had defeated Chaos and that there was no more villain, no more bad guy, to fight. No world to save. All she had to do was go back to bed and wake up the same teenage girl she was before all this.
Serena knew she would never be the same. Things wouldn't revert back to how they were. She would always carry the scars and the memories that being Sailor Moon brought her but she would enjoy it with all the gifts that being Sailor Moon also brought. Such as her friends. Such as Darien.
And, if there ever came another day when Serena would have to fight again. She hoped that this time, that when she would die, she wouldn't wake up again.
Quietly, Chaos murmured their assent.
[Author's Note: Please review and let me know how you liked it. Its been a long time since I have written a fanfic story of any kind so I apologize if this was rough. Any criticism is welcome!]