Worth Dying For
A Sailor Moon / Sorcerer Hunters fan fiction by Iapetus
Disclaimer: I don't own either of the above series. However, I love them both to death – and there is a good reason for that.
Author's Note: This story is based off the manga of both series. In the manga story of Sailor Moon, this story takes place one year after the battle against Chaos (So Crystal Tokyo hasn't been made yet). In the Sorcerer Hunters Manga, the story takes place a month after the story "One Fine Afternoon" (the end of volume 9).
This is a teaser, and I'm updating it because the formatting on the story was messed up. Chapter 1 should be out soon. (Sorry for the wait for those who are.)
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Hotaru was in the middle of a rose garden. The flowers were as red as blood, and stood out against the green of the grass. A slight breeze ruffled the leaves.
Mother loved roses, she thought to herself. At their old home, when her father was still alive, her mother tended a garden much like this. It was almost like she was home again, when she was still a normal girl – and before the accident at the laboratory that set the rest of her life in motion.
"Hotaru-chan!" Startled by the call from the tranquility, the young teenage girl turned to see who it was. Usagi was running towards her, a huge smile on her face.
"We've been looking for you! Why did you wander off?" Now that she was standing in front of the girl, the oddness of the situation continued. It was Serenity, not Usagi. Why has the princess assumed her royal dress? Hotaru thought. Usagi may have accepted her fate as Princess of the Moon, but she just didn't dress like that on a regular basis.
A bolt of lighting shattered the stillness. How could lighting appear like that on a cloudless day? She thought. The bolt seemed to tear the very sky, and the sun disappeared. A crimson moon arose from nowhere, and the figure floating in front of it surprised her.
It was Sailor Saturn, dressed as she first had when she'd awakened. The Silence Glaive had blood on it, and murder was in the senshi's eyes.
Usagi gasped, and looked back at Hotaru. Terror filled both of their eyes, because neither knew what was going on.
Both girls went for their crystals.
"Saturn Crystal Power, Make Up!" In a swirl of purple light, the quiet girl transformed into her other self. Everything seemed to be going fine, until her Glaive appeared. Grabbing it out of habit, Hotaru could not have been prepared for what happened next.
The Holy Grail appeared in front of the moon princess.
"Silver Moon Crysta-" she never finished what she was going to say. The other Saturn launched towards the vulnerable girl. Hotaru tried to reach her friend, but a wall held her in place.
The Silence Wall? But how? Stunned, she could only watch in horror. The other Saturn plowed through the building energy – and impaled the princess with the blade of the Glaive.
"USSSAAAGGGIIIIII!!!" Hotaru screamed in anguish. Infuriated, she tried to get through the wall of energy again. It didn't work.
"WHY?" she screamed at the attacker. "WHY DID YOU DO THIS?"
Her aura wasn't getting though the wall again. Hotaru felt her anger building in her, giving her more power.
"Silence Glaive Surprise!" the Silence Wall shattered, and the ball of light headed towards the imposter senshi.
"Silence Glaive Surprise!" the other shouted in response. Both balls of light struck halfway between the two female warriors, and imploded.
Wall gone, Hotaru rushed to her attacker, only to have her body frozen. This time it wasn't the wall. The imposter was emitting a purple aura, and looking at her with glowing eyes.
"Why did you assume my form?" Hotaru demanded. "How can you mimic my attacks?" she challenged. "WHY DID YOU KILL MY PRINCESS?"
The other Saturn smiled an 'all-knowing' smile. "I am you, the future you."
"That's impossible," chuckled Hotaru. "I only wore that fuku when I first awoke as a senshi. I have had my powers increased, and received the Star Crystal transformation like the rest of the solar senshi-"
"You are different, Sailor Saturn," the other remarked. "Unlike the Inner Senshi, your original mission was not to protect the princess. She gave you that job out of the love of her heart.
"You are not like Sailor Uranus and Neptune, who's mission was to guard the Solar System from outside invaders. They were given the privilege of protecting Serenity as well.
"You do not guard the Gates of Time, like Sailor Pluto. She was given the privilege to serve as well. You were never to have that."
No, she thought with tears. That can't be true. It can't! It was her who brought the other Outer Senshi to the aid of their fellow warriors during the battle against the Dead Moon. Wasn't it her other self, like the one that appeared before her, who told her that she didn't have to fight alone anymore?
"You are the Goddess of Destruction. You will eventually destroy this world into nothingness."
"I know that!" she glared back, "but my mission was fulfilled! I dropped the Glaive on Pharaoh 90, and Pluto sealed me into their dimension with them. I was reborn to fight with Sailor Moon!"
"You are wrong." Something about the way the other Saturn said it kept Hotaru from saying something in protest.
"Every time you are reborn into this world, you will eventually drop your Silence Glaive," she smiled wickedly. "I came to you then with the lie that you could be one of them – because it wasn't time for you to do so."
"What, is there a new enemy?" Hotaru demanded.
"No.
"This world must return to nothingness. Not even destroying Chaos could cause evil to cease to vanish forever. Light cannot exist without the darkness, and darkness cannot exist without the light. You were created to bring balance to the Solar Senshi.
"Like it or not, but you are not the person you thought you were."
"I was never the person I thought I was!" Hotaru shot back. "We all change. I can never go back to being an ordinary girl; I was never one in the first place.
"Either way, you won't get away with this. The others will not let this rest-"
"You mean these others?" The gray walls of the garden faded away, revealing a terrible battleground.
They were all there: Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter – trying to get to the door of the garden. Uranus and Neptune held each other close, eternally inseparable – with tears drying on their cheeks. Pluto was lying over Chibi Moon, a last attempt to protect the little princess she loved so much. None of them would move again, they were impaled by the other Saturn's Glaive; just as Usagi had been.
"Your wrong! I'd never do this to my friends!"
The bloody Glaive was now pointed at her. "It is your fate. You were created to be evil. No one escapes fate, you should know that by now… Tomoe Hotaru."
"You're lying," her voice became as cold as ice.
"You know it's true." She extended her hand to the girl. "Accept me, and end it."
"No." She shook her head, and floated slightly backwards.
"No-" The images of her best friends covered in a sea of blood filled her eyes.
"No!" This can't be happening, it's not true!
Something in her heart shot back with the same venom as the other Saturn. "You know it is…" it whispered.
"NOOOOOOOOO!!!"
Screaming, Hotaru woke up – eyes filled with terror. She fell back on her pillow, and tried to close her eyes against the images. It didn't work; they just filled her mind even more.
Not again… she thought. Every night, the dream would come. In her dream, Hotaru had no recollection of the dream from the night before. The past two weeks had been torture, but this was the first time she screamed when she woke up.
"Hotaru-chan?" It was Michiru. "Are you ok?"
There's no way I can talk about this dream, Hotaru thought back tears. "No, I'm ok!" She laughed. "I guess it was one of those nightmares that one forgets as soon as they are awake. I'm sorry."
"What's going on?" Haruka asked. "I heard a scream."
"It was Hotaru, she had a bad dream."
"Are you ok?" she demanded.
"I'm FINE!" Hotaru said firmly. "It was just a bad dream. I've already forgotten about it!"
The young girl turned away from the two older women; as to signal it was the end of the discussion. Snuggling under the covers, she didn't see both of them give each other a concerned look.
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It was time for them to go to sleep, but Carrot tried to keep him from doing so. First, he said that he would take the night watch. He couldn't do it every night; otherwise the others would get suspicious. Second, he volunteered to get firewood when they began to run out late at night. Unfortunately, Gateau chopped enough wood in fifteen minutes to last any family all winter.
Finally, he resigned himself to just busying himself in bed. Sure, he would have to deal with his other friends complaining about his sleeping habits, but anything was bearable next to the nightmares he had each night.
For the last twelve days, he had been running on coffee. They had been passing through many cities, and chased as many girls as possible. Actually, he couldn't care less about getting it on with some girl right now. What use was it that as soon as he fell asleep by her side, he would be awake screaming? The chasing was now just an act.
Man, what I wouldn't do for a good night sleep. Coffee could only do so much. Around day five, he even remarked to himself that he would become a monk and be celibate the rest of his life if he could just get a good night's sleep. Now, he was seriously considering talking to Marron about his problem. Gateau and Chocolat may have taken the girl chasing bait (he still had scars from his last beating), but Tira didn't seem so sure. Not only that but he KNEW Marron was aware something was wrong. They weren't brothers for nothing.
There is no WAY I could tell any of them, he thought. They'd think I was going crazy.
Maybe he was. But, for whatever reason – he found himself facing a monster each night. When he woke up twelve nights ago, he was standing over Marron with his sword held high. By the time he woke up, he had almost cut his own brother's head off. Luckily, that night he was on duty, and Marron has slept heavily. It was then he decided to go on coffee.
Tira was on guard, so if he should do anything – she could stop him. He so wanted to sleep; his whole body cried out for rest.
His eyes were getting heavy. No… I can't go to sleep. I can't let them find out anything…
His pleas left unanswered by his body. Glace Carrot sunk into a deep sleep…
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So, how'd you like my little teaser? Please review! I reformatted the story to make a bit more sense. Also, if anyone had read this story before, I changed Saturn from using the Revolution to Dropping the Silence Glaive. I found a bit of information that proved that I was wrong. (And since I'm going off the manga, that's an important detail.)
I'm at a bit of a writer's block right now, but I'll get the first chapter out as soon as possible.