Negaverse Rising
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Chapter 7
Malachite had tied the senshi up much the way he'd hamstrung Endymion's woman. He'd threatened her with his sword, a lovely piece he'd recently picked up in an antique store. No future Black Moon items for him; he prided himself on his purity from anything unearthly. This planet had consistently produced the strongest of everything, including weapons, and most particularly strong souls. A strong soul could make use of the most humble of weapons and battle successfully any otherworldly evils. Including Sailor Senshi.
"Sailor Jupiter, worshiper of the Moon Witch, who is ushering in a hellish future led by sprites and genies from everywhere BUT Earth—!"
Lita kicked at her bindings, spat through her mouth gag. How the hell was she supposed to talk when they'd GAGGED her?
Malachite knelt down, spat in her face; watched her squirm. "Remember me from yesterday, Lita?" He chuckled at her widened eyes; yes, he knew her identity, thanks in large part to the Black Moon Clan. "You're wondering how I know so much about you!"
"Just get on with it," Nephrite spat. "You said you'd let her go if she told you what you wanted, but you're not asking her anything useful—!"
Lita's eyes shot up to Nephrite. Hurt. He caught her glance, and looked away quickly.
Jadeite moved the dark-haired Shitennou away from the business at hand, into a dark corner. "Calm down, brother," the dashing Shitennou said. " Malachite knows what he's doing, and if you two get into another fight now like you did yesterday, I'm afraid he'll try to dispatch you again."
Malachite gleamed across the room at the two errant Shitennou, who in his estimation barely deserved the name. But he figured he could use Nephrite's weakness this time. He knelt down to Lita, resting his sharp blade across her shoulders, near her emerald green choker. He said, "Looks like Nephrite's got a little crush!"
Nephrite struggled against Jadeite when Lita tried screaming; Jadeite tried to manhandle him away further, block his view. Nephrite said angrily, "Then you tell HIM that he's going about it all wrong! Lita ISN'T like Endymion's wench!" He smiled as his comrade nervously straightened his uniform; Nephrite was nobody's bitch, and he wouldn't let Malachite's bitch treat him like one.
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SAVING LITA
Serena bolted up in bed, screaming. Rei rolled over quickly, her casted leg flying against Serena's kneecap, causing both herself and Serena inordinate amounts of pain —which Rei sucked in sharply as she tried to sit up without blowing her top.
Serena was now on her knees in the bed, wide eyes staring in horror at Rei as she excitedly mumbled, "Something's wrong —ohmigod something's wrong something's wrong something's—"
Rei grabbed Sere's shoulders and started shaking her: "I GOT IT! Something's wrong! What's—?"
"—with Lita Rei something's wrong with Lita!" Serena gasped out.
Rei realized her fairy-looking friend was hyperventilating, and went to hug her, to calm her down... hesitated due to her uncovered boobs. Rei shoved some sheets into Serena's arms instead then rubbed her arms, saying, "Please calm the hell down! Serena! —we'll give her a call!"
Ami and Mina had bumrushed the room, asking what was wrong. Ami's scanner was on Serena: "Blood pressure's way up! Oxygen level's through the roof..." She looked at Serena. "You're hyperventilating!"
Rei was about to snap at Captain Obvious when Mina plopped down on the bed, jarring Rei's broken leg and causing her to yelp out in anguish.
Mina asked Serena, "Sweetie, what's wrong?"
Serena said, "Lita! —something happened! We've got to find her she's in trouble!"
Rei had backed off the bed, dragging her casted leg with her until it crashed to the floor, and then reached for her crutches, silently cursing all the klutzes in the room. Mumbled, 'oh Rei, can you watch Serena, she sleeps like a baby, it won't be any trouble...'
Mina said, "Here, Sere —we'll call her right now!" and hit her communicator.
Serena stood and moved off the bed as Mina and Ami worked on contacting Lita. Sere reached for the bed sheet and started wrapping it around her—
"Where do you think YOU'RE going?" Rei asked, turning her crutches back around and heading for Serena.
Serena shook her head, trying to tie the sheet, and said, "Rei Lita's in trouble —I think I saw it! I can feel it!" She was trying to use Darien's stupid calming techniques on her breathing, and enumerate the steps she had to take to do a simple task, which right now was to get out of the temple. Number one, don't be naked. Two, communicate the problem. She was failing miserably—
"You're tying your wings all up, dummy," Rei spat, leaning a crutch on the bed so she could bend over and help her out.
Mina announced, "She's not answering..." Bit her lip. "But there's no emergency distress signal, either, Sere." Beat. "But even if there were, YOU can't go out, Serena! Demand said you needed to stay in bed!" She smiled at the naked moon senshi who, beneath her transformation, was beaten sorely and near death. "Ami and I will go try to find her—!"
"NO!" Serena said sharply. Rei was fidgeting with the sheet, uselessly; Serena grabbed her up and said, "Rei, where's Darien?"
Ami came over with a shirt and said, "Try this. It's very thin, it buttons up, and I brought some safety pins!
Serena lost it and disentangled herself from the sheet, burst out of the room, stormed through the sanctuary and out the door. She got a flash of Lita laying on a dark floor with a sword pointed at her head; the image hit her like a wet cloth slapping her face, taking her breath with sharp pain—
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Malachite had long since ripped the gag out of Lita's mouth. He'd asked her immediately about their transformations, but her responses were useless. Except for the fact that, when he told her to transform, she blurted out that the other Senshi would know she'd transformed if she did so.
What Malachite wanted to know - NEEDED to know, was how exactly how the Moon Witch had transformed yesterday, saving herself from certain death, when she had been unconscious. Everytime he'd gotten near that subject, though, Lita had either steered him in the wrong direction, or she had given him an impossible answer. Or, he considered, an answer that didn't square with his experience with the Moon Witch approximately 12 hours ago.
Nephrite had come back into the fray, far before Malachite was ready for him. Malachite had just starting to work Lita over, after all — a few kicks to that giant head of hers, and Nephrite was shrieking like a girl, even worse than the girl herself! If anything, Malachite was more impressed with Lita's stamina than his fellow Shitennou's.
Malachite said, "You need to go search your stars for some answers, Nephrite, before you get your girlfriend here killed! And that's something NONE of us want! —Right?"
"She's not LIKE the Moon Bitch!" Nephrite spat out. "Kicking her head in won't do a thing but HURT her! She doesn't transform that way you insufferable idiot—!"
"SHUT UP!" Malachite stammered, so angry that this shithead was spilling his guts in front of the prey. "GET OUT! NOW!"
When Malachite slashed his sword dangerously close to Nephrite's neck, Zoicite jumped in: "Please, this is how we failed before, turning on each other!" Zoicite pulled the offending Shitennou back, far back, from Malachite, then turned to face him. Insisted, quietly, "Let Malachite do his job. *Please*! He's brilliant; he knows what he's doing!"
But Lita had sat up when Malachite tried to attack Nephrite. Squirming under Malachite's suddenly-drawn blade, she said, "You want to know why Serena transformed! WE DON'T KNOW! I swear! SHE doesn't even know! But Nephrite's right—most of us don't transform automatically when we're being beaten! It's exactly the opposite!"
Malachite rolled his eyes, trying to calm himself. He stabbed the sword into the ground, dangerously close to Lita's face, and stormed over to Nephrite. Pushed him to the door. "Zoicite, you too!"
And when all four Shitennou congregated, Malachite said, "We don't have much more time with her, before we have to release her. So, Nephrite, you're outta here! Go! Go to your estate downtown and ..stay there! Look At Your Stars, or whatever it is you do. —I will try not to hurt your woman."
Nephrite spat out quietly, "She's not MY woman, you paranoid idiot! If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have even this shot at her. —but I guarantee you you're going about this the wrong way! If your interest is in killing the Moon Bitch before she destroys the world, you'd better change your tactics. Stop torturing this girl for fun; stop telling her how Great You Are. Get the information you want, then set. her. free!"
Zoicite said, "Nephrite, you should go."
"Indeed," Malachite smiled. "—And since dawn isn't too far away now, I'm going to need some lookouts. Zoicite, Jadeite, get Nephrite off the campus, and then spread out here to let me know if you see *any* of their group."
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THE GREAT HUNT
Demand and Darien had long since made it downtown, and Demand was looking at his handheld which he claimed could locate Endymion's Shitennou, using locators Saphir had shot into their brains before pulling them out of the Negaverse. "We never had to use them, of course. We primarily didn't trust Beryl; she was insane. But everyone got the locators." Beat. "I'm getting nothing from any of those particular four, though." Beat. "Unless they crawled back into the Negaverse—"
"You had a faint blip when you first checked, back at the temple!" Darien argued. "Are you sure they can't disguise it?"
"I told you, your Shitennou are Old School, Mr. Chiba. They know nothing of the mind. —Souls? They imagine so. But the actual literal ~brain~? Where the locators are implanted? Never."
BLIP.
Demand shrugged. "I underestimated them." The two turned around and took off in the direction of the signal. "If that indicator was accurate, they're underground."
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Zoicite had seen Endymion running towards them, and was awestruck. Ran out to greet him emphatically; then saw the traitorous Demand with him. Wondered if Endymion had turned Demand. Zoicite bowed deeply as the pair approached at a quick clip. "My lord," he got out, seconds before Darien Chiba kicked him viciously under his chin, instantly snapping Zoicite's neck. Darien stepped over him like he was filth, then continued into the building.
Demand bent over Zoicite, then watched Darien move into the building. Demand stared after him, then sullenly grabbed the dead Shitennou's arms and dragged his body towards the bushes to hide the evidence.
A brilliant light shone behind him; he turned. —Caught by Serena, red-handed.
And her Senshi. Serena's eyes were glued on the dead man's face as Luna and Sailor Mercury inspected the body and announced the fellow's demise.
Sailor Venus asked coldly, "What are you doing here, Demand?"
Demand, hoisting Zoicite's body over top of the bushes, then pushing it to let it drop out of sight, said, "I should ask you the same thing!" He wiped his hands and inspected his work before turning back to Serena. "It's not safe—"
"Lita's in trouble," Serena said, watery-eyed, then angrily pushed her way past him and into the building.
Demand caught up with her and grabbed her arm, aware that Darien had disappeared into the building, and wanting to buy him some time to complete his task. But Serena violently pushed him away and continued her march inside. He tried again, "Let *us* handle this, my love!"
Serena stopped then. "Who WAS that, Demand? Did YOU kill him?" Serena asked.
Demand grabbed her hand and said, "It's inadvisable for you to be out of bed! If your friend is here, she's in trouble. You should let us handle it."
Luna had continued on to the stairs though, and Serena turned and followed her.
Ami asked, "Who's 'us'?", just as a scream was heard from below. And a sickening thud.
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Two levels down, Serena found another man —dead. His eye was hanging sickly out of his head, his face crushed. She stopped cold in the stairwell, started hyperventilating.
Demand grabbed her up as Sailors Mercury and Venus made their way past. He pushed her against the wall, feeling the heat of her sword at his hand, but ignoring it valiantly. "Let us handle this! Serena, you CAN'T! They may have hurt your friend—!"
She crumpled in a sob, hysterical, begging Demand, "Your KILLING isn't helping, Demand!" She tried to push away from him; couldn't find the strength. Cried, "Don't you see that? They hurt us; we hurt them back worse; they come back again — they take Lita! It's a neverending cycle!" She suddenly collapsed in agony, Demand grabbing her as she fell, as she lost her transformation.
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Malachite's eyes widened, staring at his communicator.
"They're here, aren't they?" Lita asked, coughing up blood from Malachite's kicks. Her torturer had never let go of the idea that he could determine at what point near death the senshi transform, and use that information in his bid to kill Serena. He had told Lita they hadn't really had much time with Serena before she had transformed into Indestructibo; so it shouldn't take him long to determine at what point a senshi transformation took over.
Lita had confessed that they hadn't had much time with Serena's new transformation, either. She had lied about knowing what had caused Serena's change — if the lout couldn't figure out Serena was pregnant, ESPECIALLY when she was naked and had a crescent moon glowing on her belly, Lita wasn't going to be the one to tell him.
Malachite had seemingly calmed down for a while after that, talking to her about the Shitennou's plight. Mainly, that they didn't want other inferior powers ruling over the earth. She had then asked about Nephrite, and that had sent her torturer back into Evil Minion mode. Malachite had told her, while trying to kneecap her, that a love story from hell had ruined Endymion; he wouldn't lose Nephrite to a similar, watered-down repeat of the same.
Almost immediately after that, he had got this communiqué. Endymion was on the premises.
"Fine," Malachite said to himself. "I faced him earlier—" He picked up the sword, twirled it around, then down to Lita's chest. He said to her, "If you want to live through this night, I'd highly suggest you scream like a banshee on my mark." He pricked her skin: "Gotta make it look real!" and smiled coldly at her.
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Darien had mowed through two lookouts, men he didn't know or remember well. He crashed into the dark basement, looking for the next two. He was confused in the dark stillness.
And then he heard a blood-curdling scream. As Tuxedo Mask, he rushed through the enormous basement, knocking down everything in his way, no longer caring about stealth, if he ever had. He saw Malachite, let loose his rose into his chest and was over him instantly, pulling him up, twisting his head to kill him, and bashing it against the concrete wall for good measure. He saw Malachite's face crack satisfyingly, and his nemesis slumped to the ground.
Over Lita. "—What the hell are you doing here?" Tuxedo Mask exclaimed, instantly grabbing Malachite's body off Lita and tossing him to the side. Lita looked up at him fearfully, tried to answer, but coughed blood; her eyes went dim. Tuxedo Mask reached for the sword that Malachite had buried in her chest, then thought better of it. He crumpled, his anger and fury at Malachite suddenly gone, then called out, "Demand! Demand, get in here NOW!"
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Demand fell with Serena, collapsing onto the ground as he held his hand against her now-open chest wound. It hadn't been open when Saphir had tried repairing her heart last night, but then she had transformed; they hadn't seen what had happened to her body after that. "Serena!" he yelled miserably. Hearing her raspy breathing, he blindly slapped a hand on her gaping back wound, then moved his fingers delicately over her wound, mentally stitching and healing the delicate lung tissue inside.
"Can't live without air," he mumbled.
Felt her dying. "Transform, damn you!" he yelled, setting her down on her back and holding both hands over her chest wound, maniacally repairing her broken chest cavity by disappearing the offending broken rib in its entirety. "Maybe she won't need it," he rasped, then sealed the broken skin in her chest. He moved his fingers gingerly over her missing rib, trying to mentally detect the wound in her heart.
Screams rang out down the hall, but he remained in the stairwell, focused on finding the wound in Serena's heart. "I love you," he breathed. "And you will NOT die." He straddled her loosely, hyper-aware of her pregnancy, needing to get both hands nearer her heart. "Oh, you're going to be pissed about that rib," he laughed with a croaked voice, coming as close to crying as he ever had. Then, finally, yelling in anguish, he stuck both hands into her damaged aorta.
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A screaming Sailor Venus stood over Lita, quickly pulling the sword out against Tuxedo Mask's rampant advice. Blood spurted, and Sailor Mercury instantly jumped onto Lita's gushing wound, pushing with both hands onto the wound to staunch the bleeding. "Darien, GET HELP!" Sailor Mercury screamed.
Luna had tried forcing Lita to transform into Sailor Jupiter, as that had saved Serena, ...but there was no response from Lita.
Artemis said, "She's got lung damage! —what IS it with the Shitennou and swords?" He was just as disturbed that his own charge had been the one to rip the sword free. Mina wasn't a ditz; she really wasn't a ditz. He kept telling himself that as he watched the rescue efforts, looking around for a first aid kit.
Sailor Mercury had dragged the screaming Sailor Venus down to help apply the pressure to Lita's wound; the she jumped up and grabbed Tuxedo Mask's phone and dialed 911. "No signal!" she shouted desperately, then took off out of the room.
Tuxedo Mask started helping a maniacal Sailor Venus apply pressure to Lita's wound; confused and anxious, trying to breath, he looked behind him and testily asked, "Where is Demand when you need him?"
Luna had found some padding, dragged it over to them to use on Lita's wound: "Serena should be here, too—"
Tuxedo Mask turned, face frozen in horror: "She came with you? —Luna, there's still a fourth Shitennou out there!" He grabbed Sailor Venus' arm: "You stay with Lita—" and leaped over the carnage and out of the room.
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Sailor Mercury had gotten through to 911 and was telling them their location as she rounded the corner and came up on Demand, huddled over another body, who she finally recognized as Serena only by the hairstyle. She dropped the phone, ran to them crying, "Serena?"
"She's out," Demand said, eyes closed, focusing on her heart. "She lost her transformation."
Mercury grabbed Serena's hand fitfully, pushed it over her brooch. Serena transformed, sending a shock of energy into Demand, forcing his eyes wide open with pain and sending him flying off her body and into the wall. Serena's eyes opened; she LET GO and detransformed again. Demand was trying to stand up, push Sailor Mercury away, just as Tuxedo Mask bound around the corner.
Sailor Mercury screamed as Tuxedo Mask got there —she was one of the group who hadn't seen Serena's detransformed, beaten body. Tuxedo Mask stepped over the melee on the floor and grabbed Serena up, cuddling her close as he angrily asked, "What the hell happened?" And then, fighting tears, he started trying to rouse his ruined soulmate. "Serena!" he yelled, even shaking her as he did so.
"I tried forcing a transformation but she wouldn't stay.. —Demand was working on her, and he got electrocuted! HELP is on its way, Darien—!"
Demand fell to his knees, demanded, "Put her back down!" Eyes still closed, he mumbled, "She's bleeding out, Chiba." Ami helped the destroyed Tuxedo Mask set Serena back down gently.
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Rei limped into the hospital. Ami had told her that both Serena and Lita had been admitted, but Ami hadn't told her about the number of police involved.
As she hobbled through the halls, she overheard snippets about the gruesome murders of three men and the brutal beatings of two women. She sighed relief that they didn't have any suspects. She saw Demand then, giving a statement to a few officers, and stifled a smile. It was too surreal seeing the futuristic, beautiful Greek god Demand giving a ~statement~ to the local Keystone Kops. She waved lightly; he blushed and waved back.
And yet she was thankful, deeply thankful, knowing that it was a miracle indeed that all of them had made it out of the last 24 hours with their lives. She walked into the room Ami had indicated, hobbled over to Darien and Luna. Serena's head was mega-bandaged, as was her right arm; she had monitors all over, sending out a constant, healthy-sounding heartbeat. Ami had told her that Rubeus finally showed up and intercepted the rescue effort before the ambulance arrived, healing her heart entirely; but the hospital had set and cast her broken arm, and admitted her due to the severe beating she'd gotten.
Darien didn't take his eyes off Serena, but said, quietly, "She'll be okay."
And Luna added, "So will the baby."
Rei nodded. "Why didn't she stay transformed?"
Darien was quiet, looked out the window into the black sky. Luna said, "We don't know. Maybe she was dying. Or maybe she had healed enough to live in this form."
Rei asked, "How's Lita?"
"Intensive care," Luna said. "Neither Demand or Rubeus made it to her. But Mina did a great job holding Lita together until help could get there."
Finally, Rei said, "The cops out there, they're talking about three murders."
Darien asked angrily without looking at her, "You'd have them live?"
Rei spat angrily, "I want to know where the fourth is."
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LOSS
Serena had been released from the hospital the next day, having healed her own injuries after regaining consciousness, but Lita had required several surgeries and time to heal. The girls held vigil in Lita's police-guarded hospital room, most particularly Serena and Rei who, like Lita, had also been injured that night. The hospital staff made connections between Rei's injuries and the two beatings from the dorms, but only Serena and Lita had to give statements to the police. While Lita could honestly claim she was headed home that night and was forcibly taken to the dorms, Serena had no such excuse for being there, and was hard-pressed to explain to anyone why she knew her friend was in trouble.
Darien had attempted to speak for Serena in that initial interview at the hospital, but the officers turned on him when they realized he wasn't a family member. The Tsukinos had stepped in quickly to speak for their daughter, and Mr. Tsukino quietly insisted that Darien return home at once —he'd known the police were looking for motive in these slayings, and that an older, protective boyfriend of a pregnant teenager would be a good patsy if they couldn't find the responsible party. And his daughter wasn't going to suffer any more pain if he could help it.
Kenji Tsukino then firmly explained to the police that Darien was a distant relative residing with them temporarily, and had come WITH the Tsukinos to the hospital; at no time had Darien been out of their sight. While that didn't exactly square with what the police had assumed, the conversation turned as Papa had expected — the police wanted to know who the father of Serena's baby was. Serena nearly died in embarrassment as her parents explained some little boy at school had been the biological father, but was himself too young to assume responsibility, and was not part of Serena's life now. Then Papa explained that Lita had called Serena from the dorms, and Serena had slipped out against their wishes to go help her friend, none of them expecting that the 'trouble' was more than typical boyfriend issues.
The police left Serena alone after she was discharged from the hospital, except to clear up one little niggling detail that didn't quite line up with Serena's story — Lita had claimed that one of the boys involved was her actual boyfriend, who unbeknownst to Lita had disappeared. Lita had asked the police about this Nephrite's welfare. Serena had been startled by that revelation, and insisted to the police that no, Nephrite was NOT anyone they'd known before that day, and Lita must be very confused.
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After that, Rei and Serena learned that Lita was injured in a far more personal way than her sword wound. When Serena had finally gotten a chance to slip in and heal Lita without half the hospital watching, Lita's condition improved a lot. But the first thing Lita had asked about was the fate of her attackers, and Rei had told her all but one died. Lita looked anxious and upset, until Serena told her the name of the one who got away, and then Lita had burst into tears, laughing and crying maniacally, scaring both Rei and Serena with her mania. Then Lita claimed that Nephrite was mostly innocent — he'd helped take her, but they'd gotten to talk, and Nephrite had ultimately tried to help her. That the reason he hadn't been at the dorms was because Malachite had sent him away. She glowingly informed them that she and Nephrite had a connection; she wasn't sure what she would have done had she lost Nephrite that night.
Serena had been stunned silent, but Rei recovered quickly, and deadpanned, "Lita, Nephrite's one of the Shitennou who attacked us all in the park. What they did to you and Serena.. to me—!"
"Nephrite hurt Serena?" Lita railed, surprised. "No, Rei! Serena and I were both run through by a sword; YOU said it was Malachite who attacked her. It was Malachite who hurt me; Nephrite is innocent in this!"
Rei shot a worried glare at Serena, then looked back at Lita. "Lita, all four of the Shitennou were watching us for weeks, waiting for a chance to attack. They're ALL responsible for what's happened."
Lita argued, "Only Malachite tried to strong arm me, Rei! He didn't even use lethal force until Tuxedo Mask burst in, and that was —that was sort of an accident!"
Serena noticeably blanched. Had to sit. Sat. Rei turned away from Lita, glowering, angry. Wondering if this was some kind of prisoner's syndrome...
Lita reiterated, more calmly now, "Malachite threatened me, Rei, but all he really wanted was information. I promise! —He wanted to know how Serena was so strong, and what kind of deal we'd worked out with the Black Moon Clan—"
Rei turned angrily on Lita, "I hope you didn't tell them anything!"
Serena interjected, calmly, to Rei, "She was kidnapped, Rei. Maybe we should give her some time."
Lita reasoned, "I didn't have anything TO tell them, Rei!"
Rei asked, "Did you tell them her pregnancy might be responsible—?"
Lita said, "Of course not! I wouldn't do that!" Biting her lip, she looked over at Serena, "Nephrite wanted the others to let me go." Her eyes filled with tears: "He was going to meet me at home later, make sure I was okay!" She bit back tears, "Darien came in —Tuxedo Mask. And Serena, he killed Malachite from across the room; Malachite didn't even have a chance to do the right thing!" It had all gone so terribly, terribly wrong.
Rei shot up and growled: "Malachite had a SWORD to your chest, Lita! He was hunting down the people who HURT us! What, did you expect them to talk it out or something?"
Lita closed her eyes and turned her head, refusing to hear Rei.
But Rei continued, "Where's Nephrite *now*?"
Lita shook her head. "Why? So you could slaughter him, too?"
Serena got upset; she couldn't stand it, left the room. Rei stormed out after her immediately, stamping out and grabbing Serena's arm without slowing. As they left the building, Rei furiously stated that Lita wanted to forgive Nephrite. And then she turned on Serena, asked how she ever defended Demand! "—That's going to come back to haunt us," Rei said.
Serena said, "Rei, Demand HELPED us! The situations are completely different! YOU worked with Demand a few nights ago!" Then at Rei's harsh look, Serena bit her lip. "Demand never wanted my death, Rei. He fought for my life." She breathed deeply. "And I wasn't in love with him."
"Lita's not in love!" Rei said. "Lita's infatuated. AGAIN! —Maybe unable to accept that she got herself in trouble so easily."
Serena said softly, "What if it's mutual. She said—"
Rei spat out, "Nephrite doesn't KNOW her! He can't LOVE her! They have no HISTORY like you and Demand had. —You need to jerk your head out of the clouds and help us find that monster before he strikes again! LITA WILL GET OVER IT!"
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O - O \ / O \/ O - O
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THE LAST DAY
Serena was walking through the park with purpose, a studied grimness to her face. She'd just left Ami's house, where Rubeus and Saphir had visited with news of a breakthrough. Both Black Moon brothers had been happy to see her looking 'healthy' again.
For herself, she couldn't remember much at all about that dark day last month, when more than half of her Senshi squad had been nearly wiped out, the exceptions being Mina and Ami, and even they hadn't come through unscathed. Both of them worked feverishly with the Black Moon's locators to 'find' everyone they had released from the Negaverse. Most of them had been comically easy to find, having had no alliances with BERYL or memories of the Silver Millennium, and therefore no associations with the Shitennou, and therefore no ability to hide themselves.
And of the ones they'd located, the Senshi helped in what little way they could, even if that was merely a meager explanation that the future Neo-Queen Serenity hadn't been aware of their exiles until recently, and they were free now to do as they pleased.
But Darien and Demand somehow always got to interview each of the exiles first. Serena cringed, looking even now for the Creepy Duo, as she'd secretly dubbed them. 'Secretly,' because they were 'secretly' working together; 'secretly' meeting whenever someone found a former Negaverse dweller. It's not like they ever directly lied to her, of course. They were just very, very covert.
Darien had taken to protecting Serena at all times, albeit trying to not make it obvious. He worked overtime, she knew, to maintain a sense of normalcy, including surprising her last week with a continuation of her training in her Neo-Queen transformation, as Demand had dubbed it. But she knew Darien also worked overtime to hunt Nephrite down. His reasons, she understood. His goals, she didn't. And his goals weren't open to discussion.
Serena had originally guessed that the Black Moon brothers had done the actual murders of the Shitennou who had kidnapped and tortured Lita. She never saw Darien at the dorms, only Demand and Rubeus. It had made some kind of weird sense to her that Demand was there with his brothers, exacting revenge, maybe thinking they were cleaning up their own mess.
But then Papa had provided Darien with an alibi, which set her senses on alert, reminding her that she hadn't been able to find Darien that night at the Temple. He'd left Rei in bed with her and ...disappeared.
Then after she'd been released from the hospital, Darien told her himself that he'd brought about the three Shitennou deaths single-handedly, and without even knowing that Lita was in danger. Serena had been terribly upset, but given what had happened to Lita and Rei, and herself, she'd set it aside.
Then she and Rei had visited Lita, and learned that Lita was crushing hard on Nephrite.
When she'd tried to bring up the Shitennou deaths with Darien the following week, before what promised to be some particularly vigorous lovemaking, Darien had turned on her angrily, even bragging to her how satisfying it had been to crush the skulls of each one of them; and how he looked forward to causing Nephrite's demise in much the same way. His apparent bloodlust had so thoroughly disgusted her that, try though she might, she couldn't bring herself to make love to him. He'd left for a walk, and when he returned, he'd camped out on his sofa without saying goodnight to her. Which, that night, was fine with her. She just prayed that he hadn't gone out on a killing spree in that short hour-long 'walk'.
And now she'd come to accept it; Darien had killed people, albeit people who probably deserved it. She hated, HATED, that when they set out to kill the Shitennou, they didn't even do so to protect Lita; they did so out of revenge. Or, as Darien would argue, as a 'preemptive strike'. Darien had clearly taken a larger responsibility upon himself for the Shitennou, and, knowing that he was destined to rule one day, Serena had opted to keep quiet and support him as best she could. Maybe do a little 'preemptive healing' so he wouldn't find it necessary to kill a so-called 'enemy of the state', like Nephrite. —if only she could discern how to 'heal', or purify, someone in her new transformation. So far, all she knew how to do was hold her sword without killing herself.
But something new was bothering her now, something that Rubeus had just rubbed in her face with glee. Demand hadn't abandoned his brothers because he was besotted with Serena, but because he'd 'sworn' himself to Darien. A concept Serena hadn't been able to grasp — she'd asked Ami if it was like the Senshi vow, and Ami told her it was like that, except vowing to a person instead of a ideal like 'love and justice'. Demand had sworn to Darien the way the Shitennou of the Silver Millennium had to Endymion, Metallia, and Beryl.
And Rubeus had told her how hard Endymion had historically been. "Why do you think Demand thought he had a chance with you at all, Young Queen?" he smiled. "Endymion was ..how would you say it? 'Firm?' Demand went to face him down, he met you, and you were everything the history books said, not some harsh ugly old minster with a good PR team! —Demand didn't believe that the cold, harsh Endymion could possibly satisfy someone as alive and 'passionate' as you!"
"Darien's not cold," she had responded to Rubeus, not an hour ago. "He's a warm, loving man; he'll be a wonderful father! A doctor!"
Rubeus had argued, "And quite an efficient killer, judging by the shape his Shitennou were in last month. Where is your 'Darien', loving father, now?"
Rubeus had laughed, but Saphir admonished the red-headed man to not start another battle with Endymion.
But the conversation had shaken Serena up. She promised herself that when she got to the future, if the chance presented itself, she would study the future Endymion and see first-hand what he was like. Not that she'd ever leave Darien either way, but maybe there would still be time for her to soften his vengefulness, even recapture him into the battle for love and justice.
Serena's breath caught as she rounded a bend outside the park — the clearing where Darien had taken her last month, the day of the Shitennou attack, to work on her transformation. He didn't use that place with her anymore, but he was there with Demand.. and surprisingly, with Mina and Artemis.
She stepped into the clearing without hesitation, unsmiling. "Demand," she said, but staring at Darien. "You're needed at Ami's."
"Excuse me?" Demand said with a slight smile, surprised as the rest of them to see Serena there.
"Your brothers are back," she said coldly. "We're ready." She turned to him slightly; smiled. "They need to see you."
Demand straightened his jacket, excused himself quickly, and walked towards Serena. Bowed slightly, which usually infuriated her, but not as much as the meeting she'd happened upon. The sight just struck her as too close to Rubeus' description of the future Endymion.
She grabbed Demand's wrist as he thanked her, then turned to leave with him. "We've gotta talk." she stated conspiratorially as she quickly escorted him out of the clearing, then whispered sternly, "Don't look back."
Darien called after them, but Serena walked more quickly, holding Demand's arm, even pulling him along. She whispered to the tall man, "Do you still love me, Demand?"
Demand looked at her as they walked; she glared at him. Staring ahead as she ushered him along, he said, "Unrequited, as always, Serena." Then, he whispered furiously, "We're just trying to protect you. You weren't awake for most of that day; you don't know what they did to you!"
She squeezed his hand tightly, turned again: "You don't know what they did either because they all DIED before you could find out anything!" Beat. "And don't you think I can take care of myself?"
"I KNOW you can't," Demand said angrily. "I was THERE, my love," he added. "You've asked me of this before; my answer's the same." He would not try to steer Darien Chiba away from Nephrite.
"You're bonded to Darien," she spat out, then stopped him, spun him to face her: "Have you forgotten your purpose here, Demand?" She pointed above the encroaching Darien, meaning it as a nod towards space. "NEMESIS? Freeing your people? Helping ME free your people? You can't let this VENDETTA continue!"
Darien and Mina arrived promptly, with Artemis disappearing into the park. Serena held her hands up to them: "I know, you were just hanging out."
Demand looked at Darien, who nodded, then he bowed slightly at Serena again and smiled. As he turned to leave, he heard her frustrated exclamation: "What, does he need your PERMISSION to go places?"
Darien reached her and faced her down: "We need to talk, Serena." His anger was apparent. "Alone."
Serena instead looked at Mina: "You're with them now," she stated rather than questioned.
Mina bristled: "Them? Serena, we're all on the same team!"
"I don't recall getting the MEMO to come here today!" Serena shot back.
Mina blushed, but said, "I'm still the leader of the Senshi, Serena; it's my JOB to find Nephrite! He's the most dangerous enemy we've got."
"He hasn't attacked anyone in a month!" Serena said. "We have no idea what we'll be facing in the future; yet you're chasing a little youma-throwing mortal with a fancy knife."
"Who wants YOU dead," Darien said, as if for the hundredth time.
"And the rest of us, too!" Mina added. "That fancy knife of his nearly got you and Lita KILLED!"
"Yeah well I think MY fancy knife could handle his just fine—" Serena spat back.
Darien blustered, "Demand says he has the Dark Matter Sword, Serena, not the simple blade Malachite was using—"
"'Demand says, Demand says'," Serena mimicked. "A month ago you wanted Demand's blood. —Who knows, Darien! Maybe in another month Nephrite will be your top general, against the NEXT big bad!"
Mina backed off, hands in the air: "That was a low blow, Serena. Demand's come a long way in the last month!"
"No, Mina," Serena said. "YOU'VE come a long way in your understanding of Demand; HE'S been pretty much the same for CENTURIES! He wasn't the bad guy you thought he was."
"Oh please," Darien blustered, "Nephrite's nothing like Demand!" Darien bristled at her comparison of Nephrite to Demand. Held a finger up. "The Shitennou have been out to kill you since the Silver Millennium! They almost succeeded! —and look at Lita, who almost DIED on the operating table!" He grabbed Serena's arm, "She didn't have your special transformation to keep her alive, Serena - she SUFFERED. Because Malachite was a sadistic killer!"
Serena was about to defend Nephrite, but swallowed the words. She blinked; looked away.
Darien said, "He's Beryl's Shitennou, Serena." Releasing her arm, he added, "If nothing else, he dies for watching the other three hurt you."
"It consumes you!" Serena said. But then, taking a deep breath, she purposefully changed the subject. "Rubeus and Saphir are back. I believe they're ready to go."
Mina, still standing apart from the battling duo, interjected awkwardly, "I'm not sure it makes sense to abandon this time to Nephrite, to help people in the future who may not be in immediate danger."
Serena's eyes flew open wide, and she glared at Darien. "I've got a duty to those people, Darien!"
Darien, not liking the way this rendezvous had gone so far, opted to try a different tactic. He cupped Serena's face in his hand and said softly, "We've all got a duty here first, Serena. I —I couldn't live with myself if I let you make the mistake of leaving Nephrite to his own devices here."
Mina, approaching Serena carefully, added, "We were just discussing that if any of us could find Nephrite, YOU could!" She shut up awkwardly as Darien stared her quiet.
Serena turned to Darien slowly. "I was the subject of your meeting?"
Darien sighed. "Serena, Nephrite's completely hidden. And he knows our plans to go help the Black Moon family, and who knows what else Lita told him! It would be entirely irresponsible of us, as guardians, to leave someone like Nephrite alone while we go off on a journey that may not help anyone!"
Serena shook her head. But she said, "Okay," and looked up at him with slight trepidation. "I don't know how you think I could help find him, but I'll try."
Mina shrieked, "REALLY?" Then, "See, Darien! I told you she'd do it!"
Darien nodded firmly at the bubbly Mina, mentally dismissing her.
Serena added quickly, "But then we go to Nemesis, Darien."
Darien took Serena's arm and led her away from Mina. After they were alone, walking, he told Serena quietly "Thank you."
They walked in silence for a while. Serena remembered how just a month ago, Darien hadn't been able to keep his hands off of her. Contrasted with now, when he was walking stiffly beside her, holding her gently by the crook of her arm. She bit her lip sadly, then said, "Sorry I interrupted your meeting, Darien."
Darien said, "Don't be silly, Serena. It wasn't exactly a meeting — they just met me after my class. Demand thought he had something on a group of sisters that had been associated with one of the Shitennou." Beat. "Turned out he didn't."
Serena nodded. Whatever. "I feel like I'm losing you, Darien."
Darien, thoughts obviously elsewhere, turned to look at her. "What?"
She took a deep breath. Looked straight ahead. "I'll be starting high school later this month. And —and then I'm due in December, right when I'm supposed to be taking midterms." She breathed out, trying not to feel completely overwhelmed. This was not how she'd expected her summer to go, and it was almost over. Life was speeding away from her, and Darien and her friends weren't even acting like ..Darien and her friends. Serena shook the thoughts from her head. Said, "A month ago, you couldn't keep your hands off of me." She shrugged. "You were so happy, then! I remember walking through this same park with you last month, making out with you, and ...I guess I just thought that was how the rest of the summer would be! But now—"
"A month ago," Darien interrupted, "you were taken from me and brutally beaten." It still haunted him to envision those horrible moments — youma stealing her away in the bright of day; seeing her detransform at Rei's later that night; trying to stop her from transforming while Demand and Saphir worked on her. The moments after he'd put down the Shitennou, when he found Serena in the dorms, dying.
He choked out, "I almost lost YOU." Embarrassed, he cleared his throat, continued walking. "Demand told me that the future wasn't guaranteed now, because you'd already done your job in the parallel timeline. —And that should be enough, Serena, but it's not. Not for you, because you want to help those who were exiled. And sure as hell not for me, because I don't have memories of living a happy life with you. Had you died, I'd have nothing." He blindly moved his hand down her arm to grasp her hand; grasped it so hard that he felt her wince. "I asked Demand for his help that night, Serena." His eyes watered. "I asked a man who openly lusts after you, to help me rid the world of the Shitennou, so no harm could—."
Serena stopped him, pushed him to sit onto a nearby low wall, and hugged him tightly. Felt his tears in her hair, and kissed his neck, never letting go. Then she asked, "Do you still love me?"
Darien pushed her up slightly, looked at her. Smiled. "I'm going to make you a new world," he said. "You're ..so young, and so innocent. You have seen things, but you can't understand the type of person, like Nephrite, who wants to see suffering and death." He rubbed her tiny face with his hand. "I should have remembered Malachite myself; I saw him every day in a former life; I saw him for weeks as my TA. And *he* was the one who hurt you, Serena." Darien swallowed. Pleaded, "Don't you see that? Can't you see that if we don't get rid of Nephrite now, he could threaten us even more in the near future—?"
"Don't!" Serena begged, smiling. Nearing tears herself. "Believe me, I know that Nephrite poses a real danger. —But I'm worried about you!"
Darien shook his head, leaning into her hand, kissing it: "I know you think the worst of me for killing the Shitennou. But Serena, there are just times, to protect innocent people, that some people HAVE to die." He grasped her hand to his mouth; kissed it.
Serena stared at him. "Okay. How did you think I could find Nephrite?"
Darien looked at her simply. "I was hoping you could detect his evil in your Neo-Queen transformation. Demand said it was such a pure form, your most powerful—"
"I didn't detect anything the last time I transformed," she said thoughtfully, stamping out the idea that Darien had resumed her training just to use her as a living Nephrite detector. She would not be given to paranoia. Like the rest of the group. She bit her lip. "Sometimes, though, I think I have these ..'abilities'. Just as me. Serena. —It's nothing huge," she corrected as she saw his expression change. "I'm not sure it's even real!" Here goes, she thought to herself. "I noticed it first when I told you I was pregnant, and I was ..angry, about all the lies. When Rei tried to grab me, I —I'm pretty sure I envisioned her brooch being ripped from her throat, right before it happened."
She turned to sit beside Darien. Slowly, she added, "I'm not sure if I foresaw it, or somehow wished it on her."
"You were angry," Darien said, "but you wouldn't have done that."
"I was pretty upset with Rei, Darien. I knew she was lying, and I felt very threatened. —And there have been other times," she explained, carefully. "Oh, this sounds insane..." Voicing these thoughts for the first time made her deeply ashamed at how she took mere coincidences for some kind of new 'power'! But how else could she explain to Darien what she thought she knew about Nephrite? She questioned if she should tell him at all.
Darien recalled the time she'd seemed to close his airway with a mere look, although that was also on that day that they'd learned she was pregnant. He looked at her anew; had she really done that on purpose? Then he wondered, "Serena, why are you telling me this?"
Serena looked at him. "Maybe I shouldn't be," she said, sadly. "You need to know that I'm very, VERY unsure of these ..abilities." She looked away, ashamed. "I never INTEND to —force my will on someone, or order one Luna or Artemis to do something." She shivered. "Anyway, I've had a few, 'thoughts' —not like visions or warnings. Just, these flashes. And I think they're the same as the other 'abilities'. But I'm not sure—"
Darien looked at her, understanding now. "You know where Nephrite is."
Ç
Serena stared at him. "No!" she cleared up quickly. Followed by, "I'm not sure." She looked away, swallowing. Finally, she said, "It's possible," and looked at him again. "But Darien if these 'visions' turn out to be real, and not something I've just imagined, then we've got a huge problem."
Darien waited, wearing patience like a prom queen wears a crown. He even managed a smile.
Serena winced, "I'd be betraying a friend, Darien, the way Rei betrayed me, and I'm not even SURE it's true."
Darien's mind worked frantically, wondering if she counted Rubeus or Saphir a friend. Calmly, and possibly deceitfully, he prompted, "You're not even sure your 'ability' is real. So of course we couldn't act on your ..information, like it was iron-clad evidence."
Serena nodded. "Please, don't. Because I'm NOT sure. Although I've been poking around on my own, looking—" She saw anger flare in his eyes; quickly added. "Safely! Of course safely! From far away! VERY far!" She peeked at him; he didn't believe her. She breathed hard. Gave it up. "Okay, I looked for him on my own—"
"Serena!" Darien snapped, feeling ready to slap her down physically. Reached for a calming thought. Missed it. Glared at her: "Dammit you promised me—!"
"I didn't FIND him!" she huffed. "Like I said, it was a ..thought. A few thoughts." She looked at his furious face, stared him down.
Darien blustered, "A FEW?"" Angrily, he stood up and turned away from her, blustered to the wind, "...next she'll be telling me they had tea the other day!"
Serena said, "Darien —I got an image in my mind of Nephrite last week. I knew it was him. And that was all, really." Darien turned back around, interested again. Serena blanched, "—Then I got an image of him making out with Lita."
Darien's face screwed up; he turned away again, confused. Angry. Walked away, paced. Came back to her quickly: "He's the one who kidnapped her!"
Serena nodded, "I know! And she had told me that she kissed him before he kidnapped her! I wondered if I was just imagining that!" She shrugged. "But the 'thought', it came out of nowhere. And so I ..I visited her at her house. LATER, not immediately-"
"You should have told ME immediately," he said, trying to maintain control of his anger. "You've had some kind of weird link with the Senshi for a long time, Serena! That's how you knew she was in danger that night!"
"These 'thoughts' are different, Darien," she answered. "I don't know what they mean! ...And if I'd told you and we'd accused her, there'd be hurt feelings all around."
Darien said, "When you said that Nephrite might be my general next month, you were... what? Having a premonition, or just trying to piss me off?"
"I don't get premonitions like that, Darien!" Serena jumped up as well. She added. "And I don't do things to upset you intentionally." That happens without trying, she glowered.
Darien chuckled darkly, obviously not believing that.
Serena said, "I don't like this guy, Darien." Her eyes widened, darted at him. "—but if my 'thought' is right, Lita does. In fact, she thinks she's in love with him. ...And I guess I was just afraid that we'd have to bring him into the fold, for Lita's sake. But I don't trust him—"
"Oh my God!" Darien said, turning away from her at her admission that Lita was in love with Nephrite. Standing in fury. "You went to her HOUSE, to FIND him?"
"To find EVIDENCE of him," Serena corrected, loudly. "When I was sure he wasn't there."
"And?" he asked, turning back to her.
"Uh, Lita acted pretty strange," she said, eyes downcast. "I tried to get into her bedroom to see the bed, which is where they were making out—"
"He's FUCKING her?" Darien spat out, shocked. "Oh this is unbelievable!"
Serena's jaw dropped at his bluntness. She put a hand up: "Darien, I'm not sure of anything! I don't know how much stock to put into these thoughts—!"
"I do!" he barked back, seriously disturbed by this news, but suddenly recognizing just how young Serena was, not just in her surprise that a bedroom meant sex, but in her whole visage just now. He cupped her face in apology; and immediately saw their age difference again. In the harsh light of day, her skin was young, even childlike. He stared at her as he rubbed her cheek with his thumb, noticing a spray of freckles from the summer sun on her pink skin. The skin of his hand was far more mature; to see just his hand on her face was like seeing a father touching his daughter's face. But this child was soon to be his bride, and indeed was already carrying his baby. Obviously carrying his baby, now. He wondered, for an instant, if she ever still thought of him as creepy. She used to call him that all the time.
Serena, nervous under his touch, asked, "What's wrong, Darien?"
Broken out of his reverie, he let go of her face, and tenderly said, "Serena, you've been able to transform without a ritual since ..since probably the day we got pregnant. Months. I'd write a check on your 'abilities'." Smiling softly at her, he sat back down and pulled her down to him, closely. "Which probably means the worst," he finished somberly. He pulled her tightly, kissed her head. "I've got to contact Demand, either way. We need to finish this."
"Please, Darien," Serena begged, holding him tightly, "You can just burst into her home and ..take him! Not without telling Lita first!"
Darien cringed at her stupidity. Irritated, but trying to cover it, he said, "If any of this is true, Serena, it means Lita has knowingly endangered us all! HIDDEN him from us! She's WITH him. She's a traitor—!"
"She's just in love, Darien!" Serena countered, sitting up away from him. "With Mr. All-Kinds-Of-Wrong, but that doesn't mean she's like ..like BERYL or someone! She's our friend!"
"Her first duty is to you!" Darien countered back firmly. Wagged a finger at her, standing. "You get a pass this time; you weren't sure, new abilities. I get that. And it's potentially scandalous since Lita's involved. But Serena, we've ALL been looking for him!"
"I know!" she said, miserably. "That's why I came out to find you. I'd already decided to tell you before Saphir and Rubeus showed up. I just want us to be more sure before blowing the whistle!" She looked up.
Darien stared at her darkly for a long moment, then pulled her up into his arms. Kissed her gently on her mouth. "I love you," he said, kissing her again. Putting his hands on her face, he added, "You drive me insane sometimes. But I love you."
Serena smiled widely at him, hugging him against her protruding baby bump. She gleamed when he ran his hands down to her belly, knowing exactly what that did to him. She put her hands on his chest, smiled. "I love you too," she beamed. "Want to go home for a little while?"
His eyes grew darker; he opened his mouth onto hers, wanting to give in to her desires, but knowing they couldn't. "We can go home after we have a talk with Lita."
.
Unbeknownst to Serena, Darien had alerted Demand as they walked to his car. And then after getting Serena into the car, he communicated the rest of the message as he walked around the car and opened the trunk to toss in his school books.
Darien first drove Serena to her own home, where he made her go in and get her cat. He'd told her, "You HAVE to inform Luna, if not Mina." And while she went in to get Luna, he called Demand back. Demand was an excellent soldier, Darien had found. He'd already informed Rubeus and Saphir, and the three were surrounding Lita's house now. They had not detected the stolen dark matter sword yet; but were actively looking for signs that Nephrite had been there.
Demand added quickly, "Ah, Rubeus is holding up a medallion from the Negaverse. I believe that's Lita's bedroom from which he's hanging. Proof enough for me. We find him, we still strike hard?"
"Absolutely," Darien said, hanging up quickly as the door swung open. Luna screeched getting in, followed by Serena.
Luna squealed, "You TELL me these things, Serena! You don't LET IT GO for several MONTHS when we haven't had a chance to investigate it." Without taking a breath, "Mr. Chiba I hope you've thoroughly berated Serena for—"
"We're about to catch Nephrite, cat. Sit back and enjoy the ride," Darien said, speeding off.
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THE STARS THEY DO COUNSEL
Nephrite lounged in his large, mid-town manor he'd accomplished by selling some trinkets from impossible universes, most especially things he'd scavenged from the Black Moon Clan's ship from the future. He'd been able to set up a nice set of star charts in this manor's lower emporium, and remotely control a mountain-top telescope from a computer in the emporium, thereby giving him access to all the information he'd ever need to accomplish his goals.
Goals which were the same now as they'd always been, as long as he could remember. Which was a long time indeed; centuries.
As his fallen comrades had learned the hard way, if you want to beat a star, you should consult the stars. The stars had pointed him to Lita, and before that had forewarned him of trouble in the park in trying to bind such a one as Serena. If only Malachite had listened to him that day, Serena might be a memory now, and the future would belong to the Earth Kingdom.
And if, for some strange reason, Darien Chiba was unable to go on due to his lost Moon Princess, then he could step aside and let Nephrite take the reins. Who knew, he thought —maybe Lita could be his queen, if he could ever disentangle her from the Moon Princess' control. It was too soon yet, he knew, to make that kind of move with Lita; the girl was definitely on the fence regarding her loyalties. And she'd shown no such propensity for love of crown jewels and servants as had that hot Black Moon princess, Emerald.
But, he knew women. He knew the loyal Lita would slowly begin to enjoy having powers and riches beyond the telling. And with her innate power which hadn't yet come to fruition, he knew she'd make a wonderful mate and co-regent over the forthcoming Earth Kingdom.
It was funny, he chuckled, that to attain a powerful Earth Kingdom, he'd have to stamp out the Senshi, of which Lita was one.
He watched as three stars started coming into alliance, knowing that should make for a very interesting day, indeed. No, he had no clue what exactly might happen, but he knew it was time to unbury the hilt of the Black Moon weapon he'd snatched from Demand. He smiled at it as the hilt grew its powerful sword when grasped by his hand. Miss Serena wasn't the only one bonded to a blade, he gleamed.
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THE STING
Lita rounded on the intruders. Particularly Serena. "You didn't like Rei going through YOUR mind! How DARE you do the same to me!"
Darien was busily going through her house, called out, "Answer the question, Lita. Where is he?"
Serena was dumbfounded that Darien was being so openly rude, treating Lita like a criminal. She answered the furious Lita calmly, "I didn't go through your mind, Lita. It came to me. I was worried about you."
Lita glared at Serena, then at Darien as he turned her closet inside out. "Stop him," she whispered furiously.
Luna turned on Lita: "Just sit down and shut up. We've got work to do."
"Darien," Serena called out, looking at Lita, "please don't do this! He's not here."
Demand stepped through the door suddenly; Lita screamed, and Serena turned. And transformed. Demand's thoughts were momentarily taken by the Neo-Queen transformation, but saw Darien rush him and his prey quickly thereafter.
Demand had tracked Nephrite from Lita's house, and found him in a grand mansion in the center of the city. Deep within the corridors of what looked to be a space observatory. Napping. With glee he laid his hands on his prize, and dragged him back to Lita's, gleaming with pride. Thanks to Serena's vision, and his tracking abilities, and Darien's quick thinking, they had finally caught their prey.
The moment Serena flashed white, Darien turned and saw Nephrite. Memories came flooding back through him like never before; even as he alighted on Nephrite, he recalled the Shitennou's very first betrayal of his rule. Darien grabbed Nephrite and dragged him into Lita's living room, ignoring Lita's pounding fists on his back. He didn't draw weapons; he wouldn't need them. He'd only need to be out of the public eye, which he now was. He had Nephrite pinned to the floor with his knee, ready to render judgment, when he first saw, then felt, Serena's sword blast him backwards, into the wall, hard enough to crack the wall and bring down a shelf with its requisite vases and plants.
Darien stared up at Serena as he got his wind back; he saw her shocked horror at her own actions —her sword's actions, maybe, seconds before she lunged angrily at Nephrite.
But she'd lunged only to parry Demand's knife, which had been thrown instantly to Nephrite's neck. Now Sailor Jupiter threatened Demand; and Serena leaped over Nephrite's body and parried Jupiter's thunder attack away from Demand and into the Senshi's own kitchen.
Darien was up as the parried Thunder Blast completely blew out the Senshi's kitchen, leaving a stunning hole in the living room that would surely attract the attention of the neighborhood; he noticed that Serena had spun on Jupiter, white sword pointing at her own Senshi.
Nephrite, from beneath her, pulled something out of his pocket, and it transformed into the dark matter sword. Sailor Jupiter screamed; Serena's sword parried the intended death blow from the dark matter sword, but ended up pinned against the living room ceiling, both hands pushing down wrathfully against Nephrite's blade as he stood under it, pushing up against her's.
"Oh shit," Demand freaked, grabbing Darien and pushing them both out through the new opening in the house.
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* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ M O O N * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
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Darien shoved off of Demand and ran back in, just as Serena spun out of Nephrite's attack and into a ceiling fan, chopping each blade and sending them hurtling like dangerous daggers throughout the room.
Serena fell to the floor and turned; her sword took off powerfully at Nephrite, who agilely dodged Serena's stabbing jab, and whose powerful sword flipped her, sending Serena's feet to the ceiling again, where she 'stood' and quickly slashed down on Nephrite.
Nephrite fell to his knees holding his sword against the white sword's blast, but felt the white sword gaining power. This time, Nephrite rolled away and turned, quickly slicing up at Serena's face as she fell, only to be blocked again by the sharply jarring blow of the white sword, which sent him rolling towards the quickly approaching Tuxedo Mask.
Serena landed and regained her composure; looked up to see Tuxedo Mask leaping through the air at Nephrite. She jumped into a final attack position to attack Nephrite, but the Shitennou had already started swinging that evil sword roundhouse at his former king, face gleaming with malice. Screaming in an instant that she knew might annihilate her beloved out of time forever, she THREW her sword faster than time allowed, and it went tumbling end over end through the air, impossibly reversing the advance of Nephrite's sword.
In that moment, her sword 'captured' the dark matter sword, light flashed impossibly bright through the house, Sailor Jupiter screamed, and her whole house blew apart powerfully.
φ
Serena came to moments later, across the street, in someone else's living room, amid screams of horror and repulsion.
She moved to get up and felt her body pull sharply to the left. Her hand had grown the white sword back, to her dismay. She knew she'd never be rid of the thing, but silently thanked God for its burden as she leaped up and tried to run back to Lita's. She got twisted up in the drapes she'd blown through, and tried to jerk them off, apologizing profusely to the lady of the house. That's when she realized that it wasn't the neighbor's drapes on her body. "A dress!" she said, inwardly thrilled with the long, voluminous layers of silks that hung down to her well-heeled feet. "And the shoes!" she exclaimed, lifting her foot to see the most glorious white pumps she'd ever seen.
The neighbor family was stunned quiet for a moment. They were all staring outside now, though, and not at Serena; their little boy looked through the hole in their living room and said, "Wow!"
Serena looked as well, then saw what the boy was startled by — there was no Lita's house anymore. Serena kicked a broken endtable off the train of her dress, then DARTED into the air above Lita's destroyed house, wings pumping mightily for speed, looking for her loved ones amid the destruction.
From high up in the air, she saw Tuxedo Mask standing in a tree, looking into the destruction as well. Instantly she flew to him; met him mid-air between the houses. He held her hand and was momentarily shocked to realize why she was brighter now than just moments ago. "Your Silver Crystal's back!" As Serena bent her head to see that the crystal from the future was replaced by her original Silver Crystal, Tuxedo Mask tilted her head up and exclaimed, "You're okay!", then pulled her into a powerful embrace. Still holding her, he whispered desperately, "What the hell was that?"
Tuxedo Mask landed them softly on the ground, kissing her lightly as rescue vehicles arrived en masse. She was overcome with emotion as Luna came screaming, "Youma! Serena, call the Senshi!"
Serena slapped her hand to her wrist, forgetting her communicator wasn't on her in this form, and definitely hurting herself with her sword as it bounced off her thigh from the sudden movement.
Tuxedo Mask turned to Demand, who as usual popped up conveniently behind the man like a damned ghost. Demand nodded and took off as Tuxedo Mask took Serena's hand: "Let's do this!"
Serena held him a moment longer, hesitating. He turned back to her, questioning silently. She reached forward and kissed him again, said, "I love you, Darien Chiba," and took off, leaving Tuxedo Mask standing there, stunned. Desperation began to take him as Luna shrieked at him to help Serena.
Serena darted towards the first youma, a large menacing green thing that she sliced easily with her sword as she hunted for Sailor Jupiter among the rubble. With her peripheral vision she saw Tuxedo Mask ripping through a youma that had picked up a fire truck. She saw movement from the truck, and dashed through the air to catch the firefighter as he was shaken free from the vehicle. The two landed hard in the midst of the rubble of Lita's house, and Serena stood, only to get picked up by the same youma holding the firetruck.
SAILOR MERCURY!
..she heard, and felt the youma disintegrate suddenly into a vase with the Senshi's blast of Mercury Bubbles. Before Serena fell, her wings flapped mightily with a mind of their own, lifting her high above the fray.
SAILOR MARS!
Serena looked down and saw Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars flying through a youma with combined attacks they'd practiced all month long. Again she thought about Sailor Jupiter. She landed gently among the rubble, almost casually stabbing a youma in the leg as she went to Lita's last known position. The formerly-youma bed landed with a crash, and Serena picked up the wrecked furniture and haphazardly tossed it out of the way.
SAILOR VENUS!
..landed by Serena, grabbing her by the shoulders and pulling her away from a now-crashing telephone pole. Venus looked at Serena: "Pay Attention!"
"Lita was here," Serena said lightly.
"She's not now!" Venus screamed, pulling Serena away again as a youma grabbed them both up. Venus screamed; Serena stabbed the youma's grip mightily with her sword; felt Venus holding onto her hips as they started dropping to the ground. Again, Serena's wings came into service and landed them softly.
Venus and now Luna both started yelling at her, but Serena focused on a loud, humming energy she felt coming from the floor of the former living room.
This time, Sailor Venus and Luna both saw an ambulance hurtling at Serena far too fast for them to stop it; then saw the ambulance repelled by God-only-knows what — something that seemed almost like a force field around Serena which flashed white and pushed the ambulance up into what used to be Lita's upstairs bedroom. They noticed that Serena hadn't even seemed aware of the impending doom.
Serena yelled, "Lita!" once, then again, picking up furniture as if looking for Lita, when in fact she was looking for the source of the humming sound.
As the ambulance drivers climbed out of the destroyed ambulance into Lita's bedroom, Serena found it: a communicator, brilliant green, which she knew had been Lita's. As a youma grabbed for her, disintegrated into a nightstand, and got bounced away from her all without her knowledge, Serena bent down and grabbed the communicator. Sadly, she walked back out of the room, towards Luna and a now-struggling Sailor Venus, who was beating a youma with her Love Chain.
Serena flew up to the offending youma's face and grabbed it forcefully by it's thick neck. It laughed at her. She yelled, "Where's Nephrite? Where's your ..your master?" She hoped that's what they called their makers.
The youma laughed loudly at the impetuosity of this little winged nymph, slobber falling out of his mouth by the bucketfull onto the people below. It dropped Sailor Venus and slapped at Serena.
And instantly disintegrated, with just enough time to look shocked as it became a necklace and bounced harmlessly near Venus' sodden form. Sailor Venus yelled, "Oh, YUCK!" as she struggled with the snot-like substance covering her.
Serena looked around for Darien, called him. Saw him in another battle with a youma, and threw her tiara at the youma. Her tiara bounced off him like a piece of tin, so she flew to the youma instead. She ignored it though, and stalked up to Tuxedo Mask to show him the communicator.
The youma disappeared as Serena was talking to a busy Tuxedo Mask. "..all that's left of her, Darien! We've got to find her!" Serena absently caught her tiara and fitted it back on her head after Tuxedo Mask took the communicator.
Tuxedo Mask was extraordinarily irritated; saw another youma coming. His heart skipped a beat as the lightening-fast youma went to smash Serena on the head, only to be disintegrated into some bedroom slippers without Serena even noticing.
Serena said, "We find Nephrite, we find Lita! But I can't detect him at all! I'm getting nothing! —What did Demand say I had to do to 'sense' the Shitennou?" Beat. She screeched, "Darien, are you even LISTENING to me?"
Tuxedo Mask grabbed Serena's arm and walked her through the commotion, watching youma die as they tried to attack her. "I didn't see Lita, honey," he said absent-mindedly, paying far more attention to the carnage wrought on these youma by Serena's mere presence. Sailor Mars fell in behind them, but Tuxedo Mask shook his head at the fiery Senshi before she could yell at Serena for not paying attention. Struggling to think, he said, "I saw your sword hit Nephrite's —um, hey, you got it back."
Serena lifted her left hand, looked at the sword. "Yeah I think it's like the tiara," she said thoughtfully, as two more youma fell against her and disintegrated. Looking behind her and noticing these former youma, she added, "Geesh, how many of these things did Nephrite concoct?"
Sailor Mercury, behind Serena now and walking backwards as if to protect her, yelled back, "He must have had everything in her HOUSE infected with youma, ready to come at his command!" Then, "Where's this WIND coming from?"
Sailor Mercury looked up, adjusting her goggles to detect the source of the—
Serena startled suddenly, too; then they all looked up in the air as a deafening sound filled the air, knocking most of the neighborhood onto their knees. "Oh, My, God!"
The moon was suddenly very large in the sky —unnaturally large, and appeared to have fire shooting out of it on one side. Suddenly the giant wind storm picked up even more, sending shingles and bikes and debris flying through the air dangerously. The emergency personnel yelled to take cover, but Serena stood there looking at the moon, held steady by a similarly stunned Tuxedo Mask.
Luna glared at the orb growing larger in the sky, claws firmly in Tuxedo Mask's leg. "Serena? —Serena! THIS ISN'T GOOD!"
Demand, Saphir, and Rubeus all appeared around them suddenly, Demand yelling through the wind: "Serena, —you have to go! Now!"
Serena turned on him, steadied against the wind only by Darien and the now-huddling Senshi. She yelled, "What can I do?"
Demand grabbed Serena's hand and quickly twisted her wrist so that the white sword was between their faces. Then pointed at the moon. "YOU HAVE TO GET THIS BACK!" he yelled. Grabbing both Serena and Darien now to steady himself, Demand finished: "YOU HAVE TO MOVE THE MOON!"
Serena stared at Demand, trying to process his insane words. Then saw a kid's wagon blow by and smash into a mailbox, not just mangling both items, but instantly disintegrating them. She looked at Darien, who was staring at Demand, trying to understand something else he was communicating. But Serena didn't need to know anything further. This wasn't a windstorm; this was an apocalypse. She moved away from Darien's grasp suddenly; Luna disengaged her claws from Darien and leaped on the train of Serena's dress. Serena ran a few steps and took off, flinging her sword powerfully above her head, hoping it would jerk her in that direction as it so often had jerked her to the earth when she wasn't paying attention. And the two took off, dragged fiercely to the moon, white sword leading the way.