Here Without You
Here Without You
Chapter Ten: Can You Forgive Me?
By: Jecir
"No!" Kyouya cried as he and Seiya raced after him. "Tamaki, stop! It's too dangerous! Don't go down there! Tamaki!"
The young man ignored them. He dove into the churning pool without a second thought.
Kyouya and Seiya stopped at the edge. "Idiot! Impulsive idiot!" Kyouya growled.
"I need to take his place," Seiya groaned. "And you need to keep the gate open. Once the sun is up, that is it. The gate closes until tomorrow, sealing everyone in and out."
Meaning neither of them could follow him without risking having the gate close.
"We'll just have to trust in him. Hopefully, he is smart enough not to linger."
"Hopefully." Kyouya took a deep breath and let it out in a long, slow exhalation. "Ok. Let's do this."
Seiya took his place outside the dome. The first rays of light were already peeking over the horizon. Kyouya linked himself once more with the shadows. And they waited.
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Tamaki stumbled as his feet hit the ground. He took a quick look around to get his bearings and allow his senses to pinpoint where he needed to be. His search came back with one direction. Tamaki ran to the water's edge and hit his knees, his fingers gripping the rock with white knuckled resolve as he screamed, "Jadeite!"
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His name echoed around him. Jadeite looked up, shocked at the voice he was hearing. They would not have allowed him to come here. It was too dangerous. What was Kunzite thinking?
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The rock bit into his clenched fingers. Tears dripped to the ground. Tamaki tried to steady his voice. "Jadeite. Please come back. Please."
A tears slipped from his nose into the water.
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"Oh, poor boy," Metallia mocked. "He is crying."
Jadeite ignored her. What did the fool think he could achieve by coming here? He forced himself to the surface's edge. "Tanzanite."
Tamaki's eyes snapped open. "Jadeite!" he cried in a strangled voice.
"Idiot!" Jadeite snapped. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm sorry."
"You're sorry?" Jadeite replied. "Fine. Leave. It is too dangerous for you to be here."
"No," Tamaki forced out, shaking his head and gritting his teeth against the sobs rising in his throat.
"Stop crying!" Jadeite exclaimed. "It's not manly!"
"I'm sorry!"
"And stop apologizing!"
"I'm sorry…" His voice trailed off as the tears fell freely. "I'm so sorry."
The depth of sorrow in his voice caused Jadeite to pause. His brother was not apologizing for making him mad. Then…what?
"I'm so sorry!" he cried again. "I…I tried to find you! I did! I really did!"
His words drove deep into Jadeite's heart. "What…did you say?"
"I looked for you every day…every single day…I didn't give up! But I…I…" A sob broke him off. "I'm so sorry! I couldn't find you!"
"If anything happens to you, I will be able to find you and send help."
Jadeite tried to blink away the memory of the last morning he had seen his brother. The fear of failure…the fear of success…the fear of the unknown had all etched that moment into his mind. Yet, he had remained confident. He had said…
"I will be fine, little brother."
Little brother…
"I am not little!" Tanzanite snapped.
"You are," Jadeite replied as they rode through the woods, heading for their new home at the Golden Palace.
"You and I are the same age!" the enraged Northern said. "And I am taller than you!"
"I was born six full months before you. That makes me older and you, little brother." Jadeite grinned cockily.
"He is right, Tanzanite," Endymion called from the head of the line.
"Thank you, Master."
"No!" Tanzanite protested. "Nephrite, prove him wrong!"
"Well, logically speaking, his is correct in saying you are the youngest, for you were born last, even if be a few months," Nephrite computed easily.
"We must not forget how much you complain," Jadeite said in a voice that mocked intellect.
"Indeed," Kunzite joined in. "You certainly act like a little brother."
The four laughed at that. Tanzanite scowled darkly.
"It is settled," Endymion proclaimed. "Tanzanite is our little brother."
"Gah!"
"Yes, your little brother." Metallia raised her ugly head. "The weakest Shittenou. The one who boasted of having eyes all over the planet. He could not find you. He left you. Alone. All Alone."
Her dark words moved over his mind, but they did not have the same sway as before.
"Tanzanite," Jadeite whispered in what he hoped was a soothing sort of way. He had never been good at calming the younger one down. Nephrite had been good at it. Where was he when he needed him?
"Jadeite," Nephrite chided. "You should not be so harsh with him."
Jadeite crossed his arms. "It is not my fault he is such a baby."
"Say that again!" Tanzanite snapped through his tears.
"Baby!"
"Jerk!"
They lunged at each other, fists held high, but Nephrite caught them in a psychic net. Shaking his head, he said, "Laps. Both of you."
"It was not your fault," he said.
"It was! I sent you on that mission! It was my idea!"
"It was," Metallia whispered.
"No!" Jadeite insisted. "You tried! I know you did!"
The tracking crystal surfaced in his mind.
"We could have used this that time we got lost in the rose maze. Do you remember that?"
Yes, he remembered that.
"We are lost," Tanzanite whined.
"We are not!" Jadeite snapped for the hundredth time. "We just have to keep going left."
"You go right when lost, flameo!"
"Do not call me that!"
"Flameo!"
"Cry baby!"
They glared at each other.
Turning left, they met another dead end.
"This is all your fault!" Tanzanite growled. "If you hadn't wanted to skip training today…"
"No one twisted your arm!" Jadeite shot back. "Anyway, I didn't see you jumping for joy when we found out Commander Adama was taking over our training. So let's just stop pointing fingers and find a way out of here. Come on."
"Fine."
Jadeite couldn't help the smile that broke out over his face at the memory. They had remained lost well into the night, only to be found by Commander Adama, who had waited for them for the sole reason of making sure they got their training in before bed.
"But it wasn't good enough," Tamaki's melancholy voice brought him back into the moment. "I failed to find you. I couldn't protect Endymion…in this life or the last. And the Silver Millennium fell…"
Metallia chuckled a dark sort of chuckled.
Horror shot through Jadeite as he realized what she was about to do. "Tanzanite!"
Metallia shot up to the surface, feeding off of the pain coming from his brother's heart.
Jadeite reached within for the fires that burned away all darkness and threw them out in a powerful wave. Metallia shrieked and retreated into the shadows. She was not defeated, however. She would try again.
"Tanzanite, you need to get away from here!"
Tamaki shook his head. "Not unless you come with me!"
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The sun was rising.
"Come on, Tamaki, come on!" Kyouya growled. He could feel the gate between worlds straining against his magic, gaining power from the dawning of a new day. He would not be able to hold the portal open much longer.
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"I cannot!" Jadeite said in exasperation. "I have to stay here. If I reincarnate, Metallia will return with me!"
"I don't care!" Tamaki cried. "What is the point of world peace if you aren't here with us to enjoy it?"
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Seiya dropped the dome and linked his magic to Kyouya's. They poured everything they had into keeping the gate open.
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"You do not understand," Jadeite scolded. "It nearly cost Sailor Moon her life to defeat Metallia! It cost the Scouts their lives! You want to release her evil again?"
"I want you to stay with us!" Tamaki yelled. The passion in his words drained him as he said, "I want you to trust us. If we work together we can defeat her. If we must, to get you back, we'll fight Satan himself! And win!"
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The world awoke to the dawn. The gate began to slip out of their grasp.
"Tamaki!" Seiya called desperately. He would not lose both of them.
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"I refuse to return to Endymion with just the three of us," Tamaki vowed. "We are the Shittenou. The Four Kings. Not the three." Voice and body both trembling from the strain of it all, Tamaki reached down to the black water. "Please, Jadeite."
Jadeite looked up at the outstretched hand.
"Please come back."
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"Come back to me!"
The command rushed through the hearts and souls of four men as their world was suddenly consumed with gold.
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"What is this?" Seiya breathed.
Kyouya closed his eyes and drank in the familiar magic with relish.
Tamaki turned from the pool, eyes going wide and a smile breaking over his face. "Endymion?"
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Wave after wave rippled from the Golden Crystal. Mamoru held it high over his head, his energy flowing in, through, and out of the Crystal, carrying his command across the nations. He would not stop until they were back.
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The Golden Magic washed through the portal into the Boundary Lands in powerful pulses that pulled at his heart.
And in that moment, all his fears, all his inhibitions, all doubts about the past, all memories of his sins, all concerns of Metallia…they all melted away in the wake of one resounding thought.
"That bastard is going to exhaust his magic!"
Jadeite grabbed the edge of the rocks and hauled himself out of the darkness just as another wave was passing over them. He disappeared in a burst of fire, never seeing nor hearing Metallia's screams as she sank into the depths of death, never to return.
A.N.: Sorry about the long wait, everyone. Life happened. What can I say. I hope these two chapters made it a little easier for you to forgive me. I will do all in my power to get the next chapter out much faster. Until then!
Jecir.