"COMING OF AGE"
Chapter 11: "The Devil You Know"
A Sailor Moon fanfic
By Bill K., from the original story by Naoko Takeuchi and the teleplay by Yoshiyuki Tomita
The dark energy was coming nearer. As Princess Usagi stood on the icy ridge, her pink crystal before her and her pink hair trails fluttering behind her, she could feel her strength begin to wane. The prospect of the battle went two ways, neither of which were desirable: Either she surrendered and was destroyed by Metallia's dark energy, leaving Beryl free to despoil the Earth, or she fought on until she pushed herself past her limits and died, leaving Beryl free to despoil the Earth. The third option was to win, but that option was becoming less and less likely.
"A dire situation, Princess," Usagi heard Desdaemona's voice say over her left shoulder. Wonderful. As if things weren't bad enough. "How will you fare?"
"What do you care?" muttered Usagi as she valiantly fought to hold out and hope that Beryl reached her limit before Usagi reached hers.
"I care greatly," Desdaemona responded. "This is as fascinating a tableau as I have witnessed in quite some time."
"We're just lab animals to you," Usagi snapped bitterly. The black energy grew closer.
"Maiden," she heard Helios say. "Do not let her anger you."
"I do nothing, Dream Guardian, save point out fact," Desdaemona said. "It is true that I have no emotional attachment to these participants, on either side. The Princess seems to consider that sinful, though I challenge her to assert that she has anything more than charitable benevolence for any insect or lower animal on her world."
"I don't go out and pit animals against each other for sport, either!" Usagi growled. The black energy drew closer.
"This is not sport, Princess. Again you misinterpret my intentions," Desdaemona responded. "I am merely curious to see how you will react to situations, given your past and given your possible futures. You sought to protect your friends, a choice that now has potentially doomed your world and everyone on it. What will you do?"
"And all of those lives mean nothing to you?" Usagi railed, pink hair blowing into her face.
"No," Desdaemona replied simply.
"Damn you!" spat Usagi.
Her pink crystal dimmed. And the black energy enveloped her. Instantly Helios was driven from her form, screaming in agony. He landed on the ice near Desdaemona, took a moment to regain his senses, then looked up. Usa was held rigidly in the grip of the black energy. Beryl was levitating her into the air, up to eye level, to gloat. Helios staggered to his feet and confronted Desdaemona.
"End this!" he demanded. She turned her red face to him.
"But my questions are not yet answered," she replied.
"To what end, Desdaemona?" Helios argued. "What will her destruction accomplish?"
"A different future, for one thing," the scarlet entity told him. "Or perhaps, depending on what she does next, the one I have foreseen."
"And at what cost does your precious answers come?" Helios fumed. "Release her! See how the future unfolds without your proactive hand! Time matters not to one such as you!"
"I prefer this way," Desdaemona replied. Then she looked Helios deeply in the eye. "Beware of emotional attachments to lesser beings, Dream Guardian. They can be quite the pitfall."
"You make one assumption, Desdaemona," Helios snapped back and changed into Pegasus. "That she is a lesser being." And off the winged horse flew.
"Do you feel it, little would-be Princess?" Beryl gloated at the tiny figure she held aloft in a field of black energy. Usa strained to move, but she was held tight, as if pressed into a coffin of razor blades. Every attempt at movement brought pain and to stop was to surrender to agony. "Do you feel what it means to defy me and my master? Do you feel everything you are and everything you had, everything you've accomplished, slipping away? How long should I keep you teetering on the brink of death?"
Then she saw Beryl's hand move, swing down wildly. Helios was there, avoiding the slash of Beryl's hand, sweeping up to attack. He dived in, his crystal horn gleaming as it sought to pierce Beryl. But she caught the equine with a blast of dark energy and Helios plummeted from sight.
"NO!" Usa thought. "Stop! Don't hurt him!"
"Silly little girl!" Beryl snarled. "Better you should worry about your own fate!"
Usa strained against the energy holding her, but it was useless. She had not the strength to pull free nor the energy to pry herself loose. She would die, here. More importantly, everything and everyone else would die as well: Helios, Hotaru, the Asteroids, and her future in Crystal Tokyo. She'd failed - - failed everyone.
"You wish to stop her, don't you?" asked a voice. Usa didn't recognize the voice right off, but knew it sent chills down her spine. It wasn't Beryl and it wasn't Desdaemona, but who else could it be? "She will destroy everything you hold dear. She will lay waste to your world. She has already slain your father. She will end the life of the man you love and the friends you fought so hard to save. She will end your life. And there is only one way to stop her."
"What?" Usa asked desperately.
"Embrace me," the voice said. It seemed so familiar, but Usa couldn't . . .
Metallia. It was Metallia. And at once Usa had a plan. If she could take Metallia into herself and control her, smother her with righteous virtue, perhaps she could save everyone and everything. And if Metallia proved too much for her and she died, maybe she could take Metallia with her.
Beryl's eyes widened in surprise when she sensed the betrayal by her sovereign. Then her surprise rose to shock when she felt a crystal horn pierce her chest. Beryl looked down and saw Helios, his crystal horn buried in her down to his forehead. The black energy flowed from Beryl and into Usa. Instantly fissures spread out from the crystal horn and up along Beryl's body.
"No!" Beryl shrieked. "Metallia, my sovereign! I did everything you asked! I sacrificed everything for you! You can't abandon me!"
The fissures grew wide enough to allow Beryl's crystal energy to escape. Beryl flung back her head and screamed in agony while the fissures spread across her body until it was consumed. Freed of her, Helios turned to Usa even as the Asteroid Senshi arrived.
The girl's white gown was now black. Usa was smiling, but it was not a mirthful smile. She looked up at them. Her red eyes were now onyx hues surrounding deep black pupils.
"She actually thought she could contain me," Usa said in a distorted, unearthly voice. "She forgot the flaw in her, the stain on her pristine soul. She forgot the weakness that Wise Man exploited, the weakness that allowed me to assert my dominance over her." Usa stretched out her arms, her hands pulsating with dark energy. "And she forgot the parable of Sailor Galaxia and repeated her folly. Oh, this body has so much potential. So much more than Beryl. I can make this body into an instrument of death the like that Beryl could never hope to achieve."
"The bad thoughts!" Pallas cried to the others, pointing at Usa. "The bad thoughts have taken over The Princess!"
Without another word, Saturn pushed off of the Vesta-Pegasus and leaped down to Usa. The corrupted princess whirled on her, hands glowing with dark energy, ready to defend herself against Saturn's glaive or any of her attacks. But the moment Saturn's purple boots touched the ice, she dropped her glaive and held her hands out.
"Usa?" Saturn said plaintively. "It's me, Hotaru. Do you recognize me?"
"You seek someone who no longer exists," Usa replied, her brow arched and a superior disdain dancing in her features.
"No, don't say that!" Saturn cried, walking toward Usa with her hands still outstretched. "I couldn't bear the thought of living my life without my best friend! Usa, you mean so much to me! Please tell me you're still in there! Please give me some sign!"
"What would you have me do?" Usa asked mockingly as Saturn drew nearer. "Shall I sit on the end of your bed and exchange hopes and dreams, as we did in the past? Shall I pat your head and tell you once more that you're not a monster and a pariah, that you've finally found a life where you can excel? You long for a past that's gone, girl. Your friend is gone and with it your wonderful future."
"No!" Saturn wailed.
"And I think I'll save your destruction until last," Usa grinned, her onyx eyes sucking the very hope from her friend, "just to enjoy your suffering."
Saturn lunged. Startled, Usa pulled back, but she was too slow. Saturn's tiny hands clapped onto either side of Usa's head. Violet energy surrounded her hands. Usa threw back her head and silently screamed out. In a mirror image motion, Saturn did the same. As the others watched and Vesta transformed back into human form, Usa and Saturn stood locked in place, mirror images of each other.
"What's she doing?" Vesta wondered openly.
"She's trying to heal the Princess," Pallas replied distantly, as if she was tuned into Saturn's mind. She probably was. "She's trying to make the bad thoughts go away."
"Can she do it?" Ceres asked.
"Let's hope so," Juno answered. "I don't want to take The Princess on."
Pegasus landed near them and looked on. Several of the Asteroids noticed.
"Isn't there anything you can do to help her?" Ceres asked.
"I fear Saturn's power is too different from my own," the equine responded, its eyes moist and in pain. "I would probably only get in her way."
"Can she do it?" Pallas asked him.
"Be ready," the Pegasus said, morphing back into Helios, "in case she cannot."
Stress lines were beginning to form on Saturn's face, under her eyes and around her mouth. Her limbs began to quiver. Several of the Asteroids recalled the heart condition Saturn had and worried that she might falter should she push herself too far. Yet, what other choice did she have? The Princess was their charge, to guard with their lives if necessary. And Usa was their friend, Hotaru's most of all. She had risked for them. Could they do no less for her?
Dark energy began to form around the hands of Usa, held at her sides by the rigid tension induced by Saturn's healing assault. The energy built and grew. Pallas saw it and shouted out a warning that went unheeded. The energy gained critical mass and then exploded out into Saturn's mid-section. The senshi was lifted up into the air and flung away, over the watching senshi. Saturn landed hard, slid some along the ice, then came to a stop. She didn't move. Usa was reeling herself. Her hand went to her head to steady it. Her legs threatened to buckle underneath her.
"Quick, while she's dizzy! Hit her hard!" Vesta shouted. "Fauna Combination - - polar bear cheetah!"
Bounding forward at a speed unheard of for the normally lumbering bear, Vesta got within inches of Usa. She launched herself up and head-butted her Princess in the stomach. Usa staggered back several steps, then tumbled to the ice. Vesta was on her in a flash, pinning her down with superior weight and delivering a backhand blow, so as to protect her from the bear's long claws, to Usa's head. Though reeling, Usa was able to summon enough energy and thrust Vesta away.
"Vortex Instigation!" Juno shouted, hoping to further batter The Princess into unconsciousness. With Vesta clear, Usa was swallowed up in a cyclone of snow and wind, spinning and tumbling in the air as the vortex tossed her. She was able to summon black energy, but the vortex left her too disoriented to effectively use it.
Outside the vortex, the other senshi watched and waited. Due to the cold, Ceres' powers were useless. She knelt next to Saturn and watched the events warily. Things had already gone badly, and not just for Usa. Though Ceres was no doctor, she didn't hold out much hope for the battered shell that had only moments ago had been Sailor Saturn. Dread began to build in her chest. Vesta, still in polar bear form, crouched and waited near Pallas. If Usa was able to break out of Juno's vortex, she would use her speed to press the attack again. Pallas had her hands to her temples. She was using her inborn telepathy to try to contact Usa's mind, submerged in the whirlpool of black that was Metallia. The young teen scowled as her mind tried to sift through the repellent Metallia to her friend beneath.
"Keep it going, Juno!" Vesta growled. "We're getting to her!"
"I will!" Juno responded. Ceres could see her sister meant it. She could see the reborn dedication to the mission of using their abilities in service of the Royal Family and the vision that Queen Serenity espoused and their friend Usa championed. The regrets might still be there, but the doubts were gone. Ceres spirits lifted slightly. It was good to have her back.
"Princess?" Pallas thought-cast, sensing Usa's core amid the cesspool of Metallia, but not knowing where exactly she was. "Find the light, Princess! Find the light Pallas is trying to send to you! Pallas and her sisters will help you! Just find her light!"
Black-tinted lightning began to erupt from the vortex. It popped and sizzled, exploded within the frozen storm. None of the surviving senshi liked the looks of it.
"Juno?" Vesta called out to her sister.
"I'm trying, Vesta!" Juno yelled anxiously. "She's too strong! I'm not sure I can contain her much longer! Pallas, are you trying to get through to her?"
Vesta looked around and saw Pallas concentrating hard. The energy within the vortex grew stronger and Vesta swung her attention back to it.
"Enough of this!" roared Usa.
Dark energy exploded outward, sundering the vortex and spraying snow and ice in all directions. The shockwave fanned out from the Princess in all directions. Vesta and Pallas were bowled over, battered and pummeled by the force. Juno was flung backward, careening wildly as the force lifted her up and shot her across the icy terrain. Ceres was shoved over Saturn's limp form and skidded across the ice. And when the dark energy behind the shock wave touched them, that was when agony really greeted them. When the discharge finally dissipated, Usa fell to her knees on the ice, quivering with exertion, her "rabbit ears" frazzled and her hair trails splayed behind her. Panting heavily, she looked up. The bodies of her friends were scattered across the landscape. Broken and bleeding, they all lay motionless before her.
Only Helios stood his ground, seemingly unaffected. He began toward her at a determined pace.
"Don't think," Usa gasped, an aura of black energy glowing faintly around her, "that I'm beaten." Then she smiled with wicked humor, a contemptuous glint in her onyx eyes.
"I cannot allow this to continue," Helios said and began to walk toward the bowed, possessed princess.
Usa rose to her feet. It was clear that she had been taxed by both Saturn and by the Asteroids, but Metallia was still in control and she still possessed a good deal of power. Undaunted, Helios continued toward her.
"You can't hope to defeat me," Usa said, leering confidently at Helios as he approached. Unfazed, Helios continued toward her.
"I can," he replied. "I am linked to her, linked by our hearts, by our minds, and by our souls. It is a link I still feel, a link that you cannot hope to sunder. Though you may obscure the path to that link with your dark energy, that link is there. I will find it and I will use it."
"You'll die in the process," Usa sneered.
"Perhaps," Helios proclaimed, now just a few feet from her. "If it frees the woman I love from your corruption, I give my life without hesitation."
He reached out for her. Dark energy flared around Usa's hands and she raised them to fire. But Helios seized those hands around the wrists. He took a full blast of dark energy head on, but he didn't let go. Metallia, through Usa's eyes, stared in amazement, for light from the crystal horn protruding from Helios had neutralized the blast. Her eyes darted around, a rat suddenly seeking escape from a trap. She noticed energy gathering in the hands of the Dream Guardian.
"Not so easily, Helios!" Usa snapped. Her entire body was encompassed by dark energy, covering her like a force field, crackling and spitting in the frigid air.
But a field of rainbow energy sprang up around Helios, protecting him from the effects of her dark field. The two auras collided, throwing sparks and casting loud sizzling sounds across the barren landscape. So taxed was Metallia that the sunspots around the sun began to dissipate and rays of sunlight peeked down on the scene. The ripples of displaced air from the clashing energy sent Usa's gown and hair trails billowing behind her. The long white hair and loose tunic of Helios similarly rippled and blew. They were the eye of a tornado, fanning out across the arctic, blowing snow and the remains of friends and combatants.
"I will kill you, Dream Guardian!" Usa snarled with Metallia's words. She stared right into his eyes.
Helios said nothing. He only stared back with his pale blue eyes, determination written in them. The aura's flared more brilliantly, reaching higher into the sky.
"I will utterly destroy you!" Usa continued to howl.
Helios said nothing.
"I will reduce your bones to microscopic ash!" she shrieked. "Nothing will remain of you and no one will find a trace to bury!"
And with a gigantic clap of thunder that rolled over the frozen arctic and rattled the drifted snow and centuries frozen ice, the two auras flowered until nothing else could be seen.
When Usa regained consciousness, she found herself laying on her back. Her limbs were cold and white. A howling wind had blown snow onto her. Pressing herself to move, she pushed up into a sitting position. All around her was empty white. There were several mounds covered with snow, mounds that might be bodies. Her arms wrapped around her torso, for strapless gowns were hardly protective clothing against the ravages of sub-zero temperatures.
The last think she remembered was struggling in the darkness of Metallia, drowning in her corruption. She'd tried to contain Metallia and failed. Her failure had led to Metallia making her a bigger menace than Beryl had ever been. If not for the shining white light of . . .
"Helios," Usa whispered.
She looked around frantically. There, a few feet from her, Helios lay partially covered over in snow. With mounting fear, Usa scrambled over to him. He lay prone in the snow, his eyes closed, his pale skin paler than usual.
"Helios!" she cried, feeling his chest and face.
The skin was cold to the touch. She pressed her hand to his neck, but no life throbbed. Tears poured down her cheeks as the young princess's face twisted in mounting anguish. Her mouth moved, but no sound emerged. She struggled to come to grips with what lay before her, the awful realization of what Helios had done and why.
Finally, the young princess bent down, pressed her face to the cold, unmoving chest of her love, and cried. And she prayed that some avenging god would swoop down and destroy her, so she wouldn't have to endure one more moment of this hell.
Concluded in Chapter 12