REVELATIONS
CHAPTER TEN: D-Point (Part Two)
Without further delay – the next chapter! Thank you for reading! I posted this as quickly as I could, so I apologize for any typos towards the end. If you catch one, please let me know.
Also, a huge THANK YOU to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! I haven't been getting as many reviews lately, and all of you made me so, so happy! =]
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon nor do I profit from this story.
"Sailor Moon, wait - " yelled Tuxedo Mask, trying to pull her back to him and prevent her from going inside. He could tell from her thoughts that she couldn't sense anything dangerous inside, but he also knew that at this point Mercury was right – she was acting too recklessly. But he was a split second too late.
Sailor Moon stepped into the darkness and an earth-shattering crack echoed through the cavern. A scream tore from her lips as the world fell out from under her.
"Sailor Moon!" yelled Tuxedo Mask, his voice echoing into the darkness. Sailor Mars was next to him in a split second, bringing with her fire to light the scene.
As the golden glow illuminated the entrance to the massive cavern, the Senshi gathered close to see the fate of their Princess.
"Fuck," swore Tuxedo Mask under his breath as the shock wore off and a cold panic began to set in. "Fuck, fuck, fuck."
Mars's fire had revealed a massive, gaping hole in the floor of the throne room. The hole was so large that it appeared to extend at least a third of the way into the room, and the group could just make out the jagged edge of the intact floor in the flickering light of Mars's flame.
"What the hell?" breathed Mars, staring at the gaping hole in something akin to awe.
Furiously clicking shut her handheld computer, Mercury said, "It's ice! The floor is ice and it cracked."
"Sailor Moon, can you hear me?" yelled Tuxedo Mask. "Dammit, Serena, answer me!"
Feeling through his link, he could tell that she was still alive and she didn't appear to be in severe pain – but she also was unconscious, so he couldn't discern the extent of her injuries.
"That's it, I'm going down," said Venus, stepping to the edge and preparing to jump in after her Princess.
"Right behind you," said Uranus, who had come to the front of the group.
Tuxedo Mask, oblivious to the rest of the group in his urgency and concentrating only on Serena's strong and steady pulse through their link, roughly brushed them both out of his way. He took a split second to look over the edge – it wouldn't help Serna any if he impaled on a stalagmite on the way down – and Mars, understanding what he was doing, brought her flame even closer.
What they saw was better than they had expected: the sheet of ice closest to them hadn't shattered, but rather cracked and fallen, leaving an inclined slide directly below them.
A split second later, Tuxedo Mask was leaping down onto it, Mars at his right hand bringing the flames, and Venus, Uranus, and the others right behind them.
He landed with his knees slightly bent, one arm between them and the other thrown out behind him for balance. As he began to slide down the icy incline, he straightened up slightly. A memory of a weekend snowboarding trip that Andrew had talked him into going on in high school flashed in his mind, and he had only a second to think about the irony before the incline suddenly stopped and he was free falling.
Luckily, he didn't have far to fall and somehow managed to land gracefully on the stone floor of whatever room was under the throne room. Half a beat later, he registered the clack of Mars's heels as she, too, landed with feline grace on the frozen stone. Mars's fire illuminated their new surroundings and his eyes wildly swept the room; he saw Sailor Moon sprawled out a bit to his left.
She was laying on her stomach, slightly turned to one side and legs slightly bent. One arm was under her head – which he was happy to see – and her golden hair was trailed out behind her, gleaming in the flickering firelight.
He could see the steady rise and fall of her chest, and breathed a small sigh of relief as he hurried to her side. The Senshi were right behind him, quickly moving into defensive positions around their Princess, but gave him space when he knelt down next to her and oh so lightly brushed the hair out of her eyes and cupped her face, waiting for Mercury to finish her scan before he moved her.
Through their link, he didn't sense that anything was broken – but as a medical student, he knew the dangerous repercussions of moving someone who was injured.
He was flooded with relief when she seemed to turn into his touch, nuzzling her face against his palm with a contented sigh.
"Sere, can you hear me?" he asked, willing her to wake up.
"She should be fine and waking up any minute," said Mercury, relief evident in her voice. "She bumped her head, but her arm took the brunt of the fall. She'll have some bruising and soreness, but that's it. She was lucky."
The group collectively let out their breaths in relief and Mercury turned to scan the rest of their surroundings. Mars set her jaw and let the glow of her fire intensify so that the room was bathed in soft light. The flickering shadows looked sinister and Mars had no doubt that they were.
"C'mon, Serena, you have to wake up," said Tuxedo Mask, who hadn't taken his eyes off of the blonde in his arms. He knew that Mercury said she would be just fine, but it wouldn't be good enough until he saw it for himself. They had been through far too much for her to be killed by something as trivial as gravity.
"Meatball Head, you better wake up and help us get out of this mess you got us into. If you die, I'll bring you back and kill you myself for being so fucking stupid. Can't you shake her or something?" Sailor Mars' anger was slipping through the cracks, and she found herself getting more and more furious as she looked at the helpless blonde in Tuxedo Mask's arms.
"Mars, now isn't the time," said Venus, trying to intervene before Mars' temper got the better of the fire Senshi and there was no turning back.
"It's absolutely the time! What the hell was she thinking? Why does she get to be so damn selfish?! I mean if she goes and gets herself killed because of her own stupidity, who else is going to save the world? It's not like we can do it without her."
"Mars - " Cold authority was now in Venus' voice, but Mars' fire quickly swallowed it whole.
"Yeah, she died here. I get it," said Mars, eyes blazing. "But we died, too. We died and the snow covered our bodies before she even got this far and we're not going – going cliff diving or whatever the hell she just did. She needs to stop thinking of only herself. If not for her, or for Darien, or even for Rini, then for the fucking universe because she's our only hope and she would do well to start acting like it."
"Mars, shut up, that's an order - "
"No. Not this time. I died here and I died on the moon and now I have to bring back the man who killed me while she goes running off to get herself killed by her own stupidity and then it's all for nothing and I will not - "
"Rai, shut up." This time it was Tuxedo Mask who spoke. His eyes were dark as he stared her down. Mars defiantly met his gaze, but couldn't maintain it. With a shuddering sigh, she lowered her eyes and shifted her feet, trying to regain the feeling that the subzero temperatures had taken away.
"No, she's right," said a quiet voice from below him.
"Serena, you're awake," he breathed in relief, pulling her close to him and reveling in the scent of her hair and the fact that she was whole and so, so thankfully unbroken.
She wrapped her arms around him and took comfort in his warmth for a moment before pushing him gently away and pulling herself slowly to her feet.
"Mars is right. What I did was stupid and selfish. I'm sorry, everyone." She looked up through her lashes at the group assembled in front of her, feeling an incredible sense of guilt at the truth in Rai's words.
She had been selfish. In the midst of her own turmoil at entering the place where she had died – where she had been killed by her own raw power – she forgot for a moment what her Senshi were going through.
Not only had they died here also, but they were trying to bring back those who had killed them the first time around.
How could she.
Now that Mars had gotten her outburst out of the way, she couldn't stand the look on her friend's face. Walking over to her Princess, Mars pulled her into a tight hug.
"So stupid. Don't let it happen again."
Sailor Moon hugged her back tightly. "I'm sorry, Rai," she whispered, tears filling her eyes.
Sailor Mars simply gave her a final squeeze before stepping back and turning to the rest of the group, also slightly embarrassed about losing her temper.
"So, what are we waiting for? Let's do what we came here to do."
Venus gave her friend a sad smile before turning to the rest of the group. "Alright, so this is as good a place as any to start. We're either going to have to stick together or find something that'll burn for a long time. I don't want anyone getting lost in the dark. I don't see anything here, so it looks like we're together for now.
Venus met Jupiter's eyes and the taller girl nodded at her.
"We're going to have to go room by room. We don't really know what we're looking for, but anything that has an energy signature or looks like it's been used recently could be a lead.
"Mercury, have you picked up anything on your scans?"
Sailor Mercury nodded as she looked at her leader through her blue visor. "Because of the ice, I can only scan our immediate surroundings. I don't see anything in the rooms around us, but we're going to have to be extremely careful. It would be very easy for someone or something to sneak up on us, and we have no idea what to expect.
"It's also going to be easy to get lost. I'm going to track our movements back to this room, but it's a long way up. If at all possible, we need to look for another way out, or a clear area to teleport from."
At this, the group looked up. Mars' fire only illuminated so much, and from where they were standing, they couldn't make out the throne room ceiling. It could have been miles above them – for all they knew it was.
Looking around, Jupiter knew Mercury was being optimistic. She didn't see how they could possibly make it back up the way they had come without rock climbing equipment or wings. Sure, they could just teleport back to the Temple – but that required time and concentration. If an enemy was barreling down on them, that wasn't really much of an escape plan…
Mercury had begun addressing the group again. "…I'm getting a few broad energy signatures beneath us, but they're faint. They could very well be energy that is still fading from Beryl. From this level, it's impossible to tell."
Venus nodded. "Alright, let's move out. Remember, be careful, and if you have any strange feelings about anything, bring it up. Let's be thorough so we don't have to ever do this again…"
With that, she started off towards the door of the room they were in, heels clacking on the frozen stone.
Can stone even freeze? She thought as she waited for Mars to light the way.
Who the hell knows. After this, I swear we're going to the beach. Somewhere warm. Warm would be nice…
Shaking off her thoughts, she called forth her Love-Me Chain and pushed the door open. Even though Mercury's scan hadn't picked up anything, her nerves were on edge, and it would be much, much better to be over prepared than under.
The next room they entered was drastically smaller than the first. Where the first had been empty, this one looked more like a living room or an antechamber. There were lamps on the walls and several tapestries also hung there, swirls of blues and silvers and grays. There was a fireplace with two navy leather armchairs in front of it and what appeared to be a wooden desk in the shadows along the far wall.
Looking at the desk, Mercury felt a pang of familiarity that she couldn't place, but she shook it off. When had she ever been here before? That was just silly…
As the group moved inside, Mercury noticed a bookshelf to the right of the door they had entered through. Curious, she walked over and plucked a frozen, leather-bound volume off of the shelf. As she held the small book, she was struck with an overwhelming sense of familiarity. Glancing at the title, she drew in a sharp breath and stiffened.
"So, what did you think?" Zoicite asked.
"Excuse me?" Said Ami, turning to face him.
He blushed again. "Of this," he said, reaching over and nimbly plucking the book from her grasp. He flipped through a few pages and continued, "I saw that you finished it, and I actually just read it myself last week. So, what did you think?"
Of all the books, of course it would be this one. Fate certainly has a way of being cruel.
Hands trembling, she gently opened the book, careful to not ruin its almost-frosted pages. She wasn't sure if she was hoping for or dreading the sight of his small, neat handwriting in the margins, but when she saw it, an acute feeling of homesickness washed over her and the sound of her frantic heartbeat was loud in her ears.
She clutched the book to her chest as she looked around the room with new eyes. This must have been part of his rooms. She blushed as she looked at the tapestries again, noticing that they were the same color of her blue Senshi uniform and the dress she had been wearing on the day when they first met.
But that wasn't him. This isn't him. Why is his book here? Why did that monster have his things?
She felt cold fury begin to seep into her veins as she thought about the monster that had possessed her Zoicite. It and Beryl had probably laughed as they moved Zoicite's things into this room to keep up with the sick fantasy that that bitch had created. When she thought she could brainwash Endymion and his Generals into playing house with her. Bile filled Mercury's throat and she felt sick at the thought of it.
"Mercury, are you picking anything else up?" asked Jupiter from across the room. They rest of the Senshi were looking carefully around the room, but they didn't appear to be finding anything.
She carefully slipped the book into her subspace pocket and clicked her visor closed.
"No, my computer isn't picking anything up, but if there's anything important in here, I know where it would be."
"What? How?"
"Because these are Zoi's things."
The shortened name rolled off of her lips without her even realizing it – as if it hadn't been several millennia since she had last used it.
A shocked silence fell as she crossed the room, heading straight for Zoicite's desk. Mars eventually shook off the shock and followed the blue haired Senshi to provide light.
Mercury pulled out the chair and sat down like she belonged there. In a past life she had. Without hesitating, she pulled open the third drawer on the right. Mars slumped in disappointment when she saw it was empty, but Mercury wasn't fazed.
Adroitly, the Ice Senshi ran her gloved hand over the drawer's wooden bottom until she found that spot she was looking for. She pushed down gently and it popped open, as if it were spring-loaded. Mars realized that it probably was, and she held her breath as Mercury gently lifted the front of the drawer's false bottom on a hidden hinge. Once she was finished, she carefully removed a small stack of neatly arranged papers.
She quickly read over the first page before flipping through the rest of the documents.
"Here it is," she said, delicately removing a page from near the middle of the pile.
The Senshi watched as she unfolded the page to reveal what appeared to be a map.
"What is that?" said Sailor Moon, moving in close to stand next to her friend.
"It's a map of D-Point. Zoi was always making maps, even of the Terran palace," she said, turning to Tuxedo Mask with a sad smile.
"I remember," he said, attempting to return her smile. Seeing the map and his General's handwriting had brought back a new flood of memories. He hadn't realized quite how lonely he was without the Generals – without his friends – but he would certainly be happy to have them back, no matter how selfish that was.
It would be nice to have friends again. True, Andrew was like his brother, but Darien had never felt as though he fully belonged in this world, even with Andrew's friendship. Now he knew why.
Sailor Moon picked up on his thoughts and squeezed his hand for comfort.
"What do you mean, a map of D-Point?" said Uranus, who had also moved closer to see the paper.
"Look," said Mercury, pointing to a neatly labeled square – "Sitting Room – Zoicite" - to the far left of what appeared to be one of four floors. "This is where we are. Where we crashed was his antechamber. And this hallway," she said, moving her finger across the page to indicate the way they had just came, "should lead to the rest of the General's quarters…"
Mars stopped listening to anything but her pounding heart. She didn't want to go anywhere near his quarters.
She wasn't ready for this.
The fire flickered in her hand as her heart raced and she began to feel so, so dizzy, as if she couldn't get enough air.
As she truly began to panic at the overwhelming sense of claustrophobia, Mina reached over and squeezed her arm.
"I've already decided that when this is over, we're going to the beach," Mina whispered.
Rai didn't thank the universe for Mina nearly enough as she should.
"All-inclusive?" Rai asked with a small, grateful smile.
"Absolutely. And cabana boys."
Rai tried to snort quietly, but she didn't quite pull it off. Uranus looked at the two and raised an eyebrow in disapproval.
Mina smiled and Rai rolled her eyes, stifling another laugh as she turned her attention back to Sailor Mercury.
"…so if we go down this hallway, we should eventually come to the Treasure Room. I think that sounds like our best bet right now. If there's anything valuable, it's sure to be in there."
"Sounds like a great plan – only there's a ten foot thick sheet of ice blocking the entrance to the hallway…" said Jupiter, sounding slightly worried.
Mercury somehow managed to make rolling her eyes look dainty. "Rai, can you bring the fire out here?"
With that, Sailor Mercury led the way back through the doorway they had come through. Channeling her element, she willed the ice to bend to her will as she had been taught to do in the Silver Millennium.
"Well, I guess we don't have to look for another way out," said Jupiter under her breath. "Mercury can just make us some stairs."
The rest looked on with awe as Sailor Mercury turned the ice to water and gathered it in a large orb above their heads. It hung there, growing steadily larger and glistening in the light from Mars' fire, until Mercury uncovered the door that she had been looking for.
With a flick of her wrist, Mercury directed the water to form a new wall of ice, sealing off the rest of Zoicite's quarters. She couldn't explain why she felt the urge to protect his things, but she hoped that someday, when this was all over, she could come back here with him – the real him - and salvage some things from their old life.
Dreams were nice things to have.
They could also be dangerous. Deep down, she knew that the hope building in her chest had the acute ability to destroy her forever, something all of the evils in the universe had not yet been able to do.
Yes, dreams could be dangerous.
She brushed those thoughts aside as she flipped open her computer with one hand; in her other, she gingerly held Zoicite's map.
But it's not really Zoi's map – that monster made it. She'd be damned if she knew how, but that monster had made it, had accessed her dead lover's memories and taken on his idiosyncrasies.
It must have been Beryl - Beryl and her sick, twisted charade.
Again, Mercury swallowed down the bile and scanned the corridor for enemies.
Not detecting any energy, she heaved the door open. She couldn't see anything but the pitch darkness and the outline of the door; then, Mars was next to her, lighting the way again.
The corridor was all stone – floor, walls, and ceiling. Stands on the walls held long dormant torches. Mars, however, didn't waste any time in lighting those nearest to the group and passing them around. With more light, they could cover ground more quickly.
"Alright, where are we headed?" asked Jupiter, turning to Mercury to guide them.
The blue-haired Senshi, who had been consulting the map again, began walking to the right.
"This way. This hall is going to loop around and connect with another that looks like the major highway through this place. From there, we're fairly close to the Treasure Room."
The walked down the corridor in silence, alert for any noises apart from their own shallow breathing and footfalls on the frozen ground.
The corridor twisted around and opened into a wider hallway, still made completely out of stone. The Senshi passed dark mahogany doors, and sometimes Mercury would note what was behind them.
There were three doors that she decidedly ignored. For that, they were all thankful.
Every so often, the group stopped to listen for any signs of trouble. The silence was deafening, and they continued marching in the eerie calm.
After several minutes, Mercury stopped in front of a door that was larger and more ornate than the others that they had passed.
"This is it," she whispered. Whispering seemed like the proper thing to do.
They might be on the cusp of their destiny, after all.
"Are you getting any readings?"
Mercury's breath came in sharply as she scanned the room. There were two tiny, glowing specs inside of the room.
"I'm getting two energy signatures. They're powerful, but small and they're not moving."
"What do we do?" breathed Sailor Moon.
"Well, we didn't come all this way for nothing," said Rai, itching to get this over with – and if she got to take her frustrations out on some Nega-scum, well that wouldn't be the worst thing.
"Yeah, what are we waiting for?" asked Uranus, stepping to the front of the group and positioning herself between Sailor Moon and the door.
Venus nodded. "Everyone ready? On my count, Jupiter, open the door and fall to the side. We don't know what's in there, but I know what it's in for."
The Senshi nodded and assumed fighting stances, with Neptune and Pluto watching their exposed flanks on either side of the hallway.
"Three. Two. One. Now," Venus breathed, her Love-Me-Chain still ready and charged in her hands.
With a grunt, Jupiter heaved open the door. It moved slowly, its hinges frozen over from years of dormancy. As the door slowly opened, a monstrous rumble reverberated through the hallway and beyond, ear splitting in the otherwise silent depths. Jupiter cursed the noise and fell back into position, wary that they had awoken any long-dormant enemy within a ten-mile radius.
Mars sent a blast of fire inside to light the room so that they were not blind to any enemies inside.
There was a collective gasp as the group of warriors saw the room's contents.
Mars's flames were reflected on more gold and gems than any of them had ever seen. Even though tables were overturned and treasures were scattered across the floor, it was truly a fairy-tale treasure room, complete with glittering diamonds and rubies and piles of gold.
Other than that, the room appeared to be empty; they didn't detect any sign of motion. Mercury watched the energy points for any motion and they hadn't budged an inch.
"They haven't move at all," she announced to the group.
Venus nodded, highly suspicious. "Are you able to locate them in the room?"
"I have pretty precise locations. They're fairly close together, in the back left of the room. I have an eye on them, so if they move at all, we'll know about it."
"Alright, Scouts," said Venus, authority ringing in her voice as the seriousness of the situation sunk in once more. Her poor nerves. "Let's move in. Spread out and establish a perimeter. They start sorting through, looking for anything of interest. Mercury, Jupiter, check out the energy signatures, and be careful. Uranus, Neptune, guard the door and yell at the first sign of trouble. This place looks big enough to teleport from, so let's not mess around. We're not looking for a fight today."
The Senshi nodded and moved in. Mercury attempted to locate the motionless energy signatures with the help of her Mercury Computer; Jupiter was on point to take care of any threats. Lightening crackled in her palms as she scanned their surroundings, waiting for any sign, almost hoping for a reason to unleash the pent up aggression that the emotional roller coaster of the past few days had evoked.
The rest of the Senshi attempted to sort through the glittering jewels that littered the abandoned treasury.
Mars looked with disdain at the overturned tables - such disrespect to such beautiful things, things that had once surely been revered – as were the people who held them.
As she ran her gloved hand through the gold and rubies, she couldn't help think of the sound her heels had made on the golden floors of the Martian Palace, with its ruby-encrusted tapestries and its opulence and its pride. Her steps had rung true like bells; for her, that sound would forever be the sound of her childhood – of controlled rage, boiling just below the surface. Of homecoming.
But this wasn't the time to be so goddamn nostalgic. She squared her jaw and went back to looking - for what, she wasn't absolutely sure, but she knew that she would know it when she saw.
And then her fingers brushed the cloak-clasp and her breath hitched. It was an intricate pattern of yellow and rose gold crafted to look like flames, a ruby-encrusted monstrosity that was a bit too much in every conceivable way.
She had given it to him for his birthday, and he had loved it. Serenity had picked it out; she said it reminded her of Rai, and he had agreed. That jackass.
She remembered the night that she had given it to him, the moon high in the sky and the celebration at the Terran palace in full swing. She was dressed in a bood red dress, her hair pulled off to the side, rubies woven into the glossy strands. It fell long down her back. Just the way he liked it.
She had stolen him away at half past midnight and dragged him out into the gardens. The cool air kissed her too-warm skin, and he didn't protest at all.
He had fumbled with the delicate wrapping and then just stared at it for several seconds. She thought he hated it, and said as much, feeling so embarrassed and like such a failure. With a deep laugh, he had kissed her reddening cheeks and drew her in close, his breath warm in her ear.
As the memories came back, she clutched the clasp so tightly that it pierced through the pristine white fabric of her gloves, drawing blood.
She swore at the universe as she slipped the clasp into her sub-space pocket, praying to anything that was listening to get her out of this fucking place before her claustrophobia killed her or she burned it to the ground. Or both. Even though they were already underground but what-the-fuck-ever.
She struggled to get her breathing back under control before the others realized something was wrong.
She loved them all to death and back (three times and counting), but she needed some time to get her own emotions under control before Serena got a good look at her.
The blonde in question was currently across the room, sifting through a chest with her Prince.
"What is all of this?" she whispered, in awe of the vast fortune around them.
"I think I have an idea…" said Tuxedo Mask. A cold rage had begun to build inside him as he began to recognize things around the room. Treasures from the Terran palace – priceless heirlooms that had been passed down through his family since almost before time began.
He had already found his father's ring, which he quietly slipped on his finger.
"This was Beryl's hoard," he continued, forcing his voice to remain calm, even though he knew Sailor Moon could probably feel the rage coursing through his veins. "She must have moved all of this here when she conquered Earth."
"Oh," said Serena softly, her small hand slipping into his to give a reassuring squeeze.
He tried to smile at her, but was sure it only came out as a grimace.
"Some of these things belonged to my family. This," he said, gesturing to the ring now firmly on his finger, "was my father's ring. And I recognize some of these things from the court…
"Like that," he said, gesturing to a gleaming sapphire necklace that had been carelessly discarded on the floor next to the chest. "That belonged to my aunt. I remember her wearing it to a ball for my parents' anniversary. And that sword? That was my uncle's. He had the emeralds put in the hilt, even though my father told him it was too flashy and he would look like an idiot. But he said they matched his wife's eyes and there was no talking him out of it…"
Serena was about to reach out to comfort him when a tremor went through the room. The piles of gold rattled and shifted, priceless treasures fell into the floor.
"What was that?" gasped Sailor Moon, looking wildly around at her Senshi to make sure that no one was hurt.
"I don't know," said Venus, fear in her eyes. "Uranus? Neptune? Do you see anything out there?"
"Negative," said Uranus. "But that felt powerful."
"Yes," said Neptune, "Maybe it would be in our best interest to get out while we can. Whatever is here must of detected us."
"Right," nodded Venus. "Let's – arghhh!"
She was interrupted as another tremor hit, making her teeth clack together and sending even more gold sliding to the floor with a metallic clang.
"Is everyone alright?" she yelled, looking around at her troops and her Princess.
She could see everyone except for Mercury and Jupiter, who were behind a particularly large stack of gold.
"What was that?" said Jupiter, looking wildly at Mercury.
"I don't know," said the blue-haired Senshi, oddly calm. "But we're so close. We have to find them. I – I have a feeling what this energy might be," she finished with a whisper, eyes hard with an almost reckless determination.
It wasn't like Ami to be reckless.
That's what confirmed it for Lita.
"So you can feel them, too?" breathed the brunette.
Ami nodded. "One should be to your right. I think it's Nephrite – I can feel Zoi to my left. We have to hurry – argh!"
The second tremor hit, shifting the piles around them.
Suddenly, Jupiter gasped and began to clamber over the pile of gold closest to her to get behind it. Mercury saw what she was going for – a green gen glittering brightly a few feet away from her.
She breathed a small sigh of relief for her friend, but she was beginning to panic.
Two tremors had rocked the treasury and Venus was yelling about teleporting and she was so, so close. She had to find him. She would let them leave without her if she had to.
She zeroed in on the energy signature on her visor and began frantically digging through the pile of gold and treasure in front of her.
He should be here. He has to be here.
And then another tremor hit, stronger than the other two combined. She subconsciously took in Venus's screaming her name and the ceiling beginning to rain down on them and the cracks opening on the floor. But he was here and she wasn't leaving without him.
And then Jupiter was next to her, on her hands and knees digging with her.
And there was an ear-shattering groan as the cracks in the floor widened and the gold coins started to fall through, clanging against Selene-knows-what on the way down.
And Uranus had grabbed each of their uniforms and was pulling them away and Mercury pushed her off with a strength she always knew she had.
And Serena was screaming and Mercury could hear the tears in her voice, telling her that they needed to teleport or they were going to die.
And she believed it.
And she didn't care.
And then she saw it, a light blue crystal, the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. She scrambled forward and grabbed it as Uranus grabbed her again. She had just enough time to put Zoicite's crystal into her sub-space pocket before Uranus pushed her into position and they joined hands.
And the cracks in the floor opened further and a bright light flashed through the cavern before the darkness swallowed the ancient treasures whole.
They touched down at the Shrine, arguably in one piece. As Uranus gave Mercury a piece of her mind, she realized that she had never seen Ami smile so brightly.
So, there you have it! PLEASE REVIEW - I would love to know what you thought of this chapter!
- Elle
