Enough (Revised)
A Sailor Moon fic by Gigi
Disclaimer: Nothing's mine.
Chapter 12: Into the Tower
A/N: Wow, I absolutely love the feedback this story has gotten so far, especially the last chapter. To be honest, I was surprised because it felt like such a filler chapter to me. But anyway, I'm thrilled you're enjoying this so far. Hope you enjoy this doozy!
Violet eyes blinked over a strawberry milkshake, slowly following the movements of a certain raven-haired college student approaching the counter. Rei sipped her milkshake quietly as she continued to watch Mamoru from her corner booth. She'd gotten to the arcade earlier than the senshi meeting she was supposed to attend precisely so she could enjoy people watching without worrying about the fate of the world just yet.
But when Mamoru walked into the arcade, well that was just a pleasant surprise.
He really was beautiful, with those cobalt eyes and that strong jaw. And his voice…his voice made her body react in ways a Shinto priestess her age should never acknowledge feeling. She could just imagine him standing by her side, strong and steadfast, throughout their life together. They would make such a gorgeous couple.
Unfortunately, Rei's Mamoru-appreciation time came to an abrupt end when an angry blonde stormed into the arcade and—quite loudly—demanded Motoki's largest chocolate milkshake. Rei rolled her eyes. Usagi did always have a flair for drama.
Rei watched Mamoru turn his head to the huffy blonde and lower his cup of coffee. "What now, Odango?" he asked—but his tone was less exasperated than it usually was around Usagi.
Even weirder, Usagi didn't tear into him for calling her Odango. Rei felt her mouth drop open just a little bit when Usagi went ahead and told him what made her so angry without so much as a glare. "This creep just ambushed me outside of school because he wanted my hair," she ranted.
"Your hair?" Motoki repeated as he set down Usagi's milkshake in front of her. "For what?"
After a long sip of her shake, she continued. "He's a wig maker, and he said since the senshi have shown up, blonde hair has been his best product, and I have so much hair that I wouldn't miss it if he took two or three wigs' worth of it." Her voice got even higher, and she positively wailed, "And then he started stroking it and wouldn't let go!"
"He touched your hair?" Mamoru asked, to which Usagi nodded pitifully into her milkshake. Then he gleefully reached over and tugged on one of her pigtails. "Like this?"
The entire arcade went still, waiting for the massive eruption that was bound to happen. Mamoru had to have a death wish to do that. But Usagi didn't screech at him for touching her hair. Every patron of the arcade watched with amazement the blush that slowly crept onto Usagi's face. Usagi was blushing! Because Mamoru, of all people, touched her hair!
Rei honestly didn't know if it was her own protectiveness of Usagi or Dark Rei's rampant, jealous need to interrupt the moment, but suddenly she was on her feet and slapping her crush's hand away from her best friend's pigtail. "Mamoru, you insensitive jerk! She's this upset because someone was touching her hair without permission," she admonished, effectively breaking the awkward silence that had descended upon the arcade. She wrapped an arm around Usagi's shoulders and picked up the blonde's chocolate milkshake from the counter. "Come on, Usagi. The girls will be here soon." She ushered her back to the booth, trying to ignore the stiffness and shock in her best friend's body. The fact that Usagi was surprised Rei stood up for her, even if Rei herself wasn't sure her motives were pure, sent regret racing down to her very toes. She really needed to fix this.
xoxoxo
Mamoru kept peeking over his shoulder at the five girls in the corner booth, his eyes always focusing on the pigtailed blonde. She had blushed. Mamoru turned back to his coffee before anyone noticed him looking, but his head still buzzed from that small pink tinge to her cheeks when he tugged her hair.
She looked…well, really nice when she blushed. It made her eyes do this pretty sparkling dance, and—
"What am I doing?" he muttered into his coffee cup. "I definitely have bigger things to worry about." An evil voice in his head chimed in. And it's not like you'll have any chance to pursue it. As much as he hated it, that voice was very likely right. There was virtually no chance of him getting through tonight alive. He shouldn't be torturing himself by thinking of how pretty Usagi looked when she blushed. Not when he couldn't do anything about it.
He took one last glance in her direction, surprised to see her looking right back at him. The other girls weren't paying her any attention, so she sent a shy smile his way. That was pretty, too. He couldn't help the smile he returned. He also couldn't help the way his smile grew when she blushed again and dropped her gaze.
"You're an idiot, Mamoru," he grumbled to himself as he turned back around. All traces of any smile were wiped clean from his face, the reality of his fate slamming back into him. His shoulder still felt afire, accelerated healing or not, and he had to get going. "Hey, Motoki," he called.
His best friend popped his head out from the kitchen. His sandy blond hair spiked in various places as if he had run his hands through it multiple times. He does do that a lot when he's stressed, Mamoru thought with a silent chuckle. Reika needs to break him of that habit. "What's up?"
Mamoru held up his book bag in his good hand. "I've got to run some errands. Watch my bag while I'm gone?" He'd thought this out last night. Leaving his books with Motoki would be a surefire way to let him know something had happened to Mamoru when he didn't come back to retrieve them. He didn't want to worry his friend, but after Motoki and his family took him into his life as practically his brother, he didn't want him to think he'd just up and left without saying goodbye. No, it was better to think something happened to him. It was better to be worried than to feel abandoned. That, Mamoru knew better than anyone else.
Motoki nodded, grinning as always. "Sure thing. Just keep it behind the bar."
"Thanks." Mamoru did as he said, and, with one last glimpse of the arcade—and of her—he took a deep breath and walked out the door for what he was sure would be the last time.
xoxoxo
Usagi ducked out of the arcade an agonizingly long five minutes after Mamoru left. She wanted to check on his shoulder, but she couldn't seem like she was following him. They were already doing a terrible job of fighting in front of everyone else, in no small part thanks to her traitorous cheeks. So she waited and then fibbed about her mom making her clean her room. Of course by then, he was out of sight—No, wait! She caught a flash of his hideous green jacket at the end of the next block. Usagi set after him, nibbling on her lip. He was walking slower than normally. Was his shoulder still so painful? She got caught at a crosswalk he'd just managed to make before the light changed. Watching him get further away, she tried calling out to him to no avail. The second the little green man appeared on the sign, she took off after him.
By the time she finally caught up with the guy, they were approaching the Starlight Tower. "I've been chasing you for 10 blocks, mister," she chided when he halted.
"Odango, what are you doing here?" Mamoru demanded, every muscle in his body tense.
Usagi withdrew slightly at the harshness in his voice. "I just wanted to check on your shoulder."
"You shouldn't have come here," he rebuked. Outright anger showed on his face. She'd never made him angry before, and it almost made her leave right then and there. But instead she put her back up, made herself feel indignant instead of hurt. She was Sailor Moon, for God's sake!
He was really being the jerk she once thought he was. She was only trying to help! She felt her own anger bubble to the surface. "Well, excuse me for worrying about your injury. You could have stopped any one of the dozen times I called your name on the way here!"
"I didn't hear you!"
"Like hell you didn't!" she screamed right back. "Why were you ignoring me on the way here? You were just fine in the arcade." More than fine, she added to herself. You kept watching me and smiling and—Stop it, Usagi!
Mamoru got closer and admitted softly, if not kindly, "Because I figured you'd get the message that I wanted to be left alone."
Cerulean eyes narrowed at him in suspicion. "Why did you come to the Starlight Tower? What aren't you telling me?"
She watched his jaw clench, watched him try to keep the words in. But she wasn't leaving until he told her. She opened her mouth to tell him so when he finally spoke. "I'm battling Zoicite for the rest of the rainbow crystals, okay?"
There was a pause, then—"Are you insane?" Usagi screeched. "Bad shoulder aside, what the hell makes you think this is a good idea?!"
"I don't think this is a good idea," Mamoru insisted. "But Zoicite made it very clear he would target anyone and everyone in Chiba Mamoru's life if I didn't go along with it." His eyes seemed to gather the light from the dying sun as he spoke, but Usagi refused to be distracted by the intensity of that gaze, of whatever he was trying to tell her without saying.
"So you're going even though it's obviously a trap," she deadpanned.
"I have no choice," he whispered, half-raising a hand but he seemed to think better of it and let it drop back to his side. "It's either fight or watch as everyone I care about disappears."
Usagi didn't hesitate before deciding. "Then I'm coming with you."
Mamoru did a double-take, all but growling, "No, you're not."
Resolve shimmered in her eyes. There was no changing her mind, and if Mamoru thought he could, he had another thing coming. "You think Zoicite is going to play fair? That Kunzite's not going to be hiding in the wings to attack you from behind? I'm going."
Urgency exuded from every aspect of Mamoru's body. He started to argue again, but any chance of dissuading her evaporated when a green bubble enveloped them and began flying them to the Tower. Usagi lost her balance and fell into Mamoru. After a moment, she felt his arms wrap around her and hold her close. Tilting her head up, she watched the college student regard the approaching tower with a grim face. It had begun.
xoxoxo
"I have to go back to London," Minako announced over a chocolate milkshake. A roll-aboard suitcase stood on the floor next to her, all packed and ready for her red-eye to Heathrow. Makoto, Rei and Ami stared back at her in confusion.
"Why?" Makoto asked, a little put out. She was beginning to like Minako! Why did she have to leave so soon after getting here?
Minako pulled out the day's paper, the pictures of Sailor V and Sailor Venus prominent on the front page. "If people who read this see me doing the media tour for the next Sailor V movie from Tokyo, where Sailor V has reportedly popped up again, my identity could be very compromised," she explained. "I'm already playing with fire hiding in plain sight. If the Negaverse believes this article then the only way to keep them in the dark is to convince them that Sailor V's actress never left London."
"Hey," Motoki called from behind the bar. "Does anyone know where Usagi is?"
"She left to go home a while ago," Ami answered. Her words were matter-of-fact but the way she said them belied her confusion. "She said her mom wanted her to clean her room."
Motoki shook his head and gestured vaguely in the direction of the arcade's phone, worry wiping his ever-present smile off his face. "I just got off the phone with her mom. She called because Usagi was supposed to be home half an hour ago."
The four girls in the booth exchanged panicked glances. Had something happened to her? Minako stood and deposited her suitcase behind the bar, the others following suit with their bookbags. "We'll go look for her and make sure she's okay," she told Motoki. "Watch our stuff for us?"
"Will do," he affirmed, peering down at the small store of bags he now had behind the counter. Mamoru left for his errands an hour ago. He'll be back soon, Motoki thought to himself. Then if the girls haven't found her yet, he'll help me look for Usagi. "Let me know when you find her!"
"Got it!" Minako called over her shoulder as she all but ran out of the arcade, Rei, Makoto, and Ami hot on her heels.
xoxoxo
The bubble popped inside the Starlight Tower lobby, unceremoniously depositing Usagi and Mamoru on the floor. The college student let out a strangled grunt as the cold tile collided with his shoulder, prompting Usagi to snap her head up from its place on his chest. Worry and no small amount of anger were smeared across her face. "You're an idiot for doing this," she admonished quietly.
Mamoru fixed Usagi with a flat stare. "You're an idiot for coming with me."
"Hey, I don't want you to get even more hurt because you're too busy trying to be a hero," she bickered. Neither of them had moved from their position on the floor, but Usagi felt herself bounce upward slightly at the sharp intake of breath from the man below her.
"In case you've forgotten, I am a hero."
"It doesn't mean you have to sacrifice yourself on a gamble!"
"Usagi, will you hear me for once?" he demanded, more harshly than he intended but given the situation, he felt no need to apologize. "I already told you, it was this or be personally responsible for everyone I care about dying." No use in sugarcoating the truth. A shudder passed through him, but he couldn't tell if it had been his own or if it had come from the girl lying on top of him. "It's a gamble I have to make."
Usagi paused, her eyes clearing. "Well, at least I'm here to make sure the Negaverse doesn't use loaded dice."
Mamoru sighed and let his head drop back to the tile for a moment. As much as he'd wanted to keep Usagi far away from all of this, he was grateful for her presence. He felt braver with her there, even hopeful that he'd possibly make it through this alive. Then he remembered exactly where they were—that Zoicite could be watching them in their extremely vulnerable position and decide to attack them while they were unaware—and he quickly urged Usagi to stand up. She'd just finished helping him to his feet when the entire lobby went dark.
Zoicite flickered into the far end of the lobby, indignation evident on his feminine features. "I thought I made it quite clear you were to bring no one."
Mamoru pushed Usagi behind him. "Actually, you said not to bring the sailor senshi, which you can see she is not. And if you'd waited to pull that bubble stunt, I might have been able to convince her to leave," he defended.
"Fat chance," Usagi muttered under her breath.
Zoicite waved off his words. "Technicality, but whatever." A dark smile broke across his face. "When you lose, she can be the first of your little friends to disappear."
Mamoru stiffened, taking an angry step forward. "You said you'd only target them if I didn't show up."
High, shrill laughter echoed off the walls. "I didn't say I wouldn't target them anyway. I'm merely affording you the chance to try and stop me." He jumped up into the air and, with a sinister grin, hissed, "Emphasis on the word try." He flickered away, but his voice boomed out of the speakers. "I'll be on the top floor—if you can make it all in one piece."
The ground shook beneath their feet, and big, gaping holes opened all over the lobby floor. Usagi screeched as a spike twice her size tried to skewer her. All but climbing on Mamoru to avoid becoming a teenaged kebab, she grabbed his hand. "I think we'd better run!"
Mamoru ducked as another spike sliced the air that previously was his head and started to make his way toward the elevator, Usagi hot on his heels. "Jump!" he called out when he saw a fresh crack form beneath his feet. He felt Usagi go up as the ground crumbled away underneath her, and he barreled forward tugging Usagi along so that she landed on tile. They slammed into the wall of the elevator, Mamoru repeatedly pressing the close button. As the doors slid shut thick vines popped out of every rift in the floor and started racing toward them. When the doors finally closed, Usagi slumped against Mamoru.
"Remind me never to buy plants," she breathed. "I don't think I'll ever trust them again."
xoxoxo
Four sailor senshi stood outside the Starlight Tower, which had transformed into a warped version of itself. Every window was dark, and thick, sinister vines wrapped around the base of the tower, blocking all the doors.
"I know this is a beyond stupid question," Jupiter mumbled, "but are you absolutely sure she's in there?"
Sailor Mercury nodded, scanning the building with her visor. "But it's a different dimension inside, so even if we get past the vines, the doors are going to pose just as big a problem." Movement in the building caught her eye, and she zoomed in to get a better look. "She's in an elevator with Mamoru," she announced, watching her friend lean against her supposed enemy.
"What's he doing with her?" Mars all but hissed, prompting Mercury to grab her wrist in warning. Rei needed to focus on saving Usagi, not on her constant internal battle with darkness.
Venus shot Mars a scathing glare. She had her suspicions about the older boy, but now was not the time to entertain them. And certainly not the time for Mars to get jealous. "The why doesn't matter, Mars. We need to get in there and help Usagi." She turned back to the building and braced herself. "What's the word, Mercury?"
xoxoxo
Zoicite's shrill laughter filtered down the elevator shaft, followed by a dull, ominous roar that slowly increased in volume as the elevator inched its way up to the source. Usagi lifted her head from Mamoru's chest as both of them looked up at the elevator ceiling. "Is it warmer in here that it was a minute ago?" Mamoru asked, dread pooling in the pit of his stomach.
Usagi pushed herself off of Mamoru, never once taking her eyes off the ceiling. "I know you promised not to bring any senshi," she started, "but I don't think we're even going to make it to the top floor if we both don't transform right now." Her hand went to the broach pinned to her shirt.
Mamoru reached inside his jacket pocket and grasped the immortal rose that rested inside. "I'm pretty sure that deal was voided the second we got in this elevator."
The elevator, which had grown markedly warmer, soon became filled with swirling colors and bright lights, illuminating the small space so well the light could very likely be seen from outside the tower. But, as Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen stood staring at the ceiling, if they didn't escape the fire that was surely roaring toward them, a different kind of light show altogether would be seen from the streets. Tuxedo Kamen watched as the levels on the elevator display went up, and on the next floor they reached, he slammed the emergency stop button.
Sailor Moon charged up her tiara faster than she ever had before, hoping to God they'd stopped in line with the floor and not between two. "Moon Tiara Action!" she cried, flinging the glowing discus at the doors. When the dust cleared, Sailor Moon barely had time to sigh in relief before the roaring became painfully loud and Tuxedo Kamen bundled her out of the elevator and onto the floor.
No sooner had they cleared out of the cabin than fire filled the elevator. The second it became clear an explosion was imminent, they threw themselves to the side so as to be protected by the wall. Tuxedo Kamen's cape flung over the both of them just as the blast rocked the building.
xoxoxo
The doors into the Starlight Tower refused to yield no matter what attacks battered against them. Venus felt sweat trickle down her face while she glared at the doors, which currently withstood the onslaught of Mars' fire without giving an inch. She wanted to scream in despair. She was supposed to be on a plane to London right now so she could continue to search for her princess, not stand idly by as her former cousin headed to her death!
An explosion shook the ground beneath her feet, and Venus looked hopefully to see whether Mars' fire had finally done the trick. When the smoke cleared, however, the doors stood as sturdily as ever. Casting her gaze about for the source of the explosion, a call from Mercury urged her to look up. Somewhere around the twentieth floor black smoke billowed out of a large, gaping hole in the side—where the elevator had been.
"No," she heard Jupiter exhale behind her.
No. Venus felt a fresh surge of anger, of desperation. She would not lose her cousin to these monsters, and certainly not to the general who made a mockery of the man she once loved with all her heart. A searing heat blossomed on her forehead and infuriated tears clouded her vision as she sprinted for the doors. An almost inhuman yell ripped from her throat while pure white light burst from her extended hands and reduced those damned doors to dust.
She didn't even wait to see if the others would follow before running headlong into the darkness. "Usagi's still alive!" she yelled into the lobby. "She has to be, and if she isn't when I get to her, there's not a place in this universe where you can hide, Kunzite." A deadly determination set Venus' jaw as she finally stopped running and allowed her senshi to catch up. "That's a promise," she hissed at the walls. Whether he had heard the warning or not, it was a promise she intended to keep.
xoxoxo
When silence fell, Sailor Moon peeked out from underneath Tuxedo Kamen's cape. The masked man's labored breathing echoed in her ears, which felt like they'd been stuffed with cotton. That explosion had been so loud she was surprised it hadn't burst an eardrum. As it was, her ears were ringing and the room spun.
But that breathing in her ears finally registered. It sounded pained. She looked into Tuxedo Kamen's sweat- and dirt-covered face. "Are you okay?" Her own voice sounded muffled to her compromised ears.
"I'm fine," the hero affirmed through gritted teeth. "I just landed on my bad shoulder is all." Before Sailor Moon had another chance to tell him he shouldn't be doing this, he heaved himself to his feet and, biting back the groan of agony, extended his good hand to help the blonde up. "Show time."
Sailor Moon stared into his face for some time, biting her lip in worry—or perhaps to refrain from berating him again. Without a word, she tugged her gloved hand from his and bent to the floor, coming back up with his black top hat. As she settled it on his head, she grabbed his hand once more. "Show time," she nodded.
The pair made their way to the destroyed elevator shaft. Looking up, they only had a few floors left before they would have reached the top floor. They had no problem leaping against the walls until they finally emerged to see Zoicite walking away from them brushing his hands in satisfaction. Something dark inside Tuxedo Kamen made him want to just strike down the smug general while his back was still turned, but he dismissed the thought almost as soon as it materialized. If he did that, he'd be no better than Zoicite. Before he had the chance to change his mind, he called out, "Giving up so soon?"
The general whipped around in an instant, his cold emerald eyes flashing. "How did you avoid the fire?"
Sailor Moon stepped out from behind her protector. A smirk graced her lips as she took in Zoicite's wide eyes. "I may have had something to do with that," she chirped. Tuxedo Kamen glanced down to see the glee sparkling in the blonde's eyes at finally surprising the usually irritatingly over-prepared general.
Zoicite regained his composure quickly. "Fine," he spat, "I guess since you actually made it up here, we can have our duel." Kunzite appeared between them holding a velvet-lined box. "General Kunzite here will watch over the crystals while we fight."
Tuxedo Kamen growled, "That wasn't the deal."
"You're even dumber than you look if you think we're going to fall for that," Sailor Moon scoffed at the same time. She crossed her arms and scowled at the white-haired general. "His crystals stay with him."
Kunzite let out a mirthless chuckle, one that sent chills racing down Tuxedo Kamen's spine. "I don't think you're quite in a position to negotiate, Miss Moon, not with your pathetic senshi battling their way through our dimension." A gasp fell past Sailor Moon's lips as an image of four senshi fighting a losing battle in a stairwell flickered before her face.
Tuxedo Kamen brushed a hand against the small of her back, reminding her where she was and who she was dealing with. "Except those senshi are stronger and smarter than you give them credit for, so if I were you, I'd want to get this duel underway before you have four more people to fight." His voice came out low and hard. "But the crystals stay where they are until the fight's over."
For what seemed like ages—but was probably really only a few seconds—emerald eyes clashed with cobalt, neither willing to back down. Then Zoicite looked to Kunzite. "Go take care of the other senshi, General. I've got this handled." The two Negaverse agents shared a significant look before the older one nodded and disappeared. Tuxedo Kamen had but a second before Zoicite charged at him, but it was long enough to push Sailor Moon behind him.
Under normal circumstances the heroine would have lit into him for acting like she couldn't help fight Zoicite. But, she reminded herself as she turned to guard her friend's back, that's not why I'm here. The scraping of steel cane against crystal spear echoed throughout the top floor, and it took all of Sailor Moon's willpower not to turn back around and watch. No, she shook her head to refocus. She was there to make sure Kunzite didn't get away with trying any dirty tricks.
Suddenly another noise joined the din of fighting, the sound of heels clicking against tile. Sailor Moon looked to her left just as four breathless senshi burst through the stairwell door. "Sailor Moon!" she heard Jupiter cry at the same time as Mars heaved a relieved, "You're okay!" Mercury looked at Mars, oddly ecstatic for some reason Sailor Moon had no time to discern. As relieved as she was that the four senshi made it up safely, she noticed that, aside from being winded, they were no worse for the wear. And they'd made it to the top floor remarkably fast. Where was Kunzite if he hadn't gone to attack them? Venus…Sailor Moon's gaze remained on the orange senshi, watching her narrow her eyes at something just past Moon's shoulder and go stiff.
"Sailor Moon, watch out!" she yelled.
Motion flickered at the corner of her vision, and she whipped her head back to see a sinister grin on Kunzite's face. He wasn't paying attention to her. His gray eyes were fixated on Tuxedo Kamen's back, which was no longer directly behind her as the duel moved around the floor. A spear of crystal formed on the floor beside Kunzite's feet, aimed directly at Tuxedo Kamen, who was too preoccupied to notice.
Sailor Moon was running before she even fully registered what was about to happen. "No!" she bellowed, hearing it echoed by four senshi as she leaped directly into the speeding crystal's path. A strangled cry ripped from her throat as it pierced her side, and for that second her scream was the only sound in the room until she hit the tile and everything went black.
A/N: Heh heh, told you, you were going to hate me. Obviously, I'm taking canon and putting it in a blender until it explodes all over the room. But I find it way too fun to twist canon to my whims. Anyway, most of Chapter 13 is already written, but the only way to get me to finish and type it up in a timely fashion is to review! So please, please REVIEW!
