Moon Palace
Time seemed to have frozen, exempting only Sailors Uranus and Venus. The latter's eyes widened in shock as she felt an electric charge rent the air apart, prompting her to throw her gaze over her shoulder, breath catching in her throat. For someone who had been on the verge of what may very well have been death, the leader of the Outer Scouts looked unsettlingly oriented, her dark blue eyes, narrowed to slits, burning with determination as she clenched her fists around her head, closing them around twin orbs of blinding topaz light, mouth curved into a ferocious snarl as she roared, "SPACE...TURBULENCE!"
There was an explosion of cataclysmic proportions as the Soldier of Sky slammed her fists together and brought them down over her head with crushing force, causing an impossible amount of blinding golden flames to explode out of it, the din so loud that Venus' eardrums burst, while the ground shook more violently than if the alternate dimension they were suspended in had collided with another planet. With a bewildered scream that no one could hear, Venus fell heavily to the ground, blinded by the glare of Uranus' attack, and for a single, ludicrous second, she feared that her Space Turbulence would rebound off the Doom Entity's barrier and kill them all-
But then there was, if possible, an even louder explosion, this one more forceful than ten supernovas detonating at once, mingling with the agonized screams of a thousand light-composed demons, and with another scream, this time one of senseless pain, Venus was blasted backwards, tumbling head over heels for several meters before she landed in a throbbing heap, clinging onto consciousness by mere threads. Somehow, impossibly, she saw Uranus' Space Turbulence slam into the Doom Entity, whose arm was inches from passing his torso, and the demon let out a piercing scream of excruciating agony, reduced to an onyx silhouette against the light that was savaging his wraithlike form, arms and legs thrown back to breaking point-
And then, quite abruptly, the blinding topaz light vanished into nothingness, revealing the Doom Entity, who had fallen onto his obscured hands and knees, coughing and spluttering, shaking like a leaf caught in a tornado, as well as Sailor Moon, who had fallen face-first onto the ground, as still as the dead, while Mini Moon tried desperately to revive her.
"U-Uranus!" Venus gasped out, her dark blue eyes huge as she stared at the Soldier of Sky, who was still suspended in the state of a half-transformation and had fallen to her knees, evidentially drained completely at using her most powerful attack. Neptune, looking as though she had just received one of the biggest shocks of her life, was kneeling at her partner's side, her eyes looking gaunt in her skull, curling turquoise hair standing every which way as she whispered tremulously, "Uranus? Are you -?"
"ARGH!" screeched the Doom Entity, sweeping upright so fast Venus let out a horrified gasp. If he had been angry before, it was nothing compared to what he was now; he was shaking so fast the outline of his form appeared blurred, and an amethyst glow had appeared around his ragged form once more, onyx sparks now flying off his form. His blood red eyes now cast translucent crimson glows, making him look like some sort of demonic, rage-driven humanoid spotlight. "BAD MOVE, SAILOR URANUS! TAKE THIS!"
And with that ominous pronunciation, the Doom Entity drew his robed arms into his chest, bowing his hooded head, an act that drew all the sound from the room, and for a split second, the air seemed to pulse, time had frozen, and Venus' eyes were fixed upon the demon before her, horror coursing through her, paralyzing her, preventing her from even letting out a terrified cry-
The Doom Entity flung his arms out from his chest in an action that looked oddly like an explosion, and with good reason; there was a catastrophic explosion, causing Venus' hair to fly back as insane winds clawed at it, bringing tears to her eyes, and a mass of blinding onyx light exploded off the Doom Entity's splayed form, twisting and weaving and in less than a second, it had taken on the form of a massive, flaming sword, its tip obscured by a bubble of blood red light, which was locked onto the helpless Uranus-
Venus acted without thinking; with a piercing scream of, "NO!" she leapt to her feet, her eyes clenched shut, wanting nothing more than to be standing in front of Uranus, to take the blow that she should have endured in the place of Queen Serenity, to make sure she did not have to suffer any more-
There was a deafening clang of what sounded like screeching metal on metal, causing Venus' eyes to fly open, and a pang of shock went through her when she saw that she was standing with her arms flung out from her sides, chest thrown out and blinded by burning onyx light, a golden glow about her form, like solid smoke, acting as a barrier between herself and the Doom Entity's attack-
She heard alarmed gasps from either side of her, and, her breath catching in her throat, the Soldier of Love looked wildly around, eyes widening in shock when she saw that the other Sailors, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto, the two latters on her left and right, were standing alongside her, their hands clasped, the same solid smoke, corresponding to their main colours, lingering about their forms.
"Argh!" Venus cried, as the Doom Entity's mass of blinding onyx light nearly succeeded in ripping through her shield, crackling like a thousand lightning bolts lashing down from the sky and about as deadly, stronger than the combined forces of all their attacks put together. Summoning every last ounce of her strength, Venus narrowed her eyes to slits and forced herself to make her shield stronger, gritting her teeth as she stared the lashing onyx light through unblinking eyes ,refusing to back down, for she knew that the moment she did, her shield, along with those of the other Sailor Soldiers, would break, and then all hope would truly be lost-
The Doom Entity let out a scream of inhumane rage as he realized what had happened, and through the chaos that was the demon's attack, Venus could see him sprinting forwards through the air, arms spread wide, making him look like some sort of demonic hooded bird, glowing red eyes creating translucent orbs of crimson around his shrouded head.
She could not keep herself from letting out a gasp of absolute horror; the demon had them completely trapped. Trying to attack the Doom Entity would mean relinquishing their shields and allowing his attack to savage them, but not doing so would give their enemy a clear shot at them.
"DIE, SAILOR SOLDIERS!" screeched the Doom Entity, mere feet from them now, causing the massive wave of onyx light he had unleashed upon them to divide itself into two with a sweep of his hand, allowing himself a clear shot-
"NOOOO!"
The united screams of Serena and Rini were more piercing than a thousand panes of glass being shattered at once, and reverberated through the air long after the world had been rent apart by a flash of purest white light, which dispersed almost instantly to reveal Sailors Moon and Mini Moon, standing with their left and right hands clasped, free arms thrown out from their chests, and as one, they reached for their Moon Rods, holding them diagonally across their bodies, and shouted, "MOON GORGEOUS MEDITATION!"
And with that, there was a cataclysmic explosion of noise and light, an explosion so massive that Venus knew it couldn't have been solely born out of Serena's and Rini's attack. But that was as far as her brain got, however, for the next second, the light, which had started out as opalline white, had been taken over by a choking onyx black, and rebounded off the Doom Entity's form, blasting through Sailors Moon and Mini as if they were no more solid than apparitions, roaring so loud that it drowned out the screams of the heiresses to the throne.
Venus' agonized scream rebounded throughout her mind as her leader's Moon Gorgeous Meditation rammed into her, ripping her shield apart like a lion savaging its prey. The attack, which was already bordering on lethal, had been infused with the Doom Entity's deadly power, and for an agonizing second that seemed to stretch into a hellish eternity, the Soldier of Love rebounded off torturous walls of pain, twisting herself into grotesque displays of agony as she flew, her mouth stretched into a tormented scream that no one could hear, blinded by both pain and light, until, after travelling to the depths of hell and back again, Venus was released from the torture, collapsing limply onto a blissfully cold surface in a shuddering, gasping heap, tears pouring down her face as she struggled to choke down breaths.
Someone, a sick, twisted person, no doubt, was laughing, a wild, maniacal sound, demonic caws echoing off the agonized walls of Venus' oddly empty mind. With a Herculean effort, the Inner Scout forced herself to make sense of the jumble of colour that her world had been reduced to, and saw the Doom Entity drifting slowly towards Sailor Uranus, who was shaking violently on her hands and knees, glaring up at the cackling demon from behind her sandy blonde bangs, hatred etched upon every line of her face. The other Sailor Soldiers were strewn about on the marble floor; Mercury, Saturn, Serena and Rini looked to be on the verge of unconsciousness, while others, like Mars and Neptune, were struggling to force themselves upright. Every exhausted, tear-streaked face, was turned after the Doom Entity, whose head was still thrown back, rotten, skeletal hands protruding from out of the folds of his ragged robes. With horrific abruptness, the demon cut himself off, returning to soberness so abruptly Venus half expected him to drop dead. The Doom Entity came to a silent halt in front of Uranus, radiating a hatred so powerful that Venus was shocked the leader of the Outer Scouts did not recoil. The demon glared down at the Soldier of Sky, his hooded head tilted to the side, surveying her in a cruelly contemplating way. There was a beat of absolute silence, silence so vast that it pressed painfully down upon Venus' damaged eardrums, and then, so quietly she almost didn't hear it, the Doom Entity whispered, "You forgot something, Sailor Uranus."
And then, with exaggerated slowness, the monstrosity raised his right fist, which was curled around something, and opened it, to reveal the bejewelled onyx brooch that had acted as the link between Dark Uranus and the Doom Entity, still pulsating in grotesque resemblance to a metallic heart, though now it was in a feeble, half-hearted sort of way.
"U-Uranus!" Sailor Moon gasped out, and Venus, who had forced her shuddering form into a sort of splayed crouch, looked up sharply, squinting through her agonized tears to see that the Moon Princess was on her feet, her arms and legs covered in scratches and angry red burns, green orbs still rising freely off her form, looking like she was on the verge of unconsciousness – or worse – but there was a glimmer of hope in her over-bright dark blue eyes. "U-Uranus...don't...l-listen to...h-him!"
"ENOUGH!" screeched the Doom Entity, an enraged, blood-red glow about his hooded form, and with an inhumane scream, he drew his free hand over his shoulder and made to slash it through the air, but Venus, acting purely on instinct once more, plunged her hand into her skirt and produced her star-topped senshipen, forcing it above her head and shouting, "VENUS POWER!"
Her piercing scream mingled with those of Sailors Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, Pluto, Neptune and Mini Moon, all of whom had been possessed by the same sort of desperate energy, and, to everyone's great surprise, a half-sphere of translucent silvery appeared in front of Sailor Uranus with a laseresque explosion of noise, causing the Doom Entity's streak of onyx light to rebound off of it, missing the demon by inches and wrenching yet another insane shriek from the Doom Entity's obscured lips. Venus, who felt as though she was operating on some sort of alien energy, felt almost all of the little strength she had left drain out of her body, but forced herself to keep her senshipen above her head, eyes still fixed upon Uranus, whose ghostly pale face was reflecting the light of the thin layer of light that was all that stood between her and their mortal enemy.
Suddenly, the Soldier of Sky's Space Sword appeared before her, hovering vertically in front of her face. Its jewel-encrusted blade was glowing more brightly than ever before, a near-blinding topaz glow emanating off of it. The silver half-sphere of light that had erupted before her suddenly condensed into a single streak, melting effortlessly into the curving silver blade, increasing its glow by tenfold.
"I-It's up to...y-you, Ura...nus!" Venus managed to gasp out, the words slinking out of her trembling mouth before her brain could make sense of what she was saying. "I-it's gotta...be!"
"I...b-believe...in...y-you," Neptune managed to gasp out, her oceanic blue eyes sparkling with tears, beautiful face leeched of all colour as she raised her head to stare pleadingly at her partner. Uranus, who had not taken her eyes off her Space Sword from the moment it had appeared before her, suddenly narrowed her eyes, her face hardening into a merciless mask of determination, and, without warning, she snatched the blade out of the air so quickly that the air hissed and stabbed the dagger through the air, an inhumane cry of rage escaping her lips, gaze focused upon the Doom Entity, who looked as calm as if he had been watching these proceedings from a million miles away-
"Stop."
The demon's voice was no quieter than the faintest breath of wind, but was so venomous, so sharp that Venus would have preferred if he had shouted the word. Uranus froze when her dagger was an inch from the Doom Entity's shrouded heart. A gasp of utmost horror was wrenched from Venus' lips as she saw that the demon had raised the onyx brooch that he had used to possess Uranus to chest level, a translucent black glow emanating off the Dark senshipen. The brooch was pulsating more noticeably than ever before, perhaps because, like some sort of parasitic entity, it sensed that a reunion with its host was near.
"N-No," Venus gasped out, and with an effort that felt like it would kill her, the Inner Scout forced her trembling self to her feet, clutching at her left arm as she staggered forwards, horrified gaze fixed upon the Doom Entity, whose blood red eyes snapped on to her at once, sadistic rage bursting off of him in waves, and with an inarticulate scream of fury, he slashed one clawed hand through the air, and the next second, something that felt like an invisible flaming whip had slashed her across the face, wrenching an agonized scream from the Soldier of Love's lips as she fell backwards to the ground, blinded by pain, the strangled cries of the other Sailor Soldiers assaulting her damaged ears...
The Soldier of Love forced her head up off the ground, staring through the blurry veil that was her tears, and she was dismayed to see that a translucent column of amber flames had encircled Uranus and the Doom Entity, twenty feet tall and cackling insanely, the heat barely endurable even from the ten feet of distance between her and its edge.
Sailor Uranus had frozen completely, her look of absolute rage vanished from her face, replaced by a look of indescribable shock, staring, transfixed with horror, at the brooch the Doom Entity had forced in front of her upturned face, Space Sword, shaking in her still-raised hand.
"Sailor Uranus," whispered the Doom Entity, and Venus, disoriented as she was, could not help but wonder how the Soldier of Sky was keeping herself stationary when the demon before her was speaking with such venom. "You are mine."
Fury flashed through Uranus' widened blue eyes, replaced by an expression that left no doubt in Venus' mind that there was a violent internal struggling raging inside the leader of the Outer Scout's mind. "N...Never!" Uranus spat out, sounding as though each syllable cost her unimaginable effort, but the Soldier of Love was horrified to hear that there was a trace of her warped, demonic counterpart present in her low, very near masculine voice.
The Doom Entity's eyes narrowed slightly, his skeletal, rotten fingers tightened around the outstretched brooch, and, in a voice of pure malice, he snarled, "You fool!"
An electric cackle rent the air apart, and in less than a second, the onyx brooch was ablaze with amethyst flames, their malicious cackling drowned out by a scream of utmost agony from Uranus, whose back arched to breaking point, Space Sword dropping to the ground with a muted clatter as she screamed, fingers forming rigid claws at her sides, head thrown back until it looked like her neck would snap, looking as if...as if...
As if her real heart was aflame.
"S-STOP IT!" Sailor Moon screamed, her voice cracked with desperation, somehow managing to make herself heard over Uranus' shrieks of agony. "STOP! PLEASE!"
Immediately, Uranus fell silent, her gloved hands balled into fists as she knelt before the Doom Entity, her whole body heaving as she dragged down ragged gasps of air. Out of the corner of her horrified eyes, Venus saw that Sailor Moon was standing precariously on her feet, tears pouring silently down her face as she gaped at the horrendous scene before her, looking tortured at the fact that she could do nothing to aid the leader of the Outer Scouts, the one who had always rejected their help, the one who had, despite the excruciating pain she had just been put through, had not once uttered a plea for aid –
"You are mine, Sailor Uranus," the Doom Entity hissed, his tongue twisting her name so that it sounded like a disgusting swearword. "And you will die mine."
Uranus made no response, and to Venus, her silence was more horrible than if she had just witnessed the Doom Entity stab her friend in the heart. After all they had been through, after the torture Serena and Rini had endured, after Serenity had lost her life in the violent struggle that had ensued to free the Soldier of Sky, after they had clawed their way up from the agonizing depths of hell, the Doom Entity had made sure their journey had been in absolute vain.
"You have failed me, Uranus," the Doom Entity whispered coldly, and the Soldier of Love saw that the demon had picked up the Outer Scout's Space Sword and was twirling it almost unconsciously at his side, an action that was infinitely too idle to be in the presence of such evil. "And the price of this failure will come in the form of your life. Take your life, Uranus. With the blade that your fellow Soldiers -" their mortal enemy let out a snort of insane laughter. "-intended for you to use to kill me."
"URANUS, DON'T!" screamed Neptune, her musical voice cracked with utmost horror, and she staggered to her feet, her shaking arms raised above her head, blanched face etched with desperation as she screamed, "NEPTUNE DEEP-"
But the Soldier of the Ocean cut herself off with a piercing scream of terror as a large amount of the flames that were encircling Uranus and the Doom Entity burst away from the column and divided itself into nine, twisting and writhing until they had formed flaming cages around each of the Sailor Soldiers, acting as yet another slap in the face to Venus, a mocking taunt, an unnecessary reminder of just how impossible victory was-
Uranus reached one gloved hand up to take her Space Sword from the Doom Entity, still kneeling before her, as silent as the dead, and, in a strange, disembodied sort of way, the Soldier of Love saw that there was a poisonous yellow gleam in her friend's eyes once more, a look of awfully cold fury upon her face as she raised her talisman, its point lined up perfectly with her heart-
Every sound had been extinguished, having been sucked into the horrific bubble of isolation that was Sailor Uranus, poised to claim her own life. Time had frozen, absolute horror was etched upon each of the Sailor Soldiers' faces as they stared, transfixed with revulsion, at the scene before them. The silence was so vast that it was pressing painfully in on Venus' eardrums, as if the eyes of the entire universe were on the scene before them-
Venus could see the muscles in Uranus' arms tighten as she tensed to plunge the blade into her heart, and with a cry of fury that was not her own, she drew back the blade and plunged it forwards, its point glinting lethally as it rocketed towards her heart-
"NO!" Venus screamed, an explosion of the horror that had been building steadily up inside her for what felt like centuries, and then, with a speed that only Uranus could achieve, the Soldier of Sky let out a bull-like roar and lunged forwards, her Space Sword reduced to a streak of silver and topaz that she plunged into the Doom Entity's chest, which had been swelled with excitement at the chaos he had created, his blood red eyes widening in absolute horror as he realized what had happened-
"You are mine," snarled Sailor Uranus, her eyes dark blue once more. The Doom Entity let out a choked sort of gasp, his whole form shaking violently as he looked down at the golden hilt of Uranus' Space Sword, the only part of it that was protruding from his chest, and then, after a beat of absolute silence, the air was rent apart by an explosion so vast Venus actually felt her arms straining to be free of their sockets. Her screams, along with those of the other Sailor Soldiers, were lost as the world was obscured by a mass of blinding white and the cataclysmic howl of impossible, maelstrom-class winds. Shielding her face in the crook of her arm, Venus heard an agonized, ear-splitting scream mingling in that of the winds, a scream that could only belong to a being who had just suffered a mortal wound, and saw countless streaks of violently purplish-black light rocketing in every direction from what seemed to be the center of the light-obscured world, looking like shards of smoke, streaking outwards as fast as possible-
The shards of the Doom Entity's life force, vanishing into nothingness.
Venus couldn't hear, couldn't see, she couldn't even think. Uranus, Serena, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Pluto, Neptune, Saturn and Rini were nowhere to be seen, there was no end to the blinding mass of light that had taken over the Doom Entity's throne room, no escape-
It was a split second stretched into a senseless eternity, but then, with alarming abruptness, both the blinding light and the devastating amount of noise vanished, replaced by a scene that was the complete opposite of the horror she had just been teleported away from.
She was lying splayed on something that had the texture of immensely hard sand, something that was a bright silvery white, emitting a strong silver glow that illuminated the beautiful marble buildings that were lined up neatly on either side of her. Slowly, tremulously, Venus lowered her arm from her face, the only sound the deafening pounding of her heart in her ears as she stared about herself in bewilderment. There was a vast rectangular pool of water before her, so calm it looked like a massive sheet of glass, leading up to the glistening marble steps of a magnificent white palace in the near distance. The pool of light was reflecting a golden orangish-pink sky that hung above them, the thousands of stars that normally hung in it nowhere in sight.
A sunset on the Moon, Venus thought, feeling incredibly numb. How is that possible? Then, a fraction of a second later, Where are the others?
Her breath catching in her throat, Venus stared wildly about herself, unable to understand why she the emotions that were coursing through her. They were all strewn before her, still frozen in the positions they had been in when Uranus had stabbed the Doom Entity. But instead of gazing, apparently thunderstruck, at Sailor Uranus, who's Space Sword was still in hand, an unreadable expression upon her face, the Sailor Soldiers were staring past Venus, the fear that had been etched upon their faces, making them look a hundred years old, now replaced by complete awe, so that every one of them looked to be no older than four years old.
Feeling as though she were moving in slow motion, Venus turned to look over her shoulder, her dark blue eyes widening to the size of saucers as she took in the person before her. The fact that the moon was, for once, illuminated by golden sunlight made it almost impossible to see her, filtering through her transparent body like light through a stained glass window. Her hands were clasped behind her back, her custom mysterious smile playing about her lips, lilac eyes sparkling with joyous tears that were streaming silently down her beautiful face. Her lavender hair, her flowing white dress, were blowing about her in a faint breeze that Venus could not feel, adding to bizarreness of the moment.
"Well done, Scouts," whispered Queen Serenity, her soft, melodious voice choked with happiness, and with that, the ghost of the ruler of the Moon Kingdom vanished in a flash of silver light, leaving nothing but the echo of her final words of praise behind her.
Moon Kingdom
Absolute silence reigned in the Moon Kingdom, the same aura of horrified incomprehension lingering about it as when the Sailors had teleported out of it after the Tournament. Every sentient creature was in mourning, locked in their respective homes as they attempted to come to terms with the horrific realty that was Serenity's death.
If possible, the atmosphere inside the Moon Palace was even more subdued. No one had made it passed the entrance hall but Uranus, who had not been seen for hours. The Sailor Soldiers were frozen in various displays of shock, not speaking, not moving as they wallowed in varying degrees of horror, none of them having the faintest idea as to how they were supposed to go on. It felt as though they had not won the battle against the Doom Entity at all.
Every now and then, one of them would break down into agonized sobs, but each Soldier was so absorbed in their own misery that they made no move to comfort the one who had succumbed to their emotions. They simply existed, as they had when Uranus and Venus had first disappeared.
I can't stand this, Neptune thought, suddenly unable to take the silence that was lingering about them like some sort of cureless disease, the first coherent thought that had formed in her mind since they had been forcibly expelled from the Doom Entity's dimension. I can't bear this sorrow. Not anymore. There's nothing to be done about Serenity's death, not now, anyway.
Without really knowing where she was going, Neptune walked, zombie-like, across the throne room, her footsteps echoing throughout the silent marble space, shattering the silence apart, but no one made a move to stop her, to ask where she was going...
How is it possible, the Soldier of the Ocean asked herself, her eyes glazing over as she ascended a winding marble staircase. That something this horrible can be lingering about us, when we have just achieved such a great victory? How can something this awful even be real?
The Doom Entity is gone, she finished glumly, wishing that she could not feel, could not think, that she could become one with the ocean whose power she wielded. But his legacy is not.
But then, as abruptly as if someone had just screamed in her ear, Neptune jerked back into awareness, and realized, with a jolt of shock – it took her a moment to distinguish this new emotion from the sorrow that had engulfed her for so long – that she was standing on a balcony, one she had never seen before, one that looked out onto the lifeless Moon Kingdom, and, if she had not been so consumed with sorrow, she would have been stunned at the view.
"Neptune."
The Outer Scout whirled around so fast that the air hissed faintly, her gloved hand flying to her throat, but she let it fall limply to her side when she realized who it was. Uranus was sitting on the balcony's wrought marble railing, facing a blank corner of the Moon Kingdom, speaking her name not as a question or an exclamation, but as a mere statement of fact, simply to register that she was there.
"What are you doing here?" Neptune whispered, her voice slightly hoarse from lack of use, drifting forwards and touching her companion lightly on the shoulder. "How did you find this pla-"
"I've been thinking, Neptune," Uranus murmured, her voice brooding, each syllable seeming to carry the weight of the world with it. "About how the Doom Entity possessed me." The Soldier of Sky looked sharply over her shoulder, her face illuminated by the soft silver light that emanated off the moon, dark blue eyes weighed down by an ancient sadness that no being should ever have to bear. "And I've realized...that it's my fault Serenity died. If...if I had let Venus kill me, then Serenity would still be alive."
Neptune was so shocked at her companion's words that she staggered backwards as though struck, nearly tumbling over the balcony railing. As fast as the wind, Uranus was on her feet, catching her wrist in an iron grip before she could fall, staring agonizedly into the Soldier of the Ocean's eyes.
"I killed her, Neptune. I stabbed her. The Doom Entity made me, but if I had only fought him..." she clenched her eyes shut quite abruptly, not quite managing to stem the flow of her tears, and in a voice that shook with barely suppressed sorrow, she whispered, "Is it better to live as a monster, or to die a good person?"
They stared unblinkingly into each other's eyes for a moment, Neptune frozen with shock, appalled at both this startling revelation and Uranus' display of emotion. She had no idea what she was supposed to say to reassure her friend, or if she even wanted to. The Soldier of Sky seemed to take her silence as answer enough, and the agony that haunted her features increased by tenfold, and as she made to pull away, hands shaking slightly, Neptune burst into speech, the answer to Uranus' question flying out of her mouth as she witnessed her partner's despair.
"It's our choices that shape us to be who we are," the Soldier of the Ocean whispered, her eyes huge, unblinking as they bored into the back of Uranus' head. "Sailor Moon has taught me that much."
Uranus' whole form was taught, small shudders running down her form, but she did not turn, and when she spoke, her voice, though steady, was barely audible for the sorrow that choked at it. "Then I really am a monster," whispered the Soldier of Sky, her voice dead, hollow, fists shaking violently, shuddering with self-disgust.
"No," Neptune whispered, her eyes widening even further, and she took a hesitant step towards her companion, brushing her arm with the tips of her gloved fingers, to no response. "Our choices shape us to be who we are, Uranus, and what happened back in the Doom Entity's realm, no one could control."
Uranus' form relaxed very slightly, but she did not turn around. Neptune narrowed her eyes very slightly and sidestepped the leader of the Outer Scouts and whirled around so that she could look her straight in the face, only to see that she had clenched her eyes shut.
"You asked me if it's better to live as a monster or to die a good person, Uranus," whispered the Soldier of the Ocean, taking her companion's face in both her hands. "But you've never been faced with the choice. None of us would be alive right now if you had."
With that, Neptune whirled around and made to stride back inside the Moon Palace, but she stopped when she had barely moved an inch, a thought striking her like a bolt of lightning. Turning her head to the side, her eyes on the pristine marble floor, she whispered, "Congratulations on winning the tournament, Uranus. That fight with Venus really was spectacular."
And without another word, Sailor Neptune strode back into the Moon Palace, leaving Uranus to stand alone on the white marble balcony, staring unseeingly out at the Moon Kingdom, a slight smile upon her face.
Well, that's that! Hopefully you all enjoyed the ending! The negotiations are looking pretty hopeful right now, but everything's still in limbo. When any more information comes out, I'll be updating this Author's Note, so keep checking back! I'd also like to thank everyone who stuck with this story, and shout-outs go to BookLover.A.F. Phoenixfire123 iceprincess128 and CrazyPackersFan. To everyone else, your reviews are greatly appreciated and were a great part of the reason I kept updating. Thank you so much! And for anyone who cares, check out my other Sailor Moon story, called Sailor Moon: The Rise of Genesis.
Thanks so so so much!
ThePrincessOfHyrule
