Chapter 13 – Rescue Heroes
The portal closed behind Shang Tsung and the queen with the rest of the sailors quickly ascending the stairs. They did not stop until they reached the top and were standing beside the trio of chairs. They all appeared to still be somewhat disoriented from the sorcerer's light attack, but otherwise they were all unhurt. The only single thought that they all shared in that moment was about what had just happened.
Damn Shang Tsung and his powers.
Hybrid's eyes burned with tears as his internal grief overwhelmed his body. It was not fair. He had just gotten his sister back and now she had been snatched away right in front of him. No force on this planet or even this solar system could stop him if ever managed to get his hands on Shang Tsung. .
His eyes fell down onto Tanya's body a short distance away from him. Tanya was a connection to Negonall. If she was still living…
He rushed over to the young woman and dipped down into a crouch beside her. He reached out his arm towards her neck to feel for a pulse. As his fingers pressed down on her cool skin, one word repeated over and over again in his head.
Please, please, please.
There was silence as everyone watched him, hoping that the vile woman would be able to provide something positive in her current condition. When he sat back a few seconds later, his body language spoke volumes and let them know the final outcome. There was nothing to feel. Tanya was dead and cold, and therefore could not possibly open a portal for them to Negonall.
"Damn it!" Hybrid stood up. The armour that acted as his symbiote's camouflage rippling with the white-hot rage and frustration that coursed through his body. He turned to face the queen at the top of the stairs. "Your Highness, are you able—"
"No, Hybrid, or I would be creating a portal to Negonall right now. Everyone be silent and let me think." The queen put her hand to her forehead and was silent.
As the queen racked her brain for a solution to their current situation, Sailor Pallas and Ceres knelt down and began to attend to King Endyimon, turning him over onto his back.
A tingling suddenly filled the quiet, dead air. Sailor Venus reached down and unclipped her communicator from its place at her waist. She stared down at the screen. "Mercury's awake!"
"What?" Tera's eyes shone. "Can we go see her?"
All eyes turned towards the queen, who simply looked sad. Her thought process had been interrupted by the sudden bit of welcomed news about their friend. "I hate troubling her so soon after such an intense ordeal, but if she can talk, then not only can we go to see her, we need to. We need her brain right now." She sighed. "A thousand years, and I still need her help studying."
Crystal Tokyo Hospital was a magnificent tribute to health and beauty of the vast city that it serviced. The whole building was designed to resemble a giant prism, and while the reception rooms on each floor were curved, each patient room, nearly all of them private, were perfect squares. Each of them were filled with warm, colourful light from the sun's reflection in the walls and earthly tones of paint for the places where the sunlight couldn't reach. No matter what, Hybrid suspected, sick or well to start with, one couldn't help feeling happy and warm inside these delicate, sparkling walls.
The Sailors and himself, piled out of the long carriage in front of the hospital. Behind them, the wagons carrying the medics and Sailors Uranus, Neptune and Saturn slid to a stop. King Endyimon and Neo-Queen Serenity had opted to stay inside the Crystal Palace where they were protected by the magic of the Silver Moon Crystal and the Royal Guards. With Shang Tsung still out there and the full extent of his remaining forces unknown, they couldn't take a chance at either of them getting hurt or caught by surprise.
Hybrid looked over at Sailor Ceres. "What floor?"
The pink-haired sailor marched toward the entrance. "Trauma ICU. Third. Hurry, let's go."
The rest of them followed her into the hospital and upstairs to the trauma floor. A team of medics were coming out of the ICU as they approached. As they neared them, they could see that they were talking and even quietly laughing. Hope fluttered inside Hybrid's chest. If they were laughing, then maybe all of them, including Sailor Jupiter, were…
"Forgive me my lack of politeness; I need to find out about Jupiter." He pushed passed the other Sailors and the group of doctors, shoving ahead into the ICU on his own.
This room was not private, but a longer ward, with each of the Sailors who had competed today, whether they won or not.
Reddish chestnut hair spilled over one of the pillows, and Hybrid raced to his wife's bedside. As the group of doctors and the healthy sailors came, Sailor Earth rushed to join him, looking down at her mother.
"Mommy?" She quietly whispered.
Hybrid put an arm around his daughter and drew her close. She sounded so small and lost.
Sailor Jupiter's mouth was packed with gauze, a couple of tubes, presumably for breathing and eating going down her nose and throat. One arm was heavily bandaged, as well as many of her ribs, and she was in a deep sleep.
She remained like that for only a minute. As they continued to watch, her green eyes fluttered open and as her vision cleared, they flicked between Hybrid and Sailor Earth. It took another few moments for recognition to brighten those eyes of deep emerald.
"Haaauuuggh!" She tried to sit up, then winced. Broken ribs and who knew what else. She needed to stay still.
Hybrid held a finger to his lips. "Shhhh, my darling. You're going to be okay. You just need to be still and quiet right now.
Sailor Earth reached out and gently clutched her mother's left hand. "Do you remember the battle, mom? You were awesome in it!"
Sailor Jupiter glanced around the room, taking in each of her colleagues as they rested upon their respected bed. All of them appeared to be in various states of what could be informally referred to as bad shape. In the far corner, the other Sailors had gathered around Sailor Mercury's bed, giving Hybrid and Tera some privacy as they waited for them to re-join them. Near the entrance to the room, Sailor Uranus was grouchily allowing herself to be dressed in a hospital gown by a nurse as she got ready to occupy the bed next to her lover, around whom a curtain was still drawn.
Sailor Jupiter wiggled on her bed again. "Haaaaauuum. Wha haaaaavned?" She struggled to say with the tube still partially blocking her throat.
Hybrid stroked her cheek with the back of his fingers. "The battles, darling. There were a few more after yours, and not all of the Sailors were as lucky as you."
Sailor Jupiter seemed to relax, though her eyes drifted over to Sailor Saturn in particular, lying in a similar state to Sailor Mars. Hybrid knew what she was thinking. Sailor or not, Saturn was still too young to have to go through so much trauma.
Sailor Pallas cleared her throat from somewhere behind him, and he and Sailor Earth turned, somewhat embarrassed grins on both their faces. Giving his wife's hand a final squeeze, Hvbrid and Tera floated over to the others around Sailor Mercury's bed.
"Did you hear that? She's awake, and talking." Sailor Pallas exclaimed with a reserved tone of her usual childish glee.
Sailor Ceres' smile was gentle and indulgent as she turned her head towards Hybrid and Tera. "I am very happy to hear that Jupiter will be well, but for the moment we must try and stay focused. We came here to speak with Sailor Mercury."
Sailor Earth bowed her head and Hybrid followed suit. "Yes, of course, you are right!. Please let us not waste any more time."
Sailor Ceres nodded, and turned back to Sailor Mercury.
The blue-haired sailor was alive, but hardly what one could call in good condition. Her skin, in so many places, was nearly black and even peeling away in places. Hybrid tried not to look there. Sailor Juno looked at the clipboard at the foot of her bed.
"She is on a lot of pain killers. Her accelerated healing ability will be working overtime to repair this list of injuries that they have identified."
The grim report was not what they wanted to hear right now but at least it was something tangible that they could use as a status update.
Sailor Venus smiled down at Sailor Mercury, standing over her as calmly as if they were back at their houses, one of them trying to awaken the other from a nap.
"Mercury? Can you hear us, dear? It's Venus." There was no immediate response.
Sailor Venus pursed her lips into a thin horizontal line. She took a shallow breath in and leaned in closer to her friend's ear.
"Ami… its Minako. Can you hear me?"
The horrid blackened face shifted on the pillow. A nod, a shake, it didn't matter. She was slowly regaining conscious. Hopefully enough to answer some questions.
Sailor Venus smiled and took Sailor Mercury's hand, holding it gingerly, then the sad smile that had appeared at her welcomed movement quickly faded away. "We're in bit of a time pressure here, Mercury. Iris…well, Shang Tsung broke his promise. We won the challenge fair and square, but Shang Tsung caught us off guard and took her back to Negonall anyway. We know of no other way to get there except through a portal, but we don't know how to create one to that location. Can you help us?"
Sailor Mercury was deathly still for a few long moments, and Hybrid and some of the others began to wonder if she had slipped back to unconscious again. Then she gave a short painfully looking nod and mumbled with lips that were dry and barely there. "Maaaajeen."
Sailor Venus and the others exchanged glances before Sailor Venus looked back at Sailor Mercury. "I didn't quite hear that, dear."
"MA-jeen."
Sailor Earth piped up. "Machine. Are you saying you can build a machine, Mercury?"
The head bobbed up and down once on the pillow, but Hybrid shook his head.
"Forgive me, Sailor Mercury, but that's not good enough. Iris is with Shang Tsung right now, and God only knows what he's doing to her. We can't wait for a machine which could take weeks to build and that's only after you recover enough to even begin designing and constructing it. Iris could be dead already now and if she isn't, she's probably wishing she was."
Sailor Mercury seemed to deflate against the pillows, and Hybrid suddenly felt guilty, wondering if he'd spoken too harshly. This poor young woman was going through hell right now and the last she needed was more pressure and despair from him and his overly emotional state.
Before he fell further into sorrow, he was saved by the voice of King Endymion, who appeared in the doorway behind them, surprising them with his presence. "I think I have the solution."
"King Endyimon! What are you doing here and where is Neo-Queen?" Sailor Juno quickly asked.
"She is still at the Palace and is safe." He replied as he strolled further into the room.
Hybrid cut in before anymore words could be said, determining to get them all back on task. . "What is your idea, my king?"
"Sailor Pluto. She is the guardian of Time and Space, after all. I'm sure she could get us to Negonall." He quickly stated, coming to a stop at the foot of Sailor Mercury's bed.
Sailor Venus grinned. "That sounds like the perfect solution, your Majesty." She looked down at Sailor Mercury and gently stroked the back of her hand. "Besides, as Hybrid mentioned, you shouldn't be cooking or engineering or anything for us or anyone right now. You need to just rest and get better."
Hybrid nodded in agreement. "Correct. Forgive me for disturbing you, Mercury. I was desperate, but my only wish now is for you to get better."
Sailor Mercury slowly nodded her head, looking up at Sailor Venus first and then back at the others. The long blonde haired sailor bent down and tenderly kissed Sailor Mercury's reddened forehead as tears dripped from her eyes. She pulled back and smiled at her friend. "Be well. We will be back soon."
Sailor Uranus pushed herself up from her bed. "King Endyimon, let me go with them. I want to fight for Iris."
King Endyimon looked alarmed. "You can't possibly fight, with your injuries."
"Mine are nothing." She said flatly.
"Me too. I can go too." A voice said from another direction.
King Endyimon and the others all looked to where the voice came from. "Mars?"
"Yes, my king, I can fight as well." Sailor Mars's head was wrapped in bandages. It was hard to see how she could still talk at all.
"You have a concussion, a very bad one from what the doctor told me. No, I will not have any of you here risking your lives any further today. You have all done enough and given more than what is required of you."
There were moans and grunts of protest all around, even from Sailor Mercury's bed.
King Endyimon shook his head again. "No. Now all of you, rest, and say no more about it."
He turned back to the rest of them. "It's time we went back to the palace."
Hybrid and all the rest nodded. He took one last lingering look at his wife as they left the room. Her head was turned to the side as much as she could, gazing back at him. A small smile appeared at the corners of her mouth, a silent wish of good luck from her.
The ride back to the palace felt long. Everything felt like it took forever now. Hybrid clenched his fists. Was this how his mother had felt during the first few weeks when Iris originally disappeared? Like ever second was hours long, worrying about what might be happening to your child at that very moment. Wondering if she was still alive.
Please let her be alive.
He forced his left fist open and pressed the palm down on his leg, then glanced over at his daughter. He almost laughed, almost, when he saw she had one tense hand pressed open on her leg as well.
She looked up at him and tried to smile herself. He reached one of his anxious hands over to her and took her own equally tense hand in his. If they were both going to worry and suffer, there was no need for them to do it on their own.
Finally the carriage pulled up to the main entrance of the Crystal Palace. King Endyimon stepped out first, his white and lavender cape floating gently behind him as he strode up the steps and into the opened doors of the palace, causing the others to jog to keep up with him. The royal guards holding the doors open quickly closed them once the last of the group passed over the threshold.
"There really isn't a minute to lose. We must decide on who's going, then get down to the area which will lead to the Door of Time." Hybrid called out as they swiftly moved through the vast open space of the Palace.
They were still inside the entrance hall of the palace when he suddenly stopped and whirled around to face them. "I will decide who is going to Negonall, and I have decided. "Pallas, Juno, Ceres." He extended a hand out to his daughter and ruffled her long light pink hair. "Moon." His gazed snapped back up to Hybrid and Earth. "And both of you. Are you sure you are prepared to do this?"
Sailor Earth snorted. "Do you really think I wouldn't have gone if you had given me a choice?"
Hybrid nodded. "We certainly have a stake in this, King Endyimon."
The king nodded. "That is certainly true. If I were I in your position, I would be doing the same thing."
Luna and Artemis, who had been napping somewhere deep inside the palace appeared out of a side room. They came up to the group and, looked up at them. They both turned to stare at King Endyimon when he shifted his body weight from one leg to another. .
"I would be doing it as well." A new voice added from the direction they all had originally been heading in.
Everyone turned to look towards the voice's origin. They were at first surprised and then relieved to see the figure of Neo-Queen Serenity approaching them.
With her chin held high, she strode passed them to the wall underneath the main staircase, caressing it just above her head. A hidden door slid open without a sound, and she waved at everyone to follow.
Through the door, a stone staircase spiralled downward in the dim light from the few magically lit torches that could be seen. There was no obvious ending that Hybrid could see, but the queen set herself upon it and started down, holding her white dress with one hand to keep it out of the way. The others followed one at a time, Hybrid and Sailor Earth coming last. Sailor Earth took her father's hand as they started down the stairs, and he smiled down at her in the semi-darkness.
After several minutes of descent, they finally came to flat ground, covered in two feet of gently swirling mist that fluttered around their legs as they waded through. The chamber they were in was otherwise black, but the mist seemed to provide its own light. Large round archways divided the long chamber into segments and despite being far underground and forbidden to anyone other than King Endyimon and Neo-Queen Serenity, it appeared to be in remarkably good condition.
They all continued to follow the queen in silence. The chamber seemed to go on forever, vanishing into darkness behind them, so they were surprised when Neo-Queen Serenity stopped and touched something out in the gloom, unlatching another hidden door that receded into the black wall as if by magic.
On the other side, the mist was higher and thicker than, almost as heavy as at the base of a waterfall. They pushed through it, trailing the pathway left by Neo-Queen Serenity as she moved deeper into the room. This was not a chamber at all like the room they had just come from—Hybrid did not think they were even under the Crystal Palace any longer, and perhaps not even on Earth. This space was infinite, the purple mist extending without end all around them. At some distant point, stars twinkled above the mist, but they seemed very far away, even for stars.
In the middle of the mist stood an ornate door covered in beautiful carvings, some depicting the various phases of the moon, some just intricate designs, tipped in places with deep red garnets.
Neo-Queen Serenity stopped before the door, King Endymion at her side. "Sailor Pluto, Guardian of Time and Space."
A tall woman stepped around the far side of the door and Hybrid felt his daughter's breath catch. His nearly did too. She wore a black accented sailor uniform and had a massive mane of dark green hair that went almost to the back of her knees, and eyes the same colour as the garnets in the door, and the large stone at the top of the key-shaped staff she carried. They were solemn, almost completely full of sadness.
"Puu!" Sailor Moon broke out of the group and ran to the woman—Sailor Pluto.
The solemnity in the woman's eyes broke at seeing the young woman. "Small Lady."
The two embraced in a tight hug, and after a few moments, Sailor Pluto looked up again, her eyes falling upon King Endymion and she froze. "My king." She pulled away from Sailor Moon and bowed her head.
King Endymion nodded back without a word and then looked away from the dark-haired woman and his daughter.
The queen politely cleared her throat. "Sailor Pluto, we need you to admit these people—the Small Lady included—through the Space-Time Door."
Sailor Pluto scanned the members of the group that Neo-Queen Serenity had referred to. "Where do they need to go?"
The queen held out a hand, indicating Hybrid and Sailor Earth specifically. "This is Hybrid, formerly the hero known as Carnage and Sailor Jupiter's husband. And this is their daughter, Sailor Earth. Many years ago, Hybrid's sister disappeared, and was taken to a demonic dimension called Negonall. She managed to escape recently, but her captors returned and have taken her back. They need to cross over to Negonall so that they can retrieve her."
"Oh dear." Sailor Pluto's voice was soft. "I am very sorry." She looked from Sailor Earth to Hybrid. "Where is Sailor Jupiter?"
The queen closed her eyes. "In the hospital. She… and the others fought some of the kidnappers."
"She won!" Sailor Earth glared at Sailor Pluto, as if she had implied her mother was weak.
"I'm certain that she did. Sailor Jupiter is a mighty warrior." Sailor Pluto looked down at Sailor Moon, still resting lightly against her arm. "I know of the dimension you speak, and I will send them there, as you wish."
The queen clasped her hands. "Wonderful. Thank you so much, Sailor Pluto."
"On one condition." She injected before further appreciation could be given.
Neo-Queen Serenity paused. "Pardon?"
"On one condition. I must be allowed to go too." The guardian of time replied.
The queen blinked. "That is kind of you to want to help, but why? It's been a long time since you've fought with us."
Sailor Pluto kept her eyes on Sailor Moon. "I can imagine how it feels to lose someone you love. I believe you should fight to bring back those you love." Her eyes darted back again to King Endymion, then back down to Sailor Moon. "Besides, I know the dimension well and the hazards that it brings with it. I can lead them through the terrain more efficiently."
The queen's shoulders stiffened, but her voice remained as gentle as ever. "Very well, Sailor Pluto. I can certainly not argue that reasoning and time is a luxury that we don't have right now. If you can get them to Iris' location quickly, then that is what we must do. I know everyone would be honored to have you fight beside them as well."
"Yes!" Sailor Moon exclaimed as she looked up at Sailor Pluto with shining eyes more reddish than the older sailor's garnet ones. But not much more.
Hybrid held up a hand, and Neo-Queen Serenity and all the other Sailors turned toward him. "My queen, I just wanted to thank you for going to such great lengths and…sacrificing so much for the sake of my sister."
Neo-Queen Serenity smiled. "We could not leave such a good-hearted girl to torture and death. It is the mission of the Sailor Soldiers and the mantra of the Crystal Kingdom."
Hybrid nodded. "Will you be coming with us?"
"No." Sailor Pluto answered before Neo-Queen Serenity could speak.
The queen looked sharply at the green-haired woman, as did everyone else, who raised her head high.
"The queen's powers will not work in Negonall. These demons are not corrupted souls who will respond to the healing of the Silver Moon Crystal. They were born demons, they will die demons, there is nothing but evil in them. Plus, the crystal will not work outside this realm so our queen would be completely defensive against any sort of attack. The one who will need healing is the girl, Iris, when we bring her back, and it is more sensible to complete the healing here where the queen is safest."
Neo-Queen Serenity nodded curtly. "Yes, of course, I trust your judgment, Sailor Pluto." She turned and curtsied to them all. "Good luck to all of you. I know you will be successful and bring Iris back here, this time to stay." She smiled over at Hybrid and Sailor Earth before holding out her hand to King Endymion. He stepped toward her and took it, neither he nor Sailor Pluto sparing a glance for each other.
Together, the royal couple stepped back a few steps and silently watched them as they turned around to face the Door of Time again. Hybrid wasn't sure if they would be here waiting for them when they got home. For right now though, that was not his concern.
He turned back to Sailor Pluto as she held up her strange long staff, and the ornate panels of the door slowly parted. Blinding light streaming through the slowly expanding open space that was revealed as the panels moved outwards. When they were fully opened, Sailor Pluto turned around to face them all, the light behind her turning her into a graceful silhouette.
"Let's go." She said.
End of Chapter 13