The current situation can be described as two poles of a magnet fighting for dominance.
On one hand was Domnuius, a master of death, despair and darkness, a ferociously powerful creature so monstrous, so terrifying, that even thinking about him made one creep with horror. In the shape of a tornado, he had unleashed a hurricane that was threatening to suck the universe into oblivion.
On the other hand were Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion, children and agents of life, love and light, warriors with prodigious skill and a strength that only the power of their hearts can surpass. Combining the tremendous powers of the Silver Imperium Crystal and the Gold of Gaia as one, both were desperately trying to "pull" the world back from the magnetic clutches of the overwhelming, devastating hurricane, as well as vanquishing the vile creature whose death was unarguably long-overdue and infinitely well-deserved.
One moment, everyone found that they did not have to struggle so much anymore.
The next, however, everyone was struggling again.
Never before had the flow of time been so disrupted, so confused; drifting back and forth endlessly like a drunkard.
The atmosphere itself appeared to be waiting breathlessly for the outcome.
But it seemed as if this battle would never end, and that the universe itself was destined to be forever swaying back and forth between life and death, light and darkness, salvation and damnation.
One emotion, one particular emotion that inevitably pops up with every battle raged since the dawn of time, however, begged to differ: exhaustion.
Serenity and Endymion were tiring. The Silver Imperium Crystal and the Gold of Gaia were sapping them of strength; they could feel themselves slowly, but gradually weakening with every passing moment. Beads of perspiration dotted Serenity's clear, radiant brow. Even Endymion, whose stamina was legendary, was starting to sweat. Gaia had been right again: Domnuius was literally pushing both of them beyond their usual limits. The muscles in Serenity's sweetly rounded shoulders were beginning to cramp painfully. Endymion's heart was beating so soundly that he fancied his Princess, who was leaning against his chest, could hear it clearly.
This monster is not an oil-saving lamp, Mamo-chan. Serenity telepathically commented to her lover. He is nothing like all the other enemies that we have faced before. This is the first time I have gone against someone like him.
It is my first time encountering such an adversary as well. Endymion agreed. Now I understand why he is a creature of darkness that even all-powerful Gods are afraid of. But I am not afraid. He smiled down at his Princess. I am not in the least afraid. I know we can do this. I know we can.
Why?
Because I am with you. When I am with you, there is no pain, no fear, no doubt. When I am with you…anything and everything is possible.
Domnuius laughed a cruel, gloating laugh. "I can keep this going forever, Prince Endymion, Princess Serenity. But you two obviously cannot. Powerful though you two may be, you two are still, at the very end, human beings. Just like no human being is able to escape mortal death, you two cannot possibly win against the might of a God as powerful as me. I would advise all of you to cease this utter, meaningless foolishness, and simply wave the white flag of surrender. I can guarantee you all a swift, painless, merciful death."
"My, my, those are bold words for a snake that is about to be skinned and served as stew." Kunzite said, regarding the face in the tornado with unmistakable disgust. His silver-gray eyes – so sharp when it came to spotting his enemies' weaknesses, and in observing the interactions between his Venus and other audacious, death-courting males – gleamed when they noted that, despite the mocking, triumphant expression on the demonic, otherworldly face, it actually betrayed some measure of exhaustion. His equally active ears also caught a panting in the ice-cold, harsh voice of the monster when it spoke. It was definite proof that Domnuius was not taking the combined blow of their Prince and Princess well, and, for all his boasting and gloating, was actually weakening.
His heart soared.
All their Prince and Princess needed was a little help…
"Are you thinking what I am thinking?" He asked Venus, a silly smile on his handsome, dark-skinned face.
Venus smiled back at him knowingly. "I sure am, my love."
"Everyone, let's –"
"It is useless." Domnuius spoke up before Kunzite and Venus could finish. The smile on the face was now so evil, so twisted that Ramus and Saturn, despite having seen darkness, death and despair in their worst, purest forms, almost vomited – it was simply nauseating. "Lending all of your powers to your Princess and Prince would not do you all any good, I assure you. All that it will do is merely prolonging your lives for a few more moments. And delay the inevitable. It would take, at the very, very least, three Crystals of the Gods to banish me, and it is not a lie. I swear this by the light of Selene's moon, under the lost eye of Odin, in the salve of Hecate. And you all currently have but two. Does that not tell you all something? Face it, foolish, death-courting children. My victory was meant to be. So stop this foolishness at once and surrender, lest my patience reaches its limit and you all die the cruelest and most painful death imaginable."
Jadeite, Mars, and Nephrite exchanged darkly significant looks.
"What is it?" Ramus asked, recognizing those looks instantly. The little Prince of the Silver Millennium had never felt this strange in his life. The headache was worsening by the minute. The tingling was stronger. And the warmth and tenderness was slowly making his entire body feel light and…ethereal? It was taking all of his skill in the power of appearances to look his usual calm, mature, and sensible self. "What do you three know? Tell us everything. Now is not the time to keep the cat in the bag."
Jadeite ran a hand through his golden hair. "Your Highness, my friends, he is not lying." He said fatalistically. "He is so not lying."
"Not lying about what?"
"About the fact that three Crystals are needed to banish him." Mars replied, her face as gravely beautiful as a statue of despair. "That oath he took…by the light of Selene's moon, under the lost eye of Odin, in the ointment of Hecate…it is a magical oath. It cannot be broken, not even by Gods. It brings instant death to the one who breaks it, or if the one making it is lying. And as this monster is still, well, kicking and sucking, he is not lying."
All eyes turned to Nephrite, who nodded. "The silver orb of the moon that is in Selene's keeping rules the realms of the night with unchallengeable power." He said, his melodious baritone now grave and severe. "Odin is the King of the Northern Gods. Legend has it that he willingly sacrificed an eye in exchange for a drink from the Fountain of Wisdom. Hecate, the Goddess and Queen of all witches, had a salve so powerful that neither iron nor fire could harm the one who was covered by it. All this serves to point the severity and absolute strength of the oath."
"Fantastic." Uranus ground out, smacking her forehead with a hand.
"Just our luck." Neptune moaned.
Pluto leaned her forehead against the top of her staff. "And I thought that we would never live to see the day where we are practically useless."
Jupiter looked as though she could tear her hair – the beautiful chestnut hair that was one of her prides – out. "Someone please tell me this isn't happening."
"What are we going to do now?" It was Saturn who asked the million-dollar question. "I mean, we can't just stand here and do nothing! Our Princess and Prince need us! Surely there must be something that we can do!"
Mercury snapped her fingers as a light dawned in her head. "All we need now is just one more Crystal." She turned to Ramus. "Your Highness, do you think it is possible that, if we combine our strengths and faiths as one, we are able to create a Crystal?"
Ramus shook his head. The expression on his boyishly handsome face was graver, more thoughtful than anyone had ever seen. "It cannot be done." He said. The tone of his voice was so severe that no one could doubt that it was the truth, the gospel truth. "It does not work that way. Only Gods have the strength and skill to forge Crystals. And it would take a minimum of three thousand years. We do not have kind of power or time to –"
Suddenly, a razor-sharp, indefinable emotion shot through Ramus. His face went an impossible shade of white. His perfectly sculpted hands went to his temples.
The Sailor Senshi and Generals went pale. "Your Highness?" Zoisite asked, concern written all over his impishly handsome features. "Are you all right?"
"I…I…I…" Ramus ground out between pressed lips. His deathly-white face scrunched up into a grimace of purest pain; beads of perspiration broke out on his forehead.
Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and Saturn looked at one another in alarm, shock, and more than a little fear. None of them had ever seen the little Prince who was their boss like this before. And they did not like it; not one bit, not in the least. Prince Pantaleon had always been an emotionally distant, highly intimidating, almost indifferent figure to them; his guarded, critical behaviour towards them was a razor-sharp contrast to that of the intimate, sunshine-warm friendship that his older sister shared with her own guardians, the Inner Senshi. And none of the four could count the times where personal questions and valiant attempts to build some bond of friendship were greeted with the sardonic arch of a raven eyebrow and dismissive silence. But neither did they complain nor felt that it was unfair, because they knew that behind all that icy-coldness and constant rebuking was an untold deal of pain and heartbreak. They, the Outer Senshi, were supposed to be his closest, most reliable guardians and protectors (just like how the Inner Senshi were Princess Serenity's closest guardians and protectors), but they had failed to participate in the fight against Queen Metalia those centuries ago, because they (as Pluto put it with blunt sadness) "were not supposed to interfere", and all they could do was to destroy the remnants of the kingdoms of Earth and Moon. Predictably, unsurprisingly, however, their Prince still viewed this as an unendurably painful betrayal, despite knowing in his heart of hearts that their participation will not change the predestined outcome. ("You four were supposed to be my guardians and protectors. You four were granted potent powers and rare gifts that even the Inner Senshi do not have and would kill to possess. And yet you all just stood by and watched my family, my home, my kingdom utterly destroyed, without even lifting a finger to help? And you all still have the shamelessness and audacity to flaunt yourselves and deem yourselves superior to those who actually helped and sacrificed themselves in the attempt? You four are nothing but haughty, heartless, hateful creatures. Complete wastes of space.") Also, their Prince blamed…practically loathed them for the part they played in five years ago, causing his beloved older sister untold pain and suffering, altering and changing her forever.
He blamed them for helping to heap overwhelming misery upon his faultless sister, helping in burying her innocence and drying her tears and killing her heart, forcing her to transform into another person entirely.
He blamed them for always siding with his spoiled, selfish niece, ChibiUsa, always rushing to her defense first without getting all the facts clear, only learning how wrong they had been when it was too late.
To him, this was a betrayal a million times worse than that of "abandoning" his family, his home, his kingdom, to their fates, and whether he would ever forgive them seemed a question that can never be answered.
And they accepted it.
They bore all the coldness and rebukes willingly, patiently, praying earnestly for the day when their Prince could find it in his heart to forgive them, and that…if it was possible…some form of friendship…or acceptance could be built between them. And if forgiveness could never be earned, and no bond of friendship or acknowledgement could ever be built, it was nothing less than they deserved.
The four of them had made an unspoken agreement, a promise, an oath never to let anything bad happen to their Prince and Princess again. They could not let anything bad happen to them, not when they owed them too much, far too much…
"He should lie down." Neptune said, her voice trembling. Her beautiful face was as white as chalk. "Lie down…and take a painkiller or two…"
Uranus stared at her as if she had lost her mind. "At a time and situation and place like this?"
"What do you propose then?" Pluto demanded sharply. Even she, who was normally so unruffled, was feeling uneasy now. Worry was written all over her face. "The Prince is obviously in pain."
"But we do not have any painkillers right now! And this is hardly a place to rest and recover from a migraine!" Uranus retorted, glancing around for some support. The expression on her handsome face, however, revealed that she was equally worried…and at wit's end as to what should be done. "And it is not like we can ask the Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion for help right now! Neither of them can currently afford to be distracted! They have to fully concentrate on keeping the fight going, or it is curtains not only for us, but for the entire universe as well!!!"
"But –"
"Are you saying that we should just stand by, do nothing, watch him suffer?!"
"Oh, for crying out loud, what kind of god-forsaken day is today anyway?!"
"We have the worst mother-farmyarding luck in the world!!!"
"It is over! It is over! It is done! Finished! We're all doomed!!!"
"EVERYONE, GET A GRIP AND CALM DOWN!!! NOW!!!" Saturn thundered. Through her incredible powers of life and death, she was able to divine what exactly was going on with the little Prince, and it was the most wonderful piece of news she and her friends could possibly receive right now. The others turned to stare at her, amazed. The gentle, soft-spoken, sweet-natured Senshi of Destruction and Ruin had never done so much as raised an eyebrow at them before, let alone shout. Even when she was angry, burning with all-consuming rage, she was admirably, if arrogantly, calm, controlled, and dignified, her tone as quiet as a model library. They stared all the more in increased astonishment and wonder when they saw the bloom on her formerly pale cheeks, her eyes bright with the fire of renewed hope, and her colour high compared to their drawn fatigue. "I think I know what is going on! You are all wrong! We're not going to die! Today is the luckiest day alive for us! We have the best luck in the world! –"
Before Saturn could say anything else, however, Ramus gave a cry of pain. A crystalline tear rolled down his cheek…
Note: Again, this is as far as I can go. Sorry it took so long. Please Continue To Review! It Keeps The Story Going! Thanks! A Million Thanks! Until next time…