Chapter Twenty-Two: Shaken to the Core
*Both pulled apart slowly… Serena with an impish blush across her rouged cheeks; and Hiiro a cautious and intensely focused gaze trained on her reaction. Her lips remained parted as she breathed in at a quicker pace and met his gaze straight on.
"I don't know if you should have done that." She finally said quietly. In her thoughts she flew over the many millennia she had spent with her first soul mate. They had fallen in love even after reincarnation as new people. Theirs was a love that had been timeless. They had once had a bright future…did any of that still matter? For decades now fate had led her to believe she was destined to be alone. Otherwise why would Darien have been taken from her at all? Or her friends for that matter?
"I was once told to act upon my emotions. Since then I have fought two wars in which I have survived based on that advice. I'm not concerned about whether I should have done it or not." His voice gave rise to stirring emotions Serena had not felt in many decades. Her heart melted into his words, it beat with the same tempo as Hiiro's mellow and dark voice. Still her heart also cried out in pain as it beat, unwilling to change the rhythm it had been used to for so long. It ached for someone she had once been with long ago, and yet passionately cried out to this new stranger who had appeared in her life.
"It's been a long time since anyone kissed me like that." She gave him a sad smile. "I feel like I could melt, or break apart into millions of pieces." She shook her head.
Hiiro knew the smile she gave him all too well. It only took one glance for him to understand her inner dilemma. He too had been in a similar circumstance and recently lost someone very dear to his heart. Not that he would ever admit to the true depth at which his soul had been moved by the Vice Foreign Minister… Still, he had never been so fervently drawn, like a moth to a flame, to a woman before. The level at which he felt his fascination with the Sailor was past anything he could describe… there was no fighting his instinct when it came to actions regarding her.
"Relax. This will be the only chance you get to rest and be yourself for a while." Hiiro broke their awkward silence with amiable and quiet words. "Once we get there who knows what we'll find. Barton and Chang could probably use us sooner than later, and at full strength."
"I hope they're doing okay. Nega-monsters are particularly nasty by themselves, but with Chaos in control they are twice as bad because she loves the ruckus and fear they bring people. She makes them worse by building strength from the fear attacks cause." Serena shuddered and settled back into her seat. "I think I'll take a nap."
"Close your eyes." The command was soft and suggestive. Yawning, Serena pulled her legs up onto the seat and leaned on the armrest between them uncomfortably, resting her head awkwardly on the shuttle's leather seat. Hiiro swiftly stood and made his way to the front of the passenger cabin where he knocked on the door to the cockpit and was allowed entrance. Just as Serena nodded to the point of unconsciousness she felt his warm body take its place next to her once again. Her head slipped down to his shoulder, and his own head rested softly upon hers. He no longer moved, and she fell into a deep and peaceful sleep.
IIIOIII
Quickly as his light feet would carry is tall frame Trowa dodged behind a series of newspaper stands and halted behind a mailbox on the street. He signaled to Wufei who was across the street using parked cars as shields from the advancing sirens. "We have to think of a way to stop their advance." He muttered to himself.
Since his arrival on the colony his entire core belief in life had been shaken and here he was, still falling back to his basic military training to get him out of a tight spot. His nimble fingers twitched as they instinctively pulled the ring from the top of a grenade and chucked it into the middle of the colony street. Wufei ducked automatically, but Trowa was appalled to see the advancing monsters did not blink or turn away to run for cover from the mini time bomb. They kept floating forward, even when the grenade threw forth a great explosion that rocked the street and tore up the concrete for an entire city block.
Trowa had never believed in monsters. Never believed that magic existed or creatures other than the usual would have any place in his world. Yet now here he was faced with something he had never through even real—as a real threat. There had to be some way they could stop these Keres!
"Trowa, guns and grenades are not going to stop them! If they keep going they'll hit the heart of the colony—the event center! Everyone on this half of the colony evacuated there, there'll be no stopping the slaughter!" Wufei yelled across the street. Trowa sat back and pounded the back of his head against the blue metallic box behind him.
"What we need then, is at least a distraction until we can stop them." He yelled back. The Keres, forever slowly advancing, had stopped momentarily over the body of a dead dog. Sniffing it, prodding it, they finally picked its midsection open and tasted the innards with frantic motions. And as quickly as they had bent to enjoy their feast, they pulled back and suddenly roared in disgust. Turning around they began to move once more down the street. Wufei and Trowa both looked at each other and nodded, not needing words to understand the other's thought process. Both taking off in different directions, they moved in a race against time.
Spotting a dead cat behind a dumpster, Trowa wished he had a box, or a pair of gloves… but without he would just have to make due. Taking the dead feline by its tail, he raced back to the street.
"What'd you find?" Wufei called running down an ally across from him.
"Cat." The former Heavy Arms pilot replied. "You?"
"Squirrel." Trowa blinked, and Wufei growled. "How many kinds of dead animals were you expecting to find in the middle of a city on a colony?" His defense, Trowa had to admit, made sense.
"A squirrel?" He just couldn't let Wufei, as proud a person as he was, get away with it.
"You're not helping our cause." Wufei gritted his teeth and glared. "Let's put these to good use."
"Put them in different places along the street, they'll have to stop to check each one out, it doesn't look like their eye sight is all that great."
"You put them out, I'm going to see if I can find any others." Wufei thrust his furry squirrel's tail at Trowa and before the taller boy could react had taken off down the street. Without delay Trowa moved to follow through with the idea and picked out a few places to hide the two animal bodies.
As the Keres monsters stopped at the cat, the second of the two animals they had found, Trowa began to search the horizon for Wufei. If the Chinese man didn't hurry with his task the Keres would be that much closer to the evacuees in the event center not two full blocks from his position. Interesting how he had been drafted to come to the colonies and aid in stopping rioting humans, not vicious creatures.
"I found another dog!" Wufei finally made his grand entrance, dog in tow. The two boys heaved the dog onto a nearby abandoned hotdog stand and gave it a push down the street. As it wheeled past the Keres it picked up speed—lucky for the two boys that the colony had built in small variances to the road to make it more like living on Earth… the road being slightly uneven and downhill was a huge help. The Keres shrieked and chortled as the cart flew past them. Turning directions, they headed for the rolling dead dogs.
The two former pilots stared in disgust as the monsters finally caught the cart and began to ravage the dog's remains. Finally, the preening hags turned back around and once again began to move in a forward direction. This time, however, instead of floating slowly as they had, they separated and flapped their wings in anticipation.
"Enough distractions! You two humans are a nuisance! Your blood calls to us! We will feast on your flesh now!" The tallest of the black-robed beaked fiends screeched, her voice grating on human ears like nails on a chalkboard. "Moros, Nemesis, take Tall Legs, Apate take Dark Hair!" The four Keres paired off and advanced to attack the pilots. Trowa and Wufei both opened fire and a shower on lead bullets rained down on the streets of L5. Seeing their guns do no harm unnerved the pilots to their cores. What enemy was it that could take a bullet and keep moving?
"This must be what it was like for OZ to fight against the Gundams." Wufei cringed as the leader of the Keres inched closer and closer.
"We've always been the underdog though, we always manage." Trowa felt his back flatten up against a car parked on the street. There was no where else to go, his weapons did no good… but he would not be a coward and run from facing his opponent.
"Sisters! These humans will be appetizers to the feast we are about to have!" Thanatos, the apparent leader, baited as she preened her golden feathered wings. As she twitched to go in the for the kill and slit Wufei from abdomen to neck, a solid disc of white and yellow flew between them and she drew back in pain and horror, her screams echoing in the empty allies of the city.
"Thanatos, what has hurt you?" Quickly the birds flocked around their ring leader, examining her for injury.
"There will be no more picking on innocent humans for you song birds, your number has ended!" Wufei and Trowa both looked up to see where the melodic voice had been carried from. Atop a car across the street stood none other than a simple girl, silver hair in a ridiculous hairstyle and skirt far too short to be fashion-acceptable.
"Woman, what are you doing?" Wufei yelled in anger. He raced from his frozen spot to the car frantically. Trowa followed in suit. "Get down from there, this is no time to play superhero!"
"You'll get hurt, or killed, get out of here." Trowa's words were quiet, but very heavy with authority.
"I'm not going anywhere gentlemen." Serena paused. "I'm sure you have a friend around here who's worried about you, why don't you try checking on the people at the event center? I've got this under control." She never took her gaze from the Keres, who were regrouping and hissing for revenge.
"You're insane! Get the hell out of here girl!"
"Girl! You're blood calls to us! We will devour your heart while it is still beating! Moros, attack!" Thanatos, the leader, commanded. One of the beaked-women flicked her talons in the fake sunlight of the colony and without warning flew straight for the Sailor. As she flew Sailor Moon gracefully jumped down from the top of the car and landed in the street next to the two pilots. In mid air the Moros changed direction and still shot straight for the silver haired woman. Sailor Moon, being prepared, grabbed her tiara once more. Whispering the words she knew all too well, the gold and ruby headpiece began to spin and glow. As Moros neared, Serena drew back and chucked the tiara as hard as she could. Straight through the stomach of the winged monstrosity flew the energy disk, spilling not only the monster's insides, but also the contents of her stomach all over the ground and splashing onto the three humans.
"What the hell!" Wufei jeered as he turned his nose up at the blood and entrails with disgust.
"She's not human either." Trowa grimaced. Another monster? But this one was too pretty to be evil…
"Barton, Chang, really. Get out of here. Go see your friend Preventer 01, he's waiting for you at the event center. I don't need any more casualties today. Please?"
"Yui is on Earth, who the hell are you?" Trowa simply held his arm out, barring Wufei from any more lashing out at the skimpily clad Sailor woman.
"Wufei, she just killed what we've spent nearly ten hours fighting. I'm not going to argue. Hiiro's waiting for us."
"You're just going to let a woman take over? She has no credentials, no proof of what she says! You can't just leave the battle and let someone else do your fighting Barton!" Trowa half agreed. As he faltered, yet another black-robed and gold-winged villain came flying towards them. This time the Sailor jumped in mid-air to meet the diving bird. Kicking it hard, she fell less than gracefully onto the concrete below her. Still, the Keres went flying backwards and into the mailbox Trowa had hidden behind earlier.
"If you're not leaving then at least hide." Serena yelled in dismay to the two pilots, who stood with their jaws dragging on the street.
"What are you girlie? You look human, but your smell… you don't smell human!" Thanatos looked down her beak at the Sailor Scout and bared her fangs, which were riddled with rotten flesh and dripping with saliva.
"I am the champion of justice, Sailor Moon. And you are nothing more than vile creature of evil that Chaos has released into the world. Well I won't let you hurt one more innocent soul… it's over for you four old birds!" Serena meant business. Willing her scepter to appear, she flipped it around gathering energy as she went.
"Sailor Moon!" Thanatos heaved. "We will eat you, pick your bones clean little Sailor!"
"Moon scepter elimination!" She cried out. The Keres that had attacked her moments ago and been thrown into the mailboxes become finite dust that settled to the street heavily. "Bring it on." The growl coming from her sweet, upturned mouth surprised Wufei and Trowa.
The last two Keres attacked together, in a swirl of metallic gold and dark cloth they flew in circles around the lone Scout. Opening their mouths, they began to shriek at her. Slowly they each picked moments to take a peck or scratch at the prey they had ensnared.
"Ah! Ouch!" Serena inside the fury was feeling the pressure of the attack. Small and large gashes opened all over her body as she fought to regain control of the situation. Knowing she had to break the cycle, Sailor Moon summoned her inner strength and gathered everything she had into her scepter. "Moon scepter elimination!" She cried out once more.
The power blasted the circling birds out of their spiral and away from her long enough for the pilots to see her struggle to keep her knees strong enough to support her wavering body weight. And as quickly as she had repelled the birds, the leader of the Keres collected herself enough to fly in and pick the Sailor up by her ankle. Dragging her into the air and hanging her upside down, she shook her with all her strength. Sailor Moon, disoriented and upside down, was helpless in her state. Thanatos, enjoying playing with her food, tossed the Sailor into the air and as she began to give way to gravity and come back down she grabbed the Sailor's back with her talon covered feet and dug in, eliciting a scream of pain.
"I love the smell of fresh blood! Here Apate, finish her!" With that, Thanatos dropped hold of the girl's body and it fell to the concrete and landed hard. Trowa and Wufei both winced seeing the woman's fragile form impact like that of a rag doll. There was no way she hadn't broken a bone or two from that three story fall. As the last Keres on the ground made her move toward the Sailor's prone form, the silver-haired woman stirred. Barely able to pick herself up, Serena saw Apate heading for her out of the corner of her eye. Summoning her heart-shaped wand, the Sailor turned to face her attacker.
"I'm not done yet: rainbow moon heartache!" Her pink energy wrapped around the Keres and squeezed it into dust.
"You bitch! You've killed my sisters!" Thanatos wailed. "Oh, my blood-craving sisters! I will avenge you!" She swore aloud. "Die Sailor Moon!" Serena simply glared. Once again focusing on the attacker coming her way, she collected her chain of pink energy hearts and sent them full force to meet the last Keres in battle. Her hearts faded away as the dust filtered to the ground harmlessly.
A little shaky and very sore, Serena turned to the boys she knew were Hiiro's comrades. Making her way towards them, she did her best to put a warm smile on her pained face. "Nice to meet you both, Trowa and Wufei, right?" Neither said anything to her for a long moment.
Finally, Trowa broke their silent meeting: "hello." Wufei barely acknowledged her with a nod. A honking horn brought them all back to reality as a Preventer vehicle pulled up onto the scene. Six Preventers jumped out of the back and began to sweep down the street, checking to make sure they were clear of the threat. A seventh jumped out and made his way towards the three heroes of the day.
"It is Hiiro." Trowa muttered. Wufei simply snorted.
"Yui. You sent a woman to help us?"
"Not just any woman." Hiiro clipped. Serena moved to stand next to him, and he grabbed her arm and spun her around, surveying her back.
"You look like you went through a meat grinder." He told her.
"Thank you Hiiro. Because every girl wants to be told she looks like she went through a meat grinder." She lightly smacked Hiiro's chest, but he didn't so much as blink to recognize her movement.
"Let's get back to the event center." His hand still tightly clasped around Serena's arm, he gently led her in the direction of the Preventer jeep. Trowa and Wufei followed, more questions brewing every moment. When all of the other six Preventers had made sure the colony was cleared of threats, they quickly returned to the jeep and all of them took off racing towards their base on the colony. Serena and Hiiro silently sat with many pairs of eyes either fixed, or shifting constantly over them. All in the jeep wondered what had just happened… most especially the two pilots who had been witness to the magic show.
As the jeep pulled up to the tents set up outside the large indoor arena, Hiiro pulled their small faction away and into their own tent. The white-washed cloth walls would not insulate sound as he might usually prefer, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
Serena entered the tent and immediately sat on one of the two cots set up against the back wall of the tent. Hiiro grabbed a chair from behind a makeshift table, and Wufei and Trowa collapsed onto a bench against the right side of the tent. For a moment the four of them were silent.
"What the hell was that?" Wufei finally spat out. "I mean, what were they, who are you?" His dark Asian eyes narrowed at the silver haired girl before him. She shrugged and looked at Hiiro, not sure how to begin to answer his question.
"I feel like everything I once believed about monsters and ghosts has gone out the window. They were real monsters—like the one you claimed Duo had an encounter with, right?" The tall, green-eyed man watched Serena with a particularly warm glow in his eyes.
"They were very real, I assure you." Serena hissed in pain, her new injuries causing more than minor discomfort.
"This is Sailor Moon." Hiiro began. He had a feeling the other two were going to think he was crazy when he explained this. "She's here because Relena's death was no accident. Relena was killed by an entity Sailor Moon calls Chaos. Chaos is here to destroy our sense of peace and security."
"Are you telling me that Relena was killed by some monster?" Wufei scoffed.
"Whether Chaos did it herself or just implanted some idiot with the notion, she is responsible for the Vice Foreign Minister's death. I'm just here to make sure she doesn't get very far with the destruction of the rest of the world."
"Was that real magic?" Trowa's voice was so soft he could barely be heard.
"Not you too Trowa!" Wufei groaned.
"Real." Hiiro confirmed. "It's all real. Chaos sent those things here, it also sent four horsemen of the apocalypse to set fear into the Earth and colonies…we have two more horsemen to battle."
"Horsemen? Really?" Trowa's eyebrows went up with interest.
"But Hiiro, something about this bothers me…" Serena trailed off. "If Chaos sent the Four Horsemen, why then did she also send the Keres? Its not her style to send two groups when she thinks the first will do just fine. So why the Keres?"
"Why else does an enemy send troops anywhere away from their main army? She's gearing up for a larger attack." Wufei interjected. Serena quickly bolted to her feet.
"She's distracting us!" Her pink lips pouted and azure eyes exuded worry.
"But from what?" Hiiro wondered if, not for the first time, he was in way over his head….*
IIIOIII
Hahaha I know I suck at updating, but I'm still here, struggling to get this done! -Vixen