Forced
Chapter 20

Essa felt her body crumble under her as her legs suddenly grew weak. She fell, landing on her hands and knees on the ground, but managed to push herself back to sit on her knees. She looked at her hands, noticing they weren't scraped and then brushed them off. Her focus was still on the ground as she opened her mouth to get one of her friends to hoist her up, since she didn't want to chance her legs collapsing again, but the words never left her thoughts. Instead, she saw something much more alarming.

The teen pushed herself up to stand as quickly as she could, her legs finding the strength and noticing a shadow moving beneath her form. She looked around, now noticing how quiet it had become and her jaw dropped. Everything around her had succumbed to darkness, like when they'd gone after Rini and Spike. She was no longer watching the fireworks with her friends at the Star festival. She was now completely alone.

"I knew it," she breathed out, her heartbeat quickening as she began to panic. "It was never gone."

"Of course not."

Essa jumped at the sound of another voice, mostly because it was one she was completely familiar with. Her grey eyes widened, shocked as they lay themselves on the figure of one she knew was dead.

"Universe…" Essa took an involuntary step back. She couldn't see the other's facial features and the form was simply complete shadow, but her gut instinct and that voice told her exactly who it was she was facing.

"How could it be gone when your powers still exist?" the shadow of Universe asked, tilting her head to the side as if the whole thing was obvious.

"What?" Essa felt a chill run through her. "My powers?"

"Yes. Haven't you realized it yet?" Universe asked. "This," she made a sweeping gesture, indicating the darkness, "is all your power. The power of all the three of you Dark Senshi."

Essa realized at that moment that she wasn't actually speaking to Universe, or the spirit of her, or anything like that, which relieved her slightly. She figured that the darkness had taken on that form so it could communicate with her, and this new information struck her. She said nothing, her jaw tight and she was trying to resist shaking.

"The one who became Sailor Universe tapped into a great evil. As the strongest among you, she became the leader. Sailor Space was ultimately the weakest; the most willing to follow any orders, but she needed to be controlled anyway. It couldn't be risked that she'd grow a backbone and try to take over. The fool would have ruined everything. And you. Sailor Star is, in the end, the most dangerous and needed extra effort to be controlled. Yet, you broke free from Star's initial power. Still all three of you shared the dark power," Sailor Universe explained.

"But," Essa tried to control her voice. "They're gone."

"Yes, but the power just doesn't disintegrate and vanish. Not when there is still a host," Sailor Universe continued. "You alone remain. And the power has been searching for you."

"No," the girl backed away some more, noticing the shadow drawing closer.

"You didn't honestly think you could ever be a good Senshi, did you? Not when the only reason you became a Senshi in the first place is because of this darkness." The shadowed form of the Dark Senshi approached, but made no move to capture her. Her tone was reprimanding.

"Queen Serenity," Essa began.

"Queen Serenity was a fool and only a spirit and memory now. You may think that she banished the darkness from you, but she didn't. You're not supposed to be a Senshi, you just happened to become one because of your so called friend's curiosity."

Essa shook her head slightly, as if to deny it, but in her heart she knew it was true. In a sense it was almost a relief that she wasn't ever supposed to be a Senshi since all she seemed to do was harm, but she was a Senshi now. She wanted to escape it.

"You think it was mere coincidence that brought you back here? You were forced back here. The boy helped your powers bring you back. Your powers have been searching for you since you left. Had the others survived, it might have left you alone. Might have. But you killed them," Universe continued, more or less circling her now, like an animal would its prey.

"Stop it," Essa demanded, tears glassing over her eyes. She didn't want to hear this. Not again.

"So as the only one left," Universe spoke loudly over the girl's protests. "It sought you. It lives because of you. And now. It will take you again."

"No!" Essa broke away from the circling, running as fast as she could and trying to get away.

She could both hear and feel the shadow following her. She could hear as it started to call out her name again. Not her real name, but her Senshi name and she realized it all made sense now. Why it kept calling to her and why it was so adamant in attacking her.

The girl skid to a halt as the shadowed form of Universe popped up before her again. Her breathing erratic, she avoided screaming and simply turned to run in another direction. Part of her told her it was completely useless, but her instincts told her to keep running. There was danger, so of course the solution was to make a break for it.

"There's no point in running, girl," the shadow told her. "You're trapped here. You can no longer escape it."

The Universe shadow popped up before her again, and this time her halt led her to falling backwards. With the wind knocked out of her, Essa was forced to lay there for a second and deal with the pain that ran through her, which gave the shadow opportunity to strike. It hunkered down and bent over her, one hand to her throat, the other prepared to move.

"You won't need this anymore," the shadow's free hand pulled the silver chain out from under her shirt and gave it a swift yank, the chain breaking free. Universe stood again with the pendant in her hand.

Essa quickly sat up, watching to see what it was Universe was going to do with the pendant. She watched as the silver chain and the star disintegrated. Essa didn't know whether to feel relieved or horrified, because something told her that it wasn't a good thing that that had happened. Despite the fact that that was what she wanted to happen to the pendant, she knew this wasn't a good thing, and she wondered if that was why she hadn't been able to destroy it up to this point.

"Now you're free to return to the Senshi you were," the shadow of Universe said before vanishing into the rest of the shadow around them.

After sitting there for a moment and waiting to see what, if anything, would happen next, Essa rose to her feet, looking around again. She heard nothing. Saw nothing. Felt nothing. But then, she did see something. The shadows moved again and this time it wasn't a Senshi that the shadows formed. This time, it was much worse.

The dragon, much larger than it had ever been, rose up above her before swooping down upon her. Essa screamed, though no sound came out of her mouth and she felt the world close in around her. She felt all the darkness stream into her body all at once. It was a sensation all too familiar and all too painful. An image flashed through her mind of when she was twelve. Of when this had happened the first time. The only difference was that the first time, she wasn't the only receiving all the power. Now, however, she was.

All she'd been trying to escape rushed in at her and before she knew it, it was done. But she felt the same as she had when she'd been a Dark Senshi, only this time, all shred of her goodness had been suppressed to the point where she couldn't feel it. All she could feel was the guilt for all she done. The people she'd killed. Those she'd tried to kill. But then the guilt faded to hate. This was someone's fault, and it certainly wasn't hers. She'd never asked for this. Universe was at fault, but she was already dead. It wasn't her that had brought the Senshi back to Japan, anyway. It was him.

She opened her eyes, but still wasn't within the tangible world. She could see it, but it was as if her eyes were hazed; like she was looking through a frosted window and she had to break through it to get there. Those eyes, dulled and darkened to the point of near blackness, stared through the frost, spotting familiar faces. Three regular humans that she'd gotten to know, the Senshi of Mercury, Serenity's daughter, the guardian and him.

Though it couldn't be heard outside to the haze, she called out, "Star Power!"

Darkness wrapped itself around the girl, visible to the others as only a large tube. Within, though, it attached itself to her form, the fabric of her Senshi fuku darkening to become a deep grey, each piece of it with only a small portion of the fuku of her good form.

The skirt was a dark grey, the first to form after the white bodice, and had a thin, light grey edge. Her boots, still high above her knees, had light grey soles, but the rest was completely dark grey. Her gloves, also the same size and length, bore a light grey around the wrists, looking almost like handcuffs without the chains. Her scarf, now dark grey as well, was also edged with a light grey, like the skirt. Her silver tiara, which looked rather tarnished now, bore a black star in its center.

With the transformation complete, the darkness seemed to sink into her even more than it already had before vanishing. She stood before them, noting the shocked and horrified faces around her. She heard the young girl and the two other females scream. The Senshi of Mercury simply leapt backwards, already with her henshin pen summoned.

"What the hell is going on?!" Eikou demanded, looking to the others to see what they knew.

"Mars Celestial Fire Surround!"

Star leapt out of the way long before the attack reached her, watching from where she stood on a nearby vending stand with a twisted sort of grin on her face. She watched as the four Senshi and Tuxedo Mask appeared on the scene, much to the shock of the others.

"I knew it. I knew you weren't gone," Mars seethed, glaring up at the girl.

"But why?" Sailor Moon asked, her expression showing dismay and the words of her dream ringing through her mind.

"What happened to her?"

The Senshi's attention turned to Sasara, who was clinging to Mine, and Eikou stood nearby, staring at Star.

"We should get them out of here," Jupiter said more than she suggested.

"I vote Kanaye does it," Mars said, wanting him off the scene, too, and so that they wouldn't need to spare any fighters. No one seemed to disagree, not even him.

When he made to move to do so, however, Star flipped from where she stood, landing in his path, the grin remaining on her face as he paled.

"You're not going anywhere," she said, her voice sinister. "You brought me back here. You get to face the consequences now. So, why don't you sit down?" Her voice held question, but as she knocked him to the ground, it was very evident that it was a demand. She turned to look at the others, noticing that Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mini-Moon had taken the distractions as time to transform. Her dark eyes glanced over at the trio. "No one is leaving."

Her expression fell when she noted that her guardian placed himself between her and Eikou, Sasara and Mine. She stared him down, hearing his growl in the air.

"Spike," she said finally, raising her chin indignantly. "You think you can protect them? You couldn't protect me."

Spike's ears flattened against his head and he felt shame, but he knew this was no time to back down. Not when she'd returned to this. Despite the regular humans behind him, he spoke, "I can try."

"Did that cat just speak?" Mine breathed out.

No one answered, however, for the sounds of vehicles approaching, vehicles with sirens, finally came into the area.

"Finally," Eikou said, relieved. They would be able to do something and help bring sanity back to the situation. He remembered the Senshi from a few years ago, but still couldn't bring himself to believe this was normal. Not when Essa was looking and acting like that.

"They will not interfere," Star said, watching them for a moment.

Eikou was shocked to see a long black whip appear in her hand and even more shocked to see it crackling with what looked like dark lightning.

She drew the whip back as the Senshi moved to block her path towards the vehicles, but she was too quick. "Star Pain!" she called out, swinging the weapon forward and releasing the dark energy. It flew off the whip, pushing the Senshi back and hitting their target dead on. The vehicles' metal screamed as it was hit and then as it scraped against the ground after the vehicles flipped.

Mini-Moon pealed herself from the ground, shaking her head and then looking to Star, horrified. What had happened to the Star that she'd seen fighting gallantly to save them? What had happened to the good Senshi? Was this what it was like before? The young girl made to stand up.

"No! Rini, stay back!" Sailor Moon scrambled, grabbing the girl around the waist, terrified for the safety of her future child. "She's dangerous, Rini!"

"But we have to help her! You said we would help her!" Mini-Moon protested.

"We will!" Sailor Moon assured her, but tightened her grip on the girl as she saw Star looking their way. "We can't charge into this blindly."

Sailor Moon watched, however, as Star turned her attention away from them and back to Kanaye, who hadn't moved from where he was on the ground.

"He's her target," Sailor Moon whispered mostly to herself, but she saw Mini-Moon nod in agreement. She kept one arm around Mini-Moon and turned to her friends, who were now beginning to stand. She too, stood up, holding onto the child's hand. "We have to protect Kanaye," she told them.

"Go ahead and try," Star growled at them.

Kanaye paled even more than he already had, if that was possible. His gut told him that this was the Senshi that the voice had wanted him to bring back from Russia, not the girl he'd thought he was bringing back. This was the one the dragon, or whatever it was, wanted. And now, as she'd said, he was going to face the consequences.

He scrambled backwards, pushing himself along the ground as she crouched in front of him. He saw none of the same happiness or light that he'd seen in her eyes, only an intensified version of the sadness and a great deal of hate. He wasn't sure what she was about to do to him, but he knew it wasn't going to be good.

Surprise struck him as the Senshi leapt away and a red rose passed between them. He looked over and saw that Tuxedo Mask had been the one to throw it and he saw the others preparing for an attack. Before Star could do anything, he saw Venus jump into action.

"Venus Love Chain Encircle!"

The golden chain wrapped around Star's torso, pinning her arms to her side, but the Senshi only seemed irritated rather than worried about it. True, she did struggle against the binds, but otherwise she seemed perfectly fine.

"Jupiter Thunderclap Zap!"

That was when she cried out, her legs buckling under her again and she fell to her knees, her teeth grit against the electricity coursing through her.

"You're hurting her!" Sasara shouted from where she and her two friends still stayed huddled together with the cat standing before them.

"It's necessary," Spike told them, his tail flicking to try and calm his nerves. He wanted desperately to make it stop.

"What do you mean it's necessary?! They're going to kill her!" Sasara shouted at the cat, allowing herself to believe that it was actually talking to her. Someone was talking, someone who would answer her. If it was the cat, then so be it.

"She won't die," Spike told them, though he was really just trying to convince himself. "It's either this, or she kills us."

"What?!" Eikou shouted in disbelief. "Kill us!"

The cat didn't respond, only continuing to stand there as his tail twitched sharply.

The area fell silent as the lightning attack stopped, but the chain still stayed wrapped around the Dark Senshi's form. Spike watched as she breathed heavily, staring at the ground and he wondered for a split second if they'd subdued her. He took a step forward, but no other as images of what she'd been like before flashed through his mind. No. It wasn't over yet.

Star's eyes narrowed in Venus' direction and the Senshi rose to her feet again, even if it was awkwardly. Without hesitation, Star pushed herself from the ground, leaping backwards to land on the bench, which dragged Venus along with her. Star was impressed by her endurance as the Senshi of Love continued to keep her grip on the chain even with being dragged on the ground, which allowed for it to stay wrapped around Star's form.

The Dark Senshi wriggled on of her arms until she could move her hand enough to grab hold of the chain. When it was in her grasp, she saw Venus' eyes widen. "Star Imitation!"

The same lightning that Jupiter had used began to course along the chain again, but this time, its target was the wielder of the chain. Venus cried out before being forced to let go of the chain and letting it vanish as it fell to the ground. Venus cursed silently as she pushed herself off the ground and stood as her friends joined her.

"What are we going to do?" she asked them, breathing heavily.

"I think the question might better be asked, what can we do?" Mercury spoke for the first time in a while. "She's much more powerful than before," the Senshi informed them, looking through her visor at the girl and getting insane readings. "She's like all three of the Dark Senshi in one."

"Somehow she must have gotten their powers," Mars reasoned.

"What I don't get is why she's reverted to being evil now. Why did she even bother helping us?" Jupiter growled, her hands clenched to fists at her sides.

"Because she didn't want to go back to being bad," Mini-Moon said sternly. "She didn't. I know it. I don't care what you guys say."

"Rini," Tuxedo Mask began.

"I said I don't care!" Mini-Moon snapped, glaring at him. "Don't you guys get it by now? I don't care what you think. I know in my heart that she doesn't want to be evil."

"Back to our original question, what can we do?" Venus spoke again, noticing that Star was watching them, as if to see what move they would make. No, Star was watching all of them, but especially them and Kanaye.

"How did we defeat her dark form before?" Mercury asked, looking to the others since she didn't seem to remember.

"We got rid of the band around her neck," Tuxedo Mask supplied.

"But there is no band this time," Sailor Moon shook her head, looking to the girl's bare neck. She tried to look at Star's eyes, but unlike before she couldn't see any of the goodness that had given her hope last time the two faced. Sailor Moon was horrified when she saw the boy called Eikou approach the Dark Senshi. "No! Stay back!" she called to him.

"The idiot!" Jupiter snapped.

"Essa?" Eikou said, ignoring the protests of the other girls. He jumped visibly when the Senshi looked at him, half because he hadn't expected her to respond and half because of the look in her eyes.

"Stay out of this," Star snapped and proceeded to shove him away forcefully.

"Eikou!" Mine and Sasara both cried out, running to catch him as he stumbled backwards.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Mine demanded, staring at Star.

Star lurched forward to attack again, but instead she was being knocked backwards as Jupiter physically attacked her. The Senshi even managed to rip the bench's bolts out of the ground as she attacked and sent them both rolling across the ground. When they came to a stop, both were instantly on their feet again and ready to strike.

They charged at each other, but it was Star who managed to get a good grip first, grabbing the other girl around the waist and throwing her through the air. "Star Darkness Inferno!" Dark flame sprouted from her palms and hit its target as Jupiter fell to the ground from being thrown.

Her attention was drawn again, and she bypassed the others as they charged at her, heading towards Kanaye, who seemed to be making to flee. She grabbed him around the throat, though didn't suspend him in the air as another might. Instead she just kept a tight grip and stared right into his eyes.

"Going somewhere?"

"No," he responded, though his voice was barely audible, considering.

"Why not? I expected you to run," Star grinned darkly.

"I can't," he told her, though didn't elaborate.

Star was silent for a moment, assessing him. "You've accepted your fate then?"

"No."

Star laughed loudly, noting that the others were slowly approaching her from behind. "You can't expect to fight me. You're powerless."

"I have to," he said, his eyes darting to the other Senshi, trying to silently get them to stop. They continued their approach however.

"Oh?" Star questioned, her attention completely on him.

Kanaye nodded as best he could. "I can't let you suffer."