Goodbye, My Love – Chapter 19
"Watch out!" Sailor Moon turned around just in time to block a set of claws with her scepter. Adrenaline pumped through her. Blood and sweat dripped off of her as she tried to catch her breath. That was a close one. For the first time since the battle started, she allowed herself to just stop hacking away at bodies for a moment. Her heart was still beating out of control as she turned to acknowledge the source of the spoken warning. Seeing Sailor Venus, she shot her a grateful look when their gazes locked. Despite her predicament, Venus gave her a smile, before she returned to strangling her youma. Heaving a sigh, the moon princess turned to look for some more youma to bash. Of course, the effort wasn't necessary since several were headed her way, probably having decided she'd had enough rest.
Not far away, Tuxedo Mask was trying to hold three youma at bay. However, neither his heart nor spirit was in the fight. He kept his eyes trained on Sailor Moon even as he was slammed into the wall. He knew it wasn't a good idea to focus on Sailor Moon instead of his own fight, but he just couldn't let anything happen to her.
"Shit…" Max gritted his teeth as a thin line of blood formed on his right arm, stretching from his elbow to his wrist. He watched as the blood concentrated and started to streak down his arm and onto his clenched fist, not even seeing the youma headed his way. For a minute, he just stared at it in astonishment. He had never seen so much blood before. The most he had ever done was cut himself with a kitchen knife. Suddenly, he felt lightheaded as the reality of the situation presented itself to him.
The young man was soon brought out of his reverie, when gloved hands covered his arm. A second later, they were replaced with a red piece of fabric. Max looked up, relieved when he saw Venus. A few feet away lay the talon-covered youma, slayed. The red ribbon in the blonde's head was gone. Instinctively, Max glanced down at his now bound arm. Well, that answered one question. Looking back up, he noticed Venus was looking at him worriedly. Despite his newly-found fear, Max gave what he hoped was a convincing smile.
"I'm okay.." He glanced at the dead youma, reverting his gaze quickly when he realized it was starting to decompose into a green liquid. Yup, Venus's face was definitely easier on the eyes. "Thanks.. for that.." Venus nodded in acknowledgement.
"No problem." She scrutinized him. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yup. Perfectly fine." Max spun around, blocking a fist with his injured arm and gasped in pain. Wincing, he followed up with a round-house kick and an uppercut. Thank god for the few months in which he had felt the need to learn a little martial art. Behind him, he heard Venus yell an attack. Moments later, a yellow beam shot past him, right through the youma's head. It missed his head by a mere millimeter. Max turned around to see an apologetic look on Venus's face.
"Whoa."
"Yeah.. sorry.. I should have warned you.." Venus said sheepishly. Max sighed and relaxed his pose. The consistent waves of pain arcing across his arm had been pushed to the back of his head during the fight, but now they were coming back two-fold. A particularly sharp wave brought his left hand to cover the now blood-stained fabric. Perspiration accumulated on his forehead as he tried to block the pain. A tap on his shoulder brought him back to attention. Sailor Venus stood there, tears in her eyes.
"D-Don't worry about me. I'll be fine.." Max tried to smile, but it came out as more of a grimace. He brought a hand up and wiped away the tears on her cheeks. "Don't cry." He looked at her pleadingly, unable to bear witness to her tears.
"But.. you're hurting. That's worse than any injury to me.." Venus muttered, eyes downcast. She couldn't believe she was saying this, never mind that she was in the middle of a battle. She sneaked a look at the young man.
Max stared at the blonde wide-eyed. Did I just hear what I think I heard? Venus was looking at him now. Say something! What's wrong with you?! SAY SOMETHING!!
"What are you two doing?!! Stop standing there! We could use some help!" Mars yelled. In a flash, Venus was gone, leaving Max to stare at where the blonde beauty had been but minutes before and a headache that held an intensity equal to the pain in his arm.
"We can't beat them! There's too many!" Tuxedo Mask yelled. He twisted around and blocked an armored fist.
"I can see that!" Sailor Mars shot back. She dodged a claw that would have swiped her head clean off.
"What do we do?!" Sailor Moon questioned, panic rising. The youma were coming in waves and it didn't seem as if they were going to stop anytime soon. No one answered her question. Everyone was too busy trying to keep the swarming monsters away, hoping for a moment's rest.
A blonde haired woman stood in front of the soda machine, staring at it without really seeing it. After an eternity, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a bill. Still with a blank, unseeing expression, she slid the bill into the slot mechanically. Bending down slightly, she recovered the drink she had just purchased. Then, she repeated the steps. She sighed. With the drinks in hand, she started to walk away from the soda machine, walking down the narrow, brightly-lit hallway. In the middle of the hallway, she suddenly stumbled and wavered. The drinks fell to the floor, forgotten. The blonde reach out and held onto the nearby windowsill for dear life as an overpowering sensation overcame her. She shivered as the hallway suddenly turned chilly. She squeezed her eyes shut as the vision overwhelmed her.
A long time passed before the blonde opened her eyes again. "They're in trouble."
"Who?" The blonde looked up suddenly and met mysterious blue-green eyes.
"Haruka?" Haruka broke eye contact, bending down to pick up the fallen drinks. She straightened up.
"The other sailors. I-I saw them. I don't know how, but… I did.. They were fighting… There was too much youma. They can't win the battle." Haruka looked deep into her partner's eyes. "We have to help them, Michiru." Confused blue-green eyes regarded her for a second. Michiru sighed, looking away.
"We don't even know where they are," she stated matter-of-factly as she took one of the drinks from Haruka and led her into the hospital room, closing the door behind them. Once inside, she uncapped the bottled water and took a few desperate gulps, as if to drown the worry she felt. She focused her attention back on Haruka, who seemed to be in deep contemplation. Michiru waited.
"Oh no…" It was barely a ghost of a whisper, but Michiru heard it. Hearing those two words from Haruka couldn't be a good thing.
"What? Don't scare me like that. What is it?" Haruka looked up slowly and their gazes locked. All of a sudden, Michiru understood. "Oh no.. Why didn't they tell us?" Haruka sighed.
"I can think of two reasons…" She turned away from Michiru, towards the two wounded Sailors. Teal-colored eyes blinked. Am I seeing things? She looked back at Michiru, who was staring at the wall, completely oblivious. The Sailor of wind cleared her throat lightly. "Lita?" She said hesitantly. The grin that spread over the newly-awoken girl was definitely real. She was not seeing things. Behind her, Michiru started at the sight.
"I feel like I was run over by a truck…" Lita groaned, breaking the ice in the room. Michiru and Haruka laughed, the mood suddenly lightening up. If Lita had awoken, Amy was likely to be ok soon too. Things were looking up.
"Damn it!" Mars slammed a fist into the wall she was leaning on; the wall of fully magic-proof jail cell. Mars pulled her bloodied hand away from the wall, staring at the place she had hit with little surprise. How predictable.. Not even a scratch. She looked away.
"Stop hurting yourself," Sailor Venus muttered from the floor where she was sitting with the rest of the group. "It won't get us out of here.. Especially not in the condition we're in right now.." Nods of agreement. Venus looked around. God.. This is bad.. I can barely walk with my limp. She turned to where Serena was sitting, back to the wall, with Darien's head in her lap. Tears kept streaming down her cheeks as Darien muttered in deliria. Darien might as well bleed to death.
Venus glanced at Max, who was staring at the wall in front of him blankly. His arm bled profusely. Venus sighed, silently praying that they would get out of this mess alive.
"So, what have I missed out on?" Lita asked. They were sitting in the café across from the hospital. They had wanted the newly-awaken sailor to stay in bed a while longer, as she had only just woken up a day ago, but Lita wouldn't hear of it. She claimed that she would go crazy if she stayed in the hospital any longer. After much begging and pleading on Lita's part, the two outer scouts relented, only agreeing to take her as far as the café across the street. Lita had rolled her eyes, but decided it was better than nothing.
"Not much…" Haruka said, looking away.
"Tell me you're joking.." She glanced at Michiru. "I've been out for two weeks now and last time I checked youma were swarming everywhere." She waited. Lita sighed. "You know.. the fact that you aren't saying anything pretty much says it all.. What happened? Where are the others?" No one spoke. "Ok.. enough.. will someone PLEASE say SOMETHING."
"We think the enemy's got them." Michiru finally replied. She glanced up to see how Lita would take this news and was surprised to see how calm and composed she was.
Lita released a heavy sigh. "I knew it would be something like that…" She stopped. "Wait.. you think?" Michiru looked over at Haruka, Lita following her gaze. Haruka looked up when she felt the eyes on her. Sitting up straighter, she began to explain her vision to the Sailor of thunder.
"So you know where this place is…" Haruka nodded. "Then what the problem? Why can't we just bust in and get them?"
"Because.. Like I said already… there are at least fifty of the enemy in there, against three of us. What are the odds of us winning?" Haruka explained, annoyed at Lita's less than intelligent plan. "We need to plan this out. We can't just bust in there 'cuz we won't be able to overcome them.. But. We can sneak in and find a way to get them out."
"That's why Haruka is going to go to the base tomorrow to find out more about the place," Michiru added. Lita looked at her, sensing the worry coming off her in waves.
"No, I'll go."
SLAM
Lita stared, wide-eyed at Haruka. The blonde still had her palm on the table. Haruka looked up at Lita, the look in her eyes scaring the other girl.
"No, you will not go," Haruka grit out. "We are not losing another team member to them. Do you understand?" Getting over her fear, Lita opened her mouth to speak, but Haruka beat her to it. "No. You just came out of a coma damnit! I will go," she said with an air of finality. Lita sighed and nodded in defeat.
Michiru looked around and sighed, noticing the attention they had gathered. At the same time, she saw a waitress walking towards their table. 'Well.. looks like it's time to leave…'
"I'm sorry. I'm gonna have to ask you to leave. You are causing too much of a commotion…" The waitress said sternly. Haruka glared at her and Lita just acted as if she didn't hear. Michiru smiled at the waitress sweetly.
"Yea. Thank you. We'll be leaving soon. Sorry for the trouble," she replied sheepishly. The waitress nodded and walked away briskly. Michiru looked down at Haruka, sighed, then tugged on her arm. Haruka stood up solemnly. Lita followed. Michiru took Haruka's hand and led her out of the café, Lita following some distance behind them.
"She'll be fine," Michiru said, her voice wavering. Lita shook herself out of her daze and realized Haruka was no longer in sight. She turned to the woman standing next to her. Lita could tell Michiru was worried, very worried. She could tell by how the other woman held onto the lamp post, her hand turning white with the amount of pressure she was enacting on the lamp post. Lita wasn't blind. She knew there was something more than friendship between the two outers and she now saw it even more clearly.
Lita placed a hand on Michiru's shoulder and squeezed, trying to reassure her. When the other Senshi looked up, Lita gave her a smile. Michiru smiled back, but the worry was still there. Both looked back down the road the Wind Senshi had disappeared to.
"You know she was only looking out for you right?" Michiru said softly. Lita turned to look at her for a second, before turning back to the dark road, barely distinguishable from the blackness of the night.
"Yea.. I know.. I just wish she would've at least let me go with her…" Lita sighed.
"You might have gotten in her way and her attention would be split if you were there."
"I know.." A pause. "That's why you decided to not go with her huh?"
"Yea.."
Ok.. So not much Darien/Serena action. But I'll see if I can write some for the next chapter… Now that school has started again, I won't be able to update much.. I'll still try to finish this story.. (Can't believe it's been years since I started) Thanks for sticking with me..