Puffgirl1952 the 2nd: Once more, Saphir gets the short end of the stick. And I wouldn't get my hopes up for Dimande either...
Wishfull-star: Saphir originally lived in my notes. Oh well, I guess someone had to die at least once.
JPElles: I had plans. They've been altered, of course, but in this case, Dimande might or might not survive to see a sequel.
Wishing everyone Merry Christmas of 2016. Enjoy the story!
Sailor Moon made a soft moan of pain as she stirred awake, brow furrowed together as her blue eyes slowly opened. The blurry world around her slowly refocused together to form the darkened walls and floor of the room she last remember being in. What had happened? She recalled the Senshi bursting in, crying out her name, then something had hit her and she had lost consciousness. A steady headache thrummed in the back of her head, not very painful, but it was there, an obvious distraction, making it hard to focus.
As she regained full consciousness, a warm pulsing of power emanated from two points of her form. One of them was the precious brooch that held the Illusionary Silver Crystal. The other was from the still-present upturned crescent moon that adorned her brow, marking her as a princess of the fallen Lunar Kingdom of the Silver Millennium. Fallen by her hand, no less. The blonde grimaced, pushing that thought away for the moment.
What was going on? Her crystal was an assuring force with the waves of power it radiated, but there was something else nearby, dangerous, warning, malevolent... oh.
Raven had taken the demonic-looking form that she had assumed when the sisters had first escaped the Black Moon's fortress with Saphir's aid, except this time, she seemed less likely to stop. Her height tripled, she was easily looming over the much-smaller by comparison Dimande, who in turn looked absolutely terrified of her. The cloaked Titan's eyes — four slits of a deep blood red — seemed to actively glow in the light of the room, anger boiling in the blank irises that had no pupils.
None of the Titans seemed intent on stopping her, and that included Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, the former two already heading over to her while Pluto and the original four Titans were inspecting her former friends and protectors.
"No, Raven, stop!"
The enraged Titan somehow managed to let the words cut through her anger and reach her coherent thought. Twisting her body to the side in the slightest, her piercing red eyes left the white-clad man and turned onto Saphir, who stumbled over to her, clothes for some reason bloody. Her gaze was imperious, threatening, but Saphir did't back down and instead begged her to stop once more.
Finally, Raven conceded, and backed off, shrinking back to normal and hovering over to the blonde, though her eyes were still the four pupilless red slits. After a while, the four-eyed beast within finally vanished, receding to be replaced by the blue-cloaked Titan that Sailor Moon — and Usagi — trusted above everything. Amethyst irises glanced down at Usagi as the Titan knelt down beside the blonde. "You're injured."
"And so are you," Sailor Moon murmured, leaning heavily on Uranus as the stronger woman helped her sit up, leaning her against the wall. The princess frowned, catching a glimpse of Saphir and his brother from behind Raven, the blue-haired man trying to convince his brother — was he older or younger Perhaps she could ask after all this — of his intentions.
"Sit still," Raven instructed, ignoring what the blue-eyed Senshi said. Her pale hands lit with a cool blue glow, and the sorceress' hands hovered over the torn midsection of the princess' sailor suit, healing the blistering burn on her exposed stomach. "What happened?"
The blonde soldier of love and justice frowned, wincing a bit at the icy-cool sensation. "I was kneeling... and then they burst in... Rei attacked, and she misfired..." the blue-eyed girl slowly recalled. "It hit me instead of Dimande." The slender girl shivered — whether from the cold or from the memory of the pain, she wasn't sure. "Then I remember hitting my head and falling unconscious."
Uranus' gentle hand on Moon's shoulder suddenly tightened its grip, and only when the blonde audibly gasp did the sandy-blonde woman realize what was going on and quickly loosened her grip. "Apologies, Usagi," the woman murmured.
The blonde shook her head. "I'm fine. But... you're not fine," she observed silently. "None of you are fine. Uranus, your left arm is bleeding. Neptune, you're limping slightly. And Raven... what happened to you?"
"Fight." Was what the purple-haired girl replied. Both Uranus and Neptune nodded at the admission, signalling that they too were involved in a fight.
Sailor Moon shook her head, struggling onto her feet. "No, no. You need to be healed. Please, let me use the crystal—"
"We'll be fine, princess," Neptune cut in softly. "It's fine."
The blonde turned her eyes to Raven, hoping that at least her sister might see sense that the two guardians of the planets failed to see. "Raven?" she asked softly. "You understand, right? You need to be healed!"
The sorceress shook her head, lowering the hood of her cloak and unmasking her face of the shadows cast by her hood. "I'm fine, Usagi," she assured gently. "It's just a little burn. I can take care of it once we're done with all of this."
The princes clasped her brooch tightly. "Are you sure?" she finally asked softly, blue eyes going to each one of them, imploring for them to reconsider and to let her use the crystal on them.
Uranus gave her a light squeeze on the shoulder. "Positive, Usagi. And you'll need all the power you can get to fight." A faint smile curved the blonde woman's lips, and the Senshi gave her a reassuring nod of the head. "No stress."
Neptune seemed rather amused by her partner's assuring words, for a faint smile curled her lips at the sandy blonde woman's cool statement. The graceful woman brushed a single strand of her aquamarine waves out of her face, tucking it behind her ear with a finger. "Be on your guard," she warned, silvery voice hard, but only in a whisper. "I sense great danger around us."
The Titan nodded, eyes narrowing as she encased her hood in a black aura, bringing it up over her head and masking her face in shadows once more. She seemed to be ignoring the loud argument between Saphir and his brother behind her as she looked around, amethyst eyes scanning the area, looking through the shadows. "Agreed, Neptune," she said firmly. "I do as well. This is the same presence as earlier... Wiseman."
"Brother!" No sooner than Raven had uttered the name did Saphir's cry ring out, and then, the air was saturated with foul, dark energy, surging through the air, making the blonde princes flinch. The sound of someone hitting the floor was heard, and Moon forced herself to look around, seeing Dimande and Saphir sprawled out on the ground, Saphir lying there, unmoving.
"Saphir..." Usagi gasped, trying to jerk up to her feet, but Uranus held her back, shaking her head to stop her. The blonde looked on in mild horror as Dimande scrambled over to Saphir, breath held in fear. Was Saphir alright? She certainly hoped so. Slowly, she started to stand despite Uranus' protests, leaning heavily on the tall sandy blonde for support until Raven moved closer to her and grasped her by the upper arm, letting the Titan support most of the petite blonde instead of the woman.
"Azarath Metion Zinthos!" Raven suddenly hissed, her left arm snapping outwards as she unleashed a crescent of black flaming energy. The opaque black flames splashed harmlessly against a barrier and the Titan cursed. "I thought so."
Sailor Moon summoned her Cutie Moon Rod, gripping it tightly with her gloved hands. "So this is it?" she whispered. "The battle that decides everything here?"
Raven stared at the direction that the darkness was thickest, as the shadows coalesced into the form of a withered figure covered in a cowl. A sneer twisted her features as she hissed out another command, lashing out with her dark powers to rip out chunks of the wall and fling them at the enemy.
"Titans, go!" Robin shouted out, and the other four Titans leapt into action beside their friend and comrade.
Cyborg launched the bright blue beam of light Usagi now identified as his sonic cannon. Starfire took the air, neon green eyes blazing as she fired out thin green beams at Wiseman, her hands glowing with spheres of similar energy as she threw them one by one in rapid succession. Beast Boy was in the form of a flying dinosaur, with Robin held in his claw-like feet as the Boy Wonder threw explosives at the figure.
Nothing seemed to work until Uranus, Neptune and Pluto started launching their attacks. "World Shaking!"
"Deep Submerge!"
"Dead Scream!"
The three energy attacks from the trio of Senshi converged into one beam of light as they struck, sending the figure back some, and the Titans instantly followed up with their own attacks.
"Raven, Sailor Moon, take 'im down!" Cyborg yelled.
"Usagi, the crystal," Raven muttered.
The blonde nodded, unclasping her brooch and holding it up. "Moon Crystal Power!" The Illusionary Silver Crystal started glowing, pulsing with immense power that thrummed throughout the princess' form. Her sailor suit dissolved into ruby red ribbons that quickly reformed into a regal dress of pure, pristine white and gold, and the brooch that contained the powerful crystal melted away, leaving only the crystal in Sailor Moon — no, Princess Serenity's bare hand.
Raven flinched a bit, and visibly recoiled as the crystal glowed a blinding white, but her eyes were soon taken over by a white glow that blocked out view of her iris, pupil, and sclera. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Around the red chakra gem on her brow, the golden mark of the White Moon appeared, burning with a intense warmth as the sisters launched their attack.
Left arm around Raven's shoulder and with Raven's right arm supporting Serenity's torso, the sisters were right next to each other, and Serenity brought the crystal to the centre, and Raven's other hand cupped around it, both sisters supporting the glowing crystal. "Once more," Raven murmured to her. "Together."
"Okay," Serenity said, nodding, a look of determination etched onto her delicate features. "Moon Crystal Power!"
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"
Serenity felt something burning on her brow — the golden crescent moon, no doubt — sending a wave of familiarity and warmth through her. It grew in intensity, growing from only a warm pulse to an almost painful scorch, and it took almost all of her concentration and willpower to keep herself from breaking the connection.
Raven seemed to be taking it badly, though. A painful grimace saturated her features, even as the golden crescent became brighter, showing that indeed, it hurt her very much to be doing this. However, her expression didn't change, and even through the blindingly white glow that encased her eyes, Serenity could see the determination to win.
The Illusionary Silver Crystal suddenly turned into a bright, blinding sphere of light, warmth radiating out from the delicate, yet powerful crystal, and with a combined push from the sisters, the light was redirected into a violent beam of pure energy that tore straight forward, ripping through the withered figure in front of them, a terrible screech echoing as the figure was torn apart, disintegrated and rendered to dust by the beam of light.
Instantly, Raven broke the connection and dropped to her hands and knees, gasping for air, her limbs shaking as the crescent faded away and the glow in her eyes vanished. "Th-that's it?" she whispered breathlessly, still gasping for air.
Robin's footsteps were heard as the Boy Wonder ran over to her, helping her up and carefully draping his cape around her.
Serenity stumbled back without Raven's help, and Uranus shot over like an arrow, gently looping an arm around her to help her stand. "I... I think so," the blonde princess said, blue eyes looking around. Her gaze fell on Dimande and Saphir, and the princess started to head over to them, the crystal that was tightly clasped in her hands emitting a soft glow in response to her urge to help.
"N-no..." Raven murmured. "There's still... he's still here!" she suddenly shouted, and her hand shot out, creating a black shield that suddenly absorbed a rough blast of dark, malevolent energy.
"But how?" Serenity murmured. "We destroyed him. We saw him being destroyed."
"The Death Phantom..." Dimande's voice was weak, but he answered it for the sisters. "Wiseman is the Death Phantom. Nemesis is known as Death Phantom's body because of its geography."
Raven cursed aloud as Robin came to the conclusion for them. "Nemesis... Nemesis is Wiseman!"
Read, review, and provide constructive criticism. And once again: Merry Christmas, everyone!