Trials

That night, she found herself in front of Mars' door once she had finished her rounds. She hesitated before knocking softly on the door, biting her lip.

Several moments later, the door swung open, and Mars stood before her—beautiful, breathtaking Mars—with what looked to be tears in her eyes.

"V," Mars said, swiping at her eyes. "What are you doing?"

"I wanted to see you," Venus whispered as she followed Mars inside her quarters. "I… I wanted to apologize for not letting you know what I was doing, where I was going. If… if I had told you… you would have come with me. And I wouldn't have let you. And so neither of us would have gone. Nothing would have happened." Venus took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. But I did what I had to do."

Mars bit her lip and turned to face her fireplace, where small flames licked away at the logs within. "You did it again. Trying to protect me when you don't need to."

"I know," Venus said. "And I'm sorry."

Mars shook her head. "It doesn't matter," she mumbled before turning and meeting Venus' eyes. "Venus, I… I want you to know how much… how much I care about you."

Venus' eyebrows drew together. "Why are you telling me this? Why now?" Mars had never been so clear about her feelings; something had to be up, something must have prompted this.

"I can't just tell you how much I care? There has to be a reason?" Mars asked in a whisper.

Venus sighed. "Unless you've suddenly decided to open up," she said hopefully, knowing it wasn't true.

Mars frowned and sat down on the sofa, glaring into the fire. Venus sat beside her and slowly drew her into an embrace, running her hand through the soft locks of dark hair that she loved.

"I… I'm sorry," Mars said as she wrapped her arms around Venus in turn. They sat there for a long time, just holding one another, listening to each other breath. During that time, Venus' mind raced, and she connected dots that she never wanted to connect.

"It's tomorrow?" she asked finally, breaking the silence.

Mars drew in a shuddering breath. "I don't know when, exactly. But the visions have gotten worse. I can see them in my waking moments, now." She shivered.

"You told me those were just dreams. You said they'd stopped."

"I lied," Mars said, and Venus pulled away from her embrace.

"We have to act now," Venus said, standing up. "I'll ready a spaceship, and we'll take the Princess to a safe location. We'll take her to my planet. My parents may not welcome me, but they'll take in the Princess. From there, we can ready the Venusian army, and we'll be able to rally the other planets. We'll—"

"It won't work," Mars whispered. "There's nothing we can do."

"There has to be a way! Remember the Queen's words—we mustn't give up hope!" Venus took Mars' shoulders and waited until the other woman looked into her eyes. "We can do this."

"No," Mars said, and then she smiled sadly. "We can't. This is our fate."

"Fuck fate," Venus said, and she brought their lips together. They kissed for an eternity, roughly, their teeth clashing, and it took all of Venus' self-control to finally wrench herself away from Mars' grasp. "We don't need destiny."

"I've never been wrong before," Mars said sadly. "I won't be wrong now. I'm sorry."

Venus inhaled a swift breath, her nostrils flaring as sharp anger rose within her at the Martian's words. "You're wrong this time. I'm going to save the Princess. Watch me." Venus spun around and stomped towards the door.

Mars was on her feet in an instant and grabbed Venus' arm.

"Please don't go," she whispered. "Stay. At least for a little while. For whatever time we have left."

Venus glared at the Martian, the beautiful Martian she had fallen in love with, the woman who had given up. "We'll leave within the hour. I'm readying a ship right now. I'm ordering you to go find Jupiter and Mercury and the Queen, and tell them that we're leaving. You should have told us sooner. I'll deal with your punishment later, once we're on Venus."

"V, you don't understand—" Mars began desperately, but Venus cut her off.

"I understand perfectly. You could have told us about your visions, but you kept quiet. And because of your failure, we're in this situation. Go find the others. We're leaving. We're done." She ignored the way her voice hitched at those last words, and then she wrenched her arm from Mars' and left, slamming the door behind her.

She rushed to the docks and ordered the shipmaster to prepare a shuttle for their departure, to be ready—they would depart in exactly one hour.

But that time would never come. An explosion sounded from within the castle walls, and Venus' eyes widened in horror as she raced towards the source.


Mars sprang into action immediately once the door slammed behind Venus. Her vision had told her that they would all die here; if Venus wanted them to leave, then that meant they'd never make it. So the attack was happening today. Contrary to what Venus had believed, she hadn't given up; she would still put up a fight. If she had to die, she would die fighting.

Mars reached into her subspace pocket and activated her communicator, connecting to Jupiter and Mercury. "We have a situation," she said, and the others's faces appeared on the screen.

"What's up?" Jupiter asked blearily, having just woken from sleep. Mercury had been on patrol duty, so she was wide awake, concern etching her features.

"Mercury, go the Princess' room and take her to the tower and secure her there. Jupiter, rally the troops. I'm going to the throne room to make the Queen set up a ward around the Prayer Room—she should be safe there."

"Are we under attack?" Mercury asked.

"Not yet," Mars said, "but we will be soon. Hurry. We don't have much time." As she spoke the words, a vision of blood and fire crossed her eyes, and she shut them closed.

"Mars, are you okay?" Jupiter asked.

"No. But that doesn't matter. Get the Princess to safety. Mercury, ready the canons once you've secured the Princess. Jupiter, make sure the magicians set up the magical barrier around the dome as soon as the troops are in formation."

"Roger," Mercury and Jupiter said, and Mars disconnected the communicator. She took a deep breath and then raced towards the Throne Room. She hurried the Queen to the Prayer Room, and the Queen reluctantly set up a barrier after being assured that Mars would keep the Princess safe.

Mars swallowed as tears threatened to leak from her eyes. The Trials had prepared her for this; and yet, she couldn't help the way her heart beat furiously, the way she so desperately didn't want to die. She took a deep breath and focused on the image of her Princess, and of Venus, and her breathing steadied, and her palms stopped sweating.

Beryl and Endymion's guards had vanished without a trace; Mars knew they were out rallying their own troops, that they would be here soon. With an invasion force. And that they would bring those monsters—the youma—along with them.

She raced outside, and she was met with a scene that gave her déjà vu. Everything happened like in her Trials. The canons fired, the ships fell, and still more ships landed. She and Jupiter and Venus fought, and destroyed soldiers and Youma alike. The acrid smell of smoke filled her nostrils; but she didn't let that stop her movements.

She was Sailor Mars, Senshi of Flame and Passion, and she would fight to the last.


"RUN!" screamed Venus. Mars fired off another Flame Arrow, and it seared through the oncoming foes, destroying everything in its path.

"Dammit, Mars! That's an order! Run, gods above!"

Mars glanced back briefly and smiled slightly before firing several more arrows into the fray. Venus sent off a few Crescent Beams herself before she had had enough. She rushed forward and grabbed Mars' arm, pulling it back. She couldn't keep the desperation from her voice, the fear from her eyes, the hopelessness that dragged at her heart.

"Mars, please! Go protect Serenity! Mercury and Jupiter... We'll defend her to our last. But... but if there's even a chance... You have to protect Serenity!"

Mars let that sad smile cross her lips again as she met Venus' gaze. Venus couldn't keep the tears from her eyes as she noticed the knowing gleam in Mars' eyes. "None of us will survive the night, V," Mars said softly. The sounds of battle seemed to lose their ferocity, and the world faded until the only thing that Venus could see was the beautiful Martian Senshi before her. "As the leader of the Senshi, you should be by the Princess' side. We will protect her till our dying breath."

"No," Venus cried, not wanting to believe it. "No... Mars, you can't... You can't... I..."

Mars closed the distance between them, and Venus' eyes fluttered shut as Mars pressed their lips together delicately. The world stopped in that moment, and Venus wished desperately that time would freeze, that this moment would never end. But all too soon, Mars drew away, and Venus was forced back into reality. The sounds of battle once again raised a deafening clamor against her ears, and the sickening smell of death reached their nostrils.

The sad smile was still on Mars' lips; unspoken words passed between them in that moment.

And then Mars turned around and ran into battle, fire trailing at her fingertips, her long raven hair lifted behind her as she sped into the fray.

Venus fought a losing battle against the tears that strained to fall from her eyes. "Damn it," she muttered, wiping her glove across her face quickly, clearing away the signs of her weakness, of her regret. She turned and ran quickly into the castle, lonely footsteps echoing about the vacant, cold halls as she went to die protecting her Princess against a fate she knew they could not fight.


A/N: And that's that! What an adventure this fic has been for me. It's the first one I've ever completed. Granted, I cheated by leaving out a lot of background information. If there are any questions, or any points that you feel need clarifying, please let me know!

Thank you so much for reading and taking this journey with me! I wish you all the best!