Chapter Seventy: Final Campaign
Juno rushed toward the scattered bones, where her mother and wrinkly aunt were. Not many people resorted to violence to deal with their family, but Juno and her sisters were the justified exceptions.
Juno jumped above the bones. Channeling energy, she visualized herself flying. She scrambled in the air, suppressed a cry as she adapted to hovering. Her legs wheeled, and she faltered, beginning to fall. Hands slammed onto her back and pushed her up.
She looked over her shoulder. Chibi-Moon, smiling.
Juno returned Chibi-Moon's smile and then looked toward the threat ahead, wherever that threat was. Nehellenia and the hag were melded into the darkness.
A hand ripped from the blackness, snatched Juno's neck. Juno hung.
Her powers, needed her powers. Couldn't die so soon after awakening. Couldn't leave Chibi-Moon alone.
Chibi-Moon yelped, and the hands holding Juno disappeared. A crash exploded from the side, but Juno couldn't turn her head to look.
Didn't need to. Her charge had gotten hurt.
Juno reached for the hand gripping her, only to pass through nothing.
She dangled, at the mercy of the iciness clutching her neck. At the mercy of her mother, like she had been countless times before. This time, she wasn't covered in ignorance.
A beam of rainbow light burst from the side and, through it, emerged Chibi-Moon, shooting toward Juno. A howl from behind. VesVes.
Juno aimed in the general direction of the choking hand. She drew her depleting energy to her hand, and a green light glowed about. Nehellenia and Zirconia had lied to her and her sisters about coming from the jungle; she would show them the ferocity of nature's judgment.
Another crash from the side, and Chibi-Moon yelped once more. Paws pounded the floor, and a tiger roared. Gleaming fangs flew toward Chibi-Moon.
Too late to redirect her attack. The green arrow burst from Juno's hand, split the air, lighting the darkness as it flew. The arrow revealed Nehellenia's white face, her hand gripping Juno's neck from afar. Nehellenia was so cold-hearted that her iciness could reach anyone, no matter the distance. How had Juno ever believed this woman?
The arrow was streaking toward Nehellenia's neck.
"Queen." Zirconia rushed in front of Nehellenia, and the arrow pierced Zirconia's neck. Zirconia froze in the air, the arrow protruding out of both ends. Black blood swelled to the front of the wound and then pumped down her neck, in tandem with her slowing heartbeat. The little light within her eyes dulled into nothing. Zirconia's arms and legs dropped, and the woman hung limp in front of her queen, only the arrow suspending her. Behind Zirconia, Nehellenia stared, wide-eyed, at her lackey.
The corner of Nehellenia's mouth lifted. She was smiling. "Whoops." She gripped Zirconia by the shoulders, and Zirconia drooped as loosely as a rag doll. The queen threw her confidante aside.
Juno hovered, hand still aimed toward Nehellenia. No thoughts ran through her head. Chibi-Moon's hollers, the rainbow light exploding in her peripheral vision, VesVes and the tiger roaring, were muted compared to the loudness of what Juno had witnessed.
"Did you even care about her?" Juno's voice trembled. Zirconia may have been despicable, but her one redeeming trait was her devotion. Zirconia had genuinely loved Nehellenia. Her willingness to sacrifice herself cemented her loyalty.
Nehellenia brushed her sleeve of dust. "I was thinking of killing her anyway. I was getting tired of her many failures." Her smile broadened. "Thank you for killing her for me."
Juno balled her free hand, pulsed energy so quickly that she didn't know what attack she was unleashing, just knew that she was going to kill the demon before her. The green spear shot out of her hand. And another. And another. Must kill her, kill her many times over, kill her so she wasn't recognizable, so no one could see the beauty that had been wasted on a monstrous heart.
Nehellenia faded. The spears screamed into the distance.
"Scared now that you've lost your shield?" Juno rolled up her sleeves, revealing muscle from her training as an acrobat. One good thing the demon had done for her. "Come out and fight me." A good punch in the face, complete with crunching bone, would do Juno's soul good.
Instead of coming out, Nehellenia chuckled.
"It's not funny." Juno sounded like a child who had tripped over her own feet and fallen in mud in front of her classmates, but she didn't give a damn about what a demon thought of her.
"It's hilarious." Nehellenia's hand lashed toward her neck. Juno grabbed the thing's wrist and twisted, to the point where Nehellenia's chuckle darkened into a satisfying scream and each bone snapped, one by one. For good measure, Juno threw the dead arm toward Nehellenia's face, to rake it to shreds, but a black blast jolted Juno sideways. She crashed through the darkness.
Nehellenia scowled at her dead arm. She ran a hand over her face and then smiled at her hand's bareness. Damn.
Bolting onto her feet, Juno readied herself to run. Stepped forward, onto softness. Below lay, crumpled, Zirconia. Zircon, Zirconia's pet eye, whimpered near the body, tears leaking from it.
Nehellenia aimed at Zircon and the body.
Juno gathered Zirconia and Zircon into her arms and dashed sideways, the blast darkening the area further as it tore past them.
Yards away from Nehellenia, Juno lay Zirconia and Zircon down and crouched beside them. She worked her mouth. Zircon slapped her cheeks with its wings. Despite the pain that Juno had endured, Zircon's slaps hurt most of all.
Zirconia had been evil, through and through. No reason to feel bad for killing her. Except that, as despicable as Zirconia was, she was leaving others who cared about her. Not the selfish, grudging care that Nehellenia had shown, but a genuine caring.
Juno let Zircon slap her cheeks until the eye drew back of its own accord. The eyeball flew toward Juno, flame-first. About to burn Juno alive.
Juno grabbed Zircon by the wings, keeping the eyeball back, the heat of the flames licking her arms. "I know. I'm sorry."
Zircon made no noise. Its earlier whimpering had been the only noise she had ever heard it make.
The eyeball struggled in her grip. Chibi-Moon yelped, and another rainbow flash brightened the area. Juno couldn't stay with Zircon forever.
Juno shoved Zircon backward. "Go, hide, or Nehellenia will kill you too.
Zircon fluttered onto Zirconia's chest. It folded its wings.
It was going to stay with its master.
How could a hateful being like Zirconia have a kind pet?
Juno reached for Zircon, to pet it. Hesitated. She wouldn't want the murderer of her loved one to touch her.
She stood. Zircon remained still.
Juno took to the air. So no one else would grieve, she'd stop Nehellenia once and for all.
Sailor Chibi-Moon was struggling.
Her Super form was powerless against VesVes. Ironically, as soon as she'd gotten her upgrade, her enemies could keep pace with her. She was the daughter of the most powerful Sailor Guardian, possibly the most powerful person in the universe. Why couldn't she stand against their enemies?
Sailor Chibi-Moon dodged thrusts, orbs, Lemures, the sudden tiger's bites that could chomp off heads, while trying to launch fatal attacks.
Perhaps not fatal. Perhaps Chibi-Moon was holding back because of Juno.
Juno had turned out not to be the Guardians' enemy. The rest of the Amazoness Quartet couldn't be their enemies, either.
Since Juno was trying to protect Chibi-Moon, was she…?
Why didn't Chibi-Moon have any recollection of them?
Regardless, one was on their side. Now to wake the others, starting with VesVes.
Thing was, Chibi-Moon hadn't intentionally awakened Juno. How could she awaken VesVes?
With VesVes attacking like Chibi-Moon had murdered her mother, Chibi-Moon might not have a chance to figure out how.
Chibi-Usa swayed, and the tiger's fangs grazed her side. She aimed her Chibi-Moon Kaleidoscope toward it.
"Not again." VesVes pelted Lemures toward Chibi-Usa. The Guardian dodged, launched Pink Sugar Heart Attack to try to quell the onslaught, but the Lemures kept coming.
Juno was tied up with Nehellenia and Zirconia. Leaving Chibi-Usa to fend for herself.
The tiger bounded into her, opening its maw to carve out her entrails. She shoved the tiger, but it didn't budge. She was all bone, no muscle. The tiger was the opposite.
She released a rainbow beam into the tiger's mouth. Eyes blanking, the tiger collapsed to the ground, a heavy thud echoing, and lay, motionless.
Maybe she was getting better at this fighting thing.
Sickness crept into her stomach. She'd rejoiced at killing an animal manipulated by Dead Moon.
VesVes ground her teeth. "Again."
Chibi-Usa gulped, gripped her Kaleidoscope more tightly, aiming at VesVes. Released another beam, breaking through the Lemures. The beast tamer was out for blood, but Chibi-Usa wasn't. Yet, to survive, the Guardian had to fight like she wanted to kill VesVes.
Red with rage, VesVes bounded toward Chibi-Usa alongside the Lemures. The Lemures devoured Chibi-Usa, and nightmares of Helios being beheaded, her parents falling at Nehellenia's hand, the other Guardians imprisoned in Dead Moon for eternity, assailed her. VesVes tackled her out of the Lemures, and they crashed onto the floor, sliding and tumbling. The Lemures hovered behind them, perhaps because their master was on top of their prey. As soon as VesVes got off Chibi-Usa—if she ever did—then the Lemures would swarm the Guardian.
"How dare you kill Tiger's Eye?" VesVes' spittle smacked Chibi-Usa's forehead.
Chibi-Usa raised her hands. "I'm not going to hurt you." The same words she had said to JunJun. Maybe her words would trigger something.
VesVes screamed in Chibi-Usa's ear. Maybe not.
"I'm going to hurt you." VesVes reached toward Chibi-Usa's neck, poised to rake the girl to shreds. Chibi-Usa snatched VesVes' wrist, praying that survival instincts would empower her enough to keep VesVes at bay.
In her distress, VesVes couldn't be talked down. When Chibi-Usa had spoken to JunJun, the former Dead Moon Circus member had been vulnerable and willing to listen. Not so with VesVes.
Chibi-Usa might very well die.
The air rent asunder.
VesVes froze, looked slowly at the broken air, the vulnerability in Nehellenia's fortress.
Through the hole passed the Sailor Team.
Her mother, clumsy as always, stumbled through, holding to her ever-steady father. Sailor Jupiter passed on their heels.
Michiru and Haruka passed through, holding hands. Plankton sat on Michiru's shoulder. Chibi-Usa warmed. The two had struck a friendship, or at least a trusting.
Ami, Rei, Puu, Minako, and Sandy hovered through, Sandy lassoing the air to fly. SpongeBob and Patrick staggered through, falling facefirst. All of Chibi-Usa's loved ones had come to save her.
Except Hotaru.
Usagi's eyes latched onto VesVes. She blasted out a rainbow beam, striking VesVes' side, the beast tamer flying off Chibi-Usa, disappearing into the darkness. Not mortal, but only to get the beast tamer off of Usagi's daughter.
Chibi-Usa's mother. Destroy first, ask questions later. No curse could weaken her when her daughter's life was on the line.
Chibi-Usa rushed toward her parents. Regardless of the curse, she was going to hug them. She couldn't not love others out of fear.
She embraced her mother and father at the same time. Most importantly, they hugged her back.
They stayed that way, her parents not pushing her away. At that moment, everything was right.
"Thank goodness you're okay." Perhaps Usagi, too, had realized that she couldn't let fear keep her from loving.
Chibi-Usa nodded, her face pressed into Mamoru's chest. She hiccupped. Wetness blossomed on Mamoru's chest.
Her parents absorbed her joyful tears simply through their being there.
Chibi-Usa's breath deepened. She drew back from her parents to take in the kindness in their eyes.
Her mother wiped her eyes, smiling. Mamoru brightened more than he ever had.
Both of her parents were pale from the curse. But not weak. Never weak.
The rest of the Sailor Team stood taller, clutching their weapons. Ready to fight, even though they'd been fighting for an eternity.
They'd come for her.
The bow at the back of Sailor Jupiter's skirt reached the back of her knees, and the Guardian glowed. Instead of looking longingly at Michiru and Haruka, Makoto watched Chibi-Usa, ready to protect. Super Sailor Jupiter had arrived, bringing greater confidence in her own strength.
"Mako-chan," Chibi-Usa said, "you look different."
Makoto looked over herself. "I couldn't have gained weight in a few hours. Could I?"
Chibi-Usa laughed. She had missed Makoto's terrible jokes.
Makoto lit up. "Hey, my jokes must be pretty good now."
"Not at all," Chibi-Usa said. Makoto deflated. "I mean, you got your upgrade, Mako-chan. Congrats."
"Thanks. But I couldn't have done it without Haruka-san and Michiru-san."
"None of us got our upgrades alone," Minako said.
"Even Hotaru," Chibi-Usa said. "As shy as she is."
At Hotaru's name, some of the Guardians stiffened, and others looked everywhere but at Chibi-Usa. Patrick looked around, brows knit together. SpongeBob uncharacteristically frowned.
Chibi-Usa looked beyond her parents. "Where's Hotaru-chan?"
Haruka cleared her throat. "We, uh, we lost her." Not like her to be soft. "We were hoping she was with you."
"She's not. I don't think. If I had known, then I would've gone looking for her." There was no reason why Dead Moon would let the two Guardians be together, lest they escape. Sailor Saturn was the Guardian of Destruction. Chibi-Moon's attacks looked harmless, but little pink hearts were stronger than they looked.
SpongeBob snapped his fingers. "Maybe King Neptune could take us where she is." He turned toward the back of the group. He cocked his head. "Uh, King Neptune, your godliness? Where are you?"
The air remained sterile.
He scratched his head. "Strange. I thought he came with us. I mean, he helped us get here, so I thought he'd keep helping us."
Michiru narrowed her eyes, entering a realm that only she could see. "He's watching us. We can't see him, but I can sense him."
"I can't," Rei said. "Must be part of your new powers. I'm guessing mere mortals can't sense gods."
Michiru nodded. "He doesn't want to interfere."
"Freaking gods," Haruka muttered.
"Excuse me, I'm also a god."
Haruka poked out her tongue. "Except Sailor Neptune."
"King Neptune can still hear you, and I'd like to go home with my girlfriend in one piece, not as a piece of bacon."
A smirk snaked onto Haruka's face. "You'd love me even if I was a strip of bacon. Hell, you'd love me no matter what I was."
Teal light glowed in Michiru's hands. "You're so annoying right now, I might test that theory sooner rather than later."
Haruka raised her hands. "Okay, point taken. You win."
"Wow, Haruka," Minako said. "This is the first time I've seen you afraid of anyone. I wouldn't think it'd be your girlfriend."
"Of course it'd be my girlfriend. I gotta be afraid of someone."
Michiru twined her hair around her finger. "I'm the only one she's afraid of."
"You seem awfully satisfied that you make me tremble in my boots."
"I am."
Mamoru glanced at Usagi. Wisely kept his mouth closed.
Chibi-Usa blinked. "I'm not scared of Helios. Does that mean I really like him or not? I mean, I didn't know you were supposed to be afraid of those you love."
Mamoru coughed.
Minako sidled up to Chibi-Usa's right side. "Are you saying you love Helios?"
Makoto sidled up to Chibi-Usa's left side. "I do believe she is."
"What have I gotten myself into?" Despite the trials that they had endured, Chibi-Usa hadn't learned the greatest lesson of all: how to keep her mouth shut.
"Leave her alone," Puu said. "She's been through enough without you two hassling her."
"Thank you, Puu." Always protecting her. Puu never interfered with her bullies but, when Chibi-Usa had sought refuge, the older Guardian healed Chibi-Usa's invisible wounds by being a friend.
Sailor Pluto looked into the darkness. "To the task at hand. Nehellenia likely knows where Hotaru is. We have to find her."
A holler sounded from the distance.
Michiru's eyes sharpened. "I feel Nehellenia. This way." The goddess ran ahead. The Sailor Team followed, their footfalls echoing upon the stone ground.
"What about VesVes?" Ami said.
"She must be unconscious," Puu said. "We outnumber her, so I'm not worried about her."
"I sense someone else." Michiru's eyes lightened. "Someone…not against us. For us. But who?"
SpongeBob and Patrick looked each other up and down. Grabbed each other's hands and held them in front of each other's eyes. SpongeBob pressed his nose to Patrick's fingerless palm and took in a whiff. Patrick pressed SpongeBob's hand to his face, where a nose would be if he had one. He tried to sniff like SpongeBob, only to suck in his gut, hollowing himself out.
"Is it you?" SpongeBob said.
"I don't know," Patrick said, eyes as wide as plates. "Is it me?"
SpongeBob poked Patrick's chest. "Are you keeping something from me, mister?"
Patrick's bottom lip quivered. "Am I keeping you from something? Or am I something you from keeping?"
Rei groaned. "We're fighting the head of Dead Moon. Can you two be serious for once?"
"We are being serious," SpongeBob said.
"Yes. Yes, I suppose you are."
Minako nudged Rei. "Rei-chan, we can't be serious all the time. We'd implode. Which is worse than exploding, in my great opinion."
Rei glared. "Why don't you trying being serious for a second? I'd love to see you implode."
"Ooh, grouchy."
Rei kept her glare for a moment more before breaking into a smile. "Even I can't stay serious around you." She laughed, a sound like ringing bells.
"Do my ears deceive me?" Haruka cupped her ear. "The stone-faced Rei, Ms. Ice Queen herself, laughing? Such a strange but pleasant sound."
Rei stopped laughing, seeming to realize that they were still in enemy territory. With the noise they'd been making, surely the enemy knew their whereabouts.
"You guys have taught me to laugh." Rei wiped her eyes. "I mean, I knew how to laugh before, but I didn't laugh often. I thought I was too deep to laugh. Then I came down here and, well, now I'm laughing. Because I'm happy." She bounced on the balls of her feet. "I feel light. Like I'm not bearing everything by myself anymore. It's nice that people outside of our own team are helping us. Before, I felt like we were islands, that no one understood. It didn't help that we couldn't tell any of our non-Guardian friends about our past lives. Not just for their own safety, but because they'd think that we'd gone insane. I'm so glad I met you three."
Sandy's cheeks reddened. "Aw, shucks. Thanks. I love your laugh, by the way. If it literally could light up the room, this place would be as bright as day."
Rei grinned. Another non-Rei-like thing to do. "Thank you." A simple response to a great compliment.
Time to kill the moment. "Maybe Hotaru-chan's up there." Chibi-Usa's gut instinct was that Hotaru wasn't here.
"Or JunJun," Minako said. Had she started believing more strongly in Juno?
"Yes," Chibi-Usa said at once, reveling in the momentum. If the Guardians' leader believed in Juno, then maybe the other Guardians would believe, too.
Sandy's breath hitched.
Makoto stepped closer to the squirrel. "One of those Dead Moon scum?" She spat. "Hell, no."
"Your Highness." Juno bounded out of the darkness, reaching the Guardians. Makoto and Puu slid in front of Chibi-Usa.
Juno stopped, began to run backward. Had likely been about to join Chibi-Usa's side.
"Where do you think you're going?" Electricity swelled in Sailor Jupiter's hands.
"I was going to protect Chibi-Moon before you ogr—" Juno breathed deeply. Trying not to say something she'd regret to her new allies.
"She has enough people to protect her. And I know damn well that your idea of protection isn't the same as ours."
"You don't know a thing."
Not a good start of their nearly eternal relationship. "I promise that Juno's on our side," Chibi-Usa said. "If Michiru-san can sense it, then Rei-chan senses the same thing." Please grab onto the vine.
Makoto and Puu stayed in front of Chibi-Usa. Not budging.
Thankfully, Michiru said, "Chibi-Usa's right. JunJun—Juno…" She tasted Juno's name. "…is the one I sensed."
"I sense the same?" Rei said. Questioning her own powers would not make the situation better. "Sorry? I'm confused?" Confusion had rendered every sentence Rei uttered into a question.
Makoto, Puu, and Chibi-Usa's parents remained tense. Ami tapped her temple, like she was about to summon her Mercury Goggle to analyze Juno.
"I wouldn't have just run up to you guys if I were still with Dead Moon. Plus, I'm outnumbered by, what, fourteen to one? Not good odds."
Juno was the first one of their enemies who had defected. A different dynamic than everything and everyone being out to destroy them. No wonder the Guardians were having a hard time handling the situation.
Chibi-Usa felt Usagi's eyes on her. Differently than the times Usagi had looked at her daughter before. Weighing Chibi-Usa's judgment.
"I believe you, Chibi-Usa," her mother said.
The silence was as complete as the darkness. Even SpongeBob and Patrick were quiet.
"I already said I do," Minako said. "What about the rest of you?"
"It's too elaborate of a plan to keep up for so long," Ami said. "Pretending to be on our side just to turn against us later. Besides, we watched Juno in Kelp Forest. She tried to get VesVes on our side, too, and she and VesVes argued over helping Chibi-Usa and the rest of us. So I believe Juno, too."
"Then I do, too," Puu said. Ami lit up like the sun brightening the world after a storm.
Makoto grumbled. Didn't move.
"Give me some breathing room, Mako-chan," Chibi-Usa said. "I'm a full-fledged Guardian now." Not really, but puffing wouldn't hurt anyone. "I can defend myself." Ignoring her capture.
Makoto grumbled once more.
"Can you speak with words, please?" Haruka said.
Makoto winced at her mentor's reprimand. "I don't want you to get hurt, Chibi-Usa-chan. None of us do."
"At a certain point," Usagi said, "we have to let her go. Even if she does end up getting hurt." Her eyes softened. "Because my little girl's growing up."
Makoto watched her princess. Watched Chibi-Moon. Stepped aside, freeing Chibi-Usa.
Chibi-Usa ran ahead, slightly behind Juno. Usagi and Mamoru inched closer to the two. They would always be protective of their daughter.
A chuckle rumbled from the distance. The group slowed.
"She's close," Michiru whispered. "She knows where we are."
"Then why are we whispering?" SpongeBob whispered.
"Because you're foolish," Nehellenia said, hidden in the darkness. As the epitome of darkness, she'd be nigh impossible to see. "Light does not always overcome darkness. Especially not here, in the dark side of the moon. My dead moon."
"Where are you?" Chibi-Usa yelled.
"Look around, Princess Serenity, at this world that your mother gifted me with. What she thought she was banishing me to when I cursed you and kept you from ascending to the throne. My throne." Her voice hardened. "It should've been mine. It was always mine. Just as Endymion was always mine."
Minako made a face. "Someone else after Mamoru? Do these people see something that I don't see?"
"Hey," Mamoru and Usagi said at the same time, Mamoru more softly, Usagi like she had been the one insulted.
"This realm was a consolation prize," Nehellenia said. "Not the punishment that Queen Serenity thought it would be. I have molded it into my own kingdom.
"I am the queen's darkness. Who she should've been but was too afraid to become. She could've been so much greater than she was. She could've made the Moon Kingdom so much more than it was. Than it will be, unless I take it back from you, Princess Chibi-Moon.
"For now, here is my kingdom. I wonder, should I bestow it to you while I take back my rightful Moon Kingdom? Or should I simply destroy you and leave you with a home in hell?"
Nehellenia rushed from the darkness, arms extended, nails curved like claws, toward Chibi-Usa. Standing her ground, Chibi-Usa aimed Kaleidoscope toward the ice-filled woman.
"What did you do with Hotaru-chan?"
"I've done nothing."
"Tell me the truth." Chibi-Usa loosed a rainbow beam, and the fallen queen countered it with a black beam of her own. Her black beam swallowed Chibi-Usa's and then smashed into the Guardian, slamming her onto her back, blood spraying from her mouth. Chibi-Usa lay, staring at the unending darkness above.
"It pains me that you don't believe me." Nehellenia walked toward Chibi-Usa. The Guardian struggled to stand. "More than the pain you're experiencing right now." Was she mocking Chibi-Usa?
Puu ran beside Chibi-Usa, knelt and gathered Chibi-Usa into her arms.
"Hey, Puu?" Chibi-Usa breathed. Could barely speak.
"Don't strain yourself, Small Lady. You've done enough."
"How can I be so old but still a child? So stupid?"
"You're one of the smartest, most mature people I know. You don't have to be old to be mature."
Grunting, Chibi-Usa parted open her eyes. Her mother and father stood before her and Puu, launching Moon Gorgeous Meditation and Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber. Blasting out twin black beams that clashed against Sailor Moon's and Tuxedo Mask's, Nehellenia made the most powerful Guardian and her future husband look like fodder.
"So strong," Sailor Moon ground out, clutching her Moon Kaleidoscope with both hands.
"My world, my rules. A foolish mistake your mother made."
"Not if I can help it." Michiru's eyes glowed, and she raised her mirror.
Nothing happened.
"My world, my rules." Nehellenia's black beams pushed back Usagi's and Mamoru's attacks.
Sailor Jupiter raised her hands. The environment didn't respond. "My powers won't work. Right after I get my Super form, and I can't do a damn thing."
"My world, my rules."
"Screw you," Minako said, her hands empty. Couldn't summon her sword.
"My world, my rules. Which means, I can make you screw yourself, if it pleases you."
Minako said nothing more.
Shaking, Chibi-Usa pushed herself out of Puu's arms. "Hotaru-chan."
Puu tugged her back. "Small Lady, no."
"I have to. She's distracted. We can go find Hotaru."
"You hurt my princess." Juno jumped, hovering above Nehellenia, arms spread. Wind shrieked throughout the darkness.
"What?" With Juno behind her, Nehellenia couldn't see the hell that was about to be unleashed upon her.
"You forgot to take my powers away. I'm no longer one of yours, remember?" Arrows of light sprouted from Juno's hands, and they struck the queen. Her black beams scattered, uncontrolled, releasing Sailor Moon's and Tuxedo Mask's beams. Her parents' attacks struck Nehellenia's midsection, and blood burst from her torso and her mouth. The queen's scream pierced Chibi-Usa. Yet another sound she'd hear in her nightmares.
"And mine." SpongeBob blew a missile-shaped bubble. The bubble exploded on the queen's head, and she slammed onto the ground.
"Plus mine." Sandy lassoed the woman's arms and legs, zipping them together like Nehellenia was a dead spider.
"Mine too." Patrick lifted a pile of skulls and then hurled them onto Nehellenia, knocking the woman's head repeatedly, her head clonking against the floor.
Her friends could handle Nehellenia. Chibi-Usa had to find Hotaru.
She pushed herself onto her feet, staggered. Puu caught her.
"I'm going," Chibi-Usa said, "and if you try to stop me, I'll fight you, too."
"Small Lady…" Her eyes bore into Chibi-Usa's, like she could see Chibi-Usa's soul. "I'll go with you."
Chibi-Usa straightened, and her ribs cracked. Based on Puu's widening her eyes, cracking ribs were not a good sign.
"You're too hurt. But I know I can't stop you."
"You will never save her." Nehellenia raised her hands, and the air ripped open. "You took one of my own away from me, so I took one of your own for myself."
What happened to Chibi-Usa's heart, she couldn't describe. A cross between rending and lifting.
Hotaru passed through that hole. But she wasn't Hotaru.
She'd been built into a robot.