The group materialised in a tunnel outside of Darkar's lair, not wanting to risk dropping themselves in the middle of whatever was going on.
Both Bloom and Daphne stumbled as the source of their discomfort became suddenly closer. Sky and Timmy held the sisters upright while they caught their footing.
"You girls okay?" Sky asked.
Daphne nodded. "Yes, thank you. But I am... significantly more anxious about my ability to help in any fight that may happen here."
"We've got this," Bloom told her, already upright and looking ready to go.
"No sign of Diaspro," Tecna said, scanning the area.
"She'll have to catch up," replied Flora, as she began moving towards the source of the disturbance, Speedix wings propelling her through the air.
The boys had to run to keep up with the girls as they flew through the twists and turns of Shadowhaunt, trailing the mysterious force as it moved around. At last, they reached a large balcony which opened to the cavern Shadowhaunt occupied. Coloured light flickered across the ground, beckoning them. (Jeanne & Callii)
The Loopers rushed forward—
—and there he was.
Helia hung suspended in the air above them, staring down at them like an angel passing divine judgment, completely unmoving except for his dark hair, which had come free from its band and now whipped around behind him in a phantom wind. His right arm was enshrouded in rippling blue waves of power, his left limned in glowing red darkness, and the clenched fists at his side were the only hint of emotion he showed. The rest of him hung completely still, almost serene.
The Water Stars floated around him, circling endlessly, leaving soft trails of blue light as they spun— and behind him loomed a great, menacing dragon of dark, shifting crimson flame, rearing back to strike down anyone who tried to stop Helia's plans. Crimson and blue light stained Shadowhaunt's murky walls, casting ominous shadows across the cavern.
Flora stared directly at Helia's face, into his eyes. They were hard, unwavering— maybe there was some reluctance, or regret, but it was overshadowed by his determination. Almost unwittingly, she said, "Helia…"
Brandon was less hesitant. "Helia!" he yelled. "What are you doing? This is totally pointless!"
Helia turned to face Brandon, whose hand fell instinctively to the hilt of his sword, and spoke for the first time. "You don't understand, Brandon," he said— calmly, but strained, like he was barely managing to keep control of himself. "You're happy with these… these Loops. You and Stella, you're just fine, you're content to let this happen. You don't see that it's wrong!"
"I get it, Helia!" Now Sky stepped forward, hands outstretched toward his friend. "I understand that change can hurt. Me and Bloom have been having problems ever since the Loops started—"
"I can fix that!" Helia burst out, before visibly calming himself. His tone turned pleading. "Sky, I can fix that. I can make you and Bloom go back to normal, if you'd just—"
"There's nothing to fix!" exclaimed Sky. "It's good that we've been having problems, because it means we have to talk about how to fix them, and think about what's actually best for us!"
Flora glanced over at Bloom, who'd raised an eyebrow at Sky's words. Helia, apparently having the same thought, started to say something to Bloom, but was cut off before he could speak. "Sky's right," she said. "There's nothing to fix."
Helia's gaze swept across the assembled Loopers. "Stella," he tried, "don't you want to get rid of that— thing? You can't possibly like becoming an oozing monster, can you?"
"You know, I might have been tempted," Stella said airily. "But as it turns out, the goo is great for my complexion. So sorry, but I'll have to pass."
Brandon laughed, grinning at her, and she beamed back.
Wild-eyed, Helia cast about. "Aisha—"
"No."
"You don't understand—"
Aisha glared at Helia. "I understand," she said, each syllable charged with anger, "that you want to reset all the progress we've made— that you want to tear our lives apart— that you want to kill Nabu—"
"He's supposed to be dead!"
Aisha gave a wordless cry of rage. She made to lunge, holding up her hand and preparing an attack— which fizzled out as Nabu grasped her hand in his own.
"It's alright, Aisha. He didn't mean it like that," he said soothingly.
For a moment, she looked like she might tear her hand out of his hold, but instead she sighed and closed her fingers around his. The glare she directed at Helia became even more withering. "I won't let you be taken away from me again."
"Don't worry," Nabu said, not taking his eyes off Helia. "I don't intend on letting that happen either."
Helia whipped his head around frantically. "Timmy, Tecna, these Loops, they're not— they're not logical, this isn't logical, I have to fix it—"
"Don't even bother," Tecna said coldly, and Timmy nodded agreement. "Any sympathy I had for you died when you blew up my Pocket."
"Yeah, that was… well, dick move is putting it lightly," Musa put in. "And do you seriously think any of us would support you on this even if you didn't do that to Tecna? I mean, just look at me now. You think I want to go back to Riven?"
"You're dating a witch, Musa!" Helia cried. "That's not— it's all wrong!"
Darcy raised an eyebrow. "Watch what you're calling wrong, big boy." Not breaking eye contact with Helia, she pulled Musa in for a quick (although still passionate) kiss.
"Besides," Icy said, smirking, "are you saying you'd rather have us as enemies than as allies? Isn't it better for you and your friends not to have to contend with us?"
"Considering he would rather I be dead than alive because that's how it went in baseline, I don't think he cares much about what's better for us," Nabu pointed out.
Icy frowned. "Point taken. Are you sure you'd rather 'bring him back to the light' than just end him now?"
"Not unless there's no other choice."
"It's so insulting, though," Stormy said. "He wants us to go back to being two-dimensional villains who always end up getting beaten? No way."
Bloom smiled viciously. "Not happening," she said, full of determination. "He's not resetting anything."
Helia made a noise of frustration. "They're not— they're supposed to hate each other! You can't possibly think this is right!" he yelled, gesticulating wildly.
"Helia, man, you're the only one who thinks there's a problem," Brandon said. "Just— come down, let go of the Stars and the Fire, and we can all go rest."
Instead of calming Helia down, Brandon's words had the opposite effect. Helia screamed in anger, and the shadowed dragon behind him roared in discordant chorus. Streaks of blue and crimson lightning sparked, lashing up and down Helia's form. "I can't accept this!" he yelled. "I have to fix it!"
"Helia, stop!" shouted Flora as she stepped forward.
Helia fell silent, though the lightning did not vanish and an echo of the dragon's roar resounded in the cavern. Even though he was too high up to reach her, he stretched out a hand, then stared at it— almost seeming surprised at the presence of the tenebrous flame and the crackling bolts.
"Flora," he said in a near whisper. "Flora, please, please let me fix it. I can— I can make it all better. I can fix us, I can stop these Loops, I can make everything the way it should be. We can have what we used to— we can be what we used to— it'll all be okay, just please, let me fix it, Flora."
She felt, rather than saw, Tecna step up beside her. Taking her wife's hand in her own, she interlaced their fingers.
Flora closed her eyes for a long moment. "I'm sorry, Helia."
And Helia screamed. The dragon's grating roar clashed once again with Helia's rage, tearing and harsh, as Helia clenched his outstretched hand into a claw. A dark flame took form in his palm, flickering savagely, and he screamed even as he unleashed the first attack. (Callii)
The group scrambled out of the way, scattering as his attack slammed into the stone beneath them. They shielded themselves from the debris as best they could and moved to take cover. Unseen by Helia, the group moved to circle him, and then-
"What the-" Helia said as he heard the noise. Almost like thousands of ice cubes falling on the ground at once, and dozens of avalanches. He turned to see what it was-and didn't like it. Nobody would like a thousands-strong army of ice, snow and storm monsters charging at them, especially when they were certain the enemy couldn't do that. He knew Stormy could summon the Storm Harpies (thanks, Valtor), but he thought that Icy's powers didn't include creating armies of ice golems. And of course there was a snow storm to hinder any attempt at destroying them.
Typical Trix tactic, a very visible hammer in the front that could kill you just as much as the dark dagger it actually served to distract you from. All he needed was to know where Darcy would attack from, and how. Then the fire attack came from the side, and, after dodging (he knew better than try and shield from Darcy's fire, Flora had told him about how BLOOM couldn't put it off), he prepared to blast her with the Water Stars-and saw instead Icy, grinning evilly. He had honestly forgot Valtor had given her that power... But then, WHERE WAS DARCY?!
He had his answer when he felt all his nerves and capillary blood vessels being telekinetically pinched at once and, as he kneeled in pain, he saw the witch come out from the ground.
"And that is why you leave dealing with the overpowered monsters to the experts." Darcy said as she walked up to him, ready to pilfer everything from him as she kept her hold on his vessels.
"NEVER!" he shouted, breaking her hold with sheer magical power and preparing to smite her.
Then he was hit by seventy-four bolts of lightning, the only warning he got before the snow monsters and the Storm Harpies were on him.
(Lord Martiya)
His shielding wasn't fancy, the rebuff wasn't specialised, Helia simply let his anger direct the powers he now wielded, let the energies explode outwards, tearing the magical constructs to pieces. The Trix were shoved back, and a light grunt of exertion had him turning in time to see two of the fairies launching debris from his earlier attack.
Calmly raising his left arm, he unleashed the power of just one of the Water Stars, obliterating the rubble.
He cocked his head at the tiny creature that was running towards him.
"Really Stella? Is that the-"
Helia's words were cut off by Stella changing into a four armed beast, about to give one hell of a left hook. Bracing himself, he felt the impacts on both the right side of his head and his torso. Any normal person would've gotten a concussion and fractured ribs at best, but in Helia's current state, it barely dazed him.
It was then that a fish creature bit down on his face. Angrily forcing the jaws open, he tossed the creature to the side. It transformed back into Stella in a flash of green as Stella tossed some magic bolts while flying back into cover.
"Helia, if you continue doing this, you will regret it and, by the dragon, it'll only be the beginning of something even worse." Stella said, planning her next attack.
"You don't know anything."
"Well then," Stella caught sight of something good. "how about you hear a fact?"
"What?" Helia asked, annoyed.
In that moment, he felt a pain that he just couldn't ignore, just as a loud booming noise rang out. Noticing some blood on the floor, he turned to see her.
"Bitches love cannons." Stella grinned and saluted as Flora fired more Harkonnen shots at Helia.
Helia began to block the shots being fired with the Water Stars as started to charge at Flora.
Flora responded by Pocketing the Harkonnen and activating Zoomix, speeding off and directing Helia away from Stella.
"Guys, Flora has Helia chasing her. Make sure he doesn't catch her." Stella said on the phone.
"Got it." Roxy replied.
(Jesse Lee)
As She swerved and dodged Helia's assault, Flora pulled her emergency device from her Pocket, pressing down hard on the call button. She'd hoped to settle this herself, between the loopers but... Fand was their best bet for ending this without doing irreparable damage to their branch.
If only Helia hadn't brought two of the branches most dangerous powers to the fight.
The battle between Helia and the other loopers was difficult, not just for the sheer power Helia was wielding.
The boys were forced to hang back for the most part, darting in to run interference where they could, Timmy managed to get one good shot in, and would have paid for it dearly if Nabu hadn't managed to shield him in time.
It was awe inspiring, but also terrifying, watching as the girls darted about, unleashing spells and Pocketed weaponry. For all their age, and all the powers the boys had collected throughout their time as loopers, they couldn't match the power the girls were displaying, not even Nabu, but they did what they could.
The hardest part about fighting Helia, was that no matter what he'd done, no matter what he was doing, he had been their friend, and they were fighting to stop him, to save him from himself.
Diaspro announces her arrival to the battlefield by collapsing a large chunk of the cavern in on Helia, pressing it down as much as she can to hold him still without crushing him.
"You're late!" Bloom calls across the field, thankful for the breather.
"I had to see a man about a 'Plan B,'" the blonde calls back, trying to keep ahead of the stone tomb's cracking. The energies contained within slipped through, a tendril of power wrapping around her ankle.
Driven by Helia's desire to set things 'right,' the Shadow Fire attempted to sink into her, to corrupt her mind back to the madness she'd long since put behind her.
It sparked a rage inside Diaspro, the sensation of corruption seeking out somewhere to anchor itself, but this close on the heels of her discovery about her baseline self, it sparked a rage far greater than any Diaspro had felt for a long time.
She was beyond done with people trying to mess with her head.
Keep Hope Alive materialised beside her, within her, like a single frame not quite in focus, they exist just out of perfect sync.
It doesn't matter, Diaspro could feel the power welling up inside her.
She crushed down with more than enough force to turn the car sized rock mass into a ping pong ball.
The stone exploded outwards, the Water Stars and the Shadow Fire managing to redirect the energy before Helia was crushed.
He followed up with a blast of pure energy, which singed her as she spiraled out of the way, diving for her enemy.
Helia moved away and Diaspro followed, she could fly faster than her attacks, so she grabed for him, but only managed to catch his ankle. Her power twists through him, far slower than it should have, curbed by the stolen magic he wields, it reaches to just below his knee before he can stop it entirely.
With a snarl, Diaspro twists, shattering the limb she had fossilised before he could reverse the damage.
Though the limb is dead, nerves turned to stone, Heila screams in agony, his pain causing a backlash of magic which slams Diaspro into the far side of the cavern.
Her body sinks through the rock wall like it's water, and when she emerges, she is pulled out by her Stand, their near perfect synchronisation lost.
(Jeanne Summers)
Nabu let out a quiet 'huh,' as he and Aisha steadied each other. Aisha made a small noise of curiosity in response.
"Diaspro's Stand is slightly older than I am, but I don't think I've ever seen her use it in battle before."
"Neither have I," Aisha frowned, she'd seen the look of anger on Diaspro's face and wondered exactly what Helia had tried to do with his attack.
She also hoped Diaspro would remember that it was their friend they were all fighting.
While Diaspro began fighting Helia, Bloom made her way to her sister. Small emanations from the Shadow Fire and the Water Stars had been pulsing from Helia at random intervals, and while Bloom had been able to shrug them off, she was worried about Daphne.
For a split second, as Bloom put her hand on Daphne's shoulder, she thought she heard the cracking of stone, but it was drowned out by Helia's screaming.
The sisters refocused just in time to see Helia lash out, sending Diaspro flying into a wall.
"Did you feel that?" Daphne gasped.
"The power, it... buckled?" Bloom knew that feeling, but from where?
"That, felt like a convergence collapsing."
"You're right!" Bloom hugged her sister briefly, as the revelation ran through her head. "It makes sense, the Dragon Fire and the Water Stars cancel each other out!"
"But Helia has the Shadow Fire?" Daphne's face lit up with understanding, "which isn't the same as the Dragon Fire but close enough that he can't use the two powers in convergence!"
The air crackled with explosions as Diaspro returned to the offensive, her Diadem Assault bombarding Helia with explosive projectiles from multiple angles.
"Hey," Darcy melted out of a nearby shadow, "are you two okay?"
"Yes! We just realised the Shadow Fire and the Water Stars can't form convergence, they're still too close to primordial elemental opposites to work in sync."
"Pity they don't cancel each other out, we could be done by now," Darcy looked over to Helia, who'd begun smashing the Diadem Assault's crystals.
"If by 'done by now' you mean the complete, and possibly last destruction of our branch? Then yeah."
The faint echo of Helia voice carried across the cavern to them, "an Illusion Diaspro, really?"
Looking over they saw two copies of Diaspro, one of which was using Keep Hope Alive's Crystal Cast magic.
"I'm just so glad Helia's a total n00b at this whole, power of the gods thing, or we might not have stood any semblance of a cha...nce?"
"Darcy?" Daphne reached out to the witch.
"I just had a thought," she reached out telepathically to her sisters, speaking aloud at the same time for the fairies' benefit. "If the Shadow Fire is that close to the Dragon Fire, what if we recalibrated our Vacuums to draw it out. Bloom and Daphne would still be at a disadvantage since we'd still be dealing with the Water Stars-"
Keep Hope Alive let out a yelp as she was struck down mid air, several bodies tumbling from where the false Diaspro had been. Bloom recognised Mirror, Power and Fight before the Clow Cards were unsummoned back to Diaspro's Pocket.
"OH! IDEA!" Bloom said, startling the other two. "Darcy, can you link everyone who's not Helia, I may have a plan!"
Bloom's voice swept out along the telepathic link, "Diaspro, you still have a crapton of Agador Boxes right?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Trix, can you adjust the Vacuums to pull at both powers? Not absorb them, just pull them?"
"It will take a few minutes," Icy's replied, "but yeah, if the Vacuums aren't absorbing either, then we should be able to."
"Great, while you do that we need to try to get Helia to attempt a convergence."
Helia wasn't sure what the others thought they were doing, but it seemed they were back to distraction tactics. Diaspro must have been out of tricks as well, so maybe now he could make some progress.
He just... needed this to be over with.
'Wait, what are they...?'
"Diaspro," Flora placed a hand on the younger fairy's cheek, ensuring their gaze was locked and Diaspro knew how serious she was, "I think it's time for a Requiem."
Diaspro paled, but nodded anyway, stepping back and away from Flora she called Keep Hope Alive to her once more.
This time there was no sliver of separation, no distinction between the two.
She is afraid of this power, but she also knows Flora is right, Breaking the tether between Helia and the Stolen magic isn't like Breaking other things.
It is not a task she can complete without it.
The structure of the universe, understanding of things she does not normally care to comprehend roll themselves out for her.
Helia sends a volley of energy towards her, but she can see it, the Order of its creation.
She twists a coil of power and the attack explodes before it can reach its target.
Turning, she stares up at Helia, and understands.
She has to break him.
Aisha flinched as Diaspro began to speak, breaking attack after attack, even if the distortion of voice wasn't odd and uncomfortable, her words are painful to hear, even for those they aren't directed at. Beside Aisha, Stella looked equally uncomfortable, the duo had to work to block it out, to focus as Bloom and Daphne must on the other side of the cavern.
Whether this works or not, they know this plan won't work twice.
Settling into a mild convergence, the pair work on creating a magical wavelength sympathetic to the Water Stars.
Icy, Darcy and Stormy worked quickly, recalibrating their Vacuums, Diaspro's – Goldy's – Vacuum was broken down and used to reinforce the triangle they were creating.
Hidden from view they waited for the right moment to begin.
Around the Helia and the eight women, Roxy, Musa, Tecna, Flora and Nabu began crafting a shield to protect the universe from any potential backlash.
In moments like these, Nabu could really feel the difference in their magic pools the age gap caused. Still, he was capable of helping, so help he would.
Sky, Brandon and Timmy watched on, hoping this would work. Maybe without the stolen magic, they could finally get through to Helia.
"Do you think praying to Fand might help?" Timmy asked, a waver barely there in his voice.
"It can't hurt?" Brandon replied, gaze fixed firmly on Stella, and Sky reached over to take his friend's hand as his voice cracked slightly.
"Has our little sister always been that vicious?" Stormy asked as the Trix began to power up their spell.
Helia began twisting the powers together, trying to force a Convergence.
"We aren't broken Helia, YOU ARE!" In the same instant the powers buckled, Diaspro drove a shunt of energy into the cracks, forcing them wider. The Trix' spell began pulling at the exposed pieces of magic, tugging them away.
On either side of the cavern, Bloom and Daphne, and Aisha and Stella began their own spells.
While the Dragon Fire-wielder sisters pulled at their Shadow counterpart, the princesses of Andros and Solaria began gathering the Water Stars.
With Darcy's telepathic link, it was easy for the group to keep the spell stable.
Or so they thought.
'Uh-oh!' 'Problem!' 'Wait-!'
They had less than a second of warning before the spells shattered, the Shadow Fire and the Water Stars snapped back to Helia with such force, the backlash shattered the protective shield around them, and the cavern walls were compressed by a metre in every direction.
Darcy's mental link disintegrated under the shockwave's power.
For a few seconds the cavern was filled with a heavy silence, then from around the area, small groans and moans made themselves heard.
"Uhhhrrgh, is everyone okay?" Flora called out.
"I'm not," Stella said, pushing a piece of debris off herself.
"I think we need a new plan," Icy added, wriggling free of the imprint she'd made of herself on the wall.
"Helia's down," Techna pointed to the boy in question, floating limply in the air, The Shadow Fire and the Water Stars circling him slowly. They watched as the last of his foot repaired itself, and he began to twitch.
"We need to get him now before he fully recovers," Musa said.
"Great plan, is anyone capable of getting him now?" Aisha shot back, "because I need to recover as much as he does."
"Diaspro!" Bloom looked around for the blonde.
"I've got her!" Sky darted the few dozen metres to the fallen fairy's side, taking in her appearance. She'd reverted back to her civilian form, and Sky had to remove his jacket to place under her head as she began seizing.
Keep Hope Alive (Requiem or otherwise) was nowhere to be seen.
Flora swore quietly to herself and pressed the emergency button again. If Fand didn't arrive soon...
In the air, Helia's head turned towards her, his eyes locking with hers.
"Break time's over," she called to her friends.
(Jeanne Summers)
It was done. Just a moment, and he would rewrite everything. Then he felt a strangely powerful push on the back, almost as if he had been punched.
"That was supposed to rip your heart out, just as promised... But then again, Minako did say there was a chance it wouldn't work out of her branch." an unexpected voice said, right before Helia was blocked to the ground by an incredibly powerful glue shot.
Everyone turned in shock, not believing at the voice-and almost not believing at the sight of Riven, of all people, training on Helia a Fire Buster II like the one Tecna had been gifted for her wedding by the Sailor Moon Loopers.
"Wait... What are you doing?!" Helia asked.
"Trying to keep you from doing the stupidest thing I've ever witnessed, of course. And that includes the Loop where Darcy and Musa were best friends and my non-Looping counterpart tried to date both behind the back of the other." came the reply in the most annoyed tone Riven could muster. "Oh, and ripping your heart out-I promised I'd do that if you continued being a stalker to Flora, didn't I?"
"I-I am not stalking! I'm trying to turn everything back to normal!"
"Normal became rather fluid the moment we Awoke to the Loops, Helia."
"But you and Musa-"
"Please spare me the bad boyfriend jokes. Icy and Stormy are already going to do them, nevermind how I've had to keep them from getting too pushy with setting my exes together. But nevermind talking about me-let's talk about you. And the fact you're trying to erase millions of years of the lives of all your friends because you can't handle having been dumped-you're being worse than baseline me! BASELINE ME! Do you understand how ridiculous you're being?!"
"Quite a lot." Stormy quipped, unable to restrain herself.
"Now stop, OK? It's not too late. You can put those things down, get to a good shrink, possibly away from Michiru and Naruto's prank war, and-well, things aren't going back to normal, but at least you can start adapting to this mess. Really adapting, I mean."
Helia didn't answer for a moment, and closed his eyes. Then he reopened them, and said: "I can't stop now. I'm sorry."
Riven pulled the trigger of his flamethrower, firing a surprisingly powerful burst of fire that was somehow burning through the magical barrier set up by Helia.
"Stand down! You've already lost, you idiot!" Riven shouted.
With a wordless scream, Helia pushed more energy in the shield and hit back with the Water Stars, overpowering the Fire Buster II and knocking the now revealed Stealth Looper down, before dissolving the glue that had been keeping him blocked. (Lord Martiya)
Now or never. Helia had gathered enough knowledge how to handle his new powers. It's time.
He looked onto the others, ignoring any brief sparks of hesitation- until his gaze fell upon Flora, who stared at him with pleading eyes.
Would it really be worth it? Helia looked over each of them once more. Stella with her bugs- Nabu, still alive- Diaspro seizing on the ground- Flora, married to Tecna-
Was it too late?
He breathed in, breathed out, and made his choice.
Gathering the powers of the Shadow Flame and the Water Stars, Helia closed his eyes and prepared to change everything. He unleashed his power-
A bright flash of light consumed the cavern.