(Chapter Nine)
"Hi...yaaa!" she yelled. Jasmine's brown hair whipped behind her back. She slashed the sword down if you've watched DBZ and saw the theme song, then you know when Trunks slashed the sword down as a Super Saiyan just before they showed the picture of the whole gang? That's the move I'm talking about! and the target that she had aimed at fell apart and crumbled into rubble. She whirled around and swung her sword in a circle before reducing the other targets into toothpicks. She slung it back onto her belt.
She wiped her forehead and turned to the other samurai. "Bring it on!" she said with genuine innocence. They charged at her and she switched to martial arts and became completely serious. She stared at the oncoming army she jumped high in the air and gave the first few that had reached her a tremendous kick from the air twisting her body back and forth, smashing the samurai's faces with her feet. When she reached the ground she flipped onto another's back and with her feet, tossed her to the ground.
She soon finished off the whole army and then she turned and began helping them back up. "You okay?" she asked every single one. "I'm really sorry!" They all smiled at her, they were all friends and they really admired Jasmine because she was able to be so strong and yet still be so goddamn nice.
They all went to back to their rooms together. They all started chatting. "Guess what, the guys are planning another guymellef attack!" squealed one over-excited samurai. Jasmine turned to her. "What's a guymellef?" she asked curiously. The others stared at her. "Oh, we forgot that you're new. If you want to see a guymellef, ask your boyfriend!" Jasmine looked thoughtful. "Yes, I guess I will." They began gossiping. "Ooh, I wish I were you Jasmine, and have Lord Dilandau! He is such a hunk!" squealed one of the samurai.
Jasmine shook her head a little sadly. "No, you wouldn't want to have my life, you wouldn't want to have all this and not remember who you were before you became a samurai, always wondering who you really are." she shook her head and smiled brightly. "Oh well, it doesn't bother me that much. Come on!" she started to run and the rest of them followed laughing. She reached her room and closed the door behind her. She took off her armor and her bodysuit. She changed into a dress of purple velvet.
There was a knock at the door and she turned and opened it. It was Dilandau. "You've got to come with me now!" he said his eyes frantic and he grabbed her arm. "Come on." he led her to a wall in the corridor. Looking around for anyone, he walked right through the wall and dragged Jasmine with him. 'What's going on?!' she wondered.
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"Gotcha!" yelled Gohan.
"Gotcha!" yelled Trunks.
"Waahhh!" yelled Usagi. she fell onto her knees. "I'll be up in a second!" she raised herself and muttered. "I am either going to die, or I'll faint." she got up and took a step towards the monkey. She managed to learn how to walk around heavily but she couldn't catch the monkey. They all watched Usagi walk around heavily after the lightly dancing monkey.
She stopped suddenly and they thought she had given up. In reality, she had just started. The monkey thought she had given up too and danced closer. When she didn't move, it danced even closer and was right under her nose. Her whole body suddenly slammed on top of it and she caught it. Trunks and Gohan cheered and rushed to help pick her up. "Unbelievable! Who'd a thought that someone could catch Bubbles by clutzing out?" said an amazed King Kai.
Usagi stood up and brushed off her sailor outfit. "Eew, what is this?!" she grimaced. She had brushed her hand on a slimy green jelly-type stuff. King Kai looked closer at her and said, "Um, that looks like the new type of food that I cooked for Bubbles. But he finished it all!" he turned a suspicious raised eyebrow. Bubbles' eyebrows shot up and he ran across the planet.
She suddenly got an idea and she walked behind a tree out of sight of the others. She de-transformed and pulled out her communicator. "Yoo-hoo? Anybody on?" the communicator's oops, I forgot to mention how it looked like! It was silver with a miniscule gold crescent moon at one corner next to the screen. screen flashed and went into a kaleidoscope of colors and then lit up.
Ami's face appeared on the screen, "Hello Quee- er Princess Serenity, I am your servant from the future. The Mercury that you know is in the library reading books by the dozen! I can't believe that she's really me several thousand years earlier!" she stopped and apologized for babbling. Usagi smiled and said. "I need a little help, I'm training on a planet that has an overload of gravity and I can only walk heavily. Is there a program that you have that can adjust my body a little so that I can actually stand the gravity and train properly?" Ami furrowed her brow for a second and then her eyes brightened. "Yep, I know of one, I'll transfer it to you, but it'll take around fifteen minutes. Can ya take it?" she queried. "Sure!" squealed Usagi before looking at the group of people staring at her from a way across the field. "Gotta go, bye Ames!"
She pocketed her communicator and walked towards the others. "Umm, do either of you have a watch?" she asked Trunks and Gohan. They stared at her. "What? I want to know what time it is, that's all!" she swore. Gohan twisted his wrist and looked at his watch. "It's 10:50 in the morning." she smiled at him. "Thanks." she turned to King Kai, "Can we pleeease rest for a little while? Pleeease?" she asked pleadingly. "Very well." was the grumpy reply from King Kai. She slumped heavily on Trunks' chest and he caught her easily. She bent her head back and smiled at him with twinkling eyes as he set her down beside a tree.
15 minutes later of chatting, Usagi suddenly grabbed her throat and coughed hard. She held out her hand, palm up and a glass of water appeared on it. She took a drink then sighed and shrugged her shoulders. She stood up and then asked King Kai, "When can we start training again?" The answer was quick. "When he wakes up." Trunks was asleep and he woke with a start. "What? Huh?" he saw them looking at him and blushed.
Alright first, we'll do some sparring, how 'bout Gohan and Trunks while Sailor Moon watches?" King Kai looked at them, the two guys shrugged. Sailor Moon pouted. "I'll fight Trunks and then we'll see. King Kai rounded on her. "YOU?! You can barely stand up! Very well, Trunks try your best on her!" he barked. (At this time, he really disliked Usagi for some reason.)
Trunks stared at her and saw that she was smiling. She yelled. "Cosmic... Moon... Power!" she transformed into Sailor Moon. "Bring it on!" she called to Trunks. He ran at her and threw a light punch. She dodged quite easily. "Come on! You can do better than that can't you?" she taunted him. "Aren't Super Saiyans supposed to be really strong? You can't even land a punch on little old me?"
He got a little pissed, and threw a ki-blast at her. She held out both her hands and deflected it right back at him. Trunks, who wasn't expecting this was hit with his own blast. "Oof!" he grunted as it hit him right in the chest and knocking the breath out of him. Usagi gasped and ran swiftly over to him. "Trunks? Trunks are you okay?" she asked anxiously nudging him. He looked up and said, "You're gettin' good! Get ready, now I'm not going to go so easy on you!" she laughed and answered. "I can still kick your butt!" and got into a fighting stance. They both started to do hand to hand combat and she was almost as good as Trunks... almost. "Oww!" she shrieked as he landed a punch on her collarbone.
She stopped fighting and rubbed her now bruised skin. "Whoa, I'm sorry! You okay?" he asked and Gohan rushed up as well. "Oh no!" she gasped, "Please, not again! Not now!" she clutched Trunks' shoulder desperately and whimpered in pain. "Did, I really hurt you that much?" he asked. "No." she gasped out. "Beryl... Queen Beryl's back. She's going to kill me... again." Gohan and Trunks were both holding her up as she fell limply. "No! Let go now!" she shrieked, but it was too late. All three were encased in a red ball of energy. And disappeared in a flash.
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"Go! Go! Go!" yelled Alan to his troops as they boarded the floating ship. "We've got to find Merle!" yelled Hitomi. Rei screamed suddenly as she was hit with a red ball of energy. The impact thrust her into Van's arms. She knocked them both off balance and they plummeted down a narrow hole that had suddenly opened up in the ground.
Alan turned just in time to see them fall down and the ground close up once again. "Shit." he muttered as he whipped his sword around to face another opponent. After the young boy fell, he turned and ran back to where both Rei and Van had disappeared. The ground was solid but he desperately kicked at it with his boot. "Augh." he grunted and he turned to see another soldier with a sword in his hand and a triumphant smile on his face. Alan lifted his hand from where the blood was dribbling down his shoulder. He didn't realize until it was too late that another soldier was right behind him, until the butt of a sword knocked him out cold.
"Rei? Rei? Rei, wake up!" a voice sounded in her head. She groaned and her eyelashes fluttered open. She blinked and the blurry picture of Van's anxious face became clear. She sat up and looked around. "Whe-where are we? What happened?" He shrugged and his tense face relaxed a little now that he knew Rei was okay. He stood up and she did as well. She looked around them. "Look, there's a door. Let's get out of here!" she grabbed his arm and walked cautiously towards the door. Pressing her ear against the door she sighed with relief. "Can't hear anything. Come on!" she opened the door and they walked out of the room.
Rei suddenly clutched at Van and he looked down at her in surprise. Her eyes had suddenly filled with tears. "No." she said in a horrified whisper. "What's wrong?!" asked Van in alarm. "Merle... she really does love Dilandau! She's the strongest samurai I've ever seen! You might die!" Van stared at her. "Merle would never do that! Although she's never seen him before she was captured, she still knows that Dilandau was the one that destroyed Finaalia!"
Rei shook her head. "She's no longer Merle... She's now human. She-she saw you catch me when I fell from the sky and she was jealous. She was captured by a... tree? When she tried to escape the security system switched her and she lost her memories. Dilandau convinced her that her name is Jasmine and she is now as good a samurai as you!"
"Why would she be jealous? You were going to die if I didn't catch you. It's not like we're actually in love or anything." that struck Rei's heart like a thousand arrows. She let go of his arm and wiped away the stray tears that she had let slip. "No-no why would she think that?" she repeated dully.
She turned away from him so as not to see the pain reflected in her eyes. She really did love him, not because of his looks or his title but of Van himself. 'You were a fool Rei. You knew your heart would be broken by any man that you would open your heart to and yet you were foolish enough to believe that just maybe one person would actually care for you.'
Van was looking in the other direction. 'How could I say that? I do love her, more than any infatuation with Hitomi or any other woman either on Gaea or from the Mystic Moon. But why would she love me?' he thought dully to himself. Next to him, Rei suddenly shook her head and pulled out her star transformation pen. "Mars... Star... Power!" she said but with less confidence than she had ever had in her life. As the swirls of fire twisted and swirled around her body, she felt the power of her element call to her.
The flames of love rose high in her body and her eyes, beforehand had been a beautiful violet now flamed black-red filled with disappointment and yet filled with her love towards the young man next to her. She looked one last time at the man who had stolen her heart. The man who had stolen her heart, crushed it into shards and fluttered them into the wind.
She re-appeared as Sailor Mars but now she looked different from what she had worn before. Her eyes stayed the same black-red color and the previously pure red of her sailor suit became a shimmering difference between red and black. The stone embedded in her tiara changed into a black heart. Van stared at her and her new appearance, she was still beautiful but now her whole appearance was filled with sorrow. Even someone like him who was not sensitive to auras could sense it in every cell of her being.
"Rei? Are you all right? What's wrong?" he asked in barely a whisper. She whipped her face towards him, and her hair slithered across his neck like liquid silk before she shocked him with the color of her eyes. 'If only you knew.' she thought heart-broken. 'I love you Van...' She blinked and focused on him. "I'm fine." she lied. "Let's go, you'll need my help to defeat Jasmine. After that, I'll leave for my own home and I'll take Hitomi as well if she wants to. I won't be such a bother to you anymore and then maybe Jasmine will restore some of the feelings she had for you before the brainwashing." she choked out the last part and turned back to the corridor which, thankfully was now full of guards running towards them.
"Fire... Of... Passion!" her attack due to the feelings of betrayal combined with love strengthened her attack with more power than she had ever possessed. The guards were gone in an instant and she had ran past Van down the corridor. Van followed her in a daze.
Deep within the fortress, Dilandau was holding Jasmine close towards him and she could feel the fear coursing through his veins. She looked into his eyes and saw what she had always dreamed of. She saw true love for her that shone mixed with the fear of losing her. Dilandau himself could not believe what he felt towards this girl. For the short while that he had known her, she had made him feel the one emotion he had been torn away from all his life... love. He truly loved her and the thought of his archenemy reclaiming her was almost too much to bear.
Jasmine pulled herself away from him a little. "What's wrong? Won't you tell me?" her green cat-like eyes looked deep into his. "Van." he growled the word. Jasmine shivered at the word. She knew that Dilandau hated him and she yearned to kill him to make Dilandau happy. She smiled at him. "Don't worry. We'll defeat him... then you won't have him alive to torture your mind." she touched one finger across the scar across his right cheek that Van had slashed with his sword and kissed it lightly. Dilandau relaxed a little and smiled down at her.
She broke away from him and then walked to her closet. "Quickly now. Get into your armor. We'll kill this man that you hate so much and then you'll be able to live in peace." she said before she disappeared into it and he could hear the rustling of fabric as she slipped into the her samurai armor. He followed her example and changed also into his armor.
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"Moon... Crisis... Makeup!" yelled Sailor Moon as she flung up her hand. Her sailor suit changed and so did her accessories. She emerged more powerful than before. She held up her spiral moon wand. The jewel within it sparked and the pink light enveloped them all. Gohan and Trunks were amazed. The red energy bubble dispersed and they plummeted towards the ground. Trunks and Gohan both stopped in mid-air. They looked down for Usagi but could catch no sight of her. "Where the hell is she?!" yelled Trunks. "Up here!" they heard her sweet voice call from above them. They looked up in astonishment. She had sprouted wings from her shoulders Yeah, yeah. I've seen the series. She's still wearing her suit here! and was smiling down at them.
"Quick, dive down as fast as you can. Beryl knows that we've escaped her energy bubble and she's going to send her youma to attempt to capture us, and I'd rather skip that." with that she tucked her wings and dove past the shocked boys. They saw her soar towards the ground before they heard the screeching of Beryl's henchmen. They quickly followed her lead and flew down with a burst of light trailing behind each of them.
Usagi felt her strength draining from her body and knew that she could no hold her Super Sailor Moon persona for much longer. The corners of her eyes edged black invitingly but Usagi fought against it with all her might. She leaped into a tree and her suit disappeared and so did her wings. She was once again wearing her simple sweatshirt and jeans. She flung herself off the sturdy branch that she was sitting on and dangled from her legs upside down. As both Trunks and Gohan passed, she grabbed them with almost inhuman force and hauled them onto the branch while the youma flying after them dove too far and smashed on the ground.
She flipped right side up again and then slumped on the trunk of the tree. She had used up too much strength already. Trunks edged closer towards her and caught her just in time before she plummeted after the army of youma that had landed and killed themselves on the rocks below them. "Argh." she grumbled. "I'm still too weak to do much. This crystal is not going to hold up much longer if the one back in my rightful time doesn't reappear. She hauled herself up and kissed Trunks' cheek as a thank-you. Gohan right beside them saw it and froze. 'Trunks! She loves Trunks! I knew it!' he thought hopelessly.
Usagi turned to Gohan and beckoned him towards her with her hand. She knew that she was never going to retrieve her crystal. She had failed, and now Beryl would rule both her dimension and the Dragonball dimension as well. As she lifted her head towards Gohan, she knew that she really, truly loved him. More than Chiba Mamoru had ever made her feel. As he bent his head closer to hers, she whispered, "I love you... Good-bye." She felt a burst of strength course through her momentarily and she kissed him on the lips before she fell back into Trunks' arms and her eyes fluttered closed. She drew once last breath and let it out shakely... Then she was gone.
"NOO!" yelled Gohan and Trunks simultaneously. Usagi's still body shimmered and her princess dress appeared on her body along with her wings. In her hand she held the crystal which immediately darkened and ceased to shine. "Usagi! You can't! You just can't!" Gohan could not hide the shameful moisture coming from his eyes. Trunks just stared in horror. "No!" he said in a shocked whisper.
A shrill wind blew around them and the very forest that they were in withered and the emerald leaves became twisted and black. "Yes! Finally, the thorn in my side is gone!" the cruel voice ripped through the entire dimension and Beryl's eyes lit up in delight. Finally she really would conquer not only the universe, but more than one dimension! "HAHAHAHA!" her laugh echoed through the withered leaves and the air around Usagi suddenly turned black and she disappeared.
"Now who'll be the one who finally gets Endymion? Tell me that Princess?" her dark laughter echoes across the land. People looked up into the dark clouds that had appeared in the sky. As they stared, the moon shone blood red mourning the death of its mistress.
"Hi...yaaa!" she yelled. Jasmine's brown hair whipped behind her back. She slashed the sword down if you've watched DBZ and saw the theme song, then you know when Trunks slashed the sword down as a Super Saiyan just before they showed the picture of the whole gang? That's the move I'm talking about! and the target that she had aimed at fell apart and crumbled into rubble. She whirled around and swung her sword in a circle before reducing the other targets into toothpicks. She slung it back onto her belt.
She wiped her forehead and turned to the other samurai. "Bring it on!" she said with genuine innocence. They charged at her and she switched to martial arts and became completely serious. She stared at the oncoming army she jumped high in the air and gave the first few that had reached her a tremendous kick from the air twisting her body back and forth, smashing the samurai's faces with her feet. When she reached the ground she flipped onto another's back and with her feet, tossed her to the ground.
She soon finished off the whole army and then she turned and began helping them back up. "You okay?" she asked every single one. "I'm really sorry!" They all smiled at her, they were all friends and they really admired Jasmine because she was able to be so strong and yet still be so goddamn nice.
They all went to back to their rooms together. They all started chatting. "Guess what, the guys are planning another guymellef attack!" squealed one over-excited samurai. Jasmine turned to her. "What's a guymellef?" she asked curiously. The others stared at her. "Oh, we forgot that you're new. If you want to see a guymellef, ask your boyfriend!" Jasmine looked thoughtful. "Yes, I guess I will." They began gossiping. "Ooh, I wish I were you Jasmine, and have Lord Dilandau! He is such a hunk!" squealed one of the samurai.
Jasmine shook her head a little sadly. "No, you wouldn't want to have my life, you wouldn't want to have all this and not remember who you were before you became a samurai, always wondering who you really are." she shook her head and smiled brightly. "Oh well, it doesn't bother me that much. Come on!" she started to run and the rest of them followed laughing. She reached her room and closed the door behind her. She took off her armor and her bodysuit. She changed into a dress of purple velvet.
There was a knock at the door and she turned and opened it. It was Dilandau. "You've got to come with me now!" he said his eyes frantic and he grabbed her arm. "Come on." he led her to a wall in the corridor. Looking around for anyone, he walked right through the wall and dragged Jasmine with him. 'What's going on?!' she wondered.
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"Gotcha!" yelled Gohan.
"Gotcha!" yelled Trunks.
"Waahhh!" yelled Usagi. she fell onto her knees. "I'll be up in a second!" she raised herself and muttered. "I am either going to die, or I'll faint." she got up and took a step towards the monkey. She managed to learn how to walk around heavily but she couldn't catch the monkey. They all watched Usagi walk around heavily after the lightly dancing monkey.
She stopped suddenly and they thought she had given up. In reality, she had just started. The monkey thought she had given up too and danced closer. When she didn't move, it danced even closer and was right under her nose. Her whole body suddenly slammed on top of it and she caught it. Trunks and Gohan cheered and rushed to help pick her up. "Unbelievable! Who'd a thought that someone could catch Bubbles by clutzing out?" said an amazed King Kai.
Usagi stood up and brushed off her sailor outfit. "Eew, what is this?!" she grimaced. She had brushed her hand on a slimy green jelly-type stuff. King Kai looked closer at her and said, "Um, that looks like the new type of food that I cooked for Bubbles. But he finished it all!" he turned a suspicious raised eyebrow. Bubbles' eyebrows shot up and he ran across the planet.
She suddenly got an idea and she walked behind a tree out of sight of the others. She de-transformed and pulled out her communicator. "Yoo-hoo? Anybody on?" the communicator's oops, I forgot to mention how it looked like! It was silver with a miniscule gold crescent moon at one corner next to the screen. screen flashed and went into a kaleidoscope of colors and then lit up.
Ami's face appeared on the screen, "Hello Quee- er Princess Serenity, I am your servant from the future. The Mercury that you know is in the library reading books by the dozen! I can't believe that she's really me several thousand years earlier!" she stopped and apologized for babbling. Usagi smiled and said. "I need a little help, I'm training on a planet that has an overload of gravity and I can only walk heavily. Is there a program that you have that can adjust my body a little so that I can actually stand the gravity and train properly?" Ami furrowed her brow for a second and then her eyes brightened. "Yep, I know of one, I'll transfer it to you, but it'll take around fifteen minutes. Can ya take it?" she queried. "Sure!" squealed Usagi before looking at the group of people staring at her from a way across the field. "Gotta go, bye Ames!"
She pocketed her communicator and walked towards the others. "Umm, do either of you have a watch?" she asked Trunks and Gohan. They stared at her. "What? I want to know what time it is, that's all!" she swore. Gohan twisted his wrist and looked at his watch. "It's 10:50 in the morning." she smiled at him. "Thanks." she turned to King Kai, "Can we pleeease rest for a little while? Pleeease?" she asked pleadingly. "Very well." was the grumpy reply from King Kai. She slumped heavily on Trunks' chest and he caught her easily. She bent her head back and smiled at him with twinkling eyes as he set her down beside a tree.
15 minutes later of chatting, Usagi suddenly grabbed her throat and coughed hard. She held out her hand, palm up and a glass of water appeared on it. She took a drink then sighed and shrugged her shoulders. She stood up and then asked King Kai, "When can we start training again?" The answer was quick. "When he wakes up." Trunks was asleep and he woke with a start. "What? Huh?" he saw them looking at him and blushed.
Alright first, we'll do some sparring, how 'bout Gohan and Trunks while Sailor Moon watches?" King Kai looked at them, the two guys shrugged. Sailor Moon pouted. "I'll fight Trunks and then we'll see. King Kai rounded on her. "YOU?! You can barely stand up! Very well, Trunks try your best on her!" he barked. (At this time, he really disliked Usagi for some reason.)
Trunks stared at her and saw that she was smiling. She yelled. "Cosmic... Moon... Power!" she transformed into Sailor Moon. "Bring it on!" she called to Trunks. He ran at her and threw a light punch. She dodged quite easily. "Come on! You can do better than that can't you?" she taunted him. "Aren't Super Saiyans supposed to be really strong? You can't even land a punch on little old me?"
He got a little pissed, and threw a ki-blast at her. She held out both her hands and deflected it right back at him. Trunks, who wasn't expecting this was hit with his own blast. "Oof!" he grunted as it hit him right in the chest and knocking the breath out of him. Usagi gasped and ran swiftly over to him. "Trunks? Trunks are you okay?" she asked anxiously nudging him. He looked up and said, "You're gettin' good! Get ready, now I'm not going to go so easy on you!" she laughed and answered. "I can still kick your butt!" and got into a fighting stance. They both started to do hand to hand combat and she was almost as good as Trunks... almost. "Oww!" she shrieked as he landed a punch on her collarbone.
She stopped fighting and rubbed her now bruised skin. "Whoa, I'm sorry! You okay?" he asked and Gohan rushed up as well. "Oh no!" she gasped, "Please, not again! Not now!" she clutched Trunks' shoulder desperately and whimpered in pain. "Did, I really hurt you that much?" he asked. "No." she gasped out. "Beryl... Queen Beryl's back. She's going to kill me... again." Gohan and Trunks were both holding her up as she fell limply. "No! Let go now!" she shrieked, but it was too late. All three were encased in a red ball of energy. And disappeared in a flash.
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"Go! Go! Go!" yelled Alan to his troops as they boarded the floating ship. "We've got to find Merle!" yelled Hitomi. Rei screamed suddenly as she was hit with a red ball of energy. The impact thrust her into Van's arms. She knocked them both off balance and they plummeted down a narrow hole that had suddenly opened up in the ground.
Alan turned just in time to see them fall down and the ground close up once again. "Shit." he muttered as he whipped his sword around to face another opponent. After the young boy fell, he turned and ran back to where both Rei and Van had disappeared. The ground was solid but he desperately kicked at it with his boot. "Augh." he grunted and he turned to see another soldier with a sword in his hand and a triumphant smile on his face. Alan lifted his hand from where the blood was dribbling down his shoulder. He didn't realize until it was too late that another soldier was right behind him, until the butt of a sword knocked him out cold.
"Rei? Rei? Rei, wake up!" a voice sounded in her head. She groaned and her eyelashes fluttered open. She blinked and the blurry picture of Van's anxious face became clear. She sat up and looked around. "Whe-where are we? What happened?" He shrugged and his tense face relaxed a little now that he knew Rei was okay. He stood up and she did as well. She looked around them. "Look, there's a door. Let's get out of here!" she grabbed his arm and walked cautiously towards the door. Pressing her ear against the door she sighed with relief. "Can't hear anything. Come on!" she opened the door and they walked out of the room.
Rei suddenly clutched at Van and he looked down at her in surprise. Her eyes had suddenly filled with tears. "No." she said in a horrified whisper. "What's wrong?!" asked Van in alarm. "Merle... she really does love Dilandau! She's the strongest samurai I've ever seen! You might die!" Van stared at her. "Merle would never do that! Although she's never seen him before she was captured, she still knows that Dilandau was the one that destroyed Finaalia!"
Rei shook her head. "She's no longer Merle... She's now human. She-she saw you catch me when I fell from the sky and she was jealous. She was captured by a... tree? When she tried to escape the security system switched her and she lost her memories. Dilandau convinced her that her name is Jasmine and she is now as good a samurai as you!"
"Why would she be jealous? You were going to die if I didn't catch you. It's not like we're actually in love or anything." that struck Rei's heart like a thousand arrows. She let go of his arm and wiped away the stray tears that she had let slip. "No-no why would she think that?" she repeated dully.
She turned away from him so as not to see the pain reflected in her eyes. She really did love him, not because of his looks or his title but of Van himself. 'You were a fool Rei. You knew your heart would be broken by any man that you would open your heart to and yet you were foolish enough to believe that just maybe one person would actually care for you.'
Van was looking in the other direction. 'How could I say that? I do love her, more than any infatuation with Hitomi or any other woman either on Gaea or from the Mystic Moon. But why would she love me?' he thought dully to himself. Next to him, Rei suddenly shook her head and pulled out her star transformation pen. "Mars... Star... Power!" she said but with less confidence than she had ever had in her life. As the swirls of fire twisted and swirled around her body, she felt the power of her element call to her.
The flames of love rose high in her body and her eyes, beforehand had been a beautiful violet now flamed black-red filled with disappointment and yet filled with her love towards the young man next to her. She looked one last time at the man who had stolen her heart. The man who had stolen her heart, crushed it into shards and fluttered them into the wind.
She re-appeared as Sailor Mars but now she looked different from what she had worn before. Her eyes stayed the same black-red color and the previously pure red of her sailor suit became a shimmering difference between red and black. The stone embedded in her tiara changed into a black heart. Van stared at her and her new appearance, she was still beautiful but now her whole appearance was filled with sorrow. Even someone like him who was not sensitive to auras could sense it in every cell of her being.
"Rei? Are you all right? What's wrong?" he asked in barely a whisper. She whipped her face towards him, and her hair slithered across his neck like liquid silk before she shocked him with the color of her eyes. 'If only you knew.' she thought heart-broken. 'I love you Van...' She blinked and focused on him. "I'm fine." she lied. "Let's go, you'll need my help to defeat Jasmine. After that, I'll leave for my own home and I'll take Hitomi as well if she wants to. I won't be such a bother to you anymore and then maybe Jasmine will restore some of the feelings she had for you before the brainwashing." she choked out the last part and turned back to the corridor which, thankfully was now full of guards running towards them.
"Fire... Of... Passion!" her attack due to the feelings of betrayal combined with love strengthened her attack with more power than she had ever possessed. The guards were gone in an instant and she had ran past Van down the corridor. Van followed her in a daze.
Deep within the fortress, Dilandau was holding Jasmine close towards him and she could feel the fear coursing through his veins. She looked into his eyes and saw what she had always dreamed of. She saw true love for her that shone mixed with the fear of losing her. Dilandau himself could not believe what he felt towards this girl. For the short while that he had known her, she had made him feel the one emotion he had been torn away from all his life... love. He truly loved her and the thought of his archenemy reclaiming her was almost too much to bear.
Jasmine pulled herself away from him a little. "What's wrong? Won't you tell me?" her green cat-like eyes looked deep into his. "Van." he growled the word. Jasmine shivered at the word. She knew that Dilandau hated him and she yearned to kill him to make Dilandau happy. She smiled at him. "Don't worry. We'll defeat him... then you won't have him alive to torture your mind." she touched one finger across the scar across his right cheek that Van had slashed with his sword and kissed it lightly. Dilandau relaxed a little and smiled down at her.
She broke away from him and then walked to her closet. "Quickly now. Get into your armor. We'll kill this man that you hate so much and then you'll be able to live in peace." she said before she disappeared into it and he could hear the rustling of fabric as she slipped into the her samurai armor. He followed her example and changed also into his armor.
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"Moon... Crisis... Makeup!" yelled Sailor Moon as she flung up her hand. Her sailor suit changed and so did her accessories. She emerged more powerful than before. She held up her spiral moon wand. The jewel within it sparked and the pink light enveloped them all. Gohan and Trunks were amazed. The red energy bubble dispersed and they plummeted towards the ground. Trunks and Gohan both stopped in mid-air. They looked down for Usagi but could catch no sight of her. "Where the hell is she?!" yelled Trunks. "Up here!" they heard her sweet voice call from above them. They looked up in astonishment. She had sprouted wings from her shoulders Yeah, yeah. I've seen the series. She's still wearing her suit here! and was smiling down at them.
"Quick, dive down as fast as you can. Beryl knows that we've escaped her energy bubble and she's going to send her youma to attempt to capture us, and I'd rather skip that." with that she tucked her wings and dove past the shocked boys. They saw her soar towards the ground before they heard the screeching of Beryl's henchmen. They quickly followed her lead and flew down with a burst of light trailing behind each of them.
Usagi felt her strength draining from her body and knew that she could no hold her Super Sailor Moon persona for much longer. The corners of her eyes edged black invitingly but Usagi fought against it with all her might. She leaped into a tree and her suit disappeared and so did her wings. She was once again wearing her simple sweatshirt and jeans. She flung herself off the sturdy branch that she was sitting on and dangled from her legs upside down. As both Trunks and Gohan passed, she grabbed them with almost inhuman force and hauled them onto the branch while the youma flying after them dove too far and smashed on the ground.
She flipped right side up again and then slumped on the trunk of the tree. She had used up too much strength already. Trunks edged closer towards her and caught her just in time before she plummeted after the army of youma that had landed and killed themselves on the rocks below them. "Argh." she grumbled. "I'm still too weak to do much. This crystal is not going to hold up much longer if the one back in my rightful time doesn't reappear. She hauled herself up and kissed Trunks' cheek as a thank-you. Gohan right beside them saw it and froze. 'Trunks! She loves Trunks! I knew it!' he thought hopelessly.
Usagi turned to Gohan and beckoned him towards her with her hand. She knew that she was never going to retrieve her crystal. She had failed, and now Beryl would rule both her dimension and the Dragonball dimension as well. As she lifted her head towards Gohan, she knew that she really, truly loved him. More than Chiba Mamoru had ever made her feel. As he bent his head closer to hers, she whispered, "I love you... Good-bye." She felt a burst of strength course through her momentarily and she kissed him on the lips before she fell back into Trunks' arms and her eyes fluttered closed. She drew once last breath and let it out shakely... Then she was gone.
"NOO!" yelled Gohan and Trunks simultaneously. Usagi's still body shimmered and her princess dress appeared on her body along with her wings. In her hand she held the crystal which immediately darkened and ceased to shine. "Usagi! You can't! You just can't!" Gohan could not hide the shameful moisture coming from his eyes. Trunks just stared in horror. "No!" he said in a shocked whisper.
A shrill wind blew around them and the very forest that they were in withered and the emerald leaves became twisted and black. "Yes! Finally, the thorn in my side is gone!" the cruel voice ripped through the entire dimension and Beryl's eyes lit up in delight. Finally she really would conquer not only the universe, but more than one dimension! "HAHAHAHA!" her laugh echoed through the withered leaves and the air around Usagi suddenly turned black and she disappeared.
"Now who'll be the one who finally gets Endymion? Tell me that Princess?" her dark laughter echoes across the land. People looked up into the dark clouds that had appeared in the sky. As they stared, the moon shone blood red mourning the death of its mistress.