CAPTURE
The moon was high and full, providing faint light on the world below. Somewhere in the distance a wolf cried out, the only sound in the still night. Three figures huddled miserably in the shelter of a shallow cave, cold and hungry. Behind them lay the deserted city, its inhabitants hiding or in chains. The tall, dark, crystal spires of the palace no longer offered hope to those outside as menacing shadows prowled the palace's gardens. All of Tokyo had lost hope. They knew that when the Shield had fallen, so had their homes.
They had been moving for nearly a week, carefully dodging the demon patrols that searched for them. They found food in abandoned houses or in the woods but were always cold and tired. The shadow monsters were driving them steadily north, far from the captured city and toward Abyss' hideout. For now, however, the trio was safe.
Sailor Moon slept in the back of the cave, one arm thrown protectively over the cylinder that held the life forces of the inner senshi. Sailor Nyx sat at the cavern entrance, her brown eyes staring into the darkness. She heard Sailor Saturn get up and quietly sit beside her, but neither spoke for quite some time. They stared out at the stars by the faint light of the moon, enjoying the momentary rest.
Finally, Saturn turned to the newer senshi.
"Why don't you sleep?" she asked.
Nyx shrugged. "There's something about the night. It energizes me. Why are you up?"
"I can't sleep either," Saturn answered. She turned her purple eyes to the spire that marked Crystal Tokyo. It seemed so far away, almost in another life. "Do you think they're okay?"
"Who?" Nyx asked.
"The King and Queen, Haruka-papa, Michiru-mama," Saturn said, "Luna, Artemis, Diana, the Quartet"
"I don't care about the Quartet," Nyx interrupted.
Saturn looked at her friend sharply. She realized how much of their survival these past few days had been because of her. She watched Nyx for a few moments, the blue haired girl clenching her hands as she stared out into the night.
"The Quartet seem to hate me," Nyx said finally. "I don't want to talk about it."
Saturn shrugged and looked back to the city, respecting her friend's decision. Nyx's gaze dropped to her lap where her clenched fists lay. She hadn't told either of her friends what the Quartet had done to her that day they were supposed to search the Crystal Points. She still shivered when she thought of being crammed in that smell sack and locked in the dark arena storage room. The one thing she couldn't figure out is why the four acrobatic girls hated her.
Beside her, Saturn sighed sadly. She turned back to Nyx and forced a smile.
"What are we going to do?" she asked. "None of us know how to fix the Points and we certainly can't go to the palace to ask for help."
Nyx shrugged. "I don't know, Hotaru-chan. All I know is we must keep the cylinder and Usagi-chan safe. She's the only one who can use the Crystal besides Queen Serenity."
Saturn paled at the thought of Serenity being unable to use her Crystal but nodded. Once Abyss grew tired of searching for them, they would be able to sneak back to the palace.
Nyx yawned in spite of herself and Saturn pushed her gently into the cave. Grudgingly, Nyx left Saturn to get some sleep. The purple haired senshi sat alone outside the cave, contemplating their hopeless situation.
*******
Sailor Uranus lashed out furiously at her captor, her face contorted in anger. Abyss stood a safe distance away, enjoying watching Uranus strain against her bonds. They stood in the Shield room, the four entombed senshi in the center. Abyss had chained Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune to the far wall and kept Queen Serenity and King Endymion under close guard. The three pesky cats were locked in separate cages on Endymion's desk.
As Uranus pulled herself off the wall again, Abyss laughed. She held the Imperial Silver Crystal in one hand, yet the gem was dull and lifeless. Endymion and Serenity watched silently from behind their five guards, the queen barely able to keep the worry from her face as she clung to her husband's arm. Their daughter was still out in the city somewhere and Abyss knew it. Every day Abyss made the king and queen listen as her patrols reported in, but every day Chibiusa, Hotaru, and Akumu had managed to evade capture.
A short, skinny demon entered the room and whispered something to Abyss. The purple haired woman smiled and nodded to the messenger. The skinny demon bowed and left, and Abyss turned to face the Queen. She held up the Crystal.
"Show me how it works," Abyss demanded.
Bravely, Serenity shook her head. "You could never use the power of the Crystal, Abyss."
The purple haired woman grinned, much to the surprise of the royal couple. "Maybe not, but you can, and you will show me or you may have some unnecessary deaths on your mind."
Serenity's grip on Endymion's arm tightened as the doors to the Shield room opened and four large demons entered. They each held a squirming senshi in their arms. The Amazon Quartet had returned to the palace.
The four girls kicked and struggled to be free of their captors, but the demons held them firmly, ignoring their attempts. Abyss watched for a moment, delighting in their torment, before nodding. The four Asteroid senshi were dumped unceremoniously to the ground. In a flash, they were on their feet, taking in the scene.
"Majesties!" Sailor Ceres exclaimed.
"Hey look," Sailor Juno gasped. "They got Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, too!"
"Parapara is frightened," Sailor Pellas whimpered.
"You won't get away with this!" Sailor Vesta warned.
"BE QUIET!" Abyss yelled.
Startled, the four girls shut up. Abyss raised an empty hand above her head, her eyes never leaving the quartet. In her hand, a ball of black energy was formed and, much like Sailor Uranus' attack, Abyss slammed the ball to the ground at the Asteroid senshi's feet. They blinked in astonishment as their four guards stepped well away and the floor began to creep up their legs.
"Uh oh," Sailor Pellas said.
Abyss held out the Crystal to Serenity again.
"Show me, or your four friends will become statues," Abyss hissed.
Serenity looked torn as she watched the crystal floor rise to the Asteroid senshi's knees. Abyss smiled triumphantly, knowing the queen would never let a life be lost. The four senshi joined hands and nodded to each other grimly.
"Circus Center Ring!" they shouted.
"No!" Abyss shrieked as a thick ring shattered the crystal that contained the Asteroid senshi and continued to move through the room like a shock wave.
The room was thrown into chaos. As the ring freed them, the quartet sprang into action. Scattering, the four girls attacked the demon guards. Pellas headed to Uranus and Neptune but was blocked by two muscular demons. She drew out her juggling balls and tossed them in the air. The demons watched, mesmerized as the balls spun lazily in midair. Pellas used the distraction to slip between them. Using another of her magic tricks, she began to fiddle with the chains on the elder senshi when she was grabbed from behind.
At the same time, Juno was doing flips around the king and queen's guards, neatly entangling them in ribbon as she did. Ceres and Vesta were also causing a panic while the shock wave tore through several demon guards.
"Get them!" Abyss shrieked.
Nearly immediately, the quartet was captured again. Abyss pointed to the wall beside Uranus and Neptune and four pairs of chains sprung from the crystal.
"Chain them up," Abyss ordered.
The demons did as they were told and soon the Asteroid senshi hung beside Uranus and Neptune. Abyss was so angry that she stormed out of the room, leaving only half a dozen guards behind while the injured demons followed her out. The prisoners were quiet for several minutes. Under the watchful eyes of the guards, Serenity left Endymion's side and walked to the Asteroid senshi. The four girls hung their heads in shame.
"We failed you, Majesty," Ceres said.
Serenity forced a smile. With a quick glance over her shoulder to the demon guards, she lowered her voice so the quartet had to lean forward to hear.
"Where is Chibiusa?" Serenity asked.
The Asteroid senshi tried to look away. Endymion had sent them to guard the princess as she searched the eastern Crystal Point. From the other side of the room, the king watched. Uranus and Neptune, who could only barely hear the queen, waited with expressionless anticipation.
"We were attacked," Vesta began.
"Huge monster," Pellas said emphatically.
"It chased us," Juno continued.
"We tried to lead it away from the princess," Ceres said.
"When we got back, they were gone," Juno said.
"They took the cylinder," Vesta hissed.
"Parapara thinks it was Nyx," the blue senshi said the name with distaste.
"We searched," Ceres assured the queen.
Serenity's face fell. Her daughter was alone in a city full of dangers. Not alone, she corrected herself. She had the world-ending powers of Saturn and the untested, unpredictable powers of Nyx. Uranus let out a tired sigh and Neptune's eyes seemed filled with worry.
"We're sorry," Juno said. "We tried."
Serenity smiled sadly. "I know."
*******
Sailor Nyx froze. They were on the move again, lost in the dense forest that would dissolve into the foothills of the north eastern mountains. Behind her, Sailor Moon stopped as well, her arms hugging the cylinder tightly. Saturn looked around, her grip on her glaive tightening.
Nyx pointed ahead of them and held up two fingers. The other two nodded and tensed for battle. They had encountered so many patrols that the battle seemed almost routine. The two demons came around the corner, yelped in surprise as Nyx's eyes turned white, and tried to run. Saturn wiped out the fleeing demon with a swipe of her glaive while the other met a terrifying demise at the hand of Nyx.
"All clear," Nyx said finally.
Sailor Moon came out from behind a tree. It bothered her that her friends wouldn't let her fight, but as they always pointed out when she brought up the subject, it was more important for one of them to guard the cylinder.
"Lets go," Nyx ordered, starting forward again.
"Where?" Sailor Moon asked.
Nyx stopped and turned around. Sailor Moon could see the frustration in the girls' brown eyes. She clutched the cylinder tighter to her chest.
"I don't know!" Nyx yelled. "Every day we're getting further away from the palace and every day we're attacked by more of Abyss' monsters, but we have to keep moving."
"Take it easy," Saturn said. "This is hard on all of us."
Nyx passed a weary hand over her face and sighed. "I know. I'm sorry, Princess. Something will come up."
Sailor Moon frowned and exchanged a worried look with Saturn. For some reason, Sailor Nyx seemed to be taking this whole crisis personally, as if she were the one to blame. Chibiusa and Hotaru had been obeying her without question because she was by far the most resourceful in the group, but the further from Tokyo they ran, the more irritable Nyx became.
"Maybe we should rest for a moment," Saturn suggested.
Nyx shook her head. "We have to keep moving before another patrol comes this way. Don't worry, we'll be fine."
Without another word, Nyx headed off into the forest. With a shrug, Saturn and Sailor Moon followed.
*******
Night drew her dark cloak over Crystal Tokyo, dulling the dim spires of the palace. Those few remaining citizens quickly fled from the growing shadows, knowing death waited for those left in the dark. The demons prowled through the city, hungry for anything they could catch. Occasionally a scream would rip through the still night, a vain cry for help that would never be answered. The senshi were gone, the palace was taken, and the surviving people were left without hope for the future.
Abyss stood in front of an open window, smiling. She drew the despair of the people toward her and grew stronger with their misery. She kept their fears alive and real, allowing her creatures to feed on those they caught. As long as the citizens of Crystal Tokyo were buried in terror, the city would remain hers.
She turned from the window and stared at the closed, guarded door before her. The king and queen slept within, the only two whom Abyss allowed to maintain their dignity. She had grown up with the stories of the legendary Sailor Moon and, despite her hatred for the royals, she respected them. That alone had kept them alive.
"Sleep well, Majesties," Abyss purred. "Who knows what will keep you alive tomorrow."
Her smile broadening, Abyss headed down the hallway toward the Shield Room. She swung the doors open soundlessly and was pleased to see all sixteen of her demons at their posts. The six captured senshi dangled from their chains, their heads bowed in slumber. Entombed in the crystal, the four inner senshi remained as motionless as always. Abyss ran her hand down the smooth crystal in front of Sailor Mars' face and wondered if having their life energy ripped from them had hurt them before they died.
In the far corner of the room the three caged cats also slept on Endymion's desk and it was toward them that Abyss next walked. Careful not to wake the meddling felines, Abyss began to leaf through Endymion's papers. As she scanned the contents she was disappointed to find most of the papers were legal formalities waiting to be signed. A piece of paper with a drawing on it suddenly caught her eye and she quickly picked it up. It was a schematic plan of the Shield. Quickly reading through the notes, the smile returned to Abyss' face.
"So," she whispered, "you're not dead after all."
She looked up at the inner senshi, still clutching the notes.
"Don't worry," Abyss added. "You soon will be."
As Abyss left the room with Lady Mercury's notes on the Shield, Sailor Uranus opened one eye. She didn't move or make a sound to alert the guards, but watched and waited, planning her next move.
*******
"Stop, please," Sailor Moon gasped. "I'm exhausted."
Sailor Nyx looked back to see the pink haired princess leaning against a rock, the cylinder hanging from one hand. Nyx looked back up the steep incline they had been climbing and sighed.
"Okay, we'll rest for a few minutes," she said.
Gratefully, Chibiusa sank to the ground and Hotaru went down beside her. Nyx walked to where they sat and stared down into the valley where Crystal Tokyo lay. From this distance the city looked remarkably peaceful, yet the dullness of the crystal spires despite the sun's best efforts to illuminate them reminded them of their mission.
"Are we still heading north?" Saturn asked as she took a drink of water from a bottle they had found at an abandoned house.
Nyx nodded. "As far as I can tell. I don't like it either. Abyss is up to something and we could be walking right into her trap."
Sailor Moon looked up, squinting in the sunlight. "Why don't you sit too?"
Nyx shook her head. "I'll keep a watch. The further north we go, the better our chances of stumbling onto a demon camp."
The trio was silent for a few minutes. Saturn passed the water to Sailor Moon, who drank thirstily. Nyx looked down at the cylinder and watched the blue, red, orange, and green gases swirl around. She wondered how they were doing, how long they could last in Mercury's crystal.
A sound in the distance caught Nyx's attention and her head snapped up. Ahead, coming up the mountain, were four large demons.
"Akumu," Sailor Moon said quietly.
Nyx looked to her left and saw four more demons. A quick glance to the right showed that they were surrounded as four more demons came into view.
"A dozen of them," Saturn said, rising to her feet. "You think we can do it?"
Sailor Moon stood as well. "Maybe we won't have to alone."
Nyx glanced at her curiously, but Saturn nodded grimly. Sailor Moon reached to her neck and drew a golden key out of her shirt. Before Nyx could ask what it was, the first wave of demons attacked.
Nyx could feel her powers surrounding her as her eyes turned white and she rose a foot off the ground. Next to her, Saturn was slashing with her glaive while Sailor Moon clutched the cylinder and brandished her scepter.
"Nightmare Revelation!" Sailor Nyx called.
Three of the dozen demons stopped and looked around in confusion as their nightmares became real. Ghostly white figures descended upon them from the tress and rocks, consuming them until they were gone.
"Silence Glaive!" Saturn yelled, swiping with her talisman.
Three more demons perished from the attack, but the other half of the demons kept coming. The largest of the demons reached out with clawed hand to Sailor Moon, grabbing at the cylinder. The pink haired senshi fought bravely but was tossed aside as the creature clasped the life energy of the inner senshi.
"No!" Sailor Moon cried.
Nyx's head whipped around in time to see the large demon disappear into the forest. With a feral snarl, Nyx felt herself changing as her powers took control once more. Sailor Moon and Sailor Saturn gasped in alarm as Nyx began to transform into something else. Her blue hair became streaked with red and flew wildly from her head. Her eyes remained white and her grey senshi uniform turned completely black. Two large bat wings sprouted from her back and she fell to the ground. She turned her head once to look at Moon and Saturn and both young senshi could sense the pure anger and rage within their friend. Without another word, the transformed Nyx shot like a bolt into the forest after the demon with the cylinder.
"Akumu!" Moon called.
"No time!" Saturn snapped. "We need help!"
Sailor Moon nodded and raised her key above her head. Concentrating all her efforts, she caused a rip in time and space to open and a tall woman with long, green hair stepped out.
"Small Lady!" Sailor Pluto gasped.
"Puu!" Sailor Moon cried.
Sailor Pluto pointed her staff at the closest demon. "Dead Scream!" she said calmly.
The demon and the three behind it disappeared. Sailor Saturn swept out with her glaive a final time and the last of the dozen demons fell. Exhausted, Sailor Saturn fell as well.
"What's going on?" Pluto demanded.
Sailor Moon explained what had been happening since she had arrived at Crystal Tokyo from the past. Sailor Pluto listened carefully, her face growing more worried with each remark.
"The palace has fallen, the senshi are captured, and your friend Akumu just ran away like an animal?" Pluto repeated. She shook her head. "I felt disturbances in the realm of Time, but I had no idea it was this bad."
"Can you help us?" Sailor Moon pleaded. "We need to save Mama and Papa!"
Pluto smiled gently. "I will do what I can, Small Lady, but I'm afraid that won't be much. I must remain at the Gates of Time incase this Abyss tries to attack there next. The future and the past are very tempting prizes for the dark hearted."
"Will you stay with us?" Sailor Moon asked.
Pluto sighed and nodded. "I will stay for a while, Small Lady. You must be protected and the cylinder must be found. I believe that if we go back to the Crystal Point, we should be able to fix it and restore the inner senshi."
"But how?" Saturn asked. "None of us know how to do it."
Pluto frowned. "I admit that this is not my area of expertise. Something will turn up, Hotaru-chan. Never fear."
Sailor Moon looked back to the forest where Nyx had disappeared. She wondered where her friend could possibly have gone and what had happened to her.
*******
Akumu ran. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears and feel the blood racing in her veins. This strange new power had heightened her senses, making her see and smell better than before and making it harder for her prey to escape.
The demon ran. She could see it just beyond the trees. She could smell its rank odor and could almost taste it's fear. Yes, it was scared. It had not expected a child to give chase. It had thought this assignment would be like taking candy from a baby. It had been wrong.
A chasm opened in the forest and the demon leapt it without thought. On the other side, it paused to see if the hunter would continue the chase. Nyx paused as well at the edge of the deep canyon. She raised her white eyes to meet the beady black ones of the demon and she smiled. Spreading her leathery wings, Nyx jumped and flew across the chasm, landing on the demon before it could flee. She ripped the cylinder from its claws and somehow managed to kill it single handedly. She could not say exactly how, but as she walked over to a nearby lake to wash off the demon's blood, she saw why it had been afraid.
Nyx screamed at her own image, caked with demon's blood, eyes white and hair wild. She dropped the cylinder in the mud at the lake's shore and stared at her reflection. Her black costume, the leathery wings.
"What have I become?" Nyx sobbed as darkness overtook her senses and she tumbled into a restless slumber.