AN: Guess what! I don't own Sailor Moon.
Road to the Ultimate
Chapter 4: Fall of a Soldier.
Loss of a Princess
*I pray. Something. Give me strength!*
"Earthen...Life...PROTECTION!"
Sweat streamed down Sailor Earth's forehead
as she called upon Nature to protect her new found friends. "Your
fight is with me, Demon," she growled, watching the green energy of Earth
incase the 9 observers.
"Life versus Death," questioned the pale woman.
"That is how it should be, child."
Earth scowled at the woman, angered by what
she'd been called. "I am not a child," she spoke defiantly.
"Oh, but you are my dear," Death pointed out,
hands placed on her hips for added emphasis. "In many ways you are
just as much a child as that Saturn was." She smiled wickedly, hoping
at some point to strike a sensitive chord.
"You defied your brother. You thought
you were strong and invincible with your Earthen Gem. But when the
time came for you to fight..." Sailor Death stopped, clicking her
tongue. Her smile had grown wickeder upon her pasty face. As
Earth watched, the hair on the nape of her neck prickeled.
"You lost the crystal didn't you," asked the
demon.
"No. I didn't lose it!"
"Oh, but you did! You were too little
to handle the responsibility. Too careless."
Earth shook her head, not wanting to believe
what the witch told her. "I was a teenager. I was strong! I
knew how to control the crystal, even from far away!"
The demon let out a hideous laughter as she
twisted a lock of her jet black hair between her fingers. "That means
nothing. The point is, you were too weak to save your brother then.
And you are too weak to save him now!"
An anger welled deep within Sailor Earth's
heart. She watched the demon laugh and her brother scream at her
from within the...
"Dammit," she screamed. Her powers had
been almost totally drained in trying to keep the barrier up. And
for some time it had been gone without notice.
"See my dear. Even though you can tap
into the power of your Gem from afar, it does little good."
As if in slow motion, Sailor Earth watched
the demon Scout leap for her brother, a black ball of flames in her hands.
Once more she prayed for strength to save her only family.
"LIFE FORCE STRIKE!"
~Tuxedo Mask blinked as a beam of white and
green appeared in the corner of his eye. It flew past him, carrying
the black haired woman away from him. The sound she made as the energy
beat against her bare flesh made everyone's stomach churn.
"You won't hurt them, Death. Not while
I can still fight," screamed the Earth scout.
Like a watercolor painting, the scenery's
colors began to bleed onto each other. Shapes shifted as trees grew
taller and greener while full red and white roses sprouted from thick,
soft grass. Darien, loosing grip on his other form, watched as a
large white palace appeared from behind the low clouds.
"This place," he whispered, plucking one of
the roses.
"Yes prince. This is your home.
The Golden Kingdom."
The entire group turned to the source of the
airy voice, all of them detransformed save Earth who kept an eye on Death.
Their eyes scanned over everything they could see until Ammara took notice
to a ghost-like figure standing beside a large pine.
"My prince," the ghost sighed sadly,
"how you have grown. Your father would be proud." Eyes
widening, Darien watched the ghost take a more solid form.
Her hair was long and brown. She smiled,
her emotion filled eyes the color of a deep sea. *The woman
from my dream,* Darien thought excitedly.
"Mother."
"Yes, Darien. It is I, Queen Kumobara
of the Golden Kingdom." The former queen frowned. "I suppose
you know the truth by now?" Also frowning, Darien nodded.
Serena swallowed a lump in her throat as she
bowed. Her mother had told her of Queen Kumobara, but she never got
to meet her. The Queen had been born with a weak heart, and the strains
of being a queen and a Sailor Scout had quickly caught up.
The Moon Princess scrunched her nose, thinking, *But if she was a Sailor
Scout...I should have met her.*
The Queen smiled, reading Serena's thoughts.
"Princess, I was a soldier when your mother was just a princess.
My daughter did not inherit my powers until just before I died."
"But, Your Majesty," interjected Lita, "if your
daughter became a scout...why don't we remember her?"
The ghost Queen sighed. "She was
a loner, most of the time. She liked to practice by herself.
I do believe she traveled to the Moon for some practices, but even then,
she kept hidden. I never did understand why?"
Darien looked to his feet. "I know why.
She didn't want anyone to compare her to me. She told me once that
she didn't like living in my shadow."
The girls turned the Prince, jaws on the ground.
Each of them sputtered, trying to react. "You know your
sister," coughed Serena. "You should have told us!"
Rei cleared her throat, scuffing her feet
along the grass. "I kinda knew, too," she muttered.
Kumobara took notice that the girls were going
to 'react' again and decided to butt in. "It doesn't matter who
knows about Angelin! The more pressing matter is that she and the
Demon will not stop fighting until one of them is dead. And I fear
that my little Angel is not ready to take on that kind of responsibility."
*Angel,* thought Ami, *I know that name.*
An explosion quickly pulled the groups attention
the continuing battle. Earth and Death stood, hands locked, glowing
with raw power. The ghost queen cried out in horror, fading suddenly.
"My son," she called to Darien, "You
must keep her safe at all costs. If the power of her crystal is lost,
one can only imagine what may happen!" Like a flame, the ghost
flickered and disappeared in the field of roses.
"Darien," Serena half cried, "I'm so confused!
What...what's going on?"
The man looked down, wiping the last trace
of tears from his cheeks. "Angel...Angel is my sister Angelin and
the keeper of the Earthen Gem."
Silence swept over each girl, all too surprised
to say anything.
~The demon was amazingly strong. Sweat
dripped from Earth's forehead as she poured all of her power into the struggle.
*C'mon Earth,* she cheered herself on, *you can do it...you have to do
it!*
A searing pain forced Sailor Earth to her
knees. She knew she wouldn't be strong enough to go against such
a powerful demon, but she had to try.
"Give it up, girl," Death laughed, watching
her opponent wince. "Make it easier on all of us."
"Never," cried Earth though blood was now
seeping through the shredded remains of her gloves. Out of the corner
of her eye, she saw her brother trying to think of some way to help.
She smiled, tears blurring her already failing vision. *It's not
your job to bail me out of this, Darien,* she thought sadly, *This is my
mess. I have to fix it...or die trying.*
Gritting her teeth at the pain, Earth stood,
the heels of her shoes digging a small groove among a patch of white roses.
She smiled when a look of amazement fell upon her adversary's face.
"I'm not some little girl you can bully! I hope you learn that!"
A deathly silence fell over the apparition of the Golden Kingdom as the
Scout began to glow with a strange new aura. "I call upon the power
of the Earthen Gem...help me vanquish this evil," she called to the soft
blue sky.
"Your crystal will do you no good so far away,"
sneered Death.
The onlookers could instantly tell the demon
was right. Sailor Earth's skin had become sickly white and her eyes
were glassy as she summoned her power.
"Darien," Rei whispered forcefully, "she's
gonna get herself killed."
The man sighed, turning away as his sister
began the attack. "There's nothing I can do."
~Earth wasn't surprised as Death began a stronger
attack to save herself. *This is the end,* she thought sniffing back
a tear. The pressure of the two assaults drove the new sailor slowly
through the beautiful rose field. Their thorns dragged across her
palid legs, slashing at the skin. Warm blood trickled down
her thin calves, staining her shoes with a hauntingly dark red.
~Serena tugged at her boyfriend's shirt, salty
tears reddening her eyes. He starred at her, biting his lip so he
wouldn't look to the battle.
"Darien," the blonde screamed. "Darien,
she's gonna die if you don't do something. We are all too weak to
transform,-" she waved her hand at the girls,"- You're the only one who
can save her."
~She wailed as the first bit of Sailor Death's
energy touched her fully exposed hands. She wanted to give up.
Right then and there. But these voices, some familiar, some too different
to be human, urged and pleaded for her to fight. *I can't,* she cried
to the voices. *I'm weak. Davi. Chasten. Mevlo.
Torlane. Cora! My friends. Why aren't you helping me?
Did I really disappoint you? Was I a failure in your eyes?*
She turned her dizzy head to face Darien. His hands twitched, wanting
to help. He met her gaze and forced a smile. *Did I disappoint
you also, brother? I know I seemed too delicate for the rages of
war. Maybe I was. Hell, I couldn't even keep track of my Gem.
But you...you were so courageous. You said I would get hurt if I
fought. I guess you were right.*
~Darien's heart tore in half as, in a moment
of only a few seconds, his sister whom he had just met a week ago, smiled
for the last time. The black energy of Sailor Death's evil power
engulfed Sailor Earth like a thick black fog. "Angelin!? Angelin,
NO," he cried, feeling the fire that was her life flicker out of existence.
The demon smiled, pleased with her work.
After that little display, Sailor Earth's comrades would be so frightened
for their lives, they'd gladly give up both crystals. But what would
it matter. She would kill them all anyway. Her Lord had uses
for such powerful souls. And Battin's soul was black enough for another
use.
"Hand over the crystals," she ordered, hands
outstretched.
Serena gulped, clinging tightly to Darien's
sleeve. "No," she squeaked, "The crystals are ours. You'll
never get them!"
Sailor Death gripped her side in laughter.
A slight tint of pink appeared on her cheeks as she gasped for air.
"Don't you understand anything that has been happening? There is
no way for you to win! Whether you fight or not, I will get those
crystals!"
A small object glistened in the ghostly sunlight
of the Golden Kingdom. Darien squinted to see what it was, but just
as he began to make it's shape out what it was, the object became a streak
of blue and green.
"Hey Death," he spoke flatly. "Turn
around."
The demon eyed him with suspicion, cracking
her knuckles.
"Just do it," the Earth Prince growled.
Death had barely began to turn when she let
out a devilish yell. Blood, more black than red, flew into the air,
churning the everyone's stomachs. They watched, stunned as the soul
sucker fell to her knees, gasping frantically for air. She convulsed,
coughing up blood, before tumbling like a rag doll to the ground.
Everyone stepped closer to see what had happened. All gasped
when they saw a blue-green gem lodged in the dead sailor's neck.