Metallia looked up as the doors
opened, and Hotaru walked in. She stood
up to face her.
"Well,
it's about time you showed up. I hope
the guide I sent wasn't an inconvenience for you." Metallia smiled.
"Hotaru!" Adrian yelled from above.
"Adrian!" Hotaru yelled in return and started running
toward him.
"Hold
it." Metallia said, blocking her way,
"Did you think I'd just let you walk in here and take him? I'm going to make you suffer and then I will
kill you!"
Metallia shot an energy ball at
Hotaru that exploded behind her as she dodged it. Hotaru turned around quickly and braced for the next attack. Metallia gathered two energy balls in her
hands and lunged after Hotaru. She
threw them, and Hotaru blocked them with her glaive. The battle continued on, with neither side gaining the upper
hand.
Then, while Metallia prepared for
another attack, Hotaru saw an opening, and turned her glaive up. The glaive pierced through Metallia's side,
and she tumbled back in disbelief.
"Im…Impossible!" Metallia panted, "You cannot defeat me! I won't let you beat me again!!"
Metallia let out a huge burst of
energy that knocked Hotaru off her feet and the glaive out of her hand. Adrian was using every bit of strength he
had to get to Hotaru, but the chains held him tight.
"If
I have to die then I'm taking you with me!" Metallia said with an insane look in her eyes. "DIE!!!"
Using everything she had, Metallia
let out one final burst of energy. The
energy burnt against Hotaru's skin and she felt her body become lighter. She could feel her life slipping away.
Hotaru started to let go when a
voice calling her name pulled her back. Hotaru looked down into Adrian's eyes. The look on his face was the same one he'd given her that last time on
Saturn.
"No…I
don't want to die." Hotaru said as she
looked into Adrian's eyes. "Adrian will
be all alone again. I don't want to see
him suffer because of me! ADRIAN!!"
Suddenly, light began to shoot out
from the star pendant that Hotaru wore around her neck. It's light completely abolished Metallia's,
and they were engulfed in it's warmth. The energy returned to Hotaru's body, and she felt Adrian's arms around
her.
"Adrian,"
Hotaru said, returning his embrace, "What's happening?"
"It's
the star crystal Taru."
"But
how?"
"It's
because of the power of your heart." A
voice answered her.
Hotaru and Adrian both raised their
heads and looked for the source of the voice.
"Who
said that?" Hotaru asked.
"Look
Taru!" Adrian exclaimed, "Look at the
star crystal!"
The star crystal was glowing softly
between the two.
"You
spoke to us, didn't you?" Hotaru said,
"What did you mean, 'the power of my heart'?"
"The
strength of your heart awoke me Princess. Like my mother, the silver crystal, I have great powers sleeping within
me."
"The
silver crystal…your mother?" Adrian
asked.
"Long
ago, the silver crystal created me and seven others like me, and sent us each
to a different planet. We were meant to
aid each Princess in the protection of her planet. But during the Great War before the Silver Millennium, we were
all lost. I was found by the Velac
family and through Adrian was returned to you."
The crystal stopped and used its
power to surround Hotaru and Adrian.
"It
was you who finally awoke me. My power
comes from the heart of my Princess. The love between this man and yourself is what gives me my powers."
Hotaru looked up at Adrian's smiling
face and smiled back.
"What
do you want to do Hotaru?" He asked
her.
Hotaru looked down at Metallia. She felt such sorrow in her heart for her.
"I
want to give her another chance, this time to live her life right and be
happy."
Adrian looked surprised for a
moment, and then he smiled.
"Alright
firefly, let's do it."
They closed their eyes and let their
hearts pour into the crystal. It slowly
let out its power and surrounded Metallia with its light.
"Close
your eyes," Hotaru said to Metallia, "And when you wake up, this will all be
just a bad dream."
"It
feels…so warm." Metallia said as the
light engulfed her.
And for once in her life, a smile of
complete peace spread across her face.
~
"It's
this way!" Ami yelled to the rest of
the senshi as they ran through the snow.
"We
have to hurry!" Haruka said, speeding
up.
They were all running at top speed
toward the pit when the ground began to rumble. All of them stopped and crouched to the ground. Suddenly, purple light began to radiate out
from inside the pit. It went on for a
few minutes and then began to fade.
"Look
over there!" Chibi-usa said, pointing
toward the light.
Two figures could be seen in the
center. As the light faded, Hotaru and
Adrian walked out. In Hotaru's arms was
a bundle of blankets that held a small sleeping baby, her short blue hair
blowing calmly in the wind.