Part Twenty
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Part Twenty: The Return of the Prince of Darkness! Sailor Orion's secret

For a moment there was silence in the small dungeon room. The Senshi chained to the wall were all staring at Sailor Orion as if they'd never seen her before. And in truth, there was something different about her in this place. Something dark, cold terrifying. Orion turned her icy silver eyes upon Lady Slipper and smiled frostily, and the next words out of her mouth made all the Senshi gasp with surprise. "Hello, my love. It's been a long time." The six and a half foot soldier took three steps, crossed the room, and raised Lady Slipper's hand to her lips. She kissed the fingers with a mocking sentimental gesture. "You look as beautiful as ever."
Sailor Venus' eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as she turned towards Mercury who was chained up with her. "Does this mean that Orion is" She didn't finish the question. Mercury was equally stunned, and she shook her head. She couldn't think of any words to reply properly. The very idea of Sailor Orion having such a preference, particularly for a member of the Negaverse, had never occurred to her before. Neptune's mouth dropped open as she met Uranus' eyes.
But then Sailor Orion straightened up and giggled a little as she noticed the shock on her friends' faces. "Don't worry, Senshi," she said quietly. "It's not exactly what you think it is." She smiled once again at Lady Slipper. "Is it, my love?"
Lady Slipper had been staring at her, her sea-green eyes wide and her face numb. But she was finally able to recover herself and she snatched her fingers away. "Of course not," she snapped venomously. "You're not the Orion I used to know."
Orion's eyes narrowed. "That's very true."
Narcissus swallowed hard, looking from one woman to the other with confusion and disgust. Finally he interrupted. "Far be it from me to break up whatever it is that's going on here, but I have a score to settle with you, Miss Orion."
"Narcissus." This was Lady Slipper's voice, and he looked down at the feel of her hand on his arm. The rose-haired woman kept her eyes fastened on Orion. "Narcissus, back down. Now. Let them all go."
Lord Narcissus nearly choked. "What?" He stared at her in shock. "Let them go? Are you insane? What's with you, huh? First you want me to waste them all and now you say let them go. Make up your mind."
"Narcissus, if you don't let them go you are going to die."
"Oh, it's too late for that, Lady Slipper," Orion declared coolly. "He's going to die anyway. He's pushed me just a little too far this time." Her silvery gaze flickered down to where Lady Slipper was clutching the Soul Dissolver. "I should have destroyed that wretched thing millennia ago. I'm going to correct that right now." She reached for the weapon.
"I don't think so, Miss Orion." Narcissus snatched the Soul Dissolver first, before Lady Slipper could react, and raised it to his shoulder, leveling the barrel at the tall Senshi. "I'm going to kill you first. All your little friends can watch you die and then I'm going to finish off the rest of them. No more Sacred Sacrifice. No more little Guardians of the Balance. No more Sailor Senshi. And very soon no more Posiverse!! Once the Doomsday Gate is opened, the Avatar will lead our forces on a full fledged invasion of your flimsy little world, and the Negaverse will finally achieve its destiny. The Negaverse will be the only power in existence. And it will all be thanks to ME!!!" Lord Narcissus chuckled darkly and licked his lips in anticipation.
Sailor Orion stared at him with an expression so intense and so full of hatred that Sailor Moon felt her mouth go dry. And then it happened. The black pupils of those chilling silver eyes dialated and expanded until they had filled both eyes, turning both the irises and the whites pitch black. Sailor Moon gave a little cry of fear. There was evil in those eyes. Narcissus had never seen anything like it. But Lady Slipper had, and her hand flew to her cheek. "Oh my god, Narcissus. You've done it. You've really gone and done it now."
"What?" Lord Narcissus tried to sound casual and contemptuous as he asked the question, but there was a hint of something uncertain in his voice. It was unnatural, those solid black eyes that burned with fury and pure hate. Something whispered to the back of his mind that Lady Slipper was right, he ought to be backing down now and get out of there before whatever it was that was caged up inside the delicate Senshi of Music decided to release itself. But his pride would not allow him to give in. "I've got the Soul Dissolver, Lady Slipper. What's she going to do?" He took a firmer grip on the gun-like weapon and grinned. "That's a nice little trick, Miss Orion, getting your eyes to change like that. But it's not going to save you now. Nothing can save you. Say bye-bye." And he pulled the trigger.
Sailor Moon cried out again. "No!!" she screamed as the stream of blood-red energy pulsed out of the Soul Dissolver towards Sailor Orion. It's happening again she's going to die and it's all my fault
Orion's glistening black eyes seemed to flash as the trigger was pulled. She did not duck. She did not pull away. She spread her arms out, and with a cruel grin welcomed the burst of energy into her body with a peal of laughter that just did not sound human. Uranus felt goosebumps rising on her arms from the sound of it. Centauri, who had been standing near his mistress, stepped back with an expression of horror on his canine face. "Oh, no," he muttered, closing his eyes and shaking his head. "Oh, no."
And to everyone's surprise it was Lady Slipper who screamed the loudest. She turned towards Narcissus with a mixture of terror and contempt on her face. "You fool!" she hissed. "You have no idea what you've just done!" She turned back to where Sailor Orion's form lay, crumpled on the ground and pulsing with an eerie red light. Her rose-colored eyebrows contracted with fear. "I'm not staying. Even I don't want to see this. You're a dead man, Narcissus." Lady Slipper raised her wrist and snapped her fingers, and disappeared into thin air.
Narcissus began to feel a little more uncomfortable. Lady Slipper was one of the most powerful members of the Negaverse, consort to the Avatar himself. If she was afraid of this But he would not allow himself to think about that. Lady Slipper was a coward. That was it. Imagine, being afraid of a Sailor Senshi whose soul at any moment was going to dissolve into thin air! Utterly ridiculous. There was nothing to be afraid of; it was over, and he had won. The cocky smile settled back into place as he turned to watch Orion's death throes.

Orion looked around the room where her friends and fellow Senshi had been chained to the walls. The reek of evil was everywhere in this place. She could feel it calling to her, pulsing through her blood, singing to her its wild siren song. And she knew she was lost. She could feel the darkness in her surging forward, and though she fought it back with every ounce of borrowed strength that she possessed, she knew, deep down, that it would not be enough. It's going to be one of those lifetimes, she sighed inwardly, when the truth comes out. I really wish it hadn't come to this. But I suppose it can't be helped now. Her gaze travelled over to where Lady Slipper was standing next to Narcissus, and a slow smile curved her lips as the memories came back, fresh as if they were yesterday.
"Hello, my love. It's been a long time." Orion took three steps forward, letting her long legs carry her across the room in a very short time, throwing her shoulders back. She hadn't forgotten what it felt like. She never forgot anything. Orion reached down and took the shorter woman's hand in her own, then raised and kissed it in the mock-chivalrous gesture she'd performed hundreds of times before. Only this time was different, because she was different. "You look as beautiful as ever." She didn't add the 'and just as cruel,' but she met the old familiar sea-green eyes and she knew she didn't have to add it. It had been several thousand years, but Orion knew that Lady Slipper hadn't forgotten either. As she lowered the other woman's hand, she could feel the surge of amazement and shock that was running through her captive friends, and she had to grin inwardly. The feelings were all so intense in this place the power, the intoxicating old powers she'd done without for so long, were all beginning to rise again. She could nearly hear what they were thinking, and the unspoken questions buzzing through their heads. She straightened up and swept her eyes around the room, noting with satisfaction and a little twang of something else that Uranus' deep grey eyes were watching her with a newfound surprise. The grin finally reached her mouth. "Don't worry, Senshi. It's not exactly what you think it is." She turned back to gaze at the rose-haired woman before her, and she cocked a pale eyebrow as she noticed the mesmerized look on Lady Slipper's face. So, she hadn't lost the charm after all. Orion couldn't keep the amusement from her voice as she spoke to her again. "Is it, my love?" She used the last two words with deliberate irony, and Lady Slipper picked up on it immediately. Orion watched with interest as the Negaverse woman collected her thoughts. The sea-green eyes focused again, and narrowed. Sailor Orion had to chuckle silently. That was Lady Slipper, all right.
Lady Slipper snatched her hand out of Orion's as if she'd suddenly been burned, and she glared furiously at her. "Of course not," she snapped back, but Orion knew her too well and could hear the carefully disguised fluster in her voice. "You're not the Orion I used to know."
Thank heaven for that, Orion found herself thinking. Or rather, thank the Princess. But it was still very strange. She could feel the old Orion pushing from the inside and she knew that Lady Slipper would be able to feel it too. Her eyes narrowed as she looked down at the shorter woman. "That's very true," she responded quietly, dangerously. Deliberately she allowed a wave of the darkness inside to rise up and flow out towards Lady Slipper. There was a satisfactory wince that appeared suddenly on her face, and Orion knew that Lady Slipper had gotten the message. She might not be the old Orion anymore but the power was coming back. It was definitely coming back.
Orion's attention was broken, though, as Lord Narcissus interrupted them with that cold, fishy voice that was really, really beginning to grate on her nerves. She had a difficult time holding herself in check as she turned to face him. "Far be it from me to break up whatever it is that's going on here, but I have a score to settle with you, Miss Orion," the lavender-suited man stated with the haughtiness that was almost enough to make Orion lose the tight hold she was keeping on the roiling darkness inside her. But fortunately for Narcissus, Lady Slipper sensed the strain in Orion and laid her hand on the Negaverse admiral's arm.
"Narcissus. Narcissus, back down. Now. Let them all go."
Orion took a deep breath and willed the heavy monstrosity inside of her to be still, just a little while longer it was still possible that she might be able to solve this without resorting to the powerful urges welling up in the recesses of her consciousness. As she struggled to calm herself, she could vaguely make out Narcissus' argumentative response to Lady Slipper. But it was Lady Slipper's reply that caught her attention.
"Narcissus, if you don't let them go you are going to die." Orion shook her head at this.
"Oh, it's too late for that, Lady Slipper. He's going to die anyway. He's pushed me just a little too far this time." Her voice was as light as she could have hoped for with all the turmoil going on inside. She could hear the negative energy beckoning to her again, drawing her gaze, and she realized that she was staring down at the Soul Dissolver in Lady Slipper's hands. The sight of it made her want to vomit, especially as the memories returned to her the screaming, the burning flesh, the cries of pain so tortured and horrible that they echoed for miles all that destruction, all that suffering had been her fault. "I should have destroyed that wretched thing millennia ago. I'm going to correct that right now." Her gloved hand extended towards the Soul Dissolver, dreading the touch of it but determined to carry out her point.
She didn't get to it in time, though. Lord Narcissus suddenly seized the weapon and pointed it at her. Staring down the barrel of the thing, the darkness inside began to boil again, stronger than ever. Narcissus was smiling coldly, and all Orion could think of was how much she wanted to smash that smile right off his gloating face. He started to speak.
"I don't think so, Miss Orion. I'm going to kill you first. All your little friends can watch you die and then I'm going to finish off the rest of them. No more Sacred Sacrifice. No more little Guardians of the Balance. No more Sailor Senshi. And very soon no more Posiverse!! Once the Doomsday Gate is opened, the Avatar will lead our forces on a full fledged invasion of your flimsy little world, and the Negaverse will finally achieve its destiny. The Negaverse will be the only power in existence. And it will all be thanks to ME!!!"
That was it. Sailor Orion felt the control snap as the darkness surged forward in a wave so powerful it would have knocked her to her knees if it hadn't immediately seized control of her muscles. Her vision darkened and sharpened, becoming so finely tuned that she could now make out the tiny pulse of Lady Slipper's heartbeat in her throat. The woman's heart was beating very fast now, and speeding up at every moment, Orion noted with the old glee. And rightfully so. After all, who was more powerful than the Senshi of Orion? The dark addictive power that she'd avoided so long was suddenly there again, brought to the surface by the overwhelming negative energy that infused the Doomsday Gate. Orion didn't say anything. She couldn't say anything. The strength, the glorious evil strength that was pouring into her and from her just felt too good. She craved it and welcomed it with all her being. She heard Sailor Moon's little cry of fright, and wished for a moment that she could reassure her... There was no reason for the Princess to fear her anymore. The old power could not change the new purity. Even the side of her that was light was not afraid, for she knew that the power, dark though it might be, would keep the right focus and that was saving the other Senshi. She needed this power and this strength if she was going to do that.
Orion heard Lady Slipper speaking to Narcissus. "Oh my god, Narcissus. You've done it. You've really gone and done it now." She couldn't help another inward chuckle, much more sinister this time. Oh yes. He'd done it all right. And he was going to pay the price. For the sake of ChibiMoon, and the Princess, and everyone he'd been manipulating all this time. He was going to suffer dearly for it. Orion would see to that.
Narcissus turned towards Lady Slipper, and even though he was trying to sound confident Sailor Orion could smell his fear from where she was standing. "What?" he demanded. "I've got the Soul Dissolver, Lady Slipper. What's she going to do?" Orion grinned. He was about to find out what she was going to do. She was about to make him sorry he was ever born. Go ahead, shoot me, she gloated inwardly. Come on. I dare you. Narcissus turned back towards her. "That's a nice little trick, Miss Orion, getting your eyes to change like that." Orion tilted her head to the side. That's right, her eyes changed when the darkness took over. She remembered that. "But it's not going to save you now. Nothing can save you. Say bye-bye."
Orion heard Sailor Moon screaming again, and felt sorry that she would have to wait to console her. But right now there was something more important she had to do. Narcissus had to realize that he did not have the power he believed he had. She began to laugh. Or rather, the darkness within began to laugh as the red destructive energy blasted towards her. Orion threw her arms wide to embrace it. It was time for Narcissus to learn the truth about his own ignorant foolishness. Of course, the other Senshi would learn the truth as well, but that couldn't be helped. A whisper of regret flashed through her mind as she thought of Sailor Uranus. She knew that the truth would only serve to drive her farther away but then again, it was no more than she deserved at any rate. But she didn't have time to consider the implications now. The scarlet fury of the Soul Dissolver slammed into her chest, and the glorious pain seared through her so that she fell to the ground. The energy all the borrowed energy that the Guardians had so carefully infused into her, melted away at the concentrated evil washing through her body. She had no choice now. The darkness was her only strength and her only hope for completing this mission.
She felt rather than heard Lady Slipper's exit, and she knew that the time had come for Sailor Orion, the original Sailor Orion, to make a return. She waited for a moment to be sure that Lady Slipper was gone. She'd have to deal with her as well, but not today. No, today was reserved especially for Narcissus. She regretted the fact that this was necessary, but there was no other way to save the Princess and at all costs the Princess had to be saved. It was Orion's destiny. Once she was certain that Lady Slipper had left, she lifted her head. Let the games begin, she thought wryly to herself, and rose to her feet.

Narcissus' gloating gaze shifted to one of shock and fear as the girl he'd just shot rose to her feet again. He was confused. There had been no sparkling, disintegrating soul this time. There'd been nothing. No reaction at all, except that weird red glow all around the tall Senshi's body. As Orion stood up, the glow intensified. Narcissus had the strangest feeling that she was no longer wearing her fuku. In fact, she didn't seem to be wearing anything at all but the intense, hateful crimson light burning around her kept him from being able to see much more than a silhouette. Her eyes opened, those horrible midnight-black eyes. Her pale hair seemed to have turned to blood as the red energy saturated it. It didn't look like Orion anymore. This couldn't be Orion. This was a demon of some kind it had to be a demon. Narcissus gulped as he suddenly recalled Lady Slipper's words from a few days before, when he'd showed her the Soul Dissolver for the first time: "I'm not afraid of Sailor Orion the way she is now. I'm afraid of what she's going to turn into when she sees that thing." He suddenly found this statement took on an entirely new meaning as he stared at the creature rising from the floor.
"What what are you?" Narcissus gasped. "The Soul Dissolver it should have worked why didn't it work?"
The blood-colored being laughed again in that inhuman voice. And when it spoke, the hollow depths of the voice were enough make everyone in the room get goosebumps. "You mean you haven't figured it out yet?" Another mocking laugh. "The Soul Dissolver will not work on me, Lord Narcissus. You see I created it."
The lavender eyes filled with indignation. "That's a lie," Narcissus declared. "The Soul Dissolver is one of the great legends of the Negaverse. It was created by the Avatar's son, the Prince of Darkness himself. He was the most powerful, most notorious Sailor Constellation of them all."
"I know full well who the Prince of Darkness was, Narcissus. Tell me. Do YOU know what happened to him?" The unearthly tones took on a new resonance as the demon-like creature took a step forward.
"Everyone knows," Narcissus retorted bravely. "She killed him." He jerked his thumb towards Sailor Moon, who gasped.
"No, I didn't," Sailor Moon insisted from her spot on the wall. "I didn't kill anybody did I?" She looked towards Sailor Pluto who was chained to the opposite wall, but the Senshi of Time shook her head.
"I'm sorry, Sailor Moon, but I don't remember. It was such a long time ago." The garnet colored eyes were full of concern. "My memories of that time are so faded."
The glowing being nodded towards Sailor Moon. "You are quite right, Princess. You didn't kill him. You couldn't kill him, for his powers matched your own. But you did destroy the evil inside him. And once you'd taken that away, the Prince of Darkness was no more." A look of bewilderment crossed Sailor Moon's face as she attempted to understand this.
Lord Narcissus snorted derisively, beginning to feel just a little more confident. After all, whatever this thing was that Orion had suddenly turned into didn't seem to be too threatening at the moment. He was the admiral of the Avatar's navy he could handle this thing, whatever it was. Narcissus straightened his shoulders and stared condescendingly at the scarlet creature in front of him. "Look, I don't know what you're trying to pull, Orion, but it isn't going to work. I'm not afraid of you. The Soul Dissolver was created by the leader of the Sailor Constellations. He was killed, or destroyed, or whatever you want to call it, by that little brat over there. And now it is up to me to fulfill his dreams I will bring the Posiverse to its knees once and for all, and there's nothing even you can do about it." But the self assured smile that grew on his face with every word suddenly disappeared at the sound of the being's laughter, so dark and full of cruelty.
"So, they told you that the Prince of Darkness was a Sailor Constellation." The creature chuckled again and shook its glowing head. "And you still haven't figured it out. Your thick-headedness amazes me. But I'll try to point you in the right direction tell me, Narcissus: did they ever mention what his Sailor name was?"
Lord Narcissus frowned for a moment. Now that he thought about it, he realized that this particular detail had been left out of every account he'd ever read or heard. He stared at the crimson thing blankly, and it laughed again. Suddenly a new voice spoke out, and Centauri took a few steps towards the center of the room, towards the glowing creature. The golden retriever's liquid eyes were full of worry. "Orion, don't do this. Not without me. You know what will happen you just can't."
The creature turned to look at the dog, and the unearthly, wicked voice was somehow oddly tender. "I have no choice," it responded. Sailor Moon could have sworn she heard some regret in the tone, and she blinked in surprise.
Then the glowing being thrust out its arm, and for the first time Narcissus and the Senshi caught a good glimpse of the bracelet encircling the slender wrist. It was broad and solid and gold, and the Orion Fire Opal flashed with newer, deeper fires as the red aura surrounding it was captured and reflected in its depths. The being closed its eyes, and then called out, "Orion Constellation Power! Makeup!"
Mercury frowned and looked over at Venus. "But I thought it was Centauri who made her transform," she puzzled, recalling that first time they'd watched the transformation. It had always been the retriever who had called out the phrase and transferred power to the bracelet. She'd never once seen Orion do it alone. Sailor Venus shrugged as well and the two girls watched as the familiar peach-colored glow began to dissolve away the redness.
Narcissus watched as well, his mouth dropping open as the being was lifted off the floor by the transformation energies. There was something different about this, though. The power swirling around was darker and somehow more full of violence. The melody that suddenly filled the small dungeon room was as upbeat and dance-like as the one they were accustomed to hearing, but there was an insistence to it a pounding rhythm that seemed to take over their heartbeats, to bend their own bodies to its will. It was an overpowering, frightening feeling. Sailor Moon's eyes widened as her own heart began to speed up, to pulse irregularly with the beat of the music, and there was the strangest feeling of familiarity. She knew this song. She knew this beat, this feeling. She'd felt it before but when?
The light that enveloped Orion's body was transforming it somehow. The shoulders were becoming wider, the hips less defined. The long, slender legs began to lose their curves. The ankles thickened, the feet broadened, and muscular definition began to appear everywhere. The flowing hair, which had appeared red in the glow of the Soul Dissolver, was now taking on a coal black shade, an infinite, impossible blackness that was only matched in the blackness of the terrifying eyes which opened as the melody and light faded away.
The Senshi breathed a collective gasp of astonishment as they saw, finally, the person who was crouching on the floor in Orion's familiar defensive stance. It was a man.
"Oh my lord" Sailor Mars breathed.
"I don't believe it" Jupiter managed to utter.
The man rose to his feet from the floor, his pitch black hair streaming wildly about his shoulders. He was dressed in black from head to toe a loose, open shirt tucked into a pair of coarse, baggy pants, which in turn were tucked into a pair of slick black boots. He wore a cape similar to Lord Narcissus', except that it billowed to the floor and was edged in two rows of peach piping. The gold Opal bracelet was still prominently displayed on his arm, over the black leather fingerless gloves he wore on his hands. And circling his head was another ring of gold. This one had a symbol stamped into it directly over the forehead a symbol that looked like a capital A overlapping with a capital V. The Senshi had never seen this symbol before, but Narcissus knew it all too well and he realized, too late, his mistake. The Negaverse admiral fell to his knees.
A cold smile crossed the face of the man in black. "Do you know me now, Narcissus?" he asked, in a voice that, while deeper, still reminded Sailor Moon of bells.
The amethysts encrusted into Lord Narcissus' eyepatch twinkled as he nodded vigorously. "Oh, yes yes, your Highness I mean, your Greatness your Worship Forgive my ignorance I never expected"
"Yes, yes, enough of that. Who am I?"
Narcissus wisely chose not to look up and meet the burning blackness of those eyes. "You are you are the Avatar's son. The Prince of Darkness. The Leader of the Sailor Constellations. The Terror of the Posiverse. The All-Powerful Scourge"
"That will do," the Prince interrupted calmly. "Yes. I am the Prince of Darkness. I am also Sailor Orion. The ORIGINAL Sailor Orion. And as you said, the first and most powerful leader of the Sailor Constellations."
"I knew it!!" Sailor Uranus exploded triumphantly from the wall on the right. "I knew it. I knew there had to be a reason I didn't like her I was right!!"
Sailor Orion turned to face Uranus, and the sandy haired Senshi suddenly felt inexplicably like she ought to be sorry for what she'd just said. The black eyes gazed at her with more sadness and despair than she'd ever seen in her life and yet, there was still that fury inside of her, that hatred that ignited at the very sight of him, a thousand times stronger than it had ever been towards Shinzui. She struggled against the manacles that bound her to the wall. She wanted to kill him. The red rage was floating before her eyes and she wanted to get over there and do something about it. Uranus hissed in frustration as the iron held firm.
Orion nodded slowly. "Yes, Sailor Uranus," he answered. "You do have a reason to hate me. A very good reason." The solid, dark eyes hardened again, however, as he looked down at the admiral groveling at his feet. "But I will deal with you first. You, Lord Narcissus, have displeased me."
"Yes, your Worshipfulness." The voice was almost a whimper.
"You will now pay the price for upsetting your Prince. You will forfeit your life."
"No!" Sailor Moon exclaimed from the wall in front of them. "Orion, don't kill him. You don't have to kill him now. Please if you're here to save us, you can do it without killing him."
Sailor Orion looked up at her with an icy stare. "That is not how it is done here, Princess. Mercy does not exist in the Negaverse. Does it, Admiral?"
The heap of lavender on the floor did whimper this time. "Please, oh Noble One, I thought my actions would please you" Then a thought occurred to the admiral and he looked up. "Wait," he ventured timidly. "You said Sailor Moon destroyed the evil in you. If that's true, you can't kill me in cold blood."
Sailor Orion grinned then, his smooth white teeth glittering in the dim light. "Oh, it's true. There's no evil left in me, thanks to the Princess. But there's plenty of evil in this place and it just so happens that I have a nice big empty space inside where my own darkness used to be. When I transform into Senshi form without Centauri first purifying the power of the Orion Opal, that vacant space opens. And right now, my friend, the negative energy of this Gate is filling it up quite nicely. I assure you, I am going to have no problems ridding the universe of you."
"Sailor Orion please you don't have to do this."
"Oh, shut up." The pitch black eyes glared over at Sailor Moon. "Your pleas fall upon deaf ears, Princess. The darkness rules now. You are about to witness the full power of the monster you destroyed. I am sure it will make you very glad that you got to me when you did."
Sailor Moon wanted to reply, but found that she was unable to move her lips. The terrible, absolute blackness of his eyes seemed to hypnotize her brain, and she could not protest any longer. The Prince of Darkness bent over and picked up the Soul Dissolver from where Narcissus had dropped it. "Well, Lord Narcissus. You've seen what my little invention does to immortal souls. Did you ever use it on a mortal being?"
Narcissus' lip trembled. "Please, your Royal Highness"
Sailor Orion looked over towards Uranus. "Sailor Uranus. I suggest you close your eyes. This will be especially painful for you."
Uranus glared back at him. "You're insane," she sneered.
The sadness was back, emanating from those pitch black eyes as Orion shook his head. "Have it your way, then," he said simply, and turned back towards Narcissus, leveling the Soul Dissolver. "I think, my friend, that it is time for YOU to say bye-bye." And with that he pulled the trigger.
What happened next was hard for Uranus to understand. The red energy left the barrel of the weapon and entered Narcissus' body. The concentrated, pure evil power seemed to melt the flesh right off of Narcissus' bones. The horrible, stinking sweet stench of rotted meat and burning skin suddenly filled the small dungeon room. And Uranus felt the most gutwrenching pain she'd ever experienced in her life. She tried to close her eyes, to block out the sight of it, but it was too late. Narcissus was screaming, but for some reason it wasn't Narcissus' voice she heard. It was the voice of a child. A voice that seemed somehow familiar. A voice that shattered her heart. There were other screams too a man's voice, deeper than Narcissus'. An old woman. A girl. Uranus felt like her chest was about to explode. She could barely breathe. This wasn't like any pain she'd every felt before. It came from the inside, from her own soul. The most burning, frightening sense of loss and fury and hurt and despair that she'd ever known. She heard a new voice screaming now, and realized dimly that it was her own. And she saw his face. The cold, dead, leering black eyes, the black hair streaming maniacally about his shoulders, the sadistic glee in his expression, and the hate filled her to the point that she could not control it any longer.
With a mighty, outraged heave and a shriek of fury, Uranus pulled the iron manacles binding her wrists right out of the wall. The clamps around her ankles followed, and the other Senshi watched in bewilderment and astonishment as chips of rock flew from the Magnifiscent Soldier's chains. Uranus launched herself at Sailor Orion, arms outstretched as if she intended to claw his eyes out with her bare hands. Sailor Neptune could only stare in utter shock. Never in her entire relationship with Uranus had she ever seen her partner like this.
The Prince of Darkness looked up as Uranus came towards him, and sidestepped the charge casually so that Uranus found herself on the opposite side of the room. He shook his head. "I told you, you have good reason to hate me, Sailor Uranus. But still you do not understand what that reason is. I warned you to close your eyes."
He rolled his eyes as Sailor Uranus, chest heaving, charged him again. This time, with a speed so fast that the other Senshi scarcely saw his hands move, he let her pass him only a little ways before siezing her arm, spinning her around and pinning her back up against himself where she could not get away. Uranus struggled as best as she could, but the Negaverse Prince was nearly a foot taller than she was, still being the six and a half feet that the other Sailor Orion had been. There was steel in his arms, and he simply held her, firmly but not painfully, until she stopped fighting. Sailor Orion shook his head again, and the wild black hair brushed against Uranus' cheek and across her lips. Uranus was revolted by the mere feel of it.
"Look," Orion demanded, drawing her attention to the dead man on the floor or what was left of him, anyway. The power of the Soul Dissolver had reduced Narcissus to a bare pile of bones and some scraps of bloody, singed lavender material. "Look at the power I had. The power you took from me. I used to rule this place. I was the most powerful Negaforce warrior in existence. I could kill with a word. And I even developed a weapon that would have allowed me to destroy the immortal souls of my archenemies. But what happened? The Senshi came along and took it all away." He looked up and his terrible dark eyes swept the room. "Look at me, all of you. Look at the glory of what I once was. The power of it. And you, Princess. You took that power and glory away. Your little purifying crystal and those three goody-goody Guardians you reduced me to a weak, diluted version of my former greatness. Never again will I be able to reclaim it."
Sailor Moon stared down at the mutilated figure that had once been Narcissus, the Negaverse admiral who had tormented the Senshi for the last few months, and her eyes filled with tears. "You call that horrible killing and cruelty being great? How could you see the ability to cause death as a great thing? I just don't understand you."
Orion chuckled darkly. "You never did." With one arm he threw Uranus back towards the wall where she'd been chained up, and snapped his fingers. The iron chains seemed to magically reattach themselves to the stone, and though Uranus struggled against them, she was missing that initial burst of rage that had allowed her to break free before. Sailor Orion watched her a moment and then nodded. "But there's something else that I need to finish here." He held up the Soul Dissolver in front of him and eyed it with distaste. "Funny that I hate this thing now the one thing I once thought would give me the ability to rule the Posiverse forever. But I made a mistake when I just assumed it had been destroyed. I'm going to rectify that mistake."
He set the weapon down carefully on top of Narcissus' remains. "Might as well clean up a little around here while I'm at it," he quipped with black amusement. Sailor Moon cringed. As much as she'd disliked Narcissus, there was a part of her that just could not help feeling sorry for him. Sailor Orion took a step back and grinned rakishly at Sailor Moon. "I'm sure you're dying to see just what kind of powers I've got or that I used to have, anyway. So take a good look."
After a moment, the Senshi could hear a humming noise, and the Orion Music Sphere materialized in front of him. At least, it looked like the Orion Music Sphere. But this orb was not an orb of light but an orb of darkness, as black and complete as the Prince's eyes. Sailor Orion lifted his fist so that the Orion Opal, set into the bracelet, sparked, and a look of wicked delight crossed his features. "Orion Opal Power!" he crowed. A sudden blast of black energy burst from the Opal on his wrist, into the hovering sphere. The darkness of the sphere seemed to concentrate itself, and then a single beam streamed from the sphere downwards towards the Soul Dissolver. It flowed for several seconds into the gun-like weapon. The red liquid contained inside the bulb on the top of the Dissolver began to boil rapidly, and then the bulb burst with the sound of cracking glass. The weapon began to glow as if the metal was becoming hot, and all of the Senshi, still chained to the walls, were overwhelmed by the pervasive evil aura emanating from the beam of black power.
Sailor Mercury watched the proceedings with a mixture of horror and scholarly interest. "It's the reverse of Sailor Moon's Moon Crystal Power," she declared to Sailor Mars who was chained up on her left. "But the Opal seems to be generating corruption, while the Imperium Silver Crystal only generates purity. Very interesting."
Sailor Mars twisted her head to look at Sailor Mercury. "What do you mean, interesting," she demanded angrily. "That stuff's giving off such a powerful evil aura it's giving me a huge headache."
Jupiter shook her head. "I still don't believe what I'm seeing. What does all this mean? Who is Sailor Orion, anyway? Is it Shinzui, or the Sacred Child, or this person? I don't like this at all. All this time we've been fighting alongside a Prince of the Negaverse, and we never even knew it."
"I wonder what he wants," Venus mused, keeping her eyes fastened on the black-clad Prince as he continued to concentrate his power on the Soul Dissolver. "I mean, he's evil, isn't he? So why is he helping us? Why is he destroying that thing instead of using it on us?"
Tuxedo Kamen was also gazing at this new form of Sailor Orion with an odd expression. He knew this man. He couldn't explain it, he just knew that he'd met him before, somewhere. There was an energy emanating from him that seemed inexplicably familiar. And he could not remember, but there was a definite distrust there. The Prince of Darkness was a threat to Sailor Moon, somehow. He was certain of it. Tuxedo Kamen recalled with some trepidation the things that Orion had told them before that each of the Senshi had a Negaverse counterpart. If that was true, and if this Sailor Orion was Sailor Moon's counterpart from the Negaverse, then he must have immense power. He found himself to be growing more concerned with each passing moment. Why would Orion show this dark side to them now? There had to be some sort of motive.
There was a loud hissing sound as the Soul Dissolver and the pile of bones and rags it rested upon were suddenly engulfed in black flame. The dark beam from the Sphere broke off, and a moment later, everything was gone the stone floor was completely clear. One would have never known that a few minutes before a man in a lavender cape had been kneeling on those stones pleading for his life. The Prince of Darkness smacked his hands together in satisfaction. "And that's that," he declared. "It's really gone this time. There will be no more weapons from the past returning to haunt me. It's finally, definitely gone." Then he stretched his arms above his head. "Ah, what a delicious feeling, all this strength. I was getting so tired of being cooped up in that bed day in and day out."
Sailor Moon stared at him. "What are you, Orion? What do you want from us? I just don't understand." She shook her head slowly and looked down at the spot where Narcissus had been killed right before their eyes. "You didn't have to kill him. Why did you do that?"
Orion met her crystal blue eyes with his own fathomless dark ones. "What am I? Why Princess, can't you see? I'm a monster. And killing is what monsters do, is it not?"
"You're not a monster. I refuse to believe that." She looked at him defiantly, and Orion shook his head, clucking his tongue sympathetically.
"Of course you refuse to believe it. That's your problem, Princess. You never could believe bad things about anyone you cared for."
Sailor Uranus spoke again from her spot on the wall. "Well, I don't have that problem, Orion. You let me out of these things and I'll prove it to you."
Sailor Orion grinned back at her and lifted a midnight eyebrow. "Ah, but you never cared for me, did you, Uranus?" Sailor Neptune tilted her head. There was a sensitivity in his question that she picked up on, just barely, and she found herself wondering if Orion was regretting the fact that Uranus didn't care. But the very next moment the flash of sensitivity was gone as the Prince of Darkness turned back to the Princess. "But you don't have to worry, Princess. I'm not here to destroy you. I may have the dark powers inside of me, but not the dark intentions any longer. No, I'm your servant, Princess. I protect you with my life whether you want me to or not. The fact is, Narcissus would have killed you. I just took care of him first. You ought to thank me for it."
"Thank you?" Sailor Moon repeated incredulously. "For murdering a terrified man while he was begging for mercy? I should thank you for that?"
The Prince of Darkness shrugged. "Or don't thank me. It really doesn't matter. He's gone now, and he won't be bothering you any longer and that, after all, is the point."
Sailor Moon wanted to argue with him, but she couldn't think of anything to say. Somehow she knew that nothing she said would make any difference. This time it was Sailor Mercury who broke the uncomfortable pause.
"Orion, I want to know how this is possible. How can you be both an old Orion and the one that we've grown to know? If this is your original form, how did you become Shinzui?"
Sailor Orion turned towards Mercury, and his black eyes glittered. "Perceptive questions always the scholar, Mercury. But I'm not going to answer you now. There are more important things to address at this moment."
"Like what?" Jupiter demanded.
Orion shook his head. "You'll find out soon enough You should all be returned to Tokyo, at once. ChibiMoon's life is in danger."
Tuxedo Kamen leaned forward anxiously. "What do you mean?"
"You'll soon see for yourself." The Prince of Darkness turned and cast Uranus another rueful smile. "I regret that each of our meetings proves so distressing for you," he stated quietly. And then, before any of them had time to ponder his words, he lifted the bracelet into the air again. "Orion Black Music Restoration!" The Senshi felt the iron binding them to the wall suddenly disappear, and one by one they were enveloped in darkness. When the darkness had cleared, the Prince of Darkness was standing alone in the center of the small dungeon room. There was a moment of silence, and then his form shimmered brightly as he detransformed. Shinzui's slight form, blank eyes and all, was now the only thing present in the silent, stony place. The blind girl sighed deeply and stretched.
"Well, at least that darkness has a nice side effect. I feel good as new. No more weakness or dizzy spells. The Guardians will be pleased at that much, at least."
Centauri stepped forward from the shadows. "But was it worth it, Shinzui? Was it really necessary? You've disturbed the Senshi deeply with this new revelation." He moved to her side, bumping his nose up against her legs.
Shinzui reached down and ruffled the silky fur on his head. "I know, old friend."
"They're going to want answers."
"They always do." The slender young woman shook her head. "We've been through this before in countless other lifetimes, Centauri, remember? Sometimes it's just necessary for the past to revisit us. If I hadn't resorted to my old form, they would all be dead."
"And now Narcissus is dead."
Shinzui smiled bitterly. "Yes. The last casualty of the Soul Dissolver's legacy. I can't say I'm going to mourn his death much."
"But Shinzui, you killed him in cold blood, and right in front of Sailor Moon. Did you really have to do that?" the retriever prodded gently. "Or have you forgotten that for her, what you have just done is a great injustice?"
"How could I forget?" The blind girl shook her head, and her soft, vacant eyes seemed sad. "I did what I had to do, Centauri. I would rather that the Princess be safe and hate me, than allow her to die thinking I'm her hero." She sighed again. Their voices were echoing hollowly around the stone of the dungeon room, a sharp reminder of the sudden isolation she felt. "I try to be one of them, Centauri, but I'm not. Not really. I cannot escape the truth of what I was. I cannot change the past no matter how much I would like to. And when it comes time to do the dirty work well, my hands are already stained with the blood of millions. So what's a few more? It might as well be me stepping up to do what must be done."
Centauri could hear the despair creeping up in his mistress' voice, and decided not to press the matter farther. He knew that Shinzui would punish herself enough without his encouragement. He also knew that she was going to face additional questioning from the Guardians once they returned to the Celestial Hall. They were most certainly not going to be happy with this most recent turn of events.

"She has returned to human form." The reverberating whisper penetrated the Library as Oberon closed the Book of Balance and pushed it aside for the moment.
Demetrius buried his face in his hands. "Why, oh why did she have to go and do that?" he moaned. "And right in front of the other Sailor Soldiers. Everything is such a mess now. All the explaining we're going to have to do and with the day of the Sacrifice still approaching steadily and still no sign of the Silver Dagger, not to mention the problems with the Neo-Moon Princess fading away we really just don't have time for this."
Neophilus rose to his feet and took a deep breath. "I know, Demetrius. I don't like it any more than you do. But what's done is done. Now we must decide upon our next course of action."
Demetrius groaned again. "And that whole mess with Sailor Uranus. It was so foolish of Orion to use the Soul Dissolver on a mortal right in front of Uranus. She's lucky it didn't bring back all the memories right then and there. Uranus nearly killed her from the mere aftertaste of the memory. If she'd been able to remember everything, to remember what really happened then" He shook his head. "The Sacred Child is under so much stress already. I think that it would break her, if that truth came out again."
Oberon shook his head slowly. "That part of Orion's story has remained buried for millennia, Demetrius, ever since the day of her purification from Sailor Moon. It is the one thing that none of the Senshi, save for Orion herself, has ever been reminded of. And with any luck, it will never have to be brought up again. Uranus has finally been showing some progress, particularly over the last hundred lifetimes or so. She's finally beginning to heal from the old scars that run so deep. If we can prevent the wounds from being opened again, it is possible that one day she will be her old self again the person she was before all of this."
Neophilus sighed as he reached down to trace the imprinted lettering on the old leather cover of the Book. "The humans have a saying 'The truth will set you free.' But in this case"
"In this case truth is a prison," Demetrius finished for him. The other two Guardians nodded slowly in agreement, and they all stared down at the cover of the Book on the table. It was obvious that they were going to have to call a conference with the Sacred Child in light of these new developments, and none of them was looking forward to the implications it held. "'The truth will set you free,'" Demetrius mumbled bitterly. "Yeah, right."

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