Part Twenty-Six: The glow of burning shrines! Secret in the flames
She turned towards the source of the terrorized screaming and caught a glimpse of the little face before it was swallowed up behind the wall of fire. A sheen of sweat coated her face and neck and she tried to call out, to reach for him and draw him back; but the little boy was gone, taken by the ruby flames as bright as the fiery curls on his forehead. She heard a new voice crying out in anguish, and realized that it was the man, the one whose son had just been snatched from his arms by the greedy flames. He was staring in horror as the fire bore down on him, and in an instant was engulfed. The raging flames spread, faster than she could blink, until everything everywhere was burning, burning, burning.
She couldn't stop it. She couldn't even call out a warningbut even if she could it wouldn't have mattered. The fire moved too fast, was too hungry. In a matter of seconds it consumed everything, the land, the air, the trees, the water, the entire planet was a ball of crackling flames and she was its center. The heat was blistering and she could hear screams of agony from a billion throats as the world was consumed. The sound was so tortured that it hurt to hear them, and she wanted to cover her ears and block it out but found that, like her feet, her arms would not move. Tears streaked her blackened cheeks, stinging in the rough smoke. She couldn't see them and couldn't help them. She couldn't even move. All she could do was listen to themlisten to the sound of a billion lives being wiped out in a matter of seconds.
Looking up, she saw the black, heartless eyes hovering in space, so full of glee and hate and cruelty. And she heard one voice-his voice-above all the others' cries of pain. He was laughing. They were all dying below him, being tortured to death as their flesh cracked and peeled away in the inferno, and he was laughing with a triumph that made her sick. She felt horribly nauseated, and the bile rose in her throat to make her retch. She wanted to scream at him, to fly up into those eyes and scratch them out with her bare fingernails, to make him feel the suffering he was inflicting, but she couldn't even get her cracked and blistered lips to form the words that were blazing like a brand through her mind. I hate you. I hate you I hate you I hate you. And then the reds and oranges and yellows took her too, and for a moment all she could hear was her own blood shrieking through her veins as if a devil were chasing it. The roar was unbearable.
Nothing.
Suddenly, she found herself standing (or was she sitting? Or floating? Or lying? It was hard to tell) in the middle of nothing. No light, no flames, no land, no screams, nothing but the glittering black eyes, still watching. And breaking the absolute silence came the lone sound of a woman crying. It was the most heartbreaking thing she'd ever heard in her life, and the grief in the sobs was enough to wrench her already dying soul almost to pieces. It was the sound of a survivor. The only survivor out of billions. She felt like crying right along with her. But as the sound emanated from the nothingness around her, she realized that the hard black eyes were not hard anymore. As a matter of fact, they looked rather-broken. She realized with shock and bitterness that the evil eyes were filled with tears, and as she glared at them in fury and frustration, they slowly and sadly faded away.
The sound of crying stopped then, and a moment later, the blankness around her parted, and she felt earth at her feet. Ahead of her there was a man, standing with his back to her at the edge of a naked, stark cliff overlooking the scorched and smoldering remnants of what had been a living planet only minutes before. She could see a sword in his hand, stained with blood. At his feet and all around him on the ground was piled a mass of what looked like long golden hair. She could even make out the bright blue ribbons that had once been woven through it. The man suddenly turned towards her, and she gasped as the steely gray eyes, hopeless and passionless, met her own. She knew that face.
"Rei-chan! Rei-chan, are you all right?"
The raven haired priestess reeled away from Shinzui's touch with a gasp. "Uranus!" she breathed, her face shimmering with perspiration. After a second her eyes began to focus, and she recognized the blind girl hovering over her with concern. "What happened?" she inquired quietly, breathing hard.
"You were doing a fire reading, went into a trance and then started going into convulsions," Shinzui responded with concern in her tinkling voice. "Rei-chan, what was it? What did you see?"
Rei shook her head. Now that the vision had ended, it was quickly fading from memory, and she struggled to recall the details of what the fires had shown her. "I there was a child. A boy, I think. And a man. Andfire everywhere, all over everything. People were dying." Rei was concentrating and did not see the shadow pass over the blind girl's face.
"What else?" she asked softly.
The priestess' nose scrunched as she tried to remember. "Evil. There was something so evil there, someone who was causing all that horrible death and pain. It was familiar. Somethingoh my god." Suddenly the eyes reentered her mind, black and wicked and sadistic. And Rei's hands began to shake as she remembered where she'd seen them before. She stared at the blind girl in horror. "Shinzui-san, what have you done?"
Shinzui, for a moment, was startled; and then her expression melted into one of inexpressible sorrow and she shook her head slowly. "You don't want to know, Rei-chan. You really, truly do not want to know." She stood up, shouldering her knapsack, and Centauri came to her side without her beckoning.
"Shinzui-san," he said quietly, but the look on her face warned him not to go any farther.
Rei continued to stare up at her, and the violet eyes filled with tears that she did not understand. "I think you're right," she answered numbly. She watched, still in shock, as the tall girl and her guide dog left the temple shrine. The memories of the vision were passing fast now, and she could scarcely remember any of the images save one; the sheer radiating evil of those black, black eyes. "The Prince of Darkness," she whispered, scarcely audible even to herself. "Sailor Orion."
Her musings were interrupted, however, when Yuuichiro burst into the meditation room. "Rei-chan," he yelled. "Rei-chan, you gotta come quick. Something awful's happening."
Rei was on her feet in a flash, the vision forgotten. "Grandpa?" she gasped.
He shook his shaggy head. "Nah, he's fine. But he needs to talk to you right away!" Rei nodded, and Yuuichiro held out a hand. "Come on."
"Guardian Brother. You're up very late." Oberon pulled up a chair to sit next to him. Demetrius had his nose buried in the Book of Balance, with stacks of other papers and open books scattered all around him. Oberon peered over his shoulder to read a few of the notes Demetrius had been making, and sighed. "Working on the Sacrifice again, are we?"
Demetrius looked up, a slight frown creasing his brow. "As we all should be. I promised her, Guardian Friend. I promised. And it's been too long. Too many lives and too many deaths. It's time I kept that promise."
Oberon sighed. "I know. I want to put an end to this as much as you do. But I'm beginning to think that maybe we aren't supposed to find another way. Perhaps this is just the way that fate has ordained the Balance to be held. Perhaps the Sacrifice is simply meant to be."
"I won't accept that." Even in the recesses of his heavy golden cloak Oberon could see the sapphire eyes flashing stubbornly. "Fate is blind, Guardian Friend. But she is not cruel. We are the Guardians of the Balance. It is our job to ensure that the balance between positive and negative is maintained. We failed to preserve the Blendthe Balance is all we have left. And I am not going to allow us to fail at this." He shook his head. "The Child has suffered enough. Even if I have to get up there and take on the full Negaforce myself, I'm going to find a way to put an end to this once and for all."
Guardian Friend nodded slowly. "I understand your pain, Guardian Brother. I do."
"No." Demetrius' head lowered. "You don't. Because you've never loved someone the way that I love her. And you've never had to stand by and feel her spirit in pain, day after day after day. And you've never had to hear the way her heart cries every time she is reminded of her past mistakes. And you've never had to bury a dagger in her chest and feel her life slipping away." His voice broke. "You don't understand, Oberon. You can't. All the intellectual wisdom in the world could never really comprehend it."
"You're right." The thunderous voice reverberated through the library, and the two Guardians looked up to see Neophilus coming toward them. He gazed down with compassion at Demetrius, his ruby eyes soft. "We can't really comprehend your suffering, or hers, Guardian Brother. All we can do is keep trying, and never give up. For your sake and for hers."
"And for the Balance," Demetrius pointed out, and Guardian Father gave a wry smile.
"And for the Balance." Neophilus sat down on Demetrius' other side, and gazed down for a moment at the pages of the Book. "All this time," he mused quietly. "So much has happened since the Great Division. Things that we could never have predicted. Who knew that the destruction of the Blend would cause so much chaos?" He shook his head. "We are the oldest beings in existence, and yet still the forces of good and evil never cease to surprise me. If we, the most ancient and powerful, do not have the answers for everything, then who does?" He smiled fondly at Demetrius. "Who would have imagined that a Guardian would fall in love with a human soul? Who would have imagined that a creature of darkness could become one of light? And who would have imagined that it would become necessary to sacrifice an innocent spirit for the sake of preserving innocence itself?" Guardian Father sighed.
Demetrius nodded. "Exactly. Who would have imagined?" He traced an image on the page with a fingertip. "But we've been through more than a thousand cycles of the Sacrificemore than a million years of study. Always it has been the same, until now." He stared down with frustration at the Book before him. "The answer IS here. I can almost hear it calling to me. It's something so simple, so basic, I'm sure of it, and yet I can't seem to find it." He turned to meet Oberon's amethyst eyes. "I've never been this close before."
Guardian Friend nodded. "Then we must both help you to look for it, Guardian Brother," he replied in his usual whispered tones, and Neophilus nodded in agreement. "Lookthe picture moves." The three gazed down at the picture on the open page, as it began to shift. Scenes of darkness and fire flashed over the paper, and presiding over it all was the black, cruel eyes of the Prince of Darkness. When the picture had stopped moving, it remained frozen on the final image; a tall, solitary soldier standing on a barren cliff, staring out at them with emotionless gray eyes.
"Uranus," Guardian Brother breathed, unable to take his eyes away from the piercing, desolate gaze.
"These are visions of the past," Guardian Father observed, also transfixed on the picture. "But what could they mean? We all know what happened. We were there."
Oberon shook his head, and put his finger on the picture. "Somehow she's the key," he said quietly. "The key to all of thisthe Sacrifice, the answer, everything."
"But she changed," Demetrius pointed out. "Before, she would have been able to help us. Now" His gaze swept over the mass of golden hair that was lying at the soldier's feet in the image. "Now she's not the same person. I don't know that she ever will be."
Guardian Father nodded. "That's true," he agreed. "But if we're ever to find the answer, we must find a way to get through to her without reopening old wounds and making things worse." He met Demetrius' eyes. "We must make certain that she never remembers what happened there. Until she is able to forget she will not be able to forgive. And if Oberon is right, if she is the key to all of this, the Sacrifice will continue to go on, just like the Eternal Curse, until forgiveness occurs."
Demetrius sighed, and rose to his feet. "I must return to the hospital," he announced quietly. "Guardian Friend, would you stay and continue this work until I can come back? We're so close, but the vernal equinox marches nearer with each passing day. We cannot afford to waste a moment."
The amethyst-eyed Guardian gave a nod, and Demetrius turned to leave the library. It was out there, somewherethe solution to all of this. And this time was going to be different. This time he was going to find out what it was.
"I don't like this, Centauri. I don't like it one bit." Shinzui slammed her teacup down on the counter so hard that the golden retriever jumped. "This isn't supposed to happen. They aren't supposed to remember! None of them have ever remembered, except" she trailed off in frustration. "Something's not right. Why would the fire realm be showing the terrors of the past now, after all this time? What's happening?"
"Shinzui, calm down," the dog suggested soothingly. "You're not going to find any answers by worrying like this."
The blind girl scowled at him darkly. "Don't tell me to calm down, Centauri. This is bad. This is very bad. I don't want any of them to live through that again. Once was more than enoughthey're not going to go through it again, I won't allow it. The only one who has to remember and live with it is me." Her frown deepened. "And rightly so. I created this mess. But I already broke their hearts once, and I swore it would never happen again. They can't remember, Centauri, they can't be allowed to remember."
"It may be that none of us has any choice in the matter."
The blind girl's head snapped up at the familiar voice. "Demetrius!"
The sapphire-eyed Guardian stepped forward. Shinzui didn't bother to ask how he'd managed to get through her locked apartment door; she already knew that doors and walls didn't mean much to a Guardian of the Balance. He was still dressed in his hospital scrubs, she could smell the scent of disinfectant and sterilizing hand soap from where she was sitting. "I felt your distress from almost ten miles away, Child. I thought something terrible had happened."
"It has," she replied gloomily, her vacant eyes dark. Now that he was here, she could feel the power of his aura, his soul strength, filling the room, and draining her of some of her frustration. He'd never been able to take negative emotions from her before, and she found herself vaguely wondering if her release of emotion the day before had somehow opened her to him in ways that she hadn't expected. "Mars-I mean, Rei, received a vision in the fires today while I was meditating with her. A vision of the pastmy past."
Demetrius was silent for a moment. "Child, I do not pretend to understand what is happening here. There is a movement in this cycle of the Sacrifice that we've never seen before, and so many strange things have occurred this time around that cannot be explained. It seems like destiny. Perhaps you cannot fight it or stop it-perhaps you're not supposed to."
Shinzui ran a fingertip around the rim of the teacup. "Perhaps not, Guardian Brother. But that doesn't mean that I won't try. They don't deserve those memories."
The white-haired man sighed. "And neither do you," he said quietly, feeling the underlying guilt and shame that she insisted on bearing for her mistakes. "I know you disagree with me, Child. I know you still think you deserve to relive your past as punishment. But no matter what you think, you don't deserve it. I'm certain of ityou've suffered enough already."
A sarcastic, wistful grin curved her lips. "We've had this discussion too many times before, Guardian Brother, and I just don't have the spirit for it today. So I won't argue with you right now." A wicked twinkle sparked the empty dove colored eyes. "Even though I'm right."
This brought a chuckle to both of them. Shinzui's smile faded after a moment, however. "I was staying close to Mars because she is Lady Slipper's next target," she commented gravely. "But I think perhaps my presence in the shrine disturbed the Realm of Fire. Not without reason, since it was primarily fire that Ithat the Prince of Darkness used to commit his murders."
Demetrius nodded slowly. "You may be right," he acknowledged, though he sounded a little dubious. "Perhaps you should ask one of the others to watch over Mars for youyou can't do everything yourself, you know." His jeweled eyes traveled down the adjacent hallway as they both heard the click of a doorknob. "You already have enough responsibility here," he added softly as Sachiko, Shinzui's sister, emerged from her bedroom-turned-art-studio dressed in a smeared and spattered canvas apron.
Sachiko stopped short when she caught sight of Demetrius. "Ohhello," she sputtered shyly. "I didn't know Zui-chan had a visitor." She stood there wringing her fingers awkwardly, but the handsome Guardian smiled and stepped forward.
"Hello, Giseino-san," he greeted her formally. "It's very nice to see you again. Shinzui tells me that you are doing much better."
Sachiko nodded and blushed. "Yes, thank you, Doctor. I promised." She turned a loving gaze on her blind sister. "Zui-chan's always so good to me."
The young blind woman returned the smile and rose from her seat at the counter to give Sachiko's shoulders a gentle squeeze. "I have a wonderful big sister to be good to," she retorted sweetly, and gave a light giggle as she touched her sister's cheek and felt a long streak of hardened clay there. "What are you working on now, Chiko-chan? More pottery?"
Sachiko's eyes lit up, but she shook her head. "No. The Paris Observatory of Art commissioned a piece for one of their upcoming displays. Something about contemporary artists imitating classical styles with modern mediums-I'm working on a sculpture from the Renaissance era, Michelangelo-style with modern clay materials instead of carved marble." Shinzui nodded, and Demetrius lifted an eyebrow.
"That sounds fascinating. I know a little something about Michelangelo myself." Shinzui had to stifle a chuckle. That was an understatement if she'd ever heard one. Guardian Brother had been, at the time, one of Michelangelo's closest personal friends. If she remembered correctly, it had been Guardian Brother who formed the first 'fan club' for a celebrity, he was such an admirer of the man's talent. Demetrius kept a perfectly straight face however. "I'd love to see the piece when you're finished."
Sachiko blushed again, but nodded. "All right, Doctor." She looked back over at Shinzui. "But I ran out of molding clay, and I can't finish without at least another two buckets. I was hoping maybe"
Shinzui patted her sister's arm. "I was just on my way out anyway," she smiled. "I'll pick some up for you at the art supply store."
Her sister squeezed her hand gratefully, and Shinzui understood. She knew how much Sachiko hated going downtown for supplies. Sachiko was highly talented and when she had to be was quite charming and social, but Shinzui knew that her high-strung sister was actually extremely reclusive and shy. The pale-haired artist nodded respectfully towards Demetrius, and then retreated back into her studio. Shinzui took hold of Centauri's harness and sighed. "Come, friends," stated quietly. "There are things which must be done." Demetrius held the door, and the three of them left the apartment together.
"What do you mean, burned?" Rei exclaimed to her grandfather. "Why would anyone want to set fire to a shrine?"
Grandpa Hino shuffled from one foot to the other. "I don't know, Rei-chan. But four Shinto temples were burned to the ground this morning. A group of priests came to warn me only a few minutes ago."
"Don't worry, Rei," Yuuichiro declared firmly, putting an arm around her shoulders. "I won't let anything happen to you or your grandfather. I can protect the shrine."
Rei snorted and shrugged his hand away. "I can take care of myself, thank you very much," she responded sarcastically. Turning back to her grandfather, she asked, "Did the priests say who was doing this?"
The little man made a face, and beckoned to her to lean down where he could whisper in her ear. Rei obliged. "They say it's a demon," her grandfather informed her conspiratorially. "One of the priests told me he saw an enormous black spirit lurking around their altars. He tried to use an ofuda and the next thing he knew the shrine was burning down around his ears." Grandpa's eyes darted from side to side as he spoke, as if expecting at any moment to confront some dark creature sneaking up on him.
Rei took a deep breath. It was a jaki, she was certain of itand if the jaki was attacking shrines and temples then it meant that Lady Slipper was looking for her. The priestess' violet eyes narrowed. She needed to contact Usagi and the others right away. Forcing a smile, she kissed the top of Grandpa Hino's shiny, bald head. "It'll be all right, Grandpa," she assured him brightly. "If you see any more evil monsters creeping around, yell, okay? Right now I have chores to do."
Yuuichiro was watching her with confusion in his face. "But, Rei-chan, what if there really is some sort of demon loose in Tokyo? Don't you think we should be on our guard?"
Rei rolled her eyes and patted his cheek lightly. "You worry too much, Yuuichiro." With that she headed back inside the shrine. The minute she reached her bedroom, however, she shut the door and yanked out her communicator. "Guys, this is Rei. Is anybody there?"
An instant later Minako's cheery face filled the screen. "Hi, Rei-chan. What's going on?" Before Rei could respond the screen crackled and split as Usagi, Ami and Makoto also responded to her call.
Rei let out a breath. "Lady Slipper's got a jaki burning down the shrines around Tokyo. I think she's looking for me."
Concern filled her friends' faces and they all nodded. "We're on our way, Rei-chan," Makoto declared firmly. "Just sit tight."
"I'll try and contact Shinzui," Ami offered. "Sailor Moon will need to have her help to stop the jaki."
Rei's eyes clouded at the mention of their older friend, as the image of the black eyes flashed into her memory again. "Is something wrong, Rei-chan?" Usagi inquired curiously, noting the change in the raven-haired beauty's expression. Rei bit her lip. Should she tell the others about her vision from that morning? It felt dishonest to keep such disturbing and potentially important images to herself, and yet to tell them would be like betraying Shinzui, somehow. She wasn't sure what she should do, and she shook her head.
"I'm fine, Usagi-chan. Just a little tired. I've been doing too much fire reading lately, I think."
Usagi clucked her tongue sympathetically. "Well, don't you worry, Rei-chan. We'll be right over. I'll call Haruka, Michiru and Setsuna too. They might want to know about this."
Rei smiled wearily, and as she snapped the communicator shut she sighed again. Turning, she threw herself onto the pile of cushions in the corner that generally served as a chair, and drew her knees up to her chest. Every time she closed her eyes she could see them again, those terrible evil eyes that reflected the fires so that they themselves seemed to be burning. Those eyes haunted her even though she could scarcely remember anything more of the vision. The priestess in her wanted to return to the meditation fires, to call up the vision again and see if she could make sense of it. But there was an even deeper part of her that was terrified of that prospect. Whatever it was that she'd seen, it must have been horrendous for it to frighten her so. All she knew was that it had something to do with Sailor Orion as she had been before her Posiverse existence. They all knew what Orion had been. They were all aware that the Prince of Darkness had done awful, inhuman things. And over the last few days Rei had become more and more aware that Shinzui was still carrying the guilt for those past actions with her. It was like a shadow coiled around the blind girl's heart and Rei didn't completely understand it. If the vision of this morning was any indication, Rei was certain she didn't want to understand itsome memories were better left buried. And yet she wanted to know why the fires were showing her these things now. What was she supposed to do with them? What was it the fires wanted to tell her?
Rei had kept her visions of the coming Silence secret from the others because it had felt like the right thing to do. In this, however, she was not so sure. If the vision was a warning, shouldn't she be sharing it with the others? But what would that mean for Shinzui? It felt like she'd be spreading gossip about a friend who had risked her lifegiven up her lifecountless times for them. She wasn't sure what the vision meant, so how could she make such a decision? Rei rubbed her aching forehead. When she opened her eyes, she was resolved to go and face the fires again, to get to the bottom of all of this. She rose to her feet and left the room, heading for the meditation chamber; but with every step her dread increased. By the time she'd reached the porch her nerve was gone and her knees were trembling.
Ridiculous, she scolded herself. I've had bad visions before. Why should this one scare me so much? But her stomach felt sick and she could not force her feet to go any farther. She was just too afraid.
As she stood there helplessly on the outer porch, her dilemma was disrupted by a familiar hissing. Rei's eyes snapped up to see a large and very ugly jaki with three flickering, snakelike tongues lumbering towards her from among the cherry trees lining the temple path. She gritted her teeth. "About time," she muttered to herself as she regained control of her legs and ducked back into her room, henshin pen already in hand. She couldn't transform out there in front of the shrine, but the second the door was closed her pen was over her head and she was calling out her transformation.
"Mars Star Power, Make Up!"
The red swirling energy began to flow around her, and she closed her eyes to relish the sensation as power infused her body with its intoxicating strength. Transforming was always such a delicious feeling, and when the glow had faded and her fuku was in place, she was anxious to get out there and create a little inferno of her own. Exploding back out onto the porch once more, she caught the jaki as it was beginning to ascend the steps.
"Hey, stupid. Looking for me?" The creature looked up and snarled as Sailor Mars' dainty red heel connected with its midsection. It grunted and stumbled off the steps, back down onto the grass. Mars grinned and launched herself from the porch railing over the creature's head, and landed beyond it.
"Burning Mandala!" she bellowed, firing off her series of symbol-circles at the evil spirit before it had time to turn around. But the attack didn't seem to do much of oanything to it. The jaki brushed the fireballs off with scarcely a shrug, and as it moved to face her its mouth opened, releasing a stream of black lightning towards the senshi of fire.
Sailor Mars jumped into the air to allow the attack to go past, but remembering that the jakis' energy had the tendency to bounce back, she then ducked and rolled out of the way. Sure enough, the dark power struck the trunk of a cherry tree and deflected. Thanks to Mars' quick thinking, however, it did not hit her but the jaki . The oily black creature absorbed the energy back into its body and immediately fired a volley of crackling dark attacks in Sailor Mars' direction so that she was forced to go skipping and somersaulting through the temple courtyard.
"Ow, ow. Hey, watch it!" Mars complained as various bursts of evil power went ricocheting from the trees and shrine buildings. One particularly large burst bounced off a flowerpot on the porch and managed to catch Sailor Mars in the back.
"Not again," she groaned as the sharp, pulsing pain shot through her muscles, immobilizing them. This was what, the third or fourth time that she'd had to endure one of the jakis' attacks, and it seemed like every time the pain was worse than she'd remembered. She felt herself falling to the grass as her legs ceased to obey her, and as she hit the ground, she groaned weakly. "Damn, that hurts."
The jaki hissed in delight as Mars crumpled in front of it, and the air began to glitter as Lady Slipper materialized by her creature's side. The Negaverse woman smiled unpleasantly and patted the evil spirit's shoulder.
"Well done, my pet," she congratulated it, her triumphant sea green gaze never leaving Mars. "Now, for the big question." She produced a small, shiny knife. "Oh, where, oh where could our Dagger be?" Her smile widened as she walked over to Mars, and noted the senshi's contracted expression of pain. Lady Slipper thrust out her bottom lip in mock-sympathy. "I know, dear. My little pet has a sting that really smarts. But this is so much easier when you can't run away." She lifted Mars arm and drew the blade of her knife along it. Mars didn't even feel the bite of the knife, because the electrifying effects of the jaki 's attack hurt so much. "Do you realize that we've been looking for you all morning?" Lady Slipper asked conversationally as she cut into the girl's arm. "This is our fifth temple visit this morning. I'm glad you finally decided to show up, Miss Mars. I was getting bored with just burning those shrines down. If you hadn't come along when you did, I was seriously considering livening it up a little with some more creative destruction."
Mars glared at her in spite of the pain. "And you knew I'd be at a shrine?"
Lady Slipper nodded, watching the narrow red stripe appearing from the smooth skin. As she reached for the fire opal hanging at her waist, she lifted a rose colored eyebrow. "Of course. I know all you Sailor brats and your patterns. You, Miss Mars, have an affinity for spiritual rituals and fire. I naturally thought, what better way to get your attention?" The rosy eyebrows lowered then, as the opal produced no reaction from Mars' blood whatsoever. Lady Slipper sighed. "Well, curse it allyou're not the carrier either." She closed her eyes for an instant and shook her head. "The Avatar's not going to like this."
She stood up and turned towards the jaki . "Finish her," she ordered simply, and turned away to leave. The evil monster nodded and took a step forward. But it didn't get very far.
"Dead Scream." The chilling, gentle whisper was followed by a swirl of smoke and positive energy that stopped the spirit in its tracks. Though the attack did not have the energy to really hurt the creature, it still whimpered a little at the sudden unpleasant cold feeling that surrounded it. Sailor Pluto dropped from the branches of a tree overhead to land directly in front of Lady Slipper. "Going somewhere?" Pluto inquired with a lifted eyebrow.
Lady Slipper smirked. "Sailor Pluto. So nice to see you again. Now I suggest you leave."
Pluto shook her head. "I'm not going anywhere, and neither are you. You cannot be allowed to continue to harm this world. You must be destroyed."
The Negaverse woman stared, and then began to laugh. "Come now, Pluto. You don't want to lock horns with me." Her icy green eyes bore into the Revolutionary Soldier's. "Trust me on this one."
In response, Sailor Pluto merely lifted her staff. Her glowing orb-talisman at the tip began to produce smoke again. "Dead Scream," she whispered calmly.
From the trees to the left came a new voice. "Deep Submerge!" A wall of turquoise water rushed forward to combine itself with the smoke.
And then from the right a new power added itself. "World Shaking!" Sailor Uranus' golden planet-shaped power tore through the ground to meld with the other two. The three attacks merged into a single deadly wave of destruction, and blasted through the air and ground towards Lady Slipper.
She did not move. Lady Slipper merely stood there with a grin on her face. When the attack had moved within a few inches of her, she raised one hand and snapped her fingers, and a sudden wall-like black shield materialized around her body. The senshi's powers struck the shield, and it crackled with dark electrical charge for a second as the powers absorbed negative energy from it. Then the attack deflected, turning and expanding back upon the three outer planet soldiers in the blink of an eye. They didn't even have the chance to dodge.
Their own energy, now infused with Negaforce, hit them with the strength of a bullet train. Sailor Pluto was lifted off her feet and tossed like a rag doll across the courtyard, where she was thrown up against a fountain and dumped unceremoniously into the crystalline waters underneath it. Both Neptune and Uranus were also thrown into the air, and smashed against the trunks of trees. The stinging pain of the attack left all of them gasping for air, and a trickle of blood ran down from Pluto's nose. Lady Slipper shook her head, and took a few steps toward Sailor Pluto.
"Silly girl. I told you not to tangle with me." She eyed the senshi of time's bloody nose and tilted her head. "But you do have power, and the courage and wisdom to use it. I wonder." She fingered the opal at her waist.
Shing! A red rose appeared on the path between Lady Slipper and Pluto. Lady Slipper looked up, and for the first time Pluto realized that the Negaverse woman actually looked a little nervous. Tuxedo Kamen strode purposefully through the trees, a scowl on his handsome masked face.
"You harm the innocent and destroy the pure. I will not allow it." The caped young man stood before her in defiance, staring her down.
Lady Slipper batted her eyes. "Well, if it isn't my Posiverse double, here to save the day." She eyed him up and down, and her smile widened. "It would appear that I got the better end of the deal in our division," she snickered. "More power, more personality, and let's face it" she flipped her long rosy braid over her shoulder, "all the good looks."
"Hold it right there!" Sailor Moon shouted, coming up behind them just in time to hear Lady Slipper's last comment. "You've burned down our temples, caused pain to my friends, and insulted my boyfriend! I am a defender of love and justice, a pretty Sailor soldier, Sailor Moon! In the name of the moon, I will punish you!"
Lady Slipper turned to see Sailor Moon, Sailor Orion and the rest of the senshi coming up behind them. Her jaki snarled at them, but when Orion fastened those silver eyes on it, the creature whimpered again and froze. Orion smiled in satisfaction. Lady Slipper rolled her eyes. "Lovely speech, Sailor Moon. Solet's hear it, Orion. I know you have one too. Aren't you just dying to get it out?"
Sailor Orion met her eyes with amusement. "All right then." Her bell-like voice then filled the shrine courtyard. "A shrine is a place to strengthen and feed the spirit. When you burn a shrine, you burn all of us. The stars rule everything, from the dawn of time to the end of the age. I am Sailor Orion, and with the melody of Orion I will fight to preserve the music of our souls from being silenced by evil like you!" She raised one pale eyebrow. "How was that?"
Lady Slipper snorted. "Ooh, I'm trembling."
Sailor Orion grinned right back. "Perhaps you'd prefer a little musical accompaniment?" The Orion Music Sphere rose from behind her, humming and pulsing with soft peach light. "I could arrange a little concert just for you, if you like." Then she turned a knowing eye on Tuxedo Kamen. "Or perhaps I should allow him to take care of you."
Lady Slipper licked her lips nervously. "I'mI'm not in the mood for music right now," she answered. "I believe I shall leave you to your workYou're all going to have a lot of cleaning up to do around here anyway. Good day, ladies. Gentlemen." She nodded formally, and then vanished. Her jaki gave yet another whimper as it saw its mistress disappear.
"What was all that about?" Sailor Moon asked Orion. Orion's grin grew rakish. "Tuxedo Kamen is Lady Slipper's 'better half,' so to speak. He's one of the only senshi that has the power to hurt her. And Lady Slipper may be sadistic and cruel, but courageous she is not. She's actually something of a hypochondriac." Sailor Orion winked at Sailor Moon, and then turned to look at the hapless jaki . She shook her head. "Poor thing. Sad how quickly allies become expendable in the Negaverse, isn't it?" The monster eyed her pitifully. "I'm sorry, old boy, but you're evil, through and through. We can't just let you go. I promise, if you hold still this won't hurt a bit." Then, to Sailor Moon: "Are you ready?"
The tiny blonde nodded, and simultaneously they called out their attacks.
"Heavenly Symphony!"
"Moon Healing Escalation!"
The power from Sailor Moon's Spiral Heart Rod flew into the Music Sphere and was absorbed and amplified, and then burst from the Sphere as an exquisite melody. The evil spirit did not whimper this time; it melted down in a matter of seconds and the pool of black gooey stuff was quickly absorbed into the earth. Sailor Orion nodded in satisfaction; her promise had been kept and the monster had suffered no pain.
She always felt sorry when she had to destroy an enemy that was not fighting back. There was something dishonorable in it. But she really had no choice. A jaki was a creature made of Negaforce. It would only have continued to cause destruction if she let it go. Out of the corner of her eye she looked at Sailor Moon curiously. She'd been expecting a little resistance to the death of the creature. Sailor Moon was never one to give up on a living being, regardless of what it was made of. But perhapsperhaps the Princess was learning to trust her judgement. That was a disturbing prospect. After all that she had done, everything that she had been, she wasn't even certain that she trusted herself. Orion made a mental note to discuss this with the Guardians.
The effects of their combined attack were spreading quickly. Sailor Mars, on the grass, was beginning to recover as the cleansing melody expurgated the evil influence from her body. Tuxedo Kamen was helping Sailor Pluto out of the fountain, and Uranus was already up and making her way towards Neptune to check on her. Sailor Orion took a few steps back. Uranus would be busy with Neptune for a few moments. She should leave now.
Mars was sitting up, with the other Senshi buzzing around her like worried little nursemaids. She caught sight of Orion retreating, and for a moment was tempted to call her back, but decided against it. She still wasn't sure what she was going to say to her. She had so many questions but she didn't know if she really wanted to know the answers. It was all too new, too fresh in her mind. Maybe she'd feel better after she'd slept on it. Mars was the only one who saw Orion press the opal on her bracelet and disappear.
The Avatar growled from his seat on the dark throne. "What do you mean, not the carrier?"
Lady Slipper twisted her fingers nervously. "I realize it's another disappointment, Avatar, but it does mean that we're getting closer. There are only three Sailor Planets left to testPluto, Sailor Moon, and Sailor ChibiMoon."
The Avatar shook his head. "No. I've been thinkingwe might as well not even bother with ChibiMoon. She's not the carrier."
"She's not?" Lady Slipper was puzzled. "How can you be sure?"
"ChibiMoon is not from this current time. She is born in the future, after the Sacrifice occurs. So the Dagger couldn't be in her bloodstream." He frowned then. "I just realized something. If ChibiMoon is from the future, it means that in the future Sailor Moon and that prince of hers are still together as rulers. But how can that be? I'm destined to win this round, I'm certain of it." He shook his head, dark eyes flashing. "Perhapsperhaps we're doing something wrong. I wonder." Suddenly his head snapped up. "And Tuxedo Kamen?"
Lady Slipper scowled. "What about him?"
"Have you tested him yet? He is, after all, a senshi. He represents the Earth."
Lady Slipper's eyes widened. "I forgot about that."
"You forgot. How convenient." The Avatar gave an unamused chuckle. "He's your own counterpart and you just 'forgot' that he's a Sailor Planet too." The cold smile disappeared, and Lady Slipper found herself flying across the room, thanks to a blast from the Avatar's outstretched hand. "Idiot!" he bellowed, rising to his feet and descending the steps of the dais. "Lady Slipper, you disappoint me. And you know how I hate to be disappointed." He lifted his hand again, but stopped at the look of fury in the Negaverse woman's eyes. It was rather disconcerting.
"You forget yourself, Avatar." Lady Slipper drew herself up from the floor, slowly and purposefully. "You forget who I am."
The Avatar snorted. "I know exactly who you are. You're the little upstart that conspired to ally yourself with my son and take my throne. I don't know why I've even tolerated you this long."
"Because Sailor Orion is not just your son, and you know it. In the time before you were born, Orion WAS. He was first. And he is not just your son, he's your father. Reborn. You know the story of the cycle as well as I." She regarded him with a hint of contempt. "And I, Avatar, am not just your son's ex-fiance. I am your mother." She cocked an eyebrow. "Surely you remember me."
He snarled. "I remember parents who were more interested in my soldier training than in me. They taught me welland when I was old enough, I killed both of them and assumed my rightful place as Avatar." The black eyes were glittering, dangerous. They reminded Lady Slipper of Orion's, and yet somehow they just didn't have the same power. She continued to smirk at him.
"Yes, you killed us, and we were reborn, just as destiny has always carried the cycle. If it wasn't for that mealy-mouthed little Posiverse princess, you wouldn't be ruling now." She watched him carefully, not wanting to push him too far. He was still technically more powerful than she was, but that didn't mean that she couldn't manipulate that power. Over the millennia she'd become an expert at knowing when to bait him. "You pride yourself on your power, but you're only a shadow of your father. Sailor Orion was the one with all the strength. You? You're a temporary replacement. A cheap substitute. Sailor ChibiOri."
With that the Avatar let out a bellow of rage, and moved to slap her. She caught his hand and grinned to herself. When he got angry, he became weaker. How unlike his father, whose rage used to feed into his strengthit was really pitiful that the Negaverse was stuck with such a weak and ineffectual leader, while their rightful Avatar was parading around in the Posiverse in the guise of a little girl. Lady Slipper mocked him with her eyes. "You're nothing, do you hear me? Nothing. Without me and the other Sailor Constellations you'd be no one."
He took a deep breath, willing himself to calm down. "Is that so? Then why, may I ask, have you put up with me all these thousands of years? Surely it can't be for lack of ambition. You think I don't know that if any of you had the opportunity you'd displace me in an instant? I know that. But I also know something else." He reached down and fingered the dark greenish stone hanging from his neck. Lady Slipper eyed it warily. "I stole the Negaverse Bloodstone from my father when I slit his throat millennia ago. It's mine nowand I'm the only one, in all the Negaverse, who can wield its power. So perhaps I am not as strong as Orion was. It doesn't matter. I'm stronger than YOUthan all of you, and that's the only thing that counts." He grinned evilly. "In the end, Sailor Orion proved to be the weakling. I'm still here. He's not. And that's the way it's going to stay, like it or not." The Avatar turned, black cape swirling, and marched back up to his throne. Settling himself, he nodded slowly at Lady Slipper. "One day, Lady Slipperone day I'm going to get weary of you and your constant harping. And I'll kill you, just as I did then. Without Sailor Orion to come back for, who's to say that you'll ever be reborn?"
Lady Slipper kept her face expressionless. You're just lucky that we need the power of the Bloodstone to break the Sacrifice, she seethed inwardly. Otherwise I would be the one doing the throat-slitting around here. And without Sailor Orion and I coming together, how would YOU ever be reborn, dear ChibiOri? But she prevented these thoughts from reaching her face. Now was not the time. Her day would come and until then, she would just have to be content, and wait. She bowed to him.
"Forgive me, Avatar. I should treat you with more respect." The Avatar nodded emphatically. "See that you do." Drumming his fingers on the armrest, he cocked his head. "Well? What are you waiting for? Go get me that Silver Dagger, woman. We can't do anything until we have it in our possession."
With another low bow, she swept from the room. The Avatar watched her go with thoughtful eyes. I'm not as stupid as she believes. But I'm going to win this one. I'm going to rid myself of Orion foreverand then I'm going to get rid of her. I'll prove to all of existence who the real power in this universe is. I will be the Avatar of everythingor of nothing. No more half-way ruling. He chuckled to himself. "And I'm going to make my worthless son the first example. No one, not even Orion, is more powerful than I. I have the Bloodstone now. I have the power. I will be supreme." He smiled to himself then, hearing his own voice echo against the empty walls of the throne room.