Golden Haze
Part Five: The Twilight of Hope, The Eve of Terror
by Golden Lady Serenity
*Standard disclaimers still apply. I still don't own Sailormoon. It belongs (or at one time belonged) to Takeuchi Naoko, Toei, DiC (bastards), Cloverway (also bastards), Pioneer (I HAVE the SuperS dubbed movie! How could you make it so cheesy? ~~Sniff~~ Bastards!), and all the other scary people in business attire. But I do lay claim to all the pretty things I've bought!*
"Chibi-Usa...Venus...!" Sailor Moon fell to the ground, her small fists pounding the concrete sidewalk. "Please, no...someone bring them back," she whispered. A soft thud and the rustle of cloth could be heard behind her. Picking herself up, Sailor Moon steeled herself for what she knew would come, eventually.
Face to face with her was a disapproving Tuxedo Kamen. "Sailor Moon, how could you fail so miserably?!" he exclaimed, furious. Not a second later his cheek became exceedingly hot, then stung. If he'd had a mirror, a red handprint would've been seen. "Sailor Moon, what'd you--"
"Shut up, Tuxedo Kamen, just shut UP. Where were you, huh? Tell me that!" Sailor Moon's eyes almost emitted sparks, so great was her anger. "You weren't even here to help, or were you? Were you just hiding, like always, waiting until it was almost too late?! To swoop in and play the mighty hero. Just like you always do. Well, where were you today? You failed just as much as we did. More in fact. You didn't even try to help. Everyone keeps telling me that she's my responsibility, and that I need to take care of her. From the time you've spent with her, I would assume you find her your responsibility, too. Obviously not! And BEFORE you go into why I wasn't watching her, I was told that she'd be staying home with Mom, and I wouldn't be needed. Now get out of our way and let us get to work." She turned her back to a shocked Tuxedo Kamen, and headed in Mercury's direction. As would be expected, the Senshi of Ice was hard at work, trying to track the two captives with her computer and visor.
As per Sailor Moon's request, Tuxedo Kamen left, slightly subdued.
"I can't get a lock on them!" Mercury cried out, agitation coloring her voice. Frantic, her fingers ran over the keypad, as she desperately searched for Chibi-Usa and Venus. "Come on, come on..." For once, Mercury's cool was all but shattered. Finally, she closed the computer and let go a long, dejected breath. "I can't...find them." She dropped to the ground.
"It's all right," Sailor Moon promised. She turned her attention to Mars. "Any luck?" The only answer was a sad look and a shake off the head.
"Damnit!" Finally, Sailor Moon's sudden control broke, and she collapsed, sobbing freely.
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In a crystal ship, high above Tokyo, a little girl shivered. 'What is this place?' All about her were walls of dark, cold crystal. No matter how hard she looked, she could find no source of light. Despite that, she could see rather clearly, but to be honest, she'd rather not. For, despite the immaculate conditions of the small cell she was in, the auras of pure terror and hatred had been etched onto the darkest of areas, to seep into those present, and become foremost in there thoughts.
Chibi-Usa rose up, only to plummet back to the floor in a nauseous haze, her bile rising. As she lay, face down against the cold, crystalline surface, thoughts of death and torment assailed her. Moments passed like years, while her young mind tried to defend itself. Slowly, she regained control of her sensibilities. She stood, uncertain. When she realized she was fully upright a sigh escaped her lips, to dissolve into a strangled scream. Materializing in front of her were Cooan and Beruche.
"What...what do you w-want?" the pink-haired child stammered. The feral stares on the Sisters' faces did very little to reassure her. Terror held her still, as Cooan bent down, and grabbed her by the collar of her blouse. "Whaa--!!"
The look on Cooan's face was one of curious malevolence. What could she get away with, how far could she go with this worthless pest? Rather carelessly, she let go of Chibi-Usa's collar, yet the child remained floating in midair: courtesy of Cooan's telekinetic abilities. With a wave of her hand, she swung the girl through the air, straight at a wall. As Chibi-Usa's face scrunched up in anticipation of the impact, she stopped, not an inch from the hard surface. Of a sudden, she felt herself flying through the air once more, only to be repelled by yet a new force...Beruche.
The braided woman laughed, as the two of them flung Chibi-Usa back and forth, a seemingly endless game where the playpiece was the child. The little girl, tossed and flung through the air, began to lose her newfound stability. It was all she could do to refrain from vomiting, yet with each pass, that seemed less and less likely. She prayed it would stop soon...
"Oooh, this is wonderful Cooan, we should do this every night. I'm sure the others would simply love this!" Cooan replied with a single, cruel chuckle, and the two turned their attention to the "game".
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A dark figure stood before the communications mirror, as he delivered his report to his prince.
His brother.
Demando stared back through the screen, a grin crossing his features. "So you've succeeded where others have failed Saffir. Commendable. It seems things are going in our favor once more. And...what of our rather, hmm, sudden guest?"
"She's fine," Saffir replied blandly. Soon it would be time to ask her a few questions...He said as much to his brother, then shut the connection and left. He made his way down the hallway with slow steps, turned at the doorway, and stared at the occupant inside.
She lay on a couch, perfectly still. Of course, that was to be expected, what with the tranquilizers. She blinked. She attempted to move her head. And she huffed in frustration when she realized she could do little more than turn her head from side to side. Her head turned one last time, as he entered the room, and sat down.
It was a rather odd arrangement to the unenlightened observer, yet made perfect sense to the two there. Sailor Venus could hardly feel in control, with her powers blocked, and her command of her own body out of reach. The seemingly looming form above her added to her tension. "What," she strived to get passed her lips, "do you want?"
Saffir stared at the Senshi of Love a long, uncomfortable moment. "You don't know, do you?" he asked her, flatly. "You wouldn't. Let me explain. The great Queen, your almighty bitch-Queen, used the crystal on all the people within her kingdom, purifying them of the darkness. She turned them into lambs. Into unthinking fools. All but my ancestors, who rebelled, to keep their free will. I want nothing than to be rid of all of you. To do that, though, we must have the Ginzuishou."
Venus absorbed that information as calmly as circumstances allowed, yet it tore at her soul. 'Queen Serenity did that? Are we lambs?' It was impossible, it was unthinkable. "I don't believe you. Serenity would never have done that. Anyways, what did you bring me here for?" She remained silent on the subject of the Ginzuishou.
Saffir growled low, and hauled her to her feet, all but dragging her to a wide facet in the crystalline walls. Holding her upright, he activated the hitherto darkened screen, an image of Chibi-Usa appearing, a strange device attached to her shoulders and chest. "Tell me what lets you fight! Where do your powers come from?" the dark-eyed man hissed in Venus' ear.
The blonde's eyes widened at the sight of the little girl. "What are you going to--"
"Tell me!" Louder. The device began to glow slightly, as Chibi-Usa's expression become fearful. The glow became brighter, and something akin to electricity spread its way about the child. As the event progressed, the child screamed in pain. "Tell me!"
Venus' throat tightened painfully at the sight before her, as the little girl's torture progressed. She could hear her screams as though they were yelled in the very same room, and not over a speaker. They were bloodcurdling sounds, sending chills up the spine of whoever heard them, horrendous shrieks of pain and suffering, punctuated by heart-tearing sobs now and again. The Senshi of Love could bear it no longer, and cried out.
"Stop it!! I'll tell you!" She would've fallen to the ground in shame, but still yet, Saffir held her up.
The torture continued. "So tell me," Saffir growled. He watched, in muted interest, as a strange pen appeared in Sailor Venus' hand. 'This must be taking all her energy,' it occurred to him. As she pressed a button on the item, her fuku vanished, returning her to the form of Aino Minako.
"With...this...Now let her go," Venus begged. In a blur of darkness, the device vanished, and Chibi-Usa fell forward, too weak and sore to do more than just lay there.
"Very good." And with that, he seized the pen, now fully rendering Minako helpless.
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Four girls and two cats sat in Minako's room, each lost in thought.
'I shouldn't've lost. I should have been able to save them, to protect them. It's my job.'
'We failed them, we didn't teach them properly...'
'I should've sensed something before this.'
'Why couldn't I have seen this coming sooner?'
'I never should've given in so easily...'
'I should've fought harder...used my strength...'
Pain and guilt were their companions, as they ran over the previous events, each trying to figure out what went wrong. Chibi-Usa's abduction, Venus...Tears poured out of more than one pair of eyes.
Ami was the first to break the silence. "Who took Venus...?" The others looked at her oddly. "It...it was a different person," the genius stammered. "It wasn't Rubeus this time. Who was it?"
"What does that matter?" Rei cried out. "They took them, that's all we should think about! Let's just get them back!"
The glare on Ami's face almost made the raven-haired girl flinch. "We don't know who we're dealing with! We know Rubeus, we know the Sisters, we don't know...him. Tell me: how do you fight someone you don't understand?"
"Ami, calm down!" From, of all people, Makoto.
In the ensuing silence, sobbing could be heard. All eyes turned to Usagi, as she sat on the end of Minako's bed, her hands clenched in her hands, faced turned down. "Let's just...find them..."
The others went quiet at that. They were bickering over nothing, nothing at all, while their friends were trapped, in who knew what conditions? Ami's face went beet-red a moment, as she reached for her computer. Her fingers flew, as she tried to locate Venus and Chibi-Usa. She closed the device a moment later, dejected. "I can't..."
"Don't you dare say that!" Usagi leapt up, and took a hold of Ami's shoulders. "Don't you dare say you can't." A determined look crossed her face. "Come on," she commanded to all of them, her voice uncharacteristically hard.
"Wha...where to?"
"The control room." And with that Usagi was out the door.
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There was no possible way that Sailor Venus could've known that the Chibi-Usa she saw was only an illusion, yet the real one was in only marginally better condition.
Petz and Karaberas had joined in at one point, utterly fascinated by the game their siblings were playing. Unable to resist, they'd joined in, laughing at Chibi-Usa's screams. Pure, wondrous music to their ears. As time had gone by, they'd grown weary of using their kinetic energy to propel their "toy" to each other, and switched to fists.
The pink-haired girl connected with Cooan's fist, the woman's knuckles digging into her abdomen. Chibi-Usa gasped for air, as pain shot through her, once again. Cooan, to Petz, to Beruche, to Karaberas. Her stomach, her cheek, her back, her nose. She hurt too much to scream, yet a mangled gasp would escape her lips every few moments. Bruises had formed all over her body. Suddenly, she felt herself crash into the far wall, and fall down to the floor.
"Beruche! What were you thinking?!" Karaberas yelled.
"I don't think Lord Saffir wants her killed. We can play tomorrow," Beruche laughed. With that said, she teleported out.
"True," Karaberas admitted. The three women departed, but not before Karaberas shot a bolt of energy at Chibi-Usa.
The girl stared in horror as the energy came near her. She clenched, expecting pain. When none came, she looked up, and realized that her wounds were starting to...heal? She watched in awe, never realizing how dire the consequences of that healing would be.
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Darkness. It was all around the man, within him, as he sat in a corner of his room, contemplating what he'd learned that day. Pens? He stared at the object in his hand, trying to figure the wisdom of it's existence. Why would one decide to lose their powers after their battles were done? To be strong and powerful all the time...These girls could've ruled the world with an iron fist, and they let the chance go!
If the texts were right, they were royalty. And too weak to retain their kingdom. They'd died...The fools.
His mind traveled down shadow-filled paths, down halls of darkness and evil. He would bring the Senshi to their knees. He would return to his time, this mission finished. He would return with the...Saffir paused.
"Return with the what?" he wondered aloud, even as a pale face haunted his mind. "NO!" And with that he flung the pen across the room, in a frenzy of denial.
He dropped back into the chair, and tried his hardest to block the thoughts that crept into his mind. Exhaustion took him finally, and he fell into a restless slumber, that face still within his vision...
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Alright, there's chapter 2! Hope you've enjoyed the story. ^_^ Review please! ^_^
