Chapter 21
Tatics
Sailor Orion slammed the butt of her Glaive in Xanatos' stomach, holding back
a grin as he doubled over. She shot her leg up and connected with his head,
throwing it backwards. This was almost too good to be true! Xanatos was so
cocky he was not even paying attention to her. To her, that was very good.
She swung her Glaive around, the blunt end of the blade striking his side.
The force from her blow send him flying away a few yards.
Orion followed, her open left hand surrounded by a silver-gold light.
"Orion Fire FLARE!!" she shouted. The light hit Xanatos sqaure in the face.
"Come on!" she said, spacing her hands evenly on the staff of the Glaive.
"That the best you got, Xanatos?!" she laughed.
Xanatos glared at her with his cold blue eyes. He raised a hand and
wiped the blood away from his mouth. He looked at he red smear on his hand
and smirked. "You'll see..."
A chill ran down her spine at the look in his eyes. Orion only had a
second to think, before Xanatos was suddenly right in
front of her, his fist deep in her own stomach.
----------
A tremor shook the room. Slowly, red eyes opened, then winced at the blinding
white light shining in them. The lights flicked off. Chibi-usa frowned,
trying to focuse her eyes. she thought.
She remembered.
Chibi-usa shot up and looked around. She was in an infermery, but it
was not the same one she recognized. She looked down and saw Priest Helios
slumped down on the bed she was in.
"Helios!" she gasped, moving to get to him.
A shot of pain ripped through her from her chest. She drew a sharp
intake of breath, her hand raised and grasped the throbbing area. She stopped
and opened her eyes just as the lights came back on.
She was in a Senshi fuku. It was almost an exact duplicate of Eternal
Moon's, in design that is. The three skirts were pink, white, and light blue
in that order, the bubble shoulders were tinted a blue-green that matched her
knee-high boots, and her collar was a dark green. The pads on her gloves were
dark pink. She reached up and felt her chocker. It was a small brooch shaped
like Earth.
"What in the world?" she whispered, stunned. She remembered her crystal
and the new phrase she had said to use it. "A new form....of Sailor
Moon...one Mom didn't awaken." she stopped, eyes wide. She turned to Helios,
seeing his still face. "He helped me awaken it..." A sad smile found its way
to her lips.
Gently, she climbed off the bed, wincing as pain still throbbed in her
chest. She picked Helios up and laid him on the bed. She gazed into his face
for a few moments longer before glancing around. No one else was there.
"Where is everyone?" she said to herself as she walked out the door.
She flinched, raising a hand and laying just over her heart. "And what's
wrong with me?" She continued on, having to stop and wait out the tremors
that shook the foundation under her feet. "I've got to get outside. Maybe
that can tell me something."
She soon found her way out of the maze of hallways and the stairway.
She was surprised to see the Palace interior some what like a graveyard, as
if it had not been lived in for a few months...
As she got closer to the doors that lead to the outside, she felt the
tremors growing stronger and the pains in her chest increasing in streangth
and number. By the time she got there, she was almost doubled over in pain.
She steeled herself against it as she pushed open the slightly ajarred doors.
Her jaw nearly dropped at the sight of the outsides. She stared, not
believing what she saw. she thought.
"Chibi-usa?"
She froze, hearing the voice. Slowly, she turned to her right, towards
the sound. Her eyes widened seeing the two standing there, shocked as she
was. "Mom? Dad?" she whispered, taking a step to them. She could not believe
it. After all this time, she could see her parents again! "Mom! Dad!" she
shouted, running.
A flash of light shot out from the sky above them, hitting the ground
between them. A tremor, slightly larger than the other ones, caused the three
to fall. She looked up to see the boy in black hovering above them, hands
glowing. A smirk was on his face as he said, "Well, well. It seems you've
woken up? Enjoy you're little nap, Princess?"
"You!" she said, face twisting in repulse. "What are you doing here?!"
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she regretted it. She quickly decided to keep his attention distracted
from the mess-up. "And the name's not Princess! It's Sailor Lunar!" she
stopped.
"Hm. Interesting," the boy remarked, floating down until his feet
rested on the ground. "Did the poison have a mind-numbing affect as well on
you?"
"'As well'?" the newly named Sailor Lunar stood, wondering why he was
talking and what he meant.
"Oh, well. No matter," he said, shrugging. "You'll die either way."
Faster than she could see, the boy rose back into the air and summoned a
youma from no where. The youma stood between her and her parents. "That
should make sure you two don't interfer with anything," he told them,
chuckling a bit.
"Interfer with what?" Serenity blurted.
"Interfer...with this!!" Black electricity flew from the sky, flying
down to strike Lunar.
Instinctivly, Lunar raised her hands in front of her and shouted,
"Terran Energy! BURST!!!" A light blue blast flew from her hands, exploding
when it hit the electricity. Lunar stared at her hands. "Whoa..."
"Tch," the boy grimaced. "Lucky shot. Let's try that again!"
----------
Jupiter growled, trying to focuse. her mind
yelled.
The other Senshi could not agree more. Since the doubles had done the
weird thing with the yell and the light, whatever injuy the Senshi inflicted
on their opponent or vise versa, it appear on the other. For instance,
Jupiter was covered with slashes and bruises all over her body, but not even
half of the injuries had been had by Zeus. And for every wound on Zeus,
Jupiter had a matching one. The only way you could tell them apart was their
cloths. It was the same with the others.
was the unianimous thought of the Senshi.
----------
Nemesiss told the man.
Xanatos replied, kicking
Sailor Orion's head upwards.
Orion, oblivious to the exchange, saw Xanato slightly distracted
though. She gripped her Glaive and flipped, landing behind him. She lunged,
thrusting her Glaive out, hitting...nothing?
Pain burst from her right arm, causing her to drop her weapon. She had
just enough time to look behind her to see Xanatos' smug face before he
grabbed her by the throat. Tightly. Xanatos chuckled as he levetating
himself, his hand keeping its grasp around the Senshi's neck. He did not plan
on snapping her neck, or choking her for that matter. He just wanted her to
panic a bit.
And what better way to cause panic than to act out her forst fear?
"Well, well. Aren't we at a familiar scene, Little Grave Keeper?" he
said in a conversational tone.
Orion's eyes flashed with hatred that almost masked her terror.
"Yes. We are." He voice suddenly grew a bit softer yet never lost its
malious. "Wasn't it just like this...all those years ago...right after you
were born?"
Orion visably flinched, dread entering her face.
Xanatos, seeing that she would suffocate soon, levetated her just
enough to where she could breath slightly. "I'm sure you remember it, Little
Grave Keeper...after all, those of your lineage have perfect memories.
Absolutely perfect ones, I've heard."
"S-So...what?" Orion choked out, her hands limp at her sides for some
reason she could not phathom because she wanted so much to punch his face in,
causing those white teeth to fall out of that smirking mouth...
"So...Does this sound familiar?" He leaned closer to her, his mouth
right up against her ear. He whispered to her, sending chills down her spine,
"'I'll screw you'..."
Orion's face paled, understanding the meaning behind the words.
"But of course, she pervented me from doing her. Though she forgot my
exact words after that. Do you remember them, Little Grave Keeper?"
"I belive they were '...after I screw her...' You remember who the
'her' was?"
"You."
"NOO!!"
----------
A huge flash of light blinded Lunar. "What the--" she started, ending when a
large 'BOOM' sounded far off to her side. All eyes on the battle feild turned
to the source just in time to see Orion's body falling downwards, limp.
Xanatos was no where to be seen.
Lunar frowned, not recognizing her. she thought.
"EYES FRONT!!!"
Lunar spun around just in time to see the boy's attack seconds away
from her. There was no way she could dodge. This was it. "...no..." she
whispered, knowing nothing could be done. She was about to die.
Ten seconds until it would connect. She could see the boy behind it
now, a look of triumphant on his face. To the side, she could see Adonis, his
mouth open in shock and horror.
Nine seconds. Her eyes moved looking over the battle grounds.
Eight seconds. She could see the shocked panic in her parents faces,
the Senshi having the same expressions on their faces. Their battles had
stopped, the doubles watching her for some reason.
Seven seconds. She closed her eyes and hung her head in defeat. Six
seconds. She could feel the heat on her skin now. Five seconds. Her ears rang
with their screams of her name. She raised her eyes and met with Adonis' wide
blue one. Four seconds. She raised her head and locked eyes with both the boy
and Adonis.
Three seconds. They both looked at her, confused.
Two seconds. Her mind was screaming for her to run, even if it was
useless.
One second. A sad smile spread across her face as her eyes filled with
tears of compassion though they did not fall.
Zero.
Lunar's world went white.
----------
~*~
But it was not.
"Why would it be cold, Serenity?"
"No, far from it. And you're not dead."
Slowly, hesitantly, Lunar opened her eyes. She was still on the battle
feild, but everything had stopped. "What--" she started.
"Why did you stop?"
Lunar turned to the voice, standing behind her was the young woman with
blonde hair and sad brown eyes. "Zukamori-san!" Lunar gasped.
The woman sighed, shaking her head. "That is not my name,
Serenity...not any more," she added, looking off to the side.
"Whatever your name is, would you please explain what's going on?"
Lunar said, gesturing to the frozen people around them.
"I stopped time," the woman said, nochalantly.
Lunar blinked. "Puu?" she questioned, thinking it was PLuto in one of
her disguises.
"No...I am not that Guardian," the woman replied, walking past Lunar.
Lunar resisted the urge to gasp when she saw the woman's back. She was
clothed in a gray tunic that hung loosely on her frame, pooling around her
feet. But her back looked as if something was on it, buldging the cloth out
until it was near ripping. Lunar guessed it was a deformity of some kind.
"Why did you not do as I said?" the woman said, turning back around to
face her. Her face was strained, as if she was in pain.
"What do you mean?" Lunar asked.
"Why did you stop?" she repeated. "Why? If you continued, you would
have gotten it and then everything will not come to place--"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!!" Lunar said, coming up to the woman and narrowing
her eyes. "Hold on a minute! I don't understand anything you're saying!
Gotten what?!"
The woman gave her a confused look. "You...don't know?"
"Know what?!" Lunar said, getting annoyed.
"Do you know why you have a new crystal, a new Senshi form?"
Lunar blinked. "No..." she said slowly.
"You're a Crystal Senshi now, one of nine parts of the Ginzuishou.
Every Crystal Senshi has a Crystal they use as a weapon."
Lunar frowned, reaching for her Crystal. She took it off her bow,
fearing it would undo the tranformation, and looked at it. "This crystal?"
she asked, holding it out.
The woman frowned this time. "How--" She stopped, realization lighting
up in her eyes. "Xanatos." She said the name through a sneer, making Lunar
back up in fear. "I'm sorry," she said, easing Lunar's fear. "I had no idea
he put a seal on this. Here..." She took the Crystal in both of her hands.
Gold light surrounded her hand and the Crystal, surprising Lunar a bit.
The light disappeared just as soon as it had appeared. The woman held out the
Crystal. "Take this and say: Crystal Form," she instrusted.
Lunar nodded. She gripped the Crystal before raising it and shouting,
"CRYSTAL FORM!!" A bright blast of light shot out from the Crystal. Lunar
could feel it mutating in her hand though she could not see it. When it
stopped, she lowered her arm and gasped.
Laying in her hand was the flute she saw in her dream. It was long and
thin, shaped towards the end in a tight spiral, and made of a dark blue-green
material that looked like glass. "Wow," she breathed.
"Now," the woman said, catching her attention, "when I restart time,
you must play the song. And whatever happens, don't stop. No matter what."
"All right," Lunar said. "But what--"
She cut off when the woman suddenly gasped, her body becoming rigid.
The pain was evident on her face now, instead of masked. She doubled over,
her arms wrapping around her stomach.
"What's wrong?!" Lunar shotued, rushing to her side.
"Stay back!!" the woman ordered, raising a shaking hand to stop her.
She did not have to for Lunar stopped on her own, staring at her back
in shock and disbelief.
Whatever was in her back was moving. Lunar noted it was two things,
side by side. They thrashed around, ripping the cloth a bit yet not enough to
where she could see it.
"You must go!! NOW!!" the woman shouted, trying to focuse on her words
and not the pain. "T-Tell the Senshi to strike them in their hearts!!"
"What?!" Lunar said, snapping out of her shock.
"The heart is the weak point!" she ground out, clenching her teeth.
"The hearts! HEARTS!!"
~*~
----------
Lunar snapped her wings out, suddenly finding herself up in the air above the
attack that nearly killed her. Everyone saw her and gaped, not understanding
what had happened. The woman's words came to her.
"Their hearts!!" she shouted to the Senshi. "Their hearts are their
weak points!! Strike their hearts!!"
The Senshi exchanged glances. The doubles suddenly appeared nervous,
gripping their weapons tighter. Up until then the doubles had been gaining
the upper hand due to the fact that the extra injuries did not seem to affect
them. And the looks on their faces told the Senshi that what Lunar had said
was true.
Jupiter, the first to get her senses back, tightened her grip on Green
Lightening before she raced to Zeus. Zeus, caught offguard, summoned her
dagger to block. Jupiter smirked. "What's the matter, Zeus?" she said.
"Scared? You should be!" She shifted her weight and moved her blade. Zeus saw
what she was doing and moved out of the way, the blade narrowly missing her
heart. Jupiter took the gash silently as it appeared on her body as well. She
noted absently that the wound did not hurt as much as it should have.
The others shook off their surprise and attacked again, now with a new
goal in mind.
Lunar's mind snapped back, she quickly raised her flute. Instinct over
took her reasoning and she closed her eyes. The melody spilled from the
flute, echoing out across the battle feild.
The boy seemed to freeze in his place, his eye staring at Lunar with
something akin to terrified shock on his face as she floated down, landing on
the ground. She was oblivious to everything around her, concentrating only on
the song.
The boy shook his head, a strange feeling running through his body. The
song...it was affecting him...something began to form in his mind...an
image...what was that?....A baby? He frowned.
The boy stopped, disbeilving. The baby had spoken.
he heard his own voice reply.
Below the boy, Adonis was experiencing the same thing. The baby, though
almost fully formed, was obviously a fetus, still in its mother. The strange
thing was...he felt as if he should remember this...as if he had lived it...
----------
Mars strung another arrow on her bow, aiming for Aries' heart. Aries, trying
to find a way to dodge, soon found herself backed up against a boulder. Mars
grinned to herself as she let loose the enflamed arrow. Aries jerked to the
side. That is, a bit too late. Mars thought her eyes were playing tricks on
her, but she realized that her arrow had indeed went through the heart,
pinning the double to the boulder.
"N-no!" Aries was trying to remove the arrow. Aries' purple eyes, so
much like Mars' own, were wide with horror, slowly becoming clouded over.
"No! NOO!!"
"Yes." Sailor Draco and Sailor Cassiopia suddenly appeared on either
side of Aries.
"You've had your fun," Draco said.
"Now it's time you returned to the place you belong," Cassiopia said
raising a hand and pointed to where she meant.
Crystal Mars.
"No!" Aries shouted vainly. "I'm not going back! I'm *NOT*!!"
"What?" Mars blurted, confused. "What are you all talking about?"
"I'm not going back!!" Aries shouted still, ignoring Mars. "I like it
out here! I'm free! I hate being in her!! I'm not going!!!"
"Yes, you are. Mars," Draco said, turning to the Senshi. "Grab a hold
of the arrow and pull it out."
"Say what?!"
"Just do it."
Mars grunted, walking up to Aries and grabbing the arrow. Aries
instantly let out a shriek and grabbed the bow on Mars' chest, her hand
encasing the Crystal there. Mars started to make her let go when her
transformation suddenly reversed, turning her back into Rei. She started to
say something, when Aries eyes went black, her hand letting go. She slumped
down, the arrow keeping her up. Her body began to change, turning into a
black light that gathered in the same position a Rei, mirroring her.
"Embrace it," Cassiopia instructed Rei.
"W-what?" Rei said, her voice barely a whisper as she stared at what
had been a double of herself.
"Embrace it, Rei. She needs to go back home," Draco said, her blind
eyes watching for the red Senshi's reaction.
Hesitantly, Rei spread her arms out a bit and took a step closer to it.
The light lifted, the arrow clattering to the ground before dissappearing,
and flew into Rei, being absorbed into her own body. Rei gasped at the
feeling. It did not hurt. It felt as if...something she had lost....had
finally...returned...had...come home...
"What is this?" she whispered.
"Your other half returned to you," Draco said, a slight smile on her
face.
----------
The boy forcefully tried to tear his mind away from the images the music was
bringing up. Images he did not know of and did not want to know for some
reason.
He forced his eyes away from her and looked out over the battlefeild.
To his surprise, the Senshi were winning. Everyone except for Crystal Mercury
and Crystal Neptune had beaten their doubles. He could not believe this.
Everything was falling apart around him. His teeth gritted together as a
snarl curled his lip back.
he thought, glaring down at Sailor Lunar with as much
hate as he could feel. He held
out his hands in front of her and began to summon his energy.
----------
Sailor Orion pulled herself up, causing the rubble Xanatos had thrown her in
to fall off her. She winced, her arm flaring with pain. She looked down and
found a large gash bleeding freely on her forearm, her glove torn almost to
shreds.
Shouting reached her ears, along with music of some sort. She stole a
glance in the direction it was coming from and saw a Crystal Senshi she did
not recognize standing in the middle of the battleground that had been the
Palace gardens once upon a time, a flute of some type raised to her mouth, a
soothing tune emitting from it. One look up showed her that the boy was
readying an attack on her. The Senshi did not notice the boy.
"Look out!!" Orion shouted as the boy cut loose the bolts.
----------
Lunar bearly heard the shout of warning. She was too absorbed in playing to
notice it. Then, a form appeared in front of her before a blaze of light and
cries of pain filled her ears. The flute dropped from her mouth when she
recognized the form in front of her.
"Adonis!!" she yelled, seeing that he was being pelted by energy from
the boy above them. Images of her dream came flooding back to her, she could
almost see herself standing a few feet away, shouting at the boy to stop,
that Adonis would die.
Lunar saw a break in the stream of bolts and rushed in front of Adonis,
who still had enough streangth to stand up still. The boy smirked at seeing
her rush in front, in the direct line of his attack. He released his full
force on the pink-haired Senshi, caring only for her death.
"NO!"
The shout broke the silence just when the attack was only inches away
from Lunar. She had only a second before she found herself airbone along with
Adonis.
Yet it had not been from the attack.
Lunar landed hard on the ground, her shoulder breaking her fall. She
gritted her teeth to keep a cry of pain in. She slowly pushed herself up,
wondering what had hit her. Beside her, Adnois sat up and looked to where
they had been. What he saw made his blood freeze.
"Zukamori!!!" he screamed. Ignoring the pain his injuries caused, he
scrambled up and ran to her side as she fell backwards, having taking the
full force of the boy's attack head on. He caught her before she hit the
ground. He looked over her, trying to detremine where the blood that was
covering her was coming from. A lump formed in his throat when he found that
there was no one area where the blood flowed. It was as if she was bleeding
from every pore of her body. "No," he whispered. "No. Zukamori. Zukamori!" he
said loudly. "Answer me! Zukamori! Answer me!!"
There was no answer.
----------
Crystal Mercury bit her lip as her last sword stroke made its mark, straight
through Hermes's heart. "Rest in peace," she mummered as the double's eyes
became clouded. Mercury let go of her sword and spread her arms out to her
sides as the body of her opponent became a black light then flew into her
just as it had done with the others. She let out a breath when it was
finished. Finally...it was over...
"Zukamori!!"
The cry made Mercury snap her head around to see what was going on. She
stopped, seeing what had happened.
"Oh, please no," she whispered before breaking into a run, trying to
cross the great leangth between her and the others. And she felt as if she
had spoken too soon.
----------
Lunar stood frozen at the sight before her. Adonis was holding the blood
soaked girl in his arms, trying to get her to respond. She knew what had
happened: This girl had pushed them out of the way and taken the blow
instead. Now....
Lunar's eyes snapped up to the boy, who looked down at the scene, shock
evident on his face. She stopped. Something about him....it was strange but
wha--
She stiftled a gasp when she saw the boy's scarred eye began to
flicker, as if it was not scarred at all. A groan drew her attention away
from the boy. She looked back and saw the girl beginning to wake up. She
rushed behind Adonis and watched as the girl's hazel eyes slowly opened and
focused on Adonis. Out of the corner of her eyes, Lunar saw two other Senshi
she did not know come up on the other side, slowing their steps as they got
closer.
Orion's eyes locked onto Adonis's, which suddenly filled with tears.
"A-Adonis...." she said with great effort.
"It's okay, Zukamori," he said in a soothing tone. "It's okay. You're
gonna be all right."
"D-did you g-get h-h-hit?" she forced out.
Adonis felt a pang in his heart. Here she was, covered in blood,
mortally wounded in almost any way he could imagine, and she was concerned
about him. "No," he said, "I'm all right."
A small smile found its way to her face. Her hand moved, as if trying
to reach him. He gently took hold of it with his free hand.
"Do not try to move," Draco said, stepping up to them. "Kyoko, get over
here."
The other Lost Senshi nodded and knelt beside Zukamori and Adonis,
Draco did likewise on their other side. They linked hands over Zukamori and
closed their eyes, calling on their power. Golden and blue-green light poured
down from their hands into Zukamori, who gasped softly at the large amount of
power they supplied her with. Slowly, her injuries began to heal.
----------
The boy watched, trying to break out of the shocked state he was in. Why? Why
did the girl's actions cause him to freeze up?
Upon seeing the others there, his mind instantly started working.
There! There they were!
He could almost hear Kome-sama's words again. 'You must put this in
them, or else we all will perish. Only you can do it, boy. When you do, you
will remember your past. You will remember who you are...'
He smirked, summoning the item needed for the task. In his hand
appeared a long, thin bladed sword that glowed black like the obsian alloy
metal it was made with. Yes, now. He reared back, targeting with deadly
accuracy that would insure death and threw it at a neck breaking speed
towards the target.
----------
Lunar saw the incoming object just out of her perefial vision and turned to
see it flying towards the four people in front of her. By the time she had
opened her mouth, it was too late.
The sword struck home.
Blood sprutted out around the blade as it embedded itself to the hilt
in the victim's heart. Everyone seemed to freeze at what they saw. The
victim's wide eyes moved slowly, looking at everyone around them, then to the
boy. Their mouth worked, trying to form the word. Blood creaped out of the
corners of their mouth as they breathed, "....why...." before falling to the
ground. They did not move, nor did their chest rise up and down to indicate
breathing.
Dead.
__________
NEXT: Guess! I'm not telling!
__________
Tatics
Sailor Orion slammed the butt of her Glaive in Xanatos' stomach, holding back
a grin as he doubled over. She shot her leg up and connected with his head,
throwing it backwards. This was almost too good to be true! Xanatos was so
cocky he was not even paying attention to her. To her, that was very good.
She swung her Glaive around, the blunt end of the blade striking his side.
The force from her blow send him flying away a few yards.
Orion followed, her open left hand surrounded by a silver-gold light.
"Orion Fire FLARE!!" she shouted. The light hit Xanatos sqaure in the face.
"Come on!" she said, spacing her hands evenly on the staff of the Glaive.
"That the best you got, Xanatos?!" she laughed.
Xanatos glared at her with his cold blue eyes. He raised a hand and
wiped the blood away from his mouth. He looked at he red smear on his hand
and smirked. "You'll see..."
A chill ran down her spine at the look in his eyes. Orion only had a
second to think, before Xanatos was suddenly right in
front of her, his fist deep in her own stomach.
----------
A tremor shook the room. Slowly, red eyes opened, then winced at the blinding
white light shining in them. The lights flicked off. Chibi-usa frowned,
trying to focuse her eyes. she thought.
She remembered.
Chibi-usa shot up and looked around. She was in an infermery, but it
was not the same one she recognized. She looked down and saw Priest Helios
slumped down on the bed she was in.
"Helios!" she gasped, moving to get to him.
A shot of pain ripped through her from her chest. She drew a sharp
intake of breath, her hand raised and grasped the throbbing area. She stopped
and opened her eyes just as the lights came back on.
She was in a Senshi fuku. It was almost an exact duplicate of Eternal
Moon's, in design that is. The three skirts were pink, white, and light blue
in that order, the bubble shoulders were tinted a blue-green that matched her
knee-high boots, and her collar was a dark green. The pads on her gloves were
dark pink. She reached up and felt her chocker. It was a small brooch shaped
like Earth.
"What in the world?" she whispered, stunned. She remembered her crystal
and the new phrase she had said to use it. "A new form....of Sailor
Moon...one Mom didn't awaken." she stopped, eyes wide. She turned to Helios,
seeing his still face. "He helped me awaken it..." A sad smile found its way
to her lips.
Gently, she climbed off the bed, wincing as pain still throbbed in her
chest. She picked Helios up and laid him on the bed. She gazed into his face
for a few moments longer before glancing around. No one else was there.
"Where is everyone?" she said to herself as she walked out the door.
She flinched, raising a hand and laying just over her heart. "And what's
wrong with me?" She continued on, having to stop and wait out the tremors
that shook the foundation under her feet. "I've got to get outside. Maybe
that can tell me something."
She soon found her way out of the maze of hallways and the stairway.
She was surprised to see the Palace interior some what like a graveyard, as
if it had not been lived in for a few months...
As she got closer to the doors that lead to the outside, she felt the
tremors growing stronger and the pains in her chest increasing in streangth
and number. By the time she got there, she was almost doubled over in pain.
She steeled herself against it as she pushed open the slightly ajarred doors.
Her jaw nearly dropped at the sight of the outsides. She stared, not
believing what she saw. she thought.
"Chibi-usa?"
She froze, hearing the voice. Slowly, she turned to her right, towards
the sound. Her eyes widened seeing the two standing there, shocked as she
was. "Mom? Dad?" she whispered, taking a step to them. She could not believe
it. After all this time, she could see her parents again! "Mom! Dad!" she
shouted, running.
A flash of light shot out from the sky above them, hitting the ground
between them. A tremor, slightly larger than the other ones, caused the three
to fall. She looked up to see the boy in black hovering above them, hands
glowing. A smirk was on his face as he said, "Well, well. It seems you've
woken up? Enjoy you're little nap, Princess?"
"You!" she said, face twisting in repulse. "What are you doing here?!"
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she regretted it. She quickly decided to keep his attention distracted
from the mess-up. "And the name's not Princess! It's Sailor Lunar!" she
stopped.
"Hm. Interesting," the boy remarked, floating down until his feet
rested on the ground. "Did the poison have a mind-numbing affect as well on
you?"
"'As well'?" the newly named Sailor Lunar stood, wondering why he was
talking and what he meant.
"Oh, well. No matter," he said, shrugging. "You'll die either way."
Faster than she could see, the boy rose back into the air and summoned a
youma from no where. The youma stood between her and her parents. "That
should make sure you two don't interfer with anything," he told them,
chuckling a bit.
"Interfer with what?" Serenity blurted.
"Interfer...with this!!" Black electricity flew from the sky, flying
down to strike Lunar.
Instinctivly, Lunar raised her hands in front of her and shouted,
"Terran Energy! BURST!!!" A light blue blast flew from her hands, exploding
when it hit the electricity. Lunar stared at her hands. "Whoa..."
"Tch," the boy grimaced. "Lucky shot. Let's try that again!"
----------
Jupiter growled, trying to focuse. her mind
yelled.
The other Senshi could not agree more. Since the doubles had done the
weird thing with the yell and the light, whatever injuy the Senshi inflicted
on their opponent or vise versa, it appear on the other. For instance,
Jupiter was covered with slashes and bruises all over her body, but not even
half of the injuries had been had by Zeus. And for every wound on Zeus,
Jupiter had a matching one. The only way you could tell them apart was their
cloths. It was the same with the others.
was the unianimous thought of the Senshi.
----------
Nemesiss told the man.
Xanatos replied, kicking
Sailor Orion's head upwards.
Orion, oblivious to the exchange, saw Xanato slightly distracted
though. She gripped her Glaive and flipped, landing behind him. She lunged,
thrusting her Glaive out, hitting...nothing?
Pain burst from her right arm, causing her to drop her weapon. She had
just enough time to look behind her to see Xanatos' smug face before he
grabbed her by the throat. Tightly. Xanatos chuckled as he levetating
himself, his hand keeping its grasp around the Senshi's neck. He did not plan
on snapping her neck, or choking her for that matter. He just wanted her to
panic a bit.
And what better way to cause panic than to act out her forst fear?
"Well, well. Aren't we at a familiar scene, Little Grave Keeper?" he
said in a conversational tone.
Orion's eyes flashed with hatred that almost masked her terror.
"Yes. We are." He voice suddenly grew a bit softer yet never lost its
malious. "Wasn't it just like this...all those years ago...right after you
were born?"
Orion visably flinched, dread entering her face.
Xanatos, seeing that she would suffocate soon, levetated her just
enough to where she could breath slightly. "I'm sure you remember it, Little
Grave Keeper...after all, those of your lineage have perfect memories.
Absolutely perfect ones, I've heard."
"S-So...what?" Orion choked out, her hands limp at her sides for some
reason she could not phathom because she wanted so much to punch his face in,
causing those white teeth to fall out of that smirking mouth...
"So...Does this sound familiar?" He leaned closer to her, his mouth
right up against her ear. He whispered to her, sending chills down her spine,
"'I'll screw you'..."
Orion's face paled, understanding the meaning behind the words.
"But of course, she pervented me from doing her. Though she forgot my
exact words after that. Do you remember them, Little Grave Keeper?"
"I belive they were '...after I screw her...' You remember who the
'her' was?"
"You."
"NOO!!"
----------
A huge flash of light blinded Lunar. "What the--" she started, ending when a
large 'BOOM' sounded far off to her side. All eyes on the battle feild turned
to the source just in time to see Orion's body falling downwards, limp.
Xanatos was no where to be seen.
Lunar frowned, not recognizing her. she thought.
"EYES FRONT!!!"
Lunar spun around just in time to see the boy's attack seconds away
from her. There was no way she could dodge. This was it. "...no..." she
whispered, knowing nothing could be done. She was about to die.
Ten seconds until it would connect. She could see the boy behind it
now, a look of triumphant on his face. To the side, she could see Adonis, his
mouth open in shock and horror.
Nine seconds. Her eyes moved looking over the battle grounds.
Eight seconds. She could see the shocked panic in her parents faces,
the Senshi having the same expressions on their faces. Their battles had
stopped, the doubles watching her for some reason.
Seven seconds. She closed her eyes and hung her head in defeat. Six
seconds. She could feel the heat on her skin now. Five seconds. Her ears rang
with their screams of her name. She raised her eyes and met with Adonis' wide
blue one. Four seconds. She raised her head and locked eyes with both the boy
and Adonis.
Three seconds. They both looked at her, confused.
Two seconds. Her mind was screaming for her to run, even if it was
useless.
One second. A sad smile spread across her face as her eyes filled with
tears of compassion though they did not fall.
Zero.
Lunar's world went white.
----------
~*~
But it was not.
"Why would it be cold, Serenity?"
"No, far from it. And you're not dead."
Slowly, hesitantly, Lunar opened her eyes. She was still on the battle
feild, but everything had stopped. "What--" she started.
"Why did you stop?"
Lunar turned to the voice, standing behind her was the young woman with
blonde hair and sad brown eyes. "Zukamori-san!" Lunar gasped.
The woman sighed, shaking her head. "That is not my name,
Serenity...not any more," she added, looking off to the side.
"Whatever your name is, would you please explain what's going on?"
Lunar said, gesturing to the frozen people around them.
"I stopped time," the woman said, nochalantly.
Lunar blinked. "Puu?" she questioned, thinking it was PLuto in one of
her disguises.
"No...I am not that Guardian," the woman replied, walking past Lunar.
Lunar resisted the urge to gasp when she saw the woman's back. She was
clothed in a gray tunic that hung loosely on her frame, pooling around her
feet. But her back looked as if something was on it, buldging the cloth out
until it was near ripping. Lunar guessed it was a deformity of some kind.
"Why did you not do as I said?" the woman said, turning back around to
face her. Her face was strained, as if she was in pain.
"What do you mean?" Lunar asked.
"Why did you stop?" she repeated. "Why? If you continued, you would
have gotten it and then everything will not come to place--"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!!" Lunar said, coming up to the woman and narrowing
her eyes. "Hold on a minute! I don't understand anything you're saying!
Gotten what?!"
The woman gave her a confused look. "You...don't know?"
"Know what?!" Lunar said, getting annoyed.
"Do you know why you have a new crystal, a new Senshi form?"
Lunar blinked. "No..." she said slowly.
"You're a Crystal Senshi now, one of nine parts of the Ginzuishou.
Every Crystal Senshi has a Crystal they use as a weapon."
Lunar frowned, reaching for her Crystal. She took it off her bow,
fearing it would undo the tranformation, and looked at it. "This crystal?"
she asked, holding it out.
The woman frowned this time. "How--" She stopped, realization lighting
up in her eyes. "Xanatos." She said the name through a sneer, making Lunar
back up in fear. "I'm sorry," she said, easing Lunar's fear. "I had no idea
he put a seal on this. Here..." She took the Crystal in both of her hands.
Gold light surrounded her hand and the Crystal, surprising Lunar a bit.
The light disappeared just as soon as it had appeared. The woman held out the
Crystal. "Take this and say: Crystal Form," she instrusted.
Lunar nodded. She gripped the Crystal before raising it and shouting,
"CRYSTAL FORM!!" A bright blast of light shot out from the Crystal. Lunar
could feel it mutating in her hand though she could not see it. When it
stopped, she lowered her arm and gasped.
Laying in her hand was the flute she saw in her dream. It was long and
thin, shaped towards the end in a tight spiral, and made of a dark blue-green
material that looked like glass. "Wow," she breathed.
"Now," the woman said, catching her attention, "when I restart time,
you must play the song. And whatever happens, don't stop. No matter what."
"All right," Lunar said. "But what--"
She cut off when the woman suddenly gasped, her body becoming rigid.
The pain was evident on her face now, instead of masked. She doubled over,
her arms wrapping around her stomach.
"What's wrong?!" Lunar shotued, rushing to her side.
"Stay back!!" the woman ordered, raising a shaking hand to stop her.
She did not have to for Lunar stopped on her own, staring at her back
in shock and disbelief.
Whatever was in her back was moving. Lunar noted it was two things,
side by side. They thrashed around, ripping the cloth a bit yet not enough to
where she could see it.
"You must go!! NOW!!" the woman shouted, trying to focuse on her words
and not the pain. "T-Tell the Senshi to strike them in their hearts!!"
"What?!" Lunar said, snapping out of her shock.
"The heart is the weak point!" she ground out, clenching her teeth.
"The hearts! HEARTS!!"
~*~
----------
Lunar snapped her wings out, suddenly finding herself up in the air above the
attack that nearly killed her. Everyone saw her and gaped, not understanding
what had happened. The woman's words came to her.
"Their hearts!!" she shouted to the Senshi. "Their hearts are their
weak points!! Strike their hearts!!"
The Senshi exchanged glances. The doubles suddenly appeared nervous,
gripping their weapons tighter. Up until then the doubles had been gaining
the upper hand due to the fact that the extra injuries did not seem to affect
them. And the looks on their faces told the Senshi that what Lunar had said
was true.
Jupiter, the first to get her senses back, tightened her grip on Green
Lightening before she raced to Zeus. Zeus, caught offguard, summoned her
dagger to block. Jupiter smirked. "What's the matter, Zeus?" she said.
"Scared? You should be!" She shifted her weight and moved her blade. Zeus saw
what she was doing and moved out of the way, the blade narrowly missing her
heart. Jupiter took the gash silently as it appeared on her body as well. She
noted absently that the wound did not hurt as much as it should have.
The others shook off their surprise and attacked again, now with a new
goal in mind.
Lunar's mind snapped back, she quickly raised her flute. Instinct over
took her reasoning and she closed her eyes. The melody spilled from the
flute, echoing out across the battle feild.
The boy seemed to freeze in his place, his eye staring at Lunar with
something akin to terrified shock on his face as she floated down, landing on
the ground. She was oblivious to everything around her, concentrating only on
the song.
The boy shook his head, a strange feeling running through his body. The
song...it was affecting him...something began to form in his mind...an
image...what was that?....A baby? He frowned.
The boy stopped, disbeilving. The baby had spoken.
he heard his own voice reply.
Below the boy, Adonis was experiencing the same thing. The baby, though
almost fully formed, was obviously a fetus, still in its mother. The strange
thing was...he felt as if he should remember this...as if he had lived it...
----------
Mars strung another arrow on her bow, aiming for Aries' heart. Aries, trying
to find a way to dodge, soon found herself backed up against a boulder. Mars
grinned to herself as she let loose the enflamed arrow. Aries jerked to the
side. That is, a bit too late. Mars thought her eyes were playing tricks on
her, but she realized that her arrow had indeed went through the heart,
pinning the double to the boulder.
"N-no!" Aries was trying to remove the arrow. Aries' purple eyes, so
much like Mars' own, were wide with horror, slowly becoming clouded over.
"No! NOO!!"
"Yes." Sailor Draco and Sailor Cassiopia suddenly appeared on either
side of Aries.
"You've had your fun," Draco said.
"Now it's time you returned to the place you belong," Cassiopia said
raising a hand and pointed to where she meant.
Crystal Mars.
"No!" Aries shouted vainly. "I'm not going back! I'm *NOT*!!"
"What?" Mars blurted, confused. "What are you all talking about?"
"I'm not going back!!" Aries shouted still, ignoring Mars. "I like it
out here! I'm free! I hate being in her!! I'm not going!!!"
"Yes, you are. Mars," Draco said, turning to the Senshi. "Grab a hold
of the arrow and pull it out."
"Say what?!"
"Just do it."
Mars grunted, walking up to Aries and grabbing the arrow. Aries
instantly let out a shriek and grabbed the bow on Mars' chest, her hand
encasing the Crystal there. Mars started to make her let go when her
transformation suddenly reversed, turning her back into Rei. She started to
say something, when Aries eyes went black, her hand letting go. She slumped
down, the arrow keeping her up. Her body began to change, turning into a
black light that gathered in the same position a Rei, mirroring her.
"Embrace it," Cassiopia instructed Rei.
"W-what?" Rei said, her voice barely a whisper as she stared at what
had been a double of herself.
"Embrace it, Rei. She needs to go back home," Draco said, her blind
eyes watching for the red Senshi's reaction.
Hesitantly, Rei spread her arms out a bit and took a step closer to it.
The light lifted, the arrow clattering to the ground before dissappearing,
and flew into Rei, being absorbed into her own body. Rei gasped at the
feeling. It did not hurt. It felt as if...something she had lost....had
finally...returned...had...come home...
"What is this?" she whispered.
"Your other half returned to you," Draco said, a slight smile on her
face.
----------
The boy forcefully tried to tear his mind away from the images the music was
bringing up. Images he did not know of and did not want to know for some
reason.
He forced his eyes away from her and looked out over the battlefeild.
To his surprise, the Senshi were winning. Everyone except for Crystal Mercury
and Crystal Neptune had beaten their doubles. He could not believe this.
Everything was falling apart around him. His teeth gritted together as a
snarl curled his lip back.
he thought, glaring down at Sailor Lunar with as much
hate as he could feel. He held
out his hands in front of her and began to summon his energy.
----------
Sailor Orion pulled herself up, causing the rubble Xanatos had thrown her in
to fall off her. She winced, her arm flaring with pain. She looked down and
found a large gash bleeding freely on her forearm, her glove torn almost to
shreds.
Shouting reached her ears, along with music of some sort. She stole a
glance in the direction it was coming from and saw a Crystal Senshi she did
not recognize standing in the middle of the battleground that had been the
Palace gardens once upon a time, a flute of some type raised to her mouth, a
soothing tune emitting from it. One look up showed her that the boy was
readying an attack on her. The Senshi did not notice the boy.
"Look out!!" Orion shouted as the boy cut loose the bolts.
----------
Lunar bearly heard the shout of warning. She was too absorbed in playing to
notice it. Then, a form appeared in front of her before a blaze of light and
cries of pain filled her ears. The flute dropped from her mouth when she
recognized the form in front of her.
"Adonis!!" she yelled, seeing that he was being pelted by energy from
the boy above them. Images of her dream came flooding back to her, she could
almost see herself standing a few feet away, shouting at the boy to stop,
that Adonis would die.
Lunar saw a break in the stream of bolts and rushed in front of Adonis,
who still had enough streangth to stand up still. The boy smirked at seeing
her rush in front, in the direct line of his attack. He released his full
force on the pink-haired Senshi, caring only for her death.
"NO!"
The shout broke the silence just when the attack was only inches away
from Lunar. She had only a second before she found herself airbone along with
Adonis.
Yet it had not been from the attack.
Lunar landed hard on the ground, her shoulder breaking her fall. She
gritted her teeth to keep a cry of pain in. She slowly pushed herself up,
wondering what had hit her. Beside her, Adnois sat up and looked to where
they had been. What he saw made his blood freeze.
"Zukamori!!!" he screamed. Ignoring the pain his injuries caused, he
scrambled up and ran to her side as she fell backwards, having taking the
full force of the boy's attack head on. He caught her before she hit the
ground. He looked over her, trying to detremine where the blood that was
covering her was coming from. A lump formed in his throat when he found that
there was no one area where the blood flowed. It was as if she was bleeding
from every pore of her body. "No," he whispered. "No. Zukamori. Zukamori!" he
said loudly. "Answer me! Zukamori! Answer me!!"
There was no answer.
----------
Crystal Mercury bit her lip as her last sword stroke made its mark, straight
through Hermes's heart. "Rest in peace," she mummered as the double's eyes
became clouded. Mercury let go of her sword and spread her arms out to her
sides as the body of her opponent became a black light then flew into her
just as it had done with the others. She let out a breath when it was
finished. Finally...it was over...
"Zukamori!!"
The cry made Mercury snap her head around to see what was going on. She
stopped, seeing what had happened.
"Oh, please no," she whispered before breaking into a run, trying to
cross the great leangth between her and the others. And she felt as if she
had spoken too soon.
----------
Lunar stood frozen at the sight before her. Adonis was holding the blood
soaked girl in his arms, trying to get her to respond. She knew what had
happened: This girl had pushed them out of the way and taken the blow
instead. Now....
Lunar's eyes snapped up to the boy, who looked down at the scene, shock
evident on his face. She stopped. Something about him....it was strange but
wha--
She stiftled a gasp when she saw the boy's scarred eye began to
flicker, as if it was not scarred at all. A groan drew her attention away
from the boy. She looked back and saw the girl beginning to wake up. She
rushed behind Adonis and watched as the girl's hazel eyes slowly opened and
focused on Adonis. Out of the corner of her eyes, Lunar saw two other Senshi
she did not know come up on the other side, slowing their steps as they got
closer.
Orion's eyes locked onto Adonis's, which suddenly filled with tears.
"A-Adonis...." she said with great effort.
"It's okay, Zukamori," he said in a soothing tone. "It's okay. You're
gonna be all right."
"D-did you g-get h-h-hit?" she forced out.
Adonis felt a pang in his heart. Here she was, covered in blood,
mortally wounded in almost any way he could imagine, and she was concerned
about him. "No," he said, "I'm all right."
A small smile found its way to her face. Her hand moved, as if trying
to reach him. He gently took hold of it with his free hand.
"Do not try to move," Draco said, stepping up to them. "Kyoko, get over
here."
The other Lost Senshi nodded and knelt beside Zukamori and Adonis,
Draco did likewise on their other side. They linked hands over Zukamori and
closed their eyes, calling on their power. Golden and blue-green light poured
down from their hands into Zukamori, who gasped softly at the large amount of
power they supplied her with. Slowly, her injuries began to heal.
----------
The boy watched, trying to break out of the shocked state he was in. Why? Why
did the girl's actions cause him to freeze up?
Upon seeing the others there, his mind instantly started working.
There! There they were!
He could almost hear Kome-sama's words again. 'You must put this in
them, or else we all will perish. Only you can do it, boy. When you do, you
will remember your past. You will remember who you are...'
He smirked, summoning the item needed for the task. In his hand
appeared a long, thin bladed sword that glowed black like the obsian alloy
metal it was made with. Yes, now. He reared back, targeting with deadly
accuracy that would insure death and threw it at a neck breaking speed
towards the target.
----------
Lunar saw the incoming object just out of her perefial vision and turned to
see it flying towards the four people in front of her. By the time she had
opened her mouth, it was too late.
The sword struck home.
Blood sprutted out around the blade as it embedded itself to the hilt
in the victim's heart. Everyone seemed to freeze at what they saw. The
victim's wide eyes moved slowly, looking at everyone around them, then to the
boy. Their mouth worked, trying to form the word. Blood creaped out of the
corners of their mouth as they breathed, "....why...." before falling to the
ground. They did not move, nor did their chest rise up and down to indicate
breathing.
Dead.
__________
NEXT: Guess! I'm not telling!
__________