-Author's notes- Umm...mostly violence this chapter, like the last one.
Chapter 22
Endgame
Lunar stared, numbness creeping through her limbs, at the body of their
fallen comrade. The black sword had stopped quivering when the heart had
stilled as did the breathing. "No..." she whispered.
"What's going on?!"
Lunar's senses told her the other Senshi were arriving. Too late...
Several gasps sounded around her, a silent cry along with it. Serenity and
Edymion came up from behind her as well. Serenity had tears running down her
face. "Oh, please, no," she said, running to the body. "No! Come on! Open
your eyes! Open your eyes!!"
But the Senshi did not.
"Usako," Edymion said, laying a hand on her shoulder and pulling her
back up. "She's dead."
"No!" she shouted. "No! She can't die! She can't!" She buried her face
in her hands.
"She's dead," Edymion repeated, turning his head away.
Draco, wordlessly, reached over the took hold of the sword sticking out
of Cassiopia's chest. She threw away the cursed weapon and laid a hand over
the wound. "Goodbye...Kyoko..." she whispered, her voice catching on the lump
in her throat.
Lunar stiffly moved her head to take in what the others were doing.
Most were staring, mouth's open in shock. Rei, still untransformed, was
muttering a chant, eyes closed yet the streaks on her cheeks showed her greif
as well. She moved her red eyes upwards to the boy, who was looking down at
them. She did not even blink when the scar flickered once more. She did not
care.
"Why?" Lunar found herself saying, breaking the silence. "Why did you
do this?"
"I have to!" the boy shouted, sudden rage building in his voice as well
as within him. "I have to! Everyone of you are my enemies! I have to kill you
all! All of you!!" He seemed to talking more to himself than them.
Lunar paused, looking over the battlefeild, frowning when she did not
see any of the youmas that had been covering the landscape moments before.
"Chibi-usa," a hoarse voice spoke softly.
She turned, meeting Adonis' blue eye. "The song," he said, standing,
Orion staying on the ground, kneeling next to her fellow Lost Senshi.
"What?" she said, confused.
"That song...play it...and don't stop until you finish it," Adonis
said, looking up at the boy.
The boy's eye widened in horror. Before he could do anything, Lunar
retrived her flute and did as Adnois asked, not knowing what else to do. The
boy grabbed his head in pain as more images surfaced in his mind.
"I thought so," Adonis said, his eye closed as he focused over the pain
the images brought with them. "You see them as well."
"Shut up!!" the boy screamed, bent over as the pain became greater than
he could stand. "Shut up!! Just stop it!! Stop it!!"
"What are you talking about?" Mercury spoke.
"That song...is strongly connected to you, isn't it?" Adonis said, his
attention still on the boy.
"No!!" he screamed. "No! It's not! The song is nothing to me! None of
you have anything to do with me! You're just in Kome-sama's way! You're just
enemies!!"
"No...we're not," Saturn said, stepping up. "It's time you returned to
us. To your family."
"No...no!!!" the boy shouted, shaking his head. "Lies!! Lies!! It's all
lies!!"
"You know we speak the truth," Pluto said.
"No!! It's not true! It not true!!"
Lunar's eyes looked up at him, pity and sympathy filling her. He was in
so much pain...yet she did not stop the song. She understood what Adonis was
doing. She knew it was all for the best. She knew, yet she could not help but
wish there was another way.
"**Enough of this!!**"
A blue-black blast shot from the sky, throwing everyone to the ground.
The boy was knocked down, striking his head and going unconcious. Adonis as
well hit the back of his head, slumping to the ground as he slipped into the
blackness. Shaking the effects off, everyone else looked up and saw Xanatos
and Nemisses in the sky above them. Xanatos' head was hung down, his brown
hair falling around his face. Nemisses eyes were absent in the mist of its
body along with its mouth.
Orion snarled, beginning to call on her Glaive and ram it through
Xanatos. Draco's hand grabbed ahold of her arm as she said loud enough for
everyone to hear, "Wait! Something's not right!"
Orion glared at Draco. "What are you doing?!"
"Their...their energy..." Draco said, her blind eyes studying one then
the other, confusion slowly growing in volume on her face and in her voice,
"it is almost depleted. It should not be--" She stopped, her face paling
slightly. She turned her head to stare at Cassiopia. "She was right," Draco
whispered.
"What are you talking a--"
"Well, well. Looks like the time is nigh."
Orion froze, her blood stopping in her veins.
"How does it feel, Xanatos, Nemisses? Is it working?" Kome said
conversationally as she appeared between them. A smirk turned the corners of
her mouth. "Yes! I believe it is! Well, that's all the use I have for you
two." She laid a hand on Xanatos' shoulder and her other in Nemisses' mist
form. Blue-black light surrounded her hands. "Goodbye!" The light exploded
around them before disentegrating them both.
"How did that happen?!" Neptune gasped. "They should have been able to
stop her!!"
"Simple, Senshi," Kome said, crossing her arms and looking at her. "I'm
stronger." She saw their confused looks and sighed. "What? Am I to explain
everything to you? By the Glaive! You people are incompetent!! All right, if
it will stop you from making a fuss as I kill you all." She floated down and
sat on a boulder next to the unconcious body of the boy.
All the while, Lunar stared at her in shock. her
mind screamed. Her eyes never strayed from
the strange woman. Though she looked exactly like the woman she had seen in
her dream and again just minutes ago, she saw her brown eyes were filled with
insanity, not sadness.
"You know of Nemisses, right?" Kome said. "How he was a human and
rebelled? Well, his body was sent to a negative dimension was what they were
told." She smirked, eyes lighting up with insanity. "But his body was sealed
in what was called the Sacred Grave on the Moon. Nemisses as you know was
part of him that was able to exscape. Xanatos was the part of him that was
sealed in the Grave. They are one in the same, two halves that make up one
whole.
"The family of Terrans that was able to seal the majority of his powers
in the Grave were placed in charge of guarding the Sacred Grave, thus the
Grave Keepers were born: a sole person responsible for keeping Xanatos
underwraps. If the Keeper was a man, the birth of the next one sentenced him
to immediate death. If it was a woman, she died immediatly following giving
birth to the heir. The was only one Keeper at a time, never two. But, like
everything, something when wrong."
A slight shadow clouded her smirk. "Nemisses found the Keeper and
attacked her during birth. The delivery was successful and the baby was
unharmed. However...the woman was banished when Nemisses failed to kill her.
But what those idiot Lunarians didn't know was that the woman stole
Nemisses' powers in herself, becoming more powerfull than even him and
Xanatos combined. Shortly after, he attacked Serenity and was sealed in the
Crystal." A grin appeared as she jumped down from the boulder. "And that's
how I came to be the most powerfull one in the universe."
"You're the Evil One, then?" Draco said, unbelieving.
"If you're speaking of that absurd legend, then yes, I am the Evil
one." Kome looked down at the boy in disgust. "Imbalice," she sneered.
"Should have done what I told you." She raised a hand towards him, flickering
with energy--
"Stop!!"
Kome's head snapped up. Brown eyes locked with hazel ones as Orion
stood, hands clentched at her sides. "Don't touch him," she said through
gritted teeth.
Kome looked hard at the Lost Senshi before her eyes widened, then
narrowed. "Well, you survived the Battle after all. I knew I should have told
Beryal to destroy you," she said, her voice dripping with vemon.
Orion twitched the slightest bit. "You know as well as I do Beryal
could never had done that. You know all too well...Mother."
Kome chuckled, but the sound held no mirth, just bitterness. "You know
what we have to do, don't you, daughter?"
"Yes...but we can go by another path," Orion said, her eyes pleading
with her. "We can stop this endless cycle. *You* can stop it. Just release
him from the spell, Mother," she gestured to the boy, then Adonis. "Release
them both."
Kome's eyes filled with anger and hatred. "You'll wish I killed you
when you were born, you ungratefull wretch!!" A long, black sword appeared in
her hand as she rushed at Orion, striking her in her shoulder.
Orion bit back her cry of pain, summoning her Glaive and throwing Kome
to the side. The wound flowed with blood yet Zukamori could see a black
substance sticking to her fuku. Poison. She had to end this fast or else she
would be dead. Kome gave her no time to think as she came right back, kicking
her in the stomach and hitting the back of her head with the flat end of her
blade. Orion focused over the pain and spun, her Glaive catching Kome in the
side, ripping through her tunic as well as her skin. Kome made a sound that
resembled a hiss, flipping her sword and catching the Glaive, trying to throw
it out of Orion's hands.
"Don't think so!" Orion said, flipping behind Kome and hitting the base
of her back with the butt of her staff. Kome rolled with it, coming to her
feet in a crouching position. Orion braced her feet apart, eyes level with
Kome's. They stood still, bearly breathing.
The spectators stood by, none wanting to move less they disturb either
of the fighters. Questions swirled through their minds, answers not even
within reach of their imaginations. They just watched, unknowing that the
answers lay on the ground, inside the minds of two unconcious boys...
Almost a full minute passed without movement from either side when both
suddenly appeared up in the air, weapons clashing together, sparks flying
from the hard connections. Orion pushed away, getting enough distance between
them to begin her attack. "Orion Fire FLARE!!" she shouted, channeling the
energy through her Glaive as she thrusted it towards Kome. The attack struck
her in her shoulder. Kome looked at the burned wound in her joint and glared
at Orion. Her eyes suddenly began to take a whitish hue to them. Orion's
mouth went dry. How could she have forgotten? Kome was once a Zukamori as
well as her. So she still had the power within her...
Orion thought, gripping her Glaive in a
solid fist, her eyes beginning to do the same, Though she knew the consequences to using the power were severe, she
had no other choice.
Kome smirked. "It seems you haven't lost your touch either, daughter."
Her white eyes narrowed and glowed slightly. "But, it's time you died!!"
"Not yet!" Orion said, all ready falling into another stance as Kome
came at her once again. One small corner of her mind kept nagging at her that
something was wrong. She was forgetting something important. But what? With a
flash of blue-black light, Kome's sword was surrounded by energy. Orion
bearly had time to shift her stance to parry the blow and stand against the
energy her Glaive absorbed from the sword.
"Nice block!" Kome said. She reared her upper body back before slamming
her forehead against Orion's. Orion falutered, falling backwards. "Yes!" Kome
cheered under her breath.
Orion forced herself to regain control. She did, flipping back into a
standing position. She saw an opening and lunged. A grin lit up her face when
she saw her Glaive embed itself in Kome's stomach.
*SNAP*
A wave of shock went through Orion, her mouth opened, gasping for air,
yet none coming in. Her wide, hollow eyes met with Kome's narrowed, pained
ones as both pair regained their color. Kome smirked, blood trickling out of
her mouth. "A draw, daughter, eh?"
Orion slowly lowered her gaze to her chest. Kome's sword was still
there, going through her crystal and into her body. She heard and felt rather
than saw her transformation undoing itself. She stood as Zukamori, still
staring in disbelief at the sword as her crystal fell in large shards to the
ground. At that instant, Zukamori realized what it was she had forgotten.
"Poison..." she whispered, her face paling as the black substance began to
show on her clothes like it was on her shoulder.
"I take that back," Kome said, drawing Zukamori's attention. "The
battle goes to me." She ripped the sword from Zukamori's chest and slammed it
down, knocking the Glaive out of her and away from Zukamori.
Zukamori stumbled, hands grasping the wound in an attempt to stop the
blood flow. She fell against a boulder. Already her senses were beginning to
fade. She was having a hard time focusing her eyes. Kome was coming closer to
her now, her sword gleaming. Kome stood over Zukamori. "I can't say I'm
sorry, daughter," Kome said, just loud enough for her to hear. "But I can't
say I won't enjoy taking your life either." She raised her sword, the point
aimed for Zukamori's forehead.
A bright flash of blue light blinded everyone. "What?!? Kome shotued,
spinning around, trying to find the source.
The light shone from a single blue crystal that was laying on the
ground between Adonis and the boy. Both were surrounded by a strange blue-
green aura. Kome's eyes widened at seeing the aura. She growled, "That stupid
preist...he's more cunning than I thought. He knew how to reverse it. Curse
him!!"
----------
~*~
Laughter rang through the hall....his own laughter... Mako-chan chasing
him... Minako-chan too.... Ami-chan as well....
Studies...all ways studying... Why?... Kings need to know these
things.... He did not want to be King though...
A baby?... Coming soon... A sister...they talked...'mind-talking' as he
called it.... Neither could wait until they could see each other face-to-
face....
The Crystal.... Minako-chan and Makoto-chan going down...he followed...
Makoto-chan getting hurt by a wave... Minako-chan taking them both away...
Mom....she did not want him going back to the Crystal... It was too
dangerous... His sister did not want him harmed either...
The Crystal... He knew he should not go...but he did.... The cloud...it
called to him.... Mom...calling to him... His sister was yelling at him in
his mind not to go... They had so many plans.... The cloud would ruin them...
But he still walked to it...still touched it...
The hole...huge, gaping....it seemed to go on forever.... Mom, trying
to hold on... He could see the pain in her face...he could hear his sister's
silent cries of pain from the strain of his weight on them both... The
rock...it was coming closer...closer... Pain laced through his face, forcing
him to let go...throwing him away...down...down..down he fell...
*Waking up...where was he?.... Mountains in the distance... Lost,
alone... No memory...none... Crysal Toyko...the Palace...something about it
was comforting to him...Youmas!! What?!...that light...came from him... What
was he?....what did he become?.... The Lullabye...calmed him... He sang it
when he was scared, it soothed him... He sang it when he was alone, it made
him feel safe...*
*Waking up...where was he?.... Why was it so dark?... Help, someone,
please.... Youma!...Run!!.... Why're they saying those things?... He had done
nothing.... No, no he wasn't a monster!... He wasn't evil!...He wasn't the
one to blame!...He didn't mean it!!.... Who was that?!....who?...Kome-
sama?...no...nothing...nothing of his past...yes, the Senshi did it...the
Senshi took away his life!... The Senshi are the cause of it all!.... They
are the ones to blame!... Yes, he would follow Kome-sama and get revenge...
What was that thing?... A youma?.... He could controll it...he could create
them from others just by a touch...yes...he was in control now...*
*A strange girl with pink hair...familiar...comforting... Too many
things...had to get away...had to think... The Palace...the same
girl...attacked by a youma.... Had to save her! Who he was?.... Didn't
know.... His name...ha...that was a laugh... Adonis didn't exist...that was
never his name...had to tell her something, though....*
*A strange girl with pink hair...the enemy...had to get her... Had to
make the Senshi suffer as he did... The youma failed.... Stupid creature...
He must send Zues to kill her... The posion was slow but affective....
Attacked the Palace while Zues slipped in... Made a diversion...*
*An attack!...Oustide!!... Shadow behind the boulder...controlling the
youmas....*
*Attack!! Attack!!.... A strange presence...odd... Helping the
Senshi... It knew where he was!*
*The shadow coming down... In front of him...*
*The presence was there... In front of him...*
*What?!*
*What?!*
*That's himself...*
*That's himself...*
"That's me..."
"That's me..."
Another voice flitted through the combined conciousness of the two
boys. A voice that was soft and vauge, yet the words were strong and clear.
the voice said, "Join with Adnois...become yourself again...Terry..."
~*~
----------
"No!!" Kome screamed, leaping up, her wound ignored. "You won't ruin all my
plans!!" She thrusted her sword to impale Adonis' head. He was not there.
"Wha--"
"You're plans were doomed to failed, Kome."
Kome hissed like a snake, turning to the voice. Adonis stood, the boy
at his side. "Says you!" she said, leveling her sword at them. "I am the most
powerfull being in the universe!" she declared. "I can have anything I want!
I can be anything I want! Anything, you hear!?" Black-blue aura lit up her
body. The aura flared around her and seemed to form something, almost a copy
of Kome herself. "Anything!!" she still said. "*ANYTHING*!!!"
"Anything you want except what you need, Kome," the boy said, stepping
up. "You need to let go."
"No!" Kome screamed, shaking her head and shutting her eyes tightly.
"No! That's not true! That's not true!!" Suddenly she stopped, eyes narrowing
on a place behind the Senshi. "You cheater..." she mummered, hardly audible.
Lunar looked behind her quickly, wanting to see who is was that was
drawing Kome's attenion. She bearly saw someone, rushing back around a
boulder. She shook her head, thinking she was seeing things.
"...HOW DARE YOU TRICK ME!!!!!"
The force from Kome's voice flew out, knocking the wind out of
everyone. Her eyes were blazing with a white glow, a strange black aura
pouring around her body. Her hatred and anger was so great, the others
shuddered from its effect. "NOW ALL OF YOU WILL PAY!!!" she screamed, the
aura spreading out, covering the sky.
"What's she doing?!" Serenity shouted over the howl of the wind that
blew from Kome.
"She's trying to kill us! That's what!" the boy shouted back, grabbing
hold of a boulder beside him to stay steady as the wind began to pick up.
"She's trying to open a black hole!"
"We've got to stop her!" Mercury said, standing up.
"How?!" Rei said. "We can bearly stand! How can we stop her?!"
Jupiter was about to say something when a noise caught her attention.
Draco was muttering something to herself, an odd look on her face. "Draco?
What's wrong?" she said.
Draco suddenly stood straight, clapped her hands and shouted, "The
Tears!" She turned to Adonis and the boy, saying, "That Crystal Helios gave
you! Where is it?!"
The boy frowned, confused. Adonis's face lit up, eyes searching the
ground. "It's here somewhere," he said.
"There!" Venus said, pointing to the crystal, still pulsing weakly with
energy.
"Yes!" Draco said, rushing to it.
Without warning, the crystal shot up. Kome caught it in her waiting
hand. She grinned. "Don't think so! The Tears of the Scarred One belong to
me! To me only!" The crystal flared to life, adding a blue hue to Kome's
aura. "Watch closely, Senshi!" she shouted gleefully, raising the crystal up.
"This is the day you die!!"
The aura turned, flowing downwards, creating a sphere that encased
everyone and the Crystal Palace. Kome's insane laugher and the rumbling of
her dark energy were the only sounds. Everyone stared in horror as the sphere
began to grow darker and darker, pressure building to unsafe heights.
Kome lowered her laughter to a chuckle, saying, "It was fun while it
lasted, Senshi. But the time to reclaim my property is now." She pointed the
Crystal at Serenity and Endymion. Cocking her head to the side she yelled,
"DIE!!"
Serenity felt Endymion grab her, sheilding her with his own body, yet
they both knew it was useless. Serenity shut her eyes, covering her face with
her hands.
"*NOW*!!!"
***CRACK***
"AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!"
Something wet hit Serneity's skin. She lowered her hands, looking at
her arms. She froze, seeing more of the substance on the ground and her
dress. It was all around, more still coming.
"B-blood," she whispered, raising her eyes to the source.
Kome screamed in pain, her hands holding the right side of her face in
an attempt to stop the blood. Her face was a picture of agony. Her left eye
glared somewhere behind Serneity and the others. "Who dares to do this?!" she
screeched, removing one hand to grab her weapon as it appeared.
Serenity paled, her stomach almost emptying itself. A large, white
crystal shard was sticking out of Kome's right eye socket, blood now covering
her entire right side, staining her clothes and falling down to the ground,
puddles already forming around her feet. For some reason, the shard look
familiar. Serenity forced herself to look behind her, to the person that had
inflicted the gruesome wound. She stopped, mouth open in shock.
Zukamori straightened, hand pressed close to her chest wound. The black
poison was covering the majority of her torso area yet she still stood. She
still glared at her mother with fire in her hazel eyes. "I dare!" she
shouted, her increasing weakness apparent in her voice. She tried not to show
it though.
"Don't you know when to die like a good little girl?!" Kome screamed,
firing an energy blast.
The blast was blocked by a aura shield around Zukamori. "I think not!"
Zukamori said. "You time is now, Nemisses!!"
Kome seemed to freeze. The black aura started to retreat back into her
as she ground out, "You little..."
"Let my mother go, you demon!" Zukamori shouted. Her Glaive appeared in
hand. She grasped it with both, running a short distance before leaping into
the air, landing in front of Kome. She snatched the blue crystal Kome had
dropped. Kome's remaining eye widened, terror showing. "Let my mother GO!!"
Zukamori threw the crystal at a neck breaking speed, striking the crystal
shard in her opponent's eye. A strange glow emitted from the two, causing
Kome to scream.
The aura instantly shot up, beginning to shape in the form of a human.
Zukamori jumped, her Glaive raised high. Her eyes turned white and glowed
brightly as she shouted, "Orion Star--" she swung down, golden light flowing
from her Glaive as she sliced the shape in two, "DIVIDE!!" With a flash, the
light brightened, covering the entire city of Crystal Tokyo, bathing everyone
with its glow, then vanished. A low howl of dispair sounded, but ended just
as soon as it had come.
The blackness in the sky began to dissipate, sunlight breaking through
the clouds. Zukamori raised her head, her eyelids beginning to feel heavy.
"It's over..." she whispered, her eyes rolling back into her head. Her limp
body began to fall to the ground.
"Zukamori!" a familiar voice shouted to her deaf ears. Her numb body
did not feel with strong, gentle arms that caught her while still in the air,
softly floating the rest of the way down. Adonis looked into her pale face,
noticing the color still disappearing from her skin.
"Adonis!" Serenity shouted as he touched down. "How is she?!"
Adonis only raised his head and meet her eyes. Serenity hung her head.
"My Queen!!"
Serenity looked up, puzzled, at Pluto, who was crouched down beside the
prone body of Kome. "What is it, Pluto?"
"She's still alive!"
Serenity stifled a gasp. Everyone rushed over. Lunar had reached Kome
before Pluto and had laid the woman's head in her lap. Lunar had her hand
over the crystal that was still in her eye, not wanting to see it. Kome's
chest slowly rose up and down, her breathing ragged and heavy. Her remaining
brown eye slowly looked around at everyone's face. "Where..." she tried to
speak.
"Shh," Lunar said gently, silencing her. "Don't talk."
Tears filled Kome's eye when she saw Zukamori in Adonis' arms. "My
child....Oh, my baby," she sobbed. "What have I done? What have I done?"
Serenity came foreward. "Are you Kome?" she asked in a quiet voice.
"I am," she replied, still sobbing. "I am Kome, Guadrian of the Cursed
Grave."
"What was that just now?" Serenity said next, gesturing up to the sky,
indicating the thing Zuamori had killed.
"That creature was Nemisses," Kome said, breathing a bit shallower. Her
sobbing had lessened. She was dying and she wanted the *true* truth to be
known. "He possessed me while I was giving birth to my daughter, while I was
vunerable. He tried to kill her but I pleaded and begged him to leave her
alone. He did, in exchange for me. But he still found a way to touch her
mind, to spark her dormat power into early awakening. Because of it, they
were bonded in mind. He tormented her for years. I could do nothing to stop
him. After the fall, he hid in a remote mountain range, planning for this
day. I'm sorry, my Queen. I'm so sorry."
Serenity looked down at Kome, and smiled gently. "You have nothing to
be sorry for, Kome. You were protecting your daughter. No one can blame you
for that."
Kome weakly smiled in return. Her eye began to close, slowly.
Draco suddenly spoke up, not to Kome, but to something else. "Sailor
Senshi Crystals," she said, her hand above her head. "Heed the call of Sailor
Draco, Senshi of the Future. Appear!!" All at once, the Crystals appeared,
floating above their owners. "Combine! Return to your true from! Ginzuishou!
Come!" All the crystals began to glow, spinning before they floated to one
another, the Ginzuishou forming.
Serenity cupped her hands around the crystal as it floated down to her.
She knew what to do. "Go," she said, looking at Kome, "to the place you
belong."
The warm glow of the Ginzuishou wrapped around Kome. Her breathing was
stilled. Then, a ghostly image of her appeared, rising out of her body. She
opened her eyes and smiled at Lunar, who was gaping at what was behind her,
on her back.
She had wings. But they were not white ones, at least, not both. Her
left one was white like an angel's, the right one was black and leathery,
like a bat's. Yet in spite of that, she did not appear evil. She
looked....normal, as if they were natural for her. She began to fade. A soft
voice whispered in the wind that blew, "Thank you...for setting me
free...Serenity-san....Chibi-usa-san...thank you...."
No one spoke untill they heard a groan. Everyone snapped their heads
around to stare at Zukamori, who opened her eyes, blinking at the bright
sunlight. The black poison was gone. It was no where to be seen on her body.
Zukamori looked around, dazed. That ended when Adonis, so full of joy and
happiness that she was alive, kissed her. Needless to say she was surprised
at this. But before long, she was kissing him back. That recieved a cat call
from Makoto and a cheer from Minako. The two sepreated, blushing, as Adonis
set her down.
Lunar reached up to wip away her tears. She gasped, seeing what her
hand reveiled. The crystal that had been lodged in Kome's eye was no longer
there. In its stead, there was a blue-green crystal, shaped like Earth,
simply sitting on Kome's face. She reached down and picked it up.
Instincively, she turned to Adonis and raised it up to him. "Here," she
said. He took it, exaiming it. She stood, laying Kome down. Lunar stared hard
at the crystal before she met his eye, grinning like a fox. "I know what to
do," she said. She went over to the black-clothed boy, taking him by the hand
and bringing him over to stand by Adnois. She put his hand over the crystal
Adonis held. "Stay like that," she instructed.
She turned to Serenity. "May I see the Ginzuishou?" she asked, holding
out a hand. Serentiy nodded, handing it to her. Lunar faced the two boys
again and said, "Close your eyes." When they did, she did so as well, saying,
"Tears of the Scarred One--" the crystal the boys held flared to life, "--
Ginzuishou--" it came to life as well, "--I call upon your combined powers!
Break the spell of the Evil One! I, Princess Lady Serentiy, command you!!"
The combined light was enough to blind anyone who stared directly at
it. Within it, Lunar could see that it was working. She smiled. she thought as the light began to die down. Standing where
the two boys had been, stood only one. Looking almostly exactly like King
Endymion, was a young man with a faint red line running down his right eye.
He blinked, suprised. He had two functioning eyes. *TWO*. There was no
mistaking who this was.
Serenity had tears running down her face. She took one step then ran,
crushing the young man against her. One word passed by her quivering lips.
"Terry!!"
Lunar smiled still. "Finally," she whispered. She suddenly collasped
into a boneless heap. Her transformation undid itself. It was only then did
everyone see the blood pouring from the freashly reopened wound on her chest.
"Chibi-usa!!"
"Small Lady!"
Everyone was yelling, talking at once. Ami dropped down by the
unconcious girl, ripping the sleeve to her shirt off and wadding it up. She
held the material close to the wound to staunch the bleeding.
All movement ceased as the voice spoke to their minds. Wide eyes stared
at a strange white mist that suddenly filled the area they stood in. The mist
worked mainly around Chibi-usa, seeping through the cloth Ami held against it
and into the wound. Before long, the mist began to recede, headed away from
the group. Ami cautiously pulled back the cloth. She gasped. The blood had
almost stopped flowing, a faint pink scar around the remainder of the wound
was the only tesimony of the wound that had been life-threatening.
the voice said again.
Draco's head snapped up, looking in a direction off to the side. Her
mouth was hung open at what her blind eyes saw. One by one, the others looked
as well.
Propped up beside a boulder, grinning and flashing a peace sign at the
stunned and shocked onlookers, Kyoko sat. "'Bout time you noticed me!"
---------
NEXT: Nothing!!
Just joking! Here it is:
The battle is over. But there are still a few questions to be answered.
__________
Chapter 22
Endgame
Lunar stared, numbness creeping through her limbs, at the body of their
fallen comrade. The black sword had stopped quivering when the heart had
stilled as did the breathing. "No..." she whispered.
"What's going on?!"
Lunar's senses told her the other Senshi were arriving. Too late...
Several gasps sounded around her, a silent cry along with it. Serenity and
Edymion came up from behind her as well. Serenity had tears running down her
face. "Oh, please, no," she said, running to the body. "No! Come on! Open
your eyes! Open your eyes!!"
But the Senshi did not.
"Usako," Edymion said, laying a hand on her shoulder and pulling her
back up. "She's dead."
"No!" she shouted. "No! She can't die! She can't!" She buried her face
in her hands.
"She's dead," Edymion repeated, turning his head away.
Draco, wordlessly, reached over the took hold of the sword sticking out
of Cassiopia's chest. She threw away the cursed weapon and laid a hand over
the wound. "Goodbye...Kyoko..." she whispered, her voice catching on the lump
in her throat.
Lunar stiffly moved her head to take in what the others were doing.
Most were staring, mouth's open in shock. Rei, still untransformed, was
muttering a chant, eyes closed yet the streaks on her cheeks showed her greif
as well. She moved her red eyes upwards to the boy, who was looking down at
them. She did not even blink when the scar flickered once more. She did not
care.
"Why?" Lunar found herself saying, breaking the silence. "Why did you
do this?"
"I have to!" the boy shouted, sudden rage building in his voice as well
as within him. "I have to! Everyone of you are my enemies! I have to kill you
all! All of you!!" He seemed to talking more to himself than them.
Lunar paused, looking over the battlefeild, frowning when she did not
see any of the youmas that had been covering the landscape moments before.
"Chibi-usa," a hoarse voice spoke softly.
She turned, meeting Adonis' blue eye. "The song," he said, standing,
Orion staying on the ground, kneeling next to her fellow Lost Senshi.
"What?" she said, confused.
"That song...play it...and don't stop until you finish it," Adonis
said, looking up at the boy.
The boy's eye widened in horror. Before he could do anything, Lunar
retrived her flute and did as Adnois asked, not knowing what else to do. The
boy grabbed his head in pain as more images surfaced in his mind.
"I thought so," Adonis said, his eye closed as he focused over the pain
the images brought with them. "You see them as well."
"Shut up!!" the boy screamed, bent over as the pain became greater than
he could stand. "Shut up!! Just stop it!! Stop it!!"
"What are you talking about?" Mercury spoke.
"That song...is strongly connected to you, isn't it?" Adonis said, his
attention still on the boy.
"No!!" he screamed. "No! It's not! The song is nothing to me! None of
you have anything to do with me! You're just in Kome-sama's way! You're just
enemies!!"
"No...we're not," Saturn said, stepping up. "It's time you returned to
us. To your family."
"No...no!!!" the boy shouted, shaking his head. "Lies!! Lies!! It's all
lies!!"
"You know we speak the truth," Pluto said.
"No!! It's not true! It not true!!"
Lunar's eyes looked up at him, pity and sympathy filling her. He was in
so much pain...yet she did not stop the song. She understood what Adonis was
doing. She knew it was all for the best. She knew, yet she could not help but
wish there was another way.
"**Enough of this!!**"
A blue-black blast shot from the sky, throwing everyone to the ground.
The boy was knocked down, striking his head and going unconcious. Adonis as
well hit the back of his head, slumping to the ground as he slipped into the
blackness. Shaking the effects off, everyone else looked up and saw Xanatos
and Nemisses in the sky above them. Xanatos' head was hung down, his brown
hair falling around his face. Nemisses eyes were absent in the mist of its
body along with its mouth.
Orion snarled, beginning to call on her Glaive and ram it through
Xanatos. Draco's hand grabbed ahold of her arm as she said loud enough for
everyone to hear, "Wait! Something's not right!"
Orion glared at Draco. "What are you doing?!"
"Their...their energy..." Draco said, her blind eyes studying one then
the other, confusion slowly growing in volume on her face and in her voice,
"it is almost depleted. It should not be--" She stopped, her face paling
slightly. She turned her head to stare at Cassiopia. "She was right," Draco
whispered.
"What are you talking a--"
"Well, well. Looks like the time is nigh."
Orion froze, her blood stopping in her veins.
"How does it feel, Xanatos, Nemisses? Is it working?" Kome said
conversationally as she appeared between them. A smirk turned the corners of
her mouth. "Yes! I believe it is! Well, that's all the use I have for you
two." She laid a hand on Xanatos' shoulder and her other in Nemisses' mist
form. Blue-black light surrounded her hands. "Goodbye!" The light exploded
around them before disentegrating them both.
"How did that happen?!" Neptune gasped. "They should have been able to
stop her!!"
"Simple, Senshi," Kome said, crossing her arms and looking at her. "I'm
stronger." She saw their confused looks and sighed. "What? Am I to explain
everything to you? By the Glaive! You people are incompetent!! All right, if
it will stop you from making a fuss as I kill you all." She floated down and
sat on a boulder next to the unconcious body of the boy.
All the while, Lunar stared at her in shock. her
mind screamed. Her eyes never strayed from
the strange woman. Though she looked exactly like the woman she had seen in
her dream and again just minutes ago, she saw her brown eyes were filled with
insanity, not sadness.
"You know of Nemisses, right?" Kome said. "How he was a human and
rebelled? Well, his body was sent to a negative dimension was what they were
told." She smirked, eyes lighting up with insanity. "But his body was sealed
in what was called the Sacred Grave on the Moon. Nemisses as you know was
part of him that was able to exscape. Xanatos was the part of him that was
sealed in the Grave. They are one in the same, two halves that make up one
whole.
"The family of Terrans that was able to seal the majority of his powers
in the Grave were placed in charge of guarding the Sacred Grave, thus the
Grave Keepers were born: a sole person responsible for keeping Xanatos
underwraps. If the Keeper was a man, the birth of the next one sentenced him
to immediate death. If it was a woman, she died immediatly following giving
birth to the heir. The was only one Keeper at a time, never two. But, like
everything, something when wrong."
A slight shadow clouded her smirk. "Nemisses found the Keeper and
attacked her during birth. The delivery was successful and the baby was
unharmed. However...the woman was banished when Nemisses failed to kill her.
But what those idiot Lunarians didn't know was that the woman stole
Nemisses' powers in herself, becoming more powerfull than even him and
Xanatos combined. Shortly after, he attacked Serenity and was sealed in the
Crystal." A grin appeared as she jumped down from the boulder. "And that's
how I came to be the most powerfull one in the universe."
"You're the Evil One, then?" Draco said, unbelieving.
"If you're speaking of that absurd legend, then yes, I am the Evil
one." Kome looked down at the boy in disgust. "Imbalice," she sneered.
"Should have done what I told you." She raised a hand towards him, flickering
with energy--
"Stop!!"
Kome's head snapped up. Brown eyes locked with hazel ones as Orion
stood, hands clentched at her sides. "Don't touch him," she said through
gritted teeth.
Kome looked hard at the Lost Senshi before her eyes widened, then
narrowed. "Well, you survived the Battle after all. I knew I should have told
Beryal to destroy you," she said, her voice dripping with vemon.
Orion twitched the slightest bit. "You know as well as I do Beryal
could never had done that. You know all too well...Mother."
Kome chuckled, but the sound held no mirth, just bitterness. "You know
what we have to do, don't you, daughter?"
"Yes...but we can go by another path," Orion said, her eyes pleading
with her. "We can stop this endless cycle. *You* can stop it. Just release
him from the spell, Mother," she gestured to the boy, then Adonis. "Release
them both."
Kome's eyes filled with anger and hatred. "You'll wish I killed you
when you were born, you ungratefull wretch!!" A long, black sword appeared in
her hand as she rushed at Orion, striking her in her shoulder.
Orion bit back her cry of pain, summoning her Glaive and throwing Kome
to the side. The wound flowed with blood yet Zukamori could see a black
substance sticking to her fuku. Poison. She had to end this fast or else she
would be dead. Kome gave her no time to think as she came right back, kicking
her in the stomach and hitting the back of her head with the flat end of her
blade. Orion focused over the pain and spun, her Glaive catching Kome in the
side, ripping through her tunic as well as her skin. Kome made a sound that
resembled a hiss, flipping her sword and catching the Glaive, trying to throw
it out of Orion's hands.
"Don't think so!" Orion said, flipping behind Kome and hitting the base
of her back with the butt of her staff. Kome rolled with it, coming to her
feet in a crouching position. Orion braced her feet apart, eyes level with
Kome's. They stood still, bearly breathing.
The spectators stood by, none wanting to move less they disturb either
of the fighters. Questions swirled through their minds, answers not even
within reach of their imaginations. They just watched, unknowing that the
answers lay on the ground, inside the minds of two unconcious boys...
Almost a full minute passed without movement from either side when both
suddenly appeared up in the air, weapons clashing together, sparks flying
from the hard connections. Orion pushed away, getting enough distance between
them to begin her attack. "Orion Fire FLARE!!" she shouted, channeling the
energy through her Glaive as she thrusted it towards Kome. The attack struck
her in her shoulder. Kome looked at the burned wound in her joint and glared
at Orion. Her eyes suddenly began to take a whitish hue to them. Orion's
mouth went dry. How could she have forgotten? Kome was once a Zukamori as
well as her. So she still had the power within her...
Orion thought, gripping her Glaive in a
solid fist, her eyes beginning to do the same, Though she knew the consequences to using the power were severe, she
had no other choice.
Kome smirked. "It seems you haven't lost your touch either, daughter."
Her white eyes narrowed and glowed slightly. "But, it's time you died!!"
"Not yet!" Orion said, all ready falling into another stance as Kome
came at her once again. One small corner of her mind kept nagging at her that
something was wrong. She was forgetting something important. But what? With a
flash of blue-black light, Kome's sword was surrounded by energy. Orion
bearly had time to shift her stance to parry the blow and stand against the
energy her Glaive absorbed from the sword.
"Nice block!" Kome said. She reared her upper body back before slamming
her forehead against Orion's. Orion falutered, falling backwards. "Yes!" Kome
cheered under her breath.
Orion forced herself to regain control. She did, flipping back into a
standing position. She saw an opening and lunged. A grin lit up her face when
she saw her Glaive embed itself in Kome's stomach.
*SNAP*
A wave of shock went through Orion, her mouth opened, gasping for air,
yet none coming in. Her wide, hollow eyes met with Kome's narrowed, pained
ones as both pair regained their color. Kome smirked, blood trickling out of
her mouth. "A draw, daughter, eh?"
Orion slowly lowered her gaze to her chest. Kome's sword was still
there, going through her crystal and into her body. She heard and felt rather
than saw her transformation undoing itself. She stood as Zukamori, still
staring in disbelief at the sword as her crystal fell in large shards to the
ground. At that instant, Zukamori realized what it was she had forgotten.
"Poison..." she whispered, her face paling as the black substance began to
show on her clothes like it was on her shoulder.
"I take that back," Kome said, drawing Zukamori's attention. "The
battle goes to me." She ripped the sword from Zukamori's chest and slammed it
down, knocking the Glaive out of her and away from Zukamori.
Zukamori stumbled, hands grasping the wound in an attempt to stop the
blood flow. She fell against a boulder. Already her senses were beginning to
fade. She was having a hard time focusing her eyes. Kome was coming closer to
her now, her sword gleaming. Kome stood over Zukamori. "I can't say I'm
sorry, daughter," Kome said, just loud enough for her to hear. "But I can't
say I won't enjoy taking your life either." She raised her sword, the point
aimed for Zukamori's forehead.
A bright flash of blue light blinded everyone. "What?!? Kome shotued,
spinning around, trying to find the source.
The light shone from a single blue crystal that was laying on the
ground between Adonis and the boy. Both were surrounded by a strange blue-
green aura. Kome's eyes widened at seeing the aura. She growled, "That stupid
preist...he's more cunning than I thought. He knew how to reverse it. Curse
him!!"
----------
~*~
Laughter rang through the hall....his own laughter... Mako-chan chasing
him... Minako-chan too.... Ami-chan as well....
Studies...all ways studying... Why?... Kings need to know these
things.... He did not want to be King though...
A baby?... Coming soon... A sister...they talked...'mind-talking' as he
called it.... Neither could wait until they could see each other face-to-
face....
The Crystal.... Minako-chan and Makoto-chan going down...he followed...
Makoto-chan getting hurt by a wave... Minako-chan taking them both away...
Mom....she did not want him going back to the Crystal... It was too
dangerous... His sister did not want him harmed either...
The Crystal... He knew he should not go...but he did.... The cloud...it
called to him.... Mom...calling to him... His sister was yelling at him in
his mind not to go... They had so many plans.... The cloud would ruin them...
But he still walked to it...still touched it...
The hole...huge, gaping....it seemed to go on forever.... Mom, trying
to hold on... He could see the pain in her face...he could hear his sister's
silent cries of pain from the strain of his weight on them both... The
rock...it was coming closer...closer... Pain laced through his face, forcing
him to let go...throwing him away...down...down..down he fell...
*Waking up...where was he?.... Mountains in the distance... Lost,
alone... No memory...none... Crysal Toyko...the Palace...something about it
was comforting to him...Youmas!! What?!...that light...came from him... What
was he?....what did he become?.... The Lullabye...calmed him... He sang it
when he was scared, it soothed him... He sang it when he was alone, it made
him feel safe...*
*Waking up...where was he?.... Why was it so dark?... Help, someone,
please.... Youma!...Run!!.... Why're they saying those things?... He had done
nothing.... No, no he wasn't a monster!... He wasn't evil!...He wasn't the
one to blame!...He didn't mean it!!.... Who was that?!....who?...Kome-
sama?...no...nothing...nothing of his past...yes, the Senshi did it...the
Senshi took away his life!... The Senshi are the cause of it all!.... They
are the ones to blame!... Yes, he would follow Kome-sama and get revenge...
What was that thing?... A youma?.... He could controll it...he could create
them from others just by a touch...yes...he was in control now...*
*A strange girl with pink hair...familiar...comforting... Too many
things...had to get away...had to think... The Palace...the same
girl...attacked by a youma.... Had to save her! Who he was?.... Didn't
know.... His name...ha...that was a laugh... Adonis didn't exist...that was
never his name...had to tell her something, though....*
*A strange girl with pink hair...the enemy...had to get her... Had to
make the Senshi suffer as he did... The youma failed.... Stupid creature...
He must send Zues to kill her... The posion was slow but affective....
Attacked the Palace while Zues slipped in... Made a diversion...*
*An attack!...Oustide!!... Shadow behind the boulder...controlling the
youmas....*
*Attack!! Attack!!.... A strange presence...odd... Helping the
Senshi... It knew where he was!*
*The shadow coming down... In front of him...*
*The presence was there... In front of him...*
*What?!*
*What?!*
*That's himself...*
*That's himself...*
"That's me..."
"That's me..."
Another voice flitted through the combined conciousness of the two
boys. A voice that was soft and vauge, yet the words were strong and clear.
the voice said, "Join with Adnois...become yourself again...Terry..."
~*~
----------
"No!!" Kome screamed, leaping up, her wound ignored. "You won't ruin all my
plans!!" She thrusted her sword to impale Adonis' head. He was not there.
"Wha--"
"You're plans were doomed to failed, Kome."
Kome hissed like a snake, turning to the voice. Adonis stood, the boy
at his side. "Says you!" she said, leveling her sword at them. "I am the most
powerfull being in the universe!" she declared. "I can have anything I want!
I can be anything I want! Anything, you hear!?" Black-blue aura lit up her
body. The aura flared around her and seemed to form something, almost a copy
of Kome herself. "Anything!!" she still said. "*ANYTHING*!!!"
"Anything you want except what you need, Kome," the boy said, stepping
up. "You need to let go."
"No!" Kome screamed, shaking her head and shutting her eyes tightly.
"No! That's not true! That's not true!!" Suddenly she stopped, eyes narrowing
on a place behind the Senshi. "You cheater..." she mummered, hardly audible.
Lunar looked behind her quickly, wanting to see who is was that was
drawing Kome's attenion. She bearly saw someone, rushing back around a
boulder. She shook her head, thinking she was seeing things.
"...HOW DARE YOU TRICK ME!!!!!"
The force from Kome's voice flew out, knocking the wind out of
everyone. Her eyes were blazing with a white glow, a strange black aura
pouring around her body. Her hatred and anger was so great, the others
shuddered from its effect. "NOW ALL OF YOU WILL PAY!!!" she screamed, the
aura spreading out, covering the sky.
"What's she doing?!" Serenity shouted over the howl of the wind that
blew from Kome.
"She's trying to kill us! That's what!" the boy shouted back, grabbing
hold of a boulder beside him to stay steady as the wind began to pick up.
"She's trying to open a black hole!"
"We've got to stop her!" Mercury said, standing up.
"How?!" Rei said. "We can bearly stand! How can we stop her?!"
Jupiter was about to say something when a noise caught her attention.
Draco was muttering something to herself, an odd look on her face. "Draco?
What's wrong?" she said.
Draco suddenly stood straight, clapped her hands and shouted, "The
Tears!" She turned to Adonis and the boy, saying, "That Crystal Helios gave
you! Where is it?!"
The boy frowned, confused. Adonis's face lit up, eyes searching the
ground. "It's here somewhere," he said.
"There!" Venus said, pointing to the crystal, still pulsing weakly with
energy.
"Yes!" Draco said, rushing to it.
Without warning, the crystal shot up. Kome caught it in her waiting
hand. She grinned. "Don't think so! The Tears of the Scarred One belong to
me! To me only!" The crystal flared to life, adding a blue hue to Kome's
aura. "Watch closely, Senshi!" she shouted gleefully, raising the crystal up.
"This is the day you die!!"
The aura turned, flowing downwards, creating a sphere that encased
everyone and the Crystal Palace. Kome's insane laugher and the rumbling of
her dark energy were the only sounds. Everyone stared in horror as the sphere
began to grow darker and darker, pressure building to unsafe heights.
Kome lowered her laughter to a chuckle, saying, "It was fun while it
lasted, Senshi. But the time to reclaim my property is now." She pointed the
Crystal at Serenity and Endymion. Cocking her head to the side she yelled,
"DIE!!"
Serenity felt Endymion grab her, sheilding her with his own body, yet
they both knew it was useless. Serenity shut her eyes, covering her face with
her hands.
"*NOW*!!!"
***CRACK***
"AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!"
Something wet hit Serneity's skin. She lowered her hands, looking at
her arms. She froze, seeing more of the substance on the ground and her
dress. It was all around, more still coming.
"B-blood," she whispered, raising her eyes to the source.
Kome screamed in pain, her hands holding the right side of her face in
an attempt to stop the blood. Her face was a picture of agony. Her left eye
glared somewhere behind Serneity and the others. "Who dares to do this?!" she
screeched, removing one hand to grab her weapon as it appeared.
Serenity paled, her stomach almost emptying itself. A large, white
crystal shard was sticking out of Kome's right eye socket, blood now covering
her entire right side, staining her clothes and falling down to the ground,
puddles already forming around her feet. For some reason, the shard look
familiar. Serenity forced herself to look behind her, to the person that had
inflicted the gruesome wound. She stopped, mouth open in shock.
Zukamori straightened, hand pressed close to her chest wound. The black
poison was covering the majority of her torso area yet she still stood. She
still glared at her mother with fire in her hazel eyes. "I dare!" she
shouted, her increasing weakness apparent in her voice. She tried not to show
it though.
"Don't you know when to die like a good little girl?!" Kome screamed,
firing an energy blast.
The blast was blocked by a aura shield around Zukamori. "I think not!"
Zukamori said. "You time is now, Nemisses!!"
Kome seemed to freeze. The black aura started to retreat back into her
as she ground out, "You little..."
"Let my mother go, you demon!" Zukamori shouted. Her Glaive appeared in
hand. She grasped it with both, running a short distance before leaping into
the air, landing in front of Kome. She snatched the blue crystal Kome had
dropped. Kome's remaining eye widened, terror showing. "Let my mother GO!!"
Zukamori threw the crystal at a neck breaking speed, striking the crystal
shard in her opponent's eye. A strange glow emitted from the two, causing
Kome to scream.
The aura instantly shot up, beginning to shape in the form of a human.
Zukamori jumped, her Glaive raised high. Her eyes turned white and glowed
brightly as she shouted, "Orion Star--" she swung down, golden light flowing
from her Glaive as she sliced the shape in two, "DIVIDE!!" With a flash, the
light brightened, covering the entire city of Crystal Tokyo, bathing everyone
with its glow, then vanished. A low howl of dispair sounded, but ended just
as soon as it had come.
The blackness in the sky began to dissipate, sunlight breaking through
the clouds. Zukamori raised her head, her eyelids beginning to feel heavy.
"It's over..." she whispered, her eyes rolling back into her head. Her limp
body began to fall to the ground.
"Zukamori!" a familiar voice shouted to her deaf ears. Her numb body
did not feel with strong, gentle arms that caught her while still in the air,
softly floating the rest of the way down. Adonis looked into her pale face,
noticing the color still disappearing from her skin.
"Adonis!" Serenity shouted as he touched down. "How is she?!"
Adonis only raised his head and meet her eyes. Serenity hung her head.
"My Queen!!"
Serenity looked up, puzzled, at Pluto, who was crouched down beside the
prone body of Kome. "What is it, Pluto?"
"She's still alive!"
Serenity stifled a gasp. Everyone rushed over. Lunar had reached Kome
before Pluto and had laid the woman's head in her lap. Lunar had her hand
over the crystal that was still in her eye, not wanting to see it. Kome's
chest slowly rose up and down, her breathing ragged and heavy. Her remaining
brown eye slowly looked around at everyone's face. "Where..." she tried to
speak.
"Shh," Lunar said gently, silencing her. "Don't talk."
Tears filled Kome's eye when she saw Zukamori in Adonis' arms. "My
child....Oh, my baby," she sobbed. "What have I done? What have I done?"
Serenity came foreward. "Are you Kome?" she asked in a quiet voice.
"I am," she replied, still sobbing. "I am Kome, Guadrian of the Cursed
Grave."
"What was that just now?" Serenity said next, gesturing up to the sky,
indicating the thing Zuamori had killed.
"That creature was Nemisses," Kome said, breathing a bit shallower. Her
sobbing had lessened. She was dying and she wanted the *true* truth to be
known. "He possessed me while I was giving birth to my daughter, while I was
vunerable. He tried to kill her but I pleaded and begged him to leave her
alone. He did, in exchange for me. But he still found a way to touch her
mind, to spark her dormat power into early awakening. Because of it, they
were bonded in mind. He tormented her for years. I could do nothing to stop
him. After the fall, he hid in a remote mountain range, planning for this
day. I'm sorry, my Queen. I'm so sorry."
Serenity looked down at Kome, and smiled gently. "You have nothing to
be sorry for, Kome. You were protecting your daughter. No one can blame you
for that."
Kome weakly smiled in return. Her eye began to close, slowly.
Draco suddenly spoke up, not to Kome, but to something else. "Sailor
Senshi Crystals," she said, her hand above her head. "Heed the call of Sailor
Draco, Senshi of the Future. Appear!!" All at once, the Crystals appeared,
floating above their owners. "Combine! Return to your true from! Ginzuishou!
Come!" All the crystals began to glow, spinning before they floated to one
another, the Ginzuishou forming.
Serenity cupped her hands around the crystal as it floated down to her.
She knew what to do. "Go," she said, looking at Kome, "to the place you
belong."
The warm glow of the Ginzuishou wrapped around Kome. Her breathing was
stilled. Then, a ghostly image of her appeared, rising out of her body. She
opened her eyes and smiled at Lunar, who was gaping at what was behind her,
on her back.
She had wings. But they were not white ones, at least, not both. Her
left one was white like an angel's, the right one was black and leathery,
like a bat's. Yet in spite of that, she did not appear evil. She
looked....normal, as if they were natural for her. She began to fade. A soft
voice whispered in the wind that blew, "Thank you...for setting me
free...Serenity-san....Chibi-usa-san...thank you...."
No one spoke untill they heard a groan. Everyone snapped their heads
around to stare at Zukamori, who opened her eyes, blinking at the bright
sunlight. The black poison was gone. It was no where to be seen on her body.
Zukamori looked around, dazed. That ended when Adonis, so full of joy and
happiness that she was alive, kissed her. Needless to say she was surprised
at this. But before long, she was kissing him back. That recieved a cat call
from Makoto and a cheer from Minako. The two sepreated, blushing, as Adonis
set her down.
Lunar reached up to wip away her tears. She gasped, seeing what her
hand reveiled. The crystal that had been lodged in Kome's eye was no longer
there. In its stead, there was a blue-green crystal, shaped like Earth,
simply sitting on Kome's face. She reached down and picked it up.
Instincively, she turned to Adonis and raised it up to him. "Here," she
said. He took it, exaiming it. She stood, laying Kome down. Lunar stared hard
at the crystal before she met his eye, grinning like a fox. "I know what to
do," she said. She went over to the black-clothed boy, taking him by the hand
and bringing him over to stand by Adnois. She put his hand over the crystal
Adonis held. "Stay like that," she instructed.
She turned to Serenity. "May I see the Ginzuishou?" she asked, holding
out a hand. Serentiy nodded, handing it to her. Lunar faced the two boys
again and said, "Close your eyes." When they did, she did so as well, saying,
"Tears of the Scarred One--" the crystal the boys held flared to life, "--
Ginzuishou--" it came to life as well, "--I call upon your combined powers!
Break the spell of the Evil One! I, Princess Lady Serentiy, command you!!"
The combined light was enough to blind anyone who stared directly at
it. Within it, Lunar could see that it was working. She smiled. she thought as the light began to die down. Standing where
the two boys had been, stood only one. Looking almostly exactly like King
Endymion, was a young man with a faint red line running down his right eye.
He blinked, suprised. He had two functioning eyes. *TWO*. There was no
mistaking who this was.
Serenity had tears running down her face. She took one step then ran,
crushing the young man against her. One word passed by her quivering lips.
"Terry!!"
Lunar smiled still. "Finally," she whispered. She suddenly collasped
into a boneless heap. Her transformation undid itself. It was only then did
everyone see the blood pouring from the freashly reopened wound on her chest.
"Chibi-usa!!"
"Small Lady!"
Everyone was yelling, talking at once. Ami dropped down by the
unconcious girl, ripping the sleeve to her shirt off and wadding it up. She
held the material close to the wound to staunch the bleeding.
All movement ceased as the voice spoke to their minds. Wide eyes stared
at a strange white mist that suddenly filled the area they stood in. The mist
worked mainly around Chibi-usa, seeping through the cloth Ami held against it
and into the wound. Before long, the mist began to recede, headed away from
the group. Ami cautiously pulled back the cloth. She gasped. The blood had
almost stopped flowing, a faint pink scar around the remainder of the wound
was the only tesimony of the wound that had been life-threatening.
the voice said again.
Draco's head snapped up, looking in a direction off to the side. Her
mouth was hung open at what her blind eyes saw. One by one, the others looked
as well.
Propped up beside a boulder, grinning and flashing a peace sign at the
stunned and shocked onlookers, Kyoko sat. "'Bout time you noticed me!"
---------
NEXT: Nothing!!
Just joking! Here it is:
The battle is over. But there are still a few questions to be answered.
__________