The Reflection of a Soul
chapt 18
A Lake of Memory
~-~
Uhm... have fun? And review?
"No. No, I don't like this. At all." Duo jumped to his feet and started backing
away, shaking his head. "No way in hell. You're not going in alone."
"I have to disagree." Refu contradicted. "Ren is the best strategian I've ever
met. It's the only way that will work."
"I know!" Duo fumed. "But-- I can't let her--"
Haruka took a deep breath, trying to ease the searing pain in her breast.
"They're right, Duo."
Minako nodded, and she looked as pained and Haruka felt. "We'll do it Usagi's
way." She affirmed.
Lide looked ecstatic. "Alright, then. You guys get ready. Let's do this before
reason sets in, alright?"
Twenty minutes later, they were ready. Venus and Uranus stood with brilliantly
colored senshi fukus adorned, Duo held Usagi's Springfield and a machete, and
Refu and Lide both held crossbows with knives tucked away.
Usagi was clothed in a black catsuit and a long trenchcoat of the same hue. She
carried only a rapier made of moon-crystal, but there was an entire arsenal
hidden safely inside her subspace pocket. She had cast a spell around herself
that made her indistinguishable from her surroundings at the pronunciation of a
single word.
"Alright. Is everything packed and in a pocket? Good. Let's move out, people, we
have a city to destroy." She didn't look like she about to risk the lives of her
only friends and her own, or like she was trekking into a certain suicide. She
was uncannily calm, focused and a completely different person. In her eyes were
a glimmer of apathy, a whisper that she would complete her mission at any cost.
Venus remembered it. Venus remembered standing at her princess's side a lifetime
ago, offering her power to the crescent moon wand as that steely grip welded the
power that destroyed Beryl. It had been that look. That intense look.
"You two will go in first, Lide, as the so called distraction. Make it bloody,
Refu. You two will sneak in seconds later and be spotted. They're youma, dumb
enough to think the distraction was for two colorful senshi. I'll go scenic and
go in. They won't see me. Duo, you're going to be Plan B. If someone starts to
look around for me, get spotted really quick. Three red herrings should fool
them. Keep them busy until they're dead or I come running. If they're dead and
I haven't come back yet, head for the palace. If it's rubble or I'm dead, run
for dodge and get the hell out."
"But you can't die, Usagi." Duo reminded her cheerfully.
She looked at him. "Death's a fickle creature, Duo. You can never be sure. You
of all people should know that."
~"~
Lide crept silently past the gates, following the well-worn yet invisible path
that the renegades took into the ghastly city of youma and demons. At best, she
could choke down the shivers that threatened to run down her spine.
She could hardly believe that the infamous Ren had returned to Teikai. Kage and
the others told stories of her daring and skill, the youma moaned of her sword
and her magic and Morpheus raged of her victories. And here she was... in the
service of a goddess.
"Refu, how far into the city should we go?" She hissed to the young man at her
side.
Refu was not her lover. At times, she wished that he were, but he was too much
of a loner and besides, in the ageless years they had spent together, Lide found
wryly that neither of their tastes were inclined towards the other. But still
she could be lonely.
"Far enough to make it look real." He answered, matching her discreet tone.
Once they were a good half-mile into the city, where the creatures were thick,
but not overwhelming, they decided it was far enough.
Yes, that's good. She heard Ren's voice inside her head and almost started. She
felt Refu tense and knew he heard it too. Venus, Uranus, go now! Head for a
place southeast of where they are. Make it good, girls and boys. Refu, Lide,
you've got ten minutes and then GET OUT. That's when Uranus and Venus will be
discovered. I'm heading out now as well. I'll go invisible. And there's a bit
of change... Duo's coming with me. There was a pause. At least someone will live
to tell the tale.
One of the senshi must have commented something harsh.
Oh, shut up. You should know by now that nothing's ever for sure. Shut up and do
this right and maybe we'll all live to see the Utopia I'm gonna make. All right,
troops, let's do this!
"There's a small troop headed our way." Refu whispered carefully. "Let's surprise
them."
Lide nodded and unsheathed the beautiful sword that Venus had lent to her. Refu
took out a long dagger, almost eleven inches and made of a beautiful green metal
soaked in a poison deadly to any but humans. It would serve him well.
As the demon troop passed beside them, the two warriors leapt out.
The first drops of orange blood bespattered the dirt with a screech from Hell,
followed by a torrent of violet and red.
~'~
"So, you do this all the time?" Duo was panting, trying to keep up with Usagi as
she darted around corners and jumped onto ledges. She didn't mind having to wait
and sometimes give Duo a hand-up. She realized mildly that if she weren't fated
otherwise, it would be quite easy to fall in love with Duo.
She paused on a rooftop, listening. "Used to. Refu and Lide just cut out and
Venus and Uranus have been found." She pointed. "We're not that far now."
The looming towers of the castle could be seen against the gray-green gloom of
midday. They sent a shiver of adreniline through Duo as he squinted to make them
out.
She seemed to be waiting for him to catch his breath. "Strange, you know. I
thought I had seen those spires for the last time, and now, here I am, returning
to their beckoning willingly. Irony loves to play with me."
"I'll never be surprised at that." Duo retorted. "You really are a roach." They
continued forward now, at a more leisurely pace, double checking each stone
before advancing a step; they could not afford to be discovered now.
It was a few seconds before Duo spoke again, until Usagi paused once more. "They
know we're here." He stated softly.
Usagi shook her head. "They know I'm here," she admitted. "but not you. Not yet."
She chanced a glance back at him, and he was surprised at the mirth in her eyes.
"You see, they sense me because no matter how I try, I can't conceal all the
power around me. But you, you're powerful, but not so much as you stand out from
the youma. But I wouldn't like to see you angry: your power amplifies."
"Power?" Duo looked at her like she was mad. "Usagi, I'm mostly human. I don't
have any."
Usagi chortled softly. "That's what I thought, too."
Duo reached out for her arm to keep her from moving, as she a about to do. "What
does that mean? Usagi?" He cursed as she slipped from his grip. "Damn you."
"Uh, wait in line. You're a nine-digit number, so you'd better get comfortable."
"Not funny."
"Really?" Her eyebrows rose. "I thought so."
Duo shook his head at her and followed her up to a short wall that went around
the fortress. She crouched behind it and he mimicked her, holding his head as a
patrol of ugly, strong-looking youma passed by. Usagi didn't seem to notice them,
she was busy working on something in her lap. He wanted badly to ask her what
the hell was suddenly so damned important that the patrols of beasts from the
pits of the darkest hell were insignificant to, but as these very creatures were
passing hair's width from his face he dared not whisper, nor even breathe.
After four of such patrols had passed she finally straightened up and looked
around.
"Thanks for waiting." She whispered so quietly she was mouthing the words.
"Here." She dangled something from her hand to him, but in the dark he couldn't
make it out. It was some kind of pendant on a necklace of thin, unbreakable
silver metal.
"What is it?"
She slowly climbed to her feet and peeped over the edge of the wall. She ducked
back down quickly. "A teleporter. It will help you."
"How sweet of you. Give him your one way out. I always thought it was interesting
how you protected the innocent."
Usagi cursed as a blue green magic surrounded them. She didn't have to look up
to know it was Morpheus. She muttered something under breath and the magic was
pushed away with a brighter, silver once.
"Mine's stronger." She glowered at the handsome king above her. Morpheus, Duo
noted, wore an expression that was concocted from anger, amusement, and utter
terror. He saw the evil man try to hide his emotion and failed, and that only
seemed to increase the anger.
And for the first time in his short, troubled like, Duo was amazed to find he
was afraid, and yet, despite this, he also felt so very safe. The darkness that
had hibernated beneath his thought ever since he could remember was awake and
wary. A whole new level was added to his perception, and he found himself staring
at Usagi from the corner of his eye, seeing her in a very new way, all humor
gone from his mind.
Before she had been a beautiful fairy queen, and he had only seen that. But as
he looked at her now he knew why Morpheus was in desperate danger of loosing all
control of his bladder.
She was no longer pretty. She was a terrible goddess with lovely features etched
like marble. Her silver gray eyes flashed forebodingly, her lips, a delicate
coral, were set hard and dark. Her hair had come undone with her display of
sorcery and whipped about her, moon-pale strands moved by power and wind.
She didn't look angry or anxious, but as though her entire life had been lived
for this one moment and she knew that she had the complete control here. Duo knew
why Serenity was such a revered name and why even Haruka was wary of Usagi's
wrath. He actually felt sympathy for Morpheus.
"Ren, Ren, my precious." Morpheus offered her a strong hand gloved in white. "It
doesn't have to be like this. Come back with me. You'll sit on my throne and
rule a country worthy of you, my assassin once more." Beneath the arrogance of
his voice was a note of fear and simple desperation.
Duo knew then he did not want to fight Usagi. He was as afraid of her as any of
her victims, and knew he would loose. But he had underestimated her mentality.
Duo started back as Usagi reached out with a graceful hand and grasped the larger
one. Morpheus straightened and relaxed and began to pull her up into the air.
He was stopped when she wouldn't move. Her hand tightened around his and he
flinched and looked into her steel-colored eyes.
"Oh, dearest Morpheus, I think it does have to be like this." The faintest
radiance of blue fire shimmered about her, making her seem even more godly. "You
are not a good man, Morpheus. You are a monster in a man's form." Terror began
to work into his face.
"No, no-- Ren-- Princess-- don't--" He began to wail as her grip tightened even
more and Duo jumped at the sound of cracking bones and Morpheus's scream.
"I shall, Morpheus, Master." She spat the word out like it was vile on her
tongue. "I should have killed you. I should have." The words were harsh in her
pretty voice. "You made a sweet little girl disappear when you crafted this
warrior. Perhaps if you had foresight you would have left her, for we both know
like a foolish, lovely child she would have had mercy on you."
The stonework around them began to shake and tremble at her anger and Morpheus
still floated above them, his hand hopeless caught in hers even as silver
lightning began to crackle from her arm to his, shocks of agony that made him
scream.
"I banish your soul. You will be reborn a thousand times and live the lives of
the children you destroyed. You will live everything you gave to another, a
thousand times. I curse you to call one like yourself master and feel the
punishment he will deal. And now, you will die."
And he did. With one final shriek to acknowledge the horror he felt, he died and
fell with a sickening thud onto the dirty stone, blood leaking from the corner
of his mouth and his unseeing eyes still twisted with fear.
Usagi let go of the hand. It fell to the stone in one seemingly endless motion,
one that Duo would remember in his old age when he had gotten nearly everything
else.
"Well-- that was interesting." He commented weakly.
Usagi spun around. She had forgotten he was there, and some part of her curled up
with horror he had seen that part of her. But she couldn't act that. She
couldn't.
"Well, we still have to get to Genso; don't dance yet. Morpheus was weak and a
fool as is Genso, but Genso is clever. He'll find a way to hurt me as I did him."
Duo looked up at her. She suddenly seemed so tall. "Wasn't that Jupiter? What
was her death for? Why--" He stopped himself before he could ask the next
question, but Usagi knew.
"Her death was not futile. I did not send her on a suicide mission without a
just cause. Duo, whether you know it yet or not you have the blood of a senshi
running through you, stronger than it should be. I don't understand it and I
don't think anyone else could. The death of a senshi releases all the power of
the senshi into that world. Feel the air, Duo. Jupiter knew why she came, and
she knew why she had to die."
Duo closed his eyes. He did feel a humming in the air, a tingling in the wind
as just before a lightning storm. His eyes snapped back open and looked at Usagi,
questioning.
I don't understand.
For a single moment, he saw her. The power in the air surged through him and he
felt a whisper shove him into Usagi, and he saw her mind, her pain, her feelings
and her tears.
"She volunteered to be a courier just so she would die?" He asked incredulously,
as the meaning of what he had seen hit home. Usagi forced him out of her head and
nodded.
"She knew I needed an edge over them. Without her I would not have been able to
do to Morpheus what I just did. In this universe there is nothing for me to draw
upon, but with her presence here she is a link between this dark world and our
world."
There was a loud crash and a series of screams, followed by the sound of tinkling
glass and a gunshot. The gunshot was most remarkable of them, but Usagi didn't
seemed to realize.
"Our presence has been noted. We should go. And I swear to you, Mako-chan, if you
ever do that again, I'll dig you up and kill you all over again."
I didn't, Usagi-chan. He did it himself, and drew on me to do so. What is he,
Usagi-chan? Usagi could hear Makoto whispering underneath her mind, and the
words disturbed her.
Have I underestimated him, Mako-chan?
In all the time I have known you, you have never done such a thing. But this
time-- perhaps....
Usagi cleared her head and looked at Duo carefully. He honestly looked like he
could unconsciously conceal such a power as great as Saturn's, but she couldn't
be sure. Whenever she tried to probe into his mind, she was shut out by deep,
powerful emotion.
He allowed her to take his hand and pull him up a wall that she had stepped onto
even though the action was impossible. But who was to say there was such a word
when Usagi was there?
They were on another sentry level, with one patrol reading straight for them.
Duo saw it was made up big, ugly, half-beast creatures that looked fully capable
of making a hole in solid gundanium with only their fist. Usagi muttered a
curse, took Duo by his forearm, and suddenly they were on the other side of the
wall.
She was muttering all sorts of awful things now. "Oh, shit a fucking brick side-
ways, he's gonna notice that, goddamnit we're screwed..." She kept muttering,
taking him through solid walls and around corners that had not been there a
second ago and under archways that seemed to heighten themselves to allow them
passage.
Duo didn't know if she were doing it on purpose, or if the walls did it
themselves, but whatever it was, it was more than a little unsettling. He
jumped every single time the stonework moved. He couldn't help it, after all.
But Usagi, who'd been raised once under such an environment, didn't even
notice.
"What is it? What's wrong?" She asked gently, when they came to a stop beside
a corner.
He glared back at her, his violet eyes flashing angrily in the darkness. "The
bloody walls and ceiling are doing the salsa and you expect me to not wonder
if I'm tripping?"
She smothered her laugh quickly, for she could hear the scratching footsteps
of youma near. "It's just Teikai, Duo. Ignore it." Duo remained silent until
the sentries had passed.
"Yeah. Sure." He rolled his eyes as she darted around the corner, her hand
around his arm. He was about to follow but her exclamation stopped him as her
hand let go of his quickly and abruptly.
"U-usagi!" Duo froze, still out of sight. The voice was presumably male, and
terrified.
Usagi was surprised but covered it well. Her only thought was that Genso could
not see Duo. "Ah, Genso. The man of the hour. Just the person I wanted to see.
How's your afterlife been? Want to go visit all those people in Tartarus that
I'm sure you got acquainted with during your time there?"
Duo realized that if he closed his eyes, he could see the man though Usagi's
eyes. Tall, and handsome. But there was something in the depths of the man's
eyes he did not like. Duo decided he needed to be dead, at that moment.
Shinigami felt something that needed to die in that man's aura.
Even though his instincts demanded he appear and kill the unknown demon known as
Genso, Duo stayed put. He felt that Usagi would not be pleased if he interrupted
now.
He was right. Usagi was busy trying to remember if this was the corridor that
opened into Hell or if it was the next, all while slowly lifting up her shields
so that Genso didn't notice. Genso was too busy trying to keep talking he
couldn't have noticed it anyway. but she wasn't ready to take any chances. Genso
might do something desperate, and that was the last thing she wanted.
"Usagi, dear, now you don't want to do anything drastic to your old friend, do
you?" Her eyes narrowed.
"Coward. Just as before, you plead for your life. Remember what you taught me?
The more they plead the more they suffer. Why should I make an exception for
you?" Her anger was rising, and the thoughts of Duo leaving to make room. Genso
knew this, and he could actually feel the heat in the air. He took a step back,
his mind racing to find any way out of this.
"You've already killed me once. Why do it again?"
She smirked. "Because this time I make it so you never come back."
It was her eyes. Her eyes, her broken, child's eyes, her eyes that had so many
levels and depths and right then he knew them all. He could see the hidden baby,
sobbing and alone, in a room, covered in her own blood.
He could see the little girl, proud and afraid, trying to keep her chin up and
the tears away while she was kicked, over and over and over, in the ribs.
It was the preteen, biting through her lip, savoring the taste of blood in her
mouth because anything was better than thinking about the man raping her.
And there she was, at all, ages, at new stages of pain and violation. And
beneath it all was a single strand of strength that scared him. It terrified him
like he was a little baby. It was something hideous and unbreakable, something
so hot and blazing that it burned to look at it.
He was so scared.
That one, long look into her bottomless eyes broke the last strands of dignity
and pride that held him together and he collapsed to his knees, moaning
something in his native Italian, sobbing it out, pleading for the soul he no
longer had.
Duo listened. He knew enough of the pretty language to get the gist, and the
more the man confessed, thinking in some perverted way that Usagi was the Virgin
Mary, the more Duo controlled his urge to vomit with increasing difficulty. What
kind of monster would do these things, things that shocked him after all he'd
seen and been through... what kind of god would create this monster...
Usagi listened for a moment with cold, unnerving eyes. She cut him off with a
narrowing of her lips. "Give me your gun." It took Duo a moment to realize she
spoke to him. Wordlessly he tossed her the semi-auto. There was no way a gun was
going to kill this one. But she didn't seem to be concerned with that. Her
attention was solely on the man who was now so scared he couldn't even force
himself to form the words to plead for his life anymore.
"You don't deserve the honor of a magical death. You don't deserve to die at my
hands." She stated coldly, aiming expertly at his head. The gun began to glow
slightly. "But it's the only way I can keep you dead. The moon's mistress curses
you."
One bullet. One bang. That's all it was. It was almost unfitting, definitely
anti-climatical, and yet completely right.
"You're right." Dup said, stepping around the corner to survey the damage.
The gun clattered to the stonework of the floor and Usagi turned and fled into
his arms. He hugged her tightly.
"You were right in this." He whispered to her soothingly. "He didn't deserve any
better."
Usagi looked at the crumpled body, dark blood running in rivulets in the cracks
of the stone. He nodded, but she cried anyway. She let Duo lead her out of the c
astle, not caring how he knew the way, and to the waiting senshi.
Tomorrow, she would be herself again.
A hundred years later, people would look up at the beautiful crystal palace on
Earth and think of their quiet, elegant queen and her guardians, both senshi and
the seemingly mortal men, rumored to once have been soldier in the great war of
the Alliance, and they would not imagine that once the peace was in danger, and
this woman, fearsome and beautiful, had saved them all more than once.
But she had. And while perhaps in the minds of mortal men it was forgotten, as
some things are, all who lived the palace never forgot, and neither did the gods
or time.
Sometimes, the reflections of a single soul are enough to fill a lake of memory.
~-~
*peeks out from behind her computer screen, looking baffled* Am I done? Is this
done? I don't believe it... is it really? This just might be a first...
*waves to her readers* Well, I don't know what to say, really. This just might be
one of the few... okay, four fics I've finished. *wide eyes* I don't believe it.
I just don't...
Anyway, go read Changed Destiny! And then wait for the sequel! Read Lover's Last
Breath! Read my other fics, please! Go to ASMR and read my stuff there! (Black
Rose and Black Beyond and Cosmic! Under no exception read the stuff I wrote as
Lita Juno. When I say it sucks I'm not kidding!)
Yeah, I'm done with the plugging. And to everyone who reviewed, I love you guys!
Even though I'm a bit ticked I only got FOUR REVIEWS on chapt 17. Okay, I'm
really ticked. Anywho...
Love you all anyway. Adeiu. Parting is breif and sweet and oh so sad....
chapt 18
A Lake of Memory
~-~
Uhm... have fun? And review?
"No. No, I don't like this. At all." Duo jumped to his feet and started backing
away, shaking his head. "No way in hell. You're not going in alone."
"I have to disagree." Refu contradicted. "Ren is the best strategian I've ever
met. It's the only way that will work."
"I know!" Duo fumed. "But-- I can't let her--"
Haruka took a deep breath, trying to ease the searing pain in her breast.
"They're right, Duo."
Minako nodded, and she looked as pained and Haruka felt. "We'll do it Usagi's
way." She affirmed.
Lide looked ecstatic. "Alright, then. You guys get ready. Let's do this before
reason sets in, alright?"
Twenty minutes later, they were ready. Venus and Uranus stood with brilliantly
colored senshi fukus adorned, Duo held Usagi's Springfield and a machete, and
Refu and Lide both held crossbows with knives tucked away.
Usagi was clothed in a black catsuit and a long trenchcoat of the same hue. She
carried only a rapier made of moon-crystal, but there was an entire arsenal
hidden safely inside her subspace pocket. She had cast a spell around herself
that made her indistinguishable from her surroundings at the pronunciation of a
single word.
"Alright. Is everything packed and in a pocket? Good. Let's move out, people, we
have a city to destroy." She didn't look like she about to risk the lives of her
only friends and her own, or like she was trekking into a certain suicide. She
was uncannily calm, focused and a completely different person. In her eyes were
a glimmer of apathy, a whisper that she would complete her mission at any cost.
Venus remembered it. Venus remembered standing at her princess's side a lifetime
ago, offering her power to the crescent moon wand as that steely grip welded the
power that destroyed Beryl. It had been that look. That intense look.
"You two will go in first, Lide, as the so called distraction. Make it bloody,
Refu. You two will sneak in seconds later and be spotted. They're youma, dumb
enough to think the distraction was for two colorful senshi. I'll go scenic and
go in. They won't see me. Duo, you're going to be Plan B. If someone starts to
look around for me, get spotted really quick. Three red herrings should fool
them. Keep them busy until they're dead or I come running. If they're dead and
I haven't come back yet, head for the palace. If it's rubble or I'm dead, run
for dodge and get the hell out."
"But you can't die, Usagi." Duo reminded her cheerfully.
She looked at him. "Death's a fickle creature, Duo. You can never be sure. You
of all people should know that."
~"~
Lide crept silently past the gates, following the well-worn yet invisible path
that the renegades took into the ghastly city of youma and demons. At best, she
could choke down the shivers that threatened to run down her spine.
She could hardly believe that the infamous Ren had returned to Teikai. Kage and
the others told stories of her daring and skill, the youma moaned of her sword
and her magic and Morpheus raged of her victories. And here she was... in the
service of a goddess.
"Refu, how far into the city should we go?" She hissed to the young man at her
side.
Refu was not her lover. At times, she wished that he were, but he was too much
of a loner and besides, in the ageless years they had spent together, Lide found
wryly that neither of their tastes were inclined towards the other. But still
she could be lonely.
"Far enough to make it look real." He answered, matching her discreet tone.
Once they were a good half-mile into the city, where the creatures were thick,
but not overwhelming, they decided it was far enough.
Yes, that's good. She heard Ren's voice inside her head and almost started. She
felt Refu tense and knew he heard it too. Venus, Uranus, go now! Head for a
place southeast of where they are. Make it good, girls and boys. Refu, Lide,
you've got ten minutes and then GET OUT. That's when Uranus and Venus will be
discovered. I'm heading out now as well. I'll go invisible. And there's a bit
of change... Duo's coming with me. There was a pause. At least someone will live
to tell the tale.
One of the senshi must have commented something harsh.
Oh, shut up. You should know by now that nothing's ever for sure. Shut up and do
this right and maybe we'll all live to see the Utopia I'm gonna make. All right,
troops, let's do this!
"There's a small troop headed our way." Refu whispered carefully. "Let's surprise
them."
Lide nodded and unsheathed the beautiful sword that Venus had lent to her. Refu
took out a long dagger, almost eleven inches and made of a beautiful green metal
soaked in a poison deadly to any but humans. It would serve him well.
As the demon troop passed beside them, the two warriors leapt out.
The first drops of orange blood bespattered the dirt with a screech from Hell,
followed by a torrent of violet and red.
~'~
"So, you do this all the time?" Duo was panting, trying to keep up with Usagi as
she darted around corners and jumped onto ledges. She didn't mind having to wait
and sometimes give Duo a hand-up. She realized mildly that if she weren't fated
otherwise, it would be quite easy to fall in love with Duo.
She paused on a rooftop, listening. "Used to. Refu and Lide just cut out and
Venus and Uranus have been found." She pointed. "We're not that far now."
The looming towers of the castle could be seen against the gray-green gloom of
midday. They sent a shiver of adreniline through Duo as he squinted to make them
out.
She seemed to be waiting for him to catch his breath. "Strange, you know. I
thought I had seen those spires for the last time, and now, here I am, returning
to their beckoning willingly. Irony loves to play with me."
"I'll never be surprised at that." Duo retorted. "You really are a roach." They
continued forward now, at a more leisurely pace, double checking each stone
before advancing a step; they could not afford to be discovered now.
It was a few seconds before Duo spoke again, until Usagi paused once more. "They
know we're here." He stated softly.
Usagi shook her head. "They know I'm here," she admitted. "but not you. Not yet."
She chanced a glance back at him, and he was surprised at the mirth in her eyes.
"You see, they sense me because no matter how I try, I can't conceal all the
power around me. But you, you're powerful, but not so much as you stand out from
the youma. But I wouldn't like to see you angry: your power amplifies."
"Power?" Duo looked at her like she was mad. "Usagi, I'm mostly human. I don't
have any."
Usagi chortled softly. "That's what I thought, too."
Duo reached out for her arm to keep her from moving, as she a about to do. "What
does that mean? Usagi?" He cursed as she slipped from his grip. "Damn you."
"Uh, wait in line. You're a nine-digit number, so you'd better get comfortable."
"Not funny."
"Really?" Her eyebrows rose. "I thought so."
Duo shook his head at her and followed her up to a short wall that went around
the fortress. She crouched behind it and he mimicked her, holding his head as a
patrol of ugly, strong-looking youma passed by. Usagi didn't seem to notice them,
she was busy working on something in her lap. He wanted badly to ask her what
the hell was suddenly so damned important that the patrols of beasts from the
pits of the darkest hell were insignificant to, but as these very creatures were
passing hair's width from his face he dared not whisper, nor even breathe.
After four of such patrols had passed she finally straightened up and looked
around.
"Thanks for waiting." She whispered so quietly she was mouthing the words.
"Here." She dangled something from her hand to him, but in the dark he couldn't
make it out. It was some kind of pendant on a necklace of thin, unbreakable
silver metal.
"What is it?"
She slowly climbed to her feet and peeped over the edge of the wall. She ducked
back down quickly. "A teleporter. It will help you."
"How sweet of you. Give him your one way out. I always thought it was interesting
how you protected the innocent."
Usagi cursed as a blue green magic surrounded them. She didn't have to look up
to know it was Morpheus. She muttered something under breath and the magic was
pushed away with a brighter, silver once.
"Mine's stronger." She glowered at the handsome king above her. Morpheus, Duo
noted, wore an expression that was concocted from anger, amusement, and utter
terror. He saw the evil man try to hide his emotion and failed, and that only
seemed to increase the anger.
And for the first time in his short, troubled like, Duo was amazed to find he
was afraid, and yet, despite this, he also felt so very safe. The darkness that
had hibernated beneath his thought ever since he could remember was awake and
wary. A whole new level was added to his perception, and he found himself staring
at Usagi from the corner of his eye, seeing her in a very new way, all humor
gone from his mind.
Before she had been a beautiful fairy queen, and he had only seen that. But as
he looked at her now he knew why Morpheus was in desperate danger of loosing all
control of his bladder.
She was no longer pretty. She was a terrible goddess with lovely features etched
like marble. Her silver gray eyes flashed forebodingly, her lips, a delicate
coral, were set hard and dark. Her hair had come undone with her display of
sorcery and whipped about her, moon-pale strands moved by power and wind.
She didn't look angry or anxious, but as though her entire life had been lived
for this one moment and she knew that she had the complete control here. Duo knew
why Serenity was such a revered name and why even Haruka was wary of Usagi's
wrath. He actually felt sympathy for Morpheus.
"Ren, Ren, my precious." Morpheus offered her a strong hand gloved in white. "It
doesn't have to be like this. Come back with me. You'll sit on my throne and
rule a country worthy of you, my assassin once more." Beneath the arrogance of
his voice was a note of fear and simple desperation.
Duo knew then he did not want to fight Usagi. He was as afraid of her as any of
her victims, and knew he would loose. But he had underestimated her mentality.
Duo started back as Usagi reached out with a graceful hand and grasped the larger
one. Morpheus straightened and relaxed and began to pull her up into the air.
He was stopped when she wouldn't move. Her hand tightened around his and he
flinched and looked into her steel-colored eyes.
"Oh, dearest Morpheus, I think it does have to be like this." The faintest
radiance of blue fire shimmered about her, making her seem even more godly. "You
are not a good man, Morpheus. You are a monster in a man's form." Terror began
to work into his face.
"No, no-- Ren-- Princess-- don't--" He began to wail as her grip tightened even
more and Duo jumped at the sound of cracking bones and Morpheus's scream.
"I shall, Morpheus, Master." She spat the word out like it was vile on her
tongue. "I should have killed you. I should have." The words were harsh in her
pretty voice. "You made a sweet little girl disappear when you crafted this
warrior. Perhaps if you had foresight you would have left her, for we both know
like a foolish, lovely child she would have had mercy on you."
The stonework around them began to shake and tremble at her anger and Morpheus
still floated above them, his hand hopeless caught in hers even as silver
lightning began to crackle from her arm to his, shocks of agony that made him
scream.
"I banish your soul. You will be reborn a thousand times and live the lives of
the children you destroyed. You will live everything you gave to another, a
thousand times. I curse you to call one like yourself master and feel the
punishment he will deal. And now, you will die."
And he did. With one final shriek to acknowledge the horror he felt, he died and
fell with a sickening thud onto the dirty stone, blood leaking from the corner
of his mouth and his unseeing eyes still twisted with fear.
Usagi let go of the hand. It fell to the stone in one seemingly endless motion,
one that Duo would remember in his old age when he had gotten nearly everything
else.
"Well-- that was interesting." He commented weakly.
Usagi spun around. She had forgotten he was there, and some part of her curled up
with horror he had seen that part of her. But she couldn't act that. She
couldn't.
"Well, we still have to get to Genso; don't dance yet. Morpheus was weak and a
fool as is Genso, but Genso is clever. He'll find a way to hurt me as I did him."
Duo looked up at her. She suddenly seemed so tall. "Wasn't that Jupiter? What
was her death for? Why--" He stopped himself before he could ask the next
question, but Usagi knew.
"Her death was not futile. I did not send her on a suicide mission without a
just cause. Duo, whether you know it yet or not you have the blood of a senshi
running through you, stronger than it should be. I don't understand it and I
don't think anyone else could. The death of a senshi releases all the power of
the senshi into that world. Feel the air, Duo. Jupiter knew why she came, and
she knew why she had to die."
Duo closed his eyes. He did feel a humming in the air, a tingling in the wind
as just before a lightning storm. His eyes snapped back open and looked at Usagi,
questioning.
I don't understand.
For a single moment, he saw her. The power in the air surged through him and he
felt a whisper shove him into Usagi, and he saw her mind, her pain, her feelings
and her tears.
"She volunteered to be a courier just so she would die?" He asked incredulously,
as the meaning of what he had seen hit home. Usagi forced him out of her head and
nodded.
"She knew I needed an edge over them. Without her I would not have been able to
do to Morpheus what I just did. In this universe there is nothing for me to draw
upon, but with her presence here she is a link between this dark world and our
world."
There was a loud crash and a series of screams, followed by the sound of tinkling
glass and a gunshot. The gunshot was most remarkable of them, but Usagi didn't
seemed to realize.
"Our presence has been noted. We should go. And I swear to you, Mako-chan, if you
ever do that again, I'll dig you up and kill you all over again."
I didn't, Usagi-chan. He did it himself, and drew on me to do so. What is he,
Usagi-chan? Usagi could hear Makoto whispering underneath her mind, and the
words disturbed her.
Have I underestimated him, Mako-chan?
In all the time I have known you, you have never done such a thing. But this
time-- perhaps....
Usagi cleared her head and looked at Duo carefully. He honestly looked like he
could unconsciously conceal such a power as great as Saturn's, but she couldn't
be sure. Whenever she tried to probe into his mind, she was shut out by deep,
powerful emotion.
He allowed her to take his hand and pull him up a wall that she had stepped onto
even though the action was impossible. But who was to say there was such a word
when Usagi was there?
They were on another sentry level, with one patrol reading straight for them.
Duo saw it was made up big, ugly, half-beast creatures that looked fully capable
of making a hole in solid gundanium with only their fist. Usagi muttered a
curse, took Duo by his forearm, and suddenly they were on the other side of the
wall.
She was muttering all sorts of awful things now. "Oh, shit a fucking brick side-
ways, he's gonna notice that, goddamnit we're screwed..." She kept muttering,
taking him through solid walls and around corners that had not been there a
second ago and under archways that seemed to heighten themselves to allow them
passage.
Duo didn't know if she were doing it on purpose, or if the walls did it
themselves, but whatever it was, it was more than a little unsettling. He
jumped every single time the stonework moved. He couldn't help it, after all.
But Usagi, who'd been raised once under such an environment, didn't even
notice.
"What is it? What's wrong?" She asked gently, when they came to a stop beside
a corner.
He glared back at her, his violet eyes flashing angrily in the darkness. "The
bloody walls and ceiling are doing the salsa and you expect me to not wonder
if I'm tripping?"
She smothered her laugh quickly, for she could hear the scratching footsteps
of youma near. "It's just Teikai, Duo. Ignore it." Duo remained silent until
the sentries had passed.
"Yeah. Sure." He rolled his eyes as she darted around the corner, her hand
around his arm. He was about to follow but her exclamation stopped him as her
hand let go of his quickly and abruptly.
"U-usagi!" Duo froze, still out of sight. The voice was presumably male, and
terrified.
Usagi was surprised but covered it well. Her only thought was that Genso could
not see Duo. "Ah, Genso. The man of the hour. Just the person I wanted to see.
How's your afterlife been? Want to go visit all those people in Tartarus that
I'm sure you got acquainted with during your time there?"
Duo realized that if he closed his eyes, he could see the man though Usagi's
eyes. Tall, and handsome. But there was something in the depths of the man's
eyes he did not like. Duo decided he needed to be dead, at that moment.
Shinigami felt something that needed to die in that man's aura.
Even though his instincts demanded he appear and kill the unknown demon known as
Genso, Duo stayed put. He felt that Usagi would not be pleased if he interrupted
now.
He was right. Usagi was busy trying to remember if this was the corridor that
opened into Hell or if it was the next, all while slowly lifting up her shields
so that Genso didn't notice. Genso was too busy trying to keep talking he
couldn't have noticed it anyway. but she wasn't ready to take any chances. Genso
might do something desperate, and that was the last thing she wanted.
"Usagi, dear, now you don't want to do anything drastic to your old friend, do
you?" Her eyes narrowed.
"Coward. Just as before, you plead for your life. Remember what you taught me?
The more they plead the more they suffer. Why should I make an exception for
you?" Her anger was rising, and the thoughts of Duo leaving to make room. Genso
knew this, and he could actually feel the heat in the air. He took a step back,
his mind racing to find any way out of this.
"You've already killed me once. Why do it again?"
She smirked. "Because this time I make it so you never come back."
It was her eyes. Her eyes, her broken, child's eyes, her eyes that had so many
levels and depths and right then he knew them all. He could see the hidden baby,
sobbing and alone, in a room, covered in her own blood.
He could see the little girl, proud and afraid, trying to keep her chin up and
the tears away while she was kicked, over and over and over, in the ribs.
It was the preteen, biting through her lip, savoring the taste of blood in her
mouth because anything was better than thinking about the man raping her.
And there she was, at all, ages, at new stages of pain and violation. And
beneath it all was a single strand of strength that scared him. It terrified him
like he was a little baby. It was something hideous and unbreakable, something
so hot and blazing that it burned to look at it.
He was so scared.
That one, long look into her bottomless eyes broke the last strands of dignity
and pride that held him together and he collapsed to his knees, moaning
something in his native Italian, sobbing it out, pleading for the soul he no
longer had.
Duo listened. He knew enough of the pretty language to get the gist, and the
more the man confessed, thinking in some perverted way that Usagi was the Virgin
Mary, the more Duo controlled his urge to vomit with increasing difficulty. What
kind of monster would do these things, things that shocked him after all he'd
seen and been through... what kind of god would create this monster...
Usagi listened for a moment with cold, unnerving eyes. She cut him off with a
narrowing of her lips. "Give me your gun." It took Duo a moment to realize she
spoke to him. Wordlessly he tossed her the semi-auto. There was no way a gun was
going to kill this one. But she didn't seem to be concerned with that. Her
attention was solely on the man who was now so scared he couldn't even force
himself to form the words to plead for his life anymore.
"You don't deserve the honor of a magical death. You don't deserve to die at my
hands." She stated coldly, aiming expertly at his head. The gun began to glow
slightly. "But it's the only way I can keep you dead. The moon's mistress curses
you."
One bullet. One bang. That's all it was. It was almost unfitting, definitely
anti-climatical, and yet completely right.
"You're right." Dup said, stepping around the corner to survey the damage.
The gun clattered to the stonework of the floor and Usagi turned and fled into
his arms. He hugged her tightly.
"You were right in this." He whispered to her soothingly. "He didn't deserve any
better."
Usagi looked at the crumpled body, dark blood running in rivulets in the cracks
of the stone. He nodded, but she cried anyway. She let Duo lead her out of the c
astle, not caring how he knew the way, and to the waiting senshi.
Tomorrow, she would be herself again.
A hundred years later, people would look up at the beautiful crystal palace on
Earth and think of their quiet, elegant queen and her guardians, both senshi and
the seemingly mortal men, rumored to once have been soldier in the great war of
the Alliance, and they would not imagine that once the peace was in danger, and
this woman, fearsome and beautiful, had saved them all more than once.
But she had. And while perhaps in the minds of mortal men it was forgotten, as
some things are, all who lived the palace never forgot, and neither did the gods
or time.
Sometimes, the reflections of a single soul are enough to fill a lake of memory.
~-~
*peeks out from behind her computer screen, looking baffled* Am I done? Is this
done? I don't believe it... is it really? This just might be a first...
*waves to her readers* Well, I don't know what to say, really. This just might be
one of the few... okay, four fics I've finished. *wide eyes* I don't believe it.
I just don't...
Anyway, go read Changed Destiny! And then wait for the sequel! Read Lover's Last
Breath! Read my other fics, please! Go to ASMR and read my stuff there! (Black
Rose and Black Beyond and Cosmic! Under no exception read the stuff I wrote as
Lita Juno. When I say it sucks I'm not kidding!)
Yeah, I'm done with the plugging. And to everyone who reviewed, I love you guys!
Even though I'm a bit ticked I only got FOUR REVIEWS on chapt 17. Okay, I'm
really ticked. Anywho...
Love you all anyway. Adeiu. Parting is breif and sweet and oh so sad....