Chapter 28: The next battle
Hey, I didn't have any homework, so here's a new chapter a little early this week! First of all, thanks to the people who reviewed and told me that Trowa's Gundam was Heavy Arms. Really appreciate it... Anyway, here's the chapter!
"So we just go out and take care of any mobile suits we see?" Duo asked doubtfully.
"Yes. We won't be using any, but make sure you don't hit your friends." Mercury looked away from him towards the wall, which, on this side, was a bright crimson red. "There will be youmas out there as well..."
"But feel free to step on them if you want. And those crystal ships are open targets too." Venus finished, flashing an evil grin.
"But your main goal is taking out their mobile suits." Pluto brushed her hair back. "The youmas and ships we can deal with. The mobile suits we would have difficulty with. And, before I forget, here are some com-pills. Swallow them, and you'll be able to keep in touch with any of us." She tossed each of the boys a tiny pill, each of them swallowed without complaint. "Now let's go. We want to keep the battle a bit further from the palace this time. No reason putting the shield under unneeded pressure." Pluto stared towards the shield.
The Scouts nodded to Queen Serenity and followed. The boys gave swift, polite nods and climbed into their respective Gundams.
It started sooner than expected. Pluto spotted Relena standing cockily on a roof. When they stopped to see what she was up to, swarms of youmas poured out from the abandoned buildings. There was a few seconds of worry as the boys got a good look at their first youma.
"What the hell is that!!!?" Duo yelled.
"That's a youma!" Neptune yelled.
"They aren't the most attractive of creatures..." Trowa commented.
"Keep your mind on the mission." Heero said shortly.
Sure enough, a slow, but massive surge of black painted mobile suits jumped nimbly and moved from behind the buildings. Heero pulled his beam cannon up and the battle began.
Venus P.O.V.
"Shit!!!!!" She yelled as she narrowly dodged a falling building brought down by a blast from Heero. "Watch it up there!" She yelled, but got no response.
A group of youmas approached her but got dusted easily by a swift crescent beam. "These guys just keep coming..." Just then, a mass of earth flew up in front of her. Venus looked up to see Death Scythe standing over her. She waved and blew apart a few ships training in on Duo. She could almost see him smirk as he trudged off, slashing black mobile suits apart.
Venus sighed and off-handedly put a beam through a small wave of youmas. A cluster of ships overhead burst apart and Venus waved to Mars standing atop a roof, apparently also getting bored with the lack of challenge. Venus turned and blew apart a group of approaching youmas. Sighing again, she leapt up on a balcony overhead and bounded from there, to the roof. Extending her hand towards the ground below, Venus pulled in energy. She smiled mischievously as the power drew together in her hand. (Should have done this sooner.) The building shook treacherously as she released the energy ball. It sped towards the ground and collided with the shocked youmas. (Takes care of that bunch.)
She turned around and saw the Nataku Gundam slam a mobile suit into the ground on top of several others. She waved cheerfully but got nothing in the way of a response. (These guys sure do take battle seriously... Even when it's as easy as this...) Hurrying to the other edge of the roof, Venus smiled to see Rini following her example and pulling energy and pitching it from above. (Well, looks like everyone is catching on.) Venus looked around and saw Mars, Uranus, and Mercury doing the same.
A presence suddenly made itself known behind Venus. She whipped around, energy ready. But nothing was there. Tossing a few energy balls into the air told her nothing was there. Frowning, she put her hand on her hip. (Was it my imagination?) Duo's voice suddenly rang in her head. "Venus, behind you!"
This time, she released the energy as soon as she turned and gasped as she saw what it connected with. Dozens of little, black, furry balls, no bigger than basketball, scattered away from her blast. But they spun around, glared their little glowing eyes at her, and redoubled their attack. They gathered in a black, fuzzy cloud and dove at her. Venus dodged it, kneeling to the ground and fired a scatter beam at their backs. Once again, they broke away from the blast, but this time, went around it and caught Venus in her shock and surrounded her.
Inside the cloud, the little balls blocked out all light. They began pressing in on her and Venus shrieked as she felt the air get thinner. Everywhere the fuzzy things glared at her, as if waiting for her to die. Venus tried to stretch out and call power but the creatures pushed so hard and their eyes, the only feature in the sphere of darkness, seemed to blur and run together. (No...) Venus thought as she slipped down into the darkness.
Jupiter's P.O.V.
Jupiter had found Relena easy enough. Once again the energy balls appeared in Relena's hands and Jupiter had to move even faster than the day before to dodge them.
As if she could read Jupiter's thought, Relena taunted her. "What's the matter? Am I too fast for you? You may have been quick to snatch Heero, but I guess you're just not quick enough for me." She cackled as an orb missed Jupiter's head by mere inches.
The pause was all Jupiter needed. Pulling energy, she threw enough at Relena to put her off for a few seconds. Enough time to pull a proper attack. Sure enough, the thunder clap hit Relena in mid-laugh and brought her to her knees. "You bitch!" She shrieked as she clasped her hands to her left hip. "You'll pay for that!"
"You wish!" Jupiter yelled in reply as the thunder bolt came hurling down at the rooftop. Relena dodged away seconds before the bolt hit and Jupiter silently cursed.
"Was that the best you got?!" Relena laughed hysterically. "Even when I'm wounded, you still aren't fast enough!"
"You can't run forever!" Jupiter yelled as another bolt flew down. Once again, it missed by a few precious seconds.
"Oh, but I can..." Relena hissed practically in Jupiter's ear. Jupiter whipped around, but Relena dashed just out of her reach. "I can run forever, but you can't pull energy like that forever. I just have to-"
A piercing shriek pulled Jupiter's attention away from Relena. (Venus...) Jupiter prepared to leap off the roof and find wherever Venus was, but Relena caught her from behind. "Not so fast..." Relena mocked as she wrapped her arms around Jupiter's waist and pulled her back down to the ground.
They hit the pavement with a sharp thump. Jupiter knew better than to check if Relena had gotten hurt by the fall. She whipped around to face her, but...nothing. The street was suddenly abandoned.
Pluto's voice spoke in her ear. "They've retreated. Pretty elaborate, vanishing all at once, but its good news for us. They'll be recovering for a bit after this. Let's get back to the palace." Jupiter nodded to the air in front of her. She suddenly smiled at what might have made them retreat so fast. (They probably pulled some trick on Venus, freaked her out, and she blew half of their forces to bits.) Jupiter nodded again. (There were a lot less youmas around...)
Jupiter stepped easily through the blue section of the wall and looked around. Everyone was already there. Jupiter frowned. "Where's Venus?"
Duo stood up and looked behind Jupiter. "We thought she was with you."
Jupiter looked back. "No..." She spoke into the communication piece. "Venus... Oh Venus... Where are you..." Jupiter frowned as there was no response. "I don't like this."
"Hey," Rini stepped forward. "That scream, was it from Venus?"
"Yes. I was."
The group almost physically took a step back. Duo swallowed audibly. "I saw what happened." Every eye in the clearing snapped to him. "I was taking out those mobile suits, right? And I see this little black cloud behind Venus, so I yell out 'Watch out!' and she turns around and blasts the little things, but I turned away, I thought she could handle it..." He growled at himself and looked away.
"Don't start massing self-loathing just yet, Duo." Mars said promptly. "This cloud, what did it look like?"
Duo shrugged. "I was too far up to make out details. Just that they had little eyes and they were just little black balls." He shrugged again and looked down.
"Lemures." The Scouts said in unison.
"Lemures?" Wufei looked at Mars questioningly.
"Lemures are bits of darkness pulled together into an entity. They have no mind but it takes a strong power to control them." Mercury explained. "The last time we fought them, they wee only used to knock out common people to make a clean battle. The more complex the task, or the more power it takes, the stronger the power required to control them."
Laytha collapsed in the grass. "Great. So we're up against a power that deceives us by putting a few armies worth of youmas on the field, but has enough power to control enough lemures to..." She trailed off.
"No." Heero stood up. "Venus may be...perky and not very focused, but if her power is anything like Jupiter's or the rest of yours', it's not logical for the enemy to pick off a single target. Especially during a battle."
"He's right." Trowa added. "It would be easier for them if they took one of you when they had the advantage. On of you could have easily gone to help her."
"I don' think they killed her." Zechs said shortly. "You talk as if it requires vast amounts of power to control a lemure. Wouldn't that power be better spent on one who is a bit more important?"
Rini glared at him. "What's that supposed to mean?!"
Neptune hushed her. "Wait, he has a point. Why didn't they go after Pluto or Jupiter? If they had the power to kill Pluto, we would have been cut off from the past, they probably know where you boys come from; and Relena seems hell-bent on killing Jupiter, so why didn't they save her the trouble and take out Jupiter?"
"The onna has a point." Wufei snorted. "The enemy wants Venus for a purpose other than to kill her."
"But what..." Duo sighed.
"I'll get to the lab and see if I can trace her. They probably brought her back to the crystal, but we don't know for sure." Mercury headed off for the doors.
"There is nothing more we can do until Mercury finds out where she is. Heero, you boys should get to working on any repairs you need." Jupiter said quickly, masking her anxiety. (Venus, I hope you are alright...) She thought as she rounded the palace and stepped up to the doors.
Venus P.O.V.
Venus awoke to find herself in her own bed. She started to sit up but a hand pushed her gently back down. "You need to rest." Duo's voice drifted to Venus.
"Duo! Was the battle a dream?"
Duo smiled his usual laughing smirk. "What battle? Did you have a dream? Was I in it..." His voice drifted further away.
Venus reached up for him but ran into a wall. Her room darkened to a pitch black and the wall in front of her slowly grew fur and glaring eyes turned to laugh at her...
Venus bolted up and felt her vision restoring. She wasn't in her room, but somewhere else. Its walls were high and gray. There were no windows, not even any furniture, save the wide double bed she was sitting on. Venus looked down and tugged the covers up around her. (Where are my clothes?!) She was wearing nothing except for her yellow bra and panties. A soft chuckle came from the other side of the room.
"The body of a goddess... Hmmm, that makes sense... You are, technically a goddess." Venus scooted around, pulling the white sheets with her and stared at the dark figure in the doorway. He move forward into the light and sighed softly.
The man had dark blue hair, so dark it looked black, and matching eyes. His suit was the same color, with small blue crystals adorning the front. "Who, who are you?" Venus asked unsteadily.
"I? I am your future mate. I am Sapphire, brother of Lord Diamond and perhaps the luckiest man on this god-forsaken planet." He laughed bluntly.
Venus pulled herself together. "Why am I here?"
"Because I brought you here. Well, not me specifically. My dear brother commanded the lemures to bring you to me. Diamond is so kind..." Sapphire crossed the room slowly towards Venus and she scooted away from him. She got to the end of the bed and fell off with a dull thud. "My sweet angel...such passion..." He laughed softly.
"Okaaaay... It's been fun, but I should really be going..." Venus stood slowly and pulled the sheets closer around her.
"Oh, I can't allow that. You must remain here. Don't worry, though. You won't be alone. I shall...accompany you from time to time." He smiled evilly and hitched at his dark blue trousers.
Venus took an unconscious step back and ran into the wall. (This is not happening. This is not happening. This is not happening...)
"Oh, but this is happening dear one." Sapphire stepped around the bed and up to Venus. She backed further into the wall and slid away into the corner. "Why do you run? Do you not want to be near me?"
Venus laughed nervously. "Sorry I'm kind of seeing someone."
Sapphire lost his smile for a moment. "Seeing someone?" He regained his smirk. "It matters not to me. Now on to happier thoughts..." He seemed to transport across the room to Venus. At that moment, Venus hit him with the power she had been slowly pulling together while he was immersed in conversation. Sapphire let out a cry as he hit the opposite wall and fell to the floor. Venus scrambled to her feet and looked carefully at Sapphire. He didn't move, save fro his now heavy breathing.
Hesitating a moment, Venus looked at the open door and dashed through it. Once outside, she looked up and down the empty, dark hall, and tied the sheet around her chest and folded it up and tied it around her waist as well. Glancing once back into the room, she crept down the hall.
(Okay, let's find the exit. Where would it be?) A clicking noise echoed down the hall. Venus flattened against the wall and lowered her breathing. Possibilities flashed through her head. (Is it a bomb clock? A laser targeting in?) Sucking in her breath, she waited. Something caught the corner of her eye. Venus flattened further into the wall. But she didn't need to. The clicking was merely the heels of Relena's boots on the floor, and she was so immersed in her own thoughts to notice Venus.
As she passed down the hall, Venus let out her breath. (Geez, that was seriously close. Well, Relena, I hope you just came from the exit...) Venus slipped around the corner and started down, turning every few seconds to make sure Relena hadn't returned or Sapphire hadn't woken up yet. (I hit him pretty hard, he should stay out for a while.) She smiled at the memory. More footsteps ahead made Venus duck into an empty room. She peeked through the door crack and saw a distinguished man in a white suit with matching white hair walk by, followed silently by three or four youmas.
Venus swallowed. (He must be the guy in charge.) Then, remembering the lemures, (Or at least one of the guys in charge.) She slipped out of the room and continued on her way. She heard no more footsteps, but she was dismayed to find that the hall did not lead to the exit, as she hoped.
Instead it led to a large room, easily as large as the lab back in the palace. But the room did not catch Venus's attention, it was what was in the room that surprised her. On the other side of a railing, hung, supported by a black marble column, was an immense, black crystal. It looked very similar to the black ships, but seemed to have more points on it. Venus shivered. (It feels so cold... That thing reeks of darkness...) Footsteps behind her caused Venus to leap to the wall and slide around a nearby corner.
The same man in white she had seen earlier walked up to the crystal. His voice echoed off the far walls. "Yes my dark crystal. You will soon have more energy to store away for us. But here, here is the little beauty that makes it all possible..." From inside his coat pocket, he pulled a small device. From her vintage point behind the corner, Venus saw the small mechanism. It looked like a computer chip, but the dark energy invested into it was obvious to even Venus, who stood at least ten feet away.
The man in white opened his arms and closed his black eyes. A tile in front of him elevated from the floor and separated into four pieces. The man placed the chip in between them and they reformed together and slid down into the floor. Black-purple energy flowed up the column and into the crystal. It began to pulse its energy and Venus shivered again.
"Yes, my sweet crystal, gather your energy back. We will need it for tomorrow..." His voice drifted off, and he turned to leave the room. He cast a final, almost mocking look back at it and left. Venus took a step out and scuttled back behind the corner as footsteps returned. It was the man yet again. "Almost forgot my snack for you..." He smiled coyly and tossed a small ball of energy up into the crystal.
Smiling again, he turned to leave. But another pair of footfalls were echoing towards the room. The man frowned. Sapphire practically burst through the doors and bowed his head before the man in white. "What is it, brother?" He asked.
"My...Venus has escaped my grasp." Sapphire confessed apologetically.
The man in white shook his head. "Sapphire, you know she must have found the way out by now."
"Yes, I know. Diamond, I merely wished to inform you." Sapphire looked away.
Diamond smiled. "Yes, but you understand that unless it is advantageous to us that we capture her, we cannot spend valuable energy on her again."
"I know, brother. Speaking of energy, how is the Dark Crystal doing?"
Diamond turned and looked up at it. "She is fine. I had to take the chip away for more energy this morning. Even when she is powerless, the crystal holds its beauty."
Sapphire looked away painfully. "Speak not of beauty..."
Diamond laughed gently. "Do not pine for the girl. When we conquer this city, perhaps we will spare her and after that, you may do with her what you like."
Sapphire's devious smile was apparent to Venus clear across the room. "Thank you, brother..."
"Come now. We must sleep. This morning's exercises have taxed us." Diamond put his arm around Sapphire and led him away.
Venus waited until their footsteps were completely faded away before stepping out from behind the corner. "So the crystal needs the chip to have energy..." Venus smiled and walked cautiously up to the tile. Holding her hands out in front of her, she called up some energy and cast it down through her hands. Nothing happened. (Great. You need dark energy to activate it.) Venus frowned and padded silently on her bare feet from the room.
Venus walked for what seemed like ages and narrowly dodged many encounters by flitting into spare rooms at the last moment. During the careful tour, Venus discovered many youma barracks, most of which were empty, a few high class rooms, probably reserved for more of Diamond's family and lackeys, and also a massive portal set in the center of a room. The portal was easily big enough to fit one of the Gundams at full height. (I guess we know where they are getting their mobile suits from.)
But after all the slim escapes and new discoveries, Venus found the exit. It was a tall, narrow door set on a slightly sloping wall. Pushing it gently open, Venus was more than relieved to see the tall abandoned buildings of Crystal Tokyo.
Venus was a little unhappy to have to walk all the way across the city, but just seeing the palace was enough to set her running towards it. Once inside the palace, she yelled at the top of her voice, "HEY! ANYBODY HOME!" That got the whole group down to the front hall.
"Venus!"
"You're back!"
"Are you alright?!"
"What happened to your clothes?"
Venus stemmed the flow of questions with a wave of her hand. "I'll answer everything, as soon as I get to sit down somewhere." Everyone smiled and led her to the library, the nearest open room. Duo took Venus's hand and she stopped short of the doors. The others saw the signal and moved slowly away to give them some privacy.
Duo turned and looked at Venus. "I...missed you."
Venus smiled softly. "I missed you too."
Duo's eyes softened and he pulled her into a tight embrace. The world around them seemed to melt away and they were left standing in nothingness. "Are you okay?" Was all he could manage.
"I'm alright. You?"
"Perfect, now that you're here..."
Afterwards, Venus explained everything to the Scouts, boys and Serenity. The crystal, the mobile suit portal, everything. Except for Sapphire. There was no reason for them to know about his problems. (That is probably best left on a need-to-know basis.)
That night, after everyone had settled down and Mercury had set off to compact the residual darkness on Venus into a ball concentrated enough to open the tile, Pluto and Zechs were left alone in the dark library.
"What is it?" Pluto looked at Zechs, concerned at his silence.
"What if that had been you?" He asked. Pluto looked at him strangely. "What if you had been taken off by the lemures? What if you had not been able to escape? I just..." He trailed off and looked into the darkness of the library.
Pluto walked over to him and put her arms around his waist. He started at the sudden contact, but did not pull away. Pluto leaned her head against his firm chest. "But it wasn't me."
Zechs circled his arms around her shoulders. "But it could have, and I would have been helpless. There would have been nothing I could have done."
Pluto leaned her cheek against his. "We have a saying, 'Don't worry about what might have been, only what might be.' It's good advice. We know now they have lemures and next time, they won't catch us by surprise. And as soon as Mercury gets the energy compacted enough, we'll come up with a plan to get that chip so they won't be able to use the lemures, anyway."
"Hmmm. Yes. It is good advice." Zechs whispered as he turned his head slightly and brushed his lips against her face. "Very good advice."
"Promise you'll stop thinking about it?"
"Promise."
Awww... Isn't that so nice? So, how was this chapter? I told you it would be long. Did you like the lemures? I took them out of one of the Sailor Moon comics, I'm not sure if they were in the cartoon or not. Anyway, review me 'kay? Bye!
Hey, I didn't have any homework, so here's a new chapter a little early this week! First of all, thanks to the people who reviewed and told me that Trowa's Gundam was Heavy Arms. Really appreciate it... Anyway, here's the chapter!
"So we just go out and take care of any mobile suits we see?" Duo asked doubtfully.
"Yes. We won't be using any, but make sure you don't hit your friends." Mercury looked away from him towards the wall, which, on this side, was a bright crimson red. "There will be youmas out there as well..."
"But feel free to step on them if you want. And those crystal ships are open targets too." Venus finished, flashing an evil grin.
"But your main goal is taking out their mobile suits." Pluto brushed her hair back. "The youmas and ships we can deal with. The mobile suits we would have difficulty with. And, before I forget, here are some com-pills. Swallow them, and you'll be able to keep in touch with any of us." She tossed each of the boys a tiny pill, each of them swallowed without complaint. "Now let's go. We want to keep the battle a bit further from the palace this time. No reason putting the shield under unneeded pressure." Pluto stared towards the shield.
The Scouts nodded to Queen Serenity and followed. The boys gave swift, polite nods and climbed into their respective Gundams.
It started sooner than expected. Pluto spotted Relena standing cockily on a roof. When they stopped to see what she was up to, swarms of youmas poured out from the abandoned buildings. There was a few seconds of worry as the boys got a good look at their first youma.
"What the hell is that!!!?" Duo yelled.
"That's a youma!" Neptune yelled.
"They aren't the most attractive of creatures..." Trowa commented.
"Keep your mind on the mission." Heero said shortly.
Sure enough, a slow, but massive surge of black painted mobile suits jumped nimbly and moved from behind the buildings. Heero pulled his beam cannon up and the battle began.
Venus P.O.V.
"Shit!!!!!" She yelled as she narrowly dodged a falling building brought down by a blast from Heero. "Watch it up there!" She yelled, but got no response.
A group of youmas approached her but got dusted easily by a swift crescent beam. "These guys just keep coming..." Just then, a mass of earth flew up in front of her. Venus looked up to see Death Scythe standing over her. She waved and blew apart a few ships training in on Duo. She could almost see him smirk as he trudged off, slashing black mobile suits apart.
Venus sighed and off-handedly put a beam through a small wave of youmas. A cluster of ships overhead burst apart and Venus waved to Mars standing atop a roof, apparently also getting bored with the lack of challenge. Venus turned and blew apart a group of approaching youmas. Sighing again, she leapt up on a balcony overhead and bounded from there, to the roof. Extending her hand towards the ground below, Venus pulled in energy. She smiled mischievously as the power drew together in her hand. (Should have done this sooner.) The building shook treacherously as she released the energy ball. It sped towards the ground and collided with the shocked youmas. (Takes care of that bunch.)
She turned around and saw the Nataku Gundam slam a mobile suit into the ground on top of several others. She waved cheerfully but got nothing in the way of a response. (These guys sure do take battle seriously... Even when it's as easy as this...) Hurrying to the other edge of the roof, Venus smiled to see Rini following her example and pulling energy and pitching it from above. (Well, looks like everyone is catching on.) Venus looked around and saw Mars, Uranus, and Mercury doing the same.
A presence suddenly made itself known behind Venus. She whipped around, energy ready. But nothing was there. Tossing a few energy balls into the air told her nothing was there. Frowning, she put her hand on her hip. (Was it my imagination?) Duo's voice suddenly rang in her head. "Venus, behind you!"
This time, she released the energy as soon as she turned and gasped as she saw what it connected with. Dozens of little, black, furry balls, no bigger than basketball, scattered away from her blast. But they spun around, glared their little glowing eyes at her, and redoubled their attack. They gathered in a black, fuzzy cloud and dove at her. Venus dodged it, kneeling to the ground and fired a scatter beam at their backs. Once again, they broke away from the blast, but this time, went around it and caught Venus in her shock and surrounded her.
Inside the cloud, the little balls blocked out all light. They began pressing in on her and Venus shrieked as she felt the air get thinner. Everywhere the fuzzy things glared at her, as if waiting for her to die. Venus tried to stretch out and call power but the creatures pushed so hard and their eyes, the only feature in the sphere of darkness, seemed to blur and run together. (No...) Venus thought as she slipped down into the darkness.
Jupiter's P.O.V.
Jupiter had found Relena easy enough. Once again the energy balls appeared in Relena's hands and Jupiter had to move even faster than the day before to dodge them.
As if she could read Jupiter's thought, Relena taunted her. "What's the matter? Am I too fast for you? You may have been quick to snatch Heero, but I guess you're just not quick enough for me." She cackled as an orb missed Jupiter's head by mere inches.
The pause was all Jupiter needed. Pulling energy, she threw enough at Relena to put her off for a few seconds. Enough time to pull a proper attack. Sure enough, the thunder clap hit Relena in mid-laugh and brought her to her knees. "You bitch!" She shrieked as she clasped her hands to her left hip. "You'll pay for that!"
"You wish!" Jupiter yelled in reply as the thunder bolt came hurling down at the rooftop. Relena dodged away seconds before the bolt hit and Jupiter silently cursed.
"Was that the best you got?!" Relena laughed hysterically. "Even when I'm wounded, you still aren't fast enough!"
"You can't run forever!" Jupiter yelled as another bolt flew down. Once again, it missed by a few precious seconds.
"Oh, but I can..." Relena hissed practically in Jupiter's ear. Jupiter whipped around, but Relena dashed just out of her reach. "I can run forever, but you can't pull energy like that forever. I just have to-"
A piercing shriek pulled Jupiter's attention away from Relena. (Venus...) Jupiter prepared to leap off the roof and find wherever Venus was, but Relena caught her from behind. "Not so fast..." Relena mocked as she wrapped her arms around Jupiter's waist and pulled her back down to the ground.
They hit the pavement with a sharp thump. Jupiter knew better than to check if Relena had gotten hurt by the fall. She whipped around to face her, but...nothing. The street was suddenly abandoned.
Pluto's voice spoke in her ear. "They've retreated. Pretty elaborate, vanishing all at once, but its good news for us. They'll be recovering for a bit after this. Let's get back to the palace." Jupiter nodded to the air in front of her. She suddenly smiled at what might have made them retreat so fast. (They probably pulled some trick on Venus, freaked her out, and she blew half of their forces to bits.) Jupiter nodded again. (There were a lot less youmas around...)
Jupiter stepped easily through the blue section of the wall and looked around. Everyone was already there. Jupiter frowned. "Where's Venus?"
Duo stood up and looked behind Jupiter. "We thought she was with you."
Jupiter looked back. "No..." She spoke into the communication piece. "Venus... Oh Venus... Where are you..." Jupiter frowned as there was no response. "I don't like this."
"Hey," Rini stepped forward. "That scream, was it from Venus?"
"Yes. I was."
The group almost physically took a step back. Duo swallowed audibly. "I saw what happened." Every eye in the clearing snapped to him. "I was taking out those mobile suits, right? And I see this little black cloud behind Venus, so I yell out 'Watch out!' and she turns around and blasts the little things, but I turned away, I thought she could handle it..." He growled at himself and looked away.
"Don't start massing self-loathing just yet, Duo." Mars said promptly. "This cloud, what did it look like?"
Duo shrugged. "I was too far up to make out details. Just that they had little eyes and they were just little black balls." He shrugged again and looked down.
"Lemures." The Scouts said in unison.
"Lemures?" Wufei looked at Mars questioningly.
"Lemures are bits of darkness pulled together into an entity. They have no mind but it takes a strong power to control them." Mercury explained. "The last time we fought them, they wee only used to knock out common people to make a clean battle. The more complex the task, or the more power it takes, the stronger the power required to control them."
Laytha collapsed in the grass. "Great. So we're up against a power that deceives us by putting a few armies worth of youmas on the field, but has enough power to control enough lemures to..." She trailed off.
"No." Heero stood up. "Venus may be...perky and not very focused, but if her power is anything like Jupiter's or the rest of yours', it's not logical for the enemy to pick off a single target. Especially during a battle."
"He's right." Trowa added. "It would be easier for them if they took one of you when they had the advantage. On of you could have easily gone to help her."
"I don' think they killed her." Zechs said shortly. "You talk as if it requires vast amounts of power to control a lemure. Wouldn't that power be better spent on one who is a bit more important?"
Rini glared at him. "What's that supposed to mean?!"
Neptune hushed her. "Wait, he has a point. Why didn't they go after Pluto or Jupiter? If they had the power to kill Pluto, we would have been cut off from the past, they probably know where you boys come from; and Relena seems hell-bent on killing Jupiter, so why didn't they save her the trouble and take out Jupiter?"
"The onna has a point." Wufei snorted. "The enemy wants Venus for a purpose other than to kill her."
"But what..." Duo sighed.
"I'll get to the lab and see if I can trace her. They probably brought her back to the crystal, but we don't know for sure." Mercury headed off for the doors.
"There is nothing more we can do until Mercury finds out where she is. Heero, you boys should get to working on any repairs you need." Jupiter said quickly, masking her anxiety. (Venus, I hope you are alright...) She thought as she rounded the palace and stepped up to the doors.
Venus P.O.V.
Venus awoke to find herself in her own bed. She started to sit up but a hand pushed her gently back down. "You need to rest." Duo's voice drifted to Venus.
"Duo! Was the battle a dream?"
Duo smiled his usual laughing smirk. "What battle? Did you have a dream? Was I in it..." His voice drifted further away.
Venus reached up for him but ran into a wall. Her room darkened to a pitch black and the wall in front of her slowly grew fur and glaring eyes turned to laugh at her...
Venus bolted up and felt her vision restoring. She wasn't in her room, but somewhere else. Its walls were high and gray. There were no windows, not even any furniture, save the wide double bed she was sitting on. Venus looked down and tugged the covers up around her. (Where are my clothes?!) She was wearing nothing except for her yellow bra and panties. A soft chuckle came from the other side of the room.
"The body of a goddess... Hmmm, that makes sense... You are, technically a goddess." Venus scooted around, pulling the white sheets with her and stared at the dark figure in the doorway. He move forward into the light and sighed softly.
The man had dark blue hair, so dark it looked black, and matching eyes. His suit was the same color, with small blue crystals adorning the front. "Who, who are you?" Venus asked unsteadily.
"I? I am your future mate. I am Sapphire, brother of Lord Diamond and perhaps the luckiest man on this god-forsaken planet." He laughed bluntly.
Venus pulled herself together. "Why am I here?"
"Because I brought you here. Well, not me specifically. My dear brother commanded the lemures to bring you to me. Diamond is so kind..." Sapphire crossed the room slowly towards Venus and she scooted away from him. She got to the end of the bed and fell off with a dull thud. "My sweet angel...such passion..." He laughed softly.
"Okaaaay... It's been fun, but I should really be going..." Venus stood slowly and pulled the sheets closer around her.
"Oh, I can't allow that. You must remain here. Don't worry, though. You won't be alone. I shall...accompany you from time to time." He smiled evilly and hitched at his dark blue trousers.
Venus took an unconscious step back and ran into the wall. (This is not happening. This is not happening. This is not happening...)
"Oh, but this is happening dear one." Sapphire stepped around the bed and up to Venus. She backed further into the wall and slid away into the corner. "Why do you run? Do you not want to be near me?"
Venus laughed nervously. "Sorry I'm kind of seeing someone."
Sapphire lost his smile for a moment. "Seeing someone?" He regained his smirk. "It matters not to me. Now on to happier thoughts..." He seemed to transport across the room to Venus. At that moment, Venus hit him with the power she had been slowly pulling together while he was immersed in conversation. Sapphire let out a cry as he hit the opposite wall and fell to the floor. Venus scrambled to her feet and looked carefully at Sapphire. He didn't move, save fro his now heavy breathing.
Hesitating a moment, Venus looked at the open door and dashed through it. Once outside, she looked up and down the empty, dark hall, and tied the sheet around her chest and folded it up and tied it around her waist as well. Glancing once back into the room, she crept down the hall.
(Okay, let's find the exit. Where would it be?) A clicking noise echoed down the hall. Venus flattened against the wall and lowered her breathing. Possibilities flashed through her head. (Is it a bomb clock? A laser targeting in?) Sucking in her breath, she waited. Something caught the corner of her eye. Venus flattened further into the wall. But she didn't need to. The clicking was merely the heels of Relena's boots on the floor, and she was so immersed in her own thoughts to notice Venus.
As she passed down the hall, Venus let out her breath. (Geez, that was seriously close. Well, Relena, I hope you just came from the exit...) Venus slipped around the corner and started down, turning every few seconds to make sure Relena hadn't returned or Sapphire hadn't woken up yet. (I hit him pretty hard, he should stay out for a while.) She smiled at the memory. More footsteps ahead made Venus duck into an empty room. She peeked through the door crack and saw a distinguished man in a white suit with matching white hair walk by, followed silently by three or four youmas.
Venus swallowed. (He must be the guy in charge.) Then, remembering the lemures, (Or at least one of the guys in charge.) She slipped out of the room and continued on her way. She heard no more footsteps, but she was dismayed to find that the hall did not lead to the exit, as she hoped.
Instead it led to a large room, easily as large as the lab back in the palace. But the room did not catch Venus's attention, it was what was in the room that surprised her. On the other side of a railing, hung, supported by a black marble column, was an immense, black crystal. It looked very similar to the black ships, but seemed to have more points on it. Venus shivered. (It feels so cold... That thing reeks of darkness...) Footsteps behind her caused Venus to leap to the wall and slide around a nearby corner.
The same man in white she had seen earlier walked up to the crystal. His voice echoed off the far walls. "Yes my dark crystal. You will soon have more energy to store away for us. But here, here is the little beauty that makes it all possible..." From inside his coat pocket, he pulled a small device. From her vintage point behind the corner, Venus saw the small mechanism. It looked like a computer chip, but the dark energy invested into it was obvious to even Venus, who stood at least ten feet away.
The man in white opened his arms and closed his black eyes. A tile in front of him elevated from the floor and separated into four pieces. The man placed the chip in between them and they reformed together and slid down into the floor. Black-purple energy flowed up the column and into the crystal. It began to pulse its energy and Venus shivered again.
"Yes, my sweet crystal, gather your energy back. We will need it for tomorrow..." His voice drifted off, and he turned to leave the room. He cast a final, almost mocking look back at it and left. Venus took a step out and scuttled back behind the corner as footsteps returned. It was the man yet again. "Almost forgot my snack for you..." He smiled coyly and tossed a small ball of energy up into the crystal.
Smiling again, he turned to leave. But another pair of footfalls were echoing towards the room. The man frowned. Sapphire practically burst through the doors and bowed his head before the man in white. "What is it, brother?" He asked.
"My...Venus has escaped my grasp." Sapphire confessed apologetically.
The man in white shook his head. "Sapphire, you know she must have found the way out by now."
"Yes, I know. Diamond, I merely wished to inform you." Sapphire looked away.
Diamond smiled. "Yes, but you understand that unless it is advantageous to us that we capture her, we cannot spend valuable energy on her again."
"I know, brother. Speaking of energy, how is the Dark Crystal doing?"
Diamond turned and looked up at it. "She is fine. I had to take the chip away for more energy this morning. Even when she is powerless, the crystal holds its beauty."
Sapphire looked away painfully. "Speak not of beauty..."
Diamond laughed gently. "Do not pine for the girl. When we conquer this city, perhaps we will spare her and after that, you may do with her what you like."
Sapphire's devious smile was apparent to Venus clear across the room. "Thank you, brother..."
"Come now. We must sleep. This morning's exercises have taxed us." Diamond put his arm around Sapphire and led him away.
Venus waited until their footsteps were completely faded away before stepping out from behind the corner. "So the crystal needs the chip to have energy..." Venus smiled and walked cautiously up to the tile. Holding her hands out in front of her, she called up some energy and cast it down through her hands. Nothing happened. (Great. You need dark energy to activate it.) Venus frowned and padded silently on her bare feet from the room.
Venus walked for what seemed like ages and narrowly dodged many encounters by flitting into spare rooms at the last moment. During the careful tour, Venus discovered many youma barracks, most of which were empty, a few high class rooms, probably reserved for more of Diamond's family and lackeys, and also a massive portal set in the center of a room. The portal was easily big enough to fit one of the Gundams at full height. (I guess we know where they are getting their mobile suits from.)
But after all the slim escapes and new discoveries, Venus found the exit. It was a tall, narrow door set on a slightly sloping wall. Pushing it gently open, Venus was more than relieved to see the tall abandoned buildings of Crystal Tokyo.
Venus was a little unhappy to have to walk all the way across the city, but just seeing the palace was enough to set her running towards it. Once inside the palace, she yelled at the top of her voice, "HEY! ANYBODY HOME!" That got the whole group down to the front hall.
"Venus!"
"You're back!"
"Are you alright?!"
"What happened to your clothes?"
Venus stemmed the flow of questions with a wave of her hand. "I'll answer everything, as soon as I get to sit down somewhere." Everyone smiled and led her to the library, the nearest open room. Duo took Venus's hand and she stopped short of the doors. The others saw the signal and moved slowly away to give them some privacy.
Duo turned and looked at Venus. "I...missed you."
Venus smiled softly. "I missed you too."
Duo's eyes softened and he pulled her into a tight embrace. The world around them seemed to melt away and they were left standing in nothingness. "Are you okay?" Was all he could manage.
"I'm alright. You?"
"Perfect, now that you're here..."
Afterwards, Venus explained everything to the Scouts, boys and Serenity. The crystal, the mobile suit portal, everything. Except for Sapphire. There was no reason for them to know about his problems. (That is probably best left on a need-to-know basis.)
That night, after everyone had settled down and Mercury had set off to compact the residual darkness on Venus into a ball concentrated enough to open the tile, Pluto and Zechs were left alone in the dark library.
"What is it?" Pluto looked at Zechs, concerned at his silence.
"What if that had been you?" He asked. Pluto looked at him strangely. "What if you had been taken off by the lemures? What if you had not been able to escape? I just..." He trailed off and looked into the darkness of the library.
Pluto walked over to him and put her arms around his waist. He started at the sudden contact, but did not pull away. Pluto leaned her head against his firm chest. "But it wasn't me."
Zechs circled his arms around her shoulders. "But it could have, and I would have been helpless. There would have been nothing I could have done."
Pluto leaned her cheek against his. "We have a saying, 'Don't worry about what might have been, only what might be.' It's good advice. We know now they have lemures and next time, they won't catch us by surprise. And as soon as Mercury gets the energy compacted enough, we'll come up with a plan to get that chip so they won't be able to use the lemures, anyway."
"Hmmm. Yes. It is good advice." Zechs whispered as he turned his head slightly and brushed his lips against her face. "Very good advice."
"Promise you'll stop thinking about it?"
"Promise."
Awww... Isn't that so nice? So, how was this chapter? I told you it would be long. Did you like the lemures? I took them out of one of the Sailor Moon comics, I'm not sure if they were in the cartoon or not. Anyway, review me 'kay? Bye!