A Note to the Readers: All contents in this story is under an artistic license. Fact and
fiction will be clomped together into one huge blob. In other words, don't bother me
about debating whether some conversations in this fanfic is truly based on fact... as
Naoko Takeuchi has done many times. Truth, after all, is an elusive thing! ^_~. Enjoy!
When All the Good Angels Sleep
******************************
.blue.
blueweber@hotmail.com
"No te engano la primavera "Did spring never deceive you
con besos que no florecieron?" with kisses that didn't blossom?"
--Pablo Neruda
("The Book Of Questions")
"And I looked, and behold a pale horse:
and his name that sat on him was Death."
--Bible: New Testament
(Revelation 6:8)
The Eighth Sheep Named Judgment
-------------------------------
"Lo! thy dread empire, Chaos! is restor'd;
Light dies before thy uncreating word:
Thy hand, great Anarch! lets the curtain fall;
And universal darkness buries all."
--Alexander Pope
("The Dunciad")
"Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;"
--W. B. Yeats
("The Second Coming")
"I could never truly foresee the future as
your mother had put it so bluntly those
years ago when she first learned the meaning
of despair and destiny. I did not tell her
then, that sometimes disaster rested on chance
as does paradise. It would not have been
welcoming news to her at the time, instead
I said nothing until she calmed herself down.
But now, now I can see that as much as you are
like that silver-haired woman sitting on her
immortal throne, never having feared death
until the end -- and only so for her daughter
and the millions of dead dreams of the lost
System. Now, I can see the difference. And
for once, my Queen, I am sorry for what I have
done, and what I have to do now to correct my
earlier mistakes. It was an error in my
judgment to push it thus and I will admit,
with regret, that I was the one who had created
the enemy before the time was right, before you
were ready. So, now I have condemned you to
this world of duty that I have been trapped
in for more years than can be counted. Now, I
regret that one with a heart like yours must bear
a similar burden, and worse, I must add to that
burden now, one I had never wished any other to
experience. But I am only human, and though
immortal, I too make mistakes. Yet, I owe it to
you to tell you the half-truth, that I am what I
am, and though I, too, get lonely sometimes, I
will sacrifice everything for that dream of a
perfect future. I am selfish in this sense for
I will not lie, but I will tell you now, that
even so, I will do everything in my power
to allow you to fulfill that role that you have
set for yourself. That my Queen, is one promise
I had made to your mother for you before she died,
before the final end of the Kingdom of the Moon,
when all but Earth were destroyed in the end. I
do not break my promises. So I will make one to you
now, Princess Serenity, Neo-Queen of Crystal Tokyo,
the same promise I made to your mother. That the
city in my dreams will come true, and it shall
flourish, and I will take you home."
--Sailor Senshi Pluto
("Letters To The Queen")
There was no answer. The beast she had momentarily forgotten continued to advance
towards her, ready to swallow her light, her lover, and the angels that surrounded her.
Angels? No, they were friends. Friends. So strange a word. A word that had once meant
many things. Friends...
The fear grew until she could no longer ignore it. She could not contain the light
any longer. The light that she tried to hold onto and keep within, so that it would not
lash out and rip itself from her body. Something else was there as well, something that
was once fundamentally apart of her heart and soul that she had forgotten, that she might
have lost along the way...
Thump.
Innocence.
Thump, thump.
Where does innocence go when it dies?
Thump.
Does it go to Heaven too?
* * *
The outside world had not been so lucky as Japan had been in the last few months.
The fires raged through the once prominent cities as decaying bodies lay on the sides
of the roads, and the ashes of the dead clouded the sky and polluted the air. That was
what had awaited them when they stepped out of Japan. It was then that they realized the
true dangers that lay outside their little continent and a constant reminder of the one
thing that not even they were willing to admit.
The world was dying.
Having to face that reality of it all was harder than any of them had thought. It
was especially hard on Tomoe Hotaru, or so Sailor Neptune thought. Her eyes searched the
grounds below as Sailor Uranus piloted the air craft. The raven-haired young girl in the
back seat was quiet, she had been for some time now. Usually, Hotaru rode with Sailor
Pluto, but the other had insisted that she stay with Neptune and Uranus today while they
go over their surroundings. Bandits were everywhere now, all of them dying, and this
seemed more than likely to be a hot spot for them.
Pluto was up to something though. Neptune couldn't pin-point exactly what the other
had planned but something was definitely up. Their dark-haired friend and fellow senshi
in arms was hiding from them again. What the secret was, Neptune was unsure of, since in
the case of Pluto one could never be too certain of what she knew and did not speak of.
But the woman was too calm about the whole situation, as if there was a hidden ace up her
sleeve that she had not produced, and Neptune had a feeling that the other had faked that
look of surprise at the mirror's revelations those weeks ago.
The mirror had wanted them to go, had wanted them to find someone and it unsettled
her how easily Pluto detached herself from her duties. People don't do things like that
if they are unprepared and especially not Setsuna, not when she's Sailor Pluto -- if she
ever stopped being a senshi that is.
"Neptune," the aqua-haired soldier was startled by the name coming from familiar
lips, lips that used to call her Michiru-mama. She had not heard that soft voice speak so
for a very long time, not since that day when the girl had pointed her glaive in the face
of Sailor Moon, vowing that this was her fight and that she should end it. And she did,
taking with her a galaxy. Yet Tomoe Hotaru was saved, with the soul of Sailor Saturn
slumbering within her, along with a chance for happiness and normality.
Neptune saw, as she turned, the slight twitch of an eye-brow from Uranus.
Apparently her companion had also noticed the tone of voice and the underlying command
beneath the soft call. That made Neptune nervous and on her guard, only this time it felt
slightly wrong after having thought of Hotaru as her daughter over the last few years.
But this was not their Hotaru-hime anymore, instead this was Saturn. "Hai, Saturn?"
"May I see your mirror please?" Saturn inquired politely.
Neptune looked to the girl with the face of her daughter and knew not why she was
sad. She had a duty. "Why?"
Saturn turned from Neptune to Uranus. "I am curious." Neptune knew the other would
go no farther in explaning her motives.
"Give it to her," Uranus said at last, breaking the silent indecision that had
fallen in the helicopter.
The look Neptune gave her companion was loud and clear, *Do you think it's wise?*
Uranus only shrugged, "We are playing against fate here, Neptune. Either way,
things will happen."
Reluctantly Neptune looked down at her lap before closing her eyes and when she
opened them once more, a mirror lay within her hands. The nymph that curved around the
rim of the glass peered up at the aqua-haired soldier, almost questioningly. "I hope you
find whatever it is your looking for." Neptune finally said. She looked away from her
own troubled reflection as she handed it to the girl who she had once called daughter, who
had once returned the sentiment and called her mother, but the other was no more than a
stranger now.
There was stillness in the air, an anticipation for whatever it is that may come.
Saturn finally lifted her eyes from the mirror and glanced outside. "Pluto will be
returning soon," her voice seemed empty and hollow now in Neptune's ears.
Whatever Saturn saw she kept it to herself.
"Till then we patrol," Uranus agreed at last when hearing no protests from her
partner.
I hope to Kami-sama that Pluto finds whatever it is she's looking for by then,
Neptune thought. Her fingers tightening into a fist, not realizing the dead look Saturn
was giving to the melting mirror in white-gloved hands as Neptune's talisman disappeared
once more at its mistress' calling.
Whatever it is, I hope she can stop Saturn from something horrible...
Something terribly horrible.
* * *
He lit a cigarette as he blew the smoke into the thin, windy air. Next to him, a
shorter man with jet-black hair and a balding head stood looking over the city. "What has
happened to our proud country?" The man beside him asked in horror and despair.
Fujimia Doko smiled darkly at this and took another puff before grinding the burning
cigarette into the rail. "It's the epidemic, Mister Prime Minister." Doko replied coolly
and calmly. "It gets to the mind," he turned and looked at the other who shifted to meet
his gaze with surprise, "It gets to the heart." Doko could not hide his glee as his eyes
sparkled beneath the sun and his smile widened.
"Fujimia-san, you are acting very unprofessional today." The Prime Minister told
him coldly and took a step back from him, "Have you no shame?"
Fujimia laughed at this, "What did you expect, Mister Prime Minister? Did you
really think that the Sailor Senshi could fight this?" Perhaps there was pride in his
voice, but Fujimia didn't care, his time was coming.
The Prime Minister narrowed his eyes at Doko's incredulous tone, "You of all people
would believe such rubbish?"
"Rubbish?" Doko smirked as he ran one hand through his hair. The agents near them
were getting agitated, but Doko did not feel the least bit uncomfortable, in fact, he
savored the others' discomforts. "The secret to this little riddle, my dear Prime
Minister, is not who has the disease but who has the cure!"
The shorter man looked shocked before he quickly schooled his features. "You can't
be serious--"
"Ah, my dear friend, not only are the Sailor Senshi more than just an urban legend,
they have something that could save this city, if not all of Japan!"
The Prime Minister looked at him skeptically, "How do you know this?"
I planted the virus, "From a very reliable source." Was all Doko said.
"If these Sailor Senshi had the cure, why didn't they come out with it?" The Prime
Minister finally asked after a long period of silence whilst the other studied Doko
carefully.
"It's in their blood," Doko answered and then smiled ever so cynically at his own
words.
It's in their blood, indeed!
* * *
The power had blossomed.
The moment Kuragari Fuma heard those words uttered in union by the powerful women
behind him, the power levels went berserk within his field. And as the ebony wires fell
back like an black lotus opening its petals into the sun, the light unfurled and swept
across them and their enemies purifying all. The ground shook as the powers extended
outwards as the youma burned within the brightness of that power. White washed over them,
destructive in its purity, and yet it did not harm him or any of the others that were not
youma. He did not feel the effect of this blinding power, but from the looks of awe that
came across both the face of Tuxedo Kamen and the strange man who had so recently showed
up, not to mention his own sensor readings, it must have been amazing to be washed with
such light and such power.
He looked over at the new comer again, his system finding the other's profile
quickly, effectively. "Name: Kagemi Hiketsu, age: 22. Synopsis: Kagemi finished school
early and was a gifted child. Runs the family shrine and is the head of the family
business, taking the place of his older brother Kagemi Kaidou, who left to pursue other
dreams. The Kagemi family is infamous for its power in both the religious and political
arena. Rumor has it that they are cursed with--"
"You are not human." Somewhere he heard Minako -- Sailor Venus -- gasp in surprise
at the statement uttered by the man whose secrets he was digging up. He looked into those
eyes of harsh blue and saw a dark power coursing within the blood of Kagemi Hiketsu, a
hidden power.
This one's dangerous, Fuma noted before a smirk of amusement came upon his lips.
"Bravo, Kagemi Hiketsu, you out-strip your brother's talents just as the rumors
predicted." Fuma bowed extravagantly.
At the mention of his brother's name, Hiketsu tensed and glared at the "man" in front
of him, "What rumors?" He grounded out.
Fuma smile widened, having found a sore spot. "Oh, this and that."
"You're not human?" Sailor Venus interrupted suddenly, blonde hair obstructed his
view as another pair of confused blue eyes, lighter in color, glared up into his own.
"What is Hiketsu-san talking about?" The blonde warrior demanded.
Fuma grinned sheepishly down at her, unsure how to appease her anger, stammering to
come up with an excuse. "Well, you see... Minako-chan... I mean..."
"This better be good!" Venus warned him.
Fuma blinked, not even sure why he was so flustered. What has he to care about? He
will eventually outlive her, he will eventually leave her, and there is nothing here but an
investigation to look after Mizuno Ami as a personal favor. All business, and that is how
it will always be with him. He should have nothing to do with the female species, not
after his own death anyway.
Since he is dead.
It was true in every sense of the word except for the fact that people can see him,
think they can touch, and imagine that his touch is real. It was about time he end this
pretense, but he definitely owed her no explanations. "You wouldn't understand," he
finally said.
And those lambent blue eyes widened before she smiled up at him in such a sad way
that he realized that he didn't understand her anymore than she did him. "Oh?" She asked
as she turned to her friends and they backed away from the two of them. Some seemed
worried, others suspicious, but all curious to what the blond-haired Hiketsu had meant when
he accused Fuma of not being human, of not being real. "That's what I thought once, too."
She looked back at him and her eyes shimmered slightly as she touched his face, "Maybe I
can if you tell me."
Kuragari Fuma, for once, in a very long time, was at a loss for what to say. So, he
did the only thing he knew how, he reached out to her and grasped her hand, and then he
showed it all to her in a floodgate of forgotten memories. Memories that he had wished he
would never have to remember again, memories he could never forget.
All of this was for her.
* * *
"Little rivalries," she said. Twirling one elegant finger in dark ringlets that
curled around her pale face, the woman smiled coldly out to her audience. Blue eyes
unblinking as the other hand lazily tapped against the armrest of her metallic throne as
she waited to see the other's reaction. "But you cannot move me, Pluto, the only reason I
have complied with your requests so far was because of the deal we made so long ago."
Sailor Pluto stood unwavering before her in her white senshi uniform. "I am asking a
favor this time, Lady Charolet. Or should I call you Alyssa Smith?"
The dark-haired woman smiled at this, amused. "You of all people should understand
that a name is but a title, to instill fear and authority. Nothing more. Everything shall
change with time, Time Guardian."
Narrowing her rouge eyes, Pluto tightened her grip on her time staff. One of the few
individuals who could unsettle her was now one whose cooperation she needed. This woman
who once she had crossed path with and who is more like an enemy than a friend. "Yes, and
I had hoped you had changed with time as well."
The woman now named Alyssa Smith narrowed her eyes at the Guardian of Time and Space,
her blue eyes suddenly burning with the flames of hatred. "Give me back my son!" And even
though Alyssa's eyes and words were filled with passion her face remained cold and
emotionless. "Give me back what you have taken long ago, and I shall reconsider your
situation. Otherwise, get out of my sight, I have no desire to see you till you agree to
give me back what is mine."
"Our situation," Pluto corrected. "Whatever happens here includes you as well."
Alyssa only smirked at this, "You think I care about the destruction of this place?"
"More than this place, the whole universe would be in danger." Pluto warned,
slightly agitated at Alyssa's lack of concern.
Alyssa's cold smile did not leave her face at this, "All the same to me. I have yet
to find a place that has welcomed me with open arms. Exiled, I have been rejected and
used, but no more. No more, and especially not by the likes of you, Sailor Senshi Pluto!
You, who have taken all that were important to me, and not just my son! You who have
filled my brother's mind with foolish dreams of good and evil, you who have stood in the
way of my survival and allowed the slaughtering of my people! All of this you have done in
the name of your dreams and your righteousness."
Pluto narrowed her eyes at this, "You are so selfish!"
At this, Alyssa laughed. "And you are not?"
"It is for the good of the world, always." Pluto replied defensively and immediately
regretted saying so.
Alyssa's smile turned lazy, "Give me back my son and I shall reconsider, but no
promises Pluto. This is your fight, not mine, and you have wronged me more than once. I
will not allow you to do so again." Alyssa rose from her throne, "Never again, my worthy
adversary, for I have grown stronger since the last we met. I was weak then, recovering
from the loss of those that I had held dear and you had used it well, and now, it seems the
role's reversed." Alyssa tilted her head, "So how does it feel, Time Guardian?" Alyssa
studied the other carefully as Pluto fought to keep her emotions from surfacing under the
alien female's intense stare. "How does it feel to know you are going to lose something
precious to you? How does it feel to lose hope of the future to come, to know that you
have no control? That you are helpless?"
"Why don't you tell me, Lady Charolet?" Pluto finally replied after a long pause.
The slap took Pluto by surprise, sending her sprawling to the ground. She crashed
onto the metal floor as she landed harshly on her hip and shoulder, sending pain to spread
throughout her body. "Leave immediately," the cold voice of Alyssa rang through the empty
room. "Leave and you will live to fight your battles. You have crossed the line with me
today Pluto and wherever it is you have hid my son, I will find him. It may take another
century; it may take the destruction of this world to discover him again, but no more of
you and your manipulations. I will do nothing for a woman who took him and my brother away
from me. I know now that you will never return either one of them to me for as long as I
am useful. I will not be your little pawn anymore, Guardian Pluto, not for you or anyone
like you, and certainly, not for this planet!" Alyssa turned sharply away from the dark-
haired senshi who rose slowly from the floor as the other walked away, "You disgust me.
Leave or die."
Pluto covered her cheek with one gloved hand, not bothering to wipe away the thin
trail of blood that ran down to her chin. She knew that her hip was bruised from the fall
and her shoulder felt sore from taking so much force when she landed so roughly. "Then you
shall never find him," Pluto whispered with her eyes on the cold, cold ground, and at that,
Alyssa paused.
"So be it," the woman said casually. "Either way, without my help your planet dies.
You, my dear Pluto, no longer hold the trump card in this game." With that Alyssa left the
other in the cold and empty hall.
* * *
Her hand was the only thing real in the dreams of his past.
"Fuma?" Her whisper held all of her fears and fascinations as the world around them
disappeared. The ground beneath them changed from cement to dirt and the day turned to
night. Blackness surrounded them, "Where are we?"
Kuragari Fuma turned and it was then that Venus heard the sound of voices. "My
past," he told her. His hand left her own and the warmth she had felt closed around her
fingers, disappeared. "When I was more than a hologram, when I was alive." He turned to
her then and looked her in the eye, "I am but an illusion now, Minako."
Venus frowned at this, confused, she was sure she felt him before. "But you are real
to me," she said at last and she reached out, her fingers pressing against the fabric of
his shirt. To her, at this moment, he felt real. No, not just a simple illusion, at
least, not to her.
Violet-grey eyes widened before softening around the edges, "Oh?"
A gun shot ran through the stillness and her eyes snapped from his to see a man
looking exactly like Fuma falling, and soon the air smelled like burnt gun-powder, a smoky
smell. She stood shocked at the blood pooling the dark earth beneath her feet, her noise
filled with that strange and metallic smell of steel mixed with blood, his blood.
Somewhere, someone was crying and she saw joined hands and dying, whispered breaths
that filled the cold night with wisps of fog. "Who would have thought that the one
assignment I screwed up on would be my last," Fuma's bemused voice startled her. His
amusement at his own death made her suddenly feel sick to her stomach.
"Da-dame," she whispered. Please, make it stop. Venus closed her tear filled eyes
but could not shut out the menacing laughter or that smell of death. Behind her close lids
she could still see the blood and his body, she could still see the joined hands and the
woman's tears as she lay dying next to him.
Fuma frowned at her pained expression and silence fell between them. His voice broke
through her defenses then, a gentle and deep voice. "It was the night I died and I was
happy." Venus opened her eyes in surprise, "She was an assignment that I wanted to be my
last and when I lay there, dying next to her, she whispered my heart's desires in those
final moments. I couldn't see her face and I knew someone betrayed us both, but it didn't
matter then because I was with her and she was giving me the world. It was something I
never had before, this thing she called love, this little something that you are named
after." Venus turned to him with that same surprise etched on her face, her mouth slightly
open in shock. Blue-eyes cleared as she blinked back the tears that slipped down her
cheeks and clung to her lashes, "I thought if I was to die, this would be the night, this
would be how I wanted it to end. I couldn't see her, couldn't thank her and tell her how I
felt but I was happy... Genuinely happy to die," Venus looked over surprised to see a
shadow come from the darkness and pick up the body of Fuma. Surprised as she watched the
hands that once were held loosely together break apart as Fuma was lifted from the ground.
"But heaven rejected me, as did Death. She said she was waiting for me on the other side
and I wanted to follow, but I could not because fate would not let me. So I was put into
limbo, perhaps as punishment for my sins."
Fuma-of-the-past lay before her on a white, pristine bed with wires and tubes stuck
into his body. The beeping of the machine and the shining, white room was all that filled
her senses than. "I hate hospitals," she whispered with distaste as the smell of medicine
and squeaky cleanliness wafted to her nose.
He laughed then his head tilted to one side as he watched his own body hanging
between life and death, "I was going to be a vegetable forever, but that didn't satisfy
them."
"Them?" she asked, studying him from the corner of her eyes.
"I never found out who they were, just that they saved me or cursed me, however you
may look at it." She nodded slowly, absorbing the information thrown at her with as much
grace as she could muster. "One day I woke up, only my new body could walk through walls
and I lost my reflection forever." Fuma looked down at his hands with a bitterness she had
never seen him express in his carefree smiles or silly jokes, and she was surprised to
witness something so personal to him. Why is he showing me this? She wondered, slightly
bewildered. Yet the confusion left her eyes as around them, everything disappeared and she
stood facing him again, in that passage of nothingness and everything.
"The first day I met you, I thought you were a very cute amerikajin." She said with
a smile on her face.
Fuma lifted his gaze to meet hers. He faced her with a smile though his eyes
betrayed him, "What do you think now, Minako?" His voice remained the same, and Venus
wondered why she had the most eccentric tastes when it came to men.
The curve around her smile softened as she reached out her hand to touch his cheek,
"You're real to me," she told him kindly, her blue eyes warm under the piercing white
light.
More real than any man I've ever known, more real than flesh, she added silently.
His smile was genuine this time, lighting up his eyes. In that moment she was sure, more
sure of this than anything else in her life that he was more than an illusion.
It made her happy, this realization, it made her genuinely happy for the first time
in a long, long time.
* * *
It was an awakening.
Somewhere, something came loose within him and a calling whispered into his mind.
*Brother, awaken. Awaken and return to me.*
"Brother?" he whispered uncertainly, as his hand covered his right eye, feeling it
throb.
*Brother.*
He rose and an image appeared within his mind, a man lying face down in the gutters.
Ashes covered him and fire burned behind him.
"Kalic..." he gasped.
*This man who helped Sailor Senshi Pluto is now dead. This man who kept you hidden
from me, and used you while he locked you away, is now dead. Are you angry? You are,
aren't you? But how long do you think that will last when you discover the truth?*
He narrowed his eyes, this presence felt familiar.
So very familiar...
"Alyssa Smith!" He growled low in his throat, "It's you!"
And laughter resonated itself within his head, *Alyssa Smith is but a name, brother.
CORE 26085, awaken! Awaken onto the call of the original. Awaken and remember the truth.
Awaken to your destiny!*
His scream pierced the air and when his hand fell back to reveal his eye, it glowed
red instead of its once blue depth and the circuits erupted onto the surface as the past
emerged from the darkness locked within his mind.
CORE 26085 surfaced into the world once more.
* * *
They had stood out in the open for much longer than what Rei would have considered
"comfortable" - safe - and the dark-haired priestess expressed her displeasure on many
levels, from her dissatisfied frowns to verbal complaints. Makoto remained silent through
the whole ordeal, not a smile on her lips since she detransformed and Ami noted how
unusually somber the group was. As they watched Venus and Fuma stare into each other's
eyes, as if lost in their own world, Ami flipped open her mini-computer to scan their
surroundings, it was a habit she had picked up from her earlier days as Sailor Mercury,
that and it gave her something to do. A lazy look came over her face as her computer
happily beeped away while gathering information. Once in awhile, she would sneak a look at
the contentment on both the faces of Usagi and Mamoru, holding each other intimately while
they stood a little apart from the group, waiting for whatever it was that Fuma was doing.
It had surprised them all when Hiketsu first claimed that Fuma was not human but all
suspicions of him being the enemy was dispelled when Rei reassured them that she wasn't
feeling anything inherently evil about the man either. If Fuma was actually a man, Ami
corrected herself. Still, even if they did not want to face the fact that Fuma only might
be good, the look on Venus' face when she found out and Fuma's own pained expression
assuaged whatever protests might have been made. Usagi, herself, had been adamant about
leaving the two alone to figure out how to solve their own problem before the rest of them
could jump in to help. "I think this is more of a lover's quarrel than anything else,
anyway," Rei had huffed in agreement. If Ami didn't know better, she had the feeling that
Rei and Minako had talked about something similar to this earlier, else she would doubt the
raven-haired priestess would be so calm about the matter.
It was quiet, other than Rei's rantings that is, but Ami was thankful for once.
Apparently, the dark-haired girl was the only one willing to put some effort into
pretending that nothing had changed, that everything was normal and under control. But Ami
had been analyzing their enemies' strategies during the battle and she knew it had not been
like their usual battles. The way that everyone acted was so much more... colder than
usual.
Ami shuddered slightly, chilled by a feeling of foreboding that came upon her so
quickly she had trouble identifying it before it passed. Her gaze fell upon the last
member of their strange group, Kagemi Hiketsu, who held a gentle, restraining hand on Rei's
shoulders. He was obviously keeping the young woman from going too far in her acting
"normal". Any moment now the dark-haired priestess will be looking over at Usagi for help
in the matter of cheering everyone up, that is if the odango-blonde would realize that Rei
wasn't really serious in her teasings.
The blue-haired girl idly scanned everyone to make sure no one was seriously injured,
not that she didn't care, but their last attack was a long ranged and powerful one. It had
awashed the city with purifying magick in a one-mile radius sweep, creating a three-
dimensional spherical shell of power in all directions. It had drained them, yes, but
there shouldn't be any more immediate dangers any time soon.
Tapping idly at her computer keys, she observed that there was an energy flux between
Venus and Fuma. Whatever those two were experiencing, it was not something that Ami had
ever picked up before. This did pique her interest somewhat, and she made a mental note to
inquire both about it later. Not that Ami wanted to know the personal details on what the
two were doing -- though she was sure Minako would gush about it later -- but she wanted to
know what it was that Fuma created. What was this "show" that he was putting on for Minako
anyway?
Now that she thought about it, Rei had a point to be worried. Out of all of them,
Minako was the only one still in her senshi fuku and that could and would attract
attention. Ami blinked, was it just her or was this part of the city strangely empty?
True, they had done a powerful attack but none of the humans should have been injured by
it, they had been aiming only at the youma's aura signature, after all. Her head swerved
around, searching and finding nothing. They were supposed to be doing their broadcast
about their true identities today anyway, so why weren't there any reporters coming onto
the scene? Their attack should have attracted some attention by now, that much she was
sure about. Not only that, one would think that people would be coming out of their homes
to investigate what had happened, or at the very least a few bystanders waking from the
side of the streets. It always happened like that if Ami remembered correctly, and having
Minako in her fuku in broad daylight would have done the trick for all of them if their
attack had not.
"What is it, Rei-chan?" Makoto's concerned voice startled Ami from her musings as
she glanced over at her friends with a slightly uneasy feeling at the pit of her stomach.
Oh Kami-sama, don't tell me it isn't over yet! Our power level is still too low for any
actual magick combat beyond what we put out already and what we put out was more than our
usual attacks combined during our battles, except those where Usagi was forced to use the
crystal as the Princess! These thoughts of slight panic almost clouded Ami's cool and
logical composure for a moment, but she quelled those fears, refusing to let her emotions
get in the way of her duties.
I am a Sailor Senshi after all, Ami thought wearily. It's not like we can ask the
bad guys to make appointments so that it would fit into our schedules. Oh, but if only
they did! Life would be so much easier to deal with then.
Rei looked slightly dazed to Ami's alarm, nearly collapsing onto the ground had
Hiketsu not held onto her in his arms while he looked down worriedly at the miko. "Can you
feel that, Hiketsu?" Ami noted the slight breathlessness in Rei's voice, saw the other's
breathing was more rapid than what should be considered normal and immediately began to
scan the dark-haired woman with her computer.
"Aa," Hiketsu agreed softly. "The spirits are restless and polluted with darkness."
The enigmatic answer left Makoto standing with her head tilted in confusion.
Whatever the hostilities that still lay between Hiketsu and the brunette were momentarily
forgotten, "What's going on?" Makoto asked with a small frown marring her complexion.
"What do you feel, Mamoru-kun?" Ami glanced up from her scan, surprised. She had
not noticed that the dark-haired man and his girlfriend had joined them. Usagi looked
perplexed to see Rei suddenly so weak, and surprise came across her face at the dark-haired
woman's question to Mamoru.
Mamoru looked grim, not at all startled by the question, "The Earth is bleeding, and
the people are in chaos." He answered, his mouth thinning into a line of irritation.
"What is going on here?" Makoto demanded, feeling left out of the whole discussion.
Ami was a bit confused herself, though she had been pondering along the same lines
earlier. It would be nice if the answers were more than the puzzling words those three
before her were expressing. "Mou!" Usagi huffed, "What would I do for a television right
now! It would be more informative than all three of you put together!"
The tension broke as Rei giggled at Usagi's irked face and even Makoto relaxed enough
to crack a smile, "Odango-atama," the teasing tone of Rei was not missed as the dark-haired
girl straightened in Hiketsu's embrace, pulling slightly away from him so that she could
stand on her own. Ami noticed that he still held her slightly, refusing to let go and
wondered what their relationship was like at the moment.
It was just then that both Venus and Fuma blinked back into reality, interrupting
whatever explanations that might have followed. The blonde wasn't about to let her
presence go unnoticed as she spoke up cheerfully, "So, what have we missed?"
Rei's expression was serious once more as she turned to her comrade, "I'm not quite
certain but there seems to be a very strong force pulsing throughout the city and it isn't
pretty. It seems to be filled with malice only it's not from any youma that I've sensed
before."
"It's the people of this city that seem to be giving off this energy," Hiketsu filled
in grimly.
"No," Mamoru sighed, "It's the people of Earth... no, no, I mean Earth itself. I
don't think you'll find any living thing untouched by this."
"But Mamo-chan," Usagi's blue-eyes were filled with confusion, "Everything looks
normal here."
"Baka atama, of course it does!" Rei sniffed haughtily, "We just purified the
place!"
Ami nodded thoughtfully at the information given, "That explains why no one else has
come looking yet. Everyone who is contaminated can't come into the field we've created and
once we get out we'll be facing some serious problems."
Makoto swore under her breath, "We can't stay here forever but how are we supposed to
fight when our energy level is so low? We'll be reduced to close, hand-to-hand combat and
that is dangerous with the virus going around."
Ami nodded again, "Mako-chan's right, we can't stay here forever. The magick residue
will eventually fade and we will be forced to fight the darkness sooner or later. The
longer we stay in the field the stronger we'll be but that may go for the evil we're facing
too. Not only that, our magick attacks would be weak, to the point in which we might be
forced to actual, close-ranged, hand-to-hand combat like Mako-chan had said before."
"So we're stuck, huh?" Minako asked having detransformed anyway. Whatever passed
between her and Fuma the two certainly looked cozy now. Ami raised a brow at Fuma's arm
around Minako's shoulder.
"I guess we've made up," Usagi teased slyly.
Minako giggled and waved her hand in front of her face as if she was even blushing,
"You could say that," the other replied with equal slyness.
Makoto looked amused from one to the other while Rei blushed red for both of her
friends. "Have you two no dignity whatsoever?" the raven-haired priestess hissed.
"You're one to talk," Minako huffed, "getting cozy with Hiketsu-san are we?" The
blonde winked at Rei suggestively.
If it was possible Rei turned into an even deeper shade of red as she jumped out of
Hiketsu's embrace, but those dark-purple eyes were flashing with indignant anger. "Ba-
baka!" Rei stammered.
Usagi foolishly mistaken her friend's anger for embarrassment and joined in the
teasing, "Rei-chan's in love!" The odango-blonde stressed the last word with a sparkle in
her eyes. "Oh Hiketsu-san, aishiteru!" Usagi clasped hands with Minako.
Hiketsu raised a brow of amusement at this, though there was a slight tinge of pink
of his cheek at the silly display. However, it could not match the angry red that colored
Rei's face. "Odango-atama!" This time there was no teasing light in her eyes, instead
vengeance was written all over the miko's face.
Soon the two blondes found a looming and raging Rei chasing after them, while Usagi
wailed in protest the whole way. "Minako-chan started it!"
"Hey!" Minako protested, "I didn't ask you to join!"
"You guys are dead!" Rei's voice rang out over the empty streets, snapping the rest
of the group from their stunned stupor.
"How did we...?" Makoto trailed off as she watched the blonde-dual followed by an
angry Rei promising to do them bodily harm once she caught up with them, run by the
brunette. Fuma and Hiketsu watched with amused surprise while Mamoru sighed in
exasperation as he ran frustrated fingers through dark, midnight hair.
Ami frowned at the comical display, her smile disappearing when her focus snapped
back onto track. They needed to be serious about this situation and though she understood
why the three were trying to lighten the mood, this was not helping them get anywhere. It
wouldn't solve any problems if they continued like this! Her computer beeped at her,
startling her from her thoughts and her eyes fell away from the distracting trio that were
running in circles around the group. Her body froze and her eyes widened at the computer
in her hand. The three screaming girls passed by her just then, causing Makoto's wondering
gaze to fall onto the bowed head of the blue-haired woman, "Are you alright, Ami-chan?"
The brunette inquired worriedly at her friend's still form.
The entire commotion stopped as Minako, Usagi, and Rei froze in their positions and
all eyes turned to Ami. But Ami did not hear Makoto's question or notice the sudden
silence, she did not feel Makoto's gentle touch on her shoulders or her friends calling her
name. All she saw was the neat kanji that had scrolled across her screen when she had been
distracted. The message was left for her to discover, the message that was left by him,
whispered promises into her mind while making her thoughts cloud and her vision to become
momentarily unfocused.
"Core," the gasp of surprise left her lips before silence once again fell over the
group.
His message was clear before her eyes and she didn't know whether to be excited or
terrified at this discovery. "I am coming, Sailor Senshi Mercury -- cure to humanity".
"CORE 26085?" Minako questioned, her blue eyes wide with curiosity as she looked
over Ami's shoulder.
Usagi observed her blue-haired friend whose clear, intelligent eyes were now hidden
behind the shadows of her bangs, *The core knows,* Ami's voice came back into her mind as
the odango-blonde blinked at the sudden flash of memory. Her eyes widened as she corrected
herself, *The Core knows,* Usagi thought. Core was a person that Ami knew, a person her
friend had never mentioned to them before. Confused at the secrecy, blue eyes looked to
Ami questioningly, but Makoto's back suddenly came into view before Usagi as the brunette
shook Ami harshly.
"Ami-chan," there was desperation in Makoto's voice now, desperation and concern.
"Ami-chan, wake up!" Azure eyes snapped up from the mini-computer screen, a dazed-look
still lingering in their depths. "Are you alright?" Makoto asked in a hoarse whisper,
relieved and worried all at once.
"Who's this Core?" Minako asked slyly from over Ami's shoulder.
Rei ignored the blonde after slapping Minako over the head, "Are you alright, Ami-
chan?" the miko asked over Minako's protests.
"Y-yes," raising one shaky hand to push back her bangs, Ami faced the others with as
much calmness as she could muster.
"Who's Core?" Usagi asked, her voice was soft but Ami heard the command in that tone
of voice.
She closed the mini-computer with a click, the information leaking out of her lips
before she could control herself. "A friend from the web who helps me with my researches
on the enemy."
"He knows your Sailor Mercury?" Rei asked surprised from the blue-haired woman's
other shoulder.
Makoto widened her eyes in surprise at this for she was the only one other than Usagi
and the men who had not seen the message. Usagi didn't look fazed by this, she had
suspected the moment the memory of that day in the hospital had returned to her. "He
figured it out," Ami's voice was casual but the blankness on her face betrayed her better
than anything else she could have expressed.
Azure eyes were locked onto crystal-blue ones, and Ami could not look away from that
stare that drew out more truth from her than she was willing to reveal. It was not because
she did not trust her friends for Ami loved them all dearly, but it was her nature to stay
somewhat detached, waiting patiently for the perfect moment to allow her knowledge to come
into use. It was the first time she had no control over what knowledge she would
distribute, instead every idea that came with Core fell from her lips. It unsettled her
but she did not show that either, "What do you know about him, Ami-chan?"
Usagi's voice became more friendly as the tension steadily rose but still Ami could
not find the will to look away. "I know nothing," she answered truthfully.
"Nothing?" Minako asked surprised, "And you trusted him with knowing that you were
Sailor Mercury?"
"If you haven't heard, Minako-baka, she didn't have much choice in the matter." Rei
replied caustically. It saved Ami from responding, not that she could have if she wanted
to.
Minako stuck her tongue out at her best-friend and glared at the miko through
narrowed, sky-blue eyes, not noticing Ami's slight dilemma. "Sorry I wasn't listening as
intently as you were Miss-I-got-a-boyfriend-without-telling-her-best-friend!"
Rei blushed again with anger and embarrassment but was cut off by Usagi for once,
"Min'na, let's not fight."
It was not just because Usagi's tone of voice when she spoke but the sheer absurdity
that she was the one saying this that silenced whatever protests Rei and Minako might have
voiced otherwise. Everyone looked at Usagi in surprise and the odango-blonde blinked at
the sudden attention, snapping Ami out of her dazed state. "Wh-what? Why is everyone
looking at me like that?" Usagi exclaimed, her voice on the verge of hysteria. Any moment
now the odango-blond was sure to break into a wail.
"Y-you said..." Rei trailed off, her finger pointed to Usagi with surprise written
all over the miko's face.
"I can't believe I would live to bear witness to this day," Makoto gaped.
"Are you all right, Usagi-chan?" Minako was the first to recover, rushing over to
the blonde-princess to check her temperature.
Makoto blinked before a sigh escaped her lips, "So much for getting somewhere with
this whole discussion thing."
"Oi, oi," Fuma whispered to a startled Mamoru, "Do they always act like that?" the
blond man pointed to Rei and Minako, who were both poking and prodding at Usagi as if she
were an alien.
"Unfortunately, yes," Mamoru sighed.
"And they're going to... save the world?" Fuma breathed out the words in disbelief.
"Unfortunately, yes," Hiketsu answered as he joined the two. Fuma twitched slightly
at the nearness of the other man, not liking him after the earlier incident of bursting his
disguise bubble.
Slinking onto the other side of Mamoru, Fuma pondered out loud his next thoughts,
"Exactly how are they going to do this?"
Before Mamoru could answer, a bubbly, smiling Minako popped up behind Fuma, "Oh Fuma-
chan!" The blonde called out dreamily, "Can you check to make sure Usagi-chan's feeling
alright for me, Ami-chan's still in the surprised-beyond-response mode?"
All three males took a step back at the grin on Minako's face, "She looks scary,"
Fuma muttered behind his smile at the others.
Silently, both Mamoru and Hiketsu agreed to this statement while Fuma was dragged
away by the cheery blonde. "I'm so glad she's not my girlfriend," Mamoru sighed in relief
when Minako was out of earshot.
"For a moment there I thought the girls were actually being mature," Mamoru gave
Hiketsu an incredulous stare at the comment while Hiketsu shrugged at the look. "It was a
logical conclusion up until the moment the arguments began."
"You have obviously not been around them long enough," the dark-haired prince
muttered. "I was waiting for something like that to happen, it surprised me on how long
they lasted with all that seriousness without one!"
"Mamo-chan, save me!" Usagi screamed as she was chased by Minako -- who was dragging
Fuma around. Rei followed with demands on checking to see if Usagi was being possessed and
Makoto joining in the run as she protested that it was not her cooking that caused Usagi to
act so strangely. Ami was last, demanding that all of them stop running and be serious
about the situation.
"What are they doing?" Luna exclaimed when she arrived on the scene. The dark cat
had gone surveying the damages to make sure no one was hurt by the youma or the battle
itself, but she could not for the life of her find anyone in the area. It had disturbed
her and she had returned to report it when she realized exactly how deserted the streets
really were.
"Don't ask," Artemis mumbled fearfully from his hiding place, his head hidden under
his paws. He had been patrolling as well but returned earlier than his female companion,
only to witness this... this *argument*. "Just... you really don't want to know!"
* * *
The ripping of flesh beneath his hands gave him greater satisfaction than he would
have thought. Filthy, stupid humans were no match for him and soon the world would be rid
of them. Soon, very soon, the youma -- his youma -- would be ruling the world. This new
evolution of the race on the planet Earth would be the last and the best, that much he was
sure.
The man before him was screaming, trying to run away as his dark sun-glasses slipped
from his nose. The Prime Minister was forgotten in the corner of the high-tower, since
Doko had gone and killed his body-guards first. There was no more need for the filthy
beasts, other than to drain them that is. The time of the master was coming. After that
blast from the Sailor Senshi in the distance, he knew he had made his last offensive move
until they showed up at the Master's feet. No one could stop him now! No one!
He reached out and the winds around them picked up, sending a force of power that
drove the man on the ground smashing into his waiting hand that fisted around the other's
slim and fragile neck. This was almost too easy! Doko laughed at the simplicity of it all
and his hand tightened. Bones snapped as flesh ripped under the pressure and the screaming
ended abruptly into silence.
"Do you see my point of view now, Mister Prime Minister?" Doko turned to the
cowering man, "Pride, courage, love, and goodness are nothing in the face of death and
destruction. You and your pathetic attempts to do what is right mean nothing to the world
of power that lies beyond your reach and imagination. You think the Sailor Senshi can save
you even if they had the answers to part of your problems?" He laughed then at his own
words, "Even if they could cure the disease, what would that make mankind? A cannibalistic
breed that feeds off of the young to ensure its own pathetic existence? You weaklings who
presume that anything more powerful than yourself is myth or legend. How can you even
perceive great beings to even care about whether or not you live or die?"
"Why-why are you doing this?" The man asked pathetically, predictably.
Doko smirked as he slowly slipped off one white glove and the man gaped at the dark
hand that was no more the flesh and bone of humans but an ebony crystal surface that
gleamed menacingly under the dull sky above. "Man is a virus, he kills and kills without
direction other than his greed and his need to survive. He destroys everything around
himself, physically, emotionally, and by whatever other means possible so to ensure his own
survival and dominance. Man is a virus, he considers everything not of him or like him,
even if it is his own kind, to be an enemy. He claims it to be evil because it may
threaten the superiority of himself as a being. Hatred, anger, and darkness, I am
strengthened by that side of Man's emotions. So what does that say about me?" Doko raised
his hand and studied his own, crystalline hand, "Am I evil or simply a threat to your
existence?" Brown eyes slowly changed, merging into the blackness of the abyss within
himself as he looked into the Prime Minister's fearful eyes. "You kill other beings lesser
than yourself and call it survival, you kill each other and call it defense, and when a
greater being comes and kills you, you call it evil?" Doko slipped his free hand into the
pocket of his pants, "You fear death, and the unknown, and you would gladly live at the
expense of others. I am a new breed and more powerful, more cunning, and greedier than
you, so does that make me evil? If so, then is not Man evil as well? So if you believe in
your senseless, stupid ideas that evil should be destroyed, then should you not also be
destroyed?"
That look of hatred and fear was now aimed at Doko when he knelt before the other
man. A dark brow rose in surprise at the look, "The lesser of two evils, you must be
thinking," Doko smiled. "But how can that be unless you can measure evil, does that mean
you can measure good as well? If so, aren't you implying that goodness and evil are like
objects, obtained and lost like all physical things?" Interested by this thought, he rose,
feeling confident and cunning with the master pulsating beneath the steel, beneath his very
feet. "My Master is awakening," he said at last with a real smile spreading across his
lips. "He will destroy you, and everything here on this Earth be it good or evil. You
might even consider him somewhat a god only he would be your god of death and destruction.
Hades is it? Isn't that what men outside this world call that god of ruin long ago?"
The Prime Minister slowly rose to his feet, shaking with fear but it seemed that
hatred gave him strength. "Man wants to survive even in the face of hopelessness," Doko
said with an interested glint in his eyes. "This man had fought the same way you have
fought when I possessed him," wide eyes met his own and he knew the other was horrified by
the prospect of possession. "But hope is a fragile thing, and easily broken." Doko
caressed the rail of the tower, the platform now filled with blood, gore and dead,
mutilated bodies. "In the end Man is just another beast, and evolution has decreed that
you too shall go into extinction, another lost page in the passage of Time... another
mistake erased."
The Prime Minister screamed at him then, a desperate charge towards the edge and Doko
shifted so fast to the side that the man never even saw him move. The bald-headed Prime
Minister stared in frightened disbelief as he dangled on the edge of existence, his ankle
in the hand of the monster he had wanted to kill, to take with him onto that edge of death.
"Stupid beast," Doko frowned as he looked over the edge at the dangling man. The will of
the Prime Minister was obviously broken as he hung in the air, so close to death that it
was almost inevitable. "Here's to your courage," and black fingers spread as Doko opened
his hand, allowing the flesh in his grip to slip away. It sent the other plunging down to
the ground below with terrified screams that were stolen by the wind.
"Another bug crushed," Doko said with an irritated half-smile thinning his lips. His
fist closed around the rail as he looked out over the city, "Pity, I had wanted to show him
my empire before the fool died." Doko closed his eyes and the air around him began to
vibrate with power, "No matter, he wouldn't have been able to appreciate it anyway."
Black crystals rippled down his arm, attaching themselves to the tower's rail. Doko
bared his teeth at the pain of the merging, the structure of the tower shook all around him
as the darkness spread. Overhead the sky began to churn angrily as the wind blew
powerfully against the thin steel structure.
Four black slabs of crystal materialized around the top of the tower, four women
trapped in the middle of that darkness. Each had their eyes closed until black lightening
laced through all four, creating a barrier that raced from earth to sky. It was then that
the heavens bled red and the sisters in their stone, black coffins opened their eyes
unseeing as they watched the world from the tower's top. These four sisters who once held
the power of all four Earthly elements had come into use to him many times up till now and
he never regretted taking them into his plans at the beginning of his quest. It had been
difficult with the destruction of his comrade who had accomplished the task and Doko nearly
wasn't able to save them from the unnatural fires that consumed the other, lesser youma.
But he was thankful that he kept them for this last, grand finale to his plans. The Master
would surely be pleased with his cleverness.
Doko laughed through his pain as he raised his head to view the crimson sky,
enthralled by the beauty before him.
Beneath him, his master began to stir and a silent scream rang out into the chaos of
the world.
* * *
The black, headless monster smashed its fist down and he knew then that he was dying.
Golden-brown eyes snapped open as adrenaline and fear rippled through him. His body
felt as if he had been drenched in some namelessly cold liquid and he shivered as his eyes
adjusted to the grey and sterile room. A question that never made it past his lips as he
felt his right eye twitch slightly and he reached up, feeling the muscle spasm beneath his
fingers.
A million questions flashed into his mind as a calm, soothing voice came from within
as well as without, echoing along the steel walls of the empty room. "Awake, son?"
Dale blinked as he turned his head in the direction of the voice and was surprised to
see Alyssa, even more so by the soft look in her eyes. "Son?" He questioned, slightly
suspicious as his mind began to wake.
"It was difficult to keep your presence undetected when she came to visit, but all is
well." There was a softness in those shrewd eyes that made him uncomfortable. He was so
used to her being cold and calculating that this side of her made him uneasy and definitely
distrustful of her motives.
"Maybe you should start from the beginning," he said at last. She raised a brow as
if asking him what he meant but he was not fooled by her innocent act. "Why you have
picked me and why am I here?" he answered, irritated by her lack of concern.
"You want to know the truth?" She smiled at the question. "Will you be able to face
the truth?"
"For him I will," he answered softly. Alyssa frowned slightly, something akin to
pain flashed in those expressionless eyes that he had never expected to witness before.
Perhaps he had been wrong as he recalled Michaels voice confidently stating the fact that
Alyssa was really a creature with many feelings inside of her, that she was more woman than
machine and more human than alien. His partner had believed in her so much, even in the
end. Dale could not deny that in the end, Michaels had died for the team, for him, but
most importantly, for her as well. Whether or not she knew that or even cared, Dale would
have once answered with a definite no.
Yet that look in her eyes...
The dark-haired man paused in his thinking. Perhaps, Michaels knew more than any of
them did, perhaps he saw truth were they had seen only darkness. In that moment he missed
the man who had stood by his side in the past few months more than anyone he had ever met.
"Tell me everything," Dale said at last. His determination shone through then and he
faced her, Alyssa Smith, his mentor and his greatest adversary.
She did not blink as she stepped closer to him then, and reached out a hand to him as
if asking him to rise, "Yes," she answered simply.
'I will show you everything that you desire to know, my son.'
He reached out his hand to her and was met with the truth of the past.
.blue.
blueweber@hotmail.com
* Aa - Yes (Usually used by males)
* Aishiteru - I love you (The real, soul deep thang. These words are used
seriously and with very deep meanings attached... too bad Usagi
totally abused it during her teasings of Rei-chan)
* Amerikajin - (if you haven't figured it out already) American
* Baka - Idiot
* -chan - A term of endearment used for girls or children
* Dame - Stop
* Kami-sama - God
* Odango-atama - Rei uses this in the anime, it means something similar to
"dumpling-head" Odango = dumpling, and atama = head. So when Rei-chan
calls Usagi a baka atama, she's saying something along the lines of
stupid head. Yes, I know it's childish but look at the way they're acting
*point point* now, doesn't the nick name seem SO much more appropriate in
that type of situation?
* Oi - Hey (Usually used to call for attention and I think it's used
primarily by males. I haven't heard a female use it yet.)
* -san - A term of formality, *similar* but not exactly like Mr., Mrs., or
Ms.
A tribute to...
A. L. a Campo (my editor)
His Lordship Chaos,
Ken Wolfe, &
Angus MacSpon.
For Don, who was one of the first to
believe in me and this project that
took a life of its own.
And everyone who had helped & encouraged
me during my trials and my errors ^-^;;
Thank you for every dream and every
inspiration...
Thank you for everything.
.blue.
blueweber@hotmail.com
fiction will be clomped together into one huge blob. In other words, don't bother me
about debating whether some conversations in this fanfic is truly based on fact... as
Naoko Takeuchi has done many times. Truth, after all, is an elusive thing! ^_~. Enjoy!
When All the Good Angels Sleep
******************************
.blue.
blueweber@hotmail.com
"No te engano la primavera "Did spring never deceive you
con besos que no florecieron?" with kisses that didn't blossom?"
--Pablo Neruda
("The Book Of Questions")
"And I looked, and behold a pale horse:
and his name that sat on him was Death."
--Bible: New Testament
(Revelation 6:8)
The Eighth Sheep Named Judgment
-------------------------------
"Lo! thy dread empire, Chaos! is restor'd;
Light dies before thy uncreating word:
Thy hand, great Anarch! lets the curtain fall;
And universal darkness buries all."
--Alexander Pope
("The Dunciad")
"Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;"
--W. B. Yeats
("The Second Coming")
"I could never truly foresee the future as
your mother had put it so bluntly those
years ago when she first learned the meaning
of despair and destiny. I did not tell her
then, that sometimes disaster rested on chance
as does paradise. It would not have been
welcoming news to her at the time, instead
I said nothing until she calmed herself down.
But now, now I can see that as much as you are
like that silver-haired woman sitting on her
immortal throne, never having feared death
until the end -- and only so for her daughter
and the millions of dead dreams of the lost
System. Now, I can see the difference. And
for once, my Queen, I am sorry for what I have
done, and what I have to do now to correct my
earlier mistakes. It was an error in my
judgment to push it thus and I will admit,
with regret, that I was the one who had created
the enemy before the time was right, before you
were ready. So, now I have condemned you to
this world of duty that I have been trapped
in for more years than can be counted. Now, I
regret that one with a heart like yours must bear
a similar burden, and worse, I must add to that
burden now, one I had never wished any other to
experience. But I am only human, and though
immortal, I too make mistakes. Yet, I owe it to
you to tell you the half-truth, that I am what I
am, and though I, too, get lonely sometimes, I
will sacrifice everything for that dream of a
perfect future. I am selfish in this sense for
I will not lie, but I will tell you now, that
even so, I will do everything in my power
to allow you to fulfill that role that you have
set for yourself. That my Queen, is one promise
I had made to your mother for you before she died,
before the final end of the Kingdom of the Moon,
when all but Earth were destroyed in the end. I
do not break my promises. So I will make one to you
now, Princess Serenity, Neo-Queen of Crystal Tokyo,
the same promise I made to your mother. That the
city in my dreams will come true, and it shall
flourish, and I will take you home."
--Sailor Senshi Pluto
("Letters To The Queen")
There was no answer. The beast she had momentarily forgotten continued to advance
towards her, ready to swallow her light, her lover, and the angels that surrounded her.
Angels? No, they were friends. Friends. So strange a word. A word that had once meant
many things. Friends...
The fear grew until she could no longer ignore it. She could not contain the light
any longer. The light that she tried to hold onto and keep within, so that it would not
lash out and rip itself from her body. Something else was there as well, something that
was once fundamentally apart of her heart and soul that she had forgotten, that she might
have lost along the way...
Thump.
Innocence.
Thump, thump.
Where does innocence go when it dies?
Thump.
Does it go to Heaven too?
* * *
The outside world had not been so lucky as Japan had been in the last few months.
The fires raged through the once prominent cities as decaying bodies lay on the sides
of the roads, and the ashes of the dead clouded the sky and polluted the air. That was
what had awaited them when they stepped out of Japan. It was then that they realized the
true dangers that lay outside their little continent and a constant reminder of the one
thing that not even they were willing to admit.
The world was dying.
Having to face that reality of it all was harder than any of them had thought. It
was especially hard on Tomoe Hotaru, or so Sailor Neptune thought. Her eyes searched the
grounds below as Sailor Uranus piloted the air craft. The raven-haired young girl in the
back seat was quiet, she had been for some time now. Usually, Hotaru rode with Sailor
Pluto, but the other had insisted that she stay with Neptune and Uranus today while they
go over their surroundings. Bandits were everywhere now, all of them dying, and this
seemed more than likely to be a hot spot for them.
Pluto was up to something though. Neptune couldn't pin-point exactly what the other
had planned but something was definitely up. Their dark-haired friend and fellow senshi
in arms was hiding from them again. What the secret was, Neptune was unsure of, since in
the case of Pluto one could never be too certain of what she knew and did not speak of.
But the woman was too calm about the whole situation, as if there was a hidden ace up her
sleeve that she had not produced, and Neptune had a feeling that the other had faked that
look of surprise at the mirror's revelations those weeks ago.
The mirror had wanted them to go, had wanted them to find someone and it unsettled
her how easily Pluto detached herself from her duties. People don't do things like that
if they are unprepared and especially not Setsuna, not when she's Sailor Pluto -- if she
ever stopped being a senshi that is.
"Neptune," the aqua-haired soldier was startled by the name coming from familiar
lips, lips that used to call her Michiru-mama. She had not heard that soft voice speak so
for a very long time, not since that day when the girl had pointed her glaive in the face
of Sailor Moon, vowing that this was her fight and that she should end it. And she did,
taking with her a galaxy. Yet Tomoe Hotaru was saved, with the soul of Sailor Saturn
slumbering within her, along with a chance for happiness and normality.
Neptune saw, as she turned, the slight twitch of an eye-brow from Uranus.
Apparently her companion had also noticed the tone of voice and the underlying command
beneath the soft call. That made Neptune nervous and on her guard, only this time it felt
slightly wrong after having thought of Hotaru as her daughter over the last few years.
But this was not their Hotaru-hime anymore, instead this was Saturn. "Hai, Saturn?"
"May I see your mirror please?" Saturn inquired politely.
Neptune looked to the girl with the face of her daughter and knew not why she was
sad. She had a duty. "Why?"
Saturn turned from Neptune to Uranus. "I am curious." Neptune knew the other would
go no farther in explaning her motives.
"Give it to her," Uranus said at last, breaking the silent indecision that had
fallen in the helicopter.
The look Neptune gave her companion was loud and clear, *Do you think it's wise?*
Uranus only shrugged, "We are playing against fate here, Neptune. Either way,
things will happen."
Reluctantly Neptune looked down at her lap before closing her eyes and when she
opened them once more, a mirror lay within her hands. The nymph that curved around the
rim of the glass peered up at the aqua-haired soldier, almost questioningly. "I hope you
find whatever it is your looking for." Neptune finally said. She looked away from her
own troubled reflection as she handed it to the girl who she had once called daughter, who
had once returned the sentiment and called her mother, but the other was no more than a
stranger now.
There was stillness in the air, an anticipation for whatever it is that may come.
Saturn finally lifted her eyes from the mirror and glanced outside. "Pluto will be
returning soon," her voice seemed empty and hollow now in Neptune's ears.
Whatever Saturn saw she kept it to herself.
"Till then we patrol," Uranus agreed at last when hearing no protests from her
partner.
I hope to Kami-sama that Pluto finds whatever it is she's looking for by then,
Neptune thought. Her fingers tightening into a fist, not realizing the dead look Saturn
was giving to the melting mirror in white-gloved hands as Neptune's talisman disappeared
once more at its mistress' calling.
Whatever it is, I hope she can stop Saturn from something horrible...
Something terribly horrible.
* * *
He lit a cigarette as he blew the smoke into the thin, windy air. Next to him, a
shorter man with jet-black hair and a balding head stood looking over the city. "What has
happened to our proud country?" The man beside him asked in horror and despair.
Fujimia Doko smiled darkly at this and took another puff before grinding the burning
cigarette into the rail. "It's the epidemic, Mister Prime Minister." Doko replied coolly
and calmly. "It gets to the mind," he turned and looked at the other who shifted to meet
his gaze with surprise, "It gets to the heart." Doko could not hide his glee as his eyes
sparkled beneath the sun and his smile widened.
"Fujimia-san, you are acting very unprofessional today." The Prime Minister told
him coldly and took a step back from him, "Have you no shame?"
Fujimia laughed at this, "What did you expect, Mister Prime Minister? Did you
really think that the Sailor Senshi could fight this?" Perhaps there was pride in his
voice, but Fujimia didn't care, his time was coming.
The Prime Minister narrowed his eyes at Doko's incredulous tone, "You of all people
would believe such rubbish?"
"Rubbish?" Doko smirked as he ran one hand through his hair. The agents near them
were getting agitated, but Doko did not feel the least bit uncomfortable, in fact, he
savored the others' discomforts. "The secret to this little riddle, my dear Prime
Minister, is not who has the disease but who has the cure!"
The shorter man looked shocked before he quickly schooled his features. "You can't
be serious--"
"Ah, my dear friend, not only are the Sailor Senshi more than just an urban legend,
they have something that could save this city, if not all of Japan!"
The Prime Minister looked at him skeptically, "How do you know this?"
I planted the virus, "From a very reliable source." Was all Doko said.
"If these Sailor Senshi had the cure, why didn't they come out with it?" The Prime
Minister finally asked after a long period of silence whilst the other studied Doko
carefully.
"It's in their blood," Doko answered and then smiled ever so cynically at his own
words.
It's in their blood, indeed!
* * *
The power had blossomed.
The moment Kuragari Fuma heard those words uttered in union by the powerful women
behind him, the power levels went berserk within his field. And as the ebony wires fell
back like an black lotus opening its petals into the sun, the light unfurled and swept
across them and their enemies purifying all. The ground shook as the powers extended
outwards as the youma burned within the brightness of that power. White washed over them,
destructive in its purity, and yet it did not harm him or any of the others that were not
youma. He did not feel the effect of this blinding power, but from the looks of awe that
came across both the face of Tuxedo Kamen and the strange man who had so recently showed
up, not to mention his own sensor readings, it must have been amazing to be washed with
such light and such power.
He looked over at the new comer again, his system finding the other's profile
quickly, effectively. "Name: Kagemi Hiketsu, age: 22. Synopsis: Kagemi finished school
early and was a gifted child. Runs the family shrine and is the head of the family
business, taking the place of his older brother Kagemi Kaidou, who left to pursue other
dreams. The Kagemi family is infamous for its power in both the religious and political
arena. Rumor has it that they are cursed with--"
"You are not human." Somewhere he heard Minako -- Sailor Venus -- gasp in surprise
at the statement uttered by the man whose secrets he was digging up. He looked into those
eyes of harsh blue and saw a dark power coursing within the blood of Kagemi Hiketsu, a
hidden power.
This one's dangerous, Fuma noted before a smirk of amusement came upon his lips.
"Bravo, Kagemi Hiketsu, you out-strip your brother's talents just as the rumors
predicted." Fuma bowed extravagantly.
At the mention of his brother's name, Hiketsu tensed and glared at the "man" in front
of him, "What rumors?" He grounded out.
Fuma smile widened, having found a sore spot. "Oh, this and that."
"You're not human?" Sailor Venus interrupted suddenly, blonde hair obstructed his
view as another pair of confused blue eyes, lighter in color, glared up into his own.
"What is Hiketsu-san talking about?" The blonde warrior demanded.
Fuma grinned sheepishly down at her, unsure how to appease her anger, stammering to
come up with an excuse. "Well, you see... Minako-chan... I mean..."
"This better be good!" Venus warned him.
Fuma blinked, not even sure why he was so flustered. What has he to care about? He
will eventually outlive her, he will eventually leave her, and there is nothing here but an
investigation to look after Mizuno Ami as a personal favor. All business, and that is how
it will always be with him. He should have nothing to do with the female species, not
after his own death anyway.
Since he is dead.
It was true in every sense of the word except for the fact that people can see him,
think they can touch, and imagine that his touch is real. It was about time he end this
pretense, but he definitely owed her no explanations. "You wouldn't understand," he
finally said.
And those lambent blue eyes widened before she smiled up at him in such a sad way
that he realized that he didn't understand her anymore than she did him. "Oh?" She asked
as she turned to her friends and they backed away from the two of them. Some seemed
worried, others suspicious, but all curious to what the blond-haired Hiketsu had meant when
he accused Fuma of not being human, of not being real. "That's what I thought once, too."
She looked back at him and her eyes shimmered slightly as she touched his face, "Maybe I
can if you tell me."
Kuragari Fuma, for once, in a very long time, was at a loss for what to say. So, he
did the only thing he knew how, he reached out to her and grasped her hand, and then he
showed it all to her in a floodgate of forgotten memories. Memories that he had wished he
would never have to remember again, memories he could never forget.
All of this was for her.
* * *
"Little rivalries," she said. Twirling one elegant finger in dark ringlets that
curled around her pale face, the woman smiled coldly out to her audience. Blue eyes
unblinking as the other hand lazily tapped against the armrest of her metallic throne as
she waited to see the other's reaction. "But you cannot move me, Pluto, the only reason I
have complied with your requests so far was because of the deal we made so long ago."
Sailor Pluto stood unwavering before her in her white senshi uniform. "I am asking a
favor this time, Lady Charolet. Or should I call you Alyssa Smith?"
The dark-haired woman smiled at this, amused. "You of all people should understand
that a name is but a title, to instill fear and authority. Nothing more. Everything shall
change with time, Time Guardian."
Narrowing her rouge eyes, Pluto tightened her grip on her time staff. One of the few
individuals who could unsettle her was now one whose cooperation she needed. This woman
who once she had crossed path with and who is more like an enemy than a friend. "Yes, and
I had hoped you had changed with time as well."
The woman now named Alyssa Smith narrowed her eyes at the Guardian of Time and Space,
her blue eyes suddenly burning with the flames of hatred. "Give me back my son!" And even
though Alyssa's eyes and words were filled with passion her face remained cold and
emotionless. "Give me back what you have taken long ago, and I shall reconsider your
situation. Otherwise, get out of my sight, I have no desire to see you till you agree to
give me back what is mine."
"Our situation," Pluto corrected. "Whatever happens here includes you as well."
Alyssa only smirked at this, "You think I care about the destruction of this place?"
"More than this place, the whole universe would be in danger." Pluto warned,
slightly agitated at Alyssa's lack of concern.
Alyssa's cold smile did not leave her face at this, "All the same to me. I have yet
to find a place that has welcomed me with open arms. Exiled, I have been rejected and
used, but no more. No more, and especially not by the likes of you, Sailor Senshi Pluto!
You, who have taken all that were important to me, and not just my son! You who have
filled my brother's mind with foolish dreams of good and evil, you who have stood in the
way of my survival and allowed the slaughtering of my people! All of this you have done in
the name of your dreams and your righteousness."
Pluto narrowed her eyes at this, "You are so selfish!"
At this, Alyssa laughed. "And you are not?"
"It is for the good of the world, always." Pluto replied defensively and immediately
regretted saying so.
Alyssa's smile turned lazy, "Give me back my son and I shall reconsider, but no
promises Pluto. This is your fight, not mine, and you have wronged me more than once. I
will not allow you to do so again." Alyssa rose from her throne, "Never again, my worthy
adversary, for I have grown stronger since the last we met. I was weak then, recovering
from the loss of those that I had held dear and you had used it well, and now, it seems the
role's reversed." Alyssa tilted her head, "So how does it feel, Time Guardian?" Alyssa
studied the other carefully as Pluto fought to keep her emotions from surfacing under the
alien female's intense stare. "How does it feel to know you are going to lose something
precious to you? How does it feel to lose hope of the future to come, to know that you
have no control? That you are helpless?"
"Why don't you tell me, Lady Charolet?" Pluto finally replied after a long pause.
The slap took Pluto by surprise, sending her sprawling to the ground. She crashed
onto the metal floor as she landed harshly on her hip and shoulder, sending pain to spread
throughout her body. "Leave immediately," the cold voice of Alyssa rang through the empty
room. "Leave and you will live to fight your battles. You have crossed the line with me
today Pluto and wherever it is you have hid my son, I will find him. It may take another
century; it may take the destruction of this world to discover him again, but no more of
you and your manipulations. I will do nothing for a woman who took him and my brother away
from me. I know now that you will never return either one of them to me for as long as I
am useful. I will not be your little pawn anymore, Guardian Pluto, not for you or anyone
like you, and certainly, not for this planet!" Alyssa turned sharply away from the dark-
haired senshi who rose slowly from the floor as the other walked away, "You disgust me.
Leave or die."
Pluto covered her cheek with one gloved hand, not bothering to wipe away the thin
trail of blood that ran down to her chin. She knew that her hip was bruised from the fall
and her shoulder felt sore from taking so much force when she landed so roughly. "Then you
shall never find him," Pluto whispered with her eyes on the cold, cold ground, and at that,
Alyssa paused.
"So be it," the woman said casually. "Either way, without my help your planet dies.
You, my dear Pluto, no longer hold the trump card in this game." With that Alyssa left the
other in the cold and empty hall.
* * *
Her hand was the only thing real in the dreams of his past.
"Fuma?" Her whisper held all of her fears and fascinations as the world around them
disappeared. The ground beneath them changed from cement to dirt and the day turned to
night. Blackness surrounded them, "Where are we?"
Kuragari Fuma turned and it was then that Venus heard the sound of voices. "My
past," he told her. His hand left her own and the warmth she had felt closed around her
fingers, disappeared. "When I was more than a hologram, when I was alive." He turned to
her then and looked her in the eye, "I am but an illusion now, Minako."
Venus frowned at this, confused, she was sure she felt him before. "But you are real
to me," she said at last and she reached out, her fingers pressing against the fabric of
his shirt. To her, at this moment, he felt real. No, not just a simple illusion, at
least, not to her.
Violet-grey eyes widened before softening around the edges, "Oh?"
A gun shot ran through the stillness and her eyes snapped from his to see a man
looking exactly like Fuma falling, and soon the air smelled like burnt gun-powder, a smoky
smell. She stood shocked at the blood pooling the dark earth beneath her feet, her noise
filled with that strange and metallic smell of steel mixed with blood, his blood.
Somewhere, someone was crying and she saw joined hands and dying, whispered breaths
that filled the cold night with wisps of fog. "Who would have thought that the one
assignment I screwed up on would be my last," Fuma's bemused voice startled her. His
amusement at his own death made her suddenly feel sick to her stomach.
"Da-dame," she whispered. Please, make it stop. Venus closed her tear filled eyes
but could not shut out the menacing laughter or that smell of death. Behind her close lids
she could still see the blood and his body, she could still see the joined hands and the
woman's tears as she lay dying next to him.
Fuma frowned at her pained expression and silence fell between them. His voice broke
through her defenses then, a gentle and deep voice. "It was the night I died and I was
happy." Venus opened her eyes in surprise, "She was an assignment that I wanted to be my
last and when I lay there, dying next to her, she whispered my heart's desires in those
final moments. I couldn't see her face and I knew someone betrayed us both, but it didn't
matter then because I was with her and she was giving me the world. It was something I
never had before, this thing she called love, this little something that you are named
after." Venus turned to him with that same surprise etched on her face, her mouth slightly
open in shock. Blue-eyes cleared as she blinked back the tears that slipped down her
cheeks and clung to her lashes, "I thought if I was to die, this would be the night, this
would be how I wanted it to end. I couldn't see her, couldn't thank her and tell her how I
felt but I was happy... Genuinely happy to die," Venus looked over surprised to see a
shadow come from the darkness and pick up the body of Fuma. Surprised as she watched the
hands that once were held loosely together break apart as Fuma was lifted from the ground.
"But heaven rejected me, as did Death. She said she was waiting for me on the other side
and I wanted to follow, but I could not because fate would not let me. So I was put into
limbo, perhaps as punishment for my sins."
Fuma-of-the-past lay before her on a white, pristine bed with wires and tubes stuck
into his body. The beeping of the machine and the shining, white room was all that filled
her senses than. "I hate hospitals," she whispered with distaste as the smell of medicine
and squeaky cleanliness wafted to her nose.
He laughed then his head tilted to one side as he watched his own body hanging
between life and death, "I was going to be a vegetable forever, but that didn't satisfy
them."
"Them?" she asked, studying him from the corner of her eyes.
"I never found out who they were, just that they saved me or cursed me, however you
may look at it." She nodded slowly, absorbing the information thrown at her with as much
grace as she could muster. "One day I woke up, only my new body could walk through walls
and I lost my reflection forever." Fuma looked down at his hands with a bitterness she had
never seen him express in his carefree smiles or silly jokes, and she was surprised to
witness something so personal to him. Why is he showing me this? She wondered, slightly
bewildered. Yet the confusion left her eyes as around them, everything disappeared and she
stood facing him again, in that passage of nothingness and everything.
"The first day I met you, I thought you were a very cute amerikajin." She said with
a smile on her face.
Fuma lifted his gaze to meet hers. He faced her with a smile though his eyes
betrayed him, "What do you think now, Minako?" His voice remained the same, and Venus
wondered why she had the most eccentric tastes when it came to men.
The curve around her smile softened as she reached out her hand to touch his cheek,
"You're real to me," she told him kindly, her blue eyes warm under the piercing white
light.
More real than any man I've ever known, more real than flesh, she added silently.
His smile was genuine this time, lighting up his eyes. In that moment she was sure, more
sure of this than anything else in her life that he was more than an illusion.
It made her happy, this realization, it made her genuinely happy for the first time
in a long, long time.
* * *
It was an awakening.
Somewhere, something came loose within him and a calling whispered into his mind.
*Brother, awaken. Awaken and return to me.*
"Brother?" he whispered uncertainly, as his hand covered his right eye, feeling it
throb.
*Brother.*
He rose and an image appeared within his mind, a man lying face down in the gutters.
Ashes covered him and fire burned behind him.
"Kalic..." he gasped.
*This man who helped Sailor Senshi Pluto is now dead. This man who kept you hidden
from me, and used you while he locked you away, is now dead. Are you angry? You are,
aren't you? But how long do you think that will last when you discover the truth?*
He narrowed his eyes, this presence felt familiar.
So very familiar...
"Alyssa Smith!" He growled low in his throat, "It's you!"
And laughter resonated itself within his head, *Alyssa Smith is but a name, brother.
CORE 26085, awaken! Awaken onto the call of the original. Awaken and remember the truth.
Awaken to your destiny!*
His scream pierced the air and when his hand fell back to reveal his eye, it glowed
red instead of its once blue depth and the circuits erupted onto the surface as the past
emerged from the darkness locked within his mind.
CORE 26085 surfaced into the world once more.
* * *
They had stood out in the open for much longer than what Rei would have considered
"comfortable" - safe - and the dark-haired priestess expressed her displeasure on many
levels, from her dissatisfied frowns to verbal complaints. Makoto remained silent through
the whole ordeal, not a smile on her lips since she detransformed and Ami noted how
unusually somber the group was. As they watched Venus and Fuma stare into each other's
eyes, as if lost in their own world, Ami flipped open her mini-computer to scan their
surroundings, it was a habit she had picked up from her earlier days as Sailor Mercury,
that and it gave her something to do. A lazy look came over her face as her computer
happily beeped away while gathering information. Once in awhile, she would sneak a look at
the contentment on both the faces of Usagi and Mamoru, holding each other intimately while
they stood a little apart from the group, waiting for whatever it was that Fuma was doing.
It had surprised them all when Hiketsu first claimed that Fuma was not human but all
suspicions of him being the enemy was dispelled when Rei reassured them that she wasn't
feeling anything inherently evil about the man either. If Fuma was actually a man, Ami
corrected herself. Still, even if they did not want to face the fact that Fuma only might
be good, the look on Venus' face when she found out and Fuma's own pained expression
assuaged whatever protests might have been made. Usagi, herself, had been adamant about
leaving the two alone to figure out how to solve their own problem before the rest of them
could jump in to help. "I think this is more of a lover's quarrel than anything else,
anyway," Rei had huffed in agreement. If Ami didn't know better, she had the feeling that
Rei and Minako had talked about something similar to this earlier, else she would doubt the
raven-haired priestess would be so calm about the matter.
It was quiet, other than Rei's rantings that is, but Ami was thankful for once.
Apparently, the dark-haired girl was the only one willing to put some effort into
pretending that nothing had changed, that everything was normal and under control. But Ami
had been analyzing their enemies' strategies during the battle and she knew it had not been
like their usual battles. The way that everyone acted was so much more... colder than
usual.
Ami shuddered slightly, chilled by a feeling of foreboding that came upon her so
quickly she had trouble identifying it before it passed. Her gaze fell upon the last
member of their strange group, Kagemi Hiketsu, who held a gentle, restraining hand on Rei's
shoulders. He was obviously keeping the young woman from going too far in her acting
"normal". Any moment now the dark-haired priestess will be looking over at Usagi for help
in the matter of cheering everyone up, that is if the odango-blonde would realize that Rei
wasn't really serious in her teasings.
The blue-haired girl idly scanned everyone to make sure no one was seriously injured,
not that she didn't care, but their last attack was a long ranged and powerful one. It had
awashed the city with purifying magick in a one-mile radius sweep, creating a three-
dimensional spherical shell of power in all directions. It had drained them, yes, but
there shouldn't be any more immediate dangers any time soon.
Tapping idly at her computer keys, she observed that there was an energy flux between
Venus and Fuma. Whatever those two were experiencing, it was not something that Ami had
ever picked up before. This did pique her interest somewhat, and she made a mental note to
inquire both about it later. Not that Ami wanted to know the personal details on what the
two were doing -- though she was sure Minako would gush about it later -- but she wanted to
know what it was that Fuma created. What was this "show" that he was putting on for Minako
anyway?
Now that she thought about it, Rei had a point to be worried. Out of all of them,
Minako was the only one still in her senshi fuku and that could and would attract
attention. Ami blinked, was it just her or was this part of the city strangely empty?
True, they had done a powerful attack but none of the humans should have been injured by
it, they had been aiming only at the youma's aura signature, after all. Her head swerved
around, searching and finding nothing. They were supposed to be doing their broadcast
about their true identities today anyway, so why weren't there any reporters coming onto
the scene? Their attack should have attracted some attention by now, that much she was
sure about. Not only that, one would think that people would be coming out of their homes
to investigate what had happened, or at the very least a few bystanders waking from the
side of the streets. It always happened like that if Ami remembered correctly, and having
Minako in her fuku in broad daylight would have done the trick for all of them if their
attack had not.
"What is it, Rei-chan?" Makoto's concerned voice startled Ami from her musings as
she glanced over at her friends with a slightly uneasy feeling at the pit of her stomach.
Oh Kami-sama, don't tell me it isn't over yet! Our power level is still too low for any
actual magick combat beyond what we put out already and what we put out was more than our
usual attacks combined during our battles, except those where Usagi was forced to use the
crystal as the Princess! These thoughts of slight panic almost clouded Ami's cool and
logical composure for a moment, but she quelled those fears, refusing to let her emotions
get in the way of her duties.
I am a Sailor Senshi after all, Ami thought wearily. It's not like we can ask the
bad guys to make appointments so that it would fit into our schedules. Oh, but if only
they did! Life would be so much easier to deal with then.
Rei looked slightly dazed to Ami's alarm, nearly collapsing onto the ground had
Hiketsu not held onto her in his arms while he looked down worriedly at the miko. "Can you
feel that, Hiketsu?" Ami noted the slight breathlessness in Rei's voice, saw the other's
breathing was more rapid than what should be considered normal and immediately began to
scan the dark-haired woman with her computer.
"Aa," Hiketsu agreed softly. "The spirits are restless and polluted with darkness."
The enigmatic answer left Makoto standing with her head tilted in confusion.
Whatever the hostilities that still lay between Hiketsu and the brunette were momentarily
forgotten, "What's going on?" Makoto asked with a small frown marring her complexion.
"What do you feel, Mamoru-kun?" Ami glanced up from her scan, surprised. She had
not noticed that the dark-haired man and his girlfriend had joined them. Usagi looked
perplexed to see Rei suddenly so weak, and surprise came across her face at the dark-haired
woman's question to Mamoru.
Mamoru looked grim, not at all startled by the question, "The Earth is bleeding, and
the people are in chaos." He answered, his mouth thinning into a line of irritation.
"What is going on here?" Makoto demanded, feeling left out of the whole discussion.
Ami was a bit confused herself, though she had been pondering along the same lines
earlier. It would be nice if the answers were more than the puzzling words those three
before her were expressing. "Mou!" Usagi huffed, "What would I do for a television right
now! It would be more informative than all three of you put together!"
The tension broke as Rei giggled at Usagi's irked face and even Makoto relaxed enough
to crack a smile, "Odango-atama," the teasing tone of Rei was not missed as the dark-haired
girl straightened in Hiketsu's embrace, pulling slightly away from him so that she could
stand on her own. Ami noticed that he still held her slightly, refusing to let go and
wondered what their relationship was like at the moment.
It was just then that both Venus and Fuma blinked back into reality, interrupting
whatever explanations that might have followed. The blonde wasn't about to let her
presence go unnoticed as she spoke up cheerfully, "So, what have we missed?"
Rei's expression was serious once more as she turned to her comrade, "I'm not quite
certain but there seems to be a very strong force pulsing throughout the city and it isn't
pretty. It seems to be filled with malice only it's not from any youma that I've sensed
before."
"It's the people of this city that seem to be giving off this energy," Hiketsu filled
in grimly.
"No," Mamoru sighed, "It's the people of Earth... no, no, I mean Earth itself. I
don't think you'll find any living thing untouched by this."
"But Mamo-chan," Usagi's blue-eyes were filled with confusion, "Everything looks
normal here."
"Baka atama, of course it does!" Rei sniffed haughtily, "We just purified the
place!"
Ami nodded thoughtfully at the information given, "That explains why no one else has
come looking yet. Everyone who is contaminated can't come into the field we've created and
once we get out we'll be facing some serious problems."
Makoto swore under her breath, "We can't stay here forever but how are we supposed to
fight when our energy level is so low? We'll be reduced to close, hand-to-hand combat and
that is dangerous with the virus going around."
Ami nodded again, "Mako-chan's right, we can't stay here forever. The magick residue
will eventually fade and we will be forced to fight the darkness sooner or later. The
longer we stay in the field the stronger we'll be but that may go for the evil we're facing
too. Not only that, our magick attacks would be weak, to the point in which we might be
forced to actual, close-ranged, hand-to-hand combat like Mako-chan had said before."
"So we're stuck, huh?" Minako asked having detransformed anyway. Whatever passed
between her and Fuma the two certainly looked cozy now. Ami raised a brow at Fuma's arm
around Minako's shoulder.
"I guess we've made up," Usagi teased slyly.
Minako giggled and waved her hand in front of her face as if she was even blushing,
"You could say that," the other replied with equal slyness.
Makoto looked amused from one to the other while Rei blushed red for both of her
friends. "Have you two no dignity whatsoever?" the raven-haired priestess hissed.
"You're one to talk," Minako huffed, "getting cozy with Hiketsu-san are we?" The
blonde winked at Rei suggestively.
If it was possible Rei turned into an even deeper shade of red as she jumped out of
Hiketsu's embrace, but those dark-purple eyes were flashing with indignant anger. "Ba-
baka!" Rei stammered.
Usagi foolishly mistaken her friend's anger for embarrassment and joined in the
teasing, "Rei-chan's in love!" The odango-blonde stressed the last word with a sparkle in
her eyes. "Oh Hiketsu-san, aishiteru!" Usagi clasped hands with Minako.
Hiketsu raised a brow of amusement at this, though there was a slight tinge of pink
of his cheek at the silly display. However, it could not match the angry red that colored
Rei's face. "Odango-atama!" This time there was no teasing light in her eyes, instead
vengeance was written all over the miko's face.
Soon the two blondes found a looming and raging Rei chasing after them, while Usagi
wailed in protest the whole way. "Minako-chan started it!"
"Hey!" Minako protested, "I didn't ask you to join!"
"You guys are dead!" Rei's voice rang out over the empty streets, snapping the rest
of the group from their stunned stupor.
"How did we...?" Makoto trailed off as she watched the blonde-dual followed by an
angry Rei promising to do them bodily harm once she caught up with them, run by the
brunette. Fuma and Hiketsu watched with amused surprise while Mamoru sighed in
exasperation as he ran frustrated fingers through dark, midnight hair.
Ami frowned at the comical display, her smile disappearing when her focus snapped
back onto track. They needed to be serious about this situation and though she understood
why the three were trying to lighten the mood, this was not helping them get anywhere. It
wouldn't solve any problems if they continued like this! Her computer beeped at her,
startling her from her thoughts and her eyes fell away from the distracting trio that were
running in circles around the group. Her body froze and her eyes widened at the computer
in her hand. The three screaming girls passed by her just then, causing Makoto's wondering
gaze to fall onto the bowed head of the blue-haired woman, "Are you alright, Ami-chan?"
The brunette inquired worriedly at her friend's still form.
The entire commotion stopped as Minako, Usagi, and Rei froze in their positions and
all eyes turned to Ami. But Ami did not hear Makoto's question or notice the sudden
silence, she did not feel Makoto's gentle touch on her shoulders or her friends calling her
name. All she saw was the neat kanji that had scrolled across her screen when she had been
distracted. The message was left for her to discover, the message that was left by him,
whispered promises into her mind while making her thoughts cloud and her vision to become
momentarily unfocused.
"Core," the gasp of surprise left her lips before silence once again fell over the
group.
His message was clear before her eyes and she didn't know whether to be excited or
terrified at this discovery. "I am coming, Sailor Senshi Mercury -- cure to humanity".
"CORE 26085?" Minako questioned, her blue eyes wide with curiosity as she looked
over Ami's shoulder.
Usagi observed her blue-haired friend whose clear, intelligent eyes were now hidden
behind the shadows of her bangs, *The core knows,* Ami's voice came back into her mind as
the odango-blonde blinked at the sudden flash of memory. Her eyes widened as she corrected
herself, *The Core knows,* Usagi thought. Core was a person that Ami knew, a person her
friend had never mentioned to them before. Confused at the secrecy, blue eyes looked to
Ami questioningly, but Makoto's back suddenly came into view before Usagi as the brunette
shook Ami harshly.
"Ami-chan," there was desperation in Makoto's voice now, desperation and concern.
"Ami-chan, wake up!" Azure eyes snapped up from the mini-computer screen, a dazed-look
still lingering in their depths. "Are you alright?" Makoto asked in a hoarse whisper,
relieved and worried all at once.
"Who's this Core?" Minako asked slyly from over Ami's shoulder.
Rei ignored the blonde after slapping Minako over the head, "Are you alright, Ami-
chan?" the miko asked over Minako's protests.
"Y-yes," raising one shaky hand to push back her bangs, Ami faced the others with as
much calmness as she could muster.
"Who's Core?" Usagi asked, her voice was soft but Ami heard the command in that tone
of voice.
She closed the mini-computer with a click, the information leaking out of her lips
before she could control herself. "A friend from the web who helps me with my researches
on the enemy."
"He knows your Sailor Mercury?" Rei asked surprised from the blue-haired woman's
other shoulder.
Makoto widened her eyes in surprise at this for she was the only one other than Usagi
and the men who had not seen the message. Usagi didn't look fazed by this, she had
suspected the moment the memory of that day in the hospital had returned to her. "He
figured it out," Ami's voice was casual but the blankness on her face betrayed her better
than anything else she could have expressed.
Azure eyes were locked onto crystal-blue ones, and Ami could not look away from that
stare that drew out more truth from her than she was willing to reveal. It was not because
she did not trust her friends for Ami loved them all dearly, but it was her nature to stay
somewhat detached, waiting patiently for the perfect moment to allow her knowledge to come
into use. It was the first time she had no control over what knowledge she would
distribute, instead every idea that came with Core fell from her lips. It unsettled her
but she did not show that either, "What do you know about him, Ami-chan?"
Usagi's voice became more friendly as the tension steadily rose but still Ami could
not find the will to look away. "I know nothing," she answered truthfully.
"Nothing?" Minako asked surprised, "And you trusted him with knowing that you were
Sailor Mercury?"
"If you haven't heard, Minako-baka, she didn't have much choice in the matter." Rei
replied caustically. It saved Ami from responding, not that she could have if she wanted
to.
Minako stuck her tongue out at her best-friend and glared at the miko through
narrowed, sky-blue eyes, not noticing Ami's slight dilemma. "Sorry I wasn't listening as
intently as you were Miss-I-got-a-boyfriend-without-telling-her-best-friend!"
Rei blushed again with anger and embarrassment but was cut off by Usagi for once,
"Min'na, let's not fight."
It was not just because Usagi's tone of voice when she spoke but the sheer absurdity
that she was the one saying this that silenced whatever protests Rei and Minako might have
voiced otherwise. Everyone looked at Usagi in surprise and the odango-blonde blinked at
the sudden attention, snapping Ami out of her dazed state. "Wh-what? Why is everyone
looking at me like that?" Usagi exclaimed, her voice on the verge of hysteria. Any moment
now the odango-blond was sure to break into a wail.
"Y-you said..." Rei trailed off, her finger pointed to Usagi with surprise written
all over the miko's face.
"I can't believe I would live to bear witness to this day," Makoto gaped.
"Are you all right, Usagi-chan?" Minako was the first to recover, rushing over to
the blonde-princess to check her temperature.
Makoto blinked before a sigh escaped her lips, "So much for getting somewhere with
this whole discussion thing."
"Oi, oi," Fuma whispered to a startled Mamoru, "Do they always act like that?" the
blond man pointed to Rei and Minako, who were both poking and prodding at Usagi as if she
were an alien.
"Unfortunately, yes," Mamoru sighed.
"And they're going to... save the world?" Fuma breathed out the words in disbelief.
"Unfortunately, yes," Hiketsu answered as he joined the two. Fuma twitched slightly
at the nearness of the other man, not liking him after the earlier incident of bursting his
disguise bubble.
Slinking onto the other side of Mamoru, Fuma pondered out loud his next thoughts,
"Exactly how are they going to do this?"
Before Mamoru could answer, a bubbly, smiling Minako popped up behind Fuma, "Oh Fuma-
chan!" The blonde called out dreamily, "Can you check to make sure Usagi-chan's feeling
alright for me, Ami-chan's still in the surprised-beyond-response mode?"
All three males took a step back at the grin on Minako's face, "She looks scary,"
Fuma muttered behind his smile at the others.
Silently, both Mamoru and Hiketsu agreed to this statement while Fuma was dragged
away by the cheery blonde. "I'm so glad she's not my girlfriend," Mamoru sighed in relief
when Minako was out of earshot.
"For a moment there I thought the girls were actually being mature," Mamoru gave
Hiketsu an incredulous stare at the comment while Hiketsu shrugged at the look. "It was a
logical conclusion up until the moment the arguments began."
"You have obviously not been around them long enough," the dark-haired prince
muttered. "I was waiting for something like that to happen, it surprised me on how long
they lasted with all that seriousness without one!"
"Mamo-chan, save me!" Usagi screamed as she was chased by Minako -- who was dragging
Fuma around. Rei followed with demands on checking to see if Usagi was being possessed and
Makoto joining in the run as she protested that it was not her cooking that caused Usagi to
act so strangely. Ami was last, demanding that all of them stop running and be serious
about the situation.
"What are they doing?" Luna exclaimed when she arrived on the scene. The dark cat
had gone surveying the damages to make sure no one was hurt by the youma or the battle
itself, but she could not for the life of her find anyone in the area. It had disturbed
her and she had returned to report it when she realized exactly how deserted the streets
really were.
"Don't ask," Artemis mumbled fearfully from his hiding place, his head hidden under
his paws. He had been patrolling as well but returned earlier than his female companion,
only to witness this... this *argument*. "Just... you really don't want to know!"
* * *
The ripping of flesh beneath his hands gave him greater satisfaction than he would
have thought. Filthy, stupid humans were no match for him and soon the world would be rid
of them. Soon, very soon, the youma -- his youma -- would be ruling the world. This new
evolution of the race on the planet Earth would be the last and the best, that much he was
sure.
The man before him was screaming, trying to run away as his dark sun-glasses slipped
from his nose. The Prime Minister was forgotten in the corner of the high-tower, since
Doko had gone and killed his body-guards first. There was no more need for the filthy
beasts, other than to drain them that is. The time of the master was coming. After that
blast from the Sailor Senshi in the distance, he knew he had made his last offensive move
until they showed up at the Master's feet. No one could stop him now! No one!
He reached out and the winds around them picked up, sending a force of power that
drove the man on the ground smashing into his waiting hand that fisted around the other's
slim and fragile neck. This was almost too easy! Doko laughed at the simplicity of it all
and his hand tightened. Bones snapped as flesh ripped under the pressure and the screaming
ended abruptly into silence.
"Do you see my point of view now, Mister Prime Minister?" Doko turned to the
cowering man, "Pride, courage, love, and goodness are nothing in the face of death and
destruction. You and your pathetic attempts to do what is right mean nothing to the world
of power that lies beyond your reach and imagination. You think the Sailor Senshi can save
you even if they had the answers to part of your problems?" He laughed then at his own
words, "Even if they could cure the disease, what would that make mankind? A cannibalistic
breed that feeds off of the young to ensure its own pathetic existence? You weaklings who
presume that anything more powerful than yourself is myth or legend. How can you even
perceive great beings to even care about whether or not you live or die?"
"Why-why are you doing this?" The man asked pathetically, predictably.
Doko smirked as he slowly slipped off one white glove and the man gaped at the dark
hand that was no more the flesh and bone of humans but an ebony crystal surface that
gleamed menacingly under the dull sky above. "Man is a virus, he kills and kills without
direction other than his greed and his need to survive. He destroys everything around
himself, physically, emotionally, and by whatever other means possible so to ensure his own
survival and dominance. Man is a virus, he considers everything not of him or like him,
even if it is his own kind, to be an enemy. He claims it to be evil because it may
threaten the superiority of himself as a being. Hatred, anger, and darkness, I am
strengthened by that side of Man's emotions. So what does that say about me?" Doko raised
his hand and studied his own, crystalline hand, "Am I evil or simply a threat to your
existence?" Brown eyes slowly changed, merging into the blackness of the abyss within
himself as he looked into the Prime Minister's fearful eyes. "You kill other beings lesser
than yourself and call it survival, you kill each other and call it defense, and when a
greater being comes and kills you, you call it evil?" Doko slipped his free hand into the
pocket of his pants, "You fear death, and the unknown, and you would gladly live at the
expense of others. I am a new breed and more powerful, more cunning, and greedier than
you, so does that make me evil? If so, then is not Man evil as well? So if you believe in
your senseless, stupid ideas that evil should be destroyed, then should you not also be
destroyed?"
That look of hatred and fear was now aimed at Doko when he knelt before the other
man. A dark brow rose in surprise at the look, "The lesser of two evils, you must be
thinking," Doko smiled. "But how can that be unless you can measure evil, does that mean
you can measure good as well? If so, aren't you implying that goodness and evil are like
objects, obtained and lost like all physical things?" Interested by this thought, he rose,
feeling confident and cunning with the master pulsating beneath the steel, beneath his very
feet. "My Master is awakening," he said at last with a real smile spreading across his
lips. "He will destroy you, and everything here on this Earth be it good or evil. You
might even consider him somewhat a god only he would be your god of death and destruction.
Hades is it? Isn't that what men outside this world call that god of ruin long ago?"
The Prime Minister slowly rose to his feet, shaking with fear but it seemed that
hatred gave him strength. "Man wants to survive even in the face of hopelessness," Doko
said with an interested glint in his eyes. "This man had fought the same way you have
fought when I possessed him," wide eyes met his own and he knew the other was horrified by
the prospect of possession. "But hope is a fragile thing, and easily broken." Doko
caressed the rail of the tower, the platform now filled with blood, gore and dead,
mutilated bodies. "In the end Man is just another beast, and evolution has decreed that
you too shall go into extinction, another lost page in the passage of Time... another
mistake erased."
The Prime Minister screamed at him then, a desperate charge towards the edge and Doko
shifted so fast to the side that the man never even saw him move. The bald-headed Prime
Minister stared in frightened disbelief as he dangled on the edge of existence, his ankle
in the hand of the monster he had wanted to kill, to take with him onto that edge of death.
"Stupid beast," Doko frowned as he looked over the edge at the dangling man. The will of
the Prime Minister was obviously broken as he hung in the air, so close to death that it
was almost inevitable. "Here's to your courage," and black fingers spread as Doko opened
his hand, allowing the flesh in his grip to slip away. It sent the other plunging down to
the ground below with terrified screams that were stolen by the wind.
"Another bug crushed," Doko said with an irritated half-smile thinning his lips. His
fist closed around the rail as he looked out over the city, "Pity, I had wanted to show him
my empire before the fool died." Doko closed his eyes and the air around him began to
vibrate with power, "No matter, he wouldn't have been able to appreciate it anyway."
Black crystals rippled down his arm, attaching themselves to the tower's rail. Doko
bared his teeth at the pain of the merging, the structure of the tower shook all around him
as the darkness spread. Overhead the sky began to churn angrily as the wind blew
powerfully against the thin steel structure.
Four black slabs of crystal materialized around the top of the tower, four women
trapped in the middle of that darkness. Each had their eyes closed until black lightening
laced through all four, creating a barrier that raced from earth to sky. It was then that
the heavens bled red and the sisters in their stone, black coffins opened their eyes
unseeing as they watched the world from the tower's top. These four sisters who once held
the power of all four Earthly elements had come into use to him many times up till now and
he never regretted taking them into his plans at the beginning of his quest. It had been
difficult with the destruction of his comrade who had accomplished the task and Doko nearly
wasn't able to save them from the unnatural fires that consumed the other, lesser youma.
But he was thankful that he kept them for this last, grand finale to his plans. The Master
would surely be pleased with his cleverness.
Doko laughed through his pain as he raised his head to view the crimson sky,
enthralled by the beauty before him.
Beneath him, his master began to stir and a silent scream rang out into the chaos of
the world.
* * *
The black, headless monster smashed its fist down and he knew then that he was dying.
Golden-brown eyes snapped open as adrenaline and fear rippled through him. His body
felt as if he had been drenched in some namelessly cold liquid and he shivered as his eyes
adjusted to the grey and sterile room. A question that never made it past his lips as he
felt his right eye twitch slightly and he reached up, feeling the muscle spasm beneath his
fingers.
A million questions flashed into his mind as a calm, soothing voice came from within
as well as without, echoing along the steel walls of the empty room. "Awake, son?"
Dale blinked as he turned his head in the direction of the voice and was surprised to
see Alyssa, even more so by the soft look in her eyes. "Son?" He questioned, slightly
suspicious as his mind began to wake.
"It was difficult to keep your presence undetected when she came to visit, but all is
well." There was a softness in those shrewd eyes that made him uncomfortable. He was so
used to her being cold and calculating that this side of her made him uneasy and definitely
distrustful of her motives.
"Maybe you should start from the beginning," he said at last. She raised a brow as
if asking him what he meant but he was not fooled by her innocent act. "Why you have
picked me and why am I here?" he answered, irritated by her lack of concern.
"You want to know the truth?" She smiled at the question. "Will you be able to face
the truth?"
"For him I will," he answered softly. Alyssa frowned slightly, something akin to
pain flashed in those expressionless eyes that he had never expected to witness before.
Perhaps he had been wrong as he recalled Michaels voice confidently stating the fact that
Alyssa was really a creature with many feelings inside of her, that she was more woman than
machine and more human than alien. His partner had believed in her so much, even in the
end. Dale could not deny that in the end, Michaels had died for the team, for him, but
most importantly, for her as well. Whether or not she knew that or even cared, Dale would
have once answered with a definite no.
Yet that look in her eyes...
The dark-haired man paused in his thinking. Perhaps, Michaels knew more than any of
them did, perhaps he saw truth were they had seen only darkness. In that moment he missed
the man who had stood by his side in the past few months more than anyone he had ever met.
"Tell me everything," Dale said at last. His determination shone through then and he
faced her, Alyssa Smith, his mentor and his greatest adversary.
She did not blink as she stepped closer to him then, and reached out a hand to him as
if asking him to rise, "Yes," she answered simply.
'I will show you everything that you desire to know, my son.'
He reached out his hand to her and was met with the truth of the past.
.blue.
blueweber@hotmail.com
* Aa - Yes (Usually used by males)
* Aishiteru - I love you (The real, soul deep thang. These words are used
seriously and with very deep meanings attached... too bad Usagi
totally abused it during her teasings of Rei-chan)
* Amerikajin - (if you haven't figured it out already) American
* Baka - Idiot
* -chan - A term of endearment used for girls or children
* Dame - Stop
* Kami-sama - God
* Odango-atama - Rei uses this in the anime, it means something similar to
"dumpling-head" Odango = dumpling, and atama = head. So when Rei-chan
calls Usagi a baka atama, she's saying something along the lines of
stupid head. Yes, I know it's childish but look at the way they're acting
*point point* now, doesn't the nick name seem SO much more appropriate in
that type of situation?
* Oi - Hey (Usually used to call for attention and I think it's used
primarily by males. I haven't heard a female use it yet.)
* -san - A term of formality, *similar* but not exactly like Mr., Mrs., or
Ms.
A tribute to...
A. L. a Campo (my editor)
His Lordship Chaos,
Ken Wolfe, &
Angus MacSpon.
For Don, who was one of the first to
believe in me and this project that
took a life of its own.
And everyone who had helped & encouraged
me during my trials and my errors ^-^;;
Thank you for every dream and every
inspiration...
Thank you for everything.
.blue.
blueweber@hotmail.com