The Pulse
Part 15
Author: Uh, what's my name again? Oh yeah! Nyneve!
Well peeples, this is the chappie where it will all become clear to you. All of the mysteries of life will be revealed. Well, all of the important ones anyways. *deep breaths* Now, uh, if you'll all remember the ****** *** thing from a while back? That's gonna come clear too. In order to continue reading, you must promise in advance not to seek me out and kill me. Do you promise? I hope so. Don't own the anime.
-Nyneve *cringe*
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"What? Where'd she go?" Duo cried. The five pilots stared in disbelief. One moment, Trista was dying in Trowa's arms, the next; she turns into purple dust and flies away?
"Something's going on. I think we'd better get back and check on the others," Quatre suggested. The others nodded, then suddenly; a calm, yet unfamiliar voice spoke out.
"There is no need for that. You will not find the Sailor Senshi there," it said. Heero immediately pointed his gun at two shadowy figures near a tree.
"Come out where we can see you," he ordered. The figures obliged.
It was a pair of old men, dressed in red and blue robes. The man in the red robe was struggling to hold a tall silver staff and a person…
"Trista?" Trowa called uncertainly, recognizing her face. She looked exactly as she had a few moments before, but how did the old man get a hold of her.
"Who are you anyways?" Wufei asked suspiciously, looking back and forth between the two men. The one in blue seemed to have a kinder face, and he was smiling sadly. But the man in red, the one holding Trista, seemed to have something hard and cold in his eyes.
"We're people you can trust," Blue said. Duo laughed sarcastically.
"We haven't exactly had the best luck with people who just show up out of nowhere, since they've all been trying to kill us," he remarked.
"You trusted Amy and the others, didn't you?" Red asked. That shut the braided pilot up quick.
"Please, excuse my colleague. He's not the kindest person one would hope to meet. Allow us to introduce ourselves. I am Kairos, God of Unlimited Time *," Blue replied. "And don't worry, we know very well who the five of you are and what you've been up to for the past few weeks."
"Yes. Anyways, my name is Chronos, God of Physical Time **. I believe you've already met my daughter Pluto, Mistress of the Time Gates," Red said, his eyes falling on Trista.
"Trista is goddess?" Quatre gasped.
"Demi-goddess, to be specific. I created her of my own blood to be the Guardian of Time," Chronos explained. "But she is immortal, if that's what you were guessing."
"And the others? What about them?" Wufei asked cynically.
"They have their own secrets that they may or may not share with you. At the moment though, none of them can. That is why Chronos and I are here," Kairos explained. "You need to learn the whole truth."
"The truth. Does this have anything to do with Night and her daughters calling us 'Shard-bearers'?" Heero asked.
"Yes. But we must start from the beginning. That means, we must have everyone present. Trowa, if you would take my daughter…" Chronos trailed off. Trowa gently took her in his arms, then laid her down on the ground.
Meanwhile, the Gods of Time had waved their hands a couple of times, and out of thin air, Raye, Amy, Mina, and Lita all materialized. They too, were still unconscious, and lay still next to Trista.
"Now then. Before we wake them up, we need to make a deal with you. If we wake them up, you must promise to do whatever is asked of you, and convince the Senshi to do the same," Chronos said.
"I don't like the sound of that bargain," Duo said.
"We hate to barter with other people's lives, but in this case, it's necessary. If you want to see them alive again, you have to swear you'll do what we ask," Kairos said, a slight tone of guilt in his voice.
"What choice do we have?" Quatre asked solemnly, kneeling down to touch Raye's hand. "I swear, whatever you want me to do, I'll do it."
"I guess I swear too. For Ames," Duo muttered.
"As Pluto's father, I can only trust your judgement. You have my word," Trowa agreed.
There was silence for a few moments, then Heero spoke.
"I swear, as long as you can promise it will be for a good purpose," he said.
"Good and Evil are so much alike, how could we possibly tell the difference? However, you have already given your promise, so…" Chronos trailed off. Heero had nothing additional to say.
That left Wufei. Kairos stared at him.
"I don't know where you got the idea I cared anything for the onna. She's quite obnoxious, and needs to work on her temper," he said.
"Come on Wu-man. You were willing to help her back when Nemesis challenged her. You've got to have a little respect for her, at least," Duo said.
"Maxwell, for the last time, if you want to wake up tomorrow, do not call me Wu-man!" Wufei growled. That gave him an idea.
"Okay, I promise I won't call you Wu-man if you promise to do what the old dudes say," he grinned. The Chinese boy glared murderously at him then finally gave in.
"Fine. I promise. And if you don't stick to your end of the bargain Maxwell, I swear to God I will kill you," he threatened.
"Well then, since we have everyone's word…" Kairos smiled slightly as a staff appeared in his hand. It looked exactly like the Time Staff, which Chronos was now holding, except for a yellow ball on top.
A light flashed out of the orb, and then the staff disappeared again.
"Come on Artemis! Five more minutes," came a muffled groan from Mina.
"What the? You guys! Wake up!" Raye suddenly cried, looking around. "Guys! What in the world is going on here?"
"Well, the five of you have just come back to life courtesy of Wufei and the Gods of Time. Meanwhile, Night and all of her creepy offspring have all been killed, thanks to you," Duo smiled.
"You never can make a long story short, can you?" Amy murmured, standing up behind him.
"Nope!" he cried, wrapping his arms around her tightly. She blushed furiously, but nevertheless leaned closer to him.
"Um, this whole reunion thing is cool, I am totally and utterly confused," Lita remarked.
"It's understandable. Chronos and I can barely understand what is taking place ourselves. But I will try to explain," Kairos's gentle eyes were now serious.
"In the deepest space there is nothing. It is just an empty void, with a pulse coursing through it steadily. This pulse is caused by the powers of Life and Death. A long time ago, the powers were given a form by a nameless god. For the power of Death, there was the Thanatos Crystal. For Life, the Bios Crystal."
Mina chose then to interrupt. "But I thought the Silver Crystal was the Life Crystal."
"No. The Silver Crystal and the Black Crystal were both servants under the Bios Crystal. In truth, Good and Evil only exist in Life, not Death. Now, please continue Kairos," Chronos explained.
"At first, the two crystals were cared for by gods, but as time went by, and people forgot, the gods could no longer take care of the crystals. So, they decided to place them into human souls. However, if either of the crystals went into a human body, the power would destroy them. So each crystal was shattered into five shards. At first, the crystals were passed through blood. When one bearer would die, then next person in their line would be born with the shard. However, this too was taking a toll. You see, Life and Death can never exist as one. They will eventually corrode each other. So Chronos and I intervened. We removed the Thanatos shards from their bearers, and placed them into five bodies in a different time line. Eventually, those five shards were passed down five young men, who, unbeknownst to them, used them in a war."
Everyone stared in shock. That meant not one, but all five of the pilots held the power of Death!
"So, this whole time, we only obtained peace by using the power of Death? Whoa…" the only remark from Duo.
Kairos gave him a look, then continued.
"Meanwhile, we decided that it would be fitting for the Bios shards to be moved as well. So we placed them in the bodies of five young women, one of who was Chronos's own daughter," he said.
"So that means, that the five of us have the Bios Crystals, right?" Amy guessed. Chronos nodded.
"It is these shards that have given you all such great power. In truth, your gifts surpass even those of Saturn and Moon," he remarked.
"So, if the Bios Crystals gave their bearers powers, what about the Thanatos Crystals?" Quatre asked curiously.
"Your shards have given you powers as well, though it would take years to show you how to master their gifts. And we don't have that kind of time," Chronos added.
"Why not? I mean, if Night's defeated, what's stopping us from keeping the shards?" Mina asked. Kairos's serious expression turned to one filled with pain and regret.
"It's not the Bios Shards that are a danger. The Thanatos Shards are what's causing the imbalance in the pulse. If they get any stronger, Death will prevail over life, and we shall all perish. However, there is a way to weaken the Thanatos Shards. During these past few years, the Thanatos Shards have constantly been working, because their bearers were under so much pressure. In this time of peace, the Shards are no longer being drained, and are growing stronger. Whereas the Bios Shards are still being used to protect Crystal Tokyo. That leaves us with two options. One, the peace for which the five of you pilots have fought for must be ended, or…"
He paused here, and refused to speak.
"You mean start another war? We can't do that!" Duo cried. The other pilots nodded in agreement. Even the Senshi, who were confused as to what war everyone was talking about, seemed to understand the struggle it had taken to achieve the peace.
"There is one other option. The Shards also draw power from their bearers. If the bearers are destroyed, then the Shards could be significantly weakened. And if the Bios Crystals are used to destroy them, they will grow much stronger. Enough anyways, so that the balance will be restored," Chronos said grimly.
The others processed what he said.
"Oh God, no. Please, no," Amy whispered, clinging closely to Duo. The Gods of Time nodded.
"Yes. You, Sailor Senshi, must kill the Gundam Pilots."
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*ducks as heavy objects come flying* No! I want to live! *scratches head* Okay, bad choice of words. Please, R+R. Don't worry, flames are expected.
Footnotes:
*Kairos, or Unlimited Time, is a theory that defines Time and Space as one.
**Chronos, or Physical Time, is the time we're used to, like the kind you can read with clocks.