Treason
12
(Unlikely Companions)
The ring of fire blazed around us and prevented any turning back. I turned to look over my companions; the flames dancing on their faces gave off an eerie glow. My mission was the tower and now I had Healer by my side. "Fighter, we're coming with you." Sailor Moon stated, taking a step towards Healer and I.
"No, I could never forgive myself is something happened to you." I was being sucked into her again. Even with all of the animosity I felt in this situation, the bleak and hopeless future that it could all lead to, I still felt drawn to her. As if their gazes were lit with fire, I could feel the small senshi and Kamen's eyes burrowing into me.
"SILENT WALL!!" Saturn's battle cry scraped my thoughts and brought my mind back to sober. We had obviously taken too long for Zankou and he had felt the need to provoke the nebula. Sucking in the matter around it and compressing it into the most dense of materials, the nebula fired out a flaming ball of gas with a speeding bomb in the midst of it.
I looked to Healer and knew we had to make our move now. The blast had passed us and I took my opening to escape. I couldn't look back at her face, it would be too hard and I had to push myself to drive forward, Saturn was her salvation now.
"Who was the little senshi?" Healer asked as we got far enough away from the others that we were out of earshot. We stopped briefly to take in our surroundings. We were moving quickly, but we weren't completely foolish. I didn't answer her right away and perhaps that was my mistake. The hesitation in my answer opened her mind to seek out all the possible problems. "You're obviously not a big fan of her." She huffed a bit and I could feel the unconscious scowl that had formed on my face.
"She's Odango and Mamoru's daughter from the future." I gave her the information she was looking for in an uninvitingly mono-toned voice. Quickly trying to change the subject, I motioned for her to look a little higher on the tower. "We need to get to the top without going near the bottom."
"Please tell me you're going into this with a clear mind?" Healer warned having paid no attention to my previous statement.
I sighed and turned from the 'battlefield' ahead of us. "Listen." I told her staring her straight in the eye, my form as solid as steel. "I have a clear mind, I've dealt with this problem and faced my eternity long before this."
"If you say so." Her voice irritated me beyond belief at that moment. Without Maker here to play referee there was no telling when this match would end. We didn't have time for this. We saw the cannon blast before we heard it. Knowing well enough that I didn't have to protect Healer, because she was fully able to fend for herself, I could move that much more quickly. We successfully dodged the blast with a large comfort zone. He knew where we were.
"We're going to have to teleport to the top." Healer said as her gaze followed the curving steal structure of the tower.
I stared at her for a long moment in contemplation. I wasn't sure if I COULD teleport anywhere! Between the original trip here and the massive amount of energy I wasted fighting off the Epochs, I seriously doubted whether or not I could muster up enough energy to support a transport for myself. "Think, there has to be another way."
"What's wrong with you? There isn't another way, unless you plan on getting yourself killed. As for me, that was not on my list of things to do today." Healer looked back at me and we weren't allowed to hang on her sarcasm too long before another cannon blast had been fired at us.
The dust cloud that had formed from the shifting concrete and all the other commotion was not helping my breathing right now. My lungs struggled as I took in heavy breaths of the polluted air. There was silence again and Healer looked toward me in anticipation. "Well?" She asked holding out her hand.
"I can't." I stated with anger in my voice. I wasn't pissed at Healer, no, I was pissed at myself and the limits of my abilities right then. "We're going to need one more person, you can't power my ass by yourself."
"Then it's a good thing that I did come." A voice said from behind us. I didn't want to turn around, fearing that the voice did indeed belong to who I thought it did.
"Tuxedo Kamen." Healer said surprised that he had followed us. "Good let's get going."
"Don't think you're saving us." I remarked snidely to Kamen as his eyes just narrowed on my form. I didn't care if Healer witnessed the bitterness in my statement and he wasn't doing anything to hide his dislike either. Healer's eyes passed over both of us in silent thought.
Without saying another word to one another we were teleporting to the top of Tokyo Tower. I had never fought side by side with Kamen before, to tell the truth I had never felt either way about him. Now, having been near him for the greater part of the day, I knew my patience was going to be put to the ultimate test. We were almost upon the tower when another blast came sailing towards us. Having no way to steer and avoid the blast that quickly, our only choice was to disband.
The force field of light that had once surrounded us now dissipated and we found ourselves falling, plummeting down the side of the tower. We had made it to nearly the top of the tower before we were under fire. I had to latch onto something soon or the fall alone would kill me. The cross beams of the tower were coming closer to me as I fell, as the tower fanned out at the bottom. There was one chance for me to grab a beam that was close enough, if I missed that one, I was going to smack into the one below. I doubted I would live from such a thing.
As if falling wasn't bad enough, the adrenaline poured from my heart and my breath caught in my throat. It was now or never. SOLID. My hand gripped firmly onto the beam in front of me. As the rest of my body caught up with my new position, I felt my arm nearly rip from its socket on impact. Subconsciously I reached my arm out before me to grab onto the other falling mass. It was a blur of black. My shoulder ached once again as the added weight jerked at my hold even more than I had been expecting it to. This wasn't Healer, this was too heavy to be her petite frame.
I looked down to see just what I had grabbed onto and there was Tuxedo Kamen staring up at me with wide eyes full of fear. The brief thought of releasing my hold on his hand crossed my mind, but my conscious kicked in. It always seemed to have the worst timing. My body felt as though it was going to split in two from the uneven placement of the unfamiliar weight. The aches and pains were thrown to the back of my mind as we became encircled by maniacal laughter that pierced my senses with it derisive undertone. It was Zankou, and he seemed to be quite pleased with himself.
"FIGHTER?!" Healer's voice called down to us. My heart relieved itself of a small burden at the sound of her voice. She had some how managed to find safety in the upper lofts of the metal framework. Her silver ponytail hung down along side her face as she stared down at us from above.
"Go on!" I called up to her trying to tell her I was alright, though I had doubts myself, I knew there was nothing she could do for me. "We'll catch up!"
A sound that resembled a jet engine starting began to emanate from atop the tower. "What the hell is that?" I asked myself as I looked up. Healer's face was staring upwards too.
"It's the cannon!" Kamen's voice shrieked from below. I had never noticed the sound of the cannons powering up before, it was probably due to our distance from the barrel or the force field we were in while teleporting. It didn't matter now, even though we had warning, we had nowhere to go.
"Healer! It's the cannons!" I called up to her trying to get her in to safety. I strained my muscles past any effort I had ever made before trying to pull Kamen up to me, but it was no use.
"It's coming!" Kamen looked up and past me with horror and I couldn't help but turn my eyes up to witness our demise. A brilliant blue light, with what appeared to be small light bursts throughout it, had emerged from the top of the structure and was now soaring down towards us at a tremendous speed. Healer's form was gone and I thanked god that she had some sense left in her.
This was it, and there was nothing I could do. Even if I did drop Kamen, I still wouldn't have time to save myself. Immense heat radiated from the blast and I could sense it getting closer until finally its bright light blinded me and claimed all of my senses in it's warm light.
Excruciating pain surged through my back and I saw the skin on my arm blacken and peel. The feeling was unbearable, and tainted with the stench of burning flesh, it almost made me lose my grip on the beam. Thank god I was wearing my gloves, I couldn't imagine the extreme temperature that the beams had reached from the continued blasts.
It had passed. It was cold… very cold.
"Kamen?" I called down to see if I was still holding onto a soul or a dead body. His head turned up to me, him top hat and mask long gone, I now saw him as just a man in a bad suit and not any type of soldier. "We have to get off the edge, if he fires that cannon again, it's not going to be a pretty sight."
His blue eyes stared back at me defiantly. "Do you honestly think he's stupid enough to risk another shot down the side of the tower?" He gestured for me to turn my eyes down below us. The blast from the cannon had only helped to feed the fire that Mars had produced during our fight with the Epochs. "If the fire continues as it's going or if he blasts more, he'll lose his fortress."
"Even still, do you want to risk his judgment or test his insanity?" I focused my eyes on him questioningly. Why did this have to be so difficult? I was caught myself thinking that even being stuck with Uranus would have been better.
"What do you suggest we do? Fly?"
"Oh yeah, you're helping." I rolled my eyes and wondered if he even realized the predicament he was in. I don't think I was the best target for his criticism just now. "You're going to have to climb up me."
"Nani?!" He looked up at me shocked, his ripped and singed cape flapping in the night breeze behind him.
"I can't pull you up, I've lost too much energy, and it's too far of a fall to let you drop to the next level." I smirked down at him with a nonchalant look upon my face. "It's up to you, if you wish I can just drop you now."
The look of distaste on his face told me clearly that he was not pleased with the outcome of this situation. Here he was 'coming to save me' supposedly and look how the tables had turned. There may be justice out there after all.
He made his decision. His free hand came up to encircle my bare thighs and then he freed his hand from my hold to wrap it securely around my waist. I don't know who this was more uncomfortable for, me or him, but I was definitely leaning more towards myself. His head came to rest again the leather that covered my hip. Trying to make his efforts quick, due to his obvious discomfort, his hand reached up farther on my body once more. "You had to be a girl didn't you?" He asked as his hand searched for a place to hold onto and his legs enclosed around my own.
"Oh?" I asked seeing what little humor there was in the situation. "And you'd rather be wrapped enticingly around another man?" I asked with my famous lopsided smirk and felt his grip falter for a moment. "I can change to Seiya if you'd like."
"NO!" He said, his face immediately becoming reddened. "I mean no, I wouldn't want you to waste any more energy."
"Fine then, hurry up though." I was amused but even though I could use both of my hands for support now, it still wasn't a pleasant experience. His arm came up and wrapped around my neck and I felt the full length of his body pressed against mine. He pulled himself up higher, his face a breath away from my own, and his leg wrapped in a very suggestive manner around my own. He looked into my eyes for a long moment and I swear a blush crept over his face. "Move!" I demanded when he had successfully taken hold of the beam above us.
My muscles sighed in relief as the added weight had been removed and my own lithe body dangled below my arms. Haven taken a bit of a break from the dead weight that had been attached to me, I swung myself up and onto the beam I had been holding onto. What a feeling it was to be back on my feet. "Do you need help?" I asked as I looked over the side at him. A frown marred his face and he too climbed up to rest beside me. "I hope Healer is making out alright." I thought out loud as I looked up the tower.
We had a perfect view of all that surrounded us in the tower. The illuminating light from the Nebula below cast large shadows, but made our path clear. I stood and he followed. Without saying anything we began our march to the stairs that would bring us to the top of the tower. The silence surrounded us and the only thing that could be heard was the sound of our shoes against the metal of the stairs.
My body stiffened as the tower began to shake slightly, the same noise that we had heard before rang in my ears as it echoed down the center of the tower. He was firing up the cannons again. I looked to Kamen in confusion and he didn't appear to have any more of an idea than I did as to what was going on. Without any other signs, the cannon was fired, but this time not at us. Panic pulsed in my mind as I could only assume the worst.
"We have to keep going." I stated bluntly trying to push my way past him in the stairwell.
He shot me a disbelieving look with his brow cocked. "He could be firing at them right now!"
"And that is why we have to continue to the top. This is the only thing we can do for them right now. Standing here isn't going to get anything done." With one final shove I made sufficient room to pass him.
I heard him begin to follow me. "We're so different." He said with a sigh.
"Yeah, no kidding." I huffed back at him and continued my climb.
"I thought she had fallen in love with you only because you reminded her of me." I didn't want to turn around and look at him, I didn't really want to be having this kind of a conversation with him… especially not now. He laughed slightly before continuing. "I guess it would have made it easier for me to accept that she loved someone else besides me, as long as they were just like me."
"Why are you telling me this?" I asked as I shot around to stare him straight in the eye, not wanting to tolerate his heartbreak on top of my own any longer. "You think you're the only one hurt by this?"
"I just thought I should let you know where I was coming from."
"I know where you're coming from." I shot back before he could continue. We had stopped on the stairs and I was staring down at him with anger now. "Even if you think we are so different, we are both coming from the same place, though you know where you're going to end up." I shook my head and turned my gaze up ahead to where we were going. "This confrontation was a long time in the works, ne?"
I didn't see him clearly, but I could sense his nod from the corner of my eye. I let some of my anger die down and I continued to walk up the stairs to my fate. "I know you're going to end up with her, but I'm grateful for even the small moment that I got to hold her in my arms." I smiled slightly to myself, sure that he hadn't caught it. "I'd like to think that I don't end up with her because I die protecting her, and not because she rejects me… but wishing and fantasies will only get you so far." It was as though I had just sealed my fate, admitting this truth to him and made it seem that much more real. I felt my heart breaking in two, as though a piece of my soul had just been stripped away. The light inside my mind that burned for Odango and I had dimmed to almost non-existence. The swelling ache in my chest hindered my breath and made it hard to go on.
"Are you alright?" He asked as though we were friends. "Do you want to rest?"
"We can't…"
"Uranus! You don't really mean that!" A feminine voice echoed in the floor above us. I stopped moving and listened to see just who was there.
"Think about it Neptune. If Fighter had been killed on Kinmoku, maybe all of this wouldn't have happened? Hell if she had died in the battle with Galaxia, we wouldn't be dealing with this now! We wouldn't have become distracted!" A husky voice that I knew to be Uranus' stung my ears as I heard her wishing for my death one more time in my life.
Neptune's voice followed, calmer and soothing. "It's not her fault that we were lured away from our planet. Pluto told us that this was supposed to be a time of peace and that we had nothing to worry about leaving the planet unguarded. And just think, if she had been killed in the battle with Chaos, then perhaps our princess would have been too, and maybe we wouldn't have been here together now."
"Erghh!" Uranus' growl cut her off, and I didn't want to poke my head up to see their situation and risk my neck just now. "What if she chooses her… him… whatever?! What if Koneko chooses that alien?!"
Neptune's voice paused momentarily, and then resumed a little lighter than before. "Would that be so bad?"
"Nani?!" Uranus' voice was curt and filled with shock. "You're saying you'd rather see her with that alien than our own Prince?"
"He's not OUR Prince, and I'd like to see her with whoever is going to make her happy." Some low guttural mutters came from Uranus, but I couldn't make them out. I assumed that they were in no way flattering to me though. "Just think, your 'friendly enemy' looks similar to Kamen, has the same attitude problem you do, and to top it off, is a girl."
I looked over my shoulder to Kamen to see how he was faring throughout this conversation. He seemed to be staring at nothing in particular, while his ears picked up on the words that came from Odango's senshi, a look of mild contemplation sat upon his face.
"What the hell does that have to do with anything?" Uranus shot back. I didn't feel bad about eavesdropping on the pair, not at all.
"I know how you feel about our Princess."
"She's our Princess!"
"Uranus, please." Neptune cut off her defense. "I know you wouldn't be totally against seeing our Princess end up with someone that was more like you."
"No… I guess… not…" The harsh blonde's reply came a little reluctantly, and I highly doubted that she would have reacted the same way if they weren't alone.
"Good, because we have company." Neptune said in a singsong voice. "We know you're there, you might as well come up."
My eyes flashed to Kamen's and he seemed just as surprised as I was. I could only assume that she was referring to us and decided that we had to face the music before they came looking for us. They were after all supposed to be our allies! My feet dredged up the stairs until their forms came into view.
Uranus sat leaning against a pole, for what looked like support. Her hand was clutched at her side and I could see the pristine white of her fuku stained with the deep rich red of blood. Neptune stood only feet away from her and greeted us with a smile. I should have known better than to hope that she wouldn't have sensed us. "Is it only you two?" She asked examining the stairwell we had just come from.
"Yes, Healer is up above and we assumed that everyone else was on the ground." I answered her giving her all that I knew. Uranus wouldn't even look at the two of us, not that I wanted to see the scowl on her face anyway.
"You two make an unlikely pair." Neptune mused.
"How did you two get here?" Kamen questioned before our situation was looked into any more.
"We climbed up the tower from the outer most supports-" Neptune started.
"Yeah and that burning piece of hell down below fired at us!" Uranus answered.
"Regardless, we made it this far without getting hit, when another blast came. With all the noise and trying to avoid the 'bomb' we failed to notice an Epoch waiting in the shadows."
"The goddamn bastard stabbed me!" Uranus motioned towards the wound that spread from her side to her stomach. There was no way to tell how big it really was, the blood, I was sure, was making it seem a lot worse than it was. But I knew Uranus, she wouldn't let a mere flesh wound inhibit her like this, it was serious. My eyes traced over the area around us and sure enough I found what remained of the Epoch that had most likely received the full impact of Uranus' anger.
"She can't go on." Neptune looked back at Uranus who was taking staggered breaths while her eyes seemed to droop a little more.
"Are you going to stay here with her?" Kamen questioned.
"No she should come with us." I stated looking away from Uranus' pitiful state and straight at Neptune.
"That will leave Uranus defenseless!" Kamen shouted.
"No, she's right, Neptune, you should go with them." Uranus seethed through her pierced lips. I know it had taken a lot for her to admit that she was of no use in the first place, and then to have to agree to the fact with me? That simple fact probably drove her over the edge. Neptune had no argument and simply nodded.
"STAR SENSITIVE INFERNO!!" Echoed down the tower and caused us to turn our sights upwards. Green lights shown down upon us from above in the center column. Healer was still alive. My feet picked up before I could explain anything. She was only a few floors up.