AN: I'll try to make this short so you can go onto the story soon. Time is
precious; I have none lately, and am getting less and less for the future.
This is the unofficial final chapter of SR, until such a time that I can
have more than five minutes a day to type. This story was planned to be the
second in a group of stories, and still is, but until the FIRST story of
this chronicle is written with 'the other white guy' *grins* and finished
completely, I refuse to finish this story totally. It would totally spoil
the ending for the first one! The first story will be one on Queen Serenity
about the time Princess Serenity was born, and maybe a few years before.
'Kay, now that that's all out, I don't own sailor moon, probably never will, wish I did, but don't while Takeuchi-san does, and.On with the story!
**********************************
Unjust Seduction:: Price for Everything
By: Kon Gyousano
**********************************
Jaki Kurai had always been a rule-breaker. As a child he had disobeyed his parents orders, as a teen he had broken laws, and as an adult he tried as many risky activities as he dared. His chosen form of business at the moment: Select Robber. He wasn't just in it for the money; he was in it for the thrill, the adrenaline rush that came with doing something on a whim and knowing you would not only be paid to do the illegal, you would be all too happy to do it.
Wiping off his saber so the blood staining it went onto the filthy rag in his hands, he looked down at his latest victim, a small fiery haired Venusian. It hadn't been too hard to get her alone, and the step-mother of this girl who gave him the salary had decided to give him a bonus if he could make it look like an accident. Deciding that he'd make it look like she fell, the brown-haired thief carefully dragged the girl over towards a nearby well. Dumping her small body near the well, the carefully placed a quill in the saber wound. There, done. She had been running, had tripped over the well's rope, and had gotten stabbed by the writing utensil.
Right now he was in a rather small village on Earth, looking for a new paying customer seeking out his 'services'. Lately business had been with nobles stealing from less wealthy figures because of grudges or more complicated matters. Kurai didn't really care at all about the more difficult aspects of the relationships between the people he stole from and for. They were all the same to him, as long as they had money, he would gladly work for them.
Lifting his greasy head, he looked at the surrounding villagers. They were just common people, who would never get anywhere important in life, while he would be living it large off the money of others. Sneering at an elderly woman who bumped into him, he threw her aged arm off him and pushed her into the dirt. Looking down his nose at her, he scoffed dust into her face as he walked away. His stride held arrogance and a sort of condescending step to it, giving him the overall appearance of a conceited man.
He had fought people to injure them, assassinated people, tortured people, stolen, trespassed, and raped people of ages. His mindset was that as long as the pay was high enough, and the job not suicidal, he would do just about anything.
From his left, a man in all black stepped out into the daylight, bowing shortly to Kurai. Kurai was about to spit out some vicious comment about the man getting in his way, when said figure silently held out a rather large beige coin bag.
Greedy emerald eyes locked onto the pouch filled to the bursting point with jingling money. A raspy voice plagued by years came from the chapped lips of Kurai in a question that sounded meager to him, and desperate to his new employer. "What d'ya want?"
The pale lips of the stranger quirked up at the edges, as he drew from his cloak a infinitely deep crystal ball which glowed a sickening array of dark colors around the edge. Shifting his arms so that one hand held the orb, he gazed into the globe and an image appeared of a rather large group dressed in cloths that would immediately label them nobles. The reply to the former question came out in a voice that sounded unnaturally deep to Kurai, "Kidnap the couple, and any of the other's you can." He placed the coin bag into the robber's hands without waiting for a response.
Snorting derisively, the green-eyed thief looked from the money to the mysterious figure like he was crazy. "Seven 'gainst one? An' look! The man's armed! I'd go down 'fore I even got 'a chance ta touch 'em! I'd need at least.nine otha's to help mah." Instantly a group surrounded the shadowed figure, each armed with at least three different weapons, and all nine bowing.
"I want those two unharmed! The other's you may do as you please with." Turning on his heel, the cloaked figure left an astounded criminal with a wicked smile on his hideous face and nine bandits bowing their heads respectfully to their new leader.
*********************
Beryl hurled an entirely red vase across the room, taking whatever small pleasure she could out of the shattering sound the broken glass made. Screaming angrily, she began to pace the room she was confined to for the time being. Metallia was such a witch! She wanted to have Endymion not Onyx! How could Metallia even think she would sit through a sharing of souls ceremony with that bastard! Well, the shadow power was an enticing offer, but not if she was stuck with such an ass of a husband. She would not, COULD not, share souls with Onyx.
However, what would happen if she were to wait it out, and destroy Onyx sometime after the ceremony, and before she got Endymion?
******************
Onyx had officially decided; that redheaded bitch needed to go. Screw marrying that clawed slut, he wanted glory for his own purposes, and he didn't intend to go through someone else to get it. He would simply kill Beryl while she slept, and make it seem like an accident. Metallia wouldn't mind, she loved death and destruction. Now, the only problem was how to destroy the both of them.
Maybe if he sent one of his shadow minions to do the job? Yes, that could work.
He smirked, that would work.
*******************
Usagi gazed at the most beautiful thing she had ever laid eyes on; for once ignoring the warm body she was embracing. A small yet ornate cottage was beside a vast lake, which was glimmering gold in the fading light of the sun. Large oaks surrounded the bungalow and an intricate garden was placed in the front of the tiny house, with small buds of different flowers already showing in it. To the right of the shimmering lake was a small valley where the trees were scarce and a few rabbits and birds were still playing in the dim light of dusk. A smile of complete bliss graced her features, as she looked at the lovely setting before her.
"What is this place?" She said in a soft but awed voice. This place smelled strongly of flowers and the wind was carrying the scent of water from the lake.
"This is our new home," He looked down at the angelic figure beside him, staring around amazed at the simples yet elegant area he had chosen to built a house for the senshi and their princess to stay in.
"Thank you! Will you be staying with us? Will you come visit us sometimes? How much-" He shushed her with a single rose grazing her mouth. She looked up at him and away from the landscape, noting bemusement flicker through his stormy eyes and she wondered briefly what he was thinking about.
Meanwhile, a dark-haired prince was fighting an inner battle with whether to replace the flower with his mouth, or to just pull it away and hold her. He chose the latter, and she gazed starry-eyed at the scenery as the final burst of color from the golden sun covered the landscape, than disappeared over the horizon, and the fading colors of sunset played across the area.
Deciding it was the perfect time, where nobody would see them, the crown prince bent over towards his love while she looked up at him curiously. Time froze over and the world became a blend of everything around them swirling into a jumbled mess as their lips met. Light and darkness, peril and peace, joy and anger combined into one huge mass of power being transferred through each of them.
Dimly aware of the cooing noises of people in the background, clapping, and a whistle, Serenity opened her eyes. Her guardians were around her, and beside them. "Guys!" she squealed, looking at the new joiners of their party. It was none other than the guardians of Jupiter, each named after one of the planet's moons.
They had three leaders among them who settle small disagreements and represented the whole pack of them at times like this. Io stepped forward, hugging Serenity as she did, along with Leda and Ganymede. "What are you doing here?" Serenity inquired, shooting a short but suspicious glance at Jupiter who held up her hands innocently.
Io smiled and stepped away from the princess bowing low and then replying lightly. "We came to see how long before Jupiter.. I mean Makoto starts guy- hunting." Io grinned sheepishly and brushed a stray pink hair out of her face, explaining in a calm serious voice, "Actually we came to make sure nothing dangerous happens to our favorite princess."
Makoto made a noise of half-anger half-amusement and turned her back on them, head held high. Ganymede patted her shoulder, silently reassuring her that they still pledged this lives to Jupiter, but Serenity was higher in terms or royal status so they had to be very cautious of what they said.
Suddenly Leda looked up sharply, along with Endymion. Looking around, they realized too late what had caused their panic.
The sound of rushing air came all too soon, as dozen upon dozen arrows were fired at the group. Endymion unsheathed his gleaming blade with added effect of a sliding medal against metal noise.
Swinging the sword around in front of the group, only three arrows out of at least four dozen made it through, and two of them hit the ground. Leda though, wasn't so fortunate.
Letting out a high yelp of pain, she clutched her shoulder, where blood was already seeping through her fingers. The black-feathered end of an arrow protruded at an odd angle out of her arm. Closing mint colored eyes filled with pain, she ground her teeth together as the pain drove her to her knees. If she could just call on her guardian powers and transform.Picturing a tall green serpent-like creature with soft green scales lining it's shoulder less body, she felt herself begin to take on her second form.
All planetary princess guardians were given the power of transformation. The princess would of course receive it too, but they had to learn to use their senshi abilities to the fullest before they would be able to take on their animalistic forms.
Leda looked at her shoulder through tearing eyes, and slowly removed as much of the arrow as she dared. Feeling the scales starting to cover her body, she quickly let go and focused more on her transformation. In a flourish of transparent pink wind, a tiny snake took up the area a girl had just occupied, leaving beside it a bloodied arrow. Blackness was blurring her vision fast, and Leda decided she only could do one more thing to aid the battle going on around her. Hissing quietly, she sent out the last of her power to Jupiter, giving her the boosted senshi attack ability.
Closing her slit-eyes she hissed one final time and let her second body surrender to the pain of the arrow.
Meanwhile, a hoard of bandits had appeared out of nowhere and was attacking the senshi, unsuspecting of their powers. When Endymion drew his sword to their arrows, they quickly grabbed their daggers and sabers and lunged into the clearing. Io quickly her pulled her triple bow taught, pulling three golden arrows from her quiver. With aim and grace unlike any human, she shot down the first of the three bandits with her eyes filled with a stinging hate.
****************************
A dark shadow hovered in the trees a short distance away from the battle scene, taking everything in. The man with the sword and shield bearing the crest of the royal family, the girl with the royal hairstyle of the moon kingdom and angelic features, and the girls all huddled around the two. Sizing up the situation, the mysterious figure leapt off the tree and into the forming black mist.
A feral laugh escaped his lips as the figure looked back once more, before being completely enveloped by the rising darkness.
The master would be most pleased with this new information; those bandits had turned out useful after all. Too bad they were going to die in a matter of seconds.
******************************
The senshi looked up abruptly as they felt a tiny pang of dark energy being used. Giving the area a quick second-glance, they all noticed the same thing out of place. The fairies had stopped shrieking. Mercury looked up suddenly as one fairy let out a tiny squeak-like wail.
Catching snatches of what the little creature was trying to say, Mercury's eyes filled with dread. Frantically the usually calm girl screamed in as loud a voice she could muster, "GET DOWN!"
On senshi instinct everyone dropped to the ground instantly, while Endymion grabbed Serenity by the waist and dove for the ground. A small explosion went off seconds later, and the senshi covered their faces to try and keep the rising smoke out. When they looked up and through singed hair, they saw what they feared most. Io, Leda and Amber seemed to have been thrown twenty feet back and knocked unconscious, a small crater covered the area they had occupied, while Endymion, Mars, and Serenity were nowhere to be seen.
******************************
Rei woke up to pounding in her skull, and ringing in her ears, not to mention the taste of wet mud in her mouth. Slowly sitting up so she didn't disturb the tiny dwarfs with axes in her head, she spat out whatever mud she could.
Ebony lashes hesitantly blinked open to reveal dazed violet eyes, but quickly slammed shut because of the bright light. Blinking rapidly to reduce the searing whiteness, her pupils adjusted to the lighting of wherever she was.
Once she could fully open her eyes, her mouth parted in silent awe. All around her were pictures of some sort, but they each held a different image. The ones nearest her were varied from three-dimensional, to cartoons, to moving. Looking around the room, she spotted another figure face down in the room. And hair that black wasn't easy to find, so her instant guess was Endymion!
Stumbling over to where he was, she reached out and shook him. Why were they asleep? Trying to recall what happened before she fell asleep, she vaguely recalled a high-pitched wailing, screaming, and then blackness. Maybe Endymion would remember better.
*******************************
The first thing the young prince of earth thought when he woke was that he could do with nice long shower. His armor was caked in dry mud, and coated with dust. Abruptly he remembered the battle, and.Serenity! Where was she? Looking around franticly, he noticed Rei untransformed hovering over him, shaking him-probably in some attempt to wake him up. Jumping up he immediately sat back down with his head in his hands. What a head rush! Scanning the sort of non-walled prison he was in, he noted the strange images, but ignored them until his eyes came to rest on an all-too pale hand atop a mass of gold.
Years of warrior training told him that if he attempted to stand again, he would most likely only succeed in falling over again. Deciding that crawling would work, he carefully made his way towards Princess Serenity.
Grasping her delicate wrist in his palm he pulled a curtain of golden- colored silk out of her face. She looked so peaceful just lying there, but the lessons he had learned about falling asleep after a hard hit weren't reassuring.
Reaching out with mental fingers, he checked to make sure she wasn't slipping into a catatonic state. Assured that she could sleep for a little while longer without any serious threat to her health, he contented himself with setting her halfway into his lap and stroking her hair.
The raven-haired Martian came up beside him and checked the vitals of her ward's physical state. Once she was done, she too leaned back in relief and looked around the room in wonder. "Where do you think we are?"
Continuing to twirl strands of gold between he didn't bother looking up before replying "A few days away from the Elysion." He glanced up at Rei to see the surprised look on her face and let out a short chuckle before quieting it so he wouldn't disturb the sleeping girl on his lap.
The priestess looked at him strangely before asking what nagged at her, "How would you know where we are?"
Endymion sighed heavily; he had hoped she wouldn't bother asking about that. Matters such as soul bonds, slave bonds, senshi bonds, and planetary bonds confused him a little, and were a sacred matter to top it off, one of the reasons he didn't like discussing them with anyone but Serenity.
"We don't have time for this Mars, we need to get out of here, before something else happens." He slowly got up, holding Serenity to him as if she were water, ready to slip through his fingers and break into a million droplets. His eyes blurred for a moment, before coming back into focus from the strain of supporting two people after such a hard hit to the head.
"This is sacred soil-" he began only to be interrupted by a rather unbecoming snort.
"More like mud.but go on." Rei encouraged, pulled out her henshi pen to transform. "Mars Star Power, Make up!" In a burst of flamboyant flames, rings collected to make a fuku, and eventually form seamless fabric of Sailor Mars' outfit. Not bothering to strike a pose, the psychic priestess waited for him to continue.
"And these pictures are holy. Whatever they are, they are not meant to be here. Can you feel the strained tension in this room? These were stolen, or most likely produced by some means not of this earth. We need to get these out of here, or at least as many as we can. If we took them to Elysion, we could have the shrine maidens keep them safe. Although it's at least two days journey, we would be protected there from whatever brought us here." He paused for a moment to look down at the closed lids of Serenity.
"No matter what, we have to protect Serenity."
************************************
AN: HA! Everyone else is writing cliffhangers lately, so I thought I'd join in the fun! This isn't much of a cliffy I know, but oh well! I never did like cliffhangers. Again, this is the last chapter I'll be posting for a while, until the other white guy helps me with the story before this one. Beg him to come online more often if you see him! *coughs* Tristram *coughs* So, if you see him, or the Kon-hunter, gladly point them in my direction, I need their help sometime this century!! ~*Kon*~
'Kay, now that that's all out, I don't own sailor moon, probably never will, wish I did, but don't while Takeuchi-san does, and.On with the story!
**********************************
Unjust Seduction:: Price for Everything
By: Kon Gyousano
**********************************
Jaki Kurai had always been a rule-breaker. As a child he had disobeyed his parents orders, as a teen he had broken laws, and as an adult he tried as many risky activities as he dared. His chosen form of business at the moment: Select Robber. He wasn't just in it for the money; he was in it for the thrill, the adrenaline rush that came with doing something on a whim and knowing you would not only be paid to do the illegal, you would be all too happy to do it.
Wiping off his saber so the blood staining it went onto the filthy rag in his hands, he looked down at his latest victim, a small fiery haired Venusian. It hadn't been too hard to get her alone, and the step-mother of this girl who gave him the salary had decided to give him a bonus if he could make it look like an accident. Deciding that he'd make it look like she fell, the brown-haired thief carefully dragged the girl over towards a nearby well. Dumping her small body near the well, the carefully placed a quill in the saber wound. There, done. She had been running, had tripped over the well's rope, and had gotten stabbed by the writing utensil.
Right now he was in a rather small village on Earth, looking for a new paying customer seeking out his 'services'. Lately business had been with nobles stealing from less wealthy figures because of grudges or more complicated matters. Kurai didn't really care at all about the more difficult aspects of the relationships between the people he stole from and for. They were all the same to him, as long as they had money, he would gladly work for them.
Lifting his greasy head, he looked at the surrounding villagers. They were just common people, who would never get anywhere important in life, while he would be living it large off the money of others. Sneering at an elderly woman who bumped into him, he threw her aged arm off him and pushed her into the dirt. Looking down his nose at her, he scoffed dust into her face as he walked away. His stride held arrogance and a sort of condescending step to it, giving him the overall appearance of a conceited man.
He had fought people to injure them, assassinated people, tortured people, stolen, trespassed, and raped people of ages. His mindset was that as long as the pay was high enough, and the job not suicidal, he would do just about anything.
From his left, a man in all black stepped out into the daylight, bowing shortly to Kurai. Kurai was about to spit out some vicious comment about the man getting in his way, when said figure silently held out a rather large beige coin bag.
Greedy emerald eyes locked onto the pouch filled to the bursting point with jingling money. A raspy voice plagued by years came from the chapped lips of Kurai in a question that sounded meager to him, and desperate to his new employer. "What d'ya want?"
The pale lips of the stranger quirked up at the edges, as he drew from his cloak a infinitely deep crystal ball which glowed a sickening array of dark colors around the edge. Shifting his arms so that one hand held the orb, he gazed into the globe and an image appeared of a rather large group dressed in cloths that would immediately label them nobles. The reply to the former question came out in a voice that sounded unnaturally deep to Kurai, "Kidnap the couple, and any of the other's you can." He placed the coin bag into the robber's hands without waiting for a response.
Snorting derisively, the green-eyed thief looked from the money to the mysterious figure like he was crazy. "Seven 'gainst one? An' look! The man's armed! I'd go down 'fore I even got 'a chance ta touch 'em! I'd need at least.nine otha's to help mah." Instantly a group surrounded the shadowed figure, each armed with at least three different weapons, and all nine bowing.
"I want those two unharmed! The other's you may do as you please with." Turning on his heel, the cloaked figure left an astounded criminal with a wicked smile on his hideous face and nine bandits bowing their heads respectfully to their new leader.
*********************
Beryl hurled an entirely red vase across the room, taking whatever small pleasure she could out of the shattering sound the broken glass made. Screaming angrily, she began to pace the room she was confined to for the time being. Metallia was such a witch! She wanted to have Endymion not Onyx! How could Metallia even think she would sit through a sharing of souls ceremony with that bastard! Well, the shadow power was an enticing offer, but not if she was stuck with such an ass of a husband. She would not, COULD not, share souls with Onyx.
However, what would happen if she were to wait it out, and destroy Onyx sometime after the ceremony, and before she got Endymion?
******************
Onyx had officially decided; that redheaded bitch needed to go. Screw marrying that clawed slut, he wanted glory for his own purposes, and he didn't intend to go through someone else to get it. He would simply kill Beryl while she slept, and make it seem like an accident. Metallia wouldn't mind, she loved death and destruction. Now, the only problem was how to destroy the both of them.
Maybe if he sent one of his shadow minions to do the job? Yes, that could work.
He smirked, that would work.
*******************
Usagi gazed at the most beautiful thing she had ever laid eyes on; for once ignoring the warm body she was embracing. A small yet ornate cottage was beside a vast lake, which was glimmering gold in the fading light of the sun. Large oaks surrounded the bungalow and an intricate garden was placed in the front of the tiny house, with small buds of different flowers already showing in it. To the right of the shimmering lake was a small valley where the trees were scarce and a few rabbits and birds were still playing in the dim light of dusk. A smile of complete bliss graced her features, as she looked at the lovely setting before her.
"What is this place?" She said in a soft but awed voice. This place smelled strongly of flowers and the wind was carrying the scent of water from the lake.
"This is our new home," He looked down at the angelic figure beside him, staring around amazed at the simples yet elegant area he had chosen to built a house for the senshi and their princess to stay in.
"Thank you! Will you be staying with us? Will you come visit us sometimes? How much-" He shushed her with a single rose grazing her mouth. She looked up at him and away from the landscape, noting bemusement flicker through his stormy eyes and she wondered briefly what he was thinking about.
Meanwhile, a dark-haired prince was fighting an inner battle with whether to replace the flower with his mouth, or to just pull it away and hold her. He chose the latter, and she gazed starry-eyed at the scenery as the final burst of color from the golden sun covered the landscape, than disappeared over the horizon, and the fading colors of sunset played across the area.
Deciding it was the perfect time, where nobody would see them, the crown prince bent over towards his love while she looked up at him curiously. Time froze over and the world became a blend of everything around them swirling into a jumbled mess as their lips met. Light and darkness, peril and peace, joy and anger combined into one huge mass of power being transferred through each of them.
Dimly aware of the cooing noises of people in the background, clapping, and a whistle, Serenity opened her eyes. Her guardians were around her, and beside them. "Guys!" she squealed, looking at the new joiners of their party. It was none other than the guardians of Jupiter, each named after one of the planet's moons.
They had three leaders among them who settle small disagreements and represented the whole pack of them at times like this. Io stepped forward, hugging Serenity as she did, along with Leda and Ganymede. "What are you doing here?" Serenity inquired, shooting a short but suspicious glance at Jupiter who held up her hands innocently.
Io smiled and stepped away from the princess bowing low and then replying lightly. "We came to see how long before Jupiter.. I mean Makoto starts guy- hunting." Io grinned sheepishly and brushed a stray pink hair out of her face, explaining in a calm serious voice, "Actually we came to make sure nothing dangerous happens to our favorite princess."
Makoto made a noise of half-anger half-amusement and turned her back on them, head held high. Ganymede patted her shoulder, silently reassuring her that they still pledged this lives to Jupiter, but Serenity was higher in terms or royal status so they had to be very cautious of what they said.
Suddenly Leda looked up sharply, along with Endymion. Looking around, they realized too late what had caused their panic.
The sound of rushing air came all too soon, as dozen upon dozen arrows were fired at the group. Endymion unsheathed his gleaming blade with added effect of a sliding medal against metal noise.
Swinging the sword around in front of the group, only three arrows out of at least four dozen made it through, and two of them hit the ground. Leda though, wasn't so fortunate.
Letting out a high yelp of pain, she clutched her shoulder, where blood was already seeping through her fingers. The black-feathered end of an arrow protruded at an odd angle out of her arm. Closing mint colored eyes filled with pain, she ground her teeth together as the pain drove her to her knees. If she could just call on her guardian powers and transform.Picturing a tall green serpent-like creature with soft green scales lining it's shoulder less body, she felt herself begin to take on her second form.
All planetary princess guardians were given the power of transformation. The princess would of course receive it too, but they had to learn to use their senshi abilities to the fullest before they would be able to take on their animalistic forms.
Leda looked at her shoulder through tearing eyes, and slowly removed as much of the arrow as she dared. Feeling the scales starting to cover her body, she quickly let go and focused more on her transformation. In a flourish of transparent pink wind, a tiny snake took up the area a girl had just occupied, leaving beside it a bloodied arrow. Blackness was blurring her vision fast, and Leda decided she only could do one more thing to aid the battle going on around her. Hissing quietly, she sent out the last of her power to Jupiter, giving her the boosted senshi attack ability.
Closing her slit-eyes she hissed one final time and let her second body surrender to the pain of the arrow.
Meanwhile, a hoard of bandits had appeared out of nowhere and was attacking the senshi, unsuspecting of their powers. When Endymion drew his sword to their arrows, they quickly grabbed their daggers and sabers and lunged into the clearing. Io quickly her pulled her triple bow taught, pulling three golden arrows from her quiver. With aim and grace unlike any human, she shot down the first of the three bandits with her eyes filled with a stinging hate.
****************************
A dark shadow hovered in the trees a short distance away from the battle scene, taking everything in. The man with the sword and shield bearing the crest of the royal family, the girl with the royal hairstyle of the moon kingdom and angelic features, and the girls all huddled around the two. Sizing up the situation, the mysterious figure leapt off the tree and into the forming black mist.
A feral laugh escaped his lips as the figure looked back once more, before being completely enveloped by the rising darkness.
The master would be most pleased with this new information; those bandits had turned out useful after all. Too bad they were going to die in a matter of seconds.
******************************
The senshi looked up abruptly as they felt a tiny pang of dark energy being used. Giving the area a quick second-glance, they all noticed the same thing out of place. The fairies had stopped shrieking. Mercury looked up suddenly as one fairy let out a tiny squeak-like wail.
Catching snatches of what the little creature was trying to say, Mercury's eyes filled with dread. Frantically the usually calm girl screamed in as loud a voice she could muster, "GET DOWN!"
On senshi instinct everyone dropped to the ground instantly, while Endymion grabbed Serenity by the waist and dove for the ground. A small explosion went off seconds later, and the senshi covered their faces to try and keep the rising smoke out. When they looked up and through singed hair, they saw what they feared most. Io, Leda and Amber seemed to have been thrown twenty feet back and knocked unconscious, a small crater covered the area they had occupied, while Endymion, Mars, and Serenity were nowhere to be seen.
******************************
Rei woke up to pounding in her skull, and ringing in her ears, not to mention the taste of wet mud in her mouth. Slowly sitting up so she didn't disturb the tiny dwarfs with axes in her head, she spat out whatever mud she could.
Ebony lashes hesitantly blinked open to reveal dazed violet eyes, but quickly slammed shut because of the bright light. Blinking rapidly to reduce the searing whiteness, her pupils adjusted to the lighting of wherever she was.
Once she could fully open her eyes, her mouth parted in silent awe. All around her were pictures of some sort, but they each held a different image. The ones nearest her were varied from three-dimensional, to cartoons, to moving. Looking around the room, she spotted another figure face down in the room. And hair that black wasn't easy to find, so her instant guess was Endymion!
Stumbling over to where he was, she reached out and shook him. Why were they asleep? Trying to recall what happened before she fell asleep, she vaguely recalled a high-pitched wailing, screaming, and then blackness. Maybe Endymion would remember better.
*******************************
The first thing the young prince of earth thought when he woke was that he could do with nice long shower. His armor was caked in dry mud, and coated with dust. Abruptly he remembered the battle, and.Serenity! Where was she? Looking around franticly, he noticed Rei untransformed hovering over him, shaking him-probably in some attempt to wake him up. Jumping up he immediately sat back down with his head in his hands. What a head rush! Scanning the sort of non-walled prison he was in, he noted the strange images, but ignored them until his eyes came to rest on an all-too pale hand atop a mass of gold.
Years of warrior training told him that if he attempted to stand again, he would most likely only succeed in falling over again. Deciding that crawling would work, he carefully made his way towards Princess Serenity.
Grasping her delicate wrist in his palm he pulled a curtain of golden- colored silk out of her face. She looked so peaceful just lying there, but the lessons he had learned about falling asleep after a hard hit weren't reassuring.
Reaching out with mental fingers, he checked to make sure she wasn't slipping into a catatonic state. Assured that she could sleep for a little while longer without any serious threat to her health, he contented himself with setting her halfway into his lap and stroking her hair.
The raven-haired Martian came up beside him and checked the vitals of her ward's physical state. Once she was done, she too leaned back in relief and looked around the room in wonder. "Where do you think we are?"
Continuing to twirl strands of gold between he didn't bother looking up before replying "A few days away from the Elysion." He glanced up at Rei to see the surprised look on her face and let out a short chuckle before quieting it so he wouldn't disturb the sleeping girl on his lap.
The priestess looked at him strangely before asking what nagged at her, "How would you know where we are?"
Endymion sighed heavily; he had hoped she wouldn't bother asking about that. Matters such as soul bonds, slave bonds, senshi bonds, and planetary bonds confused him a little, and were a sacred matter to top it off, one of the reasons he didn't like discussing them with anyone but Serenity.
"We don't have time for this Mars, we need to get out of here, before something else happens." He slowly got up, holding Serenity to him as if she were water, ready to slip through his fingers and break into a million droplets. His eyes blurred for a moment, before coming back into focus from the strain of supporting two people after such a hard hit to the head.
"This is sacred soil-" he began only to be interrupted by a rather unbecoming snort.
"More like mud.but go on." Rei encouraged, pulled out her henshi pen to transform. "Mars Star Power, Make up!" In a burst of flamboyant flames, rings collected to make a fuku, and eventually form seamless fabric of Sailor Mars' outfit. Not bothering to strike a pose, the psychic priestess waited for him to continue.
"And these pictures are holy. Whatever they are, they are not meant to be here. Can you feel the strained tension in this room? These were stolen, or most likely produced by some means not of this earth. We need to get these out of here, or at least as many as we can. If we took them to Elysion, we could have the shrine maidens keep them safe. Although it's at least two days journey, we would be protected there from whatever brought us here." He paused for a moment to look down at the closed lids of Serenity.
"No matter what, we have to protect Serenity."
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AN: HA! Everyone else is writing cliffhangers lately, so I thought I'd join in the fun! This isn't much of a cliffy I know, but oh well! I never did like cliffhangers. Again, this is the last chapter I'll be posting for a while, until the other white guy helps me with the story before this one. Beg him to come online more often if you see him! *coughs* Tristram *coughs* So, if you see him, or the Kon-hunter, gladly point them in my direction, I need their help sometime this century!! ~*Kon*~