Chapter 23: Imperfect Destiny
The tears cascaded down Serenity's cheeks as she watched Yuuichirou and Jadeite fight each other, the former eaten away with hate for his age-old rival, the latter unaware of his true enemy. She had seen the other Shittenou fighting the three other Knights, viewed the fates of Uranus and Neptune, and watched two of her four Inner Senshi confront their innermost demons. Her eyes closed when the newest image was revealed to her: it was Mercury being assaulted by the supposedly-revived spirits of the guardians. Serenity knew they were no longer alive; these echoes were mockeries of their true selves. They would never have returned in this manner, and Mamoru was amusing himself with physical matches and psychological games.
When she reopened her eyes, she saw Mina's school friends from London ganging up on Venus. She had previously been close friends with them, until her duty had made her sacrifice those friendships. Serenity knew that what Venus was seeing was fake, but it made her wonder how much Venus–and her other senshi, but Venus especially–had given up for her.
Finally, the last fight in the succession of battles was shown to her. Saturn was huddled on the ground, one hand pressed over her heart. She was trembling, but the relentless onslaught of torture continued on and on.
Serenity stared in a state of shock as she saw the outcomes of Mamoru's horrific machinations. The Shittenou had triumphed over the Knights–whose faces and true identities had been revealed to them after their deaths. The Inner Senshi had escaped their prisons–but only by hurting civilians and loved ones. The three Outer Senshi too, were dead. The last of that group, Pluto, appeared before Serenity, grief and pain present on her exotic features.
"Why? Why is this happening, Pluto? How could this happen? Why couldn't I help them?"
"You know Mamoru is keeping you here until the time is right, Usagi. But you have become Serenity now, haven't you? And so quickly...and so it begins...and so it will end." Setsuna sighed heavily, and her grip on her staff was white-knuckled.
Confusion and anger burned in Serenity's eyes as she stared at the senshi of Time. "Tell me what's going on, Pluto. Tell me why they died. How could they die?"
"You and your court have died once, princess. Those were deaths that were destined to occur. These..."
"Are they natural? Were they fated to die this way?" Serenity demanded harshly.
She bowed her head, and the river of dark green spilled over her shoulders in a mournful gesture. "You do not understand the circumstances of this universe, Serenity."
"Then explain it to me," she commanded, ever-noble.
Pluto's garnet eyes regarded her challengingly until she nodded at last. "Very well, Serenity. We will start with the Knights. The Knights have always been, for the most part, good, honest men. They were well chosen. Yuuichirou/Chad, Shinozaki/Ken, and Ryo/Greg all began this way. Ace, unfortunately, was an exception, but he led them in a way he thought, in a misguided way, was for their best benefit. Not all the Knights can be perfect, Serenity. There will always exist evil to balance good.
This generation of Knights...was unfortunately flawed. This is why, no matter how hard they tried, they could not win the hearts of the Inner Senshi. But added on to the Knights' individual flaws was the unexpected flow of the Time Stream. From the beginning, your senshi were destined to fall in love with Endymion's generals. Once they met the Shittenou, they could not help but love them.
This embittered the Knights, of course, especially in this life. Kunzite, Nephrite, Jadeite, and Zoicite were also fated to betray Endymion, and they could not escape their destiny. The end of the Silver Millennium went as prophesied....but this world, this life, this particular reality...it exists separate from the Time Stream, Serenity. It's as if a small stream branched off from the river to form a little pond. The connection between the river and the pond, however, seems to have dried out. We live completely apart from the Time Stream, and this world will slowly melt away."
"What will happen to us?" Serenity breathed, her face pale.
Pluto's sorrowful expression intensified. "I don't know, Serenity. But this world is completely wrong. I saw, once, how things should have been. You were destined to fight Beryl again, who restored the Dark Kingdom. After several deaths and many enemies, you were to eventually build a utopia known as Crystal Tokyo with Endymion, becoming Neo-Queen and Neo-King. The Shittenou were to be resurrected in that time period by the Silver Crystal–the Ginzuishou. But in this world...there is no Beryl...there is no order...and the Shittenou are not supposed to be here.
Neither are–were–the Outer Senshi." Her voice sounded choked as she continued, "They are dead simply because they weren't meant to participate in this fight at all. You weren't supposed to meet them until you fought a nemesis known as Pharaoh 90.
Mamoru has had the senshi face their deepest fears, and he has manipulated the Knights and the generals so cleverly that the former are dead and the latter close to losing sanity. The Knights were meant to undergo a test of humanity–which they failed. If the generals had had normal lives, perhaps they would have faced their personal fears as well.
But you have to understand that Seishou Kouseinou, Tabiki Kasen, Kousei Kyosei, and Kouseki Yosouya did not lead normal lives, Serenity. They had all been friends, once. From a very young age, Nephrite, Jadeite, and Zoicite were captured by Mamoru. He brainwashed them and used Jadeite to trap Kunzite, who had spent much of his life trying to escape the snares of darkness. I believe all of them were brainwashed more than once and Zoicite multiple times.
They were on the verge of falling in love with the senshi again. That might have saved them all...it may have reconnected us with the mainstream. But it was not to be. Kouseinou had met Minako in this life, Serenity. Did you know? They had the closest bond out of all the Shittenou and the senshi. Her love redeemed him. Rei brought Jadeite back to us. Ami had just gotten through to Zoicite when Mamoru sprang into action...and all has been lost. All is lost, Usagi!" Setsuna began sobbing hopelessly, but Serenity still sat there, motionless.
What had happened to all of them had shocked her beyond coping at the moment. She couldn't understand how this could ever have happened...and yet...how many other realities out there had evaporated? Completely wiped out of existence? Her mind wandered down similar, vague paths until she cleared her throat abruptly and asked, "Setsuna, can I resurrect the Knights? If they all die, can I resurrect them into a new life? Will connect us with the Time Stream again?"
"I don't know, Serenity. I just don't know, this time around."
~*~*~
As she spiraled through space, Makoto felt a last intrusion into her thoughts. There had always been a connection between her and Shinozaki, because he had been her Knight. They had been the closest friends of the senshi-Knight pairs, and she regretted the loss of his companionship. Just as the bond between them severed, the Jovian Knight spoke to her one last time. 'Remember me, Makoto. Remember that I loved you, no matter what.'
Yuuichirou's last thoughts were also focused on Mars. 'Rei, don't forget about me. I know you never felt the same way, but never forget that I cared deeply for you. Don't beat anyone else with my broom. Not even him.'
The tears shone in her eyes. 'I won't,' she promised. 'I'm sorry.'
'Tell him I'm sorry,' he sighed. He was restored to the person he once had been.
Mercury closed her eyes as she heard her friends crying out sharply as the bonds with their Knights were severed. 'Ryo,' she called out desperately, 'Ryo! Forgive me!'
He filled her thoughts, cleansed of hate and pain, looking and sounding like he had the first time they had met. 'There's nothing to forgive, Ami.'
Venus and Ace did not exchange words, but for the first time in her life, Minako felt sorry for him. The commander in her knew it was futile to fight at this moment. The timing was all wrong. This reality was all wrong, and she wanted it to be nothing more than a bad dream–but the problem was, it wasn't. It was real.
They had known each other since their childhoods so long ago, during another lifetime, on other planets. The very last glimpse the senshi would ever have of their Knight protectors...was of their broken bodies lying in a cold, empty room as their lifeblood seeped onto the floor steadily, pooling and mixing together. They would not be reborn this time around.
~*~*~
Mamoru smiled at them coldly, taking in the senshi's bedraggled appearances, Serenity's tear-stained face, and the generals' horrified expressions, through which self-loathing and fear twisted. "So how does it feel, my dear Shittenou, to be murderers?"
The senshi, who had not known how the Knights had died, let out a collective gasp while their counterparts turned away, hate and pain prevalent on their countenances.
'Now. With everything you have, attack!' Venus's order thundered in their minds: the senshi's and the Shittenou's. She was and would always be the commander...and she wasn't going to waste this opportunity–Mamoru was busy gloating at them and enjoying his triumph.
It was not enough. Technically, it did nothing but augment Mamoru's powers as he absorbed them and grew larger. They tried again, and the same thing happened.
Serenity was unable to see through the tears that were pouring from her eyes, but she received an impression of another world, of a vision of her wearing the same dress and holding the Ginzuishou before her. And yet, this different time, her friends were wraiths around her, the generals nowhere to be scene, and Endymion had just appeared behind her. A red-haired sorceress she remembered as Beryl faced her, but she became horribly disfigured and...turned into Metallia. The name itself brought fear into Serenity's heart. Metallia had destroyed the Moon Kingdom...and Metallia had been the invincible evil. The similarities pounded at her until the image disappeared as quickly as it had come. Incredulously, she whispered, "Metallia?"
Venus's heart sank. It couldn't be. It just couldn't be. And yet...Mamoru's familiar, chiseled features melted away into a shapeless mass of seething dark energy atop a dark column of the same substance.
Eyes of the darkest black and a gaping mouth appeared, and they seemed like bottomless abysses. The mouth smiled and hissed evilly, "Yes, it is me, little princess. How honored I am that you recall who I am. And this time, I am winning, and this will be the final triumph. I turned your prince to my side early on. You see, I gained the upper edge quickly. The fight was already lost even before you entered it! And the Shittenou. Pathetic."
The contempt in her voice was plain, and the generals' eyes shone dangerously, angrily. "It was so easy to bring out the darker sides that had been manifested in you so soon before your untimely deaths. The confusion of the rebirth and receiving your memories only helped my cause. Of course, you were never the real target. Had I wanted to do away with you, you would all have been dead by now. So stupid, so young, so inexperienced! It was easier to turn you to my side than it was in the Silver Millennium, and that was laughable. Go on, fight me," she taunted. "It won't hurt, and I like the power you're glutting me with."
Quietly, Jupiter voiced the question they all had in their minds. "Why? What are you after? Why are you doing this?"
She chuckled with real amusement. "If anything, you are even younger than the generals, little soldiers. World domination...I never heard of something so ridiculous. There is nothing for me but darkness, and power, and more power. This solar system–this time–is meaningless! You are all nothing in the grand scheme of things. You will never make any great changes. Evil will always exist. But I–I will be everything!!
I have already defeated those paltry Knights. If you thought you would always be reincarnated, you thought wrong. They are dead now, and dead is dead this time. Even if you used that crystal now, princess, you'd be too late. Sailor Pluto has already let them go. As she will let you be destroyed."
'Maybe...maybe it just wasn't meant to be' flashed through their minds numbly.
But Serenity had placed herself directly before Metallia, a light-filled crystal held securely in her hands. "Do you recognize it?" she called defiantly, "do you remember the good that defeated you in the Silver Millennium? We are truly doomed, Metallia–but you, too, are doomed alongside us!"
They all attacked together, while Metallia was caught off-guard, but the injury done was minimal. She roared and lashed out at the Shittenou, who were thrown against the walls and knocked unconscious. The senshi and Serenity poured all their pain, sorrow, anguish, confusion, and protest against bitter fate into their attack this time...but the beam of light did not penetrate the dark mass before them.
Serenity was the first to release something good from her heart: her love for her friends, her love for Endymion...and her hope for humankind. She recognized that destruction could not be their only reason for fighting in this horribly sidetracked, forsaken universe. The Inner Senshi soon caught on, and at long last, Metallia writhed in agony as the white-hot energy slashed into and through her.
All of a sudden, her form mutated back to Mamoru's...and when he opened his eyes, they were blue. "Endymion," Serenity whispered, halting the power surge.
"It can't be! It's a trap!"
"Now!!" Venus's authoritative voice rang out, and she didn't hesitate to let forth a beam of blazing golden light.
Blood trickled from the corner of Jadeite's mouth as he staggered to his feet. "NO!" he shouted, but it was too late. With their last burst of energy, he and his brothers-in-arms threw themselves in front of their prince.
Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Mercury let loose their last attack, giving everything that was left in them, believing they were glimpsing an end to this terrible path destiny had led them down. Their triumphant cries turned into screams of denial when the brilliant, multi-colored light faded...to reveal four bodies that had gotten in the way the last minute.
Endymion's mouth was open in horror, and Metallia regained her control at that minute. She laughed, the sadistic sound going on and on, rebounding off the walls and echoing heartlessly as the senshi gathered their soulmates in their arms brokenly.
'Oh, Endymion. What a time for you to break through and reclaim your body for a few scant seconds,' her mind whispered in defeat while her heart cried out in anguish. But the Moon Princess was past tears now.
"Your senshi are dying," she told Serenity. "Any minute now, the last dregs of their strength will leave them." Mockingly, she continued, "And they spent the last of their powers trying to kill the prince! Instead, they murdered their soulmates...whose sacrifice was all for nothing, of course. Oh, the irony!"
No longer caring about anything as she felt the souls of her senshi, the Shittenou, and Endymion leave her, Serenity screamed her rage and sorrow as she gave the last of her life-force to the Silver Crystal. Metallia's shrieks of amusement changed to disbelief and denial...and the end had come without any of them knowing.
~*~*~
AN: Please forgive the mass murders in this chapter....and now for explanations. I hadn't originally planned to have this world go so off course, but during this last rewrite, I discovered that it was a semi-logical explanation and decided to go along with it ^^. I've planned out almost this type of ending for a while, though. It was the reason I continued this story, because I didn't think I'd ever be able to survive another evil-Mamoru fic. It was fundamental that he be evil, because otherwise, the senshi wouldn't have attacked him...and the Shittenou, of course, would save him at the last minute. I just thought it was an intriguing twist to have it happen, but if you think me deranged, I apologize ^^;. And now ensues the Epilogue.
~Ice