Title: Winter Snow
Author: Crystal Saturn
Email: True_
Rated: PG-M
Chapter: 21- The Fatal Battle

Last time on "Winter Snow"...

*Hey, I wonder what my future self is like...* Crystal thought. It was around 7pm on a Saturday night and Crystal was waiting for Darien to come home from is afternoon class, hopefully with some take away food. *I wonder why Endy wanted a goodbye hug* Crystal smiled a little as random questions popped into her mind. Did she not give him hugs in the future? It was then a light flashed in her room causing Crystal to jump up as a reflex. She ran to her bedroom and looked around. Her brooch was glowing. The scouts needed her.

"Terra Saturn Power!" Crystal transformed, trying not to make too much noise and made her way to the park where she had sensed the sudden surge of negative, dark energy.



At the park, Crystal caught up with the other scouts.

"Hey guys..." she huffed as she caught her breath. "Sorry I'm late!"

"It's alright Crys, we only just got here too." Venus added.

"I see you've changed into Terra Saturn now?" Jupiter added, smiling. Crystal looked down on her new Fuku and smiled.

"Yeah!" She grinned, not taking her eyes off the monster.

"Looks good on you." Venus added lightly.

"Why thank you..." Terra grinned broadly, shooting the monster with a glare of determination.

"This is idle chatter is great and all but can I please bring your attention back to the fact that we're in the middle of a battle?! Can we dust this now?!" Mars growled.

"Try to aim for it's...um... eyes?" Mercury pointed to a mass of spherical bubbles on top of the limb that looked like the monsters' head. The monster was so distorted that it was hard to tell its features apart. It was a blob of storm grey, mud brown and the most atrocious, foul orange ever to be witnessed in the history of humanity. It was fitted in a pair of overgrown tie-dyed retro 60's flares and had an old "Flower Power" shirt that was tattered and torn, evidently when the monster began to grow larger with stolen energy

"Why don't we put this poor monster out of its misery? It looks like it got lost and came out of the wrong end of the time machine." Sailor Moon glowered.

"Mars fire, ignite!" Mars was eager to blast the distorted blob back to the 60's. The flames surrounded the monster and the red suited soldier smiled proudly. The flames soon died down to reveal the Monster had, in actual fact, changed its form. It was now the shape of a CD.

"Wah!" Sailor Moon panicked a little. The disc shaped, Afro-bearing monster cackled wickedly.

"Take your best shot." Exhibiting a rather British accent, it sounded remarkably like a distorted Bob the Builder.

"Sure will!" Venus and Jupiter agreed in unison

"Venus Love Chain..." Venus started

"Jupiter Thunder..." Jupiter added.

"Encircle!"

"Crash!"

The disc laughed and the energy passed right through it. It waved to the scouts and a mass of razor-sharp disks propelled through the air, slicing everything they came in contact with. They hurled towards the scouts. Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter and Terra barely managed to dodge out of the way of the silver disks of death. Sailor Moon yelped a little and attempted to dodge the attack, but her ankle slipped, causing her to lose balance as she faced the spinning blade in silent horror.

"No!" All 5 scouts protested in unison. A brilliant red rose pierced though the air and hit the disk, shattering it. The swirl of a black cape protected Sailor Moon from the jagged stray pieces of the shattered disk.
"Darien..." She whispered gently, before shaking all affectionate thoughts out of her head. "Thank you, but I don't need your help Mr. Mask." He removed the cape from over them and she gently pushed him away, standing on her own two feet without his assistance. She focused her gaze at the Disc. It shimmered and morphed into a jagged snowman. The scouts gasped loudly.

"Oh my..." Mercury covered her mouth. "It keeps changing its form!"

"And it looks like it's getting more and more powerful." Mars added.

"Rena, Watch out!" Tuxedo Mask pushed Sailor Moon out of the way. A sharp cold ice shard hurdled past, merely centimeters away, and smashed against a small brick wall behind them.

"Terra violet ray," Crystal commenced "exude!" She concluded. A violet ray of light surrounded the monster and drained into it, causing a brilliant flash of light. The Snowman roared and the light bounced off it and headed towards Crystal.

"Terra Saturn!" The scouts warned. Crystal gasped loudly and the ground beneath her shook. It rose higher and higher into the sky. The earth absorbed the energy of the attack and lowered back to the ground.

"Way cool!" Crystal took the time to stop and admire her new abilities. The Snowman/monster used Crystal's attack and deflected it towards Sailor Moon. Luckily she shifted out of the way just in time. Venus and Mercury double teamed their strengths and aimed their attacks at the Snowman. Once again, it just absorbed the energy and combining it with Crystal's attack and an ice shard, it fired the load towards Sailor Moon.

"Ah!" Sailor Moon squealed as she attempted to dodge the counter attack. Tuxedo Mask soared through the air, lifting Sailor Moon up with him.

"Please be careful, Sailor Moon." Tuxedo Mask advised.

"Dar..." Sailor Moon whispered, holding onto him. She was struggling with the internal conflict that tugged within her. Her mind told her to put up her barriers and push him away, but her heart relished his every little touch. It convinced her that he still cared about her. Tuxedo Mask smiled inwardly to himself. He had her in his arms once more.

Out of nowhere, a beam of purple and yellow light, along with zaps of green lightning sliced through the air and pierced Tuxedo Mask on the shoulder. The surge of pain caused him to lose balance and fall to the ground, along with Sailor Moon.

"Sailor Moon! Tuxedo Mask!" Crystal ran over to them. Darien lay motionless on his back. The force of the bolt had caused him to jolt back and he landed near a tree. He looked up. Crystal was tending to Sailor Moon. He blinked a few times but didn't move. Sailor Moon regained consciousness and groaned as she slowly sat up.

"Mercury... is there any way of beating this 60's Metal Snowman?" Crystal asked, bitter that the monster had hurt her family. Mercury ran a few diagnostic tests and scenarios on her digicom. She glanced up to answer but was interrupted by a mortified, piercing warning.

"Sailor Moon! Terra Saturn! Watch out!" Mina wailed. The two girls gasped as they saw a bolt of purple light flash towards them. Crystal, reacting on her instinct, pushed her leader out of the way. Tuxedo Mask jumped up and broke out into a full-blown sprint towards the two most important people in his life, but a bright light temporarily blinded him and the other scouts. Moments passed before the light dispersed and faded away. The Snowman was obviously dusted by the strength of the attack. Mercury, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Tuxedo Mask all looked around to make sure everyone was accounted for, when a loud, ear-piercing shriek echoed through the eerily quiet park.

"No!" Sailor Moon let out a high-pitched cry, seizing everyone's attention "Crystal! Wake up! Terra Saturn, as your leader, I command you to get up! Please, Crystal. Please wake up." Sailor Moon violently shook the shoulders of the little girl but she remained still, with her eyes shut as if she were in a peaceful slumber. Tears were falling rapidly from Sailor Moon's eyes. "Wake up... Crystal... you MUST wake up." Sailor Moon switched tactics, whispering to the fallen Sailor Scout. The other four scouts were standing around their leader and the younger scout. Tears formed in their own eyes.

"Damn it, Terra! Get up" Mars yelled angrily as she fell to her knees, feeling utterly useless. Jupiter placed a comforting hand on Mars' shoulder. Tears flowed freely from Venus' eyes as she turned to Mercury.

"Amy, please. Can't you do something?" The blonde pleaded. Mercury just stood there, frozen in shock. For once in her life she didn't know what to do. Sailor Moon gave up on the subtle whispering as she kneeled next to Crystal's motionless body and cried loudly.

"This is my fault! It's all my fault. It's always my fault!" Sailor Moon cried. "Please forgive me... I'm so sorry. I let you down." She began to whisper to Crystal.

"Sere, it's not your fault! Stop blaming yourself." Mercury finally spoke as the glimmer of tears trickled down her pale face.

"No but it is my fault. It is! If it wasn't for me then Crystal would be alive! She would be alive if she wasn't protecting me! Everyone always gets hurt protecting me!" She sobbed loudly and turned to Tuxedo Mask who had just de-transformed into Darien. "You died, saving me on the Moon Kingdom, so many years ago..." She whispered through her tears. "You all did." She stood up, looking at each of her scouts before looking down at Crystal. "And I hate myself for not being there to help you all. I hate myself for letting her get hit by that beam. I should be the one in her place! Crystal should be alive." Sailor Moon growled in anger, through her tears.

"Listen, Sailor Moon, this isn't healthy for you! It's not your fault and you have to stop blaming yourself!" Mars held her up. Darien looked at his sisters' motionless body in disbelief. He couldn't believe that she was dead. He just couldn't accept it. No, he wouldn't accept it. Just then, realization dawned upon Sailor Moon. She stopped crying and shakily turned around to face Darien.

"Oh..." She breathed, tears forming in her eyes once more. She fell to her knees before him and sobbed into her hands. "I'm so sorry! I'm so so so so sorry! It's all my fault! Everything's my fault! Everything's always my fault! I hate myself! I'm sorry! It's my fault! It's my fault this all happened! I'm sorry! Please forgive me! I'm so sorry! It's all my fault!" Serena cried loudly, the tears falling fast like an overflowing waterfall.

Darien continued to stare at the youngest Scout, lying on the ground. She had no visible wounds. Memories flashed through Darien's mind. It was like a scrapbook of Crystal's life, or at least, since she came into his life. He had changed so much because of her. He was warmer and understood how it was to have family. He understood how it was to love family. The once empty part of his soul where his parents and family's love was missing was filled the first day Crystal stepped into his life. He remembered that day when he sheltered her from the cold blizzard outside and they found out that they were related. They were always close. As close as family could be. They shared their secrets and thoughts together, even if it was accidental. Darien felt as if Crystal was a whole chunk of his soul and that she was a part of his life. He wouldn't let her leave, not without telling her how much he loved her and how important she was to him. He wasn't going to lose the only family he ever knew, not ever again.

Every single memory of Crystal flashed in his mind. From every battle, to raiding the fridge at midnight. He remembered the first time he found out that Crystal was in fact "Sailor Crystal Saturn" and on that same night, she had found out his alter-ego. He remembered all the times he had confided in her with his secrets and thoughts, and how she had always been there for him and tried to help him out. He also remembered all the times he had purposely annoyed her, just to get some sort of reaction. A solitary tear escaped Darien's eyes

He was then snapped back to reality by the sound of loud sobs and a blonde girl, kneeling in front of him, desperately voicing her apologies. His gaze once again fell upon the petite, pale girl behind Serena and he closed his eyes momentarily

*This is NOT happening!!* Darien thought to himself, still in shock.


Crystal Saturn