Rated PG-13
Disclaimers: Sailor Moon and everything affiliated with her are the property
of Naoko Takeuchi, Toei Animation, Kodansha, and DiC. They are not mine, I
am only borrowing them for a little while. Any other characters are mine.
If anyone wishes to use them, please notify me first.
Just a bit of clarification:
the * * signify a person's thoughts
the ***** before a section signify either a memory or a shift into
the mindscape or dreamscape (don't worry, this will make sense eventually, I
hope).
Comments? Questions? You want to praise me or curse me out? I'm at
jnkryo@yahoo.com
Daughters of Destiny
Part 14
by: Johnny Ng
*****
Princess Serenity was besieged on all sides. The shadows had her
surrounded and were attacking her ruthlessly. She was using the Crystal's
power to try and keep them at bay, but it wasn't working too well. With
every hit she took, a bit of her life force was drained away.
Suddenly there was a bright light and Bane appeared in the void next
to Serenity. Not just the orb, but an image of the sorcerer's body with the
orb once again set in his eye socket. He looked around furtively. "They are
here, I know it."
More shadows appeared and headed for Bane. Black lightning shot out
and struck the sorcerer. He flinched slightly and turned towards the
wraiths. Almost negligently, he waved his hand and a green ray lanced out.
Every shadow that was struck by the ray screamed hollowly before bursting in
a cloud of gray smoke.
The wraiths attacking the Princess stopped and glided towards Bane
where they soon met the same fate as their brethren. When the last of the
shadows had been destroyed, Serenity saw that the sorcerer's robes were
scorched and tattered and the glow from his eye was dim.
"What are you doing here?" the Princess asked warily.
Bane floated over to Serenity, but doubled over in pain before he got
there.
The Moon Princess gasped and immediately went over to help,
momentarily forgetting her enmity toward the sorcerer. "Are you alright?"
Bane chuckled. "I'm fine, little princess. I had forgotten about
the Inverna soul guardians. It seems they have gotten more powerful since
the last time I was here."
"Just where are we?" Serenity looked around. "I was expecting
something like the Well of Souls, but this is nothing like it."
"This is the Soul Void of the Inverna people. It is similar to the
Well of Souls."
"Very well, but you haven't answered my first question. What are you
doing here? Have you come to torment Aiden and his family?" There was steel
in the Princess's voice as she said the last.
Bane sneered. "No, I have come to set them free."
Serenity had a confused look on her face. "What? Why?"
He didn't answer further. Instead he looked off into the distance.
"I can sense where they are." The sorcerer glanced at the Princess. "I
could use some help if I meet up against more soul guardians."
Serenity hesitated briefly but nodded and followed Bane into the
darkness. The pair traveled silently together, Serenity not totally trusting
Bane and the sorcerer not caring if she did. They could see the soul
guardians fluttering all around them, but strangely enough, the wraiths never
attacked.
The Princess kept her mind focused and the Crystal pulsed just as
Bane pointed in front of them. A barrier of shifting mists blocked their
way.
"They are there. Prepare yourself, little princess, you may be a bit
surprised by what you will see beyond the mists."
The Moon Princess nodded and passed through the barrier...
...and emerged in a really, really big waiting room.
Serenity blinked, then blinked again. "What is this?"
She looked back and saw the mist barrier behind her, but in front of
her were rows and rows of chairs extending far into the distance. On the
walls, spaced a certain distance apart, were digital displays. They all
currently read 4,573,109,992. "What is this?" she repeated.
Bane walked up to her. "This is the Eternal Room. This is where the
souls of the Inverna people wait to be judged."
"But it looks like a waiting room!"
"In a sense, it is. The Inverna people were always organized...even
in death."
A bell toned. "Now serving number 4,572,109,993...," a prim and
proper voice said. The displays changed accordingly.
"Excuse me, do you need some help?" a friendly looking woman asked.
She was wearing a nametag that proclaimed her to be Zaranna, the Eternal
Room's assistant manager. "If you have just arrived, you must take a
number..."
"We are looking for someone," Bane said brusquely shouldering his way
past the Princess. "He should have just recently arrived here."
If Zaranna took any offense at the sorcerer's manner she didn't show
it. "Very well, the new arrivals are being processed in the registration
room off to the left."
Bane walked off without saying anything. Serenity mumbled her thanks
and caught up with her companion. "What's wrong with you? You could have at
least said thank you."
"I didn't come here to make conversations, besides I recognized her.
She was one of the first Invernians I killed."
The Princess paled, but didn't say anything. She reached the
registration room door and opened it. Serenity cocked her eyebrow. Where
the waiting room had been enormous, the registration room was relatively
small...and there were only four people sitting in the chairs, or rather, one
person and three glowing globes.
"Aiden!" Princess Serenity yelled running to him. She gave him a
quick hug before turning to the soul spheres. "Rhea, Trent, Daniel...am I
glad to see you."
*We're glad to see you too, Princess, but how did you find us?*
Daniel asked. *Grandfather told us that once we entered the Soul Void, no
one would have been able to find us.*
"Well, I had some help," the Moon Princess told them.
Aiden happened to look towards the door and stiffened. "Bane!"
The sorcerer had been standing in the doorway, unobtrusively watching
the happy scene. "We meet again, my enemy."
"Everyone, stand back!" Aiden ordered. He faced the sorcerer. "You
will not harm my family anymore, Bane!"
Serenity laid a restraining hand on the spirit's shoulder. "No,
Aiden, Bane was the one who helped me find you. He wants to bring you all
back."
There were the standard sounds of disbelief and protests from Aiden's
descendants, but the spirit raised his hand for silence. "What are you
saying, Serenity?"
"She's saying exactly what I told her," Bane interrupted. "I'm here
to bring you back, with or without your consent."
Aiden seemed to think that over for a few minutes before he
responded. "Very well, for the sake of my family, let's go."
Again the three descendants voiced their objections, and again Aiden
quieted them. "To able to return to the living plane, we must first leave
the Eternal Room." He looked at Bane who nodded and headed out the door.
Aiden followed with the three souls behind him. Princess Serenity who was
the last to leave the room heard Rhea mutter what was on all their minds.
*I don't trust that sorcerer.*
The group approached the mist barrier, but a guard stopped them.
Bane was about to disintegrate him on the spot, but Aiden stopped
him. "There's something I must do first," the spirit said. He headed to the
reception desk next on the far wall. He said something to the secretary
there and filled out some forms before he returned.
*What was that all about?* Rhea asked.
"I cancelled our registrations. The bureaucrats here at the Eternal
Room are very thorough. They wouldn't have let us leave unless I filled out
the correct forms."
*Uh...whatever.*
Aiden showed the guard the forms and allowed the group to pass. They
entered the mists and emerged in the Soul Void.
"That was truly a strange place, Aiden," Serenity commented.
*_You_ think it was strange?* Trent asked. *Imagine how we felt when
we were to told to take a number and wait till we were processed before we
could get to the afterlife.*
Rhea's soul sphere pulsed briefly to get everyone's attention. *If
it's not too much trouble, can we get out of here and back to the land of the
living again?*
Aiden nodded and turned to Bane. "I assume you have a way to
transport us back?"
The sorcerer just scoffed as his eye began to glow. Their forms
began to waver as the spell took place.
Without warning, the void echoed with the sound of a thousand
shrieks. Everyone looked up and saw a whole cloud of soul guardians headed
their way.
*Looks like we're going to have some company soon!* Trent shouted.
"Serenity, we must hold off the guardians," Aiden said. "Bane cannot
be interrupted now, and the others cannot do much in their current forms."
The Princess nodded and took out the Silver Crystal. With a mental
command, she caused a force shield to spring into existence around them. The
wraiths smashed up against the shield, but they were not able to break it.
Aiden waited until he was sure the barrier would hold before he
started chanting his spell.
Serenity was beginning to feel a bit strained. The shield was taking
hits from all directions now. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead as she
tried to keep the shield up.
Suddenly, the soul guardians stopped their attack and scattered. The
Moon Princess still focused on shield, though, and she looked at Aiden. The
spirit had a triumphant grin on his face. "What did you do?" she asked.
"I put up an invisibility screen around us. The soul guardians are
not that bright. I believe there is a saying: 'Out of sight, out of mind',
that would suit them perfectly."
*Well, I'm glad that's over,* Daniel said. *Just how much longer--*
They all vanished.
*****
"--is this going to..." Daniel blinked. He was back on board the
_Wrath's_ bridge again. He looked around and saw that they were all back.
Rhea was bracing herself for the imminent rush of people welcoming
them back, but it never came. She looked over her shoulder and saw that Bane
was standing behind her. The sorcerer had kept the image of his body that he
had created in the Soul Void. She backed away slowly and saw out the corner
of her eye Sailor Mercury and Tuxedo Mask catch the Princess who had
collapsed from use of the Silver Crystal.
Serenity's gown faded away as the Crystal's power withdrew from her
body. Soon, Tuxedo Mask found himself holding Sailor Moon in his arms.
Mercury began to perform a scan on the worn-out scout's body as the other
three formed a protective guard around them. Saturn had awakened as well and
she stood leaning heavily on her glaive. They eyed Bane angrily and began to
power up for an attack.
Aiden moved forward. "Wait." He turned to his long-time enemy. "I
would like some answers, Bane. Why have you brought me back?"
The sorcerer shook his head slowly. "You truly are a fool, Aiden. You
know what I have chosen as my purpose in life, do you not?"
"To find new sources of magic and make them yours...by any means
possible."
"Yes, that is correct, but what good does my magic do when I cannot
use it?" Bane speared Aiden with a look. "You, last of the true Invernians,
are my purpose. Before I met you all those millennia ago, I had never been
defeated in magical combat. Even though I had been humbled, I felt
exhilarated. I had finally met someone who was my equal...nay, my superior!
He sighed. "I have made it goal to defeat you."
Aiden was confused. "But you did defeat me--"
"No," Bane interrupted, "I defeated your soul, but what is a soul
without a body? It is not the same. If I could resurrect your body and
return you to it, I would do it just to fight you again.
"As it is, I have nothing left. I may wander the galaxy searching
for magic, but my purpose...my _true_ purpose died with you. My last hope
was the prophecy, that you would return to fight me again." Bane snorted.
"I was actually expecting a better effort from you, Aiden."
Even though the spirit was still wary of his old enemy, he couldn't
help but smile at the remark. "I was a bit out of practice."
Rhea was looking back and forth between her grandfather and Bane.
She couldn't believe what she was hearing! Not that long ago, the two of
them had been fighting to the death, and Aiden, along with the rest of them,
had gotten the short end of the stick. Now the two eons-old enemies were
trading one-liners with one another! Well, she wasn't going to accept Bane
just yet...
The mage was about to open her mouth when Sailor Mars beat her to it.
"Wait a minute!" the fire scout shouted, "What are you doing?" She
turned and faced Aiden. "That...that person over there is your enemy! Why
are you joking around with him?!"
Aiden nodded. "She does have a point, Bane. What are your
intentions?"
The sorcerer turned away. "Would you believe that I do not know?"
He suddenly laughed. "It seems as though I have defeated myself. In killing
you all those years ago, I have deprived myself of my only worthy opponent.
I have deprived myself of my true purpose."
As absurd as it seemed Rhea felt her heart going out to the misguided
sorcerer, and if she felt sympathy for him, then...
Sailor Moon rose up weakly. Even though her whole body felt drained,
her eyes held infinite compassion and understanding. "That is so sad..."
Rhea groaned, but once again it was Sailor Mars who spoke up. "Don't
tell me that you buy this spittle?! I wouldn't believe him if he told me
that the sun rises in the morning!"
"I am deeply hurt, Sailor Mars," Bane addressed the scout.
"Everything that I have said is true. To prove my intentions, I will call a
truce...for now."
Mars's response to that was a derisive snort and she was about to
tell the sorcerer where he could stick his "truce" when Sailor Moon placed a
hand on her shoulder.
"I'll handle this."
The fire scout frowned, but reluctantly agreed.
The scout leader nodded her thanks and approached the sorcerer.
"Hey, Sailor Moon," Sailor Uranus yelled, "do you mind getting us a
little help here?" She and the other two Outer Scouts were still entangled
in the tentacles Bane had summoned.
Sailor Moon looked at Bane who nodded. The tentacles released the
three scouts and disappeared. Once she was sure the Outers were all right,
Sailor Moon spoke to Bane.
"I would like to help."
The sorcerer was shocked. In all his years, no one had offered to
help him before. He chuckled. "I am afraid that there is nothing you can do
for me, Moon child."
"But surely the Crystal--"
The scouts all gasped and Tuxedo Mask shouted, "No, you can't use the
Crystal, not so soon!"
Sailor Moon looked helplessly at her friends and Bane said, "I'm sure
you can use your gem to do many things, perhaps even give back Aiden his
body, but as you can see your fellow companions would advise against it. In
fact, so do I. I know something about the powers of the Imperium Silver
Crystal, and I know the sacrifice that must be made for it to work. You
would surely perish if you tried. Besides, I believe that there is nothing
that your Crystal can do that I, with an entire planet's power, can't.
"I will say it again. You cannot help me, nor do I want you to."
Rhea had had enough of sitting on the sidelines. She strode
defiantly up to the sorcerer. "If you don't want our help, then how about
helping us out? Return the Earth's magic, before the entire planet is
destroyed," she demanded.
When Bane didn't answer, Aiden stepped forward. "If you truly had
any respect for me," the spirit said, "then do what my granddaughter asks."
The sorcerer shook his head. "I can't. The magic that I have taken,
I have infused into my body. It is now a part of me. I am afraid that the
magic will have to remain where it is. For me to try to remove the magic
would be like one of you trying to cut off one of your own arms."
Jupiter cracked her knuckles. "I'd like to see for myself how
attached you are to the magic."
Before Sailor Moon could stop them, the scouts ran up and surrounded
the sorcerer.
Bane shook his head. "Did you forget that I called a truce?" He
waved his hand and shackles materialized on all the scouts' arms, and with a
quick word he teleported all of them next to Sailor Moon.
"I would suggest that you do not try that again," Bane said, his
voice turning cold. With another wave of his hand, the chains disappeared.
"Is there nothing you could do then?" Sailor Moon pleaded to the
sorcerer.
"I am afraid not."
The warning sirens going off in the background suddenly grew louder.
"Would somebody shut those things off already?" Uranus yelled.
"They're starting to give me a headache."
"That's strange...," Bane said. He teleported over to a console and
checked the _Wrath's_ status. He hit a few keys and damage report popped up.
"This is not good."
"What's happening?" Aiden asked.
"The magical emanations that occurred with my resurrection apparently
disrupted the ship's generators. They're going into overload." The sorcerer
looked up. "The ship is going to blow up."
Mercury made her way next to Bane and plugged her computer into the
console. She quickly scanned the information that was scrolling up the
display. "He's right. According to this the power core will go critical in
ten minutes!"
"Is there a way to shut it down, to stop the overload?" Trent asked.
"No, there isn't," Bane said with finality.
"Then we have to leave, now!" Uranus said. She looked to Pluto.
"Your portals--"
The green-haired scout shook her head. "I am unable to use my
portals. The magical radiation is still too high."
"Then how--the shuttle!" The tall blond scout ran to where it was
sticking into the bridge and slapped the lock mechanism. "Open, damn you!"
The shuttle seemed to consider the tone of voice in which it was
addressed before it reluctantly opened the hatch.
Uranus turned around. "All aboard! We gotta blow this joint before
it does!"
The others needed no more urging. Almost as one, the group of heroes
headed to the shuttle. That is, all except Aiden. The spirit had been
trailing the others when he happened to glance back and saw Bane just
standing there.
"What are you doing? We have to get out of here."
The sorcerer looked at Aiden. "No, I am staying."
The spirit stopped. "What are you saying? The ship is going to
self-destruct in less that five minutes!"
Bane chuckled. "To you it may be a ship, but to me, the _Wrath_ is
much more. It has been my companion for countless millennia." He looked
at the spirit. "It has stayed by my side while I have lost other things. I
know its every quirk and nuance. It is...my home."
Aiden took a step forward. "That may be, but--"
Bane raised his hand and a wall of force sprang up between them. "I
have made my decision, Aiden, now go before it is too late."
The spirit look uncertain for a moment then nodded and smiled. "Was
that concern I heard in your voice, Bane?"
"Maybe it was." Bane's voice grew distant. "If circumstances had
been different when we had first met, perhaps we could have been...friends."
"Perhaps," Aiden said. He turned back. "Good-bye, Bane."
The sorcerer watched his long-time rival head towards the shuttle.
"Good-bye...my friend."
End Part 14
Author's Blurb: The Eternal Room was based loosely on the DMV that I went to
to get my driver's license...only it processed people a bit faster.:)