AN: Here goes nothing!
Where Do We End"Ask and ye shall receive, Quatre, love." Quatre raised his weary head at Minako's cheerful words. Talk about reinforcements. The hall's entrance was crammed with Senshi trying to prevent a very large and determined man dressed in ice from getting closer to the malignant mass that had redoubled its strength now that the man had gotten near it. Instinctively, Quatre sought Rei's distinctive red fuku from the group. She seemed unharmed except for the really sexy new hairstyle. Those ruby-colored stones were just...Color rose to his cheeks as he forced himself back to the situation at hand. Duo spotted the three missing members and called out to them.
"Do whatever you did before! It's really pissing this guy off, so it can't be wrong!" His words earned a swipe from Lord Winter's lethal ice claws, but Duo managed to duck as the claws struck the doorway behind him with a shower of sparks.
"You will be the first to die," hissed the enraged iceman. With an unexpected lunge, Winter acted as if he were going to tear Duo's head from his shoulders. Heero's oak staff caught the villain across the shins and like a fulcrum; he flipped the man onto his back. Or so it seemed, until the flip turned into a roll and Winter escaped through the gap in the ring Heero had left. "You will all die," the iceman cackled as he leapt to reach his Black Heart.
"Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss," boomed Usagi's voice as she unleashed one of her most powerful attacks from the massive balcony over everyone's heads.
"About time you got here," yelled a relieved Sailor Mars as Winter was blindsided by the pure energy slamming into his body. The iceman collapsed with steam rising from his garments.
"Good thing I made you skip the 'Champion of Justice' speech," murmured Trowa as he leapt over the balcony railing to join the others below. Usagi sighed and followed.
"Everybody okay?" Several nods and thumbs up signs came in answer. Before anyone could speak, Lord Winter's laughter jangled upon his or her nerves.
"Just what did I tell you about that trinket of yours, love," he sneered as he raised himself painfully from the floor. "It is nothing when compared to my Black Heart!" This last was a half scream as Lord Winter fell backwards to land on the massive tumor. The thing greedily absorbed its master with gross slurps of its fleshy folds. Minako tried to fight it, but she was forced to turn her head as her stomach heaved up what little was in it. The others looked quite green, but they managed keep their protein bars from reappearing.
"He's melding with it," Ami stated in a surprisingly calm voice as she scanned the mass with her computer. The negative energy returned with a vengeance and crushed the warriors with all of the ferocity of a tidal wave. The Senshi found them selves alone in an ocean of desperation. No hope. No light. Nothing. Ten voices, together but lost in the private corners of their own personal hells, wailed in despair.
Connected, we are never alone. A tiny glimmer of silver sparked in the darkness. We will never be alone again! The silver lengthened and became a fragile looking silver thread that grew and reached out in the surrounding black. It touched a single darkened solid that suddenly flared into a brilliant orange that burned against the darkness. The thread strengthened and moved along faster to find another dark mass. Something hidden in the void screamed in rage and fear, but the light refused to halt. Green flared, then red as the thread became as thick and as strong as an industrial cable. As more stars burst into life, the silver light wove itself into a brilliant net that pushed the horrible darkness back.
As the protective shadows shrank beneath the light they revealed a single entity, a child, curled into a protective ball. It whimpered as ten brilliant stars, still connected by the silver web, came to hover in a circle over its head. "Don't hurt me," it pleaded in a tear-choked voice. "My mommy ran away and left me here all alone. Why can't I make the pain in my heart go away?" The child flinched as one of the two silver lights came close to its face, but when the light began to project a warmth and love that the child had missed for so long, a tiny smile quivered upon his lips. "I thought that if I could remove my pain, I would be able to forget." The child's voice began to change as its body slowly began to grow. "I thought that by pushing all of the darkness out, by denying its existence, I could live in goodness the way my mother couldn't." A fully-grown Lord Winter stood before the ten lights. "I was wrong. My broken heart, even separated from my being, grew dark from its hatred from being abandoned. It grew into an entity of its own and named itself my Black Heart. I accept my death as atonement for my sins." The silver colored star that had come so close to the man pulsed once and the other stars seemed to pulse in answer. They began a whirling dance that slowly pulled in tighter to wrap Lord Winter in a shimmering cloak of light. The man closed his eyes and sighed one last word as the stars covered him completely. "Mother."
* * * *
"But I do not understand," whispered Nina in an awed whisper. "This is Lord Winter?" She carefully cradled the sleeping infant in her fragile but strong arms. Her bemused gaze locked with that of the Star Seed Queen who smiled and touched the woman's cheek with a gentle hand.
"I think that you will make a better Royal Mother than a concubine. Take good care of him." Her eyes took in the tiny babe one last time before she turned to nod at her mate and friends. Ami flipped a switch and gave the okay sign to Wufei.
"Gentle-beings of the Absolute," came his voice as it echoed over the ship's p.a. system. "Things have begun to change for the better..."
* * * *
After all of the brilliant displays of light the bungalow had recently witnessed, the final pulse of white light that was a completed Sailor Teleport was less than impressive. Barely a flicker of power, and there stood ten worn out looking young people who would collapse under the fainted breeze.
"I think we need a vacation from our vacation," moaned Makoto as she began to trek wearily back to the bungalow.
"Hear, hear," echoed Minako and Duo.
"I think that we must have been up there for most of the night." Usagi pointed towards a pinking horizon. "The sun is coming up."
"Only in Australia," chuckled Ami. "That's the wrong direction for the sunrise. We've been gone for a whole night and day." The group seemed to pause to consider this.
"That means we have to three whole meals to make up for," beamed a suddenly cheerful Usagi. If they had been in a cartoon, the entire group probably would have collapsed face first in the sand. Instead, they all looked at one another and started to grin as their energy began to revive under Usagi's happiness.
"How about a luau? Nothing like a Hawaiian gluttony festival," offered Quatre. Excitement at the project seemed to enliven the group even more, and soon the whole group was racing for the bungalow. From a place just out of sight of the happy crowd, a green haired warrior with ancient-yet-wise garnet colored eyes smiled as she slipped back into the streams of time.
We will never be alone again!
AN: And that's a wrap for the sequel to "What Happens When We..." I am so glad that you have enjoyed this story because it was great to reacquaint myself with such beloved characters. I hope that you liked the ending and didn't think that I rushed it. I did that last time and regretted it. Thanks again!