Okay, I'm on a total crack kool-aid sugar high so guess what? I'M GOING TO DO THE NEXT CHAPTER OF THIS STORY IF IT KILLS ME!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, now that we have that out of the way, I wanted to warn you that the story isn't going to be too many more chapters. And we're now going back on track to the actual story. As much as I love Hotaru/Yaten we need to ya' know, go back to this whole Metallia thing. SHE IS A FIERCESOME PUDDLE OF GRAPE SODA! Dude I'm telling you…
Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon. I FEEL SO PRETTY AND WITTY AND GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!
Warning: Um, my sanity is gone at the moment.
Second Chances
Chapter Twenty One: Speak of the Devil…
"You two are so cute!" Hotaru feared that Minako was ten seconds away from pinching her cheeks. "I can't believe you two have been holding out on us!"
"Mamoru, how could you not tell me? I would have kept it a secret!" Usagi insisted. Then she thought about it for a moment. "Well I would have told Minako. And Rei. And probably Makoto. And Ami."
"Can you idiots give us some room?" Yaten fidgeted in his seat at the large booth were all the senshi, minus Setsuna, Michiru, and Haruka were sitting. Seiya had gone out and immediately told everyone about the couple, much to their dismay. Now it was a barrage of questions and answers.
"Tell us how you guys got together!" Minako begged.
"They already told us that!" Makoto countered. Hotaru sighed in relief. They had told it. Three times already.
"Oh but its so cuuuuuuuuute." Seiya's mocking grin made Yaten want to throw something large and heavy at the dark haired Starlight's head. Kakyuu yanked on her pigtails, obviously far beyond frustrated.
"Seiya, I swear if you don't stop teasing him…" Hotaru trailed off, trying to think of a good threat.
"I won't go out on anymore dates with you for a month." Kakyuu finished. Seiya made a pitiful face but it was to no avail. Seiya had been torturing the silver haired starlight every since the birthday incident and it was becoming his favorite pastime, probably just because of the twisted friendship he shared with Yaten.
"I thought we were having a senshi meeting." Ami pursed her lips, making everyone feel like they were doing something bad.
"It seems to me like Usagi and Minako called one just so they talk about Hotaru and Yaten." Rei commented dryly.
"How could you think that?" Usagi's eyes went as wide and innocent as they could go. Minako's did the same.
"Yeah Rei?" Minako straightened herself. "I wanted to point out that's been awfully quiet lately. No attacks at all."
"Maybe Metallia is planning something." Ami speculated. The waitress came back with their orders and began setting them down looking rather tired. Another waitress stopped by to talk to her.
"Eh, Cooan, get some rest. I'll cover for you." The other waitress told the one who was serving them.
"No, I'm fine. Where's Beruche? She was supposed to cover for me!" The waitress serving them complained. The two walked away with the Inner Senshi and Mamoru blinking.
"I can't believe we never noticed them before." Rei stated outloud.
"I'm glad they've been reborn, they were so nice." Ami smiled cheerfully. "Well, after they were turned good anyways."
"They were the sisters Ayakashi." Makoto informed the others at the table who had no idea what was going on.
"More enemies?" Hotaru was glad for the change of subject. "It makes you wonder if everyone was reborn."
"Yeah! Like the rest of the Shittenou!" Minako exclaimed. "I mean if Rei has Jadeite then they should all be here." Her eyes were sparkling. "It'll be a wonderfully romantic story."
"Um, Minako…" Rei put a hand on Minako's arm. "Calm down."
"Eh, I guess I got a little carried away." Minako giggled in embarrassment. All the communicators went off at once. All the other customers turned to look at their crowded table with annoyed looks.
They all scrambled to get the communicators out of their purses and pockets. Usagi got to hers first.
"What's going on?" Usagi asked, her brow furrowing as she looked at Haruka's face, she was obviously transformed.
"It looks like Metallia is making her attack." Haruka looked away as the screen started to grow dark as if the sun was setting very quickly. "We're on Main Street."
"We're there." Minako called, as the Haruka's image was suddenly gone.
"Well, Metallia is dumb if she thinks she can beat us out." Makoto tried raising everyone's suddenly darkened spirits.
"You're right." Hotaru nodded. The all got up and started on their way to where the battle was, not sure of what the outcome would be, but hopeful that it would be good.
* * *
"They better get here soon." Haruka muttered as she fired another attack at Metallia. Metallia laughed as the attack was deflected by some invisible shield. Metallia had chosen to break the street into large pieces, piling them together to form some high seat as if she were merely a spectator in the battle. She kept raising more youma to fight against the pair.
"You're evil ways are about to come to an end!" Usagi's voice rang out. Metallia looked amused. "I am a pretty sailor soldier in a sailor suit and in the name of the moon, I will punish you!"
"And we'll help." The other sailor senshi appeared.
"I've been looking forward to this." The Empress laughed as if the whole thing were a joke.
"Burning Mandala!" Rei started off this new assault. Metallia stopped the fiery rings with a hand, took hold of one, and threw it right back at the fire senshi. Rei jumped out of the way, just barely in time.
"Wait everyone before you attack again." Ami was typing at a miraculous speed on her computer while her visor analyzed. "She's got a shield around her, attacking her head on is not going to do much good."
"What should we do then?" Minako asked.
"Star Serious Laser!" Seiya took out most of one youma that had appeared. The Silence Glaive took care of the rest.
"We have to find a way to penetrate the shield." Ami frowned. "I can't exactly figure out how."
"Where's Setsuna?" Michiru kicked a youma in the face.
"I thought she was here." Kakyuu blasted through another youma while stating.
"Her communicator isn't doing anything." Usagi pressed her button on hers to start talking to Setsuna.
"Oh no!" Kakyuu snapped her fingers. "I have it! She told me to hold onto it for her while she went and grabbed her keys…" Kakyuu's face was slowly becoming horrified. "We have to go get her!"
"Perhaps one of us should go find her and tell her about the fight." Ami suggested as she fired an ice attack at a youma before Makoto electrocuted it to a smoldering pile.
"I'll go!" Kakyuu immediately volunteered. "I should after all because I forgot to give it back to her…"
"If Kakyuu goes, I go with her." Seiya immediately protested before shooting her attack at a youma who was getting dangerously close to Kakyuu.
"Maybe I should go; I'm not much use in battle." Ami gave them a small smile. "We really only one senshi to go."
"We need you here working on how to get through that shield, Mercury." Usagi told the blue-haired young woman.
"I'm going to stay here." Rei amended and starting attacking youma who were disturbing their emergency counsel of war.
"I'm with Rei." Minako went to help the raven-haired woman while the other's discussed it.
"You guys can argue about it, I'm going to fight." Makoto turned to aid the other senshi.
"I suppose I could always go." Taiki shrugged.
"I can't go." Usagi made clear. "I have to stay here with the others. Mamoru too."
"We're staying with the princess." Haruka spoke for both her and Michiru.
"I'll go." Hotaru spoke firmly, leaving no room for argument. "I'll be back before you know it."
"I'm going with her." Yaten stepped up beside the senshi of destruction.
"But Hotaru…" Usagi trailed off. "Are you sure you want to go?"
"Yeah." Hotaru nodded her head. "You guys keep working on that shield. Maybe Setsuna will know what to do."
"Take care of yourselves." Seiya told the duo. They both looked at her strangely. "What? I'll make fun of Yaten after the fight."
"Dork." Yaten grinned at Seiya.
"Let's get going." Hotaru tugged on Yaten's arm.
"We'll probably be done by the time you get back kiddo!" Haruka yelled after them. This made the others laugh. It was important to be able to smile, even at times like these when things started to seem grim.
* * *
Where is she?
Hotaru frowned as they ran from the school. They had run all the way to Setsuna's building, jumping from building to building but she wasn't there. Then they went to the school, thinking that she was there by chance, coming on a Saturday.
"Where the hell is she?" Yaten said Hotaru's thoughts outloud in a much more frustrated manner.
"She has to be around here somewhere." Hotaru furrowed her brow. "I'm surprised she didn't sense the fight and go there already."
"Great, so she could be there already?" Yaten's mood obviously did not improve with the suggestion.
"We'll find her." Hotaru ran along, glancing around the streets.
What if she's back at her apartment or something?
She tried not to grown with that thought. Looking for Setsuna was turning out to be much akin to looking for the needle in the proverbial haystack.
"Wait!" Yaten stopped her. "I swear I just saw her."
"There she is!" Hotaru spotted her, ordering coffee from a street vendor. "Setsuna!" They both jumped down from the building to right in front of Setsuna. The coffeemaker spilt the drink everywhere with surprise.
"What is it?" Setsuna asked. "Is there a fight?"
"Yes." Hotaru pulled Setsuna away from the street where people were starting to stare at her and Yaten in their sailor fukus. "You've got to transform, Metallia is attacking!"
"Right." Setsuna raised her hand above her head. "Pluto Planet Power, Make-up!" In a few moments, the Time Guardian was in her own fuku, the Time Staff in her hands ready to attack.
"We better hurry." Yaten said as they began to start back. "We said we'd be back quickly. We were searching for awhile."
* * *
"You made such a mess of my beautiful youma." The Empress Metallia looked down at them disdainfully before tsking. "Now I'll have to pay you back by making a mess of a couple of you."
"Go ahead and try!" The sailor senshi looked determined. Metallia began to fire blast after blast at them. The others tried to attack back but Metallia's shield kept there's from doing anything.
Haruka looked over to Michiru, who was standing a good thirty feet away from her because of the blasts. Metallia smiled cruelly down at Haruka and the wind senshi realized what Metallia intended to do.
A blast fired and Haruka ran, trying to beat the blast. Her final moments in her last life coming to mind. This time though, she was determined to save Michiru. Michiru realized what was happening a second too late, she was going to be hit.
Haruka grabbed hold of Michiru but her foot caught in between pieces of cement, getting stuck completely. Haruka couldn't move and Michiru wasn't about to just save herself and quickly wrapped herself around Haruka, maybe intending to take the hit herself. The other senshi started to run towards the pair. All of them knowing they would be too late.
* * *
Okay I'm done! I'm done! Thank you! I finally finished this! I've been sitting with the first two pages for like ever. I thought I was going to die. So...Onee-chan! 5 days, 18 hours, and 16 minutes left till we are together again! Go us! Tune in next time folks!