Lifelines
Michiru
By : MakotoJade
Oh
gods, what am I going to do?
Sailor Neptune hid in the shadows
and watched as the most horrible night in her life continued to unfold before
her eyes.
Foreword, and to her right, Sailor Moon
lay, with a thick spike of rock protruding through her left thigh, and another
through the right side of her chest... she lay bleeding, unmoving...
dying...
Sailor Uranus... Haruka... was on the left... dying as
well, yet, struggling to stand even so, trying to get to Sailor Moon, to
protect her...
The others... she still could not
figure out where the others were...
The youma
suddenly screamed. It was going to
attack again. It's attack would be
fatal this time... both Sailor Moon and Ura-- Haruka... would die...
No!!!
The
youma stopped screaming and suddenly looked in her direction, as if it had
heard her thought. Wide-eyed, she
cleared her mind of all thoughts, and in a second the thing looked away... but
turned back to it's attack...
I have enough time to get to one
of them and teleport away. One of
them... one of them... one of them...
To choose...
she'd hoped that she would never have to choose. But she knew she'd have to... sometime... I know my duty... I know what I'm supposed
to do... Usagi... but... I can't... Haruka...
I won't choose!!
She
screamed with her mind and her voice as she burst from her hiding place. The youma spun to look at her. She summoned more power then she had ever
dared to call before as she ran... and then released it in the thing's
face.
"Deep
SUBMERGE!!!"
The
entire shock was too much for the youma, and it failed to
react in time and was destroyed.
Sailor
Neptune gasped, exhausted, and then began to move
towards Haruka-- when she suddenly found her hands and
ankles bound,
and the ground
rushed up to meet her.
The fall blanked her out for a
moment, and then she opened her
eyes
and struggled to her knees. She glanced
down at her ankles...
"Energy Bonds."
She
jerked her head up to the new voice. A
woman with an aura
more evil then
she had ever seen before stood not seven feet from her.
How'd she get--
"I'm
very fast. That was a very risky attack,
you could have been
killed."
She
read my mind... gods... "I am
of no consequence. They
are."
The woman
nodded, "Oh yes, I
know." She motioned at
Haruka,
whom had finally slumped
to the ground, unable to move... dying, or
possibly dead... "That one is your love." She then motioned to Sailor
Moon, who was now, horribly for her,
awake, watching the scene with
frightened
eyes, as well as her own blood trickle down the rock that almost
interrupted her view. "And that one is your
messiah."
Neptune stared at this woman... how
could she know all--
"I am a mind reader, young one,
and I know the future, and I am
here
to change it."
She paced for a moment. Neptune watched her... carefully...
maybe she could get out of these
things. She moved her arms and winced as pain shot up through her.
The
woman stopped and looked at her, laughing.
"Ah, young one,
even
though they weren't active right away, the energy bonds are now...
and you can't get out of energy
bonds! You're body will be
entirely
electrocuted if you
stress them for more than about seven seconds, and
those seven seconds might just kill you anyways. They cannot be broken...
stronger than any rope, any plastic,
any metal... no one could ever get out...
Foolish you are, young one."
She laughed again, and then looked away for
a moment, and then continued to pace.
Neptune
looked back at Haruka. She hadn't moved
for quite
awhile now. That wasn't like Haruka, to give up... she
might actually be
dead...
She
fought the thickness in her throat and the moisture in her eyes
as she quickly turned away. No!!
I mustn't think that... She has to be
alive... She can't die!!!
But the tears fell from her eyes...
She turned to look
at Sailor Moon. The other girl was
looking in
Haruka's direction,
tears streaming from her eyes. Then she
turned to
Neptune, "Mi- Mic--"
blood drizzled from her mouth...
By the gods,
she lays dying herself and she can only think of
me... of others... she can't ever think of herself... She
IS the light of the
world... I
can't let anything happen to her... She mustn't die!!
"I hear your
mental struggle, young one."
She had almost forgotten the dark
woman, and slowly turned face
her. "Oh, do you now?"
The
woman smirked, "Such evil--"
Neptune almost
growled as she interrupted, "NO!
You are the
evil here...
you sent the youma, didn't you? You
have destroyed this place,
my
friends... you are evil."
The other woman looked at her for a
moment, as if regarding her
for a
moment, and then started, "I think physical violence isn't as evil as
the torrent of confusion that
continues to run through your mind.
Sacrifice
the messiah of
this world just to save your love, just so you, one person can
be happy. Me evil... indeed."
She's
wrong! I wouldn't have to sacrifice
anyone, I'll fight and
sacrifice myself... I won't
choose...
The woman laughed, "You refuse
to even answer the question... to
make the choice, even in your mind!! You can decide, c'mon, it's easy...
whom would you save--"
She was
cut off abruptly by a fierce cry.
Haruka leapt up from the
ground
and charged the woman, sword bearing down on her.
In a
split second, the dark woman angrily raised her hand, and
from a cartridge attached to her wrist
shot an arrow-like dart which caught
Haruka in the right shoulder.
Haruka stumbled for a moment, and then
ripped the thing from her shoulder, raising the sword again to run
at the
woman...
And
suddenly the sword fell from her hands, clattering away on
the floor. Her arms fell to her sides, and then she turned to look at
Neptune. "Michiru..."
Then she fell foreword, landing hard on the
ground.
"HARUKA!!!" Neptune screamed as tears burst from her
eyes.
"NO!!"
"Poison
darts, don't you love them?"
She heard Sailor
Moon cry out behind her, "Haru-... no..."
Neptune
quickly swiveled around to look at the other girl. She
was whiter than
a ghost... blood now came in a steady stream from her
mouth. She needed
help, fast... and all that was in her eyes was a
pain at the loss of Haruka...
She
turned back. "Haruka..." she
softly moaned... "Haruka..."
The woman
laughed, "Don't worry young one, she's not dead, I'm
leaving that up to you."
Relief
and confusion leads to horrible conclusion. "What?"
Neptune whispered.
"It's
up to you. I'll kill one of them, and
let the other one live.
You just
pick which one, and I'll kill her.
Decide. Which one should
die?"
No!! No... I won't... "I won't choose!"
The
woman laughed, "Well, then I'll kill them both!"
Neptune's
heart went to ice... No... no... NO!!!
How can I
possibly
choose... both have to live... I can't...
"NOOOO!!!!" She
fought
the bonds, and the pain
surged through her. She screamed and
continued
to fight, until she
fell to the floor, out of energy, unable to do much but
breathe.
She
cried. Tears streamed down her
face. If she had any energy
at all... she would have sobbed, cried
out... No!! I CAN'T!!
The
woman's laughter rang out, "Is it that hard a choice?!?"
From
behind her, she heard Sailor Moon, "Chos-- choos-- not m--
sav-- Haru--"
Now
she did have enough energy to cry out her sob, and she did,
and moaned in utter despair...
Even now, she would let herself die...
NNOO!! I can't. Her body quaked as she cried. I can't choose!! NO!!
And in one moment she opened her
eyes, which had been closed
since
she had fallen, and she discovered that she lay not a foot from
Haruka.
She stared into her eyes.
Haruka mouthed
four words.
Me.
I
Love
You.
Michiru suddenly
ceased crying. Her heart still screamed
in pain.
She mouthed back, I
love you... forever.
Haruka
gave her a sideways smile and mouthed, Forever.
As the tears came again she stared
at Haruka once more and then
slowly
pushed herself to her knees. She turned
to look at the woman.
"Well, have you made your
choice? Not that it was
hard."
"Sailor Moon."
"I
knew it--"
"No, Sailor Moon, let Sailor
Moon live... Sailor Moon lives."
The woman looked
at her, horribly shocked, "What?!?!"
Anger
blazed in Neptune as she stared down the woman, her voice
quavering with a sob as she cried,
"You heard me! SAILOR MOON
LIVES!!!"
The
woman stared at her for a moment and then nodded.
"Interesting, young one, I never would have thought
that of you... Oh well,
too bad
I'm going to kill you all anyways, that was very interesting,
though."
"NOOO!!!"
"Yes!" The woman grinned as she summoned a dark
force, and
black energy collected
at her fingertips... she released it...
Time
slows down sometimes...
The
dark energy streaked towards all three of them... Neptune
was on her
feet, screaming... pulling on the bonds that coursed pain
through her body... sobbing,
screaming... and with all of the forces
she could muster, she tore at the bonds, and they ripped from her
body.
Then she was moving,
moving... diving in front of... Sailor Moon... to
cover her, to save her.
To preserve this one of good and light, this one who
would give up anything and
everything... and Haruka... they loved
forever... and forever never ends...
She
heard Sailor Moon chanting something behind her...
As
the power hit her she cried out. As she
slumped to the ground,
she heard
other cries, from other voices... Now they show up...
Black.
* * *
White.
She
judged from the ceiling that it was a hospital room. She tried
to sit
up, but discovered the only response her body was giving her was
pain.
So she moved her head to look around.
Haruka... Usagi...
She
turned to her
left. Kino Makoto sat sleeping in a
chair beside the bed.
She whispered, "Makoto-san...
Makoto-san..." She found her
voice gravelly, probably from it's
disuse.
The younger girl started, rubbed her eyes, and then
looked at her.
"Michiru-san!!"
she said softly. "You're
awake!! You've been out for
about a week and a half. After we finally disposed of that woman,
we
found you and Usagi... she
used enough of her power to shield everything
from destruction in that woman's attack, we got you guys to a
hospital--"
"Usagi?"
Makoto
smiled, "She's in another room, and is healing just fine. I
think her powers accelerate her healing, she's already chasing
Mamoru
around." She grinned. "Anything else?"
"Haruka..."
The
girl smacked her forehead with her right palm, "Duh." Then
she grinned and pointed across Michiru to the other side of the
room.
Michiru turned to look.
The other bed's occupant turned to look
at her as well... with tears in her eyes,
"Michiru."
Michiru's heart pounded with joy as
tears leapt to her eyes,
"Haruka."
"Forever."
"Forever."
Unbidden
Joy.
End.
