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.