ROOZHVYE
(Luger)




The terrain was nothing like Kiyone had ever seen.

"My computer is picking up lifeforms." Mercury's headgear beeped. "Twenty miles. We might be coming upon an encampment or fortress of some type with a lot of people if I can pick it up this far away."
"Come on…." Uranus grunted as she sludged through the swamp. "We're fighting time."

Neptune seemed not to listen. She seemed more intent on the water as she splashed around in it, of the ripples which her body made.

"Such small ripples……in a land which holds a god of death…"
"Neptune!" Uranus pulled on her. "We have to find the child before she is killed by that madwoman!"
"Uranus…."

Neptune took her hand out of Uranus' grasp. The sky soldier looked stunned, and Neptune's action even caused Kiyone, Mercury and Pluto to stop and stare.

"Small ripples…"
"Michiru?!"
"……The indication of many deaths. The cutting of life…."

Suddenly, in front of the group, the Aqua Mirror appeared, its glass reflecting an image within.

"What in….?!" Neptune gasped as the mirror floated to her hands. "It can't be…..Saturn?!?"

-------------------------

The soldier of death and rebirth, once a young woman several years Knuckles' junior, seemed to be aging right before Knuckles' eyes as she walked, using the Silence Glaive to keep herself upright.

Sailor Saturn…….what is happening to you?!

"D….daddy?"

Knuckles looked down to see Lara-Su looking up at him as they walked, her eyes slightly confused. Knuckles understood the reason for it all to perfectly as he looked down at his red body. There had also been a slight movement in the bushes, but he paid no attention to it.

"Yes, Lara-Su…" he murmured. "It's me……I may look different, but its still me…."

Behind the two, tied up with some thorny branches, was Resin. His dark mask was off, and his true form could be seen; it was the form of a man thought long dead by the people of Echidnapolis, by his troops. He was an echidna who had not been seen for almost 250 years on Mobius.

"What…do you plan to do?" Saturn breathed heavily.
"Simple." Knuckles' voice was flat. "I'm taking all of you back to Crystal Tokyo. Lara is going back to her mother, Luger" - at this, the red echidna gave the guardian a look, but the guardian wasn't looking – "is going to stand trial for his crimes, and you're going to see someone about this sudden aging of yours before its too late. Then, I'm coming back here to face the Death Natron. Alone."
"You don't know the way back." Saturn put a hand to her chest. "Do you truly think that Luger will tell you?"
"If I beat it out of him, he'll tell me."

Knuckles regretted what he said the moment he said it. He stopped, his eyes widening in horror.

"Knuckles…."

No, no…. Knuckles shook his head. Wrong, its wrong……I'll be just as wrong as Death Natron! Why….am I letting myself think this way?!
Actions speak louder than words….


Another sharp pang came to Knuckles' chest. He gave out a gasp as he fell to his knees, his heart pounding violently.

"Daddy?!"

The little echidna turned to see Saturn double over as well. She dropped her glaive and began to cough violently. With a cry of fright, Lara-Su began to step back.

"Daddy…….lady…..what's going on?!" She started to cry. "I wanna go home! This is a dream!!"
"….Free me."

Lara-Su turned to Luger, whose bound hands were out towards her. There seemed to be little expression to discern. His eyes looked sincere enough to the child.

"Daddy….."
"…Lara-Su. Let me loose." Luger repeated. "I can help your father. I can figure out what's wrong with them."

But the physical recoil of the child was easy enough to substitute for any spoken reply. She just cowered in fright after a moment, shrinking back from him. Her memories were not short on bad men, and she knew what he tried to do to her.

"No……" she whispered shakingly. "You're a bad person……"
"…..Lara-Su…."

This attack was less severe than the last has been, and he recovered quickly. Now Knuckles stood up, taking back the rope.

"Nice try." He turned away and began to walk again. "You may be a relation, but as far as I'm concerned with your past action, you're not touching her."

Luger could only turn away, his hands going down, as Saturn slowly stood up. Her hair was starting to whiten, and her face was wrinkling.

"We…..don't have much time." She leaned up against the staff. "We…..must keep going……"

With that, the group began to walk again. Knuckles turned for a moment towards the sailor, who seemed to be struggling with every passing minute.

I don't understand…. Knuckles looked down again. Each time I am in pain, she seems to age faster……..could……could it be……my power…?

It made sense to him, horrible sense. He was red now; me didn't believe he was when he had been killed. Saturn had been perfectly all right until he had been revived; now, his power was canceling out hers. It was something that unnerved him; his power was causing her frame to wither rapidly.

I'll have to hurry…before me power sucks her youth fry and kills her! And….maybe even me soon….

Another rattle came from the bushes. From them, an eye, a red, metallic eye, squinted in the dark as the group made their way.

---------------------

…………….nia…………………………nia……………….

It was a miracle.

"…..Rania……."

Her eyes slowly opened.

"Rania!"

He stood over her as she came back from the blanketing darkness of her coma. She felt a surge of happiness, for it got even better; he was alone.
He was not with Soichi.

"……Oh………Soichi……."
"Good morning." Soichi's smile was comforting to her after all of those months of not wanting to even be in the same building as her. "Its good to see you back."
"I….."

Her thoughts suddenly flashed back to the last thing.
He had been in the room. He had out something in there, into the chromase. It had only been a split second, but she saw him jump down, the vial of flammable whatever in his hand empty. He had gone under the table as it exploded onto her…….and as she slipped into darkness, he ran out of the room, like the coward he was, the trickster he was, the liar, the devil…….

"Soichi!" She suddenly bolted up. "I must tell you that Locke-"
"-is no longer with us." There had been no indication to her of his betrayal; it would not come until later. "It's ok, though. Though the chromase blew up, we figured out a way to reconstruct your face."
"My…."

She looked at him, his glasses reflecting the terrible truth she was only now seeing. The entire right side of her face…..from crown to neck – was completely metal. Wire stuck out from where her hair had been, and chome plates covered her cranium. Her eye, seared out by the flames, was nothing more than a metallic orb with a red slit for a pupil. The skin…..the burnt, charred, warped skin….which still covered her face hung limply, almost carelessly from where the burns had ended.
Rania began to shake when the glasses reflected back at her new visage. She trembled in anger, fear, shock. She looked at Soichi, and found her new eyes were showing a new side she had never seen until Sabre come: a cold, cruel side, one interested only in himself. The explorer she knew from Project Valahalla was gone forever, replaced by Sabre's lap dog, his creation, the apt pupil. And she had been the first assignment in his reign of terror….it was too much for her……she began to scream.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!"



------


Soichi, taught by the red demon, had not even reacted to her agony, even as her cry echoed through the room. Her tears would flow for seventeen years; through another woman, through that hated seed that was spawned. In between, Rania's anger had lashed out at Wesyche, her first victim barely a week later; later victims began to accumulate. She wanted Soichi to stop, to listen to her words, to tell him he was doing the wrong thing. By the time she had started the second fire – the one which had engulfed the Infinity Delta, the one which young Hotaru Tomoe had been a survivor – Tomoe was so deep into his insanity that no one could have done anything. Yet she felt if she had been given a chance, it would have happened that he would have come to his sense.

Preparing, preparing… Rania's right eye glowed. All these years, it is what I have done. I knew one day, I would get back at those who turned Soichi into the monster he became. One by one I did it. My satisfaction was not satisfied until I had defeated Aaron Sabre…..Locke…..the man who brought my dearest to his knees, put him to his path of death.

Without a single word, Rania stood up from her seat in her throne room. With a silent movement that few could do, save for snipers and assassins, she quietly went to a wall of weapons, picking out a long, white-bladed sword. It glinted in the cold moonlight of the night.

Running from the flames of Keiko's delicious death, I found this world, this portal from Project Valhalla. It was oppressed by the Dark Legion. I thought perhaps I could use some of the people to my advantage to revenge. It was greater to mine that the great power that held the world asleep had not touched this world thought a blessing of fate, or whatever power worked to stop the power from reaching Deowainsta. In those years, I found ways to keep myself alive, stealing the technology I needed from the enemy, converting the oppressed followers to my dream.

Rania closed her eyes again for a moment, contemplating as she had done many times. She touched her finger to the top of the blade, and black began to creep from the puncture wound.

Then, I saw him, lying frozen, when I raided that foolish boy-ruler. The man whom had been betrayed. When I awakened him from his cryogenic slumber of a whole millennia – brought onto him by his daughter – he called himself Luger. Like the gun that smoke with a bullet to your heart. His mourning was a violent as mine, he had no family to trust. So, like the sticky glue the ancients used to preserve the terrible deaths of those terrible gods, I christened him Resin and he was my partner in retaking the path Soichi would have truly wanted.

She stood back, undoing a small curtain that lay next to the sword altar. She examined the sword one more time before the drapery fell completely to the floor. After it did, she closed her eyes, taking the sword and positioning herself. Then, with the swiftest and strongest of movements, she slashed forth into the wall, a growl in her throat. The ripping of paper came from it.

Luger may have weakness in contendence with that child….. Death Natron glared at the picture. But I have none. If she grows up to avenge the father…..as the father tried to avenge his own before I cut him down….then I will be destroyed; she must have inherited his powers as the Guardian Savior, and to allow her to gestate them could never be allowed. And even then…….with the child's blood on my sword……I am not satisfied.

Upon the wall was a aptly-slashed picture of a young woman. It was an old photo, from before the 1,000 year period that Earth, and most of its tesseract partners were brought under the power of the Silver Crystal. The face, the hair, they were destroyed by Natron's many rampages. But the blue eyes were still intact, staring at her, mocking her.

She is the last after the child. Natron's eyes slit. If my army must do it, if Resin must do it, if I must do it myself…it does not matter. She was the true killer of Soichi, the last in the chain of blood, of dark insanity that Soichi had to face before he was carried to a most torturous hell, made for him by vulturous, treacherous friends. His blood was on her wand of black magic…….and so the cycle will end when she is destroyed more violently than all the rest….

------------------------

Purple eyes searched in the deep forest near the castle, by cliffs. The forest, though mostly flat, became mountainous towards the fortress of the Death Natron.

"We're going to bypass it."
"Knuckles…."
"Saturn…." Knuckles turned to the aging sailor. "I have to get you help."

Saturn feebly coughed as they walked. It was obvious that her condition was degenerating more rapidly then ever.

"I…"

Knuckles' dreadlocks twitched. Suddenly he stopped, looking around him.

"……That sound."

The bushes began to react to Knuckles' words, and Knuckles turned to face what was coming from them.

"…..RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Within the instant, the bushes parted, and Knuckles was suddenly slammed into a tree, the wind knocked out of him.

"DADDY!!!!!!" Lara-Su began to run towards him. "Da-"

She stopped and screamed when a knife was suddenly pointed in her direction. The robotic right eye reminded her of the woman……the bad woman whose face she had ripped off. But with a knife, the new attacker was stronger.

"Do not," sneered the squirrel figure, "come an inch closer if you feel you life has worth!!"

Luger's eyes slit; he knew the prince when he saw him. But, in truth, it was no longer the prince that Knuckles had known. It was obvious in the now-helpless Knuckles' eyes, as the man once called Elias put the knife to his throat, that he was no friend to them.

"I have finally found you……"

Knuckles, feeling himself recover from the first blow, quickly brought his hand up to smack the knife away. But it was of no use; he was latched under the prince's grasp.

"….Elias…." He recognizes me somehow……I can see it in his eyes…. "Elias………why are you after me?!"
"Elias…." The Grandmaster laughed. "That is not my name! My name is Astyanax, and I am that which leads the Dark Legion to victory!"
"No!" Knuckles shut his eyes. "You were brainwashed good weren't you? You don't even recognize me, Knuckles, the Guardian of the Floating Island! You MUST have a shred of identity from your past! This is not your real self!"
"The Floating Island…." At that, the knife was brought down closer to his throat. "It was once my home before the massacre. I remember that well. I have no need for memories before then. Lien-Da taught me, when I forgot, that pain and death were a part of life. I was one of her greatest pupils…."

Now, the knife was beginning to nick, and Knuckles could feel himself getting angry. But he was under Elias, and the prince's strength was far greater at the moment than his.

"And now, Resin, I shall teach you those lessons!"
"DADDY!!!!!!"

Lara-Su began to run towards the evil man. She had almost lost her father before…….she didn't want to lose him again….

"Lara-Su!"

A scream came from the little girl's mouth as the withered soldier's form suddenly slammed into her. The grunt of Saturn was weakened by old age, and the Silence Glaive clattered out of her hand. The two then hit the ground, Lara-Su under Saturn.

"Ow!!!"
"Wait….." Saturn's face was turning blue from the difficulty she was having. "No….."
"DADDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Lara-Su!"

The girl turned, her eyes wide with horror, to Luger. Once again, he held his hands out.

"Please. I can help your father!"
"No!" Lara-Su screamed.
"Please!!"
"NOOO!!"

At this point, Luger stepped forward, his eyes down to the ground, towards the girl. Behind them, Knuckles managed to get the knife away from his throat, but was still struggling to get Astyanax off of him.

"St………..stop…………" Knuckles gasped. "You…..are……..Elias!!"

*SNAP*



"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"

Knuckles' eyes dashed up, Luger's bonds were being ripped by the Silence glaive. Using his foot to propel it up to his hands, he used it like a knife…….

No……….NO!!!

"…………….YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Knuckles closed his eyes. He knew that he hated both of them – Astyanax for his enemy status, Knuckles more for defeating him, for binding him. He knew, saw, the fury of his girlfriend in Luger, a fury easily inherited from Dimitri, that fury……

But the hand went to Elias.

"ARRR!!!"

With lightning speed, Luger was on Elias, and Knuckles was free to roll away, gasping for air.

"….Sa…saturn…."
"Knuckles….."

The voice was far weaker, far older, then ever before. Knuckles rolled over, and saw the soldier. Her hair and face was white, and she was gasping for air.

"Saturn…!!!"

------------------

"…Saturn….."

Neptune looked down at her mirror. Her eyes closed.

"Her soul….is no longer sustained…..she is withering….."

-------------------

"Leave me, Knuckles…." The soldier gasped. "Please……its my destiny…..to die here….."
"Hotaru!"

Knuckles, forgetting about the pain of his touch, grabbed her up and propped her in his arms. As he did, a small, brief, pain stung him in the chest.

"Ow…."
"It is weaker…." Saturn smiled weakly. "Then it worked."
"…..Worked?"
"……You are no longer restricted to touch me; I'm a dead girl."
"Hotaru!! What are you talking about?! I told you I-"

Knuckles was interrupted by another feeling in his chest. He bent over in preparation for the pain, but nothing happened. Instead, a strange, warm sensation came over him.

Sanctified with my blood
Given with your life
My soul is for you
Live on, Knuckles….


"No….." Knuckles knew now. "No no….Saturn, NO!!!"
"My sailor crystal…" Mist seemed to come off of the echidna in Saturn's trained eyes. "It is no longer rejected from your body. Its now yours, its powers, though limited, an amulet."

In the distance, the fight between Luger and Astyanax continued; they were struggling violently, and the Grandmaster had his knife again.

"Saturn…." Knuckles shut his eyes tight. His hands became fists. "You didn't have to….without its presence…"
"I….did…" Saturn's breathing grew even harder. "I had…..to………your…..phima powers……gone………"
"…..What…?!?"

The words hit him hard. It seemed too impossible. Yet, as he looked at himself, at what he was, and what he had been, he realized it was true. What he had thought since catching his reverted form, it was true now.

I'm sorry, Knuckles… Saturn's soul echoed into him even as the soldier lay dying. The day Tails saved the world, he absorbed your phima powers….and your Creed. Those forms, they were a way of compensating for the sudden loss of power. But now…….it is almost gone. There is still some left, somewhere within, but death cannot be optional. There is no longer enough….and even with my crystal, to try to repeat Tails' actions is impossible. It is not that strong.

"…..My power….."
"You must know…." Saturn wheezed. "You…..must…….fight Rania…….and learn the……truth about……a…….yo……..fa……"

Saturn's eyes widened; the loss of her sailor crystal, the power taken away, it had caused her to forget how to breather in an instant. Her face began to seep blue; her eyes widened in terror, and she began to bat at the air, as if kneading it would give her the strength to speak, to breathe.

"SATURN!!!!!" Knuckles screamed. "NO!! WAIT!! What about my-"

There was one final attempt; one final rasp, and then nothing more. Her eyes rolled up, and her body limped.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"

Knuckles' thoughts were jerked from his mourning; it was Elias. He turned in time to hear his daughter yelp at the scene, and he too was stunned at what he saw.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!"

Elias was only visible for a second after Luger had pushed him off the forest cliff. Scant seconds later, there came a nasty cracking noise from the bottom.

---------------------

The mist from the mirror suddenly dissipated, died out.

"Come on." Kiyone looked up to Neptune as she spoke. "Let's continue. We can mourn for the fallen later."

---------------------

Knuckles stared at Luger, who immediately put his hands up.

"Don't kill me."
"Don't kill you?!" Knuckles growled. "What the hell did you just do to Elias?!"
"That was no longer Elias." Looking down from the cliff, Luger saw red seep from the bottom. "That was a construct of Lien-Da's. An enemy to Death Natron. Now, you are the only one left."
"So you're going to kill me now?"
"….No."

Luger looked at the frightened young girl, Knuckles' daughter. He couldn't, even if he truly wanted to.

"Why not?"
"….All peoples have scruples with their jobs." This time, the echidna spoke softly. "A point in their life where they see something they cannot do. Guardian, I'm at that point. I may have been willing to kill you…..but I would never lift a hand towards your child. And if I do, you can kill me."

Knuckles was stunned. It wasn't what he had expected, and at first, he wasn't sure what to say. Finally, he gave Luger a look.

"You won't get out of trouble for this. You still murdered my dad."
"I know…" Luger slowly replied. "I'll die either way. But let me help you kill Death Natron."
"A sudden swing?"
"I had nothing to live for when I joined her." Luger protested. "My family was dead. Do you think I had any better choice? If I died killing someone, so be it. But if I have to die now, let me die protecting your daughter. I can help you into the castle, I'm trusted by Natron's men, who would rather shoot themselves first before fighting me! Please, Guardian. One more chance; I'll grovel if I must, but Death Natron won't be appeased with my death. She won't stop until she's killed the queen, and it may be too late if you decide to simply bring me into custody."

Knuckles' eyes widened at this.

"You……..want to help me?"
"If you wish to know….." Luger hesitated at first, but nodded. "Yes."

Knuckles looked down. His thoughts wrestled with each other. His plea was sincere enough; sincerity didn't forgive his crimes.

But there wasn't much choice at the moment. There was a father to avenge, a friend to save, and a world to help. All because of the woman named Death Natron. His powers were almost gone. He didn't know if anyone was going to help him from Earth, and if they arrived, it could already be too late.

The thoughts formulated into his mind; he understood now what Saturn wanted, what was expected of him. There was no turning back.

"One chance," he murmured, for both himself and Luger.. "This is one chance, the final time. After that, no more chances."

---------------

The Spectre, joined with a new friend, watched as the two solemnly, reluctantly, shook hands.

Now, it thought.

Now was the time. The cycle of death would soon end.

The time for the truth, and for the terrible retribution of the truth, had finally come.