Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is copyright © 1992 Naoko Takeuchi / Kodansha, TOEI
Animation. English Language Adaptation © 1995 DiC Entertainment. I'm just
borrowing the characters and dialogue for a bit.
Narrated by the Senshi of Silence herself,
I Could Only Watch
By Ceila
Part 6 - Death
Rated PG, Just in case
****************************
"That's not true!" screamed a disbelieving Sailor Moon as she watched Mistress Nine straighten and grin with confidence.
"Can you see that giant ball coming toward us? That's the Death Buster's master, Pharaoh 90. When I have the Sacred Cup, Pharaoh 90 will appear and the Age of Silence will begin!" Mistress Nine's laughter filled the hall as her confidence showed itself.
"Then, you'll be destroyed!" called Uranus as she slowly advanced toward us.
"Prepare yourself!" echoed Neptune as she too inched closer to the machinery.
"World Shaking!"
"Deep Submerge!"
Their attacks flew towards us in a blur of blue and yellow energy. Mistress Nine made no move to defend herself and indeed she didn't have to. I watched in horror as my princess threw herself in the path of their destructive blows saving us from death.
"Thank you." murmured Mistress Nine as she turned once again to look at the evil that was descending upon us.
"Idiot!" screamed Uranus.
"Don't interfere!" scolded Neptune.
I was in shock. Why had our princess risked her life to take a blow meant to destroy the threat to life on this planet? Mistress Nine took advantage of the Senshi's distraction and, using her power, made her hair grow instantly longer until it wrapped both Neptune and Uranus in it's grasp.
"If you don't want to see them die, give me the Sacred Cup!" Mistress Nine demanded of Sailor Moon as she tightened her hold on the two outer Senshi. "Shall I kill one of them now?" The hair twisted tighter and audible gasps were heard from both Senshi.
"Wait!" I watched as my princess lifted tear filled eyes towards us.
"If you give it to her, I'll lose all respect for you!" said Neptune in an uncharacteristically strong voice.
"But..."
"Don't!" screamed Uranus.
"Sailor Moon!" warned Neptune.
"Don't!" they echoed together. Their determination surprised me.
"Hotaru!" The faint whisper drifted across the room to our ears. Professor Tomoe was alive!
"Hotaru's poppa?" asked Sailor Moon as she helped the injured man to his feet. She sounded surprised to see him still moving too.
"Hotaru!" he managed again as he stumbled towards Mistress Nine grabbing hold of her dress in his bruised hands. "I'm your poppa! Hotaru, because of me, you've become..."
Mistress Nine shook him away from us, "You're Gerumatou's pathetic container. Don't touch me, filthy man!"
"Hotaru!" he pleaded as Sailor Moon cradled him in her arms.
"Stop it! Please!" begged Sailor Moon as her voice wavered with emotion.
"Hotaru!"
"Poppa!" I cried and a tear slipped down my cheek touching the star crystal that was Hotaru. Sailor Moon and Professor Tomoe looked up in disbelief. Had they heard me? "Poppa!" I cried louder this time and the crystal on my bow began to glow with a white light and my own aura of purple flared as well. There was a smile on our father's face.
"It can't be!" screeched Mistress Nine as she clutched at her head.
"See how you like being controlled," I muttered as I concentrated on breaking out of my cell.
"Hotaru?" asked Sailor Moon.
"I..." My aura began to glow brighter. "Can't control..." I placed my hands on the wall in front of me. "The body is..." I let our combined power flow into the wall and watched as it cracked under the pressure. "Rejecting me... hard to breathe," Mistress Nine was weakening! Then I heard her utter in our own voice, "Poppa!"
"Kill her, Sailor Moon!" shouted Uranus from her captive position.
"No! Hotaru is still alive!" countered Sailor Moon as she looked up at us with compassion.
"Don't be fooled!" chided Neptune as she struggled to get free.
"Hotaru, does it hurt?" our father asked. For the first time since this all began I saw true emotion in both his clear blue eyes.
"I need the Sacred Cup..." she gasped.
"No!" I screamed as I applied more pressure to the walls. "She's using you don't listen!"
"Sacred Cup?" Professor Tomoe looked as if he had never heard of such a thing.
"I need the Sacred Cup to recover..." Our power was having an effect on Mistress nine and she was gasping for breath.
"Hold on, Hotaru! Where can I find it?" he looked in her face for an answer.
"Poppa!" she moaned and pointed towards Sailor Moon as small pieces of the wall began falling at my feet.
"Sailor Moon," called Uranus.
"You're not the Messiah! You don't have any right to decide!" pleaded Neptune.
"Hotaru is still alive!" was my princess's fervent reply. "I don't believe that Hotaru has to be sacrificed to save the world!" With those words she turned and a shining jeweled cup appeared in her hands.
"That's it!" hissed Mistress nine.
"The Sacred Cup." Our father moved closer to Sailor Moon and pleadingly held out his hands to her. "Please, Hotaru needs it." I watched in horror as she gave it to him willingly.
"No! Princess it's all a trap!" but she never heard my voice.
"Thank you!" He turned back to Mistress nine and held it up for us to see. "Hotaru, is this the Sacred Cup that you need?"
"Yes, hurry!" Mistress Nine hissed. As soon as he was close enough she snatched it out of his hands. When she touched it I was thrown away from the wall as her power increased.
"Sailor Moon!" crowed a now completely recovered Mistress Nine. "When Pharaoh 90 appears, I'll thank you by letting you live as a Daimon container!"
"Hotaru! Can you hear me? Hotaru!" called Sailor Moon as she looked to us with her compassionate eyes.
"There's nothing you can do now!"
"You won't win. I'll save Hotaru and our world!"
"Forget it! This Sacred Cup is the purest crystal from...the collection of anger, love, loneliness, happiness, and envy. You have a very small chance to beat Pharaoh 90 who has the Sacred Cup...unless you can create a more powerful Cup than this!
Our body shook with laughter as she placed the cup into one of the machines. I gasped as I watched it shatter in a matter of seconds allowing the raw power of the grail to be absorbed.
"The Sacred Cup!" moaned Sailor Moon.
"This way please, Pharaoh 90!" Mistress Nine called as she faced the massive machine that housed the pulsing light that was Pharaoh 90.
"Moon Cosmic Power!" cried Sailor moon as she fired a blast from the holy silver crystal past Mistress Nine and directly at Pharaoh 90. The return blast sent Sailor Moon flying across the room. I winced as I watched her try and stand.
"Without two levels of transformation, it's impossible to stop the Silence." she laughed at the now battered Senshi. "My master and my world will soon be here..."
After regaining my wits I stepped up to the wall I had chipped earlier. "No more miss nice Senshi," I mumbled as my aura flared around me again and I felt the sign of Saturn come to life on my brow. I began the attack again.
"It can't be!" I heard her scream as she grabbed her head again.
"Hotaru..." I heard our father whisper and the broach on my chest flared and pulsed as Hotaru's voice echoed through the room.
"Poppa..." came the strangled whisper from Mistress Nine's Mouth. I felt her eyes grow wide in shock.
"Hotaru..."
"Poppa..." The wall was starting to crack again and I felt Hotaru helping me, lending me strength.
"Hotaru..." Papa called again as he wrapped us in a hug.
Mistress Nine closed her eyes and the world was dark except for the light I was producing. Her shadow form appeared in front of me. Her hair flowing in a wind of power as she glared at me with her dark empty eyes. "Hotaru now is the time," I whispered and the star flared with a bright light that impacted directly with Mistress nine causing her to stagger back. Hotaru's voice sounded stronger now, as if she had taken control of our transformed body.
"Poppa, where are you? It's so dark, I can't see you," she called for our eyes were still closed.
"I'm here," replied Professor Tomoe as he hugged his daughter close.
"I must save Chibiusa!" That statement caught me off guard and I felt my power waver. "Poppa, help me out of here!" I watched as Mistress Nine eyed me again. She had felt the weakness.
"I don't know how, forgive me Hotaru. I want to go back to the good times." He was reminiscing at a time like this!
"Poppa!" cried Hotaru and I felt her hug him in return. Hotaru's light began to fade and I watched as Mistress Nine raised a hand toward me preparing to fire.
"Hotaru!" Papa sobbed back to us as our body began to shake.
"Poppa!" we shouted as Mistress Nine fired a blast right at me. It was a direct hit but I stood my ground.
"Die! Both of you annoyances die!"
"Never!" I bit back at her.
"Poppa!" Hotaru's voice was now panicked. Another blast from Mistress Nine caused her light to fade even more until it was just a faint line connecting the two of us.
"Poppa..." was her final whisper as Mistress Nine severed the connection of minds and returned to control our body. Her eyes opened slowly and I saw that our father was indeed holding our body close.
"H... Hotaru?" he asked looking into our face, searching for his lost daughter.
"Don't come near me, beast!" She screamed in our twisted voice as she shoved our father aside and stood holding her head again. "Disappear!" She blasted him across the room and I noticed Sailor Moon going to his aid. Then more to herself, this must have been directed at me, she muttered, "You're useless! Don't bother me! Leave!"
"Never!" I shouted as I reached inside for the last reserves of my power and sent it all into the wall that quickly filled with cracks.
"Be gone!"
"No, you leave!" I replied as large holes started forming in the wall in front of me.
"Be gone!"
A warm sensation on my chest made me look down. The star was glowing again, Hotaru wasn't gone! "No!" I shouted. "No!"
"Damn you!"
"I have..." a blast of power from the star shattered the wall. "I have..." I felt Hotaru's power blending with my own. Her thoughts touched mine as our separate minds merged into one. "...beloved ones!"
"Hotaru!" I heard our, my, father shout from across the room as I let the full power of Saturn loose in Mistress Nine's mind.
I felt the floor shudder as my power raced through my body's mind cleansing it of evil. I stepped from the remains of my box to face a fuming Mistress Nine. She was no longer the tall beautiful woman I had seen just minutes before. Her dress was tattered and her long hair had been shorn in places and burns covered her body. I called my glaive and readied for battle.
"Shi-ne," she spat at me as she prepared to fire.
"You first, Silent Blast!" My attack flew at her striking her dead on and with a scream she disintegrated into dust as I had seen many a daimon do leaving a shining pure heart crystal in her place. I called it to me and cradled it close to the crystal on my own chest. "Chibiusa." A tear fell down my cheek as I kissed the crystal and stored it in my subspace pocket. "Now for the hard part," I mumbled as I looked around for the last time and aimed my glaive at the floor beneath my feet. "Silent Blast!" I felt more than heard the body scream as it too disintegrated and my spirit fled.
* * *
Using her heart crystal like a homing beacon I followed it's pull to where Mamoru was sitting with Chibiusa. I must have been visible to him because when I walked through the wall Mamoru gasped in shock.
"You're..." he managed before I smiled and silenced him. It was nice to be recognized but I was on a tight schedule!
"Chibiusa, you'll be all right," I said as I brought out her heart crystal and allowed it to float back to it's owner. I smiled as it was absorbed into her chest and she immediately regained her healthy color.
"Sailor Saturn!" a startled Male voice finally called out. I looked down and saw Artemis gaping up at me from his spot next to Luna.
"Hotaru!" exclaimed Luna as if she had just learned the last piece of a puzzle.
I didn't have time to say more. I could feel Pharaoh 90 getting closer and it was up to me to stop him from entering and destroying this world. "Thank you, Chibiusa." Was all I said before I left my friend to defend the world.
* * *
"Pharaoh 90 is getting stronger," I heard Neptune call as I floated across the room. They hadn't seen me yet.
"We don't have the power to stop it," muttered Uranus as she pounded on the floor. I chose that moment to make my grand entrance and I was satisfied to see appropriately shocked faces on the three Senshi before me.
"Hotaru!" gasped Sailor Moon as the other two Senshi merely stared at me in shock.
"Sailor Moon. Thank you for protecting my body," I said.
"Sailor Saturn, Hotaru?"
"Hotaru!" called my father from across the room. He looked battered and weak but at least he was alive, that was more than I could say for myself.
"I'm no longer Hotaru. I'm the only one who can save the planet from the Silence."
"Wait! I'll go..." said Sailor Moon as she moved towards me.
"No, the only way to destroy Pharaoh 90 is to enter the center and destroy everything. You don't have enough power since Pharaoh 90 is using the Sacred Cup...unless you're Super Sailor Moon," I said with a sad smile.
"What will happen to you after you destroy Pharaoh 90?"
She always had been concerned about the fates of others. "The reason why I'm the sacrificing soldier is because I received the power to destroy, but when the time comes to use that power, I myself must be destroyed..." I let my sentence fade away as understanding flew into her eyes,
"No!"
"Good-bye!" I said as I turned and jumped with glaive in hand, into the heart of the evil I had been waiting for so long to destroy.
I'm not sure how long I fought against Pharaoh 90. He was strong and I had already spent a great deal of energy fighting Mistress Nine. The one thing I remember was my need for vengeance. I had watched this creature's minions destroy my father, endanger my friends, and finally destroy my own mind. One could say I was just a tad bit pissed off.
Gradually I worked my way closer and closer to the heart of Pharaoh 90 and the world melted away until it was a blur of black tendrils and purple energy. I was preparing for my final attack, my ultimate sacrifice to save the world, when my princess surprised me. She appeared behind me, her fuku torn and her hair falling from the royal ondongo, but she stood strong as she placed a hand over one of my own.
"Hotaru-chan, please let me help you," her voice had a strange bell like quality and it seemed to drown out the noises of the battle around us. Looking down at her chest I noticed her shining heart crystal hovering protectively in front of the silver crystal.
"Sailor Moon this is my job." I began but she silenced my words with her other hand.
"Then do what you must, but know that I will not let anyone else be sacrificed, because even one death is too high a price for peace."
Nodding my head I turned from my princess and raised my glaive in front of me. My aura flared to life and I charged forward into the heart of the beast. With a scream I sliced at him and heard him roar in pain. Stepping back I took aim and cried, "Death Reborn Revolution!" My glaive came down for the last time and I watched in satisfaction as Pharaoh 90 and everything in his world was destroyed.
The star crystal on my chest pulsed once and then flared in a supernova of light. Then I remember Sailor Moon and the feeling of warmth that the crystal always exudes when used. As the last bits of my spirit faded into the now white landscape I felt Sailor Moon place her arms around me in a hug. I felt her tears fall on my face. I watched her wrap the star that was Hotaru in a blue blanket and then everything was gone.
* * *
Author's Note: Now is this the end? Shall I add an epilogue? Do you want to know what happened to Hotaru and Saturn? Let me know by e-mail. Until then thank you for reading.
E-Mail the Author at k340029@excite.com
Catch sneak peeks of all my work, and other talented authors works, at Daydream - www.scribbles.0catch.com
Narrated by the Senshi of Silence herself,
I Could Only Watch
By Ceila
Part 6 - Death
Rated PG, Just in case
****************************
"That's not true!" screamed a disbelieving Sailor Moon as she watched Mistress Nine straighten and grin with confidence.
"Can you see that giant ball coming toward us? That's the Death Buster's master, Pharaoh 90. When I have the Sacred Cup, Pharaoh 90 will appear and the Age of Silence will begin!" Mistress Nine's laughter filled the hall as her confidence showed itself.
"Then, you'll be destroyed!" called Uranus as she slowly advanced toward us.
"Prepare yourself!" echoed Neptune as she too inched closer to the machinery.
"World Shaking!"
"Deep Submerge!"
Their attacks flew towards us in a blur of blue and yellow energy. Mistress Nine made no move to defend herself and indeed she didn't have to. I watched in horror as my princess threw herself in the path of their destructive blows saving us from death.
"Thank you." murmured Mistress Nine as she turned once again to look at the evil that was descending upon us.
"Idiot!" screamed Uranus.
"Don't interfere!" scolded Neptune.
I was in shock. Why had our princess risked her life to take a blow meant to destroy the threat to life on this planet? Mistress Nine took advantage of the Senshi's distraction and, using her power, made her hair grow instantly longer until it wrapped both Neptune and Uranus in it's grasp.
"If you don't want to see them die, give me the Sacred Cup!" Mistress Nine demanded of Sailor Moon as she tightened her hold on the two outer Senshi. "Shall I kill one of them now?" The hair twisted tighter and audible gasps were heard from both Senshi.
"Wait!" I watched as my princess lifted tear filled eyes towards us.
"If you give it to her, I'll lose all respect for you!" said Neptune in an uncharacteristically strong voice.
"But..."
"Don't!" screamed Uranus.
"Sailor Moon!" warned Neptune.
"Don't!" they echoed together. Their determination surprised me.
"Hotaru!" The faint whisper drifted across the room to our ears. Professor Tomoe was alive!
"Hotaru's poppa?" asked Sailor Moon as she helped the injured man to his feet. She sounded surprised to see him still moving too.
"Hotaru!" he managed again as he stumbled towards Mistress Nine grabbing hold of her dress in his bruised hands. "I'm your poppa! Hotaru, because of me, you've become..."
Mistress Nine shook him away from us, "You're Gerumatou's pathetic container. Don't touch me, filthy man!"
"Hotaru!" he pleaded as Sailor Moon cradled him in her arms.
"Stop it! Please!" begged Sailor Moon as her voice wavered with emotion.
"Hotaru!"
"Poppa!" I cried and a tear slipped down my cheek touching the star crystal that was Hotaru. Sailor Moon and Professor Tomoe looked up in disbelief. Had they heard me? "Poppa!" I cried louder this time and the crystal on my bow began to glow with a white light and my own aura of purple flared as well. There was a smile on our father's face.
"It can't be!" screeched Mistress Nine as she clutched at her head.
"See how you like being controlled," I muttered as I concentrated on breaking out of my cell.
"Hotaru?" asked Sailor Moon.
"I..." My aura began to glow brighter. "Can't control..." I placed my hands on the wall in front of me. "The body is..." I let our combined power flow into the wall and watched as it cracked under the pressure. "Rejecting me... hard to breathe," Mistress Nine was weakening! Then I heard her utter in our own voice, "Poppa!"
"Kill her, Sailor Moon!" shouted Uranus from her captive position.
"No! Hotaru is still alive!" countered Sailor Moon as she looked up at us with compassion.
"Don't be fooled!" chided Neptune as she struggled to get free.
"Hotaru, does it hurt?" our father asked. For the first time since this all began I saw true emotion in both his clear blue eyes.
"I need the Sacred Cup..." she gasped.
"No!" I screamed as I applied more pressure to the walls. "She's using you don't listen!"
"Sacred Cup?" Professor Tomoe looked as if he had never heard of such a thing.
"I need the Sacred Cup to recover..." Our power was having an effect on Mistress nine and she was gasping for breath.
"Hold on, Hotaru! Where can I find it?" he looked in her face for an answer.
"Poppa!" she moaned and pointed towards Sailor Moon as small pieces of the wall began falling at my feet.
"Sailor Moon," called Uranus.
"You're not the Messiah! You don't have any right to decide!" pleaded Neptune.
"Hotaru is still alive!" was my princess's fervent reply. "I don't believe that Hotaru has to be sacrificed to save the world!" With those words she turned and a shining jeweled cup appeared in her hands.
"That's it!" hissed Mistress nine.
"The Sacred Cup." Our father moved closer to Sailor Moon and pleadingly held out his hands to her. "Please, Hotaru needs it." I watched in horror as she gave it to him willingly.
"No! Princess it's all a trap!" but she never heard my voice.
"Thank you!" He turned back to Mistress nine and held it up for us to see. "Hotaru, is this the Sacred Cup that you need?"
"Yes, hurry!" Mistress Nine hissed. As soon as he was close enough she snatched it out of his hands. When she touched it I was thrown away from the wall as her power increased.
"Sailor Moon!" crowed a now completely recovered Mistress Nine. "When Pharaoh 90 appears, I'll thank you by letting you live as a Daimon container!"
"Hotaru! Can you hear me? Hotaru!" called Sailor Moon as she looked to us with her compassionate eyes.
"There's nothing you can do now!"
"You won't win. I'll save Hotaru and our world!"
"Forget it! This Sacred Cup is the purest crystal from...the collection of anger, love, loneliness, happiness, and envy. You have a very small chance to beat Pharaoh 90 who has the Sacred Cup...unless you can create a more powerful Cup than this!
Our body shook with laughter as she placed the cup into one of the machines. I gasped as I watched it shatter in a matter of seconds allowing the raw power of the grail to be absorbed.
"The Sacred Cup!" moaned Sailor Moon.
"This way please, Pharaoh 90!" Mistress Nine called as she faced the massive machine that housed the pulsing light that was Pharaoh 90.
"Moon Cosmic Power!" cried Sailor moon as she fired a blast from the holy silver crystal past Mistress Nine and directly at Pharaoh 90. The return blast sent Sailor Moon flying across the room. I winced as I watched her try and stand.
"Without two levels of transformation, it's impossible to stop the Silence." she laughed at the now battered Senshi. "My master and my world will soon be here..."
After regaining my wits I stepped up to the wall I had chipped earlier. "No more miss nice Senshi," I mumbled as my aura flared around me again and I felt the sign of Saturn come to life on my brow. I began the attack again.
"It can't be!" I heard her scream as she grabbed her head again.
"Hotaru..." I heard our father whisper and the broach on my chest flared and pulsed as Hotaru's voice echoed through the room.
"Poppa..." came the strangled whisper from Mistress Nine's Mouth. I felt her eyes grow wide in shock.
"Hotaru..."
"Poppa..." The wall was starting to crack again and I felt Hotaru helping me, lending me strength.
"Hotaru..." Papa called again as he wrapped us in a hug.
Mistress Nine closed her eyes and the world was dark except for the light I was producing. Her shadow form appeared in front of me. Her hair flowing in a wind of power as she glared at me with her dark empty eyes. "Hotaru now is the time," I whispered and the star flared with a bright light that impacted directly with Mistress nine causing her to stagger back. Hotaru's voice sounded stronger now, as if she had taken control of our transformed body.
"Poppa, where are you? It's so dark, I can't see you," she called for our eyes were still closed.
"I'm here," replied Professor Tomoe as he hugged his daughter close.
"I must save Chibiusa!" That statement caught me off guard and I felt my power waver. "Poppa, help me out of here!" I watched as Mistress Nine eyed me again. She had felt the weakness.
"I don't know how, forgive me Hotaru. I want to go back to the good times." He was reminiscing at a time like this!
"Poppa!" cried Hotaru and I felt her hug him in return. Hotaru's light began to fade and I watched as Mistress Nine raised a hand toward me preparing to fire.
"Hotaru!" Papa sobbed back to us as our body began to shake.
"Poppa!" we shouted as Mistress Nine fired a blast right at me. It was a direct hit but I stood my ground.
"Die! Both of you annoyances die!"
"Never!" I bit back at her.
"Poppa!" Hotaru's voice was now panicked. Another blast from Mistress Nine caused her light to fade even more until it was just a faint line connecting the two of us.
"Poppa..." was her final whisper as Mistress Nine severed the connection of minds and returned to control our body. Her eyes opened slowly and I saw that our father was indeed holding our body close.
"H... Hotaru?" he asked looking into our face, searching for his lost daughter.
"Don't come near me, beast!" She screamed in our twisted voice as she shoved our father aside and stood holding her head again. "Disappear!" She blasted him across the room and I noticed Sailor Moon going to his aid. Then more to herself, this must have been directed at me, she muttered, "You're useless! Don't bother me! Leave!"
"Never!" I shouted as I reached inside for the last reserves of my power and sent it all into the wall that quickly filled with cracks.
"Be gone!"
"No, you leave!" I replied as large holes started forming in the wall in front of me.
"Be gone!"
A warm sensation on my chest made me look down. The star was glowing again, Hotaru wasn't gone! "No!" I shouted. "No!"
"Damn you!"
"I have..." a blast of power from the star shattered the wall. "I have..." I felt Hotaru's power blending with my own. Her thoughts touched mine as our separate minds merged into one. "...beloved ones!"
"Hotaru!" I heard our, my, father shout from across the room as I let the full power of Saturn loose in Mistress Nine's mind.
I felt the floor shudder as my power raced through my body's mind cleansing it of evil. I stepped from the remains of my box to face a fuming Mistress Nine. She was no longer the tall beautiful woman I had seen just minutes before. Her dress was tattered and her long hair had been shorn in places and burns covered her body. I called my glaive and readied for battle.
"Shi-ne," she spat at me as she prepared to fire.
"You first, Silent Blast!" My attack flew at her striking her dead on and with a scream she disintegrated into dust as I had seen many a daimon do leaving a shining pure heart crystal in her place. I called it to me and cradled it close to the crystal on my own chest. "Chibiusa." A tear fell down my cheek as I kissed the crystal and stored it in my subspace pocket. "Now for the hard part," I mumbled as I looked around for the last time and aimed my glaive at the floor beneath my feet. "Silent Blast!" I felt more than heard the body scream as it too disintegrated and my spirit fled.
* * *
Using her heart crystal like a homing beacon I followed it's pull to where Mamoru was sitting with Chibiusa. I must have been visible to him because when I walked through the wall Mamoru gasped in shock.
"You're..." he managed before I smiled and silenced him. It was nice to be recognized but I was on a tight schedule!
"Chibiusa, you'll be all right," I said as I brought out her heart crystal and allowed it to float back to it's owner. I smiled as it was absorbed into her chest and she immediately regained her healthy color.
"Sailor Saturn!" a startled Male voice finally called out. I looked down and saw Artemis gaping up at me from his spot next to Luna.
"Hotaru!" exclaimed Luna as if she had just learned the last piece of a puzzle.
I didn't have time to say more. I could feel Pharaoh 90 getting closer and it was up to me to stop him from entering and destroying this world. "Thank you, Chibiusa." Was all I said before I left my friend to defend the world.
* * *
"Pharaoh 90 is getting stronger," I heard Neptune call as I floated across the room. They hadn't seen me yet.
"We don't have the power to stop it," muttered Uranus as she pounded on the floor. I chose that moment to make my grand entrance and I was satisfied to see appropriately shocked faces on the three Senshi before me.
"Hotaru!" gasped Sailor Moon as the other two Senshi merely stared at me in shock.
"Sailor Moon. Thank you for protecting my body," I said.
"Sailor Saturn, Hotaru?"
"Hotaru!" called my father from across the room. He looked battered and weak but at least he was alive, that was more than I could say for myself.
"I'm no longer Hotaru. I'm the only one who can save the planet from the Silence."
"Wait! I'll go..." said Sailor Moon as she moved towards me.
"No, the only way to destroy Pharaoh 90 is to enter the center and destroy everything. You don't have enough power since Pharaoh 90 is using the Sacred Cup...unless you're Super Sailor Moon," I said with a sad smile.
"What will happen to you after you destroy Pharaoh 90?"
She always had been concerned about the fates of others. "The reason why I'm the sacrificing soldier is because I received the power to destroy, but when the time comes to use that power, I myself must be destroyed..." I let my sentence fade away as understanding flew into her eyes,
"No!"
"Good-bye!" I said as I turned and jumped with glaive in hand, into the heart of the evil I had been waiting for so long to destroy.
I'm not sure how long I fought against Pharaoh 90. He was strong and I had already spent a great deal of energy fighting Mistress Nine. The one thing I remember was my need for vengeance. I had watched this creature's minions destroy my father, endanger my friends, and finally destroy my own mind. One could say I was just a tad bit pissed off.
Gradually I worked my way closer and closer to the heart of Pharaoh 90 and the world melted away until it was a blur of black tendrils and purple energy. I was preparing for my final attack, my ultimate sacrifice to save the world, when my princess surprised me. She appeared behind me, her fuku torn and her hair falling from the royal ondongo, but she stood strong as she placed a hand over one of my own.
"Hotaru-chan, please let me help you," her voice had a strange bell like quality and it seemed to drown out the noises of the battle around us. Looking down at her chest I noticed her shining heart crystal hovering protectively in front of the silver crystal.
"Sailor Moon this is my job." I began but she silenced my words with her other hand.
"Then do what you must, but know that I will not let anyone else be sacrificed, because even one death is too high a price for peace."
Nodding my head I turned from my princess and raised my glaive in front of me. My aura flared to life and I charged forward into the heart of the beast. With a scream I sliced at him and heard him roar in pain. Stepping back I took aim and cried, "Death Reborn Revolution!" My glaive came down for the last time and I watched in satisfaction as Pharaoh 90 and everything in his world was destroyed.
The star crystal on my chest pulsed once and then flared in a supernova of light. Then I remember Sailor Moon and the feeling of warmth that the crystal always exudes when used. As the last bits of my spirit faded into the now white landscape I felt Sailor Moon place her arms around me in a hug. I felt her tears fall on my face. I watched her wrap the star that was Hotaru in a blue blanket and then everything was gone.
* * *
Author's Note: Now is this the end? Shall I add an epilogue? Do you want to know what happened to Hotaru and Saturn? Let me know by e-mail. Until then thank you for reading.
E-Mail the Author at k340029@excite.com
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