7. Falling Apart
Amy knocked quietly on Bra's door. A moment later, she poked her head inside. Bra was sitting on her bed, her eyes distant, scanning the still dark horizon as though searching for her friend. Her pyjamas clung to her small frame, once again reminding Amy of how small this girl was. The sheets were a tangled mess.
All indications were that Bra had another bad dream. She hadn't been sleeping well, and often Amy had to come in to comfort her. Memories of her captivity were still fresh in Bra's mind, surfacing in her dreams to traumatise the young girl.
Amy had no idea why, but Bra was more like a little sister to her than even she understood. She felt the need to protect Bra, to keep the little girl safe from harm.
"May I come in?" Amy asked.
"Amy!" Bra gasped, surprised. "I didn't hear you."
Amy slipped into the room, moving to sit next to Bra on the bed. "I heard you cry out. Was it another dream?" Amy asked, putting a comforting arm around Bra's shoulder.
"My parents are dead," Bra said quietly. "So is my annoying older brother. It's not fair. I lost my parents, and my brother, and I'm going to lose my best friend too."
"That won't happen," Amy tried to reassure her. "We won't let it happen."
Bra nodded, though her eyes remained distant. Amy was sure that Bra was only nodding because she felt it was required of her; the young girl didn't really believe Amy. "I feel like everything is being taken away from me. And I'm not strong enough to do anything about it. It's not fair."
Amy enveloped Bra in a warm hug. It just seemed to be what she needed right then. Bra closed her eyes, and let herself be comforted in the warmth of Amy's embrace. After a long moment, they broke the embrace. "It's not always about strength. You know that the Sailor Scouts are behind you all the way. But, you have to understand, Bra, that sometimes, strength isn't measured by how hard you can hit someone or something. It's measured by simple faith. You have to believe in yourself, in a better future."
"What if… what if that's not enough?" Bra asked.
"If you believe in yourself, then almost anything is possible," Amy answered.
"Almost…?" Bra asked.
"Well, there have to be exceptions," Amy said, smiling at her younger sister. "I mean, no matter how much you believe in yourself, you can't stop the flow of time, for example."
They passed into silence. The sun was just struggling to rise over the horizon. The two girls watched as it first began to climb into the sky, painting the clouds in brilliant shades of pink, orange, and red.
After a long moment, Amy stood up. She had to be at Cherry Hill Temple soon. Today was the day that they were going up against Queen Beryl and the Negaverse, the day of the final showdown. Amy just had to check in with Bra before that happened. "Are you okay now?"
"I guess," Bra answered, a little non-committal.
"Are you going to be alright if I go out for a while? Mom won't get back until later and…" Amy's voice trailed off at the even look Bra was giving her. Okay, so she was young, but she could obviously take care of herself.
"I'm not a little kid, you know," said the little kid.
"Okay, okay, I get it!" Amy said, smiling and holding her hands up in surrender. "I'll… try to be back later on. Make sure you get to school alright."
"Yeah. Right. School," Bra murmured darkly. Amy could only smile at this, as she turned and closed the door behind her. She went back to her room and got ready, jumping quickly through the shower, and getting dressed. She grabbed herself a piece of toast on the way, pulling on her thick winter coat for protection. Then she started down the road, towards the Cherry Hill Temple…
***
Pan could feel the thing in her mind growing stronger, taking away more and more of her control, and she was powerless to stop it. Her mind wasn't strong enough to overcome the menace taking over. Why were they doing this to her?
The chamber was vast and poorly lit, giving off the impression of being subterranean, most of the dim light pooling around a great dark throne, seemingly hewn from the rock. It was impossible to tell how many beings crowded the shadows of the chamber, but the initial impression spoke of hundreds, thousands, none of them truly human. This was the court held by Queen Beryl.
The monstrous visage of the queen stepped into the light, and by the look on her face, it was clearly evident that she was not having a good day. Her strange orange and yellow eyes were narrowed in anger as she swept through her minions to come before the throne.
"Fools!" Queen Beryl roared. Before her, Prince Darien and Malachite knelt in supplication, awaiting their orders. "Do you have any idea what this rivalry of yours has cost us?"
Both of the dark soldiers had the intelligence to remain silent. Queen Beryl would soon tell them, they both knew, and to question her publicly was to invite suffering on a scale neither of the two of them were comfortable with. Instead, they simply followed Queen Beryl's movements as she paced back and forth, obviously angry.
"You've lost us one of our most powerful weapons! The Sailor Scouts must not be allowed to use Bra against us! It is imperative that we get her back," Queen Beryl said. She settled herself down into her throne.
"Your majesty, you still have the more powerful one, Pan," Prince Darien pointed out. His eyes flickered over to the six-year-old, standing silently next to the throne.
The girl's black eyes were as dead as Bra's blue ones had so recently been, but there was a qualitative difference. The spell felt complete, not as flawed as the incantation that held Bra in check. Pan's skin was sickly pale, and her hair was pulled back into two short pigtails. Pan was dressed in a pair of blue jeans, a pastel pink shirt decorated with a white rabbit, and a denim jacket.
"You fail to realise their importance in this," said Beryl, her tone imperious. Prince Darien nodded slightly. The Negaverse had more than enough strength – without using a couple of children – to conquer Earth and the known universe. Malachite nodded slightly, for once agreeing with his rival.
"Very well, I shall enlighten you," said Beryl. "They're Saiyans, or at least part-Saiyans." Silent murmuring arose from the crowd, some of the court knowing what Saiyans were, while others didn't. Both ways, it caused some muted commotion.
"Long ago, before the Silver Millennium, Saiyans were the most feared power in the universe," said Beryl. "They swept through, conquering all that stood in their way, destroying for the sheer pleasure of it. Their powers are legendary." She allowed a dark laugh to pass her lips. "Their appearance is a sign. I was destined to revive their darkness and use it to conquer the universe!"
***
"So, we're finally going to meet Beryl," Rei said. They were all here now, ready to fight whatever they came up against. As ready as they'd ever be anyway.
This early in the morning, the Cherry Hill Temple was deserted. Even Rei's grandpa wasn't up yet. They had a reasonable expectation of privacy to talk about Scout business.
"Are you guys ready?" Mina asked.
"Yeah, can't wait," Lita said fiercely.
"This'll be our toughest fight ever," Amy said, nodding. Her mind wandered back to her little sister. Fighting Bra had been tough too, but Beryl was just on an entirely different level. She was insidious and cruel, and Amy guessed it wouldn't be the same as a normal fight, one side against the other. She guessed that in fighting Beryl, they'd be fighting their own worst fears. That was why it would be so difficult.
"Psst. Rei, major question," Serena whispered to the Temple maiden. "You didn't forget to kiss Chad goodbye, did you?" Rei growled and was about to launch into an all out offensive on Serena.
"Well girls, are you ready?" Artemis asked. He'd seen the fight coming and had acted to stop it before it started. "This'll be a rough one…"
"… But we know you can do it," Luna finished for him.
"Oh yeah. We've trained enough," Serena dismissed. "Moon Prism Power!"
"Mercury Power!"
"Mars Power!"
"Jupiter Power!"
"Venus Power!"
The area was flooded with brilliant light, as each of the girls transformed in turn, until they were gone, replaced by Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, and Sailor Venus respectively. There was a qualitative difference in the way these girls carried themselves, as opposed to their civilian counterparts.
They joined hands, closing their eyes. Each of the girls began to concentrate on her own inner power, bringing it out. "Scout Power," they murmured.
"Do you think they're really ready?" Luna asked Artemis. The cat sounded uncertain. "Can they really handle this?"
"Amy? Mina? Lita? Rei? No problem," said Artemis. "Serena? That's another story."
"But they're going against Beryl, Queen of the Negaverse! Serena has to be ready!" Luna said.
Artemis sighed. "Well, if worse comes to worst, maybe she'll have a klutz attack and trip Queen Beryl." The cat shook his head. This was no time for jokes. Their girls were going up against the absolute ruler of the Negaverse. "Believe in yourselves! You can do this, Sailor Scouts!"
"Scout Power!" The girls said, more clearly this time. Brilliant light filled the area for the second time, this time when the Sailor Scouts called on their power. The ground beneath them cracked, and moments later they were gone.
There was an explosion, the sound of a sonic boom. Artemis and Luna looked up. "What are you doing here?" Luna gasped.
There, surrounded by a flickering blue-white flame, hung Amy's seven-year-old sister. "I felt them all transform. What's going on? Where's Amy gone?"
***
"So, the Sailor Scouts want to pay us a visit," Queen Beryl said. There was a quiet murmuring among the members of her court at the mention of this. The Sailor Scouts were responsible for so many of their losses, most recently the loss of Malachite, one of their most powerful warriors.
Queen Beryl stood up. "So who wants to greet our guests and earn a place in Nega-history? Any volunteers?" Her voice held the hint of a threat.
Five volunteers stepped forward. They would have looked like sprites or fairies, except for the cruel and contemptuous looks on their faces. As it was, they looked vicious. "We'll greet 'em, Queen Beryl."
"The doom and gloom girls," Queen Beryl said, recognising them. "Perfect."
The five volunteers disappeared to go about their task. Beryl turned away from her court. Her attention turned to her young slave. "Make yourself ready, in case your little friend shows up."
Pan nodded, turned, and vanished in a blur of motion. "Everything is going according to plan…"
***
Sailor Moon shivered. "Can't we hire a dogsled or something?" She asked, her teeth chattering. The other Sailor Scouts didn't say anything, but Sailor Moon knew that they were each feeling the cold just as much as she was. Well, maybe not Mercury, but she was in her element after all.
"Hold it!" Mercury said, coming to an abrupt stop.
"What is it, Mercury?" Sailor Jupiter asked.
"Some kind of life form. Straight ahead," said Sailor Mercury. She looked up from her pocket computer, and pointed in the direction that she was getting the readings.
The snow stopped suddenly. Something was going on here, something weird. There was someone up ahead, and he appeared to be chained up, restrained, but what was he doing out here in the middle of nowhere in the first place?
"There. See it?" Sailor Mercury asked.
It was Tuxedo Mask! "That's Tuxedo Mask. He's hurt! We gotta get him! Oh!" Sailor Moon gasped, starting towards the chained man. Sailor Mercury stopped her friend.
"No, Sailor Moon! It's probably a trap!" Mercury pointed out. What was Tuxedo Mask – no, Prince Darien, champion of the Negaverse, what was he doing chained up? Surely he should be at Beryl's side!
"Don't be so blind, Sailor Moon," Sailor Jupiter put in.
"Yeah. Like, get it together, Sailor Moon-brain. It's a trap!" Sailor Mars chastised.
"Butt out, Mars," Sailor Moon snapped.
"Just wait. I'll check," Mercury said. She activated her virtual visor to help her scan the captive man, if that was really what he was. It was possible, wasn't it? Maybe Beryl was punishing Darien for failing last time, for losing Bra to the Sailor Scouts.
Sailor Moon gasped, and looked as if she was hearing something none of the others were. "It is him! I've gotta help him now!" She started quickly forward, and Mercury was too preoccupied with scanning the prone man to react quickly enough.
"No!" Sailor Jupiter screamed, starting after her friend.
"Come back!" Sailor Mars yelled.
Sailor Venus managed to tackle Sailor Moon to the ground. The rolled in the snow, Sailor Moon struggling furiously for her freedom. "Let me go!" She cried, desperately trying to push Sailor Venus off her. "I've gotta get him now! Let go! Get off me! Tuxedo, I'm coming!"
Sailor Mercury gasped. Her scans had finally penetrated the complex armour of illusions that thing generated. "Watch it, you guys!" Mercury warned. "That's not him!"
Sailor Moon stopped struggling just long enough to give Mercury a puzzled look. "Huh?"
"It's a trap!" Mercury yelled.
Suddenly, the Tuxedo Mask impostor looked up, a wicked grin on his face. His eyes glowed briefly red. Something exploded from the man's chest. The Sailor Scouts only just managed to avoid the tentacles.
"Why don't you ever listen?" Sailor Mars grumbled.
"It was his voice, though," Sailor Moon muttered, repentant. "I know."
The Tuxedo Mask persona dropped away like so much insubstantial mist. The thing that had tried to trap them was revealed. She had blue skin and long wavy blonde hair. She was dressed in what looked like a deep blue bathing suit. Her long legs had spiky thorns, and so, to a lesser extent, did her arms.
She laughed at the Sailor Scouts. "So you think that's funny, sleazemeister? Well go ahead! Laugh it up! I'm tired of putting up with Negatrash, and that means you!"
Suddenly, the enemy was no longer alone. Four others, dressing and looking similar to her, appeared next to her. The only difference between them was that skin and hair colour varied.
"Am I seeing things?" Sailor Moon asked.
"Hey Jupiter, somebody here would like to chat with you," the leader laughed. The five enemies disappeared completely, leaving another man in their wake. This time, the man appeared to be Andrew, a man Jupiter had a huge crush on. His hands were chained over his head.
"That's Andrew!" Sailor Jupiter gasped. "We gotta save him!"
She rushed forward, before the other girls could stop her. Suddenly, tentacles burst through the ice, imprisoning Sailor Jupiter in an iron grip. The five enemies rose up, lifting a struggling Sailor Jupiter into the air with them.
"Jupiter! They've got her trapped!" Sailor Moon gasped. She removed her Tiara, intent on using its magic to stop them from hurting her friend. "Moon Tiara…"
"Mars fire…" Mars began, focusing her energy on her own attack.
The enemies moved closer to the captured Sailor Scout. Now if they attacked, they ran the risk of hurting Sailor Jupiter! "Jupiter! We'll get you out of this, so help me!" Mars yelled.
"Thanks," Jupiter groaned, still struggling against her captivity. "But you guys have gotta find Beryl! Don't worry! I'll trash these Negacreeps!" Jupiter closed her eyes, wincing at the effort of staying conscious. She gathered her energy, readying her own attack. "Jupiter… Thunder… Crash!"
A powerful bolt of lightning struck the antenna on her tiara, but she didn't redirect her energy anywhere else. Instead, she gathered it all to herself. It would overwhelm her when she was finished, kill her, but the explosion would hopefully kill her enemies as well.
Sailor Jupiter screamed in pain, as the energy finished building. The explosion was massive, blinding everyone. Jupiter felt her broken body thrown down to the ice below, one of her enemies tumbling after her. The ice shattered, and she was lost in the cold and the dark…
***
Bra felt anger welling up inside of her, fuelling her speed. It had taken far too long to convince those two cats, supposedly the Sailor Scouts' guardians, that she had to know where Amy was.
It wasn't just that Amy hadn't told her that she was going to face Beryl today that angered Bra, it was that they hadn't wanted her to get involved. For someone so smart, Amy sure made some bone-headed decisions sometimes.
Maybe this was the result of one of those decisions. Bra hung in the air before a towering bloom of ice. At the top of that bloom, Bra could see Lita suspended. Her limbs were entangled in ice, her breathing shallow. She was badly bruised and suffering from mild burns. Bra could tell by the way Lita was breathing that one of her lungs was punctured, and filling up with blood. Lita didn't have much longer left to live.
"Lita, what happened?" Bra asked.
"Negaverse… trap," Jupiter gasped. Her body was wracked by a shuddering cough. Blood dribbled from her mouth down her chin. "Attacked…"
"Where's Amy?" Bra asked.
"Don't…" She coughed again. Her energy was growing weaker by the moment. "Don't kn… know…"
"Is-is there anything I can do?" Bra asked.
"No…" Jupiter gasped. With one last shuddering cough, Sailor Jupiter closed her eyes. Bra felt the last of Sailor Jupiter's energy slip away from her. She was dead.
Bra closed her eyes for a moment, focusing on her senses. While she had been speaking to Lita, another of the Sailor Scouts had suffered an attack. This time, the seven-year-old could feel the familiarity of the energy. "Amy!"
It only took Bra a heartbeat to find her sister, but in that time, there had been an explosion. Amy was trapped in another of the deadly ice-blooms. Bra punched the ice holding Amy captive. It shattered easily under the force of her blow, and the seven-year-old pulled her older sister free.
Amy looked like she'd been through hell. Her uniform was burnt and tattered, and her body was bruised and beaten. Amy had a bloody nose, and a broken arm. Her little pocket computer, something Bra had taken to be an organiser of some sort, was broken, and her clear blue visor was cracked.
"Bra…" Amy murmured, seeing her sister through half-open eyes.
"C'mon. Stay with me, Amy," Bra said, looking around for anything she could use to help her sister.
"Bra, what are you doing here?" Amy asked, her voice weak. She reached up a shaky hand and stroked her sister's cheek, leaving behind a smudge of her blood. "Please, go home. It's… it's not safe for you here."
Bra felt Amy's energy slipping away from her, just as Lita's had abandoned her. "I'm not going anywhere," Bra said stubbornly. "You should have told me you were going to fight Beryl. I'd have gone with you."
"I couldn't…" Amy gasped.
"I said stay with me!" Bra said, putting her hand on Amy's chest. She forced a little of her energy into Amy's body in an effort to keep her alive. It was no use! The energy just seemed to slip away faster and faster. "C'mon! You… you're my family now, Amy. You can't leave me alone. What… what would mom think?"
"I'm… sorry," Amy managed. She closed her eyes. Her breathing became shallower, and a moment later, she stopped breathing altogether.
"No!" Bra screamed. Anger exploded in her. The half-saiyan stood up, every muscle in her body screaming for use. Bra screamed again, letting go of her restraint. The entire planet shook as she gathered her power. The ice beneath her feet splintered, then fell away, pushed down by an invisible force. The effect spread, until there was a crater a mile wide.
And still she didn't stop gathering her strength. She'd make Beryl pay! She'd make them all pay! None of this was supposed to be happening. She was ripped from a happy life with her parents in the past. She was ripped from her best friend. And now she was ripped from what little comfort her new family gave her. Everything was being taken away from her! Everything!
"It's not fair!" Bra screamed at whoever was listening. All she had left was her anger and her hate and her loneliness. Bra was going to make sure that the appropriate parties felt her pain tenfold…
***
"No!" Sailor Moon sobbed, falling to her knees. She pounded her hand against the ice in futility. "Mercury's gone too! We shouldn't have come. We're not ready! Luna didn't train us right!"
"That's not true, Sailor Moon," Mars said, her tone softer than Sailor Moon expected, but still hard enough to convey the determination in her voice. "We can't quit now. We'll keep going, for…"
Sailor Mars trailed off. The ground shook violently beneath her feet. "Wh-what's going on?" Sailor Venus asked uncertainly. "I-is this another one of the enemy's tricks?"
Sailor Mars gasped. The ice on which they were standing splintered. In the distance, she could see the ice falling away into a dark chasm that seemed to be opening up. "L-let's move!"
Sailor Mars and Sailor Venus grabbed Sailor Moon who was still mourning the loss of her two friends, and started to run. They just barely managed to outrun the collapsing ice, finding themselves on more solid ground. The three of them collapsed, obviously out of breath. "What…?" Sailor Moon gasped. "What was that?"
Sailor Venus noticed that the ground on which Sailor Moon was kneeling started glowing. They were under attack again! "Sailor Moon! Watch out!" Sailor Venus yelled. She leapt over to Sailor Moon, pushing her friend out of the way just in time to get herself trapped by the by now familiar tentacles.
"Sailor Venus!" Sailor Moon yelled, as Sailor Venus' body was pushed up into the air. "We'll get you down! We're not letting them get any more of us! I'll use…"
A powerful energy blast disintegrated the tentacles holding Sailor Venus prisoner. The girl fell to the ground. Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars rushed to help her up. Where had that blast come from?
Amy's kid sister! Where had she come from? Sailor Moon glanced back at the ice that had so recently collapsed beneath their feet. It was back in the direction that Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Mercury lost their lives. Then, when the ice collapsed, that was Bra gathering her power!
"Move!" She ordered. The three remaining Sailor Scouts wasted no time in running. Bra fired one energy blast after another into the hole. The explosion was huge, probably seen from orbit! It was powerful enough to throw the three Sailor Scouts violently through the air.
"She's lost it!" Sailor Mars gasped.
The last of the enemies appeared before them. How she had managed to avoid the massive attack, none of the three knew, but she was intent on finishing what her sisters had started.
Suddenly, there was a brilliant flash of light. The three Sailor Scouts were thrown to the ground once more. The charred remains of the last of their enemies fell right along with them, little more than dust.
There, hanging in the air above them, was a little girl, no older than six. She had her dark hair pulled away from her pale face in two short pigtails. Her eyes were cold and dead. The girl was dressed in a pair of blue jeans, a pastel pink shirt decorated with a white rabbit, and a denim jacket. "Queen Beryl doesn't like incompetence," said the girl in a voice much too deep for it to have been hers.
"Sailor Moon?" Sailor Mars asked, pulling herself to her feet. She assumed a battle ready position.
"What?" Sailor Moon asked, doing the same. Sailor Venus pulled herself to her feet.
"I think you're supposed to face Beryl on your own," said Sailor Mars. Sailor Venus nodded her agreement. She was already starting to gather her resources for her attack.
"Are you bailing out on me?" Sailor Moon asked nervously.
"Of course not," said Sailor Venus.
"The Negaverse is going to keep throwing enemies at us, Sailor Moon. We'll take care of this Negacreep, but we can't be there when you face Beryl," said Sailor Mars. "And, I don't think we're meant to be there. We'd… we'd just get in the way."
Sailor Moon looked at Sailor Mars, then at Sailor Venus. She was on the verge of tears again. "You don't have to do this! I don't want you to do this! You don't have to protect me!"
"Yes, we do," said Sailor Venus firmly. "Protecting you has always been our destiny. It's a part of who we are, but more than that. It's what friends do for each other, Sailor Moon. We'll always be with you in spirit. Go."
"Kick Beryl's butt," Sailor Mars added.
They both turned to the little girl hanging in the air above them and Sailor Moon understood. They wouldn't change their minds. This was a fight that they wouldn't back down from, even if it was going to kill them. Sailor Moon turned, and walked away, trying not to cry.
"Touching as this moment is," Pan said, letting her voice trail off. She flung an energy blast at both girls. The resulting explosion killed them both instantly. "Now I just need to get your little friend."
"You worry about me."
Pan whirled around. Bra hung in the air not twenty feet away. "Oh I've got your attention now?" A cruel smirk crossed the young girl's face. "Ready for round two?" She launched herself at Bra…