Author's Note:
The normal disclaimers here of course and that I'm certainly not doing this for money.
There are a few elements that are exclusive to the manga, as you will read, but those only involve character differences than from the anime, such as the Shitennous' relationship. Also, Mamoru has the Golden Crystal.
If you need to contact me, my email is Guardian4@atlantic.net. Please put fanfiction or something in the subject line so I know what you're emailing me about. And if you're a really nice person (if this pertains to a certain fanfiction that I've done) you might want to put the name of the fanfiction you're referring to somewhere in the email.
All names are like the Japanese say them, last name first. So Kunzite's name would be Kail Rainer in America, but in Japanese it would be said Rainer Kail.
Army of Immortals
Chapter 20: Final Destination
"Mom?"
"Yes Neil?" she said automatically, without turning away from the stove.
He shifted a little, filled with nerves. "Look, I know that we haven't really talked, not since…Matthew's death," She winced, obviously remembering his one and a half year old brother who had died of leukemia two years ago, "but I wanted to tell you…I love you."
Surprised, she turned and stared at him. "What's…this all about?"
"Well, I guess since Matthew died, the reason I've spent so much time studying is to make up for his death. I know it hit you really hard, but I wanted you to know that I love you and that I'm still here."
She turned away. "You should tell that to your father."
His father had drawn away from his family since the death. "I also…wanted you to meet someone."
Neil reached out and grabbed Makoto's hand, dragging her into the kitchen. With a sigh, she turned around and promptly dropped her jaw in shock. "Neil, have you got a girlfriend?"
"You sound like it was something you didn't think would ever happen to him," Makoto said indignantly on his behalf.
Surprising him, as she had not done it in so long he thought she forgot how to do it, his mother laughed long and hard. "I had begun to worry if he ever would. For the past two years, he's buried himself in his studies. I thought he would marry his books!"
Makoto smiled just as his father entered the house. His mother, animated with life for the first time for a long time, practically bounded out of the room. "Dear! You won't believe this, but Neil has a girlfriend! He brought her around for supper!"
"Supper?" the girlfriend in question whispered in his ear.
He shrugged. "First for me. She hasn't been this…lively for a long time. Who knows what she'll do." But he smiled nonetheless. Perhaps Makoto was the catalyst to bringing his family back together again.
His girlfriend smiled, somewhat hesitantly, at his father who greeted her as if she was god-sent. After a few questions, he pronounced her much too good for Neil which prompted laughter all around.
Makoto has changed my life so much, he thought lovingly as he sat at the table with his family and girlfriend. I just hope…my parents are acting like they're human instead of zombies now and it's because of Mako-chan. I just…I hope that we all make it back to continue like this. If I don't come back, or Makoto, my parents might just slit their wrists.
Zayn watched his father from under the cover of his thick lashes. Ami had just left not five minutes ago and already his father looked to be planning the wedding. Not a bad thing, just, at this point in the war against Beryl, dangerous.
"Dad?"
He turned. "Yes?"
For a moment, all Zayn could do was stare at him. He wanted to say he loved him, all the things he wanted to say, but if he did, he would only scare his father. With an inward sigh, he said instead, "Want to play a little Playstation? Need 4 Speed?"
A smile. "You want to get beat again?"
Though he felt none of the cheer, he summoned up some enthusiasm just for appearance's sake. "You won't beat me, old man."
An hour passed, Zayn indeed getting beaten three times in a row. His father glanced at the clock and whistled. He glanced up as well. 10:45. "Time for bed. Got to get up early for work tomorrow. What about you?"
"I just have to finish up some calculus work, but I'll be asleep shortly after that."
He nodded and trumped up the stairs. Zayn followed a minute later. But when he sat down at his desk, he didn't open his textbook. Rather, he found a piece of blank stationary that had belonged to his mother and picked up a pen. Nothing came to his hand for so long and he began to wonder if there was a way to phrase what he wanted to say.
"Dear Dad,
You probably won't believe this, but
He crossed out the sentence in frustration and began again.
"Dear Dad,
I love you, you know that, but there is something
His pen nearly went flying in as he violently scratched out another beginning. But as he nearly lost his temper, his angel appeared in his mind, a time when he had been having such problems with an equation. "Calm down, Zayn," she had said lowly. "You'll never get anywhere if you get angry. Just clear your mind and then you'll know."
Taking a deep breath, he did as she had said. The same as what happened with the equation took hold and he knew how to say it.
"Dear Dad,
Please don't be upset that I'm not here. I might not ever come back, but it isn't because of you. I love you so much that it hurts, just as much as I love Ami. But there are things that you don't know. I promise, though, that if I DO come back, I'll tell you everything you want to know. If I don't…if I don't make it, a white or a black cat will come to you and give you something. Please treasure it, keep it safe and away from any eyes but yours. I know you ask 'don't make what', but that will be explained if I come back.
I love you.
--Zayn.
With a sad sigh, he slipped down the hall and opened his father's door. The low snoring reassured him that he was asleep. He couldn't help it; he stared at his father's sleeping face for nearly twenty minutes before remembering why he had come there. Softly he slipped the folded note under a heavy hand settled on the pillow.
Zayn closed the door and snuck out the window. He couldn't stay in his house, not knowing how his father would be close to suicide once he read the note.
There she stood on the sidewalk, not a block from his home. He had no idea how she would know he wanted to see her. But she didn't say anything except her slip her hand into his. He brought it to his lips and with sad eyes, kissed it. A blush stained her cheeks, but she touched her lips to his.
Knowing he might not get the chance to hold her ever again, he clutched her to him. "I love you, Ami-chan."
"I love you too, Zayn."
"Where is that girl?" demanded Rainer senior irately.
Kail looked up from the book he wasn't really reading. "She's…she's…" His hand nearly cramped as he fought tears. How could he tell his father that she might be dead? "She's…she said to tell you that she's sorry about what she's been doing, staying out late and all. She said that she was going to spend the night with her friends, her last night with them."
This obviously shocked the older man, as he didn't say anything more. But his mother, he knew, could see the difficult time he had controlling his emotions. For fear that she would say something or figure out the truth, he fled upstairs.
But he entered Tomi's room instead. Slowly he picked up her cell phone and dialed a number he had memorized long ago.
"Moshi Moshi, Aino residence."
"Is Aino Minako there?"
"Who is this?" asked a suspicious female voice.
"Rainer Kail, her…boyfriend."
"Young man, what are you doing calling so late? You should—"
"It's okay Mom," he heard in the background and a scuffle. Obviously she had wrestled the phone away.
"What's the matter, Kail?"
"Can you ask?"
There was silence for a moment and then a door opening and closing. "You had to choose, Kail. You had to choose."
"But Minako, I had to choose between my prince and my sister! My mother suspects something, but how do I tell her that she might be dead?"
"You don't because we're going to get her back."
"I won't lose you, Aino Minako, Sailor Venus," he told her sternly.
"And you won't lose Mamoru either. We'll all come back together, I promise."
"How can you know?"
She sighed. "I don't, but we have to."
He paused. "Minako?"
"Yes?"
"If you had a sister or brother and you had to choose between Usagi and them who would you have chosen?"
The warrior was silent for a long time. "I would have chosen Usagi."
"Why?"
"Because she would have the greatest chance of defeating Beryl and getting back my sister or brother alive."
"You're thinking in numbers, strategies, logic. I didn't today," he whispered, distraught. "All I could think about was that I would die if Mamoru was taken again. And what really scares me is that if I had the choice, I would do it again. Do I really love my sister?"
"Yes, you do. But don't you see it, Kail? Tomi understood. You love Mamoru and she knew that. I also think she believes that you will get her back alive. She has faith in our abilities. Besides it's easier to think logic when the situation's over and the decision is already made. Hindsight is twenty/twenty after all."
"You're right, it is. When we come back, I want to introduce you to my parents. Is that okay?"
He knew as if he was there that she was blushing. "Of course. I love you, Kail. I've loved you since the Silver Millennium, though I never told you."
"Never told me? You never had the chance to tell me, nor I you. There was only one meeting before Beryl destroyed our hope and the Moon along with it. And Minako?"
"Yes?"
"I love you too."
She sat next to her grandfather and meditated, ignoring the thunder and lightning that flickered outside. The Fire crackled and spit, feeding off her agitation that she was trying to dissolve.
"It's no use, Ojii-chan," she said despairingly. "I can't concentrate at all."
The old man sighed and opened his eyes. "I understand. That's what I felt the day your mother died. You just have to accept what comes without knowing about it first."
Rei made her way back to her room and switched on her stereo system. It immediately spouted Santana's "Black Magic Woman", the slow and deliberate melody blending nicely with the rain.
Got a black magic woman
Got a black magic woman.
I got a black magic woman
Got me so blind I can't see
That she's a black magic woman
She's tryin' to make a devil out of me.
She remembered Jayden had once said that the song had suited her. That she had snared him out of himself and into a spiraling of love.
Don't turn your back on me baby
Don't turn your back on me baby.
Yes, don't turn your back on me baby
Stop messin' round with your tricks
Don't turn your back on me baby
You just might pick up my magic sticks.
Her mind wandered the treaded roads of worry that she'd gone over and over all day. She hoped with all her heart that they'd all make it out, but she had no real hope of it at all. When Beryl had all the cards, there was no hope anywhere to be had.
Got your spell on me baby
Got your spell on me baby.
Yes you got your spell on me baby
Turning my heart into stone
I need you so bad - magic woman
I can't leave you alone.
"Ojii-chan?" she murmured, knowing he was there without needing to see him. "I love you. And I'll never regret the time I spent at the Shrine. It was the best thing that could have ever happened to me."
He answered from the doorway. "I love you too, my Rei. I'll accept whatever happens. If you don't come back, tell your mother I love her and I'll join you both soon. If you do…then it'll be a while before I see her."
She smiled through her tears, tears that had fallen without her notice. "I will."
End Chapter 20.
I don't own the song "Black Magic Woman" by Santana, etc etc. This is the starting of the end of this fanfiction, so be prepared for chapters to go up soon after each other. The spiraling down to the end will take up my time so The Last Journey won't be worked on. But shortly after Army of Immortals is finished, expect another chapter of that up.
Thank you all fans for reading and the wonderful reviews! And for anyone who asked what showed how it was not human and youma from Chapter 19, well…you might find out in Chapter 21. A little teaser there.