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
Epilogue: Rainbow Dawn
Endymion and Serenity nearly collapsed in exhaustion.
"Usagi-baka!"
She looked up in time to see something hurtling toward her. Her brother wrapped his arms around her neck and nearly cut off her breath. "Usagi-baka, don't you dare do that again!"
"Tomi! Tomi!"
There was not only Kunzite calling his sister's name, but a man she had never seen before. He wore robes of the finest material, white and trimmed in gold. A crystal, a topaz it looked like, hung from around his neck.
"Who are you?" she asked in surprise.
"That's Chavez, Terra's priest," Endymion whispered in her ear. "He…he kind of helped raise me."
Her eyebrows rose at him.
"Somebody help her," Kunzite said frantically, his hands shaking as if he wished he could heal with simply his hands, like Endymion.
The priest, Chavez, glared down at the young woman even through the tears that streaked his face. "I'm going to get Terra, to see if she can help. If you die, so help me, I will kill you."
Tomi laughed weakly as he ran along a stone path.
"Let's get her inside that house and into some kind of bed," suggest Mercury, managing to stop the blood flow from staining her shirt even worse. Every breath she took, however, still had blood bubbles on her lips.
"Are you sure moving her would be a good idea?" Zoisite asked, taking a closer look at the five, small stab wounds. "What happened anyway?"
Serenity answered quietly, "We didn't have enough power. Our plan failed. We thought that if we left the crystals with Shingo and he came here, we would be able to call on the power through the spirits of the planets, Earth and Moon, and we would be able to defeat her without actually having the crystals present. We were wrong."
Endymion picked up where she could no longer finish. "Apparently Tomi realized this and managed to find a way to get back to the Dark Kingdom and into the throne room. Beryl saw the crystals in her hand and went for them. She tossed them to us seconds before Beryl's claws slammed into her chest. If she hadn't come and given us the crystals, we wouldn't have been able to defeat Beryl at all."
"How did she get there?" demanded Kunzite angrily. "She was supposed to stay here safe! I didn't think that you could get out of here without a teleport!"
"She did get out of here with a teleport," answered Chavez bitterly, Terra trailing behind. "I shouldn't have said a damn thing, but we were all stunned by the sheer amount of power coming off the stones. When she asked about the teleporter back in the temple, I answered without even thinking about it. It never occurred to me that she would use it to go to Beryl's throne room."
Terra knelt next to the young woman, who had passed into unconsciousness five minutes ago. It is a grave wound. There are four puncture marks in the lungs, but one managed to graze the side of her heart. It is slightly off from the others. What made these wounds?
"Fingernails," responded Endymion bitterly.
Fingernails?!
"Yes, fingernails. They as long as small knives and twice as sharp."
The spirit turned back to the injured woman. I will see what I can do. Take her into the house and put her in the first bedroom at the top of the stairs. Once she is on the bed, leave the room. I wish quiet while I work.
She faded away and they did as instructed.
After assembling in the study, there was a tense silence.
"Well, we managed to survive and defeat Beryl," Jadeite finally said. "That's one less worry."
Silence.
"Usagi-chan?"
Serenity started and looked at her brother. She couldn't remember a time when he had called her anything but 'Usagi-baka'. "Yes?"
"You're not mad at me, are you? I didn't know she was going to take them, I swear I didn't!"
She looked into his earnest face and smiled. "I know you didn't know and I'm not mad. In fact, I'm very proud. You really helped us when we needed it."
Chavez and Kunzite were quiet, not saying a word, though their eyes never strayed from each other. They resembled wary wolves in a way, not sure what the other would do while the one thing that they had in common was being healed.
"So…Chavez, what's with you and Tomi?" questioned Jupiter, hoping to break the silence not only in the room but between them.
He looked at her. "Tomi…"
Silence.
Thirty minutes passed, during which a number of people began pacing. A number except Kunzite and Chavez, who remained silent. Finally Terra managed to float into the room, but her 'body' wavered in and out of sight.
"Terra!" Chavez, leaning against the desk, straightened. "Terra, are you all right? And how is Tomi?"
I am simply tired, Chavez. The young woman…is fine. She is asleep, but she will live. I will rest now.
She faded away with that, but Kunzite and Chavez were already out of the door before anyone else could move.
"Really, I'm fine!" Tomi snapped. "I'm perfectly healthy!"
Kunzite looked dubious as they talked, waiting for everyone to gather so they could leave back to the surface. They had been in Elysian for three days, recuperating. Not only had everyone been injured, to varying degrees, but Endymion and Serenity had been asleep for most of the time. The amount of power they had used had drained them to the point of danger.
"Tomi? May I speak with you?"
The siblings turned to see Chavez a little bit away from them. Kunzite, over the past few days, had reconciled himself with the man's presence. He had known Chavez existed, but had not met him on his one visit to Elysian before this.
"If you're going to ask if I'm fine, don't," she began as they found a secluded spot to talk. "I'm perfectly healthy."
"Tomi, you asked me once if I would come with you to the surface. I'm here to tell you my answer."
She was absolutely still as could be, heart beating double time in anticipation and apprehension of his answer. She wanted him to say 'yes' more than anything, but she hardly expected him to. It was almost a given that he knew something of her past, and she had explained it in detail and without fanfare as quickly as possible so he knew just what she was.
Tomi doubted he would choose to stay with her.
Slowly he reached under the neck of his robe and pulled on a chain, bringing the normal topaz to light.
She watched silently.
He stared at it for a long moment before reaching behind and unclasping it.
She no longer breathed.
And dropped it. It glittered in the light as it fell, but then winked out of sight just before it touched the ground.
"I choose you."
Shocked, her eyes filled with tears. "Chavez…you know what happened to me. You know that I'm not a…virgin. You know what I've done. And you still choose to stay with me?"
"Tomi, you are human and for all your faults, I still love you."
"Hey, you two! Are you coming?" demanded Venus good-naturedly.
"How did you know he was coming?" she asked, relaxed and holding Chavez's hands as they approached.
The Senshi gave her a pitying look. "I'm the Soldier of Love and I'm not called that for nothing."
Tomi laughed, totally at ease.
"So what are you going to name 'em, if you get any kids? I assume you will be getting married?"
"I was thinking about…Elios. It's a pretty name. What do you think Chavez?"
He whispered in her ear, "I think children are a long way off, but if we do have a son, that will be his name. But if we have a girl, you'll have to find something else."
She blushed a bit.
Golden light filled the inside of the temple and within moments, Elysian was empty once more. Deep inside the Earth, the spirit Terra slept on, but with the smallest of smiles as she held a topaz necklace.
"I think we have a date with a camera crew," Nephrite said as they appeared at the Hikawa Shrine. "We did promise the people we would tell them it was over."
Mars had disappeared into the Shrine the minute they had finished materializing. She came out now, with a smile fit to crack her face. "I agree. We did promise."
Shingo, Tomi, Luna and Artemis (resumed in cat form), and Chavez elected to stay at the Shrine with Mars' grandfather.
"Are we ready?" Jadeite asked as they stood on the roof of the building.
"Yes," answered Sailor Moon with confidence.
They leapt back down to the ground and entered the studio, amidst the shouts of surprise and shock of the people. A camera was placed in front of them and they managed to glimpse a television set in the reflection, a news caster apologizing for interrupting scheduled programming.
Someone nodded at them and Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Moon stepped up. "People of Japan," she began, "we're here to keep our promise; the promise that the Sailor Senshi and the Earthen Knights made to you before we left."
"People of Japan," her beloved picked up, "we promised to let you know what happened. Well here it is: it's over. The threat is gone and we can live in peace."
"What happens if something else happens?" asked a timid civilian from behind the camera.
"If something else happens," answered Venus, "then we will be here to fight it and protect you. That is, after all, our calling."
Cheers sounded and they smiled.
"I think it's time we visited our families and tell them who we really are," whispered Zoisite.
When Zayn entered his home, he found his father lying on the living room floor, the note next to him. Terrified, he rushed forward and hunted for any self-inflicted wounds. Fear made his hands shake as he searched for a pulse.
His father groaned and clutched his head, dislodging a bottle that he hadn't noticed before.
"Dad? You drank yourself into a stupor?!" he demanded indignantly.
That head snapped up and stared at him, as if he couldn't believe his eyes. Then that bone-crushing hug enveloped him and Zayn had never felt so safe in his life.
"What has been going on with you?"
"This," he whispered and held out a pin with a zoisite stone in it. "Let me explain like I promised."
Makoto entered without the slightest of hesitations like the last time she had been over at his house. His mother and father sat on the sofa, listening to a rerun of the Senshi and Knights debut on television.
"Personally, I think my hair could have been better," Neil commented at large and catching his parents' attentions.
"Neil! Makoto! Where on earth have you been?"
"Recuperating from the battle," he answered promptly.
"What battle?" demanded his father, standing up.
"The battle that we just told everyone in Japan was over."
"Wait a second," interrupted his mother, "you're implying…"
"Yep. I'm implying that Makoto and I are a Senshi and a Knight. Sailor Jupiter and Knight Nephrite."
"I think you hit your head," responded the older man immediately.
"I told you they wouldn't believe us if we just told them," he whined at his girlfriend.
She rolled her eyes. "It was worth giving it a shot. I guess we'll have to show them."
They pulled out their henshin wands…
Ami wandered through the hospital corridors looking for her mother. She assumed this was where she would be, since she was not at home.
"Mizuno-san!" screeched a voice and she turned. It was one of her mother's aides and she had dropped every paper in the stack she had been carrying.
"Hello. Where is my mother?"
"In surgery. We tried to dissuade her…she's been sick…"
"She's been sick?" repeated Ami in alarm. "Why did she come in then?"
The aide only shook her head, her eyes never leaving the young girl.
She made her way immediately to the surgery wing and just as she got there, she spotted her mother just staggering out.
"Mother, what are you doing in surgery if you've just recovered from an illness? You're a doctor; you should know better."
"Ami-chan? AMI-CHAN!"
Her mother once again threw herself into her daughter's embrace. Right then and there, Ami knew she couldn't keep doing this to her mother. Even if she had not made the decision before, she would have then.
"Come on, mother, let's go home. I've got some things I need to tell you about."
Tomi entered behind Kail with some trepidation. She had a bad feeling with how her parents were going to react.
"Mom? Dad?"
"Kail!" Her mother threw herself into her brother's arms. "Where on Earth have you been?"
"Young lady! Enough is enough," screeched her father, coming into the room. He stopped dead, seeing Chavez behind her. She glanced back and saw the steel and fire in her love's eyes and put a hand on his arm. He had managed to find some decent clothes of Yuuichirou (who had been suspiciously absent from the Shrine) that fit him.
"Who is this?"
"This is Chavez."
"Her fiancé," he added from behind her, his voice somewhat hard.
This had a not-so-good reaction from her father. "So you decided to marry someone because you got pregnant, huh?"
"She's not pregnant," yelled her brother and Chavez simultaneously.
Her father looked taken aback a bit. "Uh…what exactly is going on here?"
"Dear, just let them talk then," her mother said, finally seeming to get fed up with his attitude. "It is your refusal to let her explain anything that is tearing this family apart!"
He hung his head for a moment and then motioned toward the living room. "Let's sit down in comfort and you both can explain what in the gods' names is going on."
"How did your family take it?" Rei asked as they waited in the park for their friends.
"As to be expected," Jayden answered. "They didn't believe me, I had to show them, my mother then bawled at the fact that I nearly died, etcetera."
"Bet you enjoyed being the center of attention."
"But what better center of attention can there be when I have yours?" he whispered huskily in her ear.
She smiled and kissed him.
"Break it up, we're here."
Reluctantly they parted and turned. The four couples of warriors, Tomi and Chavez, and Luna and Artemis were nearly upon them, the cats riding on shoulders to save them the walk.
"Do you suppose we'll have to fight again?" Ami asked, her eyes far away.
"Without a doubt," answered Kail grimly. "But we'll meet the threat head-on."
"Just be careful," Tomi added, snuggled in Chavez's arms. "I don't want to be attending any funerals."
"So you've given up on trying to get Kail out of it?" prompted Mamoru lowly.
She sighed. "Yup. He won't get out of it no matter what I do and besides, if you're going into battle, I don't want to deny you your best guard. If you're going to be in battle, always have the max of protections."
"Thank you, Tomi. I think you finally understand," Kail whispered.
"No, I don't understand, but I've reconciled myself to it. That's about the best I can give you, bro."
"So, Chavez, what are you going to be doing here?" questioned Neil, leaning against the lake railing.
"As Rei has no doubt noticed, Yuuichirou is MIA."
They turned to the priestess. She sighed. "Yeah, he split. I think it was the knowledge that I was dating Jayden that did it. It was obvious even to me that he liked me."
"So I have made an agreement with Rei's grandfather. I will take Yuuichirou's place."
"Which is better, because Chavez actually has some priest and shrine experience," put in Makoto.
"What are you going to do when you decide to get married and move into your own homes?" Usagi inquired curiously.
"I was thinking then I might make my own Shrine, to the spirit Terra."
"These plans for the future sound wonderful," commented the black cat. "And the prospects of them coming true are now tripled with Beryl out of the picture."
"I think we've come a long way from those warriors who wished to just run away with their friends, don't you?" murmured Minako to Kail as the conversation of their friends washed over them.
"Yes. Yes, we have."
End Army of Immortals.
Hehe, it's done! What'd you all think? Thank you, everyone, for reading this far!