Shades of Gray
A Sailor Moon Fanfic
By: Aaron Nowack
Chapter 3: Inferno of Battle
"Cry havoc and let loose the dogs of war!"
- Anthony, 'The Tragedy of Julius Caesar'
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is owned by Naoko Takeuchi, whose creative talents far exceed my most humble own. Distribution and other rights to Sailor Moon belong to lots of different companies that I do not own. I make or imply no claim to ownership of Sailor Moon or its characters. However, the text of this fanfic is mine, and should not be used without permission. Thank you.
Ixitar knelt before his lord, the stench of fear surrounding him. Already the vultures had started circling in for the kill. A force from the Mountains of Desolation, a powerful alliance on the northern border of Jadeite's territory, was approaching the borders of his domain. A fleet sent by Pesilitar, the new Overlord of Tempest Island, would arrive shortly after them. He had no resources left to fight off the attackers. His only hope was that Jadeite would take offense to such conflicts, and move to stop him.
Jadeite motioned for the Overlord to speak. Stammering, Ixitar began. "Lord Jadeite... I regret to inform you that the Senshi have somehow managed to defeat my forces, and I have no more to send against them. I can no longer continue operations against them."
Jadeite frowned, and the fear stench intensified. In the crowd, Ixitar heard Asphara whisper something to her consort Ishamanar, who laughed and nodded in reply. "I see only your own cowardice, Overlord Ixitar. You were not there to lead your forces, and they were defeated because of it."
"My Lord Jadeite, I have always been your loyal servant! Please, grant me mercy! I beg it of you!" Ixitar pleaded.
"Beryl would have put you into the Eternal Sleep for this disaster. But, I will be more merciful." Jadeite pointed one finger at the cowering youma. "Incinerate."
Ixitar's barely begun thanks turned into a scream of terror. "No, Lord Jadeite! Please, mercy, mercy..." The youma resumed screaming as he caught on fire. The ever present low rumble of conversation came to a halt as Ixitar slowly burnt. The stumbling figure was wreathed in white flames and the stench of burnt flesh filled the stale air. After what seemed an eternity, Ixitar collapsed and the screams stopped. Soon, all that was left was a pile of white ash. Silence reigned for several more moments.
Jadeite smiled. "So perish all who fail me. Or defy me." He looked pointedly at the emissary from the Mountains of Desolation.
The emissary, a massive minotaur like creature, stepped forward, no fear evident in his posture. "I believe that the Mountains will be most willing to accept your claim to the throne, if you will grant us the territory formerly held by Ixitar."
Jadeite nodded. "Granted." A small price to pay, for securing his weakly defended northern border. He ignored the glare from Pesilitar. Perhaps that Overlord's insolence would have been dealt with at once, but Nyxan, another Overlord, lay a restraining hand on the rash youma's shoulder, and Pesilitar backed down.
The emissary bowed. "With your permission, I will lead the next strike against the Senshi, to demonstrate our strength."
Jadeite sized up the emissary for a moment. "Very well. Bring me back the Senshi's heads." The minotaur seemed smart enough that he must have a plan. Perhaps this battle might be worth observing in person.
On Earth, things had been quiet for just over a week, much to the relief of the Senshi. Though they had been relatively easily defeated, four youma attacks in two days had exhausted them. All efforts to contact Pluto failed, much to the disappointment of both the Inner and Outer Senshi. Whatever answers they had hoped for would have to wait. Of course, that was the reason Pluto was gone at all. She knew she could not aid them, not in that fashion.
Pluto stared silently at her second most important charge, in the center of the small courtyard that was the heart of her fortress, Castle Charon. On a raised dais, ten concentric circles surrounded a simple mural of the sun.
With a sure stride, Pluto stepped forward until she stood before the outermost, darkest circle. She carefully placed her staff into a small hole, a practiced gesture. She reached out with her senses through the hole, meticulously examining the vistas now open to her.
She probed the first boundary she felt. As expected, it was broken and decaying. Pluto kept her mind's touch delicate, to avoid being attacked by one of the creatures within. What areas she could, Pluto strengthened, but most were damaged beyond repair. A grimace appeared on her face as some of the inhabitants started to force their way through. Until recently, the damage had seemed to be stable, and even beginning to reverse itself. Now, the barrier was decaying faster than ever before.
Pluto then turned to the second barrier. This one was flawless, impermeable. No being of Metallia's might had intervened when Queen Serenity had laid down this ward. However, Pluto was no less thorough in her examination of this one then she had been in that of the first. An undetected breach here could be a disaster. Particularly with the Champions awake.
This duty complete for now, Pluto removed her staff from the hole. She turned her face upward, staring for several moments at the distant sun, and remembered a time far in the past. A time when the dark, silent castle that surrounded her had been filled with life and cheer. A time when every generation, twenty of the most powerful people in the solar system would journey here to train and be forged into a team. An unbreakable team, upon whom billions of people had depended. A team that had been held together by a history stretching throughout almost eight thousand years.
Pluto also remembered how that team had been sundered. She recalled the angry voices, the barely restrained attacks as over a decade of bad blood came to a boil in one terrible day. She remembered how Saturn and Ares had confronted each other, weapons crackling with energy. Most of all, she remembered a handful of sentences, words that still haunted her sometimes to this day, ten thousand years later.
"This is all your fault, Pluto." He had filled her title with hatred, refusing to use the name he alone now knew. She had often requested, politely and otherwise, that he not use that name again, but somehow it still hurt. "All that follows comes from your decision. For fifteen years, this has been brewing." For far more than fifteen years, she knew, but she could not tell him that. "But it still need not have happened." Again, he was wrong, but her tongue remained silent. "You made your decision, and Queen Serenity acted on it. The blood of all who die as a result is on your hands, daughter."
He had stormed out of the room, and had boarded the spaceship for Mars by the end of the hour. The next time they met, he had been leading a squad of assassins sent to kill her.
Tamori glared at the uncooperative pink liquid. Whatever this stuff was, it wasn't like anything he had seen before. There were traces of what could be some sort of genetic material, but whatever they were made of wasn't DNA or RNA. Which fit, he guessed, as the liquid wasn't supposed to come from Earth, or even the solar system.
The college student briefly shuddered at the thought. He had known that what had happened at Mugen High was odd, but this was more than he had expected. Alien invaders bent on world destruction, demonic possession, the works. And some of the victims were right under this roof. Apparently, the cute little baby had been a twelve year old girl a few weeks ago. Spooky.
Shaking himself from his thoughts, Tamori went back to trying to find something the odd liquid would react with. He wished he had some of those... daimon eggs... the Professor had called them, so he could observe the reaction with them. Or on second thought, maybe not. He liked his heart where it was, thank you very much.
Wrapped up in his musings, Tamori didn't notice the soft footsteps behind him until the person began to speak. "Hello?"
Tamori turned around, seeing a six year old girl with blackish hair and startling purple eyes. "Um... who are you?"
The girl smiled. "I'm Tomoe Hotaru. Who are you?"
Tamori blinked. Twice. "Uh... I'm Inusha Tamori, the lab assistant. Er... weren't you a baby this morning?" The words sounded weak in his own ears. What had he gotten himself into?
The girl who called herself Hotaru giggled. "Sort of. I think."
Tamori saw the door at the top of the stairs leading down to the lab open. One of the three women who boarded at the Tomoe place, Michiru, if he recalled correctly, stepped into the room. "Tamori, have you seen... Hotaru?!! Tamori, what happened here?"
Tamori smiled weakly at Michiru. "Good question."
Hotaru tugged on Tamori's lab coat. "Tamori, what's that?" Tamori saw that the girl was pointing at the beaker of pink liquid.
"Another good question. That's what I'm trying to find out." Somehow he knew something weird was going to happen.
Hotaru frowned. "I don't like it. It feels bad." Tamori almost saw a flicker of an image on Hotaru's forehead as she glared at the beaker. However, his attention was diverted as all the samples in sight turned into what looked like water.
Tamori stood open mouthed. For an instant, he had felt... connected to something greater than himself. Images had seemed to appear before him, but vanished before he could see them. Memories had been recalled, only to vanish like mirages. This job was really weird. But, at least it wasn't boring. Nobody, not even him, noticed the word he had softly whispered.
"Saturn."
Ikawa sat back as his "date" continued describing the latest exploits of Usagi the meatball head. She definitely painted a very different picture of the other girl than Mamoru did the few times he could be convinced to speak of her. It seemed as though this time Usagi had stumbled over what Rei described as an imaginary, deceased, homeless turtle.
As Rei continued to wax elegant over her best friend's multitude of shortcomings, Ikawa mused over his "relationship" with the girl before him. He told himself that it was nothing more than a game, but a small, rebellious part of him said otherwise. The rest of him objected strongly to that sentiment. Not only had he only known her a few days, but she wasn't even in high school yet! Hell, if you looked at it the right way, he was eight thousand years older than her! But... but nothing.
Ikawa glanced around the sunlit cafe, wondering when the next youma attack would come. He needed to be ready for it when it did. The worst part of being a defender of justice, millennia of experience told him, was not the fighting, but the waiting. If he had some backup, he could try to take the fight to the enemy - assuming he could find where Beryl was hiding now. No backup was available, though. Any hopes he might have had of forging some sort of truce with the Senshi seemed to be rapidly disintegrating.
He really did need to find and Awaken his brethren. It was obvious that the trigger for his Awakening had been the same as always - exposure to a source of magic of the appropriate element. There was only one source of such magic now - the Senshi. If he could expose his unawakened brethren to them... but the question was, how would he set up such an occurrence, much less actually find the others or recognize them when he did?
Part of that question was answered as his gaze settled on a pretty redheaded waitress, who was currently serving, or perhaps gossiping, with a group of girls at a table on the other side of the cafe. The first thing he noticed was one of the group matched the descriptions he had heard of the mysterious Usagi, and in fact, he thought he might have seen her once or twice before. He guessed she was probably spying on the "date". The second thing that he noticed was that he recognized the waitress.
The redhead was a perfect likeness of Aphrodite's last incarnation. Indeed, now that he realized that, he could practically feel the energy radiating off her. Her every motion brought back memories, from peaceful scenes on Luna or Pluto to the bloodstained battlefields of Venus. Indeed, the Planet of Light, the most peaceful of the ten elements, had been home to some of the bloodiest fighting of the war, while Mars, the Planet of Fire, the most warlike magic, had hosted only a single battle of consequence... Vulcan's Gap. He remembered the mixed feelings of triumph and disgust as flight after flight of flaming arrows had slammed into the chaotic mass of fleeing loyalists-
An irritated snort interrupted Ikawa's recollections. He looked up to see Rei glaring at him.
"You know, it isn't polite to look at other women when on a date," she stated.
"Sorry... she just reminded me of someone," Ikawa replied, a little embarrassed.
"Well, she should! You know Mamoru's friend Motoki, right?" Rei said, and Ikawa nodded briefly. Rei grunted, still irritated. "She's his little sister, Unazuki."
It was a particularly dark corner of the Dark Kingdom. Powerful warding spells prevented even Jadeite himself from learning of what was occurring in this small chamber, deep within the catacombs that lay beneath his very own palace. Even one who was present could not see what was occurring, for in this hidden sanctum darkness ruled unopposed.
"Do you think Malvaar will survive?" The speaker was referring to the former ambassador from the Mountains of Desolation, recently departed to confront the Sailor Senshi.
"Perhaps. He's both strong and cunning. He wasn't the second in command of Kunzite's legion for nothing," the other figure present replied.
"You could be right. We must make plans for either case." The first speaker paused, testing the wards again.
"Aye. However, our ultimate goal remains the same, regardless." The second conspirator began to pace nervously. "We must find the Diamonds. If we can get all five, victory will be assured."
The other youma nodded. "One will be enough, if we have the energy. Though if we don't have any, all the energy in the universe won't do us any good."
"Where is the one that Beryl used? She had to have had one!" The second let a small amount of irritation into his voice.
"I think someone has found the Flame Diamond. Perhaps Jadeite discovered it in Beryl's chambers?" the first asked.
"We've searched those ten times over. They were picked clean of anything with even a scrap of power long before Jadeite reappeared," the second responded. He continued, "In any case, what should we do about Asphara?"
The first smiled. "Don't worry. She is under control."
The second did not share his companion's mirth. "I hope you're right."
Hidden in the darkness, Asphara smirked. The second speaker spun about, his eyes unerringly finding her. "You let her in here?" he asked, real anger in his voice.
"It is more than safe," the first speaker responded.
"I trust you - I suppose I must by now. Her... I do not. I want her gone."
"As you wish." The first speaker gestured, and Asphara vanished.
"Does she know what we plan?"
"Not yet. You're far too nervous about this, my friend."
The distinctive click of claws being extended and retracted could be heard. "I have a right to be. I'd not want Jadeite to learn of this, and there are others I'd like to face even less."
It was an ordinary day. Ikawa pounded his desk in frustration. Part of the reason was his ponderings about yesterday's revelation of Aphrodite's identity. The more immediate reason was the failure of his sixth attempt to get the graphing program he needed for a math assignment to run properly on his computer. Whatever the problem was, it was beyond his own rudimentary skills with the infernal device.
"OK... who to ask for help?" Ikawa mused mentally. "Perhaps... yeah. Meno ought to know, if anyone would."
Ikawa stood and left his one room apartment. He walked down the hall of the run-down building, which catered to the college student on a budget who didn't want to live on campus. He stopped in front of a door labeled Urawa Meno. There he paused a moment... he didn't know much about the man who lived in this room, for all that they shared half their classes. What he did know was that he was something of a computer expert.
He was about to knock when the door swung open revealing the room's inhabitant. Meno gave Ikawa an odd look before brushing back his long, white-gray hair and saying, "Oh, hi. Fuarku Ikawa, right? Do you need something?"
"I need some help getting that graph program from math class to work," Ikawa began.
Meno smiled. "OK. I'll see what I can do for you. I think I have an idea what the problem might be." The two headed back down to Ikawa's room. It only took Meno a few moments to determine the problem. "See, Ikawa? This program was written for older computers - it won't run very well on a new machine like this." He took a disk out of his pocket, and inserted it. "The latest version, however, should." The computer whirred briefly as the program installed. "There you have it."
Ikawa grinned. "Thanks."
Meno rose and headed towards the door. "No problem." After he left the room, Meno gave an odd little smile. His little brother had been right once again - which made him likely to be right about the rest too. Ikawa ought to get the message he had placed on his computer tomorrow. Meno checked his watch, and noted that he still had a few hours to kill before he had to head to the park.
Inside the room, Ikawa was working on the math assignment, but the vast majority of his attention was spent on developing a plan for his next encounter with the Senshi.
The sun was starting to get low in the sky when the Dark Kingdom strike force finally made it through the dimensional barrier. No one noticed the three massive figures that appeared in a shadowy grove of trees.
Malvaar paused to give final instructions to his companions. "Remember, stick together. And if the Senshi show up, start preparing a portal out of here."
The two lesser youma nodded, and with a mighty roar, the three minotaurs burst from the trees, swiftly beginning to drain energy from the unlucky bystanders. First by ones, but then by dozens, the humans began dropped.
This activity set off alarms on Ami's computer, and within moments, she had the other Senshi on her communicator. "Listen up. I've detected another youma attack... down by the park." After hearing the confirmations from her teammates, she dialed the number of the Tomoe house, and informed the Outer Senshi as well.
Back at the park, the roof of a nearby building was disturbed by a whirl of flame, as Jadeite teleported there. He gave a brief moment of attention to establishing his cloaking spells before settling down to watch the events to come.
Moments later, Ares arrived at the park. He avoided the youma's attention, and hid behind a tree. He then waited for the Senshi's arrival.
The Senshi, minus Pluto, gathered at the far end of the park. Mercury quickly tapped away on her computer. "OK, I'm picking up three youma energy signals." She frowned. "If what I'm getting is correct, each of them is roughly five times the strength of the youma we've been facing normally."
Venus smiled. "You know the saying, the bigger they are, the more pennies they save!" The other Senshi gave their teammate an odd look, and her smile widened. "Just kidding."
Sailor Moon spoke up. "Does anyone know if Pluto's coming?" When the others replied negatively, she sighed.
Uranus merely grunted, and muttered something that might have been "Good riddance," though only Neptune was close enough to tell. "Let's get this done with," she said an instant later in a louder voice. "Neptune and I will take one of them. Can you five take the other two?"
Sailor Mars nodded curtly, and the two Outer Senshi raced towards the youma. A few instants later, the others followed. Uranus was the first to attack, with a long range World Shaking. A barrage of other attacks quickly joined it.
The three youma reacted with speed that belied their large size. One charged towards the Senshi, running straight through a Burning Mandala, apparently only slightly hurt. The second dodged to one side, avoiding the Senshi's attack. The third, and largest, calmly caught the World Shaking in one hand, ignoring the other blasts that slammed into it's thick hide.
Then, the minotaur laughed, raising the captured attack in one hand. "I'm afraid you have bit off a bit more than you can chew, Senshi. Know that I, Malvaar, second in command to Lord Kunzite, will send you to your graves to avenge my lord!" With that he released the World Shaking, sending it speeding back to its caster.
Uranus was fortunately able to dodge the worst of the attack, but was still thrown to the ground by the force. Neptune released a quick Deep Submerge to cover her partner, before helping Uranus to her feet. Elsewhere, Mars and Jupiter teamed up, sending powerful blasts at the charging youma.
This youma soon was among the Senshi, and bashed Venus to the ground with a single powerful blow. The fallen Senshi managed to get off a Crescent Beam, though to little effect. In response, the youma delivered a kick to her side that would have easily shattered a normal person's ribs before heading towards Sailor Moon, continuing to ignore the fire and lightning raged around it.
Looking to buy time, Mercury cast her Shabon Spray with practiced ease. With the youma blinded, Mars and Jupiter circled around behind it, while Sailor Moon began to prepare her attack. Elsewhere, Tuxedo Kamen had arrived in the park, and was fighting to keep the second of Malvaar's servants from entering the fray. Malvaar himself was keeping back, preparing a portal back to the Dark Kingdom. Just outside the battlefield, Urawa Meno first gasped and then smiled as he observed Mercury's maneuver.
As soon as the magical fog faded, the youma facing the Senshi received a three pronged attack. This was finally enough to overwhelm the minotaur, and with a roar of pain, the monster dissolved to dust.
At this, Malvaar gestured. His surviving servant broke off his melee against Tuxedo Kamen, retreating towards his master. Malvaar slammed one fist into the ground, causing what felt like a minor earthquake, throwing the Senshi to the ground. Then, without a further word said, the two youma vanished, returned to the Dark Kingdom. Unknown to anyone, Jadeite followed with a smile.
Ares also smiled as he saw the youma depart. It was time to put his plan into action. He spent a brief moment to focus himself as the Senshi began to rise. Then, he moved. He leapt into the battlefield, shocking the Senshi with his sudden appearance. With a brief prayer that he had developed enough strength to pull this move off, Ares plunged his sword into the ground.
"Raging Inferno!" Ares smiled as the ground surrounding him exploded into flames, throwing the Senshi into confusion. Though he nearly collapsed from the effort of casting that spell, he kept a careful eye on his target.
As soon as the flames died down, Ares raced forward and grabbed Sailor Moon, roughly pulling her to her feet before dragging her a few feet back and placing his sword at her neck. "Don't try anything, or Serenity here gets it," he stated unnecessarily. He did his best to ignore the fear coming off the girl, the tremors he could feel running down her spine.
The Senshi were stunned, afraid to act. However, Tuxedo Kamen growled a began to pull out a rose. There was no way Ares could react fast enough to stop that attack.
Ares forced a smile onto his face. "Don't try the rose thing, Endymion. If I lose my grip on the sword, Serenity's lovely throat gets slit." Tuxedo Kamen froze.
Jupiter glared at Ares. "What do you want?"
Ares's weak grin vanished. "Nobody needs to get hurt just now. All I want is Sailor Venus."
"What?" cried the named Senshi, more than a little surprised.
"Here's the deal. I don't trust you people, and I'm sure you don't trust me. I happen to need your help, Venus. Nothing dangerous, I assure you."
Uranus grunted. "You're right I don't trust you. Why should we now?"
"Because you aren't exactly negotiating from a position of strength at the moment." Ares forced himself to move his sword closer to Sailor Moon's throat.
It took Venus only a moment to decide. "I'll do it." She quickly stilled the other Senshi's protests, saying, "He's not that strong. If he tries anything, I can handle him." She stepped forward. "Release Sailor Moon."
Ares roughly shoved Sailor Moon forward, sending her stumbling to the ground. He then nodded to Venus. "Come with me." He headed off, and Venus followed.
Sailor Venus silently walked behind Ares, wondering what the man who called himself the Champion of Mars was up to. She noticed that Ares was going on a very roundabout path to the north, probably trying to avoid crowds or make her get lost, she figured.
Ares wasted no time talking to her. After what seemed like an uncomfortable eternity to Venus, Ares stopped. The street was empty, and Venus noted that it was near the Osa-P and the Crown Arcade. Ares handed her a blindfold. Venus looked at him quizzically.
"Put this on," he said simply. Venus grimaced. There went any chance of discovering any useful information from this. After she complied, Ares began to lead her by the hand. She quickly lost her mental idea of where she was, long before the two suddenly stopped once more. After a few moments, Ares grabbed her arm and raised it.
"I want you to fire a weak Crescent Beam in the direction you are now pointing," the Champion ordered. Wondering what he could possibly want, Venus hesitated. Could he mean to use her to kill someone? Ares tightened his grip, and said, "Don't worry. All you're pointing at is a wall." After another moment, Venus finally complied with his command.
After she sent out her attack, she heard someone moan briefly. She frowned. The Crescent Beam she had fired had been too weak to hurt anybody. Hadn't it?
Venus heard Ares talking to someone else. "Don't go anywhere. I'll be right back." She was then lead away by Ares, who after a while removed the blindfold. "You can go now," Ares stated. He then left Venus standing in the middle of a deserted street.
Venus darted into an alley and detransformed, then headed off to report what she had done and seen.
Not far away, Furahata Unazuki slowly rose to her feet. The rush of memories had slowed, but not stopped. A battlefield, with the dark red blood soaking into the even darker red soil. The thrill of victory, as she stood on a balcony of a palace, with a cheering crowd waving red and black banners. The depths of interplanetary space.
The memories were unsorted and numerous. Unazuki floated through them, trying to somehow reestablish her self image. "I am me. I am myself. I am Aphrodite... and Unazuki," she thought, as the memories slowly began to settle, already starting to fade away. However, her life had been changed. She looked up, and saw a familiar figure.
Ares had also detransformed, and Ikawa now walked to where he had left Unazuki. He smiled as he approached the shaken young girl. Her expression brightened as she saw him approaching. "Deinas?" she questioned.
He shook his head. "It's Fuarku Ikawa now, Unazuki."
Unazuki grinned. "I think I recognize you. You're friends with my brother?"
As the two began to walk off, he replied, "That's right."
"So, what's the situation?" Unazuki asked.
"Too much to explain quickly. The Senshi are here, obviously, and the youma are striking too. I'm not sure who's in charge there, though. Kunzite is dead - the youma who struck today swore to avenge him." Ares explained.
The two continued to walk, Ikawa catching Unazuki up on recent events and making plans.
At the Gates of Time, Pluto nearly swore once more. The situation was quickly moving closer to disaster, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. She had seen that her joining the battle would have been an utter disaster, as both Hades and Hermes would have Awakened and joined the fight. These surprise reinforcements might have been able to carve a bloody swathe through the already exhausted Senshi's ranks. She couldn't have taken that risk.
Once more, she railed against the prohibitions that bound her. She would have loved to be able to explain the situation to the Senshi and prepare them for what was coming. However, for some reason unclear to her, this would lead to the destruction of all she had worked for. And her future self wasn't being helpful, either. She had refused to answer any of her questions, and now wasn't even responding to her calls.
This was bad. Three Champions Awakened, and more likely to come. This was very bad. And for some reason, she had to let it happen.
Author's Random Revised Ramblings
1) This chapter was the first to feature me complaining that it took longer than I expected. This revision also took longer than I expected.
2) I also originally commented that my use of Unazuki was part of a struggle to keep the new character count low. I already knew this struggle was futile.
3) Like usual, I'm still not happy with this chapter, but I think it's not going to get much better within the limits I've set for these revisions.
4) Thanks go to Michael Chase for his comments on the original version of this chapter, as well as this revision. I believe I failed to credit his comments on the original Chapter 1 in the appropriate revision, so thanks go to him for that too.
5) For the curious, the "released" dates for these are based on the date of the chapters being available on RAAC, not the dates of their postings to the FFML or Fanfiction.Net.
Released: November 01, 2000
Revised: August 20, 2003
Final: December 30, 2003
