Shades of Gray
A Sailor Moon Fanfic
By: Aaron Nowack
Chapter 8: Aftermath
"I have not yet begun to fight!"
"Well, hurry up then, we're losing!"
- variously attributed
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.
Jadeite cursed as he strode into his throne room. Youma scurried out of the dark lord's path, as it was all too obvious that he was in a less than pleasant mood. And if there was one thing that had been instilled into the instincts of all youma over the millennia of the Dark Kingdom's existence, it was to stay out of the way of powerful beings when they were in bad moods.
Why couldn't that bitch Iris have stayed dead? Jadeite growled, subconsciously shooting a bolt of flame off from his hand and nearly incinerating a youma that didn't dodge fast enough. He had been mere seconds from getting his revenge on Deinas, and Phoebe as well. His army had been triumphant, the Senshi doomed. He had been that close. But yet... so far away from victory.
Obviously his research had been insufficient. He had believed Sailor Saturn long dead, slain on Pluto, too far away to be sent to the future by Serenity's magic. And, as had been oh so effectively demonstrated, he had been wrong. Sailor Saturn lived. Therefore, Jadeite had to call all his assumptions about the state of events on Earth into question.
If Iris had returned, would Thea? She had died five years before the final battle, but did that mean anything? What about Fuera, slain at the same time? Could Rega and Rhea be reborn? Would they even have any power if they were? Jadeite already suspected that Nemina, Aqoran, and Teritan had made it to the present. They had been with the other Champions when the end came, after all.
The end... sometimes, it still gave him nightmares, as hardened a villain as he was. The hordes of youma storming the walls... the deadly thunder of the bombardment, revealing once and for all how devastating the power the Fleet had held had been... the awesome power of the insane, corrupted Dragons... the Seven Great Youma, combined to form a being rivaled only by Metallia herself... countless incidents of futile heroism... countless lives darkened by cowardice at the final hour... the all consuming fury of the Champions.
Jadeite remembered the Lord of Fire. He remembered the flaming visage that had confronted him as he stood over Phoebe's charred form. He remembered his own powers dying, drained away. He remembered the soulless eyes. He remembered his useless attempts at reason. He remembered being mere moments away from dying, saved only by the beginning of Serenity's magic. He remembered fear.
But, Jadeite reminded himself, that was a force he need never face again. The desperate Champions had opened a door that could never be used again. They had wasted their ultimate power in a futile attempt to fight destiny, and had doomed themselves to slow extinction. The Champions could not live forever... and there would never be any more.
Jadeite smiled as he lowered himself onto his throne, and the collected youma of his court breathed a sigh of relief at the apparent change in their lord's mood. "So," Jadeite asked, "What news from the front?"
That was enough to kill the momentary relief of Jadeite's servants. "My lord," a particularly brave youma began, "Your Generals managed to halt Mordrangar's advance several days ago."
Jadeite, however, easily determined that something else had occurred. "And?" he asked, drawing his single word out to show his displeasure with the beating about the bush.
"My lord... they regret to report that this halt seems to have come to an end. Mordrangar is now steadily advancing and is now only a few dozen miles from here." The youma was barely able to keep himself from quivering in fear. Beryl had often taken out her displeasure at bad news on those who brought it to her attention.
"Is that so?" replied the dark lord in a menacing tone of voice. "What is your name?" he asked the bold youma.
"Ha... Hakar, my lord. The Overlord of Hellas Point," was the stammered answer.
"Very well, Hakar," Jadeite said as he rose. "Your bravery would be better put to use fighting my enemies, I believe. You are now in temporary command over all operations against Terra... General Hakar." As the court fell into chaos at the sudden promotion, Jadeite departed in a whirl of flame. Then, the scheming started.
Jadeite growled as he reappeared in his personal chambers. He supposed that his Generals had done better than he had expected, having managed to halt Mordrangar at all, however briefly that had been. Jadeite slowly calmed himself. He would have to deal with Mordrangar now, no matter how much he would like to concentrate on Terra.
The early morning sun shone through scattered clouds that boded rain in the future. Though normally this would have been no large matter, given that the previous afternoon the sun had not shone on Tokyo at all, it is perhaps understandable that those who lived in that city were not entirely indifferent to this ordinary sight. For a while, many had wondered whether the sun would ever rise again.
For several hours the day before, the ordinary sky that had hung over Tokyo, nearly unchanging for as long as any there could remember, had been blotted out. Instead of the pleasant, life-giving rays of the sun, Tokyo had bathed in a hellish glare more suited to a work of fiction then reality. Eyes cast towards the heavens in prayer met a fiery red firmament that none from Tokyo knew to call Metallia's Eye.
Metallia's Eye. Immortalized in youma legend, it was the heaven that hung over the blasted wastelands called the Dark Kingdom. It knew no stars, nor any solar body. Instead, it shone with a light of its own, a light that turned all below it into twisted parodies of their true colors.
And Metallia's Eye had brought Metallia's children. The youma. Those few humans who knew anything about them did not know their origin, and nor did the youma themselves. Their first appearance in the annals of the Silver Millennium had been not long before those annals closed for the final time. All that had been learned by then was their loyalties, and their skill in combat... two lessons the Silver Millennium learned all too well.
But fortunately for Tokyo, and indeed for all of the blue-green orb on which it rested, the youma had been turned back, halted at what could have been the moment of their triumph. And so, the morning sun's rays were free to play upon the slowly stirring city, as they had for so long.
Those rays shone through the windows of the Tsukino household, where Usagi's alarm clock had begun its daily imitation of a useful device. Though the set of beeping sounds that emerged were far from loud enough to wake the dead, they were more than loud, and annoying, enough to cause almost any living human to stir from their slumbers. Regrettably, Usagi was not almost any human being.
A hand reached out and flipped the off switch on the alarm. Immediately, the buzzing noises stopped. Though unfortunately for anyone else in the room, they were swiftly replaced by the loud snores of the young girl who should have been awakened by the alarm. These snores would, moments later, cause the room's other inhabitant to rise, but there were other events that would transpire before then.
Shortly after the alarm was silenced, a voice came rising from below Usagi's bedroom. This voice was that of Tsukino Ikkuko, Usagi's mother. What she said was, "Usagi! It's time to get up!"
A voice answered this one, a voice that simply stated, "I'm up!" At no point during this sequence of events had the young girl in question fully awakened.
At this point, the aforementioned other occupant of the room stirred and leapt onto the bed. One clawed paw was extended, and one light tap on the skin of the girl was performed. As occurred most every morning, this had the effect that the other two disturbances had failed to produce.
Usagi leapt upward, startled awake by the pinprick sensation of Luna's claw. "Luna," she hissed before her eyes caught her clock. Then, she exclaimed, "Oh my god I'm going to be late!" This was said without any pause, and therefore came out as a mostly incomprehensible babble.
Not too long later, Usagi was racing down the street outside her house, a half eaten piece of toast located in her mouth. There was remarkably little damage, considering the chaos that had unfolded the previous day. Of course, this area was not where the actual fighting had taken place.
Meanwhile, in the home that Usagi had just vacated, her parents were poring over the morning paper's fragmentary report of the events of the day before. What had occurred was far from clear, at least for ordinary human beings like them or those they counted on to explain the events to them. It would be several more days before the full extent of the damage was determined, but already there was talk that the police commissioner was planning to resign over his utter failure to provide any sort of defense.
It was only a few minutes later when Usagi raced into her classroom and leapt into her usual seat, barely beating the beginning of roll call. It took her several seconds to catch her breath, and several more moments to notice that Naru was not present.
The soft light of the morning sun also found its way to the Crown Cafe and Arcade, where the usual morning crowd, though slightly smaller than normal, had begun to gather. A babble of conversation flowed through the air, as the patrons struggled to come to terms with the events of the previous day. Two young customers, however, had a different though related topic on their minds.
Uji gulped down the remainder of his soda. "You really think this will be that big?"
Sachiko nodded. "Definitely. I'm figuring... two-part article, front page both days. Particularly because of yesterday."
Uji's eyes bugged out. He rarely had any of his photos printed, much less on the front page. He wasn't even taking photography classes, it was just a hobby for him to snap a few and give them to the school paper. "Really?"
"You kidding me?" responded Sachiko, placing her drink back down on the table. "This is the type of photo that the real papers kill for... and that can win photographers awards! Nobody's ever gotten any sort of clear photo of the Sailor Senshi... much less one like this!"
Uji a hand through his black hair. "It's just... a bit hard to believe, I guess. I... just... wow."
Sachiko laughed. "That's exactly what the staff on the paper said when they saw them. Half my photographers want to kill you because they don't like being upstaged by an 'amateur', the other half want to make sure you start taking classes. They say you've got a 'photographer's instinct', or something like that."
At this point, Allana Farrel, the gaijin who had recently purchased both the Crown Arcade and Cafe, stepped over to the table. "Do you two need anything else?"
"No, thank you," replied Sachiko. "I think we're about done."
Allana smiled, nodded, and left. She quickly headed across the room to speak to another group of customers.
Uji yawned, then rose. "I'm feeling a bit under the weather... I think I'll go out for a walk," he said.
Sachiko stood as well. "Come by the office tonight, okay? I'd like you to have some input on how we set the articles up, and to get some more details on how you took it."
"Sure," Uji replied. With that, the two left the Crown Cafe.
A lone figure stood, staring into the sun, hand shading his eyes. It was hard to believe that this was the same sun that had shone down on him when he first came to this place. He had grown and changed so much since then. But all that growth was for nothing. Not if she -
The man sighed once, then glanced down at the lone bag that lay at his feet. He would leave here with no more than he came, except for the memories, and one picture. One picture of her. He needed no others.
The young man stooped over and grasped the bag's strap with one hand, then threw it over his shoulder, not minding its weight. A weight far less then he felt he carried in his heart. He had tried to leave not long ago, after a similar confrontation. He probably should have left then. Though it was obvious that she did care for him, it was equally obvious that she did not care for him as he cared for her. And that was a world of difference.
He knew that he would have to change more if he wished that difference erased. If she did not love him by now, she never would unless something changed. Fighting would not win him her heart, he knew. Yet, every time he saw her with another, he gave in to his urge to lash out, to punish whoever tried to come between the two of them. He had to leave, to grow and mature in a way he could not with that constant goad.
Even as the man thought those thoughts, he heard soft footsteps behind him. "So. This is it," came the familiar voice from behind him.
"Yes," he said, his own voice uncommonly calm. "I've already talked it over with your grandfather."
"Why do you have to leave?" asked the young woman.
"It's not like I'm leaving forever," the man replied. "I'm just going for a few months. Going home, seeing my parents. Train in some other places, with some old friends. That's all." The words seemed hollow in his own ears.
He started as he felt two arms encircle him from behind, then tighten into a fierce hug. "Come back soon, Yuuichiro," said Rei.
As he slowly disengaged himself from her arms, Yuuichiro nodded. "I will."
As the sun rose ever higher, it found its way into a small one room apartment located near the campus of the local university. Inside this room gathered a group that one might think unlikely to be gathered at this time of day in this place. But, from another point of view, such a meeting was nigh inevitable. The events of the previous day affected some groups even more than others.
"What the hell are we supposed to do now?" screamed Unazuki as she pounded Ikawa's desk with her fist.
The owner of the apartment winced. "Unazuki, these walls aren't soundproofed."
"Sorry," the only female in the room replied. "But my point still stands. What are we supposed to do now that we know Saturn's around?"
Motoki nodded. "My sister does have a point. This changes everything."
"We have to fight," Ikawa said. "Iris has to pay for what she did."
"But how will we defeat her?" Motoki asked. "Even throwing out the fact that Sailor Saturn could destroy the Earth, she simply has more offensive power than any of us, and enough defensive power to -"
"I don't think we should throw out the end of the world," interrupted Urawa Meno, his voice dry. "If we start to win -" He stopped, unable to finish the sentence.
"She'll do it." Tamori's voice was steady and certain.
"Juno," whispered Unazuki, her eyes distant, remembering a long ago horror.
Ikawa sighed and strode over to the window. "But that is the very reason we must fight her. She is an even bigger threat than the youma. But how is it possible that she's here? She was on Pluto at the end... wasn't she?" His eyes stared out over the all too peaceful city, considering what had occurred the previous day and what seemed far too likely to occur in the near future.
Meno glanced at Ikawa. "Uranus and Neptune were there too, but we thought nothing of it when they showed up on Luna."
Unazuki shook her head, coming out of her brief reverie. "Yes, but it's reasonable that they would have teleported to Luna for the end. But Saturn? Serenity had -"
"So?" asked Ikawa, turning back to his guests. "Why should we think she wouldn't have used everything at her disposal at the end?"
"After all," said Tamori. "Didn't we?"
Ikawa glared at Tamori. "That's different! We didn't... It was the Ginzuishou, Genitas! The Ginzuishou and Serenity. Not us. It didn't happen the first time."
Motoki looked up. "But that was the first time. Not the second. The situation was different... Deinas." As Motoki spoke, memories of the heated discussions preceding the decision came swarming back to Ikawa.
He pushed down the memories, refusing to relive those days. "You agreed to the decision, Gladian. Janus made his study and we acted on the facts."
Meno glanced between the two Champions. "It was all based on hypothesis. We never really had called them forth before. The first time -"
Unazuki interrupted him with a growl. "The past is past. We all agreed in the end. It had to be done. It's the future that matters. What about Saturn?"
Motoki was the first to speak. "We cannot continue as we have been. With Saturn's awakening, the circumstances have changed."
"And what should we do, then? We must fight the youma, that cannot change. And now we have no choice but to fight the Senshi as well," stated Ikawa.
Motoki shook his head. "You are mistaken. We can't fight the Senshi right now. Not until we're up to full strength. It's not worth the risk."
"But," Ikawa began, then stopped as he saw the others nodding at Motoki's words.
Motoki continued, looking around the room to gauge the support for his plan. "Saturn is simply too powerful. However much we would like to be rid of her now, it is not yet time. We cannot afford a confrontation with the Senshi under such a disadvantage."
"So, how do we avoid one?" asked Meno.
"Barring conditions like yesterday, let the Senshi handle the youma," replied Motoki. "If we do not transform, they cannot find us.
"Brother," started Unazuki.
"I know. But with Saturn on their side, they should be more than capable of dealing with minor attacks. If it gets out of hand, we'll step in, but what we need to do is focus on Awakening the rest of us, at least if Meno can give us their identities."
"I'm working on it," replied Meno. "It's more difficult than it seems."
Motoki nodded. "Fine. We have a quorum here. A unanimous vote will bind all of us, even those not present, until a further vote is called to reverse the decision."
"Define the issue at hand," Ikawa said. "What exactly are we voting on? Whether or not to fight the Senshi?"
"No." Motoki looked Ikawa in the eye. "The issue is whether we should avoid conflicts against the Senshi until we have Awakened the rest of us." He smiled grimly. "But that time will come, and then we will deal with the Senshi once and for all."
Unazuki was the first to respond. "It seems reasonable to me."
Tamori nodded. "Agreed. There is no point in throwing our lives away."
Meno looked thoughtful for a moment, then spoke. "True. I do not believe that we would accomplish anything in fighting with the Senshi now other than leaving Earth vulnerable to the youma assault. Yesterday made it clear that they are not to be underestimated."
Ikawa sighed, than nodded. "All right. I dislike leaving Saturn alone, but let's try it. But I think we'll have plenty of trouble with the Senshi despite this."
"I hope you're wrong, Ikawa," replied Motoki. "So shall it stand, until all are one!"
"Until all are one!"
The sun's light beat down upon the space where yesterday the Osa-P shopping center had been. Now, however, what stood there was merely a charred ruin. It was merely luck that had kept the blaze from spreading as far as it might have... luck and the efforts of a few brave souls.
Now, figures could be seen moving once more among the rubble. Some had used to live there, and searched for the remains of their possessions. They were here only by the permission of the other group, one which had its own duty to fulfill.
The Tokyo Police Department and Fire Departments were out in force, investigating the fire. Yet a certain despair hovered over these men, one in its own way equal to those who had lost their homes, but thankfully not their lives, to the blaze. It was the job of these people to prevent occurrences like this, but both had failed in their duties.
Even so, normally there would have been a grim determination present, a desire to hunt down those who had caused the destruction that had come both to this building and to a lesser extent the surrounding area. However, all of the officers present knew that this was impossible, for the same reasons they had been unable to protect the people they were sworn to defend.
What could mortal man do against demons? Monsters that could ignore gunfire, that instilled terror into the bravest of souls. Even when the youma attacked one at a time, the police could do nothing, even in the rare instances that they could even confront the monster before the Senshi dealt with it. But then, it had been easy to mostly ignore. Nobody had ever been seriously hurt, and the monsters vanished as quickly as they came. Oh, there had been the odd incident or two, such as the time a gigantic dark crystal had sprung up in the middle of Juuban, but they were rare exceptions.
But now, that had changed. First Mugen High, and now this. It had been entirely too possible for someone to have been killed last night, and they had stood by. They knew the commissioner was resigning in disgrace over this incident, though the news had not hit in time for the morning papers. His whole policy about "Senshi business", as the whole class of incidents had been termed, was now discredited.
And that would signal a change in the way the police were to handle such situations. But still the question remained in the minds of the people who surmised that they would soon be ordered to fight against the youma: What could they do against demons?
Fuarku Ikawa held his head in his hands as he sat in his now empty apartment. The others had left, hurrying to go to their morning classes, or at least to ensure that they were not too late. Ikawa, on the other hand, did not have any classes for another hour today, and so had time to reflect on the recently disbanded meeting.
Sailor Saturn: the Senshi of Silence, the warrior of destruction. Her appearance changed everything, didn't it? Besides a dangerous shift in the balance of power, she brought back the memories of why they had fought, of the billions that had died in the rebellion. And that brought him to the Fall, and his own role in it.
Ikawa remembered the final destruction, the apocalypse that he and the other Champions had felt in their very souls as Serenity's magic ended. The utter dissolution of the powerful enchantments that made life off Terra possible. The deaths of all but a remnant of a remnant of mankind, all because of... what? Had it been Serenity, overdrawing on the mana wells? Or, as Motoki had suggested, had it been none other then themselves, destroying that which they sought to protect?
With the power they had summoned in the final hour, it was possible, Ikawa had to admit. With that power, anything was possible. But he was certain it had to have been Serenity. There was no way she could have accomplished what she had without it. Not without prior preparation, preparation she could not have made.
But still... Ikawa had to wonder. Regardless of where the blame fell, was there something he could have, should have done? Something that would have stopped armageddon. Something that would have preserved his memory as a hero, rather than as the Betrayer of Peace.
Those words were bitter, the name his enemies had given him after Vulcan's Gap. He had sent the explanation for what had happened, had apologized himself for the incident, but that had not changed anything. The loyalists dismissed his words as mere propaganda, and all hope, slim though it was, for a peaceful settlement had died.
He had been so close now to thinking that hope had be resurrected. But now he knew the hope was futile. The Senshi had struck first when Chronus had Awakened, but even then he had allowed himself to hope that they would be willing to negotiate when they were approached peacefully. Now, though, that approach would never be made. For he knew, from how they had reacted when the Champions had attacked her, that the Senshi had no intention of letting Iris face justice, and on that there could no negotiation, if he was not to truly become a traitor. A traitor to the people of Juno, to all who had died in the war, and to his oath.
"By the planet Mars, this I swear," whispered Ikawa. "I will always help those who are in trouble, in need of help, or in need of a friend. I will not turn my back on duty or honor. I will fight and die for what is right and just." Ikawa shuddered as he continued, preparing to utter the words that had driven the rebellion. "I will defend those who cannot defend themselves. I will avenge those I cannot defend, and mourn those I cannot avenge."
That was the center of it all. Avenge those he could not defend. That was the reason he had fought, the reason that all those who had followed him had joined. To avenge the dead. To avenge Juno. To ensure that what had happened there would never happen again.
Ikawa rose and walked over to the apartment's lone window and stared into the sun for a moment, then finished the oath. "This I swear, until all are one."
"This is not going well." Ishamanar paced around the command tent. Outside, the music of war was still being made: cries of battle, the clash of weapons, and the screams of the dying. It was a familiar sound to the two youma, and one that bothered them not at all.
Inside the tent, however, there was little to suggest the events that produced these chords. Indeed, the interior was actually a fairly pleasant place, at least for the Dark Kingdom. The only reminder of the war was a large set of maps spread over an even larger table, with figures representing the various forces involved in the struggle scatted atop them both. It looked in many ways like the setup for a game, but this game was dead serious... and seriously deadly.
"Obviously," Nyxan replied dryly, glancing down at the maps. "Mordrangar's been pushing us back fairly steadily now."
"This is your fault!" Ishamanar turned towards his fellow General suddenly, barely reining in his impulse to attack his companion. "You lead us straight into that trap." One of his fists pounded the table, knocking over a few of the metal figures.
Nyxan's red eyes glowed softly. "I don't recall you raising any concerns over the terrain." Both of the Overlords looked towards the region of the map representing the location of their defeat. The valley was now surrounded by a black line marking the boundaries of the slowly widening abyss Mordrangar had forced open.
Ishamanar growled before backing down. "All right. Mordrangar tricked us both, and drew us into that valley." The valley where he had single-handedly wiped out the entire Dark Kingdom vanguard.
Nyxan sighed. "And since then all we've been able to do is retreat. He's been using his numbers well." Nearly three quarters of the figures on the table were colored red, representing their allegiance to the Mountains of Desolation.
"And now we've got Jadeite coming to the front. He's not going to be particularly pleased with us." Ishamanar studied the battle maps, once more noting the unfavorable situation. "I've heard he's already appointed a new General, probably to replace us."
"No," replied the ebony Overlord quietly, a slight smirk visible on his face.
"What do you mean?" asked Ishamanar.
Nyxan allowed his expression to widen into a grin. "He assigned the new General... some nobody named Hakar, to command operations against Terra. He wouldn't do that if our posts were going to become open." And the Overlord had been very glad when his allies in the palace had told him that small fact.
"I suppose that's good, though it could cause some problems with our agent -" Ishamanar trailed off, then continued. "- but it wouldn't hurt to pull out a small victory before he can arrive."
"True," agreed Nyxan. He speared a point on the map with one claw. "Here."
Ishamanar studied the area with an expert eye, then nodded. "It could work. Those forces have advanced further than the rest," He traced the bulge in the lines with his finger.
"And so we surround them on three sides," finished Nyxan.
Ishamanar nodded once. "Let's do it."
Furuhata Motoki sighed as he settled into his seat for his morning class. He had barely made it in before the class begun, and somehow he doubted that he would learn much this period. Not that he had learned much in any period recently. Fighting evil in your spare time didn't exactly do wonders for your ability to concentrate on schoolwork.
Nor did having your little sister fight alongside you. For as long as he could remember, Motoki had done his best to keep Unazuki from harm. Now, he had to deal with his sister putting her life on the line. Another part of him saw nothing odd with that, though. After all, they'd fought together for eight thousand years... what did it matter that they were now siblings by blood rather than by spirit alone?
For a moment, Motoki tried to derail his train of thought and concentrate on the matter at hand... Physics. However, for some reason his mind found the ins and outs of springs less than entrancing at the moment, and Motoki found himself returning to more serious matters.
This morning's meeting had not been pleasant. But then, there had been little to be pleasant about. Sailor Saturn had been reborn. And that, really, was that. With that little fact, all the assumptions about... everything had to change, and plans had to change with them.
He agreed to some extent with Dein... Ikawa. It galled him to let the problem of Iris fester. The sooner she was out of the way, the sooner all their energies could be focused on the youma. But, to some extent he had agreed with Deinas before the final battle, that Serenity had to be stopped. The question, as always, was of the means, not the ends. That time, Deinas's suggestion had prevailed, and Motoki worried the entire Silver Millennium had paid for it. This time, he had won, and hopefully that might save Earth from the same fate.
But still... Sailor Saturn was a major threat. One that could not be allowed to survive. But, even when all the Champions were Awakened, how to defeat her without risking armageddon?
"Mr. Furuhata," The teacher's voice startled Motoki out of his musings.
"Yes, sir?" Motoki answered, looking up.
"I would suggest paying attention, Mr. Furuhata. This material will be on the exam."
Overlord Hakar was not in a particularly good mood. Though being appointed a General was an unexpected boon, it had some unpleasant consequences. Namely that just about every Overlord, including ones vastly more powerful than Hakar, was now interested in seeing him take a fall.
And this made Hakar understandably nervous. Despite their newfound parity in rank, he was nowhere near as strong as Nyxan or Ishamanar. He knew that either of those two Generals could, in a confrontation, defeat him without anything even resembling an effort. Indeed, Hakar was aware that he was one of the weaker Overlords.
And that meant that the only reason he wasn't already dead was that the other Overlords were wary of calling Jadeite's wrath down on them. And so, understandably, Hakar was busy struggling to come up with ways that he could continue to enjoy his King's favor for as long as possible.
He was to be in charge of operations against Terra. That was a prestigious post, but not a particularly safe one. Out of all the Generals and Overlords who had led the armies of the Dark Kingdom against the Senshi, only one survived. Jadeite.
Hakar nervously knocked on the door of the room Jadeite had appropriated to use as a private meeting area. His lord had requested that he present a plan for an operation before he left for the front. Hakar hoped that what he had come up would meet the dark lord's approval.
"Enter," came the voice from within, and Hakar complied. The room was simple, with a dark stone table dominating the center and chairs scattered around it. Jadeite was seated facing the door, and Hakar slid into a seat across from him.
For a moment, the two stared at each other silently. Then, Jadeite broke the silence. "So, General... what have you planned?"
Hakar cleared his throat, then began. "My lord... it is my desire to attempt to seize the source of energy one of your... constructs detected during the last strike."
"You mean the daimon energy patterns?" Jadeite asked.
"Yes, my lord. If I am successful, we may uncover more of the... eggs. Or, at the least, we will learn more about the Death Busters. After all, it is possible that they might pose a threat to us once Terra has been reclaimed."
Jadeite smiled. "Very well. What forces will you require?"
Hakar almost breathed a sigh of relief before answering. "My lord, I believe that I will be able to accomplish this mission with the forces I already command. If all goes well, I will not need to confront the Senshi at all."
Jadeite nodded. "Good. Is there anything else?"
Hakar shifted in his seat before he began. "My lord... before Queen Beryl... removed you from your position... you claimed to know the Senshi's identities." He left the question unspoken.
"And you wish to know them?" Jadeite asked.
"It... would be helpful, my lord." Hakar struggled not to show his nervousness.
"I saw their true forms. A small, but important distinction." Jadeite smiled slightly.
"I see, my lord. By your leave?" At Jadeite's nod, his newest General rose and left.
As the door shut behind Hakar, Jadeite sank back into his chair. It was interesting, but he could not bring to mind what the Senshi had looked like in their true forms. Perhaps the Eternal Sleep procedure had damaged his memories. Or perhaps he had merely forgotten, however unlikely that might have been. It had, after all, been only a few seconds' glimpse.
Jadeite sighed once, wishing that he had thought beforehand that the Senshi would be inexperienced enough to not transform until they arrived. He could have set up some sort of recording device, and then his flawed memory would not be an issue. However, he could not travel back in time, could he?
Soon enough, though, he would be able to gaze on their true forms all he wanted. He had already picked out a place on the walls of the throne room to hang their corpses.
Urawa Meno stared silently at the phone for a moment, his hand still resting on top of it. As always, his brief conversation with his brother had left him with more questions than answers. Much like his brother's visions.
It was obvious that Ryo had had a vision, about something involving Meno, back when this had started. Something dangerous. That had been obvious to him, even before he had Awakened. But, for whatever reason, Ryo saw fit to keep this vision a secret from his brother. Why?
Meno could not determine any reason for his brother to deny him important information. Unless... telling him his future was dangerous as well? That could be plausible. But, rarely were Ryo's visions clear enough for Ryo to decide that. An interesting puzzle, or it would be if it didn't involve himself.
Meno simply didn't know enough. Not about his brother's vision, or about what had happened to Ryo during the brief time he had lived in Juuban, or about other things. For instance, the details on what had happened between the Senshi's Awakening and his own. The Dark Kingdom had attacked, he knew that. Kunzite was dead, and Jadeite was alive. But... what about the other Generals? What about Beryl? Did they live?
And, what about the other attacks on Tokyo? Who was behind them? What had occurred? Would whoever was behind them strike again? Those strange monsters from yesterday... what were they, exactly? Were they related to any of the other attacks? Evidence of an alliance? This was all information that Meno felt was vital, yet none of the Champions had even the slightest clue. And the only people who were likely to know were the Senshi.
Meno sighed and pulled out his computer. He had some work to do.
Mordrangar frowned as he settled himself into his throne. He had teleported back to his fortress, sheltered deep beneath the Mountains of Desolation, to take care of domestic matters that had begun to build while he was at the front. He would soon be returning there, but for the moment he had time to sit back and think.
The war was going well, minor setbacks aside. Jadeite had been foolish to slay the ambassador from the Mountains of Desolation. Had he not done that, Kizzar would still rule them, and their loyalty would be to the throne of the Dark Kingdom. Instead, however, the anger over Malvaar's death had given the Dragon the excuse he needed to depose the nominal leader of the Mountains, and lead his once-again subjects to war against the General who thought he could replace Beryl.
And for that thought, Jadeite was doubly a fool. It had not been fear of Beryl which had kept the Overlords in line. It had been fear of the Dragons. And what had kept the Dragons loyal was fear of Metallia. But without that dark goddess ruling over all, no single being could have commanded the loyalty of the entire Dark Kingdom.
What had happened after Beryl had died was the ultimate evidence. It had not taken an hour for the Dark Kingdom to collapse. Kyrien, Dragon of Air and ruler of the western continent, had vanished, and his realm had disintegrated into countless squabbling fiefdoms. In the East, the three remaining Dragons had gone to war for the throne, while their own realms slowly dissolved behind them.
A year of warfare had proven that there could be no victor, and a truce had been reached. But the damage had not been undone, and none of the Dragons ever reestablished full control over their former domains. Mordrangar himself had gone into seclusion, and it had taken Jadeite claiming the throne to bring him out of it.
Mordrangar was shaken from his musing as a low tone sounded throughout the throne room. Someone wished to teleport in. The Dragon of the North frowned as he determined the identity of this person. What could she want...?
There was only one way to find out. Mordrangar lowered the magics that prevented teleportation into the throne room, and a whirl of flame appeared before him. It took only a moment for the fire to vanish, and be replaced by the figure of a human-seeming woman.
The woman smiled as she looked at the ruler of the Mountains of Desolation. "Hello, Mordrangar."
"Scalae." The Dragon of the South. "What do you want?" he asked simply.
The woman's smile widened, though her apparent mirth did not reach her pupiless red eyes. "I have some news you might be interested in." Her tone was light and teasing, almost mocking.
Mordrangar grunted. "What? Have you and Jadeite reformed your old alliance?"
Scalae snorted in disgust. "Far from it. I have no desire to serve him again."
"Well then, Fire Dragon, tell me your news and begone. I don't have time to play with you." Mordrangar's face was calm, despite his inward irritation.
Scalae glared at the Dragon of the North, then responded, "I thought it might be of interest to you that Loriel has stirred from his undersea palace and moves westward, with an aim to invade the Northlands while you are distracted."
Mordrangar nearly laughed out loud. "The Dragon of the East thinks he can defeat me? Small chance."
"Oh?" asked Scalae. "What if his forces combine with Jadeite's, hmm? I might have considered aiding you for old time's sake, Mordrangar, but since you desire me to begone -" Scalae vanished, not bothering to waste energy on a display to mark her teleportation.
Mordrangar was motionless on his throne. Loriel, allied with Jadeite? Impossible, the Water Dragon got along with Jadeite even worse than the Fire Dragon. But even so, Loriel's raid would force him to divert his forces from the conflict brewing in the South. This was not good news at all.
Usagi was breathless as she raced into the hospital room. Why did school have to be so long? Ever since she had found out why Naru wasn't at school, she had been able to concentrate on schoolwork even less than normal. Unlike normal, she actually had an excuse that the teachers would accept to some degree. Thanks to that, she had avoided the ever-present threat of detention for today, which had left her free to head for the hospital.
"Is she all right?" Usagi managed to gasp out as she slowly caught her breath. "I heard about it at school and -"
"She's fine," Naru said. "Just a few minor burns and bruises. The doctors say she'll wake up soon."
"That's good. When I heard your mother'd been hurt... I was so worried that some thing really bad had happened, and that I wasn't able to -" Usagi stopped suddenly, realizing that she might have said too much. Would Naru be able to make the connection that so far seemed to elude everyone? And would that be a good thing or a bad thing?
"Don't worry, Usagi. I know you'd do everything you could to help me or my mom." Naru smiled at her friend. "I'm sure you always do your best."
Usagi froze. Did her best friend know? Or was the statement as innocent as it seemed? Somehow, Usagi doubted it. How long had Naru known? Her thoughts in turmoil, Usagi struggled to say something, but for once words escaped her. Finally after a long moment, she spoke. "You know, don't you?"
"Know what?" Naru asked, in a voice that sounded too innocent to truly be so.
"You do know," Usagi said nervously.
Naru seemed about to speak when the door swung open. "I brought you the drink you asked for, Naru!" stated Umino as he stepped into the room. "Oh, hello, Usagi!" When neither girl responded, he carefully set the drink own on a low table and examined the scene before him.
"What's going on?" he asked, alert to the undercurrent of tension in the room.
"Nothing," Naru said, picking up the soda. "Nothing at all."
Usagi's nervous glances around the room caught the wall clock, and Usagi realized that she had a meeting scheduled with the other Senshi shortly. "I'm sorry, Naru, but I have to leave now. I'll be back later."
"I understand," Naru said as Usagi left. "I understand," she repeated, this time in a whisper.
Tenou Haruka had never been the most calm of people. Indeed, when she was younger, her rages had been near legendary among her teachers and classmates. Since then, she had calmed down considerably, no longer being inclined to violence at the slightest provocation. However, when she had reason, she could still summon the temper that had driven her in years past.
And that was something she strongly desired to do at the moment. Unfortunately, no targets for her rage presented themselves at the moment. Therefore, she took it out on one who was not present. "Where is Setsuna?" she growled.
The green-haired Senshi was noticeably absent from the room. "You would think that the Senshi of Time would be able to not be late," commented Rei. "Even Usagi made it on time."
The aforementioned moon princess looked up from the plate of cookies that had been consuming her attention. "She never shows up anyway," she commented, a trace of sadness in her voice.
"Because she's hiding something," muttered Haruka to herself, unheard by any but Michiru, who looked dubious.
"In any case," Ami stated. "We should probably begin." The gathered Senshi all nodded at that. She then continued, "I'm sure your all glad to hear that we probably don't have to worry about another... incident like yesterday. As far as I can determine, it was a result of a special set of circumstances that only occurs every few thousand years."
"That's a relief," said Makoto. "I couldn't take something like that every day." There was enthusiastic agreement to that statement from the Senshi.
From the sides of the room, Artemis spoke up. "Yes. Events like this were not unknown during the Silver Millennium."
"Unfortunately," Luna continued for him, "we didn't think there might be one now, and even if we had I doubt we would have been able to predict its occurrence. Too much data was lost."
Ami nodded, thinking of the constant problems she had searching for information from her computer. She then continued, "That said, we can't rule out that there's something else we don't know about. I've been looking in the files on my computer for anything similar, but I haven't found anything yet."
"I take it that you have also had no further luck uncovering any information about what all this is about?" Haruka asked.
Ami silently nodded in reply, then spoke on a different matter. "At least we now know why the Dark Kingdom seems to be returning to activity after so long."
"Jadeite." Rei said simply. "Why isn't he dead?"
"We never actually saw his body," replied Ami. "The real question is if he did survive, why it took him so long to attack again."
The room was silent for a moment, and shortly after that the meeting broke up, as the Senshi went their various ways to deal with what were supposed to be their normal lives.
Ishamanar growled in frustration. It had been such a simple plan! Cut off the forward-most enemy units, then destroy them at their leisure. Unfortunately, things had gone wrong from the first moment of the battle.
First, the left flank assault had gone off early, and the other two armies had been forced to attack before they were ready. Then, a too skilled commander on the other side had realized what was occurring, and the enemy had managed a retreat to the main battle front. From there, the engagement had spread until it was a full-scale battle all along the front lines.
Ishamanar casually broke an enemy youma in two as he moved forward. Fortunately, the Dark Kingdom forces were, for the moment, holding well, and inflicting tremendous casualties on the enemy. Unfortunately, it was only a matter of time before Mordrangar brought his massive reserves into play, and the weight of superior numbers would likely hurl the battle front a few miles closer to Jadeite's palace. Ishamanar growled and continued on his way to the battle lines. The way things were going, he would have to personally beat some sense into his front-line commanders to get them to retreat and entrench before they were crushed.
Ishamanar frowned as he dodged a bolt of deadly acid, and sent a fireball to incinerate the youma who had launched the attack. Why was Mordrangar waiting this long? There was no reason for him to draw this conflict out. A quick glance at the enemy standards confirmed that only insignificant reinforcements had arrived at the front.
Curiosity getting the better of him, the youma General took to the air and searched out one of his aerial units. It took only a moment to order a reconnaissance in force to the north. It took slightly longer to slip through the enemy's own aerial forces, and then head to where the main encampments should have been.
Should was the operative word. Where Ishamanar was expecting legion upon legion of fresh troops, there was only signs of their recent departure... to the north. Ishamanar pondered the situation for a moment. It had to mean that the Mountains of Desolation were facing an enemy on their own territory. It didn't matter who, at least for the moment. What did matter was that there was now a real chance for a decisive Dark Kingdom victory.
Urawa Meno was hard at work. He had very much to do, and little time to do it in. The first thing was to confirm what he had already suspected: that yesterday's events were the result of a conjunction, and not of a permanent portal forming. Thank the heavens of all... nine planets for that small gift.
That done, he moved on to his second task, which was trivial. Meno set his computer to constantly scan for energy signatures matching either the Dark Kingdom or any of the three remaining Champions, and to alert him when such a reading registered.
With the busy work out of the way, Meno moved on to the real problem. He quickly accessed the main Silver Millennium database, thanking for the thousandth time the long dead engineers who had built the underground vaults in which they were stored, deep beneath the ruins of the Moon Palace. Had those cavernous chambers been one bit less secure, there would be nothing left of the greatest archive ever built by humanity.
That it was no longer... ten millennia had taken their toll on the computer systems. Whole databases were destroyed, while many more were damaged beyond recovery. But the system as a whole was still in place, and one day could be repaired. And that was no mean feat, given the length of time that had passed since it had been built.
Meno remembered what it had been like building that system, on a commission from the Queen... it would have been the current Serenity's great-great-great-great-grandmother, give or take a great. It had taken two decades, but it had been worth every moment. And when the job was complete, the Queen had given him and his partner twin minicomputers, each bearing their symbol and able to access a special linkup into the database.
Meno was currently trying to determine the last time that that linkup had been used. It should have been a difficult task, but Meno had placed a few backdoors in the software those many millennia ago. A moment later, he had his information. Sailor Mercury had used the system earlier in the day, but was not currently connected.
A pity, but he could wait. It was another trivial task to create a watchdog program that would alert him when the Senshi next utilized the system. And he had no doubt that would be relatively soon. With his tasks complete, Meno flipped on the TV, grabbed a soda, sat back, and relaxed.
Just as Meno was settled in, his computer beeped. Had Mercury already...? A quick look informed him that that was not the case. His computer had picking up an energy pattern... transient, but still a report... of a pattern matching Medea's. Another Champion was on the verge of awakening. Meno stood and headed out his door and down the hallway to Ikawa's room. It seemed as though relaxation was going to have to wait.
The room became deathly quiet as Tamori opened the front door. The young man frowned... he had heard the low buzz of conversation from outside. Oh well. "Hello," he stated flatly as he entered and closed the door behind him.
A few murmurs that could vaguely be called greetings were his reply. Tamori glanced over to where the scars of the recent battle lay. He supposed it was ironic that he had Iris to thank for saving his current home. It had to be pure luck that she had happened by though... he would have to have Meno whip up some sort of warning system. The Dark Kingdom would almost certainly make another attempt at seizing the research materials. Jadeite was nothing if not persistent.
As Tamori pondered these things, Haruka and Michiru had rose as one and headed for the stairs. The sight of their departure reminded him of what the previous day had caused him to forget. "Michiru!" he called out.
The aqua-haired woman turned around. "What is it, Tamori?"
"I've got a group project in my Intro to Music class to write a report a modern musician. Would you mind if we picked you as our subject, and did an interview to go with it?" Tamori grinned inwardly. Despite the events of the previous day, normal life had to go on. And hopefully, yesterday would be the last time his housemates had to deal with anything but normal life.
Michiru smiled. "Of course not. Talk to me later and we'll set up a time. All right?"
Tamori nodded his assent, and the two women completed their journey out of the main room. Tamori then turned his attention to the owner of the house. "Professor Tomoe, I checked on the labs like you asked. They were fine, didn't seem like the trouble got anywhere near
them."
The professor nodded. "That's good. We should be able to replace what the... monster damaged, then."
The sound of the phone ringing was heard from the kitchen. Silently, Hotaru went to answer it. A moment later, her voice was heard. "Tamori, it's for you. Someone named Urawa Meno."
An instant later, Tamori was on the phone. "What? You're sure? Of course I'll be there. Yeah, bye." A few minutes later, Tamori had left his new home once more.
Sailor Pluto, it seemed, was now in a permanent state of distress. Ever since that one last talk with her future self - the person she would become if all went well - everything had seemed to become exactly the opposite of well. The Champions showing up was a bit of a surprise, but she had gotten over that fairly quickly. Same with the Dark Kingdom attacks.
But then, Chronus had shown up. That bastard. That total, complete, utter bastard. She had barely been able to stand him when he had been an ally, and ever since he had become an enemy, he had been unbearable. It wasn't even the fact that her father had died to create him... over time, all wounds heal, and eighteen thousand years was a long time.
It was his insistence that he was her father that made him truly impossible to co-exist with. Her father had died when Chronus was born. He might have access to his memories perhaps - a question that Sailor Pluto did not know the answer to, and hoped she would never find out - but he was no more her father than the holographic recording on the moon was old Queen Serenity. No more her father than Ares was Deinas, or Vulcan, or any of a thousand hosts he had taken over the years.
How many souls? How many lives had been changed, absorbed by the powers that were the Champions? It hardly mattered... in any case, it would soon be over. When at last the shells they wore now failed, the Champions would be gone forever, borne away into oblivion at long last.
Though perhaps... yes, that would be the case would it not? Pluto laughed quietly. Now, just before they were forever destroyed, the Champions finally had bodies that were totally their own. They had been reincarnated much the same as the other Senshi had, this time. Pluto wondered how Queen Serenity would feel, if she knew that her dying effort had sent her hated enemies to the future, along with her loyal servants.
Probably, Pluto thought, she would be happy. She would say much the same that her daughter would in the same situation. That perhaps that last effort would be enough to turn them away from the darkness, and to the light. Or perhaps not. Queen Serenity, despite her good heart, had been known to hold a grudge. Another thing Pluto would never know. Despite her vast powers, a telepath she was not.
Pluto was stirred from her musings as she felt a new power forcing the timestream to even greater fluctuations. Only one thing could be causing that... well, perhaps two. Either Metallia, or something very much like that dark goddess was stirring, or a Champion was about to Awaken. Or, given the way things had been progressing lately, both.
With but a thought, Pluto traveled to the place she occasionally thought of now as her home. Fortunately, Tamori was apparently out of the house, meaning that she did not have to maintain an illusion of normality. A split second after she appeared, she had tracked the disturbance to its location.
A few moments after that, four Senshi sped towards the local college campus. There was no time to alert the Inner Senshi. Whatever was happening would happen in a matter of minutes.
Jadeite smiled as he arrived at his Generals' new forward command post. The smile widened as his two subjects bowed deeply. Those two knew how close this meeting had come to being far less... congenial then it actually was going to be.
"My lord," Nyxan stated. "It is a pleasure to have you with us at this time, when the tide of battle has turned once more."
"Get to the point, General," Jadeite said. "What is the current status of the battle?"
"The enemy has managed to set up some hasty fortifications, my lord," Ishamanar said, "but after we crushed their main positions, most of the fight went out of them. There is also a larger force most of a day's march to the north. That force is apparently marching for the Mountains themselves."
"Fascinating," Jadeite said. "What do you say we head to the front?"
Both Generals smiled. They had known their ruler would be pleased with the day's events, which had brought the Dark Kingdom forces to a position more than a mile north of the valley where their recent retreat had begun. And so, they were now back in his favor, and that was a very good thing for their plans.
However, that was not what concerned them as they arrived at the front. Mordrangar had yet to show his face this day, and they worried that the dragon would once again single-handedly reverse the losses his forces had suffered. But with Jadeite at the front, that was less likely, as the dark lord possessed great power.
He was currently demonstrating that power, sending bolt after bolt of flame into the enemy positions, devastating them. Combined with the renewed assault by the two Generals and their forces, it looked as though the enemy would be forced even farther north.
Then, a small lone figure walked out of the enemy emplacements. As though it had been prearranged, the sounds of fighting slowed to a halt, all eyes turning towards the center of the battlefield. Recognizing the figure, Jadeite too strode forward, until the two stood only a small distance apart.
"So..." Jadeite began. "I see the rebel leader had come to witness his final defeat."
Mordrangar laughed, a particularly unpleasant sound. "Fool. You have not defeated me. This," he said as he gestured around, "is irrelevant. So is the other army to the north, as is Loriel's little force that they march to destroy. In the end, it would come down to you and me."
"True," Jadeite stated, a smirk on his face. "There is only room for one king in this world. Shall we let 'the end' be now?"
"Very well," the Dragon said. "Let this war stop here."
Jadeite raised one white gloved hand. "Soul Flame." As he had expected, the Dragon ignored the attack, which evaporated against his defensive fields.
"Is that the best you can do, little human?" asked the King of the Mountains of Desolation.
"Trust me, Dragon," Jadeite replied as he pulled the Flame Diamond out of subspace, hiding it in a clenched fist. "I can do better."
Once more, they gathered. Bound together by both history and destiny, they came together for the second time that day. But this time, a bit of excitement counteracted the confusion and depression they all still felt, to one degree or another.
"Are you sure?" Zeus asked, already guessing the answer.
"Absolutely." Hermes grinned, an action that had been all too rare this day. "Medea is ready to Awaken."
"Where?" queried Ares, who, unlike usual, was hanging around the edges of the group.
"I'm not sure yet," Hermes replied. "But we should be able to track her down in a few minutes. She's somewhere in the area."
"Not to rain on our little parade," interjected Aphrodite, "but how are we gonna Awaken her? I don't think Sailor Uranus is going to help us, even if we say the magic word."
Ares glanced at Aphrodite. "It worked with Sailor Venus," he said, a slight smirk appearing on his face, though it quickly faded.
"I doubt that tactic will work twice," Chronus stated. "What about -"
Hermes nodded. "We'll try the method I've been working on. If that fails, we'll leave and come up with another plan."
"All right," Zeus said. "If that's settled, let's get going."
At those words, the Champions as one raced off into the slowly gathering shadows.
Ten thousand years ago...
"We have to do this." Deinas's voice was calm and steady. "We have no choice. It was what it took when we were... born. It's not likely going to be any easier this time."
"No," replied Gladian, just as calmly. "We have no way of knowing what will happen. It could drain the mana wells, which is exactly what we want to prevent."
"Didn't Janus try to study the procedure a few years back?" interjected Aqoran.
"Yes," said Azala, nodding. "I remember I had to help him with some of the tests."
All eyes in the briefing room turned to the Champion of Mercury, who was presently gazing out the viewport onto the gathered might of the rebel fleet. "Those tests were hardly conclusive," he replied, without moving his gaze. "I don't believe that a drain is a likely effect, but there's no way to know for sure."
"There's too much risk," Gladian said. "I won't approve of this on that little evidence. And you all know the one certain effect."
"Yes," said Teritan. "When these bodies fail, when we die, it will be permanent. Like Fuera and Rega." The rest group shuddered at the Champion of Pluto's comment.
"Exactly," said Gladian. "It's not worth that. I want a vote, Deinas. Let's see who wants to die here."
The Champion of Mars, and nominal leader, sighed. "Very well. The issue at hand is whether we should prepare to summon our full power in the forthcoming battle, should it become necessary. We are all present. Five or more aye votes will bind all of us, until a further vote is called to reverse the issue. I vote in favor of the proposal."
"I vote nay," stated Gladian.
"Against," said Azala. For a moment she struggled with herself, then continued. "I'm scared of what will happen if we do it."
"Well, I know what will happen to us, and I'm not scared. I vote aye," said Teritan.
"I, too, am in favor," Nemina said.
Aqoran opened his mouth, then closed it again. He paused for a moment, before finally voting. "Aye."
Genitas shook his head. "The time stream is too confused. I feel attempting a summoning would be too dangerous. I vote against."
All eyes turned once more to Janus, who would cast the deciding vote. "I vote in favor," Janus said after a moment's hesitation.
"Very well," said Ares. "The motion passes. So shall it stand, until all are one!"
"Until all are one!" replied the other Champions.
"All right," Ares began. "Let's get ready. If we don't have to, I don't want to go through with the summoning, but be ready to do it the instant Serenity starts casting whatever spell she's working on. Teritan, Aqoran, Nemina, Genitas. I want you going in on the west side. The rest of you, come with me on the east." He smiled grimly. "Like we did the last time we invaded Luna. Let's go."
As one, the Champions transformed and teleported to the surface of Luna. When Ares's group arrived, they briefly started as two more figures teleported in, blocking their way into the main palace. For a moment both groups stood still, both apparently shocked at meeting the others. Then, one spoke.
"This time Ares... I won't retreat," Senshi Uranus said as she drew her sword.
"Then you will die," replied the Champion of Mars. "Flame Strike!" The burst sent Uranus flying, the Space Sword tumbling from her hand.
Growling, her companion raised a hand. "Deep Submerge!" The attack forced Ares back, but the other Champions were already on the move.
"Deep Freeze!" Senshi Neptune dodged the attack, which ended up encrusting ice all over one of the elegant pillars which stood besides the palace's entrance.
"Blazing Light!" Neptune screamed as the attack hit her, searing her flesh and blinding her.
"Thunder Bolt!" The lightning blast hit Neptune, who was in no condition to dodge or block the attack. The Senshi of Water jerked once before collapsing.
Both Ares and Uranus rose nearly simultaneously. "World Shaking!" screamed Uranus. Ares braced himself for the impact, which sent him stumbling back.
Uranus reached down to attempt to retrieve her weapon, but Aphrodite sent another attack her way, and Uranus was forced to roll to one side to avoid the searing blast.
Unfortunately this motion brought her directly into the path of a Thunder Bolt from Zeus, the force of which left her stunned. Ares rose once more, striding over to where the Space Sword lay. A quick kick sent it spinning farther away even as both Senshi began climb to their feet.
Neptune was already beginning an attack, pulling the Deep Aqua Mirror out of subspace. "Submarine..."
A sword blow from Aphrodite forced the Talisman from her hand, and the Champion quickly sent it to join the other Talisman. However, Neptune was still far from helpless, and a quick Deep Submerge forced the Champion of Venus back.
"Thunder Bolt!" The attack barely missed Uranus, who was currently confronted by Zeus. Unable to gain a chance to get off an attack, the Senshi of Air was slowly forced against the wall of the inner palace, where a Deep Freeze from Hermes left her pinned.
Nearby, Senshi Neptune fell to the ground as a firebolt from Ares streaming overhead. Before she had a chance to move, Ares's sword slammed into the ground beside her neck.
"I'm sorry, Dia," whispered the Champion of Mars as flames began to run down the blade. "Raging Inferno." As the ground underneath her broke apart, Neptune felt dozens of marble shards ripping through her skin, even as the flames burned the flesh from her bones. Soon, the pain faded away, and everything else with it.
Senshi Uranus screamed as the Champion stepped away from the mangled corpse and bowed his head. A few moments later, that scream died out, and the four Champions made their way, now unimpeded, towards the center of the palace complex. A bit after that, hordes of youma came pouring over and through the walls of the palace, with the same destination in mind. A few hours after that, the Silver Millennium fell.
That was then...
...and this is now.
Zeus came to a halt as he observed the four figures standing before him. Four more figures soon followed suit. For a moment, the two groups merely stared silently at each other, seeking any weakness, but both knowing one was not to be found.
It was Zeus who finally broke the silence. "Leave. We don't have any business with you tonight."
It was Sailor Pluto who made the Senshi's somewhat less eloquent, but probably more realistic, reply. "Dead Scream."
As Zeus dove to one side, the purple ball of deadly energy passing overhead to eventually impact against a nearby storefront, a hail of projectiles headed in the other direction as a counter argument.
"Silence Wall." The rain of attacks harmlessly exploded against Sailor Saturn's defensive field.
"Bitch," Ares growled. "We'll deal with you tonight. Flame Strike!" The attack, however, proved no more effective than its predecessors, though perhaps it may have seemed that the Senshi of Silence now leaned a bit more heavily on her glaive then she had previously.
Unfortunately, the other Senshi were not idle during the time this took. Zeus was thrown up from the ground where he lay by a World Shaking, and was hit in midair by a Deep Submerge. Propelled by the twin impacts, the Champion of Jupiter flew backwards, until he slumped unconscious against the ground.
Chronus did not seemed disturbed by this, however. He merely concentrated a moment, and uttered two words. "Time Slip." A split second later, he appeared behind Sailor Saturn, and a single sword blow was all it took to disrupt the Senshi's concentration, and her spell.
A few seconds after this, another hail of attacks proceeded towards the Senshi, this time unimpeded by any defenses. As the Senshi took cover, the Champions followed their attacks, swords at ready.
Behind all the other combatants, Chronus and Sailor Saturn indulged in a deadly dance, glaive and sword meeting each other in a thousand different ways. Chronus's reflexes were superhuman, but his opponent found half-forgotten patterns coming back to her, exploiting every hole in her opponent's defenses.
Ares headed directly for this confrontation, only to be stopped by a glowing blade. "Get out of the way," he spat with a snarl as he locked weapons with Sailor Uranus.
Uranus found herself sneering in return. "I already beat you once. It won't be too hard to beat you again." The two blades separated briefly, then joined once more.
Ares laughed. "You should have killed me when you had the chance, Cyrene. You got lucky, but it won't happen again."
"Space Sword Blaster!" screamed Uranus, as Ares's taunt hit far too close to home.
Ares smirked, twisting to one side and allowing the beam of energy to pass by harmlessly. "I told you. That won't work twice. You're going to have to be better than that."
Nearby, Aphrodite frowned as she faced off against Pluto. This would not be easy. A Dead Scream flew past, barely dodged by the young Champion. Aphrodite raced forward, attempting to close with the Senshi, only to be forced to roll to one side as a second attack was summoned by Pluto. Yes, Aphrodite thought as she rose and cautiously circled around the Senshi, this would be very difficult.
Slightly to the left of the struggling Champion, another two warriors faced off. "Deep..." the two voices called in unison, though the conclusions would be fairly different.
"...Freeze!"
"...Submerge!"
"Not bad," Hermes commented as the two attacks canceled each other out. "But not good enough. Ice Storm!"
"Submarine Reflection!"
Both wounded, the combatants paused for a moment. But only for a moment, as the two soon began their duel once again. For the time being, they were seemingly evenly matched, but it would be only a matter of time before one would make a potentially deadly error.
On the other side of the battlefield, another duel was coming to a close. Chronus, fast as he was, had made a mistake, and one twirl of the Silence Glaive left him both disarmed and with a very deadly weapon pressed against his chest.
For a moment, both were perfectly still. "I can kill you," Sailor Saturn said softly, her purple eyes dull and flat.
Chronus closed his own eyes, unwilling to look at those deathlike orbs. "I know," he whispered.
For a moment, the two kings stood motionless and silent. Then, one spoke. "Soul Flame Barrage." The other merely grunted, and a earthen shield rose out of the ground, protecting him from the dozens of deadly firebolts.
Mordrangar was quick to take the offensive, shattering his own shield and sending the shards hurling towards his opponent. Jadeite smiled and half whispered another spell. "Fire Shield." As the rock shards neared Jadeite, they burst into flames and vanished.
However, even before the last shards vanished, Mordrangar started on his next attack. The ground before him exploded at the lightest touch of the Dragon's fist, and Jadeite raised his arms in front of his face in a futile attempt to shield himself, knowing he had no time to prepare another defensive magic.
When the dust settled, Jadeite bled from several small cuts. A grimace on his face, he slowly raised one arm, ignoring the red stain on his glove. "My turn," he said flatly. "Rolling Inferno." The Flame Diamond, held in a firm grip by his other hand, flared briefly as the dark lord's outstretched arm slammed into the ground. Around it, the already disturbed earth was once more flung up into the air, this time by a burst of fire. The disturbance rapidly moved forward as a wave of secondary explosions went off, culminating as a jet of flame shot out from the ground where Mordrangar stood.
When the fire died down, Mordrangar seemed unhurt, though his simple clothing had been slightly singed. However, to those with the skills to see, it was obvious that the defensive fields he had prepared had now fallen, leaving him open to his opponent's next attack, which had already begun.
"Soul Flame Barrage!" This time, the storm of firebolts slammed into the Earth Dragon, forcing him back and eliciting a grunt of pain. Wasting no time, Jadeite hurled another firebolt in a move designed to keep the Dragon on the defensive.
Mordrangar, however, sank into the earth before the bolt reached him, only to rise up again directly behind Jadeite. One powerful punch sent Jadeite reeling, and the Dragon quickly closed once more, intent on finishing off the human who claimed to rule the Dark Kingdom.
Before he could reach the former General, however, Jadeite summoned a blade of flame, and launched into his own attack. The searing heat of the first strike to land was an object lesson to the Dragon that he was not quite fast enough to dodge Jadeite's expert strikes. Despite the fact that each individual blow was nothing more than a minor irritation to the mighty Dragon, Mordrangar knew that it was not wise to take them lightly.
Therefore, Mordrangar quickly retreated until he was safely out of sword range. "You might be more of a challenge than I expected, human." For the first time, an expression appeared on the Dragon's face as he smiled. "This could be fun," he said.
"No," replied Jadeite as he allowed his sword to flicker and die out, silently preparing to cast any of a dozen spells to counter his opponent's next move, whatever it might be. "It won't."
"Really?" asked Mordrangar, as he shimmered and faded from view. Moments later, he was replaced by a massive serpentine form. Dark brown, pupiless eyes, each the size of the human's head, stared down at Jadeite, who found himself reduced to insignificance by the gargantuan wyrm. Jadeite remained still as Mordrangar lowered its head to the ground, where it still towered over the human. "I think it will," stated the Dragon in its deep, loud voice. A tiny bit of acid dripped from Mordrangar's opened jaw, causing a cloud of steam to rise up when it hit the earth. "I think it will."
Professor Tomoe sighed as he carefully stacked another set of flasks on the shelf that ran all along the wall of his home lab. The attack by the pseudo-daimon yesterday had caused a good bit of chaos, though luckily nothing important had been destroyed. Tamori's report that the university labs were fully intact meant that what had been lost could be quickly replaced.
Another sigh escaped the professor's throat as he moved on to the next item on his checklist. He shook his head, trying to concentrate on his work and not on... his daughter. Putting down the test tube he had been examining for cracks, Tomoe found himself wondering what was going on, in whatever part of Tokyo Hotaru was now. A monster attack? One of those Champions?
Tomoe was shaken from his musings by the sound of a throat being politely cleared from behind him. As he turned around, Tomoe discovered a well dressed man standing in the center of the room. And behind him, in the shadows underneath the stairway, Tomoe could feel two... presences. Very malign presences.
Of course, the man himself did not seem to be a paragon of virtue either. Though his features were nondescript, there was something odd about the way he stood, eyeing the Professor like one might a particularly large insect. The worst was the man's eyes: dead and flat, devoid of any spark of life. Eyes were supposed to be the windows to the soul... but these windows opened onto a vacuum.
The man smiled, but it seemed merely an empty gesture, not any display of emotion. "I am here to take your materials on the... daimons."
Tomoe silently backed away, eyes subconsciously glancing about to find an exit he knew did not exist. At this, the man nodded. "Get him."
From the shadows emerged two creatures that appeared to be a cross between a spider and a woman. Tomoe's active mind quickly categorized them as youma... which probably meant the man was actually one himself. Not as though that piece of information helped him much in his current situation.
Tomoe quickly found himself dropping to the floor to avoid a blast of web fluid which quickly impacted against the far wall, leaving a sticky mess that would no doubt take hours to clean. A clumsy roll allowed him to dodge a blast from the second youma, as well as leaving him next to the wall safe wherein the more dangerous samples were kept.
"You can't escape, human," commented the man. "I am a General of the Dark Kingdom, and nothing you can do could hurt me."
Tomoe ignored the man and concentrated on quickly opening the safe, not risking a glance backward to see what the youma were doing. After what seemed like hours, but was actually only a few seconds, Tomoe was able to fling the safe's heavy door open and duck behind it for cover. Not a moment to soon, as soon sticky webs were splattered over the door.
Tomoe cautiously reached into the safe and pulled out an item he had been hoping to never see again... Eudial's heart snatching rifle. A quick glance at the all too familiar weapon confirmed that there was only enough energy for one shot remaining.
The professor, not giving himself time for second thoughts, sprung up from his crouch and in one smooth motion pulled the trigger. The beginnings of a laugh quickly turned to a gasp of pain as the energy bolt struck the Dark General.
Time seemed to freeze as the attack took its effect. Tomoe had seen too many heart crystals in his time, but this one was different. Black, squat, and lightless, the crystal crumbled away even as it formed. As the crystal shattered, a piercing shriek filled the air, and for a moment, the image of a powerful, monstrous being was superimposed on that of the man. An instant later, all that remained of General Hakar was a rapidly dissolving pile of dust.
Tomoe nervously eyed the two remaining youma. He had used his only weapon, and was now defenseless if they chose to take revenge for their fallen master. An option they appeared to be taking, as one slowly raised its arm in preparation for an attack...
"Fire Soul!" The firebolt incinerated the attacking youma, leaving not even ashes behind as it hungrily consumed it. Five figures appeared at the head of the stairs, attracting the attention of the lone remaining, doomed youma.
Tomoe did not pay attention to the ensuing brief conflict, instead allowing shaky legs to settle onto the ground as he realized he was going to make it out of this alive after all.
"What the hell was that?" Sachiko exclaimed as the sounds of conflict sounded outside the open window to the press room. Quickly saving the layout for the article she was working on, she risked a glimpse outside.
"Damn," she whispered, half afraid that someone would hear her. "I wish Uji had made it... he could get enough pictures for a whole week-long serial."
Outside the window was perhaps the most amazing scene she had seen in her life. Sure, she'd witnessed a few Senshi battles, everyone in Juuban had, but this was something else entirely. Gasping, she ducked under the windowsill as a blast of fire came a few meters too close for comfort. "Damn," she repeated.
After a moment, the young woman risked another glance outside the window. Directly in front of her, Chronus and Sailor Saturn were beginning their duel. It was another conflict, however, that would catch her eye.
"Space Sword Blaster!" Even as Sailor Uranus said the words, Sachiko knew that something important was about to occur. As the attack was harmlessly avoided by Ares, Sachiko found herself slumping to the ground, her legs no longer willing to hold her up.
Something inside her head was changing. "No," she whimpered quietly. "I'm me. I'm me." But unfamiliar images began to come pouring into her conscious mind, as though a dam had burst. Cold. It was so very cold.
A vast gas giant hovering protectively above in the dark heavens. Blood. Pain. Solitude. Darkness... powerful, all-consuming shadows. A dead world. Hatred. Death. These were only a few of the images and sensations that became Sachiko's world as she lay on the hard floor of the press room.
"No," she whispered, her body spasming in remembered pain as she discovered images she somehow identified as belonging to the Titanian Massacre. A moment later, she felt bloody-handed triumph at the Battle of Ariel. A half second after that, she was leading the ill-fated Invasion of Terra. Her mouth opened in a silent scream, Sachiko struggled to find some high ground where she could escape the flood of memories.
Then, a fragment of conversation. The voices were now familiar, though but a moment ago they were unknown.
"I can kill you." Iris!
"I know." Genitas.
A moment later, Sachiko stood once more, shaking legs barely able to hold up her body. A moment after that, Medea, Champion of Uranus, had Awakened.
Ares risked a glance to where Sailor Saturn held Chronus's life in her hands. "Damn it," he growled as his and Uranus's weapons clashed once again. "I don't have time for this!" Ares blocked a quick strike from his opponent, and redoubled his attack.
Uranus sidestepped a blow, then struck home with her own, drawing a thin line of ruptured metal down Ares's side. "Make time," she said simply, as she pressed her advantage, this time drawing blood from the Champion.
Ares took a step back, then with a feral scream leapt forward once more, driving the Senshi back with swift, powerful strikes. Uranus flawlessly exploited the holes left by her opponent's wild strikes, but Ares ignored the counterattacks, fighting like a man possessed.
Not far away, Sailor Neptune had weathered the hail of ice shards her opponent had called down, while Hermes had successfully dodged her own attack. Hermes quickly tried to close to take advantage of his Neptune's lack of a melee weapon, but a Deep Submerge was all it took to force the Champion to back off.
Aphrodite as well attempted to close with her own opponent, only to narrowly avoid a sweep of Pluto's staff that would have knocked her legs out from under her. Knowing that she had no ability to get off an attack before Pluto could respond, Aphrodite was forced to resume a slow wary circling of her opponent, watching for an opening she feared would never come.
However, all three conflicts paused when a feminine voice called out, "Mind Twist."
The next sound the combatants heard was a piercing cry of pain from Sailor Saturn, who stumbled backwards, Silence Glaive nearly falling from her nerveless fingers. A new figure came stepping out from the school building, midnight blue armor covering her lithe form. Displayed in gold on the breastplate was the symbol of Uranus.
Chronus opened his eyes and smiled. "Medea." He swiftly bent down and retrieved his weapon, and the two Champions faced off against the slowly recovering Sailor Saturn.
On the other side of the battle, a sudden, vicious attack by Ares left the distracted Uranus deprived of her weapon, on the ground, and with Ares's sword at her throat. "Everybody freeze!" Ares growled loudly.
As the warriors complied, Ares glanced at the Senshi. "All right. Back away, and get rid of your weapons."
The Senshi hesitatingly complied, returning their weapons to subspace while silently retreating from the field of battle. However, it was obvious that they were prepared to launch an attack at a moment's notice.
Ares returned his attention to the Senshi at his feet, his sword arm tense and ready to strike. Uranus sneered. "Go ahead," she said. "Prove I was wrong to let you live."
Ares stiffened, then slowly retracted his weapon. "We're even now," he said simply. He then nodded to his fellow Champions. "Let's get out of here. We got what we came for."
The Champions swiftly departed, pausing only to retrieve the fallen form of Zeus. For tonight, the battle was over. For tomorrow?
Author's Random Revised Ramblings
1) This chapter was really a bear to write the first time around, but it was worth it, I suppose. The only major changes this time are to the various scenes of the Champions discussing or pondering the current situation, to better fit the changed version of earlier events. The remainder of the changes are mainly cosmetic.
2) Thanks go to Angus MacSpon, Rebecca Nowack, and Chaeotica for prereading this. Thanks also go to Michael Chase for his comments on the original and revised versions of this chapter.
3) In other news, I've just about finalized the outline to Shades of Darkness, and all the little story details are starting to fall into place. A trailer for the fic has been written, and I'm ready to start writing the Prologue (In the Hall of the Dark Queen) as soon as this revision wraps itself up. The only question is whether I'll have the discipline to write both Shades of Darkness and Fallen at a satisfactory pace, or whether one will have to go on the backburner.
Released: November 25, 2001
Revised: October 15, 2003
Final: December 30, 2003
