Opposing Protectors
Disclaimer: Although it might be nice to own it, I still am not the owner of Sailor Moon nor will I be its owner in the near future (most likely, not ever).
AN: Thanks again to all of my reviewers. In answer to some questions I have received; no Serena does not turn evil. As for Akuma's use of the Crystal, it is explained in this chapter. And a warning that there will be some coarse language in this chapter as well...not much, but it's still there.
Chapter 4: A forced Truce
"Well, well, well, now what do we have here?" Akuma's voice thundered as it echoed through the now deserted streets. "More fools to challenge me?"
"We're here to stop you, you devil! Now where are Princess Kakuu and the other Sailor Starlights you sleeze-bag!?"
"Hahahahaha! That pathetic nuisance? Her and her equally pathetic guardians are my prisoners, and they'll remain my prisoners until they agree to bow down to me. Your Princess was a fool to think that she could defeat me, especially considering the fact that I have this...the Imperium Silver Crystal!" As he said this, the Silver Crystal appeared before him and he began to laugh menacingly at their distressed looks of horror.
"But that's impossible! No one from outside the Moon lineage can use the Silver Crystal like that. Only members of the Royal Moon Family can control the Crystal, especially to such an extent as what he's using." Sailor Pluto exclaimed in surprise.
"Then perhaps that girl I kidnapped IS a descendant of the Moon family after all, who would've thought, eh?" She must have somehow magically survived the fall of the Silver Millennium and come to this time. No matter, the only important thing now is that I have the Silver Crystal and that girl's energy to power it for me.
"Where's Serena and what have you done to her?" Darien yelled out in rage.
Serena, eh? At least I know her name now, if nothing else...yet.
"She's in my domain, where she is now powering the Silver Crystal for me."
"WHAT???" they all chorused in unison.
"How could Serena be powering the Crystal when you're the one using it?" Raye asked slightly bewildered.
"As I said before she is in my domain now, where I make the rules. As we speak, a special rope of my design has her hands bound together and is draining her of her energy. The energy is then transferred to the Crystal giving it its power and allowing me to use it. The only energy I've been using is that which I use to empower her magical bonds. Hence, the Silver Crystal is mine!"
"You won't get away with this!" Mina shouted at him.
"And who's going to stop me? You worthless fools? Not likely! However, if you're so intent on facing me and having me destroy you, then I'll make a deal with you. If you can survive my test, I'll consider you worthy of my time."
As Akuma finished speaking, he threw an energy blast at the large group as they tried to scramble to get out of the way. The energy ball hit them and they all let out a scream as they fell through a large hole that had opened up in the ground beneath them upon impact. Once they had disappeared, he smiled in satisfaction then proceeded to do a vanishing act himself.
Akuma appeared I front of Serena with a smug look of triumph on his face. "So, some of my questions are answered...Serena! And somehow, you're related to the Royal Moon Family of old."
Serena's jaw dropped in shock. "H-how did you find out?" Serena managed to say weakly.
"Well, it seems you have a few friends who are worried about you and believe that they can save you. One caped, masked man in particular."
Darien Serena thought immediately.
"I must say, they certainly are foolish to think that they could ever defeat me! As for your name and heritage, one of them just happened to mention the fact that only members of the Royal Moon Family can control the Silver Crystal to the same degree that I have been. And since I've been using your energy to power the Crystal and manipulate it, you must be a part of the Moon Family. What I can't figure out and want to know is how you survived the destruction of the Silver Millennium? It was believed that only the inhabitants of Earth survived and all other life in the solar system was destroyed, including Queen Serenity's only child."
"My answer is the same as it was before. What makes you think I'll tell you anything nega-sleeze? Just because you found out a little information by chance doesn't mean I'm going to hand the rest of it to you on a silver platter."
"Very well Serena, I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this, to show you the full extent of my powers, but you've left me no choice. You'll regret your decision not to tell me what you know."
And with that, he placed the tip of his forefinger against her forehead and started to impose his power on her. Suddenly her mind was subjected to terrifying mental images; feelings of panic, fear and horror filling every part of her soul; her entire body ached all over from the pain that accompanied these images and feelings. After what seemed like an eternity to her, she opened her tear-filled eyes, her body now shaking with fright as she slowly raised her head to face her tormenter, Akuma. Her breathing was heavy as she tried to push the lingering images from her mind and come up with something to say to her captor.
"Look at you...less than a minute of my power and you're already acting like a scared puppy. I gave you the chance to volunteer the information, but no, you had to be stubborn and choose the hard way. Last chance Serena, tell me what I want to know or I'll make your life a living hell! It's up to you. Besides, it's not like I'm asking you to tell me anything that would bring about the next Armageddon, nothing that would even endanger your friends, all I want to know is how you obtained and can control the Crystal."
"No." she tried to pretend that her recent experience hadn't frightened her as much as it had.
"Very well." H e once again raised his finger to her forehead and imposed his power on her. Only this time he held there for several minutes before releasing her mind, all the while enjoying her screams of pain.
When he finally released her, it was all she could do not to pass out. He once again demanded for the answers he sought. After a momentary thought of what he had done to her and with the full knowledge that he wouldn't hesitate to do it as many time as was necessary, she gave a small shudder before giving him her decision.
"Alright," she whispered quietly in a barely audible voice, "I'll tell you what you want to know." I'll just have to give him the abbreviated version of our story and make sure not to mention anything about the others, especially anything that would endanger them. I just hope that that's good enough for him and that he won't ask anything more beyond that, because I'm not sure I'd be able to handle going through that ordeal again.
So reluctantly Serena told him of her true identity as the Moon Princess and Sailor Moon, and she told him of how her mother had saved her and her people from Metalia and Beryl's destruction, including a very brief account of the resulting battles in this time. But she held true to her self-promise and never mentioned anything to implicate or endanger her friends. When she had finished her story, Akuma seemed to be satisfied with it and asked for mo further information from her, much to her relief. She counted it as a blessing and remained grateful that he left it at that.
"Now maybe you'll answer a question for me." Serena tried to push her luck.
"Possibly, it all depends on the question."
"Where are my friends? What did you do with them? You wouldn't be here so calmly with that smug look on your face if you knew that my friends were coming here after you. Unless you did something to them, now where are they, what did you do?"
"Well just lets say I gave them a little challenge to get through. If they can survive my challenge, then and only then will I consider them worthy of my time and I'll allow them to face me in their futile attempts to try and win you your freedom. Until then, I have a planet to run...with the help of your Crystal of course. You know, I really must thank you my dear, it was so generous of you to provide me with the Crystal. And of course my added thanks for the energy to power it as well. Hahahahaha!" And with that, he vanished, leaving the mentally tormented Serena to black out from sheer mental exhaustion.
Meanwhile.......
Darien woke up and looked around at his surroundings. He got up and realized that he was in a forest and that he was detransformed. He soon noticed something else, or rather someone else...Seiya. Seiya had landed not to far from where Darien had and he had also been detransformed, he had also been returned to his male form. Seiya woke up a few minutes after Darien did. When they realized that they were alone, they tried to retransform, but to no avail. After several attempts, they admitted defeat and blamed it on a spell that Akuma must have cast to add to his "challenge". Instead, they started to discuss their options.
"Our first priority, should be to find the others." Darien spoke up, assuming the role of leader.
Seiya just glared at him. This was his planet and he'd be damned if he was going to let this egotistical jerk who stole the heart of his Odango was going to be in charge.
"You're wrong. Our first priority should be to find and rescue Serena, Princess Kakuu and my friends." Seiya retorted with contempt.
"Look, the two of us aren't strong enough to face Akuma on our own. Especially when he has the Silver Crystal and we can't transform. We're going to need the help of the others if we're going to save the ones we care about."
"Maybe so, but what if while we're looking for the others, Akuma decides to kill our friends? We can't risk that, we have to risk going after them on our own. Or don't you care about what happens to Serena?"
"Of course I care about what happens to her!" Darien snapped. "Don't you ever dare to try and accuse me otherwise! (sigh) Look, I don't know what happened between you two after I left for America and I don't know what connection you think you have with her, but she is MY wife and I will kindly ask you to remember that!"
"I understand that Odango is your wife and I respect that. All I ask is that YOU understand that I have feelings for her too and that the only reason I've never acted upon them is out of respect for her! I also have respect for the fact that she chose you over me and the reasoning behind it, she explained it to me before I left after we had a small misunderstanding. And also out of the respect I have for her, I decided to leave it at that and drop the issue then and there, but that doesn't mean I don't still have feelings for her, and right now my main concern is for the safety of her and my friends."
"Fine. Just make sure that you keep it that way and stay away from her, got it?"
"Yeah, I got it."
"Good, then we have an agreement. As for Akuma killing our friends, I very much doubt that that will happen."
"And what makes you so confident?"
"For one thing, he needs Serena's energy to power and control the silver Crystal. And second of all, he believes that his ultimate moment of glory will come when your Princess breaks and bows down to him, utterly crushing the population's hopes, or at least what remains of them. Unless you've been extremely exaggerating about your Princess's abilities, then we shouldn't have to worry about that happening anytime soon. And if Akuma kills her, then she'll never be able to bow down to him, and I can't foresee him robbing himself of that pleasure. The same applies to your fiends. Being the Royal Guardians, they'll also be an important part of Akuma's great 'achievement'."
"For you information, I was not exaggerating. Princess Kakuu would never bow down to that psychotic maniac and neither would my friends! Don't ever think for a second that they would!" Seiya's rage was flaring at Darien's 'implications'.
"I wasn't implying that I thought they would surrender, I was just trying to explain my theory as to why Akuma won't hurt or kill them!" his frustration with Seiya clearly evident in his voice and growing quickly.
"Fine. With that out of the way, I think we should head this way." He said trying to take control of the situation.
"No, I have a feeling, that we'd have better luck this way." Darien said, indicating the opposite direction from which Seiya was about to head in.
After another ten minutes of debating which direction they should head in, they finally agreed on Darien's choice of direction. This was only because Darien had miraculously convinced Seiya that being Tuxedo Mask, whether transformed or not, he usually had a good sense of where the Sailor Senshi were in tough situations. He left out the fact that it was usually Serena being in danger that called him to the battle, but the argument got him what he wanted as they headed down the path he had pointed out. As they headed off, both of them walked muttering and cursing under their breath about how they weren't happy about their current situation and how stubborn and arrogant the other was. So with the truce that had been forced upon them, they walked in silence to find the others.
Disclaimer: Although it might be nice to own it, I still am not the owner of Sailor Moon nor will I be its owner in the near future (most likely, not ever).
AN: Thanks again to all of my reviewers. In answer to some questions I have received; no Serena does not turn evil. As for Akuma's use of the Crystal, it is explained in this chapter. And a warning that there will be some coarse language in this chapter as well...not much, but it's still there.
Chapter 4: A forced Truce
"Well, well, well, now what do we have here?" Akuma's voice thundered as it echoed through the now deserted streets. "More fools to challenge me?"
"We're here to stop you, you devil! Now where are Princess Kakuu and the other Sailor Starlights you sleeze-bag!?"
"Hahahahaha! That pathetic nuisance? Her and her equally pathetic guardians are my prisoners, and they'll remain my prisoners until they agree to bow down to me. Your Princess was a fool to think that she could defeat me, especially considering the fact that I have this...the Imperium Silver Crystal!" As he said this, the Silver Crystal appeared before him and he began to laugh menacingly at their distressed looks of horror.
"But that's impossible! No one from outside the Moon lineage can use the Silver Crystal like that. Only members of the Royal Moon Family can control the Crystal, especially to such an extent as what he's using." Sailor Pluto exclaimed in surprise.
"Then perhaps that girl I kidnapped IS a descendant of the Moon family after all, who would've thought, eh?" She must have somehow magically survived the fall of the Silver Millennium and come to this time. No matter, the only important thing now is that I have the Silver Crystal and that girl's energy to power it for me.
"Where's Serena and what have you done to her?" Darien yelled out in rage.
Serena, eh? At least I know her name now, if nothing else...yet.
"She's in my domain, where she is now powering the Silver Crystal for me."
"WHAT???" they all chorused in unison.
"How could Serena be powering the Crystal when you're the one using it?" Raye asked slightly bewildered.
"As I said before she is in my domain now, where I make the rules. As we speak, a special rope of my design has her hands bound together and is draining her of her energy. The energy is then transferred to the Crystal giving it its power and allowing me to use it. The only energy I've been using is that which I use to empower her magical bonds. Hence, the Silver Crystal is mine!"
"You won't get away with this!" Mina shouted at him.
"And who's going to stop me? You worthless fools? Not likely! However, if you're so intent on facing me and having me destroy you, then I'll make a deal with you. If you can survive my test, I'll consider you worthy of my time."
As Akuma finished speaking, he threw an energy blast at the large group as they tried to scramble to get out of the way. The energy ball hit them and they all let out a scream as they fell through a large hole that had opened up in the ground beneath them upon impact. Once they had disappeared, he smiled in satisfaction then proceeded to do a vanishing act himself.
Akuma appeared I front of Serena with a smug look of triumph on his face. "So, some of my questions are answered...Serena! And somehow, you're related to the Royal Moon Family of old."
Serena's jaw dropped in shock. "H-how did you find out?" Serena managed to say weakly.
"Well, it seems you have a few friends who are worried about you and believe that they can save you. One caped, masked man in particular."
Darien Serena thought immediately.
"I must say, they certainly are foolish to think that they could ever defeat me! As for your name and heritage, one of them just happened to mention the fact that only members of the Royal Moon Family can control the Silver Crystal to the same degree that I have been. And since I've been using your energy to power the Crystal and manipulate it, you must be a part of the Moon Family. What I can't figure out and want to know is how you survived the destruction of the Silver Millennium? It was believed that only the inhabitants of Earth survived and all other life in the solar system was destroyed, including Queen Serenity's only child."
"My answer is the same as it was before. What makes you think I'll tell you anything nega-sleeze? Just because you found out a little information by chance doesn't mean I'm going to hand the rest of it to you on a silver platter."
"Very well Serena, I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this, to show you the full extent of my powers, but you've left me no choice. You'll regret your decision not to tell me what you know."
And with that, he placed the tip of his forefinger against her forehead and started to impose his power on her. Suddenly her mind was subjected to terrifying mental images; feelings of panic, fear and horror filling every part of her soul; her entire body ached all over from the pain that accompanied these images and feelings. After what seemed like an eternity to her, she opened her tear-filled eyes, her body now shaking with fright as she slowly raised her head to face her tormenter, Akuma. Her breathing was heavy as she tried to push the lingering images from her mind and come up with something to say to her captor.
"Look at you...less than a minute of my power and you're already acting like a scared puppy. I gave you the chance to volunteer the information, but no, you had to be stubborn and choose the hard way. Last chance Serena, tell me what I want to know or I'll make your life a living hell! It's up to you. Besides, it's not like I'm asking you to tell me anything that would bring about the next Armageddon, nothing that would even endanger your friends, all I want to know is how you obtained and can control the Crystal."
"No." she tried to pretend that her recent experience hadn't frightened her as much as it had.
"Very well." H e once again raised his finger to her forehead and imposed his power on her. Only this time he held there for several minutes before releasing her mind, all the while enjoying her screams of pain.
When he finally released her, it was all she could do not to pass out. He once again demanded for the answers he sought. After a momentary thought of what he had done to her and with the full knowledge that he wouldn't hesitate to do it as many time as was necessary, she gave a small shudder before giving him her decision.
"Alright," she whispered quietly in a barely audible voice, "I'll tell you what you want to know." I'll just have to give him the abbreviated version of our story and make sure not to mention anything about the others, especially anything that would endanger them. I just hope that that's good enough for him and that he won't ask anything more beyond that, because I'm not sure I'd be able to handle going through that ordeal again.
So reluctantly Serena told him of her true identity as the Moon Princess and Sailor Moon, and she told him of how her mother had saved her and her people from Metalia and Beryl's destruction, including a very brief account of the resulting battles in this time. But she held true to her self-promise and never mentioned anything to implicate or endanger her friends. When she had finished her story, Akuma seemed to be satisfied with it and asked for mo further information from her, much to her relief. She counted it as a blessing and remained grateful that he left it at that.
"Now maybe you'll answer a question for me." Serena tried to push her luck.
"Possibly, it all depends on the question."
"Where are my friends? What did you do with them? You wouldn't be here so calmly with that smug look on your face if you knew that my friends were coming here after you. Unless you did something to them, now where are they, what did you do?"
"Well just lets say I gave them a little challenge to get through. If they can survive my challenge, then and only then will I consider them worthy of my time and I'll allow them to face me in their futile attempts to try and win you your freedom. Until then, I have a planet to run...with the help of your Crystal of course. You know, I really must thank you my dear, it was so generous of you to provide me with the Crystal. And of course my added thanks for the energy to power it as well. Hahahahaha!" And with that, he vanished, leaving the mentally tormented Serena to black out from sheer mental exhaustion.
Meanwhile.......
Darien woke up and looked around at his surroundings. He got up and realized that he was in a forest and that he was detransformed. He soon noticed something else, or rather someone else...Seiya. Seiya had landed not to far from where Darien had and he had also been detransformed, he had also been returned to his male form. Seiya woke up a few minutes after Darien did. When they realized that they were alone, they tried to retransform, but to no avail. After several attempts, they admitted defeat and blamed it on a spell that Akuma must have cast to add to his "challenge". Instead, they started to discuss their options.
"Our first priority, should be to find the others." Darien spoke up, assuming the role of leader.
Seiya just glared at him. This was his planet and he'd be damned if he was going to let this egotistical jerk who stole the heart of his Odango was going to be in charge.
"You're wrong. Our first priority should be to find and rescue Serena, Princess Kakuu and my friends." Seiya retorted with contempt.
"Look, the two of us aren't strong enough to face Akuma on our own. Especially when he has the Silver Crystal and we can't transform. We're going to need the help of the others if we're going to save the ones we care about."
"Maybe so, but what if while we're looking for the others, Akuma decides to kill our friends? We can't risk that, we have to risk going after them on our own. Or don't you care about what happens to Serena?"
"Of course I care about what happens to her!" Darien snapped. "Don't you ever dare to try and accuse me otherwise! (sigh) Look, I don't know what happened between you two after I left for America and I don't know what connection you think you have with her, but she is MY wife and I will kindly ask you to remember that!"
"I understand that Odango is your wife and I respect that. All I ask is that YOU understand that I have feelings for her too and that the only reason I've never acted upon them is out of respect for her! I also have respect for the fact that she chose you over me and the reasoning behind it, she explained it to me before I left after we had a small misunderstanding. And also out of the respect I have for her, I decided to leave it at that and drop the issue then and there, but that doesn't mean I don't still have feelings for her, and right now my main concern is for the safety of her and my friends."
"Fine. Just make sure that you keep it that way and stay away from her, got it?"
"Yeah, I got it."
"Good, then we have an agreement. As for Akuma killing our friends, I very much doubt that that will happen."
"And what makes you so confident?"
"For one thing, he needs Serena's energy to power and control the silver Crystal. And second of all, he believes that his ultimate moment of glory will come when your Princess breaks and bows down to him, utterly crushing the population's hopes, or at least what remains of them. Unless you've been extremely exaggerating about your Princess's abilities, then we shouldn't have to worry about that happening anytime soon. And if Akuma kills her, then she'll never be able to bow down to him, and I can't foresee him robbing himself of that pleasure. The same applies to your fiends. Being the Royal Guardians, they'll also be an important part of Akuma's great 'achievement'."
"For you information, I was not exaggerating. Princess Kakuu would never bow down to that psychotic maniac and neither would my friends! Don't ever think for a second that they would!" Seiya's rage was flaring at Darien's 'implications'.
"I wasn't implying that I thought they would surrender, I was just trying to explain my theory as to why Akuma won't hurt or kill them!" his frustration with Seiya clearly evident in his voice and growing quickly.
"Fine. With that out of the way, I think we should head this way." He said trying to take control of the situation.
"No, I have a feeling, that we'd have better luck this way." Darien said, indicating the opposite direction from which Seiya was about to head in.
After another ten minutes of debating which direction they should head in, they finally agreed on Darien's choice of direction. This was only because Darien had miraculously convinced Seiya that being Tuxedo Mask, whether transformed or not, he usually had a good sense of where the Sailor Senshi were in tough situations. He left out the fact that it was usually Serena being in danger that called him to the battle, but the argument got him what he wanted as they headed down the path he had pointed out. As they headed off, both of them walked muttering and cursing under their breath about how they weren't happy about their current situation and how stubborn and arrogant the other was. So with the truce that had been forced upon them, they walked in silence to find the others.