Lita and Sam ran down the stairs, pushing open the swinging doors at the
bottom with enough force to slam them against the walls. Ignoring the
startled yelps of other people in the tunnels, they pushed their way
through throngs of people that were in their way. Eventually the crowd
thinned out, letting the pair gain some speed as they randomly dashed down
the different underground hallways and corridors.
An explosion behind them made Lita jump. Running wasn't working. Maybe it was time to try hiding. She glanced around and spied several empty rooms.
"Sam." she said, stopping their head long rush and pulling him into a room.
She looked on guiltily as the boy bent over, gasping for air. She was madly gulping air as well.
"Sam." She started again, "Stay here. Turn off the lights and lock the door."
"But...what are...you going to do?" Sam asked as he breathed heavily.
"I'm going to keep going. When I manage to lose this thing, I'll come back for you."
"But..." Sam looked at her, his eyes slightly widening in suppressed fear.
"Don't worry. I saw the Sailor Scouts at the bar. They're probably looking for that monster so I just have to wait to be rescued." Lita said, winking at him.
Before he could argue any more she turned around and ran out into the hall just as another explosion, this one closer, shook the walls around her. The brief rest had allowed her a moment to realize just how bruised and beaten she was. The adrenaline was having a hard time keeping her standing upright. Somewhere in their flight she had dome a number on her left knee and had finally noticed it. But she knew she couldn't stop.
Her running had slowed considerably, as her knee screamed at her. He brain was madly trying to come up with some sort of plan but she just couldn't think of anything.
Just then she stumbled. She closed her eyes, waiting to meet the hard tile floor. But in never happened.
Cautiously she opened her eyes to find two arms wrapped around her, holding her up. For a second she feared that she had fallen into her enemies arms. Slowly, almost fearfully she raised her eyes up to look at the face of her savior and met the most beautiful pair blue eyes she had ever seen.
The man was most defiantly not the man chasing her. His deep mahogany hair was tied loosely into a ponytail. His strong, chiseled features held a measure of concern as she felt her fingers reflexively clutch at the strong arms holding her.
"Are you alright?" he asked, his deep voice somehow reminding Lita of the deep forest.
A ugly chuckle behind her brought her back to herself. She roughly pushed the man away from her as she spun to face the source of that laugh.
"You are sure resourceful, for a human." the red haired man said, still hovering a couple feet above the floor. In his hand danced a ball of the black fire that Lita was quickly becoming all too familiar with.
"Who are you?" she asked, proud that her voice didn't waver as she faced him.
"My name is Rubeus. Now, where is the boy?" he said, glancing around the immediate area as if that would reveal Sam's hiding place.
"You're not going to get him." Lita said, forcing her body into some semblance of a fighting stance.
"Well, that remains to be seen. Now, since you seem to insist on doing things the hard way..." Rubeus threw the black fire at her.
It had happened too quickly and her body was too slow. The fire hit her in the middle of her chest. It felt like nothing else. It was like the fire burrowed directly into her very soul. Instead of heat, a type of burning cold filled her and she couldn't hold back the piercing scream as it washed over her, dropping her to her knees in front of Rubeus.
The first sound that she was able to hear after her own scream was that evil chuckle, "So, where is the boy?"
Lita opened eyes that she didn't remember closing to glare at him, which seemed to anger him.
"Where is he?!" he yelled at her, the fire engulfing her body again.
It took her longer to fight her way back to reality this time.
She coughed, noticing the blood pooling on the floor in front of her, "Ever consider anger management classes?"
She watched as his face contorted in rage. She braced herself for the pain and hoping oblivion would come this time, but like just a minute ago, it never came. And once again she looked up into the beautiful face of a stranger, this time framed in black fire.
"No!" she screamed.
* * * * *
Serena and Rei had seen the people fleeing out of the building and ran inside just in time to hear one of the explosions from farther in.
Rei pulled out her communicator as the two fought there way through the mob of hysterical people, all going in the other direction, "Guys, we've got some action over here."
The others looked at the coordinates that Rei's communicator was broadcasting and promised to meet up with them soon. Meanwhile, Serena and Rei continued on down, both fearing what they would find at the end of the tunnels.
Following the sounds of the battle, they slowly made their way.
"Sailor Moon!" a familiar voice yelled from behind them.
Serena spun around to face her brother and gave a strangled sob, "Sammy!"
Sailor Mars watched for a second as Sailor Moon hugged her brother before turning back towards the hall, a voice in the back of her head noting that they were going to have to have a talk with Sam after this was all over.
"Serena! I told you..." Sam gasped, "Serena?"
"Yea." Sailor Moon said, looking sheepish at letting her secret slip so easily, "Surprise."
"Oh. Wow. Well...that explains a lot." Sam said, the dazed expression on his face becoming thoughtful.
The sound of a scream ripped through the halls, as, as if summoned, Ami, Mina, Darien and Zoicite came running down the hall.
Sam spun around, "Oh my god. Lita! You have to save her!"
"Stay here!" Sailor Moon yelled back at her brother, already running before the second scream began.
The others ran at her heels, each one fearing what they would find when they stopped running.
Turning a corner, they were greeted with the sight of a bloody Lita, struggling to stand over the fallen body of a man as Rubeus became completely enshrouded in his black fire.
"Get away from her!" Sailor Moon yelled.
"Venus Crescent Beam Smash!" the blast of golden light seemed to shatter on the fire surrounding Rubeus.
"Mars Fire Ignite" Sailor Mars sent her stream of red flame at the cold, black flame only to see them extinguished.
Darien and Zoicite, both drew their swords and stood in defensive positions in front of Lita, never taking their eyes off of the enemy in front of them.
"Mercury, give us some cover!" Sailor Moon yelled, as she and Venus tried to attack. Sailor Venus sent a well aimed kick towards the back of Rubeus's knees, trying to bring him down while Sailor Moon tried to get in a hit from the front. Before either connected though, Rubeus disappeared, reappearing a second later several feet away to send a blast of black fire at them.
"Mercury Bubble Blast!" Mercury's fog rose around the battle as Serena dropped to the ground, avoiding the attack aimed at her.
"Damn you, Sailor Moon. Did you come to save your precious little brother?" Rubeus's voice taunted from somewhere in the mist.
"I came to kick your ass!" Sailor Moon yelled back, glancing at Mercury for direction in the fog.
Off to the side, Darien suddenly spun and ducked a stream of black fire. He lunged in the direction it had come from but Rubeus had already disappeared again.
Mercury looked up from her computer and gestured to Sailor Moon.
"There. Now." she said, pointing.
"Moon Tiara Magic!" Sailor Moon threw the golden, glowing disk in the direction Mercury had pointed and was rewarded a second later by an angry scream.
"Mercury Ice Storm Splash!" Mercury's attack followed Sailor Moon's almost instantly.
Mercury released the fog around them to reveal a bleeding Rubeus, struggling to get up from his knees.
"You are going to pay for that." growled Rubeus, shooting flames at Mercury.
Zoicite lunged at Rubeus, sending his sword through the other man's shoulder as Mercury managed to dodge the attack on her.
"She won't be paying for anything with me around." Zoicite muttered, yanking the sword out of the other man.
Rubeus disappeared and reappeared further away from the battle, clutching at his arm. Blood welled up through his fingers.
"Enough of this." Rubeus growled out at them, turning his attention to Serena, "Someday Sailor Moon. Someday you will understand what pain really is. You think you have family problems now..."
The man disappeared in a burst of flame and vile laughter.
* * * * *
Rubeus reappeared in his cave and collapsed on to the floor. Slowly, painfully he began to crawl towards his bed. Before he could reach it though, a kick connected with his abdomen, spinning him around to look at the angry faces of Helios and Rini.
"How dare you betray us?" Helios hissed, grabbing the other man by the throat and lifting him into the air.
"Wait..."gasped Rubeus, struggling vainly in the other man's grip.
"You were told, repeatedly, to leave the Scouts alone. You blatantly defied every order we ever gave you."
"I...have information...though..." Rubeus said, trying to speak as the last of his air was squeezed out of his throat.
Helios threw him against the wall and Rubeus sank to the floor.
"I don't think we need your information." Came the sickly sweet voice from next to Helios.
Rubeus looked up in time to see Rini raise up a small black crystal in front of her.
"No! Wait! The Scouts! You parents were..." Rubeus's words were cut off by his scream as a beam of pure, dark energy shot from the crystal and hit him in the chest. From where it hit, tendrils of black began to engulf his body. Even when he was completely covered, the sound of his screams could be heard.
Rini frowned in concentration as the black power began to dissipate, leaving no trace of its victim behind. When it was completely gone, she sagged against her lover.
"It still fights my control." she muttered.
"Shh. You are still weak from creating it. Soon my love, soon you will be able to finish this fight and live as we've always wanted to." Helios said, kissing the top of Rini's head.
And inside the black crystal, a small, unnoticed grain of pure, white energy continued to pulse, fighting off the corruption around it.
* * * * *
Hey all. I felt the need to remind you all of the "wonder weapon" and its little flaw because I had almost forgotten so I can only imagine how any of you would remember. Anyways, what did you all think. I suck at writing fights so I hope this wasn't too awful but I wanted a bunch of things to happen with these last couple chapters. Okay, well that's it for now.
Jedi Master Calriel - I've decided that Sam will find out. For angst purposes though, if I can pull it off, I'm going to wreck some serious havoc between Serena and her family. I need something to balance out all the freaking romances.
psycho-punk - hi! I was going to e-mail you but I figured I'd just post this instead. WI stands for Wisconsin, not west Indies. Sorry. But if I am ever down that way I'll drop you a note. It would be cool to actually meet some of these people that I get reviews from.
kalinda - well...were you surprised? If not, that's okay. I have lame surprises.
Mercurial1 - ::hangs head:: Sorry. Umm...I'll try to do better in the future. Forgive me? ::puppy dog face::
Jabba1 - hey! Well, here's another general for you. hee hee. Hope fully people will like him. Lass will be alright. I can't kill a dog. People yes. Dogs, no.
Silver Dragonfly - actually, I wasn't trying to make it a cliff hanger. I don't actually like to leave people like that so I try and make each chapter as self contained as I can make it. That last chapter though was about as close as I usually come. But yea...I'll admit that it was a crappy cliff hanger...maybe I'll go back and tweak things...
Marni - yea, viruses = bad. But oh well, back to writing. I hope this update is quick enough this time.
Tranquill MoonBunny - in keeping with my promise, an update in less than a month's time. Thank you, thank you. Hold the applause.
firelightz - you and me both. But hey, Ami could always work miracles on that computer of hers and then added Zoicite's genius to Ami's and viola! Miracles on demand.
Miko633 - you asked for it. I delivered. One dead Rubeus. Lass will be back in the next chapter. Never fear, I couldn't kill a dog. Besides, I've still got plans for her.
Adyen - Thanks! This was almost all action too. I think everyone, characters and author, now need a little down time.
Lil-PrincessK - hee. Everyone seems to love Lass. Lita should be getting her memories back in the next chapter or so, hopefully.
BenRG - at this point, I don't really now power levels. I'm shooting for late R, early S here but who knows. And I have no problem pulling out early, first season powers if they work. ::crosses fingers:: Hope this turned out to be semi-decent.
missaw - thanks! I'm always glad people like this. And, as I promised, an update. In less than a month's time. Go me!
JerseyGirl03 - thanks. In all truth, the virus only added to a bunch of other things, including moving and laziness, that prevented me from writing. But I am trying to do better. Really.
An explosion behind them made Lita jump. Running wasn't working. Maybe it was time to try hiding. She glanced around and spied several empty rooms.
"Sam." she said, stopping their head long rush and pulling him into a room.
She looked on guiltily as the boy bent over, gasping for air. She was madly gulping air as well.
"Sam." She started again, "Stay here. Turn off the lights and lock the door."
"But...what are...you going to do?" Sam asked as he breathed heavily.
"I'm going to keep going. When I manage to lose this thing, I'll come back for you."
"But..." Sam looked at her, his eyes slightly widening in suppressed fear.
"Don't worry. I saw the Sailor Scouts at the bar. They're probably looking for that monster so I just have to wait to be rescued." Lita said, winking at him.
Before he could argue any more she turned around and ran out into the hall just as another explosion, this one closer, shook the walls around her. The brief rest had allowed her a moment to realize just how bruised and beaten she was. The adrenaline was having a hard time keeping her standing upright. Somewhere in their flight she had dome a number on her left knee and had finally noticed it. But she knew she couldn't stop.
Her running had slowed considerably, as her knee screamed at her. He brain was madly trying to come up with some sort of plan but she just couldn't think of anything.
Just then she stumbled. She closed her eyes, waiting to meet the hard tile floor. But in never happened.
Cautiously she opened her eyes to find two arms wrapped around her, holding her up. For a second she feared that she had fallen into her enemies arms. Slowly, almost fearfully she raised her eyes up to look at the face of her savior and met the most beautiful pair blue eyes she had ever seen.
The man was most defiantly not the man chasing her. His deep mahogany hair was tied loosely into a ponytail. His strong, chiseled features held a measure of concern as she felt her fingers reflexively clutch at the strong arms holding her.
"Are you alright?" he asked, his deep voice somehow reminding Lita of the deep forest.
A ugly chuckle behind her brought her back to herself. She roughly pushed the man away from her as she spun to face the source of that laugh.
"You are sure resourceful, for a human." the red haired man said, still hovering a couple feet above the floor. In his hand danced a ball of the black fire that Lita was quickly becoming all too familiar with.
"Who are you?" she asked, proud that her voice didn't waver as she faced him.
"My name is Rubeus. Now, where is the boy?" he said, glancing around the immediate area as if that would reveal Sam's hiding place.
"You're not going to get him." Lita said, forcing her body into some semblance of a fighting stance.
"Well, that remains to be seen. Now, since you seem to insist on doing things the hard way..." Rubeus threw the black fire at her.
It had happened too quickly and her body was too slow. The fire hit her in the middle of her chest. It felt like nothing else. It was like the fire burrowed directly into her very soul. Instead of heat, a type of burning cold filled her and she couldn't hold back the piercing scream as it washed over her, dropping her to her knees in front of Rubeus.
The first sound that she was able to hear after her own scream was that evil chuckle, "So, where is the boy?"
Lita opened eyes that she didn't remember closing to glare at him, which seemed to anger him.
"Where is he?!" he yelled at her, the fire engulfing her body again.
It took her longer to fight her way back to reality this time.
She coughed, noticing the blood pooling on the floor in front of her, "Ever consider anger management classes?"
She watched as his face contorted in rage. She braced herself for the pain and hoping oblivion would come this time, but like just a minute ago, it never came. And once again she looked up into the beautiful face of a stranger, this time framed in black fire.
"No!" she screamed.
* * * * *
Serena and Rei had seen the people fleeing out of the building and ran inside just in time to hear one of the explosions from farther in.
Rei pulled out her communicator as the two fought there way through the mob of hysterical people, all going in the other direction, "Guys, we've got some action over here."
The others looked at the coordinates that Rei's communicator was broadcasting and promised to meet up with them soon. Meanwhile, Serena and Rei continued on down, both fearing what they would find at the end of the tunnels.
Following the sounds of the battle, they slowly made their way.
"Sailor Moon!" a familiar voice yelled from behind them.
Serena spun around to face her brother and gave a strangled sob, "Sammy!"
Sailor Mars watched for a second as Sailor Moon hugged her brother before turning back towards the hall, a voice in the back of her head noting that they were going to have to have a talk with Sam after this was all over.
"Serena! I told you..." Sam gasped, "Serena?"
"Yea." Sailor Moon said, looking sheepish at letting her secret slip so easily, "Surprise."
"Oh. Wow. Well...that explains a lot." Sam said, the dazed expression on his face becoming thoughtful.
The sound of a scream ripped through the halls, as, as if summoned, Ami, Mina, Darien and Zoicite came running down the hall.
Sam spun around, "Oh my god. Lita! You have to save her!"
"Stay here!" Sailor Moon yelled back at her brother, already running before the second scream began.
The others ran at her heels, each one fearing what they would find when they stopped running.
Turning a corner, they were greeted with the sight of a bloody Lita, struggling to stand over the fallen body of a man as Rubeus became completely enshrouded in his black fire.
"Get away from her!" Sailor Moon yelled.
"Venus Crescent Beam Smash!" the blast of golden light seemed to shatter on the fire surrounding Rubeus.
"Mars Fire Ignite" Sailor Mars sent her stream of red flame at the cold, black flame only to see them extinguished.
Darien and Zoicite, both drew their swords and stood in defensive positions in front of Lita, never taking their eyes off of the enemy in front of them.
"Mercury, give us some cover!" Sailor Moon yelled, as she and Venus tried to attack. Sailor Venus sent a well aimed kick towards the back of Rubeus's knees, trying to bring him down while Sailor Moon tried to get in a hit from the front. Before either connected though, Rubeus disappeared, reappearing a second later several feet away to send a blast of black fire at them.
"Mercury Bubble Blast!" Mercury's fog rose around the battle as Serena dropped to the ground, avoiding the attack aimed at her.
"Damn you, Sailor Moon. Did you come to save your precious little brother?" Rubeus's voice taunted from somewhere in the mist.
"I came to kick your ass!" Sailor Moon yelled back, glancing at Mercury for direction in the fog.
Off to the side, Darien suddenly spun and ducked a stream of black fire. He lunged in the direction it had come from but Rubeus had already disappeared again.
Mercury looked up from her computer and gestured to Sailor Moon.
"There. Now." she said, pointing.
"Moon Tiara Magic!" Sailor Moon threw the golden, glowing disk in the direction Mercury had pointed and was rewarded a second later by an angry scream.
"Mercury Ice Storm Splash!" Mercury's attack followed Sailor Moon's almost instantly.
Mercury released the fog around them to reveal a bleeding Rubeus, struggling to get up from his knees.
"You are going to pay for that." growled Rubeus, shooting flames at Mercury.
Zoicite lunged at Rubeus, sending his sword through the other man's shoulder as Mercury managed to dodge the attack on her.
"She won't be paying for anything with me around." Zoicite muttered, yanking the sword out of the other man.
Rubeus disappeared and reappeared further away from the battle, clutching at his arm. Blood welled up through his fingers.
"Enough of this." Rubeus growled out at them, turning his attention to Serena, "Someday Sailor Moon. Someday you will understand what pain really is. You think you have family problems now..."
The man disappeared in a burst of flame and vile laughter.
* * * * *
Rubeus reappeared in his cave and collapsed on to the floor. Slowly, painfully he began to crawl towards his bed. Before he could reach it though, a kick connected with his abdomen, spinning him around to look at the angry faces of Helios and Rini.
"How dare you betray us?" Helios hissed, grabbing the other man by the throat and lifting him into the air.
"Wait..."gasped Rubeus, struggling vainly in the other man's grip.
"You were told, repeatedly, to leave the Scouts alone. You blatantly defied every order we ever gave you."
"I...have information...though..." Rubeus said, trying to speak as the last of his air was squeezed out of his throat.
Helios threw him against the wall and Rubeus sank to the floor.
"I don't think we need your information." Came the sickly sweet voice from next to Helios.
Rubeus looked up in time to see Rini raise up a small black crystal in front of her.
"No! Wait! The Scouts! You parents were..." Rubeus's words were cut off by his scream as a beam of pure, dark energy shot from the crystal and hit him in the chest. From where it hit, tendrils of black began to engulf his body. Even when he was completely covered, the sound of his screams could be heard.
Rini frowned in concentration as the black power began to dissipate, leaving no trace of its victim behind. When it was completely gone, she sagged against her lover.
"It still fights my control." she muttered.
"Shh. You are still weak from creating it. Soon my love, soon you will be able to finish this fight and live as we've always wanted to." Helios said, kissing the top of Rini's head.
And inside the black crystal, a small, unnoticed grain of pure, white energy continued to pulse, fighting off the corruption around it.
* * * * *
Hey all. I felt the need to remind you all of the "wonder weapon" and its little flaw because I had almost forgotten so I can only imagine how any of you would remember. Anyways, what did you all think. I suck at writing fights so I hope this wasn't too awful but I wanted a bunch of things to happen with these last couple chapters. Okay, well that's it for now.
Jedi Master Calriel - I've decided that Sam will find out. For angst purposes though, if I can pull it off, I'm going to wreck some serious havoc between Serena and her family. I need something to balance out all the freaking romances.
psycho-punk - hi! I was going to e-mail you but I figured I'd just post this instead. WI stands for Wisconsin, not west Indies. Sorry. But if I am ever down that way I'll drop you a note. It would be cool to actually meet some of these people that I get reviews from.
kalinda - well...were you surprised? If not, that's okay. I have lame surprises.
Mercurial1 - ::hangs head:: Sorry. Umm...I'll try to do better in the future. Forgive me? ::puppy dog face::
Jabba1 - hey! Well, here's another general for you. hee hee. Hope fully people will like him. Lass will be alright. I can't kill a dog. People yes. Dogs, no.
Silver Dragonfly - actually, I wasn't trying to make it a cliff hanger. I don't actually like to leave people like that so I try and make each chapter as self contained as I can make it. That last chapter though was about as close as I usually come. But yea...I'll admit that it was a crappy cliff hanger...maybe I'll go back and tweak things...
Marni - yea, viruses = bad. But oh well, back to writing. I hope this update is quick enough this time.
Tranquill MoonBunny - in keeping with my promise, an update in less than a month's time. Thank you, thank you. Hold the applause.
firelightz - you and me both. But hey, Ami could always work miracles on that computer of hers and then added Zoicite's genius to Ami's and viola! Miracles on demand.
Miko633 - you asked for it. I delivered. One dead Rubeus. Lass will be back in the next chapter. Never fear, I couldn't kill a dog. Besides, I've still got plans for her.
Adyen - Thanks! This was almost all action too. I think everyone, characters and author, now need a little down time.
Lil-PrincessK - hee. Everyone seems to love Lass. Lita should be getting her memories back in the next chapter or so, hopefully.
BenRG - at this point, I don't really now power levels. I'm shooting for late R, early S here but who knows. And I have no problem pulling out early, first season powers if they work. ::crosses fingers:: Hope this turned out to be semi-decent.
missaw - thanks! I'm always glad people like this. And, as I promised, an update. In less than a month's time. Go me!
JerseyGirl03 - thanks. In all truth, the virus only added to a bunch of other things, including moving and laziness, that prevented me from writing. But I am trying to do better. Really.