Disclaimer: I own nothing! I own nothing! (Sing along!)
A/N: In a rush, got to do my thank you's quick! So, thanks to Lysia Croft, cardcaptor eternity, kuyaga, and IssaLee! You guys rock! We're closer to the finish line than y'all might think. I don't remember if it's true in the anime, but in the manga Mamoru/Endymion has some healingabilities.
Sailor Pluto grasped Mercury's arm and flung her down on Hotaru and Usagi. She fell on all three younger girls and held on tight as the darkness hit.
Icy claws seized her and shook her. She felt handfuls of dark green hair ripped from her scalp. Something warm hit her face and lips, something with a copper tang, and she heard Mercury cry out in pain.
"Setsuna!"
"Hold on, Ami!" Pluto shouted.
"AMI-CHAN! AMI-CHAN!" The lilting voices giggled in the darkness. "AMI-CHAN! COME PLAY WITH US!"
"No, thank you!" Mercury shouted.
"SETSUNA-CHAN! COME LET US PLAY WITH YOU!"
Pluto tightened her hold on the others, dragging Mercury closer so she could yell in her ear. "What is this?"
"I don't know! Minako said something escaped from the Abyss!"
The Time Keeper bit her lip as something raked over her back. "Pluto deliver us!"
"Perhaps we shouldn't wait for Pluto!" Mercury advised. "Stay with them!"
"IIE!"
Pluto opened her eyes as Mercury pushed herself free. Blue hair flared around her face, and dark blood from her slashed arms, capture by the black wind, swirled around her. She looked fierce, brave, and terrified.
"MERCURY AQUA MIRAGE!"
The silver water encased Mercury in a glow all the more beautiful against the ugly dark. The light danced for a second, then flashed out in all directions.
Darkness fell again, and Sailor Mercury disappeared.
"AMI!"
Pluto surged up, one foot on either side of Usagi and Hotaru's bodies, her staff held across her body. "Do not think I will fall easily," she warned the Abyss.
"WE DO NOT WANT YOU TO FALL! WE WANT TO PLAY WITH YOU! YOUR FLESH, YOUR EYEBALLS, YOUR BLOOD—"
"Enough!" Pluto swung her staff at the shadows. "You are not dealing with a child. Your threats do not frighten me."
"YOU CAN DO NOTHING TO STOP US!" the Abyss hissed. "YOU ARE POWERLESS, NOW!"
"A Senshi is never powerless."
The evil laughed, its mirth shaking the ground until she could barely stand. Then, through the din, she heard something. Her head turned, and her heart hoped.
"Mercury!"
The palest of lights flickered in the dark.
"Cerulean!"
The light grew, blue framing the silhouette of a girl.
"DELUGE!"
A wall of silver-blue light, thick as a liquid, smashed through the darkness. It flooded the street, driving the evil back, and swirling around Pluto and her two charges. Standing easily on the light's surface, Mercury rode the torrent to their sides.
"I hurt it!" she noted happily. "Now you!"
Pluto nodded, hearing again the voice of her Queen.
"Be careful, Pluto. If this attack is used incorrectly, it may very well kill you."
But her choices had gone from slim to none. The other Senshi had awoken their most powerful attacks, and now it was her turn.
"PLUTO." She whispered the words, her voice echoing hollowly.
"UNDERWORLD." Her staff pointed down, and dark purple energy crept up through the waters.
"ASCENDANCE."
A deep, powerful throbbing, just under the level of hearing, but felt throughout the body, made the energy pulsate. It gained speed, the light flashing faster and brighter. The darkness recoiled, trying to escape. Pluto grabbed Mercury's arm and dropped them both into a crouch. The pair held onto each other as the power let out a single, sustained roar, and spears of light stabbed up, into the darkness.
A terrible scream, too high for human ears but threatening to shatter their skulls, silenced their cries in their throats. Pluto clutched the younger girl so hard she felt Mercury's flesh come free under her own nails, and knew she would leave gouges down her arms. More vaguely, she felt Mercury biting her shoulder in terror, her tears wet on Pluto's neck.
As suddenly as the attack began, it ended. Silence returned, leaving their whole bodies trembling. It took them several seconds before they could loosen their grips on each other enough to look around.
The night sky shone overhead, stars twinkling pleasantly, the moon bright and almost full. The street stood peaceful, the only sign of struggle the broken lamp over their heads. No one looked out their window. Nothing moved. All seemed well.
Mercury rose shakily, her water-light sparkling into dimness. "Is it gone?"
"I don't know," Pluto muttered, not abandoning her post over her princess and her daughter. "There was still so much evil left, even after your attack…"
"But your attack was so powerful! I don't think anything— Ah!"
Pluto spun towards her, only to receive a hard blow to the chest. She was airborne for several seconds, then the back of her head connected hard with the pavement. Red stars danced in her vision, and her lashes fluttered uncertainly. The sharp pain in her head made her sick. She wanted nothing more than to lie still for a moment, but a new pain brought her crashing back to consciousness.
A slender garrote of darkness struck, wrapping around Pluto's throat and lifting her off her feet. She dangled, kicking wildly, her fingers trying to grasp shadow, but meeting only her own flesh. She heard something hiss and laugh against her ear.
"We do not fall easily, either, Time Keeper!"
She twisted in its hold, and saw a black blade slashing at Mercury, who barely managed to avoid it. Other shards of darkness danced around, some forming hammers, some deadly stilettos or daggers, some even becoming whips. Several slashed at Pluto as she hung at their mercy, unable to even dodge.
"Kyah!"
Something red flashed before her eyes, and one of the blades shattered. Mars turned and kicked again, smashing another shadow. Jadeite moved at her side, his dagger slicing a stiletto in half. Her smile was victorious as Mars turned to rescue Pluto.
It changed when the tiny shards of broken shadow flew at her like so many miniature razors. She tried to push through them, but they slashed at her eyes, blinding her. She stumbled back into Jadeite, whose face was already covered in red.
The thread of evil around Pluto's throat slowly tightened, and she felt her blood begin to trickle out from under it. In horror she realized it did not intent to strangle her. It was going to cut her head off.
Iie! Not like this!
Flailing with desperation, she tried to make her voice work, to yell some kind of attack, anything, to free herself. The garrote cut deeper, turning the trickle into a flood. Her eyes felt like they would burst, and still the shadow tightened.
"Watch out!"
Venus flew past Pluto's bewildered eyes. It took her a moment to realize the golden Senshi was trapped by an equally vicious filament of darkness, only it had her by her wrist. The blonde tried to strike with her golden heart chain, but the shadow spun her around twice and released her. She soared through the air, crashed into a building, and tumbled down. Kunzite barely managed to catch her in his arms, where she lay limp.
My Queen! Help us!
Her eyes grew dim. Her heart threatened to explode. Her lungs heaved against the hold on her throat. Pluto felt her body dying.
Please! she whispered in her head. Please…
The world burst into white light. Pluto felt it sear her skin for a second, then her feet hit the ground. She tumbled forward onto her hands and knees, closing her eyes against the radiance. Instead of a scream or a roar, for a split second she thought she heard music.
The heat faded, and she carefully opened her eyes. Something floated above the sidewalk, a human figure, burning with an almost phosphorescent light, bright as a star. The Senshi, in various levels of crouching or kneeling, somewhat disheveled but no longer baring any wounds, stared in wonder.
The figure slowly lowered to the ground. The light faded, and Usagi looked around at them all through eyes as calm and clear as Queen Serenity's ever were. She smiled. Then her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she collapsed beside Hotaru.
"Princess!"
Kunzite reached her first. He pressed two fingers to the side of her neck, and sighed with relief.
"She's alive."
"What about Hotaru?" Mercury asked, touching the child's face. "I think… Hai! She's breathing!"
"Thank the gods, everyone is alright," Kunzite muttered.
Mars jumped as though she had been shot. "Haruka! Michiru!"
"What about them?" Pluto asked.
"Setsuna, I'm very sorry to tell you this, but your house blew up."
"NANI?"
"And I think Haruka and Michiru were in it, so we'd better—"
A voice cut Mars off, exploding from her wrist.
"—THE FUCK DOES THIS THING WORK!"
Everyone jumped, and she brought the communicator towards her mouth with a confused frown.
"Nephrite?"
"Mars! Bless Sol!"
"Nephrite, we have a bit of an emergency right now."
"Makoto is dying!"
She gasped. "Nani? How?"
"She's bleeding to death, and I can't stop it! Help me!"
Venus reached over and grabbed Mars' wrist, yanking it close enough to speak to him herself.
"Where are you?"
"In the park!"
"Alright!" Venus turned and started pointing. "Setsuna and Rei, go help Haruka and Michiru. Jadeite, get Hotaru back to Mamoru's apartment. Can we wake Usagi up? We need her to heal Makoto!"
Kunzite knelt beside the princess, lightly slapping her cheek as he said, "The Prince has healing abilities as well."
"Luna!" Venus shouted into her own communicator. "Is Mamoru awake?"
"I'm here!" Mamoru's voice called.
"We can't wake Usagi up! Head to the park and help Nephrite! Ami and I are on our way there!"
"What about me?" Kunzite demanded.
Everyone was already moving. Venus shouted over her shoulder, "Go with Jadeite! Get Usagi to safety! Then meet us in the park!"