Disclaimer: My lawyers lost the case against my mother and Santa Claus for not getting me the ownership of Dragon Ball/Z/GT for Christmas, and now they've taken everything I've got. So I don't own anything… much less Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z.
Chapter 9: Arriving in the nick of time
She had finally awoken, but that hadn't eased Goku's worries that much. He just waited as the blond Queen blinked a few times, focusing her vision, first to look at Helios, and then at him, with a look of confusion.
"My Queen" Helios rushed to ask eagerly "are you alright?"
Serenity looked up at him with a glassy stare, narrowing her eyes and struggling to rise up to a sitting position, as Helios supported her. "…Where am I...? What happened?"
"You fainted, Serenity" Goku told her, looking at her pensively "You don't remember?"
Usagi lifted her sight towards the two of them with dismay.
"I did..? Oh! I remember now…" she blurted as she was struck with memory.
"Yes, My Lady, we were very concerned. It was very serious; for a while you weren't breathing. Then I tried the healing spell and you still wouldn't arise, but Goku-san seemed to come up with an idea and proposed we treated you with the spell and an infusion of Ki at the same time." Helios explained briefly.
Serenity sent a nervous glance at Goku for a couple of seconds, but recovered soon enough.
"Is that so…? Oh, well I guess I should thank you, then"
The Saiyan shook his head "There's no need for it, I'd rather much more if you could explain to us why it happened"
The request made Usagi pale slightly again.
"That's right, Majesty. Do you have any idea why you might have fainted like that?" the High Priest inquired.
At the question Usagi started fidgeting and gesticulated dismissingly, as she said: "It was nothing. You don't need to worry, Helios. I'm sure I'll be fine now", and slowly struggled to get up. But her petty try only managed to fuel Goku's suspicions even more.
That was when she finally remembered what had been eating at her, though.
"Helios! What has been of Hope City? Are they safe? Where are the Asteroid senshi, is Sailor Ceres alright?" she asked blubberingly, making Helios place a hand on her shoulder in an appeasing fashion.
"That's okay, Lady. The Elysian armies are protecting the City at this very moment"
Serenity smiled with gratitude and relief.
"Then we have to get there as soon as we can" she said as she fully got up.
"Excuse me, Serenity, but something's bothering me?" Goku wondered out loud, scratching his head and stopping her in her tracks as she'd already started to summon her Cosmos staff.
Usagi turned at him tensely, but trying hard to conceal her discomfort.
"Um… Yes, Goku?" she managed to ask casually.
"I was wondering… When a person is dying, which was what it greatly looked like a moment ago; when that happens, normally the person's Ki signature starts withdrawing, slowly diminishing in intensity, as it gradually fades away. However, while you were unconscious your Ki had begun flickering like candlelight, shimmering as if your very life-force was wavering…"
Usagi's eyes, which had been progressively getting wider and wider during Goku's speech, looked like those of a deer caught in headlights.
"I have to say I never felt that ever happen to a dying person's Ki before" the warrior continued saying "and that's when I thought—"
Goku stopped talking, and made a pause in his musings to look at the gulping female.
"Serenity… This has something to do with what almost happened back there at the Eternal Realm… doesn't it?"
His gaze searched hers intently, whereas hers stared on frozen.
Helios looked from one to the other quizzically.
"Goku-san, what do you mean?" getting no response, he directed the question at the other one present "Serenity-sama, what does Goku-san mean?"
"I—I'm not sure myself, Helios" Serenity said hesitatingly, her anxiety growing with each second that passed.
"It has" Goku stated, never braking eye-contact with her, and Serenity startled, concerned as now she could see realization alight Goku's ebony pools.
He gasped in surprise "That was the reason you weren't returning to the villa, wasn't it? You didn't want any of them to find out what had happened to you"
She felt a wave of guilt rising under Goku's doubtless yet not-any-less-querying stare.
"I don't know what you mean—" Usagi tried to say, but Goku ignored her as he came towards her.
"This was not the first time you've felt the symptoms; was it, Serenity? Being almost successful in performing The Ultimate Sacrifice took its toll on you, and you were hiding it from all of us."
She bit her lip, turned her head to the side and averted her gaze to the ground, feeling cornered and exposed.
"Serenity… why?"
"It's not that big of a deal. I'll get better soon—" she said weakly, but he immediately grabbed her arm, cutting her off.
"Why didn't you say anything? Don't you think they deserved to know?"
Usagi looked up at him pleadingly, choking with her own emotions."Please… Goku…Don't! Not in front of him!"
This time, Goku was the one that felt like he was breaking.
"How do you think they would all have felt if you had unexpectedly died a while ago?" he murmured, waving his arms in front of her in a gesture of overwhelmed renounce.
"I can't, I don't understand you, Usagi…"
Her eyes shimmered when she heard him call her by her old nickname, the one only Luna used for her. For the longest time since finding out of ChibiUsa and Mamoru, the Silver Senshi had been letting herself drown in a sea of self-pity and sorrow.
But now, beholding the terrible sight of miserable disappointment in Goku's eyes, for the first time since returning from the 20th Century, Usagi felt shame.
Could I truly have been that wrong?
She couldn't understand why looking in Goku's eyes at that moment filled her so much with the strongest, most overpowering feeling of shame.
Selene…
And then she knew.
…what have I done…
Goku wasn't one of the planetary guardians. He had neither ever been especially smart, especially saint, especially strong-willed or gifted. He had never been special in any way, period.
All he'd had was his intense attachment to his people and his unrelenting faith in the future, in a world worth saving…
He had absolutely no one now; he'd been freed from the Dragon Realm only to find himself all alone. What a terrible thing it must have been for him to come to terms with. Yet he still kept going.
He had gone through almost as much as her self.
Yet he still kept going.
And Usagi understood. Heroes weren't special people, who had traits so grandly different to the others. They were just normal people who didn't give up hope; when calamity and uncertainty feasted on their endurance, they merely held onto their faith and their conviction to at least die trying.
"Goku, I—I" the now guilt-ridden woman stammered, but Goku said nothing.
He merely pulled her towards him and pressed her tightly against him. Usagi's eyes filled with confusion once more.
"W—What are you doing?" she questioned unsurely.
Goku raised his hand towards her neck. "What I almost did once, and should have done instead of listening to your fears, letting your tears stop me"
Usagi's eyes widened at his words, and she began to say something in protest, but this time Goku was indeed determined not to let her get to him, preventing him from doing what had to be done.
In the blink of an eye he knocked her out, with a move faster than what Helios' eyes could follow.
"Serenity-sama" the shocked boy whispered, watching his Queen fall to the ground for the second time that day. Goku bent his head down, letting his black bangs cover his face and his hands tightened into fists at his sides.
"She was in no condition to fight… It was—It was also my fault"
The young Priest turned to him alarmingly.
"Goku-san?"
"If I had reacted in time when we were in the Dragon Realm, I could have caught up with her, I would have prevented her from trying something so dangerous and she wouldn't have come out so seriously wounded"
Helios stared on in silence; being unaware of all the the details and thus not being able to understand, he did not know what to say, till the great warrior spoke again.
"Helios, take Serenity back with you to the villa, have Luna stay with her and watch her… But please make sure she stays there. I'm gonna head for Hope City and see what can be done about those Hollow Hunters"
Helios nodded concurringly "Okay, Goku-san"
In that moment Goku directed his heads to the side, looking at a group of trees to their right, where the Unicorn Serenity had healed before had just showed up. Goku didn't show any surprise when the sacred creature made its way towards the knocked out female, sniffing her as if in worry, and looked up at him with what could be interpreted as reproach in his eyes, making Goku bow his head slightly in guilty embarrassment.
"Please take care of her" he said softly, but Helios wasn't sure if those words were directed towards him or towards the Unicorn. Goku rose in the air and flew off for where the battle was taking place, before the boy could even think of asking him.
For a while it seemed like the Unicorn and Helios were staring at one another, then the Priest sighed heavily as he started walking to the fallen Queen.
"Hey again, dear friend. I hope you don't mind my asking your help in carrying the Lady?" he politely requested of the animal.
The Unicorn's intelligent orbs seemed to spark with hidden amusement.
Just as Helios and the Unicorn took Serenity back to the villa, a silent figure stood hidden behind the tress, watching. Having witnessed everything, Kunzite grunted to himself, an unreadable expression in his face.
With a twirl of his cape and robes, the last Earthian General began his way towards the old Elysian Royal Palace.
"Hey Guys! Any ideas?" Sailor Juno yelled as she dodged a particularly hideous Hunters' fanged bite, making the creature howl in disappointment.
Sailor Juno couldn't help but sweat drop lightly at that. This awful beast was actually considering asking her out on a dinner! As much as JunJun was all for dating well-mannered guys and liked to cook for them and practice the skills Makoto had once taught her, the late Sailor Jupiter had never thought of instructing her student on what to do when you discovered yourself to be the 'food' in a relationship.
"I'm sorry, but I'm the kind of girl that prefers to take things slow, so I highly doubt it would have worked between us" she told the monster as she kicked it in the groin, hastily removing her booted foot in disgust when she felt it sinking into the beasts' muddy flesh. "Ugh, you seriously have to learn that you can't win every time! There you go! Hera's Peacock Iridescent Feathers!"
She threw her attack at it, weakening it greatly, bust still leapt out of the way and repeated just in case "Guys! Does anyone of you have any idea?"
"My feeling exactly! This net has been fueled with too many magical creatures' powers; I doubt I'll be able to keep it condensed for much longer!" Fish-Eye shouted from the rearguard amongst the fairies and other beings alike.
"I think I have an idea" Hawk-Eye exclaimed while he decapitated demon after demon. "Ceres, Vesta, Pallas and Juno! The weapons of 'Tiger', 'Fish' and I can contain other people's magic, right? Then let's put all of our attacks together!" he suggested.
"Are you sure your weapons can handle it?" Sailor Vesta questioned.
"Hey! Are you suggesting our weapons are weak? They can kick as many asses as your attacks,in case you didn't notice!" Tiger-Eye interjected her insulted, but Vesta didn't give any signs of acknowledging his irate complain.
"Well, we won't know until we try" Hawk-Eye reasoned.
Ceres finished 'Flower-Arrow'ing two youmas in front of her and turned to him uncertain.
"Fish-Eye can barely resist the weight of her net with all those added powers, Hawk-Kun… Pallas, can we be trust that will work?" she consulted the Senshi of Wisdom.
"Wait a minute" Pallas' mind started to work quickly "That doesn't sound like a bad strategy" aqua pools glinted like light bulbs "All we need to do is mix our powers up with their nearest kin!"
"Um, okay… we're listening, PallaPalla" Juno sweat dropped again as she dived out of the way of another creature's fangs and Ceres nodded:
"What do you want us to do?"
"I've got it! Listen" PallaPalla required their attention in a professional voice that meant business "According to what Ami-san taught me about magical attacks and weapons, we have to combine the powers that are in some sense similar. The more kinship and affinity the powers they have with one another, the stronger the attack will be. Understood?"
"Right, so how do you suggest we combine them?" Vesta said going straight to the point.
Sailor Pallas took the old Mercury Super Computer and started typing frantically.
"My analysis says you Vesta must join powers with Hawk-Eye, since he's air and you're fire, and air is what keeps fire burning. Flora and of course flowers can serve as the likes of wood too, to nurture Vesta's fire, so it'd be best if Ceres assists you two… On the other hand, Tiger-Eye's whip strikes remarkably like a thunder, right? Then Tiger-Eye and Juno should join their attacks, whereas I will help Fish-Eye keep her net as solid as possible"
"Hey, how come Hawk-Eye gets two girls when I only get one? I am the one who likes 'em young!" Tiger-Eye mumbled depressed, but everyone just ignored him again.
"Okay guys, you know what to do" Ceres imparted "Everyone go take your positions!"
Before anyone could move, though, a huge mass of demons launched itself forward for the six combatants in the vanguard.
"What in the world!" Sailor Juno shouted "How did they group-up so without us noticing!"
"It's this damn darkness that barely lets us see anything!" Vesta shouted back.
"Vesta! Juno! Get back here they're heading your way!" Ceres screamed at them frantically.
"Oh no!" cried PallaPalla when she saw that the demons were almost upon their friends.
However, when the Hunters got only a couple of steps from reaching the two Asteroid senshi, they heard a man yelling "KAME-HAME-HA!" at the top of their lungs, and a gigantic wave of light swept the beings away from the paralyzed teenagers. Ceres, Pallas and the Amazon Trio all looked at it stupefied.
"What the hell was THAT!" Tiger-Eye yelled flabbergasted "Did you guys see that!"
"Neo Queen Serenity?" CereCere whispered in wonder.
"No way, that wasn't a magical attack, was it?" Hawk-Eye asked.
"I don't think so…" Pallas answered, trembling at the prospect of some new unknown enemy.
"But then, who?" Ceres asked them, searching everywhere with her eyes for the mysterious helper. Then she raised her head towards the sky and gasped.
"SON-SAN?"
END TO THE NINTH CHAPTER
A/N: "Amazon Flower Arrow" was the name of Ceres' attack in the Sailor Moon manga.
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW-YEAR, DEAR READERS!
Sincerely,
Jay FicLover