Oreo596: thanks. 😊
smoon4409: thanks, glad your liking it. That will be an interesting venture. 😉
sabina21: oh there is plenty still to happen before things conclude.
Princesakarlita411: glad I hope you enjoy it as you did this one.
AvatarUzumaki: yeah that is coming along really nicely, I hope it translates respectively so, as I want it to be very visual for the imagination. 😊
5 reviews, glad you enjoyed the last one, lets see how you like this one as it's getting down to the wire, only a few chapters left to go, enjoy and let me know what you think!
The devil within ch.17
Sailor Moon POV
We all tensed up as we see the five youma anticipating our next move. There's no way past them and I know that it'll take all of us working together plus Jadeite to defeat them. It's after all five of them versus six of us. We've never taken on that many youma at once before. At least not to my recollection. So when they make it look like Tuxedo Mask is up and over there, hung up like a twisted piñata at the county fair I nearly faltered.
Is there a chance that they found out that he's not working with them after all and is now using him against us? Did the negaverse find out that he's working with us still?
"Help me…Sailor Moon."
There's something in his voice that makes me question the doubt though. Why not call me his princess? His love? There are too many questions now and that tells me this is false. I have to remind myself that he's really inside doing his part.
Jadeite's concealed form is also telling me, "Don't fall for it."
I nod knowing that if he's telling me it's a trick then it is. That's when one of the crazed sky dancers look like youma's bursts out of the fake Tuxedo Mask's body and tries to attack me. I barely jump out of the way in time before it creates a crater beneath where my boots once were. We once more stand tall together.
"As you might have noticed we're not like the other youma," One of them quips.
"We're the Doom and Gloom Girls," Another announces. "And we've been waiting for our chance to take you five out…and your little friend, whomever they are."
Jadeite remains hidden while Jupiter jumps up, "Take your best shot plant breath."
Two of the youma launch their own attacks with vines towards her. She gets a smirk on her face, and she runs and jumps up between them.
They try to lash out at her as Venus sends out a beam of light that knocks one of the youma away only to get thrown out of the way herself when another youma appears, "Not yet, you'll have your turn soon enough."
Venus growls at the youma as the one with pale pink skin gave her a stern glare herself. Venus's attention like ours got drawn to see Jupiter jumping between the two youma's with pale red and violet skin tones.
I swear like mutated sky dancers, albeit still pretty for monsters, tried to lash out at her while mid-air, struck each other when Jupiter made a roundhouse flip to avoid the tentacles that they flung out to try to hit her with. I watched as during her roundhouse twist, something that I wanted to learn more about how to do, twisted herself into facing their backs before leaping forward with a lightning attack that she spins herself around in.
The lightning spreads from her and hits them both in the back as they scream out in pain and shock from the hit. It was actually a very well-done beautiful attack if I do say so myself as Jupiter is pretty proud of it. One that had most of us slack-jawed by her move and burst of power as it's clear that training has been beneficial to all of us.
Both youma went down, slamming into the ground and even skidding. Both turn back around, visibly stunned by the move but both are also unwilling to be put down for long. Getting a gleam in their eyes I could only shout for Jupiter to watch it as they shoved their vines into the ground and burst them up around her. They encircled her in their vine trap and wrapped her up from shoulder to waist. Two most sets came out and captured her neck and legs, pulling at them to prevent her from moving or breathing right.
"They're going after what she uses to call upon her power," Mercury realizes. I see Jupiter trying to break free so I go to help as does Mars as we call upon our own powers to use against them only for Jupiter to call out, "NO!" to us, almost like a growl, startling us but also alerting the youma to our attempt at a sneak attack.
"Their mine," she growls. She then activates her tiara's antenna to amplify her attack.
This however was bad.
"Don't!" I yelled out knowing if she did this it could damage her very badly. Despite her power being grounded in the thunder and waves as such, she wasn't immune to getting electrocuted.
"Jupiter thunder!" she called upon her powers while the two youma were trying to contain her and subsequently got hit by the lightning too. Bearing it all down they were trying to figure out what was going on.
It was then Jadeite came in out of nowhere and drove his sword up through the pale red one's backside causing an unholy scream to echo out of her before he sliced her head off, while Jupiter lightening up the focus on only one of them and struck her with a bolt so hard that it drove her through the earth. All of us were shocked by that.
"That had to be the biggest lightning bolt in the history of lightning bolts ever," I comment.
The youma Jadeite dealt the final blow to died instantly while the other one was burnt to a crisp so crispy there was nothing left but a husk. However, thanks to him helping, despite Jupiter's disgruntled anger at the youma, I know Jupiter was saved from making the ultimate sacrifice of herself. The vines disappeared from her as she fell, not completely drained or hurt too badly but enough to wind her a bit.
"I could have handled that but, thanks," She told him. He merely nodded as we saw the rest of the Doom and Gloom Girls disappear.
Jadeite narrowed his eyes at where they once were.
"They're going to hit us in stages now. They wanted to test us and now know that we strategize too," He says lowly.
"There's only three of them left now though," Mars points out.
"I'm more concerned about why they didn't all jump her at once," Venus stated concerned.
Jupiter looked to her then to Jadeite who remarked, "They got cocky, figured they didn't need five to take out one."
He looked towards Jupiter with a small grin on his face. "I think we both know though that it would have taken all five to contain you let alone anything else."
Jupiter gives him a gruff, "Of course!" as she then smirks. "I would have happily taken them all out."
I put a palm on Jupiter's shoulder. "But that would have killed you. We're in the final battle together."
She nods knowing the truth of it.
"So two of them just got smoked and decapitated because of their own cockiness," Mars adds.
"The rest of us have learned now so we won't be getting so lucky going forward," Jadeite warns us so we don't get ahead of ourselves.
"He's right, we still shouldn't let our guard down," I add making him know that I supported him.
He then says, "They're the most powerful youma you've dealt with yet…just be glad they're not as powerful as the combined efforts of the seven great youma."
I do recall that being mentioned.
"Luna said something about them once, I think…," I mutter as Jadeite looks at me.
"They were known as the seven great youma, individually they could cause great damage, but if they were to join together and create the 'great youma' even the generals would have their work cut out for them."
I nod realizing it was a good thing we got rid of them and healed their hosts when we did, I can't imagine the fallout if we hadn't.
We begin to walk once more as we make our way closer to the dark kingdom. The air already feels chillier.
"How is the temperature dropping?" Venus asks.
"I have a feeling it's due to us getting closer to the Dark Kingdom." I tell her as Jadeite nods, "You only don't feel it if you're completely evil like the youma and Beryl are."
I arch a brow at him.
"So yes I'm a bit chilly now too., He mutters as we continue to walk.
We happen upon the next giggle from the three remaining Doom and Gloom Girls. Two I can see waiting for us as Mercury decides to head them up, I put a stop to that.
"No." She looks startled. "We're not going to let them split us up."
She smiles. "I think we all know in the end that it will be you facing Metallia, not the rest of us."
This time Jadeite stops her. "It's not just her that will be facing Metallia, it's all of you."
She's obviously a bit stunned from hearing him tell her this, especially with how direct he's being.
"It will take all of you…all of us to take her out." Mercury nods to his words as the two youma disappear. "Get ready."
It was no sooner than he said it that we got another illustrious illusion from them. This time it was Urawa, a friend of Mercury's. I watch as she gasps a bit then refocuses and makes her visor pop up. She obviously sees what's really going on as her next words are almost like a laugh, "I find this entertaining."
You could hear they're getting disgruntled.
"Trying to trick us with illusions is child's play. Even the generals dropped that attempt once they realized it was always a flat failure, but thanks for the entertainment. Now if you don't mind - "
No sooner than she said it, did we hear the screams of anger as the ground beneath us all erupted from the three of them trying to take us all out as if they were trying to become a volcanic eruption.
Venus knocked me out of harm's way while Jadeite reacted on instinct and grabbed Mars, getting her out of the way while Jupiter grabbed Mercury and Mars reacted by clutching Jadeite herself. The youma that went after Mercury got hit by a fireball by Mars as she threw one out over Jadeite's shoulder. Jupiter threw lightning at it as Mercury's bubbles spun around the lightning and hit her too.
You could hear the screech of the youma that went after her as she vaulted upwards. I looked at a determined Mercury as she stood up. She may be sweet but don't mess with her friends. I watched as she started to walk towards them and in a voice that was full of anger and determination shouted out her Mercury bubbles. They sent what looked like a lava launch at her but it was subdued quickly by her powers.
Yet we knew this wasn't over.
"Mercury?!" I asked, wondering what she had planned as Mars left Jadeite's arms but gave him a 'thanks' expression that he merely nodded to. This wasn't the time to get sentimental about things.
"You want to stop us? THE US? Were the sailor Senshi! There is NO stopping us!" she shouted at them as she gathered more of her powers but was quickly stopped by Jadeite as he got her out of the way of another attempt as one tried to nose dive in on her from behind.
Jupiter and Mars ducked off to the side as the pale turquoise and neon green skin-toned ones made attempts at them only to get Mars flaming fire set after one and Jupiter's raging thunder sent after the other. The girls ducked the vines being blasted towards them but managed to hit their targets in the backs.
"That's a useful trick." Mars gives props to Jupiter who nods as the three remaining youma attack us from the air now.
Shooting their vines once more outward both Mars and Mercury swung out with their powers and combined them together, making the double dose hit the pale turquoise one and neon green one dead on. Mercury seemed to spot something as she vaulted herself closer. Mars followed as Jupiter followed. Venus and I were on our ways when the last youma appeared before us, seemingly having separated us.
"Goodie now I get to play," the last one said as she plunged her vines in a snap to wrap around Venus. Jupiter jumped around the last one and shockingly enough used her own body like a taser, forcing the youma to release Venus just enough once she threw the youma into a headlock. The move forced the youma to become the most monstrous version of herself as Venus pointed her finger at the youma and ground out her words.
To say the youma became ashes was an understatement. The power flex proved to be too much for the youma to handle and with Jupiter forcing her to take the hit full on all you could hear was a cry of pain before the ashes of the youma settled. Venus was released and was breathing more normally again. However, we hear the fighting coming from Mercury and Mars as they are seemingly jumping all around.
It occurs to me that they're playing chicken with the two remaining youma. I have a chance to nail one of them unsuspectingly. I grab for my tiara when Jadeite stops me.
"Don't you need all of your energy to fight Metallia. They're trying to drain you all now so you won't be able to fight through the final battle."
I hate this then. I'm not used to purposely taking a back seat just waiting for the opportunity to strike.
Mercury and Mars both jump up and throw powerful attacks back, using fire soul and a full-on ball of ice to stop the youma following at an alarming rate behind them. Both attacks subdue the youma's for a moment but it's all that's needed as Jadeite steps in and slices through both of them with his sword. Yet these youma are not done yet. He sliced through their illusions.
"Shit!" he snaps upset at himself for falling for it.
Quickly realizing where they're headed all of us rush to protect Mercury as she has her visor out so she can scan and find the real ones. Jadeite beats us to the punch and blocks several blows meant to kill Mercury. The swiftness of his sword is only slowed down by the action of the vines as the youma try to regale him with a multitude of them. He slices through them with such fire that I can't keep up with who's winning over who.
He sends out a few blasts of his own powers just to back them up but it's clear that his focus is more on securing Mercury's safety than simply killing them. I can't see where she is in relation to the blows he's dealing. I can see that while Jadeite does a remarkable job of aiding us, I can also see that if he goes full-on kill zone with them Mercury will get hit in the crossfire and he's avoiding that.
He's doing three things at once and needs a bit of assistance. I take a glance over and see the resigned acceptance on Mars regarding it. Her trust level in him goes up as she watches him fight on our behalf and in protecting Mercury on top of it. The youma get frustrated by his prevention of getting to Mercury or any of us for that matter and cries out in it in its own rage as she builds up more power.
The youma creates more illusions for us however and they can all interactively fight as we've found out before. "It's the headpiece." Mercury murmurs. Hearing her I grab for my tiara and while recalling jadeite's words I jump up so I can get between the fighting trio, flip inside the fight and use it as a large piece of metal as I slam it across her face. It hits her headpiece as intended and destroys her illusions before they can close in on us.
"My illusions!" she screams as Mars and Venus now call upon their powers and blast the two youma away. The spray of fire and orange light erupts and destroys them both in what appears as a sprinkle of destroyed dark dust that was once them.
"Thanks," Mercury tells Jadeite, who in return, as battle hardened as he appears nods his head.
"That was just to slow you down," he tells her. "Beryl wants you to all waste your energy so she can attack you at full power. That's why none of you could go off and do your own thing."
The girls nod as Mars and Venus look at him with Mars saying, "Thanks, seriously."
He takes this in stride but then Mars goes a step further, "No, I'm serious. I was a total bitch beforehand and you just helped save our bacon a bit."
To which Venus remarks, "Well duh."
Mars looks back to her, "Excuse me?"
I look back and forth between them but before I or anyone else can say anything Venus speaks up, "He did help save us. Look at what we just did."
Mars sighs, "I can see."
Venus then steps up to her, "All of it. I know you may not like him too much due to past issues but I have a strong very bad gut feeling that without his help yeah we still would have won, but we'd be dead."
I can see something pass on Mars's face. Something akin to defeat and agreement. "I know..." Which shocks Venus as she backs up. "I could sense it too."
Her eyes shimmer with something deep within them. "Everything would have been done here today, had he NOT been here to help us, yeah we would have won, were the Senshi, of course, we would have."
Then she looks to Jadeite and even he sees the expression of acceptance of loss on her face. "But...if we had we'd be gone too. I felt it nearly happen on the last hit of power I sent out. I was nearly drained and if Jadeite hadn't..."
Venus touches her shoulder, "I felt it too. It's how I knew it."
Jadeite comes up to Mars but she doesn't back up. "Thank you...I still feel a bit as I do, it's hard not to but...I know what I see, I trust what I feel and I go with my gut and my gut says I can trust you."
He only nods.
"I don't want to...but I know that my gut wouldn't lie to me," she tells him as I ask her, "Why don't you want to?"
She looks at me. An unreadable expression on her face as if she wants to confess something to me. "I..."
That's when our communicators go off. It's Luna.
"How did I not see that coming," I grumble.
Mars answers hers, "Mars here."
Thank kami, I thought things had gone downhill when we didn't hear from you all at first." Her voice was clear in her doubt of our survival.
"No worries so far, in fact, Jadeite's been pretty invaluable in aiding us," I tell her, happily so I might add. There's a bit of pause on the other end of things.
"Well just to be safe we've made our way to where you are too. We'll stay out of the main fight to avoid getting in the way but we'll be here for when you all get out. Just to be safe."
Something seems off about Luna's words and tone and even Mars senses it.
The girls all look back and forth at one another as if trying to decipher what Luna is projectivily saying.
"I wouldn't recommend it, Luna. The conditions here are pretty crappy and for any animals incredibly rough," Venus suggests back as Artemis is heard saying, "Their right Luna, we're not going to do much good just sitting back and waiting at the entrance or back door for them."
We hear a slight grumble on the line.
"Luna?" I ask.
"We will be there. You ladies are all after all our charges...it is our duty to keep you safe to the finish line...whatever it takes."
There's something ominous about Luna's words as Mars looks down for a moment as if in a moral dilemma. I walk up to her. "Mars are you okay?" I ask as I put my hand on her shoulder. She looks up and for a few moments, I sense that she's hiding something big from me.
That she wants to tell me something crucial but before she can talk Luna says, "She's fine as I'm sure you all are. Now get in there and destroy Metallia and the Dark Kingdom."
I see a wandering tear come down Mars's face before she wipes it away as Jadeite comes over.
"Luna's right, we need to get in and complete the mission. Time is of the essence." Mars leaves towards the Dark Kingdom first as Jadeite catches up and gets in front of her, making sure to lead us the rest of the way inside.
There's something else happening. Something more than just Mars having a moment. I can't put my finger on it but something is going to happen that we're NOT aware of and it's beginning to eat away at me. I want to ask and find out what IT is but there's no time and frankly, I don't know if it's my gut right now or just a nervous feeling inside of me. What I do know is that we need to do as Jadeite instructed...destroy this evil.
Sailor Mars POV
I damn near broke down in front of Moon. I'm not one for being emotional but after what we just went through, emotions are definitely higher than usual. Especially with my conflicting thoughts on what to do next. When Luna called us up on the communicator, I told her the truth about the battle so far. That Jadeite has been helpful to us. Both Venus and I felt the stirring around us.
There was no denying it. To do so would be arrogant and foolish. Death would have been inevitable had it JUST been us up here. Jadeite really helped out, and while yes, we fought hard, almost viciously hard, this, as Jadeite mentioned before was only half the battle. We still hadn't even breached the dark kingdom yet. I had even felt my powers begin to grow a bit out here to boot as I was fighting.
Like my fire powers were getting enraged but it was on a level of powering up that I felt happening. I felt them coursing through me in a new way that felt as scary and yet empowering. When I helped dust the last of the youma I felt a sense of finality and pride within it as I'm sure the rest did too. Those were already harder than any previous youma we had encountered and the proof of it was in our sweat and blood.
Those youma were the toughest ones to date and even Jadeite was a little worse for wear now as he was panting from exertion, yet gathering himself back up again so he could continue fighting the good fight with us. Mind you that was even after all the saves he made with us. It brought me back to when Nephrite helped us in the end. Despite his actually still being evil he helped and allowed the love that Naru had for him in, and it changed him. It really did. Jadeite, Endymion, and the rest were no different.
All it took was a little bit of love, or the return of memories to change the future. So of course, I had to give him his due credit. I may be stubborn to the point of needing some humility from time to time, even a good push in the right direction, but...I'm not prideful to the point of making stupid mistakes that could be costly to us as a group. Otherwise, I would have protested much more of his coming with us than I did.
The man fought for us, he fought for Mercury, saved me from getting hit by youma when my focus was on Mercury and not myself, among more. Not that I couldn't have saved myself but the youma caught us off guard and he reacted on instinct as I did and neither of us was thinking about protecting ourselves. We were thinking about protecting those we care about. I could see that in his eyes clear as day.
He didn't do it as an attempt to get on my good side. He was proactive in his efforts to help us all out from time to time when the dice got shaky. He kept going forward as we all were. I had to admit to defeat and acknowledge that Moon was right. I never thought I'd accept or even think that but it was the truth. Moon was right in her actions. All of them. From the moment that Moon gave Luna her Moon Wand, I knew the tides had shifted.
As much as I may dislike her for Mamoru picking her over me, or for being the leader of the Senshi when I thought her to be lazy, or whiny, or any number of reasons I came up with. At the end of the day, Moon...Usagi is a good person with a good heart. She reaches people and fights hard for someone who has NO previous training. Her not wanting to fight in the beginning as much as I hate to admit it makes sense.
She was and is a regular school girl like the rest of us and has no idea how to fight as we did. It hits me now that our previous fight training from the past influenced how we were able to adapt so easily where she struggled. Now that makes sense too. She was never trained as we were back then. I felt a bit bad now for being so angry with her. The truth was I projected my jealousies and issues onto her when all she ever did was be there for me.
I knew this to be the case when she gave the Moon rWand to Luna. We may argue and fight but Usagi would NEVER have given up her Moon Wand if she didn't firmly believe in something. I had allowed myself to be blinded by my own feelings, my own misgivings, and Luna's words to see that Usagi had damn good reasons and points. She had both Artemis and Minako on her side.
That should have said something to me, yet I kept true to my stubbornness, and it breed within me resentment among other things. I was better than that. I had to admit she had grown up since I had first met her and I should have acknowledged that. I held onto past issues as if they were current and hurt us both. I hurt our friendship, the level of trust we had built, and let discord ensure on it.
This also brought another point to light. The fact that Endymion was in fact Endymion and not as evil as Luna claimed he was. Luna was wrong. The realization hit me hard as we walked inside the dark kingdom. Jadeite led us into the 'back door' so to speak so we could slip in undetected. It was grim, murky, and smelled of death, but I saw why he took this path. It would be far less traveled than the front doors.
As we walked inside and my stomach began to want to lurch I drifted in my thoughts to prevent the scent from becoming overwhelming. Breathing in through my mouth helped some but not a lot. My thoughts were scrambling trying to point out Luna's reasonings for why Endymion would still be evil. For how he could be setting us up a trap in here rather than a straight death out there in the cold.
Yet they were now all coming up short. Everything she had ever expressed was now seemingly further off target than originally predicted. I turned back, seeing the cold and frost outside. I saw the conditions and looked back on what we had just accomplished. I looked at everything we had just done from a battle point outside and seeing how things went down it would be tactically stupid to bring the best warriors into your home.
I couldn't think of ONE logical reason to allow your enemies 'into your kingdom' so you could have the tactical advantage to kill them. Yes it's your home base, yes you may THINK you have the advantage but that's IF your people are good enough to kill the enemies, or take them captive. We just killed their best youma outside. The only ones left were whatever random grunts were still inside.
We had the remaining generals on OUR side now, and their so-called 'prince of darkness Endymion' was working behind the scenes for us. I now saw such clarity in Endymion's plan it was almost laughable to see the reaction on Beryl's face when she realized the sheer deception that he had planned out against her. Now that I took this realization in it hits me like a ton of bricks what can happen if this goes as planned.
I finally saw a clearing in my own mind, one that wasn't filled with the badgering of a certain feline, of what could have happened outside just now. Those Doom and Gloom Girls were ready to die for what their Queen wanted. I felt almost burnt out and knew Venus, all of us besides Moon were the same way. I saw critical points where Jadeite came in knowing that one of us would get seriously injured.
That's when another moment of clarity struck me hard. My heart beat louder, knowing what COULD have happened. I touched the disgusting wall for balance and swallowed the lump that formed in my throat and wished I could have believed Usagi sooner on this. I wished I hadn't let my own anger, resentment, and pride among other things get in the way of my sense of understanding for her.
I almost laughed to myself in these moments as Jadeite led us inside, knowing which tunnels to take to avoid the most youma. Only a true fool who thought highly of themselves would let their most hated enemy into their command. Into the home, their base and try to kill them inside instead of outside where they'd have field advantage. Less damage is done to their kingdom, fewer casualties had.
It would make the entire base, their kingdom the MOST vulnerable to a massive internal attack that no true, nor any smart leader would take the risk of UNLESS they had the most tactical advantage, like say dead points for locking the enemies into position and killing them without them making it past the main entrances. My mind was coming up with so many scenarios that would prove this venture stupid and unreliable.
These tunnels may be twisting and turning BUT I could sense that we were getting closer to our destination. It would be pride-filled and highly unwise to 'lead the enemy in' just to try to take them out. Yes, one might argue a counterpoint that if they had all of their weapons that they could have the home field advantage. Yet the argument could also sustain that by the enemy breaching inside they have now been given a tactical advantage.
Yes, they may know the ins and out's of the kingdom, but that didn't mean that they would make the right decision. Luna's words were still trying to insert themselves into my head but I was now rebuffing them more easily. Plus, in all honestly, while Beryl is full of pride among other things, at the end of the day she's not stupid. She's meticulous, bitter, angry, and full of herself, quick to kill, but...she's smart.
This is the same woman that got to manipulate half the counsel into turning on the royal Terrian family. She's calculated. I look at Jadeite who looks like he's being very wary of the area as he determines which tunnel to take next. I see the expression on his face become tactical. I don't see anything in there that resembles the evil Jadeite that I got to know when he was blinded by Beryl's mind control brainwashing.
Jadeite made sure to help us destroy a few youma along the way. I think back to the fighting we just did and know there was no way in hell that a dark kingdom general, being the smartest or the weakest one would fight as he has been and NOT let at least a couple of us die at the hands of the youma, to aid in Beryl in some form. Especially considering his many repeatedly failed attempts to pleasure her before.
Granted Luna might try to argue this alone would make him the more determined to get BACK into her good graces, but to counter that point would be to go to the original point. He'd be better off letting a few of us die outside than get all of us inside where we'd have a better chance at destroying all of this. He or she would be ordered to allow a few of us to die so there was less of a chance of us winning at the end.
He protected us all even if it had cost his own life. I saw it out there several times where he took bad hits for us. Especially when he saved Mercury. If anything, to let her perish would be the best bet as she was the brains of us all. Or even when Moon was trying to fight, he stopped her so she'd have plenty of strength to fight the biggest battle yet. Yet he did. So no. This plan is going to work. I could feel it in my bones now. We were going to win this and it was going to be Endymion's plan that was going to gain it.
Usagi was right to trust her gut and heart in this. I then receive a message on my communicator just for me. The rest of the girls don't hear it as I read Luna's message and frown.
Whatever he's doing to gain sympathy don't be fooled…
I sigh.
He's the negaverse, they all are…
I type back. There is no sympathy to be gained...only truth, I tell her.
As we make our way further inside another message pops up. I take a quick peek as I read the message...The only truth is that if they refuse to be 'cleansed' at the end of this you need to do what's best for everyone. The sword is in your subspace pocket for a reason.
I breathe out as I felt its power sitting in there. Waiting to be used and yet it's not by me. I look over to Venus and see the determination on her face for whatever foes we face as I debate on what to do.
I find myself in a moral dilemma as Luna's words are at war with my own gut. My instinct and my heart. Tactically speaking the sword is in the hands of the Senshi of war, it's the best placement in this situation. That I know is myself.
Yet, its rightful true placement is in the Venusian's hands. This is her sword to wield...not mine. It was never mine to use unless Venus and Moon BOTH fell.
That is NOT the case here. My previous feelings emerge as Luna's voice is in my head. I brace myself against another wall as Jadeite has us stop and be quiet for a moment. I struggle to do what I know is more than likely right, versus what I've been told is right. Another message pops up as Jadeite grabs a youma from behind and before it can cry out for help, stabs it in the back right as Mercury freezes its entire head, throat included so it can't scream out in pain and alert more youma to the area.
My heart rate picks up as I read the message. Please don't tell me you're having second thoughts. I picked you for this because I know that you know what has to be done.
I grip the communicator in my hand hard as I step back to avoid the rest of everyone in front of me from hearing my uneven breathing. I know what I need to do but it's so hard cause it goes up against so MUCH of what I've been taught over the years.
Especially in the last year. Pulling the communicator back up I respond back...I know exactly what I need to do. I don't need a reminder.
Yet even as I send it, even as a part of me feels like I'm committing a betraying act despite knowing deep down it's the right thing to do I do what my heart tells me to do. What I know my gut says, and what I know at the end of the day is the right thing to do.
I just hope I'm right. Taking a page from Usagi's book of 'trust in your heart' I tap Venus on the shoulder and motion for her to step back as I have. She doesn't say anything as were in 'radio silence mode'. She merely questions 'what's up?' with her eyes. The girls don't notice our absence just yet so I know I need to be brief with this to avoid a conflict BEFORE we get further into this.
I go to speak as low as I can, but the words won't come out. My emotions are choking me up so instead of speaking the words I let her see them. I let her see the sorrow, the apology, and the internal grief I've been holding onto all this time. The self-hatred of what I was essentially ordered by Luna to do. The order that I've been wary about accepting and working towards from the start.
The very order that made the strain on my relationship with Usagi even harder than it was before. She looks at me, worried as I'm sure she is as I form the sword from my subspace pocket and put it out in front of her, handle first. No words are spoken as she looks between it and me, stunned by what has just transpired. She holds her hand out to take it then looks at me. She looks into my eyes as she realizes what must have happened.
Things begin to click into place as she seems to recall different events over the last few months that would make MY having it make more sense. She seems to want to act out, wanting to take a step closer to me till she sees my regret in my eyes. She stops leaning forward and just looks at me. There's a long period of time where I can see the anger in her eyes for WHY I have HER sword.
Understandable anger. I can practically feel it burning off of her in waves as she tightens her grip on her sword. Feeling the loss of it from my grip doesn't stop me from releasing it to her as I let my hand fall back to my side. I can't help but see the gleam of the blade even in the darkness of where we're at as she makes a decision internally as I was moments ago. I see the indecision in her movements.
She faces me once more, the anger somewhat faded but still there as I see her now facing a moral dilemma of her own. She then looks at Moon as if debating on telling her what she thinks was going to happen. I mouth the words to her 'I'm sorry'.
Venus steps slightly closer and not for the first time I recognize WHY Venus is the leader and second in command to Moon. She's powerful in her own right.
I swallow the lump in my throat and let her see me for me. For being the Senshi of Mars and not someone who would betray a fellow Senshi. I give her a pleading expression. Not now, I tell her through my eyes. We have too much at stake here to let it get foiled up due to my previous side mission that I've now rendered mute. She looks back at me as if she's ready to talk yet she stops herself from speaking.
This really isn't the time or place to unearth this betrayal. I know I have in some form betrayed them, betrayed Usagi with this, just by what's happened so far, but in the end, I just can't do this, I'm NOT the Senshi that Luna thought I was. Perhaps I'll be seen as weak for this. For going with my gut and heart on the matter but somehow, I get the deep feeling that this was the right call to make in this case.
Venus takes the sword, and sheathes it smoothly, and soundlessly in her own subspace pocket making sure NOT to alert anyone to its presence. Yet despite the anger I see in her eyes, she nods her head towards me in understanding and even in forgiveness. I can't help a small quiet sob of gratitude. That alone makes me feel loads better for these next few moments as I regain my balance and heart rate.
I hadn't realized how fearful I was of her wrath till I felt the forgiveness and understanding from her to me. It's more than what I would have given and I guess that's why SHE'S the leader after Usagi. I may be the Senshi of Mars...of war but that doesn't mean that I always make the right call. Even we have our days of messing up. Her gesture towards me gives me a sense of gratitude and relief that I hadn't realized I had been pressured with or feeling for a while now. My soul had been wanting to come clean at the very least to her.
I know that I have to tell Usagi at some point, but it can wait. Till after we've taken care of the mission. Another message pops up but I ignore it. Pushing the communicator back intending on ignoring it for good. A move that isn't lost on Venus. Now that I had some of the relief wash over me like a balm, I sense the next bit coming to a head. Her hand comes to my shoulder as she looks down at the communicator and mouths one word, one name really one that I can't deny as I nod my head yes...Luna?