AN: Gahhh, a slow update! I'm so sorry you guys. My muse has been very fickle lately, I had a sudden burst of inspiration for my novel, and whenever I tried to work on this, it just didn't want to happen. But I think everything's good now!
A billion thanks and more to all my lovely reviewers: h34rt1lly, Noizchild Johnson, Flaming Beauty, maryyorke, The CookieThatWasBaked, MissFiyerabaMeponineWholock, lilymoon80, tryntee13, gabeliz . catillocarin, slightlyxjaded, and James Birdsong. Holy cow, you guys. 11 reviews?! So much love to all.
Anyways, without further ado, here is chapter 9! Please review. :)
Usagi woke with a groan. Her body ached all over, and when she sat up, a sharp pain shot through her side. Looking around, she could tell she was in the base under the Arcade, in what had become the infirmary area. Luna, Artemis and Minako were researching something on the computers, Makoto and Rei were sparring, and Ami sat by her bed, her nose buried in a book.
"Take it easy," Ami admonished as she saw Usagi get up. "How are you feeling?"
"Ugh," she groaned. "I feel like I've been hit by a truck."
Ami pursed her lips. "Well, that's understandable. You're suffering from a pretty severe adrenaline crash, and you also got hit directly by a youma attack."
"How bad is it?"
"It could have been a lot worse," Ami said. "The youma's acid-covered claws got you pretty deep, but Mamoru-san had already healed you a bit when he brought you here."
"Mamoru brought me here?" Usagi asked, puzzled. She didn't remember that. Come to think of it, she didn't remember what happened after the youma hit her. How had the youma been defeated without her? She vaguely remembered Mamoru destroying it, but that didn't seem right… he didn't have any powers.
Ami nodded. "He was quite distraught. He barged in here, and luckily, I was here doing some research, along with Luna and Artemis. He refused to leave, despite my persuasions and assurances that you would be fine." He mouth flattened into a line. "Despite my… reservations towards Mamoru's recent behavior, he likely saved your life."
"What about Chibiusa?" Usagi asked, suddenly remembering why she'd been attacked in the first place. "Is she okay?"
"She's fine," Ami said. "She seemed to be in a bit of shock, so I checked her over, but aside from a few scrapes and bruises, she's fine."
Usagi blew out a breath. "I don't like this. The enemy is definitely targeting Chibiusa, but why? I tried to ask her about it, but she just ran off. The more we continue to go in blind, the more likely things like this are going to happen." She waved her hand over her injured side.
Ami frowned. "I agree, but what are we supposed to do about it? Unless we can get information out of Chibiusa, we're at a dead end. Luna, Artemis and I have chased down every last shred of evidence we've uncovered, but everything has led to a dead end."
Usagi sighed and ran a hand over her face. "I wish I knew. I hate to admit this, Ami, but… I'm scared. What if we can't do this? We just barely managed to take down Beryl and the Dark Kingdom, and the cost was our lives. This Black Moon Clan is much more powerful. What happens if we're just overpowered?"
"I refuse to believe that." Ami said. "We can do this. You can do this, Usagi. We'll find a way."
Usagi smiled a little, but the doubt she felt didn't go away. She appreciated Ami's reassurances, she really did, but… she just had a bad feeling about this.
Mamoru paced back and forth in his apartment, unable to keep still. What had happened out there? He stared at his hands. What was that power? He had never experienced anything like that before; he didn't think he had powers. But when he saw Usagi lying there, bleeding, likely dying, and knowing that he and Chibiusa would be next… something within him just erupted.
Usagi. He shuddered, thinking about what had happened, and what had almost happened. He hadn't wanted to leave her, but Makoto had quite literally dragged him out once she arrived. It was killing him, being away from her, he couldn't stand it anymore.
When Usagi woke up, he would tell her. He would tell her everything, about how much he still loved her, and the reason he'd left her. He'd beg for forgiveness, and everything would be okay. And yet… he groaned, burying his head in his hands as a little voice in the back of his head voiced its doubts.
It was Usagi's love for Chibiusa that caused her to get injured. She would throw caution to the winds again and again to do anything to save the little girl. And it wasn't that Mamoru blamed her for that, he would do anything to protect Chibiusa, too.
But loved ones were a liability in their world. Either you sacrificed yourself to save your loved one, or the enemy used your loved one as a weapon against you. Usagi hadn't been able to kill him when he'd been brainwashed by Queen Beryl, because she loved him. She'd left things far too late, and put herself in danger multiple times, just because she couldn't bring herself to kill him.
If she had killed him right after he'd been brainwashed, he wouldn't have almost killed her. He wouldn't have tortured her, he wouldn't have used up so much of her strength, both physical and emotional, and maybe she would have survived the battle with Queen Beryl.
Mamoru knew that Usagi was haunted by the memories of that fight, despite how much she tried to hide it. She claimed that none of it mattered, she understood that Mamoru had been brainwashed, that it wasn't him, and the Silver Crystal had resurrected her, so why did it matter that she'd technically died? But he knew better.
During their short time together, between the defeat of the Dark Kingdom and before the Black Moon Clan appeared, he wasn't the only one who had been plagued by nightmares. He heard her cry out in her sleep, muttering about Queen Beryl and dying, and whimpering his name. He saw the way Usagi would flinch slightly any time he startled her, or touched her. He knew that she carried the emotional scars of his assault and her eventual death, and that despite her claims, it very much bothered her.
She always apologized profusely, and told him it didn't matter, but he could see through it. He wished he knew how to help her, but as far as Usagi knew, he had no memories of what he's done to her, only the very brief description she'd given him, that he'd been brainwashed and had attacked her. He hadn't meant to lie to her, when his memories first returned, he didn't remember what had happened when he'd been brainwashed. But the memories had returned slowly, and he never knew how to bring it up.
It was another reason why he had broken up with her and why, despite how much he desperately, desperately wanted to be with her, he couldn't. If he hurt her again… it would very likely kill them both. Perhaps they weren't meant to be together, perhaps they were destined to always fall in love and be torn apart. Prince Endymion and Princess Serenity had met a tragic end—were they doomed to always repeat it?
The following day, Usagi had convinced Ami that she was well enough to go on patrols. Tired of waiting for the enemy to come after them, Usagi decided it was time for some initiative action. She'd been honing the spiritual aspect to her powers recently, and she hoped that if she went out on some patrols, she might be able to sense areas that were filled with negative energy, and therefore likely to be connected to the Black Moon Clan.
She was just investigating an old abandoned warehouse on the edge of town when she saw a youma up ahead. Luckily, it hadn't seen her yet, and there were no civilians around, so she had time to think this through.
"There's a youma," she said into the communicator. "By this abandoned warehouse… uh…" she looked around, realizing she didn't really know exactly where she was.
"Don't worry," Ami said on the other end of the line. "I recently updated everyone's communicators with a tracking device, I'll be able to find your location in just a minute."
"Don't do anything stupid or hasty before then," Rei said. "If you get yourself injured again, I will kill you myself."
Usagi rolled her eyes. "I'll be careful, I promise."
She hung up, and pulled out her transformation brooch. She figured she might as well transform now, that way if the youma saw her, she wouldn't be caught unawares.
"Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"
Closing her eyes, she let the power wash over her. Even after all this time, it still surprised her just how much power she held. She could feel the energy crackling through her body, waiting to be unleashed. But now, unlike before, she could sense a much deeper reserve of power, something that went down to her very bones. That was the power she'd drawn upon to defeat Queen Beryl. The power that had killed her.
She shuddered at the memory. She knew there must be a way to tap into some of that power, and she had to if they had any hopes of defeating the Black Moon Clan, but… it scared her. It wasn't like she thought she would accidentally kill herself, the power she had used against Queen Beryl had taken all her efforts to muster up. And yet… she was still scared to. There was no rational reason for it, and she could never explain it when Luna encouraged her to test her limits in training… but she was afraid.
A sudden noise from behind pulled Sailor Moon out of her thoughts, and she turned to find the youma barreling towards her. It was huge and beastly, with putrid yellow-green skin. She deftly sidestepped it, and whipped out her tiara, hoping to at least injure it a bit.
"Moon Tiara Action!"
Nothing happened. The youma had paused briefly, as if anticipating her attack, but it growled and hunched up its shoulders. Spikes protruded, and it took Sailor Moon a second to react. As she dove behind a tree for cover, the youma released the spikes, sending them flying in every direction. They were clearly extremely sharp, as one took the top off the tree easily.
Steeling herself, Sailor Moon pulled out her tiara again. Why hadn't it worked? This had never happened before. Her breath started coming in quick, shallow gasps, and she tried to force herself to concentrate. If she didn't, the youma would kill her.
"Moon Tiara Action!"
This time the tiara flew true and hit its target. Sailor Moon blew out a sigh of relief, but her relief was short-lived, as the youma easily shrugged off the tiara, and prepared to attack again.
"Burning Mandala!"
The youma screamed in pain as the fire burned it, and as the smoke cleared, Sailor Moon could see the rest of the Senshi standing there.
"I thought I told you not to do anything stupid," Mars said.
"The youma noticed me, Mars," Sailor Moon. "What was I supposed to do, run and hide?"
"Yes! That is exactly what you should have done. You're already injured, and if you get yourself killed, you will only have yourself to blame, because I am not going to take responsibility for your stupidity."
"Your concern is noted," Sailor Moon said with a roll of her eyes. "Now can we please go back to dusting the youma?"
"Crescent Beam!" Venus shouted, at the same time as Jupiter sent an attack of her own. The combined attack hit the youma, knocking it aside, but it was soon back on its feet again.
Sailor Moon let out a long string of curses under her breath, which got a raised eyebrow from Mercury in response.
"Sorry," Sailor Moon muttered, blushing slightly. She shook off her slight embarrassment, and re-organized her thoughts. "Okay, we need to focus. Assess the situation. The youma is strong, resilient to our magic attacks. My tiara barely damaged it, and Venus and Jupiter's combined attack didn't do much more. Is there anything useful you've managed to gain, Mercury?"
Mercury, who had been typing away at her computer the entire time, shook her head. "The scan isn't revealing much more than basic information. It's resistant to magic, but getting in a physical attack would be difficult, as its skin is poisonous. All we can do is keep attacking it, and slowly wear it down."
Sailor Moon nodded, turning towards the youma again, which was preparing to send out another barrage of spikes. "So, we fight. We keep fighting until this thing is nothing more than moon dust."
High up in the treetops, two shadowy figures watched the fight going on below. The warriors were fighting valiantly, but the creature they fought was tough, and it was an uphill battle.
"Now's our chance," Neptune said. "We could go down there and finish the droid off, right now. Have you made up your mind yet?"
Uranus sighed. "I know you want to join their team, take the girl up on her offer. But is this really a good idea? What of our mission? I fear you were too easily swayed by her strong words."
Neptune was silent for a long moment, carefully considering her partner's words. "Yes, I was taken in by the way she spoke to us, I admire the strength of her conviction. But that is not why I think we should join her team. We fight the same enemy; it's just our end goals that are slightly different."
Uranus frowned. "And what of our mission? Are we supposed to just give that up? After so long spent searching and fighting?"
"Of course not," Neptune shook her head. "Our mission remains the same. We locate the threat to the royal line and eliminate it, protecting the Silver Millennium line at all costs. But I believe a partnership with Sailor Moon could be mutually beneficial."
Uranus sighed. "Why are you always right?"
Neptune smiled. "It's just part of my charm. Now, shall we?"
Uranus nodded, grabbing her partner's hand, and together they leap off the branch they were standing on, ready to head into the fray.
"Dammit, Mars, could I have a little cover over here?" Sailor Moon shouted, dodging another spike attack.
"I'm trying, I'm trying!" Mars said as she ducked, narrowly missing some sort of poisonous-looking goo the youma was flinging at her. "You know, Mercury, it would have been nice if you mentioned that this can replicate itself!"
"I'm sorry!" Mercury cried, pausing briefly to send a blast of water towards one of the youmas. Several minutes into the fight, the youma had started to shimmer. At first, they thought it was some sort of attack, or maybe they were lucky and it had been injured more than they thought, but no such luck. Instead, it seemed to split in two, and another youma, exactly the same as the first, appeared. It had continued, and now there were five of the same youma.
"I did a complete scan, and there was no evidence anywhere that it possessed this power!" Mercury continued. "But if it's any consolation, we don't have to defeat all of them. If we defeat the first one, the others will disappear, as they are technically only illusions."
"What do you mean by technically?" Jupiter asked. "Does that mean the attacks aren't real?"
"Well, no," Mercury admitted. "The attacks are very real. But at the same time, the other youmas are not quite here, and they are tied to the existence of the original."
"Okay, instead of worrying about what it means, can we just dust this thing?" Sailor Moon asked. She never would have admitted it to her friends, but her side was killing her, and she was so tired. She just wanted to end this stupid fight and go home and crash.
"Deep Submerge!" Out of nowhere, a wave of water came crashing down on one of the youmas.
The Senshi paused for a moment, looking around to see the source of the attack. Two tall figures, one teal-haired, the other blonde, walked through the clearing mist of the attack, heading towards the group of Senshi. As they approached, Sailor Moon's lips tightened into a line. She did not want to deal with them condescending her right now.
"If you're here to tell me to leave this fight to you, or that I'm incompetent, don't waste your breath," she said. "I'm not leaving."
"Actually," the teal-haired one—Neptune, Sailor Moon remembered—said. "We are here to accept your offer to be a part of your team."
Sailor Moon did a double take at that. She had never really expected them to accept her offer, especially not after so much time had passed without a single word from them. "Uh… okay."
"We'll discuss later," Uranus said, cracking her knuckles. "For now, we fight."
"What's the situation here?" Neptune asked Mercury.
"The youma is resilient to magic attacks, but its skin is highly poisonous, so a physical attack isn't a good idea. Its attacks consist of incredibly strong and sharp spikes it shoots from its shoulders, as well as a poisonous gelatinous substance that it spits from its mouth.
"Additionally, it has the power to replicate itself. Each copy possesses the exact same strengths and abilities, but their existence is tied to the first. If we figure out which one that is and eliminate it, the others will disappear."
Neptune nodded. "Deep Submerge!"
As if sensing her partner's attack, Uranus sent her own power at the exact same time. "World Shaking!"
Sailor Moon was again struck by the sheer power of their attacks. She was immensely grateful that they had chosen to fight alongside her; they would have made very fearsome enemies.
Shaking her head, she turned to a youma, which was advancing towards her. She could ask them more about who they were later, for now she needed to focus on the fight.
"Sailor Moon, look out!" Venus cried. "Behind you!
Sailor Moon whirled around and came face-to-face with another youma, its spikes already starting to leave its body. She had no time to react; all she could do was squeeze her eyes shut in terror. But before she could be impaled, she was suddenly airborne.
Over the sound of her pounding heart, she could hear ragged breathing, and two hands gripped her arms tightly. She inhaled through her nose, and breathed in the familiar scent of rose, lemon and a hint of sandalwood. Mamoru. For one second, she let herself enjoy being in his arms. For one second, she let herself forget about the breakup, and the mess her life had become. For just one second, she let herself pretend things were the way they used to be.
But then the moment was over.
"Are you okay?" he asked her, concern evident in those deep blue eyes she loved so much.
"Fine," she snapped, wincing slightly when his expression hardened at her tone. She hadn't quite meant to be so abrupt… but really, what did he expect? That he could break her heart but continue to sweep her off her feet and show concern and she would, what? Bat her eyelashes and thank him profusely?
"You shouldn't be fighting," he said. "You're still wounded."
"I'm fine," she said again. It was only a small lie, she was basically fine. Or at least she would be, once they dusted the youma, and she could go home and rest. "Now I really need to be getting back."
"Fine," he said, his tone equally curt. "Since you clearly have no regard for your own life, or the feelings of those who care about you, I won't stop you."
"Those who care about me?" Sailor Moon exploded. "What, is that supposed to include you? Because last time I checked, Mamoru-san, you broke my freaking heart. You're the one who suddenly broke up with me, saying you didn't feel the same way. And in case you haven't noticed, my life has gotten very crazy lately, and it would have been so much easier to deal with if you were still at my side. But you're not, and that was entirely your decision. So forgive me if I'd rather save the world than stay here with you. If you're looking for someone to play the damsel in distress, that's not me. It never has been."
With that, she stormed off, not bothering to look back at Mamoru's gaping expression. She was so, so tired, and she wanted to be done with this. She had a job to do.
She headed back into the fray of battle, trying to push all thoughts of Mamoru out of her head. Looking around, she quickly surveilled the situation. Mercury was frantically typing away at her computer, Uranus and Jupiter had teamed up against a youma, and Neptune, Mars and Venus were all battling the other youmas.
"What do you have, Mercury?" Sailor Moon asked as she approached.
"Sailor Moon!" Mercury said. "Thank Kami you're all right. I'm still trying to nail down which youma is the original… it's so hard to nail down, but… aha! I got it! The youma closest to Jupiter and Uranus is the original one."
The Senshi turned their attention to the youma in question, trying to manage the other youmas at the same time.
"So if I destroy that one, all the rest will disappear?" Sailor Moon asked, wanting to make sure she understood.
Mercury nodded. "That's correct. But be careful, the attacks are all very real."
But Sailor Moon had stopped listening the second Mercury confirmed what she needed to hear, and she was picking her way through the battlefield, her sights entirely focused on the youma Jupiter and Uranus were battling. Out of nowhere, a volley of spikes came flying towards her, and she dropped to the ground in an effort to avoid them.
As she got to her feet, she found herself right in the path of another youma attack. But before she had a chance to defend herself or get out of the way, Tuxedo Kamen was suddenly in front of her, his cape swept around them both to protect them from the attack.
"Just go," he snarled. "But don't think this conversation is over."
"Fine," she replied, her voice as cold and hard as ice. She had a clear shot of the youma now, so she pulled out her scepter, and poured all her energy into it, hoping it had been damaged enough already by the Senshi's attacks.
"Moon Scepter Elimination!"
The youma howled and slowly turned to a dust. For a second, nothing else happened, but then the other youmas blinked out of existence, not even leaving a pile of dust behind, as if they had never been there at all.
Sailor Moon was suddenly aware of a sharp pain in her side, and she gasped, falling to her knees as she wildly clutched at it. Before her knees could hit the ground, two strong hands grabbed her arms, pulling her up, and she was brought face-to-face with white-hot fury in Tuxedo Kamen's eyes.
"You're bleeding," he growled. "Clearly, this fight was too much for you, and it caused your wound to open up again. What the hell were you thinking, letting her fight?" He turned to the Senshi, his hands shaking.
"Excuse me?" Sailor Moon gasped out through the pain. "It's not their decision whether or not I fight, and I'm standing right here, so I'd appreciate it if you talk to me and not about me. I'm Sailor Moon, you baka. It's not like I can just take a rest day, or sit out a battle because I don't feel like it."
"This is completely different!" he barked. "You're injured. You nearly died, Usako, and—" he broke off abruptly. There was a long, awkward silence that seemed to stretch on forever as the Senshi all gaped at Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen, and no one dared to speak up.
Sailor Moon pressed her lips into a thin line to hide the fact that they were trembling. Usako? He never called her that anymore. It was always Usagi-san now.
"You can't do this to me," she said quietly, so only he would hear. "If you don't love me, just say so. Tell me you never loved me, and just walk away, right now. But you can't keep doing…. this. Sometimes I look at you, and for just a second before you look away, I feel like I can see that you still love me. And then… when you called me Usako…" her voice broke on the word, and she bit down on her tongue, hard, to keep herself from crying. She couldn't, not now.
"You need to make a choice, Mamoru. If you love me, then whatever's going on, we can get through it together. But if you don't, or if you never did…. Just walk away now, and leave me alone. Because I don't know how to feel or act and it's killing me."
"I can't," he whispered, his voice hoarse. "I can't say I never loved you. But I can't be with you, either." Slowly, as if it took a great effort, he dropped his hands from her arms and turned to walk away.
"But why?" she called out after him. "Mamoru! Mamoru!" And this time she couldn't keep the tears from falling as she fell to her knees and pressed a trembling hand to her mouth.
AN: So at least that's not a big evil cliffie like last chapter, right? :P Anyways, please leave a review to let me know what you think, and I'll do my best to get a new chapter up very soon!
