PRETTY SOLDIER SAILOR MOON: FUTURE
Chapter 73: The Last Erisian
While running up the grand stairway to the courtyard, Sailor Chibi-Moon lost her footing and kneeled, cringing from the intense noise and sudden gusts of wind threatening to blow her away. Fortunately, she was far away enough from the epicenter to avoid serious injury. Once the chaos settled down, Chibi-Moon stood back up and stared in horror at the aftermath. All that remained of the acropolis were parts of the outer gardens, pavilions, terraces, pillars, and steps. Everything else was in total shambles. It was so bad that even about a third of the meteor that the acropolis rode upon had been cleanly broken off and plummeted into the ocean. Small mounds of rubble kept raining the place well after the explosion was over. Other than the clattering of falling rock and her heavy, disjointed breathing, no other sounds could be heard.
Chibi-Moon didn't know where to start. So many questions raced through her head that she couldn't straighten her priorities out. However, she was obviously worried about Zarnik, and whether or not Eris was still around. She had no idea what caused the explosion, but it had to have been devastating for both Sailor Soldier and villainess.
Nervously, Chibi-Moon cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, "Midori!"
Her voice echoed a few times in the terrible silence.
"Can you hear me, Midori!? Answer me!"
Nothing. After a few more minutes of calling out, Chibi-Moon felt she had no choice but to explore the ruins. She was most frightened of finding her friend's dead body somewhere… or perhaps, nothing at all. Zarnik could have been vaporized, for all she knew! She struggled to not let panic overwhelm her judgment as she scoured the area, but she was on the verge of bawling helplessly. If Chibi-Moon wasn't able to find Zarnik, what could she possibly do from this day forward? How could she live happily knowing that a dear friend essentially erased herself from existence to save her life?
Those nightmarish thoughts ceased immediately when Chibi-Moon found someone familiar lying face-down near what used to be the courtyard's entrance. Although the orange bow keeping her hair back was gone, Chibi-Moon definitely recognized the unconscious Sailor Zarnik.
"Midori! Thank goodness you're alive!" she yelped elatedly. But then her joy vanished when she felt a tremendously loud heartbeat topple her back with an ominous shockwave. After a few more audible pulses, Zarnik stirred awake and slowly rose to her feet. When Chibi-Moon finally saw what Zarnik looked like now, she realized that something was seriously wrong.
Zarnik's costume had changed into a plain black gown and her body was completely covered in darkness, with the onyx Sailor Crystal on her brooch appearing cracked and seeping some kind of pure black substance. The only thing that stood out in her dark silhouette were her eyes; a pair of large white saucers dotted her face and stared at Chibi-Moon with the eeriest, emptiest and most devoid glare imaginable. A third eye made out of light opened on her forehead. Her undone chartreuse hair blew in the sub-zero winds, and snow whipped past the pair as they stared at each other.
"Mi… dori…!?" Chibi-Moon gasped in abject horror.
The corrupted Zarnik silently summoned her bow and arrow and aimed it at the stunned Sailor Soldier. Chibi-Moon gasped and rolled aside as a dark energy arrow shot through the air and exploded behind her in a sinister version of Dew of Death.
"Midori, what are you doing!?"
No response. Zarnik leapt upon a cracked pillar and fired a volley of shots at Chibi-Moon. Although panicking, she remained composed enough to bring forth the Pink Lady's Regalia and shout, "Pink Lady's Heart Barrage!"
Streams of shining hearts countered the demonic arrows, leaving them to clatter to the ground uselessly. Zarnik jumped and bound straight over Chibi-Moon's head, shooting another Dew of Death at her. She screamed and rolled aside just in time to avoid the explosion, but she was sent tumbling across violently. After recovering, Chibi-Moon looked up and saw Zarnik standing there, poised to continue the fight.
"What's wrong?" the terrified Sailor Soldier asked. "Why are you doing this? Don't you recognize me?"
Zarnik aimed her bow yet again, making the girl's heart sink like a stone in deep water.
Everyone in Crystal Palace had witnessed the full power of Miasma Convert utterly eradicate Eris in that fantastic explosion of raw energy. The eight guardian Soldiers discontinued erecting the barrier protecting the castle and observed the battle on the grand computer monitor. Upon Eris' destruction, Endymion's body stopped flaring in pain and he was able to stand back up again. Despite their victory however, the mood wasn't celebratory whatsoever.
"What a disaster…" Luna summed up everyone's feelings.
At that moment, they were actually watching Chibi-Moon's heartbreaking battle against the demonic Zarnik.
Sailor Uranus clenched her teeth and growled, "That idiot actually went and did it."
"She destroyed Eris for us, and we have to thank her by destroying her too," Neptune murmured, sullen by how unfair it was.
Pluto remained stoic and said, "I'm sure that's what she wanted. She took that gamble in order to take in Eris' evil power, thus greatly weakening it enough so that the queen and princess can purify it without risk to themselves."
Saturn objected, "Chibi-Usa would never agree to do that!"
"There's no choice. If Small Lady doesn't fight back, Zarnik will become a new Eris and bring havoc upon us once again."
"That's just too cruel!"
"Cruel as it may be," Jupiter said, "it has to be done! We have to go and help the princess defeat Zarnik!"
"Serenity," Mars faced her queen and best friend. "We will go and assist Small Lady in this battle. You should tell her the reality of this situation and lend her your support."
"… Yes. Please hurry," Serenity nodded, and prepared to send a transmission to her daughter.
"Ah!?" Venus suddenly yelped and turned her head in a different direction.
"What's the matter?" Mercury asked.
"I feel power awakening… I think it's coming from the Holy Blade's Chamber!"
That was when they heard a shrill whooshing sound permeate the castle's halls. A thin ray of light shot through the night straight towards the ruined acropolis.
Zarnik continued to focus her bow and arrow at the heartbroken Chibi-Moon. She had no idea what to do against her friend. She didn't want to fight, but if she refused to resist, she was going to be killed. Chibi-Moon instinctively reached her hand for the brooch on her chest, believing she had no choice but to rely on the Pink Moon Crystal – her half of the Silver Crystal – to help her. That was when the swath of light from Crystal Palace sliced through Zarnik's bow and disintegrated it, ending the tense standoff. As the evil warrior stumbled back, Chibi-Moon noticed a familiar sword floating down in front of her.
"The Holy Blade!?" she exclaimed as she grabbed its hilt. "What is it doing here!?"
"It has come to protect you from danger," the Soldier heard Neo Queen Serenity's voice echo from out of nowhere. She craned her head up to find a holographic monitor displaying the stern but pensive queen from the shoulders up.
"What's going on, Mama!? What was that huge explosion earlier!? Why is Midori like this!?"
"She used Miasma Convert to redirect Eris' immense power back at her."
"No…! So this state that she's in…!"
"She is no longer a Sailor Soldier. She has turned into a full-fledged Erisian," the queen warned her daughter. "Or perhaps it's accurate to say that Zarnik has become the next Eris. After all, she had separated Eris' raw power into the arrow that destroyed her and the acropolis, while absorbing her evil miasma into her Sailor Crystal. With the power used up, all that remains is the evil… And it needs to be eliminated!"
"That can't be-!" Chibi-Moon's chest tightened like a noose around her heart.
"You have to do it! Midori wanted to give us the chance to destroy Eris without sacrificing ourselves! The evil power may be severely weakened, but if we give her the chance, it will consume more negative energy and regain its strength!"
"Midori… becoming a new Eris… I don't want that…"
"Then you understand. You need to do this for her. Destroy the Zarnik Crystal with the Holy Blade and set her free!"
"Mama!" Chibi-Moon cried out as the holographic display vanished.
Without thinking, she tightened her grasp around the sword's hilt and got into a fumbling fighting stance while fighting back her sadness. The corrupted Zarnik silently dashed in with renewed fervor and gathered dark energy in her hand to create a black sword, clashing with the Holy Blade in a stalemate. They glared at each other for a few moments, then pushed each other away and clashed their blades in a furious dervish.
"Midori! If you're still in there, answer me!" the princess screamed.
Bursts of light and darkness rippled from the weapons every time they struck each other. Chibi-Moon felt removed from her own body, instinctively reacting to Zarnik's assaults and blocking them, but never making any attempt to take the offensive herself. The malefic Sailor Soldier must have figured this out because she ducked low and swept her leg beneath Chibi-Moon's feet, sending her painfully crashing onto the pavement. Zarnik immediately grabbed the Holy Blade while her opponent was off balance. She disintegrated her own black sword and brandished the Holy Blade in a reverse two-handed grip, intent on stabbing Chibi-Moon to death with it. The shocked Soldier couldn't do anything to react.
Then, the most unimaginable thing happened right before the girl's eyes…
Zarnik stabbed the Holy Blade through her corrupted Sailor Crystal, and continued through her chest and into her heart.
Black blood flew out of the wound, and a few freezing cold drops spattered against Chibi-Moon's cheek. A shiver ran through her spine, and despair gripped her heart.
The dead warrior stood perfectly still. Then she started to collapse forward. However, her charred body gradually sprinkled into ashes that fluttered in the wind. The only thing that remained were fragments of the destroyed crystal running with insidious tar-like fluid. Those fragments likewise broke into tinier pieces and crumbled into indistinguishable dust, and the black liquid evaporated into nothing.
"Midori…" Chibi-Moon gasped in true horror, tears flowing down her flushed cheeks. Her mind couldn't process that her friend had used the tiniest vestiges of her conscience to commit suicide right in front of her. The reality began to sink in – she would never get to confide in her about sensitive matters, or study with her, or argue with her about their differing beliefs, or hang out at the Fruits Crown Parlor and have ice cream together, or listen to her talk about her research project…
She was gone. All that remained was a broken black crystal dripping with malevolent black liquid.
"MIDORIII~III!"
Pluto's normally melancholic expression grew even more bleak. Even though victory was theirs, it all felt so hollow. All she could say was, "It's over."
"Yes. I don't sense any more evil," Neptune murmured.
"Soon, Sailor Zarnik will return to the Galaxy Cauldron," Uranus said. "But after absorbing so much evil, she will not be able to become a Sailor Soldier anymore. Perhaps one day, we might see her again… But as a new aspect of Chaos. In other words, she might be reincarnated as our enemy."
"How awful…" Mercury sulked. "Even though Midori gave up everything she was for us…"
Jupiter put her hand on her friend's shoulder and said, "I'm sure she knew it was going to come to this. She went forward without any hesitation, like a true Soldier."
Venus frowned. "Maybe she felt like she wasn't as important to the people of Earth as the queen and princess are, and so she would protect them by dying in their stead."
"I was afraid of this…" Mars closed her eyes. "If they died using the Silver Crystal, Midori probably would have blamed herself for not stopping it. She must have felt this was a better outcome for us."
"Chibi-Usa…" Saturn whispered. She really wanted to run over and hug her best friend until all of the sadness went away, but she knew it wouldn't be as easy as that. Meanwhile, Neo Queen Serenity collapsed onto her knees and wept. Endymion knelt down and supported his wife with an embrace.
"This wasn't supposed to happen… This wasn't supposed to… Chibi-Usa… Midori…" the queen sobbed, completely losing whatever composure she held on to. "Why did this have to happen…? It's not fair…"
"Sere-" the king stopped himself, then whispered, "… Usa-ko."
"Mamo-chan… " Serenity sniffled. "Was there really nothing we could have done for Midori…?"
"This was her decision. This was the last amount of pride she could salvage as a Sailor Soldier."
"A Soldier's pride… I really hate it…"
"I know. None of this is fair. But we must stay strong. If anyone will be grieving more than us, it is our daughter. We shouldn't spend the time Midori gave to us in constant bereavement. Once Chibi-Usa understands this, we can all begin moving forward."