Chapter 31 –Better Angels

Time seemed to have stopped for those few seconds. Minako stared into Demande's insane eyes and grit her teeth. She clenched her fists and looked back at her girlfriend.

Rei shook her head at Minako. "Don't you dare, Aino Minako. If you surrender, I will never forgive you and I will come back as a zombie and bite your ass. Just fight, keep fighting..."

Minako darted her eyes towards Ami and she was pointing at her wrist. Time. They need time. Backup must be on the way.

"Hey Demande, do you really think you are invincible? We have the approval of someone important and he helped us with this coup." Minako decided to roll the dice.

"Pfft. Saphir. I know." Demande rolled his eyes, arrogant as ever.

"Saphir was just a puppet. It was Wiseman." Minako smirked as she watched Demande's face paled.

"Bullshit. You didn't even know who he was a few minutes ago." Demande yelled, with less and less conviction in his voice.

Minako lowered her gun and flipped her hair. "Well, I lied. There is no point in covering that anymore, seeing we are at a stalemate once again. Why else do you think we know everything? How else could we have planned all this? Saphir was good but he wasn't that good."

Demande narrowed his eyes and his face flared red. His grip tightened and Usagi winced in pain. "There is no way Wiseman is helping you. He was the one that told me about your coup, so clearly he is on my side."

"Perhaps we are both fools then. What if Wiseman wants us to kill each other so that he could be the boss?" Minako held her breath and watched Demande's face changed from anger to confusion. Seeing a sliver of doubt, Minako pressed on. "Wiseman told me about your Usagi shrine in the office and told me you were crazy. How would I know that if he didn't leak the information to me? Think about it..."

Demande shook his head and muttered something to himself. Usagi's eyes widen and tears welled up. Panic was apparent and she looked towards Rei.

"Hey, hey, maybe we can help each other..." Minako's heart stopped when she saw the fear in Usagi's eyes. Perhaps she pushed too hard...

Demande was still talking to himself, clearly losing his grip on reality. Unfortunately, his grip on Usagi was still tight. Rubeus looked over with concern, and even he was getting confused by Demande's behavior.

Minako could see Ami shifting in position, ever so slightly, from the corner of her eye. What was that blue hair girl doing?

Minako kept talking, trying to keep Demande from falling over the insanity cliff….Rei dangled dangerously above the zombies….Usagi within the grasp of a monster…Minako gulped and hoped she didn't have to choose…


Ami had timed it. Thirty minute since the first shot rang out. The backups were in a camp fifteen minutes away. They would have to fight through the zombie crowd in front of the compound. Factoring all that in, they should be here soon.

Ami shuffled ever so slightly, the guard's gun followed. He looked confused and scared...Ami smiled internally at the power she wielded over him.

"Stop. What are you doing?" The guard hissed. A giant bead of sweat trailed off his face and he hurriedly wiped away with his free hand. The other hand that hoisted the gun up was starting to shake.

Ami ignored him and looked to her right. She was finally close enough to look through the hole in the fence. She smiled at what she saw.


Rei could no longer feel her arms, which was a surprising relief. The pain of being suspended shot burning sensations throughout her body, and now that was quiet.

She looked down at the situation below and shook her head. She failed her job and that led to this...if she was faster, a single bullet to Demande's head would have taken care of all of this...

The soldier that killed Elsa looked traumatized, but he kept his gun aimed at Rei's rope. He couldn't take his eyes off the Elsa zombie, however. Guilt and shame, written all over his face, he trembled and secretly wiped away an escaping tear.

Rei rolled her eyes and turned her attention to the horizon. Where were they?


A dust storm outside of the gate drew Rei's attention. The roars of the zombie crowd increased and then just as quickly, permanently silenced. Rei's mouth formed an O when she realized what she was seeing. Of course. It was Ami's plan after all.

The ground started to shake and everyone looked up in surprise. The south wall trembled and then crumbled in a loud crash. The tank rolled in majestically and the main gun swerved around until it was lined up with Demande and Rubeus.

A voice sounded through the speaker. "Put down your guns and surrender."

Usagi couldn't believe her eyes. This was Ami's plan? She looked down at Chibiusa and saw a giant grin spread across the child's face. They were in direct line of fire, and yet, Usagi could see hope in her eyes.

A primal scream came behind her, and Usagi looked back and saw that it came from Demande. "Never! Kill me and you kill the cure."

Someone inside moved the smaller machine gun and aimed it at Demande's head. "It's an acceptable risk. We have a sample of the vaccine already. It would be nice to have the girl but not necessary."

"What?" Ami's face flared with anger. "You double crossing us? That was not the deal."

The metal lid opened and a woman with green hair appeared. She scanned the crowd and laughed. "Do you know how many of these men have visited us while we were prisoners? How they crawled in into our beds and have their ways? This is a win win for us. Thank you for saving us and for leading us here."

Makoto turned her gun around and aimed it at the new enemy. "Petz, stop it. If you dare harm Usagi and Chibiusa…I swear…."

"Stop! Stop! Everyone just stop!" Usagi yelled, as she felt hot tears rolling down her face. She could feel her heart breaking, the pain was almost unbearable.

"Why can't we just work together to save the world? Demande, you sworn to protect this country, remember? What happened? Rubeus, you are a loyal soldier. Do you really want to have a child's blood on your hands? Petz, I know you feel the need to take revenge, but there is a better way. Nobody has to die today. We can all survive. We can all go back to our old lives."

Usagi held her breath as she looked to everyone.

A child's voice started to sing. Usagi turned around and saw it was Hotaru. Her voice was beautiful, electrifying…Chibiusa was the next one to join in. She sang while she continued to look defiantly at Rubeus. Soon, the twenty odd kids joined the melody as well, filling the compound with a happy song. A song about going home. A song about reunion.

One by one, the soldiers drop their guns. Some dropped to their knees and started to cry. Ami gestured for the group to lower their guns as well. Petz was still standing next to her machine gun, but she was no longer aiming it. The other three sisters emerged and climbed off of the tank.

"Sis, the girl is right." They talked to Petz. "We can all go home. We don't have to fight anymore."

"Demande, please. Let us go." Usagi pleaded. "The apocalypse is over. Why don't we work together to rebuild this world?"

The colonel's face was blank and void of emotion. He narrowed his eyes and stared at Usagi. After a few minutes, he relaxed his grip and shoved Usagi away. He waved to Rubeus and he too release Chibiusa.

"It was Wiseman. He told me what I had to do...but he was wrong." Demande said in a flat voice. "There is no happy ending for me."

Usagi shook her head. "Everyone deserves a second chance. We will get you help."

Demande looked up in surprise and his eyes widened. "You are truly amazing, Usagi. I don't deserve you." With that, he raised his gun to his temple and pulled the trigger.

His body fell to the ground with a thud. "Nooooo" Usagi wailed as she rushed over to his side.

Seiya came over and put her arms around Usagi. "It's okay now. It's okay…."

Usagi buried her face in Seiya's chest and sobbed. "He let me go. There was still good inside of him."

"I know. I know." Seiya said over and over as she cradled Usagi in her chest. "Shh, it's okay. Everyone is okay now..."


A.N.

Stay tuned for the last episode…will be posting sometime this week. :D