A/N I'm sooooo sorry guys. I know this is mega late. The last few weeks have been unbelievable. First I got really sick and thought I was going to end up in the hospital, and now I've spent the last few days trying to keep from floating away. If any of you have been watching the news, I'm sure you've seen the flooding that's been going on in Nashville. Luckily my house sits on a hill, so I escaped any damage. But it's freaky because right down the road from me there are houses still under water. It's been crazy!!! Anyhow, I want to give a shout out to my wonderful reviewers. You guys are awesome. Hugs and cookies to:
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You guys rock! I hope I haven't lost any of you due to the long wait for this update. Life can be a total bitch sometimes. So I made this chapter super long in hopes of making you happy. I hope everyone likes it.
ENJOY!
The Galactic Trinity
Chapter 2
Discord's Miscalculation
BONG!…BONG!…
A clock somewhere in the distance struck twice, sending its booming sound out to echo over the sleeping city of Crystal Tokyo. Well, not all of it was sleeping.
The moon was almost full, sending its bright, shimmering light out to shine gently over the buildings, clearly showing the two dark figures that were sitting on the roof of one of the tallest ones.
'Two o'clock, and all is not well. As a matter of fact, it sucks!' thought the black haired one dressed in a black tuxedo. His blue eyes flickered behind the black mask that was covering them, searching for a sign, anything that might lead him to what he was searching for.
"Where the hell could she be?" his companion growled. His expression was unreadable since his eyes were hidden behind dark sunglasses. It may have been the middle of the night, but his sharp blue eyes could see through them as clear as day as he too scanned the surrounding area.
"I wish I knew, Alex," the tuxedo clad one said. "It's been so long now. She may not even be in the city anymore. Whoever the bastard is that took her could have taken her anywhere in the world by now."
"Oh god, DJ, don't say that!" Phoenix, also known as Alex, moaned as he jumped up and began pacing, his long black trench coat snapping behind him in the wind. "She's got to be around here somewhere."
"I sure hope so," Phantom grumbled. "Are you not picking up anything on her?"
As twins, Alex and Katie had always had a close connection. They always seemed to be able to read each other's thoughts and feelings, even finishing each other's sentences at times. But since his sister had gone missing two nights before, Alex hadn't been able to sense a trace of her anywhere.
Alex was also something of a computer wizard, and had built his own mini computer loosely based off the same properties as the Mercury computer. Usually it could pinpoint anyone's whereabouts in a matter of seconds, but Katie wasn't even showing up as a blip on the screen.
The brunette shook his head slowly. "Not a thing. It's like she just up and vanished off the face of the planet or something. It's really weird, I never realized how closely connected we were, but for the first time in my life, I feel completely alone."
The dark haired prince heard the pain and loneliness in his friend's voice. "We'll find her, Lex. And we'll probably find whoever took her in pretty bad shape. I'm sure Kat's good and pissed by now, and she won't hesitate to take her frustrations out on them."
Phoenix forced a chuckle. "You're probably right. She's kicked both our asses on a couple of occasions. I'd feel better if she had this with her though."
He pulled a slender silver chain from his pocket. Dangling from it was a small diamond, cut into the shape of a crescent moon. This was what held Katie's transformation powers. Without it, she couldn't transform into Sailor Eclipse.
After Neo Queen Serenity had rushed into DJ's room the other night and the disturbing phone called from Alex, DJ had dressed quickly and hurried downstairs where he found his parents, his sister, and the scouts and generals waiting. They had all hurried over the couple of blocks to Andrew and Jess's house.
It had been a nightmare. The house was in utter chaos. Furniture was knocked over and pictures had fallen off the walls. It looked like a hell of a fight had happened. There was a spot of blood on one of the stairs, and everyone's hearts almost stopped when Amy confirmed that it was Katie's blood.
Nebula, Jess's feline advisor, had been found under a stack of books that had fallen off a shelf, drugged and unconscious.
Raye had summoned a fireball in her palm and began meditating while Michelle used her mirror and Hotaru read the lingering auras. Between the three of them, they were able to piece together what had happened.
Whoever had done this had broken into the house and attacked Nebula first, and then waited. When Katie arrived home alone, he had taken her by surprise. She had tried to fight off her attacker, fleeing through the different rooms. It was obvious she was trying to make her way upstairs to her room to get her transformation pendant, since she hadn't been wearing it that night.
Her room had been the worst. More blood was found there, on the floor, on the rumpled bed, and even a few smears on the walls. It seemed that she had put up a fight even though she had been injured.
It also appeared that she had almost reached her goal. The jewelry box that normally sat on her dresser had been knocked over, and Alex had discovered her all-important necklace lying on the floor amid the other scattered pieces of jewelry.
Phantom took a deep breath, trying to force back the painful memories of that night. He reached a hand into his pocket to touch his own memento. He had found the silver charm bracelet that he had given to Katie snagged on a loose thread on one of the blankets that hung half off the bed. It must have gotten caught during her struggles and been pulled off her wrist.
Running his fingers over the delicate bracelet helped renew his hope. They would find her, and then he would personally put the bracelet back on her wrist where it belonged.
Two thumps behind them had the two boys spinning around, tense and ready to attack. Their stiff posture relaxed when they saw who had snuck up on them.
"I thought you two were supposed to be going back to the palace to get some sleep," Endymion said, stepping out of the shadows.
Both of the boys shrugged, not saying anything.
Andrew, standing next to Endymion, sighed. "Alex, you need to go back for a while. Your mother is crazy with worry and I think it would do her some good to see that you're okay."
The king nodded. "Same thing for you DJ. Both of you have been out here searching for almost two days straight with no rest. Take a break. Go get something to eat and get a little sleep. There are others out here searching as well."
"We will in a little bit," DJ told him. "There are a couple of more places we wanted to check out first."
"That wasn't a request," Endymion replied in a commanding tone. "The others are looking, too. The two of you aren't going to do anyone any good if you both collapse from exhaustion."
DJ wanted to argue, but he had learned at an early age that his father wasn't easily persuaded. As much as he wanted to protest, he knew better.
"All right, dad," he sighed, giving up. "Come on, Lex."
"But…" the other boy began to protest.
"Alexander! You march your ass back to the palace right this minute!" Andrew snapped, and then lowered his voice. "Go see your mother and put her mind at ease, please."
"Fine," Alex grumbled. "But she better not get all clingy. I'm almost sixteen for crying out loud."
Andrew smiled sadly. "I know, but she's under a lot of stress right now. We all are. And with your sister missing it's only natural that she would worry about you more than usual."
Alex shuffled his feet and looked down. "I know, dad. I'll go. But if she attempts to strangle me to death with hugs, you better bail me out."
"It's a deal," Andrew agreed.
Both men shook their heads as they watched the two boys jump over to the next roof, taking the high route back toward the palace.
"It's scary how much they're like we used to be," Endymion commented with a low chuckle.
Andrew agreed. "Yeah. Too much like us for their own good. We better follow them and make sure they actually go back. I wouldn't put it past them to take off once they're out of sight."
"True," Endymion sighed. "Then I'd have to deal with Serena, and I would prefer to avoid that if at all possible."
"I hear ya," Andrew sympathized as he looked out over the city. A heavy expression settled over his face. "This part will be over soon, right?"
Endymion clasped his friend on the shoulder. "Don't worry, you'll have your little girl back with you soon."
A tear fell from Andrew's eye. "But she won't be the same. Remember what she was like when she first came to us in the past. She was so hurt and angry. I wanted to stop this from happening, but Pluto's warnings of what would happen if we changed events stopped me. I feel like the worst father in the world for letting Katie go through this."
"I know how you feel," Endymion told him. "I feel the same way every time I send Rini to the past and I know she's going into a dangerous situation. But these experiences are what will shape our children into the strong individuals they will become."
The old man tapped a finger against his chin as he stared thoughtfully through the one-way glass and into the pitch-dark room beyond. His red, beady eyes had no problem penetrating the darkness to see his prey huddled up in a ball on the floor.
"It's hard to believe that this sniveling little girl is the daughter of Sailor Shadow," he said in a thin, reedy voice.
The girl at his side nodded vigorously. "I know. I couldn't believe it either when I first met her. She's a complete flake and a horrible whiner. Not a thing like the other two. She's definitely the weakest link out of the three. No power to really speak of unless she's transformed. The other two are far more dangerous, they can call on their powers at any time."
"Don't delude yourself," another voice said as a young man walked into the room. "Sure, she may not have mastered her crystal's power yet, but I've been watching her train for months. She's a highly skilled fighter, and very lethal. Look at what she did to that guardian that kidnapped her. She messed him up good, and that was while she was in her civilian form."
Cold eyes narrowed on him. "So she got in a few lucky hits. He messed her up good, too." She turned her head to look back into the room again, her eyes shining gleefully as she took in the bloodstained, tattered green dress of the girl in the dark room.
"Now, now you two, no arguing," the old man cautioned them. "I have learned from experience to not underestimate any of these people. There may be more to her than meets the eye, otherwise she wouldn't have been picked to be one of the bearers of the Trinity."
"Bah!" the girl scoffed. "She's way too fragile. You should have seen the look on her face the other night when she saw me kissing her precious prince. It was priceless."
The old man gave her a benevolent smile. "Yes, Sasha, you did well in ensuring that she would run off alone. It saved us a lot of hassle and also gave us the element of surprise."
He turned his attention back to the glass as the huddled figure on the floor began shaking and the sound of sobs reached his ears. Yes, this one was almost broken. Once he was done with her, the Trinity would be no more. Of course he hadn't forgotten about the two boys, he would get them eventually too. What better way to exact his revenge on the ones that imprisoned him than to take it out on their children?
He grinned as the girl began begging to be let out. She wouldn't last much longer. He flipped a switch and let his true voice come out. "Poor little thing. You want to go home, don't you?"
Katie looked blindly around the room, her face was swollen and red from the tears she had cried the last two days. She whimpered in the darkness. "Yes, please, let me go. I just want to go home to my parents. I don't care who you are or why you took me, just let me go home, please."
He chuckled, and saw her shiver at the sound. "Such a pampered little girl. If you are so important to your family, why haven't they come to rescue you yet? They are the heroes of Crystal Tokyo, are they not? You would think that they would be able to find one missing girl fairly easily. Maybe they think that you aren't worth the effort,"
Katie pushed herself shakily to her feet, shaking her head. "No. My family loves me. I know they have to be looking for me. Somebody will come for me. I just know it. And you'll be in major trouble when that happens."
"No little one, I don't think they will," he said in a deceptively sympathetic voice. Then he used his powers to project images into her mind.
She saw her parents, her brother, and all of her aunts and uncles going about their normal daily lives. Every time someone would mention going to look for her, someone would say, "She's a big girl. She can look after herself. She doesn't need us to do it for her."
"But I do need them," she whispered. "I know I'm not that strong. I can't do anything when I'm all alone."
The voice returned. "Of course I know your secret wish, the one you harbor in your deepest heart. You fantasize about your prince, the one that you love, charging in to your rescue. But I'm afraid that he has moved on to other interests."
The scene played over in her head like a recurring nightmare. The night of the party, she had slipped away from Jack and had gone looking for DJ. She couldn't get their earlier kiss out of her mind. It had been her first.
She had just stepped out of a set of doors that led to the garden when she had looked up and seen Sasha throw herself at DJ and kiss him. The moment that she had seen his arms wrap around the girl, her heart had shattered. She had turned and ran as fast as she could, all the way home.
If she hadn't been so upset, maybe she would have picked up on the strange atmosphere in the house when she got there. The lights had all been turned off, which was odd because the family always left a few burning when they were out for the evening. Before she knew what was happening, a tall man with red eyes had been on top of her.
After a stunned moment, her years of training had kicked in, and she fought back with everything that she had. Even after she had received several cuts from the knife that the man had carried, she continued to fight. She had cursed herself for not wearing her transformation necklace, but she hadn't thought that she would need it, she never had before.
She finally made it to her room, but before she could retrieve the pendant from her jewelry box, the man had tackled her. She had held him off for a few more minutes, but eventually he had pinned her to the bed and had jammed a syringe into her neck. The next thing she knew, she had woken up in complete darkness.
She hated the dark. That was the one thing that scared her more than anything. Alex had often laughed at that, wondering how the dark could bother her so much. After all, their mother was the sailor scout of the shadows, and she herself was Sailor Eclipse. The very name alone meant when the moon was dark.
She couldn't explain it. When she was in the dark, she felt so alone. She wasn't the type of person that liked a lot of solitude. She enjoyed being around people, and surrounded herself with her friends and family as much as she could.
'I can't believe they would leave me alone like this,' she thought. 'I thought for sure that someone would come for me, mom, dad, Alex, somebody. I'm all alone. I can't deal with this by myself. I can't…I can't…"
The faces of her family and friends blurred in her mind. None of them were coming. She was alone. It was at that moment that her body shut down. There was no reason to keep fighting it. Her family would move on without her, and DJ seemed to have his life in order. What use was she?
The old man smiled as he saw her face go blank and her legs give out as she slumped back to the floor. Finally, she had broken. Now he would have his revenge.
He turned to the young man at his side. "Jack, prepare one of the guardians to take my message to the palace. It's time for the next phase of my plan."
Alex gasped and sat upright as he came awake. There was a strange, horrible burning sensation in his chest that he couldn't explain. He looked around, disoriented for a moment, trying to remember where he was.
Pale, early morning sunlight was streaming through large windows, highlighting the mostly black furniture in the room. His brain slowly began functioning again, and he realized that he was on the couch in DJ's room. They had come back and crashed after their dads had sent them back to the palace in the wee hours of the morning.
They had both suffered through their mothers coddling and had managed to choke down a little of the food that Lita had insisted on making for them before escaping to the privacy of DJ's room with the promise of getting some rest.
They had sat up for a while, making plans and mapping out the next areas they were going to search for some sign of Katie. His computer had picked up some unusual readings near a bridge down at the bay. They figured it was worth checking it out since they had nothing else to go on.
Exhaustion had finally caught up to them, and they both dozed off. Alex had been plagued by dreams, but not the usual nightmares about the destruction of Crystal Tokyo. In these dreams he was surrounded by darkness. He could her the sound of Katie crying somewhere nearby, but he couldn't find her in the dark. He called out to her repeatedly, but she never answered him. All he heard was her voice repeating over and over, "I'm all alone, all alone, all alone…"
He looked over to the rumpled bed and saw that it was empty. Evidently his friend had gotten even less sleep than he did. He knew that Katie's kidnapping had hit DJ hard. He was trying to hide it, but Alex could tell. It was little things that he picked up on like the look in his eyes and the way he kept slipping up and calling her Kat. Up until now, Alex had been the only one to ever call her that.
He stood and stretched, trying to energize himself for another day of searching. The burning in his chest had subsided a bit, and was now just a dull ache. He couldn't help but feel that it and the dream he had was a sign that something was about to happen.
The door to the adjoining bathroom opened, and DJ walked out, dressed in a pair of faded jeans and a black t-shirt, drying his wet hair with a towel.
He nodded a good morning to his friend. "The shower's free if you want it."
Alex nodded. "Thanks. Did you get any sleep."
DJ shrugged. "An hour or so, I guess. I kept having weird dreams. It was different from the normal nightmare."
Alex paused in pulling his clothes from his duffle bag. "So you heard her too," he murmured.
"What?" DJ asked in shock.
Alex sighed. "Don't tell me, you had a dream where everything was dark and you could hear Katie crying that she was all alone, right?"
DJ's face paled. "Yeah, I did. Why? Did you have the same dream?"
Alex shook his head in disbelief. "Yeah. I think she was calling out to us somehow. But I've got a really bad feeling. I think something's happened to her. She sounded so lost and afraid in the dream. She didn't sound like herself at all. I think something big is fixing to go down."
DJ agreed. "I know what you mean. I also get the weird feeling that our parents and the others know more than what they're telling us. Yeah, they're all freaked out and everything, but know of them acted like this was a huge shock."
Alex thought back two nights to when his sister had been taken. All of the adults had been fine at the beginning of the party, but as the night had gone on, the mood had become more somber. Then there was the way his mother had been acting, something had caused her to wig out that night.
He sighed. "I don't know. Maybe you're right. Perhaps there's an enemy threat that they've been keeping quiet. But why would someone target Kat? It doesn't make any sense."
"Sure it does," DJ told him "Your dad works for my dad, and your mom is pretty well known and close to my mom. Everybody knows that the four of them are friends. It's possible that they took Katie to try to force some issue with my parents."
"I guess anything's possible," Alex agreed. "It doesn't matter what it is though, all that matters is getting my sister back."
"Damn straight," DJ growled. "Go get ready so we can get started."
Alex grabbed his clothes and hurried into the bathroom. Normally he would take his time and enjoy his morning shower, but this time he was in and out in five minutes. He walked back into the bedroom to find DJ clicking his phone closed with a look of disgust on his face.
"I can't believe she left me seventeen messages," he grumbled. "Can't the girl take a hint?"
Alex grinned as he sat down and put on his shoes. "One of your adoring fans?"
DJ shook his head. "I guess you could say that. It's Sasha. I thought she would have figured it out after that kiss the other night, but evidently not."
"Whoa, back up!" Alex exclaimed. "You kissed Sasha? Have you gone insane?"
DJ flushed. "She kissed me, I didn't kiss her. And I told her afterward that I only thought of her as a friend. I thought she was cool with it, but she had the nerve to leave me a message asking if I wanted to go to a movie with her. Like I have time to be going to a movie with everything that's been going on around here!"
"That does sound a little psycho," Alex commented. "You better watch out for her. She could be a potential stalker. You may wake up one morning tied to your bed with her naked and on top of you."
DJ chuckled and threw a pillow at his friend. "I damn well better not! She's not my type. She may be super model gorgeous, but something about her just rubs me the wrong way. It's a total cock kill."
Alex just grinned. Sasha definitely possessed the looks that would turn most men's heads. But he knew that his friend was attracted to more of the girl next-door type, specifically a certain tall, slender blonde with a natural, wholesome beauty and sparkling hazel eyes.
"Enough about crazy girls," DJ said. "Let's go grab some grub and check in with the parental units before we head out. I've got a feeling that we're going to find her today."
The two made their way down to the dining room, surprised to find nobody but their parents, Mina, and Kunzite there. Usually the room would be packed at this time of the morning. They both headed to the buffet, filling their plates quietly while they listened in to what the adults were saying.
Mina was giving the rundown of everyone's positions. "So Lita and Nephrite are searching the industrial zones. Amy and Zoicite are looking through the residential areas. Raye and Jadeite are covering the shopping district. And Rini is with Amara, Michelle, and Hotaru down by the bay."
Both boys' ears perked up at the mention of the bay. That was one of the areas that they were wanting to search.
"Yes," Serenity replied. "It seems that the Neptune mirror began acting funny in that area, and Hotaru thought she felt something strange as well. They wanted to check it out and see if they could find anything. It's strange because nothing showed up on the earlier scans of the area and it has been searched several times already."
Kunzite spoke up, but his voice was barely a whisper, making the boys strain to here the words. "You have to remember who we are up against. He is capable of doing anything."
Alex and DJ shared a look of understanding. This confirmed what they had thought. The adults knew more than they were letting on. It sounded as if they were already aware of who was behind Katie's kidnapping, they just didn't know where she was being kept.
Realizing that nothing else of any importance was going to be said for now, the two took their plates and sat down at the table.
"Good morning, you two," Serenity chirped, attempting to sound cheerful. "Did you guys finally get some rest?"
They both shrugged and muttered, "Some."
"Good grief, Alex," Jess commented, looking at her son's plate. "There are like fifty different things to choice from on the buffet, and you get nothing but a couple of pieces of bacon and a spoonful of hash browns. You need to eat more than that or you're going to wither up and blow away."
Alex shot his mother an exasperated look. "This is all I want. I'm just not very hungry right now."
"But…" Jess began to protest, but stopped when Andrew grabbed her hand. He gave a slight shake of his head, telling her to leave him alone.
An awkward silence fell over the room as everyone continued to eat their breakfast. DJ and Alex finished quickly and were about to make their escape when a guard rushed into the room clutching a package in his hand.
"Your majesties!" he exclaimed with a quick bow. "This package was just delivered to the front gate by a suspicious looking man with the instructions that it was to be delivered to you right away. We scanned it, and there doesn't appear to be anything dangerous about it."
Serenity took padded envelope from him. "Thank you. You may return to your duties."
"Well, just staring at the envelope isn't going to tell you what's inside," Endymion joked when Serenity made no move to open it.
She shook her head as if coming out of a daze. "You're right. But what about…?" she inclined her head toward the two teens.
Endymion sighed. "They're going to find out what's going on sooner or later. We can't keep them in the dark forever."
Serenity nodded and slipped her finger under the flap of the envelope. Once it was open, she tilted it up and two things fell out of it and onto the table. One was a small device about the size of a calculator, and everyone's breath caught at the sight of the second item.
It was a thin tail of pale blonde hair tied tightly with a delicate silver ribbon. The hair was knotted and tangled and the ribbon sported smudges of blood, but there was no doubt who it belonged to.
"That bastard!" Jess hissed. "That spineless sack of shit! I'll kill him this time! I should have blown his sorry ass to hell a thousand years ago! When I get my hands on him…"
Andrew put a gentle hand over her mouth. "Okay sweetheart, I think we get the point. The bottom line is that if you had blown him up before, you would have taken the whole planet and us out along with him."
She sat back with a huff and crossed her arms over her chest. "I know, but he turned it personal the moment he decided to take my baby. I want to smash his face in."
DJ had to resist the urge to jump up with a whoop and give Jess a high five. He didn't know who this person was she was talking about, but totally agreed with her. He wouldn't mind getting a piece of this guy too.
"Well, let's see what this says," Serenity said, pressing a button on the device. A hush fell over the room as they waited in anticipation.
A fuzzy holographic figure about eighteen inches tall appeared on the table. The person was wearing a hooded cloak, hiding their features completely. When the voice began speaking, it sent shivers down everyone's spines.
"Well, well, greetings Serenity and Endymion. I'm sure my favorite little princess is listening in to this as well, so hello Melody, Sailor Shadow, or whatever name you choose to go by now. This form may be unfamiliar to you, but you're all smart enough to figure out who I am, so I'll skip the introductions and cut right to the point. I have taken something of yours, or more specifically someone, one of the pieces to the puzzle, so to speak. I'm sure you are all anxious to get her back, so I propose we get together and negotiate the options. Meet me tonight at 8:00 on the bridge that spans the bay. Bring whoever you want with you. I will bring my associates as well, so don't try anything funny. The girl still lives, for now; but make one wrong move against me and I will slit her throat before you can blink. Until later."
The image grew blurry, and then faded away. No one spoke or even moved for a few minutes.
Alex banged his hands on the table as he stood, his body trembling in rage at the person who would dare threaten his sister. "I knew it! I knew I picked up on something down in the bay area. Come on, DJ. Let's go check it out."
DJ was half out of his chair when Jess stood up in a flurry. "Oh no you don't, young man. You're not going anywhere."
"But mom," Alex protested. "Now we have a pretty good idea where Kat is. Maybe we can sneak in and get her out before tonight and blow his plans sky high. It would be perfect."
"And you heard what I said," Jess insisted. "You're not going anywhere near the bay; not now, and not tonight. I forbid it."
Alex was usually slow to anger, but now his temper flashed to the surface. "That's bullshit! I'm not an idiot, you know. I'm well aware of the fact that you all have been hiding something from us, something pretty damn big. If you don't want to tell us, that's fine, but you can't spend years training us and trying to turn us into these perfect fighting machines and then expect us to sit out the first time trouble comes knocking. Whoever this son of a bitch is has got my sister, and I'm going to do whatever I can to get her back!"
DJ stood up next to him. "He's right. We're in this whether you like it or not. I don't know why, but I feel like this involves us as much as it involves Katie. You guys have been throwing the three of us together for years, making us work together as a team. We've had to train twice as long and twice as hard as any of the others. We are what you have made us, so don't expect us to sit back and do nothing."
Jess stared at them both with tears shining in her eyes. "Neither of you know what you're talking about, what we're up against. Trust me, he will chew you up and spit you back out like you are nothing. I know."
Alex threw his hands up in the air. "Well I'm glad somebody knows something, cause from where I'm standing I can tell you I don't know shit! The only thing I can figure out is that some asshole with a grudge against you has decided to take it out on my twin sister. I'm sorry, mom, but I can't stay out of this."
There was a puff of magenta smoke, and then Sailor Pluto appeared in the room. "The boys are right. We have sheltered them from the truth for as long as we could, but time is catching up with us. They deserve to know the truth and how it will impact their lives."
Serenity's communicator began beeping, and she answered it almost robotically.
"Mom," Rini's voice came through. "Neptune and Saturn were right. We just found the mother load of all negative energy sources coming from somewhere under one of the bridge supports down here. It's heavily shielded, that's why we didn't pick up on it the first time. What do you want us to do?"
Serenity sighed heavily and glanced around at the others before answering. "Fall back. I want you to call the others and tell everyone that I want them to return to the palace immediately. We have plans to make."
Discord sat back and admired his handy work. He had figured out who the bearers of the Trinity were fairly early in their lives and had followed them carefully throughout the years. He had always been captivated by the girl, thinking that she was an exact duplicate of her mother as far as her spirit and passion for living went. But as he examined the broken girl in front of him, he realized that she must have missed out on those genes after all.
He grasped her chin, forcing her dull, lifeless hazel eyes to meet his intense red stare. "So," he hissed. "This is the daughter of the proud Sailor Shadow. I must confess I find myself a little disappointed. I had expected to encounter a little more fight from you, but you caved in under very little pressure. It's no wonder your family didn't come rushing to your rescue, you must be such a disappointment to them."
'Am I a disappointment to them?' Katie thought. She thought of her brother. Alex was brilliant with anything electronic. He had a bright and sunny personality that made everyone automatically want to be friends with him.
And DJ, he was always polite, to everyone except her, anyway. He was also very intelligent. He had always scored better grades than her no matter how hard she studied.
Rini was, well, Rini was perfect. She was the crown princess and an accomplished fighter. She would lead and protect Crystal Tokyo well when the time came for her to be queen.
And then she thought about the children of the other scouts. Emma was beautiful and vivacious. Her little brother, Kyle, was just as charming. Skye and Nick, Lita and Nephrite's deadly duo, were the powerhouses. They were some of the best fighters she had ever seen. Raye and Jadeite's kids, Jayden and Ryssa were extremely gifted. They were blessed with both their mother's gift of sight and their father's telekinetic abilities. Hannah and Corey were the geniuses, of course they would be having parents like Amy and Zoicite.
But all of those special gifts weren't what she envied about them. It was the fact that all of them, even six year old Corey, had developed control over their crystal's powers already. She had been trying for years to be able to use her powers when she wasn't transformed, but the most she had ever gotten were a few silver sparks to shoot from her fingers.
So yeah, she probably was a disappointment. Whoever heard of a crystal carrier that couldn't even use their powers? She was kind of glad now that nobody had come rushing to her rescue. She was supposed to be a sailor scout, she shouldn't need to be rescued. Even if she couldn't transform, she should have been able to fight.
"I'm a disgrace," she whispered.
A wide smirk appeared on Discord's wrinkled face. "There, there, don't be so hard on yourself, precious. Not everyone is meant to be a hero."
She fell to the floor like a rag doll, sobbing, "I'm not a hero. I can't do anything. I just want to be left alone. I wish someone would kill me."
Discord knelt down next to her and patted her tangled hair. "You'll get your wish soon enough, my dear. But first we have an appointment to keep."
This was going better than he thought. He could already taste the sweetness of revenge on his tongue. He couldn't wait to wave this now pitiful little girl under the noses of his enemies and watch the suffering in their eyes. And then he would kill her in front of them, severing the Galactic Trinity and any hope that they may harbor of being able to defeat him.
Then the planet would his for the taking. He was no longer afraid of being sealed away, for now he had an impenetrable army. Instead of funneling his power into making hundreds of worthless youma, he had cultivated an elite group of warriors. His guardians were super powered humanoids with unmatched speed and strength. They also held the ability to launch energy attacks, making them an even match for any enemy that may confront them.
He had also merged his magic with the characteristics of some of Earth's most dangerous predators to create his sentinels, creatures that usually looked like wolves or large cats that had been jacked up on steroids. They were highly venomous. One bite from them or one scratch from the spikes that protruded from their bodies was enough to incapacitate a person in minutes, eventually killing them if they weren't magically healed rather quickly.
Yes, victory was almost in his grasp. He would render the Trinity powerless by killing the girl. He would eventually take care of the other two, just to be safe, along with those other meddlesome fools. He would deal with them swiftly and effectively this time. He had learned to never underestimate them, so the quicker he could get them out of the picture, the better.
He snapped his fingers, and one of his guardians came over to jerk Katie up off the floor. She whimpered as she was pulled upright, her eyes wide and frightened.
Discord grinned at her. "Now let's go show your family what a good little girl you are, shall we?"
"What time is it?" Alex hissed to his companion as they crouched in the darkness, hidden high up on the structure of the bridge.
DJ sighed and glanced at his watch. "Exactly one minute since the last time you asked me. It's two minutes until eight."
"Two minutes," Alex sighed. "Dou you think this Discord guy is going to show up?"
"He better," DJ ground out. "We didn't just go through hours of begging our parents to let us come while practically on our knees just to have him be a no show. Anyway, from what we've heard about him, that doesn't seem like his style."
Alex agreed. "Yeah, he sounds more like the type to wait until the last possible moment to make an appearance just to rattle everyone's nerves." He was quiet for a moment, and then asked, " What did you think about all of that crap they told us earlier?"
DJ shook his head. "I honestly don't know. It was kind of freaky. For a moment I wondered if they were all on something, but they seemed so serious. What do you think?"
Alex shrugged. "Beats me. But it would explain a lot. You know, why they always pushed the three of us to train so much and all. But to say that we will be able to control the powers of gods, that's kinda out there."
"I here ya," DJ replied. "But then again, I can't completely write it off. No one in our group can be called exactly normal, can they?"
"True," Alex said with a nod of his head. "Maybe there is something to it, but I'll think about all of that later. Right now all I want to do is get my sister back."
"Right," DJ agreed as he looked down at the group assembled on the bridge below them. Serenity and Endymion were in the front along with Rini, Jess, and Andrew, flanked by Mina and Kunzite on one side and Amara and Michelle on the other. The rest of the scouts and generals were close behind them. They were all transformed, except for the king and queen, who were already in their most powerful forms, watching and waiting.
Alex couldn't help but stare in awe at his parents. He had rarely ever seen them in their fighting forms before. Crystal Tokyo was peaceful for the most part, so other than taking part in the occasional sparring match, they never changed into their alter egos.
His father's bronze armor glinted softly in the moonlight, making him seem to be an imposing figure. His deadly lethal aura matched that of the woman next to him.
He had always heard that his mother was one of the strongest of the sailor scouts, but he had never had a chance to see her in action. The only time he had come close had been when he was seven and the Dark Moon clan had attacked Crystal Tokyo. But that was all kind of a blur since they had all been hit by a sleep spell within just a couple of minutes of the attack starting.
Sailor Shadow stood poised and ready, looking like a cobra that was coiled and set to strike. A grim look settled over her face as the clock in the distance began to strike the hour of eight.
The two boys held their breath in anticipation. After hours of pleading, they had been allowed to come along as long as they promised to stay out of sight and out of the fight unless it was absolutely necessary.
A fissure went through the air as the last sound of the clock faded into the night. Energy crackled as figures began appearing on the bridge. Some of them looked to be ordinary humans, but the rest looked like escapees from a genetic testing lab or something. They were snarling, rabid looking beasts that resembled mutated wolves and a variety of large cats.
"Whoa!" Alex whispered as he typed away on his mini computer, just like Sailor Mercury was below him. "Their energy reading is way off the chart. Those guys may look normal, but they're definitely something else."
"What about Kat? Any sign of her?" DJ asked quietly.
Alex grinned and looked up. "Yep. She's somewhere close by. I can't get a sure location, but she's near."
They both fell silent as another figure materialized onto the bridge. They recognized the hooded figure from the holographic message earlier. So this was Discord.
"Good evening," he drawled, sounding more sinister than pleasant. "I'm glad to see you all could make it. It's been a long time."
"Enough with the pleasantries, asshole!" Sailor Shadow snapped. "Where is my daughter?"
"Tsk, tsk," Discord admonished her. "Patience, princess. You never were very good at that. This is my game, and we play by my rules. You see, I've been planning this for a long time. I knew that if I was to make my presence known too soon, that you would use those three brats to invoke the power of the Galactic Trinity in an attempt to destroy me, so I had to take out some insurance first."
He snapped his fingers, and another one of his guardians appeared. It was holding tightly onto a bundle of wrinkled, bloodstained, mint green fabric with snarled blonde hair that was thrashing furiously against it.
"Let go of me!" Katie screeched. "You lousy, steroid pumped son of a bitch! The first chance I get, I'm so giving you an ass kicking that you'll never forget."
DJ grinned at the sound of her outraged voice. He also felt a profound relief wash through him. A part of him had been afraid about what kind of condition they would find her in, especially after the disturbing nightmare he'd had earlier.
"Whoa, she sounds pissed," he whispered, turning Alex. He was surprised to find his friend frowning as he studied his computer screen. "What's the matter?"
Alex shook his head. "What is that asshole trying to pull? He had to have known that we would figure it out pretty quick."
"What are you muttering about?" DJ asked. "What are we supposed to figure out?"
Alex looked up at him in exasperation. "That the girl down there is not Kat."
DJ's eyes widened in surprise as he looked at her again, studying her closely. "You're kidding, right?"
"Trust me," Alex said confidently. "She may look like her and sound like her, but whoever that is isn't my sister."
"Are you sure?" DJ asked skeptically.
Alex snorted. "Of course I'm sure. Look at the others if you don't believe me. Mercury figured it out even quicker than I did. He's trying to pull a fast one on us."
DJ looked down at the adults and saw that they were all conferring with Sailor Mercury who was pointing at the girl and shaking her head. Sailor Shadow had tears running down her cheeks and was being held back by Andrew as she was attempting to run across the bridge.
"You bastard!" she screamed. "Did you think I wouldn't know my own daughter? I'm not falling for your mind tricks this time. You said that you would bring her if we came. Now where is she?"
Discord sighed. "Still just as stubborn as ever, I see. You never want to play the game by the rules. Very well." He snapped his fingers, and the imposter turned into a flamed haired female guardian with glowing red eyes to match her hair. She snickered evilly as she stepped back to join the ranks.
Discord's hooded head shook back and forth slightly. "What a pity. I was hoping that you would fall for it, at least for a few minutes. It would have been amusing. I would have considered seeing your anguish as a small step toward compensating me for some of the isolation you condemned me to for over a thousand years. That really wasn't very nice, you know."
"I'll show you nice, you son of a bitch!" Sailor Shadow retorted as she lunged against Andrew's restraining arms. "How about we meet halfway and have our long overdue showdown…mmpphh…"
Andrew slapped a hand over her mouth to cut off her angry tirade as he struggled to hold on to her. Uranus and Neptune stepped in front of them to block the way in case she broke loose from him. They could tell that she was barely holding on to her restraint by a thin thread. Her motherly instincts were warring with the ironclad control that she had learned to command over the years, and nobody really wanted to die that day.
"That's enough, Discord!" Serenity demanded, sounding every inch the queen that she was. "We have met you here according to your terms. Now I demand that you return Katie to us."
A gruesome chuckle rumbled from Discord. "You are in no position to make demands of me, Serenity. The rest of the world may rest in your delicate little hands, but you have no power over me. I said that I would bring the girl and meet with you to discuss our options, but I never said anything about returning her to you. Without her, you only hold two keys to the Trinity and pose no threat to me. Now shall we negotiate my peaceful takeover of this planet, or are things going to get ugly?"
"We will never hand this planet over to you," Endymion declared. "Give us back Katie and leave now, and we may let you live."
The hooded head shook. "Forever stubborn I see. Oh well, that is of little consequence. We will just do this the hard way." He gestured to his guardians and sentinels. "My pets, they are all yours."
Activity exploded on the bridge as Discord's forces charged them and the heroes sprang into action. Alex and DJ watched in open-mouthed shock as the violent fight broke out.
"Holy shit!" DJ exclaimed as he watched not just the scouts and generals, but his parents as well, jump into the fray. He knew from the stories he'd heard growing up that his mom and dad were veteran fighters, but in his mind he had never seen them as anything other than the powerful king and queen that they were. He looked on in amazement at their smooth, practiced moves as they fought.
"Wicked!" Alex crowed gleefully as saw Sailor Shadow leap straight up into the air to flip over the head of a rushing guardian. She landed behind it and planted a well-placed kick in its back, sending it sprawling to the ground. "Mom's got some moves!"
DJ nodded enthusiastically. "I've never seen any of them fight like this during sparring sessions. This is cool!"
A beeping sound came from Alex's mini computer, catching both of their attention. Alex pressed a few buttons and a wide grin appeared on his face.
"Ah ha!" he exclaimed. "I got her! Whatever energy that was that's been scrambling the computers signal has weakened. Kat's right below us, under the bridge."
DJ scrambled up to stand on the beam they had been sitting on. "Well what are we waiting for? Let's go get her."
Alex looked a little apprehensive. "I don't know. Our parents told us to stay here out of sight. Maybe we shouldn't go down there."
"Are you out of your mind?" DJ asked incredulously. "They're all a little busy at the moment and we know where she is. We can sneak down there and get her before anyone even knows it. I bet that would piss this asshole off and send him running."
Alex thought about it for a moment. He winced as he saw Sailor Mars duck to avoid a panther looking sentinel. She escaped a head on collision, but he heard her cry of pain as one of the cat's spikes laid open the skin on her arm. Their side was holding their own in this attack, but it would be nice to stop it before anyone got seriously hurt.
"You're right," he agreed. "This fight could turn against us at any time. Let's go."
They both transformed quietly, black clothing taking the place of the jeans and t-shirts they were wearing. They began quickly climbing down from their perch, moving silently and sticking to the shadows to keep from drawing attention to themselves.
They landed on the far side of the bridge, away from the fight, without encountering any problems. With one last glance over their shoulders at the battling adults, they turned and ran quickly for the end of the bridge.
The cold water of the bay had turned her feet numb a long time ago, and goosebumps covered her skin as the water steadily rose slowly, inch by icy inch up her legs. But she didn't feel it. She just stood there where she had been bound to the bridge pillar with her arms tied above her head and stared out at the tranquil bay with empty eyes.
The moonlight was reflecting off the water, lighting up the area around her and bringing her a tiny bit of relief. Anything was better than the nightmare of darkness that she had endured the past few days. Of course this caused her to resent herself even more.
'Scared of the dark, just like a little baby. I am such a wuss!' Katie berated herself. 'Well that's another strike against me. God I really am pathetic. Maybe if I'm stuck here long enough the water will just cover me up and I'll drown. It would probably be easier on everyone to just take me out of the equation like that. Yeah, that's a thought. Come on in tide. Come and get me.'
She felt the pillar at her back shudder a little and heard several yells from above her. She closed her eyes and tried to tune it out as the water creeped up some more. It was at her waist now and she silently begged it to go faster.
She had heard her mother's voice a few minutes ago, and knew that her family was up on the bridge confronting that psycho old man that had orchestrated her kidnapping, but she didn't want them there.
'Just go home and leave me here,' she pleaded to herself. 'I don't want you to save me. I'm not worth saving. I just want everything to be over. Please just go away.'
She felt a burning hatred for the old man that had ripped her from her family, but at the same time she was grateful to him for showing her exactly how weak and helpless she was.
All of her life she had thought that she was something special. After all, it wasn't just anyone that was chosen to be a crystal carrier. And all of the training she had endured in her life had made her think that one day she would be able to stand proudly at the side of the other sailor scouts as an equal, as a fellow protector of Earth. What a joke! That was probably why her powers had never fully awakened, her crystal knew that she was a fraud.
Even more laughable was the fact that she had thought that she could have been a match for the prince of Earth. DJ was royalty for crying out loud. He was strong and powerful, and one day he would help his sister rule Crystal Tokyo. When the time came for him to pick the person he would spend the rest of his life with, it sure wouldn't be a weak, whiny person like her.
A grim smile touched her lips as the water began to inch up her ribs. It wouldn't be much longer until she was at peace. She knew that her family loved her, despite her shortcomings, and that they would miss her, but this was for the best. She knew Alex would probably mourn the hardest since they had been together since the moment of their creation, but he had Emma and his other friends. He would be fine. No more having to watch out for his weakling sister.
The tide was coming in faster now. The water was at her chest now. Just a few more minutes until the end. A tear slid down her cheek as she thought of her parents. She hoped they wouldn't hurt too much when she died. She didn't want them in pain. She was just freeing them from the meaningless obligation of caring for her.
She pictured her dad as he puttered happily around their kitchen cooking up something delicious and her mom as she swayed and hummed to a song on the radio as she worked in front of her easel. They would be fine.
Her breath froze for a moment as water reached her neck and a momentary spark of uncertainty went through her. Was this really what she wanted, to be separated from her family and loved ones forever?
'Yes,' she convinced herself as she saw again the picture of DJ and Sasha locked in a passionate embrace. 'What good would it serve to have me hanging around for years to come, watching as everyone moves on with their spectacular lives? It's best to just end it now.'
She raised her chin and spit out some water as it reached her lips and began tickling her nose. Her time was almost up. She conjured up the faces of her loved ones in her mind, wanting those to be the last thoughts that she had, especially DJ's beloved features. She pictured the way his silky midnight hair fell into his mesmerizing blue eyes and smiled and drew in one last breath as the water closed in around her. In that second she thought she heard voices calling her name.
Now all she could hear was the water rushing around her. She was completely alone and surrounded by the icy oppression, and in that instance she knew that she had made a mistake. She didn't want to die. She may not be a good sailor scout, but she wanted to be. She wanted to live so that she could become more. She would train night and day and do all that she could to unlock her powers and become an unbeatable force, if she could only survive this.
She began struggling against her bonds, but was unable to loosen them at all. Her lungs were beginning to burn from the lack of oxygen and blood was pounding in her ears. Her body acted reflexively, taking in a breath and filling her nose and mouth with water. Her vision began growing dark as the suffocating feeling pressed down on her.
'So this is what it's like to die,' she thought as unconsciousness settled over her. Just before she left reality, she thought she felt a hand touch her.
Phantom and Phoenix slid down the bank toward the water of the bay that ran under the bridge, looking around cautiously in case of an ambush. They were fully expecting to encounter some of those creatures like what the others were fighting up above, but were surprised to find the area seemingly empty.
"Are you sure she's down here?" the tuxedo clad Phantom hissed.
"Positive," Phoenix whispered back. "And I don't even need the computer to tell me that. Her aura is all around the place."
They began walking the shoreline, searching for any sign of the missing girl, and seeing nothing. The water was rising quickly, making it hard to keep searching as they covered the entire bank.
"She's not here," Phantom muttered in a hollow sounding voice. "Your computer must have made a mistake."
"I'm telling you she is," Phoenix argued back. "I can feel her. She's nearby somewhere."
Phantom huffed out a breath and shook his head as he looked out over the bay for a moment. He was turning away when a glimmer of something silvery gold caught his eye. He spun back around and studied it for a moment.
"Tell me I'm seeing things," he gasped as he pointed out what he was looking at for his friend to see.
"No freaking way!" Phoenix choked out.
But neither one of them could deny the sight of the pale blonde head that was quickly disappearing under the water.
"Kat!" they both yelled as they plunged into the frigid water and began swimming toward her. By the time they reached her she was completely submerged with only her arms that were tied above her head sticking out of the water.
Phoenix pulled a dagger from his belt and began sawing at the ropes while DJ dived under the water. He ripped the mask off of his face so that he could see, and his heart almost faltered to a stop at the sight in front of him.
She was pale, bruised, and battered, tied to the pillar by a rope around her waist. The remnants of her green dress and her blonde hair floated around her, giving her an eerie, angelic like look. She was still and her eyes were closed.
He reached out and touched her cheek for a moment before pulling the sword he carried from its scabbard at his waist and hacking at the rope around her. It took a few tries, but he finally cut through the rope and her body was free. He grabbed her and pulled her up above the water's surface with him.
Her brother had managed to free her hands by now, and between the two of them, they managed to get her back to land. They laid her limp body on the sandy shore and were horrified to discover that she wasn't breathing.
The dark haired prince felt a moment of raw panic before a feeling of calmness settled over him. Before he had taken his place as king, Endymion had been a doctor, and he had insisted on teaching both of his children how to perform CPR.
DJ let go of his transformation so that the heavy, wet tuxedo and cape would be out of his way and leaned over Katie. He heard his father's voice whispering instructions to him as he put a hand behind her neck and tilted her head back.
He put his mouth over hers and blew deeply, forcing air down into her lungs. He repeated the process several times, growing frantic once again as he failed to get a response.
"Damn it, Tinkerbell, don't you give up on me now!" he growled at her before he leaned forward and forced another breath past her lips.
The body beneath him jerked suddenly and a choking sound came from deep in her throat as she tried to suck in a gulp of air. He rolled her to her side as she coughed up a massive amount of water from her lungs.
"Thank God!" Alex exclaimed as her coughs began to cease. He pulled the shivering girl into his arms and hugged her tight. "Don't you ever scare me like that again!"
"Alex," Katie whispered in confusion as her eyes blinked open to stare at her brother. "I'm not dead?"
Relieved tears sprang to his eyes at her softly spoken question. "No, you're still among the living. Luckily DJ spotted you before you went under, or we would have never found you."
"DJ," she mumbled and turned her head to meet his blue gaze. For a moment she looked genuinely happy to see him, but then a look of what almost appeared to be heartbreak flitted across her face before her familiar mask of indifference fell into place.
DJ's mouth popped open, ready to spill his guts out to her despite the fact that they had Alex as an audience. The fact that he had almost lost her forever had convinced him that he needed to come clean to her about his feelings, even if she rejected him.
But she interrupted him before he could speak. "Well I guess dragging me out of the water has done wonders for your already over inflated ego. I admit, I owe you one, but you better not rub it in."
DJ blinked in surprise. He didn't know what he had been expecting, he had thought that she would act differently toward him after all that had happened between them the other night, but here she was treating exactly the same as she had all of their lives, snapping and glaring at him like he was her worst enemy. Maybe now wasn't such a good time to confess to her after all.
His lips turned up in his signature smirk. "Oh I wouldn't dream of it, Tinkerbell. It may prove hazardous to your health if my fan club found out that I had my lips on yours. They would hunt you down and lynch you if they did."
Katie glared at him before looking pointedly away, but a slight blush stained her cheeks. Her heart broke a little more at the sound of his teasing words, but she knew it was for the best to keep their relationship on the same level that it had always been. She had enough to think about without letting her feelings for the raven-haired prince get in the way. She had to get over him and move on. Her motives in life had changed, and the complications of a relationship didn't figure in to it.
There was a loud boom from overhead and the bridge above them shook, reminding them all that there was a fight going on up there.
Alex stood and then offered Katie his hand to help her up. "How about we go let everyone know that you're okay and rain on this asshole's parade."
She shot one last wistful glance toward DJ before letting her brother pull her to her feet. "Sounds good to me. I'm dying for a shower and a good night's sleep."
"Dying…ha ha…very funny," DJ grumbled.
She turned and arched a blonde brow at him. "Haven't you ever heard the phrase, 'What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger?' I may have almost died, but I didn't. It just showed me that I need to be a stronger person."
"Maybe this will help," Alex told her as he pulled her necklace from his pocket and handed it to her.
She took it from him and fastened it carefully around her neck before pinning the two boys with a fiercely determined look. "I'm going up there. Are you two coming?"
"Serena! Duck!" Endymion yelled at his wife. She heard him and ducked down as he flung a red rose charged with golden energy at the sentinel that had been sneaking up behind her. It was a dead on hit, but instead of exploding into dust, it merely howled and retreated back.
"Thanks honey," Serenity gasped as she joined her husband. "I didn't feel like becoming puppy chow for the big bad wolf tonight."
"Very funny," he growled at her. "This is getting out of control. I wish Trista would have told us what we are supposed to do. We're flying blind here."
Serenity sighed. "I know. But you know how she is. She won't tell us anything more than we already know. I just hope that if anything goes wrong she'll step in and intervene."
They both shot a glance over to where Sailor Pluto was busy battling one Discord's guardians. While everyone there had a little knowledge of the current events, she was the only one who knew exactly how things were supposed to play out. She seemed calm and composed for the moment, so that gave them some reassurance.
"Rini!" Sailor Shadow's voice screamed suddenly as a bright burst of blue energy lit up the night. A blue sphere of energy hit a guardian that had been attempting to strangle Sailor Crescent Moon, knocking him away from the pink haired princess.
"Thanks," Crescent Moon gasped as Sailor Shadow rushed over to check on her.
"No problem, kiddo," Shadow told her. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Crescent Moon reassured her. "But these things are starting to piss me off."
"I hear ya," Shadow agreed. "They're nasty little bastards, that's for sure. But we…Oh shit! Look out!"
She shoved the younger girl away from her as a leopard looking sentinel sprang at them. The mutated cat slammed into her, knocking her to the ground. She tried to push it away and shrieked as it sank its long fangs into her arm.
One second she was pinned to the ground, and the next she was free as a body hurled itself at the cat. She looked up to find her husband glaring at her with anger burning in his eyes.
"Have you lost your mind?" Andrew demanded. "You know how poisonous those damn things are. Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"
"Don't start on me!" she snapped as he pulled her up and began dragging her toward Serenity and Endymion. "You would have done the same thing."
He just groaned and shook his head as he shoved her toward the king, gesturing at her arm. No words were needed as Endymion placed his hands over the bite and let his golden energy heal the wound and remove the venom from her system.
Andrew sighed and pulled her into his arms once she was healed. "Don't do that again!"
She pushed him back a step. "Piss off, Drew! I'm not in the mood! Now where is Discord hiding his happy ass during all of this? I want a piece of that bastard!"
Discord grinned as his sensitive ears picked up on the reincarnated princess's words. He had moved himself further down the bridge, away from the fight, and was standing on the railing as he looked out at the rapidly rising water of the bay. It was time to spring the ultimate coup de grace on his enemies. He relished the thought of the agony they would soon experience. He had just felt the dim light that remained in his little hostage flicker out of existence. The Trinity was broken and the world was now his for the taking once he got the rest of these pests out of his way.
"Stand down and return!" he commanded his warriors, pleased to see that while there were a few injuries, none of his army had been destroyed. The guardians and sentinels fell back to gather around him.
"Now, let's get down to business," he drawled. "I had planned for this to go a little differently, but this works as well. I had thought to let you watch as that sniveling little girl died, but you insisted on forcing my hand from the beginning. But no matter, the end result is the same. The moon key to the Trinity has been extinguished. I'm sure her body will be discovered in the morning when the tide recedes."
Sailor Shadow's legs gave out as she slumped to the ground. "You're lying!" she ground out. "My daughter isn't dead! I would know if she was. This is another one of your tricks!"
Discord clucked his tongue. "I assure you this is no trick, princess. You wasted precious time that you could have spent trying to locate that poor little girl fighting with me. Little did you know that she was right below you the whole time, hearing your voice as she slowly drowned and wondering why her mother didn't come and save her. I was astounded really. How did you manage to give birth to such a pathetically frail child? She was easy to break. After the guardian I sent to abduct her had roughed her up a bit, all I had to do was shove her into a dark room and plant a few uncertainties in her head. She crumpled quicker than I expected."
"I don't know what crystal ball you're using, but you better check it again, because I'm not dead yet!" a high, clear voice rang through the still air. All heads snapped up to look at the three drenched, bedraggled teenagers that were standing not too far away.
"Impossible," Discord hissed as he took in the sight of the blonde girl in the ragged green dress that was before him. "I felt your soul vanish. There's no way you can be here."
"Surprise, surprise," Katie quipped in a sarcastic tone. "I guess I wasn't good enough for heaven and not bad enough for hell, so they kicked me back out. You may have tied me to that pillar and hoped for my death, but I'm not going down that easily."
Discord's gleaming red eyes narrowed as he took in the defiant girl, but a thrill of victory ran through him at the sight of all three of the Trinity's holders before him. They had made this entirely too easy for him.
He chuckled darkly. "You may have escaped death once, but I promise that you won't do it again."
He shot a beam of dark, crackling energy at the three, determined to destroy them on the spot, but was unprepared as a wall of silver sprang up between them, blocking his attack.
Katie gasped as a surge of power she had never felt before flooded her system. Without thinking, she projected it out to form a barrier between her, Alex, and DJ and the attack that was heading toward them. Anger coursed through her veins. She hadn't escaped death only to be killed minutes later by the same lunatic.
Discord cursed to himself as he saw a flash of silver race across the hazel eyes of the defiant girl. "There may be more to you than I originally thought, but it makes no difference. I know how weak you really are. You don't stand a chance against me."
"Maybe I don't," Katie responded in a cold voice. "But if I go down, I'm going down fighting. I won't sit back this time and let you bulldoze yourself over me."
"Selene was a fool to pick you as her champion!" Discord fired back. "You are nothing but a weak little girl. I have seen how easily you can break. This new confidence of yours won't last."
Katie shrugged. "Perhaps it won't, but I refuse to sit back and let you manipulate me. I will either rise to the occasion, or I will crash and burn, but I won't let you walk all over me. You may have gotten the drop on me once, but I promise it won't happen again."
Discord chuckled. "You are more like your mother than I thought. I feel the anger coursing through you the same as it did her all those years ago. This is good; it will make you even weaker. Today may not be the victory that I was anticipating, but I can't say that I'm entirely displeased with the outcome. I will be seeing you three again."
Discord and his followers disappeared with a loud cracking sound, leaving the heroes alone on the bridge. Flashes of light flickered as they all returned to their civilian forms.
"Katie!" Jess screeched as she rushed over to her daughter to engulf her in a giant hug. "Oh sweetie, I was so worried about you. Are you okay? Did that bastard hurt you?"
Katie wanted nothing more than to melt into her mother's embrace and cry away her fears, but the new resiliency that had been instilled in her through the pain and misery of the last few days refused to let her.
She pushed herself away from Jess. "I'm fine, mom. No sense freaking out."
Andrew growled as he took in every bruise and cut that marred her pale skin. "You're not fine. I could kill that bastard for hurting you. Darien, come work your magic on her."
Katie stepped back and shook her head. "I don't need healing. I'm fine just the way I am." Her face held a hard look, nothing like the happy, bubbly girl she had always been. "I don't mean to sound rude, but I just want to be alone for a while."
She turned and began walking away, her stiff posture and uneven steps giving testament to the pain she was feeling from her ordeal. They all watched her in silence, mourning the loss of the innocent girl she had been.
Alex stepped forward to follow her, but was brought up short by the fierce growl that rumbled up from her throat. "I said I wanted to be alone, Alex," she snapped without turning to face him. "What part of that is so hard to understand?"
Alex froze at her words. The defensive tone in her voice was familiar to him, but he had never heard it directed at him before. "But…but, Kat…" he faltered.
Her voice softened a bit at the hurt tone in his. "I'm sorry, bro. It's nothing personal. I just need some time to think, okay. Please don't follow me."
"Okay," he agreed sadly, stepping back toward the others. Jess wrapped an arm around his shoulders and gave him a light squeeze of reassurance.
DJ watched her with brooding eyes as she walked away. "What the hell happened to her?" he muttered.
"Some experiences change your life," Serenity said softly. "Katie has had some things put into perspective for her. It may seem harsh, but she has grown up a lot in the last few days. Now it's up to her to decide how she wants her life to go."
DJ craved to run after her. He wanted to pull her into his arms and hold her until the smile he loved came back to her face again. This new bitter young woman was a stranger to him, and he wasn't sure that he liked her too much. He wanted the fairy princess of his dreams back, not this hardened imitation.
'I'll get you back,' he vowed to himself as he reached into his pocket to clench his fingers around the silver bracelet there. 'I know the real you is still in there somewhere. I won't let you give in to this hate and anger. Somehow, I'll find a way to bring you back.'
A/N Yay, Katie's back, but the poor girl has got some serious issues going on. And poor DJ, my heart just breaks for him. Him and Katie are one screwed up couple, aren't they? LOL! Anyhow, I'm hoping to have the three of them landing in present day Tokyo sometime in the next chapter. It all depends on my muse and where it leads me, I never know. Hopefully there will be no more drama in my life so I can get it out to you quicker.
Oh yeah! I've had a lot of people asking if I'm going to do a youtube trailer to this story like I did for Lunar Princess. I really want to, but I need help. I need suggestions for characters to step in and play the roles of DJ, Alex, Katie, Jess, Jack, and Sasha. I have a few ideas, but I'm stuck. So any ideas you get, please feel free to shoot them my way. Oh, and if any of you are also Twilight fans, I did a SM/Eclipse trailer several weeks ago that came out really good. So if you're interested look me up on youtube. My screen name there is CelticPrincess827.
I also want to give you the rundown of the other scouts kids that were mentioned in this chapter. I'm not sure yet how big a part they are going to play in this story, but they will be popping up from time to time.
Mina / Kunzite – (daughter) Emma – 17, (son) Kyle – 8
Raye / Jadeite – (son) Jayden – 14, (daughter) Ryssa – 10
Lita / Nephrite – (daughter) Skye – 16, (son) Nick – 12
Amy / Zoicite – (daughter) Hannah – 14, (son) Corey- 6
Okay, I think I've said enough. Remember to review and tell me what you think. You guys are great and I luv ya all. Later gators!
~Sere~