Chapter Ten: The Casting of the Battle
The passing of time was marked by the progression of summer, making the days hot and long. Tokyo had become green as the city matured and life had become its bloom in the face of a shading ailment. After the incident at the club, no new cases of people falling into comas had broken the headlines. Weeks had gone by with no sign of the Priests and a very uneasy stillness settled over the great city. This presented a wave of carefree time for the senshi, marked only by the humid days that brought laughter to the beaches and the desire to find shade.
As if written by the hand of Fate herself, the Scion had found some kind of sanity in this bitter period of peace. At first they had been vicious in their search for the Priests, but slowly they began to settle into a new life as the new, brilliant world was the reborn memory of the one they had lost. All except for Kage, but they hadn't seen him in weeks.
The first to meld into Tokyo was Suteki, fueled and enticed by the goddess's temptation. As he was the most aligned to life and its vices, it was easy for him to brush off the fostering threat that had so ruthlessly robbed him of his own world's splendors yet was still in wait upon this world. But he didn't care about that. His was the mind quickest to shed fear and doubt, leaving only happiness and contentment in the flash of green and gold. Despite the presence of his paraded mortal enemy, he was far more interested in grooming the relationship he had found with Minako. He was going back to school and even joined the soccer team, becoming a quick hit with players and fans. He smiled without looking back.
It wasn't long after that Kurai also began to fade away into the pull of things. He enrolled in school as well and was quickly trying to regain his place at the top of the scholarly placement. With Ami's help, he was quickly rising in rank at the school and gathering his academic credentials as well, although their time together was also spent getting to know one another. As they had so much in common and were finding more and more reasons to see one another, Ami began shying away when asked of a boyfriend – but never denying it. Life was finding its way back from darkness.
Yamito couldn't blame any of them at all. He knew the world would sway them and, inside where no one saw, he was glad for it. His friends deserved a new life and new chance to be alive and happy. Even if he could never let down his burdens and join them, he was hoping it would never end. Even for Kage.
On the last day of their combined search, before both Kurai and Suteki began to disappear into their new lives, the brawler had ranted and swore about the fact that none of the others were serious about finding the Priests – finding the source of his revenge. Even as the world had tempered him slightly, there was still the uncovered resolve to find Senso and claim his touted revenge. All Yamito could do was watch as Kage walked away towards the welcoming streets and further away from them. The dark soul found the only assurance in the fact that Kage still burned inside; that he still sought revenge above all other things. Where the desire to kill all of the Priests came into play, Yamito and Kage were very much alike. It may have been the only thing that linked them.
But even Kage had been spending a time among these senshi – in the form of Haruka and Michiru. They were the only ones who saw him consistently, for his rivalry with Haruka was something becoming a legend on the streets and when they fought one another, people lined up to watch. They were the only two to interact with him, even when Makoto quietly tagged along in hopes of somehow working her way closer to the brawler – to mimic that which her friends had found. So far she hadn't much luck.
Yamito was the only one who didn't belong. This cosmic puzzle was seemingly falling into place, leaving only him as the estranged piece which didn't seem to go anywhere, yet could nearly fit in more than one place. At first he had been alone, finding solitude the only silence to the voices in his head and continuing the search for the hated enemy that was slowly gaining strength somewhere out of sight. He knew they were close. He could feel it. But he was indeed alone, walking along a path that had trees on both sides and a staircase before and behind. He had nothing that bound him to anyplace and he truly felt hollow because of it.
Then there was Usagi.
He simply went to her, much to her dismay, speaking to her of the foils of being a leader and looking for some kind of companionship that was lacking in all other places. She was horrified at first, not knowing if she could keep herself in check in his presence and sight. While her heart beat loudly for her lover, there was always the echo that made her unsure. Due to his hypnotic presence, she opened up to him and even sympathized, equally pleased with how the other Scion had integrated, while sharing the same fears. While she never felt sure around him and a simple glance cast her into oblivious want, she found herself spending more time with him – secretly and with many glances back and forth. Her heart was her greatest weapon. It was also her greatest weakness.
Their illicit time together was strange and wonderful, but Yamito had slowly found a great wall within her. She was bonded to Mamoru and he could never see his way past that, no matter how her presence cured his loneliness. Weeks turned into months and even when they shared the night staring into stars and skies, he knew it was a lie – a great and cruel lie. He began to shun away from her, especially when he happened to see her with Mamoru. His heart was torn anew and agony had never claimed such a cause. Once more he wandered and stopped seeing her, feeling the hollow open up inside of him again.
This spiritual emptiness had led him to one place – the Hikawa Jinja.
In the beginning, it had been somewhat awkward. Out of the countless shrines and temples in Tokyo, this was the one that drew him close – beckoned his waning soul. As he sought guidance in the shrine, sometimes she would pass him in the courtyard and sometimes she seemed to hide, fearful to even look at him. He often heard her yelling at her grandfather about him, but never took offense. She was merely protecting herself and he admired that. She never spoke to him. It was the sort of thing he expected from her, leaning on the fact she knew the ominous force inside of him. In that regard, he rarely gave her much thought, though more out of his own fear than anything.
Her grandfather, in spite of her warnings, had been speaking to him more often now, finding the boy trained and well skilled. He was surprised to find the boy had been trained and his eyes glimmered with the thought of such an adept disciple. After many conversations, and most which led into the morning, he offered him a place helping with the shrine.
This mortified Rei.
It had been four days into his service before she dared to speak to him and even then it to bark orders at him and scold him for making small mistakes. He would apologize, holding her with the respect she deserved – his superior. She didn't know if that made her hate him more or less. His polite voice and displaced brilliance annoyed her, for she secretly longed for his dark voice – the voice that had spoken to her the first night in the shrine. But she found herself spending more and more time around him. Some days she would just sit and watch him doing the most remedial task, as if he somehow made it the most important thing to be done. He never looked at her, but just worked steadily at his tasks. She sometimes smiled as she watched. These feelings wouldn't let her stay away as Usagi had warned and the fact that he was within reach made it impossible.
On a late summer night, it happened. The circumstances were undeniable and the very air seemed to shroud them. Her yelling voice had no substance and she glared at him with no power. Even after his standard apology, she tried to revive the loathing she had fostered for him so long ago. But there was none left. She was forced to realize that her heart was incapable of letting him be. It was frightening and soothing at the same time, the moments spent staring into his eyes as she tried to fan the fire within her. The only hate she felt now was directed towards herself – despising the fact she couldn't act a certain way around him. She was lost and shivered with the indignation at being captured in those eyes.
Despite anything else that could happen, she knew one thing – she had fallen in love with him.
Buried in a mist of nothingness, with ribbons of evil and soul-wrenching moans stuffing the air, the four Priests had their mass. This temple of suffering had been dedicated in blood and built on the souls that had been consumed. An entire world had created this unholy form and countless numbers of frozen figures were trapped in the foundation. The most terrifying thing happened on occasion as a form would twist and writhe, as if to escape though none could ever hope to. So many souls had been raped for this vessel and so many more lie inside. With spiraling towers and gothic tones, it was a great and fearsome building, but not as much a building as a prison.
Housed inside the temple was a single room with no windows and no doors. Four solitary pillars stood and branched out with four torches, which gave the room enough light to bless four figures kneeling between the pillars. The four Priests were kneeling, facing a singular point in between where a single person was lying. A ritualistic chant filled the dank air and it seemed to bring life into the figure, which in itself, was sin in this holy place. He was a young man, dressed in a business suit and wearing a pair of glasses on his face. He appeared as if he had been plucked right from the streets of Shibuya. The place around his heavy body seemed to finally break into him and he slowly sat up, running a damp hand across his neck. Then the world was gone. His eyes dilated when he sat straight and saw what was around him.
"Wh…what is this place? Where am I?" he cried.
To his horror, the four figures continued their chant and he suddenly felt something inside of him. Somewhere deep inside his soul, a burning sensation rose like a bubble and seemed to push him somewhere black and endless – a realm of infinite black and cold. Nothing he had ever felt before could compare to it and he began to claw at his chest, his voice temporarily caught within his throat. The chanting became louder. Soon he was writhing, his hands pawing desperately at his throat and his face seeking help from above. It would not come. In a sudden burst of light, his soul was expelled from his body and he became lost forever, seeking without a way to find.
The body became rotten as something else possessed the lost man, glowing with an infinite authority and glowering through the lifeless eyes of the empty shell. "Tell me of your progress," spoke a distant, booming voice from the man's limp form. It had the effect of shaking the entire room. His eyes fluttered shut a moment only to reopen again glowing in a pale yellow hue, as if a window that had no frame. All else about the man was dead but for the eyes, and the eyes did not belong to him any longer. The Priests began to quiet and Kiga bowed to this holy vessel.
"This new world is lush with humans to take. We have gathered enough souls to fortify our assault on Tokyo and will assemble them as soon as the Gangers mature, my master," he reported with the highest respect.
The man's head slightly shifted to one side and the eyes were fierce – relentless. What was lying inside was dangerous to everything that was and everything that could be. Due to one Scion's efforts, however, it was forced to consume a soul for a brief window in the world. "The Higekitai?" said the voice.
"Still maturing also," Kiga replied and winced behind his cloak.
"The humans here have not experienced fear or suffering as the others had. It is taking more time for the negative power to assert itself, master," Byoki added with a reluctant voice. All four of them were shaky as they waited for the body to give them an answer, but nothing came for a time. Their profound apprehension about this force was considerable and with good reason. Their master was nothing like anything before and something to be weary of. Even his own subordinates feared every movement as their last.
After an unsettling moment, the man's head tilted straight a bit, all intent still lost in an empty face. "The Higekitai and the army will be used now, while our ancient enemy is distracted and content. They will aid us as they aided before. I have seen glimpses of things very interesting to me. With you four, we will be able to make short work of these Sailor senshi and the last of the Scion. Rise, Kiga. Show yourself to me," called the voice.
There was no hesitation as Kiga bowed and rose to his feet, eager to please his master. A grayed hand lifted to the hood on his head and slowly pushed back the thick fabric. When it fell around his neck, an echo was born. One couldn't have pointed out a difference from Yamito, aside from the different shades of skin and a cruel, dubious look on his face. Just as Usagi had found out by unknown means and purpose, Kiga and the other Priests were the copied counterparts of the last four Scion.
As Kiga looked at the wilting human form, a soft laugh seemed to escape from nowhere but the air around them. The man's lips twisted slightly in a smile, but it was a terrifying, bottomless smile which showed just how deep the creature was inside. With a phrase, Kiga was given more power than he had ever dreamed, if only because it was the thing he desired most. "We will use this to our advantage. We will take these Sailor senshi off guard. And you shall make it happen, Kurobashi Yamito," said the ominous voice, followed by a galaxy-pulsing laughter that surged through the tower once more.
The plan wasn't as clear to them yet, but Kiga smiled darkly at this prospect. There had always been one monstrous thing which had separated him from that person and it burned like madness in him. In this, he could possibly attain that which he sought above all else – equal footing. The forbidden entity mused a moment in the thought, then moved on to more selfish matters.
Standing in the dark was a single figure, apart from the Priests but intimate enough to remain there. It was a female bathed entirely in darkness, yet lacked the consciousness granted to the four Priests. However, it still had a great purpose. "I have a task of the utmost importance for you," said the pathetic shell of a man, arousing a twitch in the silent figure, "Find me the one who is called Tuxedo Kamen." Without hesitation, the figure disappeared.
"Are you going to stand there all night or what? Besides, those things will kill you. No wonder I can mop the floor with that palm tree of a head," Haruka taunted as she looked him over, wondering when he was going to finish his little break and continue the fight. Night had blanketed the park and drove most home for the night, though a few shadowy figures loomed under the black sky. A distant streetlamp gave soft light into the clearing where five figures were locked within a training session, though only two were fighting; or rather waiting to resume.
Kage blew the smoke out from his cigarette, coughing a few times to clear his throat and spitting vulgarly onto the ground. His jacket was set aside and he showed a few bruises and cuts on his well-toned body, though they were just payment for the entertainment. He reveled in the few he had dealt to her as well. "You talk too much. These give you the advantage that lets Kaioh over there have such a pretty toy. Your mouth is flapping but your nose and jaw are thanking me for it," he replied, taking his last drag before blowing out the smoking lovingly. Haruka responded with a smirk, showing she was quite used to his banter, but he just grinned a very strange grin; one that caught Haruka off guard for a moment. "Besides," he said, setting the glowing stub between his fingers as he smiled his gruesome smile, "I know exactly what's going to kill me and it ain't one of these." Before she had a chance to think about that, he flicked the cigarette at her, making her slap it out of the air. However, with a quick glance back, she found him charging right at her, restarting their brawl that had been going since the sun was in the sky.
Suteki was bored. Watching the two fight wasn't what he wanted to do on a cool summer night and it showed within the sloping expression he wore. There was beautiful girl that had wanted to meet him, but he hadn't seen Kage in a long time and knowing he would be at the park had drawn him out. Sometimes he felt that his friend was as distant as their world was now and he, more than anyone, wanted the brawler to come back. So, with a heavy sigh and the shifting of his chin to the other hand, he sat there with no interest at all aside from wanting two seconds with him – something Haruka denied with her presence. Setsuna hadn't shown up and left him without a conversation or idol. How he missed the lewd comments to the side and the lusting for the older woman. Her beauty had given him another reason to hang around the two Outer senshi, though his mouth was dry and he was left with nothing to do. With no real interest in the battle, he looked the other way at Kurai and Michiru.
"My best guess had been incorrect due to the fact I was assuming on a terrestrial base. After running a search program that covered nearly every meter of Tokyo, I was led to the conclusion that a more transcendent base may be what we are looking for," Kurai said as he typed into a laptop, the reflection of hundreds of maps and data flashing in his worn glasses. He thought a moment on his words, and then looked up to the girl beside him.
Michiru had been looking over the screen with a shallow expression, her mind tiptoeing across what he was saying and finding some kind of agreement with him. Since being brought in on this, the three senshi had assisted these Scion with a certain level of absorption. This had been the first time they had come together in many weeks, mostly spurred by Kage's presence and the other two's desires to see him. Where Haruka had some lewd rapport with the Jupiter Scion despite the harsh words being spit into the air, Michiru had found assistance in the logistics of it all. Kurai was very intelligent and very focused and she enjoyed his demeanor and his thought process.
There was something else she enjoyed as well and she looked at him out of the corner of her eye, a subtle smile gracing her features. "So, you and Ami are quite the item now. I've heard you've nearly risen to her placement level at school and are trying to find a university to attend. A lover's competition?" she asked with a sly grin.
Kurai blinked and looked up from the computer, sliding his glasses back up his nose with habitual perfection. Her subject change made him sigh lightly, but it morphed into his reserved smile with the subject she chose. "Yes, though my forced sabbatical has forced me to catch up. On my world, I would have been a sophomore already, but those credits have been lost forever. I will adapt," he replied and began typing again, totally dismissing the subject and trying as best he could not to flush.
She laughed softly at his deliberate evasion of speaking about Ami and there were so many similarities between the two that it amused her. In the short time they had known each other, she somehow felt she knew much about him just by being friends with Ami. Now she enjoyed having them both close to her. "I wonder where Setsuna is. Suteki-kun has been sitting there the whole time and I'm afraid he may die of boredom," she said and looked to the sulking figure. As Kurai followed her eyes, more eyes afar were settled on them.
"I don't know whether they are ready for this. These cloned soldiers and the four Priests can be defeated. Even this Higekitai could not possibly stand against the combined power of the princesses. It is the source of all this evil which concerns me, Jikan-sama. Anubis does not belong here," Sailor Pluto said with a tone of concern touching it off. Standing in front of a shadowed notch in the trees, she had been watching the five for some time now and was in her senshi form for good reason. After she had spoken, she turned her sad eyes into the shadows and a frown tweaked her colored lips. As happy as she was at the moment, she was also afraid. "You will not interfere?" she asked, hope brimming in her eyes.
A single figure was standing back from the world, wreathed in a sublime aura and imperial in silhouette. No light from the park could light him and no glow would expose him. This entity was not yet ready to take part. But that would come soon.
She knew it before she asked, but her interests always needed to be voiced especially since his mere presence constituted a departure from the norm. The reply came as a quiet voice, saturated with time and pulsing with authority, "Time stoops to no man's lure."
She felt resentful for it, but there was little she could do. Being the transcendent senshi who knew more than the others and held unspeakable powers made it especially hard for her to stand back as he did, though she knew what the involvement of this figure or his contemporaries meant for Earth. She almost considered asking it as a personal request, but that impish idea was shaken away as she laughed bitterly to herself, casting her eyes back to the group. "I suppose it doesn't matter. Even knowing what I know, I still believe Sailor Moon can stop him. She has what is needed, but I don't know if she will be able to find it with ease. This Scion concerns me, Jikan-sama. The power he commands is not natural and will surely be the end of him. And," she trailed said while closing her eyes, the authenticity of this hitting her very deep, "two princesses have come to care about him. I fear he will take them both into the void if something isn't done."
The figure's eyes were locked on her, unmoving and frighteningly vague. His looks were concealed, but the way he was looking at her told more than should have been. Whoever and whatever he was, it was drenched deep in the past, present and future – all tied into Pluto's realm and power.
After a moment, a breeze rustled the leaves around them and a staff in his hand caught some light, offering a violet glow onto some of the green leaves. "It is time," he announced and was consumed by the shadows. A gem at the top of the staff brightened a bit as darkness began to overtake him.
Sailor Pluto smiled lightly and bowed respectfully, waiting until the figure was gone before her lips parted in a tender request, "Please give me strength, Jikan-sama."