DISCLAIMERS:
All canon characters are (C) 1992 - whatever year it is Naoko Takeuchi and all other related parties. The Shadow senshi are (C) Wild Nature 2006. This is a fanfic based upon the anime version and all written work that this consists of is (C) 2006 Wild Nature.
Things seem to have taken for the worst as Eizou lay in a coma, Henshou's disappeared, and the group is scampering to find the remaining Shadows. But Shadow Venus isn't as what she seems and Void fights with his 'lost' humanity as he's faced with the son he fathered.
Episode Thirteen: Face off! Henshou's Lullaby
It was cold where Eizou lay. She floated in a nothingness she couldn't understand. But she stayed still, unwilling to move. She was frightened and saddened. 'What a way to go..' She thought tiredly, her eyes glimmering in tears. 'Who was I to take this task? What would I have been able to do anyways?' The tears fell from her cheeks, her chest heaving.
She felt herself move to a floating upright position. She raised her hands and saw the transparency and she waved them slowly, the residue of her spirit wisping like clouds in her sight.
'What am I supposed to do? Am I dead? I should be in Heaven or something...' Eizou tried to rub her face but she couldn't feel anything and she gave up, her eyes once more tearing. 'I'm sorry.. Nerthus..'
She was surprised to think of her as the first person to come to her. 'Nerthus...' She saw her in her mind's eye, the sad eyes when she first mentioned her family. 'But if I'm reborn...'
She slowly realized just why Duchess Nerthus looked so hurt. 'God, I'm a monster..' Eizou laughed bitterly. She felt herself take a fetal position. 'I guess... I deserve this.'
She tried to clear her mind but she found herself wishing she knew again why she was doing this. Why did she awaken? How did she survive that first attack? She was nothing but a babe.
'Void...' She saw in a moment's blink of everything being swallowed in darkness. 'With no Light...'
She opened her mouth but a choked sound only came out before she screamed, her voice echoing in the darkening nothingness.
Shadow Venus stared at the Triad Moon Piece. No matter how much she held it, she couldn't warm it. Already Void's nothingness was taking over it. She held it to her, whispering to it. But she felt the defeat, as she always had.
"Such a good girl you are." Void appeared behind Shadow Venus, his eyes fiery. "I knew I could count on you." His hands cupped her face and she shivered, feeling the cold seep into her. "I'm sorry. When I'm whole, I won't be like this.." He breathed, his lips so close to hers. He pulled away. "When the time is right, we'll do our best to fix Shadow Moon."
"But now we need the next piece. Good thing it's heading in our direction, huh?" He smiled thinly. "My dear boy, what are you doing?"
Shadow Venus merely stared at the item in her hand, her eyes welling up as she bit her lip.
Henshou was using all of his strength to arrive to Void's castle. He knew where it was, despite never having seen it. He could feel it in his blood, calling him. "I'm sorry, Dad. But I can't let this happen." But his heart was breaking. How was he supposed to choose? His father or his true love?
Apple was pacing in the backyard periodically throwing his head back to howl in his suffering.
"Apple?" Kakushi gently reached out. Apple looked up. "It'll be all right," Kakushi forced himself to save.
"No, it won't be!" Apple pulled away, his tail tucked between his legs. "What am I supposed to do? I wish I knew what I was supposed to do! I mean, I'm linked to her, that's why I felt it but yet, I have no memories, no idea, no anything!" He threw back and howled again.
He lay on the ground then, defeated. "I would give anything to save her. Why did this happen? If she's gone.."
"It's already getting dark," Kakushi whispered. "Without Light, the world will turn into darkness."
"Just existing is enough," Apple and Kakushi looked up in shock. Duchess Nerthus stood, looking very tired. "Eizou is a Pillar, the one of Light, just like the other Shadows are Pillars. Without them, the balance of Earth would fall into disarray."
"Lady.." Apple began.
"Who are you?" Kakushi glared. Another figure arrived next to Duchess Nerthus. Njord looked back at the other man, his eyes dark.
"What happened to Shadow Moon?" Njord asked softly.
"Papa!" Pomona also appeared but next to Kakushi. "It was Shadow Venus! She's.. turned traitor.." She choked out thickly. Emotions ran over Njord's face before his hands became fists.
"How.. how could she?" His body slumped in defeat. "She was of greatness.."
"She still is," Duchess Nerthus gently touched the other's shoulder. "She is conflicted."
"Hello? Somebody answer me!" Kakushi nearly shouted.
"Kakushi?" Hanshou came out and stared at the bizarre gathering with barely a blink. "What's wrong honey?"
Apple stared at her. "I see Kakushi takes after you. You knew all of this time.."
"I guess I did," She scratched her nose. "My grandmother had unusual gifts that she passed on to me."
"Like what? ESP?" Kakushi asked finally.
"I guess. I knew about Eizou's ... gift but I didn't realize it would be so important. I guess I tried to stifle that feeling."
She approached Duchess Nerthus. "You're.. rather attached to her, aren't you?" Hanshou smiled. "I'm Hanshou, her mother."
"This is..." Njord began.
"Nerthus," She gracefully bowed with a smile. "So nice to meet you."
"My Lady.." Njord began.
"She is my elder and I should show the proper respect." Nerthus said gently.
"As you wish.." He turned to Pomona. "Let's talk alone for a moment."
"Papa.." Pomona's eyes were still swollen. "I'm so sorry.."
"You haven't done anything," He spoke softly as they went to the side to talk softly to each other. Njord's arm gently encircled his child, his own eyes as sad as hers.
Hanshou led the rest into the house, settling in the living room. "My husband is still at the hospital and I sent Boya and Chuukou to my sister's." She rubbed her temples. "Please, tell me, what is going happen?"
"The Shadows aren't exactly Shadows," Nerthus sighed. "They are special souls created to uphold the elements of the Earth. They were to control the balance of life of Earth. But they also helped control Void. Void is of the nothingness of space, of what was before the elements were born."
"Why is there no Shadow of Void?" Kakushi asked, his arms crossed.
"There is... there was. But it was a male and being overly powerful, he couldn't control it alone. But by the time the Shadows were born, he was nearly lost and tried to destroy them." Nerthus's wiped her eyes.
"So many of us lost our loved ones. We didn't know that they would be reborn until Void killed himself. It meant that there was something left of himself. But again, he was reborn too early."
Her head fell down. "Without Light, the Sun is going to dim and eventually die out." Nerthus sighed. "I don't know how long that will take."
"Henshou went to find Void," Kakushi pointed out. "What if he can save Eizou?"
"Who is Henshou?" Nerthus asked finally, confused.
"Void's son," Apple answered.
Nerthus's eyes widen. "What?"
"Void's son," Apple repeated.
"But Void... isn't able to bear children.."
The Shadows, or what had been discovered, had gathered themselves. Kaki was pulling on her braid as Kakure blazed on, nearly incoherent. Poor Kaiki was trying to listen but just ended up plugging her ears as Kakure began to speak rather foully and still incoherent.
"There is only three of us now!" Kaki finally said, stopping Kakure in mid-rant. "Poor Eizou's in the hospital! And Oke has gone to the dark side!"
"And we're just sitting here.." Kaiki said sadly.
"Standing," Kakure corrected, the only one literally standing. "We need to find.." Kakure scratched her hair furiously. "Augh! What are we supposed to do?"
"We should talk to Apple," Kaki suggested.
"Why? He doesn't know anything! He's useless!" Kakure barked, her eyes dark. "We need a plan! Eizou's still alive, we just need to get the Triad Moon piece back for her!"
"And how do you suggest we do that?" Kaiki grumbled. "We're just as useless as Apple!"
"Wait, what about teleportation? The other girls told us about their ability. It's how they got to the moon and stuff," Kaki pointed out.
"Could we do that?" Kaiki watched Kaki shrug.
"There could be so many problems," Kaiki continued with a long sigh. "We don't know where to go, we might not have enough power, hell, we may not even be able to teleport. We're not LIKE them, remember?"
"I wish we were, or at least had their experience," Kakure looked up at the clear skies. "Or at least the rest of the Shadows! Augh, this is so freaking frustrating!" Her poor hair was nearly torn out as she took to pacing.
The wind picked up, scattering a few random dead leaves to fly around the group. They each felt it, a sensation running through them. "Who's there?" Kaki stood up, followed hurriedly by Kaiki.
Two girls stood side by side. The blonde, with heart shaped bangs and her long, delicate hair pulled into pigtails, looked with a smile and warm blue eyes. Around her neck was a familiar necklace, a sky blue gem glittering in the sunlight.
The other, a brunette, had wild curly hair, pulled back with yellow clips and cut evenly around the base of her head. Her bangs were pulled to the far sides of her face that tucked behind her ears. Her dark brown eyes were warm as well, intelligence flowing freely. And around her neck, she wore a silver gem.
"I think I know how to find Shadow Moon," the brunette moved forward gracefully. "My name is Tomeru Toki. This is my cousin, Hastuhikou Sora. Respectfully, I am Shadow Pluto and she's Shadow Uranus."
"How.. did you know?" Kaki looked at the others. "We were founded by..."
"We had some extraterrestial help," Sora giggled. "She was crying and we wanted to help her."
"You mean Pomona?"
"Yep, poor thing was sobbing so hard. Something about her sister. We told her we'd save her too."
"Do you even know where to go?" Kakure glowered. Toki blinked, slowly glancing at Sora.
"I'm guessing you guys don't know about it.." Toki said carefully. "We're, uh... special even AS civilians."
"What does that mean?" Kaiki began.
"Tell me, are you really comfortable in your element?" Sora asked thoughtfully.
Kaiki nodded slowly, the first to agree. "I take to the sea so easily. I could almost breathe.."
"You probably can, as well as talk to the sea creatures," Toki pointed out. "And Shadow Mars could control fire and things relating to fire.."
"Such as heat, lava, anything that burns on Earth.." Sora counted off her fingers.
"And I could control nature?" Kakure shook her head. "How do you know this?"
"Because we kind of awoke prematurely. We learned we could do special things but we haven't actually transformed," Sora answered.
"Like what? What can you two do?"
"I can use air to my ability. I could levitate things," Sora said about herself.
"People thought she was psychic," Toki smirked. "But she's just an airhead."
"Hey!" Sora tried to protest but Toki turned around.
"I'm a bit different.. I could make time fluctuate."
"Like go backwards in time? Man, I could correct my answers on my tests and.."
"Not exactly. Even I'm not sure what I can do with time. It's not a easy element," Toki said, butting into Kakure's happy exclamation.
"But I do know this," Toki continued. "I can take us to Void. He's where time doesn't run. I can... feel it, to place it simply."
"Then let's go!" Kaiki, Kaki, and Kakure pushed forward.
"All right..."
Henshou stepped lightly, the dim, silvery gray clouds at his heels falling away with low moans of a distant winds. He stared up at the mansion, fashioned just like his old home.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" Void moved down the steps. "Welcome home, son." His voice dripped in acid.
"I'm here for Eizou," Henshou glared, his eyes dark and cold.
"Please, for that little thing? You could do so much better," Void's laughter was devoid of emotion. "Now, be a good boy. Give it to me."
"I don't know what the hell you're talking about but give me that Triad Moon Piece!" Henshou nearly screamed.
"It must be awful," Void's soft whisper was so light but it carried to Henshou in the wind. "You've lost your mother.."
He moved closer leisurely. "Your father.."
"And now, the person that could've saved you.." Void breathed, raising his hand. "Goodbye.. son.."
Henshou moved back, covering his self with his arms in a cross. But nothing happened in the few seconds before he looked up.
Void stood there, a strange look on his face. Henshou took this time to uppercut the figure, sending him sprawling on his backside. He ran around the fallen figure, entering as he followed his feeling in his body, spiraling through him, urging him.
It was like a bit of fireworks going off in her body. Eizou felt a stirring deep in her stomach, spreading in her limbs. She became aware of her heartbeat and the flush crawling to her cheeks. "Henshou... Henshou? HENSHOU!"
She shouted eagerly, feeling warmth fly through her. "Henshou! I'm here!" Excitement took over her depression. "I knew you would come for me," she whispered, holding her hands close to her chest, cupped with hope.
Shadow Venus felt the warmth coming from the item in her hands. It was slight but it was also growing. She could tell that. She turned slowly, her eyes seeking the door. It opened slowly, a heaving Henshou staring coldly at her.
"Suppose you'll kill me now?" Shadow Venus asked casually. She threw the Triad Moon Piece up in the air, Henshou's eyes following it through as she caught it. "Tell me, Henshou, right? What's it like to be in love?"
"Give that to me," He voiced evenly.
"I know what love is," she continued. "And it hurts, a lot."
"I don't care what you're going through, I want that NOW!"
"You don't know anything about love," Shadow Venus nearly hissed. Her grip tightened on the Triad Moon Piece. "You don't even CARE!"
"I need to save Eizou!" Henshou shouted wildly.
"But what about your father?" Shadow Venus's voice dripped in rage. "Or yourself?"
"My father is dead.." Henshou began.
"He isn't," Shadow Venus's eyes were dark. "Know why? Because I SAVED him, not you. What kind of son are you?" Her voice was cold. "I loved him enough to accept him."
"Shut up.."
"I could take his darkness, bring out his heart.."
"SHUT UP!"
"You don't know anything about love..." And just like that, she threw the item out of the window. "So why should you save her?"
Henshou instantaeously followed, jumping after it as Shadow Venus grabbed her blade and took after him.
He managed to grasp the item in his hands, pulling it tightly to his chest as he crashed painfully. His body ached and he couldn't move any limb. Shadow Venus landed lightly on her feet, her eyes flaming.
"You'll die now," She hissed.
"Eizou.." Henshou whispered, feeling blood gather in his lips. And there was a single moment of silence before the Triad Moon Piece lit up, shining brilliantly as Eizou formed soundlessly.
She looked up and spotted Shadow Venus and then took note of Henshou. She made a strangled sound and knelt down toward the pitiful figure. "Henshou! Henshou, wake up"
His body was still and she wrapped her arms around him. "No... please.. wake up! Wake up!"
"Shadow Venus! Take the two pieces!" Void barked, coming to the other's side. "NOW!"
Eizou looked up, her eyes tearing. "How... could you? This is your son! Your child! You created him with your love, your wife..."
Void stilled, his eyes glittering as distant memories tried to surface. "That life of that old man isn't me," he hissed. "I am Void!"
"Do it," he jabbed his finger angrily. "Now!"
Eizou looked to Shadow Venus as she approached carefully. The blade dug lightly to the ground, scraping noiselessly. "We were supposed to be allies... Without us, there is no life.." Eizou's eyes welled up. "Without Love..."
"Love? Love is hate," Shadow Venus's eyes revealed a deep hurt. "Love gets you lost, broken. You lose everything.."
"But as they say, better to have loved then to not loved in the first place," Shadow Venus laughed callously. "Farewell."
"Oceanic Tidal Crash!" Shadow Neptune and the others appeared. She was the first to attack, sending Shadow Venus back against the outer wall of the mansion. "How dare you!"
"How dare I? How DARE I?" The smile on Shadow Venus's face was frozen, stretched painfully. "What do you know?" She hissed. "You don't know emptiness like me! You don't deserve to live!"
She raised her blade. "Empty Heartache Erase!" She swung it, scattering the group.
Void watched as Shadow Pluto slowly approached. She wore a black strand for a choker, at the center a silver orb with two small yellow gems at each side. Her collar was entirely silver and her bodice was different. She wore a silver sleeveless and shoulder-less dress but the top half was covered in a partial black corset, a huge gape down the front of her body to the waist. It was tied together by black string, making four x's along her breasts and stomach area. Her waistband started at the beginning of one end of the black corset at the front with a silver orb. It had two stripes, the top yellow and the bottom one white. It wrapped around her hips to the other side. The two silver orbs were connected by three loose black strands.
Her brooch was a silver crescent moon, each side adorned in two yellow gems and attached from side to the other were three loose black threads. She wore seemingly detachable black sleeves, that covered three fourths of her arm but cut off at the fingers. At the backs of her hands were a silver round gem outlined in yellow. She had a back bow, much like shoelace ribbon, that was a set of two bows, one white and the other yellow. Her feet were adorned in knee high, arrow pointed silver boots. The top was edged in yellow but had also a yellow diamond in its center.
"You must be Void," A blade formed, the handle black and the blade itself maroon.
"The Timeless Blade," he commented. "Not many of you have reached that type of power."
"Shadow Pluto!" Shadow Uranus called out. "Quickly!" She wore a black strand for a choker, at the center a sky blue orb with two small yellow gems at each side. Her collar was entirely sky blue and her bodice was different. She wore a sky blue sleeveless and shoulder-less dress but the top half was covered in a partial black corset, a huge gape down the front of her body to the waist. It was tied together by black string, making four x's along her breasts and stomach area. Her waistband started at the beginning of one end of the black corset at the front with a sky blue orb. It had two stripes, the top yellow and the bottom one white. It wrapped around her hips to the other side. The two sky blue orbs were connected by three loose black strands.
Her brooch was a sky blue crescent moon, each side adorned in two yellow gems and attached from side to the other were three loose black threads. She wore seemingly detachable black sleeves, that covered three fourths of her arm but cut off at the fingers. At the backs of her hands were a sky blue round gem outlined in yellow. She had a back bow, much like shoelace ribbon, that was a set of two bows, one white and the other yellow. Her boots were black and ankle high, the top fringed in sky blue lace.
And for a moment, Shadow Pluto eyed Void before turning to run to Henshou. "Timeless Reversal!" She raised the sword above her, her eyes closing tightly as the sword first lit up and then her body glittered. The energy pooled downward and into Henshou and in seconds, he heaved a heavy and exhausted breath. Shadow Pluto fell, her body untransforming due to the exhaustion she was now feeling.
"Ei..zou.." Henshou whispered. "My lullaby.." He passed out and Eizou blinked, unsure of what he meant.
Void was moving toward the two and the other Shadows were trying to fight Shadow Venus save for Shadow Pluto who started for Void.
Eizou's came out weakly. "Sleep well tonight, my little one."
Void stilled, his eyes widening. Eizou's voice continued, gathering strength.
"I will still be here when the light of the sun arises."
"My love in my heart beats within your own."
"Hold fast to the light, and embrace the shadows."
"Someday, we will all be one and the same."
"Someday we will all love each other."
"And someday, we will not be apart because of the night."
And slowly, he blinked. Water gathered in his eyes as he shook his head. "My... beloved..." He held his hands to his face. "My...son..." He fell to his knees in defeat.
"No..." The voice growled out from him, echoing in deadly coldness. "They're gone from me.. They've lost! I will.. I will return them.. I will..."
"You cannot bring back the dead," Shadow Pluto said softly.
"Yes, I can.." he hissed, struggling to stand. "I will! I WILL!" He screamed as the place became a hurricane of dark air, spinning wildly around the others.