Chapter 15 – Fighting Fire With…What?
The sound of what had once been his own name being screamed in agony somewhere inside his skull drove Jed to leave the comforting blackness of unconsciousness.
He sat up with a heavy groan, shaking his head like a dog as he tried to clear out the cobwebs. Catching sight of a fragment of terracotta pottery, he growled. "Vicious harpy. She hit me. I'm swear, I'm going to paddle her until her backside's as red as her fuk…"
Hearing a gasp, Jed broke off a bit guiltily, meeting the eyes of the professor who hovered over him and then slowly looked around to realize that a large number of other people had witnessed his little encounter with Rei, including the smashing finale.
Disgusted with himself, he waved off offers of dampened handkerchiefs or aspirins, concentrating on getting to his feet on his own. He couldn't believe he'd been so careless to almost spill the beans about her fuku, and with it, her identity. 'I'm such a loose-lipped idiot! That'd be a quick way to get her killed!'
Another frantic mental scream ripping through his mind knocked him back on his knees, and he swayed unsteadily for a moment, drawing concerned murmurs from the professor who knelt beside him, patting his arm.
"We'll get you to a doctor, young man,"
"Don't touch me!" Jed barked, batting away the helping hand and leaping to his feet. "Where is she?"
Uncomfortable silence reigned as the various onlookers exchanged guilty glances.
"I said…where is she?" Jed repeated icily, rubbing his throbbing temple, ready to shake the knowledge out of the nearest person if he had to. Something was very wrong, he knew. The icy prickling of his skin and the strange crawling sensation on his scalp portended nothing good.
Finally a meek-looking young woman, clad only in a pair of tights and a dressing gown and face only half made up, standing next to another similarly garbed and barefoot girl, silently pointed off stage.
"Thank you. Carry on."
The tenor of his voice, honed in a previous lifetime's military experience and ringing with command, had people leaping back to their instruments, rustling their sheet music, and generally doing anything to avoid thinking about the confrontation that was likely to occur.
Jed raced down the indicated hallway until he spotted the door, the only one along that particular corridor. Turning the knob, he realized it was locked. He rattled it, then slammed a fist against it. "Rei, open the goddamned door! Right now!"
Unfortunately, much as she would have liked to do exactly that, she couldn't, and in fact she didn't even hear him. Rei, no longer Sailor Mars…having detransformed when the core of her fire, the core of her being, was ripped from her, was twisted in unspeakable agony, which rolled over her in unceasing waves. It felt like she was being torn absolutely in two and pain was the only thing in her world. She was going to be sick any second and could only pray that she would faint and thereby end her misery.
There was a shuddering bang as the locked door's scarred panels bulged inward with the violent blow from male shoulder. This was followed by another and another in quick succession until the door, if not the lock itself, gave way with a splintering crash, sending Jed stumbling into the room.
Cradling his bruised shoulder, Jed muttered in disgust as he spotted the electric lime green-haired being hovering over a violently thrashing but oddly silent woman, "Sweet Gaia, Rei!" he burst out. "What in the hell have you gotten yourself into now?"
Then he saw the blood drops, thick and wine colored, on the floor and matting down her full sleeves with sticky, rust-colored stains.
The warrior Jadeite had always considered himself a civilized man who, even in battle, used civilized weapons and with a code of honor, but for the first time he began to understand the basic, primitive appeal of tearing into a living, breathing body, rending it limb from limb with his bare hands. Pummeling it into a bloody pulp until it had gasped its last breath. Brilliant light exploded around him, transforming Jed, as he reacted instinctively to the sight of his woman's spilt blood.
The other man had to die…painfully. It was a simple as that.
The white jade bladed dagger was whistling through the air, embedding itself hilt deep between Thanatos' shoulders faster than non-magical human eyes could follow. Blood and ichor spewed forth. The dark angel let out a bellow that shook the rafters and stumbled away from Rei, clawing at his back and letting loose of his prize, though it did not fall.
The little part of Rei that was no longer completely consumed by searing pain realized that she could still taste that…thing on her tongue. Total revulsion at the thought had her gagging and she doubled over and vomited sourly, unintentionally freeing herself in the process and blessedly wiping the foul taste of Thanatos from her mouth. She lay on the floor amid the puddles of bodily fluids like a broken doll as images swam blurrily before her eyes.
Jadeite, brandishing not one but two nasty short swords, launched himself at Thanatos, intent on carving up the demon and possibly even then flaying the skin from the pieces…just so long as it would be more painful that way.
Thanatos, maddened by having pain inflicted on him instead of the other way around, clawed back, his talons connecting with and deflecting Jadeite's blades with an almost metallic clang as he let out a roar. They danced around the room in a deadly duel which was strangely reflected back to Rei at three different angles from the enormous dressing room mirror. At one point there seemed to be an almost infinite number of Jadeites and Thanatoses reflected, locked in unceasing, bloodthirsty combat.
A lazily pulsating ball of swirling red and orange light beckoned, however, its molten brightness calling her attention from the battle's perverse ballet. A little larger than the ginzuishou, its color was deep, intense and burning, and it seemed to radiate quietly blistering heat, like an orb of lava spinning in space. Rei wondered for a moment if she was the only one who could see its seductive gleam, since neither of the other occupants of the room, intent on their battle, were even looking at it.
It was weirdly peaceful, almost like watching a lava lamp, but one made of real lava instead of Technicolor goo. The longer that Rei watched the ebb and flow of its play of light and color, the better she felt. It soothed the raw, bleeding void in her chest. And suddenly it seemed to wink at her, as if to say, 'Come and get me.'
Without quite knowing what she was doing, Rei painfully dragged herself to her hands and knees and began crawling toward it, heedless of the danger or the scarlet streaks her broken and bleeding flesh left behind on the floor. She had to have it. It belonged to her.
That thought brought with it some clarity.
It didn't just belong to her. It was her.
For if her Sailor Crystal had been that which made Rei a senshi, the Fire Crystal was what made her Mars. It was the core of herself which connected her soul, however many times reborn, with the turbulent firestorm which still burned unceasingly in the heart of her planet.
Time itself seemed to hold its breath and still as she reached for it with both hands, drawing the flame into herself. Around it, her skin blistered, then charred and blackened, filling the air with the stench of burning flesh. The pain was excruciating. The Fire Crystal had never been meant to be touched by mortal flesh, not even hers. Still, Rei refused to let go. It was her birthright and her heritage and she would not be separated from it. Oblivious to the sounds of wanton destruction going on around her, she could only hear the insistent thrum of her blood, pounding like a mantra through her brain. Suddenly the crystal began to pulse in tune with that primal rhythm.
The crystal flared, white hot, and suddenly she was a part of the crystal itself, staring at herself in the tri-fold mirror. She could see Hino Rei on one side and Princess Reina on the other and Sailor Mars staring straight back at her. They were three and they were one and they were the blazing heart of the flame.
She smiled and they all smiled together. Her henshin wand was now no more necessary than a toy. She was the flame itself and it would work her will.
"Mars Eternal Ascendant Power, Make-Up!"
She couldn't have said whether she spoke the words or simply thought them. They only were as the snaking rings of fire wound themselves around her and she was buoyed up on the heated blast of a sirocco wind to reach her ultimate power level…and then she transcended it. The avatar became the goddess.
Her head snapped up and she flicked a massive fireball toward the battling man and demon as easily as she would have thrown a tissue into a wastebasket. The struggling pair broke apart as flames splashed against the wall between them, then stared.
To Jadeite's astonishment, Eternal Sailor Mars' eyes held none of their usual violet color, being round and burning red as embers. Yet in the center of the fire, her dilated pupils seemed to absorb all light, blacker than anthracite coal. Her fiery crimson mane billowed around her like licking flames, and in the midst of it all, the sigil of Mars blazed mightily on her brow.
"Return to hell, demon spawn."
"Nooooooo!!!" howled Thanatos in terror as she turned her burning gaze on him.
"Holy shi…" Jadeite gasped as the air thickened, making it hard to breath. He felt like dropping to his knees in worship. Instead he moved, slamming one of his swords through the demon's foot and into the floorboards, pinioning the evil being to a single spot on the floor.
He never got out the rest of his oath as Mars' scarlet lips rounded with a whisper as deadly as Pluto's scream.
"Mars…Infernal…Emberstorm…"
Tumbling flames and a whirlwind of burning embers gouted from Sailor Mars' fingertips, toward the trapped Thanatos, swirling and roaring like a raging wildfire. The inferno triggered every heat sensor and sprinkler system in the building at once, but within the dressing room, the sprinklers never had a chance. The water vaporized before it could so much as dampen a soul. Mars' blaze formed a searing curtain of pure red heat round the dark angel, purifying with heavenly flame until everything was burned clean.
Only a pile of fine white ash spattered by pools of molten steel was left when the curtain of hellfire fell.
She turned toward Jadeite. His eyes widened as he wondered morbidly if he was about to learn first hand what cremation felt like to the living.
Sailor Mars took three steps toward him, placing her palm against the breastplate of his armor, opened her mouth to speak, her eyelids fluttered, and then she dropped into his arms with all the grace of a felled tree, completely unconscious.
Horrified, Jadeite slid her to the floor, checking for mortal injury. For anything!
Yet even as he began checking her over, grateful that her wounds seemed to have sealed themselves, Rei's limbs began twitching spasmodically, and then she started to violently convulse, scaring him half to death with the thought that she'd suffered a damaging brain injury.
As he was ready to grab her and run to the nearest hospital and damn the consequences, the seizure passed and she stilled. Jadeite snatched up a mirror, somehow miraculously not destroyed, from the ruins of a dressing table, holding it over Mars' nose and mouth, incredibly relieved when it fogged with warm, albeit shallow breath.
Sailor Mars' eyes snapped open. As before, they burned with the heat of a thousand suns and a thousand deserts. Heat began radiating from her flesh as though magma rather than blood flowed through her veins, and Jadeite found himself forced back from her as the very air around her superheated to the point that the whole scene appeared to shimmer. As she stared up sightlessly, she began to speak in an eerie tone that Jadeite had never heard her use before and he suddenly realized that something or someone was using his Firebird as a conduit.
"When ten souls most blest in power into five hearts combined, and fair moon and mighty sun at their heights both aligned, the fall is nigh and red witch's curse malign. Taking form reflected in a mirror crack't; And so the moon and planets fell, hard wrack't"
Jadeite cursed, wondering why it was his woman who had to be the oracle. He didn't know jack about visions and portents, but he sure knew a prophecy when he heard one coming off her tongue. Grimly he focused, trying to remember every single word spoken, for with a prophecy, the slightest change in shade of meaning could throw understanding off forever.
Still staring blindly, Sailor Mars sucked in a deep breath before intoning, "Court of the planets, with Selene's daughter were re-bound, As elements: Water, Flame, Earth and Light, was each in her turn found. Angels twisted threaten those princesses four who stand uncrowned. And Blue Terra's lord stands and waits, sore alone, for the golden day his true men find may their way back home"
"Yet golden jade must join with the priestess of purest fire, and blossoming earth and starry jade their bond mutually desire. Wise tanzanite concealed by other name must woo his heartmate, she of aqua lyre. But only when sweet Amor's light joins hearts with rose yet silver stone, shall a crystal future bright make itself full known."
"Please let that be it," begged Jadeite of whatever was entity was speaking through Rei, his head swimming. "I'll never remember any more."
Evidently the deity wanted the last word, for Mars was not quite finished. Jadeite was not amused.
"Only when that which was broken again is mended, shalt all glory come to pass as ever was intended," gasped Sailor Mars, sounding half strangled.
Sweat beaded on her brow as she fell silent and her eyelashes fluttered down. She began to thrash and convulse violently once again, then went horribly still. She didn't even appear to be breathing, and her face was so bereft of all color so that she appeared waxen. Like an ember burning down, the wildly vibrant scarlet of her hair leached away until only her familiar raven color remained. The stifling blast furnace heat in the room vanished as suddenly as it had come upon them and Jadeite felt an icy chill which had nothing to do with the ambient temperature run down his spine like the touch of frigid fingers.
Finally able to approach safely, he was at her side in an instant, shouting. "Wake up! Don't you dare quit on me now, baby!" He shook her shoulders as hard as he could. "YOU WAKE UP RIGHT NOW!!! WAKE THE HELL UP!!!"
The sight of those soot dark lashes fluttering upward to reveal dazed eyes the color of French lilacs was the most beautiful sight Jadeite had ever seen in his life, and her ragged cough and gasp for breath were music to his ears. "Oh thank Gaia," he muttered thickly, drawing her to his chest. "You're alive, Rei. You're alive."
She slowly blinked and her throat worked as she swallowed, trying to find her voice. "You…saved…me," she finally managed to croak, looking faintly disgruntled.
"No, baby," he insisted, stroking her ashen face. "You saved yourself. I just helped out on distracting the beast until you incinerated his ass. Terra, but you scared the hell out of me!" He clasped her close, and to Mars' surprise, she could feel the little tremors shaking his big body as he held her, muttering feverishly, "Don't ever scare me like that again, you hear me? Or I'll handcuff you to my wrist until you're an old woman and too frail to get into such trouble again."
In spite of everything, that drew a little smile from her. "Ecchi," she mumbled faintly, brushing his cheek with a hand that felt positively leaden. "Tell anyone 'bout this 'an…I tell 'em you're a musical theater junkie."
He let out a bark of laughter at that. "Let's not get nasty now, Firebird, or I'll make you buy me a replacement sword for the one you liquidated.
"Gotta rest…now…" Sailor Mars gave a tiny wriggle and pillowed her raven head against him. "So…tired."
"That's okay, baby," Jadeite said, scooping her up in his arms and rocking her. "That's fine. You sleep now and I'll take care of everything."
Taking him at his word, Sailor Mars shut her eyes and nodded off. For a full five minutes, Jadeite stood there with her, simply watching the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest as she breathed, assuring himself by that means that she wasn't going to die on him, but was merely sleeping. Only when he finally believed that, could he force himself to move and face the crowd that had formed outside.
The sight of the sinfully handsome and brawny blond man in the military-esque uniform and cape emerging from the destroyed dressing area and protectively cradling an unconscious Sailor Mars in his arms shocked most of the fire sprinkler dripping onlookers so much that they were unable to speak, mouths hanging open, the better to catch flies. One enterprising young woman however, broke from the crowd, whipping a pen from behind her ear and an un-drenched notepad from god only knew where. She was minoring in music, but her major was journalism and she smelled a great story, if only she could get it.
"Sir…sir!" She rushed at Jadeite, tugging at his the gold braid which trimmed his sleeve. "I'm with the Tokyo-Azabu College Gazette. "Can you tell us what went on in there?" She gestured to the trashed dressing room.
"No comment," snapped Jadeite brusquely, brushing away from her as if she were no more than a pesky moth fluttering about him.
Never one to give up on a possible story, the girl persisted, dogging his footsteps. "Well, can you tell us how long you've known Sailor Mars? Are you two involved in fighting monsters? Or romantically?"
"No comment," he again snapped, even more testily.
The would-be reporter wasn't about to say die, at least not yet. "Would you at least give us your name, sir?" She fingered the fine woolen exterior of his cape until he jerked it out of her hands as he pulled away. "Are you a new super hero for Tokyo?"
"Good night!!!" Jadeite exploded thunderously in his native English, all patience at an end. The girl let out a terrified squeak and dropped her pen and pad from nerveless fingers as if they'd been on fire. Gritting his teeth, he resumed his speaking in Japanese, "I said, no comment. End of discussion. And don't even think of following us."
With that he barged through the crowd which parted before him like the Red Sea for Moses. He was taking his Firebird home. Have caught a glimpse of the wicked looking blade on resting on his hip, not a single body, even the formerly intrepid reporter, dared follow.
Once well away from all reporters, witnesses and assorted lookie-loos, Jadeite ducked into a dark alley, and shook Mars gently. She opened just one eye, peering groggily up at him. "Wha?"
He chuckled. "You'd better change back, Firebird, unless you want your granddad to find out about the job you've been moonlighting on, 'cause I'm taking you home."
"Oh, 'kay," muttered Sailor Mars with a weary sigh. Then she opened her other eye and gave him as fierce a glance as she could muster in her exhausted state. "No peeking, you hentai"
Jadeite burst out laughing, but he screwed his eyes shut and turned his head to one side even as he groaned with feeling, "Take away all my fun, why don't you? Okay, Firebird, I promise not to look. Scout's honor."
Sailor Mars somehow managed even to snort at that, but she reached up and brushed the ruby jewel in her tiara, detransforming in his arms. Jadeite, as good as his word, kept his eyes firmly shut, though the temptation to peak was nearly overwhelming. He knew, though, that she was in no shape for fun and games, and she'd be entirely too enticing if he watched her transform back.
The act seemed to use up the last of her strength and Rei's head lolled back against his shoulder as she lapsed back into unconsciousness again. Jadeite sighed and brushed a quick kiss across her forehead. "Sleep tight, Firebird. I'll get you home safe."
He triggered his own detransformation before exiting the alley and carrying his lady home. Jed groaned a bit, though, when he was confronted yet again by the seemingly endless number of stairs. "She couldn't have an elevator, could she?" he whined. Still, there was no choice and she wasn't heavy.
Slowly he began climbing, taking extra care with his footing. That was as well because about halfway up he heard a pair of high-pitched avian screams as Phobos and Deimos dove at him with evil intent, their beady black eyes filled with malice. Had he been less surefooted, he might have fallen from the shock and badly injured both himself and Rei. He, however, remained rock steady. The crows swooped in, missing his face by scant centimeters and he cursed, hugging Rei closer and placing a protective forearm over her head.
"Goddamn crows," he swore, "they're going to cut her face to ribbons with those vicious talons!"
The birds, riding the air currents nearby screamed at him so violently, that he realized it was almost as if they'd understood his words and were defiantly answering him back, as if denying any intent to hurt her, though he was another story. He eyed them warily.
Jed had never dealt with birds before, but these two seemed possessed of an almost human…or perhaps that was a super-human intelligence as they swooped dangerously near him screaming aggressively. With that thought in mind, he decided to treat them as such.
"I didn't hurt her," he informed Phobos and Deimos coolly, knowing that somehow they understood him, "I rescued her. But YOU'RE going to make me drop her unless you two back the hell off."
The birds swirled away with a sharp cry of acknowledgement each. Readjusting his hold on Rei, Jed resumed climbing the stairs. Moments later the birds again swept in, but this time they were not focused on him, but on the woman in his arms. To his ears, their caws were mournful.
"She's just sleeping," he assured them. "Now go to your…" – he groped for the word– "…perch."
Again the birds seemed to heed him, but disconcertingly the perch they each chose was him, alighting on each of his shoulders, their beady black eyes fixed unwaveringly on Rei. When he shot one of them a startled look, the crow squawked insistently and pecked him lightly on the ear as if reasserting their right to be with their mistress.
Jed sighed in resignation. "Okay, fine. You two can come along."
As he crested the top of Sendai Hill, a short, squat, wrinkled, bald man in priestly robes rushed protectively forward at the sight of his precious granddaughter, seemingly unconscious, held tight in the arms of a fierce-looking blond gaijin. "Rei!"
Deimos and Phobos each let out a single squawk which had the effect of stopping the old man in his tracks. He looked astonished, and well he might have, for the birds never let anyone carry them, save his grandchild.
He fixed an intently curious look on Jed, who had the sudden feeling of something sweeping forcefully through his mind. Though he could have blocked the intrusion, he chose not to, understanding fully why it was being done.
"Who are you, young man? And what exactly are you doing with my granddaughter?"
Jed stared back boldly, shifting her weight so that Rei's head was better pillowed on his broad chest. "She was attacked, but she's fine now. Just tired. She needs to rest." He paused thoughtfully, then decided to add, a bit defiantly, "And I'm your future grandson-in-law."
Now the old priest from Sendai was many things, but truly foolish he was not, in spite of what his granddaughter often thought. Over the years he had seen much and studied more and had a potent gift for reading people and formidable spiritual senses, though he generally kept his own council about what he found, as he did the knowledge he possessed of Rei's unique nocturnal activities. He was utilizing all his skills at that moment to read the young man who had his dearest treasure clasped in his arms.
The moment of silence seemed to stretch out interminably, but finally the crepe-like wrinkles on the old man's face seemed to split and rearrange themselves as he slowly smiled. "I'll show you to her room."
Jed gave him a curt nod, following closely behind the old man as they disappeared into the temple's living quarters.
As he lay Rei down on her low futon and covered her gently, Rei's grandfather slipped in close and muttered to him softly. "Took you long enough to get here, boy. I was worried I'd wind up with a Christmas cake on my hands."
When Jed's eyes flared with outraged blue flame at the insult to Rei, the old man laughed aloud, though he kept his tone low enough not to disturb his grandchild's peaceful slumber. "You're a perfect match, you two. Neither you nor my temperamental granddaughter knows when an old man's putting one over on you. For your sake, boy, I won't tell her what you told me, because knowing her, I doubt she'd be pleased to know it, at least for now."
"But…" –he stuck out a hand in a hearty Western greeting– "welcome to the family. Tell me…exactly how much do you know of our faith?"