Two more weeks had passed. The city had been quiet, there being no further demon attacks or even youma in that time. It put the Senshi on edge, who decided to further their training just in case. Now, the girls were finding practical applications for their accessible powers outside of combat situations. Considering the growing amount of people with 'magical' powers, seeing one of the Senshi bring out their element quickly became commonplace, in their homes, workplaces, and schools.
Outside of Hotaru however, the girls were surprised to find that it was Ami who was making the most progress. Chibi-Usa had reasoned that it was most likely her feelings towards Zero, that had fueled her strength and ability.
"After all, you did suddenly turn your shoes into ice skates out of nowhere, when we were heading to his house."
Once again, Zero had nearly disappeared from the face of the earth. Hotaru only heard from him every once in a while, where he would show up, give her a hug, maybe take her out to breakfast or lunch, and then vanish again.
"Y'know…I could use this time to make a remark about his reliability…again…" Haruka pointed out.
"Please don't." Hotaru countered. "He's been slowly breaking me out of my 'team oriented' mindset. And I really don't feel like messing up my wrist punching you in the face." Haruka blinked at Hotaru's forwardness.
"What do you mean, Hotaru-chan?" Chibi-Usa queried.
"Look, being in a group of fighters is always a good thing. You got people you trust to guard your back when shit goes down…but…there's downsides as well. If you rely too much on your allies to cover you while in a fight, then when you're in a situation where its just you, you don't know how to handle it properly. Plus…people change.
I mean, look at what happened to you all with Galaxia. You all got offed one by one because you were hesitant to strike down your own allies. It's fine and dandy to care about someone, but something nobody ever bothers to add in is, if you care about them, be prepared to beat the everloving snot out of them. I've seen people walk themselves into horrible situations because their friends were the passive type, and never shut them up when they were doing or saying something supremely stupid.
It's better…to be willing to fight your own friends for what you believe in. Sometimes, you have to, because they think you're being a fool, but you know something they don't. If you back down all the time, they won't fully respect you. But if you're constantly willing to stand up for what you believe, they'll get used to it, and not think you're some evil dickweed or have gone crazy when you raise hands against them. Really it's…unfortunate…but…people have differing opinions, people have clashes of will and desire…the only one you can fully trust…is yourself. To be honest…because of self-survival…because of emotion, you can't trust anyone but you…to know what you want and need. Not reliably at least…"
"Even you?"
"yeah…" he gave a sad smile. "even me."
"That's…"
"Wrong! It's totally-
"Right." Ami finished. Everyone looked at her.
"It makes sense. Didn't you see what he started with? He mentioned how our fight against Galaxia nearly ended with us all dead for good. we wouldn't have needed to die in the first place, if we'd thought up that other option."
"Ami! You can't be serious!" Minako yelled. The blue haired girl just nodded.
"I am. While…morally questionable, he has a point. We let our ties to each other blind us more often than they strengthen us. Look at Usagi-chan. She has only grown so much as a person, due to her experiences as Sailor Moon, and Rei's constant rebuttal of her very existence! Because of that continuous conflict, even though it was muted at times, she's become a leader that we can all rely on to have our backs when the going gets rough. We can trust her to finish any battle we started, if we can't finish it on her own. Before? We could barely believe such a ditzy girl was supposed to be our leader, let alone our Princess."
They were all silent at that.
"And look at Haruka and Michiru. They literally fought her for the right of the Grail, and even in tears, Usagi held strong to their beliefs. Since then, when have they truly questioned the actions or reasons of their Princess? That fight, which tore her heart in two, was proof that she would not back down, that she had the right to be leader. When Galaxia came and did what she did, we were scattered, separated. We were so used to fighting on the same side, even from opposite angles of the battlefield, we were taken down one by one, because we weren't prepared for something like that. We were too afraid to fight our own.
We almost got the Sailor Starlights killed because we weren't able to fight one another, because of, rather than in spite of our friendship. We're warriors, and we're constantly in battle against impossibly powerful forces that can do all sorts of things. Look at us! All of us save for possibly Hotaru, had been victims of an attack, during each conflict! And we're supposed to be warriors? He has a valid point. We need to be ready to stand against one another, because of that friendship. We need to be ready just in case we're on opposing sides due to an outside force…it's like that…Seraph man said: 'You do not truly know someone, until you fight them.'"
"Well said." Came a voice from next to the shrine. The girls turned to see Kira leaning against one of the trees. "I apologize for interrupting, but my master has requested your presence."
"Zero's calling for us?" Hotaru asked.
"Indeed. He claims he is ready to proceed with the next stage of your training."
"What's he got planned for us?" Makoto asked, standing up and brushing the grass and dust off her skirt.
"I cannot say, he merely told me to deliver the message. I am to meet you at the house."
"Alright, we'll be there soon."
Kira nodded, before becoming engulfed in flame and vanishing. As the girls got ready to make the walk to his house, Chibi-Usa mused on what it could be he wanted them for.
"He usually just comes to us, wherever we are."
They all nodded, Hotaru a bit worried.
Helping Hotaru
Chapter XIV: Reprehensible? Or Merely Immoral?
Zero's Training Method.
"Good, you have arrived. Come, master is waiting in the back."
Kira led the group, plus Naru and Mamoru, to the backyard where they had defeated Alhazad. What they saw, caused the Senshi to gasp in horror.
"A-are those…" Usagi couldn't finish her statement, body shuddering.
"Pure…Heart…Crystals…?" Haruka breathed out, mortified.
"Yeah. They are." Spoke Zero, appearing from behind one of the six pillars, each with a glimmering Pure Heart Crystal floating above it. He casually gazed up at one, leaning on the spire of another.
"I took these from a few people that didn't need them anymore. Bitch of a spell to make too, I don't know how the Death Busters managed to do that crap with technology…very complex stuff."
Hotaru took a shuddering breath, trying to steady her raging emotions at the sight of the very objects her father kept trying to steal from people, both to feed to Mistress Nine, and to gain the Holy Grail. She closed her eyes, trying to banish the memories from her head. A peculiar glow outside her eyelids forced her to open her eyes and yell out in shock, falling backward.
A crystal was floating right in front of her face. She stared at it, horrified by the memories.
"Really Hotaru, I didn't think you were that weak." Came the scoff from Zero. The girls grew indignant, both at his words and his actions, but it was the pulse of air that ripped from Hotaru's palm that shut everyone up. Zero casually stepped aside, letting it crash into a tree behind him.
"What the HELL Zero?" She yelled at him, getting to her feet, crackling orb of energy in her hand.
"You were pussying out, I can't have that."
VROOOSH
He ducked low, mocking smile on his face as the sphere ripped towards him, blowing up another tree.
"I still have nightmares from those days!"
"Sounds like a personal problem to me."
She yelled out in frustration, racing at him in a blind rage. She didn't care that Kira had appeared next to him, gently taking the Pure Heart Crystal from his hands and flaming out of the way. They watched Zero step to the side, a single hand blocking Hotaru's glowing fist.
"Come on, I don't have time to date a wuss."
He leaned back, narrowly evading Hotaru's damn near invisible strike. Gotten faster.
He couldn't evade her follow-up, however. She had used the momentum of her swing to turn herself on her heel, bringing up her leg from his right side. He quickly threw up an arm, blocking the strike, before bouncing backward, flickering out of view and putting distance between them.
"CALL ME A FUCKING WUSS WILL YOU?"
All the fear, the rage, the self-hate, the loathing, the worry…every negative feeling she had, both from the memories and that had built up over the months came spilling out. In the blink of an eye she was on him. Her strikes were like lightning, hands moving faster than the eye could see.
He slapped aside her palm, leaning back to evade the second, before grabbing her wrist and falling backward. Bending his knees the second his back hit the ground, he prepared to strike upward, but Hotaru went with the movement, throwing her weight forward instinctively, his toes just barely brushing the cloth of her shirt. She threw forward her hand, turning the near-dive into a forward hand-spring, before twirling around in the air after pushing off the ground, a series of lances of pure energy ripping from the wall of power in front of her.
Zero rolled to the side, popping himself up, only to have to cross his arms as Hotaru suddenly appeared in a ripple of energy, bringing her leg down over his head. He blocked the strike, but she threw herself back, hand glowing. His eyes widened as the ground beneath them rippled, two massive green vines ripping from the earth and slamming right into him. He went with the blow, throwing himself back, barely dodging a sphere of violet flame.
PURPLE? Since when can she alter color?
He had no time to further muse her sudden skills, for she was on him again. Her fists were fast as the blowing wind, each strike sending shockwaves of power through his body, even upon successful blocks. He ducked under an overhead horizontal kick, and punished with a swift punch to her chest. But somehow, she knew it was coming.
Melty Blood 2A my ass!
She grabbed his fist, and mimicked what he did to her earlier. However, the surprise was that she didn't follow the same movements when she hit the ground. Using her smaller size, she bent her legs and indeed kicked up, however, she only used one foot to do so, throwing the other leg out wildly, lifting her slightly off the ground for her hands to be placed on it. While doing her impromptu handstand (for Zero was now kicked slightly higher from it) she pushed her weight around, spinning herself on the ground and extending both legs, landing a solid kick to the side of Zero's head, before continuing her movements, lashing out at the world with her energy, forming a small whirlwind around the two. As the winds kept Zero from being able to move (you try unlocking part of your power while your head is ringing from being kicked in the face, it's not easy), Hotaru brought her legs back together, Zero's form about to fall right on them, before she quickly brought her arms up, and before gravity could enact its hold on her, she slammed her palms back into the ground, applying a bit of magical force to her strike, thrusting her feet straight into Zero's chest.
Blown away from the force of the strike, Zero flipped in the air, trying to focus enough to start re-controlling the direction of the fight, but to no avail. Hotaru had thrown her legs backward, landing in a semi-split, before tensing up and hauling ass to his falling form.
"IT WASN'T MY FAULT GODDAMMIT!"
That statement brought everything into perspective for Chibi-Usa. Zero's actions were far too familiar. And hearing Hotaru scream that out, it all made sense.
She…still felt guilty over the whole Mistress Nine deal? But…dammit Hotaru, why didn't you tell me…?
There was a brief flash before suddenly she was clad in the garb of Sailor Saturn, the Silence Glaive being twirled around in her hands, expertly. She spun on her foot, ready to chop Zero in two, before he reacted, blocking the strike with a very dense concentration of 'solidified air'. She hadn't been focusing properly, or he'd have lost his arm right then. He thrust out his palm, blast of wind erupting towards her, but she simply placed the glaive in front of her, the winds splitting across her barrier.
But that was all he needed to recover. He went on the offensive throwing his hand out again. She blocked with her glaive, but he wasn't aiming to blow her away…
He smashed his forehead into hers, unfortunately taking more damage than she did due to her tiara, which he'd forgotten about. MOTHER FUCK! Taking the small amount of surprise he could get from the move, he lashed out with his arm again, this time blowing her back. She easily recovered, and responded by slashing her glaive at him, crescent blast of energy being launched from the swing. He rolled under it, before spinning to the side, grasping a handful of dirt, and weaving a command. The dirt glowed, before solidifying into a spire of earth that launched for her. She cut it in two, weaving her own command making the dust particles clump together into a tendril of grain that lashed at him like a whip. Jumping back, he Commanded again, blast of superheated air ripping out in front of him, scorching the ground as the wave traveled. She responded with a wall of frigid winds, before forming a group of icicles that rocketed towards him, to be cut in two by a blade of wind, before melted and turned into spears of water, which were evaporated by a bolt of electricity that launched from the tip of her glaive.
And once again I've bitten off more than I can chew. Goddammit why can nothing ever go to plan? Damn…no choice. I gotta whip it out.
She prepared for another attack, when he simply gently grasped his wrist, a look of pure concentration on his face. Through the waves of anger, she knew exactly what he was trying to do. And in her haze of rage and hatred, she copied it. The other Senshi were already shocked at the girl's display of skill and power, both within and outside her Sailor Form. They just stared as the two spoke at the same time.
"Restriction number Zero-Zero-Zero released!"
As the two focused inward, similar glyphs appeared beneath their feet. The glyph of Chaos for Zero, and…the glyph of Chaos for Hotaru.
"Dimensional Boundary Interference Field deployed!"
The Senshi gasped as the ground beneath them rumbled, the two glyphs glowing in harmony. They all understood the significance of that both of their personal glyphs happened to be almost exactly the same. A heavy haze had erupted around them both, literal streams of energy ripping through the air.
"Code X.E.N. Reality Marble…OPEN!"
The haze turned into a ripple, which turned into spheres around the two. The two spheres pulsed with energy, before expanding rapidly outward. Both a glowing silver for Zero, and a violent purple for Hotaru, their wills clashed. Their attempts at creating a reality distortion that would temporarily shift the battlefield to a plane of existence where they were in full control, clashed, the walls of color ripping from them and slamming into one another. The result, was a chaotic realm of streams of purple and grey that revealed itself to the eyes of the Senshi, while Hotaru and Zero clashed once again.
Hotaru struck out, only to be blocked by an unusual red object. It looked like a giant cross. Zero grasped it by the actual crossed portion, holding it like a sword, the ring around it acting as a hand-guard. He swung out, clashing with Hotaru's glaive, before she ducked low, aiming a sweeping kick to his feet, which he jumped over while bringing his weapon down, knowing she was hoping to capitalize on his air-time with an upward swing.
He bounced back from the clash, unable to throw his weight forward in the short time the two were connected. Their attempts at formulating a Reality Marble had failed, creating a temporary field where both of them had full control, which meant once again, they were at a complete stalemate. The two clashed and clashed again, neither gaining the upper hand. Waves of fire, spears of light, tendrils of vines, all forms of elements were being wielded in this fight, as with each clash, something new would appear and be defended by one on each side.
Chibi-Usa was the first to notice. There were glyphs beneath their feet that were slowly shrinking. The two had blown each other back again, the force of their clash throwing them to opposing sides. However…
Only Zero was panting.
Damn! Yeah I've got a bit of Clotho's power in me, and yeah I've been picked by Tiamat herself…but she's being charged by a friggin concept! I only embody the ideals of Chaos, she's the bloody form of it! I can't win…I really can't win…holy hell…
He watched as Hotaru slammed her glaive into the ground, a ring of purple light appearing around its blade.
I've got only one shot at this…
Realizing his attempt to purge her of her remnant fear and anguish had backfired, cursing his inability to be strong enough for her, he took everything he had.
I've only been screwing around with this for a while…but…
A distortion of air appeared around his right hand, the odd weapon banished back wherever it came from. They saw particles of…things…begin to float towards his palm. The ring was now accompanied by a sphere.
Come on…come on…
The distortion grew heavier, as if the very concept of light itself were being drained from the surroundings of his hand. Unseen he clenched his fist within the now spherical shaped blockage.
She pulled her glaive back.
Zero spread his wings, the eight of them fanning out to their fullest, as he rocketed forward. Time seemed to slow.
Now!
He pulled his hand back.
She thrust the glaive forward.
"Condemnation Pandora!"
Singulari-
BOOOOOOM
The Senshi opened their eyes, the blinding flare of the conjured false-reality field being erased forcing them to look away. What they saw caused them to freeze.
Where there was once half of Zero's house, and his entire backyard, was a big crater. They heard a scream of fear, and ran. They all slid down the edges of the broken land to find Hotaru hovering over Zero's form, crying. What they saw, stopped them in their tracks. Usagi's hands covered her mouth as she gasped.
"Holy…god…"
Half of Zero's body was missing. His right arm had been blown clean off, with a massive gap in the right side of his torso. Most of his pelvis was gone, right leg entirely missing.
Just as a massive wall of emotion was to build in Chibi-Usa's heart, one small part of her screamed. WHERE'S THE BLOOD?
That cause her eyes to widen. She pushed Hotaru to the side, kneeling down and getting right up into Zero's space. She looked, she looked as hard as she could.
And she saw it. It was faint, it was damn near impossible to see, but it was there.
"HE'S NOT DEAD!" She yelled out.
Again, the others froze.
"Ch-Chibi-Usa, you can't be-
"Hotaru, come here and look."
"N-no! What's-
"LOOK DAMMIT!" The shock of her best friend yelling in her face, combined with the fact she just killed her own boyfriend, made her obey. She looked.
"No, without your eyes."
She shook her head, taking a shuddering breath, and looked. She gasped as she saw the same thing Chibi-Usa did.
A faint outline of his body, with strange, almost string-like tendrils slowly moving back and forth.
"Wh-what is that…? Chibi-Usa what is that?"
"That…"
"It is the World's Memory, being used to re-forge his form." Kira said, appearing on the other side of his body.
"K-Kira…what…?" Hotaru was incoherent, nothing made sense anymore.
"Neither you nor he called for his death in that battle. The Reality Marble you two created responded to this, and before it faded, kept him alive. The World is now responding with the last Command spoken by the distortion, and has preserved the memory of his form. The remnant magicks of the rift are now working to restore it using the template the World had memorized. A…situation of pure luck. If either of you had desired his end…"
"he'll…be ok then? he's not…he's not dead? He'll come back to me?"
"Indeed. Though…the detonation erased the Crystals he had gathered, save for the one I was holding…he will have to acquire new ones."
"he's alive…he's alive…" Hotaru was rocking back and forth on her knees, holding herself, tears streaming down her cheeks as she chanted that statement over and over.
"If he wasn't, I would not be here. The bond is one of life. If he dies, I die."
"And…what happens if you die?" Ami asked.
"He would be hit by mental and magical backlash…which could possibly kill him…but the bond is of me to him. If I die, he may live, depending on his situation when it happens."
"he's alive…"
It was all she cared about.
"I only wish we could move him to a better location to recover. It's rather…exposed here. Anything could-
Upon hearing the word "exposed" Hotaru suddenly stood up. She reached out her hand towards the crumbing half-destroyed house. There was a loud cracking sound as a massive wooden plank ripped from the second floor, and flew towards the group. She rose her hand over her head, and the section of floor hovered over them. Having an odd idea that she knew what the girl was planning, Chibi-Usa also stood, gently nudging her future mother backward, which led the other girls to retreat as well. Another loud crack, and four sections of wall broke off, plaster and paint chipping away.
The others blinked at the girl's sudden impossible level of power and control. Chibi-Usa just smiled, knowing that she was being charged by her love for him, and her guilt.
In less than half an hour, Hotaru had made a little mini-shed. She had broken off part of the roof as well, to act as a buffer for rain and the like. It was strange, it was mis-matched, but the four walls were crushed in a way and re-formed to properly link together, slammed into the dirt to better stabilize. While she was doing so, Chibi-Usa asked Haruka to hollow out some parts of the crater around them, so if it rained before he could recover, they wouldn't be flooded by mud.
In a move that surprised many, Michiru suddenly changed. She pulled up a Deep Submerge, firing it at the ground inside the crater, surprising them all when she basically turned it into a water drill. Catching on, Rei stood next to the woman, waiting for her to retract it, before throwing out waves of fire to dry out the dirt, causing it to crumble slightly, but also building another pathway for the rain to flow.
Within an hour, they'd made a few makeshift tunnels in the crater that would allow the rain-water to drain away from the shed. Hotaru surprised them all by creating a mini-reality marble which changed the ground beneath the shed from dirt to concrete. It made no sense, but she absently muttered "chaos isn't meant to be logical."
With that, she sat by his side, Naru doing the same. When questioned, Naru reminded them that she was bound by blood contract to keep an eye on the Prince while he recovered. Hotaru simply asked if she could use Naru's lap as a pillow. The orange haired girl nodded, and Hotaru got comfortable, before falling into a deep sleep, exhausted by the day.
"We'll see what we can do about making the house a little less dangerous to be in. I'm pretty sure we can at least fix the downstairs area bathroom or something…"
"Or we could just have Hotaru make one." Minako pointed out. But Chibi-Usa shook her head.
"Reality Marbles don't work that way. Sure you could make one that's just a giant bathroom, but they're already hard enough to create. The World doesn't really like 'separate realities' inside its own space, at least not ones it didn't create on its own. So usually the effects don't remain when the Marble fades. Plus, Hotaru doesn't know the inner workings of a bathroom, just the vague things everyone knows. So even if she could Marble up a bathroom, it wouldn't work right after the Marble faded, because she couldn't replicate everything that went into it. Really, this whole setup is flimsy anyway…it's best just to hope for clear skies until he recovers."
"What…made that happen anyway?" Usagi questioned.
"He was attempting a new form of attack. He had intended to strike with a field of condensed gravity, to try to knock her out of her Senshi form. However, because she struck first, he lost control over it, and it ended up detonating due to her move. The 'Singularity' is still in the experimental stages." Kira explained.
"Wooow, I remember reading about Gravity wielders back home. They were some of the most powerful warriors because they could literally control gravitational fields. One of the most powerful was able to summon forth orbs that looked pitch black, but literally atomized whatever it touched. Extremely useful in both creative and destructive aspects, Gravity wielders were in high demand, because of their rarity." Chibi-Usa elaborated.
"Stronger than Hotaru?"
"Maybe. They could literally block against almost any attack by making a dense enough field that it acted like a black hole. Anything that got near it would either be crushed to atoms, or would get caught in a revolution around the barrier. I saw a few holo-vids of gravity wielders being able to turn even torrents of fire back on their casters by altering the gravity fields around them to loop it right back. Even light couldn't do anything to them, they'd just make a dense enough field to disrupt it."
"What was the weakness though?" Haruka asked.
"Intangible things, like spirits and heat, could easily bypass gravitational fields…well, all but the densest. A dense enough field can start blurring the line of reality, but those were so dense even the creators couldn't hold them for long, let alone without side effects. Basically, immaterial attacks, things that don't strike on the physical plane, or things like heat and cold, can take down a gravity wielder."
"Why heat and cold? You'd think a heavy enough distortion would stop it, right?" Minako spoke up.
"Technically yes and no. Heat and cold are diminished in a field, but they still exist. If it gets hot enough, you can cook out a defender, and if it's cold enough you might cause them to start to freeze. The flames themselves or the air itself wouldn't be doing it, but the remnants would. But again, this is only theory, after all, no Gravity Wielder let themselves be trapped like that, even for an experiment." Chibi-Usa concluded.
"What should we do about them?" Rei asked, pointing to the shed.
"I think we should come by every few days, with a change of clothes for them, give them some time to take a shower as well. Food, we'll have to bring too. Neither of them are going to want to leave his side for very long, unless someone else is around to keep an eye on things…" Usagi suggested.
"I am here you know." Kira said, tapping her foot.
"ahh, yes…but even you need rest, correct? Especially since you can't draw from the bond right now." She continued. Kira rose an eyebrow.
"You're right. I forgot about that…"
Usagi smiled at her. "I don't know why he gathered Pure Heart Crystals…but I'm beginning to understand his methods. I highly doubt he just stole them from people. Knowing him, he probably did something kind for people on their deathbeds."
"This one…" Kira held out the crystal. "He got from a little girl, dying of cancer. She was weak, and crying constantly. He went and saw her, and told her a story about the Sailor Senshi." They all blinked at the fox-girl.
"For the first time in months, the girl smiled, but she was still dying. He knew this, and apologized repeatedly, for being unable to heal her, even with his immense knowledge and power. 'There are some things even magic cannot heal, only because we do not know how to do it.' She thanked him for caring, for she knew who he was."
"Actually…there is something you can do."
The girl looked at him, confused.
"We can't stop you from dying…as much as we want to." She nodded sadly.
"But…how would you like to save the world?"
Her eyes widened. "M-me?"
"See, the Sailor Senshi just aren't strong enough to deal with what's coming. And I'm not strong enough to take it on alone, so I need their help. But I need them to be stronger."
"H-how…can I…help?" She truly wished to know.
"Do you remember…when monsters were going around and making glowing red crystals come out of people's chests?"
She nodded, she was there at the park when that one youma did it.
"Well, those are called 'Pure Heart Crystals'. Everyone has one, even bad people. But their glow and strength are stronger the more 'good' you are."
She looked at him.
"I've made a spell that can take it out of people…but without it for too long they'll die. And…I don't want to kill an innocent person, even for the sake of the world."
"…you want mine…?"
"You don't-
"Take it."
He looked at the girl, surprised.
"I…I won't live." She was crying. "But…I'm already dying…for no reason. You…you can give me a reason…I'm going to die anyway…but I want my death to mean something. I don't…just want to be another kid the world forgot…"
Kira was surprised at the tears flowing down his face. He didn't get emotional in situations like this! But she came to realize…the girl had touched him.
"I'm so sorry…someone as brave as you…should truly live."
"it's ok. At least…I can help save the world…I can help…keep my family…safe…right?"
"Yeah…" He nodded softly. She gave a weak smile to him. "Will it hurt?"
"The spell…puts a kinda tattoo on you. It's called a 'seal'. When you die…the seal will activate, and suck out your Pure Heart Crystal on your last breath. Its triggered by your spirit being released from your body, so if there's a chance you will come back to life, because it's happened before, the seal won't activate."
The girl nodded.
"It'll tingle, maybe itch a bit while it forms, but once it does, you'll have a cool little tattoo on your chest, just below your neck."
"and…it'll be there…forever?"
"Yep. Your own little permanent tattoo." She smiled. "I always wanted one…even a fake one."
He smiled back.
"I'll make sure the world knows who it was that saved them. You'll never be forgotten."
"Promise?"
"If they try to forget you, I'll beat it back into them myself."
She held out her pinky, and he linked his own with hers.
"That's…"
"This crystal is the one he got from that child, the one he used to try to push Hotaru to accept her actions, and inability and guilt of her past. He gave it to me to hold on to, just in case. The others were from people who were either on the verge of death due to an accident, or those who had given up on the world and were about to commit suicide. This one…is special to him." She continued.
"What was her name?"
"That's…the ironic part…and probably what hit him the hardest."
They looked at her, confused. She sighed.
"Her name was…" She held the crystal, noting how it was slowly pulsing with light, as if it knew it was being spoken about.
"Miranda."
A/N: Not at all what I intended, and definitely one of my shortest in a while. This chapter was meant to be something entirely different, leading to an entirely different set of events…
Funny, how it all came spilling out.
The name Miranda has significance, and no, it has nothing to do with Firefly/Serenity. Check back a few chapters ago, you'll get it then.
The next one is it. It all comes to a head.
D&S Master: it's been forever, hasn't it? We still don't get to see the full skill of the Senshi yet, but…next chapter…it all ends, and everything gets interesting before it does. Naru was mostly a plot-point in the anime. Not a Senshi, but one affected by their actions. Plus, I needed a redhead to fit Harken's template.
TanithLipsky: Thank you. It's been forever since I updated, but I hope you enjoy this and the last couple chapters.