Flee to Destiny
By: Bethany
Originally Released: 3/2002
Revised: 7/2015

Chapter 9 - Unearthed Terrors

I stood immobile, my hands seemingly glued to the banister. Fear made my blood run cold, and a shiver ran up my spine and seemed to settle into my bones. Before my very eyes came scenes the likes I had could never have imagined. Nothing in my worst nightmares or expectations could have come close to what was before me.

"Usako...! oh, my God." Mamo-chan was beside me in mere seconds. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw his own eyes grow with disbelief. He stood beside me for the longest time, watching. Suddenly another explosion shook the Earth, even the banister under my tight grip vibrated. I held on tighter, afraid the entire building would collapse.

Flying shards of glass, building material and other objects seem to rise from the Earth's surface and take flight. The sound of shattering glass filled my ears, blocking out every thought and every other sound. The front door slammed in, Senshi filling the room. I didn't have time to think about what was happening. I could hear the shouting around me, the urgency in the Senshi's voices and Mamo-chan directing everyone.

In what felt like seconds, rather than minutes, Tuxedo Kamen had me tucked safely against his chest and we was fleeing with the rest of the city.

What little I could see from my position blurred past. Colors and shapes bleeding into one another until there was nothing but a continuing color. My head felt light; I could hear people shouting, pain filled screams rising above the city. Panic laced every voice; every breath in my body was difficult. I felt something hit my head and suddenly the darkness came, claiming me as another of its own.

I awoke to arguing voices. I sat up slowly, testing my newfound awareness. I didn't recognize the room I was in - but I did know the voices. Sailor Uranus and Sailor Jupiter were standing over a computer, pointing to different things and talking back and forth in heated tones. Because of their voice levels I couldn't tell what they were saying, but Jupiter turned around, her fingers pressed into her forehead as she spoke again.

I removed the wet cloth from my forehead, noticing that it seemed to be lightly stained with blood. Feeling my forehead, I imagined the bump there might have something to do with it. I sat up, preparing to stand up when I realized that Shingo was sleeping on the floor in front of the couch I was laying on. Stepping over him I walked towards the Senshi, coming towards them I heard Uranus talking again.

"I know where it came from, but I'm telling you it's not based there. That is just stupid. If it was that easy, would we have not located the enemy long ago?" Uranus' index finger was planted firmly on the computer screen, the pressure of it causing her nail bed to turn white.

"But that is just the point Mercury was trying to make earlier. They base their energy out of this point here," Jupiter said slowly, as if she were repeating this for the umpteenth time for a whining child who refused to listen. She jabbed her finger on the screen. "There is no way they could be based anywhere else in the city and still be close enough to set off those explosions without harming their own base. If they was underneath it all - instead of on the blunt end of it - they could have pulled it off."

Their words seem to swim through my head, each making it's self known one at a time. Explosion... Enemy... Base... In the background of my thoughts the terror in people's voices came back hauntingly. The glass breaking... I blinked my eyes, pushing all of that aside as I strode up to the two Senshi with calmness that I never would have guessed I had in me. I still wasn't sure I did.

"What's going on?" I asked in a somewhat accusing tone.

I was their Princess, I should have been told what was happening instead of being packaged and carried away like some piece of meat. I expected this of Mamo-chan, he was the tiniest bit prone to over doing it when it came to protecting me. But from my guardians I expected more. I tried to understand their motives, but still felt shunned instead of informed. In either case, I was fully awake now and becoming impatience as both Uranus and Jupiter seemed to have lost their voices when they realized they weren't alone.

Jupiter found her voice first, throwing a look that I couldn't identify towards Uranus as she turned to me. I crossed my arms; waiting for answers to the question I wasn't sure I wanted the answers to. "Remember the attack that Ami had predicted a couple of months ago? Well, she might have been wrong about the time frame, but she was right in thinking it was going to happen. About 9:42 a.m. a strange glow began in the Tokyo Towers. Over the recording we took off the scanner we picked up that some policemen were going over there to check it out. At 10:02a.m. they arrived. What they found left grown men speechless when they came back across their radios. The Outer Senshi," here Jupiter snarled lightly, motioning with disgust towards Sailor Uranus. "Took it upon themselves to go over to the Towers without notifying one of us to what was happening."

"That's bull! We don't have to check in with the peanut gallery every time we make a move!" Uranus said quickly, her voice dangerously low. She stepped towards Jupiter, her fist clinched.

Without thinking I stepped between the two taller women. Narrowing my eyes, I turned to Uranus and in a voice that didn't sound even remotely like my own, I stared her down. "Just lay off of it, Uranus. Put your differences aside just this once. Because it don't matter who done what, who has been around longer or who is the oldest. We are all fighting for our lives and the lives of millions of people on this planet. It wasn't my choice, yours or Jupiter's to have this responsibility thrown at us. But we have it and I'll be damned if I'm going to listen to your superiority complex in the mist of an emergency. We are all Sailor Senshi, it's time we all started acting like it."

I could have sworn I saw a flash of respect glint for just a second in Uranus' eyes. I couldn't be sure, it was then that she turned around and walked out of the room, slamming her fist in the wall on the way out.

I turned back towards Jupiter, flames still in my gaze. She seemed to have had something to say - but changed her mind when she met my eyes. Instead she turned back towards the computer screen. "Anyways, when the police tried to gain access to the building, it exploded."

"And not just a little explosion," another voice interrupted. I looked around in time to see Luna jump up on the table and sit next to the computer. She placed her paw on the mouse, clicking on different pictures until a map was on the screen. It simulated the building exploding and the chain effect from there. She stared at the screen as if her eyes still didn't believe what they had seen just this very morning. Artemis - whom I hadn't even known was in the room up to this point - began explaining what had happened. "The force of the blast itself was large enough to take out everything in a two mile radius. But it was being controlled, by the enemy we suspect. Buildings caught on fire, windows shattered for miles in all directions. But the energy disappeared just as quickly as it had come, like it was sucked back down into the hull of the ruins of Tokyo Towers. Mamoru-san's apartment was close enough to the blast that all the windows in the building were shattered, but that was the only damage. Buildings that were closer to the Tower were leveled. The city is in a panic."

"W...Where is Mamo-chan?" I asked weakly, my hands shaking. Images of fires, sounds of screaming people. A flood of emotions filled my brain - but mostly terror. I was scared down to the bone, cold and scared. "Where is everyone?"

Jupiter stared at me, her fist clinching and unclenching at her side. Fear nailed me to the floor, leaving me speechless and feeling like a bucket of ice water had been poured over my body. My bottom lip started to tremble slightly and my hands shook even as I drew them to my side. My eyes traveled to the three in front of me, no one opening their mouth to speak. Against my will a small sob rose in my chest and escaped my mouth. Faster and faster my eyes dashed to look at the two felines, then Jupiter. No one said a word. Nothing. The silence was deafening, endless. My parched dry lips parted to release a scream, a message embedded in it.

"WHERE?"

"We were ordered not to tell you, or to let you leave," Jupiter whispered, her green eyes swimming in emotions that tore her apart. Sense of duty or friendship - the struggle was hard. Her eyes focused on mine until she couldn't handle the pain anymore and looked away. I couldn't believe my ears; ordered? By Mamo-chan? He would do that, a part of my mind reasoned. He doesn't want you hurt. But damn it, my other reasoning argued, you are the Princess and Sailor Moon and have a right to be with the other Senshi.

It took a moment for my body to respond to the orders my brain was giving. Finally I felt my feet move and I turned towards the door. A slim, uncertain hand reached out, grabbing my arm. "Usagi-chan, I can't let you go," Jupiter nearly whispered.

"You are in no position to stop me," I replied, yanking my arm from her grasp and once more walking towards the door. I pulled my locket out and fingered it as I made my way across the room and to the doorway. "Luna, Artemis - stay here with Shingo and keep us informed if you find anything new about the enemy."

"Our communicators rely on the same antenna as that of television and radios," Luna deadpanned. "Once you walk out that door, I have no way to contact you since Tokyo Towers is nothing but ashes."

I made no reply, just pulled the locket above my head and closed my eyes. Again I felt a hand on my arm, almost painfully Jupiter tried to pull the locket from my grasp. "You aren't just making decisions about yourself anymore, Princess," Jupiter said quickly, her eyes once more locked with my own determined gaze. "You have a child to think about, if you get hurt the least that may happen is to hurt the baby. And it's not just your baby - it's also Mamoru-san's."

"Don't you think I know that?" I accused, yanking my hand away from her and stepping back. I looked at the floor for a moment, trying to gather my thoughts. When I looked back up, whatever it was Jupiter saw in my eyes made her step backwards. "I'm going. Either you are with me," I paused, pounding each word into the air to get across their full meaning and nothing less, "or you aren't."

Jupiter's eyes stayed locked with my own as I pulled the crystal above my head and shouted my transformation. When the lights died down, I turned and started up the steps that would lead me above ground. For a moment I didn't think she would follow, and pushed aside the meaning that it held in my heart. A second before I opened the door that would lead me into the arcade, I heard Jupiter. "Shimatta*," she grunted, followed by her footsteps as she ran up the staircase.

What I saw outside the confinements of the underground room would haunt me for the rest of my life. As the chamber to the Sailor V game** opened, allowing us to pass I tried not to think about what would be on the outside. But as I stepped out, my foot crunching on glass shards that lay everywhere - I looked up and gasped. The shock of seeing lingering black smoke in the once blue sky, cars toppled over and burning, people walking aimlessly down the middle of the street, looking around in shock, my stomach turned and my heart felt sick.

I tried to hide my reaction from Jupiter, but failed miserably. She walked up beside me as I moved through the doorway that once held glass to protect the inside from nature's elements. Nothing but shards of glass remained now. Covering my mouth with my hand, I looked up and down the city street. What my eyes took in was nearly indescribable.

The street wasn't even distinguishable from the sidewalk. And the people, the blank stares on their faces. The horror, the heartache. The death. It smelled of death, of destruction. A young woman, perhaps in her early twenties, was tearing through debris - tears streaking down her face. As we approached her, she looked up and me and a light of recognition seem to flicker in her deep hazel pupils. Her slim hands reached out towards me, as if for help, and her features crumbled up in agony. "Doushite?***" she cried pitifully. "Doushite...?"

I felt a sob rise in my throat and I stepped back. Jupiter stepped in front of me, grasping the woman's hands in her own. "Shhhh, it's okay. We are here to help. Are you looking for someone?"

The woman numbly shook her head, looking down at her blood stained hands and then at Jupiter. "I don't know," she mumbled. "I don't know..." The amazon Senshi easily pulled the woman to her feet and helped her inside the arcade and sat her down. She said something to her that I couldn't hear and then rejoined me.

From down the street the racing of a fire engine's horn burst through the quiet - echoing through out the street. Closer and closer it came until it passed, red lights flashing until it was gone around a corner. Jupiter watched it go before she began walking down the street in the same direction it had taken. "Most of the fires are out now, but some are still lingering and causing some threat to nearby homes. Mercury and Neptune helped put most of them out when this first happened."

"I don't remember much, just flashes of lights and sounds of screaming. What happened? How long was I out?" My eyes burned from the smoke that lay so thick in the air. "Mamoru-san wrapped you as best he could in his cape to keep you from getting hurt. But so much stuff was flying through the air from the force of the blast that a piece of something - I'm not sure what - hit you just the right way to knock you out cold. Ami assured us that you were alright, maybe even for the best that you had passed out at the time. That was about two hours ago."

In just two short hours the city, the lives of hundreds and thousands of people, had been changed forever. I felt numb. We cut across an alleyway, entering another street. The scene was the same - death, smoke and destruction. I felt the sweet taste of vomit lingering in my throat and I tried to swallow it back. Thank God my baby was still protected in my womb, I would hate for such a scene to ever be seen by her eyes. It was my duty to see that it never did. We pressed on through the debris and towards the remains of Tokyo Towers.

I could hear voices shouting back and forth to each other as we approached. Above it all, one voice stood out among the frenzy. I rushed forward, leaving Jupiter to follow in my steps. Standing slightly away from the still burning building was Tuxedo Kamen, talking to a fire fighter and pointing in different directions as he spoke. I ran as fast as my legs would take me, towards him. Towards the promise of his embrace and comfort that I so desperately wanted; needed. I was a Princess, a Sailor Senshi - but most of all, I was a frightened six month pregnant woman who needed a string of security to hold on to.

It was like Mamo-chan could sense my presence. He looked my direction, looking slightly surprised to see me running towards him. When I reached him his arms opened and eagerly I buried my face in the warmth and comfort of his love. I barely heard him ask the firefighter to excuse him as he led me away from the building. "Usako," he asked, his arms encircled around me tightly. "What are you doing here?"

Suddenly I found I couldn't speak, couldn't think about anything but my own fears and anxiety. Mamoru soothed me, hugging me tightly to his chest. Now that I knew he was okay I felt some of my strength renew itself. "I'm sorry, Mamo-chan. I can't just sit around while you and everyone do everything. I want to protect this planet by your side." I inhaled his scent to keep me from drowning in the chaos around me. In response to my shaking body, Mamo-chan tipped my chin up towards his, grazing his fingers along my cheekbone before kissing me lightly. I struggled to be the independent girl I was five months ago, the head-strong Princess that didn't need her guardians or a love. But I couldn't find that girl anymore. I wondered if she was real, or just an illusion I made up while trying to cope with everything that had been thrown at me.

It didn't really matter. What mattered to me was here and now. And I needed Mamoru to hold me, and he answered my needs with the same intensity that I yearned for. The world was blazing around us, and I could forget all I had seen for a few precious moments in time. I had the strength to block out the screams of pain and agony - if only for a minute.

"I didn't want you to be here, Usako," Mamo-chan reprimanded lightly when our lips parted. His voice was barely a whisper in the wind to my ears, but the worry that laced it caused my heart to jump in alarm. I looked up into his stormy blue eyes, flicking with worry and pain that I was in any distress at all. "I know you want to protect this planet, and I know how badly you want to protect your friends, but I need your to be protected. Usako, I need to know that you and our baby are all right."

"Gomen nasai." The emotions in Mamo-chan's eyes were a mix between worry and relief. I couldn't imagine what he had to be relived about - unless it was that I was here where he could protect me. I was soon to find out that my dashing hero, my love, couldn't protect me from all the evil in the world that was after me. It was a lesson both of us would learn the hard way.

"It's okay, Usako," he assured me, burying his face in my hair. "I just didn't want you to see all of this. To be haunted by the images. I was only trying to protect you from it. But I guess it was a lost cause - you are too pure and caring to stay locked up when you could be helping. Just do me a favor?" I nodded my head, willing to give him anything in the world at that moment just to take the nervous edge and urgency out of his eyes. "Be careful, I don't want anything to happen to either one of you."

I meet his eyes squarely, his desperate plea calling out to me. What would he do if something did happen to me or the baby? I wondered. Since the night we spent on the beach, the confessions he had made had me wondering just how much he needed me. I could only hope it was as much as I needed him. "Don't worry, Mamo-chan," I assured him. "My henshin provides a protective barrier around the baby. And I'll be extra careful for both of us."

"Be careful for all three of us," he asked softly, his fingers still grazing my face while his other arm held on to me like a man drowning. "Because I don't know what I would do without you."

"Sailor Moon? What are you doing here?" I turned around, face to face with a rather angry looking Sailor Mars. Her hands were on her hips as she waited for my response.

"I tried to stop her," Jupiter said matter-of-factly from my left. Oh yeah, I thought. Speak up for yourself, and not for me. Don't I feel special.

The sound of urgent voices stopped the conversation all together. We all turned towards the debris, the final standing column of the Tokyo Tower building crumbled - falling towards the Earth. People who had been closest to the building were running towards us, motioning and screaming to get out of the way. Mamo-chan took off running, his hand still holding mine securely. We stopped yards away when we could no longer out run the smoke - Mamo-chan covering me with his cape.

"Hiroshi-kun!" a man called out, looking around frantically through the small patches of people who were running from the building. He ran towards us, grabbing Tuxedo Kamen's arm and screaming as he pointed towards the building. "My best friend is still in there!" he screamed, pointing and yanking on Tuxedo Kamen's arm frantically. "You have to help him!"

Mamo-chan grabbed my arms, squeezing almost painfully. "Stay here," he commanded, not leaving me a chance to answer - much less argue the point. I watched as my love and my best friends ran into the cloud of dust, praying they came out alive.

Clutching my mid-section, I stared at the lingering smoke that filled the air. It traveled upwards into the heavens for what seemed an eternity. I felt a sob clutch at my throat, but I pushed it back. Time seemed to standstill. The harder I wished to see Mamo-chan's form run out of the smoke, the longer it seemed he had been gone.

Seconds became minutes, minutes ticked by painfully slow. Beside me was the man who had cried for our help. He seemed to be staring at me, rather than in the collapsing building. I tried to look away, but it was as if he were commanding me to stare at him. I opened my mouth to make an excuse to leave him there when I saw him take something from behind his back.

"Hello Princess," he said. I blinked at him blankly, his words not making any sense in my jumbled thoughts. Suddenly he pulled a white cloth into my viewing and shoved it over my mouth, pulling me towards him as he did so. I struggled against him, not understanding until I seen his eyes flash bright red. Unable to hold my breath any longer, I inhaled. A fiery sensation shot down my throat, invading my lungs. My vision blurred and I stumbled forward, my legs no longer supporting. The disguised youma picked me up as if I weighed no more than a bag of feathers and threw me over his shoulder. I tried to fight him, but my limbs refused to listen. Drugged, I thought. He must have drugged me with something. But what?

I couldn't think. I could do nothing as darkness loomed in front of me, cradling my aching head and taking away the pain.

I awoke in small intervals. For a long time I could hear voices speaking, but couldn't stay aware long enough to open my eyes and see their owners faces. Pain came and went, sometimes stronger than other times. In and out of consciousness I slipped until finally the haze that had kept me in it's confinements broke away. I blinked, the room had a hazy quality to it - almost surreal. The voices suddenly stopped - making me wonder if I had dreamt it all.

Perhaps when I opened my eyes I would be in Mamoru's bed - safely tucked against his side. I feverishly hoped and prayed - but knew the truth all the same.

The first thing that caught my attention was how dark everything was. The walls were a deep gray, almost black, and the bed I laid on was covered in black bedding. On the small table that sat beside the bed was a lamp, with a black shade. The light that radiated from it was a dusty stream of yellow - almost nonexistent. The small glow bathed the room in shadows. My imagination took flight, making everything in the bottomless corners come alive. I stifled a scream, pulling the blanket up to my chin and shutting my eyes. "Mamo-chan," I moaned, almost crying. "Onegai..."

"Your precious Mamo-chan can't help you here."

My fears came alive when I realized I wasn't alone. A small scream left my throat before I had time to try and stop it. Shutting my mouth abruptly, I moved closer to the head board of the bed. The woman at the end of the bed came closer, the light casting on her fiery red hair and slanted evil eyes.

"Who are you?" I meant for it to come out demanding, but fear made my voice crack against my will.

"Why child," the woman said, coming around to the side of the bed and looking down at me in pity. "You don't remember me? Why, I was a big part of your life as a Princess." I stared at her, but in my terrified state I couldn't think. "I'm Queen Beryl. I destroyed your kingdom so long ago."

I blinked rapidly, shaking my head in denial. This wasn't happening! my mind screamed. "My mother killed you..." I whispered, my eyes so wide that it hurt.

"Now you see," Beryl said thoughtfully, running her fingers through her long red hair. "That's where you are wrong. Your mother sent everyone to the future so that you could live, dear. Everyone." The irony of her statement made my blood run cold. It seemed that my mother's wish made more than a few complications in my life. The latest one being rather dangerous, it seemed.

I tried to sit up, get a grip on my emotions and move away. But none of this happened. Instead I found myself staring at this mad woman as she reached out and ran her hand over my stomach. "How's the little one? Well, I hope."

Her eyes homed in on my own gaze with a steely edge that made me want to scream to the top of my lungs, and shiver away with shame at the same time. "Ah yes, the child you will bare. She will be very special, did you know that?" I shook my head, fearful of her words. "Yes. And do you know why? Because tonight my ruler will enter your womb and steal your baby's soul and replaced it with hers."

I felt my head shaking back and forth, my arms encircling my stomach as I rocked back and forth. "No..." I whimpered. So afraid, so scared of what she intended to do.

"Oh yes, she will. And in three months you will give birth to the new ruler of this universe. You see," she explained calmly, as if speaking to a child. "My queen doesn't have a body, your mother destroyed it. So it would be just fit if you were to provide her with one. And after you give birth, if you are good and don't cause me any problems, I will see that you live unhappily in the deepest darkest dungeon I have. Just like your mother sealed me away in the center of the Earth over one-thousand years ago."

"You're insane!" I spat, finally regaining some control over my voice. I glared at her with all the hatred I could muster up, determined that nothing would happen to mine and Mamo-chan's baby. Nothing. "I'll never let you touch my baby!" I shouted.

She seemed amused by my vocal outbursts. She stood up, a smile on her face. Her words went straight to my heart and drove a hole of pain there. I gapped at her, tears filling my eyes and flowing un-noticed down my face. "I already have."

-End Chapter 9.

* - Shimatta translates to "Damn"

**- The Sailor V game in the manga was the passage way to a room under the arcade where Luna had computers that were hooked up to the Moon's computer system.

***- Doushite translates to "Why"

This chapter is much shorter than previous ones, sorry about that. If it makes you feel any better, I'm getting these out as fast as I can. If I don't get ready for work soon, though, I will be late and that won't be good.

Thank you for the reviews, comments, etc. I'm so happy at how many people are reading and following! Thank you soooo much! Please drop me a line and let me know your thoughts on the story, I love getting thoughts from different perspectives!

God bless,
Beth