Moriari

Chapter 15

A/n: This is the second to last chapter. Just to clarify some question's I've been asked, I want to let you know that I will be completing all of my Sailor Moon stories. Moriari is completely written and I am currently working on finishing Of Faux and Friends (I'm about ¼ done.) I expect to be posting the remainder of that next week some time. Bait and Switch will come last and we have a ways to go on that one, so maybe expect that to be completed in early June. I am brainstorming ideas for other stories but would like to finish what I've started. Anyway, enjoy and as always, review…

Serena stood quiet, overlooking the audience of thousands of Moriarian's as she stood atop the highest floor in the coliseum. It was irony it seemed, that ruled her life. This coliseum is where her life began on Moriari and here it seemed, in this same coliseum, is where her life would end.

She stood next to Darien, his arms encircled protectively around her waist; his grip was the only thing that was keeping her from collapsing from exhaustion. She had given birth less than twelve hours ago and hadn't seen her daughter since. As soon as Tiberius came to her room they plucked the baby away, before several guards took Darien away from her under threat that they would beat Serena if he didn't comply.

She watched mutely, as the remaining stragglers took their seats, as a line of soldiers came to guard the doors behind her. It seemed like a dream, what was happening to her now, an unruly nightmare that she couldn't control and couldn't wake from. She observed Tiberius as he came to sit on the highest throne and watched as Setsuna and Beryl followed suit closely behind him, followed by other high ranking members of the council. She glanced in their direction and for a moment, she could swear that Setsuna had nodded and smiled at her, a reassuring sort of smile that everything would work out in the end. She looked to Darien, who returned the gaze.

"Do what you have to do," he whispered.

"I will," she said, a sort of magical inclination taking hold of her soul. Nehelania had been with her, in her mind, telling her what she needed to do since they took her baby away. She understood, Darien vaguely understood; he just prayed that she would survive this. "Look after those you care about. I don't know how this going to affect me."

"You worry about protecting our daughter. Whatever the cost. Let me worry about everything else," he said.

"I love you," she said to him. "No matter how this turns out. I love you."

"I know. I love you too."

The crowd quieted as Tiberius stood, his robes billowing against the evening breeze as he stepped toward Darien, toward Serena, and the copper pyre that stood on the stage before them. "We all know why we are here, do we not?" he began, his voice bellowing through the silence. "There are times in a man's reign where even the wisest of men make mistakes. Mistakes that have dire consequences for all those involved, both innocent and guilty. Despite our refute, despite our dismay, we must uphold the laws, laws that have governed our world for millennia, laws that have assured the continuance of our people no matter how seemingly barbaric they may be. It is my recommendation, my right, and my duty to protect our people no matter what the cost."

"And quite the cost we have paid Tiberius," spoke Setsuna, rising from her chair with swift elegance. She glanced at Serena then back to her counterpart. "Always have I followed you faithfully, always have I supported your decisions, my liege, except for once and except for now. Other than yourself, I am the oldest person upon this council, and served as the elder until I passed the responsibility to you. You have made many decisions, some that I support, some that I do not, yet always have I bit my tongue. Always, until now. For every action, there is a consequence, my lord, for every wrongful sin against the innocent, restitution must be paid. For the sin of one, many have fallen."

Tiberius scowled deeply before glancing over his shoulder at her. "Setsuna, what are you speaking of?"

The brunette smiled gently. "This will not have been the first child consumed by fire, Tiberius, but the third. You know of whom I speak."

"This is unnecessary Setsuna-"

"I think it very necessary," she said, glancing to the rest of the council, to Darien, who looked shocked by the revelation. He would have never issued a decree to accept this. It could not have been under his watch as king. "My fellow leaders, my fellow people, I can't deny the sense of undoubted confusion that has fallen upon you. I myself have lived with confusion and guilt over this for quite some time. I made a decision, years ago, that I have never been able to forgive myself for. I will not make that mistake again."

"What are you saying?" asked Darien, his grip still tight on Serena as he moved to face Setsuna.

"Did you ever wonder why I stepped down from Highest Elder of the council?" she asked, her eyes filling with sadness. "It is because I took the life of an innocent, in the same manner as we would have down now."

"Setsuna, this is treason, I will condemn you-"

"You have condemned us already Tiberius. We have suffered for years because of this decision; I will not have my people suffer anymore. And I would appreciate it, if you did not interrupt. You will be accountable for this too. You will have plenty of time to speak," she said, firm finality lacing her tone. "There was a woman, decades upon decades ago named, Nehelania. She was strong as she was beautiful. She was a human working in the castle under the watchful eye of all of us; no one had ever watched her closer than Tiberius. Isn't that right, old friend?"

Quickly the older man faced Setsuna and rushed toward her, before being detained by Nicholas and Jayden. Holding the older man in question, they quickly subdued him and motioned for her to continue to speak.

"There were always whispers, rumors of an affair between the two, of treason against the king for inappropriate acts with a human. Despite our misgivings, no one ever confronted Tiberius, no one ever accused him and no one ever had any proof until I found myself beside him as he bared the truth to me. He had been sleeping with the woman for months and with her, had fathered not one child, but two. Two living beings growing in the womb of Nehelania. Two sources as proof of his sins. But unlike our great King Darien who confessed his transgressions to the court, Tiberius sought to cover up his lies with more deceit and I helped him. Upon the birth of the twins, a boy and a girl, we brought them into the depths of the castle, set up a pyre similar to this one and sacrificed them to the holy flame," she said, her voice cracking, her knuckles turning white from disdain. "Never will I forget the sounds of newborns crying in agony, or the smell of burning flesh, or the silence that fell upon us once the deed was done. Shortly after, Nehelania disappear; shortly after, did the sky burst full of another sun, and another….shortly then did our skies change, did our weather patterns metamorphose into unpredictable currents of death, shortly then did our own planet rebel against us. Nehelania was powerful in her ways, more so than Tiberius, more so than myself and the death of her children released an evil poison into the depths of this planet that we cannot erase, an evil that is feeding on the unhappiness of the humans and deceit lurking within the depths of our own alliance. We cannot kill this child; if not for the sake of our king, then for the sake of our planet. I implore you council, I implore our people, to turn away from this violent barbarianism and find a way to make peace before we are all condemned to death."

Immediately Darien turned to face Tiberius, his hands still gripping the waist of a trembling Serena. "Is this true?" he asked, the air around him crackling with power. "I asked you a fucking question Tiberius, now IS IT TRUE?"

Tiberius' shoulders sagged beneath the weight of his guilt. "It is as she said it. It is true."

Darien breathed heavily, his eyes wide with anger. "How dare you? HOW DARE YOU? You tried to take everything from me! You spoke of treason and righteousness when you brought all of this pain upon me, Serena, my child and everyone else on this planet! I looked up to you, like a father and you betrayed," cried Darien, watching as Raye rushed to grip a silent Serena. He looked to his blonde companion, making sure that Raye was gripping Serena tightly before rushing to attack Tiberius.

"You son of a bitch!" cried Darien, his fist smashing heavily into Tiberius his face, his body knocked back from the force behind the blow.

"Stop it! Stop it," cried Beryl as she attempted to climb over the other council members towards Tiberius to no avail. Beryl was seething with anger as she turned to her counterpart. "Zirconia, get the baby!"

"What? Why? Didn't you just hear-" cried the white haired woman.

"Setsuna is a fool. I will not let Darien have a child with that filthy earth whore, now get the baby!"

Zirconia hesitated for a moment before rushing off to the chamber to find the child. The stage was in such violent turmoil, no one had noticed her vanish.

"I will kill you, I swear," yelled Darien, his fingers gripping tightly against the elder's throat as Tiberius' personal guards Jaedite and Kunzite attempted to pry him off.

Beryl, fuming with anger, looked to a young man who was sitting in the corner watching the fight before him with bored disregard. She immediately approached him. "Where do your loyalties lie?"

"What?" asked the man.

"Decide quickly, Sapphire. Get the pyre and light it!" yelled Beryl through clenched teeth.

"Why should I?"

"Because when the baby is dead and Serena is banished I'll have my chance again to become queen and I will remember those who helped me. Don't you eventually want to be a high elder Sapphire, like Diamond had been?"

"You mean before his banishment?" he asked bitterly.

"Do what I say, and as queen I will find your brother and bring him back," said Beryl. "You have my word."

"You'd better. I don't go around killing newborns for nothing," said Sapphire as he disappeared away from the raging crowd and pulled the pyre near him, nearly falling under as the various civilians attempted to climb onto the stage to stop the fight. Sapphire was shocked that the platform wasn't breaking under the weight of hundreds of people jostling and quarreling atop it. It's funny how chaos can disguise a last minute plan as it came together.

"I don't believe this," said Serena, finding her voice as Raye continued to hold the beauty up. She was still so tired and sore from giving birth she could barely stand despite the fact that Raye was holding her up.

"All these lies…" said Raye, her voice breaking. "What have we done?"

Suddenly out of the darkness, the sound of a scream broke Darien from his assault on Tiberius, which stopped Tiberius' guards from fighting Darien's guards, which stopped council members from fighting amongst each other and civilians from fighting everyone else. Within that moment, all eyes had turned to Zirconia, who was standing triumphantly, with the screaming baby in her arms, as dancing flames burned in front of her.

"Oh how the tables have turned," whispered Beryl underneath her breath as she inched far away from the pyre. There was no need to suspect that she was behind the death of the hybrid heir; Darien would never marry her if he thought she had betrayed him and killed his precious newborn.

"It seems like the only thing that will stop this fighting is what we all came here to see," said Zirconia, looking nervously toward Beryl.

"Put her down!" cried Darien.

"Wrong choice of words don't you think, she is over a steaming pit of fire, after all. But if you insist," said Zirconia. She had always fervently disliked Darien after he publicly split with Beryl all those years ago. This would serve him right; and Beryl would protect her.

"NO! Please!" cried Serena, trying to muster enough strength to lunge toward the ugly woman holding her daughter, but her tired body fought against her. She was too weak, too weak to fight….Serena was, but Nehelania wasn't. With her thoughts she summoned the vial containing Darien's life force into her hands and held it beside her.

"Too late, there is nothing you can do," said Zirconia as she lowered her arms toward the flaming pyre.

As if a magical nudge had moved her, Serena found the vial near her lips and the black bitter liquid dripping into her mouth, staining the pink of her lips purple, filling her bosom with a power so strong, so hot that it seared her throat as it trickled down into her belly and suddenly…so suddenly everything stopped, Zirconia, Darien, even the dancing flames of the pit had stopped.

She felt something bubbling from within her, crawling up and raising from every cell in her flesh until she felt as though her body was light, that her skin was melting away, burning, singing, she was on fire from the inside out. Hot tears poured from her eyes as her insides thrashed and shuddered and from the quiet erupted a scream so loud, so booming, so agonizingly inundated by pain that the sky lit with lightening and rumbled with the thunder and the very foundations of the planet were shaken.

In that instant Darien knew what she had done and he heard her, her soft, assured voice in his head. I can only hold it so long. Take our baby, take everyone you love and run…find cover. I love you.

It only took him a split second to react. Everyone else seemed to be frozen with fear as they watched Serena's body, alight with black flame rise into the air, her screams penetrating the minds of everyone there.

"Jayden, JAYDEN!" cried Darien to his guards, knocking them both from their stupors. "Take Setsuna, Kunzite and Jaedite and any others who you deem necessary and find cover. Hide yourselves! DO IT NOW!" Snapping back into soldier mode they did as they were told, grabbed all the loyal members of the council and exited the coliseum into one of the royal chambers and shut the door behind them, completely enclosing themselves in darkness.

Quickly Darien, rushed towards Zirconia, snatched his screaming infant from her frozen arms and cradled the baby into him as reached for Raye who had crumpled to the ground and pulled her towards the remaining door behind them, pushed her inside and closed the door, shadows enveloping the three of them as their thoughts were consumed by Serena. Please survive this….don't leave me…

Just as the pressure became too much for the blonde to bear, she released it…Darien's power, unbridled power that shook her body to the core; a power so strong that that her corporeal being couldn't contain it and blood poured from her eyes, tears of blood staining her pale skin red. From inside her came love for the child she was trying to protect, attaching and molding itself to Darien's power and finally came anger, swift and sharp and deep, Nehelania's anger for the death of her children, for her exile into darkness and despair boiled through forming a power that her body couldn't hold. With one final release she cried out into the sky and something happened that she had not expected: night morphed to day, the darkness of evening was chased away by two burning suns, brighter and hotter than before, illuminating the sky with varying hues of yellow and orange. She could see an explosion of power a supernova exploding in the distance falling and forming into tiny sparks of sunlight, baking the planet and illuminating the sky into a pure white.

Beneath her she heard the agonizing cries of her enemies as they ducked and ran for cover, emptying the coliseum in an attempt at survival, similar to what her and her human counterparts had done during their first night on this planet. She watched through hooded eyes as she faded into darkness as the flesh peeled and burned from Tiberius, from Zirconia, from the corrupt group of Moriarians who had shown up just to watch her baby die burn beneath the sky illuminated with sun after sun.

And suddenly it stopped, the pain inside of her stopped, the screaming stopped. She felt herself falling, her weakened bloody body slamming onto the ground of the platform, breaking the frail bones in her back as another wave of anguish passed through her and slowly, so slowly, the light faded from her eyes, the ringing from her ears…and the last thing she saw before darkness claimed her, was the charred corpse of Tiberius lying beside her, burnt remnants of skin floating with the breeze into the quiet, fading distance.

Darien sat beside her, watching the steady rise and fall of her chest as she slumbered. He gazed upon her face, open cuts and dried blooding marring her pale skin as moonlight peeked in past the curtains to fall upon her.

Three days. For three days she had been bed ridden and comatose and for three days he had watched her, his small daughter cradled in his arms, slumbering peacefully against his chest. He looked down to her and smiled. If Serena left him, this would be the only piece of her that he had left, the only tangible reminder of their love affair. This child, their daughter, who three days later remained unnamed, would never know the sacrifice her mother had made for her so that she would live.

Darien looked to the door, just as it was pressed openly slowly and carefully closed behind the welcomed intruder.

"Any change?" asked Raye as she walked towards her brother.

"No, nothing."

The princess frowned before letting her fingertips caress the soft cheek of the sleeping infant. "There's so much going on right now, with Tiberius and half the council dead, with thousands of our people dead or injured and all I can seem to focus on is Serena and my little niece. Darien, what are we going to do?"

He sighed loudly. "I don't know. I can't think about those other things right now. Setsuna has taken over as the High Elder of the Council; she said she would handle things and after what happened, I completely trust her judgment. All I can think about right now is my family."

"Family," Raye repeated softly. "It's been so long since we've had one of those."

"Too long."

"What are you going to name her?"

Darien sighed sadly. "I don't know…Serena and I should be naming her together," he said, bending over to lay a gentle kiss on his daughter's forehead.

"What if that's not an option?"

"Raye-"

"Darien, I know it's something you don't want to hear but you have to realize that this may be reality for you. You heard what Joshua said. She's getting weaker and weaker every day. Darien she's dying."

His eyes prickled. "Hope is the only thing I have left to hold onto…if she…if she dies, I'll worry about those things, but I feel like I can't do anything else right now."

Raye sighed, wondering if she should even introduce to him what she was thinking; he barely had control of his emotions right now, and introducing this idea could push him over the edge. "What about…what Setsuna said…Darien we could save her, you could save her-"

"No."

"Why not?" cried Raye, her hands balling into the fists causing the baby to briefly stir in her sleep.

"Keep your voice down," he said, staring at his infant and smiling. "This is the most she's slept in the last two days. I can't quite pinpoint it, but it's like she knows something is wrong with her mother."

"I'm sorry…but Darien you need to come to terms with the idea that this may be the only thing that can save her. She's dying. How long are you going to wait for this to happen?"

"She wouldn't want it."

"Maybe not, but I know Serena would want to be alive for her daughter and if that's what it takes…"

"We've never done it before," said Darien. "We don't know the risks. We don't even know if it will work."

"And what's she got to lose? She could be dead either way."

Darien sighed. "I'll consider it. But I need to talk to Setsuna first."

"Darien, sit please," said Setsuna, her back resting comfortably against the leather arm chair in her study. The king had traveled to the countryside to see her. They had many things to discuss.

"I never thanked you. Because of you, my daughter is alive and Serena is…"

"Dying. I know…everyone knows Darien. I am sorry I didn't act sooner. I was…afraid."

"I let her live in a human prison camp for the first five months of her pregnancy before coming forward. I am the last person who can assign any blame. I know I should be concerned about the unrest, but-"

"You can only seem to focus on the woman that you love. She is the mother of your child and apparently means a lot to you. I would be surprised if you handled political upheavals at this point. Leave things to me. They aren't as bad as you think."

"What?" he asked, genuinely surprised.

"It turns out you are not the only Moriarian to have fallen in love with a human. You should see the letters I'm getting. It seems the tide of change is upon us," she said smiling softly. "There will be upheavals, though. Not everyone is happy with what has happened. People have died; our people have died. We have quite the road ahead of us Darien. But that is not what you came here to discuss with me, is it?"

"No, it's not. Raye said that I could save her…that you said-"

"It is possible…dangerous, but possible. If you want to save her, Darien, you must turn her; you must make her into one of us. If what I have heard from your sister is true, Serena ingested your power. And it destroyed her body. The only way she was able to survive it is because of her connection to Nehelania and her unique bloodline. But her body will not last long. If you want her to live. You must turn her."

"This has never been done before-"

"It has…eons ago, when our relationships with the humans weren't so strained. It was a rarity that it happened and even more rare that the humans survived. Some did, some didn't. During the reign of a past king, a tyrant that people called the Wiseman, millennia ago, is when any ties with the humans stopped because of his tyranny. That is when we became at odds with the humans; that is why we are where we are today. Serena is different. She is stronger. I believe she can survive it. But it must come from you. It must be a descendant of the first Moriarian. Your blood ties are stronger. You may be the only one who will be able to save her."

Darien frowned. "She will not like it."

"To live as we do will be a change for her, but the point is Darien, she will get the chance to live. In the palm of your hand is everything you have wanted. The safety of your daughter, the love of that woman, and the wellbeing of your people. You must take this one last risk. If you do not try to save her, you may regret it for the remainder of your life. I am someone who is bursting with regret from the crimes I committed. Guilt, is not a friendly bedfellow."

"Will you show me how?"

"I will be by her side to guide you. It must be just enough of your essence to ingest and not so much to poison her."

"Drinking my essence is what got her into this."

"Essence that was stolen for the purpose of revenge. We are having our historians and scientists decode the language etched into that vial she got from Nehelania. Somehow, by witchcraft I'm sure, she was able to provide her own essence into that vial and Serena could not contain the mixture of emotions and power she was feeling. Mixing the two together counteracted as a powerful weapon that poisoned her body in the process."

"Nehelania knew this was going to happen. She said there would be a price."

"Yes and Serena will pay it, by becoming one of the creatures that for the last year she has despised the most."