Chapter 10: The Queen's Sacrifice

Touma jumped over a rail searching for his bride-to-be. "SERENITY!" he shouted as he ran towards the door.

Serenity was trying to escape the soldiers that were chasing her. She hid around the corner, hoping they wouldn't see her. "Come here!" a soldier snapped, grabbing her legs.

"NO!" she screamed, struggling against his grasp.

More soldiers were surrounding the princess as they started pulling on her to drag her to the evil witch. "NO! LET ME GO!" she screamed.

Touma jumped over the balcony rail. "LET HER GO!" he shouted. He fired several arrows and they all embedded themselves into their targets. Rushing over to Serenity, he wrapped his arms around her. "Come with me," he told her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, looking over his shoulder suddenly with wide eyes.

"TOUMA!" she shouted.

Touma saw a sword aimed at his head and he quickly rolled out of the way, his helmet falling off as he did so. "Endymion! Don't!" Serenity called out in horror as the Earth prince swung his sword again. Touma rolled away and jumped back to his feet. He grabbed the prince's arm and his eyes grew wide when he saw that the prince's eyes were completely black.

"It's not Endymion!" he answered, ducking, "He's possessed!"

He jumped out of the way when the sword almost connected to his shoulder. Serenity, thinking fast, ran over and jumped on Endymion's back. "Get away from him!" she snapped as she started punching his back. The possessed prince threw the princess off him and she let out a yelp as she hit the ground.

The distraction gave Touma enough time to jump back to his feet and he grabbed Endymion's arm, twisting it behind his back. He tried to shove the Earth Prince into the wall when Endymion stuck his foot out and ran up the wall and jumped over Touma's head. Throwing the sword aside, Touma held his fists up and got in the guarding stance as Endymion charged at him.

Serenity watched as the two men were swinging punches and kicks at each other. The demonically possessed prince was overpowering Touma, which was scaring the princess. She saw the prince's discarded sword on the ground. Getting up, she grabbed the sword and walked over to the two men.

Touma winced when he was kicked back against the wall and Endymion wrapped his hand around his throat. Touma tried to kick out but the Prince was able to dodge the attack and squeeze his throat even tighter. Suddenly, the prince froze, his eyes growing wide and his grip on Touma's throat loosened and the Warrior of Strata fell to the ground as Endymion fell to his knees, showing Serenity behind him with the sword in his hand. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as the demonic presence left the prince and she caught her friend before he fell to the ground completely.

Endymion groaned as he stared at the two people above him. "Forgive me, Touma, I tried," he said quietly. The two men gripped each other's forearms.

"It wasn't your fault, my brother," Touma answered.

Endymion smiled a little and looked at Serenity. "Take care of her, Strata. She's the hope for the universe's future," he murmured.

"Always," Touma answered.

Serenity pressed a kiss to Endymion's forehead with tears trickling down her cheeks when the prince died in her arms. Touma let out a deep breath, but then he heard soldiers coming their way. "Serenity, we must go," he whispered. He stood up from the ground, holding out his hand to her. Serenity placed the prince on the ground, grabbing Touma's hand as they ran out of the courtyard.

"Where will we go?" she asked.

"We can get your mother to send us to earth," he replied.

"It's not safe there," she insisted.

"We can hide, hide until we can defeat Beryl and Meratia," he answered.

They ran around the corner when Beryl was standing there. "Well, that was disappointing, you killed my prince," Beryl sneered. Touma pulled Serenity behind him. "My revenge isn't with you, Strata," she spat.

"You're not touching Serenity you evil witch!" he spat.

Beryl glared at him, but then she smirked. "I'm sure you enjoyed the little show from the balcony, watching as all of your friends died for your pathetic lives," she said with a smirk.

"What?" Serenity asked.

Touma stared at her. "My friends sacrificed their lives to keep the realms safe from people like you, Beryl. They might be dead but their energy is still around!" he answered. Serenity held onto the armor on Touma's back.

"I'm so bored with this already!" Beryl hissed.

She shot black energy. "SERENITY!" Touma shouted. He shoved the princess to the ground, covering her from the blast. He groaned loudly in pain as the energy pulsed through his body.

"Touma!" she gasped with wide eyes to see that the witch's power was relentless.

Slowly, his armor began to fade away into his sub-armor underneath. Once his armor was completely gone, Touma's shouts of pain filled the air as he still fought against the woman's magic aimed for his love. "Touma!" Serenity called out again with tears in her eyes.

Meratia was seeing that Beryl was winning against the Warrior of Strata and struck her own powers into the young man, making his screams of agony become louder.

Queen Serenity ran around the corner to see Touma no longer in his sub-armor, back in his royal clothing. "NO!" The Queen shouted with wide eyes.

The two enemies stopped with their attacks and Touma stared into Serenity's blue eyes, smiling softly before he collapsed to the side. "Touma!" she gasped, sitting up. She hovered over her love, her hand resting on his chest. "Touma, speak to me," she begged with tears in her eyes.

Touma stared into her eyes, his hand resting over hers. "You're safe," he whispered. She nodded her head slowly with tears streaming down her face. Reaching up with his free hand, he wiped a tear from her cheek. "You are so beautiful…I never thought…that…that a woman like you…would ever love me," he added.

"I love you, more than anything," she answered, her thumb moving in circles over his hand.

She let out a quiet sob. "Touma, you can't leave me. We're supposed to get married in two days," she added with a sob. Hearing that brought tears to his eyes as he gripped her hand tighter.

"You would have been…a dream…" he answered

Serenity leaned forward, pressing her lips to his in a gentle, yet loving kiss. Touma kissed her back, feeling his strength beginning to leave him. Pulling away, she stroked his cheek tenderly. "I love you," he whispered.

"I love you," she answered.

Touma smiled as his eyes slowly slid closed. "Touma?" she called out. She let out a gasp as his hand dropped from her face. "Touma!" she said with a sob when his entire body went limp. "Touma, no, you're not supposed to leave me yet," she said sobbing.

She rested her head on his chest as she listened to his heart's last few bits it could give. "We were supposed to grow old together," she said sobbing, "You can't leave me yet." She saw something out of the corner of her eye and she saw one of Touma's arrows lying on the ground not too far from her.

"No, Serenity!" The Queen called out as her daughter grabbed the weapon.

Serenity looked at Touma's lifeless body with tears trickling down her cheeks. "I have nothing without Touma," she told her mother.

"Serenity, no man is worth killing yourself over! If you do this, Touma's sacrifice will be in vain!" The Queen begged, trying to get her to stop with what she was about to do.

Serenity stared at the arrow in her hand and then at her dead love. She dropped the arrow and she clutched Touma's hand as sobs wracked her body. "This is boring!" Beryl shrieked.

"SERENITY!" The Queen shouted.

Serenity looked up just as Meratia sent her magic into the princess. She let out a scream, falling back onto her love's chest. "SERENITY!" The Queen screamed in agony as she collapsed to her knees while Beryl laughed. The Queen glared at Beryl as she removed her wand and attached the silver crystal. "Don't worry, darling, I won't let it end this way. I won't let her take your future!" she told her daughter's lifeless body.

Using her powers, she was able to defeat Beryl and Meratia, sending them back to the Negaverse to be trapped. As the Queen was lying there dying, a person appeared beside her. Looking up, she smiled softly. "Amadeus…my friend," she said softly.

"I am sorry, my lady, if only I could arrive sooner," the Ancient said mournfully as he bowed to the queen.

"Your warriors saved so many lives…" she answered.

She gripped her friend's hand with tears streaming down her cheeks. "My Serenity is gone, and I only have enough magic to send her and the others to the future," she whispered.

"The future?" Amadeus asked.

She nodded her head slowly. "Where they are to be reborn," she replied softly, "Reborn and given a second chance at the future that Beryl stole from them." Amadeus held her hand. "You will watch over them?" she asked.

"Until my last breath," he replied.

Serenity smiled softly, holding onto his hand as she gave Luna and Artemis the instructions of what to do when the time came. The two cats agreed to their queen's demands. Queen Serenity cast one more spell and she watched as the bodies of all of the Scouts and Warriors were sent to Earth. "The will never remember our beautiful world," she whispered with a quiet sob.

"They will remember, someday my Queen," he answered

He watched as the ten of them were sent to Earth and felt the Queen's strength weaken. "Amadeus, Beryl cannot win if she ever escapes," she whispered.

"Never, I give you my word," he answered.

She gave him a soft smile as she looked toward Earth. "Goodbye my darling daughter, I shall miss you," she whispered before she fell limp and the wand fell from her hand. Amadeus lowered his head as he mourned over the loss of the universe's wonderful Queen and the world they once knew. It was over, for now, but when the time came, the Ronin Warriors and Sailor Scouts will be reunited again to defeat any evil that would threaten their world.

(Next Story Preview)

Serena was sitting in the park trying to understand what was going on when Rowen made his way over to her. "Are you okay?" he asked. She looked over at him and she let out a deep breath.

"I'm just trying to understand what exactly is happening," she said softly.

"You and me both," he answered, holding her hand.

Serena smiled as she gave his hand a squeeze. "Serena….no matter what happens I promise you that I will protect you," he told her. She nodded her head slowly, smiling softly.

"I believe you," she whispered.

Story Title: A Second Chance

Rating: T

Due Date: 8/24/2014