BISHOUJO SENSHI SAILORMOON
~MIRAI~
PART V: POISONED FUTURE
by: Komillia (komillia@hotmail.com)
Disclaimer: Sailormoon belongs to Takeuchi Naoko and Kodansha, not me.
Although most of the characters in this fanfiction are original and
created by me.
Some Japanese words I use:
kisama = you (in a very offensive way)
shimatta = damn
hai = yes
* * * *
It was raining that afternoon. Triton hated rain during the battle.
Sure, she hadn't experienced it before. But one minute of battling in
the rain was enough to convince her that she didn't like it. The only
good thing about it was that her attack at greater affect on the
demons. She looked forwards as saw the other engaged into battles with
the demons. Archangel, who was using her wings to force the demons
back, then Ishtar would use her Flash attack to destroy them. Medusa
had fired her Poison Arrows, Ares kept throwing flames. And Triton
herself, rather used her attack than her trident. Though she didn't
want to admit it, the trident was a lot heavier than it looked like.
And she wasn't used to fight with it.
"Divine Wing!" Archangel called, then was followed by Ishtar
calling "Flash!". Triton got up on her feet and raised the trident up
in the air. She felt the energy she had gathering in it, soon the
trident shone with blue light. She then lowered the trident and held
it with both hands. A wave of cold water rose behind her.
"Aqua Trident Smash!" she called. The wave turned into several
beams. The beams took off and smashed several demons in their faces.
In the corner of her eye she saw Medusa using an attack she rarely
used. Medusa smiled coldly, her hair growing longer. It wrapped itself
around the neck of five demons. Though they tried to escape by using
their claws, more hair came to wrap itself around the demons. When
there was no way of them escaping, Medusa held up her left hand.
Smiling again, she said two words.
"Venom Serpent."
Five small, yet poisonous, serpents came from her thumb and four
fingers. The serpents made their way through the air and to the
throats of the five demons. Triton didn't want to see what happened to
the demons. Instead she concentrated on the demons once again and used
her attack again. Meanwhile, a demon came running and tackled Ares
from behind. Ares flew right into a tree and fell, but threw a flame
on the demon who had tackled him. When he was about to get up, he
thought that he saw a face around the trees of the park. Ares looked
to his left and saw someone standing behind the trees, watching the
battle between the five Senshi and the demons. It was a young woman,
probably somewhere around twenty. Her hair was purple, wavy and
reached to her waistline. Her eyes were dark and her skin a little
pale. But what surprised Ares the most was the dress. It was a dark
purple, old fashioned gown that hadn't become wet by the rain. Even
the woman's hair remained dry. The woman suddenly turned to him, her
sad eyes looked into his. He heard her say something to him.
"You will lose something dear if you do not prevent the poison
from flowing..."
Ares didn't have time to ask the woman who she was or what she
was talking about. He heard Ishtar warn him about getting out of the
way. Ares jumped up as he saw Ishtar placing a heart shaped ball of
energy on the ground. Both he and Ishtar fled as quickly as they
could. Triton and Medusa took cover while Archangel ascended up in the
air.
"Heartily Flash!" Ishtar called when they were out of the way.
The heart shaped ball exploded, not being merciful to any of the
demons. When it was all over, only dust remained. As always. They all
gathered at the center of the park once again.
"Looks like we're done," Triton said. She brushed off the dust
that had been blown to her fuku by the wind. "Is it always like this?"
"Always," Archangel replied.
"Now that we're done, I suggest that we leave before anyone
comes," Ishtar said. The others agreed and were just about to
transform back when someone appeared floating above them.
"You still have me left."
Ishtar and the others looked upwards. "Hecate..." she growled. The red
haired woman smirked.
"I see that you have gotten a new member since last time," she
said, looking at Triton. "The more Senshi I get to crush, the
merrier."
Medusa's eyes narrowed. She raised one hand. "I'll see just how many
Senshi you manage to crush when my arrows pierce your heart," she
hissed as the bow and an arrow formed in her hand. She aimed the arrow
towards Hecate. "Poison Arrow!!" she called and released the arrow.
To the Shin Senshi's surprise Hecate just smiled. Morpheus had been
killed by Medusa's Poison Arrow, Hecate surely knew that. But yet she
made no attempt to dodge the arrow. Suddenly Hecate waved her hand
and a faint barrier appeared around her.
"A barrier..." Ishtar whispered. Her eyes widened. "Medusa,
watch out!"
But it was too late. The arrow was reflected and turned back. Medusa
didn't have time to dodge or throw herself away. The arrow hit her
right into her right arm. They all heard her scream in pain and fall
to her knees. Hecate laughed and the barrier in front of her
disappeared.
"Kisama...!" Ares shouted. "BLAZE!!!" Two flames appeared in
his both hands and he threw them towards the smiling Hecate. But
Hecate waved her hand and simply disappeared. "Shimatta!! Get back
here!"
"Ares, we don't have time!" Ishtar reminded. Ares turned
around, the others had gathered by Medusa's side by now, the arrow had
disappeared but Medusa wasn't consious. In her weak condition she had
reverted back to being Yasha. "She's still alive," Ishtar told when
Ares joined her. "Archangel, use your powers to heal her."
"I'll try," Archangel murmured. She took Medusa's hand and
closed her eyes. She murmured a few words and a white aura appeared
around her. Ares had seen her doing that many times before, but when
he saw the frown on Archangel's face he got worried. The aura around
Archangel suddenly disappeared and she dropped Medusa's hand.
"What's wrong?" Ares asked immediately.
"It's not working!" Archangel answered. "I keep transferring
energy to her, but there's something blocking it! I think it's the
poison, it's not meant to be in Medusa's body."
"What do we do now?" Triton wondered.
"We have to take her to the hospital," Ishtar said as she
waved her hand and transformed back into Chie. "It's her only chance."
* * * *
The hospital was always crowded. People who came with injuries created
by demons were common. The doctors had accepted what Chie had told
them, that Yasha had been attacked by the demon. It was lucky that
Chie worked at the hospital, the doctors and everyone else who worked
there would never doubt what she said. Misao sat down next to Tomo
with two cups of steaming coffee in her hands. She offered Tomo one of
them, but the younger girl just silently shook her head. Then she
offered it to Usagi, who sat on the other side of Tomo. Usagi smiled
faintly and accepted the cup of coffee. Misao sipped at the other.
Tomo sat with her face in her hands and had said nothing since they
had taken Yasha to the hospital. Neither had Hikaru, who stood leaning
against the wall. On seats opposite of Usagi's, Tomo's and Misao's sat
Akira and Kenji, who had exchanged few words now and then. Otherwise
nothing was said. Chie was off trying to find out how Yasha was doing,
she had been gone for about ten minutes now.
Misao ran her hand through her long hair. She was anxious, the
others probably were too. The difference between them and her was that
she could never stay still for a longer period. She began to drum her
fingers on the coffee table. After a while Akira looked at her, she
could tell by the look in his eyes that he was annoyed.
"Please stop."
Misao rolled her eyes and sipped at the coffee again before placing it
on the coffee table. Then she leaned back in the sofa. Akira had
lowered his gaze again and didn't notice Misao watching him. Misao
wondered what Akira was hiding from her. The same day she had first
transformed into Sailortriton Chie had told her that Akira was the
one who to explain the reason why she was a Senshi. Chie had said that
Misao was reborn from the Silver Millenium, but that was all she
wanted to say. And Akira hadn't said a word about it.
[I wonder what this is all about...] she thought. [I guess
that I'll just ask him about it once we hear how Yasha is...]
"Why are you staring at me?" Akira asked suddenly without
looking at her.
"I'm not staring at you," Misao replied, looking towards
another direction.
"I'm not stupid."
"Neither am I."
At the moment Chie came back into the waiting room. Everyone who were
sitting rose from their seats and turned to her. Chie looked at
Hikaru first, although he would never show it, he cared more for Yasha
than it looked like. Which was why she had to tell him and the others
the truth about the situation.
"I'll be honest," she began. "It's not very well. She's still
alive, but the doctors can't do anything to save her."
"What?" Usagi whispered in disbelief. "Isn't there anything
that the doctors can do to save her? Isn't there any kind of treatment
that she can get?"
Chie shook her head. "No, there's nothing that anyone can do," she
answered, sitting down on a seat. Then she said in a quieter voice:
"It's like Yasha's own poison is affecting herself just like it's
affecting her enemies. Perhaps not as quickly, but the same way.
There's nothing we can do to save Yasha."
With that Tomo brust into tears and Hikaru walked past everyone and
left the waiting room. Usagi and Misao tried to hold back their own
tears as they comforted Tomo. Chie, Akira and Kenji showed no sign of
tears, but one could tell that they were as deeply affected as the
others were.
* * * *
"You will lose something dear if you do not prevent the
poison from flowing...."
Hikaru repeated those words to himself as he ran towards the park
where they had encountered the demons just hours before. It was still
raining, his clothes were soaked but he couldn't care less. Who was
that woman he had seen in the park? When he finally arrived he gazed
around the park. And found her. She stood leaning against a lamp post.
Like before, neither her hair nor her dress were wet. Hikaru didn't
have time to dwell on that.
"Sailor Knight," the woman began with her calm and sad voice.
"Do you seek help from me?"
"You knew what was going to happen to Yasha," Hikaru said. "Is
there anything you can do to save her?"
The woman shook her head. "I can do very little," she answered.
"Saving your friend is beyond my powers. However, I have enough power
to assist you in helping your friend."
"How can I save her?" Hikaru asked.
"Your friend's blood is poisoned," the woman told. "But it is
not the poison that is killing her, it is her fears. You must enter
the land of her fears and nightmares. Once you meet and defeat her
greatest fear, there might be a chance that she'll recover. I can not
promise you anything."
"I'll do it," Hikaru decided. "If it can save Yasha, then I'll
do it."
"Very well," the woman said and walked over to him. "Close
your eyes, Sailor Knight, and concentrate."
Hikaru did as he was told to. He could feel her fingers touch his
eyelids, they were surprisingly warm. Hikaru's own fingers were
freezing even though he had tried to keep them warm. The woman
whispered words in an unknown language, but that was the last thing
Hikaru remembered before everything went black.
* * * *
When he came to, he was transformed into Ares Knight. It was strange,
since he didn't remember him transforming. Ares got up, surprised to
see that he was no longer in the park. Instead he was in some kind of
dark alley and it was night. The woman he had been talking to was no
where to be seen.
[I wonder where I am...] Ares thought as he walked out of the
alley. He was still in Crystal Tokyo, he noticed. Between all the high
buildings he still saw the Crystal Palace. But this wasn't the Crystal
Tokyo he recognized. The buildings were old and some looked like they
would fall apart if anyone touched them. There was no one outside on
the streets, there were no cars either. The few lamp posts there
weren't broken made it possible for him to see where he was going.
[What is this place?] Ares asked himself. Suddenly he heard
the sound of sirens. He turned around just in times to see cars coming
and then stopping a few yards in front of him. Men carrying guns and
dressed in dark uniforms came out. Ares recognized the symbols that
were on the cars and the uniforms. NSS.
"Stand still or we will use force!" one of the men threatened.
"You have ten seconds to detransform into your civilian form!"
"What's this all about?" Ares demanded. What he really wanted
to know was since when did NSS get their own troups.
"Ten, nine, eight, seven..." the man counted. For a moment
Ares considered detransforming, but to be caught by NSS was a shame
even worse than dying. But they were too many, to fight them off
without being shot would be impossible.
"Six, five, four..." the man continued to count. Ares clenched
his fist.
[It's now or never...] he thought, deciding to use his Blaze
attack.
"Three, two..."
"Everyone, look!" another NSS soldier called and pointed
upwards. The commander stopped his counting and like the soldiers,
looked upwards. Ares saw a shadow flying over them. He doubted that it
was a bird or something, it was too big. That only left one option,
it had to be a Senshi.
"Damnit!" the commander swore. "It's Archangel!"
"Tomo?" Ares repeated to himself. But it was too dark for him
to see. The NSS soldiers fired towards the flying Senshi who
gracefully avoided all the bullets and made her way towards the
soldiers. Once they saw that she was getting closer they backed
several steps. The Senshi descended to the ground between Ares and the
soldiers. She held out her hands. Ares thought that he saw wings on
the Senshi's back.
"Heaven Punishment," the Senshi hissed. The wings started to
flap and the soldiers were forced back. Black beams came out from the
Senshi's hands. The beams wrapped themselves around the soldiers and
charged them with dark power. The soldiers screamed in agony but the
Senshi didn't pity them. Then the Senshi turned to Ares, before he
knew it she had lifted him up in the air and was flying away from the
soon to be dead troop of soldiers.
Luckily Ares had no fear of heights, because the Senshi
carried him for a long time and said nothing to him. When the Senshi
slowed down, she set Ares down on the roof of one of the high
buildings before she descended herself. Ares turned around and to his
surprise he saw Archangel. There was something different about her.
Her face and height had remained the same. The fuku hadn't changed,
neither had the wings but there was something in Archangel's eyes.
Cold, hard, cruel. This wasn't the Archangel that Ares knew.
"Tomo?" he said carefully. Archangel's eyes hardened, if it
was possible.
"How dare you set your foot in Crystal Tokyo?" she hissed. "I
don't know how you survived but I'm going to make sure that you're not
going to this time!"
Ares ducked as black beam, aimed for him, came flying. "Tomo, what are
you doing?" he demanded. "It's me, Hikaru!"
"You traitor!" Archangel yelled and held out both hands. Black
beams came from her hands. A flame appeared in Ares' and he tossed it
towards the beam. There was a minor explotion when the two met but
nothing really serious. "I should have burned your corpse and sliced
it into millions of pieces!"
She shot some more beams, Ares threw himself out of the way. He saw a
sign on another building. At the rolling text was the today's
temperature and date. He nearly dropped his jaw when he saw the date.
May 14th, 4070.
[Oh shit.]
"Die!" he heard Archangel call. She grabbed his arms from
behind, Ares knew that she was going to toss him all the way down if
he didn't do something about it. He managed to turn and tossed
Archangel over the edge in return. He would have never done that if
he didn't have faith in Archangel's flying skills. She recovered and
flew back up again.
"Tomo, wait!" Ares said. "No matter what or who you think I
am, I am the Ares Knight from 4030!"
"Yeah, right," Archangel snorted. "And I'm Beryl of the Dark
Kingdom. I am no fool, Ares. You shall pay for what you did to Usagi
and the others. Heaven Punishment!"
A strong gust of wind forced Ares backwards, he nearly stumbled but
managed to keep his balance. He charged up another flame as the black
beams came flying. The explotion didn't stop Archangel to come flying
and throwing herself on him. They both lost balance and fell to the
floor. Ares managed to grab her arms and hold her still, but noticed
how strong her arms were compared to the Archangel he knew.
"Tomo, listen!" he said. "I'm not a traitor and this is
diffinitely not my time! From where I come from you're still an
innocent high school girl who doesn't attack her own."
"Those days changed when you betrayed us," Archangel growled.
Ares saw the pain in her eyes. "Usagi, Chie, Kenji, Akira and Misao...
They are all dead thanks to your betrayal..."
"What?" Ares whispered, hardly believing what he was hearing.
He released her. "What are you talking about?"
Archangel backed off and watched him for a long time. "Why didn't you
kill me when you had the chance?" she asked. "Unless you are telling
me the truth..."
"I am," Ares replied. "I don't know what's happened but I
came here to save Yasha. She's badly injured in my time and I was
told that if I defeated her greatest fear then she would get better.
So I ended up here."
"In the future." Archangel looked away. "You do look
different... younger, to be exact. But how do I know that you're not
lying?"
"If I wanted to kill you, then I would take the chance now,
wouldn't I?"
Archangel stood up, she watched him with a suspicious look but at
least now she seemed to believe him. "I will believe you for now,"
she answered. "But don't expect me to trust you for what your future
self has done. If you show any sign of hostility, then I will
destroy you."
"Exactly what did my future self do?" Ares asked. Archangel
looked away again.
"June 22, 4032," she began. "That's when it happened."
"June 22? Tomo, that's your birthday."
"I'm surprised that you remember. NSS found out about Usagi
and your identity somehow. They captured your parents and wanted
Usagi in exchange. An offer which you couldn't resist. We thought that
you and Usagi had been captured when we discovered that you two were
gone. That day... we broke into the NSS headquarters to look for you.
Only to discover that Usagi had been killed and that you had betrayed
us."
Ares saw Archangel clenching her fist. "There were too many NSS
soldiers for us to fight. Ishtar never believed in killing other
humans. So that day, on my eighteenth birthday, I witness the death of
Ishtar, Hermes, Odin and Triton... Medusa was injured, I would have
died with her if Ishtar hadn't shielded us and told us to leave. So I
took Medusa with me and left. Ever since then NSS has been after us.
They wrecked the house that Chie loved so much... harassed the people
we knew... Now... there's nothing left of what we fought for. Queen
Serenity is dead, all the ties with the Moon Kingdom are broken.
Demons roam this city freely and thousands of Senshi has perished
trying to fight them."
* * * *
"This is where you live?" Hikaru asked.
"Yes, it's the only place where the NSS troops won't expect us
to be in," Tomo answered and opened the door to the basement. Both she
and Hikaru had reverted to their civilian form when they had reached
the building that Tomo called home. It was dark inside the basement,
but Tomo turned on a lamp. Not that it made much difference but it
lightened up the basement a little.
"Yasha," Tomo said. She never used to say Yasha back in 4030,
Hikaru noticed. It was always Marika-san. Tomo had changed, except for
the outer looks she was nothing like the Tomo Hikaru knew. But what
bothered him the most was what Tomo had told him. Would he exchange
Usagi for his parents? Hikaru couldn't imagine him doing that. None of
his parents had never cared for as long as he could remember.
"Yasha," Tomo said again and this time Hikaru heard a sound.
He turned around and saw Yasha sitting in what looked like a wheel
chair. It was primitive but at least it seemed to work. Yasha had
changed. Her hair, the long beautiful hair that Yasha cared for so
much, it had been cut. It hardly reached to her waist. Her legs were
covered with a blanket. Hikaru didn't have to guess why. Her legs had
probably been injured and disabled her from walking, whether it was
permanent or temporary Hikaru didn't know. But Yasha didn't look very
happy to see him.
"You...!" she growled angrily. "What is he doing here?!"
"Yasha, this isn't the Hikaru we know," Tomo tried to explain.
"The Hikaru I know has always been the same!" Yasha yelled.
"Nothing but a selfish traitor who didn't care for people who cared
for him!"
That hurt. To see Yasha looking at him with such look of hatred and
anger, that hurt, not the words. Yasha's face hadn't changed, which
was why it hurt Hikaru when he heard those words coming from her.
"Haven't you noticed?" Tomo asked. "The Hikaru that I killed
last week looked older."
Hikaru blinked and turned to Tomo. Had he misunderstood her words or
had she actually said something about her killing him? But Tomo didn't
bother to explain to him, at least not at that time.
"This is the Hikaru Aodh we knew in 4030," Tomo told. "The one
he was before his betrayal."
[My betrayal?] Hikaru thought. [Tomo-chan... from where I come
from you are like the little sister I never had. Why would I ever
betray you... or Yasha...]
"So you're saying that you're from the past?" Yasha said,
looking at Hikaru. Her look was still filled with hatred. "Only
Sailorpluto can send people through time, I doubt she helped you."
"You're right, she didn't," Hikaru replied. "I got help from
an unknown woman, she said that you would become well if I came here."
"I would be well?" Yasha questioned.
Hikaru wondered if he should have revealed that. "From where I come
from, you have been badly injured," he told. "A woman said that I
could help you to get well again and she sent me here."
He left out the part about Yasha's greatest fears on purpose. There
was silence between the three for a few seconds, Hikaru wondered what
the two others were thinking about. He wondered why Yasha had cut her
hair, she had always loved having her hair so long.
"I'll go and check on a few things," Tomo suddenly said. She
turned around and went back to the door. She stopped before leaving.
"Please don't kill each other, yet."
What she meant by "yet" that Hikaru couldn't understand. When Tomo had
left and the door was closed there was silence in the room again.
Yasha looked away from Hikaru, her eyes telling Hikaru that she was
thinking of something very distant. He wondered what she was thinking
about. What he had just told her, the present Hikaru who had betrayed
the Shin Senshi or perhaps a friend who had been lost when NSS had
found out about her identity. Suddenly Hikaru remembered something
that Tomo had said before.
"I don't mean to dig up anything painful, but what did Tomo
mean when she said that she killed me last week?" he asked. Yasha
didn't look at him, she closed her eyes.
"In this present time, you are indeed dead," she answered, her
voice sad and low. "Archangel killed you. The death of Ishtar and the
others... She may not look much different, but she is no longer the
Tomo or Archangel she was when she was young. This Archangel, though
strong and independent, is the result of your betrayal. Cold, cruel,
murderous. She kills whoever that stands in her way, even common
people. She is no longer like the pure and innocent angel that she
used to be. And yes, she did kill you. In pure rage and cold blood."
Yasha opened her eyes and looked at him. "You wonder what happened to
me, do you? I can no longer walk or transform, I barely survived when
the others died. The reason why I haven't aged in forty years is still
unknown to me. But Sailormedusa no longer exists."
She actually cried. Hikaru had never seen Yasha cry before. He bent
down on his knees so that their eyes were in the same level. Yasha
tried to hide the fact that she was crying but in vain. But she
refused to meet his eyes.
Hikaru didn't sleep many hours that night. He had been offered
a mattress by Yasha, but because of all that had happened, he couldn't
sleep. The day for him had began pretty ordinary, he, Yasha and Chie
had gone grocery shopping. As usual, he and Yasha had had a fight
about who was going to drive, Chie ended up driving. Then they had met
up with Tomo and Misao who had been out shopping, it wasn't until they
were going to head home that the demons showed up. How many hours had
passed since then he didn't know.
Or years. He really was in the future. A future that he didn't
like at all. What was the fear that he was supposed to find here and
even if he did defeat that fear, how would it help the past Yasha? Had
he been set up by the woman in the park? Could she had been an enemy
who had taken him to the future just to get rid of him? If Yasha died
and with him being in the future, the Shin Senshi would be weakened.
* * * *
"Where's Tomo?" was the first thing that Hikaru heard that
morning. He opened his eyes to see Yasha sitting in her wheel chair.
It was rather surprising that she kept a good distance between them
since the night before she had spoken to him as if she trusted him.
But Yasha had always an ability to easily become suspicious.
"I don't know," Hikaru murmured and sat up. "Didn't she come
home last night?"
Yasha shook her head. "No... I would have heard her if she came..."
she answered. "Something must have happened to her." She suddenly
turned looked at Hikaru with a sharp look. "You... you probably had
NSS soldiers after you!"
Hikaru sighed and got up. "Look sweetie, yesterday Tomo came flying
and lifted me off from the other side of the town," he told. "There's
no way that they could have followed us."
"It's best for you that it is that way," Yasha said in a low
voice and turned her wheel chair around. "We have to go out and look
for her. It's not safe outside, whether it's day or night."
"As you wish, milady."
Hikaru grabbed the back of her wheel chair and pushed her forwards.
Yasha looked surprised when he did that, as if she had expected him
to not even care. She mumbled something unhearable.
"Did you say something?" Hikaru asked. Yasha avoided his gaze
and repeated the words quietly, but this time he heard her.
"Thank you."
Right when they were at the exit of the basement Hikaru noticed that
she was crying again. He stopped pushing the wheel chair and walked
over to her side. He kneeled down and saw her quietly sobbing.
"Why are you crying again?" he wondered. "Did I say something
wrong?"
Yasha shook her head. "Seeing you..." she began, her tears flowing
freely. "Reminds me of what happened when we lost the others... God,
Hikaru. How could you do that to Usagi... to us."
Hikaru didn't know what to say. He hadn't done it, it was his future
self that had betrayed his friends. Why his future self would do that
he couldn't understand. Then Yasha remembered.
"But it's still you... the Hikaru we trusted," she said and
forced herself to stop crying. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said
that."
"It's alright," Hikaru assured and went back to the back of
the wheel chair. He pushed her out of the basement and closed the door
after himself. "Let's go and find Tomo."
Yasha made no protests.
* * * *
It took them a while to get out of the basement, since there was no
elevator and only stairs. When they eventually came out, Hikaru saw
what he hadn't seen last night, civilians. There were people walking
the streets that had been empty when Tomo had brought Hikaru to the
neighbourhood. There were very few people, only a few children playing
who were watched by their parents.
"Where should we go?" Hikaru asked. Yasha didn't answer.
Hikaru looked at Yasha, who was looking up in the sky.
"Look there," she said and pointed. Hikaru looked towards the
direction where Yasha was pointing. Upwards. Like yesterday, he saw a
flying object. That flying object was Archangel. Hikaru and Yasha
watched her descending to the ground, but when she got closer they
saw that her fuku was torn and she had several bruises. Her left arm
was bleeding. She made it to the ground, hardly. As soon as she was
close enough she collapsed, her wings unable to carry her.
"Oh dear God... it's Archangel."
The children and their parents watched with widened eyes. Before them
was Archangel, the notorius, murderous Senshi Archangel who they had
heard about in the news. But now when they saw her for real and not
on TV they were taken by surprise.
"She's just a teenager..." another parent said, astonished.
Was this really the murder they had heard about? But Hikaru or Yasha
paid no attention to them. Hikaru rushed forwards to Tomo and Yasha
rolled the wheels and reached the two.
"Tomo, what happened?" she asked as Hikaru helped her to stand
up.
"The demons..." Archangel murmured, doing everything in her
power to stand up straight. "They ambushed me last night... and
they're coming."
"How?" Hikaru wondered. "You flew, they should have been
unable to follow you, unless..."
When he spoke those words, he saw several flying objects in the sky.
He got up and saw as the objects got closer and closer. It was demons
with wings. In his own time Hikaru had never seen flying demons
before, all the demons in his time looked about the same. Beige scale,
sometimes three eyed or one eyed, fangs instead of normal teeth and
long, dark claws. These demons looked a like the ones in Hikaru's
time, but they had dragon like wings and their scale were dark green.
[So they evolve?] he pondered as the first demon descended to
the ground. The children and their parents ran as fast as they could,
but the demon noticed it and turned towards them. Hikaru waved his
hand and transformed into Ares Knight. He held out one hand and a
burning flame appeared.
"Blaze..." he murmured and threw the flame on the demon. It
was very small and would hardly do any damaged. But as Ares had
expected the demon took his eyes of the running families and turned to
him instead. Archangel's eyes narrowed.
"You idiot!" she yelled. "The time you used to save them we
could have used!"
Yasha was right, Ares realized. Archangel would have gladly killed
those people, even the children, if it somehow helped her or Yasha.
"Let's not argue and get out of here," Yasha said before Ares
could say anything. Archangel silently agreed. Ares lifted Yasha out
of her wheel chair and carried her while running. Archangel came after
them, but flying. The demons were somewhere around twenty or thirty,
too many for them to defeat on their own. They were fast too, in the
corner of his eye he saw one of them getting awfully close to
Archangel.
"Tomo, watch out!" he called but it was too late. The demons
had the ability to fly, they could easily catch Archangel. Two demons
grabbed her wings, two others grabbed her arms. Yasha managed to see
what was happening when Ares stopped running. The demons hadn't gone
after them, all the demons had now gathered in the air or on the
ground below Archangel.
"No..." Yasha whispered. Both she and Ares realized that
Archangel was too exhausted to pull off a strong attack.
"Divine Wing!" Archangel called, her wings flapping out of the
demons' grip. She was released, but by using an attack she had
weakened herself. Her wings couldn't carry her anymore and she
collapsed to the ground, right into the nest of the demons.
"Archangel, get up!" Yasha yelled, tears in her eyes.
"Run!" Archangel managed to call back. "Before they come for
you!"
Ares realized that it was the only thing that they could do, there was
no way to save Archangel. Yet he stood there, frozen. Yasha was in his
arms, crying softly as she told Archangel to get up and run. But it
was already too late. The demons grabbed Archangel's weak arms and
legs, she was unable to move. One demon stood before him and raised
it's arm. It's smiled viciously before it's claw slashed through
Archangel's heart. Both Ares and Yasha heard Archangel's painful
scream, but still didn't move. Yasha was silent, but her tears never
stopped. Light flashed, Ares knew that it happened when a Senshi died.
The powers would leave the Senshi and the Senshi would detransform.
The light that flashed would distract the demons and give them a few
extra seconds to run. Ares did that.
He around the corner and down that street, not looking over
his shoulder to see if the demons were chasing them. But then he heard
Yasha say something.
"Put me down, Hikaru."
"Are you insane?" Ares asked as he continued to run. "If I
stop running the demons will catch up and kill us too."
"I don't care," Yasha answered. "Tomo is dead. The Hikaru in
this time is dead. Chie and the others are dead. My parents are dead.
Everyone is dead except for me. All my fears have happened in reality,
I no longer care if I am alive or dead. Put me down and run. Save
yourself."
When Yasha said 'fear' Ares stopped running. If all Yasha's fear had
happened in the future, then why was he there? Had he been sent into
the future to prevent things that had already happened?
"You can't just give up," Hikaru told her. "It's so not like
you."
"Then I guess that you don't know me as good as you think
that I do," Yasha muttered. She struggled to get down, but Hikaru
wouldn't let her. "Put me down, now!"
"Yasha, I'm not letting you go!" Hikaru said. "I don't know
why I'm in the future but that's say that I'll just let you die!"
"What if this isn't the future?" a calm voice said suddenly.
Ares looked forwards and saw the woman who had been standing in the
park. She was still the same with a bright aura glowing around her.
Yasha said nothing, she didn't even look at the woman.
"What do you mean?" Ares asked. "This isn't the future?"
Everything around him suddenly disappeared, the buildings, the street,
Yasha, the demons who had just appeared at the end of the street. Only
Ares himself and the woman remained.
"You will lose something dear if you do not prevent the poison
from flowing...." the woman answered, repeating her words. "I said
that you would enter a land of fear and nightmares, this is it. This
world is the land of your friend's worst fear."
"Then how do I stop the fear and save the Yasha in my time?"
The woman smiled. "You already have," she told. "Only by being with
Yasha you have prevented the poison from flowing. You were here in her
nightmares, you comforted her, you helped her. But most importantly
you refused to abandon her. It is enough. She will be saved."
* * * *
When Hikaru woke up he was lying on a bench in the park, detransformed
and fully rested. It was early morning, the sun was just rising. And
he saw the splendid Crystal Palace in the horizon. He was back in the
normal Crystal Tokyo. His stomach growled, reminding him that he
hadn't eaten anything for a long time, but he decided to ignore it. He
had to see Yasha.
It wasn't that far to the hospital, it only took him twenty
minutes to get there. Once he got there, he found Chie in the waiting
room. It was a relief to see her, to know that he was back into the
world that he belonged in.
"Hikaru, where have you been?" Chie asked once she noticed
him.
"Just walking around," he answered. "How's Yasha? And where
are the others?"
"I told the others to go home and get some sleep," Chie
answered, then she smiled. "Yasha made a strange recovery last night.
Neither the doctors or I know how or why but they say that she's going
to be alright after a few days in bed. Come, I'll take you to her
room."
Hikaru agreed and Chie led the way to the room where Yasha was
staying. When Chie quietly opened the door, she said to Yasha:
"I see that you're already awake."
"I hate hospitals," Yasha answered who had sat up. "How fast
can I get out of here?"
"In two days if nothing happens," Chie replied as Hikaru
entered the room. "I'll got and get some coffee, Hikaru, you want
some?"
Hikaru nodded and with that Chie left and closed the door after
herself. Hikaru walked over to the to the hospital bed, standing next
to it. He took a moment to look at her. She was dressed in white
hospital clothes, her long hair had been put in a thick braid. She was
well and that was all that mattered. No wheel chair, her legs seemed
to be perfectly well.
"Guess that I better be more careful the next time," Yasha
said, just to start up a converstation. She didn't say what she really
wanted to say, that when she had woken up yesterday she had seen
everyone except for him. Chie had told her that Hikaru had left, Yasha
wondered why and where he had gone. Finally, after some silence in the
room, she decided to ask him about it.
"Where were you last night? When I woke up, I saw everyone
except for you."
"I was walking around and doing thinking," Hikaru answered.
She couldn't tell if he was lying or if he was telling the truth.
"Really?" Yasha said. "About what?"
"You really want to know?"
When Yasha nodded, Hikaru leaned over and kissed her full on her lips.
She was taken by surprise, but what also surprised her was that she
didn't push him away. Even in her confused and surprised state, Yasha
realized how fast her heart was beating and how much she actually
liked it. But the kiss didn't last for long and Yasha felt something
strange when Hikaru pulled away from her. What was it called? Yes, it
was called disappointment.
"You were thinking about that?" Yasha asked as Hikaru pulled
away from her.
"Hai."
The next moment they heard the door being opened and in less
than a second Hikaru was at the other side of the room. Chie came in,
with two cups of coffee in her hands. She gave one to Hikaru and
sipped at her own before putting it down on the table. Neither Hikaru
or Yasha said anything. Chie looked at them, surprised at the silence.
"I guess that you two aren't much for talking..." she said.
Yasha glanced at Hikaru, but he was looking down on the floor.
[No... I guess we're not...]
This part was written pretty fast, strangely enough it turned out
different from what I had expected... Well, I hope that you like it
anyway! On to part 6...
Komillia (komillia@hotmail.com)
26 December 2000
Next:
Sailormoon Mirai Part VI: Gift
Yasha's parents wants her to return to Sweden with them, on a
condition Yasha is unsure about. She begins to wonder if being a
Senshi is really worth losing her parents.
~MIRAI~
PART V: POISONED FUTURE
by: Komillia (komillia@hotmail.com)
Disclaimer: Sailormoon belongs to Takeuchi Naoko and Kodansha, not me.
Although most of the characters in this fanfiction are original and
created by me.
Some Japanese words I use:
kisama = you (in a very offensive way)
shimatta = damn
hai = yes
* * * *
It was raining that afternoon. Triton hated rain during the battle.
Sure, she hadn't experienced it before. But one minute of battling in
the rain was enough to convince her that she didn't like it. The only
good thing about it was that her attack at greater affect on the
demons. She looked forwards as saw the other engaged into battles with
the demons. Archangel, who was using her wings to force the demons
back, then Ishtar would use her Flash attack to destroy them. Medusa
had fired her Poison Arrows, Ares kept throwing flames. And Triton
herself, rather used her attack than her trident. Though she didn't
want to admit it, the trident was a lot heavier than it looked like.
And she wasn't used to fight with it.
"Divine Wing!" Archangel called, then was followed by Ishtar
calling "Flash!". Triton got up on her feet and raised the trident up
in the air. She felt the energy she had gathering in it, soon the
trident shone with blue light. She then lowered the trident and held
it with both hands. A wave of cold water rose behind her.
"Aqua Trident Smash!" she called. The wave turned into several
beams. The beams took off and smashed several demons in their faces.
In the corner of her eye she saw Medusa using an attack she rarely
used. Medusa smiled coldly, her hair growing longer. It wrapped itself
around the neck of five demons. Though they tried to escape by using
their claws, more hair came to wrap itself around the demons. When
there was no way of them escaping, Medusa held up her left hand.
Smiling again, she said two words.
"Venom Serpent."
Five small, yet poisonous, serpents came from her thumb and four
fingers. The serpents made their way through the air and to the
throats of the five demons. Triton didn't want to see what happened to
the demons. Instead she concentrated on the demons once again and used
her attack again. Meanwhile, a demon came running and tackled Ares
from behind. Ares flew right into a tree and fell, but threw a flame
on the demon who had tackled him. When he was about to get up, he
thought that he saw a face around the trees of the park. Ares looked
to his left and saw someone standing behind the trees, watching the
battle between the five Senshi and the demons. It was a young woman,
probably somewhere around twenty. Her hair was purple, wavy and
reached to her waistline. Her eyes were dark and her skin a little
pale. But what surprised Ares the most was the dress. It was a dark
purple, old fashioned gown that hadn't become wet by the rain. Even
the woman's hair remained dry. The woman suddenly turned to him, her
sad eyes looked into his. He heard her say something to him.
"You will lose something dear if you do not prevent the poison
from flowing..."
Ares didn't have time to ask the woman who she was or what she
was talking about. He heard Ishtar warn him about getting out of the
way. Ares jumped up as he saw Ishtar placing a heart shaped ball of
energy on the ground. Both he and Ishtar fled as quickly as they
could. Triton and Medusa took cover while Archangel ascended up in the
air.
"Heartily Flash!" Ishtar called when they were out of the way.
The heart shaped ball exploded, not being merciful to any of the
demons. When it was all over, only dust remained. As always. They all
gathered at the center of the park once again.
"Looks like we're done," Triton said. She brushed off the dust
that had been blown to her fuku by the wind. "Is it always like this?"
"Always," Archangel replied.
"Now that we're done, I suggest that we leave before anyone
comes," Ishtar said. The others agreed and were just about to
transform back when someone appeared floating above them.
"You still have me left."
Ishtar and the others looked upwards. "Hecate..." she growled. The red
haired woman smirked.
"I see that you have gotten a new member since last time," she
said, looking at Triton. "The more Senshi I get to crush, the
merrier."
Medusa's eyes narrowed. She raised one hand. "I'll see just how many
Senshi you manage to crush when my arrows pierce your heart," she
hissed as the bow and an arrow formed in her hand. She aimed the arrow
towards Hecate. "Poison Arrow!!" she called and released the arrow.
To the Shin Senshi's surprise Hecate just smiled. Morpheus had been
killed by Medusa's Poison Arrow, Hecate surely knew that. But yet she
made no attempt to dodge the arrow. Suddenly Hecate waved her hand
and a faint barrier appeared around her.
"A barrier..." Ishtar whispered. Her eyes widened. "Medusa,
watch out!"
But it was too late. The arrow was reflected and turned back. Medusa
didn't have time to dodge or throw herself away. The arrow hit her
right into her right arm. They all heard her scream in pain and fall
to her knees. Hecate laughed and the barrier in front of her
disappeared.
"Kisama...!" Ares shouted. "BLAZE!!!" Two flames appeared in
his both hands and he threw them towards the smiling Hecate. But
Hecate waved her hand and simply disappeared. "Shimatta!! Get back
here!"
"Ares, we don't have time!" Ishtar reminded. Ares turned
around, the others had gathered by Medusa's side by now, the arrow had
disappeared but Medusa wasn't consious. In her weak condition she had
reverted back to being Yasha. "She's still alive," Ishtar told when
Ares joined her. "Archangel, use your powers to heal her."
"I'll try," Archangel murmured. She took Medusa's hand and
closed her eyes. She murmured a few words and a white aura appeared
around her. Ares had seen her doing that many times before, but when
he saw the frown on Archangel's face he got worried. The aura around
Archangel suddenly disappeared and she dropped Medusa's hand.
"What's wrong?" Ares asked immediately.
"It's not working!" Archangel answered. "I keep transferring
energy to her, but there's something blocking it! I think it's the
poison, it's not meant to be in Medusa's body."
"What do we do now?" Triton wondered.
"We have to take her to the hospital," Ishtar said as she
waved her hand and transformed back into Chie. "It's her only chance."
* * * *
The hospital was always crowded. People who came with injuries created
by demons were common. The doctors had accepted what Chie had told
them, that Yasha had been attacked by the demon. It was lucky that
Chie worked at the hospital, the doctors and everyone else who worked
there would never doubt what she said. Misao sat down next to Tomo
with two cups of steaming coffee in her hands. She offered Tomo one of
them, but the younger girl just silently shook her head. Then she
offered it to Usagi, who sat on the other side of Tomo. Usagi smiled
faintly and accepted the cup of coffee. Misao sipped at the other.
Tomo sat with her face in her hands and had said nothing since they
had taken Yasha to the hospital. Neither had Hikaru, who stood leaning
against the wall. On seats opposite of Usagi's, Tomo's and Misao's sat
Akira and Kenji, who had exchanged few words now and then. Otherwise
nothing was said. Chie was off trying to find out how Yasha was doing,
she had been gone for about ten minutes now.
Misao ran her hand through her long hair. She was anxious, the
others probably were too. The difference between them and her was that
she could never stay still for a longer period. She began to drum her
fingers on the coffee table. After a while Akira looked at her, she
could tell by the look in his eyes that he was annoyed.
"Please stop."
Misao rolled her eyes and sipped at the coffee again before placing it
on the coffee table. Then she leaned back in the sofa. Akira had
lowered his gaze again and didn't notice Misao watching him. Misao
wondered what Akira was hiding from her. The same day she had first
transformed into Sailortriton Chie had told her that Akira was the
one who to explain the reason why she was a Senshi. Chie had said that
Misao was reborn from the Silver Millenium, but that was all she
wanted to say. And Akira hadn't said a word about it.
[I wonder what this is all about...] she thought. [I guess
that I'll just ask him about it once we hear how Yasha is...]
"Why are you staring at me?" Akira asked suddenly without
looking at her.
"I'm not staring at you," Misao replied, looking towards
another direction.
"I'm not stupid."
"Neither am I."
At the moment Chie came back into the waiting room. Everyone who were
sitting rose from their seats and turned to her. Chie looked at
Hikaru first, although he would never show it, he cared more for Yasha
than it looked like. Which was why she had to tell him and the others
the truth about the situation.
"I'll be honest," she began. "It's not very well. She's still
alive, but the doctors can't do anything to save her."
"What?" Usagi whispered in disbelief. "Isn't there anything
that the doctors can do to save her? Isn't there any kind of treatment
that she can get?"
Chie shook her head. "No, there's nothing that anyone can do," she
answered, sitting down on a seat. Then she said in a quieter voice:
"It's like Yasha's own poison is affecting herself just like it's
affecting her enemies. Perhaps not as quickly, but the same way.
There's nothing we can do to save Yasha."
With that Tomo brust into tears and Hikaru walked past everyone and
left the waiting room. Usagi and Misao tried to hold back their own
tears as they comforted Tomo. Chie, Akira and Kenji showed no sign of
tears, but one could tell that they were as deeply affected as the
others were.
* * * *
"You will lose something dear if you do not prevent the
poison from flowing...."
Hikaru repeated those words to himself as he ran towards the park
where they had encountered the demons just hours before. It was still
raining, his clothes were soaked but he couldn't care less. Who was
that woman he had seen in the park? When he finally arrived he gazed
around the park. And found her. She stood leaning against a lamp post.
Like before, neither her hair nor her dress were wet. Hikaru didn't
have time to dwell on that.
"Sailor Knight," the woman began with her calm and sad voice.
"Do you seek help from me?"
"You knew what was going to happen to Yasha," Hikaru said. "Is
there anything you can do to save her?"
The woman shook her head. "I can do very little," she answered.
"Saving your friend is beyond my powers. However, I have enough power
to assist you in helping your friend."
"How can I save her?" Hikaru asked.
"Your friend's blood is poisoned," the woman told. "But it is
not the poison that is killing her, it is her fears. You must enter
the land of her fears and nightmares. Once you meet and defeat her
greatest fear, there might be a chance that she'll recover. I can not
promise you anything."
"I'll do it," Hikaru decided. "If it can save Yasha, then I'll
do it."
"Very well," the woman said and walked over to him. "Close
your eyes, Sailor Knight, and concentrate."
Hikaru did as he was told to. He could feel her fingers touch his
eyelids, they were surprisingly warm. Hikaru's own fingers were
freezing even though he had tried to keep them warm. The woman
whispered words in an unknown language, but that was the last thing
Hikaru remembered before everything went black.
* * * *
When he came to, he was transformed into Ares Knight. It was strange,
since he didn't remember him transforming. Ares got up, surprised to
see that he was no longer in the park. Instead he was in some kind of
dark alley and it was night. The woman he had been talking to was no
where to be seen.
[I wonder where I am...] Ares thought as he walked out of the
alley. He was still in Crystal Tokyo, he noticed. Between all the high
buildings he still saw the Crystal Palace. But this wasn't the Crystal
Tokyo he recognized. The buildings were old and some looked like they
would fall apart if anyone touched them. There was no one outside on
the streets, there were no cars either. The few lamp posts there
weren't broken made it possible for him to see where he was going.
[What is this place?] Ares asked himself. Suddenly he heard
the sound of sirens. He turned around just in times to see cars coming
and then stopping a few yards in front of him. Men carrying guns and
dressed in dark uniforms came out. Ares recognized the symbols that
were on the cars and the uniforms. NSS.
"Stand still or we will use force!" one of the men threatened.
"You have ten seconds to detransform into your civilian form!"
"What's this all about?" Ares demanded. What he really wanted
to know was since when did NSS get their own troups.
"Ten, nine, eight, seven..." the man counted. For a moment
Ares considered detransforming, but to be caught by NSS was a shame
even worse than dying. But they were too many, to fight them off
without being shot would be impossible.
"Six, five, four..." the man continued to count. Ares clenched
his fist.
[It's now or never...] he thought, deciding to use his Blaze
attack.
"Three, two..."
"Everyone, look!" another NSS soldier called and pointed
upwards. The commander stopped his counting and like the soldiers,
looked upwards. Ares saw a shadow flying over them. He doubted that it
was a bird or something, it was too big. That only left one option,
it had to be a Senshi.
"Damnit!" the commander swore. "It's Archangel!"
"Tomo?" Ares repeated to himself. But it was too dark for him
to see. The NSS soldiers fired towards the flying Senshi who
gracefully avoided all the bullets and made her way towards the
soldiers. Once they saw that she was getting closer they backed
several steps. The Senshi descended to the ground between Ares and the
soldiers. She held out her hands. Ares thought that he saw wings on
the Senshi's back.
"Heaven Punishment," the Senshi hissed. The wings started to
flap and the soldiers were forced back. Black beams came out from the
Senshi's hands. The beams wrapped themselves around the soldiers and
charged them with dark power. The soldiers screamed in agony but the
Senshi didn't pity them. Then the Senshi turned to Ares, before he
knew it she had lifted him up in the air and was flying away from the
soon to be dead troop of soldiers.
Luckily Ares had no fear of heights, because the Senshi
carried him for a long time and said nothing to him. When the Senshi
slowed down, she set Ares down on the roof of one of the high
buildings before she descended herself. Ares turned around and to his
surprise he saw Archangel. There was something different about her.
Her face and height had remained the same. The fuku hadn't changed,
neither had the wings but there was something in Archangel's eyes.
Cold, hard, cruel. This wasn't the Archangel that Ares knew.
"Tomo?" he said carefully. Archangel's eyes hardened, if it
was possible.
"How dare you set your foot in Crystal Tokyo?" she hissed. "I
don't know how you survived but I'm going to make sure that you're not
going to this time!"
Ares ducked as black beam, aimed for him, came flying. "Tomo, what are
you doing?" he demanded. "It's me, Hikaru!"
"You traitor!" Archangel yelled and held out both hands. Black
beams came from her hands. A flame appeared in Ares' and he tossed it
towards the beam. There was a minor explotion when the two met but
nothing really serious. "I should have burned your corpse and sliced
it into millions of pieces!"
She shot some more beams, Ares threw himself out of the way. He saw a
sign on another building. At the rolling text was the today's
temperature and date. He nearly dropped his jaw when he saw the date.
May 14th, 4070.
[Oh shit.]
"Die!" he heard Archangel call. She grabbed his arms from
behind, Ares knew that she was going to toss him all the way down if
he didn't do something about it. He managed to turn and tossed
Archangel over the edge in return. He would have never done that if
he didn't have faith in Archangel's flying skills. She recovered and
flew back up again.
"Tomo, wait!" Ares said. "No matter what or who you think I
am, I am the Ares Knight from 4030!"
"Yeah, right," Archangel snorted. "And I'm Beryl of the Dark
Kingdom. I am no fool, Ares. You shall pay for what you did to Usagi
and the others. Heaven Punishment!"
A strong gust of wind forced Ares backwards, he nearly stumbled but
managed to keep his balance. He charged up another flame as the black
beams came flying. The explotion didn't stop Archangel to come flying
and throwing herself on him. They both lost balance and fell to the
floor. Ares managed to grab her arms and hold her still, but noticed
how strong her arms were compared to the Archangel he knew.
"Tomo, listen!" he said. "I'm not a traitor and this is
diffinitely not my time! From where I come from you're still an
innocent high school girl who doesn't attack her own."
"Those days changed when you betrayed us," Archangel growled.
Ares saw the pain in her eyes. "Usagi, Chie, Kenji, Akira and Misao...
They are all dead thanks to your betrayal..."
"What?" Ares whispered, hardly believing what he was hearing.
He released her. "What are you talking about?"
Archangel backed off and watched him for a long time. "Why didn't you
kill me when you had the chance?" she asked. "Unless you are telling
me the truth..."
"I am," Ares replied. "I don't know what's happened but I
came here to save Yasha. She's badly injured in my time and I was
told that if I defeated her greatest fear then she would get better.
So I ended up here."
"In the future." Archangel looked away. "You do look
different... younger, to be exact. But how do I know that you're not
lying?"
"If I wanted to kill you, then I would take the chance now,
wouldn't I?"
Archangel stood up, she watched him with a suspicious look but at
least now she seemed to believe him. "I will believe you for now,"
she answered. "But don't expect me to trust you for what your future
self has done. If you show any sign of hostility, then I will
destroy you."
"Exactly what did my future self do?" Ares asked. Archangel
looked away again.
"June 22, 4032," she began. "That's when it happened."
"June 22? Tomo, that's your birthday."
"I'm surprised that you remember. NSS found out about Usagi
and your identity somehow. They captured your parents and wanted
Usagi in exchange. An offer which you couldn't resist. We thought that
you and Usagi had been captured when we discovered that you two were
gone. That day... we broke into the NSS headquarters to look for you.
Only to discover that Usagi had been killed and that you had betrayed
us."
Ares saw Archangel clenching her fist. "There were too many NSS
soldiers for us to fight. Ishtar never believed in killing other
humans. So that day, on my eighteenth birthday, I witness the death of
Ishtar, Hermes, Odin and Triton... Medusa was injured, I would have
died with her if Ishtar hadn't shielded us and told us to leave. So I
took Medusa with me and left. Ever since then NSS has been after us.
They wrecked the house that Chie loved so much... harassed the people
we knew... Now... there's nothing left of what we fought for. Queen
Serenity is dead, all the ties with the Moon Kingdom are broken.
Demons roam this city freely and thousands of Senshi has perished
trying to fight them."
* * * *
"This is where you live?" Hikaru asked.
"Yes, it's the only place where the NSS troops won't expect us
to be in," Tomo answered and opened the door to the basement. Both she
and Hikaru had reverted to their civilian form when they had reached
the building that Tomo called home. It was dark inside the basement,
but Tomo turned on a lamp. Not that it made much difference but it
lightened up the basement a little.
"Yasha," Tomo said. She never used to say Yasha back in 4030,
Hikaru noticed. It was always Marika-san. Tomo had changed, except for
the outer looks she was nothing like the Tomo Hikaru knew. But what
bothered him the most was what Tomo had told him. Would he exchange
Usagi for his parents? Hikaru couldn't imagine him doing that. None of
his parents had never cared for as long as he could remember.
"Yasha," Tomo said again and this time Hikaru heard a sound.
He turned around and saw Yasha sitting in what looked like a wheel
chair. It was primitive but at least it seemed to work. Yasha had
changed. Her hair, the long beautiful hair that Yasha cared for so
much, it had been cut. It hardly reached to her waist. Her legs were
covered with a blanket. Hikaru didn't have to guess why. Her legs had
probably been injured and disabled her from walking, whether it was
permanent or temporary Hikaru didn't know. But Yasha didn't look very
happy to see him.
"You...!" she growled angrily. "What is he doing here?!"
"Yasha, this isn't the Hikaru we know," Tomo tried to explain.
"The Hikaru I know has always been the same!" Yasha yelled.
"Nothing but a selfish traitor who didn't care for people who cared
for him!"
That hurt. To see Yasha looking at him with such look of hatred and
anger, that hurt, not the words. Yasha's face hadn't changed, which
was why it hurt Hikaru when he heard those words coming from her.
"Haven't you noticed?" Tomo asked. "The Hikaru that I killed
last week looked older."
Hikaru blinked and turned to Tomo. Had he misunderstood her words or
had she actually said something about her killing him? But Tomo didn't
bother to explain to him, at least not at that time.
"This is the Hikaru Aodh we knew in 4030," Tomo told. "The one
he was before his betrayal."
[My betrayal?] Hikaru thought. [Tomo-chan... from where I come
from you are like the little sister I never had. Why would I ever
betray you... or Yasha...]
"So you're saying that you're from the past?" Yasha said,
looking at Hikaru. Her look was still filled with hatred. "Only
Sailorpluto can send people through time, I doubt she helped you."
"You're right, she didn't," Hikaru replied. "I got help from
an unknown woman, she said that you would become well if I came here."
"I would be well?" Yasha questioned.
Hikaru wondered if he should have revealed that. "From where I come
from, you have been badly injured," he told. "A woman said that I
could help you to get well again and she sent me here."
He left out the part about Yasha's greatest fears on purpose. There
was silence between the three for a few seconds, Hikaru wondered what
the two others were thinking about. He wondered why Yasha had cut her
hair, she had always loved having her hair so long.
"I'll go and check on a few things," Tomo suddenly said. She
turned around and went back to the door. She stopped before leaving.
"Please don't kill each other, yet."
What she meant by "yet" that Hikaru couldn't understand. When Tomo had
left and the door was closed there was silence in the room again.
Yasha looked away from Hikaru, her eyes telling Hikaru that she was
thinking of something very distant. He wondered what she was thinking
about. What he had just told her, the present Hikaru who had betrayed
the Shin Senshi or perhaps a friend who had been lost when NSS had
found out about her identity. Suddenly Hikaru remembered something
that Tomo had said before.
"I don't mean to dig up anything painful, but what did Tomo
mean when she said that she killed me last week?" he asked. Yasha
didn't look at him, she closed her eyes.
"In this present time, you are indeed dead," she answered, her
voice sad and low. "Archangel killed you. The death of Ishtar and the
others... She may not look much different, but she is no longer the
Tomo or Archangel she was when she was young. This Archangel, though
strong and independent, is the result of your betrayal. Cold, cruel,
murderous. She kills whoever that stands in her way, even common
people. She is no longer like the pure and innocent angel that she
used to be. And yes, she did kill you. In pure rage and cold blood."
Yasha opened her eyes and looked at him. "You wonder what happened to
me, do you? I can no longer walk or transform, I barely survived when
the others died. The reason why I haven't aged in forty years is still
unknown to me. But Sailormedusa no longer exists."
She actually cried. Hikaru had never seen Yasha cry before. He bent
down on his knees so that their eyes were in the same level. Yasha
tried to hide the fact that she was crying but in vain. But she
refused to meet his eyes.
Hikaru didn't sleep many hours that night. He had been offered
a mattress by Yasha, but because of all that had happened, he couldn't
sleep. The day for him had began pretty ordinary, he, Yasha and Chie
had gone grocery shopping. As usual, he and Yasha had had a fight
about who was going to drive, Chie ended up driving. Then they had met
up with Tomo and Misao who had been out shopping, it wasn't until they
were going to head home that the demons showed up. How many hours had
passed since then he didn't know.
Or years. He really was in the future. A future that he didn't
like at all. What was the fear that he was supposed to find here and
even if he did defeat that fear, how would it help the past Yasha? Had
he been set up by the woman in the park? Could she had been an enemy
who had taken him to the future just to get rid of him? If Yasha died
and with him being in the future, the Shin Senshi would be weakened.
* * * *
"Where's Tomo?" was the first thing that Hikaru heard that
morning. He opened his eyes to see Yasha sitting in her wheel chair.
It was rather surprising that she kept a good distance between them
since the night before she had spoken to him as if she trusted him.
But Yasha had always an ability to easily become suspicious.
"I don't know," Hikaru murmured and sat up. "Didn't she come
home last night?"
Yasha shook her head. "No... I would have heard her if she came..."
she answered. "Something must have happened to her." She suddenly
turned looked at Hikaru with a sharp look. "You... you probably had
NSS soldiers after you!"
Hikaru sighed and got up. "Look sweetie, yesterday Tomo came flying
and lifted me off from the other side of the town," he told. "There's
no way that they could have followed us."
"It's best for you that it is that way," Yasha said in a low
voice and turned her wheel chair around. "We have to go out and look
for her. It's not safe outside, whether it's day or night."
"As you wish, milady."
Hikaru grabbed the back of her wheel chair and pushed her forwards.
Yasha looked surprised when he did that, as if she had expected him
to not even care. She mumbled something unhearable.
"Did you say something?" Hikaru asked. Yasha avoided his gaze
and repeated the words quietly, but this time he heard her.
"Thank you."
Right when they were at the exit of the basement Hikaru noticed that
she was crying again. He stopped pushing the wheel chair and walked
over to her side. He kneeled down and saw her quietly sobbing.
"Why are you crying again?" he wondered. "Did I say something
wrong?"
Yasha shook her head. "Seeing you..." she began, her tears flowing
freely. "Reminds me of what happened when we lost the others... God,
Hikaru. How could you do that to Usagi... to us."
Hikaru didn't know what to say. He hadn't done it, it was his future
self that had betrayed his friends. Why his future self would do that
he couldn't understand. Then Yasha remembered.
"But it's still you... the Hikaru we trusted," she said and
forced herself to stop crying. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said
that."
"It's alright," Hikaru assured and went back to the back of
the wheel chair. He pushed her out of the basement and closed the door
after himself. "Let's go and find Tomo."
Yasha made no protests.
* * * *
It took them a while to get out of the basement, since there was no
elevator and only stairs. When they eventually came out, Hikaru saw
what he hadn't seen last night, civilians. There were people walking
the streets that had been empty when Tomo had brought Hikaru to the
neighbourhood. There were very few people, only a few children playing
who were watched by their parents.
"Where should we go?" Hikaru asked. Yasha didn't answer.
Hikaru looked at Yasha, who was looking up in the sky.
"Look there," she said and pointed. Hikaru looked towards the
direction where Yasha was pointing. Upwards. Like yesterday, he saw a
flying object. That flying object was Archangel. Hikaru and Yasha
watched her descending to the ground, but when she got closer they
saw that her fuku was torn and she had several bruises. Her left arm
was bleeding. She made it to the ground, hardly. As soon as she was
close enough she collapsed, her wings unable to carry her.
"Oh dear God... it's Archangel."
The children and their parents watched with widened eyes. Before them
was Archangel, the notorius, murderous Senshi Archangel who they had
heard about in the news. But now when they saw her for real and not
on TV they were taken by surprise.
"She's just a teenager..." another parent said, astonished.
Was this really the murder they had heard about? But Hikaru or Yasha
paid no attention to them. Hikaru rushed forwards to Tomo and Yasha
rolled the wheels and reached the two.
"Tomo, what happened?" she asked as Hikaru helped her to stand
up.
"The demons..." Archangel murmured, doing everything in her
power to stand up straight. "They ambushed me last night... and
they're coming."
"How?" Hikaru wondered. "You flew, they should have been
unable to follow you, unless..."
When he spoke those words, he saw several flying objects in the sky.
He got up and saw as the objects got closer and closer. It was demons
with wings. In his own time Hikaru had never seen flying demons
before, all the demons in his time looked about the same. Beige scale,
sometimes three eyed or one eyed, fangs instead of normal teeth and
long, dark claws. These demons looked a like the ones in Hikaru's
time, but they had dragon like wings and their scale were dark green.
[So they evolve?] he pondered as the first demon descended to
the ground. The children and their parents ran as fast as they could,
but the demon noticed it and turned towards them. Hikaru waved his
hand and transformed into Ares Knight. He held out one hand and a
burning flame appeared.
"Blaze..." he murmured and threw the flame on the demon. It
was very small and would hardly do any damaged. But as Ares had
expected the demon took his eyes of the running families and turned to
him instead. Archangel's eyes narrowed.
"You idiot!" she yelled. "The time you used to save them we
could have used!"
Yasha was right, Ares realized. Archangel would have gladly killed
those people, even the children, if it somehow helped her or Yasha.
"Let's not argue and get out of here," Yasha said before Ares
could say anything. Archangel silently agreed. Ares lifted Yasha out
of her wheel chair and carried her while running. Archangel came after
them, but flying. The demons were somewhere around twenty or thirty,
too many for them to defeat on their own. They were fast too, in the
corner of his eye he saw one of them getting awfully close to
Archangel.
"Tomo, watch out!" he called but it was too late. The demons
had the ability to fly, they could easily catch Archangel. Two demons
grabbed her wings, two others grabbed her arms. Yasha managed to see
what was happening when Ares stopped running. The demons hadn't gone
after them, all the demons had now gathered in the air or on the
ground below Archangel.
"No..." Yasha whispered. Both she and Ares realized that
Archangel was too exhausted to pull off a strong attack.
"Divine Wing!" Archangel called, her wings flapping out of the
demons' grip. She was released, but by using an attack she had
weakened herself. Her wings couldn't carry her anymore and she
collapsed to the ground, right into the nest of the demons.
"Archangel, get up!" Yasha yelled, tears in her eyes.
"Run!" Archangel managed to call back. "Before they come for
you!"
Ares realized that it was the only thing that they could do, there was
no way to save Archangel. Yet he stood there, frozen. Yasha was in his
arms, crying softly as she told Archangel to get up and run. But it
was already too late. The demons grabbed Archangel's weak arms and
legs, she was unable to move. One demon stood before him and raised
it's arm. It's smiled viciously before it's claw slashed through
Archangel's heart. Both Ares and Yasha heard Archangel's painful
scream, but still didn't move. Yasha was silent, but her tears never
stopped. Light flashed, Ares knew that it happened when a Senshi died.
The powers would leave the Senshi and the Senshi would detransform.
The light that flashed would distract the demons and give them a few
extra seconds to run. Ares did that.
He around the corner and down that street, not looking over
his shoulder to see if the demons were chasing them. But then he heard
Yasha say something.
"Put me down, Hikaru."
"Are you insane?" Ares asked as he continued to run. "If I
stop running the demons will catch up and kill us too."
"I don't care," Yasha answered. "Tomo is dead. The Hikaru in
this time is dead. Chie and the others are dead. My parents are dead.
Everyone is dead except for me. All my fears have happened in reality,
I no longer care if I am alive or dead. Put me down and run. Save
yourself."
When Yasha said 'fear' Ares stopped running. If all Yasha's fear had
happened in the future, then why was he there? Had he been sent into
the future to prevent things that had already happened?
"You can't just give up," Hikaru told her. "It's so not like
you."
"Then I guess that you don't know me as good as you think
that I do," Yasha muttered. She struggled to get down, but Hikaru
wouldn't let her. "Put me down, now!"
"Yasha, I'm not letting you go!" Hikaru said. "I don't know
why I'm in the future but that's say that I'll just let you die!"
"What if this isn't the future?" a calm voice said suddenly.
Ares looked forwards and saw the woman who had been standing in the
park. She was still the same with a bright aura glowing around her.
Yasha said nothing, she didn't even look at the woman.
"What do you mean?" Ares asked. "This isn't the future?"
Everything around him suddenly disappeared, the buildings, the street,
Yasha, the demons who had just appeared at the end of the street. Only
Ares himself and the woman remained.
"You will lose something dear if you do not prevent the poison
from flowing...." the woman answered, repeating her words. "I said
that you would enter a land of fear and nightmares, this is it. This
world is the land of your friend's worst fear."
"Then how do I stop the fear and save the Yasha in my time?"
The woman smiled. "You already have," she told. "Only by being with
Yasha you have prevented the poison from flowing. You were here in her
nightmares, you comforted her, you helped her. But most importantly
you refused to abandon her. It is enough. She will be saved."
* * * *
When Hikaru woke up he was lying on a bench in the park, detransformed
and fully rested. It was early morning, the sun was just rising. And
he saw the splendid Crystal Palace in the horizon. He was back in the
normal Crystal Tokyo. His stomach growled, reminding him that he
hadn't eaten anything for a long time, but he decided to ignore it. He
had to see Yasha.
It wasn't that far to the hospital, it only took him twenty
minutes to get there. Once he got there, he found Chie in the waiting
room. It was a relief to see her, to know that he was back into the
world that he belonged in.
"Hikaru, where have you been?" Chie asked once she noticed
him.
"Just walking around," he answered. "How's Yasha? And where
are the others?"
"I told the others to go home and get some sleep," Chie
answered, then she smiled. "Yasha made a strange recovery last night.
Neither the doctors or I know how or why but they say that she's going
to be alright after a few days in bed. Come, I'll take you to her
room."
Hikaru agreed and Chie led the way to the room where Yasha was
staying. When Chie quietly opened the door, she said to Yasha:
"I see that you're already awake."
"I hate hospitals," Yasha answered who had sat up. "How fast
can I get out of here?"
"In two days if nothing happens," Chie replied as Hikaru
entered the room. "I'll got and get some coffee, Hikaru, you want
some?"
Hikaru nodded and with that Chie left and closed the door after
herself. Hikaru walked over to the to the hospital bed, standing next
to it. He took a moment to look at her. She was dressed in white
hospital clothes, her long hair had been put in a thick braid. She was
well and that was all that mattered. No wheel chair, her legs seemed
to be perfectly well.
"Guess that I better be more careful the next time," Yasha
said, just to start up a converstation. She didn't say what she really
wanted to say, that when she had woken up yesterday she had seen
everyone except for him. Chie had told her that Hikaru had left, Yasha
wondered why and where he had gone. Finally, after some silence in the
room, she decided to ask him about it.
"Where were you last night? When I woke up, I saw everyone
except for you."
"I was walking around and doing thinking," Hikaru answered.
She couldn't tell if he was lying or if he was telling the truth.
"Really?" Yasha said. "About what?"
"You really want to know?"
When Yasha nodded, Hikaru leaned over and kissed her full on her lips.
She was taken by surprise, but what also surprised her was that she
didn't push him away. Even in her confused and surprised state, Yasha
realized how fast her heart was beating and how much she actually
liked it. But the kiss didn't last for long and Yasha felt something
strange when Hikaru pulled away from her. What was it called? Yes, it
was called disappointment.
"You were thinking about that?" Yasha asked as Hikaru pulled
away from her.
"Hai."
The next moment they heard the door being opened and in less
than a second Hikaru was at the other side of the room. Chie came in,
with two cups of coffee in her hands. She gave one to Hikaru and
sipped at her own before putting it down on the table. Neither Hikaru
or Yasha said anything. Chie looked at them, surprised at the silence.
"I guess that you two aren't much for talking..." she said.
Yasha glanced at Hikaru, but he was looking down on the floor.
[No... I guess we're not...]
This part was written pretty fast, strangely enough it turned out
different from what I had expected... Well, I hope that you like it
anyway! On to part 6...
Komillia (komillia@hotmail.com)
26 December 2000
Next:
Sailormoon Mirai Part VI: Gift
Yasha's parents wants her to return to Sweden with them, on a
condition Yasha is unsure about. She begins to wonder if being a
Senshi is really worth losing her parents.