A Moon Never Grasped
Chapter 1
Serena
Running down in a silver thread, it streaked down her face. Illuminated only by the darkness, it stopped on her chin. Being pulled by the force of gravity, it dripped onto the concrete ground. Blood mixed with sweat and dirt left trails on her seamless skin, marring her beauty. The raven-hair warrior didn't stop and pause to count the mounting wounds, none of them did. They just kept going and going, and I just sat there and watched. How could they keep doing this? This needed to stop, here and now. If they continued doing this, they would surely die.
"Stop!" I cried out, my voice shrill in its desperation. Everything froze, even her- Galaxia. All heads swiveled around towards me, watching me in uneasy confusion. Taking the opportunity of the spare second, I raised my scepter high and called out to the Goddess of the moon, Selene, for power. I would end this with one blow and this could all stop. All this destruction. All this death. I had the power, I only had to use it- at the risk of my life. Was I scared of dying? Was that why I had sat and watched instead of doing what needed to be done? Was I a coward?
Clapping hands broke me from my thoughts, pausing me mid-action. I stopped, reflexively, lowering my scepter as I stared at Galaxia. Her lips curved mirthfully, sinisterly, as she laughed at me. Applauding me. Mocking me. Throat constricting in terror, I took a step back. My skin crawled underneath Galaxia's marigold gaze as something unnatural, something ancient, slithered in those golden-hued depths. Something that felt frighteningly familiar.
"You've got this, Sailor Moon! We are with you!" A voice shouted from behind me. Glancing backward, I met the gazes of my ever-faithful warriors. Hope lined every bit of their exhausted and blood-spattered faces. Most could barely stand, tattered as they were with their broken limbs and bruised flesh. These eye-sunken, ashen-hued warriors that stood with a conviction, a bravery, I did not reflect. Unease began to creep into their postures when they noticed my panicked-widen eyes. When they noticed the trembling of my hands. Their eyes became a burgeoning pool of doubt asking the unspoken question: Won't you save us?
Feeling ashamed, I broke eye contact and looked away. My eyes pricked with the threat of tears as I bit my lip in an attempt to hide their quivering. I needed to look brave so that Galaxia would fear me. Yet, when I steeled my face and tried my best at an intimidating glare, Galaxia's smile only widened. My anger only a facade. She rewarded my effort with a bark of laughter. Suddenly, she started to walk towards me. My grip on my scepter tightened as I brought it towards the sky once more. I filled my head with prayers to Selene for the power of protection. The power to win. But with every step she took, I felt the thrum of Selene's response fade further away. For the very first time, the Imperial Crystal would not obey.
"You know you cannot stop me. I can see the fear in your moments, Sailor Moon." Galaxia said. Her tone- a taunt of terror that froze my feet to the spot. Yet, as she glided effortlessly forward, she did not stop in front of me. Her movement became a sudden blur as she halted before my most loyalist warrior: Sailor Mars. The raven-haired Sailor had only enough time for her face to contort into confusion before she took a staggering step back. A stagger that quickly became a stumble as a scream wrenched itself from her throat. I blinked as my mind was slow to register the sword that protruded from Sailor Mars' chest. Blood enveloped her body into a vermillion blanket; her Sailor uniform becoming an indistinguishable haze of crimson. Before she could begin to move Galaxia advanced quickly upon her fallen form and bared the weight of her whole body onto the handle of the sword. With a gurgle, my protector, my closest friend, choked on her last breath as the blade slid itself fully between her ribs to exit itself out her back and into the ground. My impaled warrior, drowning in her own fluids, lifted her head high enough to meet my horrified gaze to ask one final, wordless question: Why didn't you save me?
With a quick twist and yank, Galaxia retrieved her sword at the price of the light fleeing from my phoenix soldier, my guardian. My friend. I had let her die. I let the shame burrow itself a home into my soul but still, my feet would not move. My scepter would not rise. Galaxia flicked the worst of the blood off the blade before sheathing it. The simple savagery of the act was watched in wordless terror by the surviving Sailor Scouts. Nonchalantly turning towards me, Galaxia childishly tilted her head and shrugged her shoulders as if the very act of my soldier's murder could not be helped.
"I have a proposition for you, Sailor Moon." She waited. Her marigold gaze- an oasis of patience. Exhaustion exhumed me, exposing the shake in my breath and the buckling of my knees. My legs suddenly heavy with the weight of me, I let gravity reclaim me. My scepter clattered to the ground beside me, useless. Just like me.
"What is it?" My voice cracked. Fear echoing behind every syllable.
"Don't give in to her, Sailor Moon! She's just trying to distract you!" A cry of encouragement from the Sailor of love as she sprung in front of Sailor Mars' discarded corpse. Her angelic face was a flawless fusion of fury and focus. Lashing out in anger, Sailor Venus landed a calculated punch on Galaxia's cheek. For a triumphant, disillusioned second, Aphrodite's reincarnation smirked in satisfaction at the feel of her knuckles breaking bone. Galaxia's head snapped in the opposite direction from the direct hit but still, she stayed unwavering on her feet. Unaffected, she rubbed her jaw and spat a medley of tooth and blood at the Sailor's feet. Stunned, the blond vixen's face hardened as realization set in. With ease, Galaxia opened her palm towards the amber-hued guardian. Before she could even dodge the attack, Sailor Venus instantly combusted into a pile of flames.
Shrieking, she fell to the ground and started rolling over bits of rebar and glass, the debris lacerating her skin in the process. Yet, as blood welled, it quickly evaporated. Her flesh curdled and blackened, falling off in singed sleets. Wildly clawing at herself, she ripped away chunks of burnt fat and muscle. The self-mutilation quickly forcing her to become unrecognizable. Vocal cords warping from the heat, her voice dropped in pitch to become a guttural howl. Too soon, the fire consumed all of her oxygen before she gasped out a final whine and stopped moving. Not even a second later, the flames puttered out and left behind, whisps of smoke and scorched remains.
Breathing out a sigh, Galaxia tucked a single thread of stray hair behind her ear before she turned toward my remaining scouts. Sailor Jupiter and Mercury reflexively flinched from the movement. My battle-hardened warriors appeared like children playing war beneath Galaxia's gaze. Even to me, they looked pitiful and I, their princess, their leader, was the most pitiful of all. The Princess of Cowardice.
Suddenly, Sailor Mercury blasted ice towards Galaxia's legs and froze her in place. Allowing just enough time for Sailor Jupiter to strike her down with lighting. The effect was visually pleasing as Galaxia's body convulsed underneath the surge of electricity. A shriek tore itself out of her throat as her eyes rolled into the back of her head. Just as quickly, she slumped backward in her casing of ice. Exposed from the waist up, her arms dangled behind her upraised sternum and hid her face from view. For a pause, the scouts and I made fearful glances at each other, uncertain of what to do. She had gone down too easy. We knew we hadn't won. She was playing with us.
Fear trickled up my veins and seized my heart as Galaxia's chest began to rumble with laughter. Steam began to billow in clouds around her as the ice began to rapidly melt. My brunette sailor raised her hand into the sky and called the lightning down once more. Yet, just before the bolt made contact with Galaxia's skin, it halted an inch above her. Rising, she held her hand up before her holding the lighting in place. Mouth agape, Sailor Jupiter's eyes widen, her pupils constricting with shock.
Jerking her legs free from the ice, Galaxia stood to her full height and quickly swept her unused arm up into an arc. Immediately, a wall of water raced toward the surprised scouts and harmlessly drenched them. They looked at me in horror before Galaxia shot the stalled lighting in their direction and electrified them on the spot. Unlike Sailor Venus, they collapsed lifelessly to the ground, dead the moment they hit the pavement. I could not remove my eyes from their unmoving forms. The last of my friends, gone without so much as a sound. I didn't save them. I didn't save any of them.
"Alright, now that we've been relieved of our burdens, let's get back on track. I had an offer to make you. One, I think you'll really like." Galaxia said. I glanced at her blankly. My mind- a void of chaos. I couldn't even think of what I could even offer her. She had taken everything...except my life. The realization of it sent a sense of calm numbness to my heart. Suddenly, I felt lighter. What did my life matter? I let everyone die. Naturally, she'd kill me too. All my burdens would be gone and I could be with everyone again.
"Kill me. I'll give you my star seed. I'll give you the Imperial Crystal. I'll give you anything. If you just kill me." My voice- steady with acceptance. This, I could do. This, I could be brave for. For what other price can a coward pay? Living was for the worthy...and the brave.
"Well, of course. That is a part of my proposal after all." She chastised in annoyance. Impatience tinging the edges of her words.
"What...proposal? What else can I even give you?" I asked, exhausted. I just wanted this to end.
"You have so much more than you think and I will take it all. But first, you cannot give what you don't currently have. This, I will not explain. But, the key to giving me what I want is for you to accept my deal. An offer to give you back everything you have lost at the price of giving me everything that you possess. I don't want your friends or your planet. I just want you and part of that is- I want you willing." She explained.
Confusion etched itself in the crinkle of my brow. Hope tried to claw its way to the forefront of my mind, but I knew better. There was a price: me. The question was: could I do it?
"My deal is that: I will restore Earth as it was. Earth, and Earth only. Lives will be recovered and homes will be rebuilt. Everything will be as it always was. Everyone I have killed will come back and your only price will be to serve me. Willingly. The catch is that as long as you serve me, no one will remember who or what you are. Your history and life will cease to exist. You must only do whatever I say. And if you disobey, I will not only take their lives but I will destroy their star seeds. You won't be able to bring them back. You will be the only survivor of Earth. To be forever reincarnated, alone. In every new life, you'll have, I will hunt the ends of the galaxy for you and destroy everything you hold dear. Again and again." She finished. Crossing her arms over her chest, she waited for my reply.
My head swam with the possibilities and the answers. She could bring everyone back. I just had to do this one simple thing. They could live their lives free from me. They wouldn't remember what I had done, how I watched them die. How I had let them die. I could finally save them. Even after the power of the Imperial Crystal had failed me. I was not entirely powerless. This, I could do.
Looking across the battlefield, where the corpses of my friends lay, where the ruins of my home sat, I felt my heart beat quietly. A sullen tune amidst a cacophony of silence. Once, I had been brave. I had defeated evil more times than I could count. Had restored lost lives and saved many more. Often, by myself. So many memories, I had delicately wiped from those around me in a quiet effort to give my friends and family just a little bit of peace. I couldn't erase all of it, just the final moments before death. Those singular seconds, those memories, I had kept alone. This individual burden, an unfathomable heaviness, are what had broken me. Not Galaxia. She had merely destroyed what was already well beyond corroded. Watching them die, too many times, was what had stilled my feet and lowered my hand. I had lost the will to fight before the fight had even begun.
I had rewarded those around me with cowardice. If being a slave to these memories and to Galaxia was my burden for the restoration of their lives and happiness. Then I would do it. It was in my nature to endure. A coward's greatest skill.
"Okay. I'll do it." My reply, heavy and muted, barely passed through my lips louder than a whisper. Galaxia gave me a smug smile. Her gaze- predatory in its effort. A rabbit caught by a hawk.
Suddenly, she reared her leg up and connected the heel of her boot to my nose. My head jerked back and smacked off the payment as the cartilage in my nose shattered with a sickening pop. My vision blurred as pain filled every inch of my body. I was barely able to feel the pressure of her boot against my neck as she began crushing my windpipe. My fingers weakly clawed at her leg as I struggled to suck air back into my lungs. Blood spurted down my face and began to burn my eyes, turning everything I saw to red.
"This is how it should be: a master and her slave. When you wake up, everything will return to normal. Everything except you." Galaxia laughed once more as she applied even more pressure to my neck. My trachea caved underneath the weight and effectively, permanently, deprived me of oxygen. Pressure began to build in my head colliding with the pain as my lungs screamed for air. Awareness started to flee as my muscles went slack. Relief flooded me as I lost all sense of myself. I warmly embraced the encroaching darkness. Finally, I'll be with everyone again.