Chapter 20-The Healing
The inner scouts started to freak out. Sailor Mercury typed away on her computer, trying to pinpoint where Sailor Moon could go; Sailor Mars went inside and did a fire reading; Sailor Jupiter tried to stop Chibiusa from blinking by hugging her; Sailor Venus was talking out loud, trying to formulate a plan.
"Everyone, listen to me," said Saturn. "Let's go and save our prince and princesses."
"We don't know where Sailor Moon is, or where Nehelenia took Mamoru." Sailor Mercury replied.
Bam! Sailor Jupiter decided to take out her anger on a tree. "We can't just stand around and do nothing. Chibiusa is getting fainter and fainter. Usagi…Usagi needs us!"
"We can just use Sailor Teleport. If we keep our mind focused and think only of Sailor Moon, we should be able to land close to wherever she is. Right, Sailor Pluto?" Saturn looked up at Pluto, looking for confirmation.
How did she come to know this? I didn't even know that was possible. Uranus looked just as confused as I was. Pluto nodded slowly. "In theory, all scouts are linked psychically. If we all open our senses and focus on finding the princess, we should be able to sense her and then adjust our flight path."
"I am coming too. I want to save Usagi and Mamo-chan." Chibiusa raised her transformation pen and turned into Sailor Chibi-moon. Worried, we looked at the almost translucent Chibi-moon. Saturn went up to her and gave her a hug. "Chibiusa-chan, I remembered my past life. You were my first and only friend. You woke me up when I was trapped inside of Mistress Nine. So, let me save you now." Chibi-moon started blinking again but turning slightly more opaque now. That should buy us some time until we could find the princess, I thought.
We stood in a circle and joined hands. I cleared my mind and tried to focus. I recalled the warmth of Usagi, the brilliance of her power and her amazing ability to love. Then, I started sensing everyone's minds. The inner scouts were remembering their first time meeting Sailor Moon. They were very lonely people until Usagi entered their lives. Chibi-moon was remembering how Sailor Moon jumped off the flying circus in order to save her. Sailor Pluto was remembering how Usagi was willing to go to the Marine Cathedral to save us, even though she was unable to transform. Sailor Uranus was remembering how Usagi tried to wrestle the gun out of her hands so that Uranus couldn't sacrifice herself. Then I cried out loud as I saw Saturn's mind. She was remembering how Sailor Moon stood in front of her while Uranus and I were ready to kill her. She was also remembering how Sailor Moon followed into the alternate dimension and grabbed her before the implosion.
When all of our minds were linked, we could all sense Sailor Moon. She had entered another dimension created by Nehelenia. We levitated off the ground and shot straight toward our princess.
The world changed as we entered the dimension. It was pitch dark and silent. We kept flying in a teleport bubble and Sailor Mercury scanned the surrounding using her blue goggles. Uranus was the first to noticed a big clump of glass shards flying toward us. "Incoming. Hold on tight, everyone. Do not let go!"
Nehelenia must have seen us coming. The impact was too great and it separated everyone. When the circle broke, we could no longer fly and we all plunged into darkness….
"Neptune! Neptune! Neptune!"
Someone was screaming my name over and over while violently shaking me. I opened my eyes, just in time to see Sailor Mars getting ready to slap me.
"Oh thank God." Mars lowered her hand and helped me to my feet.
"Uranus? Saturn?" I looked around for my family. "Everyone?"
Mars shook her head, "It looks like it's just you and me, here in the jungle. If we didn't die from the fall, I think they would be okay too. Maybe they landed far from here."
The air was thick with evil and the forest was eerily quiet. So I pulled out my mirror and checked. "The mirror is telling us to go north for two miles." I turned to tell Mars.
"My reading said south!" Mars protested.
"My mirror is never wrong. Come on." I took off running, eager to find the others.
Mars tried to keep up with my running but she trailed behind. Over the years, Uranus had trained me well. I had become a faster runner and I was able to keep up with the soldier of wind.
"Nehelenia!" I halted as the enemy appeared in front of us. Then, a ring of purple fire engulfed us. Mars was flapping her hands up and down, trying to put out the imaginary fire. I smiled, realizing that it was an illusion.
"Deep submerge!" I threw an attack at the fake Nehelenia. The "fire" disappeared, along with the forest. Once again, we stood in a dark void. All of a sudden, something grabbed my legs and pulled. I fell and was dragged by Nehelenia.
"Mars Flame Sni…." Before Mars could finish her attack, Nehelenia raised me and used me as a shield.
"If you shoot, you will kill her." Nehelenia laughed. She then sent out three attacks, knocking Mars to the ground, hard.
I quickly realized at how dire the situation was. With me as a hostage, Mars could not attack. If Nehelenia kept up with her hits, Mars would be dead before she could reach the princess. I closed my eyes and said a silent sorry to Haruka and Hotaru.
"Just shoot, Mars!" I yelled at her. "Please, you have to save the princess." Angered, Nehelenia wrapped her hair around my body and squeezed. Once again, I could feel my ribs cracking under the pressure.
Mars' eyes widen in shock, then narrowed in determination. "MARS FLAME SNIPER!"
The burning arrow zipped past me and thrust into Nehelenia's heart. As it turned out, it wasn't Nehelenia but it was one of her puppet glass monsters. It disintegrated into nothing.
I sighed in relief. Sailor Mars' sniper skill was amazing. I gave her a grateful smile before I passed out.
When I regained my consciousness, my body was trapped in a mirror. Unable to move, unable to yell, I looked out the mirror at the horror that was unfolding. Sailor Moon was kneeling on the ground, holding a disappearing Chibi-moon. Her sorrowful cry echoed through the room as Chibi-moon was erased from existence.
"Are you filled with hatred now? I stole your love and now your child is gone. Oh, look behind you. All of your friends are here too!" Nehelenia gloated.
Sailor Moon turned and gasped! "Tuxedo Mask. Mercury. Mars. Jupiter. Venus. Neptune. Uranus. Pluto. Saturn…" I guess all the others were trapped in the mirrors as well. My heart sank as I realized Sailor Moon was alone in the battle. None of us could protect her now.
"It was all because of you. I watched you, princess, surrounded by friends and love. I was a princess too but I had to endure solitude. No one shared my happiness. No one cared about my sorrow." Nehelenia started ranting as she continued to throw attacks at Sailor Moon.
I watched in amazement as Sailor Moon stood up and looked at her with sympathy.
"Stop it! Stop looking at me with those eyes. I don't need your sympathy." Nehelenia grabbed Moon's neck and started choking her. "ARRRGH!" She then threw Moon across the room in frustration.
"I can never live in solitude. I am not strong. So, please give me back my friends. You can take revenge on me. But give me back my friends. Don't worry, everyone will understand and they will become your friends." With that, Sailor Moon spread out her arms and closed her eyes.
I could feel Sailor Moon's mind joining everyone's minds. She was remembering why she loved each and every one of us. The familiar glow radiated out of her and shattered everyone's mirrors. Sailor Chibimoon reappeared.
"How is this possible? No! My curse is broken. You guys will all hate me. You must hate me!" Nehelenia screamed incoherently.
"Everyone, lend me your powers." Thought Sailor Moon. "Let's heal Nehelenia and give her a second chance."
She turned and said gently to Nehelenia, "You can start over. Please recall your true dream when you were a child. Atone your sins and have courage. Believe in yourself and believe in us!"
"Can I really start over?" Warm light washed over Nehelenia and her face softened. From her eyes, her hatred was gone. A glimmer of hope shined through. "I wanted to have friends and be loved." Nehelenia closed her eyes and light carried her up to the sky.
I held onto Uranus and Saturn's hands and watched Nehelenia turned back into a child, before disappearing to the moon.
We all ran to catch Sailor Moon as she collapsed. She had used up all of her energy so that she could heal her enemy. We gently carried her in our teleport bubble and safely returned her home. I watched as Saturn used her healing power on Usagi.
Slowly, our princess came to. "Thank you, everyone," Usagi smiled warmly at us. Chibiusa and Hotaru jumped into her arms, delighted.
Another victory. Another crisis averted! Rei and I tried to ignore the unease we felt still and tried to enjoy the moment. We could sense another great evil heading towards Earth still. Whatever was coming, it wouldn't be easy. Deep in thought, I trailed behind as everyone left the room to go to the kitchen. Usagi was happily telling Makoto what she wanted to eat.
Sometimes I wished it would all stop. After all the battles, all of our personal sacrifices, everyone must be feeling tired too. Yet, if I wasn't re-awaken as Sailor Neptune, I wouldn't have met Haruka, or Hotaru, or the rest of the scouts. And if I haven't met Usagi, would my guilt eventually consumed me?
In a way, Sailor Moon had healed me. Up till last year, I was still feeling guilty about all the people I killed and all the people I would kill in the future. Her unconditional love allowed me to make peace with myself and to forgive myself. Once, she told me how she almost killed Mamoru because she thought it was the only way. Luckily it didn't work because Mamoru was protected by dark energy at the time. Ever since then, she would try to use the power of love and healing before resorting to killing.
"Thank you, Sailor Moon, for healing me. Thank you, Sailor Moon, for healing the rest of the scouts, as they too owe their lives to you in one way or another." I said silently as I watched Usagi stuffed her tenth rice ball into her mouth.