Their resident genius suddenly went very, very pale.
“Ami, Ami, are you alright?” Makoto was at her side at a moments notice, kneeling next to the smaller woman where she sat at the end of a long couch, her legs folded underneath her as she busily analyzed several windows on her computer.
Minako spun her long legs off Rei’s lap and sat up. Haruka and Michiru left their tentative posts in the back of the room and came forward. Setsuna quietly slipped in through the door as if summoned, and took a seat near a wide bank of windows inconspicuously.
“Ami-chan?” Makoto asked worriedly.
“The youma,” the Mercurian’s voice threatened to betray her, “They’re on the move. They’re leaving the pole and heading south – straight for us!”
Minako jumped to her feet. She lifted her wrist and hailed the Moon’s tacticians, shouting orders through her communicator. “Move the armies out now!” She barked.
The voice on the other end of her communicator was slow and confused. “But… to where, Venus-sama?”
“Just send them north! The youma are marching down from the pole!”
An indeterminate number of voices on the other end of the communicator exploded in a flurry of questions and exclamations. Minako cut the transmission and lowered her hand slowly. It hung limply at her side for several moments before she turned back to face her team.
“The Moon’s army will meet the threat with us. What little of their armies the other planets could spare will march with them to defend the Palace.”
Ami’s ashen face regained some amount of color. Her fingers flew over her incorporeal keyboard. “According to my numbers, the odds are five to one, youma advantage. If the Earth sends… when the Earth sends their human army, there’s no telling how that number will change.”
With a pursed brow, Makoto stood and turned towards her leader. “What of the armies of Jupiter?” She looked to Haruka’s avoidant gaze. “And Uranus? They should have ample warriors to spare. They could have them here-“
“Even those great armies have been drastically reduced.” Minako said bitterly. “The forces they could spare away from the youma invasion on their own territories have already gathered and are supplementing the Moon’s as we speak.”
Haruka leveled a hard gaze at the other warriors. “We’re already fighting at full capacity.”
An uncomfortable silence threatened to smother the women, the ugly reminder that it wasn’t just the Moon that was suffering at the hands of the Earth, but that the planets each of them called home were also slowly losing to the threat of the youma that took the lives and energy of innocents for the sake of Metallia’s cause.
“But our armies have us.” Makoto’s good-natured chuckle wavered. Her smile was forced. “That’s gotta count for something, ne?”
Minako’s voice was uncharacteristically dour. She turned her back on her warriors. “But the Terrans have Metallia.”
Rei frowned. The Martian stood and crossed the distance that separated her from her commander. She stood, shoulder to shoulder with the Venusian, offering silent reassurance as they gazed out the bank of windows to the white capped mountain range of Montes Haemus and the perceived challenges that lay beyond them to the north.
Haruka cracked her knuckles. Michiru looked to Setsuna. The outers shared a meaningful look. There was no doubt that they would join forces with the inners.
“Wait.” Haruka’s voice was a sudden whisper. Her gaze trailed out the window for a moment, and then she frowned. She dropped to the ground abruptly, crouched on one leg with a knee to the floor, and splayed her hand open on the stone beneath her feet.
Several stories up, the floor of the Palace began to shake.
It was slow at first, a gentle rumble, a subtle horizontal shifting of the floors and walls. It gradually began to increase.
Princess Serenity stumbled out of her room from the end of the hall, a panicked expression on her expressive face as she dashed to join her guardians in their courtyard.
“What’s going on?” She cried, finding safety between Ami, still furiously typing at her computer, and Makoto, who stood behind her at the ready.
There was no time for explanations. The senshi found themselves moving towards their Princess, forming a loose circle around her. The clear skies seen through the large windows darkened. A haze covered the consistently clear, thin atmosphere of the Moon. Makoto frowned. A lightening storm rolled in off the horizon, boasting deadly, blue-white forks of electricity that carried a deafening thunder in its wake. The lights in the room dimmed slightly, and the electric candelabras flickered.
Then, silence. And as soon as the phenomenon had begun, it stopped. The rumbling in the Palace ceased. The dark clouds broke up. The thunder became distant.
“Effects of the Sun?” Minako asked.
Ami never once pulled her attention from her computer. “Doubtlessly.”
“Metallia.” Michiru’s voice was quiet. “She’s ramping up her power.”
Serenity’s white knuckled grip on Ami’s shirt loosened and her senshi dispersed only slightly.
Reports came streaming into Ami’s computer, windows tiling on top of each other in rapid succession. “Sunspot activity is ramping up dramatically.” She barked. “We’re not alone in this. The other planets, especially those closest to the Sun, are experiencing the same kinds of tremors and more. Volcanism on Venus is turning their atmosphere sooty. A planet-wide winter is a very real possibility there. Sandstorms on Mars have nearly buried what few stationary cities they have. Mercury is…” Ami paused momentarily and reread one of her reports with narrowed eyes. “Mercury’s surface is being scorched by errant sunspots.”
“Anything from the Earth?” Haruka avoided Serenity’s gaze and locked hazel eyes on Minako. “That coward Beryl couldn’t even announce her attack?”
“It doesn’t matter.” The Venusian spat. “She won’t be far behind the youma. This attack will be just the first wave.”
Rei balled her hands into fists. “War has begun.”
Serenity disliked it when her senshi felt the need to post a personal guard at her door.
She disliked it even more when that guard was not one of her trusted warriors, but an entire troop of the Moon’s army that had been assigned to protect her.
’Those guards should be aiding the rest of the army, either guarding the Palace and its peoples or rushing out with the rest of the army to help my senshi battle back the youma, not standing uselessly outside my bedroom door.’
She clutched at a child in her arms. No longer an infant, Saturn had rapidly aged into a toddler, and had been left in her protection.
Serenity snorted. She knew the excuse was a finely disguised ploy to keep her from insisting that she be allowed to fight alongside her senshi. It bothered her that regardless of the effort she’d thrown into training both her mind and her body in order to help them protect everything she held dear, she knew her guardians would never allow her to join them in battle.
Still, Serenity found herself taking no small amount of comfort in Saturn’s small, chubby hands that held a death grip on the loose shoulders of her dress. The girl burbled incoherently with a wide smile that boasted the tips of two small, white teeth that were just beginning to cut through the toddler’s gums. The warmth of the child in her arms was a small boon to ease the anxiety and fear Serenity felt for the safety and welfare of each of her senshi, and the lives of the thousands of warriors from the Moon and beyond who rushed to join them in battle.
The Princess poured her nervous energy into the entertainment of her young charge. Sitting with her legs crossed underneath her, Serenity sank to the plush, carpeted floor and held the child in her lap, letting the little girl face her. Those chubby fingers tangled in Serenity’s long hair and gave a solid yank. The Princess smiled indulgently and pulled her prized locks from sticky fingers and tossed her long pigtails over her shoulder. Saturn pouted at the older woman with dark, mournful eyes.
Serenity chuckled. “And you would fight on behalf of us all?” Her voice was an astonished whisper, but it silenced the small child who watched her attentively.
“I would not have it be so.” The Princess brushed dark, feathered bangs from Saturn’s forehead. “I would not have you fight while I hide under the protection of my mother. I would fight as fiercely and as passionately as my senshi… if not nearly as well as any of them.”
The little girl in the Princess’ lap uttered an amused giggle, and she toppled forward into Serenity’s chest where slim arms closed loosely around her.
“You are too precious. I would fight in your stead, little Saturn.”
The toddler went still and pulled back from the Princess. An unreadable emotion swirled in her dark eyes.
“What?” Serenity asked with a self conscious chuckle. “Little Saturn? Is that it?” She asked leadingly. “Why, that doesn’t suit a beautiful little child at all. What should we call you?”
Serenity placed a finger to her chin and gave the thought ample consideration while examining the bright little girl in her lap. Finally, a smile tugged at her lips. Like a mirror image, the young girl mimicked the action.
“Hotaru.” She said proudly. “I will call you Hotaru.” Serenity ruffled the girl’s short, thick hair and pointed to herself. “Hotaru-chan, my name is Serenity.”
Hotaru’s forehead scrunched and she bit at her bottom lip with her two small teeth. “Ser… Ser…”
The Princess’ cobalt eyes went wide at the child’s attempt to speak. At first she thought it was merely her over active imagination, but it felt like the child in her lap was getting heavier. ’Is she growing? Is she turning into the weapon she was born to be?’
“Ser… Sere…”
Serenity laughed brightly. “That’s okay. Just call me onee-chan, Hotaru. I’ll be your big sister.”
The child smiled widely. “Onee!” She exclaimed proudly.
Even as the Princess of the Moon fought back traitorous tears and pulled Saturn closer for a hug, she felt the girl’s body lengthen, caught in the throes of a growth spurt, and Serenity found herself cursing both their fates.
A sailor teleport shared between the group of eight senshi resulted in a minimal power drain, and despite the fact that each of the women were ready and rearing to fight, they were discouraged to find that the youma had made such progress away from the pole.
As they had suspected, the enemy had taken the middle ground to avoid coming over the tall mountains that bordered the Sea of Serenity. They had traveled through Mares Frigoris and skirted through the lowlands in between Plato Crater and the Montes Alpes. At this point, as the monsters streamed into the low plains, all that separated them from the Palace of the Moon Kingdom on the other side of the Sea of Serenity was the weak point between Montes Apenninus and Montes Caucasus, a sizable break in the mountain range that bordered the sea.
The feat would have been simple for such a large force, and the Palace would have been easy pickings had it not been for the eight women that stood their ground across the mouth of the narrow pass.
The constant rumbling that was the combined product of tens of thousands of footfalls belonging to the heavy, cumbersome monsters rolled down off the mountains. White clouds of frosty dust hung closely on the northern horizon, stirred into the air by the youma. The first of their numbers were already marching towards the break in the mountains.
With steely gazes, the senshi turned to one other.
“The Moon’s armies won’t be too far behind us.” Venus said plainly. “We should expect them to reinforce our offensive shortly.”
Uranus laughed heartily and gestured to the marching youma. “What, you think we can’t take care of this on our own?”
Mars nearly chuckled. “I rather like being the first line of defense.”
Jupiter cracked her knuckles. Electricity nearly flowed off of her in visible waves. “You and me both.” She growled.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Pluto warned, “The consequences would be disastrous.”
“Team up,” Venus instructed, “Fight smart, and don’t stray too far. This shouldn’t be too far removed from our past encounters with these things.” The leader of the senshi drew a line in the fine silt of the dusty ground. “We attack anything we can, guarding the area around the pass. When the Moon’s army arrives, they’ll reinforce us on all sides and help us to drive the youma back until we can more easily protect the pass. The more of them we take out, the better the odds become once our armies show up.”
“The youma have noted our arrival, but they aren’t slowing down.” Mercury said coldly. She dismissed the blue visor that had shielded her eyes as the youma streamed into the low plains. They were still several kilometers away, but their numbers were forming a solid wall of enemies that flowed across the land.
Neptune examined the threat with her mirror. “Don’t forget their weak points. Aim to kill, and then kill the next.”
The Uranian turned towards her partner and cracked a toothy grin. “I love it when you talk battle, Michiru.”
Venus huffed loudly, disturbing her golden bangs. “Honestly,” she joked, “maybe you two should be split up.”
Uranus smiled broadly and slapped the golden warrior on the shoulder. “Are you ready to lead this charge?”
The Venusian nodded and winked, and together, the inner senshi and the outer senshi sprinted forward across the open plains to meet the youma threat head on.
--
A sea of beady red eyes and brown, lumbering bodies, the front lines of the monsters never even slowed down as the senshi attacks hit their first ranks. Elemental blasts slammed into the first lines of marching youma, and at least a hundred of the creatures were taken out instantly. They seemed unsurprised by the sudden offensive, and ignored the threat, marching forward, always forward, stomping over the dying bodies and slaughtered remains of their fallen brethren until they met the senshi resistance and were forced to fight in closer combat.
Venus and Mars were one hundred percent murderous intent, and when they combined their attacks, throwing light and flame in the form of long range weapons, the two fierce women could easily fell a dozen youma at a time. When pressed against each other, back to back in close range combat, they were no less deadly and effective, executing tireless hand to hand combat techniques with swords and elemental weapons, slaying and slaughtering as they went.
Mercury and Jupiter were also a formidable pair; what Mercury lacked in strength, she made up for with strategy, and when paired with her partner, the two could effectively wipe out just as many of the snarling, slobbering monsters with a combination of brute force on behalf of the tall Jovian, and careful aim on behalf of the small Mercurian.
The outer senshi fought as a three man team. Their advanced techniques, compliments of their powerful talismans, produced attacks that, when properly coordinated, could fell nearly twice as many youma at once as the inners combined. The Uranian’s brash recklessness and sheer power and strength produced deadly effective close range attacks and it was all the Neptunian could do to keep an eye out to make sure Uranus didn’t get overwhelmed, and would send wide ranged water based attacks to drown any number of youma who dared to get too close to her partner. Although her staff was exceptionally efficient in close range combat, Pluto also possessed a long range attack, which, at her whispered command, would slam into the ranks of youma and eliminate a dozen of the disgusting monsters at once.
But for all their bravado and initial cry for war, twenty minutes into the fighting, even the senshi were beginning to tire. They couldn’t hope to push back the youma horde on their own; the odds were simply stacked against them. For every monster they slaughtered, three more took its place. The creatures surged over the corpses of their dead heedlessly, constantly attacking the senshi with fresh bodies, and it was all the warriors of the Moon Kingdom could do hold their ground.
Attacks became sloppy. Elemental powers weakened. Morale plummeted.
A set of claws raked across Venus’ upper left arm and chest, even as she plunged her sword through a youma skull. She hadn’t the time to staunch the bleeding, for another monster was coming at her. She stole a glance at her partner. Mars’s right thigh was torn open and she sported an ugly gash above her right eye. Blood was dripping into the socket, but it didn’t seem to affect her as she pressed fiery hands to the rough skin of one of Metallia’s minions and ignited its body into flame.
Satisfied that her second in command was all right, all things considered, Venus performed a visual on the rest of her warriors and the outer senshi as well, even as she choked her newest attacker with the scalding light of her love me chain. The others fared equally as bad as she and her partner. They all bore the wounds of battle, and all their performance was suffering in the face of exhaustion.
It was a horn that grabbed Venus’ attention. A strange thing to hear amid the sea of the pulsing bodies of the enemy and the blasts of the senshi’s elemental attacks, but it was a sound that reminded her of home; a Venusian battlecry. And if she listened closely enough, she could hear the steady beating of foreign drums on the horizon.
Her hands tingled as she electrocuted yet another youma, and Jupiter went stock-still. She shot her eyes to her leader. “The drums!” she exclaimed, “Jupiter’s army!”
Mars pressed her back to Venus’ and the two women battled four youma who rushed them simultaneously. All four were all dispatched in the blink of an eye. The golden warrior almost laughed. “And Venus’ too! Reinforcements are on the way!”
Through the pass that stood in the weak point between Montes Apenninus and Montes Caucasus that the senshi guarded, a colorful and diverse combination of many armies ran with reckless abandon to aide the eight warriors. The senshi soon found themselves flanked on all sides by fresh, able bodied warriors, and the troops’ enthusiasm and vigor only helped to recharge them and spur them to fight harder.
Sudden, powerful, long range attacks consisting of explosive, laser guided projectiles were compliments of the small force Mercury had been able to spare, but what they lacked in numbers, their weapons could annihilate untold numbers of the monsters. They aimed for the back ranks to avoid hitting any of the other warriors with friendly fire.
Not to be one-upped, Venus had sent a small cavalry, and bare chested, tanned warriors on tall, white horses charged into the youma ranks with swords raised and horns blowing. Jupiter boasted a sizable force, and their long haired, leather and metal clad warriors jumped into the fray alongside the senshi, swinging spears and swords, fearless in the face of the hideous enemy. What little force Mars had been able to spare joined their savage brethren. Clad in their desert robes, these warriors resembled banshees as they dodged and twirled with double swords and deadly intent.
Uranus had sent many warriors. Light on foot but heavy on strength, these fighters were ruthless and methodical, constantly forging forward in controlled formations. From afar, Neptune’s archers sent volleys of arrows into hostile territory, far away from the united warriors of the Moon Kingdom, and their seers were doubtlessly assisting the Moon’s tacticians.
The last to arrive, but by far the largest in number, the army of the Moon poured through the pass. Resplendent in silver trimmed, white uniforms, for all their impeccable appearance, these warriors were deadly fighters who attacked tirelessly with precision and fine tuned strength.
Slowly, the tides were turned. The youma were pushed back, further and further away from the heavily guarded pass. The armies of the Moon Kingdom, led by the eight senshi, advanced. Hope shone brightly.
But then, a horn blared, differing in it’s pitch than the one before it. Venus looked up. This was no battlecry. “No,” she whispered, trusting Mars to pick up her slack while she stood tall to get a better view of the battlefield.
“Minako?” Mars questioned, as she effortlessly slaughtered a youma who hadn’t retreated fast enough.
“Reinforcements.” The golden warrior said detachedly.
The Martian looked behind her. “We don’t need more reinforcements.”
“No,” the Venusian shook her head, “Humans.” She spat.
Mars sliced through the neck of another monster and sank her heel into its gut, dropping it to the ground before she could follow Venus’ haunted eyes.
Her bitter curse fell to the commotion that surrounded her.
On the horizon, fresh reinforcements of human warriors were streaming through the lowlands, following the same path the youma had taken. Black uniforms and silver armor glinted dully in the dust filtered sunlight, and this army wasted no time in joining the ranks of monsters, eagerly fighting along side them.
The united forces of the Moon Kingdom raised the alarm and as new swords joined the battle, the forward momentum on behalf of the warriors of the Moon slowed, and then halted all together. The Earthlings fought with a wild, seemingly untrained ferocity, but what the warriors of the Moon had in training and experience, the humans had in numbers and energy.
Human corpses began to mingle with both the fallen youma and members of the inter-planetary army, but as the battle waged on, it became quickly apparent that the two forces were at an impasse. Stuck in a stalemate, the battle raged for hours, blow being met by blow, parry for parry, casualty for casualty, and finally, the front line was a sea of corpses that blocked the path of further warriors.
By the mutual terms of war, both sides of the warring factions slowly ground to a halt and the exhausted warriors took a break from the warfare. An uneasy front was established and the two opposing armies set up camp on either side of the line.
The senshi limped their way back through the Palace.
They had resented having to leave the battlefield, they had felt guilty to return to the comforts of the castle, but their main responsibility was to their Princess. At the very least, they felt confident that the two armies that were pitted against each other were fairly equally matched and were eased that they weren’t abandoning their forces in a time of need.
Sickbay had done its duty for the eight women. Some injuries took longer to set and stitch than others, but finally, the senshi had been released, and now, they were all due to the Princess’ chambers. The troops that had been posted there would need to be relieved, and Serenity - both the Queen and Princess - needed to be briefed, preferably, the later with as little information as possible. Only then could the weary warriors hope for a night of rest to heal their many wounds.
The senshi headed for the Princess’ quarters. As they walked, Minako stole sidelong glances at the outer senshi. They were frequently a stoic threesome, but there was just something that unnerved the golden warrior about the eerily calm silence they had adopted since leaving that gruesome battlefield several hours earlier.
Minako dismissed the guards outside Serenity’s private suite. With a clammy hand, she turned the knob of the heavy door.
A dark haired little girl no younger than four or five paused in the middle of her sprint across the room, distracted by the interruption. Minako was only half surprised, but completely frightened, to understand that she was looking at Saturn.
In fact, it was her Princess who caught her rather more off guard. Too focused to have noticed that the door had opened, the blonde woman caught the girl’s small form in her arms with a lively giggle. “I caught you, Hotaru-chan!”
“Onee-chan,” the little girl said tentatively, pointing to the eight women who had stepped through the threshold.
Serenity offered her friends and guardians a weak smile but did not apologize for her childishness. Instead, she stood tall, maintaining her hold on Hotaru.
“I’m so glad to see you all back safe and sound.” She said quietly, and her shoulders slumped, as though a great weight had been lifted off of them.
Minako smiled indulgently and approached her Princess, dropping to a knee before Serenity and the little girl. “Are you Saturn’s big sister now?” She teased lightly.
“I am.” Serenity said matter of factly. “And her name is Hotaru-chan. There’s no need to be so formal, is there?”
Setsuna frowned. Minako saw it from the corner of her eye and it struck her as odd from the normally expressionless woman. A deep green light enveloped the tall woman and Pluto stood in Setsuna’s wake. She advanced forward. Makoto and Rei both clenched their fists and edged closer to their Princess. Pluto shouldn’t have been a threat, but there was something unnerving about the situation.
Pluto took note of the sudden hostility and paused several paces away from Serenity and the child. She sank to a knee and turned blank, garnet eyes to the dark haired girl.
“Come, Saturn,” she said quietly, “The time for your training is at hand.”
The dark eyed child looked to Pluto with no small amount of trepidation. Her small fingers clutched the shoulders of her big sister’s dress.
“Train her?” Serenity asked. “She has only learned how to run. How would she fight alongside the likes of you?”
A ghost of a smile touched Pluto’s lips. “She is not far from finding the strength to lift her glaive. That is all we require of her.”
“And once she can lift this glaive, what then?”
Pluto leveled Serenity with a cold gaze. “Then, she will be sent to Earth, where she will destroy the planet and resurrect it.”
Something inside of the Princess snapped. Holding Hotaru to her, she stood defiantly. The child clutched onto her tightly. “You would destroy a planet? You would send a child to do something so terrible?”
Pluto looked as though she would have recourse, but Serenity wouldn’t allow it. “I’ve lost the man I love to the evil that resides there, and I would still not condemn an entire planet to death, not even to banish the darkness.”
Serenity’s voice lowered into an angry hiss. “Your plan is unacceptable.”
“Then what would you propose?” Pluto asked calmly.
“I’ll fight in her stead.”
“Impossible.” Haruka snarled.
“Then tell me,” Serenity’s fingers rubbed the child’s back as she challenged each of the outer senshi, “What of Hotaru-chan? What would she want?
Pluto took a careful step forward. “Her name is Saturn, Princess, and what she wants is irrelevant. She will sacrifice herself just by invoking her powers.”
Finally understanding what hadn’t been said in previous conversations about Saturn’s powers, Serenity pulled Hotaru impossibly closer to her. “You mean, the penalty for unleashing her power is death!?”
“Yes.”
Haruka and Michiru turned away from Pluto’s stoic profile, their gazes cast to the floor. Serenity blanched. They had known, they had known and were still willing to send this innocent child to her death. The only small consolation she could lean on was that her inner senshi were equally shocked by the proposition.
“I will not allow this.” Serenity hissed.
“Serenity! That is enough!” Queen Serenity paused at the door before entering the room. Despite any personal feelings on the subject, each of the senshi found themselves dropping to a knee in reverence, save for Pluto. Serenity approached her daughter with recourse in her blue eyes.
“You will yield to Pluto’s decision.” She commanded. “This situation is out of your hands and you do not understand what else is at stake.”
As though she’d been slapped across the face, the younger Serenity’s jaw hung slack. All the anger and defiance she harbored drained from her body to see her mother take such firm initiative. Hotaru slipped from her hold and the young girl found her footing on shaky legs.
The child looked up to her big sister with uncertain eyes, and then looked to the calm expression of the one called Pluto. Her wide eyes bounced between the two women for some time. Pluto held her hand out towards the child and nodded. Hotaru’s dark gaze darkened then, and finally, she slowly moved to join the outer senshi, taking careful, measured steps that made her seem much older than she really was. She took her place next to Pluto’s side quietly.
“Saturn and I will leave.” Pluto said quietly. “We will be out of touch for the duration of the next day while Saturn is trained and briefed on her mission.”
In the numb silence that followed, the Queen nodded at her long time friend. Sailor Pluto vanished into thin air, and with her, Saturn. She looked at the empty space left in their wake longingly, and then took stock of her daughter’s guardians.
“Rise.” She commanded. “Venus, you were sent here to brief Serenity and I. Please go ahead.”
With a shaky voice, Minako found herself offering her Queen her report. It fell on mostly deaf ears. The Queen already knew what had transpired on the field of battle, and the Princess was too distraught to really listen. She’d barely finished her briefing when a flustered aide swung the room’s heavy door open and poked his blonde head into the chamber.
“Yes.” The Queen said sharply.
“On the comm.,” he said uncertainly. “A message from the Earth.”
The women rose to their feet on unsteady legs. Perhaps because the action was technical in nature, Ami seemed to be the only one among the senshi capable of movement. She battled her shock and shyness and headed to the communications center on the far wall of Serenity’s antechamber. A semi-transparent screen projected from an opposite wall came to life before the women, and it was Beryl’s cold face that blinked into existence.
“So good to see you again.” The Queen of the Earth said with a false, lilting voice. She directed her amused gaze to the elder Serenity. “What a pleasure to finally meet your acquaintance, Queen Serenity. I am Queen Beryl, and this,”
The camera panned back then, and next to her throne stood the familiar visage of a dark haired man. “This is King Endymion.”
“Endymion!” Pushing past her senshi, Serenity lunged forward, her hand ghosting through the incorporeal image of her lover’s projection.
Beryl’s head tipped back, her red hair spilling over her shoulders, She laughed heartily. “He can’t hear you, little Princess. He can only hear me. He can only see me. I am all that resides in his world.”
His eyes dark, his expression vacant, Endymion sank to his knees, bowing next to Beryl’s throne. The Queen petted his tussled hair in a familiar gesture.
Insult on top of injury was enough for Princess Serenity. After having Hotaru stripped from her, and to be shown the fate of her lover, the woman effectively shut down. Her small hands trembled. Her arms wrapped around her chest. Her legs might have given out beneath her had Makoto not rushed forward and caught the woman, pulling her safely to sit in a nearby chair.
Beryl then dismissed the Princess and focused on the senshi. “I see you’ve lead the charge against my minions. I must admit, you’ve done better than I expected.”
Minako smirked. “You didn’t plan on sending your human lackeys out so soon, now did you?”
The Queen of the Earth frowned and her expression belied her words. “With the strength and power Metallia has imbued in me, I don’t need an army to bring the Moon Kingdom down.” She chuckled slightly, “But they are effective to keep most of your soldiers at bay.”
“Don’t think we don’t have plenty more troops to guard our Palace.” Minako barked. “And you’ll never get past us.”
“We’ll see about that.” Beryl snorted and then turned an antagonistic grin towards the golden warrior. “You’re so saucy, Venus. I always did like that about you. Perhaps I can still get you and your little pet to defect together. The two of you would make an excellent addition to my forces.”
“I’d rather die than serve you, you witch.”
Beryl chuckled amusedly. “Be careful what you wish for, little girl.”
Minako sucked in an indignant breath and her fingernails nipped the soft flesh of her palm, but her riposte was halted. Rei laid a warning hand on her shoulder. Queen Serenity motioned for Ami to cut the communication. The screen winked out of existence, but somehow, Beryl’s gravelly laugh continued to roll around the room.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, Serenity was vaguely aware of her mother dismissing her senshi. At one point, she was fairly certain that Minako stopped, sat next to her, and clasped her hands in her own. She said something to her, but Serenity couldn’t remember what it was. Her mother cast sad eyes in her direction before closing her door behind her with a quiet click.
And then, she was alone. Completely and totally alone. And the last little piece of herself, that last little shred of hope that Serenity harbored, shattered into a million pieces and she fell, sobbing, to the floor.
Author’s Notes:
This is probably the most action-filled chapter I’ve ever written, and things really aren’t going to slow down from here. I hope everyone enjoyed it. Please review!
Special Thanks:
Sporadic: Sharing customs and differences in cultures is one of the great lures of writing in the Sil Mil timeline. You should try it. You know, in addition to all those other stories you’re working on. :)
Neuro: Interesting that the ritual’s been your favorite scene in ASV. I think my favorite scene was the whole of Chapter 1. Nothing has seemed to match it for me.
Bomichan: What you got out of the ritual scene was exactly what I did while writing it. Thanks for letting me know that I hit the nail on the head.
Sammich: Moar fanartz! I tried so hard to draw my own interpretation of the Martian ritual from the last chapter. I failed utterly.
1010’jin: If you think this is heavy, wait until you see my PGSM Sil Mil fic. Regardless, I’m honored that you like this so much, despite the dark feel to it.
Mels: Ah, Mels. Your review was “v. cool and sophisticated.” Yes. I did read your earlier work and I laughed all the way through it in the best way possible. It was a hilarious read.
Disclaimed: Thank you kindly! Your review reinforced what I’ve been hoping to achieve. I appreciate it.
Strangeness: You must have spent days reading to catch up between the two stories, so thank you for your time, and for your review.
OOO
Preview, Chapter 19: Don’t Hesitate
The time for tears had come and gone. Michiru’s eyes were red but dry. Haruka wore a warrior’s expression of the calm before the storm. The two clung to each other in the room’s darkness. Somehow, they couldn’t fight the sense that their feelings for each other were the only thing in the universe that still made sense.
“You know that if Beryl attacks tomorrow, Pluto’s plan may well fail.” The Uranian’s voice was devoid of emotion. “She’s taken Saturn to train for the final battle, but if Metallia is here on the Moon, then having Saturn destroy the Earth won’t help us at all.”
The Neptunian’s hand balled into a fist, curled tightly between their bodies. “If they hadn’t entered another dimension, we could have contacted Setsuna to tell her that Beryl might attack sooner than we’d thought. We didn’t plan for this.”
“Saturn’s use may be delayed.”
“I’m glad.”
“Eh?” Haruka paused, and was momentarily on the edge between two entirely different outcomes. Finally, her eyes hardened and her lips formed a thin, white line. “You can’t second guess this. It wasn’t our decision to make, anyway. Not really.”
Michiru propped herself up on an elbow. Her cheeks were flushed with defiance. “But she’s just a child, Haruka! We can’t just send her off to die!”
“She’s a weapon, Michiru, a weapon! And if she won’t die destroying the Earth, then she’ll die destroying the Moon. Which would you prefer?”
Tears threatened Michiru’s reddened eyes and she stifled a sob. Her arm gave out and she found solace in the hollow of Haruka’s neck. Even her partner’s tender reassurance and soft strokes along her back did little to ease her fears.
When she could find it once more, Michiru’s voice was a whisper. “Why do I get the feeling that we’ll be long dead by the time that decision gets made?”
Haruka didn’t have an answer for her.
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