They were sweaty, tired, and very, very naked. Minako shivered and Rei reached down to pull the golden sheets back over their bodies, although their sheer body warmth was enough to dispel the initial chill.
It was the Venusian who broke the mood of their afterglow.
“Rei, can you see anything?” She paused for a moment, her voice hitched, and then her words came spilling out in a sudden rush. “Have you had any premonitions? Beryl could attack at any moment. We’d be unprepared. She could-“
“Maa,” the Martian moaned, “If you’re still thinking along those lines, then I didn’t do my job correctly.”
“Rei,” Minako warned testily, “You know that’s not-”
“Then let it go.” Rei said simply.
The Martian laid a trail of wet kisses leading up from her commander’s collarbone to her jaw line and Minako sighed and willed herself to relax. Her body shivered as Rei dragged her nails across her ribcage, and Minako was a little surprised to find that it was her partner who became derailed, especially after her insistence to let the topic go.
“Do you remember what I told you?” Rei’s words were hot against the hollow of Minako’s neck. She forced herself out of that sweet spot and raised herself on an elbow to capture her commander’s attention. “Do you remember what we saw in my premonition of what might be our next battle with Beryl?”
“Don’t hesitate.” Minako reiterated quietly.
“And what did I tell you about hating Beryl?”
“That she feeds off of it.”
“That’s all you have to remember.” Rei nodded and then returned to her ministrations.
Minako’s breath hitched in the back of her throat. “But, this could be our last night together.”
“Then we should spend our last moments together not thinking about that, shouldn’t we?” Rei’s words were muffled against Minako’s skin.
“Rei-“
“Shut up,” the Martian growled, “And let me do my job.”
Positive that her partner was asleep, Ami slipped out from between the glossy green sheets and pulled a robe over her body to banish the goosebumps that had spread across her skin.
She padded out of the bedroom and took a seat on the edge of a couch. Leaning forward with her elbows on her knees, she summoned her incorporeal computer into existence, and after examining the report she had opened to the top most window, she began tapping the keys furiously.
Moments later, in the blue glow cast by her computer screen, she saw Makoto’s tall figure standing in the bedroom doorway. Ami closed her eyes and awaited the reprimand for working when she should be sleeping. It didn’t come in the form she’d been expecting.
“This could be our last night together.” Makoto’s voice was quiet and forlorn, so unlike the stoic warrior Ami had grown to love.
The Mercurian didn’t bother to send her trusted computer back to its incorporeal hiding spot. She rose from the couch and made a beeline for her partner. She wrapped her arms around Makoto’s waist.
Ami’s face softened, and she reached up to brush an errant brunette bang from Makoto’s forehead. “Come on, Mako-chan, let’s get you back to bed. You must be freezing.”
The Jovian’s strong hands wrapped around the smaller woman’s upper arms and with one glance to those hazel eyes, Ami knew she wouldn’t weasel out of this conversation.
“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what it’ll take to convince you that we’ve done all we can to prepare for this battle.”
Ami’s calm façade began to crumble. She captured her bottom lip with her front teeth and her brow knitted. “What if there was something… something I’ve overlooked, something I could have researched harder, something I could have-“
“Stop letting the weight of an outcome of a battle we can’t predict rest on your shoulders!”
The enormity of the situation pressed down on her, and the tears that Ami had held at bay slipped from her blue eyes and raced down the curve of her cheeks, and she surrendered her sobbing frame to the Jovian’s arms.
Makoto sighed and Ami closer. “We’ve done all we can,” she whispered softly, “Can’t we just be together, now?”
With one final whimper, Ami wiped away the last of her tears. She nodded, and then led her partner back to their bedroom.
The time for tears had come and gone. Michiru’s eyes were dry and bloodshot. 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.”
Michiru’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 Saturn’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 reassurances 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.
Mars’ patrol route took her across the southern edge of the Palace grounds. As always, she remained vigilant and alert, yet somehow, she found that her gaze was continuously drawn back to blue orb of the Earth.
“Mars-sama! Mars-sama!”
The Martian turned to the call of her name and found herself surrounded by several of the Moon’s troops, men who had been assigned to stay behind and guard the Palace and surrounding cities and towns while the majority of their force had been sent north to fight the youma and the human army.
“Mars-sama, we’ve heard that the fighting to the north has resumed. They say that more and more Earth warriors continue to come down off the pole. Is this true?”
Summoning her inner Priestess, the crimson warrior raised a hand, palm outwards, and answered calmly, though she felt far from it. “This is true,” she replied, “Humans and youma continue to reinforce the resistance from Earth, but our forces are holding the line and are allowing no quarter.”
A young man, not nearly older than sixteen, balled a determined fist near his chest. “But we could be there, aiding our brothers on the battlefield with our swords instead of walking the palace grounds, uselessly!”
“It’s not useless!”
The men recoiled. The senshi of Mars was known to have polar opposite reactions in response to different criteria that ranged from eerily calm to savagely vicious, and there were even tales of a fiercely possessive side to the crimson warrior. It was clear that these men feared for themselves for having invoked her wrath and Mars could see it in their wild eyes as she struggled to tamp down her ire.
“Your posts guarding the Palace are increasingly important,” she said as calmly as possible, “The northern plains will not be the only front this war will be fought on.”
She looked at the blonde youth, so hungry for battle, with a wistful smile. “Do not be too eager to lay your life on the line. A warrior’s sense of patience and knowledge of when his skills are needed are as valued as the experienced veteran who has a use in every scenario.”
“Mars-sama,” another of the group spoke tentatively, and when he was graced with a nod from the Martian, he found the courage to continue, “Are you saying that another attack is imminent?”
Amethyst eyes found themselves drifting back to the large, blue orb of the Earth. “I’m saying that anything is a possibility, and that a good warrior is always at the ready.”
She frowned slightly then, for even considering how far away she was from the Earth, Mars could see a darkening storm swirling in the planet’s upper atmosphere, threatening to envelop the island nation of Nippon, the nation Queen Beryl reigned from.
She had to force herself to turn back to the soldiers in front of her. “Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, sir!” They all snapped to attention.
“Then you are dismissed.” She said curtly.
They bowed and turned their backs on her, returning their posts. In Mars’ mind, she called out to them pleadingly.
’Run, you young fools. Run!’
She cut her gaze back to the growing storm on Earth, dark and roiling and punctuated with powerful lightening. It had seemed to swallow Nippon, billowing out, spreading, covering the mainland across the ocean, and enshrouding those other large countries in darkness.
Mars raised her wrist numbly. Bringing her communicator to her lips, she hailed her leader.
“Venus.”
A moment later, Minako responded. “Mars.”
“Are the Queen and the Princess secured in their bunkers?” Mars asked.
“Of course they are.” Minako’s reply was hasty, but her voice dropped off and the bustle of the Moon’s tacticians was the only noise across the transmission for one, brief moment.
“Rei?”
Mars swallowed a lump in her threat. “Alert the others.” She said. “Beryl’s on her way.”
The proverbial calm before the storm found the seven senshi silently waiting at the Moon Palace’s southern most battlements. Thousands of troops, mostly warriors from the Moon’s army, fell into loose formations behind them.
Emergency bulletins had been posted. In response, the surrounding cities and towns had erupted into frantic activity, but emergency plans had been well rehearsed and within the hour, the citizens that lived in the immediate vicinity of the Palace had been safely ushered into underground bunkers and safe houses. Power supplies and explosive gasses had been disabled to reduce the possibility of fires or explosions, and the main thoroughfares had been cleared of vehicles and other obstacles.
It went unspoken between the seven women that those efforts might well have been useless.
In relation to the sunspot activity, where great arcs flaring from the Sun could be seen from even the Moon’s surface, the ground was already trembling beneath their feet. Electrically charged storms were rolling in from the west. Even if the underground bunkers held strong through the earthquakes that were sure were to come, if anyone survived the battle, there might be little left of the cities and Palace to return to at all.
A growing, demonic cloud that raced across the emptiness of space between the Earth and the Moon did little to reassure them that their efforts were not in vain. It seemed as though Metallia was delivering Beryl’s front personally.
Carried on a dark, menacing cloud equipped with hungry teeth and beady eyes, thousands of youma were supported on this vehicle of destruction. Doubtlessly, given the wide berth the monsters gave the cloud’s center, Beryl and her Shittenou had hitched a ride on it as well.
Before the warriors of the Moon had realized it, the youma had hit the ground and were rushing the streets and clogging the thoroughfares. They wasted no time in heading straight for the Palace.
Staring down the sheer walls of the Palace, blankly watching the approaching monsters, Venus waited for Mercury to calculate the exact distance of their foe. When the small woman tapped her on the shoulder, the leader of the inner senshi raised a hand above her head and then tightened it into a fist to signal the first attack.
The small Mercurian force they had kept from the main front launched its offensive, and laser guided missiles launched forth from their vantage points high on the upper tiers of the western edge of the Palace. The screaming weapons shattered buildings and ate the streets below them, but they also took hundreds of the youma down with every strike. The troops rejoiced at the sight; the young men issued hearty whooping yells and commented grandly to their comrades.
The senshi remained tentatively quiet.
Jupiter spun on her heel and squinted hazel eyes as she looked up to the battlements that hosted the force responsible for slowing the youma’s progress. She started to shout to the Mercurians, to warn them, but knew it was already too late.
The ground surged beneath their feet. A fissure that started a kilometer away ran down the length of the main street outside the Palace walls and rapidly cracked the ground in front of it. The fault ran along the center of the street, hit the southwest corner of the Palace wall, and didn’t even slow down for the thick, limestone walls.
“It’s not going to hold.” Jupiter’s voice was lost to the cracking and groaning of the Palace as its western side separated slightly from its adjoining walls, and then sheered off all together. In a landslide effect, the top six stories of the Palace slid down. Taking the Mercurians with it, rubble spilled over the retaining walls, crushing the streets, homes, and shops of the city below.
A strained hush fell over the warriors of the Moon, even as the youma picked up their pace once again. Mars was the first to break the frightened trance. With a draw and a snap, one, lone fire-arrow flew from her bow, arced through the darkening sky, and slammed into the thick neck of a youma far below.
A volley of metal arrows followed. Archers spread across other battlements let loose their weapons, and the rest of the senshi aided the onslaught with elemental attacks designed to take out as many of the monsters at once as possible.
Buildings fell. Youma were crushed. The ground at Uranus’ disposal buried the monsters. Mars’ fire ignited their bodies and Jupiter’s electricity charred them. The waters of Neptune and Mercury drowned them and Venus’ light blinded them.
But the youma would not be slowed.
Scrambling over their dead and surging forward, even with the sizeable dent the senshi had made in their ranks, the monsters made it to the Palace Gates and, moments later, flooded into the Palace proper.
Venus led the next charge. Dashing from the southern walls, she raced down the battlement stairs that would take her to the ground level at the rear of the Palace. Her warriors at her heels, the seven of them met the youma; the creatures had broken through the Palace’s front and streamed out its rear. They didn’t care for any of the riches or wealth that the old castle had to offer. They cared only for the senshi, and those warriors knew it.
They took up battle ready positions under the thick canopy of an old oak tree, and the Moon’s troops filed into place behind them uncertainly. A distant clap of thunder shook the northern edge of the palace walls to their left. To their right, where the Sea of Serenity sparkled dimly, a hazy lightening storm drifted in from the sky above the water.
The crimson warrior pressed herself to Venus’ back and the Venusian chanced a glance at the Martian over her shoulder. Mars nodded. The golden warrior hung her head. They were in the same location as they had been Rei’s visions.
“This place will look entirely different all too soon.” Venus said.
“You know what to do.” Mars said softly. “You’ve seen it. You can change it.”
Unnerved by the silent monsters that surrounded them on all sides and milled around the open edges of the courtyard, spilling out of the Palace with no end in sight, Uranus initiated the first attack. It blew a hole in the Palace wall and a dozen of the youma were taken out along with it.
But their brethren did not react and only stood there, dumbly drooling, refusing to attack.
“What are they waiting for?” Uranus barked.
The sound of high heels and dress boots was accompanied by a grating laugh that could only belong to one person. At once, the senshi felt their hackles rise, and somehow, the laugh of one human woman, avatar of a dark power, could be many times more frightening that even the monstrous youma they’d been battling for far too long.
From hallways that had once been filled with light and laughter, Beryl strode through darkness before being greeted by the hazy, filtered sunlight of the courtyard. Lightening shot across the darkening sky and its blue-white light illuminated the stiff form of Endymion on her arm and the shittenou that trailed along closely behind them.
The youma parted without verbal command and several paces away from each other, the humans met the senshi in the middle of the courtyard, around the old oak tree. The silence was oppressive, but Beryl had no qualms with breeching it.
“Your Queen and Princess. Where are they?”
Uranus’ building anger was thinly veiled. “We’ll never tell you!”
The Queen of the Earth turned toward the tall blonde and chuckled. “I warn you now. Even you outer senshi stand no chance against me. You’ve fought my youma and you’ve fought my human army. The two combined are nothing compared to the power Metallia has invested in me.”
“Why warn us, you witch?” Uranus demanded.
Mars stepped closer to Venus and whispered softly to her partner. “She doesn’t want to do this.”
Venus nodded. “Endymion… it’s her love for him. She wants to spare him… she wants one of us to spare him because she can’t!”
Beryl’s jaw clacked shut. Her dark eyes seemed to harden and they cut to Venus. “You think you know everything, little girl?” She sneered. “You were never a match for me. If you won’t tell me where the leaders of this sorry little satellite are, trust me when I say I’ll find them by myself!”
With no further recourse, Venus’ sword slid from its sheath with a scream and she launched herself at Beryl, but it was Endymion’s sword that met Venus’ blade.
Beryl laughed and waved her hand. “You four,” she gestured to the shittenou, “Take care of the senshi. Show them what powers Metallia has granted you,” she growled, “But leave Venus to me!”
The shittenou complied mechanically. They lunged forward and this seemed to be the cue the youma had been waiting for, and the ugly creatures wasted no time in launching themselves into the fray.
The troops of the Moon Kingdom took to their previously ordered commands and drew the youma attacks at themselves as the inner senshi rushed forward to meet the shittenou with reckless abandon. Meanwhile, the two outer senshi hurried to disengage Endymion from Venus.
Uranus’ talisman added untold strength alongside Venus’ blade and the exiled Prince stumbled backwards. Uranus was quick to press her offensive on the human as Venus caught her breath and Neptune’s attention.
“Take it easy on him.” Venus said. Neptune nodded and the leader of the senshi turned to meet Beryl.
The Queen of the Earth stood calmly, a long, thin sword of glistening black metal, all too similar to the one that had controlled Mars not long ago enough, was held loosely in Beryl’s grip.
“You think you can win my favor with that little stunt?”
“I don’t need any favors from you, Beryl.”
The human found this funny and laughed as she slowly circled Venus’ defensive stance. “That’s good, little girl, because Beryl is no more.”
Venus smirked and launched herself at the human woman.
OOO
“It would have to be you two.” Mars said with an amused, lopsided grin.
The humor took Nephrite off guard. “We’re going to get you back for that ambush back on Earth, you little bitch!”
“Ambush?” Mars asked as she parried Nephrite’s furious blows and shot a burning mandala at Kunzite. “And here I thought that’s what you two tried to do to me!”
The crimson warrior met a rapid series of barely controlled swings with quick parries and a savage smile. “Besides, I think the only bitch here is you.”
Nephrite’s eye twitched. He raised his arms high, aiming for Mars’ head. Mars dropped her weight to her thighs and stepped into the attack, narrowly avoiding his swing while piercing him through the solar plexus with her blade. As he slid down her sword, Nephrite looked to the Martian with empty eyes.
“I should have done that the first time.” The crimson warrior spat before kicking the young shittenou’s convulsing body off her blade.
She then turned to Kunzite’s charred but quickly recovering form, and she offered him a poorly disguised grin. “I thought Metallia gave you some impressive new powers.” She taunted.
“Oh, she did. She gave me impressive new powers,” Kunzite smiled flatly, “Not Nephrite. He was just the decoy.”
The crimson warrior raised an eyebrow, but before she could blink, Kunzite was on her, pushing her back with a barely controlled strength and speed she found she could barely keep up with.
OOO
“You’re not fighting him.” Neptune said simply as she skirted Endymion’s form.
Uranus parried a stiff blow. “I can’t bring myself to kill the guy.”
“You’re with Venus then? What, do you think Serenity can save him? Do you think she can save all of us?”
“I don’t know what Venus thinks.” The Uranian pushed against Endymion’s sword so that he skittered backwards on his heels before she addressed her partner flatly. “I don’t know what to think anymore, Michiru.”
Neptune pressed her lips into a thin, white line and parried Endymion’s next attack.
OOO
“Normally, I would have created some great new weapon, or some sneaky psychological devise,” Zoicite explained as he made several passing blows in the Mercurian’s direction that were just barely blocked, “But thanks to Metallia, I’ve learned that brute force can be quite enjoyable as well.”
Mercury’s strength gave out and she collapsed to the ground, but she did so gracefully, rolling backwards to relative safety before jumping back to her feet fluidly. She gritted her teeth. Her hand-eye coordination was excellent, but she didn’t have the strength to continue to meet Zoicite’s powerful, fast attacks. She summoned her blue visor. She needed a strategy. Even with Metallia’s influence, he was sure to have a weak point.
In the time it took for the blue-tinged display to flicker to life, she stole a glance to her right. Jupiter was busily defending against Jadeite’s quick sword attacks. For all that he may have been the youngest of the shittenou, he seemed to have been granted the most of Metallia’s favor and it was clear that the Jovian was barely holding her ground against his quick movements.
She forced herself to focus on her own foe. Points of light exploded before her eyes and her visor’s software was quick to scan her attacker’s body even as Zoicite launched himself in her direction, his feet pounding the paver ground as he closed the distance between them. Mercury’s cobalt eyes narrowed as she scanned her readout for anything of use.
“There!” She exclaimed. She turned to Jupiter. “Mako-chan, aim for the-“
She hadn’t been nearly quick enough. Before she could relay the necessary information, Zoicite had speared Mercury with his sword, driving his blade through the small woman’s center and not stopping until his hilt had slammed into her abdomen.
Zoicite found his nose nestled into the Mercurian’s short hair. His frame shook. His hands released the hilt of his sword. But his dark, confused eyes stared only at the blank expression of the woman in front of him. Mercury’s expression was neutral. She refused to look down, knowing what had happened but reluctant to admit it. Her gloved hands found the sword’s hilt and she collapsed to her knees, a trickle of blood spilling from the corner of her mouth.
She turned to where she last remembered seeing Jupiter. The Jovian’s back was turned to her. Jadeite seemed to have eased up on his attack, but perhaps that’s because his attention was on her, seemingly as surprised by Mercury’s injury as her attacker had been.
’They didn’t want to do this.’ Mercury realized.
That was when Jupiter’s footwork had turned her position, and what she saw when she chanced a glance in her partner’s direction froze her.
Mercury’s expression finally registered emotion. Her brows furrowed. Her eyes narrowed. If she didn’t react quickly, Jupiter would be too late to defend against Jadeite. The youngest shittenou was already making a move for her.
“Aim for the left of his chest!” She cried, choking on a thick, coppery taste of blood.
The Jovian’s numb form didn’t move. Not until Jadeite’s sword slid through upper left arm and tore itself free. The arm fell limp and useless, hanging by only muscle and tendon. It was the only thing that snapped Jupiter out of her daze, the only thing that could make her pull her attention from the image of her lover, crumpled to her knees, a sword protruding from her stomach.
She turned then. The sword she had been holding limply fell from her fingers and clattered to the ground. Jadeite’s confident expression slipped. Jupiter rushed forward. The shittenou had gauged her speed. His sword impaled her left shoulder, but not before she’d balled her right hand into a tight fist and sent every last ounce of her strength into a punch to the man’s chest.
She felt it under her knuckles. It was small, and hard, and of irregular shape. Her first sent a stone that had laid against Jadeite’s collarbone into his chest cavity, where it shattered under the pressure.
The young shittenou released his hold on the blade that had impaled his victim’s shoulder and stumbled backwards, his hands splayed over the hole in his chest, as though he could contain the sickly green light that tried to creep out of it.
Then, he imploded into a single point of light. The remnants of the stone fell to the ground, pebbles at Jupiter’s feet.
Blood ran down the Jovian’s arm. It was hot. But she didn’t bother to remove the blade stuck through her shoulder. She was losing blood at an alarming rate, and as Zoicite found his shaky legs and turned towards her with a wavering expression, she knew what she had to do.
She turned to Mercury. Already, she had fallen, rolling on her side to avoid falling further on the blade. Even above the din of battle, Jupiter could hear her failing breaths.
“I’m sorry.” Jupiter whispered.
Zoicite charged her then, and Jupiter stood her ground. She could have laughed. She could have considered the shittenou unoriginal for delivering the same blow to her that he had served to her dying lover, but the humor was beyond her and Jupiter wrapped strong arms around Zoicite’s slender frame, even as his blade pierced her stomach.
“No…” She could hear Mercury’s dying breath, even as she summoned every last bit of power Jupiter had invested in her, and she learned first hand what it was like to be electrocuted alive.
One crispy body hit the ground alongside her fallen comrade, and a handful of crushed stone was lifted away on the wind.
OOO
In the battle being waged between the youma and the troops of the Moon Kingdom, the two forces had nearly extinguished themselves so that there were few left standing. Already, the nightmare battlefield had come to closely resemble the one in Rei’s vision. The basalt pavers of the courtyard were torn and broken; the marble walls of the palace were shattered and toppled. The ancient oak which the Martian had sought solace under so many times was charred and blackened. The bodies that lie in the courtyard, amidst jagged chunks of stone and upturned concrete were of the countless dead; humans, youma, Lunarian, and even senshi.
Their blood mingled. And it wasn’t nearly over.
Above the din of battle and the elemental blasts of the senshi that were left standing, a low rumbling gradually increased. The dusky skies darkened further and arcs of lightening forked across the sky. The limestone turrets and battlements of the palace were no barrier to its power, and falling rubble crashed to the ground, joining the heaps of debris wrought by the earthquakes. Some of it could have been the effect of the raging sun. Some of it could have been the after-effect of Jupiter’s rage.
“Two down.” Uranus said. “Two senshi. Two shitennou.” She and Neptune stood across from Endymion, both parties leveling swords at each other, but each taking a breather before further attacks.
Neptune acknowledged the loss. “Mars and Venus know, too.”
The Uranian narrowed her eyes at Endymion. “Do you think he carries a stone too?”
Neptune’s eyes hardened. “Perhaps. The left breast pocket?”
Uranus nodded. Neptune skirted forward, locking blades with Endymion as the senshi of the wind rushed behind her, driving the hilt of her sword into his chest.
Endymion groaned and stumbled backwards. He fell to his knees and his hand shot to the inside of his jacket where he rummaged for a frantic moment before pulling a crushed heap of plastic from his pocket. A communicator.
The Uranian nearly laughed. “Even now, Serenity protects what is hers.”
Neptune smiled fondly. “Even still, he has no stone. That must mean that Metallia’s taint touches him directly.”
The King of the Earth turned the broken remains of the communicator in his palm, his dark eyes narrowing at the destroyed device that seemed so familiar, so important.
“Look,” Neptune said, “He’s trying to fight it. He’s been trying all this time.”
Endymion dropped the plastic shards and seemed to shake himself from his trance. Uranus adjusted her grip on her sword. “Mars?” She asked. “Does she know the shitennou’s weak point?”
“She knows. She’s already trying.”
OOO
Mars pushed an offensive she knew she didn’t really have. Kunzite was humoring her. For every thrust, every strike that was issued, he would quickly calculate the projection of her blows and easily parry them.
“Ah, ah, Mars. I won’t be taken down as easily as them,” he sneered as he parried another blow, “The stone I hold is much more powerful than theirs.”
“But it’s not enough to keep me at bay, and yet Beryl-“
“Don’t presume to understand our Queen’s intentions, you barbarian.”
Mars smirked. “But still, she must have much more power than the likes of you, and yet Minako is still holding her back.”
Kunzite snorted. “Martians and their one track minds. That little Venusian will be the death of you, you know.”
Amethyst eyes hardened. “I do know. And I’m fine with that.”
This courageous declaration seemed to derail the leader of the shittenou and the Martian landed a lucky hit to Kunzite’s left shoulder, just above his breast. With his jacket slashed open and blood spilling from the wound, Kunzite teetered backwards. His hands rested over his breast protectively.
“I’m done playing with you,” he snarled, “I’m glad you can be content with your death.”
He lunged forward then. Mars saw it coming, but knew she didn’t have the speed to block or dodge. It was a graceful, swinging arc that came down from the lightening filled sky and buried itself between her neck and shoulder.
Kunzite grinned victoriously and in a vicious swipe, he pulled his sword free from the cavity he’d created in the crimson warrior’s chest.
Mars stood on teetering legs and the leader of the shittenou turned his back to her.
“Venus won’t be far behind you, Mars,” he spat, “I’ll see to it personally.”
“That’s what you think, you son of a bitch.”
The voice was hoarse and raspy and filled with liquid, and somehow, it was right in his ear. But before he could turn, Kunzite felt slender arms wrap around his chest. Two searching palms splayed open across the lump hidden above his left breast, and then, his word was ignited in flames that refused to be extinguished. He was incinerated from the inside out and the stone he held turned to glass and shattered from the scalding flames.
Without the shittenou’s body as support, Mars’ charred and bloodied body crashed to the ground.
OOO
“Well, I’m sure this wasn’t quite as you’d planned it, now is it, Venus?” Beryl asked with no small amount of amusement.
Even as she parried Beryl’s next blow, Venus’ cast a glance to her fallen lover and she suppressed a shudder. ‘So this is what distracted me.’
She’d felt the lives of Mercury and Jupiter slip away, and though she had mourned their loss, she had not faltered in her attack and defense against her opponent.
But this was different.
A crimson warmth she could only associate with Rei slipped through the cracks of her fingers and she was left with one disembodied thought that could belong only to her lover.
’Don’t hesitate!’
“You’re getting slow, Venus. Do you need a break?” Beryl taunted.
Venus’ body shuddered again. She felt the wounds along her ribcage where she’d been pierced by Beryl’s long blade repeatedly open and close with every breath. The pain was excruciating, especially when she could compare it to the two or three gashes she’d scored against the Queen of the Earth, no more than flesh wounds that scratched the surface of Beryl’s arms.
Venus’ eyes narrowed as the last of Rei’s aura slipped through her fingers and she finally turned her gaze back to Beryl.
”I’m sorry, Rei. I only hope you’ll forgive me.’
“Bring it.” She growled.
’Pluto and Saturn are our only hope now.’
The human woman smirked. She shifted her weight to a rear leg and held her sword before her. She came so fast that the Venusian thought she flew. The golden warrior watched that long blade come within range and she didn’t block it, for if she did, she knew she’d never have the chance to get within striking distance.
’I had to hesitate, Rei.’
The dark sword that slid through Venus’ stomach was freezing cold, but when she felt her opponent impale herself on her own blade that she’d held before her at the last second, she felt an irrepressible surge of warmth, even as she tamped down her intense hate for this woman who had toyed with and ultimately taken away everything she held dear.
Beryl looked down to the space between their bodies. Four hands, two hilts, and so much blood.
“Rei told me I wasn’t allowed to hate you,” Beryl could feel Venus’ distant, raspy chuckle, “But I’m not as strong as she is.”
Venus tapped into the last of her strength and pushed herself forward, ramming the hilt of her blade further into Beryl’s stomach. Beryl’s legs gave out underneath her and both women collapsed to the ground with gasping breaths.
Beryl watched as Venus drew her last breath. Lightening flickered in the dark sky, illuminating the handful of youma and Lunarian forces still battling to the death. Soon, it would be a net-net zero, but for the civilians that lay in hiding. She could feel the blood spilling from her stomach. Somewhere during her fall to the ground, Venus’ blade had been dislodged from her body. Not sensing the dark power that had guided her for so long, she felt abandoned, but somehow, she felt free.
OOO
“Venus…” In Uranus’ moment of distraction, her eyes turned to the golden warrior’s body, and Endymion pressed his advantage. He stepped forward into the opening, but it was his fist that slammed into the back of the Uranian’s head, and not his blade. He dispatched Neptune just as easily and it was evident that Metallia’s power within him, although not at his disposal to its intensity, could be controlled when needed, for he had not killed them.
Beryl heard him before she saw him, and somehow, his rough parody of help only made things worse. Clumsy hands rolled her from her side to her back. Her head rested on the broken paver ground and Beryl looked up into dark, clouded eyes that stared at her, but didn’t see her.
“This isn’t you, Endymion. It was never you.”
He didn’t respond, but she didn’t expect that he would. ’Was it worth it?’ She wondered, as her vision faded to darkness. ’It can’t really end this way, can it? Not after all I’ve sacrificed. Where is Metallia?’
’When all is said and done, where is Metallia now?’
She felt herself slipping through the cracks, and then, there was darkness.
Author’s Notes:
I know this chapter was a little… gruesome. I didn’t shy away from description of deaths or injuries. That said, ASV is almost over! Please review!
Special Thanks:
E A Simpson: Evil!Minako and Rei would have been nice. And fun to write. And just as cool as Evil!Haruka and Michiru from the last season. Maybe you should write it.
Mels: I will be the first fan of your epic. I will!
LicketySplat: I very much appreciate your constructive criticism! I’d say that I clipped the battle of the last chapter for several reasons. I felt that if I allowed it go get too long, many readers would be bored. Battles are sort of a side dish, and I never like to make them the main focus (although this and next chapter will be the exception, since it is the last battle). I do agree that the dialogue in the last chapter could have been a little better, but perhaps I felt that the situation was becoming so dire that witty commentary might have been hard for the characters to come by. That said, I hope that this chapter was more to your liking.
OOO
Preview, Chapter 20: Into the Darkness
“It’s over!”
Serenity was pushed aside by cheering men and women, dancing and jumping and slapping hands. The Princess of the Moon kingdom felt her lips tug upwards in a tentative smile at the hope she felt, but then she paused.
She felt it under her feet. A gentle rumble; a precursor to a quake. She looked up to the cracks that splintered across the concrete ceiling, ripped apart slowly by earlier tremors. Her blue eyes shot back to the screen that displayed the Queen of the Earth, who, for all intents and purposes, looked very, very dead…
But the rumbling grew stronger. Bits of dust and small fragments of concrete fell from the compromised ceiling. Serenity’s voice was a raspy whisper.
“It’s not over. It’s not over!”
She wasn’t heard over the din of the celebration, and she doubted the others could even feel the beginnings of the quake. She thought of her friends, all of her personal protectors, already dead. She had cried harder than she had ever cried in her life, but now, the time for tears was over. She looked back to the tacticians, to her people, to the citizens she was supposed to protect. They were swarming her mother, congratulating the Queen.
‘They’ll never listen to me… I have to get out there and help, any way I can!’
With a plastic smile, the Princess of the Moon edged her way backwards slowly. People bumped their way around her, not even noticing her slow retreat over the din of excitement and celebration. Finally, she found the room’s door, turned the knob, and opened the heavy, steel door only wide enough to slip her slender body through before shutting it behind her quietly.
In the dusty hallway, Serenity kicked off her heeled dress shoes, bunched the ends of her white dress in her hands, and sprinted up the many flights of concrete steps as fast as she could, her golden pigtails streaming behind her.
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