Jupiter's Lament
"No one knows I can't be wrong
So I'll sing the same old song
I tried to be strong
For you
Why have you left me
Amongst the tall trees?
I know I gave her all I have
And I'm gone
Oh yes, I'm gone."
-Smashing Pumpkins, "Jupiter's Lament"
"This is the sound I've
Been making my whole life
I've been waiting for this night
To clear up all the talk
Although I'm selfish to a fault
Is it selfish, it's you I want
You, I did it all for you."
-Smashing Pumpkins, "The Crying Tree of Mercury"
"Well, you know that the holder of the crystal has to have a pure heart,
so it's impossible that I'm one of its holders."
-Sailor Uranus
"In this case, we're your enemies, too."
-Sailor Neptune
-----
I
KNOW
SOMETHING
YOU
DON'T
KNOW.
Michiru had heard those words often enough, and sometimes spoken them,
when she was younger. Now she was reflecting on what they really meant.
The explanation was simple enough: knowledge is power. Especially when
it's knowledge no one else has. And she did.
Kaioh Michiru, unlike all but a handful, knew the true nature of the
threat that the world faced today. She also knew who the only people
were that could destroy the threat. She even knew them personally,
because she was one of them. Sadly, they had different ideas on how to
destroy the threat, and it didn't look like they would be resolving the
dispute any time soon.
Knowledge is power. She spoke the words wordlessly to herself over and
over. The Outer Senshi would need all the power they could get for when
they met the enemy later that day.
Knowledge is power. Michiru knew something nobody else did. Well,
nearly all of Japan was aware of the Death Busters, even though the
attacks had been for the most part solely directed at Tokyo. But no one
else in Japan knew exactly what was going on, and she was willing to bet
the word hadn't gotten around to Europe or America yet.
Knowledge is power. She liked knowing what she did, even if it was
enough to scare her to her living core. Why was that? Because when you
know you're being invaded by megalomaniacal aliens, it makes everything
else that's wrong with your life seem meaningless by comparison.
"Knowledge is power," she muttered, unaware that she had spoken her
mantra aloud.
"Huh?" said Haruka.
"What? Did I say something?"
"You said, 'Knowledge is power.'"
"Oh...forget it. It's not important."
But even with her knowledge of the impending danger, Michiru could not
manage to block out her other problems. Namely, the problem she was
having with her sandy-haired lover.
"Are you OK?" asked Haruka.
"No. Should I be?" Michiru said back.
Haruka sighed, looking out the side window of her car as she drove.
"No, I guess I can't expect you to be. I'm not exactly reliving prom
night here, either."
Michiru couldn't lie to Haruka. When she was asked if she was OK, some
people might have said they were just fine, thank you, hoping to avoid
talking about it. Michiru just couldn't do that. Besides, for all they
knew they were marching to their death, and every minute they spent
talking about something-anything-was a minute they weren't dying.
Haruka took one hand off the steering wheel and raised it to Michiru's
face, stroking the soft aquamarine hair. But Michiru looked away and
moved her head out of her partner's reach.
"What's that for?" asked Haruka, taken slightly aback.
"We-" Michiru began. "We could be dead in a few hours. I don't want to
be reminded of how much I love you, because I couldn't stand dying with
a broken heart."
"Would you rather die with an empty one?"
Michiru looked at Haruka, tears forming in her eyes.
"Remember what they said in English Literature? 'Tis better to have
loved and lost than never to have loved at all.' Besides, how would you
feel if you went to your grave knowing that you'd thrown away your last
chance to be with the person you loved?"
Michiru realized that Haruka had a point, and this time when the hand
came up she held it in both of her own. She leaned her head against
Haruka's shoulder and began to cry softly.
Haruka brushed her lover's face, while her other hand tightened into a
white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel. 'Damn you,' she thought.
'Damn all of you.' When Michiru cried, she just lost control. She
wanted to hurt people. She wanted to break things. She wanted to
destroy something beautiful so that it would know the same suffering
that her beautiful something knew.
'Damn you!' she lashed out with her mind. Damn the Death Busters for
coming to this world and starting trouble. Damn the Inners for not
fighting by their side. Damn Sailor Moon for not understanding the way
the world worked and trying to make everyone happy all the time...it
just couldn't be done. Damn the Tomoes for whatever they had to do with
this. And damn Tenoh Haruka for not being there.
It seemed that the Outers had to do a lot of horrible things without
getting a lot back. They had given up their lives to be Senshi, and now
they might literally have to give up their lives. And for what? To
satisfy some sadistic alien's sense of self-righteousness? To allay the
karma of the universe? To fulfill some prophecy made a thousand years
ago that they hadn't been part of deciding? Or maybe it was just fate
screwing them again, as it always did.
'Damn all of you! Damn you to hell!' Haruka thought again, flooring the
gas pedal. Michiru just held her tighter. She knew how Haruka drove
when she was angry.
-----
Usagi, Ami and I were discussing recent events, which it seemed had just
taken a turn for the worse. Rei and Minako weren't able to get away
from what they were doing just yet, so it looked like Ami and I were the
only two Usagi would get after calling everyone.
"Haruka-san did WHAT?!" I yelled.
"She just took it, just like that!" Usagi whined, and started bawling
again.
My patience with Usagi began to wear thin. Usually she saved her ditzy
behavior for her personal life, and stayed serious on the battlefield.
This time she was putting on a less-than-impressive performance.
"So you can't become Sailor Moon?" Ami asked.
"No! I can't do anything!" Usagi said.
Usagi had found out that Haruka-san and Michiru-san had been contacted
by Eudial, and that now they were supposedly on their way to find the
pure heart crystals. Obviously it was a trap; they had known it was
right away. Even Usagi had figured that out. So she tried to talk them
out of going, and Haruka had stolen her transformation brooch before
running off. Now we were without Sailor Moon, our strongest member, and
things were going completely crazy.
"Did they say where they were going?" Ami asked Usagi.
"The-the Marine Cathedral," Usagi said, stopping her crying long enough
to blow her nose. "Why?"
Ami looked at me, and I looked back at her. We both had the same idea.
Pulling out our transformation wands, we said the words.
"Jupiter Star Power!"
"Mercury Star Power!"
After the pyrotechnics subsided, the two of us were ready to go. Usagi
looked back and forth between us, and a switch went off in her head.
"W-wait a minute, you're not going after them, are you?"
"We have to," said Sailor Mercury. "Without Sailor Moon, there's no way
you could do anything."
"And those two could get themselves killed," I said.
"But I was going to do it!" Usagi said.
"You can't transform! You wouldn't last ten seconds against Eudial!" I
said back.
"Come on, we don't have time for this," Mercury said.
I nodded, and the two of us kicked off on our heels and tore out of
there. Usagi tried to run after us, but only ended up tripping over
herself. Even if she hadn't been a total klutz, there was no way she
could have caught up to us. Our strength and speed was enhanced by
Senshi magic. So we were moving much faster than a normal person could.
Even an Olympic athlete would have been hard-pressed to keep up with us
for more than a few miles.
There we were, green and blue, Jupiter and Mercury, flying through the
city like bullets in skirts. Unfortunately, we had to run though a
pretty crowded part of town to get to the Marine Cathedral. Fortunately
most people knew enough to stay out of our way. Wherever the Sailors
went, there was trouble, and trouble around here meant business.
There were little girls who saw us and thought, Wow. There were older
girls, and boys, that I recognized from school, although they didn't
recognize me. There was a camera crew doing a news story. When two
Senshi dashed by them, they knew there had to be a better story at hand,
but there was no way they could catch us.
"Mercury, are you holding up?" I asked.
"Just fine," she said between breaths.
"We're closing in. Get ready for...something. I don't know what we're
going to find, but I'm willing to bet we won't like it."
Mercury had been following behind me, but right then she closed a little
of the distance and took my hand. I was surprised. I looked into her
deep blue eyes, and the expression I saw was shocking. It was the most
serene gaze I'd ever seen. She knew we were heading into trouble, big
trouble, but it was if she knew everything would be all right.
I lost myself in those eyes as we ran.
I almost lost something else, too.
"Jupiter! Look out!"
Idiot! I hadn't been watching where I was going, and I'd strayed off
the sidewalk and into the street, right into the path of an oncoming
car. With a leap of inhuman dexterity, I moved out of the way just in
time to avoid making Mercury's unspoken prophecy a lie.
"Are you all right?" she asked.
"Fine, fine," I heaved, wiping my brow.
"Come on, I know you're not fine," Mercury said, darting between two
people. "If anything, you're almost on the verge of a nervous breakdown
or something."
"Yeah, I know I'm a bad liar," I said. "Don't worry, I'll be OK. I
swear it."
"I just hope you're not being a bad liar about *that.*"
We continued on in silence. Past the greater part of the crowd now, I
no longer had to worry about weaving in and out of the throng. Waiting
for me on the other side was something I'd been avoiding asking myself.
I don't know when I stopped thinking about every boy I saw like he was
my sempai. More importantly, I don't know when I fell out of love with
him. Maybe it had been a gradual thing, from being away for so long.
Maybe I'd grown up a little, and realized a few things about myself. I
really can't say. All I knew was that something was different, and it
scared me.
Kami, did it scare me.
I don't know when I started thinking differently about Ami, either. She
was so different from me! I was brawn, she was brain, I was big, she
was little, I was the troublemaker, she was the good samaritan. You'd
think I would have thought she was the self-righteous type, and she
would have seen me as a bully. I guess I was, kind of, but how could I
not be? What I was going through couldn't have been normal.
How do you tell your friend that you'd like to think of them as more
than a friend?
Ami was just too wonderful a person to think badly of. I wanted to
protect her. I wanted to know things about her that nobody else knew.
I wanted to tell her things I hadn't told anybody else. But I couldn't.
For all I knew, she was still going out with Urawa, the precognitive.
Ami came from a conservative family. Maybe it was a single-parent home,
but Mizuno-san was a very traditional mother, from what I had heard
about her.
I had every reason to tell Ami how I felt, and every reason not to.
Part of me sighed inside. It just had to be Haruka and Michiru we were
going to save, didn't it? Their presence only served to increase my
fear that I was like them, but could never have what they had.
I was driven from my thoughts when I realized where we were: not far
from the Marine Cathedral. I switched back from romantically-conflicted
Kino Makoto to battle-primed Sailor Jupiter.
It felt good to be lost in the rush of battle.
-----
"Uranus Star Power!"
"Neptune Star Power!"
Eudial watched the two young women transform. It was nothing new to
her; she had known who the Outers were for a while now. But this meant
that they were finally about to get down to business.
"I was wondering when we'd get to the fighting," she said, casually
slinging the Charm Buster over her shoulder.
"If you want a fight, you've got one," said Sailor Neptune.
"You were never going to show us where the crystals were in the first
place, were you?" Sailor Uranus sneered.
"Oh, no, that's not true," Eudial said with mock offense. "I still plan
to show you where they are. But if I show you, I'll have to kill you."
Uranus and Neptune readied their attacks, preparing to take the evil
Witch apart from both sides. Then they heard a creaking sound. At
first they didn't pay any attention to it, but it began to grow louder,
and it came at them from all angles. Their fierce concentration fell,
and they were left vulnerable for a crucial second.
"And killing you is exactly what I intend to do," Eudial crooned.
The Witch snapped her fingers and all hell broke loose. The creaking
reached its loudest yet, and stopped. The two Senshi looked around,
seeing nothing. But just at the right moment, their magically-enhanced
awareness kicked in and they felt a threat from above. They leaped to
the side just in time to avoid being crushed by a falling girder from
the ceiling of the large, unfinished building.
More girders fell, broken loose from their supports, and hit the ground
with deafening impacts. What was worse, they had fallen in a perfect
circle surrounding the Outers. They were trapped.
Eudial laughed cruelly. "Let the game begin!"
The girders moved like magnetized chess pieces, hurtling with horrible
speed and behind an unknown force toward Uranus and Neptune. They were
big, but they were also fast, and at that speed, something that heavy
could deliver a lethal blow. Uranus soon discovered that as she was a
fraction of a second too slow and took a glancing blow to her left arm.
She cried out in pain. The damage wasn't serious, but if she hadn't
been in her Sailor fuku it could have shattered the bone.
"Uranus!" cried Neptune, ducking under a metal missile.
Eudial just stood there and laughed.
After a few minutes, the Outers had managed to avoid further harm, but
they were tiring, and the girders were continuously hurling themselves
at the two Senshi. It was time to go on the offensive.
"World Shaking!" Uranus cried, firing off a yellow ball of energy that
shattered a few girders heading her way.
"Deep Submerge!" Neptune yelled, inflicting similar damage on her own
group of attackers.
"You can't keep that up forever!" Eudial said.
As if to prove the witch's point, another girder appeared out of nowhere
and headed straight for Neptune. There was no time to cast her attack.
"No!" Uranus yelled, but she was hit from behind thrown to the floor.
Neptune's girder struck her head-on and kept moving until it pinned her
to a wall. Still laughing mercilessly, Eudial casually strolled over to
the trapped water Senshi, making sure to dangle the end of the Charm
Buster over the head of the battered Uranus as she passed.
"Now you'll see where the pure heart crystals are! Hah!" she said, and
took slow, deliberate aim at Neptune.
"Neptune-no..." Uranus pleaded, but she was too weak to move.
"Charm Buster!"
"No you don't!"
A flying blow came out of nowhere, striking the girder that pinned
Sailor Neptune to the wall and launching it forward into Eudial's path.
The Charm Buster's ray bounced off the girder and harmlessly away. The
girder itself, however, flew right for the stunned Witch, who barely had
time to move out of the way.
Neptune fell to her knees, and all of a sudden there were two more of
the skirted soldiers there: Jupiter, who had attacked Eudial, and
Mercury, who was analyzing the situation with her computer.
"I don't care who's here to do what, but you're going down for attacking
the Sailor Senshi!" Jupiter called to the shell-shocked Witch.
'At least her speeches are better than Usagi-chan's...' thought Uranus,
who had managed to pull herself to her knees.
"More of them, eh?" said Eudial. "Well, it doesn't matter. I'll smash
the two of you as easily as I defeated your friends."
Eudial gestured again, and the remaining girders resumed their attack.
This time it was harder, even though the odds were better. Even though
Jupiter was the strongest of the Inners, the Outers were still the
strongest Senshi, and it took more power for the Inners' attacks to
damage the flying slabs of metal.
"Sparkling Wide Pressure!"
Also, Neptune and Uranus had become hazards themselves, right in the
middle of the battlefield. Still aching from their last attacks, they
could not get up to contribute to the fight, and the two Inners were
forced to protect both themselves and their fallen comrades.
"Shine Aqua Illusion!"
Uranus saw Jupiter and Mercury fighting off the attacks. She was
surprised. The intensity of their fighting, and the way their styles
complemented each other, was something she thought only she and Neptune
could hope to accomplish. Was there more here than met the eye?
And why did the two of them bother to save them in the first place? The
Inners and Outers hadn't fought together once during the whole invasion,
and Uranus wasn't even sure they were fighting on the same side.
She had managed to climb shakily to her feet again, and found Jupiter
off to her side, having just smashed a girder. She tried to walk over
to Jupiter, but was still weak, and ended up falling on the brunette.
"Why are you doing this?" she said in a weak voice.
Jupiter looked at her strangely, as if it was a strange question. "We
may not always see eye-to-eye, but we're all Sailor Senshi. We're all
part of the same team."
"We are...our own team," Uranus coughed.
"Well maybe it's about time you invited more members," Jupiter said,
tossing a thunderbolt over her shoulder.
"Jupiter!" Mercury cried. "Look out!"
Jupiter turned, and there was another girder heading straight for her
and Uranus. In the split second of time she had to make up her mind,
she pushed Uranus off of her, and the sandy-haired Senshi hit the floor
just as the girder slammed into Jupiter.
Eudial readied the Charm Buster again. "This should slow you down!
Charm Buster!"
The energy beam lanced from the Witch's gun and hit the green-skirted
Senshi square in the chest. Eudial had been intending just to knock out
her heart crystal long enough to stun her, so that the Witch could get
back to her job, but what happened next stunned everyone who watched.
It wasn't a heart crystal that emerged from Jupiter's chest, but a sword
that pulsed with power.
-----
I watched her turn and push Sailor Uranus, our self-declared enemy, to
safety. She sacrificed herself so that the opponent could live.
I watched her scream, as the physical embodiment of her heart was torn,
ripped forcefully from her body. She cried out to those who could not,
and most of whom would not, save her.
I watched her fall, hitting the ground like a hollow log, and she lay
crumpled there.
How long did it all take? Gods, it was years, and seconds, and no time
at all. How far away from me was she? Twenty meters, maybe. That was
all it took, ten seconds and twenty meters to render me completely
useless. And to pull the drain plug on Sailor Mercury's watery world.
In ten seconds I could have picked apart the nastiest calculus equation
you could think of. I could have memorized half the blueprints of a
quantum particle accelerator. I could have rattled off the names of
the stages of the EM spectrum. But I couldn't save Kino Makoto, Sailor
Jupiter.
What was twenty meters to me? Nothing my Shine Aqua Illusion couldn't
have crossed in no time at all. It could have been the difference
between life and death, if I had cast Shabon Spray. Or I could have
swam the distance effortlessly. But twenty meters had separated me from
Makoto, and it *had* meant the difference between life and death.
Part of me was always afraid of being the weakest Senshi, and I was
afraid it was right. At that moment, I felt more useless than I could
ever remember.
"Jupiter!"
Everything seemed to stop, except for me. Far too late, I crossed the
distance between us, and knelt by the fallen soldier. There was no
sound, no movement, from anyone or anything else. As far as I was
concerned, Jupiter and I might have been the only two people left in
the whole world.
I looked to her side, and saw what had appeared when she was shot. It
looked like some kind of sword...not a heart crystal. And without the
crystal, how was I supposed to bring her back? In that moment, all my
booksmarts left me, and I was as clueless as Usagi acts most of the
time.
"Jupiter...Mako-chan...please don't be dead!" I pleaded. "Please!"
I grabbed her fuku and tried to shake her awake, but of course that
didn't work. She just lay there and stared open-eyed back at me.
I knew I was crying then, but that didn't seem important. All I could
think of was that Makoto was dying, and there was nothing I could do to
save her.
"This can't be happening...you can't be dead! You just can't!"
Flashbacks. I remembered the final fight against Beryl and the Dark
Kingdom. I had seen her die before. When I think back on it, that was
probably when I realized it...why I thanked every merciful force I could
think of that I was the next one to die.
It seemed so wrong for Makoto to die, more so than any of the rest of
us. Of course I would have been broken up if it was Usagi, or Rei, or
Minako, but for some reason it just seemed like it *shouldn't* have been
Mako-chan. Soldier or not, it was just not allowed to happen.
I think that was when I figured everything out.
"You can't be dead," I told her body. "Because I never got to...I never
told you..."
It was wrong. Wrong! What kind of cruel fate would allow her to die
here, before I could tell her everything? She was supposed to live!
Now she was going to die, without ever having the chance to hear it.
"I never told you-"
My words were cut off as I felt a rush. Something hit me, but didn't
stop; it went straight through my chest. It was like being punched, but
with a dizzying sensation as well. There was no blood, just a burning
feeling, followed by a satanic emptiness.
And all of a sudden I was a car running on empty. I was a plane losing
its critical velocity. I was a submarine slowly taking in water. It
just felt like it took too much out of me to be alive. The darkness was
creeping in through the corners of my eyes, pushing me into it. It was
not a voluntary journey, but not entirely unwelcome either.
Part of me even felt relieved that it was going to be over. But still
another part was outraged, cheated, wronged. First Makoto was going to
die without being able to hear it, and now I was going to die without
even being able to say it. I knew that I couldn't in good conscience go
to my death without even trying.
With the last bit of strength in my rapidly emptying body, I said the
words I'd been afraid to say for so long.
"I love you, Mako...chan..."
And then everything, everywhere, stopped.
-----
Eudial's mood changed with every passing second. At first she had been
triumphant, confident that she would finally succeed in wrenching a pure
heart crystal from its owner's body. The meddling Sailor Uranus was
still half-paralyzed from the hit she had taken, clinging helplessly to
Jupiter. There was no way she could have moved out of the way in time.
Eudial had been surprised, and furious, when Jupiter had thrown her
target out of the way and taken the Charm Buster hit herself. What did
the brat think she was doing?
And finally, Eudial had been dumbstruck when she succeeded without
meaning to. It was impossible. She would have bet her career in
Witches 5 that Tenoh Haruka, aka Sailor Uranus, was the carrier of a
pure heart, but her certainty was shattered. The Space Sword had indeed
appeared, but it had come from Jupiter, not Uranus.
"Jupiter!"
Then that snotty blue-haired girl had run to the side of her fallen
comrade. She had seen the sword and disregarded it, to Eudial's relief
and awe. Considering the kind of power the sword was supposed to have,
Sailor Mercury could have picked it up and fried the Witch to a crisp.
Mercury, however, was obviously much more interested in her friend. How
touching.
And how stupid. Eudial couldn't imagine what would drive someone to do
what Mercury was doing now. Heck, if it had been Mimete in trouble,
Eudial wouldn't have crossed the street to save her. In fact, it would
probably be Eudial herself that had pushed Mimete into the street. But
that was how things went, and the miserable do-gooders' compassion
would be their undoing.
Eudial lowered the Charm Buster, still shaking slightly in her grip from
where it had been pointed. That was when an idea struck her.
She cast a glance at the two incapacitated Senshi. Uranus was lying on
the ground, watching Jupiter and Mercury with a dumbstruck expression on
her face. Neptune was hunched against the wall, barely conscious from
being pinned by the girder. All of a sudden it just seemed so obvious.
Those two? Pure hearts? Get real, she thought.
"I never told you-" Mercury began.
Wordlessly, she raised the Charm Buster again, took aim at Mercury, and
fired. The water Senshi was still mourning over her friend, so she
never even saw the attack coming.
"I love you, Mako...chan..."
The words barely registered with Eudial. She heard them, analyzed them,
and forgot them in the same breath. The Witch was more interested in
the object that flew from Mercury's chest: the Deep Aqua Mirror.
-----
Sailor Uranus' breath was knocked out of her, and she hit the ground at
the same time as Sailor Jupiter. Strangely, it was not Uranus who had
been hit. She could still feel, and at the moment she felt like Jupiter
had taken a bullet meant for her.
Naturally, she was blown away when the object of her pursuit flew from
the lightning Senshi's body. Did this really mean that it had been this
close the whole time, and she had never known?
She had been just as surprised at Mercury's last-minute declaration of
love, and the appearance of the mirror. Things just couldn't happen
this way. What the hell had Ami and Makoto showed up for in the first
place? It was herself and Michiru that were supposed to die, not them!
They didn't deserve this!
And as a doubly lethal blow, they would never even have the chance to
find out if they could be together. She didn't know if Makoto felt the
same way about Ami that Ami did about her, but to die without even
knowing...it was worse than being rejected.
"This can't be-it can't be right," Uranus said, hesitating more out of
shock than exhaustion.
And then Eudial was laughing again. The Witch cackled cruelly for all
to hear as she strode over and picked up the two Talismans.
"It can't be happening," Uranus said to herself.
"Hah! I'm afraid it is," said Eudial. "Don't tell me you're starting
to lose your senses now."
Uranus looked between Neptune's limp body and the prone forms of the two
Inners, lying face-to-face and wide-eyed. Eudial followed her gaze.
Then she laughed again.
"Aha, now I understand," Eudial said. "I know what you're thinking.
You two get to love, but not to live, and the two of them get to live,
but not to love, is that it?"
The wind Senshi only stared.
"Hah! The irony of it! Well, I'm afraid you're wrong about that. Your
own selfishness and misjudgment is going to cost life *and* love for all
four of you!"
The Witch's horrible laugh continued, but her torments in store for the
sandy-haired Senshi were far from done. Aiming the Charm Buster again,
she fired across the room and hit Neptune dead-center. The water Senshi
screamed, and a plain heart crystal erupted from her chest. It landed
on the ground with a soft clink.
"No!" cried Uranus.
She tried to run to her beloved, but was too weak to move at anything
but a crawl. She didn't have close to enough power to cast her attack.
So crawl was what she did, every centimeter slow and painful. Eudial
paced back and forth behind her, content to watch the show of torture.
Neptune's crystal was only meters away now, and Uranus reached for it.
Her hand was extended as far as it could go when she felt a burning
thump in her chest, and she was swallowed by unconsciousness.
Eudial chuckled to herself again. Content to leave the Outers' crystals
where they lay, forever a testament to their failure, she swung the
Charm Buster over her shoulder and walked out of the Marine Cathedral.
-----
Usagi ducked around the corner of the cathedral as Eudial exited with
the Talismans. Without her Senshi powers, she'd had to get there the
hard way, and was exhausted. Fortunately, Haruka hadn't taken her
communicator, and she had called the rest of the Senshi there to help.
Considering the time that had passed since then, and their respective
points of origin, Rei and Minako should have been there soon.
She was about to enter the cathedral, now that she was out of Eudial's
sight, but hesitated. Usagi knew how Eudial worked, and she knew the
Witch was about to get into her car and drive off. What Usagi didn't
know, however, was where the car would go. Something had to happen very
fast to stall Eudial's escape, or she was bound to get away with
whatever she'd done.
Walking quickly but quietly, Usagi trailed the Witch, stopping at the
edge of the building. Eudial was walking across the parking lot, about
to toss the Talismans in her car. In her current state, Usagi wouldn't
last ten seconds against Eudial, especially not if the Witch was behind
the wheel, but something had to be done.
As Eudial opened the driver's side door, Usagi made up her mind. She
was going to distract the enemy one way or another. She had just gotten
ready to run for it when a hand held her back.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea, odongo-atama," said a voice. It was
none other than the elusive Sailor Mars, her timing every bit as good as
Tuxedo Kamen's.
Speaking of whom, he and Sailor Venus were there as well. Usagi was
relieved.
"Rei! Minako! Mamo-chan!"
"What's happened here?" asked Tuxedo Kamen.
"I don't know," said Usagi. "Eudial's got something, I don't know what,
and she must have beaten the others because they're not here."
"What do you want us to do?" said Sailor Venus.
"Stall her! Don't let her get away! I'll find the others!"
"Right, let's go!" said Tuxedo Kamen.
The three of them charged the Witch, but Usagi didn't stick around to
watch what happened. She ran for the door Eudial had come from, ran
into the cathedral. What she saw almost scared her to death on the
spot.
Uranus and Neptune were unconscious over by the far wall, and Jupiter
and Mercury lay next to each other near the center of the room. None of
them were moving.
Usagi ran to Jupiter and Mercury, but couldn't find their heart crystals
anywhere. She promised to come back for them, and went to the two
Outers. Their crystals were lying beside them, just barely out of their
reach. She picked up Uranus' crystal and held it to the older woman's
chest.
"I hope this works..." she whispered.
The crystal began to glow, and grew warm in her hands. Slowly, it began
to disappear inside Uranus' body, bringing her back to life. When the
crystal was fully re-absorbed, her fuku unwrapped itself from her body,
and she reverted back to plain old Haruka.
Haruka was seized by a violent coughing fit, rolled onto her side and
wheezed. She opened her eyes a tiny bit, and her blurry vision focused
on the one who had saved her life. It was the last person she ever
expected to see again.
"U-Usagi?" she croaked.
"You're going to be OK, Haruka-san, don't try to move," said Usagi.
"Michi...save Michi..." said Haruka, and began coughing again.
Usagi jumped to her feet and retrieved the other Senshi's crystal. Once
again, it dissolved into Neptune's chest, leaving only Michiru. The
aqua-haired woman moaned and slid down the wall. She was obviously in a
great deal of pain, but she would live. Michiru did not open her eyes,
but she whispered something that sounded like a thank you.
Usagi ran back to Haruka and knelt by the fallen Senshi. She held onto
Haruka's collar, trying to keep her conscious.
"Haruka-san...I can't find Jupiter and Mercury's crystals," she said.
"What happened to them?"
Haruka gave her a bleary-eyed look, rolled her head toward her partner,
and sighed. "They had the Talismans. Eudial took them...there's
nothing we can do."
"No!" Usagi yelled. "There has to be something! I won't let them die!"
"They are the ones...who have to be sacrificed...that's the way it is.
Someone has to die...so that the rest can live."
Usagi shook her head in despair. She looked Haruka in the eyes and
spoke with more anger in her voice than the older woman had ever heard
before.
"That's not good enough! I don't care if it's hopeless, we have to try
something!"
Haruka silently cursed the both of them, Usagi for not knowing how the
world worked, and herself for being unable to put up an argument. She
did the only thing she could think of: reached into her pocket and held
out the Moon Crystal she had taken from Usagi earlier.
"If you think you can do something, then try..."
Usagi grabbed the Moon Crystal, jumped to her feet, and ran out of the
Marine Cathedral.
-----
Eudial had just put her car in reverse and looked over her shoulder to
back out of her parking spot when it happened.
The rear window shattered without warning. Flecks of glass flew into
her face, cutting jagged wounds in her cheek. Something opened up a
long gash as it flew by: a red rose that landed, mocking her, on the
dashboard of the car.
Before she could react or do anything other than scream in pain, the car
was rocked from the opposite end. A very angry Sailor Mars had landed
on her hood.
"Fire Soul!"
A fireball flew from Mars' hands and landed on the hood of the car,
which erupted in flames. Eudial cursed.
"You Sailor brats, don't you ever stop coming?!" she yelled, throwing
the car into reverse and flooring the gas pedal.
Mars was jerked off the car at the sudden acceleration, but just as
suddenly its motion was stopped.
"Love Me Chain!"
Eudial looked out her window and saw that the orange-skirted Senshi had
tied her car to a heavy post in the ground with a chain of glowing
hearts. It seemed they were determined to stop her, and she wouldn't be
going anywhere until she dealt with them.
She hid the Talismans in the back of her dress, and dragged the Charm
Buster out of the seat as she stepped out of the car. She casually
swung her fist and beat out the fire on the hood. Mars, Venus, and
Tuxedo Kamen were standing a few meters away, watching her.
"You just don't know when to give up!" she said. "Fire Buster!"
A fireball burst from the end of the Charm Buster, and the space they
had been occupying moments before exploded. Somehow, all three of them
had managed to avoid the blast, and Mars had even penetrated her defense
and sent her flying with a kick to the midsection. As Eudial regained
her composure, she saw that the three of them had regrouped, but were
standing a bit farther apart this time.
"You'll have to do better than that!" Venus mocked, flashing a V-for-
victory.
"Well, let's see you do it again!" Eudial said.
She fired the Fire Buster again...or at least, tried to. But at the
instant the gun began to fire, one of Tuxedo Kamen's roses flashed out
and lodged itself in the barrel. Finding its forward path blocked, the
fire expanded outward, blowing the end off the Charm Buster. Eudial
shrieked, dropping the smoking gun.
Now that she appeared defenseless, the Senshi launched their attacks.
Venus cried, "Crescent Beam!" while Mars shouted, "Fire Soul!"
Eudial was too quick for them, pulling the Deep Aqua Mirror out from
behind her back. She held it in front of her, and the lethal attacks
turned tail and reflected back to their casters. The Crescent Beam shot
between Sailor Venus and Tuxedo Kamen, who were saved just in time by
their enhanced agility. Sailor Mars was not so lucky. The Fire Soul
hit her straight-on, throwing her back into a parked construction van.
Eudial smirked evilly as she pulled out the Space Sword and trained it
on the wounded fire Senshi. "Space Sword Blaster!"
Tuxedo Kamen swooped in and grabbed Mars, pulling her out of harm's way.
The energy bolt from the Space Sword tore a hole in his cape and blew
the van to bits. Venus shielded herself from the flying shrapnel, but a
jagged chunk of metal embedded itself in Tuxedo Kamen's leg, causing him
to stumble and fall. He and Sailor Mars collapsed.
Eudial pointed the Space Sword at them again. "It doesn't look like
I'll be able to take your heart crystals, but I don't really need them
anymore anyway. So I'll just have to do the next best thing. Space
Sword Blaster!"
The beam of light erupted from the sword again, but this time the two of
them moved faster than the eye could follow, and by the time the attack
hit home, all it did was tear a hole in the ground. And even before
Eudial could register that, someone or something appeared in front of
her and knocked her for a loop.
She found herself staring up at another Senshi, one with dark green hair
she had never seen before.
"Even the most deadly attack is subject to time dilation," said the new
Senshi.
"Who the hell are you? Don't you people ever stop coming?!"
Realization dawned on Sailor Venus, who had seen the new arrival once
before. "Sailor Pluto..."
Pluto nodded without looking at the Senshi of Love. "It is time for the
Holy Grail to be revealed," she said.
Pluto pointed her staff at Eudial, and the Witch's two Talismans were
pulled from her grip. The deep red-colored jewel at the end of the Time
Staff detached and joined them. The three Talismans merged, and the
assembled were blinded with a holy light. When the light cleared, there
were still three objects there: the Holy Grail, and a pair of heart
crystals.
Without warning, the bodies of Sailor Mercury and Sailor Jupiter
materialized out of thin air. The heart crystals floated back to their
owners, were absorbed, and the two rapidly de-transforming Senshi
drifted gently to the ground.
-----
Haruka had managed to make her way over to Michiru, who still remained
unmoving, but her chest rose and fell as if she was asleep. It had only
been moments since Usagi had left. Suddenly, there was a noise behind
her, and Haruka turned just in time to see Jupiter and Mercury vanishing
before her eyes.
"Usagi?"
-----
"The Holy Grail!"
The words were uttered by practically everyone there, but by each in a
different tone. Eudial was triumphant, Pluto was knowledgeable, and the
other Senshi were questioning. While their reactions may have been
different, knowledge of what had passed escaped none of them.
"At last it will be mine!" Eudial cackled. "And then your time will be
up!"
"Not if I can help it!" cried a long-overdue voice. Usagi, now Sailor
Moon once again, had arrived and was running toward them as fast as she
could.
"No!" the Witch screeched. "I've been after it too long for you to ruin
everything!"
Eudial ran toward the Grail, matching Sailor Moon step for step. The
distance between them narrowed agonizingly slowly, but Pluto had not
slowed down the flow of time again. As the Witch and the Senshi leaped
for the Grail at the same time, the others held their breath to see what
would happen.
Both hands clasped one of the Grail's handles at the same time, and a
blinding light flashed out once again. Good and evil were locked in an
eternal and deadly combat as Sailor Moon fought Eudial for control. For
a few moments neither seemed to be gaining the advantage; both could
feel the power of the sacred cup churning beneath their hands. Then,
almost imperceptibly, the floes of power began shifting toward Sailor
Moon. Eudial gritted her teeth and fought back, but the tides had
turned too far.
A massive shockwave erupted from the glowing mass that was the Holy
Grail and its two suitors. One of them was taken with it: Eudial was
blown out of the sky and tossed several meters back, crash-landing into
her still-smoking car.
The remaining Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen were knocked off their feet by the
force of the impact. When they regained their senses, they saw their
leader in a whole new light. Who stood before them was not Usagi, and
it was not Sailor Moon. Not exactly, at least. It was a new Sailor
Moon, stronger, more powerful, more awe-inspiring.
Super Sailor Moon pointed her new moon rod menacingly at Eudial and
communicated her intentions without speaking.
"Screw this, I'm outta here!" said Eudial before jumping into her car
and tearing out of there.
The Senshi breathed a sigh of relief at their victory, and Super Sailor
Moon's power overload took its toll on her body. The ribbons surrounded
her and vanished, leaving a very winded Usagi standing among the
battered Senshi.
Her selfless devotion unwavering, Usagi managed to limp her way to the
bodies of Ami and Makoto, still unmoving but breathing gently.
"They're going to need help," she said. Then she looked at her soldiers
and thought again. "All of us are. Someone call an ambulance!"
No one moved or spoke for a minute, and then Sailor Pluto began to walk
away. "It seems my work is done for the present moment," was all she
said before disappearing.
-----
Eudial cursed as she drove recklessly along the mountain path she had
taken earlier. Not only had she failed to kill the Senshi, she had lost
the Talismans *and* the Holy Grail. Even worse, those things were now
in the hands of the enemy. Professor Tomoe and the Sovereign of Silence
would not be happy, definitely not. But for some reason she feared
listening to Mimete's gloating more than the two of them.
"I am *so* going to get it over this one," she said aloud as she came
up on a steep turn over the ocean.
"You have no idea how right you are about that," said a gloating voice
on her communicator.
"Mimete?!" Speak of the devil. "What do you want?"
"Just to let you know that the Sovereign has already found out about
your little failure. She definitely wasn't happy." Mimete, however,
sounded practically overjoyed.
Eudial was about to reply to that when Mimete spoke again.
"Oh, and one more thing: you're *out.* Happy landings."
"What are you talking about?" Eudial asked, but there was no reply.
"Mimete?"
Just then she looked up and saw that she was about to smash into the
guard rails of the road. She stomped her foot to the brake pedal, but
to her horror, it had been eaten away by acid.
"Oh, shit..."
Eudial's car broke through the guard rails and soared off the side of
the mountain. It soared through the air for several seconds, and
crashed noisily into the water. For a long time afterward, the large
air bubbles that floated to the surface carried the Witch's screams.
-----
Two days later...
Usagi was at the ice cream store, reading a Sailor V manga, when she
heard a clacking sound. She looked over the comic and saw a pair of
henshin sticks, one yellow, one teal, lying on the table. Haruka and
Michiru were standing there.
"Haruka-san? Michiru-san? What is this?" she asked.
Michiru looked away, her head downcast. Haruka spoke, with a heaviness
in her voice. "Consider this our resignation."
The blonde blinked. "What?"
"We resign from the Sailor Senshi. We don't deserve to fight with you
and the rest of the group."
Usagi put down the manga and got up, facing the taller woman. "What do
you mean, you don't deserve to?" she asked.
"We fought against the group when we should have been fighting with it.
We almost got half the team killed, we almost let the enemy get away
with the Holy Grail, and we were insubordinate with our princess," said
the sandy-haired woman.
Haruka was putting up a strong front, but Usagi could clearly tell she
was depressed. The tone of her voice and the expression on her face
told Usagi that she was disgusted with herself and trying hard not to
break down. Haruka was probably being strong for Michiru as much as she
was for herself. Even as Usagi watched, a single tear rolled down the
green-haired woman's face.
It was times like this that Usagi showed exactly why she was destined to
be queen.
"Sorry, but your resignation is not accepted," she said, handing the
wands back to Haruka. "I won't let you leave. I need you. The Senshi
need you."
The Outers were surprised.
"But..." Haruka stammered. "It was our fault that Ami-chan and Makoto-
chan almost died. And it was my fault you weren't there to do anything
about it."
Usagi shook her head. "You're forgiven. Everybody makes mistakes, but
the worst thing you can do is to not learn from them and make new ones
right away."
Michiru opened her eyes. "Are you sure?"
Usagi just clamped Haruka's hands more tightly around the wands and
pushed them to her chest. "If you think I'm just going to sit around
and let you walk out, you've got another thing coming. I expect both of
you to be there the next time the Witches attack. And next time, we all
fight on the same side."
Usagi picked up her manga and turned to walk out of the shop, giving the
Outers a last sympathetic look as she left. Both of them began to cry.
-----
"Are you sure you're OK?"
"Somebody has to push you. Might as well be me."
"You didn't answer me, Mako-chan."
"I'm fine, all right. Never been better."
Makoto and Ami had just been discharged from Minato General Hospital,
and it was a welcome departure. Neither of them, but especially Makoto,
had been comfortable cooped up inside the strange-smelling building.
They had sustained no major injuries, but they had both been told they
would need to use wheelchairs for at least a week. Makoto, of course,
had been utterly turned-off by the idea, but Ami had decided to play it
safe.
Makoto had generously offered to wheel Ami back to her mother's place.
Ami suspected the brunette had wanted to show she wasn't *completely*
incapable of accepting medical advice.
"So..." Makoto said as they moved easily down the streets of Juuban,
"you remember back at the Marine Cathedral, after I got taken out?"
"Of course," Ami answered, looking over her shoulder and giving the
other girl a look that said she couldn't understand *why* Makoto would
think she didn't remember.
"Well, it's just..."
"What?"
Makoto swallowed. "Did you-mean what you said?"
"What I said?" Did Makoto mean what Ami thought she meant?
"Yeah, you know...'I love you, Mako-chan'?"
Ami stopped. Or, more accurately, Makoto stopped pushing her. She'd
heard it? Ami looked down at her lap, as if she was ashamed. Makoto
noticed, and was about to ask her friend if something was wrong when Ami
answered.
"You heard that?" she said in a tiny voice.
"I, well-" Makoto stuttered. "After they stole my heart crystal, I
could still see and hear stuff for a while. I mean, my senses got worse
as more time passed, but...yeah, I heard it."
Ami nodded. She remembered experiencing the same thing Makoto had, the
gradual dimming of her vision and quieting of her hearing. When she had
given her last-minute confession of love, Makoto had only been out for
seconds. She should have realized!
The blue-haired girl didn't say anything else for a while. Eventually
Makoto started wheeling her down the sidewalk again.
"So..." Makoto said.
"What?"
"Well, did you mean it?"
"Mako-chan, you know I never say anything unless I mean it."
"So then, you do love me."
"..."
"The way Haruka-san loves Michiru-san?"
Ami laughed a little. "I'm not sure it's *exactly* like that, but, yes.
I love you, Kino Makoto. As more than a friend. I've loved you for a
long time. I guess I was just afraid to say it."
There was a defeated sound in Ami's voice, and she felt defeated in
saying it. She felt like a child who had been caught stealing cookies,
and she couldn't quite explain why. She supposed part of her hoped the
other girl would never find out her true feelings, no doubt due in part
to the thought that she wouldn't return them. But another part knew
that if that was how things ended up happening, she would never really
be happy with her life, or with herself for not at least *trying* to do
something.
Her upbringing probably had something to do with it, too. Ami's
particular personality wasn't very conductive to romantic feelings, and
the traditional household she had grown up in had, with or without
intending to, implanted the idea in her head that she should one day
fall in love with a handsome prince. Makoto was definitely not one of
those.
Makoto, on the other hand, had had a much more confusing and open-ended
childhood. Having been alone most of her life, she lacked a good deal
of the standard programming children are exposed to in their early
years.
Ami felt something graze her cheek. She looked up. Makoto was crying.
This didn't do anything for Ami's mood, which already wasn't the best.
As if her own turmoil wasn't enough, now she had to bear around her neck
the albatross of making Makoto upset.
"I'm sorry, Mako-chan," she said. "I didn't mean to make you sad..."
"I'm not sad," Makoto sniffed. "I-I'm happy...I guess I'm happy. Ami,
well, I love you too."
The words cut a new trench in Ami's heart, igniting a small flicker of
hope she hadn't dared expect.
"You...you do?"
Makoto wiped more tears from her eyes. "Hey, you know what a bad liar I
am."
Ami dared to smile. She looked back at the taller girl. "You never
told me."
"I'm not quite sure when I figured it out," she said. "I guess it was
kind of a gradual thing. You wouldn't have been very comfortable if I'd
told you, 'Ami-chan, I kind of love you,' would you?" The blue-haired
girl shook her head. "After that, I guess I was just afraid to admit
it...to either of us."
"I know how you feel, Mako...I know. Remember the fight against Beryl?
When you died, in a way you took me with you. In a way, I was glad I
was next. That was when I knew, I think."
Ami was crying now, too, the bad memories flooding her thoughts. All of
a sudden, Makoto stopped the wheelchair and lowered herself to Ami's eye
level.
"Hey, stop that," she said. "I'm here. I'm fine, I'm OK." But her old
fault of being a bad liar haunted her again, as the tears ran from her
own eyes stronger than before. "Gods, what's wrong with us? We've just
admitted that we love each other...we should be happy!"
Ami held Makoto's face with her hands. "We are happy, Mako-chan. But
we're other things too. I'm happy, but I'm sad, I'm terrified, I'm
relieved...I'm a bit apprehensive. Things will get better, but they're
not going to be the same. And that always scares even the best of us."
Makoto nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I guess everyone goes
through this when they fall in love...and when they finally find it."
Ami closed her eyes in silent assent. She leaned forward, turning
Makoto's head gently to the side, and gave the other girl a soft kiss on
the lips.
"That made you happy, didn't it?" Ami asked.
"Yes," Makoto said. "Yes, it did."
"And that was just the first step," Ami said. "In time we'll take
another, and another. They won't all be the same, but if we want them
to, they'll all be good."
A feeling of renewed energy made Makoto smile. She stood up again and
reached out for Ami's hands. Holding them in her own, she said, "I
can't think of anything I'd like more."
"Neither can I," Ami said, and smiled. It was the happiest Makoto had
ever seen her, and for a moment, all the turmoil of leaving her old
life behind and starting a new one was forgotten.
Part of them wanted to stay in that moment forever. But the world was
still waiting for them when it had passed. Ami blushed and lowered her
eyes. "Now come on, my mom's probably wondering where we are," she
said.
The brunette nodded, and resumed taking her friend-her lover-home. She
didn't let go of Ami's hand once the whole way back.
-----
"I know something you don't know," Michiru told her lover.
"What?" Haruka said.
"How lucky I am to have you," said the aqua-haired woman, cuddling close
to her girlfriend's warm body.
"What makes you think I didn't know that?" Haruka smirked.
It was the night of the day they had tried to resign their positions as
Senshi. The day had been rather stressful for both of them, taking its
emotional toll hour after hour. They had just made love, and finally
found themselves able to say what was on their minds.
"I know you knew it," Michiru said. "But that's OK. I realized
something important these last few days: knowledge is power, maybe, but
there are other things even more powerful than knowledge."
Haruka stroked Michiru's hair. "Like what?"
"Like love..."
They kissed again. Haruka sighed and stared at the ceiling. "Yeah,
love," she said. "It's ironic...the one thing we weren't willing to die
for was the one thing that almost got us killed."
"It didn't get us killed. It just, well, interfered with out judgment,
I guess."
"Well, we were wrong. I realize that now. We said the ends justified
the means, but we were willing to go to any means to get them." Haruka
laughed at herself. "And to think, part of me actually believed Eudial
when she said we were the ones with pure hearts."
Michiru looked up at her. "Usagi believed in us, didn't she?"
"Usagi believes in everyone," Haruka said, shrugging her partner's words
off.
"Maybe it's about time *we* tried that..."
Haruka thought. Michiru did have a point. The very difference between
the Inners and Outers was what the Outers ended up having all wrong.
Sure, things were going to change, and that wouldn't be easy. The two
of them had done a lot to damage their honor and their reputation in the
eyes of everyone, and everyone wasn't as forgiving as Usagi. It must
have been part penance, part submission, and part admittance, whatever
had led the rogue teams of Senshi to unite. But one thing was certain,
though: past hostilities aside, they would fight side-by-side in the
future.
It wouldn't be easy, but it would be done.
"Don't tell me you're afraid," Michiru mocked.
"I'm not afraid of anything," Haruka said. "Well, maybe your family..."
Michiru rolled her eyes and pulled her lover closer.
Even as the two of them shared a last, loving kiss, all Haruka could
think about was that she had been very wrong in assuming Sailor Moon
didn't know how the world worked.
'I don't know how you do it, Usagi-sama, but you always do it.'
-----
End.
Author's notes:
I think the Witches stole the heart crystals of all the Inners before
they got to Haruka and Michiru in the original version. So that's why
this, of course, is an alternate version. In the timeline leading up to
this story, that never happened, or at least not to Ami and Makoto. Why
did I write this? Interesting story behind that...the first time H/M
showed up, I totally hated them. I thought they acted shamefully, and
they deserved to have the Witches kick them around. At any rate, they
didn't deserve to have the pure heart crystals. So who did? A/M, of
course. Well, it helped that I like A/M more than H/M anyway, so there.
Oh yeah, I should tell you that the Uranus/Neptune quotes came from the
dub and not the original version, only because I had the dubbed episodes
available in transcript form.
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