Last Hours
Timeline: At the (bloody) end of Crystal Tokyo
******************************
Footsteps fell with heavy thuds, echoing through the once vast and
beautiful hallways. There was nothing left of that. The crystal floor
was cracked, the walls shattered, splinters and hug junks were making
navigating alone a taxing task. The distant sound of fighting, the
roar of battle - actually more like slaughter - could be heard all
around us. The familiar sound of elemental forces crashing against
each other. A wave of water extinguishing fire. Thunder rumbling as
electricity discharged loudly through the air.
They were distant, background sounds. Close by, I knew, but of
no immediate concern. I could not let them impress me now or I would
surely loose my resolve. Because with my resolve gone, so would be any
hope of survival. And survival was everything that counted now. There
was nothing left to fight for, nothing left to protect but our lives
and that one last glimmer of hope.
I looked over my shoulder, studying the grim and expressionless
face of my companion, holding the last precious bundle in her arms
that was left of our once great legacy. Her eyes though were a geyser
of emotions, bordering on the roads that led to madness. Disbelief
struggled against desperate control, the events of the last days and
especially the last hours, I could see them replaying in the usually
compassionate and vibrant eyes. What I saw now were the last traces of
a warrior, a strong leader, only held together by very thin strings.
Rounding a corner, I felt them before I saw them. Faces hidden
in the thick crimson cloaks, they looked ominous and terrifying. A
snarl overcame my stoic face briefly but was quickly exchanged for
grim determination once again. They raised their hands, preparing
spells, but they were by far not fast enough. Twirling my weapon I
jumped into action, forcing myself not to feel remorse when the glaive
went through bodies left and right. They deserved no better, the
fools. For what they've done, I should sent them all into eternal
silence but that was not the way, not this time. I would so gladly
have given into temptation, however, things were still holding me
here, making me cling to life.
In moments only the path was clear and we moved again, our boots
resounding on the battered and cracked crystal floor. On our way to
one of the secret tunnels under the palace that would leave us to
safety opposition was plenty... and so were the bodies of friends and
foes alike.
I had seen a lot of things in my time, suppressing emotion was
usually within my nature. A millennia spent among the life I was
supposed to guard though had changed that nature. It took all my
willpower now, sliding completely into my planetary aspect, in order
to not throw up at the sight of gruesome disfigured bodies of those I
called friends and comrades. Soldiers, scholars, servants...
In one pathway both of us stopped. Just another corridor towards
our goal but the sight that greeted us... I clenched my eyes shut for
a moment. It was by far not the first, yet I had forced myself not to
dwell too much on the terrible visions of dead teammates. I had known
there was no one left but actually seeing them. Vesta and Pallas lay
in a lake of dried blood, two spears ran through both of her bodies,
fusing them together in a sadistic reflection of their inseparable
love in life. All around lay figures, scorched and frozen men and
women with cloaks, as well as other soldiers, their weapons either
melted, rusted or frozen. It was obvious that the combined fury of the
two younger Senshi had been devastating to their opponent's ranks. Yet
in the end, it still wasn't enough.
Shouts could be heard and I turned away sharply, blinking away a
hot tear. They were on us again, more this time, both of the fractions
this time as the red and blue cloaks indicated. Fury I had rarely ever
felt before was burning like raging inferno inside of me. Purple
energy exploded outwards and wisps of black and white hissed through
the air, collecting more like angry snakes than ribbons at the tip of
my glowing glaive.
"AETHER SPLIT!" And with that infernal cry I brought down the
glaive, letting go for a moment of all the anger and disappointment,
the nagging sense of failure and the loathing unfairness. The space in
between us and the inrushing enemies distorted when a chasm was ripped
right through the very life force that sustained the planet, sniffling
out any soul's light in its path.
Panting hard, I closed my eyes briefly to catch my breath. But
distant footsteps already announced new opposition. We had to move now
or we would surely share the fates of those that lined the halls and
corridors of the palace. I grabbed my companion who still stood
motionless, staring at the pair of young Senshi, and dragged her along
unresisting, still clutching the baby in her arms. We had to make it.
This was the last deed that we owed to our Queen, our friends and all
those fallen today. What came after that, I did not know and would
only allow myself to think about when we had found safety. If such a
place even existed anymore for us.
******************************
They came in from all directions. To the hundred, to the
thousandth. Banners waving in the air in their victory march. The sun
was bathing the scenery in an ocean of flames. The sky was cloudless,
beautiful if not for the stench of death and destruction that hang in
the air. It was like the weather was mocking us. Not a single raindrop
had fallen and all the clouds and lightning from the sky had been
magical in nature, long gone, not needed anymore. The battle, the war,
was over. They had won and we had lost, had been destroyed.
I could still hardly believe it as we stood on the cliff
overlooking what remained of the once mighty palace and the core of
Crystal Tokyo. None of us had suspected this. Those two nations had
always been at odds with each other, never seeing eye to eye. But
suddenly they stood as one, their magic joined and unleashed upon what
they believed to be the root of a thrall on humanity than all we had
ever wanted was peace.
'How dare those hypocrites!' Were they any better? We had stood
over a millennia against the forces of darkness, fair and just. We had
sacrificed our lives, our dreams for the greater good of humanity,
bringing peace and order where once chaos reigned. We had stood firm
against any opposition and now what?
We had fallen to civil war.
Destroyed by those we had sworn to protect, destroyed by
fledglings with toys too dangerous for them to have. They did not
understand at all what responsible came with it. That there was a
price for everything. All they had ever wanted was more and more. And
when we denied, with the wisdom gained in many centuries, they reacted
like children denied ice cream. Pitiful.
It would have been ridiculous if all those metaphors had not
been played out on such a great scale. I felt myself once again
confirmed in my belief that humans were not yet ready for powers such
like that. They were best suited for those who understood the
limitations of their possession. The results of action and the need
for balance. Not like them, not like these barbarians who claimed to
be the revolutionist of human evolution, striving to snap mankind's
bonds.
Bonds like us. Or so they thought in their childish naivety. I
doubted they would reign long. Their greed and irresponsibility would
lead them to a fast fall. This alliance was unstable already. As soon
as the smoke of this battle cleared, they would once again be at each
other's throats.
Blonde hair swaying in a gentle evening breeze, Sailorvenus
stood transfixed, her gaze locked on the ruins of the Crystal Palace
now being fully claimed by the invading armies. But I doubted she saw
all that. Her gaze had been distant, haunted, lost in the nightmarish
scenes we had come across during our hasty escape. "Why?" she
whispered, words almost lost in the wind. "We didn't deserve that. How
can they claim justice in this?" She swallowed hard, aura blazing
momentarily, as she cried out her anguish in a manner that made me
shudder, "HOW?"
Gently I reached for her arm, anticipating her to whirl on me.
But the fire was lost already, the anguish gone. Only defeat and
resignation remained. "We have to go," I said, finding it hard to
maintain a firm voice of reason at the loss I saw in normally
beautiful eyes. They were all gone now. Every Senshi. I could not feel
their souls anymore residing on this plane. Not even Selene... Only we
remained, and the baby in our arms. The last tiny light left of the
ones we had protected for so long. Our last duty.
******************************
Night had fallen as I sat on the edge of the worn-out bed. The
house we had found somewhere in the downtown areas of Crystal Tokyo
was long vacated. Much like everything here. Time had sustained it,
but barely. I doubted any of the antique equipment still worked and
water was out of the questions. This part of town had always been home
to vagabonds, bandits and outlaws, the labyrinth of crumbled houses
and other such ruins serving as an adequate hiding place. Crystal
Tokyo had never had much of the sort that lived here. Yet neither had
we ever claimed to be perfect.
The storm had come finally. Lightning flashing over the horizon
as brutal winds tore at the land. The forces of nature finally
unleashed their fury at the loss that had been experienced today. I
hoped a few of Them would be struck down by lightning bolts... I
doubted that would happen though. Information was just as dead here.
Not that I cared about declarations of Their justified triumph over
the "slavers" and the resulting "liberating of mankind".
Megalomaniac fools.
I turned away from the storm's fury outside when I felt the
presence of my lover enter the room. "She is sleeping now," Venus said
without much emotion, wearing a mask with so many cracks as the floor
of the palace already had when we were escaping hours ago with only
young Serenity III to push us onwards. I wished I knew what happened
to Selene. There was still the distant hope that the child's older
sister had been somewhere else when the united armies struck. It was a
feeble hope to cling too, I knew. But what else was left? Nothing.
"We should move out early tomorrow. They are going to hunt for
us," I commented frostily.
Venus suddenly whirled around, eyes glaring with smoldering
flames. "Don't you care at all? Crystal Tokyo has just fallen.
Everyone is dead, Usagi, everyone. Doesn't it bother you at all?!" Her
hands were shaking and I could see hot tears stinging in her eyes.
"Every beginning must have an end," I replied sadly, wishing to
placate my own anguish with the words but horribly failing so.
Venus was only further enraged. "So that's what it is to you?
Just another Silver Millennium, just another end of a cycle. How
convenient." She spat, glaring at me with barely restraint disdain...
and hate. Hate and love. So close they were. Barely ever anything ever
served to taint my angel's love but when it did, it was a sight that
would make the devil seek asylum in Heaven. I knew though, that it
wasn't really directed at me. My lover right now was a ticking time
bomb, a powder cog of suppressed emotions waiting to erupt any moment.
Centuries of battle instincts had not permitted her to let go yet,
disbelief further clouding the inevitable realization. It had to be
released though, before it drove the beautiful blonde to madness. And
that was something I could not permit. Losing her would be my own
verdict.
In the blink of an eye, I was in her face, my own eyes alive
with a cold fire that made the - now former - leader of the guard
flinch back. "I thought you knew me better," I hissed in a deathly
whisper. I was never one of many words or great speeches. I left that
to my lover. There was never any real need to with us anyway.
As soon as the words were out Venus reacted as if slapped,
reeling back and turning around ashamed. "I..." She choked back a sob
but tears were most likely already stinging her vision. "I'm sorry...
I didn't mean to..." Silently I had come up behind her, wrapping my
arms around her taller but at the moment yet so fragile form. "I feel
so helpless... and I wish... I wish I could have..."
I did not let her finish. Those words of defeat I would not
allow to pass her lips. Turning her around I had her lips claimed by
mine in a desperate onslaught. Venus gasped into the contact but
relented freely. My hands were moving frantically, roaming her body as
I pushed her back towards the bed. Foreplay was far from our mind as I
pushed against the center of her uniform, the garb dissolving into
bands of orange and shortly afterwards vanishing completely as its
owner wished it away. With another push I brought the other woman down
on the hard mattress, the old material screeching loudly in protest.
I stood a moment, looking down at the Senshi of Love. Her eyes
were half-open, glazed and expecting. Expecting of what she knew would
come, what she wanted to come, what she needed to come. With but a
thought I pulled the manacles from subspace, the cold metal clattering
as it materialized on the material plane. Venus immediately
outstretched her hands and the restricting items snapped shut around
them. Once again the bed protested loudly when I let myself fall
forward heavily, landing on my lover's naked form forcefully, legs
positioned on either side and my upper body resting on her abandon.
Roughly I took Venus confined hands and attached the two chains to the
bedposts. Only a small whimper escaped the blonde, the need in blue
eyes outweighing any discomfort.
It would have shocked her followers had they ever known about
this. Their strong brave idol. A fierce warrior, always in control,
spreading love throughout the masses. But there was only so much
control one could have, there was only so much one could give and give
and give... It would all store inside and threaten to eat her from
inside. And that was why she needed to relent control, that was why
she needed to receive, to be at someone's else mercy without having
the means to do anything herself.
I understood and that was why we made such a perfect team. I
would let her dominate in public, content to be at her side, but in
the bedroom, roles would change. Willingly, necessary. Until her
thirst, her need, was satisfied once more. Many thought her perfect,
but I knew my lover, my sweet angel was all too human. All of us were.
She had needs just like everyone else. Those needs might seem shocking
to many... which was why they never truly understood her. I wondered
if they ever truly understood any of us.
And right now I was just as much in need of this as she was. My
own mind was barely able to maintain reason. Everything was sliding
slowly out of my grasp, just as the unimaginable situation all around
us. I needed to reestablish control, dominance over my emotions, or we
would just as well be dead before the night fell once more tomorrow.
We needed to forget, to find a release for the magma stored inside of
us before it exploded, ripping us apart in the process.
A whimpering moan was caught in another hard kiss when I pulled
her head up by the hair, pressing harder into her lower body with my
weight. For some time I indulged in the power play of tongues, my own
ravishing her mouth. I made to pull out and as expected Venus tongue
desperately followed. I caught it between my teeth, making her cry out
muffled once more. Pulling away with a resounding snap as I let go of
her tongue, I moved down to her throat and then to her neck, nipping
lightly even though I knew my lover craved it even harder.
The hand entangled in her hair was removed as I let her head
drop back on the mattress and it moved to join the other busy at
Venus' breasts. I slid down her body, making sure to crush my heat
against hers, brief, fleetingly. My legs were still arranged so that
she could not move her own and thus all that was left for her to do
was tossing her head and upper body around as I began to massage the
creamy flesh underneath my gloved palms, my tongue drawing a line from
her throat, right in between the valley. I pinched each nipple once,
applying a twist to the right and a tug to the other.
"Yesssss..." Venus hissed sharply. "More!"
She was close already. I could feel the explosion, the release
that had been denied to her for much too long already. In a way, it
was like a battery that needed recharging. But in my lover's case that
recharge had to be forced. She would not allow it herself, giving and
giving until she was spent but still not relenting. She could not.
Only like this could she allow herself to feel her own need, only like
this could she fully let go. I was both the source and the provider
and I relished in that role.
Pulling my head away for a moment, I grasped both of her nipples
as if they were mere straps and pushed the mounds together. Venus'
upper body arched as the blonde Senshi let out a screech, the supple
nubs of flesh sticking out even more. Not losing a moment, my mouth
descended and teeth snapped down around the two nubs, digging into the
flesh of the pressed together breasts right away. Venus cries
escalated. I could feel the power bubbling now. She was about ready.
I let go of her breasts, causing them to strain immediately
against the hold of lips, yet I would not relinquish the grip. Knowing
that my lover was on the verge of release already, I did not waste
another moment. With one hand I pried her lower lips apart, not
permitting her legs to spread wider though. The material of my
uniform's glove pressed into soft flesh as I held the passage open on
both ends and just below her clit. With a quick jab three fingers
entered the swelling lake inside, quickly joined by a fourth. I could
hear Venus chanting my name, the floodgates inside beginning to break.
Only another moment now.
In perfect harmony with the final break I pulled back my hand,
curling it together into a fist and thrust forward as deep as
possible. The body beneath me quaked as orange light erupted. I had to
let go of her breast so, that I could manage the spasms of my lover.
Sliding upwards, I buried my hand deeper inside of her as the wave
washed over us. My mouth found hers once more and I pushed the entire
weight of my own body onto hers once more, preventing Venus to jump
right out of the bed. My own fuku dissolved under the intensity, only
my gloves remaining as my hand thrust in and out her relentlessly,
doubling, tripling the ecstatic release of my lover. My own chest
pressed into her just moments before abused one.
That was when I heard the snap and moments later felt hands wrap
around my back, fingernails digging deep into the flesh beneath them,
as they raked downwards. My own core exploded when one of Venus' knees
snapped upwards, all but ramming into it. I grinded downwards in
automatic response, my head spinning from the force but readily
accepting the overwhelming pleasure that came with it.
I grunted into her mouth, sliding my hand free from between her
legs. Venus' hands had reached my butt now, kneading, scratching the
flesh. I slipped one leg over Venus', entrapping it once more and
started a wild rhythm against her core once more, this time with my
own joining into the dance.
Now it was pure Senshi mating and for a short time at least the
tragedy of this day was forgotten as two souls released their anguish
and frustration in a purifying display of love that would hold them on
the path of sanity. Barely.
******************************
It was over an hour later that we lay in the pale moonlight. The
storm had calmed down once more but it was only temporary, I could
feel it. Soft, even breathing tickled my neck as my mate basked in the
afterglow of our joining. Somehow she had ended up on top in the end,
but that hardly mattered to me. My arms were secure around her taller
frame as Venus had her head buried in my short dark hair.
Eventually, after minutes of silence that began to change from
tranquil to thick once more, the blonde woman spoke eventually, "I
can't believe it's all gone. We protected them, all these years, a
whole millennia. And this is their gratitude?"
I sighed heavily, my heart breaking at the memories that were on
the edges of my awareness. "The true danger to a great empire always
comes from within. And that is a danger that they all fall prey to in
the end." When I had awakened as Saturn at the end of the Silver
Millennium, I had known this bitter truth already. That time, it had
only made me a little sad. I had never been really connected with this
age. Now though... I could still see it clearly and doubted it would
ever go away. Elios fallen, bravely trying to protect us when they
took the throne room. The Queen had been too shocked to even react, to
draw on the power of her crystal. Diana had pressed the young princess
into Venus' arms and told us to escape, moments later leaping to her
mistress' and wife's aid... or more like following her into certain
death. It hurt, it hurt so much to remember and I could not allow
myself to really give into all that was in my heart. Weeping and
grieving would have to come later.
"What will we do now?" Venus asked, not questioning further on
my words.
I stroked gently through blonde strands that were currently in
disarray, covered in sweat from our lovemaking. "We have to get out of
the city and then someplace where we can leave the Princess." Venus
lifted her head, protest burning in her eyes. "We can't take her with
us," I replied calmly, inwardly hating the fact just as much as she
did. "They'll hunt us and that is no life for a child."
Blue eyes closed defeated. "Kuso," Venus cursed.
"After that," I continued answering her initial question. "We
find some place, somewhere remote and far away. Just for us..." I was
quiet for a moment before adding, "They would have wanted us too."
"As long as we stay together," the Senshi of Love agreed with a
shaking voice. Her hands clung to my body harder now, blue eyes
meeting mine and sharing the same basic truth there. We were the only
ones left and neither would want to go on without the other. There was
nothing left to live for once we fulfilled that last mission. All that
would be left was us then. I wondered how long love would sustain our
will to live.
I stroked my fingers against her cheek, eliciting a soft sigh.
"No matter what. I will follow you everywhere and be it death itself."
Venus nodded solemnly. "So will I." She leaned forward to press
her lips on mine and I lost myself in the beauty that was Sailorvenus,
my companion, lover and mate, and now my only reason left to live
THE END(?)
******************************
Author's Note
Morbid much, yes?
There is really not much to say. I left a lot of things open for
explanation. It would have become much too long otherwise. Basically,
there IS some greater concept behind this but I doubt I'll ever get
around to write it. So, for now, take this a one-shot.
Feedback as always welcome in whatever form as long as it is
constructive.
Ja ne, yours
Matthias
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