Fatal Fury Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Sailor Rifts ❯ Chapter 31: Intervening Forces ( Chapter 31 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Sailor Moon/Rifts Crossover (Revised Edition) By Simon Woodington

Chapter 31: Intervening Forces

:Why are they here?! It's been three bloody years! Why don't they just
give up?!; the sensual being known as Sapphire Dawn stammered angrily.

:Usagi... she's like... like a sister. She loves us. I can't explain
it. I know she hates not being able to help us; replied the core of
her mind, one Ami Mizuno.

:Help? What for? What's she going to do, take us away from Natole and
bring us back to our friends? Are they even our friends anymore? I
mean, how wonderful is it that Usagi and Luna were raped... that Rei
and Mina were forced to engage in sex. Ugh! I say forget it! There's
nothing but pain for us back there:

Ami found it difficult to marshal an argument, thus encouraging the
young independent section of her mind to continue:

:And what about us?:

:What about us? Do... do you mean... buh-back at Luh-luh-lone Star?:

:Lone Star? I... no... what's that?...: The voice quelled itself.

"Know you well the reason for your flight. Sapphire has brought
herself about to save your sanity."

Her comforting voice beckoned long denied tears forth as Ami wrapped
her arms around an ideally endowed figure offering only motherly love.

"Why does it have to be like this?" she sobbed, blue lengths of hair
tangling in front of her face. The brunette smiled, and a faint glow
of respite enshrouding them.

"It is of the Great Weave child. Accept your past... you had no
control. The blame," her eyes slowly drifted open as she leaned back,
releasing Ami, "...is not yours. Hold it not! Natole loves you, and
know that you need not abandon him to rejoin your friends! Let not
your fear disguise the Holy Truth."

The reasons became transparent. Usagi wanted her... the senshi... the
Bishojo Sailor Senshi, were a family, a supportive group of intimate
friends. Tsukino Usagi, the emotionally flickering light, yet somehow
continually able to muster the strength - the courage - to win over
consistently unusual and overwhelming odds. Hino Rei, the verbal
powerhouse, the engine of fury, the sensitive soul, always dependably
critical. Kino Makoto, the pillar of stamina in moral excellence as
well as physical prowess, a concerned friend and supportive woman who
shouldered much for her age.

But then, didn't they all?

Even Aino Minako, the less than chaste but never quite a morally
bereft woman, despite her attractive looks, charm, fiery
determination, and more wit than her appearance implied. Luna and
Artemis, like parents, worrisome and so full of love, offering
unending guidance in their formidable ordeals.

Surely, without them, the story would have ended before it had begun.

The Sailor Senshi had failed, but in survival, had not abandoned her.
How to return that love?

"You have only to try," the enigmatic woman stated clearly. "These
Silver Threads have not been cut. Follow them!"

As the words fell Ami knew herself to be alone, and knew much pain had
she yet to receive.

"Heretic!"

The door tumbled inwards upon itself like a handful of thrown
matchsticks as a baker's half dozen Felynx rioters subdued and drew
the fitful Ami forth among the rallying crowd outside of the Sapphire
Night Inn. Holding the retaliatory force above their heads, they
declared her association with the "witch" a trick to betray the town
to the besieging demons.

Yet no more than a scapegoat to belie the knowledge of loss in battle.

"Her discussion with the senshi-ko witch is proof enough! She must be
punished for this mortal sin!"

The remaining skeptics soon forgot the truth of the matter: Three
peaceful years of kindness amongst this woman of beauty, sagacity and
integrity.

"She must burn!"

"Natole!"

"Burn... burn..."

"Natole!!" she shrieked, the volume rending her throat. Nigh
impossibly she saw him bound by magic, standing, a being of protective
rage, so dramatically infuriated...

"Burn... burn...!"

- to hint lightly upon it -

"Burn...! Burn!"

...by his apparent inability to save his threatened beloved. Ami could
feel the shuddering of earth as his crimson painted fists sought
freedom through the unseen box that contained him.

"Burn! Burn! Burn! The witch will burn!"

The chant permeated her soul, sending her mind reeling, a
merry-go-round of unimaginable nightmarish horror.

"Burn! Burn! Burn!"

"Usagi! Save me!!"

"The witch will burn!"

"Usa..."

"See how..."

"Burn! Burn! Burn!"

"...gi! Usagi!"

"...she calls upon the witch now! What do we say?"

"LET HER!!" boomed the crowd. They were prepared! They... the
ringleader knew to be ready for this!

"Right! Why? So we can..."

A female voice?

"DESTROY HER!"

Consumed by the weight of fear, rage, inner turmoil, and that of her
recent life, she drew herself apart from the unquestionable feral mare
of nights.

:Of course there was a ringleader!; Ami thought, and was not surprised
entirely by the fact that she knew the young woman. A KnightsMage. A
woman of vacant mercy. A woman who, dressed in the correct dress could
walk unscathed amongst a furious war and draw it to a sudden halt. An
obsessive force against all evil, even the slightest trace of Scior's
mark.

:You lied to me! You used me you bitch!; she snarled in thought,
knowing she was listening.

:Don't turn me into the enemy you sacreligious witch! I knew you were
linked to evil somehow. I simply didn't have evidence enough... until
now:

The crowd had been proceeding slowly towards the town square, and a
vast emptiness filled her soul...

:What have you done...:

...and stole her reason as they approached an already smoking pyre.

The child wailed in agony and terror, her chained, naked and spread
eagle figure a soul bending statement of child violence. Her agony
distorted mortal mask gave vision and voice to the state of her
shattered legs. The grey wings nigh torn from her shoulders all but
shined as metal, crimson streaming in stark lines from several
pockmarked holes where early attempts had failed to grip the muscle.

As the crowd carried Ami nigh, they tugged at her clothes, stealing
touches and squeezes of her demonically associated body, all respect
lost, and morals waning. By the time her dress was finally torn free,
the cuts and welts bled as evidence to the darker natures of mortal
kind. At one point, there was the suggestion of rape, which - for the
multitude of Felynx men lustfully inspired iniquitously - would have
instantly become gangrape, leading to the inevitable death of the
already tortured young woman.

Yet there was no hesitation, nor question in Sapphine Lording's mind.

Never. No woman deserved such unspeakably vile punishment, not even
Anasi Witherald, MagesBane slayer of thousands. Sapphine regarded the
infracting individual with such harshness that he willed himself
stone, a crestfallen expression his reward for failure. The gold
highlighted brunette placed her hand on his forehead.

"May Phate be your Light," she uttered coldly.

He died without a sound under the brilliant flash of vicious energy.
Unblinking, seemingly unemotional, she directed the binding of Ami to
the luke warm stake.

"Let us destroy this demon servant!" she cried sharply.

A question raised itself from among the synergized crowd.

"Is she not a demon, herself?"

She glowered darkly at the crowd, and stepped towards the soul-scarred
Ami. With a wicked frown, she pressed her hand to the bound woman's
stomach. Shyanne's voice had stilled, but instantly came to life,
echoing her mother's agonized screams as the literally white palm ate
at her flesh, slowly revealing the dull gleam of metal.

A great, shocked intake of breath momentarily took the throng of
people as all doubts were quelled.

"See the truth now? This creature comes to us in the attractive guise
of a Canora golem to tip the war against us! As a demonic summoning,
it must be banished!"

"Burn burn burn..."

"No! Not before the full cost has been extracted!" Sapphine declared
against the cacophony of racing tones in seething, tangible hatred.
"Kill the demon child!"

"NO!!!" Ami screamed nigh hysterically, unsure of the source of
strength, and concerned nary a wit.

An abrupt shower of vaguely spherical grey missiles produced deafening
thunking sounds as the first several missed. A rare event in the
continuous muffled squishing, crunching, and shrieking as Shyanne was
slowly reduced to stinking meat stapled to the crimsoning stone wall.
By then, Ami had completely withdrawn, letting the distraught Sarah
Night (Sapphire Dawn) face a reality so soul shriveling that she would
have taken her beloved daughter's place, receiving every stone to
spare her young one's life.

Natole's defeated moaning could be heard for miles, causing a few to
turn away in unuttered shame. Yet, somehow the massacre of the child
was not enough to halt the proceedings, or even force them to leave.
Perhaps they felt too deeply ingrained in the unspeakable carnage,
knowing that even if they were wrong, what could they do to redeem
themselves?

In truth, more than half of the Felynx rioters - over eighty mothers,
fathers and newlyweds (Mate-Joining season just having past) felt to
turn away and beg their God forgiveness. But each one, fearing
themselves alone to be taken as a sympathizer, and in admonition under
the very same threat of execution, found it easier to inspire the
matter through to the end, so that the guilt could be charred and
forgotten as Ami.

The fire had begun consuming Ami before Shyanne was quite dead, crying
feebly to her mother for protection and loving sanctuary. Ami's
anguished cry as the skull of her daughter (in heart and intent if not
body) fell in upon itself was so complete that several mothers
responded by weeping for their own, seeing the potential threat and
hinting fatal connection.

Sapphine attempted to remind them that the child was a demon, and not
worth their tears. Despite her sway, few listened. Many bowed their
heads, not watching as the flame continued to reduce the writhing,
shrieking woman to ashes.

"Ami! Oh mercy, AMI!!"

Usagi howled these words at the top of her lungs, drawing every iota
of attention as her scarlet wrapped form shoved through the knotted,
resisting crowd.

:Know this; a voice stated in Ami's flickering consciousness. :It is
not over:

"Senshi! Halt and face me!"

Usagi paused, surrounded by a pool of growling and hissing Felynx, who
parted, forming a sizable circle in which Sir Lording and she could
commence combat. As she approached, Usagi's eyes slipped past her, and
to the reeking corpse of what must have been Shyanne. Knowing she
might have killed the child herself, and knowing how it had affected
her friend (for she drew the experience from Ami's waned consciousness
and could not stay the abundant tears), she faced combat all the more
willingly, hoping to distract the rising tsunami of remorse.

:Usagi! Sapphine's a KnightsMage of the first rank!; Ayana chirped
fearfully, embroiled in the war against the demons, sensing the peril
and attempting to extract herself from the battle to join her.

:So am I now!; Usagi growled, aware of both the implications and the
oddity.

Sapphine's shapely form was armoured in no more than white leather, a
headband, silver armlets and shin guards, and a long red binding sash.
As she approached the newly inducted Demon Hunter KnightsMage, her
aura became visible as a vivid white flare of self righteous power.

"You self-righteous bitch!" Usagi snarled.

"What foolish talk is this, demon? I am here to anhilate you and your
army! Surrender and I will snuff your existence very quickly," her
opponent responded heatedly, watching the creature deemed her foe with
a trained eye.

"The KnightsMage General would have you dead already for your
mistake," Usagi declared tersely, striding towards her target.

"What...? How... what do you know of him?" Sapphine demanded, matching
her pace precisely.

Usagi flared her anger darkened aura, her paramount emotion
influencing her strength as she clapped her hands together, a vibrant
burst of light snapping into existence and holding firmly in her hands
and forearms.

"I was indoctrinated by him, Sapphine Lording."

Sapphine frowned.

"So why then, do you fight with my brother?"

"Because you're both alot alike. You're just has foolhardy."

She only sniped a harsh expression at Usagi.

Then, not four feet between them, the world halted as they gauged each
other. Sapphine, all spritely energy, shifting slightly between both
balls of feet, her right hand clenched in a fist under her chin, her
left matching at her waist. A dark, seductive beauty of generous
figure, of gold highlighted brunette hair bound in a single tail and
tucked neatly under her headband, intense green eyes reading copious
vengeful murder, full lips tightening in a pleasured smile, so totally
full of confidence it was all she could do to halt from lashing out
and ending it all right then.

Usagi, relying completely upon instincts, knew not what would come,
only that it would. Her clothes felt relentlessly tight and
constricting; grey vest and silver cotton turtle neck; form fitting
stone washed jeans; long lightweight khaki overcoat billowing
elegantly behind her. (And why not? She'd created it that way.) Her
great blond flowing tresses accompanied the standard yet shortened
odango-atama, nigh three quarters her own height in length as she
stood in ultimate defiance.

"I know of your past. I know of the Death's Hunger," Usagi snarled. "I
know he took you as a child, raped you... killed your family. Had you
until six years ago."

Sapphine merely blinked, registering nothing. Her voice, however,
confirmed the story in the stored emotions behind each calculated
word:

"You will suffer. For that, for interfering, for tricking the
KnightsMage General, and for living."

Usagi's Blue Light Special shoes marked her feet at shoulder width
apart, her sunspotting hands glowering with the same force that crept
into her crystal blue eyes, shadowing them menacingly.

"Ami was an innocent girl, and you have no right doing this! It's
over!"

Each woman wove a nigh silent spell, the words of which were audible
to the supernatural senses.

"Luna, Artemis, Sailor Senshi..."

"Phate, let thy work strive..."

"Give me strength to preserve..."

"Through thy generosity let..."

"My beloved friends! Please..."

"This White Light of Retribution win..."

"Nothing means more to me!"

"Over these thy enemies!"

The result was a gathering of manna so fierce that it killed the
twenty nearest the epicenter. There was no blood, no outward violence,
only the instant consumption of Felynx lives. The remaining sixty were
picked up and carried aloft like sailboats in a stark raving
hurricane. Of those, twenty eight died, the remainder suffering major
wounds.

The result?

Mystic Ground Zero in a distinct radius of exactly one-hundred feet,
six inches and two eighths. Sapphine lay as nude as her unconscious
opponent, hair undone and thrown lightly about her delicate shoulders
like so much fallen snow. The manna bomb had incinerated all
non-organic materials, leaving four bodies lying upon the naked earth.
Usagi and Sapphine both apparently unhurt - aside from the former's
vaporized prosthetic left arm, the nearly unrecognizable earth
pummeled mass that was the unfortunate Shyanne, and one half of Ami's
scorched torso.

Usagi's eyes beheld naught but a nightmare inducing scene as she gazed
directly into the smoking torso of Ami, whose cybernetics had
obliterated with the motion of the freak spell. She saw no more than
half of a legless corpse, beaten, charred... vacant of an eternal
soul.

Fierce burning tears took her as she heard an awed gasp.

"May Phate forgive me!"

Usagi sat up, feeling an unfamiliar weight upon her shoulder blades.
She twitched, a brush of air wafting across her back, adjoining the
soft caress of... feathers? Instantly her mind cleared. She did not
smile, but rose gracefully, aware of her flawless nudity, but not
ashamed. A sliver light wrapped itself about her, a delicate hug of
glorious clarity, peace, and godly love. A pleasured croon emanated
from her throat as her formerly missing arm was restored in a wash of
pale blue heat and light. Gathering herself, Usagi set her eyes upon
the ruined body of her friend, and while she looked on, her friend was
made whole in the glow of a harmonious light.

Her ocean blue eyes opened gently, and she smiled, love in her heart,
gratitude in her soul.

"Mama?"

Ami had barely regained her feet before she was obliged to accept a
reborn angel-winged girl into her arms. Sweet tears of joy cascaded
down both mother and daughter's cheeks as they exchanged rapt long
lived hugs.

"Forgive me Usagi-ana!" Sapphine begged, bowing on both knees.

"Anso tala sol goru alh solo!"

I pledge my life to your service!

"No, Sapphine..." Usagi negated, her faultless tones the epitomy of
motherly genteel and empathy. "You musn't."

"But I...! I accused and destroyed an angel! How can I ever..." she
turned, heartbroken, bitter tears quick to surface.

"How? Serve the truth. Serve what is righteous." She took Sapphine's
shoulders, turned her about, grasped her hands and held them, finding
purchase through the glimmering windows to her wounded soul. "I was
not kind either, Sapphine. May I ask for your forgiveness?"

"But... Usagi-ana, why?" she nigh pleaded her inquiry.

"Because I need to make amends too, for my mistakes. I'm so far from
being perfect," she paused a moment, then continued on a new strain of
thought. "I know the physical and mental molestation you suffer does
not exclude you from His love. Trust the holy desire of your soul,
Sapphine."

The now golden haired woman read such unmitigated sincerity in her
eyes, that she dared not doubt.

"I still don't... how...?" she bit her lip, eyes unshifting, tears
roiling slowly. "I've hurt so many... believing them cursed because...
I... because I couldn't face my own pain. How can I be forgiven? How
can I forgive anyone else... I am unworthy!"

Usagi smiled ever so slightly and pressed Sapphine's hands just below
the collar bone, between her breasts where her heart beat rapidly.

"Have sincerity in your heart, and He will know. He knows us all by
name, and knows our most intimate desires. You cannot disguise them.
Have faith, a chaste, obedient heart, and humility. Be as a child."

Sapphine finally bowed her head and sank slowly to her knees, hands
clasped together as she sought fervent and honest prayer. Usagi turned
to Ami, who, having been rejoined by Natole, slept contently in his
warm, loving arms.

"Usagi Tsukino," Natole began, voice hushed by the overjoyous ecstasy
in his soul. "My life is yours. You have my unending gratitude."

"Your life, Natole Shard, belongs to you. Though I would press you to
dedicate it to my friend." She then nodded, as if she had performed
the act as a matter of instinct.

Perhaps now it was.