Fatal Fury Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Sailor Rifts ❯ Chapter 33: Angel Senshi; Heavenly Ascension Among the Striken ( Chapter 33 )

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

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

Chapter 33: Angel Senshi; Heavenly Ascension Among the Striken

"Phate - how? Did you alter her thread?" Makoto prodded gently, wiping
her tear reddened face.

"Nay child, this was a potential buried in her pure soul from birth."

Makoto watched in emotionally charged silence as the semi-transparent
image shifted; Usagi talking calmly to Natole, then Ami and Shyanne as
they awoke.

"You are no longer cursed Shyanne," she was saying. She knew the
honesty of the matter. Shyanne had been cursed with the powers and
terrible needs of a Death's Hunger demon: The need to feed upon the
energy of the living, the ability to fly, the gift of demonic strength
and confusing emotions. Born a demon/canora halfing, always wanting to
be fully one or the other, frustrated and pained by the inability to
follow either. Truly, a curse for any child.

"I have changed you... you are healed."

"Um... thank you..." she offered, her young soul behind the words
awkwardly spoken. "What about Mama?"

"I helped her, she's safe now," Usagi answered easily, eyes sparkling.

"Is..." she blinked. "Is she like me?"

Usagi's heart suddenly thudded within her caging ribs. Makoto, twin in
realization to her friend, saw the rising dilemma. How could a human
mother raise an angelic child? Usagi's act, both inconceivable, and
apparently unavoidable, had created a very unique and nigh impossible
parental situation for the young mother.

:It's not enough that she should understand...:

Makoto whirled about to face a pulsing turquoise light. Uttering a
slow gasp, she literally felt Ami's reaction, and returned her eyes to
view the look of resplendent peace and joy within Ami's unscathed
face. Cutting a thread was one thing, easily executed (to coin a pun).
Altering one, especially a thread originating from another realm,
required a great deal more effort (one at which even the most powerful
mortal mages could only gasp).

Ami's wings shimmered into existence, as blue as the gauze-like aura
that illuminated the young woman. Ami's mortal born beauty suffered
little adjustment but mere purification and enhancement of her already
native fairness and child-like innocence, as well as the
solidification of pale ocean blue wings and clearing of skin
blemishes. The multitude of internal changes, the greatest of which
was her induction into the universe of immortality, were known
instinctively.

Makoto drew an exhilarated breath as an all encompassing warmth
encircled her. Her eyes closed while her consciousness expanded. She
did not, on any level, fail to notice the realization of the power of
her very soul. She knew it to be different than Usagi's, knowing that
her most basic nature; the warrior, the confident pillar of physical
and emotional strength, the survivor, had not suffered change.

Moreover, she knew she was not alone. The others...

Minako holding the shed cybernetic implants that had kept her alive.
The half face had separated cleanly as the missing part of her face
had spontaneously regenerated. Surrounded by strangers - the CSM
standing all at once awed and aghast - and Dr. Carl Silver, a Silver
Tail dragon and her lover, who gloried in her fantastic
transformation.

Rei, as emotionally scarred as the rest of the group, wept openly as
her expansive wings spread and caught the surging wind atop the ridge
mount she enjoyed with the company of her soulmate. Adolphus held her
hand and drew close to her, enrapt by the heavenly transfiguration.

As each opened her eyes, she found herself clothed in wafting silken
robes:

Usagi, a cloud white; Ami, a crystalline sapphire; Makoto, a suiting
khaki; Minako, a pastel gold; and Rei, a gentle, pale violet. The
awareness was so abrupt, each knowing their teammate's purification in
the recent, blood smattered years of harsh dealings, and soul
battering plight, that words, where insignificant, failed completely.
Makoto's inhumanly vivid sight transmitted the image of a rarely
smiling Phate, a loving mother more than generous benefactor or even
bestowing mentor. For how great a gift could any mortal give
comparatively?

"Never undervalue the worth of a gift of the heart. No matter it's
size," Phate stated calmly, sensing the question. "For there is no
greater gift than love in this infinite universe."

"Why, mentor?" Makoto requested softly, comfort centering her tones
and her being just then.

"You are not meant to lose," she explained, her voice full of
sympathetic awareness. Knowing the enigmatic woman well, Makoto was
mystified by the length at which she spoke. More words had been
offered in the last few minutes than during her years of training.

She fell silent, but her unimaginably powerful mind rang out amongst
the newly born psyches of the Angel Senshi.

:You are immortal now, and have the power to triumph. Know that I have
done no more than accelerate your ascension. To honor this gift, you
have to no more than use it. Illness, death, nor violence can take
you. Only magic may affect your holy beings. Even for the telepathy
and empathy you know of each other now, there is, furthermore, an
intimate form of teleportation that will always join you:

Makoto stood and bowed deeply, weeping silently. There was a white
flicker, and she disappeared.

There was no explanation required.

---

"Babe, how did she... I thought..." Hanlan's great arms encircled the
now porcelain brunette, and for the first time in decades, he wept.
She 'sushed' him, not wishing to disturb the tranquility of their
embrace.

:I'm still your warrior love; she assured him compassionately. :Now
I'm just an Angel of War:

:Okay, I... I guess:

Yet, she could feel the rapid flood of his limited regard as he
attempted to garner and absorb the sudden storm of events in his
sluggish, but openhearted manner.

:Baby-sweets; he began plaintively. :I think it'll take me a while to
understand this... but... I gotta know, and I know it's gonna sound
selfish... I just want us to be forever... y'know...?:

:There is nothing selfish about the fear of separation, Han; Makoto
replied easily.

:So... are you really gonna live forever? I mean... are we...?:

:I don't know; Makoto offered weakly. :At least, I'm not sure... but I
think there's associative powers you'll gain as a result of our
intimacy:

:You mean, as long as I... well, keep lovin' you... then I'll live
like you?: Hope transcended the feelings of forlorn worry in his mind.

:Hai. I don't believe Phate would ask me to abandon you, not after
everything we've been through:

Hanlan, lying down on the bed in their apartment and drawing Makoto
carefully with him, had one final question.

:And does this mean you don't have to run anymore?:

:No; she affirmed, turning about in his arms, placing her slender arms
about his neck and kissing him urgently. :Not anymore...:

---

"Usako!"

The recipient of the nickname ran smiling and crying into his arms,
her voice chiming his name in endless gratitude for his existence. For
the moment, they were alone. Aaran had not returned from the war,
destined to follow that path onwards, however away from the Senshi it
was. Ayana had been near fatally wounded, and was being tended by
Narayan Lording and a unique young woman by the name of "Misa-Takuri."
There was a chance she would choose to remain, especially with news of
Tenma coming to term.

Makoto knew this, and had heart to respect her will.

Ami had teleported away with daughter and husband for some necessary
"family time," before she could return to earth to join the others in
the war against the NegaForce. Usagi, then, had teleported herself to
Mamoru's presence, finding him back on earth, at the Shirinaui Dojo.

'Oh Mamoru!' Usagi sighed, nearly choking him for the heights of her
joy. 'Thank you!'

He opened his pleasure clenched eyes.

'For what, odango-san?'

'For not leaving! That's what,' she quipped, all bitterness lost. 'I
was an insane cow. You could have forgotten me and married Demelza.'

'I would never have...'

She pushed him away playfully.

'I know,' she beamed. 'I'm so blessed!'

'So am I...' his eyes fell. 'Usako...'

Her heart hit her rib cage and stuck.

'What?'

'Will you...' he clumsily patted his pants pockets, rooting through
them in a hurried search. 'Will... ah!' he exclaimed, producing a
palm-sized jeweled box. He opened it to reveal a ruby studded
engagement band of gold and Celtic knotted silver.

'Will you marry me?'

'Oh Mamoru!!' she yelped in a tone true to her younger self as she
leap at him, sending them toppling onto the floor. 'Of course! Yes,
yes, yes!!'

Silence was evaded by the sound meetings of their lips in joyous
celebration. For a while, it was all Usagi could do to breathe and
kiss her husband-to-be, while Mamoru felt somewhat helpless under her
sudden - but far from unwelcome - attack. Finally, she drew still and
calm, her golden hair tossed about him while her head lay on his bare
chest, made so by her emotionally fueled contact.

'Mamoru...' she sighed wistfully. 'Aren't you afraid losing me to the
war?'

'Why? You are immortal, Usako.'

She sat up, pulling herself up onto the bed and perching at its edge
like a frightened sparrow.

'We can still lose,' she pointed out cautiously. 'Just because I can't
die doesn't mean I can't be killed. The Neo Senshi certainly aren't
immortal... And neither are you,' she gazed at him anxiously, bitterly
concerned.

'We've survived worse,' Mamoru's voice was even, unwavering, and
unutterably assured. 'Carl doesn't seem worried.'

'Only because he's a dragon,' she muttered, eyes downcast.

Mamoru's eyes widened as he gasped: 'A what?!'

'Oh love, don't you know?' Usagi breathed, sounding not unpleasantly
fatigued. 'That's why Minako fell in love with him...'

---

:...you could protect me, no matter what:

The desperate urgency once found in the remaining side of her face had
spread to both in the regrowth, leaving no question. Minako was still
amongst the throng of stunned black armored soldiers. Their initial
reaction had been dramatic:

"Oh mama," Dakota had gasped, dropping her food at the sight of the
transfiguration. The iridescent span of silver light had demanded the
attention of all twenty seven young men and women, but only she seemed
to have the wit to speak on any level.

"Oh Lord..." came as a mute prayer from her lips and stunned face,
transfixed by the sight of a newly born angel in their midst. Minako
stood in a nimbus of sheer white luminescent energy, held in the
glories of glories, unimaginably altered. For as soon as it came, the
light receded, leaving a very changed woman among strangers. Clothed
in a pastel shimmering gold robe, great glimmering yellow wings at her
back, and an intense fiery yellow aura about her nigh flawless body.

Many of them had yet stumbled over what they had just witnessed. The
remainder, some fourteen or so, failed to reach even that point, and
had bowed themselves to the earth, feeling every dark twinge of
iniquitous guilt grasp hold of their souls in stammering fear.
Minako's eyes had slowly opened, taking the in the scene and frowning
faintly.

"Get up," she had finally commanded, knowing their fear, and not
delighting in its source nor being another cause of it. She did not
have to jump into repetition. Of those who rose, some turned away from
the sight of her believing they could not behold her for their
unworthiness. Carl was quick to her side, sensing her distress.

:They're afraid I'm here to judge them!; she cried internally.

:Yes. But tread carefully. They will hang on your every word, and make
you a villain or ally from them:

:What am I supposed to say?:

Carl's eyes were clear as spring water, and equally lucid.

:The truth, my love:

The implications were incredible, she perceived, and stumbled to form
a sentence in her mind.

"Minako..." Dakota chanced, voice wavering. "Why are you here?"

Minako bowed her blond head briefly, emotions throbbing in her slender
frame. She glanced upwards, linking eyes with the young woman before
she spoke.

"I'm here because of the selfish, cruel desires of a being who wants
to capture my world."

Dakota stood, while the others cringed and shrunk away.

"What is your world like?" The glimmer of hope in her eyes was so
sharp that Minako winced internally.

"It's free," she stated, the only honest statement she could make.
"Where I live, I learn what I want, attend school... I read freely,
speak openly, and love whomever I chose."

"Can we help you? Is it possible for us to go to your world and fight
for your cause?"

Minako's gaze shifted to Carl, who nodded. The three heard plainly the
murmurs of confusion and mistrust. Jake Yyone approached Dakota,
seeming almost to avoid Minako's eyes.

"How can you volunteer us like that?" he demanded curtly. "We don't
know what we're up against!"

"Do we ever?" she retorted with a snarl. "Since when has the CS told
us anything?"

"It's not our place to know these things. We can't understand them."

"That may work for you textbook boy," Dakota growled. "You haven't
been out in the mission field! I know there's more out there than
they're tellin' us. And if that ain't enough... I mean, we're alive to
use our mutant powers, ain't we? That alone breaks every rule in the
handbook."

Jake folded his arms against his chest and frowned.

"I just don' believe it. It's too good to be true."

"Believe it. And Jake cutie? Your cliche is showing."

"My wha...?" he glanced at himself briefly. "No it's... oh."

Dakota barked a throaty laugh at his "oh, very funny" expression and
grinned shortly at her somewhat gullible friend.

"I dunno 'bout you, but I trust her. Ain' often yer lookin' right at
an angel!"

"Forget that she just asked us for help, hm?" he sighed. The dark
skinned young woman nodded with a prominent smirk.

Jake hesitantly faced Minako, and forced himself to remain calm, a
stony unrelenting expression marking his emotional position.

:Jake, Natasha's death wasn't your fault; Minako assured him. :The
charge was damaged:

"But I was responsible for her life!" he blurted defensively. "I
should've checked it before sending her into the battlefield!"

There were a dozen sharp intakes of breath.

"...how did she know...?"

"...she is an angel..."

"...she's psychic!"

"...she's a freakin' mage."

"Shut up!" Dakota barked as she whirled swiftly about on her heel.
"She's given us all freedom! Can't you all just damn well see we need
her?!"

"But how do we know?" one stocky young man requested firmly. "Any
psychic would know about 'Sash."

There was a wash of assent.

"I don't ask anything of you," Minako stated, voice raised above the
idle confusion. "You may leave as you desire."

Half of the jaded group stood to do so. Carl stepped forth and called
attention.

"Far be it from me to remind you of the Phate you lot would have
suffered at the hands of the Lone Star Geneticists." He had placed his
hand on the table, and it held them in place, for a time. Good Enough.
"And you should be thanking Minako! She gave me the very opportunity
to draw you from the iron grasp of the Coalition. Dakota is right in
saying that you owe your freedom to Minako!

"I know you all have seen many strange things in the world. I know
also that you have been taught to distrust them. What I am asking is
not easy, and stands against everything you know. However, what you
are, is, in itself, evidence that there is more to life than what the
Coalition has presented to you. It may be difficult to accept, and I
know it's a leap of faith, but I ask you: Have I ever lied to any of
you?"

The general reply; No.

"Then I ask you to believe her. The Earth she comes from is free of
the Coalition."

"But how?" one young woman demanded in harsh, raspy tones. "They gave
us all we've got."

"The technology they have now is based on that which has existed for
decades. What they have accomplished is no more than elaborate
archeology. Would you turn away the chance to live as the educated
do?"

A dawning wave of voices uttered noises of agreement, of acceptance.

"Uh, what's archeology?" a distant voice muttered.

"Somethin' 'bout diggin' up old stuff'n readin' it t' learn the past
history."

"Oh."

"Y'know Dr. Silver, it might blow ya away t'learn this," spouted a
firey young man as he muscled his way out of the crowd. "But some of
us like the fightin'! We ain't exactly gonna give it up fer book
learnin'! So you can take your offer and get vaped!"

"Shut up!" snarled Dakota, easing herself up against the stocky man
who was a clear foot taller than she. He snarled down at her, but said
nothing. "You get too close to a Boom gun or somethin' Kale? You ain't
heard a damn thing he's said! You know what she's offering? We would
get to fight, our rules, no Coalition! It's your bloody dream!"

"Uh..." his barrel chested torso slackened in posture abruptly. "No
lie?"

Minako shook her head at him.

"No lie. All that matters is winning."

"I kin handle that no prob," he grinned lopsidedly and nodded. "You
ain't sore wit' me, 're ya?"

"Kale," Minako began. "You've got to trust that Carl and I have your
best interests at heart."

His dark eyes studied the floor for a moment, then reached up to her
again, thankful.

"I'm real sorry... real sorry. Din' mean to be a jackass," he said,
then performed an about face and disappeared back into the crowd.

And Carl just picked up where he left off.

"I must tell you now that her world is beset by a demonic creature,
and they mount an attack as we speak to capture it. The risk is great,
but the reward of ultimate freedom will be yours when we win."

Jake looked puzzled.

"When?"

"Yes 'when'." Carl rebuked with cold authority.

"Yes sir. We will kick ass, sir!"

---

:Adolphus my love, you are worried:

Within the violent tumbling descent of shorn angel hair was a small
stone cabin, seemingly molded from the rockface. The blizzard spared
no mortal creature, and chiseled away at their haven so
insignificantly that only time endless could destroy it. An open,
smokeless mystic flame heated the two mages as they discussed her
transfiguration. Rei's kindly, mollifying telepathic voice drew the
gifted mage from his ominous trance. He oriented and centered himself
upon his winged mate, letting his eyes steal into hers.

"Of course I am worried!" he stated urgently. "Confront ye not great
forces and see their nigh overwhelming power and number?"

"Aye," she confirmed. "Yet I have my friends now! A miracle has
brought us back together..."

"And ye be drawn asunder nonetheless."

Rei looked hurt.

"What makes you say that?"

"Deny ye the sense of your heart? I read it Rei, like the scrying
calls of a spooked murder of crows, I know it."

She leaned forward, pushing her closed fists between them, and leaning
her head on his chest as she groaned in frustration and anxiety.

"You're right, I'm scared. I'm scared of dying, of losing. I know it's
foolish to fear that now, and stupid."

"Nay," Adolphus began. "It be not stupid. Ye are not."

"I didn't say I was. I was just thinking that it's kinda silly for me
to worry about that after nearly having died several times in the last
year."

"Nay! Ye see only from that which ye know. Ye know only survival, and
what concerns thee next."

"Hm."

"Ye know only the next threat, and are wary of it. To be otherwise
would be foolish."

She was silent, aside from an uncertain: "I guess."

"There is more."

She nodded.

"I'm pregnant."

His arms encircled her, a comforting warmth in the gracious hug.

"I'm afraid he'll get hurt. He could die if I'm wounded."

"Then refuse the battle."

Rei felt twin pangs. One of anger; how could she turn the opportunity
of revenge? Second; the ebbing guilt of the thought of foresaking her
friends.

She nodded, eyes closed, heart open.

"Forget ye not the sacrifice I made," he paused, breathing deeply for
the weight of emotions upon him. "Forget ye not the love of thy
friends, that they sought thee beyond all chance."

She was silent, breathing short, tight gasps.

"If ye wish justice bought, then weigh carefully the cost. Outwit the
fiend. Strike him down yet fail to lay a hand upon him. Need ye only
be in his presence when the blade sinks home."

"B-but..." she sniffled and wiped her nose with a readily grasped
tissue. "Wh-what if thuh-they don't..."

"Sssh," he crooned. "They will my angel. They will. Guide them from a
distance, and seek not the battlefront. For ye hath many friends, and
great be their powers. Let thy wit win over thy fury."

"Oh Adolphus," she sobbed tearlessly. "I fear what I would be without
you."

"And I..." he sighed. "And do I..."

---

"I'm not much of a warrior. That's all there is to it."

A remarkably smaller Natole Shard held his angelic wife - her back
against his rock solid abdomen - and looked lovingly upon his sleeping
daughter.

"Yes," he agreed. "Yet I have fought much."

"Honey," Ami began. "I appreciate your suggestion. But 'stomping the
enemy'...? I know you may be 'One-Punch' - I've seen you in action,
remember? - but this is war."

"I never plan to fight," he declared in a ponderous bass cannon voice.
"I know only to win."

"I appreciate that, but we can't afford not to plan, my hulking dear.
Makoto has Ayana to consider, Rei is clearly expecting, and so have I
Shyanne. Usagi and Minako will not be far behind. I wish to assure
their future parenthood. Not to mention lives."

He nodded his head against her shoulder.

"It's simple, really. If we fight on Uraki-Ayo's terms, we'll be
quashed like a trapped bug, and the twenty-eight of us can't possibly
manage the thousands of demons he's no doubt marshaled."

Natole was silent. Ami was accustomed to the tranquility of his
consideration, knowing that he reserved himself to speak only when
absolutely necessary. For the moment, she basked in it, knowing he
would voice his concern. It was not a matter of his being slow-witted.
It was in no doubt true. He had learned at a young age, however, that
there was wisdom in silence, and used it to offer only the choicest
words he could conceive. His few words compensated for the lack of
cunning, and often made those long in the tooth bite their own tongue.

And when he failed in that, he had his Half-Giant nature upon which to
rely. Handy, that.

"We have to end it quickly," she concluded. "We have to throw him off
balance and enter combat with him on our own terms. The Neo Senshi can
take the forefront along with Minako's CSM, while we locate Uraki and
annihilate him."

"But what of Rei?"

"She doesn't know it, but she has powers forthcoming that will protect
her child." Ami blinked, stunned by her own words. "How I know that...
I haven't a clue. I was just arguing against her joining us!"

"Aye love," he replied coolly.

"Intuitive knowledge?" Ami questioned, more of herself than acutely
listening husband. "That's something I could get used to."

"There is a matter you have forgotten," Natole indicated. "What of the
traitor Xalia?"

"I don't know. Right now there are so many questions. If she turned of
her own will, then we're in a fair sight of trouble. The Neo Senshi
are not quite powerful enough to receive her. On the other hand, if
her personality has been altered in the same manner Mamoru
experienced, it puts us in another position entirely. We can't spare
the power to send in a rescue party. We're only going to get one
chance at the NegaForce. It's much too early to tell. Besides, I'm not
getting any intuitive hints on this one...'

---

There was a faint shimmering in Makoto's nude form as she slept, arms
twined about Hanlan loosely.

Her eyes flicked open.

"What?"

The heavy down comforter wafted downwards in the newly found empty
space she had once occupied. When reality whirled to a standstill,
Makoto realized she was drifting in a numb, wonderless void of grey.
She beat her wings experimentally, finding that they only provided
guidance, rather than the power of flight in this instance. Feeling
her nudity, she summoned a simple khaki robe to cover her flawless yet
still rough beauty.

"The time has come to draw our contract to a close."

Makoto snarled instinctively. The point of his saviorhood did little
to affect her anger at his intervention, and constant watchful eye.
Being traced by a dragon was no pleasant ordeal.

"Do you want another match, dragon? To defeat me again? Would that
please you?" she growled angrily, flaring her aura into a white heat
about her.

"No, unfortunately, it would not. I have seen your transformation, and
because of it, I know that it is no longer my right to watch you."

So he had morals after all! He simply chose to disregard those that
did not suit his purposes. As Makoto gazed off into the grey
distantless void, she felt a presence, and watched it fade into
existence. He appeared as no less than himself, a fifty-foot grey
horned dragon of mountain-like structure and ballistic plating hide.
It was difficult to perceive from her vantage point that his face did
less than glower upon her, rather than his honestly forgiveness
seeking frown.

"I believed you a mere mortal," he feebly explained. "I would never
have harmed you in such a way..."

She raised her hand and stilled the thundering tones of his voice. Her
seething fervor of rage had all but ceased. Even for his pointless
physical rigors of violence and magic, he had never done more than
caused bruises. Hindsight, as it is well known, is twenty-twenty, and
she could see plainly that he was little more than an irritation.
Besides, he had saved her life, after all, and opened up the chance to
return to Hanlan, and her friends.

"I forgive you, Penmatre."

The dragon bowed his head and then was gone again.

"...Thank you..."