Fatal Fury Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Sailor Rifts ❯ Chapter 39: Hope, Against a Baleful Wind ( Chapter 39 )

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

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

Chapter 39: Hope, Against a Baleful Wind

In the cool, damp recesses of a great stone niche, eighty-seven men
and women gathered, leaning upon a solitary voice.

"Consider it an honour to serve with these angels, soldiers. It is
because of them our place in a free world is assured! Think of it! To
live without fear of the Coalition, without fear of the rifts! We can
live as we are. Mutants, and proud of it!"

There were several murmurs of assent.

"The war we fight will be for our new home and new lives! Take that
into battle with you. We will triumph!"

The cheers drowned out the most fervent of fears and doubts. Carl,
watching from a distance, smiled, even himself heartened by the
emotional energy the young warriors produced.

"Report, squad leaders!"

As the vocal culminations of bravado, pride, and positive morale
waned, the clicks and locks of armaments became an energetic
background noise.

"Lieutenant Smitty of Gold Aces troop. Class One SC-Warrior Power
Armored soldiers are ready!"

Jake nodded curtly.

"Good to see you were up to the task, Trent. You will take the
forefront offensive."

"Thank you sir. We will do our best!"

"Silver Leader?"

A black suited woman with a confidant, assured grin deftly saluted.

"Lieutenant Grenwalde of Strong Arm troop stand prepared and eager to
kick ass, sir!"

He smiled knowingly.

"You'll take up defensive positions for close combat, in the event the
enemy decides to get intimate."

"If they get fresh, they'll get one helluva fat lip!"

"That's what I want to hear, Dakota!"

A stout fellow saluted rigidly, his face almost stone.

"Copper Leader of Red Slash troop awaiting your orders. Sir!" the
statue-like young man snapped off like the rapid report of an
automatic rifle.

Jake assumed a deadly serious expression and tone.

"Good man, Jason. I expect you to take the perimeter. See that nothing
so large as a fusion bomb penetrates your line. It won't be easy.
According to Carl, we'll be outnumbered fifty-to-one."

The stocky, urgent looking young man paled slightly, but maintained
his rock-like composure. Jake paused, regarding steadily the fellow
who was easily the youngest of the troops. He smiled faintly. So much
dependable strength! It made his job that much easier.

"Yes sir. You can depend on us sir!"

"That's good to know, because we're all counting on your
effectiveness! Now, Red Leader..."

:By my leathery hide; Carl mused. :There's little humans cannot
accomplish, when united:

:Love, that's why the Inner Senshi still survive; Minako observed as
she took to his side, wrapping her arms about him and resting her head
on his chest.

:Aye. I can see that. Rarely in my centuries have I seen such
dedication. Yours I especially treasure; he chuckled.

Her nod was slight, her unease and conflicting internal holy calm both
great in presence.

:Minako, speak to me. What is the matter?:

She pulled away and turned to face a trickling underground spring. It
was young yet, some two hundred years of age, she gauged by the
strength of its flow, and presence of natural manna. She flinched,
blinking at the crystal water.

"Mercy...!' she sighed. 'I couldn't do that before."

"Do what?"

"Sense manna. It's very weak here, but this spring draws some in...
It's very nice. Almost calming."

"Really? Good. Magic can be a wonderful thing."

"Funny how we haven't just talked since I became an angel," she
half-smiled with a sidelong glance.

Carl offered nothing. Minako knelt to the spring, dipped her hands in
the water and sipped from them gingerly.

"Do you remember how the CSM reacted when I was changed?"

"Forget? You're kidding... it was just yesterday! I doubt I will ever
forget, even if we weren't engaged to be married."

"Hmm. They almost worshipped me. If it hadn't been for that woman...
Dakota, and you..." she frowned. "I don't know if it's even that. They
either adore me or fear me... and I'm having a difficult time dealing
with any of it. I've been in the black market for so long... you know
what some of the local lords did to me."

Carl was sympathetically silent. Washes of shame, turmoil, and
unflinching sexual abasement flitted across her mind, and he twinged
at his sense of it. Despite her holy nature, she hurt inside. He knew
nothing could alter her experience, not even Phate. He also knew love
- his love - could heal her, and desired intensely to disperse her
emotional scars.

"Even if I heard Phate right, and I'm not sure I did, I've always been
an angel. Or... was it I always had the potential to? Or... I really
don't understand that part." She rose, hands clasped to her heart. "I
don't feel worthy of this form. I don't feel angelic."

Carl approached her, perceiving the matter as one only can at a
distance.

"That you have - or at the very least had the potential - should tell
you something. Both are significant. Even if it was buried deep
somewhere in there. It's like coming to age and expecting to feel like
an adult. It doesn't happen. It's not self-perpetuating."

Minako's eyes darted swiftly between Carl's lucid eyes, as they do
when intimacy blurs reality.

"But I know things... about me, about you... about the world, that no
mortal can know..." she smiled briefly."I can't believe I just said
that! But it's true. I understand the world in ways no one can."

Carl merely gazed at her. She shrugged faintly.

"Everything about me has changed, except the way I think. Or, parts of
it. Usagi seems fine. Clearly she was ready for this. I don't know if
I am."

His smile was welcome, for the sheer confidence and starlit adoration
behind it.

"You have heart, and strength to come through this, Minako love.
Whether you are 'ready' or not is a moot point; you are what you are."

"But I wasn't! What I'm saying is that I feel like some of me still
isn't."

There was a moment of clarity for the young dragon, and he grasped it
firmly:

"What are you clinging to?"

Minako bowed her lovely head, her wings flicking with uncomfortable
concentration.

"Angels can't feel pain... of rape... can they?"

Her voice was dry, and the threatening ebb of tears caused it to crack
as she spoke.

"You were never..." he started, approaching her. She stepped back.

"No. Almost, so many times. I broke hands, arms, noses, and I killed
two... two d-bees that tried to molest me. I've never wanted to be
ugly before, Carl!"

This time, she did not refuse him.

"You are blessed with strength and beauty. You should be grateful for
that," he replied soberly.

She averted her eyes. Carl took her shoulders in his hands,
comfortingly, gently caressing them.

"I never told you, when I worked for Valance, one of his men put out a
contract on my virginty. He hired twenty bounty hunters, Carl! I..."
her voice locked in her throat. "My body... my sex was a bounty.
That's worse than if I was to have sold myself."

"I heard you know," he supplied. "You knocked him on his ass when you
found out. Shortly thereafter his organization crumbled to pieces."

"It wasn't like that," she negated. "I didn't knock anyone on their
asses. I killed the man who murdered my target... then came back and
drew the line for Val. Even though he wanted me so badly he burned a
hole in my butt with his eyes."

Carl chuckled faintly. Her eyes flicked back into his, and settled
there, stars shining faintly within.

"You know this pity party isn't get us anywhere?"

"Pity party...?" she mumbled. "What do you..." a sigh. "I guess not."

"Minako, my gorgeous angel, what's past is past, though it might yet
pain you. I love you. Your God loves you. You are strong enough now
not to have to fear those things. It's very easy to focus on the
negative, even to the point that you are an angel, the very embodiment
of holiness, escapes us."

"Us... I like hearing that. Would you say it again?"

"Us."

"Mmm..." There was a pleasant emotional meeting then, brightening the
lost young angel's face.

"I don't - not anymore - but it would be a lie to say I don't feel
hurt, and angry."

"There's nothing wrong with that. I've killed for less."

She blinked at him, wide eyed.

"Don't believe you're the first, my love."

She frowned slightly.

"No, I guess not. And you," she grinned suddenly, poking him and
laughing.

"Excuse me, Dr. Silver," prodded a voice.

He gazed at the young man, then beckoned him enter. Without a word, he
gestured for him to continue.

"We are prepared to depart at your earliest command. The troops are
eager, quite excited by the idea of freedom."

Carl smiled.

"They ought to be. It's a rare opportunity. Not one they won't earn,
however."

"That's what worries me. Will we really be so badly outmatched?"

His expression became sober.

"By a much larger degree than I have previously indicated. I expect at
the very minimum five thousand shadowlings to arrive during
Uraki-Ayo's final assault."

Jake quirked an eyebrow.

"Final? As in 'last ditch effort'? Sounds like the enemy is running
out of steam."

"They're actually borrowing ours to fuel the invasion. Part of your
job will be to defend the strike team due to attack their source of
power."

"Right. Uh... those are some pretty freakin' nasty odds," Jake stated
seriously. "I mean, we're just backup, right?"

Minako shared Carl's somewhat shamed gaze.

"More or less. The main forces will consist of the Neo Senshi..." he
read Jake's befuddled mask. "They are five warrior defenders of the
alternate Earth you will be going to. Ayla Apollo, also known as
Sailor Sol, will be the ranking officer. Anything she says goes."

"If you say so, Dr. Silver," he shrugged. "If you say 'jump' I'll ask
how high, if you say 'bark like a dog' I'll ask you what breed. We owe
you."

"I appreciate that Major," Carl laughed mildly at the knowledge that
the young man could actually fulfill the latter, thanks to his mutant
abilities. "Your sister would be proud."

His brown eyes widened.

"My sister? You know Aaran Yyone?"

"That's correct. I spoke to her recently..." he winked at Minako, and
then closed his eyes. Clothed in ancient style black toned armor, she
appeared, her helmet pressed to her hip by a somewhat limp gauntleted
hand. She smiled at him, looking bruised and mentally scattered.

"Sis'!" he gasped, taken aback by her formidable armor, like a human
formed dragon might wear. Reluctantly he neared her, then forgave the
armor and delivered a powerful hug.

"Watch it Jake," she grunted. "I've got more broken ribs than you do
teeth."

He laughed faintly.

"No joke?"

"No joke."

He drew back and regarded her seriously.

"We gotta talk. It's been so long!" he faced Carl. "You mind?"

"Of course not. I wouldn't have asked her to teleport here if there
hadn't been time for it. We'll leave as soon as Makoto gives the
word."

"Oh," he held his sister's hand feeling the strength of the gauntlets,
plainly impressed. "What? Who's that? Teleport here? You?! I thought
you got Mega-Juiced!"

"Uh, yeah, I did, way back... that's were it gets wierd. I hope you
got some time!"

"Me too," he replied, gazing at Carl uncertainly.

"As for my friend, you can't miss her: Dark brown hair done up in a
pony tail... hm... maybe not. She's been wearing it down ever
since..." Minako blinked. "Nevermind. She's an angel. Like me, only
bustier."

"No joke," Aaran chuckled.

---

The four men were gathered over a nigh dozen drinks. Adolphus, a
centuries' old mage of much experience and old English regard, drew
sedately from a nearly full mug of ale. Hanlan, a man's man, lacking
razor wit, but an adept warrior, and a man of brute force, sipped idly
at a pint of odd tasting elven beer. Mamoru, long standing senshi of
the earth, his former home, of much forlorn regard, attacked his fifth
cup of traditional sake with apparent indifference. Natole, by magic
alone reduced to seven feet from his natural twelve, a warrior much
feared for his ability to destroy as to heal, drank heavily from his
eighth flask of prune juice.

'We're suppose to fight alongsuh-side the Neo Sensuh-shi,' Mamoru
muttered in blurred tones. Adolphus blinked, realizing just how shoddy
his Japanese was.

"I would ask ye to repeat that undeterminable statement, but it hits
mine ear like a stone. It seems my Japanese bites the bitter tail of a
serpent."

Natole nodded agreement. Mamoru could not restrain his guttural,
uneven chuckle. He shook his head loosely.

"Oh yeah? Looks like yuh-you need to fix up yer Japanese..." he
grinned foolishly. "Listen harder and you might even..."

Adolphus gazed at him disdainfully, certain the remainder of his
sentence made as much sense as the beginning of it. He made several
obscure gestures, and murmured something under his breath.

"That may raise thy spirit," he offered as Mamoru felt his head clear
of the thick, noxious cloud culled from his consciousness. "And bar
thy tongue."

"Oh geez!" Mamoru gasped, mortified by his attitude while intoxicated.
"Sorry."

"Forgive ye I can, as thy words have caused no offense. Best ye be
wary of indulgences ye may embark upon, as they may cause between us
an unbridgeable rift."

"Uh, hai," he replied with an embarrassed expression. "Don't you never
get drunk?"

"Nay. Such powerful drinks as that be not kind to mine magic, so I
rarely partake of them. Now, do tell us more of the expectation that
we should abandon our dearly beloved to a villain who may certainly
reduce them to slivers of unsightly flesh?"

Hanlan gave a deep grunt, setting his bottle down firmly.

"Geez, nice'n poetic, but a little much for my stomach." He absently
summoned a triple bladed dagger and began in repetition an ad-libbed
kata between both hands. "I'll tell ya I don't like the idea of my
babe being sliced to ribbons, or vaped, or whatever. But she said
she'd summon me if she figured she was outclassed."

Mamoru shared a 'do you believe this guy?' glance with Adolphus.
Hanlan looked perturbed.

"What? I trust her."

"Hanlan, it's not a matter of trust," Mamoru explained with some
unease. "I know Makoto, I know all of them. It's not their habit to
plan a battle. Most of the time they don't get the chance. They won't
think to summon us until it's too late. Even now, Usagi's not that
thoughtful," he observed with all due tact. "She trusts Ami's idea
that we won't work well until we've been together longer. Which makes
no sense to me."

"Clarify, please," the half giant requested politely.

"Something about our ability to work as a team. I'm not entirely sure
of the exact mechanics. It really doesn't matter, because I've got
other ideas. You see, I figure the Neo Senshi and the CSM will manage
just fine without us."

"Mamoru, please, what be a 'CSM'?" Adolphus requested gently.

"'Coalition Society 'o Mutants'," Hanlan interjected. "Basically
they're humans wit' powers who hadda hide from the military they lived
in. The Coalition don't like D-bees - huh, Dimensional Beings, I mean
- too much, an' don't like humans with strange powers neither." He
took a lively gulp of his drink. "Oh, an' D-Bees 'er anything that
comes outta the rifts. Like Makoto. Only, most times they ain't so
damned stunnin' - if ya dig."

Apparently elven wine turned the normally silent powerhouse in a
running spring of words.

"I see," he drawled shortly with an arched eyebrow, divining of his
own wit what Hanlan was attempting to relay to him. "Be they appointed
to the main force? How many number they?"

"Eighty-seven at last count," offered a slightly unfamiliar voice.
Mamoru leaned back and craned his head towards the brown haired human
metamorphosed from silver tail dragon.

"The real powerhouse joins us," he grinned, shifting himself over as
Carl pulled up another seat, which he perched in reversed.

"I see only one of you I do not recognize. You would be?"

"Natole Shard."

"Husband to Ami Mizuno Shard. I see. I am Carl Silver. It is good to
make your aquiantence."

Natole's thick forehead creased briefly in thought.

"Aye. I know you also."

Carl handed him a curious glance.

"You are Silver Tail, no? Perhaps also Dr. Carl Silver?"

Carl smiled simply.

"I am. Your wit does you more credit than do all social accounts."

"Thank you, Silver One."

Carl nodded curtly.

"So where are we?"

Mamoru blinked himself from distant thoughts.

"Discussing how best to protect the women we love behind their backs.
Any suggestions?"

"Bondage," Hanlan grinned.

"Besides that," he sighed. "There's got to be..."

"Reason will serve us not," Natole urged. "They are not flexible."

"Not that is makes any bloody sense," Carl interjected. "I really
don't know what Ami's thinking."

"They died once y'know. Did Mina tell ya that?"

"No, she hasn't. She's been very quiet about her past with me."

Hanlan shrugged.

"I jus' really think she jus' don't wanna have us get snuffed too.
Scares the living crap outta me thinkin' they could get nailed. I
flippin' can't blame 'er for worryin'!"

"All the more reason to work together," he affirmed.

"Ah, but I know they be not all inflexible to our well intentioned
concerns," Adolphus deterred. "None of ye know, but my raven was
pregnant before Usagi sought to approach Uraki-Ayo. T'was our concern
she would yet suffer the death of our unborn child. Yet, God acts in
ways beyond our conception. Rei gained powers to cancel magic, and
repel all damage. It was all I could do to reach her mind by intent of
heart and the greatest spell of my knowledge and power."

Pausing at the unbelief and gaping jaws at his revelation, Adolphus
took a moment to consider his next words. The urgent silence rampaged
hungrily for several moments more.

"A gift of broach links me to her by means of spell," he concluded.
"No other spell I have woven matches it. None may ever. So, my
friends, by adversity's dire touch, we stand on stone, not clay."

"So basically you can ask her to teleport us to them," Mamoru chimed.

"Mayhap. Though she shined a wit of doubt upon that reasoning,"
Adolphus replied. "She promised that only I could be summoned, as her
significant other. So difficult is it that only the binding of thy
hearts allows it."

"I think you've hit something," Carl pointed out. "Most of us here are
telepathically linked pretty tightly to our wives. If we can use that,
perhaps by enhancing that link with a spell. Adolphus, you and I are
the only mages here. We'll have to..."

"Silver One," Natole spoke, his bassoon tones rumbling through each
man. "I know your skill, yet you know not mine. I am far from a
master, but my skill is enough..." he raised his thick hand, in which
a small plume of flame appeared. It danced there for several moments,
while the remaining four gazed on entranced, as if never having seen
such a thing before. With a bow of head, the flame died, washing out
as if attacked by a solitary - and very accurate - burst of wind.
"Aye?"

"Hai," Carl's face selected a - "damn, I goofed" smile - and wore it.
"Allow me to apologize, my gifted friend. Any efforts you can put
forward will be greatly appreciated. So, just who of us is linked to
their girl telepathically?"

"Holy hell," Hanlan laughed. "Me. Can't admire another girl without
her knowin'. Not that I've done it really since marryin' Mako. Never
thought I'd hear m'self say that one."

Adolphus, Carl, Mamoru, and Natole all nodded.

"Used t'be I had a different girl every month. Clients, y'know. Now...
man, she's all I need. All I frickin' want. It's weird, but man, I
think I'm winnin' pretty frickin' big..." he grinned, his muscular
frame warming with reflection upon the unending passion of her
all-consuming love, the physical and the emotional.

"I didn't used to be psychic, but ever since becoming an Earth
Child... I just, um, have been," Mamoru shrugged. "All I get right now
is a black wall, and it's really unsettling. I'm so used to just
feeling her psychic presence I nearly forgot about it. Until now."

The other men nodded soberly.

"Mind powers are not part of me," Natole literally elaborated. "But
since my dawn's transformation into an angel, her thoughts are an open
book to me. So is her heart. My soul aches without her."

"But you can't talk to her with your mind?" Carl asked, sipping an
oddly discoloured drink.

Natole shook his block-like head.

"Well, you know me, and what I am. So for us it's a two way psionic
street," Carl began. "But you know what I don't get? I was never
interested in human women. Not for more than the occasional fling,
right? Now Minako comes along, and somehow she's more attractive to me
than my own kind? That I just don't understand."

Silence permeated the room, the outright awkwardness restraining all
comment. Hanlan's grin rampaged unfaded as he failed to register
Carl's words, his mind still dwelling upon his angelic mate.

"Natole, you won't have any more a problem reaching Ami than any of us
will. I'll teach you a spell that will compensate for your lack of
psionic ability."

"Thank you, Silver One."

"Carl. Call me Carl," he sighed. "We're on equal terms here.
Understand?"

"Aye."

"Okay..." Mamoru started after several moments. "So we're settled
then?"

"Aye!"

"Hai!"

"Yeah!"

"Aye!"

---

"No Luna. There is an epicenter of energy here. We should be able to
follow it to Xalia, and to Uraki-Ayo." She turned and gestured for
them to follow as she proceeded warily forth. The going, uneasy,
anxietous, fearful, but swift, sure, and well lit.

The great tunnels gave way to a cathedral, which seemed to have no
ceremony in the transition. The fourteen foot walls contained no more
than ionic columns, and great venomous statues of what appeared to be
the five Inner Senshi. It was to their disdain that they had been
portrayed as villains within the NegaVerse's society. To Ami it came
as no surprise:

'We have defeated them at every turn. How easy it must be to paint us
as such witless creatures - more power than brains,' she began. 'Give
them an image, and they will hate.'

They regarded the statues for a time. It wasn't that the renditions
were not attractive; it was, rather, that they were much too. They
were presented as scantily clad, overzealous, and excessively
passionate - and physically proportioned - creatures who didn't seem
to care much what it was they were doing, as long as they were doing
something destructive.

It was enough to turn the stomach, Minako admitted.

'We shouldn't stop,' Usagi stated. There were several nods. For some
minutes they traveled in uncomfortable silence.

'Usagi,' Artemis quested. 'Should we return - afterwards?'

'No!' she snapped, whirling to face him abruptly. 'No. That won't...
Just get Xalia back home. Heal her, then help the Neo Senshi. I have a
feeling they'll need it.'

His replied nod was solemn.

---

'They come,' her voice resounded sharply from the pulsing multi-toned
walls.

'Hai, my Queen.'

'Is that all? You hold now the power within you to shatter the very
essence of life. And that is all you offer?'

'I have so little to offer, my Queen. Forcing them to witness the
death of the girl will only slight emotions.'

'Precisely. It will force them to expend valuable energy. Do it...
face them, and disperse their "champion"...' she laughed, an echoing,
throaty thing that chilled the soul to the core.

---

'Wait!' she stopped, spreading her arms. 'I sense something!'

A flickering multifaceted figure washed into their reality. He gazed
at Usagi ominously.

'I consider it most remarkable that I should face you in this manner.
While I have watched you, and known your trials, deserved though they
may be, it is most amazing to me that you have become a threat to my
success. Your will for survival impresses me. As does hers.' A
battered, bloodied and nude winged young woman blurred into focus
before them. 'She represents but a silver of the cost...'

Xalia's eyes snapped open in fatigued horror as a dozen white motes
fluttered about her body, which slowly drew itself into transparency.

'I'm suh-sorry Usa-sa-gi...' heaved between ragged breaths.

'Senshi!' Usagi charged. 'Unite!'

A vibrant aura of tranquil energy gripped the five angelic warriors,
while a tendril like mass sought Xalia's jerking form. Uraki-Ayo
uttered a gasp, tensing as he realized they were interceding!

'Impossible!'

'No. Nothing is. Haven't you learned that by now?' Usagi hissed. Xalia
fell forward into Rei's open arms as the dark force released her. All
but the most severe damage had been repaired in a tremulous instant.

'You are out of your league foe,' Makoto declared assuredly.

'We shall see!' he roared quietly as he retreated. 'Come! Waste no
more! We will end it!'

Usagi squinted, affixing the source in her mind, waving for Luna and
Artemis to depart.

"We can't leave the Princess now,' Luna pined to Artemis. 'We may
never see her again!'

Usagi halted and turned, the chord struck within an earnest, fearsome
thing.

'Luna, it is a matter of duty. Xalia is dying!' she gently, but
urgently replied.

Luna was respectfully silent. She bowed deeply, then, grasping hands
with Artemis, who held Xalia, was gone.

---

The darkness failed to bother her. It was their presence.
Overwhelming, the stench of them, the rigorous earthy odor. The cold,
wet, and clammy lengths of snake-like flesh prodded her, caressed her
intimately, roaming across her exposed breasts...

'N-ya! Taruko-kun! Help!!' she wailed in fragrant Japanese to her
earless tormentors.

"Hold her!" a voice commanded sternly. "I du'na know what she be
fightin', but she'll make it mighty worse in a blink!"

Artemis took hold of her left wing and arm while Demelza held her
legs, and Luna seized the remaining limbs. Each struggled against her
thrashing mutant-augmented strength. The moist muscles drew taut at
her wrists and ankles, pulling them apart. Fear drove, tears sprang,
strength peaked...

Artemis, Luna, and Demelza found themselves slumped in painful heaps
as Xalia's superhuman strength threw them like rag dolls against the
nearest walls. Demelza groaned, feeling a numbness running through her
shoulder blades. Her prosthetic lower leg bellowed in rising spikes of
flaring pain at her. She staggered numbly to her feet, leaning heavily
upon the table on which the patient tossed.

There was only one answer.

:Xalia!:

The innately skilled training healer fell back in utter horror, then
stumbled forward and regurgitated in gasping heaves.

"Dem-chan!" Luna cried. "Are you okay?"

"In her m-mind," Demelza stammered in a rasping voice, eyes clenched
shut, hands jammed against her body in a defensive posture. "In her
mind..."

"What? What's happening to her?" Artemis quested fearfully.

"Rape."

The two lovers' eyes set upon Xalia's shifting figure, and indeed, she
twisted to avoid something it was plain she could not, her mouth
gaping open, knees spread, hands laying as if pinned in place.

"What?" Luna breathed, her chest heaving as she gasped against her own
tears, knowing she was needed, and struggling to restrain them.
Artemis held his stony silence, a mix of anger and puzzlement upon his
hard, angular features. Demelza slowly rose, her face scarlet by her
fearsome sympathy, her mouth dry and sour.

She glanced at Luna, who shook her head, indicating that she
understood well enough. Artemis, despite his solid founding, admitted
a lack thereof with a softening of his rigid features.

Demelza took his hand and placed it upon the girl's sweating forehead.

Reality took a powder.

Xalia, pinned down by innumerable lengths of tubular flesh, shuddered
and screamed at the incomprehensible sexual assault. The knotting
about her breasts, the movement between her taut thighs. Artemis
retreated his hand and staggered back, a cold, dark creature in his
gut.

"How can we help her?"

"By pullin'er from the mem'ry," Demelza fumed. "I need ya t' help me
Artemis. Luna, I need you to watch 'er... if ya can't feel 'er pulse,
then I need ya t' bring us out."

"How?"

"Slap me. Hard. This is more important than a bruise 'er two."

Luna could not mistake the seriousness of the instruction, and so she
nodded understanding.

"If I don't come to first time, y'must hit me again. Got it? I'm the
anchor, an' we'll have plenty o' trouble if I don' wake from the
trance."

"Hai," Luna said resolutely.

Demelza had experience, fortunately. The trick was to make yourself
immune to the threat. Easy for a well-trained psychic. Flying was a
new experience, one she could dare become accustomed to. The force
barriers, on the other hand, took a bit of work, though they proved to
ward the attacking creature without fail.

At least, until they had to retrieve Xalia's psionic core.

:Xalia!; she tried. The young woman's demeaned groans were shut out by
the trained healer's psychic reflexes. Being so close, forget hearing
the event, had Demelza exceedingly nervous as was. Xalia was literally
overwhelmed. With a stern regard and clenched teeth, Demelza pointed
at Xalia.

He nodded, retracting his barrier enough to reach for her. He
undertook the unspoken task of removing the numberless attackers, but
found they replaced each other. In utter loathing, he recoiled,
turning up his defenses, and returning to Demelza, who bowed her head
sorrowfully.

:I'm sorry, Dem-chan; Artemis stated. :I can't remove them without
seriously hurting her:

:Forget it. You tried. My turn:

Trembling of body, stammering of will, she approached with fear of
similar experience. Then, all at once, rage collected, she, in one
motion retracted her barrier and grabbed Xalia's dislocated right arm.
As she did...

... Luna gasped, catching the limp robed form of the young English
healer.

"Demelza?"

Demelza blinked, then felt her eyes gradually wandering open.

"Hai. Xalia, is she...?"

"Calm," Artemis reported, rubbing the back of his head as he recovered
his footing.

"Good. Get my herb satchel, hurry!"

Without undue prompting, Luna was gone. Demelza took hold of Xalia's
shoulder and relocated it with a deft, dull crack.

"Grab that blanket."

Artemis' hand moved without direction. Demelza began tearing the
scraps of Xalia's clothes from her badly brutalized body.

"Demelza, may I ask..."

"What?" she replied distractedly.

"Why that? It was so difficult for Luna to heal from the pain of her
assault. With this... I cannot imagine." He watched the white blanket
slipped over Xalia's nude form, noting the dislocation of her hips.

"You are a man, you never could."

"I felt her thoughts..." he replied defensively.

"An' that means what? Artemis, there be naught to squall over here. You
are a good, trustworthy man. Yours is a blessed marriage."

"Thank you, Dem-chan."

"As for the..." she hesitated a half instant. "I said it t'was mem'ry,
aye? Obviously what he did to her."

"Uraki-Ayo."

"Aye. I've had the misfortune to see this b'fore. Re-triggerin' the
mem'ry does more damage, if ya gather my meanin'."

Artemis expressed further lack of understanding.

"Artemis, this was real. Only two things keep 'er alive: Her
Knighthood, and the power of your angel friend Usagi."

"But what about her betrayal?"

"What of it? 'Er heart remained strong and pure. I guess," Demelza
paused, her expression stern as she prepared a rich, foul smelling
salve from the materials at hand, "someone up there decided she should
live."

"So he put her back in the memory in a final effort to crush her
spirit," Luna noted angrily as she placed the herbs in front of
Demelza.

She only nodded.

"Now... enough chatter. I want you to fetch Hysian, and Luna, use your
best psionic healing tricks. She'll never have kids if we don' get
crackin'..."