Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Crystal Dreams ❯ Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Approximately four days out from the point where their transportation had quit, Serin was getting worried, and Jupiter was getting irritated.

'Just like a man to fail to bring a map along,' she thought nastily. 'Just when I think that I've found the perfect guy, he pulls some stupid stunt like this. For all I know, we could die out here in these Moon-forsaken wastelands.'

Makoto's reverie was brought short by Serin sighing in annoyance, then shaking his head as he wearily put down his pack. "I don't see anything yet, so we might as well pitch camp."

Makoto gave a noncommittal grunt, then set her pack down as well, rummaging through for some food. With a sinking heart, she noted that they were down to a single can of rations, and one canteen of water. When she pointed this out to Serin, he shrugged.

"Go ahead and take the food, Mako-san. We can worry about the water later." So saying, he pulled out his broadsword, and began doing an energetic, yet complex kata.

Makoto idly picked at the food, not feeling quite right at eating while he starved. She glanced up at him, but knew that if she offered it, he'd give some lame excuse like, 'I don't need that much food,' or 'You're more important to Crystal Tokyo's survival,' or some other nonsense. She had long since grown tired of fighting with him. Rarely had she met someone so stubborn…

'Unless you count Rei,' and Makoto had to giggle at that. In a lot of ways, Serin did in fact remind her of her comrade…and she was filled with a new flood of concern for her friends, hoping against hope that they were all right. Moments later, her hunger hit her full force, and she literally devoured her food. After a brief talk with Serin (mostly along the lines of, 'Are you sure it's this way?' 'Yes, I'm positive.'), she wrapped the cloak that she'd brought along around her, and dozed off.

What couldn't have been more than a few minutes later, she woke up to her body feeling like it was in a freezer. She felt and heard the wind as it whipped around her, dragging its icy fingers across her body. She shivered, and tried to wrap the cloak around her tighter, when she noticed something else draping across her: a heavy blanket, made for nights like this back before the Cataclysm. She blinked, then stiffened as she felt someone slip under the blanket with her, forgetting that she and Serin were the only ones around. She rolled over in an instant to see who it was, and ended up planting her lips full on Serin's.

For a moment, neither of them moved, both just enjoying this simple kiss, before they reluctantly broke it off at the same time. Serin looked back at her with the same expression of shock that Makoto knew she was wearing.

"Ah…Mako-chan, I…" Serin mumbled, then blushed a crimson red.

"Serin-kun…" Makoto whispered, and reached out underneath the blanket to wrap her arms around him, cuddling up close to him. Nervously, he wrapped his arms around her, and for the first time since Serenity's 'change', Makoto felt truly safe. She looked up at Serin, not at all surprised to see him gazing down at her, a smile on his face. She returned the smile, then got an impish grin on her face as she kissed him again. This time, Serin returned it eagerly, and smiled through the kiss, as he tickled Makoto in her ribs.

To his delight, she squealed, and tried to bat his hands away. They were instantly reminded of why they were so close when a blast of cold air found its way into a hole in their covering, and they quickly moved back together, the blanket wrapped tightly around them. With a beatific smile on her face, Makoto fell asleep instantly.

--------------------------------------------------------------- -----------

Makoto woke to feel a sharp nudge in her ribs. The pain alone was enough to get her attention, but when the nudge returned, she jerked upright with a look of anger on her face…and then blinked in astonishment.

While they had been sleeping, a group of warriors dressed in a ragtag assortment of scavenged armor had surrounded them, and were now rummaging through their supplies. Makoto reached down into her pants pocket, relieved to find that her henshin stick was still on her. She briefly considered transforming, but decided against it. Whoever these guys were, they wouldn't be too impressed at seeing a Guardian of Crystal Tokyo, especially considering that if push came to shove, she really didn't want to use her powers against humans.

As she slowly came to her feet, she saw Serin getting into a loud argument with who was apparently the party's leader, due to his headdress. Serin shouted loudly at the leader, who appeared to be unimpressed. Almost as an afterthought, Makoto was shocked to see that the party leader was wearing Serin's sword.

"Do you speaka English?" Serin shouted slowly, unnecessarily enunciating each word. "Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?" he added, pointing to it for more emphasis. The leader smirked, barked some orders to his men (Makoto wasn't surprised to find out that it was indeed a language she had never heard), and one of the men behind him moved forward, indicating with his spear point for Serin to step aside. Serin blinked, looked at the spear point, then looked back up at the men with an expression of barely controlled annoyance. Grabbing the point, he shoved it aside, stating, "Point that thing somewhere else, baka."

The leader blinked, then stepped forward on his own, and shoved Serin aside. He, of course, took great exception to this, and reached out, grabbed the chief's arm, and gave a sharp twist. The resulting 'crack' was hard to miss.

Almost instantly, the chief screamed, and shouted some more commands, still in that weird language. Two of the burliest members of the group stepped forward, and Serin casually rammed his foot into one's knee, taking him down, before the other hit Serin from behind, staggering him.

Makoto just acted, at that point. Picking up a rock, she hefted it, got a good bead on her target, and let fly. The stone sailed through the air, and connected with a solid 'thunk' against the brute's skull, sending him crashing to the ground. This, however, did nothing for Serin, who was now underneath a pile of about four more warriors who were doing their best to restrain him.

Makoto ran toward her companion to help, but before she could get two steps, a hand suddenly closed on her wrist. Using her momentum as leverage, she slid underneath her captor, and yanked hard, forcing him into a type of forward somersault. The technique had its desired effect, and he lost his grip. Makoto then found her way blocked by two more warriors, and suddenly she was tired of games. She smiled disarmingly at them, then kicked one, two in the groin. Instantly they went down, but before she could go any further, she felt a sharp bite in her neck. Reaching back, she pulled out a tranquilizer dart, and had just enough consciousness left to realize what that meant before she let the darkness take her under…

--------------------------------------------------------------- -----------

"…She alright?"

"…Feel like hell…"

"…at's all, relax…"

"…Up, Mako-chan, wake…"

"Mako-chan, can you hear me? Wake up."

Makoto blinked as she slowly opened her eyes then quickly shut them again.

"Ngh…did some psycho hit me with a baseball bat after I went down?" she asked, as she grabbed her head, trying without success to massage some relief into it.

Unseen by her, Serin shook his head. "Nah. Near as I can tell, that's the aftereffect of the drug they used to knock us out."

Makoto slowly sat up, holding her head in both hands, half-afraid that it would fall off otherwise. "Where are we, anyway?"

A new voice piped up. "As near as I can tell, we're in a mountain complex. It was probably a network of mines before these people converted it."

Makoto glanced around the room in confusion, before she realized that she and Serin were the only ones in the cell. Glancing at her companion, she asked, "Who said that?"

Serin jerked his head behind him, at a blank expanse of wall. "The guy next door. He says they brought him in about five minutes before we woke up. I think he's full of it, because he didn't get tranqed, too."

The new voice replied, "If you had gone along quietly with them, they wouldn't have tranqed you, either." The voice turned sheepish, at this point. "Of course, I didn't have much choice, seeing as how they caught me with my guard down."

Makoto's eyes narrowed, and she walked over to the wall. "I've heard your voice before. Who are you?"

"Ah, Guardian Jupiter. I thought that was you. I trust other than this…'mishap', everything is well?"

Serin blinked, then spoke up. "Guardian? You must be mistaken, she's no Guardian."

There was no mistaking the amusement in the man's voice now. "Oh, you don't have to play innocent with me. We're all on the same side here…Serin."

Serin recoiled in shock, and traded looks with Makoto. 'How the hell did he know my name?!?' "Who are you?"

"Well, I don't see how it could hurt…my name is Sephiroth."

Makoto nodded slowly, her lips pursed. "I knew I'd heard your voice before. What brings you out here? Did Serenity send you out here?"

A faint whisper of movement implied a shrug. "She did, and she didn't. Though she doubtlessly expects me to destroy you when I find you, that's not my goal."

Serin leaned against the bars of their cell, and looked over in the direction that Sephiroth's voice came from. "Oh, really? Then what is your goal?"

A faint sigh accompanied Sephiroth's next statement. "I want to help you. I want to stop Serenity from destroying this world."

--------------------------------------------------------------- -----------

Before Serin or Makoto could say anything in response to that statement, their door opened, and two guards entered, both with small sidearms leveled at them. One barked an order, and a third stepped in with two pairs of ancient handcuffs. He began stepping towards Serin with them.

Serin, of course, backed up, shaking his head. "No way, pal. You may get those on me, but you'll pay a hefty price for it."

The third turned to the others, and appeared to ask a question. The answer he got seemed to satisfy him and both guards turned their guns on Makoto.

"Serin, they said that if you resist, the girl dies," Sephiroth piped up.

Surprised, he called back; "You can understand them?"

"Certainly. It was part of my studies, to learn as many languages as I could. Though I could be mistaken on some words, since they appear to have an accent I've never encountered, that statement was 100% on the mark, I believe."

Serin gritted his teeth at that. "I'd say so, since they just started pointing their guns at Mako-chan." Slumping his shoulders in a posture of defeat, he turned to look at Makoto with an apologetic expression. He was surprised to see her smirk and wink at him in return, but any questions were erased from his mind as the lone warrior applied the handcuffs to Serin's wrists. Within moments, he placed the remaining pair on Makoto's wrists, and shoved the two towards the door. The first two guards calmly kept their weapons pointed at their prisoners, and the cool look in their eyes assured Serin that they would have no problem shooting if they had to. Stepping through the door, he was surprised to see that a third prisoner was joining them.

"Long time, no see, Sephiroth," Serin remarked coolly. The general smirked in response.

"Indeed. I'm glad that the two of you are alive and well, however."

Makoto stepped beside them, sticking close to Serin as their group, guards and all, began to move. "Sephiroth, what's going on?"

The warrior's expression changed to a grimace as he inhaled deeply. "From what I gather, they are taking us to their leader's court for judgment. He will determine whether we are guilty of crimes against the Desert Fox clan."

Serin's shoulders slumped upon hearing those words. "And without being able to speak in our defense, we're history."

Sephiroth shook his head. "Nonsense. I'll speak for the two of you as well as myself."

"Why?" Makoto asked, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. "How do we know you won't just blame everything on us, leaving you to get off scot-free?"

"Trust me," was his simple reply. His eyes lit up, as he returned his attention to her. "Oh, one other thing: your friends are all right for the moment."

"'For the moment'? What do you mean?" Makoto demanded.

"I don't know all the details, but apparently Serenity is saving them for some sort of ceremony to be held in about ten days. She also wants you to be captured by then, so until you are in her custody, and ten days have elapsed, your friends are fine," Sephiroth stated.

Makoto turned her gaze to the floor. "Ten days…and who knows how long it will be before we get out of here…"

Before anything more could be said between the trio, they had suddenly arrived in the court.

Serin was amazed at the sheer size of everything, and spent a brief moment studying his new surroundings in awe. He remembered in one of his history classes a series of mentions about the Coliseum, and figured that if it were underground, this would be a dead ringer for it. It also seemed to be filled to capacity, since the seats were filled all the way back and up to the ceiling. Each individual began booing and hissing as soon as Serin and his two companions became visible, and the guards shoved them forward to stand before what appeared to be an open-air press box. Sephiroth was the first to look up and see an old man stand and calmly gaze down at them, with his eyes blazing with righteous fury.

Raising his arm, the people present instantly quieted, and he slowly, passionately, began making a speech. The others listened quietly at first, and when the elder pounded a fist on the railing, his listeners leapt to their feet, and roared with obvious approval. Serin turned to Sephiroth just in time to hear Makoto ask him, "Did you understand that?"

Sephiroth shook his head. "Not good. We are now to undergo a 'trial by combat', in which we fight their champion one-on-one in a fight to the death. And from his apparent confidence…" and at this, Sephiroth bit his lower lip, "I'd say our chances just went south real fast."

Behind him, Serin and the others heard a door open noisily on rusty hinges. All three turned to look in that direction, just in time to see a young, powerfully built man, clad in a blue gi, step into the coliseum, to the roars and cheers of those present. He smiled to the people, waved briefly, and then turned a stern countenance to the prisoners. Raising one finger, he immediately pointed at Serin and beckoned him forward.

Serin glanced back at his friends, only to find that the guards had already herded them off to the side. Looking down at his binders, he shouted at his opponent: "Nice, fair fight! Whatdya expect me to do with these on, huh?"

The young warrior tilted his head, then stepped forward, and ripped the handcuffs off of Serin's wrists without so much as a flicker of pain or effort. This reinforced one critical point in Serin's mind: he and his companions were in a real SNAFU.

--------------------------------------------------------------- -----------

It took all of Makoto's strength of will not to fight back against the guards as they pulled her and Sephiroth to the side for the first trial to begin. As they watched Serin ease into a combat stance, she whispered to Sephiroth, "I've got my henshin pen in my pants pocket. Should I use it now?"

Sephiroth shook his head. "No, not yet. The time for that will come soon enough."

A roar of approval cut her off before she could ask Sephiroth what he meant, and she turned back to the arena to see Serin get dealt a heavy blow to the gut which sent him sailing back about ten feet. Though he managed to roll with the blow, as he struggled to his feet, it was obvious that he had been seriously hurt.

Turning back to Sephiroth, Makoto was about to demand an explanation why she couldn't transform now, only to find him staring intently at a section of the bleachers. Following his gaze, she noticed a rather large cloaked and hooded figure following the whole proceedings intently. As she watched, it placed one hand on the railing, revealing its skin to be…

"Dirt?" Makoto was dumbfounded. She caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye, and saw that Serin had managed to get several good licks in on his 'prosecutor'. This, however, only served to anger his opponent, as he roared with rage, unleashing a barrage of punches and kicks that Serin could not even hope to block. Before long, Serin was catapulted through the air, and crashed just underneath the balcony. Struggling to get to his feet, he winced in pain and grabbed his side.

'Damn, I think that last hit broke a few of my ribs.' he thought. He was about to prepare himself to go down in a blaze of glory, when a loud 'CRASH' sounded from the other end of the arena. Serin vaguely noticed that both he and his opponent were looking in that direction, just in time to see a monstrosity lumber into the arena.

Hunched over on four legs (or two legs and arms, however you wanna look at it), the figure was absolutely HUGE. It had approximately four tentacles waving about, and a face that was rotting and grinning like that of a scarecrow. Moreover, if Serin didn't know better, he'd swear that its skin was…dirt?

This barely registered in his mind as the dirt-monster raced forward towards him, crushing several people desperately trying to get out of its way. Serin grabbed the other warrior and leapt aside, wincing again in fresh pain as his ribs groaned in protest then, and once more on the landing. From behind him, he heard the creature slam into the arena wall again, causing several of the upper structures to fall, including the balcony. Gasping in horror, Serin saw that the old man from before and a woman were still in there, as it began to fall. Jumping to his feet, Serin failed to take two steps before he doubled over in pain as his ribs duly reminded him that he was not going anywhere. Glancing up, he saw a black and silver streak arrow through the air, neatly grabbing the couple and depositing them a safe distance away from the rampaging monster. The couple, not surprisingly, took this opportunity to run.

At this point, the creature managed to back out of the rubble, and turned to regard his new target. Grinning even wider, he rasped, "Well, Sephiroth, it seems that I'll have to clean up the mess you made, now doesn't it?"

Sephiroth frowned, somehow appearing menacing even without his Masamune. "The only mess that will need cleaning up is your body off of the ground, Milon. Tell Serenity that we will stop her from this course of madness."

Milon laughed at that. "Oh, really? Well, what are you going to do when you're dead, eh?"

A blur of movement saved Sephiroth from having to respond, but the end result was undeniable: his Masamune sword was now in his hand. Slowly grinning at the Earth Fiend, Seph beckoned him forward. "You want to find out? Come, then!"

Milon was dumbfounded. How in Lunaria had this fool gotten his weapon back? So intent was he on figuring out that question that the words, "Sparkling Wide Pressure!" didn't register until he was rocked back on his heels by a discus made entirely of lightning. Turning in rage, he was naturally shocked to discover that Guardian Jupiter had transformed.

'BLAST these simpleton barbarians!' Milon thought to himself furiously. 'I should have known that they wouldn't be able to search someone efficiently!'

Behind him, Serin regarded this turn of events with a sort of awe. Glancing around for a weapon of his own, his search was cut short by the gladiator from before standing before him, holding out two items to him. One was his broadsword, which had been taken earlier by the scout party he and Makoto were captured by. The other was of little importance to Serin (a glass vial with a bluish liquid inside), so he ignored it. Grabbing his sword, Serin dropped into a combat stance, only to be assaulted anew by a wave of gut-wrenching soreness. Moaning softly, he tried to stay upright, and found it easier than expected. Dimly, through the haze of pain, he saw his former opponent pouring the contents of the vial into his mouth, as he could do little in protest…

…And suddenly, the haze cleared. Serin jerked fully upright, and twisted his body around, noting that his ribs felt fully healed, too. Turning his attention to the warrior, he nodded his thanks, then started to head off and join his comrades when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning back, Serin saw the warrior gesture at each of his companions, then to himself, and finally drew a line across his throat after pointing at Milon. Serin glanced back and forth between the martial artist and the Fiend, then asked; "You want a piece of him, too?"

The man nodded, a predatory grin crossing his face.

Serin grinned in reply, then stated, "You're welcome to him, but it might help if we had a name to go with your face, donchya think?"

The man slowly nodded, then spoke one word: "Ryuhi."

Serin stuck out one hand, and hesitantly, as if unsure what to do with it, Ryuhi took it, the pair shaking on their newly forged bond. Readying himself again for battle, Serin grinned at Milon, and whispered words too faint for the Earth Fiend to hear: "Time to kick some ass, and to hell with taking names."