Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Crystal Dreams ❯ Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

After several minutes of flight took them beyond the range of the Desert Fox Clan's stronghold, Ryuhi asked his three comrades to join him up on deck. This, unfortunately, had the effect of making Jupiter stumble over to the railing, coughing, and dry heaving. Even though Ryuhi suggested that they move back below decks, the senshi waved her hand and stood, though she appeared a bit green. Once she had recovered from her initial fit, Ryuhi apologized to all of them.

"I'm sorry for causing you so much distress during this time. I had to ensure that you were the ones I was told about before I could make my move."

Serin and the others frowned in puzzlement at this, but Makoto was the first to speak, albeit with hesitation, and frequent deep breaths. "Told about? Someone knew about us this whole time?"

Ryuhi nodded. "Yes, he was a traveling wizard who visited with us occasionally. The Elders only tolerated his presence because none of us could get close enough to do anything to him. That magic of his was really something. In return, he helped us get some supplies that we never would have gotten otherwise. This airship, for example, is one such item we were able to build with his help. At any rate, it was he who took me aside and told me of your coming." At this, he chuckled. "I must admit, I was getting a bit impatient. It was a year ago that he told me about this, and I was beginning to wonder if that wizard was pulling a prank on me."

Makoto nodded slowly, her eyes narrowed as if she knew what was coming next. "This 'wizard'...what was his name?"

Ryuhi pursed his lips in thought, and slowly said, "Urawa...Urawa Ryo was his name...at least, that's what I remember."

Makoto nodded. "So...he survived the Cataclysm, too..."

"Mako-chan, you know him?" Serin queried.

"Yeah, except I never expected to hear his name again. Back before the cataclysm, he and A...uh, Mercury were a real item. They never really got the chance to make things work, though, which was a real shame, since it was obvious they both liked each other. Now, though, I wonder..." Turning back to Ryuhi with another breath, she asked, "Do you know where we can find Urawa?"

The martial artist nodded. "Yes. He told me to take you to a floating city about four hours northwest of here, called Skyhaven, when you arrived."

Both Serin and Makoto registered shock at that statement. "Are you serious? There's an actual floating city?"

Ryuhi nodded, then raised a hand to forestall any further comments. "Before you can even ask, I know nothing about it beyond that fact. You'll have to wait until we get there to ask anything else."

At this point, Sephiroth, who had remained silent until now, spoke up: "Speaking of questions: you said you were waiting to make your 'move'...what exactly was that?"

Ryuhi sighed, and leaned back against the railing as he faced his comrades. "To tell the truth, I had been planning a secession with several others for some time. The Elders' obsession with continually conceding to Neo-Queen Serenity has us on edge. We've learned from Earth's history that this policy of...'appeasement' rarely works. Therefore, we've decided to avoid the mistakes of the past, and take our stand, regardless of what happens."

Sephiroth frowned and asked, "What exactly would your 'stand' consist of?"

Ryuhi smirked, and replied, "After consolidating all the forces and armaments we could, we'd begin a decisive raid on the Crystal Palace...at which point, we'd decide whether to impose our concerns on Serenity...or kill her."

"Hold it, Ryuhi. First things first, we need to get the paladin on our side, and then we need to review our options," Serin commented.

Ryuhi tightened his lips. "Every moment we delay strengthens Serenity's position, and weakens ours. You seem to be forgetting that the main goal of our mission is to stop her madness."

Makoto shivered at Ryuhi's words, which irritated Serin further. With gritted teeth, he stated slowly and deliberately, "Look, muscle head, I'm only going to say this once: Serenity is not at the root of these problems. Therefore, we don't need to worry about whether we're going to 'explain' things to here or else, since she's not the cause."

Ryuhi glanced over each of his 'comrades' briefly, as if weighing whether he could take them out right now. Before the look really registered, though, it passed, and he smiled disarmingly. "Of course," he conceded patronizingly. "At any rate, if you'll excuse me, I'll direct Captain Cid to take us to Skyhaven." With a slightly mocking bow, he turned and exited the deck.

Not more than two seconds had gone by before Sephiroth spoke up. "I don't trust him. He appears to be trouble with a capital T, and his attitude could use some adjustment." That last part was accompanied with Sephiroth gripping his Masamune tightly, as a clear indication of what he would 'adjust' along with the attitude.

"Yeah, I know Sephiroth, but he's the only one who knows where Skyhaven is, for one thing, and for another...well, he could be a useful ally, as well."

Sephiroth snorted at that. "Useful for what? Getting us into trouble? He seems to be quite adept at that, for certain."

Makoto nodded in agreement. "I agree. Added to that is his apparent hatred toward Serenity. I don't know if we should take him along with us any further than necessary...and certainly not to Crystal Tokyo."

Serin raised his hands to speak, and stated, "Look, I know where both of you are coming from, but the fact remains that we need his help. We have no choice but to go along with him, but we can try to minimize whatever damage he might try by keeping an eye on him and making sure we don't leave him in a critical position.

Sephiroth nodded. "Much as I loathe to admit it, I believe that I'm the most qualified for watching him. Shadowing others was part of my basic training from...back when. Maybe at the same time, I can see if this hatred of Neo-Queen Serenity has spread to the entire crew. I'll contact you later." And with that, Sephiroth followed their host's trail down.

Serin turned to look at Makoto in order to excuse himself as well, but stopped short when she grasped him in a firm hug. Surprised, and not knowing what else to do, he merely found himself hugging her back. Moments later, he felt her body shaking, and looked down to see her crying.

"Mako-chan? What's wrong?"

She shook her head, and with a few sniffles, wiped her eyes. "No...Nothing, Serin-kun. It's just that...oh, Serin!" And with that, she let another cry escape her lips, as she collapsed against him, sobbing. "I...I just never thought I'd see you again, and that I never would have the chance to...I...I just couldn't bear the thought..." Turning her face up to him, she smiled brightly through her tears. "And then, all of a sudden, just when I thought it was all over...you showed up out of nowhere, almost like you were my prince coming to save me. It...It just made me realize...how much you mean to me..." At this, her voice failed her, and she merely hugged him tighter.

Serin kissed the top of her head at that, and whispered, "Shh...It's okay, Mako-chan...it's okay, I understand..."

Burying her head in his chest, uncomfortable as it was with the armor plating, she asked, almost hesitantly, "Serin...?"

"Hm?"

"Did...did you mean what you said? Back in there?" Turning her gaze up to his, she had a hopeful, yet fearful, expression on her face. Serin's, in contrast, was a study in neutrality for a few moments, as the only movement from him was his blinking eyes. As the silence stretched longer and longer, the knot in her stomach grew.

Finally, Serin smiled, and before covering her lips with a heartfelt kiss, whispered back, "I love you, Mako-chan. I...feel as though I've always loved you...and I know I always will."

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Only a couple of hours later, Ryuhi strode through the ship with a purposeful, yet unhurried pace, searching for his comrades. After an extensive search, he finally found them on the bridge and got their attention.

"We seem to have a problem."

Serin sighed, "Of course. This was too good to be true..."

"We just picked up a transmission from Old Athens, the capital of Europe. It seems that the water level is rising extremely quickly, and there's a bunch of delegates who need immediate evacuation. Much as the delay annoys me, I already gave the order to change course, as I expected you would demand that we do so once you found out. Therefore, we'll be getting to Skyhaven somewhat later than expected."

Serin narrowed his eyes slightly, but nodded his head regardless. "All right."

As they began to change their course, Makoto gave a sharp intake of breath, which caused both Sephiroth and Serin to sharply turn to look at her. "What is it, Mako-chan?"

Makoto looked at her friends with a look of shock on her face. "I just remembered...Old Athens is where King Endymion and Princess Small Lady were going to attend a peace conference! They're probably trapped there, too!"

Ryuhi pursed his lips, then barked a couple of urgent orders at Cid. Within seconds, he received a reply, and said, "I just asked Cid how much time we could save if we poured all available power into the engines, and he told me that we'd be there within five minutes. Hopefully we won't have any problems before then."

As it turned out, they got their wish. The problems didn't start until they got to their destination.

The first, and most immediate, problem was a group of combat fighters that were swarming over the refugees, who had taken shelter (such as it was) on top of their houses and buildings. Thought the fighters didn't seem to be doing anything beyond buzzing the refugees, Serin and his friends knew that the threat, immediate or not, had to be dealt with. At Ryuhi's command, the airship pulled up almost immediately, and ended up in the midst of the fighter's ranks. The fighters quickly took this opportunity to surround the intruder, and swarmed in to make their attacks.

Serin and the others were ready for them, though, and they each launched their best projectile attacks at the ships when they drew within range. Sephiroth cast his most powerful lightning spell, which was unimaginatively called Bolt 3. Serin began firing the energy bolts from his sword that he had used back in Crystal Tokyo to great effect, and despite her continuing bouts with airsickness, all of Jupiter's attacks brought their opponents down like flies.

By far the most impressive of attacks, though, was Ryuhi's. By clenching his fist and concentrating, he could unleash a blast of chi that resembled an arrow with each punch he threw. Before long, over ninety percent of the invaders were destroyed, and the rest immediately pulled back and retreated. Using what little time they felt they could spare, the four warriors found that aside from some minor scratches on all of them, they were more than capable of getting everyone out of danger.

Thus, attention quickly shifted to getting the people aboard. Within a few minutes, they had over 50 people out of danger, but it seemed like they had twice that many left to go yet. As if that wasn't enough, the water level was steadily rising, and only the highest buildings were still above water. After about half an hour, they finally got everyone on board. As Makoto looked over the people present, she gave them a double-check, and then shouted to Serin, "I can't find Endymion or Small Lady!"

Serin took that opportunity to inspect the crowd himself, and he quickly came to the same conclusion. Getting the attention of the nearest refugee, he asked, "Where's the king and princess?"

The young girl, who had a crescent moon similar to what he had seen on the foreheads of Serenity's advisor's, blinked once, then replied, "When we got to the rooftops, Princess Small Lady wasn't with us, so the King went back into the Senate Hall to find her. We...haven't heard from them since..."

"Where? Where is the hall?"

The girl pointed outside the hatch toward a particular building that was more than three quarters underwater. Even as Serin watched, he saw the water table continuing to rise steadily. By his estimate, he figured it would be completely submerged within ten minutes.

Turning back, he called out, "Mako-chan, Sephiroth! We've gotta hurry!" With that, he jumped out into the water. As soon as he hit the water, his armor plating pulled him under but he was able to quickly break the surface and remain there as his two companions joined him. Just as he was about to lead them to their destination, Ryuhi shouted from the airship, "Shall I come as well?"

Serin looked back up, and answered, "No! Stay with the airship, and make sure you keep any possible reinforcements out of the sky! We should be back in about ten minutes, so make sure you're ready to lift..." Serin broke off as a splash of water grabbed his attention. Turning in that direction, he caught a glimpse of purple clothing before starting in that direction. Jupiter, however, beat him there, and was easily supporting a familiar figure out of the water.

"King Endymion, are you alright?" Jupiter asked frantically. Endymion coughed up several lungfuls of water, then shook his head to get the water out of his short black hair. Blinking a couple of times, he looked at Jupiter, then his eyes widened.

"Jupiter! Thank goodness you're here! We need..." Endymion trailed off as he noticed Sephiroth and Serin treading water nearby. "Wha...?"

"Majesty, we have no time to waste talking." Sephiroth interjected. "Is Princess Small Lady coming with you?"

Endymion shook his head in response.

Sephiroth nodded, then turned back to the airship. "Ryuhi! Get the king on board! We're going after the princess!"

Just as he got an acknowledgement, Endymion reached out to grip his arm. "No."

Serin frowned in confusion. "What do you mean, sir?"

Endymion emphasized, "I am not going to go anywhere until I know that my daughter's safe. I'm coming with you."

Serin started to protest, but then saw the icy look of determination in the king's blue eyes. Shrugging, he nodded, and then Sephiroth relayed the change of plans to their comrades. Ryuhi then shouted something to the swordsman that was too faint for Serin to hear, and tossed something down that Sephiroth caught easily. As he swam back, he passed something to his friends that looked suspiciously like a kazoo...but it went in sideways.

"What's this?" he asked.

"A rebreather. It will allow us to stay under water longer. Ryuhi told me that Cid had just enough time to get them out of storage for us. Good thing we stayed up for a while, hm?" Sephiroth said with a smirk.

Serin nodded, then strapped his apparatus in place, seeing the others following suit. Glancing at everyone and seeing their nods, he quickly jackknifed his body and dove under the water.