Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Alecto's Run ❯ Things Aren't Always What They Appear To Be ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter 8: Things Aren't Always What They Appear To Be

(Completed: May 27,2004)

Yousuke would never be able to live with himself after what he had done to her. She lay in his bed, in an induced sleep from her healing ability. He knew her mind was completely calm, despite having gone through everything she had. The evil within him was going to consume him at any moment and he was putting up mental barriers to ensure that for as long as Yuri needed to heal he would be around. He was losing a fight within himself and knew if Yuri did not do something quickly she would have no choice but to destroy him to stop the evil. He knew of her hidden power, her ultimate form would grant her. The trick was he needed to find that crystal and the sword, without the evil side wanting to use that power.

She slowly opened her eyes, not making a sound, "Yousuke, none of this was your fault."

He raised his head and looked over his shoulder, "You still need sleep, my dear."

She sat up, still in a small degree of pain, and leaned up against the headboard, "I'm fine. Just sore. I've received worse injuries before."

"But not at the hands of me..." he said interrupting then trailing off.

"It wasn't you you injured me like that. You are not fully aware of what you do. I cannot hold you accountable for that. Even our own people would not hold you against what you did, so why must you blame yourself?"

"Our people have no say over us in this system." he said abruptly standing up. He still felt bitter the last few memories he had, "We sacrificed ourselves for them. And we get reborn in a place far from them. As far as they know, we're still dead along with the future of the system." An evil laughter broke in, "If the people had been willing to fight, we would not had to have made that drastic decision."

"You agreed with me to complete the sealing spell! I could have done it on my own!" she then tighten her grip on her ribs, her breathing began to labor once again, and she felt like she was going to pass out from the pain.

"That was the easy way out. If you had died in a battle, it would have been more honorable. You were the heir to the throne, you knew about up holding the honor of your family, of your planet." He looked over at her and his eyes had changed. The evil inside was directly in him due to the hatred of what transpired on the last day of their former lives and the feelings he had on that day was the very thing letting the evil stay alive in him.

"Yousuke, what's wrong with you?! You did the same thing as I did! You can't stand there and tell me these things when you are just as guilty!" she yelled not paying attention to her injury. All she had to do was look in his eyes and she found her answer to why his attitude had changed so suddenly, "I want to leave."

"What kind of man would I be to let you leave in your injured state?" he asked toying with her.

She got up from the bed, still holding onto her ribs, "I will fight my way out if I have to."

"I'd love to see you try. Those ribs of yours still need a good twelve hours more to heal. Even in your senshi form you would be paralyzed by pain. Just stay here and I can make the pain go away. Just say you'll join me once more and I will heal you instantly." he said extending his hand out. One of the missions he had been given was to make sure Alecto was turned evil at all cost. Only she could use her family's crystal, and only her and Yousuke could use the sealing sword. The sword that could forever lock the evil away. As a prince and princess to ensure the spell would last, their lives had to be exchanged, but as king and queen, only their shear will would be needed to ensure the spell lasted. And if one or both were turned evil, their power would increase ten fold. The evil one knew all of this. The spell was still basically intact even after the prince and princess had been dead for some time. However once the prince was reborn, and regained his memories, the evil took advantage of the hatred and regret the prince had from that day.

She slowly stood help, removed her arm from around her ribs and stood there facing him. There was a huge amount of pain, but she wanted, and needed, to show him she would be no push over even in her weakened state.

"Such a gutsy little thing. You stand there without fear. You will not leave unless I wish you to do so."

"Alecto Star Power! Make UP!"

After her henshin she slowly opened her eyes, which showed very little emotion. In her senshi state, there was still some degree of pain, but not nearly as much as in her civilian form. Her duty as a sailor senshi was calling out to her and she had no choice but to answer it.

"You will only further injure yourself should you choose to fight me like this. I do not want to hurt you, as you can tell I am serious from the last injury I gave you. You think I make your man weak. I have made him stronger beyond your own imagining. You always wanted him to be strong."

"You corrupted him. You play on his feelings of regret from that day. Why? You could just come and attack us on your own, why use him?"

He walked up to her and took her chin in his hand and leaned down so he was but an inch from her soft lips, "I can get to you much easier." His voice barely above a whisper, "I can threaten to use him and you will do anything to ensure he does not get hurt. Granted I would never do anything so serious because I have come to enjoy his body. My darling you are the weak one. Your heart is dying of love for him and you try to pull away from me, since it may be me talking, but it is his touch and warmth you feel. Something you always enjoyed."

She pulled her chin away from his hand. She hated he was right about how she responded to him. But since she had been rejected by almost everyone she had ever met in her life, having Yousuke back was a welcome change. He knew her in ways everyone failed to see. She knew that Yousuke felt bad for what she had done on that day so long ago; if he had been able to protect her, have been a better fighter, just have been a tiny bit stronger, maybe she would not have chosen to use the crystal and sealing sword. She had told him it was never his fault that she had chosen to do that.

"I know it is not Yousuke who touches me. I can feel the difference in the warmth. You're evil and I can feel that strongly. You take advantage of him every chance you get." she knew she would repeat herself. Maybe then the creature in her love would feel he had to prove her wrong, "You're a coward. Face me in your own body and then tell me all of these things. You're hiding in the body of another, using that body as a shield."

A cold smirk came across his mouth slowly, "My dear I have been around for years and know when I am trying to be lured out in the open. I will stay in this body since I do not have one of my own. You two destroyed my body on that day."

She looked him in the eye, "I'd do it all again in an instant. Giving my life was a small price to pay to seal you away. I'll do it again in this time. Except you will stay sealed away this time."

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Haruka ran her hand through her hair, and let out a frustrated sigh, "We shouldn't have left her with him. I swear that man should not be trusted with her. Just because he's himself now doesn't mean the threat is gone."

"Haruka, they love each other. Eventually the problem will solve itself or they will figure out a way to. We are so used to protecting our princess, but Yuri is her own princess and is quite capable of protecting herself. She knows we will offer help if she needs it. That should be enough to put you at ease." Michiru glanced over at Haruka with her eyes showing the light from outside, "We are not responsible for her."

She brought her hands to the ten-two position on the steering wheel and just looked at her hands, "She does not know what she is in for. That is what worries me. Our own princess wants her protected, but how are we to explain this?"

"The exact way it happened. She will understand. It is quite confusing to regain all of your memories of your former life and to realize the person you love is now fighting against you convinced that you are on the wrong side. Let us go tell her the news. You are far too worried which will make it so that you cannot sleep."

Haruka smiled to herself, putting the car into gear, "You might want to keep your voice down when talking about things like that. Not everyone is accepting of how we live."

Michiru looked out her window, "I never even suggested such a thing. You're the one who needs to keep her mind clean."

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"It shouldn't have taken them this long to find her. Someone come with me and help me find Yuri." Usagi said heading towards the door.

"Usagi, there is no point. The two of them have found her. They never fail at anything that is given to them." Setsuna stated.

"It never takes them this long. Maybe Yuri's hurt and they need help. I have to help them. Please just let me go." Usagi pleaded. It was almost heart-breaking to watch her worry over her new friend. Usagi's light was always radiating from her. She always thought about others before herself. If a friend was in danger, she couldn't just sit there and wait around hoping the friend would come back. She needed to be out there helping.

"We cannot have you hurt. It is better to stay here where it is safe. Yuri can take care of herself." Makoto said walking over by Usagi, "She's a senshi like us. She knows how to protect herself and how to watch out for danger."

Usagi ran up the stairs and put her hand on the doorknob, "I'm going to go look for her. All of you may be able to just wait around, but I can't."

With that said she flung the door open and went running out of Crown. Makoto followed a few steps and stood there for a minute after Usagi left. They all looked at each other wondering how everything have come to this so soon. Everyone's own senshi was crying out to help another senshi, but if one does not want help what else is there to do?

"Usagi is far too good natured sometimes." Rei said breaking the tension filled silence.

"Usagi-chan," Ami paused before continuing, "is doing what she feels is right. She wishes to do this. Haukra-san and Michiru-san will not fail her, all of know that, but Usagi-chan just needs to see for herself that Yuri-chan is okay. She will come back in a little while."

"What if she doesn't?" Minako asked not lifting her head from looking at her cell phone.

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There is something this evil does not know how to do in Yousuke's body. Use his mind to talk to mine, she thought to herself. It was risky since there was a chance the evil knew when Yousuke used that link with her. The mind link was useful in battle since no spoken words needed to be exchanged.

Yousuke, why did this evil regain control of you? He exists only because you hold those feelings in your heart. Please hear me when I say that day so many years ago was not your fault, she told him with much sorrow filling her voice. She was trying to reach out to his heart. The one part of him that could never go evil; the part of him that was hers and hers alone.

Please tell me you hear this. The darkness has not reached your heart. You are still good.

How can you tell me all of this after everything that has happened, he asked with no emotion in his voice. He hated himself for allowing the darkness to fill him. He had allowed the darkness to harm her. Something he could never forgive himself for. She was still pure. Even with the taint on her soul, she was still every bit pure as she was before. Yuri, you are asking me to let go of something I can no longer do. If I could let go of the feelings I have I would have a long time ago.

The evil was being pushed back once more. When Yousuke revealed the feelings in his heart, the evil was forced to retreat back into the small space in Yousuke's mind. A space the existed only because of the strong hatred felt in that portion of his mind. The evil knew that if Yuri succeeded in getting her crystal once again, he would be destroyed.

"Yousuke please just let go of those feelings." she said pleading. She could feel the tears forming in her eyes. She just wanted her life back and to be with him. The taint would be on both of them for all time, but it didn't matter now. It would never matter.

Yousuke blinked and once again there was life in his eyes, "Yuri. You will never know what it is like to have such an evil in you. He wants permeant control of me. He wants my power. He wants everything I have. If he had his own body, I would most certainly be dead."

She shook her head at his words. Tears rolled down her face, stinging her cool skin. He let out a sigh and looked at her. She was full of sorrow over the path he had taken. Her mind wondering if she had driven him to take that path, wondering if she had been stronger and had found him earlier would he had chosen the same path as he had taken. He wiped the tears from her face, his eyes softening as he wanted to comfort her, "Please do not cry like this. This was destiny my love. You did nothing to make me take this path; it was me and me alone who chose this. Don't ever blame yourself for this."

"But...." she barely got out before the tears started once again, "I should have been stronger. That dream shows me everything that happened on that day. If I had stayed with you a moment longer, I would not have gotten the crystal and sword." She placed her hand on the sword that had taken it's place on her waist. She may not have her crystal, but she knew it was near.

"You wanted to help me and nothing else." he said taking her into his arms. He needed to hold her, both of them needed to be close to each other. "I would have done the same thing had our positions been reversed. We were meant to do all of that. Yes we are far from our families, and yes they all believe we are still dead. One day we may go back and take our rightful places, but that is if our home world still exists."

She buried her face against his chest. She tugged at the small portion of his cape she got her hands to hold on to and tried to move closer to him. "Do not say such things." she said, her words muffled.

He stroked her hair, "It is something that could have happened. We were the only children our parents had. We needed to take our place, but our destiny had other ideas." He rested his chin on the top of her head, "I want this evil gone. Once you find your crystal, heal me. Even if you have to kill me doing so, do it. Do not think about it. Your duty must come first in this case. You know that one day we will somehow be together."

Shr buried her face more, "I do not wish to wait another lifetime to be with you once more. I was without you for too long in this life. The last time we were together you had always been together and then this life," she broke off taking a deep breath, "everything was so hard. Everything went wrong. I just want to look like everyone else and fit in. It is not so much to ask for."

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Usagi knew from one tiny conversation where Yuri had used to live and knew she was probably going to head there. However, something told Usagi that Yuri was back in Tokyo. She couldn't put her finger on it. She had never been the senshi to sense things, that was Rei and Michiru's department. She knew Yuri's cell phone number was ready to call to make sure she was perfectly alright.

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She pulled her face from him and glanced over at her cell phone on the night stand. She put her arms around his waist and didn't want to let go.

"Yuri it could be your parents calling. I took you so suddenly." he said, tightening his hold on her.

"I don't care. They are not my real parents." Then it hit her. The cell phone would have rung to the special ring she had set aside for both her parents, not some ring she had never heard before. She walked away from him and got her cell. She looked at him after seeing the number, "It's Usagi-chan. She does not know I am safe. I do not wish to talk to her."

She threw the cell phone onto the bed and looked away. He walks over and gets the cell phone, "They want to help you. You have to let them. You cannot fight on your own. You never were meant to do so."

She shook her head, her dark blue hair falling around her shoulders, covering her face, "I will not fight against the one person I love. I cannot live without you anymore. I will choose my own death before I will fight you once more."

He grabbed both of her shoulders and made her look at him in the eye, "You would not be fighting me. It is the evil inside of me. Do not confuse the two of us."

She lowered her eyelids, her lashes hiding her eyes, "If I kill him, I'm doing the same to you. I cannot."

He picked up the cell phone and dialed Usagi's cell number. Her eyes began to swell with tears. She couldn't bear the thought of what he was doing. He was going to ask for the senshi to help destroy him. Yuri knew what he was going to ask and she refused to listen to it. She walked out into his apartment and out onto the balcony, still henshined. She wanted nothing to do with what he was going to ask them to do. The evil would not simply be removed from him. The evil would fight for the body, caring very little if any about the mind.

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He waited, hearing the phone ring. Usagi would freak when it was Yousuke's voice on the other end and not Yuri's.

"Hello." Usagi said, a slight nervous tone very present in her voice.

"Tsukino-san, Yuri no longer wants to be involved with what I intend to ask you." Yousuke said very calmly.

Usagi's eyes widened, "Why isn't Yuri-chan on the phone? This is her cell phone."

"Tsukino-san, nothing is wrong with Yuri." he put his thumb and index finger up to the bridge of his nose and lightly pressed against it, "We are in a situation we'd rather not be in and Yuri cannot fulfill what I am asking of her, or at least will not tell me her honest answer. Tsukino-san, I need and the other senshi to destroy me if a battle ensues. The evil inside of me cannot be allowed to continue to exist in a world that has not known such destructive power. If the evil inside of me does not allow me to regain control in a fight, please promise me you will kill me. Yuri will not be able to do such a thing. She will view it as killing me personally and that is not the case. Please as the princess and future ruler of this system promise me you will destroy me if the enemy starts on the same path he used to rid us from our home system some years ago."

Usagi was in shock. Just shock and nothing else. Her mind was blank, not knowing which emotions should be used. She stayed quiet, allowing the information to somewhat process in her mind.

"Tsukino-san, are you still there?" Yousuke asked. He knew it was a lot to ask of someone, but only Usagi could do such a thing since her power was almost equal to Yuri's.

"I cannot take your life. Yuri-chan would never forgive me for such a thing. Is there some other way?"

He sighed heavily, "There is none. I ask you to do only in the event Yuri cannot. The evil is spreading more and more and I am unable to keep it inside much longer. When you fight what you think is me is actually an evil me and Yuri sealed away using our lives. The seal was broken to some extent, and...." he trailed off.

"I understand." Usagi said softly, "I will do what you ask of me. It will not be easy, but I will fulfill what you ask."

"Thank you." he said then terminating the call. He walked out looking around his apartment for her. The curtains swayed lightly in the wind, much the same way the wind played with Yuri's hair.

"How can you ask her to do that?" Yuri asked barely above a whisper, not facing him.

"You will not do it. Who else I am supposed to go to? Tsukino-san is a princess who has a crystal of almost equal strength to your own. She is powerful enough to rid me of the evil, even if it means my life."

She turned around to face him. Her cheeks red, which showed clear traces of her tears. There was a tiny bit of red mixed in with her blue eyes. The wind had tossed her hair around, creating a mess of her long hair. She was ruined on the inside. So many emotions all at once. She managed to make herself feel numb to her own emotions; no pain, no regret, nothing. She felt nothing.

"I am capable of taking your life with my own hands. The senshi of this system do not have to do such a thing. We are of the same system and I will carry out the duty."

She walked back into the apartment her left shoulder bumping into his body. She was hurting, but had such off her emotions to avoid feeling such a thing. He couldn't bear to see her like that.

"Yuri do not do this, not now." He wanted it to sound more like a favor, a simple gesture, instead it came out as a plea to her. A plea to someone who refused to deal with everything that had happened in the past few days. He walks back into the apartment noticing she had fell to the floor, crying. The physical pain was unbearable and now she had the emotional pain as well. He knelt down next to her and helped her up into a sitting position.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough to do the sealing. I let you feel so much guilt and because of that the evil is inside of you. I should have been strong enough to do the sealing on my own. At least then our system would have had a future, even if it was only with one ruler."

He picked her up in his arms and held her for a moment. He gently laid her down on the couch, her head on his left leg. Her breathing was once more labored and knew she had made her own injury worse. He moved the hair from her face, "Yuri, I would have chosen my own death had you done the sealing on your own. It was us or it would not have worked. We chose the path we needed to take."

"There is evil in you now. Our blood is tainted and we cannot remove it no matter how much time passes. Maybe I should have listened to you when you said we should escape, then we wouldn't have all of these problems."

"Do not beat yourself up over things that have already happened. Maybe we were meant to come here and accomplish something. Only time will tell us." he brought his left hand down to hers and held it for a moment, "Do not endanger anyone else over the battle that will eventually take place. We can do this on our own. You know my weaknesses and take advantage of them."

She tightened her grip on his hand, "I hate thinking about this. I want to see my real parents again. They always loved me and this world has done nothing but bring me sorrow and regret. When all of this is over I want to go home."