Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon Labyrinth ❯ The Power of the Labyrinth, Crystal Tokyo Falls ( Chapter 5 )

Still in the future.

Please note that this is violent chapter dealing with the battle that results during the fall of Crystal Tokyo. It is rated PG-13

"Neo-Princess Serenity-sama. Wake up!"

The voice was too commanding to ignore. Usa groaned weakly and slowly opened her eyes. Her dress was torn and dirty, and one of her odango was coming loose. She weakly pulled herself into a sitting position and peered around the darkened room.

"Where am I? What's going on?"

The girl looked around her in confusion, unable to see anything in the blackness.

A weak light appeared in one corner. It wavered slightly, and Usa clambered to her feet, shrinking away from it with fear. The light flickered and looked as though it was going to go out. However, it brightened suddenly and solidified into the form of Sailorpluto.

"Setsuna!" Usa cried with relief and threw herself at the older senshi. Her head hit the wall with a painful crack and she sat back down abruptly.

"I'm sorry, Princess," the woman said sadly, "I can't come through the Gate yet. There was too much energy released."

The image wavered wildly, and Pluto looked at something over her shoulder before turning back to the crying Usa.

"I can only project an image of myself to you, and I don't know how long I can stay here. Time has been drastically disturbed, and things here aren't stable. I can't-"

She broke off suddenly as her image wavered drastically, and she fell to one knee.

"I can't stay, I must maintain time," she began talking more rapidly as her image started to fade.

"The ginzuishou has shattered. I'm not sure why, but whatever it was, it shattered Neo-Queen Serenity's mind as well. She lost control of the power. The Labyrinth, there is something sealed in the Labyrinth. Creatures have broken out of it, and energy is still gathering at the ruins of the maze. Something is trying to break free. The senshi, I can't find them, they might still be alive. Be alert, those creatures are everywhere. I'll come back for you...when I can...I'll come back..."

Pluto's image fading completely, throwing the room back into darkness.

"No! Don't leave me! Pluto!"

Usa sobbed with frustration and sat on the floor rocking back and forth for several minutes. An explosion from outside finally roused her. Thrown flat on her back, she stared into the darkness for a moment before jumping to her feet.

"The senshi!" She whispered with excitement.

"Pluto said she couldn't find them! They might be alive! That's probably them fighting those creatures! I have to find them! I'm the princess, maybe I can help!"

She walked carefully across the room, but still managed to stub her toe on a fallen section of the ceiling. When she reached the corridor everything was still disturbingly dark. Another massive explosion threw her to her knees, but she quickly jumped to her feet, ignoring the bruises she knew her sore legs were developing. A huge chunk fell from the ceiling not more than twenty feet from where Usa-chan stood.

She jumped back, shrieking, and the shock when it hit threw her to the floor once more. Painfully climbing to her feet, she ran lightly down a hallway she could now see thanks to the missing chunk of the ceiling. The sickly light let in by the destroyed ceiling cast poor light, and occasionally Usa's dress still caught on things, or she tripped. The once beautiful gown was shredded to the knees and higher by the time she reached a transparent part of the wall.

The sight that greeted her was forever branded in her mind.

"The things that Pluto had called 'creatures' were nothing less than demons! They were the most horrible things I've ever seen! The things that they were doing to the few remaining people..."

Usa's voice shook uncontrollably, as did her body. Usagi put an arm around her and said, "That's okay, I think we get the idea. You don't have to tell us about what you saw, but why did the ginzuishou break? And what happened to," she gulped, "What happened to Neo-Queen Serenity?"

Despite the fact that Usagi was assuring her that she didn't need to tell them, Usa's memories flooded back anyway. With a tightly clenched jaw, she silently relived what she had seen.

The demons were of such a wide variety that Usa found it amazing that they could all be so horrible. Hundreds of combinations of colors, fur, fins, horns, scales, and feathers assailed the terrified girl, each with its own combination of poison, acid, fangs, claws, or blades.

She watched with as a terrified man was trampled by a huge, turtle-like creature that had massive horns sprouting all along its back and a giant protective shell. It stood at least forty feet tall, and would occasionally snort and charge forward rapidly, slamming its head into a building and causing massive damage.

There were also small, black, rat-like creatures that scurried around and made high pitched screaming noises.

Usa watched with nausea as they leapt onto the back of a limping dog. There was a high pitched yelp as the dog disappeared under the weight of little demons, and their shrieks of triumph carried throughout the battlefield.

"No!" A familiar voice screamed.

Usa's head whipped around and her heart leapt with joy. Standing on a rooftop, were Sailoruranus, Sailormars, and Sailorsaturn. Sailormars was on her knees and had her arms outstretched towards the ground. Following the raven-haired senshi's gaze, Usa saw Sailorvenus rushing towards the huge turtle demon. It was marching towards two still figures, and Usa realized with horror that they were Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endymion.

The queen was still and pale, and King Endymion was covered with numerous injuries, one that had taken off part of his arm, and another that had caused a sinister flow of blood from his head. Somehow, Usa knew that the two were gone, and felt her heart shatter.

Sailorvenus charged towards the huge demon and jumped in front of her fallen queen and king.

"Venus Love and Beauty Shock!" She screamed wildly.

The attack cracked one of the horns on the creature's back, but it didn't slow. Venus had no time to move as the creature suddenly rushed at her.

Usa's own scream was drowned out by that of Sailormars. Tears poured down the both girls' faces as Mars yelled, "Now!" to the senshi standing around her.

"Mars Flame Sniper!"
"World Shaking!"
"Death Ribbon Revolution!"

The demon exploded, its shell killing several of the other demons standing nearby.

As Uranus pumped her fist in victory, she suddenly grew very pale and screamed, "NO! Michiru!! Look out!"

The green-haired senshi had appeared from a fallen building, staggering and clutching a wound on her side. From above, a demon covered with purple scales and black fur was dropping down on her.

"Silence Wall!" Saturn's body was still with concentration; it was difficult got her focus her power over such a long distance. The demon landed on the dome protecting the senshi of the ocean, but flew back in a flash of purple light as Saturn's power coursed through it.

"Hurry!" Uranus yelled, "We've got to get to her!"

She and Mars leapt to the ground and raced towards the other girls. It was only as they reached the injured woman that Mars turned and realized that Saturn had not come with them.

As the Silence Wall faded, she turned quickly, spinning the Silence Glaive to meet the attackers rushing at her from three sides. Cleaving through the first demon as if it wasn't there, the senshi of silence was struggling with the remaining two. One kept spitting a sticky, green substance at her that melted the roof wherever it touched, and the other was lashing out with a barbed tail.

The glaive danced out, and one of the demons lost the tip of its wing.

"We've got to help her," Neptune whispered weakly. She had a long gouge over her face, and there was a crude bandage over one eye. The cloth was already soaked with blood, as was one side of her fuku.

"You're not going anywhere." Uranus said stubbornly, holding onto Neptune tightly.

"She saved me! We have to go back!"

"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!"

A powerful stream of blue energy pushed the demons to one side, giving Saturn enough time to raise the Silence Glaive. The demons fell away from the dark senshi in pieces, and the two women jumped from the roof and ran towards the rest of the team.

Sailormercury reached them first, and she turned back in time to see one of Sailorsaturn's legs slide into the ground up to her thigh. Saturn suddenly began screaming with anguish and blood welled up around the visible part of her leg. Shoving the Silence Glaive into the ground she shrieked, "Silence Glaive....APPLY!"

Sailormercury whispered, "Run!"

"RUN!"

The senshi barely made it to a partially collapsed building before a massive explosion shook all of Crystal Tokyo. Streams of purple energy shot out and lit up the sky, and the place where Sailorsaturn had been vaporized, leaving a huge, smoking crater in its place.

Usa could just barely see the senshi from where she stood, and watched them try to regroup.

Sailoruranus cradled Sailorneptune, who was looking alarmingly pale. Her breaths were coming in uneven gasps, and her remaining eye was fluttering rapidly. Tears were streaming down Uranus' face and she held Neptune to her tightly. Neptune's gloved hand reached up and gently stroked Sailoruranus face, wiping a tear away before it fell back to her side.

She shuddered slightly and stopped moving. Sailoruranus screamed with wordless agony and leapt to her feet. She knew that with Neo-Queen Serenity dead, there was no chance that her love would be saved this time. She tenderly stroked Sailorneptune's face with a shaking hand before running from the building.

Tears coursed down Usa's face as she sobbed uncontrollably, knowing what Uranus had in mind.

The senshi of the heavens jumped onto the back of a huge hair-covered demon with branching, black, bat wings and drove the Space Sword into its spine. Amazingly, although it roared in pain, the demon still seemed fully capable of fighting. It flexed its shoulders strongly, sending a ripple of muscle down its back. Sailoruranus clutched the hilt of the Space Sword and twisted the handle slightly, making the creature roar for a second time. It flexed its shoulders again, and this time, a hot, black substance poured from openings on its back. Sailoruranus began screaming as the gunk coated her arms and body, and with her remaining strength, she shrieked, "Space Sword Blast!"

As the creature imploded, Uranus was completely coated with the black acid. She hit the ground hard, the hilt of the shattered Space Sword still clutched in her hand.

Sailormars and Sailormercury ran to the dying women in time to hear her whisper, "I'm coming Michiru. Don't worry."

Usa pounded her fists helplessly against the window, knowing that it was impossibly strong and impossibly hard to break. With the window blocking the only opening nearby, it held Usa in the position of a powerless spectator. If she tried to circle around and find another way out, she would loose sight of Mars and Mercury. With all of the demons and rubble littering the remains of the city, the odds of finding the two remaining senshi again would be slim.

Usa didn't think she could bear loosing sight of them. They were her last link with reality, and the two remaining women she had looked up to all her life.

"Please don't die." She whispered, grief stricken, "Please don't die."

She looked up in time to see Mercury struck down from above by demons with leathery gray skin, lizard-like faces, and scraggly black wings. One of the demons had its huge hands wrapped around her throat and was slowly tightening its grip.

Sailormercury wrapped her hands around the throat of the demon on top of her, mirroring its position, and shouted, "Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!" As the attack hit it, the demon's hands spasmed, and there was a dull crack as the blue-haired girl's neck was broken.

Mars couldn't even reach her friend before being besieged on all sides by the flying monsters.

"Mars Flame Sniper!" As two demons fell from the sky, fatally wounded by the arrow of fire, three more swooped down from behind her. Grabbing Sailormars by her long, dark, hair, they lifted her high into the air where the whole flock could reach her.

Mars' tortured screams made Usa clap her hands over her ears in an attempt to drown out the sound. They didn't. The screaming went on and on, until the demons finally dropped her broken body to the ground.

The last of her hope crushed, Usa collapsed, sobbing with grief, and mourning the loss of the senshi.