Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Enemy Within? ❯ Chapter 4

Author's Notes: HOLY SPIT! I have never written such a dark story in my life! I feel compelled to warn everyone here...this is where the story gets it's R rating. I hope that I don't disgust or freak people out too much with this, but trust me, all of this is necessary. I sincerely hope you all enjoy. Oh, and if you have suggestions, PLEASE review! I won't bite, trust me!:D

Disclaimer: Takeuchi-sama and Squaresoft own nearly all...I own Serin, and that's it.

Chapter Four

Two days later...

At the northern gates, the guards on duty sat around a small card table, whittling away their shift with a game of poker. Though their 'official' duty was to insure the security of one of the doorways into Crystal Tokyo, in truth it was just a boring and mind-numbing job involving little more than giving people the run down on the do's and dont's of the planet's capital, and in rare cases, escorting those who disobeyed back outside to return to their village.

The older of the guards, wearing a grey tank-top, smirked at his opponent, spreading his cards on the table with a flourish. "Full house," he announced with a slightly rough voice.

The other guard responded by tossing his own cards on the table in disgust. "Fuck!"

The first guard chuckled and began raking in the chips stacked in the center. "Well, it must be beginner's luck."

"I don't understand it, every night you have beginner's luck," his comrade replied with a hint of anger and suspicion.

Conveniently changing the subject, the first guard said, "Ah, I'm gonna call it a night on this...hell, we've only got another half-hour left on our shift. I'm gonna get some coffee, you want some?"

"No, thanks."

The guard chuckled at his comrade's sulky attitude, and ambled off down the hallway. As he plopped in several coins down the slot, a strange, unfelt wind seemd to pick up behind him, followed by an apparent 'portal' opening in the floor, out of which arose a human form.

All of this went unnoticed by the thirsty watchman, who pulled up his novelty poker cup, and grinned, shouting out to his comrade, "Hey...I got four of a kind here!"

"Go to hell," came the reply.

Laughing, the guard muttered, "Must be my lucky night," and slowly sipped at the warm liquid. Suddenly, a sound was heard from behind him, and he whirled, his hand dropping to the sword at his side...upon seeing who it was, though, he relaxed, blowing out a nervous laugh. "Geez, commander, ya scared the living hell out of me." Even with the rest of his form in shadows, no one else in Crystal Tokyo(or, for that matter, ANYWHERE) had his distinctive silver hair. Holding out the cup of coffee, he asked, "Hey commander, you want...wait..." A sudden thought clicked in the soldier's mind, and he asked, "Weren't you supposed to...supposed to...?"

The man's voice trailed off as he saw a flash of light at Sephiroth's side, along with a previously unseen gleam in the swordsman's green eyes. Before he could question further, there was a sharp hiss, a spray of red, and then blackness...

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The 'splutch' sound that emanated from the vending area got the younger guard out of his sulky attitude, enough to make him stand up and approach. "Kobayashi? You okay?"

No answer.

"Kobayashi? Hey, don't be pulling this prank on me, man..." the soldier pleaded.

Still no answer, but there was the sound of movement, which broke through the man's fear, causing anger to bubble up. Rushing in, he snarled, "Goddammit, I told you...!"

Even for his inexperienced eyes, it only took a moment to absorb the scene. Kobayashi's body was separated in two at the waist, a look of surprise and horror on his face. Having never seen such callous violence up close and personal before, the young man promptly gave in to his body's instinct, and threw up. After taking a deep breath of the air permeated wiht the scent of death, he promptly threw up again.

As he stood there, doubled over, his ears never picked up on the hissing sound of a descending blade...

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Standing idly on the porch of her room in the castle, Hotaru smiled wistfully as she regarded the ring that her fiance had given her. No matter how many times she looked at it, it never failed to amaze her...both the simple gesture, and how attentively Sephiroth had paid attention to detail. Everything about it was perfect...which, she thought with a giggle, was more than likely how he wanted it.

Sighing, she hoped that he was alright. He had told her some time ago that he, Serin, and Ami-chan would be heading out to investigate a stronghold that had recently been discovered, and while he repeatedly assured her that there wouldn't be any real danger, she nonetheless worried...what if there were some trap that hadn't been disarmed...or worse yet, disarmed correctly? What if...?

Shaking her head lightly, the senshi of silence chided her own paranoia. She knew Sephiroth's capabilities for taking care of himself. She had, in fact, seen some of his prowess in battle personally as they had taken care of what monsters there were in the outlands, so that people could spread out and start other villages. And furthermore, Serin was with him...who was certainly no slouch in combat or thinking himself. Although neither were quite up to Mercury's level...

Yes, she decided, everyone would be just fine. Besides, it hadn't even been two days, and she was already worrying like a nervous hen. Shaking her head slightly, Hotaru turned to head back in and get some sleep...

When a ferocious explosion rocked the entire city, causing Hotaru to stumble forward and sprawl headlong on the ground. Shaking her head in dazed confusion, she looked back over her shoulder and softly gasped.

The city was on fire. One explosion had engulfed more than a quarter of the city in flames...and worse yet, it was the residential district!

Even as her mind was still reeling from the suddenness of the attack, her body was already springing into motion. Grabbing her henshin stick from her dresser, she instantly transformed, her fear for the families living out there forcing her along faster than ever before. Reaching for her communicator, she began to send out a general all-call when she got the signal herself. Tapping iin for reception, she said, "What's going on?!?"

Uranus' face appeared in the screen, looking as shocked and bewildered as Saturn knew her own must be. "I don't know, Saturn! It just...it was like, one second peaceful, the next, BOOM! Mass panic!"

At that moment, several bolts of lightning repeatedly struck a small area in the residential district, fanning out in multiple arcs, spreading the fire slightly further. Saturn turned back to her communicator, saying, "I'm on my way! Whoever this is...they won't get away with it!"

Uranus nodded grimly, only to be replaced by a pale looking Venus a second later. Judging by the background, she appeared to be in the area of the fire, and Saturn was quick to ask, "Venus! Are you okay? How bad is it?"

It took several long seconds before the senshi of love could find her voice, and she whispered, in a thoroughly shocked tone..."Hotaru...don't come here. Just...don't come." And with that, she blipped out.

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Venus numbly shut off her communicator and looked back up at the scene she had just witnessed, almost ready to throw up herself. If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes...

Not far away, Sephiroth turned away from the two corpses he had just created, a sinister, barely-visible sneer on his face. Surveying the carnage, his attentiong was suddenly grabbed by a wailing scream.

Following his line of sight, Venus' breath came in a sharp gasp as she saw what he was looking at. "No...!" she whispered

It was a little boy, one who couldn't be more than four years old. He was crying and clutching at a woman's body, obviously his mother. So intent was the boy in his sorrow, that he didn't even notice his mother's murderer approach from behind. Even as Sephiroth stood behind him, his back to Venus, the boy never looked up, almost as if he wanted the foul deed in the swordsman's mind to be completed. In an obliging manner, Sephiroth raised his blade...

That was all it took. Leaping forward from her hiding spot with energy that she didn't even know she HAD, she screamed, "Love-Me CHAIN!" A chain of hearts appeared in her hands, which she threw with practiced skill to whip it around the swordsman's blade. Dropping to the ground, she yanked hard, pulling the weapon away from it's murderous mission, grunting slightly with the exertion.

At the sound of the senshi's voice, the boy turned around and gasped, seeing Sephiroth and Venus locked in a tug-of-war for the Masamune blade he carried. Seeing that she had the boy's attention, she screamed desperately, "GET OUT OF HERE! GO, NOW!!!"

With little hesitation, the child nodded, and ran as fast as his short little legs could carry him. A huge weight lifted from the senshi of love's shoulders as she saw that, and finally released the hold she had on her former comrade's blade. As the Masamune crashed to the ground with a loud 'CLANG', Sephiroth turned with a vicious glare at who had interrupted him. Tensing herself slightly, Venus prepared herself to move should the need arise. Though she was slightly upset that she didn't have a chance to do a speech, there was no use crying over spilt vinegar, as the saying went.

Strangely, though, Sephiroth didn't move. He simply stood there, the fire billowing and raging around the two of them, a calm, sinister smile on his face. It took a moment, but Venus finally spoke, "Sephiroth? W, why!?! Why are you doing this?!?"

Still smiling, the swordsmand in question proceeded to turn and approach, his steps slow, measured, and still heard even over the roar of the flames. Backing up slightly, Venus raised her pointer finger at her target, and said in a quivering voice, "H, hold it! D, don't move! Not another step, Sephiroth!"

Almost as if he were taunting her, the black-clad man took another step.

Gritting her teeth, and praying for Hotaru's forgiveness, Venus shouted, "Crescent Beam Smash!" A yellow beam of light speared outward from her fingertip, striking its intended target dead center...only to be reflected into another building, blasting large chunks of the masonry through nearby walls and roofs.

Surprise etched itself all over the senshi of love's face. Her surprise had barely faded when she heard Sephiroth mutter words under his breath, culminating in the only two she could hear, "Sin Harvest."

Immediately, all of her strength seemed to get ripped right out of her, drawing a soft scream from her mouth as she vainly tried to see what was doing this to her. The pain seemed to go on forever, before it suddenly stopped. Staggering on her feet, she barely caught the blur of an approaching figure...and then a searing pain accompanied her down into blackness.

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It had taken a few moments too long, in Sailor Moon's estimation, for things to get settled.

Those that were left had quickly assembled into teams of three each(with Urawa and Usa-chan taking the place of the already occupied Venus and Mercury) in order to search for the location of where Venus had last transmitted from, hoping that they could find her before she did something too rash. With that decided upon, they immediately split up, covering the residential district as best they could, ready to converge on any point, should one group or another spot their quarry.

Seeing the corpses strewn in the streets sickened the senshi leader's heart. Why did THEY have to be brought into this, she wailed inwardly. It was always innocent's being hurt, just to get at HER...or the Ginzuishou. Why couldn't they just attack her?

Her daughter, clad in her own senshi uniform, bore about the same level of sorrow as her mother, while she scanned the area. It just wasn't fair, she thought. Why did the bad guys always have to stoop to such low levels?!?

Sensing his wife's unease, Endymion wrapped an arm around her waist briefly, giving her some much-needed support, before they continued their search.

In another part of the city, Jupiter's fist clenched with anger at the party responsible. This went beyond all decency; this was murder, pure and simple. She very rarely acted out of pure, blind hatred, but this time, whoever had orchestrated this attack had gone WAY too far. Her gaze was caught by Saturn and Uranus, who glanced around intently, trying to determine the direction that their quarry may have gone. Uranus' anger was no less potent than her comrade's, she was just better at hiding it until it was necessary to unleash it. Saturn definitely looked green around the gills, though...some of the bodies they'd come across were severely mutilated...so far, the young senshi of silence seemed to be holding up after her initial throw up fit, but all the same, Uranus kept a close eye on her...

In yet another section of the district, Mars' face was even more furious than usual. It seemed like the flames themselves were feeding her anger, and it only seemed to grow each time she and her team saw more casualties. Some, Urawa was able to revive with his magic, but it severely drained him after some time, leading Neptune to suggest that they concentrate on finding the culprit, and leave the dead lay. Mars had responded with a terse "Fine" at that, not trusting herself to say any more, and Urawa, though greatly pained by that thought, nodded in agreement, vowing that he would revive everyone he could later...even if it killed him to do so.

Shortly after that declaration, Mars' group rounded a corner and gasped in shock for a moment. Ignoring the suggestion made earlier, Urawa raced forward, closely followed by his other teammates, as he began quickly administering healing magic to Venus' prone form.

"She's going to be alright," he said, as much to reassure himself as the others. "Seems like she took a slice from a sword, but it wasn't deep enough to be a danger...still, good thing we arrived when we did..."

Both Mars and Neptune smiled tightly at that, before the fire senshi quickly pulled up her communicator, letting the others know the news. After informing them of their friends condition, and assuring them that further updates would be forthcoming, Sailor Moon piped up and said, "Alright, then. Mars, you and Neptune take Urawa and Venus back to the palace. She'll be able to heal a bit better there."

"But, your majesty, we can't...!" she began to protest.

"No, Mars. No arguments. Take them back. If you want to head back out and help continue the search, that's fine, but your primary concern is to get Venus back where she can get some proper first aid. Alright?"

Finally, the fire senshi relented, "Oh, alright..."

Just as the transmission was about to be cut off, Uranus' face appeared, wide eyed and frantic...which was enough to get everyone's attention. "We found him! He's over by the sector close to---" before the rest was cut off by static. Moon quickly reappeared in the screen and said, "Mars, hurry and get her back! Go!" before the screen finally blanked out.

It was a long, tense moment, as Mars debated the wisdom of disobeying her orders...but she knew that if they lost Venus because of her selfish decision, the queen would never forgive her. Sighing, she asked, "Urawa, how fast can you run?"

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Uranus leapt backward, her fists clenched as she growled. Whoever this guy was, he was good. It had only been the timely intervention of Jupiter's shove that had kept the wind senshi from getting lambasted by a fireball...unfortunately, her communicator hadn't been that lucky.

Saturn shouted, "Death Ribbon Revolution!" and pointed her glaive at a nearby rooftop, sending hundreds of deadly ribbons to curl, loop around, and destroy the hiding opponent. However, the ribbons only seemed to get within a few feet of their quarry before being turned aside by some invisible force, tearing apart other nearby buildings instead.

Smirking, Uranus shouted, "World Shaking!" and smashed her fist into the ground, sending an orange globe straight at the building that the assailant was hiding on. Just as she had guessed, the building itself wasn't protected from their attacks, and it quickly crumbled from the explosive force, also necessitating their attacker to find another hideout.

Apparently, he had decided that there had been enough hiding, and landed softly in the middle of the street, the flames billowing around him like a cloak. Slowly, the man stood, and turned to look at his opponents, delighting in the looks of shock and fear on their faces.

"S, Sephiroth?!?" Uranus whispered for all of them. For a moment, the shock drowned out all of the anger they had been storing up to this point, prompting, instead of action, questions.

"Seph-kun...wh, why?" Saturn asked plaintively.

His calm, sinister smile in place, Sephiroth remained silent, instead raising his blade to point the tip at the trio, in a sort of challenge. A challenge that Uranus and Jupiter were more than game for.

Drawing her Space Sword with a flash, Uranus charged with an enraged cry, echoed by Jupiter as she followed. Almost contemptuously, Sephiroth blocked, parried, and dodged all of the duo's blows, his grin seeming to grow even wider, as if he were amused by their attempts to strike him. This only seemed to further enrage the wind and lightning senshis, who began striking at him even harder. Finally, as Sephiroth blocked a wild, overhead swing from Uranus' sword, Jupiter landed a rock solid hit in the swordsman's gut, drawing a grunt of pain from the victim.

Saturn, for her part, had stood silently in her original spot, her heart tearing painfully as she watched the fight unfold. Several times, she begged herself to awaken, to find out that this was all just a bad dream...but no matter how tightly she closed her eyes, no matter how hard she pinched herself, the same horrible scene remained.

Panting heavily, Uranus and Jupiter stood in defensive positions, knowing instinctively that if Sephiroth were going to attack, he would now. His smile was now completely gone, replaced by a mask of pure vindictiveness and rage. Raising his sword, he began muttering under his breath, which forced the two senshi to raise their guard even further in preparation. Finally, the black-clad man stopped, looked straight at his opponents, and whispered, "Omnislash"

The next few seconds were a blur of seemingly countless blades slicing and tearing at the skin of the two warrior-princesses. Drawing screams from both of their mouths, they nonetheless vainly tried to defend themselves, only to find that Sephiroth would shift his attack to deliver damage elsewhere. Before the attack was halfway done, they were both bleeding profusely from countless wounds, staggering on their feet, barely conscious. With an almost contemptuous snort, Sephiroth ended their suffering by planting his blade point-first into the ground, forcing eruptions of magma around the two senshi. When it ended, both were motionless, covered in open blade wounds, and severe burns.

At last, the swordsman turned his attention to the only remaining person left. Despite a trembling lower lip, Saturn gripped her Silence Glaive tightly, ready to fight. Sephiroth's steps echoed, almost eerily, over the roar of the flames as he slowly, calmly approached. Before long, his tall, imposing frame stood in front of her, his eyes completely emotionless now. Struggling with herself, Saturn suddenly sobbed and dropped her glaive, clutching at the man she loved, wailing, "WHY? Sephiroth, please, oh God, tell me this is just a dream! Please!!!"

She hadn't expected an answer...but the one she did get chilled her to the bone; "It is a dream...and soon, you will be a part of me...for real."

And then the blackness took her.