Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Enemy Within? ❯ Chapter 6

Author's Notes: Argh! Sorry that updates are taking so long, people, but sometimes the pen just doesn't flow smoothly on the paper(or in this case, the fingers over the keyboard, lol). At any rate, this was one of the harder chapters for me to write, so I hope afterwards, I'll be able to write a bit faster and update a bit sooner...but I doubt it. Something tells me that there's gonna be a lot more soul-searching as this story goes on...but I digress. Enjoy, and as always, REVIEW! Reviews are our friends!:D

Disclaimer: Not Naoko Takeuchi-sama? Check. Not a member in any way, shape or form of Squaresoft of Japan or America? Check. Have no rights whatsoever to the Senshi and/or Sephiroth? Check. Not writing this story for profit? Check. Are there any questions?

Chapter Six

..With a smirk and short 'hmph', the warrior stepped back from the prone body of the senshi of silence. His blade dripped occasionally with the blood of his victims, the sound of the drops lost in the roar of the flames around him.

As he stared at the girl he had just eliminated, an unfamiliar pang coursed through him, causing him to slightly frown. This in itself was unusual...why would he be concerned with any of the ants he disposed of? It wasn't as though they were dead, after all...they would live on as a part of the Planet, as a part of him...

A scream of shock wrenched his attention back to the present, and he glared over the bodies of his most recent opponents at the new arrivals.

Sailor Moon stood with her hands over her mouth in total disbelief at the scene spread out before her; Jupiter, Uranus, and Saturn on the ground with numerous(or in Saturn's case, one) wounds on their bodies, with the last person she would have expected standing over them.

"S, Sephiroth?!? But...but why???" she asked in a voice so soft it was barely audible.

The swordsman's initial response was a mocking sneer as he swung his sword out to the side, stepping to face them full on. Both Chibimoon and Tuxedo Kamen immediately stepped in front of their queen as all three tensed, waiting for the inevitable attack.

Just as he began to speed forward, however, an arrow of fire sent Sephiroth sprawling back with a surprised shout. With seemingly impossible grace and ease, he quickly regained his feet, shooting a surprised glance over at Mars and her comrades, who had finally arrived on the scene. The senshi of fire had a look of pure rage and determination on her face as she prepared another Mars Sniper shot, this one seemingly aimed at the swordsman's heart. A good distance away stood Neptune, who held her own attack ready for discharge at a moment's notice. Had Sephiroth been a normal person, he might have been slightly unnerved at the steely intent to kill that could be seen in the water senshi's eyes.

Urawa cautiously began treating their fallen comrades, constantly flicking his eyes over to where their enemy remained, crouched like a wild animal. Finally, with a soft 'hmph', the swordsman stood. Instantly, everyone tensed, Mars snarling at him, "Don't move, Sephiroth! You either drop that sword, or Kami help me, I'll make you LONG for death, you bastard!"

Nodding slight, Neptune added, "And that's only after she's through with you...because I'll still want a piece of you." Inwardly, she was horrified at the sudden change her attitude had taken, but then again...seeing one's lover and adopted daughter lying on the ground, possibly dead, from someone that they had considered a friend was enough to change a LOT of things...for the worse.

With an almost bored expression, followed by a haunting smile, Sephiroth turned away as if no one were there, and began to walk into the blazing flames behind him. The surprise and confusion the others experienced at this sudden turn of events lasted long enough for the flames to close behind the swordsman as he disappeared.

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Seeing the smoke pluming from Crystal Tokyo sent a spear of ice through Sephiroth's heart, and he silently urged the aircar to move faster, even though it was going beyond it's specified limits already.

Ignoring the crackling requests, and then the demands, for his ID and landing clearance, the commander brought the aircar in for a blind landing, his limbs flying across the cockpit at a near impossible speed, as the transport thudded down hard onto the tarmac at the landing field. Not even bothering with a proper shutdown, Sephiroth popped the door and leapt out, racing across the ground toward the airport's exit. A trolley trundled up to offer a lift, but without even a second glance, the swordsman passed it, the only thing on his mind being, 'Hotaru needs me...she needs me now!'

Arrowing down the streets, his silver hair billowing behind him, the distressed man nimbly dodged any obstacle that popped up in his path, his reflexes operating automatically as everything blurred past him. Even when he got to his goal, Sephiroth was barely aware of being restrained, gently at first, and then with more force as he tried to shove his way through. Finally, he became aware of being forced to the ground, his hands being cuffed behind his back as he struggled to stand.

"What the hell?!?" he asked.

" 'What the hell' indeed, Sephiroth?" came a cool, mature voice that he placed instantly.

"Neptune? Wh, what's going on here?" he demanded as his captors hauled him roughly to his feet. Glancing around for the water senshi, he succeeded in catching a fist square in his mouth, which rocked him back a few steps. Sputtering in surprise, he found himself eye-to-eye with a very enraged Sailor Mars. It would have been an interesting sight to observe...if her rage had not been directed at him.

"You...have...the NERVE...to ask?!?" Mars hissed.

A look of utter confusion settled on Sephiroth's face as his eyes flicked back and forth from Mars to Neptune. "What...what happened?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

Mars' lip curled after a moment, and she jerked her head at one of the guards. "Get him out of my sight. And make sure that maximum security is on him, 24/7. Keep him in one of the 'sealing' cells, too."

With a short salute, the guard and his comrades began to roughly lead their prisoner away. After going a few steps with them, Sephiroth suddenly turned and asked, "Wait, Hotaru...what happened, where is she?"

Neither Neptune nor Mars so much as looked at him, much less answered his question. At this point, the guards began pulling him back towards the castle without his answer, which succeeded in enraging the swordsman.

"WHERE IS SHE!?!" he roared. The sheer force of emotion in his roar caused several of the guards to stumble back in shock, and even those who didn't quickly pulled their hands away from the prisoner's body. Mars continued to ignore Sephiroth, but Neptune slowly turned and fixed him with a baleful gaze. A long silence stood between the two before she finally deigned to respond.

"You should know...she's in the hospital, thanks to you...and she might not make it."

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About an hour later, another aircar made a more leisurely landing, despite the similarly anxious state of it's two occupants. After receiving clearance to land, the transport began its final approach.

"I just don't understand what the hell possessed Sephiroth to take off like that," Serin stated for perhaps the hundredth time during their return.

Mercury sighed, her hands folded neatly in her lap as she gave the same answer she had the first ninety-nine times. "I don't know either, Serin. But he didn't pick a bad time to leave...we were already done with our tentative surveys, and we'd already found out that there was nothing to fear."

The paladin sighed as they hit the tarmac and began shutting down the systems. "Yeah...but it was just weird, ya know? It wouldn't have been more than six hours, and then we would have been on our way. I'd sure like to know what was so important that he couldn't wait six...more..."

His voice trailed off as he and Mercury noticed two members of the Royal Guard approaching. Quickly, they got out of the vehicle, and met the guardsmen halfway, returning their sharp salutes.

"Commander Serin, Guardian Mercury...Her Majesty Serenity has requested that you report to the palace immediately for a pre-trial hearing," the more grizzled of the two stated in a deadpan, no-nonsense type of voice.

Both of them were stunned at how soon Serenity was calling for them, but Mercury recovered first. "Pre-trial? For who, what?"

"It has to do with Commander Sephiroth, ma'am, and that's all I'm permitted to tell you at the moment. If you'll step this way, we have transportation to the palace ready for you."

A significant, shocked glance was traded between the girl genius, and the Lunar Paladin before they followed their escort and entered the transport that would take them directly to the palace. Along the way, they happened to pass through several areas of town that had been all but razed, with people wearily repairing some buildings, others wandering around in shock, or weeping next to cloth covered forms.

"What in Mercury's name happened here?" the senshi of ice whispered in a horrified tone. She couldn't understand how such an attack could have happened so suddenly, and caused so much damage in such a short amount of time...although it would certainly explain why she had heard nothing on her communicator about an attack.

Beside her, Serin only shook his head, too stunned himself to reply. Mercifully, they were out of the area before long, and arrived in the palace grounds Within short order, they were guided(though they both knew the way by heart) to the throne room, where the biggest surprise of all awaited them there...

"Mako-chan!" Serin whispered, moving to her side before anyone could stop him...not that anyone was about to. The senshi of lightning smiled weakly at her husband from her wheelchair, bandages wound around a quarter of her body that he could see. Kneeling down beside her, Serin grasped her hand, managing to restrain himself from hugging her tightly. "Mako-chan...I..."

Mercury glanced over at the rest of the senshi after giving her own husband a loving smile, her initial fears being compounded...Uranus, Jupiter, and Venus all sported some serious looking injuries...and on top of that, Mars and Neptune had looks of smoldering anger visible in their faces, while Serenity and Endymion sported twin expressions of sadness and exhaustion. After giving Makoto a quick peck on the cheek, Serin finally took his spot and looked over at his sister and her husband. "Could someone kindly tell me what the HELL is going on here?" the paladin asked without preamble.

A long moment passed as each member debated how to break such devastating news. Finally, Uranus sighed, and shot a look at her queen, who reluctantly nodded. Having received permission, the wind senshi turned back to Serin and Mercury, hard as it was due to the brace around her neck

"Sephiroth," she answered. "Sephiroth happened. All that devastation you saw was caused by him...the deaths, too." She continued on, explaining in detail what had happened, with Venus and Endymion chipping in with what they saw, as well.

Serin had heard about people talking about blood draining from their faces due to shock or fear, but he'd always shrugged it off as a stupid myth. 'Guess I know better now,' he thought to himself as the news sunk in.

Mercury too, was so surprised as to suddenly feel as chilled as her element of influence. "No..." she whispered. "Th, there has to be a mistake! Sephiroth wouldn't do such a thing, you guys!"

"And yet, we all saw him," Venus whispered, her voice hardening slightly. "He didn't...he didn't even care about what he was doing, or who he was hurting...it's like he was a bullfrog in a plastic shop."

Unsurprisingly, no one even twitched at Venus' garbled proverb, or bothered to correct her.

Clinging to a thread of hope, Serin said, "Wait...Neptune, your mirror shows the truth, right? What if...?"

His voice trailed off at her slow, firm shake of the head. "That was the first thing I did, when we saw him about to attack the queen, king and princess." She paused for a moment, and the anger that had initially been there seemed to drain out of her, making her seem far older than she was. "It...really was him. It was Sephiroth, and no one else."

Serin slumped in his own seat, an unreadable look on his face. He didn't want to believe it, everyone could see it...heck, NO ONE wanted to believe it. Serin suddenly brightened as he added, "Wait...it couldn't have been Sephiroth. I'm not saying your mirror is lying, Neptune, but something doesn't add up."

His statement was met with confusion from all but one of the senshi, who smiled as she caught onto his train of thought. "That's right," Mercury added helpfully. "We have a guard as witness that at the time Sephiroth was supposedly attacking Crystal Tokyo, he was still at the expedition camp. Even our most advanced and powerful mages," this last was said with a smile at Ryo, "Can't be in two places at once."

A long silence pervaded the room at that statement as each senshi puzzled over that tidbit of info. Finally, Serenity spoke: "Alright...we'll bring the guard here for questioning before deciding anything on Sephiroth's fate. Serin, I leave that matter in your hands. In the meantime Mercury, I need your help with Saturn..."

At the mention of the senshi of silence's name, Mercury frowned. "I knew someone was missing..." Her eyes widened in horror. "She's not...?"

Quickly, the Crystal Tokyo monarch shook her head. "No. But she's...struggling. Usa-chan is with her right now, but I need your help as soon as possible, Mercury."

Nodding in immediate agreement, Mercury stood after the queen, with the others following suit(those who were able to, anyway), signalling the end of the meeting. Serin quickly went over to his wife and gave her another kiss. "Mako-chan, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry..." he began before she hushed him.

"Hey, there's nothing you need to apologize for. I'm the one who was stupid and charged a guy wielding a sword." Her expression turned a bit bitter as she added, "I just hope whoever did this gets what's coming to them." Turning her gaze sharply up at the paladin, she asked, "You really believe that it's not him?"

Serin hesitated at this. Truth be told, he wasn't exactly sure.if Sephiroth was capable of such bloodshed or not...but it certainly didn't seem like him. And to have him hurt Saturn(his Hotaru-chan, of all people)... "I...don't know," he finally answered. "Maybe I'll have to ask him myself," he added with a weak shrug.

Jupiter smiled in response, and then sighed. "Well, guess I'd better head back to the medical wing. The doctors almost told me that I couldn't even come to this meeting, but between Haruka threatening them with her crutches, and me weilding a cane like a madman, we got an exception," she finished with a grin and a laugh.

Her husband laughed good-naturedly with her for a moment, and then asked, "Are you gonna be alright? Do you want me to walk with you, hon?"

"No, it's okay. I'll be fine. Besides, you've got a lot to do, so I won't keep you from it any longer."

Serin gave his wife a loving kiss then, and whispered in a sorrowful tone, "Guess I won't be enjoying any culinary treats for a while, huh?" A sharp elbow suddenly planted itself in his gut, prompting an 'Oof!' out of him as Jupiter giggled and pulled away.

"Don't worry...you know I'll make it up to you," she answered with a wink.

"I look forward to it."

Blowing a soft kiss toward the man she loved, Jupiter then headed down the hallway as Serin watched her until she was out of sight, before heading to his own tasks...

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It was dark. Dark, cold, and lonely. Loneliness she thought she would never have to deal with again.

'You are alone, Hotaru...he only used you...just as everyone through the millenia has...'

Hotaru shook her head, trying to blot out the sensations that tore at her mind and sanity; the image of Sephiroth, with pure love, and more than a hint of nervousness in his eyes, proposing. Another image, this time of him with a sneer of contempt as he effortlessly cut down Haruka-papa and Makoto-san before looking at her with eyes that were empty of anything save for contempt and murder. Those eyes continued to beat down her mental defenses, making it harder and harder to control her power...the power that slept deep within her...the power she knew she could never let free...

'But why not, Hotaru? You have been used, time and time again...always for your power, as well. Why not make a choice on your own this time?'

"B, because...I still..." she whispered feebly, trying to sound more confident than she felt.

'Still what, Hotaru? Still love him? Even after what he has done to you? Don't you remember the blade biting into your flesh? The pain of that betrayal? Do you not remember seeing him cut down your parent and one of your friends? Could you truly love a person like that?'

"I...I...I can't...I won't...let you free..." she stated firmly in between gasps.

The voice chuckled. 'So you say now, Hotaru. But I can wait...you'll realize the truth of what I'm saying soon enough. After all, how can you expect to fight yourself, hm?'

And in the hospital bed of the intensive care unit at the Crystal Palace, Hotaru squirmed, her face tightening for a brief moment in severe concentration and pain before relaxing, a soft groan escaping her lips.