Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Pretty Soldiers ❯ Act 12 - sanze : Sacrifice ( Chapter 12 )

       It wasn't really so bad, she decided, this form of suicide.
       Once the blood loss grew significant, the pain dulled into a sort of hazy euphoria, her body's last attempts to stave off death as the natural chemicals in her body went into overdrive. But this time she had done it right; she would not drown slowly in her own blood.
       As she settled onto her knees, she looked curiously down at her prince's cold, unmoving body. In this, the last moments of her life, she touched his unyielding face, slipped her fingers into his gaping wound as if she still wasn't sure of what she had done. And she wasn't; she had furiously denied the horror of her actions until right now, as she felt the matching, bloody hole in her own midsection. "Endymion…we can try it again, another time…we can truly be happy."
       The ice looked so soft, despite its congealing layer of blood and a few unidentifiable lumps, and she rested her cheek against it. Next to her rested the blade of the sword, sticky and clotted, and her eyes traced its edge to see four blurred shapes, colourful shapes. Not shapes; her friends, allies, her guardian soldiers. Oh, but they would be so upset with her…
       …but it didn't matter….
        ….she was…so…sleepy…

      "USAGI-CHAN!" Jupiter screamed. She heard it echoed in varying degrees of anguish and intensity by her allies, even as Venus fell to her knees. It was happening again, she realized; they were watching the most important person in her lives bleed her life onto the ground. The tall brunette clenched her fists, beating them against her thighs as she repeated, "No, no, no!" over and over again, a pained mantra.
       Venus knelt mutely, the tears streaming down her face. This wasn't supposed to be happening; they were supposed to win against the evil, not lose it all again. Good vs. Evil, and the guys in the white hats always triumphed. She could remember her own laughter as she had finally come into her own as Sailor V, treating Artemis terribly, acting as if it were all some sort of dress-up game with no hard responsibility. Even after awakening to Venus, there was still that part of her that hadn't taken it seriously.
       "All of this fighting, all of this responsibility, only to see it all happen again?" Mars whispered, shaking as she held onto Mercury, who had almost completely collapsed when she had seen her princess shove the sword home. The blue-haired genius had screamed, then fallen silent; in Mars's arms she trembled like a guitar string, vibrating with tension. "Are we doomed to repeat everything?"
       If there was ever a time they had all lost hope, it was now.
       Above their fallen prince and princess rose the Ginzuishou, its sparkle and glow tainted by drying splatters of blood. Radiant and alive, it slowly spun in the air, and the broken soldiers felt the rush of warmth around them as the snow began to melt. Impossibly, flowers began to shoot up, giant roses and chrysanthemums, surrounding the two fallen lovers in an elegant sort of living coffin.
        Below them shook the castle, breaking apart as the crystal continued to strengthen in intensity. Youma and various human soldiers ran screaming, many of the lesser creatures simply disintegrating where they stood, and many others buried under the falling rocks and boulders. Beryl's throne was cleaved in half; the entire chamber then collapsed into itself.
       And still, the crystal wasn't finished.
       The weakened sailor soldiers felt their strength returning, though it did nothing for healing their physical wounds, or replacing ripped clothing. It filled them up to the brim, like glasses of water, before seeming to shatter into a fine glittering mist. Like rain it fell, sprinkling onto the prince and princess, and as her allies watched, formed a protective crystal wall. They were encased in slowly thickening facets so tightly that the sword, which had fallen inches from Sailor Moon, was left outside. "M…masaka," Mercury moaned, daring to look out from Mars's shoulder. "The Ginzuishou is truly alive again….?"
       "Protecting the body of our most precious person!" Jupiter exclaimed, taking Venus's hand to pull her to her feet.
       But the ground began to quake again, even more violently than before, as Metallia began to laugh. In their sadness they had forgotten all about her, and they stared disbelieving as the darkness spread above them, grown fat and strong. "Such a powerful white light, the purest energy! I will take the rest of it into me and move freely again, away from this fallen kingdom!" the cloud crowed, surging around them like a dense fog.
       "Metallia could absorb the power of the Ginzuishou and become stronger….! But how? How could such a being of evil gain power from the healing light?" Venus felt sick as she felt the darkness press against her skin, almost slimy. She could see only the vaguest shapes, and the glittering purity of the crystal coffin, though Jupiter still gripped her hand.
       And then the coffin itself was swallowed by the dark as Metallia continued to cackle, sounding like the witch who had surrendered her soul, and the evil intensified. "Such power! Reborn, I can finally put an end to the bright light that so taunted me!"
       The shriek of the free-floating energy hurt their ears, and they screamed in pain. But then, the pressing weight was gone as Metallia rose into the sky, and began to spread out like a fine mist. The crystal coffin was gone; only the imprint in the ice marked where it had sat, the bloody sword, and the rapidly wilting, dying flowers. "It's begun again," Venus said finally, watching the darkening sky. "And without our princess…"

      Chaos had arrived.
       With the spreading of Metallia, violence was nurtured in the human heart.
       Mobs began to form, attacking not just others but itself. Glass was shattered in store windows and houses, people were pulled from vehicles to be beaten, and worse. Children were picking up baseball bats and returning punishment on their parents; parents cut loose on their naughty sons and daughters.
       And it was not in the least bit confined.
       It was not as easy to teleport without Sailor Moon, but the four soldiers had no choice. They appeared in the ransacked Crown, Mercury pressed right up against the wall; any more of a miscalculation, and she would have reformed in the middle of it. Mutely, they released hands, looking around to see the gaping hole of the control center wide open to the world; the Sailor V game had been completely torn apart.
       Then, Artemis peered up, the headset awkward on his feline head. "Minna, this is bad; Metallia's power is spreading at an abnormal rate, and the northern hemispheres are completely chaotic! What happened up there? Where's Sailor Moon?"
       The last question came almost hesitantly as the white cat realized she wasn't with them. Behind him, Luna rose weakly and leaned against him without asking; though both of them were still injured from the last battle, she was much worse. They could see the effort it took for her to even breathe properly. "Usagi-chan….?"
       "Dead."
       Venus said it flatly, fists clenching at her sides. "We watched it happen again, repeating; Usagi-chan used the holy sword and killed Mamoru-san, then took her own life. The crystal came back to life and surrounded them in a coffin, which Metallia swallowed into herself. And that is why the evil is spreading. We couldn't stop it for the second time."
       Down below they could hear the news reports on the screen, broadcasting emergency warnings. The cold was spreading rapidly from the north, and much of the northern island was already frozen over. People were advised to lock their doors and windows, and barricade themselves against the growing violence; reports of massive death tolls and vandalism were coming in from the entire world.
       "Metallia has the power of the Mystical Silver Crystal to strengthen her," Mercury murmured, staring through the broken windows to watch the growing mass of people. "And the princess can no longer lock her away…"
       "Usagi-chan isn't dead." Luna said it so simply that every single head turned to stare at her. How the hell could she be calm at a time like this? But it wasn't calm, as she added, "The Ginzuishou has the power of healing. And for it to act so suddenly, protecting them; it is devoting itself entirely to healing the princess and Endymion, bringing back their life."
       "If that were true…" Mars began, then stopped.
       The news continued to warn everyone to protect themselves, the reporter's voice growing suddenly frantic. Loud noises issued from the screen, and Venus could imagine the poor man's face as the vandals broke into the studio. People were screaming, and the reporter cried out for mercy before suddenly silencing.
       Lewd taunting and shouting filled the void, and Artemis went down below to turn the TV interception off. Mercury looked ashen, nearly sick.
       Outside, the crowd had grown thick, and stones were being thrown into the remaining windows on the street. Several flew into the Crown itself, destroying the last window, and nearly hitting the soldiers in the process. Taunts followed, once they realized the Crown wasn't truly deserted. More stones were thrown, along with several chunks of wood and concrete, one of which ripped along Mars's calf.
       "That does it!" Venus snapped, and she vaulted the remaining distance to clear the broken front doors. Mercury grabbed onto Mars to keep her from following, and began to pull her towards the command center as Jupiter ran out after their leader, who was throwing herself into the thick of the crowd, punching and kicking.
       "Venus, what's gotten into you!?" the tall brunette yelled over the noise. A fist caught her in the gut, another in the chin; momentarily enraged, she returned both blows in full. "We're hurting innocent people caught in Metallia's influence! They don't really mean any of this!"
       The long-haired blonde went down under the press of people, as Jupiter screamed her name. But then, the plan became apparent as a surge of golden light streamed out from the gathered bodies, and she could feel the heavy influence begin to wan. Faces cleared around her, confused and disoriented, and as she shook off a man's hands, she realized it was Motoki. "Furu-chan onii-san?"
       She didn't stop to think of what she'd done, only smiled in relief to see him safe, if a bit bruised. Then she left him to plow through the crowd, apologizing profusely, searching for a familiar blonde head. And it didn't take very long; already was Venus standing up, a jagged cut across her forehead, but none the worse for wear. Seeing Jupiter, she flashed her victory sign and winked rakishly. "Did you really worry about me?"
       "V-chan," Jupiter sighed, exasperated.
       "We have to plan strategy; come on, let's get back inside."
       Now, the crowd had finally thinned out, though they knew the respite was only temporary. Jupiter marveled silently at her leader's abilities to banish the evil; such a healing magic was something she had attributed only to Sailor Moon, their princess. Has she been given the power to make her masquerade so much more realistic, or was it something else? "V-chan, how could you consistently heal these people? You did the same to Furu-chan onii-san as well."
       As they stepped over the broken frame of the door, Venus gestured foppishly with her hand. "I never really thought about it, honestly! As Sailor V, I made up new attacks all of the time, unbound by the constraints I have as Sailor Venus. But perhaps, the healing was so I could act as princess more convincingly."
       Glass crunched beneath their soles even on the steps leading down into the underground chamber. On the sole chair Mars sat, her leg propped up on the counter and wrapped with a clean bandage that looked suspiciously like a ripped shred of Mercury's skirt. On the counter itself stood Artemis and Luna, with the blue-haired genius leaning next to them - indeed missing a section of her skirt to reveal a longer length of thigh - deep in discussion. The screen revealed a flat map of the entire planet, marked by dark, lengthening shadows, and pulsating dots of red that stood for the larger cities.
       Luna said, "The intense cold is spreading further south, affecting even the tip of Africa. But the epicenter of everything remains constant; D Point, at the Arctic Circle, where Beryl's Dark Kingdom lay hidden!"
       "Terrible violence is following in its wake," Artemis added. "Metallia's influence is like a cancer, rotting everything good that it touches."
       "But you said Usagi-chan may be alive, inside of that thing!" Mercury insisted, looking up as Venus and Jupiter entered, then away. "Our princess can still banish the evil once and for all, lock it away, but if she awakens within Metallia…."
       "Metallia swallowed the crystal's light like candy." Venus stepped around a chunk of plastic lying in the middle of the room, coming closer. Her face had turned pensive. "Within Metallia's strong form, Usagi-chan can't fully create a shield. If we weaken Metallia, force her to release our princess, she can fulfill her destiny."
       The screen was being swallowed up by the shadow; up above in the streets, they could hear the mob begin to gather force once more, angry and dangerous. Soon they would venture into the Crown, and possibly find the command center. Then, they would be assured of nothing, not of safety, not of freedom. Metallia would have most likely spread word of the sailor soldiers, to kill them on sight.
       "How could we possibly weaken such a powerful evil?" Jupiter finally asked, folding her arms across her chest. Artemis, who had been averting his eyes every time he needed to look her way, finally gave her full attention.
       "Perhaps a combined attack, as we had done to Beryl's general?" Mars mused as she re-adjusted her leg, looking not at all happy about being injured in such a manner. She looked even more annoyed as the black cat crawled into her lap, taking advantage to settle down into a softer seat.
       Venus stared at the screen. "Iie. Only the strongest power could even touch Metallia, and a combined Planet Attack would do nothing. That isn't our full power."
       She pulled forth her transformation pen, rubbing her thumb against the metal. "We were bound to these items in this lifetime, to ease into our transformations. They weren't needed a millennium ago; consequently, all of our possibility is contained within them. Over time, the power would be released, but we need it all now."
       "Venus, what are you saying?" Mercury asked quietly.
       Before the long-haired blonde could reply, Artemis did; and he stared his friend down as he said, "She wants you to destroy your pens, and release the power. You would all be your true, powerful selves long enough to attack Metallia severely, but the rush and the sudden intensity…you wouldn't be able to handle it. It would kill all of you."
       "But Usagi-chan would have a chance." This from Mars, with a quiet intensity.
       "It's suicide!" Artemis snapped, the fine hairs along his back beginning to stand up. "Even if you attacked her, even with that power, she still may not be affected, and then you would have sacrificed yourselves for nothing!"
       The girls, in various degrees of pain and injury, looked at one another. One long, searching look; that was all they needed. Without another word, Mercury helped Mars to stand up, and, supporting her, they all began walking for the stairs. Artemis stared at the long-haired blonde's back with a look that broke Luna's heart; no doubt, if it had been Usagi, she would have done the same. The last time she had seen Usagi, it had been before they had teleported to the Arctic Circle, and none of them, in their wildest dreams, would have imagined she would kill herself.
       But she nuzzled against the white cat's side, taking his attention away from the exiting sailor soldiers. "Artemis, it is the will of a sailor soldier; daijoubu. Have faith in our princess, in Usagi-chan."
       "I have faith, Luna," he murmured softly, looking downward. "But Minako has suffered so much…! I want her to finally be happy, uncaring."
       "Once Metallia has been purged, they will know happiness! Now," she added briskly, moving quickly despite the screaming pain in her ribs towards the keyboard, "I need to see the Crystal Tower, and pray for everyone, as our queen once did."
       Artemis opened and closed his mouth, blinking. "Ano….just how did you expect to get there, without the girls?"
       The look she gave him was one of dry condescension. Moving as ably as her wounded body allowed, she tapped out commands on the computer, and Artemis watched in shock as a circle of light began to grow to the right of the computer, appearing out of nowhere. He was gaping so much like a fish, he figured he had earned the right to be one in his next life.
       "I found it a day ago, when Ami-chan and I were studying the sword," Luna explained as she smiled impishly at him. "It makes sense for the computer to have an easy way to travel to the Moon; after all, it came from there."
       "Why is it I can never find these things?" he grumbled, following her as she padded down the counter towards the light. With a strong leap, both cats vaulted into the glowing pathway, and Artemis experienced a very intense sensation of just…nothing. As if he had ceased to exist. It only took a second, as they came out on the other side still in mid-air, landing in the silent dust and ruins.
       With a sureness he envied, Luna padded quickly through the tilting ruins, following the undisturbed prints of the guardian soldiers. Over rubble they jumped, cutting their soft paws; when they landed, dirt ground into the open wounds. But Luna refused to slow down, and so he did not complain.
       When they came up to the ruined tower, they could see the hole in the ground where the sword had been sunk, sitting for a millennium. It was at this hole that Luna finally stopped, bowing her head. "Serenity-sama, hear my prayer…though I am not royal blood, I'll offer up my prayer in your daughter's name! Open the pathway of the moon…let Usagi-chan win, let her finally have a happy life!
       "In the name of the moon, let our princess live again!"

      Through the cold wasteland, a colourful quartet of girls trudged.
       Tired, freezing, and hungry, they nonetheless continued to trek hour after hour, unable to teleport any closer to the epicenter of the dark cloud. Metallia's power had repelled them, and without their fifth member, they were simply too weak to push through.
       So they walked.
       Venus led them, head tilted down against the frigid, blasting wind. The flying snow cut their bared skin, slivers of ice airborne at speeds far exceeding what they had been a mere hour ago. Mars had been thoughtful enough to attempt low-level attacks before their path, melting the flying snow and heating the way for them, but she had been, quite sharply, told to quit. Using up her power would have been detrimental to their plot.
       As they walked, all of them kept to themselves, unable to share their personal thoughts or feelings with the group. Mercury wondered how her mother would handle having her only child disappear, with no warning nor explanation - ever - as to the cause. She would die up here a sailor soldier, as Sailor Mercury, but Mizuno Ami would be dead as well. There would be no more girl genius, no more catcalls and whispering down hallways as she walked by; perhaps rumours, but nothing more.
       Mars, having lost her mother at an early age and knowing the devastation, cursed her inability to let her grandfather know. Her father would not be hurt too severely, would in fact be possibly relieved at a burden removed from his shoulders. Emotion was strangled in his soul, but her grandfather deserved to know after all he had done for a young Rei. She prayed, mentally reciting a poem written by a devout priestess centuries ago, hoping he would see only her love for him within the fire when he used it to search.
       Having no parents, and knowing no religious conviction, Jupiter had no regrets.
       And at the front, Venus thought of nothing. She had gone through the motions already, wishing she could have said so many things to her parents and Hikaru, to Natsuna onee-chan. Regretting her cold shoulder to Artemis, and wanting to apologize. And as she knew, deep down, they would all die in this last stand, she did not bother to wish at all.
       They crawled up the last drift, on hands and knees up the vertical slope, to look down on an awesome sight. In the time they had left, Metallia's power had sheered away the ice and snow surrounding the castle, and it had been left clean in the middle of a circle of ice. They could see the fallen turrets, the ruined, gaping hole of Beryl's audience chamber. Hundreds of bodies, not all humanoid, littered the snow in all directions, and a few had even made it so far to collapse into the dead flowers still poking up from the ice.
       Above it all hovered Metallia, plump and bloated with power.
       The girls slid down the other side of the drift, now shaking so hard from the bitter cold that they kept biting their tongues continuously. It helped to keep them awake, the pain; and, squaring their shoulders, they walked up to the dead mass of flowers. Metallia had not seen them yet, which gave them a slight advantage.
       Venus produced her pen, staring at its unique design. Her true planetary sigil was not present on it, having instead a star and a crescent moon. It was a deception, and now, after everything she had done to protect Usagi from the truth, she felt useless. She was a capable leader now, when she put her mind to it, but here she was anyway, ready to die. "We need to smash the pens open for this to work," she said absently.
       "I hope you brought the sledgehammer, V-chan; I left mine in my other uniform," Jupiter said, so seriously that the other three stared at her for a long moment. Then, they realized it had been a joke. Just badly-timed.
     Each pen was held out to Venus, who collected them all in her hand. She lay them on the clear ice in a row, according to awakening; herself, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter. Then, she bent down to pick up the fallen sword, still in the same spot it had fallen. Not even the soldier lying on top of it had moved it an inch, and she slid it out from beneath his prone body.
       "When I break the pens, there will be an enormous rush of power," Venus explained, hefting the weapon. "We have to do our attack quickly, or concentration will be lost." Not to mention that they would likely be dead. "If anyone has anything to say, it's now."
       "I'm still upset with you, Venus." Mars spoke quietly, but firmly. Unsurprised, Venus lifted her eyes to the dark-haired shrine girl. "But as a leader, you are intense, and superior; and I'm honored we were reborn again, to fight with you."
       "You make difficult decisions, but your top priority is always our princess," Mercury added. "And I wish we could have another chance to read to the children."
       The long-haired blonde looked stunned, and she lowered the sword onto its tip as she whispered, "Mars, Mercury…"
       "We'll be happy again," Jupiter said. "Usagi-chan will prevail. And maybe, there will be no need for sailor soldiers, and we can still be proud of V-chan for doing her best."
       Venus finally just smiled, not knowing what to say. As they watched, she lifted the sword once again, finding it vastly easier without the coating of stone. Or maybe, it was out of relief. She swung it back, holding it there for a moment to aim, before she brought it around and down hard enough to nearly tip her over forwards as the blade went through each pen with a minimal resistance.
       The resulting surge of power blasted her backwards, even as her own personal energy lifted her up off her feet. Her allies experienced the same euphoria, levitating as colours of blue, red, green, and orange swirled around them, infusing their bodies with immense power. She felt herself giving in to weakness, to unconsciousness, but fought it away, forcing her eyes to stay open and her mind alert. And just as suddenly, she touched the ground again.
       Their reborn bodies were not capable of holding so much power at once, so suddenly. They could see it radiated out from their pores in an aura of personal colour, like fine mists that clung like static. On the ground lay the halves of their pens, which were losing colour and sparkle even as they watched.
       And now, Metallia had spotted them; there was no way in hell that she could have missed the sudden surge of power. What passed for eyes turned towards them in the cloud, and rolling laughter shook the snow. "We have to strike now, minna! For the future, and our planet!"
       The sword was lifted by four sets of hands, their auras mingling into beautiful new colours and hues as they stood close. Aiming the tip of the weapon towards those eyes, holding it straight until their arms ached, they screamed out their transformations: "Mercury Power! For Usagi-chan, banish the evil!"
       "Mars Power! Begone, Metallia, from this blue planet!"
       "Believe in Sailor Moon, our princess! Jupiter Power!"
       "This is the end of it, Metallia! Your darkness will be destroyed, and the past will not be repeated! Venus Power!"
       They felt, rather than saw, their energies being drawn into the sword, draining them just as rapidly as they had been filled up. At the tip glowed their power, like a white star that burned brightly into their eyes, even as those eyes began to fade. Their scream of attack was lost in the growing wind, but it was indeed powerful. Everything exploded out of them at once, travelling along the sword and like a laser into Metallia's thickest form. Along with it, the sword shattered in their hands, and they were thrown yards back into the snow.
       Their landings were soft, but they didn't feel it. Death visited each soldier in turn, and as it finally came to Venus, she was smiling in triumph. She surrendered gratefully, the darkness falling down sweetly this time. But it was her floating essence that was horrified as it was pulled free, seeing in the moment before losing coherency that Metallia was laughing.

       The chamber was like a medieval rendition of a great hall, with towering ceilings and a great stone fireplace. A personal room, it had been decorated to the prince's taste with hard, dark woods, and woven rugs and tapestries. In the middle of the hearth was a small table for secluded dining, and there was still a half-eaten dinner sitting there.
       Serenity awoke in the bed, holding the warm blankets to her chest. For a moment, as always, she was disoriented upon waking in the unusual room, a far cry from the cold marble and gold she was surrounded with in her own chambers. But then, remembering the last few hours, she laughed to herself, marveling, before she woke up fully.
       Casual with her state of undress she slipped from the bed, her unbound hair trailing to the floor as she walked across the wood and stone floor. Finding a large silk robe over one of the chairs she tied it on, giggling at the sensation of the fabric against her skin. Such pleasures the prince had awoke within her! She had no illusion that he was a virgin as she had been, but the thought didn't bother her, as she knew now they loved one another until eternity.
       Eternity….was a very long time.
       Passing the large mirror, she stopped in front of it to survey herself. Arms held out, she pirouetted gracefully, watching her hair spin around her body. But in the mirror, another girl slowly appeared, with her face, but not her clothes; she wore a Juuban uniform, her hair tied up into their neat odango. Slowly, Serenity stopped, as did the mirror girl. "Who are you?"
       "I'm me." Laughing, the mirror girl lifted her arm, and the princess was shocked to find herself doing the same thing. Mimicking one another's movements, they danced and twisted, bowing and leaping. "You're me. Who is the real me?"
       "I'm princess of the Silver Millennium."
       "I'm a crybaby from Tokyo."
       With ease, everything switched; standing in her own room, Usagi stared into the mirror to see Serenity as the image now. Back, and forth, like a door opening and closing, they exchanged one another as easily as changing clothes. But always was the glass between them, separating them; one did not exist without the other, but they couldn't both exist.
       "I want to be Tsukino Usagi again," one said, touching the glass.
       "I want to be Serenity again," the other countered.
       Their hands didn't meet, couldn't touch. Helpless, they stared at one another, before Serenity and the chamber dissolved away, leaving only Usagi and a blank mirror behind. Slowly, her true reflection appeared, following her as she dropped her hand, leaving streaks of oil from her fingertips behind. Tsukino Usagi no Sailor Moon…
       She simply willed herself awake, and opened crystal blue eyes to an unfathomable darkness. Lying on her side, her arm had fallen asleep, along with her hip, and she sat up to allow the blood to rush back. Blood that had been replaced in her veins once more, obviously, as she felt for the wound in her stomach, knowing already it was gone. The Ginzuishou had healed her body within the coffin, though it could do nothing for the lingering stains.
       "It's so dark, and cold….am I still in the Arctic?" She was answered by silence. Crawling onto her knees, she bent over the unmoving body of Endymion, touching his face once more. He was still dressed as a civilian, not Tuxedo Kamen, nor a prince, and so she whispered, "Chiba Mamoru. Wake up."
       He didn't respond, but Metallia, sensing her awake, began laughing.
       As a princess, she had known the secrets of the crystal. Now, she held up her hands, willing it to solidify into them into its shape once again. Radiating light, she stood up, shielding Mamoru's body as Metallia attempted to squash them both like bugs. Pushing the darkness back firmly, she increased the power until Metallia screamed in shock, unable to swallow it up as she had before.
       "I'm leaving now." So saying, she leveled the Ginzuishou forward, focusing its power to violently blast open a path to the ice. Like a catapult she and Mamoru were shoved out, landing in the cold air roughly as above, Metallia howled.
       "How could you hurt me! I swallowed your pitiful light, how could you wound my gaseous self?" the entity screeched, roiling in anger. The castle began to shake again, more towers and turrets snapping off under the vibrations.
       On the Moon, the two felines watched in silent horror as the blackness engulfed the entire Earth facing them, obscuring the oceans and continents.
       And it only grew as Metallia, now quite pissed off at being hurt, stretched herself to her limits, leeching off the energy of frantic humans. Swelling, much of her began to reach into space as well, growing at a rapid pace. If she sucked every human dry on the planet she would be unstoppable.
       "I'm not a crybaby any longer," Sailor Moon yelled, barely hearing herself over the wind. "I have my strength back as a sailor soldier; I will seal you away, Metallia!"
       "Yeess….your crystal has grown stronger since I absorbed it! Once I take you both back into me, I will have all of it!"
       Tendrils of shadow wrapped around the odango-haired blonde's body, holding her spread eagle and aloft. But the crystal again flared, destroying the weak shadows, and she landed on the ice again, this time on her feet. "You can't do it, Metallia!"
       Next to her foot, Mamoru was starting to breathe again. And she had no chance to greet him as she was forced to fend off more shadows, blasting the light of the crystal in a wide arc around her. Ice melted in rivers at the intense heat. But Metallia was larger, if not as strong; a shadow finally managed to reach in under the light, throwing her - again! - across the snow and into a large drift, burying her partway.
       She sure was airborne a lot lately.
       As she wriggled and kicked her way out, she rolled down the hill to collide with a body. Thinking it to be one of the Dark Kingdom denizens, she ignored it and stood, ready to face the evil again. Without conscious thought she summoned the Ginzuishou again, releasing its light into the shadowy darkness. "I will defeat you, Metallia! Everyone will be happy again, free of your dark influence!"
       She stepped forward, intent on releasing another blow, when she tripped over the body. Tumbling down, she landed face-first into another, her scream cut off. But the landing was remarkably soft…the body had not yet hardened in rigor mortis, though all of the Dark Kingdom dead had fallen hours ago. This one had died only a little while ago, still soft and reasonably pliant.
       All she heard for a long minute was her own heartbeat, thudding within her chest. Then, slowly, she lifted her head, feeling fabric brush her cheek, red as an apple. A white expanse of uniform followed, and she was looking down Mars's unmoving body, her limbs splayed where they had fallen, legs akimbo and wide for the world to see.
       Sailor Moon screamed.
       Scrambling away, she realized with growing horror that around her lay the bodies of all four of her guardian soldiers, all without a doubt dead. This close to them, conscious of them again, she could feel the lack of life in their forms. And she knew without having to think too deeply that they had tried one last stand against Metallia, assuming her dead.
       In that moment, she knew how selfish she had been.
       The halved pens had been scattered around their corpses by the wind, and she lifted up the sigil of Mercury. In her hand it was cold, its magic completely gone. In random order she picked up the others, growing more frantic with each one, but every answer was the same; dead. Holding them in her palm, she felt her sureness drain away, her will to fight, and she began to cry pitifully.
       "Usako…."
       She turned, clutching the sigils to her chest.
       The dark-haired prince was strangely blind, but he stumbled nonetheless towards the sound of her crying. And she watched him as he moved close, reaching the light she herself released as a sailor soldier, his civilian costume barely protecting his fragile body from the cold. "Usako….Sailor Moon…I can hear you, but not see your form….."
       "Mamo-chan, you're alive!" Still holding the sigils in her hand, she hugged him in joy. And he returned the embrace just as tightly, whispering her name over and over again.
       For them, time was standing still, and they held one another close. "Oh, Mamo-chan, I thought you were dead…."
       "I was. And it was horrible. I don't recommend it," he replied, though his serious tone belied the humour. She giggled, her horror momentarily forgotten, nuzzling her cheek into his shoulder as he stroked her hair.
       The ground swelled beneath them again as Metallia reminded them of her existence, throwing them and the bodies of her friends around like dolls. Ice began to crack open around them, fissures growing immense to nearly swallow them, indeed taking some of the Dark Kingdom's dead. Mamoru picked up the odango-haired blonde before she could protest, and began running as cracks attempted to open beneath their feet deliberately. Jumping and leaping, he moved without seeing to make it to the drifts, listening to the noise to avoid each crack as it split open, and finally threw her up into the snow.
       He followed just in time, rolling up over the drift as one last opening nearly dropped him. Sailor Moon grabbed his hands, pulling him with her as she fell down into the snow, crying. Though Metallia had not swallowed them, she had taken the bodies of the four soldiers instead, dropping their fragile forms deep into the crevasses to perhaps shatter. The odango-haired blonde did not want to think of it, but her mind pulled forth increasingly dire images against her will; and with each one, she felt her spirit falter.
       "Minna….Ami-chan, Mako-chan….V-chan….Rei…Rei-chan…" she softly burbled, feeling the huge lump in her throat, the hot tears spilling down her face. The Ginzuishou, which had followed her like a hovering, faithful dog, had begun to dim rapidly, its luster fading. There was no harmony in any of this.
       "Usako, you can't lose your faith," Mamoru said seriously, lying beside her in the snow. Though he still could not see her face, he could hear the tiny noises she made, the catching of her throat; already he had memorized them as the sounds she made when she was trying to hide her sorrow. "Your allies would never want you to lose like this! Take the Ginzuishou, Sailor Moon, and lock away Metallia forever, so we can live happy lives again."
       "I can't!" And she knew it. "Everyone is dead, everyone I counted on to greet me with smiles when I won! I have no power that rivals theirs; I am not Princess Serenity!"
       Tripping over her clumsy feet and the knee-deep snow, she began to run away from the dark-haired prince, from the epicenter of the evil. Ignoring his calls for her to come back, she closed her eyes against the wind and simply ran, feeling the numbness creeping up her legs with every slog.
       Yards away she finally fell, collapsing into the snow as she screamed helplessly, beating her fists against the drift caused by her impact. And with another cry, she felt her transformation melt away, leaving her even more vulnerable as Tsukino Usagi to the elements. She had neither hope nor faith in herself; she was finished, forgotten, and unworthy of a soldier's status. Her brooch, unable to transform her with its magic once she lost the spirit to recognize it, was cold and dead; it fell from her breast, sinking into the snow.
       "What are you doing?"
       And now, she was hallucinating. Lifting her head up, feeling the frostbite on her cheeks, she stared at the ghostly image of herself - no, Serenity. Only a hallucination would be mad enough to be wearing such a thin dress in this weather. "Ne, did you hear me?"
       "Hai, hai," Usagi murmured. In this intense wind, she would surely be dead within a few minutes, frozen into a popsicle. Her third time; maybe this time, she would be allowed to rest peacefully.
       "Well, answer her, then! Mou!"
       Usagi gaped as herself stepped out from behind herself. Or, rather, Sailor Moon stepped out from behind Serenity. Both looked displeased at the girl that cowered in the snow before them, though the effect was somewhat ruined by the snow whipping through both of their figures. "This is no way for a soldier to act!"
       "It is no way for the chosen princess of the galaxy to act!" Serenity added.
       "I never asked to be a sailor soldier, or a reborn princess! I want to be Tsukino Usagi again, klutzy and normal and a crybaby!" Usagi retorted, feeling her lips crack with the cold. She felt tired, weighted down.
       Both apparitions traded a similar look, both staring down again. "No one asked us to share the same body, you know," Sailor Moon replied calmly. "But we chose to be harmonious; the soldier's will is a princess's strength. Both are the same."
       "….nani?"
       Serenity sighed. "A princess is not a soldier. But a soldier can be a princess, just as a princess can be a soldier. Just as a princess and a soldier can be an ordinary girl." She reached out with a ghostly hand, and Usagi felt it pass through her face, like thickened air. "You are Tsukino Usagi. But you can be Sailor Moon, and you can be Princess Serenity. It is acceptance of yourself, in all your forms and ways, that makes you whole and happy."
       "But I don't want either of you within me! Everything has been horrible ever since Luna gave me that brooch…I want to just wake up, and find it was all a dream…" Usagi whimpered, pressing her face into the snow.
       "Usagi-chan…we are you. And perhaps, yes, having us within you makes you get hurt, and cry a lot, but it also makes you happy!" Sailor Moon countered. "Would you have met Ami, Rei, Makoto, or Minako? Under normal circumstances, you could have a happy life, but would you have made such friends? Mamoru could have passed you by without a second glance; and the world would not be as rich, as you can appreciate it so much more!"
       "Through me, you know peace and gentleness," Serenity said.
       "Through me, you know true friendship and love," Sailor Moon added.
       "…and through me, you know normal life?" Usagi ventured to say, stunned when both ghosts nodded in agreement.
       No stars shone through the clouds that made up the bulk of Metallia. It would be a bleak, cold world if she was not vanquished, and Usagi knew that if she didn't do anything, no one would. She would not be whole, a trio of lives together in beneficial harmony, because she would be finally, and forever, dead.
       She held out her arms, feeling both passing into her, like a warm rush of air. Her brooch, buried in the snow, was lost to her forever, but she had no need for it. With the Ginzuishou, she could do anything, and it was pure power that pushed life back into her limbs, clothing her in the familiar fuku of red and blue. It was an intense rush, one she knew she had taken on much too fast for her human form, but she willed herself to relax, to let it flow over her.
       The crystal itself formed above her head, and she recalled the moon stick to her hand. She remembered her mother using it in the same manner, increasing its healing property tenfold; now, she lifted the weapon up to lock with the crystal properly, watching in awe as the handle lengthened to a staff.
       She held it like a jousting rod and began to run again, this time knowing how to place her steps, to run in the path she had unintentionally carved out. Up ahead she could see Mamoru kneeling atop the high drift, patiently waiting for her return. Neither of them said a word as she came closer, meeting in the space between to kiss long and hard.
       "Mamo-chan…know that you made me happy," she whispered into his mouth.
       "I have faith in you, Usako," he murmured in return, straining to see her as she stood up and slid down the opposite side.
       Using the moon stick like a vaulting pole, she leapt the spaces over each crevasse, unnoticed by Metallia until she had landed atop the ruins of the castle. Directly above was the swirling black mass that made up the entity's epicenter, and it was to this she yelled, "Metallia!"
       "Yare yare, the weak little princess won't give up!" Metallia replied harshly, rumbling like a particularly nasty storm. "Your planet is dead, and so shall the Earth fall too. I will smash you, crush you, and your annoying light will no longer bother me!"
       In retaliation, the moon stick was held up high, and a beam of white light punched upwards through the shadows. Metallia's scream of pain shook the building below the odango-haired blonde's feet, but she braced herself firmly, continuing to hold her weapon up to the sky, pushing her power to its limit. She could feel her alternate selves inside of her working together, giving her strength; she was whole, and her power was great. Metallia could not absorb this power.
       The glowing orb of the moon shone above her head, rays of pure white light connecting with the light she was releasing. Everything grew more intense as the moon gave its strength to its blood princess, and she screamed, "Now, Metallia, forever! I am Sailor Moon, and I am Tsukino Usagi, and I am Princess Serenity! I am all and one, and I will be the one to seal you into darkness eternal!"