Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Ascension Trilogy, Book 2: Judgment Day ❯ Akin To Snowflakes ( Chapter 4 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

JUDGMENT DAY,
Chapter 4: "Akin To Snowflakes"

By Bill K.

Sailor Jupiter ran through the streets of Tokyo. She hoped to
link up with Sailor Mars and Sailor Venus. She'd been able to raise
Venus on the Sailor Communicator. They began to compare results on
their battles with the Frost Giants. Then communications was lost.

"She's got to be all right!" thought Jupiter as she fought her way
through hordes of fleeing civilians. "Please, please let her be all
right!"

It seemed like Armageddon. It seemed like civilization was
crashing down around everyone. The streets were choked with cars,
hopelessly grid-locked, their drivers in full-blown panic. The
sidewalks teamed with people. It was mass hysteria. Loved ones got
separated by the pushing crowds. Children cried in fear. Older people
were buffeted. Pity those who lost their balance and fell, for they
were often trampled. Finally eschewing the sidewalks, Jupiter made her
way to the street, then began running across the hoods of the trapped
autos.

She looked up, for some reason. Another Frost Giant was pulling
its way through the temporal portal over the pond. Another enemy.
Another adding to the odds against them. If only Sailor Moon were with
them. But this enemy had done their work well. Sailor Moon still lay
in a hospital bed, weak and infirm.

"Jupiter!" she heard a bellowed cry and her heart found
encouragement. Turning to the sound, she saw Sailor Venus following the
exit of the crowds from the business district.

"When the communicators cut out, you just about gave me heart
failure!" gasped Jupiter.

"Had to move fast to avoid a cold blast," Venus explained.
"Communicator fell and broke."

"Where's Mars?"

"Headed for the shrine. She got some sort of premonition or
something. I think one of the giants is headed there. Where's
Mercury?"

"Headed back to the park. She's going to try to close that portal
somehow. The cats went with her."

"Artemis will know what to do if she doesn't," Venus nodded.
"Ready to kick some icy butt?"

"Always," nodded Jupiter. With that, the pair headed back into
the business district.
* * * *
As Sailor Uranus pursued her Frost Giant, she couldn't help notice
the devastation left in its wake. Frozen buildings, some crumbling in
on themselves, people and animals frozen in their tracks and motionless
- - it was like some scene from a grisly Christmas card. What struck
her the most, though, was the eerie silence. All she could hear was the
crunch of her own footfalls in the ice and snow, and the thudding steps
of the giant ahead of her. Occasionally there would be the step of
someone that had escaped the freezing blast of the giant and were now
left to face exposure in the rapidly falling temperatures. The silence
was unnatural - - sepulchral.

As she crossed an intersection choked with frozen cars and frozen
people, Uranus spotted a figure staggering down the cross street. It
was Sailor Pluto. Altering her course, Uranus made for her fellow
warrior.

"You going to make it?" Uranus inquired.

"I have little choice," Pluto replied. She was pale and clearly
not well. "The entry of more giants must be abated if we are to have
any hope of victory. I go to try to stem the tide."

"Neptune?" Uranus asked slightly anxiously.

Pluto thought for a moment, reviewing her ability to see all of
history. She tried to remain inscrutable, but what she saw clearly
upset her.

"What?" demanded Uranus.

Pluto debated silently with herself over how much to reveal. She
avoided the urgent gaze of Uranus. Finally she faced Uranus.

"She is in that direction. I suggest you go to her," Pluto
replied.

The manner in which she said it sent chills through Uranus.
Nodding numbly, Uranus stumbled off the way Pluto came. Urgency lent
her already fast pace greater speed. Feet imitating pistons, arms
pumping, Uranus nearly flew along the icy street, spurred on by the
growing fear that she was too late, that for all her vaunted speed she
faced the yawning chasm of a life without Michiru Kaioh.

And just as suddenly as if a switch had been flipped, the strength
drained out of the form of Sailor Uranus. She stumbled to a stop in
between frozen and smashed cars, between frozen and smashed buildings.
Fifteen meters from her was Sailor Neptune. She was frozen solid, a
crystalline princess cast in a crystalline cocoon, inanimate and
perfectly preserved. She stared up at nothing, her shattered mirror
out-stretched. Sunlight, diffused by the layer of ice around her, gave
her an unearthly elegance. Blocks ahead a Frost Giant lumbered off, its
grim work finished.

Uranus walked up in shock on legs that didn't want to function.
She stared at her love, tears burning down her cheeks. Uranus - -
Haruka - - hadn't cried since she was thirteen, that night in the
schoolyard of her middle school when three boys revealed to her the
depths humanity could sink to. But she cried now, because her life was
over, frozen and trapped forever in ice.

"Michiru?" a wobbly voice whispered, a voice timid and fearful.
It was a voice Haruka hadn't heard since she was a little girl.

A hand reached out and delicately caressed the cold layer of ice.
The cheek beneath it looked pale. Was she dead? Was Haruka Tenoh's
first, last and only chance at happiness dead? The sadness engulfed
her and, as it always had in her life, gave way to the rage.

Teeth ground; jaw muscles clenched; adrenaline surged through her
body as a red film slipped over her vision. A white-hot fury overtook
her and she let it engulf her body and use it.

"DRAGON WORLD SHATTERING!" Uranus bellowed without knowing or
caring what she was shouting.

Energy seemed to explode from her. She didn't care if it ripped
her form asunder. She didn't care anymore. A geo-force bubble five
times normal size detonated from her spot at ground zero and shot
forward. It sliced through anything and everything in its path, gouging
out an ugly wound in the Tokyo shopping district. As it flew across the
frozen land, it seemed to sprout scalloped wings, a pointed tail and a
serpentine head. Savagely it struck the Frost Giant from behind.
Before the great thing knew it had been struck, the energy blew it into
atoms. All of Tokyo was shaken by the tremor that resulted.

Spent physically and emotionally, Sailor Uranus sank to her knees
next to the frozen shroud of Sailor Neptune. The lanky senshi bent her
head into her thighs and began weeping like a lost child. Oblivious to
all that was around her, she continued to weep mournful, devastated
sobs. Finally the thudding approach of another Frost Giant registered
dimly in the outer rim of her perception. She continued to weep. It
didn't matter what happened to her now.
* * * *
Sailor Mars raced up the steps. She didn't need her second sight
to tell her that the Frost Giant was already at Hikawa's gates - - the
ice forming on the steps was enough. She was, therefore, prepared for
the scene she found at the top of the steps. It didn't make it any
easier to take, though.

The main building of the shrine was flattened under a thick slab
of ice. The sacred entrance was broken, leveled as if by a giant hand.
Everywhere trees were felled, broken like matchsticks. The garden, the
garden that her grandfather had labored in for decades of his life, the
garden that had been one of his life's joys, the garden she meticulously
maintained in his memory though she was indifferent to gardening itself,
was covered in a blanket of ice and snow. Only here and there were
there even faint reminders that this had once been a holy place.

Something told her to look to her left. Looming up above a tree
was a Frost Giant, its hand extended and ready to smother her with a
burst of frigid ice and snow. Mars was quicker. Producing one of her
parchment wards, Sailor Mars leaped up into the air and flung it at the
towering creature. With supernatural accuracy, the ward shot up and
struck the giant's forehead, sticking there.

Instantly the Frost Giant reeled backwards, its hands groping
blindly in front of its face for the ward. But it groped too far
forward, its senses distorted and its mind confused. Gone was all
thought of anything except removing the ward. Sailor Mars watched the
giant's actions with grim satisfaction as she gathered herself.

"Burning Mandala!" Sailor Mars shouted.

The enchanted fire circle struck the Frost Giant with telling
effect. The beast shrunk back as the supernatural ring encircled it.
Its fire resisted the cold and melting ice formed by the monster,
flaring with deadly intensity. The Frost Giant twisted its head to the
heavens, seeming to cry out in agony as its form withered down to
nothing under the influence of Burning Mandala. The water from its
corpse fell to the ground and quickly froze again into harmless ice.

"The kids!" gasped Mars. "Were Makoto and Sanjuro's kids here?"

Feeling sick at heart, Mars headed for the garden. She searched
through the blanketed, ruined flowers and the sculpted trees. There
were a few unfortunate animals caught by the Frost Giant and frozen, but
no sign of the kids. Looking up, Mars caught sight of Deimos and
Phobos, frozen to the limb they perched on and inanimate. Pain pierced
her heart. Mars wanted to help them, but didn't yet know how. Instead
she pressed on.

With no sign of the kids, she moved to the rubble of the shrine
itself. Gently pulling up parts of the caved in roof, Mars found a few
bodies of worshippers who had been caught inside. Each new find tore a
new wound in her heart. Something told her to stop, but she continued
on.

"Akira," she gasped softly when the body of her fellow priest was
revealed.

His head was smashed in by a fallen beam. Mars wanted to be sick
right there. Then she noticed an indenture around his chest, as if he
lay on something. Investigating, she found an infant cradled beneath
his body.

"He'd tried to shield her," Mars whispered, touched to the core
that even in death Akira had lived up to his teachings and his
principles. Mars tried to work the infant out, then stopped instantly.
The baby was cold to the touch and rigid. A tear fell from Sailor Mars.
"If he did manage to save her, she probably died of exposure."

Working diligently, but with a heavy heart, Sailor Mars cleared
enough rubble away from Akira's body to allow her to drag him into a
clear area. Rolling him on his back, she stood at his feet, closed her
eyes and looked down.

"Burning Mandala," she whispered out of respect.

The enchanted circle of flame surrounded Akira's remains. At
first only steam rose from the frozen body. But the relentless flame
eventually overcame the frost that held Akira and his remains were
quickly engulfed in a pyre.

"Go to your ancestors," Sailor Mars whispered, head bowed. Tears
poured down her face and she did nothing to stop them. "Go content in
the knowledge that you remained true to your teachings and your duty and
that you graced this world," and Mars swallowed to regain control of her
voice, "with your goodness. As I commit your remains to the
purification of the fire, go in peace, gentle spirit."

Her tender feelings washed away. Mars stood up and turned to her
right. Another Frost Giant loomed, approaching the graveyard that had
been Hikawa Shrine.

"You want some of this?" Mars barked out angrily. "Come and get
it!" The Frost Giant raised its hand. Sailor Mars steepled her index
fingers. "Fire Soul!" she called out.

The fireball exploded into the giant. It reeled back, visibly
damaged. A thick plume of steam rose from the wounded giant. When the
steam dissipated, Mars could see the results of her actions. The giant
stood, ravaged and disfigured from where the fireball had hit it. It
was clearly weaker, particularly in the head and chest area. Another
strike might take it down. It was doubtful the giant could survive two.

"Mars!" Sailor Mars snapped, her hand rigid and splayed at her
side. "Flame Sniper!" Eschewing one attack for another, she summoned
the flaming bow and arrow. Taking deadly aim at a point between the
indentations that served at the ice beast's eyes, Mars prepared to fire.
The Frost Giant raised a weakened hand to try to blast her with its cold
power.

Suddenly Mars whirled and let fly behind her. The arrow struck
the second Frost Giant coming up from her rear. Driving deep into the
crust of the giant's forehead, the arrow drove it back, its arms
pin-wheeling. Pulling out another ward, Mars invoked the sacred prayer
and let fly. The ward struck the giant where the shaft had before,
leaving the great ice giant blind and groping for purchase.

A frigid blast struck Mars from behind. It was weakened, though,
and allowed Mars to summon another fireball. The inferno struck the
disfigured Frost Giant and it twisted away in pain.

"What's keeping this monster up!" fumed Mars, her chest heaving.
"This is for desecrating the memory of my Grandfather! Fire Soul!"

The fireball struck the Frost Giant chest high and it pitched
backwards onto the side of the hill. The body slid into the street,
knocking aside frozen cars and people before it came to rest at a bus
stop.

Turning back to the other one, Mars saw it had finally divested
itself of the ward. The Frost Giant was just meters away from her,
looming up as if to engulf her in a bone-chilling blast of arctic cold.
Undaunted, Mars once more summoned the fire to do her bidding.

"Fiery Perdition!" she shouted.

The huge wall of fire shot up at point blank range, surrounding
the Frost Giant. The giant recoiled, the wall carving deeply into the
creature's icy body. Again steam blanketed the area and turned into a
gentle fog upon contact with the cold air. It was almost like Mercury
had turned Shabon Spray loose. Unwilling to wait for the fog to clear,
Mars used her eyes and her sight to get a fix on the giant.

"Mars!" she cried. "Flame Sniper!"

The arrow pierced the veil of fog and struck the creature in its
squat neck. Again recoiling in pain, the beast caught another arrow in
its chest and a third in its arm. Wounded and reeling, the giant was no
match for Mars' last arrow. It pierced the skull through the eye,
spinning the giant back and sending it down the embankment next to the
stairs.

On the verge of exhaustion, chest heaving, Mars watched the
monster fall out of sight. She turned and scanned the horizon. Through
the fog, she could make out three more Frost Giants lumbering across
Tokyo from the park, each one headed for the remains of Hikawa Shrine.

Another might have become dispirited. This only made Sailor Mars
mad.

"Bring them all on!" she shouted defiantly, holding her flaming
bow. "I'll take you all down if I have to!"
* * * *
Sailor Mercury made her way down the frozen street toward the park
with deliberate yet cautious haste, with Luna and Artemis on her heels.
Though it was infinitely clear that one or more Frost Giants had passed
through this section of the city, more came out of the temporal rift as
fast as possible. Since she didn't want to accidentally run into more,
she moved with care and had her visor on to measure temperature changes.
And in moments her precautions proved to be warranted.

"Hold on," Mercury called out, stopping the cats in their tracks.
"I'm detecting a sudden downward shift in the area mean temperature."

"Frost Giant?" Artemis asked.

"That would be my estimation," Mercury answered. "I think it
might be prudent to backtrack to the alley and cut over to the next
street."

"I hate losing the time," grumbled Artemis. "Every minute we lose
means another Frost Giant that we have to deal with."

"If only Sailor Moon were here," Luna mused.

"I feel the same way, Luna," Mercury told her. "But she's not and
we three don't have the firepower to take one of those things on. Our
logical course is to close off that rift. That will buy time for the
others, perhaps even allow Sailor Moon to recover enough to help."

"Yeah, I don't think clawing that thing's face is going to do
much," Artemis quipped. Not hearing a response from Luna, he turned and
saw Luna stopped, licking at her back haunch. "Luna! Worry about your
fur later!"

"Go on without me if you must!" she said between licks. "I simply
must tend to this!"

"You look beautiful! Now come on!"

Luna was about to respond when a shadow fell over the street. All
three turned to the intersection and saw a Frost Giant towering there,
about a half kilometer away. The Frost Giant stared right at them, then
took a lumbering step forward that covered a quarter of the distance
between them.

"Oh, gracious!" gasped Luna. She sped forward, trying to make the
alley before the Frost Giant could reach them. Her eyes widened when
she saw Artemis head for her. "Artemis, get away! Get to safety! I'll
make it!"

Unseen by Luna, the giant was nearly upon her and had its hand
raised to project another cold blast.

"Sparkling Tsunami!" shouted Sailor Mercury.

Instantly a thick driving snowstorm struck the Frost Giant full in
the face. Recoiling, its first response was to blast the attack with
its cold. This only served to freeze the pelting snowflakes into larger
clumps of ice that in turn froze themselves to the giant's face, arms
and upper body. When the attack died away, the giant was struggling to
free itself from a cocoon of inanimate ice around its upper body and
head.

"Nice going, Mercury!" Artemis exclaimed.

"We really should go!" Mercury warned. "I doubt it will hold for
very long!"

"I'm terribly sorry my vanity put us all in danger, Mercury," Luna
apologized.

"I doubt it saw you that far away," Mercury replied. "What's more
likely is that these giants can sense heat sources. It was attracted to
our body heat more than any movement you made."

"You mean I've still got some body heat?" quipped Artemis.

"As for you," Luna began, padding over to Artemis, "when I tell
you to leave me and save yourself, you do it!"

"Sorry, gorgeous," Artemis grinned, licking her whiskers, "did you
just say something?" Luna gave him a cynical grin.

And a loud explosion rocked the air as ice cracked and fragments
crashed to the frozen pavement. The Frost Giant rose up to full height
and once again focused on the trio. Mercury and the cats were about to
turn and run, but Luna detected a faint whistle.

A red rose hurled through the air and embedded itself in the
temple of the Frost Giant. The impact staggered the monster, while the
rose itself seemed to leave the creature dazed and confused. It
staggered to one side, flattening a van, before it caught itself against
the side of a building. An arm seemed to grasp at nothing sluggishly.

"Look!" gasped Sailor Mercury. "It's Tuxedo Mask!"

Leaping from atop a building, cape flowing majestically behind
him, Tuxedo Mask hurled at the ice monster. His walking stick was out
and he brandished it above his head like a samurai about to behead a
foe. The distance was incalculable, yet Tuxedo Mask traversed it. The
odds were incredible, yet he leaped without fear. The task was
impossible, but it did not stop him. When he reached the Frost Giant,
the walking stick came down with enough force that the giant's head
exploded into bits. He landed on the beheaded giant's shoulder as the
giant teetered against the building. Finally the body could resist the
pull of gravity no longer and toppled forward. Tuxedo Mask rode it down
until it was almost to the ground, then somersaulted forward and away
from it to gracefully land on his feet.

"Tuxedo Mask, that was amazing!" gasped Mercury as she and the
cats ran up.

"You looked like you could use a little help," he said, smiling
easily as if he'd just returned her hat.

"Usagi?" Luna gasped. "How is she?"

"Stable," Tuxedo Mask reassured her. "Let's go save her world for
her, huh?"

Mercury and the cats nodded and they were off again.
* * * *
Kenji felt Usagi tense up. Her eyes flew open and he leaned in.

"Princess?" he asked, concerned. Ikuko flew to his side. "Is
something wrong?"

"Mamo-chan," she whispered. Then she relaxed. "No, he's all
right." She looked up to her parents. "Sorry if I scared you."

"Is Mamoru out dealing with those - - things?" Ikuko inquired.

"Yes," Usagi said. Some of her strength and color was back and
that buoyed her parents. Kenji felt Usagi squeeze his hand.

"He'll be all right, Princess," Kenji reassured her. "You just
rest and get well."

Usagi nodded and seemed to settle back into the mattress. Kenji
stroked her forehead and stared down protectively toward her. She was
almost asleep. Then suddenly she sat up in bed. It was the most
physical activity she'd seemed capable of since being poisoned.

"Princess?" Kenji asked, upset by her sudden display.

"Usagi, what is it?" Ikuko asked. "Are you in pain."

Usagi just stared ahead at nothing. Her eyes were wide and
fearful.

Continued in chapter 5