Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Ascension Trilogy, Book 2: Judgment Day ❯ A World Without Love ( Chapter 5 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

JUDGMENT DAY,
Chapter 5: "A World Without Love"

By Bill K.

"Usagi?" hissed Ikuko desperately. She had witnessed her daughter
suddenly sit up in bed, where before she'd had no such strength, and
stare off in horror at nothing. "Usagi, what's wrong?"

Usagi didn't respond. Instead, with unsure hands she pulled the
sheets from her and stepped tentatively onto the floor.

"Princess, you're still sick!" Kenji said protectively, instantly
at her side when her legs wobbled beneath her ever so imperceptibly.
"Don't try to walk just yet!"

"It's Rei," Usagi whispered, staring ahead with a stricken
expression. "She needs help."

"Call one of the others," Kenji insisted.

"Daddy, you can't expect me to ignore this, can you?" Usagi gasped
in shock.

"You can't help her if you over-extend yourself and collapse!"
Ikuko said insistently.

"Moon Eternal Make-Up!" Usagi said, as if her parents hadn't said
anything. They both fell back a few steps and stared in awe, having
never witnessed their daughter transform herself into Sailor Moon. It
was a wondrous sight and, despite their misgivings, both of them were
amazed by the occurrence. Although lightheaded, the energy of Sailor
Moon and the Silver Crystal seemed to be enough to get her going.
"Please stay here," she told her parents. "You'll be safer here."

"I still think this is a mistake," Ikuko said, clasping Sailor
Moon's hand in hers. "But I know that look - - you're not going to
listen to anything I'm going to say. Please, please be careful. Don't
try to do too much too fast. Your father and I don't want to spend the
rest of our lives mourning you."

"I'll come back," Sailor Moon smiled, leaning over and kissing her
mother. "Everything'll be OK."

"Be safe," Kenji told her. "And remember, no matter what happens,
you'll always be my little girl."

"Thank you, Daddy," Sailor Moon said, kissing him. Then she
hurried out of the room before she started crying - - or betrayed to
them just how weak she felt.

As she headed for the exit, Sailor Moon could feel her body
drawing more and more energy from the Silver Crystal to keep going. It
was a concern for her, but she shunted it aside and focused on Rei. All
she'd received was a flash of agony, as if Rei had suddenly unexpectedly
been struck down. She didn't know how badly and she really didn't want
to know. She just wanted to ride to the rescue because she didn't want
anything to happen to one of her dear friends. So far it had been the
first inkling that one of the inner senshi had run into danger and she
wanted it to be the last.

Her heart beating far harder than she thought it could, Sailor
Moon dashed out the front entrance of the hospital and directly into the
path of a Frost Giant. Sailor Moon skidded to a stop and stared up in
amazement, for it was the first time she'd encountered such a thing.
The giant was enormous, a gigantic shambling ice man with blocky arms,
blocky legs and a furrowed blob of a head. Sensing something not
frozen, the Frost Giant bent down and extended its huge hand, preparing
to unleash bitter cold at Sailor Moon. Her hand went to her mouth and
her eyes widened. Sailor Moon stared up in shock - - one might say
frozen in place.

And at once a red rose that whizzed through the air struck the
creature's wrist. The rose embedded itself by the stem deep into the
ice. The hand flinched back, evading the swing of Tuxedo Mask's walking
stick. Its other hand grasped at the injured wrist, trying without
success to pluck or rub the offending rose from its body. Tuxedo Mask
somehow landed with the dexterity of a great cat by Sailor Moon. He
gathered her up in his arms, staring intently at her through his white
mask.

"Tuxedo Mask," Sailor Moon sighed in relief.

"Usako!" he gasped. "What are you doing out of bed?"

"It's Rei!" she wailed. "Something's wrong with Rei!"

Pivoting suddenly, Tuxedo Mask turned to protect Sailor Moon. He
brought up his cloak as a shield, for the Frost Giant was flailing
wildly with his undamaged hand, projecting freezing cold over the façade
of the hospital. The hand turned down, catching the pair in its icy
blast. Gathering his wife effortlessly in his arms, Tuxedo Mask bounded
away from the monster. As he passed, Tuxedo Mask lashed out at the
creature's shin with his walking stick. Broken pieces of ice sprayed
out from the creature's leg and the great ice thing toppled over onto
the street. Sailor Moon turned back to see if the Frost Giant was
pursuing them.

With great difficulty, due to a useless arm and a wounded leg, the
Frost Giant worked its great frame up to its knees. Whether from pique
or from a misguided attempt to halt their flight, the Frost Giant swung
its good arm at them. The ploy was doomed to failure, and at a tragic
cost. The giant's arm crashed into the brittle side of the hospital,
sending the entire wing collapsing down in a twisted heap of metal,
plaster, cement and ice.

"NO!" screamed Sailor Moon, wide-eyed with horror.

Instantly her body flared with silver-white energy. Tuxedo Mask
was knocked away from her and skidded to a stop two meters away. Sailor
Moon hovered over the ground as the energy built to critical mass in
seconds. When it could build no longer, the energy shot out from her
body. It struck the Frost Giant and atomized the creature as it tried
to rise. The energy gone, Sailor Moon crumpled like paper and fell to
the icy ground in a heap. Though shaken and sore from the impact of
both the energy and the ground, Tuxedo Mask was by her side in moments.
He cradled his wife's limp body in his arms, his throat dry and his
heart racing.

"Usako?" he cried, stroking her face. "Say something!"

Tears began streaming down Sailor Moon's face. Her delicate
features twisted up in agony and her small body began to shake with the
tremors of despair.

"They're dead, Mamo-chan!" Sailor Moon sobbed. "Mom and Dad are
dead! They were in the hospital, waiting for me!"

"Maybe there's still hope," he offered gamely. She only shook her
head.

"They're dead, Mamo-chan!" she wailed. "I know! They're dead! I
felt their screams!"

Tuxedo Mask cradled Sailor Moon to his chest, holding her as she
cried bitterly. He stroked her yellow hair and tried somehow to give
her the comfort he knew she needed.

"I know just how you feel, Usako," he whispered to her, holding
her tightly. "Let it out."

"You're all I have left," Sailor Moon cried. She was weak as a
kitten again and could only lay against her husband's chest and sob.
"You and Shingo and the senshi."

"Usako," Tuxedo Mask said, trying to pull her attention away from
the deep mourning she felt over the sudden death of her parents - -
anything to avoid seeing her cry. "You mentioned something about Rei.
Something about her being in trouble?"

"Rei! Mamo-chan, you have to get to her! I can't lose her, too!
I just can't!"

"And leave you? I can't do that."

Sailor Moon turned back to the rubble that had been the hospital
wing, the rubble that contained the bodies of her parents. Her lip
trembled like she wanted to weep again, but finally found something
solid to cling to and turned back to him.

"Then I'll come with you," she whispered sadly. "I-I guess I
can't do anything for Mom and Dad now. Rei needs our help."

"Are you strong enough?" he asked cautiously. "You were weak to
start with and that energy discharge . . .?"

"I'll make it," she replied, struggling to escape his embrace and
gain her feet. "I have to! Rei needs me! They all need me!"

Reluctantly Tuxedo Mask helped Sailor Moon to her feet. Nearly
dragging him, she forced them both in the general direction of Hikawa
Shrine.

"Here," Tuxedo Mask said after a while, pulling Sailor Moon to a
stop. "You need to conserve your strength."

With little difficulty, Tuxedo Mask whisked Sailor Moon up in his
arms. Shooting into the air, propelled by impossibly strong legs, he
carried Sailor Moon up to the roof of a nearby intact building. No
sooner did he land than he leaped again, traversing five times the
normal distance an unburdened human could. Sailor Moon started to
protest, but a wave of fatigue stilled her.

"Look at everything," she moaned as they passed over caved in
buildings and frozen people. "This is so horrible! All of those poor
people, frozen. All of those people trapped inside those buildings!
Why? Why are they doing this?"

"The others figured out that this invasion is some sort of
prophecy," Tuxedo Mask struggled to answer. "Some sort of ultimate test
for humanity and its guardians."

"But why?" Sailor Moon persisted. "Why can't they just let us
live in peace?"

"I don't know," Tuxedo Mask told her. "There are some people who
just can't stand to see other people at peace."

As they passed through the shopping district, Tuxedo Mask suddenly
felt his wife tense up.

"Land, Mamo-chan!" she cried out. "Please!"

Obeying, he landed them in the middle of the street in the center
of the district. Looking at his wife, Tuxedo Mask saw her staring
mutely at the remains of a row of shops in the district. The district
was quite familiar to him. It was here, on this street twenty years ago
that he first met the girl he dubbed "Odango Atama", the girl that would
change his life. He also recognized the remains she stared at. It was
Osa-P, the jewelry shop owned by the mother of her friend, Naru.
Without warning, Sailor Moon turned and buried her face in his chest.

"Not Naru, too!" she wailed, seemingly moments away from crumbling
into fragments in his arms. "Oh Mamo-chan, it's like a nightmare!"

He put his arm around her. "We have to go," he said. "We have to
stop them before anyone else is hurt." He felt her nod on his chest and
began to walk her away from the shop.

However, Tuxedo Mask chose the wrong direction to walk her to.
Further on down the street was yet another horrific sight. He stopped
in surprise and distaste and his actions alerted Sailor Moon. She
looked up and saw what he saw. Sailor Neptune, frozen as if dead, her
mirror outstretched before her. At her feet, face bend to her knees,
was Sailor Uranus. She was just as frozen and just as motionless.
Tuxedo Mask felt Sailor Moon's knees buckle.

"No, no, no!" she cried. Sailor Moon lunged for them and had to
be restrained by Tuxedo Mask. "Not them, too! Let me go, let me go! I
have to help them!"

"Then they are alive?" he asked, amazed.

Sailor Moon turned back to him, her face awash with confusion.
Clearly she'd sensed it on a sub-conscious level that hadn't registered
consciously. He released her and Sailor Moon staggered forward. She
got to within less than a meter of them and, on wobbly legs, summoned
the Moon Tier. Her eyes closed and she summoned the power from within
her to free Uranus and Neptune from their icy shrouds.

Nothing happened. Sailor Moon seemed to list slightly as she
strained to summon the healing power that was her birthright. Then she
pitched forward and fell to her knees, the Moon Tier clattering on the
frozen pavement. As always, Tuxedo Mask was instantly by her side.

"Too weak," she moaned, her tears streaming hot and heavy once
more. "I'm too weak! Haruka - - Michiru - - I'm sorry!"

"Lean on me," her husband whispered to her. It did little to
console her, but she did as she was bid.

"I failed them," Sailor Moon continued to whimper. "Just like I
failed Mom and Dad - - and Naru - - and like I'm going to fail
Rei . . ."

"You're still weak," Tuxedo Mask told her. "And there was nothing
you could have done for Kenji and Ikuko, or any of the others in the
hospital." He pulled her back to face him, looking into those big moist
blue eyes so ravaged with physical and emotional pain. It tore him
apart, but he persevered. "Death comes to all of us. You can use all
of your power to forestall it and it will still come. It's the way of
things."

"It's my fault?" sniffed Sailor Moon.

"No. No more than it is mine. Sometimes we can't save everybody,
no matter how much it hurts."

"It sounds like you're giving up?"

"No!" he replied quickly. "We can't give up. Sailor Moon doesn't
give up. She stays true to her beliefs to the end. I'm just telling
you not to flail yourself because you can't save everybody. You're not
a god. You're just one extraordinary woman fighting to keep love and
justice and half pound candy bars safe in this world."

Sailor Moon giggled in spite of her mood. She looked up at her
husband and he could see the gratitude within. Her hopeful smile once
more lit up Tuxedo Mask's life.

"That's the girl I married," he said.

"Thank you, Mamo-chan." Her smile dimmed. "But I'm going to miss
them so."

"I'm going to miss them, too. Kenji and Ikuko sort of replaced
the parents I lost. In a way, it's like I've been orphaned twice."
Seeing the tears welling again in her agonized eyes, Tuxedo Mask gently
pulled Sailor Moon to her feet. "Come on. There's no time for tears.
We have to help Rei. And when you're stronger, we can help Uranus and
Neptune. If they haven't died yet, they'll stay alive until you're well
enough to free them."

"Mamo-chan?" Sailor Moon began timidly. "What if this is the end
of everything?"

He bent down and kissed her. She felt fragile beneath him, her
lips cool and soft. As they embraced, he could feel her draw strength
from him and he opened up to make it easy for her. She seemed to swell
into his arms. When they parted, he looked down on her, docile and
expectant.

"If this is the end, I will ride to heaven with you, carried upon
your gentle wings. Nothing will ever separate us again, Usako."

Scooping her up in his arms, Tuxedo Mask bounded up to what
rooftops remained. Sailor Moon snuggled in and turned to survey the
devastation, all the while fighting the gnawing fatigue that was sapping
her strength. Sickened by what she saw, she cast her eyes ahead.

"Look," Sailor Moon pointed as Tuxedo Mask leaped up from another
rooftop. "Look at those colors in the distance. It's like a rainbow,
but different. Isn't that about where Hikawa Shrine is?"

"Looks like it," Tuxedo Mask replied. "And that rainbow effect
looks a little like the Aurora Borealis. Light refracting through the
snow and ice crystals must be causing it. It has to be a pretty intense
light source, though."

"Like Rei," Sailor Moon intoned ominously.

With no undamaged buildings left to land on, Tuxedo Mask carried
his precious charge to the street, landing with gentle grace. The
tableau here was unchanged from a growing number of other places in
Tokyo: the rubble of caved in buildings, the congestion of frozen
vehicles, and the horror of people and animals, once living, now stopped
in their tracks and covered with ice. More than a few stared out
through the ice sheaths with wide, uncomprehending eyes. And in the
background was the steady, rhythmic thud of footsteps, footsteps that
could only be made by something huge and heavy. The ground shook with
every step.

"I wish it would all stop!" cried Sailor Moon, grimacing and
covering her ears. Tuxedo Mask listened.

"More than one," he said. "I'd guess about five now. Some are
far away. But there are a couple that are close."

Suddenly Tuxedo Mask turned and fled for an alley, jerking Sailor
Moon along behind him. Sailor Moon's head twisted to the side and saw a
Frost Giant emerge from the next block up. It turned toward them,
sensing their movement or their body heat. It raised a massive paw up,
determined to snuff out the offending heat sources with a blast of
frigid cold.

They were almost to the alley when Sailor Moon fell. She didn't
trip. Her legendary clumsiness didn't come into play. Legs weakened by
her near death experience earlier just couldn't maintain the pace set by
Tuxedo Mask. She plowed face first into the ice-covered sidewalk and
skidded to a stop. Dazed, she looked up and saw, as she expected,
Tuxedo Mask standing between her and the Frost Giant.

"Tuxedo Mask, run!" she wailed.

"Stay behind me!" he commanded.

Using his cloak as a shield against the arctic blast, Tuxedo Mask
produced a single rose and let it fly. The rose cleaved the air
straight and true, but in the face of the arctic blast began to take on
ice until it was covered. The ice slowed it to a stop, then gravity
took it and sent it to the ground. Tuxedo Mask turned to the fallen
Sailor Moon.

"Get to safety when you can!" he told her. "I'll lead it away
from you!"

"Mamo-chan, don't!"

"Get to safety!"

And he was off. The Frost Giant hesitated for a moment, unsure as
to whether to attack the moving target or the stationary one. Flinging
another rose that the giant swatted away, Tuxedo Mask was able to
convince the towering ice monster to follow him.

"MAMO-CHAN!" Sailor Moon shrieked.

Her love disappeared around a corner on the next block. Whipping
herself mentally, Sailor Moon struggled to her feet. Her flagging
strength nearly deserted her, but she managed to keep upright.
Skittering along the ice on unsteady feet, Sailor Moon set out in
pursuit of her beloved as fast as she could manage. All thoughts of
everyone and everything else vanished from her mind. She had only a
single thought: find her husband. If it took her last ounce of
strength, she would find him.

Down one block, up another, each one a different arrangement of
the same pattern of hopelessness, Sailor Moon continued on. Guided only
by her connection to him, she pressed on. Her heart pounded in her
chest. Her lungs were raw and savaged by the exertion and the cold air.
Her legs seemed to grow more watery with every step, but she pressed on.
Desperate to find him, she turned a corner - - and found him.

He was frozen solid, his hand extended with a fist full of roses
that never managed to leave his hand. The Frost Giant stood over him.
It must have only happened seconds ago. Sailor Moon stared. Her mind
threatened to collapse.

"Mamo-chan!" she shrieked, running to his side. Sailor Moon
embraced his cold body, staring up at his frozen face, trying to will it
away. "Mamo-chan, Mamo-chan! Please don't leave me!"

Then she turned on the Frost Giant. It took a step back,
surprised by her movements, perhaps knowing what she had earlier done to
its brother giant. But she raised her hands not in attack, but in
supplication.

"Please," she begged, her blue eyes large and tearful. "Please
let him go! Please stop this! It's not right! It's not right you
should do this! Please let him go! He means everything to me!"

As Sailor Moon begged, the Frost Giant looked down on her with
mute curiosity. It made no sign that it understood her words or her
actions. Yet something about her caused it to halt, to stare, to
consider her heartfelt pleas. Sailor Moon looked up at him, her voice
fallen to a whisper due to her emotional state. She tried to see
something in this giant that said she had managed to touch it, to reach
it. It stared at her for the longest time.

Then it raised its hand and let loose a blast of cold.

Continued in chapter 6