Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Ascension Trilogy, Book 2: Judgment Day ❯ Chapter 10

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

JUDGMENT DAY,
Chapter 10: "Deliverance"

By Bill K.

Rei Hino was roused from her slumber by the clatter of a bolt
turning in a lock. The bolt was heavy and ancient, made of metal forged
by fire and hammer, muscle and sweat. The door was thick wood that had
been harvested ages ago, perhaps as far back as the dawn of time, to the
point where it was petrified nearly to stone. It took a broad shoulder
and a strong back to move it, which worked out perfectly because her
guard had both. He thankfully blocked out much of the light from the
hall, because Rei's eyes had long since grown accustom to darkness.

She squinted up at him, grateful for his appearance. He was a
rough-hewed, ugly man, coarse and blunt. A lot like herself, she once
thought long ago - - except for the ugly part. Nevertheless, she was
grateful to see him, for what he meant to her: Food, a glimpse of the
light and human contact. It was reassurance that she hadn't been
forgotten or abandoned. It was proof that the world still existed, at
least this world.

For her world no longer existed. It was a block of ice, cold and
lifeless. Everyone she cared about was either dead or frozen inanimate,
which was as good as dead. She, Rei Hino, was the sole survivor of the
planet Earth.

Sometimes she wished she'd died with them.

"Take your meal," rumbled the guard unpleasantly. "I haven't got
all day."

Rei reached up weakly, fighting the drag of heavy iron chains and
shackles that held her to the wall by her wrists and her throat. She
took the bowl, cupped it in her hands and gently, gratefully brought it
to her. The guard turned around, his odious task of feeding one of
"them" finished. He strode to the door and shut it behind him. Once
more Rei was plunged into darkness.

Melancholy over losing the light again, Rei put it aside and
pressed the bowl to her lips. As she plucked pieces of whatever this
was and slipped them into her mouth, she tried to recall what real food
tasted like. For the longest time she couldn't remember. It had been
so long. So many meals of this - - stuff - - made her memories of food
in her old life fade away like old photos.

Then she remembered the day her grandfather had treated her to
fugu. She remembered how excited she was, and how daring and
adventurous she felt eating a dish that, if prepared incorrectly, was
deadly. She remembered how wonderful it tasted, the flavor enhanced by
the fact that she lived through it. And she recalled how her own
excitement had been mirrored in her grandfather's face as he shared one
of his own life experiences with her and witnessed one of hers.

Tears trickled down her cheeks. After all this time - - Rei
didn't know for sure, but she suspected that she'd been captive for
around two years - - Rei didn't think she had any tears left. She knew
her alleged bottomless wellspring of fury had been spent long ago. But
thinking of Grandpa made her miss him, and that made her miss Usagi.
And missing Usagi made her miss Ami and Makoto and, yes, even Minako.
And missing them once again hammered home just how desolate and alone
she was and for how long. A soft glove wiped the tears from her face,
even as new ones sprouted to replace them.

Setting the bowl down, Rei heard herself sigh in resignation. She
felt around her body and found her Sailor Mars fuku was still intact.
These uniforms were miraculous. Any normal cloth worn constantly for
two years would have disintegrated from her body, but the costume was as
intact as the day she fell captive. It even seemed to stay fresh and
clean somehow - - "Sailor magic", no doubt. Unlike her body, which
hadn't had a bath in two years. Rei occasionally wondered if she'd ever
feel clean again. When the feel and odor became too much for her, she'd
resorted to burning the dirt and sweat off of her skin, but it was a
poor substitute to reclining in a hot bath.

She still possessed her power over the fire. Even here in this
dank, cold prison cell gouged deep in the ground beneath the snowy
surface of the land, she could still summon the fire. When she first
awakened in this cell, chained to the wall, she'd tried to melt her
shackles away. Evidently her captors had held prisoners who could
summon fire before. The chains were a special metal that resisted heat
almost by magic. Still she tried, every day for months until the simple
act of thinking about it seemed to drain her. Then she tried melting
the walls. That did little better.

No, all the fire brought her were reprisals. Every time she tried
to burn her way free, she was punished with a dousing of cold water by
the guard when he caught her. Then he'd beat her. The initial beatings
were savage. Later on, they were just token beatings; perhaps they were
tiring of her, or perhaps she wasn't reacting the way she first did.
Rei knew sometime during her captivity she changed. Her famous rage
spent itself, leaving her with little left to fight with.

However, she didn't stop trying to escape or to summon the flame.
It only made her sneaky, surreptitious; that, however, didn't prevent
all of the dousings. And then she'd be left to shiver alone in the dark
with her wet skin and bruises.

"Fire Soul," she whispered softly in the darkness, her two index
fingers steepled out from her hands and the shackles that held them
fast.

An acrid scent decorated the air and at once combustion occurred.
A tiny flame, no higher than could be produced by a match, stood atop
her fingertips and flickered slightly as air skittered by. Rei cradled
it against her body, trying to shield it from those who kept her. When
she was sure no one else smelled the thin plume of smoke or saw the tiny
light it gave, Rei looked at it. The fire was an old friend, the oldest
friend she had. When she was a small child, she couldn't understand why
her father ranted at her when she tried to touch it. It was only later
she realized he couldn't hear it speak. Unlike him, the fire would
never hurt her. The fire would speak to her, tell her secrets about
others and secrets about herself. The fire was warm and bright, like
her mother. The fire was a comfort during those times when she was
shunned and alone.

Like now.

"Kami of the fire," she whispered, her voice deserted her from
disuse. "What's to become of me?" Rei's lip trembled as she asked
this. "Why are they keeping me alive? Why won't they let me meet my
ancestors in Heaven? Why, Kami?"

The fire danced seductively as her words brushed past it.
However, it once more remained maddeningly silent.

Fires eventually die out, just like people do. When that
happened, Rei would always feel desolate for a time. Her difficult
childhood had taught her it was necessary sometimes to endure loneliness
and solitude, for there was no other choice. Her priest's training had
given her the means to deal with the emptiness more easily than her
stumbling efforts in childhood. For her Shinto training told her that
hardship, like plenty, was inevitable, but that conditions changed just
as the seasons did. It was only a matter of having the strength and the
patience to ride out the hardship alive and in enough health to enjoy
the plenty when it arrived.

Another thing it taught her was that none of us are ever truly
alone. Kami existed everywhere, watched her every move and judged her
every decision. Even in a barren, sterile place such as the cell she
was held in, some sort of Kami existed. And being in a desolate place
meant they were probably eager to talk.

And there were others who were with her. Her ancestors walked
with her. Their spirits never left her side, even with her incarcerated
in a dank, dark hole in the ground. Her mother was there. If she
listened in just the right way at just the right moment, Rei could hear
her soft, melodic voice, unchanged after all these years. Sometimes
Grandpa would be by her side, chuckling at her foolishness and
immaturity, but always ready to give her support or the advice she
needed before she knew she needed it. Grandpa always downplayed his
sight. Perhaps he couldn't see to her level, but he saw things and he
knew just what to do when he did.

So when Rei would reach her lowest ebb, which seemed to come more
and more frequently, she would pull her creaking body into as much of a
lotus position as she could manage. Then she would clear her mind of
the anger and the worry and the fear and reach out to one of the Kami or
to her ancestors. Sometimes they wouldn't hear or couldn't communicate
back, due to her fatigue or stress. That would only make Rei more
desolate and frustrated.

Oh, but when they did - - she found an ancient tree spirit in the
wood of the door and listened for hours on end as he told her stories of
the people he'd seen, the trials they'd endured and the wrongs that had
been avenged. He was a wondrous old spirit that had seen so much of
life that he knew better than to judge or take sides. And he took a
keen interest in her, for he had never before met one who could hear him
and respond to him. He had seen others who could produce fire - - they
generally suffered the worst and died the fastest. He was impressed
she'd lasted this long.

And she had so many talks with her mother, both alone and with
Grandpa. They talked for hours, Rei telling her everything that
happened since they were separated, all of her triumphs and her defeats.
And her mother would hang on every detail, enraptured by her daughter's
exploits. And she approved of everything Rei hoped and prayed she would
approve of and sympathized with her defeats. Once Rei even admitted to
her something she'd never admitted to anyone, not even herself for the
longest time. Once it was out, she feared a rebuke.

But her mother understood. It gave Rei the strength to go on for
a little while.

Through their conversations, Rei also got a look into the
relationship between her mother and grandfather. She found out they
battled for years, never seeing eye to eye about nearly anything, yet
always maintained a strong bond of love and respect. She discovered the
attraction her mother felt for her father, what drove them together and
what ultimately pulled them apart. It gave her a perspective on him she
hadn't had before, though she stubbornly clung to her opinion of him.
But most of all, Rei discovered her mother was more than a dead icon.
She was a real person with faults and failings, but a person that could
be worthy of the respect and love Rei always showered on her.

They would often talk until Rei ran out of energy and fell asleep.
And when she woke, Rei would again be alone.

It helped her get through the months of captivity. If she was
truly alone, Rei was sure she would have died long ago from not caring.
There was, however, one person she desperately wanted to talk to.

But she was dead - - and she wasn't an ancestor.

"Fire Soul," she whispered again as another day passed barely
noticed. The flame sparked atop her steepled index fingers. "Why can't
you speak to me, little flame? Are you too small? Too weak? Have I
offended you in some manner? I'd appease you if I could, but I don't
have very much to offer."

The flame looked at her and shivered, then snuffed out.

The thick bolt pulled back in the lock again. Mars looked up,
wondering if she'd lost track of time. She desperately buried her hands
under her skirt to smother any lingering trace of the smoke. She didn't
want another dousing if she could avoid it. But why were they here?
Had someone seen the little flame? Was it feeding time already? It
couldn't be. Her stomach wasn't burning with hunger. That meant . . .

The door opened and the light from outside spilled in, only to be
blocked by the burly sentry. Mars looked up at him, trying to catch a
glimpse of whether he had a bowl in his hand. And then it happened.
The guard turned to someone outside, looking to reassure himself that
the other was there. The light caught his full face, allowing Mars to
read him.

She wasn't to be executed. They needed her now, as a hostage.

But against whom? Had one of the senshi made it to this world?
Had - - Mars didn't even dare think it, lest her flickering hope jinx it
for her.

The two men, the guard's partner as rough and burly as he,
lumbered in. One seized Mars' left wrist in a grip of iron. She knew
she couldn't break it when she was healthy and in this desiccated
condition was no match for him. Still she resisted as her wrist was
freed from its shackle. A thick wood bar was placed against her back
and her arms bent behind and under it. Her shackles were then
refastened so her hands were held in front of her, under the beam. The
chain cut across her abdomen and red skirt while the wooden bar dug into
her arms and her back.

Mars was jerked to her feet. Despite her efforts to resist, she
was wrestled from the cell into the hall. The bright light of the hall
stung her eyes. Mars squinted until she noticed a blazing torch
lighting the way. As she was shoved along the dirt hall, the ground
long frozen into the hardness of cement, Mars looked deeply into the
torch.

"What's going on?" she whispered hoarsely.

"She has come," the fire told her.

"Who?"

"Quiet, fire scum!" snapped one of the guards. He delivered a
vicious backhand blow to Mars that threw her to the hard ground. Even
before she recovered, they hauled her to her feet and shoved her
forward.

Her guards hustled Sailor Mars up a flight of steps carved into
the tundra, practically dragging her at times. The thought of seeing
the sky and breathing fresh air after two years was blunted by the
thought that she was to be used as a hostage. And if it was against who
she suspected it was - - Mars shook her head. It couldn't be.

At ground level, the cold air struck her full face. Mars looked
up at the sky, a sky so blue that it reminded her what blue was like.
Ahead of her were more of these vaguely Nordic Sons of Ymir, all burly
warriors massed for a fight. They parted as she was hustled through the
ranks. Some of them snarled at her while others grinned confidently
that she was their key to an easy victory.

Breaking through the front line, Mars was seized by one of them
and held close. He was a brutal-looking vandal with a long white beard
and a winged helmet crowning him. Before she could resist further, the
sharp edge of an ax came up to her throat. Mars eyed it warily until
she was sure it presented no immediate danger to her. Only then did she
peer out across the tundra.

It was her! Mars felt her heart leap. It was Usagi, and Mamoru
and Ami and all the others! They were all alive, even the cats! And
Usagi was in her Serenity form! And Mamoru was cast as Endymion! And
they were all alive and they'd come for her! For a fleeting moment,
Mars wanted to break down and cry like a little baby with utter joy.

"Rei!" shrieked Serenity, and Mars was yanked back to cold
reality.

"Yes, I thought that might change your tune!" chortled the man
holding the ax to Mars' throat. "Know that Vodun fears nothing living,
least of all a soft woman who 'wishes to be my friend'! I am of the
Sons of Ymir! We need nothing save a strong back and a strong ax! We
do not ally ourselves with the bastard offspring of Surt, nor with human
rabble! We judge the humans as weak!"

"It's not weak to want peace," Serenity said, with a maturity and
assurance that Mars could never recall her friend ever having. "Only
weaklings war and rob and kill. Peace can benefit us all. Please, I
know you to be wise enough to see this. Please do not force a
confrontation."

"The babblings of a weakling, just as I thought!" sneered Vodun.
"You haven't the stomach for a fight! You wish proof?" The ax blade
pressed to Mars' throat and Serenity flinched. "Surrender now or the
girl dies."

Mars mind screamed "no"! She knew Usagi too well. She could see
it on her face the decision was already made.

"Serenity!" Neptune hissed out an impotent warning. Mars could
see Uranus tensing to intercept Usagi, but she knew it would do no good.

Mars grimaced in frustration. It couldn't be happening again.
Not again, having to watch Usagi throw up her hands in defeat rather
than risk one of them. How many times did they have to go through this?
Did she endure everything she'd endured over the last two years, every
deprivation, every humiliation, and every cruelty only to see Usagi
throw it away - - again?

"I," Serenity began, her eyes cast down. Rei knew what the next
word out of her mouth would be. It was burned into her brain.

And it all became too much for her.

"FIRE DRAGON INCINERATE!" Sailor Mars bellowed out with a broken,
faltering voice. Friend and foe alike were taken by surprise.

And Sailor Mars became a match head, igniting into a
conflagration. The fireball exploded up and out from her, incinerating
Vodun and those to all sides of him. Their flesh blistered and peeled
from their mythical forms before they even had a moment to register what
had happened. The fireball expanded outward with deadly speed,
consuming everything in its path, from trees to buildings to people.
Only those at the outer rim of the gathered army had time to dive out of
the way and save themselves.

As the fireball reached its apex, wings of fire began to rise up
from it. Between them rose flames in the shape of a lizard with a long,
thin neck. Its head reached to the sky and seemed to roar defiantly at
the heavens. The waves of heat from the fire dragon fanned out from it,
melting snow, igniting trees, and even forcing the senshi back.

And in the center of it all was Sailor Mars. Her fetters were now
slag. The ashes of the bones of her captors mixed with the blackened
dirt and fused to glass beneath her feet. Her arms, now free, reached
up to the heavens. The heavens seemed to beckon to her and for a moment
she wanted to embrace the ultimate freedom. All she had to do was just
let go.

Then she remembered the one thing that still bound her to Earth.
The dragon dropped its head and folded its fiery wings around its body,
then dissipated. Sailor Mars dropped to her knees, spent, her upper
body barely propped up by shaky arms.

"Rei!" screeched Serenity. Mars felt the woman's body fall next
to her, felt those arms around her and she sagged, allowing her friend
to prop her up. "Rei, are you all right? Please say yes!"

"Is it really you?" Mars asked weakly.

"Yes, Rei, it's me!" blubbered Serenity.

"Usagi," Mars wheezed. "Thought you were dead. Thought you were
all dead. It's been so long."

"I'm sorry you had to go through this," Serenity whimpered. "It
must have been horrible."

"Thinking you all were dead was the horrible part," Mars
whispered, hiding her eyes from the rest.

"Where'd you learn to do that dragon thing?" asked Venus in a
hushed tone. "You've vaporized everything in a hundred meter radius!"

"It's always been inside of me. Just let it loose. Couldn't let
her do it," Mars shook her head weakly. "Not again."

"You shouldn't have done it, Rei," Serenity said timidly. "All
those lives - - they all stain your soul now."

Mars looked up at Serenity and everyone could see some of the old
fury returning.

"That doesn't matter, Usagi!" she snapped.

"Yes it does," Serenity replied.

"That's our job, you little idiot! That's why we're here! Your
mission may be to spread peace over the planet, but our mission is to
protect you! And sometimes that means protecting you from yourself!"

Mars expected anger, bitterness, remonstration, even a wagging
tongue and steeled herself for it. But, in a gesture of infinite
charity that, being Serenity, was the only thing she was capable of, she
folded her hands around Mars' head and hugged it to her breast. There
were no recriminations, no accusations, no bitter threats or denials
despite Mars' angry words. And Mars, grateful that her friend was alive
and had the infinity charity to forgive her, and for the sudden surge of
healing energy running through her that probably came from Usagi as
well, surrendered control of her battered frame and nestled against her
friend.

And maybe she'd wake up and discover it was all a bad dream.
However, the cynic in her told her she was kidding herself.

Continued in Chapter 11