Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Fragility of Time ❯ Chapter 10
[ P - Pre-Teen ]
By: etj4Eagle 
Zoicite goes after another Nijizuishou carrier, Rei's grandfather.
Anime/Manga: Sailor Moon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 08.29.2001 | Updated On: 08.29.2001 | Pages: 6 | Words: 3.8K | Visits: 262 | Status: Completed
Zoicite goes after another Nijizuishou carrier, Rei's grandfather.
Anime/Manga: Sailor Moon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 08.29.2001 | Updated On: 08.29.2001 | Pages: 6 | Words: 3.8K | Visits: 262 | Status: Completed
The Fragility of Time
Chapter 10: "Acts of Sacrifice"
Author: etj4Eagle
Email: etj4Eagle@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/etj4eagle
Lasted Edited: 9/7/00
Disclaimer: A reminder I own none of the characters of this story,
all rights are owned by others.
If you distribute the story, do only
so freely and inform me of where you post it.
_______________________________________
The week continued to be a good one for Usagi. The Sailor Senshi now
held three of the Nijizuishou Crystals and the Dark Kingdom one, with
three more remaining unfound. Wednesday was a particularly happy day
for Usagi, as that afternoon she had her modeling session. Mamoru-san
had offered to give her a lift, as the location given to her was on
the far edge of town. In addition, he wanted to go along, to make
sure that she was not getting herself into trouble. Hence, she stood
with ChibiUsa outside of the little one's school waiting for Mamoru
to arrive.
"I wonder what kind of inspiration you could give to an artist. She
must be looking to paint whales." taunted ChibiUsa.
ChibiUsa anticipating Usagi's reaction had already started sprinting
away, now with an irate blond in tow. Once Usagi almost caught
ChibiUsa, but an shuck of her backpack into Usagi's path sent
the older girl spilling onto the ground. The spill only served to
fuel Usagi's anger, and she quickly recovered and having absently
grabbed the backpack was quickly gaining on the small child.
However, turning a corner expecting to grab the child, she instead
plowed straight into Mamoru. The impact sent Usagi to the ground;
Mamoru however had been expecting Usagi to come flying around the
corner. His tip off was the child who upon spotting him scooted to
use him as a human shield. Hence, he had braced himself for the
imminent collision.
Usagi upon looking up and noticing that her roadblock was Mamoru
began spouting all forms of apologies. He reached down to offer his
hand to the worried Usagi who sat on the ground. She was blushing
heavily, highly embarrassed over almost running him over and making a
fool of herself. Getting her upright, he proceeded to reassure her
that his love for her would not falter over something as trivial as
this. Deciding not to remind her that she had been chasing ChibiUsa,
he instead herded the two off to the car.
A short time later, they arrived at the address that Usagi held. The
young artist upon seeing Mamoru standing there with Usagi immediately
latched herself onto his arm with the goal of securing his modeling
for her artwork as well. A flabbergasted Mamoru attempted to politely
decline, but when Usagi also began to insist he conceded in defeat.
As Usagi and Mamoru posed for the young artist, ChibiUsa wandered
around the apartment looking at the various partially finished
artworks. Moving to look at the sketch currently being worked on, she
froze. There on paper was an obvious sketch of her parents back
during the Silver Millennium. As she looked at the paper, fighting
back tears, she remembered her past, a future that was no longer to
be.
So caught up ChibiUsa was in her memories and the sketch she did not
notice when the young artist felt she had enough sketches. Nor did
she notice when Usagi picked her up and carried her out of the
apartment, instead she instinctively clinged to Usagi's shoulder to
cry. While Usagi felt comfortable with Mamoru, she did not feel it
was yet time to tell him about ChibiUsa. Therefore, it took some time
for her to convince him that ChibiUsa would be okay, that she would
be able to comfort the child herself.
When ChibiUsa became aware again, she realized that she was in the
park being held by Usagi who had fallen asleep sitting on a bench.
However heavy Usagi might have been sleeping, she instantly noticed
the now calm child and awoke. "Use miss your parents don't you?" she
quietly asked the child. She noticed ChibiUsa trying to protest that
she was her mother. "Don't worry, I understand that I am not the same
person as my future self and that there are times when you long for
her. Come now lets go get some ice-cream."
* * * * * * * * *
Elsewhere in Tokyo
Zoisite and Kunzite walked the streets of Tokyo attempting to locate
their next target. Both knew that unless they started to get some
more of those crystals real soon, they would not survive Beryl's
temper. They were lucky yesterday that she was still in a slightly
good mood from something or other. However, that good mood of hers
was beginning to wear off and she was returning to being displeased
with their progress. Not only had they failed to collect more than
one of the crystals, but the Moon Princess was also still alive.
As they came around the corner, Kunzite noticed a Shinto Shrine down
the road slightly. "Zoisite, we know that the
Nijizuishou crystals are part of the Ginzuishou, and that Serenity
probably sent them to be born as humans within easy access of her
daughter."
"Your point being? We don't know anything about the reborn princess,
other than the disguise she fights under as a Sailor Senshi." replied
a confused Zoisite.
"Well, that Shrine up there is where Jadeite first ran into Sailor
Mars. One of the inhabitants may by a Nijizuishou carrier." explained
Kunzite.
"Then lets go find out."
* * * * * * * * *
The Hikawa Shrine
thought Rei as a cold shiver swept
through her body during her sweeping. Looking up she saw her
grandfather moving to welcome to visitors. realizing who they are she open her communicator. "Minna,
Zoisite and Kunzite are at my place."
A series of "Ok" and "On my ways" came across the channel. Moving out
of sight, she called upon her power and moved to stop the Dark
Kingdom generals from whatever they had planned.
"May I help you?" asked Rei's grandfather.
Zoisite was about to politely refuse, saying they just wanted to look
around, but decide to look at his crystal first. A slight head single to Kunzite alerted
him to his discovery. "Actually you can help me a lot, by returning
to the service of our great queen. We are here to free you of you
human prison, Shadow Warrior." Bringing his crystal up, Zoisite began
to extract the Nijizuishou crystal from the old man in front of him.
Mars running up was about to call to her grandfather, telling him to
back away when she saw Zoisite begin to extract the Nijizuishou
crystal from her grandfather. was the only thought that ran
through her mind. Releasing a fireball at the two generals, she ran
towards them filled with fury.
The fireball caught the two generals by surprise. Kunzite was able to
teleport safely away, but Zoisite was hit by the blast. While not
seriously injured, he was now pissed about the pain and the delay in
extracting the crystal. Kunzite uninjured by the attack launched his
own counter attack at the fire Senshi. The attacks were too much for
the enraged Senshi and soon she was down on the ground allowing
Zoisite to finish removing the crystal.
Kunzite moved over the downed Senshi and prepared to finish her off.
with that thought he unleashed a blast of energy at the downed
Senshi.
Mars looked up through her bloodied eyes to see him standing over her
broken body. She tried to get up, but her body no longer had the
ability to move, instead it was just a struggle to remain conscious.
However, she realized that she would soon not have to worry about
that as she saw the energy gather in his hands and then streak
towards her body. A loud scream filled the air as the blast
intersected with a Senshi, doing all that it was designed to do. As
the scream died down, Mars realized that she was still alive and then
further realized that it was not she who had screamed. Opening her
eyes, she saw why. In front of her lay Sailor Moon, who had thrown
herself in the path of Kunzite's attack. But, then looking more closely she
noticed the slight rise and fall of Usagi's chest. Assured for the
moment that her princess was still alive she finally surrendered to
unconsciousness.
was the only thought that crossed Kunzite's mind as he
watched a Sailor Senshi from out of nowhere throw herself in the way
of his blast. Distracted as he was he barely saw the moon tiara
flying towards himself from the same direction, obliviously thrown
just before she leapt in the path of the blast. The impact threw him
across the yard to the ground.
"How dare you disrupt the sanctity of this place. A priest brings
healing to the soul of the lost; I will not let you corrupt his soul
into that of a demon. I am the pretty suited soldier in training,
Sailor ChibiMoon, and in the name of the future moon I will punish
you." Came a declaration from the same region that Sailor Moon had
moments ago launched herself.
"And, in the name of Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury we will punish you
as well." A call came from another section of the grounds, which
revealed the other three Sailor Senshi.
As Zoisite and the demon prepared to attack, they were blown off
their feet from a rear attack. "Herald by the new age I am Sailor
Uranus appearing beautifully."
"I too am here; Sailor Neptune appearing gracefully."
"Mind if we join the party" asked Uranus in a playful tone as she and
Neptune elegantly lay against a tree.
Zoisite who had dropped the Nijizuishou crystal during the blast made
a move to fetch the crystal, but as soon as he touched it, it began
to glow and then winked out of his hand only to reappear in the hands
of ChibiMoon. "Damn, that Moon brat." Zoisite was about to move to
attack the pink haired Senshi, but a move of the guardians to block
his path and the remaining two Senshi releasing their attacks ounce
again caused him to reconsider. Instead, he and Kunzite decide a
strategic withdrawal was the best, leaving the Senshi with the demon.
"Well that was fun, you don't want to help them further today?" asked
Neptune as she noticed Uranus moving away now that Kunzite and
Zoisite were gone.
"If we help them too often, it'll be too good a service." Replied
Uranus, and with that the two mysterious Senshi left the scene.
"Damn, those two just left. I was hoping to get some answers."
grumbled Jupiter. "Hey watch it. I don't care if you are a demon now,
have some decency you echii creature." The released Shadow Warrior
seemed to have other things on its mind than destroying the Sailor
Senshi as the three found out. ChibiMoon herself was ignored, as it
much more appreciated the attributes of Venus and to a lesser extent
the other two Senshi.
As the three Senshi attempted to keep there distance from the echii
creature, ChibiMoon ran sobbing to her mother. While the generals had
been present she had been able to keep her composure, but know the
fear that coursed through her body upon seeing her mother hit by the
blast came out. Arriving at Usagi's side, she called out "Momma!
Please wake up, don't leave me Momma!" as tears streamed down her
cheeks.
* * * * * * * * *
Earlier
After dropping Usagi off at the park with ChibiUsa, Mamoru had headed
over to the arcade to talk to Motoki. Arriving at the arcade he found
Motoki suffering through depressions over his fianc'e being out of
the country.
It was during this consoling that he felt the pull that he had now
realized was associated with Usagi's henshin to Sailor Moon. He
prepared to make his excuses, but then realized that he had an
obligation to his friend. In the short time that he had gotten to
truly now Usagi, he knew one thing above any thing else: she did not
want herself placed on a pedestal above others. If she found out, he
had abandoned his friend in his time of need, she would be furious.
Consequently, he returned to lifting Motoki's spirits.
Not long after, Mamoru was blessing whatever deity had been watching
over him. Only a few minutes after he felt the twinge of Sailor
Moon's henshin, Motoki had gotten control of his emotions once again
and was ready to return to work. As Mamoru left the arcade, Motoki
thanked him for his help and told him to bring Usagi by sometime and
he would treat the two of them a shake.
Preparing to summon a rose and change to his alter ego a wave of pain
blasted across his body causing him to double over to the ground.
"Usako!" he gasped between the waves of pain. He could feel the pain
washing over her body and then he collapsed to the ground as the pain
stopped suddenly. was his first thought upon
the sudden absence of sensation across the link. However, as he
slowly climbed back onto his feet he realized that the link was not
entirely devoid, but that he could still feel her, however ever so
slightly.
With an extreme sense of urgency he became Tuxedo-kamen and began
running across rooftops to where he felt the pull coming from.
However, the pull was so slight that he had trouble locating his
beloved. More than once he needed to turn around, but finally he
arrived at a Shinto Shrine to see an unconscious Sailor Moon lying
next to an equally unconscious Sailor Mars. Running up to Sailor
Moon, he grabbed her up in his arms crying her name softly as he held
her. Not knowing what to do he sat down on the steps and the child
Senshi lay her head against the arm holding Sailor Moon's head crying
as well (though she had changed to a more silent wail now).
The three remaining combat capable Senshi had finally managed to
secure the demon for the moment. Desiring to let Sailor Moon heal it,
they had to improvise on their attacks until their leader woke up.
Creative thinking and the help of the two cats had resulted in one
hog-tied and gagged demon suspended above the ground. Sailor Venus
and Jupiter watched the demon while Mercury went to check on the two
injured Senshi.
Mercury returned with a not so great prognosis. Both Senshi would be
out for at least another fifty minutes, and she was not sure that
even when Sailor Moon awoke that she would have enough energy to
safely use the Crescent Moon Wand. A couple of superlatives from
Jupiter began the discussion on what they should do to keep
themselves occupied while the waited for their princess to awake.
The first task they decided to do was to move Sailor Moon and Mars
inside where they could rest more comfortably. As before this was
accomplished with Venus and Jupiter playing guard. By the time
Mercury came back, finished with all she could do for their two
fallen comrades, Jupiter was ready to start using the demon for
target practice. She also was not very happy with Mercury's
suggestion on how to spend the dead time, doing homework. However,
with Luna and Artemis agreeing she gave in and the three began to do
homework in their Senshi Fuku while guarding a hog-tied demon hanging
in front of the shrine.
Thankfully during the seventy minutes they worked on their homework,
only a few visitors came to the shrine. Each time Venus intercepted
them before they got too close to get confused. Though by the time
Usagi had finally awoken, Venus had gotten tired of all the times she
had to henshin (she did not want to kindly direct the visitors away
as Venus, that would only result in the press showing up).
* * * * * * * * *
As Usagi open her eyes she at first did not remember what happened,
but quickly the memories began to come back to her. Turning her head,
she noticed that she was in Rei's house and that Tuxedo-Kamen was
sitting next to her bed. Lying against her was ChibiMoon. The child
had finally fallen asleep with a death grip around her mother's side.
The movement of Usagi's head caught Mamoru's attention. Moving to her
side, he asked her how she felt while stroking her hair. A quick "I
have had better days" was followed by a demand to now how everyone
else was and what about the demon.
"Usako, Mars is out as well, however, Mercury says she should
recover. Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury are right now guarding the demon
that they managed to tie up for the moment. Do you feel strong enough
to heal him?" The last part being asked as he realized Usagi was
attempting to get up to probably do just that.
She gave no reply other than to ask him to help her out to see the
others. Two of three Senshi gave a silent cheer for an excuse to put
away their books as Sailor Moon came out supported by Tuxedo-kamen.
Looking closer, they gasped as they realized that Usagi carried
ChibiMoon who was still clinging to her torso asleep.
Jupiter moved up and gently removed the sleeping ChibiMoon and moved
back to allow Usagi to use her power. "Usako, I am here if you need
my help" said Tuxedo-kamen as Sailor Moon pulled out her wand. She
returned an "Arigato" before preparing to heal the demon.
Changing his method of supporting her, Tuxedo-kamen moved his arm to
warp around her waist and stood slightly behind her. He let his love
for her pore into her body, hoping that it would give her the energy
she needed. Suddenly feeling refreshed, Usagi stiffened her back and
began carving out the circle and released the healing energy towards
the demon. Having finished her task and her energy now fully spent,
her Sailor Moon form dissipated and she collapsed into Tuxedo-kamen's
arms asleep.
The demon returned to Rei's Grandpa collapsed onto the ground.
Returning to their civilian selves, Makoto and Minako carried him
into the house and laid him down on his bed. They only worry they had
left was Mars, who because she had yet to regain consciousness was
still in her Senshi form. Then almost as if sensing the completion of
the battle she opened her eyes for a few moments when the Senshi had
reentered the building. After having been assured by Ami that Usagi
was fine, she released her Senshi form and drifted back to sleep.
Normally a former Shadow Warrior is back on their feet fairly
quickly. However, Rei's grandfather had been a demon for over an
hour. Consequently, Ami's computer indicated that he would probably
be out for the rest of the night like Rei and Usagi. Minako and Ami
gave a call home with a modified explanation of the events that had
occurred to let their parents know that they would be late coming
home. Luna had excused herself to go inform Usagi's parents of the
incident after ChibiUsa had awoken long enough to explain how Usagi
was injured. ChibiUsa herself decided to spend the evening snuggled
up against her mother. Once again, she had almost lost her. She knew
that there were a couple of close calls when the Black Moon was after
her, but nothing like these incidents, except for that one time on
Rubeus's ship. She was deeply afraid of losing her mother, but curled
up next to her mother, her worries always seemed to fade away. And
so, she snoozed contently with Usagi's arm instinctively wrapped
around her body.
Luna returned with Usagi's parents who upon hearing the news decided
that they needed to see their daughter for themselves. Now they sat
on the bed watching her and ChibiUsa sleep. While this incident gave
them another scare, it also again made them proud of their daughter.
In describing what had happened, Luna had told them Ami's findings
that the blast that Usagi had taken would have killed the injured
Mars. They only wished that their daughter could find ways that she
could show her bravery without almost getting herself killed.
The Senshi, the cats, and Usagi's parents spent most of the evening
just sitting watching the two injured Senshi sleep and recover. Only
later that evening did they begin to realize that they had not eaten.
Makoto whipped up a quick snack for them, one that fitted the
mourning mood well. During the evening, each person played back the
battle in their mind realizing for the first time how close they came
to losing one of their members that day. While the three Senshi and
two cats had a reasonable acceptance of the almost death of Mars,
they however were having very heard times coming to terms with
Usagi's sacrifice.
She was their princess; they were supposed to protect her. But, how
could they protect someone who would throw herself in the way to
protect them. They did not know, and that worried them. What worried
them most about Usagi sacrificing herself from one of them was not so
much their duty, but that they each loved her so much. Finally it got
late enough that the girls and Usagi' parents left to head home.
-End Chapter 10
Author's Notes:
_Thanks to Marianya for pointing out that I was using Luna-P
in the opening scene (fixed on 9/7/00).
-Well that was a short chapter, only about six pages. Guess
that is what happens when you do most of your set up work in
previous chapters and then have a very short lead in to the
battle.
-Another reason why this (and probably the next two) is kind of
short is that I am suffering a bit from writers block. The
problem is that I know where I want the story to go starting
with the reassembly of the crystal, it just that I have kind of
lost the enthusiasm for getting there. But then things should
get better once we get there, as I have thought a couple of the
later scenes out a lot. Also, I can start bringing some of my
guns back off the wall and there are quite a few guns on the
wall at this point in time.
-It also seems that with classes over for the semester that my
motivation for writing is gone (yeah now that I actually have
time to write, it is harder to fine the desire to write, ugh!)
-I did like the idea of having the Senshi having to find a way
to restrain the youma and then occupy themselves with Usagi
knocked out. I always wondered what would happen if Usagi was
not present or capable at the time they needed her to dispatch
the monster of the day.
Chapter 10: "Acts of Sacrifice"
Author: etj4Eagle
Email: etj4Eagle@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/etj4eagle
Lasted Edited: 9/7/00
Disclaimer: A reminder I own none of the characters of this story,
all rights are owned by others.
If you distribute the story, do only
so freely and inform me of where you post it.
_______________________________________
The week continued to be a good one for Usagi. The Sailor Senshi now
held three of the Nijizuishou Crystals and the Dark Kingdom one, with
three more remaining unfound. Wednesday was a particularly happy day
for Usagi, as that afternoon she had her modeling session. Mamoru-san
had offered to give her a lift, as the location given to her was on
the far edge of town. In addition, he wanted to go along, to make
sure that she was not getting herself into trouble. Hence, she stood
with ChibiUsa outside of the little one's school waiting for Mamoru
to arrive.
"I wonder what kind of inspiration you could give to an artist. She
must be looking to paint whales." taunted ChibiUsa.
ChibiUsa anticipating Usagi's reaction had already started sprinting
away, now with an irate blond in tow. Once Usagi almost caught
ChibiUsa, but an shuck of her backpack into Usagi's path sent
the older girl spilling onto the ground. The spill only served to
fuel Usagi's anger, and she quickly recovered and having absently
grabbed the backpack was quickly gaining on the small child.
However, turning a corner expecting to grab the child, she instead
plowed straight into Mamoru. The impact sent Usagi to the ground;
Mamoru however had been expecting Usagi to come flying around the
corner. His tip off was the child who upon spotting him scooted to
use him as a human shield. Hence, he had braced himself for the
imminent collision.
Usagi upon looking up and noticing that her roadblock was Mamoru
began spouting all forms of apologies. He reached down to offer his
hand to the worried Usagi who sat on the ground. She was blushing
heavily, highly embarrassed over almost running him over and making a
fool of herself. Getting her upright, he proceeded to reassure her
that his love for her would not falter over something as trivial as
this. Deciding not to remind her that she had been chasing ChibiUsa,
he instead herded the two off to the car.
A short time later, they arrived at the address that Usagi held. The
young artist upon seeing Mamoru standing there with Usagi immediately
latched herself onto his arm with the goal of securing his modeling
for her artwork as well. A flabbergasted Mamoru attempted to politely
decline, but when Usagi also began to insist he conceded in defeat.
As Usagi and Mamoru posed for the young artist, ChibiUsa wandered
around the apartment looking at the various partially finished
artworks. Moving to look at the sketch currently being worked on, she
froze. There on paper was an obvious sketch of her parents back
during the Silver Millennium. As she looked at the paper, fighting
back tears, she remembered her past, a future that was no longer to
be.
So caught up ChibiUsa was in her memories and the sketch she did not
notice when the young artist felt she had enough sketches. Nor did
she notice when Usagi picked her up and carried her out of the
apartment, instead she instinctively clinged to Usagi's shoulder to
cry. While Usagi felt comfortable with Mamoru, she did not feel it
was yet time to tell him about ChibiUsa. Therefore, it took some time
for her to convince him that ChibiUsa would be okay, that she would
be able to comfort the child herself.
When ChibiUsa became aware again, she realized that she was in the
park being held by Usagi who had fallen asleep sitting on a bench.
However heavy Usagi might have been sleeping, she instantly noticed
the now calm child and awoke. "Use miss your parents don't you?" she
quietly asked the child. She noticed ChibiUsa trying to protest that
she was her mother. "Don't worry, I understand that I am not the same
person as my future self and that there are times when you long for
her. Come now lets go get some ice-cream."
* * * * * * * * *
Elsewhere in Tokyo
Zoisite and Kunzite walked the streets of Tokyo attempting to locate
their next target. Both knew that unless they started to get some
more of those crystals real soon, they would not survive Beryl's
temper. They were lucky yesterday that she was still in a slightly
good mood from something or other. However, that good mood of hers
was beginning to wear off and she was returning to being displeased
with their progress. Not only had they failed to collect more than
one of the crystals, but the Moon Princess was also still alive.
As they came around the corner, Kunzite noticed a Shinto Shrine down
the road slightly. "Zoisite, we know that the
Nijizuishou crystals are part of the Ginzuishou, and that Serenity
probably sent them to be born as humans within easy access of her
daughter."
"Your point being? We don't know anything about the reborn princess,
other than the disguise she fights under as a Sailor Senshi." replied
a confused Zoisite.
"Well, that Shrine up there is where Jadeite first ran into Sailor
Mars. One of the inhabitants may by a Nijizuishou carrier." explained
Kunzite.
"Then lets go find out."
* * * * * * * * *
The Hikawa Shrine
thought Rei as a cold shiver swept
through her body during her sweeping. Looking up she saw her
grandfather moving to welcome to visitors. realizing who they are she open her communicator. "Minna,
Zoisite and Kunzite are at my place."
A series of "Ok" and "On my ways" came across the channel. Moving out
of sight, she called upon her power and moved to stop the Dark
Kingdom generals from whatever they had planned.
"May I help you?" asked Rei's grandfather.
Zoisite was about to politely refuse, saying they just wanted to look
around, but decide to look at his crystal first. A slight head single to Kunzite alerted
him to his discovery. "Actually you can help me a lot, by returning
to the service of our great queen. We are here to free you of you
human prison, Shadow Warrior." Bringing his crystal up, Zoisite began
to extract the Nijizuishou crystal from the old man in front of him.
Mars running up was about to call to her grandfather, telling him to
back away when she saw Zoisite begin to extract the Nijizuishou
crystal from her grandfather. was the only thought that ran
through her mind. Releasing a fireball at the two generals, she ran
towards them filled with fury.
The fireball caught the two generals by surprise. Kunzite was able to
teleport safely away, but Zoisite was hit by the blast. While not
seriously injured, he was now pissed about the pain and the delay in
extracting the crystal. Kunzite uninjured by the attack launched his
own counter attack at the fire Senshi. The attacks were too much for
the enraged Senshi and soon she was down on the ground allowing
Zoisite to finish removing the crystal.
Kunzite moved over the downed Senshi and prepared to finish her off.
with that thought he unleashed a blast of energy at the downed
Senshi.
Mars looked up through her bloodied eyes to see him standing over her
broken body. She tried to get up, but her body no longer had the
ability to move, instead it was just a struggle to remain conscious.
However, she realized that she would soon not have to worry about
that as she saw the energy gather in his hands and then streak
towards her body. A loud scream filled the air as the blast
intersected with a Senshi, doing all that it was designed to do. As
the scream died down, Mars realized that she was still alive and then
further realized that it was not she who had screamed. Opening her
eyes, she saw why. In front of her lay Sailor Moon, who had thrown
herself in the path of Kunzite's attack. But, then looking more closely she
noticed the slight rise and fall of Usagi's chest. Assured for the
moment that her princess was still alive she finally surrendered to
unconsciousness.
was the only thought that crossed Kunzite's mind as he
watched a Sailor Senshi from out of nowhere throw herself in the way
of his blast. Distracted as he was he barely saw the moon tiara
flying towards himself from the same direction, obliviously thrown
just before she leapt in the path of the blast. The impact threw him
across the yard to the ground.
"How dare you disrupt the sanctity of this place. A priest brings
healing to the soul of the lost; I will not let you corrupt his soul
into that of a demon. I am the pretty suited soldier in training,
Sailor ChibiMoon, and in the name of the future moon I will punish
you." Came a declaration from the same region that Sailor Moon had
moments ago launched herself.
"And, in the name of Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury we will punish you
as well." A call came from another section of the grounds, which
revealed the other three Sailor Senshi.
As Zoisite and the demon prepared to attack, they were blown off
their feet from a rear attack. "Herald by the new age I am Sailor
Uranus appearing beautifully."
"I too am here; Sailor Neptune appearing gracefully."
"Mind if we join the party" asked Uranus in a playful tone as she and
Neptune elegantly lay against a tree.
Zoisite who had dropped the Nijizuishou crystal during the blast made
a move to fetch the crystal, but as soon as he touched it, it began
to glow and then winked out of his hand only to reappear in the hands
of ChibiMoon. "Damn, that Moon brat." Zoisite was about to move to
attack the pink haired Senshi, but a move of the guardians to block
his path and the remaining two Senshi releasing their attacks ounce
again caused him to reconsider. Instead, he and Kunzite decide a
strategic withdrawal was the best, leaving the Senshi with the demon.
"Well that was fun, you don't want to help them further today?" asked
Neptune as she noticed Uranus moving away now that Kunzite and
Zoisite were gone.
"If we help them too often, it'll be too good a service." Replied
Uranus, and with that the two mysterious Senshi left the scene.
"Damn, those two just left. I was hoping to get some answers."
grumbled Jupiter. "Hey watch it. I don't care if you are a demon now,
have some decency you echii creature." The released Shadow Warrior
seemed to have other things on its mind than destroying the Sailor
Senshi as the three found out. ChibiMoon herself was ignored, as it
much more appreciated the attributes of Venus and to a lesser extent
the other two Senshi.
As the three Senshi attempted to keep there distance from the echii
creature, ChibiMoon ran sobbing to her mother. While the generals had
been present she had been able to keep her composure, but know the
fear that coursed through her body upon seeing her mother hit by the
blast came out. Arriving at Usagi's side, she called out "Momma!
Please wake up, don't leave me Momma!" as tears streamed down her
cheeks.
* * * * * * * * *
Earlier
After dropping Usagi off at the park with ChibiUsa, Mamoru had headed
over to the arcade to talk to Motoki. Arriving at the arcade he found
Motoki suffering through depressions over his fianc'e being out of
the country.
It was during this consoling that he felt the pull that he had now
realized was associated with Usagi's henshin to Sailor Moon. He
prepared to make his excuses, but then realized that he had an
obligation to his friend. In the short time that he had gotten to
truly now Usagi, he knew one thing above any thing else: she did not
want herself placed on a pedestal above others. If she found out, he
had abandoned his friend in his time of need, she would be furious.
Consequently, he returned to lifting Motoki's spirits.
Not long after, Mamoru was blessing whatever deity had been watching
over him. Only a few minutes after he felt the twinge of Sailor
Moon's henshin, Motoki had gotten control of his emotions once again
and was ready to return to work. As Mamoru left the arcade, Motoki
thanked him for his help and told him to bring Usagi by sometime and
he would treat the two of them a shake.
Preparing to summon a rose and change to his alter ego a wave of pain
blasted across his body causing him to double over to the ground.
"Usako!" he gasped between the waves of pain. He could feel the pain
washing over her body and then he collapsed to the ground as the pain
stopped suddenly. was his first thought upon
the sudden absence of sensation across the link. However, as he
slowly climbed back onto his feet he realized that the link was not
entirely devoid, but that he could still feel her, however ever so
slightly.
With an extreme sense of urgency he became Tuxedo-kamen and began
running across rooftops to where he felt the pull coming from.
However, the pull was so slight that he had trouble locating his
beloved. More than once he needed to turn around, but finally he
arrived at a Shinto Shrine to see an unconscious Sailor Moon lying
next to an equally unconscious Sailor Mars. Running up to Sailor
Moon, he grabbed her up in his arms crying her name softly as he held
her. Not knowing what to do he sat down on the steps and the child
Senshi lay her head against the arm holding Sailor Moon's head crying
as well (though she had changed to a more silent wail now).
The three remaining combat capable Senshi had finally managed to
secure the demon for the moment. Desiring to let Sailor Moon heal it,
they had to improvise on their attacks until their leader woke up.
Creative thinking and the help of the two cats had resulted in one
hog-tied and gagged demon suspended above the ground. Sailor Venus
and Jupiter watched the demon while Mercury went to check on the two
injured Senshi.
Mercury returned with a not so great prognosis. Both Senshi would be
out for at least another fifty minutes, and she was not sure that
even when Sailor Moon awoke that she would have enough energy to
safely use the Crescent Moon Wand. A couple of superlatives from
Jupiter began the discussion on what they should do to keep
themselves occupied while the waited for their princess to awake.
The first task they decided to do was to move Sailor Moon and Mars
inside where they could rest more comfortably. As before this was
accomplished with Venus and Jupiter playing guard. By the time
Mercury came back, finished with all she could do for their two
fallen comrades, Jupiter was ready to start using the demon for
target practice. She also was not very happy with Mercury's
suggestion on how to spend the dead time, doing homework. However,
with Luna and Artemis agreeing she gave in and the three began to do
homework in their Senshi Fuku while guarding a hog-tied demon hanging
in front of the shrine.
Thankfully during the seventy minutes they worked on their homework,
only a few visitors came to the shrine. Each time Venus intercepted
them before they got too close to get confused. Though by the time
Usagi had finally awoken, Venus had gotten tired of all the times she
had to henshin (she did not want to kindly direct the visitors away
as Venus, that would only result in the press showing up).
* * * * * * * * *
As Usagi open her eyes she at first did not remember what happened,
but quickly the memories began to come back to her. Turning her head,
she noticed that she was in Rei's house and that Tuxedo-Kamen was
sitting next to her bed. Lying against her was ChibiMoon. The child
had finally fallen asleep with a death grip around her mother's side.
The movement of Usagi's head caught Mamoru's attention. Moving to her
side, he asked her how she felt while stroking her hair. A quick "I
have had better days" was followed by a demand to now how everyone
else was and what about the demon.
"Usako, Mars is out as well, however, Mercury says she should
recover. Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury are right now guarding the demon
that they managed to tie up for the moment. Do you feel strong enough
to heal him?" The last part being asked as he realized Usagi was
attempting to get up to probably do just that.
She gave no reply other than to ask him to help her out to see the
others. Two of three Senshi gave a silent cheer for an excuse to put
away their books as Sailor Moon came out supported by Tuxedo-kamen.
Looking closer, they gasped as they realized that Usagi carried
ChibiMoon who was still clinging to her torso asleep.
Jupiter moved up and gently removed the sleeping ChibiMoon and moved
back to allow Usagi to use her power. "Usako, I am here if you need
my help" said Tuxedo-kamen as Sailor Moon pulled out her wand. She
returned an "Arigato" before preparing to heal the demon.
Changing his method of supporting her, Tuxedo-kamen moved his arm to
warp around her waist and stood slightly behind her. He let his love
for her pore into her body, hoping that it would give her the energy
she needed. Suddenly feeling refreshed, Usagi stiffened her back and
began carving out the circle and released the healing energy towards
the demon. Having finished her task and her energy now fully spent,
her Sailor Moon form dissipated and she collapsed into Tuxedo-kamen's
arms asleep.
The demon returned to Rei's Grandpa collapsed onto the ground.
Returning to their civilian selves, Makoto and Minako carried him
into the house and laid him down on his bed. They only worry they had
left was Mars, who because she had yet to regain consciousness was
still in her Senshi form. Then almost as if sensing the completion of
the battle she opened her eyes for a few moments when the Senshi had
reentered the building. After having been assured by Ami that Usagi
was fine, she released her Senshi form and drifted back to sleep.
Normally a former Shadow Warrior is back on their feet fairly
quickly. However, Rei's grandfather had been a demon for over an
hour. Consequently, Ami's computer indicated that he would probably
be out for the rest of the night like Rei and Usagi. Minako and Ami
gave a call home with a modified explanation of the events that had
occurred to let their parents know that they would be late coming
home. Luna had excused herself to go inform Usagi's parents of the
incident after ChibiUsa had awoken long enough to explain how Usagi
was injured. ChibiUsa herself decided to spend the evening snuggled
up against her mother. Once again, she had almost lost her. She knew
that there were a couple of close calls when the Black Moon was after
her, but nothing like these incidents, except for that one time on
Rubeus's ship. She was deeply afraid of losing her mother, but curled
up next to her mother, her worries always seemed to fade away. And
so, she snoozed contently with Usagi's arm instinctively wrapped
around her body.
Luna returned with Usagi's parents who upon hearing the news decided
that they needed to see their daughter for themselves. Now they sat
on the bed watching her and ChibiUsa sleep. While this incident gave
them another scare, it also again made them proud of their daughter.
In describing what had happened, Luna had told them Ami's findings
that the blast that Usagi had taken would have killed the injured
Mars. They only wished that their daughter could find ways that she
could show her bravery without almost getting herself killed.
The Senshi, the cats, and Usagi's parents spent most of the evening
just sitting watching the two injured Senshi sleep and recover. Only
later that evening did they begin to realize that they had not eaten.
Makoto whipped up a quick snack for them, one that fitted the
mourning mood well. During the evening, each person played back the
battle in their mind realizing for the first time how close they came
to losing one of their members that day. While the three Senshi and
two cats had a reasonable acceptance of the almost death of Mars,
they however were having very heard times coming to terms with
Usagi's sacrifice.
She was their princess; they were supposed to protect her. But, how
could they protect someone who would throw herself in the way to
protect them. They did not know, and that worried them. What worried
them most about Usagi sacrificing herself from one of them was not so
much their duty, but that they each loved her so much. Finally it got
late enough that the girls and Usagi' parents left to head home.
-End Chapter 10
Author's Notes:
_Thanks to Marianya for pointing out that I was using Luna-P
in the opening scene (fixed on 9/7/00).
-Well that was a short chapter, only about six pages. Guess
that is what happens when you do most of your set up work in
previous chapters and then have a very short lead in to the
battle.
-Another reason why this (and probably the next two) is kind of
short is that I am suffering a bit from writers block. The
problem is that I know where I want the story to go starting
with the reassembly of the crystal, it just that I have kind of
lost the enthusiasm for getting there. But then things should
get better once we get there, as I have thought a couple of the
later scenes out a lot. Also, I can start bringing some of my
guns back off the wall and there are quite a few guns on the
wall at this point in time.
-It also seems that with classes over for the semester that my
motivation for writing is gone (yeah now that I actually have
time to write, it is harder to fine the desire to write, ugh!)
-I did like the idea of having the Senshi having to find a way
to restrain the youma and then occupy themselves with Usagi
knocked out. I always wondered what would happen if Usagi was
not present or capable at the time they needed her to dispatch
the monster of the day.