by Chris Davies
Episode 108: "The Truest Test Is When We Cannot See"
SIX YEARS AGO
A star fell to earth. The majority of objects which enter Earth's atmosphere burn up from the friction, becoming meteors which streak across the sky. A small, tiny handful retain enough of their mass after the burning to be called meteorites. Urban myths to the contrary, no human being has ever been killed by a meteorite.
But this particular star was a spectacularly dark one, and it intended the death of the entire biosphere of Earth.
The star fell to Japan, and astronomers were puzzled by the fact that while their observations lead them to believe that the meteorite had landed at a certain location on Honshu, there was no sign of impact at that site.
The idea that the meteorite had been a living being, fully capable of slowing and stopping his own descent before the impact, did not, and probably could not occur to the astronomers. Their philosophy did not include all things in the heavens, sadly.
A few days after the star fell, a young man named Darien Chiba was working at a part-time job in one of Tokyo's flower gardens. He was, in fact, tending rose bushes, a job that appealed to him for reasons he could not quite articulate. Every rose has its thorn, of course, and Darien inevitably pricked himself. He swore mildly, pulled off the glove on that hand, and looked down at the blood seeping out of his finger.
He was rather shocked when the hand was gently but firmly guided away by a pair of strong, masculine hands, his arm bent behind him and the finger placed inside something warm, and wet.
Darien turned and stared at the young man who was licking his finger. "Th-that's not really sanitary, you know?" he asked, saying the first thing that came into his mind.
Slowly, the young man removed the finger from his mouth. "I don't care, Darien," he said softly. "I'm just so glad to see you again ..."
Darien blinked. Oh God, he thought, I've fallen into the yaoi manga version of my life. "Uh, I think you've mistaken me for someone else," he stammered.
The young man stepped back, his face showing his shock and dismay. "You mean ... you don't remember our promise? You don't remember us?"
"No, I don't have any idea what you're talking about!" Darien said, jerking his hand out of the young man's clutching hand. "Now, please, leave me alone, or I'm going to call security!" He was sure of one thing only; the sudden acelleration of his heartbeat wasn't caused by any attraction to this man, but by fear ... fear of the immense strength that he'd sensed in his grip.
The young man stared at him with angry eyes. "Very well, Darien," he said, very quietly. "You don't remember. Don't worry. I'll make you remember."
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew up out of nowhere, scattering rose petals in its past. Darien closed his eyes reflexively, to keep them from being pelted with debris.
When he opened them again, the young man had vanished.
Right then and there, Darien decided to give up his career in botany. Gardens were just too freaky for him.
Later that evening, while Darien slept in his apartment, the same wind that had made the young man vanish blew past Darien's bedroom window, prompting his reappearance. But his features had changed -- his ears were now gracefully pointed and his skin a light green -- as had his clothes, from casual trousers and a shirt to white robes with a rose at his breast.
"Darien," Fiore (for that was the young man's name) whispered, "I've come back to give you your flower at last, but you don't remember anything. Why?" He blinked. "Of course! It's probably the fault of all those horrible human beings! Once I get rid of them, you'll remember!"
"Yes," the rose at Fiore's breast whispered.
"No."
Fiore jerked his head up to stare at the source of the firm, authoritative voice which had addressed him. It came from a figure dressed in white robes not unlike Fiore's own, but with a mask across his mouth. He stood perched on the edge of the building's roof, illuminated by the full moon. "Who are you?" Fiore snapped, even as he leapt up to his opponent's level.
"I am the Moonlight Knight. It is normally my task to protect another, but she sleeps safely this night, Fiore, and you menace another whom I must defend."
"What are you babbling about? I'm going to protect Darien from anyone and anything that has ever hurt him! I --"
"Regardless of what you believe your feelings about him to be, Fiore, he does not return them, for he does not even remember you. His memories of your friendship and of ... other matters have been sealed away from him." The Moonlight Knight's eyes turned cold. "And even if they were not, he would never consent to your plan to slaughter the human race to make amends for his sad and lonely childhood."
"LIAR!" Fiore screamed. "You're just trying to come between me and Darien! DIE!"
He charged, and the battle commenced.
* * *
THE PRESENT
"And then what?" the oddly accented voice demanded.
Fiore shook himself out of the reminiscence that his recounting of his story had cast him into, and glared at the human before him. "I am here. Do you see any turbaned warriors around here?"
The female jerked back, startled. "Y-you killed the Moonlight Knight?"
"Essentially," Fiore replied. "It was a costly battle, however. My flower ... the flower for which I had searched the galaxy to give to Darien ... was crushed by the Knight in his final attack." He touched, once more, the small hole in his upper chest where the Xenian had been rooted. "Without it, I could not continue with my plans to destroy your pitiful species. But as the years passed, I found it much more ... enjoyable to corrupt and subvert you into destroying yourselves."
"Until the Sailor Scouts showed up again," the newspaper editor muttered.
"In essence, correct. When I vanquished the Moonlight Knight, I gained much of his knowledge ... such as the secrets of the Sailor Scouts, some of which I have shared with you. For as long as they slept, unaware of their power, I had no evil intentions towards them. I kept a close watch, however ... and one day, one of my youma went berserk in a shopping market, due to an error in its construction. And on that day, Sailor Moon was reborn. She went on to interrupt a major operation involving our control of the entertainment industry, and gained another Sailor to be her aide. Sooner or later, I knew that they would discover my existence and plans, and act to stop me.
"So I began an operation to stop her, instead. Utterly, and completely."
* * *
Amy came awake quickly, and looked around. Her last memories were of being chloroformed in the back of a car, then awakening in a dark cell where she had remained for a long period of time, until she had finally fallen asleep.
Her circumstances were not encouraging.
Her arms were bound with some ... glue-like substance to the arms of a cross-like structure, while her legs were fixed tightly to its mast. Her feet rested on a platform that kept her up, and prevented the painful death that normally resulted from being crucified like this.
"Hey, stranger. What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?" came a weary voice beside her.
Amy craned her head to the right to see that Lita was similarly bound to a cross that was fixed a few yards away, at roughly a ninety degree angle to Amy's imprisonment.
And then she saw that Lita was pregnant, and her eyes bulged out of her skull. Lita smiled a quiet grin in return. "Long time no see, Ames."
"She's awake?" came a voice from behind Amy, that she could easily recognize as Raye's voice.
"Raye?" Amy asked. "Are you all right?"
There was a long silence. "What the hell kind of dumb question is that?" Raye shouted at last. "I'm crucified, Amy, do you think I'm all right?"
"Couldja keep it down, I'm tryin' to sleep," requested someone to Amy's left. Amy turned to see that it was Mina, still mostly asleep if one could judge from the way that her head was slumped.
"It's good to see we haven't changed that much, isn't it?" Lita said cheerfully.
"You're pregnant and you think we haven't changed much?" Raye snapped.
"Well, I was always bigger than anyone --"
"And to think," Amy heard Luna's weary voice coming from behind her, "I missed the usual witty banter that occupied what I once laughingly called Scout meetings ..."
"Luna?" Raye asked, all the anger gone from her tone. "What's happened to Serena?"
"She's suspended from another one of these devices, at the center of the square that the four of you make. This set-up looks familiar, but I --"
"Serena?! Are you all right?" Lita called out.
"Yeah ... ah'm foine," a voice muttered.
It was not Serena's voice.
Amy recognized it immediately. "MOLLY?" she gasped.
"Shhh!" Molly hissed. "This plan's working out so far, but if you guys blow my disguise, we're all dead, capisc?"
"Molly?" Luna gasped in turn. Just from her tone, Amy could tell that she was shocked. "But how --"
"Does the phrase Disguise Power mean anything to you? Serena let me use her magic pen to turn me into a duplicate of her, and she used it to give her my looks, so that she could sneak in and trick the bad guys into telling them all her plans, and then save the day. Yay team," Molly snorted that last.
"I don't understand ... how'd you know to --"
"It all started when --"
* * *
TWO WEEKS AGO
Molly Osaka (technically, Molly Umino) had put in a long day at the newspaper. She was looking forward to a quiet evening at home with her husband and daughter. Perhaps she'd also call her old friend Serena and invite her over for dinner, just for the hell of it.
The police cars and ambulance in front of her apartment building were the first indication that this wasn't going to be a night that was anywhere as peaceful as that.
Molly was intercepted by a uniformed police woman as soon as she stepped out of her car. "Are you Molly Umino?" she asked.
"Uh ... y-yeah. Is somethin' wrong?"
She was then escorted to the ambulance, just as a team of paramedics brought out the shattered body of her husband. Needless to say, she reacted poorly.
The fact that her daughter had been kidnapped, probably by the same people who had beaten Melvin within an inch of his life, didn't help matters.
It was that night, while she waited in the hospital as the doctors worked on Melvin, that the one who called himself the Mastermind came to her. "Terrible thing about your mate and child," he said simply. "Such a shame."
"Who ... who are you?" she asked as she struggled against the grip of the two large bodyguards who held her down.
"Suffice it to say that I am all that stands between your child and death. In order to ensure that I continue to do so, there are certain things you will have to do. Very soon now, one named Serena Tsukino will come to you with an idea that will involve her going on a trip around the world, at your newspaper's expense. No matter how flimsy and improbable the story she offers you is, you will accept it, and see that it is acceptable to your superiors."
"How am I supposed to do that?" Molly yelped.
He looked at her serenely. "Perhaps by the same means that you obtained your position in the first place."
Molly felt the bottom drop out of her stomach. "Y-y-you know about that?" she whispered.
He snorted. "Obviously. In any event, when she has returned from her trip, you are to find some excuse to dismiss her from her position. And when that is done, your child will be returned to you. Fail me in the slightest respect, reveal a word of what I've just told you to anyone, and you will never see your child again, and your husband will suffer ... complications."
"You BASTARD," Molly hissed as the tears flowed down her face. "WHY? Why are you doing this to Serena? What's she done --"
"Because she's a threat to my dealings. That's all you need to know."
Of course, Molly thought furiously. Once again, I'm gonna be a pawn in the bad guys' efforts to catch Sailor Moon.
What?
Molly's jaw hung open for the longest time.
"Umino-san?" the Mastermind asked as he stared down at her. "I take it that you will follow my instructions?"
"Yeah," Molly said weakly.
"Good. Sado, give her the phone number before you leave. Umino-san, the number you are going to be given is my private line -- use it only to inform me of the success of your efforts. Other uses will not be conducive to your family's well-being. Sado and Mascho, here, will remain with you for a while after I depart, to ensure you don't do anything foolish like trying to follow me." He bowed, mockingly. "A pleasure to do business with you, Umino-san ..."
Molly barely noticed. She was remembering a night, long ago, when she'd been in fear for the life of one she'd loved with all the passion and anguish of a fourteen-year old girl's heart, and she had dialled her best friend in all the world to ask her for help. But she'd known that her best friend couldn't help her with something like this.
Hadn't she?
Then why had she concluded the call with, "I'm really feeling a lot better now, Serena ..."?
She'd known. She'd known, without realizing it, even then.
And later that night, when Sailor Moon had carried her gently back to the shadows of her bedroom even as she had wept for him, she had known and known that she knew. Perhaps Serena had believed that she wouldn't hear her whisper, "I'm sorry, Molly ... I came as soon as you called ... I tried. I'm sorry."
Molly wondered why she hadn't remembered knowing. Maybe it had something to do with the way everyone had forgotten about Sailor Moon until she returned ... and then remembered so quickly that it had been almost frightening.
The next day came, and Molly listened to Serena's wild fabrications about a trip around the world to draw cartoons and engage in a wild love affair with emotions that ran somewhere between disgust and amazement. She accepted the idea of course, and went to her superior, the man who had originally hired her, to get permission.
She did what she had to do.
* * *
Raye didn't have the heart to ask just what Molly had done.
"And then?" Amy asked quietly.
"And then she went around the world, and then she came back, and then I fired her ... and then she found a little message from me to let her know that things weren't the way they looked, and we set up the switch, and here we are."
"I don't get it," Raye interjected. "Why are you risking your life to help her like this if --"
"Because," Molly interrupted, all accent gone from her voice, "that miserable son-of-a-bitch's men came damn close to killing my husband and have been holding my daughter hostage. They have been taking advantage of my feelings for my family to use me. NOBODY fucks with me like that and gets away with it."
There was a long silence in the room after that.
"So what now?" Mina asked, after a moment.
There was a hissing sound from out of Raye's vision. She heard Mina let out a shriek.
"Hello, Mina," she heard Artemis say.
* * *
"You realize, of course, that my telling you this means that you can never leave this place alive?" Fiore asked casually.
"Well ... in a vague kinda way, yeah, but are you sure that there's no way that I could be of further use to you?" Serena-pretending- to-be-Molly asked, in a mild panic. She hadn't expected for the opposition to be quite like this, although she hadn't been quite clear on what she was expecting.
"Not really. I anticipate that elements of my strategy will result in the Japanese government drastically curtailing what little freedom the Japanese press enjoys within the year."
"Oh."
"On the other hand ... that also means that you will lose what little credibility you possess very shortly. And unless I'm mistaken, your husband still hasn't fully recovered, and probably won't, before that happens. So there would still be enough time for ... complications to develop."
Serena swallowed back the angry retort that that statement prompted. Molly had told her enough about what this creep had had done to Melvin to convince her to take his threats seriously.
"So," Fiore continued, "you might as well see it through to the end." He tapped a button on his desk.
There was a sudden rumbling beneath Serena's feet, and all at once the section of the floor on which she was standing broke away from the rest of the floor, beginning to move upward at a slow pace. Still, the jolt was almost enough to cause her to tumble off the edge of the rising platform -- which also contained Fiore's desk -- before she regained her equilibrium.
Just before the top of Serena's head touched the ceiling, it irised open. The platform continued to rise.
They emerged in a sterile white room, and Serena heard a gasp from behind her. She whirled --
The scouts were bound and tied to cross like structures, which formed a square around the taller cross which supported "Serena", who was gazing at the real Serena with a calmness that couldn't possibly be real. It was perhaps the bravest front she'd ever seen.
At the base of the central cross was a cage, in which Luna was imprisoned -- and which Serena could only barely see, because Artemis was standing in the way of her field of vision. The two cats were snarling at each other.
"Ah, I see you've met our associate," Fiore said conversationally.
Artemis turned to look back at them, and started to see "Molly" there. "What's she doing here?" the white cat snapped.
"She wanted to see what this was all --"
"That CAT talked!" Serena squawked. Make this good, she reminded herself. "B-b-b-but ..."
"Yes. He did," Fiore agreed calmly. "He also assisted me greatly in my plans."
"Artemis, what's going on?" Mina burst.
Artemis looked to Fiore. "Shall I tell them?"
Fiore shrugged. "It won't make any difference."
The white cat nodded. "Right. This began a bit over a month ago, when I finally got tired of Luna's babbling about how we had to let you stay ignorant of your real history." He looked up in Mina's direction, even though she couldn't bend her head around to see him. "And I went looking for you, Mina. But no matter what I tried, I couldn't find you. I started to get very desperate. And then ... he found me. Fiore."
"And you sold us out," Luna hissed.
"Artemis, you told me that they tortured you --" Mina began in a frightened voice.
"I lied, Mina. I'm sorry. What Fiore did was ... make me realize a couple things.
"The first and most important was that the Silver Millenium was dead. And so was the Dark Kingdom. In other words, the whole reason that we'd awakened you in the first place was over and done with. Luna had been right after all ..."
He suddenly whirled and snarled at Luna. "Of course, little miss perfect changed her tune real fast the first time her precious charge got into a little bit of trouble!"
"What else was I to do, Artemis?!" Luna snarled right back at him. "That youma would have killed her --"
"Did anyone else it drained die? No. They just woke up with an awful headache and a bit of lost time." Artemis sneered. "Considering how you felt about letting them not remember themselves, I'd have thought you didn't mind the idea of lost time.
"Anyway, now that the Princess was awake, she would inevitably draw the other Senshi into her orbit. Karmic bonds are like that, you see. And then they'd start to mess things up really bad for Fiore and his people."
"Artemis, this guy's people are scum!" Raye shouted. "They're parasitic leeches preying on --"
"Okay. Maybe," Artemis interrupted. "And when you dealt with them, then what? Going to go after the Yakuza, next? They're crooks and thugs and pornographers and leeches, too, after all. And after you've dealt with them, why not knock over a few of the zaibatsu? They're a much worse danger, after all -- if they keep doing their thing, pretty soon the whole planet will be some kind of corporate state, where the rich don't have to worry about the interference of the government, because they are the government. In fact, if you think about it, doesn't it make much more sense to set yourselves up as the rulers? That way you could make certain that nobody could ever do anything wrong ever again! In short, why not resurrect the Silver Millenium, and start the whole thing over again?"
Artemis was silent for a long moment, to let his words sink in. "No! That's just making it worse!" he suddenly exploded. "Amy ... Raye ... Lita ... Mina ... we created you to do battle with the Dark Kingdom. That's it! It's over. If humanity is going to win against the dark side of its own nature, it should do it on its own, not because pretty sailor-suited soldiers can beat up on bad guys!" He took a long breath. "That's why I gave him the plans for this device. Do you recognize it, Luna?"
"Artemis, you miserable coward --"
"I'll take that as a no. This was a device that was created in the Moon Kingdom. It's called a Maeg Oven. Simply put, anything inside the field it creates is stripped of any magical energies it possesses. Permanently. Queen Serenity used it to punish wizards who abused their powers."
"And now you intend to use it on us," Amy whispered.
Artemis nodded -- which was lost on Amy. "After it's done, the last vestige of the Silver Millenium -- your powers -- will be gone forever. Humanity will be free to chart its own destiny."
"And then I suppose you're just gonna let us go?" snapped Lita. She was trembling, either with anger or with fear.
"If you're not the Sailor Scouts," Fiore responded smoothly, "then neither I nor my organization have much to fear from you, do I? And before you start babbling about going to the authorities about what's going on, you should consider that your credibility is none too firm, Ms. Mizuno. The majority of the law enforcement community views your field of endeavors as a joke, and you as deranged. And as for the rest of you, we have sufficient blackmail material on you to make sure that you will want to avoid the police if you possibly can. And some of you have ... other incentives to remain silent," he noted, gazing at Lita's swollen belly.
"You monster," Serena whispered as she slowly turned to look at him.
"Did you only just now realize that, Ms. Tsukino? I'm so sorry." He looked away. "In any event, have you finished the preparations, Lackey?"
Serena wondered why he was calling Artemis a lackey for a moment, when she heard the faint voice. "Yes. The Maeg Oven is ready to be lit whenever you will, Master."
She turned around, and stared at the Lackey.
The figure was hunched over, and garbed in dark robes that concealed his face. He moved slowly among the crosses that supported the Sailors, examining the binding materials that held them in place. He seemed to spend longer with the ones that held Raye's feet fast.
Serena had never seen him before, but something about his voice ... there was something familiar about his voice, that she couldn't quite place.
Finally, the Lackey stepped back out of the square, and bowed in Fiore's direction.
"Very well then. There's no real point in putting it off any longer, is there, Artemis?"
"Nope," the white cat answered firmly. "Let's get this over with."
"A worthy sentiment. Artemis, I'd like to thank you for all you've done for me." And then Fiore's lips curved in an evil smile. "But all things considered, that would be fatuous." Faster than Serena's eye could follow, he stabbed a button on his desk.
A curtain of chain mesh sprang up from the floor around the Maeg Oven. It was just transparent enough to barely see through. Serena heard Artemis let out a sudden gasp.
"The chains were an innovation by the engineers of the Dark Kingdom, Artemis. It converted the Maeg Oven into an even more fearsome device of punishment. Instead of just draining away all the magical energy in a being, it drains life energy as well, causing a painfully slow death. In answer to my question, Ms. Kino, while I have nothing to fear from you if you just lose your powers ... there is the matter of revenge!"
And then the curtain turned red as the energies began to flow.
And Serena could hear the screams --
"MOON."
Fiore's head jerked in her direction.
"PRISM."
His eyes widened as he realized his mistake.
"POWER!"
And the disguises around Molly and Serena exploded, as Sailor Moon was unleashed once more. She didn't even spare a glimpse at her enemy as she leapt up to the top of the curtain.
Molly doesn't have any magic, so this thing is going to start drawing her energy out first! she thought as she reached the top of her arc. Gotta get her out of there before I do anything else!
She snatched her tiara from her forehead, not even bothering with the usual invocation, and flung it at the ... material that was holding Molly up. The tiara sizzled as it burnt through the stuff, and finally gave out as it cut Molly's legs free. She dropped, unconscious, to the floor of the Oven, only narrowly missing Luna's cage and Artemis' sprawled form.
Serena closed her eyes for a second, whispered a silent prayer to God, and jumped into the Oven.
It was like jumping into molten lava. Every instinct in her body screamed at her to GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT as her pain sensors went into overdrive. Breathing was almost an impossibility. All she wanted to do, the minute that her feet hit the ground, was close her eyes, lie down, and quietly die. The Abyss could hold no greater pain than this.
She forced herself to stand, to walk, to bend down, to lift Molly, and turned to stare up at the curtain.
And realized, as she did so, that there was no way in the world that she could possibly leap that height while inside the Oven. It was agony to even jump half the distance and come crashing down to land on even more unsteady legs.
She'd blown it.
* * *
In the instant that Sailor Moon had jumped into the Oven, Fiore barked out, "Lackey! Increase the power of the --"
"No."
Fiore slowly turned to stare in shock at his Lackey, who was glaring at him. His bent, limp figure was straightening, standing.
"You fool, Fiore. I told you, on the first day, that I was created to protect her. The only reason that you have bound me as tightly as you have is that she does not *need* my protection as often as she might -- but whenever she is in direst danger, I will ever be at her side!"
And the Lackey's ragged cloak surged with vibrant, white light, becoming a cape and mask that covered the lower part of his face, behind which cold blue eyes burned.
The Moonlight Knight had returned.
A sudden burst of white roses emerged from his cape, pinning Fiore's clothes to the opposite wall like arrows. Then he leapt up and perched on the edge of the mesh curtain, gazing down at Sailor Moon. "Sailor Moon! Throw her to me!"
Lifting her head, she gazed at him through pain-clenched eyes, then nodded, and leapt once more. At the top of her jump, she flung Molly upward into the waiting arms of the Moonlight Knight. She came down awkwardly this time, and her left leg folded beneath her. Sailor Moon lifted her head in a silent scream of agony.
It cost the Moonlight Knight more than he could say to turn away from her in such a state, but he dropped down to the other side of the oven to lay Molly down. He darted a quick glance in Fiore's direction.
There was no one there.
Fiore slammed into him from above, knocking him into the floor. His eyes burned with psychotic hatred as he began to bludgeon the Moonlight Knight.
Within the Oven, Sailor Moon forced herself to stand despite the screams of protest from her injured knee. She stumbled towards the cats, which she could see only vaguely through the red cloud over her eyes. She grabbed hold of Artemis, and easily lobbed the white cat over the top of the fence. She did not stop to wonder if he would regain consciousness in time to land on his feet, but momentarily surrendered to the exhaustion and pain in her legs, in order to get down low enough to fumble with the latch on Luna's cage.
It was locked.
Luna opened her eyes to meet Serena's. They were both in agony, but Luna managed to open her lips and work her voicebox. "Go," she gasped to her protege.
Serena jerked her head to one side, then to the other, in a universal gesture of refusal.
Outside the Oven, Fiore and the Moonlight Knight continued to grapple with each other, until the Knight drove a fist into the old wound in Fiore's chest. With a shriek of agony, Fiore leapt back.
In turn, the Knight leapt up to the edge of the curtain, and began to fling his flowers once more. The first white rose sped towards the lock that had frustrated Sailor Moon, smashing it. Before he could launch another, however, Fiore had joined him on the curtain's edge. The alien extended an arm, and it became a blade. Warily, the Knight drew his own sword.
Serena blinked as the lock exploded from the impact of the white rose. But she didn't have time to wonder at such miracles; she yanked open the cage door, and jerked Luna out of there. Then came the agony of forcing herself to stand, and stumbling over to the wall of the Oven. She didn't even want to think about jumping this time, so she simply stretched up as far as she could go, and gasped, "Luna ... over ..."
"No!"
"Please!"
Luna gazed down at her pupil, and for a moment Serena thought she saw tears in her eyes. And then Luna curled up, and sprang high, over the top of the wall.
Three down, Serena thought vaguely. Four ... no, five, really ... to go. The pain she was almost unbearable as she forced herself to stumble across the floor of the Oven to where Lita hung on the cross, her face twisted in agony.
She gazed blearily at the gunk that was holding her legs and arms fast against the structure, and realized that she didn't have the first idea how to deal with it.
Above, the Moonlight Knight paused in his duel with Fiore. His eyes hardened, and he launched a sequence of rapidfire attacks that sent the alien reeling back with their force. The Knight then leaped back, twisting in a mid-air sommersault as he launched another barrage of roses into the Oven. The razor-sharp stem of each rose pierced into the mounds of adhesive on each of the scouts, stopping just short of pricking flesh. The adhesive cracked and splintered, and at once the Scouts began to fall.
Serena jerked her head up in enough time to see Lita falling towards her, and caught her before she slammed into the hard metal floor. Her back and arms screamed at the strain, and she quickly adjusted Lita's body so that the taller girl was supporting her own weight.
"Lita," Serena gasped. "Transform! It's not as bad if you're --"
Lita, her eyes squeezed tightly shut, nodded in understanding. She drew in a deep breath. "JUPITER POWER!"
The transformation proceeded. Serena turned to see that Amy had forced herself to her feet. Her face was covered, not with fear or pain, but with an almost bestial rage. "MERCURY POWER!" she screamed.
Mina had pulled herself up, clutching tightly to the mast of the cross for support. Her eyes caught Serena's, and she unleashed one of her trademarked winks. "VENUS POWER!"
There was no sound from Raye's corner of the Oven.
Serena whipped her head around to stare at the huddled mass in front of the cross, and forced herself into a loping run. Her leg gave out only a few feet from Raye, and she collapsed to her knees. "Raye," she whispered, pleading.
"Can't," a voice rasped. "Hurts. Too much."
"Raye ... I ..."
Have you kissed anyone you love goodbye yet? Just in case?
You were right. I should have kissed ... the one I love ... goodbye.
"I need you Raye. Please? I can't ... without you ..."
For the longest moment in Serena's life, there was silence.
And then, with agonizing slowness, Raye began to force herself to her feet. Serena held her up, but the impulse to stand came from within Raye. And she whispered the words, "Mars ... Power."
The flames came.
"Quick!" Serena cried to the others. "Get out of here!"
Jupiter nodded, pausing only to duck down and grab something that Serena couldn't make out before she leaped up to the top of the curtain, and over it.
Venus saw that Mercury was still unsteady on her feet, and so dashed over, threw her arms around her, and carried her as she leapt over the curtain.
Serena turned back to Mars, and nodded. Raye tightened her grip on Serena, and jumped.
Perhaps it was that she had been weakened even more than the others. Or perhaps it was that she just wasn't the leaper that Mina was, and that Serena was heavier in her transformed state than Amy was, and that she couldn't contribute anything to the leap.
But they didn't clear the top of the curtain. Raye's free arm snaked out and caught ahold of the bar that supported the curtain, and she dangled for a moment. "Climb --" she said to Serena, just as the pain from her hand screamed into her brain.
She looked up to see Fiore, his face lit by the red light from within the oven that made it seem even less human than normally, pressing his shoed foot into her hand. "DIE," he whispered.
Serena realized immediately that the only way that Raye could use one of her attacks against him was if she had one of her hands free ... and that her other hand was supporting her.
Of course, there was only one thing to do.
Serena let go of Raye, and dropped to the floor. This time, she heard and felt her ankle break beneath her.
Howling, Raye threw her fire at Fiore, only to see him block it with his cape. Suddenly, the Moonlight Knight attacked Fiore and drove him back, moving him off her hand. "Serena!" she cried.
"I ... can't ... get ... up ..." she heard Serena whisper. "Go ... Raye ..."
Dark eyes turned to meet blue ones. A look beyond words was exchanged.
Raye let go of the curtain. She stumbled when she hit the ground, but headed over to Serena anyway. Quite suddenly, Serena found herself on her feet -- she had no idea where the strength to do it was coming from, how she was ignoring the agony in her ankle -- and met Raye in a standing position.
And promptly gave her a good hook to the jaw. Raye went down without a sound. Serena knelt, hefted Raye up, and walked to the edge of the curtain.
She reached within. At the last moment, Raye awoke, and shouted a quick protest.
Just before Serena flung her up over the mesh, and collapsed.
It was strange. In the hell of the Oven, through the haze of pain ... she felt so warm ...
* * *
Luna stared in mute horror as Raye came flying over the curtain, alone, and collapsed to the ground, curled up in a ball. She's ... Serena, she's ...
Artemis limped up behind her. "Luna," he gasped breathlessly, "I'm sorry. I had no idea that he was going to do this! He tricked me! He used me and tricked me!"
"I realize that," she said in a dead voice.
"Then you forgive me?" he asked, coming closer.
The black cat turned, smacked the white cat across the face with one of her paws, and began running towards the Maeg Oven at maximum speed.
"I didn't say that," Luna's words drifted back to him.
In the forefront of her brain was one simple fact about the Maeg Oven that she could remember. There was a certain limit to the amount of magical energy that it could drain at any given time. If one tried to drain more than that, the Oven blew up.
With that in mind, she leapt up, flinging herself at Fiore with a roar. Fiore lost his balance, and shrieked as they fell into the Oven.
Luna reached into kitty-space, and turned it inside out. Every single piece of the magical arsenal she carried around with her suddenly materialized.
Die, damn you. Die.
That was her final thought as the explosion ripped through her.
* * *
Darien didn't bother to turn off the ignition as he hopped out of the car. He'd delivered the baby to Melvin's bedside, like Molly had told him to. Unfortunately, Melvin was unconscious, and so he still had no idea what was going on. Well, by God, I'm gonna get one from the people in here if it's the last thing I ever do.
He bounded up the steps to the building.
CLICK.
Darien halted, and turned to see the rather large revolver that was being pointed at the back of his head by an unsmiling European man. "Okay," said the man, "I want some answers."
"Huh?"
"My name's Straczynski. I'm with Interpol. What's going on here?"
"I don't know," Darien told him. "I came here --"
"The first time you came here," Straczynski interrupted, "you were driving a red-haired girl. Then you came out carrying a baby. Now what's going on in there?"
"I'm really not too sure," Darien replied, panic beginning to set in. "I ... I'm just --"
There was a sudden rumbling noise, and a flash of immense light from the uppermost floor of the building.
"What was *that*?" Straczynski barked.
"I don't know," Darien answered, miserably. He was starting to really hate his life.
* * *
... so warm ...
Serena. You have to wake up now.
Huh?
Serena opened her eyes. She was lying on the ground, surrounded by the burning remains of the Oven, and a huge cloud of dust. A few feet away, the Moonlight Knight was also lying. There were many gaping wounds on his body, but blood didn't seem to be coming from them.
"W-what happened?"
Luna knew of a way to overload a Maeg Oven, and used it.
"Luna?" Serena sat up and looked around. "Where is she?! What's happened --"
She and Fiore were at the heart of the explosion, Serena.
The words hit her like a second explosion. "No," she whispered.
I'm sorry, Serena. I'm very sorry.
Serena began to cry as she hadn't cried since she had been reawakened. She was never sure how long it lasted. Finally, when she had run out of tears, and was reduced to dry sobbing, the Moonlight Knights repeated I'm sorry, finally penetrated to her mind. "Wh-why do you keep saying that you're sorry," she managed to gulp out. "It's not like it was your fault or anything ..."
You don't understand, Serena. I am responsible, directly, for Fiore's power. You see, I am a being who was shaped by your desire for a normal life, your final wish at the end of your battle against the Dark Kingdom. For a number of reasons, your wish affected Darien more than the others. Because he could not be your protector and defender without his memories, his mind created me to act in his stead. And so, I contain all of Darien's hidden memories. Of when he was Endymion, Prince of the Earth. Of when he was Tuxedo Mask. The telepathic voice was silent for a moment. And of when he was Endymion, warrior of the Dark Kingdom.
"You mean --"
Fiore gained his knowledge of the manufacture of youma -- and of the modified Maeg Oven -- from me, Serena. And these youma, unlike Beryl's, will not die simply because their master has. They are still out there.
The idea that her war was not over, and that she would be fighting without Luna's guidance, shook her even more than the fact of Luna's passing. She almost descended into sobbing once more.
And then drew a deep breath, and stopped the tears before they began. She wasn't alone. Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Venus ... they would stand with her. She was never alone.
And the Moonlight Knight ...
Soon, I will pass as well, Serena.
"WHAT?"
I was critically injured by the explosion as well, Serena, and I expended all the energy that I could use to heal myself in protecting you from the explosion. That is why I speak in this manner, rather than with words. If I could merge with Darien, I would be all right, but --
"Then you should hold on! We'll ... we'll get Darien, you can do this merging thing with him, and --"
Serena. You don't need me.
"Yes I will!"
No. I could only become the Moonlight Knight when your need of a savior was greatest ... and in the months since you became Sailor Moon once more, you have needed me only once before this. You don't need someone to hold your hand, guide you in battle ... be the hero's hero ... anymore. You aren't a child anymore.
With an effort, the one who had been Lackey raised an arm to gently brush Sailor Moon's forehead. In a way, I wish you were. The role of the protector, the feeling I had as I caught you and saved you from falling ... it was intoxicating. The hand lowered. But it doesn't matter. Darien isn't here, and I won't last long enough for you to find him. I regret only that when I go, any memory he might have of your love will go with me.
The Moonlight Knight reached up and pulled back his mask. His face was Darien's, and the sight of his crushed jaw made Serena almost start weeping again.
But Serena ... don't worry too much about that. The reasons that Endymion loved Serenity ... are not the only reasons for Darien to love you.
He dissolved, then, into tiny multicolored jewels of light. There was, at the very end, a quiet sending of Goodbye. Then silence.
Serena forced herself to her feet, and was vaguely surprised to realize that while her ankle was still hurting, it didn't seem to be broken anymore. She also noticed that she wasn't in her uniform anymore, which provoked a mild worry, muted beneath her grief.
She walked into the dust, calling out their names. Raye suddenly appeared, threw her arms around her, and began to scream. "How could you do that to me?!? Do you have any idea what my life would be like without you? I --" Raye began to sob then, and once again it was Serena holding her up. Serena, who had no more tears left to cry.
Within moments, Amy, Mina, Lita, and Molly made their way over to the two of them.
"Artemis?" Serena asked Mina.
Mina shook her head. "I couldn't find him. Maybe he ran off."
"Luna?" Amy asked, quietly.
Serena couldn't bear to say it, so she shook her head. Then realized something and turned anxiously to Lita.
Who smiled, through her own tears. "She's fine. Or he is. Wide awake, and kicking to beat hell ..."
Serena let out a long sigh of relief.
"You dropped this," Lita added, and held out Serena's tiara.
Then there was a long silence. It was the strangest thing. After all that, they had almost nothing to say to each other.
Just then, the elevator dinged. Serena, mindful of what the Moonlight Knight had said about the youma surviving Fiore's destruction, prepared to initiate the transformation.
Darien and Straczynski, Amy's partner from Interpol, stumbled out of the elevator. The latter had his gun out, and both men looked shocked at what they saw.
"Mizuno!" Straczynski gasped. "What the hell happened here?!"
Amy blinked, then smiled sadly. "A bunch of crooks tried to kill me and my friends, and blew themselves up doing it."
Straczynski blinked. "Seriously? No aliens? No weird monsters?"
Amy's smile had an almost pained element. "For years you've been complaining about the weird stuff I believe in, and when I tell you that nothing weird happened, you seem upset? What's with you, Straczynski?"
Darien ran up to Serena, who was still standing close to Raye. "Serena? Are you okay?" he asked, desperately.
Serena looked at him for a moment. Then she looked at each of her friends, seeing how much they had all changed, even in these last few minutes. Raye, victimized and still scarred by what Fiore's agents had done to her. Mina, guilty of crimes petty and grand. Amy, tormented by what she might or might not have done. Lita, abandoned just when she most needed someone. Molly ... by turns an enemy and an ally, and unable to meet her gaze.
She turned back to Darien. The man she loved, for reasons that were no longer part of him.
"I don't know. I really don't know."
The End
Author's Notes
New Years Resolution. Never start a multi-chapter story without a clear ending in mind. When I look back at this series, see how much time it's eaten ... I feel very, very humble.
I do have an idea for a sequel series, of course. Called, "Sailor Soldiers", it will tell about the Sailor's ongoing efforts to destroy the youma that Fiore's unnamed organization have infiltrated into Tokyo society. Needless to say, some of them are very highly placed. We'll see more of Agent Straczynski. We'll see more about Serena's relationship with this very different Darien. We may also see this universe's versions of the Outer Senshi -- indeed, given one story idea I have, I'd be shocked if we didn't.
(It involves a youma psychiatrist being asked to treat a deceased scientist's hopelessly mad daughter. Pity the youma.
One more time, with feeling: Sailor Moon was created by Naoko Takeuchi and brought to North America by DiC. This story, while incorporating elements of a motion picture held under copyrights by another, is copyright 1998 of Chris Davies.
Nobody Sue Me Okay?
Serena & Luna Episode 108