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Senshi Kurai
Part 15: Moonlight
Jackie ChiangQuick Copyright notes: This is a fanfic based on Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon, an anime/manga created by Takeuchi Naoko. Characters belong to her and all others associated with rights [Toei, Bandai, Kodansha, etc], but the storyline, ideas, and any other characters are created by me. 1997 - Jackie Chiang
"Mama..." she pleaded. "Please... I love him!"
"No..." her mother answered softly. "I'm sorry... but I can't let you be together. Your sister is already in an ideal match with his brother. You know that you have to marry someone from another planet."
"I won't!" she cried. "You don't understand! I love him!"
Her mother turned away. "I'm sorry," she repeated, leaving the throne room.
She fell to her knees, crying softly.
"Princess..." a voice said from behind her.
"Nani?" she whirled around, wiping her face. "Who's there?"
A lovely girl stepped out from behind a pillar. "I am Melina," she said. Her red hair fell in tresses down her back, and her red eyes had an unusual light.
"Why were you spying on me?" the princess demanded angrily.
The girl ignored the question. "I understand your pain, Princess. I loved a man too... but I couldn't marry him."
"Why not?" the Princess asked.
She went on, as if she hadn't heard. "And now Serenity can marry the man she loves... But why can't you?"
Hecate stared at Melina. "Mama said-"
"Hecate," Melina interjected. "Hasn't your mother always sided with Serenity?"
"Of course not!" Hecate snapped automatically. "Mother is the wisest, fairest ruler in the galaxy. Everyone knows that!"
"When was the last time she sided with you?" Melina cut her off.
This gave the girl pause, and she sat, thinking. "I... I don't remember," she murmured finally. "But that doesn't mean-"
"It doesn't mean what?" Melina asked innocently.
"No... Mama doesn't favor anyone," Hecate said to herself. "She couldn't... love Serenity more than she does me! Could she?" She looked hopefully at Melina for support.
Melina shook her head, almost sadly. "Princess, you are too naive. Everything says that Serenity is the favored child... Who did your mother pick to inherit the throne?"
"Serenity..." Hecate said quietly.
"Who did your mother allow to marry whomever she chose?"
"Serenity..."
"Hecate," Melina said, eyes glowing, reaching down and taking her hand. Hecate stared fixedly into her eyes, and her own eyes grew cloudy. "You don't want to stay with a family that loves your sister the best, do you?"
"No..." Hecate whispered. "I don't..."
The yellow crescent moon on her forehead darkened, turning a deep black, and Melina smirked. "My princess," she said mockingly. "I have you now..."
"Hecate..." the whispered voice echoed throughout her mind.
"Mama...?" she answered. It was so dark and cold. "Where are you? It's dark... Kowaii [I'm scared]!"
"Don't be afraid, my daughter," Serenity's melodic voice gently said. The dark washed away, replaced by glowing light. Hecate blinked, momentarily blinded.
Warm arms wrapped around her. "Mama," she said, hugging the warmth instinctively.
"Hecate..." Queen Serenity said, smiling down at her daughter. "We are finally together again..."
"Oh, Mama!" Hecate cried, looking at her mother. "I'm so sorry! You don't hate me do you?"
"Of course not, dear. I could never hate you... But it's time for you to be reunited with your sisters."
"Sisters?" Hecate said blankly, her dark eyes confused.
"Princess Serenity and Apollo," Serenity said patiently. She smiled. "You don't remember Apollo, do you?"
"Apollo... is my sister?"
"Hai," the queen said. "She is your triplet sister. Your father is the leader of the Sun, King Sun..."
"Papa... was killed," Hecate said slowly, remembering vaguely the accident.
"Yes. And Apollo is the heir to the throne, now Sailor Sun. Of course, we couldn't put Apollo in danger by telling all that she was your true sister , so we said that she was only your half-sister... It was better this way, and so Beryl wouldn't attempt to kill her directly, thinking she was only a half-sister..."
"And Serenity is Sailor Moon." Hecate blinked. "What happened to them?"
Her mother held out her hand. "You need to help them, Hecate. They need you now, more than ever. You must stop the Second Passing from arriving. It's too early; if it comes to be, the delicate time balance will be shattered."
Hecate's black crystal appeared in Serenity's hand. It glowed, and the black shattered away, leaving only a pure silver light. "The ginzuishou!" Hecate exclaimed. "But doesn't Sailor Moon have it?"
"That isn't the full ginzuishou," Serenity explained. "It's only a part of it, which in your absence, took on the responsibility of the whole one. This is its twin piece, which can increase the true power by five times."
Hecate took the ginzuishou piece with awe. "What do I do with it?" she asked, looking up.
"You need to transform into Sailor Moonlight," Serenity said. "The leader of the Magic Senshi..."
"Thank you, Mama," Hecate said softly, tears in her eyes. "I love you."
Queen Serenity gave her a hug. "I love you too, and I always will. Now, make your father and I proud by helping your sisters..."
"Hai! Moonlight Wakusei Crystal Power, Make-Up!" She lifted the ginzuishou in the air, and she transformed into Sailor Moonlight.
Dressed in a white body suit, with a rainbow collar and a rainbow double layered skirt, she very much resembled her sister in her fuku. However, her white second skirt was trimmed with small gold stars, and her choker had a moon on it. The same symbol appeared on her front red bow, and in the center where her skirt and body suit joined at the waist. She had a red bow in back, with long tails, and she wore red boots with the moon symbols near the top. Her forehead had only a white crescent moon, and she had dangling crescent moon earrings.
"Good-bye, Hecate," Serenity's voice whispered softly, and in a glowing light, Sailor Moonlight disappeared.
"Sailor Moon!" everyone screamed as Jade's heavy sword came down.
The blade entered Moon's chest, and everyone cried, horrified as blood spilled everywhere, so much blood...
"Princess!" the Senshi screamed. They started crying in quiet sobs, trying not to.
"Usako!" Tuxedo Kamen whispered, shocked, tears coming to his eyes.
"Serenity!" Sun gasped.
Jade laughed as he looked down at Moon's unmoving body, removing the bloody sword. "The Princess of the moon... dead! Now you have no hope whatsoever of defeating me!"
"I wouldn't be too sure!" a voice snapped, and a yellow rose was flung down in front of Jade, causing him to drop the sword.
Earth leapt down in front of him, followed by Chikyuu. She glared at him, her eyes deadly serious. "You won't take over this world... I won't let you!"
"Earth!" the Senshi called out together.
"Chikyuu... Athena..." Tuxedo Kamen stared at his brother and sister with amazement.
Jade sneered, his black eyes glowing. "Like you could ever defeat me!"
Tuxedo Kamen struggled up. "I won't let you take over either! You killed my love... and you can be damn sure that you won't get away for that..."
"And you killed our Princess, our future queen," Uranus hissed. "You'll pay..."
"Usagi-chan wouldn't have wanted us to sit and cry," Venus added softly, standing up.
"And neither would have Hecate!" Ares said.
"In the name of Princess Serenity," the Sailor Senshi said.
"And in the name of Princess Hecate," the Magic Senshi said.
"We will punish you!"
"You see... that's really touching, but fortunately, I don't care..." Jade said, motioning with his hand for his dark armies to draw in closer. "It will be amusing to see how long you last against me..."
Flicking his hand, his armies obeyed, flying towards the senshi. The armies dove towards the already weakened, but valiant, Senshi.
"Death Shriek..." Hades whispered.
"Venus Love and Beauty Shock!"
"Hermes Caduceus Drain!"
"Zeus Lightning Strike!"
"World Shaking!"
"Earth Rock Crash!" Earth hollered, the rocks from her hand protecting Chikyuu from being hit. Five black masses hit her in the back, and she fell.
"Athena!" Chikyuu shouted. ,P> The masses giggled, surprisingly as they had demonstrated silence before, and went for him. Chikyuu glared at them, his eyes glowing brightly. A ball of energy appeared from his body, and destroyed the masses with its bright purity.
All the enemies stopped suddenly, looking at him, and screeched in terror as they were killed by the energy that spread throughout the space-like room. Jade narrowed his eyes angrily.
"Chikyuu?" Tuxedo Kamen and Earth whispered.
Instead of Prince Chikyuu stood a man in a white tuxedo, with a white cape and a white mask on.
"Sugoi, what a babe," Venus whispered, and Aphrodite hit her on the head.
"I am Tuxedo Mirage," he said.
Jade's body shook intensely. "You killed all of my armies! Shimatta! I'll kill you!"
Rage, a motivating factor in all cases, caused Jade to lose control, and he let all his anger out in waves of massive energy. The Senshi, who, though strong could not keep up with continued battering, were sent flying to the ground.
"Heh heh," Jade whispered, "more armies will come through... They're just waiting for me..."
"We won't let you!" Cronus hissed.
"Right," he sneered, throwing his cape over his shoulder. "You're all too weak to defeat me... And your precious Princess is dead!"
"I wouldn't be too sure of that," a voice calmly interrupted him.
Jade whirled around, "Nani?!"
Behind him stood Hecate... But it wasn't really Hecate, for she wore a Sailor Senshi fuku, and her black moon was gold. In her arms she held her sister's still body.
"Hecate!" the Magic Senshi cried out.
Hecate smiled gently. "Minna," she said. "I'm Sailor Moonlight."
She looked sadly down at her sister's body. "Serenity... I won't let you die..." she said firmly. Her ginzuishou piece floated in front of her, as did the dull piece of Sailor Moon. The two floated upwards, together, then joined, flashing a brilliant white light.
Jade hollered, covering his eyes from the purity of the crystals.
When the light washed away, the two pieces were separate, but both were shining intensely. Moonlight was kneeling down next to her sister, whose body was on the ground.
"It can't be..." Mars murmured.
"Does that mean that Sailor Moon-" Neptune said.
Sailor Wakusei Moon's eyes fluttered open, and she looked up confused. Seeing her sister's smiling face, she too smiled. "Hecate..." she whispered.
"Sailor Moon!" her friends shouted, crying happily.
"No..." Jade's eyes turned blacker, if that was possible. "No... You can't just bring her back!"
Moonlight smirked, blue eyes flashing back with arrogance. "Looks like I just did."
"You stupid little-" Jade hollered angrily.
"Moonlight Planet Spiraling Slice!" Moonlight shouted, a white sword appearing in her hand as she slashed Jade in the side.
Jade screamed in pain as he went down.
Moonlight looked at everyone else, smiling kindly as she saw their looks of bewilderment, happiness, and confusion. "Heal..." she whispered, white energy floating from her hands to pass over them, healing their wounds and re-energizing them. She whirled her head around, her eyes narrowed at Jade.
"You tried to kill both my sisters and my friends," she snapped.
"Heh," Jade murmured softly, "I still will... Enough of this nasty human body. Revert to my true form!"
Jade's body seemed to melt and ooze into the original black mass that had come through the portal. It let out tornadoes of strong winds, freezing rain, and en energy draining force. Laughing, he hissed, "You will all die!"
"Minna! Magic Senshi!" Moonlight shouted over the howling sounds the winds created. "We have to stop him! We are Magic Senshi, and that's our true power! From your crystals, use your strongest spells against him!"
"Hai!"
"Absolute Zero!" Hermes shouted, ice magic flying from her crystal.
"Blazing Flame!" Ares screamed as burning fire magic spiraled from her crystal.
"Electrocuting Lightning!" Zeus hollered, and lightning magic shot out from her crystal.
"Eternal Love!" Aphrodite shouted, strong love magic, created from the element metal, vibrating from the crystal.
"Heaven Crumble!" Sunaru shouted as wind and earth magic combined from the depths of her crystal.
"Tsunamic Drown!" Poseidon screamed as the strongest water magic streamed from her Poseidon crystal.
"Silent Death!" Cronus yelled, the magic of darkness and death sweeping from her crystal.
"Time Paradox!" Hades hollered, the magic of time forming inside her Hades Crystal.
"It won't work!" Jade screamed out, black energy beams shooting out towards the Magic Senshi, who took the brutal attacks, falling to their knees.
"Minna!" Moon cried. "We have to help them!"
"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!"
"Mars Flame Sniper!"
"Jupiter Oak Evolution!"
"Venus Love and Beauty Shock!"
"Space Turbulence!"
"Submarine Violin Tide!"
"Silence Glaive Surprise!"
"Dead Scream..."
Jade turned part of his attack towards the Sailor Senshi, who managed to hold onto their powers, resisting.
"Tuxedo Smoke Bomb!" Tuxedo Kamen shouted.
"Tuxedo Mist Explosion!" Tuxedo Mirage yelled.
Moon, Moonlight, Sun, and Earth looked at each other, nodding.
"Moon Wakusei Crystal Power!" Moon shouted, power surging from her half of the ginzuishou, causing her moon to glow yellow.
"Moonlight Wakusei Crystal Power!" Moonlight shouted, her crescent moon shimmering white as her ginzuishou gave her power.
"Sun Wakusei Power!" Sun hollered, her Sun Crystal giving her power, her symbol on her tiara glowing.
"Wakusei Earth Crystal Power!" Earth yelled, the power from her Crystal Rose joining her friends'.
The power from the Magic Senshi, Sailor Senshi, tuxedoed men, and the four girls combined into one massive ball of energy, which glimmered with the energies of the planets and the stars' purity, and sped towards Jade. Jade, unable to look at anything pure, cut off his attack, thereby allowing the ball to slam into him.
Screaming in pain, the ball disintegrated him as it pushed him back through the portal.
"No!" Jade shouted as his body withered into dust, and his screams were abruptly halted as he died.
The Senshi and the men watched in silence as the portal finally closed, vanishing.
"It's finally over," Venus whispered.
"Not yet..." Sunaru said grimly as the floor began to shake.
"What's going on?" Mercury cried out.
"The palace is going to crumble," Moonlight said softly. "Without Jade, Metallia, or Beryl's power, the illusion of evil will disappear..."
"We must go, Princess," Poseidon said gently, putting her hand on her Princess's shoulder.
"I know..." Moonlight closed her eyes, concentrating her power from the ginzuishou into her hands. "I'll make sure we all get out safely..."
The ginzuishou formed a white barrier around everyone, then vanished, taking the Senshi with them as the ceiling fell where they stood.
Hecate watched the waves splash onto the shore, eyes downcast, sad.
"Hecate..." Nintai came up from behind her. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know," came the replied whisper. "I just feel... Something inside of me feels so different."
"Maybe it's called free?" Ares offered, sitting down next to her.
"Maybe..." Hecate said, smiling.
"Hecate," Hermes said, "we have a chance to start over. This time we can live life how we should have... As normal girls."
"Do you think we can?" the Princess said wistfully. "I mean, after all that I've done... Do I really deserve that chance?"
Usagi put her hand on her sister's shoulder. "Of course. It wasn't your fault... And besides, I rather like the idea of having triplet sisters and a future sister-in-law."
Asa and Terra grinned, and Usagi fondly bopped her sister's left black odango. Hecate laughed.
"We've already chosen names for ourselves," Zeus said, uncertainly. "Would you like to hear them?"
"That would be great," Hecate said.
Zeus said, "I'm Kashino Koeda [branch of oak]."
"My name is Hono'o Kirei," Ares said. Her name meant 'lovely flame.'
"Ami-chan helped me. I'm Kawano Sakana [fish of the stream]," Hermes added.
"And I'm Koi Ureshii [happy love]," Aphrodite said, smiling, "at the insistence of Minako-chan."
"Those names are really pretty, minna," Hecate smiled.
"Do you want to stay here?" Shizuka asked gently.
Hecate sat quietly, thinking. The others watched her in silence, realizing that the choice had to be hers to make.
"... Only if I can be Gekko Hikaru [shining moonlight]," she said, grinning mischievously.
Everyone around her laughed.
"That's a good choice," Cynthia yawned, then fell asleep. Phoebe sniffed, then fell down next to her. Luna and Artemis were up ahead, watching the sunset, next to each other.
"Hikaru-chan," Usagi said after a moment. "Someone wants to see you."
"Who?" Hikaru asked curiously.
"The person's back there," Haruka said, throwing her thumb back towards the top of the hill, above where they were on the sand. She was sitting next to Michiru, arm around her shoulder.
Seikyu and Airashii were already sitting down, watching the sunset as well.
The pairs of twins were next to each other, some talking about each other, some just sitting contentedly.
Hikaru followed Haruka's directions and went to the top of the hill, and stopped as she saw Chikyuu... No, Heishi, that was his Terran name.
"Hi," he said, embarrassed. He looked exactly like Mamoru, except for the white hair, but his blue eyes were different too.
"Hi, Chik- um, Heishi." Hikaru knew she was blushing from embarrassment. This was a bad idea... "You wanted to see me?"
"Hai," Heishi said. "Hikaru-chan, you know that I didn't mean anything I said about you when we met again, right? I could never hate you or be mean to you like that..."
Hikaru smiled. "I know..."
"And you know that I'll always love you, right?" Heishi said finally. "Because I really do, ever since I met you on the moon..."
"Hei-chan!" Hikaru said, crying, running to him and hugging him tightly. "I love you too... And I'm sorry if I ever did anything to hurt you."
"Whoo hoo!" Seikyu called, some of the others laughing, Airashii hitting her in the chest.
Heishi and Hikaru blushed, turning to see everyone watching them.
Usagi grinned. "I'm glad we're all together," she said, and everyone became quiet, listening in agreement. "And that that's all over..."
Setsuna glanced towards the starlit sky, her red eyes worried. That had been close... too close. The Second Passing had almost arrived too early. Something was oddly out of place. She glanced at her Garnet Orb, which was glowing red. What was going on?
"Though it arrived too early..." she murmured to herself, "it won't be late. The Second Passing will arrive on time... Time is the delicate balance that holds all together... And if that balance is disrupted, who knows what will happen..."
The End of "Senshi Kurai" :)
The Beginning of Sailormoon Elemental P:
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