Life's Lessons
A Sailor Moon fanfic by Kristin Renee Taylor



Chapter 24 –

Setsuna backed into the wall, one hand wiping off the blood that was running down her chin. She eyed her opponent carefully. "Don’t do that again."

"I’ll do worse to you," Haruka growled. Fists clenched, she started towards Setsuna, but Michiru moved in front of her. "Haruka, stop it!"

"She started it," Haruka said, glaring at Setsuna. And coming from her, the accusation didn’t sound the least bit childish.

 "Yes, I started it," Setsuna said. She straightened. "And I plan to finish it."

"By getting us killed?!"

"I’m the least of your troubles. Serenity is-"

"Serenity?" She barked a laugh. "Serenity hasn’t show up yet, but you have." She threw her arms wide. "And look at what you’ve done!"

The house they stood in had been completely burned, as had just about every building in the area. Only the wall Setsuna stood against was what remained. Spawned by magic, the fires created by her battle with Saturn had resisted every attempt to be put out, spreading uncontrollably for several hours. Many people had died in the initial assault, many more while trying to stop the flames.

By the time it had started raining, it had already been too late.

Setsuna deliberately looked around before meeting Haruka’s angry eyes. Calmly, "I did not want this to happen."

"Then change it. Go back in time and change it. Go fight Saturn elsewhere, elsewhen, and leave us out of it."

"No. I did what was necessary."

"You call killing people ‘necessary?’"

"I’m an Outer Senshi." Setsuna’s gaze and voice hardened. "It’s how I fight." And she watched them both flinch, if only slightly. Setsuna softened her tone. "What happened was unfortunate and I apologize, but this is a war, a war which we cannot afford to lose.

"I came here because I needed your help. And not just me, but the Inners as well. This is not the time for the eight of us to be divided."

Haruka and Michiru looked at each other. Michiru said, "Hotaru." Haruka nodded, and Setsuna silently exhaled. The hard part was over.

Haruka pinned Setsuna with a look. "I don’t trust you."

Setsuna smiled coolly. You never did. "I’m glad we understand each other."

Mae walked into the laboratory, quietly shutting the door behind her. She crossed the room, careful to avoid the piles of debris, and approached the table where her mentor sat, working on a computer. "Doctor Mizuno?" Too deep into her work, Ami gave a distracted grunt, which was entirely normal for her.

Mae moved closer, till she was standing next to her. She tried again, slightly louder. "Doctor Mizuno? Ma’am?"

"Hm?"

"I brought you the coffee you asked for. Be careful, it’s still hot." She set the cup on the table, well away from the doctor’s hands. She stepped back. "Was there anything else you needed?" Ami muttered something, which Mae took as a no. She backed further away, and looked around, noting the overturned tables and broken glass. Had some kind of fight happened here?

A hole in one of the nearer walls had been boarded up, hastily boarded judging by the gaps in the planks. She sidled closer to the hole and squinted, trying to see what lay in the darkness beyond. Something glinted. Glass, maybe?

"How long have you been my aide, Mae?"

She jumped and turned. "What?" Her voice cracked. Blushing, she forced her voice back into its normal range. "What was that, Doctor?"

Ami leaned back in her chair and smiled. "Four years, is it? I don’t think I’ve ever done anything to show my appreciation for you."

"Oh, just working for you is its own reward, Doctor Mizuno. I mean I’ve always thought you were cool, even when I was a little girl. I had a doll." Gods, she was babbling! She clamped her mouth shut and looked away, embarrassed.

"You had a Sailor Mercury doll?" She sneaked a glance, and saw that the doctor was still smiling. Mae returned it slowly and nodded.

"I’m flattered. I truly am. I didn’t think we still had fans."

"Oh, you do. And we’re all glad we can help you and the others."

Ami’s smile faded. "Even if it might cost you your life?"

Mae sobered. She said, "I knew what the risks were when I agreed to work for you." She shrugged. "Besides, the alternative was to go back to the Crystal Tokyo and let the Senshi try to Re-educate me again, and I had had enough of that the first time through. I owe all of you for taking me away from that Hell."

Ami stared at her. "Thank you."

 Mae blushed again.

Ami smiled, then cleared her throat. "Well, since you’re here… why don’t you give me a hand? I could use the help."

"Yes, ma’am. Of course!"

Laughing at Mae’s zeal, Ami took a sip of her coffee and immediately spit it out. "Gods, that’s hot!"

Made entirely of black metal, the hovercraft rested on its side on the floor of the hanger. It vaguely resembled a bird, with an oval shape for the body, a head for the cockpit, and one wing slightly curved, where the missiles were usually housed. The other wing was gone, shorn off by some sort of attack. The thing was large, roughly the same length of the old, 20^th Century F-14s, but almost twice the width.

The floor of the hanger lay scattered with wreckage from an immense battle. Even here, in the CTDF headquarters a short distance from the Palace, Pluto’s forces had been at work. The CTDF was no more.

Rei sighed. What a mess.

Makoto sat on top of the hovercraft, with her back to the remaining wing. "This is stupid."

"I know," Rei said. She kicked the belly of the hovercraft hard enough to dent the metal, setting off resounding echoes through the hanger bay. "Every single one of these stupid things are wrecked."

"Actually, I was referring to my five o’ clock shadow." She glared over her shoulder at the group of Ku’dath a short distance away, hunkered down on various piles of metal. "If he gets any closer, I’m going to have my own tail."

Rei smiled up at her. "Don’t forget, you’re married to that shadow."

"Don’t remind me." She looked down at Rei. "So, now what? Do we let Minako-chan know that, once again, her brilliant plan’s gonna fall apart before it started?"

"Well…" Rei flipped herself onto the side of the hovercraft, where Makoto was, and studied a gap in the metal. Crouching, she ran her fingers along the exposed wires. "We might be able to get it working again."

"And what good will that do? It’s not like we can use the damn thing in an actual fight."

"Who knows? We might be able to."

Makoto stared at her. "Hello? Anybody home? This is Serenity, Rei, not some low-magic flunky that’s easily scared by some flashy stances and a speech. Trying to use one of these piles of slag against her is like trying to defeat a giant by hurling mosquitoes at it. It won’t work."

"I know that."

"Then why the hell are we sitting here wasting our time? We should be doing something more important. Something useful."

Rei whirled on Makoto. "Like what, Mako-chan? Like you said, this is Serenity. What do you think we’re supposed to do? Walk up to her and go ‘Oh, please don’t destroy the world?!’ Tell me what’ll stop her and I’ll do it!"

They glared at each other. Makoto broke eye contact first, scowling at the Ku’dath. "I hate feeling useless."

Oh, Mako-chan… "So, do I."

"Well, if you want to do something useful, I’m feeling kinda hungry. You could fix me something to eat."

Makoto rolled her eyes and Rei smiled. She leaned over to look down at the floor. "What do you want, Hotaru?"

"I told you, I’m hungry."

Rei folded her arms. "Don’t make me come down there."

"All right already. I’m here to borrow Mako-chan’s boy toy and the rest of his crew for a little light work back at the Palace." She glared. "Are you happy?"

"Now that you’ve told the truth, sure." Rei stood and faced the Ku’dath. <Stormcatcher?>

One of the Ku’dath separated himself from the others. <Yes, Firereader?>

<Hotaru needs a few of you to help her with stuff. And, don’t call me that!>

Stormcatcher’s mental voice was tinged with amusement. <Darkside, Skyfire, Sunrise, Sunset and myself shall accompany her.> He bowed mockingly and turned away, but not before Rei heard him add. <And Trackless will keep an eye on my wife!> The demi-humans Stormcatcher had named abandoned their perches, swarming closer to Hotaru, who regarded them with interest.

Makoto growled. "Maybe if I beat the crap out of him…"

"You’ll only make him more determined to win you over."

"I don’t believe this." Makoto pinned Rei with a glare. "You’re enjoying this!"

"Hey, so long as he doesn’t look like your-" The room lurched and Rei staggered, clutching her head. Makoto and the others were shouting, but Rei barely heard them. So much malevolent energy. It couldn’t be?! That burst of power had come from the Palace!

Makoto caught her before she fell off the hovercraft. "Rei-chan? What’s wrong?"

Rei struggled out of Makoto’s grasp. <Stormcatcher! The Palace! Find Minako-chan and Ami-chan, and warn them!> Thankfully, the Ku’dath obeyed immediately, Stormcatcher easily picking the protesting Hotaru up and the group sprinted for the hanger doors.

Makoto grabbed her arm. "Rei-chan, what the hell is-"

"Shh!" Rei spun, looking around, staring intently and wishing the hanger was just a bit brighter. "I think-" Rei tensed, saw Makoto stiffen in alarm.

They both moved at the same time, vaulting off the hovercraft and leaping away to opposite sides of the hanger. Behind Rei, the hovercraft exploded, throwing her forewards. She rolled, gained her feet facing the way she had come.

Neptune stepped out of the flaming wreckage, idly dusting her fuku off. The Senshi looked behind her. "The other one is escaping."

"It does not matter." Uranus’ voice came from beyond the wreckage, on the side where Makoto was. "These are the two We were sent after. We shall deal with them, first, and then with the other."

Neptune nodded. She smiled at Rei, and it wasn’t pleasant. "This should prove interesting."

The throne must have cost a fortune: gems and gold and marble and some stuff Minako couldn’t name, but was nonetheless expensive. It must have been a pain to keep clean. It looked uncomfortable. It virtually screamed "I belong to the most powerful being in the universe and I know it!"

Minako ran a hand along the back of the chair. She circled it, studying it, and finally flopped into it. She chuckled. "Serenity must’ve had some serious self-esteem problems."

"You should not talk about other people in such a manner, Aino Minako." Minako twisted, started to stand, and a fist of air was driven into her stomach. She doubled over in the throne, wheezing. A hand forced her chin up. Gray eyes met blue. Terri smiled. "Hello, Minako." But, it wasn’t her voice.

"Serenity."

"Queen Serenity. You must not forget the title." Terri’s eyes were flat and empty. Glassy. A doll’s eyes.

"I gotta couple other things I could call you. Highness."

The blow caught her off-guard, snapping her head to one side. Lights exploded behind Minako’s eyes. She slumped over, ears ringing. Serenity’s voice came from a distance. "You wish to throw your life away? Very well. Saturn, kill her."

Minako jerked to her right, threw herself onto the floor as the Glaive cleaved the throne in half. She rolled to her feet, moved into a fighting stance. "Crescent Beam!" Saturn gestured and the laser simply vanished. Minako stumbled back. What the-?!

Terri appeared behind Saturn. She smirked. "Did you think it would be that easy, Minako?"

Saturn leveled her Glaive at Minako. "A battle is pointless. Submit and die."

Minako grinned. "I’m not the submissive type." Shouting, she launched herself at Saturn.

Saturn swung at her. Minako ducked, kicked Saturn in the abdomen. The Senshi staggered. Rising, Minako punched her in the face. A roundhouse to the head sent Saturn sprawling to the ground. Minako leaped back. "Love and Beauty Shock!" The floor around Saturn exploded in a ball of golden light.

Minako landed in a crouch, breathing hard. Maybe if she was lucky, that had stopped Saturn. Yeah, and while I’m dreaming-

She heard applause. She stood and turned. Serenity said, "You are good, Minako." She lifted a hand. Streaks of black energy snaked down Terri’s arm, gathering at her palm. "But not good enough." The blast hit Minako hard, flinging her backwards. She struck a wall, bounced off of it, and fell to the floor.

She gasped, choked, tasted blood. Something must’ve torn inside her. She tried to get to her feet, but only got as far as her knees. "Terri-chan…"

Terri walked towards her. "Hmph. Look at you: struck once and you are ready to die. The powers of Venus were wasted on a weak vessel like you. When I remake the Senshi, I will make sure that yours is a soul that is never chosen… even if it means burning your soul out of Time’s memory altogether." She brought her hands together and a ball of energy, black light streaked with gold, started to form.

Minako braced herself. One chance…Terri was close enough; there was no way Minako could miss. But- No choice. Gotta take it.

"How ironic. I will kill you with the same attack my father first used against you." Terri lifted her hands, and the ball, over her head. "Die!"

Minako moved. "Crescent Beam!"

Minako jabbed me in the ribs with the broom. I yelped painfully. "What’d you do that for?"

"You left yourself open." Minako lowered the broom. She grinned. "Don’t raise your arms over your head in a swordfight. Against a professional, it’s an invitation to stab you in your chest."

I glared at her while I propped my own broom against the side of the building. "Okay, first of all, why would I be in a real sword fight to begin with?"

"You never know what life’ll throw at ya. If it just so happens to be a swordfight, I wanna make sure you can win."

"Yeah, right, like that’ll ever happen." Minako grinned and I sighed. "Okay, fine, I’ll never leave myself open like that again. Does that make you happy?"

"Of course it does. What’s the second thing?"

"What?"

"You said ‘first of all.’ What’s the ‘second of all?’"

"Oh, right. How do you know so much about swordfighting? Did you take classes or something?"

Rei was giving us angry glares. Minako waved at her, and together we went back to sweeping up the leaves. It was a couple of minutes before Minako answered. "I was a soldier in a past life. Had a longsword. It was made out of stone."

I stared at her while she continued to sweep. "You’re kidding, right?"

Minako finished our pile and paused to look around, studying the shrine grounds. "Looks like Rei-chan got the fire going. We better go claim our potatoes before Usagi-chan eats ‘em all."

"You’re dodging the question."

Minako hefted the broom. She seemed to be considering it. Finally, she said, "Yes. I am kidding." She glanced at me. "You didn’t think I was serious, did you?" At my expression her eyes widened. "You did?!"

"You witch!" I lifted my broom- "Ow!"

Minako smirked. "Didn’t I just tell you not to do that?"

"Minako! Uranus and Neptune are-" Hotaru burst into the throne room and stumbled to a halt at the scene before her.

The chamber was in shambles; the throne had been destroyed, several sections of the wall had simply collapsed. The floor was marked with huge holes. Dust was everywhere, obscuring Hotaru’s vision. It looked like somebody had torn the place apart, but where were the combatants?

Stormcatcher growled.

Hotaru turned, saw a figure limping towards her. When the figure resolved itself into a badly injured Minako, Hotaru ran forward, catching the other woman just as started to fall. "Minako!" Carefully, she eased Minako to the floor and silently cursed herself when she realized she couldn’t do anything about Minako’s worst injuries.

Minako whispered. "Hotaru… run… the Crystal…"

"Shut up," Hotaru said. "You’re in bad enough shape as it is." To Stormcatcher, "I need water. Hot water. And some bandages." Minako was an experienced fighter, as good as Rei, if not as strong. Even if caught by surprise, Uranus and Neptune shouldn’t have been able to do this much damage to her.

Minako’s hand clamped onto Hotaru’s. "Listen…" Minako’s eyes focused intently on Hotaru’s.

Hotaru stared at Minako, startled by the fear evident in the other woman’s eyes. Hotaru looked away, and noticed that none of the Ku’dath had left. None of them were paying attention to the two women.

"Listen to them!"

Stormcatcher was growling. Darkside was growling. They were all growling.

"I hit her… point blank… nothing happened!" Minako’s hand slipped. She was losing consciousness. "Run…"

As one, the five Ku’dath lunged into the dust, vanishing from sight.

In the settling dust a light bloomed, bright white and terrible. The Silver Crystal. Shouts quickly turned to howls of pain.

"…run…Hotaru…"

Serenity started to laugh.

 Legal Stuff:

I don't own any of the Sailor Senshi. Er… the Descendants. Or is it the Avatars..? Whatever. I only own the original characters.

This has been a production of Blueberry Enterprises.
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