Life's Lessons
A Sailor Moon fanfic
By Kristin Renee Taylor
Chapter 29 -
She should've been dead.
Her injuries were numerous: both legs broken, busted ribs, at least one punctured lung, possible concussion. Almost certainly hemorrhaging like crazy. There were so many fractures, contusions, slashes and who knows what else that it would've taken her days to recover, if she had been in a hospital.
But, she wasn't in a hospital.
So, she should be dead.
She wasn't that, either.
She wasn't really anything, right now, except stuck in limbo. Joy.
Time passed. She kept track of it by the vibrations in the ground. Every so often, a patrol jeep would rumble through the area, keeping vigil against the enemy. They avoided the area where she lay, mostly because they didn't know she was there. It wouldn't have made a difference, anyway. She was in the middle of a minefield. They'd have to be crazy to attempt a rescue through live mines.
In hindsight, she realized it had been crazy to fight in a minefield, but, then, hindsight always did have twenty-twenty vision.
It amused her greatly to die in such an obscure location. For years, people would look at each other and say, "Whatever happened to that Aino chick?" And they would never know. They would never know that the world famous Aino Minako -actress, supermodel, Olympic volleyball player, and teen idol- had secretly been the elusive Sailor V. They would never know that Sailor V had fought countless battles, many of which nobody knew about, and that all of it culminated into her here, lying in the middle of a minefield, dying.
On second thought, that wasn't funny. That sucked.
A soft, rhythmic crunching penetrated her darkening mood. It took her a moment before she realized that she was hearing footsteps. Someone was walking towards her. Stupid, she thought, don't they know this is a minefield?
The footsteps stopped by her head.
For a while, there was silence, broken only by the labored, liquid gurgle that was her breathing. Finally, unable to take it, she forced her one remaining eye to open, and took a look at the person that was bothering her in her last moments. The look of appalled horror on the other woman's face wasn't entirely unexpected, given that her current physical condition was Absolutely Crappy.
She took a slightly deeper breath, and managed to speak. "Ah…You made it… I’m glad." She smiled, or imagined she did. "I was getting tired of waiting."
The other woman dropped to her knees beside her. "Minako!"
"Hey, hey… no worries. Remember, you know how it ends, now."
And then, because there really wasn't anything else for her to do or say, she died.
Howling in fury, Neo-Queen Serenity hammered a spike of magic at Venus strong enough to shatter mountains. And Super Sailor Venus smiled a fatalistic smile and waited for the blow to fall.
The magic detonated in an explosion of power, shattering the floor and the ceiling and obscuring the sight in a thick cloud of dust.
Serenity smirked and lowered Her hand. Fool.
"Serenity!" Two twin flashes of light to Her right became Jupiter and Mars. Both Avatars were livid with rage as they advanced on Her. Uranus and Neptune approached from the left, death in their eyes.
She watched them narrowly. "You dare defy Me? I am your Queen!"
From behind Her, She heard, "No, Serenity. You're not our Queen. You're not even a ghost. You're just a memory, waiting to be forgotten." She turned to see Pluto rising from the throne, and the calm certainty in the Avatar made Serenity want to scream.
She backed away from Pluto, Her mind reeling in disbelief. They were free. How could they be free of Her control? How?
"No!" She threw Her will against theirs, tried to force them back into their shells. "This will not happen! You are My Senshi, and you will obey Me!"
"You see, Serenity, that's where you're wrong. We don't have to obey you because we're not your Senshi."
Impossible. She turned around slowly, unwilling to believe what She was seeing. Impossible!
Venus was alive.
Mercury supported her, one arm around Venus' waist. Saturn stood in front of them, the Silence Glaive held perpendicular to the ground.
They had surrounded Her.
Venus said, "Give up, Serenity. Release Terri and the Silver Crystal."
Serenity stared at them. And then She started to laugh. "Give up? Give up?" She dropped the Time Staff and gripped the Crystal in both hands. White fire lanced up Her arms as She gathered power. "I will kill you all!"
White fire detonated.
"Hey, hey… no worries. Remember, you know how it ends, now."
And then she died.
She gasped, one hand covering her mouth in surprise and shock. Then she was shaking the body. "Minako! Minako!"
"She's gone, Terri. Let her rest."
She looked up, and her eyes widened. "You're… Tsukino-san!"
Tsukino Usagi shook her head and smiled sadly. "I haven't gone by that name in centuries. These days, people call me Serenity."
"Serenity?" Terri rose to a half-crouch. She was confused. "How- how can you be Serenity?"
The sadness on her face grew more profound. "Because, this is the end."
"The end? The end of what?"
The other woman looked away, unable or unwilling to meet Terri's eyes.
Terri stood. "The end of what?"
"Sailor Planet-" Eight lights flared in the maelstrom of power, eight minds united in a single goal.
Serenity felt Her power being constricted. She sneered. Reaching through the Silver Crystal, She drew in more strength, readied Herself to flatten the pitiful creatures before Her and end this farce of a battle.
"Attack!"
Pain ripped up Her spine, exploded in Her head. She staggered and fell to Her knees.
What was happening?
"The end of what?" Terri shouted.
Usagi - Serenity - looked down at Sailor V. "Three thousand years is a long time to serve, Terri." Finally, she looked up and met Terri's eyes. "It's time for a rest."
A sharp crack like thunder rent the air. Serenity fell, shrieking in agony. Uncontrolled chaos knocked the Senshi away like rag dolls.
With a loud, hollow boom, the walls and ceiling fractured, split, and started to collapse.
And the Silver Crystal shattered.
"Kiyomi!"
She blinked, startled out of her thoughts by the insistent, male voice. Carefully, she shifted her weight enough to peer over the edge of the roof. "Yes?"
"Can I borrow your hammer? Incho lost hers somewhere." The young man on the ground craned his neck to look up at her, one hand shielding his eyes from the sunlight. He was tall and lanky, with brown hair and blue eyes. A real cutie, if you were into those innocent-looking types. After a moment, Kiyomi finally managed to recall his name: Thomas Wong. Tommy to his friends. "Uh… sure. Give me a quick second."
She straightened and crept across the unfinished roof to where she had left her toolbox. Pushing a few stray strands of bluish hair out of her eyes, she dug through the various tools.
Tommy said, "Woah! Get a load of that!"
Kiyomi glanced up, then back at the toolbox, finally finding the hammer. Then her head snapped up, and the hammer fell from her hand. "What..?"
A streak of light, pure and unwavering, fell from the sky above her head, running almost directly into the western horizon. It burned intensely, bright as the sun and then, seconds later, the beam dwindled and vanished from sight.
Afterimages of power haunted Kiyomi's vision. A dull roar filled her hear ears. Distantly, she heard Tommy shouting excitedly, heard others echo his excitement back.
But, Kiyomi sat in a private silence so deep she might as well have been struck deaf. She knew. She didn't know how she knew, but she knew.
The Descendants had won.
Her friend was dead.
Kiyomi started to cry.
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.
www.geocities.com/sailorfalcon/