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The Starguild Presents:
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The Zodiac Grand Tour - Chapter 2Story Written By: Berk' WatkinsSailor Moon Created By: Naoko TakeuchiSome Adaption From: Mark Latus' "The Night Before" |
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After New Year's, classes resumed for the students of UCLA. It was business as usual at one of the world's most typical universities for about a month, then the world changed forever... Chrysolite stared at the blank screen of her computer and frowned. It was a network computer linked to the CAF main network, it would take something catastrophic to cause it to fail... At that line of thought she rushed to the window and stared out in shock. Nemesite crystal ships hung in the air above the city like space-born urchins. The humanic youma could feel the hate boiling in her blood at the sight and knew instantly what had happened in the night. The Nemesites had taken over... She bared her teeth in a snarl of suppressed rage and slammed a fist into her window sill, causing the plaster to crack. A wave of hate rolled through her mind, long-forgotten thoughts and feelings making themselves known. It was everything she could do to keep herself from rushing out and blasting every Nemesite she could find to pieces. Rage, unholy rage... Rage, holy rage... What difference did it make? What had allowed the Nemesites to march all over them so easily? What Divine Being out there in whatever extra-dimensional realm there was allowed this sort of thing to happen? The rage boiled in her veins, threatening to eat her alive. She let out a scream of mental anguish and pushed herself away from the window sill. She dropped to the ground and pulled herself into a fetal ball, fighting the primal urges that had come back into her life. "renegades don't feel this way.." she whimpered, "w-what's happening to me?" Her eyes flashed a glowing red for a moment before she whimpered again and pulled herself into a tighter ball. She could hear a terrible laughter in her mind, the laughter of the damned. "shut up.." she muttered. The laughter only got louder. "Shut up!" she commanded. The laughter died out, but she could feel the source hadn't given up. Whoever had been laughing wasn't finished yet... A pair of cold, cobalt-blue eyes stared out of the darkness, watching a unit of Droids march by. The owner of the cobalt-blue eyes smiled ferally as she created a sword of energy, entropy and violent intentions. "*Energy source detected...*" a Droid that resembled a majorette said flatly, turning to look into an alley. She ceased to exist an instant later, the energy sword buried in her forehead. "Cry havoc..." a Senshi in an all-gray uniform said coldly. She flipped her pink braid back over her shoulder and grinned wickedly. The Droids obeyed their programming and charged at her. Styx raised her right hand into the air and spoke two, simple words to seal their fate, "Death Knell." A baseball-sized sphere of dark energy formed in her hand, orbited by three rings of white-hot plasma. She tossed the energy matrix at the Droids and laughed. The Droids and most of the street beyond, ceased to exist in a fiery blast of sound and fury. Styx jumped to the rooftops and made her way home. She had to make sure her daughter had stayed in bed... She slid into her home through her bedroom window and dismissed her Senshi uniform with a thought. She walked down the hallway and peeked into her daughter's room. The little, pink-haired girl was fast asleep. A peaceful image for the future Deneb-Senshi-in-Exile of Entropy and Destruction. Rene almost laughed at the old thought. A soft-hearted Senshi who had to put forth the image of being cold and heartless in combat. She only almost laughed, because it was only really funny to someone who wasn't living it.... Dr. Stuart sighed heavily and looked at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. "It's begun again..." he remarked sadly. The skin on his face had begun to peel a little, revealing much darker, bronzed skin beneath. "My curse, my blessing, my burden..." he said sagely. He reached over to the wall and turned off the light, leaving his eyes glowing cat-like in the darkness. Isaac finished tying up his braid for the morning and glanced outside. Nemesite patrols marched through the streets, mostly real Nemesites at that. Clan Bloodstar was infamous for their belief that the *only* way to get it done was to do it themselves. Isaac looked down from his second story window and frowned. Nemesis had no business on Earth, but he had little control over that. He turned away and looked at a suit of dark blue armor lying around the room. "This is my ticket to the Big Time..." he muttered, "Nemesites go home..." Deep down, a tiny part of him screamed that he was making a horrible mistake. As usual, he ignored that part and went back to work on the suit. He pulled a small blue crystal out of hyperspace and began to work on affixing it to the chestplate of the armor. The crystal gleamed mysteriously, but he didn't notice. The Nemesite in charge of the North American continent looked over the holographic map dispassionately. "Status?" he asked in a deep, rumbling voice. "Lord Perdios, we have 95% of the continent under our complete control. The remaining 5% will be completely subdued within a fortnight," one of his aides reported. "Excellent..." Peridos said in a rare moment of praise. The master of Clan Bloodstar scratched absently at the red, eight-pointed star tattooed on his forehead and leaned back into his command chair on his flagship: Doom Star. "I want to be able to land in my chosen regional capital within the hour..." he commanded. "St. Louis..." Earth was as good as defeated and thus their possession by Right of Conquest... Days passed, and the conquest of Earth was almost complete... Peridos of Bloodstar appeared in a flash of white light. He looked around his capital and smiled coldly. "WELCOME HOME, MY BRETHREN! WE ARE VICTORIOUS!" he roared. He held up his hands to acknowledge the cheers of his Clan. He drew the Clan sword and held it overhead. "This day I swear by the blood of my ancestors, the ancestors that have passed the bitter test of the Sword of Blood, I will personally stand between all who would remove us from our new home!" he cried. The cheers of countless Nemesites made the continent's blood run cold. Chrys eyed the transmission with skepticism only a youma could muster. "Why is it that I have the sudden urge to find a stiff drink?" she asked. "I have several bottles of Bloodwine from my brother and sister, any takers on one?" Isaac instantly declined, he knew better. Rene agreed to it and joined her friend in a bottle of something that would strike the average person on the street dead. "2950.. a good year..." Rene remarked. She noted Chrysolite's expression and grinned. "I've known I was, 'different,' for a very long time," she defended. She regarded her glass of green-hued liquor for a moment before sipping at it. "Perfect," she concluded, "Here's to utopian 'Moonshiners,'" she said with a grin. "I'll drink to that..." Chrys remarked, starting on a glass of her own. Chrys looked back at the screen of her computer. "You know, we aren't going to be able to sit by and let them have the run of the planet..." Rene nodded. "But that's neither here, nor there, so we might as well wait until the opportunity presents itself." She finished off her glass and stood up. "I need to go check on Laura, thank you for letting us stay here, Chrys..." The youma smiled and nodded, picking up the bottle and pouring herself another glass. "I'll straighten up down here.." she whispered. Rene went upstairs to check on her daughter. Isaac went home. Chrysolite stared out of her window at a world gone mad. She'd managed to track down some of her old money again, so she'd been able to afford a nice, old house. She'd developed an appreciation of American architecture after she'd come over. Her world was being pulled out from under her again, she could *feel* it in the very core of her being. Every time she settled down and got herself a life she could live with, fate yanked the rug out from under her. "Peace," she whispered, "All I want is peace..." She polished off the last of the bottle and put it into the sink to be washed. She decided to worry with the dishes in the morning, she was too tapped out to do anything about them until then. "You alright, Chrys?" Rene asked behind her. "No, Rene, and I'll never be 'right' either. I'm a stranger in a strange land, no matter how good I am at hiding it. I'll be an outsider until the day I crumble into dust..." Rene frowned. "That's awfully morbid coming from you..." "Is it really? I wonder..." Chrysolite sighed and leaned against the counter-top for support. "I don't know who the 'real' me is anymore.." "Who *does* know who they *really* are?" Rene asked. She left Chrysolite alone with her thoughts. "Isaac?" Chrys asked when the vidphone picked up. "Yo, Isaac here," the answering machine said cheerily. "I'm probably out trying to save the world or something, so leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can..." "Where are you?!" the youma rasped. "We were going to work on that project today!" Rene made her way downstairs slowly, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Wha?" she mumbled. "Isaac's wandered off..." Chrys growled. "I'm beginning to get sick of him.." The Senshi simply shrugged. "He's always like this.. Sometimes I wonder if he doesn't like to play superhero or something when no one's looking..." Rene flopped down in one of the living room's large chairs. "Let me call a few of his friends and see if they've seen him... Ten minutes and twenty answering machines later... "This feels like the Twilight Zone.." the Senshi said in a quiet voice. "Well," Chrys muttered, "If all the Magisci in town have started to vanish.. We both know who'd be the last to go..." "Dr. David Stuart!" Rene replied, her spirits lifting. "You know where he lives?" Rene shook her head. "But I'd bet Isaac does.. and he writes *everything* down." She woke up her snoozing daughter. "If we set out know, and keep it quiet, we might be able to get there..." Rene's aspect suddenly seemed to change, as the mana she was continuously tapped into flowed out of her. She tucked a grey and black Henshin Rod into her purse on the table. "Now I can walk on the street without getting jumped. How about you, Chrys? Chrys?!" The youma had seemingly vanished. "What darkness lurks in the soul? The youma knows..." Chrysolite remarked from shadows that hadn't been so large a moment before. "I can get there and they'd never know I was out on the streets..." The youma secretly led the way as they headed towards the Magisci's home. The two women and the little girl stood at the entrance to the office of a large warehouse on the docks. "This is the place?" Chrsy remarked, peering into the abandoned building through a window. "Isaac takes great notes..." Chrys frowned and looked at the post-it again. "Shave and a Haircut?" she asked confusedly. Laura, being an impatient little girl, decided to force the situation. "Shave-and-a-haircut..." she said softly, rapping on the door. "Two-bits..." Dr. Stuart replied from the other side, opening the door. His hands and face were swathed in bandages. "Please pardon the bandages," he said genially, "I got mana burned during an experiment the other day..." "And the sunglasses?" Chrys remarked, unconvinced. "Light-sensitive right now.. from the flash." Chrys snickered. "Isn't that the sort of thing you're always warning us about, Doc?" she asked. Dr. Stuart laughed. "It happens to the best of us..." He gestured for her to enter and then he closed the door behind her. Dr. Stuart sighed and unwrapped the bandages from his face, revealing deeply bronzed skin beneath. "I had to molt *now*.." he muttered to his reflection. "It couldn't have waited another month..." "I don't like being lied to," a woman's voice said behind him. "You can teleport blind now?" he asked. "You have a snake's eyes?" Chrys countered. The magic user sighed and hung his head. "I'm not really human.." he confessed. He blinked his eyes a few times, his eyes somehow shifting over to human-like ones. "I've worn this form as a defense against the lack of mana in the environment. By the time mana sufficient for me to survive had returned, I'd gotten used to being humanoid..." The youma frowned, suspicion painted on her face. "I'll let a little of my true self show through..." he offered. He held out a hand and winced as claws burst out of his fingertips. The skin bulged and tore, revealing a five-fingered, reptilian hand beneath the human skin. The flourescent light gleamed of the scales, which began to shine with a glorious, golden sheen. "The Chinese called me Long. The Japanese called me Ryuu. To the Native Americans I was the inspiration behind their god like Kukulkan and the Uktena legends. The Europeans called me a Dragon." He chuckled. "If I were to wear my true face people would run screaming, the aura of my power sufficient to drive them mad." Chrys regarded his hand with mild surprise. "How did you do that?" she asked. "My people can shift forms magically. Up to a point, perhaps our bodies are more spirit than flesh and blood.. I'm not sure.." he shrugged. "We are creatures more of instinct than research. For example, I can't shift into my fully-sized form anymore. I can no longer accept that a multi-ton reptile can become a mammal of human size and mass. Feel the back of my hand, you'll discover that the skin is warm, like a mammal's... I'm no longer even cold-blooded..." Chrys' eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Faith is a powerful force in magic.. More powerful than a mere spell.. Spells are transient.. Reality persists in it's present form as long as the faith in it exists...." He looked at her carefully, almost as if he saw something no one else could. "David Stuart can't be your real name.." she noted. The dragon in human form nodded as he re-wrapped his hand. "When I first awoke in this time, I took the name Drake Alexandir..." he said distantly. "Perhaps old things are best in a time of doubt...." Chrys nodded. "I think Rene needs to hear your story.. and I'd like to hear it from the beginning as well.." "I can remember the Silver Millennium..." Drake said softly, his eyes fixed on a distant memory. The dragon lounged happily in the noon sun, his eyes first lidded in a light snooze. It unlidded its eyes in irritation when something came between it and the sun. "What isss thisss?" he wondered. A huge black cloud had suddenly covered the sky. The dragon frowned, he didn't like it when something blocked his sun... He spread his wings out and took to the air, intent on finding out what was going on.. and smashing the cloud's structure if it was just a storm cloud. He got about half way there with the cloud opened up a pair of blood-red eyes. The dragon realized his little expedition was probably a bad idea. Drake chuckled. "It wasn't my finest moment..." he admitted. "Wait.. If you were around during the Silver Millennium.. Doesn't that make you..." Rene wondered. "Very old in human years, but not in dragon years," Drake answered. "My race matures.. kinda.. slowly..." "So how old are you in our terms?" Chrysolite asked. "About.. Fifteen..." he admitted. The two women snickered. "I'm *biologically* fifteen, I've been alive for over fifteen thousand years.." Drake said quietly. You could have heard a pin drop... Drake grinned sheepishly, his semi-embarrassed expression making him look the fifteen his dragon body was biologically. "But, at any rate, what did you guys want to talk to me about?" "Isaac and the other Magisci have gone missing," Chrys offered. "We were wondering if you'd heard anything about it," Rene finished. Drake thought about it for a while and nodded. "If anything goes wrong in this town, who can we blame?" "Bituminous and his cronies?" Rene replied. "I'm happy to see you were listening in class and not imagining fun things to do with Isaac," Drake remarked as he got up the get his jacket. "Shall we go retrieve him?" Rene kneeled down and kissed her daughter on the forehead. "Honey, Mommy has to go help out a friend. I want you to stay here for a little bit and not touch anything. Okay?" The little girl thought about it. "You gonna go play superhero?" Rene nodded. "An' if I'm a good girl and don' touch anything I get to play superhero too one day?" Rene nodded. "Okay!" she said happily, hopping over to the couch and sitting down. "Have fun, Mommy!" Rene chuckled and pulled out her Henshin Rod. "No peeking you two... STEEL ACCELERATION DREAMING!" she shouted. Her clothes melted away and quickly reformed into a two-tone gray Senshi uniform, the darker gray on her skirt, boots, collar and choker. Armguards formed on her forearms instead of gloves and a black and silver tiara of a Celtic-like weave formed on her brow. Sailor Styx glanced over at the two people in the room that might have had an excuse to peek, both had their backs turned. "With that out of the way..." Drake muttered. Space wrapped around the three, pulling them somewhere else. Laura blinked a few times in surprise at their sudden parting. Then the little girl shrugged and pulled a book out of a hyperdimensional pocket. She flipped her braid back behind her and opened up the book. "Congratulations! Today is your day. You're off to Great Places! You're off and away!" she read slowly from the classic Dr. Seuss book. "Okay," Chrys muttered. She peered through a pair of binoculars at the main gate of the Nemesite governor's mansion. "He's somewhere in here?" Drake nodded. "It's the only place he could be," he rationalized. "By extension the rest of the Magisci must be here too..." "Why do you think he's here?" Styx asked. "Simple, I planted a tracer ward on him the last time he saw me. That guy needs a keeper..." The youma and the Senshi twitched. "Front gate?" "Space fold." "Hooorah..." The dragon smiled, his eyes gleaming. He concentrated on a target he remembered from a tour he'd gone on through the mansion before the Nemesites had moved in. "If we're lucky.. nothing's been changed..." he muttered. "What was that?" Chrys asked. "Nothing, nothing..." Space folded... The three split up, each searching for the missing Magisci. Drake didn't spend much time upstairs. He quickly found a way down and made his way under the complex. The dragon's eyes gleamed in the darkness as his eyes efficiency boosted. It made sense that places where only Nemesites went would be almost completely dark. There was something off in the tunnels beneath the Nemesite HQ that was *darker* than the background walls. Something chattered in the darkness, like teeth grinding together. "I know you're there..." he muttered. He began to gather energy to defend himself. The chattering changed to teeth clacking together. Claws scraped along the fused ferrocrete floor. Drake smiled, and muttered something in a hissing language. Energy arced between his outstretched hands for a moment and the blasted out and down the corridor, slamming into the oncoming Droid. The Droid shrugged the blast off and kept coming. "Oh bugger..." the dragon-turned-humanoid muttered darkly. "CHAOSWING!" he bellowed, swinging one arm as if he were throwing a knife. A powerful energy bolt shot down the hallway, slammed into the Droid.. and kept going... The Droid whimpered, fell to the ground and crumbled as its molecular containment failed. Drake let out a breath slowly and continued down the hall, as quietly as a powerful magic-user could. He wandered the halls for quite a while before failing to find anything. "I'm getting nowhere," he muttered. "I have to find the others..." Styx stayed above ground, choosing to deal with sentries. Her reasoning was simple, why not find a computer and see if it would tell her where the captives were? "GANGWAY, LOSERS!" The Senshi roared as she shouldered her way through a pack of Droids, scattering them like bowling pins. It was kind of silly, really, she was being fueled by the collective faith of a people that had needed a hero so desperately millennia before. Droids only had the mana in their little gems. A casual observer would've described the effect as being like that of a bug and the windscreen of an F-22. Styx winced in pain as a Droid managed to catch hold of her long, pink braid and pull her back into the brawl. "That's once," the Senshi rasped. The Droid clocked her in the face, causing her head to jerk slightly. "That's twice," she remarked coldly, energy flaring in her eyes. The Droid kicked her in the stomach, failing to stun her, or even stagger her back. "That's three times..." she grumbled. Styx's Senshi uniform shifted over to Metal Knight mode as she brought her powers up to full. Every window in the mansion blew out, the dust of Droid obliteration flying out of every window with the blast wave. "I think I cracked the screens," she muttered. She shrugged and went downstairs. If you were gonna have people held prisoner where better than a dungeon? She held up a hand and created a sphere of light to light her way through the near-darkness. Styx almost had a heart attack when Chrysolite buzzed past her, a few inches above the floor. She did have a quiet fit when her light went out. Chrysolite landed on the floor and looked over at Styx. "Can't handle the darkness?" she asked. Styx nodded. "Sight unto the darkly blinded..." the youma muttered, casting a spell. The Senshi found she could suddenly see. "What happened?" "I don't use magic often, but these jerks gave me no choice. They jumped me with a Droid that can somehow disrupt innate powers. I had to switch over to my magic." "I'd better start looking for the Magisci. See you later.." The youma nodded. Styx wandered around for a while and finally bumped into Drake, who was looking around nervously, as if he were about to get jumped. "I hate the dark..." he remarked. "All sorts of shit in here I can't see properly.. and it isn't my native element..." Styx nodded. "I know what you mean." She looked behind her. "Any luck?" "I've found a few, mostly ones that've been put to work. No one knows where anyone else is..." Styx sighed and shook her head. "For a first operation, this is not going well." Both felt a weight lift from their shoulders suddenly. "The Interdiction Field?" Stayx asked. "Meaning anyone who can teleport is outta here!" Drake shouted, teleporting with Styx in tow. "What was that for? What about Chrys!" Styx roared. "Chrys is a big girl. Who else would've done that at a tactically sound moment? Odds are she found Isaac..." A metallic clink sounded on the floor behind them in Drake's living room. The clunk was followed by a groan. "This armor needs *work,*" Isaac complained. "The teleport booster malfunctioned..." The dragon and the Senshi turned to find the Magisci sprawled out on his back, in a suit of blue-metallic armor. "Hi, guys..." Isaac said sheepishly. Chrys grined as the Droid's effects wore off, adding to her arsenal. She felt the twinge of a familiar mind nearby. "Spirits of Fire, destruction is your calling.. Do my bidding!" Chrys shouted, creating a blast of fire that blazed down the hall out from her hands. Droids went flying apart as the equivalent of a flying, flaming freight-train slammed through them. The youma rushed down the hallway at full speed, energy arcing off of her fist as she slammed it through the door that told her led into Isaac's cell. "Isaac, get going, I'll cover your escape..." she said coldly, her eyes flaring red. "Err.. Yeah.." the Magisci said nervously, attaching the last part of his armor and taking off down the hall. He skidded to a halt briefly and held up his arms, slightly bent. "Time for a test," he said in a slightly panicked voice. An energy blast fired out from each palm and smashed into the network of crystals that restricted teleportation in the area. The crystals screamed in protest and began to grow back, the Interdiction Field beginning to come back. Isaac took the opportunity to trigger a teleport spell waiting in reserve in his armor. Chrys turned around, and caught a blast of energy right in her chest. The anti-ballistic cloth of her uniform took the shock, but her ribs still cracked under the strain and her skin blistered. "We have captured the Entity the Wiseman warned us would be coming today," the Nemesite in the lead of the Droid patrol said confidently. Then their target got back up.... Twilight let out a blood-curdling howl of pure rage, grabbing the nearest Nemesite by the face and slamming her into the wall, over and over and over and over. "CRY, SCREAM AND DIE!" she roared, taking perverse delight in seeing her handiwork as the life began to fade from her victim's eyes. She finished off the abnormally violent assault with a plasma blast that throughly finished off the guard.. as if she wasn't quite dead already. Her eyes gleamed an unholy red in the dark hallway. "Nature's a mother, ain't she?" she said in a dark sort of humor. "N-no..." she said, Twilight's glamor over her features shattering as she slumped against the wall. "GET OUT OF MY MIND!" she roared. Her expression bounced between sadistic glee at the thought of massacring more Nemesites and horror at the thought of not simply driving them away. It finally settled on grim determination. "I *will* *not* allow you to defeat me. I will not be beaten by my own Hate!" she said in a voice of unshakable will. She spotted several guards rushing at her and created a shell of hardened energy to protect herself. Moments later she was rushing out of the base and teleporting as soon as she got past the still-weak Interdiction Generator. "What happened back there?" Rene asked worriedly. Chrysolite had staggered into Drake's home looking like Hell warmed over. She hadn't stayed around for pleasantries and had left quickly. The Senshi had taken her snoozing daughter in her arms and followed her housemate home. "S-something bad.." Chrysolite replied numbly, her eyes were glazed, looking less their normal deep red and more a dull brown. All the emotion and strength had seemed to be drained out of her... "I'm going to go rest for a while now.." she whispered. She opened the front door and headed upstairs. She locked herself in her room, flopped down on her bed and burst into tears. "I want an explanation as to why such a small force can penetrate your defenses, Bituminous," Peridos said in a dreadfully soft voice. The dark-haired overseer of California blanched. "I have no idea, Milord.. they have an incredible amount of power and skill, however." He took a shuddering breath. "One of them, who registers by our scrying to be some sort of demon, massacred several of my *personal* guard!" "And I see you did an excellent job of saving your own hide," Peridos appraised. "You have given me no recourse other than to make a personal visit and inspection of your facilities!" "Y-yes, Milord..." the lesser noble stammered. "And let any of those magic-users they failed to find loose before something *else* happens, you IDIOT!" the noble bellowed before cutting the transmission. It was amazing how much trouble his subordinates could get into when they actually *did* show some initiative. The last thing he wanted was every superhuman being on Earth angry with him, better to have them apathetic. Normal humans were already firmly under Nemesis' heel, all the resistance was from a select few beings with more power... Bituminous paled and sank back in his favorite chair, thinking about what his Leader had told him. Peridos was coming.. and when he got there he was a dead man. Perhaps if he rushed to meet his master's demands he could escape with his life... **** Chrysolite was walking through the forest of her Dream. She was using a telempathic terror field to keep the Ewoks wandering around at bay while she sorted out her thoughts and tried to bring her inner-self back under control. She finally reached her haven against the little critters and sat down under a tree. She sighed, closed her eyes and tried very hard to figure out just what she was going to do, now that 'Twilight' had developed a personality and will all its own. She'd been struggling against the monster within for a week, with only some success. She felt like she was walking a tightrope with a huge monster laying in wait beneath. The monster was screaming at her, demanding blood.. She forced the image out of her mind before Twilight decided to take advantage of it. She could hear Helios in the distance, blathering on to someone about something... Ah well.. might as well be friendly... "Who's your friend Helios?" she asked, without looking up. "Chrys?" the other asked. Chrysolite's eyes snapped open. "Makoto.. I mean Jupiter.. no, I mean Makoto.. err... well welcome to my corner of the Dreaming. Please come in, it's better to be on this side of the Ewok wards; hairy, little savages. By the way, Helios, I appreciate this place but there *is* such a thing as overdoing the atmosphere." Helios grinned and shrugged. "I've been thinking the same. Think I'll go give them an extra dose of cute. If you'll excuse me..." Without waiting for an answer the Dream King stepped back into the forest and vanished into the undergrowth. The two women looked at each other for a while, an awkward silence hanging in the air like London fog. Makoto finally broke it.. "You're looking.. peaceful.. At least you were when we arrived..." Chrys chuckled and grinned, momentarily displaying the one feature she had the was visibly inhuman.. vestigial fangs. "I was feeling peaceful but you can't blame me for being a little startled. This is the first time you've sought me out," she paused, "May I ask why you're here? I'm sorry I haven't visited lately but my life has been somewhat hectic of late..." "So Helios said..." the Senshi remarked. The humanic almost started to frown, but she thought better of it and simply shrugged. "Helios means well but he can't resist the urge to meddle so he can try to make things better. That's going to get him in trouble some day," she paused to collect her thoughts, "He undoubtedly told you I've had something of an internal civil war..." "Yes, he also said you'd won it." "I suppose I did though victory has it's price. I know I've changed but it's hard to describe exactly how. I do know that in some way I feel closer to my father. By which I mean the man Nephrite was before Beryl got her hooks into him not the one he became, but even after that there were hints of what he had been..." Makoto nodded. "From what I've heard, it sounds like he was a good man..." she commented. Then Chrys frowned. "Could you elaborate on that? As I recall it Zoicite had my father killed before you joined the Senshi so you never could've met him and known it." "Not in this life but during my first ... I haven't mentioned this before, but some time ago the diary of the last King of Jupiter was given to me along with Arachne." Chrysolite nodded. "You've mentioned your mooncat before, still chasing Artemis?" Makoto tried unsuccessfully to hide a laugh behind her hand. She stuck out her tongue briefly and regained her composure. "Yes but without success, Luna's watching him like a hawk." They chuckled then Makoto resumed her explanation, her expression becoming subtly strained. "I had Arachne translate the diary as I couldn't read the Jouvian script. I was very surprised to learn that..." she paused then rather rapidly blurted, "ThatIwasengagedtoGuardianNephrite." Chrys had to think for a moment to sort out the quick burst of words and developed a look of surprise. "You were engaged to my father?" she asked, in need of clarification. Makoto nodded, blushing slightly. "Evidently... I was... surprised to say the least, but Arachne swore her translation was accurate and she could confirm the fact of her own knowledge." "I see.. so.. how do *you* feel about this?" Chrys asked carefully, searching the Senshi's body-language for any hints and resisting the temptation to scan her emotions. She was certain as to what she felt about it.. but Makoto's feeling were far more important. Makoto shrugged. "After the initial shock I don't think I felt anything about it. I'm not Juno, I have a few of her memories but they don't have much to do with Makoto Kino. It's a bit like hearing about any tragic love story from history, sad but nothing that impacts who you are. Whoever Juno of Clan McCloud loved has nothing to do with me. Maybe Nephrite *was* the great love of her life but there's no reason to think he was mine; if we had met we'd have been nothing more than enemies... Who I was then isn't who I am now and my life and my love are my own concern!" Makoto said confidently. "Does it trouble you that he was my father?" Chrys asked in the most cautious and neutral voice she could manage without sounding cold. Makoto frowned. "Why should it? He was Ti and Cal's father too and that's never had any significance to them or to me either..." "Visit not the sins of the father on the children..." Chrys said sagely. She had the feeling she'd just confused Makoto and decided to continue the conversation. "It's nice to hear that my parentage isn't a barrier between us, but you still haven't answered my earlier question: Why did you seek me out this time? I'd like to think it was because you were wondering why I hadn't met with you in a while.. but I'm too cynical to believe that and your whole attitude hints at something else..." Makoto sighed, "You're very perceptive. I... we've been meeting via dreams off and on quite a while now. Well.. not quite a while by immortal standards.. but it's felt like I've known you a lot longer... I guess from what Helios was saying I have... Oh Hell.. I'm babbling." Chrys grinned absently and motioned for her to continue. "Take as long as you want to sort out your thoughts, I'll wait," she reassured. "That's part of the problem. Look.. for some time now I've realized that you have.. err.. feelings for me that go deeper than friendship," she said, pausing for a quick breath, "There's nothing wrong with that! That's part of who you are and perfectly natural! It's just that... Chrys.. I.. feel... I'm not sure how I feel about you. I've got no problem with being friends, I like you a lot. It's just I.. I don't know if I can ever love you the way you want me to.. I.." She trailed off and looked towards the ground. Chrys shook her head, a slight smile on her face. "It's alright Makoto," she said in reassuring tones, "If your friendship is all you're comfortable offering then that's all I'll ask of you..." Makoto's expression flashed between various degrees of confusion and shock. "Y-you're serious!?" Chrysolite smiled and nodded. "Native Americans believed that we requested to be created imperfect. Our lives are a journey from one type of thought to another in search of that missing piece of our souls. I know that *you* have the missing part of *my* soul." She reached out and took Makoto's hand in her own. "All I need is to be near you and know that you are content. As a lover or as a sister matters not to me. Maybe I wouldn't have 'settled' for that once.. but I've grown up a lot recently. There is more to life that physical pleasure, wholeness of the soul is far more vital." The thunderstruck look on Makoto's face told Chrysolite all she needed to know. "What are you feeling right now?" the youma asked softly. "Err.. A little.. no a *lot* surprised.. I kinda.. don't know what to feel..." Chrysolite smiled and patted her shoulder. "Took the wind out of your sails? Seriously, I'm not about to turn into some vegan, fakir type babbling about purity and giving up the pleasure of the flesh to seek enlightenment. I would be delighted to be your lover but I don't demand it. If you want to just be friends I can accept that. As long as I'm part of your life in some way then I'll be content." Then she frowned slightly, "Though one thing *does* puzzle me. I thought you had come here to tell me which way you wanted our relationship but you still haven't made up your mind. So I'm still wondering why you suddenly decided to seek me out when nothing's really changed. Well, I've changed but you didn't know that." For the first time she looked uncertain. How sensitive was the link between them? "Did you?" "No, I'm afraid not." Makoto tried to collect her thoughts, remembering why she had come here in the first place. Taking a deep breath she began. "Chrys ... I'm ... likely going to be out of circulation for a while. Scratch likely, before too long I'm definitely going to be unable to meet you until who knows when." Chrys frowned, "Makoto, real as all this looks you must know this is just a dream we're sharing?" "Yes, but I don't even know if I'll be able to dream." At the other's puzzled look she explained, "There's this trick Senshi can do where we draw power from our worlds without focusing it into an attack. We can channel raw, unfocused mana and it can be used as a power source. If we do it short term then there's no problem but if you have to do it twenty-four hours a day without a break then that's another matter. Some time ago we worked out how to do this, it's sort of like putting yourself into a trance. Some of the mana sustains you while the rest flows off to power whatever you're drawing it for. Basically your metabolism drops almost to zero, you barely even breathe and your awareness fades with it. Sort of like that hibernation you were shocked into. The only way to communicate with or wake up a Senshi in this state is a very powerful telepathic signal. If there's more than one Senshi then you get a sort of group consciousness but it doesn't exactly think, more reacts. I'm ... going to be part of tthat." "I see ..." after a pause Chrys asked, "I take it you can't tell me why you're doing this?" Makoto shook her head. "Didn't think so..." she remarked, "So you came here to say goodbye?" "Sort of. Chrys, it's not fair to make you wait for me. Not only do I not know how long I'll be asleep but I still don't know what I'm going to decide once I'm back. Maybe you should find someone else ..." "I'll wait. Someday you'll be back and I'll be there for you. However you want me..." Chrys replied . Makoto's eyes narrowed. "No way I can convince you otherwise, is there?" "Nope," Chrys announced with a grin, "Rooted as a Gardinel or stubborn as a mule to put it in human terms." Makoto sighed. "If that's how you want it ..." Chrys nodded. "Your choice but you are in the middle of a warzone. Will you promise me that if you meet someone you feel something for you won't deny yourself the chance because of blind commitment to me?" Chrysolite hesitated and studied Makoto, "If that's really how you want it?" "Yes and don't try and change my mind. You're not the only stubborn one." "Well, if it'll make you happy ..." Makoto shook her head. "Chrys, this about your happiness, not mine. That's what's important here." "Very well then," Chrys declared in a tone of voice that would've told her classmates to brace for impact, "I solemnly promise if I run across an attractive woman I'll drag her into the bushes and ravish her." Makoto's jaw dropped then she laughed and playfully punched Chrys in the shoulder. "You hentai!" Chrysolite grinned and shrugged. "Hey, it was getting far too serious of late. As for you and me how about we say we're friends for now then see how things develop after you get back?" "I'd like that." With that the two of them hugged then broke apart. Chrys took Makoto's hands. "So long as you're here for the rest of the night how about filling me in on what's new in Crystal Tokyo. But just the gossip, none of the depressing war stuff. I can get enough of that in the waking world." "Deal," she said with a grin. "Okay, you remember Margrave, right?" Chrys nodded. "Well she's..." The two friends continued their gossiping well into the night. Time passed for what had been briefly California's most visible group of freedom fighters. The group's cohesion was beginning to come apart, as each member once again sank into the private worlds that had kept them apart from society as a whole before. Four people of similar temperament, each with the desire to live out their lives on their own terms and expand their knowledge. Each with a different set of goals.. when they were actually sure of what they really wanted. Isaac Bauer was hunched over his work in Chrysolite's basement. His armor was half-disassembled, parts strewn out all over various old work benches. He created a torch out of mana energy and proceeded to modify various parts of a spell only visible to his eyes with the flames of magic. An altered energy flow in one place, a strengthened flow in another. He was in his element, oblivious to the world and happy. Drake Alexandir peered into a mirror that was totally out of place on the wall of his gallery of gathered memories. "I hate doing this to them..." he said softly. "You don't have much of a choice.." a woman's voice said from the other side of the mirror. "Everyone has to grow up sometime." Drake sighed and nodded. "And I'll abandon them all in the process..." he said sadly. "I suppose you'll tell me it's all for the greater good?" "Of course it is, Drake.." "Thanks for the advise, Mom.. I'll see you soon..." "I'll leave the light on for you," Drake's mother said kindly. Drake sighed and gestured to the mirror, deactivating its enchantment. "'Sorry I can't come along with you guys.. My Mom says it's time to go home...' What utter bullshit..." he muttered darkly as he left his gallery. He turned to look at something right beside the door, in a glass case to protect it from the elements. Half of what looked like a piece of an egg shell, from a rather large egg. "Feh, going home.. What bloody use is it?" he asked no-one in particular. He walked out of the door and deeper into his sub-dimensional home. "I noticed you were using new spells earlier.." Rene remarked as she walked into Chrysolite's lab, she was wondering what had happened to her youma friend. For a while, Chrysolite had seemed to lose her emotions, as if restraining Twilight had made her into an emotionless robot.. Then she was her old, cheerful self again for a while. Then, when the Siege of Crystal Tokyo had escalated, she'd become *very* determined. She hoped she could get into the youma's head and see what was going on. "The greatest weakness of my Zodiac-based magic is that it had few real offensive applications," Chrys said to Rene. "I've been broadening my range..." Chrys picked a silk scarf up from her desk and whipped it through the air around her. The scarf began to seem to weave itself into more complicated patterns as she moved it. Seemingly, it was shifting patterns of its own volution. "Spirits of Air, lift me up on your wings.. Ascension Factor!" she commanded. She rose into the air quickly, buoyed up by the spell. Rene grinned broadly and clapped. "I've broken out of the full need of the Star Wheel..." she said happily. "I still need the Zodiac to see the future, but my magic is now free to expand... Totally free." She tossed aside the scarf and shrugged, "It's just a prop..." she explained with a lopsided grin. "That's how I used a spell when they neutralized my energy blasts..." "Why?" "Crystal Tokyo is under the leadership of my brother right now.. Serenity has been trapped in a crystal prison and Endymion is AWOL. I *will* *not* sit idly by and let this continue. This isn't Twilight talking, this is a highly pissed off Chrysolite, the daughter of *Guardian* Nephrite speaking! My father once swore to uphold the safety of this planet from all outside threats, and I consider myself the heir to that oath. I drew the line in the sand the day Serenity was imprisoned and the Senshi had to Mainline to fuel the shield around Crystal Tokyo." She landed, her eyes showing some of their old fire again. "This far and no further. I intend to kick the Nemesites so hard their children will be born with headaches well into the 41st century!" Rene's eyes widened. "I might be a Renegade-type youma.. but that doesn't mean that a genocide program aimed at humanity won't piss me off," Chrys declared. "And if I have to walk up to Prince Demand and personally tear him a new one.. so be it." "I-I never knew you had it in you..." Rene said in shock. "Neither did I," Chrys said in anger, but not Twilight's pure hate, "Demand made this a matter of Honor, something I hold *very* dearly." Perhaps there was hope for the team yet... Peridos arrived in Los Angeles by flitter, a sour expression on his face. "I want a full report on that fiasco.. And I want that fool, Bituminous strung up by his heels..." he commanded an aide. He stepped off the landing pad and headed for the governor's mansion. "Yes, Milord!" the aide replied instantly. He saluted the Lord of Clan Bloodstar and rushed to comply. The Nemesite Noble spotted Bituminous standing at his office window. "I am surrounded by incompetents..." he muttered, "Though I refuse to tolerate fools, I cannot escape them..." He smiled as several Droids jumped the subordinate Nemesite and carried him away. "I feel better already..." He flicked a loose strand of green hair out of his eyes and pulled his long, black cloak around him a little more tightly. He had to make sure he didn't get a lot of exposure to sunlight until he had adjusted, lest he get a bad sunburn. "I think I'm going to be sick!" Isaac roared, slamming his newspaper onto one of Drake's work benches. Rene peered at the headline and rolled her eyes. "All mages must register with the authorities?" Chrysolite twitched. Drake looked over at his friends. "I'm reminded of the Holocaust," he muttered. "Next thing you know, magic users will be wearing special symbols and carry internal passports..." Rene sighed and shook her head. Isaac winced. "Doesn't this sound a lot like what Bituminous did? Sure, Peridos isn't hauling magic users in.. but he's restricted mobility to almost nil." Chrysolite *growled*. "Chrys?" Rene asked, resting a hand on the youma's shoulder. "Stay away from me!" the youma shouted, grabbing Rene by the shoulders and tossing her with strength she'd never had before. The others stood in horror as she glared at them, her eyes glowing blood-red. "I can take care of these fools myself!" she shouted. She rushed for the door and dove through, vanishing in a quick teleport. The youma switched to the Twilight uniform the instant she arrived at her target. Her skin was a deathly pale color under her normally tanned skin, her eyes gleamed like twin torches. Twilight smiled coldly, pulling the sash from over her mouth and leaving it draped over her shoulders, where it wove ominously. She could feel the hate boiling in her soul.. the hate of an entire species. Life itself protested the presence of the Nemesites here.. She threw back her head and laughed, it was time to take out the garbage. She had much to do before her final plan could come to pass... Days passed with no sign of Chrys... Isaac looked up in shock as an unfamiliar feeling raced up his spine from the general vicinity of his feet. The ground was shaking. The ground was shaking... The ground was shaking? The ground was shaking! Several minutes, that felt like several eternities, later the shaking stopped, and he peeked out from under his workbench nervously. The terminal on his desk came to life for the first time in a year, Twilight's pale face plastered on the screen. "A message to the Nemesites: You came, you dominate, leave or you *will* die..." she rasped, eyes gleaming in hate and power. She cut the transmission. Drake and Rene rushed into his lab an instant later shouting, "Did you just see that?!" at the same time. Isaac simply shook his head sadly, there was little he could really say... He did, however have something he could do. "Let's see where that quake was focused..." he said absently, turning in his chair to a second, much older terminal, an ancient, stand-alone computer. Five minutes later they knew what had caused the Fault Regulation System to falter and where the quake had hit hardest: Lord Peridos' base of operations. "DIE!" Twilight roared, taking the front of two guards' uniforms and slamming both against the wall. The wall cracked and buckled from the impact. The guards didn't have a chance to comment on how they felt about it. The 'demon' had arrived five minutes earlier, in complete violation of the interdiction fields set up over the entire geographic region. She had proceeded to carry out her earlier promise: not a single Nemesite that happened to cross her path lived to tell the tale. It was as if rage and hate had been given a physical form with which to wreak havoc. Twilight grinned ferally, the earthquake had been the perfect diversion.. and had allowed her to draw enough power from the regulation system to break the interdiction field for several minutes. The sash around her neck lashed out and entangled another victim. A strong squeeze later it added another body to the count. Vengeance would know no rest this day... An emerald energy blast slammed into her kinetic barrier, drawing her attention. "You go no further, demon..." Peridos of Bloodstar growled. The massive Nemesite noble drew his sword from his belt and held it in his right hand, forward and out from his body at a low angle. Twilight let out a brief, derisive chuckle and formed a sword out of flames. She concentrated, allowing none of the sword's energy to escape. The sword went from brilliant white to matte black. "Come and get me, worm..." she purred, holding the sword in both hands, in a traditional kendo stance. "So let it be..." he intoned solemnly. He rushed forward, bringing his family sword at her in a strange upward arc. She quickly adjusted to deflect the sword before it could slice her in half. She noted that there must've been more to the Sword of Bloodstar than meets-the-eye, since it had survived impact with her own sword... Peridos, with numbing speed, adjusted his sword to arc back in at head-level. Again, Twilight blocked. This time she countered by aiming a slash at the larger man's face. He narrowly escaped, his face taking an oh-so-close cut from the very tip of the blade. Peridos almost shuddered from the brief contact of the bitter cold weapon's surface. "W-what are you!?" he exclaimed, hoping to interrupt the rhythm of the fight and get a chance to plan. "Please allow me to introduce myself: I am a man of wealth and taste..." Twilight said coldly. "I've been around for a long, long year; stole many a man's soul and faith..." she finished. She let out another quick laugh and rushed him, dismissing the sword and going back to what she new best: her bare hands. Peridos ducked under a wild hand-rake and tried to impose his elbow into her face. He got a sash tangled around his ankles for his troubles... "And I was `round when Jesus Christ had His moment of doubtand pain.." Twilight sang in a soft, eerily beautiful voice. The other end of the sash wrapped around Peridos' neck, his sword clattering to the floor. His eyes were wide in shock. "Made damn sure that Pilate; washed His hands and sealed His Fate..." she continued. She moved him closer, controlling the sash that was wrapped around her like an extension of herself. She placed a hand on either side of the Nemesite's face and smiled. "delicious..." she purred. She licked a faint trace of blood from his face. Peridos howled in agony as she drained his life-force out of his body, the effect enhanced by her physical contact and the mana she'd drawn from the Well beneath LA. Blackness closed over the Noble's mind. Twilight let Peridos' remains drop to the ground, her whole body tensed. She shuddered slightly and let out a gasp. "Damn, that felt *good*!" she roared. She threw back her head and kept singing, an eery thing to behold indeed. Pleased to meet you Hope you guessed my name But what's puzzling you Is the nature of my game "CHRYS!" Sailor Styx shouted as she and the others rushed through the gates of the base. She saw the carnage the black-clad woman had wrought and paled. "Y-you're not Chrys..." she whimpered. "Give the woman a cupie doll..." the youma sneered. {Get me close to her...} Drake's voice whispered in Styx's mind. {Mind if I butt in?} Twilight's voice shot back. "QUAKE IN TERROR!" Twilight commanded. It was like a curtain of pure dread had fallen from above.. or perhaps below. Chrys' friends dropped to their knees, overcome with fear. "Soul..." Drake whispered through clenched teeth. He pulled a smoky quartz crystal out of a jacket pocket. "Inversion..." he continued, the crystal turning black. "Barrier!" he finished, tossing the crystal at Twilight. She was too busy gloating to notice... The crystal shattered. The fear aura dropped. The youma collapsed. Chrys staggered drunkenly back to consciousness. It was unusual for her to actually find herself awake after being asleep for a period of time, especially considering her link to Helcion. She had the nagging feeling that something terrible had happened, but she wasn't exactly sure what... Rene was sitting across the room, she seemed ready to transform into Styx at a moment's notice. "Wha?" she asked weakly. "It got loose again..." Rene said worriedly. It was obvious that she was relieved Chrys, and not Twilight, had woken up. "And this time we couldn't bring it back under control as easily..." "What happened?" Chrys asked, an edge of worry in her voice. "Nemesites died.. a lot of Nemesites died..." "How many?" Chrys asked quietly. Rene hung her head, trying to hide the look of nausea on her face. "Half the garrison at least," she took a deep, shuddering breath, "I-it tore them apart with its b-bare hands..." Chrys turned a very odd tinge of gray and green, only possible for someone with green blood. "What the hell's inside me?" she wondered... Deep within Chrys' Dream, where she'd lived for almost a thousand years, Twilight laughed darkly. "You haven't seen the last of me!" she bellowed. "I am Hate itself and nothing can stop Hate!" Lightning flashed ominously all around her as she laughed and started
singing again. She chuckled darkly and walked off towards the mountains in the distance. She had all the time in the world with which to execute her plan... |
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I feel a grave anticipation, as if something truly horrible is about to be born that no force on Earth, above Earth or under Earth will ever be able to best... My greatest fear is that I have created this Beast myself... * Prophecy: The Journals of Chrystine Phobos, a.k.a. Guardian Chrysolite Entry for September 5, 2984 "Sympathy For The Devil" was written by Mick Jagger & Keith Richards Berk' Watkins, Gweep At Large |
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