Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Crystal Dreams ❯ Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

Despite the Fiend's cryptic clue as to Serenity's fate, the Guardians were quick to push for action. Since Endymion backed this proposal as well, it left Serin and the others vastly outvoted...not that they had any better ideas. Still, even as they cautiously headed for the main levels of the palace, the paladin couldn't help but wonder if Rubicant had given them a vital clue that they were dismissing too casually...

Thanks to Sephiroth's direction, the group was able to avoid the few guards in the palace on their way to the throne room, as well as retrieving the Guardians' missing henshin sticks. To remain prepared for any unexpected fights, the girls took the opportunity to immediately transform, which prompted a slight glint in Ryuhi's eyes, and a slack-jawed stare of shock from Sephiroth at Saturn. For the most part, the stares were ignored, as Mars took charge.

"Alright. Obviously, the qu...Serenity will be in the throne room. Serin, you and your friends will remain behind with the king while we get inside. Once we're certain that the area's okay, we'll call for you."

Ryuhi frowned even more at that comment, and crossed his arms over his chest. "Why should you go first? By your own admission, the queen is too powerful for even all of you. So what does your sacrifice accomplish?"

Mercury began to nod in agreement, until Mars shot a glare in her direction. Turning her gaze back at the martial artist, she asked icily, "All right, Ryuhi, what do you suggest?"

Ryuhi smirked, and replied, "We go in with everything we've got, and end this war once and for all."

Stepping up to his comrade's side before things could escalate, Sephiroth calmly placed a hand on Ryuhi's shoulder, and smiled disarmingly. "Perhaps I have an alternate plan. I suggest that we all go in at the same time, but remain unarmed. That way, we can keep from alarming her, and yet still be ready to defend or attack."

The senshi glanced at each other briefly, and quickly nodded in agreement. "All right, then, we'll go with that idea. Truth be told, I'm not entirely certain what awaits us inside anyway," Venus affirmed. Giving a closer glance at Ryuhi, she frowned slightly. "Is he all right?"

Sephiroth smiled broadly as he and Ryuhi nodded. Once the senshi, Serin, Kara, and Urawa stepped forward, leaving the pair of warriors behind. Ryuhi grit his teeth, and shoved Sephiroth backward, who promptly released his death grip on the martial artist's shoulder. "Dammit, that fucking hurt!"

Sephiroth stepped up to within a foot of his comrade, and gave him the best icy glare that he could come up with, which was enough to make Ryuhi shrink back a bit. "You listen to me. I understand your eagerness to fight, and I also understand your desire to end this whole battle. But if you ever, and I do repeat, ever suggest such a course of action again, I swear by the Planet, I will kill you outright, superhuman strength or no. Do I make myself quite clear?"

His jaw hanging open in silent shock, Ryuhi could only manage a nod, which apparently was enough for the general.

"Good. Now, let's get going, before they start to wonder."

Fortunately for the two of them, the rest of the group wasn't too far ahead, and aside from a brief glance of curiosity from Saturn and Venus, the reunion was largely ignored. After a moment, the group finally managed to reach the pinnacle of the main castle, where the throne room was located. As Urawa stepped out onto the main parapet behind his comrades, he happened to glance out at the city, and his eyes widened in shock. "The city...what's going on?"

Curious and concerned at the same time, the remainder of the group rushed to join the wizard on the parapet, and gasped as they gazed out at the sight.

Shouts of rebellion and the sounds of battle could be heard as the barely-visible forms of Crystal Tokyo citizens fought against the swarms of troops that comprised Serenity's police force and army. Though many citizens fell as the party observed, enough survived to overpower the superior firepower of Serenity's army, and subdue the troops.

Stepping back from the parapet, looks of urgency were exchanged between the members.

"I don't know whether this is good or bad, but we have to talk to Serenity and end this!" Mercury shouted.

Kara nodded. "I agree. There's no telling what the people will do to the queen if they get to her before us."

Endymion, apparently fed up with talking, rushed forward to the main entrance to the throne room and, tugging with every ounce of his strength, nearly yanked the doors off of their hinges as he forced them open. With his comrades only a few steps behind, the king then rushed into the chambers.

His eyes swept across the empty room before settling on a disheveled form slumped on the throne. Abandoning all pretense of suspicion or caution, Endymion rushed forward, cradling his wife in his arms before any of the others could shout at him to stop. As he gently called her name, while stroking her hair, Serenity's eyelids fluttered open and she strained to focus her vision. When she realized who was holding her, she gave a wordless cry of joy and wrapped her arms tightly around her husband.

"Endymion! Oh, thank the moon you're here! I had the worst nightmare..." Her voice broke off as she saw her friends and bodyguards standing nearby, looking first wary and cautious, but then grim and uneasy. With a growing sense of unease, she turned back to her husband and asked, "I...I was only having a nightmare...wasn't I?"

The king hugged his wife close, but remained silent. The silence was apparently more than Serenity could bear, and she sucked in a shaky breath as her eyes sparkled with tears. Burying her face in the king's chest, she began to sob quietly, as the rest of her friends surrounded her and offered quiet support.

"Usa-ko, it's okay...it's okay..." Endymion whispered, but his wife cut him off with a violent shake of the head.

"No, it's not! I can't...they'll never trust me again! All the pain and suffering...it's all my fault!"

Serin lowered his eyes at that, a jolt of pain running through him as he heard his sister speak those words. As he did so, a faint vibration at his side caught his attention. Checking himself over, the paladin's hand finally grazed his sword, and he was shocked to discover that it was resonating. 'But why?' he wondered. Pulling it out of its sheath slowly, an even bigger shock awaited him as he saw that it was shining brilliantly, even more so than he had ever seen it do.

Serenity held up a hand to block the light even as she moaned in pain. "Please, stranger...if you wouldn't mind, I would appreciate it if you sheathed your sword. The light is hurting my eyes."

Turning his head slowly over to the queen, Serin's own eyes narrowed as he held the translucent blade in front of his gaze, peering at her through his weapon. After a brief moment, he grimaced, lowered his sword, and spoke sharply to Endymion and the others, "Step away from her."

The expressions on the Guardian's faces ranged from anger, to confusion, to shock, at Serin's statement. If it hadn't been clear what he was trying to say before, what he did next removed any confusion. Pointing the tip of his blade at the queen, he stated calmly, "Let her go. Now."

Mars took in a slow, deep breath as she readied herself to step in front of her friend and ruler, but Urawa held out his staff, blocking her path as he shook his head. "He's right...I can feel it too. This is not Serenity."

Endymion and the others let out a short gasp of surprise at that announcement, during which the king finally took Serin's initial demand to heart and backed away. Serenity, for her part, blinked in bewilderment. "Wha...what do you mean? I...I don't understand what you're..."

Serin narrowed his eyes even further, and shook his head. "Can it. You know what I'm talking about. Unfortunately for you, I can see through the nifty little disguise spell you put on that jewel in your bow. And I recognize it, too...it's a stasis gem, isn't it? And I bet I can figure out who's inside it with one guess..."

Silence pervaded the room at that, but the shifting sounds of trained combatants preparing to fight were plainly audible. Serenity looked around with tear-filled eyes, and reached out a hand to Endymion. "Endymion...my dear husband..."

Before anyone could think to shout a warning, a blast of black lightning struck the king dead center, throwing him backward several feet to land in a heap. Everyone moved swiftly to seek cover, Urawa throwing up protective barriers on those who didn't appear to be able to make it to cover in time. Ryuhi, predictably, leapt forward with his fists cocked and ready, only to come to a halt about ten feet from his target, with a crackling web of blue energy surrounding him. As he hung there, motionless, the faux-Serenity almost lazily gestured, sending a whirlwind of cutting magical blades to surround him. Even with his injury-enhanced strength, Ryuhi roared in pain as time and again, the blades cut deeply into his skin, causing rivers of his blood to flow down his body.

The assault would undoubtedly have continued indefinitely, had Venus not fired off a Love-Me Chain attack. Though the attack itself did little more than distract the imposter, that in and of itself was sufficient. Ryuhi dropped to the ground with a grunt, as the double turned her attention to the new irritant.

Venus blinked at the lack of any effect that her attack had, and gritted her teeth as she prepared for a counterattack.

Serenity smiled without warmth as she raised her first two fingers, and gestured upward sharply, creating a geyser of black energy that engulfed the soldier of love before reforming into a sphere that exploded in a storm of lightning bolts that converged on their target. Venus screamed loudly, and simply collapsed with a groan seconds later.

As the imposter's back was turned, the remaining scouts glanced at each other and nodded, then prepared their signature attacks, releasing them simultaneously at their opponent. As if she saw the attacks coming, Serenity turned and stretched out her hand, catching every attack in the palm of her hand. The resulting maelstrom of opposing energies forced everyone to avert their eyes, as well as bracing themselves.

When the storm ended, Serenity held a sphere of energy that floated a few inches above her hand as it pulsated from green to orange to red to blue to teal to black and back again. Keeping her face totally expressionless, Serenity threw the sphere up, where it split into six different beams that arrowed in on their respective targets, piercing their bodies. Each scout's reaction was different, but the end result was the same: as one, they slowly collapsed, seemingly lifeless, to the ground.

For Sephiroth, seeing Saturn possibly killed was more than he could stand. Slowly standing up, ignoring the frantic gestures of his comrades, he gestured sharply with one hand, a brief flash of green light surrounding him as one of the green orbs in his sword hilt glowed, which created several spears of ice that crashed into the double's body, before forming a cocoon of ice that eventually exploded outward in a fine, shimmering powder.

When the shower ended, Sephiroth gasped in surprise as he saw that his attack had also had no effect. Serenity slowly and mockingly smiled at her former general's shock, and spoke for the first time since the battle began: "I'm disappointed in you, Sephiroth. Joining with such a motley band of renegades when you had everything you could have ever needed here-I'm afraid I will never understand you people. Therefore, the only real solution is to destroy all of you. Then, master Zemus can remake this world into one that makes sense." Raising her hand again, this time with her fingers outstretched, she shouted, "DIE!". At her words, a black beam of energy crashed against the swordsman's chest, sending him out the main doors and over the edge of the parapet, where he disappeared from sight.

Gritting his teeth, and growling with growing rage, Serin glanced from around a column that he had taken shelter behind, trying to formulate a plan to get to the doppelganger and acquire the stasis gem on her chest. The unfortunate part was that all of them required some sort of distraction for him to make his run, and from his viewpoint, nobody was available to do anything about that.

'Dammit! All I need is one person to distract her for a few minutes! Just a few minutes!'

A brief blur of movement caught his eye, along with the call, "KAIO-KEN TIMES 10!!!" and the paladin just barely managed to catch Ryuhi moving at an incredible speed, hammering away at Serenity's shield with his bare hands. Though his injuries were still bleeding, one would never know it by the amount of power the martial artist was putting into his blows, grunting loudly as his fists forced the shield to either bend inward, or spark fiercely.

Seeing his chance, Serin drew his sword and ran at full speed, attempting to cover the distance between him and the two combatants. As he approached, the paladin saw his companion shatter the double's barrier, only to be engulfed in a sphere of flame that was hurled almost contemptuously at a wall, creating a deep crater that he ended up half-buried in.

Serin barely noticed any of this, however, as he leapt with all of his might, his sword ready to strike. As he rose off of the ground, however, the imposter turned and fired another energy beam directly at him. Acting out of reflex more than anything, Serin brought his weapon up to block the attack, wincing as he prepared for the pain.

Since his eyes were closed, the paladin failed to see what happened next. The energy beam, intercepted by his weapon, was diverged, with each half shooting off in a completely different direction, to impact against the floor.

When the impact and/or pain didn't come, Serin opened his eyes again, to see that his ascent wasn't slowed in the least and that he was nearly level with the imposter. Gritting his teeth, and tightening the grip he had on his sword, the young warrior then swung with all of his might...neatly cutting the stasis gem in half.

"NO!" the fake Serenity screamed, as the two halves dropped off of her robe. For a brief moment, they sparkled during their plunge, and then flashed as they shattered. The light then coalesced into a familiar figure, who stood with a very determined and angry look on her face.

For a long minute, the two women stood staring at each other, almost making it appear as if the others were seeing double. After several minutes, the true Serenity finally spoke.

"After all you've done...after the pain you've caused...after what you've done to my friends...I can never forgive you, or the one who sent you!" Turning her hardened gaze up at the clone, Serenity became bathed in light, and with a brief flash, was transformed into Super Sailor Moon. Holding her scepter in one hand, and pointing it at her enemy, she shouted, "In the name of the Moon...I'll punish you!"

Serin smiled at the familiar phrase that he hadn't heard in years, and stepped up to his sister's side, swinging his Crystal Sword down in emphasis as he stated, "In the name of Lunaria and Earth, we will punish you!"

Sailor Moon glanced at her unexpected battle companion briefly, but refrained from talking at the moment, preferring instead to keep her focus on her double.

The fake Serenity glanced between the two of them and broke out into a fit of maniacal laughter. When she had finally calmed down, she remarked, "Well, this is rather unfortunate. Perhaps before you 'deal' with me, you can show me what you intend to do about them." So saying, she pointed over their shoulders, which prompted the siblings to look back.

It immediately became apparent what the clone was talking about, since the doorway to the throne room was filled with an immeasurable number of monsters, some brandishing various weapons. Sailor Moon gasped in shock, and Serin tightened his grip on his weapon while gritting his teeth, even as they both prepared to fight.

It shocked everyone present, literally, when an old hermit appeared before the soldiers, an unseen wind blowing his hair and robe around as he raised his staff to the sky. A few seconds later, a veritable storm of lightning bolts thinned the ranks of their enemies before the man disappeared seconds later. It was at this point that Urawa stepped out from behind a column that he had been taking cover by, and chanted quietly in some language that neither had heard before.

Though it was impossible to tell what he was casting at that point, it quickly became obvious later when several of the soldiers began turning on their comrades, without hesitation. Confident that his friends had his back, Serin turned with a small smirk to the imposter. "That's what we're going to do. You got anything else for us, or are you going to give up quietly?"

The double snarled in animalistic rage, and roared as her body began reforming itself. Bones cracked as they were relocated, and its skin began ripping apart as if it were merely a costume. When the transformation was complete, a silver skinned being with a single red orb floating in its translucent body stood before them, with a constantly changing body and face, as if it couldn't decide on a single form. Apparently having the consistency of liquid metal, that notion was reinforced when it's right arm took on the shape of a javelin.

Serin took immediate charge and leapt at the creature, slicing away with his weapon in several masterful strokes. When he finished the final cut, the paladin leapt away to view his handiwork.

...Just in time to see the last of his attacks seal up as if he had never touched the creature. Gaping in shock briefly, he raised his sword in a defensive posture, and called out, "Okay, sis, you try something!"

'Sis? As in sister? Huh?' Shaking her head, Sailor Moon decided to leave that thought for later, and twirled her scepter around her body as she shouted out, "Moon Spiral Heart...ATTACK!" As she finished the last word, she stopped her spinning and thrust her scepter up into the air, sending out a torrent of hearts that flew out in a spiral toward her target. The being stumbled back, covering what appeared to be its face, as the attack reached its conclusion, with a giant heart smashing into the creature's body.

Serin lowered his sword cautiously, trying not to get overly optimistic, as he attempted to see what the results were through the brilliant light. After a few seconds, he suddenly became aware of something standing right in front of him.

With only a second to react, Serin could only stand in shock as he heard the eerie indrawn-breath voice of the creature calmly state, "Die," before the pain hit.

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Jupiter slowly came to, realizing at once that she hurt all over...especially in the head. Groaning, she stubbornly forced herself to her feet, managing to make it on the fourth try. Stumbling a bit, she then succeeded in fully righting herself, and glanced around, seeing several of her comrades on the ground beside her. Scratching her head, Jupiter tried to remember what was going on...

And with an explosion from behind her, everything came back in a rush. Whirling around, her pain forgotten, Jupiter felt relief at seeing that her friend and leader, Sailor Moon, was freed from the stasis gem that had been on the clone. She noted immediately after that, that she had apparently fired off a Spiral Heart attack, judging from the smoke and light that was visible. Cautiously approaching Serin and Serenity, Jupiter was attempting to be the first to congratulate and hug them.

It was then that a creature appeared directly in front of Serin. Jupiter assumed it to be the clone that they had been fighting this whole time, since at one point, she could have sworn that it looked like Serenity, despite it's silver translucent body.

Before she could shout a warning, the creature stated, "Die," in an eerie, indrawn-breath voice, and unleashed a barrage of spear-like appendages from its back that pierced her love's body in hundreds of different places.

For a moment, Jupiter simply stood there in shock, as the creature withdrew its appendages, and Serin remained standing. The only thought running through her mind was, 'Serin's alright, Serin's alright, Serin's...' Then his wounds started bleeding profusely, and the paladin collapsed with a small grunt.

It was at that point that Jupiter snapped.

Her eyes going wide with rage, the senshi of lightning thrust her hands toward the creature, palm first, and concentrated every available erg of energy into a single Jupiter Oak Evolution attack that struck dead center. The resulting explosion was large enough to lift Jupiter off of her feet briefly and push her back several feet. When the smoke cleared, the warrior princess saw that her target had apparently been injured, as it was missing half of its body. However, as she watched, the red orb inside of it began to glow brighter, and it appeared to repair itself.

Urawa stepped up at this point, and chanted quietly again, this time pointing at the prone body of Serin. Light arrowed from the white wizard's fingers and entered the apparent corpse, visibly draining Urawa's remaining energy reserves. As Jupiter watched, Serin slowly climbed to his feet, all of his injuries completely healed. As an apparent bonus, his armor had also been repaired:).

Standing calmly as he faced his enemy, Serin held his sword up in front of his face with his left hand, the flat of the blade facing him, as he placed his first two fingers of his right hand on the weapon, shouting out, "Moon...Crystal...POWER!"

With a glowing aura of light, the weapon encased its target in a globe of pure white energy. Roaring with rage, the creature attempted to batter its way out, but the field held fast, though Serin showed visible strain as he attempted to keep the barrier up. Nonetheless, he managed to call out, "Sailor Moon...hit it in...red orb...hurry..."

Understanding immediately, the queen and protector of Crystal Tokyo went through another elaborate, yet different, series of twirls and spins, calling out this time, "Rainbow...Moon...Heart...ACHE!"

This time, a spiraling ribbon of hearts arrowed toward the imprisoned clone, striking it dead center in its apparent nucleus, passing through Serin's hastily erected barrier with no trouble at all. The creature, for its part, let out a scream of pain and rage as, with the orb gone, it simply disintegrated into fine powder that blew away in the wind. Breathing a sigh of relief, Sailor Moon turned to thank her mysterious helper, only to see him sigh and collapse to the ground in a heap.