Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Shadows of the Past ❯ Rubeus's Magic Mansion ( Chapter 9 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Okay, so this is it! I promise! Last part, then the next series starts.
The characters in this story that aren't mine are Naoko Takeuchi's. The
ones that are mine (Europa/Michael, Jennifer Hino, and a couple of others) are
mine. If you want to use them, then tell your readers that I created them. But
anyway, let's get on with the show now.
I believe that this installment will have to be rated PG-13, but I'm not
sure. Also, this may seem later on like it's a snuff-fic, but just stick with
me. I wouldn't do that to the Sailor Senshi. :-) In hindsight, the fic really
was fairly cliche, but I had a good time writing it. And since it's the final
chapter of the series, you need to read it. Otherwise, I'd have left it out.

Shadows From the Past
by:M. H. Torringjan

Part nine: Ruebus's Magic Mansion

The portal swirled as the six Scouts, Tuxedo Mask, and three guardians
stepped through it. In a split second, the Scouts found themselves in front of
the base of the Negaverse's forces on earth. It looked like a large castle like
in old horror films. Serena felt a shiver run up her skin as a cold wind howled
around them. The sky there was as dark as it had been near the portal, creating
a certain air of eeriness that made all the Scouts nervous.
Luna asked Mercury to scan for any openings to the inside of the fortress.
Mercury's visor was on her face in an instant as she scanned the building.
After a while, it finally got to the useful stuff, and located five openings to
the interior.
"Luna, we've got something here," Mercury said. "There are five openings
around the building. One is a sewer pipe that's large enough for two people to
travel through comfortably. Another is an air duct leading from the western
side inside. The third one is a window, unguarded on the inside, but there are
light guards on the outside. Number four is a small tunnel into the sub-
basement, which then leads into the main area of the base. The final one is a
large chimney on the roof. It leads into a large room inside, that looks like a
ball room."
"A Negaverse base with a ball-room?" Venus said, confused.
"Why would they need one?" Europa asked.
"Ambiance? How should I know?" Luna said. "Here's what I do know. We'll
have the best chance in there by going in five groups of two each."
"Europa and I will go together," Venus said eagerly.
"I'll go with Mercury," Mars said.
"I will go with Sailor Moon," Tuxedo Mask said.
"I guess that I'm stuck with Luna," Jupiter said.
"NO!" Artemis snapped. He didn't want to be stuck with the psychopath
dog.
"What's wrong, Artemis?" Luna asked. "I was chosen legitimately by
Jupiter, and that leaves you with Rigel. You'll probably meet with better
success anyway. You've got no big humans to slow you down or get in your way."
"That's easy for you to say," Artemis whined. "You don't have to stay
with a dog with mental malfunctions."
"I heard that," Rigel said, "And it won't help your popularity rating one
little bit."
"So, where are we going?" Moon asked.
"Your choice," Luna said, crossing her fingers as best she could that she
wouldn't be stuck with going through the sewers. Once was enough, and even
then, more than enough.
"We'll go into the window," Mercury said, indicating herself and Mars.
"What were the other choices?" Moon asked.
"The air duct, the tunnel, the chimney, the sewer," Mercury answered
quickly.
"I want the air duct," Moon said to Tuxedo Mask.
"We'll take the tunnel," Venus said to Europa.
"We get the chimney," Jupiter said quickly before Artemis could stake that
claim. Rigel cursed under his breath about being stuck with a cat in a sewer
pipe. The five groups split up and snuck to their different paths, being as
quiet as they could.

Mars and Mercury reached the spot where they could see their entrance with
a fair amount of certainty that they could get in without attracting too much
attention to themselves. There were only three guards at the window, but how to
get rid of them without causing a distraction was a mystery until Mars solved
the problem for them.
She unwittingly stepped on the cliche stick, giving away their position to
the enemy. The first two guards looked towards the bushes where Mars and
Mercury hid and began to approach it. As the first one entered the underbrush,
Mars grabbed it and pulled it into where she and Mercury were. It put up a good
fight, but Mars ended up knocking it out. The second hadn't noticed its cohort
being pulled into the bushes and had continued its search away from where Mars
and Mercury were. It now looked up and noticed its friend gone, and, rushing
over to where he had last seen the other guard, met the same fate.
Mars took off the armor of the first and put it on. It was too big for
her, and she hoped that the third guard wouldn't notice. Mercury put on the
second one's armor, and it was a good fit. She went outside and got the third
guard's attention. She summoned it over to where she and Mars were. They
quickly dispatched it and left it where it was. She and Mars opened the window
quietly and slipped into it.
When they landed, they turned around to come face to face with an interior
guard.
"Is there any reason that you just came in through that window there?" the
guard asked.
"It was closer than the door," Mars answered in her most masculine voice
that she could muster. "And we were feeling lazy."
"So you climbed in a window, closed it, then climbed back down to the
floor," the guard finished. Mercury vigorously nodded her head. "What is your
name and rank?"
"We are Tosha and Milga, peon guards," Mars answered again.
"Doesn't sound like any rank I've heard before," the guard answered.
"We're with a new troupe of guards," Mercury answered.
"That's interesting, because I'm Lord Rubeus's highest ranking guard, and
I wasn't informed about anything remotely resembling soldiers climbing through
windows and making lame excuses." Mercury stood in stunned silence. The two of
them would be in trouble if they didn't do something soon.
"Well, we're on a secret mission for Lord Rubeus, so if you don't want to
have to explain why the Lord's servants were late on your orders, you'd better
let us go," Mercury spat out, thinking as she went along. The guard thought for
a moment before waving them along.
"Whew, that was close," Mars sighed. She didn't want the adventure to end
quite that quickly. They looked around them to see if they could find something
to identify with as they left. There was nothing in there, only a wall on each
side of them. It wasn't even a particularly interesting wall, either. It was
just a blank wall. The hallway was well-lit and incredibly long. It was hard
to see the end of it, but Mars thought that she could just make out the outline
of a tiny opening, well, tiny from her perspective. Oddly, it was the same view
in the opposite direction.
"Flip a coin to see which way we go?" Mars said coolly.
"I say let's just go this way," Mercury said, indicating her left.
"Works for me," Mars said, turning down the indicated path. She and
Mercury walked in the same direction for a while, and they got nowhere. After a
while, Mars looked back to notice that the window through which they had entered
had disappeared. As she turned to tell Mercury, she saw a small sign on the
wall that read:

Hello, Scouts. I'd like to welcome you to my little base
in the middle of nowhere. The first attraction that I'd like to show you
two is the endless hallway.
Now, this might not sound too appealing to you, but I've added
some incentive to go down it. If you'll kindly look behind you again,
Mars, you'll notice what I'm talking about.

Mars, intrigued, looked back down the hallway again and saw what Rubeus
was talking about. Behind them was a large mill stone, rolling down the hallway
towards them.
"Run!" Mars exclaimed, following her own advice. Mercury took a moment to
observe what had set Mars to running, then joined her in fear and surprise.
They ran down the hallway until they were tired out, which was, at the
speed they were going, not a very long time. Mercury began to slow first, then
was followed by Mars. Mars fell to the ground, weighed down by her armor, and
Mercury joined her a moment later. Before she could hit the ground, though, a
hole opened up in the floor, which carried them away. The last thing that
Mercury could remember before she passed out was Rubeus's voice laughing at
them.

Luna and Jupiter were almost at the spot where they would climb to the
roof when they encountered some guards. Luna was able to stop Jupiter from
using her lightning, but just barely. Luna had a better idea. She would lure
them away, then sneak back to Jupiter, and they would both go up onto the roof
while the guards were distracted. Jupiter stayed in her place while Luna went
off to do her job. A few moments later, Jupiter heard a large crash from off to
her left, and the guards went rushing off to see what it was. Jupiter watched
the direction from where the sound had come and saw the guards come out a moment
later, carrying Luna, who was fervently trying to get away.
"Good one, Luna," Jupiter said under her breath. "Screw it. I want to see
some action. Jupiter Thunderclap, Zap!" The guards were struck down where they
were by some large thunderbolts. The instant that this happened, Jupiter
realized the err of her ways. Luna was flung from the hands of the guard that
had her, and flew through the air towards Jupiter. Jupiter threw her hands up
just in time to make a clean catch of Luna.
"You okay, Luna?" Jupiter asked.
"Beside the fact that I was just narrowly missed by a lightning bolt, I'm
as good as one could be," Luna wheezed. "How about next time you try a wave of
electricity flowing across the battlefield? It's more effective."
"Oh, stop being bitter. It was an honest mistake," Jupiter said. "Look,
do you see any guards swarming over us?"
"No," Luna said. "That's odd. Look, let's just get inside. There's the
place where we'll climb up to the chimney." They went over to the place where
the structure had rotted out slightly and searched for some handholds. Some
small holes were just out of Jupiter's reach, and another pair was right
where Jupiter could get to them. Luna held on to Jupiter's shoulder as Jupiter
climbed up the side of the wall.
The two reached the top in a couple of minutes of climbing. On the roof,
there was a small figure huddled at the back of the roof. On further
investigation, Jupiter it turned out to be a maintenance worker, was asleep on
the job. Jupiter let him be and went to open up the top of the chimney large
enough so that they could get in and down it.
After a few minutes of working, Jupiter got a hole large enough for Luna
to crawl in the chimney. She put Luna in so that she could go down it and scout
the surroundings. After Luna was down and out of sight, she began work on the
chimney so that she could get in herself. She realized that the chimney was
longer than she had originally thought when she couldn't hear Luna say anything
back to her.
She finally had a hole large enough to crawl in herself. She went down
the tunnel-like chimney with a hand and a foot on each side of it. "Ho, ho,
ho," she thought to herself. She climbed down for about ten minutes and saw the
bottom with a light coming in through it. She dropped the rest of the way to
the ground and looked around for Luna. She found the cat to the right of the
opening of the chimney. Luna was licking some small wounds.
"What's wrong with you?" Jupiter asked.
"All I'm saying is that it's a good thing that I land on my feet," Luna
said. "My legs absorbed most of the shock from the landing, but I still got
hurt."
"Are you still able to walk?" Jupiter asked.
"I think so. It's just a few cuts, nothing serious the I know of."
Jupiter and Luna continued on their way to search for the leader of the
Droids and came across a room with a bunch of mirrors in it.
"Luna, take a look at these," Jupiter said. She was examining the largest
of the mirrors, seeing if there was something special about them. As she
watched, Rubeus's face appeared in the glass of the mirror and she heard the
door slam shut.
"Well, Jupiter, It looks like your little bit of the adventure ends here,"
Rubeus said from the mirror. Behind them, a small vent appeared in the wall and
began to hiss. "That sound that you hear is gas. You have thirty seconds
before you go unconscious, and I'll capture you."
"Oh, good one," Jupiter said sarcastically. "Just go ahead and tell us
your plans, like it matters. We spent precious seconds listening to you."
"And precious more seconds complaining about it!" Rubeus gloated.
Jupiter lost control of her emotions and broke the mirror. Rubeus's face
appeared in the other mirrors and began laughing at Jupiter's futile attempts to
escape. "This seems so familiar," Jupiter said and blacked out.

Artemis and Rigel walked around to the sewer pipe and entered easily
enough, Rigel grumbling all the way. There were no guards to bar their
progress, so they just waltzed right in. The sewer pipe would have been big
enough for a human to fit in, which made Rigel even angrier with the others. It
wasn't like it was any big deal, walking through some sludge just to get inside.
At least they wouldn't have to worry about any enemies.
"Well, how long can this tunnel be?" Rigel said. "With our luck, it
doesn't even lead into the base. Probably ends up at the North Pole or
something."
"Mercury's computer told us that it went inside, and I trust the
computer," Artemis stated confidently.
"Yeah, is that the same as your Scouts and their fearless leader?" Rigel
said skeptically.
"Oh, let off them. They did what you wanted, didn't they? We're here,
where we're supposed to be, and that's what you wanted."
"Well, I don't have much room to talk, anyway. My Scout doesn't take his
job as seriously as he used to. It's like your Scouts changed him somehow."
"I'm not surprised. We seem to have more fun than do our duty. At least,
that's how Serena would like it to be. All he had to deal with when you were
his only peer for Scout business was your expectations. Now, when he's here,
he's got his Scout duties, his girlfriend, his school, his life."
"You have a point, I suppose. Well, let's get on with it. We've got to
hurry up, or we'll miss the action," Artemis said.
"Sorry," a voice said from the shadows, "But you're going to miss the
'action' anyway." A large monster rose out of the sludge that covered the
ground, dripping with the stuff.
"What in the...?!" Artemis exclaimed as the creature threw a sludge ball
at the two animals. The sludge hit the animals with enough force to throw them
on their backs, knocked out. The creature scooped them up and began to carry
them away.

Venus looked down the cavernous hole that was the tunnel, wondering what
was in it. Europa was wondering the same thing, but more along the lines of
what he could let his aggression out on. That was what fueled his fighting
instinct, his aggression.
The two entered the tunnel, which was pretty-well used. You could tell by
the lights that were mounted on small pedestals along the path. The light level
was low, but it was bright enough to still be able to make out the path. The
walls were concrete and wet. It had been raining recently, so the ground was
muddy outside, too.
Venus felt fear trying to force its way into her mind, but she fought it
off with the thought that she would be fine with a friend there with her. As
they walked along the path, something scurried across the path, causing Venus to
almost scream out. If Europa hadn't shut her mouth, she would have gotten the
attention of the whole base. Europa was able to calm her down enough to show
her that it was only a little rat. Well, little for the mutations that Rubeus
had put the rats through in the place.
When they got to the end of the path, they came to a small door in the
floor of the room above them. They opened this, and found a small platoon of
Nega-monsters staring straight at them and pointing their various types of
weapons toward them.
"I think that the most logical situation would be to fight," Europa
whispered to Venus.
"I'm going to have to agree with you," Venus said, jumping out of the hole
and yelling her attack out. "Venus Love-chain, Encircle!" The love chain
appeared from out of nowhere, coiling around most of the enemies and refusing to
let go. The remaining few aimed their weapons and attacked. The first one was
a blob of goo, which changed to look like and act like Venus. It yelled out her
attack, and the chain circled around Venus. Europa came to Venus's rescue
before it could do any real damage to her.
"Europa Earth, Drop!" A small block of earth dropped on the doppelganger,
squishing it flat. The chain which had wrapped around Venus fell to the ground,
as limp as a normal chain. There wasn't much time to wait before the second of
the five attacked. It was a creature which was so unspeakably evil that most of
the Negaverse cringed at the mere mention of it. It was a pink, fuzzy bunny!
"And it's so darned cute, too!" Europa said under his breath as the bunny
threw razor-sharp hearts at them. Europa just barely got slashed across the
wrist. It wasn't a deep enough cut to hit the artery, but it did bleed badly.
He tore a bit off his costume and tied it up with that. "You're gonna pay for
that!" Europa called out in rage. He let out all of his energy into one attack.
"Europa Earth, Drop!" The room was full of earth where the creatures were
standing.
The two regrouped and headed for the nearest exit. That is, they would
have if they hadn't been captured by a falling energy net. It came out of thin
air and dropped on them. They were shocked by a strong current of electricity
flowing through the strands of the net. They couldn't take much, and were
knocked out in a split second.
Rubeus stepped out of the corner from where he had observed the whole
scene. If he could brainwash that Europa, he would be a valuable asset in the
battle with Sailor Moon. No, Wiseman wanted all the Scouts for another reason.
It was nice to dream, anyway. He mentally floated the two out of the room,
still under the net. They would join their friends.

Sailor Moon stared longingly at the air duct that was out of their reach.
How would they get inside if this sort of thing happened to them? She looked
around for Tuxedo Mask. He had disappeared the moment that Sailor Moon had
discovered that the air duct was too high for her or him. Behind her, she heard
a noise. It sounded small at first, growing in volume until the source of it
burst from the line of trees that surrounded the castle.
It was Tuxedo Mask, with his cane longer than usual. When he got closer,
Sailor Moon could see that the cane had some sticks attached to it. Tuxedo Mask
planted the cane firmly in the ground and used his momentum to vault himself up
to the wall, near where the duct opened up. His foot was close enough to kick
in the screen that covered the duct. He did this, then awkwardly worked his way
into the duct. When he was safely inside, he reached his arm as far down as he
could to help Sailor Moon up.
They were both inside and they strained their eyes to see what was down
the path ahead of them. There was no light except for the occasional dim light
source from openings in the duct. The pair started walking, looking through the
grating of each opening to see where they were in the base.
The first grate was over the entry way to the base, which was guarded by
what seemed to Sailor Moon like a hundred guards. The second one was a little
further down and few turns later. It was over the ball room where Jupiter and
Luna were supposed to have come out. Sailor moon caught her breath at the
panoramic view of the dance floor, with its intricate pictures and complex
color scheme. Tuxedo Mask was hardly able to drag her away from the view when
they had to moved on.
The third room was the prisoner's room, where the Crystal Carriers had
been held. The room held occupants at that moment, too. Sailor Moon figured
that they were probably just experiments of Rubeus's and moved on out of
boredom. She was stopped short, though, by Tuxedo Mask calling her back and
pointing her attention to the identities of the people.
The people's faces were hard to make out, but she could tell after a
Closer look that they were the other Scouts and the guardians. As they looked
on, a sound was heard which vibrated the metal duct. Suddenly, a door opened
beneath the two, dropping them into the room that they had been observing. They
were caught by a creature that looked like one of those mad scientists that you
see in the old, bad sci-fi movies and deposited on a table, where their hands
and legs were secured by straps made out of some hard metal.
As they were about to ask what was happening to them, Rubeus entered the
room from his observing place. He laughed as the Scouts all tried futilely to
escape.
"You realize that you have made a colossal mistake by coming here," Rubeus
said. "You won't win against me and my forces. Since you've caused me so much
irritation, I'll just have to destroy you. That's annoying, isn't it?"
"You'll never get away with this," Mercury said through gritted teeth.
"I would expect you to say that, Mercury," Rubeus said. "But I've got an
equally cliche saying for you. I already have." He turned to her and put his
hand to her forehead. Mercury suddenly went into convulsions for a few moments
before laying limp on the table where she was strapped in at. "Who wants to be
next?" Rubeus said, gesturing to the Droid who was standing at the door. It
moved to Mercury and un-strapped her, then it carried her away over its
shoulder. The other Scouts were shocked at the event that had just happened in
front of their eyes, and none spoke for fear of following the example that
Rubeus had made of the helpless Mercury.
Finally, Mars spoke. "Where did he take her?"
"Mercury is going to the furnace to be burned," Rubeus responded. "You're
all going to join her in time, but I'll just let you chill for a while." And
with that statement, he left the Scouts to themselves, trying to figure out what
they were going to do to escape.
"Any ideas?" Venus asked, getting no response. "If only we could get over
to that wall, the keys are over there." She pointed as best she could with her
hand still trapped over to the wall opposite them, where the keys dangled,
almost tauntingly off of a small hook.
"Wait a minute," Europa said. "Mars, your armor is on, right?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't it be?" Mars said. "Wait a minute, I see what you're
saying! I'll heat up my armor to free myself, then get the key to free you
all." She drew in a deep breath, sighing before setting her armor to its task.
"Fire Armor, Sear!" The manacles melted away almost instantly, and Mars went to
where the keys dangled from their hook. She made sure not to melt the keys when
she picked them up to take them to Europa first.
Before she could unlock him all the way, though, she was struck from
behind by a sharp blast of energy from Rubeus. She slumped onto the table that
held Europa. He noticed that she wasn't breathing. He couldn't tell if her
pulse had stopped yet, but it was a good estimation judging by the force that
Rubeus had put into the blast. Europa had felt the blast when it had hit Mars.
The same Droid returned to take the body away to the same place that Mercury's
body had gone. Rubeus replaced the keys on the hook.
Only when they were alone did anybody speak again.
"So Europa," Jupiter said, "I don't suppose that you'll be getting back in
time for your tutoring session with Melvin."
"That would be a good estimation," Europa replied. "Anyone else got any
ideas?"
Rigel called from his cage, "You've got one more power that we can use
right now."
"Why didn't you tell me about this before now?" Europa asked.
"Well, it's not a very useful power, and we've never needed it before
this, so I figured, what's the point? Anyway, you can use your Europa Magnets
power to turn the shackles into magnets that can attract the keys," Rigel said.
"Thanks loads, Rigel. Europa Magnets, Attract!" A power filled the
metal, turning it into a magnet. The keys were pulled through the air to where
they landed with a clank on the magnet near Europa's hand.
Europa reached as best he could with his hand and grabbed the keys. He
painfully twisted his hands to where they could put the keys in the hole and
unlock his hand. After a little bit of work, he had his hand free and was
working on the other one. As he was working, Rubeus came in to check on his
prisoners. Europa quickly hid the key in his pocket and put his hand back in
the shackle without locking it.
"So, how are my little friends doing now?" Rubeus asked, walking over to
Moon.
"What do you want with us?" Moon asked.
"You don't know by now?" Rubeus asked. "I want you all dead. You don't
mess with the Dark Moon and get away with it."
"Why don't you just kill us all at once then?" Venus asked.
"First of all, it's not fun that way. Second of all, I want you to suffer
by seeing your comrades die. You will eventually go mad and want to die
yourself." To accent his point, he took aim with his hand and shot Jupiter.
She wasn't dead, Moon could tell, but if she wasn't rushed somewhere quickly,
she would die.
"You know," Europa said, "There's an easier way to make us go crazy. Just
show us really bad movies until our brains turn to slush."
"I tried that with another person, and it didn't work at all," Rubeus
replied with a sniff. "I'll just leave you all to yourselves." And he left the
room.
Europa took his hand from out of the metal shackle and took the key from
his pocket. He began working on his other hand again until it was free. Then
he started on the feet. As he began working on his right foot, Rubeus entered
again. Seeing Europa freeing himself, he took a blast at Europa. Europa ducked
under the blast and used his power.
"Europa Sandstorm, Blow!" The air was full of sand particles, blowing at
Rubeus and stinging his eyes. Europa got back to his work of unlocking his
feet, and when he wasn't looking, Rubeus took another shot. The shot hit
Europa, who, ironically, had just gotten his last foot free. The shot wasn't
hard enough to kill Europa, but it did knock him for a loop. He hit the back
wall and went unconscious.
"Stupid freak," Rubeus said under his breath as he left the room.
"So, do we have any more bright ideas?" Tuxedo Mask asked.
"Well, if I could reach my meatballs, then I could pick the lock," Sailor
Moon said.
"What do you mean?" Venus asked.
"What? You think that this 'do is normal? I need some major hair pins to
keep these up." Serena bent her head over to her hands and started searching
through her meatballs for a hair pin. When she found one, she started picking
her lock. Without any training, she didn't know a thing about what she was
doing, but she was able to figure it out after a couple of minutes. She had her
hand free and was working on the other one. Soon, she was completely free and
had the key in her hand. She had the others out in a matter of moments. They
went to check Europa and Jupiter.
He was in good shape for the most part, but they didn't know the extent of
his injuries. Jupiter wasn't half as well off as Europa. Rigel took a small
black box out of his subspace pocket and pointed it at Europa and Jupiter. He
turned it on and they vanished.
"Where'd they go?" Venus asked.
"I sent them to Central Command. They'll take care of Jupiter and Europa,
and they'll be fine in a day or two, if I know my injuries," Rigel answered.
The two remaining Scouts, Tuxedo Mask, and the guardians left the room
after scanning the hallway to be sure that it was safe. They walked in the
direction that they had seen Rubeus go when he left the room and followed the
hallway. When they got to a point where there was a hallway intersecting their
own, they stopped to consider which way to go.
After a moment of deliberating, they decided to keep on the original path.
They started walking down the path, and they heard the sound of Raye screaming
from the other path. Without thinking, they started running towards the voice.
They found Raye being held under a bed of spikes, and the bed being lowered on
her. Venus was the first to react, running towards Raye.
When she was about to reach for Raye to save her, the floor dropped out
from under Venus. Venus was able to grab the ledge to keep from falling. She
looked below herself and saw a pit of spikes, with snakes crawling around in the
pit. She truly didn't want to go in there. According to Rubeus, though, who
showed up just as she fell in, she didn't have much of a choice.
"You will die!" Rubeus said, stamping on Venus's fingers. She let go with
one hand, getting it stamped on each time that she put it back, then the other
let go. She felt the spinning sensation of falling, and then, a split second of
pain, in which she cried out.

Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask stood in utter astonishment as they saw Venus
fall away from the side of the pit into the bottom. Sailor Moon heard the
scream, then looked away in pain.
Rubeus teleported away, leaving the others to mourn their losses. Tuxedo
Mask walked over to the edge of the pit and looked in. There had been snakes in
the pit, which were already swarming over their food for the month.
He could hardly see any of what was left of Venus, and by the looks of the
spikes at the bottom, he was glad that he couldn't. He walked over to Moon and
wrapped her in a reassuring embrace. She felt safe in his grasp, and that was
comforting, but only slightly. They still had to either destroy Rubeus or get
killed themselves. Neither of them liked the latter choice.
Luna and the other guardians walked up and gave their opinion of the whole
situation.
"We've got to get out of here," Luna said.
"We should get rid of Rubeus first," Artemis said.
"And quickly," Rigel confirmed.
"But how?" Moon asked. "There's only two of us here."
"That doesn't mean that we can't win," Tuxedo said.
They went on in the direction that they had originally been going, and
eventually came to a large, ornately decorated door, made out of oak from the
look of it. They pushed it open with a considerable amount of effort.
Inside was a large chair that was more like a throne, made of gold and
upholstered in red material that looked like silk. They approached the chair,
and a flash of light went through the room. When everyone's eyes had readjusted
to the dark, they saw Rubeus sitting in the chair, looking very smug.
"So, you've finally decided to join me here for your own deaths," Rubeus
said.
"What are you talking about?" Moon asked. "We're the ones who are going
to defeat you!"
"Oh, but I disagree. You know how music can affect the outcome of a
battle? Well, I've hired someone to play a special number just for this
occasion." A light shone on a corner, where a band was sitting with its
instruments at the ready. Rubeus started them up, and they began playing a
funeral dirge. "You'll be hearing your own dirge play as you go to the grave."
"I don't think so!" Tuxedo Mask said, throwing some roses at the stunned
Rubeus. The first rose caught Rubeus across the face, sending him spinning.
The rest pinned him all over the body, sending small rivulets of blood down his
clothes.
He turned back to the two heroes, sending curses their way, then
attacking. He shot some blasts towards them. Tuxedo was able to dodge with
plenty of time, but Sailor Moon tripped over herself. She wasn't able to get up
in time to get out of the way of the blasts. She screamed in fear. She didn't
want to die. She doesn't have to die, Artemis thought as he jumped in the way
of the oncoming blast. He was knocked into Sailor Moon.
"Artemis, you saved me!" Sailor moon said as she cradled the injured cat
in her arms.
"I know, Princess," Artemis said, closing his eyes for the last time.
Sailor Moon was too hurt by this to let Rubeus get away with it. She stood up
and took out her Scepter. She aimed it towards Rubeus and put all her remaining
energy into the one blast.
"Moon Scepter, ELIMINATION!" The Scepter went to its work, pouring out
energy onto the enemy and his band. The band disintegrated in a few moments,
but Rubeus had a force field up, protecting him from the initial attack. Tuxedo
Mask could see Moon tiring and could also see that Rubeus wasn't weakening. He
rushed to Moon and grabbed her. He was able to transfer his energy to her to
give her the blast that was needed to cripple the force-field and hit Rubeus.
Rubeus felt the attack breaching his force-field and started to panic. As
he felt the energy hit him, he gave up. He dropped the force-field and fell to
the floor. His mind was clear for the first time in his life.
"Sailor Moon, You've defeated me! I was going to kill you, but I
couldn't. Please, you must listen to me. During the first part of my life, I
was good. The Dark Moon came and took my life and home for their own. They
forced me into servitude and brainwashed me. If you can forgive me, then I can
die a happy man."
"I forgive you," Moon said. Rubeus smiled as he disappeared into nothing,
his life ending. With that, she broke into tears. Too many lives had been lost
on this mission. She wanted to have her friends back, but there was no way to
get it. Tuxedo helped her to her feet, for she had sunk to her knees during her
crying. She looked back at the spot where she had been sitting, and saw why he
had pulled her away.
Where her tears had fallen, there were small holes in the floor, growing
larger by the moment. The holes emitted a silver light, lighting the dim room.
When the holes had grown to about five feet in width, they stopped growing.
"What are they?" Sailor Moon asked, awestruck by the utter beauty of the
pools of silver. It looked like mercury in its purest.
"They're emotion pools," Luna said. "They're very rare, only occurring
once in a lifetime. I've only heard of them once before, but it was during the
Silver Millennium. They're used to recover the dead at the price of a life.
You must only attempt it if you truly want the person brought back, or it won't
work."
"I want them back," Moon said, stepping toward the pools.
"Wait, Princess," Rigel said, stopping her. "You don't have to go. I'll
do it."
"Why should you have to give your life for them?" Sailor Moon asked.
"So that you don't have to. You're the Princess, and the others are
needed to guide you. I've served my purpose, training Europa. I'll be all
right. Besides, these things happen so often, I figure, what the hell! Maybe
you'll find a way to save me some day!" Rigel looked at Luna and asked, "So,
how do these things work, anyway?"
"Step in, and look for the spirit or spirits, in our case, and push them
back towards the opening. They'll emerge unscathed, and you'll be trapped there
for the rest of your life in their stead."
"Sounds like a good deal," Rigel said, stepping into the pool. He
disappeared below the surface, which didn't ripple at all. It just emitted the
same eerie light. After a few moments, Mercury emerged, followed by Mars,
Artemis, and Venus. They all had puzzled looks on their faces.
When all four had emerged completely and were away from the pools, the
pools disappeared. Sailor Moon, Tuxedo Mask, and Luna rushed over to the others
and embraced them tightly.
"What happened?" Mars asked.
"It's a long story," Luna said. "Let's just say that you can know what
your mom went through on a smaller scale."
"Let's get out of here," Moon said.
"Wait," Venus said, "Where's Rigel?"
"He gave his life to save you all," Tuxedo Mask said. "He did it by his
own consent, and he knew that he wouldn't be coming back."
"I swear on behalf of the Moon that I will find a way to bring Rigel
back," Moon said. "Considering the fact that I keep finding ways to resurrect
everyone else, it doesn't seem too impossible."
"Yeah, well, I don't think that Michael will be too happy to find out that
his dog has died," Venus said.
"When he learns that it was in order to bring you back, he'll understand,"
Mercury said.
"Can we get out of here?" Moon asked impatiently.
The four Scouts gathered together in a close circle and chanted the words,
"Scout Power, Scout Teleport." Almost instantly, they were teleported out of
the room to their home.

A long distance above the Earth, a UFO hung in the air silently and
undetected. A figure watched from the inside of that UFO at the scene that had
just taken place in his castle.
"They're stronger than I thought," Rubeus said to himself. "It's a good
thing that I made that replica of myself as a precautionary measure against this
sort of thing happening. I just hope that Wiseman doesn't find out about this.
Hmph! Started my life as good- Who programmed that thing, anyway?"
The UFO moved out of its position and into space to do some heavy research
and development before its next offensive on the planet. Rubeus reasoned that
he might have more luck by trying to attack different parts of the planet.

A few mornings later, Michael awoke in his bed, as usual. Rigel wasn't at
the foot of his bed. Michael wondered why. Rigel always loved waking him up.
Michael went through his usual morning routine without thinking another
thing about Rigel. He left his house a little early so that he could go talk to
Serena before class started. When he got to class, he found someone who he
hadn't expected to see. Amy was sitting at her desk, and Michael joined her. He
asked her about what had happened after he had left so that she could be there.
She didn't reply for a long time. Michael could sense something in her manner
that suggested sadness.
"What happened?" he asked.
"Rigel sacrificed himself to save us," Amy said with tears sparkling in
her eyes. Michael could feel some welling up in his own. He had loved Rigel so
much during the years that he had known Rigel, and now, Rigel was gone. "It was
the only way to do it. He went very peacefully, it was his own decision."
"I figured that he would go like that," Michael said, "Or something about
choking on dog food. I'll just have to get on with my life now."
"Yes, it's not like it was you who died. You've got to be thankful about
our own lives and his actions. He wouldn't want you to go on in any other way
than normal."
"I can get over it, just like I had to get over giving my cats away to get
Rigel. Maybe we can get more cats now. Oh, well, I've got to get to my desk
now. Class is starting." He sat down at his desk, and the instant that Ms.
Haruna started teaching, he felt back in his element. He would get over this
through learning and fun. The concert was that night. He would take Mina, and
they would forget about their priorities for one night. One enjoyable night.

End of Shadows From the Past.

Coming soon: Missing Crystals Series part one

MAN, THAT WAS LONG!!! I never meant to drag it out like that, but that's
the way that I am sometimes. When I'm writing things to post, I try to minimize
the lengths. When I write for myself, I write for hundreds of pages. But,
that's not the point.
E-mail me at: jmh6187@uncwil.edu. I'll read anything and reply if I can.
See you next time!