Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Sugar Princess ❯ Final Show Down ( Chapter 9 )

Reeni appeared in a large palace. It mostly like it was decorated in shadows it was so dark but light was actually shining in through the few windows above.

She walked down one of the halls where light seemed to filter through the most. There weren't many portraits of people but there were many of flowers of different sorts and colors. She gasped when she saw the one portrait where there people.

The picture hung at the end near a large window, casting light over the whole showing. Reeni herself stood at the top of the picture in her princess form, Helios standing next to her in his usual attire with the Golden Crystal shining brightly above them. The asteroid scouts stood below them. Ceres below Reeni with flowers blowing across her form, Vesta standing beside her and underneath Helios with flames encircling her form lightly, Juno stood below Ceres with electricity wrapped in a swirl around her, and lastly Pallas stood under Vesta and beside Juno with a beautiful waterfall cascading behind her.

"Lovely, isn't it princess?" A cheerful voice said behind her.

Reeni jumped and quickly turned around her. "Who are you? Why did you bring me here?" She demanded.

The man turned his gaze to her and smiled. "Where are my manors in front of one of the royals? Please forgive me," he bowed to her.

Reeni was confused but didn't let it show.

"Allow me to introduce myself to her highness. My name is Aristae. You did get my note I sent you, did you not?"

"So you're the one who sent it, but then why are you acting all nice? Why not be like the rest of them and have me chained to a wall to take my power away greedily."

"Because I, my dear princess, am a gentlemen and aren't like the others. I like to have a fight once in a while. It's hard to find a good competitor to go up against these days. But you have great power and I'd love to win it over."

"You… this is all a game for you isn't it? My power is just some prize for you isn't it? Well this isn't a game for me; it's real. I want to go home! I want to go back to my life!"

"You can go home when I'm through with you. I'm sorry for having to keep you here, but rules of the game are made by me and I don't make exceptions. Now, I'm sure you'd like to know where your room is since I did say in the note that are battle was to be scheduled for tomorrow. Is evening all right with you? I wasn't sure how long you liked to sleep."

"You aren't listening to me! I want to go home, please! Just leave me alone!" Reeni fell to her knees and held her face in her hands so Aristae wouldn't see her tears. She was tired and she hated this power that everybody seemed to know about and want except for her.

"Now, now my dear. I promise I'll let you go home when the games are over. I'll even personally see to it that if you win I'll escort you home and make sure nobody bothers you again."

Reeni looked up. "And I if lose?"

"I'll get your power and you probably won't survive having it taken from you."

Reeni gasped and looked back down at the marble floors. "I'll do it." She whispered. She was desperate and would now do anything to get some peace in her life. `How could I ever wished to be different and more special than the other scouts when I was younger? I was so selfish! I wish I could take it all back now!'

"Follow me, my princess. I'll take you to your room. I'm sure you'll want to get some rest for tomorrow." Aristae turned and walked down another hall, going slowly so Reeni would have time to catch up.

Reeni stood and followed after the one who promised her freedom. She couldn't believe she just made a deal with one of her enemies but he did promise her the riddance of any more attacks to her to her power and she had nothing else to believe in.

Aristae stopped a few minutes later in front of a large wooden door in one of the towers. "I'm sure you'd like dinner in your room so I'll have it sent to you. Unless of course, you'd like to share it with me?"

"No, I'm sorry if I seem rude, but I'm not feeling very hungry."

"No? Alright then, there's a silver bell by the door on the inside if you change your mind. Ring it once if you need something and twice if you're hungry. I'll leave you to yourself then. See you in the afternoon." He left down the hall once more.

Reeni looked out the tower window opposite of her door. It was a beautiful scene and she would've loved to enjoy it had the situation be happier for her. She slipped her hands into her pajama pants and gasped, pulling out her communicator.

`Duh! Of course! How could I have forgotten about this? I always have it with me even when I'm sleeping!'

With a smile and a mischievous glint in her amber eyes she turned and walked into her current bedroom.

She looked around and was about to walk back out and throw herself out the window, but stopped herself before she got to the door. She couldn't believe she was thinking this but she thought the room was beautiful.

There was a round canopy bed in the middle of the room and all the walls had pictures of her family and she even found one of Helios. There was a large window at the other end of the room overlooking a large lake and a beautiful waterfall cascading down in the crystal clear waters. It sort of made her think that Aristae had been watching her and didn't just think of her a girl with strong powers. It made her feel a little uncomfortable about being around him now.

Shaking those thoughts away she sat down on the bed and pulled out her communicator. Pushing the pink button with the crescent moon on it she waited for Serena to pick it up.

After a few seconds, not Serena', but Diana's face appeared on the screen.

"PRINCESS REENI!!!!"

Reeni sighed but nodded at her future companion. "Hey, Diana. Is Serena or anybody around?"

"No, they're out looking for any traces of you. Pararoo and Helios are here, but they're broken down in crying fits. After you disappeared Helios just couldn't control himself and he broke down. King Darien had to comfort him and everything. I thought he would explode he cried so hard. And poor Pararoo started to cry shortly after him. The highnesses thought it would be better if they stayed home so they wouldn't draw attention to themselves."

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I hope they're okay. Please, Diana, can you bring Helios to communicator? I need to talk to them and I might not have much time."

"Of course, Princess." Diana picked up the small communicator and rushed downstairs. She nudged Helios' knee with her nose and edged him to look up.

"Not now, Diana." He mumbled out.

"But Helios, it's important and I think you need to see this."

Reeni felt terrible. Helios didn't even sound like his normal self. He sounded just so broken. Realizing he wasn't about to look up though she knew the only thing that would made him look up. "Helios, please I need to talk to you."

Helios looked up in surprise and quickly glanced his eyes everywhere and then back down to the kitten, the communicator sitting beside her with his pink-haired maiden looking up at him with a sad smile.

"My maiden!" He picked up the device and held it to him closely before pulling him back to see Reeni's face once more. "My Reeni, are you okay?"

"I'm fine Helios. I'm not sure where I am but the scouts can get to me once you get the communicator to them. Can you do it?"

"Of course, anything for you my princess." He stood and ran out of the house, calling Pararoo after him.

After a few minutes Amy's face appeared on the screen.

"Hey, Amy." Reeni greeted with relief.

"Hello Reeni. Hold on, I'll just trace a few things with my computer real fast and we'll be able to be there in a little bit to get you home."

Reeni smiled and nodded.

Amy's face disappeared and Helios' face came back to the screen. Reeni didn't mind though. She knew it must've been terrible for him to have her in his arms one second and disappear without a trace the next. It must have given him such a fright.

After about fifteen minutes though a sad Amy's face reappeared. "Reeni, something's wrong. It's blocked so I can't get into it without some work first. It's going to take longer than we thought."

"I understand, but I don't have much time. Aristae, the guy who's keeping me here, is acting like this is a game. He said that at tomorrow at noon our fight is to start and if he wins he's going to take it away."

"What happens when you win?"

"If I win then he said he's going to bring me home and personally see to it that nobody bothers me again."

"Well, I'll crack at it as long as I can and as soon as possible we'll teleport and help you out."

"Please hurry. This place is creeping me out. He's actually treating me like royalty. It feels like he's up to something."

Amy nodded and Daren's face replaced hers. "Are you okay, Reeni? He hasn't hurt you has he?"

"No, I'll be fine until tomorrow noon though. That's when I have to start worrying."

"Just try to stay calm and we'll be there as soon as we can. Taiki's working on his computer as well and so his Darien and Amy and Michelle. Hopefully that'll get things done faster."

"I'm counting on you guys."

Daren nodded and looked up for a minute. He looked back down with a frown. "They need the communicator so they can start working on it. Please stay as safe as you can. I'll make sure Helios will be okay too for you."

"Thanks. Bye."

The screen went blank and she put it away once more. Looking around she suddenly felt tired and closed her eyes letting sleep claim her.

Waking up she glanced at the clock and it read ten. She shivered lightly and realized that she only had two hours. Pulling her communicator back out she sighed. The screen was blinking with the word `Offline' meaning the scouts were still working. Standing up she decided to have a walk around and maybe find something to do before Aristae came to retrieve her for their game.

Two hours seem to go by too fast when Aristae appeared in front of her with a smile. She stepped back and quickly transformed into her Super form.

"It's a shame really." Aristae licked his lips as he looked her over. "You really are gorgeous. It's just such a shame that you die if your power it taken from you. Your body wouldn't be able to stand it if that happened."

"Forget it! I'd never be with you even if you kept me alive and safe from everyone else who wanted my power! My love and heart is already given to somebody else and you'll never take that away!"

"I see. Then, your highness, I will truly miss you." He bowed before raising his sword and slicing it back down through the air.

Reeni tried to block the attack but was thrown back against the wall.

Attacks blew everywhere. Some hitting the targets some not, some breaking windows or statues, and others just scraping the person's arm or cheek or leg.

It seemed like hours before Reeni collapsed on the ground out of exhaustion.

Aristae laughed at her. "Growing tired are you, princess? I'll help put you to rest?" He pulled the sword down through the air once more but it was pushed back towards him with a great force.

He crashed against the wall and groaned as he looked up. He noticed a burn mark on the floor and heard the snapping of boots against his marble floor. Thinking Reeni was running away he looked further up, but only to see more scouts.

The Asteroid Scouts were standing in front of Reeni and looked completely pissed off. Pararoo and Helios were kneeling over Reeni and making sure she was okay; Helios' eyes glittered with tears as he held the girl who was nearly unconscious.

To his left the Planet Scouts blocked the hall and Tuxedo Mask and the Outer Scouts and Starlites blocked the opposite.

"Nobody touched are leader like that you jerk!" Vesta yelled out at him.

"We won't let you get away with this!" Ceres called out as well.

Helios picked Reeni up in his arms and turned a nasty glare at him that sent shivers down his spine. But even then the jealously couldn't put itself down at the sight. It was true he had started to fall in love with Reeni, maybe he already had. His hopes and dreams were surrounded with the pink-haired scout but as she had told him her heart was taken.

The scouts fired their attacks as best as they could but with his high power level he escaped with scratched and bruises. He swore he would get a taste of her lips and he wasn't going to lose that vow when he was so close. He continued to walk towards the girl despite the other scouts' efforts to stop him or push him away. He was only thrown back before from Mar's and Vesta's attacks because he was caught off guard of them.

Helios backed to the wall with Reeni still clasped in his arms. He wouldn't let this man take anything from Reeni, especially if it would kill her. He would die first.

The girl in the priest's arms then groaned slightly in pain and the auburn eyes opened and blinked slightly. She took in her surroundings before her eyes landed on Helios. She smiled and rose a hand to his cheek, which he leaned into happily.

Jealousy arose in Aristae once more and his pace moved fasted towards them. Her eyes then turned to him in a cold glare that had him frozen in his tracks. It was true Helios' glare had made real shivers run down his back but her glare was much worse.

Helios set her down and helped steady her on her feet before letting her go reluctantly. She stepped forward still glaring at the daring to move toward her love.

"You hurt everything I ever loved. You almost hurt Helios, you've exhausted everybody even if you didn't mean to, but most of all you tried to hurt me. Do you want to know just how angry that makes me. To think that you loved me."

Aristae gasped and stared at her in awe. "How did you…"

"Do you take me for stupid. The paintings, the way you set my room up, the way you gave me little chances to get out of having to play your twisted games, it was only a matter of time before I figured it out and I did. You treated me like royalty because you liked me and you truly didn't want to hurt me. But you did and now you had to go and ruin it by making me pissed off, didn't you?" As she scolded the villain, without realizing it, pink energy started to surround her and her form changed slightly into her Sugar Power form.

Aristae was unconsciously stepping backwards as the energy grew larger.

"… and for all that I won't stand for it!" As she finished the energy around her exploded and released completely from her body as it sailed after Aristae and even crowded all direction so it headed for the scouts as well.

In quickly thinking Mini Pluto raised her staff and called for her shield to protect everybody. After a few minutes the energy died down and the smoke cleared.

The first thing Helios did was he looked for Reeni. He gasped as he saw her unmoving form and clawed at the bubble surround him until it popped as Mini Pluto released it. Immediately he ran towards Reeni, calling her name.

"Reeni! Wake up Reeni! Please you can't leave like this!"

Mercury walked over and knelt on the other side of the future scout. As she looked over Reeni she easily noticed the large decrease in her power as she checked for a heartbeat. In shock she turned to look at everyone else and in a surprised whisper, "It's gone. Her sugar power has completely vanished. The released it to defeat Aristae and it won't ever come back."

Helios looked at her with tears flowing down his cheeks. "What good does that do if she dies?"

Flustered Amy turned back to her mini-computer and typed away. She gasped and smiled lightly at Helios. Turned the computer so he could see more tears flowed down his cheeks from his now red eyes before pulling Reeni's form into his arms and held her tightly.

Mercury turned back to everyone else. She knew Helios would be happy for a heartbeat no matter how small, but even he failed to realize just how small it was. "There's a heartbeat but it's very small. If we don't hurry she might not make it at all."

Helios glanced back up with a determined look. He picked Reeni up in his arms and held her closely. He walked over to Darien and placed his future daughter in his arms. He took a step back and transformed into Pegasus.

"You're life force will help keep her sustained for now, Darien. I'll carry you back to the house quickly so she can be tended to faster."

Darien nodded, remembering how he had done the same for Reeni when Hotaru had been taken over by Mistress Nine and her heart crystal had been taken from her. He nodded to Serena for comfort before being flown out one of the windows, holding Reeni to him tightly.

It was a few weeks later that Reeni had started to show any signs of recovery. True, she hadn't woken up and was far from it but her heartbeat was coming close to normal once more and Darien no longer had to hold her to sustain her. Helios, though, never left her side. He always sat on her windowsill holding her hand, whispering little nothings to her and urging her to open her beautiful amber eyes for him once more.

It wasn't until a few weeks later that Amy came out of the room with a bright smile on her face. Everyone looked into the room quickly after seeing this, thinking that Reeni was awake. All they saw though was Reeni still in the bed with Helios holding her close, the familiar tears rolling down his cheeks. The only difference though was that there was now a smile on her face.

"I have good news everybody." Amy announced after getting their attention once more. Everyone watched her closely, anxious to hear what she had to say. "Reeni's going to be okay, she isn't unconscious anymore; just sleeping."

Smiles broke out on everyone's faces and happy tears started to sparkle in a few eyes. Amy smiled at them and then left to go downstairs.

Daren walked into Reeni's room and sat down on the floor. He took one of her hands and held it to his cheek with a smile. "You're going to be okay now, Reeni. Maybe we'll finally be able to have normal lives for a while. And nobody's going to come after you anymore." He whispered.

Reeni shifted in the bed before amber eyes opened for the first time in a month, confusion clearly written in them. She looked at Helios and raised a hand to wipe his tears away. "What happened?"

Daren's eyes widened and he looked up with a large smile. "You're awake!" He nearly shouted.

"I think I knew that part already. What happened to Aristae?"

"He's gone, my maiden. He's never coming back, you killed him."

"It was risky wasn't it? I'm sorry for worrying all of you. I was just desperate to have my regular life back."

"You knew what you were doing?" Daren asked perplexed.

Reeni nodded sadly. "Yes, I knew. I thought we would never be able to beat him because he was too strong for us even with all of the scouts put together. I knew he had fallen in love me and that just made me ever more angry because that meant they would do anything to win my heart and that also meant they would try to hurt you, Helios. I couldn't ever let that happen."

Helios smiled and placed a kiss on her cheek. "I'm just glad you're alive. So I guess you know that your sugar power doesn't exist anymore?"

Reeni nodded, a little happier. "Yes, I had to get rid of it. I never wanted it and besides, I was getting tired of every battle I fought I ended up in a bed."

Helios smiled and snuggled up against her. "Now we can be together."

Reeni nodded and played with the curls in his hair. "Always, my dreamer."

Daren smiled at the happy couple. `They really belong together. And I'm glad they are. Reeni's right; I do think of her as more of a close sister. I could never have her for myself like Helios does. I have part of her heart and that's all I need to know that I have a part of it… a part of her.'

Reeni spent the next couple of days in bed with Helios beside her before she had enough strength to start walking around again. She was brought to the park and the arcade just to have a good time and spend time with her friends.

But all good things come to an end when she received a note from her parents. She read it aloud to everyone.

Dearest Reeni,

Now that your training is nearly complete we'd like you to come home tomorrow morning to fulfill the rest of your duties as princess. We've missed you very much and we can't wait to see you tomorrow.

Love,

Mother and Father

"You have to go home? But will you be able to come back?" Serena asked, half frightened of what the answer could be and half hoping she would be able to.

Reeni looked up with tears in her eyes. Helios came over and wrapped his arms around her to comfort her. She held onto his arms as she shook her head `no'.

"My parents told me that once I was done with my training I'd have to stay in the future."

Tears streamed down Serena's cheeks as she repeatedly shook her head no. Her and Reeni had been through too much to be able to just be separated from each other. She knew this day would come sooner or later. Darien continued to hold her as she let silent tears slide from her eyes.

The next morning everybody was standing around the oak tree in the park. It was early enough that nobody else was in the park and they were thankful for that. That way they would be able to have a bit longer of a goodbye.

"We'll miss you, Reeni."

"We hope you'll be happy in the future."

"I'll miss you guys too. I wish I could see you again like this instead of in the future only. You guys always seem too busy for me then, but I'm sure in a few years I'll be busy too."

"Don't let your dad pick any normal guys to court you okay, Reeni. You're far from the average." Mina joked.

"Okay Mina."

The Mini Outer Scouts all gave Reeni a hug and waved her goodbye.

"Maybe I might be able to see you guys in the future too."

"Maybe little princess." Trista told her.

"I should go." She reached into her pocket and pulled out her Crystal Key. "I will miss you… all of you very much." More tears began to sparkle in her amber eyes. "And thank you for everything."

She looked up once more and saw Helios standing near the back. He didn't want her to see but he was crying, even though he was terrible at hiding it.

"Helios?"

The keeper of dreams looked up at his name and smiled sadly at his maiden.

"I think I'll miss you most, Helios. Will you be able to visit me?"

"Maybe someday, my precious one, I hope we will."

They hugged each other tightly, neither wanting to let go. Reluctantly they pulled apart. Helios kissed her once more before stepping back to give her room.

Reeni raised the key above her head and took one last breath before calling out, "Crystal Key, take me home!"

The key shown brightly and there was a white flash before everything stopped for a second.

Everyone looked at where Reeni was standing a second before and they sighed sadly.

Darien put his hand on Helios' shoulder to comfort him. "You never know what the future holds, Helios. You might see Reeni in the future more than you think."

Helios nodded and looked up to see Pararoo getting ready to leave as well. "I'll miss you guys. Sweet dreams to all of you." You flew up into the sky and waved once more before taking off. Calling behind him, "Sorry I have to leave so quickly."

Helios took out the Gold Crystal with a sad sigh. "I should be leaving too. My sisters are probably tired of taking care of the shrine without my help. Sorry I have to leave so quickly."

"That's okay, my friend. We understand. Will you be okay though?"

"Of course, King Endymion. I'll just need time." The Gold Crystal shown brightly just as the key before Helios too disappeared back to Elysion.

"Well, girls, I think it's time for us to take our leave as well. We still have some things to do before we follow our leader to the future." Ves-Ves announced.

"You're leaving so soon?" Serena asked, looking up from Darien.

"Sorry, but like Ves said, we do have some things to do before we follow Reeni." Cere replied.

"If you must."

"We'll miss you guys too. Have a good rest of your normal lives I guess." Jun-Jun joked.

"Before you go though can we ask you something?" Rae asked.

"Sure."

"If you guys we our kids all along, just split, does that mean we don't have any children in the future."

"Sorry if we brought your hopes up about it, but no you don't. We are sorry we made you think that. The King and Queen knew about it though and so did the scouts of the future."

"And now Reeni knows too. We have a future now the way things are supposed to be."

"You should head out then. We're glad we were able to see you one last time."

"So are we."

Ves-Ves smirked as she got an idea. "Look, a UFO!" She pointed.

Everyone turned their heads quickly in surprise, but looked back to where the girls were standing in confusion. A greater surprise was the girls were no longer there.

"They must not really like goodbyes, huh?" Lita laughed.

Everybody shook their heads.

"We should be going too. We're going find somewhere that will help our dreams come true." Tiger's Eye exclaimed.

Everybody nodded and watched the trio walk off.

"Nothing left to do except go on with or lives now, I guess. We'll see Reeni again in the future. And when that happens she'll be our Reeni, right Darien?"

The future king nodded. "That's right, Serena. Our own little Reeni, and then we'll get to raise her for real."