OK, there should be only one more chapter, and then this monster is OVER,
and I can get working on other things. (By golly, a fic that's actually
going the way I planned it, what an experience.)

As usual, C&C welcome, MST's encouraged.

**********

Shieldsman: Act II
A Sailor Moon S Fanfic

All Sailor Moon characters the property of the people who have rights to
them.  Don't sue me.

***

9 - War Council

***

Blood sat in a deserted apartment and meditated.  It wasn't meditation to
find inner peace, no, the aim of this trance was to find his inner
darkness.  In that sense, maybe it was an attempt to find peace.  A mission
to calm the war that raged inside his mind between the darkness that was
Blood and the light that was Crimson.  Or Ares.  Or Kaneda.  Such idiocy,
this reincarnation.  Why was one name, one life not sufficient for these
fools?

Images flashed through Blood's mind as he considered his enemies. He
fantasized of how he would slay them and steal their power, especially the
King and Queen.  One would provide him with an entire planet to corrupt and
feed upon, and the other would give him a power that surpassed that of
gods.

But first, the Senshi - Uranus, and Neptune.  He had almost beat them, but
they had grown more powerful than he had expected them to be.  His head and
gut still throbbed from the power of their attacks.  Killing them would be
a pleasure, but such a venture would require careful planning.  

After the combat, Blood had ransacked Crimson's memories on the pair, and
realized his mistake.  He should have tried to kill Uranus first.  She was
the headstrong one, the one who would become unpredictable and
uncontrollable when her partner was destroyed.  Neptune, on the other hand,
was a much more even-tempered and fragile enemy.  If she didn't collapse
from grief at Uranus' death, she too would go into a killing rage.  Blood
preferred those odds.

The other Outer Senshi?  Pluto would be trouble.  That one was probably
even more powerful than Saturn, in her own way.  He would have to go for
her as one of his final targets.  Saturn was an enigma, and a dangerous one
at that.  If he could bring forward the darkness within her, and control
it, she would be an excellent consort for his rulership of this planet.  If
he could not summon that darkness, or he could not control her, she would
be as great a threat as Pluto.

Blood laughed as his mind drifted to the Inner Senshi.  Even if they were
more powerful than they were five centuries ago, they would be no trouble. 
It would be a shame to kill them outright, especially Jupiter.  That boy,
Apollo, had some attachment to her.  Maybe she could be used to corrupt
him, to allow the darkness in Blood to instill in Apollo with the same
power his mother had with those three boys from the Moon Kingdom.  The
faces of the other Inner Senshi floated through his mind.  Mercury, far too
wise, and far too weak for her own good.  That computer of hers would be a
great asset.  Venus would die as she lived - fast and furiously.  But Mars,
she would be special.

*Not Rei damnit leave her alone you bastard you hear me not Rei never Rei*

Pain shot through Blood's head, and he hissed in anger.  With effort, he
drove that voice down with his own retort.  *You failed her.  You failed
her once, and you'll fail her again.  This time it will be your own hand
that kills her.*  He smiled as he felt that inner voice howl with rage and
agony, and go hurtling into its shell in the depths of their mind.

Mars, that was the problem. Crimson was attached to her stronger than he
should be.  It was something deeper, far more powerful than anything Blood
had ever seen before.  That twisted weakness called love he could
comprehend and work with.  Jadeite had loved Pluto, but it was not like
this.   Blood could not understand this absolute devotion that Crimson had
to the woman.

He could not understand it, but he could use it.

***

"Where's Rei?" Haruka asked as he sat in the council room.  "Doesn't she
have anything to say about this?"  Serenity and Ami exchanged a look, and
finally Ami spoke.

"I have her under sedation," she admitted, then shook her head in dismay. 
"I don't know how it happened, but somehow, Ares' link to her has become
two-way.   She's feeling everything he is, and it's destroying her."  She
stopped speaking, took a deep breath, and continued.  "She's got too much
to live for now."

"Damn straight she does!" Makoto growled.  "That's her man out there!"

Serenity cleared her throat, and and the discussion in the room subsided. 
"Rei will not be involved in our efforts to rescue Ares.  First, because of
what he said to Haruka and Michiru on that roof.  Like I was with Tuxedo
Mask, she is the key to Ares recovery.  If she dies, we will have lost him
forever."  She paused to allow that to sink in, and then continued. 
"Second, she isn't just risking her life alone, she's risking two lives
now."  Makoto eeped, and Apollo grinned, but with the exception of Ami, the
others looked blank.  "Rei is pregnant."  

Haruka started to cough, Minako gasped, and Michiru paled.  Endymion smiled
lightly.  Pluto nodded in satisfaction.  At her side, Jadeite said nothing,
he merely looked at the two objects in front of him.  "You all seem
surprised," Apollo chuckled.  "The way those two have been going at it for
the past month, I would have expected it."  Pluto glared at him, and he
glared back.  "Don't start with me, Aunt Susanna.  I'm dealing with this,
my way."

Michiru looked at the two, and decided to preempt the argument that was
about to start.  "Usagi, when we fought Blood, he said something about
thanking you for the power you instilled in that body."  She paused.  "He
shrugged off a World Shaking like it was nothing.  Even our more powerful
attacks did very little aside from stun him.  What did you do to him?"

Serenity looked grim.  "When the Shieldsmen were created, Queen Serenity
did something very irresponsible.  I don't know why she let the magic run
wild like she did, but living bombs are not what I'd call ideal
protectors." She paused.  "The result wasn't all bad.  The Shieldsmen
balanced the Senshi out, to some extent.  Where the Senshi had magical
prowess, the Shieldsman had physical."

"What does this have to do with Crimson?" Haruka asked impatiently.

"Magic if a form of energy, Haruka.  It can't be simply destroyed, it must
go somewhere.  The amount of power released in a Shieldsman's final attack
was incredible, easily rivaling my attacks when I was at my most powerful
as Sailor Moon."  Serenity smirked slightly as the others exchanged shocked
glances.  "Don't be that surprised, each of you contain far more power than
that.  What made the Annihilation Suicide so powerful was all that energy
being released at once, in a single blast."

Ami nodded in understanding, then frowned.  "So where is that energy now? 
I assume that you didn't simply re-absorb it into the Ginzuishou."

"It would be a drop in the bucket," Serenity said seriously.  "No, I merely
imbued it back into Crimson's body.  You saw the effects on the day of
Jadeite's audience.  Crimson is much tougher and faster than he was before.
 Not only that, his shield is now a formidable weapon against evil."

"Which is why Blood dropped it," Ami concluded.

"But what can we do?" Minako asked.  "He's tough enough to shrug off
anything but our most powerful attacks, and that cold-fire of his will fry
us easily."

"We'll have to fight fire," Makoto answered for her, "with fire."  She
turned to look at Jadeite, and the other's eyes followed hers.  Jadeite
looked up at them in surprise.

***

Jadeite sat in attendance, but wasn't paying attention to what was
occurring.  He was totally absorbed in his own thoughts as he stared at the
items he held, and considered their meaning.

He turned the green bracers in his hands over and over, his fingers tracing
the outline of the green crystal in one, and the symbol for Pluto in the
other.  He remembered when the original Queen Serenity gave them to him. 
He was so proud, so overjoyed that he would finally be able to work with
his lover.  He remembered his home life, with her, and Crimson, his
youngest brother.  He remembered raising Crimson with Pluto, and how proud
he felt when his brother became the greatest of the Shieldsmen.  Not the
strongest, not the smartest, simply the best.

He remembered when Beryl tricked him into meeting Metallia, and how he was
possessed, corrupted by that power, and how he became Jadeite, last of the
generals of the Dark Kingdom.  And he remembered, with vivid detail, the
end of the Silver Millennium.  How the other generals merely backed him up
as he waded through the Senshi, first killing off Saturn, then Uranus and
Neptune at once.  He remembered Jupiter fighting him almost to a
standstill, Mercury dying quickly, and Venus begging for mercy.   

But nothing made him hate himself as much as what he did next.  Crimson
actually defeated Jadeite in combat, but the other generals teamed up on
the lone man and subdued him, making him powerless to fight them as Jadeite
slowly, carefully, crushed Sailor Mars piece by piece.  He remembered
laughing as Crimson crawled to the lifeless woman's body, and how he
reveled as Crimson screamed his grief to the heavens.

Jadeite had failed so many people, and now Crimson was once again paying
the price for that failure.  He winced as he heard Serenity's announcement
regarding Rei's pregnancy.  Not just Crimson, Mars and their unborn child
as well were suffering due to him.

As Serenity explained what she had done to Crimson, Jadeite listened with
half his attention.  He had been Crimson's inferior in combat before, and
now, after nearly eleven millennia, he had barely a chance against the man,
even with the augmentation.  

Makoto was speaking.  "We'll have to fight fire with fire."  Jadeite felt
gazes on him, and looked up in surprise.  All of the others were looking at
him, expecting his response.  Expecting him to save their friend.   They
knew what he had been, and what he had done, and yet they still wanted to
trust him, to give him a chance.

Jadeite nodded his head, and was about to stand, when a voice stopped him. 
"No."

***

The Senshi stared at Apollo.  The young man leaned against the wall in a
corner of the room, his face shrouded in shadow.  Only his lower body was
in the light, and the metal on his sword's scabbard glinted in the light. 
He looked up, and they could see the grim determination in his eyes.  "If
anyone fights Ares, it's me."

"Don't be an idiot, Apollo," Makoto scolded.  "That's not Ares out there. 
It may have his face, and his body, but it's not him.  That thing has all
the speed and strength that Serenity instilled in you brother."

Apollo said nothing in response.  He walked over to where Jadeite sat, and
said a single word.  "Stand."  The other man stood, and faced him.  In a
flash, Apollo brought his sword up, and whipped it past Jadeite's face, not
once, but twice.  A handful of hair fell, and two faint red lines appeared
on the shocked man's cheeks.

"Apollo!" Pluto yelled angrily.  "Stop this!"  Her eyes were wide with a
mixture of shock and fear.

The young man sheathed his sword, and knelt, picking up the hairs on the
ground.  He stood and dropped them on the table.  "Ares wouldn't have
fallen for that attack.  Even if he was caught completely by suprise he
would have blocked or dodged that easily.  He turned to Makoto, and smirked
slightly.  "I can do it even faster, if you like.  Want a haircut?"

Jadeite felt his stinging cheeks, and looked in horror at the blood on his
hands.  He looked at the bracers on the table, and picked them up.
  
"You can't!" Haruka insisted.  "You don't have the power!  One hit from him
and you'd be dead immediately." He glared at him.  "I've been fighting for
500 years.  I know what I saw, and you'd be killed.  You haven't got a
chance."

"If he doesn't have a chance, then Crimson is doomed."  Jadeite walked over
to the Queen, who had been silent for quite a while now.  "He's right.  I
haven't fought someone as a Shieldsman for almost eleven millennia.  Ares
was a better fighter than me in the Silver Millennium, he'd swat me away
like an insect now."  He took the bracers, and held them out to Serenity. 
"Your Majesty, give Apollo my power.  Make him able to fight Blood, because
he's the only one who can."  He let his eyes slide over to Apollo, and the
barest hints of a smile touched his face.

Serenity brought her hands up to Jadeite's, and closed his hands over the
bracers he held.  Her smile as she looked into the haunted man's eyes
seemed to lift some of the pain from his heart.  "Thank you, Verdant," she
corrected herself as the man winced.  "Jadeite.  But that won't be
necessary."  She released his hands, and turned to Apollo.  "Apollo, stand
before me."

With a sureness he showed, but didn't feel, Apollo strode to Serenity, and
closed his eyes when she put her hands to his temples.  Serenity too closed
her eyes, and the crescent moon on her forehead shone brightly as the
Ginzuishou appeared between her and the young man.  The crystal flared with
light.

In the midst of the light, Queen Serenity smiled, and removed her hands
from his temples and took his hands in hers.  The crystal flared again
twice, and two brilliant spheres of light flew from it and settled on
Apollo's wrists, and spread out to surround them.  As the bands closed,
Apollo's eyes opened and he screamed, while the light from the crystal
shone brighter and brighter.

With one final, blinding flash, the crystal grew quiet once more, and the
crescent moon on Serenity's forehead faded to it's normal appearance. 
Apollo was kneeling on the ground, holding his head in his hands.  He
stood, and swayed slightly, catching himself on a nearby chair.  "What a
rush."  He looked at his wrists, and turned them slowly, admiring the two
simple bands that encircled them.  "Now what?"

"Just do what feels natural," two familiar voices intoned in unison. 
Looking to the source of the voices, several of the Senshi could not help
but smile at the familiarity.  Luna and Artemis walked in and hopped up on
the table.

"Hmm..." Apollo breathed softly, staring at the bands.  He looked down at
his belt, and unbuckled his sword, laying it on the table.  "I have a
feeling I won't need that."  Inhaling sharply, Apollo wrapped his left hand
around his right fist, and bowed his head.  "SILVER BRILLIANCE!!!"

Once again, the room was filled with blinding light as it exploded from his
bracers.  First, a wave of light exploded from them, flowing over his body
and banishing his clothes as he rose in the air, his hair flowing in the
breeze that sprung up from the ground.  A second wave burst from the
bracers, and Apollo's body was made into a white silhouette.

"Impressive," Minako breathed.

"Tacky," Ami countered.

"Mine," Makoto finished, and blushed as the other two glared at her.

Haruka chuckled at the by play, and whispered to Michiru.  "Usagi's getting
creative in her old age."

His partner smiled.  "Fair's fair."

Apollo slowly returned to the ground, and the whiteness faded from his
body, revealing armor similar to Crimson's, but it was all featureless, and
all of the same silvery metal.  In his hands, he held a clear crystal
blade, that seemed to shine with a light of its own.  He looked down at
himself, and then with interest in the mirror Serenity had conjured.  "I
like it," he began with a wry grin, "but couldn't it have been something a
little less 'Hey look, I'm a target, please shoot me'?"

Laughter and chuckles filled the room, but it was King Endymion who
responded.  "Apollo, you're complaining in a room full of women who wear
skirted leotards as a combat uniform."  

The armored man considered that, and then half-shrugged.  "Point taken." 
He turned, and bowed to the assembled people.  "If you'll pardon me..." he
slowly turned in a circle, holding his sword in front of him.  At one
point, the sword dimmed abruptly.  "...I've got an appointment to keep." 
With that, he ran out of the room.

"Wait!" Haruka cried, then cursed.  "Damn overeager novices."  He turned to
Michiru.  "Come on, love, the kid's gonna need backup."  The pair left the
room in a sprint, changing into their Senshi forms on the run, Makoto a few
steps behind them.

Serenity watched them leave, and sighed.  "Just like the old days, isn't
it?"  She felt her husband's arms wrap around her, and melted into the
embrace.  A page burst into the room, and she straightened.

"Your Majesties," he panted.  "Lady Rei has disappeared!"

***

Only the tears streaming down Sailor Mars' face belied the cold,
emotionless exterior she showed as she faced Blood.  The man, on the other
hand, was grinning wildly, and he almost danced where he stood.  "And here
I thought I'd have to go looking for you, Mars."

"I won't fight you, Ares," she replied.  "Please, come back to me.  You're
stronger than that...thing holding you now.  Fight it!"  Her words only
elicted laughter.

"Ares doesn't live here anymore - there is only Blood," he intoned, and
then laughed again.  "I always wanted to say that." Black fire formed
around Blood's left arm, swirling to form a disk-like shape.  "One of my
problems before was that I didn't use this body's natural reflexes.  It
wants a shield, it gets one."  He spun, and the disk of shadow flew towards
Sailor Mars, who stood motionless.

A silver streak came out of nowhere and pushed Mars out of the way.  Blood
roared his anger and surprise, and looked at the man who had thwarted his
attack.

Apollo set Sailor Mars down, and imposed himself between her and Blood. 
"No offense, but I don't think Ares would really appreciate you getting
killed, Lady Rei."

"How unfortunate," Blood said offhandedly.  "I see the little queen has
turned you into one of those goody-two-shoes-twits as well."  He sighed,
and shook his head.  "And I had such hopes for you."

"You're not going to win, you bastard," Apollo returned.

"Are you really willing to kill your brother?" Blood taunted.  "All right
then."  He summoned up another disk of black flame, and threw it at the
armored man.  "DIE!"

The disk bounced off the crystal sword Apollo held, and slammed into the
ground, blasting away a small crater.  "If that's the best you can do, I've
already won."

Blood laughed.  "Oh no, little brother, I've barely begun."


--
Christopher "God-boy" Angel
cja124@mail.usask.ca      http://www.engr.usask.ca/~cja124
"Some people LOOK marvelous, some people ACT marvelous.
I? I just AM marvelous." - anonymous