And the epilogue. C&C still welcome, of course.
Aaron Nowack
"Never let reality get in the way of a good hypothesis."
http://www.geocities.com/anowack/
Shades of Gray
A Sailor Moon Fanfic
By: Aaron Nowack
Epilogue: 'Till All Are One
"Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's
right."
- Isaac Asimov
***********************************************************************
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is owned by Naoko Takeuchi, whose creative
talents far exceed my most humble own. Distribution and other rights to
Sailor Moon belong to lots of different companies that I do not own. I
make or imply no claim to ownership of Sailor Moon or its characters.
However, the text of this fanfic and all original characters presented
within are mine, and should not be used without permission. Thank you.
***********************************************************************
Sailor Mercury whirled around as she heard someone entering the
alleyway. Theoretically, she knew that this meeting should be far less
dangerous than the last one she had attended here, but it was hard to
believe that everything was suddenly... over, just like that. She
blinked as she saw a young man in casual clothes walking toward her,
hands raised. It took her only a moment to place the face from her
efforts at uncovering the Champions' identities.
"Urawa Meno," she said. "So you are Hermes."
"You didn't know?" the man asked.
"I wasn't sure."
Meno nodded. "You had a more difficult job than I."
Mercury frowned. "What makes you say that?"
"We had only been Awakened for a few weeks," Meno explained.
"There was no time for those of us who didn't already know each other to
develop the relationships that made it easy to determine who all of you
were once we knew one or two."
"I suppose." Mercury paused a moment. "Why did you come like
that?"
Meno shrugged. "I was hoping that this time we could go
someplace more comfortable. We are, after all, technically allies now.
And there's hardly any point in hiding our identities... Ms. Mizuno."
"Don't call me that. Not when I'm like this."
"As you wish. So, shall we?"
"I suppose." Mercury wasn't sure she liked this. It wasn't
what she had anticipated when Hermes had asked her for another meeting,
before they had all left the ruins of Castle Charon, though she wasn't
quite sure exactly what she had been expecting.
"Very good." Meno stood for a moment, waiting, then spoke
again. "Well? Aren't you going to change back?"
"I would prefer that you not watch."
Meno blinked in surprise, then suddenly flushed. "Oh. Sorry."
As he turned to leave the alley, he added, "There are less... revealing
ways to detransform. I could show you sometime, if you like."
A few moments later, Ami joined him outside the alleyway. Meno
nodded as she approached. "Shall we go to the Crown?"
Ami shook her head. "Somewhere else." She didn't feel up to
running into Unazuki right now. At least Meno had never been someone
she had considered a friend, so things were relatively simple between
them. She wasn't sure how to handle Unazuki or Motoki. She wondered
briefly what it would be like for Mamoru, once he got out of the
hospital in a couple of days. A good number of the Champions had been
his friends, or at least acquaintances.
Once the two had found a small cafe and had ordered and received
their drinks, the two were silent for a moment. Eventually, Ami decided
to break the ice. "Why did you want to meet with me?"
Meno laughed softly. "Very direct." He paused, becoming
serious. "I know you must have many questions. I will do my best to
answer them."
Ami sat back, pondering what to ask first. To say she had many
questions was an understatement, but eventually she decided on one.
Best to stick with simple ones first. "Metallia was..."
"Serenity the Dark, yes." Meno shook his head. "I only wish we
had known that during the Silver Millenium. It would have made us all
take the threat much more seriously, much earlier. Who knows what might
have happened then?"
"I do not see why this would change so much for you," Ami said.
"What difference does it make, that the threat we face has another
name?"
Meno sighed. "If you had seen the fall of the Golden Millenium,
you would not ask the question. I do not know or remember much of those
days, but what I do is more than enough. In all I have seen and done
for eight thousand years, nothing compares to the last battle."
Meno suddenly laughed. "Even now, after I've fought in so many
other battles, I call it the last battle." But what little mirth this
thought brought to him, it swiftly vanished. "But to answer your
question, for one, it called upon a more binding oath than the one that
calls on us to fight you. And two, there was no longer any reason for
the war to begin with."
"Oh?" Ami asked, her face neutral.
"I suppose you think there was never any reason to begin with."
Ami was silent.
"We fought for a number of reasons. At first, for revenge."
Meno's eyes were hard. "Not a pretty reason, is it? But you are lucky,
that you cannot remember the Silver Millenium. Neither side in that war
was blameless, nor innocent. The Senshi did many horrible things during
that war. I could tell you of a thousand things, but there would be no
point. If it were Princess Mesyne that was sitting before me, I would
want little more than to see her dead. I might be able to ally with her
for a time, but I would not be able to make peace with her."
Meno sighed. "Nor she with me, I fear. But you are not
Princess Mesyne, are you?" He paused. "But by the time we knew that,
there were already other reasons to fight."
"Saturn and Pluto," Ami said. The Champions had made that clear
enough.
"Yes."
"The reasons why Saturn no longer applies are obvious," Ami
said. "But what about Pluto?"
"I am surely not the only one who noticed the Gates of Time were
gone, when we returned to Castle Charon."
Ami nodded.
"Without them, she is not nearly so dangerous."
"I suppose."
Silence was all the passed between them for some time, until
Meno sighed. "You do not trust me, do you?"
"How can I? Not after knowing what you planned, if you had won
the battle."
Meno nodded. "It was my plan. I cannot say I would not have
carried it through, either." He paused. "But if it helps, before we
went to Castle Charon, we voted to only use the fleet as a bluff."
"And which way did you vote?"
"I voted to go through with it," Meno replied calmly. "It was
the only way I could see of stopping Pluto."
"But why? What was she doing that would make you do something
so horrible?"
"So horrible? You yourself told me the future that Pluto seeks.
This entire world, frozen for a thousand years. If you are willing to
sacrifice the lives of billions for some questionable utopia, why should
not we sacrifice far fewer to stop it?"
"They will not die," Ami said. "They will sleep, until the ice
lifts."
Meno snorted. "No force in the universe could preserve five
billion people for a thousand years, much less the ecosystem it would
take to support them when they awoke."
"And how do you know that your plan would have stopped the Great
Ice?"
"How do you know it wouldn't?" Meno's eyes were hard. "It
comes down to whether or not you trust Pluto that hers is the best
possible path. Maybe you do, but I do not."
"And why not?"
"Pluto is still the same person as she was during the war."
Meno paused. "And even were she truthful and her goal worthwhile, the
Gates of Time are dangerous beyond belief. One misstep, and all of
humanity might be wiped away as though it had never existed. No
paradise is worth that risk."
"This issue could cause problems," Ami said, in what she felt
was by far an understatement.
"It will," Meno said. "But trust me, all of us feel that
stopping Serenity the Dark is far more important. The possibility that
Pluto could do evil with her powers is nothing next to the certainty
that... Metallia would."
Ami sat back. "I suppose we will have to put that issue aside
for now. There are far more pressing manners."
"I suspect that will have to do for now."
Ami nodded. "Now what?"
"There are a number of things that we need to investigate."
Meno began to tick items off on his fingers. "One, what did happen to
the Gates of Time? Two, what will happen to the Dark Kingdom and the
fleet, now that the Great Seal is destroyed?"
"Is it?" Ami asked.
Meno frowned. "I assumed so, but... it could simply be gone
too."
Ami nodded. "Also, we need to know what the situation in the
Dark Kingdom is now that Metallia has returned. And Jadeite might still
be alive, also, for all that he hasn't shown his face again."
Meno frowned. "Also... we thought Saturn and Chronus died
together. If Saturn still lives... might not Chronus as well?"
The two began to discuss the issues in earnest, though little
progress was made. A few possibilities for avenues of investigation
were proposed, though both agreed they all needed more work before they
could be implemented. After some time, Ami found herself sipping up the
last of her drink.
Meno sighed. "I don't think we're going to make much more real
progress right now. Let's think on everything, and meet again in a few
days, perhaps?"
After a moment, Ami nodded in agreement. As the two rose to
leave, Ami decided to ask the question that had been preying on her mind
for some time. "By any chance... do you have a relative named Urawa
Ryo?"
***********************************************************************
It was night. Through the blinds on his window, Ikawa could see
the never-dying lights of Tokyo. Combined they made the view from his
window seem hardly darker than it would have been had it still been
daytime. His mood, though, was more than dark enough to make up the
difference.
The war was over. He was glad for that, he supposed. Yet, it
was hard to deal with. He had sacrificed so much to the war, ten
thousand years ago. He had sacrificed in this life as well, though not
nearly so much. Certainly nothing compared to the thousands upon
thousands who had died under his command, and the many more who had died
by his command. Yet still it hurt.
For now all those sacrifices were in vain. They had
accomplished nothing, save for destruction. The horrible threat of the
Senshi of Silence was anything but exterminated. Indeed, once again it
lay in the hand of evil, just as it had when the Golden Millenium fell.
The Gates of Time might be gone for good, he truly could not say, but
Pluto lived, and certainly would not give up her efforts to force the
future onto her path.
Yet he knew that compared to Serenity the Dark, that issue was
nothing. He would rather all the dead have died in vain then see those
that lived enslaved once again to her reign. He would rather have the
threat of Sailor Saturn continue to exist until the end of time then
have her lie one more moment in the dark queen's hands. And he would
rather trust Pluto - the very thought made him wince - then leave any
weakness in the Earth's defense against Serenity the Dark.
That did not mean it was easy to accept, however.
He was shaken from his musings when he heard a light tapping on
his door, and he knew who it had to be. It took him a moment to find
his voice. "Come in. The door is unlocked."
The door opened, admitting his guest. Before the sound of the
door shutting had faded, Ikawa spoke again. "We need to talk."
"I know," Rei said, her voice somehow at the same time soft and
hard, calm and filled with emotion.
Ikawa did not turn from the window. "I admit I am somewhat
surprised you came."
He could hear Rei crossing the room to stand behind him. "I was
surprised you asked. But we do need to talk. Best to do it now, and in
private."
"My thoughts exactly." Ikawa's fists clenched, and it took some
effort to relax them.
"I hope you do not expect me to forgive you," Rei said. "What
you did to me is beyond forgiveness."
Ikawa's eyes closed, seemingly of their own volition. "I know."
He paused. "But we will have to work together, now."
"We will." He could almost feel Rei's eyes flash. "But if you
ever give me reason to think that you plan to go back on your oath, I
will kill you."
"You should know me better than to expect me to betray an oath,
after all I did for the last one I took."
"I don't know you at all," Rei said. "I thought I knew Ikawa,
but I didn't. Maybe Phoebe knew Deinas, but I do not." She paused.
"Usagi might trust you, but I do not. I will be watching you." She
turned to leave.
"Wait," Ikawa said, and she halted. "It does not change
anything, but I would like to say I am sorry I had to hurt you like I
did."
Rei half turned back to Ikawa. "I don't care what you say!" she
shouted, then took a deep breath. When she resumed, her words were
softer but no less angry. "I don't love you and I will never love you.
I don't even like you. If I ever felt differently, it was only built on
a lie."
Ikawa turned around. "Then I think we are done here. I suppose
I will see you soon."
"If it is necessary." Rei once again turned to leave, and this
time Ikawa did not stop her.
And for a long time after that, Ikawa did nothing but stare out
his window at the night sky.
***********************************************************************
The crowd roared. It was a cacophony of sounds, of lupine howls
and insectile clicks, a fearsome medley of all the noises that humans
were bred to fear and detest. It came from a sea of demonic forms, the
nightmares of mankind given flesh and blood. Not all that long ago this
palace had been dusty and nearly abandoned, but now every Overlord with
any sort of power that still lived had gathered here.
Behind the throne stood Loriel and Scalae. The Dragons of Fire
and Water, the only two known to survive, they were perhaps the only
beings who could challenge the Dark Kingdom's new ruler, yet they could
no more confront her than they could go against their very natures.
They were bound to her, bound as they had been for more than ten
thousand years. She was as much a goddess to them as she was to the
swarms of youma that filled every last foot of the cavernous throne
room.
To either side stood her two Generals, with whom she was well
pleased with. For it was they who had finally succeeded in that which
at all her servants had failed, all through the countless millennia from
when her reign had been usurped. Nyxan had taken the position to her
left, while Ishamanar stood with his consort to her right. All three
youma showed no signs of the terrible wounds they had taken the previous
day, for though the dark goddess was more concerned with destruction,
she had the power to heal her servants as well.
At her feet knelt Sailor Saturn, a fact that caused the gathered
youma no small consternation. Her face was calm and showed no
expression, even when the dark queen's elegant hand reach out to caress
her head, as one might a favored pet's. Her mind was once more tightly
in the queen's grasp, and even now her mental probes were searching
through the Senshi's mind, twisting every thought and emotion, binding
her ever closer. With but a thought the goddess could have crushed that
mind, leaving nothing more than an empty puppet, but that would leave
her nearly useless. This way was more risky, but Metallia was a master
at this art.
After allowing the crowd's celebration to continue a moment
longer, Metallia gestured for silence. It came almost instantly, the
cacophonous noise swiftly becoming an air of hushed expectation.
Metallia smiled. "Bring forth the false King," she said in a soft
voice, her magic making it clearly audible to all the countless youma
who attended.
A clear path quickly formed among those youma as two guards
dragged the bound form of Jadeite forward. Unlike Metallia's servants,
the former General still bore the fearsome wounds he had received, and
he was hardly recognizable as himself. Only Metallia's will kept him
from lapsing into unconsciousness, and most likely death as well. As he
reached the foot of the stairs that lead up to the throne, his guards
forced him to kneel.
Metallia smiled at the mix of rage and fear that filled the
human's eyes and mind. He might not know it, but he was just as bound
to her as all her other servants. He had lost himself to her long ago,
in the icy wastelands of Terra's utter north. And now it was time to
drive that bond home once again.
Jadeite seemed to wilt at Metallia's smirk, his body shuddering
as terror overtook rage. He knew that he was totally at her mercy. He
had no power left, having spent it all the previous day. He had nothing
to bargain with, no supporters to rescue him. Nothing but the knowledge
that Metallia was anything but known for her mercy.
But it was not mercy that would stay her hand this day.
Instead, it was the suspicion that the former general might still have a
use. He could be a powerful tool, in no small part due to his ability
to blend in on Terra far better than her other servants, save perhaps
Saturn, who could not be trusted on such a mission in any case. Not
yet.
Metallia caught the kneeling man's eyes and spoke. "Will you
beg for my forgiveness?"
Jadeite stilled, and he was silent a moment before answering.
"No."
"I see," Metallia said, fighting back her anger at the human's
insolence. "You cannot hope to escape me. No matter where you are, I
could find you."
Jadeite growled. "Just let me die already. This farce is
pointless."
"A farce?" Metallia asked, her voice deceptively light. "It is
you who chooses to make it a farce." She rose, and a sparkling red gem
appeared in her hands. "Do you think that you could fight me with
this?"
Jadeite showed no surprise at the appearance of the Flame
Diamond. Metallia waited for his answer, but he showed no signs of
giving one. Metallia smiled, and with a snap of the fingers of her free
hand Jadeite's bonds fell to the floor. An instant later she tossed the
Diamond at him.
He rose and scrambled to catch the gem. When he was done he
cradled it in his hands, staring suspiciously at Metallia. "Why do you
do this?"
Metallia's only answer was a slight smile.
After a moment the Flame Diamond suddenly came to life, blazing
in Jadeite's hands. At that very instant Metallia struck, her mind
forcing its way into Jadeite's. With all his mind bent on controlling
the Diamond's power, he could mount no defense against the sudden
assault. Even as the flames continued to speed towards Metallia,
Jadeite screamed, falling to his knees once again.
Yet somehow in the bare instants this took, Sailor Saturn
interposed herself between the fire and her mistress, summoning a
Silence Wall with a soft intonation. The fires beat against the wall
for less than a second before fading away.
It took only slightly longer for Metallia's mental claws to sink
their way into the former general's mind once again. The ancient spells
she had used to bind him to Beryl's service so very long ago were still
present, and they provided a easy way to reassert her dominance over
Jadeite's mind, already weakened by pain and despair. Even before the
Flame Diamond had finished falling from Jadeite's limp hands, her work
was finished and Saturn had returned to her place at the foot of the
throne.
As the Diamond hit the ground and began to roll towards
Metallia's feet, she repeated her original question. "Will you beg for
my forgiveness?"
It took several seconds for Jadeite's scattered mind to
reassemble itself enough to form a coherent answer. "Yes, my Queen."
Metallia smiled. "Then it is granted." Sounds of shock
emanated from the watching crowd, and the goddess knew the only reason
Nyxan and Ishamanar did not join them was that they had been warned of
this. The Flame Diamond rose from the ground at her feet, then floated
over to where Jadeite knelt. "Take it, and serve me well."
Jadeite grasped the Diamond in one hand, even as his wounds
began to heal. "Thank you, my Queen." For an instant his mind
rebelled, straining against the bonds Metallia had placed upon it with
surprising strength. But only for an instant, as the struggle quickly
ended in defeat.
Metallia stepped back onto the stairs, and slowly settled
herself into the throne once again. At long last, that which had been
interrupted had begun anew. On this day, her reign was reborn.
And this time, it would last forever.
***********************************************************************
Author's Random Ramblings
1) And that's it. All comments, of course, continue to be welcome.
2) My thanks yet again to Angus MacSpon for prereading both this and
Chapter 15.
3) Previous chpaters remain available at my website, Fanfiction.net, the
RAAC archives, and Moon Romance.
4) A fairly lengthy and dull set of my thoughts on completion of this
fic is posted seperately.
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