"Death of the Immortal Prince, Queen, and Love"
A Sailor Moon Fan Fic by
Tuxedo J
Again everything had been quiet between the Moon Kingdom and the Negaverse for too long and both Neo-Queen Serenity and Princess Rini were on edge while their companions were totally oblivious to any agitation in them. Both Prince Jordan and King Darien were elated to have their loves around more than usually. In fact, if they could, they probably would have thanked the Negaverse. To be honest, it seemed that only the Lunar matriarchs were the only ones that were uneasy in the entire Kingdom. Not even the Senshi were mildly concerned. Of course they had never experienced what happens when the Negaverse takes a break. But the matriarchs of the Moon have.
"I'm telling you Jordan, something very bad is going to happen," Rini tells her husband after they turn in for the night.
"Yes, dear. You've been telling me that for the past few weeks and so far nothing," he retorts as he puts his arm beneath her head. "Why can't you relax? This break is doing everyone good except for you and your mother. Its wearing you out more than if we were actually fighting the Negaverse."
"Well I just can't help it. I remember the last time it was quiet like this. I'm guarantee you that no good can come out of this."
"No offense dear, but I think you're being paranoid and I'm sure Darien is saying the same thing about Serena."
"I'm your wife, dear," she says imitating him. "You should believe me on things like this. Let me ask you something. How long would it take for you to reach you maximum energy build up?"
"Um…" he said, followed by a few moments of silence. "Doing a regular power up I'd say around a day…maybe two."
"Right. And you're a Saiyan. A person that is used to energy manipulation and stuff. But Solara was a human and so all her children are part human, just like me. To reach my max normally, it would take several days and a very strong mindset. Serena, if she used energy manipulation like you and I can, would take I'd say about three weeks to reach her absolute maximum energy build up. The highest energy build up of the Negaverse, probably Solara II, can rival yours so it'll take about one month to achieve. Everything has been quiet for three weeks. I'm telling you, something is up!"
Jordan just sighed and pulled her next to him and caressed her hair.
"I see your point. But what can we do? It's and always has been the Negaverse's move. We can't just storm in there and demand their plans."
As soon as Jordan started stroke her hair, she immediately began to feel calm and began to relax. She was put into a semi-trance like state instantly. "Mmm…I don't know, love," she mumbled. "I guess all that we can do is wait," she pauses for a yawn, "and…be…rea…" She trails off as she falls asleep, nuzzled in her husband's arm. Jordan just give a brief chuckle, kisses her forehead, leans his head on hers and falls asleep himself.
The next morning, Jordan woke up Rini, much to her displeasure.
"What?" she asked groggily as she turned away from him.
"I said wake up," he repeats. "I think that you and I should have breakfast with your parents so that we can convince them, or at least help Serena convince Darien, that something will happen."
Rini started to come to rather quickly at hearing that. "So you believe me?" she inquired.
"Yes. You have been a Senshi far longer than I have been alive, so you would know the Negaverse better than I would."
She sat up and quickly gave him a kiss. "That's why I married you. You are so reasonable." She then jumped up and took off to get dressed.
"Really?" he called after her. "I thought it was because you loved me!"
"No, that's why we're still together," she retorted with a giggle that told him that she was only kidding.
"Well, I better go get ready too," he muttered to himself.
A while later, around 9:00, they entered the dinning hall of the Lunar Palace at the same time Serena and Darien entered.
"Rini! Jordan!" Serena and Darien exclaim in unison.
"Mother, Father," replies Rini with a smile and a hug for both.
"Serena, Darien," says Jordan while Rini gives them their hugs.
"What brings you two here? You usually eat way before or after us," says Darien.
"Well, Rini and I feel like we should talk to you about getting the Senshi on battle ready status."
Over breakfast, which took over an hour, it was finally decided to have the Senshi go through rigorous training to get ready for battle, should it happen. Since it was Serena's and Darien's long over due vacation, Rini and Jordan would be in charge of the training and to be the leaders in the battle, should it be necessary. The first session was to be held that afternoon. Needless to say, none of the Senshi were happy about the fact that their impromptu vacation, or in other words, time to spend with their boyfriends, was cut short just for training.
While the Senshi were not pleased at first, after two weeks of arduous training without any conflicts from the Negaverse really strained tempers and set everyone on edge, especially at Rini and Jordan. When the third week started, the Senshi began to voice their displeased dispositions, and not too quietly either, at the two Magistrates. The two tried to explain to the Senshi why such training was taking place, but they wouldn't allow themselves to understand.
Finally at the end of the third week, the Negaverse made its move. As usually the Senshi were the first to know about it and were the first to arrive. What they saw enraged the Senshi and made Rini feel hot in the face. It seemed simple enough. One monster for each Senshi. It was nothing that they couldn't handle before.
The combat was well underway by the time Jordan, as Tuxedo J, arrived. The fighting was going on below "cliff" he was standing on. He was taking a look at the battle as he prepared to join in the fighting when he saw something start to materialize behind Sailor Moon. She was too involved with her own fighting to notice what was going on behind her.
"What in the world?" he muttered to himself as the thing continued to materialize.
When it finally materialized, his jaw dropped. It was Solara II, the daughter of Queen Solara herself. He quickly got over his shock when he saw the she was about to hit Rini with a powerful energy blast. Without thinking, he lunged, and partially flew, at Rini.
"SAILOR MOON, WATCH OUT!!!" he shouted right before he plowed into her, sending her rolling, and disoriented, out of the way as Solara threw an extremely power blast at her. Instead of hitting its intended target, the blast plowed into Tuxedo J right after his impact with Rini, driving him into the ground. Finding that Sailor Moon was safe enraged Solara.
"Fool!" she hissed. "You ruined everything!" she shouted as she brought her hand back, forming another energy blast. "Now you die!" she said with a coy smile as she threw a second, more powerful blast at Tuxedo J. It hit as he was trying to get up and the impact knocked him flat and created a big crater around him. All he could do was grunt as he tried to ignore the pain and tried to hold onto consciousness. By this time, Sailor Moon was up and saw what was going on to Tuxedo J and she ran to him.
"Tuxedo J!" she shouted as she ran.
"Oh no you don't," Solara said calmly as she was preparing another energy blast. Then something flickered in her eye. As Sailor Moon was about to reach Tuxedo J, she slammed into some sort of force-field surrounding the two of them.
"NO!" Sailor Moon shouted as she started to pound on the force-field. "Don't hurt him!" she demanded.
"What?" Solara asked as she looked innocently at her. "You mean don't do this?" she said with an evil grin as she glared at Tuxedo J, who managed to stand and was wishing he had gathered more energy before fighting, before throwing another powerful energy blast at him. The blast sent him flying into force-field and plunged him into unconsciousness. As he started to fall forward from the force-field, Solara kept him upright by hitting him with a few more energy blasts before letting him fall. Sailor Moon now had hot tears of anger and fear streaming down her cheeks, but her energy was gone, replaced by the weakness of fear.
"Please, stop," she pleaded as Solara was getting several energy blasts ready. "Take me instead…please!" By this time Sailor Scorpious (Sarah, the daughter of Jordan and Rini) was watching, unbelievingly, at what was happening with Tuxedo J, Sailor Moon, and Solara.
"I'm touched," Solara said emotionless, "but you see, its too late. I don't have enough energy to do this to you." Suddenly everything in the force-field was lost in the flash of energy blast explosions.
"NO!" screamed Sailor Moon, her eyes wide with fear, getting the rest of the Senshi's attention. Sailor Scorpious approached, still not believing her eyes.
After a few moments the contents of the force-field came visible again. Solara was standing inspecting her work. Tuxedo J was still on the ground, but his uniform was shredded.
Sailor Moon just stood there and looked at him. Then she looked to Solara who was beginning to laugh evilly. "What…what have you done?"
"I," she said, pausing from her laughter, "just, literally, beat the life out a him." She grinned at her and then continued laughing hysterically.
It took a moment for what she said to sink in, but when it did, it hit her like a ton of bricks. "NO!" Sailor Moon shouted once again, this time with her eyes aflame with renewed energy. Her locket was glowing bright white. Then suddenly her uniform changed. No longer the uniform of Sailor Moon. Her skirt and her sailor cravat changed to shimmering silver. Her hair pieces, bows, boots, and top of her gloves changed gold. Her tiara, choker, and the crescent insignia on her boots turned to platinum. The white part of her uniform, gloves, and boots shimmered with the brilliance of diamonds and a beautiful pair of wings appeared behind her also shimmering with the same brilliance.
She slipped through the force-field with no problem. She ran to and sat down next to Tuxedo J and put his head on her lap. In a moment, when it became apparent to her that he was dead, she laid her head on his chest, covering the two of them the best she could with her wings, and began to weep quietly. Solara saw a perfect opportunity. A sword materialized in her hand. She the quietly stalked towards Rini.
Suddenly, the force-field shattered. Solara glared at the source before her jaw dropped. It was Sailor Scorpious, looking just like Rini did, wings and all, only she also had a massive energy aurora around her, like only the daughter of a Saiyan could have. She then noticed that their location had changed. There was nothing around them. Just expansive plains. No Senshi or Nega-Monsters. Solara, fear flashing in her eyes, quickly turned around and raised her sword to strike Rini. Before she knew it she was flying back after Sailor Scorpious punched her in the stomach. She was totally dazed by the blow and had to lay there for a while.
Sailor Scorpious had no idea what was going on in her. All she knew was that she only had two feelings swirling inside of her. One made her feel calm and peaceful and grieved, and the other made her anxious but peaceful and giddy. The only other thing that the two feelings had in common was that they both called for the death of Solara. She wondered if Rini was feeling the same way. As she stood there, glaring at Solara, she tried to sort through her feelings.
Rini was feeling the same way, only with three times the feelings of her daughter, but she was able to identify them. The ones that Scorpious was feeling were justice and revenge, but she was also feeling grief for the death of her husband, remorse for not spending more quality time with him, severe depression for the death of her rock, and ultimate fury and rage at Solara for killing him. Of all these feelings, she knew that she must only act with one. Justice. Going with any other feeling would cause her to become as corrupt as Solara herself, the original one, not her daughter.
She sat up and looked at her husband. She stroked his hair back one last time, kissed his forehead as he often did for her, but it was no ordinary kiss, it was the Mercury Kiss of Ice to freeze him, then she stood and turned to Solara, who managed to finally stand up. She saw her daughter getting ready to lay into her. She quickly put a gentle hand on her shoulder, causing her to glare at her mother. Rini just shook her head as if to say this is not the way. Her daughter just sighed as she tried to calm down. Rini stepped forward, shoulder to shoulder with her daughter as Solara took a defensive position. She then addressed Solara.
"Solara the Second, you have unlawfully killed a member of the Royal Family of the Moon Kingdom and a member to the Sailor Senshi. Furthermore, it was premeditated. Therefore, the punishment is immediate death," she recited, her eyes cold as ice. A beautiful sword materialized in her hand. Sarah was surprised to find that the same sword formed in her own hand. "Do you have any last wards, Solara?"
"Who…who are you?"
"We are Eternal Angelic Empress Sailor Moon."
"How are you like that?"
"It is the power of the Imperium Master Crystal. It gives us all the power we like." Now that Rini thought about it, she gave Solara a coy grin. "Had your mother not been so power hungry, she could have all the power that she wanted. Now, if you would come forward, kneel, and tilt your head up, we will get this over swiftly and painlessly."
"Never!" she hissed as she took a defensive stance again. The two swords vanished. Sarah now understood which feeling to act with as her mother took her hand.
"As you wish," Sarah said to Solara. "You have chosen to die without peace."
Suddenly energy started to appear and swirl over Solara's head. Then, without warning, a beam shot down form the energy cloud and with a blinding flash, engulfed Solara. She screamed for a moment, then silence. When the flash dissipated, the two of them were left alone with the body of their husband and father. Being emotionally drained, the two of them, uncontrollably, transformed back to their original Senshi forms and they appeared back in the midst of the other Senshi, who had been totally stunned by Jordan. Fortunately, when Rini and Sarah destroyed Solara II, all her monsters disappeared.
Rini stood there stoically for a few moments. Then she just embraced her daughter and cried on her shoulder. Sarah, on the other hand, stood there with clenched fists and hot tears burning in her eyes. She was still trying to comprehend what happened. She thought her father was immortal and near invincible. All the Senshi crowded around them, shedding tears of their own. The last thing Sarah wanted was to be consoled. While all the others were hugging Rini, she quietly slipped from the group and wandered off into the woods, trying to think.
As she was trying to think, her thoughts kept on being clouded by feelings of betrayal, hate, sadness, as an overwhelming sense of insecurity. The one thing that she thought she would never lose, the one thing she built her entire world on, was gone. She felt as if she was suspended in eternity. Then she felt something she totally didn't expect at all. She suddenly had a deep hatred towards her father. When she tried to dismiss it, it only got worse. It was then revealed to her why she was feeling that. She felt betrayed and angry because he left. He left his people, his friends, his loved ones, his wife, and, most of all, he had left her.
With this epiphany, the tears in her eyes burned even hotter, but she still refused to cry as she tried to scrub the tears out with the back of her hand. She refused to admit it, but she was having a mental breakdown. All her previous conceptions were becoming warped and distorted. She began to hate everyone. Her mother for not stopping Solara sooner. The Senshi for not defeating the monsters quicker. Herself for not reacting to what she saw. Her ears turned beet as her anger grew. Tears began to stream down her cheeks as they became too much for her to try to scrub back. She fell to her knees as she finally let herself cry. But she wasn't crying for the death of her father, it was for his betrayal.
When tears couldn't come anymore, she struggled to regain her composure. During her struggle, her eyes focused on the locket that she was wearing, the locket of Sailor Scorpious. Again she felt her ears burn with an almost searing heat. She grabbed it in an act of fury and yanked it off her chest, causing her to transform back to the royal princess gown. She held the locket in front of her and just glared at it.
"Some good you've done me," she said to it with a venomous edge. "You're absolutely useless to me. You've let me down one too many times," she said as she stood, turned around and threw it with all her strength. Without waiting to see where it landed, she spun around and took off running into the woods in the opposite direction.
Meanwhile, Sailor Mercury had broken away from the group and was inspecting Jordan's body and doing several things with her computer. After a while, all eyes became riveted on her.
"What's wrong?" Rini sniffled, with her voice wavering, when Mercury disengaged her VR glasses and shook her head. She was to weak to cry anymore, but the tears continued to stream down her cheeks.
"I don't think he's dead," she replied bluntly. Rini was flabbergasted, as well as all the other Senshi.
"What?" she inanely asked. "He wasn't breathing and his heart wasn't beating and I didn't sense him at all," she explained.
"I believe that, and I understand why you would think he was dead. But there are two important factors that lead to my theory. The first is that he is still in Tuxedo J form. The fact is that form depends on a soul to govern it. Without a soul, he would have reverted back to Prince Jordan. The second is that he is immortal and I don't think that a severe beating would kill him. We all know that the only way for an immortal to die it decapitation. Maybe he just needs some time to recover."
"I hope you're right," Rini said as she wiped the tears off her cheek as a glimmer of hope began to twinkle in her eye. "Where's Sarah?" she asked as she realized that her daughter was nowhere to be seen.
"I think I saw her run off into the forest," said Sailor Venus. "You want me to go and get her?" she offered.
"No," Rini said thoughtfully. "I think that she'll need some time to sort things out. She must be devastated and I don't want to risk getting her hopes up to be crushed if Mercury should be wrong." she elaborated. She finished with a slight shiver. "I think its best that everyone stays clear of her until she works things out. I've seen the true ferocity of a shattered Saiyan. Come on, lets get out of here."
All the Senshi teleported back to Lunar Palace with Tuxedo J's body. Rini had him put into cryostasis, much to the bewilderment of the doctors and staff on call. They tried their best to convince her that is was too late, but they were forced to stop when Mercury supported her and pointed out the she was the Princess and they were only subjects of hers.
Days passed without any change in Jordan or any sign of her daughter. The days turned into weeks the same way. Fortunately, the Negaverse was in utter chaos again trying to find a ruler. Rini had been sleeping restlessly for nearly a month without her husband. It was also apparent that her mind was regressing rather quickly. At the end a month, she was sleeping with her parents in their bed. Hearing about Jordan's unfortunate situation and Sarah's time of solitude broke their hearts, but seeing their daughter like this shattered and tore apart the remainder of their hearts. One day they even found her talking to Luna P like she did when she was a little girl. It was then that they noticed that she was even starting to look a lot younger. She was even having to literally look up to Serena now. They immediately took her to Sailor Mercury who ran some tests.
"Well," said Alyssia to Serena and Darien in private while Rini was in another room coloring a picture, "the preliminary psychology results indicate that her mind has regressed to that of approximately a 8 year old. The physical results indicate that her body is also regressing to match that of her mind set. She has grown shorter and her body has begun to, shall we say, "un-mature". I believe that we all know the cause of this, but I don't know if its reversible and as far as I can tell, there's no way to stop it. However, I believe that it shouldn't get any worse than age 8. That was a time when she felt very secure and confident of herself."
After Serena and Darien digested what she said the them, their spirits got even lower. "You said that Jordan will come back, right?" asked Serena.
"Yes, that's my belief."
"Will she return to normal when he does?" Darien inquired.
"I can't say for certain, but it is my belief that she will most likely do so. To be honest, I'm not really concerned. As long as the Negaverse doesn't attack soon, I believe that this might be good for her. However, I am concerned about Sarah."
"Why?" Serena asks without giving her a chance to explain herself. "You think she might be going through the same thing?"
"Oh no. Defiantly not. Its just that sensors are detecting massive energy levels in the woods where she was seen running into. I believe that she is the source of these levels."
"Why does that bother you? And what do you mean by `massive'?" says Darien.
"The answer to both questions is that first, there's nothing out there. No shelter or anything, and its been over a month. Second is that these power levels are cataclysmic. They rival Jordan's energy level at his peak!" she explains. At this, Serena's and Darien's jaws drop. "Should anything set her off, the effects could be devastating. The force she could release would pale anything we have ever seen before! It is very possible that the very existence of the moon and the planets of the solar system could be in jeopardy."
"Perhaps Serena should get her," offered Darien, drawing a icy glare from Serena. "After all," he elaborated as he shifted uncomfortably in his chair, "she always loved seeing her Grandmother." This abated Serena's glare, somewhat.
"I don't think that would be wise. I'm not even sure if she's in a sane mind set. From what Rini told me before she started regressing, she could even be hallucinating. Personally, judging by my last feelings from her, she has nothing to hold on to. The one thing that was apparently her anchor was Jordan. I think that it is best if He and Rini be the ones to get her back."
"Well, why did you tell us this then?"
"Because now you are Rini's legal guardians again, due to her current age, and well, I felt that you should be aware of this," she explained as she guided them to the door. "Until she returns to normal, I'm afraid your vacation must be suspended. She's in no state to rule the kingdom."
"Thanks," they said as they shook her hand. "Come on Rini," Serena called holding out her hand. "Time to go home precious."
Rini got up from her picture and skipped to take Serena's hand.
"Say bye to the doctor," Darien instructed.
Rini bowed and said, "Buh bye Ms. Alyssia."
"Bye Small Lady," she replied.
Serena was bored during the ride home so she started a conversation with Rini who was playing with, and getting somewhat frustrated by, a rubric cube that she had found in the car.
"So, what did the doctor do?"
"Well," she said, without looking away from the cube, "she started by asking me all sorts of weird questions, like what's my favorite color, food, how do I feel about vegetables, where do I live, who do I like, stuff like that. Then she poked me everywhere. It felt kinda weird having someone do that to me…"
"Hm…a complete physical."
"Yeah! That's what she said it was. I told her I didn't like it, but she said that everyone gets it. Do you have get one, mommy?"
Serena's jaw dropped as she gasped, not from the question, but from the word at the end of it.
"Did I say something bad?" Rini asked as she saw Serena's reaction.
"Er…um, no. You did nothing wrong. Yes. Even I have to get physicals. They let us know if we're healthy or not. And if not, they help find out what is wrong," Serena explained.
"Wow, it must be important if even the Queen gets one," she said as she spun the cube this way and that. She then threw it down, her ears and cheeks beet red.
"Is something wrong dear?" asked Darien.
"Stupid cube," she muttered. "I can't match all the colors," she pouted. At this Serena bit her lower lip because it for sure confirmed what Alyssia had told them. The first real puzzle Rini ever solved was the rubric cube. It was something that neither Darien or her could ever do. And she did it at age 9.
A two weeks later, Alyssia had heard nothing about any improvement in Jordan's condition. She personally went over to the cryogenics building to check on Jordan herself. She then found out why she didn't hear of any improvement. They were only monitoring his vitals, but not his brain or nervous system activity. She knew that his vitals would not come back until his nervous system was fully, or near fully healed. She did a couple tests and took some readings and left to analyze the data she had collected.
She discovered that He was ready to revive. His nerves were firing at almost full speed, and his brain waves were almost at their peak again. She was getting very excited. She then remembered a battle against the Negaverse where he was frozen solid in ice. His vitals were non-existent like they were now. She remembered that the way he broke out of it was that he somehow collected energy and shattered the ice. She immediately called up the cryogenics building and ordered technicians to watch over him continuously. As usual, they gave her static, forcing her to issue a Senshi order.
The next thing she did was drive directly to the Lunar Palace to inform the Royal family. She was so excited that she almost didn't stop at the gates. Once she got inside, she raced past the front guards, because they knew she was there, and went straight to the Royal chambers. All three were there and just looked up, a bit startled, when she threw open the doors.
"Your majesties! I think he's about to wake up!" she announced excitedly.
"Who?" asked Rini quietly.
"Your husband!" she replied, getting a strange look from Rini. "You know, Jordan," she explained further, pointing to a picture of Rini and Jordan just after they had taken their vowels on their wedding day. "Your husband, the Prince!" She saw something glimmer in Rini's eyes as if something snapped into place, but she shook it off.
"Impossible," Rini retorted insecurely.
Alyssia sighed, exasperated, as she picked up Rini and held her under her arm by her waist. "Come on Princess," she said as she headed out the door. She noticed that Rini was already beginning to change back to her old self. "Come with us, if you want," she offered back to the King and Queen.
Serena started to follow, but Darien tugged her dress and pulled her back. "It's alright Alyssia," he said. "I think Rini needs to be alone for this."
"Darien," Serena started in protest, "I wanna go s--" The rest of what she said was muffled as he covered her mouth.
"See you in a while, Rini!" he called to them as the left the room.
"HEY!" Rini cried. "Don't leave me!!! I don't wanna go alone!!!" she pleaded as her pleas fell upon deaf ears.
They arrived at the cryogenics building in a few minutes. They, with Rini still having to be held under her arm at the waist which was becoming hard considering that she was almost physically back to normal, but her mental mind was slow to match. As soon as she had entered the room, she found that it was bursting with activity. It was surprising to everyone, except for Alyssia and Rini, mainly because she had no idea what was going on, that his power level was starting to slowing raise, but it was now picking up velocity.
Alyssia had to set Rini down because Rini was now as tall as herself. Rini just stood there and watched the person frozen in the ice. Alyssia knew that Rini was becoming her old self again.
"Jordan," she gasped. "What's going on?" she demanded.
"He's waking up, Princess," Alyssia whispered in her ear.
As soon as she said that, the ice started to crack. At that, all activity in the room stopped. The only sound that was hear was the cracking of the ice. Rini bit her lower lip as she waited in anticipation. Then, suddenly, he punched through the ice in one blow, sending ice and water everywhere. As soon as he was almost completely free he just fell forward to the floor, gasping for breath and coughing up water. Rini couldn't hold back any longer. She ran and fell at his side, hugging him. Tears came when he gently hugged her back.
"I missed you so much," she sobbed as she wiped away her tears.
Jordan was a bit surprised by this. "How long have I been gone?" he asked her tenderly.
"Nearly two months," she sniffled as he crying started to slow down.
"Two months?!" he exclaimed. "Did I miss anything?"
"Well, our daughter is sulking and stewing in anger."
"What about Solara?"
"Sarah and I finished her off, as Eternal Angelic Empress Sailor Moon."
"Wow," he said in a gasp. It was all he could say. "Should we go get our daughter? You do know where she is, right?"
"Yes, to both accounts," Rini answered.
"Great, although you'll have to help me stand for a while until I can get my strength back up."
She put his arm around his shoulder and helped him up. He transformed out of his wet tuxedo and into his dry armor. As they walked outside, he was leaning on her less and less. They got into the car and ordered the chauffeur to drive to the site of the battle, which was about an hour away. When they got there, he was almost as strong as normal. They both got out of the car and he told the driver to wait a while for them. The then headed into the woods.
At first the only sign of their daughter was her locket half hidden in the thick grass. As they went deeper into the forest, the more signs they saw. There were charred trees and rocks everywhere and the smell of smoke permeated through Rini's clothes. They sensed their daughter's energy everywhere. Then they found her, she was leaning against a rock hugging her knees and slowly rocking back and forth. Trails of tears stained her face. Rini stepped forward and was about to say something, but he quickly covered her mouth and pulled her back. He let go of her, removed his breastplate, and stepped forward.
"Sarah, honey," he said quietly with a gulp.
She jumped up and jerked her head as she glared at him. He could feel her energy start to surge as she narrowed her eyes on him, but he saw that she wasn't focused on him.
"You," she hissed as she brought her hands up. "YOU!" she shouted as she brought her hands together. "You're not real! Get out of my mind!" she cried as she closed her eyes and fired a massive blast at him, even more powerful than the ones Solara hit him with.
He caught the blast with his palms but he couldn't hold it and he could feel that it was still surging as she continued to pump energy into it. He quickly threw it at a nearby boulder. When it hit the rock, it shattered, sending debris everywhere, but it dissipated the blast. He looked at the former boulder and then back to her. She opened her eye a bit, but still wasn't focusing. She then, bearing her teeth, lunged for him, her fingers trying to gouge him.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" she screamed, her face becoming flushed with anger. He saw out of the corner of his eye that Rini was biting her lower lip and had her hands folded and was holding them to her chest.
He quickly jumped to the left, but as soon as she landed, she swung her hand in his direction and made four distinct scratches on his cheek. Then she swung with her other hand, but he caught it. She narrowed her eyes even more and swung with the hand that scratched him and he caught it again.
With tears streaming down her cheeks she fought weakly to free her hands but he wouldn't let go as he brought her arms to her side. She then began to sob as she started to realize that he wasn't a shade or mirage. She looked up at him, this time she focused on his eyes as he smiled at her. She then saw Rini standing back behind him. She started to sob even harder as she leaned forward to bury her head in his chest. He let go of her arms and allowed her to fall into his chest. She wrapped her arms around his waist and just cried as her world started to come back together.
He gently kissed the top of her forehead and softly stroked her hair back. Rini, tears welling up in her eyes, came forward and put her arms around the both of them and rubbed her daughter's back. They all knew that everything was going to be alright.
THE END
The preceding was a fan fic written by Tuxedo J. Sailor Moon and all original characters are property of Naoko Takeuchi. All others are creations of Tuxedo J. Ó April 7, 2001. All rights reserved.