[NARRATIVE] trying to be heroic in an age of modernity
[A lot has been left unfinished for various reasons (again), and we've lost several players for various reasons (again), and this is kind of not permissible in my book, because we are trying to tell a story here. So there needs to be some actual conclusions, here and there. One major flaw is the lack of conclusion to the Dark Kingdom plot, which desperately needs one, both for what happens to Ami and because it also provides the catalyst for much of Ami and Makoto's relationship afterwards, before Makoto dies. We had it all plotted out, so nobody involved is unclear on what happened during it, but probably everyone else is, so this is for your benefit. This is Ami's side of the story. Takes place immediately ater the last comment in this post; flashback sequences follow the chronology of this post, set about a week before the events of the Dark Kingdom invasion. Hope you enjoy it.
[Note: This post should be read immediately afterwards, but understood to be happening concurrently.]
"So, uh. Tea?"
"Mm."
"... it's really good tea."
"I - you made it. Of course it's good if you made it."
"Eh, I'm not that good."
"Y - you're the best cook I know, Mako-chan."
"I'm the only cook you know. Drink your tea."
The sun skirts the edge of the city's horizon, a sharp edge of light against the acrid smoke rising from Tokyo's streets.
Light glitters in Zoisite's hands: crystals. The pieces of the Nijizuishou Mercury'd left behind as Nabu, and the dark pulse of a homing crystal besides. He taunts Venus with her real name, laughing; Mercury grits her teeth and tries not to blame herself again.
Her tunic is badly torn, shredded across the back and in a dozen other places; she can feel smoke and dust and detritus clinging to her skin where the cloth can't reach (anymore). Focus on the Generals, on the Nijizuishou bearers still alive. They're all that matters. Generals must be stopped, bearers must be saved; it only sounds so simple in her head.
"Uh, so -"
"I - think I'm in love with you!"
"Ehhhh?!"
"I - uhm. Uhm."
"..."
". . . I knew it was a stupid thing to say."
"No! No. It's - not that."
"It's okay. I was - I'm probably just drunk, just - making another mistake, I - I'm sorry, I didn't want to -"
"Uh?"
"I should go -"
"What? Wait. Just - hold on a second!"
She activates her HUD - she needs to be able to see it all without losing momentum - and rolls out of the way of a blast from Kunzite's palm. The blast cuts past her, just barely, slicing through the hardtop of the roof like butter. "No resistance at all," she says under her breath, marveling inanely at the power Kunzite has at his disposal before flipping back to dodge another blast.
Her HUD screams at her, and suddenly Jupiter - Mako-chan - is there, electricity arcing across her skin as her charge carries her into and off of the energy shield Kunzite raises so casually, so effortlessly, like swatting a fly. The air chills against Mercury's palm, and she bites back the words, whispering them under her breath, then spins and tosses a spiraling blast of ice at Kunzite to cover Jupiter's flank.
Electricity and ice crackle against pure energy, so raw and strong the world wavers behind it as the air superheats and distorts the image her eyes can see; Mercury doesn't trust her eyes like she trusts her HUD. If she leaves this fight, Jupiter will lose.
She can't let that happen. She can't - won't - lose Jupiter. She -
HUD flares yellow; Moon gasps, barely audible over the sounds of furious battle, and her energy signature winks out and Mercury gives Mako-chan one last glance, knowing her expression won't be visible or comprehensible against the energy Kunzite has unleashed, and turns to run after the Nijizuishou bearers and Usagi's last position.
"I don't know what to say."
"It's my fault, I shouldn't have said anything."
"That's - that's not true."
". . . whuh?"
"I guess maybe sometimes it's not who you were expecting, huh."
"Mako-chan? I - I can go. I - didn't mean to upset you, I didn't."
"You didn't - not really."
"Oh. Uhm. Okay."
"... I can't imagine not having you around, either."
Usagi falls limply to the ground, her body smacking - thud - against the ground like so much processed meat product, all odd angles. The new General stands over her, running a finger along the edge of his left hand, a malicious smile crossing his old, laugh-lined face. "Such a pretty girl," he says as Mercury approaches, frost spreading up her glove. "She should have stayed in bed. I do so despise this kind of idiocy."
Mercury screams, tapping into a cold so strong she can feel it in her bones and shoving it down and out her fingertips. The world spins behind her eyes and water condenses and pools and freezes against her palms. She can see something forming in her hands, something new - a harp - she grasps for it, drags her hands across it harshly, ice flaking off her fingertips, and nothing happens.
The General smiles. He draws his sword, spinning it through the air with practiced flair, and cocks his head. "Were you expecting to kill me with music? Sharp objects are much better for avenging your friends, I believe."
She can still feel the cold, a sharp ice-burn down the back of her neck. Mercury clenches a fist, her gaze flicking down to check Usagi's vitals through the HUD: still alive, but unconscious. No use in this fight, not anymore. "Fuck," she whispers, stopping about five feet from the General's position.
"You - uhm - you can't?"
"Yeah."
"Hunh."
"... yeah."
"Does this - I don't - what now?"
"I don't know. Last time anything like this happened, the guy turned out to be lying. And then he tried to kill me and our friends. I'm not so good at relationships."
"I'm - I'm not lying!"
"I know."
He's within grabbing distance of the Nijizuishou, Jupiter is barely holding on against Kunzite, and Mars and Venus can't possibly be hurting Zoisite much; if anything, he's probably toying with the both of them, cruel bastard. We're going to lose. Her eyes narrow behind the HUD, and her fists clench at her sides. Like hell I can let it end like this. Not when it's my fault it's like this. Cold explodes from her fist, swirls through the air, touching a shape in Mercury's head.
The General grins, gripping his sword more tightly, charging her immediately. Mercury parries - with a sword of superhard ice - and leaps back, out of range, before jumping into the air over the General's head and clashing swords with him from apex to landing. She grunts with every blow; his strikes hit like battering rams, tremors running up and down her arm on impact. She's never faced someone with this much raw physical strength. (He's not throwing any energy bolts around like Kunzite or flinging razor-sharp petals like Zoisite - just pure strength. Maybe that's all he has.) A strike, a feint, a parry, and they clash with swords crossed, like something out of an old Errol Flynn movie, up and down and on every available perch - she flips over him, spins to block his slash, misses and rolls away. The sword comes down hard enough to shatter the roof where she'd been standing.
The rest of the world zeroes out, the sparking blue and yellow of the HUD and the General's fluid movements becoming all she sees. Keeping them away from the Nijizuishou is all that matters now. "Who are you, anyway? I don't remember seeing you at any of the youma parties," she says through gritted teeth, between a cross of blades.
They split, and the General takes the time to flip his sword and catch it, switching his stance to some strange underhand style, waggling the sword back and forth in front of him. "Before your time, Mercury - before all your times." His eyes glitter, reflecting the fire and carnage surrounding them on all sides. "They called me Hematite."
She fell back, preparing for a charge. She was smiling, too, despite the soreness in her limbs, despite the way her hands felt like another blow might tear them off her arms along with the sword. "I don't care how old you are, Hematite. I won't let you win." She can't afford to.
". . . where do we go from here? This - I've never been in a - in a, uhm. Before."
"I dunno."
"I -"
"!!!"
"!!!"
"... did you just kiss me? You just kissed me. Intentionally, even."
"Uhm!"
"... huh."
"!!!"
The roof is scarred and cracked, and a quick glance at her HUD tells Ami the structural integrity is at a high likelihood of just completely buckling from all the power clashing on top of it and slamming into it by accident. Her arms feel like jelly; she can't keep up under Hematite's relentless assault much longer. Her arm is bleeding where he caught her before she could dodge completely, and his new style has made him much more prone to striking with the butt of the blade. She can feel a few teeth rattling loosely against her tongue.
This has to end. Somehow. Something yellow flickers in the corner of the HUD, where Moon fell; she pays it no(t much) heed, her mouth tightening into a line as she thinks and fights.
The time for thinking and fighting, however, is past: with one swift, unstoppable blow, Hematite knocks the ice sword from Mercury's grasp and the edge of his blade catches and tears at her skin, ripping a shallow, bloody gash across the palm of her hand. She stumbles back, quickly, quickly, trying to put enough distance between them to regroup her thoughts, keep a little more blood from spilling - she can't tell if that scream from Jupiter is from Kunzite's attacks or from this - but Hematite closes in, that kind, cold smile burning its way into her memory forever, just before his sword flashes up and across.
Her chest feels wet, something's loose, she can feel herself falling out of herself. Hot, dark liquid spills down the front of herskirt, drips onto her knees, onto the roof; she falls. Hematite slams the butt of the blade into the side of her head, stars flash behind her eyes, she hits the ground face-first.
The world zeroes. She opens her eyes, her hand touching intestine slopping, gritty with concrete dust. Her glove comes away red. Hematite turns back to the Nijizuishou bearers. Jupiter screams again. The HUD winks out. Unseen to Mercury's eyes, Sailor Moon's eyes flutter open.
It only takes a moment. It's over.
It's over.
"I don't ever want to lose you. No matter what happens."
"Me either."
Her hand falls to the roof, clenches against the concrete. Dust and blood makes muddy red sloppy. A hiss escapes through her gritted teeth, and she pulls herself to her feet, pushing uselessly against the spill of her gut, then shoves herself in one last, desperate move against Hematite, clutching him tightly just as he stands up from the last bearer, smiling to himself. They fall to the ground, and Mercury reaches deep down inside herself, down to a dark, cold, old place.
It is suddenly very, very cold on the roof.
They hit the ground, and Mercury falls away, eyes blank and unseeing. Hematite falls face-down, nothing left of him but a few scraps of skin stuck to a mass of spiralling spikes of ice, already beginning to melt in the heat and sun.
The Nijizuishou crystals and his sword clatter from his limp hands.
Sailor Moon screams.
Everything goes white.
[Note: This post should be read immediately afterwards, but understood to be happening concurrently.]
"So, uh. Tea?"
"Mm."
"... it's really good tea."
"I - you made it. Of course it's good if you made it."
"Eh, I'm not that good."
"Y - you're the best cook I know, Mako-chan."
"I'm the only cook you know. Drink your tea."
The sun skirts the edge of the city's horizon, a sharp edge of light against the acrid smoke rising from Tokyo's streets.
Light glitters in Zoisite's hands: crystals. The pieces of the Nijizuishou Mercury'd left behind as Nabu, and the dark pulse of a homing crystal besides. He taunts Venus with her real name, laughing; Mercury grits her teeth and tries not to blame herself again.
Her tunic is badly torn, shredded across the back and in a dozen other places; she can feel smoke and dust and detritus clinging to her skin where the cloth can't reach (anymore). Focus on the Generals, on the Nijizuishou bearers still alive. They're all that matters. Generals must be stopped, bearers must be saved; it only sounds so simple in her head.
"Uh, so -"
"I - think I'm in love with you!"
"Ehhhh?!"
"I - uhm. Uhm."
"..."
". . . I knew it was a stupid thing to say."
"No! No. It's - not that."
"It's okay. I was - I'm probably just drunk, just - making another mistake, I - I'm sorry, I didn't want to -"
"Uh?"
"I should go -"
"What? Wait. Just - hold on a second!"
She activates her HUD - she needs to be able to see it all without losing momentum - and rolls out of the way of a blast from Kunzite's palm. The blast cuts past her, just barely, slicing through the hardtop of the roof like butter. "No resistance at all," she says under her breath, marveling inanely at the power Kunzite has at his disposal before flipping back to dodge another blast.
Her HUD screams at her, and suddenly Jupiter - Mako-chan - is there, electricity arcing across her skin as her charge carries her into and off of the energy shield Kunzite raises so casually, so effortlessly, like swatting a fly. The air chills against Mercury's palm, and she bites back the words, whispering them under her breath, then spins and tosses a spiraling blast of ice at Kunzite to cover Jupiter's flank.
Electricity and ice crackle against pure energy, so raw and strong the world wavers behind it as the air superheats and distorts the image her eyes can see; Mercury doesn't trust her eyes like she trusts her HUD. If she leaves this fight, Jupiter will lose.
She can't let that happen. She can't - won't - lose Jupiter. She -
HUD flares yellow; Moon gasps, barely audible over the sounds of furious battle, and her energy signature winks out and Mercury gives Mako-chan one last glance, knowing her expression won't be visible or comprehensible against the energy Kunzite has unleashed, and turns to run after the Nijizuishou bearers and Usagi's last position.
"I don't know what to say."
"It's my fault, I shouldn't have said anything."
"That's - that's not true."
". . . whuh?"
"I guess maybe sometimes it's not who you were expecting, huh."
"Mako-chan? I - I can go. I - didn't mean to upset you, I didn't."
"You didn't - not really."
"Oh. Uhm. Okay."
"... I can't imagine not having you around, either."
Usagi falls limply to the ground, her body smacking - thud - against the ground like so much processed meat product, all odd angles. The new General stands over her, running a finger along the edge of his left hand, a malicious smile crossing his old, laugh-lined face. "Such a pretty girl," he says as Mercury approaches, frost spreading up her glove. "She should have stayed in bed. I do so despise this kind of idiocy."
Mercury screams, tapping into a cold so strong she can feel it in her bones and shoving it down and out her fingertips. The world spins behind her eyes and water condenses and pools and freezes against her palms. She can see something forming in her hands, something new - a harp - she grasps for it, drags her hands across it harshly, ice flaking off her fingertips, and nothing happens.
The General smiles. He draws his sword, spinning it through the air with practiced flair, and cocks his head. "Were you expecting to kill me with music? Sharp objects are much better for avenging your friends, I believe."
She can still feel the cold, a sharp ice-burn down the back of her neck. Mercury clenches a fist, her gaze flicking down to check Usagi's vitals through the HUD: still alive, but unconscious. No use in this fight, not anymore. "Fuck," she whispers, stopping about five feet from the General's position.
"You - uhm - you can't?"
"Yeah."
"Hunh."
"... yeah."
"Does this - I don't - what now?"
"I don't know. Last time anything like this happened, the guy turned out to be lying. And then he tried to kill me and our friends. I'm not so good at relationships."
"I'm - I'm not lying!"
"I know."
He's within grabbing distance of the Nijizuishou, Jupiter is barely holding on against Kunzite, and Mars and Venus can't possibly be hurting Zoisite much; if anything, he's probably toying with the both of them, cruel bastard. We're going to lose. Her eyes narrow behind the HUD, and her fists clench at her sides. Like hell I can let it end like this. Not when it's my fault it's like this. Cold explodes from her fist, swirls through the air, touching a shape in Mercury's head.
The General grins, gripping his sword more tightly, charging her immediately. Mercury parries - with a sword of superhard ice - and leaps back, out of range, before jumping into the air over the General's head and clashing swords with him from apex to landing. She grunts with every blow; his strikes hit like battering rams, tremors running up and down her arm on impact. She's never faced someone with this much raw physical strength. (He's not throwing any energy bolts around like Kunzite or flinging razor-sharp petals like Zoisite - just pure strength. Maybe that's all he has.) A strike, a feint, a parry, and they clash with swords crossed, like something out of an old Errol Flynn movie, up and down and on every available perch - she flips over him, spins to block his slash, misses and rolls away. The sword comes down hard enough to shatter the roof where she'd been standing.
The rest of the world zeroes out, the sparking blue and yellow of the HUD and the General's fluid movements becoming all she sees. Keeping them away from the Nijizuishou is all that matters now. "Who are you, anyway? I don't remember seeing you at any of the youma parties," she says through gritted teeth, between a cross of blades.
They split, and the General takes the time to flip his sword and catch it, switching his stance to some strange underhand style, waggling the sword back and forth in front of him. "Before your time, Mercury - before all your times." His eyes glitter, reflecting the fire and carnage surrounding them on all sides. "They called me Hematite."
She fell back, preparing for a charge. She was smiling, too, despite the soreness in her limbs, despite the way her hands felt like another blow might tear them off her arms along with the sword. "I don't care how old you are, Hematite. I won't let you win." She can't afford to.
". . . where do we go from here? This - I've never been in a - in a, uhm. Before."
"I dunno."
"I -"
"!!!"
"!!!"
"... did you just kiss me? You just kissed me. Intentionally, even."
"Uhm!"
"... huh."
"!!!"
The roof is scarred and cracked, and a quick glance at her HUD tells Ami the structural integrity is at a high likelihood of just completely buckling from all the power clashing on top of it and slamming into it by accident. Her arms feel like jelly; she can't keep up under Hematite's relentless assault much longer. Her arm is bleeding where he caught her before she could dodge completely, and his new style has made him much more prone to striking with the butt of the blade. She can feel a few teeth rattling loosely against her tongue.
This has to end. Somehow. Something yellow flickers in the corner of the HUD, where Moon fell; she pays it no(t much) heed, her mouth tightening into a line as she thinks and fights.
The time for thinking and fighting, however, is past: with one swift, unstoppable blow, Hematite knocks the ice sword from Mercury's grasp and the edge of his blade catches and tears at her skin, ripping a shallow, bloody gash across the palm of her hand. She stumbles back, quickly, quickly, trying to put enough distance between them to regroup her thoughts, keep a little more blood from spilling - she can't tell if that scream from Jupiter is from Kunzite's attacks or from this - but Hematite closes in, that kind, cold smile burning its way into her memory forever, just before his sword flashes up and across.
Her chest feels wet, something's loose, she can feel herself falling out of herself. Hot, dark liquid spills down the front of herskirt, drips onto her knees, onto the roof; she falls. Hematite slams the butt of the blade into the side of her head, stars flash behind her eyes, she hits the ground face-first.
The world zeroes. She opens her eyes, her hand touching intestine slopping, gritty with concrete dust. Her glove comes away red. Hematite turns back to the Nijizuishou bearers. Jupiter screams again. The HUD winks out. Unseen to Mercury's eyes, Sailor Moon's eyes flutter open.
It only takes a moment. It's over.
It's over.
"I don't ever want to lose you. No matter what happens."
"Me either."
Her hand falls to the roof, clenches against the concrete. Dust and blood makes muddy red sloppy. A hiss escapes through her gritted teeth, and she pulls herself to her feet, pushing uselessly against the spill of her gut, then shoves herself in one last, desperate move against Hematite, clutching him tightly just as he stands up from the last bearer, smiling to himself. They fall to the ground, and Mercury reaches deep down inside herself, down to a dark, cold, old place.
It is suddenly very, very cold on the roof.
They hit the ground, and Mercury falls away, eyes blank and unseeing. Hematite falls face-down, nothing left of him but a few scraps of skin stuck to a mass of spiralling spikes of ice, already beginning to melt in the heat and sun.
The Nijizuishou crystals and his sword clatter from his limp hands.
Sailor Moon screams.
Everything goes white.