-----------------------------
Mars Fire Ignite
Epilogue
by Soumitra Choudhury
schoudh@eos.ncsu.edu
-----------------------------
Sailor Moon sat down, gently settling Rei upon the rocky
ground as comfortably as possible. She stroked back the sorceress'
hair from her face, gazing upon Rei's peaceful, if dirty, sleeping
face.
"That was extremely foolish of you, Sailor Moon," a voice
spoke, startling the blonde girl out of her mild reverie.
Standing before her was the unknown Scout who had battled Rei
at the temple. For someone who had been devoured in a geyser of
spellfire, the woman looked remarkably hale. Not a bit of her seemed
injured, or even mildly scorched. She stood in front of them with her
staff as if she belonged there all along.
"Um..." Moon replied, not knowing exactly what to do. "Hi?"
The woman of forest green hair frowned slightly. "Rei may have
destroyed you, Sailor Moon. Where will the future be if you are gone?"
Moon shook her head, trying to clear it and make sense of the
woman's statements. "Excuse me. Can we start over again? I don't even
know who you are."
The woman ignored her. "With the Crystal, Rei could have
conquered most of the Universe. What would have happened then?"
"But she didn't conquer the Universe!" yelled back the Scout
leader, a bubble of frustration bursting. "She didn't get the Crystal!
Why are you rant and raving about things that haven't happened?! And
who ARE you?!" The voice of the unknown Scout clicked in her mind as
the one that had advocated blasting Rei back at the temple, and that
knowledge angered her. 'Who is she to command me? ME?'
Sailor Pluto considered the fiesty young teenager before her
for a long, hard moment, a span that caused Moon to fidget under the
stare of those cold magenta eyes. Finally, the older Scout smiled, a
rare shining event that calmed Moon's worries. "You are correct. Rei
did not get the Crystal." Another pause. "You did well, my
Queen. Remain vigilant, for there are more dangers in this existence
than the enemies that seem clear-cut and visibly evil." She pointedly
looked at Rei's slumbering body. "She has claimed victory for today,
but what about tomorrow? Or, if not tomorrow, the next day? Can you
trust her for the rest of your days, knowing that she once coveted,
and perhaps still covets, your power, your crown?"
Sailor Moon's features hardened, and she stood up, raising a
determined fist before her. "Rei is a Sailor Scout. She would never
willingly hurt those she cares for the most, and I know she cares for
me and the rest of the Scouts. We are a team, and she is part of
it. We all love each other, and we take each others weaknesses with
their strengths. It has always been this way, and it will always
remain like this." She paused once more, and then added, "I will
always trust Rei with my life because I know who she really is, now
more than ever. She is my friend, and nothing will change that."
The woman nodded, expecting such an answer. "Very well,
Serenity. I will believe in your trust then." Concluding that, as if
it were the perfectly natural thing to do, she turned around and
started walking away.
Moon stepped forward hesitantly. "Wait! You haven't told me
your name! Are you a Sailor Scout?"
The form of the woman became ethereal, transparent as she
strode forward. "We will meet again," spoke her ghostly voice wafting
through the air, fading away like the woman. Soon, the Scout was no
more.
A long time Sailor Moon watched the place she had disappeared,
wondering if she had dreamed the whole thing. 'Maybe I'm more tired
than I thought.'
Gathering herself before she, too, fell asleep, the princess
called forth the Crystal once again. 'Well, no need to sit around
here forever. We're not getting any younger.'
A flash of silver light, and the two humans vanished from the
face of the Moon.
*****
Shortly after the disappearance of Sailor Moon, the Scouts,
Tuxedo Mask, and the cats REALLY got their panties in a wad.
"Where's Sailor Moon?!" cried Luna, frantically scanning the
temple grounds for the blonde.
The arguing crashed to a complete halt as Mercury, Jupiter,
Mask and Artemis glanced up from glaring and yelling at each other,
only now realizing the missing princess. Venus remained unconscious
upon the ground.
"How long has she been gone?!"
"Sailor Moon!"
"Where the hell did she go?!"
Sensible Mercury pulled out her communicator and punched up
the correct display. "Sailor Moon! Where are you?!"
A static-filled screen was her answer.
Suddenly, the heavens flashed brilliantly, followed by a
streaking glow of red, then a burst of green, a tumble of yellow, and
a crash of blue. Turning their heads up, they began to witness the
diffused fireworks that claimed the overcast sky, showers of color
that illuminated the atmosphere from the lone natural satellite in the
Earth's sky.
"The Moon," whispered Artemis, whiskers twitching.
Tuxedo Mask gawked for a moment, then sprung at Luna. "How do
I get their, Luna?"
"Where?"
"The Moon, for God's sake! How do I get to the Moon?!"
Luna fidgeted. "I don't know. I can't send you there."
Mask twisted and grabbed Jupiter. "Use the Sailor Teleport!
Get me there now!"
Jupiter, miffed at being handles so, shoved his hands
away. "Tuxedo Mask, I think you need to calm down," she hissed through
clenched teeth.
"Calm down?! Serena is on the Moon! Rei is going to slaughter
her! Don't you care?!"
Mercury, fed up with the apparent lunacy that had taken over
Mask's usual cool demeanor, stood up from her work, strode over to the
taller man, and slapped him squarely across the face, astounding him
to silence. "I am up to HERE-" she raised her hand above her head,
"-with your lack of faith and your fits of irrationality that seem to
come over you more often of late. Out of all of us, Sailor Moon is the
most powerful, and she has the Silver Imperium Crystal to protect
her. None of us are in ANY condition to perform a Sailor Teleport,
much less handle an environment wholly foreign to us as the Moon
is. So, let me repeat what Jupiter said: CALM DOWN!" She glared
menacingly at the flabbergasted Tuxedo Mask.
Jupiter, considerably unnerved by the emergence of an angry
Sailor Mercury, sidled over to the two cats, and whispered down, "You
think maybe Mercury got hit a little too hard?"
Luna snickered, and Artemis shrugged. "At least its at Mask
and not us."
The dashing hero stared daggers back at the Scout of Ice, and
it looked as if a fight would ensue between the two, but then he
backed down with a heartful sigh. "You're right, Mercury. I'm acting
like an idiot. It's just that I'm afraid for Serena."
Mercury waved the comment away. "You don't need to
apologize. I understand where you're coming from. I'm just as worried
as you are, but you saw how Rei handled us. Sailor Moon is our only
hope now. Even then, I think we'll need more than our fair share of
luck too." She settled down next to Venus again and proceeded to type
again.
Luna padded over. "You know, Darien, Rei WAS making an effort
to free herself. Maybe that will be enough."
"I hope you're right Luna."
With the situation reduced to a state of helpless waiting,
Jupiter tried repeatedly to contact Sailor Moon or Rei while Mercury
carefully nursed Venus. Mask quietly stood off to the side, watching
the bursts of illumination in the sky surrounding the Moon, praying
everything was going all right.
The cats, having plenty of experience with waiting while Scout
events took place, groomed themselves meticulously, a sight that drew
a chuckle from Jupiter.
And then, the pyrotechnics display stopped.
Venus opened her eyes to the worried glances everyone was
giving the sky. Groaning at the pounding headache that chipped at her
brain, she attempted to move her trembling limbs. "Hey, guys. What's
up?"
Mercury laid a comforting hand on her shoulder, pressing her
back to the ground. "Rest, Venus. You took quite a blast." She smiled
encouragingly.
"Why's everyone watching the sky?"
The blue-haired scout ignored her, continuing to scan for
trauma, and Venus was too confused to press the issue. Her
head. "Fine, I guess I don't want to know just yet."
Mercury smiled sadly.
Ten minutes passed by, and the group of superheroes held a
collective breath, their patience wearing thinner with each passing
moment. Mask took to pacing, Jupiter to scratching the concerned cats.
None of them wanted to voice their overwhelming thought: 'Did
they survive?'
It was a moot point, though, for only minutes thereafter, a
tiny mote of starlight materialized in their midst, flashed into a
sunburst, and vanished, leaving a desperately injured but slumbering
Rei, and a haggard Sailor Moon, who promptly fell to her knees,
drained.
"Sailor Moon!" they all cried, rushing to her drawn form.
Tuxedo Mask carefully cradled her to his chest, crying, all
his worries washing away in those tears of joy. The cats smiled grins
that only cats could smile safely. "See, I told you they'd be okay,"
Artemis spoke, puffing his chest out in masculine pride. Luna let it
slide.
Jupiter helped Venus over to the reunion as Mercury knelt
beside Rei. "By the Moon! What happened to her?" She scanned over her
friend repeatedly, bringing up Rei's condition. "Open fracture in her
elbow, cauterized hole in her abdomen, severe exhaustion. It's no
wonder she's fast asleep."
Sailor Moon uncovered her head from Mask' chest. "Does she
need to go to the hospital?"
Mercury scanned a moment more. "Well, it wouldn't hurt, but I
think she's handling most of her injuries herself. I'm getting small
magic signatures that correspond to her powers. I'm not an expert on
these things, but I think she might be healing herself, albeit
slowly. I would think a fresh and comfortable place to sleep and
plenty of rest will fix her up just as good as a trip to the
hospital."
"What about her arm?" asked Venus faintly. The sight of the
exposed bone made her nauseous.
"Well, that's the only problem. I can't set it without proper
equipment. I can only think of taking her to the hospital for that."
Moon nodded. "Then that's what we'll do. One more trip to the
hospital isn't going to kill her, as much as she would like to think
otherwise. Let's take her there."
Jupiter, still supporting Venus, cleared her throat. "Why
don't we split up here. Venus isn't going to make it back on her own,
so I'll get her home while you guys take Rei. How about we meet you in
the morning?"
Venus shot Jupiter a withering glare. "I'll be just fine. Let
go of me!"
Mercury beamed at the Scout of Thunder. "Actually, I think
that's a fantastic idea. Take her home. She'll just stumble around
like a fish and end up in the hospital if she goes."
The blonde's eyes widened. "Oh, well, in that case, take me
home, Lita. I hate hospitals."
Mask whispered to Moon, "You should go home too. You're
exhausted."
The leader shook her head. "No. I plan on being there for
Rei. I'll sleep at the hospital." Quietly, she added, "Rei gave a lot
of herself in that battle. I'm very proud of her."
Mask hugged her. "And what about your parents?"
She shrugged. "Rei's health is more important than me trying
not to get in trouble with them. Besides, I'm sure they'll
understand. I'll call them in the morning. Now, stop pampering me and
help us get to the hospital."
The Sailor Scouts and a Tuxedo Mask detransformed and headed
to their respective destinations.
*****
When Rei opened her eyes, she feared perhaps that she had died
in the end, and that perhaps someone above had disapproved of her,
sent her to Hell, and thrown her in a hospital. 'Not again,' she
groaned to herself. The sterility of the room hurt her eyes, and she
closed them again. For some reason, all that white reminded her of her
titanic battle, something she didn't feel up to thinking about right
now.
"Wake up, Sleepy-Head."
Rei groaned aloud this time. "Oh great. Not only do I end up
in Hell Memorial Hospital, they send Ami to be my nurse." She peeked
through her eyelid to watch the reaction.
"Ha ha, very funny Rei," the doctor-in-training remarked,
though a quiet smile slipped past her defenses. "How are you feeling?"
Rei stretched cat-like in her bed, realizing for the first
time that her arm was caught in a sling once again. Nothing else
seemed to hurt, other than a dull tender spot on her lower
abdomen. "Other than this infernal sling, I think I'll be okay. How
long have I been asleep?"
"Close to three days."
Rei blinked. "Three days?" She covered her face with her good
hand in mock despair. "I'm going to have so much homework to do."
Ami pulled out a backpack filled with textbooks and schoolish
whatnots. "Not to worry. We've been keeping up with that."
"Gee, thanks," the patient muttered, blanching slightly. Ami
giggled.
Suddenly, Rei felt very uncomfortable. An image of Sailor
Mercury being squished to death in the ground came slamming back to
her with remarkable clarity. "Um, Ami?"
"Hmm?"
The patient twirled a lock of hair nervously. "I'm, um, really
sorry, you know, for what happened that night." She didn't feel able
to meet her friend's gaze.
"Rei, look at me."
Slowly, Rei raised her face.
Ami gave her the most soothing, innocent grin that instantly
set Rei's mind to rest. "It's alright, Rei. Serena explained most of
what happened to us already. It wasn't your fault."
Rei's face fell. "But it was my fault! I should have fought
harder to get out! I was being weak! I was ashamed!" Tears shimmered
in her eyes. "I was afraid you guys wouldn't want me around after what
I did."
The blue-haired girl took Rei's good hand in her own and
squeezed it comfortingly. "Listen to me, Rei. Lots of thing happened
that got out of control. We try to handle them, but sometimes we're
just not quite strong enough at that moment. How many times has Serena
balked at her duties? More than I can remember, but she still goes on
in the end. She knows, deep down in her heart, that all is meant to
be. The same goes for the rest of us. Every now and then, I feel like
I just can't go on, that it's all too much for me, but I know that
it's the right thing to do."
"None of us blame you for what happened. These things occur
for a reason. The important thing is that none of us are hurt, and
that you're alright. We learn from our mistakes this way, and it makes
us stronger." Ami slid her an impish look. "Still, with the amount of
treasure you stole from the Grell, it wouldn't hurt for you to take us
somewhere really nice for a vacation sometime."
"Ami!" Rei exclaimed, laughing in relief. "I probably have to
return most of it to the proper authorities."
"True, but I've been looking over the lot, and it seems to me
you're going to be filthy rich after that. There's enough money to
finance the whole Moon Kingdom I would imagine. Not to mention the
rewards and such for returning some of those things. The Silver Katana
of the Nakimura Clan, for example?"
The patient's eyes widened. "I have that?"
Ami nodded. "There's been a reward out for that relic for the
past ten years. $1 million, I believe."
"Stop Ami. This is too much. I can't think straight." Rei
shook her head. 'Wealth? What am I going to do with it? Split it with
the others at the very least, I guess.'
Ami patted her hand. "You should sleep some more. I think
Mom's going to come by in a little while to check up on you. Frankly,
I think you should go home and rest, so I'll try to convince her of
that. It shouldn't be a problem. Your powers have helped you
remarkably."
Rei nodded absently, nestling down into the bed to get
comfortable. As Ami rose to leave, Rei called out, "Ami?"
"Yes?"
"Thanks for understanding."
"My pleasure. Just remember that vacation. I think we all
deserve one." She quietly slipped out the door.
*****
To baffle all the doctors of the hospital (even Ami's mother),
Rei was pronounced fit to leave only one day later.
She returned to her temple, surrounded by her friends
(excluding Darien, who had stayed conspicuously absent for quite some
time), assaulted by a longing to have life return to the normalcy of a
Sailor Scout. The girls helped her settle back in, then left soon
after, allowing Rei the moments of privacy she so desperately needed.
With Grandpa out of the country for another couple of weeks,
Rei had the whole temple to herself. She vowed to keep it close for a
while longer, at least until she could fix up the charred roofing from
her conflagratory attack upon Sailor Pluto. She also had to figure out
what to do with her newly acquired wealth. That was going to be the
hard part. There was no way she could hide all that from Grandpa!
She shrugged. With phenomenal magical powers, anything could
be done.
Rei plodded into her bedroom, frowning in thought. Something
bothered her deeply about the past week or so, something that remained
at the very edge of her psyche, just past her understanding.
Something important.
Plopping down upon her bed, she fell back, pulling her good
hand behind her head. Already, the magical eddies swirled within her
once more, having been replenished in full during her stay at the
hospital. If she wanted to, she could speed up the mending of her arm.
Yet, there was a sense of the mundane in having it mend
itself, a soothing feeling of natural life that had eluded her for
sometime.
As she lay there, other concerns flurried over her, and two of
these won out over the rest.
One: Cole Gishumi.
Two: Black Rei.
For all her solidity after the dire events of the past week,
she had no idea what to do about the former, so she pressed that
aside.
The latter problem, though, required her undivided attention,
and she forced herself to consider the implications of her plan.
'It's too soon.'
'The longer I wait, the stronger she gets.'
'You'll have to choose between two evils.'
'I can handle the lesser of the two.'
'What about Darien?'
'He will have to suffer some, but it is for the best.'
Silence.
Rei closed her eyes, focusing on her mind. Carefully, she sent
a bit of it out, watching with her inner eye as a trail of her psyche
floated out, unseen by the naked eye.
It twisted through the temple, out into the neighborhood, and
sought through the city for one individual. Once she found him,
absently gazing off his balcony, she telepathed to him that his
presence was needed.
Ten minutes later, Darien hesitantly entered Rei's room,
wondering if he would ever get used to her new powers.
She was dressed in a plain grey sweatshirt and a pair of
jeans, a far cry from her recent fascination with kimonos. Darien
liked her better this way.
"Um, you called," he asked, running his hand through his
hair. He was obviously nervous.
She looked at him for a long while, silently taking in his
stance. "Are you ever going to be able to trust me?" she questioned
bluntly, her face impassive.
Darien fidgeted, unable to answer. She took this calmly, and
shrugged. "I'm sorry then. I know I can't change the way you see me,
but I can tell you this: I never meant to hurt you or anyone. It
wasn't entirely my fault."
"I never said-"
She raised her hand, halting him. "I know you didn't, but your
eyes say it. You're afraid of me, and with good reason." Suddenly, a
sob broke through her facade, and she placed her hand over her mouth.
Thoroughly uncomfortable, Darien took a step forward. "Rei-"
"No, don't say anything. I'll be alright." She took in a deep
breath and calmed herself down again, though with great difficulty. "I
didn't ask for my powers, even as I didn't ask to be a Sailor Scout,
but here I am, stuck as both. Now, while I cannot change what I am, I
can use it to our benefit, which I fully intend to do."
She turned away from him then. "I called you here because I
need to do something important, something that will probably anger you
greatly. I've called you here to ask your permission."
Darien, stunned and baffled, remarked, "Rei, you hardly need
my permission to do anything."
She whirled back at him with a pleading expression. "But I
need you to understand! I'm hoping this will help you to begin
trusting me again!"
The prince considered her, trying to fight past his newly
found fear. All that she had said was true. He didn't trust her at
all. After what had happened, he didn't know if he ever could.
The way she looked at him, though, gave him second
thoughts. Serena still believed in her. The Scouts still believed in
her. Why couldn't he? She looked so helpless, so
small. Perhaps... "What do you need?"
In a small voice, she said, "I need to release the Grell so
that I can put my alter-ego in the Spirit Wrack."
A deafening silence fell over the surroundings as the
statement registered at molasses speed. "You want to release... the
Grell?" he asked dumbly.
Rei nodded.
"The Grell...?" he repeated, shaking his head as if to clear
it. The idea was incomprehensible. Free the Grell? Free the one
creature that had been causing so much trouble over the past few
weeks? Free the single most wanted assassin since the time of the
Silver Millennium? The murderer of his mother?!
It didn't even occur to him that the most dangerous being in
existence at the moment was NOT, in fact, the Grell, but the dark half
of Rei.
"How can you even think of doing that?!" he screamed,
forgetting himself. "The Grell screwed you up! He screwed all of us
up! Don't you remember the hit on Cole?!"
Rei took the heat as well as she could, her lower lip
trembling. She felt small and pathetic in the face of his fury, a
vastly different attitude from her normally hardened and solid stance
as the Scouts' pillar of stone with nothing ever outwardly bothering
her. This, however, hurt much more than she could handle, and a tear
fell from each eye.
"Please Darien, try to understand," she begged. "I can't do
this without your consent, but I think my darker side is much more of
a threat than the Grell. In fact, the Grell should be reduced to a
weakling after his duration in the Spirit Wrack! We can easily take
care of him , even turn him over to the police or whatever!"
"But I can't deal with my double being anywhere that she can
escape! She'll come looking for me, and then what happens? We'll
battle again, and who's to say I win this time? In the process, we may
hurt a number of innocent lives, perhaps even one of the Scouts, or
Serena! I don't want to take that chance! We're too evenly matched at
full strength, and I'm afraid the Earth may suffer for my blunder!"
Darien listened, albeit thinly, to her impassioned
argument. Deep down, he knew she was right, but it hurt so much not to
be selfish, to finally be done with the once prominent nemesis who had
managed to escape his grasp for over one thousand years.
His heart softened, though, for the similar pain he witnessed
upon Rei's shoulders. Here was a young girl with more responsibility
than everyone on the planet, with the exception of Serena. With no
normal life left to lead, constantly looking behind her to make sure
her own nemesis would not strike at some future time. Did he really
wish the same thing he had gone through to someone else, especially
Rei? After all that she had encountered? It seemed a wonder that she
functioned at all.
"I still don't understand why you didn't go off and do this
anyway," he mumbled, realizing he was losing his petty resolve.
Sighing once again, knowing that the worst of her plea was
nearly over, she said, "Because, the Sailor Scouts and Tuxedo Mask
could never really be a team if you and I are going to be less than
civil to each other, and I think that would hurt Serena more than
anyone, something I'm not willing to do if I can help it." She
delicately wiped away her tears from her face.
Darien pondered this a moment, clenching his fist several
times. "Do you need me to come with you?" he asked, his mind made up.
Smiling in relief, she nodded.
*****
In the end, Rei insisted that Serena (or rather, Sailor Moon)
come along as well, for Rei remembered what had happened the last time
she opened the Spirit Wrack. The Crystal would probably be needed to
bring them back from the Moon. Darien was less than pleased with that
turn of events, but resigned to the plan, realizing that Serena would
know when he transformed anyway.
What they had not counted on were the other Scouts insisting
on going as well. Rei had leveled a glare at Serena when the blonde
had mentioned the little plan at their Scout meeting, and the three
other instantly jumped at the opportunity, even reserved Ami. "I can
scan him when he comes through so we can make sure he's manageable,"
she had replied when asked about her interest. Lita and Mina, who was
once again her vivacious and restless self, tore into Rei for even
considering leaving them behind.
Rei was touched at their concerned.
Preparations took the better half of a week, with school and
Serena's detentions (she had reverted back to the klutzy ditz they all
knew and loved). Rei spent the time making sure the plan was pristine
clear to everyone, as the danger would be great.
"Once again, this is the way things go," she reported for
perhaps the tenth time this meeting, the few hours before darkfall.
"We'll Sailor Teleport to the Moon just after full night. Serena,
you'll use the Crystal to create a bubble of air so that we can
breathe and move properly."
"Are you sure you shouldn't be doing that?" Darien questioned.
Rei shook her head. "I want her to do it because I need to
save all my strength for the Spirit Wrack. Remember, the last time I
tried this, I was out for a long time. I barely had the strength left
to make it back to the temple alive."
Darien remained doubtful, but Serena shushed him. "Rei knows
what she's doing."
Rei hesitated momentarily at Serena's vote of confidence, then
continued. "Anyway, when we get there, I'll need Lita and Mina to
blast open the cave that I sealed shut."
Lita grinned, cracking her knuckles. "Doesn't sound like a
problem to me."
"What about Black Rei inside? Won't she be hurt?" inquired
Mina, not as enthusiastic about wanton destruction as her brunette
friend.
Rei waved the question aside. "If a full blast from the Silver
Imperium Crystal didn't kill her in one hit, I know a few chunks of
lunar debris are not going to make much of a difference."
"Alright, after that, I'm going to begin opening the Spirit
Wrack. As soon as the Grell pops out, I want you guys to take him and
return to the temple. He shouldn't be any trouble at all. He won't
have any powers left in him, and if Ami is correct, then all we have
to do is remove the mask to rid ourselves of the Grell forever. Right
Ami?"
Ami shrugged. "At least according to my previous analysis. I'm
pretty sure the mask is the source of the Grell's power. If it has
been drained, even temporarily, in the Spirit Wrack, then removing it
shouldn't be a problem."
Here, Luna made her argument. "Rei, I know you need to save
all of your energies to manipulate the Spirit Wrack, but is it wise to
send ALL the Scouts back? What if something goes wrong?"
"Luna, nothing will go wrong. Besides, you remember what
happens when the Spirit Wrack is changed. The excess energy from the
weave spills out and creates a massive explosion. I won't have anyone
around when the detonation goes off."
Luna opened her mouth to speak, but Rei raised her hand
silencing her. "This time I will only be a bit tired when I get back
to the temple, after I set up my contingency teleport. I'll be fine,
and that's the end of it."
Sighing, the black cat laid her head upon her paws, worry
wrinkling her nose. Rei scratched behind Luna's ears fondly.
"Any questions?"
No one said a word.
*****
Six humans appeared upon the surface of the Moon once again,
more humans in two weeks than had been there in the past 40
years. Five Sailor Scouts and a Tuxedo Mask.
With the directional image in Sailor Moon's mind, they had
appeared outside the small cave, within the mammoth crater. Instantly,
the Crystal glowed to life, enveloping them in a globe of Earth's
atmospheric conditions.
The three Scouts who had not been to the Moon before took a
few moments to look around, feeling a strange sense of sadness at the
barren condition of a once magnificent kingdom.
Jupiter and Venus stepped forward, glancing at the sealed cave
that Mars pointed to.
"Jupiter Thunder Crash!"
"Venus Crescent Beam Smash!"
Twin blasts of electricity and light joined together ,
shooting into the center of the wall of stone. The wall brightened a
bit, then exploded in a hale of rock splinters and dust.
When the dust cleared, they all saw Black Rei's broken body
lying within.
Her condition hadn't changed in the week and a half that she
had last seen light. Her limbs still remained shattered, her skin
still scorched and charred in places. The only change was that the
fractures in her head had closed up, leaving ugly scars. Her face was
encrusted with dried cranial fluid and blood, gaunt and nearly
skeletal.
The eyes remained pitch black, probing, squinting in hatred.
"Dear God," Rei heard someone whisper behind her. She thought
it was Venus, but it may have well been her own voice. It truly
saddened her that she faced her broken twin once again, especially in
such a state.
"I offer you another chance," she spoke, choking slightly on
her emotion. "Join with me once again, and let it be as it always has
been."
Black Rei gave no indication she heard until they felt a voice
tickle all of their minds: 'Never! Leave me to my misery!'
Mercury stepped forward. "Are you sure she'll recover from
this? She doesn't look well enough to support herself. How is she
still alive?" she whispered to Mars.
"She hasn't lost her tie to the weave. She's not strong enough
to replenish all of her powers, so she has access to only a
trickle. It's enough to keep her alive and support her in this
environment. With whatever drops of magic she has left, she's
attempting to mend herself, but it will be an excruciatingly long
process. Still, in ten, maybe twenty years, she'll be a force to
reckon with once again."
Mercury nodded. "Then this should be done."
Black Rei's eyes flickered in movement. 'What should be done?
What are doing here?' she demanded.
Ignoring her, Mars turned her back to the invalid, raising her
arms out for balance. Her eyes, having returned to normal after the
battle with her twin, became stark white, faintly glowing.
The Sailor Scouts and Tuxedo Mask readied themselves into
defensive stances as the tiny motes of snowy light blinked into
existence inside the bowl of the crater. Slowly at first, but with
increasing speed, they converged in the center, gathering into a
circle of swirling stars. As more motes converged, the larger the
portal became, until the circle was twenty feet in diameter.
The motes stopped materializing, leaving only the portal,
spinning gently about the circumference. As it spun, it fell forward,
rising at it fell, until it was flat, parallel to the ground.
Unceremoniously, the Grell's body fell out of the bottom of
the disc, motionless.
"Quickly now, take the Grell and go!" yelled Sailor Mars above
the din of swirling dust and breezy winds, aftermaths of actually
opening the Spirit Wrack, definitely not as deadly as trying to change
the prison's facets.
'What are you doing?!' screamed Black Rei, a note of frantic
panic in her telepathy.'You can't put me in the Spirit Wrack!'
Rei ignored her as she maintained her concentration on the
portal. The others ran forward, Mars trailing behind a bit as she
followed, and gathered up the body. Sailor Moon turned once to Mars
and gave her a hug. "See you at the temple Mars," she quipped, though
concern marred her attempt at a smile.
Mars returned the embrace. "You too."
The Scouts, Tuxedo Mask with the Grell in tow, vanished from
the Moon. Instantly, the bubble of atmosphere popped, forcing Mars to
erect her own.
'Please, Rei! You can't put me in there! I'll die in my
present condition!'
"No," replied the Scout of Fire. "As you once said to the
Grell, I won't let you die. The Facets will be set so that just enough
of the weave will get through to allow you to maintain your body, but
that is all. You will be forever broken and imprisoned within the
Spirit Wrack... unless-"
'Unless what?!'
"Unless you agree to bind yourself once again to my mind and
return us to our prior existence."
A hiss slithered through Mars' mind. 'I will never return to
you!'
Mars nodded. "As I thought. You are just as stubborn as I am,"
she mumbled grimly. She summoned the titanic forces, drowning out
Black Rei's cries, and the world, again, erupted in a symphony of
light.
*****
On a night that was supposed to be clear with a sliver of the
Moon showing, most people were surprised when the night sky lit up as
a brilliant shine erupted from the lunar surface.
'It reminds me of the Silver Imperium Crystal when its on the
Crescent Wand,' Sailor Moon thought, witnessing the Spirit Wrack's
manifest from the temple grounds. She kneeled to the ground,
whispering a prayer to the Moon for the safe return of her sorceress
friend.
No sooner had she finished then the streams of jade light
gathered from the various corners of the courtyard, streaking for a
point in the center where a sphere materialized. When the geometrical
shape popped open, Mars landed nimbly, then staggered a bit as the
backlash of fatigue swooped through her. Instantly, Venus was at her
side. "Whoa there, girl. You okay?"
Mars sucked in a deep breath to clear the dizziness that had
overcome her. "Yeah, just give me a moment. I'll be alright." She
gratefully wrapped an arm around Venus' shoulder.
The rest of the Scouts were gathered around the body they had
carried through, Mercury spending a lot of time clicking away at her
computer. As Mars and Venus neared the cloakened figure, the
dark-haired Scout noticed that the assassin didn't move. "Is he dead?"
she whispered to no one in particular.
The Scout of Ice heard, though. "No, he's unconscious. It's
difficult to tell, but I think he's in shock."
Mars nodded. Edging a bit closer she got a good look at the
Grell's mask... or what was left of it.
The once ceramically clean and porcelain beauty of the mask
had given way to jagged cracks and splinters chipped away by the
devastating forces of the prison. It seemed that the more cracks and
fractures there existed in the mask, the more worn and weathered it
looked.
The purple gems within the eye sockets did not glitter as they
once were prone to do.
Mars stole a glance at Tuxedo Mask, and found him struggling
to maintain his composure. She could tell he really wanted to reach
down and kick the crap out of the assassin.
Respecting the need for haste, she cleared her throat. "Will
it be okay to remove that mask of his, Mercury?"
"Um, I suppose so. It's barely registering on my readings."
Taking that as a good sign, Mars bent over and carefully
touched the cracked faceplate. Sailor Moon was about to protest, but
Mars shot her a glare that plainly said 'Stay out of this!' The blonde
shut her mouth.
A minute tingle of energy sprinkled up her arm, but she
ignored it. It wasn't nearly enough to harm her in any way. Satisfied
that danger didn't threaten her, she reached with both hands and
carefully pried off the mask. To her surprise, it came away easily.
A hissing rush of air, like the opening of a long-sealed
coffin, greeted them as the once powerfully-magical artifact withdrew
from the Grell's face, revealing-
-the skeletal remains of a human being, a soft mist flowing
about the skull.
Gasping, Venus and Sailor Moon stepped back in fright, the
latter burying her face in Tuxedo Mask's chest. Jupiter and Mercury
looked horrified, but only Mars nodded sadly.
"I thought so. Even as I was used by that silken mask, so too
was some individual of long ago used by this mask."
"I don't understand," mumbled Mercury, getting over her
initial reaction. "Who is that? It looks like it should have
decomposed centuries ago. And how is it that the Grell is a dead
body?"
Mars shrugged. "Without researching the mask itself, I can't
be sure, but my guess is that the Grell is actually the mask. It
probably tricked some hapless individual into donning it, and that was
the origin of the Grell we see here. The mask probably needed a body
to actually exist."
As she spoke, the ghoulish mist that flowed over the bones
dispersed away, and the skeletal remains disintegrated to dust,
evaporating in the night's cool breath. With uncanny gentleness, the
black garb of the Grell collapsed to the ground, no body remaining to
support it.
The Scouts said not a word, watching the dust disappear. All
of them shuddered, save Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Mars.
The former smiled in relief, feeling a great burden evaporate
with the dust.
The latter sighed in sorrow, pity striking her heart for the
second time this hour.
*****
William peaked in on Cole for the third time this hour, and
for the third time, he found the young man staring absently out the
window of his study.
The fatherly butler had brought Cole back the night he had
implemented his plan to imprison Sailor Mars. Then, the boy had been
an emotional wreck, variating between destructive guilt and manic
depression. It had taken quite a number of sedatives to calm Cole
down.
As the days went by, however, he seemed to get worse. Cole
wouldn't eat, wouldn't sleep, wouldn't workout. His health, once
again, plummeted, and a nasty case of the flu had set in. William
nursed him back to normal, but it proved very difficult. What can you
do when a patient doesn't want to help himself.
Eventually, Cole did recover from his bout with influenza, but
he maintained his reclusiveness. He drew away from everyone, even
William, spending considerable quantities of time staring out that
window. As much as he had tried, William couldn't break the young man
out of his self-imposed exile from life.
Repeatedly, the butler had phoned Rei to inquire what had gone
wrong, why Cole was so depressed and heartbroken, but she never
returned the calls.
Ami came by once to explain the current situation to him,
which answered a great deal of questions. William, feeling horribly
about the why of Cole's condition, tried to speak to him, but that,
too, didn't help.
Today, William was considering whether or not a psychiatrist
would be in order.
Closing the study door behind him, he mentally ran through the
phone numbers he had memorized, pulling Ami's out from his mind. It
was time he discussed therapy for Cole with the Scouts, even if it
might endanger their anonymity.
He nearly jumped out of his skin when he noticed Rei standing
down the hall, smiling meekly at him.
In a blouse and jeans, with an unbuttoned button-down shirt
overlaying her blouse, she hardly seemed the evil sorceress that Ami
had mentioned, but William dropped into a defensive stance
anyway. "What do you want?" he asked harshly.
Rei's smile faded quickly, replaced with a look of infinite
sadness, a look that twisted the butler's heart achingly. "I suppose
the word got around about what happened to me?" The question felt
rhetorical, but William relaxed a tad.
"Ami said-"
The girl raised a hand, indicating him to stop. "I can imagine
what Ami told you, and I'm afraid it's all true. The situation has
been rectified." She said this with all the emotion of a piece of
cardboard. Her eyes, though, shone with a pleading that no evil being
(in William's mind) could possible duplicate.
Settling out of his stance, his reservations flushing out of
him at the horrendous agony he detected within her, William walked
forward to her.
Rei, thinking perhaps that the butler would begin screaming at
her or something, sighed softly and closed her eyes, ready to accept
the blow.
When he stopped before her and nothing happened, she peaked
out one eye.
William stood before her, arms out to embrace her, a gentle
fatherly smile upon his face.
Her eyes misted quite suddenly, and she leaped into the
embrace, sobbing terribly into his fine clothing. He wrapped his large
arms about her, and stroked her hair soothingly. "There, there,
child. It is all over," he whispered comfortingly.
A long time he held the weeping young woman, and for a long
time she cried. She hadn't been able to let loose her feelings since
the whole thing had started, and here she was, letting go to a person
other than the Scouts.
She missed her parents.
When she finally tapered off, William led her to a nearby
bedroom, sitting her down upon the bed. He then entered the adjacent
bathroom, wet a hand towel, and brought it to her to clean up her
face. "Better?" he asked when she finished.
Rei nodded. "Thanks." She squirmed a bit, then asked "How's
Cole?"
William grimaced. "Not too good. He's been depressed ever
since the incident. It's all I can do to get him to eat and sleep. He
just sits around all day. I'm afraid for him." he said the last in a
whisper.
"Is it okay if I go talk to him?"
William grinned. "I thought you'd never ask."
He led her to the study, but before knocking, he turned to her
and said, "Be careful with him. He still thinks it's all his fault
about what happened."
Rei opened her mouth to defend Cole, but shut it
instead. Technically, this was much of his fault.
Quietly, she opened the oaken doors, instantly spotting her
love standing against the magnanimous window that stared out over
Tokyo. Slipping in, she shut the door behind her and walked to the
desk. She made no effort to keep quiet.
She caught the slight twitch in Cole's shoulder just before he
spoke. "What is it, William?"
Rei wanted desperately to run to him and hug Cole, so
despondent was his tone. His voice lacked the jubilance that normally
beamed from him whenever they were together.
"Uh, hi Cole."
Had it not been for the thick glass window constructed between
Cole and 50+ stories of air, Rei believed he would be falling to his
death right about now, so high did he jump at her obviously unexpected
voice.
As it stood, he simply twirled around, banging his knee on the
armchair. He didn't register the blow, though, for his attention was
fixated on the one girl who had been on his mind for nearly every
waking moment since the plant incident, and a good deal of sleeping
moments as well. Shock, surprise, astonishment, none of these came
close to expressing the look he had on his face.
"R... Rei?"
She nodded, not sure of what to make of his reaction.
He slowly limped around the desk, eyes never straying from her
face, until he stood just before her, gazing
unbelievingly. Tentatively, he reached up his left hand, and brushed
it against her cheek. When it met solid flesh, his eyes widened even
more, stepping back in confusion. "You're really here..."
"Yes, Cole. It's me. Rei Hino." She still had no idea what to
think. The last time he had seen her, she had denounced him, blaming
the young man for her evil condition.
"But I... I... the plant... the prison... Why?"
And her reply, a line that he had heard in his dreams and
while awake, a curse that had gnawed at him for these weeks. A few
simple word that, in the plant, horrified him because the reason given
then had defiled her to an existence of evil. Those few words, once
haunting, once damning, now washed away his grief, his pain, cleansing
him of his depression.
"Because, I love you." She reached up around his neck, clasped
her hands together behind his head, and pulled him down to their first
kiss in their turbulently emotional relationship.
When she finally released him, Cole had the shining glow of
being reborn. "You... forgive me for what I've done?" His tone
indicated hope.
Laying her head upon his chest, she murmured. "What you did,
while not unexcuseable, is mildly flattering. You couldn't have known
that I'm Sailor Mars." She lifted her head to look at him. "Still, you
better believe that if I EVER catch you pulling a stunt like that
again, my wrath will know NO bounds."
Cole's mind raced for a witty reply, but a glance at Rei's
piercing eyes gave him second thoughts. While she sounded joking,
there was a definite glint of deadly seriousness within those orbs. He
swallowed nervously.
Resting her head upon his chest again, she continued. "Of
course, I think you have a lot of making up to do, and I remember you
once suggesting a vacation for my friends and me. You do realize
Christmas vacation is quickly approaching."
He kissed the top of her head. "Anywhere you want to go, Lady
Rei. Anywhere at all."
Explanations were left within their shadowy closets between
the two: her identity as Sailor Mars, the others being the Sailor
Scouts, what had happened after Rei had been switched to her darker
side. Nothing else truly mattered to the young CEO of Gishumi
Electronics.
As for Rei, her burdens settled comfortably upon her
shoulders, knowing that life, though more complicated, hadn't felt as
good in many years. Her bout with her darker half, and the encounters
with the Grell had aided a growth process that encouraged a maturity
far beyond her years.
She did wonder, though, about the merits of remaining the
second most powerful being on Earth (as far as she knew). Using her
powers to aid the Scouts could quickly alienate herself from the
others, a predicament she wanted desperately to avoid.
For now, lunch with her boyfriend was as far as she wanted to
think about.
*****
Deep within the mountain Fuji, within a hellish cave of
boiling sulphur and magma pits, just where Rei had dropped it for no
one to ever find again, lay the Mask of Grell, fractured, cracked,
discarded garbage in the bowels of the Earth.
With methodical purpose, yet another crack upon the mask
healed shut.
THE END
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, that's that for 'Mars Fire Ignite'. Hoped you enjoyed reading it
as much as I enjoyed writing this mammoth work. Many thanks to all of
you who emailed me comments and compliments, prodding me along to this
conclusion. It's so much easier to find time to write when the story
is in demand.
Sailor Moon and Company were created by Naoko Takeuchi and so they are
hers. The rest of the story is more or less mine. If you wish to use
anything in there, please notify me first. I will be more than
flattered.
Send comments, criticismsm or compliments to:
schoudh@eos.ncsu.edu
(
geocities.com/tokyo/gulf/4463) (
geocities.com/tokyo/gulf) (
geocities.com/tokyo)