Chapter 406
Seiya was dead and the scouts didn't know exactly what to do.
"Lita will be here any minute, she can go save him," Serena said.
"It's not that simple," Taiki said.
"I don't know Taiki," Yaten said. "Maybe Lita can follow him."
"Why couldn't she?" Serena asked.
"Serena, Taiki was on his way to break up with Lita when he was attacked," Taiki said.
"What?" Serena said in shock. "But why.."
"It's complex," Taiki said.
"And perhaps a foolish move on his part," Yaten said. "However, we shouldn't jump to conclusions. Lita may still love him."
"I guess that's correct," Taiki said. "But will Seiya be foolish enough to let her know the truth when she's over there."
"Hmm....I don't know," Yaten said. "But if he did, Lita probably couldn't bring him back."
"Let's just hope this all works out," Serena said. "I mean so maybe there isn't love involved, but I mean...we're fellow scouts and all.
"What happened!" Lita said racing up.
"Lita...you've gotta save Seiya, you know what you have to do," Raye said.
"But...no I must," Lita said. "Jupiter power, bring me to the afterlife!"
She stood there..Nothing happened.
"What! I need to save the one I love..come on!"
"Oh no..what' s happening," Serena said.
"Why aren't you listening to me!" Lita shouted.
Everyone looked on worriedly.
"You have been denied access," Hotaru said approaching slowly.
"OBVIOUSLY!" Lita said drawing back her fist.
"Hitting me will do no good."
"What's going on, why won't it let me go?"
"Because you must do love Seiya. Only those with pure love can enter, it is the only way to keep the transition pure."
"But..I have it," Lita said.
"Apparently you do not," Hotaru said.
"How would you know!" Lita said slapping her.
"Lita," Raye said getting in front of her. "This isn't the time. But you can't get through that must mean something."
Lita began to cry.
"But why..why..does my feelings have to keep me from him! I don't want him to die because I don't love him!"
"You don't..." Raye said.
"No..I didn't..." Lita said.
"Then..he's lost..." Yaten said in shock.
"Yes.." Taiki said.
The scouts all looked at each other, no one had any idea what to do.
"No..there must be a way..." Yaten said.
"But.."
"Taiki, think for a moment. Our princess, the one we searched for was Serena, she is supposed to have great powers."
"And she does, but she's never been able to bring back the dead," Taiki said.
"Sure she has, in various ways," Yaten said. "Serena, you must be able to bring back on life...that must be within your power."
"It's not," Serena said. "Not like that. I can't just wave..my..wand.." she sniffled.
"You must be able to do something," Yaten said.
"Yes..yes..I see it now," Taiki said. "You are given power from many sources. One of them is to be able to preserve life."
"But I've never done it before," Serena said. "I've already been to the afterlife. I had to bring back Darrien. I couldn't save him any other way."
"There is a way.." Setsuna said approaching.
Everyone whirled.
"A way that was not practical earlier and fortunately we didn't have to use it. Serena, you as Sailor Moon possess massive amounts of power. You can use some of it for such a goal as to save a life, but if you use some of this energy. It can't come back."
"How much.."
"If you save Seiya without the proper preparation, you will lose your current power level and I don't know how far you'll drop."
"I see..." Serena said. "I must do it."
"Now wait a minute," Haruka said hurrying up. "Are you so sure about this?"
"How can you say that!" many of the scouts replied.
"We're fighting a war. Sailor Moon is our most powerful weapon. She cannot be weakened right now..." Haruka said.
"Haruka..are you heartless!" Lita shouted.
"This planet must be protected!" Haruka said. "There will always be sacrifices. Did you all think you would live forever?"
"Haruka..we can't just leave Seiya behind," Raye said.
"And weaken Sailor Moon, even as an enemy has proven that it is lethal?" Haruka asked.
"I agree, we need strength, we cannot give it up," Sai said.
"Shut up Sai," Lita said. "Shut up all of you! Serena! Save Seiya now!"
"I..must.." Serena said.
"Think about this," Haruka said.
The scouts blocked her path.
"Go Serena!" Raye shouted.
Haruka grimaced.
Serena held her brooch and disappeared in a flash of light.
"I thought you had learned something in all this time," Raye said.
Haruka turned and walked off.
"How could she even..." Lita stammered.
"Do not be so hard on her scouts," Setsuna said. "In many ways she's right. We are taking a risk weakening Sailor Moon like this."
"We are saving a life," Lita said. "How could that ever be wrong. We'll manage!"
"This is not the first time we've faced an uphill battle," Raye said.
"If there is anyone I would believe to speak the truth it's you all. However,
we must keep in mind that right now we are facing possibly our toughest
opponent. You must be mindful of that," Setsuna said.
The afterlife.
"You again? What are you doing here?" The guide asked approaching.
"Enough small talk, I'm going to find Seiya," Serena said.
"Ahem..but this is important, we've never had a repeat visitor. At least that isn't going one way of course."
"Shut up," Serena said and kept walking.
"But.." the guide said.
Serena punched him.
"Ehh..there's a first time for everything," the guide muttered. "You're on your own!"
"Glad to hear it!" Serena shouted.
She hurried forward.
There was a shout. A crowd of demons leapt to the ground.
"When are you going to learn?" Serena asked and snapped her fingers.
A crowd of people appeared out of a side street.
"I own this town," Serena said. A fight began. She hurried up the street.
"SEIYA!" she shouted. "You here! Seiya!"
She rounded a street corner emerging at the spot in the real world Seiya had been killed at.
"Seiya...where'd he go?" Serena asked.
"Ah..so now you're curious..." the guide said.
"Where is he?" Serena asked grabbing him.
"Well he was moved to accelerated processing, I mean after all, we weren't expecting anyone to come through after him."
"So where's that?" Serena said.
"You hit me before."
"I'll hit you again."
"Do I care? I am eternal."
"And I can throw a big right!" Serena said and punched him again.
"All right..all right..we'll have to hurry."
"How much time do we have?"
"Well you took your time showing up, we've got about ten of your minutes."
"Oh come on! You'd think the afterlife would be a little nicer to people."
"We are, to the people that will be staying with us a while. It's just not cost effective to help out the visitors. No profit at all."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm just trying to put the cosmic forces that exist here into a language you can understand."
"I'm not an idiot you know."
"Yes, but you're ignorant, which can be just as bad."
"This discussion isn't supposed to be about me. I've gotta save Seiya!"
"We're with you Serena!" a mob of people said running with her.
"They've really taken a likening to you," the guide muttered.
"I'm cute, and easily likeable," Serena said.
"I haven't noticed why yet," the guide said.
Serena growled.
"What is this place?" She shouted.
"It's advanced processing. Where we send through all new arrivals," the guide said.
"It looks like a factory."
"Oh it is," the guide said. "Now please step inside."
"Ehh.." Serena said and walked in.
"Ah..have a seat we'll be with you in a minute."
"This is an emergency!"
"Here? Not likely."
"Look I'm alive and I've got to save my friend, Seiya."
"You're alive...you're in denial I think."
"GUIDE! Get in here!"
"Sorry..I'm not allowed in there!" the Guide shouted.
"Look!" Serena said. "I'm Serena Tsukino, Sailor Moon, Princess of the Moon Kingdom, I have not died. Now I order you to take me to Seiya."
"You're delusional too, it happens.."
"All right..fine," Serena said and hit the secretary.
"I hate to be violent, but you are all really annoying!" she shouted and raced down a corridor.
"Just what we need more bureaucracy," she said and slid to a stop. "Seiya!" She shouted.
"Serena..." Seiya said.. "Serena..you're dead too?"
"No! Now come with me!" Serena said.
"But.."
Serena grabbed him.
"I can bring you back!"
"How?"
"I don't know, I just can."
"Sounds authentic to me, let's go!" Seiya said.
They hurried down the corridor.
"Hey! You can't just waltz in here and take someone out!"
"I can take you out!" Serena said drop kicking her.
"Let's go Seiya, this has been a real annoying trip," Serena said.
"Oh..can't wait to hear about it..I guess..Lita didn't come."
"Seiya..that's a long story really..just follow me okay?"
Seiya sighed.
They rushed out into the street. The crowd cheered.
"Who are all of them?" Seiya asked.
"My fans," Serena said.
Back in the real world.
Seiya opened his eyes slowly and looked around.
"Hi," he said.
"Oh thank goodness," Lita said.
Yaten and Taiki breathed sighs of relief.
"I'm so sorry Seiya...I.." Lita said.
"It's all right Lita.." Seiya said. "We'll talk later okay."
Lita sobbed some more.
"Thank you Serena," Seiya said.
"It's what I do Seiya," Sailor Moon replied. She was clad in the uniform she had worn when she had had her Celestial Power back before they had even met.
"What I want to do is sleep," Seiya said.
"Me too," Sailor Moon said.
"They are getting stronger," Ai said.
"The enemy?" Akiro asked.
"Yes, I do not know how..but I sensed it in them,"Ai said.
"Hmm..I wonder," Akiro said.
"What?"
"Well...I mean...why hold back all of their forces the first time they attacked huh?"
"Yes, that seems to be an interesting question."
"A question Sai would be better suited to answer."
"If he was in any mood to do so."
"We'll try it out. See what happens."
"What a day," Setsuna said.
"It's terrible when things like this happen," Michiru said. "There must be something else we can do. I have to find Haruka though. It's not good for her to be out alone with the enemy about, and I think we got to see what was bothering her more."
"I'll come with you," Setsuna said. "She may need some moral support."
They headed for the door and opened it. Jasen stood in the doorway.
"Excellent timing," he said.
"What is it?" Setsuna said. "We were just heading out."
"Then I will follow, I'm sure you will find this important."
Soon their car was hurrying through the streets.
"Setsuna you might remember that back in the silver Millennium there was several seats of power in the kingdom of Earth. Not just the city of Tokyo," Jasen said.
"That's true," Setsuna said. "Though I didn't know much about it."
"Well in each of these seats of power, the rulers of a section of the world had a crystal of power, this allowed them to defend their kingdoms. and such," Jasen said. "When Queen Beryl was turned to the Negaforce, she tried to collect the crystals. The rulers new better then to let them fall to her, you see..if brought together they would form a force of immeasurable destructive power..."
"So she didn't get them?" Michiru asked.
"No they were well hidden," Jasen said. "She had dispatched us to find them. We couldn't, there just wasn't any clues to do so. However, Ircanite apparently has found a way. The four Earth warriors have been shadowing him, but we're not strong enough to fight his forces right now, we are instead trying to determine just how he is searching for the crystals," Jasen said. "But the truth is you must stop him before he gets any stronger. If he has all the crystals he will have no trouble wiping Sailor Moon and the rest of the scouts out, the entire power of Earth will be behind him."
"As if we didn't have enough to do," Setsuna said.
"This job isn't supposed to be easy," Jasen said.
"And conveniently, it never is," Michiru said.
"That's the spirit," Jasen said.
"Seiya..I.." Lita said.
"Lita, I was on my way to say the same thing you're probably going to say to me," Seiya said. "But I have different reasons."
"What.."
"Lita..I've never met a girl like you before, you've got a lot of strong points, and I have no doubt you're going to make someone very happy someday. But I loved someone before you, there's just nothing I can do but compare her to you..and there are differences. She's not better then you, just different."
"I understand Seiya, you have a standard you want to uphold, and it's hard to break from it."
"I hope someday, that she and I...well..I just can't give up hope for her."
"You have time yet," Lita said. "To tell you the truth Seiya, I've had a little problem lately. I don't know what I want. I've dated several people. But I just never knew if I was in love or not. That's true with you too. And somehow I always gathered that you were looking at me through some sort...of...well...you just didn't see me for who I was, but who I was instead of someone else."
"I'm sorry," Seiya said.
"It's all right," Lita said. "But what's important is that we remain friends."
"Oh..definitely," Seiya said.
"That's okay isn't it?"
"Lita, I was afraid of losing that, but I think we'll be fine."
"Me too," Lita said.
"And Lita..I know you couldn't come after me, but I understand.."
"I'm still sorry."
"It's not your fault. Love is love.."
"So it is," Lita said. "Seiya...I.."
"No..it's all right.." Seiya said.
Lita started to cry.
"No don't do that..." Seiya said. "It's not proper."
"Forget proper," Lita said.
"All right," Seiya said. "Whatever you need to do you can."
"I wasn't going to wait for permission."
"Oh.."
Lita grinned and cried some more.
"So you finally found me," Haruka said.
"You know better then to think you can hide from me," Michiru said.
"It's a wonderful world isn't it?"
"It can be," Michiru said.
Haruka sighed.
"Michiru, they're all right you know. Who am I to say that one life isn't worth the life of everyone else?"
"You've taken on a tremendous burden," Michiru said.
"I fear it will only get worse," Haruka said.
"You should stop brooding," Michiru said. "Because we're in the midst of a serious conflict, you should use those free moments to relax, because you won't get a chance once the fighting starts."
"I've never been someone who can relax that easily."
"You should start."
"Michiru, this is the end isn't it?"
"What?"
"I know it is. I won't survive this."
"Now that's not what I want to hear," Michiru said. "Premonitions of your death are foolish."
"Is it? It feels so strong," Haruka said.
"Snap out of it!" Michiru said. "I'm not going to have you walking around like the walking dead, all the while making yourself wide open to make that lie a reality! I won't let it happen!"
"Michiru, I don't believe it's in our hands," Haruka said.
"Stop it! You fool!" Michiru said. "Stop thinking like that."
"Michiru...I know what my destiny is."
"It's survival Haruka, it has been for all these years we've fought together. It doesn't end here! You are just letting your paranoia take over."
"I don't think I am," Haruka said.
"Haruka..really.." Setsuna said. "You know better then to accept these thoughts."
"They've very strong Setsuna, I've learned to trust my instincts," Haruka said.
"This isn't instinct," Setsuna said. "Pluto Planet Power."
"What are you doing?"
"Haruka...it seems that you will have to learn the hard way," Pluto said.
"Setsuna what are you.." Michiru said.
"Come on Haruka..fight me.. " Pluto said.
"This will accomplish nothing," Haruka said.
"Very well!" Pluto said swinging her staff. Haruka backed up quickly.
"Not fast enough!" Pluto said hitting her several more times. Haruka fell to the ground.
"You have been in my charge since you were only a child. I will not allow you to be so foolish!" Pluto said.
Haruka stood back up. Pluto hit her again.
"You are not slated to die at any specific time! Destiny does not determine death, it is only a guide to what you are best suited to do, it is your own actions that may place you in a position to be acted upon by other forces!" Pluto said. "Now get up."
"Not if you're going to hit me.." Haruka said. Pluto spun her staff and opened fire.
Haruka grimaced.
"Now, think about your mistakes," Pluto snapped and walked away.
"She's right you know," Michiru said.
Haruka merely winced.
"Well help me up," Haruka said.
"No..I think I'll just let you get up yourself," Michiru said.
Haruka sighed.
"Mission accomplished Ircanite," Visinite said.
"Yes so I've heard," Ircanite said. "A pity he was revived."
"What?" Visinite asked.
"Yes..." Ircanite said. "However it served a purpose so I am pleased."
"Oh..yes sir...," Visinite said.
"You Sorophyte seemed to have lost your touch," Ircanite said.
"I was just feeling them out," Sorophyte said.
"You will return to the search for crystals."
"Yes sir."
"I believe that is our best course of action now," Ircanite said. "This is
only the beginning. Those scouts will lose to us, maybe not tomorrow, but
someday. It's just a matter of time. And time is on our side."
"I did the right thing today didn't I?" Serena asked.
"Of course you did," Luna said. "You knew that you could save Seiya, and you did it."
"But what if Haruka was right?"
"Serena to be honest, I don't think Haruka will ever be right. You're too strong if you just realize it."
"Yeah..I guess...it's just getting rough. You'd think they'd give up."
"They're not interested in making it easy."
"Yeah I know," Serena said.
Her communicator went off.
"Yes."
"This is Setsuna, we need to talk Serena."
"Oh..all right," Serena said. "Where?"
The scouts were all assembled.
Setsuna strode forward.
"As bad as the attacks are," She said. "We have another problem. There are several energy crystals scattered about the world. If they are acquired, we will not stand a chance against Ircanite. So we must find them first. The problem is we don't know how to find them. But regardless..some of you will have to go after the crystals. While the others stay here."
"I love a good road trip," Mike muttered.
"This is serious, the fate of the world rests on this," Setsuna said.
"So what else is new?" Serena asked.
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