The Four Lovers: Happiness is a Phoenix
Chapter Four
The Golden Claw
Kunzite's eyes snapped open, and instinctually he
flexed his arms and his legs. All working. He was
registering color, a little bit blurred, but that
would clear; both his eyes and his mind were
working. He took a breath, and the air was fine;
silence brought the sound of his pulse to his ears.
Finally, he tried to move forward.
A shock ran through his finger and up his body, the
muscles in his arms jerking and his nerves screaming
in pain. He retracted immediately and wiped his
eyes, vision clearing now.
he thought grimly. Now that his vision was
clear, he began to look around, and he didn't like
what he saw.
First was what held him; a field of green which was
in back of a slab of white crystal. Already he knew
that it hurt to touch it, and luckily his
confinement was big enough for him to move a little,
though not big enough to lie down in. Next was
Zoicite, lying unconcious, a blue-green probe held
by some ape thing glowing over him. He gritted his
teeth at the sight of the prone General; from beside
him came a voice, "Don't try anything."
"Huh? Nephrite?" he asked, a sideways glance
revealing the gentlemanly General. "Is that you?"
"And me," Jaedite added, less than cheerfully. He
was nearly blocked out completely by Nephrite; a
strangely empty crystal stood between Kunzite and
Nephrite, which didn't help any. "Both of us were
taken, though we put up quite a fight."
"You'd have been proud to see it, Kunzite. Jaedite
here didn't even pass out until the worst possible
moment," Nephrite uttered dryly.
"Feeling pessimistic, Nephrite?"
"Very much so, High General."
"Why?"
"Do you know where we are?"
"No idea."
"The Negaverse. We have descended into the Realm
of Darkness, and its an unfriendly and dangerous
place."
"We've been in dark spots before," Kunzite said.
"I'm sure we'll find our way out."
"Don't try to talk him out of it, Kunzite. I've
tried and tried, and failed and failed. In fact, I
agree with him--we will not leave this place alive,
or at least intact." For once, the light lilt was
gone from his voice, and in its place was a serious
tone that was so out of place for Jaedite, and
didn't sound right to Kunzite's ears.
Which told him exactly how dire the situation was.
"All right...why? Why are you two so fatalistic?"
The two men paused but a second, and then replied,
"Queen Beryl."
"Who? Someone from the Mineral Star System?"
"Kunzite, quiet!" Nephrite ordered. "She's the
Queen of this universe, and the leader of the youma.
She'll kill you."
Now he became deadly serious, nearly turning
himself to address Nephrite. His voice was as gray
and dark and dangerous as his eyes, which glowed and
sharpened inside his sockets. "Don't tell me to be
quiet, Nephrite. I don't care if I have to face
this Queen Beryl by myself, I will not cower. I
REFUSE to give up. Do you understand? I REFUSE."
This silenced both other Generals, and they
realized that no matter what horror stories they
told him, he would not back down. That wasn't his
way; really, they should've known that. thought
Nephrite. He felt a sudden
shoring up of his inner self, his mind and his body
springing back. Either the healing they'd been
ordered to get was working, or he was coming back to
his senses--probably a bit of both. he added grimly.
Jaedite didn't need the heavy pep talk from
himself; instead, Kunzite's words angered him.
he thought.
While he pondered this, a sudden squeal went
through the room, snapping his thoughts to order and
bringing their attention back to the room. The
ape-man was half carrying, half dragging Zoicite
over towards his crystal; this was bringing the
General back to life, and he didn't look happy about
it. A flick of a switch removed a slim swatch of
crystal from in front, and shoved Zoicite through
there, now totally waking the General. As he stood
and brushed off and analyzed the situation, the ape
man hobbled over towards a board and began to flick
a switch or two and push a button, elicting a soft
humming sound from the crystal. The green field
began to flicker in front of Zoicite, and appeared
to cover from his legs to his chest--yet it would
advance no farther.
"My powers are crystalline," he pronounced, his
voice rough as if he'd been sleeping, and a little
extra SOMEthing that ran underneath his tone that
snapped all three Generals to attention. Even
though they'd been watching the scene, they'd let
their minds wander; now, though, all wandering
CEASED.
The ape-man grunted and worked the controls even
more.
"You won't get any farther, beast. My powers are
crystalline, and I can defeat this. Easily." An
uncharacteristic smirk settled onto his face, even
as the beast worked more controls, pounding a few in
obvious frustration. "Yes...yes, try that one!" he
taunted. "No..the red one. Ahhh, thanks for the
energy, creep."
The beast gnashed its teeth and tried again, only
to be taunted even more. It gnashed its teeth again
and again, a horribly irritating sound that melded
with Zoicite's laughter to send shivers that had
their own chills up the Generals' spines.
"Zoicite, friend, calm down," Nephrite said.
"Zoicite, stop it! You'll get yourself killed!"
Jade called.
Yet he didn't listen. Now the beast turned and
snarled, his arm coming up with a sparkle of brown
radiating around his open palm, aiming for Zoicite.
A small noise came from Jade, and even Kunzite
looked worried. ran through
their heads, and one General to be unamed even sent
up a small prayer of protection for his friend.
However, their graphic view of Zoicite getting his
head blown off never happened. Instead, as the
sparkly brown blast charged toward his head, the
green closed and it disappaited immediately. In the
same instant, the green was back down, even farther
this time...and Zoicite said softly, "You forgot to
mind the controls."
The crystal he was in exploded outward, the shards
of it ripping into the ape-man and throwing him
backward into the extensive black space, his body
distigrating even as it disappeared. A whirl of
petals brought Zoicite out of his prison, and he
floated a few feet off the ground.
"Be careful, Zoicite," Kunzite warned. "Try to
free us, but be careful."
Now it seemed that he was ready to listen. He
turned to look at Kunzite, blond hair radiating out
in small ringlets, green-gray eyes glowing as if his
brain had suddenly turned into a light bulb. The
tips of his gloves on both hands were glowing
slightly, and for a moment Kunzite could see the
powerful field that he was generating.
"I'm all right," he said. "It'll all be all right.
I just want to get out of here." His voice seemed
so small to be coming out from all of that power,
and now all three realized that he was operating on
anger. Pure, simple, anger, and hatred incredible;
for anyone who knew the Generals knew that Zoicite
had the worst temper of the four, only hidden
better. The voice that spoke was the him they were
used to, cluing them into his mental state of mind
so they could adjust. Nephrite
couldn't resist thinking.
He turned back and floated briskly sideways,
stopping in front of Jade's cell. Another turn, and
he studied it. It was then that Nephrite screamed,
"Zoicite, watch your back!!"
He whirled, and in the face of the advancing hoarde
he paled a little--but not too much. Crystals
appeared in his hand, and with a broad stroke he
slashed the cage of Jade, piercing the field and
overloading it, the crystal dropping from his hand
as Jade appeared on the ground. Instinctively his
hand found the crystal, and his hair stood on end;
yet the ball of energy that formed in his other hand
glowed like a 250 watt strobe light. The two others
watched helplessly as the men faced off.
And then came Beryl.
She glided down from the ceiling, purple dress and
red hair flowing, eyes red with power, something
golden in her palm. The two Generals had managed to
decimate most of the force coming against them,
their energy never waning; however, with one well
placed blow to the floor she sent both reeling back
against their cages.
"What's this? Some stray rats?" she asked calmly,
her feet gliding down to barely touch the floor.
"Back to your cages!"
A blast of dark power sent Jade into his cage, the
shards of crystal and green field springing up
again. Zoicite, though, resisted--and resisted but
good. His crystal power met her in a clash of
blackness, and for awhile it seemed he would
triumph. That is until a shadow whacked him across
the chest, throwing off his concentration and
allowing her to overwhelm him. He couldn't even
fight the green field, and when Kunzite looked at
him, he noticed tears of rage streaming down his
face.
"WHO ARE YOU!" he demanded.
"I am Queen Beryl of the Negaverse, and you are my
slaves," she said calmly.
"We refuse," echoed down the line.
"Oh, but you can't anymore. You see, you're my
template. Come forth, four!"
The shadow that had whacked Zoicite joined with a
few others, its distinctly feminine curves standing
out against the masculinity of the other three. And
in Beryl's palm a word expanded, a dark gold word,
and though they couldn't read it, its golden rays
seemed to evacuate their souls of any
pity...frightening them all.
"These are my shadows. They're tuned to your
powers, and these scans that my beast.." a glance
and a snear back to them in disgust, "..former
beasty took would help to align their powers even
more. But they lack one thing--your image. So your
going to give it to them."
"Pardon me, but that's going to hurt," said Jade.
"Of course," Beryl replied, and she stood back,
whirling the golden word in her grasp like one would
twirl a staff. As her mouth opened and she screamed
"DiC!!!!!!", the word blasted out of her palm and
into Jade.
His scream of agony rent the air, and with a
fascinated horror, as their comrade's scream
scratched nails-on-chalkboard against their souls,
they watched. The golden power seemed to become a
pair of scissors, cutting an outline of Jade as he
screamed and tried to fight. The worst part,
though, was the peeling; the power pulled back, and
agony and pain radiated through his voice, and his
soul...
...and somewhere, in a Crystal Palace, a young
Senshi suddenly started crying and doubled over, and
her mouth worked the same word over and over: Jade,
Jade, Jade, Jade....
...as the outline that had been cut was ripped from
him, and floating along merrily to conform to the
nearest shadow.
Smoke poured off Jade as he slumped against the
wall, his eyes rolling in his head, the skin on his
face dry and dusty as the limp blond of his hair.
Nephrite barely had time to look away from his
friend before it was his turn. The throaty scream
was made even worse by the sudden re-opening of his
shoulder wound, something that was transfered to the
youma, and became his only weak point for the next
1000 years...
...as the emerald eyed friend of the previous women
collapsed against a wall, her face pale, lips
trembling, and tears streaking her face...
...and the surface peeled off of him, and to the
youma it went, who mocked the brittle man now by
summoning some darker star power.
Zoicite was skipped.
Kunzite came next, and he steeled himself to the
pain, even provided a little resistance to it. Yet
the power of the DiC was as strong as the mind of
the person who bore it, and Beryl was as stubborn as
the average mule. So the silver outline of Kunzite
was cut, and his screams, though softer, rang out...
...and the blond knew, knew that she was losing him,
and though she cried, gave her strength, and
whispered in his mind a gentle, breezy "I love
thee"...
...until the peeling came, and the image was
transfered, and though he refused to slump he felt
he was cracking everytime he moved.
"Now, little man," the Queen said, turning to
Zoicite. "As a reward for your resistance, I have a
special treatment." And she gestured at the feminine
youma.
"You're going to turn me into a female?"
Beryl nodded. "Isn't revenge grand?" she said,
almost flippantly.
"YOU'RE GOING TO TURN ME FEMALE! NEGAVERSE WITCH,
YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!"
"Shutup, General, else I'll be tempted to...well,"
she said, and her eyes turned sexy, lazy, and he was
revolted.
Suddenly his face turned somber, and his eyes
turned bright. "I curse you, Beryl, under the
Crystalline Geise. You'll get the fate you deserve
over a minion--and in this case, a man like me--
delivered by a blond, like me."
She laughed in the face of it, thought somewhere,
secretly, inside the part of her that didn't think
she was infallible, it worried her. Whether this
curse resulted in her doom is to be debated; still,
the events came true--she was doomed by the love of
man, and by a blond, though coincidence it surely
was. Only coicidence.
She wound up again, and turned the horrifying light
of the DiC on Zoicite, and he didn't scream for
long, but alternated between screaming and
whimpering as the outline was cut in gray...
...the blue haired maiden fell to her knees by her
friend, and though they attempted to comfort her
they could not...
...and then peeled, and his peeling was the worse,
as Beryl delibrately stretched it as far as she
could, and he stopped screaming in response, biting
his lip until blood ran down his chin. Finally it
was transferred, and if he could've collapsed he
would've, tears streaming down a face that seemed as
ancient as parchment, the smoke that came from him
billowing on for quite awhile. And his lips moved,
and he mouthed quietly, "Ami."
The youma who received his skin seemed happy about
it, and she cast glances at the youma-who-was-
Kunzite's-dark-twin, and somewhere in his mind
Nephrite registered that those two were on their way
to being lovers, and he thought of Mako, but
couldn't cry. Her only distastful comment was
toward the amount of hair, and she calmly tied it
back before issuing a laugh that would rankle
anyone's nerves.
"Come my warriors," Beryl called. "We have a
palace to beseige." She laughed, then her voice
rose. "And with your new Generals, we'll have power
beyond belief! We will conquer the Moon!!"
The youma cheered, and as they grouped themselves
under the Generals they began to disappear, headed
toward the Moon. Beryl was the last to leave, and
she looked to the Generals and chuckled.
"Come with me," she called, lifting them, "and see
your destruction."
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