“Babe, how did she… I thought…" Hanlan's great arms encircled the now porcelain brunette, and for the first time in decades, he wept. She 'sushed' him, not wishing to disturb the sanctity of their embrace.
I'm still your warrior love, she assured him compassionately. Now I'm just your fighting angel.
Okay, I… I guess.
Yet, she could feel the rapid flood of his limited regard as he attempted to garner and absorb the sudden storm of events in his sluggish, but openhearted manner.
Baby-sweets, he began plaintively. I think it'll take me a while to understand this… but… I gotta know, and I know it's gonna sound selfish… I just want us to be forever… y'know…?
There is nothing selfish about the fear of separation, Han, Makoto replied easily.
So… are you really gonna live forever? I mean… are we…?
I don't know, Makoto offered weakly. At least, I'm not sure… but I think there's associative powers you'll gain as a result of our intimacy.
You mean, as long as I… well, keep lovin' you… then I'll live like you? Hope transcended the feelings of forlorn worry in his mind.
Hai. I don't believe destiny would ask me to abandon you, not after everything we've been through.
Hanlan, lying down on the bed in their apartment and drawing Makoto carefully with him, had one final question.
And does this mean you don't have to run anymore?
No, she affirmed, turning about in his arms, placing her slender arms about his neck and kissing him urgently. Not anymore…
@~%~~~
"Usako!"
The recipient of the nickname ran smiling and crying into his arms, her voice chiming his name in endless gratitude for his existence. For the moment, they were alone. Aaran had not returned from the war, destined to follow her own path onward, however away from the Senshi it was. Ayana had been near fatally wounded, and was being tended by Narayan Lording and a unique young woman by the name of "Misa-Takuri." There was a chance she would choose to remain, especially with news of Tenma coming to term. Makoto knew this, and had heart to respect her will.
Ami had teleported away with daughter and husband for some necessary "family time," before she could return to earth to join the others in the war against the NegaForce. Usagi, then, had removed herself to Mamoru's presence, finding him back on earth, at the Shirinaui Dojo.
'Oh Mamoru!' Usagi sighed, nearly choking him for the heights of her joy. 'Thank you!'
He opened his pleasure clenched eyes. 'For what, odango-san?'
'For not leaving! That's what,' she quipped, all bitterness lost. 'I was an insane cow. You could have forgotten me and married Demelza.'
'Leave my pre-destined love?'
She pushed him away playfully. 'I know,' she beamed. 'I'm so blessed!'
'So am I…' his eyes fell. 'Usako…'
Her heart hit her rib cage and stuck. 'What?'
'Will you…' he clumsily patted his pants pockets, rooting through them in a hurried search. 'Will… ah!' he exclaimed, producing a palm-sized jewelled box. He opened it to reveal a ruby studded engagement band of gold and Celtic knotted silver. 'Will you marry me?'
'Oh Mamoru!!' she yelped in a tone true to her younger self as she leap at him, sending them toppling onto the floor. 'Of course! Yes, yes, yes!!'
Silence was evaded by the sound meetings of their lips in joyous celebration. For a while, it was all Usagi could do to breathe and kiss her husband-to-be, while Mamoru felt somewhat helpless under her sudden - but far from unwelcome - attack. Finally, she drew still and calm, her golden hair tossed about him while her head lay on his bare chest, made so by her emotionally fueled contact.
'Mamoru…' she sighed wistfully. 'Aren't you afraid losing me to the war?'
'Why? You are immortal, Usako.'
She sat up, pulling herself up onto the bed and perching at its edge like a frightened sparrow. 'We can still lose,' she pointed out cautiously. 'Just because I can't die doesn't mean I can't be killed. The Neo Senshi certainly aren't immortal… And neither are you,' she gazed at him anxiously, bitterly concerned.
'We've survived worse,' Mamoru's voice was even, unwavering, and unutterably assured. 'Carl doesn't seem worried.'
'Only because he's a dragon,' she muttered, eyes downcast.
Mamoru's eyes widened as he gasped: 'A what?!'
'Oh love, don't you know?' Usagi breathed, sounding not unpleasantly fatigued. 'That's why Minako fell in love with him…'
@~%~~~
…you could protect me, no matter what.
The desperate urgency once found in the remaining side of her face had spread to both in the regrowth, leaving no question. Minako was still amongst the throng of stunned black armored soldiers. Their initial reaction had been dramatic:
"Oh mama," Dakota had gasped, dropping her food at the sight of the transfiguration. The iridescent span of silver light had demanded the attention of all twenty seven young men and women, but only she seemed to have the wit to speak on any level.
"Oh Lord…" came as a mute prayer from her lips and stunned face, transfixed by the sight of a newly born angel in their midst. Minako stood in a nimbus of sheer white luminescent energy, held in the glory of glories, unimaginably altered. For as soon as it came, the light receded, leaving a very changed woman among strangers. Clothed in a pastel shimmering gold robe, great glimmering yellow wings at her back, and an intense fiery yellow aura about her nigh flawless body.
Many of them had yet to stumble over what they had just witnessed. The remainder, some fourteen or so, failed to reach even that point, and had bowed themselves to the earth, feeling every dark twinge of iniquitous guilt grasp hold of their souls in stammering fear. Minako's eyes had slowly opened, taking the in the scene and frowning faintly.
"Get up," she had finally commanded, knowing their fear, and not delighting in its source nor being another cause of it. She did not have to jump into repetition. Of those who rose, some turned away from the sight of her believing they could not behold her for their unworthiness. Carl was quick to her side, sensing her distress.
They're afraid I'm here to judge them! she cried internally.
Yes. But tread carefully. They will hang on your every word, and make you a villain or ally from them.
What am I supposed to say?
Carl's eyes were clear as spring water, and equally lucid.
The truth, my love.
The implications were incredible, she perceived, and stumbled to form a sentence in her mind.
"Minako…" Dakota chanced, voice wavering. "Why are you here?"
Minako bowed her blond head briefly, emotions throbbing in her slender frame. She glanced upwards, linking eyes with the young woman before she spoke. "I'm here because of the selfish, cruel desires of a being who wants to capture my world."
Dakota stood, while the others cringed and shrunk away. "What is your world like?"
The glimmer of hope in her eyes was so sharp that Minako winced internally. "It's free," she stated, the only honest statement she could make. "Where I live, I learn what I want, attend school… I read freely, speak openly, and love whomever I chose."
"Can we help you? Is it possible for us to go to your world and fight for your cause?"
Minako's gaze shifted to Carl, who nodded. The three heard plainly the murmurs of confusion and mistrust. Jake Yyone approached Dakota, seeming almost to avoid Minako's eyes.
"How can you volunteer us like that?" he demanded curtly. "We don't know what we're up against!"
"Do we ever?" she retorted with a snarl. "Since when has the CS told us anything?"
"It's not our place to know these things. We can't understand them."
"That may work for you textbook boy," Dakota growled. "You haven't been out in the mission field! I know there's more out there than they're tellin' us. And if that ain't enough… I mean, we're alive to use our mutant powers, ain't we? That alone breaks every rule in the handbook."
Jake folded his arms against his c
hest and frowned.
"I just don' believe it. It's too good to be true."
"Believe it. And Jake cutie? Your cliche is showing."
"My wha…?" he glanced at himself briefly. "No it's… oh."
Dakota barked a throaty laugh at his "oh, very funny" expression and grinned shortly at her somewhat gullible friend.
"I dunno 'bout you, but I trust her. Ain' often yer lookin' right at an angel!"
"Forget that she just asked us for help, hm?" he sighed. The dark skinned young woman nodded with a prominent smirk.
Jake hesitantly faced Minako, and forced himself to remain calm, a stony unrelenting expression marking his emotional position.
Jake, Natasha's death wasn't your fault, Minako assured him. The charge was damaged.
"But I was responsible for her life!" he blurted defensively. "I should've checked it before sending her into the battlefield!"
There were a dozen sharp intakes of breath.
"…how did she know…?"
"…she is an angel…"
"…she's psychic!"
"…she's a freakin' mage."
"Shut up!" Dakota barked as she whirled swiftly about on her heel. "She's given us all freedom! Can't you all just damn well see we need her?!"
"But how do we know?" one stocky young man requested firmly. "Any psychic would know about 'Sash."
There was a wash of assent.
"I don't ask anything of you," Minako stated, voice raised above the idle confusion. "You may leave as you desire."
Half of the jaded group stood to do so. Carl stepped forth and called attention.
"Far be it from me to remind you of the future you lot would have suffered at the hands of the Lone Star Geneticists." He had placed his hand on the table, and it held them in place, for a time. Good Enough. "Where your gratitude? She gave me the very opportunity to draw you from the iron grasp of the Coalition. Dakota is right in saying that you owe your freedom to the hard work of others, not just Minako.
"I know you all have seen many strange things in the world. I know also that you have been taught to distrust them. What I am asking is not easy, and stands against everything you know. However, what you are, is, in itself, evidence that there is more to life than what the Coalition has presented to you. It may be difficult to accept, and I know it's a leap of faith, but I ask you: Have I ever lied to any of you?"
The general reply; No.
"Then I ask you to believe her. The Earth she comes from is free of the Coalition."
"But how?" one young woman demanded in harsh, raspy tones. "They gave us all we've got."
"The technology they have now is based on that which has existed for decades. What they have accomplished is no more than elaborate archaeology. Would you turn away the chance to live as the educated do?"
A dawning wave of voices uttered noises of agreement, of acceptance.
"Uh, what's archaeology?" a distant voice muttered.
"Somethin' 'bout diggin' up old stuff'n readin' it t' learn the past history."
"Oh."
"Y'know Dr. Silver, it might blow ya away t'learn this," spouted a fiery young man as he muscled his way out of the crowd. "But some of us like the fightin'! We ain't exactly gonna give it up fer book learnin'! So you can take your offer and get vaped!"
"Shut up!" snarled Dakota, easing herself up against the stocky man who was a clear foot taller than she. He snarled down at her, but said nothing. "You get too close to a Boom gun or somethin' Kale? You ain't heard a damn thing he's said! You know what she's offering? We would get to fight, our rules, no Coalition! It's your bloody dream!"
"Uh…" his barrel chested torso slackened in posture abruptly. "No lie?"
Minako shook her head at him. "No lie. All that matters is winning."
"I kin handle that no prob," he grinned lopsidedly and nodded. "You ain't sore wit' me, 're ya?"
"Kale," Minako began. "You've got to trust that Carl and I have your best interests at heart."
His dark eyes studied the floor for a moment, then reached up to her again, thankful. "I'm real sorry… real sorry. Din' mean to be a jackass," he said, then performed an about face and disappeared back into the crowd. And Carl just picked up where he left off.
"I must tell you now that her world is beset by a demonic creature, and they mount an attack as we speak to capture it. The risk is great, but the reward of ultimate freedom will be yours when we win."
Jake looked puzzled. "When?"
"Yes 'when'." Carl rebuked with cold authority.
"Yes sir. We will kick ass, sir!"
@~%~~~
Adolphus my love, you are worried.
Within the violent tumbling descent of shorn angel hair was a small stone cabin, seemingly molded from the rockface. The blizzard spared no mortal creature, and chiselled away at their haven so insignificantly that only time immemorial could destroy it. An open, smokeless mystic flame heated the two mages as they discussed her transfiguration. Rei's kindly, mollifying telepathic voice drew the gifted mage from his ominous trance. He oriented and centered himself upon his winged mate, letting his eyes steal into hers.
"Of course I am worried!" he stated urgently. "Confront ye not great forces and see their nigh overwhelming power and number?"
"Aye," she confirmed. "Yet I have my friends now! A miracle has brought us back together…"
"And ye be drawn asunder nonetheless."
Rei looked hurt. "What makes you say that?"
"Deny ye the sense of your heart? I read it Rei, like the scrying calls of a spooked murder of crows, I know it."
She leaned forward, pushing her closed fists between them, and leaning her head on his chest as she groaned in frustration and anxiety. "You're right, I'm scared. I'm scared of dying, of losing. I know it's foolish to fear that now, and stupid."
"Nay," Adolphus began. "It be not stupid. Ye are not."
"I didn't say I was. I was just thinking that it's kinda silly for me to worry about that after nearly having died several times in the last year."
"Nay! Ye see only from that which ye know. Ye know only survival, and what concerns thee next."
"Hm."
"Ye know only the next threat, and are wary of it. To be otherwise would be foolish."
She was silent, aside from an uncertain: "I guess."
"There is more."
She nodded. "I'm pregnant."
His arms encircled her, a comforting warmth in the gracious hug.
"I'm afraid he'll get hurt. He could die if I'm wounded."
"Then refuse the battle."
Rei felt twin pangs. One of anger; how could she turn the opportunity of revenge? Second; the ebbing guilt of the thought of forsaking her friends. She nodded, eyes closed, heart open.
"Forget not the sacrifice I made," he paused, breathing deeply for the weight of emotions upon him. "Forget ye not the love of thy friends, that they sought thee beyond all chance." She was silent, breathing short, tight gasps. "If ye wish justice bought, then weigh carefully the cost. Outwit the fiend. Strike him down yet fail to lay a hand upon him. Need ye only be in his presence when the blade sinks home."
"B-but…" she sniffled and wiped her nose with a readily grasped tissue. "Wh-what if thuh-they don't…"
"Sssh," he crooned. "They will my angel. They will. Guide them from a distance, and seek not the battlefront. For ye hath many friends, and great be their powers. Let thy wit win over thy fury.
"Oh Adolphus," she sobbed tearlessly. "I fear what I would be without you."
"And I…" he sighed. "And do I…"
@~%~~~
"I'm not much of a warrior. That's all there is to it."
A remarkably smaller Natole Shard held his angelic wife - her back against his rock solid abdomen - and looked lovingly upon his sleeping daughter.
"Yes," he agreed. "Yet I have fought much."
"Honey," Ami began. "I appreciate your suggestion. But 'stomping the enemy'…? I know you may be 'One-Punch' - I've seen you
in action, remember? - but this is war."
"I never plan to fight," he declared in a ponderous bass cannon voice. "I know only to win."
"I appreciate that, but we can't afford not to plan, my hulking dear. Makoto has Ayana to consider, Rei is clearly expecting, and so have I Shyanne. Usagi and Minako will not be far behind. I wish to assure their future parenthood. Not to mention lives."
He nodded his head against her shoulder.
"It's simple, really. If we fight on Uraki-Ayo's terms, we'll be quashed like a trapped bug, and the twenty-eight of us can't possibly manage the thousands of demons he's no doubt marshaled."
Natole was silent. Ami was accustomed to the weight of his consideration, knowing that he reserved himself to speak only when absolutely necessary. For the moment, she basked in it, knowing he would voice his concern. It was not a matter of his being slow-witted. It was in no doubt true. He had learned at a young age, however, that there was wisdom in silence, and used it to offer only the choicest words he could conceive. His few words compensated for the lack of cunning, and often made those long in the tooth bite their own tongue.
And when he failed in that, he had his Half-Giant nature upon which to rely. Handy, that.
"We have to end it quickly," she concluded. "We have to throw him off balance and enter combat with him on our own terms. The Neo Senshi can take the forefront along with Minako's CSM, while we locate Uraki and annihilate him."
"But what of Rei?"
"She doesn't know it, but she has powers forthcoming that will protect her child." Ami blinked, stunned by her own words. "How I know that… I haven't a clue. I was just arguing against her joining us!"
"Aye love," he replied coolly.
"Intuitive knowledge?" Ami questioned, more of herself than acutely listening husband. "That's something I could get used to."
"There is a matter you have forgotten," Natole indicated. "What of the traitor Xalia?"
"I don't know. Right now there are so many questions. If she turned of her own will, then we're in a fair sight of trouble. The Neo Senshi are not quite powerful enough to receive her. On the other hand, if her personality has been altered in the same manner Mamoru experienced, it puts us in another position entirely. We can't spare the power to send in a rescue party. We're only going to get one chance at the NegaForce. It's much too early to tell. Besides, I'm not getting any intuitive hints on this one…'
@~%~~~
There was a faint shimmering in Makoto's nude form as she slept, arms twined about Hanlan loosely. Her eyes flicked open.
"What?"
The heavy down comforter wafted downwards in the newly found empty space she had once occupied. When reality whirled to a standstill, Makoto realized she was drifting in a numb, wonderless void of grey. She beat her wings experimentally, finding that they only provided guidance, rather than the power of flight in this instance. Feeling her nudity, she summoned a simple khaki robe to cover herself.
"The time has come to draw our contract to a close."
Makoto snarled instinctively. The point of his saviourhood did little to affect her anger at his intervention, and constant watchful eye. Being traced by a dragon was no pleasant ordeal.
"Do you want another match, dragon? To defeat me again? Would that please you?" she growled angrily, flaring her aura into a white heat about her.
"No, unfortunately, it would not. I have seen your transformation, and because of it, I know that it is no longer my right to watch you."
So he had morals after all! He simply chose to disregard those that did not suit his purposes. As Makoto gazed off into the grey void, she felt a presence, and watched it fade into existence. He appeared as no less than himself, a fifty-foot grey horned dragon of mountain-like structure and ballistic plating hide. It was difficult to perceive from her vantage point that his face did less than glower upon her, rather than his honestly forgiveness seeking frown.
"I believed you a mere mortal," he feebly explained. "I would never have harmed you in such a way…"
She raised her hand and stilled the thundering tones of his voice. Her seething fervour of rage had all but ceased. Even for his pointless physical rigours of violence and magic, he had never done more than caused bruises. Hindsight, as it is well known, is twenty-twenty, and she could see plainly that he was little more than an irritation. Besides, he had saved her life, after all, and opened up the chance to return to Hanlan, and her friends.
"I forgive you, Penmatre."
The dragon bowed his head and then was gone again.
"…Thank you…"
Chapter 36
Familial Aftermath