I Must Stand My Ground
Lyrics from "Stand my Ground" by "Within Temptation"
[Disclaimer: I do not own the song or any rights to it and I mean no infringment by its use. Princess Heart/Sailor Heart, Hailey/Sailor Heartius, and General Maskoe belong to me. The jester/Sailor Jester belongs to Tenka/Iteza Doragon.]
[I can see]
"No, I can't," Hailey murmured. No matter how hard she looked, she saw nothing on the horizon. "There is nothing, my princess."
"There is," Princess Heart said, turning Hailey's transformation compact in her hand.
"Or, perhaps there will be?" the jester offered, letting the braid she had made in her hair fall away.
[When you stay low nothing happens]
"Well, there's nothing right now, so we shouldn't worry," Hailey said, turning full around. She tilted her head as she watched her princess with her compact. "Princess?"
[Does it feel right?]
Princess Heart didn't respond. She knew the problems brewing. She knew that there, beyond the horizon as the sun set, that there was trouble, big trouble, and it was coming. Or was it?
"Well, anyway, it is time for sleep," Hailey said. She stood, gently taking her compact from the princess. "You need your beauty sleep." Princess Heart nodded silently, taking one more look at the window before her jester dropped the curtain. Heart turned away and sat on the edge of her bed. She pulled her legs up as Hailey pulled up the bedding. The jester put out the candles as Hailey finished tucking her princess in.
"Sleep well, my lady!" the jester said from the doorway.
"Pleasant sleep, my princess," Hailey said softly before joining the jester.
"Pleasant sleep," Princess Heart repeated. She sighed and closed her eyes, hoping her sleep would relieve the tightness she felt pulsing in her heart.
---
[Late at night]
Night came on full force, the stars twinkling with the same brilliance they always shown with. The residents of the castle and beyond tucked away, feeling safe in the darkness with their blanket of diamonds watching over them.
[Things I thought I put behind me]
Meanwhile, Princess Heart felt the tightness in her heart grow, but it was soon overcome by images and feelings she found familiar. Thoughts of her old summer home, one they had stopped visiting long ago without reason, thoughts of the trips through the country, now but a memory she was seeing now. And then, there was more.
[Haunt my mind]
The riots, the cries, the fire light in the night. She remembered, that last night at her summer home, it was not a night but a false day, alit by the distanced flames and roaring cries.
And the country. It had been peaceful, beautiful, and coloring in the shades of the cool season. And then suddenly, the colors changed. In fact, there had been no colors. Bare trees, the ground dry and cracked, and liveliness of the fauna now still and cold. And the light.
Wait, there hadn't been light.
Princess Heart stood up in a panic, cold sweat running down her neck. Her once-dark room was now as bright as day. But, it wasn't yellow. No, it was red.
Blood red.
The tightness was greater.
"Now."
---
[I just know there's no escape now]
Still in her nightwear and bare feet, she ran down the spiral stairs until she reached the open bridge connecting her tower to the main castle. She stopped at one of the windows and looked to the horizon. There was no orange of a setting sun and no yellow of a rising sun. No, it was red. "Whatever it is, it is coming," she gasped. She folded her hands to say her prayer. "Power of the Heart, I pray for your strength. Transform!" Her nightgown ruffled and shortened. It swiftly turned into her senshi suit and her red hair was pulled into two buns, tied by her blue ribbons. She looked determinedly at the red light at the horizon.
"There is no escape."
[Once it sets it's eyes on you]
"Princess!" Hailey exclaimed as Princess Sailor Heart came running into the throne room.
"It is here, it has come for us!" Heart cried.
"What 'it?' What are you talking of?" the king asked.
"Honey, you are scared," the queen said calmly. "We all are. There is nothing coming, it is the riots."
"No, it is not," Heart argued. "The riots are the tip of the spear. There is more, and it is coming to strike us all down."
"Then we must run!" the jester said. "We must run and get you away!"
[But I won't run, have to stare it in the eye]
Heart looked at her beloved jester, and then to her beloved friend. "No," she said sternly. "I must face this, for better or worse, for it is my destiny." Hailey and the jester looked at each other, and then nodded. Hailey lifted her heart compact and the jester lifted her jingle wand. With them, the princess' two closest companions transformed into Sailor Heartius and Sailor Jester.
---
[Stand my ground, I won't give in]
[No more denying, I gotta face it]
[Won't close my eyes and hide the truth inside]
[If I don't make it, someone else will]
[Stand My Ground]
---
[It's all around]
"All around?" Jester asked, looking at the worried citizens who tried to go about things normally.
[Getting stronger, coming closer]
"Yes, everywhere," Heart said. She stopped and watched a small group of school children hurrying home. "With each of our breaths, it gets stronger." She looked to the city walls as guards hurried to fortify it. "With each of our steps..." She took a step, and felt a twist in her heart. "...It comes closer..."
[Into my world]
She looked all around her, taking everything in. "It's coming to take my home, ne, my world away..."
---
[I can feel]
"It's getting worse, isn't it?" Sailor Heartius asked as Heart paused on the steps to the top of the wall. She looked at her friend and nodded.
"Much worse," she said. "It's so tight... It's no longer discomfort, but actual pain..." She sighed and looked up to where Jester stood at the top. She bit her lip and kept climbing until they were greeted at the top by General Maskoe. Heart nodded her head as he saluted and walked past him to the edge, where she could watch the red light grow.
[That it's time for me to face it]
"My battle," she whispered.
"Pardon?" Maskoe said. Heart looked at him.
"I've studied all of the battles and wars to have ever taken place on our fair planet," she said. She looked to the horizon. "This will be my battle, but I fear there will be no one to document it for future generations."
[Can I take it?]
"Are you so sure?" Heartius asked.
"Yes, must you really face whatever is coming?" Jester added. Heart looked to each other either side of her and sighed.
"I'm not so sure," she whispered. She closed her eyes.
---
[Though this might just be the ending]
"This could be the end..." Heartius said cautiously.
[Of the life I held so dear]
"...Of everything," Jester added. "Everything we love and know, everything we hold dear."
[But I won't run, there's no turning back from here]
"I know," Heart said, opening her eyes again. "But I am here, and there is no running, no hiding, no wishing for it to go away. It won't go away, and neither can I."
---
[Stand my ground, I won't give in]
[No more denying, I gotta face it]
[Won't close my eyes and hide the truth inside]
[If I don't make it, someone else will]
[Stand My Ground]
---
[All I know for sure is I'm trying]
In the darkness of the war bunker beneath the city wall, Heart was knelt by the small prayer alter. "Power of love, power of goodness... Love of one, love of all... I pray you hear me, I pray you hear us all. It has come. Whatever it is, it has come, in all it's great... something. What is coming? I must see it. I must know. I must-" Heart gasped as her eyes snapped open. She didn't see the alter or the bunker wall. Rather, she saw the great red beyond the horizon. It's edges faded into nothing visible, but its heat and presence were still there, still felt, still heard. A roaring, screeching, screaming sound that changed with each touch. She watched it touch the ground, tearing it apart. The water, thrown aside and evaporated. The trees, burning into ash, which became nothing.
And then, the other horizon.
No, all around, surrounding the city. Half of the world gone. How long had it been happening? Why hadn't she felt it until it was too late? Or had it been too late since the first tree it burned?
[I will always stand my ground]
"Stand," she said with a shudder as she closed her eyes, the visions fading. She opened them again. "I must stand." She jumped up and ran to the stairs up. "Evacuate everyone to the castle!"
---
[Stand my ground, I won't give in (I won't give in)]
"We must flee the planet!" Heartius cried.
"No!" Heart shouted as she stormed up the stairs. "I won't give in!"
[I won't give up (I won't give up)]
"But princess!" Jester complained, jumping up a few steps, her jingles bringing no comfort. "There is no hope!"
"As long as I breathe, there is hope! I won't give up!"
[No more denying, I got to face it]
"But why you?" General Maskoe asked.
"I don't know, I just know it has to be me," Heart said more calmly.
[Won't close my eyes and hide the truth inside]
"But why try if there is no hope?" Jester asked fearfully.
"Because I must," Heart said. "This began from a lie, from a hidden truth, and I must seek it out, exposing it, letting it hide no more."
[If I don't make it, someone else will]
"Then... I shall stand with you to the end," Heartius said solemnly.
"M-Me too!" Jester squeaked. Heart looked at them both and then to the red again. The ocean was still between them. They still had time.
---
[Stand my ground, I won't give in]
[No more denying, I gotta face it]
[Won't close my eyes and hide the truth inside]
[If I don't make it, someone else will]
[Stand My Ground.]