| Chapter X ~ An Irish Lass |
| "Time is running out. I need to use my advantage now before the others figure out what I am doing." Rubeus said, pacing back and forth in front of a small cowering demon, "But I still can't face Sailor Moon straight on. She's too strong and has too many allies at her back these days. I need a ways to make sure that she won't fight." "My lord?" the servant said tentatively. "What is it?" was the snarled reply. "What about Sailor Moon's brother?" A slow smile curved across Rubeus' face as he stared unseeing at his servant, "Hmm...that may work." * * * * * Lita glanced at the clock on the wall. "Last call people!" she yelled and watched as several people suddenly tried to flag down a bartender or waitress. She smiled as her people smoothly took the last orders of the night. A commotion in one of the far corners caused her to glance over. Apparently one of her waitresses was refusing to get a guy another drink. And from the look of him, she had the right idea. Before she could head over there, Zak was there, in all his 6'8'', 284 lb glory. Lita was too far to hear what was said but considering the man's friends were rather hastily paying their bill, she assumed it was properly intimidating. That was the only thing that she hated about owning a bar. The drunks. And yee lords above, did you ever get drunks in Ireland. Actually, it was just the violent ones that were a problem. The ones, for example, singing 'No Nay Never' over in the corner along were actually quite entertaining most nights. As people began to filter out, she had to admit, life was good. It hadn't been what she had planned for herself when she was younger, but it wasn't bad. She had actually worked for a catering company in Tokyo after school was over. She had loved it and had almost just sold the bar when she inherited it from her Granddad. She hadn't seen him in years and with her parents gone she had never really felt close to him. But she had decided to fly out and check the place out and had just never quite left. There was something about Ireland that she just loved. The people were wonderful but held a kind of fighting spirit in them that she connected to. And there was the fact that they loved her cooking. She didn't cook as much as she wanted to these days but she tried to make something for her employees every once in awhile to say thank you and occasionally she would set out free food for her customers other than the stuff they could order from the kitchen. But most of the time she left the cooking to her chefs and just tried to stay on top of everything else that was going on. Finally the last of the locals had stumbled off and things were finally peaceful. She and the bartenders countered out the till for the night and she made sure that all her wait staff got to their cars alright. Her pub had a good reputation for looking after its own and she wasn't going to give anyone a chance to say otherwise. Finally everyone had headed out leaving just her and Zak behind. "Everything all taken care of boss lady?" he asked. "Yea, I'm headed off to bed. Give your wife my love for me okay." "Will do." Zak had been her bouncer at the bar since she had arrived. He was actually one of the few men in the world who made her feel small. Back home she had been as tall as, if not taller, than all the guys. Her bouncer also had a protective streak a mile wide. He was always the last one to leave after walking all the staff to their cars or the bus stop, making sure that she was okay and often reminding her to be careful. After seeing Zak out Lita climbed the back stairs to her loft. It was rested comfortably above the pub and was basically one large room. Lita had broken up the space a little using some rice paper screens depicting rose vines so that her futon was hidden away. There was a small kitchen area with a counter cutting it off from the rest of the room. The kitchen was really too small for her to really work in but it didn't bother her too much. Whenever she wanted to do some serious cooking she would go downstairs and use the pub's kitchen. The rest of the flat was meticulously clean. Some of her staff gave her a hard time, telling her that a neat and tidy living space was the outward sign of a deranged mind but she would just threaten to stop giving them food and they would shut up about it for awhile. The second she had opened the door to her home a large bundle of energy had launched itself at her legs and began frantically wagging its tail. Lass, her fearless watch puppy. She had found the dog, half starved outside her door one morning and hadn't been able to leave it there. She had brought the brown and tan dog in and watched in mild horror as over the next year her "little" puppy had grown to over ninety pounds of solid muscle. As far as she could tell the dog was a mix of Rotweiler and Black Lab. She had all the coloring of the Rotweiler but was built more like a Lab, complete with the long tail. Lass was the only real threat to her clean loft for her tail was a dangerous weapon and had knocked more things over and broken more stuff than Lita cared to think about. Not to mention the bruises one got by just standing too close to the thing. Lita petted her dog and walked over to her bathroom and turned on the shower. She had learned a long time ago that she couldn't sleep with the smell of smoke and alcohol clinging to her. She actually liked the smell most of the time but there was something about it that kept her awake. So that meant that every night after bar close she had to shower. She had finished and slipped on a pair of loose pajama and her green tank top when she heard a crash down in the alley next to the house followed by yelling. Grabbing the claymore that Zak had bought her last Christmas, she ran down the stairs, Lass crowding close to her heals. The huge sword was almost as big as she was, only an inch shorter, and had been used to frighten more than a few drunks and would-be vandals away, especially since the woman holding it was not afraid to use the things to bash some sense into people and had the skill to do it. But what she saw in the alley was anything but normal. A young man, little more than a kid really, had seemed to run down the alley to only find a dead end and was staring in horror and the huge, cat-like thing that was blocking his only exit. "Damn runt. I told you it was no use running. No come along like a good brat and I promise not to break your legs for running." Lita didn't know what that thing was or who the kid was but she was pretty sure that she didn't want whatever was about to occur happen. "Hey! Leave the kid alone!" She yelled, walking into the light caste by the street lamp. The cat thing whipped around and she finally got a good long look at it. There was nothing natural about it. It was like someone had taken a cat and forced it to stand on two feet and then made it bigger. But not everything was proportionate to everything else. It's mouth, complete with glistening fangs, was larger than it should have been and it's paws seemed three times larger than they should have been.. There was little grace to it's movements as it turned towards he but she could see its strength. "Go away little girl. This is not your concern." it growled at her. "My alley, my concern." she replied, sounding much braver than she felt at that moment. At her side she could hear Lass's low growl, as if adding in her two cents. The huge cat lunged suddenly at her and swiped one of its over large paws at her. She ducked the paw and brought the large sword smashing into the creatures forearm as Lass lunged in and bit down on the creatures calf. The howl of pain it gave sent chills down her spine and she watched warily as the thing backed off a couple paces to lick it's wound, literally. "You are going to pay for that." It said, its glowing yellow eyes boring holes into her where she stood, braced for the next attack. Surprisingly, it wasn't the cat who attacked next, or Lita or even Lass. The boy chose that moment to smash a pipe he had gotten from somewhere across the back of the cat's knees. Another angry howl of pain and the creature half turned, presenting its back to Lita and giving her an opening. She swung her sword, bringing it crashing down on the things shoulder. The sword bit deep and stuck and Lita was forced to release her grip on it as the thing she had been fighting reared back, both its paws swinging at its attacker. Lita was too off balance from having her sword yanked out of her hands to duck to claws that came slashing through the air at her. Three claws found the soft flesh of her stomach while another two from the other paw found purchase in he shoulder, ripping through flesh and muscle like butter. Lita bit back her scream as she fell to one knee, instinctively curling herself around the wound in her stomach. The monster seemed to still be the worse of the two though. The arm that her sword was stuck in was completely useless and it seemed to be having trouble standing. "Enough. I will come for the boy later." it whispered, a threat and a promise, before vanishing into a dark cloud that seemed to envelope it. He sword, covered in the creatures thick blood, fell to the ground with a loud crash. Lass crept forward cautiously to sniff the sword and the area where the creature had just been. Lita felt began to feel her grip on consciousness begin to waver as more of her blood fell onto the cold concrete street. She tried to stand and was surprised to find a pair of young shoulders under her arm, supporting her. "We need to...get to...my loft." Lita said, each word painfully forced out. She would never be quite sure how they got up the stairs or how she managed to bandage herself up. Most of that was a pain filled haze in her memory. She did realize at some point that she had been speaking in Japanese during the whole fight. She wanted nothing more to sit down with the kid she had found and drag the whole story of what was going on out of him. But she had been too tired. The most she had managed to do was get him to promise to stay before she completely passed out. * * * * * Lita woke to the sound of her alarm clock buzzing away. To her surprise, it turned off all on its own. Popping one eye open, she saw the kid she had saved the other night, standing in the middle of her floor, looking lost. She felt a surge of pity for the poor kid. It was time to get up and try and figure out this mess that she had gotten herself into. Something easier said than done, especially the getting up part. As she shifted on the bed, all of her bruises flared to life and her shoulder screamed in pain. After some serious effort, Lita finally managed to sit up and prop herself against the wall he bed was shoved up against. "Hey." she said, smiling weakly at her visitor who was currently staring at her with wide eyes. "Hi." came the quiet response. "Come here and sit down. We need to talk. Wait! Better yet, go dig in the fridge. There was some left over chicken in there. This talk will defiantly be better with food." She said with a grin. She watched as he pulled out the containers she indicated and warmed it all up in the microwave. The chicken was small, bite size balls of chicken that had been stuffed with rice and sauce. It wasn't really a breakfast food but it wasn't really breakfast time. Thanks to the late hours of the pub, she generally didn't get up till noon so she ate whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted these days. When the food was ready, she had the kid bring over everything and sit across from her on the bed. He kind of looked like Lass did when she found the dog on her doorstep, scared and starving. That reminded her... She picked up a piece of chicken and tossed it off to the side without looking. From seemingly out of no where, a black and tan dog appeared and caught it before disappearing again under the bed. She didn't beg anymore but she was never far away when food was on hand. Lita had tossed out the chicken to see where her monster was hiding today. "Okay, I think it is time we actually were introduced. I'm Lita." She said, holding out her good arm to shake the kid's hand. "Sam." He said, taking her hand a little warily. "So Sam, can you tell me what that thing was last night?" she asked, popping a piece of chicken in her mouth. "I...I don't know. It appear, just appeared out of no where at my house and grabbed me. And then...well, I think we were flying. But I don't think so. At least...it was weird. It wasn't like anyplace I've ever seen before. And then something happened. Something attacked it, made it drop me. And I was here. Well, out there." Lita nodded, "Do you know why it grabbed you?" "I don't know! I've never seen anything like that before. It did say something about Sailor Moon and a trap but I didn't understand." frustration seeped into his voice. "What did it say exactly? Can you remember?" "I think...'you're going to catch Sailor Moon for us' or something like that." Lita watched as Sam grabbed another piece of chicken and thought. She knew who Sailor Moon was. She had been this semi-legend back in Tokyo. Kind of a local super hero. But most people thought that she was just that, some legend and didn't really exist. But that thing had been real enough last night. After a couple minutes of silence, Sam looked up at her, "I need to get home. My parents are going to kill me for being gone." "Do you know where you are?" she asked, knowing this was going to get ugly. Sam shook his head. "Welcome to Ireland, lad." * * * * * "What!?! How could you lose him? He is just one measly little human boy! And you dare to come back to me saying he got away?" Rubeus glared at the bleeding creature before him. "My Lord, I was attacked. Twice." the creature said, clutching its arm. "By who? No one other than you and I even knew what you were doing. Who would have even known to attack you?" "I'm do not know, my Lord. I was transporting the boy here when I was hit from behind and shoved out of the teleportation." "You were forced out of the teleportation? That is impossible. To do it, a person would have to be the at the exact same moment as you were. The exact same moment." Rubeus sneered. "I don't know how it happened, my Lord." "Fine. And the second attack?" "A woman and her hound found me as I was just about to reclaim the boy." "Another Sailor Scout?" Rubeus asked, a slight note of fear creeping into his voice. "No, just a woman." The creature answered, cringing. "You mean to say that you were beat by a normal human woman?" Rubeus said, his fury rising again. "I am sorry, Lord Rubeus." the monster said. "Sorry for what?" Rubeus spun towards the door where a man stood, his arms crossed. "Helios! How is Rini?" "She is resting." came the curt reply, "What is going on here?" "This one was just apologizing for getting into a fight with the Sailor Scouts when it was against your wishes." Rubeus said, his tongue smoothly giving life to the lie he had just thought up. "You attacked the scouts directly?" the other man seemed to tower over Rubeus in his fury. "No, and as you can see, this demon left as soon as possible from the fight, so there was no damage done to your plan." "We are not yet ready to face them! Rini is weak still from creating our weapon." Helios said, his voice deadly. "If you will let me explain..." "I don't care what happened, we can't afford any mistakes. The scouts need to be caught unawares when we attack so that means leaving them alone! That means, we do not attack them!" Helios interrupted angrily, his cold eyes freezing the two in front of him in place. "I understand. It won't happen again." Rubeus said, his fear of the man in front of him warring with his contempt of him. "See that it doesn't." Helios said, spinning around and leaving. Rubeus glared at the retreating figure before turning on the demon in front of him, "We are running out of time. Bring me the boy. I am going to send a message to Sailor Moon." * * * * * For the next half hour, Sam and Lita talked about what had happened and plans to get him home. Both had decided that they needed a good way to explain the situation to Sam's parents. 'Monsters kidnapped me and dropped me in Ireland' lacked a certain credibility. But it was hard, considering they didn't understand what had happened either. "Is there anyone you could call? Someone who might know more about these monsters? Or even seen Sailor Moon?" Lita asked. "No, I don't know anyone like that. I mean, everyone reads the newspaper stories about her but I don't know anyone who has ever even really seen Sailor Moon." Sam replied. "Okay. But that just brings us back to your parents. We have to get you home. And they are going to want an explanation for you being gone. What are we supposed to tell them?" "I don't know. I don't think my Dad even really believes that Sailor Moon exists so telling him I got grabbed by some monsters may not go over so well." "But don't you think being in Ireland may give your story some credibility?" Lita asked. "I don't know. It just seems too weird. Too...unbelievable. I barely believe it." Sam said, looking at the brown haired girl who had saved him, hoping for another rescue. "I understand. Completely." Lita said, and then glanced at the clock. "You stay here alright. I have to go let in my staff." Sam watched as Lita walked out of her apartment, a big black and tan dog walking, or like bouncing, along with her. They were only gone a short time but it seemed like forever to Sam. He was trying to stay calm, to not be scared but too much had happened. At least with Lita there, he had someone else to look to. When she left him alone, all he had was his own thoughts to occupy himself with. And those thoughts were almost all unanswerable questions. Why was he in Ireland? Why had he been kidnapped? How was he getting home? Was the monster going to come back? Lita came back up and smiled, "I told them that a friend of mine had shown up and surprised me so I'm taking the week off." "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to screw your life up like this." Sam said. Don't worry about it. Not your fault. Besides," she said with a small smile, "I needed a vacation." Sam smiled weakly at her. "So, I was thinking, what we really need is some sort of bat signal for Sailor Moon. After all, this is really her problem. So, we need to find a way to get her attention. Any ideas?" "No. Um...as far as I can tell, she just shows up when people are in trouble." "Hmm...I think we need to do some snooping. I've never heard of Sailor Moon outside of Japan, after all. I wonder what is going on." Lita said, walking over and flicking on her computer. After several searches, they were able to find reports of monsters all throughout Europe and Asia. There seemed to be the most sightings and attacks in the major cities like Tokyo and London. But they were still no closer to finding a way to contact Sailor Moon. In only a handful of the attacks did people claim to have seen the legend. A few of the newer reports mentioned similar fighters appearing though, which was interesting. The other interesting thing was that there were no groups of missing persons. Lita knew that most of the police wouldn't start investigating a missing person until they've been gone a couple days but if monsters really were kidnapping people, then wouldn't that have caused some suspicion? Unless they only kidnapped a couple people? Or maybe, Lita glanced sidelong at Sam, they only kidnapped one person. But why him? What made him special? * * * * * A tall figure watched the young man and the woman talk. She almost hadn't been able to save him. The threads of fate had been changing almost constantly lately, overwhelming her with all the possibilities. If she had been a fraction of a second off in her timing when she had intercepted the young man and his would be kidnapper, she would have missed her chance and another future would have occurred, one with less hope in it than the current time line. Soon, very soon, she would have to leave her post and take a more direct course of action than she had thus far. There were too many things that the Princess did not know, too many things that she had to know before she did something that she would forever regret. Sailor Pluto, guardian of the gates of time, gazed for a moment at the thousands of possibilities that the future held and waited silently for her time. * * * * * Serena and Darien were having a quiet dinner on her couch, watching a French film, Amelie, that Darien had picked up on his way over. Serena was in love with it. It was a romance but there was enough quirks and humor in it that Darien seemed to be enjoying it as much as she was. On the floor, curled up together were Luna and Artemis, who seemed to also be enjoying the movie. And the dinner, which thankfully had not been cooked by Serena. The phone rang and Serena groaned. It was probably a telemarketer. Somehow they always knew when she was eating and decided to call then. She had almost bought herself caller ID, just so she could tell if she should answer. "Hello." She said, watching Darien's butt as he bent over to pause the movie for her. "Hello, this is Mrs. Tsukino, Sam's mother." the voice on the other end began. Serena could feel the blood draining out of her face. It had been years since she had heard her mother's voice. Darien was immediately beside her, his eyes asking what was wrong as he took in her shaking hands and pale face.. "I was wondering if you have seen him at all today? I'm sorry to bother you but I'm going through Sam's address book here and I came across your number. He wasn't here this morning and he hasn't been home all day. I'm really worried about him." her mother's voice continued, a slight waver at the end telling Serena that she wasn't as calm as she was trying to pretend to be.. "No. No, I haven't seen him for a couple days. He's...is he missing?" Serena looked at Darien, trying to think of what could have happened. At her feet she could feel Luna and Artemis, gazing up at her, just as worried about her reaction to the call as Darien. "I don't know. He's never done anything like this before. He always tells me where he's going and when he'll be back. Yours was the last number I called. I've been trying all of his friends that I know first. But no one has seen him." Her mother's voice was slowly becoming more and more frantic as she talked, "I don't know what to do anymore. The police can't do anything for another 24 hours. What if he's hurt? What if something happened to him?" "I'm sure he's fine. Something probably happened and he lost track of time." Serena said, trying to offer comfort to both herself and her mother. "You are probably right. I'm probably overreacting. Thank you for your help miss. Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't get your name. All Sam has written down here is an 'S'." Serena felt panic welling up inside of her. What should she say? She couldn't lie to her mother. Not anymore. She had lied enough. But she couldn't just tell her that she was talking to her daughter. Could she? After all this time? "I'm sorry. I've got to go. I'll do what I can to find him for you and get him home. I'm really sorry." Serena babbled out as fast as she could before slamming the receiver down. Darien pulled her into his arms and began petting her hair, trying to get her to calm down. She clung to him, wrapping his strength around her like a protective blanket against old pain and tried to force back the tears. She had taken the coward's way out. She knew it. But she had never been really brave to begin with. "Sammy's missing." she mumbled into Darien's chest, "That was my mother." "Oh my." she heard Luna gasp. Out of all of her friends, Luna and Artemis were the only two who had been with her when her parents had thrown her out. They had been the ones who had held her together, who had forced her to keep fighting as Sailor Moon when she had wanted to quit, they had watched as she had gone hungry so that she could pay her rent. The two cats had often gone hunting for their own food instead of eating the cat food Serena had always bought for them before she bought her own food. And it was the two cats who had seen Serena's mother's face when Serena had walked out of the house that last time. Her father had been stern but her mother's doubts had been obvious in her eyes. Serena had known they were doing it because it was what they thought was best but that didn't stop it from being painful. A part of her had always felt that her parents, simply because they were her parents, should never have given up on her like they did. They should have tried harder to understand her. Even now, she felt almost betrayed by the fact her mother hadn't recognized her voice. Weren't mother's supposed to be able to recognize their own children? She knew this was irrational but that didn't stop her from feeling that way. Another part of Serena blamed herself. She should have told her parents who she was and why she couldn't follow their rules, why she had to always sneak out of the house at night. Now, her brother, the only family she had left, was missing. Finally, she pulled away a little from Darien, "I have to find him." "We will, don't worry." Darien said before adding softly, "Did she know who you were?" "No. She just got my number from Sammy's stuff. Apparently he didn't write down whose number it was." Serena said. "I'm sorry." Darien said, "I'm sorry." * * * * * It didn't take long to get a hold of everyone and begin the search. In Rei's temple, Ami sat on the floor, furiously typing into her computer. Leaning over her shoulder, knelt Zoicite, his eye fixed on the data streaming across the screen. Occasionally one of them would make some cryptic, half sentence that the other would understand and a new fury of typing would begin. In the corner, Serena sat huddled in Darien's arms, waiting for Ami to work her miracles. Rei was in the other room, meditating before the sacred fire and helping the search with her own talents. Mina was talking on her cell phone outside, on the temple's porch, trying to explain to her partner why she was going to be unavailable for an uncertain amount of time. She was keeping as close to the truth as possible. She had simply told Alex that a friend of hers brother had gone missing and she was going to be staying with her friend to help her though things. Meanwhile, Luna and Artemis had been sent to go play spy at Serena's parent's home and see if they could learn anything. They were the only ones that no one would ever suspect and question their presence. "Hmm...that's odd..." Ami muttered, pointing to the screen "But that..." Zoicite's brow furrowed in confusion. "I know." "Are you sure...?" Zoicite's question drifted off. "I've already checked a couple times." Ami said, understanding the question even though no one else did. Darien walked over to the pair and knelt down besides them as Mina came in and took his place comforting Serena, "What do you have?" Zoicite glanced at his Prince for a moment and then began pointing at the columns of numbers scrolling across the screen, "Apparently some sort of portal was opened up in Sam's room." "But what is weird is that it looks like something changed the path of the people that were going through it, changing the energy flows dramatically." Ami added. "Damn. So it is the this new enemy." Darien swore. "We knew that something like this could happen. Especially since they seem to know who we all really are." Ami said, still staring at the numbers on her screen. "Can you figure out where they actually ended up?" Darien asked hopefully. "Not exactly. That sudden change in there teleporting did some weird things to their trajectory." Zoicite said. "But we can give you a rough idea of where they did land. From there we should be able to see if they teleported again or if they stayed in that area. We just can't get any good reading from here. The distance is too far." Rei stood up, exhaustion written clearly across her features, "We have to hurry. They are in danger." Serena's head snapped up, "They?" "Sam and his protectors." Rei replied. * * * * * Lita was taking the rare opportunity to actually cook. Usually, with only herself to feed and having the bar to run it simply wasn't worth making a lot of food. But she had a guest to spoil, regardless of how unexpected that guest was. The kitchen was organized chaos and Sam had retreated with Lass onto the couch after half heartedly asking if he could help. Lita knew herself too well to allow anyone else into her domain. She was likely to run them over. The Rotweiler had already learned this lesson and was perfectly willing to wait for the results of her owners weird actions. Lita smiled as she removed the last dish from the oven and placed it into its bowl. The smells had already drawn Sam to the table. Lass, looking equally expectant, was laying underneath Lita's chair, her tail thumping against the floor. Dinner was relatively quiet, all three occupants concentrating most of their energy on their food. Only the occasional whimper from under the table when scraps became scarce and the appreciative noises of her guest broke the companionable silence. Lita didn't mind. She always thought really good food deserved this type of attention anyways. Plus, the silence gave her a chance to think. Ever since she had done her research she hadn't been able to shake the feeling that Sam was being specifically targeted by those monsters. She had found lots of reports of attacks but never anything about kidnapping and it puzzled her. There was nothing too exceptional about the boy. Well, other than the fact that he was from half way around the world and had been brought here by a monster. As if the thought had summoned the creature, the window above her couch suddenly shattered as the same cat-like monster that she had fought earlier burst through it. Lita grabbed Sam and ran for the door. Lass was crouched down, growling, between the monster and the two retreating humans. As Lita pushed Sam down the stairs, she turned in time to see Lass lunge at the monster. Glistening claws sliced through dog flesh as Lass was swatted away. A small whimper rose from her dog as she hit the floor and slid into the far wall. Lita instantly ran back, grabbing her claymore as she did from its place by the door. There was no way she was leaving Lass behind. Bruised muscles protested the weight of the sword as she raised it into a defensive stance. She wasn't going to be able to fight this thing. Not again. Not this soon after their last fight. Her only hope was that it was still feeling some of the effects of their last fight as well. "That the bloody hell!?" Lita glanced at the door where Zak stood. The monster took advantage of her momentary distraction to attack her, swiping at her with it claws. Lita saw it coming too late and only barely managed to get her sword between herself and the monster, blocking most of the claws. The monster managed to push her back against the far wall though, pinning her there. "Get everyone out of here." Lita yelled, not taking her attention off the thing in front of her again, even to see if Zak did as she said. She finally managed to wiggle enough to get some leverage. Using strength that she would have sworn she didn't have, Lita was able to kick off of the wall behind her, causing the monster to stumble backward and giving her a chance to break free of its grasp. From the table she grabbed the glass of Coke she been drinking and threw it into the monsters eyes. Its paws instantly flew up to try and protect its eyes and Lita made a choice. She dropped her claymore and swept up her dog into her arms. There was no way she could have carried both. Making a dash for the door, she concentrated on running, ignoring the crashing sounds behind her. She practically fell down the stairs, her own pain and exhaustion combined with the weight of the dog in her arms to make her clumsy. Downstairs, a few last scared patrons were exiting. Zak was beginning to charge back up the stairs when he saw her. "Where's Sam?" Lita yelled over the commotion. "Who?" Zak asked, confused. The sound of a roar upstairs spurred Lita into action. She thrust Lass into Zak's arms. "Take her to the vet. Quickly! I've got to finish dealing with this." "No! I'm not leaving you to deal with this alone!" Zak yelled back as the monster finally made it down stairs. * * * * * Serena and the others landed in the area that Ami and Zoicite had found. It was an alley. From several blocks away, the sounds of fighting and panicking people could be heard. "And I thought this might be hard." Mina said as they ran towards the commotion. A mob of people were standing outside of a small pub, pointing and shouting while inside two people seemed to be arguing over a dog. Just then a large monster came charging down the stairs and attacked the pair. "Venus Love Chain Encircle!" Sailor Venus yelled, a golden chain shooting out from her to wrap around the feet of the charging cat. The pair spun to stare at the Scouts. Serena, the closest, gasped as a familiar brunette turned to the man holding a dog and pushed him. "Mars Celestial Fire Surround!" Serena snapped her attention back to the monster which was dodging the rings of fire being shot at it by Mars. * * * * * Lita stared in momentary surprise at the arrival of the Sailor Scouts. She had no idea where they had come from but she wasn't about to question it right now. She shoved Zak out the door of the pub and away from the fighting. "Get Lass to the vet. I have to find Sam!" Lita yelled at him, turning away with a quick prayer to whatever deities were listening that Lass would be alright. For a moment she allowed herself to watch in awe as the Scouts fought the monster. The fighting all happened so fast that limbs and claws were nothing but a blur. Fire appeared out of no where and Lita was momentarily glad that her insurance was covered for flood and fire. Shaking herself out of the slight stupor she had been in, she began to search through the mob for Sam. "Lita!" a familiar voice yelled and she saw Sam waving madly at her. She ran towards him, "We have to get out of here." Sam nodded and the pair of them ran down the street. "Where do you think you two are going?" a cold voice asked from behind them. Lita turned slowly to see a man, floating several feet in the air. He had fiery red hair and was glaring down at them. She grabbed Sam and ran. She knew that she was too beat up right now to fight again but she was still determined to protect Sam. She may not know why all these people were after him but she was sure that it wasn't good. A black ball of fire sped past, narrowly missing them, as Lita shoved Sam down a side street. Constantly ducking through the twisted back streets, she was hoping to lose anyone who was following them. Unfortunately, the guy with the red hair wasn't following the plan and getting lost. He was keeping up with them through the alleys and streets. The occasional blast of fire would indicate when he was closing in. Lita was getting the feeling though that he wasn't really trying to hurt them. Just then, another ball of black fire was thrown and this one hit Lita in the shoulder, dropping her to her knees on the ground. "Give up the boy and this will all be over." that same cold, masculine voice said. Correction, he wasn't trying to hurt Sam. She was apparently fair game. And that had hurt a lot. Grabbing a large rock at her feet, Lita spun towards her attacker and threw it at him. He disappeared, reappearing a moment later several feet farther away with a look of anger. Lita didn't wait to trade further witty remarks with him, getting up and sprinting after Sam instead. After several blocks, the community school began to spread out before them. Lita managed to find one last burst of energy as she ran faster towards the campus. She had a half formed plan now. Hope and adrenaline were amazing things. At the very first building, she slammed open the doors. The entire campus was built on a set of tunnels so that in the winter no one had to go outside to get from building to building. If they could get into the tunnels, they stood a better chance of losing that red headed guy. * * * * * "Moon Scepter Elimination!" Sailor Moon yelled, finishing off the beaten monster. As the monster disintegrated, Sailor Moon looked around frantically in the crowd. "Did you see him?" Mercury asked, noticing the search. "No! I saw Jupiter!" "What!?!" Mars said, also turning to scan the crowd. "But how?" Tuxedo Mask asked. "I have no idea, but I saw her." Serena cried, frustration filling her voice. "If she was really here, then she is probably one of the protectors looking after Sam that the Fire told me about." Rei said. "We have to find them. Everyone spread out and search." Serena ordered. The others nodded. Serena and Rei took to the roof tops. Ami and Mina took the main road while Darien and Zoicite headed off down the opposite direction. Artemis and Luna stayed closer to the pub, looking for any clues as to where either Jupiter or Sam had gone. * * * * * Lita and Sam ran down the stairs, pushing open the swinging doors at the bottom with enough force to slam them against the walls. Ignoring the startled yelps of other people in the tunnels, they pushed their way through throngs of people that were in their way. Eventually the crowd thinned out, letting the pair gain some speed as they randomly dashed down the different underground hallways and corridors. An explosion behind them made Lita jump. Running wasn't working. Maybe it was time to try hiding. She glanced around and spied several empty rooms. "Sam." she said, stopping their head long rush and pulling him into a room. She looked on guiltily as the boy bent over, gasping for air. She was madly gulping air as well. "Sam." She started again, "Stay here. Turn off the lights and lock the door." "But...what are...you going to do?" Sam asked as he breathed heavily. "I'm going to keep going. When I manage to lose this thing, I'll come back for you." "But..." Sam looked at her, his eyes slightly widening in suppressed fear. "Don't worry. I saw the Sailor Scouts at the bar. They're probably looking for that monster so I just have to wait to be rescued." Lita said, winking at him. Before he could argue any more she turned around and ran out into the hall just as another explosion, this one closer, shook the walls around her. The brief rest had allowed her a moment to realize just how bruised and beaten she was. The adrenaline was having a hard time keeping her standing upright. Somewhere in their flight she had dome a number on her left knee and had finally noticed it. But she knew she couldn't stop. Her running had slowed considerably, as her knee screamed at her. He brain was madly trying to come up with some sort of plan but she just couldn't think of anything. Just then she stumbled. She closed her eyes, waiting to meet the hard tile floor. But in never happened. Cautiously she opened her eyes to find two arms wrapped around her, holding her up. For a second she feared that she had fallen into her enemies arms. Slowly, almost fearfully she raised her eyes up to look at the face of her savior and met the most beautiful pair blue eyes she had ever seen. The man was most defiantly not the man chasing her. His deep mahogany hair was tied loosely into a ponytail. His strong, chiseled features held a measure of concern as she felt her fingers reflexively clutch at the strong arms holding her. "Are you alright?" he asked, his deep voice somehow reminding Lita of the deep forest. A ugly chuckle behind her brought her back to herself. She roughly pushed the man away from her as she spun to face the source of that laugh. "You are sure resourceful, for a human." the red haired man said, still hovering a couple feet above the floor. In his hand danced a ball of the black fire that Lita was quickly becoming all too familiar with. "Who are you?" she asked, proud that her voice didn't waver as she faced him. "My name is Rubeus. Now, where is the boy?" he said, glancing around the immediate area as if that would reveal Sam's hiding place. "You're not going to get him." Lita said, forcing her body into some semblance of a fighting stance. "Well, that remains to be seen. Now, since you seem to insist on doing things the hard way..." Rubeus threw the black fire at her. It had happened too quickly and her body was too slow. The fire hit her in the middle of her chest. It felt like nothing else. It was like the fire burrowed directly into her very soul. Instead of heat, a type of burning cold filled her and she couldn't hold back the piercing scream as it washed over her, dropping her to her knees in front of Rubeus. The first sound that she was able to hear after her own scream was that evil chuckle, "So, where is the boy?" Lita opened eyes that she didn't remember closing to glare at him, which seemed to anger him. "Where is he?!" he yelled at her, the fire engulfing her body again. It took her longer to fight her way back to reality this time. She coughed, noticing the blood pooling on the floor in front of her, "Ever consider anger management classes?" She watched as his face contorted in rage. She braced herself for the pain and hoping oblivion would come this time, but like just a minute ago, it never came. And once again she looked up into the beautiful face of a stranger, this time framed in black fire. "No!" she screamed. * * * * * Serena and Rei had seen the people fleeing out of the building and ran inside just in time to hear one of the explosions from farther in. Rei pulled out her communicator as the two fought there way through the mob of hysterical people, all going in the other direction, "Guys, we've got some action over here." The others looked at the coordinates that Rei's communicator was broadcasting and promised to meet up with them soon. Meanwhile, Serena and Rei continued on down, both fearing what they would find at the end of the tunnels. Following the sounds of the battle, they slowly made their way. "Sailor Moon!" a familiar voice yelled from behind them. Serena spun around to face her brother and gave a strangled sob, "Sammy!" Sailor Mars watched for a second as Sailor Moon hugged her brother before turning back towards the hall, a voice in the back of her head noting that they were going to have to have a talk with Sam after this was all over. "Serena! I told you..." Sam gasped, "Serena?" "Yea." Sailor Moon said, looking sheepish at letting her secret slip so easily, "Surprise." "Oh. Wow. Well...that explains a lot." Sam said, the dazed expression on his face becoming thoughtful. The sound of a scream ripped through the halls, as, as if summoned, Ami, Mina, Darien and Zoicite came running down the hall. Sam spun around, "Oh my god. Lita! You have to save her!" "Stay here!" Sailor Moon yelled back at her brother, already running before the second scream began. The others ran at her heels, each one fearing what they would find when they stopped running. Turning a corner, they were greeted with the sight of a bloody Lita, struggling to stand over the fallen body of a man as Rubeus became completely enshrouded in his black fire. "Get away from her!" Sailor Moon yelled. "Venus Crescent Beam Smash!" the blast of golden light seemed to shatter on the fire surrounding Rubeus. "Mars Fire Ignite" Sailor Mars sent her stream of red flame at the cold, black flame only to see them extinguished. Darien and Zoicite, both drew their swords and stood in defensive positions in front of Lita, never taking their eyes off of the enemy in front of them. "Mercury, give us some cover!" Sailor Moon yelled, as she and Venus tried to attack. Sailor Venus sent a well aimed kick towards the back of Rubeus's knees, trying to bring him down while Sailor Moon tried to get in a hit from the front. Before either connected though, Rubeus disappeared, reappearing a second later several feet away to send a blast of black fire at them. "Mercury Bubble Blast!" Mercury's fog rose around the battle as Serena dropped to the ground, avoiding the attack aimed at her. "Damn you, Sailor Moon. Did you come to save your precious little brother?" Rubeus's voice taunted from somewhere in the mist. "I came to kick your ass!" Sailor Moon yelled back, glancing at Mercury for direction in the fog. Off to the side, Darien suddenly spun and ducked a stream of black fire. He lunged in the direction it had come from but Rubeus had already disappeared again. Mercury looked up from her computer and gestured to Sailor Moon. "There. Now." she said, pointing. "Moon Tiara Magic!" Sailor Moon threw the golden, glowing disk in the direction Mercury had pointed and was rewarded a second later by an angry scream. "Mercury Ice Storm Splash!" Mercury's attack followed Sailor Moon's almost instantly. Mercury released the fog around them to reveal a bleeding Rubeus, struggling to get up from his knees. "You are going to pay for that." growled Rubeus, shooting flames at Mercury. Zoicite lunged at Rubeus, sending his sword through the other man's shoulder as Mercury managed to dodge the attack on her. "She won't be paying for anything with me around." Zoicite muttered, yanking the sword out of the other man. Rubeus disappeared and reappeared further away from the battle, clutching at his arm. Blood welled up through his fingers. "Enough of this." Rubeus growled out at them, turning his attention to Serena, "Someday Sailor Moon. Someday you will understand what pain really is. You think you have family problems now..." The man disappeared in a burst of flame and vile laughter. * * * * * Rubeus reappeared in his cave and collapsed on to the floor. Slowly, painfully he began to crawl towards his bed. Before he could reach it though, a kick connected with his abdomen, spinning him around to look at the angry faces of Helios and Rini. "How dare you betray us?" Helios hissed, grabbing the other man by the throat and lifting him into the air. "Wait..."gasped Rubeus, struggling vainly in the other man's grip. "You were told, repeatedly, to leave the Scouts alone. You blatantly defied every order we ever gave you." "I...have information...though..." Rubeus said, trying to speak as the last of his air was squeezed out of his throat. Helios threw him against the wall and Rubeus sank to the floor. "I don't think we need your information." Came the sickly sweet voice from next to Helios. Rubeus looked up in time to see Rini raise up a small black crystal in front of her. "No! Wait! The Scouts! You parents were..." Rubeus's words were cut off by his scream as a beam of pure, dark energy shot from the crystal and hit him in the chest. From where it hit, tendrils of black began to engulf his body. Even when he was completely covered, the sound of his screams could be heard. Rini frowned in concentration as the black power began to dissipate, leaving no trace of its victim behind. When it was completely gone, she sagged against her lover. "It still fights my control." she muttered. "Shh. You are still weak from creating it. Soon my love, soon you will be able to finish this fight and live as we've always wanted to." Helios said, kissing the top of Rini's head. And inside the black crystal, a small, unnoticed grain of pure, white energy continued to pulse, fighting off the corruption around it. * * * * * |