							May 2000

			Secret Garden 3: Final Battle
				Scene 5
	
	Serenity lashed out at Diamond with one hand, catching
 him with a wet sounding smack across the face.  "Get your hands
 off me," she hissed, spinning out of his reach again as his hold
 on her loosened, "Next time you touch me I swear you will not
 walk away without something being broken."

	"Idle threats, my dear," he told her viciously, wiping
 one hand across his mouth and removing the wet stain of blood
 from his lips as he looked at her with glittering, wild eyes,
 "You have threatened before and now and not done anything.  Why
 would I think you would do anything now?"

	Serenity's eyes spat fire as she ducked away from his
 reach yet again.  "I have been a complacent captive thus far,
 Diamond, but do not push me."

	Diamond laughed darting twoards her and then backing off,
 "Are you scared of my, my love?  Scared of what I will do to you
 whenI catch you?  You should not be frightened of me, I would
 never do anything to hurt you, you know that, do you not?"

	"You have yet to prove that to me, Diamond."

	"I have not hurt you, my dear, in any way shape or form."

	Serenity raised one of her hands, revaling bruised
 knuckles, the purple and blue skin surrounding her wedding ring
 puffy and swollen from his previous grip.  The sight of the ring
 was all that seemed to catch his attention and he growled.  "I
 told Sapphire to have you remove that, I suppose I will have to
 remove it from you myself."

	"You have injured me, Diamond, can you not see the hurt
 you have caused me?"

	 "No more than you have done to me, my dear.  Remove the
 ring."

	"Never." she hissed, cradling her hand close to her
 breast and watching him warrily. "My love will come for me,
 Diamond, my husband will not see me defiled and I would rather
 die that remove the symbol of his love for me."

	Diamond screamed then, a sound torn from his throat by
 pain and anguish, "No!  Serenity you cannot mean that.  I was
 something to you once, have things passed so far that I am
 nothing to you now?"

	"You were my friend, Diamond, but when you kidnapped me
 you became mine, and my husband's enemy. No! Do not come near
 me. Diamond, stop, please." her eyes widdened alarmingly as he
 stalked towards her, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.

	"You are no man's but mine, Serenity, you just cannot see
 that yet because of the spell he has put on you.  My kiss shall
 clear your mind and make you see that what I say is true."

	"You are mad, Diamond.  I will never kiss you."

	He lunged for her then, not even pausing as a comotion in
 the outter chambers rang through the heavy door.  His arm snaked
 around herwaist as she squirmed and struggled to be free of him.
  He viciously grabbed her by the back of the head, drawing
 sparkling tears from her eyes as he tugged on her hair. 
 Serenity shrieked as the pain shot through her skull.

	"Serenity!"

	Diamond and Serenity froze as the shout was heard through
 the door, muffled but clear.   "Endymion!" she screamed in
 reply, her heart soaring and filling with hope.

	Diamond tugged her flush against him and his mouth came
 down with a bruising, vicious force on hers.  Serenity taasted
 blood as her teeth cut into her cheeks and nearly gagged as his
 tongue plunged into her mouth.  She twisted, fighting to be free
 but couldn't shake his mouth and tears of frustration crawled
 down her cheeks as she was forced to remain imobile in his
 grasp.  She couldn't breathe, her air being completely cut off
 and her hand clenched at her waist as she panicked.  She pushed
 with a violent motion against his shoulder, her hand tingling
 uncomfortably.  She heard a loud crack and a male scream as she
 dropped into unconsciousness, aware that she'd given in to
 weakness with help less than a stone throw away.

********

	"Serenity!" Endymion yelled for her as he and the senshi
 stormed the main doorway to Diamond's chambers. They encountered
 tough resistance, but the three fought well, Endymion allowing
 Uranus and Neptune to take point.  

	"World... Shaking!"

	Screams echoed through the chamber as the guards were
 forced to scramble for footing, the room shaking under the
 assult of Uranus' earthquake attack.  The boyish senshi smiled
 grimly as a crack opened beneath a few of the soldiers in the
 chamber, dropping them and the opulent bed into the chasm.

	"My turn."  Neptune stepped in front of her partner and
 stretched out one hand, "Deep... Submerge!"

	A column of water shot from her hands, forcing a few more
 of the guards into the hole in the floor, gasping and sputting
 as the water died away and then screaming as they dropped into
 the void.

	Endymion smiled, "Ladies, you are truely magnificient. 
 It has been my honor to fight with you." Endymion's gaze turned
 to the door in the far wall of the room, "He will not live out
 this day."

	Uranus placed one hand on his shoulder, "Do not throw
 away your life, Prince Endymion.  Selene's blessings go with
 you."

	"And you.  Guard our exit, I will be back with her
 shortly." Endymion slipped to the door, drawing his sword as he
 appraoched.  The door swung open and he slipped inside.

	"Haruka!" 

	Uranus spun at the sound of Neptune's voice and then
 screamed with rage as she was knocked asside by her partner, the
 arrow meant for her heart burrying itself deep into Neptune's
 chest.  Her arms closed around Neptune as they hit the ground,
 the Space sword dropping from her hand and ringing with a loud
 clang on the stone floor.

	"Neptune?" she shook the sea haired senshi's shoulder,
 "Michiru?  NO!" the word was torn from her throat in a primevil
 howl of anguish.  Blue-green  eyes flashed as she looked up from
 the body of her partner, rage and pain clearly visible.  She
 pressed trembling lips to Neptune's forehead, right above her
 tiara, and gently brushed aqua colored hair from a face
 contorted in pain.  "It won't end this way, I promise."

	Her gaze narrowed on the archer who was notching another
 arrow, her gaze focusing almost tunnel like through her bangs
 and through her lashes.  She pushed off from the floor,
 disregarding the guards that were starting to filter into the
 room, her only goal the archer.  She lept at him, willing the
 space sword to her hand as she neared.  In full flight she
 brought empty hands over her head, the blade appearing as she
 let out a blood curdling battle cry and brought the blade down.
  The mystical weapon cleaved straight into the man's skull,
 shattering it and sending skull fragments flying.  Gore
 splattered the senshi as she landed, pulling the blade from his
 body.  She spun, her eyes glittering with unshead tears as she
 looked about the room, anger and rage radiating from her like
 heat waves.

	"Hold your course if you do not wish to die," the captain
 of the guards spoke at last, his tone wavering from fear he
 tried to hide.

	"I am not the one who will die this day," Uranus told
 him, raising the blade so it was level with her mouth.  She
 narrowed her eyes, "those who ooppose me will die.  I will be
 leaving here alive.  Those of you who think otherwise are
 welcome to try and stop me."

	The guards exchanged nervous looks as her words, laced
 with menace and deadly intent, were calmly said.  "Drop your
 weapon," the captain finally spoke as the tension in the room
 climbed to unbearable limits.

	"Come take it from me if you dare try," she replied,
 striding away from the bloody corpse of her first victim and
 walking back to her partner's body.  The guards parted in front
 of her and she knelt next to Neptune un-molested, her hand
 tightening reflexively on the hilt of her sword.  She placed her
 hand, still holding the blade, on Neptune's chest near the
 protuding arrow and then grasped the shaft of the arrow and
 tugged with a swift motion, breaking the shaft with a snap.

	"What kind of arrow head was he using?" she asked calmly,
 her gaze looking from one soldier to another, finding the ones
 holding the bows easily and pinning them with a hard stare.

	"Piercing arrows," one spoke up at last, "It should pull
 out the same way it went in, milady, and do no additional
 damage."

	Her free hand grasped the shaft of the arrow, "You are
 certain?  If you're not, it will be your death."

	The archer gulped, his voice failing an nodded.

	Uranus bent her head to the task and tugged.  The rolled
 to the side, covering Neptune's body with her own as suddenly
 loosed arrows struck the ground where they'd been moments
 earlier.  Uranus swallowed hard, seeing her golves stained
 crimson and then turned and released the space sword at the
 archers who's tried to kill her from behind.  The sword arced in
 the air, striking each of the four at waist height.  Almost as
 one they grabbed for their stomachs to keep their innards from
 falling out, their bows clattering to the floor.

	The senshi from Uranus looked around the room, "Any
 question?" she asked softly.

	The captain of the guard advanced on her, sword drawn and
 aimed at her throat, "You are unarmed, you are now my prisoner."

	Uranus smiled at him pleasently, "Really?"

	"Y-yes.  Stand up."

	Uranus stood slowly, her hands at her sides.

	"Put your hands on your head," The captain told her,
 growing more bold and taking another step near her.

	Uranus clenched her hand and smiled, "You don't want me
 to do that,"

	"Put your hands on your head!" the guard snapped.

	Uranus snapped one hand upwards, the space sword, having
 been willed back to her grasp, slicing cleanly through his blade
 and stopping just below his chin.  "Now, drop your weapons, all
 of you, if you don't wish to have to find a new captain of the
 guard.  Though, as one captain of the guard to another, I
 wouldn't trust you at my back, you sniviling coward."

	"P-please don't kill me." he stamered as the sound of his
 men's weapons hitting the floor echoed through the room.

	"And deny your lord that pleasure?  Never." she reversed
 her grip on the sword and smashed the guard into his face.  The
 guard had an obvious glass jaw and slid to the floor without so
 much as a whimper.

	Uranus' head snapped around as the sound of a large body
 hitting the door across the room echoed in the sudden stillness.
  She smiled grimly and silently wished the Prince luck in his
 fight. 

********

 Author's Note: Ok, that is about all the action you'll ever see
 that's not Endymion/Serenity related... Anyway, it's also my
 cliff hanger... More to come soon, I hope.  And I'm sorry it
 took so long to get this part out, but my life has been
 changing one heck of a lot of late and I just haven't had the
 time to post, nor the means... This shouldn't be going on too
 much longer.. stay tuned for the fight between Diamond and
 Endymion!

 Flames.. questions and comments to: 

 Jade_Max@innocent.com

 Thanks for reading!
 Jade_Max


