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Ranma was walking silently, his eyes and expression cold. Memories of his sister always warmed his hearth, only to be frozen instantly when he thought of what Serenity did. He couldn't really blame the Senshi of this time for defeating Beryl, they were defending themselves and Beryl herself was the aggressor. But that bitch knew perfectly well what the Novas were capable of and knew Beryl could be taken back. In her own pride she became the executioner of her own people.
Setsuna walked by his side, lost in thought. Without even noticing she had taken his arm and was leaning on him as they made their way to his house. Her train of thought brought her to something she was meaning to ask Ranma for the past few days. *You won't get away from this again.* She thought with a cold smirk. "Ranma." She said to call his attention. The pigtailed martial artist glanced sideways at her and she took it as a sign that he was listening. "You never actually explained what your relationship with Soap is." Seeing him almost miss a step was very gratifying.
Ranma inwardly winced. He wasn't sure how Setsuna would take the story behind Soap. "That's a long story." He said, trying to avoid the subject once again. *Too bad we're in public.*
Setsuna smiled sweetly at him, and for some reason that smile made him even more nervous than his mother's frowns. "Don't worry, I've got the time." Her voice was almost dripping with honey. It was then that Ranma realized he was doomed.
He sighed and turned around a corner. "Let's talk about it in the park. I don't feel like letting anyone else listen in." Those words let Setsuna know how much he cared. Any other person, even one of the other Novas, would've been harshly turned down, but he was willing to share this with her.
As they approached the park she was silent, enjoying the for her, still new feeling called love. In all her millennia of life, Setsuna had only let herself go with this feeling for less than two weeks. The feeling was there, even in all her years watching from the Gates of Time, but she always kept it in tight control, ignoring it. Afraid. *But not any more, not if I can help it.* All too soon Ranma led her to a secluded part of the park. She didn't pay much attention to her surroundings, and that was also new to her. Almost disconcerting but, at the same time, relaxing.
Ranma sat next to a woman he could truly say he loved. There were others, even if very few, he loved as well. *But no one like her.* He thought looking directly into her red eyes. His voice was barely above a whisper when he finally spoke. "What do you want to know? I'll answer as best as I can."
Setsuna nodded. "How did you meet Soap? You told me she was your best student but nothing else."
A sad smile illuminated Ranma's features. It made perfect contrast with the moving shadows generated by the trees they sat under. "I didn't want any students at first. I wanted an heir. Someone to pass all of my knowledge in the Art to. I once asked Mousse if he could take over the only thing that kept me alive after that day. He smiled at me and shook his head, saying he couldn't because of his Neptunian magical abilities being alien to the Art. I now know he didn't want to do it for my sake, though."
"What?" Setsuna inquired. She was a little surprised at Ranma's bluntness, and knew where he was going with this line of thought, but want to listen to all he had to say.
Ranma didn't seem to mind the interruption, in fact he welcomed it since it gave him the courage to voice thoughts he never studied. "I wanted an heir to be free of my obligation to the Art. I wanted to die." His eyes glimmered with tears that refused to leave his eyes. He didn't live to the ideal that crying was unmanly, but he didn't cry for this because he couldn't. "I couldn't fight off the sense of emptiness inside. I survived all those years, but outside of my Art I didn't have anything. I dared hope that if someone else could carry on with the Art I would live without the suffering."
"I understand." Was all she said. Her eyes glimmered with unshed tears as well, remembering back to her isolation in the Gates of Time. If she could have passed on her powers to someone else she would've done it, glad to finally rest of it all.
Ranma sighed and continued, once again with a small and sad smile on his lips. "Tofu followed sometime later. He's good, but not good enough. Even if he learns incredibly fast he doesn't have the patience to teach somebody else. I almost didn't accept him because of that."
"And then there was Soap..." Setsuna said, and couldn't help a little bit of jealously from showing at his smile.
"And then there was Soap." Ranma nodded. "I really don't know why I was out that day. Mousse convinced me to help stop some slave-traders. We killed a few of them and ended up rescuing a somewhat large group of people." He frowned at the memory. "They were heartless enough to leave the weakest ones behind. One of them was a famished little girl. I almost ignored her, but something called my attention. Even though she was too weak she was unconsciously maintaining herself alive using her chi. I checked her and found a lot of potential, a potential only another person has."
"And you decided to make her your heir." She concluded, wondering if she should ask another question or wait for him to continue. The later made the decision for her as Ranma started talking again.
He continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. "I took her to live with me. During that time I was living on my own in China, so I didn't have to explain where Soap came from. I raised her from the broken and betrayed little girl I found that day into the person you met." He locked gazes with the green-haired woman. "Setsuna, Soap is like a daughter to me. Without noticing I let my heir turn into the person that made me want to live again, even if only when we were alone and practicing the Art. I stopped wishing to die because I was proud of her achievements and wanted to know how far she would go." He closed his eyes when he finished. "You do realize that if you mention this to anyone I'm gonna have to kill you."
Setsuna laughed at this. "Remember who you're talking to." She silently thanked Ranma for turning such an emotional moment into an almost comical situation. She took his hands in hers and gave them a gentle and supportive squeeze. "I have Soap to thank, then." Ranma's curious eyes met hers. "Thanks to her my man is now by my side."
Ranma blinked and stared at her smile. He had been expecting another kind of reaction, not this easy acceptance. *Then again, I don't really know this Setsuna. Heh. I bet she doesn't know herself.*
The green-haired woman was still surprising herself with her recent behavior. If her future self had come and told her she would be acting like a love-struck teenager she would've laughed her ass off at the joke. But now she was enjoying every minute of it.
It took him a while, but the pigtailed martial artist finally managed to return that smile. "Your man? I should feel offended at being treated like a piece of meat." Setsuna silenced any other comment coming from him by leaning forward and kissing her man.
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The Inner Senshi stared at Ami with shocked expressions. The Senshi of Mercury had just finished reading directly from her computer, her voice breaking during the last sentences. Even if she already knew what the file contained it was hard to keep calm as she read it to the others.
The following silence lasted for an eternity as the girls looked at each other, knowing their expressions were all the same. "An entire galaxy." Minako whispered so low she didn't even hear herself.
One of them recovered from the shock and clenched her fists tightly, anger building up as the details of what happened repeated themselves in her head over and over again. Her features formed a fierce scowl and her eyes nearly burned a hole on the floor. She lifted her head, catching the others' attention and surprising them. "THOSE BASTARDS!" Rei bellowed.
"Calm down, Rei." Minako said trying to calm her friend.
The angry priestess had none of it. "Calm down?! After knowing what they did?!" She lowered her voice but her icy tone remained. "They murdered the King of an empire far bigger and older than the Silver Millennium and forced the few survivors to become slaves for the house of Nova. How do you want me to calm down?"
Minako couldn't keep Rei's gaze and turned away. She knew the reports were bad. It was clearly stated that Queen Nova sent Razt and Hira to murder King Govian. They effectively stopped a possible alliance between Demagorth Govian and the Silver Millennium by arriving to the castle before Artemis, who had a diplomatic meeting with the King. The Senshi of Venus couldn't believe the one responsible for destroying an entire Galaxy, in the process killing so many unaware innocents, was the same man they met just a few days ago.
Rei turned to Ami once she stared Minako down. "What can we do, Ami?"
The girl sighed and closed her eyes. "Against such power... nothing."
"Ami?" Makoto asked worriedly. She had never seen Ami give up before trying. "Surely they must have a weak point. Something to help us defeat them. We have faced apparently unbeatable opponents before and we've always managed to come out on top." Even if she at first thought of the Novas as possible allies, finding out about their history convinced her otherwise. Such actions couldn't be forgiven.
Rei nodded. "We just need to find the way."
Ami shook her head, her eyes still closed. "None of us is capable of destroying a planet except for Saturn. Her power is so much greater than ours, and yet she isn't nearly strong enough to give Ryoga a challenge." She opened her eyes and the others noticed they were glazed over. "A galaxy. Do you have any idea what it takes to destroy an entire galaxy, much less in a few hours?" She focused her sight on Rei. "Even if they do have a weakness we can't do a thing. Remember Setsuna and Ranma are lovers."
Makoto's features hardened at that. The Senshi of Time had already changed sides, even after all the shit she'd put them through for the sake of Crystal Tokyo. She had just turned her back on her duty, on her obligation to justice and love, to share the bed of an enemy. Sure, she herself had been intent on learning from him, but that was before she knew what his family was like.
Minako spoke up, still not looking at anyone. "Setsuna isn't the only one."
The other three girls turned to her. "What do you mean?" Rei demanded when it was obvious Minako wouldn't say more. She was seeing their entire dream of a peaceful world burn in front of their eyes because of the Novas. *We'll be lucky if there's even a world left to protect.*
Minako winced at Rei's tone of voice but answered anyway. "You've all seen Hotaru's new look. I think it's connected with the arrival of the Novas." She felt the others' expressions darken at that. "And the other day ,when those four attacked, Usagi and Mamoru were standing next to Hinako and Ryoga instead of us." She was so confused. The things they learned about the Novas today were atrocious, yet as a Sailor Senshi her duty was towards Serenity. If Usagi decided to ally herself with Nodoka the Senshi of Venus didn't know what to do.
Rei frowned deeply at Minako's words. She had to admit the blonde had a point. The Senshi had always faced and defeated strong enemies before, but they always worked together. Now they were facing the possibility of fighting each other. Why couldn't things be simple as before? A new insanely powerful enemy arrives and they stop her from destroying the planet. As simple as that. *Why can't that meatball head see the Novas are the enemy?* Rei thought angrily.
They nearly jumped out of their skins when a beeping startled them. Ami looked down at her computer and sighed. *Of all the times for a monster to attack it had to be now.* She thought. "Let's go." She said as she took her henshin rod in her hand.
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Sailors Mars, Venus, Mercury and Jupiter arrived just in time to see a man wearing a full body armor slam a woman against a wall. The woman went through the wall and remained still in the shadows of the inside. They reacted out of habit with Mercury scanning the monster while Venus went to check on the woman and both Jupiter and Mars let loose with their attacks.
Usually they would make a speech before starting the battle, but today they had arrived to see an innocent possibly killed. That and the fact that Sailor Moon wasn't there.
Fire and lightning met the ground where the armored man was standing before the attack. The Senshi were surprised to see someone wearing heavy armor sidestep their attacks so fast. Mercury continued her scan as Mars assumed a defensive position in front of her and Jupiter charged the man with her fists.
Venus saw out of the corner of her eye as Jupiter landed her first combination on the armored man, sending him to the ground. She smiled and entered the building through the hole on the wall. She was shocked to see the woman sitting up, her hands feeling her left leg. Then she started noticing other things. *Brown hair, tall, great body, black tight dress.* She wished she was wrong, but everything was there. "Hinako?"
Back outside Jupiter was holding her side as she backpedaled from her opponent. He had taken a sword out, and incredibly enough, managed to land a glancing blow on her body. Nothing serious, but painful either way. She jumped back from a horizontal slash that would've cut her in half.
Mars' features hardened even more at seeing her companion's blood. "Mercury?" She asked, expecting her friend to find a weakness to exploit.
The Senshi of Mercury smiled as the results were displayed on screen. "That armor protects incredibly well against physical blows, but magical ones should be effective."
"That's nice to know." A female voice was heard from the other side of the fight. They all turned to see an angry Hinako make her way out of the building she was smashed into, a nervous Venus following close behind. "You managed to make me actually make me angry, not an easy task." Hinako said to the man in a playful voice that didn't match with the intensity of her features. "Here I was, on my way to the store to buy the new Slayers manga, and you had to show up and RUIN MY DRESS!!!" She finished pointing at her black dress over her left leg.
Everyone had to squint their eyes to see a tiny little rip on the fabric, barely visible and not something worse than what the wash machine would do to it. The Senshi grew large sweatdrops. "She's mad about her dress?" Makoto asked to no one in particular.
The man forgot all about his fight with Jupiter and charged forward with his sword, intent on finishing what he started with the Nova. Hinako snorted as the blade passed through her, or rather, her illusion.
Mercury turned down to her computer, her eyes widened and she turned up to see Hinako floating ten feet over the ground. Her hair was flowing behind her even though there was no wind. The startled gasps from her companions brought her attention to the man in the armor, who was being levitated off the ground and visibly trying to break the hold someone had on him.
"What's going on?" Mars asked as she was joined by Venus and Jupiter, their expressions showing they shared the same question.
Mercury turned back to her computer and typed a few commands in. Her attention was divided between the results and the man, who by now was a few feet away from Hinako. "She's doing that. I don't know how, but I'm getting readings on her use of at least two different forms of energy manipulation. One of them is magic, the other registers as unknown." She didn't pay attention to her fellow Senshi after that, her eyes locked on the two figures floating above.
Hinako's expression turned to a sweet smile that would send shivers through anyone's spine. "Who sent you?" She asked almost singing her question, her voice dripping honey.
The man didn't answer and pointed his sword at the woman. A fireball appeared out of nowhere and covered the distance between them in less than a second. That was all Hinako needed as she waved her hand in front of herself and an ice-wall materialized in front of her. It was vaporized with the heat of the fireball, but turned the later into a breeze of fresh air. "How... refreshing." Hinako purred and launched a fireball of her own with her other hand. This one connected with the man's sword and hand.
The Senshi watched as the man protectively hugged his arm and something fell to the ground. They saw a chunk of molten metal splatter over the pavement and hiss as it cooled down.
"Interesting. It seems like whoever sent you cut your tongue so you wouldn't reveal anything." Hinako observed casually. "I would almost feel sorry for you if you hadn't ruined my new dress." She shrugged. "But you did." And with that she extended her right hand forward.
The man's body suddenly extended itself, revealing that the man's right arm as molten all the way up to the elbow. The Senshi winced at even imagining what that must have hurt. The armor suddenly started shaking and compacting into itself. Venus turned away when blood started flowing out the armor. The others watched in fascinated horror as the armor continued squeezing until it was nothing more than a blood-dripping, baseball-sized metal ball.
Hinako lowered her hand and slowly drifted down. The ball was consumed in a black flame and nothing was left of it. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Mars demanded as Hinako landed next to them. She couldn't believe the cruelty of this woman to so casually torture someone to death.
Hinako smirked. "Don't worry, he died much faster than if I boiled him alive as I originally intended." Her smirk widened at seeing the sick expressions on the faces of the Inner Senshi. "I would like to speak some more, but there are more important things to worry about."
"Like what?" Makoto asked.
Hinako's expression turned into one of excitement almost instantly. "To buy my manga, of course." And with that she walked away, smirking mockingly once again at seeing the Senshi facefault.
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On one of the roofs two people, a man and a woman, had seen the entire exchange. "They could've taken him down without Hinako's help." The woman said.
The man nodded. "Indeed. But we both recognize the style of that armor, though they weren't magical before."
"We can only hope it was a coincidence." They both couldn't fight a sinking feeling in the pit of their stomachs, though.
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"Tadaima!" Ranma called out as he opened the front door for Setsuna.
"Ranma." Ryoga's voice was heard as the couple entered the house.
"What is it Ryo..." Anything else Ranma might have said was lost since he was met with Ryoga's right fist and sent flying back.
Setsuna was startled to see a smirking Ryoga walk out and take a hold of Ranma's pigtail, then drag his younger brother to the dojo. The later was too busy trying to figure out why were there stars in the middle of the day.
Setsuna was about to follow and help her lover when another voice stopped her. "Don't bother, dear. They do this at least once a month." The green-haired woman turned to regard Nodoka. "Would you like some tea while we wait for them to finish?" The woman then turned and walked into the dinning-room.
Setsuna turned once more towards the dojo and followed her host.
Both women spoke for over two hours about Earth history and traditions. They were joined by Hinako sometime during the conversation. Setsuna could almost swear Nodoka's daughter was uncharacteristically smug when she arrived.
Finally the sound of heavy steps could be heard approaching. They all turned to see Ryoga enter the room, an unconscious Ranma slung over one shoulder, and walk past them towards Ranma's room. "RANMA!" Setsuna cried out, an unusual show of emotion from her, and followed Ryoga.
Hinako turned to Nodoka. "What did he get upset over now?" It was obvious this wasn't an uncommon occurrence.
Nodoka took a sip of her tea. "I believe Ryoga recalled the time Ranma stopped him from killing Sailor Saturn."
"Oh."
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Setsuna rushed after Ryoga and saw him carelessly toss Ranma on the floor of a sparse room. He then turned around and limped past her. Setsuna froze at seeing Ryoga limp and noticing the serious wounds all over his body. Any other person would've died instantly from them. They were all healing at his usual standards and even then she could see the blood continue to flow from some. Her attention didn't remain with Ryoga for long as she turned back to Ranma's body. She knelt next to him and gave out a sigh of relief at seeing he was breathing. She proceeded to take care of his wounds, wondering how many times this must have happened and no one was there to help him.
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Ryoga returned to the dinning-room and sat down. "Having trouble with Ranma?" Hinako asked teasingly.
Ryoga, his injuries nearly gone, growled out. "Shut up." He thought back to the fight. Ranma fought like never before, as if he was holding back in all their previous matches. He actually came close to winning the fight a couple of times. Of course, they had agreed on restricting the fights, making them hand-to-hand and more even. Ryoga didn't use any of his magic blasts while Ranma refrained from using some of his more exotic techniques. *But still...* Ryoga could still remember the first time he fought Ranma, it was laughably easy to beat the younger boy. But the easy wins had steadily turned into interesting matches over the millennia. Ranma had improved so much, his power growing way beyond what a human's power was supposed to be. At the rate he was improving, Ranma would be on par with him in hand-to-hand in another ten thousand years. A disturbing thought, even if Ryoga's skills in that department were nothing compared to his Nova power.
"RYOGA!!!" Hinako screamed in Ryoga's ear to get his attention. He had zoned out for nearly ten minutes and didn't respond to anything either she or their mother said.
Ryoga blinked and turned to his sister. "What do you want?"
Nodoka stopped Hinako's retort to that one before it even started. "We want to discuss something with you, son." The seriousness in her voice made her children revert to their cold and calculating selves.
"What is it?" Ryoga asked, his face an expressionless mask. He often left his defenses drop nowadays, but when the situation demanded it he could still go back to being Razt of the House of Nova.
"Ranma already made contact with his students. They have agreed to aid him in our fight." Nodoka informed her children.
Ryoga smirked. "He's letting his 'daughter' participate?"
Nodoka nodded seriously. "I want you two to gather your warriors as well. Don't involve all of them, just the strongest ones."
"You do realize what will happen when they meet with Soap-chan, right?" Hinako asked. Even if she was being serious she couldn't help calling Ranma's student with her usual pet name for her.
Nodoka didn't relent. "I trust you two will control them enough so that things can be explained. I want you to have a war council next week."
Ryoga raised an eyebrow. "What's going on? These are some serious measures you want us to take. I know there's no enemy we have to be so careful about." He was surprised to see anger flash in Nodoka's eyes.
"We're won't be fighting just any enemy, Ryoga. I was attacked today, too." Hinako said coldly.
"So?" Ryoga knew he wouldn't like the answer to this question. Anything that could make his mother express any form of anger had to be bad.
Nodoka nearly growled when she answered. Her words made Ryoga's eyes burn with rage. Hinako hissed angrily. And they all knew the most affected would be Ranma when he found out. "It was a man wearing a Silver Millennium armor."
END PART 10
Author's notes: Another chapter out and the sides are about to be chosen. The enemy is near and after the Novas. And the Novas are pissed.
What else can I say?
See you in Part 11! |
