"Christopher Angel" <cja124@mail.usask.ca>

Shieldsman: Act II
A Sailor Moon S Fanfic

All Sailor Moon characters the property of the people who have rights to
them.  Don't sue me.

***

8 - Bloody Memories

***

As Crimson flew through the air to attack Jadeite, a few things became very
clear, very quickly.  First, he was moving far faster than the Senshi had
ever seen anyone move before.  Second, his entire body seemed to glow with a
flaming red aura.  Finally, he was in a murderous rage, and woe betide
anyone who got in his way.

Before Uranus or Neptune could even react, Crimson plowed into Jadeite,
lifting him up off the ground and tossing him into a wall.  The crystal
cracked under the impact, and Jadeite slid to the ground.

Like lightning, Crimson was at his side, lifting him up by the front of his
shirt, holding him against the wall.  "How DARE you?" Crimson hissed.
"After all you've done, how DARE you return?"  He held up his shield to make
a killing blow.  "You should die for what you've done!"

Sailor Mars ran up to the two men and tried to hold Crimson's arm back, but
she could barely budge it.  "Crimson!  Please, stop this!"   She felt his
arm give as he allowed her to pull it back.  "If Queen Serenity can forgive
him, why can't you?"

Crimson released Jadeite and let him drop to the ground.  Very slowly, he
turned to face the throne, and focused his anger on the pair of rulers.
"You can forgive him?  After what he did?" he asked incredulously.  "After
what he did to all of you?  How?"  He pointed his arm back at the crumpled
man.  "He's a murderer!"

Serenity was glad she had made only trusted advisors and good friends attend
this session of court.  Gasps went up from the assembled people, including
several of the Senshi.  Serenity shook her head.  "Jadeite killed no one,
Crimson.  During his battles with us, he never killed even one of his
victims.  Neither did any of his youma."

Realization dawned on Crimson, and he took a step back.  "You don't
remember, do you?" he asked her in shock.  He looked at each of the Senshi
in turn, growing more panicked at each face.  "None of you remember it?"

"Remember what, Ares?" Sailor Mars asked.  She hoped that using his real
name would calm him down some.

"How you died in the Silver Millennium!" he yelled, frantic.  "None of you
remember?"  His question was rewarded with head shakes and looks of
confusion.  "Don't you get it?"

"What did he do, Crimson?" Serenity asked in a soft voice.  "What did he
have to do with our deaths?"

"HE KILLED YOU!" Crimson roared in a tortured voice, stunning the Senshi
with his words.  "All of you!"  His anger spent, he fell to his knees, tears
streaming down his face.  "He betrayed all of us for Beryl.  He killed you
all."

Sailor Mars was very still.  She felt a memory returning, one that was
extremely painful, but it was one she knew that she needed to know.   As the
memories replayed themselves, she understood Crimson's anger and shame.  "He
made you watch," she breathed.  "He made you watch as he killed me."

Crimson nodded wordlessly, and Mars could only kneel and gather the weeping
man into her arms.  She softly murmured words of comfort to him, and gently
kissed away his tears.  "It doesn't matter, Ares.  We're together now.  I
love you.  It doesn't matter." She repeated those words over and over.

"Crimson."  He looked up into Serenity's face, and only found sympathy and
understanding.  "There is no darkness in him now," she assured him.
"Beryl's control, whatever it was, is gone from Jadeite now."  At his
confusion, she elaborated.  "This is not the man who committed those crimes.
Jadeite, as he is now, could never do that."

"Why do you call him that?" Crimson asked, trying to change the subject.
"Jadeite, I mean."

"Because I don't deserve the name I was born with," Jadeite said from the
ground.  "I betrayed you, I betrayed Serenity, and I betrayed HER most of
all."  He stood, and swayed on his feet.  "I've lost all right to that
name."

"Don't you think I deserve to be the judge of that?" a low voice asked.  At
the entrance to the hall, stood Sailor Pluto.  Her face was cold and hard as
stone, yet she seemed on the verge of breaking into tears or laughter, or
maybe even snarling in rage.  Jadeite whimpered like a hurt animal and
turned his face away.  "I rather prefer the name Verdant."  Sounds of
whispered conversation rose from the Senshi.

"I failed that name.  I failed it and everything it stood for," Jadeite
insisted.

Pluto walked over to him and turned him to face her, and then swiftly
slapped him across the face.  "You IDIOT!" she growled at him.  "Do you
think I blame you?  It was NOT YOUR FAULT, any more than it was Endymion's
when Beryl corrupted him."

"It was my fault," Jadeite said softly.  "I was weak."

"Yes, you were," Pluto agreed bluntly.  "You were weaker than something far
more powerful than you."  She smiled kindly.  "But there is no fault in
that.  I can forgive you for what you did."

"I don't deserve forgiveness."

Pluto was silent for a moment.  "Perhaps not, in your mind.  But I can
forgive you, because I know the man you were, and the man you are.  I know
the man I fell in love with eleven millennia ago is standing right in front
of me."

Crimson stood, and pulled away from Mars.  "Maybe you can forgive him." He
turned to the Queen.  "Maybe you all can forgive him."  He turned back to
Mars looked her in the eyes.  "But I can't.  I'll always associate his face
with your death, Rei.  I see him killing you in my nightmares, and I can't
ever forgive that."  With that, he strode out the doors of the hall.

"Ares!"  Mars called after him, and started to follow.  As she neared the
door, she was intercepted by Apollo, who stopped her.

"Don't," he told her.  "I've seen him like this before.  Let him work it out
himself."

***

The darkness watched the proceedings below and cackled with glee.  These
Senshi were such fun to torment!  If it had known of this earlier, it would
have released its host long ago, just to see what happened.

As the aura of shock, confusion, anger, and betrayal filled the room, the
darkness hungrily fed on the energy released.  It was nice, but it would
have to find a host soon.  It looked down on the inhabitants of the room,
and carefully tested each one.

The queen?  Even its mother wasn't dumb enough to try that, and the Serenity
of the past was much weaker than the one before it.

The king?  It felt his power and reeled back in surprise.  This man was
linked to the planet!  With him as a host it could feed on the life energy
of the planet itself.  It tested the boundaries of his mind, and found with
dismay that he was far too old.  The darkness could never break through his
defenses in time.

It started to look at the Senshi, and realized with fury that they were ALL
too old.  They were all so old, so set in their ways, that their
consciousness was as solid as a rock.  The cracks and holes in their mental
defenses, even their unconscious ones, were far too small, too insignificant
to be of use.

This would not do.  In order to merge with a host, in order to twist it into
a form that would be useful to the darkness, it would have to reveal itself
to Serenity.  Unless it could conquer the host's defenses quickly, it would
be destroyed by that annoying queen.

It scanned the crowd, noticing the pockets of power that showed the latent
abilities in some of the attendees.  It noticed one young man, one with a
dark complexion and black hair, who had an odd aura, as if there was
something missing that should be there.  A power that should be there.

The darkness cursed Serenity, that witch who had killed its mother.  If its
mother had still been alive, she could have fed the man the power he was
missing.  She had done it for its siblings, turning men who could have
become great warriors of light into greater generals of darkness.

This was not bringing it closer to finding a host, the darkness realized.
It watched the proceedings below, and snickered at the man weeping on the
floor.  What fools these humans are!  To allow such weakness into themselves
was utter foolishness.  No wonder Beryl destroyed them so long ago.

And Beryl was destroyed in turn, by people who used that weakness as a
strength.  There had to be a way.  There had to be a way to turn that
strength back into a weakness, or at least to exploit it to its fullest.

Wait!  The man!  The one with the reddish-blonde hair, in the oddly familiar
armor.  If it could have, the darkness would have laughed.  Such power in
one so young.  The takeover would be swift and unstoppable.  For the first
time in days, the darkness realized it would survive.  It was sure of that
now.

It watched the man leave the hall, and flew rapidly after him as the man
disappeared deep into the halls of the palace.  It must take him quickly,
before he knew what hit him.  At the speed of the light that was its bane,
the darkness flowed into the man, preying on his anger, his shame, and his
confusion.  The man screamed in pain, and collapsed in an abandoned hall.
He screamed again, and Crimson's eyes closed.

And Blood's eyes opened.   Their features were gone, leaving only a deep,
awful red, that seemed to suck up the light that shone on them.  He stood,
and his armor began to darken and shift, the silvery guards tarnishing with
a stain the color of rust, that spread and flowed until they were completely
covered in that horrifying color.  His other gear had become as blood red as
his eyes.

Blood looked down at himself, and began to laugh.  It was a laugh that
echoed through the halls, and sent chills down the spines of those who heard
it.  "Oh, my," he breathed. He turned and ran down the halls, finding the
nearest exit, pausing to drain the guardsman at the gate until the body was
limp.  As he finished, a black flame seemed to erupt from his body, a flame
that ate the light around it, shrouding the area in darkness.

He hissed in pain as the shield at his left arm flared bright red and burned
him.  Taking it off, he flung the object away from him, letting it clatter
to the ground far down the hall.  It was a foolish weapon, anyway.

Blood looked upon the city who's heroes he was about to destroy, the city he
would rule, and smiled.  "Oh, yes."

***

Mars felt a sudden stabbing pain deep in her heart, and knew something
horrible had happened.  She cried out in agony, and collapsed on the floor.

"Mars!" Serenity cried, and was soon at the groaning woman's side, followed
moments later by the rest of the Inner Senshi.  The guardsmen at the doors
to the court correctly took that as a cue to empty the room.  Serenity then
summoned the Ginzuishou, and used the crystal's power to ease Mars' pain,
and help her to her feet.

"He's gone," Mars wept, and Serenity took the woman into an embrace,
shooting a glance to the other Senshi, her message clear.  Find Crimson, and
do it fast.  The Senshi disappeared out the doors into the rest of the
palace.

Serenity spent several minutes trying to calm her friend and discover what
she was talking about, but Mars was too distraught to be of any help.  Once
again, she used the Ginzuishou to look inside her friend at the bond between
her and Crimson.

What she discovered brought tears to her eyes and horror to her heart.  The
link was strong and healthy at Mars' end, but as it stretched out to Crimson
it became something dark and twisted, almost rotten.

Sailor Jupiter burst into the room, her face lined with worry and anger.
"One of the guardsmen was drained of his life energy, your Majesty.  He is
alive, but barely."  She held up the object she held at her side.  Crimson's
shield.  "This was found nearby."

Mars looked up at her old friend, her eyes red from crying, and took the
shield, holding it like it was the most delicate thing on the face of the
earth.  "He's gone," she said again in a voice hoarse with pain.  "He's gone
and there's only hatred and anger there now."  She looked up at Jupiter, and
her eyes caught Jadeite.

"You," she growled.  "This is YOUR fault!"  She stood, and made to attack
the wretch of a man, but Jupiter held her arms and stopped her.  "If you
hadn't come, none of this would have happened!"  She struggled in her
friends grip.  "Let me go!  I'll kill him!  I just got him back!"  Her
sudden burst of energy left her as quickly as it came, and she began to cry
again.  "It's not fair.  I just got him back."  Mercury returned, took the
sobbing woman from Jupiter, and led her out of the hall.

Serenity watched her friend leave, and felt her husband's hand on her
shoulder.  She embraced him.  "Oh, my love, why can't we ever be left in
peace?"

***

Sailors Uranus and Neptune looked out over the city of Crystal Tokyo from
the roof of one of its many skyscrapers.  There was an almost visible miasma
of fear that hung over the city like a black cloud.

"I hate this," Uranus complained.  "It's just like when we were chasing
after the Talismans when we were teens.  Always arriving after the fact."

Neptune nodded.  "He's a most cunning enemy.  He's managed to hide himself
from Mercury's computer and the Queen.  That is no small task."  She paused.
"If it wasn't for the fact we can track him when he attacks someone, he'd
have the run of the city."

Uranus snorted in derision.  "He does have the run of the city.  People are
afraid to leave their homes in fear of him."  She started to grow angry.
"Here!  In Crystal Tokyo of all places!"

"Why ladies, I'd think you didn't like me or something."

The two sailors whirled to see a man looking out over the city, facing away
from them.  His armor resembled that of Crimson's, but instead of being
bright red and silver, it was blood red and rusty.  "Crimson?" Neptune asked
tentatively.

Slowly, the man turned to look at the pair, and the women were shocked by
what they saw.  The man's eyes were the same color as his clothes, a single,
solid shade.  "The name," he growled as a dark, flaming aura appeared around
his body, "is Blood."

With that, the man pointed his right hand at Neptune, and she was flung back
by the bolt of black flame that erupted from his hand.   Uranus took all of
a second to gape before she brought up her hand into the sky.  "WORLD..."
She paused as Blood merely turned to her and smirked. "...SHAKING!"

The spherical blast of energy ripped a path through the roof of the building
before it rose to impact the man square on the chest, and he was engulfed in
an explosion of magical power.   Keeping her eyes on the cloud of dust in
front of her, Uranus edged over to Neptune, who was struggling to her feet.
"You OK?"

Neptune nodded, but Uranus wasn't paying attention to see it.  Her eyes were
captivated by the sight of Blood, who stood completely unaffected by her
blast.  "Remind me to thank Serenity for the power she instilled in this
body," he said.  "I rather enjoy it."  He raised both hands, and twin gouts
of black flame shot out to where the two women had stood moments before.

"Damn it!" Uranus cursed, and summoned the Space Sword.   She jumped into
the air, and attacked again.  "SPACE SWORD BLASTER!"  The crescent shaped
attack flew into Blood, and he staggered back a few steps.

"I don't have time for this," he growled, and turned to Neptune, and smiled
in a way that sent shivers down her spine.  "I was hoping to kill you both,
but since you don't want to cooperate, maybe I'll just kill you."  He cupped
his hand and the dark flame that surrounded him flowed down his body to form
into a fireball.   Winding up like a baseball player, he threw it at
Neptune.

The black ball expanded as at flew, and despite her attempts to dodge,
Neptune was hit by the attack, if only barely.  With a cry of pain, she fell
to the roof, holding her left arm.  The flesh of the arm was white and
blistered, like it had been flash-frozen and burned at once.

Gritting her teeth, Neptune summoned the Aqua Mirror.   "SUBMARINE
REFLECTION!" she cried, and the blast of water drove into the possessed man
in his gut, doubling him over and driving him into a second attack by
Uranus.  As the second attack struck him, Blood screamed in pain and fell to
his knees.

Uranus rushed to Neptune's side and helped her stand.  "We have to get you
out of here," she hissed.

"Haruka?  Michiru?"  They turned and saw Blood kneeling, looking at them in
horror.  "What am I doing?"

"Don't give me that, you bastard!" Uranus cried, and summoned the Space
Sword again.

"Wait," Neptune said, putting her hand on Uranus' arm.  "Look at his eyes."
Uranus did so, and saw that they were normal human eyes.  "That's Ares."

Ares looked down at himself, and touched the armor in disgust.  "Why am I
like this?  What's going..." he trailed off has his face twisted in pain.
"NO!  You can't do this!"  He frantically looked at the watching women, his
plea written on his face.  "You have to stop him...me!  You can't let me
near Rei.  Promise me you'll kill me first!"

"Why?"  Neptune asked.

Ares held his head and screamed in pain.  "Because if he...if I get to
her...I'LL TEAR HER APART!!"  With that, he screamed again, and his eyes
misted over, once again becoming the blood-red orbs they were before.

Blood stood and swayed.  "We'll finish this later."  He turned and jumped
off the side of the building.

"Wait!" Uranus cried, rushing to the edge of the roof.  She looked down, and
there was no sign of Blood.

Neptune came to stand beside her, and looked over the edge.  "We can't do
this, Haruka...not again.  I can't do something like this again."

Uranus face was grim as she looked at her partner.  "I know, Michiru.  But
we may have no choice."

--
Christopher "God-boy" Angel
cja124@mail.usask.ca
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Pagoda/7040/