Love and Justice-A Sailor Moon Fan Fiction
By Cruton
      Cruton@juno.com
      Members.spree.com/entertainment/cruton
Disclaimer: Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon belongs to Kondasha Ltd. And was 
originally created by Naoko Takeuchi. 

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Meriv stumbled forward, feeling pain shoot up her thigh. Looking down, 
she noticed that her leg was covered with blood, bone sticking out at a 
disturbing angle. She could only give an annoyed groan; too much had 
happened today to care about that. Too much, too much, too much?.
       And so little on her part.
      She brushed a strand of fiery-red hair out of her eyes. Everyone 
dead. She looked down on her boyish-figure, her tatters of a sailor 
soldier's uniform. Everyone died horribly. Oh dear, she thought to 
herself, I'm going to look horrible for my date with Kugaro. Kugaro was 
dead, not leaving enough of a corpse to burn.
      Meriv shook her head, trying to dislodge the tangled thoughts. 
Maybe if she shook it enough, her mind would fall into place and all 
would make sense. Maybe if she said no enough times, then everything 
really wouldn't have happened.
      He rose from the rumble, laughing like a madman. Damn the madman, 
she thought, damn him to all the hells fit to punish the devil 
incarnate. Wasn't his name Doprigno? Damn Doprigno, damn him in his 
laughing victory.
      "Came down?to fast?not fair?" Meriv collapsed to the ground.
      Doprigno laughed, setting down on the ground before her. "All was 
perfectly fair. I won the battle. You and this planet lost. Is not 
battle the fairest test of the right to possess?"
      Meriv tried to lift herself, meet his eyes. If she had the 
strength to meet his eyes, then she had the strength to do anything. 
Must meet his eyes. "Sailor soldier?will come?punish you?in name 
of?Astarla?" Doprigno laid his hand upon her forehead and pushed her 
back to the ground.
       "You are the sailor soldier of Astarla, dear Meriv. You were 
meant to punish, to right wrongs and triumph over evil, which I suppose 
meant me. But you have failed, haven't you? I have won, haven't I??I've 
won." He seemed to roll the words in his mouth, tasting them. "I've 
won. I've beaten one of the vaunted sailor soldiers."
       Meriv tried to retort, but all she could say was a spray of 
blood, issuing forth from her mouth.
       Doprigno chuckled to himself. "And how many have died so you may 
obtain victory, Sailor Astarla?" He looked about him with bemusement. 
        Meriv finally felt he strength come back. "Some 
still?alive?fight for?them?" 
        Doprigno gave a scowl and kicked her across the face. "You 
don't get it, do you? You are beaten! A cowled bitch with barely the 
strength to beg for my mercy and favor. Have you no sense of your own 
place in the universe? You have lost it all! Those who have survived 
thus far curse you for weakness! Those who have died wish to drag you 
with them into the hells!"
         "I..still?fight?"Meriv managed a miracle and sat up. 
"I?fight?fight?I?fight?for?" She received a second blow from Doprigno's 
boots.
         "Selfish piece of scum! Now I see why I could beat you so 
easily! What have you to fight for but your own worth? You lived as 
royalty among royalty for your heavy position. All effort you expend is 
simply to make yourself fatter. You are the ultimate leech! At least I 
have enough honor and?and?and decency to say I am a conqueror! 
Perversement of life, get gone from my sight." With that, Doprigno 
threw up his hand. Seering light poured forth like a fountain of fire. 
All was light and heat and pain and motion and the ground and pain and 
pain and pain and memories?
          Meriv was surprised when she stopped moving. The death of 
light was still before her, but so was the salvation of light. Her 
hands extended before her, giving an aura of challenge to Doprigno's 
attack. Strangely, a seventh wind poured in, filling Meriv's tattered 
form, more powerful than its predecessors. Words flowed from her mouth, 
mingling with the blood already there. "I fight for love and justice!"
          Doprigno creased his brow in frustration as a parody of a 
smile dance upon his lips. "Love and justice? Love and justice?! You 
fight for mere abstracts! You fight for the ideals of ingenuous fools, 
for the lies of silver-tongued politicians. You fight for that which 
needs not be fought for, because in the end it is nothing to be had."
          "No," Meriv took a step forward, pressing into his attack, "I 
fight that all others may know love. I fight that all others may 
receive justice. I give my life so that no other should, so that others 
may have a life denied to me. I fight for all which is good! I fight 
against all which is evil! I fight because--"
          Meriv never got to finish. She was instantly silenced as 
Doprigno's attack overcame her. Flesh peeled back and blackened, turned 
to ash and scattered. Bone was made like the dust upon the road. A mind 
of noblest regard was crushed like so much dirt. A cauterized torso, 
still attached to a pair of mangled legs, dropped to the ground.
          Doprigno paid it no mind. He was already on his way to finish 
the slaughter of those who remained on this planet. He had no time for 
failures.