Time of Corruption By DarkPluto DarkPluto4@aol.com Chapter 13 - Wrongs Are Righted Rating: PG-13 Author's Note: Well, changes are going to happen?read on. This is an awesome chapter. "Stop!" a voice all too familiar paralyzed her. Pluto turned. "Small Lady?" her voice shook as she tried to keep a flat, unemotional tone. "I'm not here to critique you or to yell at you or to even fight you," Chibi-Moon said, calmly. "I want to talk, Puu. I want to listen. For years and years, my whole life, I've talked to you and told you everything, good and bad. I remember you always used to hold me and hug me when I was upset and make my clothes. You were like the mommy I never found in Neo-Queen Serenity. Now it's your turn. Talk to me, Puu. Talk to me. Stop shutting me out. Stop shutting out everyone. What's wrong, Puu? What pushed you to this? You can tell me. I love you, even if no one else does. I'll always love you no matter what." The tears that had long been withheld began spilling down Pluto's face. She sobbed, without saying a word. "Small Lady?" she cried. "Oh, Small Lady?" Chibi-Usa, wordlessly, moved toward Pluto. A dark figure suddenly shoved her aside. Pluto opened her teary eyes. The Master approached. "Here I am," he smiled. Pluto ran from him and headed for Chibi-Usa. He grabbed her. Memories filled her head. She remembered once, Chibi-Usa wanted desperately to try out the Time Staff. Shocked, she had refused Chibi-Usa. Enraged, the young girl shouted viciously "I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!" and ran out. At another birthday party, there was a food fight. Setsuna made it clear that she would not participate. Sitting calmly and watching the others get covered in food, she suddenly found someone had smeared her hair with cake and sticky candy syrup. It was Chibi-Usa who ran away laughing. Her hair had taken three hours to wash out and brushed properly. And she remembered a practical joke Chibi-Usa had once played on her. She stole the Garnet Orb. Setsuna went out of her mind in horror and anxiety. She scoured her whole house and even in panic announced it to Neo-Queen Serenity. The Queen of course, was shocked and ordered the Kingdom to be searched. And mysteriously, the Garnet Orb reappeared on her staff. She apologized to the Queen, explaining to the Orb had reappeared. Angrily, the Queen told her that it was not funny to pull pranks like that and gave her a lecture and reprimanded her. Later that day, Chibi-Usa confessed and begged Setsuna not to tell her mother. Pluto's tears dried. She still could not hate Chibi-Usa, but she was hurt. "Get off her, you scoundrel," a voice shouted. Pluto's heart beat rapidly. King Endymion approached, powered up as Tuxedo Kamen. "DADDY!" shouted Chibi-Usa and ran to him. Tuxedo Kamen ran to his wife's dead body and held her. He refused to leave her. Setsuna watched him in pain. He began weeping, tears trickling down as he murmured tender farewells to the dead woman. He stroked her cold cheeks and ran his fingers through her hair. "Setsuna, fetch me the ginzinshou," ordered The Master. "No, you can't expect me to?" she stammered. "Please, Setsuna. This is important. Please, after all I've done for you," begged The Master. Sighing, Setsuna approached the dead body of Sailor Moon. Tuxedo Kamen looked at her viciously. With a blast, she knocked him away, feeling as if she had just stepped on her own heart. She gingerly touched the brooch and threw it to The Master. "I CALL UPON THE IMPERIUM CRYSTAL!" shouted The Master. The crystal glistened brightly. "GOLDEN RAYS UNCURSE ME!" A blinding flash surrounded the place, and the rays went straight into The Master. Crackling sounds could be heard. The crystal fell, and the Master stood, laughing. Tuxedo Kamen threw a rose at him. He laughed as he threw a dark blast toward Tuxedo Kamen. Tuxedo Kamen shielded himself with the cape. The blast kept coming, and Tuxedo Kamen began weakening. Finally, an especially strong blast knocked him to the ground. Pluto jumped at The Master, knocking him down. "Get off me, you bitch!" he ordered harshly, roughly shoving her aside. "You bastard! Stop! How dare you hit him? I've conquered the Universe for you! I've killed the Sol Solar System for you! Now leave! Go and take your Universe and leave me alone!" shouted Pluto angrily. The Master laughed evilly. "You think believed that?" he laughed. "What? I don't understand," Pluto took a step back. "Let's start of with my name. I am Corruption, at your service. Father of Chaos, father of all evil in the world. The Negaverse, your Black Moon Family, your Daimon Master, Mistress 9, Nephrenia, Dead Man Circus. Those are all my handiwork," explained Corruption. "But Chaos was the father of all evil!" exclaimed Pluto. "Chaos was too proud. He believed he was greater than me and took all my credit as his own. But he paid dearly for his pride. Now, he has been well destroyed and guarded by the whole world," snickered Corruption. "Yet I have succeeded. I have conquered the whole Universe! And it shall be mine. Ah, the beauty of Darkness." " *I* conquered the whole Universe! And if you had such power, why didn't you just conquer all of it yourself? Why use me?" Pluto said, trying to buy time. "I had several reasons. The biggest one, I had a curse placed upon me. Many millennia ago, I was in a battle against all the Sailors of the Universe. The Sailors took all their Leaders and combined the powers of all their magical gems. The most powerful, of course, was your Neo-Queen Serenity's ginzinshou. It was her ancestor who wielded the stone and completed the curse. And since then, I could not battle a Sailor without self-destructing. And I have tried to avenge this curse - I have created so much evil to try to destroy all the Galaxies, but especially the Moon Kingdom. I almost succeeded with Queen Metalia and Queen Beryl! But they, too, failed me. Even Chaos's pride proved to be his downfall. But now, my vengeance is complete," laughed Corruption. In the corner of her eyes, she had seen that Chibi-Moon had escaped with Tuxedo Kamen. Trying to detain him, Pluto continued asking, "So why did you use me? Just to conquer the Universe?" "That was the biggest reason. The second one was, dearest Pluto, I need a Queen to reign with me. Yes, a Queen," Corruption smiled suggestively at her. "Who?" Pluto whispered, almost afraid to hear the answer. "You were the perfect choice. So beautiful, so grave, so calm and perfect and good on the outside, but the firm seeds of Darkness were in your heart, created after years of abuse. And those around you did nothing but help the seeds grow. And now, my love, you have grown into a beauty of perfect Darkness. So powerful, so strong, so beautiful, and so dark! You will make the perfect Queen. There's so much hate and evil in you, yet you have such a loving and loyal side. I couldn't have created a more perfect Queen!" Corruption held out his stony hand and tried to pull Pluto into an embrace. She pushed him away, screaming "You know I love Endymion! You know I love him! I could never love you!" "Yes, you love him! But you won't after this," he reached out to grab her, but she raised her palm and slapped him with all her strength. This stunned him for a moment, and she ran off, sprinting as fast as she could. Corruption didn't follow. She could run, but she couldn't hide forever. Not from him. He turned and suddenly realized that Tuxedo Kamen and his bratty little daughter had also disappeared. That cunning bitch, he thought. Damn her, she's so tempting. Pluto hid, and watched as Corruption ran off. She pulled out her crystal. She would need all the energy she could get. "Sheer Stone Consume!" All the bodies of the Sailors gave up their heart crystals, then their star seeds, then their various weapons. She felt as the energy filled her. She took her Time Staff. She stared?it was silver again? She closed her eyes. Chibi-Usa had to be somewhere. "Puu!" a voice whispered. "Small Lady!" cried Pluto happily. "Daddy's here, too." Chibi-Usa pointed to the dark figure. "But he's wounded, so he's there sleeping." "Small Lady, I'm so sorry!" Pluto broke down crying. "I'm so sorry! I?I screwed up everything. I?.I don't know what I was thinking, but I was totally messed up. I?I couldn't help it. Oh, Small Lady, I wanted to make it all better. I wanted out. I wanted out, out of my life, out of my duties, out of everything. I want out away from myself. But?but I just made everything worse. I'm so sorry!" "It's ok, it's ok," Chibi-Usa hugged the sobbing woman. "Why? Why do you not hate me like all the other Scouts? Even Hotaru?I hurt her so much. I could see it in her eyes. She looked so tormented?" "Of course I don't hate you! You were the only mother I never had?You're my only mother," cried Chibi-Usa. "No matter what you do, I can never hate you. Not even if you kill me. Same with Hotaru. Hotaru doesn't hate you. But she was bound to her duties as a full Sailor. She had to obey Sailor Moon's orders. I don't know how the other Sailors felt, but I'm sure Hotaru forgave you." A blast came and knocked Chibi-Usa from Pluto. Pluto stood up and looked. Corruption snuck out of the shadows. A golden crown encrusted with jewels lay in hands. He held it out, offering it to Pluto. Pluto stared at him, her eyes hostile and antagonistic. She picked up her staff, pointedly showing that it was silver - no longer black. She brought it down full force on the crown, striking it. Glaring at her, Corruption brought his own hands up. "If I can't make you my Queen with kindness, I'll do it by force!" he vowed. "Kindness? What do you know of kindness? What do you know of love?" she said. "You're Corruption. You prey upon those in weakness like me and mold them to do your will. But I'm no longer your puppet either! I will mend my wrongs! I vow it!" The dark energy blast was hurling towards her. "I CALL UPON FULL POWER OF PLUTO! I CALL UPON FULL POWER OF THE GARNET ORB AND THE TIME STAFF!!! FATHER CHRONOS, PROTECT THY CHILD IN HER TIME OF PERIL!!" shouted Pluto. A radiant white glow surrounded her and clashed with the dark. Easily, it pushed the dark energy back. Corruption stood in terror, as he struggled to win. It was in vain. The radiant white glow rapidly pushed forward as Pluto stood with her Time Staff glowing and the Garnet Orb beaming brightly. With a finally push, the white engulfed Corruption completely. His final dying howls echoed across all corners of the Universe. And the Darkness lifted. Pluto stood, proudly and victorious. Her eyes were flashing. She did not stop. She pulled out the crystal given to her by Corruption. She stepped on it in hatred, crushing it into pieces. She pushed the effulgence further. The blinding white light spread across the Moon and throughout the Universe everywhere. Chibi-Usa woke up and stared at the sight. Setsuna was weakening as she clung to the staff with all her strength. The white light radiated from her and the staff and the Garnet Orb to all corners of the sky. The entire firmament was lit brighter than it ever was. Finally, Pluto collapsed. Chibi-Usa rushed over. "Puu?" "Small Lady?" she asked weakly. "Puu? What's going on?" Chibi-Usa asked in terror. "Call your father over," she told her. Chibi-Usa dragged King Endymion over and seated herself next to her father as they gazed upon the pale Sailor. "I've fixed up all the mistakes I've made. I have just exerted all the energy I've stolen and went them back to where they belong. I've used up almost all of the energy of my planet, my staff, and the Garnet Orb. I've used too much. I have little time left to live," she said weakly. "No! You can't die! You can't leave me motherless!" shouted Chibi-Usa. "Motherless? You have a mother - Neo-Queen Serenity!" King Endymion looked at Chibi-Usa oddly. "You don't understand anything, do you, King Endymion?!" King Endymion looked at his daughter, surprised at what she called him. All her fury was channeled to him. "Don't take it out on him, Small Lady. I must explain everything first. He knows nothing," commanded Pluto. Chibi-Usa sullenly turned from her father and looked at Pluto again. "Everyone looks at me and sees a calm, composed, unfeeling, emotionless, serene, very mature woman who calculates carefully everything she does and would never let her feelings get best of her. It is something all Keepers of Gates learn to do or pretend to do. I received this task more than a thousand years ago, and my fatal mistake was in accepting this task. But I had no choice. My mother died and left me this task, for the blood of Chronos was in me. Queen Serenity explained this was my duty, my destiny, and encouraged me to take it. She never forced me, but the tone of her voice implied I had no other choice. I reluctantly took the job. And since that moment, my life has just been a living Hell. I was Sailor Pluto, and I was the Keeper of Time. I was bound to protect our Queen and to fight for her kingdom, whether it meant giving up my life or not. And in a way, I did give my life for her. I gave up my freedom, all my dreams, all my hopes, all my talents and threw them to the wind. And I forced myself into a life, in which a single day repeated over and over - waking up, watching the Gates, and sleeping. I rarely got out. No one should be forced to watch the Gates, no one should be forced into a life like the one I lived. I ceased to live after guarding the Gates for so long. No, life wasn't life. I wasn't really LIVING. I was subconsciously alive, perhaps, but I walked through life asleep, more dead than awake. And it was so lonely?so horribly lonely. It was the loneliness that ended up tearing me apart. I watched, I watched from my Gates. I watched when I was so young and new at the job, I watched as the man I loved fall for another woman. I watched in pain silently. I watched as all my friends died in the battle against the Negaverse because I couldn't fight - Queen Serenity forbade me to finish the battle. I watched in the present as my friends all were reborn and found friends among themselves. I alone stood, an outcast as I would forever be doomed to be. And now, more than a thousand years later, I'm as alone as ever. I stood at this job for so long, so miserable, hating it so much. And no one knew. Chibi-Usa was the only one who visited me, and I stood alone here. Damnit, I was always alone! No one cared about me! No one! Never! You know, there was one man I always loved. And I watched him date and pursue another woman! I watched them tenderly kiss and love each other in courtship, marry, and have a child! I was the Keeper of Time with complete control over Time! And I had so much time to sit in silence and in darkness and mourn over where my life had gone. But I never, NEVER had the time to find love. No, to love was not my destiny. To suffer in silence was. To hate myself, to battle, to feel only agony and pain was. But not love. Not happiness. No. It was not my destiny to receive any joy or gratitude or mirth or even hope. I loved in silence long after Hope had deserted me. I tried so hard to love his wife, but she was so cold to me. It became increasingly hard. But their daughter, oh, how I loved her daughter! She was the daughter I never had, just like Hotaru. They were the only two people I've ever had who loved me back as much as I loved them. And they were as close of daughters as I would ever get. How did I turn evil? The way every other evil person became evil. No one is ever evil. There is no such thing as evil or villains. Villains are simply people who are fighting for a good cause from their point of view. I met a man - Corruption - at night, a night like every other. I was crying and weeping. He offered me a proposal I couldn't turn down - to leave my job and to receive enough power to take over the Moon Kingdom and rule it with my one true love, to have a daughter, to START living. But I had to conquer the universe for him in return. I almost did, I almost. But then, I realized, even that wasn't bringing me any joy. And the man I loved would never be mine. No, he would always belong to another. I corrected every mistake I made. I returned all the energy and destroyed Corruption. Now, soon, the entire Universe will wake up, alive, but I shall be dead. And they shall just curse me for ruining their lives and betraying them. They will never appreciate that I have just given up my own life again to save them. No, no one ever appreciated the sacrifice I made to guard the Gates of Time. And no one ever even came close to feeling the loneliness and the pain of it. And no one will appreciate this sacrifice either. No, they'll remember the evil I did, but no one will remember any good deed I might have ever performed in life. The evil in me will live on, but the good never will," Pluto sighed. "Who was the man you loved?" Tuxedo Kamen asked her. She did not answer, "Remember, villains are not evil. They are simply good people whose hearts have been weakened and inflicted with pains and trials. Villains just need love, they just need a friend. They just need someone to listen and understand and to comfort them. Villains are just the unfortunate ones forsaken by Love and Fortune. They just want sunshine in their prison of darkness and cold. Be that light?be that sunshine for the villains?no one deserves to suffer like that?no one?" she said in a barely audible whisper before her voice was silenced. Her eyes were wide open, those beautiful cerise eyes that would be doomed to haunt the nights of Tuxedo Kamen for years afterwards. Author's Note: Appreciate this chapter too, it also took me forever to write. More loads of crap I had to cram in. *yawn* it was toughie. How'd you like it?