Fighting Evil by Moonlight

[lightthedarkness]

Who: Eternal Sailor Moon and whoever she comes to help
What: All the tabloid talks of attacks has made Sailor Moon decide to go on patrol at night
Where: All over the city and outside of Virgo HQ
When: Throughout the Week
Warnings: Minor violence



Option A: Rabid Fans Abound

It wasn't that she didn't understand that they needed to remain low key, but with the missing rescuers, all the tabloids of more and more violence, and the ocean attack on the label? Sailor Moon couldn't keep sitting on her hands. It went against everything she stood for. She had to protect everyone, even those of an alternate Earth.

So at night, with the moon as her guide, she kept watch on the streets. Her boots clicked along the gravel of a roof as she landed, her wings... she took a deep breath. It was good to have them back. She would be lying if she wasn't also doing this to keep her wings strong. She hadn't been able to fly in months and hadn't needed too for years back home.

She heard screams though and started running towards it, coming to a ledge and watching as a concert was being let out of a club. Oh, thank goodness. Just screams of joy.

Or well... it had started out that way. She watched as the fans broke the barriers and started going after the rock star. Her eyes narrowed. What was it with these fans!

She flew down and cut through the screams.

"LET THEM GO THIS INSTANT!" she ordered.


Option B: Breath of Fresh Air

She was flying again. She closed her eyes and while she didn't have any connection to the wind and sky like Uranus did, the moon was full overhead. She basked in the moonlight, feeling it wash over her. Not her moon, no, but so close to it. She closed her eyes as she spun in the air to soak it up.

It was warm and cool at the same time, welcoming soft light while all the other stars were blotted out by the light pollution.

She landed in a park and let out a breath, she glowed. She had soaked up the moonlight and the crescent moon on her brow glowed brightest. She tucked her wings in tight. Her head felt clear and she reached up to remove the transformation, only she stopped suddenly when she heard a twig snapped. She spun around.

"Show yourself!" she demanded.


Option C: The Tower Gates

She was looking at Virgo Tower and the calm ocean with her hands clenched at her side. In there was the one who took Rei from her, who took all those innocent people from their homes. She summoned the Tiare and lifted it... only for her shoulders to slump and her head to fall forward.

She couldn't... the were getting closer, and she couldn't attack because it would be the people she was trying to save who would face the consequences of her actions. She let her scepter fade from her hand and she just continued to look at the tower.

"Please just wait a little longer," she whispered.


Option D: Just an Average Girl

No longer Eternal Sailor Moon, just Usagi Tsukino a.k.a Serena Lapin now, she needed to head back home. She was just outside of the Virgo Tower and knew it was going to be a long way back. But she couldn't risk them following her as Sailor Moon when she flew. She'd have to walk.

"Not my smartest idea," she mumbled to herself as she started walking, her head bowed. So of course, she didn't notice when she ran smack into someone's chest.

She stumbled backwards and rubbed her nose.

"Oh, uh, I'm sorry, should look where I'm going," honestly she should.

Comments

[lightthedarkness]

Usagi's brows rose comically and she clasped onto Minako's gloved hands and gave them a tight squeeze.

"You will!" she insisted, suddenly giddy that Minako was being more open with her feelings about Rei.

"Ah," she turned to look back at the tower. "Maybe, though, we can move things along, a tiny bit."

[hearted]

Minako could dream. She always felt lighter with Usagi's love and support, but the weight on her heart would never quite go away, would it? She closed her eyes, remembering.

"Yeah. There's going to be a battle at some point---I just hope we're ready."

[lightthedarkness]

She gazed at her gloved hands and knew that she'd never be able to summon the grail, not like this. She couldn't call to the other senshi, she couldn't call to Rei. But she would still save them. She'd save them all, she swore that to herself and to the the others.

"We can do it," she said suddenly, smiling but with the quiet determination that always rested in her, the one that so many underestimated only to their own detriment. Venus didn't, she knew, but her faith, her will had been tested time and time again. It was being tested again now.

"We'll save her and everyone else, whether or not we're ready, we'll still do it. Whenever are we really ready for the battles we have to face?"

[hearted]

"I don't think we've ever been. It's usually cost quite a bit, but..."

She clenched her fists. "We won't falter. We can't. We need our Rei-chan, and for all these poor souls to set their hearts free. But there's something I'm worried about."

Something she was quite reluctant to voice. "She won't leave them. When it's time to go home..."

[lightthedarkness]

That... that she didn't know. She didn't know Rei wouldn't leave them completely. She kept thinking about how they would get their old Rei back and then...

But oh god... to ask that of Rei.

"We can't ask her to choose," she whispered as she felt her heart sink. "We can't be mad at her choice either, the others were her family in our stead, they loved her when we weren't able to..." but a life without Rei...

She already felt her eyes burn and she closed them. She swallowed and looked over to her.

"But I don't even know if that is possible, Minako. I don't know if, when this is all over, we'll even get a chance to meet them again."

[hearted]

Minako shivered. Her doubts were beginning to eat away at her so much, but if she faltered, where would that leave Usagi? She had to use her power, had to find a way...

"We've used our power to warp across the universe before, right? There's a lot of musical energy at play. If we poured everything we had into our magic to open a pathway...it can't be impossible, can it?"

[lightthedarkness]

"Our universe, though," she whispered, hugging onto her shoulders as she looked up at the moon that was the same, yet so different from home. She swallowed and bowed her head. She was Sailor Moon, eventual Queen of Earth, surely she could find some way to keep a path open between them and the others.

"It... what if it's too dangerous to have such a thing? Who already knows how our future was affected by all this." Oh god... oh god, what about Chibiusa? If she never made it home...

Her stomach lurched forward and sat in her throat.

If Rei never wanted to go back home... what would happen to Crystal Tokyo?

But to force Rei back... Would she be any better than their past enemies when Rei found a new happiness? This wasn't like when Chibiusa got turned into Wicked Lady or Hotaru into Mistress 9. This was a reality where Rei was different and still very much in danger... but the people she was with were just as innocent in this.

It took her several moments to get the words off her tongue. She took a deep breath.

"We mustn't make her choose, the decision is hers and we must respect it, whatever it may be. We've always known the future was never certain, no matter how much of it we saw." She didn't say it was "an order" but the weight behind it was enough to suggest as much. This was a direct command from the princess and future queen to the leader of her senshi.

[hearted]

Minako doesn't want to believe that it could end that way. She doesn't want to accept it. How, after everything she's just shared with her Rei...how could it come to end this way? She hated to consider it.

But she must. It was her responsibility to face this as bravely as her princess, to respect her wishes. And Rei's. Venus grasped the front of her bow with quiet anguish that she would force herself to mold into acceptance.

"Yes, of course. Even...even if it means goodbye. She's spoiled us so much already...if it's time to let her go, we must."

[lightthedarkness]

With her head bowed, Usagi took the moment to wrap up Venus in her arms. The very idea of it, of letting Rei go made her own heart break at the thought, she could only imagine what Minako must be going through. She stroked her hair and wanted to do everything she could to make this right. But it all depended on Rei.

"I'm sorry, I've asked something so cruel," she whispered, knowing it was. Asking this of Minako was like asking her to give up Mamoru. "I'm so sorry, but please don't give up hope. We don't... we don't know what she wants, Venus. We can hope for the best and prepare for the worst."

[hearted]

Venus lacked the strength to fight it. She sunk into Sailor Moon's embrace, desperately clinging to her and praying that it wouldn't come to that. She would fight to the ends of the earth and give her life to give Rei the freedom to make that choice.

But a choice was all she could give.

"I know you're right. Because I love her...it's the only thing I can do. I could never take her happiness away for mine."

[lightthedarkness]

She held Venus tight, knowing that there was so little she could do to ease her heavy heart. Rei had to be given a choice just like... everyone else...

But the choice to let them stay here, to be used. Could she allow such a thing? Could she, as Sailor Moon abide by Santiago and Blanche doing such a thing even if it did bring some of them happiness.

"I... I know how hard this is," she whispered. Truly, she did. Mamoru and Chibiusa and Hotaru and the senshi all had been brainwashed and she had had to face them all. She swallowed. "Perhaps, she will realize her happiness and yours can be the same thing?" she offered gently as she just held Minako tight.

[hearted]

Minako nodded hopefully---hope was dangerous now, that she knew. She needed just a little, but too much could potentially crush her. Let a little light shine, that was the way to do it.

"If luck is on my side, she will...but no matter what they choose, they'll be free. That's what I fight for."

[lightthedarkness]

"You deserve it," she smiled as she squeezed Minako's hand. "You both do, and we'll give her the choice, that's what we do, right? That's what we both fight for. I'm sorry I've been so... so down lately. You've been doing everything you can to support me and Rei. You're amazing, you know?"

[hearted]

"Oh hush," Minako flashes her a watery smile. "I'm always happy to do it. We ground each other when we need to and lift each other when we stumble, yeah?"

[lightthedarkness]

"Yeah," she wiped at her eyes. It never got easier, the brainwashing. Maybe that's why her enemies did it to her so often, they knew what would be the most effective. But she would still fight, she had to.

She took a deep breath.

"We should patrol the area, see if we can see anything that might help us later. Will you come with me?" she asked as she held out her hand.

[hearted]

"Yes," Venus nodded sharply, slipping her soldier mask back into place. She took her princess's hand, allowed that strength to mingle between them. Together, somehow, they'd light up the sky and recover their friend.