A lot of things happened at once, a lot of things Rei wasn’t quite ready for. First the noise, the racket of tables and chairs flying every which way, breaking apart into splinters that forced her to shield her face. She was tough, and they didn’t pierce her skin thankfully, but it was enough of a distraction that she missed the onrushing ice shards. The barrier that sprang to life stole her focus next, eyes widening as she realized what was happening. The light screen kept the worst of the magic at bay, yes, but it was a screen against the physical…not against the sudden shock of frigid air that took hold of her body. Her arms and legs began to ice over, locked into place, a crystalline prison forming quickly around the fiery ex-violinist.
And she barely noticed it.
The blades of light that smashed into Sailor Moon drew a short, strangled gasp as the ice encased her head, obscuring her view. She only had a moment to act, and she knew what she had to do. A knot of emotion welled up deep inside her, her eyes closing and her breath stilling with a reflexive exercise. She had to get out. She had to find a way out of this trick, and stop Meril. Her instincts, the psychic danger sense, howled at her to do something quickly before disaster struck…and she knew almost as intuitively that she was the only person who could stop Meril. And if she didn’t, her friend…the person she was supposed to protect, was going to die. Here on this god-forsaken rock, after having come all this way to rescue her, she was going to die.
Unless I can stop her.
Frantically, Rei cast about for ideas, but there wasn’t enough time to melt free and she couldn’t see enough to cast a spell on Meril. She could blow the whole building up, but that would probably take everyone with her, including the people she was trying to save. She needed more power. Some…guide, some…something…to light the way. And that’s when a thought struck her.
When things seem their darkest, just remember your heart. Think on it, Rei-chan, wish for it, and your heart will come back to you. It will guide you.
Words from Minako and Usagi, a reminder that she wasn’t alone in this prison. That there was someone else in here with her. Someone she used to be. Someone she could be again, and someone who could stop this. Drawing on that thought, willing herself forward, Rei Hino barreled through her mental landscape, battering down door after door, searching for something that was lost. Something that she had been seeking for months, and something that she knew was hidden. Intuition led her down one hallway after another, her mind a maze of blank spaces and burned out corridors, but at last she found it, the door she needed. Marked with an arrow, blazing with the heat of a star, and accompanied by a feeling of familiarity that she hadn’t had with anything on Terra, the door practically begged to be opened. And open it Rei did, throwing it wide and flinging herself into the void beyond.
That’s when it happened. The ice around Rei began to glow and crack, blazing light radiating outward from her heart as she finally tapped into her Sailor Crystal. Power exploded outward from her, the ice around both herself and Venus flash-melting and throwing up a billowing cloud of steam. The floor creaked, tendrils of fire licking up the pillars and greedily consuming the splintered remnants of the chairs and tables. Savage, unchecked heat raged all around Sailor Mars as she stood staring at Meril, boots planted firmly. A quick shake of her wrist conjured the Mars Arrow, an enormous yumi crafted entirely out of golden flame, and she aimed it at the valkyrie’s throat. She knew, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that she could cut down her friend. It would be a simple thing, the weapon’s enchantments designed to unravel magic and slice through flesh as neatly as it did the air. It would burn away the enemy and leave nothing behind but ashes and memory. That was what her instincts demanded, that she slay the enemy before the enemy could unleash further harm on her Princess. That would not happen again, not now, and not ever.
But there was something else that nagged at her, a feeling that made her hesitate. That face, the memories that’d been implanted, false though they might be…had made Meril mean something to her. She was a friend, someone who had been hurt deeply by this, just like Rei and the others. She was a pawn, and if she fired that bow she’d be no better than Blanche. So, she didn’t. Mars tamped down on the inferno blazing in her heart, and opened her mouth to speak. Goddess to Goddess, Friend to Friend…Victim to Victim. Her tone was low and steady, filled with the calm that only came to someone with true certainty. She knew, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that whatever Blanche had done could be undone and she laced her words with an impression of vulnerability, the very kind that had first seemed to catch the shorter woman’s interest. The kind that Meril had shown in the trailer, and at the festival…
“Meril. Please. Don’t do this. I don’t want to fight you. And I know you don’t want to fight me. This…remember what I told you before. This is him twisting your heart up, turning you on your friends. Remember the festival, how I helped you with your disguise, and how fun that was. This is just like when that woman got in your head at the party! This is not you!”
no subject
And she barely noticed it.
The blades of light that smashed into Sailor Moon drew a short, strangled gasp as the ice encased her head, obscuring her view. She only had a moment to act, and she knew what she had to do. A knot of emotion welled up deep inside her, her eyes closing and her breath stilling with a reflexive exercise. She had to get out. She had to find a way out of this trick, and stop Meril. Her instincts, the psychic danger sense, howled at her to do something quickly before disaster struck…and she knew almost as intuitively that she was the only person who could stop Meril. And if she didn’t, her friend…the person she was supposed to protect, was going to die. Here on this god-forsaken rock, after having come all this way to rescue her, she was going to die.
Unless I can stop her.
Frantically, Rei cast about for ideas, but there wasn’t enough time to melt free and she couldn’t see enough to cast a spell on Meril. She could blow the whole building up, but that would probably take everyone with her, including the people she was trying to save. She needed more power. Some…guide, some…something…to light the way. And that’s when a thought struck her.
When things seem their darkest, just remember your heart. Think on it, Rei-chan, wish for it, and your heart will come back to you. It will guide you.
Words from Minako and Usagi, a reminder that she wasn’t alone in this prison. That there was someone else in here with her. Someone she used to be. Someone she could be again, and someone who could stop this. Drawing on that thought, willing herself forward, Rei Hino barreled through her mental landscape, battering down door after door, searching for something that was lost. Something that she had been seeking for months, and something that she knew was hidden. Intuition led her down one hallway after another, her mind a maze of blank spaces and burned out corridors, but at last she found it, the door she needed. Marked with an arrow, blazing with the heat of a star, and accompanied by a feeling of familiarity that she hadn’t had with anything on Terra, the door practically begged to be opened. And open it Rei did, throwing it wide and flinging herself into the void beyond.
That’s when it happened. The ice around Rei began to glow and crack, blazing light radiating outward from her heart as she finally tapped into her Sailor Crystal. Power exploded outward from her, the ice around both herself and Venus flash-melting and throwing up a billowing cloud of steam. The floor creaked, tendrils of fire licking up the pillars and greedily consuming the splintered remnants of the chairs and tables. Savage, unchecked heat raged all around Sailor Mars as she stood staring at Meril, boots planted firmly. A quick shake of her wrist conjured the Mars Arrow, an enormous yumi crafted entirely out of golden flame, and she aimed it at the valkyrie’s throat. She knew, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that she could cut down her friend. It would be a simple thing, the weapon’s enchantments designed to unravel magic and slice through flesh as neatly as it did the air. It would burn away the enemy and leave nothing behind but ashes and memory. That was what her instincts demanded, that she slay the enemy before the enemy could unleash further harm on her Princess. That would not happen again, not now, and not ever.
But there was something else that nagged at her, a feeling that made her hesitate. That face, the memories that’d been implanted, false though they might be…had made Meril mean something to her. She was a friend, someone who had been hurt deeply by this, just like Rei and the others. She was a pawn, and if she fired that bow she’d be no better than Blanche. So, she didn’t. Mars tamped down on the inferno blazing in her heart, and opened her mouth to speak. Goddess to Goddess, Friend to Friend…Victim to Victim. Her tone was low and steady, filled with the calm that only came to someone with true certainty. She knew, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that whatever Blanche had done could be undone and she laced her words with an impression of vulnerability, the very kind that had first seemed to catch the shorter woman’s interest. The kind that Meril had shown in the trailer, and at the festival…
“Meril. Please. Don’t do this. I don’t want to fight you. And I know you don’t want to fight me. This…remember what I told you before. This is him twisting your heart up, turning you on your friends. Remember the festival, how I helped you with your disguise, and how fun that was. This is just like when that woman got in your head at the party! This is not you!”