Chapter 55: And Hell Alone Below

-VERTEX ONE: 15.556984-

Subway Tunnels, Underground

Azabu-Juuban, Minato Ward, Tokyo

Hot, sweaty, filthy, and tired, Chibi-Usa Tsukino, Sailor Chibi-Moon, trudged on through the endless maze of darkened subway tunnels underneath Azabu-Juuban. The way ahead was only illuminated by the hi-beams shining from Luna P and Diana P's eyes and the subway system's dull red emergency lighting. Every step was a struggle, her Pink Moon Rod felt like it weighed fifty kilos or more. A couple times now, she had almost dropped it... almost. After what she went through when that last mob of Zetsuborg swarmed her, she would have it cemented to her hand for the next month. Maybe more.

She was headed northeast, she knew that much. Just as she knew, with a sinking feeling, that Tellu was headed in the same direction. A glance at Diana P's holographic subway map confirmed her worst fear: northeast of Azabu-Juuban, there were four major subway stations within a one-kilometer radius of each other, and three minor ones to boot. If Tellu reached any of those seven and made it into one of their many branches, Chibi-Moon would never find her. Saturn would be lost to her, again... this time, most likely forever.

She grimaced and slapped her cheeks, hard. No. She wouldn't even contemplate that. Saturn was going to be fine, they were both going to make it out of this okay. They would both make it, because the alternative, living through the rest of this awful war without the partner whom she loved so much, was unthinkable. They'd be okay.

With the burst of energy that that thought provided, Chibi-Moon moved onward. Soon she came to a junction that split into three other tunnels. Running her balloons' hi-beams over them gave no indication as to which Tellu had taken, and their sensors were baffled by a massive concentration of dark energy from somewhere below. Chibi-Moon sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Guess we're doing this again. Luna P, come here."

Luna P swiveled around on its vertical axis and bobbed over to her, trilling softly.

"You know what I need." Chibi-Moon took it in one hand and pressed its pink nose with her opposite finger. Sparkles gathered into a thin, cylindrical shape longer than she was tall, one that curved and fanned out at one end. The Silence Glaive dropped neatly into her free hand... but the moment her fingers closed around it, it pulled hard in the direction of the tunnel on her right like a stubborn dog straining against a leash, making her stumble. "All right, all right!" she said to it. "That way, I get it!"

It had crossed her mind to try using the Glaive as an additional weapon once she ran into monsters down here. That notion lasted approximately thirty seconds into a fight with a small squad of Daimon and Nakewake, a fight that should have been relatively easy. Without fail, the Glaive yanked her arm in what she assumed was the direction of Saturn whenever she held it, and it was insistent. Its interference meant that she nearly got stepped on and flattened by one of the Nakewameke when its pull made her lose her footing. After wrestling the Glaive back in the direction of the fight, she tried swinging it at an attacking Daimon's head, blade-first. Rather than doing the decent thing and slicing through its skull, it dealt the Daimon a blunt blow and nothing else, not even one little cut. She hadn't been laughed at by a Daimon in years, and the insult to her dignity was such that she resorted to punching it in the face instead.

So the Silence Glaive went back inside Luna P's pocketspace from then on, and only came out whenever she lost the trail. Maybe it refused to work for her specifically, or maybe it didn't like anyone except Saturn and was just that anxious to get back to her. Chibi-Moon didn't know and didn't much care. If it was going to be that way, fine.

The Glaive's pressure on her arm only let up once she ramped up to a fast trot. Into the rightmost tunnel she went, Luna P and Diana P floating in her wake. Another fifty meters of subway tunnel passed by her, just as dank, dusty, and smelly as the several hundred meters of tunnels behind.

Diana P chirped, giving her a start. "[Small Lady.]"

"What's up?" said Chibi-Moon, a bit surprised. Usually the AMPs didn't show initiative.

"[Motion detected, approximately one kilometer ahead and closing.]"

Her stomach quivered, but a kilometer wasn't a small distance. "Can you tell what it is?"

"[Unknown. Sensor interference still present. Now approximately seven hundred meters ahead and closing.]"

"Seven hun— what the heck could be moving that fast?!" Then she felt it: a slow building rumble beneath her feet. The pebbles and particles of dust on the floor rattled, then bounced up and down as if on trampolines. A draft of lukewarm, stale air swept down the tunnel. From ahead in the distance, there came the unmistakable triple blast of a train's air horn...

"Oh no," Chibi-Moon moaned. Then she considered. "Wait, the subways were shut down! How could a train be—"

The horn blew thrice more, much louder and clearer this time. Clear enough that this time, she realized that it sounded like no train horn she had ever heard. Mixed with the horn blast and audible even over the high-pitched scream of wheels and the increase of volume caused by the Doppler effect, there was a voice, a deafening baritone voice, each syllable perfectly synced with the blasts: "ZA-KEN-NA!"

"Shit!" Chibi-Moon looked back and forth, frantic. There was nothing here, just the rails and the tunnel and the oncoming Zakenna train. No maintenance catwalks, no station platforms to take refuge on. And now she could see the thing barreling towards her at the far end of the tunnel... a bullet train. The Zakenna had fused with a bullet train. Another big, long, angry metal monster, just what she needed. Its massive, sleek, cigar-shaped body was smoky purple, with a huge, demonic face glaring from where its conical nose should have been. A fanged, blood-red, distended mouth stretched grotesquely over three-quarters of the nose cone's length, and atop that were two livid yellow searchlight eyes. Above one of its eyes was a strange series of curving bulges arranged in a rough X-shape, rather like veins. The beams from its eyes fixated on her. Its mammoth jaws snapped together, big enough to swallow a tractor trailer whole, and it bellowed: "ZA-KEN-NA...!"

No way to outrun it. Even if she pushed her flight engine to its limits, it would be upon her in seconds. No way to dodge it. If she pressed herself flat against the sides of the tunnel, even if there was enough clearance for them both—which she doubted—the shockwaves generated by the Zakenna's speed would toss her like a rag doll against the walls. And for all she knew, the thing had spikes on its sides or belly, or it could sprout arms to crush her as it passed. Death on wheels hurtled itself at her, she would be squashed like a bug if she didn't do something...

Maybe it was a loss of her senses that made her decide. Maybe the stress of this mission finally made her snap. It was understandable, after all. She had gone through enough.

After commanding Luna P and Diana P to take shelter behind her back, Chibi-Moon braced her heels against the tunnel floor, hefted the Silence Glaive with both hands, and pointed its blade directly at the oncoming Zakenna, like Jack facing the Giant with his sword at the top of the beanstalk. "Listen to me, you overgrown can opener!" she howled at the Glaive, uncaring whether or not it was even capable of understanding her. "If you don't do something, neither of us is ever gonna see Saturn again!"

The Zakenna's searchlight eyes blinded her. Its hideous noise flooded the insides of her brain until she thought her skull would explode. Yet she held her ground as it raced the last fifty meters separating them...

As it struck the Glaive's blade, she heard another noise. How, she had no idea, but it was a keening, tearing sound apart from the ones made by the Zakenna's wheels. A flurry of sparks spat from the weapon's edge. And somehow, the Zakenna passed her and kept going, and going... With the eye-beams gone, she blinked and stared in astonishment at the carnage unfolding in front of and around her. It wasn't a Zakenna anymore. Rather, it was a Zakenna becoming two half-Zakennas, parting from each other at the point where it (they?) touched the blade. Both halves screamed past her undeterred, missing her by mere centimeters. Its own momentum carved the massive Zakenna's body in two like river rapids parting around a well-placed rock.

That momentum sputtered out over what seemed to be an age, but when it finally did, Chibi-Moon turned around and goggled at the two halves, sliced cleanly down the middle. Both of them shook, shuddered... and then exploded into roughly a few thousand tiny star-shaped creatures, all black as coal, bearing miserable crying faces that chanted "Gomenna! Gomenna! Gomenna!" in squeaky little voices. The star-shaped things fled from her and melted into whatever shadows or crevices they could find. In seconds, all of them were gone.

Chibi-Moon was left alone, with nothing but the dark of the tunnel, her two floating balloons, and blessed silence. Dazed, she staggered over to the tunnel wall and put her back to it. The Glaive was now merciful enough to scale back its tugging to more of a gentle nudging in the right direction. Still, she deposited it back in Luna P's pocket space... and after half a second of thought, she scooped the balloon up in her arms, slid down the wall, and sat for a while, cradling her longtime companion as she cried until no more tears would come.

Only when she felt together enough did she speak out loud. She didn't know why, really. Unless there was a real emergency, the Tigers team was supposed to maintain comm silence until Sakura accomplished her mission. So not only was there no one around to hear her speak, but the comm channels were supposed to be closed, too. Nevertheless, she sniffled to Luna P, "Are we gonna be okay?"

To her surprise, it was Diana P who answered, but not in its own voice.

"I wish I had an answer for that, Chibi-Moon. I really do," said the voice of Fantine from Diana P's speaker. The Lighthouse Keeper sounded softer, gentler than usual... but wearier as well, far moreso than when Chibi-Moon had last heard her on the roof of the Grand Maison.

"F-Fantine-san?" Chibi-Moon wiped her eyes and looked up at Diana P, hovering near her right shoulder. "What do you mean? I thought you knew everything. I thought you could see everything."

"I thought I could. Now I'm not so sure." Cones of light projected from Diana P's eyes. A holographic image of Fantine's avatar now sat on top of Luna P, tucking its wings around itself. The tiny blue spark lacked a face or any other means of standard expression, but to Chibi-Moon, it inexplicably looked... frightened. "Back on the roof, I told you and the others about how I've been fluctuating recently. It's happened before more times than I can count, but this time, after I stabilized... I felt something different. Something off, in a way that I couldn't describe.

"I try not to experience the totality of time anymore, not if I can help it." The spark shuddered. "It's too hard to bear seeing how it always ends. If I have to stop being linear, I at least only look at the past and present. But after this last time... because I felt uneasy, I tried just for a moment to look forward. I looked at the infinite possibilities of the multiverse's future, and..." Her voice went quieter than Chibi-Moon had ever heard, barely more than a whisper: "... and they're not infinite anymore."

Chibi-Moon's blood ran cold. "Wh-what...?!"

"I don't know. I don't understand how. Every possible outcome should lead to a new timeline, a new future. Infinite outcomes, infinite futures. But the number of possibilities that I see... is now finite, and it's shrinking. As there's less and less to see, my vision becomes more and more clouded. Chibi-Moon, I... I'm afraid. It's all gone wrong. And I'm afraid that it might not be just the multiverse that's gone wrong... there may be something wrong with me, too." What she said next made Chibi-Moon's heart jackhammer inside her chest. "I think... I think I might be dying..."

There were no words strong enough to describe the terror inherent in that sentence. Fantine, dying... Chibi-Moon's chest, lungs, and throat all seemed to compress together to deny her any more than the bare minimum of oxygen. Much as she had problems with Fantine's methods—and she had a lot of problems—there was no denying that she had sheltered them all from Joker's rampage this whole time. Without that shelter, she, Usagi, Hotaru, Mamoru, and everyone, everywhere else would likely be worse than dead. If she was really dying... the decreasing number of outcomes was the least of their problems.

And yet. Mixed in with that brain-freezing terror was a swirl of sympathy that softened its blow. Chibi-Moon's mental picture of Fantine up until now was of some incomprehensible, unapproachable higher being, as far removed from people like herself as she was to an ant. Yet here she was, expressing the most human of fears. Gods and higher beings didn't do that, to her knowledge. For the first time in a long time, she wondered where Fantine came from, and if she had always been what she was now.

Of course, Chibi-Moon had her own fears that ate her up inside. The war with Dead End notwithstanding, there was the persistent fear she had carried for years: that she would never measure up to Usagi's heroism, that she would always be stuck in the shadow of the real Sailor Moon. Just like back in the centipede Witch's Labyrinth, she curled her fingers around her transformation brooch. There was no way to know when or if her Silver Crystal's light and full power would ever return. Without that power, she would always be just Chibi-Moon, a pale imitation of the genuine article. Without that power, she couldn't give her all in this war. Because of that, people might die... would die.

But that was in the future. Maybe what she needed to face the crisis in front of her right now wasn't power, but empathy. What would the real Sailor Moon do? she thought to herself, and the answer was right there, a simple one. The real Sailor Moon would put aside her own fear for the sake of another who was suffering. Softly, Chibi-Moon cupped the spark in her hands and drew it close to her chest. It was the closest thing to a hug that she could give it. It was faintly warm. "Fantine-san..."

The spark let out a broken laugh. "I-isn't that ridiculous? The idea shouldn't bother me. I see every form of death there is, and I've lived and died more times than can be counted, but this feels different. Final... as if this time, it's really the end. No more coming back. There was only one other time when I felt anything like this. Even then, I didn't... no." From the tone of her voice, Chibi-Moon could tell that she had closed the door on that thought, whatever it was. "Completely absurd. I'm long overdue to die for good. I've wished for it so often: a way to escape this cycle that I'm trapped in. A way to rest. I should be ecstatic about it. But now that it's coming, or at least I think it's coming... I'm afraid." Another laugh. "I really am such a coward. Maybe I deserve to feel this way, as punishment for all that I've done."

Chibi-Moon mulled that over, then shook her head. "Nuh-uh. Whatever you've done in the past, whatever mistakes you've made, you're admitting you were wrong and doing your best to make up for them. That makes you a good person in my book, and that means you don't deserve to be punished." Her lips crept upward in a shaky grin. "And hey, speaking as someone who's died and come back before: I'd be more worried if you weren't afraid, with all that's going on. If that makes you a coward, then I guess I'm one too... Fear of dying is natural. You're only human. Sort of."

The spark flapped its wings, just once. "Chibi-Moon," said Fantine, with a melancholy sort of relief. "You don't know how much that means to me. Thank you. If and when we all make it through this, you're going to make a great Queen someday... and for that matter, a great future Sailor Moon."

Now it was Chibi-Moon's turn to laugh, though there were a few nervous hiccups in there too. Just a few. "Me? As if. Pretty sure being Queen or being Sailor Moon means having more control over your life than I do at the moment, but thanks for the compliment."

"I think you'd be surprised. Usagi hasn't told you everything about her early days... ask her about her fight with the tennis player Youma sometime."

She smirked at the memory. Oh, she knew that story... she needled it out of Mamoru some years ago after hours of prying for details. Usagi was mad at them both for close to a week. "Roger that. Us cowards gotta stick together. Thank you, Fantine-san. I feel like I can keep going now." Releasing her grip on Luna P, she stood and squared her shoulders. Anxiety still roiled in her stomach, but she could handle it... or at least push it down until Saturn was safe. One crisis at a time.

"And Chibi-Moon?"

"Hmm?"

"I'd... I'd also appreciate it if you wouldn't tell the other Lights that I think I'm... that I think I'm dying. I'm not trying to keep secrets again," said Fantine in a hurry. "I just think... it's taken so long for them to get their morale back up. I don't want it to disappear again because of me. I'll tell them in my own way, I promise."

Chibi-Moon opened her mouth to protest. The arguments were already on her lips: she didn't want to keep secrets either. The others, the Big Five especially, deserved to know the truth if she thought something that important was happening to her. Honesty might lead to the Lights being able to help her, somehow. She was all set to argue... and then something stopped her. Here was a being who was powerful beyond imagination, despite only possessing a fraction of her former abilities. That being, secluded and secretive to the point of hysterical paranoia, had just confided in her something that she hadn't told anyone else... not Usagi, not Sakura, not Madoka, not Nanoha or Cure Black, her. She, Chibi-Moon of all people, was entrusted with perhaps the most human feelings that any of them had ever heard Fantine express.

Was she even worthy of that trust? Chibi-Moon didn't know, and she didn't think she'd like the answer if she did. However, a part of her was touched in a way she couldn't explain. "Okay," she said, nodding. "Let's both do our best."

*****

Azabu-Juuban, Street Level

Battered, sporting bruises on what felt like every centimeter of her body, and oozing blood in a dozen places, Sakura Kinomoto lay face up on the broken asphalt. Her breath came in short, ragged bursts. As she watched, the last of her shielding flickered and died... there was nothing more between herself and Joker. However—she raised her hands to eye level to be absolutely sure—Arcana still functioned. The red gloves' exterior coverings were frayed and torn, and the insides had gone from warm to uncomfortably hot to singeing her skin, but the wing designs on the back of each hand still pulsed with regular patterns of light. Arcana was working, but its job wasn't done yet... which meant her mission wasn't over. Twenty-four, Sakura thought to herself. Almost there. Just a little more. You can do it, Sakura-chan. Everything will be all right, somehow. Thinking the invincible spell bolstered her. She rolled herself over and pushed against the asphalt with both hands.

A boot heel spiked into her spine and drove her back down. "Dear me," drawled Joker's voice as he ground his foot in for good measure. "I just can't decide if your persistence is noble or sad... or both. Come on, cherie, just admit it to yourself and get it over with: you're outmatched. You know it, I know it, all the worlds know it. Perhaps you'd stand a chance with all of your Cards, but without them? You're dust beneath my heel."

With no more shields to absorb the worst of the impact, his heel felt like a blunt knife. Each word was a heaving gasp as Sakura clawed at the street for release, for balance. "I'm... still... not... done... yet...!"

"You and I have different definitions of 'done', darling. Oh, you're very brave—worthy of applause, even—but this farce has worn out its welcome. Magic or not, you're just a pathetic human bitch..." On that word, his heel pressed harder, digging in. Sakura screamed... "... and you can only do so much from your position."

A Card appeared between her fingers at her thought. Perfect. He would never expect it. She tapped it against the back of her opposite glove and whispered, "BUBBLES."

From above, Joker's cackle pealed harsh and ugly. "Really? Thatone? You're more desperate than I thought, cherie~. I left—" Then he coughed. He gagged, he retched, he took his foot off of Sakura's back for an instant...

An instant was all she needed. She rolled to one side, pushed herself to her feet, and stood, only wobbling a little bit. And while Joker was distracted by the cascade of plain, ordinary soap bubbles streaming up from within his throat and inside his mouth, she threw another punch to his gut and connected. Twenty-five!

Joker's eyes burned like live coals, and this time Sakura was sure she saw it: not only did the X-shaped scar on the forehead of his mask glow hot from within, its lines throbbed. He was gone in a streak of black, and he reappeared halfway down the block, spitting up soap and furious beyond measure. "You... little..." he heaved, scouring his tongue clean with his long fingers. "You... dare..."

Sakura stood tall, refusing to even dignify him with an answer. This was it. The home stretch. The end was in sight.

"That's it... I am through playing with you!" Froth flew from Joker's lips. "If you came here expecting a fair fight, you're sorely mistaken! You see, little Cardcaptor, I know your weaknesses!" Now he summoned a Card of his own, and roared its name: "CREATE!" The Card shifted into an open book that floated before him, and with vicious glee he slit his own fingertip with one of his claws and slashed a scrawl of ink-blood upon the blank pages inside.

No telling what monstrosities he could think up with that one. As icy fog rolled through the street with unnatural speed, and Sakura put up her dukes. Great clouds of it gathered into shapes, a lot of shapes. Human shapes... oh no.

Dozens of wretched figures took shape from the fogbank. All were insubstantial, floating inches from the ground. All glowered at her with lifeless, glassy stares that still somehow conveyed the full extent of their torment... Tomoyo was there, her ever-present smile gone, replaced with a thin-lipped and cold expression that was alien to the friend Sakura knew and loved. Shaoran was there, sallow-skinned, with shadows beneath his eyes. Her father was there, his own eyes hidden by eerie light reflecting off his glasses. Chiharu, Naoko, Rika, and even Yamazaki were there, their faces dark and wasted where they should have been full of life and energy. And Alph was there, hair wild and clothes ragged, her body marred with wounds inflicted by her own claws, her lips drawn back in a feral snarl...

Each and every one of the specters was one of the friends or loved ones she had failed to save. Each and every one was flanked by cool blue dancing flames, the remnants of their souls. Each and every one of them stared at her full of anger, hate, and disappointment, and spoke the same words in a dirge-like chant: "Sakura... it's all your fault... your fault... your fault..."

A moan of pure terror escaped unbidden from deep in Sakura's throat. Her veins were ice, her entire body shook like mad, her knees threatened to buckle under her. When she agreed to this mission, she thought she was prepared for almost anything... but not this. Not this.

"Your fault... your fault... your fault..."

Joker howled with twisted joy from behind the multitude of ghosts. "I suppose some things never change, cherie! They all seem to be rather disappointed in you..."

Sakura trembled where she stood. "I..." The word was barely a squeak.

And Joker laughed at her. The monster, the scourge of the multiverse, found nothing so funny as showing her the vengeful ghosts of the people she treasured.

Though her heart threatened to pound out of her chest, Sakura clenched her fists and took a step forward. Then another. "That's..." she managed, her voice thick. "That's not..." Three more steps would bring her within arm's length of the ghosts. Her feet were leaden, but she forced them to move. "That's not... going to work," she said, fighting to control her breathing, just like Toya and Nanoha taught her. "That's not going to work," she repeated, stronger this time. Phantom hands pawed at her, phantom faces whispered hateful words in her ears. Her skin crawled at their touch, but she pressed on. "I am still scared of... ghosts..." She could barely even speak the word, but she kept going. "I am. But these..." She willed one arm to move, indicating them all. She didn't dare look; she kept her eyes locked on Joker. "I know what they are. These... aren't gh-gh-ghosts. They're not real. They're just CREATE's power. You're hurting CREATE by forcing it to do this..." Her throat closed for a moment. She swallowed to open it again. "... just like you've hurt all my other friends."

Fifteen meters away, Joker's eyes were near-perfect black circles. An expression of genuine shock, the likes of which she had never imagined from him, hung on his face. Perhaps he never expected that she would be capable of standing her ground when faced with her oldest childhood fear... or perhaps he never expected that she would stand at all. Perhaps he never expected that despite all odds, despite everything, her head would be bloodied but unbowed... that she would simply refuse to lay down and die.

Now she had reached the middle of the crowd of spirits... and still she walked on, every step a little less grueling than the last. "I am still scared of gh... of ghosts," she repeated, "but I'm way more scared... of losing more people that I love to you." She drew her Sealing Key on its necklace from her collar, and spoke the invocation as she had never spoken it before: "Release." The Sealing Wand materialized, and she held it before herself like the katana of a samurai. And as she walked on, eyes set like a pair of flawless green emeralds, she said: "One way or another, I'm going to end this, Joker. You can laugh at me and hurt me and knock me down all you want... but I'll keep getting back up, every time. Nothing you can do will stop me." More words came to her, words that Tomoyo might suggest for a moment like this. "The master of magic," she intoned as herheart grew warm, "the light of the stars. Cardcaptor Sakura... is here."

*****

Azabu-Juuban Station, Underground

Homura Akemi prided herself on her preparedness. By the final few of the hundred-odd times she relived that same hellish month, she thought she had every contingency covered, every possible disaster anticipated. She was mistaken, of course, and she paid for her arrogance. When she became the Devil and all eventualities opened to her, that arrogance returned, magnified a thousandfold. She paid for that, too... but this time, she resolved to be better. She promised herself that she would outthink and outplan everything that came her way, until her mission was done.

Somehow, though, never in her wildest nightmares had she ever anticipated Madoka being angry enough with her to threaten her with a weapon. Angry enough to fire on her, to kill? Madoka Kaname? Never. Thus, the sight of that same Madoka drawing an arrow pointed straight at her threw her world off-kilter in a way that few other things had ever done. The ground spun underneath her...

Breathe. Focus. It was the spell, it had to be. Those damned twins had warped her mind with their magic hailstorm, that was the only thing that made sense. Homura stowed her Beretta in her shield's pocketspace and took a cautious step forward, raising her hands in supplication. "Madoka," she said evenly. With the Witches no doubt listening, she elected to send the next part telepathically. Madoka, just—

Her attempt was rebuffed by the raging hurricane consuming Madoka's thoughts, so violent that she actually recoiled. Swiftly she closed the telepathic channel, for her own protection. Very well. If she had to say it out loud, so be it. "Just calm down," she said. "What you're feeling isn't real, it's just an illusion—"

An arrow blazed over her head, missing her scalp by a centimeter or less. Madoka trembled where she stood and summoned another, its pink flames reflecting in the waterfalls of tears streaming down her cheeks. The bloody light ringing her irises pulsed. "You... I c-can't believe you! After what you did to me—to all of us—how d-dare you say it's not real!"

Thorns of guilt pierced Homura's insides. She endeavored to ignore them, push them down like she always had. "I know it's not real because this isn't you, Madoka. You're selfless and kind, and you'd never hurt me, even though I did such terrible things... I know you, and this isn't who you are."

And Madoka screamed: "You don't know me! You don't know me at all!" The second arrow flew, and separated into a dozen more.

It was then that Homura's ironclad confidence began to buckle. Her shield turned over, and in the grayscale of frozen time she sidestepped the volley. This wasn't the time to be frugal with her magic. If the Witches' spell was this potent, she had to move in close, too close for Madoka to fire effectively. She seized hold of Madoka's right hand, resumed time, and raised her voice: "Listen to me! They're controlling you, you have to fight it!"

"No, you listen!" Like a bucking horse, Madoka yanked free of her grip with frenzied strength. As she leapt backward, her bow straightened into its staff form. Then she came charging, swinging it down like a club. "You think I'm this... this angel... this perfect being who never messes up and never feels anything bad!" Another swing, this one close enough that Homura needed to block it with her shield... it made a sound like the clanging of a bell as the staff struck it. "That's not me! It's never been me! Why can't you see that?!"

From somewhere in the station came the stereo cackling of the twin Witches. Cyprine (or maybe it was Ptilol) drawled in the aftermath of Madoka's outburst: "You really are as deluded as they come, Akemi. Maybe you can't see it from down at the bottom of that pedestal you put her on, but dear little Madoka-chan is furious with you... and that's not our doing~."

"Our spell can't create negative feelings from whole cloth," said the other one, whoever it was. "We only amplified what she already felt~."

Their words sent icy frissons skittering up and down Homura's spine like the footsteps of mice. Lies? They had to be, there was no way that this was really her Madoka talking. As much as she told herself that, however, the specter of doubt was raised within her...

"I'm... I'm sorry, Homura-chan," Madoka sobbed. That sounded like the real her. "I don't... I don't want to fight you, I d-don't want to h-hurt you... I'm t-trying to fight it, b-but...!" She staggered back and clutched her temples, crying out in anguish. Veins bulged in her face and forehead, standing out even in the dim light.

"You can do it, Madoka." Homura moved to embrace her. "I believe in you, you're stronger than this."

"No..." she moaned. And again, as a litany: "No, no, no, nooooo!" The last repetition burst from her as a tortured scream, and she savagely lashed Homura's face with her staff.

In mild shock, Homura moved to touch her cheek. It was tender, soon to form a welt... Even with her shields' protection, her flesh was a hairsbreadth from splitting open. Real fear stirred within her, for reaching Madoka with words was becoming less and less likely with each passing second. Think, she had to think! There wasn't enough time for a drawn-out battle, not if she had any hope of finishing her real mission... and every moment Madoka spent under the Witches' spell and going through this turmoil darkened her Soul Gem a little more. Already it had clouded over considerably, just in the few minutes since they met back up.

If talking her down wasn't an option, then perhaps knocking her out would work. A short time-stop would give her enough breathing room to get behind her and aim a precise strike to the back of her neck. As she ducked under the staff, her hand flew to the edge of her shield—

"Solace!" Madoka shouted. The ribbon AMP's tails extended once more, one of them lassoed Homura's wrist and drew tight. "Not this time!" Madoka shook her head back and forth so fast that her pigtails whipped her face. "You're not running away from me, not again! You're gonna answer for what you've done!"

And there went her biggest advantage. Homura's fear escalated to panic... Being tethered together left her few ways to fight back without risking serious injury to one or both of them. She was a mid- to long-range fighter; Madoka had long-range and melee covered, and the reach of her staff would give her the upper hand. Its branches slashed across her shoulders and chest, her shields flickered and faded...

Her AMP. She would have to use her own AMP to even the odds. But activating it now— No. There was one other way to hold her off, she realized. Perhaps it wasn't ideal, but she had done all that sparring recently with a partner who innately understood how to fight with staff-like weapons... and this might be near enough to one to get them both out of this. She reached into her shield, grasped within pocketspace. When Madoka pressed her next attack, the staff clanged against the metal shaft of an old, slightly bent putter.

Madoka's features crinkled with loss. Of course she remembered the golf club, it was a relic from the earliest timelines... back when neither of them had an inkling of the cruelty to come. "Why did you do it, Homura-chan?!" she said, choking out the words over fresh tears. "You're my best friend, I love you! I gave up my family, my human form, my life, my everything so that you would never be alone again! When the Incubators captured you, I came back to save you... do you know how many natural laws I had to break to do that?! I risked the universe for you, and all you had to do was let me help you! You could have trusted me! If you'd gone with me, the two of us could have figured out how to stop the Incubators! With you and me working together, we could have even stopped Joker... and ended this whole awful war before it started!

"But you... you ripped me apart! You stole my powers, you erased my memories! You kept me locked in a cage for years and years and years... and you tried to do it again once we came to the Lighthouse! If you could, you'd still be doing it now!" And then, with words steeped in grief and frustration too raw to be anything but genuine: "You wouldn't let me die... and now you won't let me live!"

Struck to the bone, Homura stood abashed, paralyzed by regret. Deep inside, she always knew her actions were unforgivable, but she rationalized them with the logic that it was all for Madoka's happiness, the only thing that mattered. Now, from Madoka's own lips, came the truths of how facile that happiness was and how much she hurt... truths that Homura couldn't deny any longer. When the lower limb of the staff slammed into her gut at full force, propelling her off the station platform and onto the train tracks, the physical pain was nothing compared to the wounds inflicted upon her heart.

The ribbon tether stretched taut and wrenched her arm up and out at an awkward angle, nearly dislocating her shoulder in the process. It slackened once more as Madoka vaulted from the platform, weapon raised. Staff met club in a series of frenetic clashes. Sparks flew with each strike. The two circled each other, jockeying for position...

From safety, the twin Witches' voices crowed, elated. "That's it! Fight with all you have, and sink into despair!" said one, high and shrill. "This is perfect~!"

"No matter which of you loses, be it by death or Soul Gem corruption... we win~!" cooed the other.

Both weapons crossed in an X-shape, and Homura drew in close. "I'm sorry," she said as they strained back and forth. Speaking those words again, she found that this time she truly meant them. Not as a desperate plea to change Madoka's mind, not as a deflection to save face, but as an honest expression of remorse. "I'm so sorry. Everything is my fault, and you have every right to be angry. I only wanted to protect you, to be your friend, but..." The selfish part of herself, refusing to be reigned in, hoped fervently that that would be enough.

"Friends don't do that to each other!" Madoka howled and pounded away at her club, punctuating words with heavy strikes. "Friends trust each other! Friends listen to each other! Friends respect each other's decisions, even when they disagree with them! If we don't have that, if you can't let me make my own choices... then I'm not your friend! I'm... just... your... doll!" The last four words were coupled with the most brutal attacks yet, hard enough to set Homura's nerves jangling. The final blow tore the golf club from her grasp and sent it spinning into the darkness of the train tunnel.

A thousand poisoned needles prickled within her. In her own way, Madoka's admonition was almost identical to what Joker said to her during the night he spent tormenting her, back in their own world. Joker's words could be dismissed as the lies of a sadistic monster who didn't care what he said so long as it caused her pain, but to hear such a thing from Madoka...

Yet in that moment, despite her inner turmoil, Homura finally realized what she had to do. A desperate plan which carried high risk... as if she had any other kind. If it worked, they would be all right, and the mission would go on. If it didn't, though? Her chest grew tight. If it didn't, someone else would have to take up the torch and come running to her rescue. That was fine, though. She deserved better than to be saved by someone of Homura's like, anyway. She already had far better friends to support her, she would make it through. Despite her suffering, she was so strong, far stronger than herself... that was part of the reason Homura fell for her. No matter what, she would be all right in the end.

Saying a silent prayer for forgiveness just in case, Homura charged and wrapped her arms around Madoka, tackling them both to the train tracks. As they tumbled and rolled through the accumulated grime at the bottom of the tunnel, Homura fought to maintain her grip despite Madoka's frantic thrashing. All of the tunnel, all of the station was a blur, shades of grey and black mixed with comet trails of burning red from the emergency lights...

When they finally came to a halt, Madoka knelt atop her, pinning her in place. With pitch-black amusement, she noted that the back of her neck was now pressed against the third rail. It was long since depowered, but still. Appropriate. She gazed up at Madoka, at the face she loved twisted in unfathomable pain and drenched in tearmarks, and at the blackening Soul Gem attached just below her choker...

Her staff curved into a bow once more, and Madoka nocked an arrow and aimed it straight at her. Point blank range, no way to miss. The heat of its pink flames was comforting, in a way.

Softly, gently, Homura reached into her shield and withdrew one of the two remaining Grief Seeds. Atop her, Madoka grew tense and drew the arrow back. With both hands occupied, she had no way of resisting as Homura pressed the Grief Seed to her Soul Gem. All of its dark clouds lifted, its soft, rosy glow returned once more...

Smiling through tears of her own, Homura laid her left hand across her chest, Soul Gem up, giving her a perfect shot. Aware that these might be the last things she would ever say to her first love, she spoke them strongly and clearly: "I love you, and I'm truly sorry for all that I've done to you, Madoka. You're right, about everything. I tried to protect you, I tried to be your friend, and I failed to do either. I'm not entitled to your love, or to your mercy.

"Maybe I don't really know the kind of person that you are... but everything we went through together tells me that you're not the kind of person who wants to fire that arrow. I don't think I'm wrong about that, but if I am... If these are your real feelings, if this is truly what you want, if killing me will bring you peace and make you happy, then go ahead. I won't resist. Dying by your hands is more grace than I deserve, the best death that I could ask for."

Again came the voices of the Witches, in sequence: "That's it, Kaname!" "Yes, that's it. Kill her. It's what she wants." "You're so close, all it will take is one more shot!" "Kill her!" "Kill her...!"

Before her eyes, the arrow trembled. A broken sob came from deep within Madoka, she shuddered with the weight of it and squeezed her eyes shut... and when she opened them again, the rings of red light around her irises were gone. Both bow and arrow melted into particles of pink light. Warm tears, real tears, fell upon Homura like summer rain as she leaned down...

Crack. Madoka's dainty, satin-gloved hand struck her wounded cheek with a sound like a gunshot. It stung hard enough to draw an astonished gasp from Homura's lips. "Stop it," Madoka whispered as she withdrew her trembling arm. Then, much louder: "Stop it! Stop hating yourself! You thought you were doing the right thing. You tried to save me again by accepting the worst parts of yourself. If you hadn't, the Incubators might have done worse. They tried, and we both know it!" Her small fists pounded Homura's chest. "You aren't responsible for everyone's sins, I shouldn't be the only thing in the universe that you care about, and you can't keep thinking that the only worth your life has is in protecting me!" She shook her head, her voice rising with fury and sorrow. "I won't let you do that to yourself anymore! Never again, do you hear me?! I love you too, and I can't stand seeing you suffer... Homura-chan...!" And Madoka embraced her, burying her face in her shoulder as she bawled her eyes out.

*****

Subway Tunnels

Simultaneously

An unending stream of profanity echoed through the cramped maintenance corridors as Mimete stomped through them. A few minutes back, she had accidentally stumbled upon Eudial... or what used to be Eudial. Now it was many, many pieces of Eudial, and the sight made her throw up. Now in addition to being filthy, sore, tired, and in a foul temper, there was an awful taste in her mouth too. Gee, thanks, Eudial. It served her right, getting killed by that pink menace. Mimete would have kicked her, but that would have ruined her shoes.

Thus far, her search for weapons and backup had netted her zero results. One corridor or tunnel looked much the same as the others down in this hellhole, so she wasn't even certain she was headed the right way... after finding the remains of Eudial, she turned right around and headed in the opposite direction whenever possible. Whenever she came to a fork or branch in the path, she selected which way to go via an ancient and time-honored tradition used by all the greatest and smartest mages: placing her staff on the ground and giving it a hard spin. Whichever way it ended up pointing, that was the way she went.

By the pit, she was ready to be done with this mission, but there seemed no end in sight. Going back without support was asking to be flash-fried by the twins, so until she found something, she was stuck down here. Therefore, she kept her eyes straight ahead, trudged onward, and swore and swore and swore.

Up ahead, the corridor terminated into another tunnel. How many subway tunnels did one human city need, anyway? It was ludicrous. She kicked the maintenance door open, taking little pleasure in how loud the resulting bang was as it slammed against the outside tunnel wall, and emerged onto the catwalk...

... just in time to hear something let out a terrible scream and scrabble from its former position beneath said catwalk into the shadows on the other side of the tunnel. It was a very large something, around two-and-a-half meters tall and roughly the length of three cars lined up bumper-to-bumper-to-bumper. Mimete shuddered, for the air here was uncomfortably parched and staticy, and there was an odd, pleasant smell lingering in it that she couldn't quite place. Clutching her staff in both hands, she called out: "H-hello...?"

The only response from the huge whatever-it-was was a couple brief flickers of light and a bizarre crackling noise.

Mimete cocked an eyebrow. Then, in a show of bravery that she dearly hoped wasn't suicidal, she conjured a light at the end of her staff and raised it high. As its glow played over the creature's giant body, it shrank back from its slightest touch, quaking with terror...

Aha, now she knew what it was. A slow, cruel smile spread across Mimete's face. Perhaps her luck was finally changing.

*****

Azabu-Juuban Station

Simultaneously

Horrified with herself, Madoka held Homura tightly as she cried, never wanting to let go again. Inherent in all people, there are dark and secret feelings buried deep within the psyche which they know to never speak aloud. In simplest terms, the Witches' spell grasped those feelings, intensified them by a huge order of magnitude, and flung them out into the open. She had succumbed utterly to the control of the darkest parts of her heart. Her body attacked her dearest friend with intent to kill, and her mouth said words she would have never dared. She didn't even have the small comfort of knowing that it was only brainwashing or hypnosis. They were her real feelings, laid bare against her will... a violation of her heart.

"It's all right," Homura murmured as she tenderly stroked her hair.

"No it's not!" she sputtered. How could she still be so calm, after what she had almost done? "I left you alone, I hurt you, I said all those t-terrible things, I tried to kill you! Both of us just keep hurting each other, it's not all right! Everything between us is so m-messed up... everything..."

A pause. "You're right," said Homura. "Perhaps both of us are too broken to fix. Perhaps our relationship is beyond saving... but for the sake of everything, we have to try at least once more to make it better. We'll start over, one last time. You and me, supporting each other... as friends."

Pulling back, Madoka wiped her eyes and gazed at her. "I want to, but... wh-what if that doesn't work...? If it ends between us for real this time?"

Homura's eyes gleamed with a strange mixture of tranquility, longing, and aching sadness. "There is no reason to despair," she said. She smiled, bittersweet as blackberries, and caressed Madoka's cheek with her fingertips. "With every ending, there comes hope, and rebirth."

"Homura-chan..." It was a beautiful statement, elegant in its simplicity, poetic enough to draw out a few more tears. And yet, some part of her wanted to giggle at it, because it also sounded vaguely familiar, for reasons she couldn't for the life of her explain.

An orb of cerulean light ignited three meters ahead of them. From behind flared another orb, snarling and crimson. Cyprine and Ptilol emerged from the shadows on opposite ends of the tracks and approached them, their eyes livid, too enraged to speak.

Homura's eyes narrowed slightly, an action which for her was the equivalent of making a face of utmost disgust. Carefully she extricated herself from Madoka's grip and stood. Stay down, said her voice in Madoka's head. I'll deal with this filth.

She vanished; in an instant, she was behind Ptilol. Bang. The fire of her Beretta rang throughout the cramped confines of the empty station... but when Ptilol, her staff, and her orb exploded into red smoke rather than falling over dead, Madoka saw Homura's eyes widen by a fraction with barely-perceptible surprise.

Homura-chan! Madoka sent frantically, ducking low as the stray bullet screamed over her head. That one isn't—

Cyprine's derisive laughter cut her off. "You utter fool, Ptilol is a creation of my magic! I can easily bring—"

Homura vanished again.

Bang. This time the sound was muffled, barely. Madoka cringed as an eruption of fine red mist burst from the black star mark on Cyprine's forehead. She slumped lifelessly to the tunnel floor, her last sneer still on her lips. The orb she had been conjuring dissipated into tiny blue sparks, and her staff clattered a hollow sound as it fell to the tracks by her side.

Homura stomped on the staff, snapping it in two with a crack like a bone breaking. Apparently that still wasn't enough for her, for next she pulled a chunky rectangular canister from behind her shield, flicked open its nozzle, and doused the Witch with liquid that had a sweet, heavy smell. One more dive into pocketspace produced a red cylinder... Homura pulled a tab from it and it burst into flames so brilliant and intense that the sudden change in brightness hurt Madoka's eyes. By the time they cleared, Cyprine's body was fully ablaze.

Madoka endeavored not to look, and to ignore the vaguely pork-like odor that now joined forces with the stench of the gasoline. Rising to her feet, she ran to join Homura, who had already turned her back on the makeshift pyre and was now standing at the mouth of the northbound tunnel. Her hand found Homura's as they stared into its depths. "Homura-chan," she said, then stopped. What else was there? How could they begin to heal from all the trauma they had both accumulated, too much trauma for one lifetime, let alone hundreds? Words came to her with little confidence, they sounded so stupid, so banal. "What should we do now?"

As always, Homura knew exactly what to say: "We move on." Her fingers squeezed. "What's ahead will be difficult for both of us, but we start by taking the first step together. Then we keep going, one step at a time, until it's finished."

Madoka nodded.

And they did just that, taking a single step forward into the dark and fearsome unknown.

*****

Subway Tunnels

Simultaneously

Finally she was getting close. Some meters back, Chibi-Moon caught wind of the saccharine scent of the Xenian Flower... that scent dispelled her exhaustion in an instant. She followed it with renewed fervor, and as it grew stronger, so grew her expectations to see a victorious Saturn standing over the corpse of the Tellu-Xenian monstrosity around each passing bend and corner.

Somewhere in the older, disused sections of the tunnels branching off from where the Namboku and Ginza lines crossed, the scent became pronounced enough that the overpowering sweetness of it made her gag. Almost gleeful despite that, Chibi-Moon skidded around a corner, Luna P and Diana P tagging close behind, and... "Oh, come on, you gotta be kidding me!"

The entire tunnel, wall to wall, ceilings and floors alike, was overgrown with newly-blossomed Xenian Flowers. Hundreds of them... their vines and roots carpeted the place so thickly that they covered over every trace of building material. The evil little eyes of the hundreds of tiny Xenian flower-women inside the young blossoms all swiveled to stare at her, and they launched into a round of high-pitched giggling. It sounded like a classroom full of little kids that had discovered a canister of helium, or one of those horrid American chipmunk cartoons.

"Luna P..." said Chibi-Moon, drawing out the last syllable in a groan of frustration. Obedient as ever, her balloon floated to her hand and poofed into the shape of her Pink Mood Rod. She gripped it with both hands and pointed it forward, but where to even begin aiming?

She blinked, and unexpected brightness stung her eyes. Then she wondered once more if perhaps this mission had made her snap, because the tunnel was gone... she now stood in a grassy patch surrounded by Xenian Flowers, on one of a series of endless, gently rolling hills lined with them. Their perfume was gentler, far less oppressive than it was a moment ago. Summer sunlight beat down on her from a blue sky dotted with just the right amount of puffy clouds. She had to admit, its warmth was welcome after the dank, oppressive claustrophobia of the subway...

"Chibi-Usa-chan!" And there was Hotaru, standing right before her, flawless in every detail down to the last raven hair. She smelled like fresh-cut lilacs, and she wore a white, billowy sundress, one so scandalously low-cut in front that it was probably risking a misdemeanor... it showed off to the world just how much Hotaru had developed in her teenage years. Her favorite hat—which used to be Chibi-Moon's hat, it was how they met—perched on her head at a jaunty angle. Her legs and feet were bare. Hotaru smiled at her and beckoned with one finger, her dark violet eyes sparkling with excitement. "Come here, Chibi-Usa-chan! Come and see!"

Chibi-Moon stared. She didn't move a muscle.

Hotaru shook out a red-and-white-checkered picnic blanket, spreading it out on what was seemingly the one patch of grass unoccupied by Xenian Flowers. It was a perfect fit. "I made us lunch," she said, producing two enormous black lacquered bento boxes from behind her back. "Rolled omelets, plus nigirizushi, fried chicken, those corn muffins you like, and Dutch apple pie for dessert." Giggling, she sat down on the blanket and tucked those splendid pale legs beneath herself. "What are you standing there for, silly? Let's eat." For emphasis, she patted the waiting space at her side.

"Okay," said Chibi-Moon. She rubbed the bridge of her nose, already far past done with this charade. "I get it. This is one of those traps where you show me an illusion of what you think is my greatest desire in order to get me to drop my guard, right? I'm supposed to just go 'Sure thing, Hotaru-chan!' and sit down, so you can drain all my energy or blood or whatever while I'm all blissed out. No thank you." she groused and trudged a few steps forward.

"Don't be so stubborn, Chibi-Usa-chan," laughed hundreds of fake Hotarus in perfect unison. In an eyeblink they appeared seated upon hundreds of identical picnic blankets spread out on every hill as far as the eye could see, taking the place of the flowers entirely. All agrin, they opened their hundreds of identical bento boxes, each stuffed full with all of Chibi-Moon's favorites. The original fake Hotaru, the one directly in front of her, picked up an omelet between two chopsticks and pointed it at her. "Say ahhhh~!"Meanwhile, her numerous identical twins did the same, lagging a second or two behind her: "Say ahhhh~!"

"Oh for God's sake," Chibi-Moon moaned over their crooning. "Now you're just desperate. It didn't work with just one fake, why the heck would you think that—"

The original fake Hotaru set the omelet down and stood back up. Color bloomed on her alabaster cheeks, a gleam of faint mischief sparkled in her eyes. "And after dessert," she said cheerfully, "I have another special treat for you. I know you'll love it~."

Chibi-Moon's jaw fell open and her entire face turned a spectacular shade of beet red, for the fake Hotaru's low-cut dress was now even lower-cut... namely, on the ground, pooled around her ankles. That left the rest of her anatomy fully and brazenly on display, as the flowers responsible for the illusion had apparently declined to give her anything to wear beneath said dress. Whatever images of Hotaru minus clothes they must have pulled from Chibi-Moon's wildest and most inappropriate daydreams in order to create this impostor, they were very, very thorough in reproducing the details to the letter.

"Let's play together, Chibi-Usa-chan," the other fake Hotarus chorused as they doffed their own dresses. Several of the ones nearest to her stooped low and crawled through the grass toward her. Once they were close enough, they slid their arms around her calves and ankles, clinging to her with undisguised lust. "Let's play together..."

"Diana P," said Chibi-Moon to her AMP, forcing the words out through clenched teeth. "Flamethrower."

If Diana P responded with her usual "[At once, Small Lady!]" affirmative, Chibi-Moon didn't hear it over the cacophony of soprano screams that followed. Her AMP Device was designed and built with more in mind than being a toy (and a communicator, and a wand, and portable storage space) as Luna P was. It had more purpose than just giving her shields and life support, or an extra wand, or a new set of shapeshifted tools, or a second set of eyes. If necessary, she told Doctor Atenza, she wanted Diana P to be able to serve autonomously as offensive support... an attack drone, in 21st Century parlance.

Thus, as Chibi-Moon raced down the tunnel and Luna P pursued, Diana P followed along in their wake, sweeping it from top to bottom with long streams of flame from its mouth. The Xenian Flower seedlings, being far less capable of defending themselves than their hardier parent(s?), were thoroughly incinerated. She actually found herself regretting that she couldn't linger to watch the horrible little weeds burn to death as they richly deserved, but apart from the risk to her safety that that would entail, she had too little time and too much to do to stay here. Besides, she trusted Diana P to get them all... she gave it very specific instructions when she set up this particular program during their long trek through the subways. Not that it was all that easy to misinterpret "Torch everything that moves and has leaves."

As she fled the inferno, she noticed that a secondary tunnel up ahead seemed oddly dark, and was blocked off by a few CAUTION: DO NOT ENTER signs. Emergency lights were supposed to be everywhere, it was regulation as far as she knew. The sugary scent of the Xenian flower—which, to her astonishment, was still more than detectable, even over the stench of burning plant matter—came from inside. Hotaru! She angled for that tunnel, vaulted over the signs, and was gratified in passing to see that the light boxes weren't just out, they had been smashed to pieces. As good an omen as any! Pouring on more speed, she prayed to anyone that might listen that what she would find in here wasn't what she dreaded—

There she was, up against one of the curving concrete walls, her back to Chibi-Moon. It was a dustier, more disused tunnel of an older style than the one she left, and every light box in it had been taken out. The only illumination was from a strange, soft amber glow shining on the wall, sourced from somewhere in the vicinity of the Witch's oversized, draconic lower torso. She couldn't tell if Tellu's monstrous form had grown bigger since she dived underground or not, but it didn't matter. There was no sign of Saturn anywhere.

Tempting as it was to potshot her, Chibi-Moon couldn't risk accidentally harming Saturn in the process, if she was still here. She gave Luna P a hearty slap, transforming it into Moon Rod form once again. Diana P would just have to catch up once it was done with its own business. She clasped the wand tight in both hands, aimed it straight at the back of Tellu's head, and called to her, spacing the words out so there could be zero possibility of misunderstanding: "Where. Is. Saturn?"

Tellu peered back over her shoulder, and her giant, scaly tail perked up from where it dragged on the floor. Her remaining eye narrowed. "Ah," she said. All six of her arms shrugged at once, which was admittedly impressive. "I figured you'd come after her, you made better time than I thought. This place..." To Chibi-Moon's utter disgust, her humanoid upper body pivoted and pivoted and pivoted at approximately navel level until she faced her opponent, while her lower body remained in place, a nearly 180-degree turn that would have snapped a human's spine. Her belly fat bunched up into sickening rolls on one side and stretched grotesquely thin on the other, like she was made of dough. One of her gnarled tree-root legs thumped against the wall, and fine dust rained from the ceiling. "There's so much fertile soil beyond here, but all this damned concrete and metal is keeping me from it. You saw my seedlings? Planting them at all required quite a show of effort." Nestled within her opposite eye socket, the womanly figure inside the Xenian Flower's blossom nodded.

"Yeah, sorry," said Chibi-Moon, "but all of them are cinders now. They're burning in..." She stopped, considering. "... whatever Hell is for evil plants, I guess. Quickest way you'll reunite with them is by telling me where you took Saturn."

Tellu had to raise her voice to be audible over the flower-woman's sudden fit of snakelike hissing. "Where I 'took' her?" she said, smirking as she folded her middle two arms beneath her bare breasts. "I didn't 'take' her anywhere. She's right here... say hello." The lower half of her body turned around...

The sound that ripped from Chibi-Moon's throat could only be described as an anguished wail. The huge, distended pod that bulged from Tellu's stomach and connected her humanoid and monstrous halves was now filled with amber fluid, the source of the glow. Floating inside that fluid was Hotaru Tomoe, Sailor Saturn, visible through the pod's translucent, veiny skin. A thick vine sprouted from the uppermost part of the pod and was coiled twice around her neck, terminating in a flower with its petals clamped onto and wrapped securely around the entire lower half of her face. Her movements within the amber fluid—thank God, she was still alive—were sluggish and halting. As she caught sight of Chibi-Moon, her eyes grew wide. She swam to the wall of the pod, made a fist, and pounded on its inside. No more than a few seconds after she did so, the coils around her neck drew tighter, strangling her. Saturn's face contorted with pain, her fingertips clawed at the coils for release... Only when she went limp did they loosen. Hundreds of thin roots with needle-like tips then emerged from the pod's back wall. As Chibi-Moon watched in horror, dozens of them slid bloodlessly into Saturn's flesh, making raised wormsigns in the skin of her forehead and upper arms, burrowing in while she was too weakened to resist. Each root filled with a trickle of cloudy light—Saturn's energy—and funneled it back to Tellu's body proper...

Tellu cooed, caressing the pod's skin with her lower set of hands. "Quite an—"

She got no further than that, because that was when Chibi-Moon unleashed a Pink Sugar Heart Attack that tore Tellu's upper left arm from its socket and disintegrated it before it fell more than a centimeter or two. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she choked out words: "You sick... sadistic...!" No word she knew was profane enough to finish that sentence.

"How uncouth," said Tellu. "I already lost one arm to you people today." The substance oozing from her empty socket wasn't blood... it was that same glowy amber stuff from inside the pod. Sap. In seconds, it had thickened over the wound, sealing it closed. "Impressive that you could do that with one shot, though. I remember when that attack was barely more than an annoyance. You've grown a lot since then~."

"Let her go !" Chibi-Moon all but screamed.

"Sorry, no." Tellu sneered, and the Xenian Flower let out a fluting laugh. "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, we have an arrangement, she and I. I provide her the oxygen she needs to stay alive... I even let her move, so long as she doesn't put up too much of a fuss in there. In return, she gives me energy. She struggles, I cut off her air, she stops, I feed. Then it happens all over again. It's nature in action, a mutually beneficial cycle. Beautiful, if you think about it."

"Saturn, hold on!" Throwing caution to the wind, Chibi-Moon charged, hoping against hope that doing something so reckless would catch Tellu off her guard. She fired wildly as she ran, heedless of what she hit, if anything. A flying leap took her onto the outer surface of the pod. Flattened against it, she pressed her free hand against the veiny skin, nearly retched as it twitched at her touch, and called out once more: "Saturn!"

Mustering her strength, Saturn reached up and tore the roots from herself. Again she swam to the wall, and pressed her palm against Chibi-Moon's from the other side, less than a centimeter apart but still out of reach... Her eyes softened, she was smiling beneath the flower mask. But her eyes said that it was a weak smile, an exhausted smile, an "I'll be all right" smile from someone for whom that clearly wasn't the case.

"I'll get you out of there, I promise," said Chibi-Moon. "Just—"

She had no more than begun to aim the Moon Rod when another vine snaked around her own neck. Choking, she was hauled away from the pod and up to Tellu's eye level...

Both the Witch and the flower-woman wore expressions of cool, haughty superiority. "I think I'll let the little Mistress rest for a bit, actually," said Tellu. She idly examined the red, claw-like nails of one of her new hands as she spoke. "I want her to be awake to watch for when I rip you to pieces. That's right, moon brat, I don't want your energy. You and that damned Sailor Pluto played a part in both of my deaths... so, if you'll pardon my language, I don't give a rat's ass that Master Joker wants you alive. I'm going to kill you, and thoroughly enjoy myself in the process."

"Plu... to...?" Chibi-Moon groaned. The vine around her neck creaked as it tightened, her vision blurred, she heard Saturn hammering the wall of her prison with her fists again...

Tellu reeled her in closer, bit by bit. "That's right, Pluto. And Master Joker made certain that she can't save you this time. No one in Dead End even knows what he did to her, but I'd like to think that she's still screaming, wherever she is."

"Y... you—" said Chibi-Moon, gritting her teeth. She was close enough to Tellu's face now that the sugary scent of the Xenian Flower made her head swim. One chance, one shot. Her lips parted, she gasped as if struggling to speak.

"Hmm?" said Tellu, taking the bait. "What's that?" Her vine slackened...

"You... talk... too much! Moon Twilight Flash!" Moonbeams erupted from the jewel of Chibi-Moon's tiara, brilliant and white. Both Tellu and the Xenian howled, clawing at their eyes, they let her drop and skittered backward.

When her own vision cleared, she found Luna P bobbing next to her, in apparent concern. "H-hey," she said to it. "Where's...?"

And with perfect timing, Diana P came zooming into the tunnel, a bit ashen and scorched but otherwise no worse for wear.

"There we go! Saturn, if you can hear me, close your eyes!" said Chibi-Moon. And to her balloons: "Both of you, max hi-beams, now!"

Their eyes lit up... and so did the old tunnel, fully illuminated for perhaps the first time in decades. Now the monsters' screaming pitched so high that it grated on the ears.

Chibi-Moon winced at the racket, but smiled as she did so. "Yeah, that's right. You don't much like light anymore, do you? I noticed the boxes. Something to do with fusing yourselves together, I bet. Serves you right... Keep it up, guys, bright as you can!" She pressed forward into the blinding radiance, shielding her own eyes with her hand and peering through her fingers. One step at a time. Every step took her closer to Saturn, to ending this nightmare. All she had to do was keep Tellu down long enough to tear through the wall of that disgusting pod and pull her out...

Whiplike shadows cut through the light. The balloons let out identical burbles, Chibi-Moon heard a noise like someone breaking ice cubes... and the hi-beams went out. Luna P and Diana P thudded to the tunnel floor. The lenses of their eyes bore networks of cracks, pierced through by tapered vines half as thick as her arm. "No!"

Unable to hold its active shape, Diana P poofed and reappeared in bangle form on her wrist. SELF-REPAIR IN PROGRESS, read the blue holo-text that flowed over its surface, glitching and warping out of shape. REROUTING POWER TO PRIORITY ONE FUNCTIONS.

"Luna P...!" she began. No good. It rolled lifelessly to a halt at her feet without even a chirp of acknowledgement as the vines plunged into it withdrew. Its broken eyes were little but pools of static.

No time to think. No time to plan. Chibi-Moon charged, desperate. One good punch or kick was all it would—

Flurries of vines from Tellu's fingertips seized her in mid-step, wrapping her ankles, her wrists, her waist, her thighs, her neck. Saturn let out what was clearly a muffled scream from within her prison as they all constricted with crushing pressure. Chibi-Moon thrashed in their grip, fighting for breath as her skin burned from friction. One hand reached plaintively for Saturn, she was so close...

The vines pulled sharply upward. She slammed against the ceiling hard enough to fracture the concrete, her breath was driven from her lungs, every nerve erupted in howling protest. Next she was thrown down and into the left wall, then into the right immediately after, which overloaded and shattered Diana P's already overtaxed shields. The final throw drove her into the tunnel floor, face down. Her impact snapped the old rails like twigs, kicked up an enormous cloud of distubed dust, and left her in a crater ten centimeters deep.

Chibi-Moon heaved and tasted blood in her mouth. Trying to right herself sent ripples of fire through her left side... She knew from experience that transformed Sailor Senshi could take far more punishment than ordinary human bodies, but they paled in comparison to the superhuman durability and endurance of the Precure, and this proved it. Two of her ribs were cracked, she guessed. Maybe more.

It didn't matter. Saturn still needed her. Pushing the pain aside, she staggered upright and wiped blood from her lips on the back of her glove. She had to do something, but no Luna P or Diana P meant—

"You seem to be underequipped, Chibi-Moon," chortled Tellu as if reading her mind. Her vines, now retracted, danced and weaved through the air around her as if joining in on her taunting. "I did do research, you know. Almost all of your attack techniques on file require weapons to perform. That grey bauble thing is new, but it seems to me like it works on the same principle. No weapons, no attacks... So what will you do now?"

Inside the pod, Saturn hammered the wall in helpless frustration.

As it happened, Chibi-Moon was considering that very question. She coughed crimson flecks and tried to smile. Guess I need to hijack another one from Usagi, but oh well. I'll apologize later. Please, let this work! It took a few tries to force her aching arm up to her forehead, but she took hold of her tiara between two fingers, drew back, and intoned: "M-Moon... Tiara... Buh-Boomerang...!" Golden light flared around the tiara as she flung it with all her might, transforming it into a whirling discus. It flew unsteadily, but it flew, homing in on the center of Tellu's body.

Grim pleasure soothed her wounds as the expressions of both Tellu and the flower-woman slipped into actual fear. The monstrosity did an odd little dance, left to right, forward and back on her scuttling root-legs, trying to confuse the discus's flight path, but her body was too large to maneuver more than a few meters either way within the tunnel, and Chibi-Moon's mental control ensured that it found her no matter which way she went. It closed in, and a spark of hope lit inside her...

Snarling, Tellu wound six of her vines together, forming a braided makeshift lash. Hard as she could, she swatted the discus, a stone's throw from her face. There was a crack, like that of a baseball bat hitting a fly-ball out of the field, and Tellu's pained cry mixed in with it. A meter and a half of the braided vines withered and crumbled into dust... but the blow sent the discus wildly off course, over Tellu's shoulder.

"No, please..." Chibi-Moon stretched out her hand, thought as hard as she could at it to bring it back around and strike her from behind...

"Good move," said Tellu. "Very good move, in fact. Just not quite good enough." And another vine emerged from the gloom, clutching the depowered tiara and keeping it well out of Chibi-Moon's reach.

Saturn sagged within the pod. A few bubbles leaked from her tear ducts.

Exhausted, all but out of options, Chibi-Moon collapsed to one knee. "No," she said, clutching at her left side. Her fingers found one of her damaged ribs, she pressed hard and used the spike of pain to hone her focus. "It's not... gonna end here. I will not... give up...!" she hissed through gritted teeth. Her hand moved over her transformation brooch, opening its lid. "Please, Silver Crystal, if you can hear me, give me one more shot... I beg you, let me do this!" Tellu's visage wobbled before her eyes, but she forced herself to hold on. With everything she had left, she called out: "Moon Healing Escalation...!"

Nothing. Not even a glimmer.

"Moon Healing Escalation! MOON HEALING ESCALATION!"

There was only silence and darkness. No Silver Crystal, no light, no hope.

And as Tellu and the flower-woman laughed and the vines came casually slithering toward her, taking their time, knowing she had no means of escape, Chibi-Moon hit on one last gamble. One more crazy idea, for all the marbles. She dragged herself forward a few steps and dropped down to where Luna P lay in the dust. Pleased to see her old friend's eyes flicker back to life in response, she pressed its nose, whispered what she wanted... and struggled back upright holding the Silence Glaive to bear on her foe.

"Now who's the desperate one?" Tellu cackled and spread her five remaining arms wide, smug and convinced of her victory. Her tail swished back and forth, a cat having sighted a bird. "You can barely even hold that thing, let alone use it. You should have stayed in the illusion my seedlings crafted for you, Chibi-Moon... it would have been easy. You could have spent your last moments feeling nothing but ecstasy until I cut you down. But this? This you'll feel, and I'll make it last."

The Glaive tugged more fiercely than ever before, almost tearing itself out of Chibi-Moon's grip. She held on, determined to go out fighting—

Inside the pod, Saturn's fist thunked against the inner wall. It was a curious thing she did then: excitedly, she held two fists apart from each other, then opened them, spreading her fingers wide. And again, she made fists, then spread them, then made fists...

Her intent took a few seconds to penetrate the red haze clouding Chibi-Moon's brain. Let go? But that was crazy, letting go would be giving up her last weapon.

Something clicked. Wait a minute. I get it.

With a soft smile, Chibi-Moon let go.

Like a torpedo, the Silence Glaive rocketed from her hands, covering the distance between herself and Tellu in less than a quarter of a second. Blade-first, it cleaved effortlessly through the outer skin of Tellu's pod and kept going, sticking itself in its back wall centimeters from Saturn's left ear. Tellu didn't even have a chance to begin a scream before Saturn's hands reached up and closed around its shaft. A violet aura flared from her body as she wrenched it free and gave it a mighty swing...

A tidal wave of glowing sap erupted from the gaping wound in the pod's outer wall. Saturn didn't stop... and now Tellu screamed, her voice harmonizing weirdly with that of the Xenian Flower as her prey carved her way out of her belly, slicing anything between herself and Chibi-Moon to ribbons.

"Chibi-Moon!" Her name burst from Saturn's lips the moment she tore the clinging flower mask free. Despite being injured, half-drained, and soaked head to toe in syrupy amber goo, she sprinted to Chibi-Moon, seized her face in her hands, and kissed her, long and hard...

Chibi-Moon sighed and happily lost herself in it. A little grosser than usual because of all the sap, but Saturn was all right. Saturn was all right... "We..." she managed once she came up for air. "We... even now...?"

"Who's keeping track?" Saturn laughed, a sound like a healing salve to Chibi-Moon's soul... and on that note, Saturn's hands hovered over her side, glowing with gentle light. "I'm sorry," she said. "Try not to move much. My powers can give you a quick patch-up, but we need to get you back to the Lighthouse for proper treatment."

"Nnngh." Chibi-Moon grimaced once it was done. The hurt wasn't gone, but lessened to a bearable level. "What about you? The explosion—"

"I can pass out later," said Saturn. "You brought Messiah, didn't you?"

"Y-yeah, it's in Luna P."

"Good." She knelt before the balloon, which raised itself a centimeter or two off the ground and chirruped weakly. Its own self-repair systems were still working, thankfully. Saturn touched its nose, withdrew the pink bunny charm, clasped it tight... and turned on her heel to face Tellu, who was still screaming blue murder as she bled rivers of sap and tried in vain to hold the gutted remains of her stomach together with her hands. "This thing..." Saturn all but spat, "... needs to die. Nunc lento sonitu—"

"Saturn...!" Aghast, Chibi-Moon made a grab for her wrist. Sure, she was the one who first suggested it up on the surface, but to see her go right for the final option in the state she was in, without any hesitation... "Saturn, wait! She needs to die, no argument here, but you're still beat up from before, and God only knows how much of your energy she fed on! Never mind the year off, you know how much the Morendo takes out of you... if you use it now, you'll kill yourself!"

To her astonishment, Saturn's voice went as hard and frigid as winter ice, losing all of her fabled calm. "After what she did to both of us, I would call that a fair trade."

Of all the terrifying things Chibi-Moon had seen, heard, and felt in the last few hours, that was the one that scared her the most, just narrowly edging out the you-know-whats in the Labyrinth. "No." She squeezed Saturn's wrist, as hard as she was able. "No talking like that. I just got you back, I am not gonna risk losing you again. Trash like her isn't worth it."

"But—" An odd expression floated over Saturn's face, just for an instant.

"No buts, except yours in bed, in our room back at the Lighthouse when this is over." Shaking, Chibi-Moon rose to her feet. "After tonight, we're both taking medical leave for as long as it takes, end of discussion. You and I can still take her out with a combo attack, okay? Your Revolution and my AMP attack together should be more than enough to make it stick."

"Should?"

"Will," she said firmly. "Please, Saturn, save the Morendo for Joker, I'm begging you! Sakura-chan's fighting so hard up there... for all we know, we may not even need it!"

A heartstopping pause followed. "All right," said Saturn, to her immense relief. "I trust you."

"You..." Tellu spoke in a seething escape of air, glaring pure, murderous hatred at the both of them. How was she even still standing? Her root-legs thudded against the tunnel floor as she advanced, but slowly, losing her footing a bit in the pool of sap beneath her. "Not again... do you hear me?" She let go of the trailing scraps of pod still attached to her body, which she had been trying to hold together long enough for the sap to cement them back together... Chibi-Moon almost retched again. "I will not... die to you... again...!"

"You're not dying to her," said Saturn as she slammed the Glaive's blunt end into the floor. "You're dying to us."

"Y-yeah." Chibi-Moon smirked. "In the name of the moon... your ugly ass is toast. Diana P, you good?"

"[A-at on-once, Small La-Lady,]" said her AMP, not without some difficulty. Poor thing, at least it would be able to rest soon. "[Wa-Wand Mode functions re-restored.]"

"Attagirl, just do your best. Change, Diana P!"

The bangle poofed, resuming its form as the Moon Kitty Rod, with one crucial difference: the bottom of it now bore an empty concave slot. "Luna P, you're up next."

It drifted up at her command, its flight halting and jerky, but it still responded. Luna P erupted in smoke, changing into her original weapon... and with great satisfaction, Chibi-Moon slid the golden pommel on its end into the Kitty Rod's slot and twisted both wands into position with a satisfying, heavy click. The Kitty Rod'sinternal systems made a pleasant humming sound as they warmed up...

An unnatural chill washed over her, bringing with it a tide of goosebumps as next to her, ethereal violet ribbons entwined both Saturn and the Silence Glaive. That beautiful, terrible force that she wielded rose up within her and around her, the power of Destruction strained to be released...

Tellu and the Xenian Flower both screamed. In one last, desperate assault, the fused monstrosity hurled all of her remaining vines at them like a fusillade of spears as she thundered down the tunnel, claws wide, tearing her wounds back open but too enraged to care.

"Death Reborn Revolution!" Saturn's ribbons struck her from all sides. One by one her arms shriveled, the flowers lining her back withered and browned, her vines wore away to threads and then to nothing. The Xenian Flower in her eye screamed piteously as it was consumed, and yet Tellu still kept up her charge, even as her root-legs weakened and gave way from her weight.

Now it was Chibi-Moon's turn. She dropped to one knee and twirled the Twin Moon Baton in a full circle to prime it. The heart-shaped crystals on both ends pulsed from within with outward-expanding waves of fuschia energy, faster and faster until they resembled strobe lights. Chibi-Moon howled the invocation: "PINK MOON DIAMOND REACTION!"

The recoil knocked her on her butt, as it had without fail every time she practiced this attack back at the Lighthouse. However, a little discomfort was nothing compared to what was about to befall Tellu. The Baton's combined release was a veritable cannon blast of heart-shaped power, flanked on all sides by a dozen smaller hearts that orbited around it at blinding speed. These smaller hearts sped ahead and struck Tellu first, decaying whatever they touched into glittering moondust... and then the larger one flooded her with holy energy as it hit her like a train. Which, having almost been hit by one earlier, Chibi-Moon could doubly appreciate.

Unearthly radiance lit the tunnel, every dusty centimeter thrown into sharp relief. As Tellu's scream finally, finally petered out, all of Chibi-Moon's accumulated exhaustion crashed down on her at once, as if local gravity had just doubled. Next to her, Saturn sank to her knees, only still upright thanks to her death grip on the Silence Glaive.

Stillness and quiet descended on the old tunnel at last. Chibi-Moon reached for Saturn's hand. "You... okay...?"

There was that soft little laugh that she adored. "Not remotely." She took it and squeezed.

"I guess we should call in to get a—"

Something moved.

Drained and wounded as she was, Saturn was still in better shape than she was. In an eyeblink, she had moved to cover her front and pointed the Glaive in the direction of that movement. She sucked in her breath.

"I... t-t-told you..." The pathetic humanoid shape—or approximately forty percent of one—dragged herself closer via the one arm she had left... her original human (or Daimon-human) arm. Saturn's Revolution had done its job; every trace of the Xenian Flower was gone, leaving Tellu with that arm, one eye, her head, and her torso down to her hips. Everything else... wasn't. "I... told you..." she croaked, her eye bright with madness. "I'll... kill you, Chibi-Moon..." Closer, closer, inch by inch, using her ragged fingernails for traction. "And this time... Plu—"

-static-

Saturn suddenly pushed her aside, and hurled herself in the opposite direction. All Chibi-Moon saw was a crimson half-crescent, lighting quick. It swept down the middle of Tellu's broken body, vertically bisecting her. Both halves of her let out a small but prolonged rattling noise from their lips, a sound that persisted as she disintegrated into particles of ash. From the way she twitched in her final moments and the expression of slack-jawed, unthinkable agony on her face, it was apparent that she felt every nanosecond of it. Her torso crumbled first, then her arm, then her face, and finally her eye... then, nothing.

Stunned speechless, Chibi-Moon looked up...

The Time Reaper.

It hovered less than a meter away, having appeared from thin air without sound, with no warning except for the split-second burst of white noise that always accompanied its arrival. Its very presence rendered the atmosphere not just cold, but lifeless, as if it were draining the tunnel of what little life there was in it. Its bleached skull and hollow eye sockets were mostly hidden in the shadows beneath its ragged black hood. Silently, almost casually, it withdrew its twisted metal scythe, and the slash of crackling crimson energy that was its blade extinguished, drawn back into the jewel at the staff's crown. Some unknown force swirled the Reaper's black cloak around it even in the still air, it was in constant motion, as if it had a mind of its own. But the Reaper itself stayed unnaturally motionless, waiting there...

"No," Chibi-Moon heard Saturn moan. "Not now!"

The Time Reaper said nothing.

"Saturn," said Chibi-Moon. Terrified though she was, she crawled over the twisted rails, found Saturn's hand, and seized it tight. "You got anything left in you?"

One look was all that was necessary to confirm it, but Saturn answered anyway. "No. You?"

An odd sort of half-laugh, half-sob came from her. "Me neither. I doubt I have enough power left to butter a piece of toast."

The Time Reaper said nothing.

"But," said Chibi-Moon, trying to smile, "hell if I'm going out lying down. Come on, up we go."

Saturn did, hauling her to her feet. The two wrapped their arms around each other for support.

"Saturn," said Chibi-Moon. "No, Hotaru. If this is really the end for us..." She swallowed. "I want you to know that I love you, with all my heart. And wherever we go, we'll find each other again. I promise."

Saturn's pale cheeks flushed. "I love you too, Chibi-Usa. Always. I know we'll be all right, someday. Somehow."

The Time Reaper said nothing.

Holding Saturn tight, Chibi-Moon stared at it right in its hooded face, daring it to bring the scythe down on her first. Out of the corner of her eye, she was gratified to see her partner doing the same.

The Time Reaper said nothing... but a great, dark wind blew out from beneath its cloak, washing over them both. Chibi-Moon held on as long as she could, but eventually her vision went black...

*****

Elsewhere

Apart from the fact that she couldn't move, she awoke feeling... better. Lots better. A little shifting in place was all she needed to confirm that her cracked ribs were healed. Her limbs, though. Someone had put her limbs in something cold, hard, and unspeakably heavy, they wouldn't budge.

Chibi-Moon blinked her bleary eyes. There were lots and lots of tiny lights and glowing things. Further inspection revealed row and rows of sophisticated equipment... banks of screens both traditional and holographic, depicting graphs, diagrams, formulae, and numerical data that she couldn't make head or tails of for the most part. No, that wasn't exactly true. At least a couple diagrams she recognized as parts of the human anatomy: skeletal structure, nervous system maps, musculature. Science was Ami's thing, but she got by. Better than Usagi ever did, anyway.

Now, for her limbs. Chibi-Moon turned to examine them. She was spread-eagled, and each leg to mid-thigh and each arm to within a few centimeters of the shoulder was swallowed up by an enormous metal... thing clamped around it, swallowing it whole. Ten centimeters thick or more, made of solid, gleaming steel, or something that looked like it. She shifted again... there was form-fitting padding inside the restraints, so they weren't exactly uncomfortable, but she was pretty well pinned in place.

Another examination confirmed it, she was in some sort of laboratory. There were at least a dozen ominous-looking tanks spaced around, each one big enough to hold a person inside... but only one tank was occupied, by a vaguely humanoid shape submerged in cool blue, bubbling liquid that obscured any other details. With a heavy heart, she saw that Luna P, Diana P, the Silence Glaive, and Messiah all floated within an energy field of some sort on the other side of the room. Apparently undamaged, but out of reach. Someone was thorough, and her heart sank further as she realized that she probably knew just who that someone was.

"Ch... Chibi-Moon...?" said Saturn's voice from her right, sounding small and miserable. A glance confirmed that their captor had restrained her in the same manner.

"Here," said Chibi-Moon. "Are... are you okay too? Your injuries, I mean?"

"Mmm-hmm. Nothing hurts at all." Her statement was only partly true; there was plenty of hurt written on her face, none of it physical. "Are you thinking—"

"Yeah," said Chibi-Moon, woeful. "Me too. I figured." Dammit, she didn't deserve this, not with all she had been through!

"Of course you did," said a new voice, a deep baritone from somewhere in the darkness of the lab. "Please pardon the accommodations. Restraining you like this isn't my preference, but I'm under orders. Healing your injuries, however... that was done of my own volition."

Saturn heard that voice, went tense as a taut wire for a second, and then sagged, her features falling into an expression of unfathomable regret. She knew, of course. She had known from the moment she saw Eudial step from the shadows of the Game Center Crown. Being aware of it was one thing, but hearing that voice again, confirming her worst fears...

Light reflected off the lenses of a pair of round glasses, illuminating them before the figure could fully emerge. One lens was ordinary, the other was carved with a series of intricate lines in the shape of an eye, surrounded by the pattern of a five-pointed star. Shadows gave way to the handsome face of a pale man in his early forties, tall and slim but well-built, his wavy hair shock white. When he looked at Chibi-Usa, his expression was one of faint distaste. By contrast, when he looked at Saturn, emotions danced in his one visible eye: sorrow, rage, hatred, joy, loss, self-loathing, and remorse mixed into one another like a swirl of watercolor paints so that one could hardly be distinguished from the others. The only one that stood out clear from the others was love... deep, bittersweet, unbearable love. "You're here," said Professor Souchi Tomoe, his voice heavy with the burden of many years. "Finally, I have you back... Hotaru."

Saturn swallowed and spoke through tears, resigned to the truth. "Hello, Papa."

END OF CHAPTER 55

NEXT: LOOK DOWN

[Author's note:

Thanks and apologies to Peter David, the line was too good not to steal.

Suggested soundtrack for the end of Sakura's scene: the opening theme from the DC Animated Universe's Justice League animated series, by Lolita Ritmanis.

New fan art from Erin Ptah: https://www.deviantart.com/erinptah/art/No-One-Has-Suffered-What-I-Have-904363627

For more magical girl goodness, please check out my Pa*treon at bhsdesk! You can now get some pretty amazing rewards by pledging very small amounts!

You can also show your appreciation and help me out by keeping the Shattered Skies: The Morning Lights pages on TVTropes updated! Additionally, you can donate at Pay*Pal [pp-dot-me-slash-bhsdesk]... if you like this chapter, please consider tossing a few bucks my way, it'll be of great help!

And remember, comments and detailed feedback are an author's food pellets, so leave plenty! - BHS]