Author's Note: If you wish to comment on my story, either positively or negatively, don't hesitate to contact me at treetop@voicenet.com. Sailor Moon and all related characters are the property of Takeuchi Naoko, Toei Animation and DIC. So, please, don't sue me because I haven't any money. I do this strictly for entertainment purposes, not copyright infringement.
The Resurrection Dilemma
by Jeffrey C. Branch
Part Three: Combat On Ice
Rating: R
The Scouts and the familiars were stunned as they gaped at the hulking robots that stood behind a smirking Dharsite.
"You and your big mouth!" Sailor Mars growled at Sailor Moon.
"Bite me, Mars," Moon shot back.
"What's the matter, Dharsite? No guts to fight us yourself?" Sailor Jupiter snarled at the enemy, her fists tightly clenched.
Dharsite looked at Jupiter with open disdain. "Me? Fight? Don't be ridiculous. I positively abhor physical confrontations. It's not....ladylike. That's what I have my mechanical surrogates for. These, my pretty soldiers, are what I call Steel Demons. They will be your doom."
"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Sailor Venus snapped. "Venus Crescent Beam....SMASH!"
Twin crescents of golden light enveloped Venus' hands as she pointed at the robots and released her powerful energy beam, blowing holes through two of the metal monsters and knocking them off their feet. Dharsite, taken completely by surprise yelped and dove out of the way.
"Way to go, Venus! Let's trash these suckers!" Jupiter yelled triumphantly. "Jupiter Thunder....CRASH!"
An antenna rose on Jupiter's tiara, the sky darkened and ozone permeated the air as the green skirted amazon summoned a bolt of lightning from above. The raw, crackling energy danced around her body for a split second before Jupiter hurled it at the robots, smashing three more.
"Save some for me!" shouted Mars. "Mars Fire....IGNITE!"
Her brows knitted from intense concentration, Mars' body glowed a bright red as she brought her powers into play. With the ice melting under her feet, Mars pointed her index fingers at the robots and unleashed a powerful bolt of flame which took out two more of the machines.
Luna and Artemis, observing the battle from a safe distance were greatly impressed at how the Scouts quickly took the battle to the enemy, their fears squelched as they concentrated on combat. In a matter of seconds, two-thirds of Dharsite's robots had been incapacitated.
Dharsite, enraged, pressed a button on her control box. "Oh, you think you're powerful, eh? Well, let me show you what real power is!"
The three remaining robots rumbled towards the Sailors. They raised their arms and gun barrels rose from couplings in their wrists. An instant later, laser fire erupted from those barrels. Meanwhile, the felled robots, severely damaged in the initial assault, their metal hides badly scored and smoking rose shakily to their feet and joined in the counterattack.
"Yikes! Scatter everyone!" Moon yelled, barely dodging the laser fire with her superhuman agility.
"What do you think we're doing, you idiot?" an angry Mars yelled back. Despite her speed, one laser blast hit her solidly on her left side, burning through her tunic and scorching her flesh. With an ear piercing shriek of pain, Mars fell face first to the icy ground and didn't move. That was when everything went straight to hell.
"MARS!" cried Moon, rushing to the felled Sailor's side.
Mars' scream caused the others to freeze. The sound echoed endlessly through the corridors of their minds, throwing open doors they fought to keep closed since their return to the Pole. With those doors now open, the terrible visions of six months ago came pouring out in a flood of violent images, brutally reminding the Scouts of the horror they endured. The pain. The suffering. The death.
Suddenly, Mercury, Jupiter and Venus weren't seeing Dharsite's robots, instead they saw Queen Beryl's menacing harpies, the creatures they fought here. The creatures that killed them here. The effect that had on the Scouts' collective psyche was nightmarish.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" screamed a horrified Mercury.
"Stay back! Don't come near me! Please!" Venus shrieked.
"Keep away! I don't want to die again!" pleaded a terrified Jupiter.
Luna and Artemis gasped from shock. At the worst possible moment, the Scouts had come apart, something they feared, but prayed wouldn't happen. Even Dharsite was taken aback at watching the Sailors, cowering on the ground and crying like frightened children. Frowning at first, the woman then broke out in a huge smile.
"An unexpected surprise. But a pleasant one nonetheless," she said happily. "This should make killing the lot of you so much easier."
The stranger's dreams were becoming more and more vivid every time he closed his eyes.
Now, he remembered being part of a force, a cadre, an army. He wore a uniform, just like the tattered remnants he had been found in almost a week ago. His heart filled with boundless cruelty, he commanded loyal underlings who followed his orders without question, and usually with a disturbing degree of zeal. Exactly what he commanded those followers to do wasn't entirely clear. Something to do with the gathering of power.
The stranger also remembered having to answer to a powerful woman who ruled over him. She was tall, although she rarely stood. Her hair was long and the color of flame. Her eyes were dark and filled with terrible menace. The woman, the very personification of evil presided over a realm that was black, cold and foreboding. Seated at a throne, the stranger could hear the woman call to him by a strange, yet familiar name.
"Jed....Jed....Jed...."
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" the stranger cried, bolting up from his bed. Close to panic, he looked around him but found himself staring at Miko who, sitting at his bedside jumped, clearly startled.
"Miko? I'm sorry. I didn't know you were here," he said.
Miko bowed. "No. It is I who should be sorry for having disturbed your privacy. I had finished my chores and decided to look in on you."
His heartbeat slowing down, the stranger relaxed and sat up in bed. He started at Miko intently for a moment and could see deep interest shining in her eyes. "Really. How long ago was that?" he asked casually.
Miko, blushing, lowered her head. "Two hours ago."
The stranger smiled. "And you've been at my bedside all that time? I'm flattered. During your nursing days, did you give all your patients such attention? Or am I a special case?"
"I....I'm not sure. This is going to sound terribly foolish, but there's something about you that I find....intriguing. Looking at you stirs something deep inside me. Something I haven't felt for a very long time."
The stranger frowned. Even a blind man could see Miko was attracted to him. He didn't know how to handle that. His gaze then took him down to Miko's left hand. "I noticed the ring. You were married?"
Miko nodded, unable to speak.
"What happened? A divorce?"
Miko shook her head slowly. "Worse. Two years ago, my husband, Toshiro was repairing a tractor when it collapsed on him. He was killed instantly. I've been raising my son and running this farm alone ever since."
"I'm truly sorry, Miko." The stranger saw the tears trickling from Miko's eyes and felt ashamed for his curiosity. "I didn't mean to dredge up such painful memories."
Miko shrugged and wiped her eyes. "You don't have to apologize. You couldn't have known, Jed."
The stranger arched an eyebrow. "What did you call me?"
"Jed. You muttered that name in your sleep just before you woke up." "Interesting. Well, I can live with that. Jed it is."
"Your memory must finally be returning. I'm so happy for you."
"Yes. I believe you are." Jed and Miko looked into each other's eyes for what seemed like an eternity. Miko saw strength, power and, nobility in Jed while he saw kindness, gentleness and compassion in Miko. Jed felt something grow inside him, a feeling he had never experienced before. He couldn't put a name to it but decided he liked it.
Acting on instinct, one he couldn't comprehend, much less control, Jed leaned close to Miko and briefly brushed his lips against hers which were soft and warm. He liked that too. After he pulled back, he looked at Miko and she nodded. Jed then took Miko into his arms and kissed her, long and passionately, like he had never kissed anyone before. Both the feeling, and the moment was glorious, beautiful, one he wished would never end.
When their lips parted, Jed held Miko tightly in his arms and she smiled at him. He could never remember being so....happy.
"When Toshiro died, I swore to be faithful to his memory. Swore never to love another man," Miko said breathlessly. "But you changed all that, Jed. You've awakened my slumbering heart, you've given me a reason to live again. I....I'm in love you, Jed. I fell in love with you from the moment I found you. It was like I was....destined to be with you."
Jed, his mind whirling, had no idea what these powerful feelings were all about. Unsure how to respond, he kissed her again. Then, he said the words that were in his heart. "I love you too, Miko."
Miko smiled, but this time, there was a feral hunger in it. Jed found it pleasurable. Leaning back, Miko slowly unbuttoned her shirt and slid it off, displaying her bare breasts which were round and full. "Take me, Jed. Make love to me. From this moment on, I am yours, and you are mine."
Jed smiled and willingly obeyed the woman who captured his heart.
Dharsite pressed a button on her control box and the robots stopped in their tracks. Overcomed by the Scouts' cries of fear and torment, Dharsite's smile widened and, falling to her knees, she massaged her crotch with her free hand. "Ohhh! OHHHHHH! Their agony! Their psychic pain! Flooding my senses! It tastes so delicious!"
The familiars, watching Dharsite were repulsed. "Dear God! Dharsite's sexually stimulated from the Scouts' anguish! What kind of sick monster is she?" Luna wondered aloud.
The only Scout unaffected by the paralyzing flashbacks was Moon, cradling the unconscious Mars in her arms. Her stomach turned from the sweet, sickly smell of Mars' roasted, smoking flesh while blood poured from a gash on her friend's head from her fall. Moon, sobbing, was beyond grief. Of all the Scouts, Moon loved Mars the most. Seeing the fiery Scout so badly injured wrecked her entire world.
"You hurt my friend," Moon snarled at Dharsite, her sorrow yielding to rage. Gently laying Mars on the ground, Moon rose to her feet, removed her tiara and willed it into her powerful energy disc. "YOU HURT MY FRIEND! For that, you're gonna pay! Moon Tiara....MAGIC!"
Moon hurled the disc at the distracted Dharsite. Seeing death speeding her way, Dharsite leaped behind one of the robots and pressed buttons on her control box before it was beheaded . Sparks flew from the neck of the decapitated robot as it toppled over while an unearthly sound pierced the air, a sound not unlike a scream of agony. The sound shocked the Scouts out of their mind numbing paralysis.
Jupiter was first to regain her senses, and was instantly furious over having cowered before the enemy. Snarling, Jupiter launched herself at the nearest robot like a missile, slamming a shoulder into its chest, bowling it over. The Thunder Scout grabbed one of the robot's arms and, with a mighty roar ripped it clean out of it's socket. Still clutching the severed arm, Jupiter wheeled around and struck another robot in the head with the metal limb, almost knocking it off. For good measure, she whacked it several more times until it too was down and unmoving.
"Want some? Come get some!" Jupiter yelled at the other machines, defiantly brandishing the robot's arm like a war club.
Venus was next to join the fray, blasting two robots with her Crescent Beam. Both machines, previously damaged in the Scouts' earlier attack exploded, covering the battlefield in smoke while a pencil thin piece of shrapnel pierced Jupiter's right thigh with all the force of a bullet. Clutching her leg, Jupiter went down screaming, but no one heard her over the din of the battle. Now it was Dharsite who exploded in fury, sending the remaining robots into action. Moon scooped up Mars and ran for cover while Mercury, curious over the eerie sounds the robots made when they were destroyed crawled over to where the head of the machine Moon lopped off lay. She removed the cracked faceplate then gasped from shock at what she saw.
Inside was a human head, male, it's skin pale and bloodless, it stared up at Mercury with eyes that were impossibly wide and filled with pain and terror. Wires connected to electronic diodes streamed from its temples and shorn scalp to the sides of the helmet like enclosure. Unprepared for what she saw, Mercury's mind nearly shut down and, for the second time in as many minutes, she screamed from horror.
Dharsite, seeing Mercury examine the severed head became crazed. "Nosy little bitch! Get away from that!"
"Now's my chance!" shouted Artemis, breaking into a sudden dash.
"Chance for what? What are you doing?" a shocked Luna demanded.
"This!" Artemis leaped up at Dharsite and, in one single move, snatched the control box out of her hand.
"Stop!" shouted Dharsite. "That's mine! Come back here!"
Landing deftly to the ground, the box in his jaws, the white cat ignored the shrieking madwoman and sped towards Venus, the first Scout he saw. He dropped the box at her feet. "Quick, Venus! Smash this thing!"
Venus was puzzled. "Huh? What are you talking about?"
"Just do it! This thing's the control device for those robots!"
"That's all I need to hear!" With a wolfish grin, Venus brought her right foot down on the device like a hammer, the heel of her shoe smashing it to pieces. The robots immediately went dead, their heads lolling forward. The Scouts breathed a sigh of relief.
"NO! DAMN YOU!" roared a frenzied Dharsite.
"Mercury! We need cover! Now!" ordered Moon, afraid Dharsite might have more tricks up her sleeve. She was barely able to hold on to what little courage, and sanity she had. Her mind, swirling with memories of her last moments here half a year ago were starting to affect her.
The Scout of Water, stunned by what she saw behind the faceplate of the beheaded robot was slow to respond. Mercury felt like crying, yet she complied. "Mercury Bubbles....BLAST!"
At Mercury's command, an incredibly thick and chilling fog descended around her, the others and their enemy. "Move, everyone! Move!"
The Sailors and the familiars ran for their lives with Venus helping Moon carry the unconscious Mars while Jupiter brought up the rear, hobbling on her injured leg, the shrapnel still imbedded in it. Her tear streaked face was twisted from unimaginable agony as the Scout of Thunder silently endured the monstrous pain.
Dharsite, blinded by the fog, furious at the Scouts having escaped stumbled aimlessly about in the fog. She stumbled over the inert body of a robot and fell, eliciting a stream of profanity at the top of her lungs.
"Miserable tramps! How dare they refuse to die?" she whined. As the harsh Arctic winds blew away the smoke and Mercury's fog, Dharsite found herself alone on the ice. She saw her smashed control box and scowled. What made her even angrier was that better than half her strike force had been destroyed. "Curse them all! Now I'll have to do this the hard way!"
Dharsite closed her eyes and concentrated mightily. Suddenly, the heads of the remaining three robots arched back up and they slowly came to attention. Dharsite hated using her mental powers to control the robots as it put a tremendous strain on her mind.
"Now, which way?" Dharsite looked down at the ground and saw something that made her smile. A trail of blood on the ice.
Jed couldn't for the life of him remember the last time he felt so contented. So totally at peace with life.
Laying in bed, Miko curled in his arms, naked as was he, Jed smiled at how fortunate he was. He was alive, he was healthy, despite his fractured memory, and he had a woman by his side who adored him with all her heart. Gently caressing Miko's soft, smooth skin, Jed smiled at the remembrance of their lovemaking which was at turns, tender, fierce, and, most of all, incredibly passionate. Jed knew that Miko had been celibate as a promise of loyalty to her dead husband and had released seemingly a lifetime's worth of desire for a man in but the blink of an eye. But for him, it was vastly different. Unfamiliar even. Almost as if he had never made love in his life and desperately wanted to make up for lost time.
Never made love. What kind of man was I, he wondered.
"Oh, Jed. You were wonderful," whispered Miko. She paused to kiss him. Jed opened his mouth and felt Miko's tongue come inside to probe. He returned the favor. "Never in my life have I felt such powerfully intense pleasure. I will always remember this moment."
"As will I, darling," Jed replied. "But what about Toshi and your father? Don't you worry about them barging in?"
Miko giggled like a schoolgirl. "They're in town buying supplies for the week. That usually takes most of the day since Toshi always stops to play with his friends. Something my father reluctantly lets him do. And the door to this room is locked. It's just you....and me."
Jed grinned at Miko. He found it hard to believe that this very demure widow had become so deliciously wanton. He enjoyed the change in her. "You're taking a huge chance with me, Miko. After all, I'm a stranger with amnesia who hails from God only knows where. For all you know, I might be a serial killer on the run from the police. Aren't you afraid?"
"No, beloved. Not in the slightest. You could be Satan Himself and it wouldn't matter," said Miko, tracing an index finger along Jed's lips. "I love you, Jed, that's all I care about. I trust you, I believe in you, and, deep down in my heart, I know you would never hurt me or my family."
"Well, as long as I live, nothing, or nobody will ever hurt you. I'll protect you to my dying breath. You have my word on that," Jed vowed. "Speaking of your family, what do we tell Toshi and your father?"
"I'll think of something. But for now, let's concentrate on the moment. On us." Miko ran a hand through Jed's hair as she kissed him.
Jed thrilled to the emotion that came from having Miko's lips caressing his and the blistering heat of passion he felt inside her.
This is better than ruling the Negaverse, he thought. Then he frowned. Negaverse? What in blazes is that?
Running solely on adrenaline, the Scouts and the familiars covered a good half mile before collapsing near a snow bank to rest.
"We've got to escape while we have the chance!" said Luna. "Someone wake up Raye. We need her conscious for the Sailor Teleport!"
"Yeah, and do it fast!" croaked Jupiter, her face locked in a grimace. "I've left Dharsite a trail for her to follow us!"
Everyone glanced at Jupiter and, for the first time saw the steel sliver sticking out of her thigh and the blood pouring down her leg which trailed behind her on the icy ground. Her strength gone, she collapsed.
"Oh, Jesus! Lita!" cried Venus, her heart in her throat as she rushed to the side of her friend. Sobbing, Venus cradled the wounded girl in her arms. "Hold on, babe! Hold on! I'll pull this out!"
"No! Don't!" Jupiter yelled angrily, pushing away Venus' hand as it reached for the shrapnel. "I'll pass out from shock if you do that! I'm barely hanging on now! Let's get the hell outta here while we still can!"
Moon, beside herself from fear at the memories trying to crowd into her mind and anguished at seeing Jupiter bleeding did the only thing she could think of doing, she slapped Mars across her face. Hard. "C'mon, Raye! Wake up! Wake up! We need you!"
After a fourth slap, Moon was stopped in mid-swing by Mars whose eyes snapped open. She glared angrily at Moon. "Hit me like that again, Serena, and I'll break your stinking arm!"
Moon pouted. "You're welcome, Raye! Glad to see you're alright!"
"Enough talk! Scouts! Form the circle!" ordered Luna.
With Mars weak and Jupiter unable to stand, the Scouts formed the circle for the Sailor Teleport on their knees while the familiars stood in the middle. Artemis' eyes widened when he spotted a gray colored form and three, tall, lumbering shapes in the distance.
"The Demons are coming! It's now or never, team!" he shouted.
"MERCURY POWER!"
"MARS POWER!"
"JUPITER POWER!"
"VENUS POWER!"
"MOON PRISM POWER!"
Nothing happened. Chills rand down Luna's spine as she saw Dharsite and her robots coming closer. "Concentrate, Scouts! Concentrate!"
The Scouts did, their faces drawn and tight, their teeth clenched. Suddenly they felt a strong tingle, like a mild electric shock course through their bodies which began to glow like five suns from the power building up inside them.
Luna and Artemis were scared. Even with everyone healthy, the teleportation maneuver was an extremely dangerous operation. A lapse in concentration on the part of any one Scout could spell death for all. With Mars and Jupiter injured and the minds of the others in turmoil, the familiars wondered if the Sailors could pull it off this time. And if they did, where would they wind up? Back home in Tokyo? The middle of the Pacific Ocean? The bottom of an active volcano?
Seeing Dharsite and the robots coming ever closer, Luna resigned herself to fate. Anyplace but here, she thought. "NOW!"
"SAILOR TELEPORT POWER!" the Scouts yelled in one voice.
Dharsite, only ten yards away watched as a brilliant moonbeam descended from the heavens and enveloped the kneeling Scouts who started to disappear. Realizing her prey was escaping, the madwoman from the Negaverse sent a mental command to her robots to fire their lasers, but it was too late as the Sailors vanished. The scream of rage that tore from Dharsite's throat was as terrifying as it was inhuman.
Walking up to the edge of a shallow crater left behind by the transported Scouts, Dharsite knelt. Removing a glove, she dipped an index finger in the blood left behind by Jupiter and brought it to her lips. She smiled at how sweet it tasted. Eager for more, she laid down on the ice and slowly lapped up the blood like a cat lapping milk from a bowl. She cooed from sheer delight. Dharsite then picked up faint traces of the psychic and physical pain Jupiter suffered. That too was delicious to her. At that moment, Dharsite no longer wanted to kill the Scouts as a new, more sinister purpose came to mind.
"I hurt the pretty Sailors. Hurt them badly. And it felt glorious," she muttered. A demonic grin curled her red stained mouth. "Perhaps I can dream up a better way to take my revenge on them. One that will satisfy me for a lifetime. You can run, my dears, but you cannot hide."
Raye Hino was burning. Her clothes, her flesh, even her soul were on fire. Caught fast in the grip of terrible, searing pain, she screamed for help to extinguish the flames that were hungrily consuming her.
But the psychic pain Raye felt was far worse than the physical torture. For days on end, years on end, Raye meditated religiously before the sacred flame at the temple which had been her home since childhood, a childhood that was grim and filled with loneliness. Raye came to trust the fire, to believe in the fire, to fall in love with it's beauty, it's magic, it's power. In some ways, the fire was her one and only lover. As a Shinto Priestess, Raye used fire to gain knowledge, to forecast future events, and to search out evil. As Sailor Mars, she used fire to destroy evil.
Now, Raye had been betrayed by her fiery partner. The flames she passionately embraced for half her life were destroying her. She begged, she pleaded for someone to rescue her, but no one came.
No one's ever come for me. No one's ever helped me, she thought bitterly. Not my mom who died when I was young. Not my dad who abandoned me so he could play politics. Not Grandpa who's always too busy running the temple to notice my pain. Not Chad, caught up playing Grandpa's stupid sidekick, not anyone! I'm dying! I'm burning alive! And no one cares about me! Why? WHY?
Suddenly, Raye saw a face. A familiar face. A beautiful, angelic face framed by golden blond hair tied in pigtails with buns on top and huge blue eyes filled with worry. The girl's lips moved and Raye heard her anguished, pleading voice.
"Raye! Come back to us! Please! Don't leave us! Don't leave me...."
With a loud gasp, Raye bolted up, terror in her eyes. She looked around and found herself amidst the comfortable, familiar surroundings of her bedroom. And seated beside her were Serena and Amy while Luna and Artemis were at the foot of the bed she was in.
"Thank God! You're awake!" cried Serena. Throwing her arms around Raye in a bear hug, she proceeded to cry like a baby. "I was so scared, Raye! We thought you'd never wake up!"
Raye, happy for human contact, happy to be alive returned Serena's embrace with all her strength. Smiling at how good it felt, Raye wept from joy because she wasn't alone after all. She had Serena. Her best friend. The only one who came for her. The only one who truly loved her. Serena reluctantly parted so a teary eyed Amy could hug her. "That makes two of us," Raye said, her voice thick from emotion. "What happened?"
"To put it bluntly, we were routed," said a dour Luna. "We were lucky to escape with our lives before Dharsite's robots fired on us."
Artemis nodded. "You can say that again. A second later and we'd be dead meat right now."
Raye looked around and instantly became worried. Two people were missing. "Lita! Mina! Where are they?"
"Lita's in the hospital," Amy replied, her expression dour. "Between the blood she lost from her leg wound and the strain of the teleport, Lita lapsed into a coma after we returned home. We had no choice but to admit her to Tokyo General. As it was, we almost lost her. You went into shock as well but recovered. How do you feel."
"Like crap." Raye pulled up her pajama top and saw a large bandage covering the lower portion of her entire left side which was painfully sore and ached when she moved or touched it. She then felt her head, also bandaged start to throb. "I feel like I'm in a furnace."
Amy nodded. "I don't doubt it. You had a concussion. Your temperature is almost one hundred and, up until the time you awakened, you were delirious. You kept pleading for someone to save you from the flames, whatever that meant."
Raye frowned. She didn't think she had been talking during her nightmare. "How bad were my burns?"
"Second degree. It was pretty ugly," said Serena, making a face.
"No kidding, Meatball Head!" Raye snapped back. "Where's Mina?"
"With Lita. Mina was really broken up over what happened to her. I mean, she was hysterical from grief," said a glum faced Artemis. "She's been at Lita's bedside ever since she was admitted two days ago."
Raye gasped. "Two days? I've been out that long?"
Luna nodded. "I'm afraid so. Dharsite and her Steel Demons really gave us a run for our money. It didn't help matters any that Amy, Lita and Mina were....incapacitated during the battle."
"Incapacitated? What are you talking about?" demanded Raye. She then stared at Amy. "Talk to me, Ames! What did Dharsite do to take down you and the others?"
Amy, her face long and weary, breathed a heavy sigh before she spoke. "Nothing, Raye. We did it to ourselves."
Mina couldn't stop the tears. For two days, she sat diligently at Lita's bedside at the hospital, not eating and barely sleeping while waiting for her friend to awaken, holding her hand and crying the whole time. Every time Mina closed her eyes, she saw Lita, dragging her blood drenched right leg, the piece of shrapnel sticking out of her thigh. Just the thought of her friend suffering made Mina's heart ache uncontrollably. For two days, Lita had been unconscious ever since arriving at the hospital.
"Oh, Lita. Please wake up. You have to wake up. I don't know what I'd do without you in my life," a heartsick Mina said.
Then, almost as if her plea had been answered, Lita's eyelids fluttered, then slowly opened. Not recognizing her surroundings, Lita, moaning softly, looked around her before focusing on Mina.
"Mina?" she asked, her voice a whisper.
"Yeah, babe, it's me. Welcome back!" cried an overjoyed Mina. Sitting on the bed, she hugged Lita.
"Where....am I?" Lita asked. She sat up in bed and winced from her injured leg which throbbed mightily.
"Take it easy. You're in Tokyo General Hospital. You've been here ever since we got back from the North Pole two days ago."
Lita gasped. "Two days ago? Was I really that bad off?"
Mina nodded. "You almost bled to death from that leg wound. Not even your Scout healing powers could help after that piece of shrapnel nicked an artery. The doctors had to operate to repair the damage but said you'll pull through, still, it was close. Too close. You very nearly died."
Lita's face clouded and she shivered. "Again." She then looked at Mina in curiosity. "You've been here all this time?"
Mina nodded. "Uh-huh. Around the clock. Serena and Amy came when they could while taking care of Raye. Luna and Artemis have been going crazy because pets aren't allowed here. But I stayed."
"Why?"
Mina took Lita's hand in hers and held it tight, her eyes glistening from emotion. "Because I didn't want you to wake up alone. Being alone is the worst feeling in the world, and it kills me to know you have no family at your bedside. I couldn't bear to leave you."
"You didn't have to do that. I've gotten used to the loneliness."
"Stop lying. Your tough girl act may fool the others, but not me. I know you're hurting. You've never let anyone get close enough to see just how lonely you really are, how much pain you've been in all these years."
Lita placed her hand on Mina's cheek. "Until now," she said softly.
"Until now. From the first day we met after that battle on the piers with Malachite and Zoicite, I've been fond of you. You've become the best friend I've always wanted, and needed," Mina said. "Serena's great, but we don't have much in common, besides boys. Being around Amy and her monster I.Q. makes me feel like the original dumb blonde, and while I like Raye a lot, she gets on my nerves with her attitude. Being with you lifts my spirits and makes me feel incredibly good inside. Before today, I never realized just how important you really are to me, and I was scared sick because I thought I was going to lose you."
"I didn't know you felt so strongly about me. But I'm glad you've told me your feelings," said Lita, her eyes moist. Her throat tightened and her head spun from the emotions flooding her system. "I feel the exact same way about you. It's like you're a part of me, a part that's been missing from my life for years. Not since my parents died has anyone been as close to me as you are, Mina. I'm so happy to be your best friend."
For several moments, neither girl spoke as they held hands and stared deeply into each other's eyes where they saw the affection that was present, longing to be expressed. Lita nodded slightly, a signal to Mina to express that affection in the best way she knew how. With a tiny smile, Mina leaned in, Lita closed her eyes and felt Mina's lips gently press on hers. Lita felt warm all over as Mina kissed her, enjoying that special moment of pure and lasting friendship, of true intimacy that had been established between them. Once the kiss was broken, the girls embraced. Lita never felt happier in her entire life as she finally found her partner, that one special friend who would always be by her side.
"I love you, Mina," she said in a broken voice.
"And I love you, Lita," Mina replied. "As God is my witness, you'll never be alone again. I promise."
"Isn't that sweet? You've moved even me," a mocking voice said from behind the girls. Mina whirled around and found herself staring up at Dharsite, dressed in a starched white nurse's uniform, her cruel, evil smile firmly in place. "By the way, girls, nice kiss. You do that often?"
"Dharsite! How'd you find us?" Mina demanded, putting herself between the madwoman and Lita. Mina debated morphing into Sailor Venus but was afraid of putting the weakened Lita in danger from a confrontation in such close quarters.
"Oh, just call it a knack. Remind me to explain it to you someday," Dharsite replied casually. "Now, Mina----may I call you that----do you really want to fight me here? There's a risk that lots of innocent people, including your girlfriend could wind up hurt. Even killed. Not that I care, mind you. I'd relish the chance to enjoy the suffering of others. But I get the feeling you don't want that to happen. Am I right?"
Mina ground her teeth from frustration. Dharsite was right and she knew it. "What do you want?"
"You." Dharsite's eyes began to glow and Mina's brain exploded in hideous pain. She could hear Lita screaming behind her but was helpless to do anything as her body refused to obey her commands and it sank to the floor. Mina was sure she and Lita were about to die again.
I'm sorry I couldn't protect you, Lita, thought an anguished Mina. I'm so sorry....
Then the world went black.
Next: Mind Over Matter