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 Posted: Mon May 31, 2010 11:25 pm
The street was hazy with fading sunlight. The orange sun slid sluggish beams between the tall buildings of the business district of Destiny City. It was an area Sailor Taranis liked -- lots of rooftops for him to jump across. Sailor Magellan had teased him for his incessant need to stay out of the fracas, but he knew that she was glad for it. She spent more time worrying about his life than she spent worrying about her own, or even civilians.
Working together, as they did, had been less of a problem than Taranis had expected. Magellan insisted they train, and he was better off for it. She had always been fitter than him, but after months of working out, Taranis was less of a bean bag and more of a sturdy couch. He could thank Magellan for that. He could thank her for a lot of things.
It was still a little light out so they kept to the alleys, protected by the shadows. They walked hand-in-hand and often did, certainly not the best patrolling stance. Then again, they weren't patrolling that night. They were going to a meeting. The alert had come to his cellphone in the midst of one of the biggest disasters Destiny City had ever experienced. In a town plagued with disasters, largely of the supernatural variety, this was a significant thing: hundreds had been wiped out in a single instant and thrown into comas. Some Taranis knew, but the most important person to him was safe -- holding his hand, no less.
There was a dark cloud over the city, but standing next to Magellan, Taranis had a hard time feeling depressed. She had had that effect on him since the day they first met. "Who has a meeting in a parking garage? We are a part of the Soldiers of the Parking Garage." He quirked an eyebrow, tugging Dani toward him. His arms opened and he drew her into a hug, planting a kiss on her lips.
Today was special. Their six-month anniversary was that week, and in spite of the mayhem, Taranis had taken her out to dinner and given her a silver bracelet she'd admired one day in the mall. Aside from the meeting, it had been a good day. "It's about time we had a meeting. I wasn't here for the last one, and I'd like to hear from someone a little more dependable than Derp." He kissed her again and then released her. They would need to hurry. They were running late.
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Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2010 11:15 am
Dani was more than pleased that they were having a meeting. Ever since the huge senshi-wide meeting that she'd attended, she'd had some burning questions, and she was looking forward to getting answers. She didn't like all the gaps in communication, and how nobody knew jack until the crisis was already upon them. It pissed her off. It made her feel helpless, which made her even more angry.
It was difficult to be angry when she was around Parker, though. Sure, she got mad at him from time to time, but there was no denying he was basically her favorite person in the world. She couldn't think of anyone she would rather have as her partner, in civilian life or senshi life, and considered them both exquisitely lucky.
However, if they didn't get the lead out, they were going to be late. Dani didn't mind making an entrance, but she would rather not bust in and disrupt the flow of a meeting. More than that, she didn't want to miss any information.
"The last one was crazy. I've got questions for this one," Dani said, curling her fingers around Parker's hand and squeezing. "Come on, though."
There was a noise at the end of the alley, and she frowned, releasing his hand. Without waiting, or even thinking to wait, she pushed off, rushing ahead as she always did.
It didn't occur to Dani to ever let herself be the one who was protected, after all.
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Posted: Sat Jun 05, 2010 12:50 pm
It had been a very long time since Linarite had felt both pleased and confident about being a Captain of the Negaverse. Since Castor, things had only taken a downward turn for the worst - most notably with the boy she had landed on in an alley. It didn't seem that anyone had known who he was, and that also intrigued her. So when the bluenette had seen Taranis with his little senshi girlfriend, the aura-dampening bracelet she'd been given to help capture and kill Chronos had been immediately abused.
After all, two dead senshi was just as good as one dead Zodiac, wasn't it? Using her mental map of this area, of which she was thankfully familiar (boy, coincidences were amazing), Lina slid her youma into a nearby alleyway, and simply let him rampage around. If he found someone to smash, all the better, but she simply needed the noise the stone golem could produce. He wasn't in any danger, after all. Biding her time, sneaking across the rooftops, watching them hold hands was almost painful for her. She'd never been able to casually hold hands with anyone like that, and would never be able to do so with Castor. He refused to betray his goddamn moon princess, refused to see the light of her wisdom in how Serenity was simply wrong for Earth.
She would start with the girl.
Lady Luck was on her side, and at the rumbling Orgel down the dark alleyway, the sky-blue senshi with her numerous bows and ruffles started down first. It was incredibly stunning how she could simply slip on an accessory, and be totally invisible. Why didn't they all use this power all the time? The answer was simply that they didn't have the power for this, not yet, but Linarite didn't know that. Low, menacing, dropping from the rooftops with only a small click that was hidden by Orgel's rumbling, there was no preamble.
The staff glinted in the light for only a second, Linarite's face glimpsed by Magellan's eyes for a moment before the metal lashed out and whipped across the girl's face like a solid punch. She'd been meaning to simply incapacitate her, but what both she and Taranis heard was a solid crack. Neck bones snapped, her head turned to what seemed an unnatural angle. The captain didn't even bother to look and just reached out with both hands, one holding her shoulder, and the other delving into the girl's chest. The ache in her hands had returned in full-force earlier in the night, but with this power, it was all soothed.
The menace in her face melted to an almost ecstatic glow, smile wide and almost beautiful in her face. There was absolutely nothing like holding the powerful seed of a senshi in your hands, and Linarite was growing to crave it. Need it. Desire it. "Finally." It was all she said. It glowed for a moment, illuminating all three, and then a white fist closed around it, and the captain looked up at the stunned Taranis. "I'm sorry. Is this yours?" Her lips pouted into a silent air kiss, and then with a rush of power, she was gone...and so was the noise.
Orgel had been banished, and Linarite had teleported across town to deliver her prize into the hands of her respected and powerful leaders. It was two senshi to her name now, and this one hadn't even seen it coming. She'd done it alone. By herself. Obsidian wouldn't dare laugh at her now.
Back in the alley, the listless, powerless body of Magellan started falling towards the ground.
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Posted: Sat Jun 05, 2010 5:12 pm
Whatever noise Magellan had heard, Sailor Taranis had not. A lazy smile was tugging on his lips, always did when she walked away from him in her fuku. It was funny, really, to see a girl like her bound by ruffles and ribbons. They teased each other for their respective fukus daily, but truth be told, Taranis loved what the cosmos had dreamt up for the Senshi of Powder. Even with powder puffs at her ears, she looked menacing: a terror in chiffon.
That was his girlfriend.
When she turned to look at him, Magellan gave him a ghost of a smile. It seemed like she was going to say something. Taranis started to walk toward her. "They won't miss us," he said, waving a hand at her.
Sailor Taranis did not see the Negaverse agent slip into view. He didn't hear her whip her staff. The only thing he heard was the sickening crack of Magellan's neck. The only thing he saw was the sudden surprise in her eyes, the light in the pale green irises flickering bright and then slowly dulling.
Before he could do anything, the blue-haired Captain disappeared, her words a hollow ring in his ears. He didn't care about Linarite, not then. Taranis had always thought that in a life or death situation he would be filled with a sudden rage that would cause him to tear apart the cause of his pain. He envisioned himself growing twice his size and ripping apart an imagined arsonist burning down the home where he mother died. He thought of himself traveling back through time to save his sister from drowning in the pool. This was what happened, wasn't it? Great feats in the face of great pain.
But there was no rage in Taranis. There was only pain, sadness, and the overwhelming feeling that the world would end if he let Magellan's body touch the ground.
He dove forward, arms extended, to catch her falling body. She landed heavily against him, chin cracking on his shoulder. His hands were shaking so badly that he pulled free one of her powder puff earrings with his glove, a minor thing he took no notice of as it dangled from the leather. If there was breath left in her, Taranis felt it sigh past her lips, warming his ear.
His arms bent to cradle her. It was like he'd seen in movies, in a way, but there was no rain, no heart-wrenching ballad played over his ranting screams. There weren't even screams, only his hushed, tense repetition of, "Dani, Dani, Dani, Dani please, Dani please, Dani look at me, Dani, Dani, no please, Dani, don't leave me, Dani. Dani, no, no, no, Dani, no. Dani." His hand stroked her face, pulled through her hair. Her image blurred, and he blinked the tears away, arms trembling.
Everything he had ever loved.
Everything he had ever hoped for.
Everything that had made his world go back into color.
There was no solace in the dank alleyway. There was no comfort in her swiftly chilling embrace. Glamour melted off of her in glittery wisps until it was just Dani in his arms, a girl he hoped would never leave them, a girl he put all his hope for the world in -- an unfair pressure, but it was there nonetheless. Sailor Taranis held her, shaking, pressing his lips to hers as if to resuscitate her.
There was no response.
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Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 8:24 am
It was amazing how quickly a life could end. Fifteen years of loud laughter, bright smiles, and unyielding temper should have gone out in a fiery battle, or at the very least, with a scream to rip the night. Something to prove that she had been there, had lived, breathed, fought and loved on the earth, that she wouldn't accept simply being taken, not right in front of the person who mattered most to her in the world. She had been a selfish, egocentric girl at the heart of it, had forced the world to conform to the schedule she molded with her own capable hands, but she had cared about Sailor Taranis. She had cared about Parker Damhnait.
It was over too fast. This girl who woke up hours before school every morning to pound her feet against the pavement, who stayed hours after to finish her homework before she allowed herself leisure time, was too determined to simply breathe out and die. She'd never seen something in the world that she couldn't have if she tried hard enough, and more than anything else, Daniela Rymner had wanted to live. She'd wanted to graduate high school, wanted to go to prom with her boyfriend. She'd wanted to finally bring him over for a dinner with her parents that wasn't awkward and stifled. She'd wanted to spend the night at his apartment and not care what anybody thought, because even though it was scary and she wasn't sure she was ready for it, she might have really loved Parker.
She wanted so much. The world had been at her fingertips, just waiting for her to reach out and grab it, brushing against the soft velvet of her gloves, and it had slipped away. She had not even had time to fight it.
Daniela Rymner had come into the world screaming, red-faced and angry, and she had lived her life at the top of her voice ever since, until that final moment in the alley with her boyfriend. She had simply breathed in, and out, alarmingly peaceful in the face of grotesque violence, and everything had slipped away.
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Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2010 11:35 pm
Destiny City Memorial was busy; it always was. Ambulances buzzed in and out of opening breezeways, dropping off patients and then darting back out to gather more. A city of many problems had taken a great leap with the latest 'sleeping sickness' debacle. Beds were stuffed into break rooms and storage closets and hallways. Weepy mothers were sent away with their red eyes and stained cheeks, only to return the next day. When Sailor Taranis burst through the front door cradling the dead, starseedless body of Daniela Rymner, the clock on the wall kept ticking. A nurse scooted by with an armload of charts without giving him a passing glance. It wasn't until a little girl stopped to scream that anyone took notice of the wolf in the sheep's field. Senshi were still vigilantes, an unknown factor, and many blamed them for the comatose bodies lining the hospitals. Sailor Taranis ignored the screaming girl, and her father who jumped up to pull her away. Instead, he glared at the nurses who stood around staring at him and shouted, "Please, this girl needs help! You have to save her." A nurse lifted a phone and muttered something low into the receiver, shooting him a wary glance. Dani was limp, curled to his chest like a doll. One technician stepped forward, pushing a gurney. From another door, two uniformed police officers arrived. Taranis moved toward the gurney and gentled laid Dani down, just like when she fell asleep on him during movies. "She was attacked in the street, and she got hit in the head really hard, okay, very hard, and I need you to--" There was a hand on his shoulder. It was connected to a blue uniform and shining badge. He turned to face the police officer. The man was young with hard eyes. He asked Taranis to come quietly. He asked what on Earth he had done to that poor girl. He asked him not to cause in trouble. When the hand cuffs came out, Taranis snapped. He threw a fist at the nearest cop, throwing him to the ground. A heavyset woman swung her purse, and he pushed her away. A man stood, and Taranis kicked him so hard in the stomach that he fell to the ground groaning. The second cop drew his weapon, and someone screamed, a shrill voice that split the thudding in his ears. Everywhere, people dove for cover. The cop holding the gun was trying to keep his arm from shaking, but Taranis could see it wobble from where he stood. The gurney wheels squeaked. He spun wildly, throwing himself over Dani's body as the technician tried to move her away. Taranis was crying and screaming and punching anyone that came within inches of him. A nurse tried to restrain him, and he broke her nose. The cop warned him he would shoot. Colors were flashing wildly, and three men threw themselves on top of him. His hands gripped at Dani, tried to squeeze warmth back into her fingertips. A camera flashed, a picture taken. The men wrestled him to the ground and pulled him from Dani. It was the last time he would ever touch her. In a panic, Taranis shot off a sand blast. There was no room for it to form, and it did little more than create a spinning shower of sand across the entranceway to the emergency room. People screamed anyway. In the mayhem, he managed to wriggle free and dart out the hospital doors. The cop fired three shots. The first two missed. The third grazed his arm. Sailor Taranis ran off into the night, clutching the single powder puff earring of Sailor Magellan that remained. The next morning, the cover the Destiny City Times showed a picture of him thrown over the body of Daniela Rymner. The caption read: SENSHI RAMPAGES AT LOCAL HOSPITAL Parker Damhnait was not around to see it.
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