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The same thing seemed to go through Charonite's mind. He just stood there, and ground down his boot on Nerissa -- Nerissa cried out as though through a thick fog, a kind of low, embarrassing urrrhhhh noise. Like a dying yak. The kind of noise Nerissa only would have made if she was too far gone to think about being cool.

And it took a lot for Nerissa to not think about being cool. Sidra knew Charys.

"Nova," said the General-King, conversationally. "I thought it'd be you -- or that ******** feline. I'm amazed. In fact -- I KNOW YOU'RE OUT THERE, ASTRAEA," he suddenly bellowed. "I HOPE YOU'RE <******** WATCHING AS I UNDO ALL YOUR <******** WORK. I HOPE YOU HAVE ******** BACKUP."

And then his attention was back at Sailor Nova. "So as you see," he said, "we have all the chips on the table. This is Sailor Nerissa. Your partner. Your friend, am I right. Am I god damned right. You ever watched a friend die, Nova? You ever watched someone become a corpse?"

He held his hands out and shrugged, expressively. "I ******** guess not. Well, you have a front row seat. Make one move and I'll just have him yank out the seed, and your friend will be a drooling ******** vegetable in the ward of the hospital for flick off the switch."

Sailor Nova made to reach out her hand in a futile motion, but quickly jerked back at Charonite's words. Charys was in danger Her mind yelled out to her, working on overdrive.

But what could she do? He was going to kill Sailor Nerissa, Charys, HER Charys, though Charys didn't feel the same. Or-- was he? Why was he waiting, why was he hesitating? This wasn't much of a draw, HE had all the chips on the table and she had nothing unless he yanked out the star seed. Even then, she wasn't sure if she could even harm Charonite other than flesh wounds. She had only had the one chance to experiment and even then, it wasn't that effective against the brutish man.

The low, guttural keening from Nerissa was all she needed to hear and Sailor Nova winced, and replied, cautiously.

"What chips? If I have something that you want, take it. Just. Take it."

She had never felt so useless in her life.

There was little more for him to do than listen silently to the conversation between General-King and super senshi, snatching up whatever scraps of knowledge he could while still keeping himself 99% focused on keeping the star seed tight within his hand. So it was Nova, and Charonite had been expecting her. Why? Had this all been a ruse, a trap that he'd unknowingly helped set?

And he taunted her, then, waved her friend's life in front of her face just like he'd dangled that ******** chain earlier.

The senshi brought up a good point, then; what did Charonite want? And a thought occured to him, a vague bit of information that had rankled his spirits more than he'd liked. Nova was the more powerful of the two. What did that mean? Would her star seed be better for the taking? Would they snatch them both, two birds with one stone?

What the hell was the plan, here? Keep your hand on the ******** star seed, you goddamn ******** up. Yes sir, nonexistant-Charonite-telepathy, sir.

"You," said Charonite.

Apparently that was the plan. The General-King strode forward and took a handful of Sailor Nova's bodice, looming over her much shorter form. With his free hand he pushed his everpresent sunglasses up, high on his forehead, so that in the darkness Nova could see his very pale eyes. "We'll swap," he said. Deep in her heart Nova knew that he had no intention of swapping. None. He would just take her, and then go back and take Charys. "Your life -- no. Your ******** soul, Super Senshi. Your ******** soul. How about that."

Without taking his eyes off her, he said: "Leave the b***h. Come here, Lieutenant."

And then his hand went down to his whip -- this time, it did not shiver into silver silence. He snapped it down so that it coiled around her ankle, snapped it tightly shut so that she was bound.

Her?

Obsidian watched as the senshi was snatched up without any effort at all, strained to catch the words even as his grip threatened to spasm on the seed. A swap... Her soul. Was he going... to corrupt her? He rose soundlessly at the command, careful to peel his fingers from the tingly star seed. The crack of the whip seemed to seal the deal, and the lieutenant unconsciously rolled his shoulders as he stepped wordlessly to the General-King's side.

This was foreign ground, even for him, and perhaps that was the only reason that Obsidian had nothing to say. Observing was everything now--especially if, one day, this were to become a regular sort of duty for him. God, just once though, just once, he wanted to tear that ******** seed straight from one of their chests, just to clench it tightly in his fist.

One day.

She had expected the pain, had tensed for it as best that she could, but it was nothing compared to the sheer icy cold of the crackling energy being channeled through her. She gasped loudly, harshly, her body leaning back and extending as if she was being electrified, every nerve ending screaming that this was wrong, so wrong and it wasn't anything like she had expected.

And then the girl appeared and was saving Charys and it was almost as if everything was going to be all right; at least something good was going to come of this, though she could barely call it a noble sacrifice. It was the weak answer, the submissive answer, the answer that only someone at the end of their rope would have given, would have accepted. But Sailor Nova didn't care how it looked, knew she was about to end caring about anything, ever again, and was just simply grateful that Charys was going to be spared. In all of her emotional turmoil, not once had she blamed Charys. How could you blame a cat who ate your pet bird? It was just in their nature, and it was in Charys' nature to be nothing less than Charys at all times.

And so she just let it happen, let them take her starseed, or her soul or whatever they wanted, Sailor Nova weakly trying to shoo the girl away with her mind. Go, go, leave; I'll be fine. It was a lie and she wasn't speaking but it was also in Sailor Nova's nature to make sure that everyone was alright.

Sailor Nova actually started to melt. At least, that's what it looked like: her skin suddenly started to glow from underneath, a bright violet, and then started seeping over -- started colouring in black, eating away at the light, devouring it. It was as though she had suddenly gone transparent, and Obsidian and Charonite were treated to the battle raging inside of her -- the battle that she was losing, and like match to paper all the violet was eaten away. The last pool of it was at her forehead, and then --

The black melted away into feathers, feathers, black down that littered the street. What it left was --

Wasn't quite Sailor Nova.

It was an unconscious girl in Negaverse blacks, lilac gauze wound around her as though it were a cocoon. She sank to her knees, sliding off Obsidian's arm, and Charonite grabbed her and deposited her in Obsidian's arms as though she were a sack of potatoes.



He then said, "All right, let's ******** get the other one -- "

And turned around.

And strung more words containing the use of '********' together than Lieutenant Obsidian had ever heard.

He watched it all, in some sick, fascinated sort of way, not at all concerned that they had effectively just murdered the humanity of some girl; he could feel her straining against their influence, struggling like a moth caught in the fist of his hand, but her fragile, powdery wings were crushed--and they beat no more. Whatever had been Sailor Nova was gone, and he unconsciously straightened as though to better take in this... woman, how drastically different she had become.

He was a little too numb to react when she slid slowly, freeing his arm from the caverns of her chest, but when the General-King unexpectedly dumped her on him, he had to fight hard not to stagger. Shifting her weight a little to make sur ehe wouldn't drop her, the lieutenant muttered a 'yes sir' while he watched the feathers drift lifelessly down the street, turned--

--and stared, frankly, in a bit of awe at the explosion of curses that filled up the otherwise silent night. The b***h was gone--how had she moved so fast? Clearly she'd had help, and Obsidian knew enough to keep his mouth shut and, minutely, tighten his hold on the girl.

At least he hadn't ******** up... but if Charonite wanted to pin this on him, then Obsidian was as good as dead.