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The aliens had been cut down with a quickness that was as depressing as it was effective. Apparently on a mission when they were all working in concert, the Negaverse could move as one: the Zodiacs knew that. It was all deja-vu for Chronos. The General-King was mostly content to watch as his men finished up with the aliens and continued to dismantle the corpse of the dead tree.

For his part, Deathcord had turned into that grotesque length of intestine and was wound around one of the roots. The bark bubbled and withered as he did so, apparently wanting to make sure there was nothing left of the Makaiju for anyone or anything. Charonite looked up at the senshi's faces, scanned them briefly without comment or reaction, and his lens-covered eyes fell on the princess of the Zodiac Guard. He didn't even seem to care that Polaris was desperately punching at her cellphone. He didn't seem to care about anything, like it had all been a pile of laundry taken care of after too much time left to sit.

"I don't do intruders on my planet, Chronos." Deathcord undulated like a greedily swallowing throat. "What's that you Zodiacs always say? 'Hold the line'? I'm holding my ******** line."

With a wave of his hand, the other Negaverse officers were checking bodies. The barrier was still up. The last gift.

"When you kill a weed," the General-King said, "you get the roots." Captain Obsidian was still methodically hacking at the tree. "I will kill you as many times as I goddamned need to until you get off this goddamned world. Which Zodiac did you kill again, Captain?" (Obsidian called out a number.) "One down, Chronos."

The root underneath Deathcord was crumbling. "Finish it up," he barked. "Then we go. Hematite, check the barrier again."

Sailor Taranis had no idea what was going on, who half of these people were, or why a giant tree was foretelling doom. Part of him regretted following the pulse of energy, another part made his chest swell with pride and adrenaline. He was still a new senshi, less than a month on the job, and he had yet to be injured to the brink of death. It had just been youma-killing business as usual.

Seeing the female alien have her head consumed by the same psychopath that dug a stiletto through his shoulder over four months ago changed that.

Fear gripped Taranis, heart slamming like a sledgehammer against the cage of his ribs. Somehow, Tanzanite had gotten scarier, despite the rapid increase in his own magical capabilities. The red-headed guy from the park was there too, and he also seemed more menacing. The only Negaverse face missing from that first terrible brush with death was the evil senshi they called Nova. Names that had only been mentioned to him before now had faces. There was the princess, Chronos, and Polaris too. MuCephi was still near him and Taranis leaned in to whisper, breathless, "That is Charonite." It wasn't a question, or a statement. More of a holy ******** one of the big bad guys of the enemy faction is here ready to kill us all.

He watched with an odd morbid curiosity as the aliens were slaughtered like animals, herded and speared for all to see. When the barrier fell, if it fell, they would be next. His eyes flashed to those attacking the wall. "Why are we trying to bring down the one thing that is keeping them from us?" he murmured, drawing his arms up in a quasi-defensive stance.

If that barrier fell, Taranis had a hard time believing that a ball of ******** sand was going to save their lives.

His hands flew to his cellphone. He sent Sailor Magellan a message.



Whatever was happening, Taranis did not want Magellan in harm's way. If he told her something was happening and to stay away, she would materialize before he could close the phone. If he told her he could handle it, she would come anyway. No -- the only way to keep her safe was to keep her away. Taranis could just picture Magellan showing up on the other side of that barrier, fists clenched, and trying to punch Charonite in the face.

He had no desire to watch his girlfriend die.

The phone was tucked back into the pouch at his side. Sailor Taranis narrowed his eyes, hands poised at the ready. Whatever was about to happen, he intended to fight. Not like running away was an option at this point.

Maia felt heartened by the tree words, though she was saddened as well, generosity wouldn't help the tree. There powers simply were not what it needed. Her eyes turned to the look at the other Sailor Scouts when the tree addressed a princess, waiting for someone to speak. She had no idea who among them was a princess, though she knew it wasn't one of the boys.

Before her question could be anwser the negaverse was on them. Maia turned and nearly gasped, there were a lot of them. It looked as though they were in for a battle, which she was still not use to.

Suddenly she was lifted into the air, by the tree, and she fought hard not to scream. Just as quickly she seemed to be dumped unceremoniously into a pile with the other senshi. Instant she wiggled about to free herself, but as this happed the tree SACRIFICED itself and they were incased in a dome. Maia looked around to notice that some of them were missing and at the green haired senshi frantic pounding on the dome, she realized the tree had left her own children outside the dome.

Maia's eyes went wide, "No," she shouted going to pound on the dome. "Why," she shouted. She continued to beat on the dome, as beetle came up and killed one of them. Maia backed away horrified. She stood stock still watching, as the beetle torn away at it victim. Her stomach turned but she could not turn away. The words of the other senshi went unheard by the horrified teen.

The next death was to much for her and Maia gasped eyes wide she fell to her knees her now pale hand pressed against the dome. Her head was bowed and she was gaging. Tears ran down her cheek, though he hardly noticed that she was crying. She missed the next death, but she did not miss the body being dragged across the dome. She scrambled away quickly, turning to the other senshi. "It can't end like this," she whispered. She couldn't look any longer, knowing the little one who pleaded with them would die as well.

The words of the other's were filtering through to her ears now and she stood summoning her cellphone, eyes filled with anger, tears still streaming down her cheeks. When the barrier fell they would need help. She flipped open her cellphone, "The Basterds," she said with determination, "they can help us. We just have to let them know not to come alone. No one can come alone."

They hadn't even had their first meeting yet, but they had to know each other, right! Right? Maia wasn't even certain if she'd remembered to get Europa's number at the rink, but even if she didn't she knew she had Navis's ....

Maia was going to fight to her last, despite her defensive attack, she had too.

Hematite slunk over to the barrier, to one of the sides that hadn't been covered in blood and gore. It was admittedly not his idea of a good time, potentially freeing a dozen angry senshi and being their closest target, but that wasn't half the guarantee of death that standing around and arguing with the General-King would entail. Well, would Charonite really send him to his death after the last time he'd come close to it? He sure as hell hoped not. The captain's weapon had popped back into existence as he walked, an ostentatious boomerang with far too many sharp parts.

The senshi had become largely disentangled by this point, staring in shock and horror and anger. All but a few had given up on breaking out of the barrier from the inside, Hematite noted. Touching and knocking with a bare hand didn't do anything. The barrier felt like glass, impenetrable glass, and made faint buzzing and crackling sounds when it was disturbed. Trying to jab his weapon through it only sent it bouncing back off the smooth surface. Well, that was easy. He shrugged his shoulders, giving a sideways glance over to where the rest of the Negaversers were dismantling the Tree.

"Still as unbreakable as Obsidian's thick skull," he called back, making what he thought was a perfectly reasonable comparison.

Sailor Corvus had no one to call. All of the senshi that she would have relied on, the whole two of them, were here behind the Makaiju's barrier. Eridanus, MuCephi... So many were frantically dialing and while they did she remained where she was, head buried against Eridanus's shoulder.

It was Chronos's words that drew her back to the scene at hand. Chin up; it's not over yet...

She brought her hand up, wiping at her face as though it would make a difference in how puffy her eyes were. A glance was spared for Eridanus before she stood, offering him her hand to help him to his feet. They were both offensive senshi and so they took their places amongst them, watching... Waiting.

Her heart went out to the senshi who had tried to hard to save Iya from the tree and she found herself hoping that Princess Chronos's words of reason would reach her... That she wouldn't try to single-handedly take on the entire Negaverse (as she herself would have been tempted to do if she thought it would buy any of the others more time).

"We won't let Its death be in vain. We won't let any of their deaths be in vain." They would certainly linger with her in mind throughout any future fight she had with the Negaverse. One day there would be vengeance for the tree and its children.

"We're out."

Charonite's voice was harsh and curt. That was per usual, and he demonstrated no particular new frustration about apparently ordering all of his men out the area where a bundle of senshi were angrily locked behind closed doors. He held up his hand to forestall any complaints. "We're finished. Fall back. I don't give a ******** about what you want to stay and do, your mission's accomplished."

He looked up at the senshi again. Maybe he had caught wind of Chronos' organising, their anger, their hate. Maybe he didn't care about any of it. He just scanned their faces again for something he didn't find, but presently his attention was back on his men: "Remember that Obsidian's the only one of you who's killed jack s**t with no backup! Fall back and out, that is an order!"

Obsidian got on her bad side. Of course, he probably got on everyone's bad side. Or at the very least, the huge majority. She felt the still-wet blood on Obsidian's hand land on her shoulder. Her previous reaction as a lieutenant probably would have been to say some remark about the disgusting liquid now smeared all over but she learned that making a fuss wouldn't have changed anything. Her brown eyes now traveled to the mess, eyes slanted in a disgusted glance.

"Cute. Is that an offer to show me how the negaverse works? Perhaps you'd allow me to take you up on it and you might be able to figure out a reason why I was promoted?" She said sweetly, flashing a bright smile at Obsidian. He wouldn't get to her. Not today.

(It wasn't her fault that there were so little aliens to go around for her to actually do anything.)

But after Obsidian's exit, she turned around to head back to the General King. A small bunny designed handkerchief was extracted to wipe the mess on her shoulder.

Ugh.