[B] In A Mirror, Darkly (Birhan + Ares)

[kalindara]

It had taken over a week, but Birhan Isat was finally ready to brave the streets as a senshi again. A week of avoiding mirrors, smashing then when she could, covering them when she couldn't. A week away from home, her stomach eating itself as she thought of the last time a Parallel had simply waltzed in through a mirror and destroyed her room and her illusions of safety. A week since Ares had revealed her new, true self - and the Blood Moon Court had shattered.

Apart from meeting with Louisa and Kaatje in the day following the disasterous meeting, neither Ari not Birhan had contacted or been contacted by the others. It seemed they were all lying low. Birhan couldn't blame them. At least, no more than she blamed herself.

You were never a coward, she told herself (not knowing if it were true or not). You fall down, you get back up. Stoping hiding and feeling sorry for yourself.

Easy words, at the time. Harder to swallow as she leapt from roof to roof, following an old BMC patrol pattern. One youma down and she was feeling a little better about her outing. Even a single senshi could make a difference. She didn't have to be part of the Blood Moon Court to matter - even if she still wanted it, felt it in her blood. But there was no one to pull them together any more. Birhan's temporary leadership had been laughable. She wasn't about to try again.

The route was nostalgic. The scenery more so. Over there, the alley where she and two cadets had taken down a small horde of lizard youma (with sharp, pointy teeth and claws, thank you very much). Up there, a billboard she had perched on once, waiting for a merc to drive a Nega in her direction. And down there... Birhan paused. Instead of jumping to the next roof, she walked slowly to the edge of the building and stared down into the evening gloom.

Down there, where Ares had killed a civilian. Where Ares had asked Birhan to let it go, forget it and never mention it. How different things might have been, if Birhan had simply agreed. Were her convinctions so grand, in the scheme of things? Could Ares have been saved, if it wasn't for the push against her leadership? Or had Ares' descent into Chaos simply been inevitable, destined to happen at a later date, if not when it had?

On that night, Birhan had possessed no inkling of what her actions would lead them to. She had thought she was doing the right thing. She had thought that only that path would lead to saving Ares. How very wrong she had been.

"For now we see in a mirror, darkly," she spoke aloud, "but then face to face."

It was not a good night to be distracted, lost in thoughts of the past. It was not even a good night to be out as a senshi. Most of it, it was not a good night to be breaking the cardinal BMC rule of patrol: never go out alone.  

[Akina Tokuwa]

(( Please note: this is backdated prior to the revitalization of the Surrounding. ))

Broken mirrors littered the emotional space between Ares and her one time friend Birhan. The Princess of the Parallels had not been surprised to find that mirrors once known to her were suddenly gone, lights snuffed out before she could see. Birhan was many things, but stupid was not one of them. Misguided? Certainly. Hard-headed? For sure. Lost? Likely.

There was so much to be done in the wake of her purification that Ares paid little mind to the senshi who now led the Blood Moon Court. She still saw those senshi as part of her domain. It was absolutely her intention to bring each one over, one by one, to the dark parallels. It was only a matter of time.

Mirrors had gone from being Ares' doorways to her eyes too. Becoming a parallel princess had many perks, including an enhanced affinity with both mirrorspace and mirrors. Shortly after her conversion, the Senshi of Smoke had been quick to position additional mirrors in various locations, one of which was propped up against the side of this dumpster.

She counted on Birhan's nostalgia to bring her to this place at some point.

When the senshi's aura bubbled into range, Ares got lucky. She happened to be at the mirror in that moment, and in the space of a single breath, the leader of the Dark Mirror emerged from the mirror just as a wind picked up down the alleyway. There was no time for reaction. Her wings beat, and she was airborne, landing directly beside Birhan on the rooftop.

"Birhan, it is never wise to patrol alone," she said swiftly, making no move to attack but fixing the girl with a stern look. "You're lucky you ran into me. A Nega would end you tonight."

Opposite sides or not, Ares truly did believe that Birhan would one day be fighting alongside her again. She really didn't need the girl getting killed before that day, honestly.  

[kalindara]

A dark aura crashed over Birhan like a tidal wave. She didn't have time to turn before the beating of wings brought the aura's owner to Birhan side.

Even as she darted back, putting some space between them - not enough, never enough - Birhan's eyebrows were raising. Whatever she'd been expecting from Ares, when they met again, a leaderly warning about the dangers of working alone wasn't it.

"Ares," she said softly. Birhan didn't know if it was an entreaty or a curse. Possibly just statement of fact, or a wish that saying evil's name would drive it away. Whatever her unconscious desire, it was of no use here.

"Does that meant you're not here to end me yourself?" Ares would have to forgive the heavy tones of scepticism. Their last meeting hadn't gone well for Birhan, and she knew she hadn't been on Ares' list of favourite people for some time.

Did Ares really think that Birhan would believe that Ares wasn't going to attack - either to maim, kill or convert? Ah, perhaps that was it. Ares likely didn't see corrupting senshi to the Dark Moon as an 'end'. Given the choice, Birhan would prefer Ares just kill her cleanly. Better that than to become a puppet of Chaos.  

[Akina Tokuwa]

Ares didn't move a muscle on the rooftop. She made no move to defend herself or attack. It was as if they were two old friends meeting up outside of a restaurant for a reunion dinner.

"End you?" Her voice held a tilt of shock. "Why would I end a senshi whose abilities I still have such faith in? I brought you to our court for a reason, Birhan Isat." It was true. Birhan had been one of the first. Ares was not afraid to put regular senshi in positions of power. She, of course, had founded the court as a regular senshi. What Birhan lacked in raw power she made up for in a firecracker spirit, a warrior heart, and a desire to grow and improve. These were traits that Ares loved about herself, and so naturally she sought them out in others.

"When I first saw you after my purification, I was clouded by my emotions," Ares said. It was an honest statement. Birhan had hurt her significantly, far deeper than she was even willing to admit, but she could make this small concession now. "You took away the only family I had left, Birhan, at a time when I needed people close to me more than ever." She lowered her eyes to stare intently at the girl. "It was like being a child whose parents had been killed and then watching someone take your foster family away too." Honesty -- Ares was fully capable of it.

Now time had put distance between those feelings, and with the Dark Mirror getting stronger every day, Princess Ares was not afraid to admit this tiny weakness from days gone by. "But, because of your actions, I was finally able to see clearly. Without you, I would still be leading the Blood Moon, still drowning myself in blood to fix the hole in me. Now I am where I belong, and I do not need to lower myself to such desperate measures to feel complete. With the parallels, I am whole, just as our entire universe will be made whole again." A smile touched at the corner of her lips.

"When that day comes, you will be beside me again, Birhan," she said, lifting her eyes to the moon in the sky. There was a grimace, a flicker of pain. The moon here held such bad memories for the Princess of the Parallels.  

[kalindara]

Had Birhan thought she was freaked out by the appearance of an Ares who might want to attack her, probably kill her? Never mind. She had just obtained a brand new level of fear - for the friendly Ares who was grateful and oh-so-sure that they were going to be on the same side in the future. On Ares' side, naturally.

She hadn't bothered to hide her wince when Ares compared her punishment and senshi-free month to a newly-made orphan losing her foster family. It had never been her intention to hurt Ares, though she'd known from the start that some pain would be unavoidable. No one had known the depths of darkness that Ares was wading through; no one knew just how tenuous was her grip on the light. For being the one to break Ares' last ties to the light, Birhan would be forever sorry. She offered no excuses to Ares - that she'd never meant this meant nothing to this new, accepting Princess, and had meant less to the angry, emotional Ares pre-corruption. Those words had been spoken before and fallen flat. For all the talking that Birhan and Ares engaged in, somehow they still kept missing one another, points never coming across, understanding never reached. And now the chasm between them loomed wider than ever, despite standing side by side.

"That day won't ever come," she told Ares. Unbidden, her body stepped back, trying to put distance between what her mind screamed was a threat even if Ares was promising something different.

Birhan was tempted to leave it at that. Easy enough to hear that promise, reject it and run while she could, while Ares' good mood remained. 'And what then?' a snide voice in her mind demanded. 'You stay nice and safe while Ares kills or corrupts whoever she likes, but it's okay because you won't be her victim?'

No. No, she couldn't do that.

Closing her eyes, Birhan made a promise. Barely more than a whisper, she etched it on her heart. "No more running."

Her eyes opened and met Ares', a determined flame burning in violet depths. 'Safe' was for civilians. It was for other, weaker senshi. Birhan Isat was a member of the ******** Blood Moon Court, who did not take the easy road, but the one dark and bloody. There was no room for a fake truce, an illusion of safety, or a pretense of a comraderie that could not exist while they were on opposing sides.

More firmly, Birhan said, "No. I won't ever stand beside the person you've made yourself into. And I won't let anyone else stand there, either." She stood tall with her shoulders back and her chin raised, heedless of the frightening power that radiated off Ares. One foot edged backwards. Birhan snapped into her kickboxer's stance, arms up, fists clenched. "You think we're lost without you? We're not. The Blood Moon Court isn't done. We won't run from you any longer. We won't hide. We will stop you. And we will kill you."  

[Akina Tokuwa]

Birhan Isat took a step back. The flat gray eyes of the parallel princess flickered briefly to the ground to stare at her retreating feet. There was no word spoken, but when Ares glanced back up to her, the nonverbal message was clear: Claim to have strength... as you retreat? Her body language conflicted with the words spilling out of her mouth.

Even when the redheaded Blood Moon senshi fell into a fighting stance, Princess Ares merely tilted her head slightly more toward the right. It was as if she were studying the brush strokes on an impressionist painting, searching for meaning in its minutia. "An unwise choice," she said quietly, referring both to the choice to fight as well as the message that was tied to the action. "But not wholly unexpected. I spent over a year of my rebirth chasing monsters, punching anything that would bleed, and dedicating myself to the relentless pursuit of battle, conquest, and victory." Ares, parallel of Mars, destined for war: it was a path she knew quite well.

"I thought fighting against everything was the best way to feel better about what I was doing, Birhan. It seems like you might be doing the same -- seeking out a fight you know you can't win... but why? For what purpose?" A clawed finger tapped lightly on her chin and then bent upward as Ares rose her eyebrows in mock revelation. "Ah yes, I see. Fighting in the hopes of discovering a true purpose. I understand the impulse. I lived this path before, Birhan. I lived it and died in it." Not just in this lifetime, before even. Countless eons wasted because of the curse of Serenity.

Even if Birhan Isat was poised to fight, Ares did not seem perturbed in the least. She didn't even shift her weight to stand taller. She continued to maintain a casual stance. "The person I 'made' myself into is no stranger to me. This is who I am. This is who I have always been, but it took a push -- your push -- to force me to cope with just how wrong I had been. That pill was incredibly hard to swallow. When I think of what I did, how I led so many of you down a misguided and unfit path... those are sins I must atone for on my own. I can only hope to remedy the situation that I built in the Blood Moon Court. One day, you will feel exactly the way I do. And on that day, you will come to me, and we will save the universe together -- with the former Blood Moon Court where it belongs... under a Black Moon, protected by the Dark Mirror." Her eyes hardened to stone. "You are not White Moon senshi. You are all parallels waiting to come home." There was a possessiveness in her voice. It was evident Ares considered the BMC and all the senshi in it to still be under her purview, somehow.

"So, yes please, don't run. It will make saving you all much easier for me," Ares finished, her head lifting to stare dead-on at Birhan. "Do you really think the choice you are making now--" A clawed finger gestured toward her fighting stance. "--is the best one?" A low growl rumbled at the base of her words, a promise of power lurking behind each syllable.  

[kalindara]

Birhan had to work to close her ears to Ares. There had been a time that Ares could convince Birhan of the necessity of almost anything. Not much had changed since those days, just a different colour fuku and a different master that Ares followed. Birhan couldn't risk that Ares would still sound just as convincing as before. After taking so long to make up her mind, she could hardly waver now.

"Maybe that's the difference between us," she couldn't help but respond. "I already know my true purpose."

From the moment she'd powered up, with the aid of a scarf-clad cat, Ariana Knight had known that this was what she'd been missing her whole, if short, life. Birhan was her purpose. And Birhan's purpose was protecting the city, possibly the world if they ever managed to defeat the Negaverse here. Now Ares was just another person that Birhan needed to protect others from.

Maybe that hadn't been enough for Ares. But it was all that Birhan needed.

Still, her blood ran cold when Ares claimed that one day Birhan would feel the same way as Ares did now. That they were all just Parallels waiting to be 'saved'.

She huffed when Ares asked if this was the best choice. "I just said I wouldn't run. And yet you expect that to be my first course of action?"

It was stupid, definitely. Suicidal, more than likely. But Birhan could almost taste the powers used in this area before - one of the BMC's frequent patrol areas - and her courage was bolstered by the familiar energy, almost like having the other Court members at her back. If Ares truly didn't want Birhan dead, this might be possible. Birhan would risk it, take any chance to stop Ares before she put her plan of converting the entire BMC into action.

"I won't let you take any more of us," she growled, then leapt into action. A quick spin and a reverse roundhouse kick was flying at Ares' head.

... Yeah, this was probably Birhan's most stupid idea yet.

Akina Tokuwa

 

[Akina Tokuwa]

The only perceptible shift in Ares was a glint in her eyes as Birhan spun into a kick. A flash of gold cut the air. Instead of meeting flesh, Birhan's kick met the cold metal of the torch. Once the initial blow slapped the kick away, Ares cracked the other end of the torch into the senshi's stomach. "This choice could get you killed were I another ruler," she said calmly.

The tip of the torch touched the ground, and Ares used it to cartwheel up into the air, landing on the other side of Birhan. "I will break every bone in your body before you land a single punch." She paused. "Though I could have done that to you as just an eternal senshi too." The power that coursed through her veins was enough to win this fight, but Ares had been incredibly sure of her battle prowess, even before such assumptions were entirely warranted.

Fighting Birhan now was, to her, a joke. But it was one she would make the other senshi suffer for. Lashing out with a clawed hand, Ares slashed a shallow cut across Birhan's cheek, just below her left eye. "Give up, Birhan. You'll never beat me."  

[kalindara]

Oh yeah, worst idea ever. Birhan cursed internally as her foot met unyielding metal instead of a body. Breath left her body, Ares striking Birhan's stomach faster than Birhan's eyes could follow. At least she caught the blur of Ares flipping over, to land behind Birhan and she spun to follow.

Stupid of her. She'd always gotten so caught up in the magical power increases between senshi levels that she forgot levelling up increased the basics, like speed and agility as well. Ares wasn't wrong in that it would be impossible for Birhan to land a single blow that Ares didn't allow - to Ares' enhanced eyes, Birhan must have moved as though wading through mollasses. For all Ares' bravado, she would have had a harder time against an Eternal, though the fight would still be in Ares' favour if the odds were one-on-one. (Birhan made a note for the future - she'd never let it be one-on-one if she could help it, not when they had powerhouses like Scylla and at least one copycat senshi.)

"Funny, I seem to recall Nemesis matching you blow for blow the last time we met," Birhan forced herself to smile. She might be outclassed, but she knew better than to think that Ares couldn't be made to fight for her life.

Of course, taunting the woman a billion times more powerful than you? Probably not a good idea. Birhan was really on a roll tonight.

A faint blur was all the warning Birhan received before stinging fire broke out under her left eye. She barely held back a flinch, forcing herself to be steel, unmoving, even as she took in the blood dripping from one of Ares' claws.

Birhan met Ares' eyes, returning the steely grey stare with one of her own. "I refuse to give up," she said, slowly, trying to drive the point home to Ares with the weight of her gaze. Birhan wasn't just refering to this one fight. "You'll have to kill me first."

Hopefully, Ares had been serious about the not wanting to kill Birhan part. Birhan really, really prayed that was true.  

[Akina Tokuwa]

A smirk split Ares' lips when Birhan attempted to incense her with the mention of Nemesis. "Where is our dear Nemesis lately? I have some pressing business with her -- a worthy soldier to the cause. Once she has parallel blood in her veins, she will become greater than she was," Ares said, taking a long, slow step to the side.

She watched curiously as Birhan reacted to the latest blow. Her mouth, it would seem, was doing most of the work. "If only you fought as thoroughly as you parry with words, Super Sailor, perhaps you would be a little more interesting to me." Ares dropped to one knee and swooped a leg out at Birhan's ankles, following up with another kick to the gut with her other leg. "I will not kill you unless it is the only way to save you -- and it isn't. Perhaps I should remind you what almost dying feels like."

Lurching forward, Ares clamped one hand on the back of Birhan's neck, holstered her staff across her back, and then covered the other senshi's mouth with her free hand. "Breathe," she hissed. Smoke erupted from the princess' hands, forcing its way into Birhan's throat until thin tendrils began to leak out her nose and the corners of her mouth. When she struggled, Ares only increased her grip. "I will take you to the edge of death tonight. I will help you see its face -- and then you will know that coming to the Black Moon is your salvation." The smoke churned thickly. "I said, 'Breathe.'"


((OH GOD, I OWED YOU THIS FOREVER -- if you want to grow her in the next post, we can wrap it super quickly?))

kalindara

 

[kalindara]

Birhan held herself back from snorting in contempt at the idea of Nemesis on Ares' side. Nemesis was the most likely to equal or defeat Ares in a one-on-one battle and possibly the one with the fiercest grudge against Ares. The Dark Moon Queen's chances of corrupting Nemesis were slimmer than getting Birhan to voluntarily agree to join Ares again. If that was meant to scare Birhan, it was (unfortunately for Ares) far less of a concern than Birhan's present circumstances.

A mindset she was right to have. Pain blossomed in new locations, Ares' limbs a blur that Birhan couldn't follow except for tracking the injuries left in their wake. She gasped for air right before her neck was seized in an unforgiving grip. Another hand slapped over Birhan's mouth. Ares hissed promises of reuniting Birhan with the edge of death, the words choking Birhan's ears just as Ares' smoke choked her throat.

"Coming to the Black Moon is your salvation."

Birhan thrashed in Ares' grip. Her eyes spat furious denial that her lips couldn't form. Her struggles were in vain; Ares held firm, her cold voice issuing orders just as it had not so long ago, orders Birhan had once been eager to follow.

"Breathe."

An unnecessary order: not even Birhan could hold her breath forever, especially with Ares' grip tightening to make Birhan gasp in pain. Smoke poured down her lungs, despite her body's best efforts to cough it back out. The taste of ash was heavy in her throat. It called up memories of fights at Ares' side, and also of the last disastrous battle where Birhan lay helpless while Ares corrupted Blood Moon senshi around her. Much like then, dark spots flickered across Birhan's vision. The world went hazy and her struggles lessened. Ares was following through on her word. There was nothing Birhan could do to stop her.

'Are you that weak?'

From the depths of darkness overtaking her, a voice bubbled up. It echoed, distorting, and Birhan couldn't tell who it belonged to. She felt a surge of irritation at the voice. Had it not been paying attention when she'd given her all to even scratch Ares? What did it expect from her?

As if it heard her, the voice this time came with a sneer. 'Still so blindly following orders?'

She'd fought. She'd fought hard, okay? But the power difference between them was impossible to bridge. Birhan's newfound determination not to run was all well and good, but she was a mere fly buzzing around Ares' face and only the determination that Birhan would willingly come back to Ares kept the mad queen from converting Birhan to the Black Moon this instant.

And as for orders... Was Birhan supposed to stop breathing, now? The result would be the same - unconscious and at Ares' dubious mercy.

'Or are you waiting for rescue? Is that it? The great Birhan Isat needs someone to save her.'

... Was that it? It might be Birhan's only hope right now, but surely she hadn't been counting on someone else to come and back her up? She had been in the court for a long time now. Having a sister at her side, or her back, had become second nature. But they were splintered now, scattered across the city or beyond it. There would be no rescue, Birhan realised with dread that grew in time with the darkness. As she recognised the cold clenching in her stomach, Birhan knew the voice was correct in both its assumption and its derision. To be so dependant on the others, to be so weak... Had she fought less than her best because she was subconsciously expecting someone else to appear? Her breath quickened; she immediately choked on more smoke and everything grew faint.

'Are you done,' the voice demanded, 'smothering your own light in order to follow someone else's star?'

The voice was the only thing to grow more distinct as darkness overtook everything. With a mind half lost to smoke, Birhan tried to puzzle over the words. A star... she could think of no one but Ares to suit such a title. But smothering? And her own light? Birhan hadn't held back in the BMC - she'd fought her hardest under Ares, trying to earn the respect and praise of her leader.

'Have you forgotten everything, including how to see? Your light.'

Something pulsed in the darkness. Somewhere below her, like a heartbeat, a faint glimmer appeared. Curious, Birhan put aside thoughts of fighting or surrendering to the darkness, to Ares' smoke. Instead, she moved through it with purpose, drawn to the faint light that flickered on and off like beacon. As she drew closer, it resolved into a ball of red light - not flames, not burning, just a steady warmth and glow. Under her gaze it ceased its pulsing call, suddenly a bright and constant light. Something about it was familiar, welcoming. But when she reached for it, something blocked her way. No matter how she tried to approach it, the barrier between her mind and the light held firm.

Meanwhile, the darkness grew stronger. The light's output never changed, but it cast less of a glow than before, the shadows beginning to obscure more. Time was running out, Ares' promise drawing near.

Why show me this if you were going to block my way, she screamed with all the might of her mind at the unknown voice.

There was no reply.

It's words floated back. It had accused Birhan of smothering her own light. This light? Birhan inspected the ball. It roiled fiercely where it sat, the light churning back on itself as it remained contained in its tight spherical form behind the barrier. The owner of the voice thought she was doing this to herself?

Birhan gathered herself to begin yelling again, denials quick to flow to mind, when memory struck her. Talking to with Scylla before confronting Ares, already certain that she could not measure up to Ares' rule, even temporarily. Standing at Ares' side, earlier, taking pride in the knowledge that no one would ever be as powerful or great as Birhan's leader. In battle with her sisters, knowing she was nothing compared to the great power of Scylla and Nemesis, that she could not shine as brightly, but still determined to do her part.

Birhan stared at the ball of light. So many times, she now saw, when she had determined that she could not compete with the bright lights of others, and so she had not. So many times she had told herself that it wasn't her place to question orders, so she didn't. A thousand times, the refrain: Ares knows best, Ares is best. And so, a thousand upon a thousand times more, Sailor Birhan Isat kept herself firmly in place, never rising beyond what she'd been when first joining the Blood Moon Court.

What you are now is enough, Ares had decided. And so Birhan had remained.




No longer.




No more running, she'd already told Ares. Now, she added: no more hiding. No more following. No more waiting.

Do it yourself. Do it now.

There was no hesitation as she reached for the light this time, and no barrier to stop her. Apology and determination mixed as she felt the light break free. Suddenly the reason for its familiarity became clear. Even as it broke free to drive back the darkness, Birhan's mind froze.

But she'd been told that such a thing required the assistance of... Could it have been Zirconia? But when had she...?

The questions were driven from her mind as the darkness was beaten back. Sight returned to Birhan's eyes in time to see a bright flash of energy around her. Ares' hands were knocked away. Birhan took the time to rise back to her feet, taking note of newfound strength and energy to match her determination.



She could feel changes to the senshi uniform, breeze where there hadn't been before, but she didn't waste time looking down to check. Birhan's eyes remained locked on Ares' as she announced, "My faith in the light isn't so easy to kill and neither am I."

Ares had wanted Birhan to touch death. Perhaps she had, but if so, she had simply been reborn more powerful than before, her will and her purpose stronger than ever before.

Akina Tokuwa

(( Er, ditto! So sorry, I didn't get notice of that quote at all ;A; ))