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 Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2016 9:04 am
Word Count: 1,006 words
Everything seemed to happen in a blur.
Aluminite had contributed to the murder of Laralee Black, a lovely woman who welcomed the strange and ragtag group of people whom her son was intricately tied to. He had ripped out her starseed and force fed it to her son and the look of hatred in the man’s eyes had been startling. Unforgettable. Unforgivable.
He had been given orders to relay the message, the punishment and yet - he’d quietly refused, ignored the orders and kept his mouth shut even though he’d said, yes ma’am. He refused to add to any more of the chaos and strife that made up his world, that poisoned the Negaverse from within even if the General-Sovereigns and their Queen did not see it.
The wrongness of his memories of the surrounding, especially when put up against the copies of his articles that Regina had provided him with, didn’t help things. Nor did the too cryptic messages from his sister. For so long she’d pushed him to remember and now she was pushing him to forget.
Didn’t she know that it was too late to backtrack?
He already knew something was wrong and perhaps that’s how he found himself in an old church that time and society had betrayed. The ceiling was caving in and it was impossible to tell if that had been a result of time and faulty architecture or if some sort of skirmish had occurred and laid waste to the building.
It wasn’t until gloved hands had pushed open the worn, creaky doors did the captain realize that he recognized the place. His feet and memory and delivered him to the doors of the church his parents used to take him to when he was a child. It had house a rotating pastor and in the end, could not keep one long enough to remain open.
That had been years ago, perhaps that’s why it was so decrepit these days.
Cautiously he stepped inside, made his way through the front hall and into the worship hall. Still, pews sat in neat little rows where the ceiling hadn’t caved and at the back of the room was a beautiful stainglass window and a surprisingly untouched statue of the son of God.
Being inside created a flutter of confusion within him as he moved, heart thick in his throat and a panic finding it’s way into the space between the bones of his spine. Nostalgia hit him with a heavy force and left him oblivious to the flare of energy within his proximity. Until the squire spoke, he’d thought he had been alone.
“For the love of Cosmos,” the girl breathed, irritation present in her voice. “I thought I made it clear that you needed to stop”
Aluminite turned, tension present in the stiff way he held himself, green eyes settling on the girl decorated in color’s he’d recognized to be Chronos’. Flashes of their last meeting, the fight across multiple rooftops after she’d stumbled upon him attempting to meet his quota, flickered across his mind.
His voice felt thick in this throat when he spoke. “I can’t stop.” It seemed like a weak excuse, but if she knew what was expected of him and what the consequences of shirking his duties would mean…
Would she understand?
That senshi hadn’t and he knew half as much as the girl did.
“I don’t care,” she snapped and Aluminite got flashes of his sister from the way she postured herself. The fierce expression, the strongly folded arms across her chest and the strength she held in her spine.
Strange, he thought, pushing aside whatever mixed feelings arose when he thought of Jackie.
“It could be simple. You could leave, get out, make arrangements but you won’t,” she hissed at him, tonfas summoned into her hands. “You’re a coward and it’s time for you to stop running and make a choice.”
Aluminite barely had time to lift his arms and block her attacks. “Please,” he tried, stepping back while his training kicked in and he used his hands to deflect her blows. “I don’t want to fight.”
“This isn’t about fighting me,” the squire hissed, stooping and sweeping his feet out from beneath him. “This is about making a choice and fighting for something. Where is your faith? Your loyalty? Your conviction.”
Aluminite hit the ground, barely managing to roll out of the way when her heel came down and left a crack in it’s wake. “I don’t - “ he started, jump onto one of the pews to avoid another blow, only to swallow his excuses back down his throat. “You don’t get it!” He shouted at her, arms trembling as his fingers dug into his gloves.
“Make me,” She snapped.
She wouldn’t relent and Aluminite had no choice but to fight back.
He was so, so tired of fighting, of being told that his faith meant nothing, or that he wasn’t strong enough. That he was wrong for keeping his head down and doing what he was told because it meant that he’d survive or that his family would be left untouched.
Order didn’t understand, they didn’t know and those that ‘tried’ to understand did a s**t job.
He thought of that senshi and the high and mighty attitude he’d displayed. He thought of Celsus, who’d pressed upon Aluminite his company despite the perpetual refusal and desire to have been left alone. All they did was talk, push what they thought was right or better on him and refused to listen.
The squire had done just that the last time he’d seen her, when she’d caught him leaving an unconscious civilian behind in an alleyway.
Even now -
At least she was demanding answers, not forcing her opinions down his throat even if she was aggressive. Relentless.
“SHUT UP!” Aluminite screamed, pushing off the pew and throwing himself at her.
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2017 10:54 am
Millie was panting, a trickle of blood running down her cheek as she hid behind one of the many stone pillars in the remains of the crumbling, decrepit church. Sweat beaded across her brow, ran along her face and soaked the back of her uniform. Somewhere out in the center of the church was the captain that she’d push and pushed and pushed until he’d snapped.
He was moving back and forth across crumbling concrete and fallen pieces of the ceiling like an agitated cat waiting for the bird to fly back within the reach.
Before, when she’d gone up against him...he had been so passive, unwilling to fight and now, now she was afraid that there was no way she was going to get out without help. She had been so, so foolish to keep pushing the man when he’d been so close to breaking.
It was her fault, she knew, even as she winced when his voice ran out through the building.
“Is this enough conviction for you?” The captain was shouting, voice hoarse and tone angry. “Do you get it now?”
Millie’s heart was racing as she used the blood from her cheek to scribble out a note to Princess Chronos.
I need help, come to the abandoned church on Weston and 9th. Please. She wrote before stamping it with her ring.
---
She had chosen to focus on her life of Serenade Soriano for the past few years.
And yet, there was no way she could truly discard her other self, the identity that had been a part of her ever since she had been reborn on this Earth. As much as she loved getting to live her life; the life before she had dreamed of before being awakened at the tender age of fifteen, it still felt right whenever she powered up. It always felt right when she was Sailor Chronos, perched upon a rooftop, despite all the unhappy memories and tragedy this life had brought her. For it had also came with love, with friends, with bonds she deeply cherished.
When the message came, she had been surprised. It was generally rare for her Knights to reach out to her this way, for they knew she had taken a backseat in their duties. Still, it meant that this was an emergency, and when Chronos read it, she immediately headed off in the direction the note had indicated.
Rusty be damned, she would always be there if any of her court needed her.
“Millie?” She called out after she hastily shoved open the doors. “Are you alright?” As she ventured into the church, Chronos raised a cautious hand to her forehead, ready to grab her tiara and neutralize the threat.
----
Between sending the message and the princess’s arrival, Millie had been located by the captain she’d pushed into fighting with her. They’d made their way back into the center of the church, with each of her retreats blocked effectively. It was clear that the man had been teetering on the edge of his composure long before they’d ended up here and it had been Millie that pushed him until that last fraying thread snapped.
Millie hadn’t wanted to call Chronos, but she’d lost touch with so many others that the woman was the only person she could think of to ask for help.
Chronos would come, she would help, Millie was certain.
Unfortunately, she was too busy defending herself, and striking back, to register that her call had been answered. The soft voice carrying through the church filling the young squire with hope. “Prin - “ her excited voice was cut off by a sharp gasp of pain.
Her hands reached for the captain’s arm near her belly, fingers wrapping around his forearm and she gripped at the bracer. “Wha…?”
Aluminite hadn’t meant to puncture her flesh with a weapon he tried to never use, but his hand had slipped and the blade had shot out reactively. Immediately guilt and panic surged within him, he couldn’t have - she wasn’t
No, no, no!
“This - this isn’t c-conviction,” Mille gasped, reaching for his coat and using it to hold herself up. “This is anger. W-what do you f-fight for?”
Aluminite didn’t know, frozen in his horror as this young girl grasped at him and fell forward. “No, no. I’m sorry - No!”
----
Cold dread rushed over her, like a huge tidal wave that swept over everything in its way. No. No no no.
Chronos had lost too much. So many people in her life had been ripped away from her, and it seemed that Death never stopped reaping from those that surrounded her. Deep down inside, a part of her blamed the very existence of their past selves that clung onto them in this life. It was why it was so easy to shed the glamor and focus on Serenade Soriano, the music major. But she could never be truly rid of the power that lay within her.
She had never thought that answering a call of one of her own would mean that she would face this again.
Even if she hadn’t been close to Millie, she was still responsible for her.
“Millie!” She rushed forward, hands seeking out her wound, attempting desperately to apply pressure to it, to stop that accursed crimson liquid from flowing from her body. “No, don’t, you can’t… stay with me!”
You can’t heal. You can’t save her. A voice echoed in her mind, and Chronos gritted her teeth in anger.
“Are you? Are you really sorry?” She breathed out, barely looking up at him. “All Chaos has ever done is to twist people’s hearts, and to steal lives away. So many have fallen. How many is enough?”.
----
At some point Aluminite had sunk to his knees, the squire’s body cradled in his arms, with his entire body trembling for the weight of the realization that hit him in the chest. He barely reacted to Chronos rushing over or her hands pressing against the girl’s wound. Any words had left him and he stared blankly when spoken to.
“P-princess,” Millie gasped, reaching for the woman with blood stained fingers.
“I didn’t- I never - “ Aluminite was stammering, unable to form coherent sentences. “I didn’t want any of this,” he whispered, a shaking hand reaching out for one of Millie’s. Something in her uniform flickered and he jerked back, startled when it seemed to fade off of her. Glamour peeling away and revealing something he’d hoped to never see.
No.
No.
Not Jackie.
“No, no, no.” Aluminite gasped, gathering the girl into his arms and away from Chronos. “Jackie, Jackie please.” He looked up at Chronos with pleading eyes. “Can you - can you save her? I didn’t. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. Please, I never wanted any of this.”
-----
Chronos’s mind was running through the powers she possessed. The tiara wouldn’t help, nor would changing the seasons, and the Opal Crystal was meant to protect. Not. Heal. She thought about Virgo, then quickly dismissed it; Virgo could only take on wounds, not heal. And neither could Flora. All her options, all the people she could think of, there was no magical remedy for this. “A hospital.” She whispered. “We… we need to get her medical attention.”
She rose to her feet shakily, as her mind slowly registered the words he was saying. “You… you know who she is?”
No. No, that could wait. What mattered more was Millie, or Jackie’s survival.
“Where’s the nearest hospital?” She asked, willing herself to stand tall and firm. Her fingers curled into fists, barely able to contain herself from trembling. The blood, sticky and wet on her hands, were a constant reminder that another life would be taken before her, and she could not allow it happen once again.
------
Aluminite seemed frozen in place, pulling the girl’s body closer and burying his face against her neck. Chronos wouldn’t be able to see, but tears had begun to well in his eyes. “Jacks, no, please. You gotta stay with me,” he mumbled, barely registering the directions that the senshi was trying to give him.
He knew that she was right, that the only way to possibly save her was to get her to a hospital but his limbs are locked into place and he can’t move. There’s something warm seeping into the front of his uniform and it takes him longer than it should for him to realize that it’s blood. Jackie, his dear sweet little sister Jackie, is bleeding out on him.
In his arms, she groaned and reached for Chronos. “P-princess,” she wheezed, slight shine in her eye starting to dull. “It’s not - “ her words were broken up with a fit of coughing.
She looked up at the captain holding her tightly, reached for his face with blood stained fingers. “D-do you remember space?” Her words are slow and obviously painful as she talked.
You know who she is?
“I think I just killed my sister,” he said quietly, voice so soft it was almost in audible as he stood, cradling the girl’s body against his chest. “I tried to forget Jackie, but I wasn’t good at listening to you.” There’s something sobering that settled over the captain as he looked from his sister to her princess. “I never wanted any of this.”
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