Starlit Ruins

Anim snarled, blocking the strike as it came in, the tip of the blade reaching for her midsection. Her naked fist landed solidly, crushing skull with a sickening impact. The first of the four was thrown backwards into a sewer grate which rattled loudly into the alleyway.

  “Who's next,” she hissed, her blue eyes cold as they danced over her opponents. Another answered her call without so much as a word. She merely stepped aside as the quarter staff missed her. Taking the end of the weapon in her hands gave her control over the warrior that held it. She pulled, and let her foot sink into the stomach of her black garbed opponent, who doubled over, groaning.

  Her short straight blond hair snapped sharply as she turned, looking for the last two warriors of the quad. She found the alleyway to be as empty as she felt of any sympathy for the poor judges of target. Relaxing somewhat, she turned back to the winded ninja.

  “Go on,” she said, sounding tired. He did not seem to require any convincing, as he ran off hurriedly, thankful for his life. “No honour. No code. No damn ninjas. Scrap it.”

  She sighed heavily and walked towards the darker end of the alleyway, where the sallow light faded to no more than shards and fragments. Garbage and mud squished audibly under her feet as she walked. She ignored the beggars and other would-be loyal Coalition citizens. As she tugged at her leather jacket, trying for warmth that just was not there, the darkness of the alleyway gave way to a street as it opened to the low lifers' end of 'modern' society. The street wasn’t any cleaner than the alleys, just better lit.

  “Yo, girlie!” At first she did not respond to the voice, figuring it to be meant for someone else, but as it called again, she noted that it was closer. “Hey, blond girlie!”

  She stopped and turned. The look on her face asked; me?

  “Yeah, you,” replied a short leather swathed individual. He sported a pair of shades, covering what she figured were a lot of sleepless nights. He approached her, seeming very confident. She put her hands on her hips, and tried not to take notice of the Juicers, Cyber Snatchers, and other strange beings that grumbled and complained at her sudden pause as they passed.

  “What do you want?” she asked, trying to look and sound angry, fearing it was not working. It occurred to her that she was glaring down at him.

  “We get steppin' or they get steppin', on us. Come on,” he suggested.

  She did not budge. “Why, where are you going?”

  “It's not me whats… who's goin',” he grinned. “Yer comin' with me. Jes don't know it yet.”

  “Brave little stain, aren't you?”

  The grin faded. He removed his sunglasses, revealing a pair of green cybernetic eyes. “That's jes rude. See how it is, if you'll lookit it. You gots ta be Mina.”

  For the first time in a year, she felt a shard of hope. So, she grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, and held him off the ground. “How do you know that name?”

  “Oh yeh! Done nail’d it!” he chimed triumphantly. “Jes a hunch, but ya proved it! Now kin ya set me down?”

  “Maybe. Why should I?”

  “Coz a bunny girl missus ya.”

  Shock flashed cross her face, and then vanished. She set him down and smoothed out the neck of his coat. “You better have answers.”

  He nodded curtly. “Mina girlie, I got lots. Plenty, even.”

  “It's not ‘Mina girlie’. It's 'Anim'. Tell me how you know that name,” she demanded.

  He grunted. “Ahrite. Okay? Yeah. Usagi Tsukino 'n I are close, see? She saw ya an' I said I'd try ya. In case she was wrong. Boy-o, girlie, she is a gem in this gat-hole,” taking pride in the fact. “Ahm sorry t'say she's ain't doin' so hot, wit th' prosthetic making discomfort.”

  She held her breath for a moment as a makeshift garbage service vehicle passed by unhurriedly. “Prosthetic!” It has to be her! “No way Usagi would get a prosthetic. She's never seen a doctor in her life.”

  “Eh I don' care about all that. I don't look so trusting, I knows it, so she gave me dis t' give ya,” he handed her a small star shaped locket, apparently none too concerned about her flaring anger, and vibrant vibro weapon. “Yeah, that's it. You are Mina, even if ya calls y'self a tarp.”

  “Oh blasted hell,” she cursed in emotion torn tones, taking the golden object in her hand quickly as she disarmed the small weapon in the other. “She is alive.”

  Turning away, she wiped at something she had not permitted in ages; tears.

  “Ya alright there, girlie?” he asked almost tenderly.

  She nodded, not looking at him.

  “Usagi nevah said her friends were all so pretty. But I'm a nice kinda guy. Sure ya noticed, ey?” he ventured.

  “Yeah. Pretty,” she sighed, smiling faintly.

  @~%~~~

  Again, as they had so many times before, the tears came, and in abundance. If not for Garen, Usagi knew she would have killed herself, or simply died. Without the others, she saw no point in living. There was no telling what could have happened after being separated by the Splugorth. She could all too clearly remember the slaver, the scars, and the escape. Usagi understood that escaping with her life, forget losing an arm, was rare, and extremely lucky. Through blurred eyes, she looked at her left arm, the shining metal of it. Tears welled again, and she felt herself succumb to them. Remembrance swept the feelings of loss back anew, and threatened to overwhelm her.

  “Senshi, where are you?” she sobbed, haggard.

  “I'm right here, Usagi-chan,” said a vaguely familiar voice. Usagi did not look up, she merely ignored the voice. No. It's not possible, not after all this time. “Usagi-chan?” A hand touched her shoulder. A glance upward through tears told her more than she needed to know.

  Usagi wore loose brown pants, a heavy grey tunic, and a tattered hooded cloak. Her aforementioned meatballish hair seemed to have acquired a stylishly dishevelled look, giving her the appearance of someone who was always on the run. She bore the permanent scars of claw marks on her right cheek, one of the many scars left from her capture by the Spulgorth. Mina looked no better. She wore black leather pants, a light, grey shirt, and a heavy leather waist length coat. It was clear that Mina had not removed the coat in several days. It looked as though she lived as much in that jacket as she did her one room home. Her hair looked somewhat unkempt and her face had a somewhat aged, hardened look. Instead of looking like a teenager, she looked like a war worn girl of some twenty years of age.

  “Minako!” she sobbed, wrapping her arms around her. “Oh Minako! It was you! Is you!”

  “Heh,” Garen chuckled, “ain't this touchin'.”

  Usagi ignored him until she let go of a friend she had long feared dead. “You did it anyway.”

  “Said I would. You jes forgot is all. I been lookin’ nonstop. Allatime allover. She's a looker if ya don' mind my sayin. Are all ya friends so pretty?” he grinned, enjoying very much one of the few friendships he had ever experienced. “I'm gonna putter up some food – or some thing? Gotta be some growlin' stomachs in the place.”

  “Fine Garen, fine,” she replied, and turned back to Mina.

  “Sit down Minako-san,” she urged, “you look…” like hell. She did not complete the sentence.

  Taking the seat offered, she agreed; “Life has been rough.”

  There was a silence, which she seemed to use to consider what she was going to say next. “I'd lost any hope of seeing anyone again.”

  Usagi handed her a small cup of tea she had just finished preparing from a boiling kettle on a small gas stove. Gingerly, Mina took a sip of it.

  “Um, you don't mind if I ask about what happened after I… a-af… um…” Usagi began again, her eyes dropping.

  Mina was silent for a moment before she started. She pulled back some stray hair, fighting a powerful urge to leave the room and abandon her friend. “Do we have to get into that now?”

  “I want to know if… there's any chance we can find the others.”

  Mina took a deep breath, savoring the bitter aroma of the tea. “There
has to be. I didn't stop looking either, Usagi-chan. I've heard a lot of rumours. Texas? Canada? It's crazy. When that ship blew up it sent us all over the continent.”

  “I am not giving up.”

  “I didn't say that. It's been hard. Very hard. People will take anything they can get from you here.”

  “Um, I know. You work for a mob boss?!” Usagi blurted, aghast as she set down her tea.

  Mina frowned, an expression that did not do much for the softness of her features. “Usagi. I just… I have to survive. Wasn't going to go to one of the cat houses.”

  “It makes crazy strange sense. Banish demons, kill people,” Usagi replied heatedly. “But you… you're an assassin!” Abruptly she stood, stepping out of the personal space of her estranged friend.

  “I'm protecting my own life now!” she retorted, gazing out of the secluded enclosure as Garen dropped several bullion cubes into the energetically bubbling pot. She turned and beheld the scored looking little camping stove, and frowned harshly. “I'm sorry… I stopped counting my flirtations with death a long time ago. Being Sailor Venus is the only thing that's saved me. I wouldn't even…” her voice lowered “… have my virginity.”

  “Oh Minako…” she whispered, a soul striking darkness beckoning tears to her eyes. Her head bowed, hands to her mouth.

  “We had it easy back home. Did we know what fighting even was?” she observed, not gazing at her until the sentence had been completed. Silence invaded the space, and out of consideration, Garen entrusted his meal to his friend and departed. Even he understood there were times you needed to be alone.

  Usagi's face hardened. She started in Japanese and Mina followed automatically. 'Why did you side with Valance?'

  Mina replied what looked like a violence hardened half-smile. 'He's safe, that's why. You've heard about him, right? All on the honour of his Mama.'

  ‘You're lucky.'

  'Hai,' she agreed. “We respect each other.”

  Her smile faded. She thought, Is it real, though? Real enough for survival, just like Garen. “Did you hear about Makoto-chan? Supposed to be called 'Sliver' now. Quite the rep.”

  Usagi merely nodded. “If it is…”

  “It's her. Have you seen the artwork of her? She's an idol. A noble warrior idol.”

  “She can't know, then?”

  “Probably clueless,” Mina wistfully stated, brushing aside some hair. Her face set in a serious expression. Usagi read it; Why aren't you crying?

  'I can't. I don't know why.' The expression on her face indicated to Mina otherwise, however. She leaned forward and took her lost friend in her arms in a hug. Usagi shed not a single tear. Mina was actually surprised; the former Usagi did nothing but.

  'I've missed you,' Usagi whispered faintly.

  'Me too,' Mina agreed, seeming unusually short-winded. The blond haired senshi let her friend go.

  'Do you think we can get back home?' she asked. Usagi startled at the question.

  'I…! I don't know. You know what Ami said… um… she…'

  “Yer not kiddin',” the short man began, sounding awed. “Yer really not from dis place, 're ya?”

  “Garen! You speak Japanese…?”

  “Uh, no. Got a translatin' imp lately,” he replied, nonchalant, as he closed the thin, worn door behind him.

  “Usagi-chan, if you followed a rumour to me, does that mean others can? Or will?”

  “The Coalition,” she gasped, her face paling. Reaching forth with her mind, she tried to detect the presence of any unwanted visitors. “No, I don't sense anyone besides us.”

  “Uh… Usagi-chan, it's not safe here anymore,” she advised, shrugging off the shock of her friend's apparent psionic ability in the light of her own change. “It's only a matter of time now.”

  “You must have a place here,” Usagi suggested. “We can go there.”

  Mina nodded as she stood. “I'm actually living with Valance now, but… he probably won't mind. But, we can't stay there for very long. It won't be safe there either.”

  Usagi looked puzzled. “Why not?”

  “The Coalition are relentless. I picked up a lil' bit of magic lately and they'll know.”

  Usagi looked surprised.

  “What? You've got psionics, don't you? Everyone needs an edge. Anyway,” she sighed. “We need to find the others.”

  “Not 'til I eat,” Garen declared, sniffing the steam rising from the battered steel bowl. “I got rumblin's in m' tummy dat'd make a fury beetle roar sound like a purr!”

  @~%~~~

  “Usagi-chan you'll have to make sure no one is looking for us,” Mina said quietly to her as they walked through the dank smelly streets of the 'burbs.

  “Hey, what if they trace ya t' Val?” Garen asked stepping over a small pile of garbage in his path.

  “No. They won't mess with him on his turf,” she said with a certainty that made him uneasy.

  “Wha' ya mean? Da Coals'll fraggin' take on Lazlo! What makes ya think dey won' take on Val?”

  “They can't afford to fight a war right now. If they attack him, every gang this side of Chi-Town will strike back, on principle.”

  “I dunno. It's damn risky. I don' get why ya bother?” Garen asked, reaching inside his long leather overcoat to verify the existence of his Wilks pistol.

  “Why? Because I don't want an imp' in my neck and a stamp on my forehead, smart guy.” She glared at him.

  “Yeah yeah. Yeez, li' me don' get 't, eh?” he groaned. “Yer frickin' crazy, ya know dat?”

  “I thought you wanted to help us,” Mina snapped impatiently.

  “Yeah, but ya think I wanna get killed alongways?”

  “Look, you can just shut your mouth, because you're stuck with us. Oh damn…”

  “Ah-huh, 'n double damn, sweetie,” Garen stated, pointing towards the half dozen members of a Dog Pack.

  An armoured Dead Boy with spikes on his helmet pointed in reply towards them and shouted, “Halt Psychics!”

  “Go!” Garen said, “Run! I'll hold 'em off!” He fetched out his slim black energy weapon and fired. Usagi and Mina had already started off at a particularly impressive pace.

  “I can't just leave him behind like that! Is there something you can do to help him?” Usagi asked, looking somewhat surprised at her usually gentle natured friend. “He saved my life!”

  Mina gazed at Usagi for a moment, in an attempt to determine her naivete. “Well… I…” she sighed. “I suppose.” She muttered something under her breath. A few moments later, a blue shimmering outline began to appear about Garen. “That'll protect him for a bit.”

  Something nagged at Usagi. Has she really changed that much? She was never this cold!

  “What is it?” Mina demanded when she realized Usagi was staring at her.

  “Nothing,” she lied, then cast a glance backward. She swore. “Look back!”

  She did so just long enough to see a burst of yellow light where Garen had been standing. A large black airborne vehicle swooped over the ashes, blowing them into oblivion.

  “A Sky Cycle!” she cried. “Get down!”

  They dropped to the ground just as it dove for them, the rapid fire of its twin rail guns strafing the ground and missing them. A pile of rubbish burst into flames ahead of them as the cycle performed a tight turn and sought its quarry once again.

  “We'll have to stand and fight,” Mina decided. She quickly cast a spell.

  “What?” Usagi sounded startled. “We should run!”

  “Normal weapons can't hurt us,” she said, sounding rather confident. “I'm going to take it out.”

  Usagi took a step backwards from her friend.

  “Are you out of your mind? You can't do that!”

  “No? Watch me,” she said with an unpleasant grin.

  Usagi watched her suddenly battle hungry friend with apprehension. As the cycle neared them, Anim took an offensive stance. The Gatling guns in the lower retractable appendage began firing. Mina leapt backwards in a
blindingly fast backflip. As she landed, the Cycle neared her, trying for a collision. She clasped her hands together and swung them forward and down. The Cycle shook as one of the smaller engines burst into flames.

  Usagi looked stunned. “Minako-chan?!”

  “Don't call me that! Call me Anim!” she snapped, looking irritated. “But you see, don't you?” Anim clapped her hands to her thighs to put out the flames. “Didn't hurt me,” she held up her hands for the purpose of illustration, showing them to be unmarred. “We're not just human anymore. I can kill with my bare hands!”

  Usagi was still stunned. She did not even blink. It occurred to her to remember to breathe. She laboriously heaved several deep lungfuls of air, staring at Anim for some time before she saw the cycle return. It opened fire before the words of warning left her mouth.

  “Minako!” she cried as Anim was thrown back by the force of a rail gun blast which hit her in the side of the face. Blood flew, and the blond haired girl screamed with ear shattering intensity. Hands fled to her face, crimson flowing onto them. Anim stumbled, fell against a wall, and then into a burning pile of rubbish.

  “You bastard!” Usagi bellowed in high tones, levelling her arm mounted energy weapon at the nearest approaching Grunt and firing. The mini rail weapon punched a baseball sized hole in his helmet, sending the body rolling backwards against his companion, who dropped with the Grunt.

  “Oh hell!” blurted the third, escaping the falling pair and rolling into an adjacent alleyway. “Back off Boys, she's loaded! Jamie, flank her, and Koey, don't you dare let him ago alone!”

  The golden retriever Dog Girl nodded with a hint of a snarl, and bolted off after the Bull Mastiff Jamie.

  “If you hurt any of my guys I'm gonna have your blond head on a platter!” he cursed loudly, ensuring his voice was clearly audible to his target.

  “You killed my friend!” Usagi shot back, tears gathered in the corners of her eyes, incinerating a chunk of wall and barely missing her mark.

  “We didn't want t' kill her,” he replied, checking the power gauge of his energy rifle. “If she'd just've co-operated, none 'o this need've taken place.”

  “ 'Submit to Fear',” she coined for him with a snarl. “Well I won't!”

  “You've got it wrong…” he insisted, noting the movement of Jamie and Koey some ten meters behind her. “We just want to help.”

  Usagi turned to the noise of the Wind Jammer descending upon her, and cleanly severed the pilot's right arm with a clear shot. There was a cry, and a rumble as the black sky cycle slammed through the side of a building, where it burst into flames. Taking advantage of her distraction, Jamie leapt out, took her in a well practiced Half Nelson, and held her shrieking and squirming form in place.

  “We just want to help,” the Psi-Net Officer insisted as he raised his gun and turned the butt end of it to face her. She tasted blood as it struck her in the face. She allowed herself to slip into a self induced death trance in the hopes that the semblance of unconsciousness would protect her.

  “Okay, she's all yours!” snarled the voice of the apparent commander.

  “Nice work Yaletown Kid,” a strange voice laughed.

  “Damn Straight. Looks like yer Little Miss Potato Head put up one helluva fight. Howsabout the other one?”

  There was a silence.

  “Dead. No loss there.”

  “Both of 'em sure could fight. Hell… I figure we're damn lucky to be alive!”

  The ISS grunt must have nodded. “You got another Jammer here?”

  “Yeah, but looks like I was a little late, huh? Fraggin' hell. Who was pilotin' that one?”

  “Meg.”

  “Frag. Why Meg? They gotta pick off the good ones, don't they.”

  “As if blondie here cared. Don't worry, they'll take it out of her hide at Lone Star. Why don't you grab her. I'll report in.”

  “Okay. What about the other one?”

  “Naw, forget it. The rest o' them freaks need an example.”

  A Sailor Moon/Palladium Rifts Crossover

  Part Two

  Shatter Margin

  Chapter 22

  Rest Less