PRT 401- “Nemesis’s End”

“It’s so nice to be home.” Hotaru said as she came into the kitchen for breakfast. I was cooking eggs and bacon.

“It’s great to have you home.” I said.

“Yes, it certainly is.” Amara agreed as she walked in the room and kissed me.

“Was Ronny ok on the sofa last night?” I asked.

“Yeah. She’s going apartment hunting again today. She said she needs her own place.”

“About time.” I mumbled.

“What?”

“It’s just nice to have things getting back to normal.”

“Agreed. Where’s Trista?”

“She went to guard the Gates of Time. She is worried about Mia going to recharge the Tear of Time.”

“She has to be desperate. It wouldn’t surprise me.”

“You know, except for the whole trying to take over the world thing, Mia really isn’t that bad.” Hotaru said.

“Excuse me?” Amara asked.

“I’m serious Dad. She’s not a bad person. She’s lonely and misguided. She was desperate for a friend when Kaya found her. Had it been Luna or Artemis I have no doubt she’d be on our side.”

“But she’s not and that’s the point.”

“Agreed. She’s dangerous Hotaru.” I said.

“I know. I just kinda feel bad for her too.” Hotaru said.

“We gave her many chances to join us and she refused. She’s done nothing but cause pain and destruction.” Amara said.

“Your father is right. Mia deserves what’s coming to her.” I agreed.

“I’m not saying she doesn’t…I’m just…I don’t know. I’m glad Michelle is Sailor Saturn and not me. I don’t want to be involved in this anymore.” Hotaru said.

“Now that I do agree with. You have a lot to catch up on in school. You need to focus on that and get back on track.” I said.

“I will. I’m actually going to talk to my advisor today and see what I can do to catch up.”

“That’s my girl.”

“Just promise me you guys will be careful. I just got you back, I don’t want to lose you again.”

I smiled, “We’ll be very careful. We’re not leaving you alone for anything.”

Michelle

~~~~~~~

“Thanks for everything.” I said softly.

“I’d do anything for you Michelle.” Hunter replied.

“I know…but you realize that, although I am very grateful, this changes nothing, right?”

“This changes everything. You still love me…we’re still in love.”

“You knew that before…and like before, sometimes love isn’t enough.”

Hunter nodded, “I understand that for now, but this isn’t over.”

I bit my lip and sighed, “Yeah Hunter, it is.” I watched him leave my apartment.

“Are you ok?” Rocky asked as he came out of the other room.”

“I’m fine…but you…oh my god, you’re the most amazing man ever.” I said.

“I am?”

“You so are! You stood by and watched me with another man because you knew he was the only one that could save me. That had to damn near kill you but you did it…and you even stayed to keep an eye on me too. Rockford Miguel DeSantos, you are quite possibly the best man I’ve ever known.” I said as I rushed into his arms.

“I love you Mich, you know that. I wasn’t going to just leave you with him. I knew he could get through to you but I also know what he’s done to you and I don’t trust him.”

I smiled, “I love you too Rocky…more now than ever.”

Rocky smiled, “That means a lot to me.”

“You’re so amazing.”

“Shouldn’t you be meeting the others?”

“Yeah, we’re going to use Kaya to draw Mia back out. If this works then it’ll all be over.”

“Be very careful. I can’t lose you.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“You’re still weak from before and…just be careful.”

I nodded, “I promise you I’ll be careful.”

“Thank you.”

I kissed him, “I should go.”

“OK…I love you Michelle…so much. I want to make sure you know.”

I nodded, “I do. I honestly do and I love you too.”

I headed off to meet with the others. We met up at the warehouse that Hotaru told Amara Mia was last seen at. We didn’t expect her to still be there, but it was a good starting point.

“She isn’t here.” A voice said. We turned around and saw Prince Diamond.

“You tracked her too?” Moon asked.

“I wanted to try to help her reform but she has no interest in that. Be very careful, she feels she has nothing left to lose.” Diamond said.

“Do you know where she went?” Mars asked.

“No, I don’t…but I suspected Hotaru would lead you here and I wanted to warn you. She’s more dangerous than ever.”

“We’ll be ok. We just have to find her.” Uranus said.

“And we will. If we can’t track her we’ll attract her.” Venus said as she held up Kaya’s carrier.

“You don’t really think Mia will fall for this again do you?” Kaya asked.

“You really don’t know how much you mean to Mia do you?” Moon asked.

“Come on guys, let’s get to the quarry. Less civilians to worry about.” I said.

We arrived at the quarry.

“Oh Mia! We’re here! You want Kaya? We have her here! Come and get her!” Venus called.

“Mia, no! It’s a trap!” Kaya cried.

“Hush you.” Mars said, gently kicking the cage.

“Oh Mia! Come out and play!” Venus said.

“We have the Crystal, the Amethyst, and the cat…come and get us!” I called.

“Good, I love one stop shopping.” Nemesis said as she appeared, attacking.

We jumped out of the way.

“Ok, enough. This ends here.” Uranus said.

“Oh yes, it certainly does.” Nemesis said, “Nemesis Dark Blast!”

The attack hit us and sent us flying.

“That was more powerful than I remember that attack being.” Mercury said.

“It was. She’s losing control of her power too.” I said.

“Not good. Saturn was bad enough.” Venus said.

“Then we stop Nemesis here and now.” Neptune said.

“We have to weaken her or the power drain will kill us.” Moon said.

“I don’t think that’s an option…we just gotta do it.” Uranus said.

I nodded, “She’s right. We do it and hope we live to tell the tale. Ready Sailor Moon?”

“I guess so. Let’s do this.” Moon said as she summoned her Crystal. I summoned my Amethyst and we both started to tap into the power.

“Yes! The power! I want that power!” Nemesis cried. She fought against the energy field to try to steal the gemstones.

“Don’t think so. Come on guys. Sailor Moon and Sailor Saturn need us.” Mars said as she summoned the Mars Crystal.

“Right.” The others replied as they summoned their own Sailor Crystals. We focused on using the gemstones to absorb Nemesis’s power. It took quite a while to even start to absorb…and when she realized what we were doing she was not happy.

“What?! No! You can’t do this!” Nemesis cried.

“We can and we are.” I said as I focused on absorbing her power. It was taking a lot of energy and I wasn’t sure how much longer we could hold out.

“Mia!” Kaya cried from her cage.

“Sailor Moon, be careful!” a voice called. It was Tuxedo Mask. I noticed him running over with Adam, Rocky, Chad, Andrew, and Diamond out of the corner of my eye. I couldn’t think of that now. Mia was resisting hard and it was taking a lot of strength just to not pass out. Finally, it was done and Mia’s power was stripped. She de-transformed and passed out. Right after that the rest of us de-transformed and passed out as well.

When I came too I was lying on the floor of Serena’s living room.

“Whoa…” I groaned, “In the words of Dustin, my bell is seriously rung.” I tried to sit up.

“Mich, oh thank god. You had me so worried.” Rocky said. He was sitting next to me.

“Is everyone else ok?” I asked.

“We’re fine.” Lita said. She, and the others, were sitting around the living room, with their boyfriends/husbands (if they had them)…except Serena.

“Where’s Serena?” I asked.

“Darien took her to their bedroom. She hasn’t woken up yet.” Raye said.

“She’ll be ok, right?”

“We hope so.”

“She’s fine.” Darien said as he and Serena walked out, “She just woke up.”

“We did it?” Serena asked.

“We did it.” Mina said.

“What happened to Mia?” I asked.

“Ah, Diamond took care of that.” Adam said as he turned the TV on.

“Again, Mia Blackwood, up and coming rock singer, was found unconscious at the quarry right outside LA. It is unknown how she got there, but it does appear she was attacked. She was found by an unknown man that reported the finding anonymously to the LAPD. She was found with her pet cat, also unconscious. Both Mia and her cat were taken to receive medical care. It is unknown if this attack is related to the death of Mindy Kyle, but police think Mia was kidnapped by whoever caused the fatal explosion at her apartment. We’ll bring you more details as they become available.”

Adam turned the TV off.

“Wow…ok…so Mia is in the clear. It’ll become a cold case and…it’s over.” Mina said.

“She deserves to go to prison for what she did.” I said.

“Yes, she does, but we can’t prove it without revealing our identities so we’ll have to be content that justice was served when we stripped her powers.”

I sighed, “I suppose so.’

“And Diamond was the anonymous caller?” Lita asked.

“Yeah. He’s taking care of Mia.” Andrew said.

“He actually cares about her doesn’t he?” Raye asked.

“Ironically enough, I think he does.” Darien said.

“So that’s it then? We’re done? We can focus on releasing music?” Raye asked.

“And weddings?” Lita asked.

“And family?” Michele asked.

“And movies?” Mina asked.

“Yes…I think so…we’re done. Nemesis is gone.” Serena said.

“Can Kaya restore her powers?” Amara asked.

“No Amara, she can’t. Just like Artemis and myself, Kaya can tap into power and summon it…she does not create it. With Nemesis’s power absorbed Kaya cannot access it.” Luna said.

“So that’s it. We’re done…I can finally set a release date!” Serena cried.

“You have one in mind?” I asked.

Serena nodded, “February 16, 2010.”

“Why that day?”

“Gives me Valentine’s Day with Darien and then I can focus hardcore on promotion. In the meantime I think I need to release my second single…the title track is what I was thinking.”

I smiled, “Meet in my office Monday morning and we’ll work out the details.”

“And we can finally set a wedding date!” Lita cried as she hugged Andrew.

“What did you have in mind?” Andrew asked.

“Hmm…I’ll have to think about it…so many dates to choose from.”

“Michele, we should go…we need to make sure everything went ok for Hotaru.” Amara said.

Michele nodded, “And to make sure Ronny found an apartment.”

“See you guys later.” Raye said as they left.

“I think I want to go home too. I’m so tired I can barely see straight.” I said.

Rocky nodded, “Good plan. I’ll take you home.”

“I’ll see you guys later.” I said.

“So we’re ok?” Serena asked.

“Yeah…the woman really responsible for Mindy’s death has paid…I know you guys did what you could…we’re cool…and for the record…I really loved being Sailor Saturn and working with you guys.”

“We liked it too Mich, really…we did.” Mina said.

“I’m glad…and I hope to see you in my office Monday morning too. I’d like to sell you ½ of Starlight Records…and the same price you sold it for.”

Mina smiled, “I think it’s worth discussing. I’ll be there.”

Rocky and I headed back to my apartment and Rocky got me to bed.

“You’re really ok?” he asked as I pulled the blanket tightly around me.

“I really am. I’m weak and tired and I’ll spend the next few days sleeping, but yes…I’m ok.”

Rocky smiled, “Good.”

“Hold me?”

Rocky got in bed next to me and pulled me into his arms.

“I did it.” I said.

“Did what?” he asked.

“I was a Sailor Solider. I was part of a team again I didn’t have to train…I really am more than just a trainer.”

“That was still bugging you?”

“A little…but not anymore. I can be part of a winning team instead of just training and running.”

“Of course you can…I never had a doubt about that…but I’ve never had a doubt about you.”

I smiled and closed my eyes. After losing Aubrey, RJ getting an annulment, having massive emotional issues, and watching my sister die…I was ok…I was actually almost happy in this moment…but I knew life never stayed good for long…at least my life didn’t…but for now I intended to enjoy it