I'll tell you all the truth.  I hate this chapter.  Not because of
how it's written, because of what happens.  I had to go read every
WAFF fic I had after writing this thing, it screwed me up that much.

****************
Shieldsman: Act II
A Sailor Moon S Fanfic

All Sailor Moon characters the property of the people who have rights
to them.  Don't sue me.

***

8 - Bloody Memories

***

As Crimson flew through the air to attack Jadeite, a few things
became very clear, very quickly.  First, he was moving far faster
than the Senshi had ever seen anyone move before.  Second, his entire
body seemed to glow with a flaming red aura.  Finally, he was in a
murderous rage, and woe betide anyone who got in his way.

Before Uranus or Neptune could even react, Crimson plowed into
Jadeite, lifting him up off the ground and tossing him into a wall. 
The crystal cracked under the impact, and Jadeite slid to the ground.

Like lightning, Crimson was at his side, lifting him up by the front
of his shirt, holding him against the wall.  "How DARE you?" Crimson
hissed.  "After all you've done, how DARE you return?"  He held up
his shield to make a killing blow.  "You should die for what you've
done!"

Sailor Mars ran up to the two men and tried to hold Crimson's arm
back, but she could barely budge it.  "Crimson!  Please, stop this!" 
 She felt his arm give as he allowed her to pull it back.  "If Queen
Serenity can forgive him, why can't you?"

Crimson released Jadeite and let him drop to the ground.  Very
slowly, he turned to face the throne, and focused his anger on the
pair of rulers.  "You can forgive him?  After what he did?" he asked
incredulously.  "After what he did to all of you?  How?"  He pointed
his arm back at the crumpled man.  "He's a murderer!"

Serenity was glad she had made only trusted advisors and good friends
attend this session of court.  Gasps went up from the assembled
people, including several of the Senshi.  Serenity shook her head. 
"Jadeite killed no one, Crimson.  During his battles with us, he
never killed even one of his victims.  Neither did any of his youma."
 

Realization dawned on Crimson, and he took a step back.  "You don't
remember, do you?" he asked her in shock.  He looked at each of the
Senshi in turn, growing more panicked at each face.  "None of you
remember it?"

"Remember what, Ares?" Sailor Mars asked.  She hoped that using his
real name would calm him down some.

"How you died in the Silver Millennium!" he yelled, frantic.  "None
of you remember?"  His question was rewarded with head shakes and
looks of confusion.  "Don't you get it?"

"What did he do, Crimson?" Serenity asked in a soft voice.  "What did
he have to do with our deaths?"

"HE KILLED YOU!" Crimson roared in a tortured voice, stunning the
Senshi with his words.  "All of you!"  His anger spent, he fell to
his knees, tears streaming down his face.  "He betrayed all of us for
Beryl.  He killed you all."

Sailor Mars was very still.  She felt a memory returning, one that
was extremely painful, but it was one she knew that she needed to
know.   As the memories replayed themselves, she understood Crimson's
anger and shame.  "He made you watch," she breathed.  "He made you
watch as he killed me."

Crimson nodded wordlessly, and Mars could only kneel and gather the
weeping man into her arms.  She softly murmured words of comfort to
him, and gently kissed away his tears.  "It doesn't matter, Ares. 
We're together now.  I love you.  It doesn't matter." She repeated
those words over and over.

"Crimson."  He looked up into Serenity's face, and only found
sympathy and understanding.  "There is no darkness in him now," she
assured him.  "Beryl's control, whatever it was, is gone from Jadeite
now."  At his confusion, she elaborated.  "This is not the man who
committed those crimes.  Jadeite, as he is now, could never do that."

"Why do you call him that?" Crimson asked, trying to change the
subject.  "Jadeite, I mean."

"Because I don't deserve the name I was born with," Jadeite said from
the ground.  "I betrayed you, I betrayed Serenity, and I betrayed HER
most of all."  He stood, and swayed on his feet.  "I've lost all
right to that name."

"Don't you think I deserve to be the judge of that?" a low voice
asked.  At the entrance to the hall, stood Sailor Pluto.  Her face
was cold and hard as stone, yet she seemed on the verge of breaking
into tears or laughter, or maybe even snarling in rage.  Jadeite
whimpered like a hurt animal and turned his face away.  "I rather
prefer the name Verdant."  Sounds of whispered conversation rose from
the Senshi.

"I failed that name.  I failed it and everything it stood for,"
Jadeite insisted.

Pluto walked over to him and turned him to face her, and then swiftly
slapped him across the face.  "You IDIOT!" she growled at him.  "Do
you think I blame you?  It was NOT YOUR FAULT, any more than it was
Endymion's when Beryl corrupted him."

"It was my fault," Jadeite said softly.  "I was weak."

"Yes, you were," Pluto agreed bluntly.  "You were weaker than
something far more powerful than you."  She smiled kindly.  "But
there is no fault in that.  I can forgive you for what you did."

"I don't deserve forgiveness."

Pluto was silent for a moment.  "Perhaps not, in your mind.  But I
can forgive you, because I know the man you were, and the man you
are.  I know the man I fell in love with eleven millennia ago is
standing right in front of me."

Crimson stood, and pulled away from Mars.  "Maybe you can forgive
him." He turned to the Queen.  "Maybe you all can forgive him."  He
turned back to Mars looked her in the eyes.  "But I can't.  I'll
always associate his face with your death, Rei.  I see him killing
you in my nightmares, and I can't ever forgive that."  With that, he
strode out the doors of the hall.

"Ares!"  Mars called after him, and started to follow.  As she neared
the door, she was intercepted by Apollo, who stopped her.

"Don't," he told her.  "I've seen him like this before.  Let him work
it out himself."

***

The darkness watched the proceedings below and cackled with glee. 
These Senshi were such fun to torment!  If it had known of this
earlier, it would have released its host long ago, just to see what
happened.

As the aura of shock, confusion, anger, and betrayal filled the room,
the darkness hungrily fed on the energy released.  It was nice, but
it would have to find a host soon.  It looked down on the inhabitants
of the room, and carefully tested each one.

The queen?  Even its mother wasn't dumb enough to try that, and the
Serenity of the past was much weaker than the one before it.  

The king?  It felt his power and reeled back in surprise.  This man
was linked to the planet!  With him as a host it could feed on the
life energy of the planet itself.  It tested the boundaries of his
mind, and found with dismay that he was far too old.  The darkness
could never break through his defenses in time.

It started to look at the Senshi, and realized with fury that they
were ALL too old.  They were all so old, so set in their ways, that
their consciousness was as solid as a rock.  The cracks and holes in
their mental defenses, even their unconscious ones, were far too
small, too insignificant to be of use.

This would not do.  In order to merge with a host, in order to twist
it into a form that would be useful to the darkness, it would have to
reveal itself to Serenity.  Unless it could conquer the host's
defenses quickly, it would be destroyed by that annoying queen.

It scanned the crowd, noticing the pockets of power that showed the
latent abilities in some of the attendees.  It noticed one young man,
one with a dark complexion and black hair, who had an odd aura, as if
there was something missing that should be there.  A power that
should be there.

The darkness cursed Serenity, that witch who had killed its mother. 
If its mother had still been alive, she could have fed the man the
power he was missing.  She had done it for its siblings, turning men
who could have become great warriors of light into greater generals
of darkness.

This was not bringing it closer to finding a host, the darkness
realized.  It watched the proceedings below, and snickered at the man
weeping on the floor.  What fools these humans are!  To allow such
weakness into themselves was utter foolishness.  No wonder Beryl
destroyed them so long ago.

And Beryl was destroyed in turn, by people who used that weakness as
a strength.  There had to be a way.  There had to be a way to turn
that strength back into a weakness, or at least to exploit it to its
fullest.

Wait!  The man!  The one with the reddish-blonde hair, in the oddly
familiar armor.  If it could have, the darkness would have laughed. 
Such power in one so young.  The takeover would be swift and
unstoppable.  For the first time in days, the darkness realized it
would survive.  It was sure of that now.

It watched the man leave the hall, and flew rapidly after him as the
man disappeared deep into the halls of the palace.  It must take him
quickly, before he knew what hit him.  At the speed of the light that
was its bane, the darkness flowed into the man, preying on his anger,
his shame, and his confusion.  The man screamed in pain, and
collapsed in an abandoned hall.  He screamed again, and Crimson's
eyes closed.

And Blood's eyes opened.   Their features were gone, leaving only a
deep, awful red, that seemed to suck up the light that shone on them.
 He stood, and his armor began to darken and shift, the silvery
guards tarnishing with a stain the color of rust, that spread and
flowed until they were completely covered in that horrifying color. 
His other gear had become as blood red as his eyes.

Blood looked down at himself, and began to laugh.  It was a laugh
that echoed through the halls, and sent chills down the spines of
those who heard it.  "Oh, my," he breathed. He turned and ran down
the halls, finding the nearest exit, pausing to drain the guardsman
at the gate until the body was limp.  As he finished, a black flame
seemed to erupt from his body, a flame that ate the light around it,
shrouding the area in darkness.

He hissed in pain as the shield at his left arm flared bright red and
burned him.  Taking it off, he flung the object away from him,
letting it clatter to the ground far down the hall.  It was a foolish
weapon, anyway.

Blood looked upon the city who's heroes he was about to destroy, the
city he would rule, and smiled.  "Oh, yes."

***

Mars felt a sudden stabbing pain deep in her heart, and knew
something horrible had happened.  She cried out in agony, and
collapsed on the floor.

"Mars!" Serenity cried, and was soon at the groaning woman's side,
followed moments later by the rest of the Inner Senshi.  The
guardsmen at the doors to the court correctly took that as a cue to
empty the room.  Serenity then summoned the Ginzuishou, and used the
crystal's power to ease Mars' pain, and help her to her feet.

"He's gone," Mars wept, and Serenity took the woman into an embrace,
shooting a glance to the other Senshi, her message clear.  Find
Crimson, and do it fast.  The Senshi disappeared out the doors into
the rest of the palace.

Serenity spent several minutes trying to calm her friend and discover
what she was talking about, but Mars was too distraught to be of any
help.  Once again, she used the Ginzuishou to look inside her friend
at the bond between her and Crimson.

What she discovered brought tears to her eyes and horror to her
heart.  The link was strong and healthy at Mars' end, but as it
stretched out to Crimson it became something dark and twisted, almost
rotten.

Sailor Jupiter burst into the room, her face lined with worry and
anger.  "One of the guardsmen was drained of his life energy, your
Majesty.  He is alive, but barely."  She held up the object she held
at her side.  Crimson's shield.  "This was found nearby."

Mars looked up at her old friend, her eyes red from crying, and took
the shield, holding it like it was the most delicate thing on the
face of the earth.  "He's gone," she said again in a voice hoarse
with pain.  "He's gone and there's only hatred and anger there now." 
She looked up at Jupiter, and her eyes caught Jadeite.

"You," she growled.  "This is YOUR fault!"  She stood, and made to
attack the wretch of a man, but Jupiter held her arms and stopped
her.  "If you hadn't come, none of this would have happened!"  She
struggled in her friends grip.  "Let me go!  I'll kill him!  I just
got him back!"  Her sudden burst of energy left her as quickly as it
came, and she began to cry again.  "It's not fair.  I just got him
back."  Mercury returned, took the sobbing woman from Jupiter, and
led her out of the hall.

Serenity watched her friend leave, and felt her husband's hand on her
shoulder.  She embraced him.  "Oh, my love, why can't we ever be left
in peace?"

***

Sailors Uranus and Neptune looked out over the city of Crystal Tokyo
from the roof of one of its many skyscrapers.  There was an almost
visible miasma of fear that hung over the city like a black cloud.

"I hate this," Uranus complained.  "It's just like when we were
chasing after the Talismans when we were teens.  Always arriving
after the fact."

Neptune nodded.  "He's a most cunning enemy.  He's managed to hide
himself from Mercury's computer and the Queen.  That is no small
task."  She paused.  "If it wasn't for the fact we can track him when
he attacks someone, he'd have the run of the city."

Uranus snorted in derision.  "He does have the run of the city. 
People are afraid to leave their homes in fear of him."  She started
to grow angry.  "Here!  In Crystal Tokyo of all places!"

"Why ladies, I'd think you didn't like me or something."

The two sailors whirled to see a man looking out over the city,
facing away from them.  His armor resembled that of Crimson's, but
instead of being bright red and silver, it was blood red and rusty. 
"Crimson?" Neptune asked tentatively.

Slowly, the man turned to look at the pair, and the women were
shocked by what they saw.  The man's eyes were the same color as his
clothes, a single, solid shade.  "The name," he growled as a dark,
flaming aura appeared around his body, "is Blood."

With that, the man pointed his right hand at Neptune, and she was
flung back by the bolt of black flame that erupted from his hand.  
Uranus took all of a second to gape before she brought up her hand
into the sky.  "WORLD..." She paused as Blood merely turned to her
and smirked. "...SHAKING!"

The spherical blast of energy ripped a path through the roof of the
building before it rose to impact the man square on the chest, and he
was engulfed in an explosion of magical power.   Keeping her eyes on
the cloud of dust in front of her, Uranus edged over to Neptune, who
was struggling to her feet.  "You OK?"

Neptune nodded, but Uranus wasn't paying attention to see it.  Her
eyes were captivated by the sight of Blood, who stood completely
unaffected by her blast.  "Remind me to thank Serenity for the power
she instilled in this body," he said.  "I rather enjoy it."  He
raised both hands, and twin gouts of black flame shot out to where
the two women had stood moments before.

"Damn it!" Uranus cursed, and summoned the Space Sword.   She jumped
into the air, and attacked again.  "SPACE SWORD BLASTER!"  The
crescent shaped attack flew into Blood, and he staggered back a few
steps.

"I don't have time for this," he growled, and turned to Neptune, and
smiled in a way that sent shivers down her spine.  "I was hoping to
kill you both, but since you don't want to cooperate, maybe I'll just
kill you."  He cupped his hand and the dark flame that surrounded him
flowed down his body to form into a fireball.   Winding up like a
baseball player, he threw it at Neptune.

The black ball expanded as at flew, and despite her attempts to
dodge, Neptune was hit by the attack, if only barely.  With a cry of
pain, she fell to the roof, holding her left arm.  The flesh of the
arm was white and blistered, like it had been flash-frozen and burned
at once.  

Gritting her teeth, Neptune summoned the Aqua Mirror.   "SUBMARINE
REFLECTION!" she cried, and the blast of water drove into the
possessed man in his gut, doubling him over and driving him into a
second attack by Uranus.  As the second attack struck him, Blood
screamed in pain and fell to his knees.

Uranus rushed to Neptune's side and helped her stand.  "We have to
get you out of here," she hissed.

"Haruka?  Michiru?"  They turned and saw Blood kneeling, looking at
them in horror.  "What am I doing?"

"Don't give me that, you bastard!" Uranus cried, and summoned the
Space Sword again.

"Wait," Neptune said, putting her hand on Uranus' arm.  "Look at his
eyes."  Uranus did so, and saw that they were normal human eyes. 
"That's Ares."

Ares looked down at himself, and touched the armor in disgust.  "Why
am I like this?  What's going..." he trailed off has his face twisted
in pain.  "NO!  You can't do this!"  He frantically looked at the
watching women, his plea written on his face.  "You have to stop
him...me!  You can't let me near Rei.  Promise me you'll kill me
first!"

"Why?"  Neptune asked.

Ares held his head and screamed in pain.  "Because if he...if I get
to her...I'LL TEAR HER APART!!"  With that, he screamed again, and
his eyes misted over, once again becoming the blood-red orbs they
were before.

Blood stood and swayed.  "We'll finish this later."  He turned and
jumped off the side of the building.

"Wait!" Uranus cried, rushing to the edge of the roof.  She looked
down, and there was no sign of Blood.

Neptune came to stand beside her, and looked over the edge.  "We
can't do this, Haruka...not again.  I can't do something like this
again."

Uranus face was grim as she looked at her partner.  "I know, Michiru.
 But we may have no choice."

--
Christopher "God-boy" Angel
cja124@mail.usask.ca      http://www.engr.usask.ca/~cja124
"Love is stronger than justice."
-The Munificent Seven by Sting