The Tears of the Flame
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 By Nitemare_Angel and Doctor XadiumThere was an eerie silence within the TARDIS. Instead of the usual sounds of two people who had been devoted to each other, there was instead something more haunting. Perhaps the lack of the noise had been the cause, or perhaps it was something more. It didn't matter, though, as the TARDIS had reached it's next destination.Xadium barely noted the ding of the landing chime from the console as he sat in the corner of the darkened console room, engrossed in his thoughts. He had dimmed the lights, their dull semi-darkness matching the increasing bleakness of his inner mood. Minako was secreted somewhere in the depths of the labyrinthine machine, stewing in an anger that did not even belong to her properly; it was the curse of the angered Goddess Venus, whose beauty and grace was matched only by her temper and her fury. And thanks to Xadium's rash actions bourne out of a desperate need for her love, and for the world he had come to know, he had unleashed that wrath, and destroyed their marriage. Minako had made it clear to him that once the TARDIS reached 2005, she would walk out of it-- and his life-- forever. Xadium, therefore, was actually pleased to note that the TARDIS had overshot the mark, landing sometime around the year 8000, on the dusty plains of the terraformed, yet still hellish, Martian wasteland. Aino Minako, though, sat within the TARDIS, still a mile deep within its corridors, staring at the wall, in an unexplained fury. Why was she so angry at him? The answer remained unknown, and she pouted. There was just something about him that made her so repulsed, yet she could not explain it. Letting out a sigh, she decided that she was angry for a reason, and she would discover it eventually. Until then, she needed to take her rage out upon something, and yet she felt that she needed to retain it, hold it within her-- let it fuel her. Minako let out a scream of frustration as she kicked the wall, stubbing her toe, and silently swearing. She slammed her fist against the wall, now frustrated with the pain in her foot, and her anger toward her husband remained. This was insane. She was no matzo fist... she didn't enjoy hurting herself. She was mad with Xadium, not the wall, and certainly not her limbs. So why should she sit here, confused and upset while he stayed out there in the console room playing on the computer?
Resolved, she got up and decided to march out there and face him. Perhaps then, eye to eye, the reason for her sudden anger could snap into focus. And if not, she could always leave. It was better than just sitting here putting herself through this stupid turnstile.* The sound of Aino Minako storming down the hallways could lead to anyone getting chills down their spine, and Xadium was certainly no different. He had to pull himself away from the console for a moment, knowing that the moment of yet another confrontation was to come. Not with the Goddess, oh no, but with his wife. His eyes narrowed, and a smirk came to his face as he suddenly thought of slamming her into the wall, breaking her bones, and hearing her scream, begging for mercy, but he wouldn't give it. No, certainly not. His thoughts were cut off when she came into the room, staring at him with a look of true fury within her eyes. She was like a tigress, ready to attack, and her prey was staring right at her, not making any sort of move. Xadium waged two battles at once; one with whatever darkness in him was screaming for him to lunge forwards, to rend her limb from limb; to bathe himself in her blood and finally free himself from the blasted bonds of attachment that had so effectively emasculated him these past years, and from the other, rational side which stood aghast, not only at what it was seeing in his mind, but also at the sight of the enraged woman who meant more than life itself to him, standing there, ready to pounce. It was hemmed in and helpless, doing all it could just to keep from screaming out in raw panic. Minako walked right up to him, staring at her lover, and yet the man she was so furious at, looking as if she were about to truly injure him, and beat him until she felt better. It would seem like the right thing to do, in fact, and as she raised a hand to punch him, the blow approaching his abdomen, she stopped for a split second, and placed her hand by her side, almost like surrendering. Before Xadium had realized she wasn't going to punch him, the sound of a hand against his face was heard, and he felt the pain of a burning sensation on the right side of his face, looking away. She had slapped him. She had just slapped him. And yet before he could make any sort of motion to reply, she had stormed away, leaving him alone again, with his thoughts, and with two implicit choices: To go after her, and bring his justice, or to remain here, and mope. The smart thing to do would be to leave, the darkness in his core yelled out. Leave the bitch to rot. Women are nothing but trouble. You knew this, but let your weakness get in the way of your pragmatism. Your loneliness. That time spent stranded on the planet of the apes, made you so foolish as to open your hearts to one of their number. Now look at you, beaten down like a dog, all because you saved her entire reality. No good deed goes unpunished. Leave her to starve and die in the heart of the machine. Come back later and go on your way. The voice was smooth and seductive, with shades of Zircon's maleficent edge... and some of Xadium's own repressed doubts and frustrations. You can't leave her here, the other side of his mind retorted. What you did was wrong. You took a life. That was unforgivable. This treatment is better than you deserve, and you know it. No matter the ends, the means cannot justify them. You must go in there, and face her. Suffer. Repent. It is the only way you will ever be able to live with yourself again. I can live with myself just fine, Xadium thought to himself coldly, turning to leave. But what of Sakura? shot back his rapidly dimming conscience. Sakura. Xadium froze. Sakura Xadium Aino was dead. Well more precisely, she had never been born. He had been checking the revised historical databanks when Minako had stalked in. The cute little girl, and the strong young woman he had just been getting to know, the one who had filled him with hope for the future and made him so proud-- she had been erased from the universe as if she had never been. For her... he had to go back to Minako and reconcile. No matter the price. Xadium made his way into the TARDIS. Young, hungry and eager, they were the second-and-third generation of the sailor senshi who had helped defend the Earth in the 20th and 30th centuries, as well as some non-senshi offspring who still possessed above-normal strength, endurance and magical attunement. With rare exception, they were also quite arrogant and cocksure of themselves. This was their time now, some five millennia after the summit of Crystal Tokyo's power, and they would be damned if they were going to be beholden to the wishes of their geriatric parents, those fools with their egalitarian ethics and outmoded philosophies regarding right and wrong. To a visitor from the past, Mars could accurately be described as the "new Earth." Crystal Tokyo itself was a burnt-out ruin, a pathetic reminder of the weakness of the Terran legacy, its magnificent spires shattered and burned in the great, but ultimately futile first battle with Galaxia Spear's Chaotic Legions so long ago. It was to have been a swift, decisive blow, but the Senshi in charge at the time had been too slow; too meek. The judgment of history was that they had failed to sacrifice enough planetary forces to contain the threat, allowing themselves to enter a protracted conflict that raged on to this day. The war had shattered Earth, causing the senshi to relocate the seat of power to Mars. Terrans had turned inwards, rebuilding their world without the guidance of Serenity this time, industrializing it on their own. They had severed contact with Mars, choosing to forge their own destiny, which admittedly would be an easy task, since the forces of Revenant Galaxia had long since left the Sol system to set up their base elsewhere. Frankly, it just wasn't tactically significant. Not tactically significant. What an insult. The senshi here, who had once struck fear into the hearts of their enemies, the warriors of legend-- were now marginalized, forgotten, ignored. Now the Sailor Corps from Sagittarius Zero star, rallied by the Kinmoku Generals, they were the ones at the front. Like the blasted husk of the crystal city, long forgotten by history, the next generation of senshi-- the elite-- the chosen ones, whose destiny-- whose birthright it was to right this wrong-- they were left behind to gather dust and rot. It was unacceptable! Their parents had been weak fools, who, in the face of their shame had quit their positions of power on their homeworlds and returned to the side of Serenity V, along with Saturn's elite guard unit. Sitting in their castle high atop Olympus Mons, they did nothing to stem the tide of galactic violence, deferring instead to the Sailor Corps to plot strategy. Weak, and decadent, they had become. And now, these throwbacks to an earlier time of child-like innocence and peace were going to meddle again. This is why the nobility had gathered. The scions of House Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Saturn, Mercury, and Jupiter were waiting to hear from the only member of House Mars, assuming she even still lived. Her words would shape the future of the Sol III System. Or so she'd like to think. No one had seen or heard from Princess Mars in over four thousand years. It was said she lived deep within the bowels of the planet, surrounded by an army of holy women and her two enigmatic bodyguards. It was said her power of foresight was unrivalled, and that she had the queen's ear in all things. It was also said that she was immortal, and ate children who stayed up past their bedtime. When an announcement had been made that she had desired to see the heads of all the planetary houses, everyone naturally assumed it was some kind of prank. But they were here nonetheless, out of curiosity if nothing else. "This is stupidity," one tall young woman with brown hair remarked, cracking her neck slightly. Turning to the others, she shook her head. "House Jupiter has better things to do than--" The sentence never completed, as she simply stopped speaking. Somehow, without any of them in the room realizing it, they had been completely and utterly surrounded by priestesses in red and black kimono. There were at least fifty of them, perhaps more. "How did you get in here?" one of the twin blue-haired technocrati from House Mercury snapped. "We were here before you arrived," one of the miko replied calmly. "Perception is so easy to control. We can walk where we will and yet remain unseen." "You wear the crest of Mars on your robes," the Saturnian Imperator remarked coldly. "Do you serve the princess of Mars?" "Princess of Mars?" A voice said sharply from the other side of the room. "I am Mars." All heads turned to face the new arrival in the room. What they saw were two beings with the heads of crows, looking for all the world like goddesses of Egyptian myth, giant wings folded in front of their bodies like feathery cloaks. "Aside, my twin guardians," the voice continued, as the jet-black creatures silently slid away, one to the left and b one to the right. Between them, blindfolded and clad in a white kimono and black hakama, looking no older than she had at 25, was Mars herself, Hino Rei. She could stand Xadium no longer, and eventually she would take her leave, and make sure he would never return. Why was still unexplainable, and she let out a sigh, banging her head against the wall. More self mutilation. Why was she doing this? It wasn't her fault, it was his. But was there really any sort of reason for her to just keep going up to him, laying one blow, leaving, returning, and continuing the cycle? No, but it seemed to make her feel better. Yet it shouldn't had. She wasn't sadistic, yet she was, now. Nothing seemed to be explained, and she was left alone to ponder those thoughts. She heard footsteps. He was going to hurt her, she knew it. It didn't seem right for him to just be taking blows, and not give any sort of injury. She braced herself, yet she knew that she would not let him do this without a fight. She had every right to defend herself, and now was no exception. Xadium made his way to the locked door and frowned. How dare she lock him out of her room, in the heart of his own TARDIS? How dare she treat him this way?! In the place that was his sanctuary against the universe? Angrily, his fingers flew across the numbers on the electronic lock pad. She had chosen a six digit passcode, the fool. To keep him out she would have needed at least five hundred characters, and even then... He chuckled darkly and punched in the code - 030911 As the door clicked unlocked, his hearts skipped. She had used their wedding date -- September 11th, 2003. Even as he angrily stalked in, what was left of his better nature was praying to god-- any god, every god... that he could resolve this peacefully and go back to the way things had been before this had begun. She rose to her feet, watching him enter angrily, her eyes filled with fury. She had the feeling he would attack, but she knew she wouldn't just let it be that simple. She waited, staring him down. "Why...?" She whispered, not realizing that she had spoken. The question was to herself. Why did she hate him now? She was angry, but why? Shaking her head, she waited for him to approach, her anger remaining at it's normal pace, and she prepared for his attack. Xadium stood still in shock. Her voice, which he had not heard for so long, was far from the soft, sweet, almost lyrical tone that he was used to. This was cold, and hard, yet frightened and confused. Like him. Exactly like him. "I don't know..." he choked out, moving towards her, arms unconsciously spreading out for an embrace, as he wanted nothing more than to hold her close, run his hand through her hair, comfort and soothe her, and apologize. As if she had no control, Minako suddenly said something that never would she truly have said with such a bitter tone even if it was a whisper, "Don't touch me." The anger was still there, and she was still suffering, but she would not let him anywhere near her. Not on his life. There would be no way that he would lay a finger upon her unless she wished it, and as far as she was concerned, she never wanted it to happen again. Xadium froze in place, stunned. He would respect her wishes.... but the side of him that was rapidly gaining ground roared. SEE HOW SHE TOYS WITH YOU?! it screamed, causing him to physically wince. She never cared for you! She was loose and wanton! it continued, showing him images taken from Minako's deepest dreams, intimate moments of her thought, where she pined for boy after boy after boy, and mocked geeks and nerds... the humans who most approximated him. It had been a little bit of a sore point, and a joke in their marriage, but now... now those images, shown with such bitter clarity... they hurt. They burned. Minako looked away, tears falling down her face. She no longer loved him, that was it, and yet why was it driving her mad? She shook, leaning against the wall, sinking slowly. It was killing her inside, and yet she couldn't win. She just couldn't win, no matter how hard she were to try, it would still hurt her. To love him and be angry with him forever, or to hate him and feel alone forever. A hazard, yes, and she was torn between the choices. Her only action, then, was to slam her fist in his abdomen. Xadium doubled over in pain and shock, the force of her blow causing him to spit up blood. He didn't know what hurt him more, the impact, or the fact she had hit him. Minako She looked at him, and suddenly, she felt the urge rising. Inflict pain. She punched him again, and again. And again... It didn't matter. Her anger had blinded her, and now she felt that she needed to inflict more pain. More and more she continued to attack, the onslaught, saying nothing at all. Xadium felt ribs crack, organs rupture. He dropped to his knees, coughing blood and spitting up chunks of substances he couldn't even identify. So savage was her onslaught that he could not get his hands up to block, nor could he get to his feet and run. He just crouched and hoped she would give him an opening to flee. Clearly she hates you, it murmured, She's attacking you because she hates you and wants you dead. Two go in, and one comes out. Why not just end her life, spare your own. Xadium heard the voice and nodded mentally. There was no doubting the veracity of its words now, as he dropped to the ground, each breath painful and arduous. Summoning all his strength and rage, he did something he never, ever thought he would do. He gritted his teeth, brought his fists together, rose up, and hit Minako in the jaw. He had hit his wife. The one person in the universe he loved more than life itself. Stunned, Xadium fell back to the floor, not even paying attention to the impact of his attack. Minako stepped back, shocked-- yet she knew it would happen eventually. She couldn't expect him to just be slaughtered, and do nothing more. She rammed her foot into his gut, and looked at him with that cold look in her eyes. Kill her, it whispered to Xadium. End her life and you will be happy. Xadium spat out some more blood as he felt more ribs crack. Even if he wanted to comply he could not. He was helpless, at Minako's mercy. There was a pause, and Minako sunk to the ground, bursting into a fit of tears. Even in her rage, she could not continue this. This was not her. She couldn't just let anything like this happen to him. Even if it was her doing it. "Minako," Xadium spat out, wheezing badly. "I'm... s... sorry..." "Why, though?" She whispered, "Why?" "I... because of love..." he spat up more blood. "I had to kill...." Suddenly, Minako was gone, and the Goddess Venus stood in front of the Time Lord. "You finally admit it," She whispered, and then held up her hand, summoning her sword. When it appeared, she held it to his neck, moving it slowly for a simple cut, a taste of his near future, and she smirked, "so because you love her, you killed my cousin. Not because of your little lie." "I loved her... and this world... this future..." Xadium wheezed out, becoming light-headed due to the blood loss, both internally and externally. "I loved you as well..." "And so you made such a vile sacrifice." Venus slit his throat, but made sure not to cut off his head. She wouldn't end it that easily. He needed to suffer, and to just end his life would be pointless. She watched as he fell to the ground, blood getting on her dress, and she stepped away. That was the least of her worries. Xadium lay upon the ground and bled for several horrible minutes, feeling the life drain from him as he looked up at the pitiless visage of the one he had loved so wholly and completely, her kind loving face twisted into such a cruel mask of hatred. It was the last sight he saw, as his blood pressure finally dropped below what was needed to keep his brain nourished, and death overcame him. Unlike the other senshi, Rei had showed no signs of aging at all. The others all had the odd wrinkle, or streak of grey hair, not to mention being slower, a little fatter, and generally less active. They were the senshi the nobles had grown up with-- the tired indolent remnants of a long-dead era who droned on about the old days, and outdated notions of truth and justice. But this woman... Hino Rei, the one who had never married, never taken a mate, who had devoted her life to increasing her spiritual power-- she was as young and vital as any one of them in the room. Her sheer presence intimidated them, the clip-cllip of her sandals against the floor as she walked towards them, apparently completely at ease, despite her blindfold. Something about her spoke of an iron will within that would not be denied. "Mars..." someone began hesitantly. "Cease this foolishness at once," Mars snapped, not bothering with preamble. "The war has left us. This is not an accident. We are the cradle of the future. You are it's stewards. Do not hurl yourself into the flame of battle, waste yourselves, for a cause that is no longer your own." Shocked murmurs of discontent could be heard amongst the crowd. This was not what they had wanted to hear. They had been expecting a cheer of encouragement, a prophecy of their glorious struggle in the far reaches of the galaxy. Well either that or nothing at all, since they had been reasonably sure up until a few moments ago that she was a figment of someone's overactive imagination. "These are the words of a coward!" one of the Jovian delegates replied testily. "the cause is just and honorable! We fight to protect the universe from darkness! How can you ask us to sit here and do nothing?!" "I did not ask you to do nothing," Mars replied smoothly. "I asked you to wait. To rebuild here. To train and prepare. Your day will come." If she was offended or angry, she did not show it. "Our time is NOW!" the Prince of Uranus exclaimed, slamming her fist into her palm. "We're ready! We've trained, and we are the best Senshi in this corner of the galaxy! We're more than prepared!" "Force of arms is not enough," Rei replied impassively. "You must have the right spirit, the correct focus. You all seek nothing more than self-aggrandizement and glory, tall tales of legend you can pass back home to your people, to assure them of your worth as leaders." "And where were you when all this happened?" Prince Uranus snapped. "You senshi were too afraid of spilling a little blood to get the job done during the Night of the Long Knives. You pulled back and allowed the Revenant to escape into space after sacking the old capitol!" "The lives of your forces are not things to waste like so much cattle!" Mars snapped, anger finally showing. She had been the one in charge of overall military strategy that night. "Soldiers pledge themselves to fight and die for the good of the state! They would have understood that their sacrifice that night served the greater good! That it would have cut the evil out for all time! You were just to weak to send them off to die!" "If I would have thought the loss of another 100,000 lives would have done the job I would have ordered it!" Mars was almost livid, the memories of that night still haunting her. The planetary senshi had been routed that night, their forces split between protecting the lives of the innocent on starliners high in orbit versus protecting the city of Crystal Tokyo. "We won't make that mistake." Neptune's Ambassador remarked flatly. "We have readied our planetary navies and are prepared to launch the largest offensive the galaxy has ever seen." "Silence!" Pluto's representative barked. Those plans had been kept in the deepest secrecy, with the ships being constructed in orbit around Pluto and Charon, thousand upon thousands of vessels hidden in the Oort cloud, waiting for the go signal. The various planetary treasuries had nearly been expended in the construction of the armada, all because the Venusians refused to participate, the traitors. Mars' expression betrayed her shock. Her dream division had picked up odd rumours, but nothing like this! Pluto was far enough away that even her agents were unable to pry open it's secrets. She knew she had to report this to Serenity, to stop them, before they went out and made a horrible mistake! Mars turned to leave, but found herself frozen-- conscious, but unable to move. One of the Plutonians had used Time Stop! Her mind darted around, as she felt the miko in her dream division similarly pinned, as well as Phobos and Demios. "We cannot allow you to report this to the Queen," the Plutonian Regent said slowly, darkly. "You can't hold them like this forever," the Jovian Knight Guardswoman replied. "Where can we bind them where they cannot escape?" "Eternity," he replied, as two soldiers advanced and began gunning down the miko of the dream division. Mars helplessly sensed them die, her frustration and rage growing by the second. "Stop this!" the Jovian yelled. "This isn't honorable! This isn't what we stand for!" "You sound like a bleating Klingon," the Plutonian growled, expertly holding the time stop in place, and extending it to pin the Jovian just in case. He smiled as his soldiers advanced upon Mars. "We thank you for your service, Princess of Mars. But now, your time has ended. Our ascension is nigh." Mars could not move, but she was not helpless. She prepared to send out a powerful psychic attack. But then, she sensed a new presence in the room. Powerful and dangerous, the eye of a hurricane made manifest in human form. "mars dies at my hand" came a low, menacing voice. "So the Venusians finally send their bitch," the Plutonian regent sneered, directing his time stop at her as well. rei.bot simply continued striding forward, her validium body immune to tricks of time. Back at the TARDIS, Xadium lay on the ground lifeless, inert. But only for a moment, as the gift of Rassilon-- the biological power of the Time Lords, came to his rescue, cells dividing and re-arranging rapidly, restoring, renewing, regenerating. A burst of bioelectric energy surged forth from his body, jumpstarting his rebuilt flesh and bone, his face and feature blurring for a moment as they twisted and reformed into a new shape. Slowly, weakly... he drew his first breath, not 60 seconds after he had drawn his last. Contemptuously, Venus drove the blade into his shoulder, "I knew it wouldn't be long until you returned." She then removed the blade, watching the blood on the sword and staring at him, as he seemed to scream, still laying on the floor, "Get up-- now." You could always attack, the voice told Xadium. She may be strong, but you can be stronger, and you know it. Stop time, slit her throat, watch her die...she hates you as it is, and you can just let her die at your hands instead of you dying at her hands! Whenever a Time Lord regenerated, they changed more than just their bodies. Their personalities shifted as well, different aspects of their psyche taking the fore. If the last Xadium had been a soft-hearted scientist, this one was a die-hard pragmatist. He quickly analyzed the situation. His love for her was still present, but the voice in his mind, which seemed more desperate somehow, still spoke sense. She wanted him to rise so she could strike him down. No, no... he wasn't going to do that. Grunting a bit, he lifted himself off the ground a bit, the flat of his hands against it, his back to the floor. He then propelled himself forward in a kind of baseball slide, ramming Venus in the feet as hard as he could. Venus fell to the ground, but got up quickly, slamming her blade into his shoulder again, "You're being foolish now." She looked at Xadium, then kicked him in the jaw. He fell onto his back, and she pointed the blade at his neck, right at the center, her foot on his chest, "Move, and I'll crush you, or stab you, and you'll die again." One life was gone, yes, but the retribution needed to continue. Xadium did not take time to think. His hands flew to the sides of the blade and he gripped them in his palms as tightly as he could, and yanked to one side whilst simultaneously trying to roll to the side, hoping to throw Venus off balance. Venus had almost fallen, but she pulled the blade out of his grip, watching his hands be sliced, and she slammed her foot into his chest, purposely missing his hearts, and he was forced back to the position that he started at. "You're a fool," she spat. Xadium spat back defiantly. "Well," he quipped. "At least you're finally getting that spar you always wanted." Venus took her blade and rammed it into his abdomen, "Yes, I did. And I will be the victor." He was an arrogant bastard, and a fool, she noted to herself, and yet he was the one who had captured the heart of Minako. She removed the blade from his abdomen, studying it. Bits and pieces of his organs were dripping from the sword, and she sighed, slamming it into his jaw, "Now you cannot talk." The time Lord winced as he felt his jaw shatter, and the waves of pain wash over him again. He could either lie there and take this abuse... or he could-- Xadium closed his eyes, mentally concentrated, and bit back his survival instinct, using his biocontrol to stop his hearts. Dead. Again, a life burned away. But deliberately, under some measure of control. Using the regeneration to boost his energy and heal himself, this next Xadium quickly rolled out of the way, leaping to his feet and spin kicking Venus in the head. Even as he did it however, he wept. The dark voice in his mind was quieter now, for some reason. All there was now was the mad rush to survive. But he didn't want to hurt her! He didn't want this! Venus reeled, stepping back, the blade almost falling from her hands, but she caught it in time. Eyes narrowed, she ran at him again. This was hurting the part that loved him, the part of Venus, and Minako, that has always loved Xadium, but even he needed to be punished for his wrongs. Time Lord, Human, or even a Goddess, all needed to learn their lessons, and this lesson would be learned the hard way. Venus swung her blade at the Time Lord's abdomen, but he evaded just in time. She winced, and lunged again. He was stronger now, yes, but she would always be the one who was the strongest of the two. Xadium ducked and rolled, making for the door. He needed to put distance between himself and her. Maybe if he could make it to the TARDIS workshop, he could make a makeshift weapon to kil--- Kill her? Did he really want to kill her? No. But he did not want to die. He would have to stun her, then bind her, and hope she could be made to see reason. He bolted down the hallway after slamming the door shut and locking it with a random, 10 billion character key combination. She chased after him, and reached the door, scowling. He thought he could get away. She pointed at the door. "Venus Planet Attack., she intoned darkly, and the door was gone, vaporized in a roiling glow of golden power. "You have hope that you can live, don't you?" She whispered under her breath. "You honestly hope that?" Like the real Hino Rei, rei.bot was also a thing of legend. Tall tales about her power and fury were still told among the houses... but if she had been so strong, why had the Imperium fallen? Why was Venus isolationist and out of the war? "Stay there!" the Plutonian commanded, increasing his power. rei.bot did not even bother to look at him, advancing instead on her target. She had seen this day in her meditation, long, long ago and never understood the context. She had never hated her opposite number-- rather she had hated being mistaken for her by name. But to take her life... this was not something she desired. Yet so it would come to pass. "Stop her!" the command was sharp, and the reaction instantaneous. Everyone there either unleashed their magical planetary attacks, or fired their laser weapons at rei.bot. The power simply glanced off her body, some of the blasts striking Hino Rei, who was also in the line of fire. Rei stood there, broken and bleeding, but unable to fall over, still locked in place. She was burned and scarred, dying now. This was what she had foreseen... but... she had always assumed rei.bot had been the one who had done this to her, not the descendants of her best friends! With a look of pity in her eyes, rei.bot saw her counterpart's body shatter against the attacks. Frowning, she spun and unleashed a blast of ki that roughly knocked everyone violently into the walls, shattering the marble and granite. "I... misjudged you..." Rei spat up, coughing as she finally fell to the ground, her body released from the time stop. "All these years, I..." "do not speak now, hino rei" rei.bot said as softly as she could. "there is still a chance." "My body... is finished," Rei groaned, hacking up blood. "There's no point in... denying it..." "no." rei.bot intoned, her features softening as Rei reached up and stroked her cheek. "All things must pass," Rei said with a smile. Even though her eyes were still blindfolded, rei.bot could sense the warmth in them. "no." rei.bot repeated firmly, with a confidence that seemed to reach rei. "As powerful as you are..." Rei weakly forced herself to say, "even you cannot hold back death." "the flesh means nothing," rei.bot replied, reaching forward and unwrapping Rei's top, putting her hand on her stomach, by the solar plexus. "So warm," Rei muttered, her life fading. Suddenly, she felt all her energy leaving, draining away from her limbs Was this death? No... no... something else.... the other times she had died... they were not like this... except once... Under the bandages, Rei's eyes went wide. Carefully modulating the Gero energy collection units that were seamlessly embedded in the palms of her hands, rei.bot pulled all of Rei's ki together, compressing it, reshaping it, hardening it, giving it physical form, pulling apart the bonds that held her dying body together and freeing the spirit within, then catching it again, in a glittering red crystal form. "She's taken her sailor crystal!" one of the frightened nobles screamed as Hino Rei's body exploded into a blast of golden-red light. rei.bot held up the crystal, and felt Rei's warmth and gratitude. In here, she still lived, and thus, one day, could be renewed again. "Don't let her get that crystal to Serenity!" the Plutonian screamed. Do not be afraid, Rei said to rei.bot telepathically. Use my power, given freely. Add it to your own. Let us evolve... together. "just try to take it back from me"', rei.bot challenged, absorbing the crystal into herself and allowing it to disperse within her, bonding with her, adding to her. The two minds touched, and became one, yet not-one. A duality united in friendship, power and purpose. As the nobles scrambled to their feet and issued orders for the huntdown and extermination of the rouge android, rei.bot simply transformed into her Super Saiyajin form and blasted through the roof of the complex, then through the roof of the city dome as she soared into space, heading for Venus. "Blockade Venus!" the Regent barked into a personal communicator. "Impose radio silence! Do not allow her to leave that planet until we are gone! We must launch our forces now, before the Imperium finds out!" They have sealed their dooms, Hino Rei said to rei.bot mentally. So few of them.... will survive. true, rei.bot responded. this time, they are destroyed from within. Our time is almost at an end,Hino Rei continued sadly. Our legend soon to be no more. no, rei.bot replied confidently. darkness always precedes a new dawn. Venus bounded off after Xadium, reaching him just in time, and with one fluid motion, she had sliced him in the back, watching blood spatter everywhere. She looked at him with a cruel smirk on her lips. "Find what you're looking for?" Picking the Time Lord up by the neck, she began to drag him out of the room, leaving a bleeding trail behind her. Xadium cursed mentally as he felt his lower body go numb, his spinal cord severed. At least, he noted dryly, she could cut him off at the knees and he wouldn't feel a thing. Within moments Venus had flung him into the console room, his body smashing against the makeshift console with a sickening thud. The Goddess looked at him, a spiteful look in her eyes, hissing in hushed tones,"You... need.... to be punished. Until it's through your head..." Her cousin had been killed at his hands, and she could only feel anger towards Xadium... but even so, she needed to reassure herself a touch to continue. At length, resolve reaffirmed, she nodded to herself. "Yes, you must be punished." "All right, so my motives were less than pure!" Xadium spat back. "But had I not done this, your cousin would have lived... but the entire human race would have fallen to the hand of Galaxia!" He echoed the true, but weak justification he had used to allow himself to do what he had done. But even as he did that he knew it was wrong. Venus was right. What he had done was beyond the pale. No matter if there had been an evil in him, as he now suspected, or even if the fate of Humanity had been in the balance-- no, he realized. He had taken a life. But... distressingly... "I would have done it anyway," he finally said at length, knowing he was sealing his fate. "I loved you and Sakura... too much. From the moment your cousin ended our timeline... his life was forfeit." He hung his head. "I am sorry." Venus walked towards the Time Lord, looking away to hide the tears in her eyes as she simply drove the blade through one of his hearts, pulled it out, and did the same to the second. She knew he loved her-- she loved him, too! She gazed upon him as he fell to the ground, knowing he would die again. Her rage still boiled, however, having taken on a life of its own. "You must...you need to suffer. For him..." Xadium dropped to the ground, and did what was expected of him. He died. Waking again, slowly, he wondered. How many regenerations did he have left? One, two? Gods, what a waste of lives. Slowly. Venus looked at Xadium, eyes filled with mourning. She knew he only had three lives left. Three lives... She sighed, stepping on his neck, hearing the bones shatter, and she held back a sob, knowing that he would be dead again. Two lives left. The action was soon to be over. Soon blood would pay for blood. One regeneration left, Xadium noted with a headache as he came to, seeing Venus in his blurred vision, which was rapidly refocusing. He no longer knew his face, his persona... didn't think he would get to know. Wouldn't even get to step in his own shoes, so to speak. Oh well. Tiredly, he rose, and spread his arms out. Long ago he had pledged his life to Venus, and now it looked like it was time for the sacred debt to be paid. "Do it," he said slowly, tired of the pain, the suffering. If this brought her some small measure of comfort, then so be it. Venus stood up regally., "No." She said, walking around the console, "No, I won't give you the pleasure of that." She gazed upon the console, "But it's not over, not by a long shot, dear Xadium. Not by a long shot." "What are you doing?" Xadium asked curiously. By Rassilon, he was curious, even now, at the end. He might have liked himself had he got to know him, he mused. Venus gazed at the pictures of Minako that adorned the cathedral-like walls of the console room. Some were of her alone, others were of her and Xadium as a family. "You truly love her," the goddess mused for a moment before she sent forth a wave of power. The picture of the two at their wedding shook, and came crashing down, taking the painting below it out also. She watched the two pictures shatter on the floor, the Sailor V game being broken also. The symbolism of the moment was not lost on Xadium. "I loved you as well," he said quietly. "All the aspects of Aino Minako-- her herself, her past life the Princess Venus / the senshi of Venus, and that Venus' past life... you." He looked her levelly in the eye, determined to get this out before she cut him down. "Remember how you greeted me that morning, before this began... I still feel the same way about you, even now." Venus looked at him with an unreadable look in her eyes, another burst of power knocking down the scaffold-like shelves alongside one wall, hearing the bonsai trees they carried shatter on the hard ground, a metal sculpture of the Buddha also falling and denting. "Even if you loved me and her, you still brought us pain. Do you think I WANTED to see my cousin die?" Grief stricken, Xadium replied hoarsely, "Do you think I wanted to see Sakura-- our daughter die? Do you think I wanted...." he hung his head. "Do you think I wanted to see our love... die?" He looked down at the shattered wedding picture, the one in which the couple has shared their first kiss as man and wife. "You brought this upon yourself, my dear." Venus said, her face twisting into an angry scowl, their honeymoon picture falling and shattering. The next instant, her eyes narrowed, and there seemed to be a malfunction upon the controls. She was practically decimating the key controls of the TARDIS. Xadium doubled over as his symbiotic link with the TARDIS allowed him to share the pain of the semi-sentient craft. She was wounding it! Killing it! Venus stopped short, realizing something. She turned, and looked at her husband walking toward him, and then kneeling down before him, the tears within her eyes still there, "Xadium..." Xadium wanted to reply, so say her name... but he stayed mute, a lump in his throat. He knelt down as well, both of them gazing into each other's eyes. Venus wrapped her arms around him, and held him close. "My love..." she whispered. "I want you to know that I love you... you are the one who has been there for me. I could never let you go. Not like this..." She kissed him on the forehead, "But you needed to be punished, even if you are my mate. My family is something I hold dear to me above all else..." Xadium simply nodded numbly, feeling her warmth near him, and hearing the silken tones of her voice resonate in his ears. He knew this softness. It was the pleasantry before the pain. He had been in enough arguments with Minako to recognize this shared trait. He didn't bother to struggle against her, instead bringing his arms around her too, for what would probably be a final, ironic embrace. Venus smiled, and looked at him, "I love you, and you know that." "I love you as well," Xadium said quietly, but sincerely. AS he did so, Venus smiled, and kissed him, allowing him to kiss back. As the two became locked in their passionate embrace, she knew that he was forgiven. There was a long silence in the broken TARDIS as the kiss grew more intense and passionate. Then, with a creeping motion, Venus placed her hand around Xadium's neck, and squeezed the air out of him, but refusing to let the kiss be broken. Tears were flowing down her face. His last life's breath flowed into her lungs. The Time Lord's respiratory bypass system kicked in automatically, his hyperefficient lungs still providing air to his body that they had stored earlier. He could wait for up to half an hour, wait for her to release her grip. But as the kiss continued, the hands around his throat told him he had not been forgiven. She still needed more from him. What would be the point of escaping just to further the pain? So he did the only thing he could. He stopped the bypass and let himself die again. For her. As he slipped away, he knew that his next life would be his very last. And that made him truly afraid, more afraid than he had ever been in his 900 years of life. Xadium's body went limp, and his features blurred and twisted again, the cells exhausted and worn from the constant cycling. Regenerations were not meant to occur so quickly, without respite. His features resolved into something very close to what they had been before the bloodletting began, a more than pale shadow of the man Venus had married. His mind, however, was in complete chaos, the psyche ravaged beyond belief. The taint that had infected him was obliterated in the maelstrom, five stillborn incarnations howling for a foothold in his mind. Venus released her hold on his neck, and he dropped to the ground. "My life--" he rasped, too spent to move, to fight, to even care, "---is yours." He waited for the final strike. Slowly. softly, Venus looked down at him, a smile upon her tear-streaked face, even though she could sense his inner chaos, "You have been forgiven." Within moments, Minako was back, and she looked around, at first confused, until the memories came flooding back. All of them. A haunted look passed her features, and she lowered herself to Xadium. "Oh, X-chan, I'm so sorry," She whispered, now freely crying. Even if it was the actions of the Goddess of Venus and not herself, Minako could not help but feel like this had been her fault. She wrapped her arms around her beloved husband, sobbing like a child would, and yet she knew it was wrong. She did not appear strong, now, as she seemed to only be a weakling. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Blubbering, she repeated only those two words, full of remorse. She felt like she had been the one at fault. Inhaling, she could smell the faint scent of blood on Xadium, and she completely broke down into tears.
From this day forward, Aino Minako could never forgive herself.
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