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.

***

10 - Shieldsmen

***
In the streets of Crystal Tokyo, darkness met light and war raged.  

Blood stood wearily but proudly as black flame wreathed his body and
coalesced into the shield on his left arm.  Like a star shed light and
heat, he shed darkness and cold.  "Very good, Apollo," he panted. "For
someone who's new to this hero business, you're doing well."

"For someone who's losing, you're awfully confident," Apollo retorted from
his knees.  He grunted as he worked himself to his feet.  He stood and the
silver aura Serenity had imbued in him flared back into being.  Leaping
high into the air to avoid another disk from Blood, he flew down towards
his opponent, his sword held high.  As he approached, his sword flew in a
sweeping overhanded blow.  "HAAA!!"

Roaring incoherently, Blood blasted Apollo with a gout of flame from his
other hand.  Apollo flew back and impacted a building, the wall cracking
under his impact.  "Did you really think I'd not be able to stop such an
amateurish attack?"  The black flame that wreathed his body grew higher and
darker, and flowed from his hands, bathing Apollo in the chilling fire.
Apollo held his sword in front of him, and the flame split in twain, the
two streams striking the wall behind him, both freezing and burning it. 

Blood poured on more and more flame, and the two halves of the attack
started to move together as Apollo's aura grew fainter.  "Stop," Apollo
grunted between clenched teeth.  

From the sidelines, Mars screamed out to them.  "ARES, STOP!"

"You could never beat me, Apollo,"  Blood taunted, his aura flaring as he
sent spurt after spurt of dark fire at the silver man.  "I was always
better than you.  You always lost to me, and you're going to lose again
now!"

The burning darkness was mere inches from Apollo's sides, and he could feel
the heat and coldness on his skin.  "You're right," he hissed in pain as he
felt the flame lick at his skin, and he knew the power that had protected
him was almost gone.  "I could never beat Ares."  Sudden realization hit
him, and with it, a resolve he had never known before. Like a dam bursting,
he felt power flow into his veins.  Apollo straightened, and silver
lightning crackled across his skin.

"What are you doing?" Blood demanded as Apollo's aura began to shine like a
star, forcing the point at which the flame split back towards Blood.  He
concentrated, and a huge torrent of flames flew from his hands to envelop
Apollo.  He growled in anger as the flames danced around Apollo, never
touching him as it was driven back by the silver lightning that flowed
across Apollo's skin.

"I could never beat Ares," Apollo said through clenched teeth, and the
lightning seemed to fill a sphere around him, so that he was painful to
look at.  "BUT YOU ARE NOT HIM!" he roared.  He charged at Blood, cutting
through the dark flame like it was nothing.  He swung his sword in a deadly
diagonal cut, the blade driving deep into the space between Blood's
shoulder and neck.

As the blade entered Blood's body, the black flames winked out and his eyes
cleared.  "Apollo," Ares hissed as the sword was removed.  "Quickly, finish
it.  Kill me before he takes control again."  Apollo raised his weapon, his
aura flaring brighter, and then he looked into Ares' eyes.  His aura
flickered out, and Ares shook his head in negation.  "Do it!"

"I...I'm sorry," Apollo stammered, lowering the sword a bit, then raising
it again.

"NO!!!" Mars cried, and ran toward the two men, placing herself between
Ares and Apollo.   She awkwardly held up Crimson's shield as she tried to
ward off the blow, and tears streamed down her face.  "No!  I just got him
back, Apollo.  I can't lose him again.  I just can't!" 

"Rei," Ares said, his voice hoarse.  "Move out of the way.  It's the only
way."  He reached up his arm and tried to push her out of the way, but
before he could touch her, his eyes began to mist over with redness.  "I
can't hold him much longer, Rei."

The woman turned and looked at him, and she violently shook her head. 
"Fight him Ares. Please, for me, fight him.  I love you too much to lose
you again!"

"I know," Ares whispered, and his eyes suddenly misted over completely.  

The burning dark aura exploded back into being.  "That's why you have to
die," Blood finished.  He held out his hands, and blackness burst from them
and plowed into both Mars and Apollo, throwing them back dozens of meters. 
They crumpled to the ground and lay very still.  "Fools!  You handed me
victory," Blood laughed into the streets of the city.  "This body is mine! 
This city will be mine!  This world will be mine!"  He walked a few steps
and sneered down at Crimson's shield.

*Rei*  In front of him, the shield pulsed with a bright red light.

Blood screamed as a stabbing pain streaked through his head.  "It can't
be," he said to himself disbelievingly.  "He should be gone, shattered by
what I did."  He took a couple steps back.  "He should be dead!"

*Rei's dead you bastard I'll kill you*

Once again, pain burned in Blood's head, and he looked in horror as he took
a step towards the shield, then another.  "NO!  You can't do this!  I won! 
She's dead!  I WON!"  Another two steps, and Blood fell to his knees.  His
arms shook as he fought for dominance.

*Ten thousand years you bastard three lifetimes I've loved her I'm gonna
kill you*

With each flash of pain, Blood felt himself losing control.  His arms shot
forward, grabbing the shield, and it was like he was holding a hot iron in
his hands.  He could almost feel the flesh blister.  Yet as much as he
fought, he could not stop the shield from being hugged to his chest.  White
hot pain streaked through every muscle of his being. 

*You bastard get out you hear me GET OUT!!!*

Blood's universe was the pure, seething agony that came from the shield he
was being forced to hold, and the blinding, staggering pain that Ares
inflicted on him from within their shared mind.  Seconds felt like eons as
he tried to fight off Ares's regained control, and he felt himself come
under attack from those twin fronts.

*GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!!!*

With every motion, every breath, the pain just grew more blinding, more
encompassing.  All Blood could think of was getting away from the agony,
that bright burning pain that was destroying his very existence.  He
released his hold and left Crimson's body, anxious to flee that burning,
that maddening, blinding agony.  Darkness boiled out of Crimson's every
pore, and formed into a great cloud that hung over the wrecked young man. 
The cloud watched as Crimson turned back into Ares.

Ares blinked his eyes, and searched his mind for the intruder.  *He's
gone,* he thought to himself, and suppressed his body's desire to throw up.
 His thoughts turned to Rei.  "Oh god, what have I done?" he cried to
himself, and pushed himself off of the ground, and stumbled over to Mars'
side.  

He lifted her body up, and held her in his lap.  "Rei?" he whispered,
shaking her slightly.  She moved like a manneqin, every muscle limp, and
tears formed in his eyes.  "I'm sorry, Rei, I failed you again."  He hugged
her body to his chest, and rocked her back and forth.  "I failed you
again," he repeated, and cried.  After a minute, a scream tore from his
throat and echoed through the city streets.  "REEEEEEIIIIIII!!!!!!!"

***

"Dammit, stupid idiot lone-wolf amateurs!" Sailor Uranus cursed for the
tenth time.  "Why couldn't Apollo wait for us?"  She, Neptune, and Jupiter
stood on the roof of one of the few skyscrapers in Crystal Tokyo.  "We'll
never find him in this city!"

"Do what we always did," Jupiter suggested.  At Uranus's inquisitive look,
she elaborated. "Listen for the screams."

Neptune blinked, then smiled.  "I suppose that would work.  That Naru girl
had a rather distinctive scream, didn't she?"  

Jupiter nodded sagely.  "You could pick it up in the middle of a
hurricane," Jupiter said, and then shouted in surprise as a brilliant flash
came from the city.  "What the-?"

"Where the hell did that came from?" Uranus demanded.  "Did anyone see?" 
She looked to Sailor Neptune, but the woman was merely looking in shock at
the city below.  "What is it?"  She tried to follow Neptune's line of
vision, and gasped.  "Oh, shit."

Over one of streets in the city, a black cloud hung.  As they watched, it
grew bigger, and larger, boiling and rolling as it expanded.  It seemed to
shift and move until it was a vaguely humaniod shape.

They were brought out of their trance by a loud cry. 
"REEEEEEIIIIIII!!!!!!!"  By unspoken agreement, they leapt off the building
in the direction of the cloud.  A few seconds later, they landed on the
ground and took off in a sprint.

The first thing that greeted the three Senshi's eyes was the devastation
the battle had wrought.  The street and sidewalks were cracked with craters
and littered with debris.  The walls of the nearby buildings were caved in
or scorched.  In the center of all this wreckage, a twenty foot tall
humanoid cloud stood, its black form furiously boiling and writhing.

Near them, his back to the cloud, Ares sat on the ground, hugging Sailor
Mars to his chest.  He rocked her back and forth, oblivious to the threat
behind him or the recent arrivals.  Sailor Jupiter looked around the
carnage, and caught sight of Apollo crumpled on the ground.  She went to
his side and checked him out.

"Ares?" Neptune asked tentatively.  She knelt beside the sobbing man and
placed her arm on his shoulder.  Uranus looked after her partner for a
moment, then placed herself between Neptune and the black cloud.  She
summoned the Space Sword and waited for the first sign of trouble as she
listened to the events behind her.  "Ares?" 

He looked up, and stared blankly at her for a moment.  "Michiru?  I killed
her!  She's dead!"  He hugged Mars' body to his chest tightly, and began to
sob again.

Neptune felt a tightness in her chest, but ignored it.  She reached for
Ares' arms and gently pried them away from the limp woman.  "Let me see,
Ares."  He weakly fought her, but his wounds made him unable to resist. 
Eventually she worked Mars out of his arms, and checked her over.  She
sighed with relief as she noticed the weak but steady pulse and her shallow
breathing.  "Idiot," she murmured.  Ares seemed to collapse in shock at
that, and she slapped him to bring him out of it.  "IDIOT!  She's alive!"

"She's alive?" Ares whispered, and looked down at her.  She tentatively put
his hand to her throat, and noticed the pulse.  He yelped with joy and
hugged Neptune tightly.  "She's ALIVE!"  He cheered, and this time the
tears that fell from his face were of joy, not sorrow.

"SPACE SWORD BLASTER!"  Neptune pushed Ares away, and turned to look at
Uranus and the humanoid cloud.  Uranus was preparing for another attack
while trying to dodge the wildly swinging enemy.  As she watched, the cloud
stopped its charge and turned to look at Ares and Mars.  With a roar like
the winds of a typhoon, it charged at them.

"CRIMSON BRILLIANCE!"  Ares stabbed his fist at the ground, and brilliant
red light burst from the impact.  First, red light washed over him, turning
him into a silhouette of a man wearing armor.  He stood, and silver light
exploded from his bracers, washing away the red light and revealing the red
and silver armor Serenity had gifted him with.  Red and orange flame danced
over his body, swarming at the locations of his wounds and burning them
away.  "All right, you bastard, let's go,"  Crimson growled.

The monster pulled its arm back, and made a wild sweeping punch at Crimson,
which the man caught on his shield.  Grunting with exertion, he held the
fist back, and bowed his head under his shield as the shadow rained blow
after blow on him.  "Michiru," he yelled.  "Get Rei out of here, and then
back me up!"  He rolled out of the way as a World Shaking from Uranus
plowed through the area where Crimson had stood.  "And watch where you're
shooting, Haruka!"

He jumped high into the air, and came down behind the giant shadow, his
shield passing through one of the creature's arms, which dissipated into
the air.  Roaring in pain, it reformed the arm, growing slightly shorter as
it did so.  The monster whirled on Crimson and sent a flurry of blows after
him, which he jumped, rolled, and weaved around, lopping off its hand in
the process.

Off to the side, Uranus watched and tried to help as best she could,
throwing in attacks every time there was a clear shot.  Out of the corner
of her eye, she saw a silver light flash as Apollo ran back into the
battle, lightning crackling across his skin.  His first blow took off an
arm, and then he had to pull out as the monster made a series of
counterattacks.  "Nice to have you back, bro," Apollo shouted.  The two men
jumped out of the fray as Uranus, Neptune and Jupiter blasted the shadow,
stunning it, and then leapt back to attack.

"Ares?" Mars groaned, and Neptune helped her to stand.  She gasped as she
saw Crimson and Apollo battling the shadow, and reminders of the last time
Crimson had fought coming back to her.  Swaying on her feet, she summoned
her powers, and a flaming bow appeared in her hands.  "MARS FLAME SNIPER!" 
The bolt of flame shot from her hands towards the combat.

Following a reflex he couldn't understand, Crimson caught the bolt on his
shield, which seemed to transform into pure fire.  Whirling on his feet, he
threw the shield straight at the monster, the burning disk flying from his
hands and passing right through the creature's chest, leaving a gaping hole
in its wake.  

With a pitiful whimper, the cloud of shadow faded out of existence.

"It's over," Crimson said, and caught his shield as it flew back to him. 
He turned to Mars, and she ran over and hugged him, weeping in his arms. 
Tears of joy falling from his own eyes, he held her as he transformed back
into Ares.  "Never again."

***

Rei struggled to stand, and winced as she felt a twinge in her back. 
"Owww," she groaned, "my back is killing me."

A pair of strong arms caught her from behind and helped her up.  She smiled
as they wrapped around her and drew her into a firm embrace.  "Hello,
Ares." She giggled as the man grunted and started kissing the back of her
neck.  "Stop that," she commanded halfheartedly.  "Don't you have work to
do?"

Ares stopped his ministrations and sighed.  "Do I have to?  I'm really not
up to dealing with the marriage crew right now."  He groaned inwardly as
Rei turned and gave him a wide-eyed look.

"Don't you WANT to marry me?" she asked, and set her lower lip trembling. 
"I thought-" she was cut off as Ares kissed her firmly.

"Dummy," he scolded her good-naturedly.  "Of COURSE I want to marry you." 
He paused.  "But did we have to let Minako plan the wedding?"

"It was either her or Serenity, and she wanted to make it a public event,
complete with a national holiday.  I refuse to have reporters at my
wedding," she insisted darkly.  "Let them annoy her and Endymion, I want us
to be left alone."

Ares chuckled, and kissed her on the nose before heading to the door. 
"Couldn't we just elope?"

"I'm going to have a wedding," Rei said in a dangerous tone of voice. 
"It's going to be beautiful and impressive, and you're going to be happy
about it."

"I am, Rei, trust me," he assured her quickly while opening the door, and
grinned at his brother who was waiting in the hall.  "Morning, Apollo, you
look..." he struggled for words.  "...tired."

Apollo shook his head in negation.  "Don't go there, bro.  Just don't go
there."

***

In a private room in Crystal Tokyo, a child was born.  The mother held her
child in her arms and beamed up at her grinning husband.  "He's beautiful,"
she whispered.

"Have you two decided on a name?" the doctor asked her friends.

The man looked at his family and smiled.   He opened his mouth to speak,
but was struck dumb as the boy's eyes opened and shone with a golden light.
 The symbol for Uranus pulsed for a moment of his forehead.

Rei looked up from her child and smiled sheepishly at the stunned Ares. 
"His name is Auric," she told Ami.  "A Shieldsman."

THE END