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Fear No Darkness
Chapter 2
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Four young humans lie unconscious in the land of Valinor, unaware of the furor caused by their arrival, oblivious of the personal intervention of Lord Manwë Súlimo to ensure their safety, and entirely ignorant to the passage of time. For the mental link established by Hotaru in their escape had far greater consequences than she knew. Their joint arrival in the dimension holding Middle-Earth had already forged a bond between them; the teleportation link strengthened that previously existing bond exponentially.
And so they slept, unable to be awakened, as they shared each others' memories while their souls bonded.
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Four souls and five minds drifted in darkness, until the darkness became an image, and the image became a memory...
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...Six-year-old Shinta stands next to three large stones in the middle of a field of crosses, graves dug for both fellow slaves, slavers, and bandits with his own two hands. He looks up at the big man who had saved his life the day before. "Shinta is much too sweet name for a warrior. From now on, your name is Kenshin. For you, I will teach something special," the man says...
...Kenshin is running at his enemy, despite his many injuries, when his beloved Tomoe runs out and throws herself between them, pushing aside the dagger the man is aiming at him. Unable to pull the blow he had already committed to, Kenshin watches in horror as his sword cuts clean through his wife's body, from her shoulder to the middle of her rib-cage. He barely notices as the tip of his sword also cuts the leader, killing him as well. A dying Tomoe in his lap takes her dagger and cuts into his cheek, completing the cross-shaped scar. Her last words are "Gomen nasai, anata..." and as Kenshin holds her dead body, he knows that he will never again be worthy of happiness...
...Kenshin mows through the mob of incompetent brawlers threatening Kaoru-dono, their numbers no match for a practitioner of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu. He casually sends the last remaining member of the gang to the police, for them to apprehend the pile of unconscious thugs, and the man is more than scared enough to comply. He turns to Kaoru-dono and apologizes for deceiving her, but as he turns to leave she shouts, "BAKA! Are you just going to leave? Why can't you stay and help me a while? I told you, I don't care about your past!" He looks at her, and sees that she truly accepts him as he is, even as the former Hitokiri Battousai, the legendary assassin...
...Kenshin watches as his Master Hiko advances on him, clearly intending to kill him if he can not master the strongest technique in Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, the ougi. He wonders if he actually fears death, for in all of his time as hitokiri, he was prepared to die, and in all his time as a rurouni he thought he was unworthy of living after having killed so many. He realizes, then, that what was blocking him from the ougi was how little he valued his life. If he truly lives his own life, for his own sake, the Ama Kakeru Ryu no Hirameki will flow freely from him, and he will never need to fear the madness of the hitokiri again...
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...Fifteen-year-old Atemu stands still as the crown of Egypt is placed on his head, completing the ceremony making him Pharaoh. Even with the crown and other symbols of the Pharaoh signifying his temporal power, and the Horus symbol on his forehead signifying his magical power, he silently prays to Ra that he will be strong enough to stand against all the challenges ahead...
...Atemu looks out at the devastation that covers his land and quails. The Shadow Games, once the cornerstone of Egypt, had gotten out of control, wreaking havoc on both innocent civilians and the countryside, not to mention decimating the ranks of the mages themselves. Seeing first-hand the ruin of his beloved land, he makes his decision. He gathers all his power, first drawing on his magic, then on his life energy, then finally on his very soul's essence. He crafts a spell that will both seal the Shadow Realm, and eliminate all knowledge, both spoken and written, of the Shadow Games, and pours his entire self into the spell. His spell completed, his body lies dead, his soul is sealed into a mystical puzzle of great power, and the land he sacrificed so much for lives on, despite the loss of millennia of culture and progress...
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...Yugi looks down at the box in his hands, a gift from his beloved grandfather. He was small, had no friends, and was a constant target for bullies. As such, games and puzzles had become his refuge. He opens the box, finding the pieces for a gold, three dimensional puzzle of some sort. It looks extremely difficult, but as he looks at it, he picks up two pieces and somehow knows that they will fit together, just so. The same unknown instinct guides his hand again, picking up another piece and fitting it together as well. As he continues, the puzzle gradually takes shape, proving to be an upside down pyramid. After a startlingly short period of time, he's holding the completed puzzle, seeing the symbol of the eye of Horus on the front of the puzzle, and a place to thread a chain through on top, as if the completed puzzle were a pendant. Still in the grips of the strange instinct, Yugi briefly searches his room, finding a thick chain which he threads through the puzzle. He takes the completed puzzle and puts it around his neck. And suddenly, without knowing why, he feels a massive sense of relief, as if something that had been missing his entire life had finally been found, as if he were finally whole...
...Yugi watches from a corner of his mind as his dark half Yami, the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle, duels with Pegasus in a true Shadow Game for his grandfather's soul. Between Pegasus' telepathy gained from the Millennium Eye, the energy drain of the Shadow Realm, and the strain of having to actually magically summon the monsters they dueled with, Yugi and Yami are at a massive disadvantage. Even with the mind shuffling technique to offset Pegasus' telepathy, Yugi is swiftly weakening. He can feel the strong concern for him coming from his dark half, but concern alone can not help him. Just as he is about to surrender to his weakness and fade away, he feels something new--Anzu and Honda, Jounouchi and Ryou, adding their strength to his, guarding him against Pegasus' telepathy. With their aid, he takes control again just long enough to set one final card. He retreats back to his mind and faints, not even seeing Yami use his final card to defeat Pegasus...
...Yugi stands on the field of battle as his God Card Obelisk squares off against Malik's God Card Ra. Ra launches an attack capable of destroying Obelisk, but before it hits, Yugi activates another card, sacrificing Obelisk and another of his monsters, Gazelle, summoning the Dark Magician. The card that summons the Dark Magician also permits any two spell caster monsters to destroy any opposing monster. So, with the aid of the previously summoned Dark Magician Girl, the Dark Magician destroys Ra, defeating Malik, and quite possibly saving the world...
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...Six-year-old Ranma lies on the ground, tied up, covered in fish paste, and shivering with fear. His father moans, "Oh, the shame, that my son is such a weak little girl!" He picks Ranma up and tosses him back into the pit of starving cats, shouting, "You'd better learn the neko-ken this time, boy!" And then there are claws and teeth and pain and terror until his mind finally snaps, his last thought before oblivion the utter betrayal he feels...
...Ranma jumps from the bamboo pole he is perched on and takes great pleasure in dropkicking his stupid old man into one of the springs below. He is still patting himself on the back when, to his shock, an enormous panda erupts out of the spring he'd kicked his pop into. Taking advantage of his shock, the panda pounds him into a spring as well. Ranma surfaces, and instantly realizes that something is wrong. Examining himself, he quickly realizes that he is no longer a he: 'he' is a girl. Making an intuitive leap, he also realizes that the panda must have been his pop. Staring down at her new breasts, Ranma knows that her idiot father has once again ruined her life...
...Ranma studies Saffron, knowing that he is almost out of time to save Akane's life. Saffron is by far the most powerful opponent he has ever faced. Even discounting Saffron's immense power and control over fire, it is extremely difficult to match an enemy who can fly, even for a skilled practitioner of a martial art that specializes in mid-air combat. When you add in Saffron's regenerative abilities, it was almost hopeless. But with the aid of Gekkaja, a magical weapon with power over cold, Ranma devises a desperate plan. And as his modified Hiryu Shoten Ha shatters Saffron into a thousand pieces, killing him instantly, Ranma knows that he will never be the same again...
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...Princess Vesta of Saturn is feeling happy. She is sitting in her class at the Saturn Healers Academy, learning all she can about how best to use her powerful magical gift of healing. She is in the middle of taking notes when the instructor's voice trails off. Puzzled, Vesta looks up, only to see that the instructor and the entire class are staring at her with fear in their eyes. Her confusion quickly turning into panic, she desperately fumbles in her bag and pulls out a small mirror. Looking in it, she sees the symbol of Saturn glowing on her forehead, and her heart stops. She is the new Senshi of Saturn, the Soldier of Destruction, the Bringer of Silence, capable of destroying a planet. And she knows that she will spend the rest of her life being feared...
...After delivering her report to the Queen on the status of the outer rim of the galaxy, Sailor Saturn retires to one of the more private gardens on the Moon, hoping to find relaxation. She feels weary, body and soul. Despite having been a Senshi for well over a millennium already, she has not yet grown accustomed to the crushing loneliness she almost constantly lives with. Her duty is a solitary one, filled with patrols of the outer rim of the solar system, with occasional forays into the rest of the galaxy to determine possible threats and current political climates, all of it alone. And everyone she knows fears her power, even her fellow Outer Senshi, with the single exception of Queen Serenity herself, for the House of Serenity holds a power even greater than that of the Senshi of Saturn. She occasionally reflects bitterly on the irony that the Queen is beloved while she is feared, but she knows she would not wish her fate on anyone, especially not the kind and loving Queen Serenity. Lost in her thoughts, she does not notice when another person enters the garden until they begin speaking. "Wow, are you Sailor Saturn? That is so COOL!" Looking up, Sailor Saturn sees none other than the heir to the throne, Princess Serenity. "I've never met an Outer Senshi before! Do you want to be friends?" And looking into cheerful and incredibly friendly blue eyes, Sailor Saturn finds herself making her first friendship since becoming a Senshi...
...As Saturn teleports to the Moon from her latest patrol of the rest of the galaxy, she had felt that something was wrong, but she had not expected the scene of utter desolation before her. Every plant is dead, every building is broken, and every living creature is dead. Falling to her knees, she knows that her Queen, her Princess, and her Kingdom were dead. An indeterminate amount of time later, she regains her senses enough to stretch out her magical senses, and she quickly determines what her Queen had accomplished with the Ginzuishou. Knowing that she has only minutes before being seized by the reincarnation spell, and unable to stand the sight off such ruined beauty, Saturn raises her Silence Glaive and casts her final attack, wiping clean the entire surface of the Moon, leaving only the hidden Moon Palace intact, leaving the rest of the Moon as nothing more than a dead mass of rock...
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...Hotaru watches, a prisoner in her own mind, as the demon controlling her wreaks havoc. She can not break free. She can not save her friends. She can not save herself. She is bound to her own body, a body that will not obey her commands. Escape? Impossible. Attack? Suicidal. She senses something. 'Nooooooo!!!!!!' she screams mentally. The demon has just taken the soul of her best friend. One by one, they fall. Her friends, the only hope of saving the world, until only the Princess was left. And she was obviously faltering. 'That's it,' she thinks wildly. 'I don't care what happens to me, I will NOT let this come to pass. I am the end and the beginning, the only one with the power to destroy the world. I am Sailor Saturn!' She gathers around her all her energy, her power, her very life force, and hurls it at her possessor. The sheer strength of the blast destroys the demon, but at the cost of her life. She can feel the demon evaporating, taking her body with it. She manages only to send her spirit to return her best friend's soul before she dies...
...Hotaru lies back, the sun on her face, basking in her absolute contentment. Her new family from after her rebirth, Haruka-papa, Michiru-mama, and Setsuna-mama, are all with her on this picnic in the park. Her best friend, Chibiusa-chan, is there as well. Lying on soft grass, full of good food, and surrounded by the people she loves most in the world, Hotaru is sure that she has never been happier in her life...
...Hotaru is playing with Chibi-Chibi and Luna, when she senses something horrible. She gets up, quickly transforms into Sailor Saturn, and teleports to Charon Castle on Pluto, looking for Sailor Pluto. Upon finding her, she instantly knows the danger she sensed: Pluto is fighting a losing battle with Galaxia. Swiftly joining the fray, Saturn attempts to bring her power to bear against this strongest of foes, but Galaxia shrugs off every attack like it was nothing. After another few minutes of toying with them, Galaxia thrusts her arms out, and Saturn can feel her body being ripped apart. She prays that her Princess will defeat this villain and protect their world, as her body disintegrates, without even leaving her enough time to scream...
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In Valinor, in the region of Lórien, the four humans are tended by the Valar Estë, healer of hurts and of weariness. Through her power their lives are sustained throughout the centuries of their coma, their physical appearance tended to by Elven healers. As time passes, a curious thing happens: after thirty years, the four bodies emit a brilliant red light. Forty-two years later, they blaze again, this time in bright gold. After yet another seventeen years, they flare up in incandescent blue, and finally, after an interlude of nearly 3000 years, they glow with a radiant violet light...
...and wake up.
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