She's The King

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon. If I did, then I wouldn't be writing this. Naoko Takeuchi owns Sailor Moon.

Chapter 28- Protecting the Villain

Luna, now out of breath for the second time, found herself briefly resting near an abandoned apartment complex that suffered a fire several months ago. With time running out, and the Prince closing in, she figured it would be best to transform into her human form and hide out in the complex. Having human fingers would be helpful in accomplishing this. Luna quickly transformed and pondered on which one she should hide in, eventually choosing an apartment on the second floor. She selected a door at random, and closed it behind her. Luna examined her new surroundings; a dark space with burnt ashes everywhere, and the smell to prove it. She explored several rooms and eventually found the bathroom. She turned on the faucet, which, to her surprise, actually worked. The troubled human created a pond of water in the palm of her hands and washed her face. She needed to cool off and calm her nerves. During this time, Luna wondered what her next move would be, and if she would actually get out of this alive. To her horror, it seemed like she quickly received her answer. When Luna arose from bending over the sink, she saw the Prince standing right behind her in the mirror. She shrieked and turned around, only to find that there was no one behind her; it was all in her head. Luna's nerves were really getting the best of her. She exited the bathroom, chuckling in fear, and that was when the real terror begun.

"BANG!"

Luna panicked as she witnessed the door split apart, and the Prince emerge from it, giving her a smirk. This was not a figment of her imagination this time, because the Prince was wearing one of the police officer's hats, with her handcuffs broken in two. It was only seconds before the Prince dashed after Luna, swiftly leaping over the living room table with ease. Luna tried to run away as fast as she could, but she was unsuccessful. She tripped on a nearby cord and fell to the ground, which allowed the Prince to catch up with her. Luna's life had turned into an actual horror movie. She scooted back as far as she could until she was against a door. The Prince watched in amusement how Luna was trapped. Her blood lust for Luna finally came to a close, or so it seemed. She raised her ice pick in the air; ready to strike. Luna covered her eyes, waiting for her death, but something was wrong. The Prince just…stopped in her tracks, and Luna could feel….*warmth* coming from her. The Prince cradled her hand over her chest.

"Serenity?"

"*Prince..*"

The Prince could feel Serenity's concern for her. She wanted the Prince to come back, and to stop chasing Luna. However, the Prince had no intentions of stopping, and attempted "shut off" her soul-eternalization bond to Serenity for the time being, in order not to feel guilty.

"I'm sorry, princess, but I have to. I'm doing this for us. Luna *has* to pay. You should want this too."

While "attending" to Serenity's concern, the Prince didn't realize Luna had used this brief downtime to escape. However, once she came back to her full senses, she was right back on the hunt for Luna, and she wasn't hard to find. The Prince could hear Luna fidgeting with the locks in the room thar she ran in.

Luna quickly surveyed her surroundings, and removed a chair from a nearby desk to place underneath the doorknob. This was perfect timing, as the Prince was already trying to break the door down.

"Did you think your little "transformation" to a human-being was going to fool me? I am a hunter. I know your scent. You have been marked for death for the longest. Do you think a door is going to stop me?!"

Luna knew the answer to that…no, and she could already tell. The lock was already starting to loosen, with each pounding to the door gaining even more force than the last. If she was able to break through the first door, and in Luna's mind, break the handcuffs apart, then she would have no problems breaking through this barrier. Luna also moved the desk in front of the door just to buy more time.

"I don't care how many objects you move in front of the door. You're dying today!"

Luna surveyed her surroundings once more, this time noticing that the room she was in likely belonged to a little girl as the walls were decorated in pink and white. The only reason she figured that out was because of the sun shining through a window, which gave her an idea. She ran to her sole method of escaping at this point, and to her inconvenience, the window had no emergency escape stairs. The fall distance wasn't extremely high, but making the leap as a cat was going to be easier. She transformed back into her original self, and leaped from the window. Once Luna's feet hit the ground, she immediately went back to human form, but her attention was soon diverted.

"BANG!"

Apparently, there was an alley door to the building, unknown to Luna. She heard the hinges of that door shatter as well, only to reveal the Prince. Luna attempted to run, but the Prince produced a flaming arrow in her hand, and shot it towards the end of the alley. The result led to fierce heat as flames rose with anger, engulfing the alley, and trapping Luna. She backed herself into a corner, but that didn't stop the Prince from walking towards her. The Prince pressed a hand on each cuff, and applied heat that was so intense that it melted the metal, releasing her from the broken chains. The Prince retrieved her ice pick once again, and met her eye to eye.

"Please don't kill me, Prince!" Luna wailed.

"You could have avoided *all* of this, Luna."

"But that was a long time ago!"

"And it still hurts today."

"I was doing what was best for Serenity….and for the Moon Kingdom!"

"No you weren't. You were doing what was best for *your* ego, and *your* standards."

Luna kept wailing at the top of her lungs, and this started to irritate the Prince.

"Stop crying and die with some dignity!"

"There they are!" Luna could hear someone yell. She glanced at the Sailor Senshi, Artemis, Princess Serenity, and Tuxedo Mask running towards them.

"Help!" Luna yelled.

"Luna?! Luna!" Artemis shouted. He pleaded with the Prince to stop, but she could not hear anything he was saying. Luna was her primary focus, and caused her to shut every other noise out.

The Sailor Senshi observed the area closely, but there was no way that they could get to Luna, without the fear of being burned alive. Even if they were to get past the flames, they heeded The Prince's warning about interfering. They had no clue how to actually save Luna. However, that didn't stop them from wanting to protect the princess.

"Serenity, stay back!" Jupiter ordered, trying to create some distance between the princess, and the blazing flames, that is until she saw someone recklessly pulling a dangerous, yet daring, move.

"HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"Tell me, before you die, Luna," the Prince said, touting her ice pick. "How do you *really* feel about me?"

A perplexed look streamed across her face. "What kind of request is that? You know how I feel about you."

"I just want to hear it one last time. Be bold, Luna! Pour those feelings out, and let your last moments….matter," The Prince demanded, pausing towards the end

Luna sniffed, composing herself from the crying. If these were truly going to be her last moments, then she was going to make them count. "Fine. I think you are a monster, and you will always be a monster. Your father was a monster, and Mars was nothing but a planet full of uncivilized monsters! Prince Endymion was the better choice for Serenity, and I will stand by that, even in death. I wouldn't even consider you a "princess", let alone a 'prince'. There, now just get it over with."

"Thank you, Luna," the Prince gently spoke. She closed her eyes for a brief moment and slid her hand over her stomach. "And, you're right. I *am* a monster, and I'm quite proud of that." The Prince raised her ice pick. "Goodbye, Luna."

All of a sudden, there was a power struggle on the ground for the ice pick, but not between the Prince and Luna. The Prince was unable to immediately identify the assailant due to rage clouding her judgement. Despite a fierce struggle, the Prince was able to wound the aggressor in the side. However, terror struck her face once she saw the eyes of the assailant, and blood stains soaking through his white, long-sleeved shirt.

"Oh no….what have I done…..!?"

Heavy silence thickened the atmosphere, as everyone watched the man writhe in pain, coiled aginst the pavement. Luna, temporarily forgetting about her imminent death, swiftly crawled over to the person and threw herself on top of him.

"NOOOOOOOO…ARTEMIS!"

Author Notes:

I am SO glad to finally have this chapter posted. I figured with Thanksgiving holiday here (at least in the U.S.), now is a great time to post! Story-wise, I plan on having one more chapter before moving on to the next arc. As always, if you feel compelled to leave a review, then please do so. Also, remember to check out my "Burning Moonlight" Rei x Usagi short stories for possible future "She's The King" chapter progress updates in the author notes, or possible "She's The King" foreshadowings in the short stories. To those who are celebrating, have a happy Thanksgiving! To those taking part of Black Friday/ Grey Thursday, good luck, and I hope you get everything you want! I know I will try to get out into the madness Thursday for some video games and accessories!