Part XII

"Good work, Beryl. Now kill them!"

"With pleasure, my queen." Beryl grins as she summons a ball of pure destructive force and sends it shooting at the group.

They scatter, Neph scooping HLM into his arms and bringing her to a safe corner. Quickly, he takes her vital signs and finds she's in a nearly comatose sleep.

At finding her alive, he sighs in relief. He then looks up at Diana, who's hovering nearby.

"Protect her," Neph tells her, "I need to help the others."

Diana nods and hovers by HLM as Neph joins the others in attacking Beryl.

She can tell from her floating spot that her allies are starting to get worn down, but not as quickly as their former queen.

With a final blast from all four ex-generals, Beryl finally collapses.

 HLM begins to stir as a deep rumble fills the room.

"Wha'...? Earth quake..?"

"I don't think so," Diana answers softly as she watches the shadow become solid.

"We're in deep shit now," Jae telepaths.

"Very astute observation, Jadeite," Zoi teles sarcastically.

"Shut up, Zoisite."

Just then, Beryl's body seems to inhale a dark shadow that rises from the floor.

"Fools," a voice like, yet unlike Beryl's rumbles from her throat, "in defeating Beryl, you have awakened the Queen of Darkness. Metallia!"

With that, Metallia raises her hands and blasts the stunned ex-generals back.

"The Staff!" Kunzite telepaths as he holds his soul stone aloft.

"What?!" Metallia shrieks in rage as the other three join their stones to Kunzite's.

With a shimmering of stars, the sound of cracking ice, a flash of lightning and a gently spring breeze, the silver haired man is holding a diamond tipped staff high in the air.

Both Diana's and HLM's eyes widen in amazement when they see the staff appear.

As the staff appears, so too does a silver bow and arrows in Diana's hand. She grips them in suprise with one hand as she sheaths her sword, in the process becoming solid once more. She ignores the hot blood rushing from her injuries and the searing pain of her broken ribs.

All of the generals hold onto the staff with one hand, save Kunzite who holds it with both hands.

A glow of soft white light surrounds the three as they power up to strike a blow at their tormentress.

Diana cocks an arrow as the glow around her new friends intensifies. She draws back, taking careful aim, feeling the air around her nearly crackle with the power of the beings within the room. She feels the power build almost to levels of agony as HLM forms a bright green ball of energy between her strong hands.

Just when everyone in the room thinks the tension is going to kill them, four things happen.

The generals send their attack out at Metallia. The brightly growing shaft of light strikes her with a sound like a mix of sharp thunder and an avalanche of ice.

Diana lets her silver arrow fly, watching it fly in synchronization with the ball of bright green energy HLM hurls. As the arrow and the ball join in the destructive beam of energy turns from blindingly white to the painful to look at purple of black light.

The beam ends in an explosion that sends the six friends flying back like rag dolls.

Diana moans, using all her willpower to stay conscious. She whimpers very softly as Jae gathers her into his arms.

"Diana..." he whispers.

"Jadeite," she barely manages to whisper, for the agonizing pain, "did...did we get her?"

Diana struggles to look to where the smoke from the explosion is clearing. To her horror, she sees Metallia still standing, a sparkling aura of Dark Energy surrounding her.

"Holy shit," HLM murmurs, and Diana almost bursts into tears.

Neph and Zoi both curse in a language that Diana and HLM have never heard before, Kunz clenches his jaw, eyes glowing slightly with deadly white light as he holds the staff, and Jae just watches with dumb amazement.

"Is that it?" Metallia asks mockingly.

"No," Diana whispers, "no it's not."

She feels rage surging in her weakened body, and to everyone's amazement, gets to her feet, holding her unsheathed sword in one hand, and her bow in the other.

They all, including Metallia, watch as she brings her weapons together and they squint as the weapons and her hands seem to blur into distorted waves. When the effect subsides, she holds what seems to be a bladed bow.

Silently, Kunzite steps over to her, holding the staff.

Metallia decides just then to send a force bolt at Diana and Kunzite.

HLM slams an energetic field up over the two just before the bolt hits.

Kunz steps up behind Diana and takes one of her silver arrows out of the quiver on her back, watching dispassionately as the arrow and the staff become one.

Together, they cock the arrow/staff, and draw back the string as the others fend off attacks from Metallia. If not for Kunzite's strong arms and hand helping her, Diana would not have been able to hold the weapon, much less loose the arrow/staff for as long as she did.

As soon as there's an opening, they let the projectile fly.

It buries itself deep in Metallia's chest, effectively piercing the black heart.

Absolute silence falls as she looks down at her chest to see the weapon imbedded there.

The deafening silence is suddenly broken by a piercing scream as light radiates from the weapon in the monster's chest.

Metallia's death cries are so powerful, they set off a series of earthquakes that rock the greater Tokyo area almost as badly as the quakes when the four generals reawakened.

The flash of light that results from Metallia's vaporization all but blinds her six destroyers.

Again, a supernatural silence reigns over the group.

The sound of Diana's unconscious body slumping into Kunzite's arms is the only thing that breaks the eerie silence.

"Diana! Koibito!" Jae exclaims as he gently takes his beloved from Kunz.

Diana doesn't respond at all, her skin is as pale as that of a china doll and she hardly breaths.

"Don't leave me, beloved, please...I can't loose you again," Jae whispers as tears roll down his face, holding his dying love close, "please...please don't die..."

"No one is going to die, Jadeite," Kunzite says softly, picking up the staff which had reverted back to normal.

He holds the staff high in the air, and in a deep, commanding voice he rumbles, "Heal all!"

The staff glows a soothing blue.

As soon as the light hits her, Diana takes a deep breath, her back arching slightly in Jae's arms, and she is healed.

"Koibito?" Jae whispers softly as Diana's eyes flutter open.

She coughs softly. "Jae..."

He pulls her close in a desperate embrace, happy she is still alive, and looking forward to a bright future with her at his side.

Part XI
Epilogue
Beginnings and Endings Index