Shattered Skies: The Morning Lights

CHAPTER 55: And Hell Alone Below

Chapter 55: And Hell Alone Below

-VERTEX ONE: 15.556984-

Subway Tunnels, Underground

Azabu-Juuban, Minato Ward, Tokyo

Hot, sweaty, filthy, and tired, Chibi-Usa Tsukino, Sailor Chibi-Moon, trudged on through the endless maze of darkened subway tunnels underneath Azabu-Juuban. The way ahead was only illuminated by the hi-beams shining from Luna P and Diana P's eyes and the subway system's dull red emergency lighting. Every step was a struggle, her Pink Moon Rod felt like it weighed fifty kilos or more. A couple times now, she had almost dropped it... almost. After what she went through when that last mob of Zetsuborg swarmed her, she would have it cemented to her hand for the next month. Maybe more.

She was headed northeast, she knew that much. Just as she knew, with a sinking feeling, that Tellu was headed in the same direction. A glance at Diana P's holographic subway map confirmed her worst fear: northeast of Azabu-Juuban, there were four major subway stations within a one-kilometer radius of each other, and three minor ones to boot. If Tellu reached any of those seven and made it into one of their many branches, Chibi-Moon would never find her. Saturn would be lost to her, again... this time, most likely forever.

She grimaced and slapped her cheeks, hard. No. She wouldn't even contemplate that. Saturn was going to be fine, they were both going to make it out of this okay. They would both make it, because the alternative, living through the rest of this awful war without the partner whom she loved so much, was unthinkable. They'd be okay.

With the burst of energy that that thought provided, Chibi-Moon moved onward. Soon she came to a junction that split into three other tunnels. Running her balloons' hi-beams over them gave no indication as to which Tellu had taken, and their sensors were baffled by a massive concentration of dark energy from somewhere below. Chibi-Moon sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Guess we're doing this again. Luna P, come here."

Luna P swiveled around on its vertical axis and bobbed over to her, trilling softly.

"You know what I need." Chibi-Moon took it in one hand and pressed its pink nose with her opposite finger. Sparkles gathered into a thin, cylindrical shape longer than she was tall, one that curved and fanned out at one end. The Silence Glaive dropped neatly into her free hand... but the moment her fingers closed around it, it pulled hard in the direction of the tunnel on her right like a stubborn dog straining against a leash, making her stumble. "All right, all right!" she said to it. "That way, I get it!"

It had crossed her mind to try using the Glaive as an additional weapon once she ran into monsters down here. That notion lasted approximately thirty seconds into a fight with a small squad of Daimon and Nakewake, a fight that should have been relatively easy. Without fail, the Glaive yanked her arm in what she assumed was the direction of Saturn whenever she held it, and it was insistent. Its interference meant that she nearly got stepped on and flattened by one of the Nakewameke when its pull made her lose her footing. After wrestling the Glaive back in the direction of the fight, she tried swinging it at an attacking Daimon's head, blade-first. Rather than doing the decent thing and slicing through its skull, it dealt the Daimon a blunt blow and nothing else, not even one little cut. She hadn't been laughed at by a Daimon in years, and the insult to her dignity was such that she resorted to punching it in the face instead.

So the Silence Glaive went back inside Luna P's pocketspace from then on, and only came out whenever she lost the trail. Maybe it refused to work for her specifically, or maybe it didn't like anyone except Saturn and was just that anxious to get back to her. Chibi-Moon didn't know and didn't much care. If it was going to be that way, fine.