Rated: G

Sage stood tall with his weapon held out in front of him. He never took his eyes off of Deimos. His knuckles were white from holding the sword so firmly and his jawbone was clenched. It was a distinctive thing for Sage to do when he was angry.

“So, it seems like you have gone back to your typical self again.” Demi stood up leisurely. “ Pity, you were quite an ally. Shame you love your sister so much.” She walked unhurriedly up to him, but Sage swung his sword and she jumped back. “You missed wretched Ronin.”

“You think I missed by mistake. Next time I will cut more than air.” His eyes narrowed. “Kento, get my sister out of her…NOW!”

“ Forget it Sage.” Serena said motionless on her knees. “ I know now how you feel about me and I will not let you face her by yourself. I am your sister and that means I will never let anything break us up anymore than we already are. You are the only family I have Sage, and I’m the only family you have. We have to stick together.”

“ Kento, get into your armor.” Kento pulled his Kanji orb out and soon was wearing the distinguishable armor of Hard Rock. “Watch Demi.” Kento stood next to Sage and Sage turned to his sister.

“Sage?”

He knelt beside her and held her in his arms. “Serena, what do you mean the only family we have?”

“Mina is dead Sage.” His eyes widened in obvious sorrow. His hands gripped her tighter and he felt his eyes burn and fill with tears. Serena’s body was shaking and he realized that now she was crying. Out of all the pain and torment Demi had caused, she only now just cried over the loss of her sister.

“Serena…” he said trying to hold the tears in. “Everything will be okay. I promise I will always be with you no matter what obstacles get in my way.” He stroked the back of her head and kissed her cheek. “Whatever I said or did to you, I am sincerely sorry. I just want you to know that.”

“I know Sage. But what do we do without Mina. She is not going to be the last to die. I can feel it. Every thing around me is falling apart and for the first time I don’t have control over what is about to happen. The worst is coming.”

“I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“How touching.” Deimos said. “Now…it’s time to die.” She lifted her sword above her head. “I have something that you’ve never seen before.” She twirled the sword and then she jammed it into the ground. “BLACK FIRESTORM IGNITE!” Black fire blasted out of the earth and rained from the heavens. It caught everything on flames and all Sage could do was shelter Serena. It rained black fire for two minutes and then it all was sucked into her sword. “Had enough?”

“IRON ROCK CRUSHER!” His attack hit squarely on Deimos. She could barely stand up afterward. “Does that answer your question?”

“Did they go back to there prior selves.” Sage looked up and Phobos, Charon, Triton, and Calisto were standing armed and ready to fight.

Sage stood up and narrowed his eyes on Calisto. “You brainwashed me and made me hurt all of the people that I care for. Nobody does that and gets away with it.”

“Well you know what they say? You can only brainwash the feeble minded. Ready…” Sage and Kento looked at them in a puzzled way. “NOW!” Triton shot both of them with water and they flew back. Then Phobos put them inside a dome of fire.

“NO!” screamed Sage.

“Our quarrel is with Serena. Not the Ronin Warriors.” said Phobos. “Now Serena, are you ready to give up your throne?”

Serena slowly got to her feet and then spit in her face. “I will never give you the throne and I bequeath my powers and authority to Sailor Pluto. So even in death you cannot have my throne. My word is law.”

“Then we don’t need to keep you alive.” She backed up and Charon stepped forward.

“GRIM REAPER RIDER!” The familiar black horse came racing towards her. Serena knew she did not have enough strength evade it or survive its blow. She turned to Sage and Kento and blew them both a kiss. They both began to scream and beg Charon to call off the attack.

However, the grim reaper tore its weapon through Serena. She coughed up blood and fell to her knees.

“SERENA!” screamed Sage. Tears flooded his face as he watched his little sister fall on her face and stop breathing. He was beside himself with rage. He let out a yell of wrath and as he did lightning flashed violently in the sky. He looked at Charon with such hatred. “You will not get away with this. I will annihilate you all.”

“I assume it is time for us to go.” said Charon. “We have to find Sailor Pluto now. I must confess it will be harder to execute her.” They all jumped into the sky and didn’t come back down. The dome of fire vanished and Sage and Kento ran over to Serena’s corpse.

Sage lifted her into his arms and cried harder. Kento held her hand and wept. There was a long moment of stillness in which rarely they would sob. Kento leaned over and kissed her and wept even harder than ever before. Sage held her tighter and kissed her forehead. “I love you Serena.” he said. He picked her up and they began to walk.

Raye was trying to shake this bad feeling that she had. Lita and Amy felt a little uneasy too. Cye came in from the balcony with a puzzled look. He sat down next to Amy on the couch and looked from face to worried face.

“Serena is going to fine girls.” he said. “You know, I saw the funniest thing just now. There are blue skies outside and yet I just saw a burst of lightning. Do you think it could probably be Sage?”

“It could be him or Calisto.” said Lita drearily. She was pretending to read a book but you could tell that she was staring into space. The quiet was interrupted by a knock on the door.

“I’ll get it.” said Rowen who had just walked out of the restroom. He opened the door and Sage and Kento were standing there. Sage was soaked in blood. “What happened?”

He walked out into the hall and closed the door behind him.

Sage looked down and cried as he spoke. “Serena was killed. Charon murdered her.” Rowen looked at his _expression and saw an extreme pain that Rowen thought he could never experience and hope he never would. He couldn’t think of anything to say to Sage so he just hugged him in brotherly comfort and let Sage cry. He looked over to Kento. His face was red and he was holding back tears.

The door opened again and Cye walked into the hall. He saw Rowen trying to comfort the weeping Sage and then Kento release tears he could no longer hold back. Cye put his hand on Kento’s shoulder and asked what was wrong. Rowen told him and Cye’s jaw dropped in shock. “Are you okay Sage?” he asked. Afterward he realized how stupid the question was. “You don’t have to answer that. Why don’t you come in?”

“Do you think the girls would welcome us in after all that we have done?” asked Kento.

“Well...” said Rowen, “They welcomed us when they realized we had overcome the moon’s spell...so why shouldn’t they welcome you?” Cye opened the door and Sage and Kento hesitantly followed Rowen and Kento in. Lita, Raye and Amy looked up.

“What...?” Lita stood up and stared at Sage. “Are you hurt?” She asked worriedly.

“No sweetheart. It’s not my blood.” More tears fell from his eyes and he looked at Lita as though he needed her to embrace him but was too scared to ask. Lita didn’t need to be asked though and she walked over to him and held him. He cried harder than ever and he held her back. “Oh sweetie...I’m so sorry.” he said into her shirt. “I didn’t realize what I was doing. I would never hurt you.”

“I know that Sage. I love you.” She kissed him affectionately and held him close to her. “Whose blood is it?” Sage looked up at her with a look that showed his conflict on whether to tell her or not. “It’s Serena’s blood isn’t it?” He nodded slowly and now it was his turn to hold Lita. Rowen walked by and sat next to Amy who had started to cry. He put his arm around her and pulled her to where her head was resting on his shoulder.

“Raye that puts you in charge of all of us.” said Amy.

“In charge of what?” she said irately. “Without the power of five we are nothing. Maybe if Serena had survived we could’ve had a chance but without her we don’t. I can’t be in charge Amy. None of us can be in charge. I fear...I fear that pretty soon the number of us will further decline.”

“Well with an attitude like that...” said Cye.

“So, Ryo isn’t back to himself yet?” she asked

“No, not yet.” said Kento. Raye stared at the floor and as they looked at her they realized that that was the last straw for Raye. Tears were in her eyes waiting to fall and yet she still refused to let them. Her eyes went as red as a rose and her lip began to tremble.

“We are doomed.” she said.

“Raye, you are stronger than you have ever been. We have a good chance of surviving all of this. Trust me.” Amy smiled at her. Raye could tell by the way that Rowen was looking at Amy and holding her close to him that Amy would not die without a fight from Rowen. But with her, the man she loves could very well be the cause of her death.

Sage still hadn’t stopped crying and the silence was broken when he had fallen to his knees. Lita knelt down and Rowen and Cye ran over to him. “Are you okay sweetie?” asked Lita. She put her arms around him and he leaned into her.

“My sisters are dead. I promised them that I wouldn’t let anything happen to them and I have failed them.” He turned to Lita. “You’re all I have left.” Once he said that, Rowen, Kento and Cye’s faces all got a hurt look. “Lita, you have to promise never to leave me.”

“I promise you Sage. I will never leave you.” Rowen stood up and walked out onto the balcony and Amy followed him and shut the sliding door behind her.

“Are you okay Rowen?”

“How can he say that she is all he has left? He has Kento, Cye and me. We’re all like brothers.”

“Rowen, he loves her. He loves her in a way that he can never love you. You are probably such a normal part of his life that he can’t even imagine that you would leave. That’s how I felt until Serena and Mina died. I felt like it wasn’t possible for them to die. It’s as though I forgot they were human. So sometimes it feels like I fear to lose you more than them.”

“I think I understand what you are saying.”

“I know you would.” She said getting closer to him. “You are smart.” She kissed him on the cheek and then he put his arms around her and kissed her overpoweringly. Suddenly, Amy flinched.

“What is it sweetie? What’s wrong?”

“Either something terrible is about to take place or the baby just kicked.” He held her tighter.