2220/A Frozen Heart

A Frozen Heart
Date of Scene:	29 December 2024
Location:	The Snow Kingdom of Chanteur
Synopsis:	While freeing Amy, lots of things are said about Sharon, and in the end a resolution is taken. ... What do you mean, that door just slides open???
Cast of Characters:	Laura La Mer, Chibiusa Tsukino, Hotaru Tomoe, Angela Erickson, Haruka Tenoh, Usagi Tsukino, Mamoru Chiba, Amanda Faust
Tinyplot:	Chanteur, Land of Happiness

---

Laura La Mer has posed:
With Amy surrendering to Sharon, the Puella had been enveloped by a pink cylindrical barrier and subsequently sank into the snowy ground, being trasported far away from the group of fleeing mahous.

After the magic has delivered her to its destination, the redhead has found herself in a stone jail, devoid of any feature that stands out or any place to sit down aside from the ground. The door is rather antiquated, a wooden block with a barred window and a bail handle.

Pulling or pushing on the handle does nothing, and any magic attack doesn't make so much as a scratch to either the door or the walls.

For the other mahous, getting away from Sharon wasn't particularly problematic. The snow youmas were spread out enough that they constituted no problems against them, and finding where Amy had been sent was more a matter of time than anything else.

Not particularly in high spirits, Laura had helped the group pave their way through the snow youmas, but she has been uncharacteristically silent the whole time, just following along with the group.

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Chibiusa is staying close to Tuxedo Mask, and Luna-P has been turned into a particularly warm parka that she is wearing while holding herself tightly. Having a snow queen unleash her wrath inside her already cold domain leads to some harsh weather that the tiny Small Lady isn't really built to endure. Luckily Mamoru was safe to hide behind and tall besides. So it wasn't unbearable, but there was a lot to bear.

    She really wishes she had a henshin right now.

    Now they are back inside, infiltrating the castle with some of least stealthy mahou she knows. Surely this will go well, right?

    "Do you think she's around here?" asks Chibiusa, looking around for any signs of Amy. She doesn't see any snow monsters here, but... that doesn't mean they aren't around.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Yokina Meiou had... well... felt like a daft idiot. Of course, a big, major corronation annnnnnd... she got sick. Terribly sick. Horribly, awfully sick. She had another seizure. It felt... different, somehow? But she didn't know why. It just... was different.

Of course, finally, she felt better. And it wasn't too late. She'd quickly gotten dressed with Haruka's help and begged her to let her still go out....

Only for them to peer out and see... "Oh... I think she's evil now... awwwww. I was hoping she was going to be a good haunted spirit of the snow... not an evil one... Oh! Maybe she's just being attacked by an evil snow spirit!" she offered as an alternative. Still...

As the group moved through the corridors, there would be a clatter from above and... "I move with-- w-whoa! T-the reminder of, eek, that Pluto is still a-- ACK!"

See, she wanted to make an entrance. But, in a narrow stone hallway like this, there was only one place to really arrive. As always, a tall thing. And the only 'tall things' were the little lamps wedged into the walls.

The one that Sailor Charon had been standing on... had finally given out, dropping out of the wall and depositing Charon, less than gently, on her tush in front of them. "H-hi. E-everyone. So, ummmm... did it turn out she's evil, or did some evil snow monsters attack? Also, owie..."

Angela Erickson has posed:
Wedding Bell, aka Angela Erickson, is being sneaky. In a bright white bridal gown. Now, at least the locale is snowy so hopefully that helps a little.

She peeks around a corner, and she watches Sailor Charon try to... justice speech?

She winces as she falls.

"Secretly evil. Trying to shanghai us into being the new citizens of the kingdom. Shut off access to Earth, that sort of thing." she says to Charon as she looks up ahead.

"I think we need to find the cute redhead, get out, melt a snow queen. Get home. Get to the malt shop."

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    Haruka felt... honestly, more bad for Hotaru missing the coronation than she did herself. The shorthaired blonde had been to plenty of fancy pants events in her life, being connected to Michiru Kaiou and Setsuna Meiou so closely. But Hotaru? The girl had wanted to go to the coronation and Haruka wanted to take her - sadly, her condition had other ideas. And so Haruka stayed with the little one, despite any attempts to get her to go on her own.

    Which meant she was peering out the window over Hotaru's head when the other member of her household noticed something amiss. Haruka was... annoyed, because whatever this place was, it was different, and the Wind hadn't warned her like it normally did. Well, there was always time to fix things after they'd gone wrong anyways - usually that's all her guiding element ended up making her do anyways.

    And so the two of them had headed out to join the others in fighting either evil snow monsters or evil snow queens or evil snow spirits or... well, something was going wrong and that means she was probably going to have to kick and/or stab it.

    Something she did know was not to stand on the lamps that Charon had chosen to make her entrance, leading to the tallest blonde Sailor Soldier walking up beside the floor-sprawled Sailor Charon and offering a gloved hand to help her up.

    "Do you ever wonder if weird stuff follows us or if fate just makes us wander facefirst into the weird stuff?" Sailor Uranus asks the people in front of her in a form of greeting.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Sailor Moon had honestly not expected operation stealth to last very long, given that well, she knows her friends and allies. Sure, Charon wasn't with them at the start, but she'd be there soon, and she was the opposite of stealthy. And Haruka didn't seem particularly subtle, Wedding Bell was wearing a Wedding Dress, and Sailor Moon herself was, well.... Sailor Moon.

Still, she wasn't expecting this much noise.

"Maybe we can leave the introductions for after we find out where they imprisoned Amy-chan?" She suggests, sweat dropping. When Uranus walks up, she shrugs. "I mean, to be fair, this was a magic thing, so like, eight times out of ten those go horribly wrong? I was really hoping she was just going to turn out to be a Princess Peach situation..."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Tuxedo Mask, sans hat, is keeping one hand within reach of Chibiusa the whole time -- if she wants to grab for him, that's something that won't make him trip. (If he has to scoop her up, he shall scoop away.)

He's been keeping his mouth shut, for the most part, but when Chibiusa asks if she's around here, he frowns. "I don't know. But you know, we're making enough noise right now that we should truly honestly actually just yell for her."

(Yes Usagi he is absolutely wearing little roses in his ears)

Mamoru squints a little at Hotaru and reaches up to rub his chin, then lets his gaze shift to Haruka as she comes up too. "I figure like attracts like. Or maybe just por que no los dos~?"

He holds up a finger and takes a deep breath, then yells, "AMY-CHAN!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy's eyes widen in alarm at being trapped in a force field, and she presses her hands up against it, realizing she cannot explode her way out of this! She thought they were going to be under house arrest at the castle! Sharon has no need for cells, she controls the portal!

    Okay, an actual dungeon cell is a step up from the forcefield. Surprisingly clean, too, like a cartoon idea of a dungeon... although, that's probably more the result of thirteen millenia of decay of any filth that was in here. Amy does the natural thing and, after glancing around to make sure there's nothing she missed in this empty 15' x 15' or so room which some part of her brain notes is missing the required one (1) goblin or treasure chest, she examines the door. There is a handle, and testing it finds it resists pulling or pushing. She sees no hinges on this side -- smart -- so, she looks through the little barred window, pressing up close to see as much of the hallway outside as she can! "Anybody out there?" No guards, it seems. She presses her face up against the window, leaning to one side and then the other. It seems there's some kind of magic forcefield so she can't even get her hands through the bars, not that that would really help.

    After a second or two of no guard responding, she sits down with her back against the wall to think.




    It seemed like a good idea at the time. Power down and she has no reason to attack. Surrender, and then scheme: They can't defeat an endless army of snow youma, but Sharon plans to open the portal again. There must be some way to trick her. Get her to reveal the next time she'll open the portal, sneak or break out and return to Earth before getting caught. If it's even that easy to use. Can we use it without the magical train?

    That's something else they'll have to figure out.

    Maybe they can manipulate Sharon somehow...

    They, they, they! Amy stops pacing and holds her hands to her head. They need to work together, and she split up the group! She thought this was a good idea, and she felt so clever for coming up with it... but she didn't expect them to split up, and she doesn't actually have a plan! And she doesn't know how to make one! She's not a schemer!

    It's not the first time she's had no plan, either. She used to think she was so smart, but after action and magic became a part of her life... Well, she did not end up being the team 'smart guy'. She's not sure what role she's in. Is she even useful past having a big gun?!

    Spiraling. She can tell she's spiraling, but she's not sure what to do about it; she can't even tell, is that a teenager thing, a new hormones thing, or just a natural reaction to getting herself captured with no plan?! Stupid, stupid, stupid!!! Stupid Amy, what are you doing? Amy, Amy...

    AMY-CHAN!

    She freezes. Did she... hear that? She hurries to the door and peers out the bars. "HELLO?! WHO'S THERE?!" Wait, even distorted by acoustics there is only one person here who sounds remotely like that. "MAMORU?!"

    Once people follow her voice to the cell, she's smiling, "I'm so glad to see you! I... I had no... I didn't actually come up with a plan and I didn't think we'd split up and I messed up... how did you get past the snow goons?!"

Laura La Mer has posed:
At Sailor Charon's dynamic entrance and subsequent fall, La Mer gets startled, turning around to look at the source of the noise. The arrival of the grey Sailor Senshi does nothing to lift the mood of the mermaid, who just stands back guiltily as Uranus helps her up.

"Hi, Charon", La Mer greets her friend quietly, biting her lips at the mention of what has been going on with Sharon. "Sharon... she... is trying to revive her Kingdom, that was destroyed by a comet", she tells her reluctantly. Of course that doesn't even begin to explain why she is behaving the way.

"Sharon is not evil, she is hurt, Charon, and she is still mourning her people all the way from 13000 years ago", she tries to justify the snow-haired girl. She doesn't really want to hurt them, but even so, that doesn't really change the fact they are trapped here, or that Amy has been confined in the castle.

As much as she wants Sharon to smile herself, as much as she can't bear something happening to her, it's her own fault they are in this situation right now. Tuxedo Kamen's scream probably is the most efficient way to find Amy, and the redhead does respond to his call. She doesn't say how they got past the youmas, in favour of letting the others say it.

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Chibiusa sees Charon fall and immediately she gasps. "Charon-chan!" She rushes to her side to try and help her up.

    Then she hears Amy's voice down the hall, and she feels a bit better. Getting Amy out will be an issue, but alt least they know where she is.

    La Mer points out that Sharon is still mourning her kingdom from 13,000 years ago, and Chibiusa has to focus very much on keeping her mouth shut. Mood, though. Really.

    She looks over to Moon and Tuxedo Mask, then looks towards where she heard Amy's voice from. "She must be nearby. ... AMY-CHAN! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Angela Erickson has posed:
Wedding Bell gasps and looks over to Laura. "Isn't 13,000 years really enough time though? I mean, to get over it. It's not like the comet is here, menacing, so you can get revenge on it. One time some jerk called me a ---" pause.

"Look, all I'm saying is you can move on from things." she says mumbling. "When it's like a natural disaster. These things happen and you gotta mourn yeah but you gotta move on, too!" she says.

Wedding Bell tries to look dramatic but there's only a draft to move her dress a little in this hallway.

"OH THERE SHE IS!" Wedding Bell sings as she spins in place and then starts prancing in the direction of Amy's voice.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Sailor Charon took both offered hands and... "Oh... I hope the first, but probably the second." She did, however, perk up at Sailor Moon's answer. "Oh! Oh! She's in another castle?! Does this mean if we beat her up, the real her will pop out somewhere?"

And then Tuxedo Mask did it. He yelled! YES! See? He got it. Why be all sneaky when you could be wild and awesome? Also, they were the good guys. Then there was a counter-yell, from Amy! HA! See? Stealth was for suckers!

But then Laura informed her of all that happened... and why the girl was like this. The smile flickered. And, for a moment, she was silent. "... So her kingdom fell," she said, lowering her eyes. "That... well, that sucks. But that is not a reason to lose hope. Kingdoms... fall. People fall. But that is no reason to give into despair. Always, in the end, comes Hope and Rebirth." She reached out and gripped La Mer's hand, smiling up at her. "Loss hurts... and there is nothing wrong with that. In grieving. However, in times like these, people sometimes need someone else to reach through the grief and pull them back out. So... if she's not evil? Then we'll just need to be that hope," she said firmly. She uhhh... seemed to have opinions about it.

Then blinked, pulling her hand back and looking confused. "That... was weird. Where did all that come from? I... think... it's something my mama used to say... maybe..." She didn't know why, she didn't want to think about it that hard. Instead, she moved back with the group, giving Chibiusa a little wave... and soon... as they went... she started humming spy music. Ahhhh, just like old times.

Tuxedo Mask already yelled, it wasn't like they were going to be stealthy. She'd then glance to Chibiusa and smile. See? SHE had the right idea. Who needed sneaking around? "And, um, sorry I wasn't there with everyone. I was feeling a little... ill," she said sheepishly.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"We're following Chibiusa-chan's lead," Tuxedo Kamen says cheerfully once they've followed the voice to get to Amy's cell. "Worked so far. Is the lock on your side, Amy-chan? Have you tried shooting the bolt out?"

That's an actual casual question that comes out of the lockpick's mouth. He immediately tries shaking the bars in the window on the door, then frowns. "Wait. Are the hinges on the inside? They're not out here."

He glances back at the others and shakes his head at Laura, slowly, solemnly. "I understand the need to grieve. And if she was asleep, then it was truly yesterday for her-- and I understand that, too. But understanding the wildness of her grief does not mean that I have to countenance the use of dark energy, especially in an attempt to keep me and mine away from where we want to be. She needs to be purified of the dark energy before she can be pulled out."

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    Sailor Uranus also firmly keeps her mouth shut about mourning for ancient kingdoms.

    For about five seconds. "Yeah, well, she's welcome to join the club if she stops being a jerk about it. Not the only one with memories of lost worlds." she adds. Though she has no idea the manner in which Sharon's Kingdom's loss was to her, versus the Silver Millenium.

    Sailor Uranus turns to Wedding Bell. "It's not even about getting over it. You can't take it out on people unrelated to it." she says, firmly. "Not without getting your butt kicked. But yeah... let's go get Rocket-chan." Uranus says before walking towards the voice with the others.

    But she turns and gives a long look at Sailor Charon without saying really anything. But things are very much On Her Mind based on the discussion. And Charon's humming music, so all is right with the world... for now.

    "If we can't shoot the lock we can always go through the door." Sailor Uranus suggests, punching her fist into her open palm. "Blow it up, cut through it, you know. I don't think they make doors strong enough to keep all of us out of either side?" she suggests. "Or if they make doors that strong I bet they don't also make walls Smoking Bomber Strong."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
When Charon starts talking like - almost a mature, seasoned soldier, instead of her usual silliness, Sailor Moon does something of a doubletake, worried, but then carries on, checking on Chibiusa now and then to make sure small legs are keeping up, but otherwise entrusting her to Tuxedo Kamen's care.

"I agree that Sharon isn't evil, Laura-chan," she says quietly, as follow the sound of Amy's voice to her cell. "But what she's doing isn't okay, either. We all want to get home - and hopefully, we can make her understand that. It will probably work better after we've purified her - it's a lot harder with Dark Energy in the mix, clouding your thoughts and turning everything... sour."

She think about Sunbreaker - and Sunbreaker - and Sunbreaker - and, for a change, Riventon, his ex-girlfriend Mami, and Chrono, that one time he was infested... and the only time it had worked was with Chrono, really.

When they make it to Amy's sell, she peeks at the door around Mamoru's side, frowning. "I mean, blowing it up could maybe hurt Amy-chan, and we might want to avoid like... unnecessary injuries until we're sure we won't need to fight."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Mamoru comes to the door! "Mamoru! Your princess is in this castle!" Amy says, as the reference pops into her head.

    Is the lock on her side? "What? No, there's only a ring handle... or maybe it's a knocker off to one side? What about on that side, are there hinges?" She says, at the same time as he asks. "No... hinges? She furrows her brow in thought. "Maybe it's a fake door and you actually use a secret door to get in and out? Uh, I didn't try blowing it up yet, I kinda..."

    She looks away. "I was... thinking about how I have no idea what to do once I'm out." She hangs her head. "I have no plan, it's not like I can actually make her open the portal again... I thought I was being so clever but I'm such an idiot..."

    Amy shakes her head. "Anyway, I'll blow up the door now, so stand back." The transformation sequence happens with her standing in-place instead of her silhouette being lifted up, and kneeling and lining up a shot with earmuffs on. "GET CLEAR! Three... two... ONE!" *BOOMWHAM* "AAGH!" She shrieks as the little cannonball she just fired bounces back and almost hits her. "I'm OK! The door must be magic! I'll try blowing the wall!"

    She walks over to the wall, and hmmmms, frowning and stroking her chin. "Alright, I'll test if the wall is magically protected or not. Stand clear!" And she holds out her hand and points, planning to punch a hole with hypersonic copper, and there's another explosion and orange-hot sparks splash all over the little cell. "Ack! I'm OK!" If only because she's semi-protected from her own powers. "I cannot punch through the wall from this side!" She announces, and moves to press against the back wall.

Laura La Mer has posed:
Cure La Mer looks at Wedding Bell with a sigh and explains. "The comet only woke her up again recently. To Sharon that is all very recent and fresh, and the invitations, all of them, she is really trying to get back her home. How can we take that from her?", the pinkette-bluenette observes despondently.

"Can we really be that hope, Charon? Sharon is trying to restore her Kingdom her own way. Would we really be able to bring her hope, or take it from her? I don't really want to fight her, or to cause her to suffer even more", La Mer's voice quivers as she thinks back to all that Sharon went through.

She doesn't add anything while Charon hums the spy theme. The fact that she was ill the whole time they were thinking to have a good time at the ceremony only adds to the things she has been doing wrong. "It's my fault we are in this situation. Sharon was attacked and I couldn't bear to see her like that."

She turns to the soldier of Uranus, not really having any good ideas herself, and hesitation still keeping her hand still. "Isn't it precisely because you know what it's like to lose a kingdom that you can't bear to repeat that repeat that tragedy for Sharon?"

"After we have removed the dark energy, she will still be all alone without her parents or people. I want to see her smile, but I don't know how we can manage that, if we take away all she has now."

She knows that Moon and Tuxedo Kamen are right, that dark energy isn't healthy for her, but when they were all together at the tower, she had enough reason to smile. She could feel she was happy.

Amy's attempt in vain to break through the door again makes her shake her head. "I know there isn't really another solution", she sighs. "And I am sorry, Red, about the fact you are trapped. I got us all into this mess, and I know I need to do better. There are things I want to tell Sharon, but I can't do it if I keep hesitating while all of you actually try to solve the problem. I am sorry everyone."

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Mamoru says they're following her lead on this. "Well, if we're following my lead then I'm really gonna need the Silver Crystal," says Chibiusa, completely without shame. She holds her hand out to Sailor Moon in a 'gimmie' gesture and a confident smirk.

    That smirks starts to go away as Amy starts trying to blow up the door from inside, and then the wall. She grits her teeth and widens her eyes. She's... she's confident that Amy knows what she's doing. She does, right? The Puella isn't just being reckless with explosives here, is she? No, no of course not, but she might be expecting the others to keep themselves safe here.

    Chibiusa hides behind Charon, just in case.

    To Laura, Chibiusa listens, but then shrugs. "Yeah well... Just because we can understand them, that doesn't mean we have to agree with them. I don't want anything bad to happen to her, but I don't think her plan is gonna make anyone happy. Even her."

    "Think about it. Do you really think she wants subjects who don't want to be there? Is that gonna make anyone smile?"

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Sailor Charon nodded along with the others. "Yup. Good people can be infected with dark energy... but dark energy can also make good, smart people very, very dumb. Suuuuuper dumb. Even if they're super smart, sometimes they act so dumb you just want to shake your head and face palm repeatedly. And once we free them from it... hopefully they can be smart."

However, as they start mentioning explosives... And Amy starts demonstrating explosives... She inches over and positions to make sure Chibiusa is nice and safe behind her, before pushing her glaive to the ground. A big, gray shield would form in front of them. "Time for us to cheer, right?"

And then? Then she cheered. "Woo! You can do it! Show that door who's boss! Let's go sparkles, lets go! Woo woo!" Yes, she had a cheer. It was NOT a good cheer. But it WAS a cheer.

However... she watched and... as the smoke cleared after their assaults...

<< Scathing review >>

Charon nervously sweated for a moment. Did anyone hear that? Nope, she didn't either.

Then, well, she glanced to La Mer and... "... Sometimes, people think the only way they can be happy is if they focus on one thing. They forget everything else and only pay attention to that one thing, tuning everything else out. Her kingdom can't be restored by stealing people, that won't make her or anyone else happy. We'll just have to show her a new way. Even if her kingdom is gone, it doesn't mean she has to be alone. And... it might suck... we have to take what she's trying to force. But sometimes? The right thing will hurt at first. And it might even seem cruel. But, eventually? New happiness, new joy can take its place."

"You're going to be a queen one day, right La Mer? If you lost your kingdom... what would you want someone to do, if you were doing this? Would you want to trap people with you, or would you want to know there's a new way? A way you could still be happy? People die... people we love. People we care about. But when they go... they wouldn't want us to be lost forever in their memory. No, they'd want us to find new life, new love. New reasons to keep going. New happiness. I know you can show her that, La Mer. After all, you're a mermaid. You're like, five impossible things when you wake up in the morning. And you have *the* Sailor Moon AND Tuxedo Mask AND Sailor Uranus helping you! And a girl with a rocket launcher AND a living wedding cake topper. You can do *anything*!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "She's trying to get her home back by trapping us here. We're not the Chanteurians." Amy says, voice gruff with annoyance at the situation and herself. "It's a false hope. What she wants is impossible... probably. She's certainly not getting her people back this way. Even if we played along, it won't be the same, will it? It's the same as the mad scientist bringing back a loved one who's seen that the method he's using just raises mindless zombies, and he keeps doing it anyway instead of looking for another way."

    Amy folds her arms and leans against the back wall. "She's going to suffer somewhat as long as she lives and that dream can't be achieved, anyway."

    Amy looks at the window. "Short of... some kinda time travel or miracle undoing the tragedy, or her getting a Wish or something... The only way you'll get to see her smile is if you can get her to find happiness somewhere else. And like... there's new friends she doesn't have yet, people who will be like family, new fun things she'll do... but not while she's trying to bring back Chanteur by force."

    She blinks at Laura saying the mess is her fault. "Huh? S'not your fault-- oh, stopping the purification." Amy shrugs. "You went with your heart. Maybe that's not always the best, but... Better that you be true to yourself than always push it down to do what's 'logical' and feels wrong and strains you." She shakes her head. "I'd rather be trapped because someone was themself, than free because they weren't." Amy shrugs.

    And then she smiles. "I'm gonna live like a magical girl, for however long I get. If one day that gets me killed..." Her eyes water a little. "Even just a year like this is better than decades of denying my heart. And I already got seventeen months so any more is icing on the cake, ya know?"

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    "I lost a kingdom, yeah." Uranus confirms to La Mer. "But I was also reborn and I found meaning in this world, in this time, with these people." she says quietly. "Some of them were from back then and some of them weren't, but I wouldn't hurt people around me to try to get back what I lost. That'd just be trying to give my pain to someone else instead." She shakes her head with disdain at the idea. "As long as she's threatening the peace of this time, the people 'we protect, she's going to be an enemy."

    "I don't want her to be an enemy, but her pain isn't a reason to inflict it on the others. Hopefully, if she's as good as you say, that part is just the Dark Energy, and we can remove that and reason with her. But if she's going to threaten our world on behalf of her world... I don't like her odds." Sailor Uranus continues.

    "Now, speaking of odds... Rocket-san! You're gonna want to get back from the door! Maybe uh... the back corner. Behind anything if you've got it to hide behind!" Sailor Uranus yells. And then she shares a look of understanding with Tuxedo Kamen.

    Sailor Uranus rasies her hand to the sky, closing her eyes, feeling the wind in her spirit. Not the wind of the Earth or of this place, not the wind that blows leaves, but the wind between worlds, the wind that shakes the earth, the Solar Wind. And she calls out firmly. "WORLD..."

    Brilliant and orange, that solar wind is summoned in rays of brilliant energy that streak into her hand, collected in a condensed faceted gem of barely controlled energy between her fingers. Rather than drive it into the earth, though, she smoothly spins on her booted heel and passes off the gem of collected energy to fantastically well-dressed man to her side.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Good things are good *in spite of* dark energy, not because of it," Tuxedo Kamen sighs. "I'm sure she's a good person behind this stuff. I was a good person when *I* was high on dark energy, too, but it was buried in a lot of-- of good intentions."

He looks at Chibiusa when he says it, then clearly considers 'oh I'm going to have to explain that later aren't I.'

He does a lot of flinching back at the explosions despite his in-ear PPE, and makes sure Chibiusa's behind cover-- and he lets out a tiny, disbelieving little laugh, and he shakes his head and he-- Tuxedo Mask looks to Sailor Uranus... and grins.

As she's pulling down the endless reaches of the skies of which she's king, the wind that carries world-ships blows their short hair all around and makes Tux swallow air as he laughs, eyes bright and brighter behind the mask.

His hand's to his chest and it glows-- it glows incandescent with an energy that can heal or destroy, and it's the hand that he uses to catch that tiny orange celestial object.

That's another smooth motion, the light glittering off the gold accents on his formalwear; he turns with a swirl of cape and makes a gesture like he's skipping a stone over water, but he does it with Haruka's attack and his own:

"...BOMBER!"

There's so much light. So much, and it's all colors of a crisp October between the two of them, and the outpouring of energy is exactly what Sailor Moon was advising them not to do.

"It'll be fiiiiine!" he calls over his shoulder to her.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Sharon's going to have to suffer a little more, sad as it is to say," Sailor Moon tells Laura quietly. "Because everyone's right - we have to break her dream. We don't belong here, and we don't want to be here. She's not going to be able to grieve until she accepts what she's lost. The people she knew... the kingdom she was raised for... all of that is gone. Her dream of being queen of the Chanteur she knew, it's over."

It's a sad thing, even with her frustration with Sharon, even with her annoyance. It's a sad, sad thing that she's lost the world she knew, that so much time has passed, that she doesn't have any chance to get it all back.

But a good chunk of the people here in her world have lived - er, died - that experience, Usagi among them. As much as she sympathizes, she won't give up her world.

"If she wants, Sharon can come back with us. Maybe she'd like getting to live in a new world - maybe she'd like getting to be with people again, even if it's not her old one... or maybe she'll find some people who want to come with her, and start her kingdom again. Either way, all of this is a bad start."

And then she turns her head to look Chibiusa dead in the eye.

"Giving you my Silver Crystal would also be a bad start." Nope! None of that! They do not need Grand Crystal Theft in the midst of everything else.

And then her fiancé and her Uranus go ham on trying to blow up the door, and her eye twitches, and she facepalms.

"Sometimes you don't even need dark energy to make dumb choices," she mumbles into her hand.

Laura La Mer has posed:
"Sharon wanted happiness back, we were giving her that, but that would... Yes, Chibiusa, we couldn't have made it last. As much as I want to give Sharon back the days she remembers, that's not something... It can't be done", she acknowledges what the smaller pinkette is saying.

Would she have trapped people herself? She did come all this way at first because getting enlisting people to fight would have gotten her closer to her goal of becoming a Queen. And unlike Sharon, she did have a way to bring people back, but it didn't stop her from seeing everyone else like pawns back then. Wouldn't she have been just the same in Sharon's situation?

All she really knows is that she isn't that person anymore, thanks to everyone. These are the friends she has made and people she is getting to know more each and every day, people she trusts, and they are telling her that there can still be a bright future for Sharon.

"Yes, I understand what you are saying, Charon. If we can convince her, we can make her find a new way to get her to smile", she replies smiling herself. She doesn't really know what five things Charon is referring to, but she is right.

"At the very least, I should have fought when all of you were. I appreciate your honesty, Red, but my heart couldn't stick to any one path. I couldn't fully commit to saving Sharon, and I couldn't stay alongside you. I didn't know what I wanted, but I now know, and I want to stick to the path I have chosen, now you have shown me the way."

She shakes her head as she feels herself ready to walk with full commitment. "Even if they choose to, people coming with her wouldn't make her happy, because if this Chanteur still exists, then so does the comet that is corrupting her with dark energy. And I want her to get a real rebirth, away from her pain", she hears her say with confidence.

The World Bomber doesn't scratch the walls or the door, but it makes the door shake enough that someone looking at that would be able to understand the nature of the door's 'lock'.

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    "You'd know all about that wouldn't you, 30 percent-chan," says Chibiusa, sticking her tongue out at Sailor Moon. Then she looks over at the pretty World Bomber light show.

    Luna-P transforms back into a catball, just so it can watch the sparkly violence with its off-putting still smile. Yesss.

    ... Too does absolutely nothing. A let down, but pretty none the less. Luna-P feels privileged to witness such.

    "I bet if I had the Silver Crystal I could make a big super attack, too! Unlike Moon-chan." The smol pink gives Usagi the side-eye. Does she really think that Sailor Moon is going to hand it over, or... is she just trying to get under her skin?!

    The catball floats towards the door, noticing something odd about it. Its little antennae starts to make ping noises. Chibiusa blinks and says, "What is it, Luna-P?" She walks forward, passing Charon and saying, "Thanks for guarding me!" before running up to her floating catball. It seems to be telling her something, but only she seems to know how to read it. "It... it what? It wiggled?!"

    She looks at the door for a moment, strikes a pose, and then gives it the mightiest kick that her tiny little body can muster!

    ... if she was giving Sailor Moon hell before, just wait a minute.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Sailor Charon watched with reverence and awe and... and it did nothing. And... wow. "Oh my gosh, that was so cooooool! Can you do it again when we fight whatever big monster we fight? Oh, or do you need to make a new attack? I could lend you my glaive, if you do," she offered.

Sooooo coooooool. Her eyes were just as sparkly as Luna-P's.

She then glanced to Sailor Moon and gave her a sheepish smile as if to say 'kids say the darndest things, right?' "I... I think Sailor Moon has some really cool attacks... And La Mer can summon a whale and slap people with its butt. It's pretty awesome." Pause. Then her eyes glimmered again. "Oh my gosh... Tuxedo Mask... you could ride the whale and shoot that. Imagine... sparkle whale with a laser on it..." And she was imagining new attacks... too distracted to notice...

"... So it wasn't push or pull... it was slide... clever... our advisary is quite clever... I doubt even the most brilliant mind in all of Obsidian could have come up with such a clever trick..." she said, her voice filled with awe.

She then glanced to Laura and nodded. "Uh huh. And so long as your heart is in it... you'll succeed. Because the heart is the strongest muscle. And it punches things better than all the fists in the world."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy looks at the door, in answer to Laura. Didn't know what she wanted? "Yeah? You think I always know what would really make me happy? The heart is fickle; the moral compass a black box I can only ask endless questions of and try to find sense in the results after the fact. Sometimes it says one thing and sometimes another and..." Amy looks away, rubbing her upper arm with her hand. "I guess maybe part of growing up is being better able to manage that and know when not to listen, but... I need some time, OK?"

    And then the attack is announced and she presses against the back wall with her cloak around her, and...

    Nothing, but the door is shaking weirdly. "Hold on..." Amy says, in a 'what have we here?' tone, and approaches the door, lifting the handle and--

    Half a second after Chibiusa's kick, Amy slides the door open. "Huh."

    Beat.

    "SERIOUSLY?!" Amy gestures at the door. "It was unlocked the whole time?! ...I, I woulda tried that eventually if I hadn't gotten distracted worrying about having no plan," She crosses her arms and looks away, "I'm not that dumb, I swear..."

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    Sailor Uranus looked at the door when the smoke cleared, after that big team-up strike... and anyone paying attention to the blonde might have seen her momentarily reach into her pocket space and draw out the handle of a sword... that is, before Chibiusa kicks it and the door moves. She lets go of the handle of the blade and it shimmers out of existence.

    "Apparently, sometimes wanting it isn't enough - I really wanted that door open. But it only opened one way. Until we did it right, all of the force did nothing..." The blonde says, her hand on her chin. Yes, she's really trying to spend a moment philosophizing about the door. Or at least making it seem like she's capable of such things.

    "At least you're free now. And I think that means we can all work together to confront Sharon." she says, quietly. Because inside she's kicking herself, and it's a lot harder than Chibiusa kicked that door. "Are we all in agreement, are our hearts all in that one?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Sailor Moon twitches. 30 Percent-chan?! That was one test, it's not like that was her average score (anymore)! That's rude! Who even talks like that!

"You are not getting my crystal! It's not like you're doing any better than - us..."

Chibiusa's tiny little foot picks the door, and it shifts, and Amy is able to slide it open. She can feel smugness rising in the tiny body next to her.

"Amy-chan, it's not like anyone else thought about it either," she says loudly, and walks forward grabbing Amy's hand, and pulling her out of the cell. "Now why don't you come over here, with me, and we'll make sure you're not hurt, and Chibiusa-chan can stay over there, with Mamochan. It sounds like we're all agreed on trying to talk Sharon down, and that's what's important."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Nobody says you're dumb, Amy-chan," Mamoru protests, but then Haruka's being serious and Usagi's taking care of Amy and--! And--! He crouches next to Chibiusa and says, "You win this round. Do you feel like we're in trouble, or is that just me?"

He absolutely lets someone else make a rallying let's go legionnaires avengers assemble whatever cry; for the moment he's just watching. He also says to Chibiusa, "When we finally leave, don't worry, okay? Just keep sticking with me and we should be fine."