1489/Dimension Past: To Split the Sky

Dimension Past: To Split the Sky
Date of Scene:	24 April 2024
Location:	Silver Millennium
Synopsis:	With Stars and Lightning, does the sky break. Trapped in the echo dimension created by Beryl, Makoto and Naru bear witness to Jupiter and Nephrite's final battle.
Cast of Characters:	Makoto Kino, Naru Osaka, Nephrite
Tinyplot:	Operation: Past

---

Makoto Kino has posed:
It's starting to feel a little like being the ball in a pinball machine, rattling from one memory to another with precious little time to even get her bearings. Once more--

A city, this time. It should be beautiful, graceful and gleaming, the Earth a blue and green jewel in the sky overhead. But here and now, in this echo, war has broken the tranquility of the Moon. Smoke and shouting fills the air.

On a balcony - for now removed from the chaos - Makoto takes in a deep breath and grips the railing with both hands. A deep, cold dread she only half understands the source of washes through her like a flood of icy water, an instinctive feeling that she does not want to see this.

She's still wearing her borrowed gown.

"What now...?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
It's even more random when you are bouncing between other people's memories, with no context of your own. Naru has been starting to piece together a narrative. Sort of. Almost? Kinda? Out of order, and from differnet perspectives, and she keeps getting separated.

But now Naru's in a city at war. A building that is not quite in the chaos, but she can hear it from here is open and she darts inside. The noise and associated chaos moving through the streets and her instinct is to pick up her skirts and hurry up stairs. And up. And up. She was about to pass through, up another flight when she looked over and spotted a familiar form.

"Makoto?" Her voice is hopeful, from behind its not a sure thing, but she's hopeful enough to leave the stairs and come out onto the balcony.

Nephrite has posed:
Above these two girls, winds swirl, fierce and dangerous. In the distance, to the east of the city, pillars of flame roar and advance on the approaching enemy, and screams carry through the city, the screams of the injured, the dying, the damned. Below them, guards and soldiers clash with invaders dressed in all colors and fashions, humans who strike out with everything from weapons to fists.

Frequently, there is the crash of thunder.

From their position, it's difficult to see the whole of the battle - no, the war. It's multiple battles, taking place across the Capital City of the Moon Kingdom, though they're somewhere near the center of the city, as the palace is not far. In the sky, the distant Earth is covered in a roiling black mist.

A new sound, then, breaking out below, a voice familiar to both girls, though older and harsh - "Hold position, men. We've made it this far, soon we'll breach the palace itself, and recover King Endymion."

It's Nephrite, stalking below, joined by a small squad of men who seem to have avoided losing all of their sanity. They're armed and armored, weapons at hand, and they walk through the city slowly, halting when Nephrite raises a hand.

"Guards ahead, but it seems our countrymen have them handled. Keep advancing. We may have made it past Mars, but that witch has more than one guardian."

Makoto Kino has posed:
Naru's hope is rewarded; at the sound of her name, Makoto turns, relief and concern both written in her expression. "Naru-chan! Are you okay? This has all been..."

She trails off, perhaps at a loss for words. Or maybe it's because of the thunderclap that resounds from on high, loud enough nearly to rattle the building that they're in. The wind picks up, whipping at hair and clothing.

----

"Nephrite."

It's Makoto's voice, and yet it isn't. A little older, resonant with power and a deep, composed fury. The sky darkens with thunderclouds as Sailor Jupiter descends to hang in the air overhead, and even if Makoto herself weren't standing right there, there'd be no mistaking this Jupiter for her, not now. The wind holds her aloft, electricity arcing around her hands as she glares down.

"Do you think I'd let you?"

----

Almost on instinct, Makoto steps back, away from the balcony railing to put her back against a wall. "I think," she tells Naru in a hushed voice, "we need to stay out of sight."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"A lot." Naru finishes for Makoto as she hurries over to be able to reach out and touch the other girl's arm. As if she needs to confirm for herself that she's real, and here.

Probably not wrong.

The crash of thunder doens't quite make Naru startle, but her attention is grabbed by that familiar voice and she watches. Fixed really, watching the Nephrite that neither of them know.

Naru takes a step back as her Mako flattens back, still where she can see the Mako of this time. "They don't know me. I'm just some random person here.. utterly unfamiliar." She lets her breath out a little. "Looking at yourself not be yourself has to be spectacularly creepy."

Nephrite has posed:
Neither girl above is warranted attention from Nephrite, not when there is a woman who could be called a goddess flying above him, carried by the wind, electricity crawling about her form.

"Jupiter," he names her, and his voice is chill. The affection that once would have haunted his voice has drained away, leaving only the implacable weight of duty. His dark eyes are hard, his mouth set in a scowl. "You never could stay away. You should have gone to protect your homeworld." thout turning his head, he commands his men, all of whom are staring at the flying guardian with slack-jawed hate. "I will hold her here. The lot of you, move forward, continue the attack. We do not leave without our king!"

Nephrite's arm lifts, his hand pointing to Jupiter. Power builds within him, the stars' might made sickly, explosive. His frustration builds too, his frustration at the sight of her, so furious, so powerful, so beautiful, this untouchable vision he must strike to the earth to save his world, his prince (for in his heart, Endymion is his prince, his charge, and something within still cringes to call him king, to think of the queen and her fate, to think of what has been done to save their world) -

"Constellation Convergence!"

The might and power of the stars themselves is brought to bear, a shards of light falling towards Sailor Jupiter in a rain of constellations.

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto nods to Naru, wan-faced, and it's hard to tell which part of what the other girl said she's agreeing with. All of it, perhaps. All she says, very quietly, is: "Right now, it might not matter if they know you or not."

She stays close to Naru, but she can't tear her eyes from the scene playing out in the street below them.

----

Sailor Jupiter... holds back, just for a moment, looking down at Nephrite with unreadable eyes. Her lips part as though she means to speak - a warning? A last chance to turn back, to stop this, to return to Endymion's side against the true enemy?

Then the light of the stars rains down, and the moment is gone.

"I won't allow it!" Her voice carries through another peal of thunder as she darts through the air, zagging this way and that to dodge the constellation shards. Lightning pours from both her hands in a torrent of bright, forking bolt, searing down not at Nephrite himself but onto the soldiers.

She will let none past her.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I.." Naru starts and then nods, ensuring she's not all that visible. A person on the balcony, perhaps even both of them, but not easily seen who it is. Still, she wants to be able to see. It might not be Her Nephrite.. and Her Neph isn't even Her Neph.. but there's a draw. Even still.

Naru watches, reaching out to offer Makoto her hand in support as they watch the power clashes between Jupiter and Nephrite.

Nephrite has posed:
The men scream as lightning rains down upon them, and Nephrite snarls, rage leaping to his features at the sound of their fear.

He is no Kunzite, to turn his enemy's power into his own, to shield with darkness and shadow. He has only the stars to answer his call, the stars and the new, dark power the great one has shared with him. Never mind the slaughter that plays out all around them, the innocents slain by men like these - he is aflame with furious indignation that she would attack his people, that she would think he would permit her to attack his people.

"It is not for you to allow!" He roars back, and his thick mane of hair crackles with the ambient sparks in the air. She may dodge his shooting stars, but with a gesture he gathers them again, not to strike her, but to try and deflect the lightning.

He can't protect them all. Three of the twelve in his squadron are struck by the bolts, falling as the rhythm of their hearts is stopped by the fierce strength of the charge.

The two on the balcony are protected by their own stealth, their quiet keeping them from being noticed in this echo of the past, this moment long-lost to time.

"He is not yours to protect! He is ours, and he belongs with us!"

Makoto Kino has posed:
Lightning clashes against starlight, shattering into the darkened air. "Endymion chose his path for himself!" Sailor Jupiter calls out, her voice ringing above the noise. The wind changes direction, howling back along the roadway as she rises higher into the air, grasping with both hands and pulling upward with a flare of green light.

Below, stone cracks and breaks. Roots and vines erupt from underground, grasping to tangle the soldier's feets and legs and pin them in place.

"And you, Nephrite--" Once more she stares down at him, the sigil of Jupiter blazing brightly on her forehead. "What did you choose?!"

----

Makoto's hand clasps gratefully around Naru's as she watches the battle play out in front of her eyes. "I didn't know," she whispers, very quietly, and bites her lip.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Of course you didn't." Naru murmurs softly, her gaze fixed on the battle raging below. She squeezes Mako's hand in support. "So much history." She murmurs herself. Not only are the pair below unlikely to see them at all, but even less so with their focus upon the battle going on, but there's something so very wrong about not whispering.

Nephrite has posed:
"Of course you would say that, when your princess sequesters him, when your palace walls keep him from us -"

Lightning and starlight war against each other, power splintering, dispersing. Nephrite is more powerful now, filled with darkness, the howling of a demon clawing at the back of his skull, feeding the fury in his heart, but Jupiter is powerful too, and the world itself answers to her fury.

It's with a curse that Nephrite leaps from the stones that break, brandishing the light and strength of the stars against the roots and vines that would seek to capture him. He is distracted, and the sound of her voice, and it's fury, capture him more thoroughly than her vines could hope to.

"Earth!" He roars again, and it is laughable, given the monster that wreathes the Earth, given the flames and fury that wrack the planet, and yet, the creature has him, and he speaks what he believes must be the truth. "I have chosen to protect my world!"

With another command, falling stars streak to the earth, not for the guardian but for those captured, shredding their binds.

"Flee, you fools, if you stay cloistered she'll only catch you again!"

A flicker of darkness. His shadow stretches across the ground, gleaming red where the eyes ought be.

Makoto Kino has posed:
"It's gonna..." Makoto's voice falters. She closes her eyes for a moment - she doesn't want to see - but then Nephrite is shouting and she can't help but watch, never mind the sick feeling roiling low in her stomach.

"It's gonna get worse." She doesn't know how she knows, but she's certain all the same. "So much worse."

----

"Protect?" Mirthless laughter tears at Jupiter's voice. "You've laid your world on a demon's altar!"

The soldiers are beneath her attention now. Let them run. Jupiter's focus zeros in on that terrible shadow, stretching across the broken ground; her arms cross, electricity arcing across them and haloing her head where the Leaves of Oak glint.

"SUPREME THUNDER."

The sky splits with a deafening kra-THOOM! as lightning courses down from on high, seeking that shadow.

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru is watching. Stoicly perhaps and with a tight grip on Makoto's hand. She only has that gut feeling to go on for how bad this is going to go, but her gut is saying 'this is unlikely to end well'.

Naru glances to Mako a moment and then scoots a little closer, for even more emotional support before looking back over the duel. There's little else to call this, other than that.

Nephrite has posed:
Oh, it will certainly get worse.

Those soldiers struck by lightning are scattered on the ground - those freed from the vines may be injured, but they are intact, and they scatter once they are no longer pinned under Jupiter's scathing gaze. Some race towards the palace, others towards the other battles, growing frenzied as they reach the sites where blood is shed and lives lost for the sake of Metallia.

Nephrite pays them little heed. It is he at the center of Jupiter's attention now, and he who must hope to master the storm if he is to succeed. Starlight shines above and shadow swarms below, and even as his shadow takes the brunt of Jupiter's awe-inspiring lightning, he commands the stars to bring her their fury.

"Orion's Fire!"

The constellation of the hunter glows in the sky, brightening, brightening, and then streaks of light, as arrows of celestial energy strike for Jupiter. There's an ache settling into his skull, his shadow struggling to return to him, but the distraction may well be worth it, if an attack can connect -

It will be a war of attrition, between he and Jupiter.

"And you would know all about that, wouldn't you? It's your world that bows to that silver haired demoness, that grovels before an unending rule. We will not surrender our Earth - not for all the wicked wiles in all the world."

Makoto Kino has posed:
Jupiter twists in the air, but she's not agile enough to escape the Hunter's celestial arrows. One clips her, burning through her fuku and drawing blood; as she reels off-course in her flight, another arrow slams into her back and brings her crashing to the ground with a cry of pain.

Immediately she lunges back up, lips curling into a snarl. She could take to the sky again but instead she charges, broken paving scattering under her boots as she comes barrelling towards Neprite with fists trailing lightning and tears streaming down her face.

On the balcony, Makoto leans a little closer to Naru and watches, nearly holding her breath.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Oh this.. this isn't going to end well, is it?" Naru breaths, daring to put to words what they both know instinctively. Makoto might well be remembering, but Naru is just watching this play out and jumping to inevitable conclusions. She keeps Makoto's hand close, her attention glued to watching the fight. It's like neither of them can look away.

Nephrite has posed:
The strike connects, the Hunter's celestial arrows draw blood, and Nephrite's own lips curl up, a savage grin to meet Jupiter's snarl. There's a sick twist to his stomach, a heaviness to his bones that he accounts to his shadow, writhing and torn. The lightning has shorn whole pieces from it, and he won't be able to use that feint again.

It was worth it though, to ground her, to bring that heavenly figure to the earth -

And then Jupiter is on her feet, racing for him, lightning trailing from her fists, and he starts to draw back, to keep distance between them, when he catches sight of her tears.

He freezes, long enough for her to close the distance between them, long enough for her fist to sink into his gut. Lightning discharges across his skin and Nephrite's muscles tense and release involuntarily as he's launched backwards.

"Tears, Jupiter?" He rasps as he forces himself to his feet, struggling to regain his breath. "Have I found the limits of your courage?"

Mockery and cruelty, even as his guts churn, even as his eyes stray from Jupiter, to the pavilion atop the stairs of the palace, where a figure has appeared in the distance -

"Ahaha, and here he comes, my prince and the witch you give your life too!"

The words are foul on his tongue. Truths that burn. It doesn't matter. She mustn't matter. He is loyal to the Earth, he sees clearly, it is for him that the stars reveal their light, their path -

Above, the stars shine, gathering strength for a counter attack.

Makoto Kino has posed:
Sailor Jupiter doesn't press her wild attack. She leaps into the air again, catching the wind that whips at her hair and skirt, the ribbons of her fuku, streaked now with red from fresh wounds left by Orion's starry arrows. The anger that twisted her face has subsided once more into composure, resignation, something almost - almost - like sorrow.

"You're a fool, Nephrite." Her voice is lost to the wind. "I..."

Whatever she was going to say dies unspoken. Useless sentiment. With a shake of her head, she reaches again to grasp for the lightning. "You won't come near them. My guardian star, Jupiter--"

----

Something - some gut instinct or distant gleam in her peripheral vision - drags Makoto's gaze away from the battle towards the palace pavilion. Her breath hitches in her throat in a strangled gasp.

"Naru-chan--" Her hand has a deathgrip on Naru's now. "Naru-chan, we can't be here. We can't - we have to go."

Naru Osaka has posed:
Things are just getting to the good part! Naru is captivated, tense and wary, but captivated.

Makoto's plea digs though the captivation and she turns towards Mako. "We can't be.. on this balcony? In this .. time?" She isn't sure how to phrase this particular scene.. memory perhaps.. time certainly. "Why? What's coming? Do you remember?" She starts to move a little more, not letting Makoto's hand go.

Nephrite has posed:
The rage slips from her face, leaves composure, resignation, a wistfulness that could almost be sorrow in it's place. He finds himself thinking -

It doesn't suit her.

She takes the air and the wind whistles, whips at his hair, at the cape at his back. Wetness spatters his cheek, the scent of iron - blood carried by the wind. Her blood, spilled by his hand.

Disquiet gnaws at the base of his skull, joins the splitting headache the near-destruction of his shadow had caused.

The stars shine.

Blood stains his fingers, his face, as he lifts his hands to the spatter, as he stairs at her, bloodied and unbroken. There is nothing he would not do for his King. This is necessary. She is not necessary -

In the distance, on the pavilion, the motions of battle. There is a figure, monstrously tall, sword in hand, engaged not in battle but slaughter. It should be nothing. It should be meaningless. There is an enemy to destroy, another victim for the pyre, another sacrifice to keep the planet safe, that woman, that sage, that woman who has opened his eyes has it handled, it is nothing, and yet, his eyes catch on a flicker of familiar scarlet, and Nephrite forgets the first rule of battle:

He ceases to spare attention for his opponent.

Instead, there is the wind whistling in his ears, there is the stillness of his lungs, the screaming in his mind for him to move, there is the sting of his wide open eyes as he stares -

There is in all the world only the shine of the blade as it arcs through the air, and he does not hear the smash of metal, the destruction of armor, but he feels the snap within his own mind, the breaking of that which must never be broken, and as a girl's wail echoes through the city under siege, he begins to scream.

Endymion!

Nephrite falls to his knees. The stars are dim, the world is dark, there is an emptiness in his soul that nothing can fill, a hole where home should be, and it is so cold, where has the sun gone, where is the Earth, where is the crash of the waves and the whistle of wind through fields, where is Endymion -

He cannot see Him. He has fallen, crumpled to the ground, and he is gone, he is gone, he is gone, and Nephrite screams again, harsh enough to taste iron filling his throat as flesh tears, and it is meaningless it is nothing, what has he done, what has he done -

Nephrite does not see it, but there is a glint of light on the pavilion, the fires giving metal an eerie glow and then the wailing ceases as the silver-haired, white-dressed girl who only wanted to love that boy thrusts a sword through her chest.

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto can only shake her head. Her face is nearly white, all color drained away, her eyes too wide. "We have to go," she repeats, and she pulls at Naru's hand, urging her off the balcony, inside, downstairs. She has no explanation for the feeling that has gripped her, but she is absolutely certain, driven by the conviction that they cannot be here.

She's no longer concerned about being seen. If she can get Naru downstairs, she keeps on going straight out of the building, and she breaks into a run.

Sailor Jupiter screams.

Her scream is echoed in thunder, peal after peal of it all around the city, rattling buildings and shattering windows. The sky blackens with clouds split open by lightning, strike after strike in erratic strobe flashes, directionless.

A hurricane wind howls with a voice like a mad thing.

"Don't look don't look don't look--" Makoto isn't even aware that she's saying it, a chant under her breath as she runs, dragging Naru with her if she has to. Anywhere but here, within the blast zone.

In the sky, against the black clouds, a corona of electricity outlines the figure of Sailor Jupiter in silver and green - her eyes a solid green glow now to match the symbol of Jupiter on her forehead under the crown of oak leaves. The hissing, burning threads of energy spider out from her back and shoulders like a mantle, like spreading wings.

There's no reason left in her now, nothing but despair and elemental rage.

And then those unearthly eyes settle on Nephrite.

Lightning uncurls from around her, thick and sinuous, thrashing between the buildings like the body of some great dying beast. She rears back in the air, glowing brighter and brighter with each passing moment--

--and dives, in a cascade of lightning bolts, deafening thunder.

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru only needs one glance at Makoto's face to get easily pulled off the balcony and down the stairs. She uses her free hand to pick up her skirts such that the two girls can flee down the stairs.

The most challenging part of running with Makoto is doing it in an unfamiliar long dress, but she runs. They run. The admonishment to not look almost.. ALMOST prompts her to look. Dont think about pink elephants.

But the scream prompts her to just keep running. There's nothing about this area that feels safe.. not even /safe/, but /survivable/.

Nephrite has posed:
The wind no longer roars - it howls, whistling past at hurricane force winds, at beyond hurricane force winds, the storm to end all storms, as thunder kraKOOMS, kraKOOMS, kraKOOMS over head, as lightning strikes the ground erratically, and Nephrite does not move.

Cannot move.

There is clarity in pain, in overloading the senses with more than they can bear, and Nephrite's mind is clear for the first time in months, Metallia's hold shattered by loss.

When he looks up at Jupiter, it is as a mad thing, a wasting thing, emptiness at his core, horror in his gut, there is her blood on his face and Endymion's on his hands and he was going to kill her, he was going to kill her, gods, stars, heavens above he had meant to kill her and now Endymion is dead, dead for his arrogance, his foolishness, his failure -

Jupiter dives for him, wreathed in lightning, tehw rath of the heavens made flesh, and he opens his arms to her judgement.

High above, the stars gleam, tainted for his use of them, for his foul energy that warps and commands, and everything Nephrite is and was is stained by what he has become. His mind may be clear, but his soul is shackled, and Metallia's power seeps to fill the gaps that Nephrite's broken will have left. Without the astrologer's command, the stars open fire, returning fatal blow for fatal blow.

Makoto Kino has posed:
The sky breaks, breaks, breaks, pouring out the wrath of heaven in starlight and lightning. They come down together, blindingly bright, hard enough to shake the ground.

The world goes white.

And all Makoto can do is run, tears streaming down her face, clutching Naru's hand for dear life as the city goes to pieces behind them.