Litmus Test

by cookirini

Go.

The clacking of high-heeled shoes on a hard tile floor echoed through the darkened, narrow hall. There was a harsh wind which blew silently through sandy hair from smashed windows, cold and uninviting. Flashes of black lightning from the outside barely illuminated through the crack of closed doors, threatening to burst in and destroy whatever stood in its way.

But what was going on outside of work didn't matter to the walker, either way.

Go. Kill the light of hope.

Sailor Uranus could hear the hypnotic voice of her new empress echo through her head and reverberate all the way down to her heart. The heavy golden bracelets which shackled her body to the throne of Galaxia were made from very strong magic indeed, she had to admit. She could now easily understand why many lesser minds across the galaxy, and even some stronger ones, would have eventually succumbed to the power, their minds overcome and wasted by the force of will exerted on them.

But Uranus had already decided not to let that happen to her.

She is near, the voice lulled softly, invitingly. The light of hope is near. Go, go and destroy her...

Uranus knew what was happening - she was no fool. She was being ordered to kill. But she herself wasn't sure that she could do it.

It was not that killing was difficult for Uranus; it wasn't anymore. After all, mere minutes ago she and Neptune had been fighting Galaxia, laying down their lives to save Earth. Then, suddenly, at the drop of the dime, they both turned on their friends and the memories of lost comrades in some silent agreement. They joined Galaxia and gave up their freedom to serve her, with little thought to what everyone else had said. Then, just as coldly as they had killed youma, they had killed Sailor Pluto and Sailor Saturn, in the name of their new master.

...Or had they?

Uranus closed her eyes briefly at the thought of killing Saturn. She remembered the last time she had aimed her sword at Saturn, back when she was Mistress 9, before Saturn had awakened, in the name of the mission. It seemed just the same this time, only this time she had succeeded.

And yet, in those last moments, Saturn must have seen something in Uranus' eyes, signaling to her what Uranus and Neptune were doing, and she suddenly stopped fighting, as did Pluto against Neptune. To Galaxia, who watched her new servant extract the star seeds after this, this was a sign that it was obviously futile to fight traitors when they were obviously stronger.

Or perhaps, that was what Galaxia had been made to believe.

Kill the light of hope...kill the senshi...show your queen what you can do!

Pluto and Saturn had been reluctant to accept the plan in front of them. Neptun, meanwhile, didn't say anything as Uranus outlined the idea she had on their way to Galaxia's lair. The bracelets, she remembered saying, were given to Galaxia's servants in return for helping her gather star seeds. Galaxia seemed to target specific people, people of ambition and influence, in gathering the star seeds, so why not when gathering recruits for her army?

All that had to be done, if it turned out that they could not defeat Galaxia on their own, was for one of them to stand up and feign forgiveness for attacking the empress, cower at the power she possessed, and agree to turn in the other sailors in exchange for her life. Then, when Galaxia least expected it, the supposed turncoat would then turn the power of the bracelets onto Galaxia and take her star seed, thus ending the war once and for all. It was a suicide mission, but it was the best mission she had to offer.

It made sense to Uranus. After all, how could Galaxia exert so much power without her own star seed still in her possession? Besides, Galaxia was the undisputed leader of the enemy, and to Uranus, it would be silly for her not to have her star seed with her. On the other hand, most of the phages they had fought after transforming had generally been weak without their star seeds. Even the tougher Anima Mates had to resort to sneak tactics because most of them were actually greatly weakened without their star seeds.

It took a good hour for Uranus to get Pluto and Saturn to agree to her plan, especially after she said she would be the one to go to Galaxia and that the plan involved attacking the other remaining sailors in the process. Neptune just nodded in agreement to what Uranus said, but did nothing more. Then, they proceeded to Galaxia's lair.

Looking back on that meeting, Uranus had genuinely not expected Neptune to come with her on this plan; she had noted to everyone that if all four of them turned themselves in, it would be too obvious to Galaxia that it was a trap. But when Neptune stood up, Galaxia had been ecstatic, and Uranus' heart silently sank. It was not what she had wanted - she did not know is Neptune could hold out as well, let alone if she herself could hold out once they were under the spell.

Nevertheless, they ended up sharing the pain of losing their star seeds together, and being shackled simultaneously, just as their bodies began to fade. Uranus almost cried out when she felt the weight suddenly press on what remained of her soul, for it was the burden that Galaxia's power had brought to her. It was as if her body were fully tainted, nothing more than a tool for another to use.

But Uranus silently fought back, and held on to her true self, hoping Neptune was doing the same. Soon, thought, she turned to Saturn and Pluto, who still looked on at the transformation in horror. She gave them a smile.

Their reaction to the success of the plan had been decidedly mixed when Galaxia finally spoke once more.

"Now, your first duty...destroy your former comrades!"

Then she raised her arms...

Hm.

Uranus' memories were interrupted by the sound that came from the end of the hall. It was a gasping sound, in a tone that came from someone she knew all too well.

Sailor Moon.

Uranus was not foolish enough to think that Galaxia trusted them fully with their power just yet; Uranus knew better than to simply trust in luck. Nor was she convinced that Sailor Moon believed the lie she had constructed; Sailor Moon always saw the good in people, and Uranus couldn't resist her nature. She had even said that much in the throne room, when Uranus first confronted her and the Star Lights with her newly-acquired bracelets, courtesy of Galaxia, and star seed, courtesy of Sailor Saturn.

Before their attacks hit Sailor Moon and the Star Lights, however, they had been teleported out of the throne room by a mysterious power. That was when Galaxia had ordered her and Neptune to find and kill the remaining sailors. It was the next step in her plans for galactic domination, but also the next step in Uranus' plans to dupe the golden queen and save her friends.

Attack Sailor Moon... As she drew nearer to Sailor Moon, the soft voice in Uranus' head suddenly became stronger, commanding. Attack Sailor Moon!

…Of course. A test, she realized as she made her way to the end of the hall. A test of loyalty. If I fail Galaxia...

"N...Mamo...chan..."

She had reappeared in rubble, her wings and sailor suit covered in dust and gravel. Her eyes were closed, as if in a fitful sleep. Chibi-Chibi was in her arms, also sleeping. They both looked so frightened, so scared, just like they had in the throne room when Galaxia introduced Sailor Moon's friends as her new servants.

Turning away from the scene to try and regain herself, regardless Uranus almost lost her nerve. She almost bent down to her knees to wake Sailor Moon up, to soothe her, to tell her everything would be all right, that Galaxia wasn't really in control. She almost told her princess that the strong voice of bondage was there inside her, but it didn't – and wouldn't - consume her existence as it had all the others who had endured life under the bracelet.

"My...friends...?"

Then Sailor Moon's blue eyes opened, along with Chibi-Chibi's, and Uranus quickly remembered the façade she was supposed to uphold. She turned away, her eyes closed, unsure for the first time of what she was to do. If Sailor Moon kept on believing that Uranus was still on her side - or, heaven forbid, Sailor Moon kept on insisting out loud that she and Neptune were faking - then Galaxia would figure it out as well, and it would all be over. There would be nothing, no one left but those Star Lights, to help Sailor Moon in any capacity.

…The Star Lights. Those fools….

Uranus couldn't trust the three aliens. Not yet. That was the other, less vocalized, reason that she had come up with the plan. For once the four outer planet soldiers were completely gone...

"Uranus..."

Uranus' head slowly turned to face Sailor Moon once more. She was standing up, looking at Uranus, her beautiful eyes shining with hope, as they always had in the past when they had met.

Destroy the light of hope...

"...So." Uranus managed to keep her voice level and harsh, and train her cold eyes on Sailor Moon, though she hoped they wouldn't betray her. "Did you have a good dream just then?"
"Uranus..." Sailor Moon smiled. "…No. Haruka-san. Please...tell me the truth. The others will be ok, right? Just like in the dream, where you also told me the truth. Because you...you're just faking this...you have a plan to stop Galaxia, right?"

The smile almost made Uranus give up her mission before it had even passed its greatest hurdle. At that moment, there was nothing that Uranus couldn't tell Sailor Moon - what Haruka Ten'ou couldn't tell Usagi Tsukino - when that pure, beautiful smile came on her face. It was impossible to resist.

And one hard slap to the cheek wiped that wonderful smile right off her face.

Destroy...

Sailor Moon's eyes filled with tears as she looked at her beloved Uranus. Uranus could see the hurt and agony at the realization that the betrayal had to be real, and knew that the younger girl's trust and belief in her friend was slipping away at that very moment. Chibi-Chibi couldn't say anything; she just stared at Uranus, doing nothing to alleviate the situation.

"Why..."
"Fool."

Uranus frowned indignantly as she looked down at her leader. She was filled with contempt at the sight of Sailor Moon's tears flowing down her cheeks.

But it was not to Sailor Moon that the contempt was really directed at.

After all, Uranus had passed the test.