Warning(s): Mamoru-bashing, slight OOCness, character death
Pairing(s): Fiore/Mamoru one-sided, slight Esmeraude/Demando, Usagi/Mamoru one-sided, Mamoru/His reflection one-sided. LOL
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or the myth of Narcissus and Echo. Don't be surprised that the myth is twisted to fit my ideas.
Cast of Characters:
Narcissus…………….Mamoru
Teiresias (Blind seer who is able to predict the future)………………Hotaru
Ameinias (Narcissus' gay neighbor)………..Fiore
Echo (Mountain nymph who once served Zeus)………………Usagi
Zeus……………….Prince Demando
Hera (Zeus' wife and queen)…………………………Esmeraude
Once upon a time there lived a boy who was thought to be all that and a bag of chips. His mother gave birth to him and named him Mamoru. On the day Mamoru was born, his mother went to ask the psychic girl Hotaru about what the future had in store for him. "He will live a very long life," the strange girl said. "But only if he will not set his eyes upon his own reflection, for it will be his doom."
So his mother did what the psychic girl told her and made sure all the mirrors were hidden away. As the years went by, Mamoru grew up to be a healthy and beautiful young lad. It wasn't long until people started to notice him and compliment on how handsome he was. So often that he began to think he was something special and his Latin-influenced theme began playing every time he entered a room.
Many people fell in love with him and started to pine for him, but none of them were good enough for him. Then one day, his neighbor, Fiore felt he couldn't wait another day and told him how he felt. "Mamoru-kun, I love you with all my heart and all my soul. Please say you have feelings for me," Fiore said while looking up to where the balcony to Mamoru's bedroom was. Mamoru appeared and looked down from his balcony to see Fiore standing on the grass, saying nothing. He then threw a red steel-tipped rose, which landed on his neighbor's chest piercing his heart (1). Fiore collapsed on his knees and writhed in pain. He died, but not before he cursed Mamoru and hoped that he will pay for breaking his heart.
Meanwhile, Usagi, Prince Demando's servant, was distracting Esmeraude with meaningless conversation whenever she came close to her beloved prince compromising their marriage vows. This gave Demando enough time to magically teleport Neo Queen Serenity's now sleeping body to the future (2). When Esmeraude found out about her husband's cheating and Usagi's frivolous distractions, the woman flew into a rage: "You will not speak at all unless when spoken to!" Like Ella from Ella Enchanted, Usagi did what she was told. Then the angry woman took the muted girl and threw her off Mt. Nemesis down to Earth.
One morning while exiled on Earth, Usagi laid her eyes on Mamoru as the man was sitting on a boulder, dressed up like a Phantom of the Opera character, wearing a tuxedo and a mask, practicing his "heroic" speeches. She looked on silently. Just like everyone else, she was entranced by his so-called beauty. She longed to say something to him, but her lips moved in vain, no words escaping.
Mamoru stopped his practiced ranting when he sensed her eyes on him. "Come out! Show yourself!" he called out.
"Yourself," answered Usagi for she could only repeat what was spoken to her.
"Who's there?"
"There." Usagi could no longer contain herself. She sprang from her hiding place in the bushes and glomped the handsome boy. Used to this certain behavior, Mamoru pried her off him and ran as quickly as he could into the forest. Usagi ran after him trying to calm his fears, but again no words came. Mamoru soon disappeared from her sight. For many weeks, without food and water, she searched for the handsome man. She had become so skinny and had dark circles around her eyes that she basically had to crawl a long way, determined to find him.
Mamoru, however, fell to his knees after weeks of being hunted by Usagi, in front of a clear steam. Its waters reflected the trees overhead just like a perfect mirror. Mamoru, being used to seeing his shadow and not his reflection, leaned forward with his hands and knees and peered into the body of water. He was startled by the image of unsurpassed beauty peering back at him. Unbeknownst to him, Queen Nehellenia, now a child, appeared above him. For some reason, she started sprinkling mirror shards all around him so that he could become more obsessed with his reflection. Maybe she was bored and decided to cause some mischief. But that wasn't the point.
Mamoru noticed the mirror shards dropping into the water creating ripples. He looked up and caught a shard in one of his eyes. Queen Nehellenia, now that her mischief was over, giggled then disappeared. Mamoru's eye briefly shone gold then returned back to normal after he rubbed it.
Usagi, now frail and weak, finally discovered him making out or trying to make out with his reflection in the water to no avail. When he withdrew, Mamoru noticed that the reflection for a moment was broken by ripples in the water. He began to weep until the ripples died down and the beautiful face appeared again. "Please don't leave me, my love," he pleaded. Usagi watched wordlessly as the handsome man attempted to embrace his reflection. Tears streamed down her face as she longed to reach out to him, to help him.
As Mamoru kept trying to reach out to his "true love," the face got uglier and uglier, causing him to weep. Eventually, he shouted, "I love you!" a thousand times into the stream. Like Usagi, the beautiful face mouthed wordlessly. Mamoru, having spent many days at the stream's edge, died there. A few feet away lay Usagi's starved body slowly but surely withering away.
Mamoru's body, however, disappeared and in its place laid a black rose, its petals falling to the ground and being blown away by the wind (3).
Owari
Notes:
(1) Instead of Mamoru sending over a servant to deliver a dagger to Fiore when he was making advances toward him (like Narcissus did in the myth), he threw one of his fake roses which ended up in Fiore's heart. TT
(2) Neo Queen Serenity and Usagi are separate people in this story. Noticed that I wrote "Neo Queen Serenity's now sleeping body"? Well, she wasn't sleeping before when she and Demando were getting it on. 00;
(3)Instead of giving Mamoru a funeral, he's just left there to die. Why would I give him a funeral when it's a Mamoru-bashing fic? Also, it is not known what happened to Echo (except that she made a home in the canyons and valleys when she lost Narcissus) and whether she found out that Narcissus was dead (probably not). Instead, in this fic, Usagi ends up spying on Mamoru for the last time and ends up dying along with him.