A/N: This idea has been loosely in the works for a few weeks now, and it's still sort of in its infancy. However, I promised my friend Beth that I would upload the first two chapters today. It's her anniversary with her partner today, and they've been going strong for 10 years…in this day and age, that's simply amazing to have a love so unwavering and strong. I wish them both a very happy anniversary, and many wonderful years to come.
Side warning: This is going to be a Mai/Natsuki fan fiction in later chapters. If that kind of thing grinds your gears, I would advise that you save yourself the torture and simply avoid this fiction outright. Shizuru will have a yuri paring as well, but it will not be with Natsuki.
Summary: The HiME's guiding star was not something that could be so easily destroyed. The dark queen has risen to sit atop her throne of fire, however, the chance at a new world has been lost forever. Locked within a purgatory unlike any other, the HiME must make one last desperate attempt at finding freedom from their curse. The rules have changed, and so has the game.
I do not own Mai HiME.
All of that being said, I hope you enjoy this take on Dark Queen Mai, as I've never written a completely Mai centric fan fiction before, this outta be fun.
Chapter 1: A Preface
History foretells of grim truths. It gifts dark realities that are little more than murmurs of the deepest hell. It is a chain that binds tightly, warning those who read the insipid scrawling's to heed their future, knowing it will be bleak. There are those who are captured by the vice-like grip of repetition, and, in spite of their greatest efforts to rebel, it cannot be stopped.
Freedom is only a fairytale for those born under the blood red star. That is an unconditional, unquestionable, and for most an unfathomable truth.
From the start they are doomed to battle. Fated to love, and to lose. Marked by this curse that transcends time itself, they've no choice but to face the worst pains of all, their souls locked within a prison of purgatory upon their birth. They are lambs made to be taken to slaughter. Although they sing beautifully in agony, their tears are often not enough to free them.
This is a fact that cannot be disputed by the gods, nor the whims of the fated princesses who fight so hard, simply to attain nothing.
In a proper fight, known as the carnival, one woman is chosen to be victorious after she overcomes the trials of defeating the others. To such a woman go the spoils of a hard won war. That woman ascends the throne, and becomes a dark queen to her people. Together, she and the obsidian lord travel to a new world, in which they rule over time and space until kingdom come.
This queen will give rise to more HiME, and so, the cycle continues…through many worlds, and ages, it is a never-ending cycle of war, death, and rebirth.
However, some believe there is salvation, and they reach desperately to attain it as a team, standing as a united front. That too, is merely a story murmured by time. It is a fairytale, nothing more. It may seem comforting, and little children may take solace by the purity of the deceit, however defying the star is simply impossible.
Still, occasionally some of these girls aren't afraid to fight. Sometimes, these girls take a stand angst the fate that is dealt to them. However, what they do not know, is that their distant dreams are indeed only children's stories murmured by firelight. No matter how they fight, or what they think they've destroyed, eventually, the queen wakes up from her slumber. Eventually, their dream ends.
Then, she is exposed to the indisputable fact, and realizes she failed. Such is the fate of the chosen few, scorned woman who inevitably go against the star and its demands. That outcome is a pity, truly...because truth be told, it is a dreadfully willful thing. That insidious HiME star.
This is the story of one such group of twelve, and their most important people. It is one that I've unfortunately witnessed before.
Tangled in the web that they've made for themselves, they face down their true nature. That is the only true way to escape the power of HiME star. The world, as they knew it is gone, it won't ever come back. Still, to even defy the laws takes immeasurable courage, and fate has gifted them a second chance.
Sealed on the dark side of the moon, it is time these maidens flee from their cage and find a new world, in which to call their own...
...it is a fate I dream of too...if only I could be so strong.