"The Blue Rose Renaissance"
Disclaimer: I do not own Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon or any of the characters created by Naoko Takeuchi-sensei. I do however, claim ownership to the original characters I have created for my fan fiction.
This story is a continuation of my two other BSSM stories, "Return to the Past" and "Crystal Tokyo Interlude". These two stories will give you important background information when reading this story.
A/N All thoughts will be in italics since there's something weird going on with this website when I use different brackets. Also this fanfic will be partially based on some of Shakespeare's plays. Yes, I know a lot of people get a headache when they hear the word "Shakespeare" but I am not going to using iambi pentameter or old English prose so don't worry, only the plot of the story will be partially based on the plays and let's face it, this isn't English class and as much as I enjoy Shakespeare's use of language I'm not going to ask the readers to analyze it and turn in a term paper, so enjoy! (Smile)
Prelude "The End of Day by Day"
This is where all shall be decided...
The person known by many as the Voice gazed into the giant churning pool of liquid light beside which she stood. She sighed and held her wand close. Closing her eyes, she listened to the many voices that floated through the cosmos, then stared down to the pool at her feet.
"Their lives connect and disconnect…" She lowered her head sadly. "The weavers go about weaving the tapestry but the threads are gradually coming loose. I wonder what the outcome would be…will the tapestry continue to grow or will it become torn and disintegrate?"
In a distant world, a young finch landed on a tree branch, its clean coat of blue and green feathers flashing in the morning sunlight. Jumping from its perch, the little bird leaped from the tree onto the windowsill of a beautiful marble building. As it sat there on the sill, the bird cocked its head from side to side, watching curiously as a white haired young man lay sleeping under his sheets.
Having left its nest recently, the little finch had seen little of the outside world and this mysterious figure puzzled it to no end. Curiosity drove the tiny bird to hop closer to this unfamiliar being until it was standing on the pillow, its tiny feet barely making a dent in the soft cushion. The finch looked at the figure inquisitively. It saw a face that was youthful and handsome, with a soft noble attribute that many would find to be attractive. Wisps of soft wavy hair fell across his closed eyes, like tender blades of grass draped across the earth. This was contrasted by a single red jewel in the shape of a teardrop on the center of the boy's forehead which quietly reflected the morning's light. His breath rose and fell gently, slightly shifting the clean white shirt he wore each time, clothes that matched the sheets on his bed. As his right hand lay upon his chest, a peculiar pink crystal pendent in the shape of a star and a milk white moonstone dangled on a thin silver chain looped around his wrist.
The finch shook out its viridian colored wings and decided to attempt contact. It let out a small chirp, as if shyly saying "Hello" to the stranger lying on the bed. For a few moments nothing happened. Then the figure's eyelids opened slightly, revealing a sliver of amber irises before closing then opening them completely.
Startled by the sudden movement, the finch jumped back, it's once neatly groomed feathers ruffled up by surprise.
The figure looked at the little bird and smiled apologetically, "Sorry, did I scare you?"
Hearing the boy's soothing voice, the finch felt its fright pass and tweeted, indicating that it was alright.
Sitting up, Helios offered the bird his hand and it trustingly hopped onto his index finger. "You must be new here. I don't believe I've seen you before..." the bird cocked its head to one side then back before it answered with a high chirp.
In the ensuing inter-species discourse, the human participant laughed and nodded his head in understanding as the avian participant proceeded with its high pitched narrative. "I see, so you've only left home yesterday. Well, it's understandable that you're a little frightened by the sight of someone you have never met before." The finch cheeped some more before fluttering back to the windowsill, looking to the lush green world outside.
Helios walked up to the sill and rested his elbow beside the bird and said, "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll be just fine. I am the caretaker of this land and if you have any trouble, you can come and talk to me about it. What do you think?"
The little finch piped happily, turned its head around as if saying its goodbye before it opened its wings and sailed off into the sky.
Helios watched as the tiny bird flew higher and higher. By and by the finch finally disappeared from view and Helios was left standing by the window. A patch of thick cloud was hovering by the sun before it gradually moving under the bright orb, covering up the light. Feeling the cool shadows overhead, Helios lifted his hand over his eyes "It's going to rain soon..." so saying he took his elbows off the ledge, sighed and smiled to himself "Hmm...I'll have to go to the Tower early today."
Soon after, Helios was dressed in his formal white and mint green attire with the dark blue bands around the cuffs of his sleeves. Pushing open the doors of his living quarters, Helios proceeded towards the pray tower which was in the back of the temple structure. Passing through a hallway, he walked past the giant library that housed books on all matters of interest. From Algebra to Zoology, Chemistry to Viticulture, every form of knowledge known from the days of the Silver Millennium was complied here. Although the library is many times larger than the biggest one on earth, all of the books have been perused by the single inhabitant who had access to them.
A large courtyard appeared on his left as Helios walked down the shaded corridor. This courtyard was small compared to some of the other gardens in the compound but it still held a dazzling array of floras. Roses, irises, peonies, poppies (only to name a few), and a number of flowering trees deck the garden which in the spring, would have dazzled the eyes of any onlooker. In the light of summer, green leaves showered the miniature park with patches of shade, each patch wavering gently in the soft zephyr. Flowers with names unknown to the people above took root here, some shyly sat under tall protective trees while others bathed in the full brilliance of the sun. Helios hid a smile as he came across this plot of earthly rainbow. Spring was still faintly in the air, even in a perpetually joyful place such as Elysian, and the flowers were blooming at their fullest in anticipation of summer. But right now was no time to stop and smell the roses. Helios had an important task to perform first. Relaxation and leisure would have to wait.
Turning one last time, a large door appeared at the end of the adjacent hallway. The tall wooden doors, flanked by equally tall walls, stretched far past each horizon. Helios paused before opening the door. Taking a respectful deep breath, he gently pushed against the entrance. The doors soundlessly opened at his touch as the marble prayer tower appeared behind the wooden pans.
Even after repeating this ritual for thousands of years, the majesty and weight of this place still amazed Helios. Beyond him the tower stretched into the sky, the sun shining behind it like the glory of some supreme being smiling upon its proud creation. The sight filled the priest's heart with peace and serenity. He set out for the tower, noting that the rain clouds he saw earlier were augmenting.
The night will be cold today... Helios thought absently to himself as he walked. The day had started out with sunshine and from the looks of the clouds there was a downpour brewing in the skies. Suddenly the thought of life bring rain didn't feel as comfortable as it usually did. Helios shrugged the thought aside. I'm thinking too much... he chided himself. That is one of the consequences of living by yourself; you tend to over think just to keep your mind occupied, Helios smiled wistfully as he lifted his left hand to the tiny pendent hanging on his right wrist.
The adorable little pendent, which looked so out of place on a priestly figure such as himself, was very dear to the young man. The pendent was a memento from someone from another place and time, someone whom he had promised to met again. She had saved his life more than once, but was human as anyone else on this earth. The thought of her never tired Helios; with her in his mind he had been able to accomplish things he never thought possible, had pushed himself beyond his limits. But when would he see her again? This was a question that always followed his thoughts about her. During their last meeting eons ago they had promised to meet again. Because of the difference in space-time he has already endured many years of loneliness and possibly many more years to come.
Loneliness
The word sounded strange in Helios' mind. He had been by himself all his life except for the short time he spent in Tokyo. Not that he minded being by himself, but those were some of the most interesting and memorable times in his long life, so very different from his mundane day-by-day life. He had grown accustomed to it God knows how many centuries ago. But life wasn't completely dull here and the nice memory he had from his time on the surface did help. Even so, those memories now seemed so distant after a thousand years had passed. Yet here he was; the same as ever. He had grown only a little during that millennium, three years older by normal reckoning and looked a bit less like a boy and more like a man. But that had happened slowly, and it felt as if his time was being carried on the back of a snail, sliding by so slowly that it was hardly noticeable at all.
With all that empty time on his hands, Helios had never really thought of how alone he was in this world he lived in. The animals here kept him company and the dreams themselves were always interesting and fun to watch as they develop, but every once in a while he would notice there was still something missing, something that had filled in a little when he was with his Maiden but a large piece of it was always hollow. What was it? What is this emptiness that not even the thought of the bright and cheerful Chibi Usa can dissolve?
Helios gasped when he found himself already by the foot of the tower. He looked up at the structure and its numerous pillars. He cannot perform the prayers with a wandering mind; he has to leave these thoughts aside for now. Having decided upon that, step by step, Helios ascended the stairs, his hand on the guardrail, eyes focusing on nothing as he tried to clear his mind. Having gone up these steps nearly every single day of his life, Helios did not need to look at the steps to actually scale them. He knew the timing of each step innately, like climbing them was born into his blood.
Finally he reached the summit of the tower and walked over to the altar which rested in the center of the platform. Kneeling down on one leg, Helios closed his eyes and clasped his hands together in preparation for his prayer. Directing all of his thought now to the words he was about to speak, Helios began reciting the daily prayer.
"By the light of the sun and by the hope of the moon, I pray for thee, Elysian, for thou to be untouched by the eternal darkness which seeks to envelope and the wretched evil which seeks to destroy. Let thy peaceful existence be undisturbed for eternity and serve as the sanctuary for souls and dreams alike. Let this request be answered for upon my soul this prayer is said."
With that done, Helios opened his eyes and stood up. However he did not immediately leave the tower platform. Instead he put his hands together again and closed his eyes once more.
"Please watch over Chibi Usa-chan, let her be safe and happy."
The color in Helios' cheeks rose involuntarily when he said this private prayer. With a sigh of relief and satisfied with the knowledge that his important duties have been performed, Helios smiled.
"I'll be back tomorrow," he said to the familiar tower before turning to leave.
Just as he took his first step down the tower, the air around him started to behave abnormally. Helios froze in his track, feeling static electricity brushing against his skin as the air molecules became excited. In another split second the paved ground by the foot of the tower saw a tornado form out of nowhere, made up of a column of spinning sand-like particles. Helios felt his throat tighten at the sight. He forcefully calmed himself; this was no time to be afraid or to panic. He ran down to the bottom of the stairs where he was as close as he could get to the twister. Helios shielded his eyes with his arms as he tried to keep watch on the whirlwind, his hair and robes ripping in the wildly excited winds.
Suddenly, as quickly as the strange wind appeared, it dies down and the sandy like powder fell to the ground only to disappear into thin air as it touched the floor. Helios lowered his arm and he saw to his surprise, three individuals standing before him. Two of them were male, and the other was a girl. But what struck Helios was the fact that the girl had a sailor collar around her neck, signifying her position as a senshi.
The taller of the two males coughed, scowling as he waved his hand before his face. "Why the hell do they have to use this stuff? It's like the time when I got stuck in the middle of a sand storm out on the continent!" This vocal stranger was wearing a khaki colored uniform with a band of red sash hanging over his right shoulder, pined to his uniform at the shoulder with a gold button. At his waist was a broad belt made of a rich, scarlet red fabric that was neatly tied and tucked away in the back. His matching khaki colored pants ended just below the knees where the pants were tucked into a pair of shinny black boots. This lively stranger had a head of messy short red hair the color of dull rust, with a shade of bright copper when the sunlight shone upon it.
His animated violet eyes turned to his male companion who had slicked back ice-blond hair. The other stranger sighed and said under his breath, "If they don't use this 'stuff' then we wouldn't be able to get here, Horatio!" This stern faced young man wore a pair of round glasses, behind which a pair of shrewd intelligent blue eyes looked with both annoyance and resignation at the tall red head he named Horatio. This person's uniform was the same as Horatio's except its color was navy blue instead of khaki. The belt and sash were white, with the sash slung across the left shoulder and a pair of clean white shoes instead of the militaristic boots. The gold embroidered coat they two young men wore, with the unembellished white jabot tucked away underneath their coat collar and the cuffed sleeves clearly showed they held positions of power in their native land.
However the person who truly attracted Helios' full attention was the senshi standing with the two men. Her hair was the color of soft lavender, with the ends in a curl. Two strands of her bangs were also lightly curly while the rest fell straight against her forehead. By each side of her head, one long and wavy ponytail extended from below a blooming rose. But those were no ordinary roses; they were blue like the deepest sea and the richest of skies. Her eyes too were blue, like twin spring pools upon her fair face.
Her fuku was a hybrid between a graceful mandarin dress and a traditional kimono. The top of her dress where the white senshi collar met the brim of the dress was lined with a narrow line of lustrous gold followed by a broad band of royal purple, toped off with a thin stripe of leaf green. The dress itself was a light Prussian blue with an obi-like waistband that pointed down in a triangle at the bottom. The patterns on the band was that of a stylized blue rose with creeping green vines, similar in style to that of a peony in traditional Chinese patterns. The slits on the side of her dress goes up modestly to her hips, with the same flower pattern from her obi repeated on the front flap of the skirt, framed by the same border near her collar. The bows on her back had extending designs of curled, apricot colored flower petal on a rich blue background. There were also light green ribbons and gold lines that run down the top and lower border of the bows and in all, the bow looked as if a beautiful butterfly has attached its wings to the young woman's back.
The white gloves she wore reached the midpoint of her upper-arms and ended at the wrists where a blue band overlaps the white. An ivory white choker with a silver ornament hanging off the center was tied around the mysterious girl's neck and a length of gossamer ribbon was draped across her arms. Delicate crystal earrings hung upon her earlobes, swaying gently whenever she moved her body. Her high heels were white as well, with a sapphire colored fillet going around the edge and coming down the center front of each shoe. Taken all together she looked like a celestial maiden from a temple painting in ancient China who has been given flesh and blood.
"I think finding His Majesty is the more important issue right now, brother." The girl said in a musical voice as she looked to the young man with the pale blond hair.
Horatio nodded. "She has a point; we only have five minutes right? Let's stop wasting time and find him before time runs out."
"The head alchemist said the spell should bring us to exactly where he is." The senshi's brother complained as he stepped out of the circle they had been standing in "I guess we'll have to look in that building first..."
At that point he looked around and saw Helios standing by the foot of the tower. His entire body froze and the look of surprise on the stranger's face softened the sharp expression on his eyes. Soon the eyes of the other two arrivals fell upon him with the girl letting out a small gasp. Evidently they were as surprised as Helios and for several seconds the two sides stared at each other in complete silence.
Finally Helios had had enough of the tension and broke the eye contact he had with the blonde stranger. Taking a cautious step back, Helios' expression turned serious as he eyed the three suspiciously.
"Who are you and what do you want here?" he said soberly, ready to summon the Golden Crystal if he needed it.
At this the three again looked astonished. A disappointed and troubled look crept into the girl's eyes as she whispered, "You don't...remember us?"
Helios blinked, "What..."
Horatio pushed past the senshi and shouted, "It's us you idiot!" He walked past the person with the glasses and looked Helios straight in the eye. "It might have been ten years but how could you not recognize us? I'm Horatio, he's Laertes, and she's Ophelia; how could you possibly not remember us!"
"I-I have never seen any of you before!" Helios frowned; confusion was drawn across his face.
At that point Laertes put his hand on Horatio's shoulder. "I think he really doesn't recognize us...they must have done something to him." He concluded simply, a keen look in his icy blue eyes. He brushed past red-haired Horatio and said to Helios, "You must come with us, Sire. Apparently the people who are keeping you here have done something to your memory. Come back with us." He stressed and reached to take a hold of Helios' arm.
Helios pulled away and replied strongly, "I am here by my own free will. This is my post, I am not going anywhere."
Laertes looked silently at Helios for a moment longer before he looked down and pushed his glasses up with one finger. "We're running out of time...I'm afraid there are no choices left then...Sailor Somnus."
Helios watched her as the girl nodded and took out a vial. He knew these people were about to do something and he had a feeling he didn't want to find out just what they had in mind. But before he could move away, the senshi was standing in front of him.
She's fast!
That was the last thing Helios remembered thinking before she opened her palm and blew a fairy dust like powder towards him. "I'm sorry Helios-sama..." he thought the girl said before the world turned black.
A/N Wahahahaha! I'm soooo happy that I finally get to start writing this! This story has been pouncing around my head since the end of "Return to the Past" and here it is! I think most people have figured out one of the Shakespeare plays I'm using, and yes, Helios is going to play the role of that infamous prince (evil chuckle). But seriously, most Sailor Moon fanfic about Chibi Usa tend to leave Helios underdeveloped and I wanted to write a story that focuses more on him. Not only is he my favorite character from BSSM but I think he also has potential to be a very complicated character who's worth developing further.
By the way, Somnus means sleep, but I think that one's pretty obvious.