Different World of a Different Time
by Moonlight Eternal
This is one of my more recent fics, though it is still some 3-4 years old, and it has been a while since I worked on it. However, it, and Silver Glass, are probably the two closest to my heart (and therefore the most likely to be completed in the future). I hope everyone enjoys!
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Chapitre One
She knew that Sailor Pluto would be against it. It was neither her job nor even her responsibility in the eyes of the Guardian of Time. She would tell her to leave it to the Sailor Scouts; those with experience would handle it. But of course, Rini knew otherwise. To save her home, her family, that was all she could think to do. It was her responsibility…because if they only knew what had happened…if only they knew how it was her fault…
'Don't think about it,' she instructed herself as she rushed out into the quiet night. It was too quiet for any city, but especially for the capital of a kingdom. It was too dark as well. Eerie shadows flicked here and there, with the occasional motion of life: a rat or mouse running for the safety of its alley at the sound of running feet. The only light in the sky was emitted from the grey moon, and it was only a sliver in a starless sky. The city was dead… in more ways than one.
The small princess stopped at the center of the Northern Garden of Carmella. She glanced around her cautiously, watching for any shadows to move in unnatural ways. She looked no more than 5 years old, yet already she had the senses of a cat in the dark. She continued to look around warily for a moment, all the while taking in the familiar surroundings of the northern garden. The large fountain trickled gently, only half of it frozen in what seemed winter's ice but was, most unfortunately, not. It was the middle of spring, and there had been no sudden freeze to bring on the appearance of an endless winter in her home. The surrounding trees were stiff, although a slight breeze passed through, bringing along with it the smell of death and the tinkling of crystal chimes, even though they were in reality the leaves and branches of the trees brushing against one another. The garden seemed to be full of large likenesses of trees made out of ice or crystal. The flowers that nestled between the crystalline trees also looked as if they had been shaped from rock. It was as though Rini stood in a frozen wonderland of a cold, lifeless, and false nature. Small memories of a greener and happier time flashed through Rini's mind, but she forced them aside. There was no time to think about the past. Not the recent past anyway.
A hopeful look passed over her face as she lifted a small golden key to the sky. She felt her heart beating within her breast as she spoke the enchantment that would open Cronos' Gates to her, the Gates of Time. Thinking hard of her destination, she attempted to pass through the gates of time without the guardian either realizing it or stopping it. A bright light flashed, enveloped her, and then sent her shooting somewhere, ripping her through time itself…She could not be sure she accomplished anything until Rini found herself gazing downwards at something large and sky blue…was she falling or flying?
For a moment, Rini felt her body hesitate in the air, desperately trying to defy gravity…And then she plunged downward until she hit what felt like jagged rocks but she subconsciously realized was water. Her eyes having adapted to brightness, she felt the sun's rays and saw the green grass nearby before her head plunged downward into the open waters.
At first, she struggled to surface, a body's instinct, but even with the lessons she'd had the previous summer, her child's body could not fight the weight of soaked clothing. Like lead blocks, it pulled her down, bringing her further and further from the light surface. Her lungs began to scream for air and all the while she fought to go back up to the surface. Her lungs burned and she kept opening her mouth trying to breath, and shutting it desperately, trying not to take in water that would flood her lungs and drown her. 'I'm going to die…' she thought as she felt her body pulled down. 'I'm going to die and be with Mama.' She almost felt the smile creep
across her lips until her own mind kicked in. Quietly, it mentioned that her mother was still alive. Everyone was still alive. They had to be… they were!
And suddenly she was coughing and spluttering water out. She felt warmth around her, and voices were yelling everywhere. Blearily she opened her eyes to a woman's concerned face. She had rose-colored hair and eyes of twilight, as beautiful as the setting hues of the moon. Rini turned her head slightly to look at the person who, she realized hazily, was holding her. His dark blue eyes peered at her with the same vivid worry as the woman's, his ebony black hair dripping with water. He was so familiar… "Papa?" She whispered. The eyes widened out of shock and Rini realized faintly that this man could not be her father…he was not from this time…or was he? Before her mind could ponder this, the man and everything else was swallowed by darkness.
Rini began to stir slightly. For the first few seconds, she thought perhaps it had all been a bad dream, that she'd wake up to find her mother's elegant figure smiling beside the bed, awake and ready to help her daughter start the new day. However, those thoughts only lasted a moment. As she groggily regained consciousness, she realized her new situation wasn't good. From the cold metal feel on her wrists and ankles, the pink-haired princess deciphered that she was in shackles.
…This did not bode well…
As her mind slowly started to work, Rini began to form the sounds around her into actual voices. They were all slightly familiar, though she could not put her finger on any of the owners. And the language they spoke...she knew it, yet it wasn't her first language either... Before she could wonder what language it was, her mind had subconsciously shifted to it and she faintly wondered if she'd just imagined it wasn't her own.
"I say she's a spy!" she began to register what exactly the voices were saying.
"A 5 year old spy, Jed? Oh yeah, perfectly logical," someone replied sarcastically.
"Perhaps she's a demon! I could always perform an exorcism-"
"NO, HELIOS!"
"What?"
"Need we remind you of your last attempted exorcism?" a relaxed voice asked lazily.
"…Oh." Helios replied.
"I say she's just a child who's lost. Nothing more to it," the relaxed voice continued.
"And that's why she's been chained? That makes just as much sense as Jed's idea mixed with one of Helios's incantations!" The second voice returned with even more bitterness and quite a bit of exaggerated sarcasm.
"Hey…" Helios sounded somewhat offended.
"It's just for your protection, Endymion." A new voice soothed.
"I'd like to think that I can at least protect myself from a child, Malachite." Endymion wasn't bothering to keep his voice down.
"It wasn't my idea in the first place so don't get angry at me!"
"Then whose was it?" Endymion asked, exasperated.
Four voices replied in unison, "Jadeite's."
There was a moment of silence before the first man, addressed both as Jed and apparently as Jadeite, spoke. "Endymion, don't give me that look. You know just as well as I that age makes no difference on the moon. She could be a 900 year old sorceress come to kill the Crown Prince."
"If so, I don't think metal cuffs are really going to prevent much…and I can't help thinking that she would know how to swim," the relaxed voice returned snidely.
"Zoisite, you can really be annoying…did you know that?"
"Oh shut up already Jed. You are way too obsessed with the moon," Malachite sighed.
"At least it's not like your obsession with Venus," Jadeite snapped.
"Just because I find Venusian women quite attractive doesn't mean you have to turn it against me. It is nothing like your constant berating of the moon. And just in case you didn't remember, my step-mother happens to be its queen, so shut up about it or I'll shut you up," Malachite quipped back.
"Fine, you all believe they're peaceful, sentient beings-"
"We will," everyone returned.
"-but when the day comes that they launch a surprise attack, don't cry to me."
"Is he still talking?" an unfamiliar voice asked.
Rini's adept ears caught the slight muttering of Jadeite still trailing across the room. Rolling her closed eyes a bit, she answered "yes" without realizing it. Her eyes snapped open a millisecond later out of outrage and surprise. Yes, he had been insulting her mother's home, but it was no reason to give away the one thing that kept her safe for the time being!!
Rini inwardly groaned as she heard the loud shuffling of feet around her. Her comment had not gone unheard. Goddess curse her mouth…Slowly, she sat herself up on what she now realized was a couch. A quite comfortable couch at that. Glancing around her in the instant before she was interrogated and put to death, Rini took in the surroundings of what seemed to be a...study!? There were bookshelves, desks, a couple tables, a sofa, loveseat, arm chair, a fireplace…and mounds of books everywhere. 'Lots of books…Papa would love this.' She blinked back her tears and made herself study the surroundings. If she were anything but a prisoner, she would have naturally assumed she was in a study. 'I guess they just have really nice dungeons…'
"She's awake!" a brown-haired man said in surprise. Rini recognized his voice as the last she had heard. She looked the man in the eye. He was not short, but he wasn't a giant either. He had lightly tanned skin, shoulder-blade length wavy chestnut brown hair, and serious unsmiling gray-blue eyes. However, he did have a small smile on. A small, guarded, slightly snide smile, but a smile nonetheless.
"Good observation, Nephrite…" Rini now had a face with which to match the bored voice she had heard earlier. Strawberry-blonde, curly hair pulled back into a ponytail at the nape of the neck framed a pale face with dark green eyes peering knowledgably out. The effect was a man who, while undeniably good looking, would always be called 'beautiful' not handsome. He stared at her for a short moment before a slight smile also appeared across Zoisite's face. Rini kept her own placidly emotionless.
"She seems to have your detached look down, Endy," the second shortest man in the room stated with some humor evident in his voice. Rini recognized it as exorcism guy Helios. He had short snow-white hair and laughing turquoise eyes, and a rather cute face. Towards the center of his forehead was a small teardrop-shaped red jewel, no larger than Rini's small fingernail. The shape didn't make a profound change to his appearance, but Rini couldn't help but wonder what the jewel meant as no other person in the room had any similar marking on their face. Helios gave a genuine, warm smile to her as he plopped himself on the arm of the chair, arranging his white robes around him. This was another slight oddity to his appearance. Everyone else was wearing grey or black. Despite the discrepancies with the others, this man seemed nice...
"If anything, she looks like Quartz's daughter to me, not yours Endymion," a voice with a little laughter said from the other side of the room. It came from, Rini realized, the tallest man in the room. He had broad shoulders, icy blue eyes, and white-blonde hair that reached to about mid-back. His outward appearance was stern and foreboding, and he managed to appear cold, haughty, and cynical without effort. After hearing his voice though, Rini guessed it was just an act he assumed around strangers. He did not smile at her, she could tell he was not the type, but his eyes were welcoming.
"You guys are all idiots...and blind. She's NO ONE'S daughter, she's a SPY I TELL YOU!!" exclaimed a man with sandy blonde hair, cut neatly short. His eyes were a light sky blue, and usually Rini would find them wonderfully inviting and clear, but the maniacal expression he wore was quite daunting. She inched away from him, and turned her eyes away
from Jadeite's face and into a rather familiar one, if a trifle younger. This man could only be her…
"Papa?" she could not help but whisper. Every face in the room changed from relaxed to shocked and surprised. Some of the faces even had horror written across them.
"Endymion…" Zoisite's voice had an edge in it as he approached Endymion, who in his full right was exhibiting a jaw drop 3 feet long.
"That's the SECOND time you've been called a dad. I'm thinking this is just a LITTLE suspicious…" Malachite said with equal surprise.
"Oh come ON guys!" Endymion said, backing away from the five men who were approaching him with vicious stares. They all looked quite frightening and Endymion played his part as the frightened well. If only he was actually acting…. Had her own situation not been so bleak, Rini probably would have laughed. She had the feeling that action was farthest from the dark-haired man's thoughts. What had they called him? Endymion? "You know very well that I've never…they couldn't…none of them had pink…" a crimson blush crept up Endymion's face as he glanced back at Rini out of desperation; he also seemed to find it an embarrassment even speaking of such things in front of her. Why Rini did not really understand…
While the man with the same name as her father was cornered, Rini began to wonder if this Endymion could be her father. Yes, he had dark black hair and deep blue eyes so there were definitely physical similarities. But who knew? Her father could be the XVII Endymion to walk Earth, named after this one who could be the I or X, who knew with the way names were passed down… So physical likenesses and names did not mean much of anything, or at least they did not hang large blinking signs on people that Rini stumbled upon in the past that said "PAPA YEARS AGO."
A few more details made it virtually IMPOSSIBLE for this specific Endymion to be her dad. Her mother had told her stories of when she and Rini's father had fallen in love. That had been a long time ago admittedly, but her mother had elaborated on their lives as regular people in normal houses with normal friends, even though Rini had trouble imagining either of her parents as normal. Unless living in a palace as either a nobleman or a guard was what her mother considered normal, this was not that same time. Additionally, Endymion was not exactly a common peasant's name. Rini had been told her parents went by other names they had been given earlier in life, to keep things simpler, as well as keep them out of harms way. Of course, WHY they were out of harm's way was never conveyed to Rini but then that was the story of her life. There were always things she was not allowed to know, things to stay away from, things she was not privy to. Secrets, secrets, and more secrets… Anyway, all logic pointed that the man standing before her, surrounded by fellow guards or noblemen, whatever they were, was at the most a distant relation to her father the King.
And even if that tiny bit of her that went against all logic WAS right…
Well, then he still was not her father yet. Something made blatantly obvious by his
stuttered attempts to convince his friends without delving into a topic that he obviously considered unfit for discussion around her. Rini wondered if it was because she was a girl…
So in response, Rini shook her pink locks, long since freed from their usual ponytail and bunned state, along with her head at the men who were preying on an innocent. "No, sirs, he's not my father. He only resembled him for a moment," she spoke clearly so everyone in the room heard her. Their faces all turned to her, and something like relief washed over them all, although Endymion's face was by far the most relieved. He actually started to breathe again….
Suddenly, Helios tensed a second time. "Wait, someone who looks like Endymion?!" he said nervously.
"Surely not…your father?" Malachite had caught onto Helios's idea as well. He was once again eyeing Endymion harshly, and the others followed suit.
"H-how am I supposed to know?! It's not like my father's love life is any of my business…" Endymion stuttered, backing away. He turned slightly green. "And it's not something I particularly like thinking about either…"
While doom ensued upon one of her alleged prison guards, and despite all of her will, tears formed in Rini's rose-red eyes. She inwardly shunned herself for showing any signs of weakness to these men. No matter how nice they seemed, and no matter how much one looked like her father, they were NOT her allies. Not even neutral parties! They were her jailers. She had a mission she was supposed to be fulfilling and 5 seconds into it, she had already failed…what would her mother think of her? No, better not to think about that…
'She wouldn't be ashamed of me...' Rini reassured herself. 'I am sure she knows I am trying…I told her before I left…'
And yet even with this small grain of hopefulness Rini attempted to emit for herself, she felt the tears roll down her pink cheeks. In an attempt to hide her shame, Rini tried to lift her sleeve to her face but found her arms restricted. Now on the verge of losing any composure she still had, Rini began lifting her chained legs up to her chest. But before the chains on her ankles even jangled, she felt a soft cloth dabbing her tears away. Rini looked up and found the deep, smiling midnight eyes that had held the worry for her staring back. "What's wrong with you, Little One?" Endymion asked. The five others were squabbling among themselves still and seemed to be playing a game of rock-paper-scissors. Rini caught the basic gist of their conversation…
"Endymion's!"
"The King's!"
"Demon!"
"Helios…"
"Quartz's!"
"Moon spy!!"
"JADEITE!!"
More tears welled up in her eyes, though these were angry. Rini stared hard into the face of the man before her and attempted to gulp back the tears of her homesickness and fear. "I'm not little," she stated shakily, but with all the dignity due to a queen.
Endymion bowed his head in respect. "My apologies, Lady, I should have known better. Might I ask your name?"
Rini was not too taken aback by the question, it was only to be expected that he would ask. Unfortunately, what she was thrown off by was her answer. Her name was Serenity, her nickname was Rini. But how stupid would she be to give her real name to a potential enemy? Besides, she had her mother's name, and since this man had her father's name, it was quite possible she was far back enough in time that her great-grandmother had the same name as her. And that would cause more trouble than it was worth…But then, she supposed, what harm would giving her nickname cause?
"…Rini," she hiccupped. Endymion's companions had yet to realize he was missing from the scuffle they were now in, having left peaceful negotiations behind.
"Rini," Endymion repeated softly, glancing up to check on what the others were up to, and then back down at her. He smiled warmly. "It's a sweet name. I think it suits you well."
Rini could not help but allow a small smile to grace her own face.
"I'd love to introduce myself to you properly, but doing that would require me taking those off," he motioned to her restraints. Rini felt some of her hopes fly out the window and tumble down the hill into the river. "I can do that, but only if you promise me something," Endymion continued. Suddenly, Rini's hopes learned how to swim.
"What kind of promise?" Rini masked her hope with her own curious suspicion.
"Just answer a few questions for me and we'll call it even, okay?" Questions…that didn't sound too difficult.
"I don't suppose you'll let me go…?" Rini pushed forward.
"Unfortunately, that I can't do that yet. But as soon as we find out your reason for trespassing-"
"Trespassing? I was trespassing?!" Rini looked aghast at her own stupidity. Endymion managed, eventually, to not look shocked.
"It's alright, we'll take care of it. There will be a little trial, and as long as you did not do anything and answer truthfully, everything will be fine. In fact, as long as you tell me truths, the prince might just wave the trial and you can be on your way. Now, about those questions…"
Rini shrugged in response. "As long as it's not spelling, I think I can handle it."
Endymion laughed softly, then held out his hands. Rini at first fearfully thought he was going to shake her and it had all been a trick to let her guard down, but instead the irons seized up and fell away to the ground with a satisfyingly loud clatter (although the other men in the room were still too involved in one another to notice). Rini was surprised by that, but she was even more surprised when she turned back to find Endymion kneeling before her. She felt a slight blush creep up her face as he brushed her small hand against his lips.
"Lady Rini, it is a privilege to meet you. I am Endymion of Earth." Rini's blush deepened. A princess she was, but all she had ever received in her life was a respective bow. And she had NEVER been addressed as a lady. And WHY was her heart fluttering? "Where do you come from?" Endymion inquired, sitting back on his heels before her. Rini was peeved to find out that even rocked back on his heels he was almost as tall as she was standing.
Rini hesitated to answer. She knew she was far in the past, although how far was beyond her. Crystal Tokyo was definitely non-existent, and from what she could tell from the aerial view earlier, she was not even sure Tokyo would be a good answer. She wondered quickly how far back she had gone. Discarding numerous names of provinces and cities, all of which she doubted existed, she finally settled on a reply. "Earth," she answered shortly.
Endymion smiled despite himself. "Fair enough, my answer was just as vague. Alright, here's what I'd really like to know: why were you found here on the palace grounds?" Rini looked up at him somewhat petulantly. How could SHE explain that they happened to be in the same locale as her own home in the future?? Endymion, however, returned her gaze with a smiling yet stern one. Rini knew she had to answer… it was just one of those looks.
"So I'm not a prisoner...?" Rini asked, dodging the question.
Endymion raised his eyes in response. "Much as I'd like to confess that this is the state of all our dungeon facilities, they're severely lacking in the 'homey' touches... this happens to be a study/library of sorts. You aren't technically a prisoner, no. Though as I said, you were trespassing; but despite what some other planets think, Terrans don't normally throw people into cells. Especially not children. So if you could just tell me what you were doing...?"
The question had returned. Rini guessed, correctly from Endymion's gaze, that she wouldn't be able to skip again. "I'm looking for someone…" She finally muttered cautiously.
"Who?" Endymion pressed.
"Yeah, who?" Helios asked, popping up behind Endymion's shoulder. Endymion groaned. He already knew this interrogation was over. As soon as the guard had finished arguing they'd all be over here and-
"Endymion, how could you free the prisoner?!" Jadeite cried in alarm.
"She's not a prisoner any longer, Jed. Her name is Rini and-"
"Rini, huh? That's a cute name! Suits you well!" Helios smiled enthusiastically as he bit into an apple.
"Did you know that 'Rini' the name has great significance with Luna's royal line? The name began as an epithet for-" Zoisite began. From the way Helios rolled his eyes at Zoisite and started making funny faces behind his back, Rini guessed that lectures like this were common. She also gathered that Helios did not set much by them. She struggled not to laugh at a particularly funny face.
"See, MOON family!! She IS a moon spy!"
"Would you give the spy thing a REST Jadeite?!" Endymion asked, whirling around.
"I wonder if Quartz put her up for adoption…." Malachite continued in his own little world.
Rini's head was spinning. Luna's royal line? Had they met Luna's grandmother or something? A spy? Quartz? Like Amethyst? Cute? It was all too much, she felt herself getting dizzy. The room began to spin as she faintly heard her godmother's voiced warning to her, to always rest after time travel…then she saw her mother's smiling face handing her the time key on her birthday…and then her mother searching for her… 'Mama…' …Before the attack, when her mother had told her she could be anything as long as she tried… 'Mama!' …The crystal…how could she have taken it?! Before she knew it, all of Rini's memories of the last day and a half flooded her mind. Her mother's seemingly dead crystalline form, her father's injured body, all of them lying there on the ground…it was all…no she wouldn't think about it… she mustn't… but her barriers were down and trying to bring them back up was like trying to build a dam in the middle of a flood.
"MAMA!!" Rini felt the tears explode from her eyes and run down her face. The burn of her royal crest lit up the room and the shocked faces of Endymion and the others.
"What in all Hells?!" Malachite's voice rang out, serious for the first time.
"The Lunarian Crest!" Zoisite shouted knowledgably.
"A sp-" Jadeite's voice was muffled by Helios' hand.
Rini was alone in her pain. No one was alive to share it with her, and even if they were, they were not near her, they were eons away in the future…Her tears continued to fall even as she felt a warm hand encircle her own and an arm wrap around her waist, pulling her into a comforting hug. It felt so much like her father holding her that Rini gave up and allowed herself a momentary rejection of the truth. For a second, she let herself believe that she was home and that her father was rocking her to sleep as he did after she had had a nightmare or bad dream. She pushed the memories as far away from her as possible. As the light of her forehead diminished and her sobs subsided some, she said what she had to. "My mama…I have to save my mama…"
And then she collapsed into Endymion's strong arms.
A ringing silence fell onto the room as all its inhabitants minus the child stared flabbergasted at one another. Then pandemonium struck.
"What of PURGATORY was that?"
"She's a demon."
"Not you too Jadeite…"
"A MOON DEMON!!"
"AH! I think that ray gave me a sunburn!"
"Obviously you need to venture forth into the realm of light more often, Zoisite."
"Could you guys be serious for one-" Nephrite began. Everyone in the room jumped as a loud sound erupted from the door. "Your highness, are you alright?!" There was another second of stunned silence before Malachite jumped to the rescue.
"Everything's fine! Jadeite just lit the couch on fire again!"
"What?! I did-" Helios once again calmly silenced Jadeite with a hand.
"Do you need any assistance?!" Who ever was on the other side stopped trying to break down the door.
"Nope. Everything's under control," Helios called, looking at Endymion as though he found the entire situation quite funny. Endymion himself could not see the humor in any of it.
"All right…" as the footsteps retreated, everyone looked back at the unconscious child Endymion held.
"What is it?" Nephrite tentatively broke the silence, his eyes roving freely up and down Rini's body as if he expected to find an extra arm or third eye.
"SHE is a little girl," Endymion snapped indignantly, checking Rini over and then setting her on the couch, struggling momentarily as a wave of dizziness washed over him. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he could feel a headache starting to form.
"Yes. One of the Lunarian royal line as well," Zoisite said thoughtfully.
"Of the royal line? But there are only 2 children of the moon…"
"Perhaps this is Destiny?" Jadeite asked, looking towards Malachite. He certainly had no clue.
"No, this isn't my half-sister. For one, she had platinum hair and blue eyes last I looked, and two, this girl seems to be at least 4 years younger than Destiny, if I am keeping the years
right. And please, don't even try to pass her off as Serenity." Malachite answered.
"Not that we've seen her enough these last few years to rule it out…" Nephrite muttered, a slight pout appearing on his face.
"Stop being overdramatic! We KNOW she didn't have pink hair the last time we saw her…additionally, she was a little taller, older, more developed…" Endymion trailed off at a look from Malachite. Maybe that last comment hadn't been necessary... A timely throb from his headache gave him an excuse to break eye contact with his friend and hold a hand to his temple.
"Speaking of Ren, when was the last time anyone saw her?" Malachite asked. "I haven't even gotten to talk to her in ages, she's been too busy these last few months."
"Never met her," Jadeite said immediately and didn't bother to hide his relief on the matter.
"She was at a ceremony for Ares a month or so ago back during Aresia, playing her part as messenger to the Virgin Moon Goddess as usual…" Helios reflected, thinking back. "I only saw her briefly during the ritual, but I suppose it counts as something."
"Last time I saw her was a couple weeks ago…" Endymion said sheepishly, glancing over at Malachite, temporarily removing the hand to forestall any worried comments that would arise if he kept it there too long. His head gave another disgruntled throb.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Malachite inquired after this new piece of information on his little stepsister.
"Totally forgot. She popped up, and I mean LITERALLY popped up, one night. She just landed right on my bed. I was barely awake when she threw herself on me-"
"Endymion, do we REALLY want to hear the details here?" Nephrite asked, eying Malachite who had gone a pale shade of grey.
"Huh? Wha-" realization dawned on the crown prince of Earth. "OH nononononononononono!! It's not what you think!! She started crying on my shoulder about some courtier or other…" Endymion was bright red. The others wondered if any of his coloring might be transferred to Malachite's pallid face.
"So…returning to the original topic…this girl isn't Serenity…" Zoisite said after a long pause.
Everyone nodded in agreement. Jadeite snickered. "Maybe the moon Queen's been a little unfaithful?"
"Now Jed-"
Within one second, while all the others looked toward their newest member with aghast faces, Malachite pinned the garren to the wall. A chill ran over the room, and it iced over. A small group of icicles actually materialized on the window, causing Helios, who had migrated there to sit, to jump up in surprise.
"I've about had it with your disrespect to Luna. There is nothing to hate on their world," Malachite's face was stone cold, a deep well of anger flowing from his eyes.
"You forget my reasons…" Jadeite answered with equal ice to his voice. He held his superior's gaze calmly.
"Your reasons don't apply to the Court of Selene," Malachite replied.
"Now, children," Zoisite stood between the two men defensively. "Play nice. Let's deal with the problem at hand." He motioned towards Rini, who Endymion was covering with a blanket. "We have bigger fish to fry than one another."
"Fish…" Helios mused. "That would be nice for dinner."
The icicles had started melting as Malachite's temper cooled, or actually warmed. A puddle of water occupied the window sill, glistening in the sun. Jadeite stood nearby gently massaging his throat. Mal had a strong grip...
"Endymion…?" Nephrite approached his master and friend cautiously. Endymion had gone deathly pale since his encounter with Rini, his naturally tanned skin bleaching until he was closer to Zoisite's own pallor. Something was definitely wrong, for all he seemed trying to hid it. Even with Rini back on the couch, he seemed to be only growing whiter. Maybe giving the color back to Malachite had been a bad wish...
"Care to share what you saw?" Helios asked from his perch on the end of the study's table, his voice as serious as anyone had ever heard it. Helios was normally annoyingly cheerful…
Endymion looked back at the group who was now approaching him with a mix of worry and curiosity. "I don't think she's from here…" was all he could whisper out at first, his voice trembling with the effort. The garren looked even more worried, if that was possible. He'd been fine a second ago, or rather, more fine.
"That my friend is sort of obvious," Malachite stated calmly. It always took Endymion a minute to get his thoughts in order after one of his aShlin. Obviously, this particular sight had been more scrambled than usual, and changing the topic to one of his best friends, Serenity, obviously hadn't assisted in getting his mind around the sight.
"No," Endymion stood a little unsteadily, one hand on his head as if it ached, "I mean not from… I don't think she's from…NOW."
"Um…" The others all looked at one another. Did any of them get what he meant? Apparently not.
"Not from this time, damn it!" Endymion managed to yell out before he sank down into a chair, head in his hands. He just wished the world would stop spinning so fast and that he would stop feeling like he was standing on a boat being tossed around on the waves. He slowly tried to catch his breath but he felt like something was constricting his chest, preventing him from breathing properly. It was to do with this vision, he knew, but why couldn't he interpret it properly? His head felt like a full orchestra had set up stage in there and the drum section kept beating overly hard on his skull. The others all looked at one another again, this time almost frantically worried. It was a rarity for Endymion to lose patience with himself over the aShlin, and even rarer for him to loose it at all of the guards and Helios at once (individually was a different story). They all left Endymion to silence for a moment. "She was way too overloaded with feelings for a normal child…" Endymion finally whispered.
"I think she's already been disregarded as normal Endy." Zoisite said hesitantly, eyeing the unconscious pink-haired girl.
"No, she's really a child. She might be older than she looks, but she really is a child in every way that counts. It's just that….either she has an unusually high amount of emotions raging through her, and I mean REALLY unusual….like not possibly high…or she actually FORCED some of her feelings into me, purposefully." Endymion sighed, attempting to puzzle everything together. "But…"
"Forced?" Jadeite asked wonderingly. "But…wouldn't that mean…"
"She had the same power as a Terran Royal? Yes."
It was almost as if a riot broke out in the room. The only semi-calm people were Helios, who seemed to be intently watching Endymion, Endymion, although he really couldn't be counted because he was forced to be by the look Helios was giving him and his small nausea problem, and Jadeite, who was at a loss to the significance of the answer. Having been only recently inducted to the Royal Garren of Crown Prince Endymion, he was the one with the most to learn. His unfamiliarity with the royals of Terra and their powers only added to his naivety. The other three did not seem to be able to stop jabbering and pacing at high speed.
It took a moment for Malachite, Nephrite, and Zoisite to realize they were not going to get any answer by yelling or, for that matter, asking because no one actually HAD the answers. They attempted to sober their franticness, and managed to a small degree. Eventually Helios pulled Zoisite over, sat him in a chair, and sat on him. Nephrite and Malachite followed the example and sat down, trying to catch their breath. "What do you mean, not from this time?" Malachite asked of Endymion, attempting to return to the topic of what the prince had seen. Maybe if they started from the beginning…
"Well…" Endymion looked up into the faces of his silent guard. "I got a bunch of emotions forced into me…pain and fear were the main ones. There was a lot of guilt and worry
too…but at the same time, there were images too. Images of what Rini was thinking about…" Endymion seemed to strain against some restriction inside to speak about it. A hand absent-mindedly rubbed the constricted spot in his chest as he tried to remember what he had seen and put that into words, which was easier said than done. His breathing was shallow, and Malachite looked at him with obvious concern. He almost sounded like he was choking. Endymion swallowed with some difficulty before he spoke, the image reappearing before him. "Gods, it was a crystalline wasteland…" he said into the floor, more to himself out of revulsion then to his friends.
"Come again?" Malachite asked. The others looked about as mystified.
"I know what I saw was Earth, the familiarity was there and it still felt like the Earth, but I also know for a fact that no place of Earth does or ever has looked like that place… There was huge building at the center, of all crystal, as well as lots of surrounding buildings. They were so huge they seemed to touch the sky, yet were tiny by comparison to the center one, which I presume was a palace. They stood tall and majestic and for a moment, everything sparkled as it if were made of prisms, even though it was obviously night. And then there were a series of explosions and a woman in quartz covering…" Endymion said all in a rush, going deathly pale by the end. He gasped and fell to his knees on the floor as the pain in his chest sharpened, and then dulled away, taking the restriction with it. The floor stopped moving and he felt vaguely like he was still for the first time in minutes. Slowly the throbbing in his head receded, and he was able t o think again. Endymion looked back up at his companions, all of which were kneeling by his side after he collapsed. "That's all I can really piece together…the rest is just way too confusing…most of it was Rini's emotions…"
"There was more?!" Nephrite sank down into the couch opposite Endymion. "You were in contact for only, what, 3 seconds?"
"I know…" Endymion closed his eyes, seemingly exhausted. The garren didn't doubt that he was. The aShlin didn't normally drain him, but to see that much in only three seconds…
"Prince, how about some water?" Malachite asked after a moment, leaving the discussion behind. Jadeite and Zoisite began a hesitant conversation over Venusian versus Jupitanian fruits. Nephrite began to add comments as well, after a moment of silent thoughts to himself. Helios seemed to have glazed over as he stared bewilderedly at Rini's lightly sleeping form.
"Don't worry, Malachite, I'm just tired," Endymion waved his head guard away.
Malachite, in return, bristled. "What makes you think I'm worried?"
"You only call me anything formal when you think I'm sick and are ordering me to bed, when I'm pushing a visiting royal's temper, and when you're just generally worried."
"Well, I'm just thinking…" then he dropped his voice low enough for only Endymion to hear, "what if Jed really was right? About the spy thing at least…yeah, I know, she is only a child, but still. She could be trying to overload you. And the last person we would suspect is a
kid."
Endymion shook his head slowly. "If only it were as simple as that…She's definitely not a spy and definitely not from this time. I got that off her. If she is a spy, she doesn't know it. She's also a child and of this I am the MOST certain about: she doesn't know her own power."
Malachite drew back. To his credit, he did not look as startled as Endymion thought he would. "A moon child with Terran powers who doesn't know her own strength…you'll never be able to touch her, Endymion. Not without the risk of overloading and draining yourself; you could be sent to an inner purgatory at the slightest whim." Malachite glanced over at the child. "She said she's looking for someone. Obviously, she feels this person has something to do with her mother…Perhaps it is her mother, or someone to save her mother? Maybe she's searching for the woman in quartz, or is her mother the woman in quartz?"
Endymion shook his head in confusion. "It could be. There was a lot of pain with that image. I guess I need to have her pay a visit to Rose as soon as possible…"
"Why?" Malachite looked baffled at the thought. "What can Quartz do?"
"She's a girl, she has a better capacity for emotion," Malachite rolled his eyes, whether at the reference to Rose's femininity or capacity for emotion Endymion wasn't sure. He cracked a smile. "No, Rose is the only one I know of who would be able to teach Rini how to control her power without being overwhelmed herself. At least when it comes to the Terran power."
"And the rest of it?"
"I have no idea…"
Malachite stole another look over at the mysterious child his master and commander had, strangely enough, taken an extreme liking to. The only other child Endymion the adult would even lend a corner of his heart to had been his younger sister. And she had been family…well, there was also Destiny but she was almost family to Endymion. Malachite spared a small smile for his half sister. At three, she had been an angel, at five a mischief-maker, at seven a brewing storm, and now at ten a full-blown unstoppable hurricane.
"Maybe you should let Helios train her?" He suggested. Endymion glanced over at his high priest as well and groaned. Helios was staring intently at the small child, a playful look on his handsome face. Endymion sighed, while unknowingly smiling as well.
"That's all I need…ANOTHER exorcist…"
"Heard that," Helios said indignantly, although his eyes never left Rini.
- - -
And thus a new story begins! The next few chapters should be up soon, I have about 100 pages of this particular story written (though if I'm being honest, that's not even a third of the plans I have in mind ;). Each chapter will be roughly 15-20 pages. A word of warning, the themes may get a bit darker as this draws to a close, because we all knows what happens at the end of the Silver Millenium, and I intend to stick with at least some of the history we know. I did not label this story under humor for a reason. That and, I have found that my own writing tends to dangle sometimes on the darker side of things now, and since I will be finishing this story in my more recent style, obviously... just a word of caution for anyone interesting or perhaps off-put by that.
Thank you!
Moonlight Eternal
