Book One : Divine Intentions
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DisclaimerI own nothing of interest. Wait, I like Solaria. She's mine. And this plot is mine, too. Aaaand, anything else not belonging to the goddess Naoko probably belongs to me.
Author NoteUm, yeah, about this. I've been contemplating it for many many months. Here's the first bit. Introducing Solaria, and the truth of the so called "Silver Millennium". Pah. Note, none of this is real. It's all my doing. ; Bow to me, but always to Naoko first.
SummarySolaria, queen of the Sun Kingdom, and Endymion, prince of Earth... were they fated for one another, long before the prince of Earth ever set eyes upon the young moon princess?
Chapter One - Earth's Blazing Star
The long, golden marble halls of the palace echoed in bittersweet memory of days long passed; of days when more than one set of shoes treaded them. The glowing mirrors that lined the Hall of Light caught glimpses of a bit of warm auburn hair, or a swatch of cloth in the color of the purest gold.
The woman who walked these halls, her eyes distant and sad as they tended to be when her thoughts turned to her home and the condition it found itself these sad, lonely days, was the lone survivor of a great purge. The only one of the Solans who had escaped, so many hundred years ago. She was the final representative of her people, and this burden she carried with a heavy heart.
Her slim, feminine figure was draped heavily with the colors of her fading house, and the cloth that befitted her station.
She was the last princess of the sun, and a queen who claimed to reign where there was none to be ruled.
She was truly alone.
No, never alone. She had one other, a dear friend who padded these halls with a purpose rivaling that of her own. A dear friend, indeed. And a furry one.
Apollo, her only companion, was a small yellow cat. Upon his brow, he bore the holy symbol of the sun. And he was her partner, her friend, and her companion.
She stopped before a door and pushed it open. Silence, save for the creaking hinges. She walked in, and closed the door behind her.
Glancing around, she sighed. A large, ornate bathing chamber lay before her. She walked towards the golden tub and twisted a large knob. Water began to pour into the tub. They had never been barbarians, those who lived on the sun. They enjoyed such conveniences as running water.
She had just begun to undress when a voice that usually held a purr met her ears.
"Solaria! There's an intruder!"
She started, turned. "Where?" she growled.
"Ultimecia's Tomb."
"Princess Erika, I truly must protest! You should not be in here!" the cook screeched, as she did every time Erika wandered into the kitchen to offer her services. She sighed.
"But-"
"No buts! Run along, my lady. We're well staffed here." the cook smiled at her condescendingly, like an adult talks to a small child, before placing a hand square in the center of her lower back and pushing her gently towards the doors.
When she was firmly on the other side, she sighed. Now what?
"Erika, can I speak with you a moment?"
She winced at the sound of her mother's voice. Long strands of her unruly black hair crept into her face and she was forced to blow it away before turning to face her mother.
"Yes, Mother?" she muttered. The stately queen smiled faintly at her daughter before motioning down the hall.
"Will you walk with me in the gardens for awhile? We've much to talk about."
Erika winced again before she could stop herself. A talk with her mother generally ended with a lecture about some visiting dignitary that Erika had managed to offend, or something equally disastrous that she'd orchestrated unknowingly.
"Of course, mother."
The stately queen glided along, so gracefully that Erika was left wondering how the two could ever be related. Queen Rhea of the Earth, with her long rich brown curls and unaging face, was the perfect image of what a queen should be. Erika, on the other hand, looked more like a washer woman who someone stuck into a fine gown.
The queen, appearing so ageless, perched upon a stone bench and motioned for her daughter to join her. Erika wanted to run, but sat down instead.
"Erika, I know that things between us aren't always the best. I try, but you have always been so different than your brother Endymion..." she paused. "I don't want you to feel left out."
Erika sighed. Left out? No, abandoned was more the word. "I don't feel left out, mother." she tried to assure.
Rhea smiled sadly. "Like your father, you never could lie about your heart." She touched her daughter's chin with two fingers and tipped it up a bit to look into her deep blue eyes. "Erika... I think it's time I give you something. It's my fault you're not already endowed with this... I never wanted to give it to you. Not until it was clear that there was no other choice, that you truly were the chosen maiden."
Erika blinked. "What are you talking about, mother?" The queen was acting strange, and Erika wondered if she was overworking herself in leu of her brother's coming of age ball. He would be soon eighteen, four years older than Erika herself was.
Rhea looked deeply into eyes that mirrored her own. "You are the chosen senshi of Earth, Erika. You will become Sailor Earth."
Dumbfounded, Erika's jaw dropped. "You mean-... I'm one of the senshi?"
"You are." her mother whispered. Erika blinked, and swallowed hard.
"You told me that Earth had no senshi." she breathed, voice catching on her constricted throat.
Her mother's smile deepened to a much more saddened tone. "It hasn't. Not since I took off the brooch of Earth's senshi and replaced it with a gown of a queen."
Erika blinked. "You were Sailor Earth?"
"I was." Rhea confirmed.
Erika turned her head, as if to look at her mother in a different angle. It was different now, it seemed. The lines around Rhea's eyes... were they laugh lines? Lines from crying, worry, stress? Her mother was not the timid creature Erika has always assumed.
Rhea fumbled at a purple velvet bag tied to her sash, trying to get it open. Finally, aged fingers untied the strings and she spilled a purple and silver brooch onto the bench between them. Erika stared, not daring to touch.
"Take it. It's yours now."
Erika's hand shook. So many possibilities, so many new doors where there had been none. Taking it gingerly, she rolled the cool metal in the palm of her hand. A faint tingle of energy, as if the brooch was testing her, then a feeling that she had been accepted.
"Don't use it now. Not until you need it." Rhea paused, a pregnant, careful pause. "I hope you never have to use it."
Erika nodded, somberly. She understood her mother's concern.
"Promise me something, daughter. Be careful, whether you don a royal coronet or the suit of a sailor senshi."
"I promise."
Endymion shifted his footing, slid forward a step, and ducked the imaginary blow of his equally imaginary opponent. Spinning to parry a blow, he thrusted, and fell forward into a roll, landing in low defense.
"Very nice, Endymion."
Glancing up, the young prince smiled at the compliment, knowing it to be genuine from the person who approached, he nodded to himself.
"And you, Princess Erika. What brings you out to the practice ring this fine afternoon?" he commented to his young sister.
She smiled, and shifted. The sunlight caught off something tied at her sash, and he paled. The sign of Earth, emblazed on a violet and silver brooch. Could it be? Was that the brooch of the Earth senshi?
"I thought perhaps it was time that I began my training." she finally said. He looked at her, blue eyes meeting across the divide between them.
"Am I to gather I am in the presence of Sailor Earth?" he returned after a long moment. She nodded slightly, then smiled.
"Isn't that just so awesome!?" she exclaimed. He smiled, nodded, and grabbed her arms and spun her around. Laughing, the two fell to the ground like small children.
Coughing and sputtering, Erika and Endymion sat up and smiled at each other like imps.
"I don't believe it. My baby sister, the senshi of Earth. Amazing." he muttered. She beamed.
AN2That was an introductory chapter, basically. Solaria is the main character in this one, and Erika is a secondary. Endy, too, of course. After this book, though, Erika becomes more important. Aaaand, that's all folks. For now at least. Until next time, Solar Crystal Power, Make-Up!