There was a young woman kneeling on the floor. It was dark outside but the moon and stars weren't shining at all. James looked around the room and saw nothing but girl and the fire. She was surrounded by it, shoulder high tongues of flame crackling around her in perfect circle. She was crying. Even though her face was hidden by her hair he could tell she was crying. The tears dropped onto the floor one by one and she didn't try to wipe them away, she just stared at the small jar in her hands with an expression so sad James' heart ached in sympathy. In a way the flames echoed his feelings because as one they leant inwards, touching her shoulders, caressing them in a distinctly paternal manner, like mothers and fathers giving her a hug. She looked up at him then, a crystal hanging around her neck reflecting the fire's light back into his eyes. Her tear streaked face looked beautiful in the flickering light; she seemed to see right through him to someone else behind. Her lips moved and he heard her breathe one word, "Jaedite."
James Stone walked slowly down the steps of the temple, watching his feet to keep from tripping in the dark. He'd just finished talking to the old priest of the temple, jotting down notes at a furious pace as the old man waxed eloquent on the history and heritage of the temple, the famous people who supposedly came there and the meaning behind each of the trinkets that was sold at the shop for ridiculous prices. James sighed as he walked, "Man, what possessed me to pick such a boring run down temple for my history assignment." He shook his head "I must be going mad."
Sailor Mars leapt from the high branches of a tree down to the ground near the entrance to her temple home. A sharp cracking sound split the air as she landed and Mars swore in a most unladylike fashion as the heel of her left shoe broke beneath the impact of her landing.
"Oh that's just great," she remarked sourly, "My shoe withstands battles with hordes of evil Negaverse monsters and yet now after beating a single puny youma it decides to break. My day has now been a complete write-off!"
In a fit of pique she removed the offending shoe from her foot and hurled it out into the darkness. Irritated beyond belief by the betrayal of her trusty Sailor uniform Mars decided to let off some steam with some target practice before inevitably working herself into another temper as she furiously tried to finish the homework the youma attack had so rudely interrupted. It was late at night and no one would be around to see a Sailor Soldier practice but the moon was bright enough to shoot by and that was more than enough for Mars. Removing her other shoe and placing it out of the way she whispered, "Mars Flame Sniper" and summoned her flaming bow.
Drawing the bowstring across her heart and taking careful aim she shot twice into the darkness and was rewarded by the sound of her arrows flying true and hitting the well protected trunk of her one of her practice trees. Changing position and angle she fired again, then changed position and fired again–this time a little bit faster. With each sequence of 'fire, change position, fire' she accelerated her movements until she was leaping, running, dodging and weaving like the flickering flame she controlled, all the while steadily firing arrows which time and again hit her intended target. It was not for nothing that Rei was known as the 'Queen of Archery' at school. Sailor Mars' more magical abilities may not manifest in her normal life but the hours of practice that both she and Rei put in showed true in both their lives.
Replacing his notebook in his bag after checking his notes James was readjusting a loosened bag strap when out of the darkness something whizzed by his head, narrowly missing his nose and thunked into a tree on the other side of the stairs. "What the heck?"
The object that had nearly brained him turned out to be a scarlet red, high-heel shoe with a broken heel. "Of all the stupid things to throw." James muttered to himself eyeing the pointy end of the shoe, "You could really hurt someone with this. Although..." he looked at the shoe more closely "It's quite a nice piece of work, I wonder how they broke such a sturdy heel?"
He turned in the direction the shoe had come from and saw a flickering light through the trees. "I bet whoever that is threw the shoe." He sighed, "I'd better return it to them in case they want to try and get it fixed." Fixing his bag strap he walked into the woods towards the light, expecting to find a torch bearing girl in a huff, maybe with a few friends. What he found was something so entirely not what he expected that he dropped the shoe and just stood and stared.
After about half an hours' target practice Mars' anger had cooled noticeably and with a sigh of regret she fired a last arrow then dismissed her bow, it was nice to use her gifts in a non-life threatening situation for once, even if it was just to vent. Her good humour restored Mars disappeared into the woods and back to the temple to start her homework. She was unaware of a silent observer who, now that she was no longer in danger of mistaking him for a target slipped away into the night, carrying with him the memory of a beautiful raven haired girl with a bow and arrows of living fire.
James jumped the fence at school just beating the bell to class and taking his seat as the teacher came in. Shooting a smirk at his friends he gave them a thumbs up and settled back in his seat. It was good seat, positioned not too close to the board so as to be seen as a study freak but not too far so that he couldn't see or hear the teacher. He glanced up towards the front of the room; it was also the perfect spot from which to spy on a certain raven-haired girl who always sat near the front of the class.
He'd never understood his fascination with Rei, she was no prettier than some of the other girls in their class and she was a good student, performing just a little better than him usually. There was nothing in her appearance, personality or actions to make him dream about her and dream about her he did. At least once a week he woke up with a start after seeing her look right through him and whisper that name.
It irritated him to no end that while he was tossing and turning trying to get back to sleep she was probably off in dreamland happily oblivious to his weekly bouts of insomnia. He'd taken to watching her whenever he could. Not like some crazed stalker but rather looking to try and find out some reason why he felt that they were inexplicably connected. So far he hadn't had much success. Rei was a very busy girl, either working at the temple, organising something for school or hanging out with her friends at their favourite arcade or café. None of them were good places for eavesdropping or discreet following.
As time passed James grew more frustrated, it seemed as if something was yelling at him inside his head and telling him that something important was going to happen. He wished whatever it was would happen soon, all the mystery was driving him crazy-he glared at Rei from behind. Things had better become clear soon or he was going to have to do something about it himself.
Rei felt a prickling sensation on the back of her neck, turning slightly she saw out of the corner of her eye that James Stone was glaring at her again. She sighed, what did he have against her? She didn't even speak to the guy much and yet he seemed to hold some sort of personal grudge against her, something that made him glare at her all the time and follow her around.
She'd been told about James long before he was put in her class. Her friends gave her the lowdown. He was a handsome guy, good at sports and a good student but far too quick with his wit for any teachers liking. He was polite to the girls but to any of her friends knowledge had never once had a single girlfriend. Sure he got confessed to a lot but every time he kindly but firmly turned the girl down. He was friendly enough with the boys of the class, getting into the usual amount of trouble one would expect but with girls he seemed to be looking for a particular ideal that was never measured up too. Rei found it strange but since she wasn't interested in him paid it and him no more attention than a friendly introduction and the occasional greeting in the hallway.
The teacher droned on and her concentration wavered, how could he make something as interesting as medieval weaponry sound so boring? In spite of herself Rei found her mind drifting back to the Sailor Scout meeting of the day before. Once everyone had arrived talk turned from idle chatter to more serious business. With the return of Chaos to the hearts of everyone in the universe it was no longer contained within the body of Sailor Galaxia and as a result there was now great potential for harm to be done to the people of Earth by dark forces if the Scouts were not vigilant. Chaos was the reason for the reoccurrence of youma attacks, even after Galaxia and her minions had been defeated.
The Light of Hope had also returned to everyone's hearts where it belonged however the war between Hope and Chaos could not be left to its own devices. The time was soon coming when Eternal Sailor Moon and the rest of the Sailor Scouts would need to once again send forth their power to protect Earth.
Signs of the impending Global catastrophe Sailor Pluto had spoken of were already appearing and everyone knew that the day would not be far off when the Earth's people would be sent into their long sleep to await the day when Neo-Queen Serenity would wake them in the 30th century.
Luna and Artemis gave them a brief description of the Earth's current state and Ami showed them a model she'd made on her computer that predicted roughly when and where disasters were likely to happen as well as how long it was safe for Eternal Sailor Moon to wait before using the Silver Crystal –they wanted to save as many lives as possible but the future scarred and war torn Earth was a far cry from its present day self. The scouts wanted to give the people of Earth as much time to enjoy their planet as possible before they lost it forever.
The discussion had come to a close later in the evening and Rei had farewelled her friends before cleaning up and then preparing for bed. As her body performed the well known and oft repeated movements her mind drifted back over the last couple of weeks. For some time now a strange feeling of excitement had been growing within her, warring with the anxiety she felt about the future. It was as if something was telling her that something wonderful was going to happen but she wasn't sure what. The Fire wouldn't tell her anything save that whatever was going to happen would be good and would have a profound effect on her and the other scouts lives.
Rei didn't like the idea of not knowing anything about something so important but had to face the fact that despite her few extra abilities she was not omniscient and therefore every once in a while would have to face the unknown future just like everyone else. She hated doing that.
The other scouts had been very supportive and forgiving when she'd told them about her vague premonition though Serena had made a few snide but not really meant comments just to keep up appearances.
As class wore on she periodically felt James' eyes bore into her back but strove as usual to ignore him. It worked, to a degree but she was always aware that he was there. Thankfully she had P.E next and was able to escape his gaze for a few minutes while they all changed. This week they were practicing agility and accuracy so the teacher got them to play dodgeball. Rei was usually very good at evading the balls sent her way, it was no different than dodging youma attacks and she enjoyed frustrating her opponents. Most of the class knew her skills but still couldn't resist the challenge of trying to hit her.
Today however, she had other things to think about. As she jumped around dodging balls her Mars Crystal started sporadically heating up. It would be warm one moment and then cool the next. Distracting as it was Rei was more concerned by what it could mean. The game wore on and soon there were only a few people left on her team. James was one of them and she tried to stay away from him as much as she could. It wasn't easy on the small court.
Suddenly, as a ball homed in on her and she jumped left to dodge, James leapt to catch one coming from her right. As he jumped past her Rei's Mars Crystal blazed with heat. Rei screamed with pain and dropped to her knees, yanking the crystal out from under her shirt before it burned a hole in her chest. James, distracted by her scream turned to see what was wrong and got hit by the ball he was trying to catch. Stumbling he turned and then slipped, falling on top of her, his outstretched arm knocking the crystal from her hands. In the instant his hand touched it the Crystal burst into red light and flame and reality collapsed around both their ears.