Sailor Sol's Tale
By: QueenofNemisol
Disclaimer: The Japanese words and their meanings I got from another 'fic, so, please don't sue me if the meanings are not correct. Also, Sailor Moon and Co. does not belong to me. Nor does the name Sailor Sol, but, unfortunately, I cannot find the original creator of the name, so cannot credit them with it (And if you are out there, reading this, onegai, don't sue, I SAID I DON'T OWN IT). Also, Naoko Takeuchi-san, Toei, Bandei, and ect. own Sailor Moon and Co. Now, let's get to the story, shall we?
Cast of Characters:
Sailor Earth—Samantha and Melanie Mason
Sailor Moon—Usagi Tsukino—Princess Serenity
Sailor Mercury—Ami Mizuno
Sailor Mars—Rei Hino
Sailor Jupiter—Makoto Kino
Sailor Venus—Minako Aino
Sailor Uranus—Haruka Ten'oh
Sailor Neptune—Michiru Kaioh
Sailor Pluto—Setsuna Meioh
Sailor Saturn—Hotaru Tomoe
Tuxedo Mask—Mamoru Chiba—Prince Endymion
Sailor Sol—Aryana Donovan—Queen Aryana—Daughter of Apollo
W'heiss—Order member (investigator)—King W'heiss—Son-in-law of Apollo
Prince Danol—Dragon Warrior—Son of Apollo
Prince Mikhail—Phoenix Warrior—Son of Apollo
Luna—Usagi's cat (advisor)—Dispatch
Artemis—Minako's cat (advisor)—Dispatch
Various members of the Order
Marius—Queen of the Negaverse—granddaughter of Aryana—great-granddaughter of Apollo
Assorted Youma
Transformation Phrases (that will be seen in this fic):
Sailor Moon—MOON HEAVENLY POWER (before learning that with Mamoru she can use—moon warrior power)
Sailor Mercury—MERCURY COSMIC POWER
Sailor Mars—MARS COSMIC POWER
Sailor Jupiter—JUPITER COSMIC POWER
Sailor Venus—VENUS COSMIC POWER
Sailor Uranus—URANUS COSMIC POWER
Sailor Neptune—NEPTUNE COSMIC POWER
Sailor Pluto—PLUTO COSMIC POWER
Sailor Saturn—SATURN COSMIC POWER
Sailor Sol—SOL CELESTIAL POWER (without W'heiss) SOL WARRIOR POWER (with W'heiss)
W'heiss—(on his own) SOL KNIGHT POWER (with Aryana) SOL WARRIOR POWER
Prince Danol—DRAGON POWER CHANGE
Prince Mikhail—PHOENIX POWER CHANGE
Sailor Earth-Love and Earth-Anger—EARTH COSMIC POWER
Greetings, minna. In this time my name is Aryana Donovan, High Princess of Underhill, the adopted sister of the High King, a Knight of the High Court of Underhill, Danaan-Named Mage-Adept. In the last time, I was Aryana, Queen of Sol, Daughter of Apollo, (and though I have no pride in the these next ones, only sorrow and regret) wife of King Garnyte of the Negaverse, mother of Beryl, who was heiress to her father's throne, but not to her mother's, may all the gods above and below be thanked for that.
The day fast approaches when I must destroy my own kith and kin, but I digress. I tell this tale that the world may know that I am no saint; that I too, can, and have, made mistakes. You see, this tale rightly begins two thousands years ago, when I at but 18yrs, agreed to marry King Garnyte of the Negaverse, hoping in vain, that by doing so, I could prevent, even stop, them from invading my home Prime, and trying to take over. You see, my life (at the time) has never been easy, not will it ever be.
Two thousand years ago:
"But, Your Majesty!"
"Gentlemen, my mind is made up, the papers signed. It is my sincere hope that by this move, the Negaverse will attack no more, this our universe. Also, by this move, I hope that I and mine will never have to do what Sariah, and Solaris before her, and Moira before her, had to do." I could see that the councilors knew what I referred to. For, reader, you see, the only thing these women had in common, besides all of them having been Queens of Sol in their own time, was that they had destroyed the Negaverse, till there was nothing but void (and its starseed left) using the "UNIVERSAL DESTROYER" attack; thereby committing suicide.
"Then there is nothing we can do to change your mind?"
"Nothing. In the contract, I stipulated thus: children born with the personalities of his people, at three months, would go to him. Those with the personalities of mine, would stay with me, after three months."
"How, in the name of Apollo, will you know what, at three months, their personalities will be like!?" The councilors asked of me. I remember replying, "I will know," quite calmly.
That night, when Garnyte came to my bed, (and no I will not go into detail. AN) and left it, I knew, that the next time I would use my StarStone, the pride of my House, to insure that I would get with child. Oh how I lament my naïveté, that I could have prevented, or even stopped what came next.
You see, I could tell that he had found it was as distasteful as I had done. When he came again, after three weeks, I told him that I knew of a way to insure my conception that night.
"How?" he asked me.
I told him that with the use (on my part) of a special stone, just prior to the act, in nine months to the day, I would have a child, but in order for it too work, I had have his consent. He agreed, quite readily. True to word, nine months to the day later, I gave birth to a dark-eyed, red-haired, baby girl. As soon as she was placed into my arms, though, I saw a vision of her as woman grown. She stood tall, facing, on a pillar of ice, at whose top, on a flower-like formation, stood a young woman with a crescent moon upon her forehead. On either side stood a pair of young women in Senshi uniforms, who each had a hand on a wand that was in the hands of the moon-marked young woman. I could also tell that the ones in uniform were also in spirit-form, and that the moon-marked one was the only one still alive. I could see that they were entwined for all time to one another. It was then that I knew my daughter would go to her father, at the appointed time. Knowing this, I gave her a name in keeping with her heritage: Beryl. I then opened a small portal to her father's throne room.
When he looked up, he saw me. Then he said to all in there, "Go, and do not come back, until I summon you." When all were gone, he asked, "The babe?"
"It is a girl. She is hale and whole. In keeping with her heritage, I have named her Beryl. At the appointed time, I will hand her over to you."
"I see. I thank you for this information." Three months later, he came and I gave her to him. I never saw my daughter again, nor did I have any wish to. Not after what I had foreseen at her birth. After six months, I had recovered enough to have another child, should he have visited my bedchamber again. He did not. Instead, he led an army against my kingdom. I wept bitter tears, then, at my folly.
Alone, I fall,
Alone, the way I lived.
Young enough to have never loved,
Though, too young to fall, or so I thought.
I thought, 'Never shall I fall,
Always, shall I live.'
Oh, how the mighty are fallen!
Alas, the pride that led me here!
Long shall the world know of Sol's Prideful Queen.
Long shall I be an example for all.
I fell, or so I thought at the time, in defense of my people and my kingdom. I later awoke, yes awoke, to see naught about me but a strange, boundless grey mist in which I seemed to be hanging. "Where am I? Why am I here? Am I dead? Will I ever see Danol and Mikhail again?" All these I cried out, in a slim hope of getting an answer. To my surprise, I got one.
"You my niece, are in limbo. You're here, because you will be needed in the future. No, you are not dead. Yes you will, but only after you have faced your greatest fear, will it happen."
I hung there, in limbo, for I know not how long. Or rather, I did not until the voice who named me niece, spoke again to me.
"The time, my niece, has come. I send you now to a place on Earth called Tokyo, Japan. There, you will be 21yrs old, you will still be Aryana, but, you will bear the family name of Donovan. Your employment, you may choose on your own."
"So glad I get some choice in this," I replied quite sarcastically, I'm afraid. "OK. Onto more business: 1) You've got name, age, city, and planet taken care of. What possibilities do you have regarding a place to live? 2) How long has it been? 3) How will I get along there? I hope you've thought of that, as well. Oh, and by the way, which of my uncles are you, anyhow?"
"That's right, I never did tell you, did I? I'm Chronos. 1) There's this place just outside, on the outskirts of the city that I thought you might live in until you reveal yourself to the rest of the Senshi. 2) Brace yourself, for you see, its been 2,000yrs since the fall of Sol. As to 3) I'll give you the language, both of Japan, and of Ireland—"
"Wait a minute here! Ireland? What's that?"
"The country that you're supposed to be from. As a matter of fact, you're to be from Castle Donovan. I can also give you the customs, laws, and traditions of both countries, it you would like me too, as well."
"That would be appreciated."
With that, there was a flash of light, and I was in a house, a mansion, really. I set about moving in, so to speak, and thinking about a job (as in what to do). I decided to go and get a job as a musician, preferably in a place where singing would be my only duties. After I had finished moving in, I went outside, so that I could get to the city, when I saw, in front of me, what was known as a car here. Well, when Uncle Chronos said he would take care of everything, me meant it. Hmmm, I even know how to drive this thing and on what side of the road to drive on. Well, here I go. With that, I climbed into the '60 Corvair, and headed into town. There, I set about learning the lay of the land. After a while, I found a place that I liked the look and feel of. Looking around, I found a place in which to park, and having done so, I went inside, or rather started to, but was stopped by a gentleman at the door.
"There is a cover charge, ma'am. Unless you pay that, I cannot let you in."
"I see. Actually, though, I was interested in applying," and here I pointed at the case of my lap-harp, "for employment."
"Ah. As it so happens, the manager is hiring. Just a moment, and I will get him for you."
"Thank you," I replied. With that, he let me in, and sent a young woman, about my age, to get the manager.
When he arrived, he took one look at my harp case and his look went from worried to ecstatic. "I see that you are ready to audition."
"Actually, not quite," I told him. I then pointed toward a small bundle of cloth. He looked at it, and assumed it held my costume.
I decided not to disabuse him of the notion, though in truth, it but held the cleaning clothes and extra strings for my lap-harp.
"This way," he said, and led me around and backstage to a dressing room, where, he told me, "You may change here." With that, he left me in the room with the remark, "I'll be back in a few minutes."
When I was sure that there were none around to see the light of my transformation, I changed. There was a brief flash, and I stood there in my true form: single braid down my back, crown upon my head, scepter in my hand, sun-in-glory sigil in the middle of my forehead, midnight-blue gown (with its design of embroidered sun-in-glories on the hem) that was in fact, an elaborate pants suite, and with wings folded. With but a thought, my wings disappeared, and I placed my scepter I my pocket, so that I would have both hands free with which to play. Just then, a knock came from my door. I opened it to see the manager standing there.
He whistled at the sight of me, "You went all out, didn't you? Well no matter. By the way, what is your stage name?"
"Divided Legacy."
He looked at me in slight surprise at my answer, though he did not say anything about it, only, "You'll need to wait here, until I announce you."
"Understood."
At that, he left me standing there, backstage. Shortly thereafter, I heard him say, "Tonight we have a special treat for you. We have a young woman, by the name of 'Divided Legacy', who will be doing her audition. And now I give you 'Divided Legacy'!"
At that, lap-harp in hand, I stepped out onto the stage amidst polite applause. Moving over to the stool that had been placed there for me, I sat down and began to play and sing.
Alone am I,
I who was born part of a whole.
Alone am I,
I who was never destined to be so.
By this time, everyone in the room had gone silent as they listened to my song.
Alone I stand here,
Without kith or kin beside me.
Alone I stand here,
With none but myself to plead my case.
They sat there, staring at me, in utter astonishment, for to look at me; they would not have expected something like that out of me.
Alone, ever and always, alone.
Or so it seems to me.
Long and long, it has been,
Since last I had someone by my side.
When I had finished that, I segued into my next song with a few different and new chords that bridged the two together.
Alone, I fall,
Alone, the way I lived.
Young enough to have never loved,
Though, too young to fall, or so I thought.
I looked out over the sea of faces before me, and there, in the audience, I saw a young woman who looked a lot like Mariah, the Guardian of the Gate of Time; she who had given me my Time Key, that now lay in my pocket, and that I had never used, though, someday I would.
I thought, 'Never shall I fall,
Always, shall I live.'
Oh, how the mighty are fallen!
Alas, the pride that led me here!
Long shall the world know of Sol's Prideful Queen.
Long shall I be an example for all.
And looking at her face as she heard those last two lines, I knew that somehow, she knew of me. Then taking a chance that she would know this particular song, that she was indeed Mariah's granddaughter, I spoke into my microphone, for already two hours had passed, "For my last song, I shall sing a song called 'The Queen's Lament'."
I close mine eyes and remember:
A time when I was not alone.
I close mine eyes and remember:
A time when I did not have this burden on my chest.
After the first line, and the title, I saw that she did indeed know of me.
I close mine eyes and remember:
A time when I was carefree and young.
I close mine eyes and remember:
A time when I knew how to laugh.
I close mine eyes and remember:
A time when I could sing and dance.
I close mine eyes and remember:
A time when I was not despairing.
I saw too, that she knew -of- me, but did not know who I was. I also saw that she was wondering how I knew those songs.
I close mine eyes and remember:
A time when danger did not touch my life.
I remember all this:
And yearn for them once more:
Those time when I was happy, there, in the years of my lost youth.
"Thank you everyone for being such a great audience. Once again, that was the live audition of 'Divided Legacy'. Well, what do you say? Based on that performance, shall we welcome her back tomorrow at this same time?" There was a resounding "YES!" that I would have sworn raised the roof from the walls. Smiling to myself, I stood up and curtsied as though to my equals, and exited the stage. Once back there, I was met by the manager, and from there we went to his office where we sighed my contract, which I insisted be open-ended.
He, having liked my performance so much, was ready to agree to just about anything I stated. Though I wanted to, I could not tell him why I made the stipulation that I did. After that, time seemed to fly by, for as it seemed to me, no time at all had passed, until the next thing I knew, 3mths and 3wks to the day had passed when there was a youma attack I town at on of the malls.
So the time has come, has it? "SOL CELESTIAL POWER"
Where there has stood a slightly abnormal young woman, now stood a Sailor Senshi not seem in over 2,000yrs. I wore a white bodysuit, with a triple-layer skirt: the bottom layer was golden, the middle layer was yellow, and the top layer was yellow-spangled gold. My boots were golden and covered the front of my legs halfway to my waist, and in the back, to just above my knees. My sash at my waist was identical in coloration to my skirts, cinched in the front by a clear globe of crystal with a sun-in-glory within.
My collar was golden with a yellow stripe along the edge, and in the center of the bow in front on my chest was a globe of clear crystal in which one could see a glowing sun-in-glory within the center.
My hair hung down my back in a single braid, and a tiara, also centered by a crystal globe with a glowing sigil in its center, rested upon my forehead. I also wore in a harness, a sword which I knew held on its pommel, the StarStone.
I then jumped up and away, towards the battle site. Upon my arrival, I could see that the Senshi, even Moon, were taking a beating from a tall black-haired woman who seemed strangely familiar. Though it was not till I saw her face that I knew why. It WAS BERYL'S! I shuddered. This woman must be Beryl's daughter. Dear and precious gods. My greatest fear: killing my own kith and kin—my granddaughter. How can I do this? How can I not? I crouched there, not really watching what was happening, lost in my thoughts; that is until I saw that which caught my attention and fast! SHE was about to kill one of the Earth-twins. Fear or no fear, I cannot allow this! "Hold! Hold, thou foul spawn of Hell, that should never have been!" With that, I jumped down from my hiding place to land between her and the Senshi.
She stood there, staring at me, then with shock plain on her face, said, "YOU!"
"Yes, me." I replied, "and you will not do to another what was done to me. I will not let you sever the bond between the Earth-twins, as it was severed between my brothers and myself so long ago by the actions of thine Grandfather and his people!"
"Please," came a feeble voice from behind me, "who are you?" Still staring at my granddaughter, I answered, "With the blessings of the Star of Light, Sol, the Senshi of the Day, Sailor Sol is here!" Then to my granddaughter, "Though, perhaps, you, granddaughter, will know me better as Aryana, Queen of Sol, Daughter of Apollo."
There were gasps, both before and behind me, as I named myself.
"King Garnyte killed you!"
"No. He tried too, though. But, now that you mention it," I spoke, seemingly nonchalant, "I did deal him his death-blow. Also, now that you mention that time, I must say that I have but one regret."
"That being?"
Looking her in the eye, "That I did not kill your mother the day she was born."
With a sudden snarl, she threw a blast of purplish-black energy at me, aimed heart-high.
Dodging the strike, I aimed one of my own at her. "SOLAR WHIP!" At my words, a beam of yellow-threaded gold arced up and away from me to meet her strike head on. When the two powers met, there was a furious explosion that clouded the air around us for several seconds. As the air cleared, I saw astonishment written there plain on her face. Clearly, she had not expected that to happen.
When she saw me, standing there oh-so-calmly, she panicked and opened a portal to the Negaverse behind her. As she stepped back into it, she snarled, "This is not the end!" With that she disappeared.
True enough, granddaughter. For I am about to follow you, though you know it not. Without turning to look at the other Senshi behind me, I changed into my Queen form.
"Cousin," came a voice, that well I knew, for it was the voice of Mariah, "where do you go? What do you do?"
"I go to do what I should have done long-ago, and kill the last of Garnyte's line."
"HOW?"
"Why, with his wedding gift, of course. The brooch he gave me the day we were wed, opens a portal directly to the throne room. Never, until now, have I had cause to use it. Farewell." With that, I spread my wings, and stepped through it, closing it behind me as I did so.
As soon as I was there, I spread my wings and jumped into the air. Once there, I reached up with my left hand and drew my 'Celestial Scepter' from my pocketspace, while simultaneously drawing my sword with my right hand, then holding Scepter butt and sword pommel together, so that they joined into one.
Then, holding the joined items above my head, scepter-top to the fore, sword-point to the rear, and began to spin so fast that it was impossible to tell where I was at any given fraction of a second, and cried out, "SOLAR UNIVERSAL DESROYER!" As the last word, the last syllable, left my mouth, streamers and ribbons of yellow-threaded gold began to radiate out from me to every last nook and cranny of the Negaverse, thereby destroying every last bit of it, right down to its starseed.
When I quit spinning, I collapsed into a heap, scepter and sword separating, and just lying there. Farewell, my cousin. May you and yours live long and happily. Danol, Mikhail, I am coming, my brothers. With that, my eyes closed, and my body shuddered as I took my last breath. One minute I was in my body, the next, standing by it.
Meanwhile at Order Consoles on every Plane:
"Planer anomaly detected!" as alarms sounded like crazy.
"Where?!" came from countless throats, as Order members everywhere sprang towards their equipment.
"A-73. It's not there anymore."
"On visual!" The screens all lit up with images of my body floating there next to the starseed of the Negaverse. "Who is that—excuse me—was that?"
"Records indicate her to be Aryana, Queen of Sol, Daughter of Apollo, and Sailor Sol."
"She was supposed to have died millennia ago! How is she here, now? Where did she come from? If she did not die, what happened to her? Any data?"
Then there was a beeping sound, and a face came onto a screen, and a voice over a speaker, "This is Investigator W'heiss. I'm in the general area. Want me to hop on over, and check it out?"
"Please do," came in a chorus.
"Will do, on my way then. Talk to you later."
With that, he disappeared in a flash of white light. When he reappeared, it was by my body. His eyes widened at the sight of me, a sight, until recently, he had often seen in dreams, and had known to be his soul-mate. Now he had a name to go with the face.
My own eyes widened as I heard his words, "Too late. I was too damned late!" I then watched as he knelt down and brushed his lips over mine, saying, "Would that I could have been there with you at your time of need. As it is, I can at least see to it that you are properly taken care of."
Knowing that he could not hear me, I whispered to him, "There is naught that you could have done to help, my love. Would that was some way that I could be with you." With that, I leaned over and brushed my insubstantial lips over his very much corporeal ones.