Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Elysion
Dawn of Light
Chapter Two - Following Your Heart
She slept uneasily, her body thrashing as she tossed and turned in the sweat-soaked sheets. Her eyes squinted shut, her facial expression twisted in momentary agony, confusion, and something that caused her to jerk awake.
Her heavy breathing echoed in pants in the spacious room. The sheets torn from the mattress, the pillows collected on the ground, Koe rubbed at her eyes as tears spilled.
'This pain, it hurts,' she thought angrily, wiping at her tearing eyes. She wished, not for the first time, she could stop crying. She had never felt this connected, even when she was at ease with where she was.
She felt the cool light of the silver moon as wind drifted in from the slightly opened window. She stood up carefully; moving toward the moonlight as she studied the heavens alit by the sea of stars.
She wondered then, if that man, that lonely soul she could still feel at her fingertips, was watching the same sea of stars. She prayed he was safe and warm, though pain edged in her chest as she pondered upon this figure.
"Koe!" Koe was rudely awoken up by a jumping figure as morning encroached upon the nighttime. "Oh, I have such good news!" Usagi howled, her pink hair aflutter in the ecstatic jumping.
"Wait a minute!" Koe exclaimed, face flushing. Her bed had already been in a bad state from her awful sleep, having her older sister cascade all over it didn't make things better. "So what's so good?" She asked crossly.
"Helios! Helios!" Usagi gasped. She was so happy, her face red, her eyes shining. "He asked me! He finally asked me!"
"Asked you what?" Koe frowned. "Can you stop jumping all over me?" She shrieked as Usagi jumped her.
"He asked me for marriage!" Usagi took off and did a jig, with high kicks, swishing of the hips, and a beaming, gleaming face splitting smile.
Koe's eyes widened. She may not get along with her sister but this was huge. Which was why Minako walked in on both of them jumping for joy.
And when Minako heard the news, she joined in the jumping for joy.
Koe fell on the bed with a gasp. "How'd it happen?" Koe asked curiously.
Usagi's face tinted. "Oh, it was so romantic!" She gave a hefty sigh. "Oh, he was so sweet!"
"Did he get on his one knee?" Koe asked. She wanted to know all the details.
Usagi's face only turned more red as she glanced at Minako with a significant look. Minako blinked and then realization hit her.
"Oh wow!" She jabbed at Usagi with her elbow. "That good, huh?"
Usagi gave a high pitched giggle.
Koe frowned, feeling left out. "I don't get it! How'd he propose?"
"Well, he wasn't exactly on his knees," Usagi rubbed her head, flushing. "It was still very romantic! Mom and Dad are ecstatic, by the way! So are the other girls!"
Koe's smile was fading. "So.. I wasn't told after Mom or Dad? You had to tell the others before me?"
"What's the difference?" Usagi kept giggling as she pranced out, oblivous to the hurt expression.
Minako was quick to make her goddaughter feel better. "It's understandable! You were still asleep!"
"I had a bad sleep last night!" Koe retorted. She turned away, unwilling to let her feelings be soothed. "And how did he propose anyways? Why'd you guys not explain it to me? I'm not a child!"
"Certainly sounding like one," Minako crossed her arms, frowning. "Koe, enough of this."
"Even you don't care!" Koe began to tear clothes out of her dresser. "I don't get it! You all don't seem to care anymore what I think!"
"Koe, you're having a tantrum!"
"Then let me have it!" Koe glared at the older woman, who stared back in moderate surprise and shock.
"What is wrong with you?"
"You wouldn't understand!" Koe retorted, slamming the bathroom door shut as she leaned against it, her eyes tearing up again. "Even I don't." She whispered to herself.
She managed to get out of the palace without notice. She carried a bag slung over her shoulder and dressed in simple clothing. A loose blue hued shirt with black shorts and white sneakers. She went sock-less as she padded down the gardens, wondering where she wanted to go.
She was lying to herself, as she knew very well where she wanted to go. But the door from before was missing now and Koe finally came to a stop in defeat.
"Oh, this is so wonderful!" Neo Queen Serenity was gushing, beaming at Usagi and Helios. King Endymion clapped a hand on the pale man.
"Congrats. I was wondering when this was going to happen!" Their father grinned widely. "It'll be national!"
"Daddy!" Usagi glomped onto her father as she nuzzled. "It'll be a great wedding!"
"My precious baby!" Serenity howled, her eyes tearing up with happiness.
Koe watched. She felt so far away, yet was only a few meters away. It hurt her, though, to feel the happiness soaked in the air. Confusion blossomed as she tried to figure out just why she wasn't so happy.
She felt left out, came the painful realization. She always felt something from her parents, like they expected something from her. Ever since early that week, when she met those three kids and was given, for lack of a better term, that brooch, and thus the consequences of tasting the bitter disappointment her father had hidden well from his expression but not from his aura, she felt more scared and sad than ever.
She hadn't wanted to become a disappointment. And yet, here they were, falling all over Usagi. She'd always been a little envious but this was ridiculous. Was it really her that felt like this or was she being fed by someone else?
Resolution filled her. She was going to find that door and save that man. There was something about him that filled her senses. Even now, thinking of him made everything around her duller, less colorful.
She stomped down the path she had been pushed into, intent on finding that darn door.
"Heya!" Benten jumped in front of the girl, causing Koe to nearly shriek.
But a hand covered her mouth as Fujin glared at his sister. "Stop giving people heart attacks!"
"I am not!" Benten wailed.
"What are you doing, Princess?" Hiruko quipped, a raised eyebrow as the three stared her down.
"Just.. taking a walk," Koe answered hesitantly.
Fujin blinked, scratching his ear. "Sounds like a lie. What do you guys think?"
"You wanna go back, don'cha?" Benten smiled wide. "Well, we can help!"
"Without the whole shoving you through the door," Fujin added, seeing the dark look Koe was giving Benten.
"Ah, yes. But to find the door?" Hiruko noted. "Ah, this way!"
Once more she was guided, a bit fast and rough, to the looming door. It was already partially opened before Koe dug her feet in.
"Wait a minute!" She gripped Hiruko's hand tightly, her knuckles turning white in the efforts. His eyes crossed in pain as he gritted his teeth.
"We're not going to throw you in!" Benten began.
"Stop saying that!" Fujin glared at his sister. "But she's right, we're not. This time, we'll go with you!"
"Fine but on one condition," Koe retorted. "Who are you people?"
"We already.." Benten was shushed by Hiruko.
"We are a part of Elysion, the race revived who live there," he answered carefully. "We weren't exactly born to a family, though." He grinned weakly.
"What?" Koe blinked.
"Well, we were born from the roses," Benten nodded wildly. "Helios explained it to us! He's like our big brother cause he took care of us!"
"We were once something else," Fujin said carefully. "And through newfound likeness to humans, we were able to create what you see, a host for dreams."
"A host for dreams?"
"Well, we are human, in a way. But we thrive best when surrounded by dreams." Hiruko mused.
"I still don't get it," Koe studied them. "Can you do anything?"
"Don't know. But we have dreams and ambitions, that counts for something right?" Fujin asked.
"So why do you want me to go to Elysion so bad?"
"Why do you want to go?" Benten asked her back frankly. "You're the one with the extra senses."
"I... I can't really explain it," Koe looked crestfallen. "But I feel like I have to help.. someone or something that's calling me."
"Then we will go with you. We know Elysion like the back of our hands!" Benten frowned, staring at hers. "Huh, when I'd get this scratch?"
"We can help guide you through things. You follow your guts and we make sure we don't head into anything really bad."
"Well, okay. But where do I start?"
"Where'd you go last time?" Benten asked.
"Looked like a temple with these two identical twins."
"The Menards?" Fujin asked.
"Yea!"
"That's Elysion's central temple," Hiruko pointed out.
"So let's start there!" Benten cheered.
"You three!" The three siblings jumped, faces ashen. Helios glared at them, pointing at them angrily. "What do you think you're doing? I told you to stay!"
"Koe!" Serenity saw the open door. "We told you explicitly not to go into there!"
"I hadn't.." Koe began.
"It's not safe!" Serenity continued, her face lined with worry. "My baby girl, get over here!"
"Elysium," Endymion began.
"I wasn't going anywhere!" Koe shouted. "Why are you so against me going to where Usagi gets to go to? Just cause she's got a boyfriend there!"
"Fiance," Usagi coughed noisily.
"It's for your safety," Endymion explained gently. "When you're older.."
"That excuse worked when I was five! I'm fourteen, I'm not a child anymore!"
"Oh dear, mood swings," Serenity stage whispered. "Reminds me of Usagi."
Koe gritted her teeth. Why was it so bad if she went into Elysion? "I haven't.."
"She went in once!" The voice echoed in the sudden silence. Koe turned toward Benten, who wouldn't meet her eyes. "I pushed her in."
"Why?" Serenity cried out. "How could you?"
"What's so wrong.." Koe tried to butt in but the others began to argue. Confusion, anger, hurt feelings filled her senses until she wanted to scratch all of her senses dull.
She felt the door behind her, throbbing in response to her. If she went in, they'd all shut up. She wouldn't be overloaded. She'd finally be able to find that man.
Find that man. She had to or else something bad would happen.
The entrance wasn't easier despite that she wasn't shoved in. The sensation of utter void and suffocating nothingness filled her until she wanted to scream. She took another rolling stop, landing on her rump as she gulped in air.
And looked up to see a world of darkness. She didn't recognize anything at all. "Oh... no.." She gurgled back a scream as fear blossomed. Her senses, her sixth sense, erupted and swallowed her whole as she fell into a fetal position.
'No! No! Get away!' Something crawling in her body, her veins. Panic pressed in her throat, heartache lodged in her chest, the air was stale with the blackness.
A single thread of light, barely reflected, was noted by Koe as her right hand moved in front of her. It was attached to her pinkie finger as she tugged it. The darkness seemed to fall back the more she focused on that slender bit.
And as she tugged it and waited, she felt it. A tug back. Her eyes widened as she stood up. "It's him!" She exclaimed in glee.
She held tightly and took off, gathering the string with her as she moved with quick steps. She was halted, tripping and faltering over the rocky ground. Light drizzled in at first like rain, passing over until it began to break through the skies, dot by widening dot.
It didn't take her as long as it had seemed, her eagerness giving her strength. She felt the string begin to tighten as her head snapped up. She could see a figure, locked in a birdcage. "It's you!" Her voice cried out. "It's you!"
She was so close, she could see his pale eyes, dark skin, soft locks adrift upon his scalp, she could just reach out.
"What do you think you're doing?" A shadowed figure dripped upward from the ground, gathering into a figure cloaked in blackness. It moved slowly, the long sleeves dripping down to the ground slowly being raised to point at her. "You are no longer in your realm, mortal. You have tread into my world and for it, your life will be sacrificed."
"I came for him!" She shouted weakly.
The figure gave a barking, roughened laugh. "Oh, he has to pay too. He has broken my laws and for his punishment, he will watch you die before he does."
"No.." Koe's eyes moved to look up but the man lay limp. He hadn't moved at all since first seeing her. She tried to tug at the string around her finger, panic blossoming when all she felt was dead weight.
The figure moved with a dry crackle. "You have breached the treaty, Moon child! For it, forfeit of your life is the price!" A sword raised, formed by shadowed light glistened in the fast approaching night.
Panic froze her but seeing the man, the one she had been practically obsessing over, laying in a seemingly dead state, made her shatter something deep within her.
Sense alit, fire brewed in her veins, water dripped through her mind, electricity gathered to cling to her, as air combined all of the elements to form a cocoon of brightly colored energy.
The darkness was instantly falling back as Koe felt the brooch form in her right palm. With it raised high, words poured from her mouth. "Earth Prism Power, Make Up!" Her clothes melted off as metal bands formed around her limps and body, with ribbons of cloth emerging to wrap around her body to create her fuku. The brooch settled in the upper valley of her breasts as the bow fluffed out and the last remaining bits of energy roped down her legs to form her sandals.
Her collar was dark violet with a single white stripe, and wore a tiara made of goldenrod metal with a dark violet equilateral diamond in its center. Her body wore a full-figured bodice with no shoulder rolls and a specially designed goldenrod metallic, though incomplete, waistband that wrapped around her back and dipped down to the front center to have each end curl to the inside and touch the other end. Her choker was a lilac strap with a goldenrod translucent diamond and her brooch was a circular, dark violet crystal imbedded and encircled by a goldenrod metallic rim. Outside the rim, from the top to the bottom of the sides, going from large to smallest, were five white beads.
Her hips were covered by skirts, double layered; the top layer was dark violet with the bottom layer lilac. Her front bow was a normal lilac colored, regularly designed bow but had additional white tails, that were smaller and squatter than the regular bow's tails. Her back bow was a set of first top half of a bow, that were lilac and transparent. Her arms were covered with long, skintight dark violet gloves that ended just off the shoulder, thus covering three-fourths of her arm. The top edge was clasped in two goldenrod metallic bands, with a line of beads dividing each in the center and had white frills on the outside edge. Her feet had goldenrod sandals that crisscrossed across the tops of her foot and once more at her ankles. For jewelry, she wore goldenrod colored, diamond shaped studs. She also wore a simplistic designed goldenrod goggles and in her hair was a set of identical barrettes, starting from the inside and going toward the outside of her head is a diamond then three round beads.
"I am the soldier blessed by dreams and life! Senshi of the elements and of my blue planet, I am Sailor Earth!" She shouted. "I will not let you pass, Nightmare!" She screamed. Her emotions unleashed, the air reacted as she took wild aim.
"Earth Pillaring Smolder!" Fire whipped around her, smoke billowing from the gathered flames as she flicked threads and threads of the dangerous fire around her. The spirit moved away as what was a dry, dead earth gave way to becoming kindling, flames licking upward higher and hotter with each flick she gave.
All too soon, the fire was too much and Sailor Earth staggered back, covering her mouth. She sought out the cage and the man but the smoke was too thick.
Something pulled at her right pinkie. "Hold.. hold on!" She coughed as she began to crawl. The flames terrified her but he was still trapped.
She felt the bars and screamed, yanking them away. They were scalding. "I.. I'll get you out!" She coughed thickly, her breathing coming in rasps. "Please.."
Her eyelids were heavy, her eye ducts too dry to even allow her to cry. She felt around, panicking. She grasped a rock and hefted it to the bar with no effect. 'Can't.. get...free. Must... save.. him..'
She started to fall forward but she never knew if she hit the hot bars. When she came to, she was surrounded by green leaved, white bark trees and resting in a soft patch of cool dark green grass. She sat up, looking around her. She noticed instantly the burnt clothing and her fingers grasped for the brooch in her pocket.
"Are you all right now?" The voice was soft, deep, and melodious. As if given the voice of an angel, she thought dizzily as she looked upward toward the man. Up close, she saw that while he was older, he only had at least five years on her. She stood up on wobbly legs.
"I.." She turned and pitched into his arms as her legs gave out. "Can't walk," she mumbled. She felt the soft rumble of his chuckle.
"Here." He picked her up like she was a feather and began to walk. She started as she noticed the burn marks on his biceps and the state of his clothes.
"You're hurt!" She began.
"I will be fine," he smiled at her as she turned red. Her heart thudded and seemed to skid as she became silent.
"KOE!" A familiar shriek vibrated down her back as she cracked an eye open.
"Benten.." Koe muttered. She felt herself being lowered. "No! Don't leave me!" Her fingers dug into what was left of the man's shirt, which didn't hide the smooth skin underneath.
"Koe!" Another familiar voice came, as Usagi came bounding down. "Oh thank Heavens!"
And she was encircled in her family's arms. The silence came suddenly when they realized Helios and the man was having a staring contest.
"Don't hurt him!" Koe pushed away and stood in front of the stranger. "He saved my life!"
"He is not welcome here," Helios said carefully. "You cannot stay."
"He has to! He's wanted dead!" Koe cried out.
Helios frowned. "He cannot stay. He won't survive here."
"Please, Mama," Koe turned toward the one person she prayed would listen.
"Helios is right," Serenity looked away. "I'm sorry, but he cannot live in this part."
"It is all right," she turned toward him, her eyes filling with tears. A finger gently caught a single drop as the man smiled warmly. "I have never seen anyone cry for me. It makes my heart feel suffering."
She caught the hand. She was unable to explain what was going through her, all she knew was if he went back, he would not be around anymore. "He'll be killed," She whispered painfully. "You can't die."
"I will be all right," but his eyes said otherwise. He knew of a fate and the reasons behind his death sentence, even if she didn't know.
"Don't send him away," she turned to stare at her mother. "A life is a life. You will let him die because you're so selfish!"
"Elysium!" Serenity began, anger flashing in her eyes.
"He's got every right to live if he has dreams and ambition!" Koe cried out.
"But he is not of Elysion or Earth," Helios spoke carefully. "He is of Tartarus."
"He is a Nightmare, not a Dream, Koe. He cannot survive here," Usagi told her younger sister gently.
"A Nightmare.. a nightmare.." Her head swiveled. "No, he's not!" Her fingers latched onto his own. "I can feel you," she told him. "I can see light, feel light! You're not a nightmare! Tell them!"
All at once, the others began to talk before Endymion's voice came out. "Enough."
He moved to face the man. "I can't tell what you are. If you are of Elysion, of Earth, or of Tartarus." He took a deep breath. "But a life is a life. If you see sanctuary, you are welcome to it."
"So he can come with us?" Koe asked hopefully.
"I don't think," Serenity began.
"If he is in danger," Helios said flatly, staring at the ground at Endymion's feet. "He will bring it here. Best be where he cannot be felt at all."
"Earth then," Endymion reached out and pulled Koe to him. "Come with us."
"His wounds.." Koe began, looking over her shoulder as the man stared at Endymion's back with a blank gaze.
"Will be taken care off," Serenity told her as she hurried past him. "Come now, let's take care of those?"
And they went through the portal to end up at Crystal Palace. The man was last to exit and seemed almost stunned by the surroundings.
"Are you all right?" She asked shyly. Her father was watching her like a hawk as she tried to ignore his protective posturing.
He looked at her, face a little pale and almost shy. "I am fine. I am not used to such... brightness."
"Um.." She fiddled with her fingers, looking up. "My name is Chiba Koe. Though the full part is really Princess Lady Elysium Koe."
"I am Eos."
"Goddess of the Sun," Koe exclaimed.
"Not so of a Goddess," he smiled charmingly, his skin color coming back. He seemed strengthened by the sunlight against his body. "It is a beautiful world," He offered to Endymion.
"You haven't seen much of it!" Koe smiled, giggling.
"Come with me, Eos. We'll take care of your wounds," Endymion offered a bare smile. His eyes remained cloudy.
"Come on, sis, let's get you taken care off too," Usagi whispered. The two were pulled apart as Koe's eyes filled with tears.
'Why is Father so upset? Why is Mama afraid? I thought they could tell who was good or not? I know he is! I can feel it!'