Pheonix Rising

Created by Naoko Takeuchi

Written by Oniko

Chapter 2

He reached over and tried to hold her. She turned away.

"My sister was the first to wear this uniform in over 300 years." Amis spoke in a soft clear voice, drained of emotion. "Crystal Tokyo was at peace for so long. The Moon Queens held that peace together; no one would've ever attacked the Moon Queen. Everyone was perfectly happy and content, we all thought. I don't know why..." she paused staring off into the distance.

"He brushed her hair out of her face and whispered, "What happened?"

"I was being presented to the Moon Princess when the fighting broke out. Of course, my family immediately sent me to organize an infirmary. It was the only thing I was good for.

"I don't know how long the battle continued. I was lost in a haze of blood and other people's pain. The one thing I remember clearly was my sister. She staggered into the infirmary in her uniform wounded and bleeding. She used to keep her long blue hair in a single braid down her back but it had come loose. I remember she was bleeding from a head wound and her hair was dyed black with her blood.

"'They've killed the Queen.' She yelled. We all just looked at her to stunned to move. She collapsed in my arms. I just sat there holding her as she died." Amis fell silent, turning the blue wand in her hand.

"What happened?" He asked

"They found me, the rebels, after the fight was over. I was locked up with a few other survivors. Within a few weeks, it was over. Crystal Tokyo was shattered and we were sentenced to this hell."

"Did any of the other royal families survive?" He asked gently.

"Some." She said. "Much was destroyed. All of my family is dead. I think the Jovian line was completely wiped out. And the Martian. A large part of the Venesian court is supposed to be here, although I've never met any of them. Also, some minor nobility of the Moon court survived. Mostly because they hid, in the wine cellar rather then fight. Why?"

"The woman saved my life. I am in her debt. This is how she wishes to be repaid, by having all of the Sailor Scouts brought together again."

"But why?"

"I don't know." He admitted. "But it makes me uneasy."

"Why? All they . . ." She tugged self-consciously at her uniform and corrected herself. "We, do is guard the Moon Princes. Not even a real guard. A ceremonial retinue to be dragged out for ceremonies and parades."

"The Sailor Scouts weren't formed to protect the Princess from something as mundane as assassins." He pointed out "You all hove strong magical powers that would be like swatting flies with a cannon."

She smiled at that. "That would be a bit of an overkill wouldn't it? So what will we face?"

"I don't know. I wish that I did. Because that scares me."

"Why?"

"For one thing, every time the Scouts have been needed to fight some enemy. The battles were always fierce and often the Scouts and their allies died defeating their foes."

"But didn't the Moon Princess always bring them back?" she asked.

He nodded. "It's possible with the power of the Silver Imperium Crystal. And the lady enlightened me concerning the Sailor Scouts only. Not the Moon Princess or the Crystal."

"Give it time. She'll probably demand that out of you too." She said. "Now what I don't understand is why she didn't just approach us herself." I mean it's obvious that she knows where the Scouts all are."

"I'll try and remember that next time I see her." He paused and studied Amis' face. Her eyes were slightly unfocused as she thought and tear tracks were still wet on her cheeks. "Will you help me find the others?"

She jumped a little, turning her head sharply to glare at him, them smiled. "You've piqued my curiosity. Yes, I will help you find the others. What other wands do you have?"

He brought out the remaining three wands and laid them out on the blanket. They stayed there. She passed her hands over all of them.

"They're all real." She confirmed. "But not much to go on."

"Not normally no." He agreed. "But what has been normal lately?"

He summoned the sword and selected a wand, Jupiter. The other two faded away. Amis watched him curiously, and jumped when the lights shot out.

Jupiter was a young lady with long brown hair that she kept tied in a ponytail. She had striking green eyes, eyes Neflyte remembered from his dreams. She wore black pants that appeared to be leather, and ankle high green boots. She had a dark green shirt that was cropped short and cut ragged, with black cloth binding her wrists. Amis looked at the picture with eyes open wide

in surprise.

"Leda! I knew she was Jovian but not Jupiter herself!" She said in astonishment.

"You know her?"

"Yes, she always in and out of here. She's Jovian and tends to get in fights frequently. Unfortunately the fights have a tendency to get out of her control and she gets hurt."

"Do you know where we can find her? We must find her."

"No you're not, you are staying right there until you are healed completely. Then, if she hasn't come in on her own, we'll look for her."

Inwardly he rebelled against Amis decision but knew she was right, so he took no action on his own. It was weeks before Amis reluctantly dubbed him fit for travel. He dozed on and off dreams of the Moon Kingdom haunted him, and dancing with a tall woman in a dark green dress.

Finally, they left. Traveling through the thick old forest was difficult at best. The roots extended across the narrow game trail they followed and the branches overhead blocked out most of the sunlight. The few golden beams that filtered through shone on small jewel-like flowers. After a few hours of walking, and no dangerous encounters, they finally reached a large cabin made from rough-cut logs. There were no real windows but places were the logs have been raggedly cut open, dark smoke curled out from the windows the place was deathly silent.

"Is she here?" He asked Amis doubtfully.

"Most likely." Amis took a deep breath and strode inside with him following a few steps behind.

Inside, the tables and chairs were scattered about and broken. The bartender did not appear to be behind the counter, or anywhere else, for that matter. The twenty or so patrons all stood ringed against the walls, silently watching the two people standing in the center. Well one of them was standing anyway. She was hoisting the other, a short but muscularly built man, into the air by the throat with one hand. Lady Jupiter, looking exactly like her illusion, was growling softly into the smaller man's ear. His face was beat red; either from lack of breath or anger it was difficult to tell. He nodded, or rather tried to, every time she paused. Amis watched the two for a short time and then broke in.

"Leda, I'd hate to bother you but we need to talk if you could please speed it up a bit." Blood drained from the man's face. Leda smiled at Amis.

"Don't worry, I'm done here." she lowered the man to the ground and patted him on the head. Then she turned and walked over to Amis, she moved with the grace of a hunting panther. Amis introduced him and Leda smiled at him cheerfully.

When he looked into her deep green eyes memories flooded him. Dancing in the garden, walking through a forest, laughing, talking, touching. His heart ached for their love that once was, and broke when he saw no recognition in her eyes.

Leda led them to a corner and smiled at the men standing there, a smile promising violence. The men quickly found reasons to be elsewhere. Leda plucked a heavy wood table from the ground and set it strait, she then fished around the debris on the ground and found a couple of semi-intact chairs and set them up for the three of them.

"Leda, what was all that about?" Amis asked.

"Well, a certain individual did not think my banishment here was punishment enough, so that incompetent fool was hired to kill me." She said flippantly.

"That's horrible. What did you do to him?"

"The hit man? Nothing much, shoved him around a bit, he forgot about his pay in almost no time flat."

"No, what did you do to the money-man to make him so pissed."

"I have no idea. The hit man wouldn't give me any strait answers." Leda looked thoughtful for a moment, "I can't think of anyone who would try to do something like that, especially since I'm already here. I mean, I'm already sentenced to death when I got sent here. What else do they need to worry about? But my sordid past isn't what you came to talk to me about, what's up?"

"Actually your past is what we came to talk to you about," Neflyte interrupted and gave the Jupiter Transformation Wand to Leda "Lady Jupiter." Her eyes widened in astonishment as she held the small green wand. Then her face clouded in anger and she threw the wand away from her. It vanished as it left her hand.

"The thing should have been destroyed," she said in a grave voice empty of the laughter that filled her moments before, "Everything else was."

"What happened?" He asked softly, aching to comfort her but feeling that he had no right to. She is not the same woman she was in the Silver Millennium. She used to have more control over her temper. This Jupiter had a sense of wildness about her. That she could break into violence at the slightest provocation. Not that his Jupiter wouldn't lose her temper at times he smiled to himself recalling some of their more spectacular fights.

"When the rebellion struck I was away from the palace." She said. "I went back once. It was razed completely. I don't think two stones where left standing together.

She paused studying him carefully. "So where did you get that thing? I was told that they were all destroyed."

Neflyte told her the same story he told Amis. He wanted to tell her more, tell her how much he loved her. But every so often a strange movement or turn of phrase would remind him that this wasn't Makoto he was speaking to. And that hurt more then anything else.

"Leda, the Sailor Scouts are needed again," Neflyte said, "You are needed, join us. Help us find the other two."

"That's ridiculous! The monarchy is gone!" she said loudly drawing looks from others at the tavern.

"If the monarchy is gone then the wands wouldn't work then would it?" Said Amis, being logical, "But they are working, the Scouts are needed. So there could possibly be a remnant of the Moon Family here as well as the rest of the planets' royal families." Leda furrowed her brow and worked through Mercury's reasoning.

"I don't . . . know . . ." she said.

"Jupiter, even if there is no Moon Princess, and maybe the Scouts aren't needed after all. But you are the Lady Jupiter and it is up to you to carry you family's honor." Neflyte said, trying another track. "As the last of your line, I beg you, take up your true position and hold it, for your family." That got her attention. She paused thinking about it.

"Yes, I'll help you." Neflyte blinked and looked at her thoughtfully, that was almost too easy. She smiled excitedly, "Who's next on the list?"

"We have yet to find Mars or Venus." Amis said, also looking at Leda suspiciously. "I have no idea where to look, I don't know any Martians or Venusians."

"I would try to avoid the Venusian royalty if I were you." Leda said. "They are dangerous, they don't play fair. Stick to themselves on the Lake."

"We have to find the Lady Venus, so it would be difficult to find her if we avoid them." Amis pointed out, but Leda talked right over her.

"And I heard that it was one of the Venusians who lead the rebellion. I wouldn't have one of those traitors within ten feet of me if I had any choice about it."

"Perhaps we should finish this later." Neflyte cut in. "It's getting dark and we can work on it tomorrow with clear minds."

"That's a good idea." agreed Amis. Leda volunteered that they crash at her place.

Later that night, after everyone had fallen asleep Neflyte heard the woman calling him again. He followed her voice to a small clearing beneath the branches of a large tree. She stood, cloaked and hooded as always, beneath the large boughs. As he neared her he opened his mouth to ask a question but she turned from him and vanished. The large tree before him began to shake and creak, as he watched a large maw formed in the thick trunk, the edges were jagged and a stench of rotting meat wafted towards him. The tree reached out a large tentacle that wrapped around his waist. The tentacles were supple as a snake but difficult to cut through with the Sword. Another tentacle would grab him as soon as he got one off. Gradually he got pulled closer and closer towards the tree's open maw.

"Jupiter Thunderbolts . . . Crash!" Rang through the night air as a jagged streak of lightning struck down from the heavens at the tentacles that surrounded him. The lightning caused them to burn and smolder. The tree quickly pulled all extended tentacles back into itself.

"Mercury bubbles . . . Blast!" Fog formed around the tree as ice crystals formed in the air, he could hear the sap of the tree cracking as it froze in the rapidly lowering temperature. He quickly braced himself and summoned power from within the sword's crystal.

"Healing Fires . . . Cleanse!" He guided the power through the tempered blade and out toward the tree. As with the vine plant earlier a white light enveloped the tree and when it was gone the tree stood as it was before the fight. He let go of the Sword and looked around for the Scouts but they were gone. However the woman was back, she stood silently watching him.

"You have passed your second test, you may ask me any question." She told him.

"Why do you want the Sailor Scouts gathered?"

"It's not a matter of want but of need, given a choice I would not place this burden on them. There is a danger threatening our system, one that the current government is not ready to face." as the last word left her mouth she faded into the shadows.

Neflyte Glanced up at the night sky. Jupiter hung full in the night sky blocking most of the stars and constellations from view. The positions of the stars he saw were subtly different from where they were on earth or the moon, just enough to give him a sense of vertigo. He turned and headed back to Jupiter's home, a platform building hidden high in the trees. He ran into Jupiter and Mercury on their way down, both in battle dress.

"Neflyte! Are you okay?" Jupiter asked him her words tumbling over each other. "We saw the fight and tried to help but then she came and sent us back to my place I don't know how but she locked us in there until a few moments ago. What happened? Did she do anything to you?"

"I'm fine," he cut in when she paused for a breath. "Thanks to your timely arrival, but we should go back inside and talk, I've some new information." They went inside and he told the girls what he found out from the cloaked woman.

"I'll complain just as loudly as the next person about the republic but they seem competent enough to handle most of the trouble the average citizen faces." Jupiter said setting a tray of tea on the table at which everyone was gathered.

"Perhaps but not with any great speed." Mercury pointed out. "It's seems that once secure they've settled down quickly into bureaucratic waffling that nothing gets done until it's too late to do any good, not for anything really important anyway."

"They settled into control fast then, didn't they have to worry about others deciding that they could replace the Moon Kingdom?" Neflyte asked.

"Not at all. The people were in love with the rebel leaders they accepted their rule without protest." Jupiter said.

"Regardless the Republic is competent enough to deal with the society's current flaws, in some ways better then the Monarchy. So the threat is from outside the Republic." At Amis' words, a dark suspicion began to form in Neflyte's mind. A suspicion that he decided to leave unvoiced.

"Outside? But there are just the Outers. They wouldn't threaten us." Jupiter protested.

"Ladies, I think we should get some sleep if we are going to go see the Venusians tomorrow." Neflyte suggested.

"I still don't think . . ." Jupiter started.

"You're right, it'll be a long way to the Lake we should get what sleep we can." Mercury agreed, ignoring Leda. To emphasize her point she got up and left for the guestroom leaving Leda and Neflyte to finish their drinks.

"How long have you been here?" Neflyte asked Leda.

She looked up at him sharply. "Didn't Amis warn you about asking questions like that?"

"I vaguely recall her saying something to that effect." He said. "I find it unfair, however, that you know so much more about me then I know about you."

"Life's unfair." She replied, draining her cup. "Deal with it."

She stood up to leave, then paused and turned back to him. "Three years. I was sent here with the criminals. No one had any idea that I was royalty."

"Amis said they used this place for political prisoners." He said.

She nodded "That was the first year. Amis was brought with them. After that they started sending criminals here rather then keep them at the local prisons. Now being sentenced to here is as good as death. Especially since our estimable government supplies us with weapons to kill each other off with." She studied him intently. "I came with the criminals." She repeated, then turned and left.