Alright, I forgot to put this on the first chapter. Anyway this story
was written some time ago but I just didn't post it on Fanfiction.net
until now (2001).

This story does not fit into any episodes of the Anime series or any parts
in the Manga, unlike my first one. This one is a story in itself.

Again, Uranus and Neptune are only friends,
not gay. It just makes my writing easier. And I use the Manga
characteristic of Zoisite, not the Anime, so he is not gay, either.

Usual disclaimers: Sailor Moon and all its characters and likeliness
belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, Kodansha/Toei. English translation is made
possible by DiC.

My email address: ml_eclipse@hotmail.com

= thoughts
[ ] = author's note

Well, enough of my babbling! I hope you'll like this fanfic! Enjoy!

=======================================
If I had but two little wings
And were a little feathery bird,
To you I'd fly, my dear!
But thoughts like these are idle things,
And I stay here.

But in my sleep to you I fly:
I'm always with you in my sleep!
The world is all one's own.
But then one wakes, and where am I?
All, all alone.

Sleep stays not, though a monarch bids:
So I love to wake ere break of day:
For though my sleep be gone,
Yet while 'tis dark, one shuts one's lids,
And still dream on.

Something Childish, but Very Natural by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
================ =====================

Bloom of the Crystal Rose by Cosmos


The Second Petal: A Dream or a Nightmare?



"Serenity you must get out of here!" A beautiful woman with silver gray
hair yelled at a young girl of about 10 years standing beside her gripping
her hand with fear.

She looked up at the woman, whose hairstyle was exactly like hers, and
cried, " No Mother! I can't leave you. I *won't* leave you!"

"This is no time to argue with me, Princess Serenity!" She said angrily
at her daughter. "You know that you must escape!"

"But what about you? Please mother I don't want to lose you!"

Her mother looked down at her as her gaze softens. Her beautiful blue
eyes slowly filled with painful tears as she said, "I have told you long
ago that there may be times that I will not be by your side, but I will
always be with you."

"How?" The young girl cried through her rain of tears.

The woman pointed a delicate finger to her chest, "I will be in here…in
your heart."

Suddenly a blast sounded from outside and they both turned around to see
a tall man with a long white cape flowing violently behind him as he ran
toward them yelling, "Quick Serenity, if you must send her away it must
be now!"

"Father!" The young girl cried. "Father please don't make me go! I don't
want to leave you!"

The man with handsome features and light golden hair looked at her. His
emerald eyes spoke of unbelievable sorrow. Much like her mother, he also
knew of what destiny has set for his young daughter. The crystal had
showed them that when she was born along with her second sigil glowing on
her forehead behind her crescent moon. He wished that he can prevent
what she will go through, but the future, all their future rested on her
small shoulders. What must be, must be. He just hoped that things would
eventually turn out well. He ran to her and held her small shaking body
in his powerful arms. Sadly he whispered the last words into her ears,
"Oh my sweet daughter! I wish I could take away all this grief you are
now suffering, but please my child, do not loose hope. You will not leave
us for we are forever with you, watching over you. I promise you that we
will see each other again. This won't be the last time. When the crystal
rose blooms then we will be together again." Then a warm light slowly
gathered around her body. He could feel her small form gradually slipping
out of his grasp as the power of the crystal envelops her and sends her
away in a beam of pure light. He closed his eyes as his grip tightened
around her fading form in his last attempt to hold on to her. Before she
vanished entirely she heard him whisper, "Remember Serenity, when the
crystal rose blooms…"

"FATHER! MOTHER!" She screamed…

"Aaah!" a young girl woke up in a torrent of sweat in a large dark room.
The pale moonlight drifted into a large window draping over the room like
a thin silk curtain. "W-what?" she gasped with heavy breathing. As the
images from her dream slowly faded away and her mind began to awaken from
the drowsiness of sleep, she remembered the events of yesterday…at least
she thought it happened yesterday, but now she was not quite sure.
"W-where am I?" she asked. She recalled jogging around in the field by
the orphanage when she saw a light from behind the trees. She then
remembered of being captured by that light, but she couldn't remember
anything after that. She looked around the large room in bewilderment.
With only the pale moonlight to aid her eyes she was able to pick out a
few details within the room. She noticed that the room has a bluish
marble floor with a small table set close to the window. A handcrafted
vase with intricate designs was placed on the mahogany table containing a
large bouquet of pure white roses, the most beautiful she had ever seen.
The bed she was in was very large with pale blue-gray satin covers and a
thick blanket designed with beautiful animals.

A small rustling sound came from a large door to her right.
She quietly tiptoed her way from the bed toward the door. She placed her
ears against the cool wooden frame and listened carefully.
Yes, she was right! There are people talking outside
her door. Who are they? She wondered. Did they kidnap me here? Am I a
prisoner? But why did they capture me? What would they want with a poor
orphan? With great care, she eased the door open creating a small opening
large enough for her to see her captives. She saw only four of the group
of people standing outside. Her eyes flickered quickly over their faces.
There was a young girl, about her age, with raven hair in a strange outfit
consisting of a red skirt and white vest, at least she thought it was a
vest. The other two figures were dress much like her except one was
slightly older in dark blue with short wheat colored hair and the other
girl, also her age, standing next to the blonde was in a light blue outfit
with slightly longer blue hair. The third person, standing slightly
separate from the girls was a tall young man with ebony hair wearing a
black and dark blue armor. He had the most beautiful deep blue eyes she
has ever seen. The colors of his eyes faded to a lighter shade or
darkened deeper according to his emotions. Letting her eyes roam his
figure the beautiful golden hilt of his sword caught her eyes.
Whoa, she thought, who *are* these guys? A sword? Who would carry a
sword nowadays? And what's with those strange outfits? They're beautiful,
but totally weird. Carefully closing her door again, she turned around
and leaned against the frame while she thought, Jeez, I have to get out
of here. I sure don't want to stick around when those weirdoes come in
to find me. They might…they might kill me or something. She grimaced
at the thought of that sword slicing across her throat. She quickly ran
to the only other exit in the room, the window. Looking out she thanked
the stars that they did not place her in some extremely high place like
the Tower of London or something. Yet, her brows knit together in
frustration, it is still too high to jump. Glancing back to the bed,
an idea came to her mind.

Within moments she had tied all the sheets, corner to corner, to form a
good size rope made of bed sheets and blanket. Tying the end of her
"rope" to the bed leg, she threw the rest over the window.
I feel like Rapunzel throwing down my long hair, she mused.
"I hope this works", she whispered beneath her breath, as she looked at
the lost of rope material from the bed to the window. She could have
moved the bed closer but that might create a lot of noise. She couldn't
risk it. With hope hammering in her mind she looked out the window and
let out a sigh of relief. The rope just barely reached the ground.
Quietly, she slipped over the window ledge and slid down the rope.
The movement of her climbing swayed the rope back and forth which caused
it to accidentally knock over the vase. With a loud crash, the beautiful
vase smashed into pieces on the hard marble floor below.

Oh no! Hurry! Gotta Hurry! Come on girl, slide down faster!
Once on the ground, she quietly ran toward a garden. Strong rich
fragrance of innumerous numbers of roses filled her nostrils. She sighed
sadly. She would love to stay and explore this wonderful garden but
instead she must find a way out of this prison. She reached large white
marble walls rising to incredible heights above her. Her eyes widen as
she began to loose hope. How in the world am I to climb over that?
======================================
"Why doesn't she wake already?" Mars cried in irritation. "We don't
have all night to wait for her, you know."

"Are you sure she is alright Mercury," Darien asked a short girl beside
him. "I mean, it has been over five hours and still she hadn't even
moved. Besides, Mars is right, we must get some answers quick so that
we can decide on what is to be done with her."

Mercury nodded, "I am quite sure she is perfectly fine and healthy.
Perhaps a bit thin, but no injuries or bruises, no physical harm.
Perhaps the power of the crystal was a bit too much for her and the journey
through parallel universes weakened her. But I am sure she will wake up
soon enough."

He nodded at her silently as he glanced at the door. Suddenly a loud
crash sounded from within the room. "I guess she's awake," he said.

"I told you we should have left the lights on," Jadeite cried, "she's
probably groping around the darkness thinking that she's blind or
something now."

"Jadeite!" Mars growled slamming her hand into the back of his head.

"Ow! What? What did I say?"

"Nothing would have been better," Uranus said.

Everyone immediately looked at the door. Darien stepped forward and
opened it gently so as not to frighten her by their sudden appearance.
Once in the dark room, his sapphire eyes quickly dart toward the bed
expecting a small figure crouching among the sheets, but to his surprise
no one was there. In fact, there weren't even any sheets on the bed.
"What the--?" He heard Uranus commented in surprise.

"Hey, where did she go?" Jadeite cried. Darien looked frantically around
the room and something white at the far bed leg caught his eyes.
He immediately rushed over to it and upon quick examination found that
it was the bed sheet and another and another, they were all tied together
to form a long rope. He noticed that the rope was flung over the open
window. A smile played on the corner of his lips.
Smart girl, he admitted admiringly.

"Look there she goes!" Pluto exclaimed as she pointed to a small shadow
quickly running into the rose garden to be lost in the darkness.

"Quick, we must find her before she gets herself into trouble!" Venus
cried with apparent concern for the girl.

"Or before she creates any trouble for us!" Mars growled in annoyance.

They all quickly left the room and headed out of the palace toward
where her shadowy figure disappeared into the night. They searched
feverishly for her, but it appeared that she had left the garden.
"By the moon," Jupiter cried with irritation, "she could be anywhere!"

"Do you think she might have found a way to climb over the wall?"
Mercury asked fearfully.

"For her sake, let us hope not," Neptune replied.

"Maybe we should check just in case," Venus said.

"All right," they agreed. Darien raised his hand before him as a faint
blue glow appeared in his palm and the massive marble gates began to open.
They stepped out cautiously looking quickly around them to make sure that
no one was waiting to ambush them in the dark forest not far from them.

In the mean time, the young girl was hiding behind a rose bush close to
the gates. Taking the opportunity of the strangers having their backs
turned, she quickly sneaked out and slipped into the shadows of the forest
edge.

Giving a sigh of relief, Venus turned and said, "Good she's not out here,
maybe she went back inside the palace. Come on we better check."

"Let's split up and search the entire area it will be faster that way,"
Darien suggested. "If anyone finds her, communicate it to us."

"Right, let's go."

Everyone quickly turned back and ran inside. Just as he was about to
follow the others, Darien suddenly heard a slight rustle in the brushes
by the forest's edge. He frowned with concern. Something…you could say
a sixth sense…told him that she *did* slip outside into the forest. He
stood there, hesitant for a moment as he contemplated whether or not to
follow his gut feeling or to ignore it and assume that she was still
inside the palace. Strangely, he felt really worried and protective of
this girl. He knew that if something happened to her he would regret it
for the rest of his life. Against common sense, he followed his
instincts. He closed the gate deciding not to contact the others until
he was sure that his assumption was correct. He didn't want to endanger
the others by leading them on a wild goose chase outside of palace grounds
only to end up finding that she was in the palace all a long. Clasping
the hilt of his sword with one hand, he slipped quietly into the
protective cover of darkness.

From within the large bush, she looked at the strangers as they headed
back into the palace. The gate was then closed tight. Unfortunately,
she didn't notice the dark figure of a young man slipping quietly into
the shadows near her. She gave a small sigh of relief and turned around
to face a formidable dark forest before her. The place was so dark that
she was barely able to see her hands held before her face. A new fear
began to grip her. Now what should I do? I don't even know where I am,
not to mention in what direction I should take to get back to
the orphanage. Strangely, she felt more safe in that strange palace
then out here. Even among those strangers, she felt more protected.
It's because you can actually see them, she told herself. At least
in the palace you're between walls, but here it is just you and the open
spaces of the forest. She slowly stepped out of the bush and began to
walk along the forest ground with not a clue as to where she should go in
particular. Suddenly, after several minutes of absentminded wandering,
she heard strange voices from behind a wall of thorny hedges. Through
the openings created by the large leaves, the faint light of a large fire
could be seen. Normally, she would have rejoiced at coming upon other
people in a forest, but somehow things felt really strange. The strange
voices created a cold fear running up her back and goosebumps along her
bare arms. She shivered with this strange new fear. Then she heard
several footsteps approach her way. She quickly looked wildly around for
a place to hide, but she found nothing. The hedges were too thorny and
the lowest tree limbs were beyond her reach. Her eyes dropped to look
fearfully in the direction of the footsteps. Her body froze in fear.
Oh no, her mind cried. They're going to find me! I'm going to get
caught again!

Just as she was about to cry out in fear, a shadow darted out of a nearby
hedge and clamped a firm hand over her mouth imprisoning her scream in her
throat. She saw a strange dark cloak flew out from behind her enveloping
her body in darkness; then she felt another strong hand wrapped itself
around her waist quickly dragging her backwards into the bush. The thick
cloak protected her body from the painfully sharp thorns of the hedge.
She struggled violently in this person's tight grip trying to break free
from her captive but to no avail. "Ssshhh," a voice whispered into her
ear, "stop struggling or you'll give both of us away. I am not here to
harm you so stop fighting. If we get caught we'll never see the light
of day again." Slowly she stopped her rebellion, besides this stranger
was too strong. And the thought of what he just said made her even more
fearful of the strange voices she heard than of this person holding her
now.

Through the darkness, she felt the hands pull her small body closer to
another's until she could hear the faint beating of this person's heart.
A strange feeling of warmth began to flow into her cold body and the rich
fragrance of roses assaulted her nostrils. She could feel the person's
soft warm breath caress her earlobe like a warm summer's breeze. For
unknown reasons, the appearance of this unseen stranger eased her fear.
His deep gentle voice loosened her stiff body and his warmth calmed her
down. Oddly enough, she felt protected inside that strong embrace.
Although she has no idea who this may be, she felt that she could trust
him. Idiot! She yelled at herself, you don't even know this person
and here you are letting him hold you like a prisoner and you are not
even fighting! But, another voice protested, he just saved you from those
other strangers. If you fight now, you might give yourself away to
danger. Yeah, she argued back, well I'm not actually in a safe situation
here either.

The loud sounds of footsteps broke her thought. She peered out of the
hedge to see that the footsteps had stopped directly in front of them.
Straining her eyes to see through the night she saw, to her horror,
that these strangers were not human. Though they had a pair of arms and
legs, their skins were dark green and sickly yellow. One of them turned
around and looked directly at them. She felt the stranger beside her
suddenly stiffened in fear and his grip around her waist also tightened.
Her eyes widen in surprise when she saw these two dark beings had eyes
that were glowing like flashlights in the night. One of them opened its
mouth to say something thus revealing two rows of white dagger like teeth.
Her ears absorbed the strange sounds coming from these creatures'
mouths. They were obviously talking to each other, but in a language
she had never before heard. To her, it sounded more like gibberish than
a language. Unexpectedly, another voice called to them from behind
the other hedges. They growled something to each other in anger then
quickly turned and went back.

They both listened intently as the last sound of footsteps disappeared
into the night. His hand around her waist eased up a bit and he turned
her around to face him. She gasped in surprise when she recognized his
face as that of the young man outside her door. He looked at her with
the bluest pair of eyes, eyes that appeared like sapphire gems glittering
in the darkness. Even through the darkness, she could see that he was
extremely handsome with a strong jaw line, and soft kissable lips. He
bent his head until his lips were barely above her ears when he whispered
in an assuring voice, "I'm going to release you now, all right? But please
don't scream or run. You have nothing to fear from me I pose you no harm."
He looked into her eyes to see her reactions. He found himself gazing
into the loveliest pairs of sky-blue eyes he had ever seen. A strange
light seemed to dance in them like the rays of dawn. But he also noticed
that tears of fear were beginning to arisen in her eyes proving to be the
only fault in them. For unknown reasons, his heart ached at the site of
tears appearing in those lovely eyes. He wished that he could kiss those
tears away and see that lovely light he knew was hiding behind the tears.
He took his hand away from her mouth and gently wiped the tears that had
managed to escape her eyes with his fingers. "Please," he said, almost
pleading, "don't cry. I won't let anyone harm you, I promise."

She looked at him as her gaze softened. She didn't know, but perhaps it
was because of his voice, his gaze, or the sincerity in his eyes that made
her come to trust him. She nodded silently, "Where can we go?"

"The only safe place is back to the palace behind the walls," he said his
tender gaze still has not left her face. "But we must be extremely
careful, the shadow warriors are very skilled in the arts of war," and
he added with a tone of hatred, "and cruelty."

"What if we get caught? What would happen to us?"

He looked away from her as his eyes darted around him warily. Removing
his arm around her waist in slight reluctance and gripped tightly onto
her hand, led her out of the bush while whispering back, "Let us hope
we'll never find the answers to your questions."

They slipped out of the hedge and sneaked in the direction opposite
to the campfires. Using the night as cover they hid from bush to bush,
inching their way toward the palace at an extremely nerve wracking slow
pace. They must be careful with every footstep. A single sharp sound,
just the snap of a small dry twig would alert their enemies to their
location. There were only two of them, so they must be very cautious.
Darien had already alerted the Sailor Soldiers and his generals using
telepathy. They are coming to his aid, but even they cannot venture far
from the protection of the palace where the Elysion powers were
guarding it. Thus, he has to get this girl and himself to within a safe
and reachable distance for the others. He looked ahead of him as his
eyes made out the clearing ahead, indicating that they have reached the
forest edge. He looked back at the girl whom had been so very quiet
slightly behind him. He caught her eyes and noticed the fear still in
them. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and returned his attention
to focus ahead of him.

She followed him silently as he led her through the darkness with great
skill, avoiding any places he felt they might be easily trapped. She
noticed he placed his footing with great care, using the toe of his shoe
he shuffled small invisible twigs from his path. Following behind this
handsome stranger, she found herself wondering who he was.
He must be a very skilled soldier, she thought. Probably a high
ranking officer of some army.

Suddenly they heard a twig snap to their left. Instinctively, he
wrapped his arms around her small form and pulled her down close to
the ground. From the same direction as the noise a large growl was
heard and he turned to find several red glowing eyes staring back at
them from the darkness. His eyes darkened to a deep blue as he felt
hatred rise up in him. His body tensed and poised for action. He
narrowed his eyes as a beautiful but deadly red rose appeared in his free
hand. They have been discovered. He knew that they have no choice now
but to fight. He looked behind him and saw her staring at the shadow
warriors with intense fear in her eyes. Seeing her in such a situation
only further increased his hatred against these foul creatures.
I promise you, he thought, I will not let any of them hurt you.

One of the warriors launched at him with a deadly saber slashing wildly
at him. He quickly pushed her out of the way and threw the rose with
incredible skill at the attacker. The aim was precise resulting in the
rose piercing into the dark flesh between the eyes. The attacker
immediately slumped to the ground in a heap. He stood up pulling the girl
behind him protectively. She noticed with a faint glow that he had
created another steel tipped rose in his hand. Though fear was gripping
her tight, she couldn't help wonder how he created that rose out of thin
air. He must have some supernatural powers, she thought. God! What
and where have I gotten myself into?

He threw the rose at another attacker with the rose lodging into the
sword arm this time. There are too many of them, his mind cried out
in fear, I can't hold them all off. Suddenly he saw something out of
the corners of his eyes that surprised him. Looking at the girl he noticed
that she had found a large branch and was now skillfully defending herself
from one of the warriors that sneaked up to them from behind him.
She can fight? He wondered in amazement. By the look of her movements
and the expertise of her handling the stick he realized that she was no
amateur. Surprisingly he couldn't help but smile slightly.
I wonder what other skills she has hidden behind that innocent visage
of hers. I have a feeling that she will never cease to amaze me.

A roar from his right snapped him to attention and he barely dodged the
silver flash of one of the sabers aiming at his head. He pulled out
another rose and let it loose. Flying through the air the rose suddenly
split into five perfect copies of itself and slammed into the chest of
the attacker whom was killed instantly by the attack.

She didn't know how she did it, but slowly it dawned on her that she
was fighting and with admirable skills at that. When did I know how
to fight, she found herself wondering. Probably the instinct to
survive or simply the anger that had arisen…well whatever it was it
had awoken the soldier sleeping deep within her soul. Suddenly from
being a scared helpless girl, she was now a fierce warrior.
But even with this newfound skill, she found it extremely difficult to
defend herself from so many opponents. Suddenly she heard him called
to her, "Hey…uhhh…Meatball Head." At the sound of the hated nickname
she turned her eyes for a second to glare at him. He saw her glare,
but simply shoved something into her hand and cried, "I hope you're
good with this." He quickly turned around and dodged an incoming
attack. She looked down in her hand in surprise and found she was
gripping the hilt of his golden sword. She could feel a strange warm
energy flow from it into her arms and body giving her new strength.
I couldn't take this! W-what would he use to defend himself?
But she had no time to argue because she immediately raised the sword
in front of her to block a deadly attack.

He glanced back to see that she does know how to handle a sword.
And with great skill I must admit. Something sparkled in his eyes
at that moment, a small light of…admiration and…and adoration?
No! his mind cried, look out! "Meatball Head! Your back! Watch
your back!" But he knew she could not have seen that attack coming
at her from behind. Instinctively he rushed to her and pushed her
down only to receive a painful force slamming into his chest and arm.
He cried out in pain as he felt the dark blade slash across his chest
and imbedded itself into his arm. He heard her cry out with shock and
distress.

She saw him crumble down onto the ground in a bloody heap. The wound
in his chest was deep and the saber was still in his arm. She ran and
placed herself protectively between him and the attackers. She cried
out with anger as the shadow warriors growled in front of her waving
their deadly weapons at her, "I'll get you for that! I'll kill you all
for what you have done!"

Suddenly a golden blast of energy was released from the sword she held
destroying half of the attackers. The others stood in surprise,
including herself, for a moment before they began to attack again, but a
moment was all they needed. She felt a strong arm suddenly grabbed
her waist and lifted her into the air. She turned around in surprise
to see that he had managed to get up and was now holding on tight to
her while he jumped into the air. Using all his remaining strength,
he managed to make an energy leap high into the sky and using his
powers flew them out of their entrapment. Her mind was numb.
She couldn't think as the shock that they were actually flying without
any mechanical help was flooding into her.

He thanked the stars that he was still strong enough to get them safely
over the palace walls, although he would rather have made a softer
landing. Instead, he felt himself quickly weakening as his powers
were drained away with his strength. They crashed in a terrible heap
in the rose garden causing white petals to fly haphazardly around them.
He groaned as waves after waves of pain flood his body. He could hear
the others running toward them crying out with concern, but all he could
focus on now were her beautiful eyes flooded with grief looking down at
him tenderly. Before the darkness engulfed him completely he heard her
whisper, "Please hold on…don't leave me."
=============================================
[I'd like to thank Lady Cosmos for choosing to put this fanfic up
on her page. My thanks is also extended to Caleyndar whom have chosen to put
my story up also. I was really overjoyed and extremely flattered
when they asked me. So, if you want more fanfics check their web sites out!

Lady Cosmos == URL: http://www.crosswinds.net/~ladycosmos
Caleyndar == URL: http://members.xoom.com/portalsms/

Thanks also goes to A Sailor Moon Romance for putting my stories up in the
first place. Thanks everyone!

Any knew characters that does not belong to Naoko Takeuchi, Kodansha/Toei,
or DiC, belongs to me. So please don't take them.
Next chapter coming soon...and a new General too!]

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Copyright (c) 1999, Cosmos