Disclaimer: I do NOT own Sailor Moon or any of the canon characters. Drake, Derek, Sasha, J. J., and the others are merely figments that have escaped from my imagination.
Chapter Eleven: Terra-Lunar Revelations
That does it! Derek thought. I've had it with trying to figure out Celeste Havenstar!
He ducked behind a building, following the two ebon-haired girls from his class at Juuban Junior High. A smirk crossed his face as he saw Celeste shoo her sister away, towards the Crown Arcade.
"I'll be fine, Eva. I just need some time to myself, sort things out. I promise, I'll be careful and I'll call you if anything happens," she promised her sister, waving her hand. "Go, have a little fun."
The other girl nodded, walking away. "You will call me if anything happens. Anything at all."
"Of course."
Celeste walked towards the park, Derek trailing silently behind her. When she reached the roses in the middle of the park, she stopped.
"What do you want, Derek Grimm? Why are you following me?" Celeste demanded, not turning to face him.
He gulped. "How did you know I was here? I was quiet."
"I could still hear you." She shrugged. "You didn't answer my questions."
"I'm not entirely sure. There's something about you that calls to me, like you can answer the questions I have in my mind, about my past."
She turned to face him, her sunglasses still in front of her eyes. Never once, in all the time he had known her, had she removed those glasses. Rumors had flown rampant around Juuban about why she wore them until Eva had finally put a stop to it. Supposedly, Celeste was blind, but Derek had watched her enough to know she really wasn't. The question then became, what was the real reason for the sunglasses?
"Maybe I can answer your questions, and maybe I can't. I won't know until you ask me, Derek Grimm." Celeste folded her arms and leaned back against a nearby tree.
He gulped, nervously. "Perhaps there's someplace else we could take this conversation? I don't want to be overheard."
"Same old Derek, still sneaking about and hiding things." The voice echoed through his mind, the voice of the girl in his dreams. Hearing it now, again, while he was awake, he could finally place it.
"It was you," he whispered, his dark blue eyes going wide. "You really were her!"
Celeste straightened, backing away. "I was who?"
"Celeste, Princess of the Havenstar Nebula, daughter of Andromeda and Orion," he stated, still staring at her. "Do you remember me, Celeste?"
She took a few careful steps towards him, before slowly removing her sunglasses. Eyes, almost pure white in color, met his.
"What do you know of the Havenstar Nebula and my parents, Grimm?"
Derek took a deep breath, glancing around him. When he saw no one was about, he reached out and grabbed her hand, whisking them away in a flash of silver light.
When the light faded, Celeste found herself standing in a grassy field, with a few stone ruins poking up around her.
"This is what was left of the Royal Palace in Elysian, when you first met me," stated Derek. "I figured this was as safe a place as any to talk, Princess."
Silver light flared again, surrounding him. When it vanished, his ebon black hair had returned to it's normal, lavender color.
"Derek Endymion!" Celeste ran forward, throwing her arms around his neck, sobbing. "Derek. My Derek Endymion."
"Celeste." He gently stroked her hair, tears shimmering into his own eyes as the memories came flooding back.
"Hello, your highness," giggled a girl's voice.
She wasn't very old, only about four. Black hair tumbled loosely around her face, although part of it had been pulled back on both sides to fall in pigtails. Pale grey eyes, almost white, smiled up at the lavender haired boy.
"What are you doing here? Are you a spirit?" The five year old demanded. He hadn't been in the Underworld long, and it still frightened him.
A smile crossed her face as she shook her head. "No, not really. I'm here, just like you are. I'm Celeste."
"Who brought you?" Suspicion still colored his voice.
"My guardian. She's still around here, somewhere."
She tilted her head, as if listening. "She's coming. I have to go."
The little girl turned, as if to run off. She paused, before hurrying back. Tilting her head, she placed a kiss on the young prince's cheek.
"You have more power than you know. When dark times come, you'll find it. Good luck!"
"Hello, again," called a girl's voice.
The prince of the Moon and Elysian turned. There was no one behind him. Nothing except for a large oak tree.
"Look up, silly!"
His midnight blue gaze lifted. There, perched on one of the lower branches, was a ten year old girl, with long black hair, falling down to the middle of her back, with part of it pulled back in two pigtails, falling out of a white bow.
"I didn't expect to see you again, Prince Derek Endymion Lunarae Terran," she giggled. "Whatever brings you out from the Underworld?"
Derek shrugged. "We have to get used to being Aboveground, so we can fight the Darkened Souls. At least, that's what Lord Hades says."
"Well, I suppose you should get back to training," she stated, standing up.
"Wait! What brings you here?" Derek was anxious not to see her leave. "After all, you never did tell me what brought you to the Underworld, six years ago."
She tilted her head. "Well, my grandmother came to negotiate with Lord Hades about something, I think. She didn't exactly say what. Now, I'm here with my mother. She's tracking something dangerous, but she couldn't leave my sisters and I on our own."
"Sisters?"
"I have four. Two older, two younger. Though, one of the younger two is my twin. The older two are twins, too."
She blinked, her pale eyes fixing on something in the distance. "I have to go again. I have a feeling we'll meet again, Derek Endymion Lunarae Terran. Something tells me our destinies might very well be tied together."
Celeste waited for him at the edge of the ruins, when he had managed to sneak away from the Last Guard. A brilliant smile crossed the face of the fourteen-year-old girl.
"You're late, Derek Endymion," she called out, her smile still firmly affixed.
He laughed as he ran to her side. "Took a bit to get Jacob and Mitchell Malachite off my tail. I had to wait until Hades called them for their private training."
"It's hard, having to sneak away from family."
After a few moments, Derek nodded. For all intents and purposes, the Last Guard, Hades, and Sailor Pluto had become his family. With his parents and grandparents gone, Hades and Pluto had taken up the roles of 'father' and 'mother' to all of them. Every last one of his fellow warriors had become like a sibling to him, making him not an orphan, but a 'son' with two 'sisters' and four 'brothers.'
"Yes, it is extremely difficult to escape from one's family."
"Celeste! Celeste! Where are you?" A young boy's voice called out.
Celeste paled. "I thought I lost him!"
"Who?"
"Casimir Cosmic, Prince of the Cosmic Nomads."
Just then, a fifteen-year-old boy with tawny brown hair and dark grey eyes stumbled around the edge of the ruins.
"There you are, Celeste. It's extremely rude to run away from one's guests." His superior tone grated on Derek's ears.
The boy continued. "Why, I might have tripped, chasing after you, and who knows what dangers lie in a place like this? We should get back to your mother and the rest of the Stellar Courts. Come on, now."
"I'm staying here, for a little while, Casimir. I was having a nice conversation with Derek Endymion."
"Who?" Casimir finally took note of Derek, looking down his nose at the younger boy.
Derek gave a slight bow. "Derek Endymion Lunarae Terran, Prince of Terra and the Moon, heir of the Silver Millennium and the Golden Kingdom."
"Oh, really?" Casimir's voice came out with a sneer. "You don't look like a prince to me, peasant. Now, leave Princess Celeste alone!"
He reached out, grabbing Celeste's hand, and dragging the girl away from the ruins. She struggled against his grip, sending a pleading look towards Derek, but he was still in shock from Casimir's casual dismissal of his royal claims.
"Wait! Come back here!" Derek yelled, running through the ruins of Elysian.
Black hair fluttered around a corner and a voice called back to him. "You have to catch me, Derek Endymion. You know the rules. Catch me and I'll do what you want."
"Celeste! Please! I just need to know if it's true. That you're really going to marry that jerk!"
A soft sigh came from somewhere ahead of him. "I wish I could say it's a lie. You have no idea how much I wish I could say it's a lie. My mother just can't see the real him. My twin has seen it, you've seen it, and I've seen it, but she won't listen. By the end of the month, I'll be married, to a jerk who's only using me for my power."
"But, why? Why is your mother insisting on him?"
"Because, my family needs his family's power, too. To stop the greatest threats in the galaxy. There are three, three great dark powers, two siblings and their cousin, that we must destroy. Only with the help of his family can we manage."
Derek frowned. "I can help. I've got power, too, remember?"
"You have a mission here, Derek Endymion. I won't take you away from that."
He rounded the corner ahead of him, finding her leaning back against the wall, her long black hair falling to cover her face. A teardrop fell from pale white eyes, only to be caught in his hand.
"Celeste, I would follow you to the ends of the galaxy. You know that. I would give anything to make you smile, again." Derek leaned forward, resting his forehead in her hair. "Nothing makes me happier than to see you happy, my princess."
She turned her face up, a sad smile crossing her face. "Come to my birthday party. It's going to be a small affair, just my family and him, but I'm going to need your strength. Please, come to my eighteenth birthday."
"Gladly. Especially since you could not make it to my own eighteenth birthday party. It was far from dull, after all."
"I look forward to the day when I can actually meet your guard, Derek Endymion."
"Please, don't you think, by now, you can just call me Derek?"
She nodded. "I think I can manage that."
On a whim, he twirled his hand, causing a pure white rose to appear between his fingers. Carefully, he tucked it into her hair, just at the top of one of her pigtails.
"There, though it's not nearly as beautiful as you," he whispered, placing a kiss on her forehead.
In his heart, he was determined, after her birthday, he would challenge the idiot who held the right to her hand. For, this raven-haired beauty was the only one who could ever hold his heart, just as he knew he held hers. He would not subject her to misery for the rest of her life. Not if he could help it.
Derek ran away from the ruins, feeling a tug at his heart. It hadn't taken a great deal to sneak away from the Guard, today. Not when they were all preparing to go out and find the Souls from the end of the Silver Millennium. Something was wrong with Celeste. He was sure of it.
He was breathing hard as he entered the forest clearing where the Stellar Courts had been convening. Delegates, like Queen Andromeda of the Havenstar Nebula, Desmond and Destiny, king and queen of the Cosmic Nomads, Princess Kakyuu of Kinmoku with her Sailor Starlights protectors, even Sailor Galaxia, had been among those meeting here. However, when he entered the grove, he found that most of the rest of the courts had fled. He knew most had been called away, back to their galaxies, to deal with issues there.
However, those that had remained were destroyed. A great mass of black ooze, controlled by a woman with long grey hair, which fell around her feet, was directing the dark ooze at those who struggled to their feet.
Derek recognized those that were still fighting against her, from Celeste's descriptions. There was her sister, Prisma, also known as Sailor Soul, fighting back to back with Sailor Spirit, who was her sister, Spectra. Her twin sister, Evangeline, was there, too, in her form known as Sailor Eclipse, while even ten-year-old Stella, Sailor Stardust, had joined the battle, only to be knocked out as Derek entered the clearing.
"Celeste!" He cried out as he ran to her side.
His princess knelt on the ground, clutching her mother to her. Andromeda of the Havenstar Nebula lay pale in her daughter's arms, her silver hair laying lankly around her, her crown having fallen off.
"Derek!" Celeste's voice was filled with tears. "You have to get away from here!"
He shook his head, wrapping his arms around her, flinging up his cape to protect them from an ooze attack. "I'm not leaving you, Celeste."
"You're Derek Endymion Lunarae Terran," whispered Queen Andromeda, her orange eyes flickering open.
Derek nodded. The Queen turned to her daughter, lifting a transparent crystal from her belt.
"The Prismatic Crystal is yours, now, Celeste. Use it to seal away Apathy," ordered her mother. "I'm sure Derek Endymion can protect me until you return."
Celeste nodded, slowly, taking the crystal in her hands. Wind swirled around her as she marched forward to confront the woman known as Apathy.
"I'm sorry, Derek Endymion." Andromeda coughed. "I wish I had seen sooner, that you held Celeste's heart, that it would never belong to Casimir. If only I had known what he was really like. He's the one who brought Apathy here. He wanted to destroy us all and claim all galactic powers for himself."
Derek stared down at the dying queen. "Where is he? I'll destroy him."
"I thought his was the power of Silver and Gold the Prophecy spoke of, but now I know better. You also have the power of Silver and Gold, Derek Endymion. Take good care of that power."
She let out her breath and didn't take another. Derek looked up from her to see Celeste lift her mother's crystal. Rainbows shimmered around her as she invoked the crystal's power, sealing away Apathy. Celeste may not have known, but Derek did, what using that much power would cost her. Her sisters had already fallen, and so had her mother. Derek hurried to catch her as she fell, Apathy temporarily defeated.
"I'm sorry, Derek. I should have defied my mother, further. We could have had a happy life, together," whispered Celeste, the light fading from her white eyes. "I love you, forever…"
Tears escaped from his eyes as he cradled Celeste's body. Rainbows flared out again from her crystal, wrapping around Celeste, her sisters, and her mother. Slowly, the bodies lifted away, disappearing into the sky.
As they disappeared, however, he heard Queen Andromeda's voice call back. "You will meet her again, Derek Endymion. Hopefully no one stands in your way, next time."
Derek slowly struggled to his feet. He had to return to the others. Tears fell from his eyes, still. He couldn't stop them.
"Well, well, well. What have we here? The wanna-be prince, isn't it?"
He whirled to see Casimir Cosmic standing in the grove, a sneer across his face. His hand dropped to the hilt of the sword he carried, and he slowly drew it.
"Think you can destroy me, Derek Endymion?" Casimir sneered. "Go ahead and try. I dare you."
Derek shook his head, lowering his sword. Instead, he pulled the gem from the pommel, a strange multi-faceted crystal made of swirled gold and silver.
"I don't think I can destroy you, Casimir Cosmic, but I know I can curse you!"
Derek lifted the two-toned crystal, pointing it towards Casimir. Channeling all of his grief and rage into the crystal, he directed its power to surround Casimir.
"When you and your family learn what having power truly means, and when you all learn how to work with others for the betterment of worlds will this curse be lifted," called Derek. "Now, until then, I curse you, that the deaths you caused today will follow you, and each generation, your family will loose as many as were lost here, today, until the day you can end this curse. By the Duality Crystal, this I swear."
A sphere of gold and silver energy shot out from Derek's hands, wrapping around Casimir. A grin crossed Derek's face as he passed out, the last things he saw being Casimir vanishing and Jacob running across the clearing, the rest of the Last Guard on his heels.
"I cursed the Cosmic family, because of what Casimir had done to you and your family," whispered Derek, horrified.
Celeste looked up at him, her pale gaze solemn. "You were angry and grieving. But I know Bastian and Baxter are sure to end it. I know they have the ability."
"I'm going to help you destroy Apathy, for good this time. I promised Jacob I'd never use the Duality Crystal again, but I have to break that promise, now. It's the only thing that's going to help you. That is, if you'll let me, Celeste."
The princess of the Havenstar Nebula leaned up and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Of course I'll let you help me, Derek. You are the other half of my soul."
"And you are the other half of mine," whispered Derek, leaning forward to place a kiss on her forehead. "Now, let's go save the world.
At last, the mystery surrounding Derek is solved! He cursed Casimir? Now, it's up to them to stop Apathy, the Empress who was controlling everyone with those dark stones! A lot of snippets of the life of Derek Endymion and his princess, Celeste! Some old, some new!
Yay! Another chapter done and up! Just three more to go, plus my epilogue! Hopefully, I can have this one done before the end of next week! (Crosses fingers!) Now, please, please, please, review!