Disclaimer: They aren't mine, I'm just borrowing them, and I will clean them up when I'm done!
A/N: Alright, I seem to be getting back into the swing of things. Thanks go out to Aphrodite's Kiss (every couple will get attention, and so will the Quartet) mlkoolc86 (everyone seems to have thought I died…can't blame you) Sin Katt (I just about fell off my chair laughing when I read your review) Daphne (I hope I never have to wait seven months again, either) Bin82501 (glad to see you, too, and glad you liked "A Grief…", that's been bouncing around inside my head for awhile) AnnechanB (I've always hated the term "real parents" or "real children" instead of "biological…", I'm so glad you understand) Xx Lady Xiao xX (oh, thank you so much, and Rei was being exceedingly tempting, so you can blame poor Jed) astra-kelly (hehe, nice to see you again, too) Isis Aurora Tomoe (I missed you all, too! just had to throw in a scene where Galaxia is somewhat out of character for a good reason, and scattering everyone was the only way to give them all the attention they deserved, so I'm glad you're on board with me there) Lalaitha Yamainu (after I e-mailed you, I remembered that scene in the Abyss, and I swear I'll explain it all, that's supposed to seem wrong, and I've always seen Michiru as such a Mom so of course she feels the need to take of Setsuna, and feed her, and here is more Mamo-Shitennou for you, only more cheerful than "A Grief…", but I think Rei can protect Jadeite pretty well) Artemis-chan of Redwing (in case you couldn't tell, I'm from MN, anyway the Quartet are not her guardians in SuperS anime, but the Shitennou aren't Mamoru's guardians in the anime, either, so to hell with it :P) And here we go again!
He knew the music. He knew the steps. Not just the simple steps, either. He knew the twirls and spins, the tiny, minute movements that turned it from just an excersize into a dance.
They danced.
The floor was silver, a perfect mirror, and it reflected back the whole solar system, and all the heavens. Her white gown and his black cape swept over the reflections. It felt strange, unreal, yet magical, dancing through a field of stars.
"Have I ever been here, before?" he murmured. "This isn't the ballroom."
"No. You've never been here before. This is the Prayer Chamber. This is where I last saw her."
"Who?"
"My mother."
"My baby."
He blinked, and jerked his eyes away from the stunning room around them. He looked to the woman whose right hand held his left, and whose left hand lay lightly on his shoulder while his right clasped her waist.
She looked beautiful, more beautiful than he could ever remember. And she was always beautiful to him. Her hair fell in a rush of silver, instead of gold, pinned up with gold and jewels he had never seen before. Her gown was nothing more than whispers of silk, light enough to seem to float on its own as her tiny feet followed him around the floor. The face tipped up to his appeared calm, assured in a manner he had never seen before. In the center of her forehead, where a gold moon usually shone, suspended on delicate chain of crystals, was an ornament like a golden starburst.
But he only missed a step when he saw the eyes that met his were not blue, but silver.
"What...how...who are you?"
Her face registered only a little hurt.
"Endymion, what do you mean?"
"You...your different. What's happening?"
"I'm not different. I'm your Princess. Don't you know me?"
"I don't know."
They continued to turn around the silver floor, perfectly in time. For the first time, he thought to wonder where the music came from. He looked all around them, but only they two danced in this room. There were no musicians, no courtiers...no one.
"What's going on, Serenity? The music..."
He glanced back at her face, to see her smiling dreamily and gazing around them. "The stars are singing. The most beautiful music, isn't it? Because the stars were the first to sing. Before the stars, there was nothing but chaos. Thousands, millions, billions of elements, tumbling all around the universe, screaming in their own voices. But then two found one another, and they were not so afraid anymore. Then came more, and more, and more...and they began to sing."
"How do you know that?"
She returned her eyes to his. The smile slipped away, and her lips began to tremble.
"I don't know. Endymion...what's happening to me?"
They danced on as he shook his head.
"I don't know. But I promise, I'll protect you."
"You can't," she whispered. "I can't even protect you from myself. Endymion, I think there's something wrong with me."
"No. Never, Serenity."
"My Serenity..."
He blinked at the strange echo, and looked up. As he gazed over her head, he saw something. Something behind her, yet clinging to her, like a soft, silver mist. But not a mist. The longer he stared, the more it looked like a figure, a person, dancing along with them, stepping at the same time Serenity did, her hands on Serenity's, and on his.
"Serenity," he said slowly. "Serenity, we aren't alone."
"I'm never alone these days. The Abyss follows me everywhere. And I think something has followed me out of there."
"I know. It...she's here with us."
Serenity merely nodded. He swallowed hard, then took her hand tighter in his own, and spun her out. She moved out, away from him, and the misty figure moved with her. She turned around until she came back to him, his arm wrapped around her waist. He felt her back against his chest, yet still, the other one stayed somehow between them.
"Leave us alone," he hissed, drawing Serenity as tight as he could against his body. "Leave her alone."
"She is my...she is my..."
"She is mine!" he snarled with a possessiveness he had never known before. "I won't let you take her from me. She belongs with me."
"Yes," Serenity whispered, her feet just ahead of his as they glided across the floor. "Yes, I want to belong with you."
"My...my blood...my Serenity...my baby..."
Serenity turned her head, as though listening to that strange echo.
"My blood...my baby...she is mine..."
"She's right," Serenity sighed. "Her blood flows inside of me. Her power is moving me. Endymion..."
He leaned close, and breathed against her ear. "Our baby, Serenity. Our blood. We are your family. We love you. I need you."
"I love you," she whispered on a sob. "But I belong to the moon. The moon...she calls to me. Endymion, I don't want to go!"
"Stay with me." Slowly, gently, he turned her around in his arms, so they were pressed chest to chest, and the mist was no longer between them. "You can stay with me."
"Can I?"
"Yes. I don't care what the moon wants. You are my love. You belong here, at home, with all of us. So come home, Serenity. Come home to me."
"No...come home to me...my baby...my blood..."
"I...I...I..."
He swept down on her. His lips touched hers.
He met only mist.
His eyes opened wide. His arms were empty.
He stood in the center of a rose garden. He knew it well, the garden in the center of Earth's palace. This was his home, millennia ago. Here, he had first looked down into a pair of beautiful, gentle, but fierce blue eyes. Here, he had fallen in love with her.
Only her.
Here, during a war that never should have been, he had died for her.
Here, he had lost her.
He spun around, to find the hedges of roses joined together in a perfect circle. There was no break. No way out.
"Blood of Earth...never to be trusted...never to leave this soil again...she is mine."
"No! Give her back to me!"
"Never to leave...never to have...never to be trusted..."
"Let me out! Let her come back to me!"
This time, only silence met his ears.
He looked up to the moon. She hung there, in the sky, as silver and bright as those eyes as they brimmed with tears, as she whispered she loved him. Though he knew it was a fool's gesture, he stretched out one hand.
"Please...I need her."
"She is mine."
His hand fell back to his side. His fingers touched metal. Surprised, he looked down.
His hand rested on his sword's hilt.
"What is it, my son?"
He whirled around, his weapon in his hand, and saw no one.
"Who's there?" he called. "What do you want?"
"What she wants. What we all want."
A woman's voice, but not that of the strange echo, nor Serenity. Yet he knew that voice, from somewhere deep inside his soul. It warmed him, and frightened him, all at the same time.
"Who are you? Show yourself!"
She seemed to materialize from the very roses. Her gown was blue, her long, long hair as black as his. She stood with her back to him, and look up into the sky.
"The silver moon. Silver Millennium. She was always the chosen one. Do you ever wonder why?"
"No," he admitted. "If you knew her, you would not wonder why."
The strange woman laughed softly. "I knew her. I thought...I thought I loved her. Once upon a time. Now I know, she does not know what love is. Or maybe I never did."
He lowered the sword slightly, and took a step closer. "Who are you?"
Delicate shoulders sent ripples through that glorious black hair as she gave a little shrug. "I am to you what she is to your love. I am your past. I can be your power."
"My power? I have power."
"Oh, my poor son. You have nothing compared to the rest of them. You are weak, and they will use it against you. They have always hated us, you know. Look around you. All these roses, all these leaves, the rushing oceans and the trickling rivers...we gave birth to them naturally. These are ours by right of blood. They had to steal our secrets, and carry them off their own worlds. They tried to steal our power. But I kept it. I kept it for you."
Now he took a step back. He had heard voices trembling like that. It was not fear, nor anger, nor joy, nor hate. He knew the sound of madness well.
"I have her. That is all I want."
"You can have so much more."
He raised the sword, and pointed it at her unguarded back. He knew himself incapable of hurting a woman, but he was perfectly capable of defending himself.
"I will ask you again. What do you want?"
She turned to face him, and he staggered backwards.
Her face was beautiful. She had the same nose as him, the same stubborn chin, the same long lashes and dramatic eyebrows. But under those brows, and between those lashes, there was nothing.
"My son," she whispered, staring at him with those bloody gaping sockets and stretching out a hand, "I want to come home."
"NO!"
"IIE!"
Even as Mamoru sat up, gasping, in bed, he heard the door crash open. Kunzite stood before him, his dagger in one hand, wearing sweat pants without a shirt. A moment later, Zoisite and Nephrite piled in behind him, both half-dressed but armed. All three swept the room with their eyes.
"What is it?" Kunzite snapped. He marched to the curtains, and poked at them cautiously with his blade. "Where is it?"
Zoisite relaxed slightly, and shook his head. "A dream, my lord?"
"A dream," Mamoru admitted, rubbing his eyes wearily. "A nightmare. Calm down, Kunzite. There's no one here but the four of us." He frowned. "Wait, four of us? Where's Jadeite?"
"He, uh, hasn't returned yet," Nephrite said. "He's...still with Rei."
Mamoru glanced at the clock. "But it's after midnight!"
"Hai," Zoisite muttered with a sly grin. "We noticed. Kunzite has been getting worried."
"It isn't Jadeite I'm worried about," his leader snapped, sinking down to sit on the foot of Mamoru's bed.
"What, are you worried about his...intentions towards Rei?" Nephrite's smile was bigger than even Zoisite's. "I'd be more concerned about Rei's intentions towards him."
"If he oversteps his boundaries, she can always set his head on fire," Zoisite added pleasantly.
"I know that Rei is perfectly capable of handling both herself and Jadeite," Kunzite growled, "but now is not the time to be changing relationships. We have other things to be thinking about."
Zoisite and Nephrite exchanged a look, then turned towards their Prince. He smiled a little, and nodded to them both.
"Kunzite," Zoisite began slowly, "is this about Jadeite and Rei, or you and Minako?"
"What the hell has any of this got to do with me?"
"Well, since when in the hell have you been this interested in Jadeite's love life?"
His leader turned away. "Mamoru, what was it?"
"I...I couldn't even begin to tell you. There was dancing, and Usagi, and someone else, and this strange woman...who had no eyes."
"Eeh," Zoisite and Nephrite chorused, recoiling a little.
"No eyes?" Kunzite muttered. "As in her face was blank, or...?"
"Oh, no. They were there once, but something seemed to have ripped them out of her head."
"Yeesh!"
"Will you two go back to bed?" Kunzite snapped at the pair in the doorway.
"Oh, fine, be that way," Zoisite grumbled as he withdrew.
Nephrite paused to look at Mamoru.
"I'm fine," Mamoru assured him. "Go on."
The door closed behind him, and there was only Mamoru and Kunzite in the dark.
"What happened to her?" Kunzite asked bluntly. "In your dream. Usagi. What happened?"
"We were dancing. But there was someone else there, and she...she took my Usako away." He let his face fall forward into his hands. "God, every minute, I'm so afraid I'm never going to see her again. What if she's hurt? What if...what if...?"
"The goddess told us she was fine."
"I know. So why don't I feel any better?"
"Because you love her."
Mamoru had to laugh at the simple way Kunzite said those words, but he nodded, too.
"I love her. And I want her back here, with me. She belongs here with me."
"Of course."
He lifted his head, and gazed out the window to the moon, which shone coldly back.
"I think there is someone who disagrees with us."