Disclaimer: We don't own Sailormoon, Naoko
Takeuchi does. All hail her.
E-MAIL: senshi_pluto@crystal-tokyo.com
EDGE OF DREAMS~BOOK I: Voiceless Song
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Edge of Dreams:
Chapter 4: The Inevitable
by: Namida
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
***
Kouran, Senshi of Uranus and protector of
the Silver Millennium and Solar System glared
out into the night sky, her dark blue eyes
glinting dangerously. Again, for the twentieth
time that day, she cursed space travel for all
its worth and silently added a few choice words
to Queen Serenity herself. Space travel was *not*
an
enjoyable past-time of hers, especially when
traveling towards the outer parts of the solar
system where the goings were rough. And
already, within the span of a week, she was
traveling that that grueling distance again
at Serenity's abrupt command.
"Not even an explanation," Kouran
muttered under her breath. "She drags us all
the way to the Moon from our posts on Uranus
and Neptune and sends us back in a blink of an
eye without so much as a word. For a queen she
sure has no tact," she growled in frustration
and anger, the latter rising in her voice and
triumphing over the former.
"This coming from you of all people," was
the mocking reply. Arianna, the supposedly
refined and graceful Senshi of Neptune stood
not far from Kouran with her aqua-hair gleaming
in all its splendor, sporting a 'little more
than annoyed' frown on her face. She sighed.
They were just beginning their trek back to
their guard posts and already Kouran was in a
sour disposition. Such an event didn't usually
occur until the fifth hour into their trip.
Now, they were barely away from the Moon as it
was. This was going to be a *long* trip.
She rolled her eyeballs as she mused
further into the nature of her partner's bitter
and rough mood, which was a turn worse from
Kouran's usual cranky state.
"Look!" Kouran snapped as she pointed
towards the space between the still visible
Moon and Earth, bringing Arianna out of her
thoughts.
"If this is another one of you
paranoid..." she begun before witnessing a
bright yellow light streak from the Earth
towards the Moon. "What was that?" Arianna
asked her seemingly dumbfounded companion. "Do
we set a course to return to the moon?"
"I wouldn't think so" replied a tall,
tanned figure with greenish black hair flowing
down her back, eyes as red as rubies.
***
(On the Moon)
"Staring at the Earth again Sere?" Eva
asked quietly as she watched her princess's
china-doll face turn to slowly face her.
"Eva? Hai, I was just thinking about my
trip to Earth a few weeks ago."
"What about it Sere?" Eva wondered
thoughtfully as she realized that she knew
little to nothing of her charge's trip to the
Earth Kingdom. Upon her return, Sere hadn't
even gushed as she usually would have and only
responded to their questions when prodded by
Ceres or Vestia.
"Oh, well...uhm...about someone I met
when I wandered off by myself around the Palace
grounds," Serenity admitted sheepishly.
Eva, usually uninterested in such matters
quirked a curious eyebrow "Do tell, Sere, do
tell," she said in a light and amused tone, one
completely out of character making Serenity
slightly blush.
*flashback*
She looked darkly at the tall pine tree
standing in front of her casting a large and
imposing shadow. 'Again? That's the fifth time
I've seen that stupid tree,' Serenity cursed to
herself, throwing her typical princess-like
manner to the winds. The wind answered with an
amused breeze.
'Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to
wander off by myself' she grudgingly admitted
to herself. 'But Luna, my wonderful jail
guard…I mean guardian is driving me insane' she
thought, quickly trying to rationalize her
reasons for locking up her guardian cat in the
closet and running off into 'unknown territory'
unescorted. She winced, 'When Luna gets her
paws on me, if I ever find my way back…I'm
going to get the chewing out of a lifetime on
protocol and duty.'
"What was that?" she asked to no one in
particular, an eerie sound coming from the
depths of night. She pulled her head away from
her examination of the 'evil' tree that
represented her present dilemma of being
completely and utterly lost. She turned her
head this way and that desperately trying to
find the source of the noise.
"Oh no! what if Luna has escaped the
closet and she's headed this way with a
detachment of guards?" she fretted. As she
neared the noise that disrupted the previously
silent and peaceful night, she saw that it
wasn't Luna but something much bigger. Upon
closer inspection she realized that it was a
wild and untamed looking horse pawing at the
vacant sky trying to throw off its frantic
rider.
"Are you all right?" she lamely called to
the disgruntled rider for a lack of better
words.
"What do you think?" was the muffled,
yet harsh reply. She suddenly resisted the urge
to glare at the rider for, here she was trying
to offer her assistance and he was being quite
rude! However, his was a worse predicament than
hers and she reluctantly let the last comment
slide.
"How can I help you?" she asked the
stranger, trying a different approach.
"You can start by moving away from the horse
before you get hurt," was the curt reply.
She 'hmphed' before asking, "Well, what is
its name?"
"What do you mean what is its name?" he
returned the question annoyed by her calm and
apparently unruffled manner. After all, he was
the one hanging for dear life on the back of a
crazed beast now, wasn't he?
"N-A-M-E you know, what you call it when
you want it to come to you," she retorted,
exasperated at his seemingly dense nature.
"I am quite familiar with the word. And if
you must know, his name is Stormlight," he ground
out between clenched teeth suppressing an urge
to strangle the tiny figure should he come out
of his current situations alive.
"Thank you," she replied simply as she
walked up to the raging horse, not even slightly
ruffled with it's seemingly wild nature.
"I told you to get away!" he started.
She promptly ignored him as she walked even
closer to the horse raising her right arm slightly.
"Stormlight," she soothed, her slightly
lilting and melodic voice reaching the creatures
ears as she reached out to touch his side gently.
(AN: I know I'm not very realistic…but hey!) After
a few minutes of repetition, the horse finally
calmed down, albeit wearily.
The stranger who was struggling for his
life only minutes before could only gape at her
as he slipped off the previously untamable
horse.
"How did you…" he began to ask but
suddenly realized that she had begun to walk
away. "Hey! Wait!" he shouted as he quickly
caught up with his would-be savior and
abruptly turned her around.
Seeing her clearly for the first time, he
gasped as midnight blue eyes were met with
crystal blue ones. Before him, stood a
beautiful, fragile-appearing girl with golden
silk-like hair streaming down either side of
her.
"What is it?" she gulped, slowly turning
around to meet the gaze of the stranger who was
now before her instead of behind. She blinked
as she was met with the sight of a man with a
slight muscular build, angular features and
piercing blue eyes. Framing his somewhat dirt
smudged and bruised face was a curtain of
ruffled jet black hair. "Wow, I like this
package," she mused to herself, cheeks becoming
flushed.
His lips quirked in a small smile as he
saw her cheeks turn bright red as she realized
her last 'thought' was said aloud. Letting the
last comment slide, he answered, "What's the
hurry? I would just like to thank you."
She smiled brightly at him, all traces of
her last embarrassment forgotten. "You mean for
saving your life? Don't worry about it, I do it
all the time," she joked as a silvery peal of
laughter erupted from her lips.
"Yeah *that*," he said chuckling as well.
"Are you all right?" she asked, trying out
her first question again as she eyed his
various bruises and the cuts that marred his
civilian garb.
"Yes," he said as he shrugged off his steed's
previous run in with a thorny bush while riding
him. "thanks to you," he added almost as an
afterthought.
She exhaled loudly not realizing that she
had subconsciously held her breath, waiting for
his answer. She visibly perked up when he
quenched her fears of him being hurt.
"How did you do that?" he inquired again,
finishing the question this time.
"You have to have a knack for it," she stated
slyly while winking, her usual playful and happy-
go-lucky manner back.
With his usual cold and distant mood
broken off by this cheerful and gorgeous
stranger, they began to talk about this and
that without revealing too much of their
identities knowing that if the other should
find out, stiff formality would come back with
a vengeance.
"Who's that?" she asked abruptly,
breaking them out of their chatter and pointing
at a lone figure with short blonde cropped hair
walking towards them. "Oh, that's just my
friend." He said relieved as he recognized the
form of Jadeite, one of his generals and
companions.
He blinked as he turned the opposite
direction. Rubbing his eyes, he blinked again,
he mind not really registering what he was
seeing. "Uhmmm…"
"Yes?" she asked completely unaware to
the reason why her companion was suddenly so
speechless. She would soon find out.
"Is it just me, or does that look like a
really angry, psycho black cat headed our way,"
he asked in a dubious voice.
To his dismay as he watched her follow
his finger to the alleged 'mad cat', she froze
mid-movement, "Eeeepped", stood up quickly and
began to run in the opposite direction far, far
away from the 'monster'.
"What was that Endy?" Jadeite questioned,
when he finally reached his dumbfounded liege.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
Endymion replied shaking himself out of his
stupor.
*end flashback*
"So what is his name, Sere?" Eva grilled,
not being able to resist the urge to tease her
princess.
"I don't know, Eva," Serenity admitted
somewhat abashed.
Eva gave her a funny look and quickly
sweatdropped. (AN: -_-*) "You mean you met an
incredibly gorgeous and handsome man, talked
to him for more than an hour and you didn't
even catch his name?" she gaped incredulously.
Serenity managed a weak "No." before
comprehension slowly dawned upon her features
and she presumed a crestfallen look.
"No worries Sere," Eva consoled. "If he's
as great and amazing as you claim him to be,
you'll meet him again for sure!" Serenity
looked up to see her Senshi's sincere face and
smiled brightly in return.
"Wait," Eva said pondering something.
"What did Luna do to you when she finally
caught up with you?" she wondered not
remembering her highness having any visible
scratches on her upon her return to the Moon
Kingdom.
Serenity sighed and winced, thinking back
to the time when Luna had caught up to her
after 20 minutes of chasing.
"She spent the rest of the night drilling and
lecturing me on duty, protocol and making me feel
generally guilty for wanting to have some free time
to myself. In fact, that's why I wasn't allowed to
meet Prince Endymion of Earth the next day."
Eva looked at her childhood friend with
sympathy in her eyes. "Yeah, I know, Luna can
be long winded at times."
"That's the understatement of the
millennium, Eva" Serenity and Eva both shared a
giggle before being interrupted by a bright
flash of yellow light.
"What the?" Eva started before being
dragged off to the courtyard by Serenity, in
the direction where the flash of light had
seemingly landed.
***
(Earth)
The white-haired, high general known as
Kunzite looked at his three generals sternly.
"Have you been able to determine the location
of their whereabouts?" he asked gruffly.
"Yes sir," the auburn-haired Nephrite
replied. "There whereabouts seem to point to
the North Pole," he said somewhat baffled.
"How's they get there?" Jadeite queried, once
again pushing his blonde hair out of his eyes.
"Beats me," the other blonde general
shrugged. "But if the legends are true than we
must assume that the legendary Senshi of the
Silver Millennium have such powers that can
very well rival our own."
"That's a nice theory and all Zoicite,
but are we sure that they're in the North Pole.
I mean it would be nice to make sure before we
go off trekking to the middle of no where and
freezing our butts off" Jadeite said unsure.
"Actually, we are," Nephrite added before
Zoicite had the chance to jump in and defend
his theory. "About the time that the prisoners
escaped, a massive energy fluctuation was
detected in the North Pole. It energy signature
is very close to our own when we teleport."
Before Jadeite was able to say anything
edge wise or complain about their obvious
future journey to the cold, cold reaches of the
north, Kunzite shot him a dark look.
"Then its settled, we'll be teleporting to
the North Pole," he commanded sternly stopping any
voices of rejection. "For our prince and kingdom,"
they said in unison, a dark glint in each of
their eyes.
***
Beryl smiled wickedly to herself.
"Everything is going accordingly master…"
***
Mercury sat in her make shift ice shelter
furiously typing away at her computer,
oblivious to all around her except for the soft
pings her computer made. "I've got it!" she
cried triumphantly, startling the surrounding
ambassadors around her.
"What Senshi Mercury? Have you found a way to
get us back home?" the Lunarian Ambassador managed
to squeeze through chattering teeth, the same hope
returning into her eyes that left with Senshi Venus
on her return to the Moon.
"If my computer is right, and it always
is…" Mercury began proudly, "then not far from
here a military base has been detected. Which
means that we we'll be able to return to the
moon aboard on of their space vessels" she
announced to the delight of the others.
"Can you manage to teleport all of us by
yourself in your current condition?" one of
ambassadors voiced worriedly.
"No, I don't think so, however, its only
a mile away and we should be able to reach it
before what passes as night up here comes" the
Senshi of ice confidently replied.
"Then lets get cracking," the Lunarian
Ambassador said as she made her way out of the
tiny, yet somehow warm ice shelter. Upon
exiting, she was greeted with a strong gust of
wind that threatened to knock her back in.
"This is going to be harder than I thought,"
she muttered under her breath, along with a
variety of colorful words. Let's just say that
their 'internship' in the Mars barracks were *very*
educational…
After about an hour of struggling through
the knee deep snow, they finally reached the
military base when Mercury's computer started
to beep wildly.
"What is that?" the surprised Venusian
ambassador shouted before the howling winds could
snatch away her words.
"My computer detects a massive
fluctuation near us, presumably that of a
teleportation signal very similar to my own."
She sighed unsure if she would be able to live
through her next decision. "You have to get to
the space vessel now!" she said in her best
imitation of Venus' commander voice.
"What do you mean? What about you
Mercury? We can't just leave you. Besides, we
won't even be able to bypass their security
system without your aid. And what exactly will
you be able to accomplish by staying here all
by yourself," the troubled ambassador asked
the Senshi that was his namesake.
"I mean that this is your only chance to
get back to the Moon and warn the others," she
said wearily. "I believe that the energy
signatures that were detected are that of Crown
Prince Endymion's personal guards; his
legendary generals."
"Again, what use will you be here, at
this distance from the vessel and all by
yourself? And who of us can pilot?" the
Venusian ambassador pressed.
"From this vantage point, I should be
able to bypass the security systems and
scramble the communications in this area so
that they will not be able to call aid until
you have left the atmosphere—in other words, I've
cleared the way for you," she answered calmly,
showing no signs that her usual patience was
beginning to snap. After all, even the hardest of
ice will crack when its thrown too hard.
"As for piloting, I believe that the
Mercurian and Lunarian ambassadors are well
versed," she pointed out, making said
ambassadors slightly flush because they had
apparently forgot in the panic. "And as for me
staying here by myself, I'll be able to
distract the Generals from reaching you."
Before anyone of them could argue with
her, she quickly added "It's better having me left
behind than all of us together!" as she directed
them towards the vessel and quickly briefing them
on the base's internal structure.
She watched quietly as the figures of the
various ambassadors disappeared in the
distance. She fought back tears of hopelessness
before turning back to her hand held computer,
typing mindlessly in a motion. It was a good
thing that she was trained to hack in to high-
grade security systems, be they technological
or magic based.
Without a second thought she cracked the
code and was in. Putting the mind she was so
often teased for, to work, she began to bypass
the bases' security system, shutting down a
good chunk of it. In her opinion it was measly
at best, yet to the casual observer, such a
system would have been classified as maximum
security; it was home to a space ship after
all.
She sighed in relief as she finished
scrambling the communications in the area and
watched silently as an object, vaguely
resembling one of the Moon's space ships began
to launch into the sky. She smiled triumphantly
but stopped abruptly, realizing that four
figures were running towards her cursing.
She silently began to calm herself,
before she heard a "Who goes there?" rudely
shot at her. She watched as the hands of the
approaching figures began to glow a variety of
dark colors and cursed to herself. 'Maybe I
can catch them off guard,' she thought dryly to
herself. 'Guess I'll never know if I don't try.
Here goes!'
***
"MERCURY AQUA RHAPSODY!!!!" was all they
heard before they were bombarded with numerous
ice-cold water currents, making the four
generals freeze even more, if that were
possible.
Before they could recover from their
attack, a "SHINE AQUA ILLUSION" impacted with
those who didn't have time to put up a shield
in the split second since the last attack;
namely Jadeite and Zoicite.
Kunzite growled as a dark blue light shot
out of his hand at their mysterious stranger,
whom he assumed was the Senshi Mercury judging
from her shouted attacks. He was rewarded with
a muffled gasp as his attack connected with her
left shoulder. He began to charge his next
attack and watched as her eyes widened at her
realization that his next *would* be fatal.
Before he could fire, the words "SHABON
SPRAY!!!" for from her lips. 'What kind of
attack is this?' he thought to himself smugly
when he noticed nothing was happening.
Unbeknownst to him or the others, thin
mists began to envelope around them until it
became a dense fog so that none of them were
able to see anything past a foot away from
them. Zoicite muttered a few words while he
heard another shouted command. "MERCURY
TELEPORT!!!"
***
Mercury screamed in pain as she tried to
find shelter. In a last ditch effort, she had
shouted a "MERCURY TELEPORT!!!" hoping that she
would be able to get back to the reasonable
warmth and security that the moon could and
usually did provide for her.
However, instead of being greeted by
silver-lined landscapes, she was welcomed to
more snow instead. 'Oh great,' she thought,
'the great Senshi of Ice being frozen to
death.' Being the Senshi of Ice, she did show
tolerance to the cold as Mars did to fire but
there was only so much that she could handle.
"I hope Princess Serenity will be safe,"
was her last thought as she wearily collapsed
in front of a snow-covered doorstep.
***
Queen Serenity visibly started as a flash
of bright light crashed into her courtyard.
Before this, she had been discussing with her
advisors, Luna and Artemis about the current
situation on the Earth and the position the
Moon Kingdom should take as well as the lack of
communication between the delegates sent to
Earth and themselves.
As the spots cleared from their vision,
Serenity turned to see the source of the light,
just in time to see her daughter run into the
court yard and shout, "VESTIA!!!!"
Vestia weakly looked up at her princess,
"I am glad you are okay, hime," she croaked
weakly using another one of her princess'
nicknames to try and reassure her.
"Venus, Commander of the Senshi and
Protector of the Princess I charge you to speak
of what has occurred during your stay on
Earth." Serenity stated formally and regally,
there was an audience after all; her entire
court.
Vestia raised her head slowly, using so
much effort as it seemed if she were trying to
move a ten-ton brick. Slowly rising, with the
assistance of the now transformed Senshi of
Mars, who had also ran in the princess, she was
able to look Queen Serenity in the eye before
announcing the dreadful news she held within
her heart.
She begun forming the words from her
lips, her usually happy and cheerful voice
filled with sorrow and pain. "Upon our arrival
to Earth," she shuddered, "we were taken into
custody by Crown Prince Endymion's generals and
thrown into the dungeon."
Queen Serenity stared in horror at the
crumpled figure before her as Venus continued
with her tale. "We were accused of killing
countless innocents, primarily, the Prince
Endymion's extended family as well as whoever
else they needed to blame us for. They claimed
that they had irrefutable evidence against the
moon for committing treacherous act."
Vestia took a long shuddering breath as
she went on, noticing that every eye was on her
and they were hanging on her every words. "When
finally we were able to escape, Mercury and I
teleported to the North Pole, where we thought
would be most hidden from them. After that
Mercury was able to create a small structure
out of ice for the ambassadors and ourselves
and I was able to keep up warm with a link of
my golden hearts."
At this point, Vestia fought back tears.
"I told them that I would teleport back to
report to you and get aid. So here I am and
they're still on Earth alone and distraught.
Please save them my Queen," was all she could
manage before she passed out into Mars' arms.
"Majesty," Luna said urgently, "such an
act could be war and the beginning of the end
of the Silver Millennium as we know it."
Several gasps echoed around them, coming from
the many observers. Distraught phrases containing
the words, "war" and "no" were clearly evident in
their worried conversations.
"Luna," the queen stated, voice full of
steel and with a metallic glint in her eye, "If
war is what they desire, then it is exactly
what they are going to get."
***
End Chapter 4
Again, to recap the names for you:
Past name – Future name – Planet
Serenity – Tsukino Usagi – Moon
Constance - Mizuno Ami - Mercury
Eva - Hino Rei - Mars
Ceres - Kino Makoto - Jupiter
Vestia - Aino Minako - Venus
Endymion - Chiba Mamoru - Earth
Kouran – Tenou Haruka - Uranus
Arianna - Kaiou Michiru - Neptune
(Not yet mentioned but for future reference)
Reina – Tomoe Hotaru - Saturn
Aeris – Meiou Setsuna – Pluto
*A BIG THANK YOU!!! Goes out to Antigone for
her editing. Free thank you's and hugs (if you
want one) go to Patch, Eternal Angel, Meredith,
Aimee, Angela, Kawaiiluv, J Pappillons, Usagi and
Rachel for their support!!!! DOUMO!!!!!*
Makes sense to you? No? Either way… Questions.
Comments, yes, even flames are welcome!
(::mizu looks up:: I would've just said, E-MAIL!
E-MAIL! E-MAIL! Onegai?!)
==========================
For general questions, comments
for BOTH authors:
e-mail: mizuno_kagami@yahoo.com
For me, Namida:
e-mail: senshi_pluto@crystal-tokyo.com
For my co-author mizu:
e-mail: tokiya_ensui@yahoo.com
URL: www.geocities.com/mizuno_kagami
===========================
Namida: YAY!! Another chapter done!!!!
Wheeee!!! Sorry, took me long enough, ne?
*quirks eyebrow* yes, yes…stop giving me dirty
looks mizu :P
Mizu: Who? Me? Innocent me? I would never do
such a thing ?
Namida: Suuuuure… Anyways hope ya had fun!
Mizu, who doesn't enjoy my lateness as much as
I know you readers do will probably get out the
next chapter sooner! In fact…you should thank
her for prodding me with her trusty stick or
you wouldn't be reading my mindless jabber
right now. :P
Mizu: Sure, share all my secrets why don't you?
-_-*
Namida: Anyways, have fun, seeya next time…and
remember to WRITE…come one…pleeeaaase..you know
you want to…*nods*
Doumo minna-san for putting up with us ?, ja
ne! Feedback is WELCOME
(mizu: feedback is VEEERRRY WELCOME ^^;;)
-~Namida~
Takeuchi does. All hail her.
E-MAIL: senshi_pluto@crystal-tokyo.com
EDGE OF DREAMS~BOOK I: Voiceless Song
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Edge of Dreams:
Chapter 4: The Inevitable
by: Namida
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
***
Kouran, Senshi of Uranus and protector of
the Silver Millennium and Solar System glared
out into the night sky, her dark blue eyes
glinting dangerously. Again, for the twentieth
time that day, she cursed space travel for all
its worth and silently added a few choice words
to Queen Serenity herself. Space travel was *not*
an
enjoyable past-time of hers, especially when
traveling towards the outer parts of the solar
system where the goings were rough. And
already, within the span of a week, she was
traveling that that grueling distance again
at Serenity's abrupt command.
"Not even an explanation," Kouran
muttered under her breath. "She drags us all
the way to the Moon from our posts on Uranus
and Neptune and sends us back in a blink of an
eye without so much as a word. For a queen she
sure has no tact," she growled in frustration
and anger, the latter rising in her voice and
triumphing over the former.
"This coming from you of all people," was
the mocking reply. Arianna, the supposedly
refined and graceful Senshi of Neptune stood
not far from Kouran with her aqua-hair gleaming
in all its splendor, sporting a 'little more
than annoyed' frown on her face. She sighed.
They were just beginning their trek back to
their guard posts and already Kouran was in a
sour disposition. Such an event didn't usually
occur until the fifth hour into their trip.
Now, they were barely away from the Moon as it
was. This was going to be a *long* trip.
She rolled her eyeballs as she mused
further into the nature of her partner's bitter
and rough mood, which was a turn worse from
Kouran's usual cranky state.
"Look!" Kouran snapped as she pointed
towards the space between the still visible
Moon and Earth, bringing Arianna out of her
thoughts.
"If this is another one of you
paranoid..." she begun before witnessing a
bright yellow light streak from the Earth
towards the Moon. "What was that?" Arianna
asked her seemingly dumbfounded companion. "Do
we set a course to return to the moon?"
"I wouldn't think so" replied a tall,
tanned figure with greenish black hair flowing
down her back, eyes as red as rubies.
***
(On the Moon)
"Staring at the Earth again Sere?" Eva
asked quietly as she watched her princess's
china-doll face turn to slowly face her.
"Eva? Hai, I was just thinking about my
trip to Earth a few weeks ago."
"What about it Sere?" Eva wondered
thoughtfully as she realized that she knew
little to nothing of her charge's trip to the
Earth Kingdom. Upon her return, Sere hadn't
even gushed as she usually would have and only
responded to their questions when prodded by
Ceres or Vestia.
"Oh, well...uhm...about someone I met
when I wandered off by myself around the Palace
grounds," Serenity admitted sheepishly.
Eva, usually uninterested in such matters
quirked a curious eyebrow "Do tell, Sere, do
tell," she said in a light and amused tone, one
completely out of character making Serenity
slightly blush.
*flashback*
She looked darkly at the tall pine tree
standing in front of her casting a large and
imposing shadow. 'Again? That's the fifth time
I've seen that stupid tree,' Serenity cursed to
herself, throwing her typical princess-like
manner to the winds. The wind answered with an
amused breeze.
'Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to
wander off by myself' she grudgingly admitted
to herself. 'But Luna, my wonderful jail
guard…I mean guardian is driving me insane' she
thought, quickly trying to rationalize her
reasons for locking up her guardian cat in the
closet and running off into 'unknown territory'
unescorted. She winced, 'When Luna gets her
paws on me, if I ever find my way back…I'm
going to get the chewing out of a lifetime on
protocol and duty.'
"What was that?" she asked to no one in
particular, an eerie sound coming from the
depths of night. She pulled her head away from
her examination of the 'evil' tree that
represented her present dilemma of being
completely and utterly lost. She turned her
head this way and that desperately trying to
find the source of the noise.
"Oh no! what if Luna has escaped the
closet and she's headed this way with a
detachment of guards?" she fretted. As she
neared the noise that disrupted the previously
silent and peaceful night, she saw that it
wasn't Luna but something much bigger. Upon
closer inspection she realized that it was a
wild and untamed looking horse pawing at the
vacant sky trying to throw off its frantic
rider.
"Are you all right?" she lamely called to
the disgruntled rider for a lack of better
words.
"What do you think?" was the muffled,
yet harsh reply. She suddenly resisted the urge
to glare at the rider for, here she was trying
to offer her assistance and he was being quite
rude! However, his was a worse predicament than
hers and she reluctantly let the last comment
slide.
"How can I help you?" she asked the
stranger, trying a different approach.
"You can start by moving away from the horse
before you get hurt," was the curt reply.
She 'hmphed' before asking, "Well, what is
its name?"
"What do you mean what is its name?" he
returned the question annoyed by her calm and
apparently unruffled manner. After all, he was
the one hanging for dear life on the back of a
crazed beast now, wasn't he?
"N-A-M-E you know, what you call it when
you want it to come to you," she retorted,
exasperated at his seemingly dense nature.
"I am quite familiar with the word. And if
you must know, his name is Stormlight," he ground
out between clenched teeth suppressing an urge
to strangle the tiny figure should he come out
of his current situations alive.
"Thank you," she replied simply as she
walked up to the raging horse, not even slightly
ruffled with it's seemingly wild nature.
"I told you to get away!" he started.
She promptly ignored him as she walked even
closer to the horse raising her right arm slightly.
"Stormlight," she soothed, her slightly
lilting and melodic voice reaching the creatures
ears as she reached out to touch his side gently.
(AN: I know I'm not very realistic…but hey!) After
a few minutes of repetition, the horse finally
calmed down, albeit wearily.
The stranger who was struggling for his
life only minutes before could only gape at her
as he slipped off the previously untamable
horse.
"How did you…" he began to ask but
suddenly realized that she had begun to walk
away. "Hey! Wait!" he shouted as he quickly
caught up with his would-be savior and
abruptly turned her around.
Seeing her clearly for the first time, he
gasped as midnight blue eyes were met with
crystal blue ones. Before him, stood a
beautiful, fragile-appearing girl with golden
silk-like hair streaming down either side of
her.
"What is it?" she gulped, slowly turning
around to meet the gaze of the stranger who was
now before her instead of behind. She blinked
as she was met with the sight of a man with a
slight muscular build, angular features and
piercing blue eyes. Framing his somewhat dirt
smudged and bruised face was a curtain of
ruffled jet black hair. "Wow, I like this
package," she mused to herself, cheeks becoming
flushed.
His lips quirked in a small smile as he
saw her cheeks turn bright red as she realized
her last 'thought' was said aloud. Letting the
last comment slide, he answered, "What's the
hurry? I would just like to thank you."
She smiled brightly at him, all traces of
her last embarrassment forgotten. "You mean for
saving your life? Don't worry about it, I do it
all the time," she joked as a silvery peal of
laughter erupted from her lips.
"Yeah *that*," he said chuckling as well.
"Are you all right?" she asked, trying out
her first question again as she eyed his
various bruises and the cuts that marred his
civilian garb.
"Yes," he said as he shrugged off his steed's
previous run in with a thorny bush while riding
him. "thanks to you," he added almost as an
afterthought.
She exhaled loudly not realizing that she
had subconsciously held her breath, waiting for
his answer. She visibly perked up when he
quenched her fears of him being hurt.
"How did you do that?" he inquired again,
finishing the question this time.
"You have to have a knack for it," she stated
slyly while winking, her usual playful and happy-
go-lucky manner back.
With his usual cold and distant mood
broken off by this cheerful and gorgeous
stranger, they began to talk about this and
that without revealing too much of their
identities knowing that if the other should
find out, stiff formality would come back with
a vengeance.
"Who's that?" she asked abruptly,
breaking them out of their chatter and pointing
at a lone figure with short blonde cropped hair
walking towards them. "Oh, that's just my
friend." He said relieved as he recognized the
form of Jadeite, one of his generals and
companions.
He blinked as he turned the opposite
direction. Rubbing his eyes, he blinked again,
he mind not really registering what he was
seeing. "Uhmmm…"
"Yes?" she asked completely unaware to
the reason why her companion was suddenly so
speechless. She would soon find out.
"Is it just me, or does that look like a
really angry, psycho black cat headed our way,"
he asked in a dubious voice.
To his dismay as he watched her follow
his finger to the alleged 'mad cat', she froze
mid-movement, "Eeeepped", stood up quickly and
began to run in the opposite direction far, far
away from the 'monster'.
"What was that Endy?" Jadeite questioned,
when he finally reached his dumbfounded liege.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
Endymion replied shaking himself out of his
stupor.
*end flashback*
"So what is his name, Sere?" Eva grilled,
not being able to resist the urge to tease her
princess.
"I don't know, Eva," Serenity admitted
somewhat abashed.
Eva gave her a funny look and quickly
sweatdropped. (AN: -_-*) "You mean you met an
incredibly gorgeous and handsome man, talked
to him for more than an hour and you didn't
even catch his name?" she gaped incredulously.
Serenity managed a weak "No." before
comprehension slowly dawned upon her features
and she presumed a crestfallen look.
"No worries Sere," Eva consoled. "If he's
as great and amazing as you claim him to be,
you'll meet him again for sure!" Serenity
looked up to see her Senshi's sincere face and
smiled brightly in return.
"Wait," Eva said pondering something.
"What did Luna do to you when she finally
caught up with you?" she wondered not
remembering her highness having any visible
scratches on her upon her return to the Moon
Kingdom.
Serenity sighed and winced, thinking back
to the time when Luna had caught up to her
after 20 minutes of chasing.
"She spent the rest of the night drilling and
lecturing me on duty, protocol and making me feel
generally guilty for wanting to have some free time
to myself. In fact, that's why I wasn't allowed to
meet Prince Endymion of Earth the next day."
Eva looked at her childhood friend with
sympathy in her eyes. "Yeah, I know, Luna can
be long winded at times."
"That's the understatement of the
millennium, Eva" Serenity and Eva both shared a
giggle before being interrupted by a bright
flash of yellow light.
"What the?" Eva started before being
dragged off to the courtyard by Serenity, in
the direction where the flash of light had
seemingly landed.
***
(Earth)
The white-haired, high general known as
Kunzite looked at his three generals sternly.
"Have you been able to determine the location
of their whereabouts?" he asked gruffly.
"Yes sir," the auburn-haired Nephrite
replied. "There whereabouts seem to point to
the North Pole," he said somewhat baffled.
"How's they get there?" Jadeite queried, once
again pushing his blonde hair out of his eyes.
"Beats me," the other blonde general
shrugged. "But if the legends are true than we
must assume that the legendary Senshi of the
Silver Millennium have such powers that can
very well rival our own."
"That's a nice theory and all Zoicite,
but are we sure that they're in the North Pole.
I mean it would be nice to make sure before we
go off trekking to the middle of no where and
freezing our butts off" Jadeite said unsure.
"Actually, we are," Nephrite added before
Zoicite had the chance to jump in and defend
his theory. "About the time that the prisoners
escaped, a massive energy fluctuation was
detected in the North Pole. It energy signature
is very close to our own when we teleport."
Before Jadeite was able to say anything
edge wise or complain about their obvious
future journey to the cold, cold reaches of the
north, Kunzite shot him a dark look.
"Then its settled, we'll be teleporting to
the North Pole," he commanded sternly stopping any
voices of rejection. "For our prince and kingdom,"
they said in unison, a dark glint in each of
their eyes.
***
Beryl smiled wickedly to herself.
"Everything is going accordingly master…"
***
Mercury sat in her make shift ice shelter
furiously typing away at her computer,
oblivious to all around her except for the soft
pings her computer made. "I've got it!" she
cried triumphantly, startling the surrounding
ambassadors around her.
"What Senshi Mercury? Have you found a way to
get us back home?" the Lunarian Ambassador managed
to squeeze through chattering teeth, the same hope
returning into her eyes that left with Senshi Venus
on her return to the Moon.
"If my computer is right, and it always
is…" Mercury began proudly, "then not far from
here a military base has been detected. Which
means that we we'll be able to return to the
moon aboard on of their space vessels" she
announced to the delight of the others.
"Can you manage to teleport all of us by
yourself in your current condition?" one of
ambassadors voiced worriedly.
"No, I don't think so, however, its only
a mile away and we should be able to reach it
before what passes as night up here comes" the
Senshi of ice confidently replied.
"Then lets get cracking," the Lunarian
Ambassador said as she made her way out of the
tiny, yet somehow warm ice shelter. Upon
exiting, she was greeted with a strong gust of
wind that threatened to knock her back in.
"This is going to be harder than I thought,"
she muttered under her breath, along with a
variety of colorful words. Let's just say that
their 'internship' in the Mars barracks were *very*
educational…
After about an hour of struggling through
the knee deep snow, they finally reached the
military base when Mercury's computer started
to beep wildly.
"What is that?" the surprised Venusian
ambassador shouted before the howling winds could
snatch away her words.
"My computer detects a massive
fluctuation near us, presumably that of a
teleportation signal very similar to my own."
She sighed unsure if she would be able to live
through her next decision. "You have to get to
the space vessel now!" she said in her best
imitation of Venus' commander voice.
"What do you mean? What about you
Mercury? We can't just leave you. Besides, we
won't even be able to bypass their security
system without your aid. And what exactly will
you be able to accomplish by staying here all
by yourself," the troubled ambassador asked
the Senshi that was his namesake.
"I mean that this is your only chance to
get back to the Moon and warn the others," she
said wearily. "I believe that the energy
signatures that were detected are that of Crown
Prince Endymion's personal guards; his
legendary generals."
"Again, what use will you be here, at
this distance from the vessel and all by
yourself? And who of us can pilot?" the
Venusian ambassador pressed.
"From this vantage point, I should be
able to bypass the security systems and
scramble the communications in this area so
that they will not be able to call aid until
you have left the atmosphere—in other words, I've
cleared the way for you," she answered calmly,
showing no signs that her usual patience was
beginning to snap. After all, even the hardest of
ice will crack when its thrown too hard.
"As for piloting, I believe that the
Mercurian and Lunarian ambassadors are well
versed," she pointed out, making said
ambassadors slightly flush because they had
apparently forgot in the panic. "And as for me
staying here by myself, I'll be able to
distract the Generals from reaching you."
Before anyone of them could argue with
her, she quickly added "It's better having me left
behind than all of us together!" as she directed
them towards the vessel and quickly briefing them
on the base's internal structure.
She watched quietly as the figures of the
various ambassadors disappeared in the
distance. She fought back tears of hopelessness
before turning back to her hand held computer,
typing mindlessly in a motion. It was a good
thing that she was trained to hack in to high-
grade security systems, be they technological
or magic based.
Without a second thought she cracked the
code and was in. Putting the mind she was so
often teased for, to work, she began to bypass
the bases' security system, shutting down a
good chunk of it. In her opinion it was measly
at best, yet to the casual observer, such a
system would have been classified as maximum
security; it was home to a space ship after
all.
She sighed in relief as she finished
scrambling the communications in the area and
watched silently as an object, vaguely
resembling one of the Moon's space ships began
to launch into the sky. She smiled triumphantly
but stopped abruptly, realizing that four
figures were running towards her cursing.
She silently began to calm herself,
before she heard a "Who goes there?" rudely
shot at her. She watched as the hands of the
approaching figures began to glow a variety of
dark colors and cursed to herself. 'Maybe I
can catch them off guard,' she thought dryly to
herself. 'Guess I'll never know if I don't try.
Here goes!'
***
"MERCURY AQUA RHAPSODY!!!!" was all they
heard before they were bombarded with numerous
ice-cold water currents, making the four
generals freeze even more, if that were
possible.
Before they could recover from their
attack, a "SHINE AQUA ILLUSION" impacted with
those who didn't have time to put up a shield
in the split second since the last attack;
namely Jadeite and Zoicite.
Kunzite growled as a dark blue light shot
out of his hand at their mysterious stranger,
whom he assumed was the Senshi Mercury judging
from her shouted attacks. He was rewarded with
a muffled gasp as his attack connected with her
left shoulder. He began to charge his next
attack and watched as her eyes widened at her
realization that his next *would* be fatal.
Before he could fire, the words "SHABON
SPRAY!!!" for from her lips. 'What kind of
attack is this?' he thought to himself smugly
when he noticed nothing was happening.
Unbeknownst to him or the others, thin
mists began to envelope around them until it
became a dense fog so that none of them were
able to see anything past a foot away from
them. Zoicite muttered a few words while he
heard another shouted command. "MERCURY
TELEPORT!!!"
***
Mercury screamed in pain as she tried to
find shelter. In a last ditch effort, she had
shouted a "MERCURY TELEPORT!!!" hoping that she
would be able to get back to the reasonable
warmth and security that the moon could and
usually did provide for her.
However, instead of being greeted by
silver-lined landscapes, she was welcomed to
more snow instead. 'Oh great,' she thought,
'the great Senshi of Ice being frozen to
death.' Being the Senshi of Ice, she did show
tolerance to the cold as Mars did to fire but
there was only so much that she could handle.
"I hope Princess Serenity will be safe,"
was her last thought as she wearily collapsed
in front of a snow-covered doorstep.
***
Queen Serenity visibly started as a flash
of bright light crashed into her courtyard.
Before this, she had been discussing with her
advisors, Luna and Artemis about the current
situation on the Earth and the position the
Moon Kingdom should take as well as the lack of
communication between the delegates sent to
Earth and themselves.
As the spots cleared from their vision,
Serenity turned to see the source of the light,
just in time to see her daughter run into the
court yard and shout, "VESTIA!!!!"
Vestia weakly looked up at her princess,
"I am glad you are okay, hime," she croaked
weakly using another one of her princess'
nicknames to try and reassure her.
"Venus, Commander of the Senshi and
Protector of the Princess I charge you to speak
of what has occurred during your stay on
Earth." Serenity stated formally and regally,
there was an audience after all; her entire
court.
Vestia raised her head slowly, using so
much effort as it seemed if she were trying to
move a ten-ton brick. Slowly rising, with the
assistance of the now transformed Senshi of
Mars, who had also ran in the princess, she was
able to look Queen Serenity in the eye before
announcing the dreadful news she held within
her heart.
She begun forming the words from her
lips, her usually happy and cheerful voice
filled with sorrow and pain. "Upon our arrival
to Earth," she shuddered, "we were taken into
custody by Crown Prince Endymion's generals and
thrown into the dungeon."
Queen Serenity stared in horror at the
crumpled figure before her as Venus continued
with her tale. "We were accused of killing
countless innocents, primarily, the Prince
Endymion's extended family as well as whoever
else they needed to blame us for. They claimed
that they had irrefutable evidence against the
moon for committing treacherous act."
Vestia took a long shuddering breath as
she went on, noticing that every eye was on her
and they were hanging on her every words. "When
finally we were able to escape, Mercury and I
teleported to the North Pole, where we thought
would be most hidden from them. After that
Mercury was able to create a small structure
out of ice for the ambassadors and ourselves
and I was able to keep up warm with a link of
my golden hearts."
At this point, Vestia fought back tears.
"I told them that I would teleport back to
report to you and get aid. So here I am and
they're still on Earth alone and distraught.
Please save them my Queen," was all she could
manage before she passed out into Mars' arms.
"Majesty," Luna said urgently, "such an
act could be war and the beginning of the end
of the Silver Millennium as we know it."
Several gasps echoed around them, coming from
the many observers. Distraught phrases containing
the words, "war" and "no" were clearly evident in
their worried conversations.
"Luna," the queen stated, voice full of
steel and with a metallic glint in her eye, "If
war is what they desire, then it is exactly
what they are going to get."
***
End Chapter 4
Again, to recap the names for you:
Past name – Future name – Planet
Serenity – Tsukino Usagi – Moon
Constance - Mizuno Ami - Mercury
Eva - Hino Rei - Mars
Ceres - Kino Makoto - Jupiter
Vestia - Aino Minako - Venus
Endymion - Chiba Mamoru - Earth
Kouran – Tenou Haruka - Uranus
Arianna - Kaiou Michiru - Neptune
(Not yet mentioned but for future reference)
Reina – Tomoe Hotaru - Saturn
Aeris – Meiou Setsuna – Pluto
*A BIG THANK YOU!!! Goes out to Antigone for
her editing. Free thank you's and hugs (if you
want one) go to Patch, Eternal Angel, Meredith,
Aimee, Angela, Kawaiiluv, J Pappillons, Usagi and
Rachel for their support!!!! DOUMO!!!!!*
Makes sense to you? No? Either way… Questions.
Comments, yes, even flames are welcome!
(::mizu looks up:: I would've just said, E-MAIL!
E-MAIL! E-MAIL! Onegai?!)
==========================
For general questions, comments
for BOTH authors:
e-mail: mizuno_kagami@yahoo.com
For me, Namida:
e-mail: senshi_pluto@crystal-tokyo.com
For my co-author mizu:
e-mail: tokiya_ensui@yahoo.com
URL: www.geocities.com/mizuno_kagami
===========================
Namida: YAY!! Another chapter done!!!!
Wheeee!!! Sorry, took me long enough, ne?
*quirks eyebrow* yes, yes…stop giving me dirty
looks mizu :P
Mizu: Who? Me? Innocent me? I would never do
such a thing ?
Namida: Suuuuure… Anyways hope ya had fun!
Mizu, who doesn't enjoy my lateness as much as
I know you readers do will probably get out the
next chapter sooner! In fact…you should thank
her for prodding me with her trusty stick or
you wouldn't be reading my mindless jabber
right now. :P
Mizu: Sure, share all my secrets why don't you?
-_-*
Namida: Anyways, have fun, seeya next time…and
remember to WRITE…come one…pleeeaaase..you know
you want to…*nods*
Doumo minna-san for putting up with us ?, ja
ne! Feedback is WELCOME
(mizu: feedback is VEEERRRY WELCOME ^^;;)
-~Namida~