The
Masked Phoenix
Part
I: Dear Mother, Tell Me The Story
Disclaimer: I don't own either Ronin Warriors or Sailor
Moon. This takes place after "In Memory
Of". FYI: This might be a little confusing because I'm adding the warlords
and outers here.
In another
time and another place, Darien and Mia were married—King Ediymoin and Queen
Mia. They had a boy and they named him
Vincent. Vincent had his father's blue
eyes and his mother's auburn hair. It
was shoulder-length and he always kept in back in a neat, loose ponytail. Because his parents both were in college in
their time, Vincent was very smart. He
read a lot and he loved the poem that Mia's grandfather told her and she told
it to him every night before he went to sleep.
Vincent was now fourteen years old and he wouldn't go to sleep until she
told it to him.
Mia
also told him about the legend of the five warriors who stopped Tulpa and his
evil dynasty. But she didn't tell him
it was real and Vincent only took it as a legend.
As
Vincent was reading a book about mythology, Mia peaked in.
"Vincent,
it's late," she said, "time for you to go to sleep."
"Did
you know the Phoenix is an ancient bird of fire?" he asked in amazement, "and
it rises from the ashes?"
She
nodded, "yes, I studied a bit about it in college." {What school did Mia go to?
Was it ancient mythology or something?}
"Mother,"
he said, closing the book and putting it away, "tell me the poem. The poem your
grandfather told you."
"You
really love that poem, don't you?" she asked with a grin.
Vincent
nodded.
"Alright,
now close your eyes. 'Torch of spirit
sought through five. Drinking strength from immortal fire. Darkest prison sheds the light. Churning beneath a swirl of salt. Burning
within a throne of rock. Floating
amongst the eyes of the ages---',"
"'Unmoored
in the stream of the sky'," Vincent finished with her. "I love that poem."
"Tell
him about the part your grandfather didn't know," Darien said "The missing part."
"There's
a missing part?" Vincent echoed.
"Darien,"
she groaned, "you startled me."
"I
want to hear the missing part," Vincent said.
"Please?"
Mia
looked at Darien as if to say, I almost had go to sleep, thank you very
much. Then she looked back at
Vincent, "alright, Vincent dear." She
sighed, "I'll tell you the missing part.
Then it's time for you to go to sleep.
'The five are strong but if there be a time when the fire burns out,
someone will come back to light it.
And when light glows dim, darkness will not last. When the river runs dry, the water will only
be relocated. When the ground becomes
barren, it will become fertile again.
When the sky begins to fall, someone will hold it up. The five will have no need to disappear,
because that will be the day the Phoenix will rise from the ashes and the sun
will always continue to shine it's generous glow.'" (Remember that part of the poem about the phoenix? Well, I decided to change it a bit! Does it
sound cooler this way or do you like it the way it was?)
"Wow,"
Vincent breathed. "Tell it to me again!"
"Not
a chance," Mia said, "time for you to go to sleep, young man!"
"Why
don't you tell him the legend again?" Darien suggested, "that it's really not a
legend."
"Darien! Just whose side are you on?" Mia demanded
teasingly.
"It's
real?" Vincent mumbled, "The ronin warriors were real? They really battled with Tulpa and his dark
dynasty?"
"Yes. We can talk about it in the morning. Now go to sleep!"
"I
can't sleep now!" Vincent threw the covers off him and took a pen and paper.
"I'm too excited to sleep! Go on and
tell me everything, I'm taking some notes of this!"
"Well,
honey," Mia yawned, "you may be too excited to sleep but I really need my
rest."
"Please?"
"Your
mother met the ronin warriors," Darien started, "the warlords too."
"She
did?" he mumbled then looked at his mother with surprise and anger as he
demanded, "How come you never told me?"
"I
was going to tell you when the time was right," she confessed. "It's a very long story."
"Come
on Mia," Darien said, "it will make him go to sleep."
"Okay,"
she sighed. "There was a demon who
craved power and he tried to take over the mortal world. Then a man stopped him, that man was the
ancient. The ancient made 9
armors: Wildfire, Halo, Hardrock,
Torrent, Strata—these five had the powers of the elements. The other four—Ogre, Tarantula, Cobra,
Jackal—had the powers of the seasons."
"And
the five belonged to the warriors and the four went to the Dark Warlords,"
Vincent groaned, "I know about that already…get to the part where you meet
them!"
Mia
and Darien spent the next hour and half telling Vincent about the ronin
warriors, how Mia met them, the ancient, the dynasty, Yuli, —everything. Everything, except the sailor scouts. They were going to wait to tell him that in
the morning. Mia couldn't tell the
story anymore; she was too tired to say anything.
As
Mia laid her head on her pillow, she mumbled, "that wasn't funny, you knew I
was tired. Hey, are you listening to
me?" She turned her head and saw that
Darien was fast asleep. "Show off," she
grumbled and she leaned forward to kiss his forehead. "That's what I love about you, you silly masked terror!" She smiled and turned on her side.
In the past, before the memory maimers came and the five
sailor scouts were scattered around, it happened to the four outer sailor
scouts first. So the dark warlords had
to go and look for them. That was why
they appeared to the ronins, even though they were once sworn enemies and the
ronins all thought they were dead. They
had some sudden urge to go and help them find the sailor scouts because they
knew they would all have to see each other again. It was strange, though, the warlords didn't want the ronins to
see them after the bad blood between them but there wasn't really any
choice. {I don't mean to jumble all
this. I hope it will make sense in the
end. I just wanted to add the outers
and the warlords in here. }
It
happened suddenly, without warning. The
eight was together one moment and the four outer sailor scouts were all gone
the next.
"What
the?" Dais mumbled, "Where did they go?"
They
heard the ancient's voice, "go and find them.
You will know were to look"
"I
guess, we'll just have to look for them," Anubis said. "I hope they are not in any trouble."
They
were sleeping in their shells, just like what happened to the inner sailor
scouts and in different places, where they got their power.
The
four warlords nodded and split up, off to search for them.
Eventually,
Anubis came across an ancient crypt. It
was morbidly scary but something told him that Sailor Saturn was nearby. (Don't mean to frighten you guys, but she is
the sailor scout of death, you know.)
"Aaaaannnnuuuuuuubbbbiiiiiiiissssssssssss,"
Sailor Saturn called. Her voice seamed
as though it was coming underground. He
found stairs leading to the underground catacombs and the stench of death
surrounded him.
"Why
would Sailor Scout want to be here of all places?" Anubis wondered out loud.
He
continued onward, trying not to trip over bones. It was dark and hard to see. He wished only for a moment Kale was
with him. He heard a small buzzing
noise and he noticed some fireflies flying around him. Squinting, he saw some light up ahead. A lot of lights, to be exact. Anubis quickly remembered that Hotaru made a
hobby of collecting lamps. He followed
the lights to a sarcophagus surrounded with black candles shedding purple light. Atop the sarcophagus was the purple symbol
of Saturn. Anubis brushed dirt off of
the top and looked for a way to open it.
With a grunt, Anubis pushed the top of the sarcophagus off and looked at
the treasure it held inside.
"Sailor
Saturn!" he cried.
Sailor
Saturn may have been a frail child as her mortal self. As a sailor scout, she looked taller and
stronger, but this was the stronger she ever looked. She wore a brilliant suit of armor in different shades of
purple. On the breastplate was a pure
heart crystal, like the crystal on her sailor outfit. Upon her head was a helmet with a small little scythe –head, like
the top of her glaive. To look at her
was absolutely breathtaking.
Now
that you have found me, Sailor Saturn wanted to cry out, wake me with a kiss, Anubis.
Anubis smiled and reached in to pull her out. "Sailor Saturn," he moaned. He kissed her lips very gently as he reached
her closer to himself. Her arms that
dangled down the sides were now reaching up to his long reddish brown hair.
"Anubis," she said, "I knew you would come for me."
"What are you doing down here?" he asked.
"Sleeping," she replied and looked around, "don't ask me
why." She gave a short, small,
child-like giggle that wiped out whatever cruelty was left inside Anubis.
"Let's get you out of here," he said and carried her away
until she told him for the tenth time she was strong enough to walk on her own.
Dais wasn't sure how to find Sailor Uranus but he knew he
had to. Even if he had to set giant
webs all over the place in hopes of her accidentally walking into them, he'd do
it.
He heard someone calling for him and the voice was coming
from the clouds. Was it the ancient
again? No, it was Sailor Uranus. Could she be in the sky somewhere? And if she was, just how was Dais supposed
to get there? Build a spider-silk
trampoline?
"Daaaaaiiiiiiisssssss." Sailor Uranus called out.
Dais looked up at the sky again and fixed his only eye on
a cloud that looked different than the others. Certainly, clouds may look the
same and some may be very different, but this cloud was very different, than
any puffy white cloud he has ever seen.
It was long, and it had a dark blue symbol on it. The symbol looked awfully familiar and he
searched his brain for an explanation.
It was the symbol of Uranus.
While Dais was thinking a way to get there, he no longer
had to when he noticed that he was getting closer and closer to the sky. He looked at his feet, seeing that his feet
were far of the ground. Though he was
not afraid of heights, he could not help but think that someone was throwing an
illusion on the master of illusions. It
put quite a damper on his rep and a frown on his face.
He wasn't frowning any more and he didn't give a care
about his rep when he got to the cloud to see what was on it. There was a dark blue sarcophagus lined with
gold upon the cloud. On the top was a
dark blue symbol of Uranus. He took
the weapon off of his back and used it to remove the top of the sarcophagus. The person lying inside of it was Sailor
Uranus
Sailor Uranus may have looked like a man when she was her
human self, Amara but this time, she looked totally different than the pretty
suited soldier of Uranus. She wore a
dark blue suit of armor and a gold breastplate. It was very formfitting, to prove that she was not a man or a
woman in a man's suit of armor. Her helmet
was gold and it looked like a head of hair.
"Wow," Dais moaned.
Are you just going to stand there all day or are you
going to kiss me so I can wake up? Sailor
Uranus thought.
Dais smiled as he leaned down to kiss her and he was still
smiling as he gave her the kiss. When
he leaned back, he still couldn't keep from smiling.
Sailor Uranus woke up, "What took you so long?" she
demanded and sat up.
Dais couldn't find his voice. Instead, he continued to
smile at her. He stroked her chin.
"What are you smiling about?"
Dais sighed and helped her to her feet. He kissed her again and held her tight.
"Dais, is this an illusion?" she asked.
"If it is," he finally said, "I didn't cause it."
Sailor Uranus smiled back and pushed him back playfully as
he caught her in a kiss. She reached
her hands to his thick white locks of hair as she continued to kiss him back.
Sekhmet traveled to the ocean. He knew that Sailor Neptune was the sailor scout of the ocean so
that had to place where she was. He
remembered Sai was near water during his time of sleep. He was going to find
Sailor Neptune if he had to swim across all the seven seas. He took a boat and paddled to the middle of
the ocean. While he sat in boat, he
thought about Sailor Neptune, how great she was. Sekhmet was sitting there for a while until her sweet soft voice
came up to the surface. He looked at
the side of the boat to see bubbles and ripples.
"Seeeeekhhhhmmeeeetttttt."
He leaned over and touched the ripple and from his finger
to the bottom of the ground a long aqua colored light appeared. He stood up, though he knew it was dangerous
to stand in a boat. He removed the
heavy full armor so he could swim easily to the bottom. In his sub armor, he took a deep breath and
dove into the water. He followed the
light until it reached to an underwater grotto. Thank goodness for that light or he would never be able to find
the grotto.
When he reached it, he felt as though his lungs were about
to burst. Then an amazing thing
happened; the water was exiting out of the grotto and a powerful water pressure
and mirrors sealed off the entrances.
Sekhmet fell to his knees as he began to gasp for breath. He was finally able to breathe normally
after a few minutes. When he stood to
his feet, he noticed that walls of the grotto were mirrors. He walked to one of them and looked at his
reflection. Sekhmet touched his green
hair and blinked his black eyes. He studied one of his purple eyelids and the
strange dot on his forehead. (Where in the world did he get that thing?)
What does Michelle see in me? He wondered. When I look so ugly?
The truth was, Sekhmet was not ugly. (I think he's cute,
in a snake-like kind of way.) Michelle
was able to see past his looks. There
were not many men that had green hair, purple eyelids and beady black eyes and
a strange birthmark on their foreheads.
That was what Michelle found so interesting. Sekhmet was different, yes, but he was unique. The man was not a demon at all, no matter
how insane or vicious he seemed to be.
She proved it with the aqua mirror and her kindness.
Sekhmet turned around and looked at a sarcophagus
surrounded with coral and seashells and other neat things of the sea. Where did that sarcophagus come
from? Why didn't I notice it
before? Maybe it's a reflection… Sekhmet
walked closer to it and knelt down next to it.
There was a symbol of Neptune on the top, sea green in color. He picked up a seashell and used it to open
the sarcophagus.
When Sekhmet laid his eyes upon the beauty inside, he took
a gasp that seamed to bring in all of the air in the small grotto inside his
lungs. He reached inside to touch her
then quickly pulled his hand back.
Sekhmet just couldn't bring himself to touch her.
He stood and looked her over. She looked so beautiful in a suit of armor different shades of
green and blue. The underlining armor
was striped, like the fins at the end of a mermaid's tail. The breastplate, gauntlets and boots looked
scaly and she wore a crown-like helmet on her head. If she wasn't a warrior of a sea, then she was defiantly a
mermaid in the form of one.
Sekhmet wanted to touch her but couldn't. She looked so beautiful and he didn't want
to taint her beauty with his venomous armor.
If he kissed her, maybe she would get hurt. He had been the warlord of venom for a very long time.
It's okay, Sekhmet, you can kiss me. You've always been able to touch me before,
remember?
What was Sekhmet thinking? He remembered the time he was dancing with her in the
wilderness. They had been dressed in
both dark red and dark green and she was playing her violin. Sekhmet touched her then and she even kissed
his cheek. Was it any different? He only wore the armor of venom because he
was immune to all kinds of poisons. He
was a man, not a demon and he knew it.
Sekhmet wasn't in his full armor of venom and he didn't even have his
venomous swords. He wanted to kiss her,
not cut her. Could a kiss be more
deadly than the tip of a venomous sword? He could kiss Michelle if he really
wanted to and nothing would go wrong.
So what was he waiting for? Why
wouldn't just go for it?
Finally, Sekhmet couldn't stand it anymore. He had to chance it; he reached inside and pulled
her into his arms. He lifted her out of
the sarcophagus and looked her over.
Sighing, he slowly lowered his face down to hers and brushed his chapped
lips over her soft pair of lips. He
gave her a very short and soft kiss and lifted his back to see if there were
any signs that could inform him that the kiss was tainted with poison. Nothing changed.
Sekhmet could kiss her!
Happier than he has ever been, he pulled her closer and
kissed her deeply on the mouth then kissed her forehead and cheeks—all over her
face—her hair.
"See," Sailor Neptune said as she woke up, "you can kiss
me. We're you afraid I might have bad
breath or something? I wasn't asleep
very long to have morning breath, was I?"
Sekhmet held back his laughter and kissed her
forehead. "Sorry, I didn't mean to make
you wait so long." He told her.
Sailor Neptune sat up and wiped away a tear from his right
eye. "What's the matter?" she asked,
her voice full of concern. "Are you
alright?"
Sekhmet smiled and placed both hands over the one hand she
used to wipe away the tear. He held it
next to his face. He could touch
her. It felt so wonderful. "I'm just glad I found you."
Sailor Neptune was very deeply moved by this. She wasn't sure what to say or what to
do. She just sat there and looked at
the reverent look on his face. Finally
she said, "I don't mean to ruin the moment, but don't you think we should get
out of here and figure out why this happened?"
"Oh, of course," he replied and
helped her to her feet. They swam up to
the surface, hand in hand.
Sailor Pluto, being the scout of time and space and the
guardian of the gate of space-time, Kale knew she would be there. She was there
in her designated spot and all he had to figure out was how to get there. He got there once but it was on
accident. He tried to think, what was
he doing when he was suddenly transported to the gate? He remembered something about a portal
opening up after sending his Black Lightning Slash into a tree, just to see if
he still had the control of his sword and his armor instead of the other way
around. Being the warlord of corruption
wasn't the most glamorous job in the world.
Kale decided to give it a try. Maybe his black lightning slash caused the portal and it was
somehow linked with the gate of space-time, as if the lightning was a key to
the gate. He took out his sword. I hope I'm right. "Black Lightning Slash!" The silver and black lightning went up and
down his sword of darkness and it swarmed off and formed the portal.
I did it! Kale thought happily, ready to shout out
his victory. He hurried through the
portal and it immediately closed behind him.
"Sailor Pluto," Kale said, "can you hear me?"
"Kaaaalllllllleeeeeeee." She answered.
Kale looked around. It looked different than the last time
he came in. There were patches of snow
on the ground. How did they get
there? Was it from Kale's sword of
darkness because his armor is linked to the bitter cold season of winter? He decided not to worry about it now and
pressed on to find Sailor Pluto.
Instead, he found a sarcophagus with a dark red symbol on the top, the
symbol of Pluto.
Taking his massive
sword from the sheath on his back, Kale used it to pry of the heavy stone
lid. He pushed it of and placed his
sword back in the sheath. Nothing could
prepare him for what he was about to find inside. It was Sailor Pluto, but she looked so different. She wore gray under armor and dark red
gauntlets, boots and a breastplate.
(Have you guys seen Tekkaman Blade?
Well, the scouts armor kind of look like thouse suits, except the
helmets. Better yet, have any of you played DIABLO? Their armor also looks somewhat like the plate armor on the
rogue). I want them to look different
than the armor of the warlords and ronins.)
She wore a silver helmet that kept her face uncovered with horns that
resembled the hands of a clock (that doesn't sound stupid, does it?). Her long
black hair with green highlights framed her still face.
She cant' be dead, Kale thought. Is she sleeping? He reached inside and pulled her out,
propping her against the sarcophagus.
She wasn't dead, to his relief.
All you have to do is kiss me, Kale, Pluto tried to
say, and I'll wake up.
Kale cupped his hands around her face and kissed her
softly on the lips. Pluto woke up and
placed her hands on his forearms. Kale
kissed her forehead. Sailor Pluto kissed
him back.
"You look wonderful," Kale breathed, where did you get
this?"
"I'm not sure," Pluto replied.
"What matters is that you are all right," Kale said,
placing his hand on her shoulder.
"Let's get back and find the others."
"Good idea," she agreed. Kale stood up first and offered her his
hand. She took it and he pulled her
into his arms to kiss her again, a bit more passionate, until they were both
out of breath. Pluto smiled and leaned
against him as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. The two went to look for the others.
"We heard the ancient speak to us," Anubis began, "that's
probably how you got your new armors."
"Ancient?" asked Sailor Saturn.
"He was the one who made our armors," Anubis replied.
"I see," she nodded.
"Why would he give us armors?" questioned Sailor Uranus.
"Good question," agreed her cousin. "What did we do to deserve them?"
"You do deserve them," Sekhmet told her.
"Perhaps there is a new enemy approaching," Sailor Pluto
said, "and these armors will give us the power to stop it. We might not be powerful enough in our other
forms."
"I wonder what it could be," Sailor Saturn said.
They knew about the memory
maimers when Sailor Neo Moon was in trouble but decided not to show themselves
to everyone. But they did help secretly
by searching for their base and stopping who seemed to be an enemy. They knew
about the soul stealers too. Pluto had a feeling that there was something
greater than the soul stealers or memory maimers. But she didn't know what it
could be and so she decided to do as much research as she could.
"Vincent," Mia said when he came down to breakfast, "we
have more to tell you. About the
warriors."
"I had a feeling there was more," he replied as he sat
down. He was dressed in navy blue royal
attire.
"Well," she said, not sure where to start, "the ronin
warriors met five female soldiers called sailor scouts. We never told you about them."
"What were they like?" he asked.
"Your father knows more about them than I do," she said
with a grin.
Darien moaned and sipped his orange juice the servant just
poured for him.
"Go on, sweetheart," Mia prompted, "tell him about the
sailor soldiers. And don't forget about
Sailor Mini Moon."
"Sailor Mini Moon?" Vincent wrinkled his nose.
"All right, I'll tell you about them," Darien sighed. "Centuries ago I lived as Prince Edimiyon in
the moon kingdom. I met the moon princess
and we fell in love."
"That was mother?"
Mia shook her head, "Sailor Moon."
"You see, son," Darien said, "after we fell in love, a
woman named Queen Beryl tried to stop us from being together. She killed us and destroyed the
kingdom. We were reborn to find each
other again. But we didn't' remember
anything about out past life. We met again and we didn't really get along with
each other. Until we got our memories back,
that she was Sailor Moon, the Moon Princess and I was Tuxedo Mask, Prince Darien."
Vincent was silent and they looked at him to see the sad
look on his face, "you loved someone before Mother?"
Darien nodded, "we were supposed to be married, Serena and
I. Everyone knew it and we even met our daughter from the future, Rini. She's your half sister."
"What?" he gasped and jumped up, "you have another
child?!"
"That was a different time, before I met your
mother."
"Listen, Vincent," Mia said, "the sailor scouts are nice
people and they fell in love with the ronin warriors. We want to send you to the past so you can meet them and Rini."
"I'm excited about that," he admitted, "but why should I
meet Rini?"
"She's your sister, Vincent," Mia told him, "and you'll
learn to love her like a brother should."
"She also has a half sister named Rowena, Sailor Strata
Moon," Darien added, "Serena's and Rowen's child."
"Rowen of the Strata?"
He asked with a whisper.
Mia nodded, "yes.
Darien, tell him about the sailor scouts."
"The first sailor scout was Sailor Moon," Darien said, "Her
real name is Serena. She had one of the guardian cats, Luna. The next to be found was Ami, Sailor Mercury
who has the power of water and ice.
She's smart and you'll learn a lot from her. Followed by her was Raye, Sailor Mars with the power of fire. Sailor Jupiter, Lita, she's a tough
one. Don't make her mad, her powers are
lighting. Sailor Venus was the last one
to be found and she has Artemis, the other cat. There were four others, but
they kept their distance from us for some reason or another." Darien continued to explain the costumes
they were and their powers.
"How did they meet?" Vincent asked.
"Tulpa and Queen Beryl sided together," Mia explained,
"the sailor scouts tried to teleport to her to stop her but they ended up
meeting the ronin warriors. They
destroyed both Tulpa and Queen Beryl.
We were able to change the dark warlords back to good, but they
died. The temple fell apart as they
were saving us. We never saw them
again."
"I was hoping to meet them too," Vincent moaned.
"We met each other again, the sailor scouts needed our
help," Mia went on, "Your father was brainwashed and so was your half sister
Rini by Prince Diamond and Wise Man."
"Wise Man? Sounds
more like 'Wise Guy' to me!" Vincent grumbled.
"Sailor Moon was supposed to be with your father but she
fell in love with Rowen of the Strata," Mia said, "He loved her too. He couldn't stand being apart so we came to
visit them unannounced. Rowen and I
were close once."
"I didn't know that!" both Darien and Vincent sounded.
"Oh no," she blushed, "Not that close. I suggested to him to tell Sailor Moon how
he felt. He was sad and I felt sorry
for him, I suppose."
"I see," Vincent said, "you are a very nice person. I guess that's how you and Dad became so
close."
"I was upset after Serena left me for Rowen," Darien
admitted. "But it was for the best,
were both miserable before the warriors came back. We became better friends after that. Mia saw that I was taking it a bit hard and that's how we became
close."
"I have a confession to make," Mia said, "I didn't want to
tell you about this until the time is right but we have told you a lot
already. Might as well tell you
this. It has to do with the last part
of the poem."
"About the Phoenix?" he asked.
"Yes," she replied, "and another armor—the armor of the
sun."
"Who wears it?"
"Me."
"Y-you?" he stammered.
"I came across the last part of the poem on accident. I
wasn't sure what it meant. I remembered
the time when the five warriors were in their time of sleep, so I went to find
those places. It was strange; the
volcano Ryo was in was still. The cave
where Sage was in was even darker than before.
The rock Kento slept in was nothing but sand and the ground were
barren. I went to the lake where Sai
was at and there was no water there.
The rivers near it were dry as dust.
I couldn't get to outer space, but I went to a hill and looked at the
sky with my telescope. The sky looked
empty and dark, no stars or moon. Then suddenly, the sun came out and it was in
the evening. I saw the phoenix fly to
me." Mia sighed and smiled.
A tear graced her cheek, "It was the most beautiful bird I
ever saw in my life. I wasn't scared at
all. It let me touch it and it even
gave me a ride. I didn't want to
leave. Though I should have burned up,
I didn't. It carried me to the sun
outside the earth. We went right though
it and I was protected from the heat.
I didn't lose any air either.
When we came on the other side of the sun, I looked down at myself. I
was wearing this beautiful suit of armor.
It was nothing like what the warriors wore. That was the only time I wore it. I told no one about it, not even the warriors. I didn't tell your father either."
"Why did you keep it a secret?" Vincent asked.
"Because," she sniffed, "it was special. It was sacred.
You don't share a moment like that to anyone.
The warriors were my friends but I just wanted to keep it to myself. You
understand, don't you?"
"Did you ever want to use it again?" Vincent asked.
"Of course I did," she said. "All the time but I didn't know how to call upon it. It was a gift from the Phoenix and I was to
take care of it. It will let me use it
when the time is right."
"She's right," Darien agreed. "She was given that gift for a reason. When someone gives something to you, you're supposed to watch
over it with your life. WE have
something we'd like to give you." He
took out a long stemmed rose and handed it to Vincent.
"A rose?" he mumbled.
"It will protect you from your enemies," Darien explained.
"What am I supposed to do," Vincent demanded, "Push it up
their nose and hope they'll sneeze to death?"
"No, you throw it."
Darien groaned.
"I see," he said.
"Your father was a soldier too," Mia said, "Tuxedo
Mask." She handed him a mask that
looked similar to the one that Tuxedo Mask wore. They looked kind of like
glasses without lenses. They were
yellow and the sides of them looked like flaming wings.
"It's time for you to go visit your sister," Darien told
him. "Are you ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be," he replied, looking the two
items, "I suppose."
"Then let's be on our way," Mia said. They walked outside where there was an
entrance to the gate of time.
"Sailor Pluto will assist you," Darien told him. "She's the sailor scout of time and space."
"What does Rini look like?" he asked, "So I'll know who
she is when I see her?"
"Oh, you'll know," Darien said, "you'll know."
"We'll be waiting for you when you get back," Mia said.
Vincent almost walked through the door, "Wait a minute,
something's not right."
"What is it?" Mia asked.
"I almost forgot to say goodbye," he chuckled and turned
around to hug his parents. "I'll miss you."
"Son," Darien said, "I want you to watch your sister. She likes Yuli. So I want you to…"
"Darien," Mia nudged him, "Yuli's a nice kid. You'll make friends with him easily."
Vincent walked through the door. He was in some strange
place. A long red carpet led up to the
gate. He saw a woman with long black
hair with red highlights dressed in gray and dark red armor. That's Sailor Pluto? He thought, but she's not wearing the
costume Father told me about.
"Welcome, Young Prince Vincent," Sailor Pluto said with a
smile upon her face.
"Sailor Pluto?" he mumbled, "Have you always wore that
armor?"
She shook her head, "no, it was given to me by the
ancient."
"The Ancient!" he cried.
"Yes," she nodded.
"It's hard to explain, really. I
was in that sarcophagus over there," she said, pointing to it, "if it weren't
for Kale---,"
"Kale, the warlord of Corruption?!" he shouted. "My mother told me he and the others were
dead!"
"Oh no," Kale said, coming to Pluto's side, "I'm very much
alive."
Vincent laughed and shook Kale's hand fiercely, "I'm so
pleased to meet you!"
"Pleasure…" he mumbled.
"Where are the others?" Vincent asked. "When can I see
them?"
"They are here," she pointed to the gate. "With everyone else. You came to meet you sister, haven't you?"
"Yes, Rini, what does she look like?" Vincent asked. "My parents didn't tell me."
"She has pink hair and crimson eyes," Pluto replied, "I
used to call her Small Lady. She was
once called Sailor Mini Moon until her half sister Sailor Strata Moon gave her
new powers and then she became Sailor Neo Moon. We call them the full moon sisters."
"But they're half sisters," Vincent said.
"But when you put two halves of a moon together," Pluto
told him, "it's a full moon, is it not?
They're so close, you wouldn't notice the difference."
"I see," he sighed.
"She is a lovely girl," Sailor Pluto said, "and you should
be happy to be her brother."
Vincent nodded and he stepped into the gate. He was suddenly transported to a time of cars
and telephones. (Have you wondered why
in the future, it kind of looks like the medieval times and there's no
electricity or anything like that?)
"Now how am I supposed to find his girl," he whispered to
himself.
"Rowena, why do you think Yuli hasn't asked me to the
dance yet?" Rini freaked as they walked down the sidewalk. "You think maybe he could be breaking up
with me?"
"Of course not," Rowena said, "he's probably thinking of a
line right now. Relax, Rini!"
Wow, that was easy, Vincent thought. So there's my sister. Wait, what was that name she said, Yuli?
He hid behind a lamppost watched them walk by. He wasn't sure how to approach Rini,
especially with Rowena there. But it
was now or never. He followed them into
a building a snack shop. They sat in a
booth and Rini ordered a big ice cream sundae.
Rowena ordered only a milkshake.
"Why would Yuli not ask me? It's next week!"
"He's probably not sure how to ask you," Rowena said,
"here, if it makes you feel any better, I don't have a date!"
"What if he forgot?" she said, "he lost his memory,
didn't' he?"
"Stop it, you're starting to sound like Mom now," Rowena
told her. "The memory maimers are
gone. Come on, Rini. Yuli's a guy and guys tend to be like this
every now and then. Maybe he's having a
guys' night out with the warriors or something. You know he wouldn't' do anything to hurt you."
Rini began wrinkling the napkin in her hands.
Vincent was sitting in the next booth. His brotherly instincts took over. Rini began to bawl and he couldn't stand it
anymore. He got out of his booth and
knelt down in front of Rini.
"I couldn't' help but over hear you crying," Vincent said,
trying his best to sound like a gentleman.
"Is there anything I can do for you?"
Rowena nearly erupted laughter and her love meter went cha-ching. She smiled up at him, what a cutie!
"No thanks," Rini sniffed
"It'll be okay, Rini," Vincent said.
Through her tears, she looked at Vincent and wiped her tears
away, "hey, have we met? How do you know
my name?"
"Listen, Rini," Vincent said, "I don't mean to scare you
or anything, but I have come from the future to meet you."
"What a coincidence, me too!" Rowena said. "I'm her half sister, Rowena, pleased to
meet—," she reached her hand to shake hands with him but he didn't pay attention
to her. She frowned, "um, hello?" He didn't
even seem to notice she was there. And
she liked him. Any other guy
would notice the cute girl with Rini, anyone, except Rini's half-brother. His brotherly instincts took over his 'get
the girl' instincts.
"My name is Vincent," he said, "I'm your half brother."
Rini almost fainted, "what?"
"Your father is my father—King Ediymoin. Tux---,"
"Tuxedo Mask," she finished, "but that's impossible. How do I know you're who you say you
are? You could be just an imp---,"
She stopped suddenly when he handed her a rose. She took
it and smiled. "Now do you believe me?"
he asked.
"Brother?!" Rowena gasped. She looked disgusted.
"You are my brother!" she jumped up and threw her
arms around him. Vincent nearly fell back.
And he patted her back. She
began bawling into his shoulder, "I've always wanted a brother like you I could
talk to about my problems!"
"Hey, what about me?" Rowena demanded and stood up to
place her hands on her hips. He's
taking my sister away from me! Now whom
am I supposed to hang out with?
Yuli??!
She ignored Rowena and kept her arms around Vincent's
neck. Hey, this brother stuff isn't
as bad as I thought it would be.
"Rini, will you go with me to the dance?" Yuli practiced,
"no, maybe that's not very good, Hey, Rini, let's go to the dance
together! Um, nooo." He walked into the parlor and nearly
screamed when he saw Rini hugging onto Vincent. He threw his hands to his mouth.
"She's cheating on me!" he said under his breath. He grumbled and pulled his sleeves up past
his elbows. He had taken way too
many lessons from Kento. "Hey!" he
shouted and walked up to Vincent.
"Yuli, wait!" Rini cried.
"Yuli?" Vincent whispered, looking at Rini's surprised
face. He looked at Yuli, "look buddy,
I—mmph!" he couldn't keep talking now that Yuli's fist was in it.
"Get your hands off my girlfriend!" Yuli growled. He punched
him again.
"Stop it, Yuli!" Rini shouted, taking his arm.
"Pummel him into the ground, Yuli!" Rowena shouted,
patting his back.
"Just how do you know Rini anyway?" Yuli demanded.
"You really wanna know?" Vincent moaned and he rubbed his
chin.
"Heck yeah!"
"Yuli, leave him alone!" Rini cried.
"For your information, pal, I'm her…."
"He's my…"
"BROTHER!"
"Oh, you are?" Yuli muttered, "Oh, I'm sorry! Hey, I'm Yuli!" He reached his hand to him and shook it.
"You're the kid that met the ronin warriors, huh?" Vincent
asked.
"That's right."
"I envy you," Vincent said.
"Ah, well…" Yuli blushed.
"Get away from him!" Rini pushed past Yuli and stood
between her brother and whom she thought was her boyfriend. "He just came to see me, okay!?"
"Well, what was I supposed to think when I saw you hugging
him like you were meant for each other!" Yuli snapped.
"Yeah, he has a point!" Rowena added.
Rini picked up a napkin and dabbed her brother's lip, "I'm
so very sorry, he's never acted like this before!"
"You know," Vincent said, taking the napkin away and
thanked her as he dabbed his own lip. "Our
father told me about Yuli. He said for
me to keep an eye on you."
"I should be angry that he did," Rini said and folded her
arms as she shot Rini a rude look, "but I'm not!"
"He was right!" Vincent growled, "You! Just stay away from my sister, understand?"
he pointed at Yuli.
"Hey, I honestly didn't know you were her brother, okay?"
Yuli fumed.
"Cut the guy some slack!" Rowena walked up and placed her
hands on his shoulder. "Look at this
face!" she squeezed his mouth.
"Rohhhwwweeena cut it owt!" Yuli muttered, spit flying out from his lips as she still kept her
hand around them.
"Shh," she hushed in his ear, "she bought it last time."
"I heard her say that you hadn't asked her to the dance,"
Vincent said, "how dare you do that to my poor little sister!" he said as he
pulled her close, "what's wrong with you?
Why can't you give my sister the attention she deserves?"
"I waaaas going to athhhsk her, honest!" he was shouting
as Rowena still kept her hand around his mouth. It made his defense sound utterly stupid.
"When? Two weeks
from now?"
"No, now, that's whyth I came in here!" he spat, "I knewt shet came in here allt the
time!"
"I never want to see you again!" Rini cried, "I just can't
believe you!" she sobbed and pressed her face into her brother's shoulder.
"Come along, my dear sister," Vincent said, his eyes still
on Yuli. He pattered her head, "I think
we have a little catching up to do."
They walked out of the parlor.
Rowena and Yuli watched in surprise.
"Yout can leth go of my fathe now," Yuli sputtered.
"Oh, sorry," she let go of his face and stepped
aside. "Well, as long as you are here,
you might as well finish Rini's sundae…and pay the bill."
Yuli nodded and sat down and finished Rini's sundae. "I feel so stupid."
"Don't' worry, Yuli," Rowena said, "I feel stupid too I
thought he was cute and he didn't even notice me." She sighed.
"Man, what a jerk," he groaned. "He coulda least said hi!"
"I know," she pulled her straw up and down and sipped her milkshake.
They raised their eyes up to each other. Yuli leaned forward to her. They were about to kiss and suddenly Rowena move
her hand up.
"Stop!" she shouted in a whisper, "the last thing we want is
to have Rini see that. Or Vincent…he'll
kill you!"
"Oh yeah," he blushed and sat back. "And I thought it was bad enough having her dad
on my case…now her brother is after me too."
Rowena patted his hand.
"Maybe you can get Vincent to understand you. I didn't like you much at
first, remember?"
"Hey, you're right, Rowena!" Yuli shouted, "I'll become
friends with him!" he jumped up. "I'll
make him want me to be with Rini!
Thanks, Rowena! You're a genius!"
"My father is Rowen of the Strata, of course," she
said proudly.
"That's right, he is!"
he said. "There's no
doubt about that!"
"Happy to help," Rowena said.
"Oh, thank you!" he cried and hugged her tight. He had working out a lot with the guys so he
became a real tough teenager, "thankyou, thankyou thaaaankyou!"
"Ahh, too tight!" Rowena wheezed.
"Sorry," he mumbled when he let her go. He smiled and ran out of the door.
"Yuli wait!" she called after him, "you forgot to---,"
"Oh, yeah!" he ran in and threw some bills on the table
and ran back out.
Rowena sighed. "Guys…."
End Part I. What do you think so far? It's not stupid, is it? I just wanted to write a fic with the warlords/outers
and the ronins/inners together. So, what will happen in the next part? Will
Yuli and Vincent become buddies? Or rivals? Find in part 2: The Brother vs. The Boyfriend