Wings

A Sailor Moon fanfiction

by Snow_Angel

Standard Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon OK? *sigh* I'm getting really tired of saying that.

He breathed deeply, fighting down the initial shock and disorientation of suddenly being in a new place, with new sights, smells, and sounds. Teleportation was never a pleasant experience; aside from requiring large amounts of energy, it was quite often accompanied by nausea, confusion, and migraines. Most people never even bothered with it. Nephrite for example.

He took another deep breath, opening his eyes. He was in a small, rectangular room, empty save for the fire crackling merrily in a crude wooden altar. The red and yellow flames cast dark, flickering shadows on the bare, wooden walls, dancing with a sort of eerie grace. A slender figure in red and white robes lay curled next to the altar, asleep.

His crisp, blue and white robes rustled as he made his way across the room and knelt next to the sleeping figure. It was her. She must have been meditating again. He could see her now, fingers steepled in front of her face and brow knitted in concentration, asking the fire to tell her of this new intrusion into her life- him. A useless endeavor; the fire could tell her nothing.

The fire flared suddenly, angry, protective. He laughed. The spirits knew who he was. It would take a much more elaborate spell than the simple one that he was using to fool them. He could feel their fury pulsing in the sullen red of the flames as they strained to find- or create- some crack in his shields. They longed to warn their priestess of his true identity but could not; he was beyond their power.

He wondered briefly how fire-reading- practiced only by Aresian(*) royalty and mages - had gotten into the hands of the Terran Shinto. The ability to call spirits through fire had been a closely guarded secret of the Aresian people. It should have been virtually impossible for it to have just 'migrated' to Earth....

He glanced at the girl next to him. She was good at it- he had watched her- but had not yet reached even a fourth of her full potential. If she had then he probably would not still be keeping up this little charade right now- she would have discovered his treachery long ago.

She stirred slightly, but did not awaken. Her sharp, delicate features were soft and childlike in the firelight, dark hair spilling across the floor with a sort of artless grace. One slender hand lay curled next to her face, the other lost in the folds of the loose, red and white robes designed to conceal her budding, womanly curves. His blue eyes softened.

She was beautiful....so very beautiful.... Memories rose in his mind like so many ghosts, whispering. He could still remember the silken feel of her ebony hair against his skin, the gentle, firm touch of her hands, the way her soft, velvet lips seemed to kiss away all his fears. He reached out, curling a strand of dark hair around his finger. She was so young... barely fourteen. She had been almost three years older than that when he had first seen her, a few months away from attaining her majority (**). Or had she already reached majority? He couldn't remember. Had it really been so long ago?

He was in the courtyard of the Moon Imperium Palace, standing with his comrades as they faced the Moon Princess and her court. However- unlike the others- he did not see them as the young, royal representatives of their respective planets, but as tantalizing possibilities.

The Princess Jupiter stood directly in front of him, watching him with open admiration. She had a sort of wild beauty- long, athletic build, green eyes, and auburn waves that reached halfway down her back. Pretty but no. He knew her reputation. Too brash, too possessive. She was the sort who longed for a long-term relationship- something that he had never really been good at. At best he could hope to get away with giving her a broken heart. At worst, he would be found in the gardens, mangled beyond recognition.

The Princess Mercury was surveying the scene with a cool almost disinterested gaze. He looked away in distaste. She was really rather plain to his mind, despite all the raving about her beauty back in the Terran court. Correction, she was pretty-like an ice sculpture was pretty- with a pale, flawless complexion, blue hair, and infuriatingly calm, azure eyes. Yet her severe, prim, detached manner took the pleasure away from her beauty, and despite impeccable manners, she made social interaction with her torture. So cold...not to his tastes at all. Later he would learn to love and admire the kind, gentle girl under the mask, but he would never, ever consider her as an object for his love.

His eyes automatically passed over the Moon Princess. She was stunningly beautiful yes, and had the same type of innocent vulnerability that usually screamed for him to take advantage. Yet, she was the daughter of the most powerful Queen in the Sol System. Trifling with her heart would be dangerous to his health, to say the least.

He also studiously avoided looking at the next girl. The blue-eyed, golden-haired Princess Venus was already giving him a look that he recognized, the bright, starry-eyed stare of a teenage girl that thinks she's in love. A few months from now this very same girl would be found in her bedroom, crying from a broken heart as she discovered that her love was not enough to make another feel the same.

Then his eyes alighted on the Mars Princess, who was quietly assessing the Terran party with a shrewd, calculating eye. She was exquisite. Long, raven black hair that swirled provocatively whenever she moved, sharp, violet eyes, and red lips that curved into a most becoming smile. Ahhh...now this was something worth pursuing....

He had seen her and known, without a doubt, that there was something about her. What had it been? Her poise? Her exotic beauty? Perhaps it was the way that mystery seemed to hang in the air about her, the way that every word that fell from her lips meant something more, her violet eyes a secret just begging to be unveiled.

He smiled. Or perhaps it was that while other women threw themselves at his unforgiving feet- including the Lady Venus- she did not. That intrigued him.

He had tried to tease, flatter, and cajole her into noticing him. She deflected his amorous pleas with cool replies and well-placed barbs- some obvious, some not quite so obvious. It became a sort of game. He would flatter her. She would brush him off, becoming annoyed, amused, or both.

"You are beautiful my lady, enchanting. No other woman in this room can compare."

She rapped his wandering hand with her blood-red fan, raising a small, red welt. "You flatter me sir. Don't you see the Lady Venus? She is lovely and she likes you, go to her. Or the Lady Neptune, over there, by the musicians. Don't those emerald locks do anything to that fickle heart of yours? Or that voice! Imagine dancing with her Lord General, with that voice whispering sweet nothings in your ear."

"I have eyes only for your beauty Lady."

"Beauty that is not for you Sirrah Villain." Her lips twitched but she tossed her head in annoyance." You are running a fever. You are quite delirious. Go dunk your head in the punch bowl. That should cool your passions."

When had it all turned to love? It had started out as nothing more than a game of cat and mouse, an obsessive pursuit to win what was seemingly unattainable. When had the slaps turned to kisses, the taunts to sweet whispers in a moonlit garden? He couldn't remember. All he knew is that one day - through no work of his own- he found himself invested with a treasure unbelievably sweet and precious.

Then reality stepped in.

For a brief moment, he cursed the nobles, the kingdom, the politics- everything that had led up to that infernal war. It had ruined everything.

"The Moon is the supreme power in the Sol System, with all of the planets under its rule except for one. Face it. The Moon has always been trying to control Earth. Terra is a the wayward child, a rebel, and it refuses to submit to the wise, all-knowing parent...."

"No! No, I won't believe it! I will not believe that this peaceful, beautiful kingdom is the tyrant you paint..."

"Please...please.. I love you....let's put all of this aside. Come away with me Rei. Let's get away, escape from this whole, horrible, muddled mess... away from politics, away from wars, away from duty..."

The minute the words had been out of his mouth he knew he had said the wrong thing. The moment was frozen in his mind forever, perfect down to the minutest, little detail. He had his arms outstretched in a silent plea. She was half-turned towards him, torn, wavering. Her right hand was extended, those slender fingertips almost touching his own.

"Duty? You want me to abandon my duty?"Her violet eyes glazed over as her hands dropped to her sides. She turned away, her voice flat and dull."I can never do that."

"Not even for love?" His voice cracked. His fragile dreams were shattering, falling in a million, crystal shards around me.

"Not even for love."

The memories were coming faster now, pouring into his head with incredibly clarity. He remembered the long, bitter journey away from the Moon and back to his native Earth. All of his old pursuits seemed dull and tasteless. He recklessly dived into the world of politics- something he had never had a head for before- and became one of the strongest voices against the Moon. They had too much influence, too much power when they could command the young, beautiful princesses of almost every planet to risk their lives protecting a single girl. He started to become a real power in court. Then he met Beryl, a woman as deadly as she was beautiful...

He covered her in kisses, nibbling her soft lips, the long neck, the gentle slope of her shoulders. Her hands stroked his back with practiced ease as she kissed him back- but her kisses were cold. They burned on his face and neck and chest but he didn't care. He knew she didn't love him. Love nothing more than a very effective tool, one that would win her a powerful ally.

"Love me," she whispered into his hair,"Love me and forget the woman who rejected you. I will give you everything. Wealth, revenge, power..."

He tangled his fingers in her long, crimson locks and silenced her with another kiss, but he knew that he would never love her. His heart belonged to the raven-haired princess with the violet eyes and a heart of ice. But power could be as intoxicating as any woman.....

Everything was a blur from that moment forward. The betrayal of Endymion...the other Generals coming, one by one, to Beryl's side.....the war...his life in the Dark Kingdom. Only one thing stood out clearly form the gray, chaotic muddle, a memory stained crimson, as horrible and vivid as if it had just happened yesterday.

Warm blood tricked down the shining, silver blade and over his gloved hands. She clutched the sword in a convulsive grip as she slowly sank to her knees, her dark hair forming a curtain in front of her face. Then she was looking at him with those bewitching, purple eyes- eyes that burned with hatred and betrayal-reluctant tears of pain mingling with the blood on her face. Her cracked, red lips moved in a thin whisper, then she drew in one, last, ragged breath and died. Her words- barely audible- hung, burning, in the air between them.

I hate you.

I hate you with all of my soul.

A cruel smile twisted his lips. He looked down at the sleeping girl.

"Do you still hate me Rei?" he whispered, "You do. I see it in your eyes when you talk to me. You don't even remember who I am, and yet you still hate me. No matter. Because I still hate you."

Firelight dripped off the knife's blade as he pulled it out of his sleeve, gazing at it contemplatively. He should kill her now, while she was sleeping. Beryl would rather have the Moon Princess of course, yet he had no idea who that could be, and the Queen would still be pleased to find one of her guardians dead. He tickled her throat with the tip of the blade, comparing the bright silver to her creamy skin, trying to imagine the blood blooming like a rose over the front of her robes. Yet something held his hand. It was that expression of trust on her face, the same that she had worn when she would fall asleep on his shoulder on those faraway nights in the palace gardens.

The sound of beating wings shattered his reverie. He looked up. Beyond the thin, paper partition that served as a door he could see two, winged shadows hovering outside. The Guardians.

He was suddenly moving, jumping, melting out of reality just as he reached the ceiling. Too late. The raucous voices of crows followed him into the dark coldness. He would rather have avoided confrontation tonight...but.. He materialized on the rooftop in full General regalia, fighting a wave of cold and nausea, waiting with resignation as his pursuers wheeled and circled above him. He extended his right hand and watched as a single, ebony feather drifted into his open palm, a stark black against the white. They had marked him as their prey. There would be no escaping them now.

A pair of dark, winged shapes plummeted out of the air. They blurred and stretched into the forms of human women, feathers unraveling into waves of soft, dark hair. A crow-girl landed on either side of him. One was crouched on his left, dressed in a dress of gray silk with long slits and a white, six-pointed star shining proudly on her breast, both symbols of her rank as a royal guardian. Two odangos trailing long tails of black hair covered a pair of delicate ears. A long blade was clutched tightly in her right hand as amber eyes glittered at him in menace.

The other girl stood on his right, a slim, willowy silhouette in the shadows. She was identical to the first girl, except for the fact that her dress was of black silk and she held no blade. Instead, she clutched a long, black feather, the long strands waving in an almost non-existent breeze. It seemed harmless, but he wasn't fooled. With a sweep of one slender hand that feather would be a long, deadly blade similar to her sister's and if she so chose, she could have it embedded in his heart before he could even blink. Or at least, she could have back in the Silver Millennium. He had grown in skill now. Still, it was still not a good idea to tangle with them. They were small according to human standards, but quick, and were masters of a brand of magic belonging only to the Phoenix Guardians. Formidable opponents indeed.

He spoke in a deceptively light tone, giving them each a polite nod. "Phobos. Deimos. Good evening."

"Jadeite," the gray one hissed. She made a move as if to attack him and he tensed in response. Phobos stepped forward into the moonlight, shaking her head at her rash sister. . She had always been the cooler twin-- quieter and more prone to reason-- although Deimos was more swift of mind. Her eyes was calm.

"Jadeite," she said softly, "We won't allow you to harm her."

"He can't harm her here," Deimos injected in an acid tone. "He isn't powerful enough."

She was trying to goad him into a fight. He was actually very capable of harming Rei despite the many wards and spells they had woven around her, but he was not foolish enough to start a battle on their turf. There was strong power here, and he had no doubt that they could summon every bit of it to come against him if they so chose. He had the feeling that this place had been almost made for them. It wasn't entirely impossible; they had been alive long enough, waiting for their princess, that they could have prepared a place for her.

Ah, a ridiculous thought occurred to him, they must have introduced the Shinto to fire-reading. That way there would be someone to train their princess....

"Why are you here Jadeite?" Phobos's quiet voice- hard with a still, cold anger- intruded upon his thoughts. "Why, after so many years, must you bother her now? She doesn't even remember who you are. "

It hadn't been intentional actually. He had devised the bus scheme and chosen the Hikawa Shrine as a base of operations. It was only after he had moved in that he recognized the former Aresian princess. He replied in a voice as quiet and deadly serious as the Phobos's, looking at her steadily. "She is still my enemy. No amount of time can heal the wounds she's given me. She may have forgotten, but I never will."

The amber eyes of the two women sparked in rage. He wondered why they didn't just pitch into him. They clearly wanted to.

"Why don't you just attack me?" he asked with genuine curiosity.

"For the same reason that we are crows instead of women. Serenity wanted them to have normal lives. If she sees us in our true forms, than she will remember everything. We must guard her as nothing more than a pair of pet birds. " Phobos's eyes narrowed. "But if something threatens her..."

"No fear Lady Guardian."A strange, small smile played around his lips. "I have no intention of harming her ---tonight. She may be my enemy, but at one time I did love her."

He turned away. They melted away from him, standing beside each other in the shadows as they watched him leave with cold, amber eyes. In silence he began the long walk towards his quarters, his clothing reverting back into the simple blue and white robes of the shrine, sandals clopping awkwardly on the thick, red tile. The voice floated out of the darkness, soft, cold, and deadly.

"She would have come with you Jadeite, if you had asked her again. She realized how much you meant to her when you left. She prayed Jadeite, she prayed for you to return to her. She loved you enough to abandon duty, her family, her kingdom for you, if you had just come back and asked her one more time. But instead you joined the Dark Kingdom and broke her heart beyond repair. A worthy man would not have given up so easily- and if he had- he would not have done something that would hurt her so deeply. You never deserved her Jadeite, yet she loved you anyway, and that is why you will hate each other forever."

He paused. The moon was round and fat and full above him, casting a silvery light over the dark temple grounds. A car raced by. Further down the street he thought he heard the faint bark of a dog, and the yowl of an alley cat. He faces them slowly, his face almost expressionless except for a trace of what could have been regret.

"I know," he said quietly, "And that is why tomorrow, one of us will die."

He turned and walked away with his eyes fixed on the roof ahead of him, not looking back. Behind him, he heard the sound of wings.

Finis.

(*) Aresian is another term for Martian- derived from the Greek name for Mars, Ares. I don't like the term 'Martian'. It reminds me of little, green men with antennae.

(**) In my strange little world, reaching your majority means that you are age eighteen and are now a legal adult. It might be different in other fantasy novels.

Author's Notes: I have no idea what possessed me to write this piece. I don't even like the Rei-Jadeite couple. For some reason however, I had incredible writer's block on all of my other projects until I completed this. It was torture to write, it had choppy flow, was riddled with errors, and refused to settle on a definite mood, but for some reason I was drawn to churn this out. Sheesh, the lengths that story ideas will go through to get written.

Yes, the italics are flashbacks.

And there is a fly on my monitor. *takes out giant fly-swatter* SPLAT!!! Darn, they keep coming in through the windows but I have to leave them open if I want to be able to breathe in here. Hate bugs.

Anyway....back to the subject. Sorry Jadeite fans. I made him into a sort of a playboy. I don't know why I'm so mean to this boy, I just don't like him. This story takes place in the manga timeline-- at least I think so-- the night before Jadeite dies. (Jadeite dies during the bus incident in the manga, correct? Could someone clarify that for me please?) Like I said, I don't really like the Rei-Jadeite pairing, although I do believe that there was something going on between two at one time or another.

For clarification purposes, at this moment in time I don't believe that the Dark Kingdom has yet equated the Senshi with the Moon Princess. I think that they consider the Senshi to be some strange obstacle that popped up and will not connect the Senshi to the Moon Princess's guardians until after Jadeite's death. Phobos and Deimos are Rei's two pet crows and her guardians in disguise. (Kinda like Luna =^_^=) They only appear in the manga. You know, I was looking forward to seeing Phobos and Deimos actually fight Lead Crow, but they just kind of sat there and died. *pout*

BTW, the ending is symbolic, believe it or not. *gasp* Terrible but symbolic. Jadeite, in the end, will have no regrets when he dies. He has- with this last act- buried his past and completely embraced his future, whatever it may bring. Phobos and Deimos have rather odd symbolism attached to them. *scratches head* I can't imagine where I got it. One, they are flying upwards and onwards, meaning that they will be the ones to succeed. Two, there is a legend that crows carry souls to heaven. The next night, they will be carrying Jadeite's soul to....well...it wouldn't exactly be heaven would it? ^_^ Yeah, like I said. The symbolism is weird.

This fic is dedicated to Matt-sama, who never got the SM fic I was supposed to write for him. One day, a very long time from now, I will be able to write a Minako-centered fic, really. This is also dedicated to Rei-chan and my father, my editors and the very best friends a girl could have. Thanks for bothering to read this. Ja ne!