Evening Star
For Love of the Past
Chapter 15
Malachite paced the Garden's grounds, Aurora's future training grounds, restlessly. He shoved his hand through his long hair for probably the sixth time in as many minutes. He had not slept at all the night before. During the wee morning hours, he had briefly entertained the thought of going to Aurora, to speak with her, but decided against it. She would not want to see him, to talk to him. He had betrayed her; or at least, that's how he felt. And knew, she felt the same. His stomach twisted in yet another knot, as his mind thought, again, of what it is he had been commanded to do. He stopped his pacing, coming to rest standing in the middle of the clearing. He closed his eyes, turning his face to the sun, trying to draw strength from its light; he failed miserably. He opened his eyes when he heard the rustling of near by bushes, turning his eyes to watch as Sailor Star walked quietly into the clearing.
He could see by how pale her skin looked in the early morning sun, that she had slept just about as well as he. Looking into her eyes, he saw she, however, had spent her night preparing herself for the day ahead – unlike himself. He could do nothing more than worry, fret, and think of all that was at stake of being lost. He had expected as much from her, however, and tried desperately not to let the coldness in her eyes, the emptiness, the hollowness, affect him.
Standing tall to face her, he began - all the while, unable to shake the feeling he was standing witness to the beginning of their end.
"De-transform," he commanded her, his voice devoid of any emotion. Sailor Star looked to him quizzically, hesitating to comply with his order. "Do not think, only do," he told her, his tone sever, "De-transform." Gathering her resolve about her, Sailor Star bowed her head, closed her eyes, and concentrated. A shimmer of ruby red star dust moved down her body, as her uniform faded away, leaving Aurora in Sailor Star's place. She stood tall, facing him as herself. He began.
"Insubordination will not be tolerated. You will not question my commands again." His tone remained emotionless, despite its hardness. "You are to be trained as you are now. Neither your powers, nor mine, will be used during your training," he continued. "My orders are to executed swiftly, without hesitation. During your training, my word is the only truth you will know. Never are you to give up, and never is there to be mercy shown. The intensity of your training will only augment, until either your defeat is met on the battlefield, or mine." He paused here, and inwardly, his soul breathed in deep, trying to draw the strength to continue. He then concluded his speech. "All that lies between us now does not exist during your training. Conflicts of interest can not be allowed to arise. These are the terms of your training, as set by centuries of tradition, following in the ways of Pluto. Do you accept?"
Aurora stood silent, her gaze never wavering. She thoroughly thought his words through as she felt her heart shatter in her chest, leaving a dark void never ending. Outwardly she seemed calm, and never once did her eyes betray her. Her resolve strong, she gave her answer. "Yes," was all she said. Malachite nodded in recognition of her concurrence. "Good," he said, "Then let us begin."
* * *
Aurora learned well, over the next two years of her life, the true meaning of 'Hell on Earth.' Never could she have imagined that Malachite could be so merciless. Her training could have well been considered torture. Every day she faced Malachite, and every day he pushed her beyond all limits. When they fought, he was cold, calculating. Her lack in skill would quickly result in getting her wounded, and yet, Malachite remained unrelenting. He would continue to attack, forcing her to defend herself despite her injuries; regardless of how sever. At times, she would be forced to fight with ribs cracked, or bones broken; with deep lacerations, or suffering serious concussions.
During training to improve Aurora's physical stamina, Malachite would push her farther still, past all extremes of fatigue, of pure mental and physical exhaustion. Despite the illusion of strength she tried to uphold, at times the strain would become too much, and while struggling to defend herself, or to accomplish whichever goal Malachite had set, Aurora would breakdown into tears. Even while faced with her heart wrenching sobs, Malachite's cold, emotionless disposition would remain, commenting solely on how such weakness would work only to get her killed on the battlefield.
And yet, irrespective of all of her suffering, Aurora's skills as a warrior, did improve.
During the two years, and shortly beyond, Aurora's training, Malachite fell into an abyss so full of darkness and self-loathing, he'd doubted he would ever possess the strength to escape from it. Every morning, every night – every moment of every day – he lived hating himself. Each time her eyes filled with pain and tears, of which he knew he was the cause, it tore at him. His soul slowly withered, every time he was forced to turn away from her, forced to show her no remorse, no mercy. The truth that this training may one day save not only the life of his Queen, but her life as well, did little to console him. His world, and all he held dear, shattered and fell about him; and he was helpless to do anything, save to comply with the commands of his Queen.
Centuries later, Malachite had to concede that it was the beginning of Aurora's training which proved the most difficult. In the beginning, Aurora had still clung tenaciously to the possibility that their relationship could continue on, despite her training. Malachite had foreseen this, and was forced to make her come to terms with the reality, that what was between them, was over for as long as she trained. And to push her away, as he had done, to ignore her as he had – to deny her, his love and mere presence in her life, as he had been forced to do, broke him inside. For months she had held true to her attempts to at least keep a friendship between them, but in the face of Malachite's absolute refusal to remain a part of her life, her tenacity faded, and eventually she distanced herself from him as much as he distanced himself from her. Near the end, their only interactions came on the training grounds. To do that to her ripped Malachite's heart from his chest, and left his soul bleeding from mortal wounds. For far too many nights, Malachite would retire to his chambers, only to fall to his knees in agony for the pain he had caused his beloved Star.
But, oh, how Aurora too had suffered. Not one night went by, from the beginning of her training, to its end, that she didn't cry herself to sleep at night. Not only her soul, but her body as well, would cry out in pain and agony after each day. Looking back, Aurora would agree, that despite all of the wars she would face in her lifetimes, this time in her life was the darkest. Never had she felt so utterly alone, abandoned, and betrayed. Nothing brought her joy or happiness; nothing brought her peace. Aurora believed her very world had left her, as had her very soul, for all that remained of her inside was a wasteland; the emptiness that consumed her had been overwhelming – the emptiness and the pain. For the first time in her life, Aurora knew what it was to hate, to want to kill, and that realization had left her unnerved, and afraid of what is was she was becoming. To watch as the one she loved most in her life become, towards her, so merciless and compassionless, so unrelenting and unforgiving – to watch as he let die all of the love they had once shared, destroyed Aurora inside; completely and utterly. Loneliness took control of her life. Yet, it was this loneliness that brought her back to her Queen - to Kiaya.
Aurora aged quickly as a result of her training, and in her growing wisdom, she was able to understand the reasons behind why Kiaya had what she had. To become, fully, the Sailor Soldier she was capable of being, her training was needed. Aurora saw that with time, though it did nothing to save her soul from the purgatory to which it had been sent. However, Aurora did plan on making the best of what she could, and began her relationship with her Queen anew. A relationship, which grew rapidly, and eventually went to give Aurora the strength she needed to keep her demons at bay during the night, and the strength to carry on during the day.
Seeing the growing relationship between Aurora and his Queen, Malachite
too, began to rebuild the broken trust and lost love between himself and
Kiaya. Their relationship was not so easily repaired, however, and while
Kiaya and Malachite did, over time, bridge the gap that had grown between
them, their old relationship made new did nothing to give Malachite strength.
* * *
The dawning of Aurora's 16 birthday marked the end of her training. The past two years for Aurora had left her spirit, her heart, broken, but her body, her mind, strong and cunning. Warrior Pluto had not faired as well as she, however. Pluto had withdrawn into himself, and became as he had been before Destiny had blessed him with his Star Angel: cold, distant, dark and brooding. His mannerisms, his ways, were merciless, compassionless; life for him held only anger, emptiness; was devoid of all joy. For Malachite there was no merciful light at the end of the tunnel overwhelmed by darkness. For them both, an end to their suffering could not come fast enough. And that end was met, fast and furious.
For as all know – hell hath no fury as a woman scorned.