Disclaimer: No own Sailor Moon! Belongs to the
almighty and wonderful Naoko Takeuchi.
Fate's Will:
Chapter 11: Family Lost, Family Found
"Onii-san…"
The word rang through his mind, not quite
grasping the nearly absurd thought. The rapid
extrapolations he came up with drizzled through
his mind like honey on porridge, slowly seeping
into the depths of his soul, his very essence.
"Who are you?" Gyokuren stammered,
quivering. He desperately held onto the single
shred of sanity amidst the chaos raging in his
confused mind.
The grayish flicks in Corona's depths
shifted slightly to a duller color in
perplexity. Her shoulders dropped in partial
acknowledgement. Gyokuren didn't remember.
She let out a deep, shuddering breath,
containing the fury she had exhibited in the
wrathful display before. However, the
disappointment was painfully etched across her
pale features.
He'd forgotten...the reality hit her like
a ten pound brick squarely on the face. It was
all right, really, she consoled herself. Eons
of solitude didn't frighten her so much these
days. Another eon or two wouldn't frighten
her...no, it would drive her mad. This
situation had crossed her mind at least once
during her solitary existence. She had
accepted these possibilities, for if she had
not, her only shreds of sanity would become
non-existent in the empty world of her
consciousness. However, she'd found out that
there was no way to extinguish the bitterness
that had starved her soul and choked her
compassion out of existence. The two terms
were nothing but a memory, a figment of her
long-gone imagination. The difficulty was, she
was the same in the complex mind of Gyokuren,
her one time brother.
Gyokuren, she was sure it was him. The gold-
gilded curls, the storm-cloud eyes that swirled
into infinity and beyond, the face of a saint.
She wouldn't mistake another for her brother.
She knew when she saw him. Her smoldering eyes
brightened in recognition.
She held him by the face gently,
searching for the family member long lost.
"Gyokuren, I know you're in there," she
whispered, looking for the older brother she
once knew who would gladly shoot down apples
with his bow and arrow in the bright forests of
their homeland. Her eyes zoomed in on the blue
flicks within his eyes, a magnification that
was invisible to the human eye.
There, she saw it...tiny little blue flecks
dancing in a sparkling sea of gray. Each
seemed that they could be plucked out like
stars in the vast expanse of the night sky.
She was still waiting for the dawn to peak out
in the dimmed horizon.
Gyokuren blinked in confusion. What was
this madwoman talking about? He mused,
thoughts traveling a hundred miles per second,
challenging even the fastest zephyrs on
Neptune. Somehow, he managed to keep that
cool, collected façade plastered on his face.
Corona took a deep breath, regurgitating
all the information she had fed Serenity
earlier. Gyokuren, surprisingly, took this all
in with a steady attitude, and was neither
swerved nor surprised by the information that
seemed to sprout from a fairy tale spun from
her mind.
He was her brother all right. Somehow,
Gyokuren always had the ability to look
unruffled by things, even things that were
important as these.
"Gyokuren, listen to me," she pleaded.
"I'm your younger sister, Corona..."
He shook his head, almost...reluctantly.
"No, I don't know a Corona." He continued in a
monotone, voice strangely steady. "I don't
know about any place called Corinithe! I don't
know about the moon kingdom! I don't know
anything about having a family!"
Tears streamed unwillingly down his eyes;
it was his first time crying in many, many
years. His teeth were clenched together as he
sank to his knees, crying like a small child
who's wracking sobs echoed throughout the void-
like corridor.
Corona took hold of his forehead once
more, keeping him there with a vise-like grip.
If there was one advantage in being telepathic,
it was this...
"I'm sorry it had to come to this," she
whispered brokenly. Gyokuren, who swore that
this woman had no feelings, no compassion, no
respect, saw subtle tears slip quietly down her
high cheekbones.
Then the pain started...
It was as if one was tearing his brain
apart and inserting all the knowledge that was
not meant to be absorbed in one day, let alone
one moment in time. His head felt like it was
about to burst, but it was nothing like the
searing heat that tore through the core of his
existence. Images ravaged his mind, images
that he could not explain, instances that
seemed nothing more than a sophisticated,
computer altered image.
An image of a small child, who seemed to
look so much like a smaller version of Corona,
stood amidst a sparkling green meadow.
A young man, who looked remarkably akin
to himself with a bow and arrow clasped in his
hands during a tourney of some sort.
There was a green crystal mineral that
hung around the neck like a pendant on someone
who looked very regal. Courtiers surrounded
around the base of the richly decorated throne
that he sat upon.
A green star that shone brightly in the
night sky, standing out among the other white-
light stars...
Wait...a green star?
There, he pinpointed. It was something
that he recognized today and held onto the
thought desperately. It was an object in his
current life, one that he was familiar with and
one that he knew could trust. That image would
keep him from teetering over the edge of
insanity.
"I'm sorry, Onii-chan, I'm sorry, I'm
sorry..." He heard Corona whisper over and over
again, somewhat akin to a breathy a broken
record. The tears had multiplied, streaming
freely down her face.
His little sister...
"I never meant to make you cry," he said
quietly, somehow breaking free from her
entrancing gaze.
His hands grasped her shoulders, as he
performed much the same staring ritual as she
did with him. The tears gathering along the
corners of her bloodshot eyes halted en route
to the ground. Then, he uttered the words that
she longed to hear since the destruction of
their world and luxurious lifestyle on
Corinthe;
"I finally found you, Imouto-chan..."
***
"I thought this would happen," the
professor reappeared suddenly behind the
siblings who were currently bound in a tight
bear hug. The two siblings turned to face the
professor, who seemed to look more dignified
than before. Standing behind him were five
Senshi, and the two heirs of the Lunarian and
Terran kingdoms in full royal regalia. Not a
single scratch appeared on their ethereal
skins.
Gyokuren's eyebrows furrowed in
puzzlement. Weren't they hurt the last time he
saw them? He turned to the professor,
"Counselor Vega?" The professor nodded gravely
in reply.
"Your highness?"
Corona pointed an accusatory finger at
the professor, pressing upon his guilt. "You
knew all along, didn't you?" Her voice raised
several decibels. She was never known to be
fond of deception or incompetence.
Vega/Professor nodded slowly, as if
rejecting the facts so plainly pointed out to
him. "Please, upon my honor as a scribe and
advisor, I promised Queen Serenity that I would
not interfere."
"Why?" Corona sputtered outrageously.
"Why would you do something like THAT? For
THEM?" The rage which she so desperately
sought to control began to flare up once again.
"Corona, they didn't destroy our home,"
It was Gyokuren who spoke, an odd distant look
appeared in his eyes, recounting the last
moments of his past life. "On the contrary,
the Lunars tried to save us."
Corona shook her head stubbornly,
rejecting the fact.
"Trust me, sister, I was there," he
soothed, as she sought out any deception in his
eyes, yet found none. During one fleeting,
momentary instance, she could read the pain so
obviously etched across his angelic features.
He had died nobly on the battlefield...
Reluctantly, she nodded, still clinging onto the beliefs that fueled
her seemingly endless rage.
She seemed to come up with more ideas of
her own, however. "Why would Queen Serenity
want you to save me?"
Vega sighed. "You were beyond saving.
You were already corrupted by dark power by the
time I heard the news of our homeland in the
embassy on the moon. Her majesty recommended
that you should heal your own wounds, since you
seemed to be the only one capable of doing so.
So, instead, I was sent to earth, searching for
the second reincarnation of your brother. It
was my duty to make sure he survived and didn't
get himself into too many scrapes."
Gyokuren snorted. Obviously, he was
quite the misbehaved child in his younger
years.
"So, I'd lurk around the shadows,
watching out for Gyokuren."
When the one-time royal counselor was
greeted with an empty silence, he commented
wryly, "Rest assured, Gyokuren kept me busy.
That boy never stopped getting into scrapes."
The aforementioned individual blushed, crimson
spilling over his cheeks.
"I'm sorry, for any trouble that we may
have caused you in the past," came Serenity's
voice, oddly serene. There was no hint of any
other negative emotion. "We would never
intentionally harm you." Endymion stood by her
side, supporting her from falling. Apparently,
the strange transformation to their alter egos
had drained her of whatever energy she kept in
reserve.
Corona was silent.
"She's not ready to accept it yet. Give
her some time, princess," Vega motioned, glassy
eyes going gray. Solemnly, Serenity nodded,
golden head bobbing once curtly.
"We should be on our way," the reigning
heir of the long lost kingdom of Jupiter
remarked. Makoto stood, towering above them
all in her snowy toga clasped with an antique
brooch. "I don't think we can keep this form
up any longer." Everyone nodded agreeably,
parting their own ways for the time being.
Corona performed her duty, and sent them back
to the ally where she plucked them from
earlier, prior to the battle.
De-transformed, they looked rather
haggard in their civilian forms. It was as if
they had dragged themselves through sharp
debris; the cuts and welts staining their
clothes.
"I'm just going to go home," Usagi
announced for all to hear. "I don't have as
many blood wounds as the rest of you do. Get
well soon, ne, minna?" She managed a crooked
grin before hobbling back to home and
civilization.
A hand grasped her arm tightly to support
her. She paused midway in her tracks. "Let
go, Mamoru," she whispered brokenly, refusing
to let the tears escape the confines of her
eyes. She felt him tighten his grip, intent on
keeping her with him for the rest of eternity.
She could sense him gazing at the back of her
head imploringly.
She had other plans in mind, however.
Bowing her head low, she stared at the
cold, unwelcoming ground with hooded eyes.
Without a word, she wrenched herself free from
his grasp and ran out of sight.
***
plot mover. Blech. Mizu no like!!! ::makes
gagging motions::
Next chapter will be better! (hopefully...)
Also considering that the next chapter will be
the last... ::cues in the orchestra:: dun dun
duuuunnnn... bwahahaha!!!
Nevermind...
It'll probably come out later tonight. ^_~
-mizu
April 7/01
almighty and wonderful Naoko Takeuchi.
Fate's Will:
Chapter 11: Family Lost, Family Found
"Onii-san…"
The word rang through his mind, not quite
grasping the nearly absurd thought. The rapid
extrapolations he came up with drizzled through
his mind like honey on porridge, slowly seeping
into the depths of his soul, his very essence.
"Who are you?" Gyokuren stammered,
quivering. He desperately held onto the single
shred of sanity amidst the chaos raging in his
confused mind.
The grayish flicks in Corona's depths
shifted slightly to a duller color in
perplexity. Her shoulders dropped in partial
acknowledgement. Gyokuren didn't remember.
She let out a deep, shuddering breath,
containing the fury she had exhibited in the
wrathful display before. However, the
disappointment was painfully etched across her
pale features.
He'd forgotten...the reality hit her like
a ten pound brick squarely on the face. It was
all right, really, she consoled herself. Eons
of solitude didn't frighten her so much these
days. Another eon or two wouldn't frighten
her...no, it would drive her mad. This
situation had crossed her mind at least once
during her solitary existence. She had
accepted these possibilities, for if she had
not, her only shreds of sanity would become
non-existent in the empty world of her
consciousness. However, she'd found out that
there was no way to extinguish the bitterness
that had starved her soul and choked her
compassion out of existence. The two terms
were nothing but a memory, a figment of her
long-gone imagination. The difficulty was, she
was the same in the complex mind of Gyokuren,
her one time brother.
Gyokuren, she was sure it was him. The gold-
gilded curls, the storm-cloud eyes that swirled
into infinity and beyond, the face of a saint.
She wouldn't mistake another for her brother.
She knew when she saw him. Her smoldering eyes
brightened in recognition.
She held him by the face gently,
searching for the family member long lost.
"Gyokuren, I know you're in there," she
whispered, looking for the older brother she
once knew who would gladly shoot down apples
with his bow and arrow in the bright forests of
their homeland. Her eyes zoomed in on the blue
flicks within his eyes, a magnification that
was invisible to the human eye.
There, she saw it...tiny little blue flecks
dancing in a sparkling sea of gray. Each
seemed that they could be plucked out like
stars in the vast expanse of the night sky.
She was still waiting for the dawn to peak out
in the dimmed horizon.
Gyokuren blinked in confusion. What was
this madwoman talking about? He mused,
thoughts traveling a hundred miles per second,
challenging even the fastest zephyrs on
Neptune. Somehow, he managed to keep that
cool, collected façade plastered on his face.
Corona took a deep breath, regurgitating
all the information she had fed Serenity
earlier. Gyokuren, surprisingly, took this all
in with a steady attitude, and was neither
swerved nor surprised by the information that
seemed to sprout from a fairy tale spun from
her mind.
He was her brother all right. Somehow,
Gyokuren always had the ability to look
unruffled by things, even things that were
important as these.
"Gyokuren, listen to me," she pleaded.
"I'm your younger sister, Corona..."
He shook his head, almost...reluctantly.
"No, I don't know a Corona." He continued in a
monotone, voice strangely steady. "I don't
know about any place called Corinithe! I don't
know about the moon kingdom! I don't know
anything about having a family!"
Tears streamed unwillingly down his eyes;
it was his first time crying in many, many
years. His teeth were clenched together as he
sank to his knees, crying like a small child
who's wracking sobs echoed throughout the void-
like corridor.
Corona took hold of his forehead once
more, keeping him there with a vise-like grip.
If there was one advantage in being telepathic,
it was this...
"I'm sorry it had to come to this," she
whispered brokenly. Gyokuren, who swore that
this woman had no feelings, no compassion, no
respect, saw subtle tears slip quietly down her
high cheekbones.
Then the pain started...
It was as if one was tearing his brain
apart and inserting all the knowledge that was
not meant to be absorbed in one day, let alone
one moment in time. His head felt like it was
about to burst, but it was nothing like the
searing heat that tore through the core of his
existence. Images ravaged his mind, images
that he could not explain, instances that
seemed nothing more than a sophisticated,
computer altered image.
An image of a small child, who seemed to
look so much like a smaller version of Corona,
stood amidst a sparkling green meadow.
A young man, who looked remarkably akin
to himself with a bow and arrow clasped in his
hands during a tourney of some sort.
There was a green crystal mineral that
hung around the neck like a pendant on someone
who looked very regal. Courtiers surrounded
around the base of the richly decorated throne
that he sat upon.
A green star that shone brightly in the
night sky, standing out among the other white-
light stars...
Wait...a green star?
There, he pinpointed. It was something
that he recognized today and held onto the
thought desperately. It was an object in his
current life, one that he was familiar with and
one that he knew could trust. That image would
keep him from teetering over the edge of
insanity.
"I'm sorry, Onii-chan, I'm sorry, I'm
sorry..." He heard Corona whisper over and over
again, somewhat akin to a breathy a broken
record. The tears had multiplied, streaming
freely down her face.
His little sister...
"I never meant to make you cry," he said
quietly, somehow breaking free from her
entrancing gaze.
His hands grasped her shoulders, as he
performed much the same staring ritual as she
did with him. The tears gathering along the
corners of her bloodshot eyes halted en route
to the ground. Then, he uttered the words that
she longed to hear since the destruction of
their world and luxurious lifestyle on
Corinthe;
"I finally found you, Imouto-chan..."
***
"I thought this would happen," the
professor reappeared suddenly behind the
siblings who were currently bound in a tight
bear hug. The two siblings turned to face the
professor, who seemed to look more dignified
than before. Standing behind him were five
Senshi, and the two heirs of the Lunarian and
Terran kingdoms in full royal regalia. Not a
single scratch appeared on their ethereal
skins.
Gyokuren's eyebrows furrowed in
puzzlement. Weren't they hurt the last time he
saw them? He turned to the professor,
"Counselor Vega?" The professor nodded gravely
in reply.
"Your highness?"
Corona pointed an accusatory finger at
the professor, pressing upon his guilt. "You
knew all along, didn't you?" Her voice raised
several decibels. She was never known to be
fond of deception or incompetence.
Vega/Professor nodded slowly, as if
rejecting the facts so plainly pointed out to
him. "Please, upon my honor as a scribe and
advisor, I promised Queen Serenity that I would
not interfere."
"Why?" Corona sputtered outrageously.
"Why would you do something like THAT? For
THEM?" The rage which she so desperately
sought to control began to flare up once again.
"Corona, they didn't destroy our home,"
It was Gyokuren who spoke, an odd distant look
appeared in his eyes, recounting the last
moments of his past life. "On the contrary,
the Lunars tried to save us."
Corona shook her head stubbornly,
rejecting the fact.
"Trust me, sister, I was there," he
soothed, as she sought out any deception in his
eyes, yet found none. During one fleeting,
momentary instance, she could read the pain so
obviously etched across his angelic features.
He had died nobly on the battlefield...
Reluctantly, she nodded, still clinging onto the beliefs that fueled
her seemingly endless rage.
She seemed to come up with more ideas of
her own, however. "Why would Queen Serenity
want you to save me?"
Vega sighed. "You were beyond saving.
You were already corrupted by dark power by the
time I heard the news of our homeland in the
embassy on the moon. Her majesty recommended
that you should heal your own wounds, since you
seemed to be the only one capable of doing so.
So, instead, I was sent to earth, searching for
the second reincarnation of your brother. It
was my duty to make sure he survived and didn't
get himself into too many scrapes."
Gyokuren snorted. Obviously, he was
quite the misbehaved child in his younger
years.
"So, I'd lurk around the shadows,
watching out for Gyokuren."
When the one-time royal counselor was
greeted with an empty silence, he commented
wryly, "Rest assured, Gyokuren kept me busy.
That boy never stopped getting into scrapes."
The aforementioned individual blushed, crimson
spilling over his cheeks.
"I'm sorry, for any trouble that we may
have caused you in the past," came Serenity's
voice, oddly serene. There was no hint of any
other negative emotion. "We would never
intentionally harm you." Endymion stood by her
side, supporting her from falling. Apparently,
the strange transformation to their alter egos
had drained her of whatever energy she kept in
reserve.
Corona was silent.
"She's not ready to accept it yet. Give
her some time, princess," Vega motioned, glassy
eyes going gray. Solemnly, Serenity nodded,
golden head bobbing once curtly.
"We should be on our way," the reigning
heir of the long lost kingdom of Jupiter
remarked. Makoto stood, towering above them
all in her snowy toga clasped with an antique
brooch. "I don't think we can keep this form
up any longer." Everyone nodded agreeably,
parting their own ways for the time being.
Corona performed her duty, and sent them back
to the ally where she plucked them from
earlier, prior to the battle.
De-transformed, they looked rather
haggard in their civilian forms. It was as if
they had dragged themselves through sharp
debris; the cuts and welts staining their
clothes.
"I'm just going to go home," Usagi
announced for all to hear. "I don't have as
many blood wounds as the rest of you do. Get
well soon, ne, minna?" She managed a crooked
grin before hobbling back to home and
civilization.
A hand grasped her arm tightly to support
her. She paused midway in her tracks. "Let
go, Mamoru," she whispered brokenly, refusing
to let the tears escape the confines of her
eyes. She felt him tighten his grip, intent on
keeping her with him for the rest of eternity.
She could sense him gazing at the back of her
head imploringly.
She had other plans in mind, however.
Bowing her head low, she stared at the
cold, unwelcoming ground with hooded eyes.
Without a word, she wrenched herself free from
his grasp and ran out of sight.
***
plot mover. Blech. Mizu no like!!! ::makes
gagging motions::
Next chapter will be better! (hopefully...)
Also considering that the next chapter will be
the last... ::cues in the orchestra:: dun dun
duuuunnnn... bwahahaha!!!
Nevermind...
It'll probably come out later tonight. ^_~
-mizu
April 7/01