Chapter 16
The Legend...
The books fell into a neat pile, causing the dust to fly up in clouds around
Ruri. She waved a hand to keep the dust from entering her mouth as she said
to the others behind her, who were searching through the large shelves along
with her, "Keep looking. The title might be long the lines of legends, myths,
or history of the Moon Kingdom."
"Well, that narrows down the posiblitities," Kyoko said dryly, running
her hand along a line of books. She looked at the dust that stuck to her hand
and grimaced. "No one been here in quite a while, so how do you know the book
we need is down here?"
"MCC has a record of all the records down here and it gave me the
afferative that the book is here--though it couldn't give the exact name for
some reason--so keep looking," Ruri replied, her fingers running across the
title of the book she had on the top of the stack. Her blindness hindered her
from reading the titles, but she could still feel the letters on the covers
since they were raised.
"If you knew that from the beginning," Kyoko said, scanning the selves,
"then why didn't we do this sooner."
"Because we didn't know we might need the One of Legend," Luna said,
jumping to another case and reading the titles by hanging her head down.
Kyoko sighed, looking at the black cat, "I hope we don't."
----------
~*~
"Chibi-usa..."
The pink-haired teen bearly heard the voice through her sobbs. She had
her arms wrapped around herself, kneeling in the mist that covered the floor.
Her red eyes were closed in an effort to conceal her tears.
"Chibi-usa..." The voice was getting closer to her. "Chibi-usa..." A
moment of silence occured before the voice said, "Serenity..." The speaker
was right in front of her now.
Chibi-usa raised her tear-stained face and looked up. Before her was a
young woman with long blonde hair and troubled brown eyes. A name sprang to
Chibi-usa's mind.
"'Zukamori'...-san?" Chibi-usa questioned. For an unknown reason, she
knew this woman was to be respected.
The woman smiled. "I'm afraid that is not my real name, Serenity."
Chibi-usa looked away from her at the sound of the name. "I don't
deserve to be called that," she said hoarsely, tears falling more freely from
her eyes. Her arms tightened around herself as she sobbed, "I don't deserve
to even live!"
"Why?" The woman's voice was soft and concerned.
"I--I'm the cause for my brother's death," Chibi-usa choked out, a lump
forming in her throat from the mention of her brother, making it harder for
her to talk. "If it hadn't been for me--"
"He is not dead."
Chibi-usa jerked her head up and stared at the woman with disbeleiving
eyes.
"He is not dead, Serenity," she said again.
"Wha--what do you mean?" Chibi-usa stammered.
Before the woman could reply, a roar sounded. The two looked up in
front of them and was a huge yoma, much like the one from before, appear. It
charged towards them, it's claws flashing.
~*~
----------
"What's happening?"
Zukamrori's soft voice almost drove Adonis's concintration off, but he
remained focused. He was standing in front of MCC, which was turned off at
the moment, with Zukamori beside him. His hand were pressed against one of
it's panels, his eye closed. A soft white light came from his hands.
"They're down....in the libray," he said softly, concentrating harder.
"They're...looking for a book....one about the Legend or the One."
"Have they found it?"
Adonis opened his eye and straigthened up. "They're close to it."
Zukamori thougth about this for a moment before saying, "Think they
need a little help?"
"Not really."
----------
"This'll take forever!" Kyoko grumbled, running a hand through her white
hair.
"Still gotta try," Luna said, shrugging with her cat shoulders.
Kyoko rolled her eyes. She looked over to the shelf oppositie of her
and said, "Like it's just gonna be any old one we pick." She raised her hand
towards the shelf. One book began to glow a golden color before flying out
and landing in Kyoko's hand. She glanced at the title. Then she turned her
full attention to it. "I think I found it," she she in a hushed tone.
"What's the title?" Ruri asked, standing beside her.
"'Legends of the Moon,'" Kyoko said, reading the title.
"What did I tell you?" Luna said, surpressing a smile.
"Let's get cracking," Ruri said as Kyoko took the book and sat down at
a table.
----------
~*~
A white beam of light shot out and struck the youma in the chest. It let out
a howl of pain before it evaporated.
Chibi-usa stared at the woman, whose arm was still raised and hand
still glowing white. "How--when--why--" Chibi-usa stammered.
"It was nessicary, Serenity," the young woman said, bringing her arm
down to her side and looking at Chibi-usa. "Nemisess is trying to convice you
that the Lost Senshi will kill you once you regain conciousness."
"'Lost Senshi'?" Chibi-usa repeated, confused.
"Before I show you, you must know something," she bent down to Chibi-
usa's level. "When you wake up, whatever you see, whatever you hear, whatever
happens, you must--you *MUST*--continue on. No matter what it seems like,
believe me."
"What do you mean?" Chibi-usa asked, becoming even more confused.
"You will know when the time is right, Serenity." The woman reached out
and touched Chibi-usa's cheek, startling Chibi-usa very much. A sad look
overcame her calm exterior as she said, "You are both so much a like. So much
alike..." Chibi-usa stared at her as tears fell from the woman's brown eyes.
"So much alike..."
The woman suddenly became transparent and started to fade. "Watch, and
learn..." her voice said as she disappeared.
~*~
----------
"Read that again," Ruri said, leaning over Kyoko's shoudler.
"'The One shall lead the Warriors of the Moon to do battle with those
of Evil One--'" Kyoko started.
"Stop," Ruri said, a thoughtfull, yet worried, look on her face. "'Evil
One'?" she thought.
"Okay, Ruri. Tell me," Kyoko said, leaning back in the chair and
looking Ruri straight in the face.
"Uh, tell you what?" Ruri stammered.
"You've got that look on your face again, Ruri. Who is this 'Evil One'?
Is it Nemesiss?"
Ruri sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "If only it was,
Kyoko. Then things would be so much easier. For all of us."
"Who is it then?"
Ruri closed her eyes. "The Grave Keeper."
Kyoko stood up so fast that the chair toppled over. "Zukamori?!" Kyoko
gasped. "That can't be! Besides, if she was planning somthing like that then
I would have--"
"No. It's not her," Ruri intterupted.
"But who--"
"Have you forgotten, Kyoko?"
Kyoko turned towards the table where Luna now stood on top, flipping a
page in the book then looking at Kyoko. "The Grave Keepers are a family line,
passed down from one generation to the next. Whenever one dies, another takes
over. So far only one Keeper had existed at a time. Now, though..."
"You're saying there's another?" Kyoko said, catching on.
"Yes," Luna closed her eyes and shook her head sadly, "and no."
Kyoko scratched the back of her head. "You lost me there."
Luna sighed and looked back down at the book. She scrunched her cat
face up in thought, staring at the picture on the page. She turned the page
again. "Here it is," she said, mostly to herself. She stepped away from the
book so Kyoko could see and said, "Look at this."
Kyoko looked at the page. On it was a large, thick circle. At the top
of the pages were the faded words of the Legend. On the outer rim of the
circle were the signs of the Outer Senshi; Pluto at the top, Uranus on the
right side, Neptune on the left side, and Saturn on the bottom. Along the
inner rim of the circle were the sign of the Inner Scouts; Venus at the top,
Mercury on the right side, Mars of the left side, and Jupiter on the bottom.
Within the circle was another one, within it were the three signs of the Lost
Senshi arranged in a triangle. In the triangle was the mark of the Moon. On
top of the mark were two figures, women, each facing the other. One was
slightly larger than the other and both had a large sword in hand, swords
crossed.
"Do you know what this is, Kyoko?" Luna asked.
"No. I don't think so," Kyoko replied.
Luna pressed one cats paw to the outer circle, saying, "This represents
the Outer Senshi. This," she pointed the the inner circle, "stands for the
Inner Senshi, and the triangle," she pointed to the trianlge, "represents the
Lost Senshi. The Mark of the Moon with the two fighters on it mean that the
future of the Moon shall be decieded in a fight between the Evil One," she
pointed to the larger woman, "and...The Grave Keeper," Luna pointed to the
smaller one with an strange look on her face. "In a way this is the Legend,
Kyoko: The Outer, Inner, and Lost Senshi will have to make sure these two
will fight--or else we will all perish."
Kyoko thought to herself, She stopped, then looked back at the picture.
----------
"Will they be better this time around, Nemesiss?"
Nemesiss shivered slightly as the blonde-haired Kome entered. Her very
presence caused the cloud-being to tense in case she was in one of her moods.
"I believe so, Kome-sama," Nemesiss replied. "It all depends on how well the
Senshi are doing."
"Oh, really," Kome rolled her eyes as she sat down on a large chair in
the room. She swung her legs over one arm and leaned her back against the
other one. She watched the screen before her as it showed eight women who
were all fighting one another. "Tell me," she said, resting her head on her
fist, "how do the pathetic excuses for Senshi affect them?" She glanced over
at the screen.
Nemesiss surpressed a frustarated sigh. It knew Kome-sama was just
doing something to escape boredom, and it knew better than to not answer her.
"The Senshi," Nemesiss began for the tenth time that day, "are linked to
them," it motioned towards the screen. "They don't know of the link, so they
are not aware that the stronger they get, the stronger their oppoents are."
"All right." Kome yawned largely. "Two months," she muttered. "Two
months too long if you ask me."
"Pardon?" Nemesiss asked.
Kome shot it a warning look before saying, "Time passes too slowly."
"Two months is the soonest we can, Kome-sama." Xanatos suddenly
appeared next to Kome, who grunted ingnorantly in reply.
----------
The glass crashed as it hit the ground.
Serenity grabbed the shelf to steady herself. She shook her head
roughly, trying to clear her thoughts. "Not again," she muttered as the
tremor passed from her body, "please no..."
"Usako?" Serenity turned carefully and saw Edymion standing beside her.
"What's wrong?" he said, worried.
"Mamo-chan," Serenity said queitly, "it's coming."
"What?" he said, standing beside her.
"It's coming," she said again, turning her eyes from her husbands'.
"It's coming and we can't stop it."
"What are you talking about, Usako?" Edymion asked, placing a hand on
her shoulder. But Serenity said no more.
----------
NEXT: Serenity says something's coming, but what? Who is the young woman
Chibi-usa met in her dreams? What did she mean? Nemesiss says that the Senshi
and their counterparts are linked. Will they find out in time? Is there a way
to block the link?
__________
The Legend...
The books fell into a neat pile, causing the dust to fly up in clouds around
Ruri. She waved a hand to keep the dust from entering her mouth as she said
to the others behind her, who were searching through the large shelves along
with her, "Keep looking. The title might be long the lines of legends, myths,
or history of the Moon Kingdom."
"Well, that narrows down the posiblitities," Kyoko said dryly, running
her hand along a line of books. She looked at the dust that stuck to her hand
and grimaced. "No one been here in quite a while, so how do you know the book
we need is down here?"
"MCC has a record of all the records down here and it gave me the
afferative that the book is here--though it couldn't give the exact name for
some reason--so keep looking," Ruri replied, her fingers running across the
title of the book she had on the top of the stack. Her blindness hindered her
from reading the titles, but she could still feel the letters on the covers
since they were raised.
"If you knew that from the beginning," Kyoko said, scanning the selves,
"then why didn't we do this sooner."
"Because we didn't know we might need the One of Legend," Luna said,
jumping to another case and reading the titles by hanging her head down.
Kyoko sighed, looking at the black cat, "I hope we don't."
----------
~*~
"Chibi-usa..."
The pink-haired teen bearly heard the voice through her sobbs. She had
her arms wrapped around herself, kneeling in the mist that covered the floor.
Her red eyes were closed in an effort to conceal her tears.
"Chibi-usa..." The voice was getting closer to her. "Chibi-usa..." A
moment of silence occured before the voice said, "Serenity..." The speaker
was right in front of her now.
Chibi-usa raised her tear-stained face and looked up. Before her was a
young woman with long blonde hair and troubled brown eyes. A name sprang to
Chibi-usa's mind.
"'Zukamori'...-san?" Chibi-usa questioned. For an unknown reason, she
knew this woman was to be respected.
The woman smiled. "I'm afraid that is not my real name, Serenity."
Chibi-usa looked away from her at the sound of the name. "I don't
deserve to be called that," she said hoarsely, tears falling more freely from
her eyes. Her arms tightened around herself as she sobbed, "I don't deserve
to even live!"
"Why?" The woman's voice was soft and concerned.
"I--I'm the cause for my brother's death," Chibi-usa choked out, a lump
forming in her throat from the mention of her brother, making it harder for
her to talk. "If it hadn't been for me--"
"He is not dead."
Chibi-usa jerked her head up and stared at the woman with disbeleiving
eyes.
"He is not dead, Serenity," she said again.
"Wha--what do you mean?" Chibi-usa stammered.
Before the woman could reply, a roar sounded. The two looked up in
front of them and was a huge yoma, much like the one from before, appear. It
charged towards them, it's claws flashing.
~*~
----------
"What's happening?"
Zukamrori's soft voice almost drove Adonis's concintration off, but he
remained focused. He was standing in front of MCC, which was turned off at
the moment, with Zukamori beside him. His hand were pressed against one of
it's panels, his eye closed. A soft white light came from his hands.
"They're down....in the libray," he said softly, concentrating harder.
"They're...looking for a book....one about the Legend or the One."
"Have they found it?"
Adonis opened his eye and straigthened up. "They're close to it."
Zukamori thougth about this for a moment before saying, "Think they
need a little help?"
"Not really."
----------
"This'll take forever!" Kyoko grumbled, running a hand through her white
hair.
"Still gotta try," Luna said, shrugging with her cat shoulders.
Kyoko rolled her eyes. She looked over to the shelf oppositie of her
and said, "Like it's just gonna be any old one we pick." She raised her hand
towards the shelf. One book began to glow a golden color before flying out
and landing in Kyoko's hand. She glanced at the title. Then she turned her
full attention to it. "I think I found it," she she in a hushed tone.
"What's the title?" Ruri asked, standing beside her.
"'Legends of the Moon,'" Kyoko said, reading the title.
"What did I tell you?" Luna said, surpressing a smile.
"Let's get cracking," Ruri said as Kyoko took the book and sat down at
a table.
----------
~*~
A white beam of light shot out and struck the youma in the chest. It let out
a howl of pain before it evaporated.
Chibi-usa stared at the woman, whose arm was still raised and hand
still glowing white. "How--when--why--" Chibi-usa stammered.
"It was nessicary, Serenity," the young woman said, bringing her arm
down to her side and looking at Chibi-usa. "Nemisess is trying to convice you
that the Lost Senshi will kill you once you regain conciousness."
"'Lost Senshi'?" Chibi-usa repeated, confused.
"Before I show you, you must know something," she bent down to Chibi-
usa's level. "When you wake up, whatever you see, whatever you hear, whatever
happens, you must--you *MUST*--continue on. No matter what it seems like,
believe me."
"What do you mean?" Chibi-usa asked, becoming even more confused.
"You will know when the time is right, Serenity." The woman reached out
and touched Chibi-usa's cheek, startling Chibi-usa very much. A sad look
overcame her calm exterior as she said, "You are both so much a like. So much
alike..." Chibi-usa stared at her as tears fell from the woman's brown eyes.
"So much alike..."
The woman suddenly became transparent and started to fade. "Watch, and
learn..." her voice said as she disappeared.
~*~
----------
"Read that again," Ruri said, leaning over Kyoko's shoudler.
"'The One shall lead the Warriors of the Moon to do battle with those
of Evil One--'" Kyoko started.
"Stop," Ruri said, a thoughtfull, yet worried, look on her face. "'Evil
One'?" she thought.
"Okay, Ruri. Tell me," Kyoko said, leaning back in the chair and
looking Ruri straight in the face.
"Uh, tell you what?" Ruri stammered.
"You've got that look on your face again, Ruri. Who is this 'Evil One'?
Is it Nemesiss?"
Ruri sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "If only it was,
Kyoko. Then things would be so much easier. For all of us."
"Who is it then?"
Ruri closed her eyes. "The Grave Keeper."
Kyoko stood up so fast that the chair toppled over. "Zukamori?!" Kyoko
gasped. "That can't be! Besides, if she was planning somthing like that then
I would have--"
"No. It's not her," Ruri intterupted.
"But who--"
"Have you forgotten, Kyoko?"
Kyoko turned towards the table where Luna now stood on top, flipping a
page in the book then looking at Kyoko. "The Grave Keepers are a family line,
passed down from one generation to the next. Whenever one dies, another takes
over. So far only one Keeper had existed at a time. Now, though..."
"You're saying there's another?" Kyoko said, catching on.
"Yes," Luna closed her eyes and shook her head sadly, "and no."
Kyoko scratched the back of her head. "You lost me there."
Luna sighed and looked back down at the book. She scrunched her cat
face up in thought, staring at the picture on the page. She turned the page
again. "Here it is," she said, mostly to herself. She stepped away from the
book so Kyoko could see and said, "Look at this."
Kyoko looked at the page. On it was a large, thick circle. At the top
of the pages were the faded words of the Legend. On the outer rim of the
circle were the signs of the Outer Senshi; Pluto at the top, Uranus on the
right side, Neptune on the left side, and Saturn on the bottom. Along the
inner rim of the circle were the sign of the Inner Scouts; Venus at the top,
Mercury on the right side, Mars of the left side, and Jupiter on the bottom.
Within the circle was another one, within it were the three signs of the Lost
Senshi arranged in a triangle. In the triangle was the mark of the Moon. On
top of the mark were two figures, women, each facing the other. One was
slightly larger than the other and both had a large sword in hand, swords
crossed.
"Do you know what this is, Kyoko?" Luna asked.
"No. I don't think so," Kyoko replied.
Luna pressed one cats paw to the outer circle, saying, "This represents
the Outer Senshi. This," she pointed the the inner circle, "stands for the
Inner Senshi, and the triangle," she pointed to the trianlge, "represents the
Lost Senshi. The Mark of the Moon with the two fighters on it mean that the
future of the Moon shall be decieded in a fight between the Evil One," she
pointed to the larger woman, "and...The Grave Keeper," Luna pointed to the
smaller one with an strange look on her face. "In a way this is the Legend,
Kyoko: The Outer, Inner, and Lost Senshi will have to make sure these two
will fight--or else we will all perish."
Kyoko thought to herself, She stopped, then looked back at the picture.
----------
"Will they be better this time around, Nemesiss?"
Nemesiss shivered slightly as the blonde-haired Kome entered. Her very
presence caused the cloud-being to tense in case she was in one of her moods.
"I believe so, Kome-sama," Nemesiss replied. "It all depends on how well the
Senshi are doing."
"Oh, really," Kome rolled her eyes as she sat down on a large chair in
the room. She swung her legs over one arm and leaned her back against the
other one. She watched the screen before her as it showed eight women who
were all fighting one another. "Tell me," she said, resting her head on her
fist, "how do the pathetic excuses for Senshi affect them?" She glanced over
at the screen.
Nemesiss surpressed a frustarated sigh. It knew Kome-sama was just
doing something to escape boredom, and it knew better than to not answer her.
"The Senshi," Nemesiss began for the tenth time that day, "are linked to
them," it motioned towards the screen. "They don't know of the link, so they
are not aware that the stronger they get, the stronger their oppoents are."
"All right." Kome yawned largely. "Two months," she muttered. "Two
months too long if you ask me."
"Pardon?" Nemesiss asked.
Kome shot it a warning look before saying, "Time passes too slowly."
"Two months is the soonest we can, Kome-sama." Xanatos suddenly
appeared next to Kome, who grunted ingnorantly in reply.
----------
The glass crashed as it hit the ground.
Serenity grabbed the shelf to steady herself. She shook her head
roughly, trying to clear her thoughts. "Not again," she muttered as the
tremor passed from her body, "please no..."
"Usako?" Serenity turned carefully and saw Edymion standing beside her.
"What's wrong?" he said, worried.
"Mamo-chan," Serenity said queitly, "it's coming."
"What?" he said, standing beside her.
"It's coming," she said again, turning her eyes from her husbands'.
"It's coming and we can't stop it."
"What are you talking about, Usako?" Edymion asked, placing a hand on
her shoulder. But Serenity said no more.
----------
NEXT: Serenity says something's coming, but what? Who is the young woman
Chibi-usa met in her dreams? What did she mean? Nemesiss says that the Senshi
and their counterparts are linked. Will they find out in time? Is there a way
to block the link?
__________