Author's Note: ::Sits back and licks her lips:: I love turkey day! To add spice to my holiday, we got snow the day before (this used to say yesterday, but I haven't been able to get this posted) and school was canceled! (This means an extra day of vacation.) And Seniors don't have to make up snow days! Hahahahahahaha! ::computer sweatdrops:: Oops. Err, what I meant to say was 'how nice!' Without further ado, the fic!
Ayeka's feet seemed to be in agreement with Odin's as they walked into the center of the garden. They sat on a sheltered bench and Ayeka finally gathered the courage to look into Odin's eyes again. He was crying. She reached out and wiped them away. He caught her hand and kissed it. "Ayeka, you have no idea how hard it's been. While we're powerful, we are still just Guardians when compared to your power."
She looked away and her hand dropped into her lap. "I'm—not as powerful as I used to be, Odin. Maybe I still have the power to hold my own in a fight against you, but Ryoko could pound me into the ground."
Odin blinked in surprise. "What? How—"
Ayeka put a finger to his lips, silencing him. "Please listen, Odin, I don't want to have to repeat this." She took a deep breath and looked around as if the flowers would help her find the words. "When I was alive before, I decided the power I had was too much for one sentient being—"
"Ayeka, we know all about that—" Odin started.
She held up a hand. "Please let me finish," she said quietly. He sighed. "I went into deep meditation and created over a million different seeds of life. I sent them out into the universe, but a select few refused to go. In my weakness, I had used my life energy to create these last few, and they were too close to me to go any distance. By this time I realized Terra was falling into ruin, and the planet itself was in distress. My power crippled, I sent Terra's only hope for salvation to the moon, because I thought I could still handle it on my own." Ayeka took a shaky breath. "That was my first mistake as a mortal."
Odin watched Ayeka's face and posture closely. She was deeply ashamed about something. "Odin, I wasn't strong enough to purge Terra, so I—" Ayeka's voice failed her. Odin reached out to offer support, but she scooted out of arm's reach and continued. "I drew on my connection to Ryoko and sent her into the tomb where I had been sleeping. I wasn't sure how reincarnation worked, and one of us had to survive to find the others. It didn't occur to me that by doing this she'd sleep until woken up, and who would know to look for her?
"I took—stole—your power and that of Tsunami and Washu and used it to preserved a section of the planet's surface. With you three dead, the darkness went rampant, and I destroyed it all. Every leaf, every child, every mother, with the exception of a few of my relatives who went to the moon. How my necklace became a vessel for power, I'm not sure. It's rather confusing, but the Senshi don't require their transformation pens any more than I do. The power is in them, but only Pluto and Saturn seem to be capable of transforming without assistance."
Odin waited a moment to be sure she was done, then said, "Ayeka, what's really wrong? What you did can't be what's troubling you."
She smiled half-heartedly and wiped a tear from her cheek. "Well, there was that one thing I never told you…"
He felt pulled. "What?"
She swallowed and whispered, "I was pregnant with our firstborn when I self-destructed."
Serenity felt a little awkward, sitting at the long table. It was a plate of black glass held up by a twisted vine growing from the floor. To her right were her friends, the Senshi, going down one side. To her left at the head of the table was Queen Ayeka. Opposite Serenity sat a mature woman with dark green hair, two young women she couldn't recognize, and an elderly woman in black. (A widow?) And beside them were the four Guardians from earlier. It was rather esteemed company, even by Serenity's standards.
Ayeka rested her hands in her lap and sat very regally on her throne. She looked at the people at the table and said, "I have gathered you all here to discuss the issue of the threat to our solar system. When I last had the means to check the planets for HE, there was no reason to. Now I must turn to all of you."
Washu narrowed her eyes. "What are you taking about, Ayeka?"
Ayeka's eyes flashed. "You will address me properly, Guardian."
The genius looked like a child with her hand caught in the cookie jar. "Yes, Your Majesty, forgive me." Ayeka nodded.
"I'm talking about all of you. Your power used to be mine, just because I've been reborn doesn't mean I get everything back." Washu sat back, understanding. Ayeka turned to look at the girls to her left. "Neptune, Uranus, Pluto, I hope you can visit your homes in safety to check for HIS influence." The green-hared lady and two girls nodded. Then Ayeka looked at the old woman in black. "Saturn, I will see to it that your planet is searched, and its moons." The old woman nodded.
Ayeka then turned to Serenity, who gulped. "Queen Serenity, as the daughter of my close friend, I hope to find a friend in you as well. I must apologize for your prolonged lifespan, but as children of my soul, you inherited part of my immortality." She gave each of the Inner Senshi a good look and asked, "Will each of you travel to your respective homes and check them? It is safe to say Earth's aura keeps the shadows away, but the moon and Terra are known to have them. Once we're sure the other planets are clear and that this evil was birthed on this world, we can plan a defense." She looked around the table and stood. The others stood. "I trust this can be done soon so we may formulate a plan within one generation."
The Senshi shared looks. A generation? "Is it really going to take that long?" Kikyo asked Mimi. Saturn, the elderly Hotaru, laughed.
"Hardly! She's just leaving me that much time to die and pass my powers on to someone else." This didn't seem to disturb Hotaru as much as it did the youngsters. Pluto, Setsuna, looked at the doors Ayeka had just left through. Her mouth was a thin line, and her eyes were hard. She started for the door.
"Don't, Setsuna," Odin said commandingly. She turned. He looked just as stern, but his eyes were on fire. "The Queen is aware of the impact of her actions, and I agree with her judgment. She may be mortal, but her memory goes back way beyond yours."
The other occupants of the room watched the two carry out a staring contest until Setsuna turned away and stomped out of the hall. Hotaru got to her feet and started to slowly make her way to the opposite doors. Serenity and her troupe watched the two Outer Senshi as they watched them and tried to figure out how to approach them. "Sailors Neptune and Uranus?" she said finally, holding out a hand to the couple, not entirely sure which was which.
The blond stared at Serenity's hand, but the turquoise-eyed one took it and smiled. "I'm Yoko, this is Ki. Don't mind her, she's always playing it tough." Yoko looked at the empty throne and said, "It's hard to imagine anyone older than Setsuna, but it's possible."
She cast a glance at the four Guardians, who were turning heads and looking at one another as if a conversation were going on without words. Telepathy? (We have a winner! You get a cookie! J )
Yoko leaned forward and whispered to Serenity, "Setsuna let it slip once that Odin and the Queen used to have a thing for each other. It makes sense since he's the only male she's ever given power to."
Serenity blinked. It was true, Odin was the only guy. This didn't seem to bother him, indeed, he seemed blind to Kikyo's open infatuation and that he was surrounded by beautiful women. Serenity sighed. "My parents were in love when the Moon Kingdom fell all those millennia ago, and met again in this life. It was a fantasy romance on a colony, I think. I just wish there was someone that perfect for me."
Yoko rolled her eyes. "Don't we all."
Ayeka looked at the view of Earth and the Moon and mentally grinned. In this purely energetic form, she had no lips to smile with, but the feeling was there. There were fewer colonies than before, and a quick peek at Earth told her that humans were back. Out of curiosity, she searched the northern hemisphere for one place in particular. There! She gazed down at the house of her childhood, with her parents. She missed her dad terribly, and all of her friends.
She came back to herself and opened her physical eyes. Yes, Earth was safe. The moon only had a small surface infection of HE, the Senshi had done well. Still, Terra seemed to have a whole in its aura. The evil presence was strong in a few select locations and undetectable at any distance form these concentrations. This disturbed her, because the shadows should have been moving on to infect other places. HE was waiting for something.
Ayeka sat back and felt the throne wrap her up with its strong branches. Yes, sleep, sleep to recover, sleep to recover her drained powers to their fullest.
The only problem was that she didn't know how long it would take.
Odin looked at the picture on his desk and sighed. It was his parents when they were young, standing in front of his father's Gundam. The times had changed, and mobile suits were now obsolete technology. Mankind was prepared for a peaceful existence, as long as HE kept away. It disturbed Odin that the ancient being had survived Terra's destruction and returned with the planet. What would his father have done in his position?
He snorted. Heero probably would've put a gun in his pocket and taken a hover car out to the nearest infestation. The gun would've done nothing, but it was all his father would've known to do. Odin looked away from that picture and gazed out the window. The light outside came in his window and hit the prism he'd put there. It flashed and momentarily blinded him.
When the sunspots cleared, Odin jumped to his feet. His office was gone, replaced with an eerie wasteland of gray dust. On the ground lay the dust-covered body of his beloved Ayeka. He ran over and knelt beside her. He touched her arm and snatched it back. She was stone! On her hard, gray cheek shone a single diamond. Odin frowned, something about that tear teased his memory, hinting at something. A diamond tear…it had to be important…this was a vision…but was it merely symbolic?
Suddenly he was back in his office, holding the prism in his hand. He'd risen from his desk and was standing at the window. Why was he holding a prism—! Did Ayeka have a tear on her cheek now? Odin ran from his office, startling the secretary outside and almost knocking over an intern. Apologizing, he ran on.
Down the hall and to the right, was Ayeka's office. Beyond that was her private quarters. He had to find her now! Odin burst into the outer office, startling a few people. Then he ran on into the Queen's inner office and shut the door.
Ayeka looked up at him, startled. There, on her left cheek, hidden before by a simple spell, was the tear. It had been all the way down her cheek in his vision, but right now it was just an inch from her eye. She met his eyes and then looked at her desk. "Why, Ayeka? Why didn't you tell me you could regain your powers?" he demanded.
She got up from her seat, pearly robes flowing and shimmering as she walked to the tall windows along one wall. "How did you figure it out?" she asked, crossing her arms as she looked out the window.
Odin stood firm. "I had a vision, and this helped," he held up the prism and she was forced to turn and look. Ayeka's lips twitched.
"So, as long as this diamond remains on my face, my powers will be scattered and sorted into different types. That is your conclusion?" Odin nodded. Ayeka smiled and turned back to her desk. "That is precisely correct."
Odin strode up to her desk and slammed the prism down on it as Ayeka sat once more. "Why did you lie to us? Why didn't you tell us we were going to lose our powers?"
Ayeka froze. "So this is about power." She seemed to change, her almost teasing attitude shifted to something less friendly. "Do you not want to lose your powers, Guardian? Do you feel enraged because it will be taken from you?"
Odin noticed the change in tone. "That's not my problem. The power isn't mine, you gave it to me, Your Majesty, and you can have it back. I would feel no pain in living a normal life, but these people have come to depend on themselves to protect the ones they love and their people. On top of that, you lied to us!"
The Queen of Terra folded her hands on the desk and said, "I did not choose the ambitious to be my Guardians and seed holders, but I am relieved to hear that." She reached out and picked up the prism. Rainbows played over her face as she said, "The restoration of my power will not mean the end of yours. A lifetime separates me from all of you, and has made each of you more independent. As for the lie…"
Ayeka closed her hand with the prism in it and opened it. It was still a prism. "When I have fully recovered, which should be soon, I will cleanse the Moon Kingdom of its taint from HE and then turn on Terra. His shadows aren't moving, they haven't stirred since I awoke, and that means HE is waiting for something. I don't plan on giving him a chance." She handed the prism back to Odin and met his eyes. "When that turns into a diamond, my power will have been restored, for transformation is the highest of my powers."
Odin nodded, and bowed. He turned and was just about to leave through the door when Ayeka said, "You can see my secret because you know about it. Don't tell the others." He walked out.
HE shifted in his dark palace. Loyal shadows, given life by him so they might move for themselves, surrounded him and soothed his nerves. Ever since that thrice-cursed bitch returned to the throne he hadn't been able to leave his abode because of the pain it caused him. It was a new pain, different from that of light. Why couldn't he go abroad as he used to, and walk among the Terrans as if he were one of them? Before this had been his favorite past-time, but now it was a new enemy he faced.
Somehow, Terra had made smaller and weaker versions of herself just as he had. Why had she taken up such a strategy when it had failed him before? One thing was certain; this would be a new game. HE just wondered who the main players would be.
"Yes!" Serenity smiled and skipped, her pink hair bobbing up and down. Nari (Venus) stuck her tongue out at her monarch and made threatening gestures with her croquette mallet. From a distance, Ayeka and Setsuna watched the young heroes run around trying to knock each other out with their lawn ornament of choice.
Setsuna looked at Ayeka to try and get an idea what the queen was feeling. The red eyes looked down and the queen said, "I was like that for over a billion years, and the universe has that many fewer planets and galaxies thanks to my younger years." Setsuna looked back at the young Senshi below in the garden. "Sometime I wish my immaturity had lasted longer, or that I had never woken up and remained Ayeka Maxwell. Surely you feel the same from time to time."
Setsuna nodded. "Yes, often I wish the Pluto power had found another host, but that is just the way or mortals. We often yearn for what we know we cannot have."
Ayeka sighed and turned from the window. She sat at her desk and said, "I expect to be back at full power in a few weeks. Saturn will not be joining us in our battle, and the Senshi will have to follow Serenity and you in their fight against HE's army. HE doesn't know that my plan is to meet him as an equal."
Pluto frowned. "Is that wise? If you split us up, without Saturn, and go off with the Guardians to fight HE—"
Ayeka glared daggers at Setsuna. "I know, do not forget whose power of foreboding you have. While you have had thousands of years to hone it, I have had longer. I died because I became weak, mortal. Soon I'll be back to my old self and HE will be contained."
Setsuna didn't know what to say to this. "Contained? HE cannot be destroyed?"
The queen shook her head. "To destroy him would be unwise, it would leave a gap for an even greater evil to fill." Her image in the high-backed chair was one of near perfection. Setsuna had noticed that as Ayeka's strength returned, she had changed and become more distant. Slowly, Terra's queen was becoming more and more like a god than a Senshi. While it should have made her feel better to know her queen was the most powerful being in the universe, Setsuna couldn't ignore what her Pluto powers were emphatically telling her was to happen. This was Ayeka, Sailor Terra, not a regular Senshi. How could a god die?
Odin picked up a towel and dried off his face. It felt good to run, he enjoyed the physical exertion and didn't teleport everywhere like his peers. Of course, Ryoko was part demon from outside the solar system, Tsunami was incredibly wise, and Washu was a genius. He was just Odin, a few extra abilities normal humans didn't have and a strange inability to age. "Ehem," said a voice. Odin looked down at Washu.
"Hello, Washu, what is it?" he asked.
Washu motioned for him to follow her and led Odin off into a dark area of the garden. She looked worried. "Odin, are you aware that Ayeka is regaining all of her lost powers?"
Odin nodded.
Washu crossed her arms and said, "There are a couple of problems with that. One, is that having that much power is just asking for trouble. Pluto has been dropping heavy hints that something bad is coming for Ayeka that the queen insists on ignoring. The second is…" she leaned forward and Odin bent down to hear. Washu brought up her hand and whispered, "The only reason Ayeka could love you was she was mortal, with a mortal's heart. I bet you've noticed, but her personality isn't all that has changed. Ayeka is quickly becoming a pure being once more, and could not conceive children even if she wanted to."
Odin closed his eyes and turned his face up into the sun's surprisingly warm light. He felt no tears or sadness, just a deep ache. Through no fault of his own, he was losing Ayeka. Slowly, but surely, she had been drifting away from all of them. The only person she talked to for any length of time was Setsuna, and even then only sporadically. She had already taken over his, Tsunami's, Ryoko's, and Washu's responsibilities. Her office hours were 24/7. Odin realized he couldn't remember seeing or hearing about her getting a meal or any sleep in recent months.
Washu left him to his musings. Odin stood there in the sun, asking himself; what could threaten a god?
Author's Note: Yes, as you might have guessed, my online service hasn't worked for about two weeks, now. I don't feel like I can add any more to this chapter without it being the ending. I AM SO SORRY FOR THE DELAY!