Silver Millennium Life Bonds
Rocky Oberlin
Chapter 4
The rating has been upped to PG due to a couple of swear words and a slightly violent scene.
Disclaimer: Christmas is almost over and I didn't get either Sailor Moon or Ronins Warriors. Oh, well.
I was asked by one person to share the dreams everyone had, so I'll do my best. I write this as I go so it comes off the top of my head and with some suggestions I get. I want to thank everyone who reviews it makes my day.
Sleep came to everyone in the house, but dreams were waiting for them. Even the ageless Sailor Pluto and small Sailor Saturn dreamed of what happened during the last doomed days of the Silver Millennium. They and Sam watched as third person observers, but the others watched their past selves interact. In another dimension, five people dream of a lost memory and person who should have been important to them.
Ryo watched as he listened to his Martian father berate his mother for agreeing with Queen Serenity. The Martian king slapped her across her face and the Ryo saw his sister smile at the sight. She was enjoying seeing her mother abused by this man. Ryo felt sick and started to slip away.
"You may be king, but I'm still the Queen and Sailor of Mars," quietly announced the Martian queen. "You can do what you want to me and twist our daughter from her true path, but I won't let you do anything against our Queen."
Ryo waited in the shadows to see what her announcement would bring. Tears slipped down his face as he watched his poor mother beaten within an inch of her life. A quick glance from his mother sent Ryo out the door and to the offered refuge of the Windwalker on the other side of the castle.
Rowen listened to his father speak to his older half brother and the four generals. His mother sat next to him and winced once in a while. Rowen turned a questioning look to his mother and she shook her head. May be she would tell him later.
The Earth king turned to his "loving" wife. "I hope that you are proud of yourself. Bringing that _boy_ with us. Everyone knows that he is yours, but not mine. Even Endymion heard the talk around the Court of how you must have taken a lover. You and him shame the whole Earth Court." Next to him Endymion sneered at his mother and his half brother.
Rowen bristled, but a hand on his knee and an imperceptible shake from Nephrite's head stopped him from saying anything. The Queen, on the other hand, decided to let her feelings be heard by her "charming" husband and her ungrateful child. "You talk about the shame being on your head. You seem to forget that _I'm_ the rightful ruler of Earth and you are my consort. We were betrothed to wed, but I will have you know that I would rather be with the one I love, then be with the likes of you. I pity our poor planet if Endymion comes to power, for he will ruin it. And I pity the poor Princess, I will no longer give my support to _your_ effort of having her marry Endymion."
The Earth Queen rose to her feet and left the room with Rowen hurrying behind her. He could feel the dagger glares he received from his "father" and half brother, but he didn't care. The Windwalker had offered him a safe haven and he was going to tell his mother about it. May be she wouldn't mind an extra person in her rooms.
His mother glanced back at her blue haired son. "I know about the invitation, Rowen. Go ahead. I plan on staying with Queen Serenity tonight in hopes of convincing her to end the engagement. I can't imagine why I even thought that Endymion would not be like his father, but he is and I'm not going to have the Princess' blood on my hands."
"Are you sure, Mother? The Lady Windy seemed open enough to allow anyone to come."
She smiled at her son. Why was he the thoughtful one and not his brother? May be it did have something to do with love. "No, but I think that some of the others might be there. May be she can help you escape."
Rowen nodded and hurried off the Windwalker's room. He hoped that she would be able to help him, it was too bad that he couldn't have escaped back to the mercenary guards that he was with for so long.
Sage and Serena stood with their mother in her rooms. Luna and Artimas were giving the end of the day report and the looks on their faces showed the hopelessness of the situation. They were quickly loosing Mars, Venus, and Mercury and Jupiter still hadn't chosen a side. The Moon Queen glanced at her daughter. "It's up to you now, Serenity. You must marry Prince Endymion so that the peace will be restored."
"But Mother-"
"No buts, Serenity. This is the only way." Queen Serenity ended the conversation and asked for the rest of the report.
The only new information was the Sun King asking for his son at the Earth Autumn Equinox. Serenity sighed quietly in relief to hear that her brother would be with her for a little longer. A knock on the door ended the report as the Earth Queen and Sailors Uranus and Neptune entered the room.
"Queen Serenity, I must speak to you, alone," requested the queen.
"Of course, please, sit down."
The earth woman looked down for a moment then raised her head and started. "I think that you should call off the engagement. Let me speak before you say anything. Endymion and his father are not the men that they appear to be. I have seen Endymion treat little Serenity with little to no respect as a husband should and openly flirts with other women in her presence. Once they are married, he will get her pregnant and go on to the next woman who catches his eye. He will do anything to break her spirit or kill her. Please for the love of your daughter, call off the engagement."
The Moon Queen looked at her friend and shook her head. "I can't. Our society is crumbling fast and Serenity and Endymion's marriage may save it. Serenity, I want you and everyone else to leave, I must speak with the Earth Queen alone."
Everyone bowed and left. Once the doors were closed, Serenity turned to her brother and wept on his shoulder. He folded his arms around her and tried to comfort her the best he could. Luna and Artimas watched with sorrow and knew that the Earth Queen was right, Endymion would break her or kill her. Sailor Uranus was watching the corridor while Sailor Neptune stood guard over the royal twins. Uranus saw two shadows moving silently toward her position and she stepped out to challenge them. It was Prince Ryo and Prince Rowen with pale faces and worried expressions.
"What are you two doing here. Shouldn't you be with your families?" asked the Sailor of Uranus.
Ryo shook his head. "I wouldn't want to be there at all. Father was beating mother again and Raye was watching. I was getting sick."
"I didn't want to be with 'Father' anymore than Ryo did," said Rowen. "I get enough of his and Endymion's taunting with mother around, but if I was alone with them, I don't think I would survive."
"Then where were you going?" asked Artimas.
"The Lady Windwalker invited us to her rooms for some peace," said Ryo. "I met up with Rowen trying to find her rooms."
"I know where they are," hiccuped Serenity. "I can take you to them." She left the comfort of her brother's arms and led the group to the dignitary's wing. In a far corner, the Moon Princess knocked on a door, which opened by itself.
"Come in," invited a voice. "I have been expecting you."
The Windwalker was sitting in a chair next to a burning fire, reading a small book. Candles around the room gave off the scent of apples and cinnamon; it went from an impersonal room to a pleasant comforting place. Once Serenity entered the room, she ran right to the woman and fell to her knees, crying into the Lady's lap. Windy put down her book and stroked the crying girl's hair and mummer to her in a soft voice.
"We heard your offer and wanted to see if we could take you up on it," said Ryo.
Windy looked up. "Of course you're welcome. I wouldn't have made the offer if I wasn't going to honor it."
The rest of the group shuffled in and settled near the woman and the crying princess. Prince Sage explained what had happened in his mother's room and Prince Rowen told what he knew. The two Royal Advisors shook their heads and agreed with the distraught Earth Queen. "Serenity is loosing her hold over her kingdom," said Windy, "and she wants to try to keep it for as long as possible. Unfortunately, you must allow for change, but this isn't the good type. I'm sorry to say that any way we look at it; the Silver Millennium is doomed. How it will die is anyone's guess."
"But you know," an unexpected voice said.
"True, Sailor Pluto, but I can see many paths that lead to its destruction," said Windy. "Only God and Time knows how it will end. Please, sit. You don't leave the Gates often and I know that you are lonely."
The mysterious sailor took the invitation and settled next to her fellow sailors. One was missing and those who knew it felt the absence keenly; the others just knew that something wasn't quite right.
The discussion turned from the unpleasant thoughts of arranged marriages and treason to the current Court gossip. There wasn't much left to laugh about, but Windy managed to lift their spirits with stories of things that happened to her and made the forget the troubling times for a little while.
Kento, Cye, Kayura, and the four Seasonals were surprised to find they were dreaming as well, but they weren't on the Moon with their friends. They found themselves on Earth in a rough camp talking with other people eating with them.
"That _king_ and his son is going to ruin this planet," muttered one soldier.
"But what can we say? Ever since we were discovered with Prince Rowen, we've been banished from the capital," answered another.
"Hey, Cale, get your sister to bring me some more stew, will ya," called a third man from a tent.
The dreamers looked at each other and wondered "Sister?"
"He means you, Kayura," said the second soldier. "Just be careful. Here, take this. You're too pretty for the likes of this camp and our new _captain_."
Kayura took the long dagger and the bowl of stew. She entered the tent and set the stew on an empty piece of table and turned to leave. A hand landing on her arm stopped her progress and she turned to see the captain of the soldiers leering at her.
"Why don't you stay and keep me company? I'm sure that I could find something for you to do."
Kayura was speechless for one second before lashing out the dagger given to her by the soldier. "I don't think so. Leave me alone, and you may be able to keep your body parts."
The captain unhanded her with a curse and shoved her out the tent. She returned to the group and offered the dagger back to the kind soldier. He shook his head.
"You keep it. You may need it again and I can always make or buy another." Kayura nodded her head and thanked the soldier before returning to her seat next to Anubis and Cale.
The dreamers listened to the talk and learned more about their situation. Rowen had been a part of their mercenary group until they had reached the Earth Capital. He was soon discovered by the queen's guards as the son she had given up and was sneaked into the palace to visit her. The dreamers felt that they had helped him sneak in and covered for him when someone was looking for him. One day the king discovered that his wife had a second son a year younger then Endymion. He had a troop of his guards take Rowen back to the castle and leave instructions for the mercenary group to leave and forget all about Rowen. There was one problem though, the captain at the time was Rowen's father and he wanted his son back. The king ordered him killed and exiled the rest of the group to the outer reaches of the kingdom with a new captain that he had chose to take over. Since then, they were lucky to even get good jobs, let alone paid.
"If our _king_ keeps up this madness, we will be sitting ducks for Beryl when she makes her move," said the first soldier.
"She is making her move," said another soldier. "I heard that she is marching this way and plans on using any and everyone she can get to take over."
"Great. We lose one tyrant and gain another," grumbled a fifth.
"I also heard that she was planning on attacking the Moon Kingdom for the Silver Crystal. It is the only thing that can stop the dark magic backing her."
The conversation ran an hour more, then everyone settled down to sleep.
The dreamers felt like they were living several days in one night as they watched what happened. They were surprised to see three people walking toward them on what seemed to be the forth day. It was Ryo, Rowen, and Windy. They stopped at the edge of the camp and waited for the captain to come out.
"What do you want?" he sneered.
"We wish to join your group," said Ryo.
The captain looked closer at the two boys and recognized them. "You're the bastard prince, Rowen," he said startled.
"And that is a problem?" asked Windy.
"Hell, yes! If the king finds him here, he'll kill us all."
The dreamers were startled to see Windy draw a knife and hold it at the captain's throat. "You will take them and leave the area; or you will die within the next twenty-four hours, and not by my hand."
The captain sneered at the woman holding him up. "No. I have a healthy regard for my life and the king is paying me to stay away from that whelp. He's not joining us again."
Windy looked straight at him and stepped to the side. An arrow buzzed through the air and into the mercenary captain's heart. The archer who shot the arrow looked at the dead man and spat on the ground. "Next time you defile a girl, make sure she doesn't have brothers in the guards." He turned and left the group without a backward glance.
"Who was that?" whispered Cye.
"A vengeful man against this worm of a man," replied Windy. "The archer's sister was raped by this toad and left for dead. I didn't have anything to do with him finding this slug, but if he took my bargain, he would have lived. It was his loss."
"So who will be our captain now?" asked the second soldier from the first night.
"Whomever you decide. You know who is worthy and who isn't. I just want to make sure that Ryo and Rowen are in your group."
"Sure, we'll take them."
"Then I thank you. My last piece of advice is for you to leave this area. You don't know how right you are when you said that Beryl was coming this way." Windy turned and left the mercenary group. Rowen was welcomed back into the arms of his friends and Ryo was introduced to the art of mercenary work.
The dream skipped to a week later where Beryl attacked the city they were staying at. The mercenaries fought hard to protect the city, but were all killed by Beryl's troops. The survivors of the city were brought over to Beryl's side by her dark magic and the raids continued.
When everyone woke the next morning, they had questions for the strange woman in white. She was in the kitchen starting breakfast when the first of the residents came down. She shook her head and said to wait for everyone to come down before she would answer any questions.
I'm thinking about bringing Lita into the story again. So I would like your opinion and please give a reason. If I do bring her into the story again, she will have a hard time convincing everyone about her sincerity so I won't be going that easy on her. Please let me know.
--Rocky Oberlin
rachelo@pathwaynet.com
Rocky Oberlin
Chapter 4
The rating has been upped to PG due to a couple of swear words and a slightly violent scene.
Disclaimer: Christmas is almost over and I didn't get either Sailor Moon or Ronins Warriors. Oh, well.
I was asked by one person to share the dreams everyone had, so I'll do my best. I write this as I go so it comes off the top of my head and with some suggestions I get. I want to thank everyone who reviews it makes my day.
Sleep came to everyone in the house, but dreams were waiting for them. Even the ageless Sailor Pluto and small Sailor Saturn dreamed of what happened during the last doomed days of the Silver Millennium. They and Sam watched as third person observers, but the others watched their past selves interact. In another dimension, five people dream of a lost memory and person who should have been important to them.
Ryo watched as he listened to his Martian father berate his mother for agreeing with Queen Serenity. The Martian king slapped her across her face and the Ryo saw his sister smile at the sight. She was enjoying seeing her mother abused by this man. Ryo felt sick and started to slip away.
"You may be king, but I'm still the Queen and Sailor of Mars," quietly announced the Martian queen. "You can do what you want to me and twist our daughter from her true path, but I won't let you do anything against our Queen."
Ryo waited in the shadows to see what her announcement would bring. Tears slipped down his face as he watched his poor mother beaten within an inch of her life. A quick glance from his mother sent Ryo out the door and to the offered refuge of the Windwalker on the other side of the castle.
Rowen listened to his father speak to his older half brother and the four generals. His mother sat next to him and winced once in a while. Rowen turned a questioning look to his mother and she shook her head. May be she would tell him later.
The Earth king turned to his "loving" wife. "I hope that you are proud of yourself. Bringing that _boy_ with us. Everyone knows that he is yours, but not mine. Even Endymion heard the talk around the Court of how you must have taken a lover. You and him shame the whole Earth Court." Next to him Endymion sneered at his mother and his half brother.
Rowen bristled, but a hand on his knee and an imperceptible shake from Nephrite's head stopped him from saying anything. The Queen, on the other hand, decided to let her feelings be heard by her "charming" husband and her ungrateful child. "You talk about the shame being on your head. You seem to forget that _I'm_ the rightful ruler of Earth and you are my consort. We were betrothed to wed, but I will have you know that I would rather be with the one I love, then be with the likes of you. I pity our poor planet if Endymion comes to power, for he will ruin it. And I pity the poor Princess, I will no longer give my support to _your_ effort of having her marry Endymion."
The Earth Queen rose to her feet and left the room with Rowen hurrying behind her. He could feel the dagger glares he received from his "father" and half brother, but he didn't care. The Windwalker had offered him a safe haven and he was going to tell his mother about it. May be she wouldn't mind an extra person in her rooms.
His mother glanced back at her blue haired son. "I know about the invitation, Rowen. Go ahead. I plan on staying with Queen Serenity tonight in hopes of convincing her to end the engagement. I can't imagine why I even thought that Endymion would not be like his father, but he is and I'm not going to have the Princess' blood on my hands."
"Are you sure, Mother? The Lady Windy seemed open enough to allow anyone to come."
She smiled at her son. Why was he the thoughtful one and not his brother? May be it did have something to do with love. "No, but I think that some of the others might be there. May be she can help you escape."
Rowen nodded and hurried off the Windwalker's room. He hoped that she would be able to help him, it was too bad that he couldn't have escaped back to the mercenary guards that he was with for so long.
Sage and Serena stood with their mother in her rooms. Luna and Artimas were giving the end of the day report and the looks on their faces showed the hopelessness of the situation. They were quickly loosing Mars, Venus, and Mercury and Jupiter still hadn't chosen a side. The Moon Queen glanced at her daughter. "It's up to you now, Serenity. You must marry Prince Endymion so that the peace will be restored."
"But Mother-"
"No buts, Serenity. This is the only way." Queen Serenity ended the conversation and asked for the rest of the report.
The only new information was the Sun King asking for his son at the Earth Autumn Equinox. Serenity sighed quietly in relief to hear that her brother would be with her for a little longer. A knock on the door ended the report as the Earth Queen and Sailors Uranus and Neptune entered the room.
"Queen Serenity, I must speak to you, alone," requested the queen.
"Of course, please, sit down."
The earth woman looked down for a moment then raised her head and started. "I think that you should call off the engagement. Let me speak before you say anything. Endymion and his father are not the men that they appear to be. I have seen Endymion treat little Serenity with little to no respect as a husband should and openly flirts with other women in her presence. Once they are married, he will get her pregnant and go on to the next woman who catches his eye. He will do anything to break her spirit or kill her. Please for the love of your daughter, call off the engagement."
The Moon Queen looked at her friend and shook her head. "I can't. Our society is crumbling fast and Serenity and Endymion's marriage may save it. Serenity, I want you and everyone else to leave, I must speak with the Earth Queen alone."
Everyone bowed and left. Once the doors were closed, Serenity turned to her brother and wept on his shoulder. He folded his arms around her and tried to comfort her the best he could. Luna and Artimas watched with sorrow and knew that the Earth Queen was right, Endymion would break her or kill her. Sailor Uranus was watching the corridor while Sailor Neptune stood guard over the royal twins. Uranus saw two shadows moving silently toward her position and she stepped out to challenge them. It was Prince Ryo and Prince Rowen with pale faces and worried expressions.
"What are you two doing here. Shouldn't you be with your families?" asked the Sailor of Uranus.
Ryo shook his head. "I wouldn't want to be there at all. Father was beating mother again and Raye was watching. I was getting sick."
"I didn't want to be with 'Father' anymore than Ryo did," said Rowen. "I get enough of his and Endymion's taunting with mother around, but if I was alone with them, I don't think I would survive."
"Then where were you going?" asked Artimas.
"The Lady Windwalker invited us to her rooms for some peace," said Ryo. "I met up with Rowen trying to find her rooms."
"I know where they are," hiccuped Serenity. "I can take you to them." She left the comfort of her brother's arms and led the group to the dignitary's wing. In a far corner, the Moon Princess knocked on a door, which opened by itself.
"Come in," invited a voice. "I have been expecting you."
The Windwalker was sitting in a chair next to a burning fire, reading a small book. Candles around the room gave off the scent of apples and cinnamon; it went from an impersonal room to a pleasant comforting place. Once Serenity entered the room, she ran right to the woman and fell to her knees, crying into the Lady's lap. Windy put down her book and stroked the crying girl's hair and mummer to her in a soft voice.
"We heard your offer and wanted to see if we could take you up on it," said Ryo.
Windy looked up. "Of course you're welcome. I wouldn't have made the offer if I wasn't going to honor it."
The rest of the group shuffled in and settled near the woman and the crying princess. Prince Sage explained what had happened in his mother's room and Prince Rowen told what he knew. The two Royal Advisors shook their heads and agreed with the distraught Earth Queen. "Serenity is loosing her hold over her kingdom," said Windy, "and she wants to try to keep it for as long as possible. Unfortunately, you must allow for change, but this isn't the good type. I'm sorry to say that any way we look at it; the Silver Millennium is doomed. How it will die is anyone's guess."
"But you know," an unexpected voice said.
"True, Sailor Pluto, but I can see many paths that lead to its destruction," said Windy. "Only God and Time knows how it will end. Please, sit. You don't leave the Gates often and I know that you are lonely."
The mysterious sailor took the invitation and settled next to her fellow sailors. One was missing and those who knew it felt the absence keenly; the others just knew that something wasn't quite right.
The discussion turned from the unpleasant thoughts of arranged marriages and treason to the current Court gossip. There wasn't much left to laugh about, but Windy managed to lift their spirits with stories of things that happened to her and made the forget the troubling times for a little while.
Kento, Cye, Kayura, and the four Seasonals were surprised to find they were dreaming as well, but they weren't on the Moon with their friends. They found themselves on Earth in a rough camp talking with other people eating with them.
"That _king_ and his son is going to ruin this planet," muttered one soldier.
"But what can we say? Ever since we were discovered with Prince Rowen, we've been banished from the capital," answered another.
"Hey, Cale, get your sister to bring me some more stew, will ya," called a third man from a tent.
The dreamers looked at each other and wondered "Sister?"
"He means you, Kayura," said the second soldier. "Just be careful. Here, take this. You're too pretty for the likes of this camp and our new _captain_."
Kayura took the long dagger and the bowl of stew. She entered the tent and set the stew on an empty piece of table and turned to leave. A hand landing on her arm stopped her progress and she turned to see the captain of the soldiers leering at her.
"Why don't you stay and keep me company? I'm sure that I could find something for you to do."
Kayura was speechless for one second before lashing out the dagger given to her by the soldier. "I don't think so. Leave me alone, and you may be able to keep your body parts."
The captain unhanded her with a curse and shoved her out the tent. She returned to the group and offered the dagger back to the kind soldier. He shook his head.
"You keep it. You may need it again and I can always make or buy another." Kayura nodded her head and thanked the soldier before returning to her seat next to Anubis and Cale.
The dreamers listened to the talk and learned more about their situation. Rowen had been a part of their mercenary group until they had reached the Earth Capital. He was soon discovered by the queen's guards as the son she had given up and was sneaked into the palace to visit her. The dreamers felt that they had helped him sneak in and covered for him when someone was looking for him. One day the king discovered that his wife had a second son a year younger then Endymion. He had a troop of his guards take Rowen back to the castle and leave instructions for the mercenary group to leave and forget all about Rowen. There was one problem though, the captain at the time was Rowen's father and he wanted his son back. The king ordered him killed and exiled the rest of the group to the outer reaches of the kingdom with a new captain that he had chose to take over. Since then, they were lucky to even get good jobs, let alone paid.
"If our _king_ keeps up this madness, we will be sitting ducks for Beryl when she makes her move," said the first soldier.
"She is making her move," said another soldier. "I heard that she is marching this way and plans on using any and everyone she can get to take over."
"Great. We lose one tyrant and gain another," grumbled a fifth.
"I also heard that she was planning on attacking the Moon Kingdom for the Silver Crystal. It is the only thing that can stop the dark magic backing her."
The conversation ran an hour more, then everyone settled down to sleep.
The dreamers felt like they were living several days in one night as they watched what happened. They were surprised to see three people walking toward them on what seemed to be the forth day. It was Ryo, Rowen, and Windy. They stopped at the edge of the camp and waited for the captain to come out.
"What do you want?" he sneered.
"We wish to join your group," said Ryo.
The captain looked closer at the two boys and recognized them. "You're the bastard prince, Rowen," he said startled.
"And that is a problem?" asked Windy.
"Hell, yes! If the king finds him here, he'll kill us all."
The dreamers were startled to see Windy draw a knife and hold it at the captain's throat. "You will take them and leave the area; or you will die within the next twenty-four hours, and not by my hand."
The captain sneered at the woman holding him up. "No. I have a healthy regard for my life and the king is paying me to stay away from that whelp. He's not joining us again."
Windy looked straight at him and stepped to the side. An arrow buzzed through the air and into the mercenary captain's heart. The archer who shot the arrow looked at the dead man and spat on the ground. "Next time you defile a girl, make sure she doesn't have brothers in the guards." He turned and left the group without a backward glance.
"Who was that?" whispered Cye.
"A vengeful man against this worm of a man," replied Windy. "The archer's sister was raped by this toad and left for dead. I didn't have anything to do with him finding this slug, but if he took my bargain, he would have lived. It was his loss."
"So who will be our captain now?" asked the second soldier from the first night.
"Whomever you decide. You know who is worthy and who isn't. I just want to make sure that Ryo and Rowen are in your group."
"Sure, we'll take them."
"Then I thank you. My last piece of advice is for you to leave this area. You don't know how right you are when you said that Beryl was coming this way." Windy turned and left the mercenary group. Rowen was welcomed back into the arms of his friends and Ryo was introduced to the art of mercenary work.
The dream skipped to a week later where Beryl attacked the city they were staying at. The mercenaries fought hard to protect the city, but were all killed by Beryl's troops. The survivors of the city were brought over to Beryl's side by her dark magic and the raids continued.
When everyone woke the next morning, they had questions for the strange woman in white. She was in the kitchen starting breakfast when the first of the residents came down. She shook her head and said to wait for everyone to come down before she would answer any questions.
I'm thinking about bringing Lita into the story again. So I would like your opinion and please give a reason. If I do bring her into the story again, she will have a hard time convincing everyone about her sincerity so I won't be going that easy on her. Please let me know.
--Rocky Oberlin
rachelo@pathwaynet.com
