Chapter Four - Daughter of the Dark Moon

Hecate narrowed her eyes in annoyance. "Damn those Senshi... damn them to the Underworld! One more hit and the barrier would have been weakened enough for us to break through."

"Patience, Hecate," Aidoneus said tolerantly. "The barrier will weaken with time. The Moon Kingdom is already as good as dead."

"Something eating you, Safire?" Diamund nudged his younger brother, who woke up with a start. "Huh? Oh. Uh.. no, I'm fine. It's nothing." He tried to look nonchalant, but Hecate fixed a silver eye on him. "Is something wrong, my son?"

"Nothing, Mother," he tried to reassure her, knowing she would hunt after the girl if she knew why he was moping around. "Nothing."

"Sire!" one of the warriors came running up to the royal family, gasping for breath. Safire took the opportunity to step back a little, ready to go and revel in solitude instead of having to deal with his mother's probing eyes. "Sire, I have received a report that the Earth troops have retreated from their lines!"

"Demeter and Helios have retreated?" Aidoneus said, his usually steady voice revealing surprise. "Why?"

"That I cannot say, my Lord, but they have left, taking all troops with them. Not a living soul is to be found where they were."

"Perhaps they finally understood the futileness of this battle," Hecate said in satisfaction. Diamund nodded his head in agreement with his mother. "Most likely they have decided to stay out of it."

"It would be best for all if they had, but Serenity and Helios are very close. I cannot believe that Helios would let Demeter pull back the troops in such a situation." Aidoneus shook his head. "We will wait and see. They may be trying to fool us into leaving the lines and pressing toward the Palace."

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Saturn put a hand to her head as she leaned against a column, her eyes narrowed in pain. She could sense... sense what had happened. So... they have attacked the barrier... but thank the stars that the Senshi held... but for how much longer? She straightened up and slipped into the empty tent.

Her senses told her she had to find Safire's sister, that she was somehow mixed up in all of this, but she was clueless as to where to begin looking. She was sure the girl would be within the camp... they must mean to use her powers at the very end...does Safire even know that his sister is the one, the source of power? but where did you hide a girl in all this chaos? One with supposedly tremendous powers?

With a sharp eye she scanned the tent. It was simply furnished, but all the same it was as elegant as the Palace itself. She recalled Uranus casually commenting that a few planets were actually in sympathy with the Dark Moon clan and traded with them in secret - the caves of the rebel clan were very rich in precious stones, she had heard. Certainly they weren't starving of hunger, not from the way the tent looked.

Her gaze rested thoughtfully on an beautiful rug on the floor, woven with silver on a dark blue background. Something about it made her walk closer to investigate. She walked around it once, noting that the phases of the moon garnished the border. Then she bent down and lifted it.

A hand reached out from under the rug.

Saturn nearly fell back from shock, but she managed to hold her hand steady and lift the rug higher. Oddly enough the hand seemed to retreat. Her violet eyes reflected puzzlement, and then comprehension. She threw back the entire cloth to reveal a mirror.

It was very thin, with a border of twisted figures in blue and silver like the rug. What was odd about the mirror was that the surface shone black, as if to suck in every particle of light around it, instead of reflecting it. Saturn slowly touched the mirror with her hand, staring at her reflection.

Suddenly the mirror rippled, like stones cast across a pond, and Saturn snatched her hand back, ready to summon her Glaive if needed. Her reflection wavered, and subtly changed. Her face grew more oval, her large eyes took on a more almond look, swirling from violet to dark midnight blue. Her hair flowed out from behind her, like a sea of shadow, and her form matured into a young woman almost grown. For a moment the two stared at each other.

"Who are you?" The voice was slightly far-off, as if uttered in a large cave, clear and vibrant and like a song. Saturn realized it was the reflection speaking to her.

"I... I am Hotaru," she suddenly found herself using a name she now almost never gave, never even thought about it. "Of the star Saturn."

"Saturn?" the girl in the mirror repeated. "Very far from here, Hotaru-san. I am Opal, of the Moon. How.. how can you see me?" Opal abruptly threw a question at her. "How did you know I was here? Father told me only he and Mother could see me, or feel my presence."

"..." Saturn felt a million questions darting through her mind, but the deep eyes of this girl held her. Despite their depth, light seemed to swirl around them, and Saturn sensed power behind them, something strong. Something that rang in harmony to the power that pulsed with her own body, but also... something different. More powerful. Darker. "Did... did your Father lock you in here?"

Amusement faintly crossed Opal's otherwise expressionless face. "I suppose he did... although he tells me it is because of who I am. He tells me it is for the good of the Kingdom."

"Who.. you are?"

"Have you even been afraid, Hotaru-san?" Opal asked. "Within this dark place, where no light ever touches the shadow... If I never had known light, the darkness would not make me lonely. But I have dreams, Hotaru-san." Dreams so beautiful they make me weep in despair.. "Dreams of a silver moon past the shadows, where a woman with silver hair and a golden crescent between her brows lives, and eight stars that surround her, with a golden light they protect."

"Do.. do you know who that woman is?" Saturn asked in a low voice.

"Mother tells me she is the one I must kill for my people." Opal's eyes never faltered, and Saturn nearly summoned her Glaive to thrust at this strange maiden before she ever saw Serenity. "But..." Saturn froze as Opal looked directly into her eyes, holding her captive with the hidden passion behind the blue darkness. Her words sent a thrill through the Senshi. "If she showed me light... I would give my life for her."

It could be another Senshi, Mars had said. Certainly Saturn felt that this girl was tied to her by destiny. But a Senshi of the Dark Moon clan?! Is that destiny for better or for worse? Then Opal reached out her hand as if she wanted to touch Saturn, and Saturn lay her own on the mirror surface, unable to comfort this strange girl with the midnight eyes.

Opal suddenly started. "You should leave, Hotaru. My father approaches."

Saturn stood up swiftly, pulling the carpet over the mirror. She paused for a heartbeat as Opal stared at her unblinking, then covered her and slipped out as Aidoneus entered.

Aidoneus stopped in front of the rug and carefully lifted it to come face to face with his daughter. "Were you talking to someone, my daughter?"

"I was, Father," Opal answered calmly. "To someone in my dreams."

"What did you dream?" Aidoneus knelt down and smiled at the girl. She did look so like Hecate in many ways, and yet she was altogether different.

"I dreamt of light, Father, and of stars." Opal's tone was as bland and as calm the wind before a storm. "Of a star that came to me and touched my hand."

"Light will be yours, Opal, when our enemy dies," Aidoneus said firmly. "When she dies at your hands, my girl."

"If I live to kill her, then what do I do after she dies?" Opal asked quietly, retreating into the depths of the blackness. Aidoneus gazed at the mirror thoughtfully, but gave his daughter no answer.

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