Author's Notes:
If you need to email me, contact me here: Guardian4@atlantic.net. Please put fanfiction in the subject line so I know what it's pertaining to. I don't own Sailor Moon. It is the property of Naoko Tacheuchi.
Crystal Hearts
When The War EndsChapter 5: Archons Of Light
Minako rubbed her head, trying to get rid of her migraine. All that power from herself and Pluto had practically overloaded her. Standing up carefully, she dusted off her fuku. Looking around, she wished devoutly for Artemis to be with her. The memories were overwhelming her and she needed him to remind her of what she was supposed to be doing.
She wasn't in any of the places that she had lived in or been to when she had been younger, in fact she was some place that completely riddled with caves, but it was still England and England hurt.
Where am I? she wondered, looking around and firmly keeping her mind on Serenity and Endymion. If she didn't think about Alan or Katrina, then maybe she would get out of this after all.
"Mercury said I should end up where some kunzite deposits were. Is this one of those places?" Venus muttered lowly. She cringed, looking at how many caves there were. Some were so small she would have to crawl to get in and some looked to be great and tall mouths of emptiness that would accommodate even the largest giant from the fairy tales.
Sighing, she walked to the bottom of the cliff that held all the caves. However, when she came nearer, her tiara flared up. When she walked to the left, it got dimmer, but when she walked to the right, it grew brighter. What the…? Does it react to the kunzite that I'm looking for?
She looked up, and up, and up. One large cave caught her attention. For want of a better solution, she figured it might be a good place to start looking. Besides, now a low-pitched noise was echoing in her head from her tiara. It made her want to cover her ears in annoyance.
She gathered her strength and bent her knees, getting ready for the jump, but as soon as her feet left the ground, a hand had reached out and grabbed her ankle.
Venus felt her ankle gripped by something and yanked abruptly back to earth, literally. Rubbing her back, she looked behind her and her breath caught in her throat. She wasn't sure if it was shock that held her breath or the beauty before her.
A woman stood behind her. She had long, very bright blonde hair that went to her calves. She wore a yellow dress, made of spangles and artfully cut strips of cloth over the main outfit. Many rings adorned her fingers and she wore golden sandals. A golden necklace fell down to the middle of her bosom and had the Venus symbol emblazoned on the pendant. Her eyes were a bright, crystal blue.
She bent down and gently put her hand on Minako's head. "I didn't mean to startle you." She smiled and held out her hand.
Venus took it and with help, stood up. She came to just the woman's shoulder. "Who are you?" she asked tentatively.
The woman made an exaggeratedly mock-gasp. "You do not recognize the great Goddess of Love? I'm heartbroken!" Then she laughed. "Aphrodite's the name, dear."
Minako managed a tentative smile. "Oh, I'm—"
"I know who you are, dear," Aphrodite interrupted. "You're the Sailor Senshi of Venus, also known as Aino Minako."
Venus did gasp for real when she heard this. "How do you know all that?!" she demanded. No one knew those things except for the Royal Family, Luna and Artemis, and the other Senshi.
Aphrodite laughed again. "I've watched you; I couldn't help it. After all, you are my daughter."
Venus was struck dumbfounded. "I can't possibly be your daughter!" she exclaimed.
The Goddess of Love put one hand on her hip and cocked her head at her daughter. "And why not?"
"Because…because…because…" she faltered. "If I'm your daughter, how come I…" Minako stopped. How was she supposed to express her disappointment? If she was the Goddess of Love's daughter, then how come she had never fallen in love forever like Serenity and Endymion? Why had Allen not loved her instead of Katrina, even though she was happy for both of them?
Aphrodite gave her a soft smile and put her hand on Minako's cheek. "Venus, dear, while you are my daughter, you are also more vulnerable than most."
"What do you mean?"
"You see, you have the ability to see and understand love more than anyone. But such a gift has its consequences. It usually means you won't find love until you have found your true love. Do you remember when Mars and Endymion had dated for a little while before he acknowledged his love for Serenity in your new present?" Venus nodded, her face showing confusion. "You, as my daughter, would not be really able to do that. Your keen ability to sense true love and love instead of infatuation or anything else keeps you from dating anyone but your soulmate, like that of Serenity and Endymion. Instinctively, even though you expressed interest in most guys, your love and power to an extent kept the boys and yourself away from them. It's been waiting for your true love and will accept no other."
Minako felt hope rise in her chest. It had nothing really to do with who she was that had kept her a spinster away from everyone. All the other Inners had dated someone at least once, even if they all broke up. Ami and Urawa, Rei and Mamoru for a while, Makoto and her sempai…Everyone but her had fallen in love. Now she understood why and it made her feel better about it. My heritage keeps me from dating anyone but my soulmate. Interesting…
"Does that apply to my soulmate as well?" she asked happily. "Does that mean that he won't be able to date anyone else either?"
Aphrodite got a wary and sad look on her face. "Unfortunately, no. If your soulmate was dating or married, that's how it would be. He, or she, would recognize their love for you, but they might not do anything about it if they were involved with someone else."
"What do you mean 'or she'?"
"Venus, you of all should know that love does not care about gender," she admonished gently. "Look at Uranus and Neptune."
Venus flushed, realizing that. "You can call me Minako, mother," she said shyly.
The Goddess of Love smiled. "I wish I could, but I can't call you by any other name but the one I gifted you with when you were born. No matter how I've tried, and believe me I tried, I can't get past the fact that you'll always be Venus to me and not Aino Minako."
Minako shrugged and said, "Names don't really matter all that much anyway."
"I'm sorry if I hurt you when I was pulling you down, but since Hermes, Zeus, and Ares got to see their daughters, I couldn't wait. Agreed, it was after…they got the stones, but I'm a bit impatient. Oh Venus, I've missed you." And with tears in her eyes, she wrapped her arms around Venus.
Minako stiffened for a moment before returning the hug ferociously. "I've missed you too," she whispered, even though she didn't remember her past. The part of her that felt as if it was missing something, though, told her she had found what was supposed to fill it.
Aphrodite pulled away and wiped her eyes. "You had better get on with your mission to help Serenity and Endymion, but before you go…" She touched Venus's tiara and it flared. "Here, this is your full power. You and the Inners should be just as powerful as the Outers now. Do me proud," she whispered as she disappeared.
Venus was euphoric, but in the back of her mind, she wondered apprehensively what Aphrodite meant when she had said do her proud. When she looked back at the large cave she was going to explore first, her tiara flared with orange light again. She looked behind her, but Aphrodite wasn't there. So it really must be reacting to the kunzite that I'm supposed to get. Cool, be much easier to find.
However, when she jumped to the cave, her tiara's light dimmed. She began to jump from cave to cave, always going to her right because it seemed be brighter that way.
She had come to a relatively medium sized cave when her tiara brightened beyond anything it had yet and went out completely. But because of the burst of light, Venus had seen what she was searching for.
She had just grabbed the rose pink stone when it erupted with light in her hand. While she was still blinking to see, a force that she didn't see shoved her out of the cave and she began to plummet toward the ground. Getting her feet under her, she landed roughly, almost shattering her ankles with the impact. Her grip on the stone loosened and it dropped to the ground.
Venus looked up and had a quick glimpse of purple inside of a white cape when arms wrapped themselves around her from behind her and contracted tightly, making it hard to breath.
Minako kicked out behind her and felt her foot connect with a shin. Whoever had hold of her let out a pained grunt and their hold loosened. Venus pulled from the hurtful embrace and whirled around, her back to the sun.
"Kunzite!" she screeched in shock.
His ice gray eyes glared at her, even more shocking in a pale face and even paler white blonde hair. His cape fluttered in the breeze and as with the last time they had seen him, nearly a century or more ago, his uniform was not buttoned on the top button. His white gloves showed no sign of wear. Indeed, it was like someone had plucked his image from her memory and set him in front of her. He had not aged a day!
"You are even more annoying than I remembered," he commented angrily. "And you've gotten better, but Sailor Moon is not here to save you this time with that bothersome Ginzuishou."
At the mention of Serenity, Venus' shock broke and she glared at him. "Daughter of Love and deliverer of Justice, I am Sailor Venus! I will make sure you stay dead this time! Venus Love and Beauty Shock!"
Her yellow hearts flew at him, with the power of her anger behind them. He jumped over them and floated in the air. "New, new…" he muttered, a glimpse of apprehension crossing his face for half a second.
It gave Venus heart, for she had not been sure she could defeat him even now. She crossed her arms over her stomach and tips of her fingers glowed. Suddenly her hair was thrust in the air as she clasped her hands together over her chest. Her hands glowed yellow, and she yelled, "Venus Beauty Star!"
She held her clasped hands pointing toward him. Ten thin streams of light came from the cracks between her fingers and formed into a star twice the size of her clasped hands. Twirling madly, it flew at Kunzite followed by several smaller stars.
The King's eyes widened in horror and he erected his shield, but it wasn't powerful enough to stave off the attack. It did, however, take most of the damage for him so he wasn't badly wounded; only injured.
Growling in anger, Venus did her attack again. Kunzite knew he couldn't hold off the attack so he dodged. The only hope he saw was to close in for a hand-to-hand fight, which was what he did.
Venus dodged most of his punches, but a few got her winded. She was slammed into the cliff face hard and she could practically feel the worry from Aphrodite. She smiled, one of determination. She would make her mother proud of her.
She kicked out hard and connected with his stomach. She brought the heel of her hand up and hit his chin forcefully. He was knocked to the ground and lay there, stunned and fighting for breath. Venus began her new attack again, but lost control of it, and it dissipated when Aphrodite's voice screamed in her head.
"Don't kill him! He's your soulmate! Don't you feel it?!"Venus staggered back in shock and stared at Kunzite in revulsion. "He can't be my soulmate! He's my enemy! He tried to kill Serenity so many times that I can't count them all! He can't possibly be my soulmate!"
Determination adding to her anger, she started her attack again, ignoring the shrieking inside her head from her mother. "Venus Beauty STAR!" she screamed.
Just as Kunzite regained his feet, the attack struck him straight in the chest. He screamed in agony, as he died, his body dissolving even as she stared at him. In moments he was nowhere to be seen.
Tentatively, Venus asked the empty air, "Mother?"
There was only silence and emptiness in her mind. Aphrodite had stopped yelling at her when her attack had hit Kunzite in the chest. She bent down to pick up the stone and was relieved to see it had not been harmed when she had dropped it. Wincing at the quietness in the air, Venus called on all the power she could, for she was very tired, to teleport back to the palace. Still clutching the stone, her body glowed orange and she disappeared.
A soft calling of a name broke the silence. Gray green eyes opened and looked around the blackness. Someone had called his name. He stood up and began to search for the source, even though it was very hard. Everything told him to go back to sleep, for he was very tired. Even so, Kunzite forced himself to keep looking.
End Chapter 6