A.N.: So I've survived two of my four Finals. Yay me. And I found the time to revise this part of the fic for you people! Aren't you proud of me for not catching up on some much-needed sleep, instead? ^_^ Review responses at bottom. Enjoy this (rather short) chapter.
"Yes…Neo-King Endymion spoke of straying souls and 'a different dimension' earlier as well." Minerva spoke up. Pluto looked from her to Cosmos, who answered.
"Firenze of the Centaurs, you have been witness to the realignment of the stars, have you not?" At his slow nod, she continued. "We, my Senshi and I, are not of this dimension, this timeline, so to speak. As Pluto well knows, having guarded the Gates for so long, there are infinite universes wherein souls can be born, or reborn. When my mother used the last of her powers to send the fallen of the Silver Millennium to a new future, she could not keep us all in the same dimensional timeline. The orbs containing our souls remained clustered together for the most part, but groups fractured apart, and traveled into different dimensions/timelines. Usually, once the reincarnation died in the dimension to which it had been sent, the soul would be reborn a dimension closer to our original home. Several souls have yet to return to us, after all others have. We set out to discover why. Needless to say, it appears that because the concentration of Magic here is so close to our own, the souls sent to this place in error have been reborn here, time and time again. The realignment of the stars is due to our presence…with our arrival here, the souls that were reborn in this place have begun to realize their error in remaining. Balance is restoring itself." The centaur nodded in understanding.
"Your majesty…why do you still require the Princes' presence to Awaken the Four Kings? Are you not the Lady of the Stars?" Sir Nicholas asked respectfully. Cosmos turned to the hovering ghost with a wry smile.
"I am, but both of our brothers are needed to make the finding and Awakening expeditious." Cosmos said. "I may be all-powerful, but am by no means perfect." She turned to Mercury, who had regained her composure. "Mercury, you're good at explaining. Would you, please?" The blue-haired Senshi of Ice nodded, and folded her hands on the tabletop.
"The Royalty of a planet hold the powers of that planet at their control." She began. She held up a gloved hand, and concentrated. A shimmering icy blue color swirled up and formed an intricate ice crystal in her palm. "As a Princess of Mercury, planet of Ice (despite its proximity to the Sun, which is precisely why it is the planet of Ice {to offset the heat}) I can manipulate ice and snow." She waved her hand, and the crystal disappeared. "As an only child, I am the heir to the throne, as well as the Senshi, of the planet Mercury. In the case of multiple Royal children, the powers are usually split according to age and or gender. Where there are two females, the older usually becomes the Senshi, the younger made heir apparent, unless circumstances dictate otherwise. Power is split by age. When there are both a male child and a female child, and the male is older, he rules while she undergoes her Senshi training. If the female is older, her brother becomes heir apparent while she becomes a Senshi. In either case, the Senshi holds more of the planet's power than the heir does, a power split by gender. Only females become the avatars of their planets, because the Senshi power is based on innate feminine instincts." Mercury folded her hands again. "So when there are two male children, but no female, the older becomes King of the planet, the younger remains Prince, and the planet is without an avatar until the King produces a daughter. The power in this case is split according to age once again."
"That still doesn't explain why the Princes need be found." Snape bit out. He knew he was being rather rude, dangerous when those he was speaking to held far more power than he, but the pain from the Dark Mark was making him more irritable than usual. Mercury flushed faintly. Jupiter responded.
"She's getting to that." She snapped.
"Yes…well, High Prince Dimitrius still holds his portion of the Terran planet power. Together, he and Neo-King Endymion can accomplish more than if the King were to search alone." Mercury finished. "As for Prince Tranquility…" Here Uranus tried to muffle her snickering. Mercury glared. "Uranus! I see no humor here."
"Sorry…Mercury…" Uranus gasped out. She composed herself. "It's just…Tranquility was anything but…"
"Yes, well it's tradition!" Mercury responded. "Lunar tradition dictates that the Princesses be named Serenity after the Goddess, and the Princes Tranquility after… "
"YES…thank you Mercury, for reminding us of that little fact." Cosmos cut in, rolling her eyes slightly. "My brother possesses the Omoide no Kurisutaru, the Crystal of Recollection, not to be mistaken with the Ginzuishou, the Imperial Silver Crystal, which my daughter now wields." Cosmos said. "The Omoide no Kurisutaru helps a person remember things, as well as aids in the transfer of information from one person to another. With it, we don't have to wait for the Kings, once found, to remember their past lives on their own." Here, she had the grace to blush and various expressions of mirth or embarrassment could be seen on the senshi's faces. "Believe me…that lead to too many scenes that could have, should have, been avoided. I speak from experience." Neo-King Endymion gave a small smirk.
"Ah, yes. Those…wonderful…pictures you drew of us while I didn't remember during Ail and Ann's time…" He teased his wife gently. She huffed and pretended to pout as the other senshi were in various stages of amusement. "I still have those…" he mused thoughtfully. Cosmos glared at him, while Moon looked at her parent weirdly.
The conversation turned to other matters from that point on, after the brief history and Royalty lessons, such as how the Senshi would fit in at Hogwarts and what they would do in the battle against Voldemort and his Death Eaters. This led to the specifics of the magic they wielded and the kinds of youma that they'd defeated. It was finally decided that the Inner Senshi, Saturn, and Moon would join the students, the younger two as Sixth Years and the older four as Seventh. Uranus and Neptune would teach an optional, but strongly recommended, course on Dueling (created in the days following the Ministry's acknowledgement of Voldemort's return) because the students would need to learn to defend themselves in the dark days to come. Pluto would take over Binns' position as History of Magic Professor. Had the ghostly Professor been available, he would have undoubtedly protested, but for some reason he couldn't be found…Pluto received several suspicious looks from Jupiter, Moon, and Mercury when she winked at Mars, who looked smug. Helios would help Hagrid in CoMC. Cosmos and Endymion were offered the Defense Against the Dark Arts position, but both declined.
"While we would enjoy teaching, the two of us cannot stay indefinitely." Endymion explained. "The Senshi, and Helios, will remain here, but Cosmos and I must return to our own home soon. We still have a duty to our subjects, and Cosmos is needed not only to maintain the peace in our own dimension, but also to guard the Gates. That is another reason we must find my brother…because I'll need him to continue the search while I am not here."
"I believe you shall have a suitable candidate soon, at any rate." Pluto said. "More than one, to be fair…" Dumbledore looked at her, but she did not care to elaborate. Several of the senshi rolled their eyes, used to Pluto's cryptic remarks, and Saturn clarified for the confused Headmaster.
"It's a Time Guardian thing." She shrugged. "Secrets are her specialty. Apparently, Pluto has seen the immediate future…"
"We will return periodically to assist in whatever task at hand, but for the most part, we will be busy." Cosmos said, cutting in. "The Senshi have means of contacting us in times of dire emergencies, but I believe that they are fully capable of handling things themselves.
Everyone went to bed at this point, some eagerly looking forward to what tomorrow would bring, others just hoping to get through the night in one piece.
A.N.: Yep, someone's going to have a rough night. Any input on who it's going to be? At any rate, the next chapter will be up sometime tomorrow. Maybe.
Aphrodite2: Thank you, thank you very much. I've like the Senshi and the Generals as couples ever since I saw that damned portrait, from the manga. They're just so adorable together!
Gingerbread starrr: Yeah, sorry if that yaoi warning was a little extreme. But, I figure I mind as well, 'specially since Siri/Remy are going to have a nice, happy reunion and all. ::shrug:: Better safe than sorry. Your questions regarding the Neo-King will be answered in due time. ^_^ Meaning…maybe in a chapter or two or so…
DragonPrincessDynamis: Okay. ^_~
SerinityRules: Well, there're two answers to your question. The first is that I felt like going the stereotypical route (given below). The second is that I really didn't feel like flipping through my dictionary and going through the trouble of creating a unique name for another canon character. And nice guess, by the way.
Jewel: Thanks very much for your contribution! ^__^ It is greatly appreciated.
