Chapter 9: The Past
"No! Princess! Look out!"
"Save the Princess!"
"Protect her!"
"You must survive! You're our only hope!"
"Protect our people! You're their last defense!"
"We will always be here for you! No matter what!"
"We'll always give you strength when you need it."
"You must defeat the evil and save this world. We will always help y…"
"I can't protect you anymore, my love. I'm sorry…"
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"
Serena jolted awake. Her rapid rasping for breath was the only sound she heard besides the slow ticking of the clock. 'Wha-What the hell was that?' she thought to herself, holding a hand to her head. 'Those voices were so familiar. And those screams…..' Serena shuddered. 'They gave me the chills. And they sounded so familiar, as if I was close to those girls.
'Why did I hear only those voices while I couldn't see anything, but fog and dark shadows?' Serena closed her eyes to try and bring back the image, but it was as if her mind blocked all the details from her. 'And who said that "my love" part? What's going on?'
Opening her eyes again, Serena climbed out of bed. Her white night dress flowing behind her, she made her way through the open balcony doors into the light, cool night breeze. Serena stood at the balcony, looking out over the brightly-lit city, catching her breath.
"Sere? What's wrong?" Seiya came up behind her. Their bedrooms were adjoining rooms, and Seiya being a light sleeper, had heard his girlfriend's muffled yelp. He put his arms around her and Serena leaned back into him.
"I had another one of those dreams again," Serena told him.
"What?" Seiya's voice was filled with concern. "But you haven't had those since before we left Kinmoku."
"Yeah. Except, instead of the voices telling me to go home, this time they were just screaming 'Save the Princess!' and 'Protect her!' They said something about someone having to survive and being their last hope," Serena told him. "It was all so confusing, and it didn't help that I could only see shadows and a lot of fog."
"We've got to tell the Princess about this," Seiya said softly to her gently, rubbing her arms to keep her warm in the cool night.
"No, we can't!" Serena told him urgently. "It'll only worry her."
"But I hate seeing you tear yourself up like this, trying to figure out what all this means. Maybe it was a bad idea for us to come to Earth," Seiya hugged her to him.
"No, it was a good idea. If we hadn't come, then Earth and all its people will be doomed. The Earth senshi don't have the extensive training in power-increasing that we have, they wouldn't stand a chance against Empress Fero and all her filthy little demons," Serena said hotly.
Seiya laughed softly. He hugged her to him and buried his face in her soft golden hair.
Serena noticed his silence and turned to face him. Putting her arms around his toned lower abdomen, she looked up at his lowered face. "Seiya? What's wrong?"
Seiya opened his eyes. He placed a hand against her cheek and stroked her smooth skin. "You and I both know the final battle is getting closer and closer, right?" When Serena nodded, he continued, "I just don't want to lose you. What if you are the Princess? You'll have to stay here and…marry your prince."
"Wait, you're still worrying about that stupid prophecy?" Serena straightened up. "Seiya, it's not true. I mean, come on, how could you ever lose me? And plus, just because I'm from a different solar system than other Starlights doesn't necessarily mean it's me that the prophecy is talking about. Queen Kakei told us years ago that the prophecy has been around for years and years. No one even believes it's true. And even she said that there's a 50-50 chance that I'm that person."
"I know, but…" Seiya trailed off. He hugged Serena to him and closed his eyes. A memory came immediately to him.
~*~*~
"Starlights Fighter, Maker, Healer, and Striker. Step forward," a gentle but solemn voice flowed over the small crowd of two dozen Starlight Senshi. "The rest of you may leave."
The respectfully-silent senshi cleared the Throne Room and left the four main senshi kneeling before the beautiful queen and her even more beautiful daughter.
"You may stand," Queen Kakei told them in a much more relaxed voice when the huge doors of the large room were shut. "Starlights, you have forever been our kingdom's greatest senshi and have watched over our solar system through out the many years. Now, in your 16th year, I believe you are all responsible individuals and great friends so I feel that it is imperative that I tell you of this prophecy from long ago."
The four Starlights exchanged puzzled looks with each other.
"This prophecy may include two of you, but I'm not quite sure," Queen Kakei said. "I learned of this prophecy from my mother and her from her mother and so on and on. No one is quite sure when this prophecy was made, it was so long ago. And no one knows for sure if it is true or not because the woman who made the prophecy wasn't from around our solar system. No one knew where she is from and no one knew where she went after she told my ancestor about this." The queen turned her palm upwards and a scroll appeared in her open hand. Unrolling it, she said, "These were her words:
When black clouds cover the skies,
And shadows cover the land,
Evil will appear and strive for total annihilation,
And one by one the stars shall lose their shine.
One by one…until there are only eight,
Standing between their people's survival.
And the end of the mortal race as they know it.
But four lights shall appear
To help the struggling soldiers in evil's wake.
The twelve, despite differences, will join forces,
Fighting alongside each other to defeat this threat.
But their fight might be in vain, for
The evil queen will rise stronger and stronger,
Until only two will have the power to destroy her.
Using the powers of the universe,
And the glow of the fading stars,
Souls joined and spirits strong,
Two shall vanquish evil forever.
One shall come from the stars,
Where fires burn bright,
And a sea of colors grows.
Where shooting stars fly free,
In the cool night sky,
And shines with an almighty hunger.
The other comes from far away,
From another place,
Another world.
This one will make the choice,
No other can do this for her.
A choice to save the lover's love,
The lover's own,
The world she's come to know,
Or the world she never knew.
To save the lover's love, she will fall into oblivion,
And never been known again.
To save her lover's own would mean her end.
To save the world would mean her end also.
But her past hides secret plots and hidden messages,
Her complex mind cannot remember.
And yet, the victory of good in the final battle
depends on her lost memories…"
The queen paused. "I studied those words for hours and hours when I was young. My ancestors believed there was something to this prophecy and so they enforced the learning of the prophecy on their children. And so I have done with Kakyuu. But after studying more of the prophecy and knowing what I know now, I believe that the prophecy has some tie to you, Striker."
"Me, my queen?" Striker was surprised. "But there's no connection with me and that girl. I'll never leave Kinmoku, this is my home."
"Striker, I have something to tell you. Do you remember that first day when you, Fighter, Healer, Maker, Princess Kakyuu, and I were out in the gardens?" Queen Kakei asked. "You had blocked out that memory because it was so tragic so I told you later, when you were much older, that you had lost both your parents to an intruder of our solar system? That wasn't exactly the truth. You lost your parents to an intruder, but not of our solar system. You were born and raised by them until you were seven years old. Your parents were killed when an evil general of a powerful dark queen came from the future to kill you. Fighter, Maker, and Healer saved you and Sammy and brought you here, and I took you into our household until you started your senshi training. And everything after that you remember, I'm sure."
Striker was silent. Her face was down so her best friends and the queen couldn't see her expression. Taking a big breath, Striker looked up at her queen. "What would you like me to do? Return to where I came from or continue serving you?"
"I want you to do what ever your heart tells you to," Queen Kakei told her. "If you feel you must return to your own planet, you may go. You came from Earth, a planet that is two solar systems away from us. It doesn't have as many people as we do on Kinmoku, and the mortals there know nothing of any super beings or sailor senshi. In fact, they don't believe that there is any life on the other planets, which is as it should be because there is hardly any life on the other planets anyway."
"Why is that?" Fighter asked, a puzzled expression on her beautiful face.
"Well, about a hundred years ago, the Earth and its Moon were two separate kingdoms. The Earth's moon was a serene place that glowed bright with love and harmony, even in the shadow. The Moon Kingdom included the Earth's moon and all the other planets of the solar system, except Earth. The Moon Kingdom was ruled by Queen Selene. The Earth Kingdom was ruled by King Poseidon and Queen Helene. At those times, it was forbidden for the Moon people to socialize with the Earth people and vice-versa.
"One day, Queen Selene called upon the stars to give her a daughter. As you know, every good senshi's soul becomes one with the stars and spends eternity after death watching over and guarding the precious souls of other senshi like them. The stars blessed her with a pregnancy and she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Serenity. A year before, the royal Earth couple had a baby boy whom they named Endymion."
At those words, Serena shuddered. The other senshi looked at her in alarm but Serena opened her eyes again. She reassured them, "I'm okay. I just got this weird feeling."
After a moment's pause, the queen continued, "They both were beautiful children and, each year, they grew to be even more gorgeous and talented than they had been the year before. By the time Serenity turned 16 years old, she was almost as powerful, graceful, and possibly even wiser than her mother.
"On the 16th birthday of all royalty, in the Moon Kingdom, the teenagers are allowed to go wherever they want and do whatever they want, regardless of any laws, like a free-rein day. And on Princess Serenity's birthday, she chose to go down to the forbidden place for the Moon people—Earth.
On that planet she met Earthian prince Endymion and the two fell in love. After Serenity's birthday, for 1 full year, the two constantly kept in touch through secret means, but one day they were discovered. Their parents sat down together and decided that if their children loved each other enough to break several laws, as they had done, they deserved to be together. The couple decided to get married the following month, but at their wedding ceremony, a dark shadow blocked out the blue orb in the sky of the Moon. The Earthian Prince, his parents, and all his soldiers rushed back to Earth to find that an evil prince planned to take over the Earth kingdom and take the Moon Princess as his wife. Endynion fought hard but in the end, all his brave soldiers and the royal family of Earth were killed. The evil prince swept towards the Moon Kingdom and the queen sent a sea of soldiers and sorceresses to meet him and his army. They defeated the alien prince and their kingdoms were saved. But the evil prince's last words were: 'I am the great Dark Emperor Feron. I will be avenged by a descendant of my sister…'
Overcome with grief, the princess made a wish to the stars. She wished that she could join Endymion in the afterlife. The next morning, the queen discovered her daughter dead. The queen used her powers to send the souls of her daughter, her lover, and their senshi and generals into unconscious states. She said, "When it is time of greatest need and of great peril, they shall be reborn and become Soldiers of Love and Justice to defeat the new evil. They shall fight for the survival of the people of both the Earth and Moon kingdoms and the two shall finally be whole."
The queen continued to rule over the Moon Kingdom while the Earth Kingdom went through chaos. She tried to help them but nothing she did helped. The Earth Kingdom was destroyed by terrorists and the planet darkened with death, gloom, and evil.
The queen tried one last time to help the people of the Earth but they turned on her and killed the already old and tired woman. The Moon Kingdom plunged into darkness and, from then on, glowed no more."
The senshi were silent. Princess Kakyuu looked at her mother and at the senshi before them. "Mother, may I say something? Why doesn't Striker go to Earth and see what it is like before she makes her decision?"
"Ah! A very good idea, Kakyuu," the queen smiled. "All right. Striker, you will travel to Earth and find out as much as you can about the life there and its people. And since I don't want you traveling alone, Fighter, you will go with her."
"Your Highness, are you sure that's wise?" asked Healer with a mischievous grin upon her face. "After all, those two won't always be in their transformations…and Seiya being in his real body, alone with Serena and without supervision might cause a problem…"
"Shut up Healer! At least I have a girlfriend!" yelled Fighter.
"Pfff. A girlfriend, big deal. It's only good when your girlfriend is a totally hot babe with—" Healer was cut off by Fighter who had grabbed his neck and was in the process of choking him.
"You two are positively childish!" Maker shouted at them as Striker sighed in exasperation.
The queen smiled. "All right, all right. That will be the end of that," she said softly, hiding her smile, and Fighter and Healer immediately released each other and stood up straight, their eyes on their queen, as were their two fellow Starlights. "Although," she added with a mischievous glint in her eyes, "Healer has made a good point—"
"Exactly," Healer agreed with a nod, smirking at Fighter.
"—which is why you and Maker shall go with them too, Healer," the queen finished.
"We can't!" Maker said in surprise and alarm.
"What?!" Healer exclaimed. "But-But—"
"Your Highness! With all due respect, Healer and I cannot go!" Maker said to this queen, not caring about Yaten's stuttering. "What about Kinmoku?! Who will protect it if a threat is detected, if we are not here?"
"Maker, we will be fine here," the queen replied calmly. "The other Starlights can handle it. And right now, we need to concentrate on the issue at hand, Serena's existence in this world."
The Starlights were puzzled. "Wha…what do you mean?" Striker asked.
The queen was silent for a moment. The she looked to her side and nodded to her daughter who had sat quietly beside her.
Princess Kakyuu spoke strongly to her friends, "A while ago, in 1944, a young girl on Earth was thought to have been the reborn form of Princess Serenity. Her name was Patriciana de la Cruz. Ciana, as she was called, was a school girl who becoming a successful ballet dancer. She lived on the upper floor of her town's large theater. One day a tremendous blast sounded and Ciana ran to the first floor. There, she found an unearthly being standing in the middle of the theater laughing as people tried to drag the injured away to safety.
Ciana was a courageous girl who had always been proud of her father's theater. She became angry at the being. Suddenly her whole body began to radiate light and a symbol appeared on her forehead. No one knew what the symbol looked like because as soon as it appeared, it flashed and shot a strong bolt of lightning at the creature. When the flash faded from everyone's eyes, the creature was gone, the damage undone, and Ciana was gone. Nobody knew what had happened to her; it seemed as if she had just disappeared into thin air.
"Eighteen years later, another incident occurred with a girl named Raven Lyht. She was a prestigious school girl in a large city dubbed the "Ohki Ringo" in a country called Ame-rika on Earth. She encountered a monster at her school and destroyed it. This girl was able to defeat the monster by just staring straight at it. Flames shot from her eyes and burned everything in sight, save for the people. Strangely, the people were not burned, and when they opened their eyes, everything was as it had been before the monster arrived, and Raven was gone.
"Thirteen years later, another monster appeared and a girl named Champagne DuPonte destroyed it. People said that crystal blue water shot out of her hand and engulfed the whole room, but the people were safe, again.
"Fourteen years later, a girl by the name of Tiaura, nicknamed Aura, Bronnell was able to destroy another monster when she pointed at it and an orange starry blast shot at it.
"Seven years later, Chika Tsutomu sent a tidal wave that appeared out of nowhere upon a monster and saved many people at a shopping center.
"A year later, Josephine (Jo) Kristian threw an orange ball of light at alien creature and destroyed it.
"Four years later, Stephanie Sylva, a mute, created a deafening high-pitched scream, supposedly with her mind, that destroyed the monster. That was
"In all of these cases, the monster and the girl disappeared, never to be seen again. No one knew what became of them, and people thought it was the Princess reborn to protect Earth and its people," Kakyuu said softly.
"In 1995, Earth's silver moon flashed brightly over Earth seven times, as it had in 1988, the year Serena was born."
"1995…wait, that was the year…" Healer trailed off and looked at Striker.
"Yes, that was the year Serena came to stay with us," Queen Kakei nodded. She said, "People think that all those girls were the Princess Serenity, but I have been studying the reports and I believe that those girls were the reborn forms of the Princess's senshi. I received word last night that the Earth's Moon flashed again…seven light flashes down onto Earth. But this time, it ended with an extra flash, a gold flash. If I am not mistaken, those flashes indicate that the souls of those girls have returned to Earth, and another went with them. And my source told me that the Earth's moon glowed brighter for exactly 17 minutes the following year. That was the year Serena officially became Sailor Star Striker."
"So you are saying that Serena might be tied into all of this?" Maker asked.
"Yes. I had suspected it ever since you came to us. Striker, you have strong powers, powers that have a certain quality about them. You are even stronger than any of the senshi here, especially stronger than Fighter, Maker, and Healer, who have been training for years before you started your training. And also, all your attacks are slightly shaded silver, and this could be why you feel such a strong connection to Kinmoku's moon," Queen Kakei said. "And there is that other, much more important connection…" She snapped her fingers softly and a photo appeared in her hand. It was framed in elegant silver. The Starlights gasped when they saw who was in the photo.
The girl in the photo wore an exquisite, silver, pearl-and-diamond dress. She was a slim girl with long blond hair pulled up into two "dumplings" with a long tress cascading down from each. Upon her head was a silver crown that was amazingly made of smoked and clear glass with a small diamond embalmed in the center. Her face was held in a serious expression but her eyes betrayed her. Her cerulean blue eyes laughed with joy and mischievousness. Her beauty wasn't what startled the Starlights, they had seen it before. It was the person that they were so shocked over. It was Serena.
"T-That can't be me," Striker whispered hoarsely to herself. She felt an arm slide around her shoulders and leaned into the familiar hug of Seiya/Fighter.
"This is the Moon Kingdom Princess Serenity, also known as the queen of the Silver Millenium (the future Earth) Neo-Queen Serenity," Queen Kakei said.
"Wow," Healer murmured as he looked at the picture. "She's hot." Fighter reached over and slapped the back of his brother's head. "Oww!" Healer exclaimed, rubbing the back of her head, and scowled at Fighter, "What the hell was that for?"
"That's my girlfriend you're talking about here!" Fighter glared at him.
"Sorr-ee," Yaten said. "Geez, talk about sensitive."
"That looks so much like Serena," Maker said quietly, ignoring his younger brothers.
"Queen, what does this mean? Does it mean…that I could be Princess Serenity?" Striker asked, swallowing hard.
"Yes. You may be, Striker, but we still don't know for sure," Queen Kakei said softly. "And I must tell you this…The Moon Kingdom was the most supreme kingdom in the entire universe."
"What?!" the Starlights gasped.
"Queen Selene and her daughter Serenity were the most powerful of all rulers and the rest of the kingdoms went under the order of the Silver Moon Kingdom. Queen Selene was a kind and wise ruler so none of the kings and queens objected to her rulings. My ancestors loved the Queen, just as they loved their mothers, and saw Queen Selene as such. It was as if Queen Selene was the mother of the universe. Even today, if the Princess Serenity were to be found, we would all be under her rule. But, just like her mother, Serenity was exceptionally wise for her age and never wanted to hurt a soul. The people of the Silver Moon Kingdom wanted universal peace and that's what they strived for, but not everyone in the universe believed the Queen was the most fit to rule. The darkness was always plotting one thing or another to destroy the queen and her daughter and to take over the ruling.
Queen Kakei said, "Let us all hope that the Moon Kingdom is finally able to rebuild its empire when the darkness comes, whether or not the princess has been found." Then she sighed. "Well, you should all get some rest. We've all had a long day, especially you, Striker. Tomorrow is Seiya's and your day off, correct? Why don't the two of you go spend the day downtown? And get your mind off of this. We will talk again soon. You are dismissed."
The Starlights left the room and walked together down the hall and up the stairs towards their quarters. When they reached Healer and Maker's respective rooms, the two senshi offered encouragements to Striker, telling her to "get a good rest," and not to worry about it because "you're still a Starlight and always will be, no matter what."
When the couple reached Striker's room, they stood outside her door. They both detransformed and Seiya hugged Serena tightly to him. "They're right, you know. You'll always be a Starlight, no matter what happens or what you have to do. And I'll always love you, regardless of who you are," Seiya softly said to his girlfriend.
"Seiya, I'm afraid," Serena told into his shirt, which she had buried her face into. Looking down, Serena continued, "I'm afraid that if I do turn out to be that princess, that I'll have to stay on Earth. And you being a senshi of Kinmoku will have to stay here."
"Serena, we don't know for sure yet, so don't worry about it. And besides, I'd never be able to live without you, so we'll never be apart. If you are this Princess Serenity, we'll figure out a way," Seiya consoled her as he stroked her hair.
Serena looked up at Seiya. She looked into his caring eyes and smiled, finding all the love in them. "Thank you Seiya," she whispered. She reached her mouth towards his and he lowered his lips to hers. They shared a sweet kiss. Serena pulled away slightly and whispered breathlessly, "I love you, Seiya."
"I love you too, Sere," Seiya kissed her deeply and their kissing became more passionate.
As they kissed, Serena asked him, "Seiya, will you stay with me tonight?"
"Sere, I don't think that's such a good idea, Seiya told her between kisses. "We shouldn't be doing thins like that until we're older."
"Please Sei? For me? I don't want to be alone tonight," Serena told him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and gently pulled him towards the open door.
"Sere, I—I want to stay so badly, but—" Seiya resisted. He pulled her back towards him. He was torn between staying or leaving. He wanted to be a good boyfriend and wait until they became older, but he also wanted to be with Serena, the girl he had always loved, ever since he had laid eyes on her (even if he hadn't known it until years later).
"So stay," Serena said simply. She looked at Seiya and knew that he would. She gently led him through the door, with barely any resistance from her boyfriend and he gently closed the door after them.
~*~*~
Seiya smiled, despite how his heart ached. He would always remember that night. It had been one of the most special times he had had with the girl he loved. Seiya thought, 'I just pray there will be more times together after this war. Please, Kami-sama, don't let anything happen to Serena. She means so much to me and I can't imagine life without her. Kami-sama, onegai!' Seiya said in desperation. The two stared out into the black sky, trying desperately to find comfort in each other's arms.