1 Chapter Twenty-Four – Glowing In Brilliant Gold
***
"One day, your highness. We should be landing on the planet Earth the evening after tomorrow."
Prince Tamashiiro smiled, taking a sip of the wine he had been supplied. Earlier that day, he'd had a horrible headache for some odd reason. It had gone away, but the ship's doctor had given him a little sweet wine to help the pain in case it came back.
"Very good." Prince Tamashiiro shook his wine glass a little, staring down at the red liquid sloshing around in it. The redness…he closed his eyes for a moment. Perfecly contrasting to blue-violet eyes, but the fire almost matched that rash red color.
When they arrived on Earth, Aiyana Khalidah would be seven months pregnant, unless she had an abortion or had otherwise harmed herself or the child. She'd be weak and easy to capture. Then, he could explore the extent of that power inside of her – possibly even claim some of it as his own.
If Aiyana had rose through the ranks that quickly with her powers, there was no telling what a little of it could do to a healthy, lusty young man like himself. What it could do for the military, the people of Centauri and Proximi. A super-race could be created – a super race that would crush everything else, take over the universe and everything in it with no problems and without the cumbersome elixirs and tonics that were being applied to the soldiers now.
That reminded him. He looked past the Lambda doctor and towards the Acting Second Delta on board. The Acting First Delta was nowhere to be found; he was probably closer to the cockpit, grilling the Eta pilots about landing and traveling through the atmosphere. "Delta Reizei, has the transport with the Psi soldiers deployed from Centauri yet?"
"Yes, your highness," Acting Second Delta Kenji Reizei replied. "The Psi, the other three Deltas, the Acting Seventh Delta and about ten Epsilons should be arriving about a day or two after us. They left a little late due to an engine failure that had to be fixed quickly."
"That's okay." Tamashiiro smiled. Acting Third Delta Akihiro Shigenoi was also on board the ship. "I believe we have enough of the Psi on board to at least capture the palace and hold off any pathetic defense that the Earthians may put up until the reinforcements arrive. Are there any more complications to look foreward to?"
Delta Shigenoi chuckled at Tamashiiro's optimism. "Yes, sir. It seems that the Earthians have set up a sort of fleet around their planet. They are staying within the planet's gravitational field. There are about five ships in their fleet. Not very impressive; they seem to have primitive tracking devices that only picked us up once we entered the orbit of Jupiter. Their sensors at home had us at the outer edges of the Milky Way, but the old ships need to be updated.
"In any event, they are alert and rather ready to fight if they need to."
Tamashiiro smiled complacently and took a sip of his wine. "Good. So are we."
***
"Aiyana, please. Remember. Accept yourself."
Tomoe Hotaru rose from her kneeling position and strode to a high shelf in her spacious room. King Endymion had made sure that she was well-provided for, in terms of living quarters. The house that she inhabited – indeed, the house that Keiko had also resided in, until she had disappeared – was larger than the two of them really needed.
But she filled the house with many knick-knacks – the pretty lamps she had collected over the years, little statuettes and figurines she had thought interesting, and, of course, tons of pictures of she and her daughter Keiko.
Her hand reached out to finger the frame of one that was taken about five years ago. It was the first day of school for Keiko, and a momentous day – it marked her entrance into junior high. The two had taken it together in front of the entrance of Keiko's new school. The two of them were smiling brightly, but Hotaru remembered vividly the nervousness Keiko had on that day. She was a bright child, but she was afraid that the work would be hard and the people, harsh.
Two weeks after her registration at the Irish junior high school, she'd disappeared.
Hotaru winced with pain when she thought about that. For a long time in the beginning, she'd believed Keiko had simply run away. The beginning of her junior high career had been a lot like Hotaru's own. Although she wasn't possessed by any evil entities, Keiko was exotic-looking and different from the girls in her school – even though she spoke perfect English with the Irish lilt, having been raised in Ireland just like most of her schoolmates. However, Keiko was also exceptionally beautiful. Many of the girls she wished to be friends with were jealous and resented her, and the boys followed the girls' lead – as junior high school boys usually do.
But while not overly depressed, Hotaru had sensed a certain unhappiness in Keiko even before that. In the present-day United Kingdom, it was rare for a family to not have a father and mother. Keiko had never shown any hate towards her mother, but she was resentful because her mother would not supply any information about the one thing she craved to know – her father.
Hotaru couldn't bear lying to her daughter. She didn't tell her her father was dead; no, he hadn't walked out on the family when Keiko was born. All she told her daughter was that her father lived far, far away, on the other side of the world; he was a busy man but he still loved her very much. He sent her letters regularly, and gifts at all the holidays. But there were never any return addresses on it.
When younger, Keiko begged her mother to help her write letters to her father to send, but as she grew older she refused to send him anything back. She was angry and bitter at her father's absence in her life and her parents' lack of answers when she asked questions about it.
Hotaru had never wanted to believe that Keiko had run away. And with the discovery that she came to Crystal Tokyo somehow – it infused hope in her. She had never resented Endymion for not telling Keiko the truth in his letters, or even coming out to see her after the baby was born – the concealment of the child was very important to his happiness and future in Crystal Tokyo, as well as the fate of the world. The world wasn't ready to have a Saturnian descendent on the throne. However, she hated to see her daughter so angry and bitter.
But Keiko couldn't bring her mother's guidance into her life now – as the seventeen-year-old unwed mother she'd become in Crystal Tokyo – unless she accepted her past, her future, her destiny, and regained at least part of her memories. And at this point, that seemed almost beyond hope.
Unless a miracle happened.
***
Aiyana stared into the white baby bassinet. She had dark bags underneath her eyes, but a smile lined her thin lips.
This morning, Masaya had taken Aiyana outside for a fresh walk in the summer air, along with Mikomi. Aiyana had found that she was very weak, even weaker than when she had first arrived. Her legs were wobbly and she could barely stand. Masaya told her that maternity patients usually were brought around in wheelchairs anyway, for the sake of safety.
So she'd bundled Mikomi in plenty of warm blankets to protect her from the light breeze, and held her tightly as Masaya wheeled her around outside. They'd all had lunch outside as well, tuna sandwiches, a food delight Masaya had somehow borrowed from Ami. Except for Mikomi, who'd had a lunch and two snacks. Ever since discovering the possibility of getting her own food whenever she wanted it, instead of waiting for her mother to eat, and the warmth and closeness to her mother that she could derive from feeding, she was demanding to be fed every two hours.
Which was precisely why Aiyana had bags under her eyes now. She'd gotten about twenty minutes of sleep that night, what with Mikomi screaming to wake her for food. After the first two, she'd gotten accustomed to lying in wait for her next bout of wails.
Sure enough, Mikomi's cries went off like a siren. Aiyana sprang up quickly, unbuttoned her nightgown and had the baby's lips to it in a minute. She started sucking merrily away, quieted at last.
"I wonder if I could just hold her here all night, or if she would drown in her own food," Aiyana said cynically. She knew that wouldn't help. As soon as Mikomi was finished with her meal, she would scream until she was laid in the bassinet again, tucked away to sleep. Masaya had laughed – he'd been there late that night, there for the first feeding.
"She's the first baby I know that cries to be put back in her bassinet," he commented.
Mikomi started fussing again – she was finished early this time – and Aiyana genty burped the baby and laid her back in the bassinet. The legs were a little shaky, and the nurse who attended her had promised to get her a new one in the morning. Aiyana carefully arranged the lavender blankets around the little girl and smiled. Although she was awake at three am, feeding a squalling child, she felt immeasurably happy in the oddest way.
*Finally,* she thought, *there is someone who really needs me.*
Aiyana kissed her daughter's chubby little baby cheek and slipped back underneath the covers of her own bed, warm herself, knowing that as soon as she drifted off to sleep Mikomi would begin crying again.
She was drifting off, fading into that hazy world between sleep and consciousness, when she heard a crash. It was faint to her ears, but she heard shrieking. As she started to come to, she realized that the shrieking was not in words, but merely a sound – and it was getting louder as she regained consciousness.
It was in the hospital.
It was in her room.
It was a few feet away.
It was Mikomi.
Aiyana flung off her sheet covers. Mikomi's shrieks this time were different than they ever were before. She whipped around and let out a scream herself.
The rickety bassinet had given way and had collapsed on top of her daughter.
Aiyana screamed again and flung herself out of the bed. She picked the pieces of the canopy from the pile of rubble and flung across the room, into walls, windows, the bed, everywhere. She didn't care. Quickly, Mikomi was unearthed from the pile, still shrieking in pain. Was she bleeding? Was her soft baby head misshapen? Oh god, had the bassinet fallen on her soft spot? Aiyana cursed fiercely and pressed the baby into her arms, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Oh no, please kami…if you have any mercy in you! Don't let Mikomi-chan be hurt…please! Please please please don't let my baby be hurt…oh kami…"
Dark against the pale, smooth skin of her forehad, a dark sign arose. It flickered dark at first, but the light quickly filtered into a color easily distinguishable as violet. The soft violet light filled the room – and then a stronger beam of brilliant gold burst through the sign that illuminated the room.
Aiyana could hardly notice. She was immersed in her own worries, her sobbings, over the child she cradled in her hands, now silent.
*Oh please, guardian god Saturn, please let her be all right!*
***
Hotaru reached out to turn off the lamp, but instead she lurched forwards and tumbled to the floor. Thankfully, the lush carpet caught her fall, and she wasn't hurt.
She lifted her hand and looked at it. It was glowing bright purple.
Hand shaking, she rose to her knees, clutching the bedspread on her bed. It was only a matter of time, she knew…
Aiyana was calling her back.
***
Endymion shot up in bed. He could feel his power surging through him for some reason…it was an odd feeling, his own powers going through his body and him not controlling them himself. It was a sensation he had not felt in almost a thousand years.
His eyes widened. It could not possibly mean he had lost control of his powers suddenly. So it could only mean one other thing.
His wife rolled over on her side of the bed, and Endymion quickly hid his hands behind his back. As soon as he confirmed she was still sleep, he brought them both back to his face. They were glowing in brilliant gold.
He sighed heavily and brought his hands to his forehead.
Aiyana's powers were waking up. Which meant that there was a very grave chance…she would remember.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------
AN: By now, you're probably confused about the levels and stuffers. Well, I'll explain a little.
Andromedan/Alpha life is based on caste system and level rating. The levels are based on the Greek alphabet. The levels are split into three categories: the Aristocracy, the Military, and the Civilians.
The first category, the Aristocracy, is made of the level named by the last Greek letter, Omega, and the first three letters of the alphabet, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. The Omegas are the ruling body, and what they say is always final (hence the play on the last letter of the alphabet. They consist of the royal family only. The Alphas are like the Supreme Court, very intimidating, and there are only six of them on the council. The Betas are like legislators, and there are more of them. The Gammas are general aristocrts.
The next levels are in the Military and they are the Greek letters Delta through Kappa. Some of the sections have specializations; others don't. The Deltas are the spys and experts at espionage; it is the highest honor a military peron can have. The Epsilon are like a Secret Police of sorts. The Zeta are the next level down and they are military scientists. The Eta are the pilots (starcraft); the Theta are the sailors (watercraft). The Iota use lower level military weapons like tanks and stuff; and the Kappa are the foot soldiers.
Then, Lambda through Tau are the Civilians. Lambda are high level scholars like doctors and lawyers that work in government run business. Mu are lower level-scholars that work in government business like teachers and stuff. Nu have their own businesses but struggle because free enterprise is discouraged. Xi are people who service and work at Nu level businesses. The majority of Civlians are Xi members. Omicron, Pi, and Rho are welfare receivers; the Omicrons receive the least welfare and the Rho practically live on it. Sigmas and Taus are prisoners, Sigma in minimum security prisons and Taus in maximum.
The Psi actually skip a few letters (Upsilon, Phi, and Chi). I can't tell you too much about the Psi, because that would ruin the story. (Plus I need to make up some stuff ^_^) Just know that they are genetically enhanced soldiers.
***
"One day, your highness. We should be landing on the planet Earth the evening after tomorrow."
Prince Tamashiiro smiled, taking a sip of the wine he had been supplied. Earlier that day, he'd had a horrible headache for some odd reason. It had gone away, but the ship's doctor had given him a little sweet wine to help the pain in case it came back.
"Very good." Prince Tamashiiro shook his wine glass a little, staring down at the red liquid sloshing around in it. The redness…he closed his eyes for a moment. Perfecly contrasting to blue-violet eyes, but the fire almost matched that rash red color.
When they arrived on Earth, Aiyana Khalidah would be seven months pregnant, unless she had an abortion or had otherwise harmed herself or the child. She'd be weak and easy to capture. Then, he could explore the extent of that power inside of her – possibly even claim some of it as his own.
If Aiyana had rose through the ranks that quickly with her powers, there was no telling what a little of it could do to a healthy, lusty young man like himself. What it could do for the military, the people of Centauri and Proximi. A super-race could be created – a super race that would crush everything else, take over the universe and everything in it with no problems and without the cumbersome elixirs and tonics that were being applied to the soldiers now.
That reminded him. He looked past the Lambda doctor and towards the Acting Second Delta on board. The Acting First Delta was nowhere to be found; he was probably closer to the cockpit, grilling the Eta pilots about landing and traveling through the atmosphere. "Delta Reizei, has the transport with the Psi soldiers deployed from Centauri yet?"
"Yes, your highness," Acting Second Delta Kenji Reizei replied. "The Psi, the other three Deltas, the Acting Seventh Delta and about ten Epsilons should be arriving about a day or two after us. They left a little late due to an engine failure that had to be fixed quickly."
"That's okay." Tamashiiro smiled. Acting Third Delta Akihiro Shigenoi was also on board the ship. "I believe we have enough of the Psi on board to at least capture the palace and hold off any pathetic defense that the Earthians may put up until the reinforcements arrive. Are there any more complications to look foreward to?"
Delta Shigenoi chuckled at Tamashiiro's optimism. "Yes, sir. It seems that the Earthians have set up a sort of fleet around their planet. They are staying within the planet's gravitational field. There are about five ships in their fleet. Not very impressive; they seem to have primitive tracking devices that only picked us up once we entered the orbit of Jupiter. Their sensors at home had us at the outer edges of the Milky Way, but the old ships need to be updated.
"In any event, they are alert and rather ready to fight if they need to."
Tamashiiro smiled complacently and took a sip of his wine. "Good. So are we."
***
"Aiyana, please. Remember. Accept yourself."
Tomoe Hotaru rose from her kneeling position and strode to a high shelf in her spacious room. King Endymion had made sure that she was well-provided for, in terms of living quarters. The house that she inhabited – indeed, the house that Keiko had also resided in, until she had disappeared – was larger than the two of them really needed.
But she filled the house with many knick-knacks – the pretty lamps she had collected over the years, little statuettes and figurines she had thought interesting, and, of course, tons of pictures of she and her daughter Keiko.
Her hand reached out to finger the frame of one that was taken about five years ago. It was the first day of school for Keiko, and a momentous day – it marked her entrance into junior high. The two had taken it together in front of the entrance of Keiko's new school. The two of them were smiling brightly, but Hotaru remembered vividly the nervousness Keiko had on that day. She was a bright child, but she was afraid that the work would be hard and the people, harsh.
Two weeks after her registration at the Irish junior high school, she'd disappeared.
Hotaru winced with pain when she thought about that. For a long time in the beginning, she'd believed Keiko had simply run away. The beginning of her junior high career had been a lot like Hotaru's own. Although she wasn't possessed by any evil entities, Keiko was exotic-looking and different from the girls in her school – even though she spoke perfect English with the Irish lilt, having been raised in Ireland just like most of her schoolmates. However, Keiko was also exceptionally beautiful. Many of the girls she wished to be friends with were jealous and resented her, and the boys followed the girls' lead – as junior high school boys usually do.
But while not overly depressed, Hotaru had sensed a certain unhappiness in Keiko even before that. In the present-day United Kingdom, it was rare for a family to not have a father and mother. Keiko had never shown any hate towards her mother, but she was resentful because her mother would not supply any information about the one thing she craved to know – her father.
Hotaru couldn't bear lying to her daughter. She didn't tell her her father was dead; no, he hadn't walked out on the family when Keiko was born. All she told her daughter was that her father lived far, far away, on the other side of the world; he was a busy man but he still loved her very much. He sent her letters regularly, and gifts at all the holidays. But there were never any return addresses on it.
When younger, Keiko begged her mother to help her write letters to her father to send, but as she grew older she refused to send him anything back. She was angry and bitter at her father's absence in her life and her parents' lack of answers when she asked questions about it.
Hotaru had never wanted to believe that Keiko had run away. And with the discovery that she came to Crystal Tokyo somehow – it infused hope in her. She had never resented Endymion for not telling Keiko the truth in his letters, or even coming out to see her after the baby was born – the concealment of the child was very important to his happiness and future in Crystal Tokyo, as well as the fate of the world. The world wasn't ready to have a Saturnian descendent on the throne. However, she hated to see her daughter so angry and bitter.
But Keiko couldn't bring her mother's guidance into her life now – as the seventeen-year-old unwed mother she'd become in Crystal Tokyo – unless she accepted her past, her future, her destiny, and regained at least part of her memories. And at this point, that seemed almost beyond hope.
Unless a miracle happened.
***
Aiyana stared into the white baby bassinet. She had dark bags underneath her eyes, but a smile lined her thin lips.
This morning, Masaya had taken Aiyana outside for a fresh walk in the summer air, along with Mikomi. Aiyana had found that she was very weak, even weaker than when she had first arrived. Her legs were wobbly and she could barely stand. Masaya told her that maternity patients usually were brought around in wheelchairs anyway, for the sake of safety.
So she'd bundled Mikomi in plenty of warm blankets to protect her from the light breeze, and held her tightly as Masaya wheeled her around outside. They'd all had lunch outside as well, tuna sandwiches, a food delight Masaya had somehow borrowed from Ami. Except for Mikomi, who'd had a lunch and two snacks. Ever since discovering the possibility of getting her own food whenever she wanted it, instead of waiting for her mother to eat, and the warmth and closeness to her mother that she could derive from feeding, she was demanding to be fed every two hours.
Which was precisely why Aiyana had bags under her eyes now. She'd gotten about twenty minutes of sleep that night, what with Mikomi screaming to wake her for food. After the first two, she'd gotten accustomed to lying in wait for her next bout of wails.
Sure enough, Mikomi's cries went off like a siren. Aiyana sprang up quickly, unbuttoned her nightgown and had the baby's lips to it in a minute. She started sucking merrily away, quieted at last.
"I wonder if I could just hold her here all night, or if she would drown in her own food," Aiyana said cynically. She knew that wouldn't help. As soon as Mikomi was finished with her meal, she would scream until she was laid in the bassinet again, tucked away to sleep. Masaya had laughed – he'd been there late that night, there for the first feeding.
"She's the first baby I know that cries to be put back in her bassinet," he commented.
Mikomi started fussing again – she was finished early this time – and Aiyana genty burped the baby and laid her back in the bassinet. The legs were a little shaky, and the nurse who attended her had promised to get her a new one in the morning. Aiyana carefully arranged the lavender blankets around the little girl and smiled. Although she was awake at three am, feeding a squalling child, she felt immeasurably happy in the oddest way.
*Finally,* she thought, *there is someone who really needs me.*
Aiyana kissed her daughter's chubby little baby cheek and slipped back underneath the covers of her own bed, warm herself, knowing that as soon as she drifted off to sleep Mikomi would begin crying again.
She was drifting off, fading into that hazy world between sleep and consciousness, when she heard a crash. It was faint to her ears, but she heard shrieking. As she started to come to, she realized that the shrieking was not in words, but merely a sound – and it was getting louder as she regained consciousness.
It was in the hospital.
It was in her room.
It was a few feet away.
It was Mikomi.
Aiyana flung off her sheet covers. Mikomi's shrieks this time were different than they ever were before. She whipped around and let out a scream herself.
The rickety bassinet had given way and had collapsed on top of her daughter.
Aiyana screamed again and flung herself out of the bed. She picked the pieces of the canopy from the pile of rubble and flung across the room, into walls, windows, the bed, everywhere. She didn't care. Quickly, Mikomi was unearthed from the pile, still shrieking in pain. Was she bleeding? Was her soft baby head misshapen? Oh god, had the bassinet fallen on her soft spot? Aiyana cursed fiercely and pressed the baby into her arms, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Oh no, please kami…if you have any mercy in you! Don't let Mikomi-chan be hurt…please! Please please please don't let my baby be hurt…oh kami…"
Dark against the pale, smooth skin of her forehad, a dark sign arose. It flickered dark at first, but the light quickly filtered into a color easily distinguishable as violet. The soft violet light filled the room – and then a stronger beam of brilliant gold burst through the sign that illuminated the room.
Aiyana could hardly notice. She was immersed in her own worries, her sobbings, over the child she cradled in her hands, now silent.
*Oh please, guardian god Saturn, please let her be all right!*
***
Hotaru reached out to turn off the lamp, but instead she lurched forwards and tumbled to the floor. Thankfully, the lush carpet caught her fall, and she wasn't hurt.
She lifted her hand and looked at it. It was glowing bright purple.
Hand shaking, she rose to her knees, clutching the bedspread on her bed. It was only a matter of time, she knew…
Aiyana was calling her back.
***
Endymion shot up in bed. He could feel his power surging through him for some reason…it was an odd feeling, his own powers going through his body and him not controlling them himself. It was a sensation he had not felt in almost a thousand years.
His eyes widened. It could not possibly mean he had lost control of his powers suddenly. So it could only mean one other thing.
His wife rolled over on her side of the bed, and Endymion quickly hid his hands behind his back. As soon as he confirmed she was still sleep, he brought them both back to his face. They were glowing in brilliant gold.
He sighed heavily and brought his hands to his forehead.
Aiyana's powers were waking up. Which meant that there was a very grave chance…she would remember.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------
AN: By now, you're probably confused about the levels and stuffers. Well, I'll explain a little.
Andromedan/Alpha life is based on caste system and level rating. The levels are based on the Greek alphabet. The levels are split into three categories: the Aristocracy, the Military, and the Civilians.
The first category, the Aristocracy, is made of the level named by the last Greek letter, Omega, and the first three letters of the alphabet, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. The Omegas are the ruling body, and what they say is always final (hence the play on the last letter of the alphabet. They consist of the royal family only. The Alphas are like the Supreme Court, very intimidating, and there are only six of them on the council. The Betas are like legislators, and there are more of them. The Gammas are general aristocrts.
The next levels are in the Military and they are the Greek letters Delta through Kappa. Some of the sections have specializations; others don't. The Deltas are the spys and experts at espionage; it is the highest honor a military peron can have. The Epsilon are like a Secret Police of sorts. The Zeta are the next level down and they are military scientists. The Eta are the pilots (starcraft); the Theta are the sailors (watercraft). The Iota use lower level military weapons like tanks and stuff; and the Kappa are the foot soldiers.
Then, Lambda through Tau are the Civilians. Lambda are high level scholars like doctors and lawyers that work in government run business. Mu are lower level-scholars that work in government business like teachers and stuff. Nu have their own businesses but struggle because free enterprise is discouraged. Xi are people who service and work at Nu level businesses. The majority of Civlians are Xi members. Omicron, Pi, and Rho are welfare receivers; the Omicrons receive the least welfare and the Rho practically live on it. Sigmas and Taus are prisoners, Sigma in minimum security prisons and Taus in maximum.
The Psi actually skip a few letters (Upsilon, Phi, and Chi). I can't tell you too much about the Psi, because that would ruin the story. (Plus I need to make up some stuff ^_^) Just know that they are genetically enhanced soldiers.