"JEDAITE!"
Sailor Earth's scream filled her body with an incredible amount of adrenaline. She knew what she had to do. And she knew she could do it.
She took off, practically flying; racing to beat her attack at the last moment.
So little time. There was so little time.
She kept on pushing herself to go faster. She couldn't lose. She couldn't be the one to destroy him. No, she needed somebody. And somebody that she used to be so close to herself and Endymion.
She needed to save him!
Fighting time and fatigue, she made it. She didn't have time to raise her arms to defend herself. She didn't have time to conjure a shield. She only had enough time to take the attack herself.
"Asa! No!" Jedaite covered his face as attack bore on the two, Sailor Earth taking the brunt of it. She fell back against him, her features bloody. "Asa, no!" Jedaite caught the girl and laid her gently on the ground.
"Asa," Jedaite looked the girl he had once considered his little sister. "How could you? How could you!" He slammed his fist on the ground. "What would Endymion say. . ."
"Get away from her!" Mars ran over. "Back away! I need to see if she is okay!" Mars checked her pulse for the second time that day. She looked at the girl's paling face, dread began to seed within her. This girl, she didn't feel as if she knew her, but she did feel the need to protect her. Mars scanned Earth's body. There were bruises and scratches all over it.
"Sailor Mars!" Sailor Mercury and Sailor Moon came running in. They stopped dead when they saw Mars and Jedaite both kneeling over an unknown senshi.
"Get away from him, Mars!" Sailor Moon yelled.
"It's all right, Sailor Moon," Mars said quietly.
"Mars, what happened?" Mercury asked, quickly surveying the scene.
"She's hurt, Mercury, we need to get her to a doctor." Mars said softly.
"Mars, who is she?" Sailor Moon knelt near the girl.
"I don't know."
Sailor Moon gently caressed the girl's cheek with her knuckles. A sudden flash left her on the ground, also unconscious.
"Endy," The princess murmured while brushing her hand through the man's raven strands. The two stood close to each other, needing each other's warmth.
"Serenity, we can't keep doing this. We're going to get caught," Endymion stated firmly, holding the princess's hand gently.
"Endy, please, just tonight. . ." Serenity whispered, her bright cerulean pools boring into him.
"Ser. . .What if we get caught?"
Serenity took a step back and shook her head making her silky blond hair tumble over her shoulders and down near her ankles.
"Endy," She brushed his cheek. "I don't care what they think, it doesn't matter to me." She stepped closer to him, circling her arms around his waist. Letting a glistening tear slide down her cheek she buried her face into his chest. "Endy, please, we need to be together just one more time before Queen Beryl strikes. What if. .what if she destroys everything. The Moon, the Earth?" Serenity looked up at Endymion with fear in her eyes and tears coming down faster her cheeks.
"Serenity," He hugged her closer before whispering in her ear, "I would never let that happen, but we do need tonight," He conceded before looking at her deeply in the eyes then gracing her lips with his.
"Endy," She whispered before letting her body melt into his and kiss him back. His hand trailed to her hip and his lips left hers and traveled down her neck.
"Endymion!" The yell resounded through the garden.
Serenity immediately opened her eyes as Endymion stopped abruptly.
"Asa, what are you doing here?" He scolded.
"I-I was just going for a walk before I went to bed," Asa said while staring at Serenity.
Endymion sighed loudly. He looked for a long moment at Serenity. Serenity smiled softly at him and nodded.
"Asa, please don't tell anyone and I'll explain the situation, okay?" Endymion asked. Asa nodded eagerly and turned her attention to Serenity. Serenity smiled again and put out her slender hand. Asa didn't hesitate at all and shook her hand.
"Asa, I am Serenity, Princess of the Moon Kingdom." Asa did not look shocked, and did not let go of Serenity's hand.
"I knew it," she breathed. "I knew it!" She said excitedly and turned to Endymion. "You are in love!" She looked back at Serenity. "I'm glad it's you. You feel so nice."
Endymion quirked an eyebrow. "What do you mean by 'feel so nice.' "
"I'm not sure. It's just that. . ." she finally let go of Serenity's hand. "You feel so warm and gentle. And. . .at the same time. .so powerful. ." She murmured.
Serenity looked surprised. "Powerful? Asa, I have very little power of my own."
"No, you have lots of power!" She repeated more adamantly.
The elder princess frowned slightly. "I'm not sure I understand. Endymion, does your sister. .have any unusual talents?"
He also frowned. "Not that I know of. Asa?"
Asa smiled sweetly. "Mother said we have all have something special inside of us."
Serenity chuckled lightly. She knelt so she was eye level with the small princess. "Your mother is a very wise woman." Serenity took Asa's hand and held onto it. Asa's eyes widened and stayed in that surprised state even when the older princess leaned forward and whispered into her ear. "You are right, Asa, I do have a lot of power of my own. Use your gift wisely." Serenity stood up beside Endymion resisting the urge to shoot a nervous glance at him.
"You won't say anything about us, will you?" The blond princess asked as she wrapped her arm around Endymion's waist.
"No, I won't."
"Promise?" Endymion pressured.
"I promise."
"Endymion," Usagi groaned and brought a hand to her forehead. What a horrible headache she had. She opened her eyes slowly, giving them time to adjust to the dark room. She was in a room at the Shrine, the senshi must have brought her.
"Everyone?" she whispered softly, her voice weak from the sudden onslaught of the vision. Luna who lay next to her lifted her head and slowly opened her eyes.
"Usagi!" She practically pounced on the dazed girl.
"Luna," Usagi whispered holding the feline close to her. "Who were they?"
"Who were who?"
"The people in my vision. The prince, princess, and the little girl."
Luna looked at her startled. What was Usagi thinking of? Could she be remembering her memories of the Moon Princess? Luna felt a sudden rush. "What do you remember of the vision? Do you know what the princess was princess of?"
Usagi closed her eyes for a moment. "No, I don't think it was said - wait! She was Princess of the Moon Kingdom and the prince was Prince of the Earth. And the little girl, Asa, was the prince's little sister."
"Usagi! Do you know what this means? You're remembering the Moon Princess! The one we're trying to find! Tell me, do you remember anything else?" Luna's spirit soared at the possibility of being able to find the long lost princess.
"Luna, my head hurts so much, I can't remember anything else. I'm sorry," Usagi said softly, her voice still weak from the vision.
The small feline sighed. "It's okay, Usagi. Maybe you will have another in the future. If you had one what's to stop you from having more?" She said cheerfully before walking to the door. "I'm going to go tell the others you're awake, do you want them to come in?"
"No, I still feel really weak. I'm going to try to get some sleep." Luna nodded and walked out.
Usagi slowly rested her head on the soft pillow and moaned softly while placing a hand on her head. The after effects of a vision always drained her so much. And this vision was just like all the others, it involved the princess, and like many of the other visions, it involved the prince and little girl. She didn't know why the visions came to her, but they always did. And each time they did her head would hurt to the point that she would wonder if she could stay conscious.
Usagi closed her eyes and tried to sleep.
"What are we going to do with her?" Rei questioned.
"I'm not sure, but we have to do something," Ami said as she looked at the girl.
"We just have to wait until she wakes up. Her injuries don't seem bad enough that they will kill her, but her body does need to rest so it can heal itself again," Artemis said. The girl with the foreign senshi outfit still didn't move even after the hour she had been being tended to. Even though she didn't move, Artemis knew she would be fine, she seemed to have some kind of an incredible strength. Actually, she reminded him of somebody. Somebody he knew long ago. He thought it was entirely possible that she could be the Moon Princess.
Her strength showed that she might be able to handle the Silver Crystal. But there were some things that didn't match. First, she claimed to be senshi of the Earth - why would the Moon Princess become the princess of the Earth? Second, he didn't remember the Moon Princess ever being able to handle raw power like Sailor Earth could, the Moon Princess was always defenseless without the Silver Crystal and even then if she ever dared use it to the maximum it would kill her.
Now that he thought about it, Usagi was the one most likely to be the Moon Princess - if he kept his search strictly within the senshi. Usagi was the only one who couldn't handle raw power, she could only channel it through her tiara. But when she did channel it and actually concentrated on it, she was the most powerful of the senshi. Neither Rei nor Ami could come close to her power. But Usagi's most obvious fault that made her different from Rei and Ami was that she lacked focus.
Artemis let out a quiet growl. He couldn't figure anything out. His memories of the Silver Millennium was incomplete. If he just had his memories whole again then maybe he could figure out the situation. But he didn't and he most likely wouldn't until the Moon Princess was found and she restored his memories.
But Artemis did remember a little bit. He remembered the four senshi being chosen to protect the Princess. But he also remembered a fifth senshi. She was unlike the others. She didn't live to protect the Princess or any of the royal family. She refused to when requested to by Queen Selenity on behalf of the Princess. But the mysterious senshi had said that the Princess had more then enough warriors to do her bidding. That angered the court and Queen Selenity; few spoke to her so brazenly. The only ones she didn't seem to anger were the ones who couldn't protect themselves. No one ever knew her identity. She always protected the lower classes. She protected the ones who had no fighting experience and possessed no special powers. The warrior was always very selective about that. But Artemis couldn't remember why. He felt like he could remember so much about the warrior yet still no so little.
He needed to do something. He needed to get rid of his frustration. Before he knew what was happening Luna came up beside him.
"You can go out for awhile, I'll keep an eye on things hear," she said softly into his ear. Artemis looked at her gratefully before leaving. Luna asked if there were any developments and received a negative answer.
"Usagi is awake, but she said that she needed to sleep more," she said after a moment's hesitation. The girls looked elated and let Luna continue. "She just woke up and told me some things she remembered from the vision she just had."
"So that's it," Rei said suddenly. "This girl gave Usagi a vision. It wasn't some type of curse or attack."
"I think that Usagi may have also had a connection with this girl. Jedaite mustn't have been the only one."
His body was shadowed in the corner of the room making it seem like he almost wasn't there. Quietly he took a breath and spoke. "I'm not the only one. There were three others beside myself. You do not know of them but they also serve Queen Beryl. Malachite, Zoicite, and Nephrite; they were brought in at the same time as me. Each had a temporary loss of memories, but they remembered that Beryl was their leader and nothing else mattered. Brainwashed." Jedaite's face revealed no emotion other then anger.
"But I remember. I remember now and now I must correct my mistakes. I need to find Endymion and protect him. I was his protector during the Silver Millennium and I shall be his protector again. But," Jedaite's voice lowered. "I don't know where to begin. I have only one lead and that's her," he nodded his head at Sailor Earth. "But I think she will have many answers. I don't think she ever lost her memories from the Silver Millennium."
All were quiet at this piece of information. This girl, this unknown senshi, could possibly have all the answers they were looking for. She could know who the Moon Princess is, who Prince Endymion is, and where the rest of the senshi are. She could have all the answers.
Sailor Earth stirred, raising her left hand only centimeters from the ground before letting it fall. She moaned attracting the everybody's attention. Luna walked near the girl's head and watched her open her eyes. Luna peered into them.
"Sailor Earth?" She moaned again, starting to move more.
"Sailor Earth," Luna repeated.
Earth brought a hand to her forehead as her eyes flickered around the room. "I. .I can't be here," she sat up with effort.
"What do you know?" Luna asked directly.
"Luna," her eyes were sad as she struggled to stand up. "I shouldn't be here. It's too soon."
"What's too soon?" Rei persisted.
"I can't say. I need to be going," she stood unsurely, as if she were ready to topple over.
"Asa," Jedaite spoke softly. Earth stood stock still before turning around, her face transforming from one of sadness to one of great joy.
"Jedaite!" despite her weakness she rushed to him. He wrapped his arms around her after a slight hesitation as if unsure of what to do as she hugged him tightly. "Jedaite."
"Asa, we should be going," he spoke to her.
"Yes, we should." she looked at Luna, Rei, Ami, and Usagi. Usagi had come and stood in the doorway. Usagi looked at her questioningly before she turned and left with Jedaite at her side.
It's making more sense. He called her Asa. She is the one from my vision. But I still need to know her real identity, Usagi thought silently as Sailor Earth and Jedaite left.
She felt like there was so much she needed to know, but that it was all locked up inside of her. What could she do to release everything she needed to know?
AN:
What a long update. I feel horrible about how I have neglected my stories, but I will be updating more now. My classes are finally over (yes!). Which means I will have more time. I can't say I will be able to update as often as I have done in the past, but I will update much sooner this time.
I thank the readers who have stuck with this story. For them I have good news, I have started with the next chapter! I have a decent idea of where it is going, but I want to make sure I update Legend of Zelda: The Fading Triforce soon.
Don't forget to review! :-)