Hey!!!! I know I haven't updated in forever (I'm really, really, really
sorry!) but here comes chapter 11. Enjoy!!
Disclaimer: must I repeat this every time?? If It's in Sailor Moon then I don't own it. If it's not, then chances are good that it's MINE!!!
The Return of the Generals
Lara was floating in endless darkness. There was no up or down, no ground or sky. She was just existing in a great expanse of nothingness. Then there was a light floating ahead of her, just out of reach. She knew that she needed to reach that light, even if she didn't remember why. She moved toward it, her thoughts supplying the idea of swimming, whatever that was. When she reached the light Lara realized that it wasn't so much a light as a window or doorway. Lara looked through the crack that spilled light into the darkness, and was sucked into the scene unfolding beyond it.
* * *
It was so boring on the Ark. There was nothing to do. Nothing like a nice long ride on a boat with nothing but space outside the windows to put a damper on her excitement. She looked up as the Princess of Venus passed her. The Princess was beautiful; of course, the goddess of love truly knew how to look her best for the announcement of her friend's engagement. She shifted in her seat. This dress was really pretty, but it wasn't really meant for someone who intended to breathe. Oh well, nothing to be done about it now. She should have taken her maid's advice and tried on the dress before leaving for the Moon, but she had been so excited about seeing her mother and sister again that she had completely forgotten. They were passing Earth now, thank goodness. Too bad the Moon was passing behind the Earth right now or they would have been there by now. She looked out the window to catch the first glimpse of the Moon. She could just make out the Moon Castle in all of its silver splendour. She was getting excited again. Just think, in a few more minutes she would be seeing her mother and sister. She only got to see them once or twice a year, that's the problem with the family running two kingdoms: there's never any real family time! The Ark was landing on the Moon, just outside the Castle grounds. Everyone was getting off, no one really seemed to notice the fifteen year old Princess of the Sun. But that was okay with her, she didn't like to be fawned over. She headed immediately to the castle, nodded to the guards standing beside the front doors, and walked right in. She went straight to her mother's room. Queen Serenity was just finishing getting ready for the party that was to be held in honour of her daughter's engagement when she arrived. The Queen welcomed her with a hug and invited her into the room. They spent the rest of the time before the party talking and exchanging gossip from the two kingdoms. They also planned the next family get together, which would be held on the Sun since the last one was held on the Moon. Soon it was time for the party, so mother and daughter went down to the hall to await the arrival of Princess Serenity and her betrothed Prince Endymion. She was so happy; this was what she wanted her engagement party to be like. The people of the kingdom, her family (at least most of it), her friends and her protectors all there and happy for her. She remembered when Queen Serenity and the King of Earth had proposed this engagement. The Prince and Princess had been fourteen and ten at the time, but the rulers had felt that there might be a potential for a state marriage there if the two of them liked each other. At first they hadn't, but now everything seemed to have turned out for the best. Princess Serenity descended the stairs, down to where Prince Endymion was waiting for her. It all seemed like some sort of fairy tale. The party was wonderful and the dance afterward was a lot of fun too. After the dance the Prince and Princess disappeared upstairs. There was a shout from outside not long after. Queen Beryl, whoever she was, was attacking Earth. Prince Endymion took his leave of his newly betrothed to go fight for his people and his kingdom. She wasn't allowed to leave, to go back home. For weeks she waited on the Moon. The news was bad; Earth was falling to the power of this "Negaverse". The Prince was said to be returning to the Moon to help protect the home of his love since he could no longer protect his own. Very soon the battle ensued in the gardens of the Moon. She watched as the Moon was destroyed around her. She was standing on the balcony watching as Queen Beryl advanced on the castle. The evil Queen sent a blast heading at the castle, it was coming straight toward her! Just as the blast started searing through her body, ripping her soul loose from its shell, there were arms around her, taking her out of the heat. The last thing she heard was "I promised, I'm sorry."
* * *
Lara awakened to the sound of whispers that sounded close, yet far away. Her head was pounding and she felt sick. The last thing she remembered was Sol talking, then doing something to her that felt like she was being destroyed totally and completely from the inside out.
Then she remembered the dream. Now she knew she was going to be sick. What had happened in that time? She knew that her dream was the past, not just a dream. What happened to her sister and the Prince? Why was the Moon dead and the Earth alive if the Earth had fallen to the Negaverse before the Moon was attacked?
The whispers grew louder; it sounded like whoever it was that was speaking was getting closer. Lara could almost make out words, but the speaker was just quiet enough that the actual words were indecipherable. Lara turned her head to look in the direction of the voices coming toward her. One of the voices sounded familiar.
As Lara watched, two men rounded the corner into the "room" Lara was lying in. One of the men was of average height with blond hair; the other was tall with long white hair. The white haired man was the one with the familiar voice. Lara knew she had heard him speak before, but she couldn't really place where.
The man with white hair looked over at her. "Oh, you're awake! I wasn't sure how long it would take since I have never taken care of someone who just got a whole life full of memories shoved into their head before."
For some reason Lara felt like she should laugh at that though she wasn't exactly sure why. It certainly felt like someone had shoved something into her head, it felt like there was no more space for her brain up there. She thought that she should say something to this man, since he seemed to be waiting for a response.
"It wasn't a whole life of memories. Apparently I only lived to be fifteen in my last life, so that's what, a quarter of a life full of memories? Something like that, I guess." Lara said, a little sullenly. She hadn't realized that she was so angry about that. Why did she have to die at that time? Why didn't they let her leave the Moon? If they had let her leave then maybe she wouldn't have died.
The men looked stunned. The blond recovered faster than the one with white hair. "I can't see the resemblance to her sister. This girl has a sense of humour! Her sister never had one of those. I wonder if that comes with trying to defeat the Negaverse from the time you're fourteen?"
"Did you say the Negaverse?" Lara asked the blond. "In my dream I saw the Negaverse destroying the Moon. Hey! Now I know where I've heard your voice!" Lara exclaimed, staring accusingly at the man with white hair. "You're the one who dragged me away from the blast that killed me. You said 'I promised, I'm sorry'. What did you mean?"
The man looked a little surprised then a little embarrassed. "First let me tell you my name, its Malachite."
"Oh, my name's Lara. Sorry for not introducing myself before, I was a little confused as to where I am, how I got here, why my cat talks. You know, all the usual stuff." Lara seethed.
"There's no need to get sarcastic. I know your name, and I know the answers to the rest of it too. But let me start with your first question. With your new memories you probably remember Prince Endymion of Earth." At Lara's nod of agreement he continued, "I was one of his four generals, along with Jedeite here, and two others named Nephrite and Zoisite. We were oath-bound to serve him to the best of our abilities. But I had a previous oath to carry out for another. Your older brother, crown Prince of the Sun, had made me promise to watch out for you anytime that you weren't on the sun. So a bond was made between you and me to let me know where you were so that I would know when you left the sun so that I could watch you when your brother could not. About a year before the actual attack on the Earth, Empress Metallia approached me and the other three generals in a dream to tell us that she would be attacking and she wanted our help in the attack. Of course we refused, but she had anticipated this. She told us of her huge army and let us know that these horrible monsters would come to attack us personally if we didn't help her. Still we refused, though we knew in our hearts that if these monsters attacked that we would lose and the Earth would fall to the Negaverse. Finally, the Empress told us that if we would help her take over the Moon instead, she would not destroy the Earth. We agreed, though with many misgivings. So when she came to attack the Earth we reminded her of her deal with us and so we joined her as her generals in exchange for the safety of our world. Our Prince left the Earth to go help the people of the Moon, thinking that he could save them where he couldn't save his own people. We went to help with the destruction of the Moon, which was Empress Metallia's goal in the first place. She had just needed competent generals to help her so she had blackmailed us. The Empress knew that if she could take down the Moon and it's defenders then there would be no one to stop her from taking the Earth later. When we arrived on the Moon, I sensed your presence there. I knew that my promise to your brother required me to save you at any cost, but from where I stood at the time it looked like the price was going to be the Earth. I thought that maybe you would stay out of the line of fire long enough for the fighting to die down enough for me to smuggle you off the Moon and onto the Earth. If I could get you that far then I thought that your brother or your father could come get you when it was all over. I hadn't anticipated that you would come out onto the balcony, right into the line of fire. By the time I saw you, it was too late to save you. All I could do was watch as the blast headed straight for you. I knew I had to try to reach you or I would never be able to face myself since I would have broken my promise to your brother. I got to your side just as the blast hit you. I wish I could have just let your soul join those of the defenders of the Moon, but I had promised to protect you. So I took what I could of you, most of your soul, and hid it in a secret pocket of the Negaverse. I kept your soul safe, hoping that one day I would be able to set things right. I hadn't counted on your mother trapping all of us in the Negaverse into her crystal and sending us, along with all of the young people on the Moon, to the future of Earth. When I wakened along with the other generals I didn't remember any of this. All I knew was that I served the Empress of the Negaverse and that I needed to gather energy to strengthen "my Empress" so she could take over the Earth. When Sailor Moon as the Princess of the Moon defeated Empress Metallia, all of the captured souls of the Negaverse were freed, including yours."
Malachite's story seemed to have taken a lot out of him. He looked drawn and tired, as if he just wanted to go to sleep and forget about everything.
"So, if my soul was trapped in a pocket of the Negaverse until Sailor Moon defeated this Empress Metallia, how come I was born seventeen years ago instead of like four?" Lara asked, a puzzled look marring her pretty face.
Malachite answered, looking sad, "As I said, I only took most of your soul. The part I left behind in my haste was enough to be sent forward with the rest of the souls of the children of the Moon Kingdom. You were reborn seventeen years ago with a partial soul. You probably felt like part of you was missing until four years ago when the other piece of your soul joined you. You probably started to know things that you never knew before. Maybe you started having dreams about your past life on the Moon. These things happened because that part of your soul hadn't been reborn, taking away your memories, it was the same as that fifteen year old girl that died on the Moon thousands of years ago."
Lara felt like she had been hit by a truck! Those things had happened to her and she'd had no idea what was going on. Now it all made sense a strange kind of sense, but sense all the same. "So I really am Princess of the Sun, and the Princess of the Moon is my sister. This is really weird! But I have one more question."
Malachite looked at her. "And what would that be?"
"How did I get here?"
* * *
It had been six hours since Lara disappeared with Malachite. The scouts, with Luna and Artemis, had interrogated Sol and had found that he remembered mach more of the time before the fall of the Moon than anyone else. Luna and Artemis were still trying to figure out where all of the pieces to the puzzle fit, since Sol's story didn't really match with what they remembered. Finally they just decided that this was probably due to their patchy memories and left it at that. Though they would often send speculative glances in Sol's direction when he wasn't looking their way.
"So, you're telling me that Lara is the Princess of the Sun, and Serena's sister? They are so different! I mean, Lara actually cares about her studies, and I can't imagine someone more graceful, except maybe Pluto or Neptune. But the point is that Serena is extremely clumsy, and ditzy." Rei said this with an apologetic glance in Serena's direction.
"That's okay Rei. I know that I'm clumsy, and I wouldn't believe that Lara was my sister either. I mean, she doesn't even wear her hair in odangos. I thought that was supposed to be a tradition for the females in my family." Serena complained loudly.
Sol looked up from his seat on the ground at Lita's feet. "Yes, that is a tradition for the Moon family's women, but on the Sun there is no such tradition. The only "tradition" for the Sun family is to wear their hair at least to shoulder length, and even that isn't mandatory. Your father, the King of the Sun, kept his hair fairly short, it was never longer than chin length. But you should really be worrying about who took Lara, not what her hair style is."
"Sol's right guys. We should be tracking down that Nega-twit and finding the newest Princess." Lita got into a fighting stance, ready to conquer anything in her way.
"I think I know where she is guys." Amy looked up from the computer she had been working on for the last hour and a half. "It would seem that she's not far from here, she's just on the other side of town."
"Well, then let's go! For all we know, Malachite is in on this plan with the dream snatchers. We have to go save Lara!" Mina jumped off the bench she had been sitting on.
The other girls looked at each other in total agreement. "Right, let's go!"
Amy looked at her computer screen again. "We need to go north west."
* * *
Tiger's Eye sat on his bed with his head in his hands. What is wrong with me? Why do I feel this way? I should be out there finding Lara or fighting the Sailor Scouts, not sitting here feeling sorry for myself.
Tiger's Eye looked up at the picture sitting on the desk next to his bed. What have you done to me? Have you bewitched me, or put me under a spell? I have never had these feelings before.
Suddenly another thought occurred to him, what if this wasn't a spell? What if this was the feeling he had heard so much about since his awakening on this planet..love?
Disclaimer: must I repeat this every time?? If It's in Sailor Moon then I don't own it. If it's not, then chances are good that it's MINE!!!
The Return of the Generals
Lara was floating in endless darkness. There was no up or down, no ground or sky. She was just existing in a great expanse of nothingness. Then there was a light floating ahead of her, just out of reach. She knew that she needed to reach that light, even if she didn't remember why. She moved toward it, her thoughts supplying the idea of swimming, whatever that was. When she reached the light Lara realized that it wasn't so much a light as a window or doorway. Lara looked through the crack that spilled light into the darkness, and was sucked into the scene unfolding beyond it.
* * *
It was so boring on the Ark. There was nothing to do. Nothing like a nice long ride on a boat with nothing but space outside the windows to put a damper on her excitement. She looked up as the Princess of Venus passed her. The Princess was beautiful; of course, the goddess of love truly knew how to look her best for the announcement of her friend's engagement. She shifted in her seat. This dress was really pretty, but it wasn't really meant for someone who intended to breathe. Oh well, nothing to be done about it now. She should have taken her maid's advice and tried on the dress before leaving for the Moon, but she had been so excited about seeing her mother and sister again that she had completely forgotten. They were passing Earth now, thank goodness. Too bad the Moon was passing behind the Earth right now or they would have been there by now. She looked out the window to catch the first glimpse of the Moon. She could just make out the Moon Castle in all of its silver splendour. She was getting excited again. Just think, in a few more minutes she would be seeing her mother and sister. She only got to see them once or twice a year, that's the problem with the family running two kingdoms: there's never any real family time! The Ark was landing on the Moon, just outside the Castle grounds. Everyone was getting off, no one really seemed to notice the fifteen year old Princess of the Sun. But that was okay with her, she didn't like to be fawned over. She headed immediately to the castle, nodded to the guards standing beside the front doors, and walked right in. She went straight to her mother's room. Queen Serenity was just finishing getting ready for the party that was to be held in honour of her daughter's engagement when she arrived. The Queen welcomed her with a hug and invited her into the room. They spent the rest of the time before the party talking and exchanging gossip from the two kingdoms. They also planned the next family get together, which would be held on the Sun since the last one was held on the Moon. Soon it was time for the party, so mother and daughter went down to the hall to await the arrival of Princess Serenity and her betrothed Prince Endymion. She was so happy; this was what she wanted her engagement party to be like. The people of the kingdom, her family (at least most of it), her friends and her protectors all there and happy for her. She remembered when Queen Serenity and the King of Earth had proposed this engagement. The Prince and Princess had been fourteen and ten at the time, but the rulers had felt that there might be a potential for a state marriage there if the two of them liked each other. At first they hadn't, but now everything seemed to have turned out for the best. Princess Serenity descended the stairs, down to where Prince Endymion was waiting for her. It all seemed like some sort of fairy tale. The party was wonderful and the dance afterward was a lot of fun too. After the dance the Prince and Princess disappeared upstairs. There was a shout from outside not long after. Queen Beryl, whoever she was, was attacking Earth. Prince Endymion took his leave of his newly betrothed to go fight for his people and his kingdom. She wasn't allowed to leave, to go back home. For weeks she waited on the Moon. The news was bad; Earth was falling to the power of this "Negaverse". The Prince was said to be returning to the Moon to help protect the home of his love since he could no longer protect his own. Very soon the battle ensued in the gardens of the Moon. She watched as the Moon was destroyed around her. She was standing on the balcony watching as Queen Beryl advanced on the castle. The evil Queen sent a blast heading at the castle, it was coming straight toward her! Just as the blast started searing through her body, ripping her soul loose from its shell, there were arms around her, taking her out of the heat. The last thing she heard was "I promised, I'm sorry."
* * *
Lara awakened to the sound of whispers that sounded close, yet far away. Her head was pounding and she felt sick. The last thing she remembered was Sol talking, then doing something to her that felt like she was being destroyed totally and completely from the inside out.
Then she remembered the dream. Now she knew she was going to be sick. What had happened in that time? She knew that her dream was the past, not just a dream. What happened to her sister and the Prince? Why was the Moon dead and the Earth alive if the Earth had fallen to the Negaverse before the Moon was attacked?
The whispers grew louder; it sounded like whoever it was that was speaking was getting closer. Lara could almost make out words, but the speaker was just quiet enough that the actual words were indecipherable. Lara turned her head to look in the direction of the voices coming toward her. One of the voices sounded familiar.
As Lara watched, two men rounded the corner into the "room" Lara was lying in. One of the men was of average height with blond hair; the other was tall with long white hair. The white haired man was the one with the familiar voice. Lara knew she had heard him speak before, but she couldn't really place where.
The man with white hair looked over at her. "Oh, you're awake! I wasn't sure how long it would take since I have never taken care of someone who just got a whole life full of memories shoved into their head before."
For some reason Lara felt like she should laugh at that though she wasn't exactly sure why. It certainly felt like someone had shoved something into her head, it felt like there was no more space for her brain up there. She thought that she should say something to this man, since he seemed to be waiting for a response.
"It wasn't a whole life of memories. Apparently I only lived to be fifteen in my last life, so that's what, a quarter of a life full of memories? Something like that, I guess." Lara said, a little sullenly. She hadn't realized that she was so angry about that. Why did she have to die at that time? Why didn't they let her leave the Moon? If they had let her leave then maybe she wouldn't have died.
The men looked stunned. The blond recovered faster than the one with white hair. "I can't see the resemblance to her sister. This girl has a sense of humour! Her sister never had one of those. I wonder if that comes with trying to defeat the Negaverse from the time you're fourteen?"
"Did you say the Negaverse?" Lara asked the blond. "In my dream I saw the Negaverse destroying the Moon. Hey! Now I know where I've heard your voice!" Lara exclaimed, staring accusingly at the man with white hair. "You're the one who dragged me away from the blast that killed me. You said 'I promised, I'm sorry'. What did you mean?"
The man looked a little surprised then a little embarrassed. "First let me tell you my name, its Malachite."
"Oh, my name's Lara. Sorry for not introducing myself before, I was a little confused as to where I am, how I got here, why my cat talks. You know, all the usual stuff." Lara seethed.
"There's no need to get sarcastic. I know your name, and I know the answers to the rest of it too. But let me start with your first question. With your new memories you probably remember Prince Endymion of Earth." At Lara's nod of agreement he continued, "I was one of his four generals, along with Jedeite here, and two others named Nephrite and Zoisite. We were oath-bound to serve him to the best of our abilities. But I had a previous oath to carry out for another. Your older brother, crown Prince of the Sun, had made me promise to watch out for you anytime that you weren't on the sun. So a bond was made between you and me to let me know where you were so that I would know when you left the sun so that I could watch you when your brother could not. About a year before the actual attack on the Earth, Empress Metallia approached me and the other three generals in a dream to tell us that she would be attacking and she wanted our help in the attack. Of course we refused, but she had anticipated this. She told us of her huge army and let us know that these horrible monsters would come to attack us personally if we didn't help her. Still we refused, though we knew in our hearts that if these monsters attacked that we would lose and the Earth would fall to the Negaverse. Finally, the Empress told us that if we would help her take over the Moon instead, she would not destroy the Earth. We agreed, though with many misgivings. So when she came to attack the Earth we reminded her of her deal with us and so we joined her as her generals in exchange for the safety of our world. Our Prince left the Earth to go help the people of the Moon, thinking that he could save them where he couldn't save his own people. We went to help with the destruction of the Moon, which was Empress Metallia's goal in the first place. She had just needed competent generals to help her so she had blackmailed us. The Empress knew that if she could take down the Moon and it's defenders then there would be no one to stop her from taking the Earth later. When we arrived on the Moon, I sensed your presence there. I knew that my promise to your brother required me to save you at any cost, but from where I stood at the time it looked like the price was going to be the Earth. I thought that maybe you would stay out of the line of fire long enough for the fighting to die down enough for me to smuggle you off the Moon and onto the Earth. If I could get you that far then I thought that your brother or your father could come get you when it was all over. I hadn't anticipated that you would come out onto the balcony, right into the line of fire. By the time I saw you, it was too late to save you. All I could do was watch as the blast headed straight for you. I knew I had to try to reach you or I would never be able to face myself since I would have broken my promise to your brother. I got to your side just as the blast hit you. I wish I could have just let your soul join those of the defenders of the Moon, but I had promised to protect you. So I took what I could of you, most of your soul, and hid it in a secret pocket of the Negaverse. I kept your soul safe, hoping that one day I would be able to set things right. I hadn't counted on your mother trapping all of us in the Negaverse into her crystal and sending us, along with all of the young people on the Moon, to the future of Earth. When I wakened along with the other generals I didn't remember any of this. All I knew was that I served the Empress of the Negaverse and that I needed to gather energy to strengthen "my Empress" so she could take over the Earth. When Sailor Moon as the Princess of the Moon defeated Empress Metallia, all of the captured souls of the Negaverse were freed, including yours."
Malachite's story seemed to have taken a lot out of him. He looked drawn and tired, as if he just wanted to go to sleep and forget about everything.
"So, if my soul was trapped in a pocket of the Negaverse until Sailor Moon defeated this Empress Metallia, how come I was born seventeen years ago instead of like four?" Lara asked, a puzzled look marring her pretty face.
Malachite answered, looking sad, "As I said, I only took most of your soul. The part I left behind in my haste was enough to be sent forward with the rest of the souls of the children of the Moon Kingdom. You were reborn seventeen years ago with a partial soul. You probably felt like part of you was missing until four years ago when the other piece of your soul joined you. You probably started to know things that you never knew before. Maybe you started having dreams about your past life on the Moon. These things happened because that part of your soul hadn't been reborn, taking away your memories, it was the same as that fifteen year old girl that died on the Moon thousands of years ago."
Lara felt like she had been hit by a truck! Those things had happened to her and she'd had no idea what was going on. Now it all made sense a strange kind of sense, but sense all the same. "So I really am Princess of the Sun, and the Princess of the Moon is my sister. This is really weird! But I have one more question."
Malachite looked at her. "And what would that be?"
"How did I get here?"
* * *
It had been six hours since Lara disappeared with Malachite. The scouts, with Luna and Artemis, had interrogated Sol and had found that he remembered mach more of the time before the fall of the Moon than anyone else. Luna and Artemis were still trying to figure out where all of the pieces to the puzzle fit, since Sol's story didn't really match with what they remembered. Finally they just decided that this was probably due to their patchy memories and left it at that. Though they would often send speculative glances in Sol's direction when he wasn't looking their way.
"So, you're telling me that Lara is the Princess of the Sun, and Serena's sister? They are so different! I mean, Lara actually cares about her studies, and I can't imagine someone more graceful, except maybe Pluto or Neptune. But the point is that Serena is extremely clumsy, and ditzy." Rei said this with an apologetic glance in Serena's direction.
"That's okay Rei. I know that I'm clumsy, and I wouldn't believe that Lara was my sister either. I mean, she doesn't even wear her hair in odangos. I thought that was supposed to be a tradition for the females in my family." Serena complained loudly.
Sol looked up from his seat on the ground at Lita's feet. "Yes, that is a tradition for the Moon family's women, but on the Sun there is no such tradition. The only "tradition" for the Sun family is to wear their hair at least to shoulder length, and even that isn't mandatory. Your father, the King of the Sun, kept his hair fairly short, it was never longer than chin length. But you should really be worrying about who took Lara, not what her hair style is."
"Sol's right guys. We should be tracking down that Nega-twit and finding the newest Princess." Lita got into a fighting stance, ready to conquer anything in her way.
"I think I know where she is guys." Amy looked up from the computer she had been working on for the last hour and a half. "It would seem that she's not far from here, she's just on the other side of town."
"Well, then let's go! For all we know, Malachite is in on this plan with the dream snatchers. We have to go save Lara!" Mina jumped off the bench she had been sitting on.
The other girls looked at each other in total agreement. "Right, let's go!"
Amy looked at her computer screen again. "We need to go north west."
* * *
Tiger's Eye sat on his bed with his head in his hands. What is wrong with me? Why do I feel this way? I should be out there finding Lara or fighting the Sailor Scouts, not sitting here feeling sorry for myself.
Tiger's Eye looked up at the picture sitting on the desk next to his bed. What have you done to me? Have you bewitched me, or put me under a spell? I have never had these feelings before.
Suddenly another thought occurred to him, what if this wasn't a spell? What if this was the feeling he had heard so much about since his awakening on this planet..love?
