Author's Notes:
Well, for those waiting for this, here is the sequel to Return of the Valkyries, Heroes of Eternity. There are a number of characters and for a recap of the last story, here are the added characters:
(Kyle) Kylane is Kunzite
(Matt) Matthias is Nephrite
(Zale) Zarek is Zoisite
(Jared) Janus is Jadeite
(Aren – Haruka's husband previously) Adriano is Adamite
(Cirocco – Setsuna's husband previously) Coen is Cordylite
(Ian – Michiru's husband previously) Ilar is Iolite
(Raine – Hotaru's husband previously) Ranae is Rhonite
If the name and planet thing is confusing you, please check the read-me/prologue.
Heroes of Eternity
Chapter 6
Serena awoke with a strange feeling in her gut. Her eyes snapped open and she peered around her darkened bedroom. But she couldn't see anything; it was as if some giant hand had blotted out anything that had any semblance to light. Even the moonlight wasn't coming through the small window in the room.
She slid from the bed, wearing the nightgown she had been taken in and she hesitantly looked around again. She wished she knew where the light switch was, but she hadn't been able to find one no matter how long she was in the room. An uneasy, chilly feeling fell over her shoulders and she shivered. Something was telling her there was something in the room with her...something she should fear.
"It must be because you're the heir to the Ginzuishou that you would wake because of my presence."
The Crown Princess gave a small squeal in fright and leapt back, but from nothing she could see. There was a disembodied voice in her room! Was she going crazy? There was no such thing as disembodied voices. Were there? Oh, how she wished Mina was there with her. Mina could always make her feel calm and protected...like Darius did.
"Calm down." The voice seemed to materialize and a flame sprouted. It took a moment, but she made out it wasn't just any flame, but attached to a candle. The little light it gave off illuminated sharp, angular features of a man used to getting his way. Other than that, the darkness kept its secrets and she couldn't see much of anything else about him.
"Who are you?" she asked fearfully, backing up against the lower right bed-pole that held up the canopy above her head.
His hand reached out, as if to caress her face, but they were so far apart it was impossible. "You don't know? Tell me, if you are truly the Crown Princess Serenity, reincarnated Neo Queen Serenity I, then you should feel me, your soulmate, King Endymion."
Serena couldn't help it. She laughed. "I'm not the reincarnated Neo Queen Serenity I! I'm nothing like who she was at all! I'm just the Crown Princess XIII, is all. If anyone is the reincarnated Neo Queen Serenity I, it would be my aunt and while everyone thought she would be the queen, she isn't. So...I don't think so."
Her own amusement faded away faster than it had come and she felt that same fear hit her like a ton of bricks as he laughed and the candle moved forward, bringing and repelling more shadows. Had it been possible, Serena would have backed up for every step he took.
"You just haven't awakened yet, is all," he said, this time his fingers actually touching her cheek. They were remarkably cold and left her almost paralyzed. Her breath was struggling to come in gasps, her eyes round with her terror.
That angular face bent down, his lips hovering over hers. Her hand reached behind her and gripped the bed-pole tightly, her knuckles white. She didn't want to kiss him! The memory hit her, something she and Mina had talked about long ago...
----
"I can't wait for my first kiss!" Eight-year-old Serena said excitedly.
"It's pretty nice," Nine-year-old Mina told her cousin, leaning back confidently, having just received hers. "Especially when you really like the person that kisses you."
"I want mine to be special, really special, you know? And I want them to kiss me because they love me and not because I'm the princess."
Mina looked at her somewhat downcast expression and immediately moved to sit on her cousin's bed, wrapping her arms around her. "Serena, what's wrong? Has something happened at school?"
Serena looked at her then back down at the floor. Her cousin was a year ahead of her in school, so she wouldn't know. And she was so popular that there was no way that she could possibly pay attention to what was going on with her.
"Well, the boy I kinda liked...he said he liked me and we were talking underneath that big tree. You know, the one that's been here longer than the school and that will never be cut down? Well, he was going to kiss me, and I was really happy about it, but something made me stop. I didn't want to be kissed on school grounds, I wanted it to be at night, with the stars overhead and after a beautiful dinner and all. So he said it was okay and we went back to class. The next day, everyone kept whispering and looking at me. Finally, Rika told me that the boy I liked had made a bet with his friends that he could kiss the crown princess. He doesn't like me, he only wanted to have the prestige of saying he'd kissed me!" She broke down in sobs, having held this in for nearly two weeks.
Nine-year-old Mina's eyes burned with fire and the very next day, she cornered that boy, among his friends. Mina hadn't known, but Serena had snuck behind her to watch her. She had known that her cousin was angry, but she had not been entirely sure what she would have done.
Mina was like a wrecking ball, and one no one wanted to get on the bad side of. They knew that not only was she the cousin to the Crown Princess, but the favorite of the Physical Education team. She knocked down two boys in her rush to corner the object of her wrath.
By some fluke, she had him pinned against the tree that he and Serena had stood under that fateful day two weeks ago. He was looking fearful, and he rightly should. Serena herself almost feared Mina...and she knew what he was looking at.
Sapphire orbs would shine brightly, as if there was something behind them. There would be a fire in them, and an unmatchable rage and a depth of loyalty unable to be matched. When she was really angry, sometimes even a hint of gold light would appear. Serena was almost afraid of her cousin when she got like that, though never once had her closest friend ever turned that look on her. Mina hadn't understood when Serena had tried to explain it to her, when she had wondered why the boy who had insulted her and she had gotten mad at ran away.
Serena was much too far away to hear what they were saying, but he was nodding constantly, as if his head was broken and that was the only thing he was capable of doing. When it was apparent that Mina had finished what she had said, she shoved him a bit, sending him falling to the side on the ground, and stalked off. She hadn't told her cousin that she had been there, and her cousin had never told her what had happened either or that she had even been there.
The only thing she did say when Serena had asked why the rumors and twitters had suddenly stopped was, "No one tries to kiss my cousin that she doesn't want them to, and I make sure of that..."
----
The memory flashed through her head faster than it would have ever taken to say, but in the few seconds that she had thought about it, the man's lips had been moving steadily lower. When she glanced at his eyes, it was something she would always remember, something that was the most dangerous thing in the world and must be feared: he had the eyes of a fanatic. He truly believed that he was the reincarnated King Endymion!
Silver specks winked and flickered in her hair, casting a light all its own. Soon the specks became larger and noticeable. The man's lips paused and he looked at the silver light in curiosity. When it didn't appear to do anything, he lost interest and continued his lips descent.
When they were less than centimeters apart, the silver light exploded and sent him flying backwards. It filled the room, destroying all the shadows. But it didn't stop there. It continued to expand, to grow, until it had covered the entire building in its brilliance.
---
Darius' head snapped up as the silver light washed over him and jumped to his feet. For some reason, how he knew he didn't know, but that was the Ginzuishou! And that meant...the Princess!
He burst out of the guard's barracks and ran at full tilt toward the Princess' room.
---
Serena couldn't move, but yet at the same time, she knew it was and wasn't her will directing this light. Her blue eyes looked at the man, watching her as he lay in a heap on the floor. With the candle out and more room, his features weren't as sharp as they had appeared.
He was quite handsome, and he had a dangerous appeal to him. Dark hazel eyes drilled into her frame, analyzing every inch of her. His hair, colored a muddy brown, fell down past his shoulder blades, and yet it made him look regal, even with the coloring. The clothes he wore were of the finest cut and fashion, and he was built well, muscles clearly defined against his shirt and pants.
But he didn't look like King Endymion, from the pictures she'd seen of the man. The man she had seen gave off the impression of a lean panther, with short black hair and midnight, sultry eyes.
The Ginzuishou's outline blinked into existence in front of her and her eyes widened...
---
Mina let out a curse as light drove her awake. It couldn't be morning! But when she opened her eyes, she found the pack next to her side was glowing!
"Awake! Everyone awake!"
Her order was hardly needed as at that moment, silver light had rushed over them and their place of camp, waking even the deepest of sleepers.
"What is this?" demanded Ruka, looking for something to fight but not finding it.
"It's the Ginzuishou's power," Mina whispered, awestruck. Was her aunt doing this? Why? How could she know where Serena was?
Strangely enough, the pack containing the box seemed to try to suck it in and hold it.
"Is this the Queen's doing?" Kylane asked, voicing her own questions.
Mina shrugged. "I don't know. I don't know much of anything about the Ginzuishou, and I have a very limited connection with it. I don't know. The only reason I know it's the Ginzuishou is because I've studied it a little with Chandra."
---
Queen Aysel gasped and watched in horrified shock as the Ginzuishou began to glow. This was not her doing and there was no one else who could access the crystal! No one, but...
Chandra and her sister came running into the room, both knowing by the silver light that outlined the door that it must be in use.
"My Queen, what are you doing?"
Aysel shook her head at Chandra. "I'm not doing it! And there's only one other person that can have access to the crystal..."
"Princess Serenity," the cat murmured, awestruck.
"At least we know that the Ginzuishou chose her to be your successor," her sister said in the silence.
---
Inside the box, the pens of the Senshi and the cloak clasps of the Shitennou glowed and sparkled with their signature light, though it was unable to be seen unless the box was open.
The warriors and the power that sustained them, buried inside those objects of power, groggily stirred and muttered. It was time...they reached out unconsciously to look for their non-warrior counterparts and found them all in one place at one time. Just as the consciousness was about to take control and they reached out to awaken, the power cut off and they fell back to the oblivion of sleep. But it was not the peaceful sleep that they had had for millennium...this time, it was restless and somehow unconsciously preparing. Their time would come soon, their dreams told them, and they had to be prepared for it.
---
Mina and the others watched in worry as the silver light faded away, as if it was drawing back to where it had come from. There was no way anyone could sleep after that.
"Let's move, people!" Kylane roared and within seconds, they were up and ready to go.
---
Serena tried to control it, to tell the Ginzuishou that it wasn't needed anymore. It took a few minutes, but slowly the power drew back inside of her and back into the crystal, grumbling. It had reacted to her and wanted to protect her...did that mean she really was Neo Queen Serenity I reincarnated? No, she said, snorting inwardly at herself, what it did mean was that she was the next successor to the throne, that was all.
There was a jingle at the door and Darius burst in, looking around, wild-eyed. His eyes fell on her, clutching at the bedpost to the man just getting up, the one who believed himself to be King Endymion.
The man studied her. "You are the reincarnated Neo Queen. That simply proves it." He smiled. "My beloved, soon you will awaken and remember me."
Darius respectfully stepped aside as he passed, but when he was gone and the door shut, he sent the fanatic a poisonous glance. After a few seconds, he hurried to Serena's side. "Are you all right?"
Serena threw herself into Darius' arms with a quiet wail. She needed comfort after that and it didn't matter who it came from as long as they cared about her. "He...he tried to...kiss me!"
"Oh, my princess..." Darius murmured, "I'm sorry."
"There was nothing you could have done if you were here," she said, somehow knowing what he was thinking. "You would have jeopardized all that you have worked so hard to gain if you did something."
"I would have done so anyway. I promised to get you home the way you came here and I will not break that vow."
Serena looked up at him, mesmerized by what she saw in his eyes. They were molten sapphire, soft and inviting. The loyalty for her shined through her and made her humble that she had this beautiful man's allegiance. But behind that...was there something else there? It was an emotion that flitted and fidgeted, as if refusing to stay still and trying to hide from her eyes.
Slowly, hesitantly, Darius bent down and pressed his lips to hers. It wasn't like the sublime confidence of the fanatic. He was expecting for her to pull away, expecting her to not return his affections.
But though it wasn't exactly her daydream, it was still night out and she was in a beautiful room. Her fingers ran up to tangle in his hair, deepening the kiss, much to the obvious surprise of Darius.
Gently, he laid her on the bed, lips moving down to kiss her neck. They were both thankful later that the door had been locked.
-
As Serena lay there, naked and head pillowed on Darius' shoulder, she looked out the window. She could see the moon, and it was as if it was smiling at her. This night with Darius had felt so right to her and she knew that if she ever made it back home, she was going to marry him and bedamned with whatever her mother, aunt, Chandra, and especially her grandmother had to say. At least Mina would be on her side...if they ever made it back.
Darius ran his hands through her hair and murmured, "You will get home again." He had read her mind the way she had read his. It was...uncanny almost. He leaned over and kissed her again, softly and reassuring.
"You know we must hide this. If anyone finds out what we have done..."
"You'll be killed," she finished fearfully.
Darius looked away for a minute, towards the door as if he expected to find someone standing there. "Yes, they'll kill me for "sullying" the bride of that fanatic."
"What will they do to me?"
He leaned back on the pillows, drawing her closer. "I don't think much because he believes you are the reincarnated Neo Queen Serenity I. There's only two options that I can see his mind going for: he'll either believe I forced you into it, in which case you'll be fine...at least for a while. Or he'll believe that because you were with any man, forced or not, that you are not Neo Queen Serenity I reincarnated and in which case...I'm not sure what he'll do. I don't think he'll let you go back with an "okay, I'm sorry, let's have tea next week!"
Serena shivered and Darius held her closer. "Reassure me...Mamo-chan."
He leaned over and kissed her, slowly maneuvering until he was over top of her.
Neither of them noticed until much, much later that she had called him that.