Chapter 19: The Beginning and the End Have the Same last name
Week 4, Day 3
Reika shot up in bed with a gasp. 'So that's what I was
repressing. No wonder I didn't want to remember.'
She was horrified by what she remembered when she closed her
eyes. She was pained that she had to live through it all
in her memory. The end of everything in that lifetime was
not a pretty end, and she still carried around guilt about
what happened, because, after all, it was her fault.
Reika got out of bed and reached for her robe. She wasn't
really sure if anyone was up yet, but she knew one thing; she
had to apologize.
As she went into the kitchen, she found Terry, Yusuke, and May
very much awake. May was putting food in front on the two
boys and saying, "You have to eat something. And I don't want
to hear anything about my cooking, Yusuke," when Reika walked
through the door.
Without any introduction or greeting, Reika looked at the three
of them and said, "It was all my fault. The fall of earth was my
fault."
With that, everyone in the kitchen froze momentarily. After a
few heartbeats, May turned to face Reika, with a look of incomprehension
on her face. "What?" she asked.
It was not surprising that May and the others were confused.
No one had thought or talked about their past lives for over a day.
Yesterday, when everyone had somehow managed to gather in the
kitchen at the same time for breakfast, May said, "You know,
all in all, I've really enjoyed the last three weeks."
"What?!" Yusuke shouted at her, looking at May like she
was crazy.
"I mean, think about it from my side. For three weeks,
I haven't had to work on my thesis. No trying to
decifer coding sheets I worked on in November. No
transcribing tapes. No screaming at SPSS because it
wouldn't do what I wanted. No crying because I discovered
another 3 books that I needed to read for my literature
review. For three whole weeks! It's absolutely great.
"And you must feel some relief, too," she said to Terry.
"I mean, it's been over a week since you had to do any
patrols."
"Yeah," Terry conceeded. "But," he continued, "I still
haven't been able to go out with Dana to dinner or to
a club."
"Point taken," May acknowledged. "Wait! The four of
us could go clubbing. You could dance with me."
At that, Terry laughed. "For some reason, something
about that arrangement just seems wrong."
May laughed and then looked at Yusuke. "But, you know,
we shouldn't celebrate our good fortune too much. Poor
Yusuke must be in agony. He hasn't had anyone to beat up
in a while." May smiled at her youngest, "I could make you
a Kuwabara dummy to knock around if it would make you
happy."
"No thanks, lady. But, I could go trolling around town looking
for some trouble."
Terry snickered, "Yeah, right. Like May's going to let you
do that."
May threw Yusuke a look. "Why don't I call you 'dimwit' and
we'll call it even?"
"Hey!"
May sat down on one of the kitchen stools and twirled around on
it. "I need to do something. Something to celebrate this
opportunity I have to goof off for a few more days."
Reika had laughed at this and turned to the former queen, who seemed
much more like a carefree twenty-seven year old that morning, instead
of an overburdened mother and past ruler. "What do you have in
mind?"
"I don't know! I'm thinking," May said through her laughter.
After a few moments, she shot up out of the stool. "That's it!
I'll bake an apple pie!"
"You'll bake a what?!" Yusuke asked.
"Oh, and you have to tell me what your favorite foods are
and I'll try to make those too."
Terry smiled, "Something tells me you wouldn't know how to
start to make them."
"Oh come on, killjoy. We have Internet access in this place.
You'd be amazed how many recipes are on the Net. Come on,"
May whined when she saw the boys faces, "it'll be fun. Trust me."
And it was fun. For a whole day, none of them dealt with their
past lives. Reika didn't even deal with the trainwreck that was
her present life. In the kitchen they acted like what they were:
a 14 year old boy, a 17 year old boy, and two women over twenty
goofing off in the kitchen. They had food fights and interesting
experiences in cooking. 'At least the apple pie was good,' Reika
thought as she reflected on the memory.
For a whole day, they didn't deal with anything but the immediate
present and acting their age. So it wasn't any wonder that they
were confused by the abrupt shift back to the past that Reika
invoked in her statement.
By this point, all three people in the kitchen were staring at
Reika. "What you mean the fall was your fault?" May finally asked.
"I don't remember anything that would cause me to come to that
conclusion."
"Neither do I." Terry, looking both puzzled and concerned, added,
"Why don't you tell us, from the beginning, what led you to think
that the fall was your fault?"
"Yeah, and sit down, already! Your legs look like they are
about to give out and you're making me nervous," Yusuke chimed
in.
Reika smiled quietly at Yusuke as she took the seat across from
Terry. Although Yusuke's statement would probably sound harsh
to people who didn't know him, Reika realized it was his way of
showing that he cared and was worried about her.
After seating herself, Reika took a deep breath and began to
explain. "Last night, I had a dream. I remembered something
from those last days that I really didn't want to.
"I'm sure all of you remember my little sister Beryl. She
was such a sweet little girl. She was all of eight when Endy
and I, I mean, and Daniella were engaged. She adored her
older sister. She also had a little crush on Endy," Reika smiled
at the memory. "It was kinda cute, actually. And she doted
on Tremaine. I think she was the first person to reach out
to him when he was in training at my father's estate."
"I remember her," Terry said quietly. "Cute little girl, masses
of red hair, like yours. Big smile. Rather honest. But, Reika,"
Terry continued, "what does any of this have to with the fall?"
Reika sighed, "It has to do with the fall because Beryl was the
queen that launched against us and then against the moon empire."
After a pause, the table exploded in conversation, Yusuke shouting,
May asking more questions in confusion, Terry sharing his puzzleness.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute!" May finally got the table to quiet
down. "How could the queen that launched on us have been Beryl?
She wasn't even nine at the time and the hag that launched on us
was at least thirty-five!"
"She grew up when she accepted the dark power."
"What?" Terry asked.
Reika held out her hand, forstalling all other questions. "Let me
start from the beginning," Reika said. Then, she took a deep breath
and began to recount her memory.
It was the third day of the week, four days before Prince Endymion
of Earth was to wed the princess of the moon. To say that many
of the people on earth were unhappy about the situation was an
understatement. Besides resenting the interference of the "moon
tryanny," many people, from common worker to high ranking noble,
though that their Prince Endy belonged with Lady Dani. To see
that couple torn apart was hard on many a citizen of earth.
Added to this was the fact that the Earth had to host the
royal family from the moon the week before. It was hard on the
royal family and harder on the Houses of Knight, Imani, and Academe.
The House of Knight in particular, as it was Daniella's house,
struggled greatly with having to tolerate the presence of the
moon royals.
During the time that Princess Serenity was on her planet, Daniella
fell into a depression of sorts. She did not go home, refusing to
be run off by "the moon brat", a nickname that had been passed
around the young nobility to refer to the princess. (Rumor had it
that Prince Arlington coined the nickname, but, of course, no one would
confirm that.) So she stayed around the palace, but she never made
a scene, and only weakened that once...in the garden in Endy's
arms. She let on and gave up nothing while the moon royals were
in residence. After they left, she did return home for awhile,
just to be with her family and to break the final news, a
wedding date had been set...and no one from earth was invited to
the ceremony on the moon.
When she arrived home two days ago, Dani talked with both her
parents and her sister. In the conversation with her parents,
it was more about getting confort from her mother, Lady Talia,
instructions on how to appear unphased and continue on from
her father, Lord Anthony; and advice about accessing power
for revenge from her grandfather. She wisely didn't mention
her grandfather's suggestion when she talked to her father,
as her father would be extreme angry that such a suggestion
was even made. It was the conversation with her sister that
didn't go well.
"Beryl," Daniella had said when she knocked lightly on her
sister's door and then stuck her head in, "may I come in?
There is something I have to tell you."
Her sister nodded and Daniella walked in, still holding
the golden orchid the queen had given her when she left
the palace.
Beryl's gaze zeroed in on that orchid and she quickly
made an assumption. "Did Endy give you that? Are you
back together? Is that moon brat gone?" she asked
rather excitedly.
Daniella had sighed as she looked at her sister.
"No," she said quietly as she sat down across from her
sister on the bed. "I came to tell you that...that-"
Daniella took a deep breath to keep her voice from
breaking, "I came to tell you that a date has been
set for the wedding. Endy is marrying Serenity at
the end of this week, on the moon." Daniella faultered
when she looked up and saw her sister's face fall.
"Beryl, sweetie, I am sorry. But that is just the
way things are -"
"Did you fight for him?" Beryl interrupted.
"Excuse me?" Daniella asked, confused. "What do you
mean?"
"You heard me. Did you fight for him? Or did you
just hand him to the moon brat on a silver platter?
I bet you did not fight for him. You would have won
him if you had!"
"Beryl, it is not that simple. This is about more than
how I feel or how Endy and I feel about each other. We
have to think about all the other people on this planet-"
"Why?" Beryl asked. "The two of you are in love. That
should solve all problems, always."
Daniella looked at her little sister and said, "Sometimes
love is not enough, Beryl. Occasionally, you make sacrifices
out of love for the greatest good."
"People usually start talking about 'the greatest good' when
they know they are about to do something wrong," Beryl
pointed out.
Daniella stared at her sister for a while, in shock at the
comment. Finally she said in a quiet voice, "Do you think
this is easy for me? Do you think that I am not affected
by all of this? Am I such a good actress that even you cannot
see how this is tearing me up inside?"
Her little sister looked back at her for awhile. Then she
reached over and gave Daniella a hug. "No, I know that
this is hurting you," Beryl said, "but I also know that,
for whatever reason, you are scared to fight. You always
have been scared to fight or deviate too much from the
rules because you were afraid of failing. But don't worry
big sister, I'll fight for you." Beryl, then broke the
hug and got off the bed to walk to the door.
When she reached the door, she turned around and said, "Although,
if you never gain the courage to fight for love, you'll
be cursed to live without it forever." And, with that
cryptic comment, she left.
And Daniella hadn't seen her since. Now, about forty-eight
hours after that conversation, Daniella was beginning to worry.
In general, the estate was big and someone could easily avoid a
member of the family for a day. Added to the fact that Daniella
spent a lot of time in her room, as she didn't want to cry
in front of her family anymore. But, by this point, Beryl
usually would have come looking for her, to talk. Yes, Beryl
and Daniella were different, but, in a weird way, they were
rather close. So, Daniella decided to go looking for her.
Later, she would wish that she had not.
Daniella had started at one end of the estate and had nearly
reached the other when she ran into her grandfather. And he
greated her strangely.
Looking down at her, in his normally errie way, he said, "Ah,
if it is not my not-so-brave granddaughter. What do you quest
after now?"
"Hello, grandfather," Daniella replied. "I am - well, have
you seen Beryl?"
"Ah, your brave sister. She is much more like your mother
would have been had she not fallen for that Knight and settled
for the conventional. That Knight, you are so like him, he
always must do things the hard way. He turned down the
chance at so much power..."
Her grandfather continued speaking, but Daniella tuned him
out for a bit as she winced. Grandfather was forever calling
her father "Knight" instead of his name. Grandfather was also
forever harping on about this power that could make people
immortal and give them abilities beyond their wildest dreams.
He claimed he used it. It made Daniella nervous. It didn't
sound like a good idea, and, it appeared it made people unstable.
'Now I am sounding like father,' Daniella thought to herself.
Taking a deep breath, Daniella interrupted her grandfather,
"Grandfather, does that mean that you have seen Beryl?"
"Yes, I have. She was brave enough to take the option that
you turned down."
"The option I turned down?" Daniella asked. A second later
the answer can to her. "Oh no. I have to stop her." She
looked up at her grandfather. "Where is this pit?"
"Granddaughter, your sister made her choice. One that I
think is wise. You should not-"
"Where is this pit? Take me there, or I shall tell mother
what is going on and make her and father take me there."
Her grandfather looked at her and realized that she was
serious. "If you wish to go to the pit, follow me," he
said as he turned and walked toward the door. Daniella
followed.
The long walk through the countryside and the woods was
not an easy one, but Daniella stayed very close to her
grandfather. Finally, they reached a cave. "The pit
is in there," her grandfather said.
Daniella nodded, and quickly entered the cave, her
grandfather right behind her. She had only gone a
few feet, when her grandfather stopped her by grabbing
her shoulder and holding her in place. "Something
is wrong."
"What do you mean?"
"There is a foreign power here. It has polluted the pit."
"And you let my sister in there?! Let me go!" Daniella
shrugged off the restraining arm of her grandfather and
ran deeper into the cave in search of her sister.
When she reached an cavern that housed pit of some sort,
filled with bubbling green lava, she saw her. Floating
above the pit, with black magic all around her was
a woman. She looked about thirty-five or forty, although
it was obvious that she hadn't aged well. She wore a
hideously awful purple dress and had horns at her
elbows. She was laughing, but the laughter had an evil
sound. Yet, even with all of those changes, Daniella
recognized her sister.
"Beryl! What happened to you?"
"Beryl?! I am Queen Beryl to you! I am destined to grab
the power that you were too scared to take. I am destined
to take revenge on the moon kingdom for all they have done
to us. And I am destined to make the royal family of Earth
pay for being cowards. I will unleashed the Negaforce and
rule the universe!"
"What?!" Daniella looked at her sister in horror. "This is
crazy. You do not mean to launch on earth! You must not!
You would not hurt Tremaine or his family; I know you would
not. I do not know what has happened to you, but with help
from the Creator, I'm sure - "
"I want nothing to do with your 'Creator'! I serve Metallia
now." Queen Beryl laughed again, but for a moment, her
eyes flashed. It seemed as if something was at war within
her. Finally, the voice of an eight year old child said through
the mouth of this older woman, "I am sorry that I cannot control
it anymore. I love you, Dani. Know that I did this for you, so
that you could have Endy back and we would be happy. Tell mother
I love her and father I am sorry."
Then just as quickly as it appeared, it was over. The woman
who called herself "Queen Beryl" was back in total control.
"You will all pay for your cowardice! Out of my way, peon!"
Using her new dark powers, Queen Beryl threw Lady Daniella and
her grandfather against the wall of the cave. Then she floated out,
her evil laughter lingering in the cave like a cloud of doom.
Daniella picked herself off of the floor of the cave and turned
to her grandfather, who was also getting to his feet. "We have to
stop her!" she said.
"Agreed, granddaughter. If you get into the pit yourself, you
will have enough power to take your sister on and the two of
us together-"
"Are you crazy?" Daniella interrupted her grandfather, much to
agitated to worry about being respectful. "Your precious pit
has already been polluted once, and look what that did to my
sister! I am not taking the chance that it could happen again.
I am going to get father and mother, tell them what happened,
and warn the royal family. Then, I'm bringing father back here
and we are destroying this place." With that, Daniella turned
toward the cave exit and began to walk back.
"I'm afraid I cannot let you do that, granddaughter," her
grandfather said softly as he came up behind her and knocked
her unconscious.
The last thougt Daniella had as she fell was that she wouldn't
have the chance to warn the royal family, or Endy.
As she finished relating her memory, Reika took a deep breath
that ended up sounding like a choked sob. Touching her face,
she realized in shock that she was crying...and that she
was looking down at the table.
Wiping away her tears, she looked up into the faces of May,
Terry, and Yusuke. May and Terry looked properly sympathetic.
"Reika, you poor thing." May said quietly. Terry handed her
his napkin, so that she could wipe her tears.
Yusuke, true to form, was not reacting the same way that Terry
and May were. If anything, he looked confused. After a few
minutes of silence, he burst out with, "But it wasn't your fault."
Everyone at the table, turned to look at him, but he seemed
oblivious to the stares. "I mean, if it was anyone's fault,
it was your sister's. Or that freaky old man that was your
grandfather. Or that "Metallia" or whatever force polluted
that pit. But it wasn't your fault. What could you have done
anyway?"
"Yusuke!" May shouted at him. "I cannot believe you said that!
How unfeeling can you be?!"
"May's right, twip. You could have been a bit more sensitive there."
Terry chimed in.
For a few moments, while May and Terry both screamed at Yusuke,
who screamed back, Reika sat thinking about what Yusuke said...
and realized that he was right. "Thank you, Yusuke," she said
quietly, doubting that anyone would hear her over the shouts.
But, amazingly, at her words, the shouts stopped and everyone
turned to look at her. After a few beats, Yusuke replied with,
"You're welcome."
- to be continued -
I feel like I'm always apologizing about how long it
takes me to update. I am hoping that this story will
be finished by the end of May. I have two or three
more chapters planned....but I keep making things
so complex that I never really know what I'm doing
next.
Thanks to all of you who are still readind this
constantly evolving story. I appreciate the feedback,
especially as I'm still struggling with how to end
this believeably...if any crossover is really believeable.
Please read and review or email me at cemberl@yahoo.com
And I'll try to get another update out sooner rather
than later.
~December
Week 4, Day 3
Reika shot up in bed with a gasp. 'So that's what I was
repressing. No wonder I didn't want to remember.'
She was horrified by what she remembered when she closed her
eyes. She was pained that she had to live through it all
in her memory. The end of everything in that lifetime was
not a pretty end, and she still carried around guilt about
what happened, because, after all, it was her fault.
Reika got out of bed and reached for her robe. She wasn't
really sure if anyone was up yet, but she knew one thing; she
had to apologize.
As she went into the kitchen, she found Terry, Yusuke, and May
very much awake. May was putting food in front on the two
boys and saying, "You have to eat something. And I don't want
to hear anything about my cooking, Yusuke," when Reika walked
through the door.
Without any introduction or greeting, Reika looked at the three
of them and said, "It was all my fault. The fall of earth was my
fault."
With that, everyone in the kitchen froze momentarily. After a
few heartbeats, May turned to face Reika, with a look of incomprehension
on her face. "What?" she asked.
It was not surprising that May and the others were confused.
No one had thought or talked about their past lives for over a day.
Yesterday, when everyone had somehow managed to gather in the
kitchen at the same time for breakfast, May said, "You know,
all in all, I've really enjoyed the last three weeks."
"What?!" Yusuke shouted at her, looking at May like she
was crazy.
"I mean, think about it from my side. For three weeks,
I haven't had to work on my thesis. No trying to
decifer coding sheets I worked on in November. No
transcribing tapes. No screaming at SPSS because it
wouldn't do what I wanted. No crying because I discovered
another 3 books that I needed to read for my literature
review. For three whole weeks! It's absolutely great.
"And you must feel some relief, too," she said to Terry.
"I mean, it's been over a week since you had to do any
patrols."
"Yeah," Terry conceeded. "But," he continued, "I still
haven't been able to go out with Dana to dinner or to
a club."
"Point taken," May acknowledged. "Wait! The four of
us could go clubbing. You could dance with me."
At that, Terry laughed. "For some reason, something
about that arrangement just seems wrong."
May laughed and then looked at Yusuke. "But, you know,
we shouldn't celebrate our good fortune too much. Poor
Yusuke must be in agony. He hasn't had anyone to beat up
in a while." May smiled at her youngest, "I could make you
a Kuwabara dummy to knock around if it would make you
happy."
"No thanks, lady. But, I could go trolling around town looking
for some trouble."
Terry snickered, "Yeah, right. Like May's going to let you
do that."
May threw Yusuke a look. "Why don't I call you 'dimwit' and
we'll call it even?"
"Hey!"
May sat down on one of the kitchen stools and twirled around on
it. "I need to do something. Something to celebrate this
opportunity I have to goof off for a few more days."
Reika had laughed at this and turned to the former queen, who seemed
much more like a carefree twenty-seven year old that morning, instead
of an overburdened mother and past ruler. "What do you have in
mind?"
"I don't know! I'm thinking," May said through her laughter.
After a few moments, she shot up out of the stool. "That's it!
I'll bake an apple pie!"
"You'll bake a what?!" Yusuke asked.
"Oh, and you have to tell me what your favorite foods are
and I'll try to make those too."
Terry smiled, "Something tells me you wouldn't know how to
start to make them."
"Oh come on, killjoy. We have Internet access in this place.
You'd be amazed how many recipes are on the Net. Come on,"
May whined when she saw the boys faces, "it'll be fun. Trust me."
And it was fun. For a whole day, none of them dealt with their
past lives. Reika didn't even deal with the trainwreck that was
her present life. In the kitchen they acted like what they were:
a 14 year old boy, a 17 year old boy, and two women over twenty
goofing off in the kitchen. They had food fights and interesting
experiences in cooking. 'At least the apple pie was good,' Reika
thought as she reflected on the memory.
For a whole day, they didn't deal with anything but the immediate
present and acting their age. So it wasn't any wonder that they
were confused by the abrupt shift back to the past that Reika
invoked in her statement.
By this point, all three people in the kitchen were staring at
Reika. "What you mean the fall was your fault?" May finally asked.
"I don't remember anything that would cause me to come to that
conclusion."
"Neither do I." Terry, looking both puzzled and concerned, added,
"Why don't you tell us, from the beginning, what led you to think
that the fall was your fault?"
"Yeah, and sit down, already! Your legs look like they are
about to give out and you're making me nervous," Yusuke chimed
in.
Reika smiled quietly at Yusuke as she took the seat across from
Terry. Although Yusuke's statement would probably sound harsh
to people who didn't know him, Reika realized it was his way of
showing that he cared and was worried about her.
After seating herself, Reika took a deep breath and began to
explain. "Last night, I had a dream. I remembered something
from those last days that I really didn't want to.
"I'm sure all of you remember my little sister Beryl. She
was such a sweet little girl. She was all of eight when Endy
and I, I mean, and Daniella were engaged. She adored her
older sister. She also had a little crush on Endy," Reika smiled
at the memory. "It was kinda cute, actually. And she doted
on Tremaine. I think she was the first person to reach out
to him when he was in training at my father's estate."
"I remember her," Terry said quietly. "Cute little girl, masses
of red hair, like yours. Big smile. Rather honest. But, Reika,"
Terry continued, "what does any of this have to with the fall?"
Reika sighed, "It has to do with the fall because Beryl was the
queen that launched against us and then against the moon empire."
After a pause, the table exploded in conversation, Yusuke shouting,
May asking more questions in confusion, Terry sharing his puzzleness.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute!" May finally got the table to quiet
down. "How could the queen that launched on us have been Beryl?
She wasn't even nine at the time and the hag that launched on us
was at least thirty-five!"
"She grew up when she accepted the dark power."
"What?" Terry asked.
Reika held out her hand, forstalling all other questions. "Let me
start from the beginning," Reika said. Then, she took a deep breath
and began to recount her memory.
It was the third day of the week, four days before Prince Endymion
of Earth was to wed the princess of the moon. To say that many
of the people on earth were unhappy about the situation was an
understatement. Besides resenting the interference of the "moon
tryanny," many people, from common worker to high ranking noble,
though that their Prince Endy belonged with Lady Dani. To see
that couple torn apart was hard on many a citizen of earth.
Added to this was the fact that the Earth had to host the
royal family from the moon the week before. It was hard on the
royal family and harder on the Houses of Knight, Imani, and Academe.
The House of Knight in particular, as it was Daniella's house,
struggled greatly with having to tolerate the presence of the
moon royals.
During the time that Princess Serenity was on her planet, Daniella
fell into a depression of sorts. She did not go home, refusing to
be run off by "the moon brat", a nickname that had been passed
around the young nobility to refer to the princess. (Rumor had it
that Prince Arlington coined the nickname, but, of course, no one would
confirm that.) So she stayed around the palace, but she never made
a scene, and only weakened that once...in the garden in Endy's
arms. She let on and gave up nothing while the moon royals were
in residence. After they left, she did return home for awhile,
just to be with her family and to break the final news, a
wedding date had been set...and no one from earth was invited to
the ceremony on the moon.
When she arrived home two days ago, Dani talked with both her
parents and her sister. In the conversation with her parents,
it was more about getting confort from her mother, Lady Talia,
instructions on how to appear unphased and continue on from
her father, Lord Anthony; and advice about accessing power
for revenge from her grandfather. She wisely didn't mention
her grandfather's suggestion when she talked to her father,
as her father would be extreme angry that such a suggestion
was even made. It was the conversation with her sister that
didn't go well.
"Beryl," Daniella had said when she knocked lightly on her
sister's door and then stuck her head in, "may I come in?
There is something I have to tell you."
Her sister nodded and Daniella walked in, still holding
the golden orchid the queen had given her when she left
the palace.
Beryl's gaze zeroed in on that orchid and she quickly
made an assumption. "Did Endy give you that? Are you
back together? Is that moon brat gone?" she asked
rather excitedly.
Daniella had sighed as she looked at her sister.
"No," she said quietly as she sat down across from her
sister on the bed. "I came to tell you that...that-"
Daniella took a deep breath to keep her voice from
breaking, "I came to tell you that a date has been
set for the wedding. Endy is marrying Serenity at
the end of this week, on the moon." Daniella faultered
when she looked up and saw her sister's face fall.
"Beryl, sweetie, I am sorry. But that is just the
way things are -"
"Did you fight for him?" Beryl interrupted.
"Excuse me?" Daniella asked, confused. "What do you
mean?"
"You heard me. Did you fight for him? Or did you
just hand him to the moon brat on a silver platter?
I bet you did not fight for him. You would have won
him if you had!"
"Beryl, it is not that simple. This is about more than
how I feel or how Endy and I feel about each other. We
have to think about all the other people on this planet-"
"Why?" Beryl asked. "The two of you are in love. That
should solve all problems, always."
Daniella looked at her little sister and said, "Sometimes
love is not enough, Beryl. Occasionally, you make sacrifices
out of love for the greatest good."
"People usually start talking about 'the greatest good' when
they know they are about to do something wrong," Beryl
pointed out.
Daniella stared at her sister for a while, in shock at the
comment. Finally she said in a quiet voice, "Do you think
this is easy for me? Do you think that I am not affected
by all of this? Am I such a good actress that even you cannot
see how this is tearing me up inside?"
Her little sister looked back at her for awhile. Then she
reached over and gave Daniella a hug. "No, I know that
this is hurting you," Beryl said, "but I also know that,
for whatever reason, you are scared to fight. You always
have been scared to fight or deviate too much from the
rules because you were afraid of failing. But don't worry
big sister, I'll fight for you." Beryl, then broke the
hug and got off the bed to walk to the door.
When she reached the door, she turned around and said, "Although,
if you never gain the courage to fight for love, you'll
be cursed to live without it forever." And, with that
cryptic comment, she left.
And Daniella hadn't seen her since. Now, about forty-eight
hours after that conversation, Daniella was beginning to worry.
In general, the estate was big and someone could easily avoid a
member of the family for a day. Added to the fact that Daniella
spent a lot of time in her room, as she didn't want to cry
in front of her family anymore. But, by this point, Beryl
usually would have come looking for her, to talk. Yes, Beryl
and Daniella were different, but, in a weird way, they were
rather close. So, Daniella decided to go looking for her.
Later, she would wish that she had not.
Daniella had started at one end of the estate and had nearly
reached the other when she ran into her grandfather. And he
greated her strangely.
Looking down at her, in his normally errie way, he said, "Ah,
if it is not my not-so-brave granddaughter. What do you quest
after now?"
"Hello, grandfather," Daniella replied. "I am - well, have
you seen Beryl?"
"Ah, your brave sister. She is much more like your mother
would have been had she not fallen for that Knight and settled
for the conventional. That Knight, you are so like him, he
always must do things the hard way. He turned down the
chance at so much power..."
Her grandfather continued speaking, but Daniella tuned him
out for a bit as she winced. Grandfather was forever calling
her father "Knight" instead of his name. Grandfather was also
forever harping on about this power that could make people
immortal and give them abilities beyond their wildest dreams.
He claimed he used it. It made Daniella nervous. It didn't
sound like a good idea, and, it appeared it made people unstable.
'Now I am sounding like father,' Daniella thought to herself.
Taking a deep breath, Daniella interrupted her grandfather,
"Grandfather, does that mean that you have seen Beryl?"
"Yes, I have. She was brave enough to take the option that
you turned down."
"The option I turned down?" Daniella asked. A second later
the answer can to her. "Oh no. I have to stop her." She
looked up at her grandfather. "Where is this pit?"
"Granddaughter, your sister made her choice. One that I
think is wise. You should not-"
"Where is this pit? Take me there, or I shall tell mother
what is going on and make her and father take me there."
Her grandfather looked at her and realized that she was
serious. "If you wish to go to the pit, follow me," he
said as he turned and walked toward the door. Daniella
followed.
The long walk through the countryside and the woods was
not an easy one, but Daniella stayed very close to her
grandfather. Finally, they reached a cave. "The pit
is in there," her grandfather said.
Daniella nodded, and quickly entered the cave, her
grandfather right behind her. She had only gone a
few feet, when her grandfather stopped her by grabbing
her shoulder and holding her in place. "Something
is wrong."
"What do you mean?"
"There is a foreign power here. It has polluted the pit."
"And you let my sister in there?! Let me go!" Daniella
shrugged off the restraining arm of her grandfather and
ran deeper into the cave in search of her sister.
When she reached an cavern that housed pit of some sort,
filled with bubbling green lava, she saw her. Floating
above the pit, with black magic all around her was
a woman. She looked about thirty-five or forty, although
it was obvious that she hadn't aged well. She wore a
hideously awful purple dress and had horns at her
elbows. She was laughing, but the laughter had an evil
sound. Yet, even with all of those changes, Daniella
recognized her sister.
"Beryl! What happened to you?"
"Beryl?! I am Queen Beryl to you! I am destined to grab
the power that you were too scared to take. I am destined
to take revenge on the moon kingdom for all they have done
to us. And I am destined to make the royal family of Earth
pay for being cowards. I will unleashed the Negaforce and
rule the universe!"
"What?!" Daniella looked at her sister in horror. "This is
crazy. You do not mean to launch on earth! You must not!
You would not hurt Tremaine or his family; I know you would
not. I do not know what has happened to you, but with help
from the Creator, I'm sure - "
"I want nothing to do with your 'Creator'! I serve Metallia
now." Queen Beryl laughed again, but for a moment, her
eyes flashed. It seemed as if something was at war within
her. Finally, the voice of an eight year old child said through
the mouth of this older woman, "I am sorry that I cannot control
it anymore. I love you, Dani. Know that I did this for you, so
that you could have Endy back and we would be happy. Tell mother
I love her and father I am sorry."
Then just as quickly as it appeared, it was over. The woman
who called herself "Queen Beryl" was back in total control.
"You will all pay for your cowardice! Out of my way, peon!"
Using her new dark powers, Queen Beryl threw Lady Daniella and
her grandfather against the wall of the cave. Then she floated out,
her evil laughter lingering in the cave like a cloud of doom.
Daniella picked herself off of the floor of the cave and turned
to her grandfather, who was also getting to his feet. "We have to
stop her!" she said.
"Agreed, granddaughter. If you get into the pit yourself, you
will have enough power to take your sister on and the two of
us together-"
"Are you crazy?" Daniella interrupted her grandfather, much to
agitated to worry about being respectful. "Your precious pit
has already been polluted once, and look what that did to my
sister! I am not taking the chance that it could happen again.
I am going to get father and mother, tell them what happened,
and warn the royal family. Then, I'm bringing father back here
and we are destroying this place." With that, Daniella turned
toward the cave exit and began to walk back.
"I'm afraid I cannot let you do that, granddaughter," her
grandfather said softly as he came up behind her and knocked
her unconscious.
The last thougt Daniella had as she fell was that she wouldn't
have the chance to warn the royal family, or Endy.
As she finished relating her memory, Reika took a deep breath
that ended up sounding like a choked sob. Touching her face,
she realized in shock that she was crying...and that she
was looking down at the table.
Wiping away her tears, she looked up into the faces of May,
Terry, and Yusuke. May and Terry looked properly sympathetic.
"Reika, you poor thing." May said quietly. Terry handed her
his napkin, so that she could wipe her tears.
Yusuke, true to form, was not reacting the same way that Terry
and May were. If anything, he looked confused. After a few
minutes of silence, he burst out with, "But it wasn't your fault."
Everyone at the table, turned to look at him, but he seemed
oblivious to the stares. "I mean, if it was anyone's fault,
it was your sister's. Or that freaky old man that was your
grandfather. Or that "Metallia" or whatever force polluted
that pit. But it wasn't your fault. What could you have done
anyway?"
"Yusuke!" May shouted at him. "I cannot believe you said that!
How unfeeling can you be?!"
"May's right, twip. You could have been a bit more sensitive there."
Terry chimed in.
For a few moments, while May and Terry both screamed at Yusuke,
who screamed back, Reika sat thinking about what Yusuke said...
and realized that he was right. "Thank you, Yusuke," she said
quietly, doubting that anyone would hear her over the shouts.
But, amazingly, at her words, the shouts stopped and everyone
turned to look at her. After a few beats, Yusuke replied with,
"You're welcome."
- to be continued -
I feel like I'm always apologizing about how long it
takes me to update. I am hoping that this story will
be finished by the end of May. I have two or three
more chapters planned....but I keep making things
so complex that I never really know what I'm doing
next.
Thanks to all of you who are still readind this
constantly evolving story. I appreciate the feedback,
especially as I'm still struggling with how to end
this believeably...if any crossover is really believeable.
Please read and review or email me at cemberl@yahoo.com
And I'll try to get another update out sooner rather
than later.
~December