I know I mentioned during my last post that I planned to post this chapter only a couple of weeks following chapter 24. Sadly, a couple of weeks turned into a couple of months. Sorry!
I do have plenty of excuses for being such a bad girl. My primary reasons are (a.) being unemployed and (b.) working on an original (and hopefully publishable) novel. Happily, excuse (b.) is the main reason—being out of work affords me much more writing time.
Sadly, I have little to show for my efforts. Such is my lot in life for a writer, I suppose. I have promised to finish this fiction, come hell or high water, so please don't despair. The first portion of this chapter was completed weeks ago, but the perfectionist in me wanted to get the entire thing finished just right. I may not post regularly, but I try to post quality work, darn it!
Anyway, enough about my woes. Here's the next chapter. I hope it's worth the wait!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything pertaining to Sailor Moon. Uh, except a lunchbox, playing cards, a wall scroll, stationary, DVDs, mangas…sadly, not Tuxedo Mask…
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In the last (very brief, by my standards) chapter, Minako, Ami, Rei, and Makoto arrived on the Earth to save their beloved princess. Their only problem? Landing off course. They might have preferred frolicking on the beach to saving their whiny princess, but these apprentices are professionals! They departed to locate Serenity.
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Light of Love: Red Moon
Chapter 25: Inevitable
Orleana grinned to herself while she unleashed one deadly attack after another on each of her adversaries. The Solarian wasn't at all surprised by Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Mercury's determination to protect Princess Serenity—it was their job, after all—though with each attack and counter-attack, Orleana grew more frustrated and impatient with their persistence.
The Solarian silently observed that, of the two senshi, Sailor Jupiter seemed to be the most fatigued. Though visibly injured, the senshi still stood rooted to the ground. Even after all of Orleana's well-targeted assaults, the Jupiterean had not completely fallen. The senshi's unfaltering determination increasingly exasperated the Solarian princess.
Orleana's annoyance was also directly aligned with her fatigue; however, the princess of the Sun would have denied such a weakness in the face of battle. Her irritation piqued when she noticed that Serenity and Endymion—her primary targets—had suddenly disappeared. One moment, the pair was crouched in the center of the clearing, and then, after Orleana shielded her eyes from one of Sailor Jupiter's lightning attacks, the two were gone.
The distraction was enough for Sailor Mercury's "Aqua Rhapsody" attack to hit the Solarian head-on. Orleana barely had time to dodge behind the trunk of a tree before the water of Mercury's attack slammed into the wood.
Splinters showered down from above. The girl ducked and covered her head with her hands. Pulverized tree bits littered the ground around her when the attack finally subsided.
"Damn," she muttered. A cloud of breath steamed out through her nostrils when she exhaled. Orleana rubbed at the sharp pain in her right shoulder. She winced while she extracted an impressive spear of wood from her flesh. Her glove was damp with her own blood.
"Are you okay?"
The Solarian glanced up and spotted Beryl crouched behind a tree not far from her. In the distraction of battle, Orleana had completely forgotten about the Terran girl's presence. Beryl's idiotic question enraged the quick-tempered princess of the Sun.
"Does it look like I'm okay?" Orleana peevishly demanded. She closed her eyes and concentrated her power to the palms of her hands. A tiny glowing ball of light appeared and quickly dissolved. Her orange eyes opened suddenly. She had used up much of her power; she needed to rest.
She noticed Beryl still watching her. The Solarian glared at the girl. Had she enough strength, she would have struck the Terran down with a ball of fire or blades of ice.
"Perhaps we should retreat," Beryl suggested. She extended her arm and pointed at Orleana's shoulder. "You're injured."
The Solarian's nostrils flared. She shifted her attention away from Beryl's observant eye. Her gaze focused on the splintered wood pooled around her. She shook her head. Never before had she witnessed Sailor Mercury's Aqua Rhapsody attack. The power of the assault shook Orleana to the core. Earlier, in the green meadow, she had caught Sailor Mercury and Jupiter by surprise. Her confidence in her own abilities—besting two of her teachers—had caused her to forget that both warriors were more advanced than the Solarian, which made them formidable, dangerous opponents. At present, the two senshi clearly had the advantage.
Beryl was right. They should retreat.
Orleana blinked her eyes furiously to prevent tears of frustration from streaming down her face. She sucked in a deep breath. If only she had more power, she thought miserably to herself.
"Jupiter!" she heard Sailor Mercury scream somewhere in the clearing behind her.
Orleana lifted her head. She glanced around the stump of the tree. The fires caused by her earlier attacks now smoldered on the fringes of the meadow, creating a thick black cloud that further obscured the already dark night. She couldn't see Sailor Mercury or Sailor Jupiter through the curtain of smoke. She squint her eyes and scanned the small clearing for any type of movement. She blinked and peered harder.
In the back of her mind, she thought of Endymion and Serenity; it was strange that the pair had so easily disappeared from the center of the small field. Orleana was annoyed that the simpering little Moon princess once again had escaped an attack unscathed. The princess of the Sun considered the satisfaction she would enjoy once she killed Serenity. Unfortunately, she would first have to defeat both Sailor Mercury and Jupiter.
Her heart lifted a little when she noticed a fallen figure on the edge of the meadow. Orleana smiled triumphantly, recalling that the last of Jupiter's attacks had come from that general direction.
Any thought of escape dissolved from Orleana's mind. With Jupiter defeated, the Solarian only had to battle Sailor Mercury.
The girl's orange eyes narrowed. She was too far from Jupiter's body to confirm that the senshi was indeed dead. Again, she recalled the earlier encounter that day with the two warriors in the green meadow, when Orleana had quickly assumed she had killed Jupiter; the pair had easily escaped into the woods then.
The Solarian also remembered the different methods of trickery Mercury had taught her while she was a senshi-in-training. She wondered if the warriors were attempting to lure her out by making her believe one of them was dead. She realized that Mercury may be hidden nearby, waiting for the Solarian to move out into the open. Orleana's eyes nervously scanned the clearing, searching for any movement.
A rustle of twigs and the crunch of ice-packed snow behind her reminded the girl that she was not alone. Orleana peered at Beryl from the corner of her eye. Wistfully, the Solarian sighed and silently wished that Sailor Mercury's last attack had not been so accurate; just a couple of ticks off course would have pulverized Beryl's tree instead of her own. Under other circumstances, Orleana would have gladly disposed of the Terran herself. Presently, the Solarian couldn't afford to waste any of her power on such an endeavor, no matter how much joy she gleaned from it.
"Come over here, Beryl," Orleana suddenly commanded with a gesture.
The red-head hesitated. The Terran, no matter how stupid Orleana thought her, was still aware of the large gap in the trees between herself and the Solarian.
"Get here, now!" Orleana snapped impatiently.
Beryl stood up halfway. She launched herself from her hiding spot behind the tree and darted as quickly as possible to the Solarian's position. Wearily, she observed that Orleana's tree stump was far more pulverized and narrow than it had appeared from her earlier vantage point. The girl huddled close to Orleana. Beryl failed to notice the pronounced scowl that lined the Solarian's face.
"Did you see the body out there?"
The Terran girl shook her head. Orleana sighed loudly and motioned toward one side of the clearing with her left hand. Beryl leaned forward. Her green eyes scanned the nearly black night. A gasp caught in the back of her throat when she spotted the body; in more favorable conditions, she might have thought the bump to be a protruding rock.
"Do you see it?" demanded Orleana.
Beryl mutely nodded. She didn't like that the Solarian referred to a corpse as "it"; however, aware of Orleana's violent temper, the Terran silently opted not to broach the subject.
"I think it's Sailor Jupiter," Orleana explained. "But we're too far away to be certain. You're going verify it's her, and that she's indeed dead."
The redhead licked her dry lips. Her throat had become parched; she swallowed. Absently, she rubbed the brow of her forehead with her right palm. She blinked a couple of times before speaking.
"So, you want me to throw a stone at her, or something?" Beryl ventured, knowing too well that was not what Orleana planned.
Sucking in a deep breath, the Solarian angrily replied, "No, that is not what I want you to do! You will go out there to see if she's alive."
"But that's suicide."
"So?"
"So," Beryl answered, "I'm not doing it. I'm not walking out there! I'll be attacked by those women and their magic."
Orleana snorted. "Magic, huh?" She shook her head. "You will most certainly go out there!"
"No, I won't," the Terran persisted. "Look what that blue one did to that tree." She gestured her hand to the stump Orleana was crouched behind. "She blew it to bits with water. Water!"
"You don't have to go into the clearing right away," Orleana finally suggested. "You can sneak around the side, through the trees, and then rush over to the body. It's simple."
Beryl paused. She abhorred death. When she was younger, she had discovered her mother's blood-soaked body in one of the darker corridors of Jade Castle. Duke Bartleby declared that her mother slipped on a wet floor and hit the back of her head, but Beryl knew that she had been murdered.
"What if she isn't dead?" the redhead questioned, a twinge of fear ebbing into her voice. She started to tremble. She already anticipated Orleana's reply.
The Solarian sighed with annoyance. "You will have to kill her."
Beryl shook her head.
"No," she whispered. More resolute, she repeated herself. "I'm not killing anyone. I'm not a murderer!" The redhead crossed her arms over her bosom and sat back. "If it's so important," she announced, "then you go out there and kill her yourself!"
A few moments of silence were shared between the Terran and the Solarian. Beryl finally sighed and lifted her eyes. Her green gaze settled on Orleana. Even in the near darkness, Beryl saw the anger that lined the Solarian's face. Orleana's orange eyes sparkled in the moonlight. Rage smoldered on the surface of the girl's skin, causing her fair features to pulsate with glowing hues of gold and red.
After spending a day with the Solarian, Beryl recognized the tell-tale signs. Orleana was gaining back some of her lost energy. The redhead also realized that she was in dangerous proximity to the temperamental girl. Casually, Beryl shifted backward to gain some distance from her deranged companion.
"I'm not going out there," the Terran bravely announced after clearing her throat. "You can't make me..."
Beryl's last words were strangled from her voice when Orleana pounced on her. The Terran fell back. Her head slammed against the cold, hard ground. Orleana straddled her. The Solarian's left hand closed around the girl's delicate throat. Beryl struggled for breath. Her arms flailed about while she attempted to remove Orleana's hand from around her neck. Her struggle for life seemed to please the Solarian.
"What were you saying?" Orleana hissed.
She raised her right arm over her head. A dagger materialized in Solarian's free hand; the blade glowed. Orleana lowered her arm. She held the dagger close to the Terran's face. Beryl felt the heat radiating from the blade. Her whimper of fear was choked from her throat by Orleana's left hand.
"Now, let's go over this again, shall we?" the Solarian said calmly. "You will go out there, and you will kill Jupiter if she is still alive. Otherwise, I kill you. What do you say?"
Beryl's green eyes watered. She tried to nod. Orleana released her chokehold and sat back. Beryl rolled onto her side. She coughed. The princess of the Sun ignored her companion's guttural noises.
"I'm glad we have an agreement," Orleana dryly announced. She held out her left hand. A small orange flame ignited in her palm. She focused her attention on the flicker and increased the size of the blaze.
Beryl squinted. She shielded her eyes from the bright light with her right arm. The heat of Orleana's power-up warmed her cheeks.
"Almost back to normal," the Solarian sighed to herself. She shook her hand, which in turn extinguished the fire. Her orange eyes settled on Beryl. "Why are you still here?" she impatiently demanded.
Beryl coughed and sat up. Her voice, compressed when Orleana choked her, sounded raspy and damaged when she spoke. "How do I kill her?"
A frown formed on the Solarian's face. She held out her right hand, which still held the glowing dagger. Beryl involuntarily flinched.
"Take this," the princess of the Sun instructed. She grabbed Beryl's right arm and slapped the weapon into the palm of the girl's hand. "Don't release it until you have used it."
Beryl winced. "It burns," she observed.
Orleana squeezed her hand tighter around Beryl's fingers. The blade hissed as it singed the Terran girl's skin. Orleana smiled, "It's something to remember me by." Her eyes darkened. "Go."
The Terran girl mutely nodded. Her hand, now accustomed to the dreaded heat of the magical blade in her hand, was numb. Beryl dashed across the gap in the trees, back to her original hiding spot. She paused for a moment to acknowledge her relief for the few paces of distance between herself and Orleana. She considered escape. Beryl wondered how easily the Solarian would strike her down if she fled. She pondered why she hadn't attempted to use the dagger against its creator.
"Hurry!" Orleana commanded from her spot behind the splintered tree stump.
Her voice made Beryl jump. The redhead stumbled through the trees, skirting the meadow just as the Solarian had suggested. The glow from the mystical blade in her right hand illuminated the area immediately surrounding her position in the wood.
In the back of her mind, Beryl hoped Jupiter was already dead.
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While the princess of the Sun quarreled with her unwilling conspirator to determine the fate of Sailor Jupiter, a faint light appeared in the center of the meadow. The glow, tiny in comparison to the light created by Orleana's awesome fire attacks, signaled the return of Serenity and Endymion from the void of Linnaus' soul.
At first, the prince and princess, still engrossed and affected by all they had experienced, failed to notice their return to the crust of the Earth. The pair stood in the center of the meadow, unaware of the events that had transpired in the brief moment of their absence.
Endymion held Serenity firmly in his arms. In an effort to comfort her sorrow, the prince gently rubbed the girl's back. He tightened his embrace and rested his chin on the crown of her head. The prince sighed heavily and closed his eyes.
His own heart twisted; his connection to the princess meant that he experienced all of Serenity's emotions.
He wanted to do more than just hug Serenity. A voice in the back of his head told him what her dead cousin would have said to console the girl. Thanks to Linnaus' memories, Endymion knew all about Serenity. He knew that she liked to run barefoot through the gardens outside the Moon Castle and she played with her hair when she was nervous—a habit that Linnaus found endearing but that her mother disliked. Endymion knew what nursery rhymes were sung to Serenity when she was a toddler. He knew that she and Linnaus played a game involving imaginary adventures on the Earth. The prince knew that Serenity was frightened of the dark.
Endymion frowned as he acknowledged this new insight he possessed.
He now knew so many things about her, but he didn't know what he should say or do to help Serenity cope with her grief. He didn't want to use the knowledge he had gleaned from Linnaus; such a maneuver seemed too easy and manipulative, he reasoned to himself.
Endymion sighed and turned his head. He opened his eyes. The prince blinked several times. He recognized that he and the princess were again positioned in the meadow. The once-aflame trees on each side of the clearing were now extinguished, leaving the clearing and surrounding wood blanketed in almost complete darkness. The scent of charred brush and undergrowth was muted by the smell of damp earth. The area was void of the earlier battle between the three women in the short skirts—drawing on Linnaus' memories, the prince now knew that they were called "senshi."
Endymion frowned. The silence in the clearing alarmed him. His midnight eyes scanned the meadow for any sign of the three senshi. Not surprising, Linnaus' body had disappeared; the prince instinctively knew that it was part of the strange ceremony Serenity had performed. To Endymion's frustration, he couldn't see anyone or anything else in the clearing, either.
Serenity, feeling the prince's encircling arms become rigid, opened her eyes. Her crystal blue gaze adjusted to the darkness of their surroundings. Recognizing the meadow, the princess pulled out of Endymion's embrace. She rubbed the tears from her eyes with her knuckles. She whispered in the silence.
"Where is Orleana?"
The smoke from the smoldering trees made Serenity cough.
The prince, his eyes darting across the clearing, shook his head. His midnight gaze settled on the princess.
"I don't know," he earnestly confessed. Endymion noticed a trapping of light between Serenity's fingers. He pointed to her hand. "What's that?"
The princess glanced down. Her right hand was balled into a tight fist. She unfurled her fingers. A glittering silver moon crescent rested in the center of her palm. The girl gasped; she had forgotten, during the emotional encounter with Linnaus, about the final part of the soul-releasing ritual.
Serenity held the object between her thumb and forefinger for Endymion to see. Even in the darkness, the item sparkled.
"It's Linnaus' memories," she said quietly. "The last proof he existed. He wanted me to give this to my mother."
Her throat constricted when she spoke. She closed her eyes to keep another torrent of tears from streaming down her face.
Endymion smiled sympathetically. He placed his hand on her shoulder. A spark of energy arced between them. The prince flinched.
Serenity felt the wave of power created by Endymion's touch. The sensation rippled through the princess' right arm and cascaded through her entire body, filling her with comfort. She opened her blue eyes; her gaze focused on the crescent she held between her fingers. Serenity sniffled and sucked in a deep breath.
Still consumed with thoughts of Linnaus, Serenity wrongly attributed the surge of strength to the charm in her hand.
"Thanks for that, Innie," she whispered to the silver trinket before placing it in her pocket. She shuddered when she realized she still wore the outfit that once belonged to the innkeeper's dead son.
Endymion frowned. He didn't understand the connection he shared with Serenity, but he knew his own energy was what stunted the princess' grief, not Linnaus' moon charm. The Terran prince opened his mouth to tell Serenity, but a rush of nausea overcame him. He clutched his chest and buckled over. The illness brought him to his knees.
Panicked, Serenity stepped forward and reached out to him.
"What's wrong, Mamo?" the princess gasped.
The prince inhaled sharply. His equilibrium faltered. His vision blurred.
He felt Serenity's delicate hand touch the middle of his back. Like before, a spark of power was shared between them; this time, Serenity's energy passed to the prince. The extra support kept him from collapsing face-first into the snow. Still on his knees, the prince clenched his teeth together while he tried to steady himself. He reached his hands out in front of him. He placed his palms flat against the ground, closed his eyes, and focused his mind. Through his second pair of eyes, Endymion pinpointed the cause of his illness.
Danger lurked on the edge of the clearing. The signature of the energy was uncomfortably familiar.
Endymion's midnight eyes opened. He noticed a flicker of light precisely where his second sight had detected it. The power extinguished suddenly. The prince's brows furrowed together with surprise. He kept his gaze trained on the spot of trees. Moments later, he spied another source of light; unlike the other, this one moved swiftly along the edge of trees bordering the clearing.
The prince scrambled to his feet. He drew his sword with his right hand and reached for Serenity with his left.
"We need to get out of here, Usa," he whispered. His dark blue eyes watchfully followed the moving figured illuminated by the slight light.
The princess took Endymion's hand in hers. Serenity felt his apprehension when she touched him. Her crystal gaze trailed from their linked hands to his determined face. She traced the prince's focus with her eyes and noticed how intently he watched the one side of the forest. The princess, recalling Orleana's attack and Sailor Jupiter's counter-attack, frantically scanned the trees with her own gaze, but her Lunarian sight was inferior in the smoky darkness. She blinked and lowered her gaze. Her eyes glanced over a mound in the snow.
A chill snaked up Serenity's spine. Her mouth fell open.
The princess, fresh from finding Linnaus' body just a little while ago, shuddered with familiar horror of the new discovery. Serenity clamped her eyes shut to block the image from her mind. She shook her head. Surely, the lump in the snow was not a body. She was simply being oversensitive. Selene was not cruel enough to administer two deaths in one night, was she?
Shakily, Serenity willed herself to open her eyes. Her gaze settled on the lump. Even with her inferior night vision, Serenity recognized Sailor Jupiter's body. The warrior's hurricane attack echoed in the princess' mind; she had heard it moments before being sucked away by Linnaus' soul.
The princess released Endymion's hand and ran toward the Senshi's figure. She heard the prince call after her, but she didn't care.
"Usa? What…where are you going?"
Endymion followed behind her. His chest fluttered when he finally recognized the object of Serenity's attention. Not far from their position was the body of a battered senshi. With the assistance of Linnaus' memories, the Terran prince knew from the coloring of the woman's uniform—green and pink—that the senshi was Sailor Jupiter.
Serenity, nearing Sailor Jupiter's body, began to tremble. Her pace slowed. She shook her head, not wanting to believe what her eyes saw.
Endymion quickly sheathed his sword, skirted past the Moon princess, and fell to his knees beside Sailor Jupiter's body. He placed his fingers on the warrior's neck. He shook his head when he couldn't locate her pulse. The prince leaned forward and tilted his ear to Jupiter's mouth. He sighed. She wasn't breathing.
"Is she…dead?" Serenity whispered behind him.
The prince closed his eyes and inhaled. He nodded.
"I'm sorry."
A heart-wrenching sob escaped from Serenity's lips. She knelt in the snow next to Endymion. Her tears flowed down her cheeks. The princess' grief again affected the prince.
"How?" she choked. "How could she do it? How could Orleana kill one of her teachers…one of her friends? For what purpose?"
Endymion shrugged. "I don't know," he replied.
Serenity's chest heaved with each cry of despair. "I don't understand!"
For the second time that night, the prince embraced the princess. Serenity collapsed into his strong arms, relieved not to have to shoulder the bourdon of her grief alone. She was filled with incomprehensible sorrow. Thanks to the long life spans provided by the power of those under the protection of the Ginzuishou, Serenity had never experienced death first-hand, much less twice in one day.
A flash of light distracted Endymion's attention. He spotted the flicker in the woods; the glow was still in the cluster of trees closest to him and Serenity. The prince eyed the area wearily. He placed his hands on each of Serenity's shoulders. He lowered his lips to the Moon princess' ear.
"We need to get out of here," he quietly told her.
Serenity stifled her tears with a sniffle and pulled away from the prince. Endymion stood. He kept his midnight gaze trained on the forest, but extended his left hand to Serenity to help her stand. His right palm rested on his sword's handle.
The princess refused to accept Endymion's extended hand. She stared at Sailor Jupiter's face.
"Come on, Usa," the prince urged. He bent down and placed his free hand in Serenity's trail of vision.
The Moon princess refused, calmly explaining, "I need to perform the last rites before we go."
Endymion blanched at her suggestion.
"You'll have to perform our last rites if we don't get out of this meadow!" he muttered.
Serenity didn't answer. The prince quickly shifted his attention away from the light in the woods. His dark blue eyes settled on Serenity's still-kneeling form. He groaned when he recognized that she had already started the same ritual he witnessed her perform on Linnuas' body.
Endymion fidgeted. He wearily eyed the nearby trees. The glow he had spotted earlier was no longer visible, but his second pair of eyes still detected danger lurking somewhere in the wooded area. Somewhere out there hid Orleana, he somberly acknowledged.
"Where are you?" he whispered beneath his breath. A flicker of light caught in the corner of his eye. Unlike before, this light came from the princess and the body.
The prince glanced at Serenity and Sailor Jupiter. The moon symbol at the center of the princess' forehead sparkled; the mark on Sailor Jupiter's forehead glowed.
The prince frowned. In the dark, the light generated from the last rites ceremony shone like a beacon. If Orleana experienced any difficulty locating them in the smoldering black night, she would easily spot them now. Endymion faced the trees and extracted his sword.
A thick mist enveloped the meadow. Thankfully, the fog masked Jupiter's body and the princess.
"Prince Endymion!" a woman's voice said behind him.
The boy turned around. He blinked. The fog was too opaque to see through.
"Who's there?" he said bravely. He squint his midnight eyes, but still, he saw nothing.
"It's all right, your highness," the woman said. "I'm one of Queen Serenity's senshi, Sailor Mercury. I made the vapor to conceal us."
Endymion sighed and slackened his tight hold on his sword. Sailor Mercury stepped toward him. In the fog, all the prince could see of her was an outline.
"The mist is temporary," the senshi stated. "We must escape before Orleana gains back all of her lost energy. Is the princess still with Sailor Jupiter?"
The prince nodded his head, realizing afterward that Sailor Mercury couldn't see him through the vapor. He cleared his throat.
"Sailor Jupiter is dead."
"I was afraid of that," Sailor Mercury sadly whispered. The Senshi stated, more business-like, "This area is not safe. We must get Princess Serenity away from here."
"Usa..." Endymion paused and corrected himself, "Princess Serenity refuses to leave before conducting the last rites on Sailor Jupiter."
Mercury's gasp was audible. Incredulous, she muttered, "Last rites? Only Laudatorites can perform that ritual."
"Well, the princess can do it," argued Endymion. "She just completed performing the last rites for Linnaus…"
"Linnaus?" interrupted the Senshi, surprised. "You found him?"
"We found his body," the prince quietly corrected.
After a shared silence, Sailor Mercury cleared her throat.
"We must transport the princess back to the Moon."
Not caring whether the Senshi could see him in the mist, Endymion nodded his head. He glanced over his shoulder toward the trees on the side of the clearing. His midnight gaze spotted the faint light from before. It was even closer.
Silently, Endymion crouched down. In his right hand, he still held his sword, so he touched the frozen ground with his left. He closed his eyes and concentrated. Unlike earlier, when he only located one strand of power, his second pair of eyes easily detected two sources of energy. The one closest to them—the one visible to Endymion's naked eye—was quite faint. Further away, the power felt stronger; the boy noted, on the opposite side of the clearing, the ground permeated from the build-up of force.
The prince flinched. The foreign energy caused his stomach to knot with sickness.
"Your highness," Sailor Mercury whispered behind him. "The mist is fading. We really need to go."
Endymion stood. He shook out his left hand. He kept his sword pointedly raised in his right. Quietly, he marched toward the trees, toward the closer light source.
"Where are you going?" the Senshi desperately called after him. Panic caused her voice to hitch.
"Protect Serenity," he absently ordered. He inwardly reeled from his commanding tone. Of course, the prince silently thought, the senshi would guard the princess. It was her job. Aware of the quickly receding fog, he pointed his left hand to the far side of the clearing.
"Orleana is over there," he said over his shoulder. "She's still too weak for a full assault, but she's regaining her strength fast. Keep Serenity safe until I return."
"Return from where?"
"I'm going to extinguish that light," he flippantly replied while pointing to the trees in front of him.
The prince, aware that Mercury's fog would soon reveal his position in the meadow and give away any opportunity for a surprise, bounded quickly to the edge of the woods. His eyes remained focused on the glow of energy. When he neared, he noticed the light was muted by the trunk of a tall tree. He hid himself on the opposite side of the same trunk. With his back against the rough bark of the tree, the prince silently slid around until he spied the source of the light. In the surrounding dark of night, the glow from the object caused the prince's eyes to burn and water. He blinked while his gaze adjusted. When he was finally able to see properly, Endymion recognized the item to be in the shape of a dagger, red with heat. The enchanted blade was held by a hand; from the prince's position, he was unable to see the owner of the knife.
Endymion sucked in a deep breath of cold, smoky air and lunged, with all of his strength, toward the glowing dagger. He grasped the wrist holding the knife with his left hand. He knocked the blade's possessor backward into the snow with the weight of his body. The prince heard the person gasp with surprise; the noise was feminine. Endymion silently acknowledged that knife's owner was a woman. Once he had the figure pinned, the prince poised his sword at the person's head.
His midnight eyes, until this point blurred from the movement of action, now focused on the face of his struggling captive. The glow of the hot dagger lent a little light to assist the prince, although he didn't need much to help in discovering the woman's identity. Long, tangled waves of auburn hair covered most of her face. Endymion couldn't see the woman's sparkling green eyes or delicate, attractive features, but he instantly knew who she was.
"Beryl?" he incredulously whispered. His grip on her slackened.
The young Terran woman, still squirming under Endymion's weight, seized the opportunity to free herself. She attempted to lift her body from the ground. Her right hand, still holding Orleana's knife, plunged toward the prince's chest.
Endymion quickly recovered from his initial surprise, tightened his grasp around Beryl's right wrist and slammed her body forcefully back onto the frozen forest floor. The jolt from the prince's hasty movements caused Beryl to loosen her grasp on Orleana's dagger. The weapon dissolved into the atmosphere.
Before the light was extinguished, the prince noticed Beryl's expression transition from empowerment to fear, then to joy.
"Would you kill your prince?" Endymion growled with rage. Although Beryl no longer appeared armed, he tightened his grip around her wrist. The weight of his body pressed her harder against the ground. The sword in his right hand still pointed at Beryl's head.
The young Terran woman blinked. She bit her lower lip.
She knew she should be terrified—she had just tried to stab the prince, after all—but instead, she was titillated. He smelled of roses, just as he had when she cared for him in the cave. In the darkness, Beryl could only see Endymion's outline above her. She closed her eyes to memorize each point of physical contact between them. He straddled her; his strong leg muscles squeezed tightly over her thighs. The prince's grip on her wrist was so strong that she could barely feel her fingers; the sensation thrilled her. Beryl focused her attention on his heavy breathing. If she kept her eyes closed, she could almost imagine that his labored breaths were lustful, not driven by anger.
A smile curled the corner of her mouth. No, she most definitely was not humbled or frightened by the prince. All she could think about, when she opened her eyes, was the imagined sensation of his lips on hers or the possible feeling of his rough touch on forbidden parts of her body. She blushed at the thought while she raked her eyes over his still-shadowed form.
Endymion, not realizing the girl's joy in his use of force, pulled both himself and Beryl into a standing position. A sound escaped from the Terran girl's throat. The prince frowned; the noise almost sounded gleeful.
"How did you become involved with Orleana?" Endymion curtly demanded.
The distracted grin on Beryl's face quickly dissolved. She had completely forgotten about the Solarian princess, or her threats of death. She knew that Orleana was unstoppable; even the two warrior women were unable to defeat her. Beryl recalled the previous night, when Orleana first attacked Endymion and Serenity. The Terran prince had stopped the Solarian's attacks with a simple walking cane.
Beryl realized she must make a quick decision regarding her allegiance. She could either beg for Endymion's mercy and hope that he take pity on her, or continue to align herself with Orleana and pray that the Solarian did not kill her as she had promised.
The choice was not difficult. Beryl had never been too proud to beg.
The Terran girl launched herself at Endymion's legs. She knelt at his feet and began to sob.
"Please have mercy, your highness!" she cried through a torrent of tears. "The Duke and his son threatened me. They said I had to assist that vile girl in hunting you down. I didn't want to do it, but they threatened my family! They said they would torture my mother and father!"
Endymion raised skeptical eyebrow over Beryl's outpouring. "Uh," he cleared his throat and stepped away from the girl. "You told me earlier that your mother was dead."
The girl paused. She lifted her head from her bowed position on the ground. When she spoke, her voice was void of the earlier anguish. "I did?"
The prince nodded. "Yes, you certainly did."
Deflated, Beryl sighed and tossed her hands out to her sides. "Oh, well, I may have exaggerated a little," she admitted lightly. "But Orleana did threaten to kill me…"
Endymion planned to interrogate the red-head at further length, but his attention was pulled back by a sudden flash of light in the clearing. He sensed Serenity's terror before he heard her scream. Her anguished cry punctuated the fact that the prince had been away from her side for far too long.
"I'll deal with you later," he told Beryl before abandoning her in the wood. He pivoted around and darted toward the clearing. More concerned with Serenity's safety than his own, the prince bound out of the protective cover of trees and into the open. He paused, taking in the scene.
The area was again lit. The prince shielded his eyes with his left hand. The source of light came from the opposite edge of the clearing. Orleana held a large fireball between the palms of her hands. The prince glanced to the area where he had left Serenity in the care of Sailor Mercury. He spotted Serenity kneeling beside a body in the snow. Panic filled his insides when he didn't see the Senshi of Water.
"You can stay right where you are, Endymion," Orleana shouted from across the clearing.
The prince made no attempt to move. Inwardly, he chastised himself for being too hasty. He should have hid in the woods a little longer while he assessed the situation. He heard Kunzite's voice in his head, scolding him for being too impatient.
"If you want to announce your position to your enemies with the footsteps of an elephant," the soldier once told him, "then I won't teach you to fight. It's a waste of your time, learning skills you will never use."
Endymion stuffed the memory to the back of his mind. It was pointless for him to berate himself over a mistake already made. He just hoped his folly didn't result in his or Serenity's death.
The prince motioned to approach the princess. The Solarian raised her arms over her head. The fireball roared when she shifted hands. "Tsk-tsk," she playfully scolded. Her voice sounded smoky as she added, "I don't want to hurt you, but I will."
Endymion stopped. He looked from Orleana to Serenity. The princess' attention was focused on the body of the senshi in front of her. He saw her lips move. Endymion's eyes widened as he noticed the color of the senshi's skirt: blue, the hue of Sailor Mercury. The prince realized that, unlike Sailor Jupiter, who had been face-up in the clearing, Sailor Mercury had fallen face-down. A sharp object protruded from the center of her back. Endymion recalled his previous showdown with Orleana; she had attacked him with a shower of ice blades.
He was relieved to see that Mercury appeared to be alive. Still, he glumly assessed, her injury looked serious. Without Sailor Mercury's protection, Serenity was completely vulnerable to Orleana's next attack.
The prince shifted his midnight eyes back to Orleana. She had lowered the ball of fire, the light of which created sinister shadows on her face. Delight danced in her orange gaze. She eyed Endymion watchfully; clearly, she relished her power over him. A smirk lifted the corners of her lips. She pulled her focus away from the prince and back to the Moon Princess.
"You die now, Serenity," Orleana shouted triumphantly. She again raised her hands over her head. The ball of fire rolled and bounced between her palms.
"No!"
The prince's cry reverberated across the clearing.
The Solarian, startled by the strength in Endymion's outburst, nearly dropped the ball of fire.
Unable to just stand by and watch the princess' demise, the prince seized Orleana's moment of surprise and quickly crossed the short distance between himself and Serenity. He positioned himself in front of the princess and Sailor Mercury. His sword still drawn, he pointed it meaningfully at Orleana.
"I bested you last night with a cane," he shouted at the Solarian. "Let's see how triumphant I am with a sword."
Orleana snickered, although her voice was audibly less confident when she spoke. "Very well, Endymion. I will kill you before I finish off the Moon brat. That's fine by me."
The prince anchored his feet firmly the hard blanket of snow in the clearing. He braced himself for the Solarian's assault. In truth, he doubted he could stave off her attack.
He quickly glanced behind him. The princess still knelt beside Sailor Mercury. The Senshi was telling her something.
"Usa, can she move?" Endymion questioned.
"No," Serenity replied. "She's alive, but she's in a lot of pain. We have to get her back to the Moon."
"I don't know how we can do that," the prince confessed.
He shifted his gaze back to Orleana. Reflecting on the previous night, the prince wondered if he'd been lucky in beating her. The ball of flame now encircling her hands seemed far larger than anything he recalled from their first encounter.
"Listen Usa," Endymion said, just loudly enough for her to hear. "If I fall in this battle, you must get out of here. Run into the woods and hide. With any luck, Jedite and Zoicite will find you…"
He felt Serenity's hand on his right arm. Endymion accepted the wave of energy he received from her touch. The prince broke his focus with Orleana and shifted his attention to the princess, who now stood beside him.
The prince gasped. She was ethereal.
She was no longer dressed in the innkeeper's dead son's clothes. Instead, she wore a shimmering pale gossamer gown with a scalloped square neckline trimmed in gold. Her blonde hair was pulled up in two buns with a ponytail streaming from each one. The upturned moon crescent at the center of her forehead sparkled.
Endymion's murky midnight eyes locked with Serenity's bright cerulean gaze. The outside world—including Orleana's impending threat—dissolved from the forefront when he looked into the princess' orbs. The prince felt so many emotions for Serenity all at once that he didn't know how to deconstruct them. He preferred not to analyze his feelings; doing so would force him to admit that he cared for her more than he should. Instead, Endymion was honored to have found her and kept her safe; at least, safe until now.
"Mamo, put down your sword," Serenity told him.
Her comment broke Endymion's silent, emotional reverie. Again, he was aware of the pending damage of Orleana's attack. The prince frowned. "Are you kidding?" he shook his head. "My sword is the only thing standing between us and that homicidal Solarian over there."
He motioned to Orleana for emphasis, but Serenity kept her eyes focused on the prince.
"Please, Mamo," she calmly pled. "I know what I am doing. Orleana won't hurt anyone."
"Usa, she's already caused irreparable damage…"
"Trust me," Serenity persisted. Her statement was punctuated by a flicker from the moon symbol in the center of her forehead.
Endymion clenched his jaw. He nodded curtly. He sheathed his sword.
He hoped she knew what she was doing.
"Mamo," Serenity said gently, "please step aside. I can do this."
"I'm not leaving you," the prince declared.
The princess of the Moon smiled at his objection. She nodded silently.
"I know you'll be here," she stated. "In fact, I'm counting on it. I must face Orleana on my own, though."
The prince, weighing the heaviness of Serenity's words, finally nodded in compliance. He stepped behind her. Recalling a phrase from Linnaus' memories, Endymion said to her, "Selene protect you."
Serenity grinned widely. "She will," she said confidently before shifting her attention to Orleana.
The Solarian had watched the exchange between the prince and princess with mild interest. She may have been eager to dispose of Serenity, but she wasn't impatient. With both Sailor Jupiter and Mercury defeated, Orleana had plenty of time to kill the Moon princess. She used the additional moments to her advantage by making her attack stronger. She'd never amassed so much energy before; the power was so hot now that it burned her hands. Orleana didn't care about the injury; in fact, the pain in her own flesh increased her desire to hurt Serenity even more.
Her eyebrows knitted together when she noticed the shift in Serenity and Endymion's positions. She never would have thought that the prince of the Earth would permit a girl to be placed in danger, least of all the Moon Princess. Before, he had been so adamant about protecting the Lunarian. Orleana wondered what Serenity had said to him, though it hardly mattered to the Solarian, so she wasted little thought on why they had switched and instead considered it was lucky for her that they had. Of Serenity and Endymion, Orleana knew the prince to be the more formidable opponent. She was glad she would not have to fight him first and potentially waste her energy before facing the princess.
Serenity took one shaky step forward. She stopped and focused her blue eyes on the Solarian.
"Orleana, I order you, by Selene, to stop this," the Lunarian commanded. Her voice was strong and confident.
Serenity's words enraged the Solarian. She laughed mockingly at the Moon princess' request. Orleana clearly had the advantage.
"You order me?" she shouted, incredulous. Her skin glowed orange from the hot fireball in her hands. "Me? How dare you! What gives you the right to order me? In case you haven't noticed, princess, I'm the one with all of the power. What do you have? Your precious Selene? Your goddess has abandoned you. She let Linnaus die, Sailor Jupiter die, Sailor Mercury die…"
"Sailor Mercury is only injured," Serenity corrected.
"Oh, whatever!" Orleana spat back. "She will be dead. And now it's your turn. You will die."
"I will not die," the Moon Princess firmly stated. "Not by your hand."
"Really?" the Solarian mockingly responded. "Well, let's test this theory of yours out."
"Good," Serenity answered. "I'm tired of your talk. Just know that you brought all of this on yourself, Orleana. I would have helped you. You are still one of my senshi. Even now, you wear the uniform. Remember that you pledged to protect me with your life." The princess threw her arms out wide. A sad smile was on her lips as she uttered, "Strike me down, if you will."
"With pleasure," Orleana said. Louder, she shouted her strongest attack.
"Solar Wave Deflection!"
The giant ball of fire leapt from her hands and shifted into a huge hot white wave of energy that spanned the width of the meadow. The blast cleared everything in its path; trees on the fringe of clearing were uprooted by force of the attack.
Endymion, positioned behind Serenity, felt his heartbeat quicken when Orleana shouted the words. He motioned to grab the princess before the hot light reached her. He doubted they could outrun the blast, but he would be damned if he didn't at least try to save them both.
"No, Mamo."
Serenity's voice was in his head. Endymion frowned when he heard her words. "I can stop this. Believe in me."
The prince, tears in his eyes, heeded Serenity and again stepped away from her. He watched as the light overtook her tiny figure. He cried out while her body was enveloped by Orleana's deadly attack.
The light blinded like the sun and he could no longer see. He collapsed to his knees. The heat permeating from the wave burned his skin. Endymion leaned forward and pressed his right cheek into the cold ground. He covered his head with his hands. He expected the attack to soon envelope him, just as it had Serenity.
In the midst of such hopelessness, the prince clung to one thought. He said it over and over in his head, hoping that Serenity could hear his thoughts like he had heard hers.
"I believe in you, Usa. Always."
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End of Chapter 25
Phew. That chapter wiped me out! It's a more customary length.
I hope you enjoyed it. Please submit a review. I will try my best to get the next chapter out in a few weeks!
chibimoonEmEm: I'm glad you enjoy the story. I hope you don't mind the slower post and longer chapter this time. Brevity does not seem to be a trait I possess.
Karla: If you prefer the longer chapters, then I'm your girl. Chapter 24 was unusually short, wasn't it? Not my normal forte at all, as chapter 25 proves. I hope you don't mind that I'm slower to update if it means more a more detailed story. Thanks for reading/reviewing!
EmeraldSong: You said I was one of the more reliable people on the web to post, and here I go, posting later than promised! I hope you can forgive me. I think that short chapter was a strange fluke in the world of Hollie-dom. Seldom can I crank anything out that's less than 10 pages. It's a really strange curse/gift.
bebe1984: I love your reviews. They're brief but very informative. I'm just glad the senshis-in-training are finally on Earth; I just wrote that like it was their fault for not bothering to show up, instead of mine for not writing it in! Haha! I don't feel so bad about nearly forgetting them, though. August Wilson confessed to us (me + coworkers) that he actually forgot about a character while writing "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," which is why she is absent for majority of the play. Hrm. I just wrote an incredibly long response to your nice, short review. No wonder my chapters are so long, no?
angelfoxofheaven: Thanks for your review of the prologue. I hope you are still reading, 25 chapters later!
…Hollie scampers off to write more. She wonders why she writes of herself in the third person…