Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Seleine P.O.V.

"He says I have an uncontrollable darkness!" She cried. "He says I'm going to kill everyone I love. I don't want to be evil!"

I jolted awake in shock. Frantically, I looked around me. Pale purple walls welcomed me from the dream of terror. A soft exhale sounded in front of me. Saturn was sleeping peacefully in her bed.

I remember now, after I found her in the maze, I carried her to her room. She'd fallen asleep shortly after her confession. I'd rubbed her back, and she'd fallen asleep against me. I stayed with her the entire night fearing she was going to have night terrors. Poor thing, her body and soul were so exhausted that no dreams entered her mind.

"How is she doing?"

I jumped at the voice behind me. I turned and saw Uranus. She put a hand on my shoulder and smiled.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," she smiled sheepishly.

That lazy smile. Gods, how it killed me. I put a hand on top of her hand and turned back to Saturn.

Uranus pulled her hand back and sat in the chair next to me. Those beautiful teal eyes examined the small child in front of us. Her lashes moved as thoughts sprung into her mind. Finally, she exhaled and leaned back. She turned to me.

"What happened last night?" She asked me.

I sighed as I was taken back to that horrible event. Tears threatened to spill over. I tilted my head back and forced the tears back into their place.

"Hikari happened," I answered. Uranus tensed beside me.

"What do you mean Hikari happened?"

"He came to see me last night," Saturn said. Uranus and I both turned to see Saturn was no longer sleeping. "He told me that I was the next one to turn dark. He said that I was going to kill everyone I loved.

"But Momma made me realize that I choose my destiny. Not anyone else," she beamed. It's hard to believe that this strong girl in front of me was a wreck last night.

I reached for her hand and squeezed it. I wanted to live in this moment forever. The moment when my family and I were in bliss. Nothing else mattered but that beautiful smile.

"Momma?" Saturn asked snapping me out of my daze. "Can you tell me how you met Haruka-papa?"

A small grin graced my face. I turned to look at Uranus and saw she was blushing.

"Would you like to tell her?" I asked.

Uranus coughed and ran her hand through her hair. She cleared her throat and looked back at me. "Actually, I don't remember. The memories are still coming back."

I forced a smile as I fought the urge to scream at her. I knew it was ridiculous of me to be angry, of course she wouldn't remember right away. It was going to take time for her to remember her past.

"Very well. Let me see. This was long before I became the Commander of the Moon Kingdom," I said. I felt myself going back to that day. The day that I met my soul mate.


"Have you come to toss my soldiers around like they're rag dolls again, Princess?" A voice said behind me. A sly grin crept to my lips as I turned to see the intruder.

"Commander William, surprising a princess and not announcing yourself while she's deep in thought is quite rude," I said.

The corner of his mouth rose. His dark brown eyes spoke of mischief. I could tell that all the girls from his planet loved to put their hands in his blonde hair for he never combed it. He was about my height but towered over me somehow. He was lean but not lanky. Honestly, he was the perfect man.

I turned back to watch the soldiers spar. Men in a gladiator like uniform paraded around the kingdom grounds. Some showed more skin than was wise. I could see it now, soldiers sparring with each other causing more damage than intended.

One particularly large red haired man strode through the crowds. He did not deign to wear a shirt and wore a short kilt to train in.

"Such a shame," I whispered.

"Pardon?" William asked from behind me. I could feel is breath on my neck. He was much too close than what was appropriate. I stepped forward to get a safe distance away from him. Then I turned back to him.

"It's a shame that such a valiant warrior would flaunt his muscles and risk the injury rather than being practical and keeping his assets covered," I reasoned. I turned back to the man. He'd stopped to badger two adolescent boys sparring. He pulled out his sword and swung at the boys. The boys held up their swords but were pushed back by his force.

"Lord Cain doesn't care for proper decency," William said. I raised an eyebrow at the title. "He comes from a great family in Mars. Apparently, he's the best choice for the Martian Princess Rei to marry."

"She's hardly into her years of looking for a husband," I scoffed. I turned back to the big man. Apparently, I'd caught his eye. He looked up at me with a grin basking his face. "Thankfully, the king and queen of mars are also nowhere near the time of dying."

I turned away from my balcony edge. I strode to go back inside. I was tired of seeing the typical show. Perhaps a novel about past war tactics would fulfill my time better.

"Leaving so soon?" William called after me.

"I have no interest in watching overconfident men throw their body weight at each other," I said turning back to him.

He chuckled at my direct approach. He turned back to the men. Then his expression turned serious. "You might wish to stay and watch," he said. His eyes were searching for someone in the crowds. His eyes squinted when he found his target. "A wild card has decided to make an appearance."

Curiosity filled me. I walked back to the balcony. I searched the crowd for whom he was referring to. Then I found them, or should I say her. A tall, lean, woman with spiked blonde hair walked to the front of the battlement. Men whistled at her as she passed by. She counter acted with terrifying glares.

"I see I've sparked your curiosity," he said.

"What's her name?"

He chuckled. "That is Haruka, Princess of Uranus."

I jerked my head to look at him. A princess, here? I quickly turned back to her. A princess entering the battlefield. How daring.

I turned around and headed to the staircase leading to the ground with William in tow. Finally, the blonde was in closer view. She wore a black leather skirt that ended just above the knee. Her corset was also made of a dark blue leather. Intricate gold cuffs braced her wrists. She wore a dark brown belt that held a gold dagger and a claymore. She confidently stepped forward in her dark blue boots that covered up to her ankles while her tan cape fanned behind her. The cape blew behind her, yet there was no wind.

Cain stopped her from passing him. She looked to him. He was taller than her, yet she still managed to look down on him. They argued for a few minutes. Finally, the blonde woman got fed up and then turned away from him. She started to walk away when the dense lord said something presumably vile. She stopped in her tracks. She turned and punched the man faster than my eyes could track.

Cain stumbled back a few paces. He regained his footing and slouched over. He brought his hand up to brush away the blood gushing from his lip. He looked at the blood and slowly looked back up at the princess. He stood tall and pulled his sword out.

William stepped forward to break the fight up. I reached my arm out and stopped him. He turned to look at me, but I watched the blonde woman. The crowd took my stopping William as a sign to back away.

Cain charged the princess. The princess did not move an inch. She watched as Cain got closer. He was merely a few inches away. Regret filled me as I saw him get closer to her. I should have let William break up the fight.

I turned my head expecting to hear a crash. When I turned back, I saw that the princess was nowhere to be seen. Cain stopped in his tracks and searched for the woman. The woman dropped down from the sky behind him. She turned her body to grace our eyes with a flawless foot sweep crashing into his ankles. Cain crashed to the ground. She jumped back up and moved a few paces behind.

Cain pushed his legs up to his chest and got back on his feet with a kick up. He circled the princess. She stuck her chin out to show she wasn't backing down. Cain brought his sword up. In the last second, she pulled her dagger up with her right hand, brought it to her chin and turned the blade to the right. The sharp sounds of metal grinding on metal reverberated the crowd.

They clashed together another time. Cain raised his sword back up. He brought it down, but the princess was gone. She moved to his right and met him with a roundhouse kick. Her foot connected with the back of his head. Cain dropped to the ground. The princess put her dagger back into her belt loop.

She walked over to Cain. He started to get up. He got up to his knees. She grabbed him by his short red hair. She kneed him in the face. Cain crashed back down to the ground. This time, he wasn't getting up for a while.

She looked up at the crowd. Her shoulders were rising at a normal velocity. The only sign that she had just won a fight was a tiny bead of sweat marring her forehead. Her eyes traveled through the crowd.

Finally, her eyes landed on me. Her eyes squinted accusingly. She strode toward me. A chill ran up my spine. William grabbed the hilt of his sword. I stuck my hand back out halting him. Finally, she stopped.

"You didn't stop the fight," she said in a deep voice for a woman. Her teal eyes were flaming. The hair on the back of my neck rose.

"You didn't need any help putting him on his ass though, did you?" I asked.

She tilted her head up in an attempt to intimidate me. I wasn't going to go down that easy Princess. She turned to William. She took in the sight of him staying by my side.

Then she turned back to me. She brought her fist up. I caught her fist a mere inch from my face. She'd put more force in her punch than I'd anticipated. She pulled back and bent down to kick my legs out from under me, but I was already gone. I jumped behind her, but she anticipated that. She brought her leg up for a roundhouse kick. I jumped back a few feet. She continued to thrust her leg out. She stumbled when she realized I was no longer behind her.

She looked up at me. Then she charged me. She was fast, but I was faster. She was inches from my face when I turned just slightly. She ran through her force. She stumbled again. She turned back to me. She was furious. Her face was bright red and her eyes were burning. The wind around me started to pick up.

She drew out her sword as she slowly rose back up. Then she charged at me again. Just before she would plow into me, I shifted to the side and kicked her legs out from underneath her. She let go of her sword as she fell backwards. I caught her sword midair and pointed it down at her when she hit the ground. Her eyes were filled with horror. Clearly, she'd never been beaten before.

"You're very fast, you managed to make the wind cause some friction without wasting your energy, you're very skilled in hand to hand combat and with a sword. But all of that means nothing when you turn into a hot head," I said looking down at her.

After scaring the wits out of her, I offered her a hand. She looked at it for a second then back up at me. She took my hand and I helped her up. I offered her sword back. She took it gingerly.

Shakily, she looked me in the eyes. "Who are you?"

A grin came back to my face. "My name is Seleine. I'm the princess of the Moon Kingdom. But you probably know me as-"

"The Heart of Darkness," she uttered with eyes wide. Her hands started to shake.

I decided I wouldn't give the poor girl a heart attack. I turned on my heel and started walking back up to the palace.

"Wait!"

I stopped and slowly turned back to her. She gulped and dropped to a knee.

"W-Will you train me?" She asked looking up at me.

"The Princess does not train anyone. I am the commander and I do the training," William said.

"You should stick to training men," I stated not looking away from the girl.

"Princess?" He asked me.

I turned toward William. "Commander William. Do you have any powerful gifts? Can you control the elements? Can you create winds in a calm day?" I asked knowing the answer.

"I have generals that can do that."

"Then you wouldn't be the one to train her, would you?" He looked flustered. "Clearly, I'm the only person who can train her to use her gifts properly."

"Princess, her kind-"

"Her kind are like me. Powerful and misunderstood," I said looking down at him. "Remember your place."

I turned back to the princess. "I will come find you when I'm ready to train you."


"I remember that day," Uranus said. By the look in her eyes, I knew she was in a completely different time. "I was cocky. I thought you were there looking for your future husband. I had no idea who you were. I thought it would be easy to beat you. I was such a fool.

"That was the second time I'd ever been beaten in a fight. The first time was with my mother," Uranus said. Her eyes grew blank.

I touched her hand. "You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to," I said.

She looked back up at me. Tears filled her eyes.

"My mother struggled giving birth to me. She nearly died. They told her once she recovered, she would never fight again. When I turned three, she started to train me. Light training of course. She didn't want to overdo it.

"One day, when I was six, I got cocky. I wanted to learn something new. I'd already mastered everything she was teaching me. She told me I wasn't ready, but I persisted. I told her that I was stronger than her. She got so upset with me. She told me behavior like that got warriors killed. She told me that I wasn't as strong as I thought I was.

"I told her she was weak. She proved me wrong. She beat me, and the result was her death," she said. At this point, she turned away from me. She started looking out the balcony window of Saturn's room.

"You killed your mother," Saturn said. Uranus and I jerked our heads to her. "That's what you want us to say, right? That you were responsible for your mother's death?"

Uranus started to stutter. She couldn't get her words straight. She was astounded that this small child in front of us could read her mind so easily.

"Your mother knew what she was doing. She knew what would happen," Saturn said. Those big purple eyes pierced my heart. She shouldn't have the knowledge that she does. She's been through so much in her life.

"She's right Uranus," I said. Uranus turned to me. "Your mother could have let you think that. She could have let you believe that you would never be beaten, but then you would have died. She would have felt like it was her fault if that would have happened. She saved your life."

Tears filled Uranus's eyes. She tilted her head back to force the tears back to their place.

"I know," she said. She wiped the tears from her face. "My father never could look at me again after that. He never blamed me, but he knew I was the cause. He barely spoke to me. He had his commander train me as much as he could, but I learned quickly. By the time I came to the moon kingdom, I was barely twenty in human years. That's when I met you, and you started training me.

"When I went back, my father had chosen a husband for me. I told him I wouldn't marry a man. I told him that that wasn't how I wanted my life to be. He told me that I either marry the man that he picked out for me, or I leave. So, I left."

I hadn't realized that had happened. "You never told me," I said.

She looked up at me sheepishly. "This was around the time the curse came up. You'd taken my feelings for you away and I was with Neptune," she said.

I gulped down a cry. I cleared my throat and stood up. I turned to Saturn and forced a smile. "You must be tired. You need to rest. You used up a lot of energy yesterday. Sleep well and I will come back to check up on you later, love," I said. I bent down and kissed her forehead.

"Till then Momma," she yawned.

I strode out of the room as fast as I could. I didn't run, but I walked as fast as I could. I felt Uranus hurrying after me. I wondered if I could make it to my room before she caught up to me.

"Seleine."

I turned to the right. Kylian stood before me. There was something different about him today. He didn't have that same cockiness he had the other day. He had a serious look in his eyes and he was extremely nervous.

"Kylian," I said.

"Princess," he said dipping his head in respect. There was definitely something different about him today.

I looked over my shoulder and saw Uranus approaching us quickly. The anger in her face was terrifying.

I quickly turned back to Kylian. "Let's go somewhere more private," I said hastily. I wasn't ready to talk to Uranus about her past quite yet and this was definitely not the right time to talk to her.

We walked to my gardens. I told the guard posted outside to not let anyone interrupt our conversation. I walked inside the garden and sat across the table in front of Kylian.

"What's this about, Kylian?" I said in a flat tone. A big part of me was still terrified of seeing him now. Another part of me just wanted to rip him limb from limb.

"We need to talk," he said. He was fidgeting with his fingers underneath the table. This couldn't be good. Kylian was always so confident and cocky in the past.

He finally looked up. "I need to tell you what really happened that night. But we can't do it here," he made a point to look around himself as if someone was listening. "I suggest a magic neutral place."

I scoffed at the idea of that. "A magic neutral place. You realize that we don't have many of those here correct?"

"Yes, but there are some, right?" He asked me.

"Why would I trust you?" I interrogated him. Something in me told me that this was serious, but I didn't trust him.

He met my eyes again. "I know you don't trust me. I wouldn't trust me either if I was you," he said.

"I'm glad you understand my feelings," I said in a flat tone.

He sighed and looked down at his hands. He gathered his thoughts before he finally looked up at me again. "I wasn't myself that night," he said. I inhaled sharply. "You already know that, don't you?"

I sighed. Yes, I knew that something had been off about him that night.

I thought hard about the geography of the area. A thought came to my mind. I looked up. "There's a village approximately twenty miles east of here. It's been abandoned due to the lack of proper atmosphere there. It will be hard to breathe and we won't be able to stay there long, but there's no magic there."

He nodded his head. "When is best?"

"Dawn would be best tomorrow morning," I said rising from my seat. I turned to leave the garden.

"Seleine," Kylian said from behind me. I stopped in my place. I didn't dare turn to look at him. "I'm not going to be a fool and ask you to trust me, but this is very important."

I turned my head slightly to look at him from my peripheral vision. I turned back to the door and walked out of the gardens.


"You can't be serious," Pluto screeched. "He's a snake in the grass and all he wants is to hurt you and take advantage of you. You haven't seen him since that night he raped you. You can't seriously think that this is a good idea."

"I don't think it's a good idea," I exhaled defeated. "You didn't see him, though. He was different today than he was before. I think he's serious about telling me what happened."

She started pacing. I turned back to the training area. The Inners were training. They were using their new powers. They wanted to see what their limits were.

"Ever since that night I've had a bad feeling," I said. "I had a bad feeling about Kylian. He acted so differently that night. I don't understand. One minute he was fine with waiting till after we were married, and the next sex was all he cared about."

I turned away from the senshi and toward Pluto. "I thought before that he just wanted me. That he decided to get engaged so I'd sleep with him. Now he wants to talk about what happened, and I'm starting to wonder if my intuition wasn't wrong that night. I need to understand what happened that night Pluto."

Understanding and anger were fighting beneath the surface in Pluto's head. She turned away from me and paced some more. After a few minutes of pacing, she stopped and sighed.

"You realize that if you're right, it still changes nothing. He still raped you and nothing that he could say will make that go away," she said turning toward me. Reluctantly, I nodded. "Fine. But you're not going without a chaperone. I'll let Serenity know that you and I are going to the abandoned village at sunrise-"

"No," I said.

Surprise filled her face. "What do you mean 'no'?"

"Serenity doesn't need to know. That's the whole point of me going at dawn," I said. I inhaled sharply. "And, you're not coming with me."

Pluto flinched at my revelation. "Very well. I don't think Uranus would be able to contain her temper, but if that's what you wish."

"Uranus won't be coming with me either," I said.

"Neptune, Kunzite, or Nephrite will do just fine too I suppose. I'll just need you to find me immediately when you return," she said. I shook my head. "Who then?" She gulped. Her eyes were filled with fear.

"Zoisite will be accompanying me," I said quietly.

"No. Absolutely not," she seethed. "Zoisite hates you. He will not keep you safe, Seleine. This is madness. You haven't thought this through at all, have you?"

"That's precisely why I chose Zoisite to accompany me. He doesn't care about my emotional well-being, but he will ensure my safety. I allowed him to live because of the very purpose of him serving me," I reasoned. "He also doesn't have a temper like the rest of you do. He won't lynch Kylian at the mere sight of him. He will remain calm and assess the situation carefully and correctly."

Pluto shook her head and started pacing again. "No, I will not allow you to go with him. I forbid you to jeopardize your safety for the low life that Kylian is," she spat.

"You forbid me?" I asked incredulously. "You do not allow me to do anything. You cannot forbid me from anything. I informed you of this meeting out of the kindness in my heart for my best friend, not to ask permission."

Pluto shrank from me. I was not going to allow her to intimidate me, no matter how good her reasons were. "Zoisite will accompany me to the meeting with Kylian. I will not discuss this with you any further," I said.

"But Serenity-"

"What about me?" Serenity asked from the doorway. I turned toward her. She was a vision of composure, except for her shaking hands.

"We were just talking about Uranus and how she hasn't gotten her full powers yet," I said quickly.

Serenity watched me. I could tell that she knew I was lying to her. I didn't want to lie to her, but our relationship was complicated right now. She and I weren't in sync.

"I see," she said. She looked down at her perfect white satin flats. Composed till the very end.

I turned to Pluto and dipped my head. She got the hint and left. I sucked in a breath and walked back to the balcony ledge. Serenity followed me. We acted as if we were watching the senshi when both of us were trying to decide what to say.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

I slowly turned my head toward her. "I'm sorry for the things I said to you before you revealed what had happened that night," she gulped. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back. "I didn't really think that you were a whore. I was hurt that you were keeping secrets from me. I thought we were so close and that we could tell each other anything and everything. I just wanted you to tell me the truth."

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't force myself to speak. I couldn't think of a single thing to say that would express my feelings adequately.

"But I've been keeping things from you too," she said. I'd been looking at her necklace. I was too afraid to look her in the eyes. I jerked my eyes up to see what her face revealed. She was terrified of what she was about to tell me.

"Endymion and I," she stuttered. She inhaled deeply. Then she turned back to me. "We aren't at all what you think we are. We aren't the perfect couple. We're not even a couple."

I was shocked. Again, my sister rendered me speechless.

"After everything that happened with Galaxia, we were different. I still loved him, but I wasn't in love with him anymore. Neither was he. We still got married and had Small Lady. We tried to make it work, but so much had happened while we were apart. The damage had been done.

"After Small Lady had been born, we stopped sleeping in the same bed together. We didn't want any more children. We'd accomplished the future we were promised. We created the Silver Millennium and had an heir.

"Later, Endymion and I had revealed to each other, that we loved others. I'm sure you can guess who I was in love with. We didn't share any names, but he knew who I loved. Who I love. We had agreed that we were going to protect each other. We may no longer be in love, but we both cared about each other."

How was I so foolish? She'd told me they weren't sleeping in the same bed anymore. At first, I'd assumed that it was because he was no longer awake, but she'd wanted to tell me more.

"Who knew?" I asked dreading the answer.

"Of course, Venus knew. When it comes to love, it's impossible to keep anything from her. Mars suspected, but she never asked. She had the decency to keep it to herself," she said.

"Are you still seeing her?" I asked. I hadn't seen Fighter here, but that didn't mean they didn't have their ways of seeing each other without getting caught.

"Not as much," she said regretfully. She blinked back tears as she was reminded of her distance with her lover. "When Endymion fell ill, we stopped seeing each other as much for fearing of getting caught and Endymion not being here to assist me. I try to go see her every few months, but it's been awhile."

I attempted to keep my rage in check. "Small Lady?"

She turned back to me. "She knows nothing. We were going to tell her one day. But we feared that if anyone ever found out, her claim to the throne on earth would be weakened," she reasoned with me.

I walked away from her. I tried to breathe in new air. This was too much. Too much had happened for me to deal with this now. I turned back to her.

"How could you do this?" I asked. The rage was seeping out of me bit by bit. "If the council finds out you could be put to death."

"Oh please, we aren't in the medieval times anymore-"

"And Small Lady. What would happen if she found out by seeing you and Fighter together?" I seethed. My rage was no longer controlled. I couldn't find the leash to my temper. "Do you care so little about emotionally scarring your daughter?"

"Small Lady is no longer a child. She understands-"

"How could she possibly understand?" I screamed. Serenity backed away only slightly. Then she realized where we were.

She grabbed me by the arm and dragged me into the tea room. She commanded the guards and servants to leave the room. She shut all the doors and used some form of magic to put a silencing wall up or something. Then she turned back to me.

"You could never understand what happened between mother and father," I said calmly. My killer calm was sinking in.

"No, I couldn't. I wasn't old enough to understand much of anything," she said through her teeth.

I started to pace. I needed to sort this out. Then it struck me. There was another party I should be reaming.

I turned back to my sister. "Who was she?" I asked.

"I don't know. Even though he knew who I was with, I never asked," she admitted.

I turned outside the balcony door. I started walking to his room. I could feel Serenity chasing after me.

"Where are you going?" She yelled after me.

I didn't deign to tell my sister anything. I just kept walking. One foot after another. I couldn't think. I just moved.

Finally, I reached his chambers. I told the servants watching over him to leave.

I walked over to the bed. I jumped when I saw him. He didn't look like he was alive. His body was thin, and his skin was turning grey. His cheek bones were very apparent. I'm sure if he wasn't wearing a shirt or had a blanket draped over him, I would be able to see his ribs.

I heard rushed footsteps in the hallway. I turned around and threw up a wall around me, so no one could interfere.

I turned back to my brother in law. His chest didn't even rise. There was nothing alive about him. I moved closer to the bed and touched the pillow. I jumped back as pieces of his hair started to come out. He was a corpse.

I felt someone enter and push against my wall. I didn't dare turn back. I exhaled and inhaled a few times. I focused my mind and my breathing. Finally, I touched his forehead. I closed my eyes and began to sink up his memories.

Endymion's body jerked from underneath me. Memories flooded into my mind. Many things I'd rather not see. A rush rippled through my body as I felt myself being pushed through an era.

Fists started pounding on my wall. I couldn't turn to look at who it was. Someone might be able to convince me to stop, and I couldn't stop. I needed to know who this woman was, so I could take care of the situation. I was not going to let anyone destroy this world my sister worked so hard to create.

"Seleine!" A voice screamed behind me. The person behind the voice was in turmoil. It took everything out of me not to turn and soothe their pain. "Seleine! Stop! It was me!"

Suddenly, my body froze. No. It couldn't be. The wall fell. A body pushed passed me. I was frozen in place. I didn't dare move. I didn't want to believe that she could do this.

Building up enough of my courage, I looked to the person holding Endymion's hand and brushing the hair out of his face.

"I'm here my love. I'm so sorry," Pluto cried. I couldn't believe it. Pluto was Endymion's lover.