Grains of Truth Evil Endymion 30th Anniversary, a sailor moon fanfic

Grains of Truth. Evil Endymion 30th Anniversary

Endymion is perhaps the greatest commander of the Dark Kingdom. But when Queen Beryl assigns him a very special mission, things don't go as anyone might have expected…Anime Canon. Written for the 30th Anniversary of Evil/Dark Endymion, a.k.a. Dendy.

He took his first breath amidst darkness.

And yet, the darkness did not disorientate him. The darkness was comforting. The darkness was home. The darkness was where he belonged.

As his eyes adjusted, he peered down from the craggy ledge that had been his birthplace, peered down to the very underbelly of the seemingly endless cavern. Creatures of all shapes and sizes were being born from the very rocks themselves. A demon with long horns and white hair. A half woman, half spider creature. A woman with snakes for hair. And five brightly coloured women resembling pixies.

His gaze drifted up to a ledge not much lower than his own. A boy with curley, dirty blonde hair was taking his first stumbling steps. Just above and opposite the dirty blonde, was an older boy with a luxurious brown mane.

At the sound of shuffling from below he carefully leant over his ledge and spied another man, this one with short blond hair also looking around the cavern with sharp green eyes that pierced the darkness.

It was only then that he became aware of someone watching him. Casting his gaze directly across the cavern he beheld a striking man with long silver-white hair that was unmissable amidst the black cavern; as was the smug and disdainful look upon his face.

A deep, low, rumbling moan resounded throughout the cavern, drawing all eyes a regal woman with wild, blood red hair abased herself before a swirling mass of ebony energy, somehow far darker than the rest of the lightless cave.

As he gazed into the very heart of the ebony entity, it too somehow seemed to gaze back at him. Gaze into him. And suddenly he knew who he was. He knew what he was born to do. And he was filled with nothing but the desire to fulfil that purpose.

He knelt. He bowed his head. And, in synchrony with every other newborn creature within the cavern, muttered a solemn vow:

"O' Great Ruler. I shall forever dedicate this life you have given me to your service. All hail Queen Metalia!" chanted Endymion…

"Come forth, Endymion."

His boots clicking across the throne room floor, Endymion broke ranks from the miscellaneous Youma to approach Queen Beryl.

"What is thy bidding, my Queen?" He asked, kneeling.

"Endymion," Beryl began imperiously, leaning back into her throne, "You have proven yourself amongst the Dark Kingdom's most elite warriors. As such I have a very special mission for you."

Beryl waved her talon tipped hand over the floating crystal ball before her. The ball glowed before projecting an image of a young maiden in a regal white dress, two long, blonde pigtails flowing from the twin buns crowning her head.

"The Moon Princess is young, naive, and ever so enchanted by the Earth and its people," explained Beryl. "You will pose as a mere human. You will befriend her. And then, you shall bring me her corpse!" Beryl's eyes blazed with righteous fury and her voice rose several octaves. "The Princess's death shall be our declaration of war upon the world above. Upon those who have oppressed us and stolen our sacred Silver Crystal!"

Endymion's eyes narrowed. "It shall be done, my Queen," he said, though not entirely willingly.

Endymion once more knelt before Queen Beryl, though this time Kunzite stood at her side, gazing down at him with smug, judgemental eyes.

"Endymion, did you lure out the Moon Princess?"

"Yes, my Queen."

"And you were able to separate her from her four comrades?"

"I was, my Queen. The friendships of women, at least the women of the world above, are fickle it seems."

"And you befriended the Princess? She lowered her guard around you?"

"She did, my Queen."

"Then tell me…why is she still alive?"

Beryl's voice was far colder than the frozen tundra above them.

Endymion did not dare look up just yet, although he could practically feel Kunzite's smirk upon him.

"I will not lie to you, my Queen…I do not enjoy fighting women at the best of times. It is beneath me. I have only engaged in such actions when strictly necessary; either for survival or for the greater good of our beloved Dark Kingdom. To harm a weak and powerless maiden, whether royal or otherwise, would be dishonourable in the extreme. I simply cannot bring myself to do as you command for the sake of a mere symbolic gesture."

"You have overstepped Endymion," mocked Kunzite. "Your independence has at last been your undoing."

"It is true Endymion," added Beryl, though her tone was surprisingly even and measured, "Your tendency to interpret your duties your own way has often been an asset to our Great Ruler. And you are by far one of the two most powerful warriors in service to our Dark Kingdom." Kunzite let out an audible huff. "Nevertheless, this time you have disobeyed my direct order."

"My Queen," Endymion began, sensing Beryl was permitting him an opening, "I believe my 'independence' may well serve the Great Ruler once again."

"Oh?" Beryl raised her eyebrow. "How so?"

"I have already earned some measure of trust from the Moon Princess. With more time, I am certain I can gain her complete confidence. Through her, I could access the Moon Palace, and perhaps take back the Silver Crystal itself. I would be breaking her heart rather than her neck. A task I, with admitted reluctance, leave to other members of our forces."

Kunzite made an unmistakably derisive noise. "You disobey an order due to your chivalry. Yet you claim to be willing to exploit this maiden's naivete? Such underhanded tactics are not in your character, Endymion. Or perhaps you are simply a hypocrite."

Endymion at last looked up, shooting Kunzite a cold glare. "Whilst I would always prefer to challenge my enemy head on, sometimes needs must. And, as I said before, if I must physically harm a maiden, it will only be when necessary."

Queen Beryl leant forward, bringing the tips of her talons together in contemplation. "Though your disobedience is irksome, to say nothing of your honour, you do bring up a most intriguing idea." Resolve broke across her features. "Very well. You shall grow closer to the Moon Princess. Convince her you desire to protect her as much as any of her Sailor Senshi bodyguards; if not more so. Such a deception should come naturally, given your annoying inclination to showing her leniency."

"A lie wrapped around a grain of truth."

At Kunzite's words, a very odd sensation gripped Endymion. It was as if every fibre of his being were on fire! Yet he also felt deathly cold.

"Wh-what did you say?"

"It does not matter," Beryl said firmly, "Endymion, our forces grow larger every day. If we risk waiting for you to bring us the crystal we shall lose all element of surprise, so work quickly. However, should you fail, should you run out of time, I want you to nevertheless remain close to the Princess. Keep her safe so that she may be delivered to me. She may yet prove useful in locating our sacred jewel and harnessing its power."

"Understood. I will not fail you, my Queen" replied Endymion, grateful that the strange sensation had passed.

"You're a wonderful dancer Endȏ," whispered Serenity as he led her across the ballroom.

"Thank you, Princess," he whispered back. "I do so hope my dancing is suitable recompense for my inexcusable attire. I did not think the royal guards would take kindly to my armour."

"Don't be silly," giggled the Serenity, "I think you look utterly dashing."

'Endȏ' inclined his top hat to her, his eyes sparkling behind the white mask. He could immediately tell Serenity was charmed. She'd never failed to be charmed by her 'special Earth friend Endȏ'. Indeed, even her bodyguards had grown to accept him too, especially Sailor Mars it seemed. Women really were silly, fickle, little creatures; and Serenity seemed far sillier than most. The poor girl was utterly clueless. And soon she'd be dead too. How unfortunate.

He wished he'd had more time to coax her into helping him obtain the crystal, but alas it wasn't to be. Nevertheless, he had to admit it had not been wholly unpleasant ingratiating himself to Serenity and her four friends. Indeed, there had been times where 'Endȏ' had sincerely enjoyed their company. Which, of course, had made the deception all the easier. A lie wrapped around a…grain…of…

"Is something wrong Endȏ?"

He shook his head. "Oh. No. I'm fine. I just felt rather peculiar for a mo-"

Screams erupted across the ballroom!

As Serenity clung to 'Endȏ's chest, he cast his gaze through the open balcony doors and across the sky.

There, he beheld an almighty shadow, an entire army beneath its ebony wings!

It had begun.

At last the Dark Kingdom had invaded!

Fog surrounded him as he stood before a shadowy palace.

"The Silver Crystal…"

Lifting the brim of his top hat he looked up at the structure. Upon one of the walls of the palace stood a maiden, obscured by the fog.

"Look for the Silver Crystal!" she implored.

"What is the Silver Crystal!?" he asked desperately.

Endô always found it difficult to drift off again once the dream had awoken him.

He had but two options. Lay awake in bed, allowing his mind to inevitably ruminate upon the emptiness within his soul, the ever gnawing sense that something was wrong. That something was missing. That did not truly belong here. Or…

Grabbing his leather jacket, slipping his shades on, Endô left his apartment and traversed the dark streets of Juban.

It was perhaps an hour later that he found himself staring across the road at the Osa-P. He couldn't quite explain what had made him come in this direction, let alone stop and stare at the jewellery store. He supposed, because of the dream, it was inevitable he might have subconsciously sought out a jewellery store of some kind…but why this one?

It was then that a scream emanated from the store and he found himself instinctively running across the road! Found himself impossibly leaping from the ground to the highest window! And, baffling, found himself wearing a tuxedo and cape he had not been wearing mere seconds ago!

And yet, this all somehow felt more right than he had felt in years. No, not years. More right than he had felt in his life!

Entering through the window, illuminated by moonlight, Endô sighted a young maiden in a stylised school uniform wailing helplessly on the store floor. The cause of her distress was a monstrous creature in a black dress, one of her talon tipped hands extended out to slay the girl. Quick as a flash, Endô manifested a red rose from thin air and hurled it across the room, its sharp stem cutting across the monster's hand.

"Who's there!?" demanded the monster.

"I am Tuxedo Mask," Endô announced. With that he leapt from the window's ledge and dispatched the monster!

As its deathcry resounded around the room, he crossed over to the still cowering form of the girl in the sailor uniform.

"Crying won't solve anything Sailor Moon," he chided gently, offering the maiden a helping hand.

Sailor Moon took it gratefully. As she began showering him with her gratitude, Endô couldn't help but notice something was gnawing at the back of his mind. Something…was still missing.

Endô had lost count of the number of times he had saved Sailor Moon.

There had been that first night in the jewellery store of course.

Jadeite's last stand at the airport.

That hauntingly familiar masquerade.

And now…now he had saved her for the very last time.

She had been trapped in an elevator, Zoisite's inferno spiralling down the shaft, ready to make the Starlight Tower her final resting place.

As always, he'd intuitively transformed and been guided to her, pulling her out of harm's way yet again. But, though his leap had carried her to safety, he had not entirely escaped the blaze himself.

As he lay dying upon the ground, his mask and top hat incinerated, Sailor Moon's horrified, heartbroken, face hovered over his own. And yet, in his last, fleeting moments, Endô's attention was far more drawn to Zoisite. Like Sailor Moon, the Dark Kingdom commander seemed horrified too, his green eyes wide as he fixated upon Endô's charred form.

"End-!?"

Fire and thunder consumed Zoisite as Sailor Moon's allies arrived at last. Dimly, as Zoisite's death cry hung in the air, Endô wondered how the Shitennou could have known his real name.

He supposed it didn't matter. Nothing mattered now. Not now that everything…was…getting…

He took his first breath amidst darkness.

And yet, the darkness did not disorientate him. The darkness was comforting. The darkness was home. More than home. The darkness was…

"Welcome back Endymion."

His eyes fluttered open. Sitting up, he noticed he was wearing the remnants of a tuxedo and seemed to be in some kind of skeletal capsule. The chamber surrounding him might have been the belly of some draconic monster, its dark, bloody and violet colours complimenting the imperious woman standing before him.

"W-wh-what did you call me?"

The imperious woman smiled. "I called you by your name. Your true name. Endymion."

"En-Endymion." The word resounded through his mind, through his very essence, filling him entirely. And it felt so right. "Yes. Yes I am Endymion!"

"And…do you know who I am?"

Endymion drank in the visage of the woman, from the hem of her purple dress up to her mane of scarlet hair.

"You…You are…Queen Beryl!"

As his brain clicked, he hastily bowed before her.

"Yes," replied Beryl, hungrily. "Arise, Endymion."

Endymion stood straight, excitement and confusion colliding within his mind. "I…I don't understand…What is…Why are there two lives in my head? Why did I serve the Dark Kingdom in one and yet aided the Sailor Senshi against them? Who am I!?"

Queen Beryl began slowly pacing back and forth across the room.

"You remember two different lives because you have lived two lives." Beryl pointed the crystal orb at the head of her metallic staff at Endymion's chest, the remnants of his tuxedo replaced by armour of silver and midnight blue. "You were once Endymion, commander of the Dark Kingdom, assigned to the task of posing as the Moon Princess's ally. However, after we invaded the Moon itself, the power of the Silver Crystal was turned against us. We were sealed away until recently, whilst the denizens of the Moon were instead reborn in this new age."

Beryl stopped pacing. It might have been Endymion's imagination, but she seemed to be gathering herself. At last she turned and locked eyes with him.

"Because they believed you to be a friend, you were not sealed away with us, but instead reincarnated in this time period like the Moon Princess and her allies. But you were reborn as they perceived you to be. Deep down you remained loyal to our Great Ruler, Queen Metalia, and our Dark Kingdom. But the reshaping of you through their spell meant that your soul was…confused. As such, your false identity became your true identity. And you were driven to follow my last orders to the letter: you protected the Moon Princess, Sailor Moon."

Endymion's eyes widened. 'A lie wrapped around a grain of truth'.

It all made sense now.

Why the name 'Endô' had never seemed to fit.

Why he had forever felt that something was missing in his life.

Why he had been compelled to protect Sailor Moon.

And yet…

"I…I kept having a dream. A woman kept telling me to find the Silver Crystal."

Some spark seemed to ignite in Beryl's eyes. "Likely your mind compelling you to fulfil your mission. Was…Was I perhaps the woman of your dreams?"

"No." Endymion said reflexively, shaking his head. Dimly, he detected a faint noise, like a hand tightening its grip around metal. "I think…I think it was the Moon Princess…"

"Obviously, since she considered you a friend, she was subconsciously compelling you to help her find the crystal," Beryl said, in an oddly stiff tone.

"Yes…Yes I understand." Instinctively, Endymion conjured a red rose. "They believed me their ally, so they made use of me…" A tiny cut emerged upon his thumb as his grip on the rose tightened. "But…why then not warn me against the Dark Kingdom? Why not make me hate you?"

"Perhaps they tried." Beryl said, oddly venomously, "Perhaps they wanted your soul to forget the…affections of your past life, but their magic proved less than effective. Perhaps, it is difficult to make someone completely act against their nature, to make them believe something that in their soul they know not to be true….Not unless you incorporate that truth into the lie itself." A small, almost imperceptible smile crossed Beryl's lips. "How fortunate for us that our enemies did not adopt such a subtle strategy..."

Beryl's words hung in the air awhile and Endymion pondered everything he'd just learned, or rather, re-learned, about his life. About his purpose. About…who…he…was…

He suddenly felt rather cold, as if caught in a winter wind.

"Sailor Moon….The Sailor Senshi…The Moon Kingdom…Because of them I have grown up alone, knowing only a name that was but a stranger to me."

The rose's petals seemed to turn from a vibrant red to a deeper scarlet.

"They took my very identity from me. They made me battle my true comrades."

The rose began to wilt, scarlet petals drifting to the ground.

"You desire…revenge?" Beryl asked, a note of anticipation in her voice.

Endymion considered the question. He was upset, there was no doubt about that. Angry? Undeniably…But…

"No," he replied.

"...Oh…"

Try as he might, he simply couldn't imagine enacting his revenge upon Sailor Moon. He couldn't imagine punishing her for what had happened to him.

Could this be a remnant of the manipulations he had endured? Perhaps, but, angry as he was, his temper was even now starting to subside a little. In time, he knew, it would cool off entirely. Though, likely not before his next encounter with his 'former allies'.

"Though Sailor Moon and her comrades have grievously wronged me, they did not realise what they were taking from me. It would be dishonourable to avenge myself upon them, especially since they are but fickle girls."

"Quite so," Beryl said, through slightly gritted teeth.

"I shall instead cherish fate for restoring my memories, and for delivering me back home!"

Endymion flourished his cape, his armour transforming into familiar attire. Removing his top hat he took a knee and inclined his head.

"Queen Beryl, I vow that I, Endymion, commander of the Dark Kingdom, shall once again serve you and the Great Ruler for the rest of my days."

What remained of the rose turned completely black

"Endymion…" Queen Beryl purred, "You have no idea how very happy I am to hear that…"

His Queen began to cackle, obviously overjoyed at return. That was when he felt it again.

The burning cold. That sensation that something was still wrong.

It was dimmer than before; and far easier to ignore. Endymion did just that. In time, he was sure, it would fade completely. After all…he was finally where he belonged…

A/N: "Serenity."

"Endymion, can you still not forget about her?"

-Sailor Moon Classic Episode 35

The above bits of dialogue were the genesis for this story. But let me explain myself more thoroughly.

In the manga Dendy is completely under the Dark Kingdom's control but clearly something of him remains because he knows Usagi is Sailor Moon. However, his personality is otherwise totally different. In the anime however, their approach was to make him ostensibly the same person, just fighting on the wrong side. In other words, he is still (for the most part) a chivalrous, honourable person.

I therefore wanted to do a story depicting what he believed his life to be, what in his mind would inform that chivalrous personality whilst also squaring the fact that he is fighting for the Dark Kingdom.

Well, in rewatching the Dendy scenes of the anime, I discovered a few interesting bits of dialogue from the sub that I had overlooked. Specifically, Kunzite at one point says to Endymion that he spent a long time fighting WITH Sailor Moon/the Sailor Senshi. In addition, Dendy in his debut episode has some dialogue to the Senshi (who are clearly being friendly to him) about how roses have thorns and turn black when exposed to a wintery blast.

Whilst the former dialogue could be interpreted as simply an odd way of saying 'You have spent a long time fighting AGAINST the Senshi', the latter is really weird if Endymion believes he has fought the Senshi loads of times in the past.

We also have a piece of dialogue Queen Beryl says in episode 35 when watching Mamoru get brainwashed for the first time. Mamoru says Serenity's name and Beryl asks if he really can't forget her. And, I'm pretty sure the subs have the Dark Kingdom use the phrase 'steal back' in reference to the Silver Crystal.

Combined with the manners and mercy he often shows them, I extrapolated that, from his POV, he USED to be their ally. From there this story bloomed, wherein the Dark Kingdom strategically incorporated his genuine memories and feelings into the false life they were implanting into him.

Now, admittedly, it is just as easy to argue that the Dark Kingdom erased his memories entirely and the Dark Kingdom simply told him he is one of them and that the Senshi are his enemies, their magic employing some kind of mental block to keep him from questioning this narrative.

Of the two interpretations though, I found the former simply more interesting and so ran with it. *shrugs*.

Also, just to let you know I am involved in a discord called 'Moonlight Legends' which is dedicated to sharing all sorts of Sailor Moon fanworks, including other fanfics. If you would like to join so you can share your own work, get help with your current projects or just connect to other fan creators shoot me a PM and I'll send you an invite. All are welcome!