Endymion, Serenity, and Sailor Chibi Moon entered the king's study, and he shut the door behind them.
"So how can we find Helios?" asked Chibi Moon. Endymion didn't reply, but merely held his hands in front of him, palm up. A golden light appeared, and formed the Golden Crystal. Chibi Moon gasped when she saw it and stared at her father in shock. "Why do you have it?" she asked.
"Yesterday morning, Helios asked to speak with us," explained Serenity. "He told us that he knew the shadows that had come after him would succeed in capturing him. We told him that we wouldn't let that happen, but he insisted that it would." She paused, looking somber. "Though it seems he was right after all."
Endymion comfortingly put his hand on her shoulder and continued where she had left off, "Helios didn't want the Golden Crystal to fall into the wrong hands, so he asked us to take it. He also asked us to replace the memory of entrusting it to us with a false one of him hiding it in Elysion, so that he couldn't lead the evil to its location."
Chibi Moon was shaking now. "You're telling me that he knewhe was going to be taken?" she squeaked. "Why didn't he tell me? Why didn't you?"
"Helios asked us not to tell you," said Serenity soothingly. "You have to understand, sweetheart, Helios saw his capture as inevitable. He must have kept it from you because he didn't want you to do anything reckless."
Chibi Moon felt tears well up again, but she bit her lip and fought them back. She had to be strong now, no matter how much it hurt. "So…the Golden Crystal…we can use it to find him?"
"Helios is the guardian of the Golden Crystal," said her father. "He's had it for a long time, and it left a small trace with him. This trace should be sending out a signal, though it's so faint that it's nearly impossible to pick up on."
Chibi Moon frowned. "How does it help us if it's untraceable?"
"Even though the Golden Crystal is an immense power source on its own, it's only enough to tell us that there is a connection," answered Serenity. "So to compensate, we're going to use the Silver Crystal to try and establish a stronger connection. It's a little risky though; Helios will probably be able to detect it, and if his will is compromised he could lead the enemy back here."
Sailor Chibi Moon was shocked by her mother's words. "Helios would never turn on us!" she snapped.
"I agree," said Endymion, "however, we can't make any assumptions. We don't know what's happening to him right now."
"I know…I'm sorry. I just want to find him and bring him back."
"Well then, why don't we start?" said Serenity. She summoned the Silver Crystal, which sparkled brightly in her hands. She closed her eyes and focused. The Silver Crystal shined brilliantly, and within seconds the Golden Crystal began to shine, too. Suddenly, the scene of the study melted away, replaced by an image of a dark room.
Helios found himself in a large room tiled in black marble. The walls were a deep purple and several stories high. Above him stars glittered, but he wasn't sure if it was the actual sky or a ceiling designed to look like it. He pulled against the webs that held him in a kneeling position, but they wouldn't budge. He felt a presence in the room, though he saw no one. "Show yourself!" he demanded.
"As you wish," said a sultry voice. A woman stepped out of the shadows. She was young and beautiful, with thick waves of blue-black hair cascading down her back. She sauntered over to Helios and ran a thin finger along his jaw. "It seems I've caught you again, my Helios."
"I am not yours," growled Helios. "I never was, and I will never be!"
Nehelenia laughed, and the sound was beautiful yet menacing. "You truly believe that, don't you?" She leaned over so that her face was mere inches from Helios'. "You may have defied me the last time I had you," she said, tapping his nose playfully with her forefinger, "but I've become much stronger since then. And this time, I will possess the Golden Crystal and you as well!"
Helios glared up at her. "You failed last time, and you'll fail again. I will never submit to you, and this time you'll find it won't be so easy to obtain the Golden Crystal."
Nehelenia shook her head. "Oh, I rather think it will. You see, this time, I shall have your cooperation," she told him, and before he could answer, she tipped his head up and kissed him. He tried to pull away, but he was immobilized. As Nehelenia kissed him, his mind began to rapidly empty. He tried to fight the haze, but after a moment, he couldn't remember what he was fighting. When she finally pulled away, he could barely remember his own name.
"What did you do to me?" he asked, the words coming out far weaker than he'd intended.
Nehelenia put a finger on his lips. "Don't speak," she crooned. "Just relax and let the darkness in."
Helios hung his head, feeling suddenly exhausted. He felt a presence in the back of his mind. He closed his eyes, and he could see a blurry image in his minds eye: a young woman with pink hair styled in odangos shaped like rabbit ears. Helios, she said. Her voice filled him with a deep longing. Don't give in. You have to fight!
"How can I, when I don't know what I'm fighting?" Helios asked, so softly that he would have to have been speaking in your ear to be heard. "I'm tired…I don't want to fight anyone…"
No, you must fight! Don't you remember how you told her you'd never belong to her? Stand by those words! Fight!
"All right, all right…I'll fight, later. Right now I want to sleep…" The pink-haired girl was speaking again, but it seemed far away and he couldn't make out her words. Within moments he drifted off, unable to hold off unconsciousness any longer.
Okay! Another chapter down! Thank you all for reading! I've now posted all the chapters I had already written. There may be a larger gap between chapters from here on out, but I fully intend to finish this story, having known the frustration of becoming invested in a story that was never finished. Anyway, thanks again! I eagerly await your feedback :) God bless!