( denial mixed with an entire truth )

Theme: The Endless & Faraway Sky (#11) – theme taken from 101_Kisses
Genre: Angst
Rating: PG-13

Nephrite stood abruptly. "That's not what happened."

Helios tried to calm him. "Nephrite, many were deceived-"

Nephrite grabbed the small man's robes in one hand. "That's not what happened," he said lowly, cautioningly. He threw him towards Jadeite and Zoisite and turned and exited the shrine, never questioning how easy it had been to fling away the boy who had once knocked him down with a gesture.

The moon had been monitoring.

Endymion had been caught associating with the moon princess.

Once outside, Nephrite looked to the left and fled right.

Once confronted, Enydmion had confessed.

Everyone had been furious.

He ran towards the cliff, the highest point in the land, as far a he could tell, where he would be able to overlook everything. To pick and choose where he would go next. Where he could find Kunzite and Endymion, or the man named Mamoru, and figure everything out.

They had tried to figure things out with Endymion.

They had met the princess and tried to see his side of it.

Nephrites's chest hurt, with a pain he had not known since he was a boy.

He had been a boy once. Named Noboru.

He had had a mother and a father and an affinity for stars.

His feet hit the ground hard, paining his ankles in waves that reached his calves.

Beryl had approached them to speak of Earth's welfare and benefit.

She had approached Noboru, as a girl, a beautiful girl, and had taken him away.

He gasped for breath and held the stitch in his side. He could see the cliff growing bigger.

They had accepted Beryl's proposal, had agreed to take on more powers and let Metallia lead them.

She would not let him return, and Noboru had longed for his parents and promised to be good when he got back to them.

He struggled up the incline, using his hands to help propel him upwards, grappling with rocks and dirt and clumps of grass.

He had marched on the Moon Palace.

He had fought against Endymion.

His breath heaved with emotion. He gasped and stumbled upon the cliff's point, where he could see all of Elysian.

He had killed a moon maiden.

He had liked it . . . savored it . . . and wanted more.

He fell to his knees, looking about him hopelessly.

He had offered a room full of innocent people, _his_ people, as sacrifice to Metallia.

He had tried to take brides and offer them to Metallia.

He touched his forehead to the ground, attempting to slow his breathing.

He could no longer remember why he was working for Metallia in this life.

He could no longer remember any good of this incarnation.

He straightened and spread his fingers in the soil, pressing deep trying to regain feeling with the earth.

He could only remember wanting to inflict pain.

And rejoicing in it.

The memories washed over Nephrite, leaving him in a sea of darkness, paining him from the inside out.

He gulped for air, dry-heaving, hurting, lost in a paradise that no longer belonged to him.

From where he knelt, there was no horizon. There was Elysian and then there were the heavens extending from him to forever. Where he was, was all there was.

And all there was, was all he used to need.

It was then that he knew the torment of being unable to touch the beauty that had made him, the glory that he had belonged to, the wonder that he had betrayed.

He mourned the lost connection, trapped in a paradise that surrounded him with blue skies, every which way he looked.

end

The italic lines look better indented, but formatting here won't allow it.