A/N: Okay, so here is chapter three. I will be posting at a slowed pace due to getting ready for Otakon, and because life in general demands my attention. Courage-less will hopefully have a chapter up by next week. Maybe even today if I can swing it. Frozen Hearts won't be updated for at least a week as I am having a bit of writers block with that one. A New Darkness is giving me a bit of trouble due to how much I am trying to cram into that chapter, but I think I should have the new chapter up soon. Thanks for understanding, y'all.
Warning: Contains violence, language, suggestive themes in later chapters, blood, and mildly dark themes. Oh sod it. All y'all know that my fics are pretty damn graphic for different things. However, this one is the most tame of them all. So, there.
With love,
Korrupted.
Disclaimer: Still don't own Sailor Moon.
Makoto fidgeted as her sister sat next to her, both of them growing uneasy at the silence in the study hall. The instructor had been called away and the four year old twins were anxious to at least know why he had been. Before curiosity could propel the older princess to start snooping, Sakura poked her shoulder and held out a poorly wrapped gift; it seems that the more timid twin had opted to make her a birthday gift, Makoto reaching into her own pocket to extract the one for her sister. "Happy birthday, Mako." The green-hazel eyed youth whispered, a grin on her face.
Makoto took charge of the lumpy package, setting it on the desk before offering the far more delicately wrapped gift to Sakura. "Here. I uh... I made this for you. Happy birthday and stuff, Saku." She awkwardly managed. As much as she loved her twin and her mother, gift giving had always been an awkward endeavor for the future warrior.
Sakura took the item with an open expression of awe, carefully unwrapping the pink dyed lambskin from around a braided leather necklace that had pieces of green crystals woven into it, a medallion of oak hanging from the center with the letter 'S' on the right side, and 'M' on the other, a lightning bolt down the middle. From the tiny cuts she could see on Makoto's fingers, it was clear that the girl had made it herself. "Oh, Mako! It's amazing! You did such a great job on this! I'm never, ever taking it off, I promise!" Sakura beamed, fixing it around her throat and typing it in place before looking around warily. Moments later, the scent of charred leather filled the air, the necklace sealed together from a very concentrated bolt of thunder. Makoto was fairly certain that short of cutting the braided cords, there was no way that it was coming off of her; though she was glad that Sakura had the forethought to tie it loosely enough to fit after she was all grown up.
Makoto lifted the green dyed leather package, opening the parcel to see a small painting on wood, both herself and Sakura grinning widely and in astonishing detail for a child of her age. The painted twins sat next to each other, arms locked at the elbow, the grass below the green and lush. Though Sakura was not talented in many things, art was what she excelled at without question. The warrior sat with her mouth agape, her fingers tracing the image very tenderly as tears burned her wide emerald eyes. "I wanted you to have something for when you have to go next year. It took forever to do, but I think it turned out pretty. I know you'll be lonely at Court, but I wanted you to have me near you anyways. So you could always remember me." Sakura informed her seconds before she found herself yanked into a firm embrace from her twin.
The demure princess could feel her sister shake with silent sobs, clutching the future queen tightly as she held her in return. She knew this was just as hard on Makoto as it was on her, Sakura blinking back her own tears as she tried to keep herself together, ultimately failing as they began rolling down her own cheeks. This was so unfair, why couldn't they have been second and third born? Why didn't they have a mean sister that was the one to go? Why did it have to be Makoto?
"I could n-never forget yuh-you." The future warrior managed after a while.
It was true. How could she ever forget her twin? It angered her that in a year she would be forced to protect some girl she never met instead of the sister she actually cared about. She would have to leave behind her mother, her sister, her life here in this living palace of warmth to go to a cold palace of stone and learn from an aunt she had only met twice to be the Princess Sailor Jupiter for the future Moon Queen. However, the door opened to admit the instructor, the wizened warrior clutching his old spear in his knobbly old hand, his thinned silver hair a stark contrast to the brilliant bright green of his eyes. He wore his old leather and metal armor proudly, a symbol of his time as a soldier before becoming the mentor he was now. "Girls, enough of classes for the day. I do expect you both to read the passages on the trades between Jupiter and Saturn during the Age of Dividing for my lesson tomorrow. That will be all."
Somberly, they two girls broke their embrace and organized their parchments, collecting their papers in silence before walking out to the hall and towards their room. Sakura touched the necklace pendant gently, Makoto clutching the wood painting to her chest tightly as they both thought about the next year they would have together before the cursed birthright of the Order took the elder twin away from the planet of courage. When they finally entered, the two princesses saw Akira stilling on a chair in the middle of the room, a wide grin on her lips. However, it was the two wrapped parcels in her grip that captured their full attention. The queen watched as they made their way closer, noticing that Makoto was holding something jealously to her chest, as if afraid that the moment she set it down someone would snatch it up and steal it away from her forever. "A very happy birthday to my two lovely princesses." The Jovian queen spoke in a gentle voice, the sound like a warm summer storm.
Sakura hurried forwards to claim the item wrapped in pink, Makoto seeming to debate something before walking to her bed to set the picture on her bed side table, then dashing up to the green leather bound item. Sakura held up a new set of paints, several wooden painting boards, and brushes, Makoto grinning widely at the two tomes of cooking recipes and the pair of rose earrings to replace the plain silver spheres she currently wore. "These are great!" The future warrior shouted excitedly, her twin adding, "Oh, Mother! I love it!"
Queen Akira was grinning widely at their joy, laughing happily when both of her daughters hugged her firmly. A tiny part of her wanted to cry at the fact that they would never have another birthday together with this kind of ease; Makoto would be taken from her in exactly one year. It was almost maddening to know that time was steadily slipping from them, trickling between her fingers as she so desperately tried to clutch at it and force it to halt. But she wasn't Princess Sailor Pluto. She had no dominion over time, nor it's mysteries. She was prey to it as were all others. Only yesterday she had heard of the first-born girl from Venus pledging herself to the service of the Moon Princess.
"Hey, Mom? Can we just... Stay here today?" Makoto inquired, her voice soft.
Akira smiled at her eldest daughter, nodding. "Of course. In fact, I can have dinner brought up here as well." She assured, watching as the twins beamed and sat down on Sakura's bed to look over their newest gifts. The Jovian woman couldn't help but think that the necklace on Sakura suited her regardless of the more rugged qualities. Her hazel eyes noticed the item on Makoto's bed, her heart breaking as she took in the image of the girls linked together, laughing, happy. Her lower lip quivered slightly as only two tears fell from her eyes. How could the Moon Kingdom force the families to go through this kind of pain?
"Hey, Saku! Check it out!" Makoto called, her leather shirt keeping off the worst of the rain.
The four year old heir turned towards the elder sister, her chocolate colored hair in a low bun as her dress clung to her legs. She had found shelter under a tree when the downpour had started, cursing herself for not bringing a hide parasol; it was supposed to rain, but she hadn't thought it would be this much! She couldn't even practice her lightning powers with all of the water around them without risking hurting them both.
"Oak Armor Rebellion!" Makoto called, raising her left hand to the stormy Jupiter sky.
For a moment it seemed like nothing happened, but then wood began to slowly sprout along her flesh, bits of green crystal ingrained like armor until her left arm was encased from fingertips to elbow. Experimentally, the girl flexed her fingers, the gauntlet moving with all the ease of a second skin. Sakura felt her jaw hanging wide open in astonishment; while it was somewhat common for most Jovians to be able to call upon wood and flora elements, it was highly advanced elemental summoning that wasn't touched upon until the Jovian in question was about a century old. Added on to the fact that Makoto had just made up a summoning all on her own, the entire feat was unbelievable. "Teach me, Mako! Teach me!" The younger twin begged, her voice pleading.
And just as she always had before, Makoto grinned so widely that her emerald hues slid shut, nodding her agreement. She motioned for her twin to join her in the downpour, the heir not hesitating to comply and standing next to her in the mud, both of their leather boots up to their ankles. "Okay, so you really need to be honest with how well you can feel the trees, plants, and wood. You need to be honest with yourself so you don't over-extend. Remember what happened to me when I did that?"
The darker haired girl had to suppress a shudder at the memory. Makoto had been practicing her lightning with her combat instructor, but had become far too sure of herself, cocky, over-confident. She tried to use more than her three and a half year old body could handle, and had resulted in such a powerful jolt of energy, she had gone into a seizure. Sakura had never screamed in that level of horror before in her life, watching as her strong sister woodenly thrashed on the beaten dirt floor and foamed at the mouth, other adults rushing forwards to help her. Even the plump head cook had dashed in at speeds the crown princess had never dared possible for him with a wooden spoon in hand, Mishka forcing Makoto's jaws open so he could jam it between her teeth. Later, she had discovered that Mishka had done so to prevent her from biting off her own tongue. After that, Makoto had always been certain to never use anything close to her potential, always holding herself back to keep from suffering that fate again. The advantage was that her power was enormous, but she refused to ever truly delve into it. Her instructor, Jasper, was displeased with how she chose to cope with the incident. No matter how many times he assured the future guardian that all those who were well versed in combat had over-extended, Makoto refused to go all out, always holding back; Jasper feared that she may hold back too much, and not protect the Moon Princess properly.
Sakura closed her eyes and turned her mind inward, feeling for that tiny tendril of wood energy that was inside of her, coaxing for it to come closer to her grasp. The summoning power wriggled near, her small hand extended to it like it was a shy Lightning Wolf pup, finally smiling as it timidly allowed itself to join with her. It wasn't a huge amount of energy, but it was enough. When her eyes opened, Makoto could have sworn that the bits of brown were glowing faintly.
"Okay, now with the amount of power you have, imagine it like armor on a part of you. Not too much, because you wanna move still. Imagine it like another layer of skin, okay? When you really have it in your mind, call out the summoning." The elder princess informed her in a soft voice, thunder rolling overhead as the rain soaked them both, Sakura's dress clinging to her form.
The girl pursed her lips as she thought of a mask, the features elegant, yet fierce. A female face that was beautiful, though the lower canines jutted out over her upper lip like a forest thrull, the cheek bones sharp, but studded with calcium growths. When she had the image in her mind clearly, she shouted to the skies, "Oak Armor Rebellion!"
Instantly, the power heeded her call, responding faster and with more ease than it had with Makoto. A rich cherry wood sprouted from her face, the features identical to the mask she had envisioned. Her eyes shone like gems through the eye holes of her mask, the wooden lips smiling in triumph with her, Makoto squealing in utter joy; her reserved twin seemed to have a knack for the more unruly power of wood. "Eeee! Oh, Sakura, you did so great! You're even better than me at wood summoning! I can't wai-"
Her words died on her lips as lightning cracked through the darkened sky, hitting a gigantic tree several yards away. The sound was deafening, both girls fearing that they had lost all sense of sound as the huge pillar of wood lurched towards them, Makoto staring at the falling tree in dumbstruck horror; she couldn't process what was happening, let alone think up a summoning to use to save them. The mahogany tree pitched closer, the young future guardian throwing up her arms to shield her face in fear as she heard Sakura screaming, wishing against all odds that she could save her sister somehow. Makoto suddenly felt a horrible pain in her chest and vaguely felt the ground rushing up to her, darkness taking her as the terrifying sounds of what the four year old could only describe as the world exploding filled her ears as the last thing she heard.
"I said give her some room!"
"Your Majesty, you must back up to give her space to breathe."
"DON'T YOU EVER TELL ME TO STAY BACK FROM MY DAUGHTER, YOU LIGHTNING THRULL!"
Makoto groaned weakly as she recognized her mother's voice, feeling cold, wet, and sore all over as she began to stir. It sounded like the queen was about to start lashing out with lightning if someone didn't do something. "M...mom...?" She croaked in a rough voice, tasting something coppery in her mouth. Was that blood?
Almost instantly, she could feel her mother holding her left hand tightly, the comforting scent of lily of the valley enveloping her mind. "Where's... Saku...?"
Another set of hands gripped her right hand, though this pair was the same size as hers. Though Makoto would have sworn they felt as if they were covered in cuts and blisters. "Here. R-right here Mako. I'm so sorry. I f-froze up when th-the t-t-tree fell and..." She could tell the younger twin was crying without opening her eyes.
"What happened...?"
Akira knew the question had been coming, taking a deep breath to calm both herself and her daughters. "Sakura said you were both out in the woods practicing when a bolt of lightning hit a very nearby tree. The tree was coming for the both of..." The woman's voice broke at the thought of nearly having lost her children, the last two pieces of Motoki she had left to cling to. She went on, "Both of you, but she said you made the tree explode into nothing. Sakura said you fainted and had a massive nosebleed, but she carried you all the way back here herself."
Makoto forced her emerald eyes to slowly open, blinking several times to adjust to the bright white crystals that served as lights for the infirmary. She focused her gaze on her twin, seeing Sakura's dress ripped, covered in mud, soaked, and a trail of blood down her left side that originated from a large pool of crimson on the green fabric of the shoulder. It was amazing to the injured princess that her gentle twin had carried her almost a mile back to the castle, Makoto smiling wearily at her twin in thanks. "S-see, Saku? Told you that you're really strong after all."
The heir to the throne nodded and hugged her sore twin, sobbing into her shoulder. The warrior winced, but in the end hugged the green-hazel eyed girl back, glad that in spite of the ruined dress, tangled hair, and blisters, she was safe. As much as she wanted to keep her sister safe forever, she only had seven months left before she was taken away from her home and forced to remain in Crystal Tokyo with the Moon Princess. She was running out of time all too quickly, and part of her was screeching in despair inside of her heart, knowing that she would be far away from her sister, mother, and the Jovian guards. Far away from Mishka, Jasper, Haruki, and Elizabeth. Far away from the storms and rain of her planet, from the comfort of the dense forests and lush plant life. And there was nothing she could do about it.