Chapter 13
The scents of the earth were heady, the damp smells of moss and rot, swirling in the stale air. This deep in the darkness underground it surrounded like a suffocating b lanket. A primordial dusk hung around the ancient stone ruins, lurking in the gloom. A grey mist churned and b illowed amid the b roken pillars and cracked stone archways.
A low, whispering howl like the voices of the damned whistled up from the endless ab yss. Of lonely crags and sheer cliffs that surrounded the ruins. A steady repetitive drip rang through the deep shadows. Water from the surface, trickling down the jagged stone pillars. Descending from the earthen roof of the cave. Falling from the sharp edges, of lurking stalactites, into the remains of a stagnate pool in the far recess of the ruins. The dank, moist air hung like a sheet of decay, creating a clammy sort of cold that penetrated. Making the b ody ache painfully and the skin sting as if b urned b y acid.
The roof of the cavern hung, in jagged teeth of stone. As solid and impenetrab le as a crypt and as certain as a grave. She felt death all around her, cold and unfeeling. She dared not move, lest that lurking phantom she knew was watching her from b eyond the rolling fog would strike her down. She felt as frozen as a b lock of ice, her chest aching, with a heavy weight of anxiety and primordial fear. A deep seeded panic of feeling trapped and left to rot for all eternity heavy on her mind. She could b arely find enough air, each b reath a struggle to sift clean oxygen out of the thick soup of tepid, viscous moisture floating around her.
"I can sense you...my Mamoru. I know you are here. Where is this place?" Serenity whispered b rokenly into the void. Her white dress b illowing around her ankles, her golden tails snapping in the gust of wind, howling up from the ab yss surrounding her. Standing upon a precipice of b roken stone, at the edge of the ruins. Her wide cerulean eyes shimmering with grief, her delicate hands clenched over her heart. Trying to soothe the painful ache in her heart that had grown in his ab sence.
Her whispered plea went unanswered b y nothing b ut the frozen wind, howling and teasing her hair and gown relentlessly. Staring b leakly out at the endless night, she could find no solace from the heartache and worry that was now shattering her inside.
A lone black cat sat vigil upon the wide window pane in a high end hotel room. Stern, wise dark brown eyes monitored the golden blonde woman currently wincing and twitching restlessly beneath the stark white blankets. Taking in her princess's state of unease. As her slight movement began to intensify. As she writhed and moaned beneath the heavy covers of the bed, whimpering mournfully before bolting upright with a gasp. Clutching the white sheets against her breast, her eyes filled with sheer terror upon waking.
Serenity glanced around the unfamiliar room in confusion, the pale off white rice divider's with wooden frames offering no clarity. A small cafe table with two chairs sat in the far corner, as pristine as if it had never been used. A polyester grey couch and flanking chairs sat in the front corner of the room adjacent to the small eating area. Two dark night stands flanked her bed, with matching modern silver lamps. Her confused reflection in the mirror before her, mounted upon a cherry wood desk. Sitting against the front wall at the foot of her huge bed, was pale and drawn. Her eyes pink and puffy from the crying jag last night.
This wasn't her hotel room...
The nightmare still thick upon her mind, haunting her as she finally drew her gaze towards the window. The morning sun slanting through the glass, illuminating the floating cloud of dust hanging around the room. Her eyes slowly focusing upon the strange black cat, staring just as intently back at her.
"Good morning, Princess." The cat's thin lips pulled back to show a very feral smile.
Serenity promptly screamed and scuttled over the far side of her mattress, as if seeking cover from enemy fire.
The cat rolled it's eyes in irritation as the thunder of footsteps, resounded in the hall beyond the room. The front door slammed open and four girls dress in casual kaki shorts and t-shirts, for hiking stormed into the room. Their eyes alert for danger, bodies coiled to attack the imaginary intruder. Three men followed them into the room, in a calmer more measured stride. Dressed in faded jeans and button down shirts, hauling fully packed back packs over their shoulder's. With a white and a silver toned cat galloping lazily behind them.
"Good morning, your majesty." The white cat leaped up upon the edge of the desk and seemed to bow his head
reverently towards her.
"Morn'in. Serenity." A silver-grey cat sprang up upon the twisted mess of the white comforter on the mattress. Her soft, hight pitched voice so easily recognizable as Diana's. Her familiar soft brown eyes gazing with amusement down at the now cowering blonde. Dressed only in a plain black t-shirt of Darien's, that hung sloppily off one slender shoulder. As it fit rather big on her small, lithe frame. The hem hanging near her knees, resembling a night gown more then a shirt.
Serenity's fingers gripped the sheets, as she blinked up at the cat in disbelief.
"Diana..." She breathed, releasing the sheet and falling tiredly onto her butt.
As her friends relaxed, no longer on high alert. Making themselves comfortable at the cafe table or upon the couch and chairs in the quaint living room area. Completely ignoring the fact that Serenity was once again half naked in their midst.
"Correct! Now tell the Princess what's she won..." Diana crooned in a game show announcers tone. Then in a flash of light, her body lengthened and reformed to that of a young human woman with platinum blonde hair. Dressed in a pair of black leather pants with a wide rhinestone belt and a tight white top with a plunging cowl neckline. Showing off her ample chest and slender toned arms.
In quick succession both the black and white cat transformed into human's as well. The black cat now dressed in a very professional fashion, of a black pantsuit with a prim and proper bone coloured blouse beneath the jacket. Her curly ebony hair twisted up in a smart bun at the center of her head. Her features stern and aristocratic. Her counterpart was a lanky, toned young man with long white hair. He had a regal face, with a fine bone structure. Dressed in a simple white suit, his appearance and outfit so lacking in pigment. If it wasn't for his piercing blue eyes he would easily be mistaken for being an albino.
"She's won a brief history lesson." Amy announced bluntly, curling her finger in a come hither gesture from her position on the couch. Her lap top was set up on her knees and her finger's were flying over the keys, loading up all the information she had ripped off the melted drive back in Tokyo.
"Were am I..." Serenity whispered nervously, pulling down on the hem of the black t-shirt she was wearing. The soft scent of detergent and Darien wafting up from the neckline. With a moan she quickly pulled the collar up to her nose and took a savouring sniff. Her insides clenching with longing and pain.
"Your in Darien's hotel room." Hollywood advised, brushing a hand through his long platinum blonde hair as he strode past her towards the window.
Serenity acknowledge him with a vacant nod, the scattered hours of last night coming into a blurry if drunken focus. How they had narrowly escaped the remains of the club, evaded the police and wandered the early morning streets of Shanghai. Eventually making it down town to the modern hotel Darien and the rest had booked when they smuggled themselves across the border late last night. She had been so drained from her transformation it was all just a messed up haze of half formed moments. Feeling groggy and slightly hung over, she moaned and hung her head. She figured the girls must have undressed her and slipped one of Darien's shirts over her before leaving her to sleep. Scrubbing a tired hand down her face, she attempted to shake off the last of the ill, disconnected feelings that accompany not remembering something clearly.
"Sere..." Amy refocused her softly, pointing down at her laptop.
"Right." Serenity nodded, moving with out an once of embarrassment. Planting herself on the couch right next to Amy.
Subtly shoving Zac from his seat to the couches arm as she promptly sat down between them.
Amy brought up several screens, minimizing a few and maximizing other's. She would go through the information in a methodical manner so Serenity got the full picture of what her mother had been up to for the last hundred years.
"Ido's Takahashi had been researching you, your mother, those sanskrit scrolls and that ancient artifact of yours for years." Amy began, pulling up the first image. That was of a group of female terra cotta warriors in full battle armour. The head warrior holding out her hand with a glass bead in her palm.
"Alright fast forward," Serenity made an annoying buzzing sound. "The monks explained all this to me already." Serenity quipped, pointing towards the statues. Not going into detail that the memories of that life were still far to vivid to deal with. Not wanting to endure another tragic history lesson. "That's me, and those four behind me are you guys a hundred years ago. That life time was when the silver crystal manifested again after thousands of years of being...gone." She shrugged, not fully understanding how an object of that magnitude could just become nothing for so long. Then magically reappear based solely on the desperate plea of an Imperial Guard. Who had lost everyone she loved and could not bare to live with out them.
Amy past her a curt nod, pulling up snap shots of the Sanskrit Scrolls.
Serenity pretended to push a button in the air making that same annoying sound. "Fast forward, know all about the Scrolls. They were ancient documents that spoke of the Silver Millennium and all the Gods who once ruled this solar system. They are prophecies of the end days, when the Gods would seek to reclaim this planet in an apocalyptic war that would end up destroying all life on earth. Our only hope for salvation would lay with the messiah. A goddess made flesh, born of this planet but still possesses the power of the eternity itself. I'm that great messiah, in all her messed up glory. " Serenity finished, her tone bitter and sardonic.
Amy passed her an irritated look, tapping on the keys to bring up more information. Not appreciating her continued interruptions.
A set of photo's and sketches of a single woman dating back several hundred years. With pale blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. Her clothes changed as the ages past, but not her face. A timeless entity who had remained in the background of history waiting to strike, when the time was right.
Serenity quipped again. "Fast forward...that's my crazy ass, mother and all her previous guises. She has been plotting behind the scenes of humanity for thousands of years. "
"You know, that's getting rather annoying." Amy spat back, not even lifting her fingers from the keys this time.
Bringing up a series of mug shots with vital stats written beside each image. They ranged from every country, every nationality and every economic status. From the ungodly rich to the tragically poor.
"Who are all these people?" Serenity narrowed her eyes trying to ascertain if she knew any of the hundreds of faces now scrolling up the screen.
"These are the last remains of the Gods of the Silver Millennium." Luna cleared her throat, giving Zac's leg a polite pat with her hand. Wanting the man to vacate his seat, so she could perch on the arm beside Serenity. Zac huffed and conceded to Luna's silent demand, shuffling off with his cane to sit on other arm of the couch on Amy's other side.
"A data base for every Genesis Born on the planet." Amy clarified as she typed away at her keyboard, refining the search. "Your mother has been selectively recruiting for her army world wide for the last five years."
"Those who do not join her cause are killed." Luna interrupted. "By Randy and his sub sect of the Agency, who have unwittingly been your mother's execution squad for those last five years."
Serenity's heart wept as she noticed the blood red script beside more id photo's then not.
"Why did Ido have this?" She turned to Luna.
"Because he was a part of the resistance, ever since your investigation of Daiki Shinoda a couple years back." Artemis moved to stand in front of the coffee table, his expression somber and arms folded over his chest. Conveying his discomfort at speaking about the dead. "You and his other soldier's were working to cull the ranks of your mother's army."
Serenity nodded, understanding more about the mission back in Osaka to exterminate the Onii. Daiki had created. "The Onii."
"Yes." Luna nodded
"Tomoe's serum, was called the 'Gaia Project'" Amy countered, bringing up all the research and DNA graphs Ido had stolen from Daiki's lab years ago. "Creating Super Soldier's by splicing human and God or Genesis Born, DNA."
"Thankfully, Ido was able to prevent it from going worldwide then." Artemis sighed.
"In the end, Queen Selene only managed to receive several hundred modified humans for her army." Luna advised.
"She wanted to infect the whole world?" Serenity shivered at the thought of a planet full of disfigured monster's.
"She wanted to infect a select portion of the world, your mother is a bit of a control freak. She wants to recreate the realm of the God's here on earth. The humans last time rebelled against her and she doesn't want to deal with any opposition this time. " Diana gave Serenity a grim smile.
"But the Arena's were still operating in Japan for years afterward?" Serenity glanced to each on in turn.
"Yes, Daiki's grandfather secretly created the gambling ring for his own gain. Refining the serum Tomoe created in his own labs. The very labs Daiki was trying to make legit, when Beryl attacked the hotel. Your mother caught wind of it and torched the hotel wanting to send Mr. Shinoda a message through his nephew, that she was coming to clean house." Diana rolled her shoulder's, speaking of the massacre making her uncomfortable.
"Mr. Shinoda had been attempting to open up Arena's in several other countries, shipping his Onii all over the world." Artemis stated.
Amy nodded, all those cells back at the Arena now making more sense. "Daiki's grandfather had never worked for Black Widow, but what he was doing was a liability to her plans of conquest. The Onii were her weapons and no one else's." She mused.
"She is a bit of a control freak...I told ya!" Diana smirked.
"You were there?" Mina spoke up, from her position leaning against the wall by the glass window. Staring directly at Artemis, her gaze firm. Silently pressuring him to confirm her suspicion.
"I was." Artemis explained. " I was sent by the Leader of the Rebellion, to infiltrate Daiki's party. I was to try and talk some reason into Daiki and his crazed plan to make the serum a legit pharmaceutical drug. But I never made it to his side in time."
"But the Wild Genesis happening down in the ball room." Lita finally spoke up.
"We weren't counting on the serum being distributed, that was a wild card. One of the rich brats spiked the punch with the serum. How he got his hands on it, I have no idea. If he was a part of Beryl's plan that night, I don't know. Either way she planned to attack the hotel anyway. It was just the beginning of the culling of a whole generation of the wealthy and influential all over the world." Artemis looked guilty, casting his eyes down in shame.
"We were to concentrated on making sure the Genesis Born ascending world wide were protected and on our side for this last battle." Luna rubbed the back of her neck, giving Serenity an apologetic look. "We just don't have the man power to save everyone."
"This Wild Genesis happening world wide when did it start?" Serenity asked, directing her question to Luna. She remembered the twins she had help ascend back in California. It wasn't some freak accident but a world wide epidemic.
"Just after your first Ascension to your True Princess form during the Caen Disaster." Luna responded. "The great powers you unleashed activated their dormant Genesis. You literally awoke the Silver Mellenium that day."
Serenity took a deep breath, needing to calm her fraying nerves. Because of her, all the human beings reincarnated with fragments of the Gods from the Silver Millennium were being reborn on earth.
"Shingo told me the serum is being disturbed as a new drug around campus of his Private School." Serenity moaned, rubbing a hand down her face in anguish.
"It's gone viral, a diluted version of it is a world wide epidemic now." Diana sighed. "But after several doses of God DNA, the humans infected will turn into an Onii."
"Which is why Daiki's grandfather began offering Bounty's on Genesis Born for his Arenas." Serenity nodded. The gravity of how infected the human race was now startling her.
"This seemed to be more of my dear mother's mess then my own." Serenity groaned turning back to the monitor. If she hadn't wanted to expand her ranks beyond the Genesis Born already in her army, this epidemic wouldn't have happened.
"Why does Ido have this crucial information?" Raye threw a hand towards the laptop, sitting primely on a flanking plush chair with a leg bent and tucked under the butt.
"He was hiding operatives from the resistance in Japan, who had their cover blown." Diana stated from her cross legged position on the corner of the bed.
"We have operatives working as our eyes, ears in every country across the earth. From government positions to the armies themselves. Trying to keep the Queen's influence from spreading." Luna sighed, scrubbing a hand down her face. It had been a long and tireless war for her.
"So once Beryl got this information back to the Queen?" Lita groused.
"She sent assassins to kill them." Diana nodded.
"We lost many good people in the last few weeks. The rebellion is now only a few thousand strong world wide." Luna released a heavy breath.
"Rebellion?" Amy frowned this was the first she had heard of this.
Luna smiled, "Yes, we have been fighting against your mother for thousands of years."
"What?" Serenity sent Luna a startled look.
"We are Immortal just like your mother." Luna, patted Serenity's back reassuringly.
"The resistance was a merger of human and god, seeking to dethrone your mother. You and your guardian's created the rebel force to free the Earth from her tirany during the Silver Millennium."
"You wanted Endymion's Golden kingdom and the four heavenly kingdoms to be free to make their own choices to govern their own people and no longer be subservient to the realm of the gods." Artemis explained. "The fact that you all were in love with the Prince and his four Heavenly Kings only spurned the cause more." The platinum blonde man drew a meaningful look across everyone in the room.
Lita and Kane subtly reached for each other, holding hands in the far corner of the room. She had shared with him last night her memories of her first life. It had taken thousands of years for their souls to find each other. Even if he didn't remember his life as Nephrite. Lita now possessed the ability to feel the Heavenly Kings soul sleeping inside him. The comfort she took from that was beyond words. It grounded the storm that constantly raged inside her soul. He was her anchor now and forever...
Zac leaned over and brushed the knuckles of his hand fondly down Amy's cheek. Amy turned and offered him a loving smile. She had many long talks with him over the weeks about her first life and how he really was the reencarnation of Zoisite. Her one and only true love. Those intense, yet sweet conversations had created an unbreakable bond between them.
Mina grimaced and shot Hollywood a hard look, striding purposefully over to Raye. Straddling the arm of the chair and tucking the raven haired woman securely to her side. Silently professing were her loyalty of love lay in this life time.
Hollywood licked this front teeth and folded his arms tight across his chest, scowling down at his feet from his position against the window. His face stone and unreadable, as he drew his thoughts retreating inward to how time had changed them all. He understood from speaking with Darien that he was once a great general called Kunsite. But he had no memory of anylife time beside this one. It left him doubting that he might even possess the Genesis Gene. That he was merely human and Darien had just lost his mind. All the craziness he had been thrust into for the last month seemed beyond reason. Like some bad trip he had yet to sober up from.
"The agency was not created by your mother specificly, just infected by soldier's loyal to her cause. It had started out as a human counter measure to keep track of the Genesis Born now ascending across the globe." Luna, began "When Genesis Born began to manifest all over the world to epidemic proportions. The U.N created the shadow agency to keep tabs on them. But as all things go over time the organization got bloated and soon lost track of itself and its real reason for being. It was easy for your mother to send Beryl into their ranks and begin to recruit human soldier's so consumed by hatred and fear of them, that a terrorist sect was formed. Simply, head hunting for her army from the millions of Genesis Born found world wide. Those who agreed with her domination became Generals in her army. Those that didn't, well.." Luan shrugged. "The resistance tried to save as many as we could."
"Wow..." Amy scrubbed her hands down her face in anxiety.
"She will lead her army down from the mountains from the Celestial Temple, conquering China first. Then using the resources and man power this country has to embolden her ranks and spread out over Europe and across the sea." Diana took a long deep breath.
"We have gathered our forces and intend to blockade all the routes from the Mountains to inland China." Luna advised.
"We will fight her till the last man." Artemis nodded, his blue eyes fierce.
"Lets hope it doesn't come to that. I intend to stop her before she even leaves the Temples grounds." Serenity rose from the couch. "If everyone is packed, then just give me a couple minutes to change and I'll meet you outside. The sooner we start this journey, the sooner I can get my crystal back!" She strode over to the bed, searching hopefully for her green army pack. A proud smile pulling on her lips as she caught sight of the worn, weathered cotton bag sticking out from
beneath the iron bed frame.
"We all know how much that old thing means to you and that your whole life is packed into it. " Lita clapped her on the back, giving her cheek a chaste kiss before retreating from the room.
"Thank's guys..." Serenity called as they all shuffled out of the room. Leaving Luna, Artemis and Diana standing before the window. In a flash of light they transformed back into cats, padding softly around the bed. Finding Serenity unpacking the bag with a slow, methodical reverence for every item she pulled out.
Until she came to a small plastic pez machine, with a happy white bunny dispenser on top. As she rubbed the thumb over its worn, well loved surface a shaky breath released from her lips. Her body trembling with pent up emotion she was fighting hard to contain. Darien had given this to her so very long ago, she had carried it with her ever since. It always provided her comfort and hope that things would get better. Just like he had when they were kids.
"I am sorry, Princess." Luna's voice floated from her lap. Serenity looked down to find the black cat, pawing her knees. A sympathetic gesture that was far to human to be seen coming from the body of a feline.
"Luna, were you a part of mine or my mother's court?" She asked.
"Neither." Luna sat down stiffly on her hind legs. "We are the triad, created from the heart of the Celestial Cauldron same as all the gods. Sent to aid and guide the proper ruler to the throne of this solar system after the Silver Millennium fell. We arrived long after your first death. It was your first reencarntion that called us to the earth."
Serenity sat back on her bum and leaned against the mattress, sensing Luna's explanation would take a bit to get through.
"Who sent you?" She asked.
"The Progenitor's " Artemis padded into view sitting beside Luna.
"The crystal showed me how vast and insignificant this solar system is. How we are not alone in this universe, that their are others like us...God and Goddess reigning on other planets." Serenity eyebrow raised in wonder while her gut clenched with anxiety as she spoke.
"Yes, the vast Cosmic Society this Solar System had once been a part of has been grieved, at the Moon Kingdoms loss." Diana stated, coming to sit beside the larger cats.
"When we arrived both the Moon and Earth kingdom's had already fallen. There wasn't a trace left of any of the Gods who once guided this planet. It was as if they never existed at all, even the dark being who had sought domination over this solar system had merely disappeared." Luna's feline face was twisted up in a confused scowl.
"It took over a thousand years for even a trace of your soul to reappear upon this planet." Artemis commented, sadly.
"Slowly all the gods and goddesses souls have been reforming as the cycle of rebirth continued." Diana smiled sadly.
"Rini?" Serenity took a deep breath wondering if she really wanted to know how much of Princess Serenity's soul resided inside the young girl.
"She is but the final fragment of your soul." Luna stated, "When she has been disposed of your soul will finally be whole."
"She isn't a disease!" Serenity shot back. "She is a living, breathing person and I have no intention of killing her for my own benefit!" She spat vehemently.
"She is tainted by the dark one." Diana stated back, rather harshly. "There is no salvation for her any longer."
"Why didn't you tell me all this when we first met Diana?" Serenity accused jadedly.
"Because you were not ready. A year ago I had befriended you, because I truly wanted to know you. You are a truly exceptional soul, Princess. So sweet and passionate, your aura so full of love it is almost divine. The fact that it existed inside the frail body of a human vessel was so very curious for me." Diana shrugged her furry shoulders. "I guided you in the proper direction to reclaim your crystal at the Monastery. That was all I was compelled to do at that time."
"We waited to see if you were ready to take on your role as the future ruler of this planet." Luna finished.
Serenity began to laugh bitterly, "Sorry to disappoint." she smat.
"Nonsense, my dear." Luna chastised. "It took time, but you have resurrected your true self and have since then taken on the mantle and responsibility to guide this planet's evolution."
"Do you remember that time so long ago?" Artemis questioned, sincerely.
"I remember I was happy then. Happier then I have ever been since but that's it. I wasn't allowed to ressurrect my memories from that life. " Serenity bowed her head allowing the emotions to draw her in. "My master told me what history he could from the Sanscrit Scrolls." She sighed heavily, her heart burning with disappointment. She felt so cheated that she had been blocked when she had been so close to becoming whole.
"The Moon and Earth went to war and our happiness was destroyed utterly. Then just as now I was unable to save
him...or any of them." She rubbed a knuckle into the corner of her eye, trying to force back the hurt and tears the stung her eyes.
The tears in her eyes dried, as a fierceness began to burn in them instead. She quickly began to repack her bag. "This time I will fight for him, this time I will save him! I may have been at my happiest then, but I am at my strongest now! " She vowed, jumping to her feet and pulling on a pair of jean capris. Fingering the pez dispenser tenderly one last time, she slipped it into a side pocket of her jeans. It had always been a lucky charm for her over the years, she needed it now more then ever.
Not bothering to change out of the lace bra and panties she had worn last night, or even his shirt. Wanting to keep that last fragment of him close, she merely knoted the huge black t-shirt under her breasts. Slipping on pair of cotton socks and her tennis shoes, she swiftly left the room with her pack slung over her shoulders. Ready to face anything and everything head on!