Chapter 5
Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon, just the plot.
In the present.
Berra's head ached. Her lungs gasped out for air. Every time she had dived in between those memories and her conversations with the voice, pain found a new place on her body to strike. To add to that, Berra wasn't sure what was real. The lines between them all had long been blurred at that stage.
"Help me. Help your Prince. I only do what I do for the sake of the planet Earth and for our Prince.'
Berra shivered. Jumping around the past didn't erase the threat of frostbite, pneumonia or hypothermia. The memory flashbacks didn't change the fact that she was physically still in the North Pole. Her thick overcoat and many layers could only do so much. Who knew how long Berra had been there since descending into this place? It was impossible to tell if it was a few minutes, a few hours, or days.
'Why should I help you? What have the people of the Moon ever done to us?'
Sceptical eyes pieced her confidence. Criticism threatened her mission before it even began.
"Yeah, he's right. You're just a crazy woman with a weird agenda-"
But she didn't let their ignorance thwart her. The power granted onto her by Queen Metalia aided her in educating them.
'Are you blind? Do you not see the misery which Queen Serenity and her underlings inflict upon our planet? They want us as their slaves, their thralls…'
And then they all saw what she meant. They saw the true nature of the Moon Kingdom and became her followers.
And all those memories could not lie. What she had seen was her true past life, Berra knew that for sure. One thing she couldn't deny was that the 'Moon Kingdom' and its ruler were at the root of her problems. Not only did that Princess steal her love and her prince, the Queen had flung disease and disaster upon the Earth in various attempts to control the planet and its people. And they killed her too. It was their fault that she had to live as Berra for so long and had forgotten her past life.
Yet, logically, there couldn't have been a kingdom on the Moon. It could not have been home to anything, never mind any kind of civilisation. But if those memories had shown her anything, it was possible for an alien Queen from the centre of the Galaxy to arrive on Earth and grant her incredible power. Metalia, the voice who called out to her. The reason that Berra could believe any of this.
"So you remember?"
"I…I think I do."
She let her eyes open. Berra was met with the sight of a vast hall. It was fit for the highest nobility; with grand oak doors that reached the ceiling and walls nearly as long as a mile and walls of intricate designs and patterns. Yet the cold still permeated the place.
In the middle of the room resided that same entity, Queen Metalia. Berra instantly recognised those strange eyes and her not quite solid form of energy.
"Tell me, do you remember how we came to end up like this? Downtrodden once more, left to rot away in misery?"
At the words, Berra recalled brief but strong flashes once more. As she unsteadily rose to her feet, images of a white palace and the blood of both sides that stained the grounds came to mind.
"They defeated us." Berra said with a quiet rage. Almost as if the memory was still fresh in her mind. "They killed me. One of her damn Sailor Guardian saw to my demise."
"Indeed." Replied the soothing tones of Metalia, although it was clear that loss still stung. "But though we did not come out of that battle in a good state, we hit a hard blow to Queen Serenity and her kingdom. After all, is the Moon Kingdom still alive anymore?"
Berra came up closer to her Queen, listening closely. Still, she found it difficult not to marvel at the vast room. Just like how it seemed near impossible to believe that the Moon had a powerful kingdom at some point in the past, Berra couldn't imagine how such a beautifully gothic palace could be located so far north.
"I ought to fill you in on what had occurred after your tragic death by the hands of that despicable Sailor Venus." Continued the Queen, "You remember how you intended to strike Princess Serenity, to break her spell over poor Prince Endymion? But instead, you stabbed the Prince?"
Berra blinked. That action of hers sat uncomfortably. She wasn't sure how she could have missed that damn Lunar Princess and could have hurt the one she loved. It must have been that she had been whipped up into over-excitement by the battle and such a condition of mind was liable to make grave misjudgements. The only other option Beryl could conceive was that Endymion protected the girl because she ordered him too, with her spell over him. Which wasn't out of the realms of possibility.
"What happened after that?"
"Well, it appeared that you stuck a fatal blow to the Prince." Metalia said lightly. "Once the precious Moon Princess saw that he was dead, she took matters into her own hands. She took a sword and plunged it into her own breast, dying with her 'beloved'. Isn't that sweet?"
Berra ignored the last part, and motioned her Queen to continue on with the tale.
"Well, with the heir to the Silver Millennium dead, along with many more Earth and Lunar people, I thought that the Queen Serenity was ready to give up." Queen Metalia paused before sneering, "But I was wrong. I underestimated the power of the Silver Millennium's Legendary Crystal."
"She found where I had been located. Though we were both weary from the battle, I was ready to put an end to her. At that point, I suppose that I must have forgotten just how strong the power of the Crystal could be, even in that kind of dire situation for Serenity. Unfortunately for myself, the Moon Queen used the bulk of her strength and power to seal me in this frozen prison. Told me that I had no hope of escape, that with my own energy gone and deserted by my underlings, I would wither away slowly and perish away to nothing."
Metalia's eyes wandered back over to meet Beryl's. "Yet, I doubt she predicted you would find me ever again."
"She picked a difficult place to reach you." Agreed Beryl with a nod.
"Yes. I do wonder if she meant for you to be reincarnated. I know for certain that she died after using the last of her strength to send her daughter and sailor guardians' souls down to Earth to be reincarnated in the future. To have a second chance of a happy life, where her daughter could meet the reincarnated Endymion and be together." The Alien woman paused before adding, "And take the Earth for their own and revive the Silver Millennium too."
"We can't have that."
"No, we can't. Which is why I propose that we revive our own mission. Before the reincarnated Serenity and her own followers take the Earth and the rest of the Solar System, we make the Earth ours again. We gain the energy of the humans, and use it to strengthen ourselves and control them all to resist the influence of Serenity's power. Then, once we reach the zenith of our power, we take the Legendary Silver Crystal from her and prevent her from further harm."
Metalia let her words hang in the air between her and Beryl. She said nothing else, only watching the human woman dwell on her proposals.
"… But how can we get the human energy?"
Metalia smiled. Her follower's reawakening not only brought back her memories, but her unquestioning loyalty as well.
"A wise question. We cannot openly gather energy; that will only attract attention. From the Earthlings who know no better and can't understand our objectives, and from the Sailor Guardians who will be sure to stop us once they too reawaken. It must be done secretly. We must set up fronts to gather this energy. That way, the humans will be none the wiser and we could potentially mislead the guardians before they can stop us."
"A wise plan, my Queen."
"Of course." Confirmed the alien queen. "Will you join me? I've already seen how unfulfilled you were in this time. You, who are destined to rule the Earth and defeat the remnants of the Moon Kingdom, do not deserve such a bland and thankless life."
That was true in Berra's eyes. As Berra, life was not exciting and was very much plain. If she took up her old name again, there was no end to the possibilities that could come.
'My Queen.' She bowed her head down solemnly. "I reject the name of Berra and take up my true name once again. I will join you and fight against the Silver Millennium's remaining Sailor Guardians for the sake of the planet Earth. I solemnly swear my loyalty to you."
Metalia grinned. "My most gracious thanks, Beryl. I declare that we must start our plan right now. We cannot allow the Sailor Guardians to reawaken any sooner and prevent us from taking what is ours. We must gain energy and crush them. Where ever their reincarnated Princess is, we shall destroy her and take her Legendary Crystal and use it for the benefit of your humanity."
"That is a high goal for just two people." Beryl felt like looking away from Metalia. As reasonable her comment was, she felt somewhat awkward saying it. Especially as it came so soon after her declaring her loyalty to Metalia. "And…we are in an isolated location. It is not an ideal place to launch our campaign. Can we really expect to achieve all that before the Sailor Guardians reawaken?"
"Perhaps not." While her tone was not the warmest, Metalia didn't seem too offended by her remarks. "But you managed to find me. That alone gives me hope. I daresay that more of our old followers shall remember, or even join us, as time goes by. After all, they pledged themselves to our cause. Their oaths bind them even in their incarnation in this lifetime. We need only find them and remind them of their promise and they will join us."
Beryl remained silent for a moment before she said, "I don't doubt that, my Queen. But the fact remains that we have limited means to gain our followers and energy…"
"Beryl." Metalia's face twisted into a frown. A second showing of doubt did not please her. Her voice sounded harsher too. "While I'm sure you're concerned for the viability of our campaign, I'd prefer if you let me explain further before making comments like that."
"My Queen." Beryl felt compelled to kneel in front of Queen Metalia, which she hastily did, and apologies. But before she could get to that, Metalia spoke up again.
"You seem to have forgotten something while remembering your past life, Beryl. How did you come to this part of the Artic?"
"…It was a scientific research mission." Replied Beryl slowly. "And I only came her because I felt drawn to the isolated site in this area. Your presence cried out for me, right?"
"That is true." Agreed Metalia. "But you were not alone, were you?"
As she said that, Beryl became aware of something else in the room. It was almost as if a fog has lifted over a part of the room once the alien Queen had said those words. Still, she kept her eyes focused in front of her, in front of her Queen.
"No, I was not." Said Beryl. "There was quite a number of people who were working alongside myself here. They must be outside, I imagine."
There was a lingering question at the back of her mind; what did that have to do with her point? Why did Queen Metalia need to concern herself with those insignificant people? Beryl was indifferent to them before, as Berra, and that certainly remained the case now.
"In this case, you are wrong Beryl. They are here. Look."
Hesitantly, her head moved over to the left, to the corner of the room where she had avoided looking at earlier.
There were five people, unconscious and lying on the ground. She recognised each face; Nora, Tom, Gemma and others. As she surveyed each face, Beryl noticed each face had a ghastly paleness. They all were breathing slowly, with some faces shuddering due to the icy temperature.
Yet, Beryl was not horrified to see this. As she went up closer to them, she felt more surprised to see them there than anything else.
'What does my Queen intend to do with them?' She asked herself. 'They're obviously not dead, not yet. So shall they serve as our first minions? Will she task them to spread our ideology across the world? Just…'
The woman stopped in her tracks. A pair of eyes began to twitch, and open slowly, with a clear drowsiness. A hoarse voice accompanied it in surprise.
"Huh…Where…am I? B…Berra? Is that you?"
"You're wondering how they all came to end up down here, aren't you? And what I am going to do with them." Called out Metalia.
Beryl answered with a simple nod of her head. Somehow, despite her cool apathy to these people, her voice would not speak. To this odd irregularity, she put it down to the less than desirable cool temperature.
"Where are we?"
"What happened to you?"
"Argghhhh! Why does everything hurt so bad?"
"The sacrifice of these people is necessary. Their energy will strengthen us. We can call out for our loyal subjects and start work on our task."
Metalia paused, gazing at Beryl to see how she would react. Beryl took a deep breath and make a resigned expression.
"My Queen, if it must be done, I shall carry out what needs to be done."
To Metalia's pleasure, Beryl dutifully fulfilled her words.
Beryl raised a hand out above the group. With a concentrated look on her face, she worked her magic on them. As she willed their life energy to come forth to her, some of those conscious enough to be aware of what was going on attempted to appeal their former colleague. Beryl would have given them credit, they did try. Even at death's door, they did their best to stand up in the face of her dark magic and plea for their lives. Yet, it was pointless. Though Beryl felt them struggle to block her from their life energy, it didn't take too much of an effort from her side to take what was theirs away from them.
It took but a few minutes, eventually, Beryl dried up every single member of the group of all of their life energy. And it all lay in her two hands. She herself felt in awe of the energy. Nothing in her life so far could compare to the marvellous feeling of having such a power in her hands. It was almost a shame that it was designated for Metalia.
'She has suffered the most.' Beryl mentally chided herself. 'My Queen has spent countless decades, even centuries, in this lifeless prison. Who could deny someone like Metalia what is due to them?'
With a greedy smile, Metalia eyed the energy closely. Once Beryl bowed down and offered it to her, the alien Queen took it without hesitation. She watched as her ruler absorbed the energy into her body,
"Now, this shall do us quite fine. You have earned my gratitude for your help, Beryl my dear."
"My Queen." Beryl bowed in response. "I thank you for your words, but that is not enough for our goal."
"Indeed it is not." Agreed Metalia. "But it is a starting point. From here on out, we shall take back what is ours."
And that was it. While Beryl's humanity crumbled to the wind, and Metalia found herself eagerly awaiting what was to come, the loss of the Antarctic Team at D Point was made known back to family and friends, unaware of the nature of their demise. Elsewhere, many things were beginning to fall into place.
Somewhere in a rural American farm, a teenage boy looked up from his work. The early morning sun greeted him with a cloudless blue sky. Pausing, he turned to the North. For a moment, he thought he heard something but after a minute he decided it was nothing. In the back of his mind, a hazy memory was starting to be unfold itself.
At the same time in Japan, a boy of the same age sat outside and looked up at the night sky. Where he would usually gaze at the Moon and the Mar/Morning star, he felt compelled to look northwards. After a minute, he glanced at his watched and frowned. He looked homewards, and his shoulders dropped. As he began to make his way home, a similar memory was slowly unlocking itself.
Meanwhile in a swish European city, a young man sauntered casually to no particular destination. As he waited at a pedestrian crossing, he lifted his head to look up to the grey clouded sky. To him, this took one second. But the honk of an impatient taxi driver threw him off guard. Shrugging off what had just occurred, the young man felt the feeling that he was on the verge of remembering something very important.
Finally, in a small house on the outskirts of a small, bored town, day was coming to a close. The last man sat outside, observing the sunset and the shadows it casts across the sandy wasteland. Just as twilight came to a close, the young fellow decided to call it a day. He went to get up, turning to the right when he paused for a moment. He blinked and went on his way, unconcerned about the pulsing feeling in the back of his mind.
Similar experiences were occurring to others; both young and old. So it was for two feline creatures. A white cat emerged for a dark alley, at first unaware of itself and its surroundings. Unlike the humans, it didn't take the creature very long to remember his purpose. With a concerned meow, and a thought to his black counterpart, the white cat sniffed the air.
Artemis had work to do.
A/N
And there we have it folks! This is where I'll end this story, although I might do a follow up sometime later. Maybe something to do with the the Shitennou awakening or something else about Minako/Venus prior to awakening as Sailor V or before the events of Sailor Moon. I don't really know to be honest! I enjoyed writing this fic, although my laptop's keyboard was starting to act up while I was writing. So it wasn't fun trying to finish off the chapter when certain keys wouldn't work...(it could've been worse. It could have died on me during college term)
