Rose of the Moon

Part 3: Genius the Veil

Act 9

Belle clapped with exuberance as the dishes and the other objects finished their fun little song and dance. She had supped quite well with them for entertainment. As much as she knew she would miss her father, she also knew she might just like it here.

"Sugoi! That was wonderful!" she smiled bright. Somehow in the last few minutes she just knew things would be alright.

"Yes, Mademoiselle." Cogsworth agreed. "It was a splendid wasn't it. Excellent show everyone. But now it's time for bed. It's terribly late."

For once, she wasn't in a hurry to get to her dreams. "Oh please, there's no way I could go to sleep now. It's my first time in an enchanted castle."

"Enchanted?" Cogsworth asked incredulously. "Who said the castle was enchanted?" He began pointing fingers and accusing Lumiere who naturally denied saying anything of the sort.

"Actually, I figured it out for myself. It's really sort of obvious." Belle said quickly to diffuse any arguments. "I'd really like to look around, if you don't mind."

Lumiere loved the idea. "Oh, yes, a tour sounds magnifique."

Cogsworth wasn't so convinced. "I don't know, we really can't let her go mucking around. What if she found her way to the you-know-where? The Master would have our heads."

Belle smirked. "You mean the "West Wing"? Don't worry, I have no interest in seeing something he doesn't want to show me. But he said I could go anywhere else that I liked. Hey, do you have a library?"

Lumiere snapped his "fingers" together. "Yes, we do. We would be glad to take you, wouldn't we Cogsworth?"

Cogsworth thought. "Yes, the library would be a good place to explore at this time of night. Nothing like a good book to help one relax."

Belle followed her hosts for sometime. Up and down corridors, listening to Cogsworth's history of the palace. It was quite fascinating. But what was more fascinating was the paintings on the walls. Paintings of a gorgeous white palace. Five men were all depicted in the paintings. One with long brown hair, another short blonde. A third had his dirty-blonde hair up in a pony tail. The fourth, she couldn't really discern. He seemed familiar and yet his very image was blurred or skewed in someway that she couldn't even put a face to him. The fifth was clearly a prince with short black hair and wearing fine armor. The paintings seemed to tell a story in the way they were ordered.

Before she knew it, she had been left behind as she studied the paintings closely. One painting in particular caught her eye. It was the planet of Venus. "Castle Magellan, how is this possible, those are only dreams. It can't be real." she reached out her hand to touch the crescent moon symbol engraved in the frame. A rumbling made her jump back as the section of wall lowered to reveal a secret passageway. Curiosity got the better of her and she made her way through the passage. As soon as she was inside, the wall rose back up again causing her to jump yet again. The passage was well-lit luckily and she walked through. She found herself in front of a strange golden door. Engraved in the door was another crescent moon symbol at the top. Below that was the symbol for the Planet Venus. She tried the latch of the door and pushed. It was unlocked.

"You must keep trying Luna," said a familiar voice from behind the door. "Don't worry, things will go just fine now. Get Bunny to talk to Molly, I'm positive she's one of them."

Belle gasped at what she saw. Sitting at a computer console that she recognized from her dreams, was a small white cat. The same white cat from her dreams. "Artemis…" she whispered in awe. All this time she thought they were only dreams. Crazy dreams spawned by her sadness of losing her mother, encouraged by the loneliness she felt in the village. She loved dreams and fantasies and longed for adventure, but some thing just couldn't be possible. Could they?

"I knew you'd find me eventually." the white cat said without even turning his head or removing the headphones. "Sailor V."

Belle stepped forward nervously, as afraid he might vanish if she got too close. "The dreams…"

"Were only dreams. I had to broadcast them to you, there was no other way." Artemis stated. "Everything I told you in your dreams was true. But there is more. I can't tell you everything, some of it you have to remember on your own. A thousand years ago, you lived on Planet Venus in the time of the Silver Millennium. A great evil came one day, out of the blue, and destroyed everything. Magic was able to take you and others and bring you all to a new future on Earth. But something went wrong. You were reincarnated too early before we were ready to receive you. Luna and I knew this when we were awakened from our sleep by Sailor Pluto, the Guardian of Time, and informed of what we'd had to do to keep things from going even more wrong. She brought me to this palace, to this secret room that she had created. Using this computer I was able to find the dream waves of Princess Venus, you, and transmit dreams of the future that should have been for you. When you entered the palace, I knew it was you. You were brought here by fate to continue your training on a deeper level."

Belle had been silent this whole time, trying to absorb all of it. "I'm going crazy. It's finally happened, I've lost what was left of my mind. I'm talking to a cat who's telling my dreams were…How is this possible. Who are you?"

"Belle, you know who I am. I am Artemis. I am here to be your guardian, to train you in the art of the Senshi, to be who you were meant to be." he pushed over a crescent moon compact. "You know, you've always known, that you weren't meant to live as a simple girl in a provincial town. Isn't that why you read so much. To escape that mundane life. That's because you KNOW that wasn't meant for you, you are meant for so much more. You see this castle as your prison. You believe you're only here because you agreed to take your father's place. I'm here to tell you that those events were orchestrated for the sole purpose of bringing you here."

As he talked, Belle picked up the compact and looked into the mirror. She saw the very same person she'd seen that very first dream. A warrior, the warrior she played in her dream, Sailor V.

"I…I…I am…" she stammered wanting desperately to believe him.

"Look there she goes. That girl is strange no question."

Belle gasped remembering the words that none of the villagers thought she had heard. Strange. Crazy. Peculiar. If they thought those things now, she would never fit in after this. "NO! It's not true! I don't believe it," she threw the compact back down and backed up towards the door.

Artemis stepped carefully closer. "Belle,"

She shook her head. "No! They were dreams, just dreams!"

In a panic she turned and ran out of the room and back up the passage. She didn't pay any attention to where she was running, only interested in getting as far away from that room as possible. She didn't notice the corridors turn darker and ominous. She didn't really see the gargoyle door handle closely as she opened it and darted inside, eager for a place to hide and convince herself that they were only dreams. She didn't notice tears pouring down her eyes and her body shaking like a leaf. She barely registered her body hitting the floor as she collapsed sobbing out of fear that she really was as crazy and strange as the villagers believed her to be.

"Dreams…only dreams…" she whispered trying desperately to drill it into her head. She was a logical person of books. Super heroines like Sailor V didn't really exist. She wasn't Sailor V because it wasn't logically possible. She was only imagining things down there. It had to be the emotional exhaustion of being separated from her father and imprisoned in this castle.

Finally getting a hold of herself, she stood back up, still shaking slightly but more composed than before. She took a chance to examine her surroundings. The room was absolutely trashed. The only thing intact was a small round table with a glass jar on top of it. Closer examination revealed a beautiful red rose inside. However, as lovely as the rose was, it was what was on the wall that really caught her attention.

The painting was torn but the hair and eyes both touched her memory. Her memory of her dream from that very afternoon. The young man who had saved her dream self from those perverts. She felt a wash of nostalgia flow over her, a distantly familiar song playing.

The gloomy room faded to become a gorgeous ballroom, with people all around her. Several of them she knew should have been

She stood on the wall, watching as her friends danced with young gentlemen of their own. She looked down at the floor, feeling like a fifth wheel. A shadow covered her and she looked up.

"Dance with me, Princess," a young man reached out a hand for hers.

She took the hand and let him pull her into a twirling waltz. His hand resting on the small of her back and handsome green eyes looking down into her own. His long silver hair cascading down his back like a waterfall.

Lost in her dream, Belle didn't notice that she was really dancing, humming the song aloud. "Aa futari onaji kimochi ne WARUTSU ni koi wo nosete odorou odorimashou RA RA RA asa made."

A real shadow covered her this time, snapping her out of her reverie, banging into the small round table in surprise. She looked up into the angry eyes of the Beast.

"What are you doing here!" the Beast demanded.

Belle gasped. This must have been the forbidden West Wing. "I…I… got lost… I didn't know where I was…" she attempted to explain. This day was just getting to be too much.

"I thought I told you never to come here!" he roared launching himself at her in his temper.

Belle shrieked and dove out of the way. "Please, stop this! I didn't mean any harm! I told you I got lost!"

"Get out!" he ordered not even listening. "Get OUT!"

Belle fled eagerly. If he was ordering her to get out then get out she would do. All the way out, she decided running past Cogsworth and Lumiere.

"Promise or not, I'm not staying here!" she ran out into the night.

Philippe was waiting for her and started galloping off as soon as she was on his back. She knew he would probably be right on her heels. But she needed to get away. Away from him and back home where things were normal. Where she could bury her face in her books and forget everything about that cat and what he had said. Where she could blissfully continue to believe that her dreams were just dreams.

Suddenly, right in her path was a pack of wolves. Their mouths were slavering for a taste of her. She tried to turn Philippe back, but they had already circled around her.

One of the wolves launched itself at the horse. Philippe reared up, throwing Belle off of him unwittingly. Belle quickly stood up and grabbed the nearest thing to her, a large tree branch.

The wolves seemed to grin wickedly at her, as though they knew that she was trapped and outmatched. Their eyes glowed red and to Belle's shock, began to stand on their hind legs, growing to man-size. The wolves merged together into one large wolf-monster. Belle gasped, now this was a youma like in her dream. She couldn't deny this one, as much as she wanted to. And she had no way to defend herself against it.

Belle closed her eyes as it pounced, bracing herself for the blow. It never came. She opened her eyes and her breath hitched. The Beast was fighting the monster, having valiantly come to her rescue.

"But he's no match against a youma Belle," came the whisper of Artemis.

Belle looked down. "What are you doing here?"

"Forget that. You have a job to do and it's time to do it," Artemis placed a long orange pen before her. "It's time to accept your destiny. You know what to do!"

"But…those…just dreams…" she tried to protest.

The Beast roared in pain when the Wolf clamped down on the Beast's arm. Belle recognized the glow of energy leaving the Beast. He had come to save her and if she didn't do something he would die trying.

"You know what to do," Artemis repeated.

Belle picked up the pen and glared at the Wolf as it released the nearly-drained Beast. Bravely she raised the pen into the sky. "MOON POWER!"

Her long blue dress vanished and a pleated skirt and sailor top took its place. Her hair turned from brown to blonde, a red ribbon adorning it and her eyes becoming a clear blue.

"These woods and their inhabitants may forgive your evil ways, but I, Sailor V, will not!"

The Wolf leered at her, launching itself at her. Belle barely managed to dodge it.

"BELLE CATCH!" Artemis shouted. The compact came soaring at her head. With precision learned in her dreams she snatched it up and aimed it at the monster.

"Crescent Beam!"

A beam of light struck the Wolf causing it to disintegrate back into several wolves. The red glow left their eyes and they darted off into the woods.

Belle stood still for a moment, her transformation falling apart. She looked at Artemis. "Well, how'd I do?"

Artemis grinned. "You did well, very well."

Belle turned towards the Beast. It was time to get him back to the castle where she could tend to his injuries. She was done running away from her destiny.

AN: I decided to rewrite Chapter 9. I like this version a lot better.

Translation:
Sugoi! = Wow!

Aa futari onaji kimochi ne WARUTSU ni koi wo nosete odorou odorimashou RA RA RA asa made= Ah, the two of us feel the same. There is love on this Waltz Shall we dance? Let us dance. La La La, Until the morning