Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Learning to Love Again ❯ Chapter 4

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Learning to Love Again
Part 4
By: Alecto
Rating: PG
Email: Chiba_Ohiko@yahoo.com
Website: www.angelfire.com/anime2/sunrise

It came early morning, the first light of dawn and the second attack.
Usagi groaned as she received a rude awakening from her guardian cat.

"*Get up!*" Luna hissed. "You have work to do."

"Demo, Luna," Usagi started, "I can't-"

"No buts now get going." Luna snapped as she headed for the window.

'But Luna, I can't transform.'

Usagi stared desperately at her locket, searching for the power within. It
was still there, yet it was not. It was being drained away but why? And who was
draining it?

She took a deep breath, "MOON CRYSTAL POWER! MAKE UP!" Usagi
felt the familiar sensation of energy coursing through her veins, but only for a few
seconds before her own energy was drained from her body. She surrendered to the
darkness.

"USAGI!" Luna cried, running to her mistress.

Usagi did not answer. She couldn't answer her.

~~~

"Can't the evils of this world find a better time to invade the earth?" Jadeite
groaned as he rolled over in his bed.

"Yeah, like the enemy's gonna worry about your beauty sleep." Zoisite
snorted. "Now get up, we're all waiting for you."

"I'm sure Serenity-sama can handle it. They've always had." Jadeite
pulled the blanket over his head. "I mean they defeated Beryl and Metallia and
everything..." He trailed off, falling back into a light slumber.

"What if Rei-san gets hurt like last time?" Nephrite asked.

Jadeite immediately shot out of bed. "All right, let's go!" And he was out
the door before anyone could say more. Mamoru, Nephrite, Zoisite, and Kunzite
stood there, motionless, for a second. Jadeite poked his head back into the room,
"Well, what are you waiting for? Time to go!"

~~~

Sailor Mercury scanned the area from behind a tree, waiting for the others
to join her. She stared strangely at the computer screen, something was not right.
The readings her computer gathered was off the screen, but there was no youma or
anything for that fact. It was early dawn. There was not a single human life in the
park beside herself, and even the animals were still asleep.

"So what's the deal, Mercury?" Sailor Venus asked as she appeared
suddenly from the shadows, making Mercury jump.

"Don't scare me like that!" Mercury snapped.

"Someone's grouchy in the morning." Venus smirked.

"She's not the only one." Jadeite grumbled as the generals and Tuxedo
Kamen joined the two senshi. Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter were not far behind the
men.

Venus peered shyly in Kunzite's direction through her lashes. Kunzite
caught her gaze as Venus quickly looked away, her face a bright red.

Mars sighed in disgust. 'I've seen more than enough of this lovey-dovey
stuff to last me more than a lifetime.' She felt someone's stare penetrating her back.
She turned in annoyance to see there was no one there. She turned back to the
scene before only to feel that penetrating glare again. Mars spun around in suspicion.
There was something amidst. She wasn't the only one to feel it. Jadeite too was
carefully analyzing the trees around them.

"Something wrong, Rei-chan?" Jupiter asked as she watched her friend
and Jadeite stare intensely at the trees.

"Shush, there's something here." Jadeite hissed as all conversations
ceased.

"That's impossible, my computer would have warned us." Mercury insisted.

"Shut up." Tuxedo Kamen hissed lowly as he too began to feel the
presence observing them.

This was how it was for the next few moments. The warriors stood rooted
to their spots and the only vague sound was of their shallow breathing. They stood
motionless, glancing nervously around at each other and the park encircling them.

Out of nowhere, Mercury's computer started to beep incessantly. She
quickly glanced at the screen, trying to decode what the machine was reading, but
she was too slow. If only she had a second faster, she would have saw Kaolinite come
at her. Kaolinite grinned in a mad manner as she cut off Mercury's windpipe.

"BURNING MANDALA!" Lucky for Mars she had a full view of Kaolinite's
back or she would have fried both her and Mercury.

Kaolinite simply teleported away from the fire and the warriors' sights,
taking Mercury with her.

"Where is that, Odango Atama?!" Mars shouted nervously, fidgeting as
she glanced around. Her mind whirled with a million questions that needed to be
answered that moment.

"Where is Usagi-chan? We need her to defeat the enemies." Venus
jumped back as a youma charged out of the trees and at her.

This was no ordinary youma. There was something very strange about it.
It didn't seem to take any real distinctive form. It was like a big hunched black blob
with multiple small tentacles and whiskers around its mouth with evil blood red eyes.

Out of nowhere, eight more of these youmas materialized from the trees,
all with the same features as the last. Each of the monsters attacked one of the
warriors.

"Where are all of these...these...*things* coming from?!" Zoisite exclaimed
as more of these strange youmas swarmed out from nowhere.

~~~

Kaiou Michiru stood at the doorway of a violet bedroom. She smiled
warmly at the slumbering occupant of the room. She walked up to the bed and sat
by it, she reached down and brushed aside the sleeping child's bangs. The little girl
stirred in her sleep but did not wake up. Another warm, motherly smile found its way
across her lips.

"Michiru, it's time." Haruka leaned against the doorway, a grim expression
across her face.

Michiru nodded slightly and turned back to the child. She bent down and
whispered to the child, "Don't worry, Haruka and I will be back soon. Sleep well,
Hotaru-chan."

~~~

"UGH!!! VENUS LOVE-ME CHAIN!" Sailor Venus whipped her chain
around furiously, taking down four more youmas with it.

"These things just keep on coming! There's no end to them!" Jadeite
exclaimed as he fried a few with a couple of fireballs.

Mars ducked as another youma lunged at her. Her senses alerted her to
her left. "There's something over there!"

"Leave it to me!" Zoisite turned to the area Mars were talking. A stream
of ice blew steady from his hands into the trees.

Kaolinite's fireballs countered his attack as she appeared out of nowhere
with Sailor Mercury firmly in her grasp. "Having fun with my daimons. They're ten
times stronger than any youma you've faced before." She laughed. "I'll say it once
and only once. Give me the ginzoshou." Her eyes flashed a dangerous red.

"Like we're gonna give that to *you*." Venus spat as she narrowed her
eyes in hatred at Kaolinite. "Dream on."

"I suggest you hand it over," Kaolinite said calmly and then pointed to the
Mercury. "Or else your friend here dies."

Zoisite glared at the woman before them in complete hatred. She had just
won his eternal enmity just as had she probably also done with the others. 'How dare
she hurt Kallan! Just give me five minutes alone with that woman in a locked room!'
He clenched his fist at his side, trying to control his temper. 'Even worse she's
threatening to kill Kallan!'

His temper was coming to its inevitable point of eruption. Now Zoisite was
never one to lose his temper, even under the most pressured of circumstances, but
when it concerned the Mercurian Princess, his soulmate...

"I won't let you beat me." Mercury said with an unusual edge. She
surprised Kaolinite who thought she was still unconscious. The blue jewel on her
tiara began to glow with a strange light. "SHINE AQ-"

"NO!!! I WON'T LET YOU!!!" Kaolinite cried, she grabbed Mercury by the
hair and slammed her into a nearby tree. A loud crack sounded throughout the park,
the blue gem from Mercury's tiara fell to the ground.

"WORLD SHAKING!" A yellow sphere of energy knocked roughly into
Kaolinite. The red-haired women dropped Mercury, who had changed back to Ami.
Zoisite caught her before she hit the ground.

"DEEP SUBMERGE!" A ball of water slammed Kaolinite into a tree.

"BURNING MANDALA!"

"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!"

"VENUS LOVE-ME CHAIN!"

The four attacks rammed painfully into the red-haired witch. "AAHHH!!!"
Kaolinite screamed in pain. "You'll all pay." She said in a deadly whisper. Drops of
blood trailed down her chin as a crazy glee entered her dead gray eyes. "Haha, you
still haven't seen my ultimate attack Hexas-sama gave me. CURSED FLAMES!
DESTROY ALL THOSE WHO DARE TO OPPOSE MY MASTERS!"

A nearby bush bursted into flames, then a patch of grass followed and
soon a circle of raging flames surrounded the group of warriors. The heat beat upon
the group as Kaolinite laughed manically and vanished. They had no way out and no
way to dose the fire.

"WHAT ARE YOU STANDING HERE FOR!?" A shadow jumped out of the
trees and signaled to the warriors. "LET'S GO!!!"

Another figure followed the first. It raised its hands and shouted an
incantation. "DEEP SUBMERGE!" The spell parted a small way in the fire. The
warriors vanished into the flames, trying to escape a certain fiery death.

~~~

He grinned at the flames consuming everything living within the park.
Nearby, in a tree, a small sparrow cried in sorrow for its dead parents and siblings in
its small ruined nest. He picked the small bird up, holding it gently in his palm. His
hands began to glow with a blood red and the baby sparrow went limp in his hands.
He tossed the carcass into the flames, smiling cruelly as the body burned to ashes.
He didn't care. He hadn't cared for a long time. He would have what he wanted. He
bent down and picked up a blue gem from the ground.

Kaolinite appeared before the man and dropped to her knees.
"Hexas-sama, I have done what you wanted. Please, my reward. I have completed
my job."

"Of course." Hexas grinned crudely. He placed his right hand on Kaolinite's
forehead as he began to glow the same blood red as before.

Kaolinite gasped as a wonderful sensation rushed through her veins. She
savored the rush, the excitement. She dropped her guard and unknowingly allowed
her master to invade her dark and twisted mind.

Hexas leaned in, his lips just centimeters away from Kaolinite's. He grinned
cruelly and whispered. "You think I don't know what you really want. I am Hexas.
I see all and know all. I don't care for your vengeance and I certainly don't care for
you. Die, you deceitful bitch. I am your creator, if it was not for me, you would not
exist in this timeline. As I am your creator, I will destroy you." Kaolinite screamed
one last time and burst into flames, destroyed from within, with her own power.

His plans were already set in motion. Soon he would get what he wanted
and nothing was going to stop him...
*To Be Continued*


"Wait for me."

The prince stared, uncomprehending, but Arven understood at once. It
was what he had asked of Una, at the last. Wait for me, if you can.

"It won't be long," the girl continued. "I can feel it."

"You have a lifetime ahead of you!" the prince said.

"A lifetime can be two days long; it needs only a birth at the beginning and
a death at the end." The girl smiled again, without bitterness. "By any usual
reckonings, I have more than my share of lifetimes."

"The spell..."

"Was unraveling. If you had not come, I should have slept another hundred
years, or two, dying slowly with no company but dreams. I have learned a great deal
from my dreams, but I prefer waking, if only for a week or a month."

"I see." The prince reached out as if to stroke her hair, but stopped his
hand just short of its unattainable goal. Avern could see the curve of the girl's shoulder
clearly through the prince's palm. He glanced at the window. The sky was lightening
rapidly.

"Then, will you wait?" the girl asked again.

"I will try," said the prince. He was almost completely transparent by this
time, and his voice was as faint as the distant breeze that rustled the trees outside
the keep.

"Try hard," the girl said seriously.

Avern had to squint to see the prince nod, and then the sky was bright
with dawn and the prince had vanished. The girl turned away, but not before Avern
caught the glitter of tears in her eyes. He rose and picked up the candle, unsure of
how to proceed.

"I have not thanked you, woodcutter," the girl said at last, turning. "Forgive
me, and do believe I am grateful."

"It's no matter," Avern said. "I understand."

She smiled at him. "Then let us go down. It has been a long time since
I have seen dawn from the castle wall."
- From the short story, Stronger Than Time by Patricia C. Wrede