Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ A Siren's Song ❯ Rehearsal for Destruction ( Chapter 2 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

A Siren's Song
Chapter Two: Rehearsal for Destruction
3/30
by Kihin Ranno
goddess_branwen@hotmail.com
http://www.geocities.com/kihin_ra nno/starlithorizon.html
R

~~Date Started: September 9, 2002~~
~~Date Completed: October 26, 2002~~

Hey minna! I'm here with another and now completely original chapter,
for my ongoing epic, Siren's Song!

First off, I'd like to address something DarkLight88 brought up at
ASMR. Her one complaint was that I didn't explain what "The Sea Witch"
was. I tried to indirectly infer that it was the name of the ship that
Andrew was on... All the action had taken place on the ship, and I
described Selenity leaving where the action had taken place, ergo it
was the ship. Also, the quotations around were supposed to be a clue
that it was a title of something. I apologize to anyone else who was
confused by my indirectness, and I hope this clears up any confusions.

Name Chart:

Usagi- Selenity
Minako- Aphrodite
Rei- Ares
Makoto- Hera
Ami- Minerva
Mamoru- Endymion
Motoki- Andrew
Reika- Rita
Beryl- Hades
Queen Serenity- Selene
King Hyperion is a created character... he isn't based off of anyone.

Sailor Moon does not belong to me... I'm merely taking Naoko Takeuchi's
ideas and mercilessly twisting them to my own disgustingly dark
visions. Sirens were also not my idea, and the only place I have seen
them is in Homer's "Odyssey" but I have no idea whether he created them
or not. You never now what with oral tradition and whatnot.

All that being said, on with the fic and I hope you enjoy.

~********************************************************** ***********~

It had been a few days shy of a fortnight since Rita had returned with
the grave news of her husband's death on the sea and the destruction of
the entire crew that had been aboard "The Sea Witch" at the hands of
the now infamous "White Siren". News of the crew's death had traveled
fast and now no matter where you went, the words "Sea Witch" "White
Siren" and "Death" were on everyone's tongue. A bleak sadness now
hung in the air, making the long, dark days seem that much more
miserable. There had been deaths of men at the hands of these
creatures before, but this was the first time that someone so close to
the king had died. And never before had there been a witness to the
terrible crime.

So it was only natural that people could not speak on the story
enough.

It was for this very reason that Rita had remained locked in her room.
She could not bear to here the name of her husband spoken aloud. But
what made her situation all the more worse was that people were sure
to insist that she tell them the grisly story over and over again until
their morbid curiosity was satisfied.

Sadly morbid curiosity was often insatiable.

So the fragile woman only let the four guardians of the Prince and a
female servant who went by the name of Luna into her chambers. Luna
had been good friend to Rita before the tragedy and was one of the few
examples of classes intermingling in the kingdom. Her husband,
Artemis, was also a seaman.* The two women had often spent lonely
nights together speaking on their marriages and waiting anxiously for
their husbands to come home...

The guardians did what they could to make Rita feel better, but it was
an impossible task. They had yet to see her with eyes that were clear
of redness. Oddly enough they had not seen her cry since that first
day.

They had later discovered that Rita only cried when there was no one
around to see it. Sadly, they had heard it.

King Hyperion had attempted to visit Rita, but for reasons that she
would not divulge, she did not let him enter. The one time he had made
it into the room, Rita launched herself into a screaming and crying
fit. She would not calm down until he was escorted from the room and
barred from entering again. Now he was the king so he certainly could
not be ordered to stay out of a room should he wish to enter it, but
Hyperion was an understanding man. The king assumed Rita's sudden
loathing for him had something to do with his inhospitable manner when
she had first arrived home.

While he was an understanding man, he did have a bit of a temper.

Hyperion did stay away from Rita. He would not force his presence on
her until she was ready to speak with him. And with the current war
and his son's newfound hatred for the sirens, he had much to think
on...

Rita would have let Endymion in had he bothered to come.

************************************************************ ***********

Zoicite sighed impatiently, his fingers playing with a frizzy lock of
his long, curly hair as he leaned heavily on the rail of the stone
balcony. His eyes traveled up and down the endless stretch of blue-
green ocean before him. He listened as the thunder rolled again and
again. He did so intently, trying to focus his thoughts on those
things instead of on the death of his friend...

He could not do it.

Zoicite had been a very good friend to Andrew, and he liked Rita as
well. He knew the other generals felt the same way about her. Kunzite
may have been a little chauvinistic at times, but he did not doubt the
uprightness of the woman's character in the slightest. Nephrite was
pompous at times (or all the time), but that did not prevent him from
recognizing how kind Rita was and admiring her for it. Jadeite would
have been the only one to be so bold as to call her a sister, but they
all shared that sentiment.

And now her husband was gone...

Zoicite cursed and tossed the lock of hair over his shoulder angrily.
He pushed himself off of the rail roughly and started pacing around the
room, frantic to do anything that might distract him from the matters
at hand, no matter how trite. He paced but sadly forgot that
pacing often made one think harder. Thus his thoughts remained on
Andrew, who was dead, and Rita, who was wishing she were the same.

Zoicite cursed louder, only to hear a familiar voice call out,
"Frustrated?"

The blond man turned to face the other blond in their group, Jadeite.
The former sighed and said, "Am I that obvious?"

"Considering how you do not even bother to conceal it, I would say that
is a definite yes," Jadeite said with a kind of forced cheerfulness.

Zoicite nodded sadly, continuing his act of pacing up and down the
room while Jadeite took a seat. Both men had things to think about and
things they didn't want to think about. They remained silent for some
time, neither of them feeling a need to break it.

Finally, Zoicite grew increasingly impatient with himself and shouted,
"God damn it all!"

"In a bad mood are we?" another voice drawled from the doorway.

Nephrite sauntered in with a slight smirk on his face. While he and
Zoicite did not hate each other, they often ended up bantering back in
forth. But over the last few days, both of the men were growing
increasingly agitated.

They had to take time from the current war because of the Prince's new
crusade against the sirens. Things were not going well in either sect.
Essentially Kunzite and the king remained on that war and the prince
and the other three generals began to speak of waging another,
unearthly war on those who were not human.

Which at this point in time seemed to be trying to find someone stupid
or crazy enough to go after the sirens. That was proving to be more
difficult than anticipated.

Zoicite and Nephrite's opinions on the matter all differed from each
other radically. And so that little rivalry they had always had was
beginning to escalate to animosity.

Zoicite narrowed his eyes and said, "We all are Nephrite. The days are
long and the nights are fairly nonexistent. I am tired."

"We are all tired," Jadeite supplied, playing peacemaker for perhaps
the first time in his life. Jadeite was the kind of man who started
tiffs between two other people solely for his own amusement. He was
not the kind of man who ended them. "This war or whatever you wish to
refer to it as is dragging us all down. But Kunzite surely has the
worst of it,"

Zoicite's face fell when he heard that. Out of all the guardians,
Zoicite and Kunzite were the closest (not that the second man would
ever admit that). He had Zoicite had grown up together, trained
together, gone to war together, and saved each other's lives once or
twice. Both of them shared a mutual respect, but everyone knew it was
deeper than that. They were brothers in everything but blood. Zoicite
looked up to the gray general with the admiration of a little brother.
One could even say he idolized over him. If Kunzite realized that he
tried not to show it, but even so he looked out for the younger man
with the unruly hair.

"I wish we could help him. I cannot fathom why we all must be involved
in this. Surely he needs assistance."

"He does," Jadeite said with a sigh, "I saw him this morning. He
looked like a dead man who was up and walking."

"Great," Nephrite said with an exaggerated gesture attesting to his
exasperation with this whole mess. "Now we're going to lose two wars!
We have no chance of winning this one to begin with! And if Kunzite is
near death as you say he is, we shall lose that one as well!"

"Hold your tongue," Kunzite growled as he walked in, not looking at all
well or happy.

Zoicite blinked in surprise and finally stopped pacing, "Kunzite! What
are you about here?"

"The prince will be here in just a moment to tell you what is happening
now," Kunzite said as he practically fell into one of the chairs. His
face was gray and the areas under his eyes purple from lack of sleep,
sun, and food. Jadeite was right. He did look like a man who had died
and yet he still walked as well as any man alive would.

"Can you not tell us?" Zoicite said impatiently.

Kunzite looked up at him wearily, but still holding that deadly
authority as he spoke, "This is the part where I would repeat myself
and then make some sort of threat... But I do not have the energy."

Jadeite gave Zoicite a signal that he had better not say anything more.
He had decided that this peacemaking thing wasn't so bad as long as he
didn't get too involved. And besides, he was usually the one to match
wits and tempers with the grey general. He didn't like anyone,
especially Zoicite of all people, to reign in on his territory.

While Nephrite and Zoicite had once bantered, Kunzite and Jadeite often
came close to killing each other.

Then Nephrite took that opportunity to speak up. He sauntered over to
Kunzite, looking almost proud of himself for not having to do all the
work Kunzite did. "So Kunzite... How fares the war?"

"Badly," Kunzite said curtly, "What more could you expect?"

"Of course it fares badly," Jadeite muttered under his breath, "It is a
war, is it not? It is another act of random violence between two
kingdoms, is it not? Hundreds of innocent men die every day and they
do not even know what they die for, do they not?"

Another thing that must be mentioned is that while Jadeite kidded
around a lot, he had a very strong sense of right and wrong. And he
rarely held his tongue.

Kunzite sighed, far too accustomed to hearing Jadeite go off on his
tirades with his strong sense of justice that seemed to separate him
from the cesspool that was humanity. Or at least that was Kunzite's
perception of Jadeite's perception. "Jadeite, one day. All I am
asking is that you wait one day to spout off on your morals and ethics.
You'll have plenty to speak of once Endymion gets here."

"Should I get my soapbox?" Jadeite asked with a wavering smirk, letting
the subject drop.

Zoicite shook his head and murmured, "I still don't understand what
gave him that idea in the first place... Whoever heard of spouting off
rants while atop a soapbox?"

"That would require understanding Jadeite," Kunzite mumbled under his
breath, his voice trained and tired, "And I have attempted to do that
many a time... let me assure you all, it is impossible,"

"With so much animosity over what bickering and arguments cause,
gentlemen, I would have that that all of you would have strived to keep
peace within your relations," a voice called sternly from the door,
"Am I to understand that I was mistaken?"

Nephrite outwardly flinched, easily recognizing the voice of his
prince, "No... No Endymion,"

"I thought not," Endymion said as he entered, his face fixated into a
scowl. He had heard a lot before his entrance that much was
apparent... And he had not been at all pleased with anything spoken.
The prince sat down at the head of the table, the other generals
gathering around without so much as a verbal acknowledgement. Then the
prince looked to Kunzite and said, "Have you spoken on it?"

"Not a word your highness," Kunzite said drowsily.

"Good," Endymion acknowledged, "now to discuss what was so urgent as to
call an emergency meeting."

"Is your father not coming?" Zoicite asked.

Endymion's eyes narrowed. "My father is not involved in this."

A silent agreement then passed between the guardians. No one would
speak of King Hyperion at this meeting again.

The prince then continued, "Now then, as for the purpose of this
meeting. I know that you four feel that it is a waste of time to go
after these sirens. You think that we would be placing ourselves only
in more danger and die trying to make them die. But what you all seem
to forget is that we are not incompetents. We know how to fight, and
we have God on our side. And with Him, we can conquer all. Including
these bitches of the devil known as sirens,"

The guardians exchanged wary glances. They had known Endymion for many
years (since their early childhood in fact) and they were all like
surrogate brothers. They had seen Endymion go through all of his
moods. They thought they knew him like the backs of their hands or
like the art of war. But as Endymion had recited his monologue, they
had seen something in him. There had been a glint in his eye. That
glint signified malice, hate, vengeance, and an unnatural lust for
blood. It was almost... evil.

They had never seen him look like that before.

Kunzite sighed, aging ten years in ten seconds. He was tired and
drawn... And the other three guardians noted that he did not look as
disturbed as they felt. Jadeite assumed this meant that he had become
desensitized to whatever it was Endymion was driving at. The gray
general looked at Endymion with a solemn look and said, "My prince...
I beseech you... Tell them,"

The dark prince nodded curtly and said, "We shall no longer be involved
in my father's war with the neighboring kingdom. We have our own war
to wage... A war on the sirens,"

"We know this Endymion," Nephrite said gruffly.

Kunzite sent a sharp look his way and his voice almost shook with the
amount of intensity behind it, "Let him finish Nephrite."

Endymion didn't even bother to wait for Nephrite to acknowledge the
fact that his elder and leader had spoken. He merely stood and walked
over to the window, staring out at the sea. Then he spoke to them, but
he never once took his eyes off of the rolling waves. His voice was
quiet, but by no means soft when he spoke, "We shall go after the
sirens... personally,"

"What?!" the three generals shouted, leaping to their feet. Kunzite
remained seated.

Jadeite walked over to the prince, saying, "Endymion, are you sure you
want to do that?"

"Positive," the prince said coolly, his voice distant... It was as
though his thoughts were somewhere else.

Now Zoicite spoke, "But Endymion how?! What good could we possibly do?
We are no match against the sirens. They may be women, but they are at
least ten times stronger than the normal human! They are said to have
talons that can claw through solid stone! And even if they weren't
physically stronger, no man has ever been able to resist their voices!
What profit us to drown and die on the waves like Andrew when we are
needed here?!"

Endymion changed in an instant or perhaps less than an instant. His
head snapped over to Zoicite, a man that was his guardian and friend.
He held that same fiendish gleam in his eye. His thoughts were no
longer in another place or another time. They were there in that room
and focused on the green eyed guardian before him. And he was not
happy, "What profit us to stay here and fight a losing battle? What
profit Rita to lie in her room and cry from dusk to dawn? What profit
Andrew to lie at the bottom of the ocean with no one to avenge his
death? I don't know about you, but I refuse to let his death go by as
though he were some common street beggar or drunkard! He was my friend
and yours! And he was slain by some manifest of the devil in the form
of a bird-woman. I am not going to let that murder go by unpunished
because some creature needs to trim her nails! Andrew will be
avenged... He will be!"

All was silent for a time. None of the guardians dared to speak again
lest they be railed down like Zoicite had been. They all knew the
young man had been right, but what could they do? Endymion was the
crown prince. They could offer him advice, but they could not force
him to take it. In the end they would have to follow his orders.

Endymion's order was clear. All sirens must die. And it was up to
them to do it.

Kunzite just wondered how they were going to find them.

************************************************************ ***********

Meanwhile, many miles away on a different shore, the ones the guardians
and their prince sought prepared for their arrival and the arrival of
other men. They had no knowledge that they were coming and they did
not think that any mortals could ever overcome them, but they felt that
these exercises were necessary and beneficial... When they worked.

Each siren had a different magical influence. Naturally, when blessed
with such a gift one must practice endlessly until the art of wielding
was perfected or mastered. The four colored sirens had long since
reached the point of what was considered perfection among their
brethren. They were known far and wide for their skills and power.
All but one siren respected and feared them in a way that was not
common. Each of them had learned to accept this with grace and
dignity over time.

But as for the white siren...

Aphrodite let out her one hundredth long sigh for that day alone and
tried her best to sound patient as she said, "Try it again Selenity."
The bird/woman looked as though she had flown a great number of miles
and then proceeded to perform hard labor. In fact she had not moved
more than three feet from the place where she hovered now, but to say
she was exhausted was an understatement.

"It's no use. I'm wretched at this." Selenity called out sadly.

"Try it again," the golden woman repeated, injecting some cheeriness
into her voice and almost sounding convincing. She was too tired to
do a wonderful job at it.

Because when it came time to train Selenity, everyone's nerves were on
edge and they had to work a lot harder than they should. The siren
seemed to be the classic bumbling, incompetent enchantress... Only she
had not even reached the point of bumbling with magic. She had yet to
grasp it at all.

And it seemed to always breed bad feelings, short tempers, and of
course, fights between Aphrodite and Ares.

"Aphrodite, this isn't doing anything," the red siren hissed under her
breath.

Aphrodite smirked and said, "Really? I hadn't noticed."

Ares scoffed out of sheer exasperation and said, "If you are aware of
the little good this is doing, why are we still here?"

The golden woman shrugged and said, "I know not. I suppose it is
because I figure that it has to do something at some point. After all
they seven millionth, three hundred forty nine thousandth, eight
hundred thirty sixth time is a charm,"

Ares growled a little and was about to say more on the subject when
Selenity called out, "This is very hard for me you two, so I would be
pleased if you could keep the quiet."

"Of course Selenity," the two chorused automatically.

*************************************************** ********************

Selenity waited a few moments to make sure that they would not begin
anew, looking deeply into their crimson and sun colored eyes. After
she was satisfied that they were gong to abide by her wishes, she
resigned herself to concentrating once more. She was lying stiffly on
a rock (not wanting to distract herself by anything, even a menial task
like floating on the wind). She shut her silver eyes to the midday sun
and the salty spray of the ocean waters. A mist washed over her, but
she could pay that no mind. The only thing she could allow herself to
think about was her magic.

The white siren traveled deep within the recesses of her mind, a place
where no mortal or any other creature not blessed with their power
could venture unaided. Selenity had always found that getting to this
point was a simple task, but what followed was next to impossible.

She took a deep breath (although she was not conscious of doing so) and
began to search her soul for the power she knew lay within. In her
mind's eye, she flew in a sea of darkness, searching for the light that
was her power. She moved around corners that did not exist, avoided
obstacles that weren't there, and ran into blocks that felt almost
tangible. Each time she went down this black, invisible road, she
moved differently yet she constantly and unwittingly looked for some
kind uniformity or pattern. She had yet to find what she did not even
consciously know she searched for.

Selenity plunged deeper and deeper into her being, her concentration
faltering every once in awhile when she let herself wonder where it was
or if her search was not going to yield anything. She would quickly
push those thoughts from her mind and press on. At long last, she
caught sight of a sterling colored flicker to her right. Or was that
her left? Were there even directions here?

She found herself slipping from the plane and she quickly disregarded
the questions.

Selenity moved towards the light with a purpose, not wavering from her
quest once. She was bound and determined to make this work. She had
performed this exercise for months and months and she did not want it
to end in the same way. She did not want it to end in failure. She
would take hold of her magic and bend it to her will if it was the last
thing she ever did on this earth.

Selenity stared at the bright light intently and felt as though it
looked back at her as well. It moved slowly, reaching out to her as
though it were beckoning her to come forward. The white siren watched
it as though it were the only beautiful thing in the world. She
watched it flicker and face, but never go out. She watched it glitter
and swirl and shine brighter than any fire or star ever would. She
heard it. It made sound like the light tinkle of some man made
device... Bells? Yes that sounded about right. Only it was sweeter
and light than any sound a mortal could create. It almost sounded
like the laughter of one of those smaller humans... The ones that
usually didn't live long. What were they called? Choldren?
Chaldren? She couldn't remember the right word.

But that wasn't important now.

What was important then was the power. And that Selenity could even
feel it. Not like how she felt the cool, churning water lap against
feet or the jagged, rough edges of the crags by the water's edge. It
was more like an awareness. Selenity thought that if she were deaf and
blind, she would still have been able to find the power without any
help.

She moved towards it... And it moved just out of reach.

*********************************************************** ************

Meanwhile Hera, who was always aware of what they others felt and their
dispositions, could tell that Selenity was having trouble. She moved
over to Aphrodite and whispered, "Do you think this will be the day?
Do you think she'll be able to take command of it today?"

Aphrodite watched as a light sheen of sweat began to glisten on
Selenity's forehead. She had never wanted to be the bearer of bad news
nor did she wish to hope for the worst. So instead she smiled and
said, "You never know Hera. It's up to Selenity now,"

Ares had been remaining close to Selenity, to make sure that she was
all right, but her hearing was as good as any siren's. She looked up
at the two conversing and scowled in annoyance. No one would ever be
sure if it was at them, Selenity, or just the entire situation, but
she was obviously not happy. "Aphrodite, this is proving to be an
impossible task. There have been sirens that cannot wield magic.
And we all know what happens to them," they all shuddered and fell
silent for a time, gruesome memories permeating their minds and they
felt that a moment of silence was appropriate. Once Ares had rid
herself of the awful recollections, she added, "What good is an
enchantress if she cannot conjure magic?"

"Hush," Hera said sharply, perhaps more so than she intended, "You
are beginning to sound like Her,"

Ares turned back to Selenity and said, "Well maybe She has a point.
One never knows when an army may rise up against us and we must be
prepared. Besides, magic can be a great aid in the taking of men,"

"We rarely use it," Hera argued.

"But we have and we may yet," Ares countered.

"But at least she does have her voice and she can enchant with that,"
Minerva said, coming between the three of them before the tension grew
worse. The blue woman often did not speak, as intelligent people/
creatures tended to do. Minerva only spoke when she felt it was
necessary. She felt that preventing a fight from breaking out was
necessary.

And while she rarely spoke, she always listened. And she was always
thinking.

"Her song will protect her to a degree until we can get her to use
her magic. And she does have magic, Ares." Minerva said, silencing the
red siren before she could contradict that statement. "The power is in
her. I am sure of it just as I am sure that mortals cannot and never
will fly. Selenity's problem does not lie in a lack of power. Her
trouble is taking control of the magic. Sadly I do not know why this
is seemingly impossible for her, but I am sure that if she continues
to work at it she will eventually be able to use it as we do,"

Ares shook her head and said, "Her voice is not enough, Minerva. I
wish it were, but it isn't. There are other creatures of power in this
world. Creatures that are not fond of our kind and who live near the
sea. What if she were to come upon one of them? What if she were
alone? What if they could resist her voice? What then?"

Minerva tried to come up with an argument that could counter that
point, but none existed. Ares was right. Minerva looked down at the
ocean waters below her feeling as though she had failed being presented
with a problem she could not solve. "I suppose that would prove to be
a problem."

"And a deadly one at that," Hera said, finally seeing Ares' point in
the matter.

"Exactly. She cannot learn to wield her power soon enough for me or
for herself. She should have some time ago... Only she cannot," Ares
said, never once taking her eyes off of Selenity. She saw Selenity's
brow furrow and Ares let out a screech of frustration, knowing that at
this point it would not distract Selenity anymore than she was
distracting herself. Ares still kept her gaze on Selenity as she
yelled, "This is hopeless! Yes, she has the power, but what good does
it do her if she cannot use it?!"

"She will master it Ares," Aphrodite said with her endless optimism
and in a tone of voice that seemed to calm them all down.

They all turned to watch Selenity, waiting on baited breath for the
moment.

The white woman before them was obviously growing increasingly agitated
with something. If she was upsetting herself, then she was not only
failing to complete her task but she was distracting herself from the
matter at hand. If she did not offer her full concentration towards
achieving her goal, she would not be able to do it. And if she was not
able to do it, she would grow even more frustrated with herself.

It was an endless cycle with no end in sight.

"She must," Aphrodite said, her optimism waning, catching the attention
of the others.

They watched as Selenity's pale face began to turn red with exertion
and malevolence. They did not know it, but she was fighting a losing
battle with her own power. She was right in front of it, yet every
single time she tried to take charge of it, it would evade her. It
kept moving away from her, always placing itself just out of reach.

It was like a siren.

"Damn it Selenity you have to," Aphrodite whispered.

Ares turned from Selenity, staring the golden siren in the face. Her
vermillion eyes were all seriousness when she said the words that no
one wanted to hear.

"And what if she cannot?"

~******************************************************** *************~

* I know it seems random... But there is a point to its presence that
will present itself much later... MUCH later. --;

Well there you have it. That should give you a better look at
everyone's character as well as give a little background on everyone's
current situation. ^^ Now don't we all feel so much better?

Please, email me and let me know. ^~

Oh and just in case you don't know, a fortnight equals two weeks. ^^ I
didn't know what it was the first time I read it so I figured I'd throw
it in here.

Coming Soon: Part Three: Voices Ringing