Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Dreams of the Mist ❯ Eyes Hidden in the Mist ( Chapter 1 )

Special thanks to:

Silver Sorceress - Thanks so much for being my first review ever, it helped so much to encourage me. My first thought was: "Wow! Someone *actually* liked my story. Amazing!" Anyway, as for Merlin, I guess you'll just have to wait and find out (I am so evil, MWHAHAHAHAHA!! Sorry, moment's over).

Altheia - I have admired your stories for so long, you have no idea how much your approval of my story helped to inspire me and get this chapter out onto paper... er... I mean computer screen. Who knew that reviews could mean so much?

ShakunetsuBlade - Thanks for the review, it made my day when I saw it. Here I am getting reviews from all the people whose stories I love. I am so glad people like my story.

Sorry this chapter is so late, but I had to finish writing the second chapter and iron out some of the details in between the two before I could post it. Second chapter should be out as soon as I proof it.

"Love is when you look into someone's eyes and go all the way inside,

to their soul and you both know... instantly."

- Angela Chase on My So Called Life

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Chapter 1:

Eyes Hidden in the Mist

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"Kuso," Uranus swore as the near miss swept by her and uprooted the oak behind her. "Where are they? We could really use some back up about now."

"You're telling me," muttered Mars as she fired an arrow of flame at the robed enemy. "None of our attacks seem to affect it, we need Eternal Sailor Moon's tier. Mercury," Mars yelled, now focusing her attention on the rapidly typing soldier of knowledge, "found anything yet?"

"This is impossible," Sailor Mercury answered back, and Mars suppressed a groan as she realized that Mercury had no intention of saying anymore.

"Mercury," she called out again, aggravated by her friend's lack of information and already annoyed from her inability to hurt her enemy, "I don't care about the science of it, just tell me what it says." Sailor Mars' already short temper had snapped.

Taking no notice whatsoever of her friend's cry, Sailor Mercury continued entering information into her computer as she read out the data streaming from her screen.

"I am receiving contradicting data from him. Apparently, his structural formula differs from normal carbon-based protein chains-"

"Mercury," snapped Sailor Mars, quickly losing all remnants of self restraint she had previously held, "just give it to us in terms we can understand."

Sighing, Mercury repeated her earlier message in simpler terms, "He's not human," she said simply, "but from what I can tell, he has the same ancestral origins of humans, except for one thing. His blood is alive with a certain gene; the same gene that gives us our superhuman strength and powers."

"So exactly what does that mean? He's a sailor senshi of some sort?" Sailor Neptune had landed beside Uranus for a momentary breather as they traded positions, one attacking and one resting.

"Not quite. But it does mean that we draw our powers from the same source."

"But don't we draw our powers from our planets?" Sailor Mars asked, anger forgotten as confusion took over.

"Yes and no," Sailor Mercury answered which elicited a groan from Sailor Mars. "We do draw our power from our planets, but our ability to use that power comes from that gene that I discovered."

"You still haven't answered my question," Sailor Neptune reminded her. "What is that suppose to mean to us?"

"This bakemono is from the same ancestry as the sailor senshi, but its composition is subtly different from ours. His blood make-up is completely full of the gene that allows for the use of magic while we only contain a small portion. Galaxia possessed this gene, as well as a blood completely saturated with the gene, but without her star seed, it was innate. Chaos didn't even have this particular gene, so as far as I can tell, only those who are direct descendants of our ancestors have this gene. However, not only does that mean that we are fighting a person who has the same control over our elements as we do, but that he has more power than all of us combined. Not even Sailor Moon with the power of the ginzuishou running through her has this kind of concentration in her blood."

"So what are you saying," Neptune questioned quickly, "He's unstoppable?"

Before Sailor Mercury could answer, the robed man choose that exact moment to send a shockwave radiating out from his body. The ground and air rippled around them and gave off the appearance that they were standing on water, and someone had just thrown a pebble into it. Ageless trees uprooted from the ground as the ripples grew larger and more violent, and the senshi could not find an opening for a decent shot, let alone stand against the quaking earth. However, their enemy continued radiating waves from the calm epicenter. The quaking lessened slightly as he lost part of his concentration.

He was focusing another ball of energy in one of his hands. When the sphere reached the size of a basketball, he leveled his hand straight at the struggling Saturn. She was the only one left even partially standing, thanks to the "Silence Wall" that she had created. The waves crashed upon the purple opaque wall and swelled up and around it like rapids around boulders. The wall shimmered briefly as the waves pounded relentlessly upon it, weakening its integrity slowly yet surely. Sailor Saturn was struggling hard against the raging current of earth that threatened to overwhelm her and the small island of safety she had created.

Their robed enemy took any opportunity that presented itself to him.

Realizing that Saturn was the strongest, power-wise, of their team, he prepared to strike her down while she was unable to defend herself readily. With a sadistic smile suddenly appearing from the shadows of his hood, he released the energy bomb and sat back to watch the fun. Just seeing the horror on her face and the faces of her friends as they realized the inevitable was enough to make this trip to earth worthwhile for him.

The smile, however, was wiped quickly from his face.

Two blasts of pure white energy struck first the sphere heading towards Saturn, and then the man who had thrown the sphere. The man completely lost his concentration when the white power propelled into him and sent him sprawling on the ground. He remained unhurt, just surprised and incredibly mad. Angry at the fact that someone had taken him by surprise. He looked towards the direction the blast had come from, and found another sailor suited soldier, landing lightly on the now still ground beside an exhausted Saturn, her white wings rustling softly in the dying gale.

Suddenly, from the brush to one side of the clearing, leapt two more sailor senshi, one dressed in orange, and another in green. They stepped in front of the man and regarded him coolly, obviously sizing him up.

He was not much to look at, a lean man, more on the skinny side, hiding his meager flesh and underdeveloped muscles beneath billowing robes of flowing blue. The robes appeared to be made of crushed velvet, and very expensive, but knowing evil, Venus mused silently, he probably didn't pay a yen for what he wore, more than likely, it was stolen. His shadowed face was lean as well, but other than that not much could be discerned of his features. Even his eyes seemed to be two empty black holes from under the hood of his robe. Of course considering some of the youma they had battled before, that possibility was all too likely.

"It's about time you got here," Sailor Mars called, her patience having left her long ago.

Ignoring her friend while still keeping her eye on the robed man, Eternal Sailor Moon called Mercury over, "What exactly have you found out about this guy?"

"You don't want to know," Sailor Uranus replied quickly.

"Is it that bad?" Sailor Moon asked, now worried.

"Not exactly," Uranus replied, "it just takes so long to explain."

Laughing lightly, and glad to see that no one was hurt bad enough for Uranus to have lost her facetious humor, Eternal Sailor Moon now focused her full attention on the man standing in front of her. Her previously jovial face hardened as she returned the baleful glare of their enemy.

"Okay," Sailor Moon started, anger evident in her voice, "Who are you, and why exactly did you attack my senshi?"

"My dear princess," he drawled out, a slight sneer in his voice, "I did not attack thine senshi, they attacked me." When he had uttered the word princess, everyone tensed slightly. Uranus had drawn her space sword from its inter-dimensional scabbard, Saturn and Pluto had leveled their staffs at him, and everyone else had taken a more aggressive fighting stance. Everyone that is except for Sailor Moon. She regarded him coolly for a moment before speaking again.

"You may not have attacked my senshi, but you did attack innocent people who only wished to enjoy the beauty of this park." Sailor Pluto groaned. She had been hoping that Eternal Sailor Moon had finally grown past the need to make speeches, but that obviously was not the case. It seemed that no matter what she said to anyone, even suggesting to Haruka that speeches minimize the element of surprise, that it took years to force a sailor senshi to quit introducing themselves and merely attack. Sailor Pluto spoke from self-experience, it had taken the guardian of time millennia before she was able to finally go against the innate instinct in sailor senshi, and not begin spouting lyrical nonsense before a battle.

"Ai to seigi no sailor-fuku bishoujo senshi Sailor Moon, tsukini kawatte, oshiokiyo," cried out Eternal Sailor Moon, giving her standard introduction as well as promise of punishment.

"Yes, yes, I know, I know, and thou art the rest of the sailor senshi: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Dost thou not tire of giving thine same old speeches? Speaking of speeches, where is that earth prince anyway. He always did enjoy shooting out that poetical garbage."

Venus liked this guy even less now, than she did before. He had prevented her from announcing herself. She was also tired of trying to translate the archaic Japanese he spoke in. It was almost as though he had stepped right out of the Meiji period, which would not have surprised her in the least, it would at least have been more understandable than what occurred next.

"If the prince does not arrive soon, I am afraid we shall be leaving without him."

"Leaving without him?" Sailor Moon repeated, a tinge of worry creeping into her voice.

"Yes my dear, thy presence has been requested in the court of Her Majesty, Queen Owari, Ruler of the Yuugiri Clan of Elder Brethren."

Venus blinked, twice. "Run that by me one more time," she finally said, her voice dripping simultaneously with both sarcasm and confusion.

The air around them became thick with obviously violent emotions, almost tangible feelings, as the stranger's anger mounted with each second. "I tire of this petty intercourse and thy trivial comments-" He began, but was cut off abruptly by Sailor Venus.

"Oh, you're just angry because you couldn't think of a good comeback," she immediately retorted back before muttering under her breath, "... Baka... "

That last disparaging comment seemed to shatter the robed man's already strained nerves. "That is enough! I will no longer stand for thy mockery, I will end this here and now. Her Majesty will not object to thine broken bodies as long as they still breathe." Eternal Sailor Moon took an involuntary step backwards as his demented laughter rang out among the deserted confines of the park.

"Good going Venus, now look what you've done," Uranus scolded her quickly, not bypassing an attempt to lighten the mood when one presented itself to her. However, no one laughed. The man standing in front of them seemed to be roaring insanely enough for all of them.

Tuxedo Kamen chose this exact moment to drop unannounced from a nearby lamp post. "Took you long enough," Sailor Moon wasted no time in pointing out.

"Like you're one to talk," he retorted quickly, an eyebrow quirked at the laughing lunatic in front of him. "So," he continued after a moment's silence, "Who's that guy?"

"I'm not sure exactly, but apparently he knows us." Within the deep shadows created by the hooded cloak, a lurid grin appeared.

"Ah, Prince Endymion, so good of thou to grace us with thine presence. It is greatly appreciated, let me assure thou so. Now I have but one wish for all Thine Highnesses. If you please, follow me." Obviously, Sailor Uranus was on the verge of telling him exactly where he could put his proposal, when the world around them shattered.

Mountains of earth shifted and heaved in one mighty mass into the air before crashing down with resounding aftershocks into another piece of soil. Giant oaks, as old as civilization itself, uprooted and were pounded into kindling in mere seconds from the powerful onslaught. The air itself was distorted and sent rippling away in large, mighty waves of wind and heat. And throughout it all, the core of all this anarchy, the heart of all this chaos, stayed perfectly calm and intact. The Sailor Senshi watched in morbid fascination as the world around them erupted before their eyes. Then slowly, from the ruins of the still quaking ground, a ornate, golden gate of intricate carvings rose from the rubble left of the once flourishing park. Jade vines of finely carved ivy ran up each post of gold to an lavishly embellished silver crest marking the pinnacle of the gate. It consisted of two interwoven dragons. Claws intertwined in a sepulchral embrace, while wings, tails, and gaping maws, complete with razor edged fangs and fiery breath, wove in and out in a macabre dance of life and death. One dragon was made of pure, unadulterated ivory, sparkling sapphires marked its eyes. The other was its antithesis, a dragon of shadowed obsidian from which ominously glowing rubies glared malevolently from large eye sockets. Both gave the appearance of competing for dominance of the gate.

The gate stood well over two stories tall, and glowed with an unholy light, as though it rose straight from the very bowels of Hell, and it was from this gate that the mist Minako had described earlier to Usagi and Makoto was pouring forth. The same mist which had somehow spawned or transported the demon they were now fighting to Juuban Park was slowly, but surely, spilling through the gate and rolling in great waves to wash against the senshi's feet.

Until this very moment, the man who had previously been fighting against them, had been the last thing on their mind. The sudden upheaval of reality and appearance of the perverse gate had completely consumed their mind. Now, however, the man began chanting in some foreign, musical sounding language, and before their very eyes, the jeweled gates of gold and crest of silver parted. The tangled dragons split and were separated, one to each side of the now open gate. The senshi, more agitated than ever before dropped lower into defensive stances ready for anything that happened to come their way. They were not, however, ready for the one thing that emerged from the gate. The mist that had been swirling around their ankles, now grew to enormous proportions. It continued flowing from the now open flood gates until the senshi were cloaked in it. It swirled, condensed, reformed, parted, and joined together in a continuous, unpredictable cycle. In truth, the mist looked more like a living entity, dancing and cavorting in rays of light, bending and refracting it to make objects appear as it wished it to be.

One single ray of pure golden light, parted the mist, and allowed the senshi to see inside the gate of gold. What loomed on the other side shocked them beyond belief. Rather than the desecrated forest they expected, a thriving, prospering jungle greeted their eyes. And the same mist that swirled around them and blocked their own city from view hung in the dew laden boughs of the trees. However, possibly the most disturbing image that welcomed them, was the brilliant blue sun shining benignly down on the green foliage.

Laughing lightly at their dumbfounded expressions, the robed man concentrated deeply, first bringing both arms out to his sides while holding them horizontally. His palms faced outwards, towards the surprised, and somewhat frightened senshi. Slowly, painstakingly, he brought his hands together, until both palms were touching as though it was the hardest action in any world to do. Beads of sweat trickled down his face, and his eyes were shut tight to the world around him as his concentrated solely on the task in front of him.

Sailor Jupiter immediately recognized the only opportunity left for them to escape from whatever hold this man held over him. She immediately powered up and launched an attack at the man.

"Supreme Thunder Dragon!" She called out, summoning a brilliant dragon of light from the skies hidden from her view by the mist.

Unfortunately, the robed stranger also completed his spell at the same time Jupiter did. The dragon of lightening swooped through the mist, evaporating most of it while it flew down its path towards its prey. The mystery man, however, had brought his hands together long before the dragon reached him, and when his hands were clasped, the mist had come alive, literally this time. With cold, damp fingers, it had clamped onto the unsuspecting senshi, effectively trapping them in its icy grip. Then, with practiced ease, coiled around them and effortlessly dragged them towards the gate and azure sun. However, at that same instant, Jupiter's thunder dragon reached its target. A brilliant explosion of thunder and lightening ensued, and the mist reacted violently. Flinging senshi haphazardly through the gate and to the first source of energy it could locate and draw power from. Jupiter, however, was not with the senshi as they were flung over great distances through the gate. The power of her own attack freed her from the clutches of the mist. Although the explosion also sent her careening through the gate only to have her fall broken by a rather solid tree.

* * *

Soft rays of pure white light floated gently down from the low hanging branches of the dew laden forest to fall on the prone body of a young woman. As the sun sank lower into the sky, its tender rays of light warmly caressed the girl's skin, shining down onto the unbound mahogany locks of hair splayed out in a glowing halo around her head. They fell in swirling waves to frame her face and fanned out over her bare shoulders down to the small of her back. A simple dress of flowing emerald silk covered her lithe form. The green ruffled, slightly off-shoulder, gossamer sleeves continued with the same material to edge the moderately cut neckline of the dress. What appeared to be a living rose blossomed from the center of the neckline of the bodice of her dress. Its fragile pink petals perfectly matched the crystal earrings of its bearer. The neckline from which it hung hinted seductively without actually revealing anything more than a small portion of cleavage, however from her vulnerable position on the ground, it showed slightly more than was decent. The delicate ruffles continued around to the back of the dress where they ended abruptly, only to be replaced by a delicate string of soft material that laced down the open back of the dress and held it together. It narrowed to a point and ended only slightly higher than her waist. From her slender waist, the form-fitting dress filled out and bloomed into a double tiered skirt of flowing silk that would have swept the ground had she been standing. The dainty feet it covered were clad in simple slippers of the same diaphanous material as her sleeves and neckline.

Her entire body shone with the soft light descending from heaven, and it reflected off the silk, creating a heavenly grow around her motionless form. Slowly, the sunlight continued its ceaseless path along her body until it reached her closed lids, and the angel stirred. A groan pierced the silence around her as she moved a feminine hand to cradle her pounding head. Memories were slow in returning to her, but when they did, she sat up abruptly. The sudden action only succeeded in increasing the hammering exploding in her head. So the figure let out another agonized groan and laid back down.

Her entire body was on fire, and it was no small wonder. The miracle came, however, once she realized that even with her accelerated healing abilities there should be some broken bones. There were not any. Aside from the receding soreness, there were no signs that she had even been injured.

Puzzling over her lack of pain, however grateful she was for it, she pulled her body into a sitting position, albeit more slowly this time. The pounding was receding gradually, and it left her mind in a state of confusion. The area surrounding her was oddly familiar, with its dew laden branches, and clinging fog, but something was missing, some indescribable feeling, or perhaps, someone-

A sudden sound ended the thought before it had fully formed. Branches were swaying ever so slightly and groaning under the weight of a figure hidden in the mist. The young woman could only just discern the blurred outline of whatever creature lurked within the foliage. She quickly called forth a green rod, topped with a small crystal, but stiffened abruptly as she made several realizations at once: one, when she had been separated from her friends, she had still been transformed (this thought was not so hard to comprehend, it was possible she had been weakened enough to cause her fuku to dissolve when she'd been slammed into that tree), two, the comforting power she normally felt flow through her blood and heighten her senses was gone, her transformation wand held no power, she could not become a sailor senshi, and three, a second sound was behind her to her immediate left.

Makoto whipped around quickly, eyes scanning the foliage to spot the second possible assailant. Her breath caught in her throat at what she found. Two enormous pale blue eyes stared straight back at her from a gap between limbs. They burned like bright embers, the same color of the sun directly overhead, and just by looking into their crystal depths, Makoto could see the soul behind them. A fragile, concerned spirit with more tenderness and empathy present in the shimmering pools than in the eyes of anyone else she had ever known, except perhaps Usagi when she had stared Galaxia, the senshi who had sentenced many of her friends and her love to death, straight in the face and forgave her for everything in order to save her soul, her star seed. The same compassionate, piercing gaze Usagi had given Galaxia was mirrored in the blue eyes before Makoto. And she knew, without any doubt that those brilliant, lamp-like eyes shone straight to her soul as well, weaving together two complete strangers before they had even met, and binding their hearts with a delicate spell.

Trapped within the eyes of the other, neither saw the shadowed figure leap from the tree it had occupied until it was too late. It tackled Makoto roughly to the ground, successfully shattering the spell and flinging Makoto's transformation wand back into the inter-dimensional pocket where it was normally stored, although in her wand's current condition, the latent power would not have been much use to Makoto.

Makoto screamed in agony, the creature that had attacked her had given no warning, or if it had, Makoto had not been in a position to hear it, and its sharp, serrated claws pierced her soft skin with amazing ease. Each four digited, clawed foot pressed firmly down on her shoulders, claws extended to their ultimate length through her body and lungs to impale her shoulders and hold them to the ground. The rest of the creatures body weight held her bucking legs down with relative ease. Makoto bit back another cry as she opened shimmering emerald eyes to try and find the best way out of her predicament.

She immediately wished she had left them closed. Two golden eyes with slitted black pupils stared straight back into her own, and a curved beak with razor edges partly ominously. She stared wide eyed back at the creature she was fairly sure did not exist, although with half the youma she had faced, this should not have surprised her. It was a gryffin. A bird of prey, and a beast of power. Its gracefully curved neck and sharply accentuated head were lined with iridescent feathers of obsidian that flowed seamlessly into course, mahogany fur. The front two legs were that of an eagle, orange, scaled and tipped with deadly talons now buried in Makoto's supple flesh. The back half of its body was that of a lion, and the gryffin was using its superior weight in that area to prevent its victim from moving so much as an inch. Lazily, as the blackness began to encroach on her vision, and her intense eyes somewhat dulled with the sharp pain, Makoto noticed with strange clarity that the beast was moving almost imperceptibly, as though trying to subtly shift.

Without warning, its movement became apparent. In a sharp, downward thrust, the gryffin's curved beak sunk into the tender flesh of her unprotected throat. Makoto's cry echoed loud and long through her own mind but was a mere gargle from her now blood filled throat, open to the air. She tried to gulp in breath, but was unsuccessful, and with each passing second, her vision darkened and her life force drained away into a pool of crimson beneath her.

Her mind was submerged in a comforting fog now, and she did not even acknowledge the sudden forceful removal of the talons from her punctured lungs, nor did she recognize the blood filling her throat and mouth as her own, even when it prevented her from drawing even minimal amounts of breath. She did notice, however, the pair of frightened, swimming depths of pale blue, lined in shining silver, as they stared deep into her own dull green eyes already dimming from pain and the inevitable.

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Author's Notes:

Translations:

Bakemono - monster

Owari - Finale

Yuugiri - evening mist

Okay, yes I know I'm evil. What can I say? I always hate it when other author's end their chapters in cliffhangers, and yet here I am doing it too. They're just too much fun to write. Now that I've left you hanging, and hopefully wanting more, review the story. Thanks for reading, and look for the next chapter in... well how about we say a week or two (you have no idea how much homework a person can have!! (Actually then again, I bet some of you do (Hey! Look! It's a parenthesis inside a parenthesis, is that legal? (Anyway, I'm gonna shut up and quit rambling, it is way too early in the morning for this type of thing (It's around four, so I'll be posting this tomorrow (Don't look at me like that, I do my best work late at night, or in this case early in the morning -_-° (Shutting up now))))))). Would you look at all of those parenthesis... it's madness. *Sigh* It is way too early in the morning...