Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Guardian of Love: The Origins ❯ Hardships of Magic and Family ( Chapter 6 )

Guardian of Love

The Origins

Chapter 6 - Hardships of Magic and Family

By Angel Love

Author's notes: This is a very dark chapter. Warnings: Violence and Death.

Standards disclaimers apply. I don't own Sailor Moon, the Greek Gods or any of the characters I have used to fashion them after.

A couple of months later found us in the training center. After quite a few mishaps, like me scorching Eros' wings once and Rose almost drowning the Guardians on one occasion, we were finally gaining control over our powers. Well almost, I had not been able to get the power of love to work at all. Nothing that I did seemed to bring it out.

"Argh," I screamed when once again I had failed to use my magic and Rose had tossed me across the room with the energy of her wind attack. I lay on the floor for several moments, trying to control the temper tantrum that was fighting to come out, when I suddenly saw Vega leaning over me.

"You are trying too hard," he said quietly, offering his hand.

I sent him a glare and sat up, he just shrugged a shoulder and sat down next to me and we watched as Rose and Chesna sparred with their own magic. Obviously they had traded partners in order for me to take a break and cool down. "How have I managed to work all of the other magic, fire, ice, electricity, and I can't even feel the one that I am supposed to be most powerful with?" I asked him.

He gently dropped his whip next to my staff and sat cross-legged. He looked at me seriously with his intense black eyes. "Like I said, you are trying too hard. I had a bit of trouble with one of my energy attacks, but all I had to do was back off, think about what I was doing wrong and then it came to me. Now I have no trouble with any of my attacks."

I huffed and threw myself back on the ground, staring up at the endless blue sky. "I can't even feel it, Vega," I whined, turning my head to look into his amused gaze. "It's not funny," I pouted.

He just smiled lightly before turning to look back at the sparring match. Rose had just deflected an attack with her shield and Chesna was trying to launch another attack as she dropped it. "That shield of your sister's comes in handy," he mused.

"It also hurts when it hits you," I answered, thinking about when she first used it in the Underworld. Suddenly I felt a wave of uneasiness fill me and what sounded like someone screaming my name. When it passed I heard Rose's voice in my head.

`Did you feel that, Angel?'

`Yes, what was that?' I answered back silently.

`I am not sure, perhaps we better find out.'

I watched as she nodded to Chesna, a signal that their match was over and would be continued later. Then she made her way over towards Vega and me. She nodded at me that she wanted to go now.

I gave Vega a smile. "Thanks for the advice, Vega. Maybe later you can work with me on it." I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before I rose to leave.

He nodded at me and watched as we left, a strange look on his face.

We made our way towards our chambers and passed by a sunlit room where we saw Aphrodite, Ares and another man talking. Rose backtracked and walked into the room. The other man gave us a bright smile and I recognized him as Apollo, his blonde hair cut short and bright blue eyes twinkling. He also had a boyish charm that most of the other gods didn't posses.

"Hello, girls," Aphrodite grinned up at us.

"Hello, Miss Angel, Miss Rose," Apollo greeted.

Ares just nodded his head at us.

"Aphrodite, do you know where the Fates are?"

She shook her head. "They just come and go. They never tell anyone of their whereabouts, not even Zeus."

"I know they spend most of their time in the Underworld," Apollo offered.

"Thank you, Apollo," I said giving him a bright smile. Then I looked around. "Um... do you know where Eros is?"

Ares smirked and Aphrodite smiled softly. "I believe he is visiting Hades," she said softly, then rolled her eyes. "I will never understand how a God of Love became best friends with the God of the Underworld."

Ares covered her hand with his, stopping what we all knew would be a long speech on how love was much better and brighter than the dank and the dead.

Rose pulled on my arm and we both smiled politely before we walked out of the room and continued the rest of the way to our chambers.

As soon as we were inside the chambers Rose waved her staff and a large door appeared. She winked at me as we walked through the portal to the Underworld. After our first visit to the underworld Hades had shown us how to open the gates so we could visit him. When we asked him why, he just winked at us and told us that he enjoyed having two beautiful girls around.

As always, the shift from the bright shining place of Olympus to the dark, dank place of the Underworld assaulted my senses. I felt a dark hot breath on my back and turned to greet Cerberus with a loving pat.

Rose rolled her eyes at me. "First you won't go near it, now you seem to love it. You really are weird."

I gave her a smile and a wink. "Aw, you know you love me."

With another roll of her eyes she started walking away, but I heard her mentally answer. `And I question myself daily for it.'

My only response was to giggle and follow her.

We found Hades and Eros mulling over some documents at a large table. They both looked up as they heard us enter. A shadow passed over Hades' face and both Rose and I could tell that he was well aware of why we were there.

Eros greeted us with a soft smile and held out a hand for me. I came to his side and kissed his cheek, then repeated the process with Hades.

Rose just quietly watched, waiting for Hades to turn his attention to her. As soon as he did, she crossed her arms and looked at him. "What did Angel and I feel earlier?"

"What do you mean?" Eros looked over at me in concern.

I brought my staff in front of me and focused on the stone as I tried to remember just what it was that I felt. "It was an uneasiness, and I think a scream, someone else's," I said softly.

"It sounded like mom," Rose added, and I looked up at her in surprise. "And it sounded like the call of death," she said, looking back at Hades.

Hades nodded his head. "It was your mother. As you know time on Olympus moves slower than it does on the mortal plane. One year goes by on the plane for each month here. Your father was forced to flee Earth to Pluto after the two of you disappeared. And your mother just had another child. A girl."

"Oh, no," I whispered, all the color left my face as I remembered the threat that if my mother ever had another girl then he would kill her.

"She is dying, isn't she?" Rose asked, a flame of anger burning in her black eyes.

Hades nodded his head. "There is nothing that you can do to save her"

"Take us to her. I want to say goodbye," I whispered.

Hades looked over at Eros, violet locking with emerald for a moment before they both nodded. Then the lord of the underworld waved his hand and a portal appeared next to us. I grabbed Rose's hand just before we stepped through it.

The first thing I could say about Pluto was that it was cold, much colder than any winter on Earth. There was snow everywhere that we could see and a few white rabbits scurrying away, frightened by our sudden appearance.

I frowned at my tiny shorts and little cropped top and glared at Hades when he laughed at us. "I want to know which of the Gods designed these outfits," I complained.

"Cause I would love to give them a piece of my mind," Rose finished, staring down at her own outfit.

Both Eros and Hades smirked but didn't bother responding to us. We slowly moved towards the small shack a few feet away from us. At Hades' nod I opened the door and stepped inside. I heard Rose audibly gasp at a sight that I could only stare at.

There lying in the middle of a very worn and dirty bed was our mother, the only thing that wasn't bleeding and bruised was her face. For some reason there wasn't a single mark on it except the tracks of her tears. Her black eyes were closed when we entered but they fluttered open when Rose gasped.

"Mama," I whispered, slowly moving to her side. I didn't know where to touch her so I settled for gently brushed a hand against her face, gently moving her blood-caked blonde hair away from it.

"Ang... elita?" she asked softly.

"Yea, mama, its me," I whispered. "But they call me Angel now."

She smiled painfully at me. "Pretty," she whispered. "Ros…etta?"

She knelt down on the other side of the filthy bed, trying to ignore the crinkling sound that it gave off and took one of mama's hands in her own. "I'm here too, mama," she whispered.

"I'm sorry, Mama," I whispered, tears falling down my face.

Mama shook her head no. "Don't be," she whispered. "I see… happiness… in your… eyes… I'm… proud… Take… care… of… the baby… Ang…el."

Then she gave her last breath and closed her eyes. I didn't have to look back at Hades to know that he had already claimed her soul. I heard a soft sob from Rose as she lowered her head. Then I heard it, a sound that to this day haunts me, I heard his laughter.

My head flew up to the back door. His red eyes held an insane quality and his shoulder length black hair was limp and shaggy, not like its usual tight ponytail. And his laughter was dark and evil.

"I see the bitches are back," he sneered. "You take off and expect to come back. As if I would consider taking you back in."

I rose and glared at him. "You killed mama."

He laughed darkly and then he reached down and picked an item out of a box. I gave a startled gasp when I realized that it was a baby. The child was naked so I could tell that it was a little girl.

"Leave her alone," Rose pleaded.

He grinned insanely and squeezed her throat, but the child didn't make a sound and in frustration he threw her across the room in the opposite direction of us.

I gave a strangled sound, knowing that there was nothing that I could do, but Rose manipulated her power of wind and brought the child towards her. She caught her in front of where Hades and Eros were watching by the door, hidden by their powers from my father's eyes.

Our father didn't see Rose use her magic, because he had thrown his head back and howled in insane laughter. Then he looked back at me, his red eyes glinting evilly. "I got rid of one brat so easily; I should have done that with the two of you. Maybe it is time to rectify that mistake."

"I don't think so," I said, glaring right back at him. "You... you horrible, stone-hearted bastard!"

He laughed. "So she finally got some backbone," he grinned, then the anger took over his face and his hand was flying.

Without a thought I twirled my staff and fire erupted from it blasting him in the face, sending him flying back. But he just got back up and grinned evilly. This time he went after Rose, who was not paying attention because she was wrapping up the little baby with Hades' cloak.

`Rose!' I screamed at her mentally while launching out another attack at him. This time I hit him with a bolt of electricity and he fell to the floor, convulsing slightly.

I stood over him and glared down at him. "Stay away from me," I hissed down at him. "And stay away from everyone that I love." Then I turned to walk towards where the boys were waiting.

I suddenly felt his hand grasp my boot, and he pulled my feet out from under me. I hit the ground with a thud, my staff falling several feet away from me. I could feel several bruises already forming from the force at which I had fallen.

I heard Hades grab Eros and yell at him. "If she can't beat him, she won't make it as a Guardian."

I closed my eyes at those words, knowing that they were true. And I heard Rose yell at me mentally when I felt his body come down on top of mine heavily. His breath was heavy in my ear as covered me completely, his hands leaving more bruises along my back and legs. "I stopped myself from having fun with you before, but now I can do whatever I please to your luscious little body."

I convulsed when I felt him rip the back of my shirt and the thin cotton material fell off of me, leaving me exposed to his hands. My eyes traveled the floor and I saw my staff. As he slid a leg in between mine, my fingers closed around the golden rod. I flung my head back and hit him in the face with the back of my head, breaking his nose. Then I flipped myself over and blasted him in the crotch with a surge of ice.

"I will not be your bitch!" I screamed at him, and kicked him away from me. My staff rolled a few feet away from me as it fell from my hands. I took several deep breaths and I rolled off the floor, my hair covering my exposed parts. I looked down at him with a disgusted look. "You are lucky that I'm a good person." Then I turned away and started walking away, towards where my staff lay.

"Angel!" Rose screamed at me, her black eyes wide with horror.

I turned in time to see the knife about to be thrown at me. Suddenly I felt the power of love surge through me and I touched a hand to my lips then held open my palm, a golden chain flew from my fingertips, knocking the knife out of the air and wrapped around my father's throat.

He grasped the chain and glared up at me.

I yanked on it making him choke slightly and I got into his face. My voice was deadly calm as I was trying to suppress the rage that was burning through me. "You have tortured Rose and me for years, threatened us and taunted us. And now you've beaten Mama to death, tried to kill your own baby, and rape your own daughter. You have done nothing but hurt everyone that I have ever loved and cared about. Maliciously killed any animal that I ever touched. I am Sailor Love, I am a Guardian and I protect those whom I love. I will never allow you to harm anyone else ever again."

He stared up at me with a look of complete shock for a moment then he sneered at me and spit in my face. "Bitch, I will hunt down anyone that you love and slowly torture them to death.

I smiled at him sweetly and yanked on the chain. I didn't watch to see what happened. But I heard the thump of his body as it hit the floor.

I saw Hades smirk and cross his arms. "It's always the ones who you don't expect, that do things in the flashiest way."

But as my eyes met those of Eros, I saw a sadness there and a sympathy. I slowly turned to see the blood coating the bottom of my boots and the headless body of my father lying on the ground. And it hit me. I just killed a man.

I turned to see Rose staring at me in shock. "Did I really...?" She slowly nodded her head and I sank to my knees, wrapping my arms around myself and rocking on the cold floor. I couldn't believe that I had just done something so cold and heartless as killing a man.

Eros was at my side instantly and I felt him wrapping his wings around me since there was nothing else to ward off the chill that was seeping into my bones. I buried my face in his shoulder. "I'm evil. Oh, I'm a murder," I cried into his comforting embrace.

"No, Tenshi," he whispered, rubbing my back. "He was a horrible person and he would have gone through with his threat."

I felt Hades place a hand on my shoulder and I looked up into his concerned violet eyes. "He never would have let you leave here alive. He would have kept coming after you. And if you did manage to leave, he would have killed thousands until you came back to face him."

I lay my head on Eros' chest and stared at the body of my mother on the bed, while Hades continued. "Your mother was not his first victim. There is a long list of people that he had already sent to me in the Underworld."

"You did a good thing, Tenshi," Eros said soothingly. "He met his just end at the hands of love, especially since he didn't have any love in his heart."

Hades gently took the baby from Rose's arms and placed her in mine. "If you didn't step in, this is one innocent life that would have been lost."

I looked up into Eros' emerald eyes and he nodded at me. Then I looked down at the baby in my arms. She blinked open her red eyes and let out a soft sigh. A smile graced my face and I looked over at Rose.

She smiled at me. "So what are you going to name her?"

I looked down at the child in my arms. "I think I will name her Trista. She comes from a sad beginning, but now," I looked up at the group with a smile, "now she has a chance at happiness and a future."

Eros smiled softly at me and brushed a kiss across my forehead right above my tiara. "Now all of you have a chance."

I rested my head on Eros' shoulder, cradling the baby between us, while Hades wrapped his arms around Rose. My twin sighed softly and nodded her head, our eyes meeting. "Yes, now we all have a chance," she repeated.

To be continued...